Caderno de Atividades Lit Americana

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THE NORTH AMERICAN 
LITERATURE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE 
American literature begins with the orally transmitted myths, 
legends, tales, and lyrics (always songs) of Indian cultures. 
There was no written literature among the more than 500 
different Indian languages and tribal cultures that existed in 
North America before the first Europeans arrived. As a result, 
Native American oral literature is quite diverse. Narratives 
from quasi-nomadic hunting cultures like the Navaho are 
different from stories of settled agricultural tribes such as the 
Acoma; the stories of the Ojibwa often differ radically from 
stories of desert tribes like the Hopi. Tribes maintained their 
own religions — worshipping gods, animals, plants, or sacred persons. Systems of government 
ranged from democracies to councils of elders to theocracies. These tribal variations enter into 
the oral literature as well. 
A CHIPPEWA SONG 
A loon I thought it was 
But it was 
My love’s 
splashing oar. 
A MODOC SONG 
I 
the song 
I walk here. 
A NAVAHO SONG 
Comes the deer to my singing, 
Comes the deer to my song, 
Comes the deer to my singing. 
He, the blackbird, he am I, 
Bird beloved of the wild deer, 
Comes the deer to my singing. 
From the Mountain Black, 
From the summit, 
Down the trail, coming, coming now, 
Comes the deer to my singing. 
Through the blossoms, 
Through the flowers, coming, coming now, 
Comes the deer to my singing. 
Through the flower dew-drops, 
Coming, coming now, 
Comes the deer to my singing. 
Through the pollen, flower pollen, 
Coming, coming now, 
Comes the deer to my singing. 
Starting with his left fore-foot, 
Stamping, turns the frightened deer, 
Comes the deer to my singing. 
Quarry mine, blessed am I 
In the luck of the chase. 
Comes the deer to my singing. 
Comes the deer to my singing, 
Comes the deer to my song, 
Comes the deer to my singing. 
 
 
Rhyme is the repeated use of identical or nearly identical sounds. Poets use rhyme to create a 
musical sound, meaning, and structure. 
A Rhyme Scheme is a regular pattern of words that end with the same sound. 
a) Can you identify the rhyme scheme for the Navaho song? 
b) Native American Indian songs may have different themes. Can you identify the themes of 
these songs? 
c) Here is an excerpt from a Navaho legend. Can you guess what it is about? 
The First World was black as black wool. It had four corners, and over these 
appeared four clouds. These four clouds contained within themselves the elements of the 
First World. They were in color, black, white, blue and yellow. The Black Cloud represented 
the Female Being or Substance. For as a child sleeps when being nursed, so life slept in the 
darkness of the Female Being. The White Cloud represented the Male Being or Substance. 
He was the Dawn, the Light-That-Awakens, of the First World. 
 
 
COLONIAL AMERICAN LITERATURE 
Captain John Smith (1580-1631) 
The first writer of the Virginia Colony. He led an exploration along the 
rivers of Virginia. When food supplies ran out, he set off into the 
forest to buy corn from the Amerindians. 
Some of his writings: A Description of New England (1616) and The 
Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles 
(1624). 
 
Read the following excerpts taken from Captain John Smith’s writings. Then answer the 
questions. 
a) Can you say what these excerpts are about? 
b) Can you describe Captain John Smith’s writing style? 
c) From which of his writings were these excerpts taken? 
1. For God did make the world to be inhabited with mankind and here … is more 
land than all the people in Christendome can manure (cultivate), and yet more to 
spare than all the natives of those countries can use and culturate (cultivate). 
For a copper knife and a few toys, as beads and hatchets, they will sell you a 
whole Countrey (district); and for a small matter, their houses and the ground 
they dewell upon; but those of Massachusets have resigned theirs freely. 
2. Two great stones were brought before Powhattan (the Indian “King”): then as 
many as could dragged him (Smith) to them and thereonA laid his head, and 
being ready with their clubs, to beat out his brains, Pocahontas, the King’s 
dearest daughter, got his head in her arms, and laid down her own (head) upon 
his to save him from death: whereatB the King was contendedC he should live. 
A on them (the stones) B because of that C agreed 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND PURITAN LITERATURE 
The Plain Style 
The Puritans favored “plainness” in all things: in dress, in the architecture and design of their 
churches, in their forms of worship, and in language. Unlike the ornate “high style” popular in 
England at the time, the Puritan plain style used simple sentences and common words from 
everyday speech. The plain style contained few or no classical allusions, Latin quotations, or 
elaborate figures of speech. The plain style, Puritans felt, was much more effective in 
revealing God’s truth than the ornate style. Despite the fact that the style used by Puritan 
writers now seems hard to read, it was considered simple and direct in the 1600s. 
 
William Bradford (1590-1675) 
Founder and longtime governor of the Plymouth Colony. He wrote Of 
Plymouth Plantation. 
Read the following excerpt from this book. Can you say what it is about? 
“So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their 
resting place near twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and 
looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, 
their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.” 
 
John Winthrop (1588-1649) 
First governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Minister all his life. He 
wrote The History of New England. 
Read the following excerpt from this journal. Can you say what it is 
about? 
“We had now fair sunshine weather, and so pleasant a sweet air as 
did much refresh us, and there came a smell off the shore like the smell 
of a garden.” 
 
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) 
A Puritan believer’s wife. Mom of eight. First New England poet. The 
first New World poems were published in England. She wrote Upon the 
Burning of Our House. Although Anne Bradstreet’s Upon the Burning of 
Our House contains some figurative language, it is a good example of 
the plain style. It is also filled with inversions. In an inversion, 
sentences are not written in normal word order. For example, 
Bradstreet writes “I wakened was with thund’ring noise” instead of “I was wakened with 
thund’ring noise.” Inversion is often used to make a poem’s rhyme scheme work out or to 
maintain a fixed meter. 
WHAT IS POETRY? 
 
POETRY - the language of the imagination, of the feelings, of the emotions. Different from 
prose, poetry is for reading aloud because it sings. The language in poetry is musical. Poetry is 
a form of writing that uses not only words, but also forms of sound and imagery (figurative 
language) to convey the message. It is the art of composing poems. 
 
POEM - A single piece of poetry, complete in itself. 
 
DO YOU THINK READING POETRY IS DIFFICULT? 
Reading poetry demands your full attention. Unlike a novel, where you can drift in and out and 
still follow the plot, poems are generally shorter and more intense, with less of a conventional 
story to follow. Aside from its demands on your attention, there’s nothing too tricky about 
reading a poem. Like anything, it’s a matter of practice. 
Follow Your Ears. It’s okay to ask, “What does it mean?” when reading a poem. But it’s even 
better to ask, “How does it sound?” If all else fails, treat it likea song. Even if you can’t 
understand a single thing about a poem’s “subject” or “theme,” you can always say something – 
anything – about the sound of the words. 
Read It Aloud. Reading even part of poem aloud can totally change your perspective on how it 
works. 
Be Patient. You can’t really understand a poem that you’ve only read once. You just can’t. It’s a 
much bigger accomplishment to actually enjoy a poem than it is to be able to explain every line 
of it. 
 
PARTS OF A POEM 
 
LINE – So simple that it is hard to explain in words. Most poems are best read in line, rarely 
does it ever work in a paragraph form. 
 
STANZA - A group of lines that form a unit in a poem like a paragraph. Based on the number of 
lines, stanzas are named as Couplet (2 lines), Tercet (3 lines), Quatrain (4 lines), Cinquain (5 
lines), Sestet (6 lines), Septet (7 lines), Octave (8 lines). 
Ex: A word is dead 
 When it is said. 
 
ELEMENTS OF POETRY 
 
SOUND DEVICES - Some poems use techniques of sound such as rhyme and rhythm. 
 
Rhyme - The similarity of sounds between two words, usually in stressed syllables. Rhyme can 
come at the end of a line (end rhyme) or within a line (internal rhyme). Not all poems have a 
rhyme. 
 
Rhyme Scheme - The pattern of End Rhyme in a stanza or poem. It is charted by assigning a 
letter, beginning with the letter “a”, to each line. Ex: 
If you were a shining star 
And I were your midnight, 
I’d let you shine above me, 
You’d be my only night. 
 
Internal Rhymes: 
Assonance - The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close. Ex: Men sell 
the wedding bells. 
Consonance - The repetition of consonant sounds in words that are close. Ex: Some late visitor 
at the entrance. 
Alliteration - The repetition of consonant sounds in the stressed syllable of the word. 
Ex: Betty Botter bought some butter. 
Sibilance - The repetition of consonant sounds, but only sibilant ones, i.e. /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/. Ex: 
She sells seashells. 
Repetition - The recurrance of words, phrases, or lines. 
Ex: I’m nobody! Who are you? 
 Are you nobody too? 
 
RHYTHM - The pattern of sound created by the arrangement of stressed (strong) and 
unstressed (weak) syllables in a line. Some poems have a regular meter. 
 
Meter - The repetition of a regular rhythmic unit known as foot. 
Foot - Rhythmic unit that has one stressed syllable and either one or two unstressed 
syllable. 
In English, a syllable is made up of a vowel sound followed by a consonant sound or not. Ex: 1 
syllable – love; 2 syllables – water; 3 syllables – family. 
Stressed syllables are marked with ( / ). 
Unstressed syllables are not marked ( X ). 
Ex: lóve; wáter; fámily. 
To know if a poem has any rhythmic pattern, count the number of feet in a line by counting the 
number of stressed words. 
Stressed words - usually nouns and verbs (after that, adjectives and adverbs). 
Unstressed words - usually prepositions and pronouns. 
Ex: Éat your dínner. 
 
Some Rhythmic Patterns are the Iamb; the Trochee; the Anapest; and the Dactyl. 
Iamb – one unstressed and one stressed syllable. 
Ex: I see. An iambic meter X/ 
Trochee - one stressed and one unstressed syllable. 
Ex: Drink it. A trochaic meter /X 
Anapest - two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. Ex: But of cóurse! An 
anapestic meter XX/ 
Dactyl - a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. Ex: Finish it. A dactylic meter 
/XX 
 
The lines of a poem can also be classified according to the number of feet they have: 
Monometer - a line of one (1) foot. Ex: My lóve!; 
Dimeter - a line of two (2) feet. Ex: Éat your dínner.; 
Trimeter: a line of three (3) feet. 
Ex: I éat the bréad and chéese.; 
Tetrameter (4 feet); Pentameter (5 feet); Hexameter (6 feet); Heptameter (7 feet); 
Octameter (8 feet). 
Ex: An iambic trimeter poem. 
When Í was óne-and-twénty 
I héard a wíse man sáy, 
Give crówns and póunds and guíneas 
But nót your héart awáy. 
 
The poet may cheat pronunciation and change the feet in a line to match the rhythmic pattern 
of the poem. 
A poem may have a rhythmic pattern, but no rhyme scheme. This poem is called a Blank Verse 
poem. A Blank Verse is usually an iambic pentameter. 
A poem may have no rhythmic pattern, no rhyme scheme and the words can even be out 
together in all sort of ways. This poem is called a Free Verse poem. 
 
THEME - The central idea or ideas the writer intends to share with the reader. 
 
MOOD - The feelings or atmosphere that the writer creates for the reader. 
Ex: There was no moon, 
And everything beneath 
Lay in misty darkness. 
 
TONE - The writer’s attitude towards the subject of his/her poem. Ex: I didn’t go to the moon, I 
went much further. For time is the longest distance between two places. 
 
VOICE - It refers to the voice that speaks a poem. The voice in a poem can be the voice of the 
writer, the voice of an imaginary person, or even the voice of an object. 
 
Personal “I” voice - When the writer is expressing his/her own thoughts, beliefs or experiences. 
Imaginary voice - When the writer is the narrator, speaking as a person that doesn’t exist. It is 
not necessarily what the writer believes or says. 
 
IMAGERY - Words that appeal to the five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) to 
create an image in the imagination of the reader. 
 
Figures of Speech – Language that communicates ideas beyond the literal meaning of words. 
For example: 
Simile (A comparison using the words “like” or “as”); 
Metaphor (A comparison without the words “like” or “as”); 
Personification (It gives an object, an animal, or an idea human characteristics); 
Onomatopoeia (Word that imitates sounds); 
Symbolism (It uses symbols to represent a person, a place, an object). 
Ex: a) Our soldiers are as brave as lions. 
b) The assignment was a breeze. 
c) The flowers danced in the gentle breeze. 
d) The buzzing bee flew away. 
e) All the world’s a stage, 
And all the men and women merely players; 
They have their exits and their entrances; 
And one man in his time plays many parts. 
 
TYPES OF POEMS 
 
NARRATIVE - A poem that tells a story using elements of character, setting, and plot. A sub-
category of a narrative poem is an Epic. 
Epic – A long poem on a serious subject. It tells a story with heroic events. 
 
LYRIC - A short poem that expresses feelings and thoughts. Subcategories of a lyric poem are, 
for example, an ode and a sonnet. 
Ode - It usually addresses a particular person or thing. 
Sonnet – A 14-line lyric poem usually written in iambic pentameter. 
 
DRAMATIC – It is a dramatic work like a play composed in poetic form. 
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In silent night when rest I took
For sorrow near I did not look
I wakened was with thund’ring noise
And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.
That fearful sound of “Fire!” and “Fire!”
Let no man know is my desire.
I, starting up, the light did spy,
And to my God my heart did cry
To strengthen me in my distress
And not to leave me succorless.1
Then, coming out, beheld a space
The flame consume my dwelling place.
And when I could no longer look,
I blest His name that gave and took,2
That laid my goods now in the dust.
Yea, so it was, and so ’twas just.
It was His own, it was not mine,
Far be it that I should repine;
He might of all justly bereft
But yet sufficient for us left.
When by the ruins oft I past
My sorrowing eyes aside did cast,
And here and there the places spy
Where oft I sat and long did lie:
5
10
15
20
Anne Bradstreet
1. succorless (suk√¥r · lis) adj.: without aid or assistance; helpless.
2. that gave andtook: allusion to Job 1:21, “The Lord gave, and the
Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Circle the inversions you find
in lines 1-4.
What is the speaker doing in
lines 11-12?
In lines 16-17, why does the
speaker say that the fire was
“just?”
16 Collection 1: Encounters and Foundations to 1800Part 1
Here Follow Some Verses upon the
Burning of Our House,
July 10, 1666
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Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666 17
Here stood that trunk, and there that chest,
There lay that store I counted best.
My pleasant things in ashes lie,
And them behold no more shall I.
Under thy roof no guest shall sit,
Nor at thy table eat a bit.
No pleasant tale shall e’er be told,
Nor things recounted done of old.
No candle e’er shall shine in thee,
Nor bridegroom’s voice e’er heard shall be.
In silence ever shall thou lie,
Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity.
Then straight I ’gin my heart to chide,
And did thy wealth on earth abide?
Didst fix thy hope on mold’ring dust?
The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?
Raise up thy thoughts above the sky
That dunghill mists away may fly.
Thou hast an house on high erect,
Framed by that mighty Architect,
With glory richly furnished,
Stands permanent though this be fled.
It’s purchased and paid for too
By Him who hath enough to do.
A price so vast as is unknown
Yet by His gift is made thine own;
There’s wealth enough, I need no more,
Farewell, my pelf,3 farewell my store.
The world no longer let me love,
My hope and treasure lies above.
25
30
35
40
45
50
What is the “house on high
erect” described in lines 
43-46?
In line 44, who is the
“mighty Architect”?
Practice reading the boxed
passage aloud. As you read
the first time, notice the
rhymes and strong meter.
On your next readings, try to
vary the rate of your reading
to avoid sounding sing-song.
Bradstreet’s plain style helps
to convey a complex message.
In your own words, what is
this message?
3. pelf: wealth or worldly goods (sometimes used as a term of 
contempt).
The poem is rhymed in cou-
plets. Circle any end rhymes
that do not rhyme exactly.
(Review Skill)
 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND PURITAN LITERATURE 
Cotton Mather (1663-1728) 
 
Cotton Mather was a famous Puritan minister and writer 
in New England. Mather wrote more than 450 books, 
sermons and pamphlets during his life. 
He wrote the first American true crime book about the 
religious history of the New World: Magnalia Christi 
Americana (1702). The title is Latin and can be translated 
to mean 'The Glorious Works of Christ in America.' 
 
Read the following excerpt taken from Mather’s book 
Magnalia Christi Americana. 
a) What is it about? 
b) Does he use the plain style? Describe his writing style. 
 
“It is to be confessed and bewailed, that many inhabitants of New-England, 
and young people especially, had been led away with little sorceries, wherein 
they "did secretly those things that wer e not right against the Lord their God;" 
.... 
...Although these diabolical divinations are more ordinarily committed 
perhaps all over the whole world, than they are in the country of New-England, 
yet, that being a country devoted unto the worship and service of the Lord 
JESUS CHRIST above the rest of the world, HE signalized his vengeance 
against these wickednesses, with such extraordinary dispensations as have 
not been often seen in other places.... 
The devils which had been so played withal, and, it may be, by some few 
criminals more explicitly engaged and employed, now broke in upon the 
country, after as astonishing a manner as was ever heard of. Some scores of 
people, first about Salem, the centre and first-born of all towns in the colony, 
and afterwards in several other places, were arrested with many preternatural 
vexations upon their bodies, and a variety of cruel torments, which were 
evidently inflicted from the daemons of the invisible world...” 
 
 
 
THE BIRTH OF A NATION 
THOMAS JEFFERSON (1743 - 1826) 
Thomas Jefferson was one of the most talented of the 
founding fathers. He held a number of important government 
positions, including third president of the United States. More 
important than his titles, however, was his vision of liberty and 
self-government, articulately expressed in the Declaration of 
Independence. 
 
Thomas Jefferson’s Writing Style 
Style comes from an author’s word choice, sentence length, and tone, or attitude about the 
subject. Note how Thomas Jefferson begins the Declaration of Independence. The two 
underlined phrases are not strictly needed to convey the meaning of the sentence. Reread the 
sentence without these phrases. Then try to describe Jefferson’s writing style. 
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and 
equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, 
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should 
declare the causes which impel them to the separation. […] 
Now read the following excerpt. Try to identify the words that have the strongest connotations, or 
emotional impact. Why do you think Jefferson chose these words? 
[…] The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated 
injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an 
absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to 
a candid world. […] 
Rhetorical features include all methods a writer uses to communicate ideas and appeal to 
readers. One rhetorical feature is repetition, repeating words or phrases to reinforce meaning and 
to create rhythm. Read the following lines of the Declaration of Independence and identify what is 
repeated. What effect does this repetition have on the reader? 
[…] He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary 
for the public good. 
He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing 
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be 
obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to 
them. 
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts 
of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation 
in the legislature - a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants 
only. 
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, 
and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose 
of fatiguing them into compliance with his measure. 
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with 
manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.[…] 
 
THE BIRTH OF A NATION 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790) 
Benjamin Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, 
politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, 
diplomat and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He 
participated in the American Revolution by signing the United States 
Declaration of Independence and Constitution. 
The movie Ben and Me was adapted from the children's book written 
by Robert Lawson in 1939. It focuses on historical events concerning 
Benjamin Franklin’s life. 
1. As you watch the movie, check Benjamin Franklin’s inventions. 
 
( ) bifocals ( ) light bulb ( ) heating stove 
 
 
 
( ) swim fins ( ) “long arm” ( ) lightningrod 
 
2. Poor Richard’s Almanac is one of Benjamin Franklin’s work. According to the movie, check the 
information it contains. 
( ) sea tides 
( ) next year’s weather 
( ) sayings 
( ) stories about Richard, his wife and family 
 
3. Benjamin Franklin wrote many sayings. Some of them are known to most Americans today. 
Check Benjamin Franklin’s saying cited in the movie. Then try to explain each saying. 
( ) Lost time is never found again. 
( ) God helps them who help themselves. 
( ) A cat in gloves catches no mice. 
( ) Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. 
( ) He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas. 
( ) A lie stands on one leg, truth on two. 
 
4. In the movie, you can see people protesting on the streets. Why are they protesting? 
______________________________________________________________________________ 
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5. In the movie, Benjamin Franklin travels to London. What is the purpose of his trip? Is his trip a 
success? 
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6. According to the movie, Benjamin Franklin helps Thomas Jefferson write the most important 
document in the political history of the United States. What is this document? 
______________________________________________________________________________ 
7. Political Cartoons. 
 
"Join, or Die" is a well-known political cartoon, created by Benjamin Franklin and first published in 
his Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. The original publication by the Gazette is the earliest 
known pictorial representation of colonial union produced by a British colonist in America. It is a 
woodcut showing a snake cut into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initials of an 
American colony or region. New England was represented as one segment and Delaware and 
Georgia were omitted completely. Thus, it has 8 segments of snake rather than the traditional 13 
colonies. During this era, there was a superstition that a snake that had been cut into pieces 
would come back to life if pieces were put together before sunset. 
What message is Benjamin Franklin conveying in this political cartoon? 
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______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
 
 
THE RISE OF A NATIONAL LITERATURE 
In the early years of the new republic, one group was worried that American literature still lack 
national feeling. They wanted books which expressed the special character of the nation, not 
books which were based on European culture. The Knickerbockers, a group of writers active in 
and around New York City during the first half of the 19th century, sought to promote a genuinely 
American national culture and establish New York City as its literary center. The name of the group 
comes from A History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1809) by Washington Irving, one of 
the group members. 
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851) 
James Fenimore Cooper, one of the Knickerbockers, wanted to speak 
for all America. He wrote adventure stories filled with historical details. 
He creates American settings and characters for his novels. 
The Last of the Mohicans is one of America’s most famous novels. It is 
an exciting story, full of action. Characters fight and are taken prisoner, 
then they escape or are rescued. 
1. Setting is the time, place, physical details, and circumstances in 
which a situation occurs. Settings include the background, atmosphere 
or environment in which characters live and move, and usually include 
physical characteristics of the surroundings. What is the setting of this 
novel? 
________________________________________________________ 
________________________________________________________ 
2. Are there American characters in this novel? Who are they? 
________________________________________________________ 
WASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859) 
Washington Irving, another Knickerbocker, was the first American to 
make a living only on his writings. His works may be seen as his 
attempts to build the new nation’s soul by recreating history and giving 
it living, breathing, imaginative life. 
One of Irving’s most important works is The Sketch Book. It contains 
one of the best-loved stories from American literature: The Legend of 
Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow, just north of New York City, is still 
famous as the place where one night, Ichabod Crane was chased by 
the “Headless Horseman”. The story of the Headless Horseman isn't 
totally original. It was based on folktales that came before Irving’s 
book, but Irving made it shine. 
3. Read the following excerpt taken from The Legend of Sleepy 
Hollow. Then look at the painting by John Quidor (1858). How do you 
think Irving’s story inspired John Quidor? 
“There was something in the moody and dogged silence of this pertinacious 
companion that was mysterious and appalling. It was soon fearfully accounted for. 
On mounting a rising ground, which brought the figure of his fellow-traveller in relief 
against the sky, gigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck 
on perceiving that he was headless!—but his horror was still more increased on 
observing that the head, which should have rested on his shoulders, was carried 
before him on the pommel of his saddle!” 
 
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4. The writer's tone is the mood in which the writer wants the reader to feel while reading his or 
her writing.The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has gained a reputation as a scary story over the years, 
but Irving shaped it in a different way. Watch the movie adapted from Irving’s story. Is Ichabod 
Crane like the following description in the movie? What is Irving’s tone when he describes Ichabod 
Crane in the following extract? 
“He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, 
hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for 
shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, 
and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, 
so that it looked like a weather-cock perched upon his spindle neck to tell which 
way the wind blew.” 
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5. Superstition is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, or trust in 
magic. What role does superstition play in the story? 
_____________________________________________________________________________ 
6. A metaphor is a type of figurative language in which a statement is made that says that one 
thing is something else but, literally, it is not. Could the Headless Horseman be seen as a 
metaphor for fear? What kind of fear? 
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7. The following extract describes Sleepy Hollow. How do you think the setting of the story 
influences the characters’ actions and behavior? 
“I mention this peaceful spot with all possible laud, for it is in such little retired Dutch 
valleys, found here and there embosomed in the great State of New York, that 
population, manners, and customs remain fixed, while the great torrent of migration 
and improvement, which is making such incessant changes in other parts of this 
restless country, sweeps by them unobserved.” 
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________AN AMERICAN RENAISSANCE: THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS 
 
In the early 19th century America, new literary and philosophical forms flourished. The young 
intellectuals of Boston were dissatisfied with old patriotism. They wanted to explore the inner life. 
They studied the Greek, German and Indian philosophers. Many kept diaries about their lives and 
feelings. Others became vegetarians and nudists. 
In the center of this activity were the Transcendentalists. They formed a movement of feelings and 
beliefs rather than a system of philosophy. They rejected both the conservative Puritanism and the 
new Unitarism (a branch of the Christian church). They respected Christ for the wisdom of his 
teaching, but they saw both religion as “negative, cold, lifeless”. The Transcendentalists tried to find 
the truth through feeling and intuition rather than through logic. In many ways, nature itself was their 
“Bible”. Birds, clouds, trees and snow had a special meaning for them. They found God everywhere, 
in man and in nature. 
 
RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882) 
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a poet, essayist, philosopher and the chief spokesman for 
Transcendentalism. He founded the “Transcendental Club”. Emerson’s first book, Nature (1836), is 
perhaps the best expression of his Transcendentalism, the belief that everything in our world - even a 
drop of dew - is a microcosm of the universe. 
Music by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) departs from all conventional ideas about music. 
Emerson affirms that cosmic harmony exists in every individual and this silent dimension is far more 
spiritual, than audible music. 
Music 
 
Let me go where’er I will 
I hear a sky-born music still; 
It sounds from all things old, 
It sounds from all things young, 
From all that’s fair, from all that’s foul, 
Peals out a cheerful song. 
 
It is not only in the rose, 
It is not only in the bird, 
Not only when the rainbow glows, 
Nor in the song of woman heard, 
But in the darkest, meanest things 
There alway, alway, something sings. 
 
‘Tis not in the high stars alone, 
Nor in the cup of budding flowers, 
Nor in the redbreast’s mellow tones, 
Nor in the bow that smiles in showers, 
But in the mud and scum of things 
There alway, alway, something sings. 
 
1. What is the “sky-born music” that Emerson hears wherever he goes? 
2. What does Emerson mean when he says he hears this music even in “the darkest, meanest 
things”? 
3. Is this an optimistic or a pessimistic poem? Why? 
4. This poem is in fact very musical. Can you find the musical refrain in it? 
5. A metrical foot is a term used in analyzing lines of poetry, related to stressed and unstressed 
syllables. a) How many metrical feet are there in lines 3 and 4? b) And in lines 7 and 8? c) Is there a 
rhythmic pattern in these lines? 
6. Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of 
words or in stressed syllables of a phrase. In which line can you find alliteration? 
7. Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme used in a poem, generally indicated by matching 
lowercase letters to show which lines rhyme. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem? 
 
 
 
 
AN AMERICAN RENAISSANCE 
 
In the North-American literature, the American Renaissance was a period during which 
many of the literary works most widely considered American masterpieces were produced. 
The Transcendentalists stood at the heart of The American Renaissance, but some writers were not 
so focused on nature as the Transcendentalists were. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804-1864) 
Nathaniel Hawthorne always writes about man in society, rather 
than simply about man in nature. His characters usually have some secret 
guilt or problem which keeps them at a distance from other people. They 
are troubled by pride, envy, or the desire for revenge. Hawthorne carefully 
describes the psychology of his characters. 
Hawthorne’s best work The Scarlett Letter (1850) has a strong 
feeling for the Puritan past of the 17th-century New England. It is the study 
of the effects of the adultery of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, a 
Puritan minister. Hester is forced to wear a red letter “A” on her dress, 
showing the world that she is an adulteress. Hester’s husband tries to get 
revenge by destroying Dimmesdale’s mind and soul. Dimmesdale, the 
father of Hester’s child, tries to hide his guilt. In the end, he confesses and 
dies immediately afterward, praising God. 
 
1. Do you think it is acceptable to publically humiliate someone if he or she 
has done something wrong? 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
2. Do you think the Puritans needed the strict rules and laws they set down upon first settling in 
America? Why or why not? 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
3. Romanticism refers to schools of thought that value feeling and intuition over reason. The 
Romantics believed that the imagination allowed people to discern truths that the rational mind could 
not comprehend. However, not all American writers agreed that the divine is embodied in nature and 
that people are essentially good. Some felt that these views didn’t adequately take into account the 
presence of suffering in the world and the ongoing conflict between good and evil. The Dark 
Romantics shared with other Romantics an interest in the spiritual world and a belief in the value of 
intuition and imagination, but they also sought to explore the darker mysteries of human existence. 
Would you say Nathaniel Hawthorne was a Romantic or a Dark Romantic? Why? 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
HERMAN MELVILLE (1819-1891) 
Herman Melville was an American writer who, in search of 
adventures, shipped out in 1839 as a cabin boy on the whaler Acushnet. 
He joined later the US Navy, and started his long voyages on ships, sailing 
both the Atlantic and the South Seas. 
Melville’s most famous novel is Moby-Dick which was only 
recognized as a masterpiece 30 years after his death. Moby-Dick was 
dedicated to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. It can be read as a thrilling 
sea story, an examination of the conflict between man and nature. Captain 
Ahab, the central character, is “a grand, ungodly, God-like man”. He is torn 
between his humanity and his desire to destroy the white whale. To Ahab, 
Moby-Dick is part of a “universal mystery” which he hates, because he 
cannot understand it. When Ahab finds the whale and attacks him, his ship 
is destroyed. Ahab himself is pulled down into the sea to his death. 
 
1. Symbolism is the practice of a person, place, thing, or event to 
represent something more than its implicit meaning. Although symbols in 
literature may have universal meanings, a writer will usually adapt it in 
 
some unique and imaginative way to suggest not just one, but myriad interpretations. What does 
Moby-Dick, the great white whale, symbolize? 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
2. Read the following extract taken from the third paragraph of Chapter 42 The Whiteness of the 
Whale. It is a single 471-word sentence. How would you describe Melville’s writing style? 
“Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as if 
imparting some special virtue of its own, as in marbles, japonicas, and pearls; 
and though various nations have in some way recognised a certain royal 
preeminence in this hue; even the barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu placing the 
title "Lord of the White Elephants" above all their other magniloquent ascriptions 
of dominion; and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white 
quadruped in the royal standard; and the Hanoverian flag bearingthe one figure 
of a snow-white charger; and the great Austrian Empire, Caesarian, heir to 
overlording Rome, having for the imperial color the same imperial hue; and 
though […]” 
 
______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849) 
Edgar Allan Poe was a writer interested in psychology and the 
darker side of human nature. He made important contributions to North-
American literature in three areas: short story, literary criticism, and 
poetry. Many of Poe’s tales of horror are known throughout the world. His 
method was to put his characters into unusual situations. Poe was also 
one of the creators of the modern detective story. 
Poe believed that a perfect story should be readable in one 
sitting, that it should be a tightly controlled, highly compressed narrative 
that hit on topics to which everybody can relate. Weighing in at ten 
precise paragraphs, The Tell-Tale Heart is an excellent example of Poe's 
theory of writing. It is a famous short story published in 1843 about a 
nameless man who kills an old man for a really strange reason. 
 
1. Watch the movie. Why does the nameless man kill the old man? 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
2. Gothic Fiction is a literary style popular during the end of the 18th century and the beginning of 
the 19th. This style usually portrayed fantastic tales dealing with horror, despair, the grotesque and 
other “dark” subjects. What makes a work Gothic is a combination of at least some of these 
elements: 
a) Setting in a castle, ruined or intact, haunted or not. 
b) An atmosphere of mystery and suspense. 
c) An ancient prophecy is connected with the castle or its inhabitants. 
d) Omens, visions. 
e) Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events. 
f) High emotion. 
g) Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male. 
 
Does The Tell-Tale Heart contain gothic elements? What are they? 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
3. Did this story scare you? If so, what scared you the most? If not, what could have made it scary? 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
4. A satire is a work critiquing certain aspects of society which the author thinks could use 
improvement. If this story was a satire, what might it be saying about American society in the 1840s? 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
THE BOSTON BRAHMINS 
 
Nineteenth-century America mostly ignored – or tried to ignore – the importance of Edgar 
Allan Poe. While Poe was exploring the unhappy depths of the inner self, the poetry of HENRY 
WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882) was speaking directly to the hearts of ordinary 
Americans. Part of his popularity came from saying – and saying beautifully – exactly the things most 
Americans wanted to hear. 
Longfellow was the most famous member of a group of aristocratic Boston writers called the 
“Brahmins”. Most “Brahmins” came from rich, old Boston families. Although they looked to England 
for “excellence”, and often copied English literary styles, they considered Boston “the thinking center 
of the (American) continent, and therefore the planet”. Using the knowledge of European writing 
traditions, Longfellow created poems that are distinctly American. Many of his poems focused on 
people and events in American history. 
Paul Revere’s Ride celebrates the patriotism of Paul Revere, a colonist who supported 
American independence from Great Britain. On April 18th, 1775, Revere rode from Boston to 
Lexington to warn local leaders that British soldiers were preparing to advance. He was arrested 
before he could reach his final destination. 
 
Read the following extract. Then answer the questions. 
 
Paul Revere’s Ride 
 
Listen my children and you shall hear 
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, 
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; 
Hardly a man is now alive 
Who remembers that famous day and year. 
He said to his friend, "If the British march 
By land or sea from the town to-night, 
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch 
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,-- 
One if by land, and two if by sea; 
And I on the opposite shore will be, 
Ready to ride and spread the alarm 
Through every Middlesex village and farm, 
For the country folk to be up and to arm." 
 
[…] 
 
1. What did hanging two lanterns in the church represent? 
 ______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
2. Why do you think it mattered if the British came by land or by sea? 
______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
3. Where will Paul Revere be waiting to see the signal? 
______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
4. Narrative poetry is verse that tells a story. It has characters, a setting, and a plot with a 
conflict. Is Paul Revere’s Ride narrative poetry? Describe the setting. 
______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
5. What tone does Longfellow create by beginning the poem the way he did? 
______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
6. What is the rhyme scheme for lines 6 to 14? 
______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
 
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 
In July 1863, Union and Confederate forces met in 
battle outside the small market town of Gettysburg, 
Pennsylvania. For three days, under the hot summer sun, 
the bloodiest fight of the war raged on. In the end, 51,000 
men died on the battlefield. On November 19, 1863, 
President Lincoln was invited to make a few remarks at the 
dedication of the battlefield as a national cemetery. The 
main speaker, Edward Everett, spoke for two hours before 
Lincoln took the stage. His speech lasted only a few 
minutes. In it, he reminded the audience of the sacrifices 
made by,America’s forefathers; he honored the men who 
had died on the battle field at Gettysburg; he challenged America to continue to fight for unity and 
equality as put forth in the Declaration of Independence; he painted the war in global and epic 
proportions; and he redirected the war’s purpose as a battle to end slavery. 
 
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new 
nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created 
equal. 
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so 
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that 
war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who 
here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we 
should do this. 
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot 
hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor 
long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the 
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have 
thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task 
remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that 
cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve 
that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new 
birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall 
not perish from the earth. 
 
Although Abraham Lincolnhad less than one year of formal education, he possessed a logical 
and inquisitive mind enabling him to write one of the most eloquent speeches in America’s history. 
A successful speech is one the audience remembers, repeats and responds to. The Gettysburg 
Address is universally recognized as one of the most moving expressions of the democratic spirit 
ever spoken. Lincoln employed many rhetorical devices in his talent with words, but his mature 
speeches are especially characterized by the following literary tools: 
Grammatical parallelism: a rhetorical technique in which a writer emphasizes the equal value or 
weight of two or more ideas by expressing them in the same grammatical form. Ex: “that nation so 
conceived,” and “any nation so dedicated.” 
Antithesis: a rhetorical technique in which words, phrases, or ideas are strongly contrasted, often by 
means of a repetition of grammatical structure. In literature, the use of antithesis as a figure of 
speech, results in two statements that show a contrast through the balancing of two opposite ideas. 
Ex:, “the brave men,” and “our poor power.” 
Alliteration: The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of 
words or in stressed syllables. Alliteration is fun to say and enjoyable to hear, and used to call 
attention to certain words. Alliteration is an important sound technique for making particular words 
stand out. It also connects the words to be emphasized. Ex: “Fondly do we hope—fervently do we 
pray." 
Repetition: a classic technique in presentation and speech making. It helps tie the theme together 
and it creates clarity for the listener. Additionally, we remember words and phrases more readily 
when they are packaged in threes. Ex: “We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot 
hallow this ground." 
 
1. Can you find one more example of each literary tool in the Gettysburg Address? 
CIVIL WAR POETRY: WALT WHITMAN 
 
Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1810 in New York. He was from a large family and his 
family had very little money. He spent only a few years in school, leaving when he was eleven to 
become an apprentice to a printer. He became interested in journalism and spent several years in 
New York City writing and editing for various publishers. 
 In the early years of the Civil War, Whitman learned that his brother had been wounded in 
battle and went to Virginia to find him. He spent most of the remainder of the war volunteering in 
army hospitals, caring for the sick and the wounded. This experience left a lasting impression on 
Whitman and impacted his writings later in life. 
 On April 14th, 1865, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (who died on April 15th) sent a 
wave of grief over the country. Whitman, who admired Lincoln for his plain spoken ways and his 
courage, wrote his most famous poem O Captain! My Captain! in honor of the murdered president. 
In this poem, Whitman expressed the grief of the American people. This poem is included in 
Leaves of Grass, a poetry collection with more than 400 Whitman’s poems. 
 
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! 
 
 O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; 
 The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won; 
 The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, 
 While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring: 
 But O heart! heart! heart! 
 O the bleeding drops of red, 
 Where on the deck my Captain lies, 
 Fallen cold and dead. 
 
 O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; 
 Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills; 
 For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding; 
 For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; 
 Here Captain! dear father! 
 This arm beneath your head; 
 It is some dream that on the deck, 
 You've fallen cold and dead. 
 
 My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; 
 My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; 
 The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; 
 From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won; 
 Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! 
 But I, with mournful tread, 
 Walk the deck my Captain lies, 
 Fallen cold and dead. 
 
Read the poem paying attention to Whitman’s use of metaphors. Then answer the questions. Cite 
specific lines from the poem to support your answers. 
1. How did the journey end? Was it successful? 
2. Who is the captain in his poem? What happened to the captain? 
3. How does the poet feel about the captain? 
4. When Whitman wrote “our fearful trip is done”, to what event in American history was he 
referring? 
5. What is the ship a metaphor for? What prize was won? 
6. Is the poem a celebratory poem or is it a tragedy? Can it be both? 
7. What does the poem tell you about the mood of the country at this time? 
8. An iamb is a type of poetic foot made up of an unstressed and stressed syllable (daDUM). Can 
you identify an iambic meter in lines 2 and 10? Mark the stressed syllables in these lines. Use the 
stress mark (´). 
9. How many stanzas are there in this poem? What is the rhyme scheme of the last stanza? 
 
 
In this scene of the movie Dead Poets Society, the English teacher John Keating (Robin 
Williams) talks about poetry to his students and cites an excerpt of Walt Whitman’s poem O Me! 
O Life! from Leaves of Grass, a poetry collection with more than 400 poems. 
Watch the scene. Then answer the questions. 
1. How does the teacher see poetry? 
2. Why do you think he cites the poem O Me! O Life!? 
3. What does he mean when he asks his students what their verse will be? 
4. Watch the advertisement produced by Apple. How does Whitman’s poem connect to the ad? 
 
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry 
because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with 
passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and 
necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we 
stay alive for. 
To quote from Whitman, 'O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; 
of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities filled with the foolish; what good 
amid these, O me, O life?' Answer. That you are here--that life exists, and 
identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the 
powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be? 
 
Now read the full poem O Me! O Life!. Then answer the questions. 
5. Free verse is a poetic style that lacks a regular meter or rhyme scheme. Walt Whitman was 
one of the pioneers of free verse. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? 
6. Notice the unique structure and Whitman’s dramatic use of white space between the two 
stanzas. What is his reason for physically structuring the poem in this way? 
 
O ME! O LIFE! 
O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; 
Of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities fill'd with the foolish; 
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I and who more 
faithless?) 
Of eyes that vainly crave the light--of the objects mean--of the struggle ever renew'd; 
Of the poor results of all--of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me; 
Of the empty and useless years of the rest--with the rest me intertwined; 
The question, O me! so sad, recurring--What good amid these, O me, O life? 
 
Answer. 
 
That you are here--that life exists, and identity; 
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse. 
 
EMILY ELIZABETH DICKINSON (1830-1886) 
Emily Dickinson was a reclusive American poet. In her early years she seemed to be a 
bright and sociable young scholar, but in her twenties she began to withdraw from the outside 
world. In her forties she became a complete recluse, refusingto leave her house and avoiding 
all contact with strangers. 
Dickinson wrote much in secret, producing over two thousand poems, only seven of 
which are known to have been published in her lifetime. She used to write letters to at least 
100 different correspondents and at least one-third of her poems were sent out in the more 
than 1,000 letters she wrote. Dickinson’s work proves that it is not necessary to travel widely or 
lead a life full of romantic grandeur and extreme drama in order to write great poetry. 
Read the poem. Then answer the questions. 
 
A BIRD CAME DOWN THE WALK 
 
A bird came down the walk: 
He did not know I saw; 
He bit an angle-worm in halves 
And ate the fellow, raw. 
 
And then he drank a dew 
From a convenient grass, 
And then hopped sidewise to the wall 
To let a beetle pass. 
 
He glanced with rapid eyes 
That hurried all abroad, - 
They looked like frightened beads, I thought 
He stirred his velvet head 
 
Like one in danger; cautious, 
I offered him a crumb, 
And he unrolled his feathers 
And rowed him softer home 
 
Than oars divide the ocean, 
Too silver for a seam, 
Or butterflies, off banks of noon, 
Leap, plashless, as they swim. 
 
1. What is the poet’s behavior towards the bird in the first three stanzas? 
2. What is the bird’s behavior towards the poet in the first three stanzas? 
3. What does the poet try to do in the fourth stanza? 
4. How does the bird react towards the poet’s behavior in the fourth stanza? 
5. In what stanza does the poet describe the bird’s flight? 
6. Is there a pattern in the rhyme scheme of this poem? What is it? 
7. This poem is absolutely typical of Dickinson, using iambic trimeter (a pattern in which a line 
has three pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables) with occasional four-syllable lines. Mark 
the stressed syllables in line 1. Use the stress mark (´). Can you find a four-syllable line? 
 
 
MARK TWAIN (1835-1910) 
WORKSHEET A 
 
My real name is 1) ________, but when I wrote I used a different name – you probably 
know me best by that name. When I was a boy, I loved playing on 3) ________. When I was 
older I wrote stories about the river and the children who had their adventures on it. One of the 
stories, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), is about a black slave who has escaped 
and makes friends with the book’s main character. 
I started working at the age of 13 as an apprentice to a printer. A little later on, I worked 
as a journalist, writing short pieces for my brother’s newspaper. But the river was my true love 
and, at the age of 23, I became a 5) ________! I spent a few years doing the job I loved so 
much until 1861, when I lost my job because of the Civil War. 
After leaving the Mississippi, I moved to 7) ________ and became a miner. Gold had 
been discovered there and I was hoping to become rich. I travelled around the region but never 
found the fortune I dreamed of. However, the experience provided me with good material for my 
writing career. 
I went back to my career in journalism and wrote humorous travel letters for 9) ________. 
I signed these letters with the name Mark Twain – even that was a joke – Mark Twain was 
actually a boatman’s call which means the water is at the minimum for safe navigation. I 
decided to use the name in all my writing work for the next 50 years. 
 
Write the questions. 
1 What __________________________________________? 
3 Where _________________________________________? 
5 What __________________________________________? 
7 Where _________________________________________? 
9 For whom ______________________________________? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MARK TWAIN (1835-1910) 
WORKSHEET B 
 
My real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but when I wrote I used a different name – 
you probably know me best by that name. When I was a boy, I loved playing on the banks of the 
Mississippi river. When I was older I wrote stories about 2) ________. One of the stories, The 
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), is about a black slave who has escaped and makes 
friends with the book’s main character. 
I started working at the age of 4) ________ as an apprentice to a printer. A little later on, I 
worked as a journalist, writing short pieces for my brother’s newspaper. But the river was my 
true love and, at the age of 23, I became a steamboat captain! I spent a few years doing the job 
I loved so much until 1861, when I lost my job because of 6) ________. 
After leaving the Mississippi, I moved to Nevada and became a miner. 8) ________ had 
been discovered there and I was hoping to become rich. I travelled around the region but never 
found the fortune I dreamed of. However, the experience provided me with good material for my 
writing career. 
I went back to my career in journalism and wrote humorous travel letters for a newspaper 
in Virginia. I signed these letters with the name Mark Twain – even that was a joke – Mark 
Twain was actually a boatman’s call which means 10) ________. I decided to use the name in 
all my writing work for the next 50 years. 
 
Write the questions. 
2 What _________________________________________? 
4 How old _______________________________________? 
6 Why __________________________________________? 
8 What __________________________________________? 
10 What __________________________________________? 
 
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER 
 
Tom’s character: Why is Tom Sawyer still a favorite 
children’s book more than 100 years after it was written? 
Probably because of Tom’s character: he is a wild boy who 
doesn’t like school and has wonderful adventures; he is 
misunderstood by adults in the way that all children are; he 
is mischievous and funny and full of curiosity about the 
world. Life for children in the 1870s: Life was very simple – 
children went to school; they helped at home with the 
chores; they played outside with their friends; and they 
made their own adventures rather than playing other 
people’s adventures on TV and computer screens. 
Morality: Tom Sawyer is a very moral story. Tom is naughty 
in small ways – he gets other boys to do his chores; he 
goes to the river instead of going to school; he tries to run 
away from home. But he always does the right thing when it 
is important – he takes the blame for Becky’s tearing the 
page; he tells the truth at Muff Potter’s trial, even though 
he’s afraid; he takes care of Becky in the cave; he 
persuades Huck to stay in school at the end. 
 
AUNT DOCTOR GRAVEYARD ORPHAN 
DAYS HERO CAVE ROCK 
AFRAID SCHOOL TOWN MEN 
TREASURE TRUTH DOOR RIVER 
 
 
Summary 
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is set in a __________________ by the Mississippi River over 
a hundred years ago. Tom is an __________________. He lives with his 
__________________. He is friends with Huck Finn. Huck doesn’t have a family, and he 
doesn’t go to __________________. People in the town don’t like him. One day Tom and Huck 
decide to meet in the town __________________ at midnight for an adventure. But they are not 
expecting a real adventure! Suddenly they see three __________________ – Injun Joe, Muff 
Potter and the town doctor. Injun Joe murders the __________________. Tom and Huck don’t 
tell anyone because they’re __________________ Injun Joe will kill them, too. Muff comes to 
trial. On the last day, Tom tells the __________________. Muff is let go, but Injun Joe escapes. 
One day Tom and Huck look for __________________ in an old house. While they are there, 
Injun Joe arrives. He finds some real treasureand takes it away. Then it’s Becky’s birthday. 
Becky is in Tom’s class. She takes her friends on a __________________ trip. The boat stops 
for a picnic, and they play in some caves. Becky and Tom get lost. They are there for three 
__________________. While Tom is looking for a way out, he sees Injun Joe in the 
__________________, and hears him say he hid the treasure behind a __________________ 
with a cross. Tom finds a small way out at the back of the cave, and he is a 
__________________ for saving Becky. Becky’s father tells him they have put a big 
__________________ on the cave entrance. But Tom remembers Injun Joe – he’s still in there. 
The men go back, but Joe is dead. A few days later, Tom and Huck go back and find his 
treasure. 
 
 
THE LOST GENERATION 
For some writers, the decade after the First World War was not a time of celebration but a 
time of deep despair. They had seen the ideas of the Progressives end in a senseless war. They 
were filled with resentment and they saw little hope for the future. They were called the Lost 
Generation. 
For many of them, only one place offered freedom and tolerance. That was Paris. The 
French capital became a gathering place for American expatriates, people who choose to live in a 
country other than their own. 
The term Lost Generation was coined by Gertrude Stein, an American writer living in 
France. Significant members of this group included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William 
Faulkner and Gertrude Stein herself. 
Horrified by the effects of war and mechanized society in general, many Lost Generation 
writers were interested in recovering the unique experience of the individual by exploring his/her inner 
world. They were interested in the nature of consciousness. But how can a writer show the 
conscious mind in writing? 
GERTRUDE STEIN (1874-1946) 
Gertrude Stein tried to answer this question with her strange 
experiments: she made her own English language into an entirely new 
language. She threw away the rules of traditional grammar, and made her 
words act in completely new ways. Coming one after another, the words 
and meanings in her sentences create something she calls “the continuous 
present” allowing one to look at the same thing in a “different present 
moment”. 
Here is Stein’s most famous sentence: 
rose is a rose is a rose is a rose. 
 
1. How do you understand this line? 
2. How do think it shows the conscious mind? 
 
Some writers adopted an experimental literary technique called Stream of Consciousness in 
which the speaker/narrator disappears and thoughts are represented in their free flow. This particular 
technique is an extreme form of Interior Monologue. Different from the Interior Monologue, the 
Stream of Consciousness very often makes the text incomprehensible because grammar rules are 
not respected and punctuation is not used. 
 
WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897-1962) 
William Faulkner was a Nobel Prize-winning novelist of the American 
South. Faulkner used both literary techniques to explore and expose the 
unspoken thoughts of his characters. As I Lay Dying(1930) tells the story of 
the Bundren family traveling to bury their dead mother. The novel is famous 
for its experimental narrative technique. At the time, Faulkner’s novel 
contributed substantially to the growing Modernist movement. He was no 
doubt influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud, whose theories about the 
subconscious were made increasingly popular in the 1920s. His novel regards 
subconscious thought as more important than conscious action or speech; 
long passages of italicized text within the novel would seem to reflect these inner workings of the 
mind. 
 
3. The following extracts were taken from the Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying. Which one is an 
example of Stream of Consciousness? 
a) Darl Bundren thinks: 
"I am I and you are you and I know it and you dont know it and you could do so much for me if you 
just would and if you just would then I could tell you and then nobody would have to know it 
except you and me and Darl" (p. 51) 
b) Vardaman attempts to rationalize his mother’s death through animals, particularly a fish: 
“But my mother is a fish. Vernon seen it. He was there. Jewel’s mother is a horse, Darl said. Then 
mine can be a fish, can it, Darl? I said. Jewel is my brother. Then mine will have to be a horse, too, 
 
 
I said. Why? Darl said. If pa is your pa, why does your ma have to be a horse just because Jewel’s 
is?”(p.94) 
 
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1896-1940) 
F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the most famous authors of the Jazz 
Age, best known for his novel The Great Gatsby. The narrator Nick Carraway is 
back from World War I and rents a house in West Egg, a small but fancy town on 
Long Island, NY. His cousin Daisy and her husband Tom live across the bay. Jay 
Gatsby, Nick's next door neighbor, is a wealthy newcomer who throws large 
parties weekly, during which his guests are happy to drink his (illegal) alcoholic 
beverage while ignoring him for being nouveau riche and possibly involved in 
some shady activities. But Gatsby wants something he can't have: Daisy. 
 
4. Watch The Great Gatsby trailer. Pay attention to the setting. Why do you think Fitzgerald is 
renowned as the chronicler of the Jazz Age? 
 
ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1899-1961) 
5. Read the text about Ernest Hemingway. Then answer the questions. 
a) Where and when was he born? When and how did he die? 
b) Did he have a happy family life? How did his parents play a part in his career? 
c) When did he move to Paris? Who did he meet there? 
d) How did war play a part in his life? 
 
Ernest Hemingway was one of the greatest American writers of the 
20th century. A novelist and short-story writer was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the 
second of six children. However, he spent much of his early life in the Great 
Lakes region, which provided the settings for his early stories. His family was 
strict and very religious. His father taught his children a love of nature and the 
outdoor life. His mother taught him a love of music and art. 
At school, he was good at English and wrote for the school newspaper. 
He graduated in 1917, but he didn’t go to college. After graduating he worked as 
a reporter. He learned a lot but six months later he volunteered for service in 
World War I. Hemingway was fascinated by war. He had wanted to become a 
soldier, but couldn’t because he had poor eyesight. Instead, he was sent to Italy 
to serve with an ambulance unit as a driver. He was wounded there in 1918. After the war he worked 
as a journalist in Chicago and Toronto. However, he went to live in Paris soon, where he was 
encouraged in his work by the American writer Gertrude Stein. 
In the 1930’s, he became a war correspondent in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. 
Many of his books were about war. His most successful book, For Whom the Bell Tolls, was written in 
1940 and is about the Spanish Civil War. Another novel, A Farewell to Arms, is about the absurdity of 
war. His final years were taken up with health problems and alcohol. He began to lose his memory 
and he couldn’t write any more. On Sunday, 2nd July, 1961, Hemingway killed himself with a 
shotgun, just as his father had done before him. 
 
6. Match the titles of Hemingway’s works and their characteristics. 
1. A Farewell to Arms (1929) 
2. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) 
3. The Old Man and the Sea (1952) 
A. a novel; a psychological picture of war, during the Spanish Civil War Robert Jordan, the main 
character in the novel, a capable, conscientious American, comes to Spain to help in the fight against 
fascism; facing certain death in a guerrilla action, he realizes, what a beautiful place the world really 
is, and how much it is worth fighting for. 
B. a short novel; Hemingway shows the eternal fight betweennature and man; the old Cuban 
fisherman, who struggles to catch a big fish and finally loses it, does not, however give up; the story 
also shows Hemingway’s cordial feelings toward common people as well as his positive attitude to 
the problems of Cuban people. 
C. a novel; an epic description of World War I, Hemingway presents a charming and moving love 
story of an American lieutenant in the Italian Ambulance Service and an English nurse. 
 
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE 
Wartime military service and work in war industries had given African Americans a new 
sense of freedom. They migrated to many cities across the country, but it was New York City that 
turned into the unofficial capital of black America. In the 1920s, Harlem, a neighborhood on New 
York’s West Side, was the world’s largest black urban community. The migrants from the South 
brought with them new ideas and a new kind of music called jazz. Soon Harlem produced a burst of 
African-American cultural activity known as the Harlem Renaissance, which began in the 1920s 
and lasted into the 1930s. It was called a renaissance because it symbolized a rebirth of hope for 
African Americans. Harlem became home to writers, musicians, singers, painters, sculptors, and 
scholars. There they were able to exchange ideas and develop their creativity. Among Harlem’s 
residents were poets Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and Countee Cullen and novelists 
Claude McKay and Zora Neale Hurston. 
 
LANGSTON HUGHES (1902-1967) 
James Mercer Langston Hughes was perhaps Harlem’s 
most famous writer. Lauded as the "Poet Laureate of Harlem" in 
the 1920s, Langston Hughes was one of the first African 
Americans to earn a living solely as a writer. Hughes was known 
mainly for his poetry. He wrote about the difficult conditions under 
which African Americans lived. 
In his explorations of race, social justice, and African-
American culture and art, Hughes's writing vividly captures the 
political, social, and artistic climates of Harlem in the 1920s and 
1930s. During that time in Harlem large numbers of African 
American workers moved to New York. They came not just for 
jobs but also to escape the inherent unfairness and obvious and 
accepted racism of the South. 
Unlike other notable black poets of the period, Hughes refused to separate between his 
personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of 
his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of 
music, laughter, and language itself. 
 
1. Have you ever really wanted something and it was denied? Getting a new mobile phone, joining a 
sports team or being loved by someone? How did you feel when you didn’t get what you wanted or 
had to wait a long time to get it? 
2. Read the poem A Dream Deferred written by Hughes. It was written in the birth of the Civil Rights 
Movement. Then answer the question. 
 
A Dream Deferred 
 
What happens to a dream deferred? 
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? 
Or fester like a sore— 
And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? 
Or crust and sugar over— 
like a syrupy sweet? 
Maybe it just sags 
like a heavy load. 
Or does it explode? 
 
a) What is the message of the poem? 
b) How does Hughes’s poem connect to the times he lived in? 
c) Why do you think the poet chose these comparisons? 
d) Watch the advertisement produced by Nike. How does Hughes’s poem connect to the ad? 
e) A simile is one of the most commonly used literary devices. It is a figure of speech that makes a 
comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws 
resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as”. Therefore, it is a direct comparison. Can you 
find simile examples in the poem? 
f) What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? 
 
The Grapes of Wrath 
When John Steinbeck’s book was published in 1939, it was banned in many libraries 
and copies were symbolically burned in towns across America. Later The Grapes of 
Wrath was the best-selling book of 1939 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. 
 
The Catcher in the Rye 
Between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger was the 
most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States. Nowadays it 
has been listed as one of the best novels of the 20th century. The novel was 
included on Time 's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 
1923. 
 
 
1. Find the answers on the Internet. 
a) What are these books about? 
b) Why were they banned by the time they were published? 
c) Why do you think they are best sellers nowadays?