Fireside Poets

The fireside poets consisted of many different writers of the 1800's.  The most popular of these being Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell ("The Fireside Poets" 210).  These men got their title from the idea that people would sit around the fireplace in their houses to read different stories and poems written by these men (The Fireside Poets" 210).  Thus the name fireside poets came to be.  As the term grew more common more and more poems were written.

This type of poetry, when compared to the Rationalism time period, was a lot more romantic and made up.  Rationalist, also called Deist's, wrote based on logic and facts, while the fireside poets wrote in a more romantic and feelings based style.  The fireside poets wrote about family activities, relationships, love, religion, and more.  The Rationalist wrote about logic and reasoning and things that always made sense.  The fireside poems were a lot more interesting to me because they talked about things that had room for imagination to take control and determine where the story was to go unlike the Rationalistic poems didn't.  The Rationalism time period and writing style was more for educational purposes and the learning of facts and information.  One of the main Rationalist was Benjamin Franklin, who would seem like he was a joking man with a good sense of humor, but we will never know because he didn't write about his feelings.  He was strictly professional and wrote only about boring, dry topics.  The fictional stories are always the interesting ones that tend to be enjoyed the most because there is adventure and imagination.  It makes your brain think and reenact different scenes out in your brain.  Most of these being things that aren't able to happen in real world situations and can only happen on paper.

The two different styles are definitely different in many ways, but are both important to our nations history.  They are both enjoyed for their different reasons and are liked by different kinds of people.  I personally am enjoying the fireside poets more because I have a huge imagination that can really be put into effect during these poems and stories.  I also think that the fireside poems make you think about the story and the real meaning behind them a lot more.

From a writers standpoint, I feel that the Rationalism poems would have been a lot harder to write because you had to know the information and make it all work out.  Personally, I wouldn't be able to stand myself if I was a Rationalism writer because its too dry and boring.  When we did the section in English over this time period, it was extremely hard for me to continually pay attention.  Now, I like to get into the discussions and understand these poems more.  I think that realizing what the real meaning behind the fireside poems is easy, its just take the effort to try to analyze the poem and figure it out.

"The Fireside Poets." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 210-211. Print.