ENGLISH FINAL
Thanatopsis (William Cullen Brytant)
"Thanatopsis" starts by talking about nature's ability to make us feel better. The speaker tells us that nature can make pain less painful. It can even lighten our dark thoughts about death. He tells us that, when we start to worry about death, we should go outside and listen to the voice of nature. That voice reminds us that we will indeed vanish when we die and mix back into the earth. The voice of nature also tells us that when we die, we won't be alone. Every person who has ever lived is in the ground ("the great tomb of man") and everyone who is alive will be soon dead and in the ground too. This idea is meant to be comforting, and the poem ends by telling us to think of death like a happy, dream-filled sleep.
"The Gilded Six-Bits" Zora Neale Hurston
"The Gilded Six-Bits" begins with a snapshot of Eatonville and the house where Missie May and Joe live. When we're first introduced to Missie May, she's bathing herself in the tub. She realizes it's getting late and that her husband, Joe will be home soon: "Joe gointer be heah 'fore Ah git mah clothes on if Ah don't make haste." (6) Before she can get her slippers on Joe comes home and they play fight, a ritual that takes place every Saturday. After some cute roughhousing, Joe cleans up and they sit down for a spread of southern goodies. Joe announces he wants to take Missie out for ice cream, a new place run by a rich, northern African-American man, "Mister Otis D. Slemmons, of spots and places." (35) Like a school kid with a crush, Joe can't stop talking about Slemmons. Joe and Missie go to the ice cream parlor several times and Missie happily plays trophy wife. Unfortunately, the story takes a disastrous turn when Slemmons starts chasing after her, promising money in exchange for sex. One night after getting off work early, Joe discovers his wife in bed with Slemmons and his happy home turns sour. Joe becomes cold and distant, until he realizes Missie is pregnant. Of course, the question is, who's the daddy? Not until the end do we find out and when we do, we're able to breathe a huge sigh of relief—and so can Joe.
Gothic
-characterized by elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom,
To build a fire by Jack London
A man travels in the Yukon (near the border of current day Alaska) on an extremely cold morning with a husky wolf-dog. The cold does not faze the man, a newcomer to the Yukon, who plans to meet his friends by six o'clock at an old claim. As it grows colder, he realizes his unprotected cheekbones will freeze, but he does not pay it much attention. He walks along a creek trail, mindful of the dangerous, concealed springs; even getting wet feet on such a cold day is extremely dangerous. He stops for lunch and builds a fire. The man continues on and, in a seemingly safe spot, falls through the snow and wets himself up to his shins. He curses his luck; starting a fire and drying his foot-gear will delay him at least an hour. His feet and fingers are numb, but he starts the fire. He remembers the old-timer from Sulphur Creek who had warned him that no man should travel in the Klondike alone when the temperature was fifty degrees below zero. The man unties his icy moccasins, but before he can cut the frozen strings on them, clumps of snow from the spruce tree above fall down and snuff out the fire. Though building a fire in the open would have been wiser, it had been easier for the man to take twigs from the spruce tree and drop them directly below on to the fire. Each time he pulled a twig, he had slightly agitated the tree until, at this point, a bough high up had capsized its load of snow. It capsized lower boughs in turn until a small avalanche had blotted out the fire. The man is scared, and sets himself to building a new fire, aware that he is already going to lose a few toes from frostbite. He gathers twigs and grasses. His fingers numb and nearly lifeless, he unsuccessfully attempts to light a match. He grabs all his matches--seventy--and lights them simultaneously, then sets fire to a piece of bark. He starts the fire, but in trying to protect it from pieces of moss, it soon goes out. The man decides to kill the dog and puts his hands inside its warm body to restore his circulation. He calls out to the dog, but something fearful and strange in his voice frightens the dog. The dog finally comes forward and the man grabs it in his arms. But he cannot kill the dog, since he is unable to pull out his knife or even throttle the animal. He lets it go. The man realizes that frostbite is now a less worrisome prospect than death. He panics and runs along the creek trail, trying to restore circulation, the dog at his heels. But his endurance gives out, and finally he falls and cannot rise. He fights against the thought of his body freezing, but it is too powerful a vision, and he runs again. He falls again, and makes one last panicked run and falls once more. He decides he should meet death in a more dignified manner. He imagines his friends finding his body tomorrow. The man falls off into a comfortable sleep. The dog does not understand why the man is sitting in the snow like that without making a fire. As the night comes, it comes closer and detects death in the man's scent. It runs away in the direction of the camp, "where were the other food-providers and fire-providers."
Why did Realism come about?
A reaction against Romanticism - rejected heroic, adventurous, or unfamiliar subjects • The harsh reality of frontier life and the Civil War shattered the nation's idealism
Realism
A riveting poem about a man's descent into madness.
Southern Gothic
After the real horrors of the Civil War, the Gothic tradition lost its popularity. During the 20th century, it made a comeback in the American South. A genre of Southern writing. The stories often focus on grotesque themes. While it may include supernatural elements, it mainly focuses on damaged, even delusional, characters.
Literature of Discontent
Along the lines of Naturalism, the social problems of this period were seen as a force to deal with. • Many groups, from women to freed slaves, started expressing their discontent with the way things were. • They started addressing these issues in their writing. Writing about what was wrong with society. It was a way of criticizing the wrongs of society.
Thoreaus Solitude
As the chapter opens, we find the narrator has seemingly forgotten the railroad incident and is once again in ecstasy. He feels so much in harmony with nature that he declares that he is "a part of herself." The evening is so "delicious" and his sense of oneness with nature so great, that he can barely express himself: "Sympathy with the fluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes my breath." His belief that the melancholy thoughts stirred by the owls' notes would eventually give way to happiness is confirmed. His present bliss proves that "there can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature, and has his senses still." At this moment of spiritual fulfillment, when "every little pine needle expanded and swelled with sympathy, and befriended me," the narrator recalls an ironic statement of his townsmen: "I should think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially." Having been fulfilled by the "sweet and tender" society of nature, the narrator finds this statement to be almost laughable. Since nature offers a contentment not to be found in the human society which the townsmen think so important, he feels justified in giving a sharp response to this idea. What is the sense in living next to the depot, the barroom, the meeting house, or the grocery? What great value is there in rubbing elbows with other men? He has found that "society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are." As the willow sends its roots in the direction of nourishment, so does the spiritually minded narrator; and his spiritual nourishment is not to be found in Concord, but in the "perennial source of life," nature. In the gentle, benevolent, revitalizing company of nature, loneliness is an irrelevant concern. He feels so much a part of nature that to ask him if he is lonely is like asking the loon in the pond, a January thaw, the north star, or Walden Pond itself if they are lonely.
Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Concerned initially with how we reflect on solitude, the stars, and the grandeur of nature, this chapter turns from the universal world, symbolized in the stars that Emerson views at night, and focuses on how we perceive objects around us. Emerson speaks of the landscape in which he walks and how he, as a poet, can best integrate all that he sees. What is most important in this sequence is the similar ways we perceive the various objects — stars, the landscape, and the poet. Emerson's gazing at stars is an example of nightly rediscovering the eternal — making each experience new — and continues the theme of progress from the introduction. Added to this theme is a second one, the theme of accessibility. Using stars as symbols of the universe, Emerson states that we take stars for granted because they are always present in our lives, no matter where we live. However, although they are accessible because we can see them, they are also inaccessible: Their distance from us makes them more elusive than we might imagine. Emerson then moves from commenting on the faraway stars to discussing the immediate landscape around him. Creating a bond between stars and the landscape, he furthers the theme of a chain linking everything in the universe. Just as stars are accessible to all who will take the time to gaze at them, so too is the everyday landscape around us. Recalling the farms he sees while walking, Emerson encourages us to perceive nature as an integrated whole — and not merely as a collection of individual objects. He distinguishes between knowing who owns various farms and being able to see a unified landscape vista, of which the farms form but a single part. Claiming that the person who is most likely to see the whole of things is the poet, Emerson differentiates between the poet and other people: The poet, he says, is one of the few people who can see nature plainly, not superficially, as most of us do. In order for us to see nature plainly, we must cast off old ways of seeing. Here, again, the theme of casting off is present: Instead of the theories and the past ("the dry bones") that Emerson said needed to be discarded, the person who yearns to see with new eyes must cast off years like a snake sheds its skin, revealing the child within. A child, Emerson says, accepts nature as it is rather than manipulating it into something it is not, as an adult would do. Emerson states that when he himself stands in the woods, he feels the Universal Being flowing through him. This notion of the Universal Being, which he identifies with God, is what many readers identify as transcendentalism. Every object in nature, including each human, partakes of this animating life force; through it, all objects in nature are linked. However, Emerson suggests a paradoxical relationship when he writes, "I am nothing. I see all." Finding oneself only by first losing oneself is a recurring — and puzzling — theme in much transcendental thinking. We must read many of Emerson's ideas symbolically rather than literally, and, above all, we should remember the importance of his message and not get sidetracked by the images he uses to communicate his ideas. Finally, Emerson returns to the key idea in the poetic line of Plotinus: Nature does not have a personality that it alone devises. Humans, he says, who are paramount over nature, grant to it human characteristics we perceive it to have.
How did the events in Emily Dickson's life shape how she wrote?
Dickinson was brought up in a very politically active family but was a very timid girl. She became a recluse in her 30's and never married. During family events she would, "pass through the rooms, silently curtseying and saluting right and left, and sweep out again." She would rush away when any visitors would visit. She stayed aloof when she was dying and when she needed medical attention.
A rose for Emily
Faulkner's most famous, most popular, and most anthologized short story, "A Rose for Emily" evokes the terms Southern gothic and grotesque, two types of literature in which the general tone is one of gloom, terror, and understated violence. The story is Faulkner's best example of these forms because it contains unimaginably dark images: a decaying mansion, a corpse, a murder, a mysterious servant who disappears, and, most horrible of all, necrophilia — an erotic or sexual attraction to corpses. First published in the April 1930 Saturday Evening Post, "A Rose for Emily" was reprinted in These Thirteen (1931), a collection of thirteen of Faulkner's stories. It was later included in his Collected Stories (1950) and in the Selected Short Stories of William Faulkner (1961). Most discussions of the short story center on Miss Emily Grierson, an aristocratic woman deeply admired by a community that places her on a pedestal and sees her as "a tradition, a duty" — or, as the unnamed narrator describes her, "a fallen monument." In contrast to the community's view, we realize eventually that Miss Emily is a woman who not only poisons and kills her lover, Homer Barron, but she keeps his rotting corpse in her bedroom and sleeps next to it for many years. The ending of the story emphasizes the length of time Miss Emily must have slept with her dead lover: long enough for the townspeople to find "a long strand of iron-gray hair" lying on the pillow next to "what was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt" and displaying a "profound and fleshless grin." The contrast between the aristocratic woman and her unspeakable secrets forms the basis of the story. Because the Griersons "held themselves a little too high for what they really were," Miss Emily's father forbids her to date socially, or at least the community thinks so: "None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such." She becomes so terribly desperate for human love that she murders Homer and clings to his dead body. Using her aristocratic position to cover up the murder and the necrophilia, ironically she sentences herself to total isolation from the community, embracing the dead for solace. Although our first reaction to the short story might be one of horror or disgust, Faulkner uses two literary techniques to create a seamless whole that makes the tale too intriguing to stop reading: the suspenseful, jumbled chronology of events, and the narrator's shifting point of view, which emphasizes Miss Emily's strength of purpose, her aloofness, and her pride, and lessens the horror and the repulsion of her actions.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
He also used Gothic elements in his work to express what he felt were essential truths ! Instead of looking at the mind for its dysfunction, Hawthorne examined the human heart under conditions of fear, vanity, mistrust, and betrayal.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
His union involvement leads Jurgis to learn English and to discover politics. Mike Scully is the democratic boss of Packingtown. Scully and his men encourage immigrants like Jurgis to become naturalized citizens and to vote in the local elections. Jurgis and others are shown how to vote and are paid to vote the democratic ticket. Through Scully and the elected politicians, Jurgis learns of the graft and corruption running rampant in Packingtown, which is far greater than the scams he has encountered at the factory. From his co-workers Jurgis hears about some of the most outlandish practices, and with his own eyes he observes the variety of afflictions particular to specific tradesmen. The worst scenario takes place at the fertilizer plant — a place no visitor ever sees because of the stench of the place and its workers — where occasionally a worker falls in and it is impossible to fish him out, so he becomes part of the finished product.
Naturalism
It is more pessimistic than Realism, primarily. • The Naturalist writers believed that larger forces were at work: Nature, Fate, and Heredity. • Their writing was inspired by hardships, whether it was war, the frontier, or urbanization. (depicted real people in real situations like realism, but believed that forces larger than the individual - nature, fate, heredity - shaped individual destiny)
How does Edgar Allan poe show gothic writing
Known for incorporating elements of horror and mystery, and became the master of Gothic form in the United States. His settings that featured dark, medieval castles and decaying ancient estates. The characters in his writings were either male and insane, or female and dead. His plots included murder, live burials, physical and mental torture and retribution from beyond the grave.
How is Thanatopsis a piece of Romantic Writing?
One of the elements of Romanticism is imagination. One of the main ways imagination is illustrated is simply in the concept of Mother Nature, and that she speaks to people. Another would be, when referring to Earth, it mentions "the tribes that slumber in its bosom", talking about all the people who have ever died and saying that they now sleep bellow us. Nature is another important element of Romanticism. Mother Nature is referred to first when it mentions "nature" and "her visible form". Mother Nature actually speaks the majority of the poem. Other times where nature is referred to are when it talks about going "forth, under the open sky", as well as "Earth and her waters". Common people are also an important element of Romanticism. Common people are pretty much the target crowd of the whole poem. This is evident in the part where it says "thou shalt lie down with patriarchs of the infant world—with kings, the powerful of the Earth", basically telling the common man that when he dies, it is the same as when someone of a higher class dies.
Transcendentalism
Overview: -similar elements as Romanticism -When discovering God, universe, and self, one must transcend everyday human experience -believed in a higher reality than that achieved by human reasoning and suggests that every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth through intuition -reaction against increasing industrialization
Romanticism
Overview: Reaction against the Ge of Enlightenment 1. embraced the individual -human impulse and intuition 2. Interest in the common person -people are good 3. Imagination -create the world in the mind -creativity is valued over logic 4. Awe of Nature -inspired people, rather than the fear of God -It will teach us truths -we are all connected with natural world.
Regionalism
Regionalism is all about "local flavor" or "local color." • "Local Color" means a reliance on minor details and dialects. • They usually wrote about the South or the West. • More often than not, these stories were full of humor and small-town characters.
What characteristics did Poe's writing have ?
Settings that featuring Dark, medieval castles Decaying ancient estates " Characters that are Male—insane Female—beautiful and dead (or dying) Plots that include Murder Live burials Physical and mental torture Retribution from beyond the grave
Why did realism succeed?
The Industrial Revolution - economic, social, and political changes that took place in post-war life allowed American Realism to succeed
The Cast of Amontillado (Edgar Allan Poe)
The story begins with the narrator Montresor explaining that a man called Fortunato has wronged him a thousand times over, but his insult is the final blow that has provoked his vow to revenge. He continues to assure us that he has given Fortunato no insight to the fact that he is plotting to kill him, and he plans to use Fortunato's knowledge of wine to lure him to his death. Montresor continues to narrate his encounter with Fortunato at a carnival. He explains that Fortunato is dressed as a jester, in a striped outfit and a jester hat with bells. Fortunato is also very drunk, and he greets Montresor 'with great warmth.' Very quickly, Montresor entices Fortunato to come to his home to see the pipe of Amontillado that he has acquired. A pipe is just a word for a barrel. Keep in mind; this is quite a large amount of Amontillado. Montresor tells us that his servants are away from the house for the night, so they have the house to themselves. Montresor's home is large, and according to the details, we can assume it's been in the family for quite some time. When they arrive, they go into the catacombs via a winding staircase. Catacombs are underground passages that are often places where the dead are buried. In this case, these are the catacombs of the Montresors. Remember, Fortunato is very drunk, and he begins coughing. Montresor says he is concerned for the man's health and offers him more drink. At this point, Fortunato is getting a bit goofy, jingling with all of his movements, and accuses Montresor of not being a mason. Montresor says he most certainly is a mason and shows him a trowel, which is like a small, somewhat-flattened shovel. When they reach the most remote area of the catacombs, they find a smaller crypt that is lined with human bones. From there, they see a recessed area, about four feet deep, three feet wide, and seven feet high. Fortunato continues into this crypt with Montresor's urging him into the smaller space. Poor Fortunato is so drunk that he is confused as Montresor chains him to the area. Fortunato is still asking for the Amontillado while Montresor brings in stone and mortar. However, once Montresor starts building a wall at the entrance of the small area, Fortunato sobers up quickly. Montresor describes the sounds he hears as he builds, the jingling of Fortunato's bells and the clanking of the chains. Once the wall is about half-way up, Fortunato begins screaming, and Montresor mocks him. Fortunato calms, and says, 'A very good joke indeed,' probably with his last bit of hope. Montresor humors him for a moment, but soon Fortunato realizes it's not a game. He screams, 'For the love of God, Montresor,' and Montresor repeats his words. There is silence. Montresor, who wants Fortunato to continue to beg, becomes impatient and calls out to Fortunato, trying to provoke him. The man does not respond. In hopes of getting Fortunato to respond in some way, Montresor throws a torch into the only open area left. He hears the tinkling of bells. He says his 'heart grew sick' but only on the 'account of the dampness of the catacombs,' and he finishes building the wall. Then he says the events happened fifty years prior. He concludes his reminiscence with 'rest in peace.'
Rip Van Winkle
The story of Rip Van Winkle was found among the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker, an old gentleman from New York who was especially interested in the histories, customs, and culture of the Dutch settlers in that state. It is set in a small, very old village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains, which was founded by some of the earliest Dutch settlers. Rip lived there while America was still a colony of Great Britain. Rip Van Winkle is descended from gallant soldiers but is a peaceful man himself, known for being a kind and gentle neighbor. His single flaw is an utter inability to do any work that could turn a profit. It is not because he is lazy—in fact, he is perfectly willing to spend all day helping someone else with their labor. He is just incapable of doing anything to help his own household. He also is well-known for being an obedient, henpecked husband, for Dame Van Winkle has no problem shouting insults into the neighborhood and tracking him down in the village to berate him. All the women and children in the village love him and side with him against his wife, and even the dogs do not bark at him. Indeed, when he tries to console himself and escape from Dame Van Winkle, he often goes to a sort of philosophical or political club that meets on a bench outside of a small inn. Here the more idle men actually gossip and tell sleepy stories about nothing, every once in a while discussing "current" events when they find an old newspaper. Nicholaus Vedder is the landlord of the inn and the leader of the group. He never speaks but makes his opinions clear based on how he smokes his pipe. Even here, Van Winkle cannot escape from his wife, who berates everyone for encouraging his idleness. His indolence is probably to be blamed for his farm's bad luck, so Dame Van Winkle has more than a little cause to berate him—which she does, morning, noon, and night. As the years pass, things continue to get worse, and his only recourse is to escape to the outdoors. His one companion in the household is his dog Wolf, who for no good reason is just as badly treated by the petticoat tyrant Dame Van Winkle. On one trip to the woods, Van Winkle wanders to one of the highest points in the Catskills. Fatigued from the climb, he rests, and soon the sun has started to set. He knows he will not be able to get home before dark. As he gets up, he hears a voice call his name. A shadowy figure seems to be in need of assistance, so he approaches the man, who looks very strange. He is short and square, with thick bushy hair and a grizzled beard, dressed in the antique Dutch fashion. He asks Van Winkle for help climbing higher with a keg. They reach an amphitheatre in the woods, where a collection of similarly odd-looking men are bowling, which makes the environs sound like it is thundering. Although they are involved in pleasurable pursuits, they are silent and grim. The man starts to serve drinks from the keg and gestures to Van Winkle to help. He eventually takes a drink for himself. It tastes delicious, and he goes back for more and more until he is quite drunk and lies down to pass out. When he wakes up in the morning, he is anxious about what Dame Van Winkle will say about his late return. He reaches for his gun but finds that it is now rusty and worm-eaten—perhaps the men tricked him and replaced his gun. Wolf also is gone and does not respond to Van Winkle's calls. He gets up and feels quite stiff. When he tries to retrace his steps, the amphitheatre appears to have become an impenetrable wall of rock, and some of the natural features of the area have changed. Van Winkle returns to the village but recognizes nobody, which is strange for a small village, and he notices that everyone is strangely dressed. They look surprised to see him, too, and he realizes that his beard has grown a foot longer. The children hoot at him and the dogs bark. The village itself has grown larger. He begins to think he must be going crazy, for the natural scenery is the only thing that is recognizable. The flagon must have made him lose his mind. At his house, he finds it in complete disrepair and abandoned. His wife and children are not there. The inn where he used to meet his friends has disappeared, and where there used to be a picture of George III there is now one of a certain George Washington. The new group of people at the new hotel there is full of completely different people, and their discussions are more argumentative than he remembers. The crowd asks him questions, especially about what political party he belongs to. He is confused and says he is still a loyal subject of the king. They declare him a traitor and a Tory. When he says he has just come looking for his friends, they tell him that Nicholaus Vedder has been dead for eighteen years and Van Bummel is now in Congress. Rip Van Winkle becomes still more distressed and confused when he asks if they know Rip Van Winkle and the townspeople point out a different lazy-looking man. He begins to think he is crazy. A familiar woman approaches, and he finds out enough to decide that she is his daughter. She explains that her father went out with his gun one day twenty years ago and was never heard from since. Rip Van Winkle tells everyone that for him it has only been one night, which makes them think he is crazy, too. The one piece of good news is that Dame Van Winkle recently passed away. Peter Vanderdonk, the town's oldest inhabitant, vouches for Rip Van Winkle and says that he has heard tales passed down about the ghosts of Hendrick Hudson and his men appearing once every twenty years; they bowl and keep a guardian eye on the region that Hudson explored. The tale seems to fit with Rip's experience. Rip goes to live with his daughter, who is married to a cheerful farmer. He lives much happier than he ever was with Dame Van Winkle. Also, he is now old enough for his idleness to be socially acceptable, and he returns to the hotel and is again well-loved in the village. He eventually learns about the Revolutionary War and everything else that has passed, but the only yoke of government that he cares about having thrown off is that of Dame Van Winkle. Knickerbocker closes the story with an impassioned declaration of its veracity on personal examination. He also gives a brief history of the magic and fables associated with the Catskills, suggesting that even the Indians tell of similar experiences in the area in their own stories and myths.
What is the raven about and how does it shows Edgar Allan Poe's life?
This poem is about a man that is mourning the death of his lover Lenore. During this time he hears someone knock on his door. He goes to open the door but notices that no one is there. He expects that it's just the wind blowing on the window but when he opens the window a raven comes flying through. This raven is unique because it only responds to the narrator's questions with "never more." He then feels that the angels have approached and angrily calls the raven an evil prophet. After this the narrator gets mad and demands the raven to leave him alone but the raven says, "nevermore." The narrator then feels that his soul will, "never more" leave the raven's shadow. As seen by Edgar Allan Poe's writing, he incorporates many dark elements and is consequently known as a gothic writer. His poems contain dark elements such as, dark settings, characters that are insane or dying, and morbid plots. In the setting of this poem, the narrator is mourning his lover's death by reading a book on a bleak December night. The main character of this story quickly goes from sad/depressed to insane. Poe's life is reflected in this poem due to the fact that Poe grew up sad and depressed due to the fact that both of his parents died and that he couldn't attend the college of his choice, but later in life went insane. In this poem, Edgar Allan Poe wanted to convey people's true insanity within.
How does Whitman's, "I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing" reflect Transcendental literature?
Whitman's poem, "I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing," is centered on companionship and isolation as he describes a tree that he notices in Louisiana. In the poem, he makes it clear that everyone has a need for companionship as he says, " Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near/I know well I could not." The difference between people and nature is shown when the speakers notes that although the tree is completely isolated and alone, it still produces beautiful leaves without any companionship. He adds that humans require companionship to feel creative, happy and in order to get things done. In the beginning part of the poem, the reader is shown how the speaker is relating the trees life to his own by describing the trees 'rude' and 'lusty' look. Furthermore, the poet is again showing how much he is in awe at the memory of the tree 'uttering joyous leaves' in its isolation. The speaker of the story realizes that his motivation comes from his companions such as friends and lovers and that humanity can never be happy on his own like the tree. It is through his companions that the speakers' will to utter their leaves is rose from. This deep reflection on the behavior of humans by observing nature emulates the main element of Transcendentalism that states nature illuminates the soul. Through the observation and reflection on nature, the speaker grows to have a better understanding of his own self, his soul is illuminated. "I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing" conveys themes of nature and humans' need for companionship.
Walt Whitman
a highly influential American poet and a key member of the transcendentalist movement
How is Emily Dickenson's writing gothic ?
became known as a gothic writer because she lived as a recluse, secluded from society but wrote about the outside world.
Naturalism Characteristics
characters: - usually ill-educated or lower-class - lives governed by the forces of heredity, instinct, passion, or the environment - the criminal, the fallen, the down-and-out Themes: - Survival (man against nature, man against himself) - Determinism (nature as an indifferent force on the lives of human beings) - Violence
American Realism
literary movement that developed towards the end of the Civil War and stressed the actual (reality) as opposed to the imagined or fanciful
Realism characteristics
objective writing about ordinary characters in ordinary situations; "real life" • Character is more important than action and plot; complex ethical choices are often the subject. • Characters appear in their real complexity of temperament and motive; they are in reasonable relation to nature, to each other, to their social class, to their own past. Class is important; the novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of an insurgent middle class. • Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of- fact.
