Literature Spring 2006: Codeword American Renaissance
Edith Wharton was a close contemporary to
Walt Whitman and
Mark Twain--but light-years from both in terms of her social standing.
Born Edith Jones in 1862, in the midst of the
Civil War, she was of wealthy English and Dutch parentage and part of New York's "old rich."
She showed promise as a writer early on, and was encouraged by none other than
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1885, at the age of 23, she made a "good" marriage to Boston banker Edward Wharton. Her portrayals of women trapped in conventional marriages and spending their time in approved-of activities--flower-arranging, party-giving, and the like--spring from her own intimate experiences as a woman in the upper class.
Her first book,
The Decoration of Houses (which is still
in print), was written with her architect friend, Ogden Codman. The two tastemakers denounced
Victorian decorating practices--rooms heavily curtained and crammed with overstuffed furniture, "lambrequins, jardinières of artificial plants, wobbly velvet-covered tables littered with gewgaws, and festoons of lace on mantelpieces and dressing tables."
Instead, they proposed creating rooms based on simple, classical design principles, stressing symmetry, proportion, and balance in the architecture.
Click here and then click on The Estate to see images from Wharton's summer home in Lenox, Massachusetts, which was designed according to the principles in her book.
Edith Wharton built her way from "lady writer" to one of the finest novelistic geniuses of the 20th century. She is acknowledged as an important figure of the
American Renaissance (more widely and less politely known as "The Gilded Age," a term coined by our friend
Mark Twain).
Edith Wharton also reflects a bridge between then and now in American society: a woman who married within her class in 1885, she was also among the first generation of women to divorce because of personal choice in 1913. After nearly 30 years of marriage, she made her life alone in Paris, where she died in 1937.
[portrait of Edith Wharton at
age 19, via the
Smithsonian]
Whitman's Leaves of Grass
Self-taught scholar, small-town teacher, big-city printer's assistant, Brooklyn journalist, and wartime nurse to Union Soldiers,
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is best-known for his ever-growing volume of poetry,
Leaves of Grass. Beginning with a slim volume of a dozen poems and eventually growing to more than 380 poems at his death in 1892,
Leaves of Grass is still studied, and copies of it are given as gifts.
Here are some questions to answer, using the links I have provided. You can comment here, or bring in your written answers to class:
How can you describe--in your own words--the
philosophical movement Whitman is associated with?
According to the article from
the Academy of American Poets, what is Whitman's "greatest legacy"?
Name a couple of highlights you'd like to experience from a
Walk in Soho with Walt Whitman.
Where would you have to go to visit the only house Whitman ever owned?
With what White House scandal is
Leaves of Grass associated? (Hints: it's recent, and you can ask your parents.)
Last but not least: Why, in your educated opinion, did Mr. Whitman choose to title his volume
Leaves of Grass?
Code Name: Presidents Day
And speaking of Presidents Day:
Did anyone ever tell you any of
these weird facts?
Did you know that the
Gettysburg Address is only
269 words long?
[Image shows
Allan Pinkerton, the world's first "
private eye," President Lincoln, and Union Army Major General
John McClernand, 1862]
Fuzzy Boundaries
Let's start with a little light reading:
"...And provided also, That the said state shall have concurrent jurisdiction on the river Mississippi, and every other river bordering on the said state so far as the said rivers shall form a common boundary to the said state; and any other state or states, now or hereafter to be formed and bounded by the same, such rivers to be common to both; and that the river Mississippi, and the navigable rivers and waters leading into the same, shall be common highways, and for ever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said state as to other citizens of the United States, without any tax, duty impost, or toll, therefor, imposed by the said state."
Whew. You got all that? Me too.
Basically, all that language from Congress's Conference Committee Report on the
Missouri Compromise says that Missouri was accepted into the United States as a slave state in 1820, the same year Maine was accepted as a non-slave state, thus keeping the delicate balance even. And that further, Missouri was considered to have jurisdiction over half the Mississippi River, while its neighboring states had jurisdiction over the other half.
O-kay. So how you do divide a river? On the one hand it seems simple enough, but in practice, out on the water...it's a little iffy, ain't it?
So all along the way through history, because of the river and because of the state's geographic position, Missouri stayed sort-of iffy. Not quite Mississippi, and not quite Illinois.
Today, the concept of slavery--long thought to be abolished--is still pretty iffy, too.
Click here to see areas in the world that are considered to still harbor slavery. You will be a bit surprised.
Handsome Is As Handsome Does
Recent comments in class and here about the looks of Mark Twain and Walt Whitman got me thinking about beauty, male and female, 19th century and now. Here are some random links:
The Female Body in Mass MediaReflections on male beauty then and now from
The Harvard Crimson, of all places.
Images of Walt Whitman from
Google.
And Mark Twain young and old,
here.
Lest we forget, these guys were not remembered for their good looks, but for their
deeds and
words.
Code Name: "I See the Wire"
Ah, thanks for stopping by. If you actually did visit this site over the weekend, you can let me know by saying "I see the wire" when you see me again on Monday.
Want to see the wire? Look closely at this photo.
And then at this quote from the
Library of Congress's "Revising Himself: Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass":
Whitman and the Butterfly
This photograph, taken in 1877, was one of Whitman's favorites. He used the butterfly-on-hand as a recurring motif in his books and intended for this photo to be reproduced as the frontispiece in this sample proof of Leaves from 1891. To foster the image of himself as one with nature, he claimed that insect was real and one of his "good friends." But a band visible around Whitman's finger matches the wire under the butterfly artifact (above). This colorful cardboard prop was tucked into one of the first Whitman notebooks donated to the Library in 1918. The word "Easter" is printed down its spine. Dr. Bucke, one of his literary heirs, said the butterfly was Psyche, the poet's soul.
First Assignment: Whitman's Butterfly
We begin our exploration with a bit of
lepidoptery. Your mission for the weekend is to discover what you can about Walt Whitman's
cardboard butterfly.
Yes, you read me right. I want you to hunt a butterfly through the Internet. You may take a companion on this journey...a friend, a classmate, a parent, a sibling. Anyone with a taste for this timid adventure will do.
Answers? There are no particular answers. Just bring back some interesting observations of this curious
phenom for Monday.
Start
here.
[images via Library of Congress
American Memory program]
Welcome to The American Voice: Explorations
Bookmark us! This site is created and hosted by students and faculty at Emerson Preparatory School in Washington, D.C. During the Spring 2006 term, this site will feature the explorations and discussions of Ms. Schamess's American Voice class, featuring the literature of North and South America. Here is our reading list. Click on the titles and author names to gain more insight.
We will also read from three special packets to accompany each unit. Information on those packets will be posted soon.
Unit One
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Baltimore’s Mansion by Wayne Johnston
Unit Two
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
Unit Three
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
The Magic of Blood by Dagoberto Gilb (click here for another good link or here for another to Gilb)
Note: Although the inspiration for this site came from the work and curriculum of the school, this is an independent blog that will host student work, assignment ideas for the high school level, and an ongoing exchange among students and teachers.
