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Period: Jan 1, 1450 to
Native American
There is no exact time set for this era. Native American literature consists of stories and myths about how the earth and its peoples came to be. It began as an oral tradition, the elders of a group would tell these stories and they would be passed on to the next generation. -
Period: Jan 1, 1472 to
Puritan
When the Americas were founded, England was having a tough time with a fight for power. The church was paying the toll, and a group of people did not like the way the church was being run so they came to America. Therefore the puritan group was born. Puritan writing was very personal, and religious. They were based on Puritan ideals. They influenced the social, political and cultural force at this time. -
The General History
by: John Smith
era: Puritan
The first colonist and their experiences with starting a new colony, illness, and the natives. -
Huswifey
by: Edward Taylor
era: Puritan
The Narrarot descriibes how the making oof a piece of cloth is relative to how god creates, -
Of Plymouth Plantation
1630-1651?
by: William Bradfort
era: Puritan
This story tells of the first pilgrims who traveled. it takes place from1608 up until the point of the mayflower. -
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God
by: Mary Rowlandson
era: Puritan
This story is about a woman whos house burns down and is sepparated by her family. She then finds a bible, gains hope and faith in god and is then reunited with her fmaily. -
To My Dear and Loving Husband
by: Ana Bradstreet
era: Puritan
She speaks about how much she and her husband are in love. -
Poor Richards Almanac
by: Benjamin Franklin
era: Enlightenment
information any other amican would contain of that certain period of time. -
Period: to
Enlightenment
The time of the enlightenment let go of religious thinking and relied more on science and logic. This time was when America was rebuilding itself and people were looking for truth behind the bible. Common sense was relied on; many of these pieces are rather political writings. It was a second renaissance; it also had much to do with the scientific method. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson are a big names in this time. -
Common Sense
by: Thomas Paine
era: Enlightement
In these little pamphlet like papers, Paine pursuaded people into wanting Independence for America. -
Letters to John Adams
by: Abigail Adams
era: Enlightenment
A letter from wife to husband while he is away she talks aboout independence and equality for women -
Declaration of Independence
by: Thomas Jefferson
era: Enlightenment
Asked england for america to be its own nation. -
Federalist papers
by: Alexander Hamilton
era: Enlightenment
promotes ratification of the american constitution -
A Son of the Forest: the Experiences of William Apes
by: William Apes
era: Native American
a Collection of author's best works, it is also the first fully detailed auto biography by a native american. -
Edgar Huntly
by: Charles Brockden Brown
era: Gothic
Edgars friend is killed. he finds man clithero who he thinks is the killer then finds out it wasnt him. he fidns himself held hostage by some indians kills some of them, then concludes that his friend may have been killed by the indians. -
Period: to
Gothic
The gothic era for some, imagination led to the threshold of the unknown. For example there was fantasy, demons, insanity, and there was always a potential for evil in people. Everything was gloomy and pessimistic. In books by Nathaniel Hawthorne he expressed essential truths within people, and he showed what he believed the human hearth would react in times of fear, vanity, mistrust, and betrayal. -
Period: to
Romanticism
This was the first time where people began to read for pleasure and not for political reasons. It described frontier life. Romanticism was when people began to put emotion into their writing. Nature took a big part of this as well. People began to be more individual; having their own writing styles they were suggestive and emotionally intense. The characters were static and were always set apart from society. There was a big belief in the goodness of man naturally. -
Frankenstein
Frankensteinry Mary Shelly was written in the era of Romance. it begings with Captain Robert Waton stuck in impassible ice, a man shows up, Victor who seems crazy. Victory tells of his life, the story of frankenstein. -
The legend of Sleepy Hollow
by: Washington Irving
era: transendentalism
The story follows the protagonist, Ichabod who is competing against someother guy for the hand of Katrina. At a gathering people tell ghoststories, as he rides home he passes through many "haunted" sptos and is taken by his impgination. He then finds himself followed by a headless horseman and he then disappears leaving the other guy to marry Katrina. -
The Pioneers
by: James Fennimore Cooper
era: Transendentalism
This story is about the pioneers in a growing New York. -
Period: to
Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism was rooted from romanticism; it respected the individual spirit and the natural world. Everybody and everything was divine. These people believed that logic, reason, knowledge did not just happen but a person must look within at ones conscience. It was a new opportunity to understand truth and knowledge. A big name in this era was Ralph Waldo Emerson. -
The Raven
by: Edgar Allan Poe
era: Gothic
A man bye a fire thinks of his love lenore who has passed. a raven flies in eeps restating the word "nervermore". the man feels as if there are angels in his presense. tries to forget lenore doesnt, condemed t be depressed for lfe. -
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte one of the two Bronte sisters wrote Jane Eyre in the era of Romance. As an orphan she was mistreated by her relative and cousin, she is then sent to school and is mistreated aswell. She meetsa girl Helen who brings up her moods who then dies. She becomes a teacher and lives at a house and hears a demonic laugh in the attic.She then falls in love with her employer Mr. Rochester, he is in love with Miss. Ingram. Rochester asks Jane to marry him but cannot bc hes already married. -
Wuthering Heights
the other sister Emily Bronte also writes in the romantic era, Wuthering Heights takes place in the winter of 1801, the narrator is shopping for as house in the city wuthering heights, he is stuck there due to a snowstorm and dreams of a ghost. he moves in and ellie tells stories of past owners. -
Civil Disobedience
by: Henry David Thoreau
era: Transcendentalism
This document states that people should not allow the government to take too much power -
The Scarlett letter
by: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Era: Transendentalism
a woman Hester Prynne is treated badly and has a red "A" on all her clothes because she has commited adultary. in the end it is revealed the Reverand is the one she has commited adultary with. -
Leaves of Grass
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman was written in the romantic era. It was a collection of poetry written by his entire lifetime chategorized into themes, he wanted to help the reader find themeselves throughout the journey. The themes cover politics, personal and sexual naturality, and society. -
31.The moon is distant from the sea
This story by Emily DIckinson written in the romantic time era, describes the relationship of man and woman. It covers themes of love and forbidden fruit. As the time era describes nature was a major component of writting and Emily uses the sea and moon to symbolize man and woman in the act of flirtation. -
Period: to
Realism
Realism was a very ordinary writing era. This rejected any exciting plots or extraordinary characters. Characters are bigger and more important that the plot itself. As a middle class was being created, class hierarchy was highly noted in these stories. The stories are full of morals and consist of plausible plots. The diction was very natural, there was nothing poetic about it at all whatsoever. It was very boring so that in the midst a reader could find truth. -
Little Women
By: Louisa May Alcott
Era: Realism
this story follows the life of 5 sisters. too long to actually explain in 80 words -
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain is about a very mischievious boy who tricks everybody int doing what he wants. era: Realism -
Life Amoung the Puites
by: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
era: Native American
it is detaied of the first connection of white people and the Puites. -
The Bostonians
by: Henry James
era: Gothic
A man Ransom visits his cousin in Boston he falls in love with a woman Verena who is cousin is also intrigued by. Olive, his cousin convinces verena to join the Feminist movement, Ransom comes back from his studies in New York and convinces Verena to elope with him. -
Old Indian Legends
by: Zitkala Sa
era: Native American -
The Beast in the Jungle
By: Henry James
Era: Realism
Follows a man, John Marcher, who believes that something exciting will happen to him, he finds a woman May Bartman who is inlove with him. He ignroes her b/c he believes she should not be involved with this important event. She dies and he realizes she was supposed to be his fateful event. -
To Build a Fire
By: Jack London
Era: Realism
A man is traveling on a path in the youkon. He starts a fire fearing that he will lose toes due to frostbite, because he has gotten his feet wet. He then dies -
Period: to
Imagism
The imagist movement had nothing to do with books but consisted more on poems. Imagist did not create unrealistic ideas, the diction was straightforward and did not use pretty words. Pictures were created of what modern life was. They believed that thinking consisted of mental images. It related closely to classical type poetre and was very Avant garde. -
O Pioneers
By: Willa Cather
Era: Realism
this story follows the life of protagonist Alexandra Bergson who is trying to make her farm work despite the fact thast she is a swedish immigrant and her father has just died. -
Period: to
Modernism
During the era of modernism, there was an unexpected break of traditions; people began experimenting and individualism. After WWI people began to care less if nature and history and began to believe in decay and alienation. They believed that culture of previous generations was obviously a dead end since it had led to war. Modern warfare began to arise after WWII and a distinction of classes arose, and sexes as well. These stories’ are themed by asking oneself, what is the meaning of life? -
The Road Not Taken
by: Robert Frost
era: Modernism
A man comes across two paths debates on which one to take, he takes one. then he thinks about it how it was a life changing descision. -
Period: to
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance is from the modern age. It arose in Harlem, New York. This was when African Americans began involving themselves in culture. Many movements such as jazz began to be heard. Poetry at this time was big. A Big name in this time would be Langston Hughes and Zora Heale Hurtson. -
The Sun Also Rises
by: Ernest Hemmingway
era: Modern
A man named Jake has a thing for a lady named Brett. She tells him she loved him but they cannot be stable together. four men then are all inlove with her, after everything she returns to her fiancee and she and him speak of what coould have been. -
The Outsider
by: H.P. Lovecraft
era: Gothic
This story is about a man who has never had any human contact he describes his history and how he knows nothing of himself. he meets other outsiders. -
Coyote Stories
by: Mourning Dove
era: Native American
this collection of myths tells of the coyote putting finshiing touches on earth for the humans to arrive, it tells why spiders have long legs and why mosquitos bite people -
Grapes of Wrath
by; John Steinback
era: modernism
A family loses their farm during the dust bowl and travels towards california. They suffer and some die but make is to california to find the difficulty to actually get a job. -
The Lottery
This story was and has been a striking story of the modern age, written by Shirley Jackson. The story takes place in a small village, it details a community who is excited for an annual lottery. This lottery has been going on for the past 75 years, the man of each household picks from a black box, the family with the dot on their paper then must do this agian and whoever has the black dot, then gets stoned to death by all the villagers. -
There Will Come Soft Rains
by: Ray Bradburry
era: Contemporary
this poem takes palce in the future in a computerized house. on the wall you can see the ashes of a family there has been some sort of explosion so big their ashes seem as if they were going through a regular day. The family dog comes in dies of hunder and the computer house cleans it up and puts it in the furnace. the house continues as if the owners are still alive, life will go on with the extinction oof humanity -
Wise Blood
by: Flannery O'Connor
era: Gothic
A man Hazel Motes comes back from WWII. he geos to tennesee, dies. -
Two Lovers and a Beachcomber by the Real Sea.
by: Sylvia Plath
era: Contemporary
this poem describes when a person dies and states that nature will keep on going. it describes how little each indiviual is compared to the universe. We are nothing life goes on -
Moby Dick
by: Herman Melvil
Era: Transendentalism
Ishamel joins a crew that hunts whales. The captain, Ahab confesses they are actually only after one whale, moby dick who has eaten his foot. they finally catch the whale which kills everybody, except Ishmael, with a dramatic whirpool. -
On the Road
by: Jack Kerouac
era: Contemporary
A novel about two friends traveling across the U.S. -
To Kill a Mocking Bird
by: Harper Lee
era: Contemporary
two kids are interested in a tree, a year later they find that the owner of a haunted house's brother filled up the hole with cement. -
House made of Dawn
By: N. Scott Momaday
Era: Native American
It describes the importance of Native myths. -
Period: to
Contemporary
Contemporary literature consists of a more modern twist on stories. A few characteristics of contemporary titles are distorted and unreliable narrators. -
The Color Purple
by: Alice walker
era: Contemporary
Celie is abused by her father. she then gets married. she leaves her husband. finds out the house belonged to her and her sister after her dad dies. She and her ex husband become friends and her sister comes back from Africa married to a man, they all live happy. -
The Great Gatsby
by: F. Scott Fitzgerald
era; Modern
This story takes place in the 1920s duriing prohibition. Nick visits hs cousin daisy whos married to a man named tom who abuses her and cheats on her. gatsby a rich man tells nick of him and daisy being iin a relationship at a time, nick gets them back together, gatsby dies and daisy and tom leave the city.
