I have just recently learned that the AMC channel has a series called TURN: Washington’s Spies, which dramatizes the role of spies during the Revolutionary War. I think this might be a good opportunity for us to begin to visualize or imagine some of the scenes we are reading about in The Spy. You can learn more about the series here:
If someone would like to watch an episode of this series and reflect on how it illuminated your understanding of the significance of spies during this period, as well as your understanding of the texts we are encountering, I would accept this, in the form of a 1-2 page double spaced paper. Your submission of a reflection would be rewarded with one point of extra credit. Many of the episodes can be accessed for free online–for example, you can watch this example below:
Also, thinking about our answers to question 2 in the second assignment (regarding the advances in technology inspired by espionage in the Revolutionary War), I was thinking that some people might be interested to learn about the development of the first submarine, The Turtle, which, ironically, found its use foiled by counter-espionage. Anybody who would like to do some research on this and reflect for 1-2 pages on the significance of this technology as an 18th century parallel for the technology we saw in Goldfinger, may do so in order to earn one point of extra credit. Just to list one example, you can learn more about The Turtle below:
http://www.nationalcenter.org/ConcordHymn.html
As many of us who have lived in Rhode Island are aware, one of the first major incidents that began the Revolutionary War was the burning of the Gaspee, which occurred as early as 1772, some three years prior to the Battle of Lexington and Concord. However, many Americans today think of Lexington and Concord as marking the beginning of the Revolutionary War era. I would argue that this is in large part due to Emerson’s famous commemoration of the battle in the poem given above, in which he coined the famous phrase “the shot heard round the world,” a term never used during the Revolutionary War era itself.
Another famous literary work that exemplifies a similar phenomenon is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” (1860), which can be accessed at the following website, for example:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/paul-reveres-ride
As we learned yesterday, Sybil Ludington’s “ride” might have been quite a bit more impressive than that of Paul Revere, but due to the popularity of literature featuring Paul Revere, such as Longfellow’s poem, it is Revere that is largely remembered today, while Ludington is relatively forgotten, by comparison.
Anyone who would like to read these two poems and write a brief 1-2 page double spaced reflection on how they illuminate your understanding of the phenomenon discussed above may do so, in order to receive 1 point in extra credit added to his or her final grade.
