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LITR 4232 American
Renaissance 2010 Student Midterm Samples 2. Short essay (4-6 paragraphs) on 1 of 2 options (or combinations as inspired) :
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Ashley Rhodes
The Real Romanticism
When someone says Romantic I often envision the
color red, candlelit dinners, and of course a handsome prince formally named
Charming sitting on a white horse. It’s astounding how much the pop culture’s
way of using the term has embedded itself in my brain, but thankfully there are
courses like this to uncover the true academic meaning beneath the Mickey Mouse
definition I’ve been exposed to. Romance is defined as a narrative, plot, or
story that illustrates a quest, journey, and eventual rescue or transcendence.
Most protagonists in Romance are searching for something greater that usually
tests them along the way. Romance’s usually start off with a must solve conflict
or serious situation that needs to be taken care of immediately. The conflict
initiates the journey to begin and along the way its jam packed with action and
adventures. The protagonist is sometimes threatened or captured in the middle of
the journey, but somehow is able to break free and continue on to the finish
line which comes shortly after the last action packed fight or test that almost
kills them off. Finally the protagonist reaches their destination usually very
dirty with blood soaked clothes and a few broken bones. Although the Romantic
story seems to end there is a conclusion of “transcendence” that occurs and is
often ignored by readers/viewers. This “transcendence” has created the fairy
tale ending that we have all grown to either love or hate. The moment during the
“transcendence” the protagonist is complete and has finally gotten away from it
all. This academic meaning of the so called “happily ever after” completely
changes my perspective on the term Romantic. In many of the fairy tale movies
the focus is on the prize more than the protagonist’s “transcendence” at the
end. We assume the protagonist changes because he found the princess or innocent
victim, but in reality the change is progressive happening every moment along
the journey finally being realized at the end.
The term Romantic can be found in Edgar Allan Poe’s
“Annabel Lee”. Poe takes the reader on the protagonist’s journey to find
“Annabel Lee”. In the beginning the narrator is telling the story of his
journey.
“It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee; —
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.”
They lived a happy life
“In a kingdom by the sea”, until a conflict occurs separating the two from each
other.
“A wind blew out of a cloud by night
Chilling my Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up, in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.”
Poe’s longing narrator
fights with his emotions more than any other obstacle to get to his beloved. He
eventually finds her and is “transcended” by her presence or lack thereof.
“And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride
In her sepulchre there by the sea —
In her tomb by the side of the sea.”
I found Poe’s poem Romantic because he seems to focus on the narrator’s emotional journey rather than his physical journey. The only physical elements found in the poem deal with “Annabel Lee” which indicates how intense emotional journeys can be. Another Romantic element found in the poem was Poe’s verbiage; using words like “love”, “Heaven”, “Angels”, “Beautiful”. Many words Poe uses are Sublime because he mixes their meaning. The narrator finds things beautiful and terrifying at the same time. The poem “Annabel Lee” could be considered dark Romanticism which shows how beauty and terror can co-exist in this genre of literature. . . .
