Gothic Literature Edgar Allan Poe

​Unit 2 Re-Cap & CST Prep

English 11 Unit 2: Romanticism & Transcendentalism

​Gothic Literature

• A literary style involving elements of horror, suspense, and the supernatural, often set among medieval ruins, haunted castles, or dark forests.

• Gothic writing explores the dark side of humanity and nature.

• ​Gothic writers wondered what monsters might be waiting for us in the forest

• Gothic writers explored feelings of tension, fear, sorrow, and guilt

​Gothic Lit Continued

• Their stories share a gloomy, haunting tone and a dark, even macabre mood — which help them achieve their goals of creating an aesthetic impact that leaves readers feeling unsettled.

• Eerie settings, supernatural events, and a focus on psychology

• Aesthetic Impact: ​The emotional or sensory effect of a work.​

Multiple Choice

Which statement best describes how this passage fits the Gothic genre?

Under the raven-dark sky, George gripped the sides of the rowboat. Inches of frigid water sloshed in the bottom of the boat, soaking his numbed feet. He cringed involuntarily as thunder ripped through the night, and he wished for the hundredth — maybe the thousandth — time that he had never opened the letter from his dying uncle.

• It relies heavily on supernatural elements to create a sense of doom.

• It mentions a raven.

• It takes place on a stormy night and creates a feeling of suspense.

• The setting is outdoors, and the main character is showing regret about a decision.

Multiple Choice

How would these story elements best be revised to fit the Gothic genre?

Three brothers meet in a small coffee shop to discuss their inheritance from their recently departed grandfather.

• Three brothers meet in a small coffee shop to discuss what to do with the antique cars owned by their recently departed grandfather.

• rom their recently departed grandfather.

• Three brothers meet in a small coffee shop to discuss their memories of their recently departed grandfather.

• Three brothers meet in the family cemetery to discuss their inheritance from their recently departed grandfather.

​Gothic Lit Continued

• Their stories share a gloomy, haunting tone and a dark, even macabre mood — which help them achieve their goals of creating an aesthetic impact that leaves readers feeling unsettled.

• Eerie settings, supernatural events, and a focus on psychology

• Aesthetic Impact: ​The emotional or sensory effect of a work.​

Multiple Choice

Which sentence best describes how poetic devices are used in this excerpt from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

LVII. I looked to Heaven, and tried to pray; But or ever a prayer had gusht, A wicked whisper came, and made My heart as dry as dust. LVIII. I closed my lids, and kept them close, And the balls like pulses beat; For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky Lay like a load on my weary eye, And the dead were at my feet.

• Coleridge uses both personification and alliteration to contribute to the mood of the poem.

• Coleridge uses vivid imagery to help the reader experience the joy of the open sea.

• Coleridge uses both metaphor and simile to convey his theme about the dangers of the open sea.

• Coleridge uses alliteration and similes to create an upbeat mood about nature in the poem.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence uses both imagery and personification?

• Orange and purple bark, smelling of butterscotch, covered the pine trees.

• A hesitant and uncertain wind played with the curtains, causing a gauzy shadow to move across Claire's pale skin.

• Tadpoles, like wriggling commas dropped from a book of stories of slime and ooze, filled the shallows along the bank of the pond.

• The wet socks dangled from the clothesline like limp white fish in the still, humid air.

Multiple Choice

Read this passage from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat."

I am almost ashamed to own — yes, even in this felon's cell, I am almost ashamed to own — that the terror and horror with which the animal inspired me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimaeras it would be possible to conceive.

What trait of Gothic literature does this passage have in common with the poem "The Raven" by the same author?

• An emphasis on shame

• An exploration of a human's inner torment

• A character who is in prison

• A heavy reliance on the elements of setting to establish suspense

Multiple Choice

How does Thoreau use rhetoric to support his argument in this passage from "Resistance to Civil Government"?

The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.

• He uses ethos by proving to his audience that he's American.

• He uses ethos to make his audience angry about the government.

• He uses logos by providing facts for his audience.

• He uses pathos, appealing to the emotion of pride in his audience.

Multiple Choice

Read this excerpt from Henry David Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government":Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience? — in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?Which statement about Thoreau's style is most accurate?

• He uses metaphor to give an extended, illustrative example.

• He uses rhetorical questions to lead his audience to think about issues.

• He uses rhetorical questions to get his audience to engage in a discussion.

• He uses parallelism to list the benefits of a strong government.

Multiple Choice

Read this excerpt from Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience":It is excellent, we must all allow; yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate.Which statement about Thoreau's style is most accurate?

• He uses parallelism to list the failures of the British government.

• He uses rhetorical questions to lead the audience to consider his point of view.

• He uses a metaphor by referring to the government as "it."

• He uses parallel structure to list the types of things individuals, not governments, do.

Multiple Choice

Read the following passage from the body paragraph in an analysis essay:

Thoreau argues that the best type of government is one that is subordinate to the people. He supports this idea by saying, "Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it."

What is the primary weakness of this passage?

• The claim is too subjective.

• The quote is incorrectly incorporated into the passage.

• The chosen quote does not directly support the claim.

• The idea in the quote conflicts with the claim.

Multiple Choice

Read the last line of Walt Whitman's poem "I Hear America Singing":

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious      songs.

What is one purpose of the alliteration in this poem?

• To compare the speaker to a force of nature

• To give the end of the poem a sharp, powerful feeling

• .

  To draw attention to the words "mouth" and "melodious"

• To emphasize the soft "s" sound