AP English III Semester 1 Final Exam Galbreath

Yezierska and Wharton both

- Criticized the constraints of class - Rejected the expectations for women of their time - Created a new voice in American literature

naturalism

- Description of nature and man (pessimistic) - Focused uncontrollable forces of nature and how they shaped life • Desired to portray it as realistic as possible and therefore seemed scientific and detached. • Attempted to analyze human behavior objectively • Believed that human behavior is determined by heredity and environment (no free will, life is a losing battle).

What happens in each instance of Regional Realism presented by Twain, Chopin, and Chestnut?

- We hear the voice of someone we would not ordinarily meet in his or her own language - We experience the passions of someone from a specific place in America - We learn a little bit more about a particular place in America

The writers of social realism feel American culture is healthy if it is

- always changing - not static - dynamic

After the Civil War, America became a predominately

- industrial society - urban society - consumer society

Through regional realism, readers encountered, perhaps for the first time, the

- rhythm of the South - culture of the South - contradictions of the South

The authors during this time after the Civil War and during the Gilded Age responded to economic and social contrasts of the period by

- using realism in their writing - investigating the causes of the disparity between the haves and have nots - using specific and true to life detail in describing life in America

According to the video, the rumor is when Stowe met with a famous political figure from the Civil War era, he said, "So here is the little lady who started this war." Who was the political figure

Abraham Lincoln

Twain's "Fennimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" is compared what other work?

Declaration of Independence

Why was Chopin's writing "dangerous"?

It was about discontent in domestic relationships and marriages

In Douglas's slave narrative, he indicated that it was "Written by himself." According to the video, why is this significant?

It's proclamation that he is literate and fully human.

Why is Wharton considered to be the classic modern writer?

She is both inside the privileged social class and outside it

According to the video, what work of fiction ignited the abolitionist movement?

Uncle Tom's Cabin

In the Regional Realists attempt to define what it is to be American, what is the question that is consistently asked?

What is it that makes us who we are?

After the Civil War, the American writers were coming from

a different part of the country

For the people who had been in power in the South, reconstruction was viewed as

a disaster

The three authors Twain,Chopin explored divisive national issues through

characters who spoke in the dialects of their regions

The Gilded Age, multifaceted political climate, and immigration patterns of the period caused a

chasm between those with money and those without

According to the video, slave narrative often begin with the line "I was born" to

emphasize their humanity

Yezierska's goal in writing was to

explain immigrant people to the rest of America

In social realism, the writers open doors to their worlds to

expose inconsistencies and inequalities of American society

According to the video, Douglas's

humans held in bondage in a country founded on freedom

According to the video, one of the paradoxes of Uncle Tom's Cabin is that

it is an antislavery novel that retains the racist imagery of the 19 century

Mark Twain took his pen name from a phrase

marking the edge of dangerous waters for river boats

According to the video, Douglas uses first person in his narrative to

put him on equal footing with his audience

Social realism in literature is

representing the realities of the world from the point of view of social conscious and with the ultimate goal of social action

According to the video, as Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her fictional story, what was her emotional state?

sadness

According to the video, Douglas used his own life story to illustrate why a particular American ideal should apply to himself and all slaves. What was that ideal?

self-made man

According to the video, one of the most influential books Douglas read taught

the art of persuasion

According to the video, in her slave narrative, what was Harriet Jacob's real dream?

to be with her children in a home of her own

Per the video, Wharton often portrays the men in society as

victims of society similar to women

Chestnut's character Uncle Julius illustrates that although the common African American may sound like a deep South slave, he is

wise and subversive as any man

"Concord Hymn"

• "Un-Emerson-es". • 1st stanza: literal setting. "Fired the shot heard round the world": aphorism; wanted to break that silence (revolution). • 2nd stanza: figurative. Bridge: 1) connection between Britain and America; 2) memory of the event which was starting to fade away. • 3rd stanza: literal. Votive stone: monument so that our grandchildren will know these sacrifices. • 4th stanza: Spirit inspired these heroes to fight; asks time and nature to go easy on the monument so that these memories don't disappear.

"The Story of an Hour"

• 2 reversals: 1. Mrs. Mallard cried of happy tears after hearing her husband's death; 2. Mrs. Mallard died of heart failure when her husband showed up at the door well and alive. • Sparrows: represent freedom. • Monstrous joy: scary side of feeling happy about husband's death. • Someone had been living her life. • "She was drinking in the very elixir of life": ironic because she dies soon later. • "She died of heart disease—of joy that kills": dramatic irony.

transcendentalism

• A branch of romanticism. • Transcend: to go beyond; to overcome. • The belief that human beings are able to leave their bodies behind and find the Truth as they transcend the physical world. • The belief that man has to commune with nature in order to understand emotions and find God. • Rely on oneself and never rely on an authority. • Over soul (Divine Soul): all people are its reflections and have access to it by intuition.

Declaration of Independence

• A government document written by Thomas Jefferson, it declares to the world the official effort to break away from British rule and the formation of the new nation. • Etc. The colonists' attempts to alert their British brethren to the situation have been ignored. No other recourse remains except to declare independence. • Text organization: problem/solution, lists. • Parallelism.

Narrative of the Life

• Abolitionists demanded a realistic portrayal of slavery using sentimentality to sway readers' emotions. • Inexpressibility of slavery; fellowship; emotional power of captivity; metaphor of the chosen people (Exodus, Moses). • Equated literacy with freedom: creates ideal image of American American slave intellectually free to get educated and pursue. • Realism: description of slavery. • "A representative could not be prouder...": sarcasm. • "...mere hear these songs": frustration. • Inexpressibility: so horrible that no words can describe, can't understand until you live it.

Nature

• Adults are corrupted by society and education and therefore can't see it for the depth that it truly is. • Nature is personified: Nature gives truths. • Nature reflects people's mood,and vice versa. • In nature, all egotism (basic awareness of self) vanishes; one becomes a transparent eyeball to find the truth; one encounters a transcendental experience: not part of the earthly world anymore. • "Man is the dwarf of himself": nature reflects all elements of man. • "At present, man applies to nature but half his force": only half a person because he only uses intellect but misses the spirit/soul. • Man's relation to nature is through the understanding (intellect) not intuition. • Instead of working, we should stop being overly busy and appreciate nature. • "So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes": eyes of one's soul.

the Great Awakening (cultural connection)

• An American religious revival during the 1730s and 1740s. • Promoted an intensely personal and emotional involvement in religion, or evangelist,. • Religious services were characterized by fiery sermons about the power of faith and redemption but all the sinful nature of humanity and the terrors of hell. • Developed in response to the Age of Reason/Enlightenment. Leaders of the revival hoped to counter its teachings, encouraging people to rely on God and the Bible for direction, not human reason. • William Tennant: Presbyterian minister who held religious revivals throughout NJ and PA with his sons and founded a seminary that later became Princeton. • Jonathan Edwards: A congregationalist minister from Massachusetts who was known for instilling fear and guilt in his followers. • George Whitefield: an English Methodist minister who traveled through the American colonies from 1739 to 1741, preaching dramatically and theatrically. His popularity throughout the colonies helped unite the various denominations and strengthen the evangelical cause. • Followers of this movement made the first real efforts to abolish slavery and to initiate other humanitarian cause. They also founded a number of colleges and academies (Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth).

William Cullen Bryant

• Born in MA, moved towns because of a plague caused by the Industrial Revolution. • At 13, published the Embargo: savage attack on Jefferson. • Studied law and began to read English literature. • At 31, moved to NYC and became editor in chief of Evening Post at 35, for which became well known. • Religious conservatism: rejected Puritanism and Deism. • Joined the democratic party and supported Unitarian and Humanitarian causes. • Helped translate Greek epic poet Homer's works. • Perfectionist: took long time to edit his own works. • Participated in Central Ceremony honoring Italian Patriot Giuseppe Muezzin(?).

Henry David Thoreau

• Born in MA. • Was diagnosed with TB and quit college for a while. • Believed in human conscience. • Worked at father's factory. • Emerson was his mentor. • Ideal: to express in his word independence and abolitionism. • "Civil Disobedience": government is unjust. • Walden: experience at Walden Pond.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Born in MA; studied at Harvard. •Sailed to Europe and met Thomas Carlyle, who helped shape his philosophy; distrust in democracy; romantic thinker. • Became known as "Sage of Concord." • First contact with non-western world came from exotic merchandise. • Nature (1836): first book. • Poetry: recurring themes; harsh and didactic.

Abigail Adams

• Born in Massachusetts to a Congregationalist minister. Mostly self-taught. • Married to 3rd cousin John Adams at 19. • 2nd FirstLady when John was elected in 1797, (first residents in the White House). • Son John Quincy Adams became 6th president. • Nationalism pushed people to write and express at her time. • All her works are in letter form. Helped and advised her husband through letters. • Her works provide an archive that reflects the evolution of a marriage in the Revolutionary era.

Thomas Jefferson

• Born in Virginia, began going to boarding school at 9. Went to William and Mary College. • One of the best lawyers. • Member of Virginia House of Delegates; fought to end primogeniture. • Governor of Virginia during Revolution. • 3rd president. • Was raised Anglican, but valued reason more than faith; deist. • Advocate for church-state separation. • Supported religious freedom and freedom to bear arms. • Life and Morals of Jesus (Jefferson Bible): Christ was a moral teacher, his teachings rather than his miracles should be the center of religion

Phillis Wheatley

• Born in W. Africa and brought to Boston as a refugee slave of John Wheatley. • Was educated with the Wheatley children. • Influenced by John Milton, Thomas Gray, and Alexander Pope. • Poetry was very influential; encouraged others like her (to be competent). • Poetry does NOT reflect Puritanism, but rather the Elizabethan era.

Benjamin Franklin

• Born in a family that wasn't wealthy in Boston. Learned to read early. • Deism. • Apprentice to brother James. • Founded the 1st public library in 1731. • Signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which ended the Revolutionary War.

Edith Wharton

• Born into a wealthy family, traveled and studied under a governess. • Writing was frowned upon in the upper class; without her husband's support, she continued to write. • First woman to win Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. • Gilded Age: post Civil War, period of American expansion in business, art, etc. • Crafted the psychological realism of her characters. • The House of Mirth: women were considered ornamental. • The Age of Innocence: exposes materialistic society.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

• Born to a strick Calvinist. • Attended Harvard and further rejected Calvinism but accepted Unitarian ideals. • Part of the Age of Conversation. • Atlantic "breakfast-table" essays: noted mental thinking as internal conversation. • "Old Ironsides": dedicated to U.S.S Constitution; because of this poem, the ship was preserved. • "The Chambered Nautilus": compares (sea)shell to human development. • "The Last Leaf": young boy says he will be different when he reaches old age; (written inspired by Boston Tea Party).

Thomas Paine

• Born to the Quaker father. • Wet to America with the help of Franklin in 1774. • Common Sense: freedom from England; creation of a democratic republic. 1st advocate for freedom from England. • American Crisis: written during the Revolution; George Washington was inspired by it and read it to his army. • The Rights of Man: begins with a letter to Washington; supports the French Revolution; moved back to England.

Jack London

• Born to unmarried mom who died of illness soon; was taken care by an ex-slave (mother figure). • Wrote during the gold rush. • "Survival of the fittest"

Prayer to the Pacific

• By Leslie Marmon Silko. • Reflects themes from her Native American heritage, including the relationship between humans and nature and the tensions of living within different cultures. • Structure • Sensory • Sea turtles

James Rusell Lowell

• Came from a prominent British family. • Studied law but had little interest in it, therefore turned to poetry. • Inspired by Maria White (who later became his wife). • Abolitionist: many anti-slavery works. • Satirist; lots of humor. • Editor of Atlantic Monthly. • Not considered a popular writer at the time of his death because his works were considered too hard to read. • A Year's Life: first volume.

Song of Myself

• Celebrates himself. • Creeds (religion) and schools (education) should be set aside so we can go back to nature. • Trippers and askers keep us from engaging nature. • He is outside of all that of society but observes on the side. • "What is the grass?": his disposition; sign of God; grass emerging out of the earth (tomb) and child emerges out of the past; symbolic language; hair of graves. • "There is really not death": the dead are not coming back, but their atoms are somewhere alive. • "To die...is luckier." • "Not contained between my hat and boots": not contained in his bodily being; dynamic and every shifting. • Indiscriminant love. • Addresses the reader to reveal their true self and that they cannot shake him off. • Connection to Emerson's "Rhodora": finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. • Elaboration technique. • He can understand animals and nature because he is made of atoms.

"The Second Inaugural Address"

• Contrasts, trips, parallelism. • Justness of war. • Sermon structure (religious revival): sin, sacrifice, redemption. • Both parties advocated slavery, so God stepped in to punish this sin.

Much Madness (Emily Dickinson)

• Criticizes people that conform to society. • Lines 1&3: inversions; paradoxes (madness and sense contradict each other) • Divinest: to a higher understanding/power. • Much sense = starkest madness: people who are conformed to society are bare and empty. • Connection to Emerson's "Self-Reliance": "To be great is to be misunderstood." • Capitalized the words she wanted to emphasize and used dashes to make the reader stop and think.

Speech in the Virginia Convention

• Delivered on March 23, 1775 by Patrick Henry during a time of growing political tension in the 13 colonies, this speech argued that war was the inevitable outcome of "the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged." • An example of political rhetoric (i.e. full of rhetoric questions) • "Give me liberty or give me death!"

Ethan Frome

• Determinism vs. Free Will • Duty/Morality vs. Passion • Work & Progress Hostile Nature

Kate Chopin

• Doubted religion. • New Woman Movement: taking on men's roles. • Community supported both Union and Confederacy. • Adultery, slavery, etc. • Creole: a person born in the New World. • Well received at her time. • Dared to write about the thoughts of women.

Bill of Rights

• During the debate on adoption of the U.S. Constitution, a group of people known as the Anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution on the grounds that it called for a strong federal government. These people claimed that the Constitution could lead to tyranny. To ensure that the Constitution would be ratified by all 13 states, Congress agreed to add a "bill of rights," spelling out limits on the power of the federal government. • Passed by Congress in 1789 and ratified by the states in 1791, it contains the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. 1) Freedom of religion, speech press, and assembly. 2) Right to bear arms. 3) Forbids the housing of soldiers. 4) Forbids unreasonable searches and seizures. 5) Provides for grand juris and protection against self-incrimination. 6) Guarantees a speedy and public trial. 7) Provides for trial by jury. 8) Forbids cruel and unusual punishment. 9) People have rights not contained in the Constitution. 10) Gives to the states powers not delegated to the federal government or the people.

Huswifery

• Edward Taylor wrote this lyric poem, whose title means "housekeeping," to examine God's relationship to humans. • Weaving metaphor.

The Osage Creation Account

• Emphasizes the relationship between nature and people. • Children of the sun and the moon. • Came down to earth, discovered great water. • Animals helped. • The elk's hairs became crops and plants.

realism

• Enraptured pre war and the Civil War. • Reacted to the Romantic period, writing about groups rather than individuals. • Did not embellishing the truth. • Christian hypocrisy, fellowship, truth vs. justice.

Walt Whitman

• Father was a liberal thinker. • Raised as a Quaker but abandoned it. • Finished formal education at 11, taught himself and worked in a library. • Long-Islander: newspaper • Leaves of Grass: collection of poems that impressed Emerson. • Drum-Taps: after volunteering to help soldiers, he wrote about the reality of their lives during the war. • Romanticist, transcendentalist, and realist.

Frederick Douglas

• Father was an unknown white, mother was a slave. • Sophia taught him how to read and write. • Escaped 3 times, once got sent to prison. • Eventually successfully escaped and married Anna Murray in NYC. • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Man: first publication of what slavery is truly like; first person point of view puts him on the same level as the reader. • My Bondage and My Freedom: about his life as a free man and how his experience has changed him • The North Star: 4-page weekly newspaper on abolitionism

"The Rhodora"

• Figurative language. • "Rhodora...spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook": the flower is sort of hidden. • Sages: the not-really-wise wise older people that are stuck in conformity. •"Beauty is its own excuse for being": aphorism,; beauty doesn't need meaning. • "The self-same Power that brought me there brought you": interconnection of human and nature.

A Psalm of Life

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Gives advice on how to live life; every stanza has its unique message. • Aphorisms: short phrases packed all of meaning. (ex. "Things are not what they seem." "Let the Past bury its dead!") • Much more optimistic than Tide. About death, but very different from Thanatopsis. • "Tell me not" (in first stanza): directive - a command. • Dust to dust biblical allusion: rejects this idea (different from Thanatopsis). • Themes: Live a balanced life. Act so that you learn and grow each day (so that you get further than the day before). Make Art (impact) that persists after we die and inspires others. Life is like a battlefield; we are not to just follow, but to act. Live in today, do it now (don't worry about the past, and there might not be a future). Be open to all possibilities and learn to work but also have patience for the result (don't be anxious).

The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. • Theme: nature is indifferent to man, and life is fleeting. • Footprints: archetypal symbol.

I head a Fly Buzz (Emily Dickinson)

• Her ghost telling the story of her death. • In the beginning of the storm/death, the family were crying, but not anymore. • King: God or personified death? • Fly: represents the realistic and physical part of death; it interposed between her and the light and interrupted the calm and spiritual. • Used dashes to represent the unpredictable movement of the fly.

"Letter to Mrs. Bixby"

• Humble, compassionate, proud of his country, religious.

Coyote and the Earth Monster

• In Native American cultures, the tricker is often Coyote, who is clever but not always reliable. • Comes from the Flathead (Salish) tribe, known for their bravery, honesty, and generally peaceful nature. • Oral story • The "canyon" is the monster. • Coyote cuts the monster's insides for the people to eat. • Coyote kills the monster by stabbing its heart. • Coyote had to pull Woodcock out of the dying monster's closing mouth - the reason why it is flat now.

Stanzas on Freedom

• James Rusell Lowell • Addresses the complacent who say they are against slavery but don't do anything to fight it. • Addresses a societal ill to make society better (Victorian). • The American spirit: to stand up for what is right even when society disagrees (seen in the last stanza). • The free men and women aren't truly free because they are bound by society's rules (they are slaves too). • Rhetorical questions feel like personal confrontations.

from The general History of Virginia

• John Smith presents a detailed the often exciting account of events in the Virginia Colony from 1607 to 1609. • In the beginning, many died of starvation. • After Smith was released by Powhatan, the Indians and the British colonists started to trade things.

"The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"

• Mark Twain • Tall Tale: exaggeration, problem, bigger than life, impossible plot (humor), action. • He focused on underclass working men: exploring their culture and opening up this community to the public. • Narrator uses sophisticated Eastern dialect while Wheeler uses a southern dialect. • Frog (green): represents money/greed. • Dramatic irony at the end of story.

Abraham Lincoln

• Married Sarah Bush Johnston, who encouraged him to write. • Studied law • Was elected to Illinois state legislature by the Whig party. • Was elected the 16th president by the republican party. • Emancipation Proclamation (1862): all slaves in rebellious states were freed.

romanticism

• Mid-1800s. • Values feeling and intuition over reason. • Values imagination over reality. • Civilization is bad (and corrupt), nature is good. • Educated sophistication is bad, youthful innocence is good. • Individual freedom is important. • Nature is the way to find God (contradicts Deism). • Progress is bad. • Most settings have supernatural elements. • Poetry is the highest form. • Novelists looked for new subject matters and focused on emotion. • Dramatic ("oh" and "ah"). • Focuses on author's individual experiences. • Most poems are against previous conventions.

Scarlet Letter

• Nathaniel Hawthorne. • No private morality in society (sin of one = sin of all). • Society is hypocritical; Puritans are not that pure. • When outside of society, there is an opportunity to re-evaluate and discover the greater truths. • Individuality: trust the inner voice; self-reliance; self definition.

lyric poetry

• Observed and wrote about everyday life (reality). • Expresses the emotions of the speaker.

Old Ironsides

• Oliver Wendell Holmes. • Victorian: more realistic; very interested in society; very conventional/traditional in structure. • Dramatic monologue: persuasive message. • Balland stanzas: heroic theme. • Sensory details. • Mythological allusions: the harpies, the god of storms. • Main theme: Would rather have the U.S.S. Constitution sink in the ocean than be destroyed.

On Being Brought from Africa to America

• Phillis Wheatley was born in W. Africa, kidnapped at the age of eight, and brought to Boston, where John Wheatley purchase her as a servant of his wife, who taught her to read and write. • This lyric poem expresses Wheatley's gratitude of being introduced to Christianity. • It also focuses on how blacks should be considered equal to all others.

The Navajo Creation Myth

• Reflects the interdependence between Native Americans and their environment. • Begochiddy - main character. • Badger tried to jump onto the curst through the earth hole but broke through - reason why he is black today. • Cyclones blew the wet earth dry. • People were led into this world by the ants. • Begochiddy pulled the bamboo up by the tassel on top and then there it back into the hole, which is why it has no tassel now. • The fourth world - Hahjeenah.

Self-Reliance

• Relish what's ben given to you (what you are). • Thesis: trust yourself; self-reliance is conformity's aversion. • "With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." • "To be great is to be understood": aphorism. • "Let us bow and apologize no never more."

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

• Sermon by Jonathan Edwards that used extended metaphor, strong diction, parallelism, chronological order, etc. to appeal to his audience. • God is the only one holding you over the fiery pit of hell; He could drop you down at any time.

Victorian poetry

• Skepticism; • Distrust of organized religions; • Fascination of the mysterious; • More likely to deny the existence of God; • Themes around nature but not praising it like romantics. • Language: not dramatic (devoid of "oh" and "ah"). • Poets do not tell heir own opinions/experiences but rather stories of the "man in the world." • Focuses on the misery/harshness in life and society (i.e. various issues such as battles, etc.) • Much less optimistic than romanticism.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• Son of the daughter of a Revolutionary War hero. • Studied law. Later studied modern languages in Europe for 3 years and then taught it back at alma mater in America. • Married and soon published Outre Mer. Wife died of miscarriage infection. • Second wife Frances Appleton died in a fire. • Evangeline: epic poem that tells the story of the Acadians. • "Paul Revere's Ride": Paul Revere rode from Boston to Lexington to warn the minutemen. • The Song of Hiawatha: epic poem that tells the story of a god-like hero who brought good fortune to the Natives; (incorporated his Christin faith in this work).

dark romanticism/American gothic

• Still romantic in that emotion is highly values. • Thought that transcendentalists were overly optimistic. • Explored the darker side of humanity (innate wickedness, "social mask", horrors of evil). • Much in common with Puritans: predestination, symbols (in nature). • Drawn to natural settings (ex. medieval forest).

Song of the Sky Loom

• The Tewa (a Pueblo people)'s traditional tribal song that uses the language of weaving to reflect on the natural world. • The earth (Mother) and the sky (Father) as the weavers/creators of the natural world.

from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

• The complete work was written over a period of twenty years. • In the excerpt, he works for his brother as an apprentice, secretly submitting his writings to his brother's newspaper. His brother found out about it and beat him. • Later when his brother is in trouble because the newspaper published a negative article about the government. The newspaper is now under his name. • Uses reason, especially at the end.

"The Gettysburg Address"

• The war is a test of democracy (for the world). • Triple: parallel structure. • Contrast: polar opposites in proximity. • Antithesis: statement that contradicts what the author wants to convey. • Sermon structure. • Persuasion: rhetorical questions, appeal, repetition, figurative language. • Use of "we": unites and puts common ground as people. • Use of "here": draws attention to immediacy (here&now).

"To Build a Fire"

• Themes: Instinct vs. scientific knowledge; chance vs. human error; fighting to survive vs. calm acceptance; power of imagination; indifference of nature. • Symbols: trail = security & certainty; the Boys = unattainable goal & companionship & security; Old Man = bridge between instinct and learned knowledge; the Fire = life & protection (vs. death).

"The Devil and Tom Walker"

• Themes: greed, usury, wealth, religious hypocrisy. • A story of moral instruction: don't get caught up in wealth! • Contemporary events: Civil War, american Indian War (man's inhumanity to man; economic instability) • "About the year 1727, just at the time that earthquakes were prevalent...": nature's instability = social instability. • "They were so miserly that they even conspired to cheat each other": greed. • "It was a dreary memento of the fierce struggle that had taken place in this last foothold of the Indian warriors": American Indian War. • Soot: the Devil was in the fiery pit of hell. • "...he should fit out a slave ship": Civil War. • Usury: economic instability. • Bought big house but didn't put furniture in it, had beautiful carriage but didn't feed the horses: greedy and cheap. • "He became a violent churchgoer": hypocrisy. • "The Devil take me if I have made a farthing!": irony.

"The Minister's Black Veil"

• Themes: hypocrisy of religion; sin; dehumanization of individuality; economic instability. • Contemporary events: American Indian War (genocide); Civil War (slavery). • Future shock: uncertainty of the times. • The minister is the poster child of Puritanism. • During his sermons, the congregation is more affected by his black veil (perception of appearance). The people were surprised by the openness of his sin.

"The Raven"

• Themse: mystery & suspense; unexplainable events; atmosphere-doom,gloom, death; omens; highly charged emotional state; paranoia & denial. • "Perched upon a bust of Pallas": foreshadows that the raven has some kind of wisdom to give the speaker. • Speaker first denied, then he thought maybe God sent the angels with the rate to help I'm forget about Lenore and the sorrows. • Balm in Gilead: biblical reference, is there anything to soothe the pain? • "...throws his shadow on the floor": shadow covering the speaker's soul, the sorrow and grief.

Walden

• Thoreau goes to live in the woods. • Theme: society vs. nature; man and nature are connected; mark of wisdom: beauty in the common.; youth vs. age; Spartan life: simplicity; self-reliance. • People conform to society because they don't think they have any other choices. • Train: metaphor for progress; old people die. • Man is stuck on the bottom: complacency and conformity. • "Spring of springs": sun (warmth); when man feels inspired, he will do things. • "...live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like": without excessive comfort, throw all the worries away and just live (like in the woods). • Get rid of everything, focus on living life rather than the stuff of life. • "A stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose": society needs to return the simplicity as well, then to nature, then a part of the Over Soul. • "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us": if we spend time worrying about today, how will we make progress?

from Poor Richard's Almanack

• Using Poor Richard as a pseudonym, Franklin wrote this annual reference work that published from 1732 to 1757, which was his greatest literary success. Poor Richard was envisioned to be a simple but wise man who lived a pious life in the country. • There are twenty aphorisms in this excerpt, including both familiar and unfamiliar ones.

Stephen Crane

• Visited NYC and wrote about it. • Moved to NYC and worked at NY Tribune. • Wrote about poverty and life in tenement districts. • Greek-Turkish War influenced his writing. • Maggie: A Girl of the Streets: poverty and social conditions; too realistic (first American realistic work).

fireside poets

• Wanted to prove that Americans were just as sophisticated as Europeans. • Looked back at European poetry, thus were the first American poets to be recognized by the Europeans. • Mostly unlike romantic literary; reflects Victorian style. • Style is very traditional; a mix between lyric and ballad; end rhymes; stanzas.

Preface to the Leaves of Grass

• We don't repel but embrace the past. • 6 reasons why America is a poem: 1) Man = cycle of nature (metaphor of growth); 2) Diversity ---> unified; 3) No limits, vastness; 4) Welcoming = heroic; 5) Experimental & outside of society; 6) Push limits, flows; extravagance (big ideas). • Realistic idea with romantic description to tell America's greatness.

from The Crisis, No.1

• When The Crisis, No.1, first in a series of Thomas Paine's 16 pamphlets, was published, General George Washington and his troops welcomed Paines' words of encouragement and inspiration, and Washington immediately read the pamphlet to his troops to lift their morale. • Believes that it is not too late for the Americans to resist British rule and that the Almighty is on America's side.

from Of Plymouth Plantation

• William Bradford began writing it in 1630, 10 years after the settlement. The primary motive for leaving England was to escape religious persecution. • A profane young man died on the ship - God's punishment. • A young man was thrown into sea during a storm, but grabbed the halyards and was saved - God was pleased.

Thanatopsis

• William Cullen Bryant. • Not really romanticized. • Personifies Nature and describes the relationship between her (Nature) and man as almost religious (i.e. Communion). • Uses archaic language to address "thee": more formal. • "You're gonna die sooner or later." • Biblical allusion: dust to dust, ash to ashes. • Elaboration: author introduces an idea and elaborates it through repetition and in-depth discussion (i.e. rejoining the earth: mix with the elements, etc). "Everyone is going to die, and all will go to the same place (a good place)." • One mighty sepulcher/grave/tomb = the earth. • Life and death is a cycle. • Main theme: Don't fight death or be afraid of it. Accept it and be at peace with the fact that it is inevitable.

Victorian hero

• Worldly • Sophisticated and educated • Bent on making a place for himself in civilization (ex. Ben Franklin)

Letter to John Adams

• Written by Abigail Adams to her husband, this letter provides an intimate look at how the wife a leading American statesman of the Revolutionary period felt about and was affected by the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. • It shows that politics and the shape the new nation might take were issues that concerned women of the period, too, not just men. • She reminds John that the wives can easily take over the power in family. • Feminist; points out that women needed freedom as well as the nation.

To S.M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works

• Written by Phillis Wheatley, this lyric poem celebrates the artistry of Scipio Moorhead, a servant to the Reverend John Moorhead of Boston. • The speaker expresses delight at seeing S.M.'s artworks. In her imagination, she and the painter "conspire" in encouraging each other. • She envisions the painter inspired by the muse. • Suggests that when she and S.M. have died, their concerns will be ethereal rather than earthly.

from Common Sense

• Written by Thomas Paine, Common Sense is an essay called the most influential ever written because it galvanized the American colonists' opinion in favor of independence from Great Britain. In 1776, Common Sense was the first publication to call for independence. • Urges his fellow American colonists to support the struggle for independence from British rule. Although going to war should be the last choice, Britain has left the colonists no peaceful means of attaining independence. • "A government of our own is our natural right." • Is worried that there might be some "desperate adventurer" that will try to take over

To My Dear and Loving Husband

• Written in a time when most marriages were arranged based on financial or other practical concerns, Anne Bradstreet's lyric poem expresses the sustaining and transforming power of love, though conflicted with her Puritan faith. • Hyperbole.

romantic hero

• Youthful • Intuitive • Close to nature (ex. Indiana Jones; Star Wars)

According to the video, abolitionist writers not only changed American political history, they also proved the power of the written word

• affect the emotional stance of a culture • inspire action in readers • to promote social change

Slave narratives

• built on emotional power of captivity • used the metaphor of the chosen people delivered out of bondage • used the authority of the bible

According to the video, Stowe used sentimentality in her story to

• inspire the reader to act, to change a situation • feel the pain of slavery • make the reader feel another person's suffering