English Midterm Exam Guide
Regionalism
Authors write about a specific region. -Chopin - use of french language -Twain - dialect changes makes you feel like you are in the region.
"I have been the more particular in this description of my Journey, and shall be so of my first entry into that city, that you may in your mind compare such unlikely beginning with the figure I have since made there..... I was very hungry, and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch dollar and about a shilling in copper"
Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: • Describes his rough beginning, but is happy about his growth since then as a successful man - is successful because of the American Dream • Franklin describes himself as the embodiment of the American Dream and this is what his autobiography is mainly about - Opposite of the passage of Rip Van Winkle, when Van Winkle would rather starve off a penny than work for a pound
"By my rambling digressions I perceive myself to be grown old. I us'd to write more methodical. But one does not dress for private Company as for a public ball. 'Tis perhaps only Negligence."
Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: • Franklin claims he is not as good of a writer as he once was • Franklin conveys that this is written between him and his son, but who would think that writing from someone like Franklin would remain private? Franklin is lying and trying to manipulate the reader. This is a performance.
"In order to secure my credit and the character as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in the reality of industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances of the contrary...Thus being esteem'd an industrious thriving young man, and duly for what I bought, the merchants who imported stationery solicited my customs, others propos'd supplying me with Books, and I went on swimmingly." (290)
Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: • Franklin claims people ask for his business because of his hard work and reputation for hard work • Doesn't care about reality, just appearance - he is performing.
"That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induc'd me sometimes to say, that were it offer'd to my choice, I should have no objection to a reputation of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantage authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of the first."
Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: • Franklin states he would only fix a couple things if he lived his life again. Errata such as: o Taking advantage of his brother o Breaking into Vernons money o Cheating on Miss Reed
"The good missionary, disgusted with this idle tale, said "What I delivered to you were sacred truths... You saw that we, who understand and practice those rules, believed all your stories; why do you refuse to believe ours?"
Benjamin Franklin: Savages of North America: • Missionary says you are wrong & we are right • The white man expects understanding and refuses to listen to the other side • The Indians ask why one side has to be the savage
"Sho nuff, when Henry begun ter draw up wid de rheumatiz en it look like he gwine ter die fer sho, his noo marster sen' fer Mars Dugal..."
Charles Chesnutt: The Goophered Grapevine: • Uncle Julius very similar to Uncle Remus • After the civil war, exposure to racial stereotypes would hopefully open the eyes of whites
"There were still other reasons for his popularity. While he was not as white as some of the Blue Veins, his appearance was such as to confer distinction upon them. His features were of a refined type, his hair was almost straight; he was always neatly dressed; his manners were irreproachable, and his morals above suspicion. He had come to Groveland a young man, and obtaining employment in the office of a railroad company as messenger had in time worked himself up to the position of stationery clerk, having charge of the distribution of the office supplies for the whole company. Although the lack of early training had hindered the orderly development of a naturally fine mind, it had not prevented him from doing a great deal of reading or from forming decidedly literary tastes. Poetry was his passion. He could repeat whole pages of the great English poets; and if his pronunciation was sometimes faulty, his eye, his voice, his gestures, would respond to the changing sentiment with a precision that revealed a poetic soul and disarm criticism."
Charles Chesnutt: The Wife of His Youth: • "Blue Veins," is a term that describes racially mixed people (black/white) • The man loves English poetry and aspires to be like the great English poets
"I have no race prejudice," he would say, "but we people of mixed blood are ground between the upper and the nether millstone. Our fate lies between absorption by the white race and extinction in the black. The one doesn't want us yet, but may take us in time. The other would welcome us, but it would be for us a backward step. 'With malice towards none, with charity for all,' we must do the best we can for ourselves and those who are to follow us. Self-preservation is the first law of nature."
Charles Chesnutt: The Wife of His Youth: • The man loves English poetry, and aspires to be part of the cultural level of whites • He believes the "Blue Veins" or mixed blood people are stuck in an awkward situation because they aspire to be part of a higher level of culture, and are stuck leaving the other race behind • A forward step if the upper (whites) takes them, and backward step if the lower (blacks) reel them back in • This was written after the civil war, when many African Americans had hoped that whites had finally opened their eyes about the past and slavery
"On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before." Quoth the raven, ""Nevermore.""
Edgar Allen Poe: The Raven: • Uses repetition -Poe likes to explore the human soul
True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been, and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Harken! And observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story. It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but, once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was not. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye!—yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold: and so, by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.
Edgar Allen Poe: The Tell Tale Heart: • The narrator stalked his prey for 8 nights - because of his eye - narrator is crazy • He calmly tells the story and almost controls himself, but his mind gets the best of him when he thinks about the eye and he had to kill the man. • A change of pace in the second stanza when he mentions the eye
Tell all the truth but tell it slant - Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind -
Emily Dickenson: • Use of dashes leaves reader with options of how to interpret - as well as how to interpret how she is feeling • Many metaphors. (Ex. "Lightning" - God is bowling) • (Ex. "Truth must dazzle gradually" - Ease the harshness of the truth) • There is a surprise in the truth - could be good or bad truth - tell lightly • Internal Difference (Google doc) • Fourteener - Seven beat line
Wild nights - Wild nights! Were I with thee Wild nights should be Our luxury! Futile - the winds - To a Heart in port - Done with the Compass - Done with the Chart - Rowing in Eden - Ah - the Sea! Might I but moor - tonight - In thee!
Emily Dickenson: • What we want to know at the beginning is who is thee? (thee sounds biblical) • Innocence - she is easy going - sailing to anywhere - no worries • Last stanza they are rowing in paradise. Moor- she may tie with something? • Open to interpretation - could be about sexuality • Fourteener - seven beat line
"We have listened too long to the courtly muses of___"
Europe. Ralph Emerson- The American Scholar
You may make my grave wherever you will, In a lowly vale, or a lofty hill; Make it among earth's humblest graves, But not in a land where men are slaves. I could not sleep if around my grave I heard the steps of a trembling slave; His shadow above my silent tomb Would make it a place of fearful gloom.
Francis Harper: Bury Me in a Free Land: • Very emotional and detailed dialogue referring to harsh treatment on slaves • Francis Harper always ends her poems with Slaves, and usually rhymes with "slave" throughout the poem. • Requested rather than asked to be buried in a free land • Not much about the American Dream
"Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slave's point of view. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery — the great sin and shame of America!"
Frederick Douglass: What to the Slave is the 4th of July?: • Cites God, the Bible, past declarations (DOI), liberty, etc. to build credibility • "...sin and shame of America" Identifying sin, not a Franklinian errata. He states that America has sinned, and that they knew what they were doing, wasn't error. • "False to the present," - Douglass calls America out and that we aren't actually getting better • You haven't promised what you said you would. Ties to Phillis Wheatley's "On being brought from Africa to America," when she asks that if they promise blacks a better life, why can't they prove it. American Dream is lost. • Says whites tried to delete the past without apologizing • Even though he is free he takes on the burden of others • Written July 5th, 1852
Fellow Citizens—Pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings, resulting from your independence to us?
Frederick Douglass: What to the Slave is the 4th of July?: • Uses questions to gain attention, lets them know he wants something • Questions eventually get longer to build momentum and credibility - sounds very educated on the subject • Cites and challenges the Declaration of Independence to build credibility • Asks to be separate from the certain Americans (whites) they were once controlled by • Uses "our" to let it be known he is not alone • "National altar" - (Americas center stage) the white American citizens who would hear his question • Written July 5th, 1852
Regional Fiction
GET NOTES
3 employees at Bartleby's office
Gingernut, turkey, nippers
"Yet here I hardly know whether I should divulge one little item of rumor, which came to my ear a few months after the scrivener's decease.... Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!"
Herman Melville: Bartleby, the Scrivener: - Theme of Bartleby: "I'd prefer not to" - Bartleby acts like he owns the place. - Bartleby refuses to take the boss' (narrator) orders and the narrator begins to feel something is wrong with Bartleby - There is an internal struggle for the narrator, does not know how to handle the Bartleby situation - Bartleby ends up dying later on - Moral of the story is that we all have a part of Bartleby in us, that we will all die at some point.
"I am a rather elderly man. The nature of my avocations for the last thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom as yet nothing that I know of has ever been written: I mean the law-copyists or scriveners. I have known very many of them, professionally and privately, and if I pleased, could relate divers histories, at which good-natured gentlemen might smile, and sentimental souls might weep. But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener the strangest I ever saw or heard of. While of other law-copyists I might write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be done. I believe that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography of this man. It is an irreparable loss to literature. Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources, and in his case those are very small. What my own astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, that is all I know of him, except, indeed, one vague report, which will appear in the sequel."
Herman Melville: Bartleby, the Scrivener: • About a lawyer who hires employee • Intrigued by people we don't know - curiosity • Mystery of Bartleby is center of story • Any knowledge of Bartleby is powerful in the story • Theme of Bartleby is "I'd prefer not to." - Bartleby refuses to take the boss' (narrator) orders and the narrator begins to feel something is wrong with Bartleby - There is an internal struggle for the narrator, does not know how to handle the Bartleby situation - Bartleby ends up dying later on - Moral of the story is that we all have a part of Bartleby in us, that we will all die at some point.
"Imagine my surprise, nay, my consternation, when without moving from his privacy, Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, "I would prefer not to." I sat awhile in perfect silence, rallying my stunned faculties. Immediately it occurred to me that my ears had deceived me, or Bartleby had entirely misunderstood my meaning. I repeated my request in the clearest tone I could assume. But in quite as clear a one came the previous reply, "I would prefer not to." "Prefer not to," echoed I, rising in high excitement, and crossing the room with a stride. "What do you mean? Are you moon-struck? I want you to help me compare this sheet here--take it," and I thrust it towards him. "I would prefer not to," said he.
Herman Melville: Bartleby, the Scrivener: • Bartleby lacks emotion - very average human • Repetition of "I'd prefer not to" in this section • "I'd prefer not to" - Bartleby acts like he owns the place • Mystery of Bartleby is the center of the story • Knowledge of Bartleby is powerful • Themes: identity, curiosity - Bartleby refuses to take the boss' (narrator) orders and the narrator begins to feel something is wrong with Bartleby - There is an internal struggle for the narrator, does not know how to handle the Bartleby situation - Bartleby ends up dying later on - Moral of the story is that we all have a part of Bartleby in us, that we will all die at some point.
"The big, low-ceiled room-they called it a hall-was packed with men and women dancing to the music of three fiddles. There were broad galleries all around it. There was a room at one side where sober-faced men were playing cards. Another, in which babies were sleeping, was called le parc aux petits. Any one who is white may go to a 'Cadian ball, but he must pay for his lemonade, his coffee and chicken gumbo. And he must behave himself like a 'Cadian. Grosboeuf was giving this ball. He had been giving them since he was a young man, and he was a middle-aged one, now. In that time he could recall but one disturbance, and that was caused by American railroaders, who were not in touch with their surroundings and had no business there. "Ces maudits gens du raiderode," Grosboeuf called them. Alcée Laballière's presence at the ball caused a flutter even among the men, who could not but admire his "nerve" after such misfortune befalling him. To be sure, they knew the Laballières were rich-that there were resources East, and more again in the city. But they felt it took a brave homme to stand a blow like that philosophically. One old gentleman, who was in the habit of reading a Paris newspaper and knew things, chuckled gleefully to everybody that Alcée's conduct was altogether chic, mais chic. That he had more panache than Boulanger. Well, perhaps he had."
Kate Chopin: At the Cadian Ball: • Uses many French names • American rail workers show up to the party and cause problems • A high class situation is disturbed by another class because of differences between the two
"Yes, the child has grown, has changed;" said Madame Valmondé, slowly, as she replaced it beside its mother. "What does Armand say?" Désirée's face became suffused with a glow that was happiness itself. "Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name; though he says not,—that he would have loved a girl as well. But I know it is n't true I know he says that to please me. And mamma," she added, drawing Madame Valmondé's head down to her, and speaking in a whisper, "he has n't punished one of them—not one of them—since baby is born. Even Négrillon, who pretended to have burnt his leg that he might rest from work—he only laughed, and said Négrillon was a great scamp. Oh, mamma, I'm so happy; it frightens me." What Désirée said was true. Marriage, and later the birth of his son had softened Armand Aubigny's imperious and exacting nature greatly. This was what made the gentle Désirée so happy, for she loved him desperately. When he frowned she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God. But Armand's dark, handsome face had not often been disfigured by frowns since the day he fell in love with her."
Kate Chopin: Desiree's Baby: • Anxiety about potentially mixed race baby • A lot of change when husband becomes distant • The baby hasn't just grown, it has changed
"When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body."
Kate Chopin: The Song of an Hour: • Husband is a railroad worker • Thought husband died on railroad • "free, free, free!" She felt a sense of freedom that her husband was gone • Eventually her husband came home, and she died of "a joy that kills"
"And turning to me as he moved away...I did not wait to hear about the afflicted cow, but took my leave."
Mark Twain: The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County: - There is no pay off to the story, it just ends - Brings up differences in education in different parts of the country - This is regional fiction - Trying to make people want to read about other parts of the country - Builds interest for this mysterious growing parts of the country.
In compliance with the request of a friend of mine, who wrote me from the East, I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler, and inquired after my friend's friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and I hereunto append the result. I have a lurking suspicion that Leonidas W. Smiley is a myth that my friend never knew such a personage; and that he on conjectured that if I asked old Wheeler about him, it would remind him of his infamous Jim Smiley, and he would go to work and bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence him as long and as tedious as it should be useless to me. If that was the design, it succeeded.
Mark Twain: The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras: • Twain tells us the story • Throughout Twains story, someone tells another story • Importance of how the story is told and where (California) • Shift of dialect between this and next passage
"Well, thish-yer Smiley had rat-tarriers, and chicken cocks, and tomcats and all them kind of things, till you couldn't rest, and you couldn't fetch nothing for him to bet on but he'd match you. He ketched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal'lated to educate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet you he did learn him, too. He'd give him a little punch behind, and the next minute you'd see that frog whirling in the air like a doughnut--see him turn one summerset, or maybe a couple, if he got a good start, and come down flat-footed and all right, like a cat.
Mark Twain: The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras: • Very country and hick accent • Shift in the dialect of speakers.
"Had goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch-meeting? Be it so, if you will. But, alas! It was a dream of evil omen for young goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream. On the Sabbath-day, when the congregation were singing a hold psalm, he could not listen, because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear, and drowned all the blessed strain. When the minister spoke from the pulpit, with power and fervid eloquence, and, with his hand on the open bible, of the sacred truths of our religion, and of saint-like lives and triumphant deaths, and of future bliss or misery unutterable, then did goodman Brown turn pale, dreading, lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and bosom of Faith, and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled, and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away. And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave, a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grandchildren, a goodly procession, besides neighbors, not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tomb-stone; for his dying hour was gloom."
Nathaniel Hawthorne: Young Goodman Brown • He lost faith in the human race • About conspiracy • The devil meets with him - thinks it's all a dream - wakes up alone in woods • Relates to sin - you know sin is occurring - not an error • Goodman and his wife had only been married for 3 months... short enough to not expect bumps but long enough to not be fresh and new
'Too far, too far!' exclaimed the goodman, unconsciously resuming his walk. 'My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians, since the days of the martyrs. And shall I be the first of the name Brown, that ever took this path, and kept'—'Such company, thou wouldst say,' observed the elder person, interpreting his pause. 'Good, goodman Brown! I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that's no trifle to say. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem. And it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village, in king Philip's war. They were my good friends, both; and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path, and returned merrily after midnight. I would fain be friends with you, for their sake.'
Nathaniel Hawthorne: Young Goodman Brown: • Goodman Brown thought he would be the first of the family to "take this path" • The Devil has been visited by Goodman's father and grandfather, as they have came to him with the same questions. Goodman is living similar events to his ancestors. Conversations with the devil. • Story takes place in Salem, a very religious place • Goodman's wife was named Faith, and they had only been married 3 months, not so long that you would expect bumps, but not so short that you would expect it to be fresh and new. • Relates to sin and Benjamin Franklin - Sin is expected - you know it is occurring.
'Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there's a God, that there's a Savior too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, "Their color is a diabolic dye." Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refined, and join the angelic train.
Phillis Wheatley: On being brought from Africa to Am. • The author is providing a positive tone, but the topic of the poem is negative. She may be sarcastic, saying if the whites say they offer a better life, then why can't they prove it. • Perhaps ironic double meanings (Cain/sugar cane, dye/die, etc.) • Somewhat ties to Irving's "Rip Van Winkle," loss of American dream and exceptionality of America. • Also ties to Frederick Douglass "What is the Slave to the Fourth of July?" - Douglass calls out America for sinning, why can't whites offer that better life? Loss of American Dream.
"If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old, can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era? This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. I read with joy some of the auspicious signs of the coming days as they glimmer already through poetry and art, through philosophy and science, through church and state."
Ralph Emerson: The American Scholar: • Being born at a time of renewal allows you a fresh start. • Age of revolution is exciting because you are in the middle of drastic change • This is time of revolution and America is adopting its own literature
"Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding. The books of an older period will not fit this."
Ralph Emerson: The American Scholar: • Calling for America to make their own literature - Individualism • Grow up & move on/look to the future
"Genius is always sufficiently the enemy of genius by over-influence. The literature of every nation bear me witness. The English dramatic poets have Shakespearized now for two hundred years."
Ralph Emerson: The American Scholar: • Emerson's writing at this point has been Shakespearized. • Says Shakespeare was good but don't get attached to his style, its time to move on and build our own literature and style • Relates to other American Scholar passages about the need to create literature on your own and not rely on others - Individualism
"Our day of dependence, our long apprenticeship to the learning of other lands, draws to a close. The millions that around us are rushing into life, cannot always be fed on the sere remains of foreign harvests. Events, actions arise, that must be sung, that will sing themselves."
Ralph Emerson: The American Scholar: • The American Scholar is written directly to the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity at Harvard • Talking about intellectual resources • You have to learn how to do your own thing and not rely on others as things will arise that you must compete with - Individualism
The woods were already filled with shadows one June evening, just before eight o'clock, though a bright sunset still glimmered faintly among the trunks of the trees. A little girl was driving home her cow, a plodding, dilatory, provoking creature in her behavior, but a valued companion for all that. They were going away from whatever light there was, and striking deep into the woods, but their feet were familiar with the path, and it was no matter whether their eyes could see it or not.
Sarah Jewett: A White Heron
"But Sylvia does not speak after all, though the old grandmother fretfully rebukes her, and the young man's kind, appealing eyes are looking straight in her own. He can make them rich with money; he has promised it, and they are poor now. He is so well worth making happy, and he waits to hear the story she can tell."
Sarah Jewett: A White Heron: • Shifts from past - present • She seeks humanity, wants the small town where the hunter lives • She rekindles the idea of the "American Dream"
"No, she must keep silence! What is it that suddenly forbids her and makes her dumb? Has she been nine years growing and now, when the great world for the first time puts out a hand to her, must she thrust it aside for a bird's sake? The murmur of the pine's green branches is in her ears, she remembers how the white heron came flying through the golden air and how they watched the sea and the morning together, and Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron's secret and give its life away. Dear loyalty, that suffered a sharp pang as the guest went away disappointed later in the day, that could have served and followed him and loved him as a dog loves! Many a night Sylvia heard the echo of his whistle haunting the pasture path as she came home with the loitering cow. She forgot even her sorrow at the sharp report of his gun and the sight of thrushes and sparrows dropping silent to the ground, their songs hushed and their pretty feathers stained and wet with blood. Were the bird's better friends than their hunter might have been—who can tell? Whatever treasures were lost to her, woodlands and summertime, remember! Bring your gifts and graces and tell your secrets to this lonely country child!
Sarah Jewett: A White Heron: • Sylvia is conflicted • Emphasis on the child (9 years old) • Many differences, Sylvia wants humanity and to live in small town where the hunter lives • Rekindles the idea of the "American Dream"
"The good woman suspected that Sylvia loitered occasionally on her own account; there never was such a child for straying about out-of-doors since the world was made! Everybody said that it was a good change for a little maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but, as for Sylvia herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm. She thought often with wistful compassion of a wretched geranium that belonged to a town neighbor."
Sarah Jewett: A White Heron: • Sylvia wants humanity • Wants to live in the town where the hunter lives • Rekindles the idea of the American dream
All day long he did not once make her troubled or afraid except when he brought down some unsuspecting singing creature from its bough. Sylvia would have liked him vastly better without his gun; she could not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to like so much. But as the day waned, Sylvia still watched the young man with loving admiration. She had never seen anybody so charming and delightful; the woman's heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love. Some premonition of that great power stirred and swayed these young creatures who traversed the solemn woodlands with soft-footed silent care. They stopped to listen to a bird's song; they pressed forward again eagerly, parting the branches—speaking to each other rarely and in whispers; the young man going first and Sylvia following, fascinated, a few steps behind, with her gray eyes dark with excitement.
Sarah Jewett: A White Heron: • Sylvia is conflicted • Emphasis on the child (9 years old) • Many differences, Sylvia wants humanity and to live in small town where the hunter lives • Rekindles the idea of the "American Dream"
"As the sentiments of men are known not only by what they receive, but what they reject also, I will state the form of the Declaration as originally reported. The parts struck out by Congress shall be distinguished by a black line drawn under them, and those inserted by them shall be placed in the margin, or in a concurrent column."
Thomas Jefferson: The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson: • This is a look back at 1776 when the Declaration was written. • Jefferson looks back and now has a different perspective: if he had included the abolishment of slavery in the declaration, slavery would have ended sooner. • There are two different kinds of Jefferson's in this passage... the one that is narrating and the one being narrated. • Issues of slavery were taken out of the DOI because some parts of America were still pro-slavery.
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. Creeds and schools in abeyance, Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten, I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard, Nature without check with original energy.
Walt Whitman: A Song of Myself: • He says he falls in love with himself. There is a deep emphasis on all of the senses. It celebrates the senses and experiences of life - exceptionalism • The stanzas are very irregular. No rhyme scheme or pattern. • Very hard working, persevering - finish everything, no matter how hard • Similar feel to Washington Irving's "Authors Account of Himself" - exceptionalism • Similar to William Cullen Bryant's "The Prairies," which celebrates the senses and exceptionalism of the landscape
There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now, And will never be any more perfection than there is now, Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.
Walt Whitman: Song of Myself: • Whitman states that right now is what is important—not past or future. • Emerson (Am. Scholar- create own literature) ideas of NOW - Individualism - accomplish on your own without having to be attached to others. • "Whitmanian thought:" to finish the tough, no matter what length. • Whitman claimed he knew how everything worked, he was interested in opposites, men equal to women. • Whitman wanted to come across as a hard working, average American. Picture showed hand on hip, sleeves rolled up, shows masculinity. • Terms: democracy, sex, identity, perseverance. • Capitalized on Emerson's approval.
"The great error in Rip's composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labour. It could not be for the want of assiduity or perseverance; for he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartars lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble. He would carry a fowling piece on his shoulder, for hours together, trudging through woods and swamps, and up hill and down dale, to shoot a few squirrels or wild pigeons. He would never even refuse to assist a neighbor in the roughest toil, and was a foremost man at all country frolics for husking Indian corn, or building stone fences; the women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them;--in a word, Rip was ready to attend to any body's business but his own; but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, it was impossible."
Washington Irving: Rip Van Winkle • Opposite of the American Dream and the Authors Account of Himself • States Van Winkle is lazy and wont do his own work but will do others • Van Winkle not like Ben Franklin at all because Van Winkle would rather starve off a penny than work for a pound. Franklin was born poor but became successful. • In Irving's "Authors Account of Himself," he talks primarily about the exceptionalism of America and that it is qualitatively unique. "Rip Van Winkle" is quite opposite, as well as Wheatley's "being brought from Africa to America."
"God Knows," exclaimed he, at his wit's end; "I'm not myself—I'm somebody else—that's me yonder—no—that's somebody else, got into my shoes—I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they've changed my gun, and every thing's changed, and I'm changed, and I can't tell what's my name, or who I am!"
Washington Irving: Rip Van Winkle • Rip Van Winkle fell asleep on a mountain and when he woke up the world was radically different. His allegiance and country had changed. • He slept through the revolution (20 years) • Radical identity change
"Rip's heart died away, at hearing of these sad changes in his home and friends, and finding himself thus alone in the world. Every answer puzzled him, too, by treating of such enormous lapses of time, and of matters which he could not understand: war—congress—Stoney-Point;--he had no courage to ask after any more friends, but cried out in despair, "does nobody here know Rip Van Winkle?""
Washington Irving: Rip Van Winkle • The passages about Rip Van Winkle are early versions of sci-fi • This is about identity and radical change. • Rip Van Winkle does not like the American Dream. He is lost • Ties to Phillis Wheatley's "On being brought from Africa to America," which talks about the American dream and its exceptionality. Opposite of American Dream - Opposite of Irving's "Authors Account of Himself" • Almost a comparison to "Paradise Lost" from Irving's account of himself to Rip Van Winkle
"I visited the neighbouring villages, and added greatly to my stock of knowledge, by noting their habits and customs, and conversing with their sages and great men. I even journeyed one long summer's day to the summit of the most distant hill, from whence I stretched my eye over many a mile of terra incognita, and was astonished to find how vast a globe I inhabited. This rambling propensity strengthened with my years. Books of voyages and travels became my passion, and in devouring their contents, I neglected the regular exercises of the school. How wistfully would I wander about the pier heads in fine weather, and watch the parting ships, bound to distant climes—with what longing eyes would I gaze after their lessening sails, and waft myself in imagination to the ends of the earth. Farther reading and thinking, though they brought this vague inclination into more reasonable bounds, only served to make it more decided. I visited various parts of my own country; and had I been merely a lover of fine scenery, I should have felt little desire to seek elsewhere for its gratification: for on no country have the charms of nature been more prodigally lavished. Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, with their bright aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with wild fertility; her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure; her broad deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean; her trackless forests, where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence; her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine:-no, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery."
Washington Irving: The Authors Account of Himself: • American Exceptionalism - shows the magnificence of America • This is opposite of Rip Van Winkle, which shows less beauty and laziness • Similar "exceptionalism" feel in Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" when he celebrates life and the senses. • Relates to William Cullen Bryant's "The Prairies" which goes into great detail of the beauty of the American landscape and exceptionalism
"Having a desire to place a few things before my fellow creatures who are traveling with me to the grave, and to that God who is the maker and preserver both of the white man and the Indian, whose abilities are the same and who are to be judged by one God, who will show no favor to outward appearances but will judge righteousness. Now I ask if degradation has not been heaped long enough upon the Indians? And if so, can there not be a compromise? Is it right to hold and promote prejudices? If not, why not put them all away? I mean here, among those who are civilized. It may be that many are ignorant of the situation of many of my brethren within the limits of New England. Let me for a few moments turn your attention to the reservations in the different states of New England, and, with but few exceptions, we shall find them as follows: the most mean, abject, miserable race of beings in the world—a complete place of prodigality and prostitution."
William Apess: Indians Looking-Glass for the White man: • The name of the passage suggests that it is offering a perspective • Intended for a white people- sheds a light on white people crime • Many rhetorical questions - the questions give the author credibility • By referencing God, this adds to the authors credibility • He is part Native American and by using "brethren," he is talking as a group, which adds to the strength of his arguments
These are the Gardens of the Desert, these The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, And fresh as the young earth, ere man had sinned— The Prairies. I behold them for the first, And my heart swells, while the dilated sight Takes in my encircling vastness.
William Cullen Bryant: The Prairies • Relates to Washington Irvings "Authors Account of Himself" - talks about beauty of American landscape - exceptionalism
Francis Harper
• African American woman who traveled around US speaking about slavery
Phillis Wheatley
• An educated slave with a nicer treating family • Most of her audience was white Christians
Thomas Paine
• Born and lived poor • Allows him to be meaningful in his arguments.
Kate Chopin
• Born in St. Louis • Always uses French words Regionalism
Walt Whitman
• Claims to know how everything works • Interested in opposites, men-women are equal • Democracy, sex and identity
Benjamin Franklin
• Complex, cocky, curious, self improving/self made man • Autobiography- says he is the embodiment of the American dream • Franklin - Manipulation
Emily Dickenson
• Dickenson's poems do not have titles, so no need to write titles on exam • Fourteener-seven beat line - only published 12 poems • Refused to be a public figure - lived at parents home nearly her whole life • Endorses the idea that the reader has the power
Frederick Douglass
• Escaped slave who wrote his way to freedom • Audience was a mixed group of ethnicities in Rochester NY • Asks long questions to gain momentum and builds credibility
William Apess
• Mixed race (white, black, native American) • Servant who earned his freedom
Ralph Emerson
• Often wrote circular arguments • Ideas about individualism and freedom
Edgar Allen Poe
• Pro-slavery • Writes about sci-fi, hoaxes, poetry, criticism, etc.
Thomas Jefferson
• Writer of Declaration of Independence • Owned hundreds of slaves and had children with at least one
