Unit Three

ELAALRL4 The student employs a variety of writing genres to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of significant ideas in selected literary works. The student composes essays, narratives, poems, or technical documents.

Once again, this standard addresses me (the student) to understand the different types of writing, and to be able to point out the differences between them. This also wants me to write different types of lit.

Original Sin is the idea that all humans are born damned. We will all die and go to hell.
The Transcendentalists believed that this was incorrect.

Mini Lesson

First, let's review the Transcendentalist philosophy:
a. They believed that everyone was absolutely pure and that each individual is a part of God.
b. They believed that people's thoughts and intuition were the voice of God.
c. They did not believe in institutions like government because they thought the individual human mind was the strongest power in the universe.
What would your argument to this philosophy be? Are all people good? Is the voice inside people's heads the pure voice of God?

I do not believe that all people are "good." But what defines good? Going to church? Remaining faithful to your lover? All aspects of goodness relates to the religion it was inspired from. Muslims believe it is good to kill your enemy. Mormons believe it is good to have more than one wife. The Romans believed that the greatest love was between an old man and a young boy. I don't believe that theses things are good, but I was raised in a predominately christian country; and this means that my moral foundations spawn from Christianity.

And there are new scientific terms for hearing voices from god, it is called schizophrenia. =D

Thanantopsis/ William Cullen Bryant

This poem was a very different kind of romanticism. There was no plane Joe who succeeded in any unlikely event. This work was addressing the fact that no one can escape death. The writer seems to highly respect death since it is equally distributed to every human being. I could not find many examples of romantic imagination in this text. The writer gave nature an actual sense of being, feelings, and a voice. "To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile And eloquence of beauty, and she glides Into his darker musings, with a mild And healing sympathy, that steals away Their sharpness, ere he is aware." This poem really depicts accepting death with many aspects. It refers to returning in the earth in a positive way; "Earth, that nourish'd thee, shall claim Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again, And, lost each human trace, surrendering up Thine individual being, shalt thou go To mix for ever with the elements," I truly love this line. It speaks the truth in such a magical way. I see the decomposers as the true act of reincarnation. This poem also speaks the truth of how everyone decomposes the same way. "Thou shalt lie down With patriarchs of the infant world--with kings, The powerful of the earth--the wise, the good, Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past," In other words, you will rot just as a king would in a great carcoughagus. William also addresses one of the most common fears of death. "So shalt thou rest: and what if thou withdraw In silence from the living, and no friend Take note of thy departure? All that breathe Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care Plod on, and each one as before will chase His favourite phantom;" No one wants to be forgotten. Let alone their death day be a joyous occasion. Either way, I really enjoyed this poem, It is one of my new favorites.

Unit Two Standards

ELAALRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.
ELAALRL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in a work of American literature and provides evidence from the work to support understanding.
ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

All of these standards are easily summarized into the student really, truly, thinking about what they are reading. To relate the work of literature to current literature and life experiences the student has dealt with. The student should also define one work from another. And last but not least; the student needs to know WHY the works are different.