Reflection: 2 poems to analyze

The two poems that I have chosen to analyze are: “To the Fringed Gentian” by William Cullen Bryant and “Old Ironsides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes.  I think that these poems are similar in that they are both very descriptive and creative, but I also noticed that the poems are very different. “To the Fringed Gentian” reminded me of “Thanatopsis” which I did not realize was also written by William Cullen Bryant.  Both of these poems were about nature and dealt with death and dying.  “To the Fringed Gentian only mentioned death in the very last stanza (Bryant Lines 17-20).

I would that thus, when I shall see

The hour of death draw near to me,

Hope, blossoming within my heart,

May look to heaven as I depart.

The poem “Old Ironsides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes was also related to death, but in this case it was the death of a battle ship. The USS Constitution was going to be scrapped because it was no longer in use, but Oliver Wendell Holmes saw the ship’s beauty and protested the scrapping of the ship by writing this poem. I the first few lines of the last stanza Holmes talks about the “dead” ship and its grave (Holmes Lines 17-20).

Oh, better that her shattered hulk

Should sink beneath the wave;

Her thunders shook the mighty deep,

And there should be her grave.

That was an example of a similarity of the two poems that I have chosen to analyze. Now I am going to talk about a few differences. “To the Fringed Gentian” was written as William Cullen Bryant encountered nature while he was hiking through the mountains in Massachusetts. He talked about the beauty of the nature and how the fall season was slowly approaching winter. “Old Ironsides” was written because Oliver Wendell Holmes was upset that the Navy was going to scrap the USS Constitution. He thought that the ship was beautiful and deserved to live much longer. It seems to me like “To the Fringed Gentian” was written more for an entertainment reading whereas “Old Ironsides” was written to rile up the public to protest with Oliver Wendell Holmes as he was against the scrapping of the USS Constitution.

 Although they were different in the fact that they had different purposes, they are similar in the aspect of the Romanticism time period characteristics. Because they both involved the description of nature, they represented the Romanticism characteristic. “Old Ironsides” definitely represents the feeling of intuition over reason. I think that the author wrote this poem because he liked the ship and did not want it to be scrapped, not because he had a very important reason they should keep it. He probably did not think through all of the reasons why it would be a logical decision to keep the ship; he just liked it and thought other people would like to look at it too! I am glad that I chose these two poems because they have many noticeable similarities and differences. 

Bryant, William C. "Thanatopsis." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Bryant, William Cullen. "To the Fringed Gentian." American Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: Mc-Graw Hill, 2009. 210-11. Print.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "Old Ironsides." American Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: Mc-Graw Hill, 2009. 210-11. Print. 

Journal #20: Autumn Analysis

From reading the title of this poem, I knew that it was from the Romanticism time period because it was so descriptive about nature. The title of this poem, Autumn, was a dead giveaway that the poem was going to talk about nature. This poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is a big description of autumn. Autumn, also known as fall, is a season. Seasons deal with nature and Romanticism style works apply nature within the work. It is quite common to see a work implying nature and for it to be a Romantic work. By Romantic, I do not mean like talking about love. I am talking about a writing from the literary period of Romanticism. Romanticism writing style consists of a very descriptive piece of literature which may mention youthful innocence. I think that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow has written a poem about every one of the seasons. I think I remember Ashley talking about a poem she read about summer that was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I would rather read that poem about summer right now because I am freezing and that might make me feel better. I think that the author of this poem probably likes all of the seasons because he writes poems that describe how much he enjoys all of them. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a very positive guy because he really talked nicely about all of the seasons. Based on the reading of these poems I could assume that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow probably lived in a location with a temperate climate that exhibited all of the seasons. I kind of like living in the Midwest for that very reason. In Illinois, you have all of the seasons and they are all different. My grandparents lived in California for a while and they always tell me that it just was not the same having Christmas without the snow and Christmas sweaters. I like all of the seasons although I do have my favorite (Fall). I enjoyed reading the poem “Autumn” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Reflection: Choose a poem to analyze

I chose to analyze the poem "Old Ironsides" by Oliver Wendell Holmes. The reason that I chose this poem was because last summer I actually went to Boston and got onto the USS Constitution (photos below). The Navy has done a really nice job of keeping the ship looking really nice thanks to Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem, "Old Ironsides." I found the ship itself very interesting, so I thought it would be kind of cool to write about it for my reflection.

This poem was written because rumors were going around that the beautiful USS Constitution was going to be scrapped. Holmes' poem was successful in rousing the public into protesting the scrapping of the ship.

The meaning of the first stanza was to tell the reader that they were going to take down the USS Constitution. I deciphered the first stanza as follows: Take the banner down, it has waved for a long time. Many eyes have seen the banner fly and heard the bursting of the cannons of battle. There will be no more firing of cannons in the ocean air anymore because they are going to scrap the USS Constitution (Holmes 1-8). This stanza was the most catching stanza because it brought to the attention of the reader that a beautiful naval ship was going to be taken down and scrapped (Huff).

Stanza two goes on to talk about the ship’s “life.” The ship’s deck once was covered with blood from the battle, and she faced great storms and stresses. The ship isn’t going to be walked on by any of the victors anymore because they are going to take it down. The harpies (mythological bird/human creatures) were going to take the ship from the sea (Holmes 9-16). This stanza was to show the readers that the ship has been through a lot of struggles and it kind of deserves to live longer.

The third stanza is talking about the ship as if she really was allowed to sink to the bottom of the sea. If she was at the bottom, the poem says “her thunders will shake the mighty deep” (Holmes 18-19). Holmes says that the flag would stay on the ship at her “grave” and all of the sails should be left open so that the god of storms would take her away (Holmes 17-24).

Even though the title of this poem, “Old Ironsides,” leads the reader to believe that the USS Constitution was actually an iron-clad ship, it really was not. The ship was nicknamed this because the cannon balls fired by the opposing troops seemed to bounce off of the ship’s hard wood as if it was made of iron (Barney, Paddock).

This poem was a traditional fireside poem because it created a vivid image of a famous event from American History (Fireside Poets 210). This poem also represents the Romanticism writing style because it looks back to the wisdom of the past. In stanza two, the author took the reader back to what the ship was like in her best days. I think that there are probably other poems that display more of the characteristics of the romanticism writing style because I did not notice too many of them in this particular poem.

Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. "Holmes, Oliver Wendell." Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL0583&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 7, 2011).

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "Old Ironsides." American Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: Mc-Graw Hill, 2009. 210-11. Print.

Huff, Randall. "'Old Ironsides'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0292&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 7, 2011).

Reflection: The Devil and Tom Walker

After reading The Devil and Tom Walker and Rip Van Winkle, I came to the conclusion that the writing styles for the two pieces were very similar. Washington Irving, a non-fiction short story writer, exemplifies his great imagination and sense of creativity. Irving, in the story The Devil and Tom Walker, told a fairly short simple story, but it took him ten pages to do so. This proves that Washington Irving was very descriptive in his writings. Irving made his scenes and settings very clear. For example, when Irving was describing the remains of the Indian fort, he says the following: “Nothing remained of the old Indian fort but a few embankments, gradually sinking to the level of the earth, and already overgrown in part by oaks and other forest trees, the foliage of which formed a contrast to the dark pines and hemlocks of the swamp. (Irving 243)” I noticed that in the writings of Washington Irving, the sentences seem to be very lengthy. Thus, the really short and simple stories are drawn out into really descriptive pieces of literature.

In the story Rip Van Winkle, Rip wakes up from a twenty year “nap” to find that everything has changed (Watts). Because everything has changed so much, Washington Irving takes it upon himself to share the new setting and features of the time that Rip woke up to join with the readers. Washington Irving says, “On awaking, he found himself on the green knoll from whence he had first seen the old man of the glen. He rubbed his eyes—it was a bright sunny morning. The birds were hopping and twittering among the bushes, and the eagle was wheeling aloft and breasting the pure mountain breeze. “Surely,” thought Rip, “I have not slept here all night.’” Because Rip was in a totally new setting, the author found it necessary to completely describe almost everything that could have possibly been in the sight of Mister Rip Van Winkle. This element in the piece reveals a Romanticism Era characteristic in that Washington Irving was very real with the description of the setting.

I also related The Devil and Tom Walker to Romanticism because of the form of religion used. Deism, the prominent religion of the Romanticism time period, stated that the best form of worship is to do good things for others. Because Tom was a usurer, he was known for cheating people out of money. When a borrower asks Tom for an extension on a loan, he replies, “The Devil take me if I have made a farthing” (Irving 249). The devil then whisks Tom away. This little story tells the readers that people who do bad things to others may be punished. The devil then turns all of Tom’s riches to cinders because Tom has done so much wrong.

I think that the writings of Washington Irving very much relate to the characteristics of the Romanticism time period. The extensive details and the great use of imagination were used to great extent in this style of writing.

Irving, Washington. "The Devil and Tom Walker." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 240-250. Print.

Matthews, Washington Irving. "4. Rip Van Winkle By Washington Irving. Matthews, Brander. 1907. The Short-Story." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 05 Dec. 2011.

Watts, Linda S. "'Rip Van Winkle'." Encyclopedia of American Folklore. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.