literaturro americana.doc
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American Literature
1. The Colonial Period in American literature (1607-1783)
Wiki: Some of the American literature were pamphlets and writings extolling the benefits of the
colonies to both a European and colonist audience. Captain John Smith could be considered the
first American author with his works: A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Noate
as Hath Happened in Virginia... (1608) and The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and
the Summer Isles (1624). Other writers of this manner included Daniel Denton, Thomas Ashe,
William Penn, George Percy, William Strachey, Daniel Coxe, Gabriel Thomas, and John Lawson.
The religious disputes that prompted settlement in America were also topics of early writing. A
journal written by John Winthrop, The History of New England, discussed the religious
foundations of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Edward Winslow also recorded a diary of the first
years after the Mayflower's arrival. Other religiously influenced writers included Increase Mather
and William Bradford, author of the journal published as a History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–
47. Others like Roger Williams and Nathaniel Ward more fiercely argued state and church
separation. And still others, like Thomas Morton, cared little for the church; Morton's The New
English Canaan mocked the religious settlers and declared that the Native Americans were actually
better people than the British.
Puritan poetry was highly religious in nature, and one of the earliest books of poetry published
was the Bay Psalm Book, a set of translations of the biblical Psalms; however, the translators'
intention was not to create great literature but to created hymns that could be used in worship.[3]
Among lyric poets, the most important figures are Anne Bradstreet, who wrote personal poems
about her family and homelife; pastor Edward Taylor, whose best poems, the Preparatory
Meditations, were written to help him prepare for leading worship; and Michael Wigglesworth,
whose best-selling poem, The Day of Doom, describes the time of judgment. Nicholas Noyes was
also known for his doggerel verse.
Other late writings described conflicts and interaction with the Indians, as seen in writings by
Daniel Gookin, Alexander Whitaker, John Mason, Benjamin Church, and Mary Rowlandson. John
Eliot translated the Bible into the Algonquin language.
Of the second generation of New England settlers, Cotton Mather stands out as a theologian and
historian, who wrote the history of the colonies with a view to God's activity in their midst and to
connecting the Puritan leaders with the great heroes of the Christian faith. His best-known works
include the Magnalia Christi Americana, the Wonders of the Invisible World and The Biblia
Americana.
Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield represented the Great Awakening, a religious
revival in the early 18th century that asserted strict Calvinism. Other Puritan and religious
writers include Thomas Hooker, Thomas Shepard, John Wise, and Samuel Willard. Less strict and
serious writers included Samuel Sewall (who wrote a diary revealing the daily life of the late 17th
century), and Sarah Kemble Knight.
New England was not the only area in the colonies; southern literature is represented by the diary
of William Byrd of Virginia, as well as by The History of the Dividing Line, which detailed the
expedition to survey the swamp between Virginia and North Carolina but which also comments
on the different lifestyles of the Native Americans and the white settlers in the area. In a similar
book, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West, William Bartram
described in great detail the Southern landscape and the Native American peoples whom he
encountered; Bartram's book was very popular in Europe, being translated into German, French
and Dutch.
As the colonies moved towards their break with England, perhaps one of the most important
discussions of American culture and identity came from the French immigrant J. Hector St. John
de Crèvecœur, whose Letters from an American Farmer addresses the question what is an
American by moving between praise for the opportunities and peace offered in the new society
and recognition that the solid life of the farmer must rest uneasily between the oppressive aspects
of the urban life (with its luxuries built on slavery) and the lawless aspects of the frontier, where
the lack of social structures leads to the loss of civilized living.
This same period saw the birth of African American literature, through the poetry of Phillis
Wheatley and, shortly after the Revolution, the slave narrative of Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting
Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. This era also saw the birth of Native American literature,
through the two published works of Samson Occom: A Sermon Preached at the Execution of
Moses Paul and a popular hymnbook, Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, "the first Indian
best-seller".
The revolutionary period also contained political writings, including those by colonists Samuel
Adams, Josiah Quincy, John Dickinson, and Joseph Galloway, a loyalist to the crown. Two key
figures were Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac and
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin are esteemed works with their wit and influence
toward the formation of a budding American identity. Paine's pamphlet Common Sense and The
American Crisis writings are seen as playing a key role in influencing the political tone of the
period.
During the revolution itself, poems and songs such as "Yankee Doodle" and "Nathan Hale" were
popular. Major satirists included John Trumbull and Francis Hopkinson. Philip Morin Freneau
also wrote poems about the war's course.
During the 18th century, writing shifted focus from the Puritanical ideals of Winthrop and
Bradford to the power of the human mind and rational thought. The belief that human and
natural occurrences were messages from God no longer fit with the new human centered world.
Many intellectuals believed that the human mind could comprehend the universe through the laws
of physics as described by Isaac Newton. The enormous scientific, economic, social, and
philosophical, changes of the 18th century, called the Enlightenment, impacted the authority of
clergyman and scripture, making way for democratic principles. The increase in population helped
account for the greater diversity of opinion in religious and political life as seen in the literature of
this time. In 1670, the population of the colonies numbered approximately 111,000. Thirty years
later it was more than 250,000. By 1760, it reached 1,600,000. The growth of communities and
therefore social life led people to become more interested in the progress of individuals and their
shared experience on the colonies. These new ideals are accounted for in the widespread popularity
of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.
Handout:
a) Native inhabitants of pre-Columbian America. Over 350 different Indian tribes speaking
mutually unintelligible languages, oral literary forms: songs, prayers, incantations, mythic
narratives.
b) Spanish conquistadors and explorers of the American continent: Hernan Cortez, Francisco
Vasquez de Coronado, Juan de Onate
c) 1607 - the first permanent British settlement established in Jamestown, Virginia. Captain John
Smith. A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia
since the First Planting of That Colony - the first book written in English in the New World. The
story of Pocahontas.
d) 1620 - the Puritans landed at Cape Cod on board of the Mayflower and established a colony in
Plymouth, Massachusetts. Basic principles of the Puritan fate and major events in their history.
Puritan literature and its influence on the development of American literature.
e) Puritan historians: William Bradford -- Of Plymouth Plantation, John Winthrop -- A Model
of Christian Charity, Cotton Mather -- Magnalia Christi Americana (Ecclesiastical History of New
England)
d) Puritan poets: Anne Brandstreet - The Tenth Muse Sprung Up Recently in America, Edward
Taylor -- Meditations, Michael Wigglesworth -- The Day of Doom
e) Diaries and journals -- popular Puritan literary genres: The Diary of Samuel Sewall, Sarah
Kemble Knight's The Private Journal of a Journey from Boston to New York
f) Narratives of Indian captivity -- A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary
Rowlandson
g) Roger Williams -- A Key to the Languages of America
2. Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin and J. Hector St. John de
Crevecoeur - representatives of the 18th century in American literature
a) The Puritan Legacy of the 16th c. - Salem witch trials
b) The 18th c. - Enlightenment, the Age of Reason. Sir Isaac Newton - a scientist, John Locke - a
philosopher, empiricist, Deism - "A creation presupposes a creator", humankind - naturally good,
tabula rasa
c) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) - associated with Philadelphia, the capital of Pennsylvania,
a printer, editor, writer, politician, diplomat and statesman, a scientist, an inventor, a
philanthropist. Franklin promoted the idea of self-improvement, self-education, individual
success, service to community and the nation, he was a practical man who founded a library,
a college, a fire brigade, a hospital, he invented a lightening rod and a Franklin stove, he was
one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution.
Best known publications: Poor Richard's Almanac, Autobiography In Autobiography: "Project of
arriving at moral Perfection", "Thirteen Names of Virtues": Temperance, Silence, Order,
Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility,
Chasity, Humility
d) The Great Awakening (1730-60) - a conservative reaction to the Enlightenment. Its main
representative: Jonathan Edwards (1703-58)
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" - a sermon delivered by Jonathan Edwards throughout
New England to restore the sense of religious commitment that Puritans felt. Main ideas: God will
punish unbelievers, man is weak and his fate depends on the almighty God.
Characteristic imagery of the sermon:
- "The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but
the hand of arbitrary mercy and god's will, that holds it back."
- "The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present, they increase more and
more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given."
- "The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome
insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: His wrath towards you burns like
fire"
- "O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in."
e) J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur (1735-1813) Letters from an American Farmer, published
in London, in 1782. Letter III "What is an American?" - in search for American identity.
- "a modern society offers itself to man's contemplation (...) It is not composed, as in Europe, of
great lords who possess everything, and of a herd of people who have nothing. Here are no
aisticratical families, no courts, no kings, no bishops, no ecclesiatical dominion"
- "We have no princes for whome we toil, starve and bleed; we are the most perfect society now
existing in the world"
- A mixture of nationalities, Natural resources
- "Welcome to my shores, distressed European (...) If thou wilt work, I have bread for thee - ease
and independence"
3. Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper - literature of the New
Republic
1775-1783 - American War of Independence
1776 - Declaration of Independence
1787 - U.S. Constitution adopted
1789 - George Washington elected first U.S. president
1791 - Washington D.C. established as U.S. capital
Major American Writers of the first decades of the 19th century:
- Washington Irving (1783-1859): connected with NYC, the first American author to have any
international recognition
- James Fenimone Cooper (1789 - 1851), author of The Leatherstocking Tales, with Natty
Bumppo, the frontiersman, as the main character. 1823 - The Pioneers, 1826 - The Last of
Mohicans: prototypical female characters - the dark haired Cora Munro and her blonde half-sister,
Alice Munro, good Indians (Chingachgook, Uncas), bad Indians (Magua), 1827 - The Prairie,
1840 - The Pathfinder, 1841 - The Deerslayer
- Catherine Maria Sedgwick - Hope Leslie (1927)
- Lydia Maria Child - History of the Condition of Women (1835)
Search for a national literature: national literary topics:
- the American past, real or imagined
- nature
- Indians
- westward expansion
Popularity of British literature in the U.S., especially of Walter Scott's historical novels with
historical settings and imagined scenes with historical figures and fictional characters
American writers imitated the form of Walter Scott's novels
American literary life concentrated on the East Coast, in such cities as NY, Boston and
Philadelphia
1808 - A History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker
1820 - A Sketch Book by Geogffrey Crayon
1819 - "Rip Van Winkle", with Rip Van Winkle as the American anti-hero by Washington
Irving
1820 - "The legend of the Sleepy Hollow"
Rip Van Winkle (1819) by Washington Irving summary:
The story of Rip Van Winkle is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War.
In a pleasant village, at the foot of New York's "Kaatskill" Mountains, lives the kindly Rip Van
Winkle, a colonial British-American villager of Dutch descent. Rip is an amiable though somewhat
eremitic man who enjoys solitary activities in the wilderness, but is also loved by all in town—
especially the children whom he tells stories to and makes toys for. He has, however, a tendency
to avoid all professional labor, for which his nagging wife (Dame Van Winkle) chastises him, his
home and farm falling into disarray due to his lazy neglect.
One autumn day, Rip is escaping his wife's nagging, wandering up the mountains with his dog,
Wolf. Hearing his name being shouted, Rip discovers that the speaker is a man dressed in
antiquated Dutch clothing, carrying a keg up the mountain, who requires Rip's help. Without
exchanging words, the two hike up to an amphitheatre-like hollow in which Rip discovers the
source of previously-heard thunderous noises: there is a group of other ornately-dressed, silent,
bearded men who are playing nine-pins. Although there is no conversation and Rip does not ask
the men who they are or how they know his name, he discreetly begins to drink some of their
liquor, and soon falls asleep. He awakes in unusual circumstances: it seems to be morning, his gun
is rotted and rusty, his beard has grown a foot long, and Wolf is nowhere to be found. Rip returns
to his village where he finds that he recognizes no one. Asking around, he discovers that his wife
has died and that his close friends have died in a war or gone somewhere else. He immediately
gets into trouble when he proclaims himself a loyal subject of King George III, not knowing that
the American Revolution has taken place; George III's portrait on the town inn has been replaced
by that of George Washington. Rip is also disturbed to find another man is being called Rip Van
Winkle (though this is in fact his son, who has now grown up).
The men he met in the mountains, Rip learns, are rumored to be the ghosts of Hendrick (Henry)
Hudson's crew. Rip is told that he has apparently been away from the village for twenty years. An
old local recognizes Rip and Rip's now-adult daughter takes him in. Rip resumes his habitual
idleness, and his tale is solemnly taken to heart by the Dutch settlers, with other hen-pecked
husbands, after hearing his story, wishing they could share in Rip's good luck.
Leatherstocking Tales characters:
* Natty Bumppo is the protagonist of the series. Although he is the child of white parents, he
grew up with Native Americans, becoming a near-fearless warrior skilled in many weapons, one
of which is the long rifle. He respects his forest home and all its inhabitants, hunting only what he
needs to survive. When it comes time to fire his trusty flintlock, he lives by the rule, "One shot,
one kill." He and his Mohican "brother" Chingachgook champion goodness by trying to stop the
incessant conflict between the Mohicans and the Hurons. He is known as "Deerslayer" in The
Deerslayer, "Hawkeye" and "La Longue Carabine" in The Last of the Mohicans, "Pathfinder" in
The Pathfinder, "Leatherstocking" in The Pioneers, and "the trapper" in The Prairie. The novels
recount significant events in Natty Bumppo's life from 1740-1806.
* Chingachgook is a Mohican chief and companion of Bumppo. Chingachgook married Wahto-Wah who bore him a son Uncas, but she died young. Uncas, "last of the Mohicans,"[2] grew to
manhood but was killed in a battle with renegade Magua.
4. American Renaissance - the Romantic Period in American literature (XIX
c.)
1820-1865
American Romanticism, American Renaissance. In the first half of the 19th century American
literature flourished - poetry, the short story, the novel, the essay
Leading American Romantic poets and their conceptions of poetry:
- Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Poetry should appeal to the sense of beauty, reading poetry should be an aesthetic experience,
elevating the reader to the otherwordly sphere of the ideal; premeditated, calculating manner of
constructing the poem, Poe was chiefly concerned with the effect his poems should create on the
reader; poetic tone - of melancholy beauty; the most melancholy topic - the death of a beautiful
young woman, unity of effect, didactic and informational poetry was illegitimate, according to
Poe; Poe formulated his ideas concerning poetry in the essay "The Philosophy of Composition"
Poe's best known poems: "The Raven", "Annabel Lee", "Ulalume: A Ballad", "To Helen" (a
sonnet)
- Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
A poet of New York City, Manhattan, Brooklyn
A self-taught poet of the working class, a carpenter, a political activ...
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