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American Romanticism

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Not many people know or remember what Romanticism in American Literature is exactly. A good majority of the American population has already learned about Romanticism in some type of English class they took in high school, but not many, just like myself, remember it entirely. Most of the population, as a whole, should know about Romanticism in American Literature since it was a major part in our Literature history while also having a brief recap of the history that follows with Romanticism. To give a recap of what Romanticism is, Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement which originated in Europe around the end of the 18th century. During this time, American Literature was finding its own voice, known …show more content…

Many of the authors that demonstrated Romanticism were thinking outside of the box to get this sense of Romanticism incorporated into their work bringing creativity and the thought of emotion and individualism together in their work. We see Romanticism in our art, literature, and music. In the early years of Romanticism, it quickly spread to England in 1789, then, shortly after its expansion to England, it then was picked up on in America. The Romanticism movement was considered a philosophical movement which, in the midst of it gaining popularity, changed the way that people think about themselves and other people around them in the world. Many would agree that this time would be considered an “age of revolution.” with the French and American Revolution going on it changed America in a semi-drastic way both literary and as a whole society. As a result of this popular movement many different authors, including William Cullen Bryant with “Thanatopsis”, Henry Longfellow with “Paul Revere’s Ride”, and Washington Irving with the “Devil and Tom Walker” included Romanticism in their works. In my opinion, I think that “The Devil and Tom Walker” portrays the most use of the idea of Romanticism. Washington Irving starts the story out with a man named Tom Walker, who only really cared about money. As the story goes on, Tom decides

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