Lesson 4: Early American and

Puritan Literature, Native American

Literature American Romanticism
 AMERICAN LITERATURE
• What is American Literature?
 
• American literature generally refers to literature
from the United States that is written in English
• Some people object to the term "American
literature" because it erases literature from
elsewhere in the Americas that is written in
Spanish, Portuguese, French, or other languages.
 History of American Literature  
• American literature was shaped by the history of the country
that produced it.
• For almost a century and a half, America was a group of
colonies scattered along the eastern seaboard of the North
American continent.
• By the end of the 19th century, too, it had taken its place
among the powers of the world.
• Literature brought touches of urbanity and jocosity to a
perhaps over sober polite literature.
Puritan and Colonial Literature (1472-
1775)
•American literature began as the first
English-speaking colonists settled along
the eastern seaboard of the United States.
•The purpose of these early texts was to
explain the process of colonization and
describe the U.S. to future immigrants
back home in Europe.
• British explorer John Smith (1580-1631)
• John Smith is sometimes credited as the first
American author for his publications that include A
True Relation of Virginia (1608) and The General
History of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer
Isles (1624).
• Like much literature from the colonial period, the
format of these texts was non-fiction and utilitarian,
focusing on the promotion of European colonization
in America.
 Revolutionary and Early National Literature (1775-1830)
• During the American Revolution and the years of nation
building that followed, fiction writing was still uncommon in
American literature.
• The fiction and poetry that was published remained heavily
influenced by literary conventions established in Great Britain.
• In place of novels geared towards entertainment, writing was
commonly used to further political agendas, namely the cause
of independence.  
• Political essays emerged as one of the most important
literary forms, and historical figures like Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790), Samuel Adams (1722-1803), and Thomas Paine
(1737-1809) produced some of the most notable texts of the
era.
• Propaganda pamphlets to influence the colonists’ cause also
became an essential literary outlet.
• Poetry was likewise employed in the cause of the revolution.
Lyrics of popular songs, such as Yankee Doodle, were often
used to convey revolutionary ideas.  
• Early on, American literature was characterized by its self-
conscious effort to break away from literary forms established in
Great Britain and other European countries.
• • American authors, such as John Neal (1793-1876), were
inspired to create their own literary style emphasizing the
realities of American life, including the use of colloquial
language and unmistakably American settings.
• • A sense of individualism and celebration of the individual
experience is one of the central features of American literature.
• • American literature can also be characterized by its many
forms of regional literature. These include Native American
literature, African American literature, Chicano literature, and
the literature of various diasporas.  
 Importance of American Literature
• American literature has played a significant role in
shaping the culture and identity of the United
States as well as influencing the development of
literature around the world.
• The novels, poetry, and short stories of writers
such as Edger Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, and
Mark Twain have made an enormous contribution
to the existence of literature as we know it today.
•American literature was also important in
developing American identity by telling the
story of the nation.
•The literature helped the new country
establish itself as independent from past
literary traditions hailing from Great Britain
and the rest of Europe.
•Literature also helped to develop the nation by
articulating ideas central to national identity
 Examples of American Literature
The following are some examples of important writers in American
literature:  
• Ernest Hemingway (1899-
American Literature: Novelists
• Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804- 1961)
1864) • John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896- • James Baldwin (1924-1987)  
1940) • Harper Lee (1926-2016)  
• Zora Neale Hurston (1891- • Toni Morrison (1931-2019)  
1906)  
• William Faulkner (1897-
1962)
American Literature: American Literature:
Essayists Poets
• Benjamin Franklin (1706- • Walt Whitman (1819-
1790)
1892)
• Thomas Jefferson (1743-
1826) • Emily Dickenson (1830-
1886)
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882) • T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)
• Malcolm X (1925-1965) • Maya Angelou (1928-
• Martin Luther King Jr. 2014)
(1929-1968)
American Literature: • Some of these
Dramatists writers, such as
• Eugene O’Neill (1888- James Baldwin,
1953)  
could be placed in
• Tennessee Williams
(1911-1983)   any of these
• Arthur Miller (1915- categories as they
2005)   wrote novels,
• Edward Albee (1928- essays, poems, and
2016).   plays!
American Literature: Books • The Sun Also Rises(1926) by
The following are some examples Ernest Hemingway  
of important books in American • The Grapes of Wrath(1939) by
literature: John Steinbeck  
• Moby Dick(1851) by Herman • Native Son(1940) by Richard
Melville   Wright  
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer • Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) by
(1876) and The Adventures of Kurt Vonnegut  
Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark • Beloved(1987) by Toni
Twain   Morrison  
• The Great Gatsby(1925) by F.
Scott Fitzgerald  
GOOD DAY EVERYONE!

I AM MARION DESIREE LAURITO

I AM LYCA DOMEN
I AM ERNA OGATIS

WE ARE FROM BSED-ENGLISH 3A

TODAY WE ARE GOING TO PRESENT OUR

FINAL OUTPUT ON OUR SUBJECT, SURVEY OF
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE
IN THIS VIDEO WE ARE GOING TO:

1. Explain the History of Early American and

Puritan Literature
2. Discuss the Characteristics of Puritan
Literature
3. Explain the historical context of Native
American literature
4. Discuss and Explain American Romanticism

THEN , LET’S START THE DISCUSSION