English 3 H Romanticism Unit SG

What characteristics of romanticism are evident in “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne?

Two prominent characteristics of romanticism that are evident in “The Birthmark” are intuition and nature. Aylmer's obsession with removing his wife’s birthmark, her source of life, shows what happens when you value science and perfection over acceptance. Eventually, he regrets his decision which is where emotion connects to this story. Nature is also connected to this story by Aylmer valuing science over love.

What characteristics of romanticism are evident in “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe?

Imagination and Individualism. The macabre poem explores feelings of grief, loss and longing. These feelings in the narrator stimulate hallucinations or delusions such as when he believed the Raven on his chamber door was his lost wife Lenore. This poem shows Poe’s appreciation for romanticism, weaving it into the story smoothly and effectively. Individualism is also prominent in this poem, shown by the narrator’s isolation and focus on his grief for his wife Lenore. This focus drove him mad, and the raven symbolized his torment

What characteristics of romanticism are evident in “The Devil and Tom Walker”?

Social Progress is connected to this story by the notion of letting wealth overtake human emotion. This is shown in the main character Tom Walker as he values money and wealth over real-life human relationships, which is selfish and greedy.

In the poem, “A Song for Myself”, where are there instances of symbolism?

Symbolism is largely used in this poem. The main instance is the connection between the grass and the universe. Grass grows everywhere right? I think this is a symbolism of democracy and equality. The writer thinks that no matter their race, sexual orientation or gender, all are united by the same patch of earth. Earth being the grass.

“A Song for Myself” contains instances of parallelism. Identify these instances of parallelism

Parallelism is primarily used in this poem through the imaginative guesses the speaker makes about what grass is. Repetition is also prominent in this poem through the repeating phrase “Or I guess”. This symbolizes that the speaker is not all-knowing, and he is like the average human being. Not knowing everything.