LITR 5535 American Romanticism UHCL 2006 research proposals

I believe I have mentioned that my undergraduate degree is a double major in mass media (focus: journalism) and music (focus: voice). I decided to work toward earning my master's in literature because I am an aspiring writer, and I am fascinated by fiction and narratives. Because of my varied and wide-spread interests in the liberal arts, I would like to do the Journal (Option 2) with the focus being, "The Effect and Portrayal of Women in Romanticism."

I will focus primarily on literature (narratives and fiction), but I would also like to touch on music and art as well. Feminism and the role of women in society throughout different time periods is an interesting area of study to me - especially since women seem to have more power now in America than ever before. For the effect of women in Romanticism, I will focus on women writers, composers and artists to attempt to uncover the direct influence women had on the Romantic movement. For the portrayal of women in Romanticism, I will delve further into literature, music (operas most likely) and art to see how women are portrayed. I touched on the latter part in my midterm, but I would like to explore a more wide-spread portrayal of women.

The texts I plan to use include encyclopedias, scholarly books on Romanticism, literature from the Norton Anthology, analysis of literature during the Romantic movement, art and music history books/reputable Web sites.

I would like to compare or contrasts these two ideas, answering the question, "Were women portrayed accurately compared/contrasted with the effect they had on Romanticism?" I expect to find that women are portrayed much more meekly than the effect they had on Romanticism will prove.

Please let me know if it might be alright to pull information on women composers and artists from Europe because there were very few in America during the Romantic movement.

Also, is this idea to broad or does "the effect and portrayal of women" narrow the idea enough?

And finally, may I use my own personal analysis of paintings, music and literature or does all the analysis need to come from an outside source?

I would like to do an essay on the works of Robert Frost exploring romantic themes within his poetry. I know we don’t get to cover Frost during the course, but this is the reason I’m interested in covering him as a Romantic author. I have been acquainted with Frost a few times before, and understand a good portion of his material. I feel the analysis of his works that I have done before will only serve to propel me in my research of this topic.

As to what I want to learn in the course of my research, that I am unsure I have an answer for. I don’t know that I’m looking specifically for anything because I already know that Frost is Romantic. I suppose I hope to find proof that Frost is Romantic to help me prove my argument to include him as an American Romantic author. Honestly, I don’t know that I’ll learn from the research until I come across something new to me in the research. Most everything except for my own analysis and the poems themselves will be new to me. I have never done research on Frost before; I have only analyzed his works myself.

I’ll be working with a collection of Frost’s works both from our own book and from Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays, published by The Library of America. Most surely I will include “Home Burial,” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” and “Acquainted with the Night,” but I will also use other poems as well. (I didn’t want to list fifteen poems or more in a row, that many quotation marks would give the computer a headache.) The Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays has background material in it, and notes about the poems, which I am likely to utilize. I’ll have to hit the University’s library for additional sources.

Do you want to recommend any Frost poems you feel I should cover that I didn’t mention? Any you feel I should not cover, mentioned or not? Do you think any of his essays or plays would add more depth to the topic? Can you think of any resources I could use to make my point? Can you point me to an up to date set of specifics on the MLA and Works Cited formats you prefer?

I would like to explore in depth the Puritan ethos in general and Calvinist theology in particular and the influences of these systems of thought on American romantic literature, especially on Hawthorne. This is interesting to me because I have been studying Calvinist theology, weighing its merits versus other Christian perspectives. I would like to critique the various world views articulated in the assigned literary works, demonstrating how Calvinism was an important factor and precondition for sparking the American romantic spirit.

For background, I will use class notes, encyclopedias, websites, popular books and articles, etc. Then I will take notes from scholarly books and journal articles. Finally, in light of what I have learned from secondary sources, I will re-read the relevant passages and journal my responses to them. This could be the raw data for an essay, but I think I need more practice with research, which this assignment could provide me. I need to get in the habit of note taking in response to my reading. I’m actually writing a book, and I want to teach myself to work on it consistently.

What do you think? Does this topic lend itself more toward a formal essay or to journals surveying the literature?

I would like to do a research essay comparing Hawthorne and Poe, specifically "Young Goodman Brown" and "Ligeia." In both works, the authors present events that may or may not be dreams or hallucinations. I want to say that they are and show how the author writes the story to point us in that direction. Though both authors do use dreams, I believe that their underlying reasons are different; Hawthorne has a moral lesson, while Poe is interested in the psychosis of the mind. This difference in reason leads to the different reputations the authors have. So in other words, though both authors employ the same writing method, their reasons and reputations are entirely unique.

When I write a research essay, it helps me to maintain flow and focus of my writing than writing a journal. Therefore, I like to choose option 1 over option 2 for my research project. For my research essay, I would choose Cooper’s The last of the Mohicans, Columbus, Genesis, Rowson’s Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth, and related critical articles as my primary texts. However, my text selections may be changed according to our future course readings.

After I read these texts so far, listened to the class lectures of Dr. White, and class discussions, I was able to understand American romantic writers were heavily influenced by biblical references. They compare America to the Garden of Eden; they attribute Adam’s and Eve’s Edenic characteristics for their fictional heroes and heroines. In the meantime, they attribute satanic characteristics for the villain. Therefore, I like to choose Portrayal of Satanic Characteristics in American Romanticism as my research title. I hope I can discuss my topic under the framework of our course objective 1a.

I have a great desire to end up my M. A. degree by writing a thesis. I believe this research essay will give me a great start for that because the reading and the objectives of our course 5535 gave me an idea what I should do for my future thesis. When I was reading some American romantic texts, I found a shadow of John Milton and his Paradise Lost in there. Fortunately, my graduate studies have been enriched with both British and American literature. Half of my graduate courses have been with Dr. White and the other half with Dr. Mieszkowski. Therefore, I would like to have a thesis combining British and American literature. I want to research how much American romantic writers were influenced by Milton and his portrayal of Edenic characteristics in Paradise Lost. It will be the title of my future thesis. I hope this research essay will give me a good beginning for it.

Dr. White, I am going to prepare a research journal. As I expressed to you previously, my exposure to romanticism initially came about through evangelical Bible studies. Unaware at that time of the affect the literary styles used in the scriptures had on me, like many other romantics who enjoy scriptural readings, I am ever engulfed with both fantasy and faith. Moreover, as I’ve recently began my studies in literature through this graduate program, a shaping of my perception has taken place. Through our selected readings and class discussions my perspective has expanded remarkably as it relates to romantic genres.

A combination of your literary coaching as well the interpretations of my peers has enabled me to become a much more creative thinker and more liberated in my writing. And as a result, I am going to prepare a research journal, which will allow me to illustrate the marriage of some of our course selections with various selections of the Bible making references to romantic expressions of sublime and gothic language. My choice medley will be a compilation of both poetry and essays and will include Edwards, Harjo, Hawthorne, the slave narratives, Emerson, Thoreau, Roethke and Levertov.

I am considering doing the Option 2 (journal) for my Research Project. In this assignment I would like to dig deeper into the element of the gothic in Romanticism. In my midterm I dealt with one aspect, (gothic nature) and you mentioned there was much more to learn about the gothic. I would like to take this opportunity to research journal articles and locate explanations and examples of the gothic in American Romantic literature and give a history of its place in British Romanticism prior to its inclusion in American Romanticism. I feel as if this would be a good topic for a journal and I could gather detailed information about this topic. Would it be ok to pick 2-3 of the writers we have learned about such as; Irving, Poe, and Cooper and discuss their use of the gothic for this paper and relate it to the scholarly articles?

I am planning on doing the journal version of our research assignment, but will see where the overall topic takes me. I am really interested in discussing the use of light and dark, especially in the description of appearances (hair, eye, and skin color, settings, and whatever else I can think of). I am especially interested in the descriptions that seem to show someone the opposite of what they are (eg.Indians as dark skinned savages vs. Uncas and Chingagchook in LOTM). I want to focus on the fact that light is not always good and dark is not always bad within Poe, Cooper, slave narratives, etc. It seems to me that the strong female characters ususally have darker features, while the weak are more fair. I also plan to bring in elements within pop culture that could tie into this theme, perhaps by using movies (13th warrior, the crow, etc) and music. Do you think this topic would be too narrow or too broad to fill 15-20pp?

Possible topic - Option 1 (research essay): The Journey of the Romance Narrative in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”

Before this course, I never thought that Nathaniel Hawthorne was a writer of Romanticism. However, I was really impressed by the way Hawthorne describes Goodman Brown’s journey in the dark to enlightenment – disillusionment.

Now I have learned that this is the journey, whether physical, moral or symbolic, of the romance narrative. Therefore I would like to do research on the romantic aspects in the narration of this journey and its transcendent goal.

I also want to include Puritanism in this research as I notice that it is Hawthorne's setting and subject of criticism in many of his stories, but I am not sure how to incorporate this into the project. I look forward to your opinions and comments.

I am particularly interested in exploring the subject of the slave/captivity narrative. I find the Harriet Jacobs reading & Frederick Douglas reading particularly intriguing for a starting point. I am hoping to incorporate some readings from the Theory Class such as W. E. Dubois, “Criteria of Negro Art,” and some readings on Race and ethnicity studies, but I am not yet sure that this will be a natural flow in the paper.

My concept of the paper is that the literature from Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Gustavus Vassa, or Olaudah Equiano, The African (London, 1789), Harriet Jacobs, Fredrick Douglas, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and others, collectively are a precursor to the “Harlem Renaissance Period” in American Literature. Personally, I am very interested in knowing more about this literature, and hope to explore this area in the research. I have not yet determined whether the essay or journal will be better suited to my goal, but in either case, I am interested in developing a knowledge base in this arena.

I also feel that this topic lends itself especially to Objective 1a of this course, desire and loss, the quest, and the sublime. In addition, the pursuit of the “American Dream,” the dream of freedom and the promise of a better life, is an inherent transcendent goal of the slave narrative.

I also noticed some readings in Marcia Toalson’s journal proposal from Spears, John R. The American Slave-Trade. Port Washington, NY: Kennibat Press, 1967, about the early activity in the slave trade where it seems likely that slaves where brought to this country as early as the Jamestown settlement. Although this is a side note, it is interesting in terms of dating the beginnings of the slave trade in the Americas.

My question to you Dr. White, is, Can you recommend particular authors or readings that you feel are particularly important for this topic area?

For my research project, I would like to choose the essay option. In particular, I propose to extend my midterm focus to include a broader exploration of the sublime and to suggest a two-fold purpose of the experience: first, that the pleasure/pain balance provides equilibrium, or stability, in the lives of characters who suffer rather unpredictable existences; and second, that the experience energizes characters to refocus, or to pursue with renewed fervor, their dreams or spiritual goals. I would also like to add the observation that, in many cases, the sudden initiation of the sublime experience is triggered by natural elements. And in light of the observation, I'd like to explore the reasons for this unique cause and effect. For my study, I'd like to include "Personal Narrative" by Jonathan Edwards, "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving, and The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.

I would like to do Option 1 (analytic/research essay) on the power of mothers in abolitionist literature. I observed when reading the variety of abolitionist literature assigned that mothers occupy an important role and that the authors use them in various ways to strengthen the piece of writing. Literature I will include is Stowe, Douglass, Jacobs, Grimke and Harper to name a few. Within this context, I would also like to examine the representations of religion in respect to abolition and preservation of run away slaves. Many of these authors use different narrative styles, including speaking directly to the reader and speaking of and to mothers and women in general. Many of these authors, when focusing on women, effectively use language to "paint" pictures of female slaves' and free women's situations. Also, these works are instrumental in reforming the framework of the United States. With the resistance to slavery, they are re-imagining the Declaration of Independence and repositioning benefactors of this dream. The objectives that this may cover are Objective 1a - Romantic Spirit - desire and loss or the quest of crossing social and physical boundaries, and Objective 2 - the emergence of American ideals, race, and redefining acceptable spaces (such as a more domestic focus in these writings).

I am considering exploring why writers choose to use certain techniques, such as the sublime or gothic. My primary interest would be in the realm of character development. For example, when a person encounters a sublime wilderness or a haunted space, and then re-emerges into civilization, it strengthens the heroic qualities of the character. We are forever in awe of the individual that can survive in the wilderness with a pocket knife and a rubber band, escape the Indian camp dressed as a bear, or emerge from a haunted clearing full of devil worshippers unscathed.

A comment regarding the strength of Faulkner's characters, which you made last class, was the impetus for choosing this topic. Hopefully, this research topic would help me to understand how different settings and techniques can aid in the presentation of strong, interesting characters.

TOPIC: “‘DREAM METAMORPHOSIS’: HARRIET JACOBS AND FREDRICK DOUGLASS IN PERSPECTIVE.”

I have always been fascinated by the concept of the “dream,” now popularized by the Martin Luther King speech. It seems that historically, this concept- dream- means different phenomenon to different conditions at different times depending on the socio-political or cultural consciousness at any point in time. I feel attracted not to “dreams deferred” but to the kind gradually realized, either by personal or by group consciousness.

My goal in this research proposal is to explore the ‘dream metamorphoses in Harriet Jacob’s “Incidents in the Life of a slave Girl” and Fredrick Douglass’s “Narrative of life.” Noting their parallelism in terms of narrative style and symbolism and where they may differ. Then, to establish at the end that to dream is not an imaginary gymnastics in fantasy but a true ambition to transcend a specific human condition.

As secondary texts to moderate the discourse would be the works of Langston Hughes, of the Harlem Renaissance fame, Booker T. Washington (otherwise called the Moses of his race), Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau for the possible philosophical and mystical moderating effect of their ideas on this “dream” concept.

Idea 1: My grandfather is one quarter Black Foot Indian. We grew up listening to him tell us stories that his father and grandfather passed on to him. I think this is why I loved the Iroquois Creation Story. It is a story I could easily stick in the back of my subconscious with the other. While reading The Last of the Mohicans, I noticed that the creation story is actually represented between Uncas and Magua. While they are not from the same mother, they represent the two the idea that each twin represents either good or evil. In this case, Magua would represent evil. His dark features correlate with the idea of dark being evil. Magua’s sole objective in the story is to do harm, and he is intent on getting revenge on Munro’s children. These all embody the idea of evil. On the other hand, Uncas is described almost like a god. He embodies all that is good. He is caring, a good, dependable leader, and he respectful of his culture and heritage. I am a little worried about finding sources to support my claim. Dr. White, do you have any suggestions for sources?

Idea 2: I am concerned that I won’t find enough source information for the first paper, so my second paper would be about Poe. I know he is often seen as the epitome of the gothic-romantic, but I took a Poe class as my senior seminar at A&M that presented Poe as a Rationalist and a man of reason. I'd like to delve into that a little more. The premise being that even though his stories include gothic elements, they are based on thoughts of reason and ratiocination. In stories like “Ligeia” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe writes a lot about the psyche and the workings of the human mind. I’d like to research possible psychological readings of the stories. I would also compare them to Poe’s “How to Write a Blackwood Article” to show that Poe may be using extreme gothic detail for more humorous purposes. Is there one aspect I should focus on more?

I believe of the two options presented, the research journal will lend itself to a more successful interpretation of Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket…, which is episodic in nature. I think it’s only natural to tackle this novel as such. I’d really like to acknowledge Poe’s romantic sweeping overtones while highlighting his ongoing tête-à-tête with the reader in the form of “travel literature.” Poe is far and away one of my favorites, and the chance to pick apart his first and only novel is something I’m anxious to do. The book, of course, will be my primary source, although I’ll be on the lookout for critiques from Poe’s contemporaries – if only to see how many take Poe at his word and believe this narrative to be true. I’m really curious: are there any other novels/authors of note that are out-and-out misrepresented or ghostwritten that I could compare/contrast with Poe’s actions in …Narrative…?

The captivity scenario played a very interesting part in Romantic literature. In my research paper, I will attempt to show how the scenario was used to catalogue women and races in neat slots that effectively led to the promotion of a male dominated white America.

Primary sources will be class reading selections. Background sources will be anthropological and historical information. Secondary sources will be critical reviews of the literature.

With the Growth in America, expansionally and culturally, the stereotypical hero no longer works as well as in the past. This new country needs its own heroic figure to relate to. With the Byronic Hero writers are able to fill this American need. They are able to give their audience the range and diversity in their characters that people need to able them to relate to easier. The new heroic characters are more realist and add a deeper complexity to their story.

I would like to write a research essay with the use of 2 objectives. Objective 1 serves the purpose of defining the American Romanticism ideology, along with the convergence of Objective 2's American Romanticism exposure to multiple cultures and events in history, which form the great need for the Byronic Hero, and why Americas need for this new hero is so great.

Primary Texts: Christopher Columbus letters, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Last of the Mohicans, Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston) – possibly others from class

Topic significance: I plan to take my mid-term paper and turn it into an argument paper. I love this subject and am ready to delve deeper and to possibly look at it from a different angle. I intend to do more research using scholarly articles, books, reviews and scholarly books.

Tentative thesis: Romantic authors Columbus, Irving, Cooper and Hurston depend on natural imagery to evoke emotions in their readers. However, in today’s technological world, is this natural impact lessened? Is the modern reader touched by the descriptions of nature as they once were? Will these stories lose impact as the years technically advance?

Not really sure where I am going with this, but it came to mind. Any input is welcome.

Question for the teacher: Is this something I could realistically research? Is it okay to include Hurston? She is technically after the Romantic period.

Romanticism has taken over the world. With the vestiges of war, poverty, and abuse comes the strong want to transcend beyond our reality to a world where individual definitions of perfection is met. The media sensationalizes the world’s desire “to be anywhere but here.” Artists, both visual (not sure of the appropriate word for those who paint) and musical, often portray the surreal life through their images and lyrics. Television glorifies a life of fame and wealth. The idea of transcendence has prevailed across time. What drives this need?

I want to analyze the development and importance of transcendence as it is used in literature and whether its perception mirrors the values and opinions of “our world”? I also want to find out if this idea is consistent across other texts and if the reasonings are similar. My primary text will be “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs.

Questions: Is this feasible? I want to compare this text to another. Do you recommend any texts? Or resources? Is the only difference between option 1 and 2 the amount of sources used? Which would be best for this project?

I was particularly moved by our readings of Frederick Douglass, especially the parts relating to his struggle to become literate. Overcoming active oppression designed to make him not only uneducated, but immoral, was a tremendous achievement. I would like to focus my essay on the use of Romantic ideas to create new identities capable of overcoming cultural norms and the status quo. I would examine the abolitionist and suffrage movements, as well as millennial and evangelical movements (if there is room). The goal would be to draw parallels between the various movements, based on their ability to inspire a change in individual identity through the use of Romantic themes.

I would focus on the writings of abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, as well as other fiction/nonfiction texts of the time, relating to suffrage, millennialism, etc (depending on space). I would also research the commonly held “canon” of identity during that time period, which may include medical/social propaganda about the “nature” of women or black slaves. How does a piece of Romantic writing from these or any movement overcome oppressive traditions and spark a change in individual identity?

I would like to move forward on a topic that you and I briefly discussed earlier in the semester. It is my intention to defend Cooper against the allegations made by Mark Twain in his “…Literary Offenses” essay. In order to do so, I would like to turn Twain’s argument around and critique some of his more popular works using the same list of offences. My question has to do with the execution of such a project. Since Twain claims that his rules apply to “romantic fiction,” should I attempt to establish him as a romantic author. I understand that he is classified as a realist, but some of his work could certainly be deemed romantic. I would appreciate any ideas that you might have on how I should approach this.