(1) The Novel

The big, bad novel is a very important part of the American Romantic movement. Which is notable because, back in Europe (where Romanticism got going in the first place) the movement was all about poetry. Maybe American Romantics liked the novel because it was bigger… just like their frontier?

(2) Formal Experimentation

Roses are red/ violets are blue/ form is important/ but not as important as expressing individuality. Take that, you fusty old Europeans.

Whether we're talking about poetry or prose, the American Romantics liked to experiment with form. Given that these were writers who were big on individualism, is it any wonder that they broke many literary conventions?

(3) Symbolism

The American Romantics are really clever at using symbols to allude to truths or knowledge that exist beyond rationality. Some of the greatest symbols in American literature were given to us by the Romantics. Thanks, the Romantics!

(4) Nature

It's a big theme in American and British Romanticism. In fact, an obsession with trees, flowers, fields, and sunsets is one of the things that makes Romanticism (whether of the American or British variety) Romanticism. And we have to admit that America is a really crazily beautiful country.

(5) Individualism

It's not you; it's me, me, me. Individualism is the quintessential American value. Is it any wonder that it's central to American Romantic literature? American Romantic writers are nonconformists. They want us to follow our own minds and to do our own thing, no matter how much pressure is put on us to conform.

(6) Emotion

Heartbreak, happiness, awe, and rage: these emotions (and all emotions) are very important in American Romantic literature. That's because the writers of this literature believed that emotions shape our experience and our knowledge of the world. Emotions are central to our identity. So excuse us while we go cry about that for a little while.

(7) Imagination

Our minds have an amazing capacity to make things up, like stories and pictures… although we could never in a million years have come up with the bison. (Yes, we're obsessed with this bizarre-looking animal.) For the American Romantics, the imagination is so important because it allows us to express our own individuality. It also allows us to access experiences and knowledge beyond our "rational" minds.

(8) The American Revolution

The American Revolution is the main historical event that influenced the American Romantics. Most of these writers were writing not long after the Revolution, when the U.S. was just a baby. And they had high hopes for the new baby nation.

(9) Democracy and Freedom

The U.S. is built on the principle of democracy. That's why the thirteen American colonies revolted against the British Empire in the first place, way back during the American Revolution—to create a democratic nation (except for those people who were still enslaved. And the Native Americans. And women. Oh. Whoops). Democracy and freedom are values that are prized by studly American Romantic writers.

(10) The Frontier

Give me a home where the buffalo roam. The U.S. was expanding very quickly around the time that the American Romantics were writing. The country was moving westward: people were moving out in droves to territories that had been acquired by the government. The frontier as a place (and as an idea) became pretty central to the work of a number of American Romantic writers.