Flower-de-Luce & April

The two poems that I decided to compare and contrast were the poems Flower-de-Luce by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and April by John Greenleaf Whittier. Both of these poems fall under the writing style of Romanticism. Romanticism, as defined by dictionary.com, is the romantic style or movement in literature and art. So basically, the some of the characteristics of Romanticism include that it is poetic and elegant sounding. At least I think that it sounds that way. Compared to the other types of writing styles we have looked at, I think that this one is a little more flowery than the rest. Another characteristic that Romanticism possesses is the fact that it includes a lot of things about nature. Every poem that falls into the Romanticism writing style time period includes nature in their poems some way or another. Anyway, the first poem that I read was Flower-de-Luce by Henry Longfellow. This one was my least favorite out of the two just because it was more sad than the other one, and not near as uplifting. The poem basically is about the author and how he loses someone or a friend that was very close to him. It talks about how he tries to cope and deal with the loss, and how no one else can ever take his friend's place. For example, in the poem it states, (Longfellow 33-36)

"Ah! who shall lift that wand of magic power,

And the lost clew regain?

The unfinished window in Aladdin's tower

Unfinished must remain!

The other poem that I read was April by Whittier. I felt that this one was a much more uplifting poem just because it was talking mostly about Spring and that is the time when life springs up from the earth. I guess that is what makes them opposite then. Flower-de-Luce talked about death and how the author viewed it and was able to cope with it. April on the other hand is all about how the author cannot wait for Spring to come because that it when the sunshine comes, etc. For example, Whittier writes, (lines 23-25)

"O soul of the spring-time, its light and its breath,

Bring warmth to this coldness, bring life to this death;

Renew the great miracle; let us behold"

I think that this poem is beautiful actually. The author not only talks about how he loves spring for all of the normal reasons, but he also compares it to our faith and how during spring it feels alive again and renewed after going through long, hard winter. I think that this poem is very thoughtful and I really enjoyed reading it! Another example that I really liked was lines 28-29.

Let our faith, which in darkness and coldness has lain,
Revive with the warmth and the brightness again,

Both of these poems were great examples of the Romanticism period and I enjoyed reading them both although April was my favorite. They both have many similarities and differences. As I said before, on is about death and one is about life. However, they both portray the same writing style and include nature in some way or another.

P.S - Sorry I did not include literary criticisms. I had trouble finding them.

Greenleaf, John. "April by John Greenleaf Whittier." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

Longfellow, Henry W. "Hawthorne. Flower-de-Luce. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1893. Complete Poetical Works." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 09 Dec. 2011. .

Journal #20 - Autumn, an original journal by Abigail E. Ulrich

This poem is a great example of the Romanticism writing style. Like all of the other poems we have read so far, this one portrays the writing style because it is very descriptive and relates to nature in some way or another. This poem here is about how the speaker is really happy that Autumn is coming. I did not like this poem near as much as the poem we read the other day. The Chambered Nautilus I think first of all, was way more interesting and imaginative. Unlike this one, The Chambered Nautilus was a whole little story about the nautilus or the creature and I think was a good and imaginative little story. This one, on the other hand, is just describing how much the speaker likes Autumn. For example, the poem states, "Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain, With banners, by great gales incessant fanned." (Longfellow 1-2) The sonnet also describes some of the events that occur in Autumn. Longfellow describes things about the farmers and the harvest moon. "Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain" and "Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended." (Longfellow 8-9) This is saying that Autumn is a great blessing to the farmers and it also describes the big red harvest moon. Like I said before, this is very descriptive and that is why it falls into the Romanticism period. So, I thought this poem was pretty boring, but this is just one poem out of the many that have been written during the Romanticism period. Overall or in general, I think I like the Romanticism period. I think that the reason I do not like this poem over the other poems we have read is because to me, it is a lot harder to understand than other ones such as The Chambered Nautilus. This poem also includes a metaphor such as "Like flames upon an alter shine the sheaves." (Longfellow 12) I did like this poem a little bit though because it was short and simple once you figured out what it meant.

The Chambered Nautilus Reflection

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the poem The Chambered Nautilus. I did like the poem, however I thought that it was a little hard to read at times just because of the writing style. So anyway, the poem starts out like this...

THIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,—
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings,	5
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair (Holmes).

This is basically saying that the nautilus creature is sailing from place to place. It describes the sirens and the coral reefs.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,—
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed (Holmes)!

The second little paragraph describes how the shell broke. I hate this part. It is hard to go into detail on these things and write more because they really are simple and do not have to say much to get the point across.

As for the rest of the poem, the third paragraph talks about how the creature had worked really hard to build up his shell. Every single year he had to do this, because each year it would grow. Then the fourth paragraph it sounds as if the nautilus is dead. "From thy dead lips a clearer note is born" (Holmes). Finally, the very last and final paragraph is about how his shell got bigger and better each time and how his outgrown shell would stay there in life's unresting sea. I really liked this little poem actually. Other than it being a little hard to read, once you actually got what it was saying, it was really good. I really liked how they incorporated a little bit of mythology in there as well. For example, in the poem it says, " Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!" (Holmes.) I think that this adds a very nice touch (Huff). This would fall somewhere in the Romanticism period because it is filled with detail and uses very descriptive language throughout the whole thing. I think that it would also fall into this category because it still has a little bit of that childlike story element to it.

"801. The Chambered Nautilus. Oliver Wendell Holmes. 1909-14. English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman. The Harvard Classics." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 07 Dec.

Huff, Randall. "'The Chambered Nautilus'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Irving Reflection Blog

Both of the stories that we had to read are considered to be of the Romanticism period. The Romanticism period was a time when people often used very descriptive writing. The writing would pay great attention to little details and many of it would be about nature and things of that sort. I personally like the Romanticism because it was really descriptive. I think that the more detail the better! Well, maybe not always but to a certain extent, I love it because it makes the reading so much more interesting. The more something is described, the better you can imagine it. Anyway, the two stories that we read were both different and similar to each other. The first story is about a man named Rip Van Winkle. Now Rip Van Winkle was described as a very nice and charitable man. However, he never did what his wife said eventually, his home was failing (Rip paragraph 8). Basically, the whole moral of the story was that you should not let your life pass you by. Now, in the other story that we read, the theme was pretty much to not be greedy and to try and live a life that does not focus just on all material things. In the story The Devil and Tom Walker, a man named Tom is well known for being greedy. His wife is also very greedy and they do not have a very loving relationship what so ever (The Devil and Tom Walker). In the tale, he makes a deal with the devil and is greedy his whole life. In the end, he tries very hard to outsmart the Devil or to beat him, but as expected, he was just taken away in the end. This story relates to the Romanticism period especially because it is about how being greedy is not the right way to live. It is also about how there are way better things than just material items or things in life. This also relates to the Romanticism period because like I said earlier, it is very descriptive. A difference between the two stories would be how the two main characters are very different from each other. Rip Van Winkle can help others and work for them, but not so much for himself. I think that is very strange. Tom on the other hand, uses people and for the most part makes money off of them, but he does not work for them, he just rips them off. (D'Ammassa). For some reason however, the both tend to have some problems with their wives. Anyway, these stories both include a good lesson of some sort and they also both include the Romanticism style of writing. I did like both of these stories for the most part, but even though I really like descriptive writing, I feel like sometimes they both just kind of drug on. Overall though , I thought that they were very interesting and they did have both some similarities and some differences.

D'Ammassa, Don. "'Rip Van Winkle'." Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EFHF0432&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 6, 2011).

Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 242-250. Print.

Matthews, Washington Irving. "4. Rip Van Winkle By Washington Irving. Matthews, Brander. 1907. The Short-Story." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 06 Dec. 2011.