A Study Of Literature “Isms” Essay, Research Paper

People change through every generation. But the bidding force through all the

generations has been literature. There are four essential classifications for literature,

romanticism, realism, naturalism, and existentialism.

Romanticism centers “around art as inspiration, the spiritual and aesthetic

dimension of nature, and metaphors of organic growth” (VanSpanckeren, “The

Romantic Period: Essayist and Poets”). VanSpanckeren says that in his essay “The

Poet”, Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the most influential writer of the Romantic era,

asserts:

For all men live by truth, and stand in need in expression. In love, in art, in

avarice, in politics, in labor, in games, we study to utter our painful secret. The

man is only half himself, the other half is expression (qtd. in “The Romantic

Period: Essayist and Poets”).

Romantic literature came from a reaction to the neoclassicism and formal orthodoxy of

the preceding period (Holman and Harmon). “Romanticism arose so gradually and

exhibited so many phases that a satisfactory definition is not possible” (Holman and

Harmon). According to VanSpanckeren, the development of the self became a major

theme in romanticism; self- awareness was a primary method. According to the

Romantic theory, self and nature are the same, and self- awareness is not a selfish

dead end but a mode of knowledge opening up the universe (VanSpankeren, “The

Romantic Period: Essayists and Poets”). With this new found idea of self, new

compound words with positive meanings emerged: self- realization, self- expression,

and self- reliance (VanSpankeren, “The Romantic Period: Essayist and Poets”).

Romanticism stresses individualism, affirmed the value of the common person, and

looked to the inspired imagination for its aesthetic and ethical values (VanSpankeren,

“The Romantic Period: Essayists and Poets”). In New England, Romanticism

prospered, the New England transcendentalists, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David

Thoreau, and their associates, were inspired to a new optimistic affirmation by the

romanticism ideas (VanSpanckeren, “The Romantic Period: Essayists and Poets”). The

transcendentalists believed that the soul of each individual was thought to be identical

with the world (VanSpanckeren, “The Romantic Period: Essayist and Poets”).

Some examples of romantic writers are the New England transcendentalists

(Emerson, Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, Bronson Alcott, and William

Ellery Channing), Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Edgar Allen Poe (VanSpanckeren, “The

Romantic Period: Essayists and Poets”). The New England transcendentalist carried

the expression of philosophical and religious ideas to a high level through essays and

lectures (Holman and Harmon). Ralph Waldo Emerson’s first publication, Nature,

shows his romantic view of life of how human being should enjoy the universe in the

opening of the essay:

Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchers of the fathers. It writes

biographies, histories, criticism. The foregoing generations beheld God and

nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an

original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry of insight and

not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs.

Embosomed for a season in nature, whose floods of life stream around and

through us, and invite us by the powers they supply, to action proportioned to

nature, why should we grope among the dry bones of the past…? The sun

shines today also. There is more wool and flax in the fields. There are new

lands, new men, new thoughts. Let us demand our own works and laws and

worship (qtd. in VanSpanckeren, “The Romantic Period: Essayists and Poets”).

Oliver Wendell Holmes’ work was renowned because his work was marked by his

refreshing versatility (VanSpanckeren, “The Romantic Period: Essayists and Poets”).

His works interpreted everything from society and language to medicine and human

nature (VanSpanckeren, “The Romantic Period: Essayists and Poets”). In one of his

philosophical poems, “The Chambered Nautilus”, in the last line he writes, “Leaving

thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!” (Holmes 35). Edgar Allen Poe’s poems

told of solitary individuals witnessing lonely visions from the grave (VanSpanckeren,

“The Romantic Period: Fiction”) . One of his best known poems, “The Raven”, the

haunted, sleepless narrator, who had been mourning the death of his “lost Lenore” at

midnight, is visited by a raven that perches above his door and ominously repeats the

poem’s famous refrain, “nevermore” (VanSpanckeren, “The Romantic Period: Fiction”).

The poem ends with in a frozen scene of death-in-life:

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the

floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted — nevermore! (Poe 103-08)

Realism can be defined as the faithful representation of reality or verisimilitude

(Campbell, “American Realism”). Realism is practiced by many schools of writing, it

denotes a particular kind of subject matter, especially representation of middle class life

(Campbell, “American Realism”). Campbell states that “a reaction against romanticism,

an interest in scientific method, the systematizing of the study of documentary history,

and the influence of rational philosophy all effected the rise of realism”. One of the

principles of realism are insistence upon and defense of the experienced commonplace

(Reuben). Another principle of realism that the character is more important than the

plot (Reuben). Some realism techniques are that the setting is familiar to the writer, the

plot emphasizes the norm of daily experience, ordinary characters are studied in depth,

and it is a world truly reported (Reuben).

Some styles of realism were frontier humor and realism, local color, Midwestern

realism, and cosmopolitan novels. The frontier humor and realism stories were told in

rugged frontier villages, on river boats, in mining camps, and around cowboy campfires

far from city amusements, the storytelling flourished (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of

Realism”). Each region had its own brand of colorful characters around which stories

were collected, some examples were: Casey Jones, the brave railroad engineer; John

Henry, the steel-driving African American; and Paul Bunyan, the giant logger whose

fame was helped along by advertising (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of Realism”).

Another form of realism, which closely resembled the frontier humor was local color.

“What set the local colorists apart is their self- conscious and exclusive interest in

rendering a given location, and their scrupulously factual, realistic technique”

(VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of Realism”). Some famous local colorists were Mark

Twain and Bret Harte (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of Realism”). Harte’s adventurous

story set along the western mining frontier, “The Outcasts of the Poker Flat” was one of

the first great successful attempts of local color (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of

Realism”). Another form of realism, Midwestern realism, carefully interweaved social

circumstances with the emotions of ordinary middle-class Americans (VanSpanckeren,

“The Rise of Realism”). The main Midwestern realism author was William Dean

Howells, his novels A Modern Instance, The Rise of Silas Lapham, and A Hazard of

New Fortunes were great examples of realism (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of

Realism”). Another form of realism, the cosmopolitan novel, had an “international

theme”, with complex relationships between naive Americans and cosmopolitan

Europeans (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of Realism”). Some great cosmopolitan

novelists were Henry James and Edith Wharton. They were both able to write about

Europeans growing up and spending time in there adult life there. Some of James

famous novels were Transatlantic Sketches, The American, Daisy Miller, and A Portrait

of a Lady (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of Realism”). Some of Wharton’s famous novels

were The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, Summer, The Age of Innocence,

and a novella Ethan Frome (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of Realism”).

Campbell states in “Naturalism in American Literature”, that the term naturalism

describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity

and detachment to its study of human beings. Unlike realism, naturalism implies a

philosophical position that human beings are “human beasts” which can be studied

through their relationships with their surroundings (Campbell, “Naturalism in American

Literature”). Through this study of human beings, writers of naturalism believe that the

laws behind the forces of human nature could be studied and understood (Campbell,

“Naturalism in Literature”). Naturalistic writers studied human beings governed by their

instincts and passions and well as how their lives were governed by forces of heredity

and environment (Campbell, “Naturalism in Literature”). The naturalists used the same

techniques as the realists to accumulate detail, they had a specific object in mind when

they chose the segment of reality they wished to convey (Campbell, “Naturalism in

Literature”). Naturalism is the literary expression of determinism, associated with bleak,

realistic depictions of lower-class life (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of Realism”).

Determinism denies religion as a motivating force of the universe and perceives the

universe as a machine (VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of Realism”). In that same light,

“Naturalists imagined society, instead, as a blind machine, godless and out of control”

(VanSpanckeren, “The Rise of Realism”).

In naturalist writings, characters are frequently but not invariably ill-educated or

lower-class characters whose lives are governed by the forces of heredity, instinct, and

passion (Campbell, “Naturalism in Literature”). The characters’ attempts at free will or

choice are normally stopped by force beyond their control (Campbell, “Naturalism in

Literature”). “Walcutt says that the naturalistic novel offers ‘clinical, panoramic,

slice-of-life’ drama that is often a ‘chronicle of despair’”(qtd. in Campbell, “Naturalism in

Literature”). Some of the themes in naturalistic writing are survival, determinism, and

violence (Campbell, “Naturalism in Literature”). Another recurring theme in naturalistic

work is that the story usually deals with dull everyday life with the main protagonist

rising above it (“Realists and Naturalists”).

One of the best examples of naturalism is Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat”. In

this story, Crane shows us a Universe totally unconcerned with the affairs of human

kind (Voegele). Voegele states that in the story the characters come face to face with

this indifference and are nearly overcome by Nature’s lack of concern. The characters

survive through persistence and cooperation (Voegele). The story opens with four men,

known simply as the captain, the oiler, the correspondent, and the cook, stranded in the

ocean in a small boat (Crane 57-8). Crane shows in the beginning nature’s lack of

concern for the group’s tragedy: “The birds sat comfortably in groups, and they were

envied by some in the dingey, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was

to a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland” (Crane 60). The characters in

“The Open Boat” come to realize that the only way to survive in nature is though

sympathy and concern for other human beings (Voegele). Crane reveals this to us in

through the character of the correspondent (Voegele). Crane tells us that he had been

taught to be cynical of men, but his shared tragedy with the other three men on the boat

forced him to form a comradeship that goes beyond mere associations (61). “The Open

Boat” gives us a dose of reality that starts off bitter but gradually conjures up emotions

and in the end stands a testament to the human spirit (Voegele).

The next literature “ism” is the most difficult to define. The beliefs of

existentialism are that mankind has free will, life is a series of choices that create

stress, few decisions are without any negative consequences, some things are

irrational without explanation, and the one the makes the decision must follow through

on, his or her, decision (“Existentialism: An Introduction”). Existentialism is typically

thought to be have brought about by Kierkegaard (“Existentialism- Phenomenology”).

Kiekegaard was a critic of the Christian churches of his day, which he felt contributed to

the forgetfulness of “existence” (Existentialism- Phenomenology”). By “existence”

Kiekegaard meant that the human being was cast into an unfinished world and the

individual was responsible for his or her choice (“Existentialism- Phenomenology”).

Kiekegaard believed that human beings had the free choice, and the choice was made

in the face of the unknown and lead to recognition that one’s choices our one’s own,

despite the fact that one can never know for certain whether these choices will bear out

in the end (“Existentialism- Phenomenology”). “Kiekegaard held great contempt for

those who relied on the “crowd” to take responsibility for individual choice”

(“Existentialism- Phenomenology”). According to Kiekegaard, one must answer to God

as an individual, apart from the crowd (“Existentialism- Phenomenology”). Some

well-known thinkers that helped establish this brand of thought were Freidrich

Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Karl Marx (“Existentialism- Phenomenology”).

The are certain characteristics that all existentialist share. They are that they are

obsessed with how to live one’s live and believe that philosophical and psychological

inquiry can help (Corbett). They believe that all human beings must answer questions

about their existence such as about death, the meaning of life, the place of God in

existence, the meaning of value, interpersonal relationships, and the place of self

relective conscious knowledge of one’s self in existing (Corbett). Existentialists believe

that life is very difficult and it does not have an “objective”, and that the individual must

create value by affirming it and living it, not talking about it (Corbett). Existentialists

often find that literary characterizations rather than more abstract philosophical

thinking; are the best way to show existential struggles (Corbett). Existentialists take

free will as absolute common sense (Corbett). Sometimes there are arguments for free

will in Existentialism literature, but those arguments are for the “outsiders”, because the

“insiders” do not even think twice about free will (Corbett).

One of the best examples of existentialist literature is Fyodor Dostoevsky’s

Crime and Punishment. In most of Dostoevsky’s work, the philosophical ideas of

existentialism are done in an indirect manner through unfolding the destinies of his

characters (Gallagher). Crime and Punishment’s main character, Raskolnikov starts out

to test his existentialist “superior man theory” (Gallagher). According to Raskolnikov, all

men are divided into two categories ordinary and extraordinary (Roberts 69). The

ordinary man can do nothing but produce his own kind he is inferior (Roberts 69). He

has to live in submission and cannot break the law because he is and will always be

ordinary (Roberts 69). According to Raskolnikov, the extraordinary men have the to

commit any crime and to break the law because they are extraordinary (Roberts 69).

They are extraordinary men because they are able to forge civilization onward to new

heights of achievements (Roberts 69). According to this theory, since these

achievements benefit all mankind, an extraordinary man has the inner right to decide

whether or not to overstep the law or any other obstacle that stands in the way of his

idea (Roberts 69). Raskolnikov thinks he is a extraordinary man, so he murders the

pawnbroker lady to see if he has the courage to break the law (Gallagher). He ends up

being tortured with guilt and repenting and gladly being sent away to a prison in Siberia

(Gallagher).

In conclusion, the four essential classifications of literature are very broad and

easy to define. The bidding force throughout time, literature, will live on through many

generations.

15bc

Campbell, Donna. “Naturalism in American Literature.” Literary Movements. 14 January

1999. 9 December 1999

—. “American Realism.” Literary Movements. 23 August 1999. 9 December 1999

Corbett, Bob. “What is Existentialism.” My Philosophy Page. March 1985. Webster

University Philosophy Department. 15 December 1999

Crane, Stephen. “The Open Boat.” The Open Boat and Other Stories. Dover

Publications, 1993. 57-77

“Existentialism: An Introduction.” Christopher Scott Wyatt: Home Page. 7 October 1999.

14 December 1999

“Existentialism- Phenomenology.” Mythos & Logos. 23 December 1998. 9 December

1999

Gallagher, Jay. “Dostoevsky as Philosopher.” Lecture Notes, Philosophy 151. 12 March

1999. UCDavis Philosophy Department. 15 December 1999

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. “The Chambered Nautilus.” 1858. Oliver Wendell Holmes

(1809-1894). 13 December 1999

Holman, Hugh, and William Harmon. “Romanticism.” A Handbook to Literature, Sixth

Edition. Ed. Ann Woodlief. 24 October 1998

Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Raven.” 1845. 9 December 1999

”Realists and Naturalists.” Mr. Kilmer’s Home Page. 3 October 1998. 13 December

1999

Reuben, Paul P. “Chapter 5: Late Nineteenth Century – An Introduction.” PAL:

Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. 15

December 1999

Roberts, James L., ed. Cliffs Notes on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Lincoln,

Nebraska: Cliffs Notes, 1963.

VanSpanckeren, Kathryn. “The Rise of Realism: 1860-1914.” Outline of American

Literature. United States Information Agency. 9 December 1999

—. “The Romantic Period, 1820-1860: Essayists and Poets.” Outline of American

Literature. United States Information Agency. 9 December 1999

—. “The Romantic Period, 1820-1860: Fiction.” Outline of American Literature. United

States Information Agency. 9 December 1999

Voegele, Jason. “Naturalism in ‘The Open Boat.’” Essays and Opinions. 15 December

1999

Works Cited

Campbell, Donna. “Naturalism in American Literature.” Literary Movements. 14 January

1999. 9 December 1999

—. “American Realism.” Literary Movements. 23 August 1999. 9 December 1999

Corbett, Bob. “What is Existentialism.” My Philosophy Page. March 1985. Webster

University Philosophy Department. 15 December 1999

Crane, Stephen. “The Open Boat.” The Open Boat and Other Stories. Dover

Publications, 1993. 57-77

“Existentialism: An Introduction.” Christopher Scott Wyatt: Home Page. 7 October 1999.

14 December 1999

“Existentialism- Phenomenology.” Mythos & Logos. 23 December 1998. 9 December

1999

Gallagher, Jay. “Dostoevsky as Philosopher.” Lecture Notes, Philosophy 151. 12 March

1999. UCDavis Philosophy Department. 15 December 1999

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. “The Chambered Nautilus.” 1858. Oliver Wendell Holmes

(1809-1894). 13 December 1999

Holman, Hugh, and William Harmon. “Romanticism.” A Handbook to Literature, Sixth

Edition. Ed. Ann Woodlief. 24 October 1998

Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Raven.” 1845. 9 December 1999

”Realists and Naturalists.” Mr. Kilmer’s Home Page. 3 October 1998. 13 December

1999

Reuben, Paul P. “Chapter 5: Late Nineteenth Century – An Introduction.” PAL:

Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. 15

December 1999

Roberts, James L., ed. Cliffs Notes on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Lincoln,

Nebraska: Cliffs Notes, 1963.

VanSpanckeren, Kathryn. “The Rise of Realism: 1860-1914.” Outline of American

Literature. United States Information Agency. 9 December 1999

—. “The Romantic Period, 1820-1860: Essayists and Poets.” Outline of American

Literature. United States Information Agency. 9 December 1999

—. “The Romantic Period, 1820-1860: Fiction.” Outline of American Literature. United

States Information Agency. 9 December 1999

Voegele, Jason. “Naturalism in ‘The Open Boat.’” Essays and Opinions. 15 December

1999