Questions For American Literature Week
1.
Benjamin
Franklin
(1706-1790)
1. Is Franklin a man of religious principles? Why does he stop attending public service?
2. Explain 13 virtues Franklin chooses for his moral improvement. 3. What is Franklin’s attitude towards moral perfection? 4. What are significance of the moralistic
self-
discipline,
according to Franklin?
5. What virtues does Franklin think he has never achieved?
6. Comment on the Criticism that some authors made on Franklin, such as Hawthorn, Lawrence. (History p.53-54)
Week 2: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
1. What does “whim” mean in the “Self-reliance”? and why does Emerson call consistency “foolish”? 2. What is an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza character like, according to the Self-relaince?
3. Explain “to talk of reliance is a poor external way of speaking. Speak rather of that which relies, because
it works and is.” and the context that gives rise to this statement in the Self-reliance.
4. What are Emerson’s comments on Jesus Christ in “The Divinity School Address”? Please compare it with Thomas Paine’s in The Age of Reason.
Week Three：Henry David Thoreau (1817--1862)
1. What is the analogy between that striped snake lying on the bottom of the pond and the man in the early spring? How is a stray goose like the spirit of the fog?