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John Winthrop "A Model of Christian Charity"
Winthrop's purpose in delivering this sermon was to encourage the Puritan settlers to be model christians and to serve as an example to the rest of the world.
"We shall be as a city upon a hill"
This work reflects the era because it shows the extreme importance of religion to these people. -
Period: to
American Literature
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William Bradford "Of Plymouth Plantation"
In this work Bradford documents the experiances of the pilgrim settlers in Plymouth.
"The like methode Satan hath seemed to hold in these later times, since the trueih begane to springe and spread after the great defection made by Antichrist, that man of sinne"
This is another work that demonstates the highly religious nature of the Puritan literary era. -
Jonathan Edwards "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
In this speech Edwards tries to use fear in order to encourage people to return to the church. Edwards states that the wicked may be cast into hell at any moment and that they desreve to be.
"You hang by a slender thread"
Like "A Model of Christian Charity" this sermon also reflects the religiousness of the literary period. -
Patrick Henry "Speech to the Virginia Convention"
In his speech Patrick Henry outlines the major reasons that the colonies should go to war with Britain in order to win their independence.
"Give me liberty or give me death"
This work belongs in the age of reason because Henry uses scientific like reasoning to make his point instead of reasons like god wills it. -
Ben Franklin "The Autobiography"
In this book Benjamin Franklin documents a sort of rags to riches story of how he went from a poor colonists to one of the founding fathers. He includes his 13 step plan of self improvement.
"I concieved the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection."
This is a work that demonstrates many of the age of reason's main principles, mostly that it is possible to improve ourselves without relying on divine intervention. -
William Cullen Bryant "Thanatopsis"
Bryant in this poem reflects on the significance of death. He also describes how we should think about our deaths and how we should react to the knowledge that we will all die eventually.
"Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;— Go forth under the open sky, and list To Nature's teachings,"
This is a romantic work because it emphasises the importance of nature in our lives. -
Washington Irving "The Devil and Tom Walker"
In this short story a cheap man meets the devil in the woods and makes a deal with him. In the end the man is taken away by the devil.
"Such was the end of Tom Walker and his ill gotten wealth. Let all griping money brokers lay this story to heart."
This narrative reflects anti-transcendental ideals because it shows that all people have a capacity for evil. -
Ralph Waldo Emerson "Nature"
In this work Emerson describes the benefits of nature and describes how we can utilize nature to improve ourselves.
"To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing."
This relates to transcendental ideals because it shows the benefits of nature and also demonstrates the wisdom of the child. -
Nathaniel Hawthorne "The Ministers Black Veil"
This is the story of a minister, Mr.Hooper, who wears a black veil to show his original sin. He refuses to take off his weil until he dies.
"loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!"
This story is clearly anti-transcendental because it refers to original sin and how everybody is a sinner at heart. -
Henry David Thoreau "Civil Disobedience"
In this essay Thorwau emphasises individuality and the importance of individuals standing up for what they believe in no matter what the consequences.
"The government is best which governs least"
This is a transcendental work because it emphasises the principal of the individual over society. -
Henry David Thoreau "Walden"
This work documents Thoreau's time he spent i nature attempting to become a better man by implementing transcendental ideals.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach"
In this work we see how Thoreau implemeented transcendental ideals such as the significanse of nature and the individual over society. -
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "A Cross of Snow"
In this poem Longfellow compares his grief at his wifes death to a cross of snow that stays on a mountain year round, eternal.
"Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes
And seasons, changeless since the day she died."
This is clearly a Romantic work because it emphasises emotions and feelings. Also it is a poem which is characteristic of Romantic works. -
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls"
In this poem Longfellow compares our human lives to the cycles of nature. Once we die all traces of us are washed away, but the cycles of nature continue forever.
"The day returns, but nevermore Returns the traveler to the shore. And the tide rises, the tide falls."
This poem reflects Romantacism because it uses the cycles of nature as a comparasin, this is a classic characteristic of romantic literature. -
Charlotte Perkins Gilman "The Yellow Wallpaper"
This story chronicles the decline of a woman who suffers from some sort of mental disorder.
I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder.
""I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" Now why should that man have fainted?"
This story is a classic realist work because it reflects the stuggles of real ordinary people.
