In light of the main features of Romanticism, how can I criticize or analyze "The Solitary Reaper" by William Wordsworth?

The power of the imagination was a significant theme in Romanticism. With Wordsworth, this faculty was often tied to having an emotive experience in nature. Finding spiritual and/or profound connection with nature is also a prominent theme in Romanticism. And such experiences for Wordsworth tended to be more profound if he was alone. Granted, he had many powerful experiences in nature which he shared with his sister, Dorothy, Coleridge, and others. But poems like "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" and "The Solitary Reaper" illustrate how the individual can use his/her imagination to have an emotional and powerful experience in nature. 

With "The Solitary Reaper," Wordsworth shows how the imagination can transform an ordinary event into something extraordinary. This is also a hallmark of Romanticism. The speaker in the poem is watching a "Highland" (Scottish) girl literally working with and in nature. 

Alone she cuts and binds the grain, 

And sings a melancholy strain...

It's as if she is part of nature's landscape. 

In the second stanza, the speaker starts making this ordinary event into something extraordinary. He lists other powerful songs and sounds in other places and times in history. None compare with the song he hears from the Solitary Reaper. 

In the third stanza, the speaker says he does not know what she is singing about. Therefore, he creates his own meaning. In his imaginings, the song is something probably more profound than what she is actually singing about: 

Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow 

For old, unhappy, far-off things, 

And battles long ago...

In the final stanza, as he leaves, the music stays with him even after it is no longer audible. Wordsworth would often use such an experience and reflect upon it after it occurred. In his "Preface to Lyrical Ballads," Wordsworth describes this idea of composing poetry while reflecting upon such an evocative experience: 

I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility: the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind. 

In Lord of the Flies, who was in charge of maintaining the signal fire the night of the aerial battle? Why did they not see the aerial battle?

At the beginning of Chapter 6, an aerial battle takes place ten miles above the island. During the aerial battle, a paratrooper is shot out of the sky and descends towards the island, eventually landing on the top of the mountain. Samneric were in charge of maintaining the signal fire and were supposed to take turns sleeping and keeping the fire lit. Since both of them have a tendency to follow one another, they both end up falling asleep and do not witness the aerial battle that takes place in the sky. They wake up to find that they've let the fire dwindle to a pile of ashes and frantically begin to blow on the small embers to relight it. After they get the fire going, Eric notices a shadow of something on top of the mountain. Samneric hold onto each other as they witness what they think is the "beast." Samneric mistake the dead paratrooper's hanging corpse for the "beast" and race down the mountain as fast as they can to tell the boys what they've just witnessed.

What actions did the United States government take to support slavery?

While the state governments of the South are largely blamed for the promotion of slavery, the US government as a federal institution was also heavily involved, largely using legislation to support slave-owning practices.

For example, Article IV, Section 2 of the US Constitution states that:

No person held to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due. 

In other words, the government enforced the return of runaway slaves to their owners while prolonging the distance to the border which slaves could cross in order to claim freedom. Mandatory slave patrols used poor white people to serve as scouts for runaway slaves, with the consequence for not participating being a fine or hiring someone else to take one's place; this, of course, was not something that those in poverty could afford to do, and so the patrols persisted with a group of resentful, socioeconomically struggling men with financial motivations to do their job and to do it thoroughly. These patrols prevented the successful escapes of many slaves seeking freedom outside the South. Federal commissioners got involved by creating greater incentives for keeping slaves enslaved and coerced those who opposed slavery to participate in this process under threat of imprisonment; a fugitive freed was worth five dollars, while one who was forced into slavery was worth ten. 

Additionally, the Slave Act of 1850 made it legal for a slaveowner to cross into "free" states and to capture black individuals there under the pretense that they were runaway slaves--even if they were not. There was no use of a juried trial in order to determine those individuals' fates; rather, they were simply hauled off to the South and forced into slavery. 

Overall, Mike Maharrey, of the Tenth Amendment Center, summarizes this governmental phenomenon best:

It took centralized power to maintain a system of slavery in the United States. It was the Constitution itself that cemented slavery into the American system, and it was federal power that preserved and sustained it. Nationalists used slavery to expand federal power, and slavers depended on the nationalists to protect their interests. 

Compare and contrast the two people who came and sat on the bench with Norman Gortsby in "Dusk."

In Saki’s short story “Dusk,” Norman Gortsby sits on a park bench as evening arrives. As he sits on the bench, he is joined by two different men. Gortsby considers dusk to be the time of day when those who do not want to be seen during the light of day emerge. It is the time when those who are less fortunate, or down on their luck, come out onto the streets of London.

The first gentleman is older, reasonable dressed, and silent. Gortsby imagines him to be past his prime and relevance. After a short time, he gets up to leave and walks slowly away into the night without engaging in conversation.

As soon as the elderly gentleman leaves, a younger one arrives. This young man is better dressed and immediately more talkative. He engages Gortsby by telling him a sad tale of being in an unfamiliar city and losing his way. He describes how, after going out to buy a bar of soap, he cannot find his way back to his hotel.

He is a sharp contrast to the first man who is older and silent. The first gentleman was non-descript while the second was animated and cunning as he attempts to panhandle money from his companion on the bench.

I'm glad, anyhow, that you don't think the story outrageously improbable.

He threw a good deal of warmth into the last remark, as though perhaps to indicate his hope that Gortsby did not fall far short of the requisite decency.

What did Jess suggest to do about the person crying in the bathroom?

The person crying in the bathroom is Janice Avery.  Jess and Leslie believe that they are the cause of her crying.  

Janice Avery is a bully.  She physically beats people up and steals things from them.  Leslie and Aaron come up with a revenge plan that involves really embarrassing Janice.  The plan works, and Leslie and Jess now believe that their prank is the reason that Janice is crying.  Jess feels guilty and suggests that he and/or Leslie should talk to Janice.  Conveniently for Jess, Janice is in the girls' bathroom.  He tells Leslie that she needs to go talk to Janice. 

"Leslie, I swear - I'd go in there if I could." He really thought he would, too. "You ain't scared of her, are you, Leslie?" He didn't mean it in a daring way, he was just dumbfounded by the idea of Leslie being scared.

The goal is to find out why Janice is crying and maybe offer some comforting words of advice.  Leslie is successful in both goals.  Janice is crying because her two best friends told everybody what a deadbeat father Janice has (which is true), and Janice is embarrassed that everybody knows it.  Leslie then gives Janice advice about how to quickly end all of the gossip.  

"I told her just to pretend she didn't know what on earth Wilma and Bobby Sue had said or where they had got such a crazy story and everybody would forget about it in a week."

What was the Supreme Court's Court's ruling in Cooper v. Aaron?

The 1958 Cooper v. Aaron case was one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. Essentially, the Supreme Court declared that its decisions are legally binding on all states, even those who disagree with its decision.

The Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education (desegregation of public schools) was unpopular in most of Arkansas. Consequently, the Arkansas state legislature amended the state constitution such that desegregating the schools would violate the state's constitution. In so doing, Arkansas implicitly declared it had the right to nullify federal court decisions it did not agree with.

However, all nine Supreme Court Justices rejected Arkansas' argument. They said that, since the Supreme Court was the ultimate interpreter of the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions must not contradict the Supreme Court's interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

How did Isaac Newton die?

Sir Isaac Newton was one of the most influential scientists to ever walk the earth. He was born in England in 1643. He studied at Cambridge, and is most famously known for his work on calculus, the nature of light, and his calculations on the movement of celestial bodies. Arguably his most famous contribution came in the field of physics, where Newton proposed the three laws of motion still taught in schools today, and also proposed the idea of universal gravity. Throughout his extraordinary life, Newton also discovered that white light was actually a composition of all the colors of light on the visible spectrum. Later in life, Newton served as the president of the Royal Society of London. Following the Gregorian calendar, Newton died on March 31, 1727. Despite suffering from various illnesses’ later in life, his death was determined to have occurred due to natural causes. Following his death, Newton was buried in Westminster Abbey where his body resides today.

 Hope this helps.