Two American writers of one period on one theme
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
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A Young Country's Scenery (two writers of the early national years)
Period note: [1] After the War of 1812, American writers set out to show that the young nation could have a literature of its own, and Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper were among the first whose books were widely read in Britain. [2] Irving's The Sketch Book, printed in parts in 1819 and 1820, opens with an essay in which its invented narrator, Geoffrey Crayon, explains why he wants to see Europe. [3] Cooper's novel The Pioneers (1823) is set in the hills of central New York, near the lake where his father had founded the village of Cooperstown.
From Irving, “The Author's Account of Himself”: [4] …Her mighty lakes, her oceans of liquid silver; … her broad, deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean; …—no, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery. [5] But Europe held forth all the charms of storied and poetical association. [6] …My native country was full of youthful promise; Europe was rich in the accumulated treasures of age. [7] Her very ruins told the history of the times gone by, and every mouldering stone was a chronicle.
From Cooper, The Pioneers, Chapter 1: [8] …Beautiful and thriving villages are found interspersed along the margins of the small lakes, or situated at those points of the streams which are favorable for manufacturing; and neat and comfortable farms, with every indication of wealth about them, are scattered profusely through the vales, and even to the mountain tops. [9] …In short, the whole district is hourly exhibiting how much can be done, in even a rugged country and with a severe climate, under the dominion of mild laws,… [10] …Only forty years … have passed since this territory was a wilderness.
Word notes: [11] In sentence 4 her means America's, and in sentence 7 it means Europe's; the sublime is scenery so vast that it fills the viewer with awe. [12] Storied and poetical association means the history and poems that people connect with a place. [13] A chronicle is a written record of events, and interspersed means scattered here and there. [14] Cooper wrote in 1823, so his forty years reach back to about the end of the Revolution.
Luz fills a row on how each writer feels about the past. How do Irving and Cooper differ?
- Irving admires America's lakes and rivers, while Cooper finds its land poor and rugged.
- Cooper is drawn to Europe's old ruins, while Irving is proud of the new villages and farms.
- Irving is drawn to Europe's long history; Cooper is proud of what forty years have done.
- Both writers wish that their country had the ruins and old treasures of Europe.
Jun tests a second theme line. Which statement of the shared theme fits both Irving's sentence 6 and Cooper's sentence 10?
- Both sentences are about time and about how old a country is.
- Both writers wish that their young country could somehow grow old more quickly than it is.
- The United States is a young country, so its value lies more in promise than in age.
- A country's old ruins tell its history the way a written record does.
Pia fills a row on what each writer praises in America. Which difference does the chart show?
- Irving finds American nature disappointing, while Cooper finds the same land grand.
- Irving praises America's busy cities, while Cooper praises its empty wilderness.
- Irving praises untouched nature's grandeur; Cooper praises the villages and farms people built.
- Irving praises the thriving villages and farms, while Cooper praises the silent rivers and lakes.
Bo uses sentence 3 of the period note. How does it help explain Cooper's pride in sentences 8 to 10?
- Irving and Cooper were among the first American writers widely read in Britain in their time.
- Cooper worried, as many readers do today, that the forests were being lost.
- Cooper's father built the villages and farms that the novel describes.
- The district was his family's own country, where his father had founded a village.
Houses on the Land (two regional writers)
Period note: [1] Near the end of the nineteenth century, many American writers turned to regional fiction, which tried to catch the look and ways of one part of the country before they changed. [2] Sarah Orne Jewett set The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) in an invented fishing village in her home state of Maine. [3] Willa Cather, who met Jewett in 1908 and took her advice to write about the places she knew best, set O Pioneers! (1913) on the Nebraska prairie and dedicated it to Jewett's memory.
From Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs, Chapter 1: [4] THERE WAS SOMETHING about the coast town of Dunnet which made it seem more attractive than other maritime villages of eastern Maine. [5] Perhaps it was the simple fact of acquaintance with that neighborhood which made it so attaching, and gave such interest to the rocky shore and dark woods, and the few houses which seemed to be securely wedged and tree-nailed in among the ledges by the Landing. [6] …When one really knows a village like this and its surroundings, it is like becoming acquainted with a single person.
From Cather, O Pioneers!, Part I, Chapter 2: [7] …Of all the bewildering things about a new country, the absence of human landmarks is one of the most depressing and disheartening. [8] The houses on the Divide were small and were usually tucked away in low places; you did not see them until you came directly upon them. [9] Most of them were built of the sod itself, and were only the unescapable ground in another form. [10] The roads were but faint tracks in the grass, and the fields were scarcely noticeable. [11] The record of the plow was insignificant, like the feeble scratches on stone left by prehistoric races, so indeterminate that they may, after all, be only the markings of glaciers, and not a record of human strivings.
Word notes: [12] Tree-nailed means fastened with wooden pegs, as old ships were, and ledges are shelves of bare rock. [13] The Landing is the harbor of Dunnet. [14] The Divide is the high land between two rivers where the novel's farms lie, and sod is grass-covered earth cut into blocks.
Milo writes the shared theme row for Jewett and Cather. Which claim do both writers make?
- Small American towns are either friendly or disheartening to newcomers.
- Getting to know a village well is like getting to know a single person.
- How a place feels depends on how people's homes and marks have settled into the land.
- Both writers describe small houses in country places far from large cities.
Zee fills a row on how the houses fit the land. How do Jewett and Cather differ?
- In both places the houses are built of sod and tucked into low ground.
- Jewett's houses are tucked out of sight, while Cather's are wedged among the rock ledges.
- Jewett's houses are fixed firmly among the rocks; Cather's are hidden and hard to see.
- Jewett's houses are large and newly built, while Cather's are small and very old.
Kira fills the period note row. How does sentence 1 help explain Cather's close attention to houses, sod and roads in sentences 8 to 10?
- Cather met Jewett in 1908, five years before her novel came out.
- Regional writers tried to record the look and ways of one place before they changed.
- She wanted readers to see how sod houses waste less energy than modern homes.
- The Divide is the high land between two rivers where the novel's farms lie.
Ren tests a second theme line. Which statement fits both Jewett's sentence 6 and Cather's sentence 11?
- The marks that people make on the open land may be no more than the scratches left by glaciers.
- Both writers feel that the land around them is a stranger they cannot get to know.
- Both sentences are about how people come to know the places around them.
- A place feels personal where people have marked it, and strange where they barely have.
Esme fills a row on each writer's feeling about the place. Which difference does the chart show?
- Jewett warmly loves a familiar village; Cather finds a new country bewildering.
- Jewett finds Dunnet dull and plain, while Cather finds the prairie inviting.
- Jewett prefers the dark woods inland, while Cather prefers the open shore.
- Jewett finds her place bewildering, while Cather finds hers attractive and attaching.
Noah uses sentence 3 of the period note. What does it help explain about reading these two writers side by side?
- Cather learned from Jewett to write about a place she knew, as Jewett did with Maine.
- Cather copied Jewett's descriptions of Maine and moved them to Nebraska.
- Cather wrote about Nebraska to bring travelers and tourists to the Great Plains.
- Jewett's book came out in 1896, seventeen years before Cather's novel.
