American Literature Test 2

Front 1

"The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Back 1

-by T.S. Eliot
-when you read his name you're supposed to think of an older man
-he's mocking the idea that he wants a young woman but hes too old when he says the women come and go talking of michelangelo...women are of class and they are just talking about art.
-Man recognizes that he doesnt have much time
-crab in the sea means he is just a bottom feeder

Front 2

"Love song" cont.

Back 2

-Poem is very sexual but shielded by his use of language
-ppl werent ready to hear this poem bc of it
-"I grow old", "I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled" hes shrinking so he has no choice
-Last 3 lines depict hopelessness
-end image is one of death
-mermaids wouldnt sing to him bc he was old and had nothing to offer
-some translate this poem to relate to WWI bc of the yellow fog (mustard gas)

Front 3

"Harlem dancer"

Back 3

-by Claude McKay
1.) the stripper
2.) audience watching her
3.) speaker of poem also watching but her dancing affects him differently than the others.

Front 4

"harlem dancer"

Back 4

-the stripper isnt there in the moment (doesnt want to be there)
-Mckay is saying at what point does a person become responsible for actions
-the women loved and admired how good she was dancing
-speaker has no judgement on the stripper or prostitute

Front 5

"harlem shadows"

Back 5

-by Claude McKay
-hear/see footsteps of girls from caller to caller
-footsteps could possibly mean oppression, or difficulties
-interesting girls will still resort to prostitution.
-speaker doesnt judge prostitutes, says theyre victims of life

Front 6

"harlem shadows"

Back 6

-slippered feet could mean they want to be quiet or secretive
-slippered feet = young, and not protected
-footsteps are symbolic
-most important image is "footsteps of lass going from call to call"

Front 7

2 arguments for "poverty, dishonor, and disgrace" in harlem shadows

Back 7

1.) not all ppl are born on the same playing field
2.) whether you were born into it or created it you have to accept responsibility
"why might they behave the way they do"

Front 8

"harlem shadows" cont.

Back 8

-"gray" most important word of poem. "A lot of gray spots in life"
-Said encounter will leave scar and it will never go away"

Front 9

"America"

Back 9

- by Claude McKay
-McKay loves america even though he is hated day in and day out bc he is black.

Front 10

"Outcast"

Back 10

-by Claude McKay
-feels like an outcast in america
-Says he would go back to africa by saying "he would sing forgotten jungle songs and go back to darkness and peace"

Front 11

Robinson Jeffers

Back 11

-sometimes described as a traditional poet
-it became evident to him that poetry--if it was to survive at all must reclaim some of the power and reality that it was so hastily surrendering to prose
-seemed defeatist, as if poetry were in terror of prose and trying to save it soul from the victor by giving up its body.
-poetry was becoming slight and fantastic, unreal, eccentric.
-must reclaim substance and sense and physical and psychological reality.
-this is what led him to narrative poetry and drawing subjects from contemporary life

Front 12

Robinson Jeffers cont.

Back 12

-Like Steinbeck he became interested in primitive life of the older generation of hill people and herders and the survivals of indian and spanish culture. (seemed to be the same as in greek literature and understanding the subconcious which he read from freudian psychology.
-A 3rd factor was what una jeffers once described as "the spirit of this place"

Front 13

Robinson Jeffers cont.

Back 13

-developed a style of great flexibility and lyric beauty, tones of colloquial speech (everyday language) are reproduced
-Narrative lines are unusual in length and shorter lines in stanzaic composition.
-highly individualistic syle is heightened by the poets musical sense and the semantic precision of his decision.

Front 14

"Stone Cutters"

Back 14

-by Robinson Jeffers
-There is no way to stop time (stone-cutters know that)
-tone shifts to one of defeat at line "for man will be"...
-tone at the beginning of the poem is a "were all going down anyway" tone
-shifts again to a more positive tone
-jeffers changed points of view all the time

Front 15

"Shine, Perishing Republic"

Back 15

-by Robinson Jeffers
-If you rush things without letting them run their course you are hastening (hurrying) decay
-metoer-symbol of destruction
-mountains-symbol of progress
-he is saying trust no one

Front 16

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Back 16

-confessed bisexual
-husband stayed at home while she worked at her command
-she would bring women home and have sex with them while her husband was home

Front 17

"The beast that rends me in the sight of all"

Back 17

-by Edna St. Vincent Millay
-scar will never leave
-heartbroken

Front 18

"The jilting of granny weatherall"

Back 18

-by Katherine Ann Porter
-challenges views and beliefs that we have about eternity and salvation
-Author uses image of making bed to show ppl controlling life
-describes the juxtaposition
-granny likes to have control

Front 19

"The jilting of granny weatherall" cont.

Back 19

-"tomorrow was far away" -shes in denial
-hapsy (oldest daughter) died at child birth and the baby died too
-granny saw hapsy and the child as she was dying
-60 yrs she prayed to not remember George and dont to not go to hell
-george left her at the alter
-jilted-left at the alter (stood up)
-she needed to pray to forgive George instead of forgetting him
-"granny blows out the light" - gives into death
-she had been jilted by jesus in her mind
-"ill never forget it"

Front 20

"the jilting of granny weatherall" cont.

Back 20

-Plea of desperation. Wants a sign that everything will be okay but doesnt get it. She believes that she was not only jilted by George but by jesus as well.
-Even in death granny refused to forgive (it was a trait in her)

Front 21

Naturalism

Back 21

-states that there is a scientific explanation for everything a person does.

Front 22

"The evening sun"

Back 22

-by william faulkner
-Nancy is scared Jesus is coming back to kill her bc she cheated on him and is pregnant with a white mans baby
-Faulkner never comes out and says who impregnated her
-

Front 23

"the evening sun"

Back 23

-When nancy says "I aint nothing but a nigger" she is implying that it doesnt matter if she is killed.
-Nancy thinks Jesus is hiding in the ditch, waiting to kill her

Front 24

The modern temperament
-history 1

Back 24

1914--WWI began; 1918--U.S. entered
a. resulted in strong isolationist, sentiment, restrictive immigration act in 1924, great hostility to foreigners and immigrants
--general belief was this is our nation and anyone entering is an intruder. *
b. Sense of great civilizations being destroyed, social breakdown, individual powerlessness, fear disorientation

Front 25

The modern temperament
-history 2

Back 25

prohibition of liquor in 1919--opened door to organized crime and "gangster" phenomenon
a. 1933--repealed

Front 26

The modern temperament
-history 3

Back 26

Struggles over personal freedoms, social permissiveness, pursuit of pleasures
a. "Traditionalist" Americans struggled to maintain values and traditions of former age

Front 27

The modern temperament
-history 4

Back 27

Sexual revolution and relaxation of sexual mores
a. 1920--19th amendment gave vote to women after 70+ years of female sufferage
b. women entered workforce
c. "Flapper"-dressed more sexual and more free spirited

Front 28

The modern temperament
-history 5

Back 28

Beginning around 1915--black americans moved to North by millions
a. in general, deeply segregated culture resisted integration and respect of black americans

Front 29

The modern temperament
-history 6

Back 29

Urbanization and industrialization created mass or popular culture, overpowering high and folk culture
a. Telephone and electricity into american homes
b. Phonograph record and player
c. Motion picture (with sound in 1929)
d. Automobile into existence before turn of century; by 1920 most americans could afford.
-Before cars ppl didnt venture more than 20 miles from their birthplace*
1.)millions of jobs
2.)continual movement, lack of traditions, rootlessness
-pop culture still prevails over elite culture*

Front 30

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Back 30

-invented psychoanalysis; propounded idea that self is grounded in unconscious that controlled overt behavior
a. Traumas, hidden and forbidden emotions/desires
-PYSCHOANALYSIS

Front 31

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Back 31

-believed root cause of behavior was economic
a. society consists of antagonistic classes
-ECONOMIC
-said every problem we face is the result of economics*

Front 32

Literary responses
-prior influences

Back 32

1. 19th century thought still prevalent with spirititual unrest and skepticism; economic and social revolt; realism and naturalism valued; primitivism popular
2. Romantic idealism survived in genteel nostalgia and in some genres of popular literature
3. Emerson Whitman, Melville, Dickinson grew in popularity
a. 1920's--in universities american literature classes established on premise that earlier writer constituted an american literary tradition worth study alongside of british
-prior influences-dont immediately die*
-american lit classes began being taught in universities*

Front 33

primitivism

Back 33

-remove social constraints people will show themselves
-new thing

Front 34

Literary responses
-Dominant characteristic of 20th century (important)

Back 34

literature is an intensity and almost scientific candor of its explorations into the spiritual nature of man and value of his society and institutions
1. Recurring question: What is the extent of the opportunity for humans to escape the determination of their fate by blind laws of heredity(dna), environment (nuturer), and survival (base nature)
-approaching study of man in a scientific nature*

Front 35

3 things authors believed controlled our fate

Back 35

1.) heredity
2.) environment
3.) survival

Front 36

Literary responses

Back 36

C.) Serious literature attempts to convey vision of social decay; more conservative serious literature attempts to counter social breakdown
-conservative serious literature tries to offer answers*

Front 37

Literary responses
-Modernism

Back 37

1.) Conviction that previous social, political, religious, and artistic structures had been destroyed or were falsehoods and had to be renovated
2.) generalization, abstraction, and high flown writing would conceal and not convey reality.

Front 38

Literary responses
-modernism (important)

Back 38

3.) Defining characteristic of art is construction of fragments to reflect fragmentation of experience
a. Literature, in particular, notable for what it omits to convey in fragmentation--explanations, interpretations, connections, summaries, continuity, perspective
-defines whole group of writers*

Front 39

Literary responses
-modernism (important)

Back 39

1.)shifts in perspective, voice, tone
2.)rhetoric often understated and ironic
3.)suggestions, not assertions
4.)symbols and images, not statements
5.)effect is surprising, shocking, unsettling; reading is challenging, difficult
a. reader "participates" in making the text
b. although texts werent bestsellers, principles of modernism became increasingly influential over years.
6.) Inculsion of more material once deemed "unliterary" such as speech of uneducated and inarticulate
7.) Popular writers include gertrude stein, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot

Front 40

Literary responses
-literary traditionalism

Back 40

1.) combined modernist techniques with traditional american themes; often rooted in regionalism
a. Katherine Anne Porter, William Faulkner

Front 41

Literary responses
-Harlem renaissance of 1920's

Back 41

1.) Attempt of black artists to develop strong cultural presence in America; to show they could articulate own culture, traditions, and values
a. Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston

Front 42

Literary responses
-Women writers

Back 42

1.) in general rejected "feminist" label because term signified commitment to a movement instead of an individual

Front 43

Literary responses
-20th century renaissance
renaissance=rebirth

Back 43

1.) 1920's produced new age of literary expression that targeted fundamental institutions and cultural assumptions
a. Large volume of works
b. New authors
1.)newer authors characterized by aesthetic originality and rebellion
2.) Determination to eradicate taboos
c. originality
d. larger, more critical public than ever before
e. Hunger for spiritual enlightenment
f. sense of responsibility for fellow humans, expressed in attacks on contemporary social order

Front 44

Claude McKay

Back 44

-Born in rural jamaica, a descendant of slave brought over from west africa.
-prize money from his books brought him to the u.s. in 1912
-studied at tuskegee institute, but left almost immediately to study agriculture at Kansas state college.
-his involvement with the leftist thought took him to moscow in 1923
-in his later years he converted to catholicism.

Front 45

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Back 45

-encouraged by her mother and 2 sisters
-had her first poem printed in St. Nicholas, a national childrens magazine, when she was 12
-attacked conventional notions of female behavior in poems that spoke of traveling "back and forth all night on the ferry" or cynically pretended to forget "what lips my lips have kissed"
-appalled by the storm clouds of fascism forming over Europe, she joined Archibald MacLeish, Stephen Bincent Benet, and others who called on writers to oppose the growing tyranny

Front 46

William Faulkner is associated with what?

Back 46

Interior monologue

Front 47

Richard Wright

Back 47

-wrote autobiographical "black boy" (1945)** which recounts a childhood of violence and terror.
-perhaps his masterpiece
-prose is straight forward, leaving the events to speak for themselves
-Short stay in Memphis then made his way to chicago in 1927 (this is where black boy ends)
-the works of Menchken led him to Sinclair Lewis and Theodore Dreiser (led him to realism and naturalism)
-produced his last books when he moved to france, none of which were as good as native son and black boy

Front 48

T.S. Eliot

Back 48

-british american citizen
-compared to other poets, Eliot published little, but his excellence is recognized ever since his first major poem "The Waste Land" that appeared in 1922.
-controversial figure
-criticized for "unnecessary obscurity" and "authoritarian severity
-poetry employs intellectual discipline and cultural memory in preference to more accessible and more sensuous images and emotional suggestions.
-few men of letters have been more fully honored in their own day than Eliot.
-won nobel prize in 1948
-knows so much he makes illusions to other authors
-authoritarian

Front 49

William Faulkner

Back 49

-writings are difficult and obscure
-many of his works were not widely read.
-recognized at a later perspective
-awarded the 1949 nobel peace prize a year late
-regarded his major works as a "saga" a reconstruction of the life of Yoknapatawhpha county, his fictional name for Lafayette county in mississipi where he lived at Oxford (the "jefferson" of his novels)
-in acceptance of his nobel peace prize he told younger writers that the only subject "worth the agony and sweat" of the artist is "the human heart in conflict with itself"

Front 50

Katherine Ann Porter

Back 50

-no parallel to the writers of her time
-varying lengths in her work (fragmented writing style)
-never had a popular following
-considerable influence on many serious younger writers (katherine Mansfield)
-attempted to achieve a style strictly objective without sacrificing sensitivity, and she succeeded by such careful selection and combination of character, situation, and action.

Front 51

Katherine Ann Porter Cont.

Back 51

-born as Callie Russell Porter at Indian creek, Texas.
-spent her early years in Kyle
-accepted her husbands religion catholicism.
-principal legacy is in her short stories and her short novels
-remains almost unique

Front 52

Katherine Ann Porter Cont.

Back 52

-"taken by surprise"-she cant go because she isnt ready
-challenges us on how the elderly should be treated
-challenges our beliefs about god and the afterlife
-husband died when she was young and took over the duties with a few black guys