1. Emily Dickinson (“She withdrew from the world in order to know it better, to contemplate the human condition, our relation to things of this world”) - spent all her life in house where she had born, in Amherst; she was real outsider, she lived alone in world of her thoughts. She have never given any titles to her poems (about 1200-1400). Characteristic of poems: short, simple, deep, rhythmic - like singing, can't be interpret completely, private. Themes: death - what it is, means, feels like, how deal wit it; Individualism; isolation; knowledge; success; truth (how to tell the truth not hurting anybody); love, friendship; nature; poetry; religion. She was quite rebellious - want to pray God in the way she like, not in the way imposed by “Church”.
This is my letter to the world (postrzega wiersze jako listy do świata, który nigdy nie odpowiada, zresztą one nie czeka na odpowiedź, tylko pragnie aby odbiorca był łaskawy dla niej),
Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church(`krytyka' ludzi chodzących do kościoła - podczas gdy inni tłoczą się w kościele, Emily pozostaje w swoim sadzie i słucha kazania boga przemawiającego poprzez naturę; ona nie stara się finalnie dotrzeć do nieba - ona jest w drodze przez cały czas),
I never Saw a Moor (wierze; E. porusza temat wiedzy na temat zjawiska bez wcześniejszego widzenia go - nie widziała morza, ale wie jak wyglądają fale, nie widziała boga ni nieba, jednak wie że istnieją),
Hope is the Thing with Feathers ( o nadziei; E. porównuje ją do ptaka bądź anioła [feathers, perched], jest zdania, że pomimo wszystko zawsze w duszy pozostaje choć odrobina nadziei)
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (o wężu i naturze; opisuje styl poruszania się węża (jak trawa się przed nim rozstępuje) i jego szybkość; nature's people - pozostałe zwierzęta wywołują w niej serdeczność, jednak o ile spotka węża, zapiera jej to dech piersiach a nogi ma jak z waty)
I like to See it Lap the Miles (zagadka-porównanie; opisuje pociąg, jednak mówiąc o nim jak o żelaznym koniu (neigh - rżenie; stable door), opisuje sposób poruszania się pociągu etc; jest zachwycona tym wynalazkiem)
2. Edgar Allan Poe - journalist, inventor of short stories, detective stories, gothic horror stories. S.S. - fictional narrative, can be completely read in one sitting, 1-2 well-defined characters, simple plot, a single, unified, implosion on psychological effect. Plot structure - rising action/complications CLIMAX falling action/resolution. For Poe death is not the end; death, sleep, hyper-consciousness are only different levels and states of consciousness. Poe was interested in: tremendous stress, anxiety and pressure and psychological effects of those feelings; types of narration (1st person perspective) to draw reader into psychology of narrator and character; the abnormal and insane mind.
The Raven
The Raven (Kruk) nie jest skomplikowana. Podmiot liryczny, czytając stare magiczne księgi, słyszy o północy skrobanie do drzwi. Przychodzi mu na myśl Lenora, zmarła kochanka. Okazuje sie jednak, ze nocnym gościem jest kruk, który mówi. Powtarza jedynie: „nevermore”, czyli „nigdy juz” - w tłumaczeniu Zenona Przesmyckiego oraz „kres i krach” - w tłumaczeniu Stanisława Barańczaka. Podmiot liryczny targany sprzecznymi uczuciami zadaje krukowi wiele pytan, lecz zawsze otrzymuje tylko jedna odpowiedz - „nevermore”. Tematem liryki Poego jest niemal zawsze miłosc, cierpienie i smierc. Jego wiersze sa obliczone na wywołanie uczucia melancholii, tesknoty za szczesciem i pieknem. Celem poezji Poego jest wywołanie w duszy, czy tez w umysle czytelnika poczucie niebianskiego piekna. Idealnie nadaje sie do tego - zdaniem autora - smierc ukochanej kobiety. Tworzywem jego wierszy sa nie słowa lecz uczucia dlatego tak wiele w tej poezji niejednoznacznosci. Oryginalny utwór Poego The Raven jest poetyckim majstersztykiem. Poeta juz od samego poczatku kariery literackiej znany w srodowisku literatów i wydawców ze swojego mistrzowskiego pióra rozumiał, ze stoi przed murem niewzruszonej obojetnosci swoich patronów literackich. „Musimy płacic panu Poe nizsze honoraria, poniewaz pisze na zbyt wysokim poziomie" - twierdzili z cynizmem owi patronowie, przyjmujac do drukuznakomite utwory młodego pisarza, ale jego samego zbywajac tylko obietnicami. The Raven to dzieło o skomplikowanej konstrukcji. Napisane zostało sylabotonicznym trocheicznym oktametrem ze sredniówka po ósmej zgłosce i kataleksa w drugim, czwartym piatym i szóstym wersie. Utwór składa sie z osiemnastu szesciowersowych strof. W każdej z nich pierwsze piec wersów jest napisane szesnastozgłoskowcem, zas wers szósty ma
siedem zgłosek. Oto przykład:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“Tis some visitor”, I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.”
Po rozpisaniu na zestroje akcentowe otrzymujemy nastepujacy schemat:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ //_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 16
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ //_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 15
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ //_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 16
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ //_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 15
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ //_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 15
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 7
Bardzo skomplikowany jest równiez układ rymów. Wystepuja zarówno rymy zewnętrze jak i wewnetrzne, tworzac nastepujacy układ AA / B / CC / CB / B / B. Przewazaja rymy zenskie dokładne, stanowiace około 70% wszystkich rymów. Do najistotniejszych znamion owej poezji nalezy tez jej kunsztownie opracowana szata dzwiekowa, dominujaca czesto nad watła i niewyrazna trescia, która słuzy przede wszystkim do poddania czytelnikom jakiegos nastroju (głównie nastroju melancholii), podejmowanego nastepnie i wzmacnianego przy pomocy skomplikowanej instrumentacji wiersza, w której nadzwyczaj wazna role odgrywały takie elementy, jak : rytm, rym (wewnetrzny i zewnetrzny), refren oraz swoista "barwa". Róznorodnosc rytmiczna osiaga Poe poprzez stosowanie pauz, onomatopei i wypowiedzi
podmiotu lirycznego, oznaczonych w tekscie cudzysłowem:
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“Tis some visitor”, I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door -
Rytm wytworzony przez powtarzanie wyrazów napping, tapping, rapping oraz door, door
jest onomatopeiczna imitacja pukania do drzwi. Zabieg ten jest powtórzony w strofie pierwszej, trzeciej i czwartej.
Efekt melancholii i depresji potegowany jest przez paralelizm składniowy, powtórzenia, refreny, aliteracje i wyliczenia:
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to
dream before oraz I stood there wondrring, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing - aliteracje
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er, - powtórzenia
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore! - refren
Utwór nasycony jest epitetami. W niektórych fragmentach wystepuja spiętrzenia epitetów np. I weak and weary, quaint and curious volume, separate dying ember, rare and radiant maiden, silken sad uncertain rustling. Przerzutnie pojawiaja sie najczesciej w trzecim wersie, ale nie w kazdej strofie. Pod wzgledem słowotwórczym The Raven jest utworem posiadajacym bardzo bogate słownictwo. Odnajdziemy tu inspiracje biblijne - seraphin, Aidenn, anioł; mitologiczne - plutonian, Pallas lub Lenora - bohaterka mitu, która narzeczony wzywa w zaswiaty. Opierajac interpretacje poematu Poego na tej przesłance, mozna byłoby stwierdzic, ze to podmiot liryczny znajduje sie w zaswiatach, zas kruk jest jego straznikiem w piekle. Klimat smierci poteguja kolory - czarny i fioletowy oraz wszechobecne cienie.
3. Herman Melville - Moby Dick (main themes + symbolism)
Themes: pursuit to the unknown; struggle between good & evil, reason & madness; book - marks the high point in human creativity, represents totally everything (immense number of those days themes); race; democracy, sexuality (Ishmael + Queequeg ), protecting of nature, existence of God; identity - who, what, why you are; before the `ground oil' the whale oil was the mayor source of lamp oil, so the whale hunts were extremely popular; Melville was conscious about talking of “The Others” - 4 harpooners represents 4 different nationalities (Black, Yellow, Red, Arabic); Ship represents small democracy, small community
Ahab - in Bible he is the wicked King (turn against God); in book he turns against whale (God? Devil?); sees Moby Dick as an Evil creature and becomes himself evil, tyrant, dictator (where the fuck is democracy?); want to know the truth - even too much… he becomes crazy, because he didn't receive answers; losses his humanity - he don't want to help in seeking other captain's son - he finds interest only in whale; despite of thinking that MD is evil creature, Ahab thought that MD is God who is laughing at him - captain is threatening God with his fist - he claims that he'll find & kill him.
Ishmael - also biblical character - like Ahab; believes that the whiteness of whale is symbol of innocence of nature; he also claims that whiteness is nothingness, he is afraid of it.
Queequeg - the representative of `The Others” - not white Anglo-Saxon; he is wearing jewelry, tattoos, skirt - just like a woman, so there is the question, is he more male or female?
Starbuck - represents the way in which all people should behave; He is opposite for Ahab - he's the voice of reason.
Moby Dick - for Ahab - all the evil on the universe; for Starbuck - only the next whale to kill (job); for Ishmael - beauty of nature (`ungraspable phantom of life')
4. Mark Twain - firstly - affirmative writer, but later - almost determinist; social critic, loved life, justice, freedom' hated tyranny and iniquity, despised manners and cruelty. Uses vernacular (colloquial) language of different classes and ethnic groups; puts a lot of humor into his novels; Wrote abroad, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (“all modern American literature starts at Huckleberry Finn.”)
Huckleberry Finn
* black people are superstitious
* Jim is probably a fraud, he's not reliable and fully adult, he believes in black magic - that is rather childish.
* the two woman which are taking care of Huck are representatives of a nuclear family - the one is strict and don't believes in stories made up by Huck - she's a `father of a family'; the second one is rather placid, not a harsh person - she's a `mother'
* Pap - Huck's father is a `white trash' , the only thing he wants from Huck is his money. It is storied in the Bank and the only way to gain it is to kill Huck.
* Huck has double morality - he's a hypocrite - steal what he can from whoever he can, but when Jim is talking about him stealing his family to reunite with them - Huck cannot understand such a behavior.
* while talking about slavery Huck decides to give in Jim, `cause he were thinking then (huck) like society wants him to thing - runaway slave is a bad thing and he must be given in.
* While being on the Grangerford's plantation Jim becomes a slave of theirs and he's beaten up. When Huck sees that he feels very bad with it, he firstly try to camouflage it by saying that he will never apologize to a slave, but then he reveals that he was going to betray him, that he is sorry etc. But he don't embrace Jim when he is doing so - he's afraid somebody will see them. After killing one of the Grangerfords - a small boy, Huck knows that all the people - even aristocracy can be white trashes - and the only thing that differs them from people like Pap is the fact that they have a lot of the money.
* at the very end of a novel Huck escapes to the West - `cause it symbolizes freedom.
5. William Faulkner - uses stream of consciousness, connected wit South, complex sentences, allusions to Bible, elements of Gothic Romance, multiple narrators.
A rose for Emily
* firstly Emily was shown as a young lady - a slender one in white in the background; in the foreground was her father - a man at his years with legs spread with horse whip in his hand. The two of them were warmed by the opened black -flung front door. This picture can be depicted as a sort of invitation - for young, wealthy, aristocratic men to marry Miss Emily, but they have to be special, because her father is defending her virginity. It is also important that this picture is suggesting that this family is patriarchal one and the most important person is the father (so is he standing at the front)
* in the second passage, we see Emily after her father's death. She is older, her hair cut short, what makes her look like a young girl - she don't want to loss her youth, don't want to be elderly. Hair are the symbol of femininity - the femininity that she is losing; she look like an angel - she becomes a sexual, `cause angels are neither male nor female.
* when there was a `smell' situation, and when men were crossing her lawn, she appear like a motionless figure. The happy part of her life is gone. This stillness is the example for her meaningless life, this rather slow death.
* finally, when men came to her to stop no paying taxes, she becomes what she didn't want to be - an elderly woman. From slender woman she changes into small, fat grandma. The watch which should hang from a chain on her neck is hidden into her belt - probably she is either showing that her time has ended, or/and that she want to stop the time. The head of her cane was of tarnished gold - that means the gold wasn't pure, and from this we can guess that she isn't as rich as her family was.