Youtube Video on Later Modern English

Here is a link to a video we created

Historical Profile: Ralph Waldo Emerson

So I googled reasons to love Ralph Waldo Emerson. Apparently that list has not been created yet. But no worries, we can make one up together. Comment below to get this list started for one of our favorite American transcendentalist authors!

Wait, you still haven't commented yet? Hmmm, maybe I should get you started.

1. He has wicked sweet sideburns.
   "Ralph Waldo Emerson ca1857 retouched" by User:Scewingderivative work: 2009 - Ralph_Waldo_Emerson_ca1857.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - 
2. He gave over 1500 public lectures.
3. He was friends with Henry David Thoreau.
4. And...you should just watch this video.

Turns out he was a pretty quotable guy. A master of the English language, no doubt. Thanks to Quoteswave for that video.

Historical Profile: Edgar Allen Poe

So friends, if you need a quick (and excellent) life sketch on Edgar Allen Poe this video is for you.

Now you know everything you ever needed to know about Poe, right?

WRONG! That video didn't mention my favorite short story of his--"The Cask of Amontillado." It of course very creepy, but it's Poe, so you should have been expecting that. But it's terrific. You should read it. You can do so right now at this link provided by the University of Virginia: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/POE/cask.html

Historical Profile: Charles Dickens

Some consider him the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. Others just try to make it through his A Tale of Two Cities in their high school English class without falling asleep. Still other know him as that guy who wrote that one book that started and continues to keep alive the holiday movie business. So that last part might not be true, but let's think about this. How many versions of A Christmas Carol are there? Like a bajillion. Here are trailers of just three.

Sources Used in Our Video

“Quoth the Raven, Nevermore."
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178713
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Raven." Poetry Foundation. First published in 1845. Accessed December 10, 2014.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Dover, 1995.

Our YouTube clip of radio broadcasts is found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_aSCHAWeak.

All other quotes were found at http://www.brainyquote.com/.

Historical Profile: Virginia Woolf

Have you ever wonder what this British modernist voice sounded like? Well wonder no more! This video's audio is from a 1937 BBC Radio Broadcast. 

Once you're done listening to her voice you can check out some of her work. Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and A Room of One's Own are some of her more famous pieces.

Historical Profile: Willa Cather

Willa Cather was an American novelist who lived from 1873 to 1947. She wrote about frontier life on the Great Plains. Some of her more famous works include O Pioneers!, My Antonia, and The Song of the Lark. 

In this video, done by the Kansas City Library, an actresses portrays Willa Cather and is interviewed by Crosby Kemper III. 

Historical Profile: Walt Whitman

Ah, Walt Whitman, that great American poet, essayist, and journalist. My first encounter with Whitman's poetry was in eighth grade during our Civil War Unit in English class. I've read quite a few poems in my day (granted, I'm only 21, but still, I've made it through a decent chunk of poetry in those years), but this is one of the few that I vividly remember the first time I read it. After spending a few weeks learning about Abraham Lincoln, I really could relate to and feel the loss Whitman describes. Everything about this poem is beautiful and deep. Enjoy!

O Captain! My Captain!

BY WALT WHITMAN

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

                         But O heart! heart! heart!

                            O the bleeding drops of red,

                               Where on the deck my Captain lies,

                                  Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

                         Here Captain! dear father!

                            This arm beneath your head!

                               It is some dream that on the deck,

                                 You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

                         Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

                            But I with mournful tread,

                               Walk the deck my Captain lies,

                                  Fallen cold and dead.

Source: Leaves of Grass (David McKay, 1891)
copied from the Poetry Foundation http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174742

Historical Profile: Eliza R. Snow

Eliza Roxcy Snow

Born: 1804
Died: 1887

Poet / Second President of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Many of her poems are now Hymns, including "Invocation, or The Eternal Father and Mother," which was re-named "O, My Father"

[1]
O my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence,
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood,
Was I nurtured near thy side?

[2]
For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth,
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth.
Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, "You're a stranger here."
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.

[3]
I had learned to call thee Father,
Through thy Spirit from on high;
But until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heavens are parents single?
No; the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason, truth eternal
Tells me I've a mother there.

[4]
When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I've completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

Historical Profile: Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas was an important figure in Later Modern English. His most famous poem was "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night."

Born: 1914
Died: 1953
Poet

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Resources

Here is a list of resources to help learn more about the Later Modern English Period.