North

American
Literature
T. Dyan Pamintuan
 Introduction
• Although trends do exist, American literature
is by no means static.
• The sentiments of optimism and pessimism
mix when American ideals find themselves
contradicted by reality.
Periods of American Literature

01 Native Americans 02 Puritanism

03 Rationalism 04 Romanticism
Periods of American Literature

05 Transcendentalism 06 Realism

07 Modernism 08 Contemporary
 Native Americans
Arrived 40000-20000 BC
Oral literature: Epic
Narratives, Creation Myths
stories, poems, and songs
 Native Americans
used stories to teach lessons
and convey practical
information about the natural
world
 Native Americans
deep respect for native and
animals
 Puritanism Don't
f orget

 Salem Witch Trials ...

 wrote mostly diaries and histories,

which expressed the connections
between God and their everyday
lives
 Puritanism Don't
f orget

...

 sought to purify the Church of

England
 used a plain style of writing
 Rationalism
Also called “Age of Reason” and “The
Enlightenment”
The Constitution, The Bill of Rights,
and The Declaration of Independence
were created
 Rationalism
Revolutionary war
Human beings can arrive at
truth (God’s rules) by using
deductive reasoning
Romanticism Don't
f orget

...

 Valued feeling, intuition, and

idealism,
 Placed faith in inner experience
and the power of the imagination
Romanticism Don't
f orget

...

 Embraced individual freedom and

worth of an individual
 Saw poetry as the highest
expression of the imagination
 Transcendentalism
Also known as “The American
Renaissance”
everything in the world, including
human beings, is a reflection of the
Divine Soul
 Realism Don't
f orget

 Feelings of disillusionment ...

 Common subjects: slums of rapidly

growing cities, factories replacing
farmlands, poor factory workers,
corrupt politicians
 Realism Don't
f orget

 Represented the manner and ...

environment of everyday life and

ordinary people as realistically as
possible
 Sought to explain behavior
 Modernism
World War I, World War II, and The
Great Depression
Lost of Faith in the “American Dream:
the independence and self-reliant
 Modernism
Emphasis on bold experimentation on
style and form over the traditional
Stream of Consciousness- a narrative
style that tries to capture a character’s
thought process in a realistic way.
Contemporary Don't
fo rget

 1950-present ...

 Known as “Postmodernism”
 Influenced by studies of media,
language, and information
technology
Contemporary Don't
fo rget

...

 Sense that little is unique; culture

endlessly duplicates
Famous Authors and Literary Works

01 Edgar Allan Poe 02 Emily Dickinson

03 Mark Twain 04 Herman Melville

Edgar Allan Poe
He became an accomplished poet, short
story writer, editor, and literary critic, and
gained worldwide fame for his dark,
macabre tales of horror, practically
inventing the genre of Gothic Literature.
Famous Work: The Tell-Tale Heart
Emily Dickinson
American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is
today best known for her use of slant-rhyme,
conceits, and unconventional punctuation. She
wrote nearly 1,800 poems.
Famous Work: Hope is the Thing with Feathers
 Mark Twain
Mark Twain was an American humorist, novelist,
and travel writer. Today he is best remembered as
the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). As his
writing grew in popularity, he became a public
figure and iconic American whose work represents
some of the best in the genre of Realism.
Famous Work: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Herman Melville
Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28,
1891) was an American novelist, short story writer,
and poet of the American Renaissance period. His
best-known works include Typee (1846), a romantic
account of his experiences in Polynesian life, and
his whaling novel Moby-Dick (1851).
Famous Work: Moby-Dick