American Poetry

Question 1

Edgar Allan Poe Key Words

Answer 1

-Macabre
-Melancholy (“Death of a beautiful woman”
-Death, despair,

Question 2

Motif Annabel Lee

Answer 2

-most likely the death of his wife Virginia (who was also his cousin!!!)
-she died of tubercolosis at the age of 24 after being married to Poe for ten years

Question 3

Devices featured heavily in “Annabel Lee”

Answer 3

-many repetitions and alliterations
-biblical allusions

Question 4

Walt Whitman

Answer 4

-champion of the spirit, of humanism, individualism and democracy –> believed in the power of the individual
-pioneer of free verse: no regular metre or rhyme
-regarded as America’s first poet of democracy

Question 5

“Oh Me! Oh Life!” Context

Answer 5

-written in the 19th century during the modernisation and industrialisation of American society
-many new innovations and rapid changes!
-people may feel useless, inadequate and pessimistic due to these changes

Question 6

“Oh Me! Oh Life!” Structure

Answer 6

-Question and Answer format
-Answer expresses Whitman’s view of humanity
-first stanza questions his purpose as a human
-wondering why life is cruel?
–> A sorrowful lament of modern American life
-second part renounces his helplessness
-human life is good and sacred and must be appreciated by itself

Question 7

“Oh Me! Oh Life!” Key Expressions

Answer 7

-What is my place in society?
-What is the meaning of life?
-How am I connected to life?
-Humanism as a key element of the poem!!!

Question 8

“O Captain! My Captain!”

Answer 8

-dedicated to Lincoln
-theme: death of Lincoln after the civil war, loss of a father figure
-formal structure unusual for Whitman
-functions as an elegy (poem or text expressing sorrow)
-juxtaposes joyous victory vs tragic loss
-underscores Lincoln’s absence from victory

Question 9

American Civil War (1861-1865)

Answer 9

-abolitionism vs slavery
-Union vs Confederacy
-Emancipation Proclamation January 1st, 1863
-biggest crisis in American history
-Victory of the Union. However: Lincoln assassinated right after war in April 1865

Question 10

“O Captain! My Captain!” Metaphors

Answer 10

-Captain is Lincoln
-Ship is America
-Prize is the end of the civil war, union and abolitionism
-the port is the end of the civil war

Question 11

Song of Myself - Transcendentalism

Answer 11

-belief in the power of the individual (one’s spiritual ability)
-inherent goodness of people and nature
-badness of both society and institutions
-self-reliance of the individual

Question 12

I: Song of Myself

Answer 12

-the revelation of God’s existence throughout the course of a mystical jorney
-a long epic free verse poem with 52 sections
-celebration of life and ideals
-self-reliance and independence: learning from yourself
-the speaker as his own muse
-you and I are connected and in a sense part of each other in spirit –> Atom, essence of life

Question 13

II: Song of Myself

Answer 13

-use of five senses
-perfume metaphor: artificial vs natural; perfume artificial as it has been destilled
-union with nature: transcendentalist idea

Question 14

III: Song of Myself

Answer 14

-learn everything from yourself and not from books
-rejection of traditional teachings
-his thinking does not followe strict Puritan beliefs
-Now matters the most –> Carpe Diem
-full of desire to create

Question 15

Emily Dickinson

Answer 15

-one of the most important American poets
-lived very isolated
-experienced a lot of loss and trauma during her life

Question 16

Because I could not stop for Death

Answer 16

-Death is personified
-Atmosphere very tranquil, greets Death as old friend
-setting sun symbol of death
-Themes: mortality and death
-speaker is already or in the process of being transported into the afterlife
-divided into quatrains