Natty Bumppo combines "the soul of a poet with the nature of a redneck."In class- review of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and James Fennimore Cooper's excerpt from The Prairie.
Introduction to Romanticism test on Friday 2 December. This will cover the following: all titles and authors, the four short stories (we'll review Legend and Prairie on Monday) and Portrait and Black Veil on Thursday); Lyrical Ballads poems Tables Turned by William Wordsworth and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
On Tuesday we are in the second floor computer lab. We are writing what is referred to as a microtheme. Specifically, I am asking you to think back on the conflicts between the English and the Indians of the 17th century as expressed in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, Smith's Jamestown and Boyd's Dividing Line. What was established in your writings was that because the Atlantic seaboard was inhabited, there was no way of the two groups of people avoiding interaction. In your previous papers, many wrote about trade. Now briefly take a look at the spiritual relationship's between the two groups. As a reminder, the Pilgrims did not come to New England to convert anyone; they wished to set up their own utopia and the native people already occupied the land, so of course, it was natural for them to bring them their religious message, and at the same time "civilize" them. Keep in mind though that there was a strict hierarchy; the English would always be top dogs. Down in Jamestown, conversion was not a priority, but trade; still any civilizing effect the English could have on these "barbarians" was a good thing. Finally, in North Carolina, Boyd saw that intermarriage could be a positive, at least in terms of profits. Think inheritance.
OK back to the spiritual aspect. You are writing two paragraphs. In the first, reiterate what the English gave to the Indians in terms of a spiritual life? How did this impact the native peoples? Did the new religion somehow justify the English actions? Why did so many Indians embrace Christianity? How did they fit into the English version of the religion? Now in the second paragraph, explore what the Indians gave to the English. Are there any aspects of Romanticism that perhaps could have found a fecund environment in the English sensibility that would eventually grow into what would become part of the the American identity.
For Thursday, make sure you have read Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil and Poe's The Oval Portrait.
Below is a summary of the vocabulary for which you are responsible from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1. mariner (noun) - sailor
2. kin (noun)- family
3. loon (noun)- crazy person
4. kirk (noun)- church
5. hoary (adjective)- white (hoarfrost- Frozen dew that forms a white coating on asurface.)
6. albatross (noun)- large bird chiefly of the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere; a constant, worrisome burden; an obstacle to success.
7. vespers-(noun)- The sixth of the seven canonical hours; evensong. Just know that its a time that prayers were to be said
8. fathom- (noun / verb)- A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.83 meters), used principally in the measurement and specification of marine depths; (verb) to penetrate to the meaning or nature of; comprehend.
9. to aver (verb)- to assert or justify or prove
10. gossamer (noun / adjective)- A soft sheer gauzy fabric; something delicate, light, or flimsy; (adj.); sheer, light, delicate, or tenuous.
11. sedge (noun)- grass like plants
12. sere (adjective)- very dry
13. keel (noun)- The principal structural member of a ship, running lengthwise along the center line from bow to stern, to which the frames are attached; ship. (to keel over-to collapse or fall over, as in a faint)
14. swound (noun / verb)- archaic way of swoon (faint); also note God’s wounds.
15. rood (noun)- cross
16. skiff (noun)- a flat bottom, shallow draft boat
17. to shrive (verb)- To hear the confession of and give absolution to (a penitent).
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