Major Themes in American Literature 1820-1865

Midterm ReviewWhat you need to know for your Midterm:

American Literary History through 1914Terminology used in discussing literatureHow to find rhyme, rhythm and meterHow to do basic literary analysisSection 1: Major Themes in American Literate to 1914Review your reading and make sure you are comfortable with the major themes in American Literature through 1865.

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This section will be multiple choice.Major Themes in American Literature to 1700Native American Oral TraditionsDiscovery LiteraturePilgrims and PuritansAmerican Literature in 1700

Major Themes in American Literature 1700 -1820Vast Expansion in Land and PopulationEnlightenment IdealsThe Great AwakeningBritish ImperialismRights and the Pursuit of HappinessConflict with Native AmericansSlavery and divisionMajor Themes in American Literature 1820-1865The American RenaissanceAmerican Literary NationalismEconomics of American WritingContinued Conflict with Native AmericansSlavery and Division Strengthen

Major Themes in American Literature: The American Renaissance 1825-1865Transcendentalist like Emerson and Thoreau -- individual relationship to universe and duty to disobey unjust laws

Transcendentalism grew out of European romanticism with an American focus on the individual rights

Great Novelists like Hawthorne and Melville -- The Scarlett Letter and Moby Dick

Great poets like Emily Dickinson, though few works published in her lifetime

Edgar Allan Poe the father of the modern short story and mysteryAlso the period where Modern Journalism really takes off and helps create the next set of authorsU.S. Transformation into a modern nation with improved communication and industrial revolutionThe Literary Marketplace now able to support many regional journals and authorsRealism and Naturalism stress the impact of social and environmental forces on the individual live

Major Themes and Trends in American Literature 1865-1914Section 2: Literature TerminologyUse your note guide and the class discussion.

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This section will be matching.Plot: The unified structure of incidents in a literary workConflict: A struggle between opposing forces in a story or play, usually resolved by the end of the work. The conflict may occur within a character as well as between characters.

Protagonist: The main character of a literary work--Hamlet and Othello in the plays named after them ; not the same as a hero

Antagonist: A character or force against which another character struggles.

Freytags Pyramid

Climax: The turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story. The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the work.

Complication: An intensification of the conflict in a story or play. Complication builds up, accumulates, and develops the primary or central conflict in a literary work.

Denouement: The resolution of the plot of a literary work.

Exposition: The first stage of a fictional or dramatic plot, in which necessary background information is provided.

Falling action: In the plot of a story or play, the action following the climax of the work that moves it towards its denouement or resolution.

Rising action: A set of conflicts and crises that constitute the part of a play's or story's plot leading up to the climax.

Reversal: The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the protagonist.

Inciting Incident: Where the action begins; the part that grabs the readers attention

Types of Characters and Characterization:

Characterization: the narrator or a character in the story tells us what we need to know about a character or we find out about characters indirectly through thoughts, comments, or actions of the characters

Flat: character with few personality traits (few details given)

Round: character with many personality traits (many details given)

Static: a character that does not change personality, beliefs, ideas, etc. throughout the work

Dynamic: a character that experiences some type of change during the course of the story due to events

Stock: a a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Types of Narrators and Points of View:

Point of view: the angle from which we see things (through whose eyes)

First-person: the narrator is a character in the story and refers to himself using first-person pronouns ( I, me, my, mine, we, our, ours, us)

Second-person: uses the word "you"

Third-person: (two kinds) 1. Limited-third: narrator relates the innermost thoughts and feelings of only one character and tells the story as seen through the eyes of that character (who may be biased)

2. Omniscient: (all knowing) the narrator tells the thoughts, feelings, and actions of all the characters

Setting: where, when, and in what circumstances the text takes place.Time/temporal settingHistorical fictionScience fiction

Location/spatial settingFantasyMagical Realism

Traditional expectations of time and placeArchetypal setting

SituationTypes of Symbols

Conventional symbol: a symbol that has an understood or widely accepted interpretation

Literary: a symbol that has a specific interpretation in a fictional work

Allegory: a figurative mode of representation conveying meaning other than the literal through symbolism

Myth : a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event often through the use of symbolismCommon Types of Figurative Languagealliteration: Series of words that begin with the same consonant or sound alike: "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences" assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse: the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtainconsonance: Repetition of consonant sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse: few flocked to the fight"

Figurative Language Cont.pun: When a word or phrase is used in two different senses: "I think so, Brain, but if we give peas a chance, won't the lima beans feel left out?" internal rhyme: Using two or more rhyming words in the same sentence: While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door cacophony: Juxtaposition of words producing a harsh sound: a cacophony of hoots, cackles, and wails.

Figurative Language Cont.imagery: appeals to one or more of your five senses (hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight).irony: Use of word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning

metaphor: Stating one entity is another for the purpose of comparing them in quality: A mighty fortress is our god. simile: Comparison between two things using like or as: Suzie is as quiet as a mouse and as tall as a giraffe

Figurative Language Cont.oxymoron: Using two terms together, that normally contradict each other: Organized chaospersonification: Attributing or applying human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena: The sun opened its sleepy eyes and smiled down on the Earth as a new day began.metonymy: Substitution of a word to suggest what is really meant: "lend me your ear"synecdoche: Form of metonymy, in which a part stands for the whole: (Calling workers "hands", e.g. Many hands make light work; All hands on deck!)ThemeAccording to the Norton Anthology of Literature, theme is a general idea or insight conveyed by a work in its entirety.Theme reflects an idea larger than the text itself; it should be in some way universal reflecting on the human conditionTheme is not the same as purpose or a moralCommon Literary ThemesPoetry -- Ideas about Love, Mortality, Nature, and Spirituality are common.

Fiction themes can vary widely, though certain time periods tend to often have repeated themes. You may be tested on these in the American Literary History section.

Writing SectionYou will also have a choice of writing prompts to respond to based upon our readings. This section will be open book.

Please see the PowerPoint on literary analysis for further information about writing about literature.Good Luck on your MidtermPlease let me know if you have any questions!Remember the midterm does not cover any material from 1914 on. Modernism and the associated authors will be on the final.23