The mid 1800s was an age of maturity for young literary America. Individuals freed their minds into a rebirth of fresh ideas and concepts. Writers experimented with the definition of being American, and with a clean slate to write on, imaginations went wild. American writers also made sure it was different from the British literary style. Although it is termed American Romanticism, an American Romantic Renaissance of writing, it originated in Germany in the first wave of the 18th century as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. Jean Jacques Rousseau was a key figure in the erection of the Romantic era and also for Social Contract, the idea that progress in science was detrimental to humanity and that it corrupts mankind. Rousseau and his followers reacted to the Age of Reason and Neoclassical thinkers. This new idea of thought reached American in the 19th century and was termed the American Renaissance.

British Romanticism greatly affected American writers, despite their attempts of being unorthodox. From the resonance of Wordsworth's poetic enlightenment with nature, the irony and romantic notions of Byron, the rich imagery of Keats, the transcendental lyricism of Shelley, and the Brontë sisters. The seed of Romanticism was planted in the wildness of American forests, the hearts of Puritans, the fiery rhetoric of freedom and quality; this romantic seed grew into something of its own mind, something new. In the mid nineteenth-century, writers exploded with talent and eloquence. From Emerson's Representative Men, to Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Thoreau's experience at Walden Pond, and Whitman's Leaves of Grass. The time was ripe indeed, an outburst of a revolution.

The time was ripe for the rise of Romanticism in America. The 18th century had left a heritage of optimism about a man's possibilities and perfectibility. There was a political battle for greater equality for women and slaves. Economically, the country was also on a high and affluence was spreading. Religion was also ready for Romanticism. The dogmas of Calvinism were melting into a more rationalistic Unitarianism and Deism. Thus, society itself was ready to accept new concepts.

Romantics believed in the innate goodness of man and favored the individual over the group. Since they were disliked the modernization of life, Romantics also enjoyed nature. There was a philosophical idealism that was a goal to perfect man in society as a whole. They were free thinking individuals with religious mysticism; some American romantics even rebelled against political authority. The "Five I's" of romanticism were Imagination, Intuition, Innocence, Inner Experience, and Inspiration from nature and the supernatural. There were two subdivisions of Romanticism, gothic romanticism rotted in French, German, and English literature that was attracted to exotic trappings of the Gothics. They contemplated the natural world in lyrical poems, focusing on the commonplace. The romantics were revolting against classics and formalists. Romantics despised traditional literary forms and cherished whimsical works with raw emotion. Good literature came from the heart and it was not meant to be caged by rules.

Certain qualities separated American Romantics from others. One aspect was their love for the natural world. Nature was an oversoul that one could find the heart of God in. The idea of manifest destiny was also very strong and the boundless wilderness was waning. Romantics turned to the artistic, metaphysical, and intellectual frontiers to recapture the ecstasy of exploration and discovery. Another quality worth mentioning is the act of being whimsical. Some American Romantics were activists for abolitionism or they promoted Jacksonian democracy. There was the creation of a Romantic Hero. Qualities of the Romantic Hero included his value of emotion rather than rational thought, he often lived excluded from society, and became one with the natural world. They were youthful, innocent, intuitive, close to nature, and hoplessly uneasy with women who represented civilization. Such a character is still present in today's society from Superman to Indiana Jones. Indeed, these writers searched for a distinctive American voice.

The main players in the American Renaissance included Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman. These individuals formed a close net and heavily influenced each other. Emerson was the most influential of the writers. His writing was also often incredibly difficult to read. He focused on the American psyche. People like Thoreau often idolized him. His works were popular among the writers.
In summation, American Romanticism occurred after a century of the British wave and it had similarities and differences with other Romantic ideas in Europe.

Sources:

Woodlief, Anne. "American Romanticism (or the American Renaissance." Homepage. January 8, 2001. http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng372/intro.htm

American Litarary Romanticism. North Georgia Colle and State University. 1997. http://www.gc.peachnet.edu/www/bstrickl/lit/amlit.htm