1. Why is Early American Literature important?

2. Literature from the 1600’s to 1900’s:
Keeps us connected to the past
Gives insight into the events and issues that challenge the nation today

3. EXPLORE BIG IDEAS
What was the American Dream when our country was first formed?
Has the American Dream changed over time?
What is the American Dream today?
What do we value as a person/society today?

4. GOALS BUILD CULTURAL LITERACY
Gain an awareness of the pioneering authors and literary milestones that are part of our American heritage.
CONNECT HISTORY AND LITERATURE
Works of American literature are products of the events and ideas that inspired their authors.
APPRECIATE A LEGACY
Appreciate how we all continue to build on what we have learned from previous generations of people.

5. LITERARY MOVEMENTS Native American Experience (1200 B.C. to 1600)
Puritan Age/Colonial Period (1600 to 1700)
Revolutionary Period/Age of Reason (1750 to 1800)
Romanticism/American Gothic (1800 to 1855)
Transcendentalism (1840 to 1860)
Realism (1855 to 1900)
Regionalism/Naturalism (1870 to 1910)
Subject matter, style, form, and attitude all combine to create a literary movement.

6. PURITAN AGE/COLONIAL PERIOD
Explorers came to America for many reasons
Seek adventure
Search for religious freedom
Build communities
Design a new government

7. HISTORICAL NARRATIVES
Accounts of real life historical experiences, written by either a person who experienced those events or someone who studied or observed them.
Narratives became important historical documents that now exist as our principal record of events.
Primary sources—letters, diaries, journals, speeches, autobiographies and interviews
Secondary sources—biographies and histories