1.

Literature of the New World (1492-1620)

2. American Renaissance (1830-1861)
3. Native American Creation Stories: Themes
4. Native American Creation Stories: Native American vs. Christian Worldview
5. Washington Irving: American Story Teller
6. Rip van Winkle: Dream as Metaphor
7. Rip van Winkle: Woman as a Cultural Villain
8. Rip van Winkle: Transition of American Society
9. James Fennimore Cooper: Writer of the American Frontier
10. Transcendentalism: Ideas
11. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Literary Biography
12. American Novel as Romance
13. Frederick Douglass Narrative of Frederick Douglass an American Slave Written by Himself:
Criticism of Slavery
14. Frederick Douglass What to the Slave is the Fourth of July: Narrative Techniques
15. Nathaniel Hawthornes Contribution to American Literature
16. The Scarlet Letter: Form and Narrative Structure
17. The Scarlet Letter: Symbolism
18. The Scarlet Letter: The Character of Hester
19. The Scarlet Letter: The Character of Dimmesdale
20. The Scarlet Letter: The Character of Chillingworth
21. Edgar Allan Poe: Invention of New Genres
22. The Raven: Structure, Themes, Unity of Effect
23. The Fall of the House of Usher: Characters of Roderick and Madeline Usher
24. The Fall of the House of Usher: Elements of Horror
25. Walt Whitmans Poems: Themes, Form, Structure
26. Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking: Themes and Structure
27. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Love
28. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Religion
29. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Nature
30. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Poetry
31. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Death

1. Literature of the New World (1492-1620)

The Discoveries of America:
America has had many discoveries, first 22000 (some 16000) years ago, emigrants from Asia crossed the land
bridge that is now the Bering Strait. These groups evolved into the great Aztec, Mayan and Inca civilizations.

Recent archeological evidence suggests that early in the 11 th century A.D. the Vikings set up campsites in
Newfoundland and attempted colonization.
October 12, 1492. the first recorded discovery of the New World Christopher Columbus, who travelled to
India, but the garden of Eden, as well (delta of Orinoko river, which he thought to be paradise). He was deeply
religious and had medieval ideas. He was looking for a trading route to the Orient, not a new continent, and was
sure he found Asia. Washington Irving citation: Columbus was a man predisposed to be deceived.
Credit for the discovery was given to the Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci, who reached America while
traveling to Brasil in 1501. He published the discovery in Mundus Novus (New World) in 1503, which was a lot
more popular than anything Columbus had written. Vespucci is discredited as an impeccable explorer/founder, as
he convinced everyone he was the first to set foot on the new continent.
A German geographer named Martin Waldseemuller named the continent by Amerigo
Vespucci, claiming that it should bear the name of its founder.
A Literature of Experience:
The central issue of Renaissance thought were the conflicting ideas of experience and theory, modern observation
vs. ancient authority, which consequentially affected the literature of exploration. Experience became a key word
for intellectual discourse.
In geography, the conflict was dramatized by two sorts of maps: the theoretical maps of the entire world (mappi
mundi) and the practical cruising charts (portolanos) made from the direct experiences of working navigators. The
early sailors and explorers faced huge differences between these two what they showed and what they
saw themselves. In Giovanni da Verrazanos Letter to the King, which contained a record of his voyage down the
coast of North America, the writer is confused by what he sees as it doesnt resemble what he saw in the maps at
all. He concludes the land is unknown, and says that theory has been proven false by experience, like a true man of
Renaissance.
This would later be used to form one of the major themes of American literature an experimental challenge to an
authoritative theoretical framework. Verrazano also puts emphasis on the idyllic landscape of the New World.
He calls Virginias Accomack peninsula Arcadia (taken from Virgil Eclogues). This reference helped shape
America in the minds of people not just as the pastoral ideal, but also an escape from society and return to simpler
ways of life.
America and the Pastoral Ideal
This literary ideal had long been a European dream of a Golden age, which briefly seemed to have come true with
the discovery of the New World.
It looked as if a world untouched by human hand was found. Columbus thought that he had literally come near the
Terrestrial Paradise. Later explorers would view America in this way too, viewing it as a an earthly paradise.
The primary motive for exploration was gold and silver. New territories, beautiful lands and religious conversion
of the natives came second and werent as important. One of numerous American myths considered America as a
golden country, referred to as El Dorado. Columbus first asked the natives about the gold and seemed to find none,
like every other early explorer. America became referred to as only an obstacle to the great Indies, seeming
poorer than the old world, Europe.
The pastoral ideal at the time was merely an acquired taste for a certain sort of landscape, not a vision from a direct
encounter with nature. Many people at the time found the ideal pastoral landscape similar to the ones from the
famous Renaissance paintings. Verazzano found the further part of the northern coast dense and the natives
barbarous. Having published his Letter to the King, he was the first person who
explored the north and introduced the idea of idyllic landscape. For the early explorers, wilderness presented a
highly pejorative connotation, as it was a direct opposite of the pastoral ideal of the Renaissance. Henry David

Thoreau depicted the American wilderness, calling it hell, as there were many wild beasts, species never seen
before by Europeans.
By the end of 18th century, the situation changed completely, and wilderness came to possess
a highly positive value, and eventually replaced the cultivated garden as the ideal American
landscape.
The New American Hero
Survival in the wilderness became one of the main themes in in both popular and classic American literature all
thanks to exploration narratives or survival narratives. A narrative by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca set the norms
for the genre, talking of numerous tough experiences in the American terrain and of human endurance. It is an
account of four shipwrecked mens survival in America while wandering for eight years through the wilderness of
the Texas Gulf. A new type of hero emerged, seen as tough, self-reliant, experienced, in contact with life at its most
elemental levels. The explorer who typified the new American hero Captain John Smith. In his writing, the idea
of experience gains a new dimension. Experience is important not only as a
method of testing the theory, but also as a supreme value in and for itself! Experiences increase in number and are
hierarchical. The more extreme, the better.
He published diaries, letters, pamphlets about the colony and his experiences. In 1612 he published Maps of
Virginia. Later, he published a description of New England, and finlly New England Traits. Smiths Arcadia is
mainly a utilitarian Utopia, his descriptions are pastoral only in a way that they offer natural abundance. Even
though the new land is abundant with resources, Smith says it requires discipline and hard work to forge out the
raw resources and independent subsistence.
In Smiths books we find the earliest formulations of what would become the prevailing image of America an
open society where someone without the benefit of family connections, inheritance, or formal education can by
virtue of hard work alone enjoy a happy, independent and prosperous life.
Toward a Pluralistic Culture
With Captain John Smith, the English language and the American experience became inseparably united. For this
reason he is often called the first American writer. It has to be said though, that the English made only a minority of
the colonized world, and were way behind the efforts of the French, the Spanish and the Dutch settlers. A cultural
pluralism characterized the New World from the start.
Exploration writing did not end with John Smith, but evolved into an American literary tradition as men and
women settled in the wilderness.
The major American writers repeatedly beheld a world that was excitingly and inexhaustibly
new, and this newness may be the most important factor that influenced American
literature.
Puritans
William Bradford (leader of the Plymouth Company) wrote about Plymouth Plantation and most of what we know
today about life of the first settler in Plymouth plantation comes from his writings.
Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts because of his ideas about equality of all people. He founded
Rhode Island colony which became a haven for other religious refugees like Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan spiritual
adviser. She advocated Covenant of Works. Anne Bradstreet is considered the first and most prominent female
American writer.
Inspired by the covenant of Adam and Abraham, whose descendants they believed they were, Puritans made their
covenant on the ship Mayflower, known as The Mayflower Compact. The Compact was the first document about
the organization of the settlement, and the first agreement by American people. They agreed that the governor of

the colony was to be elected by the male members of the colony, which would not be governed by the British
Crown. It was a foundation of democracy. The government institutions were to be responsible for the people.
Declaration of Independence and Constitution are such compacts.
Body politic was constructed of people governing themselves, united as a whole. It is a metaphor in which a nation
is considered to be a corporate entity, being likened to a human body. This is the basic unit of American politics.
Each congregation is a body politic, as are the people of a nation or any politically organized state. Everything
functioned on the principle of consent: people would come together and decide whats best for their settlement.
Puritans believed in the equality of all people, and that all people are sinners. Puritns all wrote diaries, letters
(introspective). They encouraged individual reading of the Bible. They valued education and founded universities.
There was a difference in New England colonies and Southern Colonies. The first were Puritans, who believed in
their mission while the people of the Southern colonies were uneducated, poor people and
convicts.
Literature flourished in this period. Their legacy: democracy, self-reliance, theme of individual vs. community, the
American Dream, the frontier hero.
THE PERIOD BEFORE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE
It is important to say that American literature largely originates from the Protestant Reformation period, a part of
the Renaissance that essentially changed and shaped all forms of European and American culture in the 14 th and
15th c. These changes started to take place with a great fear among Christians that the church had become corrupt.
Religious and political views began to mix. Henry VIII formed the Church of England, a Protestant national church
independent of the Pope. The monarch became the temporal authority, whereas the church became subject to the
state. It is from the nonconformist strain, those who stayed true to biblical authority that the individualist American
literature developed. A conflict soon emerged between the conservatives and the nonconformists called Puritans
(the term at first scornfully used). Puritans regarded certain religious rituals like ceremonies, or ornament as
demonic or human corruption, whereas the conservatives viewed it as godly tradition. Having lost hope for reform,
the nonconformists, notably the Bradford group migrated to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and separated from the
Church of England. They represented a new kind of residency in America, Plymouth becoming the north part,
whereas Jamestown became the south.
The Plymouth Pilgrims were quite different from the Jamestown colonists, in search of no riches. Since they had
lived in Holland were they attained religious freedom but lost touch with their true culture, so they set sail on the
Mayflower on September 16, 1620. They are praised in American literature, because of William Bredfords
inspiring account of their journey in Of Plymouth Plantation. Much more records of the colonial period come
from another group of Puritans who migrated to the Massachusetts Bay.
The Puritans believed they were descendants of Abraham and redeemed by Jesus Christ. They thought that only
the elect, a limited number of them could join God in eternal life, but believed that no action of kindness would
help ensure their place in heaven, nor did they dare to believe in it. Still they lived an industrious upright life. Their
uneasy spiritual state urged them to examine their conscience in their writings, journals or diaries. A voluminous
colonial literature arose from the private need to examine inner life. These writings connected their spiritual life to
the work of colonization. William Bradford and Cotton Mather among others showed the Puritans firm belief that
apocalyptic events were to happen, a prophecy of the New Testament Book of Revelation. With the binding of
Satan and a peaceful millennium, the end of the world and eternal tranquility of the elect with God would take
place. The subject of apocalypse is constantly present in the literature of New England. The ideal of a peaceful
kingdom, a new Jerusalem in America, was what Puritan leader John Winthrop referring to in his vision of their

colony in New England as city on the hill. This Christian millennium may have very well been the first
American dream.
Colonial writers of the north found subject matter in personal and familial relations. Since they lived a vulnerable
life, and many families suffered numerous deaths of their members, family and marriage became and important
literary concern. Slavery, primarily associated with the South, emerged in the North as well and mocked the
Puritan goals. In 1600s Puritan diarist Samuel Sewall wrote an antislavery tract. Native Americans was often a
topic considered in colonial writing, their traits used by Rhode Islander Roger Williams to demonstrate English
barbarities. Still, their mean goal was to convert these heathens to Christianity. Feeling threatened, the natives
defended themselves in two Indian uprisings, where the two forces clashed. Puritan-Pilgrim culture included
superstition. Witchcraft and heresy were investigated and punished. Writers used these subjects in literature in an
attempt to justify the ways of God to men.
As for southern colonists, they came from English villages and cities like London and Bristol. They did not come
to the New World searching for a city on a hill but rather a vale of plenty. This was Captain John Smiths
expression or representation of southern views on America. This term referred to a fruitful garden, a paradise that
could be attained with human effort. They saw the land as a natural paradise, praising the same nature which the
north contrastingly called wilderness. They wrote of no difficulties, but of a good life. This fertile valley,
industriously cultivated would become a paradise improved and so the southern version of the American
dream.
The southern colonies included cultured of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, the Carolinas, and in the 18 th c. Georgia.
Writers of this area were planters, merchants, artisans, and ministers, who wrote letters, journals, autobiographies,
sermons, poems, and translations. Colonial writing enriched American literature with satire, song, storytelling.
They brought the spirit of exploration which they inherited from the English. Through literature and the fine arts,
the southern ideal of country life was expressed. Indeed, most southern colonists were farmers interested in
cultivating their land, and in trades and crafts. Tobacco proved to be a very profitable crop, breeded with hard
work, which is highly associated with the beginnings of black slavery in America.
Formal education was an important subject in the colonies, so numerous institutions of lower and higher education
started being built, like the Jesuit school in Catholic Maryland, the school for orphans in Georgia, and various
private parish and tutorial schools. The College of William and Mary was founded.
Religious life was quite varied in the colonial South. At first the Anglican Church was dominant. However, Roman
Catholics began to appear throughout the region, along with dissenters and even Puritans.
Colonial writers of the South wrote numerous works which were written for the purpose of being useful and
purposeful. They wrote Indian treaties, promotion tracts, sermons, treaties on education, science or technology,
which were deliberately utilitarian, though they had some aesthetic values. Belletristic writing of the South was
very powerful, consisting of various journals, diaries, letters, essays, autobiographies, verse. The beginnings of
African literature originate from this time period. Though blacks were kept illiterate by law, African slaves were
determined to keep their folklore alive through song. They would have to endure these constructions until the 20 th
c. The records of the 17th and 18th c. southern colonial life are mainly of white writers.
2. American Renaissance (1830-1861)
Renaissance is associated with revival, a period of new growth and activity, and new interest. American
Renaissance, also called New England Renaissance, refers to the beginnings and flourishing of American literature.
It is a consequence of a huge economic boost in the 13 colonies after the American Civil War and the Revolution.
Rapid development took place concerning government, trade, shipping, manufacture, and agriculture. These
developments forced the Indian to retreat further westward, and persuaded the writers to stop focusing solely on

God. A new type of literature relying on American character, history, tradition and culture was being developed,
and along with it the American identity.
By 1800, the city of New York became the largest city in the US and the literary capital. The growth of cities
increased peoples interest in urban culture. Newspaper journalism (the Knickerbockers) became popular.
Washington Irving, with the publication of The Sketch Book became the first American writer to become known
in the remainder of the world. Other significant writers included Cooper, Bryant, Melville, Whitman. Philadelphia,
nicknamed the Athens of America, had notable writers such as Poe, Bird, Taylor, Hawthorne, Cooper, Longfellow.
It was the center of new, popular, periodical literature (Godeys Ladys Book, Grahams Magazine).
In terms of regional differences, there was a dispute between the north and south. The South was agricultural,
dependent on England, and supported slavery. Very few writers lived here, and mainly went to the North to fulfill
their literary ambitions. The North, quite contrastively, sought to liberate itself from the British influence. It was
much more industrial than the south. The region detested slavery, offered more opportunities and democratic
freedom.
Literary themes and influences were diverse. Romanticism was on the rise and became influential in America. It is
the belief that we perceive the world through our senses. Intuition is superior over reason. Emphasis is on selfconfidence, inner life, and the importance of social and political freedom. It encourages special interest in nature.
Emerson thought that we are at our best when we are in nature. Melville, Cooper and Edgar Allan Poe celebrated
American landscape. For instance, they described the Hudson Valley. Washington Irving captured th nature of
America in his The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Their views on nature were quite idyllic, and the idea of nature
rested on a beautiful universe with human beings being the favored creatures within it (good-natured, glorified
nature, during the time of discoveries).
One of the major influences was foreign literature, which was already flourishing in England and Europe at the
time. The American writers would meet with the English and read their works. They inherited the ideas of freedom
and individualism, influencing Emmersons intuitionalism and transcendentalism, as well as Poes and
Hawthornes interest in psychology and the subconscious. Advocates of romanticism in America were of rebellious
nature, revolutionaries. Transcendentalism was a 19 th c. movement (originating from the romantic attitude) by
writers and philosophers in New England who were all advocates of an idealistic system of thought based on a
belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of man, and the importance of insight over logic and
experience. The movements these writers were involved in were anarchistic, socialistic, and communistic schemes
for living; suffrage for women; better conditions for workers; the rise of free religion; educational innovation; and
other humanitarian causes. Transcendentalism introduced important notions of self-reliance, transcendence, divine
spark, nature, civil disobedience.
These writers shared an affinity for mystery, strangeness and exploration of evil. Imagination is very important.
America didnt have a long history or tradition, but different cultures that were mixed (Dutch, German, French,
English...), so the writers started mythologizing American history. In other words, they used their stories and
enriched them with their own imagination, thus creating something like the beginnings of American folklore
(superstitions, folk beliefs, stories, practices), their own history. They wrote about early explorers, such as Captain
John Smith (the frontier hero), development of colonies, moving of frontiers, the life of George Washington.
Instead of romantic medievalism the focus is on mystery of the past. It is seen as more romantic under the
influence of Walter Scott.
Concerning the problem of ownership, the commonly raised question was whose land it is they were on: the
natives or the settlers? It was questionable whether Americans acted fair and just to the natives. They tried to
justify themselves by saying that the land belongs to them because they cultivate it, whereas Indians dont. The
Indians were mostly nomads, who bred horses, but there were also those who planted crops. The Congressional act

in 1830 took more lands from Native Americans and forced them to move to reservations. The act was supported
by the non-Indian peoples of the South, who were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the tribes.
Soon, it was followed by the rapid urbanization and constant inflow of new settlers. Question was raised of private
ownership. As for the Indians, Americans were responsible for them. Their started rapidly decreasing in number
and their culture started disappearing at that time because of wars and diseases. The romantic impulse helped
enlarge the Indian presence in American writing. William Gilmore Simms contributed to the growing
understanding of the natives by including them in his writing. Many writers wanted to preserve Indians and their
heritage so they wrote a great deal about them. Cooper, Melville, Irving tried to portray Native Americans
positively. Some Indians even wrote about their people. Cherokee developed alphabet in an attempt to record their
culture but mostly recording was done in English, but this resulted in often inaccurate translations and influence of
the Bible and Christianity on the texts.
In terms of slavery, the northern colonies didnt support slavery as they believed in human rights, so the writers
themselves wrote against slavery and its spread. However, Southern states relied on slavery as their plantations
depended on slave labor. Civil war was therefore, an inevitable conflict between the north and the south. Niggers
were purchased or kidnapped from Africa, and then transported to the plantations where they were met with brutal
conditions. Written accounts of enslaved Africans in United States from this period are important for the shaping of
both American literature and history we know today. These writings included slave narratives of Frederick
Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman. The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves was a
federal law that took effect in 1808, stating that no new slaves were permitted to be imported into the United
States. It was enacted partially do to the trend of abolishing the international slave trade, which the US had
restricted during the American Revolution, and the Slave Trade Act of 1794 was . The 1807 Act marked trade with
the U.S illegal. However, it was not always strictly followed and slaves continued to be imported in limited
numbers. Supply of slave labor was limited, and therefore, places in the South that were just developing that
desperately needed labor were willing to pay very high prices for slaves. Consequently, people with primal minds
would realize that if they can kidnap black people for a great deal of money. Slavery itself continued in the United
States until the end of the Civil War in 186.
Womens rights also became a subject for consideration, when men moved out of the home and into the office,
leaving women behind to take interest only in the home and the family. In the 1800s, women were second-class
citizens. They were not encouraged to educate themselves or pursue a professional career. After marriage, women
did not have the right to own their own property, or sign any contract on behalf of the family name. In addition,
they were denied the right to vote. The women realized that they could do what men do, and this opinion only
strengthened during the Civil War. The men went off to fight, leaving the shops, offices, farms and mills to be
cared for by the women. After the Civil War the men returning couldnt accept women as their equals on their new
found positions. This women's rights movement became the beginning of suffrage. Suffrage was the women's
movement to gain the right of equal pay for equal work, the right to vote and the right to work in the jobs that she
was capable. During the 1800s, certain people, including women, stood up and voiced their opinions about the
abuses and hardships slaves had to live with their whole lives. Women also began to educate themselves in order
to enhance their quality of life and of their children. This was the beginning of all female colleges. Their
determination and struggles to grasp their own independence came to be known as the Womens Rights Movement.
5. Washington Irving: American Storyteller
Washington Irving was the first American writer who built an admired internationally recognized reputation, and
tended to be called the first American man of letters. He is best known for the short stories The Legend of

Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle and many biographical works. He was born and died in New York and lived
in the years from 1783 to 1859.
He was the youngest of 11 children, whose father was of Scottish descent, whereas the mother was English. He
lived an urban life in New York, within a wealthy old family. He read English literature moulding his early prose
on Spectator by Joseph Addison, Shaks, Goldsmith and Sterne.
When he started expressing the first signs of tuberculosis, he was sent to Europe, which proved to be very
influential on his literary writing. He used to write down whatever he saw and found interesting. He was mostly
interested in folk tales and ordinary peoples opinions, which is probably the reason why he was loved so much by
the common folk of America.
He worked with his brother on the papers The Morning Courier and Salmagundi, a series of 20 periodical
essays. Irving read essays by Addison and Steel who were renowned essayists in Britain. These magazines served
as parodies on account of the urban life of the (high) society and helped develop the essay as a genre.
He also travelled a great deal, exploring the Hudson Valley, roaming New England, and even touring Europe. At
the age of 23 he was a rounded and well-educated person. He was called to the bar and became a lawyer, though he
was deliberately not a very good student. He proposed to Matilda Hoffman, daughter of the judge at whose office
he studied law. Before she died, Irving had begun researching and reading in local libraries. He began to work on
A History of New York . . . by Diedrich Knickerbocker. Here he introduced the infamous character of Diedrich
Knickerbocker about whom he previously published an article in a newspaper, which was a part of a cunning
publicity campaign. Knickerbocker was an imaginary gentleman who was announced to have disappeared and
among his papers there was a curious written book: History. With its publication, Irving became extremely popular.
The History was reprinted in England where it reached Sir Walter Scott.
Irving went to Europe and stayed there for 17 years. After his brother went bankrupt he had to turn to writing as a
source of income. Though Irving had become shaken with the death of his wife and had been aimless for years,
Scott, whom Irving had met in London while in Europe, encouraged him to renew his writing career. Scott turned
his attention to the wealth of unused literary material in German folktales. The result was The Sketch Book of
Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (181920), a collection of stories and essays where Irving mixed satire and whimsicality
with fact and fiction. He started combining elements of both humor and horror. Most of the books 30 chapters
represent Irvings attitude towards England. However, six of them deal with American subjects, of which the two
vigorous tales The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle have been called the first American short
stories. They are both Americanized versions of German folktales, revisions of stories and legends. The main
character of Rip Van Winkle is a henpecked husband who sleeps for 20 years and awakes as an old man to find
out about his wifes death, his daughters happy marriage, and the independence of America. The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow serves as a celebration of American landscape.
The astounding success of The Sketch Book in both England and the United States encouraged Irving to become a
full time writer, as it proved to be profitable. His pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon became universally recognized. .
The English were surprised at the fact that a true American writer could write in such a British manner.
Later on, he produced novel Bracebridge Hall, a sequel to The Sketch Book, and Tales of a Traveller, which were
both disappointing. He went to Spain to work as a diplomat. He was asked to write a biography of Columbus and
he produced The Life and Voyages of C.C. in 1828. Therefore, he greatly contributed to the development of
biography as a genre. This was followed by A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada and Voyages and
Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus. He also wrote Tales of the Alhambra, a book about his voyages
and experiences in Spain, known as the Spanish Sketch Book. He was then employed in Britain as a part of
diplomatic service.

Once he returned to America, people accused him of becoming too europeanized, but nothing could harm his
reputation at that point. He became interested in American history. He roamed prairies and met a lot of settlers. It is
on these accounts that he wrote A Tour on the Prairies,Astoria, Life of George Washington.
6. Rip Van Winkle: Dream as Metaphor
The dream-like state Rip experiences or rather a new reality he is introduced to, illustrates how abrupt, fast,
and revolutionary these changes in America were during the Revolutionary war. Before Rip falls asleep, he is a
subject of King George III, but after his awakening, he finds himself a free citizen of a democratic country. The
dream represents a metaphor on two levels. The American Dream is denoted by the first one, whereas the other one
is on an individual level, as it features the realization of the main characters hopes and dreams.
With the beginnings of colonization, Captain John Smith created a concept of the American Dream to attract more
people to America through propaganda. It posed as a new opportunity for a fresh start in peoples lives, those that
are binded by nothing of financial or sentimental worth in their place of residency. In other words, everyone,
regardless of their historical background, financial state, and social status could come to Jamestown and through
hard work ultimately earn the fulfillment of their dreams. The popular phrase American Dream first appeared in
19th century literature, where it was a commonly discussed theme. The American Dream has supports four
notions: freedom, identity, equality and democracy. Firstly, freedom is seen as not being a subject of the Crown of
England, and, individually, freedom for everyone to manage themselves as they wish, make decisions and lead a
life of their own. Identity means a new nation was born, of a unique kind - the American Revolution granted them
their own history. Equality means no distinctions, discriminations, or divisions, which gives ordinary people a
sense of importance. Lastly, democracy is defined by Abraham Lincoln as a government of the people, by the
people, for the people. For the first time, Americans got the right to govern their own destiny.
Within the story, the village people achieved all this, and gained what they wanted, but were still confused by the
change that happened overnight. They werent given the time to acknowledge and adjust to all the innovations the
War brought to them. It is Rips unusual and sudden appearance and cluelessness that justifies the overall feeling of
confusion the people then were experiencing. Indeed, they (Rip) find out they were the same persons they were
before the War, but now live in completely different conditions. When Rip wakes up, he is physically and mentally
lost. He represents the American people questioning their own identity. Yesterday they were subjects to the King,
and today they are independent, free, given the power to steer their own destiny. The change is so impactive and
hard to get accustomed to that they are in doubt whether they are themselves or somebody else, which is precisely
why Rip is looking for the answers to those same questions.
Their new country is being created with a great feeling of uncertainty, but the creation is gradually followed
through with a newfound confidence, identity, strength, and history. The moment Rip finally recovers his identity,
his function, and his lifes purpose is the moment in which the whole American nation recovers itself. The
microplan is reflected onto the wider image. His rediscovery of himself poses as a metaphor for a whole new
nation with a completely new way of thinking that originates from the American Revolution.
The metaphor on a wider scale is then applied to a single situation. Thus, Rips dream functions on the individual
level also. His deepest desire was to be freed from his terrorizing wife Dame Van Winkle. At the very beginning, he
is described as a hen-pecked husband who does everybody elses labor but his own. In other words, he does not do
anything profitable for his own family, which is why Dame keeps scolding him. His idea of liberty means the
disappearance of his wife. After hes woken up, he is too startled to believe he is not hallucinating. His village has
changed dramatically and everything seems strange to him. It is more difficult for him to accept the
changes and adjust, than it is for his fellow citizens to swallow the fact that he overslept their development.

By getting accustomed to the new conditions and the new system Rip finds a way to fulfill his own dream. A
crucial cause of this is the death of Dame Van Winkle which gave Rip the greatest feeling of pleasure, comfort and
happiness. He was truly free to do as he pleases and manage his lifestyle the way he wants to. Metaphorically, she
stands for the British Monarchy. Dames relationship with Rip can be paralleled with the relationship between the
Monarchy and the colonies. She forced him to work and bring the money unto their house, the same way the
British colonists forced the colonies to pay taxes and restricted trading with other countries/ continents rather than
their own. They demanded hard labor and profit, not the pursuit of artistic possibilities.
Since his notorious spiteful wife is dead, he becomes a true self-made man, which is the goal Captain John Smith
alluded to in his propaganda, an artist who has always been a great part of him but had been up until now silenced
by the Dame. He finally a chronicle of the older times, serving as a reminder as he gives the new nation, especially
the younger generations, a sense of identity, by telling tales of the past and their mutual history.
7. Rip Van Winkle: Woman as a Cultural Villain
In the very beginning, it was apparent that Rip, the hen-pecked husband, had a big problem with his wifes
loud continuous scolding, sharp spiteful tongue, and never-ending complaining. The longer they lived
together, the worse her reproaches became. They represent two individuals in a dispute, rather than a
passionate couple. The only thing Rip yearns for is getting away from her. Thus, he finally chooses to run
away from her to the Catskill mountains. Indeed, his wife Dame Van Winkle, as a dreadful authoritative
woman, is scorned earning the title of a villain in this literary work.
The main character, Rip Van Winkle, is a plain, good-natured man, a kind neighbor, and an obedient
husband. Children adore him, since he gladly joins in their games, tells them long tales of ghosts, witches,
and Indians. He has the gift of an excellent storyteller. Furthermore, all dogs wag their tails in his presence.
However, he expresses strong aversion towards profitable labor. All he does is fish all day, and whats worse,
even in this hobby he proves unsuccessful. He is contradictive, since he never refuses to attend to anybodys
business but his own. He cant keep his estate in order, blaming the failure of the farm on the crops and the
animals.
In fact it is the worst-conditioned farm in the neighborhood and it is all owing to his state of perfect
contentment and idleness. Morning, noon, and night, his wife continually angrily preaches about his
carelessness and the ruin he has brought his family to. Rip would traditionally shrug his shoulders, shake his
head and look at her, which irresistibly reminds the reader of an owner-pet relationship. Speaking of pets,
even Wolf, their dog, was afraid of her. Rip expressed no interest in politics, but there was one type of
despotism under which he had long moaned and groaned and that was petticoat government.
In this story, using this expression, Irving establishes the theme that would become a characteristic of the
19th century fiction - where the male character represents a simple, kind, artistic, sensible and free-spirited
man, whereas the female character stands for someone who limits his freedom, represses this artistic sensible
spirit and prevents the man from making his own life choices.
American fiction, along with Rips life finds its opportunity to begin and flourish only after the death of
Dame Van Winkle, the metaphor for an even higher (political) power of the British Crown. Rip finds victory
in the feeling of relief that he noticed after he heard the news about Dames death, and not the news about the
victory over the British government.
Her appearance and function strongly imply various interpretations, of which the first interprets the real
American Dream for Irving and many others as being a dream of a world in which women are silent, or even
dead. In other words, they depict an ideal world in which women are in one way or another excluded from
mens life.

From the other aspect, Dame Van Winkle is not a villain. Like all the other women, she had limited rights (no
right to education or land). She doesnt even have a real identity her first name is nowhere included Even
though she has no rights, the Dame has many duties. She has children to bring up, a household to run, and a
husband who does everyone elses work except his own and hardly comprehends her reproaches. All shes
left to do is nag, hoping that someday shell reach his moony mind and influence him somehow.
Metaphorically speaking, she can represent the British Monarchy. Her relationship with Rip can be paralleled
with the relationship between the powerful Monarchy and the desperate colonies. She forced him to work
and earn money for his family and the house, the same way the British forced the colonies to pay taxes and
restricted trade with another country, but the Monarchy. They demanded hard work and profit, not the pursuit
of artistic possibilities.
Rip jumps to joy having been informed of her death, which symbolizes his or the American citizens
acknowledgement of liberty. In fact, the Americans celebrated their triumph over Britain more that the fact
that theyre a free country. In conclusion, the Dame stands for obligation, self-discipline, decision making,
great effort and hard work.
8. Rip Van Winkle: Transition of American Society
After the American Revolutionary War, the War of Independence, the American people struggled to recover
their identity and place in the world. This is what prompted Washington Irving to Rip Van Winkle in order
to inspire his people to form an identity that would liberate them once and for all from the English Crown
and its culture. The writer uses the main character of this story to symbolize and illustrate the struggle of
early America with great fidelity. He demonstrated how abrupt and fast, and revolutionary the changes in
America were at that difficult time. Before Rip falls asleep, he is a subject of King George III, but after his
awakening, he finds himself a free citizen of a democratic country. Rips struggles to trace his roots and
identity can be compared to the struggles of Americas citizens during and after the revolution.
Just like the American history is given in a hierarchical order, from date to date, through a chain of events, so
is this storyline. Irving kicks off the story with the period of colonization and the first inhabitants of the
continent the Indians. Then, the reader is introduced to Rips ancestors, the Dutch and their Dutch village.
Rips origin is emphasized in the scene when he visits the Catskill mountains and observes a stranger
dressed in traditional Dutch clothes, who then guides Rip to a gathering of other similar looking folk who
play a Dutch traditional game. Irving describes the small Dutch village, where the houses of the settlers are
built with small yellow bricks brought from Holland.
As we know, America was a British colony. Rips wife Dame Van Winkle is supposed to represent the
English Crown. From the story we can see that she is constantly scolding Rip for minding every neighbors
farm but theirs. He spends his time entertaining other children while his look wild and abandoned. The writer
treats Rip this way so as to, through metaphoric speech, depict the American society under the weight of
Englands rule. The depiction of their deteriorated farm can also be interpreted as England losing respect,
while America was becoming stronger with the loyalty of its citizens. Rip sees that the only way to leave his
wifes presence is to take his gun and dog, and go hunting. This scene symbolizes the start of the American
Revolution, as America finally objects to the oppression.
Rip falls into a deep slumber, waking up to realize that 20 years have passed. The American Revolution had
already taken place. The colonies gained independence and USA became a free country. Consequently, Rip
is confused and doesnt fully understand his own destiny or his countrys history. The new sense of
identity frightens American citizens, but they grasp confidence in time, just like Rip who becomes self-

confident by the end. At first, he still feels like a subject to the King. It is impossible to imagine freedom,
because it is hard for his body, mind and emotions to catch up with this fast transition.
The radical change can be observed through contrast of the two descriptions of Rips village. On a bench
before a small inn there gathered idle figures of the village. They would consider village gossip or tell
endless and pointless stories. There was a dose of irony in the description of the pre-revolutionary village:
profound discussions. The old newspapers they read show they had no influence on the recent events and
did not bother to be informed of them. The British were the decision makers. This tranquil image vanishes
when Rip, after waking up, finds his village to be larger and more populous, different in the style of building
and of clothing. Everything was strange. The character of the people changed they were busy, bustling,
disputatious, rather than phlegmatic, drowsy and tranquil. Talks of elections, congress, liberty, and Bunkers
Hill were all unknown matters to him. People are now interested in the Federalist vs. Democrat party. Rips
most important old acquaintances have either died, were killed in the war, or have become active in politics.
He is shocked to see that the portrait of George the Third is replaced by General Washington, signifying the
shift of political power.
Ironically, although there had been great changes that are striking to the observers eye, the things in a way
stayed the same because a ruler is a ruler. He recognized the ruby face of King George instead of noticing his
red hat has been replaced by a strangers blue hat. Nevertheless, instead of remaining a subject of George III,
Rip became a free citizen of the US. When Rip wakes up, he finds out that his wife, who represented the
Crown, is dead. Now, Rip is free and able to govern his life how he wishes, just like the whole American
nation.
The story accurately describes the moment of apprehension and confusion felt not only by Rip, but by all
American citizens who struggled to define themselves. Who am I? was a frequently asked question by Rip
and the remainder of the American nation. In addition, it is a contemporary issue since Americans tend to
doubt their identity.
The identity problem is given a solution, when Rip is granted the title of a chronicle of the old times. Thus,
he can remind them of their roots by telling them the story about their ancestors and their way of life. There
are some missing pieces of history he can now fill in. This way, he too finds his purpose in the society,
since America now has a person to vouch for its historical background.
9. James Fennimore Cooper: Writer of the American Frontier
He is known as the writer of the American Frontier. He was born in 1789, into a wealthy family. His father William
established Cooperstown, on the southern shore of Otsego lake in NY. His parents were shrewd and
ambitious, earning money easily so James was a country gentleman, exposed to leisures of life since he
was born. They lived on the very frontier: land populated with Indians that would become the setting for his
novels.
He often wrote about English Quakers , which can be explained by the fact that his line of ancestry connected him
with the Quakers through his father. He also wrote plenty about Indian warfare even though he had little to
do with it. The Indians, a traditional frontier enemy, had been severely beaten down in the Revolution. But
the memory of the earlier massacres was still powerful. When James was 5, there was a false Indian alarm. This
was his closest experience with Indian warfare, and from the safe distance of 40 years Cooper would find
the whole incident ridiculous. Perhaps this explains the comfort with which he includes tons of Indian warfare in
his books. He was very educated (expelled from Yale when he was 13 for misconduct), sent to become a sailor
(spent 3 years in the navy), and enjoyed the experience. He inherited his fathers fortune and married Susan De
Lancey.

James first started writing after a number of deaths happened to him (five of his brothers died). As he resented
a certain British family novel, he decided to write one himself. Precaution was modeled on Jane Austens
novels and appeared in 1820. He wrote epics with the classic purpose of Virgils Epic to lay claim to heroic
heritage, to infuse landscape, to inspire his contemporaries with various virtues. He also wrote romances, political
articles and social articles.
His works include The Spy, a historical novel about the American Revolution, Leatherstocking Tales. He
also published travel books like Gleamings in Europe, political articles for newspapers, Little Page
Manuscripts, etc. Leatherstocking Tales is the most significant literary work. It represents a series of 5 novels
about a frontier hero: Natty Bumppo (a white hunter and trapper). The five novels include: The Pioneers, The
Last of the Mohicans (the most famous novel, a romantic tale of a noble young Indian and his love for a white girl
and their tragic death), Pathfinder, Deerslayer, and The Prairie (here Natty is an old man and passes away).
The Last of the Mohicans is the most important novel from the series. Depicting the disappearance of native
Americans, it is an elegy for the disappearing of the whole world of frontier. The character of Natty is based on
Daniel Boon, a hero of Indian wars and the war with the French. Boon was very unhappy because of the enmity
between Americans and Indians. Natty is the first frontier hero in American literature. He is the ultimate hero,
morally pure, a man who befriended the Indians. His friend is Chinachgook, a Mohican.
Coopers work is significant because he introduced the idea of male bonding. A friendship between two men is
more valuable than that between a man and a woman. Furthermore, women are portrayed in the negative light.
Even if they do appear in this kind of novel, their function is to spoil male friendship. They are usually in danger
and belong to one of two types: blonde-good or dark-dangerous.
Fenimore also introduced the notion of the Other, which refers to everything one perceives as different. Indians
were the Other, they were considered wild, dangerous and uncivilized. The other for each nation functions
as a mirror image of that nation-everything they dont like about themselves they project onto the Other.
James Fenimore also wrote the trilogy Little Page Manuscripts which follows the history of NY from the
settlement to the 1840s: Satans Toe, The Chain Bearer and The Redskins.
His contributions to American literature involve the development of two genres: historical romance and the sea
adventure (The Pilot, The Red Rover, The Water-Witch). He established the image of a frontier, being
the first American writer to write about it. His descriptions of the Indians were sympathetic portayals. He
was writing romances in the manner of Scott representing past in the positive light and describing the setting of
the prairies.
Concerning themes, his novels feature themes like the fight for the land, battles with the Indians,
independence, male bonding and companionship, where the leader in the relationship is usually a white
male and the counterpart belongs to the black or any other ethnic minority.
In terms of cultural work, as previously mentioned he wrote epics of American society inspired by Virgils epic. He
was very serious in his criticism of the European society and wrote several novels based on the European
history. He was the first one to criticize society seriously (Irving did it humorously).
10. Transcendentalism: Ideas
This is the most significant literary movement in the 19th c. America was founded by R.W. Emerson and H.D.
Thoreau. Essentially it combined Romanticism with reform. It celebrated the individual rather than the masses,
emotion rather than reason, nature rather than man. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a minister dissatisfied with the
church, priests and their relation to God, Jesus Christ and religion. Once in a serious religious crisis, he began
to question Christian doctrines. The basic idea is rejection of rationalism and pervading philosophy at the time.

Transcendentalism rejected the Newtonian physics mechanistic conception of the Universe and Lockean
philosophy of sensation. Philosophers thought that we can only perceive the world through our senses, and
that certain events always happen in a certain order. It conceded that there are two ways of knowing,
through our senses and through intuition, but asserted that intuition (the ability to understand something
immediately) transcended tuition (an instructed belief, enforced knowledge). Although both matter and spirit
exist, the reality of spirit transcends the reality of matter.
Transcendentalists were against consumerism and an industrial society. American society was in a transitional
phase, in the midst of the industrial development of America.
Emersons essay Nature is a sort of a manifest to transcendentalism, formulating a new philosophy in order to
offer answers to all his religious doubts. The little literary piece formulated his essential philosophies everything he wrote later was just an extension, amplification or amendment of these ideas. Transcendentalist
club Influences were: Neoplatonistic philosophy (Kant), European Romantics (especially Coleridge), Swedenborg,
Hindu philosophy, Darwin, and etc. He had a special way to mold his ideas through a polished literary style.
The first idea he imposed was that beyond this world accessible to senses there is a world of eternal truths, or the
Highest Law. It is the center. The material world is its circumference, it is changeable and transient and
therefore in the philosophical sense unreal. The Highest Law possesses all attributes of God: it exists
beyond space and time, it never changes, it is eternal and it is the primal cause of everything.
The second idea centers upon the ability of human beings to transcend the materialistic world of sense,
experience and facts and become conscious of the all-pervading spirit of the universe and the potential of human
freedom. Nature is important because theres a connection between man and nature. In nature, humans become
more aware of themselves, relax and forget about their worries. The man melts and molds with nature and
forgets his own body, the physical border between man and nature disappears. By leaving materialism,
senses and reason, man enters a spiritual realm where the body doesnt matter anymore.
Revelation comes as a consequence of the study of nature. Natural phenomena are symbols with which God
addresses man (Puritan belief). Since all natural phenomena are determined by the laws that pervade nature, then
the study of nature is the only means of gaining insight into those laws and the only way of approaching the
Highest Law.
The third idea poses a possibility that God could best be found by looking inward into ones self, ones own soul,
and from this enlightened self-awareness one would gain in return freedom of action and the ability to
change ones world according to ones ideas and conscience. SPIRIT he insists on it. Reason and senses are
conventional things that exist thanks to intellect. What Reason is in relation to Intellect, that is Spirit in
relation to Nature. God is perceived as an oversoul or a macrocosm. We all have our own microcosm, a
portion of the divine within man and we can find it only if we take the trouble to look for it. It is our own
intuition and we need to find it to guide us. Microcosm and macrocosm reflect each other. Therefore, we
dont need religion as an institution or priests to tell us what to do. We can guide ourselves according to our own
intuition and our hearts. SELF-RELIANCE is a natural result of all of this. The individual must look into his own
heart for guidance and let no one influence him. He has to have the courage to be himself and live his life
according to his intuitively derived perception.
The fourth and last idea deals with the concept of CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE which is related to Thoreau. He
refused to pay taxes because they were used to finance wars. Consequently, he was thrown into prison. He was
an advocate for peaceful disobedience as a right of citizens to tell their government what was wrong. The
night he spent in the Concord jail became the basis for his famous essay Civil Disobedience. Thoreau demanded
for all men to follow unique lifestyles. Thoreau was not well-appreciated in the 19th c. and was often seen as an
imitator of Emerson. Only after 1890s did Thoreau come to be appreciated for his literary merit. Emerson believed

that any man can have and achieve anything he wants, that he is as great as anybody else, and if he has an idea, he
has to commit to it and materialize it.
The American dream relies on this because Americans believe that they can achieve anything through
fate, determination and hard work, and become self-made men.
11. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Literary Biography
Ralph Waldo Emmerson was a son of a pastor of the First Church in Boston, Reverend William Emmerson.
Ralph inherited the profession of his ancestors, a line of non-conformists and Puritan clergymen. In
1811 his father died, leaving his widow to take care of the five sons in the face of poverty. With his fathers
death, Ralphs intellectual care was left to his aunt Mary Moody. He entered Boston Public Latin School in
1812 where his verses and literary gifts were recognized. Five years later he continued his education at
Harvard College where he began writing journals. His graduation came in 1821. After graduation, Emerson
assisted his brother William in a school for young women which was established in their mother's house. In
the meanwhile, Ralph was preparing for the entrance in Harvard Dignity School as well, which he entered in
1825. Waldo was licensed to preach in 1826, but his illness slowed him down, so he began to preach at the
Second Unitarian Church of Boston in 1829.
When it comes to his personal life, several of his experiences had much influence on his work. Ellen Louisa
Tucker was Emmersons wife who died of tuberculosis in 1831, leaving him to grieve over her death
throughout his entire life. At one point, he had a serious religious crisis when he began questioning Christian
doctrines and looking for the answer why the God had taken his beloved away from him. The sermons he
served were unusual and free from traditional doctrines, which announced his personal doctrine of selfreliance and self-sufficiency. In 1832 he resigned from the ministry in order to become a minister, he had
to stop being one. He considered that church relied too much on the historicity of miracles. According to
him, church relied too much on the historicity of miracles. He divested Christianity of all external and
historical supports and made its basis ones private intuition of the universal moral law.
Later on, he went to a tour around the Europe and traveled through France, Italy and Great Britain. During
his journey, he had the pleasure to meet with such writers as Landor, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Carlyle, the
writers who were somewhat influenced by recent German philosophy. Emmerson and Carlyle were
contemporaries and lasting friends. In Europe he saw an exhibition of natural specimens arranged in a
developmental order: to him it was a moment of enlightenment. It confirmed his belief that people are
connected to nature and that they should turn for the answers to nature.
The 1830s were the most productive years of Emmersons literary career. IN 1833 he became a lecturer and
started writing his essay which he published three years later under the title Nature. The essay had 95
pages. It was a manifesto of the new philosophy called transcendentalism. During the 1830s his concerns
were shared with other intellectuals. Almost everything he wrote later was an extension, amplification or
amendment of the ideas he first affirmed in his activities. During the 1830s he was sharing his concerns with
other intellectuals. Almost all works that he wrote later were extensions, amplifications or amendments of
the ideas which he affirmed in the essay from 1836. In the same year, young disciples joined the informal
Transcendental Club and encouraged Emmerson in his activities. In a lecture called The American Scholar
which was held in 1837, he talked about the new liberated intellectual he himself had become and
challenged the intellectuals at Harvard and their traditional doctrines. Only a year later, Address at Divinity
College, when talked about how people should relate directly to God and not the established dogmas and
conventions, made his breach with the church definite. After that, he was asked not to speak publicly for a

long period of time. In 1840, The Transcendental group began to publish its flagship journal named The
Dial first edited by Margaret Fuller. He stayed on for about two years and Emerson took over, utilizing the
journal to promote talented young writers including Ellery Channing and Thoreau. In 1841 that Emerson
published Essays, his second book, which included the famous essay, "Self-Reliance" and where he insisted
on moral individualism. Three years later, he published "Essays: Second Series". This collection included
"The Poet", "Experience", "Gifts", and an essay entitled "Nature", a different work from the 1836 essay of
the same name. In this series, he accommodated his earlier idealism to the limitations of real life, later
realized he was overreacting a bit, shown greater respect for the society and awareness that his genius is
ambiguous and incomplete.
His poems were very lyrical, although often neglected, they give the core of his philosophy. In 1846 he
published Collected Poems and a year after May-Day. In 1850 he published a collection Representative
Men which included biographies of Plato, Swedenborg, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Napoleon and Goethe.
The Conduct of Life from 1860 is his most mature work, based on humanism and full awareness of
the human situation.
By the 1860s novelty of his rebellion wore off and he accommodated himself to society. His writing
after 1860 shoes his powers waning although he continued giving frequent lectures. Upon his death in
1882 he transformed himself into the Sage of Concord.
Ralph Waldo Emmerson is an important link between European culture and America, for the flourish of
literature during the American Renaissance, he started new religions, philosophical and ethical movement
which concentrated on the spiritual potential of every man.

12. American Novel as Romance

It is important to highlight the fact that in the literary sense, romance has nothing to do with romantic love,
but with the form of a novel (not the genre). Romances date from the 16th and 17th centuries, for example
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. These medieval tales deal with a hero of chivalry and depict a remote
setting and events far from everyday life. They were popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and
Early Modern Europe. These works feature events very unlikely to happen or to have ever happened, but
also enough of the manners of real life to speculate on the probability of its realization.
In the 19th century, Hawthorne started writing relying heavily on symbolism and occult incidents. He went
on to write full-length "romances", quasi-allegorical novels which include themes like guilt, pride, and
emotional repression in his native New England. He regarded The Scarlet Letter as a romance, arguing, as
a romance writer, that he had crossed the boundary of ordinarily opposed states, reality and imagination. His
focus on allegories and dark psychology inspired Herman Melville to write romances filled with
philosophical speculation. These were indeed the beginnings of the American novel as a romance.
As works of art always reflect the present situation in the society, the novel as a form wasnt an appropriate
literary form to describe the situation in the newly-settled America. The new culture was a blend of different
European cultures, some of them rather different. Additionally, all the differences as well as dualities were
explored within the romance form.
It features border fiction, representing the fusion of reality and fantasy. Characters experience the fantastic
elements as reality, like in magic realism.
After choosing this form, American novel developed in a completely different direction. When new genres
appear they express a movement in society, like the 18th century novel, which reflected the attitude of the

middle class. The issue of the US is that it didnt have such stratification like Europe. There were many
settlers and everybody was pretty much equal. There was no such machinery of political parties and
government. The novel is not realistic, not focused on social hierarchy or society as a whole. It is unrealistic
in the way that there are not detailed.
The middle class in England was made up of merchants and craftsmen who were focused on needs such as
food, furniture and described them in great detail. In American fiction, the focus is on the conflict between
the individual and the society. American laws protect the individual, whereas the European laws protect the
state.
Instead of imitating reality and writing about it, writers turn to irrationalism. For instance Hawthorne sets the
action somewhere between the real world and the unexplored mysterious world on a neutral territory where
the reality and fantasy meet.
It deals with issues like the psyche which is put in the center of the investigation. The central characters fight
with their own conscience. It overshadows the whole narrative and it is viewed from different perspectives. It
also explores the truth of the human heart.
The conditions of life in the romances are independent of the real world, thus making it easier to explore
moral values and intellectual ideas. These ideas and the human consciousness are not explored directly and
roughly, but rather indirectly through symbols and allegories. There are always complex feelings involved,
which is the result of the dualities. According to Cooper, it contains elements of melodrama. It also deals
with social issues such as womens rights, slavery, the relationship with the Indians, religion, and etc. The
struggle between the individual and the society is often expressed (the individual wants to change and
improve the society).
Influenced by Puritanism, the American Renaissance way of thinking, Transcendentalism, Manichaeism (a
3rd c. AD religious movement in Persia, which influenced the dualism, the separation of reason and fancy,
reality and fantasy, and the subject of native Americans in connection to wilderness, passion and Puritans).
Romances are not didactic, because most American writers were under the influence of the Transcendentalist
philosophy which argues that people have an inherent knowledge of what is right and wrong, so there is no
need to tell them.
Considering the American novel, the sense of setting is important. Its not described in detail, but usually
only through the characters perspectives. The setting is often crucial because it contributes to the creation of
an atmosphere which surrounds the entire narration and is often very mystical.
The characters are often flat and without a background to round off their identity. Moby Dick begins with
Call me Ischmael. Part of the American dream is reinvention of identity. The characters are often
symbolic, stand for something else, serve to express an ideal or express a deeper meaning. Like Pearl in The
Scarlet Letter, theyre troubled by certain moral conflicts and the focus is on their darker side. Theyre
usually lonely and isolated. They are torn between desire to act upon their passions and their morality which
pulls them back, a constant dilemma. Lawrence presented it as a conflict between Christianity and Dionisian
passions.
The structure is episodic and the ending is open to further consideration. This is more realistic, since the
good character does not always triumph and the evil-doer is not always punished. Perfect representations of
such a world are novels such as the previously mentioned The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, Great
Gatsby, and so on.
To sum up, the American romances are unrealistic, not focused on social hierarchy, and undetailed. They
feature a conflict between the individual and the society. Whats emphasized is the psychology of the
characters rather than their backgrounds. The plot is in the same manner kept simple. The literary work is
versatile, including elements of other genres such as drama, melodrama, utopian novel. The tale is told
through the narration of an omniscient narrator, through there are narration shifts, subjective to objective

points of view. Metaphors and symbols help increase the possibility of multiple interpretations. It is, indeed,
more true to life.
13. Frederick Douglass Narrative of Frederick Douglass an American Slave Written by Himself:
Criticism of Slavery
Born on Holmes Hill Farm, on Marylands eastern shore, in February 1818, Frederick Douglass was the son
of, Harriet Bailey, a slave who worked on the plantation. Douglass's father was an unknown white man,
thought by many to be his slave owner, master Aaron Anthony. At the age of 6, he was taken away from his
grandmother who raised him while his mother worked on the fields. Soon, he was sent to work as a field
hand on a nearby plantation. Afterwards, he was sent again to work as a house servant for Hugh and Sophia
Auld. Mrs Auld taught him to read and write, and introduced him to the Bible, the dictionary and the
American novel. Having quickly realized the relationship between literacy and personal freedom, Douglass
came to understand that through literacy he would prove to be different from the stereotypical slave.
After having attained his freedom, he became an orator, writer and abolitionist, fighting against the terror of
slavery by writing slave narratives. Those works are biographical and autobiographical stories of bondage
and freedom either written or told by former slaves, who managed to free themselves from slavery and found
safety and the opportunity to begin a new life in the North, which had started objecting to slave misuse in the
South. Such works depict the physical and emotional abuse of numerous black enslaved people, through
scenes of lashing, sexual molestation, starvation, destruction of families, and etc. Most of them were written
in order to raise national awareness of the darkest sides of slavery and encourage complete prohibition of
slave trade and abduction of black people. In 1845, he published his first autobiography Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself.
Here, he, provides us with details from his former slave life. He includes the masters he served, members of
his family, his daily routine in the masters houses and plantation fields, and most importantly the
mistreatment of slaves. This book was of crucial importance for the abolitionist movement against slavery.
First, the writer introduces his mother and his few but distinct memories of her, since he was separated from
her as a child. The slaveholders used to rob the slaves of their children, which was a common custom. The
inhumane idea was to destabilize families, and so leave their slaves with only work to think about. Slavery
prevented the mother-child bond from developing further, a connection which is of sentimental importance
for every human being. Colonel Lloyds plantation was the only place where young Frederick had the
opportunity of bonding with his mother. Unfortunately, these opportunities were, as Douglass informs, rare,
brief, and mostly at night.
Douglasss confession unveils how impressed and shocked he was with what troubles his mother
experienced and what obstacles she overcame just to see him, since slaves were prohibited to escape their
plantations. Douglasss mother would walk 12 miles, during the night to visit her child, although, the master
was even more than a mother, Douglass wrote. This labor system could work only if the victims at least to
some degree actually became slaves in their own minds. They were brainwashed, taught that they are slaves
because of Gods will, and that it was in their nature to dedicate their lives to servitude of the superior white
race. Their self-confidence was utterly destroyed along with their sense of identity, as they started believing
they would never be more than a slave.
We are also informed of Douglasss punishments after he would act rebellious. For example, for offending
Aunt Katy he wouldnt be given food all day. Although he hoped to get at least a slice of bread in the
evening, he didnt. He was presented only with a threat Aunt Katy wanted to starve him to death. This is
not surprising, since slave children were not given trousers, jackets or shoes until they were old enough to

join the adults in work. They had to be satisfied with only 2 shirts. They had no beds, and when they ate,
they were fed from a trough like pigs.
Frederick shares his origin. He never found out who his father was, but always suspected his own master.
This tells the reader about the ill treatment and objectification of black women. That Harriett was raped by
her slaveholder would be a tragic yet common fate of black women. They were sexually abused and
impregnated in order to give birth to new children slaves, who were always necessary. Furthermore, slaves
were not allowed to marry. The relationship between the masters/fathers and their slaves/children was
completely unnatural as they did not acknowledge the offspring as theirs. They were treated as mere objects
all the same.
Another common unfortunate fact is that slaves, and Frederick among them, did not know the full date of
their birth. This is, as Frederick believes, the evil doing of most masters to keep their slaves ignorant.
Ignorance is vulnerability, dependence. He had no special day to celebrate his individuality, because slaves
werent individuals.
Until the half of the 19th century, slavery was a common thing in America, especially in the South. Slaves
were mostly of African origin and were bought and kept by white people as workers on their plantations.
Treated like animals, they had absolutely no human rights. This kind of labor system was seen as a necessity,
since the production of cotton and other profitable plants depended on slave labor. Soon, an abolitionist
movement in the north began to grow, led by prominent figures such as William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and many more. They insisted on immediate abolition of slavery,
though they had different obstacles, such as being blamed for corrupting the peace and balance between the
North and the South. When Abraham Lincoln, a politician who was against slavery, was elected president,
American Civil War broke out. In 1865, after the prohibition of slavery, the war finally ended.
14. Frederick Douglass What to the Slave is the Fourth of July: Narrative Techniques
Today, we are familiar with the 4th of July as an American national holiday, also called Independence Day. It
commemorates the Declaration of Independence from July 4 th 1776. Throughout the 19th century,
celebrations featured long speeches held by prominent politicians, philosophers and orators. One such
oration given in 1852 was an unusual one. Frederick Douglass, an African-American former slave, writer,
and orator was called by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society to speak publicly on this event.
Since African-Americans weren't allowed at public events, as they were considered an inferior race, the
audience in front of which Frederick was called to speak consisted mostly of white people. Frederick, being
a black person, was aware that without the support of white people there were few things he could achieve.
So he tried to appeal to them through his oration. He primarily wanted to question slavery and make them
understand how severe the issue had become. He wanted them to see the paradoxical notion of an American
slave. Still, he spoke with caution in order not to insult the spectators. The fact that Douglass, once a slave,
was now a preacher about black people's independence and freedom was greatly ironic.
His aim was to use the significance of the 4th of July to reach the whole American nation. He wanted to
wake up the consicence of the Americans and inspire them to strive towards the ideals of the Nations
Founding Fathers, who they praised, but failed to see the falsehood in their own actions.. His intention was
to attack the Southerners who who still indulged in slavery, even though they still celebrated the Declaration
of Independence, the document based on the main principles of liberty and equality.
Douglass uses his rhetoric skills brilliantly, by using certain rhetoric devices in order to keep the focus of his
listeners and make them see from his perspective. He starts his speech by using Diminutio. By using this
rethoric method, he demeaned his own achievments and oration abilities in front of his listeners so he could
gain their attention. The aim of the device is to persuade the audience to relate, so they would be more

willing to hear him out. This is how he avoided repiting the mistake of other abolition orators, like William
Lloyd Garrison, who spoke of their achievements.
He distances himself from the American nation, saying that the 4th of July is the birthday of THEIR national
independence and of THEIR political freedom. Using Anamnesis which invokes past events, he compares
this event to the Passover of the Jewish people, a festival celebrating the liberation of Israelites from slavery
in Egypt. This way, he reminds the audience of the colonial era under the British Crown, and prompts his
audience to think in an ironic light of how the people who yearned for their own freedom, ended up
enslaving Black Americans. By calling America still young, he hopes that there is time for change.
Douglass reaches a point in which he is able to contrast the virtues and ideals of their Forefahtres with the
deviated ideas false morality of their sons. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final, not
slavery and oppression. With this, Douglas clearly marked the distinction between how things should be,
and how things are, and then comes the 2nd part of the oration, focusing on the PRESENT.
His tone changes and becomes critical, he tells his audience that their fathers have lived, died and done their
work, and that now they must do the same. What he wanted to say is that they have no right to enjoy the
labor and freedom won by their fathers unless they plan on doing the same for their children.
He continues sheding light upon the past, comparing the spectators with the children of Jacob who used
Abraham's name, even though they had long lost their faith. What have I, or those I represent, to do with
you national independence? is a question where he is clearly excluding himself and those of his kind from
this holiday, since it didn't mean the same for them. While they rejoyce, his people mourn. He starts
criticizing the hypocracy of their morals, ideals, and of their church and religion. America is false to the past,
false to the present and, under the circumstances, will continue being false to the future. He calls slavery the
great shame and sin of America.
Douglass finds debating on whether slavery is right or wrong pointless. He uses paralipsis, a rhetorical
device which functions as a way to emphasize an idea by regarding it too obvious to discuss, so it
emphasized by being disregarded. Furthermore, Douglas drops the arguments that link slavery to divinity
and God's will, as he exclaims That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! He lists the wrongdoings of
slavery and the toil it takes on slaves, trying to provoke an emotional response and receive the spectator's
sympathy, believing that no man could remain indifferent after hearing about brutal beatings and abuse. After
all, he has credibility to talk about this, since he is a former slave.
Douglass's oration reaches its culmination as he says: we need the storm, the whirlwind, the earthquake All
of this was uttered with an aim to make an impact on the conscience of the American nation, and provoke
shame as it exposes its social hypocrisy. He condemns America for being untrue to its founding principles.
At the end of the bold speech, Frederick reveals that the 4th of July for the American slave is a direct
mockery. American celebrations, sermons, prayers, hymns, and thanksgivings unveil their deception,
impiety, hypocrisy.
15. Nathaniel Hawthornes Contribution to American Literature
Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American novelist and short story writer, was born in 1804 in Salem,
Massachusetts, as a descendant of a long line of Puritans. His father passed away when Nathaniel was only
4, so he was raised by his overprotective mother. He attended Bowdoin College where he became friends
with Horatio Bridge, Longfellow and Franklin Pierce. After the graduation, he lived in Salem for 12 years.
During that time, he was preparing for a literary career. He researched the past of his family and learnt that
his great grandfather was a judge in Puritan witch trials. He had mixed feelings about that: on the one hand,
he was proud of his ancestors, but on the other hand, their evil deeds troubled him. His family history had a
great impact on his works.

In 1828 he wrote Fanshave, his very first novel which was unsuccessful. It was a chronicle of Bowdoin
life. His first stories were published in The Token and other literary magazines. In 1837 he published
Twice-Told Tales, a volume of masterpieces. Unfortunately, only a few critics like Poe and Emmerson
appreciated his work. When he got engaged to Sophia Pabody, he moved to Boston and became a Custom
House measurer, due to the fact that his writing did not bring him enough profit. Seeking a possible home for
himself and Sophia, he joined the transcendentalist Utopian community at Brook Farm in 1841, not because
he agreed with the experiment but because it helped him save money to marry Sophia. After the wedding in
1842, the couple moved to Manse, which was the center of Transcendentalism at the time. While living
there, he published short stories from an Old Manse in series and as a volume (1846).
Later, he returned to his home town and became a surveyor of the Custom house, though soon dismissed. He
devoted himself to writing The Scarlet Letter. He worked with zeal and imaginative energy he had never
known before. He described it as a hell-fired story. When the novel was published in 1850, it was an
immediate success: the first symbolic novel in the American Literature and the first real romance.
When Hawthorne left Salem, he settled permanently in Berkshires where he got acquainted with Melville.
He wrote The House of The Seven Gables (1851), a novel of family decadence. The same year, he wrote a
collection of stories A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys. In 152, he published The Blithedale Romance
in which he tells about his experience at Brook Farm. He wrote about both good and bad sides. This work
was followed with another collection The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales. That year, Hawthorne
wrote The Life of Franklin Pierce, his friend's campaign biography depicting him as "a man of peaceful
pursuits". Being elected a president, Pierce rewarded Hawthorne naming him the United States' consul in
Liverpool shortly after the publication of Tanglewood Tales in 1853. The last important work was The
Marble Fawn, an allegorical novel with Italian setting.
He returned with his family to America somewhat before his death. Hawthorne passed away in 1864 in
Plymouth after a long period of illness. A misconception about him is that he was a shy recluse, a solitary
figur with few friends. Contrary to popular belief about his mostly isolated and lonely life, he was a public
figure, urban when necessary. He performed extrovert actions of foreign consul with competence and made a
large circle of friends.
In his works, Nathaniel concerns nature Concerns nature and functioning of evil and moral responsibility,
symbolism and allegory, critical towards the Puritans. He had penetrating insight into the human nature. His
contribution is the development of romance and the introduction of symbolical novels. Hawthorne was the
author who had major influence on Melville and Poe (short stories, gothic genre, symbols). The principal
appeal of his work is the quality of his allegory, richly ambivalent, providing enigmas which reader solves on
his own terms. The discovery of his past led him to long investigation of problems of moral and social
responsibility. His enemies were intolerance and hypocrisy which hides the common sin, greed that refuses
to share joy. His remedy is in the world freed not from sin but from the corrosive sense of guilt. He believed
that one must accept human imperfection if one wants to remain human. His aim is not to solve the problem
of sin and sense of guilt but simply to reveal it and draw attention to that part of human existence.
16. The Scarlet Letter: Form and Narrative Structure
Nathaniel Hawthornes novel is structurally very well organized with symmetrically ordered chapters that serve to
help the reading audience make predictions about the future events/chapters. The novel contains 24 chapters plus
the prologue, The Custom House, which sets the background to the story. In the introduction, the narrator
introduces us with the Puritan culture and their way of life in the Scarlet Letter. The novel is divided into 2 equal

parts, and, since it is in the middle, the 12th chapter acts as the culmination. The first part primarily deals with the
effect the scarlet letter has on Hester and the society that surrounds her. The second part centers upon the
relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale and the downward spiral of Chillingworth.
The novel (the real story) begins with an introduction called The Prison Door which features the typical
Puritan setting with 4 unavoidable obligatory motifs: church, prison, scaffold and graveyard. Those are the
points at which all the major events take place. The greatest value of the 4 has the scaffold, where all the scenes
enacted act as triggers for the overall plots action. They take central places in the structure of the novel. One of the
scaffold scenes happens in chapter 12 (The Ministers Vigil) while the other two happen in chapters 2 (The
Marketplace) and 23(The Revelation). In each of these chapters the story features major climactic events after
which the line of the story drastically changes its course. Consequently, the 4 chief characters are present in those
scenes and affected by their outcome (Hester, Pearl, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth).
Being of the same length, each part of the novel has its epicenters, medial episodes. There are two of these
episodes per part and they demonstrate a change in the personalities of Hester and Dimmesdale. Medial episodes
of the first part are chapters 7 and 8 which represent an upward swing for Hester, yet a downward swing for
Dimmesdale. In addition to this, the medial episodes of part two (17 and 18) show the upward development of both
of the characters personalities, but this time, the story is set 7 years later.
In the medial episodes of the first part chapters 7 (The Governors Hall) and 8 (The Elf-Child and the Minister),
we see Hester after she has worn the scarlet A for some time. She goes to the Governors Hall where she meets
Dimmesdale and Chillingworth for the first time after the first scaffold scene. The gouvernor under persuasion of
the other 2 characters officially allows her to keep Pearl. These chapters show how Hester is developing, while
Dimmesdale and Chillingworth both become dark and consumed, one with guilt and the latter with revenge.
From chapters 9 to 12, we see the inner turmoil of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. In the second major climax
Dimmesdale confesses and this is the first time that he and Hester with Pearl stand together as a family. A meteor
appears in the sky, while Chillingworth stands in the back.
From chapters 13 to 16, Hester dramatically changes perception about Dimmesdale and her actions. She realizes
her mistake: how she wronged Dimmesdale by making a pact with Chillingworth. Seven years after the meteor
scene she is changed intellectually and spiritually.
Medial episodes Chapters 17 (The Pastor and His Parishioner) and 18 (A Flood of Sunshine) show the
fondness and closeness of Hester and Dimmesdale, as they plan their future. There is upward movement detected
for both of them. From 19 to 22 it becomes clear why their plans for the near future cannot be successful.
The third major climax Chapter 23 - Chapter 24 (Conclusion) is the epilogue. The narrator tells us what happened
to Pearl, while we learn that Hester became an Angel. Gerbers model: not taking introduction into account, he
divides the rest of 24 chapters into 4 main parts having the chapter scheme 8-4-8-4. In the first 8 chapters all four
main characters together with the community are found guilty for adultery. In the next 4 chapters it is
predominantly Chillingworth to be blamed for the act of adultery. In the following 8 chapters Hester plays the role
of the main responsible adulteress, while in the last part of the Novel it seems that Dimmesdale is the ultimate
sinner.
An alternative model takes into account all 25 chapters, thus perceiving the introduction and the conclusion as
separate units. The remaining chapters follow the 3-5-3 3-5-5 scheme, with the chapter 12 as the central chapter.
Hawthornes literary work The Scarlet Letter is composed in the form of a romance. There is a thin line between
reality and fantasy. The novels plot has a tendency to express melodramatic elements. There are gaps in the plot,
the structure is episodic and the cause effect chain does not exist at all. The book has an open ending. There is no
romantic plot. We are not given many details about characters and their background. Hawthorne used the setting of
a Puritan village in order to create a perfect atmosphere for his story. Still, it is not the details about the setting that
matter, but the point of view of the settlers in such a society.

17. The Scarlet Letter: Symbolism

Nathaniel Hawthornes novel The Scarlet Letter is filled with different examples of symbolism. The characters
names, the scarlet letter, flowers, the sunshine, the forest, and the meteor all act as certain symbols and point out
deeper meanings.
The name of the heroine of the novel, Hester (Prynne), unveils many symbolical meanings. One of them connects
fictional character Hester Prynne to historic figure Hester Crawford, a woman who was sentenced to whipping as
punishment for adultery ordered by Hawthornes great-grandfather, the judge at that trial. Hesters name is also
connected to the Biblical Jewish queen Ester who sacrificed her life in an attempt to save her people. Just like her,
Hester helps the poor and the sick in her village.
Pearls father carries the name Arthur Dimmesdale which also has hidden meanings. Dim means dark,
unclear/ambiguous, impure, and the latter syllable of his surname is dale, which stands for the depths of a human
soul. The fact that his first name starts with the letter A is no accident. This is how the scarlet letter can be
observed by Hester as a reminder of the man with whom she committed or rather shares the sin.
The third adult character whose name is more than it seems is Roger Chillingworth. His name, just like in
Dimmesdales case, is a compound of two words that together perfectly sum up his nature. Therefore, we get a
coldhearted, merciless, calculated man who seems worthy and promising, but does not reach his true potential.
Hesters and Arthurs daughter, Pearl, has a name prone to numerous interpretations. Its important to add that
Pearl is not a real rounded character, but a metaphor. There is a lot of contradiction in her nature. She is supposed
to secure her mother a place in Heaven (Christian) but there are also implications that she is connected to Satan.
There is a biblical source as well - there was a man in the Bible who purchased a pearl of great worth. This is a
symbol of acquiring spiritual state of grace. The girl symbolizes something precious that has been purchased by
sacrifice (both H and D sacrificed themselves for her). Pearl is also the title of a medieval poem that speaks of a
man whose daughter dies and goes to Heaven. He dreams of her, but cannot reach her since she is on the other side
of a stream. This scene is actually reenacted in the novel when little Pearl and the couple stand on different sides of
the brook, and she does not recognize her parents. She is also a symbol/constant reminder of Prynnes sin and in a
way her ticket to heaven, and a permanent connection to Dimmesdale. She is both a source of happiness and a
means of torture to her mother. Hester dresses her in scarlet which makes her the embodiment of the letter on
Hesters gown. The girl is described as a child of nature, a combination of elf and a human. She expresses
mysterious knowledge of certain things. For example, she recognizes Chilingworth as the Black Man (devil) the
very moment she sees him, and she reads Dimmesdales thoughts. She has an inherent sense of moral knowing
what is good and bad. This reminds us of the Transcendentalist idea that we all have a compass within ourselves.
This is a criticism of Puritan rules. Finally, Pearl becomes human in the moment of grief after her father dies. She
has to suffer to become a human being. She cries and ultimately her tears become a pledge to humanity. Therefore,
Pearl is a symbol of a new woman.
The Scarlet Letter Hester is condemned to wear follows her journey from an Adulteress, being Able and
finally to an Angel. In the novels prologue, the letter is portrayed as a mystical symbol because it was changing
its meanings throughout the novel. The red color symbolizes the hot iron that burns both on Hesters and
Dimmesdales chest. It means that the letter is able of hurting them. Hester made it an object of art: artistically
done, red and embroidered with golden thread.
Furthermore, there is a black flower. The black flower of civilization is prison, reflecting the Puritan code. It
metaphorically stands for all the limitations: no exposure of their feelings. At some point in the novel the symbol
changes and becomes directly connected with Chillingworth who gathers the black weeds that grow on the graves
of the sinners. When Chillingworth speaks about the black weeds Dimmesdale for the first time realizes that
Chillingworth is dangerous. Another important scene is the one where Hester tells Chillingworth that she cannot

keep the secret of his true identity anymore and how it seems as though poisonous weed springs out of the ground
that he touches. Chillingworth tells Hester Let the black flower blossom as it may.
Wilde rose bush is in contrast with the black flower. Black flower is prison, whereas the wild rose bush stands for
balance, hope for salvation, and Hesters love for Dimmesdale and Pearl. It is connected with pity, kindness and
passion. This symbol is yet another reference to a historic figure, Anne Huchinson, a religious dissenter who was
exiled from Boston by the Puritans and moved to Rhode Island. The Puritans believed that rose bushes grew out of
the steps of Anne H. as she left Massachusetts Bay Colony. The woman did not believe in pre-election, but in the
covenant of works, which meant that people make their own covenants with god and follow it, and in return for
their good and hardworking deeds, they are given salvation. This woman is crucial for the novels understanding,
because if we agree that she was right, there might still be a chance for Hester and Pearl to reach Heaven.
Dimmesdale as a pure man and a true Puritan didnt support Annes theory, as he was too conservative. He
believed he wont go to heaven no matter how hard he tried to lead a pure life- Puritan belief. Finally, Pearl once
said that her mother picked her up from the rose bush which directly connects her with passion and nature.
Another symbol is the forest. It stands for nature, freedom, natural love, and wilderness, which is different from the
Puritan society. Also, it is connected to witch Hibbins. After the scene at the Governors Hall, Hester encounters
witch Hibbins who asks her whether she would want to go to a witch meeting in the forest where she would meet
the Black Man and sign her name in his book. H and D are free to be in love there. Like any other symbol in the
novel it is ambiguous, it has a double meaning since it is also connected with darkness. The black man is a Puritan
reference to Satan in the novel. In the second scaffold scene, Pearl recognizes Chillingworth as the black man.
Meteor is an allegorical device, which appears when the second scaffold scene takes place, as H, D, and Pearl stand
together as a family for the first time. It sheds light on Hesters letter and is of different significance to different
characters: for Dimmesdale, it is Gods way of showing that he knows Ds a sinner. On the other hand, Puritans
start thinking that A stands for Angel (one of the governors died), Hester starts being called an angel and she
realizes that Dimmesdale suffers so she decides to help him. Pearl wants Arthur to stand with them during the
daylight which is impossible.
The last symbol is the sunshine. It always shines on Pearl, but never on the couple. Still, when Hester confesses to
Dimmesdale, it shines upon her. Likewise, when he confesses to her, it shines upon him too. In the end, it shines on
all three of them. In the third major scaffold scene the sun shines on D while he is dying.
Each element that Hawthorne used in his novel has several sources and several meanings. They often offer
numerous solutions and interpretations, which helps the writer use the same symbol in different contexts and still
achieve his goal/reach a certain realization, without missing the point.
18. The Scarlet Letter: The Character of Hester
According to some critics, this novel is actually a drama of the patriarchic societys need to control female
sexuality in the most basic way. The time when Hawthorne wrote the novel was very appropriate since America
was in the middle of a growing womens movement. Hester Prynne is a young woman who committed adultery
and who goes through a long transition from adulteress to an angel. Her character is based on a true woman, Hester
Crawford who was sentenced to whipping for adultery by one of Hawthornes ancestors, who was a judge.
The novel begins with Hester and her infant, Pearl, leaving jail and approaching the scaffold in order to be
publically condemned. The women in the crowd scrutinize Hester; criticizing her for the ornateness of the
embroidered badge on her chest, letter A stitched in gold and scarlet. From the womens conversation, as Hester
walks through the crowd, we learn that she has committed adultery and has given birth to an illegitimate child, and
that the A on her dress stands for Adulterer. Children taunt her and adults stare. As she was standing on the
scaffold, she was holding her baby close to her chest, trying to hide the symbol of her shame, the scarlet letter.

Though standing on the scaffold, Hester seemed very lady-like. She was a tall woman of elegant figure. Her best
attributes were her deep black eyes and beautiful dark hair. Being skilled at needle-work, she added some details to
the red A on the breast of her gown, to in a way satisfy her taste (fashion), since she is to wear it for a long time. It
was outlined with beautiful decorations of gold thread. This sign of shame and guilt was artistically well done. It is
obvious that by this Hester is determined to stay strong and not allow the comments of the society to which she
belongs, or rather belonged, and her personal shame crush her. There is still some pride left in this strong young
woman, even though she knows that her sin will follow her throughout her whole lifetime.
Among the people staring at her, while she was on the scaffold was her husband dressed in a strange combination
of traditional European clothing and Native American dress, now called Roger Chillingworth. Hester and her
husband come face to face for the first time when he is called to her prison cell to provide medical assistance. He
urges her to reveal the identity of her lover, telling her that he will surely detect signs of sympathy that will lead
him to the guilty party. When she refuses to tell her secret, he makes her promise that she will not reveal his own
identity (as her husband) to anyone either. Furthermore, Chillingworth argues that it is not the well-being of her
soul that his presence jeopardizes, implying that he plans to seek out her unknown lover. He clearly has revenge on
his mind. Behind the mask of determination, not giving away who her lover was, she might also be hiding
something from herself. By keeping her lovers identity unknown, she actually tries to prevent herself from
thinking about Dimmesdale, whom she obviously loves in a certain way.
After a few months, Hester is released from prison. Although she is free to leave Boston, she chooses not to. Why
doesnt she, when she is free to leave? The narrator offers several explanations. Hester convinces herself that New
England was the scene of her crime. Therefore, it should also be the place of her punishment. Also, Hesters life
has been too deeply marked by her ill deed for her to leave. It is possible that there is one secret reason, the deeply
hidden affection for Pearls father. She moves in a cottage which was on the outskirts of her town, noticeably far
from other houses. The cottage was on the shore looking across the basin of the sea and there was a forest covering
the hills towards the west. Scrubby trees did not completely hide her cottage. Perhaps that was a sign that
something is hidden which will eventually and inevitably be seen. Hester remains alienated from everyone,
including the town fathers, respected women, beggars, children, and even strangers. She serves as an example of a
fallen woman, the chief character of a cautionary tale for everyone to b warned. This shows that she is not a part of
the city upon hill.
Although she is an outcast, Hester remains able to support herself thanks to her talent in needle-work. Her
impeccable taste reinforces her embroidery, rendering her work fit to be worn by the governor despite its shameful
source. Although the ornate detail of her artistry defies Puritan codes of fashion, it is in demand for burial shrouds,
christening gowns, and officials robes. In fact, through her work, Hester reaches all the major events of life except
marriageit is deemed inappropriate for chaste brides to wear the product of Hester Prynnes hands.
Pearl is now three years old, and Hester hears a rumor that the governor and the townspeople want to take her
away, suspenseful of her demonic influence on the child. They think she should be taken away for her own sake
and given to a better parent.. Pearl is named so because she was purchased with all [Hester] hadher mothers
only treasure! Because in giving her existence a great law had been broken, Pearls very being seems to be
inherently at odds with the strict rules of Puritan society, since she is obtains the essence of sin, the product of sin.
The girl is both a punishment and a consolation.
Hester and Pearl go to the governors mansion where they find the ministers including Dimmesdale and
Chillingworth. Hester is determined to defend her motherly right. She tells them that she will be able to teach Pearl
an important lessonthe lesson she has learned from her shame. Still, she is not successful in convincing them.
She begs Dimmesdale to help her out. He acts in her defense and the ministers agree with him. In this scene, Hester
proves that she has a lions heart, she is able to stand for herself and she knows no surrender, which is the reason
for her stoic behavior.

Seven years have passed since Pearls birth and Hester's become more active in society. She brings food to the
doors of the poor, she nurses the sick, and she is a source of aid in times of trouble. She is still frequently made an
object of scorn, but more people are beginning to interpret the A on her chest as meaning Able rather than
Adulteress. Although the community may acknowledge her intentions as good, it will never consider her
completely forgiven, and thus its members cannot be made to rid her of her sin. In the end, this is a society that
privileges a pure and untainted soul above an actively good human being. Hester herself has also changed. She is
no longer a tender and passionate woman, but a bare and harsh outline of her former self: her glorious hair is
hidden under a cap, and the beauty she once had is fading. She has become more speculative, thinking about how
something is amiss (not quite right) in Pearl, and about what it means to be a woman in her society.
The towns reevaluation of Hester is also significant for the change she has undergone in earning it. The people of
Boston believe that Hesters charitable behavior is the result of their system working properly. They expect that
their chosen punishment for her, the scarlet letter, has effectively humbled her as planned. We may think that
Hester has repented for her sin, since all her actions and general behavior show that. However, it is apparent from
the beginning that she questions the Puritan beliefs in terms of womens rights. She asks herself why her deed is a
sin, and if it would remain her scar forever, or if the society would eventually change their views. She refused to
flee from Boston when Pearl was an infant because at the time she did not believe that her fellow men and women
should have the power to judge her. Now, Hester refuses to remove the scarlet lettershe understands that its
removal would be as meaningless as its original placement. Her identity and, she believes, her souls salvation are
matters that are between herself and God. Hesters new insight into societys right to determine the lives and
identities of individuals shines in her conversations with Chillingworth. Hester feels that her soul is committed to
Dimmesdale rather than to Chillingworth, even though Chillingworth is legally her husband. She believes that a
deeply felt interaction between two people is more real than the church ceremony that bound her to
Chillingworth.
The encounter in the forest is the first time we can see Hester and Dimmesdale in an intimate setting. Hester calls
the minister by his first name and the two join hands. They refer to the initial days of their romance as a
consecration, which suggests that they see their sin as having been no more than the fulfillment of a natural
law. Up to this point, the narrator withheld any sentimental and tender aspects of the couples relationship from the
reader, which enabled him to focus on issues of punishment and social order. Because of her alienation from
society, Hester has taken an estranged point of view [toward] human institutions. She has been able to think for
herself, thanks to the scarlet letter and its dose of Shame, Despair [and] Solitude. She seems to have developed
an understanding of a sort of natural law, and it is according to her instinctive principles that she decides that she,
Dimmesdale, and Pearl should flee to Europe.
After Dimmesdales confession and death, Hester and Pearl leave Boston for England with the money
Chillingworth had left Pearl, and by doing so Hester ensures that her scarlet letter will become a legend and take
on an existence of its own. Having sacrificed her humanity and her individuality to her child and the letter on her
chest, Hester now becomes a spokeswoman for larger issues. She becomes an advocate for women and takes on a
role in the community similar to that of a minister: she cares for and attends to the spiritual needs of her fellow
human beings. Hesters burial speaks of the eventual sacrifice of her private self to her public, symbolic role.
Although she and Dimmesdale are together at last, the distance between their graves and the design of their shared
headstone seem to call out for interpretive readings. The simple romantic relationship between them is
overshadowed by its larger representations.
By the time Hester dies, the meaning of the scarlet letter on her chest has become confused and ambiguous. While
it gives her authority and even respectability among some people, it will always mark her as guilty of what society
still considers a sin. Indeed, Hester is the first rounded female character in American literature.

19. The Scarlet Letter: The Character of Dimmesdale

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is a young Puritan priest who only believes in the covenant of grace, and who is
determined to make Massachusetts Bays society strong and spiritually pure. He is an intelligent and sentimental
man and his sermons are masterpieces of eloquence and perseverance.
On the other hand, at some point of the novel Dimmesdale comes off as weak and cowardly, as he refuses to face
his sinful actions. This is precisely why the first impression of him being a saint-like highly respectable figure
changes dramatically as we become familiar with another darker side of him as a coward and a hypocrite. Indeed,
he is both positive and negative. Tormented by guilt, he uses his sin for noble purposes, but he doesnt show
enough courage to confess it. Just like Hester, he is a character whose identity becomes dependent more on
external circumstances rather than being shaped by his own mental state. In the 1st scaffold scene, the two
characters are contrasted. Dimmesdale stands above Hester, on the balcony of the Meeting House, as an admired
man by society, although he shares the same sin with Hester who stands on the pillory, despised and mocked by the
people.
Dimmesdales character is paradoxical. The first thing is the first syllable of his surname - dim could mean dark,
impure. Secondly, though he had broken the Puritan law in a moment of weakness and passion, he still performs
the obligations of a dignified priest. Although he supports Puritan doctrines, he cannot admit his sin. There are two
main reasons why he is in denial and keeping a distance from Hester, dealing with it alone. First, he is frightened
of ruining his reputation and being scorned by his followers. Second, as he hypocritically argues, he feels an
obligation to be to be a role model and a spiritual guide for the people. His sin and shame help Dimmesdale better
understand the hardships and miseries of other people and he sympathizes with them. This marks a change, a
growth, an improvement of his personality.. Consequently, his sermons become strong, convincing and effective.
His suffering and his sin inspire all, though no one knows about it. In these terms, Dimmesdale can be observed as
a positive. During his sermons, while preaching about sins, he in a way feels as if he is admitting his own sin, but
that makes people praise him all the more.
His spotless reputation makes him feel even worse because he knows that since he is a minister hell not only have
to answer to his followers, but to God as well. Dimmesdale knws he has wronged the society, God and himself.
Choosing to hide his sin, he starts living a lie, a false life, running away from himself, from the truth. The ultimate
paradox of this character is the spirit with which he urges the people in church to confess openly, whereas cant
clear his conscience.
Dimmesdales undeserved public admiration leads him to self-destruction and deterioration of both his mental and
physical state. He becomes skinny, letting his demonic parasitic sin eat away his soul from the inside and the
results are apparent on the outside. He also spends his nights in lashing himself. The physical pain brings him only
temporary relief, but doesnt free his mind. His physical appearance reflects his inner torture. He is tremulous,
pale, always holding his hand over his heart revealing pain. He has become so weak that he both consciously and
unconsciously subjects himself to Chillingworts manipulation. But in one moment, when Chillingworth suspects
something about Dimmesdales disease, he exclaims he will not be answering to Chillingworth, but the physician
of his soul.
The scene in the woods, when Hester tells Dimmesdale that Chillingworth is her husband in disguise, is important
as evidence of Dimmesdales maturing character. He is at first furious, which is expected from a priest, but soon
forgives her for keeping it as a secret. It is peculiar that he exclaims I might known it
His corrupted mind finally persuades Dimmesdale to acknowledget his responsibility for the sin of adultery and to
seek redemption. One can observe his transformation step by step in the three scaffold scenes. In the one, he

openly denies the sin behind the mask of spiritual dedication and purity, although he does not throw away his
feelings for Hester and Pearl. He stands up for them when the authorities want to take Pearl away from Hester.
The second scene shows Dimmesdale accepting his sin in screams. He is still battling remorse and cowardice. He
stands on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl together, as a family, but without the publics presence. Dimmesdales
focuses on the gradual yet progressive awakening of Puritan inhibitions as well as the continuously growing
passion for Hester.
In the last scaffold scene, Dimmesdale finally gathers the strength to openly admit his sin, encouraged by Hesters
forgiveness and Pearls affection. Their earlier reunion in the forest prompts him to realize he has to admit his sin if
he hopes for his souls salvation and that must stop avoiding societys judgment and his faults. If he doesnt, it will
engage in another sin, far more serious as it would be the product of rational thinking, not passionate impulsive
behavior. Ultimately, Dimmesdale steps onto the scaffold inviting Hester and Pearl to join him when he reveals his
shameful deeds, the scarlet letter on his breasts, to the people and God, which is followed by his death. This is the
first time the three of them publicly presented themselves as a family in the daylight.
Dimmesdale embraces comfort and peace even though he never believed he would. He finally triumphs over evil
and in his death becomes even more of a saint than he was during his earthly life.
20. The Scarlet Letter: The Character of Chillingworth
The Scarlet Letter is a story about the sin which surrounds a growing (Puritan) community but also the souls and
personalities of certain individuals. Concerning the main characters, one cant help but pose the question who was
a sinner from the beginning and who was not?
Roger Chillingworth is a knowledgeable scholar, Hesters husband in disguise. He is much older than she is and he
had sent her to America while he was traveling Europe for business purposes. Having been held captive by Native
Americans, he arrived in Boston the very moment Hester and her illegitimate child were on the scaffold being
mocked and looked down upon by the spectators. Feeling let down, he desires revenge, so he disguises himself as a
doctor, having gathered enough knowledge in the field of medicine in Europe, with the intention of discovering
and torturing Hesters unknown love interest. He strikes the reader as quite intelligent and resourceful, which are
undeniable virtues of a man whos just taken the path of evil and announced his moral downfall.
As for the early years of their marriage, we can conclude that he was an intellectual who only wanted to be loved
and nurtured by his wife. There is no sign of him having tendency towards evil. He showed cold, but steady
affections towards Hester and he was understanding of her lack of interest in intellectual gifts, though the reader
gets the opportunity to see her intellectual side later (the revolutionary ideas she keeps inside). Chillingworth used
to be a kind thoughtful and humble person. During the characters development, Hawthorne associates him with
deformity, wildness and mysterious power.
At the beginning, it can be said that R.C. was in his best position, compared to Hester Prynne and Arthur
Dimmesdale. He stands next to an Indian, as he watches Hester. Indians were considered savage, but he came to be
familiar with their lifestyle. Near the end of the novel, Hawthorn describes him as both a physically and mentally
obsessive and an evil man. There is evidence for it even in the symbolism of his name: chill - cold, calculated,
merciless, but worth - a worthy man who fails at reaching his potential and becomes corrupt.
After his arrival in the Massachusetts Bay, he swears in front of Hester that hell uncover the man who shares the
sin with her and that hell have his vengeance. Soon enough, he realizes that this man is none other than the
respectable minister Arthur Dimmesdale. His goal gradually develops into a sick obsession and getting his revenge
becomes his main purpose in life. He turns into a devil, with his conscious mind set to make that other mans life a
living hell. He cunningly begins a friendly relationship with A.D. for the purpose of persuading Arthur to confess
his sin. His method for achieving this goal is pure psychological torture. He fails to understand that he is
interfering in a matter which is solely between man and God, because the point of confession is repentance

followed by forgiveness, not torture. It is supposed to bring relief. R.C. enjoys seeing A.D. suffer which is what
makes him the embodiment of evil. Hester notices that. All this inevitably takes a toll on his appearance. Just like
in Richard III, R.C.s deformed physical appearance reflects his corrupt inner state. Hes described as Satan (the
Black man) and even Hester sees him as devils messenger. The people in town can also assume the evil inside
him. R.C.s poisonous attitude is what is destroying him. In chapter 14, Hester meets C. in the forest (a place where
the Black Man lives, a symbol of Satan) and where he is described with certain blackness about him and a red light
in his eyes.
When Dimmesdale started his confession, Chillingworth tried to stop him, not for noble reasons, but only to
prolong his victims suffering. Ironically, C.s life is put on hold after Arthurs death, as he contemplates hos his
life has lost meaning. He is unable to find new source of pleasure so as to proceed with his life. He dies within a
year after Arthurs escape.
Vengeance, hatred, and obsession got the best of him, but despite this, he left his fortune to Pearl, a child of love
and passion, the living symbol and personification of her mothers scarlet letter. Perhaps this act can, to some
extent, redeem the person whose sin was the blackest.
In the conclusion, one can observe how Dimmesdale improved and Hester transformed from and adulteress to an
angel, and how both of them and their character development are put in contrast with Chillingworths changing
personality. At the beginning of the novel, R.C. was the sole character that seemed as if he had no struggles or
difficulties in his life, but his dedication to vengeance made him stand out this time as the only character who
progressed toward the dark side and announced his own downward spiral.
21. Edgar Allan Poe: Invention of New Genres
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best globally acknowledged for his
poems, short stories, and especially his tales of mystery and the terror. He is thought to present the most relevant
figure of the Romantic era in the United States and American literature generally speaking. Poe was also one of the
country's earliest writers to be engaged in writing short stories. Poe is generally credited for the creation of many
different genres and subgenres. But the road to success was far from a paved way. He was a foster child, an eager
beaver, a poor gambler, an expelled West Point soldier, and the first famous American writer to try to earn a living
through writing alone. He led a very interesting yet exceptional and bitter life, which must have greatly contributed
to the shaping of his literary style.
Many of his works are generally considered part of the dark romanticism genre, a literary reaction to
transcendentalism, which Poe strongly disliked. Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story, "Never Bet the Devil Your Head",
in which he embedded elements of deep dislike for transcendentalism, calling its followers "Frogpondians" after
the pond on Boston Common. The narrator ridiculed their writings by calling them "metaphor-run" lapsing into
"mysticism for mysticism's sake", and called it a "disease."
The themes Poe centers upon are quite grim, since his best known fiction works are Gothic. His most common
themes are the ones that question death, and many other connected themes and Poes interests such as the physical
symptoms, the effects of decomposition, mourning, premature burial or the reanimation of the dead (like in the
House of Usher). Poe wrote much of his work using themes aimed specifically at mass-market tastes. He
explored deeply the psychology of his characters and dealt with the other side of human psyche (madness,
abnormality...). In addition, he often included elements of popular pseudo-sciences (beliefs or practices mistakenly
thought to have originated from scientific methods), such as phrenology (a study considering the size and shape of
the skull as important indicators of mental abilities) and physiognomy (the so-called art of indicating a character
from facial characteristics). Death of a beautiful woman is a constant theme in Poes works. According to Poes
Philosophy of Composition, a perfect poem should evoke a melancholic mood with the cause being beauty.

Therefore, death of a beautiful woman is the perfect pick, provoking heavy sorrow over the loss of beauty. How he
came up with this theory is explained by his real life experiences. E.A. Poe was surrounded by deaths of several
women, one of whom was his own mother, and later his own wife Virginia. Lenore in The Raven is the
perfect example of such a woman. Poe married Virginia, aged 13, when he was 24. After she died of tuberculosis,
he was taken with grief, distracted from his writing, and drowning in alcohol. The same idea that we find in The
Raven can be found in Annabel Lee - The idea of star-crossed lovers - gods are so envious of their love that
they try to separate them. Therefore, the loss of a beloved is also a constantly present motif in Poes poems,
interconnected with the previous one.
Next to horror stories, Poe also wrote satires, humorous tales, and hoaxes. He used irony and ludicrous
extravagance, in order to provoke laughter and free the reader of his cultural conformity. "Metzengerstein" is the
first story that Poe is known to have published and his first attempt to write horror, but it was originally meant to
satirize the popular genre. Edgar also reinvented science fiction, as he predicted in his works the future
technological discoveries such as hot air balloons in "The Balloon-Hoax". Poe's work also influenced adventure
and science fiction writer Jules Verne, who wrote a sequel to Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of
Nantucket called An Antarctic Mystery, also known as The Sphinx of the Ice Fields. Science fiction author H.
G. Wells praised Edgar in his statements.
Poe's writing reflects his literary theories, which he presented in his Philosophy of Composition. He disliked
didacticism and allegory, though he himself believed that works with obvious direct meanings, fail at being artistic.
Furthermore, a quality work should be brief, enough to be read at one sitting, and evoke and maintain a specific
single effect. This effect is called the unity of effect and is the philosophy he keeps in mind throughout his
writing career, so as to set an example to other writers. It is a concept Poe took from ancient Greek philosophers
and writers. The unity within a work should present the unity of time, space and action. The most important thing
to consider in the "Philosophy" is that many of Poe's tales are written backwards, so as to determine the effect first,
and then set the plot. In other words, the poems plot must be thoroughly considered in ones mind before the poem
is written.
During his lifetime, Poe barely made a living from his writing. He published some of his most famous short stories
in his collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. He wrote some of the stories in 1st person, talked about
the use of opium, involved ghosts in his works, and consequently people assumed that Poe himself was a strange
person, an abuser of drugs, and similar. Poe invented detective fiction, when he wrote The Murders in the Rou
Morgue. It started a whole tradition of the detective story. The Raven which was published in 1845 was his
great breakthrough. It was publicly praised throughout the world.
In 1849, E.A. Poe died at the age of 40 under strange circumstances. After having been taken to the hospital, he
died in a delirium, the cause of death remaining unknown. In honor of the masterful writer, the Edgar Allan Poe
Awards, famously known as the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, in New
York City.
22. The Raven: Structure, Themes, Unity of Effect
The Raven is Poes legendary poem, thought to be his best concerning the structure and content.
He elaborated on the creation of this poem in his work The Philosophy of Composition.
The structure features alternation of 3 meters, octometer, hectameter and tetrameter, for the purpose of
achieving swift trochaic rhythm. The rhyme scheme is constantly ABCBBB. The rhythmic model for this poem
was a work by Elizabeth Barret Lady Geraldines Courtship. Concerning figures of speech, there are
examples of good alliteration. Poe took great pride in his technical skills. A perfect poem should be 100 lines long,
so that it could be readable at a single sitting. The Raven has 108 lines. The poem is made up of 18 stanzas, each

of them six lines long. Generally speaking, the meter is trochaic octometer - eight trochaic feet per line, each
foot having one stressed syllable and one unstressed syllable.
The themes Poe centers upon are quite grim. Death of a beautiful woman is a constant theme in Poes works.
According to Poes Philosophy of Composition, a perfect poem should evoke a melancholic mood with the cause
being beauty. Therefore, death of a beautiful woman is the perfect pick, provoking heavy sorrow over the loss of
beauty. E.A. Poe was surrounded by deaths of several women, one of whom was his own mother, and later
his own wife
Virginia. The women in his works are not real characters. They are blank slates for their male
lovers to inscribe their stories and emotions in. Lenore is the perfect example of such a woman. Another theme
expressed is the longing for a lover and a surrogate mother. This theme is very closely related to the first one, and it
is quite personal. In these beautiful deceased women, Poe and his narrator always search either for a lover or a
mother he had lost.
Loss of a beloved is a constantly present motif in Poes poems. This is explained by his real life experiences. He
lost his mother, and his stepmother didnt always give him the attention he needed. It made him crave attention. He
fell in love with his school friends mother, before he wrote his first poem. He married Virginia, aged 13, when he
was 24. After she died of tuberculosis, he was taken with grief, distracted from his writing, and drowning in
alcohol. The same idea that we find in the Raven can be found in Annabel Lee. The idea of star-crossed lovers gods are so envious of their love that they try to separate them.
Gothic story elements in the poem combined with detective story elements fill the poem, and so the reader soon
falls under the spell of a suspenseful atmosphere. The poem is widely known for the feeling of terror and gloom it
provokes in the reader. The supernatural elements contribute to the tense atmosphere. The setting, the state of the
lonesome lover, and his isolation are the literary devises used to express this theme. The raven itself is a domestic
bird, but as it flies into the room of the scholar at a late hour, uttering a single word that petrifies the man with fear,
it becomes unnatural, even supernatural. The narrator is in a numb state between walking and sleeping, life and
death, which offers the perfect arrangement for a supernatural scene.
The narrator is obsessed with death, and is desperately trying to bring his lost Lenore to life. The other solution
would be to end his own miserable life and finally unite with his lost love in heaven. The state of the narrator is a
numb feeling of being alive, the numbness pointing to death. His soul has withered away, but his body is a prison
keeping him alive. The raven serves to bridge the gap between the two worlds. It is a bird of yore as it serves as a
reminder of the previous times, awakening the torturing feeling of nostalgia in the sorrowful scholar. It comes as
no surprise that the uttered word nevermore rhymes with Lenore, and is put in contrast with the narrators words
for evermore at the beginning. The raven is a messenger from heaven or hell. The Plutonian shore from which
the narrator assumes the Raven is coming is named after Pluto, the Greek god of the underworld.
Poe also questions faith which is here a dualistic theme, since the narrator questions his faith in
God and the afterlife, as well as his own faith in Lenore and his love for her. In the end, the god he
loves and the thought of his darling triumph over the ghastly grim and ancient raven.
Alienation and loneliness of the narrator are at the very beginning noticeable. The narrator is located at a distant
and secluded place, separated from civilization and far from his loved ones. This theme is necessary for the
dominant feeling of melancholy in the poem. The poem features a feeling of finality throughout. With notions such
as midnight and December, the end of a day and the end of a year, we are given hints to the life of the
despairing man that is nearing its end (approaching death).
The brief reply the narrator received each time he tried communicating with the still bird was already
predetermined and both the reader and the narrator could predict it with certainty. Therefore, it was meant as
constant torture for the narrator.
The main theme of the poem is the mans tireless devotion to his beautiful late Lenore. He experiences a perverse
conflict between desire to forget and desire to remember. He seems to get some pleasure out of his loss. He has

been mourning over her death so long that it is as though he has become addicted to it, dependent on it. The
narrator assumes that the word "nevermore" is the raven's "only stock and store", and, yet, he continues to ask
questions, knowing what the answer will be. His questions, then, are purposely self-deprecating and further
express his feelings of loss and denial. Poe leaves it unclear if the raven is aware of what it is uttering or if its
intention is to cause such a reaction in the narrator. The narrator first comes off as weak and weary, but soon
becomes regretful and overcome with grief, before passing into a frenzy and, finally, madness mixed with anger.
The unity of effect is a concept Poe took from ancient Greek philosophers and writers. It centers on the philosophy
that a quality work of art should have a unity of time, space and action. Poe set this unity in his work,
demonstrating his methods in Philosophy of Composition. In the Philosophy, Poe stresses his need to
successfully project a certain effect onto the reader when the literary work is to be read in one sitting. A poem
should be only 100 lines long. It should always be written short enough to be read in one sitting, and should,
therefore, strive to achieve this single, unique effect.
The most important thing to consider in the "Philosophy" is the fact that "The Raven", as well as many of Poe's
tales, is written backwards. The effect is determined first, and the whole plot is set afterwards. Then the web is
knitted backwards from that single effect. Poe's "Tales of ratiocination," e.g. the Dupin tales, are written in the
same manner. Poe firmly believes the work must have a unity of time, subject, matter, action, tone, which is
achieved successfully after one considers and constructs the poems plot thoroughly in ones mind before the poem
is written.
The location of the narrator is very luxurious and secluded. We can draw a parallel between this and ancient Greek
mythology, according to which, an artist should start a poem by thinking the effect he wants the poem to have on
readers. All poems should be about beauty. People should not seek truth in art, but beauty.
After choosing beauty as his area of interest, Poe considered sadness to be the highest manifestation of beauty. A
great poem should evoke the emotion of sadness and a melancholic tone. Subject matter and theme would be the
death of a beautiful woman as the perfect combination of beauty and melancholy. Poe wanted to use the one
melancholic topic that was universally understood, and so he chose death. Among many others, he believed that the
death of a beautiful woman was the most poetical use of death, because it closely relates to beauty.
After establishing the subject and tone, Poe first wrote the stanza that brought the narrator's conversation with the
raven to a climax, the third verse from the end, and made sure that no preceding stanza would "surpass this in
rhythmical effect." Poe then worked backwards from this stanza and used the word "nevermore" in many different
manners, so as to successfully avoid monotony, and stick to the repetition of this word.
Poe builds the tension, stanza by stanza, but after the climaxing stanza he
tears the whole thing down by letting the narrator know that his search for a moral in the raven's "nevermore" is in
vain. In Norse mythology, Huginn (from Old Norse "thought) and Muninn (Old Norse "memory" or "mind) are a
pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. According to this, it is
fair to conclude that the raven might as well be established as a symbol for the narrator's constantly present neverending thoughts and memories of dear Lenore.
23. The Fall of the House of Usher: Characters of Roderick and Madeline Usher
The main characters in the story resemble typical characters Poe wrote about. Roderick is the
main character and the rest are put in the story to help us understand him better. The other characters are
Madeline, his deceased sister, the narrator and the House.
Concerning Roderick, there have been quite a few autobiographical elements Poe made use of in building this
complex character. Poes anxiety, restlessness, fear, disconnection from reality reflect in Rodericks own
troubles and some argue that Roderick even resembles Poe physically. We learn that he is one of the last
descendants of the House of Usher, along with his twin sister, an ancient and respectable family. At the beginning

we find out that he has sent a letter to the narrator urging him to come. Being unable to cope with his
difficult situation, Roderick is helpless and his letter demands (rather than asks) for help.
On their first meeting, it is apparent that Roderick is suffering from feelings of isolation and devastation. His
physical appearance reflects his mental state. According to the narrator, his once handsome and pleasant
countenance is now completely unrecognizable. Roderick is now miserable, pale, cadaverous, thin and ill. He is
helpless and different in the most unearthly way.
He suffers from a mental illness, depression and acuteness of the senses. Precisely speaking, he cannot stand
food, odours or light. He also struggles with anxiety. The reason for such an inhumane state is the mysterious
illness of his sister (we can conclude it is catalepsy) who is his only friend and relative left. Her eventual death will
leave him in complete loneliness.
Our chief character is an artistic soul. He particularly enjoys activities which require a certain level of intellect and
require the presence of mind such as reading, writing, painting. He is a learned man who favors the mind, intellect,
spirit, and soul. Music and painting fill his free time in order not to think about his distress. Furthermore,
his hobbis of playing music and painting also express how his misery manifests itself. The paintings are chaotic.
For example, one in particular presents his mental torment and struggle, his deepest concerns, as it shows
Madelines tomb. He tries to find refuge and comfort in the realm of art.
The books he reads are also gloomy. His interests predominantly include the mysterious spiritual, fanciful, and
religious subjects. The Haunted Palaceone of the fantasias, is the poem he accompanies with background
guitar music. The poem shows the contrast between the past and the present state of his mind and
completely unveils his nostalgia for the previous better times. His long gone youth, harmony and sanity of soul
gave way to chaos, gradual loss of reason (his most prized possession), which concerns him
the most. The title is a metaphor for his mind.
The word haunted could denote different things. Firstly, it could plainly point out that the house and its owner
are haunted in the poem. Secondly, Poe often felt haunted by evil forces within this house. Likewise, Roderick
feels haunted, observed and controlled by his house. Roderick even predicts being haunted by Madeline.
Contemplating murder:
There are indications of him contemplating murder and planning to entomb Madeline. For instance, the picture of
the vault, the words entombed and blushed in the poem (Madelines cheeks are blushed).The reason for his
paranoid behavior and actions is fear! Talks of terror are repeated many times through the story to emphasize
it. This fear of being the only descendant of an ancient family makes him murderously enraged.
After the entombment, his state worsens frantically, as he feels haunted by Madeline. His anxiety and disturbance
reach a climax the moment she reappears.
The description of the house of Usher can be applied to Roderick as well with his fall, it
symbolically crumbles down and disappears into the lake. It was a prison to which he was condemned
His sister, Madeline stands for the body, senses, reality, matter. She is only physically present, we do not find out
about her interests. His twin appears three times, but her sinister presence is felt throughout the whole
narration. She was ill, suffered from catalepsy, and her death came for her swiftly. She is presented with deliberate
vagueness, detached from the real world. Her description is vague, her beauty is only hinted, her voice is never
heard.
We may say that a male-centered world exists in all Poes works, and the women, just like Madeline. are inserted
into them to explain the males (Rodericks) character better.
The relationship between the twins is vague, even though we are informed of the brother is loving and caring
towards his twin sibling. The love he unusually expresses tends to come off as an incestuous feeling and therefore
provokes speculations on the possibility of an incestuous relationship. They can sense each other and what is
happening to them. This is viewed in the fact that only when Madeline is safe, Roderick is sane and filled with
harmony.

In terms of health of the siblings, his mental disorder makes his senses acute, tortures him and made him
imaginative and delusional at a disturbingly high rate. His body is rejecting the senses and everything physical and
materialistic, until the only thing he has left is his intellect.
Madelines illness is physical, she is in a coma-like state most of her time, since her body is stiff, almost paralyzed.
It seems as though her body rejects her intellectual side.
24. The Fall of the House of Usher: Elements of Horror
This remarkable breath-taking brief piece of literature is put together by the outstanding unusual writer Edgar Allan
Poe. The philosophy he developed, carefully followed and with which he fashioned his works is known as the
unity of effect. It is what the devoted perfectionist unexceptionably used, as he tried to set an example for other
writers. He demonstrated it by saying that any writer should bare in mind the primary goal of unifying all aspects
within his work, and avoid losing the trail from the beginning til end. The point of this is to create a strong
emotional effect on the reader, as if the work can manipulate the readers emotional reactions. He marvelously
builds the atmosphere of horror and creates the sense of tension and uneasiness. Primarily through horror elements,
Poe successfully provokes fear, anticipation, and covers the house of Usher with a veil of mystery.
Elements of horror are what make this story unified. Their primary role in this story is to frighten the reader and
lure him into the whereabouts (the house) of the narrator. However, unlike the unity of effect, this wasnt Poes
creation. Horror elements actually originate from the Gothic genre in the 18th century, when Horace Walpole wrote
the first gothic story called The Castle of Otronto. Walpole introduced them, and many others, including Poe,
took them on as well. The House of Usher is, much like any other horror story, filled with them, but there are a
couple of them that outshine the others. They are also the embodiment of the main themes of the story.
The first one that is noticeable from the very beginning is the haunted house, giving our narrator chills just by
looking at it. He also notes that it looks like the house has eyes of its own, and he is unusually cautious while
approaching it. As we know, the worrying appearance of the house does not stop him and he enters, filled with
fear, anticipation, and doubt. This element was present even in those 18th-century stories, a haunted/decaying
house or a castle, and is very common in todays horror movies since it is one of the central and most prominent
elements of horror.
The house is also isolated. It is so far from any other house, that it is questionable whether it had ever been in
contact with the remainder of the world. The characters living in it, Roderick and Madeline Usher, are also isolated
from their own kind and might have been since they can remember. By entering the house, the narrator also loses
contact with the outer world, as Roderick and his sister are the only ones in the house, next to the servant,
throughout the entire story.
This element is closely connected to claustrophobia, though in quite a paradoxical way. Roderick and Madeline are
at the same time far away from the world, but also trapped inside their own house. Even their bodies are perceived
as a kind of prison, torturing and holding their souls captive. In the story, Madeline is put in a coffin, after having
been pronounced dead by her brother, but she has always been familiar with similar confinement her entire life,
since Rodericks overwhelming personality is what trapped her and caused her to become both physically and
mentally ill. Metaphorically, the narrator isnt necessarily trapped by the house, but by Rodericks constant need of
attention.
Another important element is the doppelganger motif or character double. It means that the characters have another
character mirroring them, usually the one person worthy of comparison to the first one, sometimes portrayed as a
supernatural phenomenon or a bringer of bad luck. In the story, weve got Roderick and Madeline, who we learn to
be twins, so the motif is even stronger, and the act of mirroring is even more convincing. This motif is well
demonstrated in the scene where the two become separated, and we observe how this change affects both of them.

Supernatural elements are inevitable in almost every horror story. Poe at one point persuades us to question
whether Madeline was trapped in the coffin dead or alive. Either way, how did she escape the tomb and knock
down the secured door? Another supernatural element are their physical/mental disorders, which are brought to an
extreme, due to their symbolic meanings, as such a hyperactivity of the senses that Roderick copes with is by no
means normal. On the contrary, it is abnormal! Not to mention the sudden death of Madeline and the circumstances
under which she is ill.
Mystery is the veil that covers the entire story from the very first sentence, where we are already uncertain of the
reason why Roderick requested that the narrator come even though they havent talked in years. The letter sent to
our narrator contained a crucial detail briefly mentioning the unusual disease thats clouded the mind of Mr Usher.
This was the fact that opened our minds to more serious speculations about the future events to come.
We see Roderick in the story as the mad person. However, under the influence of the house, Roderick himself in a
fit of terror calls our narrator madman, as he may have turned mad as well, before managing to escape.
At last, we have the hidden or implied element of incest. The narrator notes that the Usher family had only one
line and this hints to a wider history of incest within the family. Also, knowing that Roderick and Madeline are the
last members of the family, it could be argued that the incapability to produce an heir is what possibly drove them
ill and finally mad. The family line ends tragically with their deaths.
Poe used all of these elements of horror in order to fulfill his unity of effect, portray the characters in his own
unique and intriguing way, and highlight several main themes of the story.
25. Walt Whitmans Poems: Themes, Form, Structure
One of the literary revolutionaries of America who created a new poetic form and opened up topics to a wide range
that nobody else dared to touch. Whitman had been productive from an early age, helping his family in the printing
industry, later turning towards teaching, journalism, and finally becoming a writer/poet. He had strong ideas about
womens property rights, about immigration, and most importantly about slavery. His free verse, his stitching
together of encyclopedic lists, completely broke with poetic and literary convention.
His life was what mostly influenced the themes he used. The title of his greatest collection of poems Leaves of
Grass already suggests the theme of nature and the importance of it for Whitman. He saw his poetry as something
organic, he wanted it to grow and since he always worked on his poems and republished them. His collection
Leaves of Gray contains almost 300 poems. Over his lifetime he had 7 editions of the book. The theme of the
village vs. the city (urban vs. rural surrounding) was influenced by his childhood spent on a farm on Long Island
and later in urban Brooklyn, where he had a chance to meet many different people. In his poetry, he also glorified
the human body and said that there is nothing dirty about it, that it is of the same importance as soul, every particle
of a person is important. Love is a recurring theme in his poetry. He wrote about all kinds of love, but since he was
openly homosexual, he explored his sexuality in some works, along with loneliness and discomfort for not being
able to express it. He wrote passionately about war. Since he worked in the war as a male nurse, he listened to
many different yet all horrifying accounts of young soldiers during the Civil war, and so he had been in direct
contact with all the brutality but also sorrow of the broken families. It is from this experience that he produced a
small book of poems called Drum-Taps, which is one of only two accounts of the Civil war written by people
who actually experienced it.
He was called bard of democracy, because all of his poems are based on the notion of a universal brotherhood. He
believed in the possibility of America achieving a universal brotherhood and equality that no other culture had
been able to establish yet. The theme of freedom, influenced by transcendentalism, is interconnected with many of
these themes.
Concerning form and structure, catalogue was the basic unit of his poetry. In these catalogues he addressed
everybody because he didnt want anyone to feel excluded. He tried to present people, body parts (or whatever is

included in the catalogues) as a whole, but also emphasizing their variety. He also made use of opera elements,
merging poetry and music to create perfect balance and harmony. Though Whitman incorporates other elements of
the opera as well, the aria is especially noticeable and important. It is a part of the opera, meant for a solo singer,
which is very lyrical, and expresses deep emotion. In his poetry, arias are printed in italics, thus they are put in
focus. Their rhythm is different from the rest of the poem. Free-verse is what made his style unique, and it gave
him possibilities to express himself, more than he would be able to using a traditional meter.
Ones Self I Sing is the opening of Leaves of Grass, announces his major concerns and says to whom his
poems are dedicated. He calls for the unity of readership to whom he is singing but also establishes himself as an
individual. Walt wants soul and body, man and woman, to unite announcing the new approach whose focus will be
the modern, contemporary person.
Me Imperturbe is a poem where Whitman admires nature and urges all men and women of all parts of America
to unite and learn self-balance from it. Evident influence of transcendentalism is apparent here.
I Hear America Singing includes the theme of poet being a part of the mass but still remaining an individual.
Here he employs catalogue. The short literary piece is one of his typical poems, which features numerous people of
different professions. Here, Walt argues that each of these individuals sings their own strong melodious song.
The duty of the poet is to collect all of these songs and include them into his own poetry. Whitman agrees with
Shelley that the poet is a seer (because he can see more than many ordinary people) and sayer (he says all of what
he sees through his poetry), and so he is capable of voicing what other people see.
Song of Myself, Part 2 reveals the theme of the poet as a prophet he believed a time will come when poets will
replace priests. IT also expresses the idea that on a certain level, we are all the same, we all carry poetry in
ourselves. What we need to do is always discover something more (there are millions of suns left) and gain our
own knowledge. We shouldnt depend on what others offer us, but go and discover new things for ourselves, find
out what matters for us in our own time.
Song of Myself, Part 6 obviously indicates the theme of nature, where a series of answers are given to a childs
question, What is grass?.
In his lifetime, Leaves of Grass was considered by many people to be a disgraceful book. But by the end of his
life, he acquired the name the good gray poet. He didnt really receive the attention he deserved back in his day.
26. Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking: Themes and Structure
In 1860, the poem was first published under the name A Word out of the Sea in his collection Leaves of Grass,
and it was later published in 1871, with its final title. Whitman thought the poet spirit should correspond to his
countrys spirit. Consequently, the themes used reflect their physical/spiritual state. The poem includes themes of
love and loss, life and death, nature, the birth of a poet, and their relation to poetry demonstrated in a single setting
and situation.
Whitman celebrated mans oneness with nature. The imagery nature creates is used to frame the main themes. It
faithfully follows the changes in the emotions and reflects the change in rhythm and tone. It is viewed through
natural elements such as: the sun, the moon, the stars, the wind, and the earth. The most dominant elements are the
mockingbirds and the sea! The change in appearance of the moon is noticeable. It seems to mimic the behavior of
the bird. The he-bird involves all of the elements in the search for his lost mate desperately calling for help, but it
proves a failure. The boy eventually begins to feel a bond with the bird, and through this he expresses a deep
fondness and closeness to the natural world. The boy even calls the bird his brother. It is owing to nature that the
eager and concerned boy can reach full emotional and poetic maturity.
Love is demonstrated by the touching relationship of the two mockingbirds. Translating the birds song into human
language and the birds experience into human experience, Whitman most explicitly reveals the theme of love. As
the love comes to an abrupt end, this links the theme of love closer to the theme of loss. At the beginning, these

birds enjoy harmony and unconditional love, which results in them producing 4 eggs. The idea of eternity is also
present in the lines minding no time. However, the state of complete and utter welfare is ever so easily
overthrown by disaster when the she-bird suddenly disappears. Happiness is erased by grief, sorrow takes over the
he-birds song. It becomes elegiac, as his thoughts gradually turn to death. He realizes he is never to be reunited
with his mate. Surprisingly, the birds love only grows with separation and loss.
There are two interpretations that inspect the boys intense and personal reaction to the mournful mockingbirds
song: Either the boy experiences an epiphany and recognizes his artistic or poetic side or the story of the two birds
is actually the poets current retelling of his childhood memory. For some literary critics, it must be the latter case,
since they believe a mere boy would hardly have such serious thoughts and expectations of his future. In both
cases, the result of the birds loss and disturbing melody is in the boys realization of his true identity. It is the
implied death of the she-bird that influences his development. The poet is awaken in the boy, along with
inspiration, whether he is fully conscious of it or not. This experience marks the moment of rebirth seen in the birth
of a poet and inspiration. Through the birds heavy feelings of devistation, the boy identifies with the
mockingbird. He decides his task will be to pour out his experiences through poetry.
Now, the question is why does the poem continue after the end of the mockingbirds cry? In further exploration of
his feelings, the boy says that something extraordinary has been released within him. He suddenly turns to the sea
in his search of a reason for such suffering. He involves the sea into his seeking for the word final, superior to
all. The boy finally concludes that it is the lesson of loss which can lead to artistic development.
The theme of life and death is dominant in the second part of the poem and is most dominant at the end. The child
and is now turning to the ocean, wanting something more. But why? In the beginning, we have an idylic setting
and a harmonious atmosphere, at least in the eyes of the boy. We are told nothing directly about the disappearance
of the she-bird, and so her abscence implies death! After the bird's song, the poet starts alluding to questions that
every human being wonders about in their lifetime, an answer to the meaning of death in the natural world. The
example of death (the implied she-bird's disappearance) is a microplan which expands onto a wider picture. This
universal plan represents the cycle of life and death, seen as a constant unstoppable continuity. Life and death are
inseparable occurences.
The scene with the ocean where the boy looks to it for an answer, views the sea as a force superior to all. Between
the boy and the poet, there is a tight connection, a kind of space in the middle, representing the transition! He uses
his own spiritual journey as a metaphor to agan demonstrate the cycle of life and death! The "old crone rocking her
cradle" stands as another metaphor to support the idea of the neverending cycle. The old crone representing death,
whereas the cradle represents new life.
Whitman uses strong symbolism in the creation of poetic images. One of the most dominant symbols is the sea. At
the end of the poem, it can be viewed metaphorically as the symbol of death and life, or the cycle of birth-lifedeath-rebirth. It symbolizes maternity. It is the symbol of the spiritual world to which poetry is devoted. Endlessly
rocking is an expression reminding the reader of the motion of waves.
Whitman has chosen to replace the literary nightingale with a domestic American bird, the mockingbird. Birds are
known primarily as symbols of freedom. According to many cultures, they symbolise eternal life, the link between
heaven and earth. In Christianity, they can represent virtue or vice. The blackbird represents the darkness of sin
(black feathers) and the temptations of the flesh (its beautiful song). Once, while Saint Benedict was praying, the
devil tried to distract him, appearing as a blackbird. This might explain why the insecure boy calls the bird Devil
or bird.In the poem, it symbolises the artist/poet and its song his poetry.. The birds pain is the poets struggle as
well.
The Sun and the Moon are two counterparts, symbolically representing light/dark, male/female, heat/cold, earth/
sky and life/death. In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang ("brightdark") describes how opposite or contrary forces
are actually complementary, interconnected, and dependent on each other. Symbolically, the sun is yin, and the

moon is yang. Together they represent perfect balance and the cycle of life and death. In the poem, the moon
seems to sympathize with the he-birds sorrow and deep sense of loss. It even disappears with the abandoned hope
of the bird. Contrastingly, the sun is the symbol that stands for fulfilled love and happiness, seen at the beginning
of the poem. Through colors, the two can also be differentiated. The stars represent the diseased which have
entered the spiritual world. The bird looks to the stars in search of his beloved.
In terms of structure, it is important to point out the setting, the Paumanok shore, which is the Indian name for
Long island where Whitman was born and grew up. The poem is divided into three sections: the song of the two
birds together, the mournful song of the he-bird, and the song of the sea.Walt Whitmans work was generally
overlooked due to his unique style. He abandoned the regular meter and rhyme patterns of his contemporaries, as
he was influenced by Biblical poetry. This style, called free verse, is isindependent of the traditional steady
rhythm and organized patterns. It is interested in the variable melody of speech and the imagery. The rhythm of this
poem is dictated by sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. This is how Whitman forms a kind of
rhythmic structure. The style is more realistic and raw.
The most important techniques in Whitmans prosody are syntactic parallelism, repetition, and cataloging.
Whitman tends to establish a sequence of coordinate clauses, from two to four lines long, based on parallelism
between syntactic units within lines. He succeeds in creating a mirror effect repeating images in reverse order.
For example we have the harmonious image of the two birds and their nest and the contrasting scene where the
she-bird is apparently missing. Rhyming parallelism dissolves difference in succession of lines that begin
uniquely but end in echo, building a sense of punctuated similarity. For example But my love soothes not me, not
me. Anaphoric parallelism begins with similarity (prepositional phrases) and ends with the differences in distinct
concrete examples, images.
Concerning repetition, anaphora presents the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of lines. We
come across it immediately Out of/Out of Epistrophe is the repetition of the same word or string of words at
the end of lines. Its the opposite of anaphora. For example, we two together or with love. In reference to
rhythmic repetition, we see Whitman's fondness for trochaic movement rather than iambic movement, partly
because the trochee is more suitable for eloquent expression. The dactyl "Out of the cradle endlessly rocking..."
becomes a pulse that is felt through the entire poem. Words give his poetry great significance. He used ordinary,
everyday words but gave them abstract and contradictory meaning, through the use of figures of speech, like
assonance (repetition of sounds within words -O the shape, it is the shape of my mate), alliteration
(repetition of initial sounds - Out from the patches of briers and blackberries), antithesis (two contrasting
ideas -Singing all time, minding no time). Apostrophe is utilized when the bird tries to involve all natural
elements in its search: Land! land! O land. Metaphors are numerous ( the dominant metaphor for the cycle of
life and death - the old crone rocking the cradle).
There is an obvious difference between the italics part, the birds song, and the normal style of writing, the poets
words. Birds twitter, so Whitman tried to mimic their way of speaking which is why the birds stanzas begin with
repetition of words.
Phrasal cataloguing is a balanced combination of parallelism and rhetorical repetition. Catalogue a list of
various things, in this case, a list of prepositional phrases. Examples are apparent at the beginning when the poet
introduces prepositions: out of, from, up, down There is also parallelism of clause, phrase, and combinations of
the two. The goal is to achieve a certain sound effect and imitate the rhythm of a chant. Whitman made a balance
between traditional verse form and new loosened form, and so created a new type of prosody.
Whitmans free verse also features the irregularity of stanza form. The stanzas tend to form units of expression,
elaborating on a figure or theme that is announced in the first line of the stanza. Their length mimics the length of
the poets expressive thought. Length varies with content, mood and intent, and so does the rhythm and foot.
Everything is adjusted to mimic natural human speech.

Sound effects are also achieved through vocabulary, associated to the birds chant: twittering, fluttering, flitting .
The sea lisps and whispers. The waves are slapping, lapping.
What also makes his style authentic is the use of opera. Whitman's poem has a somewhat operatic structure,
featuring the overture, arias, recitatives, threnody and finale. Overture is used to set the main themes. Lets say
that the mature poet is remembering the experience that determined his destiny as a poet, and the crucial moment
in his childhood is being revisited.Then, Whitman uses an aria (a long accompanied lyric song for a solo voice;
given in italics; in free verse) to achieve contrast between the narrative sections and the gleeful birds melody. In
the first aria, the "two feather'd guests" are at the height of their love, while the boy is still passive. Between two
arias there is recitative that begins with "till of a sudden". It is the voice of a narrator using ordinary speech to tell
us of the sudden turn of events. The second aria is completely different from the first one. The boy becomes a part
of the story as he hears the cries of the bird and identifies with it. The bird becomes a "singer solitary" and the boy
solitary me listening. The poet begins "translating the notes". The aria sinking marks the end of the birds cry. It
is followed by a threnody (a song of lamentation for the dead), where the bird mourns for his lost love. Finale
includes the boy turning to the vast sea and receiving the word final.
To conclude, it is only after thorough analysis and various interpretations of the poetic themes and images that one
is able to fully grasp Whitmans message. Whitman implies in his work a generalization of life, something we all
experience and wonder about during our lives. Walt encourages the reader to welcome or accept the idea of death
as it is out of all life experiences the most life-affirming. Through the experience of watching a pair of
mockingbirds, Whitman explains how he came to understand the cycle of life and death and recognize his poetic
side.
He offers a a seed of hope to the reader suggesting that not all sorrow has to end necessarily in dispair and
abandoned hope.The fact that the birds loss provoked the rebirth of the boys soul, the birth of a poet, brings a
positive outlook on the future.
Not surprisingly, Whitan finds inspiration in opera, since music represents a deep universal order, and this is why
Whitman uses it to present the cycle of life and death as a universal continuance.
Whitman is intreagued by the complexity of life, he shares it with his audience and he celebrates it.
INTRODUCTION FOR ALL TOPICS Emily Dickinson:
Emily Dickinson served as a role model for all women poets who came after her. She was the first one, brave
and in a way rebellious enough to introduce, so to say, a whole new model of that time woman woman not
afraid to be independent, inventive and imaginative. Her humble and recluse life proves that it is not of great
importance to travel widely or live a scandalous life full of drama in order to write great poetry. Although she
knew the shore is safer, Emily Dickinson was well aware that one cannot discover new waters if he or she
is afraid to let go of the shore. Therefore, she committed her life to researching and exploring, to some other
artists, terrifying sides of both life and death, and very sophisticatedly putting her discoveries into words
explaining her views of them metaphorically through many images among which nature, love, death, religion
and poetry were one of the most powerful ones.
27. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Love
The range of her love poetry is wide. Some poems express her absolute devotion to the chosen one, but
whether he is of earthly or heavenly being is hard to say. Some of her poems have an unmistakable erotic
tone, which often puzzles those who look up her biography for the reason. Other poems show the tragedy of
separation. Love is seen as temporary and transitory and therefore is often painful and frightening. Her belief
that any relationship is foredoomed by times encroachment that weakens and finally destroys it, led to her
tragic renunciation of love. Nevertheless, she loved and was loved by her family and her cycle of close

friends. It is important to bear in mind that not all experiences in her poems are real. Some of them are
produced from her imagination, since the I, so frequent in her poetry, is often fictive.
When talking about Dickinsons poems in which the theme of love is dominant, we can differentiate several
subgroups of which most poems are those about passion, those displaying her feelings when she is without
love and those dedicated to the Master - any influential male figure in her life like her father, lovers, God,
Jesus, reverend Charles Wadswarth.
Wild Nights Wild Nights! is open, directly erotic although it was not in her nature to write about
passionate love. Wild nights are here only hypothetical, speaking of what the speaker and her love interest
would have if they were together. She desires those passionate wild nights to happen. However, her heart is
partly closed and shed rather be free and not have her life governed by rules. She wants him to provide
safety, but simultaneously craves freedom. Her idea of Eden is viewed as the sea and she often depicts the
sea as though it were her male love interest. She wants to be tied with him, to anchor herself to him, but also
explore him and his depths. Done with the compass, done with the chart is a way of her exclaiming they
do not need reason. The sea can be either male or a female, so the speaker can also be either male or female.
Dickinson sometimes writes from the male perspective (like in A Narrow Fellow). The sea and lake
usually symbolize female principle.
Over the fence is an expression which she uses as a metaphor for the social conventions preventing her
from crossing the line. Furthermore, she says how strawberries which are red, sweet, juicy and sensual
symbolize summer and therefore stand for love and passion, and they also grow over the fence which implies
that they are forbidden. She knows that she could climb over this fence if only she wanted to. But she is
aware that if she gave in to this passion she would be judged and punished by God because her actions were
immoral. Her sin would be unforgivable. Then she turns to God, stating that if he were a boy, he would
certainly go beyond it and would be more compassionate towards her wishes. Therefore, the poem reflects
the double standards of the society she lived in. Men could act the way women were forbidden to, without
being scrutinized and judged by society.
My Life Had Stood - a Loaded Gun can be classified into Master poems although it deals with more
aspects. It is about both her activity and passivity as woman, freedom to create and oppression felt from the
society. This is one of Emily Dickinsons best and most interpreted poems, though no critic has succeeded to
properly and wholly explain it. One of the widely accepted interpretations is that a loaded gun here
represents Dickinsons dangerous, lethal, Vesuvian artistic power she believed to have and helps us in
understanding Emily Dickinson and through her the condition of a female artist in the 19th century. Life
here refers to the personified life of the gun/pen/art which stood still in corners until the poet discovered it in
herself and grasped it. The fact that it is loaded refers both to the fact that it is unused and that it has potential
to do harm through language. In addition, a loaded gun here probably symbolizes the oppressed inner
strength of women not allowed to express themselves, and she is the representative of them.
With her gun she hunts does (symbol of womens fragility), because as an artist she must deny her
femininity, if she is to achieve the fullness of power in her verse. Every time she speaks and her pleasure
erupts like a volcano, nature replies instantly and reflects her mood, bringing joy and strength. So, she knows
that she may outlive her inspiration and art, but she hopes they outlive her, since without them she is worth
no more than dead, but with them, she has the power to kill.
This surrender of womanhood transformed her into a weapon and ultimately the owners recognition and
adoption (the masters embrace) identified her. The owner carries her away and she is granted freedom, but is
now a claimed possession. At night she guards the Master above his head. But as a gun she is useless until he
pulls the trigger. Thats why she needs him, to inspire her and guide her.

Heart! We Will Forget Him! is a poem with which she calls for her heart to explain how a lover is someone
that gives love, warmth, light, life. She tells her heart theyll forget him. However, she is aware that it will
inevitably take time and effort, and that even brief memories would slow her down in this difficult process.
I Envy Seas Whereon He Rides emphasizes the distance felt between lovers, the sea being the measure of
it. Envy surrounds her heart when she thinks of every object that gets in touch with her lover. The poem
shows how deep her pain is or was, since the poem was written at the time when reverend Charles
Wadsworth left.
If you were coming in the Fall explores how the absence of the loved one can take a psychological toll on
someone. Dickinson tries to show how anxious she would be if her beloved were coming. Through
comparison she paints the hypothetical scene: a housewife preparing for the guest. This example of domestic
imagery tells a lot about her way of life. If she knew he was coming, days, months, years, and centuries
wouldnt be too long for her to keep waiting. If she knew that she would be granted eternal life with him, she
would immediately exchange this life and embrace the next, happier one. But since she cannot know, her life
is unbearable, pointless, tormenting for her. What troubles her is the indeterminacy of their reunion, and this
raises the feeling of doubt and dread.
My life closed twice before its close is the last poem dealing with separation and is the strongest when
observing how the speaker experiences separation from her beloved. We are not sure whether the lover has
abandoned the speaker in any way (mere absence or death), but the end of love affected the speaker deeply.
This detachment is like death itself to her, and she cannot imagine anything more terrible than the two
deprivations already experienced. Another meaning of this poem is a bit universal. It is about the tragedy of
human life during which we are made endure the feeling of loss. Parting here connects heaven and hell; we
have to leave our loved ones behind to enter heaven, or let them leave us so that they find peace, but
simultaneously, parting is the worst thing which can befell a human being. Therefore, it is the only thing we
need of hell, as there is nothing worse.
Forever at His side to walk dedicated to the Master. It could be either about the lover or God, since the
H in His is capitalized. Either way, she wants to walk forever by his side and considers herself smaller,
or rather inferior to him. She imagines them walking through life fused by love and commitment into One
Being. If she were one with him, she wouldnt mind feeling grief or joy. The second stanza talks of a perfect
union after death. It begins with the assumption that we can never truly know our companion or any other
person on earth. We depend on their lexicon, our partners words and explanations of his behavior. We go
through life trying to understand our loved ones. But after death there is a Change Called Heaven..
Therefore, it is after death, in a heavenly marriage, that the narrator and her beloved will finally understand
each other without the lexicon!
Title Divine Is Mine - this poem combines spiritual (divine) love and human passion. It is also about how
the author feels as a wife, even though she isn't one. She feels like a Royal, but without the crown, betrothed
without a swoon, expressing what she lacks. She differs from the typical appearance of a bride, having no
sign in the form of a ring or a dress. The poem takes a religious turn when she dubs herself Empress of
Calvary due to her great sacrifice and suffering (Calvary - name of the hill where Jesus was executed), and
in this sense she is a worthy bride of Christ. Nuns are sometimes considered or called the brides of the
Christ because they devote themselves completely to religion. This term could also be a biographical
reference, since Calvary was the name of the church where Charles Wadsworth became pastor in the year the
poem was written. She states, "Born Bridalled Shrouded/ In a Day, feeling as if she was born, wed, and died
all in the same day through not truly being married. But why is that a victory? The only connection would be
religion. They are part of the seven sacraments. She ends by asking "Is this - the way?" Perhaps she is feeling
as if she is going against God since she isn't married. Another interpretation of this line is that she was born

to new life as a bride, she is subordinate to her husband and she is shrouded her virgin life being over. IT all
happened in a single day.
The Soul selects her own Society- It can be about both love and religion. She expresses her attitude to
religion like in Some keep Sabbath. However, since she was in love with a clergyman, it might be that she
employs religious imagery to speak about love. The poem deals primarily with the spiritual aspect of love.
The title carries alliteration: sound s, so as to strengthen the focus on the spiritual side even more. The soul is
the most godly part a human being possesses. She says how a choice that is once made cannot be altered, it is
forever. Like Shakespeare she speaks about marriage of true minds. She does not need material things. On
the contrary, greatest earthly wealth (the Emperor) would mean nothing to her. In the final stanza she says
her love will never disappear, again she is inspired by Shakespeares sonnet: Love is not love which alters
when alteration finds.
Love, to her, often led to a crucifixion of the heart, pain and loss, so it is therefore commonly associated with
the thoughts of evanescence, destruction and death. Through the connection with the Master she establishes a
connection with poetry. She always needed someone to assure her that her poetry is alive. Dickinson
mostly speaks about love between two persons struggling with separation and their hopelessness.

28. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Religion

Dickinson was an excellent student, studying at the Amherst Academy, and then attending the Mount
Holyoke Female Seminary. After a year, for unknown reasons, she departed from the school. Some theorists
believe that her fragile emotional state may have played a role and/or that her father decided to pull her from
the school. She ultimately never joined a particular church or denomination, standing firmly against the
religious norms of the time.
Reverend Charles Wadsworth was regarded as her dearest earthly friend, beloved clergyman, Master.
Though he was 16 years older than her and married, they secretly exchanged letters. Under his influence, she
identified with Jesus more than with God. People couldnt understand her and tended to exclude her from the
society. After reverend Charles left Philadelphia, she grieved and in the year of his departure wrote 360
poems and the following two years another 315 (more than 1/3 of her total output).
Dickinson was a deeply religious poet, dealing with classic religious themes such as death, redemption,
immortality. Her vocabulary unveils her puritan heritage: she often paraphrases the Bible and uses terms of
the established theology: salvation, redemption, sacrament, lord, Heaven, Paradise
Nevertheless, she didnt respect the dogma. Dissatisfaction with Puritan tradition led to questioning of most
of its theology, and disregarding and redefining much She came to realize that she could never accept
religion as a convention, as something to be experienced through teaching, but as a way of life. Therefore,
her religion had no church, believing she could converse directly with God in person.
In some of her poems she describes the nature of conventional faith, analyses and scrutinizes it in her mind
and in the end proves its faults. Some of the most vital religious themes she uses is life after death. Emilys
feelings towards immortality were understandable not only because it is mysterious and fascinating but
because she felt she needed some faith to lean on when she experienced the deaths of people close to her
(mother, father, nephew, several close friends) .
She often identifies with Jesus, calling herself Queen of Cavalry (cavalry-Jesus road to his crucifixion).
She empathizes with his suffering, since she was also excluded from society and her poetry was rejected.
Other sources of her inspiration she calls Master, next to Jesus, include her father, her lovers, and God.

Faith is a fine invention- here, we observe the initial word faith which is highlighted with quotation
marks, denoting a sarcastic and maybe even a defiant tone. Her sense of irony is quite apparent and
establishes the atmosphere throughout the whole stanza. The nature of the first line directly questions
religion. She calls faith a fine invention, and then goes on to compare it to another one a microscope. She
openly shows preference to the latter, arguing that it is more reliable in a time of great distress, providing
immediate answers and concrete results. She also criticizes its ever faithful followers who are most likely
to devote time to prayer when they are in trouble, instead of it being an everyday practice. Its as if theyre
bargaining with God. In conclusion, science proves to be more straight-up and closer to reality, while prayers
less than often offer such relief.
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church is a poem where she speaks of others going to church, while she
opts to stay within her house. Here, she finds comfort and everything else she needs. She supports her
decision with an example, replacing the church choir with the birds. She has wings, which points to the fact
that she has attained freedom right where she is. She reflects on God, stating that he preaches and his
sermons are never long, but quite brief. Her poem comes to an end, as she claims she is already in heaven
-going all along. She might be referring to her garden, as it always was a kind of sanctuary for her. The
attitude felt throughout the verse is unusually confident, a trait Emily does not often express.
Similarly to the first poem, Prayer is a little implement is also written with a sarcastic tone. Implement
meaning tool, she describes the prayer as a way in which people tend to communicate with God. She feels
that humans turn their heads to the fact that God is not always available and not always listening. Whats
worse, by flinging their speech they show disrespect towards the higher power and shamelessly misuse
prayers. Prayer is supposed to be both ways, starting an interaction with God, but people underestimate the
nature and beauty of it.
Why do they shut Me out of Heaven? here she is asking herself why she is rejected by the heavens,
and what she did wrong. Did I sing too loud corresponds with was she too outspoken in her poetry? Was it
a mistake speaking her mind? She wants a second chance to enter Heaven. She promises to behave, just to
prevent Angels from shutting the door. In the last stanza she says if she were God in the white robe, she
wouldnt forbid anyone to enter. She comes off as obedient and humble, as she offers to sing minor notes, in
other words give less honest and direct statements. Based on the expressions minor and little Hand, we
can imagine how she has shrunk herself so as to conform.
Papa above - She could be referring either to her father or to God, judging by the nature of the word
Papa. She wants a place for herself in her fathers house and in Heaven. Even though she is small
(comparing herself to a mouse) and insignificant, she deserves to have her own secured place. She thinks she
is worthy of it. This is another of her works, where she employs domestic imagery: cupboards.
It took her long to gain the confidence she displays in some of her poems. In her childhood, she was troubled
by religion. Her ancestors were Calvinists so as a child she attended sermons with which priests would
threaten with damnation, fires of hell, and etc. She thoroughly disliked going to church as she was pressured
to go. She thought religion was too limiting, whereas it should be more liberal.
29. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Nature
Dickinson was a child of rural 19 th century New England, so it comes as no surprise that from an early age
Dickinson started writing poems about flowers, which she adored. Her personal favorite was the white
saprophytic Indian pipe. Interestingly, after her death, the same flowers graced the cover page of the 1 st

edition of her published collection. In addition, she tended to associate certain flowers (like gentians and
anemones) with youth, innocence, modesty and restraint, while she identified others with cautiousness and
insight
As far as her knowledge of nature is concerned, Dickinson gained it while studying botany during her school
years. Perhaps the most contributive to her knowledge of plants and flowers was a herbarium as one of the
assignments. She collected more than 400 plant specimens from forests, fields, but from her own well-kept
garden as well. Many literature scholars and critics consider this project as a beginning of Emily Dickinsons
intense fondness of nature.
Beside many people who aided in the assembling the attitude and style of Emily, some movements also
helped. Among all, transcendentalism was probably the most influential, a movement supported by Emerson,
Thoreau and Whitman as the most famous representatives. However, she is not considered to be
transcendentalist, even though her poetry is supplied with ideas similar to for instance Whitmans. They both
seeked a way to write poetry that differed from society. Dickinson never actually read any of Whitmans
work, since it was considered to be too aggressive and outspoken for that period. As opposed to
transcendentalists, who claimed that God should be seen and found through nature, Emily saw nature as
godlike itself, and celebrated it as her own religion. On the other hand, similar to many transcendentalists,
she also tried to heal and revive the original relationship between people, God and nature.
Although Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson shared many similarities when it comes to poetry, they also
had their differences concerning the subject of nature. They shared a immense love for it and tried to
emphasize the importance of an individual in it. However, their approaches towards nature differed to some
extent. Possibly, Whitman felt a slightly deeper connection, feeling he was a part of nature, whereas
Dickinson viewed herself as an observer of nature, separating herself from nature and watching it.
Unlike the Romantics who adored and celebrated natures greatness and range, Dickinson was concentrated
on its details, commonly overlooked. Furthermore, she often wrote about things such as bumble bees, flies,
hills and eclipses, which other poets writing about nature usually failed to acknowledge. Dickinson herself
said that she found manifestations of the universal in these details which made her feel harmonious and
blissful. She sought inspiration mostly in her garden where she spent many hours watering flowers, watching
tiny creatures such as birds and bees flying around, in other words truly enjoying herself. This led Dickinson
to think deeply and carefully about the meaning of life. She tried to draw a parallel between life in her
garden and life in human society in general. While William Wordsworth, the father of English romanticism,
celebrated mans return to nature, not only through descriptive poems, but allegorical pieces of art with the
emphasis on the hidden meaning behind the description, Emily Dickinson wrote like she never actually left
her natural surroundings. As opposed to Romantics who were continually coming back to rural areas, or to
be precise, to nature in order to escape from the chaotic modern life in the industrialized cities, Emily
Dickinson left her home town - Amherst only a couple of times. She spent most of her time in the house, and
during the last few years lived secluded, finding comfort only in her room. Hence her poems have a pretty
straight-forward attitude towards nature since she thought it was worth adoring and without the need to add
any metaphorical meaning to its existence. Her love for nature can simply be described as worship.
Her garden was also a kind of shelter for her to escape from everything, and a place where she felt she
belonged. Obviously, Dickinson could much easier identify with the living things in her garden than with the
people who surrounded her. She felt like she was a part of nature.
I taste a liquor never brewed is the best representation of Emily Dickinsons powerful amusement and
satisfaction with every living thing that surrounded her. In this poem where she adopts a persona of a
drunken bee, drunk on a liquor never brewed, she actually glories the air, the dew, and the never-ending
summer days which completely intoxicate her. The liquor never brewed here represents the beauty of nature

that she cannot get enough of. Paradoxically, it seems as if the more she drinks, the thirstier she gets. She
finds herself in such a trans-like mood that she continues drinking even after her death. Yet the central image
here evokes an intoxicant that is not made from what is found in nature but from something that is only to be
found through imagination. Finally, it seems as if the process of creating poetry serves as a kind of
intoxication for Emily Dickinson.
She plays with size when mentioning tankards scooped in pearl. Her alcohol is even more powerful than
European. Inns are pubs in the sky, landlords are gods. The whole nature is a pub where she goes to drink.
She is not allowed to enter heaven because of her whimsical behavior. They envy her for her freedom. They
are leaning against windows and watching her.
A narrow Fellow in the grass - In the opening lines, Dickinson gives a precise visual description of the
snake moving through the grass. However, not once does she mention the word snake in the poem. She calls
it a narrow fellow and by this she tries to catch the readers attention and make them think of the nature of
this creature. Instead of slithering, he rides. She continues by asking the readers whether they have seen it
and tells us where this slim fellow could be found. Additionally, she gives us several clues to why most
people fear snakes. Later on, she introduces a barefoot boy who comes upon it unaware of the snakes
presence but for some reason doesnt get bitten. She implicitly indicates that if the snake bit the boy, it would
only do so out of fear as a natural reaction. On the other hand, it seems like she knows where they live and
they somehow know her. Nevertheless, as much as she is understanding of their behavior, she gets scared
when she runs into them unexpectedly. Therefore we get the impression that she prefers they keep to their
place and she keeps to hers. This way she might have been explaining how she felt towards other people and
how she felt about her place in the world. On the other hand, the snake can be seen as a metaphor for a man
in which case one can conclude that she is actually afraid of men.
A Bird came down the Walk is a poem where Dickinson especially astonishes her readers with vivid and
exceptional imagery. She once again proves a child of nature, demonstrating her rare ability to notice and
document the smallest details in nature and find satisfaction in it. The poem centers upon a bird, devouring a
worm, stepping aside so as to let a beetle pass, looking around fearfully, as the narrator cautiously attempts
to offer a crumb. This is followed by the birds immediate take off. In addition, the last stanza is what takes
the readers by surprise. The comparison of the bird with that of the butterfly and the oar, combined with the
metaphorical usage of aquatic motion (rowing and swimming) is another example of Dickinsons masterful
poetic descriptions, this time of flying. Its as though the bird is swimming though the air, without a single
splash. What Emily is trying to illustrate through this poem is the inevitable distance between the ever wild
and unattainable nature and humans, who wish to tame it.
I started early Took my Dog - In this poem, Dickinson mentions mermaids, which is a very good
demonstration of her mixing of natural and supernatural elements. She says the mermaids are in the
basement, alluding to the bottom of the sea, where they are thought to live. As opposed to basement, in the
second stanza she mentions the Upper Floor which stands for the surface of the sea where the mermaids
came to look at her because she is so unusual and different. Although evidently distinctive, she thinks of
herself as small and calls herself a Mouse. In the next stanza she introduces a sexual imagery, which very
commonly appears in her poetry. She depicts the sea as a male force and gives it a sexual connotation. She
describes the gradual advance of the male power trying to capture her and even consume her, but at one point
she very skillfully reverses these roles and by the end of the poem the sea withdraws and pays her respect.
Obviously, this poem is just one of the reasons why Dickinsons poetry cannot be taken for granted without
deeper analysis.
30. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Poetry

In the matter of how poetry should be created, Dickinson had her own definitions and ideas of poetry. She
was never cared for technical matters such as rhyme, metric feet or the organization of stanzas. She much
rather focused on the subject matter and the emotions her poems would provoke in her hypothetical readers.
Dickinsons views on poetry and its uses was inevitably influenced by her education, but also certain
groundbreaking discoveries of the time, like for example Charles Darwins evolution theory, which
reinforced her suspicions of religion and the religious conventions of the time. She was quite aware of how
secular the world has become.
She spoke her mind freely, since she wasnt familiar with the pressure of publishing and sharing her
creativity with the outer world. She was a revolutionary, just like William Wordsworth, which can be
observed in Tell all the truth but tell it slant. This is one of Dickinsons most famous metapoems, or
poems about poetry, considered to be the best demonstration of her philosophy and way of writing. She is
clear what in stating her writing strategy as we learn it is based on avoidance of being direct and use of
ambiguity. She is often going in circles and uses circumvention. Slant is an important word, since it hints at
her writing style she used slant rhyme rather than rhyme at the end of the line. Emily metaphorically
explains the role of the poet using the image of a mother who isolates and protects her children (readers)
from the lightning, by offering them kind explanations. In other words, she presents them with as much of
the truth as they are capable of absorbing. We are too handicapped to handle the truth because it is so light
and pure. She compares nature and truth viewing truth as lightning, a natural phenomenon that cannot be
controlled or manipulated with. Infirm delight - Truth has become such a rare occurrence that it has
become delightful to tell it. As you cant calm lightning, you shouldnt be able to dazzle the truth. You cannot
dazzle something gradually. Every man is blind, as people keep covering the truth with masks, corrupting it.
Her use of paradoxical syllogism supports the historical fact that women in the 19th century were not
encouraged to write poetry, so she herself could not be direct.
This is my letter to the World - In these lines, the letter is a written message. The letter is addressed to
the world, in other words, the Earth or the whole natural universe; the readers or the human race. The letter is
unrequited (unanswered), for the speaker never received any letters from the world. This could very well be
a metaphor for the harsh reality of the artist who is lonely and misunderstood. If the speaker is writing
poetry, it might be that the world/the society has never acknowledged or praised the poets talent and
creativity. However, Dickinson is not discouraged. Even if the communication is one-sided, it continues
nevertheless. Dickinson may have been put down by criticism and poor reception her poems received from
her contemporary fellow writers, but she seemed to realize that true genius is often under-minded in its day.
As the poem denotes, Dickinson kept writing her poetry with the confidence that someday its proper
audience would appreciate it.
Publication is the Auction in this poem, Dickinson shares her thoughts on the matter of the publication
of poetry. She is disgusted by it. She feels that to have ones works published, is the same as auctioning off
ones mind. The poem represents Dickinsons refusal to subject her poetry to the demands of this literary
marketplace. She believes that art shouldnt be for sale and shouldnt be engaged in any kind of competition.
Not even poverty as a reason for publication is an excuse she finds just and good enough. Furthermore, she
would rather live in a garret (an unfurnished attic). She says that thoughts (metaphorically represented as
snow pure, incorrupt) are given to her by the white creator, that is God, and that she has no right to
blemish them. She compares publication to prostitution, claiming that to sell ones thoughts is to sell ones
soul. She also suggests that one persons thoughts are not worth more than anothers.

Im Nobody, Who are you? - Here she embraces the fact that she was not going to publish her poetry. She
is comparing people who think they are relevant public figures to frogs. It is undeniable that there are many
famous people who deserve recognition. But there are just as many of those who seek and gain recognition
for trivial actions by croaking their names, like a frog the livelong June (the period when they produce eggs),
in other words the entire day. People who are their audience represent the Bog (wet muddy ground), that
praise them and provide the conditions under which these frogs survive. The poem suggests anonymity is
preferable to fame. It is a satirical poem that challenges authority!
Success is counted sweetest is a poem which displays images of a victorious army and one dying warrior
to suggest that only after one has suffered defeat, one can truly appreciate success. Emily Dickinsons most
famous poems tend to act as homilies, short moral sayings, which are in form simple but in terms of meaning
are complicated and feature moral and psychological observations. This poem is based on a paradox.
Furthermore, it centers upon the inherent tendency of people to desire things much more when they do not
have them. Therefore, the defeated, dying soldier understands victory more clearly than the victorious army
does.
I dreaded that first Robin, so - Dickinson used robins as a synonym for spring in various poems in
previous years. Here she says, ironically, that she dreads the first robin. She doesnt want to observe the
yellow daffodils or hear the bees, nor see spring blossoms. Instead, she urges the grass to grow tall enough to
hide the flowers. Her emotional state is quite depressing, to the point where she also refers to herself as
Queen of Calvarythe queen of suffering and sacrifice, Calvary being the place of Jesus crucifixion. The
birdsong might mangle her and the daffodils would pierce her. She is in real physical danger from what
normally pleases her. Her fear is provoked by the idea of spring no longer being a joyful rebirth, a symbol of
Resurrection or life after death, but a reminder of death. She sees spring as a march here, rather than a dance.
She salutes the march with childish plumes, which are ostrich feathers carried as a sign of grief in funerals.
The motif of a funeral completes the scene of bitter joy and fear. The poem therefore finishes with her
reluctant acceptance of the fact that spring comes and inevitably goes. Throughout the poem, there is a selfpitying tone and the fear of loss (of the beauty that surrounds her might be pointing to her garden).
I cannot dance upon my Toes - She is being ironic, but is especially surrounded with a certain mood of
happiness. The poem is in the form of a fantasy, where she shares this intuitive knowledge that even if she
hasnt been taught, she possesses a writers skill. She especially pokes at ballet dancers, believing that
despite her lack of training she might, with just some basic Ballet knowledge, amaze the audience and
drive a prima ballerina mad with envy. The ballet imagery may as well be a euphemistic way of denoting
her determination not to conform or fashion her poetry based on conventional poetry. She may not be trained
with the purpose of wowing the audience, but either way she imagines her poetic pirouettes praised and
applauded. She uses the word easy to describe her poetry: it flows naturally, it is not artificial or forced.
She is confident, defiant and proud of her poetic skills!
The Robins my Criterion for Tune: Explains how much pressure there was for her to fit in. She was judged
because she was provincial. The general opinion was that writers who didnt travel didnt have anything to
say that would be valuable or offering new ideas, since travelling broadens the mind. It was customary to
make a tour in Europe before you start writing. She often compares herself to birds because they stand for
freedom. For her this means freedom of poetic expression. Poetry is created spontaneously and is a part of
her, something she cannot live without, just like the birds which have the natural habit of singing. Most
often, she identifies with the robin: she is small and modest. The robin symbolizes her poetry. She grew up in
New England so she worked with what she had. She responds to those who criticize her confinement by
comparing herself to the Queen who never abandons her palace. If she is provincial, so is the Queen. Also,
she suggests that she is the queen of her realm: New England.

I taste a liquor never brewed is the best representation of Emily Dickinsons powerful amusement and
satisfaction with every living thing that surrounded her. In this poem where she adopts a persona of a
drunken bee, drunk on a liquor never brewed, she actually glories the air, the dew, and the never-ending
summer days which completely intoxicate her. The liquor never brewed here represents the beauty of nature
that she cannot get enough of. Paradoxically, it seems as if the more she drinks, the thirstier she gets. She
finds herself in such a trans-like mood that she continues drinking even after her death. Yet the central image
here evokes an intoxicant that is not made from what is found in nature but from something that is only to be
found through imagination. Finally, it seems as if the process of creating poetry serves as a kind of
intoxication for Emily Dickinson.
She plays with size when mentioning tankards scooped in pearl. Her alcohol is even more powerful than
European. Inns are pubs in the sky, landlords are gods. The whole nature is a pub where she goes to drink.
She is not allowed to enter heaven because of her whimsical behavior. They envy her for her freedom. They
are leaning against windows and watching her.
Dickinson came to understand that words are tools of the poet. Therefore, language is the driving force of
her poetry, no longer available only to God. The poets duty was to establish a connection and even
interconnection between the spiritual and material world, intertwine the abstract and the physical, real, and
ultimately give a sense to their co-existence. This way, she demonstrates her understanding of the world, or
rather her world.
31. Emily Dickinsons Poems: Theme of Death
Death was always present in Dickinsons poems, but whether it was someone dear to her who had just died
or the sudden conviction of death is unimportant.She is preoccupied with the theme of death to the point of
obsession. Her poems of death arose from her personal experience (deaths of her parents, nephew, and close
friends), and her seclusion during her later years. This point in her life remains ambiguous, many scholars
linking it to agoraphobia, depression and/or anxiety, or her caretaking responsibilities of her sick mother. In
addition, her fascination with death was triggered by its ambiguity that puzzles her mind.To her, mans
awareness of death is precisely what differentiates man from other beings.
I Like a Look of Agony refers to a poem which immediately poses the question - does she enjoy suffering
or does she want someone to suffer? Probably not, the next line reveals. She knows its true, because when
someone is suffering throes of death such agony is impossible o conceal. The eyes (the look) reveal it,
they mirror the current state of the soul.They cannot fake convulsive movements, the spazmodic movements
of the body as it dies, or when the eyes glaze over and life finally leaves the body. The beads upon the
forehead most likely metaphorically point to sweat, perspiration caused by the immense physical suffering.
By homely anguish she might be implying death at home, which was much more frequent at that time than
today. It is highly possible that Dickinson wants to convey the message of people being unmistakeably true
in their last moments of life. She likes a look of agony because that is when she believes the real person will
always reveal their true selves. Emily wont have to be cautious and frightened of deception. It leaves the
reader with a bitter aftertaste.
I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain it is a ceremony of transformation. Most people read it as a depression poe or
loss of self poem, or a loss of sanity poem, so the transformation is seen as negative. However, the poem can
be viewed from a positive aspect as a spiritual poem, denoting a kind of spiritual transformation, alike deep
meditation or prayer. A loss of ego occurs so the true self can emerge. Either way, the funeral imagery is
present. She uses metaphorical speech, comparing all the events within the poem to those at a funeral. She is
comparing her mental state with the funeral, which is a ceremony, a solemn serious event, and typically seen

as sad. But death can be interpreted as a positive tranformation, a freeing experience. There is noticeable
repetition in the poem (treading treading), used to mimick the walk of mourners, establishing a sort of
rhythm in the poem. The poem is written in the same rhythm as Amazing Grace, a song from the Christian
tradition. Many Christian hymns contain the same rhythm - the first line is written in iambic tetrameter,
whereas the socond is in iambic trimeter. As the people in mourning walked back and forth, Emily says that
Sense was breaking through. She stresses Sense probably seeing it as a being of its own and as such
important enough to be capitalized. It could be reality, or the normal thinking process, breaking through. In
the more spiritual aspect, a sense of something new and good maybe coming through. If we acknowledge the
poem as a self loss/deression poem, she may be reaching to her regular awareness, trying to hold on to her
senses. In the poem, the mourners are sitting down, the service is like a drum, lulling her into a trance, a
numbness. In the East, people use the drum to get themselves into a certain meditative states. From a
negative aspect, this could be harming her mind (since numbness denotes the loss of feeling), but from a
spiritual aspect, the mind is not your soul, but governed by the senses and quite loud, so for the mind to be
rested is silence granted to the soul. Then there is a vivid image of a box (the coffin) and it it a part of herself
being carried by people wearing lead boots. The physical body has withered away, so that the spiritual
light body can come forward. In the negative sense, loosing the body is a common fear, and then we have
nothing but space. The heavens, space, becomes a bell tolling, which resembles the om mantra (a sacred
utterance in Indian religions used and believed to have psychological or spiritual powers) , whereas her
whole being becomes an ear, absorbing the hypnotic sound. Her and silence (which is here personified),
being different, are wrecked or rather shipwrecked in a newfound place, which can be either an
enlightening situation or a scary place of desertion in the mind. In the last stanza, the plank which is what
balances the coffin or rather reason breaks, causing the box to fall, which is logically connected to the theme
of self-loss (its as though shes lost her self completely) and has entered a chaotic state, nothingness. From
the spiritial reading, the beak symbolises the break from the limitations of reason, reaching that higher
awareness, grasping the key to different worlds beyond this one. There is a certain knowing after weve
had that experience.
Because I could not stop for Death is another infamous poem, where death is personified, here viewed as a
courteous gentleman who takes relaxing unhurried carriage ride with the speaker to her grave. Emilys
sense of irony is visible already in the first lines, where she says how she had no time to spear to stop for
death, but death kindly stopped for her. Death knows no haste, she states. She contrasts her kind and death,
calling death a more civilized being. She throws away the materialistic things gathered through life deeming
it mans apsurdity. They pass a school where children strove at recess, rather than played. Here she implies
the constant struggle through life one has to cope with.They briefly stop at the sight of a house alike a
swelling of the ground is the idea of the grave. Then Emil goes on to explain how death is an ongoing
process, which offers eternity, where centuries never cease to come, yet the feel shorter than a day. She
describes afterlife as a state of being gone yet forever present, where time no longer plays a role. It is
intriguing how she shows eternity as something that lasts forever, but it doesnt feel like it. The idea of death
being a positive thing, doing us a favor is dominant throughout the verse.
I Heard a Fly buzz-when I died one of her most famous poems. In this verse the appearance of the fly
prevents the dying person from reaching the state of ultimate calmness. In the beginning, the scene is set,
with the peson on its deathbed, eyes around her filled with tears. The last moment is yet to arrive with the
king coming for her soul, the king possibly implying Christ or God himself, but it could also mean
death. From the standpoint of Christianity, it is upon his arival that the soul will enter paradise. Soon, the
inconsiderate fly interrupts his approach. Here the humor and irony of Dickinson is expressed. There is a
comedy, absurdity hidden in the meaning. It forces us to consider what the fly represents. Finally, the fly

comes between the light and her, and the tone which was calm and neutral up till now, switches to an
accusing tone, as if the fly prevented death to take place and the speakers entrance into immortality. Overall,
we get to see how even at a crucial time a person cannot help but forget its current state and focus on such an
irrelevant detail. My thoughts on the matter are that this person is subconsciously trying to prolong her life or
has accepted the inevitability of death and in this calmness finds the nerve to be annoyed by this always
irritable little insect. The only thing that she doesn't seem to understand about the fly, is that its presence
symbolizes that of death itself. When the windows failed(her eyes closed) the speaker is left in the
darkness: 'I cannot see to see'.
After great pain, a formal feeling comes a poem which deals with the feelings after having experienced
great loss and endured much pain. She describes a kind of numbness using the oxymoron \ formal feeling..
The three stanzas stand for three stages of the funeral ceremony: the formal service, the tread of pallbearers
and the final lowering into the grave. Furthermore, the nerves are people described after the funeral as
tombs. This metaphor implies deadness, stillness, and stiffness. Throghout the whole poem, there is a quality
of stiff lifelessness, which is observed in the words stiff herttoo, as it has grown apart from its former
ability to endure pain and has lost sense of time. Also, the feet move mechanically, are indifferent as to
wherever they go, which vividly explains how a person behaves after such a shock. Another important thing
to observe here is that the poet is stating in series what happens to the parts of the body: nerves, heart, feet.
The comparison to a stone, also emphasizes the numbness. Here Emily talks of a certain contentment felt
after such heavy pain. Here she makes use of irony to show how the content feeling is actually the inability
to respond any longer, rather than the ability to respond satisfactorily and agreeably. She proceeds to use a
new image, the freezing person. The experience of grief is like a death by freezing: first there is the chill,
then the stupor as the body becomes numb, and lastly the state in which the body gives up the fight against
the cold, and relaxes, therefore dies. The last line (the letting go) offers a deeper context to the preceding
ones. It is now reimagined as the fight of the mind against letting go; it is a defense of the mind. There is
another more positive interpretation of the last stanza, which views the long endured pain as something
ultimately freeing this person, healing it. Its almost as though the suffering is a cleansing situation. Once the
person has given in into the inevitable, once theyve given into whats happened, they finally free themselves
from pain.
Having led quite a solitary life, she was underinded in her own time and trapped between her enlightening
yet always unusual thoughts. Today, Dickinson is known for her unusual use of form and syntax. Another
unusual fact is that her poems werent given names, so they are referred to by their first lines.
These literary works of hers, are produced from her attempt to overcome the fear of death. She views it as a
passage from mortality to immortality. She wrote more than five hundred lyrics on pain and death, which are
sentimental and morbid, imagining her own death as the cause of pain of her estranged friends. Her best
poetry deals with the emotions and the sensations of a dying person. She applied this view to death and the
events immediately before and after it (death scenes, funerals),trying to reach a deeper understanding of it.
The purpose, it seems, was to turn deprivation into spiritual triumph, and ultimately gain newfound strength.
Therefore we can establish that pain as such has value, as through one's own experience of agony they will
realize that it is inevitable and is universal for humankind. Her Puritan introspection allowed her to clearly
see that death is no sudden change, as the way we live life will be projected on our death, therefore it will be
just a continuation of our lives.
Because I could not stop for Death
http://www.biography.com/people/emily-dickinson-9274190/videos/emily-dickinson-because-i-could-notstop-for-death-86549059640