CLEP American Literature: Romantic Period – Flashcards

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The scope of the Romantic Period.
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1820-1865
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At the heart of romanticism, the center of the literary act, is always the _______. Expressing feeling, emotion, and attitude are therefore key.
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individual
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Romanticism rejected _______ __________ as the sole way to understand the universe or human nature.
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scientific reasoning
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Linked to the Fireside Poets, his career began with a volume of poetry entitled "Poems" (1821), lyrical intimations on the natural world and cycle of life. Found great truth and spirituality in the natural world and landscape.
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William Cullen Bryant
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Broke with the Unitarian church and became skeptical of religious dogma that seemed to oppress individuality. His essay "Nature" became the transcendental manifesto for writers. Published his transcendental ideas in The Dial. Influenced by German philosophy. Believed in the individual divine soul.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
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A journal that ran from 1840-1844, powered centrally by transcendentalist writers Thoreau, Fuller, and Emerson.
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The Dial
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this is a group of famous poets known for their poetry's accessibility to memorization and public recitation.
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The Fireside Poets
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Who were the fireside poets?
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John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and William Cullen Bryant
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Skeptical of transcendentalism and morally ambiguous, this author's work contains a sense of skepticism and social critique, especially in relation to Puritans and Calvinist theology. Despite this, he became friends with Thoreau, Fuller, and Emerson.
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Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterpiece, published in 1850.
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The Scarlet Letter
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Strong supporter of slavery, opposed to "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Edgar Allen Poe pronounced him the best novelist America had ever produced. Major force in antebellum Southern literature.
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Simms
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Immensely popular, provocative, and well-read poet in his day, but his popularity waned after his death. Critics have dismissed his poetry for its didacticism and moralizing. Wrote over one hundred poems in support of immediate emancipation of the slaves and warnings of an inevitable war between the states. Fireside Poet.
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John Greenleaf Whittier
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Achieved rock-star status as a poet, so that even his birthdays were celebrated by whole towns and schools. Wrote "Poems on Slavery" (1842) which garnered much press for its abolitionist leanings; .
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's first book of poetry, published in 1839.
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Voices of the Night
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Physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author based in Boston. Important medical reformer. Popularized the terms "Boston Brahmin" and "anesthesia."
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Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Wrote the "Breakfast-Table" series, beginning with "The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table" (1858).
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Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Work of poetry by Oliver Wendell Holmes, published in 1830, which was influential in the eventual preservation of the USS Constitution.
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Old Ironsides
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Best known for his gothic tales, he also wrote many poems and articles on literary criticism, and is known as the first detective-story writer. His life was turbulent and complex, the darkness of which permeates many of his stories. .
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Edgar Allen Poe
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Associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson because of her work for the Dial and membership in the Transcendental Club, this writer made her most lasting contributions to American Literature in relation to women's rights ("Woman in the Nineteenth Century" in 1845) and coverage of the Italian Revolution (1846-50).
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Margaret Fuller
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Author of the infamous "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1851), the most important text of the 19th century.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
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Coined the term "effect" as used to describe exciting the senses.
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Edgar Allen Poe
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Writer who once decided to lie in the woods and begin writing a book centered completely in the natural world. Eventually the project evolved into "Walden," his most heralded work, organized by concurrent themes and motifs of simplicity, freedom from society, and the ills of materialism.
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Henry David Thoreau
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Great friends with fellow transcendentalists Fuller and Emerson, his work inspired Gandhi and MLK Jr. with its nonviolent approach to "civil" government.
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Henry David Thoreau
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This former slave's autobiography, published in 1845, is the single most important narrative of slave life.
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Frederick Douglass
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African-American writer who escaped from slavery to become an abolitionist speaker and reformer. Her single work, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" (1861), was one of the first autobiographical narratives about the struggle for freedom by female slaves and an account of the sexual harassment they endured.
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Harriet Jacobs
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Harriet Jacobs published under the what pseudonym
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Linda Brent
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This writer's work leans close to the darker side of romanticism. His books often explore the struggles each individual faces with himself, God, the natural world, and his fellow man. As his novels became more ambitious, his readership and finances suffered.
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Herman Melville
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In Melville's highly-debated short story, "Bartleby the Scrivener," Bartleby's famous response when asked by the Lawyer to complete a simple task is: "__________."
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I prefer not to
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Unfinished sea novel left behind by Herman Melville upon his death and posthumously published in 1924.
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Billy Budd
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The father of free verse. His poetry broke literary and social conventions while maintaining a strong connection with and for the American people and the country's social landscape. Called the first New Yorker.
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Walt Whitman
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Walt Whitman's poetry broke literary and social conventions while maintaining a strong connection with and for the American people and the country's social landscape. Called the first _____________.
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New Yorker
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The seminal work by Walt Whitman, published in 1855 and revised so many times that studying definitive edition is difficult. Many reviewers found later revisions lewd, overtly sexual, subversive, and poetically inferior to the great British poets.
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Leaves of Grass
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: African-American abolitionist, poet, and author. Born free in Baltimore, her first and most famous novel, "Iola Leroy" (1892), explores the life of a free mulatta as she interacts with racism, classism, and sexism.
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Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
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Published "The Mormon's Wife" (1855), which dealt powerfully with the leprosy of Mormonism.0
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Rose Terry Cooke
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: Essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today" (1873). His reflective sketches, "My Summer in a Garden" (1870), were popular for their abounding, refined humour, mellow personal charm, and delicately finished style.
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Charles Dudley Warner
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Charles Dudley Warner reflective sketches, "_____________________________" were popular for their abounding, refined humour, mellow personal charm, and delicately finished style.
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My Summer in a Garden" (1870),
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"Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." This remark is often misattributed to Mark Twain, but was actually made by his good friend, ___________________.
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Charles Dudley Warner
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A strict Calvinist whose poetry was never meant for publication. Her untitled poems used short, fragmented lines, capitalized nouns, an abundance of dashes and spaces, and extended metaphors.
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Emily Dickinson
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Chicago businessman, literary editor of the Chicago Tribune, and author of two realistic novels of pioneer life in the Far West: "Zury: The Meanest Man in Spring County" (1887) and "The McVeys" (1888).
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Joseph Kirkland
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Author and journalist deemed a pioneer of literary realism in American literature. Her most important literary work is the novella "Life in the Iron Mills" (1861). Sought to effect social change for blacks, women, Native Americans, immigrants, and the working class, by intentionally writing about the plights of these marginalized groups. Credited with over 500 published works, yet almost entirely forgotten by the time of her death.
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Rebecca Harding Davis
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