American Romanticism

1. Response to Rip Van Winkle-
Rip van winkle was a very peculiar story. I didn’t think I’d like reading it at first because it was sort of hard to follow with so many strange words that I didn’t know the meaning of. I was familiar with the story but I had never actually read it before, after reading it I came to the conclusion that Rip is a very common type of character. The character of Rip Van Winkle reminds me of a Peter Griffin or Homer Simpson, because he’s kind of a loser. He’s always being annoyed by his wife and stuff so he trys to avoid her, which is pretty hilarious. He pretty much hates his home life but he seems to try and make the best out of it.
I really liked the story. One of my favorite parts was the part where he’s in the woods squirrel hunting with his dog wolf and the little man with the keg calls his name and asks for his help. Even though the story was a big strange it was still entertaining.

2. Two reasons why this story can be called romantic is because it uses an ordinary character(“In that same village, and in one of these very houses (which, to tell the precise truth, was sadly time-worn and weather-beaten), there lived many years since, while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, a simple good-natured fellow, of the name of Rip Van Winkle. He was a descendant of the Van Winkles who figured so gallantly in the chivalrous days of Peter Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege of Fort Christina. He inherited, however, but little of the martial character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor, and an obedient hen-pecked husband. Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which gained him such universal popularity; for those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home. Their tempers, doubtless, are rendered pliant and malleable in the fiery furnace of domestic tribulation; and a curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. A termagant wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing; and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed.”) and imagination. When I think of the use of imagination in this story I think of the part where he falls asleep after meeting the little man (“As he was about to descend, he heard a voice from a distance, hallooing, "Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!" He looked round, but could see nothing but a crow winging its solitary flight across the mountain. He thought his fancy must have deceived him, and turned again to descend, when he heard the same cry ring through the still evening air; "Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!"”).

3. Thanopsis summary-
This poem basically says that death is not necessarily a bad thing. When we die( we meaning everyone) we all become the earth. Some people have concerns about nobody being able to remember them when they die. But that it doesn’t matter because people are still going to do whatever the same things they’ve done. So you should live everyday until you die, and when your time comes embrace it. This poem is romantic because it focuses on Nature and basically said that everyone is going to become the same thing in the end no matter who you are.

4. The ropewalk –
So this poem is about a guy who works in a rope factory, who is really bored and starts imagining what the rope he’s making might be used for. Images of chicks swinging on a swing, a girl walking on a tight rope, and the gallows pop into my mind. This poem is a good example of Romanticism because it had imagination in it. This is a main characteristic of Romanticism.

5. To me this piece of art could be considered romanticism because it depicts a beautiful landscape. After researching Romanticism in art I found out that it is generally characterized by a highly imaginative and subjective approach, emotional intensity, and a dream-like or visionary quality. I chose a painting called “the nightmare” by Henry Fuseli. Which depicts a woman sleeping having a nightmare. I picked this because of it’s imaginative approach with emotional intensity.