Washington Allston, Elijah in the Desert, 1818, oil on canvas, 125.09 x 184.78 cm / 49 1/4 x 72 3/4 inches (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
The ĺÎĺ_ĺĚĄ_American Renaissance,ĺÎĺ_ĺĚĺÎĺ a period of tremendous literary activity that took place in America between the 1830s and 1860s represents the cultivation of a distinctively American literature. The student will begin this course by looking at what it was in American culture and society that led to the dramatic outburst of literary creativity in this era. The student will then explore some of the periodĺÎĺ_ĺĚĺ_s most famous works, attempting to define the emerging American identity represented in this literature. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: discriminate among the key economic, technological, social, and cultural transformations underpinning the American Renaissance; define the transformations in American Protestantism exemplified by the second Great Awakening and transcendentalism; list the key tenets of transcendentalism and relate them to romanticism more broadly and to social and cultural developments in the antebellum United States; analyze EmersonĺÎĺ_ĺĚĺ_s place in defining transcendentalism and his key differences from other transcendentalists; analyze competing conceptualizations of poetry and its construction and purpose, with particular attention to Poe, Emerson, and Whitman; define the formal innovations of Dickinson and their relationship to her central themes; describe the emergence of the short story as a form, with reference to specific stories by Hawthorne and Poe; distinguish among forms of the novel, with reference to specific works by Hawthorne, Thompson, and Fern; analyze the ways that writers such as Melville, Brownson, Davis, and Thoreau saw industrialization and capitalism as a threat to U. S. society; develop the relationship between ThoreauĺÎĺ_ĺĚĺ_s interest in nature and his political commitments and compare and contrast his thinking with Emerson and other transcendentalists; analyze the different ways that sentimentalism constrained and empowered women writers to critique gender conventions, with reference to specific works by writers such as Fern, Alcott, and Stowe; define the ways that the slavery question influenced major texts and major controversies over literature during this period. This free course may be completed online at any time. (English Literature 405)
Francisco de Goya, Third of May, 1808, 1814, oil on canvas, 266 x 345.1 cm (Museo del Prado. Madrid). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Met curator Constance McPhee on outsiders in William Blake’s The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, c. 1799–1800. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Compact Anthology of World Literature, Parts 4, 5, and 6 is designed as an e-book to be accessible on a variety of devices: smart phone, tablet, e-reader, laptop, or desktop computer. Students have reported ease of accessibility and readability on all these devices.
John Constable, The Hay Wain (Landscape: Noon), 1821, oil on canvas, 130.2 x 185.4 cm (The National Gallery, London). Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris.
John Constable, View on the Stour near Dedham, 1822, oil on canvas, 51 x 74 inches (The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, oil on canvas, 2.6 x 3.25m, 1830 (Musée du Louvre, Paris) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Eugène Delacroix, Scene of the Massacre at Chios; Greek Families Awaiting Death or Slavery, 1824 Salon, oil on canvas, 164" × 139" (419 cm × 354 cm) (Musée du Louvre, Paris) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Eugène Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapalus, 1827, oil on canvas, 12 ft 10 in x 16 ft 3 in. (3.92 x 4.96m) (Musée du Louvre, Paris) Speakers: Drs. Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Students use art and poetry to explore and understand major characteristics of the Romantic period.
Caspar David Friedrich, Abbey among Oak Trees, 1809 or 1810, oil on canvas, 110.4 x 171 cm (Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Caspar David Friedrich, Monk by the Sea, 1808 or 1810, oil on canvas, 110 x 171.5 cm (Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Caspar David Friedrich, Solitary Tree (or Lone Tree), 1822, oil on canvas, 55 x 71 cm (Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Caspar David Friedrich, Woman at a Window, 1822, oil on canvas, 44 x 73 cm (Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). In the Google Art Project: http://www.googleartproject.com/collection/alte-nationalgalerie/artwork/woman-at-a-window-caspar-david-friedrich/328396/. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Henry Fuseli, Titania and Bottom, c. 1790, oil on canvas, 2172 x 2756 mm (Tate Britain, London). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
This art history video discussion examines Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson's "The Sleep of Endymion", 1791, oil on canvas, exhibited in the salons of 1793 and 1814 (Musee du Louvre, Paris).
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Saturn Devouring One Of His Sons, 1821-1823, 143.5 x 81.4 cm (Prado, Madrid) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. One of the"Black Paintings" that Goya painted on the walls of his house outside Madrid, this image was originally located on the lower floor of the house known as "la Quinta del Sordo." Goya painted on the walls using several materials including oil paint. The "Black Paintings" had suffered significant damage and loss in their original location and when they were removed from the walls and transferred to canvas by Baron Émile d'Erlanger shortly after he aquired the house in 1873. Please note that Saturn is also known as Cronus or Kronus.
Francisco Goya, The Family of Charles IV, c. 1800, Prado Museum, 280 cm x 336 cm (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Pest House in Jaffa, 1804, oil on canvas, 209 x 280 inches (Musée du Louvre, Paris) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Note: Gros was a student of the Neo-Classical painter David, however, this painting, sometimes also titled, Napoleon Visiting the Pest House in Jaffa, is a proto-Romantic painting that points to the later style of Gericault and Delacroix. Gros was trained in David's studio between 1785-1792, and is most well known for recording Napoleon's military campaigns, which proved to be ideal subjects for exploring the exotic, violent, and heroic. In this painting, which measures more than 17 feet high and 23 feet wide, Gros depicted a legendary episode from Napoleon's campaigns in Egypt (1798-1801). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.