Essay Instructions: Quoting proffesor:
"Five of the writter we have in the las segment all discuss their personal interior lives in one form or another, two in prose (Rousseau, Douglass) and three in verse (Wordsworth, Tennyson, Whitman).
Write an essay in which you do the following:
Select one area all five have IN COMMON, and explore the reasons why this is so, and then isolae one trait which is UNIQUE TO EACH WRITER and explain precisely in what way each one is DIFFERENT.
Of course, all autobiographical works should be distinctive because each person is an individual, but do not waste your time telling stories or summarizing plots. Concentrate on ideas, techniques, aspects, approaches, etc.
Be sure to discuss all five writers as equally and as fairly as possible, since each element of you essay is worth roughly 10%.
Hand in a neat final copy of at least 1000 words".
It is important that this essay includes 10 EQUAL PARTS as follows:
Compare (one aspect that is the same for all 5 authors) discuss each five authors equally. (= 5 parts)
Contrast (one unique aspect that all 5 author have different among them), discuss equally for each five others (=5 parts)
ps. I''ll fax the following sources (732)791-4612:
Poem "I fell before I thought", by Jean-Jaques Rousseau.
Poem "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey", by William Wordsworth.
Poem "In Memorian A. H. H.", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Poem "Narrative of the life", by Frederick Douglass.
Poem "Out of the cradle, Endlessly Rocking" by Walt Whitman.
Notes from class:
- MAIN TOPIC "ROMANTICISM"
Romantic "Revolution" (A violent transfer of power in the name of an idea leading to a new focus on culture)
Political, cultural, economic,etc, all begin in the psycological. Individial psycology instead of shared values.
Art freed from moral significance.
All revolution seem impossible until they happen.
Then they seem inevitable.
All of the major romactic themes in the first complate autobiography:
CHILHOOD; NATURE; PASSIONS; ORIGINALITY; IMAGINATION; CENTRALITY OF SELF.
Lyric Poetry = Personal Poetry.
-Rousseau
"Human laws create enequallity, not nature.
Tennyson: Next generation of Romantics: Succeeded wordsworth as poet aureate.
In Memorian: Probably the finest elegy in English. His friend died; 17 years compressed into three to illustrate progress of reflectios"
1st. Despair,
2nd. Glimmer of hope,
3rd. Resolve to go on,
Tennyson invented new stanza: 8 syllables rhyming A,B,B,A (TETRAMETER 4)
Douglass:
A new kind of authobiography in a different time and places. A story of maturation and an attempt to teach and reform.
Structure: I - IX first half,
X - XI second half. Crucial transcition
Whitman:
He is the first american poet, his work is only about ordinary life, no difficult words, material nor history facts, etc.
He talks about nature, life, peopl, he is totally romantic.
In many ways, the last romantic
1. Free verse: Poetry without rhyme or regular meter.
2. Normal diction: Few fancy words, almost no illusions.
3. Subject: The wonder of everyday life.
4. Song of myself: long authobiographycal poem in which "myself" is also "America Democritization of Literature".
5. "Out of the cradle, endlessly rocking"; about a boy becoming a man. This takes placeon Long Island.
Three Parts:
I. Boy and mockingbird 1 - 70 (boy)
II. Translation of Song 71 - 129 (bird)
III. The adult looking back 130 - 183 (boy becoming a Man, the adult says this was a defining moment in my life)
PS Please do the best you can, I really need an A+ in this class.
Thank you very very much.
Monica
There are faxes for this order.