Wilderness

One of the things that makes American Literature different from any other world literature is it's dependence on the Wilderness. This first unit in Junior English will focus on the use of the wilderness in the literature. The authors are Abbey, Cather, Emerson & Thoreau, Melville, Frost, and Poe

• Abbey, Emerson, and Art An honors essay by Brad Hirsch.

• Hand outs and questions. Quotes helps analyze his style, Essays Give you something to write about.

• This New York Times Article shows an approach the old man would have approved of in the Grand Canyon.

• Abbey's Web. This is the rarely visited Abbey Home Page, with some good quotes and discussion.

• Arches National Park. Arches is the location of the novel. There are better pictures here.

• Photos of the Earth Pretty pictures to go along with Abbey and Emerson.

• Earth First In the raucous spirit of Abbey....

• Willa Cather, A brief biography of the author. What was it like to be a woman back then? Check out Godey's Lady's Book

• My Antonia, This is a version of the text.

• Cather Site The definitive site from Harvard.

• Early Feminism an Honors essay by Adam Ackerman.

• Fish Need Bicycles? an Honors essay by Justin Notestein.

• The man the myth, the legent Civil Disobediance, Read the essay or Walden or a longer work.

• The Emerson Site has good stuff on the man. Self-Reliance Discussion, This is a college classes approach to the essay, with connected essays.

• Self-Reliance, This is the text of the essay.

• Winslow Homer Nature paintings, not quite transcendental. More Homer here

• Ayn Rand The exact opposite of Transcendentalism is Objectivism. Check it out.

• Unabomber The full Unabomber manifesto, for those who need the whole thing. Hey vote for him

• Ethics of Nature an Honors essay by Richard Spencer.

• Moby Dick.In chapters and complete Moby Dick This is the complete text of the novel, searchable. Use that find button. If you don't have a find button, use this. You could just rest on a sofa, too.

• Mostrous Pictures of Whales This is "cyberscrimshaw" with pictures of whales and scrimshaw based on the book. Big and slow graphics. Check out Jackson Pollock's take on the whole thing.

• WhaleNet. The Whale is our friend. Information and pictures of whales. Look at the Whale Watching Web. also.

• The Life and Works of Melville. This link has almost everything you could want on whaling, sailing and the like. .

• The Book of Job and The Book of Jonah. All important books of the Bible, needed to understand the White Whale. Here is Mapple's take on it, presented as a poemJonah

• Disney Does Melville This is a joke about doing a Disney doing a version of Moby Dick.

• Benito Cereno. This is an interesting and controversial story that has a different take on Melville and Moby Dick.

• Essay: For Hate's Sake... A decent essay from a college student on the topic at hand. This essay is another take on Loomings. Here is The Symphony done in a tremendous photo. Finally, here is an essay onWomen and Moby Dick Let us not forget Erik Tai's Honors Essay on Religion and Moby Dick

• Mystic Seaport This is a museum in Connecticut dedicated to showing how America was.

• Three Volumes Three of the early Frost volumes, on-line. Check out the audio.

  

• Frost Background This is the start of a good looking Frost page. If you want to see his handwriting this might do the trick. For an essay on his development, look at this link. This brief response to "The Gift Outright" outlines some interesting problems. This essay discusses "Stopping By Woods..." One well written Texas essay discusses more aspects of Frost's poetry. And, in case you need it, here is a tremendous mis-reading of "The Road Not Taken."

• One More For the Road My take on the Road Not Taken.

• Picked to Death An Honors essay by Berndt Mader on "After Apple Picking."

• On "Out,Out" An Honors essay by Alec Czitrom on "Out, Out..."

• Vermont The Vermont Homepage has some links to great pictures, Shelburne Museum, and Ben and Jerry's!

• Supreme Court This is an from the New York Times, about two interpretations of a famous poem "Mending Wall" at the Supreme Court. Poetry you can use. And some advice for you writer types.

• House of Usher This is a complete, multi layered Poe site. Great for an overview of the man. The first place to look.

• The Crystal Palace A cheery, lovely poem by Poe. Nice photos.

• Examination A handwritten letter from Poe.

• Complete Online Works All of the Poe works, collected by the nice folks in Vermont. Check out the House of Usher a hypertext project from UPenn. Good Analysis here.

• Project This is a collection of Poe works, criticism, and hypertext.

• Criticism This is thorough collection of criticism and commentary on Poe works.

• The Stories This is a high school Poe essay, based on three of the famous short stories.

• Poe and Humor? This is a short essay, analyzing Poe's performances in comparison to modern stand-up comedians.

• Raven-A spoof This is a humorous spoof of Poe's most famous essay.

• Poe's House This is the National Historic Site, with all the needed related information.

These readings are not assigned in the course, but would be strong challenge readings. These will definietely help you work on papers.
• The Yellow Wallpaper. This story is a great contrast to Emerson and "Self-Reliance" as well as being an excellent site.

• "Young Goodman Brown". This story has an entirely different view of nature than Emerson's.

• Leaves of Grass. This site has a great deal of information of Whitman, as well as text and commentary of his book

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This site is mostly a biographical discussion of Longfellow, along with some commentary and some poems.

Back to the Beach Copyright © Finestkind publications and Bob Barsanti.