During the Romantic era, many Americans responded positively and enthusiastically to writers' thoughts about the connection between humans and the rest of nature. What is Americans' relationship to nature today? What would Thoreau, Emerson, and the Fireside Poets say about the ways in which Americans tend to interact with our natural surroundings? Identify two examples from modern American life that show how connected (or disconnected) we are to nature in the ways described by the American Romantics. Then select one quote from an American Romantic writer that relates to each of your examples. Explain how the quote relates to the example. Is the example evidence of a strong Romantic connection or a weak Romantic connection to nature?