Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 2 views

    American Literature

    Uploaded by

    kennydarle0811
    American literature refers to literature written in English in the United States. Some of the earliest American authors include John Smith who published accounts of Virginia in the early 1600s. During the Puritan and Colonial period from 1650-1750, genres included sermons, diaries and narratives that reinforced religious authority and described the colonization process. Key works included William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation and Mary Rowlandson's narrative of her captivity. The Revolutionary and Age of Reason period from 1750-1800 saw political pamphlets and travel writing that encouraged support for the Revolutionary War through persuasive and ornate styles like Thomas Paine's Common Sense. The Romantic period from 1800-1860 brought expansion of publishing and debates over slavery and industrial

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    American Literature

    Uploaded by

    kennydarle0811
    2 views3 pages
    American literature refers to literature written in English in the United States. Some of the earliest American authors include John Smith who published accounts of Virginia in the early 1600s. During the Puritan and Colonial period from 1650-1750, genres included sermons, diaries and narratives that reinforced religious authority and described the colonization process. Key works included William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation and Mary Rowlandson's narrative of her captivity. The Revolutionary and Age of Reason period from 1750-1800 saw political pamphlets and travel writing that encouraged support for the Revolutionary War through persuasive and ornate styles like Thomas Paine's Common Sense. The Romantic period from 1800-1860 brought expansion of publishing and debates over slavery and industrial

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    American literature refers to literature written in English in the United States. Some of the earliest American authors include John Smith who published accounts of Virginia in the early 1600s. During the Puritan and Colonial period from 1650-1750, genres included sermons, diaries and narratives that reinforced religious authority and described the colonization process. Key works included William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation and Mary Rowlandson's narrative of her captivity. The Revolutionary and Age of Reason period from 1750-1800 saw political pamphlets and travel writing that encouraged support for the Revolutionary War through persuasive and ornate styles like Thomas Paine's Common Sense. The Romantic period from 1800-1860 brought expansion of publishing and debates over slavery and industrial

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    2 views3 pages

    American Literature

    Uploaded by

    kennydarle0811
    American literature refers to literature written in English in the United States. Some of the earliest American authors include John Smith who published accounts of Virginia in the early 1600s. During the Puritan and Colonial period from 1650-1750, genres included sermons, diaries and narratives that reinforced religious authority and described the colonization process. Key works included William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation and Mary Rowlandson's narrative of her captivity. The Revolutionary and Age of Reason period from 1750-1800 saw political pamphlets and travel writing that encouraged support for the Revolutionary War through persuasive and ornate styles like Thomas Paine's Common Sense. The Romantic period from 1800-1860 brought expansion of publishing and debates over slavery and industrial

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    What is American Literature?

    American literature generally refers to literature from the United States that
    is written in English.
     The purpose of these early texts was usually to explain the process of
    colonization and describe the United States to future immigrants back
    home in Europe.
     John Smith (1580-1631)- British explorer, is sometimes credited as
    the first American author for his publications that include A True
    Relation of Virginia (1608) and The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-
    England, and the Summer Isles (1624).

    History of American Literature


    Puritan/Colonial Literature (1650-1750)
    Historical context
     A person’s fate is determined by God (Predestination)
     All people are corrupt and must be saved by Christ (original sin)
     Covenant of grace and Covenant of works debate
    Genre/Style
     Sermons, diaries, personal narratives
     Written in plain style
    Effect/Aspects
     Instructive
     Reinforces authority of the bible and church
    Literary works
     Of Plymouth Plantation, a journal by William Bradford
     A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson
    by Mary Rowlandson
     Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is a sermon written by the
    American theologian Jonathan Edwards.
     Though not written during Puritan times, The Crucible and The
    Scarlet Letter depict life during the time when puritan theocracy
    prevailed.

    Revolutionary/ Age of reason (1750-1800)


    Historical Context
     Tells readers how to interpret what they are reading
     Meant to encourage Revolutionary War support
     Instructive in values
    Genre/Style
     Political pamphlets
     Travel writing
     Highly ornate style
     Persuasive writing
    Effect/Aspects
     Patriotism grows, instills pride
     Creates common agreement about issues
     National mission and the American character
    Literary works
     Common Sense, a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine
     Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack and “The
    Autobiography”
    Romanticism (1800-1860)
    Historical Context
     Expansion of magazines, newspapers, and book publishing
     Slavery debates
     Industrial revolution brings ideas that the ‘old ways” of doing things
    are now irrelevant.

     Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven


    Gables, and The Blithedale Romance
     Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” “Benito
    Cereno,” and other writings
     Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Representative Men
     Henry David Thoreau’s Walden
     Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass

    You might also like