Final preparation Flashcards
Charles Chesnutt
The Wife of His Youth
“I love myself with my whole chest”
born to free-born Black Parents from North Carolina
father fought in the north for the civil war
Chesnutt worked as a stenographer while being an author. He became the first openly Black author to find a mainstream critical acclaim
Ambrose Bierce
An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge
(dream of survival during a hanging–> action movie)
Went to military school in Kentucky and fought for the union army
Survived being shot in the head
Wrote journalism in san Francisco
Disappeared in Mexico, might have found in the Revolution.
Booker T Washington
Up from Slavery
“Booker T from slavery he soared, in Atlanta he spoke for progress for more” - tells the story of his education and activities as a public figure
Born in slavery in Virgina. Dad was unidentified but white. Moved to West Virginia after civil war
Trekked to Hampton normal and Agricultural institute in VA to train for teaching
became first principal of Tuskegee Institute. In 1895, gave a speech at Atlanta Exposition that gave him national fame and the unofficial spokesman of Black Americans
W.E.B Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk
Du Bois critiques Booker T with a voice so bold, for higher aims and a future to behold
Died a day before the march on washington and the year of the 14th amendment. Got Harvard PHD and studied at U of Berlin. Taught at Wilberforce, U.Penn and Atlanta U. editted the NAACP newspaper and cofounded the organization.
Became disillusioned with the civil rights struggle and so joined the communist party in 1961 and moved to Ghana
W.E.B Du Bois
Jesus Christ in Texas
Du Boise in texas where faith meets the test, questioning justice and who’s truly blessed
Robert Frost:
“Mending Wall”- Good fences make good friends (and neighbors)
Born in Cali but moved to New England at 11 then England in 1912. Norton editors characterize him as an anti-modern modernist. Poetry is rural and approachable. Read poem at JFK’s Inaguration
Ezra Pound
In a station of the metro: Beauty in the city
“faces bloom like flowers, a fleeting moment in the city’s powers
Ezra Pound
“A Retrospect”
- poetry that is to the point
Pound looks back with a poet’s eye, seeking art that’s shap, pure, and nigh (minimalistic)
Born in Idaho moved to Europe in 1908, US Army arrested him for treason. Case dismissed due to pleading insanity
Awarded to Bollingen Prize in 1948
Marianne Moore
“Poetry”: Moore says poetry’s real, not fancy or fake, it’s grounded in truth, not for art’s sake (minimalistic)
Born in Missouri, taught at Indian School in Carlisle
Moved to New Jersey and then Greenwich village
Edited the Dial for 4-5 years
Brooklyn Dodgers fan
Willa Cather
The Novel Démeublé: “Cather clears the clutter, with a style so pure, a novel stripped down, to make it endure!”
Willa Cather
My Ántonia: “My Ántonia’s tale, of love and the land, where courage and dreams go hand in hand!”
moved from Virginia to Nebraska
Graduated from University of Nebraska in Lincoln
Worked as a journalist, teacher, and magazine editor
won a pulitzer prize in 1922 for novel One of Ours
Claude McKay
America “McKay loves America, but feels its sting, in struggle and pride, his voice will sing!”
Born in Jamaica
Published 2 books of dialect poetry in 1912 to pay for college (Tuskegee and Kansas State)
short marriage and never met daughter
Communist sympathies led to FBI banning him from the country
lived in europe then returned in 1934 (became a citizen in 1940)
turned away from communism and became catholic
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues”Hughes sings the blues, where sorrow and song meet, a voice full of pain, but rhythmic and sweet!”
- Born in Missouri, lived in kansas, michigan, ohio, and mexico
went to colombia for a year then graduated lincoln U. Got invovled with american communist party and lived in the soviet union for around a year.
Became a target of senator Joesph McCarthy and placed on the FBI’s watchlist.
Langston Hughes
theme for English B “Hughes writes his truth, in a class so wide, where race and identity can’t be denied!”
Countee Cullen
Yet Do I Marvel: “Cullen ponders God’s plan with wonder and pain, where beauty and mystery both remain!”
Informally adopted by a minister in Harlem. Graduated NYU and published a book. got MA at Harvard. Du Bois and Hughes debated whether his poetry was a good model for Black Writers. married Du Bois Daughter but divorced after 2 years/
Henry David Thoreau
Resistance to Civil Government
“Thoreau calls for resistance, with conscience as guide, against unjust laws, he will not hide!”
He spent one night in jail for refusing to pay a poll tax because he opposed the war with mexico for anti-slavery reasons
Martin Luther King Jr
Letter from Birmingham Jail “King writes from jail, with justice in sight, urging nonviolence to win the fight!”
became presdient of the SCLC
won a nobel peace prize in 1964
Lorraine Hansberry
A Raisin in the Sun: “In A Raisin in the Sun, hopes are pursued, as dreams and reality are challenged and viewed!”
Born in Chicago, father owned real estate
Family won supreme court case allow them to stay there
Attended U of Wisconsin but didn’t graduate
first play written by a black woman to be preformed on broadway
Realism
Chesnutt
“Realism shows life as it is, no frills, just truth in the struggles and the ills!”
Inspired by realism in painting
Character Agency & Responsibility
Effect of personal choices
1st or 3rd person
Social Critique More Implied
Naturalism
“Naturalism shows life’s harshest side, where fate and nature are forces we can’t hide!”
Bierce
Inspired by scientific theories
Deterministic/Limited Agency
Effects of Natural or Social Forces
Omniscient Narrators
Can be Preachy, Reform-Minded
Modernism
“Modernism breaks the mold, with fractured views, where truth is questioned and the old ways lose!”
Willa Cather
Post WWI skepticism and questioning
against tradition
difficult to understand sometimes deliberately
Many modernist works are self-referential
Many spent more time in Europe than US
Imagism
Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, Marianne Moore
“Imagism paints with words, clear and bright, crisp, sharp images that capture the light!”
Harlem Renaissance
“In Harlem’s bright lights, a new voice was found, where Black art and culture broke new ground!”
Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen
