American literature 1

William Cullen Bryant

  • "Thanatopsis" – A meditation on death; nature comforts humans by reminding us that death is natural and we will all return to the earth, just like those who came before us.

  • Tripartite Division (of "Thanatopsis") – The poem is structured in three parts:

    1. Doctrine – We all die and return to nature.

    2. Reasoning – Death should not be feared; we become part of something eternal.

    3. Advice – Live life so you can accept death peacefully, like lying down for a restful sleep.

  • "To a Waterfowl" – A bird’s journey symbolizes the guidance of a higher power. The poem expresses faith that just as the bird is guided, so are humans in life’s journey.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • Transcendentalism – A belief in the inherent goodness of people and nature. Spiritual truths go beyond what we can see or reason.

  • The Over-Soul – Emerson's idea that all individuals share a universal soul, a divine presence within each person.

  • "Self-Reliance" – Essay urging people to trust themselves:

    • Be a nonconformist – don’t follow the crowd.

    • Don’t worry about being inconsistent – changing your mind is part of growth.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • Dark Romanticism – Focus on sin, guilt, and the darker side of human nature.

  • "Young Goodman Brown" – A man leaves his wife "Faith" (symbolic) and discovers that even the most pious people are capable of evil. Suggests everyone has hidden sin and innocence can be lost.

  • The Old Manse – House Hawthorne lived in; influenced his writing.

  • "The Minister’s Black Veil" – Reverend Hooper wears a black veil to symbolize hidden sin. The story questions whether he sees others' sins or is revealing his own. It’s about the nature of secret guilt and public judgment.

Edgar Allan Poe

  • "The Philosophy of Composition" – Essay where Poe explains how to write a good poem/story:

    1. Should be brief, read in one sitting.

    2. Should center around beauty, especially the death of a beautiful woman.

    3. Should have a sad, melancholic tone.

  • "The Raven" – A man mourning his lost love is visited by a mysterious raven who repeats “Nevermore,” symbolizing eternal sorrow and the impossibility of moving on.

  • "The Fall of the House of Usher" – A Gothic short story:

    • Doubling – Roderick Usher and his twin sister Madeline; also, the house reflects the decay of the family.

    • The tarn (small lake) symbolizes mystery and reflection.

    • The siblings (and the house) physically and symbolically collapse together.

    • Buried alive – They entomb Madeline too early, a horror that echoes throughout the story.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

  • "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" – Fictional anti-slavery novel that emotionally exposed the cruelty of slavery to the public. Huge impact on pre-Civil War America.

  • "The Martyr" – A tribute to Abraham Lincoln after his assassination; shows her ongoing commitment to the anti-slavery cause.

  • Compromise of 1850 –

    • California becomes a free state.

    • New Mexico & Utah decide for themselves (popular sovereignty).

    • Included a new Fugitive Slave Law – made it a crime to assist runaway slaves.

  • Sentimentalism – Stowe used emotional, moral appeals in her writing to move readers.

  • "Quadroon" – Term for someone ¼ Black.

    • Cassie, a character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is a quadroon and symbolizes the complexities and injustices of race and identity under slavery.