The Last Of The Mohicans (Excerpt)

Elements of Romanticism

The Last of the Mohicans (excerpt) Romantic James Fenimore Cooper, 1850 Characteri stics “Book!” [exclaimed Hawk-eye] “What have such as I, who am a warrior of the wilderness, though a man without a cross, to do with books! I never read but in one, and the words that are written there are too simple and too plain to need much schooling; though I may boast that of forty long and hard-working years.” “What call you the volume?” said David, misconceiving the other’s meaning. “’Tis open before your eyes,” returned the scout; “and he who owns it is not a miser of its use. I have heard it said that there are men who read in books to convince themselves there is a God. I know not but man may so deform his works in the settlements, as to leave that which is so clear in the wilderness a matter of doubt among traders and priests. If any such there be, and he will follow me from sun to sun, through the windings of the forest, he shall see enough to teach him that he is a fool, and that the greatest of his folly lies in striving to rise to the level of One he can never equal, be it in goodness, or be it in power.”

“Sonnet—To Science” Edgar Allan Poe, 1829

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes. Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart, Vulture, who wings are dull realities? How should he love thee? or deem thee wise, Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering To seek for treasure in the jeweled skies, Albeit he soared with an undaunting wing? Hast thou not dragged Diana1 from her car? And driven the Hamadryad2 from the wood To seek shelter in some happier star? Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood, The Elfin3 from the green grass, and from me The summer dream beneath the tamarind4 tree?

1 Roman goddess often identified with the moon, her “car.” 2 In Greek myth, nymphs (female spirits) of the trees were Hamadryads. Nymphs of rivers and lakes were Naiads. 3 Elf. 4 An aromatic fruit tree of the Indies. “Romance” Romantic Edgar Allan Poe, 1829 Characteri stics Romance, who loves to nod and sing With drowsy head and folded wing, Among the green leaves as they shake Far down within some shadowy lake, To me a painted paroquet5 Hath been—a most familiar bird— Taught me my alphabet to say— To lisp my earliest word While in the wild wood I did lie, A child—with a most knowing eye.

Of late, eternal Condor6 years So shake the very heaven on high With tumult as they thunder by, I have no time for idle cares Through gazing on the unquiet sky. And when an hour with calmer wings Its down upon my spirit flings— That little time with lyre and rhyme To while away—forbidden things! My heart would feel to be a crime Unless it trembled with the strings.

“When I Heard the Learned Astronomer” Walt Whitman, 1865

When I heard the learned astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wandered off by myself, In the mystical moist night air, and from time to time, Looked up in perfect silence at the stars.

5 Parakeet 6 A giant bird of prey of North and South America, a symbol of power and force.