Today in class we continued our background history of Romanticism. We began with talking about what was going in Europe at the time. Napoleon was trying to take over Europe and Ireland had a terrible potato famine. This created a large movement of immigrants to America. The majority of these European immigrants were Catholic and the majority of Americans were Protestant so as you can imagine this didn't work out very well. This created a nostalgia for the old days. People wanted it to go back to when there were no railroads, no Catholics, and people only spoke English. Americans not only treated the Catholics terribly but also the Native Americans. Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke up for them in his writing. Next we discussed the Mexican War and how it was too far away for anyone to care about it. However, slavery was close and many people cared about it. Mainly the American writers. Most of them hated slavery and showed that in their writing. Sadly, the Civil War brought an end to Romanticism. Many of the writers died but Walt Whitman was the voice for the war because he was there. Most writers couldn't write about the war because they didn't experience it but Whitman was a nurse and he saw things that most people can't even imagine. He was one of the last writers of Romanticism.
-Callie
2 comments:
In my constant quest to bridge media and literature, I believe it's quite fitting to put in a little advert for Gangs of New York - the academy award winning film that explores the prejudice and hate of the native New Yorkers (Led by Daniel Day Lewis' character) against the Irish immigrants (led by Leonardo DiCaprio). Beginning in 1846 and progressing to the 1860's, Gangs of New York is set in the final decades of romanticism. The film has been praised for it's historical accuracy, and I was quite impressed with how it transported me to another era; it truly was a time when America was creating its own legends and culture. It represents the age-old battle of young versus old, newcomer versus veteran. This movie shows just how much the native population hated the foreign immigrants, and how much they wanted to return to the simpler times. The original adversary of Daniel Day Lewis' character is an Irish priest, whom he kills in the first five minutes of the film. This sets the mood for his son, Leonardo DiCaprio, to establish himself among the gangs of New York and take revenge for his father's murder. I won't reveal any more, and I'm sure at least some of you have seen it, but it is worth watching to see it's profound correlations to the social events that set the backdrop of romanticism.
As you mentioned, we discussed in class that the Civil War marked the end of the Romantic period. This is not surprising considering thousands upon thousands of people were dieing. I would like to note that curiously enough, some people have a very Romantic view of war in times of peace. Perhaps the idea of going off to a far away land to fight a great evil conjures up ideas heroism. But when war comes, realism sets in and such beliefs are quickly ended. I doubt anyone who has ever been on a battle has a romantic view of war.
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