JaLeah Dozier
Irving, Cullen-Bryant Thoreau – “APA”
ENGL 201: American Literature I
Professor Sarah Horne
April 3rd, 2023
The American Renaissance or Romantic period, between 1830-1870, was a time of
significant expansion and growth in the United States. This includes Intuition, inventiveness, and
individualism that were developed in literature. According to “History of the American
Renaissance in New England,” this period is viewed as the “New England renaissance” since the
focus was New England and is aligned with the literary movement known as transcendentalism
which contributed to the American Renaissance (Brooks 2020). Throughout our course, we have
studied and learned how this era brought a new excitement for portraying a unique perspective
on literary works, culture, livelihood, and discussion. During this period, people were much
more interested in nature and honored emotion over reasoning. It is important to consider the
lives of Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, and Henry David Thoreau as well as how the
nature in their writing is both comparable and distinct to fully grasp the strong influence of
literature throughout the American Renaissance and Romantic period.
First, we should get to know these three authors, Washington Irving, William Cullen
Bryant, and Henry David Thoreau, before going into the world of nature writing. Let’s begin with
Washington Irving, he was a short story writer, editor, biographer, and historian who traveled to
America in the early nineteenth century (Belasco 2019). Also, he was one of the first American
authors to achieve success in Europe, he inspired writers from his homeland including Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allen Poe as well as a few British authors including Lord
Byron, Charles Dickens, and Walter Scott. Irving called for a better legislation to protect
American writers from copyright and for writing to be recognized as genuine career.
Secondly, William Cullen Bryant was an American poet, writer, and longtime editors of
the New York Evening Post. Once a Puritan, Cullen Bryant addressed the Orthodox Puritanism of
his religion in his graduation poem. To become a Jeffersonian Democrat, he left his federalist
beliefs and moved from New England to New York. Also, he left neoclassicism and adopted
romanticism (Belasco 2019). According to “Famous People of the Romantic Period,” Cullen
Bryant introduced an American voice to the English-speaking world through his poetry and was
able to make just as much of an influence as Irving had done (Pettinger 2018).
Lastly, Henry David Thoreau was a notable transcendentalist most known for his work
“Civil Disobedience,” which argues for resisting an unjust government, and his book Walden,
which serves as a perspective on simple living in the natural world. In the twentieth century,
Civil Disobedience was an “inspiration to leaders of social movements around the world”
(Belasco 2019). In his writings, he addresses how and when people should embrace civil
disobedience. In Contrast to Washington Irving and William Cullen Bryant, he was an
environmental scientist who applied his knowledge into his writings
Moreover, when one considers the nature and how it is represented in literature, there
are many parallels between Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, and Henry David
Thoreau. For instance, both William Cullen Bryant and Washington Irving wrote works with a
somber tone and mortality being the central theme. The short story “Rip Van Winkle” by
Washington Irving incorporates senses of supernatural and horror. In his other short story,
“Legends of Sleepy Hollow,” has a dark and gloomy theme as well. Moving on to William Cullen
Bryant, he included death in his works even though he focused on freedom and the past as his
themes. Cullen Bryant’s most well-known piece was “Thanatopsis” which is named after the
Greek word for “vision of death” (Belasco 2019). Throughout this course, we study and learn
about these three men whose works reflect their own emotions, creativity, and unique
experiences. According to “History of the American Renaissance in New England” individualism
and imagination were popular in writing throughout the American Renaissance / Romantic
period (Brooks 2020). However, at this period, American writers were recognized as being
equals and sometimes better than European writers.
Additionally, when one considers the nature and how it is represented in literature,
there are many differences between Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, and Henry David
Thoreau. While Irving themes focused on dark and horror, other attributes of his writing include
the use of scenic and film noire, a focus on American geographic environments and character
types, an escape from everyday experiences and explored folklore and tales. Although William
Cullen Bryant wrote some poems with themes of naturalism and mortality, his works were still
considerably opposite to those of Irving. His works included the use of expanding scenery to
demonstrate the vastness of nature and the insignificance of man, the use of the American real
scene to communicate his philosophical viewpoints and concepts, a focus on personal emotions
and inventiveness, separation from busyness of everyday life and free verse and other
neoclassical defying themes.
Meanwhile, Henry David Thoreau main theme is that mankind should live honest and
happy lives rather than the hard and exhausting lifestyle individuals know exist. His most openly
debated ideas are inspired by his own life, including his unwillingness to pay poll taxes, his
transcendental views, and the Sophocles play “Antigone” in which the heroine ignores the law
and obeys the gods to bury her evil brother. He writes themes based on his view that individuals
have a responsibility to follow their consciousness rather than the law when both disagree,
sense of morality tries to teach the person in this higher law, and the person has a duty and or
right to counteract unjust laws and doing so by acting against them. In the end, all three of
these men are very diverse in what they write about, despite the few commonalities.
Ultimately, we can understand the great influence that literature had during the
American Renaissance and Romantic period by comparing and contrasting the works of
Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, and Henry David Thoreau. The different literary
advancements would not have been made if not for this period of development in values like a
strong focus on the creative mind, insightful perspective, and emotional responses, aggressive
individualism and disobedience, humanism, love of land, wild nature, freedom, and
transcendentalism. Throughout this course, I have learned and understand that Literature
would not be where it is today without the works created throughout the American
Renaissance and Romanticism periods.
REFERNCES
Susan, B. (2019). The Bedford Anthology American Literature, Volume 1, Second Edition, Liberty
University (2nd ed.). Macmillan Higher Education.
https://libertyonline.vitalsource.com/books/9781319324414
Pettinger, T. (2018, March 10). Famous people of the romantic period: . Biography Online.
Retrieved March 30, 2023, from https://www.biographyonline.net/famous-people-of-the-
romantic-period/
Brooks, R. B. (2020, December 27). History of the American Renaissance in New England.
History of Massachusetts Blog. Retrieved March 30, 2023, from
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/american-renaissance-in-new-england/
