Puritanism:If you said you were a Christian in Western Europe then you went to the Roman

Catholic church. Catholic means universal. Martin Luther began his own church. By starting his own church he changed the world. The Protestant reformation. Martin Luther was in Germany.In England: King Henry IIX attacks Martin Luther’s reformation. He keeps England Catholic and received the title “Defender of the Faith”. In charge of a monarchy he had to have children to leave his throne to in order to continue the line of succession. His wife couldn’t have children so he wanted to be able to remarry which was strictly against catholic beliefs. He asked the Pope permission to remarry and was denied. In result Henry breaks up with the catholic church and begins his own church, the church of England(Anglican/Episcipolion which was referred to as the “High Church”. Very elaborate in it’s rituals and very catholic-like. Henry made it the official church of England. He made it united in church and state.

Two major differences from catholic:1. He set himself as head of church/king or queen2. Changed sacrament of matrimony where you can be married numerous times.

When you got to a certain age you signed an oath to holding the religion. If you didn’t sign it you couldn’t get a degree. You couldn’t be an officer, a doctor, etc…He broke with the catholic church in the 1530’s. As time went on you could be thrown into jail because you didn’t sign the paper.

In 1600-1620 there was a rise of merchants who didn’t want to go along with the church of England. They were called “Low churches”. Much more fundamentalist churches. There people were called puritans. Technically referred to as separatists. They wanted to stay in the Church of England but purify it from it’s catholic elements. The more extreme were the separatists. They wanted to separate and begin anew. The puritans escaped to Holland because at the time Holland had declared freedom of religion. Some went to England then only to leave for America. They came over on the mayflower to come for:

2. Religious freedom2. Make money; they knew about the great resources in America

Their 5 basic religious beliefs were stated by John Calvin. He developed an acrostic-anonym which was known as TULIP

T: Total depravity: because of original sin man is totally evil. No good left in him at all.U: Unconditional election: God is under no obligation to save anyone, he randomly

selects souls for salvation. This is without reference to faith or good works.Before birth predestination.

L: Limited Atonement: Jesus didn’t die to save all people, only the elect.I: Irresistible Grace: The saving and transforming power of God; God’s grace is freely

given. It must be accepted and it can neither be earned or refused.

P: Perseverance of the saints: Saints=the chosen ones; those chosen by God willpersevere and endure when faced of the world’s temptations and live moral lives and be worthy of heaven/paradise.

Calvin believed in literal interpretation of the bible. We have to follow the rules of the bible.

Characteristics of American Puritanism:1. The creator-God: All powerful, good, just, jealous, wrathful. Trinity (Father, Son,

Holy Ghost).2. The universe: Created by God; predestined and unknowable. Mysteries we will

never be able to understand (“Miracles”)3. Man: God’s creature but not an animal.4. Nature: Created by God but it is hostile, evil and a source of temptation.5. Human nature: Total depravity.6. Source of evil: Man’s corrupted nature.7. Attitude towards life: Everything is predestined.8. Man’s will: Not free9. Man’s duty: Have faith, glorify God, and prepare for afterlife.10. Social attitude: Strict obedience to authority.11. Man’s destiny: Election or reprobation (Heaven or hell).12. How is it all determined: The will of God.

Puritan Literature: Puritan writers don’t go out of their way to make a joke. Theirliterature is serious business because literature reflects life.

Literature should be expressed plainly to eliminate definition changes and slang. Literature should represent the truth. It is believed that the prominent role that history plays

between good and evil. Many early works are more valuable as history rather than literature.

Famous Puritan writers: John Winthrop in “The History of England” Anne Bradstreet in “The Tenth Muse” Michael Wigglesworth “The Day of Doom”: a poem in 1662

that was a bestseller.

According to literature that the puritans put forth, literature had to be useful.

William Bradford “Of Plymouth Plantation”-Explains relationship between puritans and Indians/heathens.-Explains rivalry between other colonies.He was a typical puritan who was surrounded by puritans who rounded everything back to God.

Roger Williams: He was deserted in a blizzard and went West and founded Rhode Island. He wrote “The bloody tenant”. He was banished because he expressed 3 ideas. He was a Calvinist. His ideas:

1. No King has the right to give Englishmen land when the land belongs to the Indians.

2. The separation of church and state.3. Never force anyone to worship God a certain way. They must be free to

choose. This means he suggested free will.

John Cotton: A Calvinist; he wrote a book attacking Williams of being an anarchist.

Roger Williams in return attacked Cotton.

Edward Taylor: Born in England. A was a minister and a physician known for using natural cures. He was known for his metaphysical poetry which is poetry that is highly spiritually (beyond physical).

Metaphysical poetry: Expresses profound complex thought in arbitrary appearing but highly expressive metaphors. This type of poetry is intentionally difficult. Writers are always looking for new ways to say old things. This form of poetry was very common in the early century of the 1600’s.

Metaphor: comparing 2 things

Arbitrary comparison: 2 things that are off the wall

Metaphysical conceit: A wild comparison that startles us and shocks us with its improbability.

Paradox: An apparent contradiction.

Syntax: Word order.

Puns: Used in metaphysical poetry commonly.

Slang expressions: Used in metaphysical poetry but often runs into problems with being dated.

Edward Taylor’s poems were not published. They were not meant to be public. He shared his poems with a few friends and asked them on his deathbed for his poems not to be published. There are 3 possible reasons for this:

1. Personal devotion to God; privacy.2. He thought poems weren’t serious enough for a puritan minister to write.3. The content could have gotten him in trouble w/ more traditional puritans.

“The Preface”Describes the beginning of the Universe. The big question:Who made the universe?

Infinity=God- God is referred to as neutral; not man nor woman. This is so because of the multiple jobs that were mentioned such as a carpenter, blacksmith, shoe mason, seamstress, etc… The combination of both men and women professions make the mention of God neutral.

Gem = The soul of mankind.

“Upon Wedlock and Death of Children”There are 4 children born and 2 die.The plant imagery is used for the children.The first line uses knot and paradise which are both plant references.Checkling was also used which refers to rows of plants.Piecemeal: Chewed to pieces.

“Huswifery”Described as: housework. The manufacturing of clothes. God takes totally deprived sinners and makes them worthy of paradise.

Affections: religious awareness.Robe: used in the last stanza. It was the single most important piece of clothing then.

“Upon a Spider Catching a Fly”Spider = the devilWasp = God/JesusFly = man

“The Great Awakening” John Edwards was given credit for the revival in 1840.

In the early 18th century there was a decline of interest in religion. Governments became stronger. Businesses and industry flourished. Americans became secular.

“The rise of sectariaism”: Many different religions settling in the colonies.

“The rise of skepticism and the worship of reason”: The first generation of puritans were dying or already dead.

John Edwards: He was a traditional Calvinist. He’s a late model puritan. He wrote:“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

Edwards delivered his sermon on July 8th, 1741, at Enfield Connecticut. He gave it to deter the people from the “Half-way Covenant”

You had to speak in front of the church and people were afraid to speak. If the first and second generations of a family had publicly displayed their faith then the members of the 3rd and 4th generations didn’t have to. Displayed means to profess.

From the early 1700’s the sermon was viewed as art. The traditional sermon is made up of 3 parts: Parts 1, 2, and 3.

1. The presentation of a biblical text.2. The interpretation of the text.3. The application of the text to the present situation.

He delivered the sermon in a totally calm voice; almost monotone.

If God will do this to his people, he’ll do it to you

Fall of themselves = blame

Unconverted: people who have not confessed their faith.

The church he wanted them to go back to didn’t believe in free will although there are multiple places in the sermon that suggested free will.

Neoclassical Period/The Enlightenment/The age of Enlightenment occurred in the 1690-1760’s. In America it occurred in 1720-1770’s. This was known as “The age of reason”. The way people viewed life totally changed.

Puritans were more concerned with God/spiritual and less concerned with creation/nature. The physical universe becomes the focus of man. The universe is a big machine that is controlled by regularity and consistency.

The part of the mind man muse use is reason which is defined by: The part of the mind that interprets physical data. Reason uses senses. They looked for natural lows. They used science. They developed a new religion called deism. This became an intellectual fad. Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine all partook in deism. They focused on the physical things. There is only one true God in the universe but he reveals himself to us in nature and not in scripture. They reject any idea of the written word of God.

Morality: Harmony, order, operation in proper balance.

Self Interest Rightly Understood: Each individual has the ability to look after his rights without violating others rights.

Social Contract: Individuals will agree to give up natural rights in order to enjoy civil rights.

Natural Rights: Life, Liberty & Pursuit of happiness.

Thomas Paine: Born in England. He is known as the most famous propagandist of all time. He created the pamphlet. The pamphlet got the written word to more people, which gave rise to literacy. He supported the American Revolution. Thomas Pain’s first doctorate was “Man is a rational animal who naturally pursues self interest”.

Governments become necessary due to all the inability of moral virtue alone to govern the world.

Thomas Paine didn’t like or trust any organized government.

Don’t depend too much on government.

Thomas Paine’s last doctorate: God’s power is the greatest power in the universe.

1776: Common Sense: Common Sense was written in common language in order to relate to common people.

1776-1783: The American Crisis started out as 13 consecutively numbered pamphlets with three that weren’t numbered. Paine wrote one pamphlet anytime something bad happened in the revolution. He wrote it as damage control. One famous line was “Great things come at great costs”.

Thomas Paine: Although he was known as a national hero, his status changed overnight. He went from being loved by all to hated nationally. “The age of Reason” which is a book based on Paine’s beliefs on religion is a book that he wrote while in jail in France. He was imprisoned for being a counter-revolutionist. The people accused him of atheism after reading his ideas. He in fact believed in God.

Revealed religion: A religion based on revelation. Revelation of the written word.

Paine stated that any written word cannot be taken as genuinely from God. He believed it to be merely myth and fabrication. He believed and stated that the only true revelation of God is the one we see directly face to face. He believed that man’s moral duty involves the moral goodness of God as we see it in nature. Paine’s problem with God wasn’t with God him or herself but rather how man portrayed God.

If you don’t see stuff directly then how can you believe it? It is unreasonable to do so. He believes there is reason behind God but doesn’t think it’s in the bible. He does believe in freedom of religion and he defends all religions for freedom and tolerance.

Dr. Benjamin Rush was a General surgeon, a signer of the declaration of independence, the founder of Penn Medical School, and known as one of the founding fathers of America. He was the first Dr. to view mental illness as treatable. In 1812 he wrote a book called “Diseases of the Mind”. He’s considered the father of psychology. He advocated that talking cure which is sitting down and getting to the root of a patients problems by talking it out of them.

New Test Material1780’s-1861: High romance; serious romance

British romanticism writers: 1. William Wordsworth (a British leader into romanticism)2. Samuel Coolidge3. Percy Shelly4. John Keats5. George Gordon “Lord Byron” (A lady’s man. He walked with a limp and was

said to have a goats hoof. He was an excellent swimmer)

The Lyrical Ballads: A book of poems with a few essays that brought about the dawn of romanticism that was written by William Wordsworth and Samuel Coolidge.

During the age of romanticism people believe in freedom and individuality.

Instead of emphasizing reason and rationality, they promoted imagination.

Imagination was never talked about during the age of reason. It was looked at in suspension.

Imagination: An individual, subjective and emotional part of the mind.

Age of reason: The universe is the end of knowledge.Age of romanticism: The universe is the beginning of knowledge.

Reality is in the mind. You use senses to analyze stuff and break it up in your head and then put it all back together.

Romantics think it’s ok to use feelings to interpret what you think about stuff.

Emote: To display emotions; become emotional.

In age of reason imagination was external and objective.

The romanticists still believed the physical world is important. They just believed that the imagination was limitless. Thought was sufficient enough proof to prove something.

How did they view nature/physical universe?

They viewed it as beauty and man as its most beautiful creature.

Countries were trying to eliminate slavery. Both revolutions take place at the end of the age of reason and at the beginning of the age of romanticism.

Emerson and Thorough were both rebels. Thorough was always getting thrown in jail for civil disobedience against poll tax and the Mexican war.

Romanticism is a period of hope and turbulence.

Taken at its best, romanticism is extremely optimistic. Hawthorne and Mellville question optimistic aspect.

Washington Irving (1783-1859): America’s first successful professional writer. First to make a living writing. Internationally known. Father of short stories. Helped introduce Gothic Tale of Terror into American Literature. Our first great humorist and satirist. He pokes fun at then American culture aspects. Many people think Twain was the first humorist but he used humor to condemn people. Irving poked fun but he never lost his love for the human being. He believes that laughter is the best way to get people to change things. He was made a council to England and an ambassador to Spain. Irving intentionally undertakes the task of creating a sense of a unique American past. Two things a nations uses to create a unique past:

1. History2. Folklore

He takes small steps in creating a unique nation. He incorporates history and folklore into his stories.

His first work appeared in 1809. A History of New York

He used the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker. This was a humorous book in New York City. He makes fun of Dutch, men, women, John Adams, everybody.

His most famous of works in 1820. He publishes a collection of 32 short stories called The Sketch Book. He used the pen name Jeffrey Crayon. 20 of the stories are set in England. 4 stories are set in America. 2 deal with the American Indians. 1 is Rip Van Winkle. The other is Legend of Sleepy Hollow. His last work is in 1824. It was called Tales of a Traveler. It is in this collection that plays a key role in introducing gothic literature into American literature.

Tales of a Traveler: A bunch of hunting buddies get together for dinner. It’s storming. They tell 3 types of gothic stories.

1. Supernatural Gothic: Real monsters, real ghosts, real vampires, whatever it is, it’s real.

2. The Explained Gothic: The events are believed to be supernatural and are given rational explanations. Just like Scooby Doo cartoons.

3. Ambiguous Gothic: The writer doesn’t make it cleat whether the events are really supernatural or things with rational explanations.

Irving’s theory of fiction: The most important thing for Irving was the effect of the story. Effect: The feeling/atmosphere created by a story.

A writer had to choose every word carefully to create an effect in a story.

Irving had good humor. He felt that it must be used to bring us back to reality. He uses humor to keep us from getting too far away from reality.

The author’s account of himself occurred in the beginning of The Sketch Book.

“My native city”: look at America

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”: Ichabod Crane, Blooming Katrina, Brom Van Brunt

High German-real GermanLow German-Dutch

Sublime: What gothic writers use to hook viewers; simultaneously feeling attraction and revolution. Contradicting emotions.

pg. 588: He pulls the effect that he’s been working on for 5 pages by saying “the woman”.

3-8-04James Fenimore: He’s the first to write about sea adventures. He wrote The Historical Novel. The Historical Novel takes fictional main characters and places the in the context of actual historic events. Most of his fame rests on 5 novels. Together they are known as The Leatherstocking Tales. Natty Bumpo is a created character. Throught this character he creates the “adventure hero” which becomes a multi-million dollar industry.

In 1821 he wrote “The Spy”. The main character is Harvey Birch set during the American revolution. Harvey Birch is an American spy, spying on the British.

“The Pilot”: No planes then, only the boats. A riverboat. Main character: Long-time Coffin.

He’s officially the first to write about U.S. Naval history.

5 Leatherstocking Novels give Natty Bumpo’s life story.

“The Pioneers”: So famous that they make a prequel in 1826 and then another one (“Last of the Mohekans”) then in 1827 he writes another one, “The Praierie” Natty Bumpo dies.

He didn’t like Andrew Jackson and was shocked by his election. He wrote articles.

1840-“The Pathfinder”-Natty Bumpo’s earlier life-alive1841-“The Deerslayer”-Natty Bumpo

The Leatherstocking Tales:1. “Deer Slayer”2. “Last of the Mohekans”3. “Pathfinder”4. “The Pioneer”5. “The Prairie”

Cooper: One of the nation’s first conservationists.

Natty Bumpo: Nature’s champ

Nature vs. Civilization – Nature is a must.

Cooper believes in civilization. Civilization is a “4 letter word” in Bumpo’s dictionary.

Manifest Destiny: U. S. stretching from Atlantic to Pacific. Westward movement. 1849 Gold Rush. St. Louis Prospered from the Gold Rush because it was the starting point for pioneers heading out west.

He felt that civilization was threatening nature. He was friends with the Hudson River School of Painters. They painted landscapes.

Thomas Cole

Hudson River School’s Philosophy:1. God’s beauty is evident in Nature2. All beauty on earth is temporary

They got Cooper in trouble. They made statues for Cooper to put in his yard. They were naked angels that caused controversy.

Cooper is a primitivist.

Primitivism: All things on earth are temporary; everything has a life cycle. Nothing lasts forever.

Natty Bumpo is a primitivist and also a deist. Cooper was not.

2 Types of novels:1. True Novel2. Romance (This is what Cooper calls his novels)

True Novel: Deals solely with reality.

Romance: Grounded in reality but presents reality through the filter of the imagination. More artistic.

Cooper believes the highest form of literature is poetry.

Imagination – Beau Ideal – The most handsome/appealing

Cooper’s Beau Ideal is Natty Bumpo

He takes giant leaps in American literature as opposed to Irving. He was one of the first to use the them of the noble savage.

John Heckewelder: Wrote about Indians. His writings were read by Cooper.

1840-1860: The American Renaissance; Name given 100 years later in 1841 by F. O. Matthiessan. He came out with a book called American Renaissance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Nature”

Nathaniel Hawthorne: “Twice Told Tales”, “The Scarlet Letter” (1850), “House of the Seven Gables” (1851), “Blithedale Romance” (1852)

“Blithedale Romance”: A satire of Brook Farm. He makes fun of it.

Herman Mellville 1846-1856: “Moby Dick”, “White Jacket”, “The Confidence Man”

Henry David Thorough: “Waldo” (1854)

Walt Whitman: “Leaves of Grass” (1855)

Emily Dickerson 1858-1864: She writes almost 2000 poems

Almost all of these writers had to struggle to get a reputation. All were social critics. They celebrated the good and condemned the bad (with the possible exception of Whitman).

1876-Transcendentalism: A philosophy that arises during the romantic period.

Ideas of Asia combining with ideas of Europe. This context starts in Germany and then to England, then to Scotland, and then to America. The founder is Ralph Waldo Emerson.

William Ellery Cahmming influenced Emerson but wasn’t a transcendentalist.

Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller and Thoreau were “The Transcendental Club”

Their own magazine “The Dial” (Sundial, clock). It’s something physical that expresses something that isn’t. The editors were Emerson and Fuller.

Brook Farm: Experiment in Communal Living

1836-1850: Transcendentalism reaches its peak.

Hawthorne went to live at Brook Farm for a year and then decided that they were cooks.

What did they believe? The basic belief:Everything in the universe is God. God is in all things here and now. Everything is divine. They were optimists. They believed God didn’t have a shape; instead He was a great spirit that they referred to Him as the oversole.

This is similar to “the force” in star wars.

They also believed that Man is part divine. This is because men are an extension of the oversole.

They also believed nature is also an extension of the oversole.

The way they viewed the mind:2 parts of the mind:

1. Understanding2. Reason Intuition

Understanding: The part of the mind that allows us to interpret physical things.

Reason: That part of the mind that allows us to sense and feel the presence of God in all physical things.

It’s a philosophy/theology of action. Actively look for God.

Reason can be blocked by understanding.

Similarities with this and deism:1. Nature is Bible (Best place to see God).

Differences with this and deism:1. God is constantly intervening in human life.

Nature reveals morality.

Transcendentalism Characteristics:1. Prime mover: (Creator, God, Oversole) God is God. No human shape.2. The universe: Created by God/Oversole3. Man: Created by God/Oversole4. Nature: Creation of God; Good & Proof of divine existence5. Human Nature: Good6. Source of Evil: Non-existant because evil is known as the absence of God.7. Attitude towards life: Very optimistic; inevitable. They also believe in lesser

goods progress.8. Man’s Will: Free will9. Man’s Destiny: Relinking/refusing with God/Oversole10. How is Destiny Determined: Through our awareness of our own divinity. The

more you are aware of God’s presence, the happier you will be in Heaven.

3-22-04Ralph Waldo Emerson (Transcendentalist): He wrote “Nature”. It was considered both an essay and a lecture. His grandparents were famous distillers. He was a “C” student at Harvard. In “Nature” he presents his basic beliefs:

1. God reveals himself in all things at all times.2. Nature reveals God.3. Reason/intuition allows us to sense and feel God’s presence in ourselves and

nature.

Nature’s overall theme according to Emerson: “Make your own Bible”

He wants people to see God in their own way. He felt that the old traditional ways were too old.

His introduction is making a plea for originality. He asks people to downplay tradition to favor newness/originality.

He says that our generation is retrospective (looking back).

“It builds the sepulchers of the fathers”

sepulchers: tombs; tributes to the past.

Emerson uses a lot of examples in his writings.

Children are open minded, adults are not.

pg. 383: 3 very important lines for World Literature

rhetoric: the art of persuasion.

How do we perceive the physical universe? Our senses.

Emerson quotes Bronson Alcott on pg. 406.

Transcendentalists were all optimists. Some were more so than others.

Emerson was more a transcendentalist in theory rather than action. The last 20 years of his life he became a conservative in old age and renounced 95% of his transcendentalist thoughts.

3-29-04Assumption that Poe was a drug addict, alcoholic, pervert, child molester that wrote in the dark by one candle lit in a skulls head.

Why do we have that assumption?

Poe was a poet. He was very famous. He believed that the highest form of literary art was poetry. He was short, wore old but clean clothing. He called himself Edgar Poe the poet. He only once called himself Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote a total of 47 poems. They are translated in 30-40 different languages. Poe wrote short stories. He wrote 68 short stories, or 69 depending if you count the unfinished one that he wrote when he died. He’s the father of the modern detective story. His famous detective was C. Dupin. This detective is the primitive character of Sherlock Holmes. He helped popularize the Gothic Tale of Terror. 80% of his stories are humorous. Poe was more famous during his lifetime than other writers. He was famous right off the bat, others had to work for it. He became famous as an editor, or reviewer of articles in the 19th century. One such was “the Literary Journals”. These journals covered all aspects of American culture. Poe worked for some of the most prominent literary journals:

1. Burtons Gentlemen’s Magazine (Philadelphia)2. Graham’s Magazine3. The Broadway Journal4. The Southern Literary Messenger

Poe’s greatest dream was to start his own great literary magazine from scratch. Some guy in St. Louis was going to fund this dream. Poe wanted to call it “The Penn”. Then he wanted to change it to “The Stylus” which is known as a pen that is made from a feather. This magazine never came into existence.

Criticism and reviews were a lot different that it is today. If they liked it they would praise it, if they hated it they would lower to personal strikes. He criticized one man with his speech impediment. He made fun of people and their weight, hair, etc… Poe made enemies through his reviews. He made one particular enemy with Reverend Rufus W. Griswold. It is his fault of all the mistaken notions we have in Poe. He was the first famous anthologist of American poetry (a collection). He published the first anthology on American literature written by women. They and their buddies developed a feud. He loved to play practical jokes. Poe eventually said some nice things about Griswold and vis versa. Many years before death, Poe began to get his affairs in order. Poe goes to his mother in law. Poe’s household consisted of him, his wife Virginia, his mother in law,

and a cat. His wife was his cousin. When they married Poe was 27 and his wife/cousin was 14. A young lady was declared marrying age if she was able to bear children. Poe goes to his mother in law and told her to get his literary treasures and send them to Rufus W. Griswold. This is still unknown as to whey he was done this. As an editor to Poe’s works, he was an angel. You could say Poe had a fetish for revision. He was constantly changing the endings of stories. A textual editor decides what a writer wants it to be read as. Griswold was true to his/Poe’s works. As a biographer of Poe, Griswold turns Poe into someone like a devil by stating everything we assume about Poe that’s incorrect.

Poe was on his way to St. Louis but was found in Baltimore. He was found in a street outside a polling place wearing someone else’s clothes but with all his personal belongings on him. He died 2 days later in the hospital after saying, “God have mercy on my soul”.

There was a cursory autopsy done on Poe, not a complete one. He said there was no sign of drug use. Poe could be considered the first pop writer. He wrote what Americans wanted to read. He read about everything, including medical journals. This included opium. There is one documentation where Poe took “Laudnum” which is the equivalent of aspirin. It was available without a prescription. After taking this, Poe gets on a train and is recognized by all. He instantly throws up. Poe did have an alcohol problem, he wasn’t an alcoholic. He had a blood sugar disorder called hypoglycemia. This disease wasn’t diagnosable then but all documented symptoms point to this. Basically, he was found outside the poll tavern in Baltimore in a diabetic coma. He died on October 7, 1849. In 1841, Arthur Hobson Quinn writes a critical biography on Edgar Allan Poe. In it he told about Poe’s life and analyzes his works. He disproves Griswold in a lot of things. Quinn was a scholar of the American theatre. Poe’s parents, David and Elizabeth Poe were famous actors, especially his mother. Quinn was led to discover Poe through his parents. Poe’s wife, Virginia, came down the Tuberculosis 2 years after they married. Poe’s mother died and Pos is put up for adoption. He was adopted by the Allan’s. His step-father didn’t favor him as his step-mother did. Poe died at the age of 40.

His literature is divided in two parts:1. Poetry2. Fiction

Poetry gives us a glimpse of heaven through a perfect poem.

Poe thought that the transcendentalists were cooks. He believed that beauty made us sad because when we sense the glimpse of heaven in a poem we can’t have it here on earth forever. Poetry was sacred for Poe.

Part 2: Although he was just as meticulous with his short stories as he was with his poems, he wrote short stories for money. In general, Poe liked short literature and not long literature. He though the best way to interpret a literature was to read it in its entirety. Poe wrote a few long works and they’re not that great. He brought the greatest attention to the effect, just as Irving did.

1827: He was 18. He wrote Tamerlane and other Poems. Which was a collection of poems.

1829: He was 20. He wrote another collaboration of poems: Al Araaf Tamerlane and Minor Poems.

1831: He writes Poems.

1845: The Raven and other poems

Sonnet comes from Sonetta (Little song).

Petrarch: Creator of sonnets.

Sonnets are traditionally 14 lines and someone/something is addressed.

There are 2 types of sonnets:1. English2. Sonnet

The difference between the two is to look and see how the lines are rhetorically divided.English: Lines 1-4 = 1st QuatrainLines 5-8 = 2nd QuatrainLines 9-12 = 3rd QuatrainLines 13-14 = Couplet

1st-3rd Quatrains the speaker is wrestling with the issueCouplet: An attempt at resolution.Rhyme is strictly vowel

Italian Sonnet: Lines 1-8 = Octave and Lines 9-14 = SextetNormal Sonnet: Poe:A AB BA BB AC AD BC BD AE AF BE BF AG C OR C OR CG D D D

C C ED C CC C DD C E

There were scientists in Poe’s time who stated that through science, man could elevate himself to the equality of God.

This sonnet ends with a question.

Tamarind Tree: An oriental tree idealized in Eastern Poetry. It produced a sweet intoxicating fragrance that was used for food and medicinal purposes.

Vulture: A scavenger. Picked to the bone.

Israfel is a poem that illustrates heaven. Israfel is an archangel in heaven who is a musician.When he puts on a musical show, all heaven listens.It’s an emotional roller coaster. It contrasts earthly art with heavenly art.

Lute: a guitar. Coming down from within.

4-5-041839: When Poe published his first collection of 25 short stories. The collection is referred to as Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.

In “Legia” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” Poe presents two types of Horror stories which are in both stories: Supernatural and Rational.

In order to present what happens in the story to us is the narrator.

Poe was one of the first writers to make a big deal out of the narrator.

All of his are firmly grounded in something going on in American culture then.

Metempsychosis: The groundwork for “Legia”. It means the same as the transmigration of souls.

Loosely speaking, “Ligeia” is somewhat the same as reincarnation.

If you believe in the immortality of the soul, should you also believe that the soul can come back in a physical form different than before?

“Ligeia”: Metempsychosis closely related to demonic possession. 3 of the major steps for summoning a demon are in the short story.

“Her marble hand”: Cold, pale, tomb, smooth

Poe has 4 stories that are names with one word of a woman’s name. In each of these 4 he obsesses with a body part. In “Legia” he obsesses with the eyes.

Physiogonomy: You can tell a person’s personality through characteristics.

Folklore: The close a person’s eyebrows are, the more amorous the person is.

He compares her eyes to a moth, butterfly, chrysalis, and a stream of running water. They all have something to do with changing shape.

Folklore: If you are intimate with a demon, your soul is lost forever. When being intimate you don’t know it’s a demon.

Steps in summoning a demon:1. Trace a 5-sided figure on the ground. They trace a circle around the 5-sided

figure because evil cannot enter, nor exit, a circle.2. Call the demon out by name.3. The demon takes some of its evil essence and deposits it into something that is

ingested.

“The Fall of the House of Usher”

This story has a lot to do with fear.

Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote “Diseases of Mind” and in that book he has an interesting chapter on fear.

The brother and sister are twins. They are sickly due to inbreeding.

A dash ( - ): Indicates an abrupt stop.

Grave robbing: Organized crime; big in Baltimore; they kept bodies on ice; kept ice frozen in saw dust.

Vampire Folklore: Skillful vampires kept their victims alive many years. Only rookies killed them. Vampires must learn how to hunt human prey. They prey on easy victims (family members). The vampire’s attack is a sexual attack. A vampire cannot be buried on consecrated ground.

4-12-04Nathaniel Hawthorn: Born in Salem Massachusetts. He was a direct descendent of puritan settlers. He was haunted by his puritan ancestry. He attended Bowdoin College. While at college he became lifelong friends with Franklin Pearce (a former U.S. President). Hawthorn wrote the campaign biography for Pearce. Hawthorn struggled for almost 30 years to become famous. In 1850 he published The Scarlet Letter. In 1851 he published The House of the Seven Gables. In 1852 he published Blithesdale. He published collections of short stories in 1837 and 1842 which were entitled Twice Told Tales, and Mosses from an Old Manse. In 1841 he tried writing children stories. He published a collection called Grandfather’s Chair. In 1852 he published another

collection of children stories entitled A Wonder Book. Again in 1853 he publishes another collection of children stories entitled A Tanglewood Tales.

Hawthorn used the past to comment on the present. In his early writing years he had a thin skin to criticism. Writing about the past was an attempt to deflect criticism by saying he was only stating the past and not interpreting the present or future. He drew a distinction between two types of novels:

1. True Novel – Reality2. Romance – Imaginative

He wouldn’t call his novels novels. He would call them romances. Many key events/scenes take place at dusk or twilight or a dark setting. He believed, along with many others, that this is when reality and imagination met. “Twilight”

Two of Hawthorn’s most prominent themes:1. Head vs. Heart

a. Many of Hawthorn’s characters are ministers, artists or scientists. Many of these characters have an idea that originated in their head and have become obcessed with that very idea. They isolate themselves from healthy interaction among other people that they lose the ability to love. They become “monomaniacs”.

2. Nature of Sin: Particularly the sin we hide from others.a. Sin, unfortunately, is a part of human life. It humanizes us. This is what

haunts Hawthorn from his puritan ancestry. Puritans failed to realize that sin humanizes us. Hawthorn didn’t praise sin at all. He just realized that it humanized us. It troubled Hawthorn that the puritans looked down upon sin as they did no matter what the circumstances or how big or little the sin was.

Moral Hypocrisy: “Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”. Someone shouldn’t condemn if they themselves are guilty of the same sin if not a sin that’s even worse.

Preface to The House of the Seven Gables: It talks about the distinction between two types of novels (True Novel vs. Romance).

Young Goodman BrownBrown was a very common name. This story contains many of the characteristics of an ambiguous gothic tale.

Hawthorn is never 100% clear. He lets the reader make up their mind for themselves.

Folklore: Trees can act as an entry zone for demons. A witch, warlock, or demon that is being pursued can hide themselves in a tree.

The “man” that Young Goodman Brown meets in the woods has clues to be the “Devil”. One clue is when he said that it took him 15 minutes to walk from Salem to Boston. This was unheard of back then because it took much longer than 15 minutes to walk from Salem to Boston. By folklore, the “Devil” could walk quietly and hastily.

Catechism: Sunday school; religious teachings.

The BirthmarkAre there some areas in science that should be left alone?

Birthmark Folklore:Good

1. The mark is where your guardian angel touched you during birth. 2. It’s a mark of beauty

Bad1. It’s the mark of Satan2. If it was on the left side of the body then it was even worse because the left side is

the side of Satan.

Folklore: Rainbows link the earth to the sky.

Georgiana could be an angel

Angel Folklore: When an angel assumes human shape, he or she would need an imperfection. This is represented by the birthmark. Another piece of folklore is that angels don’t cast an image in pictures just as Georgiana didn’t.

Penumbra: An indistinct outline of a shape.

4-26-04Herman Melville (1819-1891): He wrote Moby Dick.

There was a distinct classification between officers and common sailors in the British Navy.

Keel Hauling: When naval officers would drag someone underwater across the keel of the ship and its barnacles. Most people did not survive because the barnacles were sharp and would cut people’s backs open.

Melville was greatly envious of Hawthorne.

He wrote about good vs. evil

In Billy Budd there were 2 great influences1. Shakespeare2. The Bible

This story is structured just like a Shakespearean play. The diagram:

In Shakespeare’s plays we always see cause and effect

Melville uses the same dramatic triangle structure

The Bible: How it influenced the story of Billy Budd: Look at the characters:

1. Billy Budd/Baby Budd: A handsome baby faced sailor. He’s moral, he’s faithful, and he does his duty and is liked by everyone on the ship. He’s compared to 2 figures:

a. Adam before sinb. Christ

2. Captain Vere: A British Captain who cared about his men. He liked to read. He somewhat resembles God, the Father.

3. John Claggart: He is Master at Arms which is usually not liked by anyone. He’s described in terms related to Satan (evil)

“An Inside Narrative”: Melville had the inside scoop of what it’s like to be a sailor because he’s one himself. He got inside the minds of these characters.

Melville starts his story in the past. He story begins and ends with folklore.

Pg. 1625: Such a cynosure (nickname, title); welkin-eyed (sky)

The name of the ship was the Bellipotent. Bellipotent means “strong at war”

Billy Budd’s job was the foretop man which back then was equivalent to the radar now.

Beginning

RisingAction

Climax

Falling Action

End

Billy Budd was a baby found on a doorstep in Bristol, which was where the officers stayed while in port. He was illiterate but he could sing. Billy has a stuttering problem whenever he gets worked up.

Melville gives us 2 different historical situation

Captain Vere never jumps to a conclusion.

Claggart didn’t have a chin, which according to folklore meant he couldn’t be trusted, and he had a pale complexion.

Equivocal words: The meaning isn’t clear: “Handsomely

5-3-04Walt Whitman: He was an optimist

1855: One of the most important dates for American Literature. He publishes a collection of poems entitled, “Leaves of Grass” which influenced World Literature. The first edition was thin with only 13 poems and no author’s name but only a picture of Whitman on the back cover. There were 8 new editions to follow after the first. It became bigger and thicker with each edition. Whitman constantly changed poems. In the second edition he gave titles to the poems. In the 9th edition it was conclusive of all the poems he wrote. He only sold a few copies in 1855 to friends and family. After he ran out of friends and family his sales slowed. He was from up North near New Jersey. A lot of people didn’t read his works because he was viewed as a country bumpkin. He tried many occupations including painting, construction, and as a teacher of the 4th grade. He was recorded as saying, “I hated the little bastards”, referring to his 4th grade class. The most successful occupation he found was as a news paper reporter. He’s probably the best example of a literary optimist. He loved and celebrated everything American. He thought it was time for Americans to stop writing like British and European literature. Three things that make his poetry radically different from the poetry then:

1. Free Verse: He invented it; it uses irregular rhythm; it used neither regular rhythm nor regular line lengths; 99.9% of it doesn’t use rhyme.

a. In English literature there are 6 different rhythms. Writers pick a beat and stick with it throughout the poem they are writing.

b. Rhythm dictates how many syllables there are in every line. Whitman comes along and changes it. He has either no rhythm or mixed rhythm in his poems.

c. Why create free verse? He wanted to create a unique form of American Poetry that sounded how we speak.

d. There were all kinds of cultural influences on this:i. Lectures

ii. Emerson’s essays-He calls for originalityiii. The Bibleiv. Italian Opera (Aria)-An elaborate melody sung by a single voice.

2. He wanted his poetry to sound like Americans speaking to one another.a. He used Assonance which means repetition of vowel soundb. He used repetition which was a traditional tool of poetryc. The language/word choice that he used (Diction). He felt that words from

all walks of life should be used in poetry as to relate to everyone. He used scientific terms. He used foreign language/slang/opera words.

Whitman believed that sex was a spiritual force that allowed a man and woman to come as close to the power of creation of Goad as possible.

Whitman was opposed to pornography because it cheapened the human body

3. Sex imagery:

His poetic theory in 4 parts:

1. Subject Matter: Should be faithful to reality but each person should have a spiritual center. The three subjects he often used:a. Spiritualityb. Sciencec. Democracy

2. The Poet: The poet should be a prophet/sear.a. The prophet must also be a priest that serves the people.

3. The Poem: It must be constructed in a controlled way out of the physical materials of the universe.a. Controlled: He means that there has to be some

talent there.

4. The reader: Has just as much of a job to do as the poet. He believed that the reader had to be able to perform mental exercises. Readers need to give the poem one fair read. If the poem failed it could be the reader.

Philosophy at work in poems: Organicism

Time Society

Organicism as it related to time: It views time as an ever present present. It’s always now.

As it relates to society: The many different parts of life form one society. America is the “melting pot”.

The Preface has 2 Purposes:1. It cushions the blow of the extreme poetry2. It’s self promotion

“The Song of Myself”: The first in Leaves of Grass

One of the best ways to look at it is Whitman’s attempt to make an American epic poem

Epic poem: A poem about a hero that relates to a race or culture. It celebrates a particular group of people or culture.

Whitman used “I and such” a lot

At the beginning of the poem, Whitman invokes himself.

Abeyance: Temporarily suspended (put on the backburner)

Whitman celebrates life throughout the expression of conception.

Section 15: An epic catalogue, Whitman’s epic catalogue of American heroes.

The Hawk: usually the symbol of individual freedom.