Post on 23-Dec-2015
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Overview of the American Literary PeriodsHONORS AMERICAN LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION
Native American Literary Period30,000—1730 A.D.
Characteristics
Focus on the common origin of all things (birth, death, rebirth, changing seasons)
Tribal traditions and rituals
Respect for nature
Animals can be characters (interchangeable with humans)
Uses similes, metaphors
Mostly oral (oral tradition)
Some written accounts
Ceremonial songs and prayers
Types of Literature
Mostly oral (oral tradition)
Some written accounts
Ceremonial songs and prayers
Writers and Their Works
Walum Olum (Delaware)—explanation of the natural world
Navajo Origin Legend (Navajo)
Spring Song (Chippewa)
Historical Events
Settlement of four to six million Indians into various tribes on American continents.
Columbus discovers America
Cortez conquers the Aztecs in Mexico
Iroquois confederacy established to stop warfare among the Five Nations
Puritan Literary Period1620—1780
Characteristics
Miracle of grace cleanses envy, vanity, and lust (allows one to love God and all creation)
Plainness in all things. Stress on simple forms of worship without decoration or ornamentation
The best writing is simple and clear; never clever or ornate (no metaphors)
God chose (the Elect) the Puritans to bring true Christianity to America
Types of Literature
Sermons
Diaries/Journals
Narratives (of captivity)
Poetry
Letters (early explorers used hyperbole)
Fiction drama was forbidden (no plays)
Bible was the only book read
Writers and Their Works
Anne Bradstreet “Upon the Burning of our House”
Cotton Mather (wrote a book on evidence against witches)
Edward Taylor “Huswifery”
Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
Historical Events
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock
Massachusetts Bay Company brings Puritans to New England
Salem Witch Trials
Harvard University founded
First newspaper
Colonial Literary Period1750—1800
Characteristics Also known as the “AGE OF
ENLIGHTENMENT”
High regard for reasoning and scientific observation
Strong belief in human progress
Freedom from restrictive laws and government
Little interest in religion or the hereafter
Moderation and self-control in all things
Stress on elegant, ornate style of writing
Types of Literature
Political writings
Almanacs
Essays
Aphorisms
Magazines
Newspapers
Autobiographies
Speeches
Poetry
Writers and Their Works
Benjamin Franklin—Poor Richard’s Almanac and Autobiography
Phillis Wheatley—”On Being Brought from Africa to America”
Thomas Paine—Crisis No. 1 (prose in defense of the Revolution)
Patrick Henry—Speech to the Virginia Convention
Historical Events
Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment
Colonists resist new Stamp Act
Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence
Revolutionary War
George Washington becomes first president
Romantic Literary Period1800—1860
Characteristics
The Romantic Period was extremely popular in literature.
In America, Romantic literature was defined by the Five “I’s”
Inspiration
Intuition
Innocence
Imagination
Inner experience
Writers and Their Works William Cullen Bryant:
“Thanatopsis” (poem)
Washington Irving: “Rip Van Winkle” (short story)
James Fenimore Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans (novel)
Fireside Poets
Longfellow
Bryant
Lowell
Holmes
Whittier
Historical Events
War with England
Westward Expansion
Mexican War
California gold rush
Civil War
Gettysburg Address
The Romantic Writers
High regard for inner feelings and emotions
Reverence for the imagination
Nature inspires us to the highest ideals
Interest in the past
Use of language of the “common” people
Romantic Writers Stressed…
The innate goodness of man
Favored the individual over the group
Revered nature
Rebelled against political authority
Revered intuition over logic/reason
What were the Fireside Poets? First group in American poets
to rival British poets in popularity in either country.
Notable for their education, the lasting power of lines, themes and political interests.
Preferred conventional poet forms over experimentation.
Often used American legends and scenes of American life as their subject matter.
Paid attention to rhyme and cadence which made their poems popular for memorization and recitation.
Who were the Fireside Poets?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
William Cullen Bryant
James Russell Lowell
Oliver Wendell Holmes
John Greenleaf Whittier
Lasting Impact of the Fireside Poets Longfellow remained the most
popular American poet for decades, but after Poe criticized his work, he was all but ostracized from the poetry community.
Lowell and Whittier were outspoken liberals and abolitionists.
Longfellow remains the only American poet to be immortalized by a bust in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner.
They took on causes in their poetry, such as the abolition of slavery, which brought the issues to the forefront.
American Renaissance Transcendentalism, Anti-Transcendentalism, Gothic Literature1840—1860
Characteristics(Note the overlap in time period with Romanticism -- some consider the anti-transcendentalists to be the "dark" romantics or gothic)
Transcendental: Truth beyond the physical world
Happiness through individualism/self-reliance
Reverence for nature
Anti-Transcendental: Critical of transcendentalists
Human nature a mix of good and evil
Used symbolism to great effect
Sin, pain and evil exist
Types of Literature
Essays
Novels
Short Stories
Poetry
Writers and Their Works
Edgar Allen Poe “The Fall of the House of Usher”
Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlett Letter
Herman Melville Moby Dick
Henry David Thoreau Walden
Ralph Waldo Emerson On Self-Reliance
Harriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Aphorisms of Emerson and Thoreau
Historical Events
War between U.S. and Mexico
California gold rush
First Women’s Rights Convention
The anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published
Realism, Regionalism, Naturalism Literary Period1850—1900
Characteristics—Realism
Expression of life as it is actually lived
Factual description of ordinary characters and events rather than larger than life heroes in imagined settings
Subject matter often consists of factories, slums, workers, bosses, criminals, social outcasts
Characteristics—Naturalism
Heredity, environment and economics determine one’s destiny
Humans are at the mercy of brutal forces beyond their control
Influence of scientific method (a writer carefully gathers facts about human experience and then draws conclusions)
Types of Literature
Essays
Stories
Poetry
Novels
Songs
Speeches
Letters
Writers and Their Works
Walt Whitman “Song of Myself”
Bret Harte “Outcasts of Poker Flat”
Jack London Call of the Wild
Mark Twain Huckleberry Finn
Emily Dickinson (poetry)
Stephen Crane Red Badge of Courage
Historical Events
Civil War and post-Civil War period
Thomas Eidson invents the light
Statue of Liberty dedication in New York
Wright brother’s first airplane in flight
Formation of NAACP
World War I
Modernism and Post-ModernismLiterary Periods900—1950
Characteristics
Opposition to dehumanizing trends in modern life
Dignity of people in spite of great challenges
Short stories with a more open form that stress mood and character rather than plot
Loss of idealism due to war, industrialization, political changes (search for new sources of hope)
Characteristics, continued
Experimental forms of poetry such as free verse (irregular and/or unrhymed verse lines) and symbols that suggest meaning and moods.
Imagist poets like William Carlos Williams and H.D. Lawrence wrote short poems with sharp and precise images.
Confessional poets explored their personal conflicts with great honesty and frankness (Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton)
Characteristics, continued
Harlem Renaissance helped to preserve African-American heritage and raise awareness of Black culture and concerns
Langston Hughes
Jean Toomer
Countee Cullen
Types of Literature
Stories
Novels
Poetry
Travel Books
Songs
Negro Spirituals
Writers and Their Works
F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby
John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men
Alice Walker The Color Purple
Thornton Wilder Our Town
Langston Hughes “The Weary Blues”
William Carlos Williams (poetry)
H.D. Lawrence
Historical Events
Stock Market Crash
Great Depression
Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor
World War II
Segregation of public schools becomes illegal
Resurgence of the Klan