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Jun 13, 1500
Native American Myths
The Native Americans had oral traditions which carried themselves throught generations of men and women. These oral traditions included myths, chants, songs and epics. These myths answered questions and mainly involved animals and humans and how animals can act as humans occasionally. These myths were often to teach a moral lesson and point a positive target to nature. These were told in many different languages and carried themselves thoughout the world. -
Period: Jun 14, 1500 to
Native Americans
The Native Americans were thriving colonies made up of people that learned to survive and gained experience from certain experiments that they completed. They created their own myths and oral traditions in terms of entertainment.
Their works revolved around reality of nature and of political things, mainly on how the government can inprove the living standards of the people. -
Apr 16, 1528
Exploration of Florida
This event occured when a Spanish soldier, Panfilo de Narvaez, discovered Tampa Bay which when he first saw it were Indian houses. The event was called the Navaez Expidition and only four soldiers survived. The survivors were then enslaved by other Native American tribes that were located on the Gulf Coast. -
Jun 30, 1540
Mexicos Invasion
300 conquistadors as well as more than one thousand Indians led by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado invaded Mexico and came across a small village instead of what they were expecting, a metropolis. The people of the village, Zuni, forced the soldiers to swear their loyalty to their king. Within the time spand of an hour, the conquistadors conquered the small village. Whats special about this event is the fact that the Indians fought with a foreign culture. -
Huron Myth- The Sky Tree
This story is about how in a world, there is one tree that supplies the population. A man becames greedy as he has a dream of this "magical tree" healing him. He sends his wife to cut it down and retrieve it for him but the tree falls through the soil. She is faced with the challenge to dive down with animals to restore the everlasting tree that supplies all. -
Nes Perce's Coyote
In "Coyote Finishes His Work," the coyote is sent doesn to act as a God and help civilians in surviving the world. He committed murder occasionally to prove that man is not always perfect. That we do have some impurities that allow us to have the title of a human. Without the coyote, the humans that inhabited Earth could not dwell because they did not have the knowledge to create food from the ground. The coyote was considered a hero but soon disappeared. -
Puritans and New England
The Puritans landed at Plymouth, MA in 1620 and began to develop a sense of style and belief. They strongly believed in God and all of their works revoloved around the existance of Heaven and Hell. Man can either choose to go to either hell or heaven depending on how "good" or "bad" a person is. They also believe in rationalism, just like the Native Americans, which is a reason behind something one chooses to do. These values and beliefs are what the literary foundations are found upon. -
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Puritanism
Puritans shaped the previos style of writing. They began to change oral traditions to more of a written and ethical/moral state of mind and writing. They wrote in very simple sentences so they could better remember it and it sounds better. They always wanted and needed to please God and that is what the main characteristic and belief is for the Puritan style of writing. God and humanity. Often they wanted to show the ethical connection between God and humans. -
Anne Bradstreets House Burns
Anne wrote the poem "Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666." The poem is about the depression a woman feels about her house burning down. all the hard work being destroyed. She is devestated to know that she will never see it again and nothing will ever be the same. -
Jonathon Edwards' Sinners
Jonathon Edwards writes "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and expresses the connection between man and God through intimite imagery and expressing how men are basically all mean and naughty and all deserve to go to hell. That only a few are allowed to go to heaven- those being in the good graces of God. -
The Great Awakening
This was a "wave of religious revival" that swept the nation to allow other people to believe in God as much as the Puritans did. In addition it was another way of understanding God's truths. There were two "parties," the "New Light" and the "Old Light-" both representing something different.
"Supporters of the revival were called New Lights in New England and New Sides in the Middle Colonies: these emphasized primacy of emotions. "New Lights."
"Old Lights" believed more in rationlism. -
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Romanticism
The country was starting to overcrowd from 5.3 million in 1800 to 7.1 million in the 1840's. These people wanted to create their own country and culture to differ from everyone else. Main characteristics from this era were imagination, feeling, individualism, and enthusiasm for nature. -
Reform Movement
During the 1st half of this era, poets called this the reform movement as they tried to form new groups. This also took place in New England. Lyceun Movements included "educating adults, training teachers, establishing museums, and instituting social reforms." Everyone in this period were trying to make society perfect and Feminists such as Elizabeth Peabody fought for Womans rights. -
Challenges
Some of the challenges in the US had to deal with slvarey. Northern States abolished slavery but the South still had native americans working on farms and cotton plantations. Many free native americans began forming their own organizations to set their other "brothers" free. Another challenge was peace and stability meaning the way the native americans were being treated, Many of them had to give up everything they had to be accepted into a white culture. -
The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls
This poem expresses how humans can be dragges into the water and now know exatly whats going on. People can get knocked down but then easily fix everything with time and get back on their high horse and ride into the sunset and wait for the water to take someone else so they can learn their own lesson. Times get dark but with a little help and reconization, people can work themselves out of the darkness and into the light where everything is ok. -
The Chambered Nautilus
This poem expresses how people grow along with the nautilus. And how people progress throughout their lives in body and soul as the chamber grows. He compares human kind to a nautilus and how when we grow, it grows. How we mentally grow as a society, together, the chambers in the nautilus grow as one. -
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Realism
A wave of emmigration came upon the United States. A new wealth was created from new industries being produced and the US held a new power int he world. there was one problem. Immigrants took jobs away from Americans. A main characteristic of this time was showing the real people rather than the higher class people. -
Inventions
As the industry grew and take over jobs as it was cheaper and more efficient.The US wanted to take over more parts of the world to become a more powerful nation. "As industry advanced, the gap between rich and poor in the United States became a canyon. Carnegie earned more than twenty-three million dollars in 1900; a steel worker in one of his plants earned about five hundred dollars per year. " -
Labor Movement
The labor movement was enacted once more that imporved working conditions, protected wages and reduced work hours. This was crucial as people were suffering beyond belief. Strikes had deadly outcomes occasionally. For example, 14 workers were killed in the 200 soldiers that were sent out for strike. -
Chicago
Sandburg rote this poem on about Chicago. But, the only thing he could remember was being called a "Nigger" because of all of the racism that was going on during this time. He loved Chicago but that was his one meory that he was always stuck with. This poem is ectremly effective in showing how cruel and judgemental this country was. -
Period: to
Modernism
The effects of World War I altered the thinking of the "American Dream." Poets tried to think of new ways of thinking and seeing what was happeneing around them. Some American poets tried to reject what was going on and stay in the "Realism" era but some, liek Robert Frost, used New England speech. Experimentation and innovation were the main themes and characteristics of this time as people were trying new things out. -
The Jazz Age
Mass production reduced the cost of about everything after the prohabition of alcohol in 1919. This era was called the Jazz Age because Fitzgerlad gave it its name. Women got the right to vote in 1920 and everyone became happy and lively during this time. Jazz music was also a large part of this having people bare their sould through music. -
History- Great Depression
Americans fell into a Great Depression with the stock market crash in 1929. 12 million people were unemployed and begging on the street with no where to go. They lived in horrible conditions and non of the immigrants even came close to their original thought/shot at the American Dream. Racism increased to where it was so bad that blacks and other races wanted to kill themselves for being made fun of. -
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Frost's short poem was an effective part of this time period. He was trying to convey how we are all people and that the racism should stop. He illustrated the importance of life but also how everything rebuild itself. This poem is extremly effective now but then? It probably wouldnt have made a difference. -
from Life on the Mississippi
This story from Mark Twain allows focus on the "real" people of this era. In this period, people wouldve normally focused on the higher class people but Twain uses effective language such as slang to allow that sense of realness of how the real people act during this time. This story is about his apprinticeship on the Mississippi and how he struggles.