The Use of Nature and Emotion in Romantic Literature: Readings from Lowell, Holmes, and Irving Anonymous 11th Grade

Romanticism is a literary movement that has been defining American culture for the past 200 years. Romantic literature is characterized by a focus on internal forces, emotion, morality, nature, and fantasy. James Lowell’s, “The First Snowfall”, and Oliver Holmes’s “Old Ironsides”, are examples of romantic poetry. Washington Irving’s, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, is a romantic short story about a man who sells his soul to the devil. These three works exemplify romantic themes of nature, emotion, and fantasy, ultimately presenting nature as being inherently connected to humans on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.

In the poem “The First Snowfall,” nature is comforting a man by giving him a spiritual connection to his dead child. The soft whiteness reminds him of his innocent daughter. The snow is described as gently holding the grave, suggesting that it is comforting the little girl as well, possibly in the afterlife. As the man stands by a window and watches the peaceful environment, the snow is “Flake by flake, healing and hiding / The scar of our deep-plunged woe” (Lowell 272). The scar is the emotional pain he is burdened with, stemming from the death of his young child. Observing the beauty of tranquil nature is...