The American Renaissance

“The American Renaissance”

The American Renaissance period, which lasted from 1876-1917 as most resources suggest, was the starting point of a new sense of nationalism, in which most American intellectuals had gained a sense of pride of their nation. The aforementioned era had witnessed a revival of the Greek democracy, the Roman law, and a cultural and educational reform movement often referred to as Renaissance humanism in the American atmospheres. This American nationalism focused on the expression of modernism, technology, and academic classicism. For instance, Renaissance technological advancements include wire cables supporting the Brooklyn Bridge in the State of New York. The American Renaissance produced major influential literary works from some of the most brilliant minds in United States history, including Ralph Waldo Emerson's the "Representative Man (1850)", Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlett Letter (1850)" and "The House of Seven Gables (1851)," Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," Henry David Thoreau's "Walden (1854)," and Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass (1855)."
The term describing the cultural and literary movement known as the "American Renaissance" was coined in 1941 by F.O. Matthiessen in his book, "American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman." Other scholars criticized the overemphasis on white male authors, which eventually redefined the range of distinguished authors. The narrow exclusivity began to decline later on, while indicating the call of women literary geniuses, such as Emily Dickinson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Margaret Fuller. African-American literature also gained popularity with literary masterpieces by authors like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs.
The American Renaissance period brought major cultural, social, political, and philosophical change. Activists who stood for the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, expansion, and literary experimentalism challenged and opposed those who...