This story captures the imagination of readers today by including amazing elements. An example is "Ichabod was a kind and thankful creature, whose spirits rose with eating as some men's do with drink."
This is an amazing way to let the readers think about what else could be possible, if this is. An imagination is one of the best things one could ever have.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Essential Questions for This Unit
Gina Poe
S. Hasty
Honors Sophomore English/ Block 4
4 December 2014
S. Hasty
Honors Sophomore English/ Block 4
4 December 2014
How are the Romantic's beliefs of optimism and individualism reflected in their writing?
In the Romantic's works, they like to express a lot of optimism and individualism into what they say. Because the whole nature of Romanticism is pleasant, well-rounded thoughts, optimism and individualism elements are very key within the works of Romanticism. A very good example of optimism and individualism is this verse from Swing Low Sweet Chariot,
“The brightest day that I can say,
Coming for to carry me home,
When Jesus washed my sins away,
Coming for to carry me home.”
In this verse above, bright days are being described- setting up the scene for complete optimism. Also, bringing in religion creates a sense of individualism, because religion allows for identification of one's morals- providing basic grounds for discovering one's self- laying down quite the individuality.
What is Romanticism, Gothic Romanticism, and Southern Gothic Romanticism? How are they similar and how are they different?
In all three genres; Romanticism, Gothic Romanticism, and Southern Gothic Romanticism, authors portray very distinct features and elements that adequately represent their genre passionately. The passion in which they carry through their genre is what they all share- everything within the work strongly defines the genre, instead of having a variety of genre's traits.
However, on the contrary, the thing which the genres do not have in common is the specific details of their genre. Romanticism is a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.
Topics range from past criticism, the cult of sensibility, women and children, to authors Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s seemingly favorite, supernatural and human psychology.
Gothic Romanticism is a twist on Romanticism that includes creepy, depressing, and even disturbing features. Many works portraying Gothic Romanticism include; The Castle of Ontranto by Horace Walpole, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and many of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Southern Gothic Romanticism includes the twists of Gothic Romanticism, while including common traits of Southern culture. Some of these traits include, but are not limited to; the turning of classic Gothic figures into figures of southern culture, a bizarre happening in the town, house or farm, a grotesque (a character inducing both empathy and disgust)
While they may share passion, the genres Romanticism, Gothic Romanticism, and Southern Gothic Romanticism have many differences.
How is the Southern Gothic movement a response to literary movements that have preceded it as well as a manipulation of romantic literary conventions?
To understand Southern Gothic Romanticism, one must first be able to understand the Gothic fiction genre which it was divided from. Gothic Fiction is a somewhat rebellion to Romanticism- taking shared styles such as optimism and individualism, and turning them into the complete opposite- pessimism and confinement of ones self. Southern Gothic Romanticism is simply a spin off of this nature of writing, only pertaining to things asscociated with the South such as; towns, farms, houses, and southern lingo.
How did American culture prompt the dark sides of Romanticism?
Throughout the research of the Gothic authors, it is clear there is a common motif of early suffering- whether it be the loss of their parents, or the adaptation of addictions, the authors of Gothic Romanticism have often suffered some kind of trauma. Given this, there have been many things in American society that would also trauma-date people to turn to dark versions of regularly a happy optimistic genre. Some of these mind-set altering events include; Salem Witch Trials, Civil War, Poverty, and much more.
How do the writings of this time period influence the writings of today?
After having a difference in literature through the Gothic genres, it has set off many other forms of individuality. Having been derived from something that was popular, Gothic Romanticism offered an opportunity for authors to shine in their own light, rather than fit into the genre everyone is writing in. Now we have hundreds of genres- enough for absolutely everyone's taste.
Gothic Romanticism: Hawthorne, Poe, and Baudelaire
Gina Poe
S. Hasty
Honors Sophomore English/ Block 4
4th December 2014
The Fall of the House of Usher, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, is narrated by a man who visits the estate of his childhood fried, Roderick Usher. Throughout his experience at the mansion, the narrator portrays a great deal of pessimism. This is expressed from the very beginning through the evaluation of the exterior appearance of the estate, “I had so worked upon my imagination as really to believe that about there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity- an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the grey wall, and the silent tarn--a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued.” (Poe 4) During his stay in the home, the narrator learns the sister of Roderick, Madeline, is very ill. The narrator is intrigued by the mysterious woman, but his curiosity doesn't ever become satisfied. The illness of Roderick's sister, who is later to be discovered as his twin, causes him to be very depressed and not as energetic as his old self. Through all his efforts to cheer his friend up, the narrator manages to get a song out of Roderick. The song first expresses happiness in a place, then the place is taken over by demonic figures- causing the place to no longer be happy and causes depression among the inhabitants of the place. After the death of his sister, Roderick becomes consumed with hysteria. One night the narrator can not sleep, along with Roderick. After many crazy things happen, voices are heard and Roderick's sister blew open the doors of where they were freaking out, in a white, blood covered gown. Roderick was attacked by his sister and he died of fear. The narrator flees the house and as he's running away, the house crumbles down into nothing more than rubble.
Throughout the story, there were many indications that the characters were crammed in the confined space of the mansion. Because of the confinement, it is quite evident the twins were never able to develop as individual people. Instead, they were simply a reflection of one another- never showing their own selves, but the most dominant emotion between the two. Because of Roderick's extreme nervousness and hysteria, this caused his dead twin sister to be a vampire- for she was only reflecting what her brother's primary emotion was.
A common style throughout Gothic fiction works is pessimism. The writers of the works we read displayed this pessimism to a tee. Instead of taking something as a good thing, they express it as a horrible thing. Their conceptions on life in a negative portrayal is what sets Gothic fiction aside from the normal.
S. Hasty
Honors Sophomore English/ Block 4
4th December 2014
The Fall of the House of Usher, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, is narrated by a man who visits the estate of his childhood fried, Roderick Usher. Throughout his experience at the mansion, the narrator portrays a great deal of pessimism. This is expressed from the very beginning through the evaluation of the exterior appearance of the estate, “I had so worked upon my imagination as really to believe that about there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity- an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the grey wall, and the silent tarn--a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued.” (Poe 4) During his stay in the home, the narrator learns the sister of Roderick, Madeline, is very ill. The narrator is intrigued by the mysterious woman, but his curiosity doesn't ever become satisfied. The illness of Roderick's sister, who is later to be discovered as his twin, causes him to be very depressed and not as energetic as his old self. Through all his efforts to cheer his friend up, the narrator manages to get a song out of Roderick. The song first expresses happiness in a place, then the place is taken over by demonic figures- causing the place to no longer be happy and causes depression among the inhabitants of the place. After the death of his sister, Roderick becomes consumed with hysteria. One night the narrator can not sleep, along with Roderick. After many crazy things happen, voices are heard and Roderick's sister blew open the doors of where they were freaking out, in a white, blood covered gown. Roderick was attacked by his sister and he died of fear. The narrator flees the house and as he's running away, the house crumbles down into nothing more than rubble.
Throughout the story, there were many indications that the characters were crammed in the confined space of the mansion. Because of the confinement, it is quite evident the twins were never able to develop as individual people. Instead, they were simply a reflection of one another- never showing their own selves, but the most dominant emotion between the two. Because of Roderick's extreme nervousness and hysteria, this caused his dead twin sister to be a vampire- for she was only reflecting what her brother's primary emotion was.
A common style throughout Gothic fiction works is pessimism. The writers of the works we read displayed this pessimism to a tee. Instead of taking something as a good thing, they express it as a horrible thing. Their conceptions on life in a negative portrayal is what sets Gothic fiction aside from the normal.
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