A Timeline of American Literature

Changing Times – Changing Voices

“Let America be America again.”

Langston Hughes

Native American Culture (from 40,000 BC)

Tribal, agricultural societies

Oral literature Epic narratives Creation myths Used stories to teach moral lessons and

convey practical information Deep respect for nature and animals Cyclical world view Figurative language & parallelism

Examples of Native American

The Earth on Turtle’s Back - Onondaga When Grizzlies Walked Upright - Modoc The Navajo Origin Legend - Navajo The Iroquois Constitution - Iroquois

“Before there were people on earth, the Chief of the Sky Spirits grew tired of his home in the Above World.”

When Grizzlies Walked Upright

Puritanism (1600-1800)Great Awakening; Salem Witch Trials

Sought to “purify” the Church of England by simplifying forms of worship and church organization

Believed in “original sin” and that only the “elect” would be saved

Wrote mostly diaries and histories that expressed the connection between God and everyday life

Used the plain style of writing

Examples of Puritan Writings

To My Dear and Loving Husband – Anne Bradstreet

Huswifery – Edward Taylor Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God –

Jonathan Edwards

“The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more and rise higher and higher.”

Jonathan Edwards - Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Rationalism / The Age of Reason (1750 – 1800)

Revolutionary War; U.S. Constitution; Founding Fathers

Philosophers; scientists; politicians Believed that humans can arrive at the

truth by deductive reasoning rather than relying on past authority

Wrote speeches, pamphlets, editorials, documents

Examples of Rationalism

Poor Richard’s Almanac – Benjamin Franklin

The Declaration of Independence – Thomas Jefferson

Common Sense – Thomas Paine Speech in the Virginia Convention –

Patrick Henry“I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.

Patrick Henry - Speech in the Virginia Convention

Explorers/Farmers/Slaves(1500-1800)

Recorded experiences in journals, diaries, autobiographies and memoirs

First-hand accounts of history Authors: Olaudah Equiano (slave), William

Bradford (settler and farmer), Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (explorer)

Romanticism (1800-1860)Industrialization; War of 1812; California Gold

Rush

Valued intuition Placed faith in inner experience Shunned civilization and sought out

nature as the path to spirituality Championed individual freedoms Saw poetry as the highest expression of

imagination Dark (gothic) romances contained

supernatural elements

Examples of Romanticism

The Devil and Tom Walker – Washington Irving

Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman The Raven – Edgar Allan Poe The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne Moby-Dick – Herman Melville

“Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, in there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.”

The Raven – Edgar Allan Poe

Transcendentalism (1840-1860)“The American Renaissance”; Abolitionist;

Women’s Rights Movements

Utopian outlook Everything in the world, including humans,

is a reflection of the “Divine Soul” People can use intuition to behold God’s

spirit as revealed in nature and their own souls

Emphasized self-reliance and individualism Shunned external authority and

traditional conformity

Examples of Transcendentalism

Self-Reliance – Ralph Waldo Emerson Walden – Henry David Thoreau Little Women – Louisa May Alcott Song of Myself – Walt Whitman

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

Song of Myself – Walt Whitman

Realism (1850-1900)The Civil War; Reconstruction; the Gold Rush

Feelings of disillusionment following war Sought to explain behavior

(psychological / social) Common subjects: city slums; factories

replacing farmland; poor factory workers; corrupt politicians

Regionalism – Local Color

Examples of Realism

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain

To Build a Fire – Jack London The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen

Crane House of Mirth – Edith Wharton“Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yaller one-eyed cow that didn’t have no tail, only just a short stump like a bannanner.”

Mark Twain – The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Modernism (1900-1950)World War I; the Roaring ’20s; Prohibition; the Great Depression; World War II

Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the American Dream

Emphasis on experimenting with writing style

Interest in the inner workings of the mind (stream of consciousness)

Examples of Modernism

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck A Rose for Emily – William Faulkner The poetry of Robert Frost and T. S. Eliot Death of a Salesman; The Crucible – Arthur

Miller“I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything…Sophisticated — God, I’m sophisticated!"

F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby

Harlem Renaissance (1920-1940)Black cultural movement in Harlem, New York

Birthplace of African American black heritage and pride

Street-talk diction Poetry rhymes based on cadence of jazz,

blues, and spirituals Extended metaphors used to express

feeling of black Americans

Examples of Harlem Renaissance

Dust Tracks in the Road – Zora Neale Hurston

The Weary Blues – Langston Hughes The Tropics in New York – Claude McKay A Black Man Talks of Reaping – Arna

Bontemps Native Son – James Baldwin“Sure, call me any ugly name you choose – The steel of freedom does not stain.”

Langston Hughes – Let America be America Again

Contemporary – Postmodernism (1950-present)

Korean War; Cold War; Vietnam War; Civil Rights Movement; Women’s Movement

Writing influenced by advances in electronic media – radio, tv, film, internet

Sense that little is unique; questioning meaning of life

Experimentation with written form Exploration of personal, ethnic, and

racial identity

Examples of Postmodernism

In Cold Blood – Truman Capote The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien The Color Purple – Alice Walker

“The grenade made a popping noise – not soft but not loud either . . . The young man seemed to jerk upward as if pulled by invisible wires.”

Tim O’Brien – The Things They Carried

21st Century - What Next?9/11/2001; E-Commerce; War on Terrorism

Relevance to global events Regional literature (remember local

color?) Graphic novels Self publishing Confessional memoirs Experimental drama

What is Your Story?

Who are you? What do you see? Where do you come from? What obstacles have you overcome in

life? What do you feel strongly about? What will your voice say about your

American experience?