Explaining the American Renaissance Paper - Essay Example

an appendage to Europe was too much to bear and Emerson in a belligerent Phi Beta Kappa Address at Harvard in 1837 boldly declared "We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.” (Emerson, Aug 31, 1837) This clarion call for breaking the shackles opened the floodgates of American writing which for the first time transcended the boundaries of utilitarian, political, and spiritual writing (which had till then been the dominant nature of American output) and metamorphosed into true literature.

All American writing however was not utilitarian, political or spiritual before the advent of Emerson and his group of Transcendentalists located at Concord, Massachusetts. American literary scene had eminently powerful exponents in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Lowell who in their own way were depicting the nuances of American psyche. But these gentlemen, and a few more similar to them, were steeped in European culture and what they were attempting was in effect to pour the American experience in a European mold to obtain something which had American flavor but European form.

Lowell, in particular, in Harvard Commemoration Ode (1865) was at his creative best. The problem which these intellectuals faced was the absence of a European backdrop in American countryside. There were no Rolling Meadows or Lake Districts to foster creative juices of these authors, and above all, there were no legends or tales of grandeur, glory or tragedy that had formed the canvas of many a European masterpiece. This absence of a familiar environment perhaps forced Edgar Allen Poe to import an Italian backdrop to add necessary weight and flavor to one of his creations.

A reaction to this overdependence on Europe divorced from the realities of America was waiting to happen and took shape in the form of American Renaissance. The credit of coining the term “American Renaissance” goes to F. O. Matthiessen who used this new