Romanticism in Thanatopsis

Elements of Romanticism can be seen throughout Bryant's Thanatopsis. One of the elements of Romanticism is imagination. One of the main ways imagination is illustrated is simply in the concept of Mother Nature, and that she speaks to people. Another would be, when referring to Earth, it mentions "the tribes that slumber in its bosom", talking about all the people who have ever died and saying that they now sleep bellow us.

Nature is another important element of Romanticism. Mother Nature is referred to first when it mentions “nature” and “her visible form”. Mother Nature actually speaks the majority of the poem. Other times where nature is referred to are when it talks about going “forth, under the open sky”, as well as “Earth and her waters”.

Common people are also an important element of Romanticism. Common people are pretty much the target crowd of the whole poem. This is evident in the part where it says “thou shalt lie down with patriarchs of the infant world—with kings, the powerful of the Earth”, basically telling the common man that when he dies, it is the same as when someone of a higher class dies.

ELAALRL2 in My Own Words

The students must find, analyze, and demonstrate what they know about theme in American literature, and show their understanding with evidence.

Romanticism in Rip Van Winkle

I'd say that Rip Van Winkle definitely falls into the category of Romanticism. There are many reasons why. I'd say that the biggest one to speak of would be how it's a very magical kind of story. The best example would be the idea that a man could sleep in the Catskill Mountains for twenty years without waking or dying, and believe that he had slept but one night. Also how Henry Hudson and his crew of the Half-moon dwell in the mountains and that when they play the game of nine-pins "the sound of their balls" is described as being "like distant peals of thunder". It also says about Catskill Mountains that "the Indians considered them the abode of spirits, who influenced the weather". I think all of this mixed with the very folk-lore feel of the story makes it Romantic.

How I Met All of Georgia's Standards

In my earlier post titled When You Arise in the Morning, I made connections on how the Native American poem fits into it's own time, how it can be applied to now, and I found connections to other literature. I also demonstrated use of evidence in my earlier post, which was titled Culture Clash, where I used a few direct quotes.

My Thirteen Virtues

1. Steadfast: Do not let the opinions of others sway my personal beliefs.
2. Punctual: Always be on time, or early in my day to day life.
3. Practical: Be simple and do what makes sense, without getting caught in complexity.
4. Purpose: Do things for a reason, even when doing small things.
5. Creative: Do not be dull or boring, and try to think “outside the box”.
6. Improve: Do not settle for what is easy to achieve, and strive for what is out of reach.
7. Contentment: Be happy with the things and life that I have.
8. Vigilant: Be constantly aware of the events happening around me.
9. Knowledgeable: Do not be ignorant, and try to understand as much as possible.
10. Accepting: Try to not be judgmental.
11. Positive: Do not think cynically, and give people the benefit of the doubt until there is reason to not.
12. Honest: Do not lie or mislead to make thing easier or convenient.
13. Order: Be organized and not cluttered.

Do I think that I could reach a moral perfection this way? No. I say no, not because I don’t believe in my own power of will, but because there are just some things I can’t control. What is it that I can’t control? Well, mainly my subconscious mind. I coluld for example, make myself knowledgeable by learning many things, but I couldn’t make myself truly accepting. In my actions I could treat everything and everyone the same, but in my mind I would still think differently about what is different from myself. I wouldn’t necessarily think worse of what is different, but I would think differently than I would about something more similar to myself.

Another reason that I believe that I could not reach a moral perfection, is that a human simply can’t be perfect. A human cannot draw a perfect circle or a line. We’ve all heard the phrase “life isn’t fair”, a phrase that I believe to be true. Well if life itself isn’t fair, then how is a human who lives it supposed to be perfectly fair?

Benjamin Franklin: Rationalist

A Good example of how Benjamin Franklin was a Rationalist, is how he made a list of virtues to live his life by. He focused on things that he felt needed improvement, and improved upon them. One of his virtues was humility. A Puritan who wanted to achieve humility would probably just plead to God to help them achieve humility. He on the other hand, thought of people who he believed to be good examples of humility, and tried to be like them. His thirteenth virtue said simply "Humility: imitate Jesus and Socrates". He worked to make himself into the person he wanted to be.

Puritanism and Rationalism

There is much contrast between Puritanism and Rationalism. Some very big contrasts would be beliefs on natural events, such as lightning and personal issues, such as self improvement. If lightning struck a tree, a Puritan would say that it was struck because God wanted it to be struck. A Rationalist on the other hand, would say that although lightning exists because of God, that the tree was struck because the tree is what the lightning was scientifically drawn to. Then, there are the personal issues. If a Puritan wanted to be a better person, then they would probably beg God to make them a better person. A Rationalist, although they might pray to God to help them become a better person, would take action and try to make themselves better, by focusing on being a more moral person.

5 Terms Defined

1. Puritanism: The denomination of Christianity practiced by Puritans, which focused on the wrath of God, and that salvation was only for those who were chosen.
2. Deism: The belief that God was the creator of the universe, but did not interfere with it's laws.
3. Abhors: Strongly dislikes, or loathes.
4. Age of Rationalism: The period in the 18th century when people started to believe that natural things happened for rational, scientific reasons.
5. Original Sin: The form of sin that all humans are born into because of the sin of Adam and Eve.

Culture Clash

There are many ways and reasons why there was such a culture clash between the Native Americans and the Puritans. One of the main reasons would be religious differences. From Tecumseh's poem, it would seem as if his religion was a rather relaxed and thankful religion. It speaks of giving thanks for sunlight, food and "the joy of being alive". On the other hand, the Puritanism practiced by the Pilgrims was practiced to some extent out of fear, and was in the case of some of Jonathan Edward's teachings, pretty "in your face". I say that it was practiced out of fear because of the way that some of the the teachings say things such as God "abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked". Living in North America, a land that had many different snakes that were probably the cause of numerous deaths, it was most likely very offensive to be told that with the God of this new religion, "you are ten-thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours". Frankly, telling people that they are evil and are despised by God, was probably not the best way to convince them to convert.

When You Arise in the Morning

When you arise in the morning,
give thanks for the morning light,
give thanks for your food and the joy of living

If you see no reason for giving thanks,
the fault lies in yourself.

-Tecumseh

The reason that I think this poem fits into its contemporary context is, how Tecumseh is giving thanks for the simple things such as sunlight, food and life. Being a Native American that lived from 1768 - 1813, he couldn't go out to a grocery and buy a pack of light bulbs and basic food. He would have reallied on the sun for most of his light and probably would have had to hunt for his food. Living in a time when the average life was around 45 years long (as his was), life was relatively short.

How can this be applied to today? People have a tendency to get caught up in the complication of life and loose focus of the good and simple things. People have tendency to take things such as sunlight, food and life for granted. He says "If you see no reason for giving thanks,the fault lies in yourself". People tend to get angry at the world for their own problems, and he is essentially saying, that if you can't find things to be thankful for, then you are the one that has problems, not the world.

A piece of literature that I can connect this to would be from the Bible, in the book of Psalms, which was mainly written by the man who eventually became King David of Israel. Prior to becoming King, David was pursued by the army of his predecessor, who had ordered him to be killed. While being pursued by this army, David thanked God for simple things. For instance when he said "He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He Leads me beside still waters".

Unit 1

Students will gain a better understanding of pieces of literature by seeing how they apply to their original time period, how they could be applied now, and how they are connected to other pieces of literature.

Why is doing that important? Well, if you don't have a good understanding of how a piece of literature fits in to it's own time period then you won't have the best understanding of the piece itself. History also repeats itself, so it is important to see how lessons can be applied to the present and the future. It is important to try to see how pieces of literature are connected to other pieces, so that they can be put into genres, which will then help to keep order. Without genres, looking for a book in a library would be a very long search through rooms of alphabetised books.

ELAALRL1 Simplified

The students must show their understanding by finding examples from different types of writing and the devices that authers use.


Being able to identify devices in liturature is impotant, because if you can't identify them, then you probably can't make use of them yourself. For instance, if you can't identify a simile, then you probably can't porposely write one. If you can't give evidence of descriptive writing, then would not be able to write a good descriptive paper if you were asked to.