1. American Literature Timeline
11th Grade American Literature

2. Native American (30,000 B.C. – 1730 A.D.)
Historical Events
30,000 B.C. – 1492 A.D. – settlement of American Indians into various tribes on the American continents (Indians traveled to this continent by crossing the Bering Strait)
1492 – Columbus discovers America landing in the Bahamas
1521 – Cortez conquers Aztecs in Mexico

3. Native American Characteristics of Native American Culture:
Ancestors arrived more than 10,000 years ago.
Each of the 700 tribes spoke their own language and had their own folklore and mythology.
Focus on the common origin of all things
Tribal traditions and rituals
Respect for all nature

4. Native American Types of Literature Mostly oral Some written
Ceremonial songs and prayers
Historical narratives
poems

5. Native American Writers and their works: Walam Olum
Navajo Origin Legend
Spring Song

6. Puritans (1607-1702) Historical Events:
1620 – Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock
1629 – Puritans come to New England
1692-The Salem Witch Trials take place. Nineteen people are killed.

7. Puritans Characteristics of Puritan Culture:
The Puritans left England because they wanted to purify the Church of England.
They believed that the Bible was God’s instruction to man and therefore a guide for writing and establishing government.
Puritans believed in predestination—the belief that God has already determined who is saved (the elect) and who is not (the unregenerate).
Puritans lived very simple lives.
They believed that anything done for entertainment, such as gambling, excessive drinking, dancing, and singing, was sinful.
They highly valued art, literature, and education.

8. FICTION Puritans Types of Literature: Sermons Diaries Journals
Narratives
Poetry
***Fiction and drama were forbidden!!!
FICTION

9. Puritans Writers and their works:
Jonathan Edwards – “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (sermon)
Anne Bradstreet – “Upon the Burning of Our House” (poem)
Cotton Mather

10. Colonial (1750-1800) “The Age of Reason”/The Enlightenment”
Historical Events:
1765 – Colonists resist new Stamp Act
passed by the British
1770- The British kill colonists in the Boston Massacre
1776 – Americans declare independence and Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence
– Revolutionary War; Americans defeat the British
1789 –George Washington becomes the first president of the United States

11. Colonial (1750 – 1800) – “The Age of Reason”/ “The Enlightenment”
Characteristics of Colonial Culture:
Also known as the Age of Reason or the Enlightenment
People believed that the universe was an orderly place that could be understood by using reason.
Believed that reason could result in advances in science, a better government, and an ideal society.

12. Colonial (1750-1800) “The Age of Reason” / “The Enlightenment”
Types of Literature:
Mostly political writings
Broadsides (posters that let people know what was going on)
Persuasive and argumentative writings
Almanacs (Benjamin Franklin), speeches, essays, pamphlets (essays), and poetry

13. Colonial (1750-1800) – “The Age of Reason”/ “The Enlightenment”
Writers and their works:
Benjamin Franklin – “Poor Richard’s Almanac”
Patrick Henry- “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”
Thomas Paine- “Common Sense”
Phillis Wheatley – “On Being Brought from Africa to America” (poem)
Thomas Jefferson – Declaration of Independence

14. American Romanticism (1800-1840)
Historical Events
1803 – expansion of U.S. through the Louisiana Purchase
1812 – 1814 – War of 1812 against the British
1830-Passage of the Indian Removal Act
1848-First Women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY
1850-The Fugitive Slave Act promises punishment to anyone helping an escaped slave.

15. American Romanticism:
Characteristics of Romanticism:
Valued feeling and intuition over reason
Placed faith in inner experience and the power of the imagination
Shunned the artificiality of civilization and sought unspoiled nature
Preferred youthful innocence to educated sophistication
Stood for individual freedom and the worth of the individual
Saw nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development

16. American Romanticism Characteristics Continued:
Looked to the wisdom of the past and distrusted progress
Found beauty and truth in exotic locations, the supernatural realm, and the inner world of the imagination
Saw poetry as the highest form of expression
Found inspiration in myth, legend, and folklore

17. American Romanticism Characteristics of the Romantic Hero:
Is young or possesses youthful qualities
Is innocent and pure of purpose
Has a sense of honor based not on society’s rules but on higher principles
Has a knowledge of people and life based on deep, intuitive understanding, not on formal learning (noble savage)
Loves nature and avoids town life
Searches for higher truth in the natural world

18. American Romanticism:
Types of Literature:
Poetry- The Romantics believed poetry to be the highest form of art; the ideal form of expression
Novels
Short stories
Sketches
Folklore

19. American Romantic Writers and Their Works
William Cullen Bryant – “Thanatopsis”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”
Washington Irving – “The Devil and Tom Walker”
The Fireside Poets – a group of poets whose poems Americans read in the evening “by the fireside”
James Fenimore Cooper- The Last of the Mohicans

20. Transcendentalism (1840 – 1860)
Historical Events:
Occurred during the same time period as Romanticism and Dark Romanticism
1852 – The anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published

21. Transcendentalism Characteristics: Arose in the New England area
There are kinds of knowledge that “transcend” or “rise above” reason and experience
People should have faith in their “inner light”
Strong belief in the importance of the individual and self-reliance
Looked to nature for inspiration and guidance
All people are connected by the “Oversoul” – a spiritual force connecting nature and humans
Optimistic view of life

22. Trancendentalism Types of Literature: Essays Novels Short stories
Poetry

23. Transcendentalist Writers and Their Works
Henry David Thoreau – Walden, “Civil Disobedience”
Ralph Waldo Emerson – “Nature,” “Self-Reliance”

24. Dark Romanticism/Anti-Transcendentalism (1840 – 1860)
Historical Events:
Occurred during the same period as Romanticism and Transcendentalism

25. Dark Romanticism/Anti-Transcendentalism
Characteristics of Dark Romanticism:
Shared some of the same beliefs as Romanticism
Pessimistic viewpoint - literature often focuses on death and tragedy
Truth and happiness are not always found in life
Human nature is a mix of good and evil
Focus on the darker side of human nature
A belief in the supernatural with a focus on the dark, evil side of the supernatural
Also known as “Anti-Transcendentalism”

26. Dark Romanticism/Anti-Transcendentalism
Types of Literature:
Essays
Novels
Short stories
Poetry

27. Dark Romantic Writers and Their Works:
Edgar Allan Poe – “The Raven,” “The Pit and the Pendulum”
Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter, “The Minisiter’s Black Veil”
Herman Melville – Moby Dick

28. Realism and Naturalism (1855-1900)
Historical Events:
– Civil War
(not much was written during this time because the war was too painful to write about; much literature about the war came many years AFTER the war was over)
1863-The Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves, is issued by Abraham Lincoln
1865-The Thirteenth Amendment outlaws slavery
1876-Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
1881-The Red Cross is organized by Clara Barton
1898-The Spanish-American War breaks out

29. Characteristics of Realism
Civil War literature was very political in nature
Expression of life as it is actually lived
Used clear, direct language to present ordinary everyday events.
Subjects of literature often consist of factories, slums, workers, bosses, criminals, and social outcasts
Regionalism, or local color, focuses on the unique character of various regions and depicts their dialect, customs, and characters
Sometimes contains humor and social commentary
Began because of the Civil War; the war opened the population’s eyes to the realities of life and death

30. Characteristics of Naturalism
Extreme form of realism
Human beings have no control over their fates.
People were victims of their surroundings, drives, and desires.
Influence of scientific method. A writer carefully gathers facts about human experience and then draws conclusions
Nature is powerful and shows no mercy

31. Types of literature: Short stories Novels
Poetry (only a couple written during the Civil War by a poet named Walt Whitman)
Travel books
Songs
Spirituals
Diaries and journals (almost the only literature written during the Civil War)

32. Writers and Their Works:
Mark Twain (Realism)- Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (considered first and finest “American” novel), “The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”
Stephen Crane – The Red Badge of Courage (one of the most famous novels about the Civil War; written many years after the war)
Jack London (Naturalism) – Call of the Wild, “To Build a Fire”
Kate Chopin-The Awakening

33. Modernism (1900-Present) Historical Events: 1914-1918—World War I
1929 – Stock Market Crash
– Great Depression
– U.S. involvement in World War II
1945-America drops the atomic bomb on Japanese cities
1954 – Prayer in public schools becomes illegal
1961- Alan Shepard is the first American in space
1964-The Beatles debut in America on the Ed Sullivan Show
1968 – Martin Luther King, civil rights leader, is assassinated
1973 – U.S. troops withdraw from Vietnam
1986- Space shuttle Challenger explode on take-off
1989-The Berlin Wall is torn down in Germany
2001- Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

34. Characteristics of Modernism:
Growth in America’s industrial power, military strength, and influence in world affairs
Modernism lasted from around the beginning of the 20th century until the end of World War II.
Writers rejected the literary rules of the 19th century and opposed conventional morality, taste, traditions, and economic values
Writers looked for new and varied modes of expression
Stream of consciousness writing developed
Stories had no clear resolution at the end
Readers struggle to find meaning in texts because life itself is a struggle.

35. Characteristics of Modernism (continued)
The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s was the first significant artistic movement of African-Americans. Harlem, NY was where many of these artists lived, worked, and performed.
In Postmodern writing, characters struggle to make sense of the ever-changing world in which they live.
Postmodern literature tends to have a pessimistic tone.
The “American Dream,” the hope for happiness from a home, money, and good job, suffered a loss during this time due to war and the Great Depression.

36. Types of Literature: Short stories Poetry Dramas Novels Essays Songs
Speeches

37. Writers and Their Works:
F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (great novel about the American Dream)
William Faulkner – The Sound and the Fury, “A Rose for Emily”
Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea
Zora Neale Hurston-A Raisin in the Sun

38. Writers and their Works (continued):
Claude McKay- If We Must Die
Alice Walker – The Color Purple
T. S. Elliot – “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
Langston Hughes – “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “A Dream Deferred”

39. Writers and Their Works (continued):
John Steinbeck-The Grapes of Wrath
Sylvia Plath – The Bell Jar
Tennessee Williams – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Arthur Miller – The Crucible