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Period: 1000 to 1500
Native Americans
Oral literature: epic narratives, creation
myths, stories, poems, songs.
Use stories to teach moral lessons and
convey practical information about the natural
world -
Period: to
Puritanism
Wrote mostly diaries and histories, which
expressed the connections between God and
their everyday lives -
Period: to
The Age of Reason
Mostly comprised of philosophers,
scientists, writing speeches and pamphlets. -
The Age of Reason
Examples:
*Benjamin Franklin (Autobiography)
*Patrick Henry (“Speech to the Virginia Convention”),
*Thomas Paine (“The Crisis”) -
Puritanism
Examples:
*Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th,(William Bradford)
*Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Jonathan Edwards)
*Huswifery (Edward Taylor) -
Period: to
Romanticism
Saw poetry as the highest expression of
the imagination. Dark Romantics: Used dark and
supernatural themes/settings (Gothic style) -
Romanticism
Examples:
*Washington Irving (“Rip Van Winkle”)
*Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass)
*Edgar Allan Poe (“The Raven”), -
Period: to
The American Renaissance
Everything in the world, including human beings, is a reflection of the Divine Soul. People can use their intuition to behold God’s spirit revealed in nature or in their own souls. -
Period: to
Realism
Common subjects; slums of rapidly
growing cities, factories replacing farmlands,
poor factory workers, corrupt politicians
Represented the manner and environment
of everyday life and ordinary people as
realistically as possible (regionalism) -
The American Renaissance
Examples:
*Ralph Waldo Emerson (Nature, “Self-Reliance”),
*Henry David Thoreau (Walden, Life in the Woods).
*Louisa May Alcott (Little Women) -
Realism
Examples
*Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn)
*Jack London (Call of the Wild )
*Stephen Crane (“The Open Boat”) -
Period: to
Modernism
Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the “American Dream”: the independent, self-reliant, individuals will triumph. Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form over the traditional. -
Period: to
Harlem Renaissance
The Jazz Age”
“The Roaring 20s””
Some poetry rhythms are based on spirituals,
and jazz, lyrics on the blues, and diction from
the street talk of the ghettos
Other poetry used conventional lyrical
forms -
Harlem Renaissance
*James Weldon Johnson (God's Trombones)
*Claude McKay (Home to Harlem)
*Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God) -
Modernism
Examples:
*Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun),
*F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby),
*William Faulkner (“A Rose for Emily”). -
Period: to
Contemporary
Influenced by studies of media, language,
and information technology.
New literary forms and techniques: works
composed of only dialogue or combining
fiction and nonfiction, experimenting with
the physical appearance of their work -
Contemporary
Examples:
*Alice Walker (The Color Purple)
*Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club )
*Anne Sexton ( Confessional poetry)