American Literature

Learning Targets RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text RI.11-12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas and explain how specific ideas interact and develop over the course of the text. RI.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text RI.11-12.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text. RI.11-12.8 Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy RI.11-12.9 Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.

Unit 3 American Romanticism What is the American Dream? How do authors create the American identity through literature?

Opening Create a picket sign to protest against a government policy

Literary Terms Satire- a literary work that ridicules human nature or a specific act in order to bring about improvement or teach a lesson Parody- a work that ridicules human nature purely for entertainment Understatement- statements with less emphasis or force than the situation calls for.

Transcendentalism Let’s see if we can figure out what this word means as a class

What is it?? Did we get it right?? It is when we move from religious belief (Who was this?) to belief of understanding life relationships In our readings so far how have we seen this? Devil and Tom Walker Ministers Black Veil

Henry David Thoreau 1. Read Bio pg 377 2. Read Civil Disobedience pg 388 3. While we are reading, make sure you are trying to figure out the themes of this text. (Added to poster) 4. Also, write on your poster what you feel are the most important quotes

Closer Look-Important Quotes -that government is best which governs least, -the best kind of government is that which governs not at all -when men are prepared for it, that’s the government that they will have, the standing army is only an arm of the standing government, -the work of comparatively a few using the government as a tool, governments show how successfully men can be imposed on, -the character of the American people accomplishes all and would accomplish more if the government got out of the way & let every man make known what kind of government he would like.

Closing What major ideas did Thoreau present? What makes Thoreau a Transcendentalist? How is he related to Romanticism? What are Thoreau’s problems with representative government and how can his theories be applied to improve the issue of special interest power in our current political climate?