Colonial period(1765-1790)

1.2 The charasteristics of social aspects in Romantic period.
American Romanticism in its standing against the rational thinking and pragmatic standards of the age of reason produced a huge amount of literary works and master pieces that gave that era specific characteristics. It was a vigorous movement full of distinctive themes like imagination, individuality, nature, even the way they described religion was different as compared with the age of enlightenment as Paul Brians noted in “Romanticism” (1988). The first feature that distinguishes American Romanticism from English Romanticism is "imagination." The American society at the time was undergoing the industrial revolution, and people were living in a period of rapid progress. People began to migrate through major cities, unsure of what would happen next. And as the country developed, cities became "dirtier," prompting people to flee the bad situation they were in. As a result, authors were also affected by the negative consequences of revolution, which was evident in their literary work in the use of escapism in which they could escape their unsatisfying reality into a better world. Characters in American Romantic literature fled civilization and modern life in search of freedom and purity in nature. “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving (1783–1859) is regarded as one of the best examples of an author's use of imagination and escapism. Individualism arose in American works as a result of the Americans' desire to be free of European values. The desire to form their own nation inspired their thinking and writing; they emphasized the value of the person and paid special attention to his interaction with nature. The Romantics also emphasized the significance of following one's own intuition and feeling, which are independent of one's parents' ideas.

1.2 Religious aspects of Romantic Period
In the beginning times of American Literature, Puritan writers evolved into The Age of Reason via scientists and philosophers. Religious ideologies and philosophies influenced how writers portrayed the time period, characters, feelings, and God throughout American Literature. Religious ideologies and philosophies influence literature through Puritan writers. Beginning around 1560, Puritan writers focused their efforts on making their work God-centered. They believed in the “Elect,” and that Jesus died only for a select few. Writers typically used first person narrative and were opposed to verbal ornamentation because they valued simplicity above all else. They also believed that everyone is born sinful and that God's grace is freely given to everyone.
However, by the time of Romantism, attitudes toward religion had also changed. From this point on, a new movement known as “Transcendentalism” emerged as a “faith crisis”. It was a reaction to biblical rules, attempting to replace “ belief in the God of the Bible with belief in the divinity of humanity.” Transcendentalists believe that the individual is “the spiritual and moral center of the universe”. In other words, there was a certain relationship between the individual and the universe, as if each person carries the universe within himself; additionally, just as feelings were at the heart of Romanticism, so was intuition at the heart of transcendentalism, with the belief that only through intuitive experiences could a person be able to know things. Transcendentalists advocated four major philosophical positions. Simply put, these were the concepts of:
Self Relience
Individual Conscience
Intuation over reason
Unity of all things in nature
Transcendentalists go beyond Unitarian beliefs and concentrate on what is spiritual and emotional rather than physical. They believe in “divinity within humanity and nature” and reject common ideas, practices, and organized religion. The impact of transcendentalism on literature may be seen in how authors deal with various subjects such as slavery, social classes, and gender inequality. One of the best examples of works dealing with gender inequality is Margaret Fuller's “ Woman in the Nineteenth Century” (1843). Furthermore, unlike in European Romanticism, the protagonist in American Romantic literature was presented differently. British authors portrayed the hero as an educated, wealthy character with a high social standing. However, American writers portrayed the hero as a common, simple character who is guided by his own emotions, intuition, and feelings. They established a distinct relationship between the story's hero and the reader, causing the latter to become emotionally involved with the former. As an example, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850), the main character Hester Prynne is a simple, poor woman whose husband died in the sea and she committed a sin that brought her shame for the rest of her life. The reader, on the other hand, feels sorry for her and inwardly admires her for her courage in confronting society and standing up to its judgments.Hester is depicted as a character capable of altering reality, which is one of the features that distinguishes the Romantic movements in American literature from writing from other countries.
Another religious change in this period was related to spreading a new movement. During the 18^th century, another movement which known as Gothic was also emerged.It is type of anti-transcendentalist movement which concentrate on subjetivity, the inner life and imagination. The gothic is a literary genre that evokes sensations of mystery, terror, gloom, and suspense. It covers a wide range of topics in fiction and the supernatural realm, including "claustrophobia, atmospheric gloom, and the imminence of violence" in early American writing. This genre is usually filled with death, mystery, and terror. It depicts the dark side of humans and nature; typically, a gothic story or novel revolves around an old creepy castle, with supernatural beings and women in distress.
Such characteristics can be found in American gothic literature, such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, and especially in stories written by Edgar Allan Poe because he grew up in a very bad life situation, which provides him with the right atmosphere that allows him to write very successful gothic stories like "The Haunted Talace," "The Tell- Tale House," and his poem "The Raven."