The children awake, excited to see The ground buried with a blanket of snow. They jump out of their warm beds, filled with glee, "We want to go sledding; Mom, can we go?"
Mother says "dress warm" as it will be cold, The kids get ready and wear warm attire The childrens' joy brings back memories old As Mother loved sledding in years prior
They hop in the van and begin to drive Toward a winter wonderland of awe. The children give one another high fives, As it is the biggest hill they ever saw!
The huge hill is covered with bright white snow,
The children run up excited to sled,
Down the slippery slope they wish to go. They get themselves ready and down they head.
With great cheer in their eyes, the kids go down; One quick look up to see mother gazing. As they slipped, sledded and slid all around, She was cold and wished for a fire blazing
But what fun they are having on this day - Not locked up inside the house all alone. A little bit longer she'll let them stay, Before they pack up and start to head home.
Winter is the most beautiful of all the seasons. The most beautiful part of winter is the snowy days. Waking up to a snow covered ground, bundling up in all your comfy winter gear and braving the cold, all to enjoy the beautiful wonder of a snowy day. As you walk outside, you are blinded for a moment, by the pure white of the fresh snow. As you gain your vision again, you step out into fluffy whiteness and breathe in the cold, wintery air. As you walk through the beautiful white blanket, you hear the snow crunch loudly underneath your boots. Your footsteps remain, printed in the snow behind you. Snow continues to fall lightly from the sky. The falling snow falls and stays in your eyelashes, on your nose, and in your hair. You feel warm from all of your winter attire. From your boots, to your coat, to your scarves and your mittens, the cold of the snow cannot touch you. As you continue to walk through the snow, you suddenly realize exactly how quiet it really is. You begin to tune out the constant sound of your feet crunching on top of the snow as you walk and you realize that it is almost completely silent. The only sound that you hear is the soft sound that the wind is making. The world seems so peaceful on snowy days, like everything has stopped. Everyone is shut inside, trying to keep warm. Animals are hibernating. Everything has paused. You slowly walk back home, as youadmire the beautiful scenery. The trees are lightly sprinkled with snow, your roof is covered in the fluffy white stuff. You go inside and sit by the fire to warm yourself. The fire quickly warms you up as you drink delicious rich hot chocolate. You sit calmly by the fire, thinking about how the snow makes everything more beautiful. Something about a snowy day, where you do nothing but sit around a fire, drink hot chocolate and enjoy nature Is very relaxing.
On Dictionary.com, The word thanatopsis is defined as "a view or contemplation of death".
The poem "Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant is a poem that is about death and the circle of life and how death and nature exist together. It is kind of a weird poem, because it talks about death so much. I think that the poem is showing you that you should not fear death, because it is natural and it happens to everyone.
"Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts Of the last bitter hour come like a blight Over thy spirit, and sad images. Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart" (Bryant ).
This passage in the poem makes death seem very dark and scary. It talks about how people view death as sad and full of agony. "Breathless darkness" were two words that really stuck out to me in this passage. When I think of breathless darkness I think of the bottom of the ocean. I do not think that that is probably the image that the author was trying to get across, but that is one thing that pops in my mind when I hear that phrase. At the end of this passage, William Cullen Bryant says that when people think of death, they "grow sick at heart" This is another phrase that is very strong and shows how much people really hate death.
"Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go
25
To mix forever with the elements;
To be a brother to the insensible rock,
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon."This passage in the poem is a much lighter passage. It talks about how when you die, you return to the earth. It makes death seem like it is not as bad as a lot of people believe it to be. I think that by writing this in his poem,
"Sixty-six years have elapsed since the mortal remains of Benjamin Franklin were placed beneath a tablet in the Friends' Cemetery in Philadelphia; the granite obelisk which marks the last resting-place of his parents is a familiar object to all who walk the streets of his native city; but these graves, thus humbly designated, were, until a few days since, the only visible monuments of a name as illustrious as it is endeared" (Tuckerman)
This is the opening of Henry Tuckerman's literary criticism titled "The Character Of Franklin". When I read this passage, it makes me think that Henry Tuckerman is probably a fan of Benjamin Franklin. The part where Henry Tuckerman says that it has been sixty six years since the "mortal remains" of Benjamin Franklin have been buried, it makes me think that Tuckerman believes that only the mortal remains had been put to rest, and his writings and beliefs had all survived. This means that Tuckerman probably thought that Benjamin Franklin had a lot of good ideas and beliefs that Tuckerman probably shared with him.
The next part of this passage where it says "these graves, thus humbly designated, were, until a few days since, the only visible monuments of a names as illustrious as it is endeared." (Tuckerman).
The words that Tuckerman uses in this passage proves my point even more that he was probably a fan of Franklin. Two words that popped out to me in this passage were "illustrious" and "endeared". These words show that Tuckerman was fond of Franklin. According to dictionary.com, the word "illustrious"means "highly distinguished; renowned; famous". The word "endeared" means "to make dear, esteemed, or beloved" Tuckerman shows that he likes and respects Franklin and his writing when he uses these words.
"For the intangible aims of the metaphysician, the vagaries of the imaginative, the "airy bubble—reputation," he exhibited no concern; but the application of truth to the facts of nature and of life,—the discovery of material laws and their conversion to human welfare,—the actual influence of morals, economy, politics, and education upon civil society and individual deportment,—were problems upon which he never failed to think, read, talk, write, and experiment" (Tuckerman)
This passage from Henry Tuckerman's literary criticism is talking about how Franklin always found himself concerned with morals, economy, politics, and education and how they effected people. He says that Franklin wrote about these subjects a lot meaning that he really cared about them. I think that these topics were important to Benjamin Franklin because he cared about people and society. I think that he cared about people and society and just being a good person in general because he created a whole list of thirteen virtues that he thought would make him a better person. He created these virtues and practiced them and he perfected the virtues to cover all the aspects of his life. I think that Franklin created these virtues not just to make himself better but to also improve society. If more people in his time and even in our current time now used and practiced these virtues that Franklin created in their daily lives, society would improve a lot.
Bloom, Harold, ed. "The Character of Franklin." Benjamin Franklin, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCVBF019&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 14, 2011).
Franklin, Benjamin, and Leonard Woods Labaree. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale UP, 1964. Print.
The two fireside poems that I read were “The Cross of Snow” by Henry Longfellow Wadsworth, and “The Future Life” by William Cullen Bryant.
“The Cross of Snow” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a poem that was about him seeing his wife’s ghost in the night time. In the literary criticism that I read written by Randall Huff, he explains how Longfellow’s wife died and how it relates to the poem, “Her dress caught fire as she was sealing a locket of her daughter's hair (a far more popular keepsake in the 19th century than later), and Longfellow was severely burned as he put out the flames but failed to save her life.” (Huff Par. 2). This proves that the poem was probably about his wife because in line six the poem says, “Never through martyrdom of fire was led To its repose” (Longfellow line 6). The “martyrdom of fire” refers to the fire that caused his wife to pass away. In the poem, He says that she lived a benedight life which means that she lived a very blessed life. He also says that his wife has not changed since the day that she died which I think means that even though Longfellow’s wife had been dead for eighteen years, he still remembers her how she was when she was alive.
The other poem that I read, “The Future Life”, by William Cullen Bryant is a poem about love and if love still exists after life. I think that this poem is about someone that Bryant loved that had died. I think that Bryant is wondering whether that person still loves him even though she is in heaven and he is still on Earth. In one line of the poem, he asks:
“The love that lived through all the stormy past, And meekly with my harsher nature bore, And deeper grew, and tenderer to the last, Shall it expire with life, and be no more?”
In these lines, the author writes about how him and this person that he loved had been through a lot of bad times together and they made it through it together and still loved each other after it all, but now that she has died, he does not know if she will still love him.
Both of these poems were written during the romanticism time period and exemplify characteristics of romanticism writing. In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “The Cross of Snow”, there are many characteristics of romanticism writing that I found. One theme of this poem that is common in romanticism writing is love. I found this theme in the poem because he writes about his wife who even though she passed away, she still cared about her husband because she watched over him as he was sleeping. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow also used religion and nature in his poem when he wrote about the cross of snow that he saw on the mountains. Religion and nature are two common subjects written about in many pieces of romanticism writing. In the poem, “The Future Life” by William Cullen Bryant, the characteristics of the romanticism time period are love and religion. These two themes are used a lot in this poem because it is all about Bryant wondering if the person that he loved still loves him even though she is not alive any more. He talks about her being in heaven and wondering if she stopped loving him when her life ended.
Bibliography:
"The Cross of Snow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine. 1 Jan. 2004. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. .
"The Future Life by William Cullen Bryant." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine. 10 Apr. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
Huff, Randall. "'The Cross of Snow'." 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. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0091&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 11, 2011).
The poem, “Autumn”, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is a short poem that describes Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s views of autumn. I think that he really likes the season autumn because of the way he describes the season. He compares the season to an emperor named Charlemagne.
“Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,
Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand
Outstretched with benedictions o’er the land,
Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain!” ( Longfellow 5 – 8 )
He describes Autumn as an emperor standing on a bridge of gold, blessing the farms that are in its domain. I think that he says this because in the autumn, the leaves change colors and turn golden so that could be what Longfellow meant as “a bridge of gold”. Another thing that happens in the autumn that Longfellow referenced in this poem is how all the plants grow and all the crops are harvested. “Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain” means that when autumn comes, the farms are blessed because they are harvested. The line “Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne” describes autumn standing like an emperor. I think that since Longfellow described autumn in this way that it means that he probably really likes autumn.
The poem that I read today was by the fireside poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem was called “The Children’s Hour”. When analyzing this poem for its literal meaning, this poem sounds really creepy.If you look at it literally, it talks about an hour where children devour you with kisses and tie you up with hugs and then you capture them in a dungeon that is in your heart until your dungeon crumbles. It sounds really weird when you interpret it like that, but when you look at it figuratively, the poem sounds a lot better. The “Children’s Hour” that the poem talks about I am assuming, is when the children are about to go to bed and the narrator of the poem gets interrupted from his work by his children saying goodnight to him. His children are very young and energetic. I know this because in the 6th line the poem says “The patter of little feet” (Longfellow 6) and in lines 17 through 20, it says
“A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!” (Longfellow 17 - 20)
The children enter into the room where the narrator is working very energetically pretending to attack him. They attack him with hugs and kisses. The narrator says that when the children are attacking him, he is reminded of the Bingham of Bishop. The narrator talks about the Bingham of Bishop and his mouse tower. According to the literary criticism that I read which was written by Randall Huff, the poem is referring to a story of a man who collected a bunch of grain until everyone in the town except for him starved. So he collected all the grain and lived by himself until eventually some mice got in his tower and ate all the grain, which is why his tower is called the mouse tower (Huff par. 1). I think that the poem talks about this because the children were a lot smaller than the guy so he felt like they were just little mice crawling on him.
In the literary criticism, Huff says that Longfellow the names Edith, Alice, and Allegra, the names that Longfellow used for the children in the poem, are the names of his own children. I think that this poem shows how Longfellow feels about his children. I think that he really loves his children and that although he probably works very hard, he enjoys the time that he is able to spend with his children. You can tell that he enjoys joking around with his children daughters because he plays along with them when they attack him. He pretends that they are bandits,
“Do you think, o blue-eyed banditti, Because you have scaled the wall, Such an old mustache as I am Is not a match for you all!” (Longfellow 29-32)
Longfellow shows that he loves his daughters very much in lines 34 – 40:
“And will not let you depart, But put you down into the dungeon In the round-tower of my heart.
And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And moulder in dust away!” (Longfellow 34-40)
He threatens to capture them and lock them up, but instead of a scary dungeon he describes “the round tower of my heart”. He says that he will keep them there “forever and a day” meaning that he will always love them.
This poem contains the common romanticism characteristic of youthful innocence. The narrator in this poem starts out as being very serious but towards the end, when the children arrive, he becomes more youthful and innocent when he plays along with them. It also has the theme of love and family which is common in a lot of the fireside poems.
"Children's Hour, The by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine. 31 Dec. 2002. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.
Huff, Randall. "'The Children's Hour'." 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. (accessed December 7, 2011).
