The American Dream of the Renaissance The American Renaissance was the rebirth of culture and literature during the 1800’s. It was a time where people felt the need to depend on themselves rather than a higher figure. The Renaissance was similar to rationalist period because people wanted to perfect their moral goodness. People of this time wanted to improve their life by achieving upward mobility. Slaves who escaped and became free were an example of upward mobility during the Renaissance. People started to work towards their American Dream by starting school at an early age. The Renaissance was an age of individualism. People relied on themselves and focused on discovering who they truly were as individuals. Many famous writers used the dreams of the citizens during this era to influence their work. Thoreau and Emerson were two popular writers. They emphasized the American Dream of the Renaissance time. The American Renaissance revolved around the dream of upward mobility through education and self-improvement; their literature reflects their aspirations to become a better society. People of the American Renaissance strived for upward mobility and success. Upward mobility is the movement to a higher social or economic lifestyle. The population of the Renaissance would work towards upward mobility but in different ways. For example, Fredrick Douglas was a slave who, with perseverance, worked his way out of slavery and became a successful abolitionist and writer. Through upward mobility, Douglas became a well-respected man. He achieved the dream of upward mobility by leaving Maryland and going to Massachusetts and becoming a free man (Cullen 70). Many people wanted to follow in his footsteps because he was the epitome of success... ... middle of paper ... ...y was in colonial times. The Scarlet Letter reflects the dream of improving the society. In conclusion, the American Dream of the Renaissance was the dream of upward mobility, self-improvement, and social reform. People put their focus towards self-success. When people started to focus on self-success, they would also be working towards upward mobility. The Lyceum movement allowed many new schools, libraries and museums to grow. The lyceum movement educated people which lead up to the improvement of economic and social status. Many pieces of literature Renaissance writers reflected the dream of self-improvement and self-discovery. Men would rely on themselves to improve instead of looking up to a higher figure for their needs. As seen throughout the literature of the Renaissance, many people believed in not only themselves, but their ability to change the society.
The Renaissance period also changed through literature. This new change in literature was important because it taught people to read,write and with learning how to read and write gave people the needed components to do for themselves, different ways to think and use knowledge to better themselves.. Many more people got more chances to read and write instead of the select few. This gave people more opportunity at jobs, gave the servants a more chance for freedom.(Doc.b)
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and literary period of growth promoting a new African American cultural identity in the United States. The decade between 1920 and 1930 was an extremely influential span of time for the Black culture. During these years Blacks were able to come together and form a united group that expressed a desire for enlightenment. This renaissance allowed Blacks to have a uniform voice in a society based upon intellectual growth. The front-runners of this revival were extremely focused on cultural growth through means of intellect, literature, art and music. By using these means of growth, they hoped to destroy the pervading racism and stereotypes suffocating the African American society and yearned for racial and social integration. Many Black writers spoke out during this span of time with books proving their natural humanity and desire for equality.
The Harlem Renaissance was a great literature movement for African American people. Around the late 19th century and early 20th century is when the movement started. African American people were able to evolve in the literary world. The Harlem Renaissance dealt with poets, musicians, visuals arts, writers and photographers (Hutchinson, 2016). The Renaissance emerged at the end of World War I. Most African American people moved from the south, trying
...ng the Renaissance were much like the modern day celebrities and personalities that entertain society through and through. The world had become so infatuated with taking in more knowledge into discovery and exploration of life and nature that by producing its images and projections onto a canvas or perhaps carved into stone was the most entertaining process to take part in. There is a true Renaissance man within all human beings and by taking a deeper and closer look into the greatest works of art, gaining a greater appreciation of the Renaissance heritage in an uplifting and edification of experience. The art within the Renaissance rediscovered man for what and who we are as individuals and giving up the idea that each person is just another part of the species fulfilling a number within the population and showing the true beauty and aesthetics of life and nature.
There were many types of artists represented during the Renaissance, including musicians, poets, playwrights and visual artists. The artists’ works showed the multiple variations an African American society, as works depicted differences in their social classes, where they lived, and even gender (Stuart, A. 40). The relationship that the Renaissance had with larger conceptions of the American experience was its national expansion and a direct corollary between the rise of artists and and the rise of African American society as a whole. Using art an everlasting form of expression of power and freedom, black artists were able to portray their representation of black life, in an honest way, for one of the first times in American history. African Americans soon had a larger voice in social and political matters, with Harlem representing a city of transformation and progress. Through its roots in Harlem, New York, the upward African American movement was able to move to other American cities, such as Chicago and Boston, and eventually, to European cities such as London and Paris, eventually even reaching
The Harlem renaissance movement was unique in its own way, which resulted in the African American being happy and actually had things to celebrate. The renaissance was a time where most American use this time to write poetry, music and make art. Most African Americans remember it as messages being spread throughout these works. Most of these poets became most popular during the Harlem Renaissance.
Despite the nature, origins and even existence of the Renaissance being subject to intensive investigation by many historians, the traditional understanding of the European renaissance as being defined as the bridge between the Middle Ages and modern era has resonated in society throughout time. Exemplified through the influx of creative arts, literature and philosophy of that time, Swiss cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt defined this bridge as being the result of an immense intellectual transformation in humanity. In fact, the term ‘renaissance’, coined by the French historian Jules Michelet, can be translated to mean ‘new birth’ or ‘rebirth’. Spanning roughly through the 14th to 17th centuries, the renaissance is often recognised as the time of a revolution of cultural revitalization and exploration. These traditionalist ideas of the Renaissance as developed by Michelet and later expanded by Burckhardt were however ultimately disposed by revisionist historians like Charles Homer Haskins who began a revolt against Renaissance idea, motivated by the goal to deny the era any legitimate historical existence and annex the period to the middle ages. However, the perspectives of these historians in this debate are ultimately a reflection of their own context and purposes. Both Michelet and Burckhardt’s approach reflect their own 19th-century world, whilst Haskins was heavily influenced by his liberal, optimistic 20th-century ideals. A more contemporary approach to the debate is exemplified through historiographer Wallace K. Ferguson. Ferguson had chosen to focus and draw conclusions from the mirrored reflections and controversies surrounding the Renaissance idea that persisted amongst past historians. However, despite argua...
The Renaissance was a significant, culture movement that began in Italy during the early 1300’s. During the Middle Ages the branch of learning that was most important was theology which means the study of God. Some Renaissance religious leaders had the belief that corrupt cities could be redeemed if their citizens sincerely practiced Christianity. (Hankins Web) During this time of the English Renaissance: Roman Catholicism, Puritanism, and Anglicanism were popular religions that played a major role during this period.
The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem, New York in the 1920s. The renaissance was more than just a literary movement, it involved racial pride. This was a time for cultural explosion, after African Americans had dealt with years of slavery and the fight or abolition. The encounters with music art and literature of the Harlem Renaissance impacted American society by bringing light to artists, such as writers, musicians and painters that challenged the white society’s ideas about African Americans.
The Renaissance was a very vital time in our history without the Renaissance era we would not have many of the advancements that we have today. This era not only influenced art, literature, and music but also today’s politics, religion and society. During the Renaissance, there were many new inventions in technology the way of thinking also changed. This was key to the development of western civilization.
Occurring in the 1920’s and into the 1930’s, the Harlem Renaissance was an important movement for African-Americans all across America. This movement allowed the black culture to be heard and accepted by white citizens. The movement was expressed through art, music, and literature. These things were also the most known, and remembered things of the renaissance. Also this movement, because of some very strong, moving and inspiring people changed political views for African-Americans. Compared to before, The Harlem Renaissance had major effects on America during and after its time.
The Harlem Renaissance took place between 1919 and 1935; it was a movement that included literary arts, specifically the portrayal of black life from a realistic view; it is known as one of the most influential movements as it was the development of the African American culture (Hutchinson 1). In the renaissance blacks essentially made a new identity for themselves; known as the “new negro”, this included no longer allowing whites to treat them as if they were not humans; additionally they would breakdown the stereotypes of blacks and not let whites dictate them because of their color, past, or financial status (Morgan 214). The Harlem Renaissance is fundamentally a group of black literati, such as writers, poets, etc. that got together and decided to change the perception of blacks amongst whites in order to prove to whites that blacks could be just as capable as them in life. Some of the writers involved in the renaissance were poets, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay; in these poets works there are distinctive characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance that are present. The main characteristics that all three writers include in their works is social activism
As previously stated, the renaissance was the rebirth of society. What led to this was a decrease in faith because of the great schism, a conflict between two popes, where both said they were the pope. People were starting to take a secular view compared to what the church told them to believe. Society was changing to where individual viewpoints mattered. With politics starting to matter, and a better economy, places were beginning to be city centered, specifically city states, which are urban societies that have taken secular views.
The "American Dream" supposedly allows everyone to climb the "social/economic ladder," if they wish to do so. Anyone that works hard is supposed to be able to move to a higher class. However, society often prevents social mobility. Social classes dictate who moves to a higher class and who does not. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this issue was especially prevalent.
The Renaissance was a time characterized by a curiosity about human experience and the world around Renaissance thinkers. A main focus of the Renaissance was ancient Rome and Greece, which people studied in order to get a better understanding of their world. Artists and writers were able to express the ideals of the Renaissance by using an element of realism in their work that people of the time could easily relate to and understand.