Hawthorne and Melville/Sub-topic:Literary Links - Images
Learning Activities Related to Literary Links between Hawthorne and Melville
"A Tanglewood Tale," a play about the relationship between Hawthorne and Melville in the Berkshires by Juliane and Stephen Glantz(courtesy of Shakespeare and Company)
1.) Students studying The Blithedale Romance can view these images of
fabric pastorals from the Peabody-Essex Museum and respond to the questions that
follow:
1822 Sampler
by Sarah Prescott of Westford (Forge Village), Massachusetts, depicting
trees and grapevines and a floral vine border surrounding an acrostic verse
for "virtue"
1778 Sampler
by Nabby Mason Peele, depicting, in characteristic work of Essex County,
Massachusetts, lady, gentleman, sheep, and such phrasing as "Beneath the slaughtered
lamb inscribed."
Questions related to these fabric pastorals:
a.) Make connections between the scenes depicted and the name "Blithedale"
(meaning Happy Valley).
b.) List ways the pastorals contrast with the Blithedale revealed in the novel.
c.) Explain the extent to which the images and the novel demonstrate Romantic views of nature.
2.) Students studying Melville's Moby-Dick or another of his works
and any Hawthorne work can view the image of actors
portraying the two authors in A Tanglewood Tale as they celebrate
the publication of Moby-Dick at the Curtis Hotel in Lenox in 1851 and
respond to the following:
a.) Construct a dialogue between the authors that fits the occasion portrayed
in the image, including reference to Melville's dedication of Moby-Dick
to Hawthorne.
b.) Write comparisons and contrasts between the physical appearances of the two
actors, and comment on the extent to which they match other sources on the authors' characteristic looks, attitudes, and/or mannerisms.
c.) List as many observable items as possible that would differ between the present
time and 1851, clarifying what would likely appear in a recent photograph of contemporary authors as they celebrate a
publication.
3.) Students studying Moby-Dick can view images of Peabody-Essex Museum
whaling artifacts listed below and locate specific passages in the novel where
there are references or descriptions that connect with them.
Lithograph of sperm whaling, "Cachalot Fishery 1824," that is described extensively in Moby-Dick
