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The Native American Period
Period Characteristics:
Oral Literature: epic, narratives, creation, myths, stories, poems, songs. Use stories to teach moral lessons and convey practical informationabout the natural world. Deep respect for nature and animals. Cycling world view Figurative language parallelism. -
Puritanism Period 1650-1750
First American colonies established and Salem Witch Trials. Period Characteristics:
Wrote mostly dairies and histories which expressed the connections between God and their everyday lives. Sought to "purify" the Church of England. Saw religion as a personal, inner experience. Believed in original sin and "lect" who would be saved. Use a plain stule of writing. Famous Works and Writers: Wlliam Bradford ("Of Plymouth Plantation") Anne Bradstret (Poetry) -
Rationalism Period 1750-1800
Revolutionary War
The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence were created. Period Characteristics: Otherwise called "The Age of Enlightment".
Mostly comprised of philosophers, scientists, writing speeches and pamphlets. Human beings can arrive at truth (God´s Rules) by using deductive reasoning. Famous Works and Writers: Benjamin Franklin Patrick Henry ("Speech to the Virginia Concention") Thomas Paine ("The Crisis") Phyllis Wheatley (Poetry) -
Romaticism Period 1800-1850
Industrialization
War of 1812
California Gold Rush Period Characteristics: Valued feeling, intuition, idealism, and inductive reasoning. Place faith in inner experience and the power of the imagination.
Poetry Dark Romanticism, use dark and supernatural themes/settings (Gothic Style) Famous Works and Writers: Washington Irving (Rip Van Winkle)
Emily Dickinson (Poetry)
Edgar Allan Poe (The Raven)
Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass)
Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter) -
Trascendentalism Period 1840-1860
Abolitionist, utopian and Women´s Suffrage Movement. Period Characteristics: Otherwise called The American Renaissance.
Everything in the world, including human beings, is a reflection of the Divine Soul. Self-Realiance and individualism must outweigh external authority and blend conformity to tradition. People use their intuition. Famous Works: Ralph Waldo Emerson (Nature Self-Reliance)
Henry David Thoreau (Walden, Life in the Woods)
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women) -
Realism Period 1855-1900
Civil War
Reconstruction Period Characteristics:
Feelings of desillusionment
Common subjects, slums of rapidly growing cities, factories, corrupt politicians.
Representation of the manner and environment of everday life and ordinary people as real. Famous Works and Writers: Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn)
Jack London (Call of the Wild, "To Build a Fire")
Stephen Crane (The Open Boat)
Ambrose Bierce (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge)
Kate Chopin (Story of an Hour, "The Awakening") -
Modernism Period 1900-1946
World War I
The Great Depression
World War II Period Characteristics:
Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form over the traditional.
Loss of faith in the "American Dream" Interest in the inner workings of the human mind (Stream of consciousness) Famous Works and Authors: Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun)
William Faulkner ("A rose for Emily)
Eudora Welty (A Worn Path)
Robert Frost (Poetry)
T.S. Eliot (The Waste Land, "Love Sonf of J. Alfred Prufrock") -
Harlem Renaissance 1920-1940
The New Negro Movement
Prohibition Period Characteristics: Otherwise called "The Jazz Age"
The Roaring 20s
Some poetry rhythms based on spiritual and jazz, lyrics on the blues and diction from the street.
Black Cultural movement in Harlem, New York. Famous Works and Authors: James Weldom Johnson
Claude Mckay. Countee Cullen
Langston Hughes (Poetry)
Zora Neale Hurston