THE COLONIAL PERIOD By: Jerrian Dagon

General information Literature did not begin in the colonies until about the early 1600’s. It did not begin as an independent literature. It contained mostly of thoughts from the Old England standards.

General Info cont. Benjamin believed that making a nation restricted literary movements, that the people were busy creating government and enhancements to society ( Canada).

General information cont. Colonial American literature was slow to catch up with their English contemporaries Mostly works of epic poetry, drama, and fiction However it did have very impressive works in the non fiction section of literature, such as autobiographies and sermons

General information cont. Many of the writers during this time wrote about the “will and work, the relationship between humans and nature, and the differences between European and Native American cultures” (Canada).

Literary ideals The ideas were brought from the immigrants’ mother country. There works were criticized by their earlier generation of scholars

Arts Many artisans were poor and there were no that many artisans to begin with Very seldom there were wealthy artisans Due to this there very few artisans

Art Continued

Political elements During this time period there were three different region New England, Middle Colonies, Southern Colonies

Political cont. (New England) The New England colonies consisted of various small towns These towns made the decisions for the town itself

Political cont. (Middle) These colonies worked the same way as the New England colonies They also formed small towns to govern These two regions united to fight against the native, French, and various others that crossed their paths

Political cont. (southern) In the southern colonies the people turned to rebellious natures One such as Bacon’s Rebellion was a rebellion against the government The government did not send reinforcements for the farmers to help fight against the natives.

Religious elements One of the first settlers that came to the Americas were the puritans. They spread their belief throughout all of the colonies

Religious cont. Most of the literature during the colonial period were based from the Bible The poetry were the main pieces of literature from the Bible

Religious cont. Many of the puritans believed that any distraction from the saving of souls were of the devil Such thing were reading for amusement and entertainment