Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Journal #20 - "Autumn" Analysis

As many Romanticism period pieces of literature do, this poem represents nature in a way that describes its beauty in great detail. The opening line of the poem reads, "Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain" (Longfellow 1). The line of the poem describes how the season of Autumn comes after the rain. The next few lines describe the season in great detail. One line reads, "With banners, by great gales incessant fanned,
Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand" (Longfellow 2-3). These two lines help to describe the beauty of the leaves falling in Autumn, and it also provides an allusion. Samarcand was a city that Alexander the Great conquered. The city was known for its beautiful silks, and Longfellow claims that the beauty of Autumn is greater than the beauty of the silks. The next few lines are more about nature, specifically about farmers. One characteristic of Romanticism writing is an obsession with far away lands. During the Rationalism literary period, the United States was just starting to open up with westward expansion, with the west being a new, interesting place. Farmers would settle there, which is why I believe that this poem was written with farmers in mind.

Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne, upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand outstretched with benedictions o'er the land, blessing the farms through all thy vast domain! (Longfellow 5-8)
This passage from the text talks about a farmer standing over his land, blessing all of the farms. There is also an allusion to Charlemagne, who was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Longfellow compared the farmer to Charlemagne by stating his power over his land, and how the farmer was in complete control. The bridge of gold may have been referring to his vast wheat fields, but that is just a guess. The last few lines of the poem continue on to talk about the harvest moon being the shield for the farmer and concludes with a passage comparing the blowing of the leaves to "flames upon an altar" (Longfellow 9-14).


Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. The Complete Poetical Works, ed. by Horace E. Scudder. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1893; Bartleby.com, 2011. www.bartleby.com/356/60.html. Dec. 13, 2011.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Poetry Comparison and Analysis

While not the only writing genre that falls under the classification of Romanticism writing, poetry is a huge part of Romanticism period writing. Two famous Fireside Poets were Thomas Lounsbury and Oliver Wendel Holmes. Both poets wrote during the Romanticism period in literary history, and their writings reflected the time period. Many characteristics of Romanticism writing were an obsession with far away places, a love of nature and a sense of innocence, especially in young people. Loundsbury's poem "Thanatopsis" is a perfect example of Romanticism writing. The poem uses nature as a medium for describing life and death in a way that was seen by the writer. He personifies nature and gives her characteristics that were similar to those used in Romanticism. Just the simple fact of using nature as a main topic in the poem is a characteristic of Romanticism writing. The poem first approaches death from a physical standpoint, which was somewhat gruesome, but then refers to death in a way that makes it seem less intimidating. One of my favorite passages from the poem described death from the point of view of the author, who had Romanticism writing styles.
 Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night...approach thy grave like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. (Bryant 77, 79-81)
This passages tells the reader to not view death as a bad thing that a person should dread, but a long awaited rest after leading a good life.

The second author, Holmes, wrote a poem also about nature. He wrote the poem titled "The Chambered Nautilus." The poem was written from the point of view of a man observing an empty nautilus shell, reflecting on its life and comparing his life to that of the nautilus. Holmes chose to write his poem focused around nature, which was a major characteristic of Rationalism writing. One of his opening lines talked about a place where Sirens, from Greek mythology, sing and coral reef maids dry their hair in the sun (Holmes 1-5). The obsession with a far away land was a major sign that a literary work was written during the literary period. Holmes was refering to a far away land where Sirens and coral reef maids lived.

Both poems were examples of Romanticism writing, but they worked in different aspects. They were both about nature, and both poems did a great job teaching the reader a lesson. In Lounsbury's poem, he taught people that death was not something to be feared (Thanatopsis), and in Holem's poem, he taught people that they could learn from the nautilus and continue their spiritual growth before their death so they could be free from their physical body (Chambered). A similarity between the two poems was the topic of death. In both of the poems, death was brought up. Also, nature was used in both poems to convey the author's thoughts on the two subjects of the poems. These two poems were very similar in their subject matter as well as their approach to discussion.

Huff, Randall. "'Thanatopsis'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0402&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 28, 2011).

Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. "'Thanatopsis'." Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL0805&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 28, 2011).
Holmes, Oliver Wendel. English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman. Vol. XLII. The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14; Bartleby.com, 2001. http://www.bartleby.com/42/801.html. Dec. 8 2011.

Huff, Randall. "'The Chambered Nautilus'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0070&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 9, 2011). 






Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Chambered Nautilus Analysis

The poem begins with the first line reading "This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign" (Holmes 1). At first glance, the word "feign" was not a word I was familiar with, but upon further research, I realized that it means "to invent fictitiously." The first stanza of the poem basically says that a story that poets create about the Nautilus takes place where Sirens, from Greek mythology, sing and coral reef maids dry their hair in the sun (Holmes 1-5).  One major characteristic of Romanticism writing was the fascination with strange, unknown, far away places. The location of this story could be considered a far away place, which shows it is an example of Romanticism writing. In the next stanza of the poem, the author goes on to describe this Nautilus, which is a type of sea creature that is kind of like a cross between a snail and a squid (Holmes 8-14). Nature is also a huge part of Romanticism writing, so the fact that this poem was written about a sea creature points to it being an example of Romanticism writing. In Randall Huff's literary criticism over the poem, he states that Holmes is making all of these assumptions about the creature from the empty shell that he has in his hands, such as the "webs of living gauze" that it would use to "sail" around the waters of the strange place (Huff 2). Holmes describes in the next stanza how the creature built up its home through out the years, creating that "shining archway" of its shell, which was his "last found home" (Holmes 15-21). The fourth stanza is where the poem begins to have a greater meaning than just simply praising an old shell from a sea creature. Huff compared the life of the nautilus to the life of a human. He compared that all of the years that the nautilus spent developing its shell equates to all of the time that a person should spend developing themselves spiritually, so they can move on to a better life after their death (6). The final line of the poem helps to sum up Huff's interpretation of the poem, and provides great support to back up his ideas. "Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!" (Holmes 35). This line says that just like the nautilus left its shell after its death, if we continue to grow spiritually, we will be able to leave our physical bodies after our death (Huff 6). More specifically, Romantic writing has a characteristic about not only nature, but a love for nature. This poem is based around what the character in the poem learned from a simple shell left behind by a sea creature, and how he applied it into his life. The character shared a love for the sea creature like he loved himself, and he learned from the integrity of the sea creature. That characteristic of loving nature is very prominent in Romanticism writing, which is why this poem is a great example of a Romantic literary period poem.

Holmes, Oliver Wendel. English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman. Vol. XLII. The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14; Bartleby.com, 2001. http://www.bartleby.com/42/801.html. Dec. 8 2011.

Huff, Randall. "'The Chambered Nautilus'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0070&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 9, 2011).


Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Devil and Tom Walker Analysis

Washington Irving wrote both "The Devil and Tom Walker" and "Rip Van Winkle," and both stories shared many similarities and differences. Both stories were written in the style of a short story, even though they were written during the Romanticism period, where poetry was a popular writing style. Both stories also used great detail in describing aspects of the story, which was a characteristic of Romantic writing. In the story "The Devil and Tom Walker," there were a few paragraphs that described the swamp, which used great detail, a characteristic of Romanticism writing.
The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them ninety feet high, which made it dark at noonday, and a retreat for all the owls of the neighborhood. It was full of pits and quagmire, partly covered with weeds and mosses, where the green surface often betrayed the traveler into a gulf of black, smothering mud.
The paragraph would continue on to describe the nature present in the swamp, and nature was a big part of Romanticism writing.  Another reference to romanticism writing is the use of innocence in the writing. Tom Walker was an immature, innocent person who fell into the trap of the devil trying to corrupt Tom. Innocence is used in Romantic writing, and it is present in this story. The Devil tempted the husband in the story, and he told his wife, who then tempted him to do the task. Tom did not want to do it, so his wife made a deal with both people (Irving). The story has a slight similarity to the story in the Book of Genesis, where Adam and Eve are tempted by the Devil to eat the forbidden fruit.

While both stories were written by the same author during the same literary period, the stories do have their differences. "The Devil and Tom Walker" had a moral to the story, but "Rip Van Winkle" really did not. The story was somewhat scary, and it was probably written during the time shift between Romanticism and Dark Romanticism. It wasn't really considered Dark Romanticism because while it was a story involving the Devil, it was still a short story used for the purpose of entertaining people.

"Rip Van Winkle" was a story on the opposite spectrum of short stories compared to "The Devil and Tom Walker." In the story, Rip helps a man carry a keg, and then proceeds to take a drink from it, which ends up being a lot more than he thought he was taking, which caused him to fall into a deep sleep (Matthews). This aspect of the story helps to relate to the characteristics of Romanticism writing similar to the characteristics in "The Devil and Tom Walker." Rip stood for innocence, since he was a character who fell victim to alcohol that caused him to "fall asleep" for a very long period of time. Young people. along with innocence, are key aspects of Romanticism writing. The two short stories, while not poems, are great examples of Romanticism writing.

D'Ammassa, Don. "'Rip Van Winkle'." Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EFHF0432&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 7, 2011).


Matthews, Brander, ed. The Short-Story: Specimens Illustrating Its Development. New York: American Book Company, 1907; Bartleby.com, 2000.www.bartleby.com/195/. [Date of Printout].