ENGLISH REVIEW

LITERARY
PERIODS
 NATIVE
AMERICAN
LITERATURE
FOLK LITERATURE
Includes folktales, myths, fables, and legends
Traditionally passed orally from one generation
to the next
Often includes archetypes (hero, villain, sage,..),
or characters, situations, or actions that
represent universal examples of human nature.
Creation myth: A traditional folk story with
supernatural elements that describe how the
universe, Earth, and life began or explains the
working of the natural world.
 Building a
Democracy
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD THE GREAT AWAKENING
1750-1815
Preacher Jonathan Edwards:
Literature about nationalism and patriotism
1. All people are born sinners
Americans were discovering what it meant to be
“Americans”
2. Sin without salvation will send a person to hell
Nationalism: Identification with one’s nation and 3. All people can be saved if they confess their
support for its interest sins to God, seek forgiveness, and accept God’s
Patriotism: The quality of being patriotic; devotion grace
to and vigorous support for one’s country. 4. All people can have a direct and emotional
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR connection with God
1756-1763 5. Religion shouldn’t be formal and
The Seven-Year War institutionalized but rather casual and
Born due to the need for expansion of the French (south of personal.
Canada) and British (west of the colonies) During the Enlightenment
The British were losing and due to many loans taken from
other countries, they were in a massive debt
George III, British king, would increase the American colonies'
taxes.
1. The Stamp Act.
2. Sugar Act.
3. Currency Act.
4. Quantering Act.
After exceeding taxing, the American colonist began to
revolutionize, giving birth to the American Revolution
The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of
Independence; and John Addams and Benjamin
Franklin revised
States all the reasons why the thirteen colonies are
declaring themselves free
An argumentative writing
Important people:
1. Thomas Jefferson
2. John Addams
3. George Washington
4. Abigal Addams
5. A.Hamilton
6. Abraham Lincoln
Jazz Age
The Lost Generation refers to the generation of writers, artists, musicians, and intellectuals that came of age
during the First World War and the “Roaring Twenties.” The unprecedented carnage and destruction of the war
stripped this generation of their illusions about democracy, peace, and prosperity, and many expressed doubt
and cynicism in their artistic endeavors.

Some of the most famous Lost Generation writers were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, Ernest
Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and John Steinbeck. Many of these writers lived as expatriates in Paris, which
played host to a flourishing artistic and cultural scene.22squared The themes of moral degeneracy, corruption,
and decadence were prominent in many of their works. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a classic
of the genre.

Jazz music became wildly popular in the “Roaring Twenties,” a decade that witnessed unprecedented economic
growth and prosperity in the United States. Consumer culture flourished, with ever greater numbers of
Americans purchasing automobiles, electrical appliances, and other widely available consumer
products.33cubed The achievement of material affluence became a goal for many US citizens as well as an
object of satire and ridicule for the writers and intellectuals of the Lost Generation.

Technological innovations like the telephone and radio irrevocably altered the social lives of Americans while
transforming the entertainment industry. Suddenly, musicians could create phonograph recordings of their
compositions. For jazz music, which was improvisational, the development of phonograph technology was
transformative. Whereas previously, music-lovers would actually have to attend a nightclub or concert venue to
hear jazz, now they could listen on the radio or even purchase their favorite recordings for at-home listening.

After Congress passed the Volstead Act in 1919, which banned the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages,
many Americans sought refuge in speakeasies and other entertainment venues that hosted jazz bands. Harlem’s
Cotton Club was one famous venue, where both whites and blacks gathered to listen to jazz, dance the
Charleston, and illicitly guzzle booze. Women attended jazz clubs in large numbers, and the “flapper girl” became
a staple of US pop culture. These women flouted orthodox gender norms, bobbing their hair, smoking cigarettes,
and engaging in other behaviors traditionally associated with men.
 HARLEM
RENAISSANCE
General Information:
Cultural and literary movement
The black experience (expression)
Fighting for freedom and equality
Call to action against racism and
oppression

Authors:
Exaltation of religion and black power
Celebration of African-American heritage
pride in self-expression W.E.B Du Bois
Marcus Gavey
Cyril Briggs
Walter Francis White
Zora Neal Hurston
 Amarican Civil
Rights Movements
Events Prior During Civil Rights Movement
Protests against
1910s - 1920s 1950s: Beat
Lost Generation Movement/Generation
(literature) Civil Disobedience
*Prohibition After World War II
*After World War I Important people:
*Jim Craw Laws 1. MLK
*Literary movement 2. Malcom X
Silent Generation 3. Rosa Parks
(people)
Author: F.Scott
Fitzgerald
Beat Movement/Generation
Music + literature/arts
Being of counterculture
Protest against
Characteristic:
1. Sexual liberation and Explorations
2. Portraying the human conditions clearly
3. Experimentation with psychedelic drugs
4. Rejection of materialism
5. Exploring religion, Western and Eastern
6. Rejection of narrative
7. Non-conformity
8. Spontaneous creativity
9. One with nature
Authors:
*Gregory Corso
*Allen Ginsberg (Howl)
*Jack Kerouac (On the Road)
They were nomads
They fought for women's right to vote