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LITR 4328: American Renaissance  |
Final Exam Essays 2015 Sample answers
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Cyndi
Perkins
May
2, 2015
What I Have Learned
Personally, my most intense literary interests are focused on American
literature, specifically later, more modern authors. When I decided to take
American Renaissance with Dr. White, I wanted to learn about the time period
when American literature blossomed so that I would have a better understanding
of its influence on later writers. Mastering elements of Romanticism as well as
learning the history of the cultural, socio-economic and technological changes
that gave rise to this literary era has allowed for much deeper and
multi-facetted readings of all American literature. In learning how to identify
the elements of Romanticism, I feel as if I have been given a way to peel back
the many layers of symbolism in order to, not just understand American
literature, but our culture as well. I especially enjoyed learning about
Transcendentalism and the Gothic and can now identify it much more easily. I
have also learned how American literature can include so many different elements
of Romanticism and how they work together to convey a more robust and
multi-dimensional depiction of the subject and characters, such as how
Transcendentalism and the Gothic work together in the slave narratives.
As, I have stated in a previous essay, I understood the Romantic era rose
out of a move away from rural to more urban living. The angst that people must
have felt finds itself being expressed in so many of the amazing texts we have
covered this semester. A previous final exam essay “America
The Romantic—How the Romantic Shaped American Life” by Mickey
Thames, reminded me of my interest in how literature, especially Romantic
literature helped to shape the American Identity. Transcendentalism, an element
of Romanticism, offers a possibility for dealing with these issues. In Emerson’s
“Nature,” he expresses the positive sentiment that “every
spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond its
world, a heaven,” meaning that we have control over our own lives and therefore
can create a more fair and beautiful world. The last text we read, “Life in the
Iron Mills,” the protagonist creates a disturbing sculpture, of “a
woman, white, of giant proportions, crouching on the ground, her arms flung out
in some wild gesture of warning”, which imagines that not everyone can be in
control, and yet they can still reach for something better (88).
I was also incredibly fascinated with the Gothic. I learned that the Gothic
gives us a way of dealing with psychological issues, guilty consciences, secrets
and sins of the past. I especially enjoyed Poe’s poems dealing with desire and
loss, such as “Ligeia,” knowing I could read it over and over again to discover
new and different meanings and ideas. I wondered, in particular with that poem,
if he used a beautiful, mysterious, dark woman to represent the inspiration he
felt when he was writing and the pain he felt when experiencing writers block. I
also loved that he uses imagery of lost civilizations and kingdoms to remind us
that everything changes and everything dies. His intense language mimics the
anguish of the heart and soul upon dealing with these losses. Once I understood
the Gothic, I could see it everywhere in texts ranging from “The Last of the
Mohicans,” where old battlefields are steeped in the blood of those who fought
and died, to Life in the Iron Mills
in which industrialization is compared to Hell. Now, whenever I come across
mazes or labyrinths, death or decay, dark or light, blood or paleness, the
grotesque or Byronic hero’s, I immediately start sifting through the imagery to
look for deeper meanings.
When we began studying the
slave-narratives, I really felt my understanding of Romanticism reach a new
height. I have always found these narratives, some being true stories and some
only being based on true stories, interesting, which is why I decided to do my
research project on slave narratives. I specifically wanted to know how elements
of Romanticism were used within them and to what purpose. Once I had a better
understanding of this, I was able to identify deeper meanings that were not
always written directly on the page. The idea of a slave, deemed nothing more
than property by law, desiring freedom as well as acknowledgement as a human
being, reminds us of both the major problems within our society. These stories
were not just for entertainment, but were weapons used by the abolitionists to
appeal to people’s conscience as well as play on their emotions and were able to
raise awareness throughout the country. This is really where I was able to see
the many layers of symbolism of both Transcendentalism and the Gothic. Harriet
Jacobs and Fredrick Douglas both asserted their humanity through their writing.
They reached beyond the chains society had placed on them to achieve a better
life for themselves and their people. I can see in Harriet Jacobs as well as in
Harriet Beecher Stowe the use of Gothic elements to convey to the readers how
horrific the circumstances of slave life were and create a sense of urgency for
the Abolition Movement. All of the elements of Romanticism were called into
service to work towards creating a better future for the slave as well as all
Americans, for how could our nation flourish while something so horrific was
happening within its borders.
I would have to say that I believe now, that whether a texts offer a more
optimistic view of the world or a darker, more realistic image,
Transcendentalism has taught us that our reality doesn’t have to stagnate, and
can grow, change and evolve into a higher state of living for everyone. Though
today we are much more pessimistic about such an idea, this concept is ingrained
into the American psyche and is part of our culture, showing up everywhere in
entertainment, advertising and art. We still struggle against the darkness,
looking for a way to name it, describe it and therefore control it, which is
probably why the Gothic has continued to be popular. Though the Civil War had to
be fought to end slavery, we conquered our greed and maliciousness and
succeeded. The Gothic unearthed our dirty secret and Transcendentalism showed us
how to climb out of the grave. The American Renaissance reveals where so many of
our values and anxieties originated. Romantic literature has and is still
serving as a mirror for us to examine and adjust ourselves according to the
standards we agreed on when the nations was founded. This I have learned and so
much more.
1865 flag of the USA