Romantic Era - Team 7 Period 3

During the Romantic Era, the subject shifted to a secular view of the common man. Henry David Thoreau, considered one of the greatest contributors to American literature, focused his writing around the non-religious aspects of man. Instead, Thoreau stressed the identity of man and the wonder of nature. In his essay, Civil Disobedience, Thoreau focuses on the differences between moral and immoral. This piece of literature also set the foundation for peaceful/nonviolent protesting, inspiring people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. William Blake is famous for his work both in poetry and in art. His creative and philosophical work portrayed hostility towards religion and focused around the influences of the American and French Revolutions. In his poem Milton: a Poem, Blake wrote about his opinions on authority. In a highly controversial piece of work, Blake argues that a soldier who committed treason should not be punished. This poem focuses on the common man in the realm of who one answers to. Victor Hugo was a French humans rights activist and writer. Hugo is the famed creator of Les Misérables, a play following the redemption of ex convict Jean Valjean. The play focuses around justice and moral philosophy of a common man who must prove that he is a changed man. Hugo portrays his point of over coming difficulties as it applies to all people regardless of religion, through the play. The works of Thoreau, Blake, and Hugo are able to convey points that affect the common man without religious undertones.