An Introduction

to American
Literature
A (Brief) Journey Through the Time Periods
 Historical Background
1.Early history:
1) In 1542, Christopher Columbus found the ne
w continent called America.
2) In 1607, Captain John Smith led some English
men across the ocean.
3) In 1620, 102 passengers sailed on the ship M
ayflower across the sea and settled on the
new continent “New England”.
 Historical Background
2. People:
native inhabitants: Indians
Immigrants mostly from Europe: Spanish; D
utch; French
English immigrants, Jamestown, Virginia, 1
607
a group of
Puritans
religious people
advocated religious
&moral principles
Historical Background

a code of values
a philosophy of life
Calvinists
a point of view
3. Belief---Puritanism took roots in the New World
 Puritans wanted to “purify the church” to i

ts original state, because they thought the

church was corrupted and had too many ri
tuals
 Doctrines of Puritans

taking religion as the most important thing;

living for glorifying God;

believing predestination, original sin, total depra

vi, & limited atonement
 American Puritanism
Features of American Puritan
idealist dream
 they would build
the new land to
more practical, an Eden on
tougher earth.

the severe conditions

struggle for survival
preoccupied with business and profits
 American Puritanism
Enduring shaping influence on literature
①Basis of American literature
dreamed of living under a went into
perfect order worked with the making
courage hoped to build an of
Eden of Garden on earth American
faced the worst of life literature
with optimism
All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden.
 American Puritanism
②Contributing to the development of Symbolism: a t
echnique, widely used

Symbolism means using symbols in literary

works. The symbol means something that
represents or stands for abstract deep
meaning.

Puritans thought that all the

simple objects existing in the
world connoted deep meaning.
 American Puritanism
③Influencing the style of literature: simple, fr
esh and direct (just as the style of the Auth
orized Version of Holy Bible)

Without understanding of
Puritanism, there can be no good
understanding of American culture
and literature.
 Brief Outline of American Literature

1. Colonial period and Rev

olutionary period 5. After the WWII

4. The Modern
period
2.Romanticism
3.The age of
Realism
AMERICAN LITERATURE MOVEMENTS
 PURITANISM
(1600s to Mid 1700s)
• The Puritans wanted to
“purify” the Church of E
ngland.
– Left England in 1620, un
der harsh persecution.
– Came to the New World
to create a Utopian colo
ny where they could be f
ree to practice their beli
efs.
 Themes
• Focus on: – GOD
– Religion – NO SEPERATION
– Spirituality between
• Church,
Government,
Literature, or
Society
 THEMES (cont.)
• Life (and literature) was bas
ed on the belief of “predesti
nation”
– God has already decided who
was saved and who was dam
ned. The kicker: no one on ea
rth knew.
– We are all born evil and must
strive for goodness.
– Forced to live a “righteous” lif
e just in case.
– Pre-Democratic American val
ues.
AUTHORS
• Anne Bradstreet (poetr
y)
– “To My Dear and Loving
Husband”
– “Upon the Burning…”

• Jonathon Edwards (ser

mons)
– “Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God”
 REVOLUTIONARY
(Mid to Late 1700s)
• Shift in government: De
mocratic NOT Religious.
• Shift to scientific thinkin
g and experiments.
• REBELLION! Striving for
independence from Brit
ain.
Why Fight?
• England kept troops in A
merica after the French
and Indian War (early 1
700s) without reimburs
ement from the crown.
• “No taxation without fai
r representations” fell o
n King George III’s deaf
ears.
 AUTHORS
• Patrick Henry
– “The Speech to VA Conve
ntion”
• Thomas Jefferson
– “The Dec. of Independen
ce”
• Benjamin Franklin
– Autobiography
• Phyllis Wheatley
– First published African-A
merican poet
TRANSCENDENTALISM
(Early to Mid 1800s)
• Louisiana Purchase (We
stward Expansion).
• Rebellion against Purita
n beliefs.
• Belief in democracy and
freedom.
• Ended with the Civil War
.
 THEMES
• Nature is Truth.

• Nature is God and God i

s Nature.

• Be self-reliant and stand

up for what you believe.
AUTHORS
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
– The “Father of Transcend
entalism”
– Wrote “Self-Reliance”
• Henry David Thoreau
– “Civil Disobedience”
– Walden
 ROMANTISM
(Early to Mid 1800s)
• Rebelled against Puritanism and Revolutio
nary sensibilities.

• Wanted to examine the relationship betw

een man/nature and man/emotions.
 ROMANTISM
Themes
• Same philosophy as the
Transcendentalists.

• Fascination with the sup

ernatural.

• Has a dark side – The A

merican Gothic movem
ent.
Authors
• Edgar Allen Poe
– “The Raven”
• William Cullen Bryant
– “Thanatopsis”
• Emily Dickinson
– “Because I Could Not Sto
p for Death”
• Walt Whitman
– “O Captain, My Captain”
 Realism/Naturalism
(Mid to Late 1800s)
• Attempt to mirror “real life”

• Writing reflects careful obse

rvations of life

• Study of how we are affecte

d by our environment
Realism/Naturalism
Themes
• Emphasis on human ins
tinct.

• Highly developed settin

gs to re-create a specific
time and place in histor
y.

• Focus on middle and lo

wer classes
 Realism/Naturalism
Authors
• Mark Twain
– Huck Finn, “Life on the M
ississippi”
• Stephen Crane
– Red Badge of Courage,
“The Mystery of Herois
m”
• Kate Chopin
– “Desire’s Baby”
 MODERNISM
(Early 1900s to WWI)
• Experimentation with lit
erary styles (esp. poetr
y)

• A search for love and e

motional connections

• Destruction of order (th

e end of the world with
WWI)
 Authors
• Ernest Hemingway
– The Old Man and the Se
a
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
– The Great Gatsby
• T.S. Eliot
– “The Love Song of J. Alfre
d Prufrock”
• Richard Wright
– Native Son
HARLEM RENAISSANCE
(Early 1900s)
• African-American Literary M
ovement

• Harlem, New York served as

“Mecca” for artists

• Assertion of racial pride and

contributions to American c
ulture (Jazz, poetry, art, etc)
.
 Authors
• Langston Hughes
– “I, Too”, “Theme for Engli
sh B”, “Harlem”

• Countee Cullen
– “Any Human to Another”

• Zora Neale Hurston

– Their Eyes Were Watchin
g God
POST-MODERNISM
(WWII – Present)
• Reflection of optimism a
nd sorrow of war

• Idealism vs. Pessimism

• Looking to the Future –

SciFi

• Lack of classical literary

forms
 Authors
• Sylvia Plath
– Ariel (A Collection of Poe
ms)
• Nikki Giovanni
– Various poetry collection
s
• John Steinbeck
– Of Mice and Men
• J.D. Salinger
– Catcher in the Rye
Colonial period and Revolutionary period

Time:
the settlement of North America 1607

the Independence War 1783

Major topic: American Puritanism

 Colonial period and Revolutionary period

Benjamin Franklin Jonathan Edwards

 Romanticism
Time:
the Independence War 1783
possible &
the Civil War 1861 inevitable
American ideal of
democracy & equality, literary
industrialization, expansion &
westward expansion, expression
foreign influences
 Romanticism (1783-1861)

Washington Irving James Fenimore Cooper

Summit of Romanticism-Transcendentalism (Amer
ican Renaissance)

Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry DavidThoreau

 Late Romanticism

not
optimistic

Nathaniel Hawthorne Herman Melville

 Romantic Poets

Walt Whitman Emily Dickinson

 Romanticism

the most
controversial
& the most
misunderstood

Edgar Allen Poe

 The age of Realism
Time:
the Civil War 1861

the First World War 1914

concern for the common-place

offer an objective view
The Age of Realism (1861-1914)

Henry James Mark Twain

 Naturalism

Stephen Crane Theodore Dreiser

 CONCLUSION
1. PURITANISM (1600s to Mid 1700s)
2. REVOLUTIONARY (Mid to Late 1700s)
3. TRANSCENDENTALISM (Early to Mid 1800s)
4. ROMANTISM (Early to Mid 1800s)
5. REALISM /NATURALISM (Mid to Late 1800s)
6. MODERNISM (Early 1900s to WWI)
7. HARLEM RENAISSANCE(Early 1900s)
8. POST-MODERNISM (WWII – Present)