1. “Making History” Quiz Prep

2. Historical Criticism- Unlocking history by analyzing literature.
Historical criticism looks at literature from the perspective of history.
One of the key questions historical criticism attempts to answer is: What were the important conflicts of the time? Conflicts, wars, and worries cut to the heart of literature. Writers, like all people, are influenced by the conflicts of their time.
Historical criticism provides insight into the social concerns of a literary time period.

3. Idiom- Commonly used phrases that mean something beyond the actual words used.

4. Diction=Word choice

5. Syntax= word order
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,”

6. Literary Analysis

7. How the Milky Way Came to Be" a Native American legend
Long ago when the world was young, there were not many stars in the sky. In those days the people depended on corn for their food. Dried corn could be made into corn meal by placing it inside a large hollowed stump and pounding it with a long wooden pestle. The cornmeal was stored in large baskets. During the winter, the ground meal could be made into bread and mush. One morning an old man and his wife went to their storage basket for some cornmeal. They discovered that someone or something had gotten into the cornmeal during the night. This upset them very much for no one in a Cherokee village stole from someone else. Then they noticed that the cornmeal was scattered over the ground. In the middle of the spilt meal were giant dog prints. These dog prints were so large that the elderly couple knew this was no ordinary dog. They immediately alerted the people of the village. It was decided that this must be a spirit dog from another world. The people did not want the spirit dog coming to their village. They decided to get rid of the dog by frightening it so bad it would never return. They gathered their drums and turtle shell rattles and later that night they hid around the area where the cornmeal was kept. Late into the night they heard a whirring sound like many bird wings. They look up to see the form of a giant dog swooping down from the sky. It landed near the basket and then began to eat great mouthfuls of cornmeal. Suddenly the people jumped up beating and shaking their noise makers. The noise was so loud it sounded like thunder. The giant dog turned and began to run down the path. The people chased after him making the loudest noises they could. It ran to the top of a hill and leaped into the sky, the cornmeal spilling out the sides of its mouth. The giant dog ran across the black night sky until it disappeared from sight. But the cornmeal that had spilled from its mouth made a path way across the sky. Each gain of cornmeal became a star.

8. Native American culture and literature predates the explorers and colonists. Though their literature was passed down orally, it can now be read and appreciated. But because it came down orally, it is less descriptive and more direct, probably because a lot of details were would have been difficult for storytellers to remember.

9. Writers during the colonial period can be divided into two main groups: the explorers and the Puritans
Explorers wrote about their journeys and adventures as they searched for fame and fortune, while the Puritans' sermons, journals and poetry were focused on building a new way of life.
Unlike most journal keepers, the explorers such as Christopher Columbus were not writing for themselves nor their families. They wanted to be famous upon their return to their homeland, so they wrote about their adventures with certain exaggeration and boasting to impress the people back home upon their returns.

10. from a Puritan poem by Ralph Erskine
And when the smoke ascends on high, Then thou behold'st the vanity Of worldly stuff, Gone with a puff. Thus think, and smoke tobacco.
There is no benefit to smoking. It is a worldly pleasure which distracts from what is really important - devotion to god.

11. And when the pipe grows foul within, Think on thy soul defil'd3 with sin; For then the fire, It does require. Thus think, and smoke tobacco.
The pipe has "grown foul" from use and is compared in the next line to a soul fouled by sin.

12. And seest the ashes cast away; Then to thyself thou mayest say That to the dust Return thou must. Thus think, and smoke tobacco.
The poet reminds modern readers that sin and salvation were always on the minds of the Puritan people. They wanted desperately to spend eternity with god.

13. Enlightenment from "Imagination" by Phillis Wheatley
Imagination! who can sing thy force? Or who describe the swiftness of thy course? Soaring through air to find the bright abode, Th' empyreal palace of the thund'ring God, We on thy pinions can surpass the wind, And leave the rolling universe behind: From star to star the mental optics rove, Measure the skies, and range the realms above. There in one view we grasp the mighty whole, Or with new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul. Though Winter frowns to Fancy's raptur'd4 eyes The fields may flourish, and gay scenes arise; The frozen deeps may break their iron bands, And bid their waters murmur o'er the sands.
Enlightenment

14. Phillis Wheatley also uses very specific and controlled language in her poem. She rhymes every pair of lines and each line is about the same rhythm. She uses a great deal of description and many comparisons like "Winter frowns."
But, as in the Native American story, the stars are used as a point of reflection on the possibilities of the imagination.