American Literature: Romanticism Sample Final Exam Essays 2015 final exam assignment Overall Learning Essay

Marichia Lee Wyatt

Falling Back in Love

          As a graduating student, taking my very last class, there was no better way for me to end my academic career than with American Romanticism.  I have spent my entire life in love with the romantic genre, yet very little time thinking about it since entering graduate school.  This may be because romanticism is sometimes labeled as being “old-school” or obsolete in today’s fast paced society that has an unnatural obsession with pseudo-reality.  Even our television programs have become “reality” based, rather than fantasy and romantic comedy.  While I personally am not a fan of this new trend, it does tend to make outsiders ask the question of whether or not you can learn anything from a supposedly antiquated literary genre.  For me, that is an easy question to answer as taking American Romanticism as my last class significantly helped me remember why I fell in love with literature to begin with, and has also reaffirmed my belief that romanticism is still extremely relevant.  Perhaps this comes from my own romantic notions that are definitely drenched in the nostalgia of my childhood favorites and compounded by my own desire to finish my graduate career, yet the great sense of loss I feel now that it is over.  However, seeing as how these are all part of the romantic narrative, it is the best way for me to answer this question when asked.  By using my own sense of nostalgia in relation to texts concerned with the same theme, it is easy to see why ending my education this way has been an excellent reminder of why I started this journey to begin with.  I have enjoyed every minute of the classroom discussions, and have come to a better understanding of why I love the romantic genre.  

          Any time I pick up Edgar Allan Poe I am transported back to being that scared little girl looking over my shoulder for Ligeia’s ghost.  However, by revisiting Poe at the end of my graduate career, I am now able to look at the text through a new and critical lens.  This has allowed me to fall back in love with the text, yet for completely different reasons:  instead of reading a scary story, I am now able to understand and identify the beautifully romantic notions present throughout.   However, even if this is done through a new lens, I cannot help but feel nostalgic when reading Poe’s work.   I suppose that is okay, though, as nostalgia is a huge part of romanticism in general; nostalgia for the past, for nature, or for a better world are all common themes present in several romantic texts.  Poe’s “Ligeia” by itself is an extremely nostalgic text, even when it is read for the first time.  The combination of the gothic, desire and loss, and the sublime all work together to create an out of body experience in the story.  The reader can mourn with the narrator at the loss of the “infinite supremacy” of his “lost love,” while also questioning his sanity (8, 27).  Perhaps the real beauty of the text is not found in the gorgeous character of Ligeia, but rather through the romantic notions of desire and loss as seen through the nostalgic feelings of their perfect love that was taken away too soon.   

          While it was especially nice for me to revisit texts from my own past, it was also wonderful to come across something I had never read before.  It seems strange to come across something new with Fitzgerald as I did with “Winter Dreams,” yet it makes sense on an academic level since Fitzgerald is commonly placed in the modernist genre in which The Great Gatsby is the preferred text.  However, by placing this lesser known work by a predominately modernist author in romanticism class, I was able to read a brilliantly romantic work by an author I already adored.  The best part of this class comes from way it is merges different styles and looks for romantic aspects in different genres.  This set up encourages students to broaden their literary scope, and does not limit the reading to the romantic era.  While Fitzgerald may be a modernist author, there are several elements of the text that are inherently romantic. 

Through the classroom discussion of desire and loss in the romance narrative, and applying it to several texts throughout the semester, this piece was the perfect way to end the semester.  After Dexter and Judy Jones’s first date, Dexter decides that  “It did not take him many hours to decide that he had wanted Judy Jones ever since he was a proud, desirous little boy” (3.20).  The desire is set up from childhood, and carried through the entire text.  Every time he thinks he can have her, she does not fully give in.  While this is romantic on its own, the ending when he realizes she has settled for an ordinary life, and has lost her looks culminates in Dexter’s true sense of loss; his memory of Judy has now been tainted, and the nostalgia he carried with him since childhood is now lost:  "Long ago," he said, "long ago, there was something in me, but now that thing is gone. Now that thing is gone, that thing is gone. I cannot cry. I cannot care. That thing will come back no more." (6.36). Desire and loss are essential to the romantic genre, regardless of writing style or time period, and I think that this class did a great job of tracing this theme through several texts.

Another great text introduced me to this semester is Tracy K. Smith’s poem “I Don’t Miss It.”  While Smith’s work is undeniably nostalgic and dealing with desire and loss, it’s short and sweet and extremely sexy style sets it apart from every other poem we have read this semester.  The inclusion of poetry in this seminar is essential to the study of romanticism as poetry has the power to include several different romantic elements in a very short amount of time.  While I enjoyed the presentational aspects of all of the poetry we covered, this poem was the one I really wanted to read.  This poem is simply enticing; each pause conveys yearning, and the alliteration builds up this intensity throughout the poem.  The nostalgic episode creates an out of body experience for the speaker when she says “And when I begin to believe I haven’t left,/ The rest comes back” (6-7).  The speaker is flooded with memories filled with anticipation, which has less to do with romantic love and more to do with sexual desire.  This is evident by her inclusion of line fifteen when she states that “We hear so much about what love feels like” and “leaves that want as much as I do to believe/ In May, in seasons that come when called” (15, 17-8).  The aspect of romantic love is not set in stone; the speaker is unsure what love is.  What she is sure of is her sexual desire for the object in the poem:  “It’s impossible not to want/ To walk into the next room and let you/ Run your hands down the sides of my legs,/ knowing perfectly well what they know” (19-22).  The climax of the entire nostalgic episode concludes in a very sexually enticing way, leaving the reader wanting more.  The notion of romantic love may be lost, yet the desire for sexual intimacy is still present.  While the speaker may not know what love is, she does know that this lost lover of her is still desirous to her; she may not “miss” him; however, she sure seems to miss “it.”  Smith’s poem captivates her reader with nostalgia, desire, and loss yet, there are other romantic elements within the text.  By including gothic details, and the transcendent ability of an out of body experience, Smith uses several romantic themes in twenty-two lines.  For me, this is why poetry is so important to the study of romanticism; poetry has the ability to convey so many romantic aspects in such a short amount of time.  This leads to better discussions over romanticism, and the intentional vagueness the time limit creates, lead to more subjective interpretations.  Smith’s poem could be about anything; this is simply my interpretation of the text.  That is the beauty of poetry and why it is a very important medium for the study of American Romanticism.  Through reading this poem, and getting the opportunity to present it in class, I was reminded of how much I love poetry, and how much it benefits me as a reader and writer.  This poem certainly moved me. 

American Romanticism was the perfect way to end my graduate career.  This is in no way cheerleading; I honestly believe that this class was the best way to remind myself of why I signed up for this program to begin with.  The romantic genre is simply beautiful.  Whether this beauty is from gothic landscapes, romantic settings, nostalgic memories, or desire and loss, it does not matter; romanticism is a rich subject that covers many styles, themes, and time periods.  By ending my collegiate career with the genre closest to my heart, I was able to see these texts with new, more learned eyes and read them through a more critical lens.  This class has allowed me to fall back in love with literature, and realize that there is still more to learn even after reading the same text several times.  For me, that is what makes literature great in the first place.