A.L.E .M Analyzing Literary Elements Magazine

By: Nicole Rafiqui, Sara Fuerst, Meredith Orr,

and Evan Hubbard

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Table of Contents Poems

Pg. 3 American

Pg. 4 Psalm of Life

Pg. 5 Old Ironsides

Pg. 6 The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

Pg. 7 Freedom

Pg. 8 The Rhodora

Pg. 9 Snow bound

Pg. 10 Thanatopsis

Non–Fiction Pg. 11 The Death of Edgar Allen Poe

Pg. 12 The Raven

Pg. 14 Ode de Walt Whitman

Pg. 15 Elizabeth Dixon Smith Greer Journal

Pg. 16 Narrative of Escaped Slaves

Pg. 17 Mary Paul‟s Letters Home

Pg. 18 Appeal on Behalf of the Insane

Pg. 19 Against the Mexican War

Pg. 20 Nat Turner‟s Confession

Pg. 23 The Blessings of Slavery

Pg. 24 The Cult of True Womanhood

Pg. 25.The Great Nation of Futurity

Pg. 26.Letter to Sophia Ripley

Pg. 28 The Liberator

Pg. 29 Three Spirituals

Pg. 31 Religious Revival

Short Stories Pg. 32 Loomings

Pg. 33 Uncle Tom‟s Cabin

Pg. 35 The Devil and Tom Walker

Pg. 35 An Occurrence at owl Creek Bridge

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American

By: Walt Whitman

The poem “I hear America Sing-

ing” by Walt Whitman is about the

workers in America talking about

their pride for their country. It‟s af-

ter the civil war, and America won

so naturally they are very prideful

in their country. Different workers

tell of how they feel towards

America and their jobs.

First the mechanics sing

about how strong and blithe they

are. The carpenter measures his

plank or board. The mason is singing as he gets ready to leave for work.

The boatman sings about what belongs to him in his boat, while the deck-

hand sings about working on the steamboat. The shoemaker sits on his

bench while the hatter sings as he stands. The wood cutter sings on his

way in the morning or noon intermission or at night. The mother and girl

sing while they work.

They all are very proud to be a part of the great country of

America. The citizens are happy with their jobs and feel that they

want to sing about it. They have much pride in their work, country,

themselves as Americans, and enjoy expressing it for all to hear.

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Psalm of Life

By: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The "Psalm of Life" is exactly what it says. Psalm means a song or

poem used in worship. So the title itself is saying let your life be a

song. In the beginning the poem it says, “Life is real! Life is earnest I

And the grave is not its goal” It‟s saying that you

need to live your life to its fullest, and not just sit

around waiting to go to your grave.”

Next the psalm says; Art is long, and

Time is fleeting… In the world's broad

field of battle, In the bivouac! Of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle be a

hero in the strife...” When it

says “Art is long, and Time is fleeting”

it is literally saying that a piece of art

will always last a long time, but times

will always keep- ing moving and

changing. Then when it says,” In the

world‟s broad field of battle… Be not

like dumb, driven cattle be a hero in

the strife…” It is saying that life is a

battle you will have your ups and

downs, but you have to strive to be

your best, live your life to the fullest, and be happy. “Act,-act in the living

Present!” That statement above means that you need to get up! If you do

not do anything, then you won‟t get anything done, you will miss out on

life. “We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time” In conclusion it says that we need to

make our lives “sublime”, which means grand. So we can make our lives

grand, and to live to its‟ full extent. When we die and our bodies are not

living anymore we can leave “footprints” of our lives for others to see.

5

Old Ironsides

By: Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Old Ironsides" is a poem that memoirs an old battle ship from the

War of 1812. The poem explains that the ship does not need to be taken

apart, but it needs to be sunken with honor. “Ay, tear her tattered ensign

down

Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see That

banner in the sky” That first section of the poem is saying that Old Iron-

sides has had it glory in the battle field. “And many an eye has danced to

see, that banner in the sky”, That part means that everyone has recognized

it‟s great victories. That is talking about all of the victories that the ship

has had against its opposes‟. In conclusion it says;

“Oh, better that her shattered hulk

Should sink beneath the wave;

Her thunders shook the mighty

deep,

And there should be her grave;

Nail to the mast her holy flag.

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the god of

storms,

The lightning and the gale! “

The last stanza says that it‟s better for the ship to be sunk where she

fought all of her battles on the sea. “And there should be her grave.”

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The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

By: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If you glance briefly at the title of this poem, "The Tide Rises, the

Tide Falls", you will just think that it is about the tide of a body of water.

But if you read the poem you will find that the words in it, and what the

poem is truly talking about goes much

deeper. The poem The Tide Rises, the

Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth

Longfellow, talks about changes

throughout life; death being one of the

big changes. In the beginning the poem

talks about how the tide moves, and that

it is starting to get dark outside, and the

traveler, which symbolizes human be-

ings, heads towards the town, which I believe symbolizes civilization.

Next it talks about how everyone and everything starts to settle in for the

night, but the tide continues to rise and fall. Lastly, the poem talks about

how the sun starts to come up, and a new day begins, but the traveler will

never come back. After the traveler, human being, leaves the sanded area,

it says that: “The little waves, with their soft, white hands, efface the foot-

prints in the sands” This line has some significance. This line shows that

a person‟s “footprints” represent the events and other things that have oc-

curred in a person‟s lifetime. In the poem when the footprints were

erased, it shows that the person‟s life has ended. At the end of the poem it

says:

“…The day returns, but nevermore

Returns the traveler to the shore,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.”

That stanza means that the traveler will not come back; that the trav-

eler died. This poem represents the changes throughout life. As humanity

grows and people die, all of the nature around us continues to live, it stays

the same. For example in the poem it talks about the tide. It rises and

falls. It doesn‟t stop.

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Freedom

By: James Russell Lowell

Freedom is an anti-slavery poem written by James Russell

Lowell. The speaker feels like slaves are in chains and that freedom is

not equal for everybody. This poem was written by a free man who was

against slavery. He was trying to prove a point that if America has slaves

then we are not truly a free country. He was saying that until slavery was

gone that no one in America would be free. The quote “leathern hearts”

implies that the pain they have suffered have hardened their hearts. The

speaker separates the stanzas with questions or an exclamation mark. He

does this so you really get the points he is trying to make. “Slaves unwor-

thy to be freed?” this quote is asking people to think about why slaves are

not freed. “Is it true freedom but to break Fetters (chains or shackles)”

this statement in the poem is showing the readers that freedom isn‟t just

breaking free on an object but it is having more freedoms.

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The Rhodora

By: Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Rhodora was written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson is

talking about nature and how beautiful it is. This poem was written by a

man who loved nature and was trying to show other people its beauty by

using tone and imagery. In the part where Emerson is talking about “if

eyes were made for seeing”, he is saying that eyes are made for seeing the

beauty in nature. “The same-self Power that brought me there brought

you.” Is talking about god and the nature he created for us to enjoy and

not to destroy. He is trying to make you think that maybe god put that

flower there for him to see and enjoy.

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Snow Bound

By: John Greenleaf Whittier

Snow Bound was written but a man named John Greenleaf Whit-

tier. Whittier starts by talking about the snow storm that was blowing

in. Then he goes on to talk about how beautifully the snow is and that it‟s

not a bad thing from hearing from society. Whittier uses a lot of imagery

in this poem to show how they were affected by the snow storm. When he

is describing the morning after the storm he says “The morning broke

without a sun”. He was making you imagine how cloudy and dark be-

cause of the storm. When he was talking about the fire they made he

made you imagine the sounds of the fire “heard the sharp crackle, caught

the gleam on white washed wall.” After reading that quote you can imag-

ine a fire crackling and the light from the fire on the wall. Whittier has

many line in this poem that have great imagery.

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Thanatopsis

By: William Cullen Bryant

The poem, “Thanatopsis” is all about nature, life and death. It talks

about a peaceful view of death, and the beautiful parts of living in the

perspective of William Cullen Bryant. Death is like a part of the return to

nature, like death is just another phase of life itself. „‟Earth, that nour-

ished thee, shall claim, Thy growth, to be resolved to earth

again,” (Thanatopsis 22). Bryant is saying that as a person has lived upon

the Earth, the Earth will now live upon that person. The person will live

on, but in another way. Bryant also tells the reader that he will not go to

death alone. Everyone who has ever died will already be there. Everyone

who has not yet gone, will be there eventually. Social class or age does

not matter, one thing is shared, and that one thing is death. In that way, all

are equal and death becomes the great equalizer.

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The Death of Edgar Allen Poe

By: H. A. Murena

“The Death of Edgar Allen Poe” was from the point of view of the

author H. A. Murena, one of the greatest writers in America. Murena was

talking about Edgar‟s death in his point of view, and what he would be

saying. “I die obscurely, defeated and ignored. Now I feel only a heavi-

ness of countenance, the stupor of one abruptly wrenched from vast and

profound dreams. It is well. I no longer complain.” (The Death of Edgar

Allen Poe 35-39) This is saying that Edgar is dying with no appreciation;

he is being ignored, like no one cares. But, the truth is; Edgar was one of

the most popular poets at the time, and everyone loved his work. Edgar

was drunk, and he died in a ditch. He died in a bad way, but his life was

not bad, without him realizing it. This poem shows a lot of imagery, you

can imagine a lot of things while reading the poem. “The night when I

wrote my first verse, when I heard the whisper, the diminutive worm of

corruption initiating its march in this Danish

youth, the very minute in which the valiant

prince had already been crowned for death,

and then I understood the deepest sense in

which that prince was I.” (The Death of Ed-

gar Allen Poe 10-16) You can imagine Poe

sitting, and writing his verses, at a young

age, and putting so much heart into his

work, and then later on, as you read, you see

him dying, with not being thankful, with ea-

gerness to die, and reminding himself that

no one cares about him— but people do.

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The Raven

By: Edgar Allen Poe

“The Raven” was written prior to the death of Poe's wife Virginia.

Many cultures believe that having a black bird in your house is an omen

of death, and since this is a British tradition. First he is about napping,

second he is thinking of Lenore, third he is scared and disturbed because

this raven is haunting him. He conflicts him by repeating the word never-

more and makes him question himself. “Deep into the darkness peering,

long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no

mortal ever dared to dream before; but the silence was unbroken, and the

stillness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whis-

pered word, “Lenore?” (Poe 25-30) This I whispered, and echo murmured

back the word, “Lenore!” The element of darkness and stillness and the

sense of thinking you are alone. The word nevermore has no meaning in

this poem. It is what is driving the man mad. He asks the raven many

questions, but the only answer he receives is the meaningless word, nev-

ermore. The raven symbolizes loneliness and going crazy with one self,

hearing sounds and smells and not being able to deal with your own

thoughts, self torture, and the physical features of a raven can kind of

show this. I think that the fact that Edgar Allan Poe was nuts, helped him

write this. The narrator is in a somewhat sleeping state when he believes

he hears someone knocking to enter his home. Upon hear this he instantly

remembers his lost love, and as we find out later in the poem when he

opens the door and calls for her, he is secretly hoping that she will be on

the other side of that door. Poe was fascinated by death, since he lost

some many loved ones, particularly women, when he was young. Not

only does Poe make a point of saying the raven instantly perched on the

bust, but he also In the beginning, the narrator tries to explain away the

raven's responses; "Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and

store, Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster, Fol-

lowed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore-till the

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dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore Of 'Never- never-

more'." (Poe 61-65) Basically, he says the bird picked up saying never-

more because his master said it all the time. Eventually, there is a shift in

how he views the bird. He begins to call it a prophet. He asks it a series of

questions: Is there balm in Gilead, is a biblical reference to a 'cure all'

balm that would sooth away pain; he's asking if the pain of losing Lenore

will ever go way. Will I ever see Lenore again?”

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Ode to Walt Whitman

By: Pablo Neruda

In the poem “Ode to Walt Whitman”, Pablo Neruda is thanking and

dedicating his life to Walt Whitman because of how he helped him. He

helped him become more American due to books and showing him how

to grow crops.

Pablo was once a slave but after he had Whitman‟s influence on him

he became a productive man who made a living. He gives credit to Whit-

man by saying “For my part, I, who am now nearing seventy, discovered

Walt Whitman when I was just fifteen, and I hold him to be my greatest

creditor. I stand before you feeling that I bear with me always this great

and wonderful debt which has helped me to exist.” He expresses his grati-

tude Walt who served as his mentor.

He changed Pablo‟s life. He changed him for having nothing to having

something. He teaches him that the world is cruel, but you have to look

on the bright side of things and be original. He will be forever grateful to

him for how he transformed his life for the better.

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Elizabeth Dixon Smith Greer Journal

By: Elizabeth Dixon Smith Greer

Elizabeth Dixon Greer is a wife and mother that traveled with her

family on the Oregon Trail. She kept a journal of her accounts while trav-

eling. Elizabeth Greer traveled from “the states” to Oregon. She and

many other families traveled this treacherous journey, which is known as

the Oregon Trail. This paper tells the accounts of her journey, and what

she went through. Elizabeth began to write a journal for her friends back

in the states. When she began traveling to Oregon she was with her seven

children, one which was a baby, and her husband. They started their travel

from La Porte, Indiana. In her second journal entry she said; “My hus-

band is sick. It rains and snows.” That statement represents close to her

entire journey. Several months after Elizabeth and her family left in April,

her husband became very sick, and he traveled inside of a wagon most of

the time. “Rain all day. It is almost an impossibility to cook, and quite so

to keep warm or dry. The whole care of everything falls upon my shoul-

ders.” When Elizabeth‟s husband was sick during their trip to Oregon, all

of the responsibilities that fell on her husband now fell on her.

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Narrative of Escaped Slaves

By: Benjamin Drew

These two stories are about two different strong African American

women who escaped from their master‟s houses. The first woman who

wrote her story was Mrs. James Steward. Mrs. Steward was originally

from Maryland. She and her family were taken to live with their

“master”. The man that she worked for was mean, and made her miser-

able. “ I was beaten at one time over the head by my master, until the

blood ran from my mouth and nose: then he tied me up in the garret, with

my hands over my head- then he brought me down and put me in a little

cupboard, where I had to sit cramped up…without any food. The cup-

board was near a fire, and I thought I should suffocate… We were all

afraid of master; when I saw him coming, my heart would jump up into

my mouth, as if I had seen a serpent.” In the paragraph above the sen-

tence, “when I saw him coming, my heart would jump up into my mouth,

as if I had seen a serpent.” Holds a great significance. The mere image of

this awful man made Mrs. Steward uncomfortable. She compared him to

a serpent; which usually symbolizes the devil, or something bad. But a

man that she knew, whose name was Jim, told her that he would come

and take her away from the horrid

place she was in. They planned to get

married. When their plan to escape

came into action they both escaped to

Canada. Mrs. Nancy Howard was the

other slave that successfully escaped

from her master and mistress.

She went through some terrible things; once she was hit on the

head, and her mistress was unable to stop the bleeding, so they had to call

for a doctor. Nancy said, “I sometimes dream that I am pursued, and

when I wake, I am scared almost to death.” The things that she had to suf-

fer through eventually ended when she was able to escape, but she was al-

ways haunted by her past.

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Mary Paul’s Letters Home

By: Mary Paul

Mary Paul sent multiple letters to her Father. She wanted to have

some independence before she got married. Based on her letters that she

wrote home she liked her new life working in a factory. The first letter

that Mary wrote to her father she said; “I want you to consent to let me go

to Lowell if you can. I think it would be much better for me than to stay

about here. I could earn more to begin with than I can anywhere about

here. I am in need of clothes which I cannot get if I stay about here and

for that reason I want to go to Lowell or some other place. We all think if

I could go with some steady girl that I might do well. I want you to think

of it and make up your mind…” In that letter she says that she wants her

father‟s consent to move and begin working in Lowell. She said that she

can earn more, and get clothes that she cannot get where she lived then. I

do not know why she wouldn‟t be able to get clothes where she originally

lived though. But by the tone that has been perceived in the first letter,

she seems like she just wants to get away from her home town. “…I am

well which is one comfort. My life and health are spared while others are

cut off.” In this fourth letter that Mary wrote to

her father she tells him about the dangers that

she has seen people face. But she is still happy

with her work. In conclusion it seems like

Mary enjoyed her time being away from her

home and having more independence to do

things on her own, but after being on her own

for sometime the tone of her writing seemed to

indicate that she was just “okay”. She was not

making as much money as she wanted, but it

was keeping her stomach full, clothed, and

sheltered.

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Appeal on Behalf of the Insane

By: Dorothea Dix

This was written by a woman named Dorothea Dix who was a

teacher that traveled across the county to get better care of people in the

insane asylums. She went to the legislature of Massachusetts to get them

to stop treating mentally ill people poorly. Dix used a lot of imagery to

tell people about the horrible living conditions in insane asylums. She

said that the people in the asylums were “in cages, closets, cellars, stalls,

pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience…”

This was written in 1843 when women were not well respective among

men she traveled the US to expose how mentally ill people were being

mistreated. She spent over 30 years devoted to this subject so that people

living in the asylums could have a better life.

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Against the Mexican War

By: Thomas Corwin

This was written by an American named Thomas Corwin he was op-

posed to the Mexican war. He thought that what America was doing to

Mexico was wrong and that we already have half of their land. He

thought that if we kept expanding that slavery would become more of a

problem between the south and the north. “Waste of blood as well as

money” he is saying that fighting for the land was being wasteful. At the

end he of the letter he said “let us wash Mexican blood from our hands”

He is trying to tell people that we just need to stop and clean our selves of

the bad things we have done. Corwin has good point throughout the letter

that make you think if the Mexican war was really a good idea.

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Nat Turner’s Confession

By: William Styron

“The Confessions of Nat Turner” tells the story of an actual slave

uprising organized by a slave named Nat Turner in the year 1831. The au-

thor spent countless hours poring through historical documents to provide

a framework for this fictional novel, in which William Styron attempts to

imagine what kind of man Nat Turner really was. The book opens with

Nat already captured and awaiting trial after the execution of his long-

planned uprising. Nat spends his final days reviewing his life and the

choices he has made. In the early part of the book, Nat tells us about his

younger years growing up on the Turner plantation. As a slave, Nat was

given the last name of the family who owned his parents. His mother, Lou

-Ann, was a house slave, which gave Nat a more privileged childhood

than he would have had as a field slave. House slaves were permitted to

eat their masters' table scraps -a much better diet than that of the field

slaves - and although they worked long hours, their duties were usually

not so physically exhausting as the intense labor endured by the field

slaves. Nat's early years were relatively sheltered, and he didn't learn the

harsher realities of slavery firsthand until later; he was even allowed to

learn to read and write, and he became something like a household pet.

As a child, Nat didn't understand the nature of his status in the household;

he thought of himself, quite naturally, as a loved member of the family.

The literacy and carpentry skills that Nat gained in the Turner house-

hold would one day help make him a leader of his people; most black

slaves were intentionally kept in an ignorant, illiterate state by their white

masters. Nat, with his grade school grammar, was one of the most learned

black men in the county. In later years, these skills would prove invalu-

able in helping Nat plan, organize, and execute a successful rebellion. He

could read a map, make written notes of his plans, and make a numerical

inventory of all of the firearms in the county available for the taking. He

also had the advantage of having studied history, including the exploits of

famous warriors such as Napoleon Bonaparte.

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Although he learned the skills that would one day enable him to lead

a rebellion early on, Nat did not begin planning one until years later.

When he turned twenty-one, he was sold by the Turners to a Reverend

Eppes, who later sold him to a man named Moore. Both Eppes and

Moore used Nat as a field slave, ignoring his quick mind and ingenuity

with carpentry tools. Nat's existence during this time was both physically

and mentally unbearable, with too much physical labor and nothing to

challenge his mind.

The worst part, for Nat, was that he had never expected to live out

his life as a slave. His master and erstwhile father figure, Samuel Turner,

had promised to give Nat his freedom when he turned twenty-five. Turner

betrayed this promise by selling Nat to Reverend Eppes but lied to Nat at

the time of the sale, telling him that Eppes had signed a paper agreeing to

free Nat in a few years. The realization that he'd been betrayed by Samuel

Turner came gradually to Nat; his initial credulity turned to bitter disap-

pointment as the

years went by and

Turner's promises

proved to be lies.

Fortunately for

Nat, the vicious

Moore died, and Nat

eventually wound up

at the Travis resi-

dence, where the

more kindly Master

Travis was eager to

put Nat's intelligence

and skills to use. For

Travis, Nat designed

and built several

highly ingenious

contraptions, which increased Travis' financial wealth. Despite the im-

provement in his circumstances, though, Nat's misery grew deeper. No

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longer could a naïve child, Nat not hide from the injustices he saw perpe-

trated on his fellow slaves every day. Nat had long ago declared himself a

Reverend, ordained by God in the church of nature.

As a spiritual man, Nat began to see that he had an obligation, as one

of the very few literate black men, to help his people. Nat studied strat-

egy, formed a plan for rebellion, and used his status as a preacher to con-

vert other slaves to his cause.

When the day came to execute his plan, Nat was determined to leave

no survivors; he knew that in order to make an impact on the long-

entrenched institution of slvery, the rebellion would have to be huge and

bloody. Nat and his band of seventy-five followers succeeded in execut-

ing fifty-five white slave-owners - the largest insurrection of its kind in

recorded history.

Nat's success came at a steep price, though. In retaliation, the white

militia killed over a hundred innocent black people, none of whom were

involved in Nat's rebellion, and some of whom were not even slaves. Of

the seventy-five slaves actually involved in the rebellion, about a dozen

were returned to their masters, fifteen or so were sold down the river to

hard labor and certain death, and seventeen, including Nat and his best

friend Hark, were hanged. Of whom were involved in Nat's rebellion, and

some of whom were not even slaves. Of the seventy-five slaves actually

involved in the rebellion, about a dozen were returned to their masters,

fifteen or so were sold down the river to hard labor and certain death, and

seventeen, including Nat and his best friend Hark, were hanged.

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The Blessings of Slavery

By: George Fitzhugh

This is written by George Fitzhugh he was a man that is for slav-

ery. He thinks that slaves have a good life and have everything handed to

them. Fitzhugh is trying to get people to think that slaves have better

lives than white people. He said that the men work “no more than nine

hours a day”. He thinks that that is a fair amount of work even though

they were doing hard labor. “The free laborer must work or starve. He is

more of a slave than a negro” Fitzhugh is comparing a free person that

does not get beaten and abused to a slave, saying that the slave has a bet-

ter life than a free person. He also says that the “negro slaves…are the

freest people in the world”. Fitzhugh was trying to get people to think

that slavery is better than being free.

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The Cult of True Womanhood

By: Barbra Welter

“The Cult of True Womanhood” can also be known as The Cult of

Domesticity. The historic view of this non-fiction story is that the Cult of

True Womanhood was a prevailing view among upper and middle class

white women during the nineteenth century, in Great Britain and the

United States according to the ideals of the cult of domesticity, women

were suppose to embody perfect virtue and lived in the northeast, particu-

larly New York and Massachusetts. Women were put in the center of the

domestic sphere and were expected to fulfill the rose of a calm and nur-

turing mother, a loving and faithful wife, and a passive, delicate, and vir-

tuous creature. These women were also expected to be pious and reli-

gious, teaching those around them by their Christian beliefs, and expected

to unfailingly inspire and support their husbands.

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The Great Nation of Futurity

By: John L. O‟Sullivan

The far-reaching, the boundless future, will be the era of American

greatness. In its magnificent domain of space and time, the nation of

many nations is destined to manifest to mankind the excellence of divine

principles; to establish on earth the noblest temple ever dedicated to the

worship of the Most High, the Sacred, and the True. Its floor shall be a

hemisphere, roof the firmament of the star-studded heavens, and its con-

gregation of Union of many Republics, comprising hundreds of happy

millions, calling owning no man master, but governed by God's natural

and moral law of equality, the law of brotherhood--of "peace and good

will amongst men." Yes, we are the nation of progress, of individual free-

dom, of universal enfranchisement. Equality of rights is the cynosure of

our union of states, the grand exemplar of the correlative equality of indi-

viduals; and, while truth sheds its effulgence, we cannot retrograde with-

out dissolving the one and subverting the other. We must onward to the

fulfillment of our mission--to the entire development of the principle of

our organization--freedom of conscience, freedom of person, freedom of

trade and business pursuits, universality of freedom and equality. This is

our high destiny, and in nature's eternal, inevitable decree of cause and ef-

fect we must accomplish it. All this will be our future history, to establish

on earth the moral dignity and salvation of man--the immutable truth and

beneficence of God. For this blessed mission to the nations of the world,

which are shut out from the lifegiving light of truth, has America been

chosen; and her high example shall smite unto death the tyranny of kings,

hierarchs, and oligarchs and carry the glad tidings of peace and good will

where myriads now endure in existence scarcely more enviable than that

of beasts of the field. Who, then, can doubt that our country is destined to

be the great nation of futurity?

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Letter to Sophia Ripley

By: Margaret Fuller

The women‟s right moment was one of the most controversial issues

in all of American history. On August 27, 1839, Margret Fuller wrote this

letter to society as a way to advertise to the word her opinion and to per-

suade the country. She suggested that she and other “well-educated and

thinking women” around the Boston area contribute to the weekly con-

versions about inspiring subjects. Two hundred women, throughout the

next five years, attended the weekly meetings.

Margret feels that it is time for the women to start voicing their opin-

ion. She believes strongly “in supplying a point of union to well-educated

and thinking women, in a city which, with great pretentions to mental re-

finement, boasts, at present, nothing of the kind, and where I have heard

many, of mature age, wish for some such means of stimulus and cheer,

and those younger, for a place where they could state their doubts and dif-

ficulties, with a hope of gaining aid from the experience or aspirations of

others”. She wants all well educated women to be able to be included in

the weekly meetings with the men. She is hoping that she will be able to

change the view on women. She is very determined.

But yet her ambition goes much further. She would like to “pass in

review the departments of thought and knowledge, and endeavor to place

them in due relation to one another in our minds.” She strives to change

the system of men only being able to talk about sophistaced matters. Mar-

gret wants to figure out what suits each person based on their time and

state in society. She asks questions like “What were we been to do? And

how shall we do it?” Only a few people ask themselves that and she

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would like to change that. She thinks that if she has the correct resources

to be sufficient to make her “its moving spring” then she will give it a

large portion of her time in these coming years, in which she will be her

best. Margret will be looking at it with full confidence, and so far she has

met it with success.

Margret Fuller is a very brave woman to start a movement like this.

She strongly believes that the women were not put here singly to work in

the house and raise the children, but that they have a greater purpose. She

hopes to not only impact Boston‟s society, but the whole United States.

She is very confident that her feminist movement will be met with suc-

cess.

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The Liberator

William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison was a fundamental abolitionist from Mas-

sachusetts. He advocated instant abolition of slavery. He worked to get

rid of slavery through the newspaper he created, “The Liberator.” Garri-

son was a brave man who stood up for what he believed in.

To many people William Lloyd Garrison was a disgrace. Many

people did not understand why he would stand up for the slaves, and

why he wanted them to be free. He was harassed and attacked by mobs

all to show how passionate he was in freeing the slaves. He was deter-

mined to do whatever he had to in order “lift up the standard of emanci-

pation in the eyes of the nation, within sight of Bunker Hill and in the

birthplace of liberty.”

He is trying to prove that what the nation stands for with equal right

for all men is not how we are acting. Our actions completely contradict

what our nation is all about. The American Declaration of independence

states “that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with

certain inalienable rights- among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit

of happiness.” He is determined to speak his mind and publish his opin-

ions “till every chain be broken, and every bondman set free!”

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Three Spirituals

By: Enslaved African Americans

In the Three Spirituals, they talk about slavery and the live they had

as a slave. The slaves sing and write about their lives and how they are

not perfect but they are still going to be taken to heaven along with their

friends and families.

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” talks about being taken to heaven. The first

and last stanzas are representing going home to heaven. The second

stanza is referencing the bible. It is referring to when the slaves were flee-

ing from Egypt and how they had to cross the Jordan in order to reach

their Promised Land. They looked over Jordan and saw a band of angels

coming to take them home to heaven. The third stanza says that if you get

there before I do know that I am coming home, and tell my friends I am

coming. Sometimes he has his up and downs but his soul is still going to

heaven.

“Go down Moses” is about Moses‟ calling from God to free the

slaves of Egypt. The first stanza is God telling Moses to go to Egypt and

tell Pharaoh to let the people go. Then it goes on to talk about how Israel

is in Egypt and the people are trying so hard to be freed that they are now

broken. The third and fourth stanza is God talking to Moses and telling

him to get the people out of Egypt‟s spoil and lead them to Israel. Then

they reached the other side and sung songs of praise and triumph.

“Follow the Drinking Gourd” is a song the slaves sing while working in

the fields. It uses a drinking gourd to symbolize the big dipper and in or-

der to become free; they need to follow the drinking gourd. They have to

hide during the day and run during the night in order to become free. It

tells them the path to follow to become free. It is a covert song. The first

stanza says when the sun comes up and the first quail calls there will be

people waiting to take them to the underground rail road. They will walk

along the river bank and follow the drinking gourd. Then the river ends

between two hills and there is another river

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on the other side, continue following the drinking gourd. Then when

the little river meets the bigger river they keep going till they meet the

old man who will take them to the Underground Railroad to freedom.

The above poems tell how the slaves would become free. It tells about the

difficulties they had to go through. They came up with many clever ideas

on how to tell people to become free. All the slaves wanted were to be

freed and have equal rights, and they finally got it after all their hard

work.

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Religious Revival

By: Charles Finley

Some Christians and upper-class folks believed that revivalism is an

embarrassment. Charles Finley thought otherwise. He was possibly one

of the most successful revivalists of his time. He believed in the prospect

“of group conversion through the hypnotic work of an effective minis-

ter.” Finley believed that the revival movement was absolutely essential

for Christianity to survive. It is next to impossible for a religion to survive

and make progress between

nations without the influ-

ence of revivals. They are

now attempting to educate

others causing cautious and

gradual improvements, but

unless people are more

open minded about things

there will be no change.

“There must be excitement

sufficient to wake up the

dormant moral powers…”

In order to change people‟s

ways and open their minds we must excite them so they will be inter-

ested. That is how God did it so therefore we must follow his example

also. Many people are afraid of becoming religious in fear they will be

laughed at. They are obsessed with idols and procrastinating repentance

and it must change. We will excite them until “they cannot contain them-

selves any longer.” Charles Finley was a very religious man. He believed

highly in religious revival. He stood up for what he believed in to the

point of being ridiculed and joked about. He believed in the cause and

wanted to see it happen.

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Loomings

By: Herman Melville

In the aged story of Moby Dick, "Loomings" is about an old man

that loves to get away from reality and go out to sea. Herman Melville

goes into detail about why Ishmael, the main character feels like he is be-

ing drawn towards the sea.

In Loomings, Ishmael is a man that is very pessimistic. But because

he is pessimistic and depressed, and he knows that he is, Ishmael wants to

get away from those feelings. In order to get away from the dreary feel-

ings he decides to go on a voyage on the open sea. “…whenever it is a

damp, drizzly November in my soul… that it requires a strong moral

principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, I ac-

count it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”

When Ishmael decides to go out into the sea he becomes relieved; it is

his alternative. Instead of becoming depressed he leaves his home and

takes to the sea. “This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philoso-

phical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the

ship.” Instead of killing himself he leaves everything, and goes out to sea.

He believes that “there is magic in it.” That statement means that Ishmael

thinks there is some kind of magical property in the water. In conclusion,

Ishmael finds himself drawn to the water.

Whenever he feels like he is becoming de-

pressed or when he finds himself

"involuntarily pausing before coffin ware-

houses..." Ishmael will return to the open

water. He believes that the sea holds a magi-

cal substance, and that will make him feel

better.

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Uncle Tom’s Cabin

By: Harriet Beecher Stowe

In this excerpt from the novel Uncle Tom‟s Cabin shows you how

cruel slave masters were to there slave. A woman named Harriet Beecher

Stowe she was and abolitionist that Abraham Lincoln said was “the little

woman who started this Great War!" In the excerpt Tom stood up against

his master after the master ordered him to beat a woman. Stowe used im-

agery and tone to describe the horrors of slavery. After telling his master

he would not beat the woman he was beaten himself. To show how badly

he was beaten she wrote “putting up his hand to wipe the blood that trick-

led down his face”. This gives you a good picture on how badly he was

beaten. It also shows courage, that he would say no to beating a woman

and get beaten for it. Stowe show what happens to slave when they stand

up against something that is wrong.

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The Devil and Tom Walker

By: Washington Irving

“The Devil and Tom Walker” Gentleman Geoffrey Crayon, a fic-

tional character created by the author, narrates the tale. He never refers to

himself by name, however, but he states that the story has been a legend

of the New England area for roughly a hundred years. Though the story

has been widely read and enjoyed since its first appearance, the book

Tales of a traveler was poorly received by critics who complained that its

writing was weak and unoriginal. The short story was a relatively new

form of fiction at the time, and many of its conventions were still being

defined by such writers as Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne

Some critics have given this as a reason for the artistic failure of many of

the collection's stones. Despite this negative reception, the story about an

unpleasant man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for wealth is

one of the works for which Irving is best remembered. Commonly re-

ferred to as a "comic New England Faust," the story bears many similari-

ties to the German folktale of Faust, a man who trades his soul to the

devil for a number of things, including love and money. Irving had trav-

elled widely in Germany by the time he wrote "The Devil and Tom

Walker," and it can be assumed that he was familiar with German Roman-

tic writer Jo-hann Goethe's version of the tale which was published in

Goethe's novel Faust. More so than European versions of the tale, Irving

instills the tale with the moral ideals common to New England in the

early nineteenth century. In an area settled by Quakers and Puritans, reli-

gious piety was of utmost importance to citi-

zens, and the lesson of Tom Walker's ruin il-

lustrated the sorrow that would befall unscru-

pulous sinners. Some have said that the "Devil

and Tom Walker" was a well-known folktale

in the New England area at the time, and Ir-

ving's retelling of it is a straightforward rendi-

tion of how he may have heard it from the re-

gion's Dutch inhabitants.

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An Occurrence at owl Creek Bridge

By: Ambrose Bierce

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce, is a

short story about the hanging of a southern man, Peyton Farquhar.

Ambrose Bierce was an unhappy, skeptical man. He grew up in Ohio,

where had an unhappy childhood followed by brutality during the civil

war. After the War he became a journalist in San Francisco in which he

became friends with mark Twine and Bret Harte who had similar experi-

ences. Many disasters affected his life so he travelled to Mexico and dis-

appeared.

In the beginning, two private soldiers of the Federal army were se-

lected by a sergeant to hang Peyton Farquhar from a bridge because of his

attempt to aid the Confederate army. He was to be executed. He looks at

the river‟s depth and sees that it is shallow and will defiantly kill Peyton.

Bierce uses that in order to distract the reader from the truth, but in reality

the river is so deep so when the rope breaks it seems he falls continually

into the water. We wait for his death but then are surprised that the river

cushions his fall. After freeing himself he begins to swim downstream

while being shot at. Soon he pulls himself out of the water to the shore.

He finally makes it home after walking all day and night. Just as he is em-

bracing his wife he feels pain in

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his neck and hears a loud snap. It was all just a dream, and he is dead

from the hanging.

Ambrose Bierce uses suspense and details to make you become a

part of the story. He does an amazing job at making you feel how Peyton

Farquhar felt while being hung. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

shows the possible strength a person has to live. But most of the time we

don‟t appreciate it.