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Early American Literature
Literature during this period contained a heavy influence of native american beliefs, religion, and ideologies. Literature from this period was mostly focused on the ideology of the Puritan lifestyle in early American Colonies such as Salem, Jamestown, and others like these settlements. The literature focused on religious beliefs in this time period and the major events happening during this time. -
The Sky Tree
This story, written in 1600 by Native Americans, focused on the religious beliefs of the Natives. This group of people had their own minds made up about how the world that they knew came to be created. This story follows most of the main points that most Puritans believed, but with a Native American spin. -
The Crucible
Although the actual play was published in 1953 by Arthur Miller, the play was set during the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. -
The French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was a war that was located in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War of 1756-63. This war was the British American colonies fighting against the colonies belonging to France. This war was another side to the Seven Years War that ended with the Treaties of Hubertusburg and Paris in 1763. -
The Declaration of Independence
This document signed in the summer of 1776 was the beginning of a new era in America. This document declared that America was a free nation that is under no ones rule. -
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American Romanticism
During this time period, American poets really took the center stage in Literary works. American poets, like Henry David Thoreau, started to write and create this era known as the American Romanticism era. This era's literary work focused on the ideas of feelings over reason, the belief that nature is good, and the importance of personal freedom. -
The Industrial Revolution
After the War of 1812, which interrupted trade with the British, the Industrial Revolution sparked a change in the mindsets and working habits in American society. After 1812, Americans had to produce most of the products that they had previously imported. -
Nationalism VS. Sectionalism
During this period in American history, the United States was divided on the ideas of slavery. There were 10 slave states and 10 free states. As new states entered the country, the north and south fought over the balance of power between free and slave states. Tariffs on British goods caused the south to buy more expensive northern products. The south then began to think that the north was getting rich off the south's expense. This sparked the battle between nationalism and sectionalism. -
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American writer that lived from 1783-1859. He wrote many short stories about New York politics, culture and theatre. In 1809 Irving wrote "A History of New York from the Beginning of Time through the End of the Dutch Dynasty", which he signed Diedrich Knikerbocker. He did not sign his own name on stories he wrote until after age 40. In 1824 Irving published Tales of a Traveler which contained his famous story, "The Devil and Tom Walker". -
The Devil and Tom Walker
This short story written by Irving Washington was published in 1824 and set in New England in the 1720s. The short story contained many simple ideals of American Romanticism in the story. The use of nature and its elements was heavily presented in the story and the idea of personal intuition rather than reason was also fully seen in the story. -
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Romanticism to Realism
Realism, also known as naturalism, started to be the main focus of writers during this time in American literature. This shift led to the change in ideas that many writers had previously focused on. The new ideas consisted of, social relationships rather than individualism; human motivation changed from: love and honor to greed and lust; and details were now becoming more vulgar. Writing of this period contained vulgar details and focused on real-life emotions. -
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman lived from 1819-1892. As a boy, he grew up in rural Long Island and crowded Brooklyn, New York. He held a series of odd jobs that included: type setter, newspaper editor, and school teacher. In the 1840s, Whitman published many poems, short stories and even a novel that was fairly successful. On July 4, 1855, he published his first book of poems, "Leaves of Grass". Throughout his life, Whitman rewrote this book and in 1892, the final copy was published with over 400 poems. -
Slavery Divides the Nation
During this year in American history, there were two major events. The first was Bleeding Kansas. In Kansas, the vote to become a slave state or free state became violent when mobs flooded over the border from Missouri and casted illegal votes in favor of slavery. Congress also was in the midst of a complicated battle over slavery. Massachusetts senator Sumner gave a speech against slavery that infuriated the south. South Carolina senator Brooks then beat Sumner with his cane a few days after. -
The Civil War
In the year 1860, Abraham Lincoln promised to stop the western spread of slavery in the United States. This was the final straw for the south; they seceded from the Union to create the Confederate States of America. As young boys and men rushed off to become heroes in this war, the Civil War officially started and the Battle of Bull Run in July. Spectators drove to watch the battle and picnic. The battle ended with the Confederate army beating the Union army. -
Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson lived from 1830-1886. She rarely left her family home in Amherst, Massachusetts throughout her life. She had a close relationship to her father, a stern man with strong puritan beliefs in the home. In 1847, Dickinson left home to attend Mount Holyoke Female Seminary; she left a year later. In the 1850s, she began to start writing poetry at night by candlelight. In late 1886 after her death, her sister found 1775 poems in booklets that were published 4 years later. -
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Modernism
During the 1920s, this decade was the first to be significantly shaped by mass media which shaped literary practices and literary ideas. The writers of this period were heavily influenced by new ideas challenging Americans' traditional views. The literary technique called stream of consciousness developed by Sigmund Freud proposed that unconscious forces drive human beings and the key to understanding this behavior was found in the deeper realm of the mind. -
World War I
World War I - also known as the Great War at the time - was perhaps the most influential force on American writers. Starting in 1914 and lasting until 1918, the war included 32 nations, including the United States, and took nearly 20 million lives. The war consisted of two sides, the Allied Powers: France, England, Russia, Italy, and the US, and the Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, The Ottoman Empire, and Germany. -
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby was a novel that was originally published in 1925 by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story depicts characters living on fiction East and West Egg on Long Island, New York in the summer of 1922. The story tells of Nick Carraway and his journey to meeting new people like Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan and their special summer in 1922. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a massive economic depression that the United States experienced during the years of 1929-1939. This depression started with the Stock Market Crash on October 29, 1929. During these ten years the unemployment rate increased to arecord high 25%. The Dust Bowl was no help to this depression. In the early 1930s, the drought began. Strong winds took up dirt from the exhausted fields and destroyed 150,000 square acres of farmland and it became known as the Dust Bowl. -
Of Mice and Men
This novel written by John Steinbeck described the life of a migrant worker during this time in history. The novel tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two migrant ranch workers, who move place to place in search of work to earn money in hopes of one day buying their own piece of land to live on. This novel's setting is 1937 in California during the Great Depression.
