After reading literary examples of American romanticism in poetry, examine the paintings featured. Why do you believe these are romantic poems and paintings? What visual aspects do the poets/artists employ to interact with the view? How do they create the "romantic" landscape? What do you think are the characteristics of a romantic art and poetry? How do they reflect the ideals of manifest destiny? How do they reflect a worship of nature?
Use the questions to write a well-developed thesis about how one specific poem (using specific evidence) relates to the "romantic" ideals presented in one or more paintings (using specific objects and emotional impact in the paintings). Be specific in making your connections between the poem and the paintings. 300 words.
American Romantic Poetry
Selections by The Fireside Poets
Dickinson and Whitman poems
Collection of Paintings
Niagara (1857) Frederick Churchhttp://collection.corcoran.org/collection/work/niagara
The Lackawanna Valley (1855) George Inness
Kindred Spirits (1849) Asher Durand
Looking Down Yosemite Valley (1865) Albert Bierstadt
Romantic Landscape with Ruined Tower (1832-1836) Thomas Cole
ReplyDeleteWalt Whitman's poem “Song of Myself” relates to the romantic ideas present in these pictures through parallels between the visuals created with the poem and the landscape of the paintings, as well as sharing Romantic ideals. “Song of Myself” creates an images of life in early America being good, and that the American landscape is beautiful. This is also a view present in some of the pictures that feature people living on the frontier. These pictures show a hard life, but also show people fighting through their difficulties to live a content life in unity nature. The pictures also show beautiful landscapes, showing of the beauty of America that is also shown in “Song of Myself”. Both the poem and the paintings show life in America in a positive way, even though this may not have been the truth. They carry a general pride in the American way of life, and focus on the beauties of America rather than the bad things. Some of the paintings show man in unity with nature, and others just focus on the beauty of the American landscape. This shows a worship of landscape that is common in Romanticism and reflects the ideals of Romantic artists. This is a very romantic view, having a very positive outlook on life. Another romantic view that is present in the paintings is the idea of manifest destiny. Many of the paintings portray people conquering the frontier, and fulfilling the notion that God wanted people to conquer the west. All of these characteristics of the paintings combine to make these paintings most definitely Romantic. They follow common Romanic views, like praise of nature, manifest destiny, and beauty and optimism of life. These characteristics also carry over to Whitman's poem “Song of Myself” in which he displays many of these same ideals.
In “I Hear America Singing”, by Walt Whitman, there are a few characteristics of Romanticism. This poem relates “romantic” ideals to a few of the paintings. The paintings and poem are romantic because they show individualism within people, are full of emotion, and reflected a peaceful side on nature and life. One painting that stands out is “Kindred Spirits” by Asher Durand. This painting reflects how people were not always following each other. In the painting there are two men just standing on a large rock, looking out over a forest. They are out on their own. In Whitman's poem, individualism is shown by how many different types of people there are. He calls out to different occupations that may be forgotten sometimes. Everybody is different and unique. The painting stirs up many different emotions when looking at it. You can see the beauty in nature. Everything is painted very crisp and vivid. There is also a feeling of how great our country is. It is such a vast area of land and during the time when these paintings and poems were being created, parts of this land were still being discovered. The emotions from the poem are similar to those from the painting. There is nothing said directly about nature in “I Hear America Singing”, but you can feel that there is a beauty in the life we live in America. It is really special that we are all called to something different. The feeling of pride and amazement at our country is in this poem also. Whitman is very proud of America and it is easy to tell by the emotion he puts in his poems. The painting and poem reflect ideals of manifest destiny by showing how people moved and made their way through nature to become what they wanted to be. With freedom you can become what you want to be. So people would pack up and move west in hope that they could live their dream. The beauty of nature is shown in the painting. The land goes on in the distance, but in the front of the picture there are two men. This painting captures the beauty of nature and how peaceful it is.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “I Hear America Singing” displays the Romantic view because the author, Walt Whitman, creates a Romantic landscape, the author reflects the ideals of manifest destiny, and he shows the characteristics of Romantic art, such as in the painting by George Inness called, “The Lackawanna Valley.” The author demonstrates through the poem that America is a great place to live because the people who live in this country take care of it and work hard to make it beautiful. He names the jobs of many people and says that they feel proud to help make America great. Walt Whitman praises nature in this poem because he is talking about all of the workers in America doing the job that nature dedicated to them. The painting by George Inness is showing the landscape of a small town, which is clearly busy at work because there is a train going by and other buildings with smoke coming out of the chimneys. This painting shows the landscape that Whitman could have been talking about when he was saying how hard the people in America work at their specific jobs. The poem reflects the ideals of manifest destiny because the American citizens had thought that if they worked hard and settled new land then they would be successful and happy. Walt Whitman said that all of the workers were happy and felt dignified. This painting conveys the same feelings about manifest destiny. The town in the picture is out in the country, not the city, which shows the value of nature and of settling more land. The poem by Walt Whitman and the painting by George Inness both show the characteristics of Romanticism because they emphasize the importance of the individual and the importance of nature. Both the painting and the poem show that moving into the countryside and working for what you need is better than living in the city.
ReplyDeleteIn “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman, many romantic ideas are shared with the pictures in different ways. The paintings give the viewer the idea that America has a nice landscape and that people living there were happy. This is also present in the poem by Whitman and both the artists and the poet try to portray the idea that everyone is happy even it may not be true. They try to show that people in America are working hard for what they want and they are very happy with what they are doing, this is to try and convince others that it is a good place and more should come. George Inness’ painting shows a romantic landscape and it shows all the good things about America, showing how the new land is coming along and become more and more into a place where people will want to live. These types of things are also portrayed in “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman through words. Whitman talks about all of the beauties of America and how some things about it are just beautiful in themselves. Whitman talks about how the new world is a place where life is simple, better, and happy. The romantic views that the poem and the painting share are manifest destiny, the idea that life is beautiful, and the love for nature. All of these ideas are present in both and they show what people want life to be like when they thing of coming to America. Whitman, in his poem, talks about how important nature is and that all people no matter what the job belong to nature. This is also shown in the poem by Inness, the idea that people belong to nature, this is shown how the city is growing and the people of the city are working hard to build and make it look beautiful like nature should.
ReplyDeleteWalt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing” is a praise of nature and how people go throughout their daily lives. This is romantic because romantics believe in nature and life being lived in praise of it. The people in the poem all use nature in some sort of way. The painting George Inness is also romantic. It depicts nature in a positive way and it shows how beautiful nature can be. Whitman uses visual aspects when he names all of the jobs that people in America are doing. Inness uses visual aspects in his painting, “The Lackawanna Valley.” He uses different colors to show how good nature is. Both of these artists create a romantic landscape with the way their pieces of art are presented. Whitman presents his in a list form. Inness presents his painting in a majestic form. He makes that valley seem very lively and that it is important which is a characteristic of romantics. These two works of art represent manifest destiny. The painting by Inness represents manifest destiny in the train that seems to be traveling west. The train is shows that the west is to be settled. The poem by Whitman shows manifest destiny because the songs of America are heard throughout all of the country. This shows that there are people all over the country. Even in the west. Both of these pieces of art reflect a worship of nature because they both have main components that include nature. The whole painting by Inness in one of nature at its finest. The poem by Whitman lists jobs that include nature, for example wood-cutters use the wood from nature and ploughboy ploughs nature to harvest. Both of these pieces have components of nature throughout them. Overall, the poem by Whitman and the painting by Inness both have deep ties to romantic qualities.
ReplyDeleteI found your ideas intriguing. I also do agree with the thesis you made, and I also found it to be quite solid. I also enjoyed the straightforward nature of your thesis as well, and the way you supported it clearly.
DeleteIn the poem “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman, he shows the ideas of romanticism by focusing on the natural beauty of America and how individualism was shown in this poem. Whitman is talking about how the people of American go about their daily lives and bring joy to whatever they are doing, no matter what kind of job it is. The natural beauty of America is portrayed through the way that Whitman shows how the people in his poem are making a life of the natural resources given to them by the beautiful land of America. In the painting “Starrucca Viaduct” by Jasper Cropsey, it reminds me of Whitman’s poems. They both show the “romantic” landscape by the ways they explain, or show, the common way people live everyday. Whitman uses examples such as “boatman...shoemaker…” which show the way that they used the landscape given to them in order to live their daily lives. In the painting by Cropsey, he includes a railroad, which relates to the daily jobs that Whitman was talking about in his poem. Manifest destiny is also shown through poems and paintings. In Whitman’s poem, he lists the many different jobs that everyday American people had, and how they used the land given to them to make a living. The painting by Cropsey shows the country land of America, and also shows a railroad in the background. This painting shows that manifest destiny was pursued. Whitman reflects the worship of nature through the way the people within his poem are shown singing even though they are working. The painting shows that nature was appreciated by all people, including people who may have had city jobs at this time. Overall, Whitman and Cropsey show the ideals of romanticism through the ways they express individualism and how they incorporate the ideas of manifest destiny in each of their works.
ReplyDeleteIn the literary piece, “I Hear America Singing,” there are characteristics of Romanticism. Walt Whitman conveys America as perspiring and full of beauty. Walt Whitman has a strong sense of nationalism and respect for America in its early years. He displays the romantic quality of having utmost admiration for nature and what nature gives to human life. For example in the painting, “Looking Down Yosemite Valley,” by Albert Bierstadt, is a profound picture that conveys the ideals of romanticism. This painting conveys Divine Revelation as Romantics see nature as and also how deep nature is valued. In the painting, “The Lackawanna Valley,” it represents strong nationalism and even the booming of industrialization and transportation, such as the train. Railroads were a huge part of American History in cases such as travel, transportation, and making a living off of stocks. Not only does the painting show pride and accomplishment, but exquisiteness within the landscape. As Walt Whitman described in, “I Hear American Singing,” he proclaims the hard work the people of the society do for their land and how the society strives for perfection within their community. As in the painting, “The Lackawanna Valley,” it directly depicts what Walt Whitman describes in his poetry. Every citizen has a specific job and even the chimneys are smoking and that shows movement within the painting. The houses show settlement and a prospering land in the midst of a boom in population and the fields waiting to be plowed perfectly show the hard work that has to be put into making a living. In that painting the landscape is in the countryside, which shows how much nature is valued. The painters Albert Bierstadt and George Inness both have qualities of Romanticism in their pieces and have superiority for nature, contain beauty, and a connection to Divine Revelation.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Romanticism was shown through Romantic Poets and paintings. The poem’s by Walt Whitman shows an optimistic view towards the beauty of nature and of America. The paintings also show many pictures of nature, water and the sunset which also is showing the beauty of God’s creation. He used aspects in nature including water, trees, the seasons, the sky, and grass. The artists painted pieces creating pictures to show the beauty of the trees, water and different mountain plains. The paintings create a romantic landscape because it is showing the good things found in nature to show people that we should we thankful to have these beautiful physical features. “I Hear America Singing” stayed on the beauty of America and how everyone should work together to have pride in America’s song. The way the poets during this Romantic period focused on the greatness of nature and thinking positive even with the instance of pride. Whitman especially stated that the country was built on people who were carpenters and shoemakers and they created society. The poems by Whitman focused on the optimistic view of America and the people that work and make it the beautiful place it is. His poems also say that Americans should witness and enjoy the beauty that America is consisted of. The artists during this time were trying to show the beauty through their paintings but also preaching a message that would tell Americans to go out and enjoy the beautiful things that are around this country. This idea was described in “I Hear America Singing,” Whitman even states the certain jobs that work hard and are the true vision of American people. All of the poems during this time used an optimistic view for either nature, America, Death, or for whatever they believed in writing about. The paintings reflected this and gave people a visual to also remind people of the physical beauty God created. This is why they all had Romantic qualities.
ReplyDeleteWhitman’s poem called “I heard America singing” supports this. It can be seen in the way he see America’s everyday men and women as valuable. The reason why the poem is romantic is obvious. This is firstly seen in the way that the poem takes a deeper look at nature in one way or another. An example of poetry taking a look at nature can be seen in the poem titled “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman. This poem talks of Americans living their lives and doing their thing. This reflects America’s interaction with nature and the world. The ways that the Whitman uses visual effects to emphasize a deeper look at nature is clear. The way that the poet does this can be seen in the poem by Walt Whitman. When Whitman went into great detail about the beautiful America and showed the way that he used America as a visual to find value in nature. The way that the poet created a romantic landscape can be seen by looking at the previous questions. This can be seen in the way the poet described the people in great detail. This is a characteristic of romanticism in the way that it shows value in Americans living in nature; however, these examples do this in the way they describe man and nature. This leads to the next idea the main characteristic of romanticism are to find value in nature or the world. This characteristic reflects manifest destiny in the way that man is meant to learn and conquer nature. This can be seen in the way that romantics tried to take and learn from nature in their works. Likewise, this leads into the next question of how do romantics almost worship nature. This can be seen in the way that Whitman seemed to take inspiration from man and nature.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “I Hear America Singing,” written by Walt Whitman, uses imagery and poetic language to create a Romantic landscape, reflect the values of manifest destiny in society, and use characteristics of Romantic art. The author creates a Romantic landscape in the poetry by describing the people of America as a group of hardworking individuals, portraying America as a wonderful place. He describes the hard work that the workforce of America does everyday with an optimistic and patriotic theme. Walt Whitman’s description creates an American landscape filled with brave and daring individuals settling the land, being in line with Romantic ideals. Artist, such as Asher B. Durand, paint a landscape with Romantic qualities through displaying people in nature exploring and settling the landscape. Life in nature is a significant quality of Romanticism. Asher Durand and George Inness best display these aspects their paintings “Kindred Spirits” and “The Lackawanna Valley.” Both poets and artists reflect the strong cultural value of Manifest Destiny. Walt Whitman praises the difficult work of many people in his poem. This reflects Manifest Destiny because Americans believed that through hard work, they would settle the continent and be prosperous. The painting, “The Lackawanna Valley” depicts a small, bustling town with a train moving down the tracks. This painting is an image of the American belief of Manifest Destiny because the town is set in the country, rather than a large bustling city. It shows a growing frontier town settling the west with daring and hard working people, showing the values of settling land and praising the tough work of American people. Both George Inness’s painting and Walt Whitman’s poem display the characteristics of Romanticism because they share an emphasis on nature and a focus on the individual. Both the poem and artwork display the value Romanticism places upon settling the land and hard labor for survival.
ReplyDeleteWalt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself” reflects American Romantic ideals of nature and individualism that can be seen throughout the paintings. The paintings are Romantic because they show the beauty of nature. They show different settings that focus on nature and how people can exist as individuals that rely on nature to help humankind appreciate the beauty of creation. In section 9 of the poem, Whitman talks about different aspects of nature. He talks about different wild animals, such as ganders, moose, chickadees, and turkeys as the animals live peacefully in nature. He also talks about a cat sitting on a house-sill, which connects to the painting “Home in the Woods” by Thomas Cole. Cole depicts a house, isolated from the rest of humanity, where the inhabitants can reside peacefully, away from other men. The painting is very Romantic because it shows individuality of man, and how man can appreciate the beauty of nature. The house sits on a lake, which has beautiful views of water, forests, and mountains. The painting also reflects manifest destiny because most of eastern America was settled by colonists, so the people would have had to settle out west, where there was room for freedom and individuality. Whitman also expresses ideas of the possibility of individuality of man in “Song of Myself.” He speaks about how he believes that he is his own person, but that man is connected in various ways such as how men think, how they live their life, and how they behave. Whitman and Cole both express the beauty and appreciation of nature that man should have, and the individualism that leads man to live a fuller life. They both express nature in ways that all Romantics did; that nature should inspire awe and wonder in man who comes across it.
ReplyDeleteIn Walt Whitman’s poem, “Song of Myself”, many romantic themes are present throughout due to the focus on love of America’s nature and beauty, but also on individualism and working hard to achieve what one wants; this is also prevalent in the paintings. Whitman focuses on discussing beauty of the world around him, especially in the new country that is the United States. What message he is really sending is that everyone must become one with the earth and discover the allure in it. He even says, “I am enamor’d of growing outdoors, Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or woods.” In each painting, the first detail that is noticeable is the vivid landscapes and nature seen among the art. For example, “Sierra Nevada” and “Kindred Spirits” focuses solely on the nature in the U.S. at the time and its beauty. These painting express the importance of nature and how the people almost worshipped it in a way. Whitman also discusses the individualism among people at the time as well as how they worked hard to achieve what they wanted. For example when he says, “Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,” this shows how he believes that what you put in is what you get out. In the paintings, this idea can be seen through the concept of manifest destiny and how all the settlers needed to continue moving west because that’s what God wanted them to do. Specifically in the paintings of “The Lackawanna Valley” and “Looking Down Yosemite Valley” this idea is shown. The people needed to continue moving west and settling out there. This, however, involved hard word and patience as they made their journeys. The paintings and Whitman’s ideas ultimately tie together through this. The beauty of nature, individualism, and hard work are shown immensely throughout the paintings and Whitman’s work.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman related to the romanticism idea of the beauty of individualism coming together to make something much greater than itself. This can be shown in the paintings throughout the first collection because they show all kinds of people of different shapes and sizes working together to complete a common goal. In most of these cases its stretching out west and growing into the country we are today, but in other cases it’s building a home that we can all share like the “Home in The Woods” or the “Starrucca Viaduct”. One shows a man living in his beautifully crafted log cabin and the other shows a man looking down at a brand new city that they have set up for a settlement. In these pictures it shows how just like in “I Hear America Singing” all people no matter who they are have the ability to together build something really special, just like the cabin, or better yet the brand new settlement. This shows the strength of America and that even though we might get knocked down we’ll pick each other up one by one and begin to stand tall again. The romanticism in this poem is not just about the two love birds, but it’s about a beautiful, young country coming together and by the end becoming something that can never be forgotten because of the contributions that they have made to this world. No matter who tries to tear us down we will always get back up and continue to fight because that’s how our nation was started and that is how our nation will end if it ever comes down to it. Walt Whitman truly showed us the beauty of harmony and togetherness when he wrote the poem “I Hear America Singing” such a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “I Hear America Singing” written by Walt Whitman relates to the romantic ideas shown in the paintings in various ways including a large emphasis on nature and its beauty, the lives of those in the world, and praising them, and lastly individualism. A couple of the paintings that show the first value of an emphasis on nature and its beauty are “The Old Hunting Grounds” by Worthington Whittridge and “Sierra Nevada” by Albert Bierstadt. These show just how great nature is and just how awesome nature is with the new views from romanticism. This is also in Whitman’s writing because most of the jobs featured in the poem are dealing with natural resources. Another of the romantic ideas that are featured in paintings and “I Hear America Singing” is praising the people in the world. In Whitman’s writing, he praises everyone by talking about multiple different people and how great they are to society and how they have a purpose to society. A painting that features this idea is “Advice on the Prairie” by William Ranney because it shows how all of the people in the picture have their own value in society. The man who is talking has the greatest importance, because he is helping out all of the others on their journey, while they still have their special jobs. Lastly is the romantic value of individualism. It is apparent in “I Hear America Singing” because all of the workers have their own individual qualities and jobs that make them useful in society. A picture that goes along with this “Starrucca Viaduct” by Jasper Cropsey because the man in the painting is, as described by the quality, is an individual who is still useful to himself and to all. In general, many romantic values can be found in American Romantic paintings and also writings with them being shared between them.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “I Hear America Singing” has a Romantic view because it shows feeling and appreciation to the working people of America, the characters are common men, and the poet uses imagery to describe himself hearing America singing. Some of the characteristics shown in Romantic art and poetry are feeling, enthusiasm for nature, heroes that are usually common-men, and imagery. This particular poem shows all of these characteristics. George Inness’s painting, The Lackawanna Valley 1855 also shows these characteristics. Inness’ painting shows a train pulling away from a small town that has buildings with smokestacks, which could also be identified as factories. The painting is similar to Walt Whitman’s poem, “I Hear America Singing” because his poem and the painting both contain average hard-working American citizens. Whitman’s poem and Inness’ painting also reflect ideals of manifest destiny. They both show the increased amount of industrialism that was being pushed further west. Whitman’s poem speaks of the workers that would have helped the increased industrialism and Inness’ painting shows the factories in a smaller rural area or town. This small rural area pictured is somewhere out west. Whitman reflects a worship of nature by showing appreciation for the working citizens in his poem. The citizens are a part of nature and so is their job. Inness reflects a worship of nature in his painting by choosing to include nature, the trees and other plants, into it. Visual aspects Whitman and Inness try to include are the cheerful atmosphere of America and the positive and hardworking attitudes held by the Americans citizens. Whitman creates a Romantic landscape by describing hardworking but common citizens in America, a place that is portrayed as happy and cheerful. Inness has created a Romantic landscape by describing similar aspects as Whitman in his painting.
ReplyDeleteThe poem, "I Hear America Singing" relates to many romantic ideals which are revealed in many romantic-style paintings in that it enhances the ideas and concepts of nature, individualism, and captures the emotion behind the American lifestyle. "I hear America Singing" praises individualism in America, stating, "I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear", which refers to the fact that all americans live their lives differently; however these separate songs sung by all americans blend into a melodious, American tone. One painting in particular which was mentioned above is, "The Lackawanna Valley", which was painted by George Iness. The painting depicts a person sitting under a tree in the countryside, staring far off into the distance where a train is moving away from a town. This painting relates to the Poem by Whitman because it celebrates the lives of the American people. In this instance, it is celebrating the life of the person sitting down, who, judging from the landscape, may be a farmer of some sort. Whitman's poem also romanticizes the outdoors as it describes the different parts of the day, as well as the sun set. In the painting, nature is romanticized as well because much of the painting is composed of a very, "American", landscape; with rolling hills and trees and a honey-toned light being given off by the sun. It can also be thought that the painting is expressing individualism in the lives of the people which are living in the town which can be seen far off in the distance. When looking at the town, it is evident that there are many different buildings and types of buildings there. There is a train, exiting the city, a very tall pointed building which may be a church, and various other homes and houses scattered about. These different buildings and things represent exactly what Whitman was writing about when he wrote of the various tones which America sang. These different places suggest that there must be people, living their own lives and contributing their very own song to the American Melody.
ReplyDeleteThe poem, "Kindred Spirits" connects to the common romantic beliefs in multiple ways. Other paintings capture the romantic belief, but "Kindred Spirits" stands out. This is a romantic painting because it shows two men in nature and the seem to be exploring untouched land. Exploration and nature are two common themes associated with romanticism. The artist shows a landscape that includes multiple different items considered beautiful in nature. Some of these things include healthy trees, wild birds, free flowing and clean water, flourishing vegetation, and a beautifully sculpted landscape. By using these examples of beauty in nature, Asher B. Durand creates a stereotypical romantic situation in his painting. The two men in the painting are not casually exploring the beautiful landscape, but almost seem to be adoring it. One man in the painting seems to be a common man, but the other man in the painting seems to have higher social power (he is wearing nicer clothing than the common man). This indicates that the common man is attempting to share his love for the beautiful landscape to a man that is most likely educated and more willing to be appreciative. Manifest destiny is prevalent in this painting by having the possibility that the men are looking at the land and considering it for the usage of public use. By doing this the men would expand the American empire and allow other people to appreciate the beauty of the land. This painting is clearly an accurate representation of romantic art due to its many aspects that are commonly involved with romanticism.
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