Survey of American Literature

1. Survey of American Literature From The New Land to American Romanticism

2. The Native Americans • The Earliest Americans • Oral Traditions Viewed by many as folklore

3. Native American Literature • The Walam Olum

4. The Pilgrims and Puritans • A small group of Europeans sailed form England on the Mayflower in 1620 • Religious reformers who were critical of the Church of England • Preoccupation with sin and salvation Their writings were primarily theological studies, hymns, histories, biographies, and autobiographies with the purpose of each writing to provide spiritual insight and instruction.

5. The Pilgrims and Puritans • Puritans wrote for themselves in journals or diaries with the aim of serious self-examination that they practiced in other aspects of the lives. • They produced neither fiction nor drama, since they regarded both as sinful. • They did write poetry as a vehicle of spiritual enlightenment—more concerned with the poem’s literary form than with its message.

6. Puritan Literature • Anne Bradstreet • Upon the Burning of Our House • To My Dear and Loving Husband • William Bradford • from Of Plymouth Plantation • Jonathan Edwards • from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God • Mary Rowlandson • Captivity Narrative

7. The Southern Planters • The Southern colonies differed from New England in climate, crops, social organization, and religion. • Literature effected by their busy social lives

8. Much of the literature of this time period was not produced in the colonies • It came from England • By 1750, however, the clear beginnings of a native literature began to appear; one that would one day be honored through out the English-speaking world.

9. The Colonial Period1750-1800 • During this period, the mind of the nation was on politics. Journalists and printers provided a forum for the expression of ideas. • After 1763, those ideas were increasingly focused on relations with Great Britain and, more broadly, on the nature of government. • The writing of permanent importance from the Revolutionary era is mostly political writing.

10. By the early 1800s, Americans had generated a small body of work • Native Americans—haunting poetry and legends told orally • Puritans-a number of powerful, inward-looking works • Revolutionary statesmen—a number of polictical documents for the ages

11. However, no novels or plays existed, nor had the short story been invented.

12. 1750-1800—The Colonial PeriodAge of Reason • American colonists began to reach the point where they could no longer tolerate British rule. • The Age of Reason—the ideas of reason and discipline prevailed in the writing of the time • Logical reasoning offering sound clear arguments in support of causes • The attention of the nation was on politics, so the same held true for the literature

13. 18th Century Views • Nature was a self-contained machine, like a watch. Its laws of operation could be rationally understood • Reason was emphasized over the imagination, the social over the persona, the common over the individual • The imagination had to be restrained by reason and common sense

14. 18th Century Views • Literature’s function was to illustrate the common values of humanity and the rational laws of human existence. • Upheld tradition, sometimes resisting change. • Human values and literary standards that had endured over long periods of time were regarded as universally valid

15. Writers of the Colonial Period • Benjamin Franklin • Patrick Henry • Speech in the Virginia Convention • Thomas Paine • from The Crisis • Phillis Wheatley • To his Excellency, General Washington • Edward Taylor • Phillip Freneau • Thomas Jefferson • The Declaration of Independence • Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur • From Letters from an American Farmer • Sarah Kemble Knight • A Journey from Boston to New York

16. 1800-1840—A Growing Nation • Romanticism developed • Few American writers could boast of making a living from their craft

17. From Reason to Romance • The Puritans were religious fundamentalists who sought salvation. The founders of the repbulic were political realists who pursued reason. • But the early 19th century writer were considered Romantics.

18. Romanticism • Humanitarian reform is a mark of Romanticism—from abolition of slavery to improvements in education

19. Realists vs. Romantics • Realists believed that reason is the dominating characteristic both of nature and of human nature. • Believed both nature and human nature are governed and fixed with unchanging laws.

20. History of Romanticism • A number of changing attitudes related o a sense of nationalism • The romantics’ emphasis on the individual reflects the political ideal set forth in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” • Leads to an emphasis on the dignity and worth of the common individual and to social reforms that were meant to fulfill this ideal of equality

21. Romanticism • Romanticism does not necessarily mean “love” • Romanticism can be viewed as an artistic movement, or state of mind, or both. • Romantic writers favor the imagination over reason, intuition over facts.

22. Aspects of Romanticism • Intense interest in and reverence for nature. • An accent on mystery—on the strange and fantastic aspects of human experience • Often sought inspiration and understanding through the observation and contemplation of nature. • Turned to legends and folklore as sources of inspiration.

23. Romantic Views • Valued feeling and intuition over reason • Placed central importance upon the emotions and upon the individual • Reason was thought of as important, but it was not the surest guide to truth • Romantic writers emphasized intuition, that inner perception of truth which is independent of reason

24. Romantic Views • All art is the imaginative expression of the inner essence of the individual • Romantics defended the potential of the individual and its claim for individual freedom • Romantics stressed the human potential for social progress and spiritual growth

25. Famous Romantics • The German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel observed, “The inner world is the content of Romantic art” • The key to this inner world is imagination, which gives expression to those intuitions that mark each person’s unique being • Emerson asked, “Who can set bounds to the possibilities of man?”

26. Evolution of Romanticism • Romanticis was an artistic movement that grew out of a reaction against the dominant attitudes and approaches of the 18th century. • Romantics stressed the examination of inner feelings and emotions and the use of the imagination, rather than the use of reason and logic.

27. Romantic Literature • Mostly interested in the expression of their own intuitive experiences • Subjects • Nature—emphasized the beauty, strangeness, and the mystery of nature, as opposed to the rational laws of realists • Saw nature not as a machine, but as an organic process, constantly developing and changing

28. Subjects The Past—the rise of nationalism brought with it a new interest in America’s past

29. Subjects • The Inner Human World of Nature—emphasized the emotions, intuition, and the individual and thus encouraged the exploration and the expression of the writer’s most private inner being. • Romantic writers became interested in the irrational depths of human nature.

30. American Romantic Writers • American Romantic writers had found in Romanticism a new way of expressing their experience as Americans. In this process, they expressed the nationalistic spirit of the age and created a truly significant national literature.

31. The Romantic Writers • William Cullen Bryant • Thanatopsis • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls • Oliver Wendel Holmes • The Last Leaf • Contentment • James Russell Lowell • The First Snow Fall • John Greenleaf Whittier • Telling the Bees

32. The Dark Romantics • Edgar Allan Poe • Nathaniel Hawthorne • Herman Melville

33. The Transcendentalists • Ralph Waldo Emerson • Henry David Thoreau • Emily Dickinson • Walt Whitman