romanticism and transcendentalism (11/6)

What is the ensign or flag being referred to in lines 3-4 in Old Ironsides?

1. "And many an eye has danced to see that banner in the sky" 2. It refers to ensign as a banner in the sky

What is the point of listing out all of the different people that will die in lines 68-73 in thanatopsis? How is this different from the other list of people from before?

1. "The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes/In the full strength of years, matron and maid,/The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man/Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,/By those, who in their turn shall follow them. " 2. The difference between those who die here than from before is that these are common people and the other people were the greats 3. It says that wealth doesn't matter and they everyone will die in the end

What idea is brought to the audience in line 14 of thanatopsis?

1. "go forth under the open sky, and list/to nature's teachings, while from all around/ earth and her waters, and the depths of air/ comes a still voice" 2. Gives the idea that when we have these thoughts of death, we should go out and listen to nature's teachings 3. Nature's voice will speak to you

Summarize Old Ironsides by Holmes

1. Ah, tear her (USS Constitution) tattered flag down, it has waved high for a long time 2. Many eyes have seen the flag in the sky 3. Beneath the flag, battles were fought, cannons exploded and roared from the ship 4. Holmes end the first stanza by saying the ship will sweep the clouds no more 5. The USS COnstitution's deck was one blooded from wounded soldiers during battle and where the defeated enemy had been forced to kneel 6. The ship was in a stormy ocean with hurrying wind and white waves, a sea that will no longer feel the tread of its victory 7. This is because the harpies of the land are taking her, the eagle, out of the sea 8. It would be better if the ship met a more fitting end by being shattered and sunk in the open sea, where she might have a grave in the mighty deep 9. He suggests that they nail the holy flag to the mast and her worn sails set so that she could sail out into a storm and be given to the lightning and the wind, the god of storms

What is the figure of speech used in lines 50-53 in thanatopsis? What figure is speech is used in line 58: "So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw/In silence from the living, and no friend/Take note of thy departure?

1. Allusion: barcan desert in libya 2. Allusion: "take the wings of morning" a biblical allusion to a psalm 3. Allusion: Oregon river 4. it is a rhetorical question in line 58

How do the animals react when they see the boys in stanza 3 of snow bound? What is the tone at the end of stanza 3?

1. Animals are hungry and happy to see the boys because they think they will be fed 2. At the end, the atmosphere creates complete isolation 3. The snow storm has made nature savage and foreign and not human 4. No social smoke or church bells to indicate any social interactions

What is the tone of the story in the first stanza (lines 1-30) in snow bound?

1. Anticipation of the coming snow storm 2. There is a lot of imagery used to foreshadow the coming storm a) Line 5-6: sky has a mute and ominous prophecy b) Line 12: there was a cold that is hard and bitter and runs through your veins c) Line 2: the sun is rising over the hills of gray d) Lines 26-30 (create a military image) it describes the cow and the rooster sitting on its perch with its helmet bent and his querulous challenge sent e) Line 16: the ocean has wintry shore 3. Figure of speech: personification in the beginning line of the poem a) Sun is rising cheerless over the hills 4. Tone: foreboding and expectation with the coming snow storm

What is the tone of the beginning of the poem thanatopsis? How does the tone of the poem change in line 8?

1. Awe, serenity, comforting, peaceful 2. Tone is more dark and gloomy, bitter, fearful 3. "Of the last bitter hour come like a blight/over thy spirit, and sad images/of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall and breathless darkness/and the narrow house/ make thee to shudder and grow sick at heart"

What is Walden?

1. Based on the journals Thoreau kept during his stay o Emerson's property from July 4, 1845 to September 6, 1847 2. Thoreau reportedly built his cabin at Walden Pond for 28 dollars using mostly second hand materials and while there he lived off the land, raising some of his own crops and eating wild berries and apples 3. Thoreau was not shut off from civilization entirely, however, he visited family and friends in nearby Concord and performed various odd jobs to support himself 4. He spent a good deal of this time revising and reworking the text of Walden, ultimately writing seven full drafts over the nine years leading to its publication 5. When it was published in 1854, Walden firmly established Thoreau's reputation not only as a writer but also as an outspoken individualist

What is the style of writing Thanatopsis is written in? Why is it written in this style of writing?

1. Blank verse a) Blank verse provides a stately and dignified tone 2. The poem doesn't rhyme a) Absent of rhyme avoids predictable word sound patterns 3. It uses iambic pentameter: 2 syllable foot with the stress on the second syllable and 5 iambs per line (10 syllables) 3. Every line should follow this format

What features does Whitter see in the snow when he wakes up in stanza 2 of snow bound?

1. Clothes line looks like a ghost 2. It looks like an unknown world 3. He sees an old man in the bridle post 4. Well burn has a chinese roof 5. Snow transforms ordinary objects into wonderous shapes 6. Looks like the leaning tower of Pisa

What is the figure of speech used in lines 1-3 in Thanatopsis?

1. Enjament because there is no end to the sentence 2. "To him who in the love of nature holds/Communion with her visible forms, she speaks/A various languages; 3. Enjament is often used because it affects the flow of the line, making it more naturally and echoes the rhymes of conversation

In stanza 3 of snow bound, how does whittier describe his father?

1. Father is prompt and decisive man 2. This sanza returns the poem to a realistic level 3. The father asks the boys (Whitter and his brothers) to clear a path to the barn 4. This is a different kind of chore then they are used to and it excites their imaginations 5. As they make a path they make a tunnel and pretend that they are in Aladdins cave

who was William cullen Bryant?

1. Had an enduring love for nature and became interested in poetry as a boy 2. Although he wanted to earn a living as a poet, he realized that goal was unrealistic 3. Bryant studied law and became an attorney in his early 20s. a) In 1820, he became a justice of the peace in Great Barrington b) Even while working as a government official, Bryant wrote poetry. 4. In 1821, his book Poems won him recognition a) Within a few years, he gave up the practice of law and became a magazine ad newspaper editor in New York b) As editor and chief of the Evening Post, he acquired wealth, fame, and influence c) He became so important to the newspaper in fact that he was known as the grand old man of the post 5. Bryant championed humanitarian causes, including the abolition of slavery and debtor's prisons 6. As a key figure in American politics, he helped form the republican party and promoted the election of both Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln to the white house a) From the 1830s on, Bryant published a few more volumes of poetry and was considered a major American writer during his lifetime CLASS NOTES START BELOW: 7. Lived from 1794-1878 Wrote "Thanatopsis" and was one of the fireside poets and a romantic poet 8. THE "FATHER OF AMERICAN POETRY" 9. The first well known poet of AMerican literature 10. Born in Cummington, Massachusetts 11. Bryant wrote Thanatopsis when he was only 13 years old a) It was published in the North American Review in 1816, but did not assume its final form until its appearance in Bryant's volume titled POEMS b) He added to it for the final form

What happens in stanza 2 of the tide rises, the tide falls?

1. He repeats both darkness and sea and the repetition creates a somber affect 2. The traveller from before is not mentioned in the 2nd stanza 3. The somber tone indicates something about the traveller though

Summarize Self-Reliance

1. He then begins the essay by reflecting on how often an individual has some great insight, only to dismiss it because it came from their own imagination. 2. According to Emerson, we should prize these flashes of individual insight even more than those of famous writers and philosophers; it is the mature thinker who eventually realizes that originality of thought, rather than imitation of what everyone else believes, is the way to greatness. 3. Emerson then argues that the most important realization any individual can have is that they should trust themselves above all others. a) He starts by saying that every man comes to realize during his education that envy is ignormant, immitation is suicide ad that he must accept himself for who he is (love youself) b) Trust yourself because every heart vibrates the same way and God found this life for you so accept it and accept the events that take place, the society you live in c) All great men have trusted themselves and thought themselves childish to the intelligence of their age and betraying the idea that God controls your heart, destiny, and actions 4. He continues by discussing society around the world. It is conspiring against the manhood of its members a) He compares society to a joint stock company in which the members agree to give up their freedom and culture in order to get food b) Emerson argues that people must embrace nonconformity to recover their self-reliance, even if doing so requires the individual to reject what most people believe is goodness. 5. A man must be a nonconformist and hold sacred the integrity of his mind and question everything else a) Emerson believes that there is a better kind of virtue than the opinions of respected people or demands for charity for the needy. b) He says virtue is conformity and self reliance is the dislike of society c) Society only loves names and customs instead of realities and creators d) This goodness comes from the individual's own intuition, and not what is visible to society. 6. Emerson is only concerned with his own opinions, to others and states that this is a rule that is challenging in both the real world and the intellectual one but it serves to separate greatness and meanness a) Besides, states Emerson, living according to the world's notion of goodness seems easy, and living according to one's own notions of goodness is easy in solitude, but it takes a truly brave person to live out one's own notions of goodness in the face of pressure from society. b) Although it might seem easier to just go along with the demands of society, it is harder because it scatters one's force. c) It is easy to live after someone else's opinion but it is harder to live on your own. d) Only a great man is able to live by his own soul when he is in a crowd of others 7. Consistency is the evil in your mind and it is adored by leaders, philosophers, and psychics and your soul will get bored with consistency a) The other thing Emerson sees as a roadblock to the would-be nonconformist is the world's obsession with consistency. b) Really though, he argues, why should you be bound at all by your past actions or fear contradicting yourself? c) Emerson notes that society has made inconsistency into a devil, and the result is small-mindedness. 8. He uses historical and religious examples to point out that every great person we have ever known refused to be bound by the past. a) Pythagoras b) Socrates c) Jesus d) Luther e) Copernicus f) Galileo g) Newton h) And every other pure and wise guy that was human 9. To be misunderstood is to be great a) If you want to be great, he says, embrace being misunderstood just like them. 10. Emerson hopes to get rid of conformity and consistency and asks to never use these words again a) Instead of a gong (stands for leisure) hae a spartan fife (stands for discipline, alert living) to call you to dinner and don't apologize b) Don't please your visitors they should be pleasing you c) He stands to help humanity, to make it kind and truthful, to have it get rid of mediocrity and miserable containment of times and customs, trade, and office 11. He says that i is fact that in all of history, o responsible thinker or actor has moved in their time a) A true man belongs to no time or place but to the center or things (nature, cause, country, age) b) Caesar was born for ages after he have the Roma Empire c) Jesus was born and millions of minds grow to cling and follow his mind and say that he is virtuous and the possible of man d) Institutions are just shadows of great men e) Martin luther the founder of reformation George Fox, the founder of quakerism John wesley the founder of methodism Thoams clarkson, an antislavery activist Scipio, the roma conqueror of carthage f) He quotes Milton which says that the height of rome and al history resoles around the biography of a few stout and earnest persons

What is Civil Disobedience?

1. In 1846, during a day trip to town ad away from Walden Pond, Thoreau was arrested for refusing to pay poll taxes (fees to vote) in protest against the Mexican American War 2. He spent just one night in jail, ut to Thoreau, his imprisonment was an act of conscience, not a lawlessness 3. His description of being imprisoned underlies the central theme in what is perhaps his most famous essay, "Civil Disobedience" published in 1849 4. The term refers to nonviolent protest against laws he considered unjust, civil as distinct from military protest

Summarize the cross of snow

1. In the first part of the sonnet, Longfellow introduces the primary subject of the poem — the image of a deceased person's face, as though they are angelic in form. 2. When the speaker describes sleepless watches at nighttime, the implication is that they are guarding something carefully, which is juxtaposed noticeably with the decidedly gentle face of the "long" dead, suggesting this is a long-standing ritual. a) They imagine the head of the deceased as being against a nearby wall, where a lamp creates a halo-like effect around them — the less-than-subtle implication being that in contrast to the grim guard keeping watch at night, this person was like an angel during their lifetime. 3. The reason the speaker cannot sleep in this room is now clear: it is the room that the woman died in. 4. By the description "martyrdom of fire," she was burned to death, and that the death was in some way a sacrifice. 5. The image of flame is contrasted with the idea of a soul of pure white, and the speaker further encourages this idea by suggesting that should the reader be so inclined to search, they would never hear mention of a more blessed soul anywhere in imagination of history ("benedight" is a now-outdated word that was, in Longfellow's time, a synonym for "blessed"). a) Longfellow's word choice continues to be telling — he describes a "repose," rather than a death, which is a word more commonly associated with the serene and peaceful passing, as opposed to the more painful and frightening idea of death by fire. 6. The final lines of the poem invokes the title metaphor in a powerful way, because of how strongly the idea of a "cross of snow" contrasts with the martyr's flame described earlier. 7. He describes a mountain top scene in the distant west where no sun can reach it to melt it because it is made of a deep ravine in the shape of a cross covered in snow 8. The speaker says that he has worn the same cross on his heart for 18 years since the day that the woman died and has not changed through all of the scenes and seasons a) The idea of carrying an ice-cold cross above the heart is a strong one, one that suggests the speaker's heart has stopped caring in a way that it once did, and is now cold, eighteen years later. b) The speaker carries the death of this woman in the form of an ice-cold heart and an inability to see beauty within the world — for all of the seasons seem exactly the same, and eighteen years pass by as simply a chronology of "changing scenes." c) The simplicity of this statement lends the sonnet most of its power — it doesn't use complex or abstract poetic language or devices, but simply states the feeling plainly to best express its devastation.

How does the speaker shift in line 16-26 in thanatopsis? Who is the audience? What is the figure of speech used and why is it used? What is the point?

1. It changes to nature 2. Nature is personified as the speaker 3. 'Yet a few days, and thee/all beholding sun shall see no more/in all his course; nor yet in the cold ground, where thy pale form was laid, with many tears/ nor in the embrace of ocean shall exist/ thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim/thy growth to be resolved to death again and all each human trace, surrendering up/thine individual being, shalt thou go/ to mix forever with the elements" 4. Nature is speaking directly to the people 5. Elaboration starts being used a) It provides emphasis, applies to the sense, and encourages you to think of your own details 6. Point: you came from the earth and you will return to the earth

What is the structure of the Tide Rises the tide falls? What is the rhyme scheme of the poem

1. It is a 3 stanza poem with 5 lines in each stanza 2. It has a pause in the middle of the line- caesura 3. The purpose of this is to RE ENFORCE THE STEADY, STATELY IAMBIC BEAT 4. Rhyme mirrors the rising and falling of the tide 5. The imitation of movement of the tide is achieved in the rhyme scheme 6. rhyme scheme: Aabba Aacca Adda

What is the structure of the poem the cross of snow:

1. It is a sonnet, there are 14 lines 2. It follows the rhyme scheme of a Italian sonnet a) The sonnet is divided into 8 line octae that rhymes: abbabba b) And a 6 line sesteve rhyming: cdecde 3. Rhyme scheme: abbaabbacdecde

How does the speak shift in line 73 of thanatopsis? What is the tone of the poem in lines 73-82? What similes are used in lines 73-82?

1. It shifts from nature back to the original speaker (someone who loves nature) 2. The tone is comforting and encouraging 3. It suggests that we should live truly while we can, but when the time comes to join all of the others who have passed away, we can join them in death sirenly 4. Simile: do not approach death like "the quarry slave at night, scourged to his dungeon" but rather approach death like (simile) "one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies does to pleasant dreams."

What do lines 21-24 of old ironsides suggest?

1. It suggest nailing the flag to the ship and sinking it because this is preferable to tearing it done for scapes 2. This contradicts the first line which wants to raise the flag 3. "Oh better that her shattered hulk/should sink beneath the waves;her thunder shook the mighty deep/and there should be her grave/nail to the mast her holy flag/set every threadbare sail/and give her to the god of storms/the lightning and the gale"

What is the American Romanticism? What are the characteristics of romanticism?

1. Lasted from 1800 to 1860 2. THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE WHO PRODUCED THE "FIRST AMERICAN LITERATURE WAS UNMISTAKABLE AMERICAN BECAUSE.... a) THEY WERE WRITERS A) Before the American Romanticism period, author were not writers by profession B) In the Romanticism period, people began to writer as a career b) THEY BEGAN WRITING ABOUT AMERICAN PEOPLE IN AMERICAN PLACES WITH AMERICAN PROBLEMS 3. In literature, there was a shift from CLASSICISM to ROMANTICISM a) This shift already occured in Europe 4. ROMANTICISM: a literary movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries exhibiting several characteristics: a) A profound love of nature b) A focus on self and the individual c) A fascination with the supernatural and gothic d) A yearning for the picturesque and the exotic e) A deep-rooted idealism f) A passionate nationalism g) Value of feeling and intuition over reason h) An inspiration in my, legend, and culture i) A value in the wisdom of the past, distrusting progress g) All of the literature we will read will have one or more of these characteristics, but will never have all of them BOOK NOTES: 1. In Europe, the cultural and political era known as the Enlightenment was superseded by Romanticism a) Whereas the Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century had stressed objectivity and the power of reason as the means to understand the laws of the universe, the Romantics praised the natural over the artificial, the emotional over the rational, and the individual will and conscience over external authority and control b) European Romanticism had a profound impact on American literature c) By the first decades of the 19th century, American writers had begun to turn their attention toward nature, both as a source of beauty and inspiration and as a vehicle for self-exploration and personal growth d) Social and political topics were explored, as well, including the ethic of material success and social advancement advanced by writers in the post revolutionary years 2. Several milestones mark the renaissance of american literature that occurred in the first half of the 19th century a) For the first time, american writers were recognized in europe b) The historical novels of James Fennimore Cooper and the tales of adventure by Europeans c) A second milestone was the emergence of the short story d) Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving and Edgar Alan Poe all contributed to the development and popularity of this form Nonetheless, few American writers were able to support themselves by writing full time 3. The economics of publishing still made it difficult for writers of limited wealth to get their works into print a) The lack of copyright protection was another issue b) The united states had enacted copyright laws in 1790, but until 1891 American books could be sold legally in England without paying royalties to American authors, without paying royalties to english authors c) To get published, american authors often agreed to sell their books without any claim to royalties

Who is Ralph Waldo Emerson?

1. Lived from 1803 to 1882 2. "To be great is to be misunderstood" 3. Born in Boston 1803 4. Studied theology and became a minister 5. Settled in Concord, Massachusetts 6. Lecturer and writer 7. Became a member of the Transcendental club 8. He is an essayist and a speaker 9. HIS BOOKS: a) 1836: NATURE b) 1837: THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR (a commencement address he gave at Harvard) c) 1841: ESSAYS (book of essays he wrote) 10. For Emerson, individualism is idealistic 11. Two most influential essays: a) Nature b) Self reliance 12. He was considered the greatest Ameican thinker of his time a) Born in Boston, he attended Boston Latin School as a child, where he received a classical education; at the age of fourteen, he entered Heard, graduating with honors in 1821 b) After teaching school and studying for the ministry, he was ordained a unitarian minister in 1829 ad served as junior pastor of Boston's Second Church c) That same year, he married Ellen Tucker, who died of tuberculosis just 18 months later d) Ellen's death brought about a religious crisis for Emerson, prompting him to resign from Second Church e) He traveled to England in 1832 and developed relationships with such great thinkers and writers as economist, John Stuart Mill, essayist Thomas Carlyle, and poets Samuel Taylor Cleridge and William Wordsworth f) With these individuals, Emerson explore human's relationship to nature and society and the perfectibility of the human spirit g) Emerson returned to the United States in 1834, ready to begin a new career as a lecturer h) In Boston, he surrounded himself with a circle of poets, artists, and philosophers, including Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott and his daughter Lousia May i) With these individuals, Emerson founded the Transcendentalist Club, a group who believed in the deep spiritual connection between humanity and nature j) By concentrating on their innermost thoughts and feelings, Emerson said, individuals could glimpse the spirit of the universe k) With his literary friends, Emerson founded a magazine called The Dial, which became an important vehicle for Transcendentalist thought l) Although Emerson was criticized for leaving the ministry, he held strongly to his belief in personal intuition and flexibility m) His views led him to develop a profound respect for he individualism that helped shape the American spirit 13. In 1835, Emerson moved to Concord, Massachusetts, the first rural artist's colony and the first community to offer a spiritual and cultural alternative to American materialism a) There he married Lydia Jackson, and the two raised for children b) During their 50 year marriage, the Emersons entertained many of the leading intellectuals of the day 14. Today, Emerson is considered a symbol of optimism and independent thinking a) He influenced a long line of American poets, including Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Wallace Stevens, and Robert Frost

Who is John Greenleaf Whittier?

1. Lived from 1807-1892 2. He was born to deout Quaker parents and raised on his family's homestead in Haverhill, Massachusetts 3. At the age of nineteen, he had his first poem published in the Newburyport Free Press a) William Lloyd Garrison, a well known abolitionist, was editor of the paper at that time; his influence, along with Whittier's Quaker beliefs, led to Whittier's becoming an active participant in the abolitionist cause b) He wrote for an edited several abolitionist newspapers and magazines, worked that put his life in danger on several occasions 4. In addition, Whittier served in the Massachusetts legislature during 1834-1835, ran for the U.S. Congress in 1842 (but lost) and was a founding member of the Republican party 4. Whittier wrote and published throughout his life and helped found the Atlantic Monthly magazine in 1857 a) He turned to writing full time after the Civil War, publishing "SNOW BOUND A WINTER IDYLL" in 1866 b) This long poem of 759 lines which as an instant success when published is representative of Whitter's later work, centering on nature, rural life, and the family 5. Unlike the other fireside poets, he grew up in humble surroundings on a Massachusetts farm 6. He wrote SNOWBOUND a) It is a lengthy poem and it is a narrative poem and tells a story 7. Vigorously opposed slavery and became involved in the antislavery movement 8. He write snowbound as an idyll

Who is Oliver Wendell Holmes?

1. Lived from 1809 to 1894 2. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was class poet at Harvard in 1829 3. In 1836, the year his book Poems was published, he received his medical degree from Harvard a) After serving briefly as a professor of anatomy at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, Holmes moved to Boston. b) There he published professional articles about health care and from 1827 to 1882, was a professor of anatomy at Harvard 4. In the late 1850s, the Atlantic Monthly magazine, which he had helped established, published his humorous essays and poems 5. Beginning in the 1860s, Holmes wrote volumes of poetry and essays, as well as a biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson 6. His best known collection of essays is the Autocrat at the Breakfast Table (1858), it was followed by the Professor at the Breakfast Table (1860), and then the Poet at the Breakfast Table (1872) a) The titles of these works suggest that Holmes, despite his high standing on the social scale, did not take himself too seriously b) That likely explains why he was a popular dinner companion, appreciated for his humor and generosity Class Notes start below: 7. Lived from 1809-1894 8. Fireside poet 9. Doctor, teacher, dean of Harvard's medical school, lecturer, reformer, and ONE OF AMERICA'S GREATEST CONVERSATIONALISTS 10. And a poet 11. Descendent of Anne Bradstreet 12. Helped found the Atlantic Monthly 13. WROTE THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST TABLE

Who is Henry David Thoreau?

1. Lived from 1817-1862 2. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, and lived most of his life there, as well 3. Stories of his spending afternoons alone in the pasture, tending his mother's cows, suggest that he developed an appreciation for both nature and solitude early in life a) Thoreau attended Concord Academy as a youth and then graduated from Harvard in 1837 b) In 1835, he contracted tuberculosis, a disease from which he would suffer his entire life c) Thoreau had read Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature while in college, but actually meeting the man in Concord changed his life 4. EDUCATED AS A MINISTER, LAWYER, AND MERCHANT 5. LIVED IN EMERSON'S HOUSE FOR 2 YEARS, TAKING CARE OF IT WHILE EMERSON WAS ON LECTURE TOURS 6. ACTIONS OF AN INDIVIDUAL: a) REFUSED TO PAY HIS TAXES b) WROTE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE 7. Wrote two books: a) 1849: A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS b) 1854: WALDEN, one of the greatest of american classics 8. Thoreau left his position as a teacher and became a member of Emerson's household, working for the family as a handyman and a gardener from 1841 to 1843 a) While there, he had access to Emerson's extensive library and met the leaders of the Transcendentalism movement, Emerson's inner circle b) Thoreau participated in some of the group's activities, delivering lectures at the Concord Lyceum and publishing articles in the Dial c) In 1845, at the age of 28, Thoreau decided that he wanted to focus on his studies and writing in a solitary setting d) He built a cabin on the shores of Walden Pond, just two miles from concord, on land owned by Emerson e) Over the next two years and two months, Thoreau recorded his observations and reflections, eventually publishing them in two books: A Week on The Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849) and Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854) f) These were the only book length works that Thoreau published in his lifetime, and neither was a financial success g) To support himself, Thoreau worked at various times as a pencil maker, surveyor, and lecturer h) He continued writing, nonetheless, later publishing essays against the Mexican War ad in favor of abolition i) Some 20 volumes of journals were discovered after his death j) Thoreau won his place in American literature by as he put it traveling a good deal in Concord, the intellectual center of the Boston area k) Still, he made numerous visits to Maine, Cape Cod, and New Hampshire, and he also traveled to Quebec, Canada, and Minnesota in unsuccessful attempts to strengthen his weakened lungs l) Tuberculosis finally took Thoreau's life in 1862, when he was just 44 years old

Who is Henry Walsworth Longfellow?

1. Lived from February 27, 1807 to March 24, 1882 2. He was born in Portland, Maine, and attended Bowdoin College there and then studied abroad in Europe a) After graduating and then studying in Europe, he taught foreign languages at Bowdoin and then at Harvard 3. Longfellow's most famous poems were retellings of stories from history or legend. a) These poems were generally romantic, didactic, and occasionally gripping and so appealed greatly to reader's tastes of the day b) The two best loved of Longfellow's works are "Song of Hiawatha" a long poem about a sixteenth century leader of the Iroquois Confederation and "Paul Revere's ride" a dramatic narrative poem that has brought to life, for generations of readers, the first shot in the American Revolution 4. As famous in Great Britain as in the United States, Longfellow received honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge, two prestigious British universities and was given a private audience with Queen Victoria a) After his death, a statue of Longfellow was placed in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. b) The New Englander is the only poet to be memorialized in this centuries old London church 5. HE IS THE BEST KNOWN AND MOST POPULAR OF THE FIRESIDE POETS a) He wrote poetry that was both historical and reflective b) Had many meters in his poems 6. His first wife, Mary Potter died after a miscarriage in 1835 and his second wife, Frances Appleton, died of an accident in 1861 a) After the death of his second wife, he had difficulty writing poems for a long time 7. Longfellow died in 1882 8. He wrote Hiawatha (1855) a) The most popular of his poem 8. Wrote "Paul Revere's Ride" (1861) 9. He translated all of the Divine Comedy 10. Only American to be memorialized in Westminster Abbey 11. Tides, the cyclical rising and falling of the ocean's surface, are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon or the sun and occur on a regular schedule a) Henry walsworth longfellow's poem, "The tide Rises, The tide falls" is characterized by the repetition of the title within the poem itself.

What happens throughout the first 8 lies in the cross of snow

1. Longfellow can't sleep because a face keeps looking at him from the wall 2. It is a picture of the person because it says that the person is long dead 3. There is a light brightening up the picture 4. At the time the speaker is unable to sleep so he is brooding the past and mourning the loss of his wife who died a martyr of fire 5. THIS EMPHASIZES HIS WIFE'S SPIRITUALITY AND VIRTUE JUST AS MARTYRS DIE FOR THERE FAITH

What figure of speech is in line 7-8 of old ironsides?

1. Metaphor: meteor of ocean air is the ship 2. Ship resembles a meteor because it strikes quickly and causes destruction 3. "The meteor of the ocean air shall sweep the clouds no more."

What does the movement of the snow convey in stanza 2?

1. Movement from day to night 2. Movement of snow and wind covey swarming, zig-zagging, crossing and recrossing 3. The snow piles up before the kids go to sleep

What is the point of lines: 37-45 in thanatopsis "The hills/Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,—the vales/Stretching in pensive quietness between;/The venerable woods—rivers that move/In majesty, and the complaining brooks/That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,/Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste,— /Are but the solemn decorations all/Of the great tomb of man? What is the figure of speech used?

1. Nature insists that death brings us in company with the wisest, braviest, and most power humans that ever lived 2. Elaboration: The great tomb of man is made up of nature 3. Everything that makes up the grave (hills, woods, rivers and brooks, meadows, ocean's waste, rocks, vales)

What is being personified in lines 158-170 of snow bound?

1. North wind is roaring in rage at the pane and the door 2. Chimney has a great throat and is laughing 3. Andirons has feet

what is an octave? What is a sestet? what is a couplet?

1. OCTAVE: an eight lined poem or stanza 2. Sestet: a six lined poem of stanza 3. Couplet: two lines of poetry

Summarize snow bound.

1. One December day a wind from the east and a leaden sky forecast snow. a) The sun rises over the hills and it is very chill outside b) It is going to snow soon Whittier says that you can tell because the sun is sinking low, it is cold, and the wind is blowing 2. As night came on, the members of the Whittier family brought in firewood, littered the cattle stalls with fresh straw, and fed the stock. a) The whittier's have chickens, roosters, horses, and cows on their farm 3.The gray sky turns into night and the snow storm comes and it is blinding a) As the family is going to sleep, snow is piling up on the window pane and clothes line 4. All night the storm raged, and in the morning the Whittiers looked upon a world of fleecy snow. a) In the morning they say that they world is unknown they see a ghost out of the snow on the clothesline 5. They see strange shapes and towers from the snow on the corn stacks a) They see an old man from the bridle post b) The well curb has a chinese roof c) It looks like the leaning tower of pisa 6. The elder Whittier, a man of action, ordered a path dug to the barn, and his sons merrily turned to the work, making a crystal-walled tunnel through the deepest drift. a) They imagine that the cave is Aladdin's cave and that the will find his lamp and ask the genie for wishes. b) When they get to the barn, they see the horse, chicken, and oxen that looks like an Egyptain Amun and they're all hungry and happy to see the humans 7. The day is windy and sunny and there are no church bells or smoke that would show signs of a social call a) It is very solitude, quiet and somber b) There is no life outside their house 8. As the night comes, the family gather wood from the outside and put it in the chimney to start a fire a) Although the snow no longer fell, all day a north wind drove bits of sleet against the windows of the house. a) While the moon shone on the snow outside and the north wind battered the house, the family stayed snug and warm inside. b) They roast chestnuts, drink cider from the apples 9. A week has past and they have had no social interactions a) The family reads old pamphlets, but they only have one book and it is a book of poems b) It is ellwood's boo and includes the poem Davidies about King David but the kids think it is boring 10. At last the road is cleared and the paper boy arrives with the week old news a) The kids gather around and read the paper b) They read about warmer zones, McGregor's Raids in Costa Rica, Ypsilanti's war in Greece c) It is entertaining and tells of all of the snow and rain they have gotten d) It also talks about the town gossip, weddings and deaths, anecdotes and stories, and the crime and commerce report 11. It starts to feel the life in the streets again as the snow melts and their frozen door is unlocked so they can go back out into the world

Who is the poem's speaker at the beginning of the poem Thanatopsis? Who is the speaker's audience in lines 1-3?

1. One who loves nature, Brynat's own voice, a contemplative type of person 2. To him who in the love of nature holds/Communion with her visible forms, she speaks/A various languages; 3. He is speaking to nature and people (all of nature)

What is the figure of speech used in lines 3-8 of thanatopsis?

1. Personification: nature is a women who cane respond to different emotions 2. "For he's gayer hours/she has a voice of gladness, and a smile/ and eloquence of beauty, and she glides/into his darker musings, with a mild/and gentle sympathy, that steals away/their sharpness, ere he is aware."

What is the figure of speech used in the tide rises tide falls second stanza?

1. Personification: waves have soft hands that erase footprints in the sand 2. Compared more specifically to the hands of a child of young woman's which is a metaphor

What figure of speech is used in line 10 of snow bound? In line 16 of snow bound, how does the tone of the poem change?

1. Personifies a brook 2. The night draws on and the cold is replaced by the warmth of a home and the family at the center of it 3. It snows you the snow drift outside 4. The harsh cold winter is contrasted to warmth of the fireside

What is the tone, speaker and subject of the poem the cross of snow?

1. Poem is about the death of Longfellow's second wife who was consumed by a fire on accident 2. The speaker is Longfellow who is mourning the death of his wife 3. The poem shifts in tone and rhyme scheme between lines 8 and 9 according to the Italian sonnet set up

What is the structure of the poem snow bound?

1. Rhyme is iambic with a tetrameter 2. It has a structure of rhyme couplets

What is self-reliance?

1. Self Reliance is considered the finest expression of Ralph Waldo Emerson's beliefs on individualism 2. Over the years, the thoughts Emerson entered in his journal became the source of ideas for the many lectures he gave 3. After speaking, he would condense his ideas into essay form, as he does in Self-Reliance for a wider audience 4. Self Reliance has remained an influential example of 19th century Transcendentalism

How does time pass in the poem the tide rises, the tide falls?

1. Starts off at twilight and ends i dawn 2. Changes by stanza: a) Stanza 1: twilight b) Stanza 2: night c) Stanza 3: morning

What is the structure of the poem Old Ironsides?

1. Structured in 3 stanzas with 8 lines a stanza 2. It is not an iambic pentameter because each line has less than 5 feet 3. The meter is 1 LINE OF IAMBIC TETRAMETER, FOLLOWED BY ONE LIKE OF IAMBIC TRIMETER 4. (4 feet in one line and 4 feet in the other) 5. The beat of the poem has a driving beat that goes along the poem a) A driving, forceful beat

summarize from where I lived and what lived for in walden?

1. The narrator especially enjoyed his mornings at Walden. He found each one to be "a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself." 2. As he bathed in the pond, he was both physically and spiritually invigorated; he realized that he was truly awakening to not only the day, but to life itself. 3. Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make his life equal simplicity and equal to Nature a) He said he was as good of a worshiper of the god Aurora, the goddess of dawn as the greeks were b) He gets up early, baths in the pond which he considers one of the best things he did because the characters were created on the bathing tub of kings and it helps to renew yourself each day and you should do it again and again for forever (a quote from Confucius, a chinese philosopher) c) He says that he understands this quote because morning brings back the heroic ages d) He is more affected by the mosquito in this house in the morning as he would be to any trumpet and he compares his house to the Odyssey and the iliad e) He says that there is something comical about the house, an advertisement that is supposed to be run till forbidden or withdrawn by the sponsor of an everlasting fertility of the world 4. The morning, which is the most memorable part of the day is the awakening hour and then there is at least some part of us that wakes up, the rest of us will slumber for the rest of the day and night and little is expected to be done in that day, which can't even by called a day because we are not fully awakened by our Genius, but by the nudging of some service we have to do a) We are not awakened by our own newly acquired force and aspirations from within, accompanied by the music but instead by factory bells and a fragrance filling the air b) If the soul of a main is not reinvigorated each day and his genius tries again to make a noble life, he will be living a life of despair c) All memorable events happen in the morning. d) He quotes the Vedas, a hindu scriptures that says that all intelligence wakes up with the morning and that all poetry and art and the most memorable actions of men date from the morning e) The poets and heroes such as Memmon, who was killed by Achilles in the Trojan war, are the children of Aurora and create music at sunrise f) If you keep your pace with the sun, your day is a continual morning 5. Morning is when Thoreau is awaken and there is a new beginning in him a) If men were able to overcome their drowsiness and do more than just physical labor each and every day, they would feel what if truly feels to be alive b) Thoreau says he has never met a man who was truly awake and if he did, he would never be able to look him in the eye c) He says that people need to learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake by the expectation of the dawn e) He says that he knows nothing that is more hopeful the ability for a man to consciously up lift himself through ernest work f) To affect the quality of the day is the highest of arts and every man is tasked to make his life worthy of contemplation at the end of his life g) If we do not know how to do this, the oracles can tell us how it can be done 6. Thoresu reveals that he went into the woods because he wished to live deliberately and to see what he could learn from life and so he could not regret not living when he is on his deathbed a) He says that he wants to truly live and understand the meaning of life so that he can share it with the world or to help him with his next life experience b) He says that most men are unsure about the existence of a god or devil and have hasty concluded that their goal in life is to glorify God (again another reference to the New England Primer) c) Having provided an example of how his life became fresh and vitally alive, the narrator turns to his readers and asks why they continue to live as durable as they do. d) He wonders why men persist in living "meanly, like ants" when life can be a joyful celebration. e) He says that people still live like we are still ants when long ago we were turned to men (reference to a Greek fable in which Zeus turns ants into men) 7. He complains that "Our life is frittered away by detail," and that most men's personalities are uncomfortably split into many opposing parts. a) Holding up his own example of spiritual wholeness, he offers his readers the remedy for spiritual disintegration that he discovered: "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. . . . Simplify, simplify." b) Moreover, he declares that we should push aside all of the trivialities of life and immediately get down to the real, genuine concerns of life. c) Our life is being taken away by details and an honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers or his ten toes in order to organize his affairs d) He argues that people need to live simply and get rid of the extra affairs and things in their lives 8. He compares the lives of men to the German Confederacy (simile) a) He argues that the german confederacy is just a bunch of states with a boundary that changes so much a german wouldn't be able to tell you what the boundaries were at any moment b) The nation has a lot of internal improvements that are pretty superficial and that German is just an overgrown establishment that has been ruined by luxury, and worthless aim and the only cure for them is a strict economy that argues for the simplicity of life c) He aruges that men who think that it is essential for a nation to have commerce, communications, and a railraod are stupid because we would live like animals d) If we forged railroad ties on the rails and devote days and nights to building them, instead of trying to improve our lives, then there would be no one to build the railroads and if the railroads were not built we would not be able to get to heaven e) He then argues that the railroad ties are actually a man, a Irish man or a Yankee man that are covered with sand and the cars run smoothly over them f) They are good railroad ties and every year more and more is laid down and run over so that some people have the fortune to be riding on the tracks and others are being ridden over 9. He says that is happy to know that there is a gang of men who make sure that the railroad ties are down because it gives him hope that they can get back up a) He argues that we should not live in such a hurry and waste our lives and compares our inability to sit still to the Saint Vitus' dance which is a disease that has symptoms of jerky motions b) He also makes an analogy that if he were to pull the parish bell to signal a fire that people from everywhere would come just to watch the fire burn, not to help stop it c) He says that people spend to much time trying to find out the news and gossip 10. He argues that he left the woods for as good of a reason as to why he went there a) It said that it seemed to him that he had more lives to live and could not spare any more time in that one b) It says that he is amazed by how quickly he fell into the routine and that the path from his door to the pond formed within a week and still remain five or six years since he left c) He fears that others must be using his house and path and compares the highways of the world which must be worn to the ruts of tradition and conformity in society d) Once one discovers what is within the self, he should then construct a vision of how he can develop the potentiality for the greatness that he finds. e) Man can become whatever he chooses to be. 11. His potential is vast and is able to be realized in this life; the narrator is convinced that "if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." a) He says that he learned from this experience that if a man continues towards the path of his dreams he will meet success at an unexpected time b) He says that it is good to put castles in the air as long as you lay foundations under them c) He argue that it is stupid custom in the United States and England that you have to learn to speak so that others understand you better d) He says that nature can support itself without anyone creature understanding each other e) He says that he fears his expression will not be extravagant enough and will not lie up to the truths that he has learned because extravagance depends on how you see it f) He says that he desires to speak in a society without boundaries just like men are when they first wake up in the mornings g) He says that our words are continually betraying us and are constantly being translated to definite truths instead of their original purpose of indefinite nature h) He offers us this view of ourselves and warns us not to fall into the "democratic" trap of being content with remaining "common men" and priding ourselves on being merely "average Americans" who live by that much overrated commodity, common sense. " 12. Why level downward to our dullest perception always, and praise that as common-sense. The commonest sense is the sense of men asleep, which they express by snoring." a) He says that England needs to cure the brain root instead of the potato famine because it will kill more people b) He says that he will be proud if no one found any fatal faults in his book on the source of truth that he found at Walden pond c) He tells us to avoid the paralyzing influence of the past and not to listen to those who are constantly "dining in our ears that we Americans, and moderns generally, are intellectual dwarfs compared with the ancients, or even the Elizabethan men." d) We should not spend our time worrying about the so-called good old days, when "men were men": "Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made." e) He compares the color of ice to the purity that men enjoy 13. He says that some believe that Americans are not as intellectual as the Elizabethan men in England but he asks what is the purpose of that a) He makes an allusion to the bible from the book of Ecclesiastes (;4 that says that a living dog is better than a dead lion b) He argues that every man must mind his own business and endeavor to be what he was made for c) Conformity is another trap to avoid: "Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." d) Inner exploration and growth are the personal concerns of each unique individual; each must discover his own truths and live by them accordingly. e) The narrator has offered us the example of how this may be done; we have seen him decide "not to live in this restless, nervous, bustling, trivial Nineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goes by" and tend to his own self-cultivation f) He asks why we are in such a hurry to be successful and suggests that if a man does not keep up with his companions, he might just be marching to a different drum and so we should let him walk to the music he hears however far away it is g) It is not important for that man to mature quickly like an apple tree or an oak (simile) h) If the circumstance currently is not what we were made for, what reality can we substitute for it because we will surely be ruined by vain reality i) He ends by saying that we should not pain ourselves to get to heaven when we look up at the end and realize that it is still so far away.

What is the shift in subject starting in lines 9 to 14 in the cross of snow? What does the phrase: "there is a mountain in the distant west that sun defining in its deep ravines displays a cross of snow on its side"

1. The poem shifts to speaking about nature instead of the room 2. The mountain is untouched or impenetrable by the sunlight that the rains and snow for a cross 3. This is similar to his own grief that is too deep to be melted away by anything 4. "Such is the cross i wear upon my breast there eighteen years, through all the changing scenes and seasons, changeless since the day she died" a) The cross he bears is one of constant pain of his loss it is his pain and grief b) It has been 18 years since his wife died

Summarizes Thanatopsis by Bryant

1. The speaker starts by saying that for those who love nature, and are a part of a communion with her, she speaks in various languages to him a) Thanatopsis" starts by talking about nature's ability to make us feel better. b) The speaker tells us that nature can make pain less painful and is there for us with eloquence, beauty, a smile, ad voice of happiness when we are happy c) It can even lighten our dark thoughts about death. 2. He tells us that, when we start to worry about death, we should go outside and listen to the voice of nature. a) That voice reminds us that we will indeed vanish when we die and mix back into the earth. b) The voice of nature warns us that in a few days, we will not see the sun anymore and we will be in the cold ground where your pale was laid with many tears and the ocean will ot claim you 3. The earth will claim you and you will grow to be the earth again a) Our individual bod will mix with the elements and be a brother to the rocks and the clay-the same ones that the rude swain walks over and the oak tree will grow its roots into your body 4. The voice of nature also tells us that when we die, we won't be alone. a) Every person who has ever lived is in the ground ("the great tomb of man") and everyone who is alive will soon be dead and in the ground too. b) In this great tomb of men is the great patriarchs of the world, the kings, the wise, the good and the powerful and venerated all in one great step chuler c) The hills and rocks as ancient as the sun, the values in deep thought between the woods and majestic rivers and complaining brooks that make the meadows and move all around us will decorate the great tomb of man d) The planet's sun, and heaven are shining on the sad house of death throughout time 5. People take the morning's wings and the desert of Libya or toss themselves in the continuous woods 6. It talks about moving through Oregon and hearing nothing besides your own movements, but the dead are there a) The millions of the dead since the beginning of time have died here and they reign alone 7. It asks what if you shall rest and die unnoticed by the living with no friend to witness your death a) In this event, the living will carry on and continue to pursue their favorite phantom, but all of the dead will notice you 8. As the long line of ages die, the sons of men, the youth at the peak of life, matron and maid, the old and the happy infant next to those who will follow them when it is their turn a) This idea is meant to be comforting, and the poem ends by telling us to think of death like a happy, dream-filled sleep. 9. The speaker tells us to live your life in a way so that when you time is up and you are called to join the dead, you will go with an unfaltering trust and approach your grace like one wrapped in blankets and lying down for good dreams and not like a slave who is being whipped in his dungeon

What is the subject and tone of the poem the tide rises, the tide falls?

1. The whole poem is about the passage of time a) Indication that nature goes on while human life does not and is unmoved by what happens to the humans b) Humans are mortal and nature is immortal c) Human Life is transient 2. The repetition of the tide rises, the tide falls goes along with the rhyme scheme, reminding the reader the never ending cycle of life on earth 3. The subject of the poem is the passage of time nature goes on while human life ends 4. The tone is somber

Summarize the tide rises, the tide falls?

1. This poem describes a seaside scene. 2. The tide rises, the tide falls. 3. It's twilight, a bird (curlew) is calling, and a traveler is leaving the shore, heading for a nearby town 4. The sand is wet and brown along the coast as the traveler is heading into town 5. The tide rises, the tide falls. 6. Now it's dark, the sea is calling, and the waves erase the traveler's footprints from the shore. 7. The waves have soft white hands that are erasing footprints in the sand 8. The tide rises, the tide falls 9. Despite this gloomy perspective, the dawn does come again. 10. There are signs of life everywhere. 11. Horses are ready and raring to go; a hostler is calling out. 12. Sure, the traveler will never return to the shore (because, you know, he's dead), but the tide rises again, and then... well, the tide falls.

Summarize Civil Disobedience

1. Thoreau begins Civil Disobedience by saying that he agrees with the motto, "That government is best which governs least." Indeed, he says, men will someday be able to have a government that does not govern at all. a) As it is, government rarely proves useful or efficient. It is often "abused and perverted" so that it no longer represents the will of the people. b) He says that people are protesting the army, but the army is nothing more than an arm of the government c) He argues that government should only be temporary d) The Mexican-American War illustrates this phenomenon. 2. However, Thoreau then says that speaking "practically and as a citizen," he is not asking for the immediate elimination of government. a) Rather, for the moment, he is asking for a better government. b) He wants every person to make known what kind of government they want that would command their respect and then that will be a step towards obtaining it. c) Thoreau argues that by answering to the majority, democracies answer the desires of the strongest group, not the most virtuous or thoughtful which could be the minority. d) A government founded on this principle cannot be based on justice. e) Why can't there be a government where right and wrong are not decided by the majority but by conscience? Thoreau writes, "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think we should be men first, and subjects afterward." f) He asserts that it is more important to develop a respect for the right, rather than a respect for law, for people's obligations are to do what is right. g) He says that the government in itself does not have a conscience, but if it is made up of conscientious men then it will have a conscience 3. Too much respect for the law leads people to do many unjust things, as war illustrates: Soldiers become only a shadow of their humanity; the government shapes them into machines. a) Soldiers have no opportunity to exercise moral sense, reduced to the existence comparable to that of a horse or dog. b) Yet these men are often called good citizens. c) He also argues against all of the men who serve the state as machines acting as a standing army, militia, jailers, constables, volunteer law enforcement who do not exercise free will on their judgement of the moral sense, but they put themselves on a level with manufacturers d) Such as command deserves no respect e) They are also considered good citizens f) Similarly, most legislators and politicians do not put moral sense first, and those few who do are persecuted as enemies. 4. Thoreau says that while everyone recognizes the right to revolution when faced with an intolerably tyrannical or inefficient government, most people say that such a revolution would not be warranted under current conditions. a) However, Thoreau argues that we have not only the right, but indeed the duty, to rebel. b) He argues that the government does not want to remedy itself or it would welcome it from the people and welcome the minority opinions. c) He says that injustice is a part of the machine of government so let it go and consider if the remedy will not be worse than the evil, and if you do not want to do injustice to others, Thoreau orders you to break the law and stop the machine of government 5. He says that he meet with this American government or its representative, the state government directly every year in the person of the tax gatherer, the only person in the government that Thoreau is situated with a) He says that the best way to stop the government is to deny the collection of taxes b) He points to his civil neighbor, the tax collector who is the man that he fights with and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government c) He says that the tax collector will never know how bad he is until he is forced to consider whether he shall treat Thoreau, his neighbor as a well disposed man or as a disturber of the peace and see if he can get over this obstruction of his neighborliness without being rude d) Thoreau says that he knows this well and if only one honest man in the state of massachusetts ceases to hold slaves and were to withdraw from his copartnership and be locked up in the county jail, that it would be the abolishment of slavery in america e) He says that it does not matter how small the beginning it seems, once it is done, it is done forever f) Reform keeps newspapers in its service, but not one man because we like to talk about making it our mission but never do 6. Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for all men is a jail a) The proper place and only place that massachusetts have provides for her freer spirits is her prisons to be locked out of the state as they already have done to the runaway slave, mexican prisoner on parole, and the indian come to plead the wrongs of his race b) This is the more honorable place where the state places people that are against her c) He says that if you think your impact is lost in jail, then you are wrong because you don't understand how much truth is stronger than error or how much more eloquently and effectively you can fight injustice when you have experienced a little of your own d) He says cast your vote as an influence and the minority will no longer be powerless when it clogs the majority by its weight e) If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison or to give up war and slavery, the state will not hesitate on which to choose 7. He argues that if you refuse to pay your taxes, it is not a violent act, but if you pay your taxes it is because you are allowing for the state to commit these bloody and violent acts a) Not paying your taxes is a peaceful revolution Any other government official can participate by simply quitting his job b) If blood will shed, it will only be the the conscience being wounded and this will cause an everlasting death that Thoreau comments he sees now 8. he states that he has not paid his poll tax for six years and he was already put into jail once because of this for a night a) He says during that night, he realized how silly the institution that was holding him was and that they were treating him as human by locking him up b) He wondered if this was as best as they could do to stop him because he felt free in the jail c) He said that he felt as if he alone had paid his taxes compared to the rest of his townspeople because they did not know how to treat him d) He said with every compliment and threat he realized that they thought he would rather be on the other side of the prison wall d) He says that the government locked him up and freed him to his meditations which was the dangerous part of Thoreau e) He says that the government could not punish him mind, so they punished his body instead just as a boy punishes his dog when he can't punish the person he is mad at f) He said that he saw the state was not that smart and it was trimmed and it could not tell the difference between its friends and foes which is when Thoreau lost all of his respect for them g) He says that the state never intentionally confronts a man's sense, intellectual or moral but only his body h) It only is armed with superior physical strength not intelligence or honesty i) Thoreau says that he was not born to be forced and he will breathe after his own accord and then decide who is the strongest j) He says that the government can only force him to become like them and he does not hear of men being forced to live this way or any masses of men because what sort of life would that be to live k) He asks why he should be in a big hurry to give the government his money when they say your money or your life l) He says that he can't help that and it must help himself because he is not responsible for the success of the machinery of society because he is not the son of the engineer m) He only observes that when an acorn and a chestnut fall side by side, one does not remain inert to make way for the other, rather they both grow and they flourish as best as they can still one overshadows and kills the other n)Thoreau ends by saying that is a plant cannot live according to nature, it dies and so does man

Summarize conclusion in walden

1. Thoreau says that however mean your life is, meet it and live it and do not shun it or call it names because it is not so ad as you are 2. Life looks poorest when you are richest a) The fault finder will find faults in paradise and so you should love your life n matter how poor it is because you will be able to have happy hours even in a poor house 3. He says that the town's poor seem to live independent lives a) They are great enough to receive without misgivings and they are not really being supported by the town, it just happens that the poor are not above supporting themselves by disreputable means b) He says that poverty is like a garden and you should not trouble yourself with new things, just turn to the old because things do not change, we do c) You can sell your clothes, just keep your thoughts and God will see that you do not want society 4. He compares himself to a spider on a wall to make a point about how everything in the world would be the same in poverty, except that you would still have your thoughts a) He urges us to sell our fancy clothes and keep our thoughts, get rid of our civilized shells and find our true selves. b) He says that we are often reminded that if we were given great wealth, we would still have the same aims but if we were poor, and you could not buy books or the newspaper you would be confined to experiences and you would be compelled to deal with the material that has the most to teach you about life c)Life near the bone, says Thoreau, "is sweetest." Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only, and "[m]oney is not required to buy one necessary of the soul." 5. He remarks that life is just like water in a river (simile) a) Some days it will rise higher than man has ever known it and floor the lands and it will be an eventful year b) But it was not always dry land where we dewelled and every part of the earth tells a story 6. He tells a story that everyone has heard from New England about a strong bug that came out of a dry leaf old table of apple wood that had stood in a farmer's kitchen for 60 years a) The egg was in the living tree for many years and it was heard gnawing out for several weeks before hatching from the heat of the fire and astonishing the man by coming forth from society's most trivial furniture to enjoy its perfect summer life at last b) He asks who does not get hope from his story and fill his faith resurrected on immortality 7. Thoreau concludes by acknowledging that the average "John or Jonathon" reading his words will not understand them, but that this does not matter. a) A new day is dawning, and the sun "is a morning star" heralding a new life to come.1.

Summarize economy in walden?

1. Thoreau starts by discussing that most humans live in a quiet life of desperation 2. He says that what we know as submissiveness is actually desperation and that from the desperate city, we go to the desperate country and have to console ourselves with the bravery of minks and muskrats a) It is a stereotypical but an unknown despair that is concealed under what is considered games and amusements, but there is no play in them because it always follows work b) It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things when we considered what the chief end of man is supposed to be to glorify God and by in union with him forever (Allusion rom the New England Primer). This is supposed to be a true necessity of life, but men have chosen the common mode of life because they prefer it to any other c) Men think there is no choice left for them, but the alert and connected to nature realize that it is never too late to give up our prejudices and that there is no way of thinking or doing however old that is can be completely trusted d) He asks rhetorically, what every body echoes or in silence passes as true today may be a false thinking of tomorrow 3. Old deeds for old people and new deeds for new people a) Age does not mean that you are a qualified instructor of advice as the youth are because it has lost more than it has gained b) The old do not have any useful advice to give the young because their own experiences have been only failures, but maybe they still have faith left that makes them believe that this experience had a good result, and this false belief makes them more young than the young c) Thoreau remarks that he has been alive for 30 years and he has never received any valuable advice from his elders d) They have told him nothing that has purpose e) Life is an experiment that Thoreau has not yet experienced but it is not of use to him that the elders have tried it f) If he finds any experience of value, he is sure to reflect that the elders (Mentors) have never told him about it Mentors is an allusion to the wise adviser Mentor, the friend of Odysseus in the Odyssey who educated the hero's son. 4. Thoreau matter-of-factly outlining his two-year project at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts (on land owned by his spiritual mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, although Thoreau does not mention this detail). a) Thoreau describes the construction of his small house as an application of his faith in simplicity and self-reliance. b) Starting with nothing, Thoreau must even borrow the axe he needs to fell trees, an axe that he later returns (eager never to appear indebted to anyone) sharper than when he got it. c) He receives gifts of some supplies, purchasing others, and sets to work slowly but steadily through the spring months. d) He describes how pleasant the hillside where he worked was, covered in pine trees and overlooking a pond which was still covered in ice from the winter and it sometimes snowed while he was working up there e) But for the most part as he would walk home everyday, he could hear the spring birds ready to start another year f) He said that on pleasant spring days, winter of man's discontent is thawing the earth and that life that had laid still was now springing up again g) One day as he was working on cutting and readying a piece of wood, he saw a small striped snake run into the water and lay at the bottom for as long as Thoreau was there (almost an hour) because he had it come out of his restly sleep just quite yet h) Thoreau observes that for the same reason, men remain in their present low and primitive condition, but if they were influenced by spring waking them up, they would rise to a higher and more refined life i) He says that he had seen other snakes with their bodies still numb from winter and waiting for the sun to thaw them out j) On the 1st of April when it rained and melted the ice, he hears a goose walking around over the pond and laughing like it was lost 5. Thoreau continue on for many days cutting and hewing timber with his axe, not thinking much but singing a song a) Only he had prepared timbers for the rafters and floor and the rest for the sides of the house, but borrows more tools and fastens the logs together b) On these days, he normally brought his dinner of bread and butter with him and read the newspaper in the woods and did to work for long in the woods c) Before he was done, he describes himself as a friend of the pine trees d) Sometimes someone wandering in the woods would be drawn to the sound of the axe and Thoreau and him would chat for a while 6. In the middle of April, his house was framed and ready to be raised a) He had already bought the house of James Collins, An Irishman who worked on the Railroad to use for boards b) James Collins' house was considered a nice house and when Thoreau came to see it, he was not home c) He walks around the outside, being unobserved from the inside because the window was high c) The cottage is small with a high roof and dirt all around it, the foot is the loudest part of the house and it was a good deal destroyed d) Mrs Collins came to the door and asked if he wanted to view it from the inside, so Thoreau goes inside and is followed by chickens e) The house it dark and it had a dirt floor for the most part f) Mrs. Collins lights a lamp to show him the inside of the roof and walls and the floorboard that extended under the bed, but warns him not to step into the cellar because it had a dust hole g) There was a stove, a bed, a place to sit, and infant in the house, a silk parasol, gilt framed looking glass, and a patent new coffee mill failed to an oak sapling h) The bargain was concluded when James returned, Thoreau was supposed to pay four dollars and twenty five cents and James was supposed to leave the house by 5 tomorrow morning selling to no one else while Thoreau takes possession at six i) James says the only burden was to anticipate certain claims to rent and fuel j) At six the next morning, he passes the Collins family and all of their belongings, minus their cat which became a wild cat and then was killed by a trap set for woodchucks k) Thoreau takes the house down the same morning, taking out the nails and spread the boards on the grass by the pond to bleach in the sun 7. He was informed by young Patrick that neighbor Seeley, an Irishman who stole nails from Thoreau while he was helping him and then lied to him about it (makes it seem as insignificant as the removal of Aeneas from the gods of Troy (allusion)) a) He digs the cellar in the side of a hill where a woodchuck dug his burrow so that the crops would not freeze in the winter b) The sides are left shelving and not stoned but the sand keeps them in their place c) It was two hours work, but Thoreau took pleasure in the breaking of ground because no matter the type of house or where it is, there will always be a cellar to store food in and the house is an entrance to the burrow d) At the beginning of May, with the help of his acquaintances, for the good of helping out a neighbor, they had set up the frame of the ouse e) He remarks that no man was ever more happy to in the character of his frame then he was f) He believes that they are destined to be raising higher structures some day 8. Thoreau is ready to move in on July 4, 1845, the day of his own independence from social norms and conventions. a) He moves in as soon as the house's roof is watertight b) He makes sure to construct a chimney out of stones from the pond in the fall, before it became necessary to warm up the house for the winter c) He says that he enjoys cooking his food outside and often fixed a structure around the fire when it rained to watch his food cook d) He says that he did not do much in those days besides read scraps of paper that laid on the ground but it still gave him as much entertainment as if he was reading the Iliad

Why does Holmes say tear the flag down if he wants to save it in line 1 of Old Ironsides? What is the tone?

1. Tone: sarcastic, bitterly ironic, verbal irony 2. This is verbal irony (he is being sarcastic, he doesn't really mean it)

What is thanatopsis

1. William Cullen Bryant probably began Thanatopsis when he was 13 2. The first version of the poem consisted of the present poem's lines 18-66 Bryant's father submitted this poem and another on the subject of death to the North American Review in 1817, and the two were mistakenly published as a single work 3. In 1821, Bryant completed Thanatopsis, framing the original lines with an introduction (lines 1-17) and a conclusion (lines 66-82) a) The earlier version, the central lines had been in the poet's own voice, in the latest version, the speaker is a romanticized and personified Nature b) The ideas of the three parts of the poem reveal the shifts in Bryant's thinking over the ten years of its composition c) The beauty of the poem's language and the grandeur of its images immediately established Bryant's literary reputation and helped create pride in the ability of American writers to equal the literary creations of the British Romantic Poets CLASS NOTES START BELOW: 4. THANATOPSIS MEANS A "MEDITATION UPON DEATH" OR "VIEW OF DEATH" 5. IT IS A ROMANTIC POET'S VISION OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A HUMAN BEING-T0 BE BOTH A MORTAL INDIVIDUAL AND A PART OF ENDURING NATURE

What is Old Ironsides?

1. Written by Oliver Wendell Holmes 2. The poem was written as a tribute to the U.S.S. Constitution, a forty four gun warship, one of the six commissioned by the Naval Act of 1794. 3. Launched in 1797, the Constitution was central in defeating the British during the War of 1812 4. The ship earned the name "Old Ironsides" for several impressive victories, after which British sailors described cannonballs bouncing off the hull of the sturdy ship 5. In 1828, the U.S. government announced plans to destroy the Constitution, who heroic service had left her battered and broken a) Like many other Americans, Oliver Wendell Holmes was angry about the upcoming demolition b) His outrage inspired him to write the poem in 1830 and it turned into a battle cry for all those who did not want the ship destroyed c) The government was forced to give up its plan, and the Constitution was saved 6. Ongoing revelation had kept the constitution afloat, and it is now the oldest commissioned vessel in the world a) Currently on display in Boston Harbor, the ship is maintained by a crew of 55 sailors and visited by millions of tourists year round 7. I is about the destruction of the USS Constitution

Which of these lines from Thanatopsis best expresses the concern someone might have of dying alone or being separated from loved ones after death? A. "All that treat the globe are but a handful to the tribes, that slumber in its bosom" B. "yet a few days and thee all beholding sun shall see no more, in all his course; not yet in the cold ground, where they pale form was laid, with many tears" C. "And, lost each human trace, surrendering up thine individual being, shalt thou go to mix forever with the elements, to be a brother to the insensible rock and to the sluggish clod" D. "The golden sun, the planets, and all the infinite host of heaven, are shining on the sad abodes" E." and what if thou shalt fall unnoticed by the living and friend take note of thy departure"

A. "All that treat the globe are but a handful to the tribes, that slumber in its bosom"

what is apostrophe?

Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which a poet directly address an inanimate object or absent person as if it were present and could respond

To whom does Nature speak with "a various language" in thanatopsis A. a man on his deathbed B. a lover of nature C. a poet D. God E. the powerful of the earth

B. a lover of nature

what is blank verse?

Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter

Which of the following literary quotations most agree with the theme of Thanatopsis? A. "Do not go gentle into that good night, rage, rage against the dying of the light" -Dylan Thomas B. "Death is an endless night so awful to contemplate that it can make us love life and value it with such passion that it may be the ultimate cause of all joy and all art" -Paul Theroux C. "But what is all this fear of and opposition to Oblivion? What is the matter with the soft Darkness, the Dreamless Sleep? - James Thurber D. "He that dies pays all debts" -William Shakespeare E. None of the above

C. "But what is all this fear of and opposition to Oblivion? What is the matter with the soft Darkness, the Dreamless Sleep? - James Thurber

what is caesura

Caesura: the pause or break in a line of poetry usually near the middle of a line

what is classicism

Classicism: a form of art that stressed reason and order over emotion and personal concerns

What is the tone in this passage from thanatopsis: "Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim/thy growth to be resolved to death again and all each human trace, surrendering up/thine individual being, shalt thou go/ to mix forever with the elements/To be a brother to the insensible rock/And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain /Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak/Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. /Yet not to thine eternal resting-place"

Comforting, calm, soothing uniting

Which of the following phrases best defines the word pensiveness in thanatopsis? A. quiet reflection B. desperate struggle C. intense yearning D. sad thoughtfulness E. anxious waiting

D. sad thoughtfulness

Which of the following phrases best defines venerable in thanatopsis? A. sharing thoughts and actions B. lacking sensation C. susceptible to attack D. having white or gray hair E. respectable due to age

E. respectable due to age

According to the poem, what happens to someone's friends and family after his or her death in thanatopsis? A. they gain a better understanding of death B. they celebrate the soul's ascension to heaven C. they mourn for the rest of their lives D. they erect a memorial appropriate to the deceased person's life E. they go on living

E. they go on living

what is an elaboration?

Elaboration: a writing technique in which a subject is introduced and then expanded on through repetition with minor changes, the audition of details, or similar methods

what is an enjambment

Enjambment: running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the ext without a syntactical break

What happens in stanza 3 of the tide rises, the tide falls:

Find out the traveller will never return to the shore which indicates that the traveller has died

What are fireside poets?

Fireside poets: the first Americans to receive the same literary recognition and popularity enjoyed by europeans poets of the day 1. The label fireside described readers sitting in front of the family hearth, enjoying an evening of reading 2. Both Americans and Europeans praised the work of poets like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and John Greenleaf Whittier. 3. The writing of the Fireside poets generally was conventional in form, meter, and rhyme, a quality that made it suitable for memorization and recitation 4. Several of the most popular of these author's works were long narratives, such as Longfellow's "Hiawatha" and "Evangeline" and Whittier's "snow-bound" a) In terms of subjects, the fireside poets wrote primarily about American domestic life, mythology and legends, and history and politics b) Highly educated and socially involved, these writers also addressed some of the critical issues of their time c) Whittier and Lowell, in particular, were active in the movement to abolish slavery d) By today's standards, the tone of these writers may seem overly sentimental and moralistic, but audiences of the day found it pleasant, even compelling 5. Fireside poets sometimes were called the Schoolroom poets because students were required to memorize and recite their works a) Generations of Americans learned lines from such poems as Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride": "Listen my children and you shall hear/ of the midnight ride of Paul Revere"

What is the figure of speech in line 15 of old ironsides? What is the figure of speech in line 16?

LINE 15: 1. Allusion: harpies 2. Harpies are vulturous and they are the people who want to destroy the skip (government) a) Harpies in Greek mythology, are winged monsters with the head and trunk of a woman and the tail, legs, and talons of a bird. LINE 16: 1. Metaphor: the eagle of the sea is the ship because eagles are magnificent bird and the ships a warrior/majestic

what is a meter

Meter: a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry

what is a sonnet

Sonnet: a fourteen lined poem usually written in iambic pentameter and following a prescribed rhyme scheme

what is the speaker? What is the refrain?

Speaker: the voices of the poem, not always the author Refrain: the repetition of a line or lines in every stanza with little or no variation

What is the point of lines 60-65 on thanatopsis: All that breathe/Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh/When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care/Plod on, and each one as before will chase/His favorite phantom"

The circle of life will continue and life will go on after each of us passes away

What is the point of lines 33-37 in thanatopsis, "Thou shalt lie down/With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings,/The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good, /Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,/All in one mighty sepulchre"?

The point is that on earth you are alone, every is equal in death

In the last stanza of the poem snow bound, what is the shift in time

The time has jumped to a week in the future

What is transcendentalism? What are the tenets of it?

Transcendentalism: an american philosophical and artistic attitude based on the belief that fundamental truths about life and death can only be reached by going beyond the world of the senses. a) a New England Literary movement that describes the real flowering of Romanticism in American literature b) At the core of transcendentalism was the belief in a realm of spiritual or transcendent truths beyond what humans can know through their sense c) These truths could be apprehended in moments of heightened contemplation or by living close to nature d) Because the transcendentalists believed each person capable of intuiting truths directly, they opposed any authority beyond that of the individual conscience, including cultural and social conventions e) For the first time in America, "the self" became something to celebrate rather than deny f) By studying the self, a person could know the universe 2. Key tenets of transcendentalism: a) A theory that "transcendent forms" of truth exist beyond reason and experience; every individual is capable of discovering this truth on his/her own, through intuition b) A conviction that people are inherently good and should follow their own beliefs, however controversial they may be c) A belief that humankind, nature, and God are all interconnected d) Through the senses, we learn facts and laws of the physical world, and through our capacity to reason, we learn to use this information e) However, it's through INTUITION that we "know" the existence of our own souls and their relation to a reality beyond the physical world f) INTUITION is what Emerson called "the highest power of the soul" 3. Nature played an important role in the Transcendentalist view 4. Thoreau developed this view: WALDEN IS the supreme example of transcendentalist art 5. The Transcendentalist movement attracted many of the leading intellectuals of the day, including Ralph Wlado Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody a) While the moment lacked an official leader, Emerson and Thoreau emerged as its most prominent voices b) Ralph Waldo Emerson wanted to change how people thought, advising them to truth their own better natures c) In his essay, "Self Reliance, he stated,"Nothing is at last sacred, but the integrity of our own mind" d) Henry David Thoreau, a protege of Emerson, carried out an experiment in self-reliance, building a small cabin in the woods nr Walden Pond to live simply and in close contact with nature e) Walden, a record of this experience, was a clear statement of American individualism and later became an inspiration to environmentalists

what is paradox?

a statement that implies a contradiction

what is nature writing?

a type of essay in which the writer uses firsthand observations to explore his or her relationship with the natural world

what is an idyll

nostalgic work describing a pleasant rural scene or homey setting

what is synesthesia?

the interpretation of the data in terms of one sense to another