Whitman vs. Dickinson

While Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are considered the "Mother and Father of poetry", there styles are very different. While Whitman is sort of an off-the-cuff writer who writes an incredible amount of free-verse, Dickinson is a very organized and introspective writer. Though Dickinson doesn't write everything she is thinking, her poems are loaded with information and extremely dense.

Emily Dickinson

   Dickinson makes me think that I need more of a historical background when reading her. She throws all of these situations into her poems which makes them tough to analyze and understand. Though this is a problem, I really enjoyed how she personifies life around her. For example, its as though she has somehow made the fly more relevant than death in her fly poem. Starting out with the line about a fly allows the reader to think about the sound of a fly while going through the rest of the poem. As we read along, Dickinson addresses death like its just one more annoying thing in life.

Walt Whitman

   Walt Whitman is really all over the place in his writing. We discussed it in class and used the terminology "letting it rip" which is fitting for this style of writing. He has very broad topics in which he just lets his mind go and whatever is there at the end he goes with. He also establish a sense of patriotism and sharing with his readers a strong sense of optimism for the country, (which we could all use with the presidential elections coming up soon). But his position of being "one with the nation" gives me hope that we are going to have a positive future and whatever happens is for the best.

Uncle Tom's Cabin: Part 2

   What was really intriguing throughout the novel was Harriet Beecher Stowe's writing style. It was almost as though she didn't want readers to create a deeper meaning within the novel. She empowers the voice of women to increase emotion and empathy for the characters in the book. She describes everything that is happening to eliminate any kind of false perspective and negativity that could have been attributed to her once people read this book.

Uncle Tom's Cabin: Part 1

   What really struck me at the beginning of the book was George's story. His story of being a smart guy who was very good at what he did, but then being pulled back into slavery really allowed me to understand how serious slavery was back then. Blacks were unable to even try and make a life for themselves if white people didn't think so. Though he found a good situation for a while living with Mr. Wilson, who treated George very nice and with a lot of respect, he still wasn't able to live a real life doing something that helped the world as well.

Margaret Fuller

   Fuller really dives into the relationship between men and women. It's no surprise that from the reading she is trying to gain equality for women. She writes about the household partnership as caregiver and provider. I believe that she is right to challenge the notion that men are ALWAYS the provider and women are ALWAYS the caregiver. The inequality has been going on such a long time that hardly anyone during her time ever thought of trying to become equal to men.

Lincoln

  I love Abraham Lincoln's writing style because of his concision. He doesn't go on for pages writing about one thing because he doesn't have to. For example, in the Gettysburg Address, he is addressing people who are grieving, the last thing they want to hear is a three hour speech on the people that had died there. (Though the speaker before him actually did have a two hour speech). Though I like when writers describe situations with every detail, I appreciate what Lincoln can do in a short amount of words.

Poe: The Raven

   The Raven really uses a great amount of repetition. I believe that Poe uses this as a method of implementing it into the reader's brain so they really understand what he is writing about. He really let's the reader know of his love for Lenore and his sadness when opening the chamber door to see nobody there, just darkness. He shows an increase in frustration whenever there is an exclamation like he has been at this for too long and he wants to hope nevermore. The hope comes from the tapping of the door, but is quickly gone with the darkness behind it.

Scarlet Letter: part 2

   Hawthorne introduces a very estranged character in the novel. Chillingworth is a man coming to the town to try to discover who Hester Prynne committed adultery with. He is first looked upon by the towns people in a positive way. People then learn he is a dark person and they start calling him a leech, or black man which is a connection to the Devil. This allows the reader to look at him as the antagonist of the story, creating a more romantic type feeling between Prynne and Dimmesdale.

Scarlet Letter: part 1

   What I found interesting in the beginning of the scarlet letter when the town was patronizing Hester Prynne. Although they were ridiculing her on the mistake she had made, they still identified this as less harsh than the punishment that they were supposed to give her. This is very much the Puritans way of life, they are technically showed mercy on Hester by not killing her.

The American Scholar

   Emerson talks about the value of books in The American Scholar. A part I found interesting was when he talked about students today not creating their own ideals, calling them bookworms. They attain everything they know from reading about some other scholar's studies. This is definitely a fact. That being said, not everyone is born to be great at creating their own ideals like Emerson. This is a skill some are born with while others much research subjects and develop an opinion on other scholars information. While I agree that books may cloud judgment on some subjects not everything is meant to have 7 billion viewpoints from different people in history. Sometimes there only needs to be a certain group of people that have ideas that exceed anybody else who tries.

Thoreau

  Thoreau stands out because of his stance on whether to put yourself before others or not. He shows his colors by making the argument that caring about oneself is beneficial to society, which in some ways can be true. For instance, if you do a good job and everyone else thinks the same way, more positive outcomes will occur. I've always been taught to put others before myself no matter what. This allows for a more verbal and helpful community, rather than a community fixated on what they have to do themselves.

Emerson: Nature

   I really admire Emerson as he describes his opinions on people's views of nature. He is very truthful and goes on to say, "few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child." I am always able to respect those who speak what is truly on their mind, even if he is somewhat describing me, given that I am an adult man. a person should not take offense to this given the experiences and knowledge that Emerson has acquired. The writing speaks to readers beautifully and reminds us that there are people out there who see the world in a much different light.

James Fenimore Cooper

   I enjoyed Cooper's writing in The Pioneers because of the beautiful language he continually used. One passage I really enjoyed was "It was one of those picturesque and peculiar scenes, that belong to the Otsego, but which required the absence of the ice, and the softness of a summer's landscape, to be enjoyed in all its beauty." The picture he is able to create in my head was incredibly beautiful. He is able to continue the use of this language throughout the entire volume of the work, describing scenes of the places he and his daughter visit.

Washington Irving

   Irving's story Rip Van Winkle contained some very strange literature in my opinion. First of all, the exposition and introduction of the story is extremely long. For me it was a little too long and I had begun to lose interest as I awaited the actual plot. I was taught that stories had an introduction, then rising action which lead to the climax which was then followed by falling action and then the conclusion. Irving said the heck with that and just did his own thing in this story. It continued to stay, not boring, but dull to say the least. The main character seemed like a melodramatic, monotone type of guy which personally does not enrich me and bring me into the work. When his wife died it was as if he had no emotion as he described her death as a "drop of comfort". This even makes me a little bit angry not caring for the death of a loved one, or even possessing enough empathy to show the slightest amount of emotion. Maybe its just me who doesn't reflect positively on stories based on normality.

Literary Renaissance 1820-1865

   The time period of 1820-1865 was filled with fantastic authors and can also be known as a time in literature in which writers take a leap forward. This is very true because this time period includes the likes of Hawthorne, Poe, Emerson etc. These authors were able to bring more class to what literature was before them. We remember these writers and all of the good they had written but as we look back to the time period, females and African-Americans are discredited in their writing. In fact, it took until around 1970 for scholars to acknowledge what these writers with less fortune were able to do.
   This time period was able to build off what had come before it and created cornerstones for writers even today.

Benjamin Franklin

   Franklin was a big fan of revising and editing. He is not the greatest when it comes to concision though. Throughout the reading I noticed may times that he continues to self-correct him self, to me this is a sign of a person who is striving to reach his whole potential. We all know the story of Ben Franklin putting a key on a kite and discovering electricity, this relates back to him being a perfectionist throughout his ventures in life. The amount of research, test trials, and persistence it takes to finally end up putting a key on a kite and flying it during a thunderstorm is crazy. I would've never done it. He was the guy to try new things, even though they might end up killing him.

Jonathan Edwards

   Edwards is a very extreme and devoted Catholic. This is not a bad thing. Though what he says in "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" can turn anyone away from Christianity. He basically says that God has the power  and the want to, to send people to Hell whenever he pleases. God definitely has the power to do this, but I like to believe that he is much more forgiving in his judgments. It's also possible that God may have taken his anger out on Jesus so that we may not feel his wrath.
   Edwards is a little frightening to read at times, but I understand what he is trying to get to.

Mary Rowlandson

   Although she was in captivity for almost a year, Rowlandson was able to keep her relationship with God strong. Even though she states missing some of her time with God, she understands that God does not punish those who stay faithful to him. She does remember her strong relationship with God and realizes that she needs to keep praying to have any kind of hope of getting out of captivity.
   Her resiliency inspires whoever reads this and can have a strong affect on their faith.

Wheatley

   Wheatley, like Equiano, also has a sort of slave narrative. When she went into slavery, it was almost like am awakening for her. She explains that she is actually thankful for slavery because without it she wouldn't have found Christ. She devotes her entire faith to when she was in slavery. this doesn't happen very often. I don't know if I would have the strength to find an entirely new religion while being treated like a slave, being beaten and whipped would get rid of any hope I would've had.
   This type of mental strength that she was able to gain was sort of an inspiration for me to be a better Christian as well. I hope others feel the same way when they read this novel.

Equiano

   Equiano's story was a classic slave narrative. He goes through a long series of slavery and being captured, to being transported which often took months, back to slavery. During this time he went through a vicious cycle of hope, to wishing he was a slave again instead of being on the boat, to wanting to die. It seemed as if anytime he would have any kind of hope, something bad would happen to make him return back to the harsh cycle.
   An example of this would be when he was 'owned' but didn't consider himself a slave. Basically he was bought by someone but they did not treat him with the harshness other slave owners and transporters had.
  The self-determination he was able to have helped him get through this rough time by the end of the narrative.

Roger Williams

   The persistence of Roger Williams is what really stood out to me throughout the entire reading. He is banished from Massachusetts for not giving up on his ideologies. He then fleas to Rhode Island, which is referred to a sanctuary in the book, and institutes his beliefs to the Native Americans that live there. He is able to teach some of them that there was only one God after they had been led to believe there were many Gods.
   From being kicked out of an entire state to basically teaching people an entire religion, Williams is extremely persistent and I hope people realize this while reading about his life.

Edward Taylor

   Taylor invites his audience to feel how he feels in Meditation 8. This poem is something that someone would write just before communion. He describes it so eloquently to make the reader feel as though they are at church as well. In stanzas 20-25 he has the ability to create a picture of what he himself experiences as he takes communion.
   The one downside of this type of poetry, is that to really take in what he has to say, one must somewhat share the same views that Taylor does. This makes it unreadable to some people.

Bradstreet

   I found when reading Bradstreet very delighted to see someone so curious about religion. She does not just follow everything the bible tells her to do, she follows with questions, which is how I usually retain information from the bible.

   The prologue begins with a lot of her trying to find her own self-worth and how she fits into the world. Stanzas 1-4 really establish this by her telling herself what she can't or doesn't want to do. a little further on going into the 5th stanza she talks about her annoyance with the "status quo", and how this can keep her from being recognized for her poetry because of her gender.

   During stanzas 14-19 she uses no and nor when writing about her house burning down. This suggests a negative place that she carries with this memory.