W4 readings and authors

World Citizenry and the Changing American Dream
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1840) is best remembered for his
macabre short stories and poems. He’s often considered
the inventor of the modern short-story form and the inventor
of the modern detective story. Additionally, Poe wrote many
poems, including “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee,” and also
published literary criticism.
You will read in the biography in your textbook about Poe’s
complex and troubled life. His father abandoned his family,
his mother died when Poe was young, and Poe was taken in
by the Allan family. His relationship with the Allans
soured, and Poe eventually struggled with debt and alcoholism. Poe’s characters are
often dark and demonstrate a gothic quality. His works also tend to show the dark side
of the American Dream; materialism and competition often give way to loneliness and
isolation.
As you read “The Cask of Amontillado” this week, look for ways that the protagonist,
Montresor, demonstrates these qualities.

Robert Frost (1874-1963) is considered one of America’s
greatest poets. His poems are associated with the middle class
and known for their use of everyday language that make them
accessible to readers. Although he is commonly associated with
the “folksy” side of New England life, his work often touches on
universal themes.
As you read “Mending Wall” this week, think about what the
narrator of the poem is saying about fences and how that might
relate to the intersection of cultures. Does the narrator believe
that the fence is necessary? What does his neighbor believe,
and what might the fence represent symbolically? Why do “Good fences make good
neighbors,” and why should that thinking be challenged (Frost, 2017/1914, Vol. 2 p. 737)?
The narrator of the poem points out that the men are repairing the fence out of a sense of
tradition. The speaker of the poem says that the neighbor “will not go behind his father’s
saying” (Frost, 2017/1914, Vol. 2 p. 738). The speaker is challenging the traditional way of
thinking. Why?

Art Spiegelman (b. 1948) is a New-York-based American
cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate. He is best known for
his graphic novel Maus, which firmly established the relevance
of this genre. Maus describes an interview between a father
and son, Art and Vladek Spiegelman, concerning the father's
experiences during the Holocaust. The section you are reading
highlights the conflict between the father and his wife before
they have children and the way they dealt with the beginnings of
their oppression.
You can listen to an interview with Spiegelman and learn more about the making of Maus
at PBS.org's POV website and by viewing the video on the next screen.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was born in Concord,
Massachusetts. Thoreau was also a transcendentalist. Ralph
Waldo Emerson was his good friend and mentor, and
Thoreau actually lived on Emerson's property for two years while
he wrote Walden, his most famous work. Thoreau was an
abolitionist, and he also believed in civil disobedience was a way
to effect change. These beliefs influenced his other famous
work, "Civil Disobedience," also called "Resistance to Civil
Government," in which Thoreau contends that it is man's duty to
resist unjust laws and that government should be controlled by
the people rather than controlling its citizens. This text influenced later leaders such
as Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Please view the video on the next screen to see
more about the impact of "Civil Disobedience."

Sandra Cisneros (b. 1954) was born in Chicago and is the
daughter of a Mexican father and a Mexican American mother.
As a child, spent time living both in Chicago and in Mexico.
Her work focuses on Chicana feminism, which brings to light the
oppressive nature of both ethnic and gender bias. Chicana
feminism stresses that Chicanas face dual racism because of
both their ethnicity and their gender.
As you read the excerpt from “Woman Hollering Creek,” look for ways that Cleofilas faces
ethnic and gender bias. How does she eventually view herself?

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) was a Romantic poet who is
best remembered for the poem you are reading this week,
“Thanatopsis” (which means “a view of death” in Greek), when he
was just 17 years old. He was the editor of the famous New York
Evening Post for more than 50 years, and he used his position to
advocate for abolition, the rights of workers to unionize, and the
rights of religious minorities and immigrants.

Langston Hughes (1901-1967) is associated with the Harlem
Renaissance. He is best known for his poetry, although he also
wrote fiction and drama. His works show a strong association
with jazz, and his poems resonate with lyricism.
In “I, Too” and “Democracy,” which you are reading this week,
look for ways in which Hughes shows both the African American
struggle for equality and inclusion and the love of music and
language.
By the 1930s, he had become a political activist, and he was drawn to the ideas of racial
justice professed by the Communist Party. He was later called to testify before Senator
McCarthy's committee on subversive activity.
Instead of focusing on form in his poetry, he sought to "capture the oral and improvisatory
traditions of black culture in written form" (Levine, 2017, Vol. 2 p. 1036). His poems boil over
with emotionalism, anger, and confusion but are coupled with a curtailed optimism and hope
that the African American struggle may soon end. The short on the next screen features
Danny Glover's reading of Hughes's powerful poem "Montage of a Dream Deferred."

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