Romanticism

1
Romanticism

• Self-reliance and individualism
• The individual is at the center of life and
  experience
• Human beings were innately good

2
Romanticism

• Emotion and intuition could provide avenues to
  truth
• Importance of the imagination
• Interest in the supernatural

3
Romanticism

• Importance of Nature --focusing on the American
  landscape as a setting
• Advancing a democratic aesthetic, one that
  challenged concepts of hierarchy and privilege
• Interest in social reform and belief in progress

4
Realism

• Verisimilitude the slice of life
• Accurate reproduction of character and
• representation of life use of dialects and
  language of the streets
• Emphasis on manners, customs, behaviors
• Often a conflict between manners and morals

5
Realism

• Free choice of subject matter
• Common individuals and the low as fit subjects
  for literature
• Importance of scientific observation