EN 211 -- Presentation

The presentations for EN 211 are as follows:

Stav on Southern Gothic

Jason on W.E.B. duBois

Mariya on Henry David Thoreau

Andrew on The Republic of Suffering (The Civil War's impact on our perspective on and practices surrounding death)

Bruno on The Gettysburg Address

Study Guide EN 211 -- Realism/Fantasy

The photograph above is from Old Sturbridge Village, a Massachusetts museum where my family spent a lot of time when I was a child.  If you've been to Williamsburg in Virginia, Old Sturbridge Village is smaller but similar. 

I also want to include a picture of Louisa May Alcott's home and museum in Concord, MA.  Her father was associated with the Transcendentalists, and she was intrigued by Thoreau, one of her teachers.  I wish that we had been able to read her "Brothers"!

 

-- realism – mostly summary; in fiction (Hawthorne, Sedgwick, Beecher Stowe, Melville), trying to prove a point—social criticism; also journalism (Fern, Fuller) – why do women write social criticism & realism? -- Thoreau (observation of nature in Walden) --  realism in poetry (Whitman, Dickinson) -- how do writers & their readers handle the country's conflict over slavery, states' rights, and union?

looked at Irving's depiction of Rip Van Winkle's village & woods to compare with Sedgwick's description of H. and Ralph Hepburn's farm -- could compare with Melville's depiction of NYC

Unfortunately, I could not find a picture of Wall Street from Bartleby or Melville's era, but here is a depiction of Lower Manhattan in the 1880s.

 

Ah, here is a 19th or early 20th century picture of Wall Street:

We also compared Fern's approach to describing Blackwell's Island & its institutions with Margaret Fuller's.  How journalism has changed since Ms. Fern's day!  Bear with me as I include some pictures of this place.  The first is the Octagon Tower of the "Insane Asylum," parts of which would have been standing in the 1840s.  (The picture dates from the 1890s.)  Next is a picture of the women's almhouse or poorhouse.  It gives you an idea of how rural the area was.  Finally, below is a much more recent picture of a farmhouse that predates all of the institutions on Blackwell's Island.  (It then became the administrative center for the island.)

 

-- fantasy –difference from 1st half – Poe & Irving – go beyond fiction, stretch the imagination a little more – more psychological – what’s going on inside of the mind instead of the world around us -- Hawthorne also -- "Young Goodman Brown," a world where one may walk with the devil -- "The Birth Mark" -- symbolism--Aylmer as alchemist -- Dickinson's poems about death? -- the importance of Gothic -- Poe is creating/establishing American literature -- how do writers and their readers handle the conflict over slavery, states' rights, and union? -- is fantasy an escape?

Does it really matter where Poe's works are set?  Does it really matter that the characters in "The Fall of the House of Usher" are flat?

Who was Irving's audience?  (Consider that he did much of his writing outside America.)  By the way, I happened to see that Irving was friendly with Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein!

differences among folk tales/fairy tales, tales, and short stories -- note that the Brothers Grimm & Washington Irving were contemporaries -- and that the modern short story with its epiphany (Chekhov, Joyce) was years in the future

 

 

 

Study Guide for En 211 -- canon/non-canon

Above is a photograph of the Emily Dickinson House and Museum in Amherst.

Canonical

Nathaniel Hawthorne -- both realism & fantasy -- historical & moral topics; for a time, lived at Brook Farm (a commune), but he soon grew disillusioned with it -- argues against human perfection -- "The Birth Mark" and "Young Goodman Brown" -- associated with Salem, MA (place of 1692 witch trial)

E.A. Poe -- fantasy!!! -- "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," and "The Fall of the House of Usher" -- read by Europeans but wrote for Americans -- associated with Baltimore -- poems meant to be performed -- internal rhyme -- gothic, sensation

Walt Whitman -- first of the moderns -- good gray poet/good gay poet but was transgressive in his day -- Leaves of Grass, Song of Myself, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, O Captain! My Captain -- self-scrutiny/observation of nature & other people -- Civil War & Lincoln -- desire to unify the nation through poetry -- was newspaper editor in New Orleans for a short time -- look at #1, 3, & 13

Emily Dickinson -- first of the moderns -- more concise poetry -- manuscript poet -- rarely published during own lifetime -- interesting publication history -- look at "Indian Summer"/130, 185, 288, 324, 328, 449, & 465 -- correspondence with T.W. Higginson -- http://www.sonnets.org/higginson.htm#010

Herman Melville -- "Bartleby" was written during the downside of his career -- he was known for stories about exotic places; eventually, he chose to stop publishing his work and even writing -- did not become popular until 20th century -- art novel/short story vs. entertainment -- "Bartleby" has a lot to say about America in the 19th century, masculinity, and work

H.D. Thoreau -- Walden and "Resistance to Civil Government" began as lectures -- Walden -- appears to be one year in his book but was actually two years -- Walden Pond was close to Concord -- compare to Alex/Chris in Into the Wild and Timothy Treadwell in Grizzly Man

 

Non-canonical

Washington Irving (?) -- but he used to be canonical as did Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- remember "The Wife"?

Margaret Fuller -- but she is a Transcendentalist -- our reading was journalism about Blackwell's Island

Harriet Beecher Stowe -- but she was the little lady who started the big war [with Uncle Tom's Cabin], according to Abraham Lincoln -- we looked at her sketches

Fanny Fern -- but she was incredibly popular -- emotional truth -- wanted readers to get beyond the physical details and/or pretty pictures

Catherine Maria Sedgwick-- early American writer -- we can try to figure out where H....but can we? - Mrs. Courland as woman writer/mother/older woman

 

canonical -- a reading that is central to our definition of literature and is most frequently read or taught -- what comes to mind or up in conversation -- this term has less meaning nowadays  (unless of course you are talking about the Simpsons' Raven, which succeeds because most people are familiar with Poe & his poem).

The canon changes over time.  What is important to us now?

Comparison between halves of the semester

-- more life writing in the first semester; more fiction in the second half of the semester

-- country/culture becoming more stable, better technology, health care, more established, more urban, less need to explore the frontier, more centralized, change in relationship to landscape (Rowlandson versus Whitman or Dickinson)

-- more American voice than British or French

-- more American readers--starting with Poe

-- not as much religious emphasis in the second half: not as much Puritan writing (Hawthorne—more historical), reflection of religious tolerance (ED – “freethinker” in #324 & 465; WW—of Quaker background-- "First-Day" and "Fourth-Month"--Lincoln was killed in "Fourth-Month"--imagine what a poet like Phillis Wheatley would have done with Lincoln being shot on Good Friday!)

-- how do these works reflect America's political situation (the build-up to the Civil War, conflict over slavery & states' rights; for Whitman, the Civil War & his response to Lincoln's death in "O Captain, My Captain" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd")? 

Study Guide for Final -- Poetry

Above is a picture of the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in Baltimore.

Poetry –

Poe – canonical writer, wrote poetry, fiction, & criticism; did a lot to shape and promote American literature; poems written for performance – to be read aloud, very rhythmic; internal rhyme; always very dark & mysterious;

Baltimore; poems take place within the imagination

Emily Dickinson – liked to write her masterpieces inside her room, barely left her house, rarely traveled; wrote prolifically but barely published; manuscript poet (circulated within circle of friends and family); loved her dashes; loose—dashes used for any number of purposes (emphasis, pause, reason??); tight—consistent, concise, clear, clarity;

H.W. Longfellow – popular poet of the time -- "My Lost Youth"

Whitman – Leaves of Grass; a lot more life experience & insight on specific things; was a newspaper editor in New Orleans; desire to unify the torn country; response to Lincoln’s assassination (both O Captain & Lilacs); free verse; long lines; self-scrutiny, self-celebration, & observation;  Song of Myself

Readings for the Objective Final

Above is another landscape by Thomas Cole.  Below are our readings from after the midterm.

Washington Irving's "The Wife" and "Rip Van Winkle"

Catherine Maria Sedgwick's "Cacoethes Scribendi"

Jane Johnson Schoolcraft's "Mishosha"

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" and "Young Goodman Brown"

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," and "The Fall of the House of Usher"

(We also mentioned William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow" and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "My Lost Youth" as well as Anne Bradstreet's "A Letter to Her Husband, Absent on Publick Employment.")

Harriet Beecher Stowe's "The Seamstress" and "Trials of a Housekeeper"

Herman Melville's "Bartleby"

Margaret Fuller's "Our City Charities"

Fanny Fern's "Blackwells Island [I-III]"

Henry David Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government" and Walden (Where I Lived, What I Lived For and Conclusion)

Walt Whitman's Song of Myself (1, 6, 13) and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"

Emily Dickinson (TBA)

Annotated Bibliography

 

The picture above is from the House of the Seven Gables, a museum in Salem, MA.  The House of the Seven Gables is one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novels.

Annotated Bibliography – Due May 12, 2010

 

In this assignment, you will be writing a five to ten item annotated bibliography that includes both primary and secondary sources on a specific topic.   Among these sources may be the literary works we’ve read, the films we’ve seen, or one or more of the web sites I’ve posted here on my blog at Multiply.  Feel free to include a source from a library database or a scholarly journal on-line or a picture or a film.

If you’re not familiar with the annotated bibliography, it is not an argumentative, research paper but an informative, expanded version of the works cited page.  Begin the annotated bibliography with a one-page overview of your topic.  The overview will also include an outline of your research process beginning with your finding a topic and then narrowing it.  Each source is then listed alphabetically, following MLA format; after each single source, you will be summarizing, evaluating, and analyzing it, explaining how it is relevant to your topic.  Strive for two to four paragraphs of summary/analysis per source.  Check the highlighted entry on sample annotated bibliographies at my blog.  I have also posted sample annotated bibliographies on a variety of topics at WebCT.

Choose a topic that is related to your earlier papers, your presentation, or the midterm.  If you are expanding your first paper on Frederick Douglass’ slave narrative, you may want to go back to see if other individuals wrote slave narratives.   You might also want to look at what others have said about Douglass and his work.  Or you may want to choose a topic from the second half of the semester. You may even want to choose a topic that is more about American culture or a film set during our time period.  Did you know that Kevin Willmott made a film imagining what the United States would have been like if the South had won the Civil War?

As you look for sources, consider the ways that research can augment and even challenge your own thinking about a work.  Use all of the library research techniques you’ve learned in high school and from your composition class—searching Web Voyage and library databases as well as Google, using note cards or other means for taking notes and avoiding plagiarism, summarizing and paraphrasing sources as well as quoting them, using quotation marks to indicate quotes, and, of course, using MLA appropriately.  Citation is an open-book quiz.  I do not expect you to have memorized MLA, but I do expect you to use a handbook to check your citation.

I encourage you to meet with a college librarian, a Writing Center tutor, or me if you are not sure how to approach this project or if you have not done this type of assignment before.  Plagiarism involves copying another person’s writing or reading a book review or abstract and then writing a bibliographic entry on the original source.  Consulting with a librarian on research strategies is not plagiarism. 

Grading

An A project will be outstanding on all or most levels: choice of topic and sources; focus of topic; close, critical reading of texts; summary; relevance of evaluation; analysis; and grammar/mechanics (including MLA).  (I have listed each level in order of importance; however, errors in the last area will affect your grade.)  It may be on a topic we have been emphasizing all semester.  In that case, it will show me new insights derived from your close, critical reading of primary and secondary sources.  Alternately, this paper may be on a reading that has been assigned but not discussed in class.  This option may not produce an easier “A,” as I will be looking at your ability to research a topic without the opportunity to discuss it in class.

A B project will be effective on all or most levels:  choice of topic and sources; focus of topic; close, critical reading of texts; summary; relevance of evaluation; analysis; and grammar/mechanics (including MLA).  (I have listed each level in order of importance; however, errors in the last area will affect your grade.)  It may be on a topic we’ve discussed in class or a reading that I’ve assigned but not discussed in class.

A C project will be adequate on all or most levels:  choice of topic and sources; focus of topic; close, critical reading of texts; summary; relevance of evaluation; analysis; and grammar/mechanics (including MLA).  (I have listed each level in order of importance; however, errors in the last area will affect your grade.)  It may be on a topic we’ve discussed in class or a reading that I’ve assigned but not discussed in class.  Note that a C is not failing, simply “average.” 

A D project will contain significant problems on one or more levels:  choice of topic and sources; focus of topic; number of sources; close, critical reading of texts; summary; relevance of evaluation; analysis; and grammar/mechanics (including MLA).   

A failing (F) project will be inadequate on one or more levels:  choice of topic and sources; focus of topic; number of sources; close, critical reading of texts; summary; relevance of evaluation; analysis; and grammar/mechanics (including MLA).

Below is a picture of one of Brook Farm's main buildings, The Hive.  I'm guessing that this picture is from the early 20th century.  For more information about Brook Farm, see this site:

 

http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/brookfarm.html

 

Final Prompts for EN 211

 

Below are the prompts for the take home part of the midterm.  Choose only one prompt.  The essay will be due on Monday, May 10. Note that you may choose to write about works that we have not discussed in class.

1.  What does the term American literature mean to you?  Discuss the contributions of up to four of our readings to your understanding of American literature.  Include at least two from after midterms (Irving, Hawthorne, et al).  Feel free to consider works from different genres as well as those from both Colonial America and the United States of America.  Consider canonical literature (works by Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, & Dickinson) as well as more marginal works (readings by Fanny Fern, Catherine Maria Sedgwick, et al).  What role does realism play?  What role does non-fiction play?  You may also consider works we did not discuss in class.  What does each work have in common with the others?  How does each work trouble or complicate your understanding of American literature?  Who is the audience for each of the works you talk about?

2.  What role do women play in American literature before 1865?  Consider women as characters, audiences, and authors in up to four different works.  At least two of these works must be from after the midterm.  Discuss the impact of True Womanhood on the way that women are portrayed and that women portray their world and appeal to their audiences.  Note that women are both canonical writers (Dickinson, Bradstreet), semi-canonical (Beecher Stowe, Fuller), and more marginal (Sedgwick, Fern). Also, note that men like Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman were published anonymously and that some semi-canonical or marginal authors like Fanny Fern were popular in their day.  Recognize that your viewpoint will be grounded in your historical perspective as a 21st century American, a time when more and more college graduates are women.

3.  How does American literature before 1865 depict work and the worker?  What role does race, gender, and class play?  Does it matter whether the worker is slave or free?  Or whether the worker is male or female?  What role does realism play?  What role does audience play?  Feel free to discuss both fiction and non-fiction.  You may discuss up to four works. Up to two may be from the first half of the semester.

 

4.  What role does race play in American literature before 1865?  Consider not only African-American and/or Native American authors and their writing but also African-American and/or Native American characters and audiences as well as European-Americans as a race.  Also, consider how race impacts important themes in American literature such as freedom and individualism.  Be sure to discuss the upcoming Civil War, slavery, and their impact on the nation and its literature.  Discuss up to four works from the semester so far.  Of these four works, two must be from after the midterm. 


5.  What role does genre play in American literature before 1865?  Consider the genres that you have read in other literature classes (especially at the college & AP level) and those that we are reading this semester. Discuss the impact of gender, class, race, and historical period.  Note that we have talked about some British authors (John Donne, George Herbert, Aphra Behn, Katherine Phillips, etc.) as well.  Refer to up to four works.  (The British works are above and beyond your four works to discuss.)  At least two works must be from after the midterm.

6.  What role do landscape and geography play in American literature before 1865?  Consider differences in genre, historical period, gender, race, and class among authors and their works.  Consider how attitudes towards nature have changed from Bradstreet and Rowlandson's time to Whitman and Thoreau's as Puritanism recedes into the past.  If you have studied later American literature and/or read the work of nature writers such as Terry Tempest Williams or Barry Lopez, feel free to bring their insights into your discussion.  You may also bring in insights from your reading of British writers, especially the Romantics.


Good luck!  I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say. 

Midterm Study Guide pt. 4

The picture above is Douglass' home, Cedar Hill, which happens to be in Washington, DC.  Perhaps you may be able to visit it someday.    I know that I would like to!

Let's start this study guide by looking at the genre of life writing.  It exists on the boundary between history and literature.  As several of you mentioned, before taking this class, you might have considered our readings in life writing to be more historical than literary.  Life writing itself is divided into several sub-genres: memoirs, autobiographies, biographies, letters, journals and diaries, and travel writing.  Not all travel writing is autobiographical, though, and travel writing is often considered a separate genre.  Memoirs cover part of their authors' life.  Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is an example of a memoir since it is only one of her several books about her life.  Autobiographies cover all or most of their authors' life.  The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a good example of this sub-genre.


By the way, did you know that Franklin's autobiography was first published in French?  The first three sections (in English)  were published in 1818, but they were heavily edited.  The complete autobiography was not published until 1868.

We looked at our American autobiographies & memoirs in reverse chronological order, starting with Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861).  Then we moved onto Frederick Douglass' Narrative (1845).  Finally we read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1790, 1868).

Here is an old picture of Dr. Flint's house in Edenton, N.C., the town where Jacobs was born and grew up.


This is a picture of Dr. Flint who was nearly seventy when he was tormenting Harriet!


The ideology of True Womanhood was important to our discussion of Incidents:

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/truewoman.html

Note the impact of gender (and class) on Incidents as Jacobs was a "house slave." 

We also focused on depictions of childhood and work in our discussion of each of the memoirs/autobiographies.  Note that Douglass was born on a plantation and was a field hand but also worked in Baltimore.  Note that Franklin attended school for a brief period and then was apprenticed first to his father and then to his brother James. 

We also talked about references to religion in Jacobs and Douglass.  Had we time, we might have talked about religion in Franklin. 

In discussing autobiographies and memoirs, consider self-representation and appeals to the audience.

Below is a picture of Franklin's birthplace in downtown Boston.  The house itself is no more, having been destroyed by a fire in 1811.
Below is a picture of Franklin that predates the American Revolution.  Another example of 18th century British portraiture, it was painted while he was in London. 


I'll close with a picture of Frederick Douglass from 1856.  If you would like to find out more about his life, this link will take you to his biography:

http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/douglass_f.htm

Midterm Prompts for EN 211

Below are the prompts for the take home part of the midterm.  Choose only one prompt.  The essay will be due on Monday, March 22. Note that you may choose to write about works that we have not discussed in class.

1.  What does the term American literature mean to you?  Discuss the contributions of up to three of our readings to your understanding of American literature.  Feel free to consider works from different genres as well as those from both Colonial America and the United States of America.  You may also consider works we did not discuss in class.  What does each work have in common with the others?  How does each work trouble or complicate your understanding of American literature?  Note that we have talked about some British authors (John Donne, George Herbert, Aphra Behn, Katherine Phillips, etc.) as well.  (The British works are above and beyond your three works to discuss.)

2.  What role do women play in American literature before 1865?  Consider women as characters, audiences, and authors in up to three different works.  Discuss the impact of True Womanhood on the way that women are portrayed and that women portray their world and appeal to their audiences.  Recognize that your viewpoint will be grounded in your historical perspective as a 21st century American.

3.  Should it matter whether or not a work is published during its author's life?  Why?  Why not?  Should it matter whether or not a work was popular when it was first published?  Why or why not?  Refer to up to three of the works that we've read so far this semester.  Consider how publication may change a work.  Consider the authors' race, class, and gender and these factors' impact on their work and its publication.  Note that some of the British authors we've talked about were not published in print (as opposed to manuscript circulation) either.  (The British works are above and beyond your three works to discuss.)

4.  What role does race play in American literature before 1865?  Consider not only African-American and/or Native American authors and their writing but also African-American and/or Native American characters and audiences as well as European-Americans as a race.  Also, consider how race impacts important themes in American literature such as freedom and individualism.  Feel free to use 20/20 hindsight, especially about the upcoming Civil War.  Discuss up to three works from the semester so far.

5.  What role does genre play in American literature before 1865?  Consider the genres that you have read in other literature classes (especially at the college & AP level) and those that we are reading this semester.  (By the way, have we read any novels or short stories yet?!)   Discuss the impact of gender, class, race, and historical period.  Note that we have talked about some British authors (John Donne, George Herbert, Aphra Behn, Katherine Phillips, etc.) as well.  Refer to up to three works.  (The British works are above and beyond your three works to discuss.)

6.  What role do landscape and geography play in American literature before 1865?  Consider differences in genre, historical period, gender, race, and class among authors and their works.  If you have studied later American literature and/or read the work of nature writers such as Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez, or Henry David Thoreau, feel free to bring their insights into your discussion.  You may also bring in insights from your reading of British writers, especially the Romantics.


Good luck!  I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say. 

Midterm Study Guide pt. 3

This study guide will focus on our poets...both Puritans and Colonials.

Let's start with Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), a female poet whose work (The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America) was published at a time when few women and some men were not published.  Have you seen a picture of the title page of the edition published during her lifetime (1650)?

The poems of hers that we read follow:

• The Prologue
•  In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess Queen Elizabeth of Happy Memory
•  An Epitaph on My Dear and Ever-Honoured Mother Mrs Dorothy Dudley Who Deceased December 27 1643 and of Her Age 61
•  To Her Father with Some Verses
• Before the Birth of One of Her Children  
• A Letter to Her Husband Absent upon Public Employment 
• Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House July 10th 1666 Copied Out of a Loose Paper

Note that the titles in purple were not published until after Bradstreet's death.  "The Author to Her Book" is another poem in that category.  Comparing it and "The Prologue" could be worthwhile!

We also looked at John Donne's "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning," a poem written to his wife as he left for a job abroad, and his later Sonnet 14, a poem written as he struggled with a call to the ministry.  The poems are linked below:

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/mourning.php

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20308

Note that John Donne is an English poet and predates Bradstreet.  (He lived from 1572 to 1631, and for him, Shakespeare was a contemporary writer.)  His poems were not published in his lifetime although they did circulate in manuscript among select readers.  Below is a picture of Donne as a young man.



We also read the poems of Edward Taylor (c. 1642 - 1729), a New England poet who was also a minister in Western Massachusetts.  Taylor's poems were not published until 1939.  Not surprisingly, no portrait of him survives, so here is a picture of his gravestone.  It is a great example of a Puritan gravestone!

The poems of Taylor's that we read follow:

• Prologue
•  Meditation 8 (First Series) John 651 I am the Living Bread
• Upon Wedlock and Death of Children

Feel free to compare Taylor's poems with Bradstreet's...or with the poems of George Herbert (1593-1633), another minister who was also a secret poet.  Below is a link to "Love (III)," the poem of his that I read in class.

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herbert/love3.htm



Technically, although Phillis Wheatley (1753 - 1784) lived long after Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor did, we might also consider her a Puritan poet...or at least a very devout Christian who also wrote poetry.  Many of her poems are also poems of address.  Is she a neo-Classical poet or a pre-Romantic poet?  Is she an American poet or a Colonial poet?  (Note that our editors place her in the section titled "A Literature for a New Nation."  Ironically, her career fizzled out because of the American Revolution.  During a war, people have priorities other than poetry.)

The poems of hers that we read follow (watch for updates!):

• On Being Brought from Africa to America
•  To the University of Cambridge [Harvard] in New England
• A Farewell to America To Mrs SW

Here is a picture of London in 1807!  Thomas Rowlandson's "The Miseries of London" is satirical, but it gives us an idea of the city's hubbub and cleanliness (or lack thereof).  Perhaps William Wordsworth was right about London!  Or was Mary Robinson?  (See the link below for her "London on a Summer Morning":

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182520




Below is a picture of Mary Robinson who was an actress and celebrity before she was a writer.  The 1781 portrait is by Gainsborough, one of the two most noted portrait painters of Robinson's time.


Here is an example of the other noted portrait painter's work: Sir Joshua Reynolds' portrait of Hester Lynch Piozzi (Mrs. Thrale) and her daughter from her first marriage.

Midterm Study Guide pt. 2

This study guide will focus on our narratives of exploration, including Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative.  These narratives were *very* popular in their day! 

We'll begin with Columbus' 1493 letter to Luis de Santangel, secretary to the royal court of Span. 

The picture above is a 1906 illustration of one of Christopher Columbus' ships (probably the Pinta) on its way to the Americas.  Note that Columbus' four voyages were limited to the Caribbean.

 

The Biography Channel recently did a show on Columbus.  Here is a link to its extensive biography:

 http://www.biography.com/articles/christopher-columbus-9254209

You may prefer its more interactive web site:

http://www.biography.com/columbus/#aChristopherColumbus


I wish that I had known about the above film about Cabeza de Vaca--even if it is in Spanish. 

Next on our list was the Spanish army officer Cabeza de Vaca's narrative of his travels through Florida, Texas, and Mexico.  Here is a route of most of his travels.  These took place from 1528 to 1536.  The map below is from PBS' web site.


PBS also has a wonderful overview of Cabeza de Vaca's journey and its aftermath:

http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/cabezadevaca.htm

Note that, like Rowlandson, Cabeza de Vaca was a captive.  Consider how he depicts the Native Americans and their landscape and how he presents his religion.  What role(s) do gender, nationality, and one's reason for being in the Americas play?




Next we read an excerpt from French explorer Samuel de Champlain's Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain (1613, 1619).  Consider how this explorer represented his relationship to the Native Americans...at least from the excerpt we read!  Above he is depicted meeting with Etienne Brule, a man who lived with the Algonquin and then with the Huron.  Ultimately, the Huron killed Brule, believing that he had betrayed them.


Then we leaped ahead to 1804-1806 and the United States of America.  Below is C.M. Russell's 1905 painting, "Lewis and Clark on the Lower Columbia."





Although our anthology does not include excerpts from the Lewis and Clark expedition, here are the sites we looked at.  Note that these excerpts linked to below include journals from other members of the expedition such as Sergeant John Ordway and Private Joseph Whitehouse.

Here is a useful overview from the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation:
http://www.lewisandclark.org/?p=story&n=history-of-the-expedition

These excerpts concern the expeditions' encounters with the Salish of Montana:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/lewisclark2/thejourney/NativeAmericans/Salish.htm

These excerpts tell us about Sacagawea, their Shoshone guide:

http://www.mathcs.bethel.edu/~gossett/DiscreteMathWithProof/sacajawea/quotes.html

Here is another sampling from the late fall of 1805 when the expedition was in Oregon (see the picture above):

http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/section4/orcities/astoria/1805history1.htm


We finished this section with the captivity narrative (1682) of Mary Rowlandson, a minister's wife and mother of four who was seized by Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Nashaway/Nipmuc during a battle of King Philip's War.  (A Wampanoag chief, "King Philip"'s actual name was Metacom.)  The illustration above is from a 1770 edition of Rowlandson's narrative. 

I also want to include some pictures of the places that Rowlandson went to in her nearly three-months' odyssey through central Massachusetts, southern Vermont, and southern New Hampshire.  First is a picture of Lancaster, MA, where Rowlandson and her children were captured.


Next is the site of Metacom's encampment near Northfield, MA.


Below is an old photograph of Mount Wachusett, another stop on Rowlandson's odyssey.


For other, newer pictures of Mount Wachusett, see this link to Mark Cashman's web site on places to hike in New England:

http://www.newenglandtrailreview.com/images.asp?TID=109&index=33

As someone who grew up near Mt. Wachusett, I think of that "mountain" as a place where people go skiing, so it's nice to know that it's still a little wild and one could still have an idea of what Rowlandson saw.

Finally, here is the place where Rowlandson was ransomed.


Again, consider the impact that gender, religion, and reason for being in the Americas all have on Rowlandson's narrative.  Also, consider the differences between the various Native American peoples.  Think in terms of Native American peoples, literatures, and cultures.

I must not forget Capt. John Smith's narrative (1624) and Native American (Laguna) poet Paula Gunn Allen's poem "Pocahontas to Her English Husband, John Rolfe."  Did you know that Smith was not the only author of his history?  Also, the excerpts that we read take place in and around Jamestown, VA (pictured below--hurray for Wikimedia!)


Below is a picture of Pocahontas in Western dress.

Midterm Study Guide pt. 1

This study guide will be devoted to our Native American readings.

We began the semester by looking at a number of trickster tales.  See Prof. K.L. Nichols' site for a description of the trickster:

http://members.cox.net/academia/coyote.html#introduction

Librarian, music teacher, and children's author S.E. Schlosser's site has more of a definition:

http://www.americanfolklore.net/tricksters.html

Note that the trickster is not limited to Native American literature, but in EN 211, we will focus on the Native American tricksters: Coyote (S.W. & N.W. America), Raven (N.W. America as far as Alaska!), and Rabbit (S.E. America). 

We discussed the following stories about Coyote.

Here is a link to  "Coyote and Bull," a story from the Nez Perce tribe.

http://www.ucan-online.org/legend.asp?legend=5913&category=8

"The Origin of Eternal Death" is also known by the Wishram as "Coyote and Eagle go to the Land of the Dead"

http://www.native-languages.org/wishramstory.htm

In this story from the Shoshone, Wolf tricks Coyote:

http://www.shoshoneindian.com/legend_001.htm

Is the Native American Coyote like Looney Tunes' Coyote?  Or are they quite different?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvgADFXHajs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYTWnjFqTDk

Or is Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes' Trickster?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvXEElJFR6g



The Raven above comes from the Tlingit, but the story ("Raven and His Grandmother") that we read comes from the Aleut:

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore27.html


The picture above is from a retelling of an African story.

Closer to us geographically is "Rabbit and Fox," an Iroquois story:

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore40.html

"How Rabbit Brought Fire to the People" is a Creek story:
http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore61.html

We also discussed orality, the features of stories (and other discourse) that arise when a culture has no written language.  These features may include reliance on performance and key phrases, episodic qualities, flat characters who act rather than reflect, and a flexible, pragmatic past.  See this link for Art Bingham's review of Father Walter J. Ong's Orality and Literacy:   http://www.engl.niu.edu/wac/ong_rvw.html  If you are going to continue with literary studies, I hope that you will be able to read Fr. Ong's book someday!

See this link from the Milwaukee Public Museum for more information about oral tradition, specifically in Native American cultures:

http://www.mpm.edu/WIRP/ICW-14.html



Then we moved on to the creation myth.  The first group of readings were "The Origins of Folk Stories," a Seneca (upstate NY) story, and "How the World Was Made," a Cherokee creation myth.  (The picture above is a sketch of a Seneca longhouse, which I found at SUNY Geneseo's Rochester Young Scholars Academy.  For more information, you may go to this page on longhouses in general:  http://scott.k12.va.us/martha2/longhouses.htm .  It is by Martha Vermillion, a teacher of Virginia history in Scott County.) 

We also watched some videos of storytellers:

First is the video of Len Cabral:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhoYeJPNC88

See this link for DZApache's video of "How Coyote Got His Cunning":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EraMx3PgU4g

You may also enjoy this production of "Coyote and Horned Toad" from a middle school in Arizona:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjUlyarH9F0

We also watched the following videos from Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=58586975

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=58587247

The basket above is an Akimel O'odham basket that New Mexico's Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian auctioned off recently.

The next group of readings were the Akimel O'odham's "The Story of the Creation" and the Seneca story of "The Woman Who Fell From the Sky." Since "The Woman Who Fell From the Sky" is not in our book, see this link to read it:

http://www.indianlegend.com/seneca/seneca_003.htm

We also discussed the following essay by N. Scott Momaday, a Native American novelist: "The Becoming of the Native Man in America before Columbus."  Momaday is a member of the Kiowa people.  Below is an early 20th c. painting by a Kiowa.

See this link for more background on the various Native American peoples:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/125/Native_American_Folktales_Background>Native American Folktales (Background)