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1. He published The Sketch Book which was a collection of essays and stories, including “Sleepy Hollow,” under the name of Geoffrey Crayon in 1820. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Spain. He published historical autobiographies including one on Christopher Columbus. Washington Irving 1783-1859 Most famous for his stories: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” “Rip Van Winkle” The Salamagundi Papers (collection of essays) A History of New York (written under the name Dietrich Knickerbocker)
2. “The Devil and Tom Walker” Archetypal plot – a basic storyline that serves as a frame for stories across time and cultures This work is said to be based upon the Faustian archetype – someone who “sells his or her soul” for personal gain What connections can you , make between this work, Faust, and current works/history?
3. Imagery This work effectively uses imagery to drive the tone of the work as well as to support characterization. Find at least 2 examples of how Irving uses imagery to drive the mood of the work? What statements is Washington Irving making about women? the slave trade? the Puritan attitude? money lenders? What is ironic about Tom’s mix of the bible and business at the end of the work?
4. Who are the Romantics? *the chance for more aristic freedom, expression of creativity, and experimentation! Romantics rejected the neoclassical love of reason and classical forms; they admired nature, emotion, and imagination. Romanticism first emerged in Europe in the late 18th century with writers who looked to nature for inspirtation. Romantics celebrated emotions and the imagination! They were rebelling in a sense against Puritanism and the Age of Reason. Inspiration came from Jean Jaques Rousseau...
5. Jean Jacques Rousseau The high priest of Romanticism was Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Rousseau's mother died at his birth, and his father raised him with no discipline and very little education. Rousseau grew up in beautiful, rural Switzerland, which taught him to love nature; however, thanks to his irresponsible father, Rousseau never learned self-discipline, nor did he have any patience with external controls. Rousseau never could tolerate any discipline, which can be seen in all of his writings, which are celebrations of the joys of radical individual freedom. Rousseau has been called the father of the Romantic movement because his "enthusiasm for nature and his appeal to the emotions ...opened the way for...the Romantic... [movement].... His ideas stimulated or inspired..." many other writers. (Ergang, 641) "Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains" Rousseau wrote in 1762. He thought that civilization fills "man" with unnatural wants and seduces him away from his true nature and original freedom. Rousseau is credited with the idea of the "Noble Savage" who is uncorrupted by artifice and society.
6. William Cullen Bryant Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant -James Fenimoer Cooper called Bryant the "author of America" -He was quite popular in his time and schoolchildren often had to recite this poem at home -His first poem was published when he was 13 - "The Embargo" - satirized the policies of Thomas Jefferson -Did not have a happy childhood, but found solace in nature which comes through in Thanatopsis -This poem was written when he was only 18 years old -He was the editor-in-chief of the New York Evening Post until his death
7. “Thanatopsis” _"Thanatopsis" is written in blank verse - unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter. Also makes use of enjambment-one line ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its meaning Let's look at the structure of "Thanatopsis" - what is the central idea of each section? Is this a poem about life or death? What impression is the reader left with?
8. Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: 1807-1882 -he was a child prodigy -argued that a poet should "take his subjects from nature and not from books" 1847-published "Evangeline" a book-length poem about what would now be called "ethnic cleansing." The poem takes place as the British drive the French from Nova Scotia, and two lovers are parted, only to find each other years later when the man is about to die. -His wife died by fire in a tragic accident in 1861 -When Walt Whitman heard of the poet's death, he wrote that, while Longfellow's work "brings nothing offensive or new, does not deal hard blows," he was the sort of bard most needed in a materialistic age: "He comes as the poet of melancholy, courtesy, deference—poet of all sympathetic gentleness—and universal poet of women and young people. I should have to think long if I were ask'd to name the man who has done more and in more valuable directions, for America."
9. Oliver Wendell Holmes Oliver Wendell Holmes: 1809-1894 -physician AND poet His poem, “Old Ironsides,” save d the USS Constitution from destruction meter- repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry - foot - unit of meter - has one stressed syllable and either one or two unstressed syllables What tone is employed in "Old Ironsides"? What adjectives/images come to mind after reading this poem?
10. John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier - 1807-1892 -devoted abolitionist who wrote for abolitionist newspapers and magazines -founded the Liberty party in 1840 and ran for Congress in 1842 -he became the most popular of the Fireside poets -many of his works focus on an idyllic view of rural life and an aversion to slavery Notice how Whittier uses figurative language and imagery to create an atmosphere and tone in his poem "Snow-Bound"
11. James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell - 1819-1891 -opposed slavery, the Mexican War, and corruption in politics -served as editor of The Atlantic Monthly -elevated the vernacular to a medium of serious artistic expression What is the message behind “The First Snowfall”? What does it depict?
12. Ralph Waldo Emerson Let's look back at Emerson: 1803-1882 -one of the most influential writers in American history -not necessarily a star student, but he was a leader of the transcendentalist leader -very good friends with Henry David Thoreau and published his works in his magazine -one of the founders of the transcendentalist magazine, The Dial -started out as a Unitarian minister but left the ministry after the death of his wife -formed the Transcendental Club with Henry David Thoreau and Marget Fuller and others
13. “Self-Reliance” "Self-Reliance" True/False: "To be great is to be misunderstood." "Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string."
14. “Nature” "In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child." "I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God." "Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in man, or in harmony of both."
15. Henry David Thoreau -great friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson -champion of the human spirit against materialism and conformity -published 2 books: Walden and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers -He was also a poet, but felt that poetry was too "confining" -his writings, particularly "Civil Disobedience," have influenced great leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi Walden... "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." -what does it mean to live deliberately?
16. Walden "We are determined to be starved before we are hungry." "Time is but a stream I go a-fishing in." I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is." "How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity." "However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names."
17. Margaret Fuller Margaret Fuller: 1810-1850 -the daughter of a prominent lawyer and Congressman -was a teacher -served as editor of The Dial -wrote the essay "The Great Lawsuit. Man versus Men. Woman versus Women" in which she called for women's equality -she became a foreign correspondent for the the New York Tribune -died as a result of a tragic shipping accident along with her husband and young son -Thoreau was sent to the coast of New York to search for lost manuscripts and other remains from the shipwreck, but none were found
18. “Woman in the Nineteenth Century” "Woman in the Nineteenth Century" "This self dependence, which was honored in me, is deprecated as a fault in most women. They are taught to learn their rule from without, not to unfold it from within." What are her thoughts on a “manly mind”?