American Literature: Romanticism Sample Final Exams 2013 final exam assignment

Rachel Risinger

Informing the Exercise of Reading through Correspondence

I chose to wait a semester and take the American Romanticism class mainly because I wanted to expand my learning of the conventions that make up the classification system of what I termed “Early American” Literature. All of my understanding of the short story , it’s inception and development as a form of literature, came from undergraduate exposure to the medium. But delving into the terms and concepts that make up the conventions surrounding the literature of the period between late 1700’s through the 1800’s put the function of this literature more into focus rather than simply concentrating on an adherence to form through the Aristotelian plot model. Through this course I learned that it is not necessarily a love of the “gothic” that I harbor as much as it is a love of literary conventions which constitute the gothic. By relying on the label rather than the content, I have hobbled my reading career when it comes to American romantic literature and not ventured as far as was possible. Now that I have identified this deficiency, it is up to me to correct it.

Perhaps my most guilt-ridden realization at the end of this course is that I had allowed myself to fall into the trap of letting my notions of the form of short story literature be far too influenced by my studies of the politics of the Early American period rather than expanding my knowledge of the societal influences that informed the writing of Hawthorne, Poe and Whitman. While politics certainly influenced the writing of Whitman, others branched out and took a look at society and made rather insightful commentary on the world around them. Irving did this best with Sleepy Hollow. While not altogether social commentary, the work at least it provides insight into the lives of people who could have been Irving’s contemporaries had they not been articles of his imagination. The concept of “period” should be allowed to inform a choice in literature rather than inform the discarding of choice in literature.

Looking back at a mid-term discussion of “correspondence” in Irving’s Sleepy Hollow, I feel that I was already at the point of abandoning my reliance on my knowledge of politics and taking in Irving’s wonderfully lush descriptions of life in upstate New York in the early 1800’s and simply enjoying the mental walk which was being offered. There is commentary on the society as it existed, which I described as a “hotbed of gossip, unrequited ‘love’ and ghost stories” but moreover, Sleepy Hollow reads like a sort of love letter to the people who inhabited the regions and the customs they embraced in their day to day lives. Hollywood will always source the material, but will never give it the treatment it deserves.

If I have been exposed to “correspondence” as a convention or term of the study of romantic literature prior to this class, I had merely condensed the concept down to “putting one’s self into the story” and left it at that. This was possibly sheer laziness on my part and allows for only a shallow reading of texts and little understanding of the driving forces which motivate the characters.

A reader who wishes to retain and be able to discuss any literature, period or contemporary, with any degree of authority about the text in question must allow the societal relationship implied by our interaction with the characters to inform us about the time and circumstances under which the work was written. Without at least an acknowledgement from any reader of the realities of life and the societal contexts which influence the writing of any literature, there can be no true appreciation of an author's intention.

Looking back at my essay, it is easy to see that I am the reader who does not engage in correspondence with the text as much as I should. In my work life there is no opportunity to discuss “literature”, as I am not a teacher. It seems rather elitist to say that the majority of people I work with do not read anything more complicated than the television listings or their online bank statement, but outside of a classroom setting I do not have much opportunity to discuss what I read with anyone. And accepting that part of my reality just helps to steady my resolve to become a more engaged and informed reader.