1.
1. “Thanatopsis” page
87
2. “Hamatreya” page
100
3. “The Snowstorm” page
102
4. “Give All to Love” page
106
5. “Concord Hymn” page
118
6. “Telling the Bees” page
127
7. “The Slave Ships” page
137
8. “The Christian
Slave” page 141
9. “
10. “A Psalm of Life” age 144
11. “The Wreck of the
Hesperus” page 145
12. “The Sound of the
Sea” page 152
13. “The Children’s
Hour” page 156
14. from “Evangeline” page
162
15. “Hiawatha’s Fasting” page
163
16. “Paul Revere’s
Ride” page 171
17. “The Raven” page 185
18. “The Bells” page 191
19. “Annabel Lee” page 198
20. “Ballad of the
Oysterman” page
201
21. “The Chambered
Nautilus” page
202
22. “Salmon Brook” page
218
23. “My Life Has Been
the Poem” page 220
24. “Any Fool Can
Make a Rule” page 220
2. Vocabulary:
1. Bravado: A show of bravery or
defiance, often intended to make an impression or mislead someone.
2. Brogue: A
strong dialectical accent, especially a strong Irish or Scottish accent in
English.
3. Brusque:
Abrupt and curt in manner or speech; discourteously blunt.
4. Byzantine:
Highly complicated; intricate and involved.
5. Cacophony:
Jarring, discordant sound.
6. Camaraderie: Goodwill and lighthearted rapport between or
among friends; comradeship.
7. Capricious:
Characterized by or subject to whim; impulsive and unpredictable.
8. Carte blanche: Unrestricted power to act at one’s own
discretion; unconditional authority.
9. Catch-22: A
situation in which a desired outcome or solution is impossible to attain
because of a set of inherently contradictory rules or conditions.
10. Caustic:
Incisively critical or sarcastic; cutting.
3. Writing: Your
next essay will be an exploration of American Romanticism. The essay will begin by defining the movement
and discussing its characteristic elements.
It will discuss two of the authors or poets that we have read, giving
relevant information about their lives, educations, and historical
context. Your thesis will focus the
paper on a single salient part of the topic: i.e. a religious view, a philosophical
attitude, a political movement, etc. (2,000 words; due February 19).
In
order to write an intelligent and informative paper, you will consult at least
four outside sources of information, not including Wikipedia. You will follow MLA guidelines for
documentation. Papers that are submitted
without in-text parenthetical notes and works cited pages will receive a grade
of F, regardless of brilliance.
Your
outline, thesis statement, and introduction are due Thursday, January 31. The Works Cited page and at least 10
note-cards are due on Tuesday, February 5.
A completed rough draft is due on Thursday, February 14 (happy
Valentines Day!).
Step by Step to an Essay!
Your topic is American
Romanticism, a shift in thinking and expression that characterizes the literature
and art of the early 19th century: from approximately 1800 to 1860,
or the beginning of the Civil War. It
corresponds to the same philosophical shift in
The authors and poets we
have been reading and enjoying for the last three months are representatives of
this movement: Hawthorne, Melville,
Whittier, Poe, Emerson, and Thoreau are just a few of the many American
Romantics. Yet although they are all
classified as “members” of this school, their ideas are unique, sometimes even
in conflict with each other. Indeed,
some of these people would have denied any significant connection with some of
the others.
As you will discover in
your research, there are a number of common characteristics that can help us
identify Romantic writing. For example,
the Romantic thinkers tended to be optimistic about Man and his potential—they
appreciated the moral and intellectual power of individuals to follow their
“inner light” to discover Truth and reform society. They also tended to focus on the individual
rather than institutions—hence, they believed that it was more reasonable to
search for God in solitude and in communion with Nature than within the walls
of a church. As a matter of fact,
combine their respect for Man and their distrust of institutions, and find the
common (but not universal) sense that God is everywhere in every man—a sort of
intellectual pan-theism.
Another tendency of the
romantics is to trust imagination and intuition more than intellectual
discourse and proof. This was, perhaps,
a response to some excess of the Enlightenment—and a fascination with the
mysterious writings of the East, newly translated and available to Western
scholars. Interestingly, the waves of
revival in Christianity, from Wesley to Finney, also emphasized the
individual’s emotional engagement with God.
Very interesting—too vast for us to resolve here!
So look for an emphasis on
Nature, on emotion, on common people, and also on the past. The romantics typically idealized “the good
old days” of chivalry and virtue. They
incorporated elements of folklore, native languages, and folk music in their
writing and art. And not only the past,
but also children were “romanticized” by these writers. Wordsworth, the British poet credited with
“inventing” much of this trend in poetry, in his poem, “My Heart Leaps up When
I Behold,” said, “the child is father of the man.”
When I think of my Romantic
favorites, though, the quality that comes first to my mind and that draws me
back to their writings again and again is their passionate desire for depth and
their unresolved, persistent inquiry after Truth. When you have read these writers—and re-read
them—think back on their conclusions.
You are likely to remember the many questions, and the few final,
dogmatic answers. Think about it—is
Hester redeemed? Is
In your essay, you will
focus on some element of Romanticism that is interesting to you and on two
writers, philosophers, religious figures, reformers, musicians, or artists
whose work involves it. Your paper will
explore and define the elements of Romanticism, giving specific examples from
literature and commenting on them. (599
words)
Where, oh where, do I look
for information??? The world is full of
information about this period of history.
Here are some places to hunt:
~Look into the index of a good book of American history for
any of the following topics:
romanticism, the Second Great Awakening, Transcendentalism, Brook Farm,
Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Fireside Poets…
~Open a good high school or college anthology of
American literature (go to the library!)
The Norton Anthology is the very best.
Again, consult the index. Read
the essays that introduce the sections on Romanticism and the individual
writers.
~Go to the internet and enter the same terms into
your search engine. When you find an
article, ascertain whether the author of the article is reliable and
scholarly—you will probably find some great essays on college and university
websites or on the websites of English professors. Remember that you can not trust information
that does not identify a reliable source!
& Invest
in a package of 3x5 index cards on which to record your notes. Each card will become the repository for the
following tidbits:
1) The name of the source
(indexed to your Works Cited List).
2) The page
number where the information is to be found (if there is one)
3) The topic
on your outline to which this information applies.
4) One bit of information, in your own words, abbreviated.
& Organize the cards in the
order in which they correlate to your outline.
Add index cards to indicate the outline topics. Put them into a cute little box for
safe-keeping.