Title: American Romanticism Characteristics | Shmoop
Headings: American Romanticism Characteristics
American Romanticism Characteristics
The Novel
Symbolism
Formal Experimentation
Nature
Individualism
Emotion
Imagination
The American Revolution
Democracy and Freedom
The Frontier

Content: Not only did the American Romantics believe that the imagination expresses our individuality, they also believed that our imagination allows us to make insights that we couldn't arrive at through "rational" means. Our imagination, like our emotions, allows us access into a realm of knowledge that is beyond reason or rationality. Chew On This
Why is the imagination so important to the American Romantics? Because it can take us beyond ourselves. Check out Emily Dickinson's "There is No Frigate Like a Book," which deals with how books enrich our imagination. When Ishmael in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick looks at whale bones, he doesn't just see whale bones. His imagination takes him back right to the very beginning of the world. The American Revolution
Remember the American Revolution? Yeah, that was a pretty big deal. The thirteen American colonies broke away from Britain, the "mother country," because they were peeved about being taxed without having political representation.