Kevin Berlin 10/26/16

Kevin Berlin

10/26/16

In today's class we went into more depth on qualities of romanticism.

We analysed a painting of the Yosemite Valley created by Albert Bierstadt. We broke into small groups and talked about how the picture makes us feel and why it makes us feel that way. Our response was that the picture made us happy, and made us appreciate life because of the pretty colors from the sunset. Along with the calm water and the deers drinking making us feel peaceful and relaxed.  Analysing this painting was beneficial to us because it helped us see the elements of romanticism.  

After we worked on analysing the picture, we partnered up with a classmate and worked on the Google Classroom assignment. The assignment “Rip Van Winkle” asked us to read a story, then post comments to the story where we see any example of an element of romanticism. When we finished that, we then had to write a one paragraph response about what the story reveals about american identity and what would people who hadn’t been to America think about the story. I thought this was a good question because it really made me think about what foreign countries think about America as a country, and americans as people.

The story Rip Van Winkle is about a man who went to sleep before the American War of Independence to get away from his nagging wife. However, the man wakes up 20 years later to a free independent United States, finding out that his wife had died, and his friends and family are gone. The story is pretty much about the change of America from before the War of Independence to after, and how much things have changed, and how much progress America has made as a country.