Primary
Lumen Learning

Lumen: American Romanticism: "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the text of the essay "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the foundation of transcendentalism, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Transcendentalism suggests that the divine, or God, suffuses...
Primary
Lumen Learning

Lumen: American Romanticism: Walden: Economy

For Students 9th - 10th
This is text and audio of Chapters 1-4 of Walden; or, Life in the Woods, by transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. It is a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings and a manual for self-reliance.
Primary
Lumen Learning

Lumen: Romanticism: "The American Scholar" by Ralph Waldo Emerson

For Students 9th - 10th
"The American Scholar" is a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work "Nature" in which he...
Article
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Philosophy and Literature: History and Literature

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Discusses the state of literature and written history in the 1800s as they related to the development of a national identity, and the role Romanticism played. With the passage of time, more serious literature emerged and authors began to...
Primary
Lumen Learning

Lumen: Romanticism: "Self Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson

For Students 9th - 10th
"Self-Reliance" is an essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes, the need for each individual to avoid...
Lesson Plan
Lumen Learning

Lumen: American Literature: Introduction to Romantic Literature

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This introduction to Romantic literature focuses on the learning outcomes of the study of various pieces of American Romantic literature. These include describe the major historical and cultural developments of the Romantic period,...
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: American Literature: American Literary Time Periods

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This lesson focuses on American Literature literary time periods and a timeline including: Puritanism, Rationalism, Romanticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. A link to a chart of the time periods and the characteristics of each. It also...
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: American Literary Time Periods and Mla Format Introduction

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is an introduction to a unit on American Literary Time Periods and the MLA Format. It features an interactive that provides definitions of the nine literary time periods and links to American Literature background information and...
Activity
Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University: American Romanticism: Reading Walden

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This Virginia Commonwealth University site discusses the language and rhetoric used in Walden, accompanied by questions about how to interpret it.
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Poet of the American Revolution: Philip Freneau

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
One poet, Philip Freneau, incorporated the new stirrings of European Romanticism and escaped the imitativeness and vague universality of the Hartford Wits. The key to both his success and his failure was his passionately democratic...
Article
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Philosophy and Literature: Intellectual Climate

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the intellectual atmosphere in the 1800s as America struggled to find its identity. The influences of the Enlightenment and Romanticism are described, and the ideas of various writers and philosophers.
Article
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Philosophy and Literature: Two Philosophies

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains what the 'Scottish philosophy' was and how well it fitted with American sensibilities in the 1800s. Over time it evolved into the American philosophy of Pragmatism. The other philosophy that took hold in some groups of society...
Graphic
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: American Literary Time Periods Chart (Pdf)

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This chart features the six American Literary Time Periods: Puritan Times (to 1750), Rationalism/Age of Enlightenment (1750-1850), Romanticism (1800-1850), Realism (1850-1900), Modernism (1900-1950), and Contemporary/Postmodernism...
Website
Academy of American Poets

Poets.org: A Brief Guide to Romanticism

For Students 9th - 10th
Concise explanation of the term "Romanticism," largely as it applies to poetry. It discusses the movement's origins and some of its major features.
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Catlin, the White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas

For Students 9th - 10th
George Catlin's paintings and illustrations show Native-Americans as real people as opposed to noble savages as Europeans often viewed them. View examples of his paintings and read their backstory in this essay.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Literatura De Los Estados Unidos

For Students 9th - 10th
Wikipedia overview in Spanish of American literature from its roots to contemporary authors and themes. This entry is a broad sweep -- no era is covered in depth but it's a helpful "big picture" view for Spanish-speaking students, with...
Handout
Washington State University

Washington State University: Literary Movements: Gothic, Novel, and Romance

For Students 9th - 10th
This site defines and identifies characteristics for the Romance, the novel, and the Gothic novel. Uses good examples to distinguish between these genres.
Lesson Plan
Lumen Learning

Lumen: The Romantic Period, 1820 1860: Essayists and Poets

For Students 9th - 10th
This lesson focuses on the Romantic Period's essayists and poets such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, the Brahmin Poets, and more.
Article
Lumen Learning

Lumen: The Second Great Awakening and Transcendentalism

For Students 9th - 10th
This article focuses on the Second Great Awakening and Transcendentalism in America. It looks at the relationship between religion and politics.
eBook
Other

Poets' Corner: John Greenleaf Whittier Snow Bound

For Students 9th - 10th
This site houses the text to John Greenleaf Whittier's poem entitled "Snow-Bound. A Winter Idyl."
Primary
Lumen Learning

Lumen: Walden: Where I Lived, and What I Lived For

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the text and audio of Chapter 2.2 of Walden by transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. It focuses on where he lived and what he lived for.
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Edgar Allan Poe

For Students 9th - 10th
The exotic settings and complex characters of Poe's work are explored in this brief essay.
Website
Other

Norval Morrisseau and Medicine Painting

For Students 3rd - 8th
Norval Morrisseau, a Canadian Ojibwa, is the founder of Woodland school of Native American medicine painting.
Website
Other

National Museum of Wildlife Art

For Students 9th - 10th
From the home page, click on the elk icon to enter, then go to "collections". The National Museum of Wildlife Art holds works of the American West from 1819 to the present, with themes of explorer art, sporting art, Romanticism,...

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