Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Uncharted Territory...

Here comes the hard stuff: philosophy of sorts.
Meditate
We are in the middle of Romanticism...the focus on nature for truth, utilizing the 5 I's of Romanticism to get there (to truth) while surrounding by nature. Most of the Romantic literature matches our expectations by being in poem form, but not all ; furthermore, it's not "romantic" like Hallmark. It's full of flowers from nature, not hearts from Hallmark. In reaction to the Rationalists' reliance upon logic, Romantics strove to break the logic barriers and go with their guts. Their literature reflects this.
We read William Cullen Bryant's (yes, he was 16 when writing) poem, "Thanatopsis," and have a Thanatopsis Wheel project due Monday. Tonight, students are reading up on Transcendentalism, an off-shoot of Romanticism, starring Emerson and Thoreau. In a mascot-icon, Buzz Lightyear says it best, "To infinite and Beyond!" Again, all through nature. Tomorrow (sub, Thursday), students will read Emerson biography and "On Nature" selection with questions in the text book to answer. Friday, much lecture information. Part religion, part philosophy, part literary theory, transcendentalism is here. It should hurt to think about; it means you're going beyond your logic boundaries and challenging you pre-conceived concepts.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

For the wheel project, how big is it supposed to be? I forgot to take my sheet home.

Anonymous said...

Thanatopsis Wheel is EXACTLY 12" in diameter. Picture of the image, with the lines written also, on the front of the slice; identify if it is of nature or of sleep on the back of the slice.