American Literature

1
American Literature

• Lecture 4

2
Objectives

• Enable the Ss to know the background,
  representative writers and their works of the
  Romantic period in American literary history
• Enable the Ss to appreciate Hawthornes style by
  a close reading of The Ministers Black Veil
• Enable the Ss to know how to appreciate poems by
  analyzing Edgar Allan Poes Annabel Lee from
  the perspective of form and theme etc.

3
Teaching Materials

• Hawthorne
• The Ministers Black Veil
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• A Psalm of Life
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Annabel Lee

4
Teaching Methodology

• Lecturing
• Text-analysis

5
Leading writers

• Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

• Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

6
Manifesto

• In 1836 the publication of Nature by Emerson
  pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the
  phase of New England Transcendentalism.
• Nature is regarded as the Bible of New England
  Transcendentalism.
• It says in the book

7

• The Universe is composed of Nature and the
  Soul.
• Spirit is present everywhere.

8
About Transcendentalism

• Club Transcendentalist Club
• Transcendentalist journal The Dial

• Sources
• ---German Idealism,
• ---German Transcendentalism
• ---American Puritanism.

9
Definition by Emerson

• What is probably called Transcendentalism among
  us is idealism idealism as appears in 1842.
• Transcendental
• Whatever belongs to the class of intuitive (???)
  thought

10
Main Ideas (Features) of N.E.T.

• 1. placing emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul,
  as the most important thing in the universe --- a
  new way of looking at the world
• 2. stressing the importance of the individual.
  --- a new way of looking at man
• 3. offering a fresh perception of nature as
  symbolic of Spirit or God

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• New England Transcendentalism was, in actuality,
  Romanticism in Puritan soil.

12
Ralph Waldo Emerson

• The American Scholar---Intellectual Declaration
  of Independence

• Nature ---the Bible of New England
  Transcendentalism

13

• Emersons aesthetics brought about a revolution
  in American literature in general and in American
  poetry in particular.
• It marked the birth of true American poetry and
  true American poets such as Walt Whitman and
  Emily Dickinson.
• He embodied a new nations desire and struggle to
  assert its own identity in its formative period.

14
Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)

• A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

• Walden---a prophet of individualism in American
  literature

15

• He was one of the three great American authors of
  the last century who had no contemporary readers
  and yet became great in this century.
• Herman Melville
• Emily Dickinson.

16
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
His life represents one of the greatest
tragedies in the North American literary history,
one of the greatest losses to American
literature, one of the most disgraceful episodes
of critical stupidity in the United States
17
Works

• 1. Redburn 1849
• 2. Typee 1846
• 3. Omoo 1874
• 4. Moby Dick 1851
• 5. Mardi 1849
• 6. White Jacket 1850
• 7. Pierre 1852
• 8. Billy Budd 1924

18
Themes of Moby Dick

• 1. Search for truth
• The story deals with the human pursuit of
  truth and the meaning of existence.
• 2. Conflict between Good and Evil.
• 3. Conflict between Man and Nature.
• 4. Isolation between man and man man and
  nature man and society.
• 5. Solipsism.

19
Symbols

• 1) The Pequod
• The Pequod is a symbol of doom. It is painted
  a gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and
  bones, literally bristling with the mementos of
  violent death. It is, in fact, marked for death.
  Adorned like a primitive coffin, the Pequod
  becomes one. )

20

• 2) Moby Dick
• Moby Dick possesses various symbolic
  meanings for various individuals.
• 1) Symbol of nature for human beings,
• because it is mysterious, powerful, unknown.
• 2) Symbol of evil for the Captain Ahab.
• 3) Symbol of good and purity because of its
  whiteness.

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• 3) Voyage of the Pequod
• Symbol of the pursuit of ideals, adventure,
  and the hunt in the vast wilderness.
• 4) Ahab
• Symbol of solipsism, revenge and then evil.
• 5) Sea
• Symbol of vastness, loneliness, and isolation.

22
Evaluation

• Moby Dick is, critics have agreed, one of the
  worlds greatest masterpieces. To get to know the
  19th century American mind and America itself,
  one has to read this book.
• One of the classics of American Literature and
  even world literature.

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• Moby Dick is an encyclopedia of everything,
  history, philosophy, religion, etc. in addition
  to a detailed account of the operations of the
  whaling industry.

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6. Nathaniel Hawthorne
(1804-1864)
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Works
Collections of short stories
????

1. Twice-Told Tales 1837
2. Mosses from an Old Manse 1843
3. The Scarlet Letter 1850

????
??
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• The House of the Seven Gables 1851
• The Blithedale Romance 1852
• The Marble Faun 1860

????????
????
?????
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• Young Goodman Brown
• The Ministers Black Veil
• Dr. Rappacinis Daughter

??????
?????????
??????
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Life

• Hawthorne was born in Salem Massachusetts.
• Some of his ancestors were men of prominence
  (??)in the Puritan theocracy of
  seventeenth-century New England. One of them was
  a colonial magistrate, notorious for his part in
  the persecution of the Quakers, and another was a
  judge at the Salem Witchcraft Trial in 1692.

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• When Nathaniel was four, his father died on a
  voyage in Surinam, Dutch Guinea, but maternal
  (???)relatives recognized his literary talent and
  financed his education at Bowdoin College.
• Among his classmates were many of the important
  literary and political figures of the day writer
  Horatio Bridge, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and
  future President Franklin Pierce. These prominent
  friends supplied Hawthorne with government
  employment in the lean times, allowing him time
  to bloom as an author.

30

• Like James Fenimore Cooper, Hawthorne was
  extremely concerned with conventionality?? his
  first pseudonymously published short stories
  imitated Sir Walter Scott, as did his 1828
  self-published Fanshawe.
• Hawthorne later formally withdrew most of this
  early work, discounting it as the work of
  inexperienced youth. From 1836 to 1844 the
  Boston-centered Transcendentalist movement, led
  by Ralph Waldo Emerson, was an important force in
  New England intellectual circles.

31

• Hawthorne's fiancée Sophia Peabody drew him into
  "the newness," and in 1841 Hawthorne invested
  1500 in the Brook Farm Utopian Community,
  leaving disillusioned within a year.
• His later works show some Transcendentalist
  influence, including a belief in individual
  choice and consequence, and an emphasis on
  symbolism.
• As America's first true psychological novel, The
  Scarlet Letter would convey these ideals
  contrasting puritan morality with passion and
  individualism.

32
Influences on Hawthorne

• Salem - early childhood, later work at the Custom
  House.
• Puritan family background - one of his
  forefathers was Judge Hathorne, who presided over
  the Salem witchcraft trials, 1692.
• Belief in the existence of the devil.
• Belief in determinism.

33
Major Themes in Hawthorne's Fiction

• Alienation (??)- a character is in a state of
  isolation because of self-cause, or societal
  cause, or a combination of both.
• Initiation(??) - involves the attempts of an
  alienated character to get rid of his isolated
  condition.
• Problem of Guilt -a character's sense of guilt
  forced by the puritanical heritage or by society
  also guilt vs. innocence.

34

• Pride - Hawthorne treats pride as evil. He
  illustrates the following aspects of pride in
  various characters physical pride (Robin),
  spiritual pride (Goodman Brown, Ethan Brand), and
  intellectual pride (Rappaccini).
• Puritan New England - used as a background and
  setting in many tales.
• Italian background - especially in The Marble
  Faun.
• Allegory (??)- Hawthornes writing is
  allegorical, didactic(??) and moralistic. (?????)

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• Other themes include
• individual vs. society,
• self-fulfillment vs. frustration,
• hypocrisy vs. integrity,
• love vs. hate,
• exploitation (??,??)vs. hurting, fate vs. free
  will.

36
Features of his works

• setting
• themes
• Idea
• Feature
• technique

• Puritan New England
• Evil sin
• black vision toward human beings
• Ambiguity
• symbolism

37
The Scarlet Letter

• Hester
• Chillingworth
• Dimmesdale
• Pearl

• Sin
• evil

Adultery Ability Angel
38

• The Scarlet Letter represents the height of
  Hawthornes literary genius dense with terse
  (?????)descriptions. It remains relevant for its
  philosophical and psychological depth, and
  continues to be read as a classic tale on a
  universal theme (secret sin).

39
The Ministers Black Veil

• Questions to answer
• 1. What happened at the morning service? What was
  the effect of the black veil upon the villagers?
  What was the suject of the sermon?

40

• 1. Key Mr. Hooper wore a black veil.
• The second Paragraph in P302.
• The 16th line in Paragraph 3 in P302.

41

• 2. What happened in the afternoon? Do you think
  Mr. Hooper had anything to do with the young
  maidens death?Why or why not?

42

• 2. Key
• In Paragraph 1 in P304.

43

• 3. What happened on that night?

44

• 3. Key
• In the last Paragraph in P304 and 1st Paragraph
  in P305.

45

• 4. What happened the next day?

46

• 4. Key
• In the second Paragraph in P305 and 1st Paragraph
  in P306.
• The villagers were talking about the black veil.
• They sent deputation to talk with Mr. Hooper.

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• 5. What cause did Mr. Hooper give Elizabeth not
  to take off the black veil?

48

• 5. Key
• In the second Paragraph from thebottom in P307
  and 2nd Paragraph in P308.

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• 6. What happened at the death-bed of Mr. Hooper?

50

• 6. Key
• In the 1st Paragraph in P311 and the sixth
  Paragraph in P312

51

• 7. Why did Mr. Hooper persist in wearing the
  black veil until his death?

52

• 7. Key
• In the last Paragraph in P312.

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Technique

• Symbolism
• Psychological insight

54
Hawthorne as a Literary Artist

• First professional writer - college educated,
  familiar with the great European writers, and
  influenced by puritan writers like Cotton Mather.
  
• Hawthorne displayed a love for allegory and
  symbol. He dealt with tensions involving light
  versus dark warmth versus cold faith versus
  doubt heart versus mind internal versus
  external worlds.

55
Reasons for Hawthorne's Current Popularity

• Hawthorne's use of psychological analysis
  (pre-Freudian) is of interest today.
• In themes and style, Hawthorne's writings look
  ahead to Henry James, William Faulkner, and
  Robert Penn Warren

56
7. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

57

• Longfellow was early fond of reading - Washington
  Irving's Sketch-Book was his favorite
• Among Longfellow's classmates at Bowdoin College
  was Nathaniel Hawthorne, whom he helped later
  reviewing warmly his Twice-Told Tales.
• In 1836 Longfellow began teaching in Harvard
• Longfellow settled in Cambridge, where he
  remained for the rest of his life
• Queen Victoria, who was his great admirer,
  invited him to tea

58

• The poet's 70th birthday in 1877 was celebrated
  around the country
• Longfellow died in Cambridge on March 24, 1882.
  In London his marble image is seen in Westminster
  Abbey, in the Poet's Corner

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Works of Longfellow

• Voices of the Night 1839 ???
• Ballads and other Poems 1841?????
• The Belfry of Bruges and other Poems?????????
• Evangeline a Tale of Acadie 1847????
• The Song of Hiawatha?????
• Tales of a Wayside Inn1863, 1872, 1873???????

60
Poetic Features

• His reputation as a major American Poet declined
  between the two wars for the gentleness and
  sweetness, and the common subjects
• He is lacking in passion and high imagination
• His style and subjects are conventional compared
  with modern poets
• He made a great contribution to "the flowering of
  New England
• Americans owe a great debt to Longfellow because
  he was among the first of American writers to use
  native themes

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A Psalm of Life (????)

• ?????? A Psalm of Life ---???????????

62
????????????Tell me not, in mornful numbers,
?????????! "Life is but an empty dream!"
?????,?????, For the soul is dead that slumbers,
??????????? And things are not what they seem.
??????!??????! Life is real! Life is earnest!
????????? And the grave is not its goal
?????,?????, "Dust thou art, to dust
returnest," ?????,?????? Was not spoken of the
soul.
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?????????? Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
????,????? Is our destined end or way
????,????? But to act, that each to-morrow
?????,????? Find us farther than to-day.
????,???? Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
???,??????, And our hearts, though stout and
brave, ?????,?????, Still, like muffled drums,
are beating ?????,?????? Funeral marches to the
grave.
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??????????, In the world's broad field of battle,
????????? In the bivouac of life, ??????????,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle! ??????????! Be
a hero in the strife! ?????,??????! Trust no
Future, howe'er pleasant! ??????????! Let the
dead Past bury its dead! ???--????????! Act, --
act in the living Present! ?????,?????! Heart
within, and God o'evhead!
65
????????? Lives of great men all remind us
?????????, We can make our lives sublime,
?????????, And, departing, leave behind us
?????????? Footprints on the sand of time
????????? Footprints, that perhaps another,
??????????, Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
?????,?????,A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
???????????? Seeing, shall take heart again.
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??,???????, Let us, then, be up and doing,
?????????? With a heart for any fate
?????,?????, Still achieving, still pursuing,
?????,????? Learn to labor and to wait.
????????,??????????????? ??????????
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8. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

• father of modern short story
• father of detective story
• father of psychoanalytic criticism

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1) Works
???????

• Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque
• MS. Found in a Bottle
• C) The Murders in the Rue Morgue

????????
??????
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???????

1. The Fall of the House of Usher
2. The Masque of the Red Death
3. The Cask of Amontillado

??????
?????????
70
??

1. The Raven
2. Israfel
3. Annabel Lee
4. To Helen

?????
???
?????
71
????

1. The Poetic Principle
2. The Philosophy of Composition

????
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2) Life

• Famous American Poet, short-story writer and
  critic.

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Appreciation of Annabel Lee

• The theme
• The poem is believed to have been
  dedicated to the memory of Poes wife, Virginia
  Clemm, who died in 1847 at the age of 26.

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• The form
• Poe stresses rhythm, defines true poetry
  as the rhythmical creation of beauty
• It is an elaborate display of pure
  technique with little or no substance. Its poetry
  exists in its ingenious creation of sounds.

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Foot(??)

• It is the metrical unit by which a line of poetry
  is measured. It is a specific combination of
  stressed and unstressed syllables. A foot usually
  consists of one stressed and one or two
  unstressed syllables. A vertical line is used to
  separate the feet. A foot of poetry can be
  arranged in a variety of patterns. The most
  commonly used feet are as follows

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Foot Pattern

• (1) The iambic foot, consisting of an unstressed
  syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
  
• What kept/ his eyes/ from giv/ing back/ the
  gaze
• The fa/lling out/ of faith/ful friends/,
  renew/ing is /of love.

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• (2)The trochaic foot, consisting of a stressed
  syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
  
• He was louder than the preacher
• Double, double, toil, and trouble
• (3)The anapestic foot, two unstressed syllables
  followed by a stressed syllable.
• I am monarch of all I survey
• For the moon/ never beams/ without bring/ing
  me dreams.

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• (4)The dactylic foot, consisting of a stressed
  syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.
• Slowly the/ mist oer the/ meadow was/
  creeping.
• This is the/ forest pri/meval the/
  murmuring/ pines and the/ hemlocks
• (5) Spondaic foot ???

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Meter

• Meter is a regular pattern of stressed and
  unstressed syllables. The number of feet in a
  line determines its meter.
• English poetry includes the following eight kinds
  of lines

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Kinds of meter

• 1). Monometer line (one foot)
• I/ trust
• 2). Dimeter line (two feet)
• The wild /winds weep
• 3). Trimeter line (three feet) The au/tumn time/
  has come

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• 4). Tetrameter line (four feet) When first/ my
  way/ to fair/ I took
• 5). Pentameter line (five feet) The lone/ and
  le/vel sands/ stretch far/ away
• 6). Hexameter line (six feet) (Alexandrine)
• This is the/ forest pri/meval the/ murmuring
  /pines and the /hemlocks

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Rhyme Schemes

• Full rhyme
• Imperfect rhyme
• Positional types or rhyme
• End rhyme/ Internal rhyme/ Beginning rhyme

83
Other Special Sound Effects

• Alliteration
• The furrow followed free
• Assonance
• Lake-fate Clean-sweep
• Consonance
• Chatter pitter patter

84
Foot and Meter in Annabel Lee

• Anapaestic / Iambic SEE page 325 note1

85

• All sounds, vowels, and diphthongs for example,
  and poetic devices such as end and internal
  rhymes, alliteration are brought into full play
  for the rhythmical creation of beauty.

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Other devices

• Repetition
• Parallel structure

87
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88
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???????????, ????????????
 ??!?????????, ??????,?????, ???????????!
?????,????? ?????!
89
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4) Evaluation

• Poe remained the most controversial and most
  misunderstood literary figure in the history of
  American literature.
• Poe was successful in three areas critic, poet
  and short-story writer.

91

• Emerson dismissed him in three words the jingle
  man ,Mark Twain declared his prose to be
  unreadable. And Whitman was the only famous
  literary figure present at the Poe Memorial
  Ceremony in 1875.

92

• Ironically, it was in Europe that Poe enjoyed
  respect and welcome.
• Bernard Shaw said Poe was the greatest
  journalistic critic of his time his poetry is
  exquisitely refined and his tales are complete
  works of art.

93

• Poes reputation was first made in France.
  Charles Baudelaire said that Edgar Poe, who
  isnt much in America, must become a great man in
  France.

94

• Today, Poes particular power has ensured his
  position among the greatest writers of the world.
  The majority of critics today, in America as well
  as in the world, have recognized the real, unique
  importance of Poe as a great writer of fiction, a
  poet of the first rank, and a critic of acumen
  and insight. His works are read the world over.
  His influence in world-wide in modern literature.

95
Assignment

• Write a 200- word comment on To Helen
• analyzing its theme and form etc.