American Literary Movements

Timeline of American Literary Movements:

The following timeline shows the period of each American literary movement and its duration.

 Pre-colonial: Native American Literature

 1620-1750: Puritan Literature
 1607-1775: Colonial Literature
 1775-1783: Revolutionary Age
 1775-1830: Early National Literature
 1830-1865: American Romanticism
 1865-1914: Naturalism
 1914-1940: Modernism and Experimentation
 1945- Present: Postmodernism

What is an American Literary Movement?

The term American literary movement refers to the periods of evolution in American literature and the
characteristics that literature from different time periods shares. Factors that unify literature within a particular
movement might include the style of the authors' writing, common themes or ideas, and the influence of the era’s
social and political climate.

History of American Literary Movements

Native American Literature - Early National Literature (Pre-colonial-1830)
The first recognizable American literary movement is, of course, the pre-colonial period of Native American
literature. Before the arrival of Europeans in what is now the United States, Native Americans had a vibrant literary
tradition with a strong focus on oral storytelling. These stories were of high cultural value, including creation stories
and other myths and folktales.

With the arrival of European settlers, the first period of English language literature began. As Puritans settled in
New England, they used literature, not for entertainment, but rather to explore religious themes and biblical
teachings. Puritan literature was generally non-fiction and included letters, diary entries, and other details of daily
activities.

At the same time, Colonial literature was also developing in America. Like Puritan literature, the literature of the
Colonial period was mostly non-fiction and geared towards descriptions of daily life. The major difference,
however, was the religious content of Puritan literature, while Colonial writers like Captain John Smith focused on
describing the process of colonization for those back home in Europe and Great Britain.

The American Revolution in 1775 marked the start of the Revolutionary and Early National literary movements. As
you might guess, this literary movement was strongly influenced by the development of the new nation and the
fight for independence. As a result, much of the literature from this period was political in nature. These texts
included political essays discussing the formation of the new government as well as propaganda pamphlets
supporting the revolutionaries’ cause.

Some of the most important writers of this period were also well-known political figures, such as Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), and Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804).
Influenced by the Enlightenment in Europe, American authors in the Revolutionary and Early National periods also
embraced the literary movement of Rationalism. A preference for rational thought and deductive reasoning shaped
texts of the era, including The Declaration of Independence (1776) and Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason (1794).

American Romanticism and Naturalism (1830-1914)

The year 1830 marks the beginning of American Romanticism. This is arguably the first uniquely American literary
movement and gave rise to some of the most important authors in the history of American literature. With the
American Revolution behind them, authors in the United States had the extraordinary opportunity to participate in
the process of nation-building by creating truly American literature.

This was the first time American authors tried to separate themselves from the literary traditions of Europe and
Great Britain. Authors such as Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville wrote novels and poetry inspired by the
American landscape and the ideals of freedom and individuality.

American Romanticism was also the first literary movement in the United States that split into several sub-
movements. These sub-movements included Transcendentalism, Dark Romanticism, American Gothic, and the
poetry of the Fireside Poets.

Towards the middle of the 19th century, American literature began to move away from Romanticism as authors
embraced the literary movements of Realism and Naturalism. The horrors of the Civil War had changed the mood
of the country and the idealism of Romanticism was no longer applicable.

Instead, American authors such as Stephen Crane and Mark Twain sought to depict life as it really was, even the
parts that might have been ugly or unpleasant. This movement was also exemplified in the proliferation of slave
narratives that were published in the wake of the Civil War, including Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by
Harriet Jacobs.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Mark Twain became one of the most important writers associated with the
literary movement known as regionalism or local color fiction. His novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and
The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin (1884) paid special attention to regional specifics, including dialect, landscape,
and customs.

Modernism, Experimentation, and the Modern Era (1914-Present)

At the beginning of the 20th century, American literature moved into the Modernist literary movement. Authors
like William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway began to focus more on the structure and style of writing, making a
conscious effort to break long-established literary conventions. This evolved into the even more unconventional
movement of Experimental literature, as well as individual groups of writers, such as Langston Hughes and Zora
Neale Hurston of the Harlem Renaissance, and Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald of the Lost Generation.

Following World War II, Modernism began to shift into Postmodernism, a literary movement that eschewed
meaning and embraced disorder and fragmentation. Postmodern authors such as Kurt Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick
wrote playful, distorted texts that often relied heavily on metafiction and intertextuality.

By the mid to late 20th century, American literature had begun to resemble the diverse body of work that we see
today. American drama grew in importance, with the first performances of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named
Desire (1947) and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949). American poets as diverse as Sylvia Plath and Allan
Ginsberg established a variety of literary movements including the San Francisco Renaissance, New Formalism, the
Confessional Poets, and the Beat Generation.
The urge towards experimentation and the breaking of literary conventions that began during the Modernist and
Experimental periods continue to influence American literature, which represents a broad variety of literary
themes, styles, and genres.

Characteristics of American Literary Movements

The following list explains some of the key characteristics of each American literary movement.

Native American Literary Movement

Focus on oral storytelling traditions, songs, and poetry.

Themes included creation stories, myths, and folktales.

Examples include trickster myths, often featuring a coyote as the troublemaker, and creation myths to explain how
various aspects of the world came into being.

Puritan Literature (1620-1750):

Focus usually on religious subject matter.

Non-fiction materials, including journal and diary entries or letters. Literature was not for entertainment but for
religious instruction.

Examples include Of Plymouth Plantation (1651) by William Bradford and the poetry of Anne Bradstreet.

Colonial Literature (1607-1775)

Focused on describing the process of colonization and daily life in the colonies.

Non-fiction materials that included journal and diary entries or letters.

Examples include A True Relation of Virginia (1608) and The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the
Summer Isles (1624) by John Smith.

Revolutionary Age (1775-1783)

Focus on political ideology and the use of literature to further the cause of independence.

Popular literary forms included political essays and propaganda pamphlets.

Examples include The American Crisis (1776-1783) by Thomas Paine and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
(1773).

Early National Literature (1775-1830)

Focus on political ideology and the use of literature to build national identity.

Popular literary forms included political essays and most literature remained non-fiction in nature.

Examples include the Federalist Papers (1787-1788) and The Declaration of Independence (1776).

American Romanticism (1830-1865)

Focus on themes of individualism, the beauty of nature, and conveying strong emotions.

A great increase in the writing of novels and poetry.

Sub-movements of American Romanticism include Transcendentalism, Dark Romanticism, American Gothic, and
the Fireside Poets.

Transcendentalism

Focus on the inherent goodness of the individual.

Individuals can “transcend” the world around them.

Examples include Walden (1854) by Henry David Thoreau and the poetry of Walt Whitman (1819-1892).
Dark Romanticism

Focus on the fallibility of the individual and the tendency towards self-destruction.

Opposite of Transcendentalism: the individual cannot transcend the world around them.

Examples include Moby Dick (1851) by Herman Melville and The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

American Gothic

Focus on the uncanny and macabre.

Includes the use of supernatural elements such as ghosts and monsters.

Examples include the short stories “The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) by Edgar Allan Poe and "The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow" (1820) by Washington Irving.

Fireside Poets:

Focus on themes of domesticity and national identity.

Used poetic conventions that made their work easy to memorize.

Examples include William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).

Naturalism (1865-1914)

Related to Realism and the use of literature to depict everyday life.

Focus on determinism, including the effects of environment and circumstance on characters.

Examples include Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) by Stephen Crane and To Build a Fire (1902) by Jack London.

Slave Narratives

Accounts that were written by enslaved Africans detailing their experiences.

Focus on simple language to realistically and matter-of-factly portray the horrors of slavery.

Examples include A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) by Frederick Douglass, and
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Jacobs.

Modernism and Experimentation (1914-1940)

Emphasis on style and how a story is told.

Experimentation with structure and point of view in both poetry and prose.

Sub-movements within Modernism and Experimentation include the Harlem Renaissance and the Lost Generation.

The Harlem Renaissance:

Focus on the African American experience.

Experimentation with style and structure.

Examples include the poetry of Langston Hughes (1901-1967) and Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora
Neale Hurston.

The Lost Generation:

Rebellion against established American cultural ideals.

Themes of disillusionment and critiques of the American Dream.

Examples include The Sun Also Rises (1926) by Ernest Hemingway and The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott
Fitzgerald.

Modern American Prose

Novels and essays that were published after World War II.

Authors employ a wide variety of themes and styles to describe the experience of the contemporary world, usually
following the themes and arguments seen in Postmodernism.

Examples include To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee and Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison.

Modern American Drama

Emphasis on plays with realistic settings.

Focus on the depiction of American life and society.

Examples include A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) by Tennessee Williams and Death of a Salesman (1949) by
Arthur Miller.

Modern American Poetry

American poets use a variety of styles and explore a variety of themes.

Sub-movements within Modern American Poetry include the San Francisco Renaissance, New Formalism,
Confessional Poetry, The New York School, the Beat Generation, the Black Mountain Poets, and Poetry Slam.

San Francisco Renaissance

Avant-garde poetry movement based in San Francisco.

Shunning the poetic mainstream.

Examples include the poetry of Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982) and William Everson (1912-1994).

New Formalism

Poetry movement that sought to re-embrace poetic conventions of the past.

Poets rejected free verse and instead returned to traditional forms of rhyme, meter, and verse.

Examples include the poetry of Charles Martin (1942-present) and Molly Peacock (1947-present).

Confessional Poetry

Poetry movement centered on personal poetry.

Focus on private, intimate themes and personal history.

Examples include the poetry of Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) and Anne Sexton (1928-1974).

New York School

Poetry movement based in Manhattan.

Focus on depicting everyday life while embracing humor and references to popular culture.

Examples include the poetry of John Ashbery (1927-2017) and Alice Notley (1945-present).

Beat Generation

Poetry movement related to the San Francisco Renaissance.

Focus on questioning social conformity and challenging traditional literary conventions.

Examples include the poetry of Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) and Jack Kerouac (1922-1969).
Black Mountain Poets

Avant-garde poetry movement based at Black Mountain College in North Carolina.

Focus on the use of conversational language and turning away from poetic conventions of the past.

Examples include the poetry of Charles Owen (1910-1970) and Larry Eigner (1927-1996).

Poetry Slam

Poetry movement that explores the performance of poetry.

Focus on competition and high-energy performances.

Examples include the poetry of Taylor Mali (1965-present) and Anis Mojgani (1977-present).