British Romanticism versus American Romanticism

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I bet since you read the topic of my paper that you think that this will be a “kissy kissy, lovey gooey” story about two British and American lovebirds. Well, the truth is that it’s not, in fact, it is totally different! The word “romance” has changed very much since our ancestral fathers had defined it. Unfortunately, I cannot write about Valentines Day, and things pertaining to that, but I will tell you how romance used to be and what exactly romance was like before modern day life changed the definition. So now, I’ll explain the differences, as well as the similarities between the British and American Romance. First, let’s give a little bit of overview about the British and American romance definitions. The British defined Romanticism as “a fascination with youth and innocence as well as a questioning of authority.” Also, “changing tradition for idealistic purposes and an adaptation to change.” p. The American poets defined Romanticism as “a school of thought that valued feelings and intuition over reason.” p. 143. “A Journey away from the corruption of civilization and the limits of rational thought and toward the integrity of nature and the freedom of imagination.” p. 142. American romance also showed a great respect to youth and innocence, just like that of the British. One of the very active British poets of this time, William Blake, wrote a very good poem called “The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence”, and the following is a quote from the poem, “Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm, So if all do their duty they need not fear harm”As you can see, the trait of youth and innocence is easily visible in this poem. The child thinks that if he follows the strict laws of his keepers, that he will be treated well. Unfortunately, these are the thoughts of an innocent and naive mind. So he doesn’t have the experience to realize this though. It is probably likely to say that British and American romance originated from two different places. There were two primary events that caused the creation of British Romanticism. The primary was the French Revolution. The two major Romantic writers of this time were all for the expansion of ideas from the French, however, the English didn’t want this. This whole period made many stories and poems possible. The American Romanticism developed from a totally different string of events, however.

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