In the chapter entitled “Me”, Bennett and Royle explore the notion of Self in literature and literary theory, raising important issues, such as the tendency toward solipsism in romantic literature, the fact that the “I” or “me” is historically determined, that one is subject to language, and that romantic and post-romantic literature is sensitive to the role of otherness, making us “aware of what might be described as our responsibilities in relation to otherness” (136).
Write an analysis of the representations of the Self in TWO of the antebellum texts we have studied so far. Refer to at least one of the issues raised by Bennett and Royle in the above-mentioned chapter. Note that you don’t have to restrict your choice to literary texts featuring a first-person narrator/poetic voice. Write 1200 to 1500 words (quotations and works cited included). Use the MLA citation style.
Works that should be cited are the following: Walt Whitman. “Song of Myself” (sections 1-24, 33, 51, and 52; poem, ca. 45 pages)
Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Self-Reliance” (essay, ca. 25 pages)
Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle. An Introduction to Literature, Criticism, and Theory, Fifth Edition (2016). Selected chapters are; “Me”, and “The text and the world”
The self-reliance and the reference book about literature will be provided in a pdf format but Song of Myself can be found here with the certain sections here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45477/song-of-myself-1892-version
Page numbers can be found here: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/48060
