Defining Romanticism
what century did romantic literature take place?
19th century
The title of "thanatopsis" means what?
a vision of death
what word best describes the single effect created by the description of the house in the story?
Terror/Haunting/Scary
Why did the narrator kill the old man?
The old man had an "evil eye" which made him feel very uneasy: He had the eye of a vulture
What seems to be Tom's prime motivation in agreeing to the Devil's terms?
Greed
Writers of this time period focused on the _______ and _______ themes.
supernatural and gothic
According to the speaker in "Thanatopsis" what will happen to him after death occurs?
His body will become part of nature
The actions of this woman correspond with the plot of the book the narrator is reading to Roderick Usher.
Lady Madeline Usher
Why did the narrator confess his crime?
He confesses out of guilt.
The theme or moral of the story is that "greed will....."
Greed will ruin you
What are the 5 I's?
Individuality
Idealism
Intuition
Inspiration
Imagination
True or False: the following theme is appropraite for Dickinson's "I Felt a Funeral in my Brain" :
A person’s loss of self can feel as tragic as a death.
True
True or False: the following statement expresses a central theme of the story. "A person cut off from the world can fall into having irrational fears and mental illness."
True
Why is this a Gothic story?
It explores the irrational, the supernatural, and the darker, often unconscious, impulses that drive people's behavior.
True or False: Tom Walker feared the Devil
False
What are characteristics of Romantic literature?
Good vs. evil
Money corrupts
Industry/Corporations are evil
God and nature are unified
Dark, Gothic literature
Explain the extended metaphor that is "I Felt a Funeral in my Brain" by Dickinson.
Sh uses the metaphor of the funeral for what is going on inside her head. Her sanity and reason have died, and the chaos inside her mind is like the mourners at a funeral walking backward and forward. The insistent repetition of ‘treading – treading’ evokes the hammering and turbulence within the speaker’s brain.
What could the "Collapsing Mansion" symbolize?
The Fall of the Usher family.
What is the beating heart a symbol of?
The narrator's guilt
True or False: The Devil was the reason Tom Walker lost his soul.
False
Explain how Romantic literature is different from the Enlightenment and Puritan movements?
Romanticism rebelled against the Enlightenment and Puritans. As those time periods focused on theory, reason, and religion, romanticism focused on feelings, imagination, and gut instincts.
How did the tone in "Thanatopsis" shift?
It started as very depressing and fearful of death, but then it eventually turned into a more light-hearted, content tone because we should be trusting death, not fearing it.
The title represents what two things "falling" in the story? (two answers!)
Not only the House itself but also the family of the Ushers
What is the POV in the story, could it have been told in a different POV?
The story is written in first person.If were to be written in 3rd person, for example. The reader would not have to piece facts together. Also, the reader would not feel the as suspenseful in third person. Therefore it could not be written in a different POV.
In the story, Tom Walker carried a Bible with him at one point. Thinking back to the moments when he actually had that Bible, what would his Bible symbolize?
Safety from temptation/Devil