Intro Notes
What is the difference between the Transcendentalist and the Dark Romantic view of human nature?
Transcendentalist = inherently good
Dark Romantic = inherently bad
Why does Rip Van Winkle go up to the mountains in the first place?
To get away from his nagging wife.
Complete this statement from Emerson: "The virtue in most request is ____." (Hint: he's talking about what society values most.)
Conformity
In "The Birthmark," what does Aminidab symbolize?
The base human instincts/abilities; physical strength, not intellect
Who wrote the book On the Origin of Species?
Charles Darwin
What historical event ended the Romantic era?
The Civil War
Explain these lines from "A Psalm of Life": "Lives of great men all remind us / We can make our lives sublime, / And, departing, leave behind us / Footprints on the sands of time..."
Great men serve as an example for our lives, and we can leave footprints for others to follow our example.
What is Thoreau's view of inherited family farms and businesses?
They are a burden and prevent people from attaining the finer things in life because they're tied to their inheritance.
What is Whitman's answer to the following question: "What possible good can I find in this life?"
That you exist, that life is real, and that you can contribute a verse.
What is it called when a certain word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of grammatical units?
Anaphora
What did the Transcendentalists believe about God and humanity?
He is a part of everyone; humans contain divinity. We find God in nature.
What was the name of the group of minor Romantic poets that gathered in Boston?
The Fireside Poets
Explain Emerson's statement: "To be great is to be misunderstood."
What is Aylmer's fatal flaw? EXPLAIN how you know.
Obsessive ambition; he is willing to go to any length to achieve perfection.
What is the name of the black cat in "The Black Cat"?
Pluto
Explain the contrast between the Transcendentalists view of nature and the Dark Romantics view of nature.
Transcendentalists: nature = good; a pathway to God
Dark Romantics: nature = cruel, harsh, an obstacle
According to "Thanatopsis," what does the author believe about how people should feel about death?
We shouldn't worry about it; it's a peaceful and natural thing.
In "Self-Reliance," why does Emerson assert that's it's ok to contradict yourself from one day to another?
It shows evidence of learning, growth, and thought.
In "The Black Cat," the narrator talks about the perverseness of the human heart. What does he mean by perverseness?
All men have the capacity for evil, and they do evil just because they know it's wrong.
Explain what other men and women thought of Georgiana's birthmark.
Men found it charming; women found it repulsive because of jealousy.
What are the four characteristics of Romantic literature?
Imagination, nature, individualism, and the distant
Decorations = nature
Tomb of man = earth because everyone that's every lived is buried here
Explain the following quote from Walden: "The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of others?"
There is more than one type of success, but society only values material success.
In "The Black Cat," who/what does the narrator THINK is responsible for his undoing? Who/what is ACTUALLY responsible for his undoing? Explain.
He thinks it's the cat, but it's actually himself.
What is a chanticleer?
A rooster