Transcript of EXTREME Romanticism - Hardcore nature fan, believer in total freedom - Activist against slavery and...
- Slide 1
- Slide 2
- EXTREME Romanticism - Hardcore nature fan, believer in total
freedom - Activist against slavery and injustice - Beyond poetry:
what do Romantic ideas say about LIFE, DEATH, GOD? - Romanticist
religion or philosophy of life: Transcendentalism
(go-beyond-ism)
- Slide 3
- When walking home one day, Bryant saw a waterfowl and realized
that the bird, while seeming alone, was actually being guided by
some higher being, as was he himself, and that they both would find
their way. Finding religion in nature Nature is the visible face of
God
- Slide 4
- Stanza One Where you are among the dew and the glowing skies in
the last hours of the day, far through the sunset, do you pursue
your own way? For selfish reasons, the hunters eye may catch youso
he can kill you! Your dark figure contrasts with the red sky as you
float along. Stanza Two BYAAAAA!!
- Slide 5
- Stanza Three Do you seek a marshy, weedy lake or the edge of a
wide river, or where the waves rise and fall on the worn- away
shore of the ocean? There is a higher power (God) that teaches you
the way, even though it seems like you have no path. The desert and
the air are limitless, like you and me we are wandering alone, but
we are not lost. Stanza Four
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- Stanza Five All day your wings work hard while you fly high in
the cold, thin airbut dont get tired and stop on the land even
though the dark night is near. Like the bird, people should not
yield to weariness. They should persist, sustained by faith in a
higher power, until they reach their goals. Soon your hard work
will end; you will find your summer home and rest, and talk with
the other birds; soon youll have a comfortable nest. Stanza
Six
- Slide 7
- Stanza Seven Although the waterfowl has disappeared into the
unseeable depths of the skies, his lesson has sunk deep into the
speakers heart. The higher power who guides your flight through the
limitless zones of the sky will lead my steps on my long trip home.
Seven Eight The main theme of the poem is that just as God guides
the waterfowl to its summer home, He too can guide your life until
you reach your final destination.
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- What does this question about the birds destination suggest to
you about the poets state of mind? What different effect is
conveyed by the poems focus upon a solitary bird (rather than one
in a flock)? How does the introduction of the hunter (a second
human observer) help to establish the poets sympathy with the bird?
Why is it important that the poet should imagine a restful
homecoming for the bird before it disappears? How do lines 25-26
anticipate the parallel between the birds flight and the poets
earthbound journey? What inner assurance has the poet gained? What
has provided this new assurance?
- Slide 9
- What does this question about the birds destination suggest to
you about the poets state of mind? The poet is in a pensive,
inquiring mood. He is trying to understand the meaning of what he
sees. What different effect is conveyed by the poems focus upon a
solitary bird (rather than one in a flock)? The solitary bird is a
picturesque image, and suggests the individual traveler on his
journey through life. How does the introduction of the hunter (a
second human observer) help to establish the poets sympathy with
the bird? The hunter wants to kill the bird, but the poet wants to
observe and understand it. This contrast makes clear the poets
sympathy with the bird.
- Slide 10
- Why is it important that the poet should imagine a restful
homecoming for the bird before it disappears? The image of the bird
as a lonely, weary traveler helps the poet to identify with the
bird and imagine for the bird a homecoming such as the poet would
enjoy. How do lines 25-26 anticipate the parallel between the birds
flight and the poets earthbound journey? The birds disappearance
into the abyss of heaven may parallel the human souls disappearance
at the end of its journey. What inner assurance has the poet
gained? The poet is assured that the Power that guides the bird to
its end will also guide the poet through life to a final peaceful
rest. What has provided this new assurance? Observation of the
bird, whose tiring travels will end in a summer home, and
rest.