Dear All,
Should you feel like doing so, have a look (and a listen) to one of the most important poets of the turn of the last centrury, Robert Frost (1874 - 1976), reading his famous "Birches"...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBw-OaOWddYAlthough towards the end the poem loses its momentum a bit, the beginning is just superb...

Birches
(Roberst Frost)
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay
As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
But I was going to say when Truth broke in
With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm
I should prefer to have some boy bend them
As he went out and in to fetch the cows—
Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,
Whose only play was what he found himself,
Summer or winter, and could play alone.
One by one he subdued his father's trees
By riding them down over and over again
Until he took the stiffness out of them,
And not one but hung limp, not one was left
For him to conquer. He learned all there was
To learn about not launching out too soon
And so not carrying the tree away
Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise
To the top branches, climbing carefully
With the same pains you use to fill a cup
Up to the brim, and even above the brim.
Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.
So was I once myself a swinger of birches.
And so I dream of going back to be.
It's when I'm weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
From a twig's having lashed across it open.
I'd like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:
I don't know where it's likely to go better.
I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches. 

FIESTA by Ernest Hemingway - 1926

The plot takes place in France and Spain in period after 1st World War.

The main characters are:

Jack Barnes – an editor, who is also a narrator of the whole novel

Brett Ashley –  34 years old pretty women with short hair cut, emotionaly disbalanced, scandalous,      promiscuous, femme fatale

Mike Cambel, Robert Cohn ( Jew),  Bill Gorton.

They are all of them more or less good friends,  come from middle or lower classes and they are also bohemians, heavy drinkers and some of them layabouts. 

Hemingway called them – „lost generation“.

Before I tell the story I would like to explain the word Fiesta. Fiesta in this novel means seven days long celebration of bull fights in a town called Pamlone in Spain. People celebrate Fiesta in streets, bars, restaurants.

I am going to tell the story since Jack and Bill moved to Spain countryside for fishing eels at river Irati. Hemingway describes in all details nature, relaxed mood, summer weather, passion for fishing, drinking etc. Later their friends came to Pamplone for Fiesta and bull fights and all of them met there. They stayed in a local hotel where aslo stayed on of the toreadors – Pedro Romero – handsome, 19 years old promising toreador.

Then Hemingway descibed Fiesta celebration in streets and most of all he narrated in details the arena and bull fights. I did not like this part very much as I do not like killing animals just for pleasure, entertainment even if is it a national tradition. Anyway during bull fights Brett crazy and seriously fell in love with Pedro Romero – the toreador. Her lover Robert Cohn was extremely jalous and the novel escalated into serious  and physical fight between Cohn and Pedro Romero. The result was that Cohn had to leave Pamplone by morning train.

The Fiesta came to its end and the rest of the group was leaving the town Pamplone. Brett left with Pedro Romero into Madrid. Jack – the narrator decided to „restart himself“ after seven days long celebration and spent a couple of days at sea cost in Spain in town San Sebastiano. Last chapter I really liked because Hemingway described in particular deatils landscape of San Sebastiano. He also narrated how was Jack enjoyed swimming in the sea, sunbathing, watching people and relaxed atmosphere of the sea cost. He also described in particular details for example how Jack took off his clothes and put on the swimming suits and vise versa after swimming. Sudenly Jack got an urgent telegram form Brett who was in that time in Madrid with Pedro Romero. Jack packed all of his stuff and went by night train to Madrid. In a hotel Montana he met with Brett who is dissapointed and confused by Pedro Romero. Jack calmed her down and went with her for a walk…That is the end of the novel.

I would like to add that in the whole novel goes as a red line alcohol – lots of bottles of wine,  beer and local spirits.

Dear All,

Below please find lins for relevat videos for classes no. 2 and 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb-hwaKWx7I
https://prezi.com/2dujs9eizx9_/amlit-1608-now/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBcMFaSDErc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R0quok0dR0

All the best,

M

Aspects of romancticism in Poe's literature

Characteristics of romancticism literature 

- Period 1770 / 1848
- Emphasize emotions, apprehension, beauty of a nature, horror and terror
- Prioritezed folk art more than noble society
- Melancholy was quite the buzzword for the Romantic poets, and altered states of consciousness were often sought after in order to enhance one’s creative potential

'' Edgar Allen Poe, today recognized as the most purely Romantic poet and short story writer of his generation. Poe crafted fiction and poetry that explored the strange side of human nature. The English Romantics had a fascination with the grotesque and of “strange” beauty, and Poe adopted this aesthetic perspective willingly. His sing-song rhythms and dreary settings earned him criticism on multiple fronts, but his creativity earned him a place in the first rank of American artists. He is credited as the inventor of detective fiction, and was likewise one of the original masters of horror. A sometimes overlooked contribution, Poe’s theories on literature are often required reading for students of the art form. ''

Romancticism." Online-literature

Some attributes of romanctism literature:

Location:  

The Raven - cold dark room of a narrator, dying fire
The Fall of the House of Usher: Big old house, where are windows are covered and where is always dark

Magic, Mysteries

The Raven: Midnight in December, month when something ends and new chapter opens
The “many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore” may very well be books of black magic which the protagonist studies in order to raise the ghost of his beloved, and so attain “surcease of sorrow (Byrd Howell Granger) 
The Fall of the House of Usher: The mystery disease of Lord Usher and his sister - today we would call it " hypersesthesia (hypersensitivity to textures, light, sounds, smells and tastes),hypochondria (an excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness) and acute anxiety" (wikipedia)



 Sources

• Wikipedia contributors. "Romanticism." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 7 Mar. 2017. Web. 7 Mar. 2017.
• Wikipedia contributors. "The Fall of the House of Usher." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 Feb. 2017. Web. 9 Mar. 2017. 
•  Romancticism." Online-literature. Jalic Inc., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2017. <http://www.online-literature.com/periods/romanticism.php>. 
•  Granger, Byrd Howell. "Devil Lore in “The Raven”." The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore . The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore , 1 May 1997. Web. 9 Mar. 2017.

Dear RS13 Bloggers,

Welcome to your shared blog on American literature. This blog offers you an opportunity to engage in discussing and/or thinking through relevant topics for our Friday literature class. In addition to this, it can be seen as a methodological demonstration of what can be done with literature in ELT and a probe into what may and what may not work with your own students.

With this being said, each week, I will try to initiate a discussion based on topics related to our next class by posting questions, comments and/or other potentially interesting content, and ask you to respond to it in any way you see fit. There are no limits, restrictions or suggestion regarding the length or nature of your response!

Let us try to make this work and enjoy the opportunity.

Once again, thank you for your willingness to make this happen,

All the best,

Martin

AmLit discussion questions (choose one - or more - and leave a comment!)

1. The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher are often described as “romantic”, can you think of reasons why?

2. Compare the following extracts from two important documents in American history? What is the main difference between the two? And do teh yhave something in common?

from “The Mayflower Contract”( November 1620)

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.

from The Declaration of Independence (In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776)

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.  

3. Go online a Google up some of the available translations of Poe's "The Raven". Which one do you like/do not like and why? For example you can begin with a relatively new version by Miroslav Macek:

http://www.macekvbotach.cz/edgar-allan-poe-krkavec/