Early Nineneenth Century Flashcards
1
Q
Name two facets of American Romanticism.
A
- influenced by British Romanticism - their work emphasized emotion, a love of nature, and imagination.
- The American Romantics were preoccupied with questions of democracy and freedom
2
Q
Why is American Romantic literature described as a response to the frontier? Explain.
A
- The frontier represented possibility and escape.
- Frontier as a space of exploration which embodies the ideals of freedom and individualism
- Literature is shaped by the experience of the American frontier
3
Q
Name two facets of the literary works of Washington Irving.
A
- Irving’s use of imagery - using words to create a picture in the reader’s mind to create long descriptions of the American landscape - set his work apart from those of the European writers.
- His words are sophisticated but he also uses humor and irony
4
Q
Why is Edgar Allan Poe considered a prominent representative of the American Gothic? Explain by giving two reasons.
A
- Preoccupation with death, the macabre, and the bizarre; stories addressing decay, mourning, and the reanimation of the dead
- One of the most prominent themes that haunts the Gothic fiction of Edgar Allan Poe is death and the associated process of decay and this is one of the more prominent themes in Gothic novels or short stories.
- Another aspect of the Gothic qualities in Poe’s fiction is that there are usually remote or haunted locations in which the action occurs.
5
Q
Name two facets of Transcendentalism.
A
- Romantic, philosophical movement against apathy, materialism, and complacent religiosity in American intellectual culture
- Focus on individual liberty and affinity to nature; critique of social norms
6
Q
Name two features of Henry David Thoreau’s writings.
A
- Direct form of writing, with references to personal experience and observation; use of eloquent symbols to invoke collective experience or history
- uses lots of metaphors: his main source for metaphor is the natural world around him.
