Study Guide for Exam 1

NOTE: This page is intended as a helpful guide to studying for the exam.  It may not cover all the information that is on the test.  Your notes should be your principal guide to studying for the exam.

The first exam will consist of a multiple-choice section, an identification section, and an essay.  You will have at least two choices for the essay question.

I. Works to be emphasized

• Alcott, "The Brothers" and "A Day" from Hospital Sketches
• Melville, selected poems on the Civil War (handout)
• Whitman, "When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," poems from Drum-Taps, "O Captain, My Captain!"
• Twain, "A True Story," "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses," "A Day at Niagara," "A Washoe Joke," "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," ""The Whittier Birthday Speech"
• Lincoln, "The Gettysburg Address"
• James,"Daisy Miller"
• Poems from the Household Book of Poetry (general knowledge)
• Dickinson, poems discussed in class and general information from our two classes in the AML

II. General issues and ideas that might be covered

• Background information on the authors (from lectures)
• Issues and themes of the authors' works (from lectures and class discussions)
• Information on techniques and forms
• The role of art and the artist's vocation for Whitman, Dickinson, Twain, or James
• Twain's critical principles
• Realism and romanticism
• The contrasts between two cultures (East and West, Europe and America)
• Textual studies and what can be done with texts (word clouds, etc. and what we can learn from these tools)

III. Terms Discussed in Class

• Anaphora
• Elegy
• Southwestern humor
• International theme
• The "Whitman envelope" and other features of Whitman's technique (review the Whitman presentation on this page)

IV.  Potential Essay Questions. Note: These are sample questions; there is no guarantee that they will be on the test.

• Compare "A True Story" with "Daisy Miller," paying attention to the ways in which the stories critique prejudice and stereotyping.
• In what different ways is death treated in the works of these authors?
• "Innocence" and "intimacy" are significant terms in "Daisy Miller." Write an essay in which you discuss the meanings that these have for the characters who use them.
• What is the role of humor in any two of the following works? How is humor created?
• In what ways does Twain attempt to convey his message of realism?
• Compare and contrast Melville's "The Martyr" with Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd."
• Compare and contrast two poems by Emily Dickinson.