American Literature Timeline11th Grade American Literature

Native American (30,000 B.C. – 1730 A.D.)

• Historical Events• 30,000 B.C. – 1492 A.D. – settlement of

American Indians into various tribes on the American continents (Indians traveled to this continent by crossing the Bering Strait)

• 1492 – Columbus discovers America landing in the Bahamas

• 1521 – Cortez conquers Aztecs in Mexico

Native American

• Characteristics of Native American Culture:• Ancestors arrived more than 10,000 years ago.• Each of the 700 tribes spoke their own language

and had their own folklore and mythology.• Focus on the common origin of all things• Tribal traditions and rituals• Respect for all nature

Native American

• Types of Literature• Mostly oral• Some written• Ceremonial songs and prayers• Historical narratives• poems

Native American

• Writers and their works:• Walam Olum• Navajo Origin Legend• Spring Song

Puritans (1607-1702)

• Historical Events:• 1620 – Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock• 1629 – Puritans come to New England• 1692-The Salem Witch Trials take place.

Nineteen people are killed.

Puritans

• Characteristics of Puritan Culture:• The Puritans left England because they wanted to purify the

Church of England.• They believed that the Bible was God’s instruction to man and

therefore a guide for writing and establishing government.• Puritans believed in predestination—the belief that God has

already determined who is saved (the elect) and who is not (the unregenerate).

• Puritans lived very simple lives.• They believed that anything done for entertainment, such as

gambling, excessive drinking, dancing, and singing, was sinful.• They highly valued art, literature, and education.

Puritans

• Types of Literature:• Sermons• Diaries• Journals• Narratives• Poetry***Fiction and drama were forbidden!!!

FICTION

Puritans

• Writers and their works:• Jonathan Edwards –

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (sermon)

• Anne Bradstreet – “Upon the Burning of Our House” (poem)

• Cotton Mather

Colonial (1750-1800) “The Age of Reason”/The Enlightenment”

• Historical Events:• 1765 – Colonists resist new Stamp Act

passed by the British• 1770- The British kill colonists in the Boston

Massacre• 1776 – Americans declare independence and

Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence

• 1775-1783 – Revolutionary War; Americans defeat the British

• 1789 –George Washington becomes the first president of the United States

Colonial (1750 – 1800) – “The Age of Reason”/ “The Enlightenment”

• Characteristics of Colonial Culture:• Also known as the Age of Reason or the

Enlightenment• People believed that the universe was an

orderly place that could be understood by using reason.

• Believed that reason could result in advances in science, a better government, and an ideal society.

Colonial (1750-1800) “The Age of Reason” / “The Enlightenment”

• Types of Literature:• Mostly political writings• Broadsides (posters that let people know

what was going on)• Persuasive and argumentative writings• Almanacs (Benjamin Franklin), speeches,

essays, pamphlets (essays), and poetry

Colonial (1750-1800) – “The Age of Reason”/ “The Enlightenment”

• Writers and their works:• Benjamin Franklin – “Poor

Richard’s Almanac”• Patrick Henry- “Give Me

Liberty or Give Me Death”

• Thomas Paine- “Common Sense”

• Phillis Wheatley – “On Being Brought from Africa to America” (poem)

• Thomas Jefferson – Declaration of Independence

American Romanticism (1800-1840)

• Historical Events• 1803 – expansion of U.S. through the

Louisiana Purchase• 1812 – 1814 – War of 1812 against the

British• 1830-Passage of the Indian Removal Act• 1848-First Women’s rights convention in

Seneca Falls, NY• 1850-The Fugitive Slave Act promises

punishment to anyone helping an escaped slave.

American Romanticism:

• Characteristics of Romanticism:• Valued feeling and intuition over reason• Placed faith in inner experience and the power of

the imagination• Shunned the artificiality of civilization and sought

unspoiled nature• Preferred youthful innocence to educated

sophistication• Stood for individual freedom and the worth of the

individual• Saw nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and

moral development

American Romanticism

• Characteristics Continued:• Looked to the wisdom of the past and

distrusted progress• Found beauty and truth in exotic locations,

the supernatural realm, and the inner world of the imagination

• Saw poetry as the highest form of expression

• Found inspiration in myth, legend, and folklore

American Romanticism

• Characteristics of the Romantic Hero:• Is young or possesses youthful qualities• Is innocent and pure of purpose• Has a sense of honor based not on society’s

rules but on higher principles• Has a knowledge of people and life based on

deep, intuitive understanding, not on formal learning (noble savage)

• Loves nature and avoids town life• Searches for higher truth in the natural world

American Romanticism:

• Types of Literature:• Poetry- The Romantics believed poetry to

be the highest form of art; the ideal form of expression

• Novels• Short stories• Sketches• Folklore

American Romantic Writers and Their Works

• William Cullen Bryant – “Thanatopsis”

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”

• Washington Irving – “The Devil and Tom Walker”

• The Fireside Poets – a group of poets whose poems Americans read in the evening “by the fireside”

• James Fenimore Cooper- The Last of the Mohicans

Transcendentalism (1840 – 1860)

• Historical Events:• Occurred during the same time period as

Romanticism and Dark Romanticism• 1852 – The anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s

Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published

Transcendentalism

• Characteristics:• Arose in the New England area• There are kinds of knowledge that “transcend” or

“rise above” reason and experience• People should have faith in their “inner light”• Strong belief in the importance of the individual

and self-reliance• Looked to nature for inspiration and guidance• All people are connected by the “Oversoul” – a

spiritual force connecting nature and humans• Optimistic view of life

Trancendentalism

• Types of Literature:• Essays• Novels• Short stories• Poetry

Transcendentalist Writers and Their Works

• Henry David Thoreau – Walden, “Civil Disobedience”

• Ralph Waldo Emerson – “Nature,” “Self-Reliance”

Dark Romanticism/Anti-Transcendentalism (1840 – 1860)

• Historical Events:• Occurred during the same period as

Romanticism and Transcendentalism

Dark Romanticism/Anti-Transcendentalism

• Characteristics of Dark Romanticism:• Shared some of the same beliefs as Romanticism• Pessimistic viewpoint - literature often focuses on

death and tragedy• Truth and happiness are not always found in life• Human nature is a mix of good and evil• Focus on the darker side of human nature• A belief in the supernatural with a focus on the

dark, evil side of the supernatural• Also known as “Anti-Transcendentalism”

Dark Romanticism/Anti-Transcendentalism

• Types of Literature:• Essays• Novels• Short stories• Poetry

Dark Romantic Writers and Their Works:

• Edgar Allan Poe – “The Raven,” “The Pit and the Pendulum”

• Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter, “The Minisiter’s Black Veil”

• Herman Melville – Moby Dick

Realism and Naturalism (1855-1900)

• Historical Events:• 1861-1865 – Civil War

• (not much was written during this time because the war was too painful to write about; much literature about the war came many years AFTER the war was over)

• 1863-The Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves, is issued by Abraham Lincoln

• 1865-The Thirteenth Amendment outlaws slavery• 1876-Alexander Graham Bell invents the

telephone• 1881-The Red Cross is organized by Clara Barton• 1898-The Spanish-American War breaks out

Characteristics of Realism

• Civil War literature was very political in nature• Expression of life as it is actually lived• Used clear, direct language to present ordinary

everyday events.• Subjects of literature often consist of factories,

slums, workers, bosses, criminals, and social outcasts

• Regionalism, or local color, focuses on the unique character of various regions and depicts their dialect, customs, and characters

• Sometimes contains humor and social commentary• Began because of the Civil War; the war opened the

population’s eyes to the realities of life and death

Characteristics of Naturalism

• Extreme form of realism• Human beings have no control over

their fates.• People were victims of their

surroundings, drives, and desires.• Influence of scientific method. A writer

carefully gathers facts about human experience and then draws conclusions

• Nature is powerful and shows no mercy

Types of literature:

• Short stories• Novels• Poetry (only a couple written during the Civil

War by a poet named Walt Whitman)• Travel books• Songs• Spirituals• Diaries and journals (almost the only

literature written during the Civil War)

Writers and Their Works:

• Mark Twain (Realism)- Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (considered first and finest “American” novel), “The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”

• Stephen Crane – The Red Badge of Courage (one of the most famous novels about the Civil War; written many years after the war)

• Jack London (Naturalism) – Call of the Wild, “To Build a Fire”

• Kate Chopin-The Awakening

Modernism (1900-Present)

• Historical Events:• 1914-1918—World War I• 1929 – Stock Market Crash• 1930-1940 – Great Depression• 1941-1945 – U.S. involvement in World War II• 1945-America drops the atomic bomb on Japanese cities• 1954 – Prayer in public schools becomes illegal• 1961- Alan Shepard is the first American in space• 1964-The Beatles debut in America on the Ed Sullivan Show• 1968 – Martin Luther King, civil rights leader, is

assassinated• 1973 – U.S. troops withdraw from Vietnam• 1986- Space shuttle Challenger explode on take-off• 1989-The Berlin Wall is torn down in Germany• 2001- Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the

Pentagon

Characteristics of Modernism:

• Growth in America’s industrial power, military strength, and influence in world affairs

• Modernism lasted from around the beginning of the 20th century until the end of World War II.

• Writers rejected the literary rules of the 19th century and opposed conventional morality, taste, traditions, and economic values

• Writers looked for new and varied modes of expression

• Stream of consciousness writing developed• Stories had no clear resolution at the end• Readers struggle to find meaning in texts because

life itself is a struggle.

Characteristics of Modernism (continued)

• The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s was the first significant artistic movement of African-Americans. Harlem, NY was where many of these artists lived, worked, and performed.

• In Postmodern writing, characters struggle to make sense of the ever-changing world in which they live.

• Postmodern literature tends to have a pessimistic tone.

• The “American Dream,” the hope for happiness from a home, money, and good job, suffered a loss during this time due to war and the Great Depression.

Types of Literature:

• Short stories• Poetry• Dramas• Novels• Essays• Songs• Speeches

Writers and Their Works:

• F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (great novel about the American Dream)

• William Faulkner – The Sound and the Fury, “A Rose for Emily”

• Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea

• Zora Neale Hurston-A Raisin in the Sun

Writers and their Works (continued):

• Claude McKay- If We Must Die

• Alice Walker – The Color Purple

• T. S. Elliot – “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

• Langston Hughes – “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “A Dream Deferred”

Writers and Their Works (continued):

• John Steinbeck-The Grapes of Wrath

• Sylvia Plath – The Bell Jar

• Tennessee Williams – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

• Arthur Miller – The Crucible