https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3857.html

A Brief Biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American author who was born 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He died May 19, 1864. During his life, Hawthorne grew up without a father, as he had died of yellow fever, so Nathaniel, his mother, and his two sisters went to live with Hawthorne’s Grandparents on his mothers side. Because of his grandfathers business, his family was able to be taken care of a live quite lavishly. It was at age 9 though that Hawthorne had an accident that left him incapacitated for 14 months, and during that time is when he was pulled into the world of literature through the books his family owned. another part of his childhood was a a plot of land in Raymond Maine, owned by his Grandparents family, where their was a lakeside and forest where he could swim, play and hunt. Sadly, as he grew, he was called back to Salem to prepare for college. During his life at Bowdoin College in Brunswick Maine, he was slightly negligent of his studies preferring to do his own thing rather than study for his classes. At the college he also met his three lifelong friends, Horatio Bridge, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and future president, Franklin Pierce. After graduating, he settled in to start what he referred to as “12 lonely years”. It was at this time that his writing began, and he remained relatively unknown. During this time though, he was not fully isolated as he still do attend dances and card games, and he took long walks around and beyond Salem. He even traveled, going as far as Niagara Falls once. He also kept reading, recording down characteristics and other things as he took notes. One of the main things which would influence his writing was his fascination with New England’s Puritan past.  it was in 1828 though, that Hawthorne made his first attempt at fame, publishing with what little money he had, Fanshawe. Though it received some mild praise, Hawthorne was not satisfied. he tried to publish three more stories, but he ended up burning the first, and more sensibly publishing the other two separate, actually having some success on them. He also agreed to edit the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining knowledge, mainly because he needed the money. He also published his first children’s book, making  $100 off of it. At this time he had labeled himself as “the obscurest man of letters in America”. This ended in 1837 when his collection of stories was published under his real name, called Twice Told Tales. With this, readers who had enjoyed work by him that was previously published under a pen name could now look forward and widen readership of his work. He also sent a copy to his friend, who was now a famous poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who helped now make his name marketable. This also helped introduce him to his future wife, Sophia Peabody. In order to gain more money, he started his first political job, working at a custom house, eventually leaving and investing in Brook Farm, a utopian idealist community, but later left because the work made him much too tired to write. After he eventually left, he published some more of his work, before marrying Sophia on the 9th of July, 1842. Though he was happy, he had financial trouble, and even though he published quite a bit at the time, he eventually had a child which forced him and his wife to move in with Hawthorne’s family for a short time. This led him to eventually having to get a Job with the custom house again to ease financial trouble. Though it did ease the finances, he found that this job stifled the imagination. He was fired 3 years later due to a change in the political party, and a month later his mother died. At this time, Hawthorne began work on his most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter. He left Salem in 1850, never returning, and moving to Lenox Massachusetts. He also continued work there, eventually publishing his third edition of Twice Told Tales. He continued writing, but moved and bought a house in Concord, a place he would be for less than a year as at the same time, his friend Franklin Pierce was nominated president, and Hawthorne was asked to write the campaign biography, a project delayed by the grief over his sisters death. The reward was a four year position as the Consul to Liverpool. He did many things during this time, but his imagination was stifled. By the end of this job, he had saved money so that his family could take an extended trip and travel to Italy, to fulfill his wife’s dream, further his children’s education, and refining his taste. Returning from the trip, Hawthorne went to work to complete his final novel, The Marble Faun. Eventually he returned to Concord in 1860, but while he tried to write more, he only managed to publish some of his sketches from a notebook and the beginning of another story. His final 6 months showed a serious deterioration in his health. He left for a trip with his friend Franklin Pierce in attempt to possibly restore his health, but he died in his sleep in Plymouth on May 19, 1864, and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

 

An analysis of Two Literary Techniques found in Hawthorne’s writing

1st Literary Device – Foreshadowing: ““Dearest Heart,” whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear, “prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed tonight. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she’s afeared of herself sometimes. Pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year”” (Young Goodman Brown, Pg. 315).

Rationale for selection: This was chosen as foreshadowing due to later experiences that are thought to be all a bad dream, and Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, has been affected by bad dreams as of late. Combining this with what is viewed as a bad dream foretelling of a dark omen, we see that his wife’s dreams may have been a warning. Something will happen because he went out and did not stay with his wife, and this changed him, because he himself had a dream. Her worry was quite real, thinking he was in danger because he was. He was in great danger because something was going to happen, and this something changed his view on his wife and his view on the town.

2nd Literary Device – Round or Dynamic Character: Young Goodman Brown

Rationale for selection: At the beginning he had believed in the purity of people, and had believed that he would stay true, and that his wife was a godly person who would not understand what he was doing or would be appalled. With this he does start to learn though, about the people of the town and what they do. Even if it was a dream, this experience of his deeply impacted him and he never was able to look at the towns people, nor even his wife, the same. These men he had seen were godly men, who warranted no ill repute, yet when he came to that place, he saw them. He saw friends, and many others. They had all fallen into sin, and they could not be helped, and he had heard his wife. His wife’s voice is actually the crux of the situation. If he had not heard his wife’s voice, and went to look for where she is, he may never had gotten to that place, and never would have changed so. He was also changed ever so slightly with the news of his father and grandfather, having participated in certain acts. With all this, Goodman Brown changed into someone who is distrustful, and slightly bitter and angry, someone who sees the world in a darker tone.

 

Review on a perspective of Hawthorne’s writing

 

Question 2, p. 347: Why is a “twilight atmosphere” more conducive to an appreciation of Hawthorne’s art than “sunshine”? This question is taken from the perspective writing On His Short Stories, page 347. This is taken from the Preface of the 1851 edition of Twice-Told Tales.

It is because Hawthorne is not meant to be cheery. He writes with human emotion and makes characters that are akin to those in real life, flawed people, people with regrets or hopes, but something that as was put “instead of passion there is sentiment” (On His Short Stories, Pg. 347). Sunlight is thought of as passion, burning and raging, but Hawthorne writes with a darker undertone, speaking of evil, and writing with a human sentiment at the world around him. Thus, we need to read in the twilight air, feeling the dark around us, but also a hint of light, and seeing the world around us as a shadow, a world where there is no warm embrace because we see the world as a place of not exuberant joy, but sadness, and heartbreak, but also with that little glimmer of hope that brings into the world some fresh air and light.

Overall Merit of Study

Nathaniel Hawthorne is worthy of study for several reasons, one being that he truly understands human nature. He shows us the truth about the world around us, the corruptness, and evil, the sadness, but he also shows that little bit of happiness in the world, even though it is usually lost. It is because he writes in such dark undertones, that he is able to reveal this truth to us, and because of this, we need to read his work, because reading and understanding it will give us a better knowledge of the world around us. Because he writes so well about human nature though, it is easy to connect with his work, and for me personally, I connected with The Ministers Black Veil. It spoke to me in a way, talking about how we all have a black veil, and we all have secrets to hide. I just found it very interesting about how at the end of his life, he would not have his veil removed, and stated that everyone had their own veil. I just found it very true, because of the concept that it is talking about.

It was actually the main characters I found engaging. They were the ones who would show the truth of human nature and reveal to us what people are like. It is extremely tragic, because in all circumstances there was always that dark undertone found in the writing, usually dealing with sin, and imperfection. Though it talks about all this, it still is engaging just due to the fact that these main characters are so much like people nowadays, and that they really did make me think about myself in a way I usually don’t. This led to thinking about how the writing did challenge my way of thinking, because naturally I don’t think in overtly cheerful tones, but this work reminded me more about the sin and evil in the world, the imperfection of life. Generally, my Christian Worldview is about believing and accepting so as to be received, but this just completely overturned my thinking reminding me that while we are forgiven, we still have sin, and we still hold it deep in our hearts, always having something we don’t want people to know about us. It also made me think about how people are just in that, because I don’t really like to socialize too much, I tend to avoid people at times, but I never usually think people as bad, but I Had to start thinking about my view on others reading this.

For more information

For more information on this author, watch these two videos below

Or visit the site that I got my information from:

http://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1600732

 

 

Biography

Emily Dickinson was a poet during the mid 19th century. She was born in Amherst on December 10, 1830, and died May 15, 1886. The cause of death is unknown but it is speculated that she died from heart failure induced by severe hypertension, otherwise known as high blood pressure. During her lifetime she wrote almost 1800 poems, as well as many letters, but only around 10 of her poems were ever published, either without her consent, or anonymously.  Because of this, her poetry remained virtually unpublished until after her death, when her poems and life where brought to the attention of the rest of the world, through combined efforts by her family and friends.

Emily Dickinson was the middle child, born to Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson. She was Born in the family homestead on Main Street in Amherst Massachusetts. She had an older brother named Austin and just 3 years after Emily was born, her little sister Lavinia was born. Her family remained in the homestead for 7 more years until Emily was 9, and at that time the family bought a house on what is now North Pleasant Street in Amherst. Emily’s schooling was exceptional for girls at the time, but not that unusual for girl who lived in Amherst. she first started at Amherst district school, than Amherst Academy, before finally entering Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1847. She spent only 1 year at the seminary, which is the longest amount of time she has ever spent away from home. As Emily grew older, she became more introverted, and started losing the social flair of her younger years.

Emily Dickinson lived near the town cemetery and had had the death of friends and relatives, which led to part of the reason she had a slight obsession with death in some of her poems. Another factor to this was that she was raised in a Calvinistic society which continually addressed the concern for the human soul. the interesting thing is that her friends and her family did join the church, but Emily never did.

the writing years of Emily began in her early 20’s when she had a few poems published anonymously. Even though this is when her writing first started, the most important time period of her writing is from 1858 to 1865, which does correlate with the time of the Civil War. This is also around a time period of her life that brought much change. in 1855 her father bought back the Homestead and in 1856 her brother Austin married a close friend of Emily’s, Susan Huntington Gilbert. Living with them, Emily did attend some social functions, but her lifestyle contrasted greatly with the couple. eventually the couple did have 3 children, Ned, Martha, and Gilbert, who did bring much joy to Emily’s life.

At age 35, Emily had written over 1100 poems, 800 of which were recorded in small booklets. though she kept most of her work private, she did share some with family and close friends. some of her work still remains a mystery, mainly the master letters, 3 drafts of letters all addressed to a man she called master.

Even though Emily was reclusive already, she became much more so after an eye treatment she had in the mid 1860’s, and now ventured rarely outside the Homestead. Also around this time is when she stops putting her poems in the little booklets. even though some wanted her to publish some more poetry she did not, but some of her poetry is thought to have been read at a women’s social gathering, and another was published in A Masque of Poets.

Though Emily Dickinson did have a romance in her latter life, her later life was marked with much illness and death. Her father, mother, her nephew, friend, and also her lover. Shortly after her nephew Gilbert’s death she fell ill, and eventually died. Emily Dickinson is Buried in what is know known as west Cemetery.

Information was obtained from https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/

Favorite Poem

My favorite poem by Emily Dickinson would have to be Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Because I could not stop for Death – 
He kindly stopped for me –  
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –  
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility – 

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –  
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –  
We passed the Setting Sun – 

Or rather – He passed us – 
The Dews drew quivering and chill – 
For only Gossamer, my Gown – 
My Tippet – only Tulle – 

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground – 
The Roof was scarcely visible – 
The Cornice – in the Ground – 

Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads 
Were toward Eternity –

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/because-i-could-not-stop-death-479

This is my favorite poem because I think It really does speak truth to the way people do think. It’s in human nature to want to not die, to live forever in a sense, we want all of eternity, we don’t want to stop so that death can take us, but in the end, death takes us all, and there is nothing we can do to stop that. In the end though, I just find this poem beautiful in wording and meaning.

Literary Devices Emily Dickinson Used

Emily Dickinson used many literary devices in her works. here is where I discuss two different devices and two poem where those devices can be found.

Device 1: Metaphor, If I Shouldn’t be Alive “If I couldn’t thank you, / Being fast asleep, / You will know I’m trying / With my Granite Lip” (Dickinson 5-8).

This poem not only showcases two examples of Metaphor, but also is able to showcase a category of the poetry Emily Dickinson wrote about. Throughout Her life she wrote a good number of poems on death and in this one we look at how she likens death to a deep sleep, but also saying that her lip will be granite. The second one has slightly more meaning, because it reveals that this poem is not about the Robins or thank you’s, but about death in its finality, and how a corpses dead lifeless lips are like that cold hard granite of the tombstone, in texture and color. This describes how this person will never feed anymore birds, and lips say thank you, or anything else for that matter.

Device 2: Personification, Water is taught by thirst “Water, is taught by thirst. / Land-by the oceans passed. / Transport-by throe- / Peace-by its battles told- / Love, by Memorial Mold- / Birds, by the Snow” (Dickinson 1-6).

This entire poem is one big showcase of personification, albeit it is pretty much the same thing over and over. This tells the story of how when we thirst we need water, and how the lands that surround as needed the water to teach them how to form, in a sense. This continues on, but the point is that something must be taught by something else. That there had to be this, before this. This is one of the more interesting poems that I read, because it seems to go more on the lines of the nature of the world rather than other topics that get discussed in Emily’s Poetry like death and love, or the church. That is why I chose this poem. It is interesting in the fact that the whole poem is personification, but also that it does not go on the usual theme of her work.

Reason for Study

Finally, I discuss the reason for studying this poet, from a Christian standpoint, as well as what I personally connected with in her poetry.

This poet Is one who I believe, is worthy of study by Christians, because of her view on religion. She was religious, but she was not like others during her time. She worshiped slightly unconventionally, and she may have not attended services, and just stayed home to praise, but she was still a believer in God. Inside her poetry, we can see this interesting perspective on God, and are able to, possibly, gain a new view on our own faith. This all does make me think back to how all the information we have on her is in books and on the internet, and brings up the question on what information, personally, was I able to connect with most, and in truth, it was my own research found on the internet, because there is only so much an essay can tell you, but with so many websites out there, and so much information that is actually true on the internet, I am able to learn so much more. All this information gives just a slight glimpse of Emily Dickinson’s life, and it is truly, very interesting what you learn from it.

More Information

For more information on Emily Dickinson watch these video’s:

Or go to this website:

https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/

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