The American Renaissance

THE WAKE UP OF 

AMERICAN LITERARY MOVEMENTS

The term American Renaissance, as applied to literature, was popularly established by the Harvard scholar F. O. Matthiessen in his 1941 book American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman.

The American Renaissance was a period in American Literature that lasted from 1830's until the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865), and emerges as a response to a discovered indentity and the beginning of a renewed country. Thus resulting in two important literary movements such as Romanticism; characterized by its opposition to the human-centered ideals and its greater connection with nature and spirituality; and Transcendentalism, which was closely related to religion, although they completely rejected dogmas and religious belifs, even so they believed that the presence of God could be found everywhere.

The most notable writter of this period were: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), essayist, lecturer, and poet Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), philosopher and essayist Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), novelist and short story writer Herman Melville (1819-1891), novelist, short story writer, and poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849).

And in this blog we will talk a little about one of the writers of Romanticism, Edgar Allan Poe who was known for his way of narrating and writing short stories about dark themes. He was one of the pioneers of fictional detective stories and the science fiction genre.

Even so, at that time his writings were not recognized; he only gained fame years later and after his death.

"And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the bating of my heart, I stood repeating, "Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber dooer;- This it is, and nothing more."

 In this excerpt from one of his poems called "The Raven", we can see how he was able to create a mysterious atmosphere that captivated the reader.

Egdar Allan Poe had a turbulent and complex life that allowed him to express in words everything he felt inside.

Renaissance and Present

"The only hope is that our civilization will collapse at a certain point, as always happens in history. Then, out of barbarity, a renaissance."

 The American Renaissance had a great impact on the way we view art and literature today, books and poems that tell us stories of humans connecting with death, the afterlife, themes that we do not understand and go beyond human comprenhension. 

Thanks to the Renaissance and the writers of that period, today we can try to navigate throught the unknown.

In summary, the American Renaissance gave life to two incredible literary movements. Those that opened the door to the unknown, supernatural and spiritual.

Now, thanks to these movements we can explore in depth such complex and striking topics. As we see, literature open to us a new world that allow us to questions ourselves and the nature around us; these stories are not just empty and meaningless, their inpire us and remind us our place in the world.

       Sources

1. Reynolds, David S. (2016). "American Renaissance".(https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199827251/obo-9780199827251-0054.xml)

2. Yadav, Chara (2023). "Romanticism vs Transcedentalism: Difference and Comparison". (https://askanydifference.com/difference-between-romanticism-and-transcendentalism/)

3. Edward (2025). "El Cuervo de Edgar Allan Poe: Significado y Analisis Profundo". (https://latrespace.com/es/el-cuervo-de-edgar-allan-poe-significado-y-analisis-profundo/)