Introduction to Bright Romanticism and American Individualism

Question 1

Read the excerpt from “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer" by Walt Whitman.Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,Why does Whitman use the words “rising and gliding” to describe the speaker’s exit from the classroom?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

C: These words suggest that the speaker is happy to leave.

Question 2

Read this statement by C.K. Williams about Walt Whitman.For a young poet, reading Whitman is sheer revelation, sheer wonder, a delight bordering on, then plunging into disbelief. How could all this have come to pass? . . . These countless images of daily life, of common life made uncommon, and the most boldly uncommon made jarringly intimate? This is best reflected in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” when

Question 3

Which best describes Bright Romanticism?

Question 4

Read this excerpt from an Emily Dickinson poem.How dreary to be somebody!How public, like a frogTo tell your name the livelong dayTo an admiring bog!What do these lines indicate about Dickinson’s view of pride?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

A: They suggest that pride doesn’t require self-praise.

Question 5

Read the stanza from “A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.Life is real! Life is earnest!And the grave is not its goal;Dust thou art, to dust returnest,Was not spoken of the soul.How does this stanza express an optimistic view?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

A: It suggests that life continues after death.

Question 6

Which best describes the author’s purpose in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”?

Introduction to Bright Romanticism and American Individualism Answers

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