Emotion in American Romanticism
The American Romantics were an emotional bunch. Ok—maybe they didn't spend all day weeping into a handkerchief and eating Phish Food. But they believed deeply in the power and importance of emotion. People feel things, and even if what we feel isn't rational, or doesn't make sense, it affects how we view the world.
The American Romantics believed that our emotions were also a gateway to knowledge. We not only know things by using our brains, we know things by using our hearts, maaan. Our emotions allow us a glimpse into the meaning of things: if we are moved by a beautiful sunset, then we (according to the pious American Romantics) have a better understanding of God and the way that God works in nature.
The American Romantics' preoccupation with emotion also parallels the emphasis on emotion we'll find in European Romanticism. Romantics on both sides of the Atlantic valued feeling above thought, sentiment above rationality. They had all the feels.
Chew On This
Roger Chillingworth in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is one angry guy. Is it any wonder that his emotions motivate his need for revenge? Check out these quotations from the novel to see how just how emotionally chilling Chillingworth gets.
According to Henry David Thoreau, most of us are miserable. In order to change our emotions, we must change our conditions. Have a look at this quotation from Thoreau's book Walden.