1. American Literary History
Seven Eras That Have Influenced American Literature

2. 1. The First American Literature: Native Americans
Communicated Orally
Included myths and legends
Focus on nature
Creation Stories

3. 2. The Enlightenment (1607-1800) Two Phases:
1. Age of Faith (Puritans/Religion)
2. Age of Reason (Patriots/Politics)

4. Age of Faith (1607-1750) Puritans and Pilgrims Genres/Style:
Sermons
Plain style
Instructive
Some Major Writers:
Anne Bradstreet
John Smith

5. Age of Reason ( )
Political context (time of American Revolution)
Use of reason over faith alone
Genres/style:
Political pamphlets, speeches, essays, documents
Major Writers:
Ben Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Paine

6. 3. Romanticism (1800-1855) Time of Industrial Revolution Genres/style:
Short stories, novels, poetry
Imagination valued over reason; intuition valued over fact
Major Writers:
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Washington Irving
Edgar Allen Poe

7. 4. Transcendentalism (1840-1855)
Stressed individualism, self-reliance, intuition, and connection with nature
Father of Transcendentalism= Ralph Waldo Emerson
Other major writer=Henry David Thoreau

8. 5. Realism (1865-1915) Civil War era Genres/style: Major Writers:
Novels, short stories
Focus on lives of ordinary people; “tell it like it is”
Nature is powerful, and beyond man’s control
Major Writers:
Frederick Douglass
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Mark Twain
Jack London

9. 6. Modernism ( )
Time of World War I and overwhelming advances in technology
Genres/style:
Experimental styles
Dominant mood=alienation & disconnection
Major writers:
Ernest Hemingway
William Faulkner
John Steinbeck

10. 7. Contemporary (1945-present)
Time of Post WWII prosperity; media saturated culture
Genres/style:
Lines of reality blurred
concern with individual in isolation
ethnic and women writers emerge
Major Writers:
Allen Ginsberg, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sylvia Plath, Elie Wiesel, Stephen King…

11. Let’s Review….
Tell me ONE THING YOU REMEMBER, and ONE COMMENT YOU HAVE about:
Native Americans
Enlightenment: Age of Faith
Enlightenment: Age of Reason
Romanticism
Transcendentalism
Realism
Modernism
Contemporary

12. In Conclusion…
You are responsible for knowing this information for this week’s quiz.
We will also refer back to this information throughout the course, so DON’T LOSE YOUR NOTES!!!