Final Exam – 2 half Fall 2023
nd
Matching – The authors to their work(s)
1.____ “Because I could not Stop for Death”a. Louisa May Alcot
2._____ “To a Waterfowl”b. Emily Dickinson
3._____ Common Sensec. Walt Whitman
4._____ “Virgil Strange, I Kept on the Field one Night” d. Herman Melville
5._____ “Rip Van Winkle”e. Henry David Thoreau
6._____ “The Fall of the House of Usher”f. James M. Whitfield
7._____ “Thanatopsis”g. Sojourner Truth
8._____ “A Psalm of Life”h. Angelina E. Grimke
9._____ “Speech to the Women’s Right Conventioni. Edgar Allan Poe
in Akron OH”
10._____ “Resistance to Civil Government”j. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
11._____ “Bartley, the Scrivener”k. Ralph Waldo Emerson
12._____ “I cannot live with you”l. Lydia Maria Child
13._____ “Beat! Beat! Drums”m. William Cullen Bryant
14._____ “My Contraband”n. Washington Irving
15._____ “A Bird, came down the Walk”o. Thomas Paine
16._____” Legend of Sleepy Hollow”p. Phillis Wheatley
17._____ “The Divinity School Address”q. Benjamin Franklin
18._____ The Age of Reasonr. Crevecoeur
19._____ “Some Keep the Sabbath going to Church”
20._____ “The Way to Wealth”
21._____ “Leters from an American Farmer”
22._____”The Speech of Miss Polly Baker”
23._____ “On Being Brought from Africa to America”
24._____ “Cavalry Crossing a Ford”
25._____ from Appeal to the Christian Women of the South
26._____” To the University of Cambridge, in New England”
27._____ “Stanzas for the First of August”
28._____ “The Quadroons”
29._____ “The Slave Singing at Midnight”
c.What was the Romantic period a reaction to?
I believe as covered in class it was a response to the disillusionment of the “enlightenment”.
2. What were the characteristics of the Romantic period? Consider the following:
a.What were the elements of this period (not the writen focus)?
Emotion and passion – The Awe of nature - The idealization of women are a few I can name of
the top of my head
b.What did the writers focus on (subject mater)?
Romance was a heavily influence topic during this era.
The following answers to the questions should be carefully considered and well-developed.
Each element should have its own short paragraph.
1.What were the characteristics of the Age of Reason (Enlightenment)? Consider the
following:
a.How is this a period of growth (through the writen word)
I would say as humans began to develop through this intellectual and scientific time-period the
works of writer also gained a greater depth, about the truths of the world and religion
and so forth.
b.How did many of the intellectuals view faith and science?
They felt as if their discovery of science could be applied to faith and they used many aspects of
science to define faith.
c.What were writers interested in?
Writers were interested in the pursuit of knowledge
The following questions are to be well-developed paragraphs – not skimpy or vague.
3.Choose one poem from the Age of Reason and describe the ways that the poet
represents the elements of this age (or not).
One poem from this age was “The leter from an American Farmer”, writen by Crevecoeur.
This work was consistent with its time and era because it addressed its times unjust social
system. According to what we learned in class, letters were a way of defining African
Americans and this work help to shed light on the dark side of America and its
horrifying slavery.
4.Chose a non-poem from the Age of Reason and demonstrate how the author reflects the
values of this period. Be well-developed and be specific (not vague. . . ).
One non- poem that was written during this time period was Ben Franklins “The way to
wealth”. One way that this piece was relevant to its time period was that the author
conveys principles of higher living to the reader about money and the value of hard
work. Throughout this narrative he derails idleness and folly. This is consistent with
the age because the enlightenment was revolutionary way of thinking, and this built
upon that foundation of his age.
7.Several works focus on slavery. Choose one and explain how – through the work – the
author communicates their message (and what is the message)
One story other than the work I used for my essay that really struck me was, Louisa May
Alcott’s’ “My contraband”. In this story a coccasion nurse is given the task of caring for a
wounded mulatto black man by the name of Bob. She soon discovers that he discarded his
5.Choose a poem from the Romantic period and identify at least two elements of the
subject mater that is present and explain HOW it impacts the work.
One work that stood out to me from the Romantic period was William Cullen Bryant’s’ “To a
Waterfowl”. Two dominating aspects of romantism that is used was the Awe of nature
and emotion and passion. I believe that this work was inspired by Bryant one day
glimpsing into the sky and tracing the direction of an unknown bird. In this work,
nature is used to describe unpredictable restless aspects of life that we as humans do
not necessarily have control over. Yet somehow in this work as the waterfowl is carried
off into a distance unseen, it represents a multitude of things. One being that soon we
will meet the higher power that has guided us through all the trouble, and also it
depicts that some day the restlessness will end. William Cullen Bryants’ works such as
this one impacted in influence his generation of writers.
6.Do the same as # 5 but with a short story.
Another story of this time period was Lydia Maria Childs’ “The Quadroon”. This short story as
well as many other of her works helped to push the abolishment of slavery. In this
short story the aspects of romanticism used are love and passion. The author writes
with blisses of passion when describing the love of Rosalie and her husband Edward.
This impacted the work because it helped to build a case for what the author was later
going to display. What seems to be a love that would last forever; Rosalie herself
stating their marriage was one recognized by heaven, yet this would only last for so
long. The main character in “The Quadroons” such as Rosalie and Xafira are used to
display the social injustice. Rosalie is left to die of depression after her husband leaves
her in pursuit of political power. Both of Zafira’s parents die and she later would find
out she is a slave by law. She is raped by her owner and ultimately driven to suicide.
prior last name due to previous slave owner trauma and many of the wounds on his body
were from that prior event. An element of social injustice in this particular work is shown that
while Bob was a slave, he wasn’t given the right as a man do defend his own family. The
message emphasized is primarily displayed in this work through the relationship of the nurse
and the mulato, as it does its job of breaking many prejudices. The nurse cares for Bob despite
his race, which implants a loyalty and a respectful love for her in him.
