The Past Two Weeks

Romanticism is out, Realism is in. Over the past two weeks in our review of American Literature we have witnessed a very abrupt transition between two contrasting styles. Over a span of approximately thirty years American Literature transformed from a style that used grand alliterations and exaggeration into a style that let allowed it's authors freedom to embody the natural beauty of life just by the style of imagery they used. Realism not only yields a different style of poetic writing, but also some of the greatest names in American Literature such as Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and Henry James. In contrast with the Romantic era writers such as Poe, Emerson, and Thoreau, these authors glorified the natural American citizen rather than grandiose heroes of both glory and infamy. For example, Twain's Life on the Mississippi is an epic detailing a trip on a steam boat. Twain uses cultural vernacular and visual imagery to glorify a rather mundane American job where as Poe and Hawthorne were forced to imagine great heroes and villains in order to draw American's to their writings.

Realism pwns.

Outcast of Poker Flat

The Outcast of Poker Flat by Bret Harte is a story of 4 citizens of Poker Flat that are recognized as a threat to the town. Each of the outcast have a different reason why they have been thrown out of town. The main character Mr John Oakhurst is a big time gambler that wins most of the towns peoples money. The reason for his exile from time was mainly that the town had lost several thousand dollars of money and the towns people thought it best he were one of the people to go. Mr Oakhurst was or seemed to be the strongest individual of the group at the beginning of the story. When the group was exiled he said nothing and showed no emotion while the other members were crying, cursing, and hollering. Mr Oakhurst was calm and collective he had his mind set on the journey to Sandy Bar the next town. He knew that the group was not equipped for delay. Mr Oakhurst was strong in the story until the end. In the end of the story he left the shack back to Poker Flat and was found with a bullet in his heart. Mr Oakhurst took the easy way out and shot himself. He took the cowardly way of doing things. It all turned out that in actuality he was the weakest of the group. He did not fight it out to the end he just gave up.

life in the mississippi by Mark Twain

In the passage Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain describes his dream of being a steamboat man. Mark Twain and his friends wanted to grown up to be pirates and clowns. In all their ambitions faded out and there weren’t allowed to be pirates or clowns. So, all that was left was the “ambition to be a steamboat man” (Mark Twain page 1) which leads to the authors telling this story. This passage makes a lot of sense to me because it is like how we were little kid and we wanted to be everything. When I was a little I always wanted to be a ninja or a panda. Well I am very satisfied to make one of my ambitions to (inside joke). Well during the story Mark Twain lives the live as a steam boat man and becomes a pilot of the boat with another man. The other man is like a god on the ship for his expertise of the river. Mr. Bixby is the name of this amazing man. He navigated through the river with ease leaving everyone in awe of his accomplishment. For, he did this in complete darkness going through the Mississippi river and he told everyone what they needed to do.

The Outcast of Poker Flat

In The Outcast of Poker Flat, Bret Harte chooses to see the good in all people. While Bret Harte is a realist writer, he comes out in this writing as a romantic. Unlike the dark romantics like Poe, Harte demonstrates that bad people can have a good moral side to them. The main character in this piece is John Oakhurst. He is accompanied by Uncle Billy, the Duchess, and Mother Shipton. They have been exiled. Oakhurst was a gambler by trade. The town of Poker Flat decides to purge itself of undesirables. All these characters are evil in their own way. Gambling which can be percieved as a type of stealing, actual stealing (Uncle Billy), and prostitution (the Duchess and Mother Shipton). Along the way they meet Tom Simson and Piney Woods. They are an innocent couple that end up traveling with the rough group on their journey. As the story goes on it provides the undesirables opportunities to do good. Uncle Billy reverts to his old habits and steals supplies and the horses. I believe that Harte uses Uncle Billy's character to say that there are some people that can't change regardless of their circumstances. This one character presents the reader with a realistic view of society. It shines a negative outlook on criminals that the majority of society would agree with. The rest of the group, however, redeems itself through good deeds. These characters create a romatic approach in the story. In their travels they get stuck by a storm an seek shelter in a roofless cabin. Mother Shipton is already near death and realizes it. She rations her food and sacrifices her own life to prolong that of others. The Duchess shows affection and comforts Piney Woods. Oakhurst is presented with a difficult delima. He has the option of saving his own life by pressing on through the storm. Instead he remains with the group and tries to help them in their passage. He creates snow shoes that he gives to Tom Simson so he can survive the storm. This sacrifice puts a postive light on the fact that their is good in all people. Yet Oakhurst is still haunted by his past and the struck of bad luck he has come upon. He commits suicide. I believe that Harte is trying to tell the reader that regardless of the good things we do in life they can't outweigh the bad. Even though we try to rectify our wrongs, we will dwell on our past experiences.

free

What is being really free? In The passing of Grandison, Grandison was taken by Dick owens to the north so he could run away and be free from the slavery. Grandison kept being loyal saying that he liked being fed well and he could be with his friends back on the plantation. In this mind set he was happy to be where he was because he had his friends and family. Without them he didn't want to go anywhere. That is why he came back and was able to help all his family and some friends escape. As a single person in a free country Grandison did not feel free but when he was able to have his family with him in a free country he felt free. to me this shows that being "free" is more a mind set. if you can be happy in a place or with people you like then you are free. In a place with people you hate and a place you hate you feel like you are in prison.

The Passing of Grandison

Chesnutt’s short story The Passing of Grandison explains the story of a slave owner’s son and one of his best slaves. Dick Owens, son of Colonel Owens was trying to win Charity Lomax’s heart in the story. Everyone believed that Dick was handsome, intelligent, a gentlemen but none the less extremely lazy. So Charity declared that the only way that Dick would win over her heart was by actually doing something, and doing something that was meaningful. That same day Dick had attended the trial of a young white man from Ohio who had attempted to set a slave free that was not his property free and got convicted and ended up dying. Dick decided that the best way to win Charity’s heart was by doing the same with one of his father’s slaves. He then journeyed through New York, Boston, and finally Canada, but Grandison had no intention of escaping. When they arrive to Canada, Dick could not take it anymore and basically left Grandison behind. He lied to his father about the occurrences of the trip and married Charity. A couple of weeks later Grandison showed up at the house with an absurd story about what had occurred to him on the trip. The conclusion of the story was Grandison and a few of the other slaves escaping from the Colonel almost undetected. I believe that this story is trying to explain that the people that you care about are worth everything. Grandison risked everything he had just so that he could be with those people that mattered most to him, and in my opinion I believe that every person should be like him because there is nothing more important than being with the ones you love.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat

I felt “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” was a great story of morality and the different personalities described in each character that made them influential to the story. I love stories of adventure and this work was just such a story. I was able to relate well with John Oakhurst when he discussed continuing to move on to Sandy Bar instead of stopping for the night. It was obviously a bad decision to stop given the people who were in company. Had they kept moving, it is very likely everyone would have lived and all would be able to start anew with a clean slate. I enjoyed the read and I was able to connect well with this author because of the human nature described throughout the story.

The Outcast of Poker Flats

The Outcast of Poker Flats is a very interesting story which starts us of giving us the date and time the plot takes place. Tells us about the residents of Poker Flats which wanted to improve the town by expelling trouble makers or people not too good. The main character which is a professional gambler called John Oakhurts was one of the persons that they either wanted to leave town or hung him and kill him. He leaves town and find this group of people called the outcasts in which we find two prostitutes and a alcoholic and thief. They met each other and decide to camp outside town they did not had to many provisions to survive so they rationalize it after a couple of days there comes this young couple which just got married even against the will of Piney Wood’s dad. They join the outcast group after a couple of days being there they got snowed in and the food supplies were almost gone. One morning they woke up and uncle Billy one of the outcast has left the cabin, mother Shipton dies of starvation as well as Piney. Mr. Oakhurts gives Tom the innocent a pair of snow shoes after that they all go to sleep and mr. Oakhurts kills himself with a pistol.

Henry James- Daisy Miller

Daisy Miller is a young woman around the age of 18. It's setting is in the late 1800's in Switzerland/ Europe. She is a very pretty girl with an ill mother and a hyper little brother. Unfortunately she attracts negative attention to herself. She is alway seen with different men walking around by herself with them in the country. During this time that was unacceptable and looked down upon very much. Because of her actions, people didn't respect her or want to give her the time of day. There were only a certain few who truely cared for her. Her mother, brother, Mr. Winterbourne, and an older woman named Mrs. Costello. But she is very hard-headed and doesn't care what people think of her. So the more they tried to direct her, the more she rebelled. When comparing this story to today, you can see how much society has changed over time. Today, woman are seen as independent self-sufficient woman and can make their own decisions. In this story, even though Daisy Miller wouldn't listen, people would try to guide her what to do because they felt she couldn't make decisions for herself. Also, woman are seen as scandalous if seen walking with men, or have many different male friends. It's accepted. And I also feel that even though people still judge a lot today, it's not as bad as back in Daisy Miller's time.

Daisy Miller

In today’s society you don’t find many girls like Daisy Miller. Most girls care too much about what others think and say. Daisy could care less of what people said about her and what people thought of her. Daisy does some things that a typical girl her age wouldn’t do in this time period. Her mother is very ill and doesn’t pay too much about her children. Daisy runs around doing whatever she wants. She meets a young American guy, named Winterbourne. Winterbourne is visiting his aunt when he meets Daisy Miller. Since Daisy has no one really looking out for her, she seems a little rebellious. I like how Daisy and Winterbourne both don’t care what others think. They both know that Winterbourne’s aunt does not want to meet Daisy because she is too “common”. That still doesn’t stop them from seeing each other. A few days later Winterbourne takes Daisy to Chillon. Winterbourne tells Daisy that he must go back to Geneva in the morning. Daisy and Winterbourne then make a promise. Winterbourne says that he will take Daisy to Rome. I like the story because no matter what they try and work things out. Even though they are being split they know that they will one day see each other again.

The Road Most Likely Taken

The Outcast of Poker Flat isthe most interesting story I read this semester. It’s amazing how the author Brent Hart decided to take three outcasts and show the readers how people can change depending on the situation they in. As for Uncle Billy I guess a thief is always going to be a thief. It is hard to put this in the realism category because it’s hard to believe that Oakhurst would have really stopped and stayed with the group knowing it wasn’t a good idea besides it was a group of criminals. Also, that Mother Shipton would starve herself to death for the young girl she just met named Pinney could have more to eat. The reading seemed to be more of Romanticism because this is how we would like for the world to be making this reading more imaginary then real. The items included which I could compare to real world is Uncle Billy waiting for everyone to go to sleep and run off with all the mules leaving people he really didn’t know and care about stranded which led to three of his companions death. I understand that is cruel behavior but like people say life is not a bag of candy.

Miss Daring Daisy

I found the story of Daisy Miller very interesting. I feel like I can connect to Daisy Miller, in a way that I somewhat do what I want regardless of what others think of me. I played boys baseball untill my junior year of high school. This was not always accepted, and I went through a lot of bullcrap just to make the high school boys team. Although there was a lot of commotion and I faced some pain I stuck through it. Daisy is a strong willed girl and seems to do what she wants regardless of what society views is lady like or not. Daisy is a free spirit, and some of her actions may be a result of having no father figure and this causes her desire for male attention. I don't believe there is anything wrong with being a flirt, but I do believe there is a problem with going out on the town with strangers. Daisy's mother is a bit of a push over, and i wouldn't know what that feels like because my mother is a retired senior chief. Therefore, I don't know how it felt for Daisy to not have an authority figure at all in her life. Daisy is different and takes her behavior to a new level, one that not many agree with but she is unique and that is rare to find.

Daisy the mysterious Weed

Henry James's novella of this naive young American girl in Europe, narrated by an upstanding gentleman, illustrates a world centered on ettiquite and proper behavior instead of worth and true virtues. The character Winterbourne sees Daisy not for what she truely is. He is more or less an observer studying the behavior of a peculiar animal. When Winterbourne talks about her boring rhetoric and silly conversations she starts, this captures Winterbourne's true feelings about Daisy. Daisy's actions throughout the story are viewed only through what Winterbourne thinks and says. It almost seems as if Winterbourne's actions are more steps to observe her and are misinterpreted by Daisy as true affection. In reality he really only seems interested in her the way a scientist is interested in an experiment. To conclude Daisy's true nature is never actually revealed, but it is certain that Winterbourne is remorseful for her death. However, it took Daisy's death for him to feel anything real at all.

Cavalry Crossing a Ford

So in the story of "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" it shows how the true cavalry did things in the day. it makes me feel like i was with the cavalry that day. I can image the cavalry resting by the lake side and the horses are going to get a drink of water to quench their thirst.During the following part of the poem it shows how the men were relaxing. Also the men were having fun just joking around and just chilling.Also the men were "brown[ed]faced" from the long amount of time being on a mission. The last sence shows the guide on the "scarlet and blue and snowy white" which represents the honor that the cavalry have. My thoughts are that the cavalry back then were the best of the best and that have a weak side too. The guide on always "flutter gayly in the wind" which shows how proud the young cav. was once. The cavalry now a day's usually don't ride horses but some do. Now they are light armor units that travels for a long time really fast just like the old cav. did. The colors on the other hand have always remained the same through out history.

Collectng leaves to get a tree

The poem Dalliance of the Eagles is interesting because I can put myself in Walt Whitman shoes witnessing this personal as he just take a stroll and witness two eagles perform the dalliance ritual and say to himself this is amazing I should write about it. What I gained from the poem can relate to what my great aunt told me about how people you meet in life are either a tree are leaves. Walt Whitman writes about the people who are leaves. Because they are not present in your life long and seem to blow away with the wind but the impact they have on your life is important and helps in the search for the tree. I gained this from the two eagles meeting in the air which is the simple meet and greet next they become one which is the bond being made then they start on their cartwheel which can be compared to the obstacles faced in life then everything goes downhill and before it turns to a complete disaster they each depart they own way to continue they journey throughout life with more experience and with a better picture of what want in life to replace the leaves with a tree.

The Dalliance of the Eagles

The Dalliance of the Eagles, by Walt Whitman, he expresses how two eagles force his senses and imagination to a new pitch, where action, space, and time are all magnified to an intensity to the point of revelation. We are delivered to the world of nature and the world of art at once. For Whitman, it is love that the narrator metaphorically ascribes to these creatures of flight and grace “our love” because this is amorous dalliance and pursuit to us, but what to them? Surely, we will never know. They "skirt" the human road, and do not walk it as we do. Seen rightly and with human eyes, this is nothing but a revelation of what comes to us from existence and draws us to love, and love passionately.

The Dalliance Of The Eagles

After reading this poem by Walt Whitman and listening to the presentation, my interpretation of the poem alter a bit. Watching two bald eagles in their mating ritual is a magnificent sight to see. This magnificent ritual called cart-wheeling, is a rare sight. The two creatures lock claws and free-fall out of the sky. As quick as the moment you saw began it could stop. Just as they look like things will go for the worst they pull apart. Upward again separately they continue, pursuing, and again are dalliant eagles.
As easily as I read this poem, it was just as easy to relate it to a more humanistic side of life. Relating this free fall to a relationship is not a task, yet a easy comparison. The dalliance, rather flirtation, would be the first conversation or first attraction. Soon the close friendship turns into a relationship where the new couple is entering a level not known to them as one. I believe the cart-wheeling that the eagles experience can be the free fall in the relationships. Up, downs, spins, love, heartbreak, and the unknowing factor of what will happen next. Overall my view is to take life as a journey and follow whatever path you wonder upon. Free fall into life and love may stumble upon you.

Emily Dickinson Poem 67

This poem is about the value of success. Value is based strongly on the opinion of the beholder. Readers can relate to this poem. Emily Dickinson is able to connect with the average American. Success, for most people, is something that you have to fight or struggle for. It does not come naturally. It takes hard work and dedication to the task at hand. Dickinson describes how wonderful success is to those that fail on a normal basis. She must have been writing from experience. It is well known that she had relationship problems. With the exception of her relationship with a preacher, all of her significant others or crushes died. She never truly succeeded in a solid relationship. She pours out her heart into this poem exemplifying how amazing she felt when something did go well. The reader can assume that Dickinson has an opposite opinion of those who succeed all the time. People that always get what they want appear successful. It is hard to feel successful when you have no measure of its value. It comes to them to easy. The idea that money and success will solve all of you problems is extremely faulted. Many of today's rich and famous characters are not happy. Are they truly successful? They have everything they need except the feeling of success and happiness. They are left wanting more.

Vigil Strength I kept on the field one night

This poem brings a rush of deep emotion to you. It starts off with him being out in the battlefield at night, when one of his comrades fell by his side, dying. Then he brings you through some of the events that day. For instance, "Found you in death so cold dear comrade". This is wehre I feel his real amotions start coming out and he forgets about the battle around him. Like when he says, "I faithfully loved you, and cared for you living". This is wehre the poem starts turning towards a more sorrowful feeling. he then begins describing how he's burrying his fellow soldier. He "wrapt in his blanket" and "enveloped well his form". This part makes you really remember everything that's going on in todays world too. Soldiers dying, the heartache familes and friends have to endur. This poem can relate to any period in time even though it was written a long time ago. There is always some kind of war being fought and people knowing what it's like to lose loved ones. Many can see where Whittman is coming from.

The Dalliance of Eagles

Walt Whitman’s free verse poetry possesses qualities that other writing from his time does not. He uses imagery as one of his main components of work, which gives readers the sense that they are witnessing the event at that moment in time. In the poem “The Dalliance of Eagles”, Whitman writes about two eagles high in the sky coming together as one, as if they were dancing together. Just tumbling and falling as one because at that point nothing else matters, until they separate. The eagles fight for what they want until the receive it. I believe that this poem has great symbolism and has great meaning behind it. If you want something bad enough you should fight for it. No matter what gets in your way you need to find every way to be successful and accomplish your goal. People are too scared to follow their dreams or fight for something they want, but these eagles make it so easy and carefree that it makes you wonder why you just can’t make it as simple as they are making it. The point is that you need to stop over thinking and over planning how you are going to do something and just do it because it is the right and best thing to do. Live everyday as if it were your last, and accomplish every dream and goal you have ever had.