Individualism

A Romantic and Transcendental Thought

Transcendentalism

Ralph Waldo Emerson

&

Henry David Thoreau

Transcendentalism

• An intellectual movement of the 19th century. Transcendentalists were interested in the human spirit and thought that an exploration of nature helped people understand universal truths.

Transcendentalism

• Believed the individual was at the center of the universe, more powerful than any institution whether political or religious (384).

Transcendentalism

• Ralph Waldo Emerson was considered the “father” of Transcendentalism in many ways.

• Struggled with his faith so much, that he began questioning his own beliefs and establishing his own philosophy

• As he struggled with his own faith, he struggled with the notion that machines might in the future replace people and the concerned him

Nature

• What does this work reveal to you about Transcendentalism?

Civil Disobedience

• “That government is best which governs least” is the motto that Thoreau expresses throughout this essay (416). What does he mean? What change is he calling for?

Self Reliance

• Which aspects, if any, of today’s American culture reflect Emerson’s belief in self-reliance?

Catalogue PoemCatalogue Poem

Read the following poem and…1.Write an appropriate title2.Explain what the poem “lists” and if it is effective.

Six Yu-Gi-Oh cards.Chewing gum wrappers.

School handouts, two weeks overdue.Three rubber bands.

A five-inch-tall stuffed dog.Four small blood stains.Two smooth, gray rocks.

Fourth-grade intrigue.Four pencils with no lead and no eraser.

Righteous indignation.Stories.

Avril Lavigne.Asthma inhaler.

A feather.Fourteen pale pink ribbons.

Playground news.Someone's phone number scribbled on a Heath Bar wrapper.

Eight secrets.Head lice, once.Plans of her own.

Whitman

• Focus on life rather than death; specifically in the American Culture

• Problem: only focused on ONE type of culture

Analyzing

• Speaker

• Mood

• Catalogue Poetry—Poem using lists

• Repetition—using the same words

Mechanics

http://www.waldwickcommunityalliance.org/gallery/images/cjago_train_mechanics.JPG

Carpenter

http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/profile_post_images/carpenter_handy_2.jpg

Mason (Bricklayers)

http://archrecord.construction.com/news/images/070824camp2.jpg

Boatman and Deckhand

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3062/2567697772_e68444f815.jpg

Shoemaker and Hatter

http://www.ciaccess.com/~toveza/rockwell/shoemaker.jpg

http://sinkorschwim.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/dsc01581.jpg

Wood-cutter and Plowboy

http://foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk/resources/LrgeImg/woodcutters.jpg

http://www.girlhenge.com/Photos/Pop_Pop_The_Straping_Ploughboy_small.jpg

Mother, Young Wife, & Girl at work

http://europa.eu/abc/12lessons/images/content_mother.jpg

http://laughingyaffle.typepad.com/.a/6a00e553d89e9d88340115710dce49970c-400wi

http://carthage.cementhorizon.com/archives/housewife_happy.jpg

The Cycle of LIFE

• The Cycle of life can be divided into 5 stages. In your opinion, what are the five stages? What would you use to symbolize each stage? What emotions, ideals, or connotations do people associate with each stage? Why do these stages apply to all cultures and all people?

Poetry Notes

Romanticism & The American Dream

Poetry People and their Poetry People and their Profound Poetic PrayersProfound Poetic Prayers

• Narrative Poetry: tells a story (ballads, epics, verse romantics)

• Dramatic poetry: presents the speech of more than one character

• Lyric poetry: expresses the thoughts/feelings of a single speaker (sonnets, odes, elegies, haikus)

Poetic ThemePoetic Theme

Cycle of LIFE and DEATHCycle of LIFE and DEATH

Terms to knowTerms to know

– Alliteration: SOUND DEVICE– Catalogue poetry: TYPE– Metaphor: FIGURATIVE LANG– Mood: LIT TERM– Onomatopoeia: SOUND DEVICE– Personification: FIGURATIVE LANG– Refrain: SOUND DEVICE– Repetition: SOUND DEVICE– Speaker: LIT TERM

Authors we’ll look at

• Edgar Allan Poe

• Emily Dickinson

• Walt Whitman

Romantic and PoeRomantic and Poe

• Poe wrote mainly with a Gothic style. Gothic style is characterized by the following elements: – The story is set in bleak or remote places.– The plot involves macabre or violent incidents.– Characters are in psychological and/or physical

torment.– A supernatural or otherworldly element is often

present.

• How does this fall under the “romantic umbrella”?

Fun FactFun Fact• “When Edgar Allan Poe died, Rufus

Griswold wrote a slanderous obituary of the eccentric writer. He claimed that Poe had been expelled from college, that he had neither good friends nor good qualities, and that he committed flagrant acts of plagiarism. Suspicious of this unconventional obituary, some have speculated that Poe orchestrated the death notice himself to keep his name in the public eye (310)”

AnalyzingAnalyzing1. Mood

Feeling the reader gets

2. Onomatopoeia Words that imitate sounds

3. AlliterationRepetition of initial consonant sounds

4. SpeakerWho is talking in the piece

5. RefrainLines that are repeated in verse

The BellsThe Bells

Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe

We’re going to look for the following:

• Alliteration (highlight color 1)

• Onomatopoeia (highlight color 2)

• Refrain (boxed)

• Theme (written)

• Mood (written)

Stanza I

Stanza II

Stanza 3

Stanza IVStanza IV

(Adapted from) How Death is Handled in Various Cultures

Charlotte Kuchinsky  

Death and Cultures

Why do all cultures have clear Why do all cultures have clear identifiable rituals for handling death? identifiable rituals for handling death? What does this tell us about all What does this tell us about all humans? Does this prove that Poe was humans? Does this prove that Poe was right with his poem? right with his poem?

Compare/Contrast Poe’s theme Compare/Contrast Poe’s theme of “Death Triumphs over Life” of “Death Triumphs over Life” to one of the cultures’ view of to one of the cultures’ view of

death. death.

Dickinson

• Recluse; odd insight to life and death; odd energy and intensity

• 7 poems published pre-death

• Self conscious; asked her family to destroy them at her death---why?

Lyric Poem

• It expresses the feelings of a single speaker’s journey to death…– Similar to Poe? How?

Analyzing

• Speaker

• Mood

• Alliteration

• Metaphor– A comparison not using like or as

• Personification: – giving human characteristics to something

non human

Because I could not Stop for Death—

HE kindly stopped for me.

The Carriage held but just Ourselves—

And Immortality

We slowly drove—He knew no haste

  And I had put away

  My labor and my leisure too,

  For his Civility—

We passed the School, where Children strove

10 At Recess—in the Ring—

We passed the Fields of We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—Gazing Grain—

We passed the Setting SunWe passed the Setting Sun— —

Or rather Or rather HEHE passed us— passed us—

The Dews drew The Dews drew quivering and quivering and

chill— chill—

For only Gossamer, my Gown— For only Gossamer, my Gown—   My Tippet—only Tulle —  My Tippet—only Tulle —

So…So…

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground—

The Roof was scarcely visible—

The Cornice —in the Ground—

  Since then—’tis Centuries—and yet Since then—’tis Centuries—and yet

    Feels shorter than the Day Feels shorter than the Day

    I first surmised the I first surmised the HorsesHorses HeadsHeads

    Were toward Eternity— Were toward Eternity—

Which view of the cycle of life and death do you identify with the

most—Poe’s or Dickinson’s? Explain.

Thinking…

• What do these occupations have in common?

• What type of jobs are they?

• Do they still apply today?

• What other occupations in today’s culture could you add?

Whitman, Poe and Dickinson

• Whitman’s poem: Celebrates life

• Dickinson’s poem: Romanticizes death

• Poe’s poem: Sees death as inevitable triumph over life

• What does it tell us about the individual in American Romanticism?

America or more

• All three poems apply to America—but can they be applied culturally? – Dickinson—embrace death (Native American)– Poe—respect and fear death (Jewish) – Whitman—celebrate life (Irish)

How do you View the Cycle? How do you View the Cycle?

• Using your free write from earlier, compose your own version of these poems. Your poem must include at least 2 of the following…– Alliteration– Onomatopoeia– Personification– Refrain