Cynthia Garza
LITR 5535
Dr. White
Start time – 12:15 am
End time – 3:06 am 

Final Exam

2.  In looking at four post-Romantic writers I find that the elements of American Romanticism were continued, but somewhat revised.  In Thomas Wolfe’s The Lost Boy the basic foundations of Romanticism are found, but these elements are presented in a differing manner than earlier texts.  Wolfe’s work contains examples of a quest, desire and loss, nostalgia, a hero with childlike qualities, the ability to communicate with the masses, references to light and dark, and examples of the gothic.  Some of the common techniques used by Romantic writers are also found.  Typically, in Romantic literature, it is the hero who is searching or on a journey towards transcendence, but in The Lost Boy, it is the narrator who is on a journey.  He is trying to find some comfort in the death of his brother Robert.  The element of desire and loss is found in the narrator’s emotions, and reliving of emotions, in dealing with his brother’s death.  He returns to St. Louis, where Robert and he spent some time in their youth.  The entire story is nostalgic: in the recollections of the relationship between his brother and father, in his mother’s remembrances of Robert, and in the narrator’s attempt “to recapture Time.”  Robert is portrayed as the hero.  He is simple and childlike, but also possesses the ability to communicate with the masses.  He could play with his little brother, trade around town (with grownups), and, even as a child, could carry a conversation with a stranger on the train.  There are countless references to light and dark in The Lost Boy: “gaunt gray horse” and “dark eyes.”  The gothic is found in Wolfe’s description of Mr. and Mrs. Crocker’s “bony” fingers and in his transition from his conversation with Mrs. Bell to a conversation with his brother as a child.  Parallelism, a common tool found in Romanticism, in which the same phrase is repeated throughout a work to emphasize a point, is constantly found in lines such as, “light came and went and came again.”  Another trademark found in Romantic literature is the use of catalog.  In Wolfe’s description of the town square, cataloging is frequently used.   The divergence from Romanticism is found primarily in the form that Wolfe chooses to tell his story, it is fragmented and somewhat unorganized.

In Countee Cullen’s poem “Incident” traces of Romanticism are found.  The poem has a very sing-songy rhythm to it, complementing the wording, to give it a childlike sound.  “Heart-filled, head filled with glee,” also contributes to the emotions a child would feel.  In the remembrance of his childhood visit to Baltimore, he can only recall the “incident” in which a child called him “Nigger.”  This is a clear example of separation from the masses and how this separation can remain with someone throughout a lifetime.   The description of the visit is short, concise, and offers little detail, greatly differing from Romantic literature. 

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a rich and abundant example of Romanticism.  Through Faulkner’s morbid tale of Miss Emily Grierson, common elements of the gothic and the sublime are found in combination with Realism.  The very first line of the story connects Emily’s condition with that of her house, which is very similar to the works of Edgar Allan Poe.  In a description of Emily, Faulkner unveils Emily to be “sort of tragic and serene,” an example of the sublime.  In contrast with Romantic qualities, the description of Emily also encompasses instances of Realism.  “She had grown fat and her hair was turning gray” and the strong, very real, smells coming from the bedroom are also strong examples of Realism. 

I found “A Blessing” by James Wright to be a wonderful example of how the modern poet implements Romantic elements.  Besides the first line of the poem, which is somewhat Classical in nature, the poem incorporates the sublime, desire and loss, light and dark imagery, and a journey towards transcendence.  The “barbed wire” is an example of the sublime in which the pleasure is found in the crossing of borders, but the pain is physically present in the construction of the wire itself. “There is no loneliness like theirs,” is how Wright chooses to illustrate the horse situation of love and loneliness, desire and loss.  Line 14, “spring in the darkness” is a creative way to show the illusions of light and dark and how, in this case, light can remain alive in the dark.  The last three lines of the poem illuminate the idea of transcendence and sublimity.  These lines paint an out of body experience, dying, as wonderful and overwhelming, but also painful because life ceases.

The works of Wolfe, Cullen, Faulkner, and Wright exhibit how the post-Romantic writer can still include Romantic components in their writings.  Basically, the contents of the Romantic package are still present; it is only the delivery that differs. 

4.   I define the Gothic mode as that which contains something unknown or unbelievable in its story.  The conventions associated with this mode are the use of light and dark, architectural surroundings, and “haunted spaces.”  Through the Romantic works we have studied in class, many examples of the Gothic can be found-from unimaginable, elaborate stories to morbid settings to simple illusions of light and dark.  Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, and Harriet Jacobs all embrace this mode, but in quite different ways.

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving is rich in Gothic style.  Irving’s interpretation of Gothic is through the embellished tale of Rip.  Rip, the central and unconventional hero of the story, travels into the woods, decides to take a nap, and wakes many years later.  To begin with, it is implausible to believe that this man slept all of these years, surviving without food or water.  While journeying back to the town and recognizing no one, Rip’s haunted mental spaces begin to emerge.  The picture that Irving paints versus that of Poe is very different.  Rip is merely trying to rediscover whom he is, what happened to his life, and how the world has changed dramatically during his nap.  Irving utilizes the Gothic, but in a calm and welcoming manner.

In The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe, haunted physical and mental spaces are presented in a new light.  Poe’s choice of descriptive language is, in itself, Gothic.  Words like, “dull,” “dark,” and “decayed” are used to characterize not only the house, but also Roderick Usher himself.  Poe emphasizes the lack of color to create a bleak world.  It is through this convention that we begin to uncover how disturbed Roderick actually is.  “The Haunted Palace,” a poem symbolizing the fall from glory, is full of connections to questionable mental states.  This story, much like Irving’s, also reveals inconceivable situations.   Madeline’s escape from being buried alive and the simultaneous fall of the last of the Ushers with the house is beyond belief.  Poe constructs a story dealing with death, insanity, and inevitably the fall of a family by utilizing abnormal descriptions of the characters and setting.

Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl presents Gothic in the haunted physical and mental spaces of both slavery and Linda Brent.  Slavery is described as a demon.  Jacobs, like Poe, carefully chooses her vocabulary; she describes the slave owners’ impression of slaves as “God-breathing machines.”   The light and dark imagery is prevalent and Jacobs’ constantly uses this imagery to represent the trials of slavery versus the empowering of freedom.  When Linda decides to live in the garret above her grandmother’s house, I feel like I am thrown into Poe’s world.  Initially, there is no admission of light, and very little air, her home is stifling.  This retreat into a confined space for 7 years is unfathomable and Gothic in nature, especially since this is a true account.  Linda is continually haunted mentally by the choices she makes in her life.  She feels betrayed by her mistress, confused by her role as a black woman in society, and locked in the confinements of slavery.  Through conventions similar to Poe, Jacobs’ uncovers a work containing several Gothic elements. 

I think that Gothic modes appeal to us because of the unreal circumstances or surroundings.  The gothic is much like a scary movie or a bad wreck, we’re scared, but at the same time interested.  Our senses are aroused and our emotions stirred with the bleak paintings these authors create.  I think that there are limits to the use of the Gothic.  I do not think it is possible to write a serious Romantic work utilizing only this tool; it must be a combination of elements. 

In conclusion, I think that Irving, Poe, and Jacobs all incorporate the use of the Gothic mode in their works, while at the same time, maintaining a combination of other Romantic components.