Studied by 32 peopleJournalist and political activist
Descendant of puritans
Father encourages him to explore nature so he began writing poetry at 9 years old
He earned a law degree and practiced for 10 years
Studied Greek/Latin and read European writers which introduced him to romantic ideas
Became editor in chief after 4 years
Supported women’s rights, freedom of speech/religion, and abolition of slavery
William Cullen Bryant
Who wrote Thanatopsis
William Cullen Bryant
What does the word Thanatopsis mean
“Thanatos” = death
“Opsis” = vision
So the poem = view of death
How did William Cullen Bryant view death
Bryant viewed death as an inevitable part of life tha shouldn’t be feared
How is Thanatopsis formatted
Broken into 3 chunks which symbolizes key changes
5 beat iambic pentameter
In Thanatopsis “she” is ____________
Personified as nature
What is this quote from?
“Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, scouraged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed by an elf altering trust”
Thanatopsis
Born into a wealthy New York family and studied law
First American wittier to active international reputation
Traveled to Europe and learned their culture
Used the pen name of Jonathan Oldstyle
At 24, him and his brother publishes an anonymous magazine about New York society
Writers and critics responded enthusiastically to his work
Washington Irving
Who wrote The Devil and Tom Walker
Washington Irving
What is the background of the Devil and Tom Walker
It is an American adaptation of a German legend about a man who sells his souls to the devil
What story had Captain Kidd treasure and Old Scratch in it?
The Devil and Tom Walker
What did the people realize at the end of The Devil and Tom Walker
The people found that he actually had nothing (gold = wood chippings and horse = skeleton) and was poor
Found it impossible to accept the optimistic worldview of the Transcnedentalists
Puritan ancestor that was a judge in the Salem witch trials that haunt him
Born in Salem, Massachusetts
After college, he self-isolated and developed writing skills
He lived at Brook Farm (The Transcendentalists commune)
Moved to Concord where he became friends with Emerson and Thoreau
Spent time in Europe which provided the material for his final novel
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Who wrote Young Goodman Brown
Nathaniel Hawthorne
What was the setting of Young Goodman Brown
Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials and likely chose this because of his close ties to the location
Why was Goodman Brown traveling
Out of curiosity and not force
Goodman Brown is a Christina man who _________
Shouldn’t be out here but the devil decides him to keep going but doesn’t force him
Goodman Brown sees who at the ceremony
Almost the entire community including the good people, the bad people, and Indians
“Wives of honored husbands, and widows, a great multitude, and ancient maidens, all of excellent repute, and fair young girls”
Why does not figuring out if Goodman Brown was dreaming or not, not matter?
He can never trust his peers again because of the evil he saw
Born in Boston, mother died, and father abandoned him
John took him in who provided education including West Point
He had to leave school early because he was broke from gambling, joined the army, then got expelled from of West Point
After failing at poetry he turned to fiction and literary criticism
Never escaped from poverty
After death, his work received attention from bad to good
Edgar Allen Poe
Who wrote the Raven
Edgar Allen Poe
Who wrote Annabel Lee
Edgar Allen Poe
What was the format of The Raven
Sestets (6 line stanzas)
Trochaic octameter (stressed then unstressed)
16 syllables per line
What happens to the narrator throughout The Raven
Starts to get overpowered by grief and hopelessness because he realizes Lenore will never come back again
How many times was Nevermore said by the Raven and what did this word do
6 times
Reminded the narrator he will never see Lenore again
What was the format of Annabel Lee
No rhyme scheme which represents an unbalanced narrator
What did the man do every night in Annabel Lee
Lay next to her decaying body in her tomb
What is a huge red flag in Annabel Lee
The man said “she lived no other though than to love and be loved by me”
What suggests that the man in Annabel Lee was lower class
When he says that her high kinsman came to take her body away
Why was the man obsessive in Annabel Lee
He keeps saying her name and rhyming the end with her name
What is an Allegory
A narrative work that utilizes symbolism to offer a broader moral or deeper meaning for the reader
Nearly all elements of the narrative are typically interpreted as having a symbolic meaning that enhances the broader meaning of the story
What is an example of an Allegory
Young Goodman Brown
Uses symbolism such as Faith’s Pink Ribbon and the Serpent-headed staff to convey a bigger message of the weakness of the Puritan religion
What is a Folktale
Emphasizes stereotypes, unlikely events, and lessons to be learned
Usually handed down orally among culture
Chapters tend to be stereotypes or stock characters embodying a single human trait, quality, or emotion
What is an example of a Folktale
The Devil and Tom Walker
An unlikely event occurred when Tom found his wife’s heart in liver in her apron
A lesson to learn is that greed will lead a person to evil when Tom wanted to become rich so he sold his soul to the Devil
Definition of Romanticism
A Movement that
Valued individual experience
Believe in man’s goodness, especially the common man
Saw nature as a source of inspiration
Saw the past as a source of wisdom
Emotion, imagination, intuition
2 examples of Romanticism
Thanatopsis (William Cullen Bryant)
Bryant said “She has a voice of gladness, and a smile and eloquence of beauty”
The Devil and Tom Walker (Washington Irving)
Wrote about nature “The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks”
Wrote about individuality “I must take care of myself in these hard times”
Definition of Dark Romantics/Gothics/Anti-Transcendentalists
Saw human tendency and darkness/evil in both humans and the world around them
Similar to Romanticism by sharing interest in spiritual world, belief in value of intuition, and imagination over rationalism
Unlike romanticism they see darkness and sin in heart of humanity
Imagination led to unknown, supernatural, fantastic, demonic, and insane
Uses gothic elements (dark, grotesque characters, bizarre situation, haunting atmosphere)
3 examples of Dark Romantics/Gothics/Anti-Transcendentalists
Young Goodman Brown (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Goodman Brown explores his curiosity and learns about his self-awareness of the evil around him “A stern, a sad, a sparkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream”
Dark Grand Settings “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest”
The Raven (Edgar Allen Poe)
The setting is dark, cold, and a December Night
Annabel lee (Edgar Allen Poe)
Writes about demons “Not the demons down under the sea”
Definition of assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds
Example of Assonance
The raven
the ur sound “and the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain”
Definition of consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds at the ends of words or accented syllables
Example of consonance
The raven
“Quoth the Raven, Nevermore”
“Uncertain resulting” (13)
Definition of Alliteration
Repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants, at the beginning of words or accented syallbes
Example of Alliteration
The Raven
”While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping”
“Weak and weary” (1)
Definition of Internal Rhyme
Poetic device that can defined as metrical lines in which its middle words and its end words rhyme with each other
Example of Internal Rhyme
The Raven
”Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary”
Definition of Onomatopoeia
indicates a word that sounds like what is refers to or describes
Example of Onomatopoeia
The Raven
“Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door—“ (5)
Definition of Rhyme Scheme
The pattern of rhyme that comes at the end of each verse or line poetry
2 examples of rhyme scheme
The Raven
ABCBBB (See picture)
Not in Annabel lee which represents an unbalanced narrator
Definition of Meter
A recurring pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
Example of Meter
Thanatopsis
“To him who in the love of nature holds” (1)
Definition of Personification
Figure of speech in which an idea or thing is given human attributes and/or feelings or is spoken of as if it were human
Example of Personification
Thanatopsis
“To HIM who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, SHE speaks a various language; for his 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” (1-6).
Nature = women/she
Definition of Simile
Figure of speech in which two essentially dissimilar objects or concepts are expressly compared with one another through the use of “like” or “as”
Example of simile
Thanatopsis
“Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave” (77-79).
Definition of metaphor
Figure of speech that makes a comparison between two non-similar things
Example of metaphor
Thanatopsis
“Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste,—Are but the solemn decorations all Of the great tomb of man!” (43-45).
Earth is a tomb
Death is a comfortable couch and not a bad thing
Death is a final sleep
Definition of Blank Verse
Literary device defined as an unrhymed verse written in iambic pentameter
Example of Blank verse
Thanatopsis
Unstressed then stressed (see picture)
Difference between the 3 units we’ve read
Puritan beliefs
Dependence of God
Focus on personal faith, hard work, and strict morality in hopes of predestination
Age of Reason/Enlightenment
Dependence on human intellect, reasons, and science
Focus on public responsibility and engagement
Romanticism/Dark Romanticism
Dependence on individuality and nature
Focus on emotion, imagination, intuition
Example of symbolism
Young Goodman Brown
Staff = devil
Faith’s pink ribbons = Faith’s purity and innocence
The Devil and Tom Walker
Devil = temptation, evil
Swamp = trap
Gold turns into wood chips = Tom has too much greed which makes him not enjoy his riches, making the gold worthless
Example of allusion
Young Goodman Brown
Serpent-Headed Staff is a biblical allusion from multiple things (Adam and Eve)
Example of Double Rhyme
The Raven
The “apping” is 2 syllables “While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping” (3)
Note 
Flashcard (65)