American Lit Midterm

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Humanities

  1. In Anne Bradstreet’s poem, “The Prologue,” she writes:

I am obnoxious to each carping tongue

Who says my hand a needle fits

A poet’s pen all scorn I should thus wrong

For such despite they cast on female wits:

If what I do prove well, it won’t advance,

They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance.

In the context of this poem and the other poems we read, what exactly do you think Bradstreet means here? (10 points)

In the context of her religious situation, what does this poem say about her audience?

  1. Find a specific passage in Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restorationthat exemplifies her attitude toward her captives and her religious faith. Then, write it into this exam and explain why it exemplifies her attitude. (10 points)
  1. In this course thus far, we have looked at how the Puritans put a definitive stamp on the moral, religious, and intellectual character of this nation. In that context, how does Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” either explain those Puritan origins or how does it demonstrate a rebellion against those origins. (10)
  1. In the context of our readings thus far, how is Hester Prynne a uniquely American heroine? Please remember to be very specific and very textual in your response. (10)