LDR SELF TEST

slay

Writing groups flourished in
the 1800s, bringing an
increased excitement about
US settings, US themes, and

US writers.

What literary group (writing
good but traditional poetry)
enjoyed the most fame?

Fireside Poets

New York became the nation’s
biggest city in 1810, but it was
dirty, unsafe, overcrowded,
and known mockingly as the

Rotten Apple.

In general, Romantics disliked
cities, believing them to be...?

killers of creativity.

It would be decades before
any real political progress
would be made to advance
broader equality in the US.
However, the early 1800s
saw active participation in
anti-slavery and women’s
rights efforts known as...?

social reform movements.

The US Renaissance was
an early 1800s movement
involving art, literature,
politics, and even thinking
The movement was
centered in what part of

the country?

New England
(Concord, MA for the Transcendentals)

Transcendentals believed that
both men and women have
knowledge about themselves
and the world around them
that "transcends" what they
can see-hear-taste-touch-feel.
Like Light Romantics, they
believed spirituality and
inspiration came best from...?

nature.

The previous literary era of
Rationalism focused on logic
and science. The coming
literary era of Realism will
focus on factual reporting and
life’s nitty-gritty reality.
However, the Romantic era

focused on...?

“I” words

(like intuition, individualism, imagination)

Dark Romanticism
continues to influence the
US, seen in the horror
genre, graphic novels,
music-fashion trends, and
the fascination with the
criminal process.

We call this reality DR’s...?

contemporary legacy?

Though both are symbolic
and nature-focused, the
primary difference between
Dark Romantics and Light
Romantics/Transcendentals

is one of attitude.
Their overall perspectives
on the world can be simply
characterized as...?

Negative vs. Positive

In an unusually downbeat
poem, Longfellow reveals his
obvious and everlasting grief
for his wife, who died
tragically before his eyes in a

house fire.

His grief is compared to what
geographical feature?

The snowy, cross-shaped ravines
on Mount of the Holy Cross

Reflecting the Romantic idea
that man is a small part of a
greater natural whole, this
poem points out that man is
fleeting but nature is eternal.
What image from the poem
best reflects this core idea?

footprints being erased by waves

Longfellow is at his best in
“Psalm of Life,” arguing that
death is not the end, that the
spirit lives on, and that life
should be lived to the fullest.
This type of positive poem is

known as a...?

carpe diem poem.

Written when he was a
teenager and obsessed with a
group of English writers
known as the Graveyard
Poets, Bryant’s poem was
originally published without
his permission by his father.
Because of his young age,
Bryant has questionable...?

authority or credibility.

Natty Bumppo is portrayed as
almost superhuman.
However, his physical gifts
and his skill with a rifle are not
what make him a true
Romantic Hero.

What is Natty’s most obvious
romantic hero action?

His noble treatment of a NA enemy.

Tom is a greedy, self-
centered, little man. His

wife is a loud, bossy,
abusive woman. The Devil
is covered in soot with
glowing red eyes.
All three characters in
Irving’s Amercanized
folktale are...?

US stereotypes.

Thoreau’s two-year Walden
experiment was an attempt to
get back to basics. He
wanted to reconnect to nature
and break the monotony of

everyday life.
However, why does he
eventually have to leave?

Life at Walden Pond also
becomes repetitive.

In Poe’s short story (with
elements of both Light and
Dark Romanticism), the
painter’s wife dies because

she is mistreated, love-
sick, soul-stolen or

sacrificed for art.

What is this lack of literary

clarity called?

Ambiguity

Melville’s first novel was
popular because it showed a

curious audience a

completely unfamiliar, non-
Western world.

However, it was controversial
for what conclusion about

Typee culture?

Superior in Some Ways

Hawthorne's tale of Parson
Hooper’s mysterious
donning of a black veil can
be disturbing (and similar
to Scarlet Letter).
Its purpose is to teach or
reveal a moral lesson, a
story known as a...?

parable.

A wealthy dilettante who was
kicked out of Yale; began his
writing career because of a
wager with his wife; hugely
popular series, The
Leatherstocking Tales,
introduced the Romantic
character of Natty Bumppo.

James Fennimore Cooper

Began writing nature poetry in
the 1840s; poet Ralph Waldo
Emerson was a mentor and
friend; in 1845 began his
famous two-year stay at
Walden Pond; writings
inspired MLK, Jr. and Gandhi

Henry David Thoreau

Teacher who took over as
director of his brother’s school
for girls; became famous for
essays like "The American
Scholar“ and then the face of
Transcendental movement;
lecturer whose hometown of
Concord, MA became a
famous writer’s colony

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Harvard scholar versed in several languages; made
name as a poet with works like Evangeline, Poems on
Slavery, and Song of Hiawatha; translated Dante’s Divine

Comedy; honored in England’s Poet’s Corner

Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow

Child prodigy who achieved
early fame; influential poet
who helped introduce
European romanticism to
American audiences;
influential editor of the NY
Evening Post newspaper who
championed liberal and
abolitionist causes

William Cullen Bryant

1700s German philosopher;
considered a central figure of
modern philosophy and a key

member of the

Transcendental movement;
wrote on the importance of
doing good for others

Immanuel Kant

Achieved international fame
for stories like "Rip Van
Winkle" and "Legend of
Sleepy Hollow,” inspired by
European folktales; U.S.
ambassador to Spain; pushed
for stronger copyright laws

before his death

Washington Irving

Born in Boston, hometown
is Baltimore; adopted but
felt unloved; short-story
writer, poet, critic, and
editor best known for tales
of mystery and horror (and
detective stories); died

mysteriously

Edgar Allan Poe

Born in Salem, MA;
obsessed with the Puritans
and embarrassed of his
family connection to the
Salem witch trials;
changed spelling of name
to distance himself

Nathaniel Hawthorne

America’s greatest
novelist; early work
includes an account of
experiences with
Polynesian life and his
whaling novel; died
unappreciated and
unremembered

Herman Melville

US’s founding novelist; early Dark Romantic writer,
credited with answering the call for distinctively
American fiction by transferring European Gothic horror

to New World settings.

Charles Brockden Brown