How are you at taking notes? Is it easy for you to figure out what to write down? Why or why not?

Journal Topic for Wednesday, September 10th:

Literary History of America

1588-present

1. Puritan/Colonial (1588-1750)2. Revolutionary/Age of Reason (1750-

1800) 3. Romanticism (1800-1860)4. American Renaissance/

Transcendentalism/Anti-Transcendentalism (1840-1860)

5. Realism/Naturalism (1855-1900)6. Modernism (1900-1946) 7. Post-Modernism (1946-Present)8. Contemporary (1970s-Present)

Overview

- What & when (in the title on each slide)- Genre & Style (What was written & how it

was written)- Effects & Aspects (Why it was written in

the first place)- Historical Context (What was happening

in the world at the time)- Who some of the major players are (names

& pictures at the end of each section)

You will need to know:

Genre/Style: Sermons, religious tracts, diaries, personal narratives, religious poems. It was written in plain style.

Effect/Aspects: Instructive, reinforces authority of the Bible and the church. Very little imaginative literature was produced.

Historical Context: Puritan settlers fled England where they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs, and came to New England to have religious freedom.

Puritan/Colonial Period (1588-1750)

Thomas Hariot wrote A Brief and True Report of the New-Found Land of Virginia in 1588

quickly translated into Latin, French, and German; it was a window for the Old World to see an embellished version of the New World

Puritan/Colonial Period (1588-1750)

Anne Bradstreet first book of American poetry first published American woman born & educated in England

Puritan/Colonial Period (1588-1750)

Cotton Mather Comes from a long line of Puritan ministers

Harvard educated major participant in the Salem Witch Trials

William Bradford governor of Plymouthessentially the first historian of the new colonies

wrote Of Plymouth Plantation in 1651.

Genre/Style: Political Pamphlets, Travel Writing, and highly ornate persuasive writing.

Effect/Aspects: Patriotism and pride grows, creates unity about issues, and creates American character.

Historical Context: Encouraged Revolutionary War support.

Revolutionary Period/Age of Reason (1750-1800)

Benjamin Franklin scientist, writer, diplomat, Founding Father

Explored all new avenues of thought

Revolutionary Period/Age of Reason (1750-1800)

Thomas Paine great American propagandist Common Sense; presented argument for American freedom

The American Crisis; helped propel colonies into war

Genre/Style: Character Sketches, Slave Narratives, Poetry, and short stories.

Effect/Aspects: Integrity of nature and freedom of imagination.

Historical Context: Publishing expands and industrial revolution brings new ideas.

Romanticism (1800-1860)

Washington Irving known as “Father of American Literature”

first famous American authorAdvocated for stronger laws protecting authors’ works

Romanticism (1800-1860)

Edgar Allan PoeBad childhood made him despise the world

Darkly metaphysical visionRefined the short storyCreated detective fictionChallenged notion that poem had to be long & teach something

Genre/Style: Poetry, Short Stories, and Novels.

Effect/Aspects: Idealists, individualism, and symbolism.

Historical Context: People still see stories of persecuted young girls forced apart from her true love.

American Renaissance/ Transcendentalism/Anti-Transcendentalism

(1840-1860)

American Renaissance/ Transcendentalism/Anti-Transcendentalism

(1840-1860) Ralph Waldo Emerson Leader of the Transcendentalist movement

Emphasized individuality, freedom, and relationship of the soul to the world Henry David Thoreau

contemporary of Emerson wrote Civil Disobedience, argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

American Renaissance/ Transcendentalism/Anti-Transcendentalism

(1840-1860)

Nathaniel Hawthorne most stories written about New England

Focus on inherent evil and sin in man

Usually have a deep moral message writes in direct opposition to Transcendentalists

Genre/Style: Novels, Short Stories, Objective Narrator, and does not tell reader how to interpret the story.

Effect/Aspects: Social and Aesthetic realism.

Historical Context: Civil War brought demand for a more true type of literature.

Realism (1855-1900)

Realism (1855-1900)

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) writes in strong, realistic everyday speech

first major author to come from center of the nation

Genre/Style: Poetry, Short Stories, and Novels

Effect/Aspects: people are victims of the laws of nature, the universe, and fate

Historical Context: tied very closely to Realism; people were looking at harshness of post-Civil War country

Naturalism (1865-1915)

Naturalism (1865-1915)

Jack London poor working class writerGritty, vivid stories of life and death struggles

Stephen Crane known for attacking patriotism, organized religion, and individualism

also confronted the meaninglessness of the world

Genre/Style: Novels, Plays, Poetry, experiments in writing styles, interior monologue, and stream of consciousness.

Effect/Aspects: Pursuit of American Dream, Admiration for America, Optimism, and Individual Importance.

Historical Context: Writers reflected the ideas of Darwin and Karl Marx, during WWI and WWII.

Modernism (1900-1946)

Modernism (1900-1946)

Ernest Hemingway used concise, spare, direct, objective writing to create bigger-than-life heroes

won Pulitzer and Nobel Peace Prize for Literature

John Steinbeck wrote about both pains and joys of life

most writing took place during the Great Depression

famous for The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men

Genre/Style: Mixing of fantasy with nonfiction blurred lines of reality for reader, there were no heroes, humorless, narratives, present tense, and magic realism.

Effect/Aspects: Grinds down the distinctions between the classes of people.

Historical Context: After WWII prosperity.

Post-Modernism (1946-present)

Post-Modernism (1946-present)

Robert Creely Black Mountain Poet writes with a very minimalist style

James Dickey novelist, essayist, poetMost writing is about nature

Argument over dates – 1950 or 1970-present

Genre/Style: Narrative, fiction, nonfiction, anti heroes, emotional, irony, storytelling, autobiographical, and essays.

Effect/Aspects: Shift in emphasis from homogeneity to celebrating diversity.

Historical Context: New century, new millennium.

Contemporary

Contemporary (1950-present)

Stephen King famous for books that scare people

lives in Maine was rejected by publishers 30 times before 1st book published (Carrie, 1974)

Contemporary (1950-present)

James Oliver Rigney (a.k.a. Robert Jordan) went to Citadel Military

College in South Carolina wrote in fantasy genre died before finishing 15-book Wheel of Time series