Longfellow and Dreams

I know this was last unit, but I forgot to blog about this earlier. In Longfellow's A Psalm of Life in the first stanza, "life is but an empty dream!" reminded me of "life is but a dream" in the childhood song, Row, Row, Row Your Boat. I mentioned it to Emily and she noted how Row, Row, Row Your Boat is often sung in canon and canons are supposed to be never-ending. It made me think about how Romantics write about death and the end of life. And if you've ever tried to sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat in canon with anybody, it mostly ends in giggles and catastrophe.

The metaphor that life is a dream in both the poem and song also suggests that dreams end, life ends, and we can't live in dreams forever. Rip Van Winkle may have lived in dreams for 18 years, but his stupor eventually ended. The Romantics were very invested in the idea of life turning into a sleeping death, and the dream idea goes well with it. Dreams occur when we sleep, and sleeping is like being dead ("For the soul is dead that slumbers"), so is he saying life is death? That would be the ultimate paradoxical statement.

-- tori

Don't ask me where I find these things.

Poe

What's his problem? Mrs. Lopez was saying that the dark nature of his writing can be traced to his dismal relationships with women, but I'm not seeing it. If that were true, shouldn't there be more women involved in his stories? Just thinking of his more famous pieces, I don't find many women involved (e.g. Tell Tale Heart, Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum). Where does all the negativity come from?

-Colin

The Afterlife

From the Romantic poems we've read so far, I've noticed that the afterlife has definitely been an important topic. In "Thanatopsis," Bryant discusses how after death, one "shalt lie down with patriarchs of the infant world." Thus, after death every person becomes equal, regardless of their economic or social class in life. Again, in Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life," the idea of the afterlife is introduced. In this poem, Longfellow urges the reader to recognize that death is not bad, but merely a transition into another life.
My question is, why were the Romantics so obsessed with the afterlife? Was there obsession with it simply a rejection of neoclassical rationalism? Or were they trying to embrace religion?

-Bryce C.

Crevecoeur and El Greco

In Spanish class, we've been perusing the artists of the Golden Age, and are currently watching a video on El Greco. He was a Spanish painter, but was born under a Greek name in Greece. In his early years, he studied Renaissance painters such as Rafael and Michelangelo, and attempted to mimic their styles rather than the Byzatine style of his native Greece. But after moving to Spain and living in Toledo for a number of years, historians say that he finally developed his true "El Greco" style. Interestingly, it was unlike the Renaissance painters' works that he had studied for so long, but was rather more similar to Byzantine works.

I found this to be an interesting parallel to Crevecoer. Crevecoer, though not a native of America, considered himself (somewhat) to be an American and seemed to find his personal identity here rather than in his native France. It seems as though both men "found" themselves and developed a true sense of identity outside of their native land. What do you guys think of this?

Does Crevecoeur Consider Himself an American?

This was an interesting question that was posed in class a few days ago, so I just wanted to extend the discussion. Personally, I feel that Crevocoeur does consider himself somewhat of an American, as evidenced by his use of the "we" device. However, at other times his pronoun usage is questionable which leaves me to wonder just how strongly he feels about his identity. What do you guys feel about this?

-Bryce C.

Crevecoeur's Definition of American

In class today, we discussed how St. John Crevecoeur defined an American, and whether or not he considered himself to be one. From what I have interpreted, I believe he defines an American based on the individual's desire to work hard in order to become successful, his or her desire for justice, and his or her pursuit for property.

Most importantly, however, I believe Crevecoeur claimed that anyone who decided to journey to America--no matter what nationality he or she was--had already cast aside his or her past ties and created a new one: that of a "new race of men," as he puts it. This "new race of men" was the welcoming of everyone from different races to America. Crevecoeur states that men from "all nations are melted into a new race" when his "labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world." Therefore, it is not the nationality of a man that makes him more or less an American, but rather his aspiration to be a hard-working, free man of the New World, and his achievements from such hard work and perseverance.

-Chloe Martianou