This week IV. Literature of the American Renaissance (1837-1865) Edgar Allan Poe Nathaniel Hawthorne Herman Melville

Edgar Allan Poe Born 1809 Raised by foster parents Spent 5 years in school in England Married cousin Published poetry & criticism Died 1849

E.A. Poe Belongs to no region of country Doesn’t strictly fit into categories None of his writings take place in U.S. Suffered from real poverty, not genteel poverty

E.A. Poe - Achievements Reputation suffered at his death Revered in Europe Opinion split in U.S. Psychological writer, or ”Jingle man”

Misinformation Some caused by friends Some caused by own writings -artist or money-maker? Not a drug addict

Literary work Detective story (”Murders in the Rue Morgue”) Horror tales (Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque) Handful of poems Literary critic (”Philosophy of Composition”)

”The Philosophy of Composition” Written as explanation of ”The Raven” (1845) Articulates theory of short story Unity of effect Read at one sitting

The Raven Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-                  Only this, and nothing more."

The Raven Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.    Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow    From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore- For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-                  Nameless here for evermore.

The Raven And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;    So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,    "'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door- Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-                  This it is, and nothing more."

Major themes Fear of death Death of young woman as beautiful Doppelgänger Collapse of personality Perversity of human nature

Contradictions Chaotic personal life, but writing highly structured. Romantic writer who helped developed the detective story Used realism in gothic scenes (often accused of having horrible taste)

Baltimore Ravens

Nathaniel Hawthorne Born in Salem, MA (1804) Ancestors Puritans Lived in Salem & Concord Worked in Custom House in Boston & Salem Scarlet Letter made him independent Died 1864

Literary works Twice-told tales (1835) ”Young Goodman Brown” ”Ethan Brand” ”My Kinsman, Major Molineux” Scarlet Letter (1850)

Major themes Nature of sin & guilt Puritan past Isolation & alienation Human heart Effects of a personal calamity Self-trust vs. authority

Scarlet Letter Characters Hester Prynne Arthur Dimmesdale Roger Chillingworth Pearl

A Scarlet Letter Meaning of letter… Adultery Angel Able Pride Community’s shame Hidden shame A

But Hester Prynne, with a mind of native courage and activity, and for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness. . . . The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers,—stern and wild ones,—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.

Symbols in Scarlet Letter forest vs. town rose vs. prison Pearl

“Mother,” said [Pearl], “was that the same minister that kissed me by the brook?” “Hold thy peace, dear little Pearl!” whispered her mother. “We must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in the forest.”

…the wearer of the scarlet letter was at length relieved, by discerning, on the outskirts of the crowd, a figure which irresistibly took possession of her thoughts. An Indian in his native garb was standing there; but the red men were not so infrequent visitors of the English settlements that one of them would have attracted any notice from Hester Prynne at such a time; much less would he have excluded all other objects and ideas from her mind. By the Indian's side, and evidently sustaining a companionship with him, stood a white man, clad in a strange disarray of civilized and savage costume.

Herman Melville Born 1819 in NYC Sailed in whaling ship as young man (1840s) Began writing upon return in 1845. Most works focused on sea

Literary works- novels Typee (1846) Omoo (1847) Mardi (1849) White-Jacket (1850) Moby Dick (1851) Pierre (1852) The Confidence Man (1857)

Melville – short works ”Bartleby, the Scrivener” ”Benito Cereno” ”Billy Budd”

Melville - Themes sea & life on ship man & God native peoples indeterminancy

Bartleby Industrialization & work world? Futility of man’s existence? Individualism & free will (Thoreau)? Plight of writer (autobiographical)? Charity? Bartleby as aspect of narrator? ???

Benito Cereno American ship & Spanish slave ship Characters: American captain Spanish captain Babo, a slave American captain’s inability to recognize mutiny on ship?

Hawthorne & Melville Admired & respected each other Both probed metaphysical questions and dark side of human soul Hawthorne recognized during lifetime Melville rejected by public after Moby Dick Neither in keeping with spirit of times

Next lecture IV. Literature of the American Renaissance Ralph Emerson Henry David Thoreau Read Walden extract!!