solved Module 5: Overview: A National Literature Summary Module 5 surveys

Module 5: Overview: A National Literature
Summary
Module 5 surveys surveys representative texts and writers of the Post-Revolutionary period.
Objectives

Demonstrate critical reading, thinking, and writing skills by analyzing texts and writers from the Post-Revolutionary period;
Identify content, structure, and style in literary texts;
Use literary terminology to analyze works of literature;
Define and provide examples of the literary characteristics of works by American authors from the post-Revolutionary period;
Define and identify the basic characteristics of American Romantic literature
Discuss some recurring themes of American literature.

Readings
Complete the following

Introduction, pp 9-24;Study Sheet 7-1.docx 

Study Sheet 8-1.docx
Washington Irving, pp 25-7:
“Rip van Winkle,” pp 29-41;
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” pp 41-62

“Thanatopsis,” William Cullen Bryant, p 118+
Poems, Lydia Sigourney, pp 106-7:

“Death of an Infant,” p 108;
“To the First Slave Ship,” p 109;
“Indian Names,” p 110;
“Fallen Forests,” p 114

Poems, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, pp 571-2:

“A Psalm of Life,” p 573;
“My Lost Youth,” p 580

John Greenleaf Whittier, p 583-4; “Snow Bound: A Winter Idyll,” pp 587-9
Edgar Allan Poe, pp 604-8:

“The Fall of the House of Usher,” pp 629-42
“Sonnet – To Science,” p 608;
“The Raven,” p 613-5;
“Annabel Lee,” p 619

NOTE: Readings that begin with *** are longer works, and will take more time to complete. Students should plan their reading schedules accordingly!
Assignments
Please complete all of these assignments before the conclusion of Module 5:

Complete all readings
Discussion #5: A National Literature
Challenge Task #5
Writing Assignment #5 
Part 1
A National Literature
Module 5: Discussion #5:    Directions Before beginning your second discussion thread, Review the Discussion Board Expectations in the Syllabus under Course Grading.(1) In this discussion, there are a number of Discussion Prompts listed below. You must respond to TWO of them.

Make your initial post before the Module is halfway over. (As always, please consult the course Calendar where the instructor will list specific due dates.)
Return before the Module closes and respond to at least two classmates’ posts, preferably on the same topics you chose. Continue the conversation with your fellow students.
Students are expected to read what other students have posted.
Students may reply to, or expand upon, points made by other students in the thread.
(2) To earn points:

All posts should average about two paragraphs minimum.  
All posts MUST be significant and substantial contributions that demonstrate your mastery of the readings. If you are not earning full points for discussions, then be sure to review the Instructor comments and the grading rubric.
Remember: a Literature class IS Reading and Discussion…there are no “right” answers to these questions!
GENERAL NOTE: remember…
Discussions are informal, personal responses based on your own reading of a text
Do not “research”websites or repeat the editor’s comments or copy/paste from any outside source: use your own brain
A Literature class IS Reading and Discussion…there are no “right” answers to these questions! 
Discussion #5 Prompts
Discussion Question #1
American Romanticism is the “American” version of European RomanticismAs a Literary style, it includes all of the theoretical elements of European Romanticism, but it differs in some important ways. Review the study sheet on Romanticism and then think about these differences (listed below) we can see in American Romanticism:
Setting: American Romantic literature is set directly in the vast American landscape, and WILD Nature is a looming force just beyond the edges of every story; often Nature itself becomes a “character” in the story, and it almost always presents a level of challenge on its own.
Characters: it is populated with American characters, and the stereotypes and recognizable figures of American folk history and regional culture; reflects a diverse immigrant heritage
Stories: These stories focus on everyday situations common to American Experience and again reflect regional themes
Poems: generally reflect the style and form of European lyric and epic poetry, but with American tropes and symbols
Language: It employs an increasingly “American” English that is very influenced by Journalistic style, but many American works at this time mimic the old-fashioned, “formal” English of the educated and aristocratic English
Idealizes and “romanticizes” Native American culture and literary figures: In European Romance, the symbol of the Romantic ideal is the “innocent child.” In American Romance, the symbol is  the “Noble Savage,” the “natural man” who is closer to Nature than is “modern man,” and is therefore more “natural” and more “spiritual” than is corrupted “western man.”
The Hero is not divinely chosen, and is usually a “reluctant”: in traditional Romance stories, the hero is from the aristocratic class and has, in some way, been divinely chosen; he is superior to other men by birth. In American Romance, the hero is an average man who has risen from his own merit, and he does not actually want to be a hero. Rather, he is forced to act heroically by circumstance or duty.
It reflects regional characteristics: Different storytelling traditions and styles evolve in different areas of the new nation because this was the age before instantaneous communication, and ethnic groups also tended to bunch together, which helped to create “local” traditions reflecting European roots.

New England writers are centered in Massachusetts (called “The Concord Group,” The Transcendentalists)
Northeast writers (The Fireside Poets)
Southern Writers are centered in Richmond
New York Writers (known as the The Knickerbocker Group)
Western Writers (centered first around Chicago, then further west)

Review the study sheet on Romanticism, and read the entry in the glossary. Then, think about the readings. What elements of American Romanticism can you discern in the readings?Here’s a question to explore and reply to…Select one work that you really liked in this Unit and go through: first briefly summarize the work, and then explain the Romantic elements you see. What did you like about the work? After thinking about it, do you believe that any of these works of literature are a NEW kind of literature? Any that reflect the NEW spirit of American society? Are there any works that you think may be new kinds of literature (for the time)? Which?Discussion Question #2
Five Really Important Poets of the 1800sThis Unit we read five really important poets of the 1800’s, all of whom were very influential before the Civil war.Lydia Sigourney is little known today, but in her day she was the most popular woman poet in America. She writes, like Longfellow and Whittier, in the Romantic tradition of poetry, and we can easily see these elements in her poems. In addition, Sigourney continues the “tradition” of contemplative, personal poetry by women in American literary history.Easily the most popular poet of the first part of the 19th century, Longfellow is not very popular today for a number of reasons. One is that his work is not very politically correct by many modern academic standards: his subjects, his attitudes, and his assumptions are not generally shared by many modern thinkers and readers. Another reason for his unpopularity is that his work sometimes is accused of becoming overly sentimental and simplistic, again by modern standards. In reality then, his work is not popular simply because reader’s tastes have changed; readers today don’t value many of the elements that caused his popularity in his day. Still, any survey of American literary history would be incomplete without looking at Longfellow.Similarly, Whittier is also one of the important and popular writers of the early 1800’s who is almost unknown in the modern day, again because of the changing literary tastes of America. However, as the selection in this Unit shows, his interest were very profoundly American and domestic, and his relation of everyday experience gives modern readers a sense of what life was like 200 years ago. Most American readers know Poe and have read his poems, particularly “The Raven,” before. This poem consistently ranks as one of the “American Classics,” but Poe is probably more popular today for his stories. Poe writes traditional “lyric” poems which are most common among the Romantic writers.Finally, there’s Bryant, who is not very well known today at all. But he is not only an important poet of his day, he was also an important classical scholar, and also the leading literary critic of the day. He is an important leaders in the “Young America” movement. In his essays about Literature and Democracy, he argues the need to establish a “new” American literary tradition, one that is separate from the European tradition. He inspired writers and artists (like Whitman) to attempt this feat. Here are some questions to explore and reply to…
Review the study sheet on Romanticism, and read the entry in the Glossary. What elements of Romantic literary tradition can you spot in works by these writers?
Romantic writers view Nature differently than did earlier writers and thinkers. In Romantic thinking, Nature is a source of goodness and purity, and represent innocence. Nature, and that which is “natural” is “better” than that which is “man-made”. Thus, Romantic writers also tended to “idealize” primitive societies, and because they were “closer to nature”. Where can we see these ideas in the poems by these writers? can you find examples?
A person could argue that, in many ways, Sigourney is the most “modern” of all the writers we have looked at so far. In what ways might this claim be true? In which ways would it not hold up?
Discuss how the poem “My Lost Youth,” can be seen as either an honest expression of longing and human emotion or as an overly sentimental and simplistic. Which way do you think about this poem?
Discuss how the poem “A Psalm of Life,” can be viewed as a truthful expression of the writers belief or as a trite repetition of shallow homilies. What do you think of the poem? 
What about the poem, “A Winter Idyll”? What is an “idyll”? In what was does the poem reflect a nostalgic, sentimental, or Romantic view of American life? Explain why
Compare Sigourney’s poetry to that of Bradstreet: what similarities can you notice between them, such as topic or style? In what ways are they different? 
Discussion Question #3
Fiction: Poe and IrvingWashington Irving is often called the first “internationally famous” American writer. American writers of this period lacked copyright protections, so they preferred to be published in England, where copyright law was enforced. So it was not uncommon for American writers to go abroad as minor figures, only to return from Europe famous: it happened to both Irving and Longfellow, and Poe is much more famous in Europe than he is in America.Irving writes humorous stories that poked fun at the conventions of his American society, often employing regional stereotypes to do so. But he also writes within the European tradition of the Folk Tale, and in many ways we can see that his stories take the traditional folk tales and set them in the familiar surroundings of America, but then he changes things around a bit. For instance, one traditional element of the folk tale is that it teaches a moral lesson to the reader (who is usually a child). Irving’s stories don’t quite follow this model, and he is often thought to “complicate the moral lesson” that usually concludes the Tale. That is, the story doesn’t end up “teaching” the lesson you thought it was going to when you started reading it, and maybe it doesn’t even teach ANY lesson at all. What moral lesson, after all, does Rip van Winkle teach, if the story ends where it begins, and nothing has really changed at all?In doing this, Irving stories made his readers laugh and he was very popular because of it, and he wrote regularly for the many new “magazines” and literary journals that were published in the 1800’s. Irving was also part of a “modern” literary and artistic community, the first in US history, known as “The Knickerbockers.” They lived in and around New York City which then, like today, was the center of social and literary society.Poe is arguably the most influential writer in America before the Civil War in the modern day; that is, he is more important to us today, than he was to readers then. He writes squarely within the Romantic tradition of literature, but does so with an innovation and invention that extends into the modern day. Among other things, Poe is credited (by some) to have invented the science fiction story and the detective or mystery story. In addition, his “horror” and “suspense” stories remain at the core of “Gothic” literature. It is tempting to suggest that his work constitutes a NEW American literature because he invented new genres; however, the question readers need to consider is whether he invented a NEW kind of literature, or whether he innovated the European tradition with new variations of the old kind of story, like Irving?Ironically, of all the American writers of this period, Poe is the most “European.” Careful readers will note that his stories tend to be set in Europe, employ European Romantic tropes and conventions, and are populated with European characters and subjects. He writes GOTHIC ROMANCES. “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a good example of exactly these points. After he died, the French people erected a memorial for him in America, but Americans did not, which kinda says it all.Here are some questions to explore and reply to …
After reading and thinking about Irving and Poe’s stories as examples of American fiction then, do you think either of these writers have successfully created a “New” kind of literature? One that reflects the spirit and Nature of Democracy itself? Explain…
Review the elements of GOTHIC Romance in the Glossary and the study sheet: show these elements in “Fall of the House of Usher.”
Which of these stories did you like the best? Why?

A National Literature

PART 2
Module 5: Challenge Task #5
Start Assignmentt

Points 10
Submitting a file upload
Directions
From any of the readings in Module 5, show an example of a Romantic LITERARY convention, trope, or symbol. First review the Glossary and these study sheets on Romanticism:

Neoclassicism vs Romanticism.docx
Romanticism.docx