Timeline of
American Literature
Puritanism
• 1600-1800
• Narratives that looked inward and
expressed the connections between
God and their everyday lives
– Private letters, diaries, essays,
histories, sermons
Puritanism
• Sought to “purify” the Church of
England by reforming to the
simpler forms of worship and
church organization described in
the New Testament
• Saw religion as a personal, inner
experience
• Believed in original sin and “elect”
who would be saved
• Used a plain style of writing
Puritanism
• Historical Events of Importance
– First “American” colonies established
– Salem Witch Trials
Age of Reason /
Persuasion
• 1750-1800
• Rise of political/public writing
• Mostly comprised of philosophers
and scientists
– Documents, almanacs, pamphlets,
speeches
• Valued reason over faith
• Assumed people were good, not evil
Age of Reason /
Persuasion
• Focus on persuasive writing
– Intended to convince citizens to join
revolutionary causes
• Most writing was political
– Responses to the strained relationship
with Great Britain and trying to break
free to form a new government
Age of Reason /
Persuasion
• Historical Events of Importance
– The
– The
– The
– The
Revolutionary War
Constitution
Bill of Rights
Declaration of Independence
Romanticism
• 1800-1860
• SHIFTS
– From faith in reason to faith in the
senses, feelings, and imagination
– From interest in urban society to an
interest in the rural and natural
– From public, impersonal poetry to
subjective poetry
– From concern with the scientific and
mundane to interest in the mysterious
and finite
Romanticism
• Valued feeling, intuition, idealism,
the individual, and the imagination
• Dark Romantics: Interested in the
Medieval past, the supernatural, the
mystical, the “gothic,” and the
exotic
Romanticism
• Historical Events of Importance
– Industrialization
– War of 1812
– California Gold Rush
Transcendentalism
• 1840-1860
• Developed as a protest against the
general state of spirituality and, in
particular, the state of
intellectualism at Harvard
University
• Core beliefs:
– Inherent goodness of people
– Inherent goodness of nature
Transcendentalism
• The soul of each individual is
identical with the soul of the world
and contains what the world
contains
• Transcendentalists believe that
society and its institutions
(organized religion, political parties)
ultimately corrupt the purity of the
individual.
Transcendentalism
• People are at their best when they
are truly self-reliant and
independent
– Self-reliance and individualism must
outweigh external authority and blind
conformity to tradition
• Had their own Club!
– The Transcendental Club
• Published their own journal
– “The Dial”
Transcendentalism
• Historical Events of Importance
– The Abolitionist Movement
– The Utopian Movement
– The Women’s Suffrage Movement
Realism/Naturalism
• 1850-1900
• Feelings of disillusionment
• Common subjects:
– Slums of rapidly growing cities
– Factories replacing farmlands
– Poor factory workers
– Corrupt politicians
Realism/Naturalism
• Represented the manner and
environment of everyday life and
ordinary people as realistically as
possible
– Regionalism
• Sought to explain behavior
– Psychologically
– Socially
Realism/Naturalism
• Historical Events of Importance
– The Civil War
– Reconstruction
Modernism
• 1900-1950
• Sense of disillusionment and loss of
faith in the “American Dream”
• The independent, self reliant
individual will triumph
Modernism
• Emphasis on bold experimentation
in style and form over the
traditional
• Interest in the inner workings of
the human mind
– Ex: Stream of Consciousness
Modernism
• Historical Events of Importance
– World War I
– The Great Depression
– World War II
Harlem Renaissance
• 1920-1940
• AKA: “The Jazz Age” and “The
Roaring 20s”
• Black Cultural Movement in
Harlem, New York
Harlem Renaissance
• Some poetry rhythms based on
spirituals and jazz
• Lyrics from the blues
• Diction from the street talk of the
ghettos
• Other poetry used conventional
lyrics
Harlem Renaissance
• Historical Events of Importance
– “The New Negro Movement”
– Prohibition
Contemporary
• 1950-present
• AKA: Post-modernism
• Influenced by studies of media,
language, and information
technology
• Sense that little is unique; culture
endlessly duplicates and copies
itself
Contemporary
• New literary forms and techniques:
– Works composed of only dialogue
– Combining fiction and non-fiction
– Authors experimenting with the
physical appearance of their work
Contemporary
• Historical Events of Importance
– Korean War
– Vietnam War