Classicism vs Romanticism

Honors American Literature

 Classicism (Age of Reason)

 Definition:

Believed that reason is the dominating

characteristic of both nature and human
nature, and both are governed by fixed,
unchanging laws
 Classicism

 18th C (1700’s)
 Nature= a self-contained machine, whose
laws could be rationally understood
 Valued clarity, order, balance
 Imagination had to be restrained by
reason and common sense
 Classicism

 Upheld tradition
 Resisted change
 Human limitations

 Reason over Imagination

 Social over Personal all emphasized

 Common over Individual by Romanticism

 Romanticism

 Definition:

Emphasized the emotions, an individual,

intuition
 Romanticism

 1800 – 1830
 Imagination gives expression to that
which marks each person’s unique being
 All art is the imaginative expression of the
inner essence of the individual/claim for
individual freedom.
 Romanticism

 Emphasized the human potential for social

progress and spiritual growth
 Reflected political ideas in Decl. of Ind. “all
men are created equal” which led to
emphasis of the dignity and worth of the
common indiv. and to social reforms to
fulfill this ideal of equality
 Romantic writers tried to express their
own intuitive experiences.
 Common Romantic Subjects

 Nature
 The Past
 Inner World of Human Nature
 Nature

 Emphasized beauty, strangeness, mystery

of (not rational laws)
 Saw as an organic process, constantly
developing and changing
 Connection btwn human imagination and
the natural world
 The Past

 Later Romantic poets used dramatic

incidents from early American history
 Inner World of Human Nature

 The exploration and expression of the

writer’s most private inner being.
 Belief that this interior world of intense
feeling is not ruled by reason.
 Interested in the irrational depths of
human nature.
 A Quick Comparison
Age of Reason Romanticism
Reason Imagination
Social (society) Personal
Common Individual freedom
Common sense Intuition
Tradition Social reforms, spiritual
growth (change)
Rational law of nature Nature as mystery
Human limitations Supernatural
 Application

 How do the 3 common romantic subjects

apply to “The Devil and Tom Walker” and
The Scarlet Letter?