English Literature PDF

Unit Three –The Individual and the Society

THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE SOCIETY:
 Literary and Philosophical Movements During the 19th Century in America:
1. Romanticism: a literary movement in the 18th century marked by:
a. a focus on the individual,
b. an idealization of nature and
c. a celebration of the common person.
i. It began as a reaction of the Industrial Revolution.
ii. Also, it focuses on imaginations, emotions and personal experiences.
d. EG: Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Washington Irving.

2. Transcendentalism: a philosophical belief started in the 19th century,

a. it focuses on the beauty of nature, imagination and spirituality.
b. It believes that nature is the source of knowledge and
i. people can find truth in nature
1. by going through a spiritual journey through intuition.
c. EG: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

3. Anti-Romanticism/Dark Romanticism: it focuses on the dark side of

a. humanity that people are net innately good.
b. It’s an examination of the complex and often mysterious
i. forces that motivate human behavior.
c. EG: Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe.

 Key Elements of Whitman’s Writing:

1. Free-verse form and flowing lines
a. Create rolling rhythms and cadences.
2. Strong, direct, everyday language
a. Echoes the voices of common people.
3. Focus on the diversity of the nation’s people and places
a. Reflects America’s emerging identity.
4. Celebrations of self and nature support themes
a. That explore the connectedness of all things.

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 Key Elements of Dickinson’s Writing:
1. Strong images and metaphors
a. Enliven her work.
2. Explorations of abstract concepts (truth/the soul) r
a. Reveal profound insights.
3. Personified concepts (death/nature)
a. Add personality to the work.
4. Unusual points of view
a. Provide a unique voice.
5. Reflections on tiny details
a. Reveal great life in the smallest of things.
6. Unconventional use of rhyme and punctuation
a. Creates subtle effects.

POETRIC DEVICES & TERMS:

 Poetic Sound Devices:
1. Rhyme: the repetition of sounds.
a. End rhyme: the last word on each line rhymes.
b. Internal rhyme: word inside the sentence rhyme.
c. Ex: hat, cat, sat, mat, fat...
2. Rhythm: the flow of the beat in the poem.
a. Purpose: gives poetry a musical feel.
b. It can be fast or slow depending on mood and subject of poem.
c. It can be measured in meter, by counting the beats in each line.
d. Ex: twinkle little star.
3. Alliteration: the repetition of the initial letter or sound in two or more words in a line;
tongue twisters.

4. Onomatopoeia: words that spell out sounds.

a. Ex: hiss, pop, boom, ptthhhbb, crack, rawr, knock, buzz, bang.

5. Assonance: repetition of vowel sound in series of words, phrases, or syllables.

6. Consonance: repetition of consonant sound anywhere in the sentence.

Ex: sea sickness, (close, doze, pose, rose)

7. Refrain: repetition of the same word, phrase or clause.

a. Ex: repetition in (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star).

8. Anaphora: lines that start with the same word/ or the use of the same starter.
a. Ex: give me liberty or give me death.

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 Free Verse: poetry that follows no rules, just about anything goes.
o It uses devices, but this means that it does not follow traditional conventions
(punctuation, capitalization, rhyme scheme, rhythm, and meter, etc.).

 Lines and Stanzas: most poems are written in lines where group of lines in a poem is
called a stanza.
o Stanzas separate ideas in a poem (like paragraphs).

Figurative Language:
1. Simile: a comparison btw two usually unrelated things using “as” or “like”.
a. Ex: she is as beautiful as a firework.

2. Metaphor: an implied comparison between two usually unrelated things.

a. Poet can make the entire poem a metaphor or some little things.
b. Ex: She is a snake.

3. Hyperbole: an exaggeration for the sake of emphasis.

a. Ex: I may sweat to death.

4. Allusion: reference to another piece of literature or to history.

a. Ex: he studies all the time and is a regular Einstein.

5. Personification: giving human characteristics to inanimate objects, ideas or animals.

a. Ex: the sun stretched its lazy fingers over the valley.

6. Symbolism: something that stands for itself, but also something larger than itself.
a. It may be a person, animal, inanimate object or action.
b. Writer often uses concrete object to express an abstract idea, quality or belief.
c. Symbol may appeal to a reader’s emotions and can provide a way to express an
idea, communicate a message, or clarify meaning.

7. Imagery: using words to create a picture in the reader’s mind.

a. It appeals to the five senses: smell, sight, hearing, taste and touch.
b. Details about smell, sounds, color and taste create strong images.
c. To create vivid images writers, use figures of speech

 Mood: the atmosphere or emotion in the poem that is created by the poet.
o Ex: silly, happy, angry, sad, excited, fearful or thought.
o Poets uses words and images to create mood.
o Author’s purpose helps determine mood.

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 Tone: the attitude writer takes towards their subject.
o Tone and mood are different.
o Tone is the poet’s attitude towards the subject.
o Mood is how the poem makes the reader or the listener feel.

 Diction: the language of a poem, and how each word is chosen to convey a precise meaning.
o Poets are deliberate in choosing words for a particular effect.
o One must know denotations and connotations of words in a poem, as well as literal
meaning.

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 Walt Whitman
 He used catalog and cadence.
o Long, easy sweep of sound that
echoes the Bible and the speeches
of orators and poachers.
 He was straightforward/direct.
 He pioneered free-verse style.
o Poetry w/o regular rhyme or meter.
 Ambitious and wanted fame.
 He had many jobs.
 Addressed readers directly.
 Style celebrated brotherhood and
democracy.
 Introduced new natural rhythms.
 Rhythms were broad, flowing and
conversational.
 Long and detailed poems.
 Open-minded, extrovert, optimistic.
 Was famous during his life.
 Was rejected in “Leaves of Grass”
because of his revolutionary ideas
but he didn’t give up.
 “Song of Myself” was the second
collection.
Emily Dickinson
 Used economical technique (brief).
 Mysterious and the meaning of her
poems can be challenging to
 Used Capitalization. understand.
 American Poets.  Lyric style (rhymes and meters).
Introduced new
  Private/secluded life.
techniques and  Careful words of choice.
styles.
 Poems were secret letters to herself.
 Radicals and
 Never left home and got religious
innovative (not
education (Father was priest).
traditional).
 Popular in 19th c.  Introduced dashed in poetry.
 Planted seeds of  Introduced slant rhymes (imperfect).
modern A. poetry. Ex: fit and fight.
 Searched for self-  Short line with tight and slant
discovery and rhymes (imperfect).
individuality.  Pessimistic, lonely and shy.
 Romantics.  Became famous after her death.
 Transcendentalists.  Didn’t publish anything during life.
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