We began our unit on American Romanticism today.  We looked at the characteristics of American Romanticism on page 144 and the characteristics of the American Romantic hero on page 146.  We discussed The Scarlet Letter and Hester Prynne in conjunction with these characteristics.

We read “Thanatopsis” and discussed it.

HOMEWORK:  Read “Rip Van Winkle” on p. 152-166 and answer #1-6 on page 166.

We discussed three of the four Shakespearean Sonnets today.  We’ll discuss the fourth on Friday before taking a quiz on all the sonnets.

HOMEWORK:  Prepare for the quiz on the sonnets.

Great class today.  We discussed Twain’s view of Americans and humanity based on Huck Finn.  We talked about the symbolism of the land and the river and how that factored into some of the themes of the novel.  We talked about how Huck represented all the good qualities in humanity and that the other which characters represented human weakness.

HOMEWORK:  Finish any outstanding journals.