Timeline of American Literature

Puritanism

• 1600-1800• Narratives that looked inward

and expressed the connections between God and their everyday lives– Private letters, diaries, essays,

histories, sermons

Puritanism

• Sought to “purify” the Church of England by reforming to the simpler forms of worship and church organization described in the New Testament

• Saw religion as a personal, inner experience

• Believed in original sin and “elect” who would be saved

• Used a plain style of writing

Puritanism

• Historical Events of Importance– First “American” colonies

established– Salem Witch Trials

Age of Reason / Persuasion

• 1750-1800• Rise of political/public writing• Mostly comprised of

philosophers and scientists–Documents, almanacs, pamphlets,

speeches

• Valued reason over faith• Assumed people were good, not

evil

Age of Reason / Persuasion

• Focus on persuasive writing– Intended to convince citizens to join

revolutionary causes

• Most writing was political– Responses to the strained

relationship with Great Britain and trying to break free to form a new government

Age of Reason / Persuasion

• Historical Events of Importance– The Revolutionary War– The Constitution– The Bill of Rights– The Declaration of Independence

Romanticism

• 1800-1860• SHIFTS– From faith in reason to faith in the

senses, feelings, and imagination– From interest in urban society to an

interest in the rural and natural– From public, impersonal poetry to

subjective poetry– From concern with the scientific and

mundane to interest in the mysterious and finite

Romanticism

• Valued feeling, intuition, idealism, the individual, and the imagination

• Dark Romantics: Interested in the Medieval past, the supernatural, the mystical, the “gothic,” and the exotic

Romanticism

• Historical Events of Importance– Industrialization–War of 1812– California Gold Rush

Transcendentalism

• 1840-1860• Developed as a protest against

the general state of spirituality and, in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University

• Core beliefs:– Inherent goodness of people– Inherent goodness of nature

Transcendentalism

• The soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world and contains what the world contains

• Transcendentalists believe that society and its institutions (organized religion, political parties) ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual.

Transcendentalism

• People are at their best when they are truly self-reliant and independent– Self-reliance and individualism must

outweigh external authority and blind conformity to tradition

• Had their own Club!– The Transcendental Club

• Published their own journal– “The Dial”

Transcendentalism

• Historical Events of Importance– The Abolitionist Movement– The Utopian Movement– The Women’s Suffrage Movement

Realism/Naturalism

• 1850-1900• Feelings of disillusionment• Common subjects:– Slums of rapidly growing cities– Factories replacing farmlands– Poor factory workers– Corrupt politicians

Realism/Naturalism

• Represented the manner and environment of everyday life and ordinary people as realistically as possible– Regionalism

• Sought to explain behavior– Psychologically– Socially

Realism/Naturalism

• Historical Events of Importance– The Civil War– Reconstruction

Modernism

• 1900-1950

• Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the “American Dream”

• The independent, self reliant individual will triumph

Modernism

• Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form over the traditional

• Interest in the inner workings of the human mind– Ex: Stream of Consciousness

Modernism

• Historical Events of Importance–World War I– The Great Depression–World War II

Harlem Renaissance

• 1920-1940

• AKA: “The Jazz Age” and “The Roaring 20s”

• Black Cultural Movement in Harlem, New York

Harlem Renaissance

• Some poetry rhythms based on spirituals and jazz

• Lyrics from the blues• Diction from the street talk of

the ghettos• Other poetry used conventional

lyrics

Harlem Renaissance

• Historical Events of Importance– “The New Negro Movement”– Prohibition

Contemporary

• 1950-present• AKA: Post-modernism• Influenced by studies of media,

language, and information technology

• Sense that little is unique; culture endlessly duplicates and copies itself

Contemporary

• New literary forms and techniques:–Works composed of only dialogue– Combining fiction and non-fiction– Authors experimenting with the

physical appearance of their work

Contemporary

• Historical Events of Importance– Korean War– Vietnam War