Fireside – Poets II – Flashcards

William Bryant

It means “death seeing” or a way of viewing death.

The Themes of this poem was – Don’t be upset about death, live life to the fullest.Everyone dies, maybe even unexpectedly.

SUMMARY – talks about being afraid of death. Then nature(still voice) becomes personified and tells of all the things that come out of death, to ease the thoughts. We all go back to the earth when they die, all die-no matter what class or age they are.

This type of poem is called – Blank verse

Henry Longfellow

The theme of this poem was – :Even though his wife is long past, he still bears a “cross” with the pain of her loss.

-SUMMARY of this poem – .He uses the image of a cross on a mountain to describe the feelings of his wife’s death. He sees her portrait in his bedroom. A good life and pure soul was taken by fire. He wears a cross of snow to mourn her for 18 years. His love for her remains changless.

-This type of poem was called a Sonnet – it uses
Symbolism (white soul), sun

The theme of this poem is the recurring cycle of life. The waves are used as a symbol for the life cycle as they rise and fall.

The mood of this peom was somber; accepting the predictability of life.

-SUMMARY:It paints the picture of an ocean going up and down over the course of a day. Its twilight in the begging when the traveler rushes towards the town. Darkness settles on the ocean. Morning breaks and the traveler never returns.

USES:
Symbolism:Traveler represents death because he doesn’t return again, to the ocean(life).

Repetition(the tide rises the tide falls). “footsteps on the sands of time” symbolizes mortality, and passing of time. His footprints are washed away, thus he is dead.
Onomatopoeia (curlew calls).Personification of waves.

John Whittier

TITLE:Even though they’re snowbound,which is a supposedly bad thing, they are having a pleasant time.Its about the time he was a child in a farmhous in Massachusetts and his family would gather in large numbers, stuck because of the snow.

THEME:Cherish memories, make the best out of difficult situations

SUMMARY:Cold comes in December. He continues his daily life even with the weather-feeding the animals,etc. All becomes covered in snow, and the world becomes like heaven. After cutting a path thru the snow he imagines a cave. Nature created an adventure.

-USES: Descriptive imagery,rhyme, metaphor(fireplace, rural life),
symbolism(raging snowstorm suggests impending death, combated through the family’s memories),
allusions(Leaning Tower, Aladin,Egypt’s Amun)

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Was the nickname for the USS Constitution that fought during the War of 1812 . He wrote this as a protest to prevent its scrapping and it was made into a monument.

Theme of this poem: Change that which is important to history; Honor the past

-SUMMARY: It begins saying to destroy- and it makes the ships sound majestic, and the sea would be empty without it. The ship used to have heros on it, and it was majestic, but it would no longer be able to happen. The ocean should be her grave,

Irony-He says go ahead and ruin the ship,but look at all its done.
Allusion(harpies or robbers from greek mythology).
Symbolism-eagle symbolizes patriotism.

William Bryant

-important to his poetry was the geography of his surroundings – His father was a doctor, his mother came from clergymen; christian piety was united with science Massachusetts(supported abolition) –

The most poular and well know of the Fireside Poets – He wrote “Cross of Snow” And “The Tide Rises,the Tide Falls”
His 1st wife died of miscarriage. 2nd wife,Frances Appleton, died in fire.This caused him to devote himself to religious/literary zeal.

He wrote wrote “Snow-Bound:A Winter Idyll” – -born into Quaker family so had little schooling – -was a newspaper edittor because of Garrison, he also worked for abolition – Elected state legislature until civil war – -much political writing,also Salem trials,incidents of rural life, colonial history, humanitarian ideals of justice,faith,tolerance

He wrote “Old Ironsides” – -He became a proffesor at Dartmouth – -one of the founders of Atlantic Monthly Magazine – – He graduated from Harvard, but didn’t like law-there he saw them try to destroy the “constitution” ship – -his poetry was light,maybe comic, commented on social/intellectual shortcomings

He wrote Stanzas on Freedom – The Courtin & The First Snowfall – -came from aristocratic/conservative family – grad from Harvard, wife Maria, supported his literature – -edititorial on a antislavery publication;fought antislavery and industrialism – -devasted after Maria died,published nothing for 10 yrs and began teaching.

These poets wrote about :
Freedom – Nature – Moral & Life Lessons

Author of:
Stanzas on Freedom
The Courtin
The First SNowfall

a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics – example “cheerless sun”

a narrative song with a recurrent refrain

a verse form consisting of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme

Author of:
The Tide That Rises – The Tide that Falls
Psalm of Life
Childrens Hour
Cross of Snow

Author of:
The Ballad of the Ostyerman
My Aunt
A parody on a Psalm of Life

liturature that pokes fun of other literature

two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

A stanza or group of four lines of poetry

a short poem consisting of five, usually unrhymed lines .

a unit of two or more lines arranged in a pattern or rhythm and rhyme

the overall emotion created by a work of literature

the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that can establish the rhythm of a poem

unrhymed verse