3 The Literature of Reason and Revolution
I. Fill in the blanks.
1. At the initial period the spread of ideas of the American Enlightenment was largely due to_____.
2. Franklin edited the first colonial magazine, which he called____. 3. Franklin‘s best writing is found in his masterpiece_____.
4. Thomas Paine, with his natural gift for pamphleteering and rebellion, was appropriately born into an age of____.
5. On January 10, 1776, Paine‘s famous pamphlet appeared.
6. In Philadelphia, ______ the Pennsylvania magazine, and contributed to the Pennsylvania journal.
7. A series of sixteen pamphlets by Paine was entitled_______.
8. Paine‘s second most important work __ as an impassioned plea against hereditary monarchy.
9. The most outstanding poet in American of the 18thcentury was ____.
10. Philip Freneau‘s famous poem ____was written about his imprisoned experience. 11. Philip Freneau was a close friend and political associate of president _____ 12. ___was considered as the ―poet of the American Revolution‖,
13. Philip Freneau was noteworthy first because of nature of his poem. They were truly American and very patriotic. In this respect, he reflected the spirit of his age. Therefore, he has been called the ―__ of American poetry‖.
14. In 1791, probably with Jefferson‘s support, __ established in Philadelphia the national gazette.
15. In American literature, the eighteenth century was an Age of__ and Revolution. II. Matching
1. Benjamin Franklin a. The Age of reason 2. Thomas Jefferson b. Common Sense 3. Benjamin Franklin c. The Right of Man 4. Thomas Paine d. The Autobiography 5. Thomas Paine e. Poor Richard’s Almanac 6. Patrick Henry f. Women’s Rights Pioneer
7. Thomas Paine g. Give me Liberty or Give me Death 8. Abigail Smith Adams h. Letters from an American Farmer 9. Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur i. The Declaration of Independence 10. Joel Barlow j. The Hasty Pudding III. Multiple Choice
1. In American literature, the eighteenth century was the age of the Enlightenment. __was the dominant spirit.
A. Humanism B. Rationalism C. Revolution D. Evolution
2. In American literature, the Enlighteners were not opposed to _____. A. the colonial order B. religious obscurantism
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C. the puritan tradition D. the secular literature
3. The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parent country and the continental congress adopted ___in 1776.
A. The Declaration of Independence B. the Sugar Act
C. The Stamp act D. the Mayflower Compact 4. Which statement about Franklin is not true? A. He instructed his countrymen as a printer. B. He was a scientist.
C. He was s master of diplomacy. D. He was a Puritan.
5. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of ___.
A. THOMAS Hood B .Benjamin Franklin C. Thomas Jefferson D. George Washington
6. Which of the following does not belong to this literary period? A. The American Crisis B. The Federalist C. Declaration of Independence D. The Waste Land 7. Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the ____. A. American Enlightenment B. Sugar act C. Chartist movement D. Romanticist
8. From 1732 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous _______, an annual collection of proverbs.
A. The Autobiography B. Poor Richard’s Almanac C. Common Sense D. The General Magazine 9. Which is not connected with Thomas Paine?
A. Common Sense B. The American crisis C. Pennsylvania Magazine D. The Autobiography 10. Choose the works which is not written by Paine. A. Rights of Man B. The Age of Reason C. Poor Richards Almanac D. Common Sense
11. The first pamphlet published in America to urge immediate independence from Britain is____.
A. The Rights of Man B. Common Sense
C. The American Crisis D. Declaration of Independence
12. ―These are the times that try men‘s souls‖. These words were once read to Washington troops and much to shore up the spirits of the revolutionary soldiers. Who is the author of these words?
A. Benjamin Franklin B. Thomas Jefferson C. Thomas Paine D. George Washington 13. Which statement about Philip Freneau is not true? A. He was a satirist B. He was a pamphleteer C. He was a singer D. He was a bitter polemicist 14. Which poem is not written by Philip Freneau?
A. The British Prison Ship B. The wild Honey Suckle
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C. The Indian burying ground D. The day of doom 15. Who was considered as the ―poet of American revolution‖? A. Michael Wigglesworth B. Edward Taylor C. Annne Bradstreet D. Philip Freneau
16. It was not until January 1776 that a widely heard public voice demanded complete separation from England. The voice was that of ___, whose pamphlet Common Sense, with its heated language, increased the growing demand for separation. A. Thomas Paine B. Thomas Jefferson C. George Washington D. Patrick Henry
17. At the reason and revolutionary period, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the______.
A. Chartist Movement B. Romanticist Movement C. Enlightenment Movement D. Modernist Movement
18. Thomas Jefferson‘s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress, and the pursuit of happiness, is typical the period we now call_____. A. Age of Revolution B. Age of Reason
C. Age of Romanticism D. Age of Regionalism
19. _____carries the voice not of an individual but of a whole people. It is more than writing of the revolutionary period. It defined the meaning of the American Revolution.
A. Common Sense B. The American Crisis
C. Declaration of Independence D. Deface of the English People
20. Benjamin Franklin shaped his writing after the ____by the English essayists Addison and Steele.
A. Spectator Papers B. Walden
C. Nature D. The Sacred Wood IV. Literary Terms 1. Autobiography 2. Persuasion 3. Aphorism
4. The Hartford Wits V. Identification Passage 1
These are the times that try men‘s souls; The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: ?tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a paper price upon its goods. Questions:
1. Which book is passage taken from? 2. Who is the author of this book?
3. Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?
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4. What do you think of the language used in the book? Passage 2
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Law of Nature‘s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; That to secure these rights, Government are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; That whenever any From of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it. Questions:
5. Which work is this passage taken from?
6. What truths are self-evident? What is the purpose of government, and when should a government be replaced?
Passage 3
In a branch of willow hid Sings the evening Caty-did: From the lofty locust bough Feeding on a drop of dew In her suit of green array‘d Hear her singing in the shade Caty-did, Caty-did, Caty-did! Questions:
7. Who is the writer of these verses? 8. What is the title of this lyrical poem? 9. What is a ―Caty-did‖?
Passage 4
It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by anther; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the following
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method.
In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalog more or less numerous, as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice and ambition. I proposed to myself,, for the sake of clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning. Questions:
10. Which work is this passage taken from? 11. Who is the author of this book?
12. What is your understanding of the book? VI. Questions and Answers.
1. What is a proverb? Which writer in his period liked to use proverbs? 2. What are the characteristics of Benjamin Franklin‘s literary work? 3. What work was The Federalist?
4. Who said ―Give me library, or give me death‖? What was the impact of the quotation?
5. Could you please give a brief account of American literature of this period? VII. Analysis of Literary Works.
1. Write an analysis of The Poor Richard’s Almanac. 2. Write an analysis of The American Crisis.
3. Write an analysis of Declaration of Independence.
Keys
I. Fill in the blanks.
1. journalism 9. Philip Freneau
2. The General Magazine 10. The British Prison Ship 3. Autobiography 11. Thomas Jefferson 4. revolution 12. Philip Freneau 5. Common Sense 13. Father
6. Thomas Paine 14. Philip Freneau 7. The American Crisis 15. Reason 8. The Rights of Man II. Matching.
1---e; 2---I; 3---d; 4---c; 5---a; 6---g; 7---b; 8---f; 9---h; 10---j. III. Multiple Choice.
1. B 2. D 3. A 4. D 5. B 6. D 7. A 8. B 9. D 10. C 11. B 12. C 13. C 14. D 15. D 16. A 17. C 18. B 19. C 20. A
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