The Pioneers By James Fenimore Cooper

In the nineteenth century, the foundation of American literature had a massive change. This was the change to Romance or Romanticism. The big change was not by one person, but with several people involved. With many contributions of famous writers such as Irving, Cooper, and Bryant composed the stories and poems which all used Romanticism in their own unique ways.

In “The Pioneers” by James Fenimore Cooper, Cooper displays romanticism by creating a connection between humans and nature. Cooper’s goal with this story was too show that settlers displayed the carelessness of their society towards the wilderness. harming the wilderness and everything that lives in it. For example in “The Pioneers” he writes,“It is much better to kill only such
you want, without wasting your powder and lead, than to be firing into God’s creatures in such a wicked manner.” (267) The character stresses the importance of respecting the land and disgraces the greed and selfishness of mankind. The error of Mr.
Le Quoi was not noticed by the Sheriff; and the rest of the party were yielding to the influence of the changeful season, which was already teaching the equestrians that a continuance of its mildness was not to be expected for any length of time. Silence and thoughtfulness succeeded the gaiety and conversation that had prevailed during the commencement of the ride, as clouds began to gather about the heavens, apparently collecting from every quarter, in quick motion, without the agency of a breath of air. (Cooper PG. #261)
Between dialogues, Cooper writes large amounts of text dedicated to only describing the wilderness and trying to make the reader envision beautiful nature. This description of the landscape exaggerates the peacefulness and naturalist sense of the wilderness. This shows Cooper’s contrast of the giving, natural and serene wilderness against the greedy
society.

“Thanatopsis”, by William Cullen Bryant, is a very romantic poem about the relationship between man and nature. Bryant’s purpose for this poem is to spread his belief that at the last hours of life man is joined with the Earth and when that last hour is over man will join all those who have passed before him. Reading the first two lines of the poem it is inevitable that this poem is romantic in nature. “To him who in the love of Nature holds – Communion with her visible forms.”(Lines 1/2) Bryant personifies nature in this poem by referring to it as a “she”. Bryant uses this technique to “connect” the reader to the Earth, as it is much easier to relate to something as if it were human than nature. As the poem continues Bryant brings out more of his romantic ideas. “Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim – Thy growth, to be rolv’d to earth again..”(Lines 23/24) In this quote Bryant expresses his feelings that when life is over man will return to earth and become part of it once again. Bryant used romanticism to get his reader more involved and into the story to make it seem more traumatic.

Irving displayed romanticism in both his stories, “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, Washington Irving paints a picture of his characters in great detail.
In Rip Van Winkle, Rip is described as a “simple good natured man, a kind neighbor, and an obedient hen-pecked husband.”(275) In “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, Irving describes Ichabod Crain as being “tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. (286) He uses romanticism in which he exaggerates the characters and their characteristics, making readers picture a more vivid
image.

Each writer uses Romanticism in their own unique way, whether to exaggerate a personality, nature, or connect you to the story. Romanticism was made into a movement by many people, but the most interesting ones are Cooper, Irving, and Bryant in which they use Romanticism in their novels.