Unit 3: The American Revolution

The Emergence of American Diversity 1750-1800Becoming distinctly American South and Mid-AtlanticNew England remain

homogeneous

QuakersEnglish and Welsh decent

Based on equality of citizens and tolerance of religious diversity

First group in America to advocate the abolition of slavery

Quakers (continued)Women had a voice, unlike in

Puritanism

Attracted Native Americans, free Africans, and progressive thinkers

Benjamin Franklin adopted a Quaker rhetoric of equality.

Capitalist CultureEthic of profit-making

Land becomes a commodity.

Southern colonies center on plantations

American Colonies Represent opportunity and

growth

Begin to prosper

Offer economic advancement through hard work

Rebellion Against Great Britain

Stamp Act-colonist boycotted British goods

Boston Tea Party

Historical DocumentsCommon Sense by Thomas PaineDeclaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams

Philosophical Background of the RevolutionEnlightenment (Age of Reason)

Romanticism

Bill of Rights

Enlightenment Thinkers

Sir Isaac Newton

John Locke

Thomas Hobbes

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The New NationAdopted Articles of Confederation

Increasing literacy

Diverse authors

Unit 4:The New England Renaissance

1800-1860

Social Expansion

Louisiana Purchase in 1803Invention of telegraph (Samuel

Morse)Steam locomotive (John

Stephens)

DemocratizationAndrew Jackson’s shift to

“common people”Mann’s studies leading to public

education.The Lyceum Movement

◦Institutions that offered educational and inspirational lectures, debates, and entertainments in large public halls.

Romanticism

In Romanticism, nature was a repository of and stimulus for intuitions, transforming an individual by granting him or her access to a higher truth.

Romantic writers: Irving and Franklin

TranscendentalismTranscendentalism is the belief in

the realm of spiritual or transcendent truths beyond sense perception and material existence.

Transcendentalists: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Poe

The Writing Profession and Social Purpose

Writers could not make a living off of writing even if they were successful.

No copyright protection until 1891

Authors would sell books without claiming royalties.

Writers found purpose in writing with political and social issues.

New England Renaissance PoetryPoets used their work to address

various social and political issues—including slavery.

Fireside / Schoolroom Poets Oliver Wendell Holmes “The Chambered

Nautilus”

“The Chambered Nautilus” p.207Apostrophe- rhetorical device by which

a speaker turns the audience as a wholes to address a single person or thing.

Stanza- a recurring pattern of grouped lines in a poem (like paragraphs in a story)

“ A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience”—Oliver Wendell Holmes

TPCASTTTitle

What do the words of the title suggest to you? What denotations are presented in the title? What connotations or associations do the words posses?

ParaphraseTranslate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?

TPCASTTConnotations

What meaning does the poem have beyond the literal meaning? (Form, diction, imagery, point of view, details, allusions, symbolism, figurative language)

AttitudeWhat is the speaker’s attitude? How does the speaker feel about himself, about others, and about the subject? What is the author’s attitude? How does the author feel about the speaker, about other characters, about the subject, and the reader?

TPCASTTShifts

Where do the shifts in tone, setting, or voice occur? Look for time and place, keywords, punctuation, stanza divisions, changes in length or rhyme, and sentence structure. What is the purpose of each shift? How do they contribute to effect and meaning?

TPCASTTTitle

Reanalyze the title on an interpretive level. What part does the title play in the overall interpretation of the poem?

ThemeList the subjects and the abstract ideas in the poem. Then determine the overall theme. The theme must be written in a complete sentence.

TPCASTT for “The Chambered Nautilus”

Title-The title "The Chambered Nautilus" refers to a sea creature that lives in the sea and has a hard external shell.

ParaphraseFirst stanza: A poet pretends the

nautilus is a ship of pearl is sailing the high seas. Its purple wings are the sails. The coral reefs can damage a ship.

Second stanza: The ship of pearl is wrecked. The purples sails or webs of living gauze are not sailing anymore.

ParaphraseThird Stanza: Each year the chambered

nautilus has created a new dwelling and cannot move backwards.

Fourth Stanza: The poet thanks Triton for sending him a message. He hears a message singing.

Fifth Stanza: The poet writes about building more stately mansions and leaving the past.

ConnotationsAllusions embedding the poem are

found in the first stanza, the sirens and sea-maidens. Also, Poseidon's son, Triton, is alluded to in stanza four. Each of these are references to Greek mythology.

The chambered nautilus is compared to a ship of pearl metaphorically.

ConnotationsThe diction used refers to the sea

and its mysteries. The poem is divided into five

stanzas with a specific rhyme scheme. AABBBCC

AttitudeThe poet is grateful to have been

sent this message. He feels admiration towards the chambered nautilus and meditates on the message it sending.

ShiftsThe first three stanzas address

the chambered nautilus’s life and death.

In the last two stanzas, the poem shifts and begins addressing the audience (apostrophe).

TitleThe title now means that the

chambered nautilus continually is moving forward and growing.

ThemeThe theme of this poem is just

like that chambered nautilus, individuals must move forward and grow. We, the audience are to create a new and stronger life out of a weak past.

Emily DickinsonLived as a recluseKept her writing to herselfHer work reflected ‘keen observations’

“Because I could not stop for Death—”[The poem is] “one of the greatest in the

English language; it is flawless to the last detail…Every image is precise and…fused with the central idea.” –Allen Tate