Masterpieces of American Romantic Literature

Melissa McFarland Pennell

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Year: 2006
• eBook ISBN: 9780313015038
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

The Romantic movement led to some of the greatest works of 19th-century American literature. Written expressly for students, this book offers succinct introductions to 10 of the most important works of American Romanticism, many of which reflect the social, political, and historical concerns of the era. Included are chapters on Emerson's essays, Poe's The Raven and selected stories, Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and several other major texts or collections. Each chapter provides biographical information, a review of the author's critical reception, and a discussion of characters, plot, themes, language, and other topics. The volume closes with a bibliography of primary and secondary sources. Romanticism significantly influenced American literature in the 19th century and led to what has sometimes been called the American Renaissance. The Romantic movement and the period roughly contemporaneous with the Civil War gave birth to some of the most creative and enduring poems, novels, short fiction, and essays. These works are among the most imaginative and challenging pieces of American literature and hold a central place in the curriculum. In addition to their value as literary works, they chronicle the enormous social, political, and historical changes taking place in America. Written expressly for high school students, this book conveniently introduces the major works of American Romanticism.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans (1826)
• 2 Ralph Waldo Emerson, Selected Essays
• 3 Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” and Selected Stories
• 4 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline (1847)
• 5 Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850)
• 6 Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851)
• 7 Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
• 8 Henry David Thoreau, Walden or, Life in the Woods (1854)
• 9 Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” (1855)
• 10 Emily Dickinson, Selected Poems
• Bibliography
• Index