Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
on account of the dampness of the catacombs. I hastened to make an end of my
labor. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new
masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal
has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!
4.16.9 Reading and Review Questions
1. How does the unconscious inuence the events that occur in Poe’s
works? What is its signicance?
2. What impact did the Transcendentalism movement have on Poe’s works?
Did Poe support or oppose the movement? How do you know?
3. Why did Poe choose to use unreliable narrators in “The Tell-Tale Heart”
and “Ligeia”? In what ways do these narrators alter or impact the reader’s
perspective?
4. How is guilt portrayed in Poe’s work? What is its purpose? What
connections can you make between guilt, sin, and the Puritan society.
5. What is the signicance between the death of young women and the
paranormal in Poe’s works? What historical and cultural events might
have inuenced Poe’s portrayal of mystical women in his works?
4.17 MARGARET FULLER
(1810–1850)
Sarah Margaret Fuller was born at
Cambridgeport, now part of Cambridge.
She was educated by her father, a
lawyer and congressman, in the classics.
Although she later described her
childhood as stressful, she nevertheless
appreciated her father’s interest in
developing her mind for its own sake
rather than as an ornament to an
“inevitable” future husband and married
household. Her mind developed rapidly,
as she achieved a thorough reading in
such classic authors Virgil, Ovid, Horace,
and Shakespeare by the time she was ten
years old.
In 1824, she was sent to a nishing
school in Groton before returning to
live with her family in Cambridge. She
Image 4.15 | Sarah Margaret Fuller
Artist | Unknown
Source | Wikimedia Commons
License | Public Domain
Page | 1046