American Literary Periods and Their Characteristics

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) “A Narrative of the Captivity” (Rowlandson) “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (Edwards) Though not written during Puritan times, The Crucible & The Scarlet Letter depict life during the time when Puritan theocracy prevailed

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 “Common Sense” (T. Paine) “Speech to the Virginia Convention” (P. Henry) “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 “Rip Van Winkle” (W. Irving) “Thanatopsis” (W.C. Bryant) Poems of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman

American Ren./Transcendentalism Main Ideas / Focus Prove that America has great writers Exploring the dark side of human existence / the human mind Nature is a doorway to mystical world containing truths Social improvement –Lyceum mov’t –Public education –Abolish slavery –Women’s rights

American Ren./Transcendentalism Writing Style / Types Poetry Short Stories Novels “Intellectual” Explore conflict between good and evil; psychological effect of guilt and sin (Dark Romantics)

American Ren./Transcendentalism Effect/Aspects Transcendentalists: –Immanuel Kant –True reality is spiritual –Self-reliance and individualism Anti-Transcendentalists: –Importance of symbolism –Sin, pain, & evil exist –Humans have a dark side, too

American Ren./Transcendentalism Examples “Self-Reliance” (Emerson) Walden (Thoreau) Poems and short stories from Edgar Allen Poe Poems and essays of Emerson & Thoreau Moby Dick (Melville)

Realism (Civil War & Postwar Period) Main Ideas / Focus Civil War brings demand for a "truer" type of literature that does not idealize people or places but accurately portrays real life Battlefield photography – reality of life in pictures

Realism (Civil War & Postwar Period) Writing Style / Types Novels and short stories with objective narrators Realistic characters Does not tell reader how to interpret story Focus on social issues – writing about slavery, war, women’s issues, etc.

Realism (Civil War & Postwar Period) Effect/Aspects Social realism: aims to change a specific social problem Aesthetic realism: art that insists on detailing the world as one sees it

Realism (Civil War & Postwar Period) Examples Narrative of Sojourner Truth (Truth) Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe) Little Women (Alcott) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (followed by Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) (Twain) The Red Badge of Courage (Crane)

The Moderns Historical Context Charles Darwin (survival of the fittest) Karl Marx (money and class structure control a nation) Technological “progress” Rise of the youth culture WWI and WWII Harlem Renaissance

The Moderns Writing Style / Types Novels / Plays Poetry (a great resurgence after deaths of Whitman & Dickinson) Highly experimental (writers seek a unique style) Generally a plain style Use of interior monologue & stream of consciousness Disillusioned but honorable & courageous hero figures

The Moderns Effect/Aspect Pursue and challenge the promise of the American Dream Faith in progress Confidence in the triumph / success of the individual Optimistic End of innocence Disillusionment with and distrust of tradition

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

Harlem Renaissance (parallel to Modernism) 1920s Historical Context Mass African- American migration to Northern urban centers African-Americans have more access to media and publishing outlets after they move North

Harlem Renaissance (parallel to Modernism) 1920s Genre/Style Allusions to African- American spirituals Uses structure of blues songs in poetry (repetition) Superficial stereotypes revealed to be complex characters

Harlem Renaissance (parallel to Modernism) 1920s Effect/Aspects Gave birth to "gospel music" Blues and jazz transmitted across American via radio and phonographs African-American artists appreciated and celebrated

Harlem Renaissance (parallel to Modernism) 1920s Examples Essays & Poetry of W.E.B. DuBois Poetry of McKay, Cullen, and Hughes Their Eyes Were Watching God (Hurston)

Contemporary (aka Postmodern) 1950-present Main Ideas / Focus Post-World War II prosperity Media culture interprets values Disillusionment Cold War Civil Rights Feeling lost in fast- paced world

Contemporary (aka Postmodernism) 1950-present Writing Style / Types Mix of fantasy and nonfiction; blurs lines of reality for reader Non-traditional form Concern with individual in isolation No heroes Usually humorless Narratives Present tense Features cultural diversity Poetry increasingly personal and accessible

Contemporary (aka Postmodernism) 1950-present Effect/Aspects Erodes distinctions between classes of people Insists that values are not permanent but only "local" or "historical“ Rapid developments in science and technology increase opportunities for economic growth but lead to feelings of disillusionment and isolation

Contemporary (aka Postmodernism) 1950-present Examples The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Malcolm X) Roots (Haley) The Color Purple (Walker) In Cold Blood (Capote) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Kesey) Beat Poets: Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg Feminist and Social Issue Poets: Plath, Rich, Sexton, Giovanni