Introduction to American Literature

1. Introduction to American Literature

2. Guiding Statement “By the end of this school year, I want you to understand that the literature of America is a reflection of the changing American Character, a reflection of the changing landscape, and an attempt to portray the plight of individuals, groups, or communities in pursuit of a seemingly elusive American Dream.”

3. Objectives for the Year • Use a thematic approach to understand and appreciate literature • Consider growth and development of the “American Character” through ideas and values expressed in different genres of American Literature • Apply a variety of reading strategies to understand and appreciate American lit • Respond to American Lit in a variety of writing modes • Learn and use new words • Improve writing skills

4. K.U.D.D. • Things you will need to Know: • Literary Terms and their definitions • Author biographical information • Author’s influence on their times and other writers (as well as things/events that influence the writer) • Literary Movements (Romantic, Modern, etc.) • Impact of Puritan thinking on American culture

5. K.U.D.D. • Things you should Understand: • Americans are a dynamic people. • The nation’s physical landscape has had a profound impact on its writers. • The American Dream’s mythological properties have transformed as the nation has transformed over 2 ½ centuries. • The struggle to be successful (and the myth of success) can eclipse morals and values.

6. K.U.D.D. • Things you will be able to Do: • Make connections in literature. • See patterns in a single work or among different works by a single author, in different genres, or across genres. • Read beyond surface level comprehension • Write essays that analyze literature and demonstrate your understanding of your reading. • Recognize symbols, patterns, themes, figurative language, author’s style (including voice and tone).

7. K.U.D.D. • Habits of mind you should Develop: • Questioning and posing problems • Persisting • Striving for accuracy • Remaining open to continuous learning • Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision • Responding with wonderment and awe • Thinking about thinking • Listening with understanding and empathy

8. The First 300 Years • Many changes in the world (1500-1800) • world evolving from domination of religious beliefs to science • governments evolved from absolute monarchies to democracies • people saw themselves not as peasants tied to a lord but as free with the right to self-determination.

9. Influencing Factors • Influencing factors in American Literature • wilderness • vast stretches of land • Native Americans • religious beliefs of Anglo settlers • ideas about morality • Enlightenment philosophy—impact from Europe • American Literature is a fusion of native cultures of original settlers and many groups of immigrants who populated the new land.

10. Influencing Factors • Native Americans • settlers both frightened and fascinated by them • perceived by English settlers as devils and savages that needed to be converted • Wilderness • Forest regarded as frightening place—Satan’s playground • Settlers were also fascinated by it—drawn to its beauty • Tension between wilderness as symbolic of Garden of Eden and as symbolic of savagery and temptation colors many works of American Literature • Sets up classic conflict: longing for new beginning vs. fear of the unknown.

11. The First Settlements • Jamestown, Virginia—1607 • Came to America in search of gold to send back to England • Virginia—named after Queen Elizabeth I, the “Virgin Queen.” Also suggests the “virgin” land that offered limitless untapped wealth and potential. • Captain John Smith wrote: “The Isles of Mattahunts are on the west side of this Bay, where are many Isles, and questionless good harbors; and then the Country of Massachusetts, which is the Paradise of all those parts; for here are many Isles all planted with corn; groves, mulberries, savage gardens, and good harbors…As you pass along the Sea Coast, you see all along large corn fields.”

12. The First Settlers • Pilgrims • Mayflower voyage of 1620—settlers came for religious reasons • American viewed as a New Eden or Promised Land • It was their duty to clear the land and create a paradise • Puritans • This is where our course begins. . .

13. What Makes Literature American? • Prior to the 1800’s, all literature written in English came from Britain and followed the Brit Lit model. • British writers like Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats and (of course) Shakespeare dominated New World libraries and book shelves • Prior to 1800, most American writers imitated British writers

14. By early 1800’s, people hungered for a National Literature that reflected the themes and attitudes of a newly born frontier. Why—need to establish cultural independence. America was a new world of the mind and spirit. American Literature is a record of the success and failures of the struggles to achieve “The American Dream.” First American literary “giants”: James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving. First American Literary capitol: New York What Makes Literature American?

15. What Makes Literature American? • America literally wrote itself into history • Native American Stories • Letters from Pilgrims back to England • Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. express power of literature through the political document • As the country expanded south and west, so did the scope of American literature. • Overall, American literature is a unique blending of political, national, and cultural ideology that has influenced readers around the world.

16. Much of American Literature is rooted in Puritan values “It [Puritan Values] is the philosophical system with which the history of American philosophy starts; but it is also the house of tragedy, in which the sense of guilt and agony survives, the release into the peace of submission fails. It is the structure of tragic realization that is repeated in the work of Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville; O’Neill, Eliot, and Faulkner.” (Spiller) What Makes Literature American?

17. Why is American Literature Important to You? • American Literature provides a moral compass that allows us to stay grounded in an age of dizzying change. • Through short stories, poems, novels, pamphlets, essays, and plays, American Literature tells the American Story and how its people have grown with the nation—sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. The characters we will meet on our “journey” are a reflection of who we have been and who we are.

18. Essential Questions • First Semester Guiding Question: What are the origins of the American Dream, and how does an individual discern his own American Dream? • What is the ‘American Character’ and how is it revealed through the literature of the United States? • How is reading American Literature relevant to our lives as Americans? • How can reading works of Native American and Colonial writers contribute to an understanding of our diverse nation?

19. Works Cited Meyers, Karen. Colonialism and the Revolutionary Period. New York: Facts on File, 2006 Rozakis, Laurie. American Literature Indiannapolis: Alpha Books, 1999. Spiller, Robert E. The Cycle of American Literature. New York: Mentor Books, 1956.