Unit 3: The Spirit of Individualism

Romanticism

Washington Irving

Wrote “The Devil and Tom Walker”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Wrote “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”

William Cullen Bryant

Wrote “Thanatopsis”

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Wrote “Old Ironsides” and founded the Atlantic Monthly

John Greenleaf Whittier

Wrote “Snowbound”

Edgar Allen Poe

Wrote “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Raven”; pioneer of gothic literature and use of the “single effect” technique

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wrote “Nature” and “Self Reliance”, showing the philosophy of transcendentalism; teacher of Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Wrote “Walden” and “Civil Disobedience”, showing his application of the beliefs of transcendentalism in everyday life; went “off the grid” and lived by Walden Pond for 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days; spent a night in jail for refusing to pay a poll tax which would support slavery

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Wrote “The Minister’s Black Veil”, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, and “The Scarlet Letter”; anti-transcendentalist

Faustian legend

A story about a person who sells their soul to the devil in exchange for something

romanticism

a 19th century literary era that emphasized emotion, imagination, nature, and individuality

iamb

unstressed syllable, stressed syllable after

gothic style

type of writing that features remote settings, violent or disturbing acts, tormented characters, and/or supernatural elements

single effect

every character, incident, and detail contribute to an overall impression

fireside poets

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Greenleaf Whittier

transcendentalism

intellectual movement in the 1800s:

1. senses are limited, and intuition is needed to understand deeper truths

2. nature helps us understand ourselves

3. nature and humanity are united in one soul—the oversoul

anti-transcendentalism

a 19th century literary movement that focused on the dark side of nature; more pessimistic in tone

allegory

a story with a literal and symbolic meaning

parable

a story with a moral lesson

symbol

something concrete that stands for something more abstract

The Devil and Tom Walker

Themes of greed and sin; romanticism; Faustian legend

The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls

Comparing the ebbs and flows of the life of a traveler to that of a tidal wave

“Thanatopsis”

Urging the author not fear death, and rather to thing of it as a part of life

Thanatopsis

Thinking about death

“Old Ironsides”

Poem about the USS Constitution that roused people to oppose its destruction

Snowbound

Descriptive, romantic poem recounting the author’s childhood memory of a heavy snowfall

The Fall of the House of Usher

Short gothic horror story that uses the single effect technique to build tone; themes of isolation and grief

The Raven

Gothic poem with themes of grief and isolation

Nature

Tells the philosophy of transcendentalism and the necessity of man to coexist with nature to fully be able to utilize all of his senses

Self Reliance

Warns about the dangers of conformity and how a man needs to work only for himself

Walden

A diary of Thoreau’s experience living by Walden pond and exploring the practical application of transcendentalism; discusses conformity, human and societal constructs, and the importance of cohabitation with nature

Civil Disobedience

Tells how what the role of a government should be in the lives of its people and shows how it should not encroach upon their rights, and should only act as a mechanism