Unit+Four+American+Literature

Questions should be about any of the **content** of unit four. The content of Unit four includes all the short works we've read from unit four in the textbook. See the unit 4 discussion question sheet (posted below) for a list of titles.

Please do NOT ask questions about the test itself (e.g. How many questions on the test? Is it multiple choice? etc.) because these will all be covered in our test review. Please ask about the literature itself, the ideas, themes, literary movement, culture, etc. You may ask about discussion questions you're having trouble with, but don't just say: "What's the answer to #9?" for example. Tell us what you think so far and what you're having trouble with so we can help.


 * __ Puritanism __ || __Rationalism__ || __Romanticism__ || __Transcendentalism__ ||
 * ||  || Focus on Self --- à || Individualism ||
 * ||  || Idealism - à || Utopian ( change society, optimistic ) ||
 * ||  || Love of Nature || Nature as Inspiration ||
 * ||  || Emotion (not reason) || Intuition (not reason) ||
 * || Democratic ||  || Democratic ||
 * || Practical ||  ||   ||
 * || Optimistic ||  ||   ||
 * || Utopian Vision ||  ||   ||
 * Great Faith ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Moral Enthusiasm ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Reforming Society ||  ||   ||   ||

American Literature Unit Four “New England Renaissance”  Discussion Questions

Read “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson on p. 161 and then respond to the following journal prompts:

1. Explain Emerson’s “transparent eyeball” metaphor. What happens to him in nature? How can we tell this is important to him?

2. Write about an experience you had with or in nature and how it changed your mind or viewpoint about something.

Read “Self Reliance” by Emerson on p. 163 and then respond to the following journal prompts:

3. Part 1: Make a brief list of at least three pieces of advice Emerson gives to readers in this essay (one should be from the beginning of the excerpt, one from the middle, and one from the end). Part 2: Pick one of these pieces of advice and explain why you agree or disagree with it, whether it’s relevant today, etc.

Read “Concord Hymn” and “The Rhodoroa” and respond to the following prompt:

4. Compare and contrast these two poems in terms of their tone, subject matter, and how much you can relate to each one.

Read the excerpt from //Walden// on p. 174 and respond to the following journal prompt:

5. Part 1: Make a brief list of at least three pieces of advice Thoreau gives to readers in this excerpt (one should be from the beginning of the excerpt, one from the middle, and one from the end). Part 2: Pick one of these pieces of advice and explain why you agree or disagree with it, whether it’s relevant today, etc.

Read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” on page 182 and respond to the following journal prompt:

6. Why do you think Parson Hooper put on his black veil and what do you think it might stand for, represent or symbolize? What might Hawthorne be teaching/saying with the veil itself and the story as a whole?

Read the excerpt from //Moby Dick// on p. 204 and respond to the following journal prompt:

7. What do you think Ahab’s “one unsleeping, ever-pacing thought” might be? (see p. 206, bottom left). Explain why you believe this and what Melville might be teaching with this issue in the novel.

Read Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” and “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” on p. 213 and 214 and respond to the following journal prompt:

8. Compare and contrast these two poems in terms of tone, theme/message, and which you can relate to more. Try to explain the significant differences.

Extra Credit: Write a poem of your own that reflects your own beliefs, values or philosophies. If your poem has a Romantic or Transcendental influence (or an influence by a writer we’ve read), please explain this influence in a separate paragraph after the poem. There are no length restrictions, but please put some genuine effort and time into your poem. (15 points maximum)

Format of the Test: There are 30 multiple-choice questions dealing with twelve passages from the literature we've read from Unit 4.

There is also one extra-credit matching section in which you match passages from the literature with the title/author and sometimes who is speaking.

American Literature – Overly Generous Unit 4 Test Review

Multiple Choice: Read each passage and then read the questions immediately after it. Think about the passage itself as well as what you remember about the author and the work of literature as a whole. Choose the __best__ answer to the following questions and darken the corresponding letter on your answer sheet. Mark only one answer per question and be sure to erase all mistakes **completely**. Please do not write on the question sheet.

Passage One is from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s //Nature//:

I become a transparent eyeball. ..

1. In this passage, Emerson is alluding to his concept of:

2. This passage (and the above concept) reveal Emerson to be a:

3. How are the ideas in this passage somewhat radical and untraditional?

Passage Two is from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s //Self Reliance//:

A foolish consistency. ..

4. This passage reveals Emerson’s belief in:

Passage Three is from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn”:

The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; And time the ruined bridge has swept Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

5. This passage shows how:

6. In this passage, the bridge is a:

Passage four is from Emerson’s “The Rhodora”

Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose! ...

7. To whom is the speaker speaking in this passage?

8. What concept of Emerson’s is hinted at in the final line?

Passage five is from Henry David Thoreau’s //Walden//: The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. ..

9. This passage reveals Thoreau’s:

10. In this passage, Thoreau suggests that we should live in such a way that we:

Passage six is from Henry David Thoreau’s //Walden//:

The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men;. ..

11. In this passage, Thoreau is warning us:

Passage seven is from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil.”

“Why do you tremble at me alone?” cried he. ..

12. In this passage, reverent Hooper is commenting on the way people:

13. In this story, the veil is an example of:

Passage eight comes from Herman Melville’s //Moby Dick//:

“Aye, Starbuck; aye. . . it was Moby Dick that dismasted me. . . Aye, aye! And I’ll. ..

14. In this passage, Ahab is revealed to be:

15. In this passage, we see that Ahab is not concerned about:

16. What is the symbol representing the evil Ahab sees in Moby Dick?

17. At the end of the novel (not in the excerpt from the book), we see a pattern of:

18. Which of the following is NOT a moral/lesson of //Moby Dick//?

Passage nine comes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life”

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts,. ..

19. Longfellow is expressing the idea that:

20. A lesson or message in this passage (and the whole poem) is:

Passage ten comes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls”:

The tide rises, the tide falls, The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; . ..

21. What do the curlew and the twilight represent in this passage?

22. Longfellow is criticizing the human tendency to:

23. What purpose to the repetition, rhyme and meter serve in this poem?

Passage Eleven is from Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “The Chambered Nautilus”

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl; Wrecked is the ship of pearl! . ..

24. In this passage, Holmes is revealing that:

25. Why does Holmes use the word “tenant” in the 5th line?

26. How is the description of the Nautilus a metaphor for human life?

27. In this poem, Holmes is trying to teach readers to:

Passage twelve is from James Russel Lowell’s “Auspex”:

My heart, I cannot still it,. ..

28. In this passage, Lowell is making a comparison between

29. In this poem, songbirds represent:

30. In this poem, leaves and snow represent: