Mark Twain

What does his name mean?:"Twain" literally means "two," as in two items of a kind or two pieces. A famous phrase is: "Ever the twain shall meet."

What is his real name?:Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Why are his books controversial?: He uses different language, not the best language. So some people might be offended by his books because of the choice words that he uses in them.

What are some interesting facts about his life?:

• A steamboat accident injured his brother, and the brother died after Twain gave him a dose of morphine; Twain feared that he caused his brother's death.
• Twain felt responsible for death of his son, who was exposed in cold weather.
• Three of his four children died before he did.

What is the meaning of irony? Provide an example.:the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning: the irony of her reply, “How nice!” when I said I had to work all weekend.

Who is Jules Verne? What did he write? What is his connection to Twain? : He was a french author who helped pioneer the science-fiction genre. He is best known for his novel, A Journey to the Center of the Earth. He wrote about space, air, and underwater travel. He is referred to " The Father of Science-Fiction".

The House of Usher

- 1839
- unity of effects: single overall feeling
- strange and fantastic
- mood is the feeling or atmosphere

Rodrick can only eat certain things, hear only the right things, wear only the right clothing. Madeline goes into a coma like states and people mistake her as being dead because she hardly breathes. So one time when she went into a coma, Rodrick knew she wasn't dead but knew she had to die so the house would die. So he buried her underneath the house with the rest of the family. She came out of her state while in the coffin and is screaming Rodrick's name. She finally gets out of the coffin and starts after Rodrick. She knows that he has to die too so she tries killing him. She goes on an outrage and the house starts on fire and crumbs down. So both Rodrick and Madeline die, so then the house dies with it.

The Raven

- raven is the bird of prophecy. They are also associated with mystery, evil, amens, and death.
- the end rhyme have similar or identical sounds at the end of each line
- internal rhyme is rhymes within a line
- rhyme scheme is the basic pattern of the end rhymes

The Masque of the Red Death

Allegory: ( 2 layers of meaning) an allegorical tale, most of the persons, objects, and events stand for abstract ideas or qualities. Ex; a bird might represent freedom
- The prince was fearless, wise, and happy.
- The abbey was the death house
- The series of seven rooms was all the different stages of death that they had to pass through. The seventh floor was the room of death. It was a black room with red velvet curtains.
- The clock, every time the clock would strike everybody would go silent and still so the Red Death could kill them. Death is getting closer and closer every time it chimes.
- The stranger is the ghost of death or in other words the Red Death
- Dance Macabre is the dance of death.
The scary parts of stories is the suspense and knows that its going to happen but not knowing when.

The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving

Kidd: the pirate, got hung, and was buried with treasure.
Tom Walker: has a wife, cheated on each other
Tom's Wife: she was a tall quarrelsome, scolding woman, fierce temper, strong.
-Tom has no fear.
- He found a cloven skull with an Indian tomahawk buried deep in it.
Deacon Peabody: owned the land, eminent man
Absalom Crowinshield: a rich buccaneer, died.
- Tom's wife disappeared into the forest and never came back. She took all the household valuables. So Tom went looking for her and saw the apron tied up in the tree, so he climbed up to get the valuables, but when he looked in, all he found was a heart and a liver.
- The devil told Tom to open a land bank so he did and got very rich.
-Tom was whisked away by a horse and died and now people say that they see a man on a horse with a white cap and a white gown.

Gothic Lit Notes

Gothic Lit: characterized by grotesque characters, bizarre situations, and violent events. Came from Europe in the 19 century.
Authors: Poe & Hawthorne

Romantic Writers:
-limitation of reason
-celebrate the individual reason
-emotions
-imagination
-splendors of nature-puritans led by the fear of God
exist as/work as typical romantic preoccupation with atmosphere, sentiment, and optism.

Transcendentalism: was based on a belief that "transcendent forms" of truth exist beyond reason and experience.

Every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own, through intuition/ opposite of what puritans would believe.

Gothic Architecture: cavernous Gothic cathedrals with their irregularly placed towers, high-stained glass windows were to inspire awe and fear.

Gargoyles are mascots of Gothic literature.
Imaginative distortion of reality.

Threshold of the unknown: shadowy region where the fantastic, demonic, and the insane reside.
Dark side of the individualism is Gothic.
When romantics see hope, Gothic thinks of potential evil.
Poe: Dark mid evil castles, decaying ancient estates setting or weird and terrifying events.
Male: Insane.
Female: Beautiful or dead or dying
Plots include extreme situation, not just murder but live burials, physical and mental torture, and retribution from beyond the grave.
Hawthorne looked at fear, greed, vanity, mistrust, and betrayal.