Henry David Thoreau http://eserver.org/thoreau/walden00.html

1. Henry David Thoreauhttp://eserver.org/thoreau/walden00.html On Walden Pond http://www.stevencscheer.com/thoreau.htm

2. Walden • Allegory – an extended narrative in prose or verse in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract qualities and in which the writer intends a second meaning to be read beneath the surface story • Parable – a short tale illustrating a moral lesson; a parable is often an allegory that parallels the situation to which it is being applied

3. Cadence Parallelism Imagery Repetition Individualism Democratic Poet Civil War Poem Cataloging Leaves of Grass

4. Whitman: Worked with bold strokes on a broad canvas Social Public spokesman for the masses Universal Brotherhood “If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.” Dickinson: Worked with the delicacy of a minimalist Private and shy Obscure/nobody – peering through the curtains of her house. Found in nature metaphors for her spirit and recorded without a thought of her audience. “This is my letter to the world that never spoke to me.” Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892) vs. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

5. Define the following words associated with diction • Colloquialism • Vernacular • Idiomatic • Dialect • Connotation • Denotation • jargon

6. Emily Dickinson • The recluse of Amherst • Fell in love with three men - 2 married • Published only a handful of poems during her life. • Slant Rhyme • Irony – tone, incongruity, sarcasm, mockery, satire • Metaphors • Personification • Puns • Lyric Poems – expressing intense spontaneous feelings • Occasional Poems • Forced pauses – dashes • Capitalizations

8. This Is My Letter to the World • This is my letter to the World • That never wrote to Me- • The simple News that Nature told- • With tender Majesty • Her message is committed • To Hands I cannot see- • For love of Her- Sweet-countrymen- • Judge tenderly-of me

9. 185 “Faith” is a fine invention When Gentlemen can see- But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency

10. Much Madness is divinest Sense- To a discerning Eye- Much Sense-the starkest Madness- ‘Tis the Majority In this, as All, prevail- Assent-and you are sane- Demur-you’re straightway dangerous- And handled with a Chain- 435

11. Diction • Expansive or economical? • Is the writing tight and efficient, or elaborate and long-winded? When does the author use one or another and why? • Are the words simple or fancy? Are they technical, flowery, colloquial, cerebral, punning, obscure?

12. Diction vocabulary • Colloquial – characteristic of ordinary conversation rather than formal speech or writing. • Vernacular - The common native language of a country or region; common, everyday speech; the language common to a profession. • Idiomatic – a language, dialect or style of speaking peculiar to a people “snap” • Jargon – vocabulary peculiar to a particular trade • Dialect – a variety of a language used by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially (Jim)

13. Dickinson Poems • 241 • I like a look of Agony, • Because I know it’s true- • Men do not sham Convulsion- • Nor simulate, a Throe- • The eyes glaze once-and that is Death- • Impossible to feign • The Beads upon the Forehead • By homely Anguish strung

14. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” • Analyze each stanza • Select the tone and which words establish the tone

15. Dickinson • 650 • Pain-has an Element of Blank • It cannot recollect • When it Begun-or if there were • A time when it was not- • It has no Future-but itself- • Its Infinite contain • Its Past-enlightened to perceive • New Periods-of Pain