Selections from

Emily Dickinson,John Ruskin,

Walt Whitman, and Alexander Petrunkevitch

Elements in Literaturepp. 12-23

Vocabulary (See Voc Table for additional forms and definitions)

1. *resolute 15-1 (adj) resolutely (adv) resoluteness (n)Add: resolution (n)Marked by firmness or determination; unwaveringSyn: resolved / Used in situations where one is faced with a serious challenge2. caprice 15-2 (n) capricious (adj) capriciously (adv) capriciousness (n)Syn: impulsivity / impulsiveness An impulsive change of mind; whim; thoughtlessness 3. gossamer 17 (adj) something delicate, light, or flimsy [positive connotation]Examples of nouns that are described as gossamer: butterfly wings, sheer curtains, breath, fleeting thought, dream

Vocabulary (See Voc Table for forms and definitions)

4. *formidable 19-2 (adj) formidability (n) formidably (adv)arousing fear or dread; inspiring awe (negatively); difficult to overcome, defeat or undertake 5. *appease 20-1 (v) appeasement (n) appeasable (adj) appeasing (adj) appeasingly (adv) appeaser (n)to calm or pacify by giving what is demanded; placate; grant concessions 6. tactile 21-1 (adj) tactilely (adv) perceptible to the touch; *tangible;

Vocabulary (See Voc Table for forms and definitions)

7. *pungent 21-1 (adj) pungently (adv) pungency (n) Describes things we smell or taste (but not other senses); can be used in a figurative sense—a pungent thought

8. vigorous (adj) 22-1 *vigor (n) vigorously (adv)hardy; *robust; lively; energeticphysical or mental energy 9. ghast 22-1 (adj) ghastly (adv) aghast (adj) shockingly repellent; gruesomely suggestive of death; grim; grisly [ghast and ghost are related]stricken with horror; appalled 10. olfactory 22-2 (adj) of or relating to the sense of smell

Emily Dickinson1830-1886

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155

reclusive single, though she had a romance in her younger

years—perhaps unrequited love admired the poetry of Robert and Elizabeth

Barrett Browning and John Keats upbringing was Puritan/Calvinist, orthodox,

conservative She responded by developing her own theology

—the body simply dies. wandered out at early morning, dusk or night

and in her later years took to wearing white contemporary of Walt Whitman (though he was

considered inappropriate) upon her death, her family discovered nearly

1,800 poems written in 40 hand-bound volumes employed unconventional punctuation and

capitalization

What’s so great about a poem?

• Distilled language / word play • Makes an incident an event• Helps us understand humans (the inner

processes and emotions)• Usually follows the same structure as prose– Beginning or introduction– Development or middle– Ending or denouement (resolution)

A Bird Came Down the Walkby Emily Dickinson

A Bird came down the Walk—He did not know I saw—He bit an angle-worm in halvesAnd ate the fellow, raw,

And then he drank a DewFrom a convenient Grass,And then hopped sidewise to the WallTo let a Beetle pass—

A Bird Came Down the Walk (continued)

by Emily DickinsonHe glanced with rapid eyesThat hurried all around—They looked like frightened Beads, I thought—He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger, Cautious,I offered him a Crumb,And he unrolled his feathersAnd rowed him softer home—

Than Oars divide the Ocean,Too silver for a seam—Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,Leap, plashless as they swim.

A Prompt, Executive Bird by Emily Dickinson

A prompt, executive bird is the Jay,

Bold as a Bailiff's Hymn,

Brittle and Brief in quality –

Warrant in every line; --

Sitting a bough like a Brigadier,

Confident and straight,

Much is the mien of him in March

As a Magistrate --

It Sifts from Leaden Sievesby Emily Dickinson

It sifts from leaden sieves,

It powders all the wood.

It fills with alabaster wool

The wrinkles of the road.   

It makes an even face         

Of mountain and of plain—

Unbroken forehead from the east

Unto the east again.

It Sifts from Leaden Sieves (continued)

by Emily DickinsonIt reaches to the fence,

It wraps it, rail by rail,         

Till it is lost in fleeces;

It flings a crystal veil   

To stump and stack and stem—

The summer’s empty room--

Acres of joints where harvests were,         

Recordless, but for them.   

It ruffles wrists of posts,

As ankles of a queen—

Then stills its artisans like ghosts,

Denying they have been.

Walt Whitman1819-1892

American poet, essayist, journalist

one of the most influential poets in the American canon

often called the father of free verse

Wrote Leaves of GrassPart of transcendental

movement

volunteer nurse during the Civil War

wrote “O Captain, My Captain” upon the death of Abraham Lincoln

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSAymj4hp7Y

A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman

A noiseless, patient spider, I mark’d, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated; Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding, It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself; Ever unreeling them—ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,—seeking the spheres, to connect them; Till the bridge you will need, be form’d—till the ductile anchor hold; Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.

John Ruskin 1819-1900

leading art critic of Victorian Era

watercolorist wrote on subjects

ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, botany to political economy

in all writing emphasized the connection between nature, art, and society

Alexander Ivanovitch Petrunkevitch1875-1964

eminent Russian arachnologistdescribed over 130 spider speciesfrom an aristocratic familyhis father founded the Constitutional

Democratic Partycame to the U.S. in 1910remained politically active, trying to

increase awareness of problems in Russia skilled machinist wrote two volumes of poetry

Assignment:Write an essay using Ruskin’s “The Fly” as a model.Notice how Ruskin describes a fly and shows it as an example of a quality or characteristic.Write a paragraph essay describing an object or animal as an example of a quality or characteristic.

________ is an example of __________bee ------------------------ industry bird --------------------------- trust

flower ---------------------- confidence tree ------------------------ flexibility

Because Ruskin used the first person, and this is your model, you may be somewhat informal by using the first person pronoun; however, do not use contractions, slang or second person pronouns. You may also use limited rhetorical questions. Do not overdo it.

• 125 word minimum• heading—of course• typed• title• 1” margins• may be presented creatively, but not required.