Literature from the Revolutionary Period (late 1700s)

 By the end of the 1700s, the Puritan influence on America began to wane (decrease).  People had come from all over Europe to the American colonies.  Were the colonists happy, overall, with the situation they were in?  How does this affect literature?

 Age of Reason: a movement that was marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy.  During the Age of Reason, scientists believed in Rationalism, which is the belief that human beings can arrive at the truth by using reason rather than relying on the authority of the past, or religious faith, or intuition.  Focus on NON-FICTION  the most important pieces of literature during the AGE OF REASON were: ▪ Political Documents: ▪ speeches, and pamphlets (short, concise works that usually argue for or against a political cause.)

 Important writers:  Thomas Jefferson  Benjamin Franklin  Thomas Paine  Patrick Henry, and any other of the so-called “Founding Fathers.”

 Rhetoric- the art of communicating ideas  Persuasive Rhetoric- reasoned arguments in favor of or against particular beliefs or courses of action  Rhetorical Appeals:  Logos  Ethos  Pathos

 Strategy  Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning ▪ Deductive Reasoning- generalizations/premises lead to specific examples and facts ▪ Inductive Reasoning- begin with specific examples and facts and draw a conclusion from them

 Style  Elevated language  Rhetorical Questions- questions that don’t require answers ▪ What might their effect be?  Repetition- repeating a point  Parallelism- form of repetition where writer uses the game grammatical form/structure to express related ideas