Survey of American Literature II (1865-present)

By hbushong

  • Birth of Emily Dickinson

  • Birth of Rebecca Harding Davis

  • Birth of Mark Twain

  • Birth of Charles W. Chesnutt

  • Birth of Abraham Cahan

  • Birth of Charlotte Perkins Gilman

  • "Life in the Iron Mills" published by Rebecca Harding Davis

    Short story (Realism). Comments on the Industrial Revolutions effects on labor and women's issues.

  • Civil War begins

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's ["Safe in their Alabaster Chambers"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism).

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's ["Success is counted sweetest"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism)

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's ["Some keep the Sabbath going to Church"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism).

  • "The Notoriour Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" published by Mark Twain

    short story (Realism-Local Color). Uses humorous anecdotes to show the regional dialect of the rural South.

  • Civil War ends

  • Birth of Edit Maud Eaton (Sui Sin Far)

  • Birth of Stephen Crane

  • Birth of Paul Laurence Dunbar

  • Birth of Amy Lowell

  • Birth of Robert Frost

  • Birth of Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonin)

  • Birth of Susan Glaspell

  • Birth of William Carlos Williams

  • Birth of T.S. Eliot

  • Birth of Ezra Pound

  • Death of Emily Dickinson

  • Birth of Claude McKay

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's ["There's a certain Slant of light"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism)

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's ["Because I could not stop for Death"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism).

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's ["The Bustle in a House"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism)

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's ["This is my letter to the World"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism).

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's [""Faith" is a fine invention"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism)

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's ["A Bird came down the Walk"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism)

  • Birth of Zora Neale Hurston

  • Publication of Emily Dickinson's ["A narrow Fellow in the Grass"]

    Lyric poem (Romanticism)

  • Publication of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-Paper"

    Short story (Realism). Criticizes the way our patriarchal society has institutionalized the demeaning of women.

  • Birth of E.E. Cummings

  • "An Ante-Bellum Sermon" published by Paul Laurence Dunbar

    Poem (Realism)

  • "We Wear the Mask" published by Paul Laurence Dunbar

    Poem (Realism)

  • Birth of F. Scott Fitzgerald

  • Publication of Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat"

    Short story (Realism-Naturalism). A group of people stranded on a dinghy at sea representing the various socioeconomic groups of American society being carried along by the forces of nature.

  • Birth of William Faulkner

  • "The Wife of His Youth" published by Charles W. Chesnutt

    Short Story (Realism). Uses caged bird imagery to demonstrate his connections to slavery (through his parents) without knowing slavery itself.

  • "A Sweatshop Romance" published by Abraham Cahan

    Short Story (Realism). Love story set in a sweatshop that demonstrates how the Industrial Revolution changed morality in American society.

  • "Sympathy" published by Paul Laurence Dunbar

    Poem (Realism)

  • Birth of Ernest Hemingway

  • Death of Stephen Crane

  • Publication of Zitkala-Sa's "Impressions of an Indian Childhood"

    Autobiography (Realism). This account delved into what life was like for Indian children taken away to missionary schools.

  • Birth of Langston Hughes

  • Death of Paul Laurence Dunbar

  • Birth of Theodore Roethke

  • Death of Rebecca Harding Davis

  • Death of Mark Twain

  • Birth of Elizabeth Bishop

  • Publication of Edit Maud Eaton's "Mrs. Spring Fragrance"

    Short Story (Realism). Portrays the experience/perspective of the immigrant woman (especially Chinese, which was increasing at that time).

  • Publication of Ezra Pound's "A Pact"

    Poem (Modernism-imagism)

  • Publication of Ezra Pound's "In the Station of a Metro"

    Poem (Modernism-imagism)

  • World War I begins

  • Death of Edit Maud Eaton

  • Publication of Amy Lowell's "The Captured Goddess"

    Poem (Realism-imagism)

  • Publication of Robert Frost's "Mending Wall"

    Poetry (Modernist)

  • Publication of Robert Frost's "After Apple Picking"

    Poetry (Modernist)

  • Birth of Ralph Ellison

  • Publication of T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

    Poem (Modernism-imagism). This delves into the tortured psyche of the new man of the industrialized age and touches on vital social issues such as alienation.

  • Publication of Susan Glaspell's "Trifles"

    1-act play (Modernist/feminist). Murder mystery tale through the perspective of the female characters.

  • Birth of Gwendolyn Brooks

  • Publication of Claude McKay's "The Harlem Dancer"

    Poetry (Harlem Renaissance)

  • World War I ends

  • Publication of Amy Lowell's "Venus Transiens"

    Poem (Realism-imagism)

  • Publication of Amy Lowell's "September, 1918"

    Poem (Realism-imagism)

  • 19th Amendment enacted (women's suffrage)

  • Publication of Claude McKay's "If We Must Die"

    Poetry (Harlem Renaissance)

  • Publication of Claude McKay's "America"

    Poetry (Harlem Renaissance)

  • Publication of Langston Hughes' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

    Poem (Harlem Renaissance)

  • Publication of Claude McKay's "The Lynching"

    Poetry (Harlem Renaissance)

  • Publication of William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow"

    Poem (Modernism-imagism)

  • Publication of E.E. Cummings' "in Just-"

    Poetry (Modernist)

  • Publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"

    Novel (Realism). Portrays life during the Jazz Age with prosperity evident everywhere but with a dark side hiding in wait.

  • Death of Amy Lowell

  • Birth of Flannery O'Connor

  • Publication of Langston Hughes' "The Weary Blues"

    Poetry (Harlem Renaissance)

  • Publication of E.E. Cummings' "O sweet spontaneous"

    Poetry (Modernist)

  • Publication of E.E. Cummings' "next to of course go america i"

    Poetry (Modernist)

  • Birth of Alan Ginsberg

  • Stock Market Crash=beginning of Great Depression

  • Publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited"

    Short story (Modernism). Portrays life after the 1929 Stock Market Crash and how it affected the lives of American expatriates living in Europe, as well criticizing some of the values of Fitzgerald's generation.

  • Birth of Toni Morrison

  • Death of Charles W. Chesnutt

  • Publication of Zora Neale Hurston's "The Gilded Six-Bits"

    Short story (Modernism). Portrays life, love and class relations in a typical African-American dommunity of the rural South.

  • Publication of William Carlos Williams' "This is Just to Say"

    Poem (Modernism-imagism)

  • Death of Charlotte Perkins Gilman

  • Publication of Ernest Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro"

    Short story (Lost Generation)

  • Death of Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonin)

  • WWII begins in Europe

  • Publication of William Faulkner's "Barn Burning"

    Short story (Southern Renaissance/Gothic). A tale of class conflict, paternal influences, and vengeance in the South through the point of view of a child.

  • Death of F. Scott Fitzgerald

  • USA enters WWII

  • WWII ends/Cold War begins

  • Publication of Gwendolyn Brooks' "the mother"

    Poetry (Modernist-feminist). Painted a nonjudgemental picture of woman who had an abortion.

  • Publication of Gwendolyn Brooks' "The White Troops Had Their Orders..."

    Poetry (Modernist-feminist).

  • Death of Claude McKay

  • Death of Susan Glaspell

  • Birth of Leslie Marmon Silko

  • Death of Abraham Cahan

  • Publication of Ralph Ellison's "The Invisible Man"

    Novel (Contemporary-confessional). Touched on concept of black nationalism and on preserving black identity.

  • Publication of Claude McKay's "Africa"

    Poetry (Harlem Renaissance)

  • Birth of Louise Erdrich

  • Publication of Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People"

    Short story (Southern Renaissance/Gothic). Tale warning against judging people by their face value.

  • Publication of Alan Ginsberg's "Howl"

    Poetry (Contemporary- Beat Generation)

  • Death of Zora Neale Hurston

  • Death of Ernest Hemingway

  • Publication of Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz"

    Poetry (Modernist)

  • Death of E.E. Cummings

  • Death of William Faulkner

  • Death of William Carlos Williams

  • Death of T.S. Eliot

  • Death of Robert Frost

  • Death of Theodore Roethke

  • Publication of Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool"

    Poetry (Modernist-feminist). Commented on pointlessness of doing something just to look cool.

  • Publication of Gwendolyn Brooks' "kitchenette building"

    Poetry (Modernist- feminist). Touched on aspects of poverty and prejudice and how it relates to housing.

  • Death of Flannery O'Connor

  • Death of Langston Hughes

  • Death of Ezra Pound

  • Death of Elizabeth Bishop

  • Publication of Leslie Marmon Silko's "Lullaby"

    Short story (Contemporary-Native American Renaissance). Collection of stories/poetry which includes "Lullaby" act as a cultural bridge between Native American oral story telling and the the written Engish text.

  • Publication of Elizabeth Bishop's "Sestina"

    Poetry (Contemporary)

  • Publication of Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art"

    Poetry (Contemporary)

  • Pubication of Toni Morrison's "Recitatif"

    Short story (Contemporary-African American). A tale of two racially different characters but without explicitly stating which character is white and which is black, thereby removing race from the equation.

  • Publication of Louise Erdrich's "I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move"

    Poetry (Contemporary- Native American Renaissance).

  • Publication of Louise Erdrich's "Dear John Wayne"

    Poetry (Contemporary-Native American Renaissance). Used John Wayne as a metaphor the dehumanization of Native Americans through their depiction in Hollywood as savages.

  • Cold War ends with collapse of USSR

  • Publication of Langston Hughes' "I, Too"

    Poem (Harlem Renaissance)

  • Publication of Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B"

    Poetry (Harlem Renaissance)

  • Death of Ralph Ellison

  • Death of Alan Ginsberg

  • Death of Gwendolyn Brooks

  • 9/11/01 WTC terrorist attacks= Global War on Terrorism begins

  • Publication of Louise Erdrich's "Grief"

    Poetry (Contemporary-Native American Renaissance).