Lauren Smith
April 29, 2022
American Renaissance/Romantic Period – APA
ENGL 201 – D02 LUO
Professor Christopher Robinson
The American Renaissance, also known as the Romantic period, is my favorite time
period to talk about because of the literature, and what we get to talk about, discuss and learn
from this time. This time period was also known as the New England Renaissance. People called
this time period that name because it was centered in New England. The American Renaissance/
Romantic Period lasted from around the year 1830 to around 1865. It was a time when the
expansion grew faster in the United States, and it had driven their imagination, intuition, and
individualism in literature. Rebecca Brooks states in History of the American Renaissance in
New England that this time period is often referred to as “The New England Renaissance
because it was centered in New England” and that it is “closely identified with American
romanticism and an intellectual movement known as transcendentalism” (Brooks, 2020). The
textbook also mentions that during this time people had more of an interest in nature and
exaltation of emotion over reason (Belasco, 2019). To have a better understanding of this
concept we are going to look into some authors such as Henry David Thoreau, William Cullen
Bryant, and Washington Irving. This will show how their writing styles are similar to each other
yet different in their own way.
Before jumping into seeing how the three men’s writing styles are both similar and
different, it may be better to identify and talk about each one first. Henry David Thoreau was
born on July 12, 1817, and died on May 6, 1862. One of Thoreau’s writings that helped him to
become famous was Walden which was published in 1854. He was “an American philosopher,
poet, and environmental scientist” (Furtak, 2017). The lecture notes also mention that Thoreau
was also a philosophical anarchist. William Cullen Bryant was born on November 3, 1794, and
died on June 12, 1878. According to the textbook, he was initially a puritan (Belasco, 2019). His
work Thanatopsis, which was published in 1817, is what made him well known and famous. The
word thanatopsis means “a view or contemplation of death” (Collins, 2012). Washington Irving
was born on April 3, 1783, and died on November 28, 1859. One of the works that he is well
known for is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow which was published in the year of 1820. The class
notes mention how Washington Irving was a biographer, diplomat in the early 19th century, an
essayist, and a historian. “Irving returned to Spain as the U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary from 1842 to 1846. He once again put his literary skills to good use by writing
detailed, insightful dispatches, vividly describing the tumultuous state of contemporary Spanish
politics” (Taylor, 2017).
Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle is about a farmer who goes off to the Catskill
Mountains. There he comes across a group of dwarfs that are playing ninepins, which is “a
bowling game resembling tenpins played without the headpin or having the nine pins in a
diamond-shaped configuration with one pin in the center” (Merriam-Webster, 2022). “On nearer
approach, he was still more surprised at the singularity of the stranger’s appearance. He was a
short, square-built old fellow, with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard. His dress was of the
antique Dutch fashion—a cloth jerkin strapped round the waist—several pairs of breeches, the
outer one of ample volume, decorated with rows of buttons down the sides and bunches at the
knees” (Irving, 1819). They offer to Rip some liquor and he accepted it and then falls asleep.
Twenty years later, he wakes up as an old man with a white beard, and the dwarfs have left him
behind. Rip returns to his town to find that everything has changed, his wife has died, his
children have grown up, and that king George III’s portrait has been replaced with George
Washington’s portrait. Rip tells stories and entertains the people in town with his stories of the
old days and how he met the short little people in the mountains.
Henry David Thoreau, William Cullen Bryant, and Washington Irving all three talk about
nature in their writings. But how they talk about nature and use it in their works may be different.
Henry David Thoreau uses the nature of religion. “Thoreau uses nature as a tool for learning,
making the wilderness his role model and reference point. The language Thoreau chooses
creates a comparison between apples and the divine, appealing simultaneously to
transcendentalist and religious beliefs” (Wanderer, 2020). William Cullen Bryant uses nature in
various languages in his writings to help him stay sane in some of his darkest moments. In lines,
nine through seventeen Bryant talks about what someone should do when they are troubled by
the thoughts of death. Then in lines, seventeen through fifty-seven he uses nature to offer
comfort to whoever is facing death. Again, another language is introduced in lines fifty-eight
through seventy-two where William Bryant expresses that dying without grief is unimportant.
Finally in lines seventy-three through eighty-one he tells us that what is important is becoming
one with nature (Bryant, 1817). Washington Irving would use nature in his writings to emphasize
the supernatural and superstitions in the stories he tells.
Edgar Allan Poe’s writing style was a gothic literature style. In his poem called The
Raven he says in lines one and two “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and
weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore” he also says in line eight “And
each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor” (Poe, 1845). Those are a couple of
examples of the goth literature that he includes in his works. Poe writes with the feel of
Gothicism, magic, mystery, horror, supernatural horror, unknown terror, and more. His poems are
a thriller that catches the reader's eyes and ears to where they feel they have to finish reading and
listening to the stories.
In the Age of Colonialism one of the writers named John Smith wrote about the
experiences that he has while he was in America. Each of his works was about his journeys but
with each writing, he went into more depth about his journey. During the Age of Reason, also
known as the Revolutionary era, there was an author named Phillis Wheatley who was known as
the best poet of the period. She wrote poems to George Washington during the Revolutionary
Period. During the American Renaissance/ Age of Romanticism an author known as William
Cullen Bryant who uses different types of language in his writings to help him discuss what
keeps him sane in his darkest moments. Each person from each era has their own kind of writing
style and their own language to help get the point across.
The writing styles of the authors from each era are different. The writing style from the
Age of Colonialism is going to be different from the Age of Reason/ Revolutionary era as well as
the American Renaissance/ Age of Romanticism. Authors from the same time period are going to
have different and similar things in common about their works, but with each era, the writing
style changes, and the theme that people write about may change. In one era, the authors may
have the same writing style but a different message from their work is portrayed. In another era,
the authors may have different writing styles but a similar message to portray.
References
A.e.a., W., & R., A. (2020, June 15). Thoreau on nature in Walden. THE WANDERER
BOOK BLOG. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from
https://thewandererliteraryjournal.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/thoreau-on-nature-in-
walden/#:~:text=Seeking%20experience%2C%20Thoreau%20uses%20nature,to
%20transcendentalist%20and%20religious%20beliefs.
Brooks, R. B. (2020, December 27). History of the American Renaissance in New England.
History of Massachusetts Blog. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/american-renaissance-in-new-england/
Bryant, W. C. (1817). Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved April
29, 2022, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50465/thanatopsis
Collins, W. (2012). Thanatopsis definition & meaning. Dictionary.com. Retrieved April 29,
2022, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/thanatopsis
Furtak, R. A. (2017, March 3). Henry David Thoreau. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Retrieved April 29, 2022, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thoreau/
Irving, W. (1819). Rip Van Winkle - Ibiblio. Rip Van Winkle. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from
https://ibiblio.org/ebooks/Irving/Winkle/Irving_Winkle.pdf
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Ninepin. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved April 29, 2022,
from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ninepin
Poe, E. A. (1845). The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved April 29, 2022,
from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48860/the-raven
Susan, B. (2019). The Bedford Anthology American Literature, Volume 1, Second Edition,
Liberty University (2nd Edition). Macmillan Higher Education.
https://libertyonline.vitalsource.com/books/9781319324414
Taylor, S. (2017, January 31). Washington Irving: Diplomat. Washington Irving: Diplomat |
Georgetown University Library. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from
https://library.georgetown.edu/special-collections/manuscripts/washington-irving-
diplomat#:~:text=Irving%20returned%20to%20Spain%20as,state%20of
%20contemporary%20Spanish%20politics.
