Topic: American Literary Periods and Their Characteristics

Essential Question What are the dates, main ideas, writing styles, effects, and examples of each of the American Literary Periods we will study?

Puritan/Colonial Writing Main Ideas / Focus Focus on God A person’s fate is determined by God (predestination) Man is sinful and corrupt Success or failure is a sign of God’s favor or disapproval

Puritan/Colonial Writing Style / Types Sermons, diaries, personal narratives Moralistic and religious writing Written in plain style

Puritan/Colonial Effect/Aspects Instructive Solemn tone Reinforces authority of the Bible and church

Puritan/Colonial Examples Of Plymouth Plantation (Bradford) “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (Edwards) Though not written during Puritan times, The Crucible depicts life during the time when Puritan theocracy prevailed (Salem witch trials).

Revolutionary/Age of Reason Main Idea / Focus Freedom and independence “American” values Rationalism – arrive at truth through reason God created the universe but is “hands-off”

Revolutionary/Age of Reason Writing Style / Types Political pamphlets Speeches Highly ornate style – “big” language Persuasive writing

Revolutionary/Age of Reason Effect/Aspects Patriotism grows National pride Self-examination

Revolutionary/Age of Reason Examples “Speech to the Virginia Convention” (P. Henry) “The Loyalist Side” (C. Inglis) “The Declaration of Independence” (T. Jefferson) Autobiography (B. Franklin)

Romanticism Main Ideas / Focus In response to Industrial Revolution and rationalism Abolish slavery Move from corrupt civilization and limited rational thought to nature and freedom of imagination Emphasis on feelings and intuition NATURE

Romanticism Writing Style / Types Slave narratives Poetry Short stories Essays

Romanticism Effects/Aspects Journey into nature Trust personal experience and power of imagination Youthful innocence Sense of adventure into wilderness Distrustful of “progress” Poetry is ultimate expression of imagination

Romanticism Examples “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” (Longfellow) “Thanatopsis” (W.C. Bryant) Poems of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman Poems of Poe (Dark Romantic- “The Raven”)

The Moderns Main Ideas/Focus Time of great change in America Pre and Post Depression The Jazz Age/Roaring 20’s War –WWI –WWII

The Moderns Writing Style / Types Novels / Plays /Poetry Highly experimental (writers seek a unique style) Disillusioned but honorable & courageous hero figures

The Moderns Effect/Aspect Pursue and challenge the promise of the American Dream End of innocence Disillusionment with and distrust of tradition

The Moderns Examples The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) A Farewell to Arms (Hemingway) The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) Robert Frost publishes his first poetry collection

Harlem Renaissance Renaissance = rebirth or revival 1920s

Intro Videos

Roots Explosion of African American art / culture after the Great Migration of Southerners to Northern cities Started in Harlem, a predominately African American neighborhood in New York City

Roots Cont’d “It was the period when the Negro was in vogue” (Langston Hughes) African Americans established as having a role in mainstream American culture

Authors We’ll Study Countee Cullen –grew up in NYC –brilliant student –Masters from Harvard –became a teacher to help supplement writing income during Depression

Authors We’ll Study Cont’d Claude McKay –from Jamaica –8 th child of farmers –moved to Harlem in 1914 –worked a variety of jobs while he honed his writing skills

Authors We’ll Study Cont’d Langston Hughes –from the mid-West –“discovered” while working as a busboy in Washington DC –multi-lingual; well-traveled –his work “an attempt to ‘explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America’”

Authors We’ll Study Cont’d Zora Neale Hurston –born in all-black Eatonville, FL –encouraged by parents to “jump at the sun” –wrote work that celebrated life of black people in the US rather than confronting the white community for its discrimination

Other Famous Names Josephine Baker Aaron Douglas James Ven Der Zee Louis Armstrong Bessie Smith Apollo Theater

An Unfortunate End… The Great Depression depletes much of the funding for artists Harlem Renaissance fades, but not before paving the way for future African American artists

The Great Depression