Romantic Period Study Guide
Guided Notes
Romanticism
-Romanticism is the name given to those schools of thought that value _____________ and _____________ over
_____________.
-The _____________ movement in ___________________ took different forms: the _____________, the
_____________________, and the _____________________.
-Romanticism looks backward to the wisdom of the ___________ and distrusts ____________.
Transcendentalism
-________________________was the pioneer transcendentalist thinker.
- Transcendentalists believed that you could find God in __________ and within ______________.
-According to the transcendental view of the world, everything in the world is a reflection of the _________________,
the source of all good.
-Transcendentalist value two main things: ______________ and ______________. They also dislike two main parts of
American society: _________________ and _____________________. (We listed these almost daily in class)
Gothicism
-The Dark Romantics, which typically include ________________________, __________________________, and
__________________________.
- In Dark Romantics’ literature, the writers explore the conflict between __________ and ____________, the
psychological effects of __________ and _____, and even _____________ in the human psyche.
Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment
1. According to the narrator, what does Dr. Heidegger give his friends to drink?
2. What do Dr. Heidegger’s friends resolve to do the next day?
3. What do his friends learn from their experience?
4. How is this story an allegory?
“from Nature.”
1. According to Nature, where should a person go to be alone?
2. According to Emerson, the person who can truly see nature is like a child because he or she what?
“from Resistance to Civil Government.” and “from Letter from Birmingham City Jail.”
1. According to Gandhi, what are the two ways of countering injustice?
2. According to King, what is an unjust law?
“from Self-Reliance.”
1. According to Emerson, how do we feel after we have worked hard for a goal?
2. What does Emerson call “the hobgoblin of little minds”?
“from Walden, or Life in the Woods.”
1. How long did Thoreau live in the woods at Walden Pond?
2. Give a summary of each of the 6 sections (1 sentence each) of this selection. (*You need to know
what each section is about).
“Thanatopsis.”
1. Who is nature speaking to, at the beginningof the poem?
2. According to the last stanza, how should people regard death?
“The Devil and Tom Walker.”
1. Describe Tom Walker’s character.
2. Describe Tom Walker’s wife’s character.
3. How does Tom die?
“The Raven.”
1. At first, what does the speaker thinks the noise he hears is?
2. Why does the poet have the Raven perch on the bust of the Greek goddess Pallas?
3. When the author first heard the "rapping at his chamber door", who did he think was outside?
4. What is the name of the "rare and radiant maiden" whom the author pines for?
“The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
1. What can you infer from details in “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” about the traveler?
“The Cross of Snow.”
1. Readers can conclude that the female subject of “The Cross of Snow” is whom to the narrator?
Terms to know:
-Imagery
-Figure of speech
-Alliteration
-Internal rhyme
-Paradox
-Allegory