Sample Student Research Project 2012
Journal
LITR
4232 American Renaissance
Sample Student Research Project 2012
Journal
April Bucy
25 April 2012
Choose Your Own Renaissance:
The entire history of women's struggle for self-determination has been muffled
in silence over and over. . . . Each feminist work has tended to be received as
if it emerged from nowhere; as if each of us had lived, thought, and worked
without any historical past or contextual present.
—Adrienne Rich, "Foreword," Lies
This is not the traditional story, with a plot, a setting, and a complete list
of characters each with a differing problem,
this is more of a dialogue of the quest to uncover those female writers of the
American Renaissance that could be considered lesser known, however still of
equal importance to the movement as a whole. But first, one must work to define
the American Renaissance, altogether—a notion which may be a bit problematic as
you will see later in my own transcriptions. So, what do I mean when I talk
about the American Renaissance? Is it merely a particular time period or is it
considered a particular set of writers considered innovative in their individual
creativity and methods of literary exploration? For the purpose of our own
assessment, I chose to use the definitions outlined in the course syllabus by
Dr. Craig White, which states:
“Historically or culturally,
it's the literary and cultural period from about
1820 to the 1860s—or, the
generation before the American Civil War (1861-65), when the USA grew to its
present size and began to deal with some of the unsolved issues remaining from
the American Revolution.”
The term “renaissance” can also be read as a sort of “revival” providing the
foundation of which American Literature chose to stand and at the same time
marking its arrival to the rest of the world as a Literature force worthy of
comparison and criticism. This period is saturated in movements centered on
discovery, innovation and advancement, the quests for equality and rise of
literacy all of which are reflected in one way or another in its Literature.
Similar to later periods of Literature across the globe, the American
Renaissance is often correlated with specific authors considered masters of
their own craft such as Edgar Allan Poe and the gothic, Frederick Douglass and
the slave narrative, Henry David Thoreau and the transcendental movement,
Harriet Beecher Stowe and domestic sentimentality among other famous writers of
the American Renaissance. It is not my intention to imply that these individuals
were not important to the totality of the movement; however my tendency to
support the underdog led me on this literary journey to find those lesser known
female writers of the American Renaissance and hopefully, along the way
encounter books and authors to add to my ever growing summer reading list.
Whose
Renaissance?
Sharon M. Harris in the article, “Whose Renaissance? Women Writers in the Era of
the American Renaissance,” indicates that much of the information about the
American Renaissance is centered around “a limited group of extraordinary
writers—the romantics and transcendentalists—and such key issues as
self-reliance, the relation of humans to their environment, and religious
liberalism” (59-60). However, as the old Bob Dylan song suggests, “times are a
changing,” and as a result of these changes “newer theoretical interests, such
as feminist, post colonial, and cultural studies, opened the field to include
texts that address the early abolition movement, constructions of gender and
sexuality, empire building and the effects of immigration” (Harris 60).
It is not surprising that in the center of all these changes and
challenges to culture the notion of “diversity of opinion” became paramount, as
did the need to redefine the boundaries of the American Renaissance.
Historically, Harris suggests that “in 1829 only a handful of women were
publishing books,” and that a select few such as Catharine Beecher, Sarah
Josepha Hale, Lydia Maria Child, “enjoyed national recognition as authors.” What
became important to me, as the article progressed was not only
who these women were, but
what they chose to write as a
representation of themselves and other women of the time period. As it turns
out, “poetry and nonfiction dominated women’s publications of the 1820’s” and
while these remained popular choices for the remainder of the Renaissance, from
1830 to 1855 there were major changes in how women represented themselves as
icons among the literary world. Harris indicates that there was “an increased
interest in history writing; the emergence of substantial attention to
children’s literature and to African American and Jewish American women’s
writings; a new interest in philosophical and scientific writings and an
extraordinary production of novels, dramas, and autobiographies” (61). According
to the author, the increase in the desire to write children’s literature spurred
from the “interest in history writing and with increasing opportunities for
education” both of which are reflected in Eliza Farrar’s
Story of the Life of Lafayette, as Told
by a Father to His Children (1831).
Sarah Josepha Hale was also an author who was interested in the expansion
of education and history and is credited with producing novels “supporting U.S.
colonization projects, including removal of free African Americans to
“liberation” in Africa” in the novels
Liberia and Mr. Peyton’s Experiments
of 1853 (Harris 63). The impact of both children’s literature and historical
representations in literature lend themselves to several questions all of which
are articulated by Harris: Are there correlations between these genres, and to
what extent is children’s literature implicated in nationalist agendas? Do
juvenile texts tend to advance our idea of the American Renaissance as a period
of individualism as well as a period of concern for inclusion? And lastly, to
what extent do they orient themselves toward reform or, at the other end of the
spectrum, lend themselves as tools for normalizing conduct? (Harris 63).
The ways in which women are represented as a symbol of the domestic were
numerous; however this notion of domestic sentimentality was challenged by some
women writers that “began to present the arena of home as an integral part of
the marketplace and capitalist consumerism” (Harris 64). Hannah Farnham Sawyer
Lee’s novel, Three Experiments of Living:
Living Within the Means, Living Up to the Means, Living beyond the Means
according to Harris uses speculation as a lure of a young couple, “into the
abyss of extended debt and financial ruin,” a concept that although especially
familiar to 2012 seems a bit out of place for nation its early stages.
Harris questions the malleability of domesticity in regard to the
emerging New Women’s movement by stating, “How did the debates of this period
shape the post Civil-War development of the New Women’s movement and was there
in fact a New Women movement pre-Civil War as well—one that helped to defeat the
proscriptive values of True Womanhood and separate spheres of ideology?” (64).
One of the ways women challenged “limitations on domesticity” was through travel
writing, specifically travel journals. Harris suggests that “women used travel
to advance their opportunities, to move beyond the domestic, but equally so to
participate, sometimes wittingly and sometimes not, both within and outside
national boundaries” (65). Authors such as Anne Royall, Sarah Josepha Hale,
Fanny Hall and Caroline Howard Gilman were thought to be “reviving the genre” by
reconstructing “their roles in society” but using the feminine role of “observer
to advance or refute imperialist agendas”, giving themselves agency and making
otherwise silent women’s voices heard (65).
Children’s Literature and travel journals were not the only areas that women
writers gained notoriety, drama, and poetry provided an outlet for women as
well. Scholarly articles about philosophy and science, history and geography did
gain a large amount of interest and although they accrued little recognition as
being produced by women, authors such as Mary Griffith who published,
Our Neighborhood; Letters on Horticulture
and Natural Phenomena (1831) continued to challenge conventional notions in
public culture (Harris 67). The bigger question then becomes, how impactful can
texts written by women “in an era when science and philosophy were highly
gendered and racialized” be in changing existing constructions of gender and
race? This seems to be a question that merits further investigation and at the
same time still bears limits today. The Harris article provided the foundation
needed to map out the course of this journal and bestowed upon me a variety of
lesser known female authors and movements of which I took great interest.
Children’s
Literature: Buried Treasures
Harris referenced a large number of women writers with whom I was completely
unfamiliar, leading me to conduct my own literary treasure hunt of children’s
texts. I have listed the examples below and although I did not read any of them
in their entirety, there was an overwhelming theme in each work of moral
fortitude and at the same time each provided a sense of nationalism and
religious integrity. These themes directly correspond with concepts of the
American Renaissance referenced in class discussions which I found extremely
interesting especially since the works were done by writers that have little
significance in large anthologies of Literature.
Eliza Farrar’s Story of the Life of
http://archive.org/stream/storylifelafaye00cogoog#page/n12/mode/2up
This book chronicles the acquisition of an empire in the name of a monarch, a
concept reminiscent of
Sarah Sedgwick’s Young Emigrants
(1830)
http://archive.org/stream/theyoungemigrant11585gut/11585.txt
The life of the Gale family, once respectable Londoners under the safety of the
Divine Providence sell their belongings and vow to as start a new life in
Cincinnati on two eighty-acre lots.
Dorothea Dix’s American Moral Tales for
Young Persons (1832)
http://archive.org/stream/americanmoraltal00dixd#page/n3/mode/2up
As the title suggests, this book serves as a guide to right and wrong for
children. What I found most interesting in my research was not about this book,
but rather that
Dix’s best
known children’s book, Conversations on Common Things (1824) was designed
to help parents answer everyday questions such as: "Why do we call this day
Monday? Why do we call this month January? What is tin? Does cinnamon grow on
trees?"
Frances Manwaring Caulkin’s Children of
the Bible: As Examples and as Warnings (1842)
http://archive.org/stream/childrenofbiblea00caul#page/n3/mode/2up
Each chapter outlines a child referenced in the bible as well as a moral message
associated with that individual, such as Ishmael as a representation of the
influence of prayer and Moses as an example of resisting temptation. As a side
note, the pictures in this book are absolutely beautiful and I found it
interesting that there was no credit given to an illustrator which could imply
that Ms. Caulkin was not only a writer but also an equally talented illustrator.
Eliza Leslie’s American Girl’s Book
(1831)
http://archive.org/stream/americangirlsbo00leslgoog#page/n10/mode/2up
This is a collection of “hints for happy hours” and contains “amusements for all
ages.” The introduction of the book is written in the form of a dialogue between
a mother and her children and serves as an argument for why “sports and
pastimes” are important in the lives of children. The book reads like an
encyclopedia of appropriate activities.
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody’s Holiness (1836)
http://archive.org/stream/holinessorlegen00peabgoog#page/n1/mode/2up
This is an adaptation of Spenser’s The Faerie Queen and is credited as being
written by “a mother,” otherwise known as
Sarah
Josepha Hale
While searching for information about women writers of children’s literature of
the American Renaissance, to supplement those articulated in the Harris article,
I stumbled upon Sarah Josepha Hale who
is credited with being extremely influential in the political consciousness of
women and integral in developments of reading, learning and writing during the
American Renaissance.
Sarah Josepha Hale was born on October 24th, 1788 in
Sarah was widowed in 1822 with five children to support, four under the age of
seven. In an effort to support her struggling family, she took a job in a
millinery shop, although she longed to support her family with her writing. In
late 1822, she published her first book of poems, The Genius of Oblivion,
with David Hale's Freemason lodge paying for the publication but it wasn’t until
the publication of her first novel in 1827,
Northwood, that her career as a writer was firmly established (
I became most interested in Hale’s ties to Godey’s Lady’s Book which “was
intended to entertain, inform and educate the women of America” and of which she
served as editor from 1837-1877 (Niles). Godey’s Lady’s Book contained
“extensive fashion descriptions and plates, biographical sketches, articles
about mineralogy, handcrafts, female costume, dance, equestrienne procedures,
health and hygiene, recipes and home remedies” (“Godey’s”). Every issue also
contained “two pages of sheet music, written essentially for the pianoforte” and
as its popularity grew, “the periodical matured into an important literary
magazine containing extensive book reviews and works by Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and many other
celebrated 19th century authors who regularly furnished the magazine with
essays, poetry and short stories” (“Godey’s”).
During Hale's editorship, “Godey's published at least three special issues that
included only female writers” while at the same time providing “a substantial
literary diet for readers as opposed to the ephemeral poetry and fiction that
clogged most women's magazines at the time” (
According to historians, “her steadfast devotion of purpose and her unwavering
editorial principles regarding social inequalities and the education of American
women, made her one of the most important editors of her time” evident by the
increased popularity of the periodical which “reached a pre-Civil War
circulation of 150,000” (“Godey’s).
Eventually Godey’s proved to be too conservative for certain members of the New
Women’s movement so women were forced to find less formal outlets of agency;
however,
Godey’s Lady’s Book is still
considered to be “among the most important resources of 19th century American
life and culture” (Godey’s).
Circe as the Innovator of Domesticity
Continuing my search for women and their role in the implementation of the
American Renaissance, I came across a book whose introduction both startled and
intrigued me by implying the notions of women and domesticity began with Homer’s
The Odyssey. Ann Romines, in the
introduction of her novel, Home Plot:
Women, Writing and Domestic Ritual, categorizes Circe as the
archetypal beginning of the “assertion of will through domestic ritual” making
her both “powerful and powerless, both qualities are rooted in her gender” (4).
The “palpable tension between the wanderer (Odysseus) and the housebound witch
(Circe) is in many ways the quintessential story, toward which much of the
previous hundred years’ worth of fiction by American women has been pointing”
(5). I found several pieces of the introduction problematic but I must admit its
overall purpose was achieved, specifically its ability to reel me in as a reader
and thus making me interested in the rest of the book. The introduction
continued to reference Harriet Beecher Stowe as an advocate for “faculty,” a
term used synonymously with domesticity stating that “faculty is a high art”
(Romines 6). This was particularly interesting especially because although Stowe
is considered a writer of domestic sentimentality, I never would coin her with
the term advocate. This may be due primarily my own biases grounded in
foundations of gender studies, or perhaps it is based on the rose-colored
glasses I chose to wear. Regardless, I thought it was important to document the
discovery of this book due to its unconventional and overly problematic retorts
as well as its ability to keep me interested in what other critics had to offer.
Interesting Web Site
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/transcend.html
I found this
particular website significant due to its breakdown of writers of both genders
and their contributions to the American Renaissance. The site also provides a
great deal of information on the transcendental movement that you may find of
interest the next time you teach this course.
Final Thoughts
Similar to most “choose your own adventures” the beginning of the project did
not directly affect the ending. Each source offered additional sources but the
cyclical nature of the topic eventually offered a method of piecing it all
together. I originally sought to find a
massive list of influential female writers (of a lesser popularity but of equal
importance) and along the way discovered Children’s Literature of the American
Renaissance and Godey’s Lady’s Book. Along the emblematic romanticized journey I
discovered Dorothea Dix, who intrigued me as an advocate for the proper
treatment of the mentally ill and also as an author of children’s literature and
Sarah Jospeha Hale who spent 40 years as editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book. I found
myself distracted by travel journals and articles on horticulture as well as the
pivotal role of women in genres that were originally characterized as primarily
male. I worked to redefine the female role in the American Renaissance and
discovered that there were a larger number of lesser known influential women
than I ever imagined. Women of the American Renaissance accomplished a great
feat; it is because of them that even today we cannot wholly grasp their
importance and position as both women and artists in
Works Cited
“Godey’s Lady’s Book." Accessible Archives Inc. 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.accessible-archives.com/collections/godeys-ladys-book/>.
Niles, Lisa. "Sarah Josepha Hale." Women Writers: A Zine. University of
Central
Romines, Ann. Home Plot: Women, Writing and Domestic Ritual.
Sharon M. Harris. "Whose Renaissance? : Women Writers in the Era of the American
Renaissance." ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance 49.1 (2003):
59-80. Project MUSE. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.
White, Dr. Craig. "Terms & Themes.". University of
Images Extracted from:
Elleanor
Eldridge:
http://www.classicbooksandephemera.com/shop/classic/000730.html
Godey’s
Lady’s Book:
Sarah
Josepha Hale:
