Washington Irving

Washington Irving

Rip Van Wrinkle:

Evil of banks

Epigraph [a quotation at the beginning of some piece of writing] – a question of truth

Diederich Knickerbocker [I might have misspelled this] – the origin of the nickname for New Yorkers – irving’s comic view of History

Romantic descriptions:

Rip as a stereotype – good and abused by wife, marriage is altered and removed

Remember the puritans believed in putting others over themselves

Theme:

escape --> how to get away

a) outside

b) inn (tavern, drinking away sorrows)

c) the woods

Fancy = imagination

Strange changes, and the possible explanations [autry cut off the slide show here and never picked back up]

Legend of Sleepy Hollow:

Postscript: the search for a motive in the tale is a distinctly puritan/neoclassical idea, stories may not be told simply for pleasure, they must have some other reason for existence – what does the story prove?

The purpose is to teach and to delight

Teaching is like a sermon, but if there is too much it will lose the delight

Delight is the escapism or entertainment, but if there is too much it will lose the morality and have no message

Reference the postscript for more info

In the story:

Politicians --> laugh at KB’s story without listening to it (fakeness of political figures)

Ratiocination = conclusion: the proposition arrived at by logical reasoning

Teaching = didactic – twain made fun of the “good little boy” and “bad little boy” stories used to teach youth because only the “bad little boy” ever had any fun

Irving is a transition figure who defended the entertainment of his story against the puritan or conservative desire of moral teaching

-see pg. 379 “sequestered grin known as sleepy hollow”

Ichabod is led into a trap

He has an odd physical appearance (see p 380 for details) – his disproportion in size creates comedy

Golden Maxim = spare the rod, spoil the child

Understatement – in Ichabod’s school the children were not spoiled (understates the way he beats them) – the school was next to a patch of birch trees with their birch rods

Puritans believed in this kind of education but the reformers did not [e.g. Thoreau example – Thoreau was told to beat his kids and he randomly selected one, beat him/her and then resigned from office]

Pg. 382 – Ichabod was considered to be educated for having read 2-3 books, and he believed in witchcraft [this sets him up to be duped by the “headless horseman”]

Phillip Freneau

Phillip Freneau

* [ ]’s indicate that I’m not quite sure how it fits into the context but the text is in my notes for some reason

Background:

Lived from 1752 – 1832

This made him in his 20’s during the revolutionary war – which he participated in – after the war he was a journalist – he was a bit of a political agitator – and eventually became renowned for his poetry

He was a transitional poet – e.g. he lived and wrote in the time between neoclassical beliefs and romantic beliefs and incorporated both into his writings

He incorporated these transitional themes into his poems, often portraying a romantic picture of nature (romantic = wild, asymmetrical, liberal; neoclassical = tamed and controlled, symmetrical, conservative)

On the Emigration to America and Peopling the Western Country

(see page 351 in literature book for complete text of this poem)

He presents a rhyme scheme of:

A

B

A

B

C

C

[^ one stanza]

In this 10 stanza poem

Stanza I:

Some keywords from this stanza – nature’s wildest genius

This presents a liberal view of nature as being best wild and forces the reader to ask

“What would the puritans have thought of such terms regarding nature?”

~think back to the puritanical [neoclassical] literature – puritans believed that nature belonged tot the devil and that the Indians were basically the devil’s minions – they would have greatly disapproved of this mindset

[not quite sure what this is:

Jean Jaques Rousseau --> thought Indians were noble savages who were not schooled in fundamental knowledge but innately knew it]

Freneau presents freedom from European corruption in America – America = the new garden of Eden, a model city on a hill

Freneau believes that there is a spirit in wilderness – his beliefs regarding nature go against the teachings of the age of reason

Stanza II

America is presented as the antithesis of Europe – e.g. Europe was ruled by despots while freedom reigned in America

An anti-monarchy mindset that scorns the despot and the crown

Stanza III

- Says that monarchy is a problem that separates people by birth – we take everyone and educate them – why should we care about demographic differences?

Keywords from the passage – “wild” “savage” --> shows a neoclassical fear of the savageries of the wild that nature ought to be about harmony and regularity rather than wilderness

The romantic garden is more natural --> i.e. nature should not be interfered with

[bring up the question about whether good poetry is perfect or “wild” --> should we perfect our works or leave them to our imagination?

Alex Pope – 1688 – 1744; heroic couplets – said “don’t rush into publication, set it [the work] aside for nine years”]

Stanza IV

The Indians migrating westward leaving the charms of Ohio to the Americans

Stanza V

Refers to the Mississippi river as the great sire: the river will now be used by the Americans; it will not just flow uselessly through the middle of America – Freneau’s utilitarianism [like Ben Franklin]

[iunno how this relates but w.e]

Relate to Huck Finn

e.g. 2 con artists come to a raft – one claims to be a duke and demands the other to bow who in turn claims to be a king

Freneau wants to put the river to good use – to make it go where we want it to run in order to best suit our current needs

Stanza VI

The Mississippi will be a part of American commerce from now on

Stanza VII

Relate this stanza to the puritan idea of providence that will help and guide us through life

Provides intuition and imagination as proof rather than reason – Addison math example, he knows the answer without actually doing the problem – knows it intuitively and doesn’t have to or want to show work – like the romantic, knows it immediately

[on a side note, this has nothing to do with anything but remember that sophistication is the idea that we come from nothingness, have a brief life and return to nothingness – e.g. nothingness – life – nothingness and stresses the brevity and meaninglessness of life]

Neoclassicism celebrated the powers of human reason; prescribed that laws came from reason and that common people had no capability for reasoning [thus uneducated] – believed that reason brings order from confusion and that we needed order over passion, that reason ought to be used to solve problems instead of emotions

Stanza VIII

No kings to enslave people

Stanza IX

Contrasts the freedom of the pioneers going west with the enslavement of the Africans in the southern US

-the common belief was that slavery would ultimately be proven to be a moral evil – that it “will pass away” – that it will work itself out

Stanza X

Prediction of america’s future greatness which ultimately came true

The Wuild Honey Suckle

[I am going to assume that you know most of this already from writing a paper about it and include only the bare minimum that I feel necessary to alleviate the stress on my fingers and eyes (from deciphering my writing) – facebook or email me with any specific questions]

Rhyme Scheme = ABABCC

Stanza I

Apostrophe = a direct address to a thing [in this case the flower] as though it were human (a kind of personification)

Stanza II

Nature’s self – personification of the power that put the flower in the remote spot

Protected from vulgar eye – neoclassical rejection of the mob – disgust with common people

Stanza III

Speaker’s emotional reaction to the flower – says that the flower will die – has experience in world, no innocence

Presents a harshness to nature “unpitying frosts”

Symbolism:

Frost human without compassion

Decay human nature

Flower human life

Eden innocence

Stanza IV

Flower becomes a symbol for shortness of life --> relate to sophistication (see above)

Destroys meaning in life

The Indian Burying Ground

[Once again I have 2 pages of notes about this, and don’t find it terribly interesting/important, I am going to greatly condense it but hit me up with any questions]

10 4-line stanzas, ABAB

I

Questions the posture of how we bury the dead, shouldn’t they be upright as it is life and not sleep we send them to?

II

Natives bury in sitting posture with goods to prepare the people for the world beyond death

Mid 18^th century, it was fashionable to go to the churchyard cemetery and read the epitaphs off the grave while contemplating morality – this leads to vampire stories, Poe, the strange and unusual – reason giving way to emotion

III

Freneau connects posture and burial artifacts to unceasing activity of the soul

Perhaps heaven is a repetition, magnification of finer things in life, but we will still have the same roles, e.g. prey will still be hunted but shall not ever pass into nothingness (e.g. sophistication)

IV

[Yah, I have no idea what this means let me know if you do]

Hunting implements = life is spent but not the old ideas, they will continue

V

Addressed to future visitors to the Indian’s graves (e.g. to us)

“Our dead do not lie, they sit”

Commands us to commit no fraud upon the dead

VI

Remains are all that is left of the Indians vanished culture

VII

And elm remains behind under which the children of the forest once played

VIII

Visit of the Indian queen and barbarous warriors who chase away those who linger too long

IX

The ghosts = shades, and still hunt the ghostly deer

X

As it is used, the word fancy means imagination

We fancy we see ghosts of vanished Indians; shadows, delusions --> forerunner of romantics in England, the fancy vs. the reason that states ghosts could never exist

I HAVE FOUR PAGES LEFT GODDAMIT

On Mr Paine’s Rights of Man

[I don’t even know who wrote this…]

50 lines of heroic couplets (ABABCDCD – rhyming iambic pentameter – u/u/u/u/u/)

Rights of man vs. the laws of the kings, the attack upon the monarch as source of political slavery

Celebration of reason – refutation of the enslavement of people

Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley – And a Brief History Of the US

Background:

She was the first black poet ever published – connect her to Anne Bradstreet (the first female poet)

She was a slave when she began to write; however, her talent won her freedom for her – though she was free, she opted to continue serving the family as a paid servant

Elegy – there are two main kinds of elegies:

1. general elegy – a general reflection upon death, not concerned with any particular person

2. specific elegy – a poem mourning the death of a specific person – e.g. the elegy A. Bradstreet wrote mourning the death of one of her children

In colonial America, the literature was primarily historical and religious; there were also many political documents (federalist papers, constitution, declaration of independence) – however, there was also poetry

Puritan revival – John Edwards began the thoughts of resurrecting Puritanism

George Whitefield and Phillis Wheatley – they led the resurrection in Europe before coming to America where 1000s turned out to hear them speak

George Whitefield:

When he was in Philadelphia, Ben Franklin went (as a scientist, not to be converted) to hear him speak, Ben had heard great things about him and wanted to know if they were true, so he paced the distance from the first person in the crowd to the people to the back and found it to be about ¼ of a mile – he could still hear GW clearly from the very back

It has been said that GW could take one word and get the audience to cry by saying it – e.g. MESOPOTAMIA – and the whole audience would be in tears – he was a great orator, unlike others who merely read their speeches off a screen, he actually knew how to speak from his heart and move an audience

Style of PW:

The popular writing style of the US lagged behind that of England by about 30 years, this means that when Phillis was writing, she already wrote in an outmoded style – she wrote in the styles present from 1680 – 1750, only she wrote in 1770

Heroic Couplets – this was the style she wrote in, it is composed of 2 line rhyming couplets written in iambic pentameter (u/u/u/u/u/) – it is like blank verse, but with rhyme

Free verse – the style that was (and to some extent still is) popular throughout the rest of the world, it has no fixed rhythm

Fatalism vs. Free Will:

PW and G Whitefield had arguments regarding free will – GW argued that god was responsible for all the happenings in the world while PW said that all people had free will

Although they fought long and hard regarding this topic, neither was willing to bend at all – GW ultimately says that they are wasting paper because neither will change, he says that there is no real difference in the end result – if a person is converted he says, “you will give the converted person the credit while I give the credit to god” – either way a person is converted – they agreed to disagree

Elegy:

There are two different types of elegy:

General – a writing that is a general reflection upon death and the nature of the afterlife

Specific – a poem written to mourn the death of a specific person [e.g. On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield]

Within a specific elegy, there are two sections:

Evocation – the introduction, it describes the personality of the dead person – it also expresses the sorrow – how the author “misses him/her”

Consolation – the second part – includes the idea that he/she went to heaven so we should be happy, not sad – e.g. so what if he’s dead? He’s up with the angels now

Heart vs. Intellect:

There are two strands of the mind, the heart, which invokes passions, and the intellect, which requires logical foundations for beliefs

PW says that Whitefield was able to invoke both the heart and the intellect in his speeches

The question of whether or not heart and mind should be separated, e.g. should our passions be in line with what is logical? Or are passions merely irrational feelings that we have towards people or things

Criticism of pure heart – in the 1700s, intellectuals would criticize those driven by passion saying that they were “too enthusiastic” – reason says that we should either approve or disapprove, not throw ourselves down in front of people or ideas

To summarize,

heart says “this is the greatest thing ever”

reason says “I’m paying the bill”

Irony of Phillis Wheatley’s Conversion:

PW is converted to Christianity and comes to hate her roots – she believes that Africa was a pagan land [autry says that one should treasure his or her roots e.g. pine trees shouldn’t hate their roots when in the company of oak trees… don’t ask me he was probably high when he gave this example]

The irony occurs when she at once declares her home continent of Africa to be evil and pleas for racial tolerance – e.g. “we’re all evil pagans but treat us as though we were good Christians” – she acknowledges the entire continent as being pagan but says that god wants more harmony and that all people are called to the “conversion train”

The Truth About Washington:

Washington was not the composed, happy person we are acquainted with in portraits and history books – in reality he was unintelligent [in comparison to the geniuses of Thomas Jefferson and Alex Hamilton] and irritable [had a temper – he didn’t talk much and he cursed a lot]

It is also interesting to note that though he is the father of our country he had no children – he was sterile after contracting mumps as a boy

Often, Hamilton would whisper war plans in his ear – Washington would say “well I got to think about that for a while” – the next day he would present the idea as his own idea – this is analogous to a multiple choice test – Washington had no idea what to do, but given multiple choices, he was always able to pick out the best one

Also, he was a ‘gold digger’ he preferred rich women whether or not they were good looking

James Madison

Wrote the majority of the constitution

Believed that the republic is best form of government because it creates a large enough pool of leaders to be relatively free from corruption

Thomas Jefferson

Wrote the majority of the decl. of independence

Articles of Confederation

They were written after the war and mandated that the government had no standing army – it did not work very well

Compromise @ Constitutional Convention

Many of the anti-federalist states did not support the constitution and feared that it would create a tyrannical government like that of King George – when they were attempting to ratify it the federalists included provisions for the modification immediately following the ratification

Federalist Paper #10

Said that the republic was the safeguard against power for personal gain over national gain – e.g. bribery

Also recall the group project example – autry was “outvoted” by the dumb people who were wrong – a republic seeks to safeguard against the decisions of the unthinking majority by putting qualified people in positions of power and allowing the idiotic populous to vote upon the smart people so that we have the “dumb of the smart” as a government rather than the “dumb of the dumb” directly passing bills with their overwhelming voting power

Class Notes

The autobiography of Ben Franklin:

Background:

The 18^th century was often called the age of enlightenment or the age of reason

Ben lived from 1706 -1790; he was born in Boston to pious [drunk the Kool-Aid] puritans

Ben’s Father:

His father was married twice with 17 kids total, Ben was born to his second wife – the large number of children meant that Ben had siblings who were substantially older than he was [Autry’s great grandpa had 22 kids]

It was not uncommon for 1^st wives to die in that time period; there were many stresses and difficulties of living the austere puritan life. When this happened, the widower would often remarry to a younger woman

At first, his father wanted him to become a minister but changed his mind when he learned how much it would cost

Ben:

Ben received a basic education however he ultimately rejects Puritanism in favor of reason

He was driven by the desire for enlightenment and not by superstitious passions

The puritans believed that education was one’s armor against the devil; e.g. the knowledge of the bible could be used to dissuade the devil [Abigail and proctor example – devil says she’s so fine – proctor says thou shall not commit adultery] – this is why all the puritans were given at least a fundamental education

1718:

After his basic education he was apprenticed to his brother [James Franklin] and would ultimately become a printer – his father did this because it was too expensive to send him to a college where he could learn to be a minister

His father thought he saw a bookish nature in Ben – but refused to intervene when Ben believed he was being unfairly treated by his brother – Ben’s brother was put in jail [for printing critical things about the king] during which time Ben ran the business and began to enjoy the liberty of not being forced to do things inefficiently, he rips up the apprentice documents – when his brother returned and began to physically beat him he refused to work for him anymore

Ben’s brother essentially “blacklists” him, telling everyone in the town not to hire him – this meant that Ben had to work for his brother or not at all

1723:

He runs away to Philadelphia

A friend had told him that he knew someone in Philly who would probably hire Ben – so Ben goes and works there until he has a chance to go to Europe

1724:

Ben goes to Europe to study printing

Ben ultimately had the chance to study abroad and learn all the subtle techniques used in his trade – he went to Europe and learned a great deal – he returns a “master printer”

1726:

Ben, back in philly, sets up his own business

He was an extremely hard worker and got a good reputation as such; he completes, even establishes the rags à riches archetypal model with his great printing success

1732:

starts publishing à Poor Richards Almanac – great success

Once again, he had a reputation of being a “go getter” and worked very hard – he published his first work which presented anecdotes for life that are still in common use today; e.g. early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise

These sayings especially appealed to farmers – the book was America’s first bestseller

He published both his own and others works

1748:

Ben had made so much money that he no longer had to work – he retires from his business in order to pursue other interests [I missed ½ this slide so if you have it send it to me otherwise ill go see autry tomorrow and get it]

1750s:

Franklin devotes himself to science and his inventions; he was a pioneer in the study of electricity which we see through his key/kite experiment

He also became a pioneer in education and founded the Franklin academy

At his school he taught practical things like bookkeeping, astronomy, navigation, and others – he also founded the concept of an elective, a class that a student will take because he or she is genuinely interested in a topic – until now everyone had been enrolled in standardized courses

1760s:

Politics, he was elected to both the continental congress and the Pennsylvania assembly

1776:

He was on the committee that was writing the declaration of independence; however he had the humility to admit his inferiority at political writing to other members of the committee – the general consensus was that Thomas Jefferson was the predominant writer and as such they allowed him to compose the entire thing before editing it

Questions of motives –

Addison group project example

Autry group project with the three stooges – the dumb vote for one person and the smart vote for another and there are more dumb people than there are smart people – he got outvoted even though he knew he was right

1780:

Ben Franklin was an ambassador to France à wasn’t at the battle with George Washington when George half froze to death along with his men, instead he was getting laid in France [smart man]

1787:

Delegate to the constitutional convention

à Per [or is it prior to?] this convention there was no standing army at all, they relied totally upon militia

Ben put his country before his personal interests and urged the ratification of the constitution

Structure of the Autobiography:

I. Preparation for greatness – false starts, apprenticeship and running away – rags to riches

II. Plans for moral self improvement

III. Plans for improvement of society

IV. Utility [usefulness] of government

1. Quintessential [archetypal] American story

~Namely, the rags to riches story, the idea that the government would not impede an individual -and that with hard work you had a chance of success

~All American success stories

~Pragmatic [practical] purpose: used his life as a model to imitate – one should act in accord with reason and not with passion – he wants his son and others to model their lives after his – he shows humans how to get better

~he had the fundamental belief that if something was not good enough, we should make it better, not give up – we want improvement, not just changes – change can be bad

~he was never given the opportunity to run for president because by the time they instituted the office, he was already very old (81 to be precise)

~childhood emphasis on the discovery of some useful occupation for him – his parents were smarter than Autry’s, when Ben wanted to be a poet they said poets are all broke which prompted Ben to take up prose and ultimately write his bestseller [the almanac] – autry’s parents told him that he could be whatever he wanted to and so autry tried to be a poet but his total earnings amounted to $3 – [17 cent lawsuit example]

~Ben’s love of reading prompted his father to pursue him becoming a minister – the high price of tuition changed his mind

2. Self improvement

~basically, he looked at himself and said “what should I do to make myself better” [connect to improvement vs. change]

~he devised a system of 13 virtues and proposed a 13 week system for perfecting his sould [1 a week]

~this belief that he could perfect himself and that works will be the way that god judges you [as opposed to whether or not you are “saved”] was contrary to the puritan beliefs

~he made charts to record his progress [see page 217,218 in the harper book]

~daily schedule – he is a pragmatist [reason and practicality as opposed to passion] and believed that we need assessment of where we are, he set goals and made plans for achieving these goals; this is a very modern problem-solving method

3. Improvement of society [autry has no notes regarding this and everything following so this is all speculation on my part – don’t hold me responsible if its wrong]:

~he was a major force behind the education system – coming up with revolutionary new ways [e.g. the elective]

~he debates with a fried about whether or not women should be educated and sides with the women – he sees that society could be greater helped by an egalitarian mindset

~provides anecdotes for life in Poor Richard’s Almanac these are supposed to help better the general aspects of 18^th century societal life

4. Utility of government – once again this is pure speculation:

~he took a pragmatic approach to life – so he probably did the same with government

~he would most likely have taken an egalitarian approach – e.g. it doesn’t matter whether the best man for the job is black [or even a woman] – if he/she is the best candidate he/she should get the position

~he disagreed with the illogical British tyranny of a government

~let me know if you guys have any further ideas on this topic