1.

THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE The American Renaissance was a period during which a lot of literary works considered American masterpieces were produced. The period is generally defined as the mid-19th century but especially the period from the 183 s roughly until the end of the American !i"il #ar in which American literature came of age as an e$pression of a national spirit. %a&or works from those years include Ralph #aldo 'merson(s Representative Men or Self-reliance) *athaniel +awthorne(s The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables) +erman %el"ille(s Moby-Dick) +enry ,a"id Thoreau(s Walden or Civil Disobedience) and #alt #hitman(s first edition of Leaves of Grass. The American Renaissance was associated with an intellectual mo"ement known as Transcendentalism) a philosophy or system of thought based on the idea that humans are essentially good and that there is an essential unity to all of creation. The American Transcendentalists ad"ocated the de"elopment of a national culture and efforts at humanitarian social reform) as well as debate on such issues as the abolition of sla"ery) women(s suffrage) workers- rights) educational inno"ation) and freedom of religion. America) from the time of the arri"al of the first colonists) to the foundation of the .nited /tates) and into the first few decades of the 18 s was inhabited by people whose li"es) culture and literature were shaped for the most part by the pre"ailing religious systems. 0iterature during this period was comprised in large part of the traditional tales) poems and fables that immigrants brought from their nati"e lands. 'arly American literature ser"ed as a melting pot) into which different cultures could to some e$tent mi$ with one another and understand each other in a better way. #ith the arri"al in the American colonies of leaders such as 1ohn /mith and others) literature in America e$panded itself to include historical accounts of the trials and tribulations that the settlers faced when trying to reach the colonies from 'urope and elsewhere. American colonists) forming their own communities) were e"entually e$posed to literature that was definitely sacred in nature) and American born. 2f course) those among the settlers who came from 'urope certainly wrote in the 'uropean tradition. This literature included interpretations of 3iblical writings as well as sermons deli"ered by the renowned clergy leaders of the era. 'ssentially) in a time when the 3ritish crown controlled the American colonies) but those colonies essentially felt abandoned and not led by a unifying go"ernment) faith is the adhesi"e which held the colonies together. The discontent with 3ritish rule led to a change in the mindset and literature of America. As America became a more politically conscious land) the people gathered 1

together in the mo"ements in order to fight to obtain freedom from 3ritain. ,ue to this) American literature focused on a more politically acti"e point of "iew. #riters such as Thomas 4aine) 3en&amin 5ranklin became important. This was the beginning of the politically acti"e literature that still populate American literature today. Along with the freedom that the ,eclaration of 6ndependence and American !onstitution ga"e to the citi7ens of the new nation) people began to think deeply about the reali7ation that the churches which had controlled them for so long represented what was essentially the last thing that bound them to an authority which seemed to suppress the indi"idual more than it enriched the life of the indi"idual. Therefore) the concept of selfreali7ation began to emerge) leading to the idea of transcendentalism) an idea which was populari7ed by early American authors and marked the beginning of what is known today as the American Renaissance. #ith transcendentalism as the starting point) e"idence from se"eral writers will be presented to reinforce the argument that not only did the American Renaissance e$ist) but that it did in fact produce a specifically American way of writing. 2. TRANSCENDENTALISM AND RALPH WALDO EMERSON A religious) philosophical and literary mo"ement) Transcendentalism arose in *ew 'ngland in the middle of the nineteenth century) during the 183 s and 188 s. 6t began as a protest to the general state of culture and society) and in particular) the state of intellectualism at +ar"ard .ni"ersity and the doctrine of the .nitarian church taught at +ar"ard ,i"inity /chool. Transcendentalism centered around Ralph #aldo 'merson) but other important transcendentalists were +enry ,a"id Thoreau) %argaret 5uller) Amos 3ronson Alcott) 5rederic +enry +edge) and Theodore 4arker. Transcendentalism cannot be properly understood outside the conte$t of .nitarianism) the dominant religion in 3oston during the early nineteenth century. The .nitarians attempted to reconcile 0ocke(s empiricism with !hristianity by maintaining that the accounts of miracles in the 3ible pro"ide o"erwhelming e"idence for the truth of religion. 6t was on this ground) howe"er) that the Transcendentalists found fault with .nitarianism. They offered a philosophy stressing the importance of "oluntary ethical conduct and the ability of the intellect to discern what constituted ethical conduct. Theirs was a 9natural theology9 in which the indi"idual could) through empirical in"estigation or the e$ercise of reason) disco"er the ordered and bene"olent nature of the uni"erse and of :od(s laws.

Transcendentalism recei"ed inspiration from o"erseas in the form of 'nglish and :erman romanticism) particularly the literature of !oleridge) #ordsworth and :oethe) and in the post-<antian idealism of Thomas !arlyle and =ictor !ousin. Transcendentalists belie"ed in a monistic uni"erse) or one in which :od is immanent in nature. The creation is an emanation of the creator> :od is permanently present in all things. /pirit and matter are perfectly fused) or 9interpenetrate)9 and differ not in essence but in degree. RALPH WALDO EMERSON Ralph #aldo 'merson ?18 3-188;@ was an American essayist) lecturer) and poet) who led the Transcendentalist mo"ement of the mid-19th century. +e was seen as a champion of indi"idualism and a prescient critic of the counter"ailing pressures of society. 'merson was born in 3oston) %assachusetts. 6n 183A he published his first book) an anonymous edition of B ature) in copies that took si$ years to sell out. 6t is perhaps the best

e$pression of his Transcendentalism) the belief that e"erything in our world is a microcosm of the uni"erse. +is concept of the 2"er-/oul ?a /upreme %ind that e"ery man and woman share@ allowed Transcendentalists to disregard e$ternal authority and to rely instead on direct e$perience. 6n 183C) he published The !"erican Scholar# an eloDuent appeal for independence) sincerity) realism) in the intellectual life of America. 'merson wrote a poetic prose) ordering his essays by recurring themes and images. +is poetry is often called harsh and didactic. Among 'merson(s most well known works are $ssays# %irst and Second Series& %irst Series includes 'merson(s famous essay SelfReliance# in which the writer instructs his listener to e$amine his relationship with *ature and :od) and to trust his own &udgement abo"e all others. 'merson(s concern with proposing the acti"e power of language in constructing an emergent culture that will be different from the cultures of 'urope is a central interest. +is attention to what it means to make something 9new9) and his concern about the influence of the past mark him as an important figure in the production of a 9national9 literature. 'merson(s style is brilliant) epigrammatic) gem-like> clear in sentences) obscure in paragraphs. +e was a sporadic obser"er. The coherence of his writing lies in his personality. +is work is fused by a steady glow of optimism. /ome of his influences were /amuel Taylor !oleridge) the mystical "isions of 'manuel /wedenborg) the intimate poetry of #illiam #ordsworth) the stimulating essays of Thomas !arlyle) :oethe) /ocrates and 4lato. ,uring his generation) he was great friends 3

with +.,. Thoreau. Though he found him to be far from a saint) *apoleon was one of Thoreau(s influences and topics of discussion. 3. HENRY DAVID THOREAU +enry ,a"id Thoreau was born in 181C in !oncord) %assachusetts. #hen Thoreau was si$teen) he entered +ar"ard !ollege) where he was known as a serious though uncon"entional scholar. #hile at college) Thoreau studied 0atin and :reek grammar and composition) and took classes in a wide "ariety of sub&ects) including mathematics) 'nglish) history) philosophy) and four different modern languages. +e ser"ed as handyman and assistant to 'merson) helping to edit and contributing poetry and prose to the transcendentalist maga7ine) The Dial& +is most famous essay) Civil Disobedience ?published 1889@) which in its call for passi"e resistance to un&ust laws was to inspire :andhi and %artin 0uther <ing) 1r.) was a result of his e$perience in &ail. The &ournal he kept at #alden became the source of his most famous book) Walden# 'r Life in the Woods ?18B8@) in which he set forth his ideas on how an indi"idual should best li"e to be attuned to his own nature as well as to nature itself. +e tra"eled to !anada) !ape !od) and %aine - landscapes that inspired his 9e$cursion9 books ! (ankee in Canada) Cape Cod) and The Maine Woods. 3y the 18B s he had become greatly concerned o"er sla"ery) and) ha"ing met 1ohn 3rown in 18BC) wrote passionately in his defence. Aware that he was dying of tuberculosis) Thoreau cut short his tra"els and returned to !oncord. Thoreau died of tuberculosis in 18A;) at the age of 88. Thoreau and the Transcendentalist mo"ement in *ew 'ngland grew up together. Thoreau was nineteen years old when 'merson published ature) an essay that articulates the philosophical underpinnings of the mo"ement. Transcendentalism began as a radical religious mo"ement) opposed to the rationalist) conser"ati"e institution that .nitarianism had become. %any of the mo"ement(s early proponents were or had been .nitarian ministers) 'merson among them. The Transcendentalists assumed a uni"erse di"ided into two essential parts) the soul and nature. A belief in the reliability of the human conscience was a fundamental Transcendentalist principle) and this belief was based upon a con"iction of the immanence) or indwelling) of :od in the soul of the indi"idual. As a reflection of :od) nature e$pressed symbolically the spiritual world that worked beyond the physical one. Transcendentalism can be seen as the religious and intellectual

e$pression of American democracyE all men had an eDual chance of e$periencing and e$pressing di"inity directly) regardless of wealth) social status) or politics. Thoreau and Ind ! dua" #$% 6n )Civil Disobedience9 Thoreau e$pressed his belief in the power and the obligation of the indi"idual to determine right from wrong) independent of the dictates of society. #hile many of his contemporaries espoused this "iew) few practiced it in their own li"es as consistently as Thoreau. Thoreau e$ercised his right to dissent from the pre"ailing "iews in many ways) large and small. +e worked for pay intermittently> he culti"ated relationships with se"eral of the town(s outcasts> he li"ed alone in the woods for two years> he ne"er married> he signed off from the 5irst 4arish !hurch rather than be ta$ed automatically to support it e"ery year. Thoreau encouraged others to assert their indi"iduality. Thoreau and Te&hno"o'( and Pro're##% Thoreau) himself an in"entor and an engineer of sorts) was fascinated by technology) and the mid-nineteenth century saw a series of in"entions that would radically change the world) such as power looms) railroads) and the telegraph. 3ut these in"entions were products of a larger mo"ement) the industrial re"olution) in which Thoreau saw the potential for the destruction of nature for the ends of commerce. 6n Thoreau(s "iew) technology also pro"oked an e$citement that was counterproducti"e because it ser"ed as a distraction from the important Duestions of life. The railroad was made the symbol of technology) and the language Thoreau uses to describe it e$pressed his ambi"alence. Thoreau and Na)ure% Thoreau was a dedicated) self-taught naturalist) who disciplined himself to obser"e the natural phenomena around !oncord systematically and to record his obser"ations almost daily in his 1ournal. The 1ournal contains initial formulations of ideas and descriptions that appear in Thoreau(s lectures) essays) and books> early "ersions of passages that reached final form in Walden can be found in the 1ournal as early as 188A. Thoreau(s obser"ations of nature enrich all of his work) e"en his essays on political topics. 6mages and comparisons based on his studies of animal beha"ior) of the life cycles of plants) and of the features of the changing seasons illustrate and enli"en the ideas he puts forth in Walden. The lo"e of nature that is e"ident in Thoreau(s descriptions in Walden is one of the most powerful aspects of the book. The en"ironmental mo"ement of the past thirty years has embraced Thoreau as a guiding spirit) and he is "alued for his early understanding of the

idea that nature is made up of interrelated parts. +e is considered by many to be the father of the en"ironmental mo"ement. MOST IMPORTANT WOR*S O+ THOREAU% +is two most famous works were his no"el) Walden# which told about his life and li"ed on #alden 4ond) and his essay Civil Disobedience# which was essentially the anthem of transcendentalism.

WaldenE is an American book written by noted transcendentalist +enry ,a"id

Thoreau. The work is part personal declaration of independence) social e$periment) "oyage of spiritual disco"ery) satire) and manual for self-reliance. 4ublished in 18B8) it details Thoreau(s e$periences o"er the course of two years in a cabin he built near #alden 4ond) amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph #aldo 'merson) near !oncord) %assachusetts. 3y immersing himself in nature) Thoreau hoped to gain a more ob&ecti"e understanding of society through personal introspection. /imple li"ing and self-sufficiency were Thoreau(s other goals) and the whole pro&ect was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy) a central theme of the American Romantic 4eriod. As Thoreau made clear in his book) his cabin was not in wilderness but at the edge of town) about two miles from his family home. Civil DisobedienceE is an essay by American transcendentalist +enry ,a"id Thoreau that was first published in 1889. 6n it) Thoreau argues that indi"iduals should not permit go"ernments to o"errule or atrophy their consciences) and that they ha"e a duty to a"oid allowing such acDuiescence to enable the go"ernment to make them the agents of in&ustice. Thoreau was moti"ated in part by his disgust with sla"ery and the %e$icanF American #ar. 2ther works areE The Service) ! Walk to Wachusett# *aradise +to be, Re-ained# Sir Walter Ralei-h# Herald of %reedo"# Wendell *hillips .efore the Concord Lyceu"# Refor" and the Refor"ers# Tho"as Carlyle and His Works# ! Week on the Concord and Merri"ack Rivers# ! *lea for Captain /ohn .ro0n# Re"arks !fter the Han-in- of /ohn .ro0n# The Last Days of /ohn .ro0n# Walkin-& ,. HERMAN MELVILLE +erman %el"ille was born in *ew Gork !ity in 1819. A string of further bad luck and o"erwork) howe"er) dro"e his father to an early gra"e) and the young %el"ille was forced to start working in a bank at the age of thirteen.

After a few more years of formal education) %el"ille left school at eighteen to become an elementary school teacher. 5inally) %el"ille committed to a whaling "oyage of indefinite destination and scale on board a ship called the !cushnet) going around /outh America) across the 4acific 2cean) and to the /outh /eas) where he abandoned ship with a fellow sailor in the summer of 188;. They found themsel"es in the %arDuesas 6slands) where %el"ille became separated from his companion and spent a month alone in the company of the nati"es. This e$perience later formed the core of his first no"el) Typee1 ! *eep at *olynesian Life# published in 188A. 0ife among these nati"es and other e$otic e$periences abroad pro"ided %el"ille with endless literary conceits. Armed with the "oluminous knowledge obtained from constant reading while at sea) %el"ille wrote a series of no"els detailing his ad"entures and his philosophy of life. Typee was followed by '"oo ?188C@ and Mardi and a 2oya-e Thither ?1889@) two more no"els about his 4olynesian e$periences. Redburn# also published in 1889) is a fictionali7ed account of %el"ille-s first "oyage to 0i"erpool. +is ne$t no"el) White-/acket3 or The World in a Man-of-War) published in 18B ) is a generali7ed and allegorical account of life at sea aboard a warship. These first fi"e no"els are all seen as an apprenticeship to what is today considered %el"ille(s masterpiece) Moby-Dick# which first appeared in 18B1. +erman was influenced in the writing of Moby-Dick by the work of *athaniel +awthorne) author of The Scarlet Letter# whom he met in 18B and to whom he dedicated Moby-Dick& The no"el was a failure. %el"ille died at his home in *ew Gork !ity in 1891. SHORT STORIES Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall-StreetE the narrator of the story is the 0awyer) who runs a law practice on #all /treet in *ew Gork. The 0awyer begins by noting that he is an 9elderly man)9 and that his profession has brought him 9into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men the law-copyists) or scri"eners The Bell Tower is the dark tale of a cra7y genius men) his brilliant work and creates a huge bell for the town-s tower. The story is that of the artist and architect 3annadonna. Benito CerenoE the encounter of the 2ld #orld and the *ew is one important theme of 3enito !ereno. As argued throughout this commentary) !aptain Amasa ,elano functions in the te$t as a representati"e of young America-s best and noblest ideals and beliefs about itselfE ad"enturous) optimistic) pious) noble) compassionate.

The Encantadas, or Enchanted Islands are a series of short prose works) about the :alapagos 6slands. They are primarily written from %el"ille(s own e$perience sailing around the islands> howe"er) it should not be supposed that the narrator is supposed to be %el"ille himself. 6n fact) %el"ille originally published The $ncantadas under a pseudonym. I and My ChimneyE in those houses which are strictly double houses -that is) where the hall is in the middle- the fireplaces usually are on opposite sides> so that while one member of the household is warming himself at a fire built into a recess of the north wall) say another member) the former(s own brother) perhaps) may be holding his feet to the bla7e before a hearth in the south wall--the two thus fairly sitting back to back. 6s this wellH 3e it put to any man who has a proper fraternal feeling. +as it not a sort of sulky appearanceH 3ut "ery probably this style of chimney building originated with some architect afflicted with a Duarrelsome family The ia!!a: ,on 3enito faltered> then) like some somnambulist suddenly interfered with) "acantly stared at his "isitor) and ended by looking down on the deck. +e maintained this posture so long) that !aptain ,elano) almost eDually disconcerted) and in"oluntarily almost as rude) turned suddenly from him) walking forward to accost one of the /panish seamen for the desired information. 3ut he had hardly gone fi"e paces) when with a sort of eagerness ,on 3enito in"ited him back) regretting his momentary absence of mind) and professing readiness to gratify him. MO-Y.DIC* Moby-Dick3 or# The Whale) published in 18B1) is considered to be one of the :reat American *o"els and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the ad"entures of wandering sailor 6shmael) and his "oyage on the whale ship 4eDuod) commanded by !aptain Ahab. 6shmael soon learns that Ahab has one purpose on this "oyageE to seek out %oby ,ick) a ferocious) enigmatic white sperm whale. 6n a pre"ious encounter) the whale destroyed Ahab(s boat and bit off his leg) which now dri"es Ahab to take re"enge. The story is narrated by 6shmael) a &unior member of the 4eDuod-s crew) who casts himself as the author) recounting the e"ents of the "oyage after he has acDuired more e$perience and studied the whale e$tensi"ely. 6shmael narrates in a combination of first and third person) describing e"ents as he saw them and pro"iding his own thoughts. +e presents the thoughts and feelings of the other characters only as an outside obser"er might infer them. Moby-Dick remained largely ignored until the 19; s) when it was redisco"ered and promoted by literary historians interested in constructing an American literary tradition. To 8

these critics) Moby-Dick was both a seminal work elaborating on classic American themes) such as religion) fate) and economic e$pansion) and a radically e$perimental anachronism that anticipated %odernism in its outsi7ed scope and pastiche of forms. 6t stands alongside 1ames 1oyce-s 4lysses and 0aurence /terne-s Tristra" Shandy as a no"el that appears bi7arre to the point of being unreadable but pro"es to be infinitely open to interpretation and disco"ery. THEMES The Li"its of 5no0led-e The Deceptiveness of %ate The $6ploitative ature of WhalinSYM-OLS The *e7uod Mo/( D &0% %oby ,ick possesses "arious symbolic meanings for "arious indi"iduals. To the 4eDuod-s crew) the legendary #hite #hale is a concept onto which they can displace their an$ieties about their dangerous and often "ery frightening &obs. 3ecause they ha"e no delusions about %oby ,ick acting male"olently toward men or literally embodying e"il) tales about the whale allow them to confront their fear) manage it) and continue to function. Ahab) on the other hand) belie"es that %oby ,ick is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the world) and he feels that it is his destiny to eradicate this symbolic e"il. %oby ,ick also bears out interpretations not tied down to specific characters. 6n its inscrutable silence and mysterious habits) for e$ample) the #hite #hale can be read as an allegorical representation of an unknowable :od. As a profitable commodity) it fits into the scheme of white economic e$pansion and e$ploitation in the nineteenth century. As a part of the natural world) it represents the destruction of the en"ironment by such hubristic e$pansion. 8uee7ue-9s Coffin 1. AMERICAN 2OTHICISM American :othic 0iterature is a subgenre of :othic 5iction) which is also known as ,ark Romanticism. The American :othic 5iction supported the idea that e"eryone has the opportunity to e$perience greatness and also the ability to do so. 2n the other hand) gothic writers also belie"ed that these ideas were too optimistic. The first piece of :othic 5iction we find) in 'ngland) is The Castle of 'tranto by +orace #alpole. +owe"er) there are other important 'nglish works) such as those of Ann Radcliffe) %athew :regory 0ewis) and 9

!harles R. %aturin) and the no"el %rankenstein by %ary /helley. The author considered the father of the gothic mo"ement is the American 'dgar Allan 4oe. This type of no"el flourished in the late 18th !entury and early 19th !entury in 'ngland) and ga"e rise to the 90iterature of 0ament9 of the :othic Romance. 6n the 18th century this mo"ement spread to America) and established in the .nited /tates a different type of literature) which contains some distincti"e features of the :othic. 'urope and America saw the rise of this new literary mo"ement known as the gothic) or antitranscendentalist mo"ement. The American :othic was considered inno"ati"e and e$perimental) it appeared in the outstanding cultural and political circumstances after the re"olution and the situation of human in a democracy. :othic literature used to be mysterious and ominous. 6t deals with the themes of death and terror) showing the dark side of human nature. 6n the early American :othic writers were concerned with some effects of a 4uritan society. Among the typical characteristics of this genre we can find the element of fear) one of the most important characteristics. Another important element is the setting) the action takes place in old houses instead of castles) in which in American literature usually can occur night &ourneys in the wilderness) forest or in any other places. Talking about characters) in American :othic 5iction are important the e"il ones) and sometimes it is easy to find one or more mad characters. The atmosphere in :othic 5iction is full of mystery and suspense) in which there are also ghostly legends where appear characters such as ghosts and monsters and a supernatural en"ironment. /ome weird and supernatural e"ents) and horrifying deaths are followed sometimes by miraculous sur"i"als. 6t is also easy to find tales that in"ol"e emotional states and pro"oke in the reader feelings such as terror) anger) an$iety) etc. Romantic themes often in"ol"e the death of a man or woman in lo"e and also an e$cessi"e pain because of the loss of a lo"ed one. Talking about the style of this genre) appears the concept of imaginary) where words are designed to e"oke images. The first American :othic no"el e"er published was Wieland3 or The Transfor"ation# in the year 1C98. 6t was written by !harles 3rockden 3rown) regarded as the first professional :othic author of The .nited /tates. The no"el is based on a real case of murder that occurred in *ew Gork) where a fiercely religious farmer killed his wife and children under the command of Ireligious "oicesJ. The story deals with the transformation of a responsible man into a murderous monster. #ashington 6r"ing ?1C83-18B9@ was the most famous of :othic 5iction writer of the colonial era. +e populari7ed the genre with two famous short stories Sleepy Hollo0 ?18; @ 1

and Rip 2an Winkle ?1819@& 6r"ing-s writing ga"e America its background through his tales and legends. +e adopted many 'uropean myths and reformulated them in order to create new American models. 6n his works) 6r"ing created some tipical characters like the melancholic young man ?6chabot !rane@) the sweet young lady ?<atarina =an Tassel@) the shrewish wife ?Rip =an #inkle-s wife@ or the talkati"e innkeeper. 6r"ing-s writing is often characteri7ed by a humorous mood. 4oe) +awthorne and %el"ille are normally grouped together and known as ,ark Romantics because their writing ha"e some common features. They e$plore the conflict between good and e"il) e$amine the effects of guilt and sin and agree than human nature is not necessarily good. A subgenre of :othic 5iction appeared later on in the /outh of the ./A. 6t is called /outhern :othic and it uses macabre and ironic e"ents in order to analyse the "alues of this part of the country. /ome of the most celebrated authors of this subgenre are #illiam 5aulkner ?author of !s : Lay Dyin-# 193 @) +arper 0ee ?author of To 5ill a Mockin-bird# 19A @ and !arson %c!ullers ?author of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter# 198 @. Traditional :othic literature of the 19th century has de"eloped and became the origin of some new genres which became "ery popular worldwide in the ; of /tephen <ing and #eird 5iction of +. 4. 0o"ecraft. 3. ED2AR ALLAN POE 'dgar Allan 4oe ?18 9 F 1889@ was an American author) poet) editor and literary critic) considered part of the American Romantic %o"ement. 3est known for his tales of mystery and the macabre) 4oe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is generally considered the in"entor of the detecti"e fiction genre. . ESSAY AND CRITICISM 4oe de"eloped his own theory of literature) which appears designed in his criticism and essays like 9The 4oetic 4rinciple9. This work constitutes a radical manifesto esthetician. The author detested didacticism and the allegory) although se"eral of his works use this resource. 5urthermore) he belie"ed that those should be short and cause a "ery specific effect) for which the writer must calculate each effect and idea. 6n another known essay on the sub&ect) 94hilosophy of !omposition9) the writer describes the method followed in the writing of 9The !row9.
th

century. This is the

case of modern /cience 5iction) populari7ed by the author 6saac Asimo") the +orror 5iction

11

The guiding principles of 4oe) both poetic and critical effects) were the originality) which proposed as search method of literary effect) and the method itself. +e also attached great importance to the seriousness or "erisimilitude) in his own words. . E##a( 4oe practised the essay on "arious sub&ectsE the long cosmological meditation $ureka) the brief comments collected in Mar-inalia) and monographic works 9!ryptography9) 94hilosophy of 5urniture9) 9Arabia 4etraea9) 9The !hess 4layer %ael7el9) etc. $ureka ?1888@ is a lengthy non-fiction work subtitled 9A 4rose 4oem9) though it has also been subtitled as 9An 'ssay on the %aterial and /piritual .ni"erse9. 6t describes 4oe(s intuiti"e conception of the nature of the uni"erse with no scientific work done to reach his conclusions. +e also discusses man(s relationship with :od) whom he compares to an author. 6t is dedicated to the :erman naturalist and e$plorer Ale$ander "on +umboldt. Though it is generally considered a literary work) some of 4oe(s ideas anticipate disco"eries of the ; th century. 6ndeed a critical analysis of the scientific content of 'ureka re"eals a non-causal correspondence with modern cosmology due to the assumption of an e"ol"ing .ni"erse) but e$cludes the anachronistic anticipation of relati"istic concepts such as black holes. $ureka is full of scientific errors. 6n particular) the author(s claims contradict *ewtonian principles when considering the density and rotation of planets. This work was highly "alued by the poets 4aul =alKry and #. +. Auden. $ureka was recei"ed poorly in 4oe(s day and generally described as absurd) e"en by friends. %odern critics continue to debate the significance of $ureka and some doubt its seriousness) in part because of 4oe(s many incorrect assumptions and his comedic descriptions of wellknown historical minds. 6t is presented as a poem) and many compare it with his fiction work) especially science fiction stories such as 9The 5acts in the !ase of %. =aldemar9. +is attempts at disco"ering the truth also follow his own tradition of 9ratiocination9) a term used in his detecti"e fiction tales. 4oe(s suggestion that the soul continues to thri"e e"en after death also parallels with works in which characters reappear from beyond the gra"e such as 90igeia9. The essay is oddly transcendental) considering 4oe(s disdain for the mo"ement. +e considered it his greatest work and claimed it was more important than the disco"ery of gra"ity. Another great interest of this author was cryptography) to which he de"oted great pages. 2ne occasion he challenged the readers of a newspaper from 4hiladelphia to send him encrypted writings that he managed to sol"e. 6n 1uly 1881) he published an essay called 9A 1;

5ew #ords on /ecret #riting9 in the &ournal Graha";s Ma-a<ine) and understanding the great public interest in the sub&ect) he wrote one of his great stories 9The :old-3ug9 ?9The 3eetle gold 9@) work that incorporate cryptographic riddles. +owe"er) his success in cryptography was due) according to the e$perts) to his admiring readers didnLt know on the sub&ect because his method was "ery elementary. 6n any case) his efforts helped populari7e this discipline in their country. 2ne of his most enthusiastic supporters) the famous cracker #illiam 5riedman) was in his youth a great reader of 9The :old 3ug9) which ser"ed during the /econd #orld #ar to crack the 1apanese code 94.R40'9. Cr ) & #$ 4oe always li"ed isolated from the dominant cultural trends in his country) but he embarked on a critical battle which occupied the last years of his life. 6n this stage are remarkable his re"iews about 0ongfellow) ,ickens and +awthorne. The culture that takes pride in their re"iews is plentiful but not as ama7ing as he tried to do it) they had large gaps. A good e$ample of his heterogeneous tastes) wit and sensiti"ity) can be seen in the collection of essays entitled Mar-inalia) which pro"ides a clear "ision of its cultural latitude) interests and ignorance. 4oe ne"er &udged the ideas presented in the works) his criticism were only literary and e$cessi"ely acid and ruthless at times. 4oe denounced the Anglican snobbery of his contemporaries) his ser"ile submission to o"erseas authors and magisters "erdict of 0ondon and 'dinburgh. The "hiloso"hy of com"osition *hilosophy of Co"position) also known as method of composition) is an essay by American writer 'dgar Allan 4oe first published in the &ournal Graha";s Ma-a<ine in 4hiladelphia in 188A. 6n it) 4oe proposes a con"oluted theory about writing method which e"ery author who intends 9write well9 should use. +e concludes that length) 9unity of effect9 and a logical method are important considerations for good writing. 4oe describes the process by which he wrote his most famous poem) The Raven) to illustrate his theory) which is in deliberate contrast to the method of 9spontaneous creation9) presented) for e$ample) by !oleridge in e$plaining his 5ubla 5han& The essay shows 4oeLs con"iction that a work of fiction should be written only after the author has decided) first) what will be the outcome and what emotional response or 9effect9 that is intended to cause the reader. 4oe says that the story is the art that best suits the creation of the desired effect) much more than the literary works of greater length) since such effects are best achie"ed in works capable of being read in an 9only session9. 13

4oe(s e$planation of the process of writing is so rigidly logical) howe"er) that some ha"e suggested the essay was meant as a satire or hoa$. The three central elements of 4oe(s philosophy of co"position areE .Len')h 4oe belie"ed that all literary works should be short. .Me)hod 4oe dismissed the notion of artistic intuition and argued that writing is methodical and analytical) not spontaneous. )4nity of effect)1The essay states 4oe(s con"iction that a work of fiction should be written only after the author has decided how it is to end and which emotional response) or 9effect)9 he wishes to create) commonly known as the 9unity of effect.9 2nce this effect has been determined) the writer should decide all other matters pertaining to the composition of the work) including tone) theme) setting) characters) conflict) and plot. 6n this case) 4oe logically decides on 9the death of a beautiful woman9 as it 9is unDuestionably the most poetical topic in the world) and eDually is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a berea"ed lo"er.9 .=The Raven>1 6n the essay) 4oe traces the logical progression of his creation of 9The Ra"en9 as an attempt to compose 9a poem that should suit at once the popular and the critical taste.9 +e claims that he considered e"ery aspect of the poem. 5or e$ample) he purposely set the poem on a tempestuous e"ening) causing the ra"en to seek shelter. +e purposefully chose a pallid bust to contrast with the dark plume of the bird. The bust was of 4allas in order to e"oke the notion of scholar) to match with the presumed student narrator poring o"er his 9"olume of forgotten lore.9 *o aspect of the poem was an accident) he claims) but is based on total control by the author. The ra"en itself) 4oe says) is meant to symboli7e Mournful and ever-endin- Re"e"brance. This may imply an autobiographical significance to the poem) alluding to the many people in 4oe(s life who had died. ED2AR ALLAN POE. Poe)r( and Shor) S)or e# SHORT STORIES 4ublished mainly in the 183 s and 188 s) the stories of 'dgar Allan 4oe ha"e come to represent the height of 19th-century tales of the macabre. 2ne of the American Romantics) 4oe showed an interest in the power of emotions and often sought to e$plore the psyches of those who are guilty) as in The Tell-Tale Heart) frightened) as in The *it and the *endulu")

18

or otherwise mentally damaged. 4oe is also widely regarded as the master of :othic fiction) combining aspects of horror and romance in stories such as 0igeia) and he was an important contributor to the mystery genre with his stories about the supremely rational detecti"e !. Auguste ,upin ?such as The Murders in the Rue Mor-ue and The *urloined Letter@. 6n each of his stories) 4oe sought to create what he described as a unity of effect) where e"ery aspect of the story contributed to its o"erall tone. +a"ing published a number of "olumes of poetry prior to attempting his first short stories) he was already used to establishing the mood of a work with a relati"e economy of words. 6n addition) o"er the ne$t two decades) he gained e$tensi"e e$perience as an editor and literary critic) and he formed an aesthetic theory based on this idea of unity. 6n his short stories) 4oe(s literary theory led him to create relati"ely short tales which admitted no e$traneous details that could not substantiate the atmospheres of foreboding or horror for which he became so famous. The Cask of !"ontillado is particularly famous for its short length and concise structure. %ost of 4oe(s short stories were written as he mo"ed from editorial position to editorial position) ne"er Duite gaining a satisfactory le"el of stability in his life) which may ha"e influenced his writing. 6n particular) he spent much of his adult life addicted to opium and to alcohol) gi"ing him an especially intimate understanding of the mentalities of some of his psychotic protagonists. Although he died at a young age under somewhat mysterious circumstances that probably in"ol"ed alcohol) he succeeded in bringing the :othic tale) a genre formerly regarded as somewhat outdated and 'uropean) to American Romantic fiction. %a&or themes in his works are insanity "ersus rationality) obsession) man(s relationship with death) the double self) lo"e and hate) curiosity and the power of human resol"e. 2o)h & E"e$en)# n Ed'ar A""en Poe4# Wr ) n'# :othic fiction) particularly that written by 'dgar Allan 4oe has a number of common themes) motifs and structures that make his work easily recogni7able and more importantly) fits his stories into the classification of the gothic. Among these elements of the gothic that run throughout the works of 'dgar Allan 4oe include the per"asi"e theme of death and decay) which is almost always a staple in :othic fiction) the theme or presence of madness) insanity or other internal chaos) the supernatural in all of its forms) and haunted or creepy locations. %ost stories by 'dgar Allan 4oe possess most if not all of these gothic Dualities. 2ne of the most prominent themes that haunt the :othic fiction of 'dgar Allan 4oe is death and the associated process of decay and this is one of the more prominent themes in :othic no"els or short stories. 6n nearly e"ery one of his tales) one of the characters has died or is being mourned and this sets the Duintessential dark tone found in 4oe-s works. 5or 1B

instance) in 0igeia by 'dgar Allan 4oe) the lo"e of the narrator-s life has passed away and he must try to get through his life without her. 6nterestingly) although she is dead her double resurfaces at the end of the surface and the process of decay has ob"iously been sub"erted or halted by some supernatural means. '"en with this twist in the end) a freDuent structure in stories by 4oe) death remains a shadow looming throughout the entire story) especially since it seems that the house and Roderick are also both nearing their separate ends. 6n terms of death) it is worth pointing out that e"en the final end is not always what it may appear. 1ust as 0igeia emerges again after death) so too does Roderick-s sister) %adeline) near the end of the story. These plot de"ices force readers to think about death differently while still lea"ing them a sense of the supernatural and the grotesDue. 6n general) death and the process of decay are central themes but do not simply e$ist as background elements and are instead functioning as the hinges of the plotlines in some of the author-s works. %adness is another element common to the :othic fiction of 'dgar Allan 4oe and appears in almost all of his most widely read short stories including the Tell Tale Heart and The Cask of !"ontillado to name a few. 5or instance) although in Li-ea the character of 0igea is describes in glowing terms) it is implied that her IpassionsJ are something like madness. This madness is coupled with Rowena-s mental illness which causes her to beha"e and speak erratically. 3y the end of the story when the narrator remo"es the wrappings to find his deceased lo"er the reader then must Duestion the sanity of the person telling the tale as well) thus madness adds an element of the unknown that is different from simple supernatural occurrences. 6n The %all of the House of 4shermadness is also at the heart of the story since one of the main characters) Roderick) is clearly losing his mind. 6t is clear that the addition of madness to the themes of death and the supernatural all bring forth Duestions to the reader. Another aspect of the :othic Dualities in 4oe-s fiction is that there are usually remote or haunted locations in which the action occurs. :enerally) these haunted locations intersect with the plot and other themes ?such as death or madness@ and add to the supernatural tone of the tales. POETRY5 STYLE AND LAN2UA2E 'dgar Allan 4oe was known as a seminal American poet) since his writing has influenced di"erse writers) and he helped the de"eloping of science fiction and mystery as literary genres. 4oe was a writer who de"eloped his work on se"eral fields) one of them) the writing essays. 6n one of these essays) The *hilosophy of Co"position# he argues the superiority of poetry o"er other genres. Although 4oe is most known by his short stories) his first lo"e as a 1A

writer was poetry) which he began writing during his adolescence. +e thought that truth and passion are better e$pressed by prose and the mechanics of beauty has the pur"iew of poetry) since poetry is not entirely de"oid of truth or passion) howe"er) they are secondary to the primary function of poetry) to present a beautiful atmosphere. 2ught to the necessities 'dgar suffered during the first years of his life) he &oined the .nited /tates Army) the same year that his first book of poetry was published) Ta"erlane and 'ther *oe"s# ?18;C@ credited only to MA 3ostonian-. This edition as well as the second one) with the same title as the first edition # in 18;9) both recei"ed little attentions. At the beginning of his poetry) he was influenced by the 'nglish romantics such as 0ord 3yron) <eats or /helley. +is poems MTamerlane- and MAl Aaraaf- are clear e$amples of his e"olution from this romantic influence to his own imagination and subconscious. After that) he established himself in *ew Gork !ity) where *oe"s# his third collection of "erse) was published in 1831. Turmoil marked his personal and professional life) and the death of his first wife from tuberculosis in 188C) inspired him in se"eral of his works. 6t is said that this loss bore his freDuent theme of a beautiful woman-s death) which is de"eloped in MThe Ra"en-) besides the contemporary pandemic of tuberculosis. This topic is also de"eloped in other poems as MTo +elen- and M0enore-. This topic makes a contrast which other topics de"eloped by 4oe as in M!hilde +arold-s 4ilgrimage- where he e$presses that neither good nor e"il permanently reside and absolute beauty can be directly discerned. MAnnabel 0ee- is his last complete poem) in which he also e$presses the theme of the death of a beautiful women> the poem was published until shortly after 4oe-s death. +is works were not well acclaimed during his lifetime) although after the publication of MThe Ra"en-) printed in the e0 (ork $venin- Mirror on ;9th 1anuary 188B) he achie"ed a measure of recognition. +owe"er) the history of his critical reception becomes one of dramatically une"en &udgments and interpretations. 6t was in part due at the forefront of 4oe-s detractors were such eminent figures as +enry 1ames) Aldous +u$ley) and T. /. 'liot) who dismissed 4oe-s works as &u"enile) "ulgar) and artistically debased. 4oe had a theory of literary creation) which was composed by two parts. The first part said that a work must create a unity of effect on the reader to be considered successful) and the second one said that the production of this single effect should not be left to the ha7ards of accident> it means that the author must focus on the minutest detail of style and sub&ect. 6n poetry) this single effect must arouse the reader-s sense of beauty) an ideal that 4oe closely associated with sadness) strangeness) and loss. 1C

At the beginning of his poetry) he was influenced by the 'nglish romantics such as 0ord 3yron) <eats or /helley. +is poems MTamerlane- and MAl Aaraaf- are a clear e$ample of his e"olution from this romantic influence to his own imagination and subconscious. 4oe had not a particular type of poems or type of style) but it is true that between the most important are those which belong to dark and mysterious poems) and those which are writing with lo"e and honor to the women in his life. +e also used to name his poems with the name of the poem was written to. +is poetry retained the metric structure that was closely to the 'uropean "erse of the nineteenth century> because of that) it is not strange that his brilliant command of language and his original imagination) which are presented in his poetry) influenced the 5rench symbolists. %ost 4oe-s poems were made to be read aloud) since he was usually e$perimenting with combinations of sound and rhythm through the repetition) parallelism) internal rhyme) alliteration or assonance. A clear e$ample of this musicality is MThe 3ells-. As we know) 'dgar Allan 4oe was a man) who had the gift of the language and spoke se"eral languages) because of these skills) he had a large "ocabulary. This "ocabulary was put into practice in his poems> his method to do it was that) he preferred one word than another only by how it sounded. 6n this point) we could understand that some of these words were not "ery familiar to the reader. /ome of them are crotchet ?a highly indi"idual and usually eccentric opinion or preference@) -ainsayed ?contradicted) opposed) declared to be untrue or in"alid@ or praeternatural ?supernatural) or ine$plicable by ordinary means@. This brilliant command of language and his original imagination) which are presented in his poetry) influenced the 5rench symbolists. 'dgar Allan 4oe(s literary reputation was greater abroad than in the .nited /tates) perhaps as a result of America(s general re"ulsion towards the macabre. +owe"er) American authors as di"erse as #alt #hitman) +. 4. 0o"ecraft) #illiam 5aulkner) and +erman %el"ille were influenced by 4oe(s works. %any others) howe"er) were sharp critics) including T. /. 'liot and %ark Twain. Today) howe"er) 4oe is acknowledged as a ma&or literary figure) a master of :othic atmosphere and interior monologue. +is poems and stories ha"e influenced the literary schools of /ymbolism and /urrealism as well as the popular genres of detecti"e and horror fiction.

6. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AND THE SCARLET LETTER

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*athaniel +awthorne was born in /alem) %assachusetts) in 18 8. +is family had always been 4uritan) so the religious discipline at home was really strict. +awthorne had an important role in the political life of the .nited /tates) because he wrote the campaign biography of 5ranklin 4ierce in 18B;. After 4ierce became the elected president) he decided that +awthorne deser"ed and important post in his go"ernment) so he was appointed as an American consul in 0i"erpool) 'ngland) and he had to tra"el abroad due to that &ob. After that &ob) he mo"ed to 6taly with his family) but some time later they decided to go back to 'ngland. 3ut it was not his real home) so they finally returned to the .nited /tates after ha"ing spent se"en years abroad. +e died in 4lymouth while he was sleeping in 18A8. Wor0# *athaniel +awthorne was a prolific writer who started writing a no"el which was published in 18;8. +owe"er) he did not think it was a good one and tried to destroy it. After that first attempt) he decided to produce some stories. 6n these works he was able to show his own "oice and a particular style and sub&ects which would distinguish him from other writers in the future. The stories called The Hollo0 of the Three Hills and !n 'ld Wo"an;s Tale were two of his first works in this field. Then) My 5ins"an# Ma?or Molineu6 and Ro-er Malvin;s .urial were published in 183;) three years before the greatest tale of witchcraft which has been written) (oun- Good"an .ro0n) was published. +e needed to earn more money) so he collected some of his short stories in a book called T0ice-Told Tales. +e thought this would gi"e him a big amount of money) but he was wrong. *e"ertheless) he continued writing this kind of stories and e"en published another book of short stories ) %ro" an 'ld Manse ?which had stories like Rappaccini;s Dau-hter@ ) in 188A. The ne$t work he produced was the no"el The Scarlet Letter) which would become his masterpiece. 4ublished in 18B ) it tells the story of a woman who has committed adultery and her child. 2ne year later) he started working on the book The House of the Seven Gables& This new book dealt with the li"es of different generations of a family. 6t was a strange family history because all of them li"ed under a curse. 6t is completely surprising that the curse finally ended thanks to the power of lo"e.

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This writer tried to produce many types of literature) so he also tried to write something for children. The results of that effort were the books ! Wonder-.ook for Girls and .oys ?18B1@ and Tan-le0ood Tales for Girls and .oys ?18B3@. This writer also talked about his e$periences in 'ngland in books such as The Marble %aun and 'ur 'ld Ho"e) which appeared in 18A and 18A3. To sum up) it is important to say that +awthorne(s works are dark) "ery symbolic and deal with the 4uritanism) which was an important part of his family(s life. The Scarlet #etter The Scarlet Letter) considered one of his ma&or works) is a story about sin and it critici7es 4uritanism) so it is important to talk about some of its main aspects) which are the following onesE The$e# Adu")er(% Adultery is the main sub&ect. The writer focuses on the effect that it causes on indi"iduals and the community. +owe"er) any character discusses the actions of +ester and Arthur. The "illain of the no"el) Roger !hillingsworth) is the only character who tries to e$pose the sinners. +awthorne does not e$cuse sin) but he does critici7e the heartless society. This one dri"es people) such as +ester and Arthur) to seek fulfilment for their emotional needs outside accepted social boundaries. The e$perience of +ester and ,immesdale reminds of Adam and '"e(s story. 3oth couples were e$pelled and suffered for it. 6t also results in knowledge of what means to be immoral. 5or +ester) the scarlet letter functions as if it was Mher passport into regions where other women dared not tread-. These things leaded her to speculate about her society and herself more boldly than anyone else in *ew 'ngland. Na)ure% *ature stands in contrast to 4uritanism. #hile 4uritanism is merciless and rigid) nature is forgi"ing and fle$ible. This contrast is made clear from the "ery first page) when the narrator contrasts the black flower of the prison that punishes sin with the red rose bush that he imagines forgi"es those sentenced to die. Pur )an #$% 4uritans belie"ed people were born sinners. The preachers described each human life as suspended by a string) o"er the fiery pit of hell. As a result) this group strictly watched o"er themsel"es. /ins such as adultery were punishable by death. +ester escapes from e$ecution only because the 4uritans of 3oston decided it would benefit the community to transform her into a Mli"ing sermon against sin-.

Hu$an 7#(&ho"o'(% The conflict between Mheart- and Mmind- appears re-e$plored with a contrast of feelings of the more sympathetic characters. '.g.E +ester 4rynne(s hard rules of conduct were established by 4uritan magistrates) incapable of any emotional response. This dramatic conflict is about the conte$t of the 4uritan moral and social code. 4uritan elders had to li"e their election in strict accordance with M:od(s laws-) and interpreting them with rigid attitudes towards dress) decorum) and abo"e all) se$ual conduct. Lan'ua'e5 #)("e and narra) !e )e&hn 8ue Lan'ua'e% 6n The Scarlet Letter *athaniel +awthorne tells the story using "ocabulary and a writing style familiar to readers in 18B . +owe"er) the speech of the characters in the story is that of 4uritans in the early 1A s. Their language is similar to 1acobean 'nglish of the <ing 1ames( 3ible. 6t is a uniDue language that makes him capable to chase uniDue routes to enter the readers and stun their minds. S)("e% The Scarlet Letter has an incredibly uniDue style. +awthorne uses key writing styles to e$press the main themes in his no"elE natural law "ersus con"entional law. +awthorne(s style is ambiguous at best. There are many passages in the no"el that are left open to interpretation) making The Scarlet Letter romantic. +awthorne asks many rhetorical Duestions throughout the passages) incorporating readers e"en more into the no"el. Also) he has an e$ceptional use of grammar) carefully placing multiple commas) prolonging his already comple$ sentences. +awthorne incorporates "arious sentence structures into his no"el) like the parallel construction with correlati"e con&unctions. +e places contradictory phrases throughout his sentences) creating a sense of mystery. +e has an accelerated use of "ocabulary) sometimes stopping the reader in his or her tracks to define the word. +awthorne wrote this no"el around one hundred years after the period of time that the no"el takes place in) so readers would need some e$planation on the culture. +awthorne incorporates a uniDue narrator position) ha"ing statements in the passage at random. Another aspect of +awthorne(s writing which was e$clusi"e to his time period was the use of formal dialogue which remained fairly consistent from character to character. +awthorne adopted the use of too formal dialogue partly from a 3ritish writer) /ir #alter /cott. Although +awthorne(s dialogue was too formal) it was an accurate tool in describing human emotion. Absence of character confrontation was another component of +awthorne(s literary style. +awthorne freDuently focused more on a character(s inner struggle or a central theme ;1

than on heated encounters between characters. 2ne e$ample of this style is found in The Scarlet Letter since the no"el was almost only based on the commandment MThou shall not commit adultery-. Narra) !e )e&hn 8ue% 6n The Scarlet Letter determining the identity of the narrator is a big problem. This difficulty is clearly intentional. +awthorne claims that he is merely Me$plaining how a large portion of the following pages came into NhisO possession) 9hoping to offer9 proofs of the authenticity of a narrati"e therein contained-. +awthorne proclaims himself only an editor) Mor "ery little more-. 0ater he says that M6 ha"e allowed myself nearly or altogether as much license as if the facts had been entirely of my own in"ention-) and all he is willing to "erify is Mthe authenticity of the outline-. /o +awthorne(s characteristic use of ambiguity is both a central theme and a central techniDue of the no"el. 6n this no"el +awthorne looks for his reader(s sympathy by adopting the pose of editor of /ur"eyor 4ue(s manuscript. The fact that he includes the romance con"ention of the found manuscript is once again indicati"e of his sensiti"ity to his reader. S($/o" #$ $ed and Blac% colo&rs: Red colour symboli7es the glow of +ester(s passion) while black colour represents the de"il and sin. 9A:% The narrator) *athaniel +awthorne) describes this "owel as a Mmystic symbol-. 2ther descriptions of this "owel are Madulteress-) Mable- when she becomes a successful seamstress> and Mangel- when ,immesdale refers to her twice) gi"ing the letter another meaning. ;. THE POETRY O+ WALT WHITMAN #alt #hitman) arguably America-s most influential and inno"ati"e poet) was born into a working class family in #est +ill of 0ong 6sland) *ew Gork. #hitman found employment in the printing business) and fell in lo"e with the written and printed word. +e read "oraciously) and became acDuainted with +omer) ,ante) /hakespeare and /cott early in life. +e knew the 3ible completely. #hen he was 1C) #hitman turned to teaching. Then he turned to &ournalism as a full-time career. +e started a weekly paper called the Lon--:slander) and later returned to the city where he continued his newspaper career. +e had radical positions on women-s property rights) immigration) and labor issues. 6n a period of four years he was ousted from se"en different newspapers. 6n 1888) he founded a newspaper) the .rooklyn %ree"an.

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/ince he was so successful working as a &ournalist) #hitman seemed destined to reach the fame that way. *e"ertheless) he started writing poetry due to his political "iews. 3ecause of his increasing annoyance with the American ,emocratic 4arty-s compromising and the approach to the sla"ery) he continued his already started political efforts using the writing of poetry in an e$perimental way to e$press his opinions and concerns. '"entually) #alt #hitman published his first work in 18BB) Leaves of Grass. +e was glad to ha"e his book published) but his &oy Duickly disappeared a few weeks later because of the death of his father. Leaves of Grass did not ha"e a great repercussion. #alt #hitman only sold some of them and ga"e the rest to his friends) such as Ralph #aldo 'merson. #hitman &oined the 95red :ray Association)9 a confederation of young men looking for the e$ploration of new possibilities of affection between males. +e also met 5red =aughan) a young 6rish stage dri"er) with whom he had a clear relationship. After this e"ent) he was marginali7ed because he had doubts about his se$ual orientation. 6n 18A ) when the !i"il #ar was around the corner) his poetic career took a positi"e turnE he recei"ed a letter from 3oston publishers) because they wanted to become the publishers of the new "olume of Leaves of Grass. #hitman saw in the newspaper in 18A; that his brother :eorge had been wounded in the war. #hitman became horrified when he saw all the dead bodies and the amputations of all the wounded of the war. This fact followed his mind during the rest of his life) and he wrote about it a lot in his poetry) relating the fragmentation of the human body to the fragmentation of the .nited /tates. +e died in189;. Lea!e# o< 2ra## +is most important work was Leaves of Grass) a collection of poetry #hitman wrote during all his lifetime. 6ts first "olume was composed of twel"e untitled poems and a preface e$pressing his ideas about the role of the poet) the artistic creation and the poetic language. 0ater on) he would continue publishing more editions of the work. The last one was published only months before his death) in 1891 and had 389 poems. Leaves is a chronicle with many layers. 5irst) it is #hitman-s own chronicle of his &ourney through the spiritual nature of his path and his e$periences of war) peace) lo"e) and death in the eighteenth century America. /econd) it is a song of and for America. +is IsongsJ are about democracy and freedom) of a solid belief in patriotism) and of the promise of American freedom. I/ong of %yselfJ is the most famous of #hitman-s poems and one of the twel"e pieces in the 18BB edition of Leaves of Grass. 0ike most of the other poems) it ;3

too was re"ised e$tensi"ely) reaching its final permutation in 1881. I/ong of %yselfJ is a combination of biography) sermon) and poetic meditation. The poem is written in #hitman(s signature free "erse style. #hitman) who praises words 9as simple as grass9 forgoes standard "erse and stan7a patterns in fa"or of a simple) legible style that can appeal to a mass audience. A long poem #hitman wrote commemorating the death of 4resident Abraham 0incoln was I#hen 0ilacs 0ast in the ,ooryard 3loom-d > ?18AB@. 6n this elegy #hitman tries to determine the best way to lament the death of a public figure. 6n his resignation at the end of the poem) and in his use of disconnected ideas) he suggests that the kind of ceremonial poetry a pastoral elegy represents may no longer ha"e a place in society> instead) symbolic) intensely personal forms must take o"er. In<"uen&e# #alt #hitman has been claimed as America(s first 9poet of democracy9) a title meant to reflect his ability to write in a singularly American character. #hitman(s "agabond lifestyle was adopted by the 3eat mo"ement and its leaders such as Allen :insberg and 1ack <erouac in the 19B s and 19A s as well as anti-war poets like Adrienne Rich and :ary /nyder. 0awrence 5erlinghetti numbered himself among #hitman(s 9wild children9) and the title of his 19A1 collection Startin- fro" San %rancisco is a deliberate reference to #hitman(s Startin- fro" *au"anok. #hitman also influenced 3ram /toker) author of Dracula) and was the model for the character of ,racula. =. Wa") Wh )$an >L )erar( #)("e5 )he$e#5 "an'ua'e and #($/o" #$?L )erar( #)("e and )he$e#. As a stylistic inno"ator) #hitman is unlike the pre"ailing models of writing a"ailable to him in antebellum American culture. The works of his early career as a &ournalist) fiction writer) and poet re"eal almost no sense of inno"ation at all. 6nstead) they show the style of an uninspired imitator. #hitman wrote an unremarkable editorial prose. There are elements of sensationalism and of hyperbolic political rhetoric. The early prose work does show) howe"er) that #hitman could write for a popular audience) using a style that would be sure to appeal to popular tastes. #hitman created a new mythology for the young American nation) using the poetic persona I6J) who is a man between sla"e and master) in a country in which most people radically supported sla"ery or opposed it. 6ndi"idualism) tales about his own e$periences) a ;8

re"olutionary treatment of eroticism) and the belief in uni"ersal "alues of democracy were the themes he introduced in his poetry. *e"ertheless) he also used the typical Romantic theme of nature) in the sense that it is related to the .ni"erse and :od. The three most important techniDues in #hitman-s long lines of free "erse are syntactic parallelism) repetition) and cataloguing. #hitman tends to write in seDuences of coordinate clauses) from two to four lines long) based on the parallels between syntactic units within the lines. Repetition is a related techniDue. #hitman uses anaphora) the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of the lines> epistrophe) the repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of lines> or sy"ploce) the repetition of both initial and terminal word or phrases. !ataloguing is the e$pansion of syntactic parallelism and repetition. The catalogue e$pands beyond the frame of two to four coordinate clauses) and it employs parallelism and repetition to build a rhythm. #hitman claims that his style owes a debt to the dynamic forms of nature) which pro"ide the only appropriate models for his "erse. The$e#% De$o&ra&( A# a Wa( o< L <e #hitman en"isioned democracy not &ust as a political system but as a way of e$periencing the world. 6n the early nineteenth century) people still harbored many doubts about whether the .nited /tates could sur"i"e as a country and about whether democracy could thri"e as a political system. To allay those fears and to praise democracy) #hitman tried to be democratic in both life and poetry. +e imagined democracy as a way of interpersonal interaction and as a way for indi"iduals to integrate their beliefs into their e"eryday li"es. I/ong of %yselfJ notes that democracy must include all indi"iduals eDually) or else it will fail. The C(&"e o< 2ro@)h and Dea)h #hitman-s poetry reflects the "itality and growth of the early .nited /tates. ,uring the nineteenth century) America e$panded at a tremendous rate) and its growth and potential seemed limitless. 3ut sectionalism and the "iolence of the !i"il #ar threatened to break apart and destroy the boundless possibilities of the .nited /tates. As a way of dealing with both the population growth and the massi"e deaths during the !i"il #ar) #hitman focused on the life cycles of indi"idualsE people are born) they age and reproduce) and they die. /uch poems as I#hen 0ilacs 0ast in the ,ooryard 3loom-dJ imagine death as an integral part of life. ,escribing the life cycle of nature helped #hitman conte$tuali7e the se"ere in&uries and ;B

trauma he witnessed during the !i"il #arPlinking death to life helped gi"e the deaths of so many soldiers meaning. The -eau)( o< )he Ind ! dua" Throughout his poetry) #hitman praised the indi"idual. +e imagined a democratic nation as a unified whole composed of uniDue but eDual indi"iduals. 6n this way) many indi"iduals make up the indi"idual democracy) a single entity composed of myriad parts. '"ery "oice and e"ery part will carry the same weight within the single democracy) and thus e"ery "oice and e"ery indi"idual is eDually beautiful. ,espite this pluralist "iew) #hitman still singled out specific indi"iduals for praise in his poetry) particularly Abraham 0incoln. 6n 18AB) 0incoln was assassinated) and #hitman began composing se"eral elegies) including I2 !aptainQ %y !aptainJ. The Hu$an -od( #hitman-s poetry re"els in its depictions of the human body and the body-s capacity for physical contact. /e"eral poems praise the bodies of both women and men) describing them at work) at play) and interacting. 6n se"eral poems) he also praises the perfection of the human form and worships the body because the body houses the soul. This free e$pression of se$uality horrified some of #hitman-s early readers) and #hitman was fired from his &ob at the 6ndian 3ureau in 18AB because the secretary of the interior found Leaves of Grass offensi"e. #hitman-s unabashed praise of the male form has led many critics to argue that he was homose$ual or bise$ual) but the repressi"e culture of the nineteenth century pre"ented him from truly e$pressing those feelings in his work.

S($/o" #$

P"an) " <e Throughout #hitman-s poetry) plant life symboli7es both growth and multiplicity. Rapid) regular plant growth also stands in for the rapid) regular e$pansion of the population of the .nited /tates. 6n I#hen 0ilacs 0ast in the ,ooryard 3loom-d)J #hitman uses flowers) bushes) wheat) trees) and other plant life to signify the possibilities of regeneration and regrowth after death. As the speaker mourns the loss of 0incoln) he drops a lilac spray onto the coffin> the act of laying a flower on the coffin not only honors the person who has died but lends death a measure of dignity and respect. The title Leaves of Grass highlights another of #hitman-s themesE the beauty of the indi"idual. 'ach leaf or blade of grass possesses its own distinct beauty) and together the blades form a beautiful unified whole) an idea #hitman e$plores in the si$th section of I/ong of %yself.J %ultiple lea"es of grass thus

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symboli7e democracy) another instance of a beautiful whole composed of indi"idual parts. 6n 18A ) #hitman published an edition of Leaves of Grass that included a number of poems celebrating lo"e between men. +e titled this section IThe !alamus 4oems)J after the phallic calamus plant. The nd ! dua" #hitman-s interest in the self ties into his praise of the indi"idual. #hitman links the self to the conception of poetry throughout his work) en"isioning the self as the birthplace of poetry. %ost of his poems are spoken from the first person) using the pronoun :. The speaker of #hitman-s most famous poem) I/ong of %yself)J e"en assumes the name #alt #hitman) but ne"ertheless the speaker remains a fictional creation employed by the poet #hitman. Although #hitman borrows from his own autobiography for some of the speaker-s e$periences) he also borrows many e$periences from popular works of art) music) and literature. Repeatedly the speaker of this poem e$claims that he contains e"erything and e"eryone) which is a way for #hitman to reimagine the boundary between the self and the world. 3y imaging a person capable of carrying the entire world within him) #hitman can create an elaborate analogy about the ideal democracy) which would) like the self) be capable of containing the whole. Lan'ua'e The point of "iew most of his poems is represented by a narrator in the first- person singular in"ol"ing the use of pronouns :# "e# "y& This narrati"e mood allows the reader a broader "iew in the speaker-s thoughts) opinions and feelings. 3eside a comple$ free "erse with no metrical pattern) the poet makes use of "i"id imagery) sensory language) freDuent repetition) and in"erted word order to e$press the intensity of feelings the sub&ect presents. #hitman uses comple$ syntactic structures) long and flowing sentences) from three and more lines) in order to create an effect on tension) fluency and rhythm. 0anguage would help make the shift happen through the "ehicle of #hitman-s poetry) a Ilanguage e$perimentJ to unify a .nion drifting apart. 0anguage) #hitman knew) could preser"e cultural "alues through stories. 3ut language also had an inner "alue which could speak to the higher self of the indi"idual) connecting him or her to cosmic order. #hitman belie"ed that the poet could put this Ili"ing principleJ into a language that would speak to and unite all classes of Americans. +e was confident he himself could do this because he knew the secret which connected language to *ature and to the 3eing in all creatures. This power of language to connect with *ature) howe"er) did not work so much through logic nor by representing things symbolically) but rather through direct contact with ;C

reality) through a language-s sound and rhythm. The language of his poetry) he belie"ed) would be the clarion call to establish a balanced republic that could accommodate both indi"idual growth and national unity. The Transcendentalist writers) who he belonged to) held in common two important premises that led to a general theory of languageE 1@ they belie"ed in an essential unity of human consciousness with uni"ersal law> and ;@ in the ability of language to e$press that unity. To these writers language could bridge the gap between matter and spirit Fto embody uni"ersal truth and temporal truth at the same time. #hitman-s theory led him to see language as a tool for healing when it comes from the mind of a great poet. #hitman belie"ed it was not language alone that influenced an audience> it was also the distinct "oice of the poet imbedded in language. Transcendentalist writers understood language to be a bridge between matter and spirit. That is) there is for them a correspondence between sound and matter. 0anguage) they belie"ed) could in some way e$press the natural li"ing law which unifies the uni"erse and human intelligence. 6t made sense that the ob&ects of nature must also be the language of the human spirit. #hitman also suggests that language and physical nature are similar in make-up and e"olution #hitman is one of those poets who seems to ha"e understood that language has le"els. 2ne of #hitman-s e$periments is to get his readers to feel different le"els of sound and meaning. Thus) language is a powerful tool for unifying a democracy because it can Ileap o"erheadJ and in"oke the common ground between all people and things) enli"ening the transcendental signified. Though #hitman spoke of the timeless) he embraced the flu$ as part of his poetic theory. #hitman accepted change as a part of the di"ine plan for the ad"ancement of the human race. +e adopted the ,arwinian theory of biological e"olution. /ince #hitman belie"ed e"olution to be the law of *ature) he thought language must follow the same law. #hitman felt that language is a dynamic process of growth) but that its changes are orderly and purpose and purposeful. +e belie"ed the new words coming into usage) for instance scientific words) were not accidental but prompted by the changing needs of the culture. 1A. EMILY ELIBA-ETH DIC*INSON 'mily 'li7abeth ,ickinson?183 F188A@ was an American poet. 3orn in Amherst) %assachusetts) to a successful family with strong community ties) she li"ed a mostly intro"erted and reclusi"e life. 3oth parents raised ,ickinson to be a cultured !hristian woman who would one day be responsible for a family of her own.

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,ickinson selected her own society carefully and frugally. 0ike her poetry) her relationship to the world was intensely reticent. 6ndeed) during the last twenty years of her life she rarely left the house. Though ,ickinson ne"er married) she had significant relationships with se"eral men who were friends) confidantes) and mentors. /he also en&oyed an intimate relationship with her friend /usan +untington :ilbert) who became her sister-in-law. /he wrote about such passions so intensely and con"incingly in her poetry. !hoosing to li"e life internally within the limits of her home) ,ickinson brought her life into sharp focus. 5or she also chose to li"e within the limitless e$panses of her imagination) a choice she was keenly aware of. +er small circle of domestic life did not impose upon her creati"e sensibilities. /he simplified her life so that doing without was a means of being within. 6n a sense she redefined the meaning of depri"ation because being denied something--whether it was faith) lo"e) literary recognition) or some other desire-pro"ided a sharper) more intense understanding than she would ha"e e$perienced had she achie"ed what she wanted. 5or ,ickinson) hopeful e$pectation was always more satisfying than achie"ing a golden moment. 6n her own work she was original and inno"ati"e) but she did draw upon her knowledge of the 3ible) classical myths) and /hakespeare for allusions and references in her poetry. /he also used contemporary popular church hymns) transforming their standard rhythms into free-form hymn meters. /he died at the age of fifty-si$ after de"oting most of her life to writing poetry) her nearly ;) poems were unknown e$cept to a small numbers of friends and relati"es. The poems were made to appear like traditional nineteenth-century "erse by assigning them titles) rearranging their synta$) normali7ing their grammar) and regulari7ing their capitali7ations. 6n addition) the poems were made more predictable by organi7ing them into categories such friends) nature) lo"e) and death. The first poem) 9*obody knows this little rose9) may ha"e been published without ,ickinson(s permission. The Republican also published 9A narrow 5ellow in the :rass9 as 9The /nake9> 9/afe in their Alabaster !hambers9 as 9The /leeping9> and 93la7ing in the :old and Duenching in 4urple9 as 9/unset9. ,ickinson found irony) ambiguity) and parado$ lurking in the simplest and commonest e$periences. The materials and sub&ect matter of her poetry are Duite con"entional. +er poems are filled with robins) bees) winter light) household items) and domestic duties. These materials represent the range of what she e$perienced in and around ;9

her father(s house. /he used them because they constituted so much of her life and) more importantly) because she found meanings latent in them. Though her world was simple) it was also comple$ in its beauties and its terrors. +er lyric poems captures impressions of particular moments) scenes) or moods) and she characteristically focuses upon topics such as nature) lo"e) immorality) death) faith) doubt) pain) and the self. 11. EMILY DIC*INSON:S POETRY 6n 'mily ,ickinson-s poetry) she uses interpretations that refer back to mortality because of her past e$periences throughout life that influenced her to write. 3ut) there are other hidden facts that you would be able to see in ,ickinson-s poems) she uses symbolism of immortality) death) sorrow and personification. /he describes each meaning to only symboli7e one thing and without reading the whole poem one would not be able to notice this. /ymbolism is a huge part of 'mily ,ickinson-s poetry because her life was heartbreaking but she used her poetry as a way to e$press the death) or sorrow that she was going through. 5''TE 5eet enter ,ickinson-s poems self-referentially) since the words foot and feet denote poetic terms as well as body parts. 6n poetry) IfeetJ are the groups of syllables in a line that form a metrical unit. ,ickinson-s mention of feet in her poems generally ser"es the dual task of describing functioning body parts and commenting on poetry itself. /T2*'E 6n ,ickinson-s poems) stones represent immutability and finalityE unlike flowers or the light of day) stones remain essentially unchanged. 36R,/E ,ickinson uses the symbol of birds rather fle$ibly. 6n IA 3ird came down the #alkJ ) the bird becomes an emblem of the unyielding mystery of nature) while in IM+ope- is the thing with feathersJ) the bird becomes a personification of hope. 'lsewhere) ,ickinson links birds to poets) whose &ob is to sing whether or not people hear. STYLE AND STRUCTURE +er seeking the cru$ of e$perience affected her style. /he lea"es out helping "erbs and connecting words> she drops endings from "erbs and nouns. 6t is not always clear what her pronouns refer to> sometimes a pronoun refers to a word which does not appear in the poem. At her best) she achie"es breathtaking effects by compressing language. +er seclusion may ha"e contributed to the obscurity of her poetry. 2ne danger of li"ing alone) in one(s own consciousness) is that the indi"idual may begin to create pri"ate meanings for words and pri"ate symbols) which others do not ha"e the key to. /o language) instead of 3

communicating) baffles the reader. ,ickinson does fall into this trap occasionally. +er linguistic mastery and sense of the dramatic combine in the often striking first lines of her poems. ,ickinson consistently uses the meters of 'nglish hymns. /he uses the dash to emphasi7e) to indicate a missing word or words) or to replace a comma or period. /he changes the function or part of speech of a word> ad&ecti"es and "erbs may be used as nouns. ,ickinson e$perimented with rhyme) and her poetry shows what subtle effects can be achie"ed with these rhymes. ,ickinson uses identical rhyme ?sane) insane@ sparingly. /he also uses eye rhyme ?though) through@) "owel rhymes ?see) buy@) imperfect rhymes ?time) thin@) and suspended rhyme ?thing) along@. The e$tensi"e use of dashes and uncon"entional capitali7ation in ,ickinson(s manuscripts) and the idiosyncratic "ocabulary and imagery) combine to create a body of work that is 9far more "arious in its styles and forms than is commonly supposed9. ,ickinson a"oids pentameter) opting more generally for trimeter) tetrameter and) less often) dimeter. /ometimes her use of these meters is regular) but oftentimes it is irregular. The regular form that she most often employs is the ballad stan7a) a traditional form that is di"ided into Duatrains) using tetrameter for the first and third lines and trimeter for the second and fourth) while rhyming the second and fourth lines ?A3!3@. Though ,ickinson often uses perfect rhymes for lines two and four) she also makes freDuent use of slant rhyme. MACOR THEMES -5lowers and gardens /he associates some flowers) like gentians and anemones) with youth and humility> others with prudence and insight. +er poems were often sent to friends with accompanying letters and nosegays -The %aster poems ,ickinson left a large number of poems addressed to 9/ignor9) 9/ir9 and 9%aster9) who is characteri7ed as ,ickinson(s 9lo"er for all eternityJ. The %aster is an unattainable composite figure) 9human) with specific characteristics) but godlike9 and speculates that %aster may be a 9kind of !hristian muse9. -%orbidity ,ickinson(s poems reflect her 9early and lifelong fascination9 with illness) dying and death. -:ospel poems

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Throughout her life) ,ickinson wrote poems reflecting a preoccupation with the teachings of 1esus !hrist and) indeed) many are addressed to him. /he stresses the :ospels( contemporary pertinence and recreates them) often with 9wit and American colloDuial language9. -The .ndisco"ered !ontinent Academic /u7anne 1uhas7 considers that ,ickinson saw the mind and spirit as tangible "isitable places and that for much of her life she li"ed within them. 2ften) this intensely pri"ate place is referred to as the 9undisco"ered continent9 and the 9landscape of the spirit9 and embellished with nature imagery. -The assertion of the self 5or ,ickinson) the IselfJ entails an understanding of identity according to the way it systemati7es its perceptions of the world) forms its goals and "alues) and comes to &udgments regarding what it percei"es. -The powers of words and poetry ,ickinson began to see language and the word) which were formerly part of :od-s domain) as the pro"ince of the poet. The duty of the poet was to re-create) through words) a sense of the world as a place in which ob&ects ha"e an essential and almost mythic relationship to each other. -*ature as a haunted house 5or ,ickinson the characteri7ing of :od-s power pro"ed to be complicated since she often abstained from using the established religious symbols for things in nature.

12. THE SLAVE NARRATIVES INTRODUCTION The sla"e narrati"e is a literary form which grew out of the written accounts of ensla"ed Africans in 3ritain and its colonies) including the later .nited /tates) !anada and !aribbean nations. /ome si$ thousand former sla"es from *orth America and the !aribbean ga"e accounts of their li"es during the 18th and 19th centuries) with about 1B narrati"es published as separate books or pamphlets. 6n the 193 s in the .nited /tates) during the :reat ,epression) more than ;3 additional oral histories on life during sla"ery were collected by writers sponsored and published by the #orks 4rogress Administration ?#4A@ of 4resident 5ranklin ,. Roose"elt(s administration. /ome of the earliest memoirs of capti"ity known in 'ngland and the 3ritish 6sles were written by white 'uropeans and later Americans captured and sometimes ensla"ed in 3;

*orth Africa) usually by 3arbary pirates. These were part of a broad category of 9capti"ity narrati"es9 by 'nglish-speaking 'uropeans. 3eginning in the 18th century) these included accounts by colonists and American settlers in *orth America and the .nited /tates who were captured and held by *ati"e Americans. /e"eral well-known capti"ity narrati"es were published before the American Re"olution) and they often followed forms established with the narrati"es of capti"ity in *orth Africa. 0ater *orth American accounts were by Americans captured by western tribes during 19th-century migrations. 5or the 'uropeans and Americans) the di"ision between capti"ity as sla"es and as prisoners of war was not always clear. A broader name for the genre is 9capti"ity literature9. :i"en the problem of international contemporary sla"ery in the ; th and ;1st centuries) additional sla"e narrati"es are being written and published.

HISTORICAL CONTEDT !lose to two million sla"es were brought to the American /outh from Africa and the #est 6ndies during the centuries of the Atlantic sla"e trade. 6n the antebellum /outh) sla"ery pro"ided the economic foundation that supported the dominant planter ruling class. .nder sla"ery the structure of white supremacy was hierarchical and patriarchal) resting on male pri"ilege and masculine-s honor) entrenched economic power) and raw force. 3lack people necessarily de"eloped their sense of identity) family relations) communal "alues) religion) and to an impressi"e e$tent their cultural autonomy by e$ploiting contradictions and opportunities within a comple$ fabric of paternalistic gi"e-and-take. The working relationships and sometimes tacit e$pectations and obligations between sla"e and sla"eholder made possible a functional) and in some cases highly profitable) economic system. ,espite the oppression of this system) sla"es emerge in numerous antebellum sla"e narrati"es as acti"ely) sometimes aggressi"ely) in search of freedom) whether in the conte$t of e"eryday speech and action or through co"ert and o"ert means of resistance. ,efeat in the !i"il #ar se"erely destabili7ed sla"ery-based social) political) and economic hierarchies) demanding in some cases that white southerners de"elop new ones. After the !i"il #ar) the southern ruling class was compelled to adapt to new e$igencies of race relations and a restructured) as well as reconstructing) economic system. 5or African Americans) the end of sla"ery brought hope for unprecedented control of their own li"es and economic prospects. After 'mancipation) howe"er) most black southerners found themsel"es steadily drawn into an e$ploitati"e sharecropping system that effecti"ely prohibited their 33

becoming property owners with a chance to claim their share of the American ,ream. .nlike many poor whites who also found themsel"es under the thumb of white landowners) the rural black masses in the post-Reconstruction /outh were gradually sub&ected to a cradleto-gra"e segregation regime designed not simply to separate the races but to create a permanent laboring underclass different in degree but not fundamentally in kind from the sla"e population of the antebellum era. 3y the turn of the century segregation had robbed black /outherners of their political rights as well as their economic opportunity and social mobility. IMPORTANCE IN AMERICAN LITERATURE *arrati"es by fugiti"e sla"es before the !i"il #ar and by former sla"es in the postbellum era are essential to the study of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American history and literature) especially as they relate to the ele"en states of the 2ld !onfederacy. 6ncreasingly in the 188 s and 18B s they re"eal the struggles of people of color in the *orth) as fugiti"es from the /outh recorded the disparities between America(s ideal of freedom and the reality of racism in the so-called 9free states.9 After the !i"il #ar) former sla"es continued to record their e$periences under sla"ery) partly to ensure that the newly-united nation did not forget what had threatened its e$istence) and partly to affirm the dedication of the e$-sla"e population to social and economic progress. 5rom a literary standpoint) the autobiographical narrati"es of former sla"es comprise one of the most e$tensi"e and influential traditions in African American literature and culture. .ntil the ,epression era sla"e narrati"es outnumbered no"els written by African Americans. /ome of the classic te$ts of American literature) including the two most influential nineteenth-century American no"els) +arriet 3eecher /towe(s 4ncle To";s Cabin ?18B;@ and %ark Twain(s Huckleberry %inn ?1888@) and such pri7e-winning contemporary no"els as #illiam /tyron(s The Confessions of at Turner ?19AC@) and Toni %orrison(s .eloved ?198C@) bear the direct influence of the sla"e narrati"e. /ome of the most important re"isionist scholarship in the historical study of American sla"ery in the last forty years has marshaled the sla"e narrati"es as key testimony. /la"e narrati"es and their fictional descendants ha"e played a ma&or role in national debates about sla"ery) freedom) and American identity that ha"e challenged the conscience and the historical consciousness of the .nited /tates e"er since its founding. 6n the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries) sla"e narrati"es were an important means of opening a dialogue between blacks and whites about sla"ery and freedom. The most influential sla"e narrati"es of the antebellum era were designed to 38

enlighten white readers about both the realities of sla"ery as an institution and the humanity of black people as indi"iduals deser"ing of full human rights. THE USE O+ LAN2UA2E IN THE SLAVES NARRATIVES 5or historians who use sla"e narrati"es to document the immediate physical and social facts of sla"e life) 5rederick ,ouglass(s arrative of the Life of %rederick Dou-lass# an !"erican Slave# Written by Hi"self offers a frustratingly low yield. 3eside /olomon *orthup(s detailed account of li"ing Duarters) diet) work life) holidays) and family relations) ,ouglass(s arrative must seem spare) incomplete) e"en misleading in its portrayal of the arrative from this point of "iew) sla"e e$periencePan incendiary polemic written more to fuel the abolitionist cause than to con"ey the nature of the sla"e e$perience. To read the howe"er) is to misapprehend how ,ouglass(s te$t treats sla"ery and to be needlessly disappointed. .nlike *orthup) ,ouglass focuses on the linguistic significance of bondageE +e tersely portrays masters and sla"es almost solely in terms of their linguistic acts because) for him) the reality of sla"ery is a profoundly rhetorical one. +e charts his own relentless progress to freedom as the acDuisition of an e"er deeper understanding of language use in a sla"e economy) and the reali7ation of his own freedom at the *antucket antisla"ery con"ention is preeminently a linguistic e"ent. ,ouglass(s perspecti"e is an important one) for as sociolinguists ha"e disco"ered) Ipeoples do not all e"erywhere use language to the same degree) in the same situations) or for the same things. R 0anguages) like other cultural traits) will be found to "ary in the degree and nature of their integration into the societies and cultures in which they occur.J ,ouglass was acutely sensiti"e to the linguistic system of sla"e society) of the ways in which language was usedPand withheldPby one human being to ensla"e another. CONCLUSION The sla"e narrati"es is "ery popular for its lurid scenes of horror and "iolence that ser"ed as an acceptable gratification of the popular appetite for sensationalism> its religious influenceE didactic content> interesting descriptions of life in the /outh and its propaganda weapons during abolition and !i"il #ar.

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