14. American Romantism. N. Hawthore. H. Melville

In America Romanticism (1820-1860) emerged 30 years later than it did in England or France due to the peculiarities of American history. American Romanticism had much in common with European. The development of the self became the mayor theme(self-awareness), self and nature were one

Ch-s: values feelings and intuition over reason, places faith in inner experience and the power of the imagination, nature, prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication, individual freedom, looks backwards to the wisdom of the past, finds inspiration in myths, legends and folk culture

Nathaniel Hawthorne Born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories include "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" (1832), "Roger Malvin's Burial" (1832), "Young Goodman Brown" (1835), and the collection Twice-Told Tales. He is best known for his novels The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851). His use of allegory and symbolism make Hawthorne one of the most studied writers. His greatest work is "The Scarlet Letter" which is based on real events of the 17th century. It deals with problems of crime & regret, confession, sexual & spiritual repression. The author showed how the puritanical fanatism ruined the life of noble & decent people.

Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819. He worked as a crew member on several vessels beginning in 1839, his experiences spawning his successful early novels Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847). Subsequent books, including his masterpiece Moby-Dick (1851), sold poorly, and by the 1860s Melville had turned to poetry. Following his death in New York City in 1891, he posthumously came to be regarded as one of the great American writers. . Many of his works are steeped in metaphor and allegory, at times cynical, others satirical. His greatest work was the novel "Moby Dick; or, White Whale". It's an adventure novel full of exotics of the sea. Secondly, it's a realistic novel, for the reader learns a lot about the whaling business in the 19th c. It's also a philosophical novel dealing with issues of life, its objectives & other moral matters.

15. Transcendentalism, the works of r.Emerson and h.Thoreau. The poetry of w.Whitman

T. was a reaction against 18th century rationalism and manifestation of the general humanitarian trend of 19th c. the movement was based on the belief in the unity of the world and God. Protest to the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism. Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual. They had faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, lecturer, and poet, Emerson wrote on a number of subjects, never devoted to fixed philosophical dogmas, but developing certain ideas such as individuality, freedom, the ability for humankind to realize almost anything, and the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world. Emerson's "nature" was more philosophical than naturalistic: "Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul." His first two collections of essays – Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series, published respectively in 1841 and 1844 – represent the core of his thinking, and include such well-known essays as Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet and Experience.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Born Long Island, New York was a part-time carpenter, was largely selftaught. In Leaves of Grass (1855), he celebrated democracy, nature, love, and friendship. This monumental work chanted praises to the body as well as to the soul, and found beauty and reassurance even in death. Leaves of Grass(1855) contains Song of Myself, unrhymed, free-verse form, open celebration of sexuality, vibrant democratic sensibility; invented the myth of democratic America. Other works: “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”, “Democratic Vistas”