The Isms in American Literature
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American Studies Program
Skeletal Outline Presentation
Essential Questions:
 What
defines a literary
movement?
Essential Questions:
 How
does literature reflect
social climate?
Essential Questions:
 How
does literature and an
understanding of its
chronology and themes show
how we as a people, came to
be who we are today?
Pre- and Early
Colonialism to 1776

Colonialism was a way of
life based on the belief that
the Bible was the Word of
God.
•Religion should permeate every phase of living.
•Man’s only purpose is to glorify God.
•Every action, including writing, should further this
objective. Hours spent writing were taken away from
important tasks such as plowing fields or praying.
Pre- and Early
Colonialism

Writing must serve a
practical purpose.
1. Relate the experiences of the settlers and attract
interest in the colonies, such as John Smith’s General
History.
2. Discuss problems dealing with right and wrong
(aids to worship), such as Samuel Sewall’s diaries
and Edward Taylor’s poetry.
3. Writing should be utilitarian, unless it imitated
English models.
Pre- and Early
Colonialism

Typical Colonial Writers:
Anne Bradstreet
“To My Dear and
Loving Husband”
“Upon the Burning of
Our House”
Jonathan Edwards
“Sinners in the Hands
of an Angry God”
Edward Taylor
“Huswifery”
“Upon What Base?”
Pre- and Early
Colonialism

Typical Colonial Writers:
William Bradford (Of Plymouth Plantation)
Chapter 9
Of their voyage, and how they passed the sea, and of their safe
arrival at Cape Cod
September 6. These troubles being blown over, and now all being compact
together in one ship, they put to sea again with a prosperous wind, which
continued divers days together, which was some encouragement unto them;
yet according to the usual manner many were afflicted with sea sickness.
And I may not omit here a special work of God's providence. There was a
proud and very profane young man, one of the sea-men, of a lusty, able
body, which made him the more haughty; he would always be condemning
the poor people in their sickness, and cursing them daily with grievous
execrations, and did not let to tell them, that he hoped to help to cast half of
them overboard before they came to their journey's end, and to make merry
with what they had; and if he were by any gently reproved, he would curse
and swear most bitterly. But it pleased God before they came half seas over,
to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a
desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard.
Neoclassic Literature
1776-1820
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Neoclassicism is a conscious attempt by
writers to interpret the form and ideals of
ancient works, especially from Greece and
Rome.
Neoclassical writers stressed logic, order,
correctness, and dignity.
Wrote primarily about social life and social
interactions.
Characteristics of Neoclassic Lit.
•
•
•
•
Clarity, simplicity, and directness.
Dignity and logic.
Formality--correct form.
Didacticism- the use of works of art to convey
moral, social, educational or political messages.
A didactic work is one in which the artistic
values of the work are subordinated to the
message or meaning.
Characteristics continued…
• Didactic purpose: man can reach perfection if
he learns the laws of nature (natural law).
• Man needs freedom to study natural laws
(hence, emphasis on self-government).
• Often, neoclassical writers were satirists.
Terms to know:
virtue, aphorism, maxims, hyperbole
Typical Neoclassical
Writers

Benjamin Franklin
• The Autobiography
• Poor Richard’s
Almanac
• Maxims/Aphorisms
Typical Neoclassical
Writers



Thomas Jefferson
The Declaration of
Independence
The Constitution of
the United States
Typical Neoclassical
Writers

Phillis Wheatley
• “To His Excellency
General Washington”

Patrick Henry
• “Speech in the
Virginia Convention”

Thomas Paine
• The Crisis
Romanticism,
Transcendentalism
and Anti-Transcendentalism
1820-1860
Essayists and Poets
Romanticism

Romanticism is both an attitude and a
literary style.
• It represents a reaction against the formality of
neoclassicism.
• Imagination, fancy (in the sense of “fanciful”),
individualism and revolt against tradition are
elements of romanticism.

Chief Characteristic: emphasis on emotion
and imagination.
Romanticism

Characteristics
• 1. Rebellion against the past, rules, orthodoxy,
etc. (not as a subject…the past is often chosen)
• 2. A tendency toward inspiration (vs. classics)
as subject and method.
• 3. A concern with the individual, especially the
author. (hence, emphasis on personal emotion)
• 4. An interest in untamed nature.
• 5. An encouragement of the reader’s
imagination.
Romanticism

Typical Romantic Writers
Edgar Allan Poe
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Herman Melville
Romanticism

Typical Romantic Writers
•
•
•
•
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
John Greenleaf Whittier
James Russell Lowell
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Untamed Nature
Beauty
Imagination
Fancy
Transcendentalism


Transcendentalism was one aspect of
romanticism.
Definition: Transcendentalism is a philosophy
which holds that basic truths can be reached
through intuition rather than reason.
• Basic truths of the universe lie beyond the
knowledge we obtain through our senses.
• People must go beyond or transcend what their
reason and senses tell them.
Transcendentalism

Transcendentalists stress:
• Beauty of nature
• Essential divinity of all people
• Primary importance of the human spirit.

Leading American Transcendentalists:
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Henry David Thoreau
Anti-Transcendentalism

Based on three major principles:
• Nature is indifferent, unforgiving, and often
unexplainable.
• People posess the potential for both good and
evil.
• The truths of existence are elusive.
Ant-Transcendentalism

Basic Traits:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pessimistic
Arrogant
Fear of nature
Evil/mysterious side of nature
Villain
Selfishness
Tragic ending
Fiction
Ant-Transcendentalist Writings
Moby Dick
~Herman Melville
The Scarlet Letter
~Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Pit and the Pendulum
~Edgar Allan Poe
The Rise of Realism,
Regionalism, Local Color
1860-1914
Realism
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Realism is a general term applied to any
literary work which shows life as it is.
Realistic writers show both the positives
and the negatives in life.
Realism is a reaction against romanticism,
especially its subjects: the past, nature, etc.
The subject of the realist is the ordinary
person or event.
Realism

The romantic realist presents life as s/he
finds it, but generally seeks out the pleasant
side of life Or tempers the unpleasant by
• his own emotional feelings
• Bret Harte in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat ”
• Or his nostalgic recollections
• Mark Twain in Adventures of
• Huckleberry Finn
Realism

Some characteristics of realism:
• 1. The focus is on the present.
• 2. The emphasis is on character and motivation
rather than plot.
• 3. The realist emphasizes facts.
• 4. Specific details are important.
 The local color movement was part of Realism.
Regionalism is an example of Realism.
Realism

Other Typical Writers:
Willa Cather
Walt Whitman
Anzia Yezierska
Naturalism/
Muckraking
Naturalism

Naturalism is an extreme of Realism
which examines life with more
objectivity than the “life as it is”
technique of Realism.
Naturalism

The subject of naturalism is usually a social
problem or vice.
• 1. Characters are often “type” characters--they
represent the vice or weakness of a group, so
their lives and backgrounds are presented in
great detail.
• 2. Determinism may be a part of naturalism.
(Biological determinism = man’s actions are
determined by heredity and he has little choice
in his own destiny.)
Naturalism
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Characteristics of naturalism include:
1. Objectivity
• The author does not judge his characters; rather, he places them in
situations where they behave in certain ways.
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2. Candor (reaction against Victorianism)
• Man and woman should be studied to discover their deeper instincts.
• According to a naturalist, fear, hunger, and sex are the three strongest
drives.
Naturalism
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Characteristics of naturalism include:
3. Philosophy of Determinism
• A) A complex view that man is a victim, esp. the view that man is
an animal, helpless against fate.
• B) The philosophy may take three forms:
• i. Sociological emphasis (Sinclair’s The Jungle)
• ii. Mechanistic philosophy (Dreiser’s Sister Carrie)
• iii. Fatalism (Crane’s “The Open Boat”)
Naturalism
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Characteristics of naturalism include:
4. A bias toward pessimism in selecting
details (e.g., typical settings are slums, sweatshops,
factories, etc.)
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5. A bias in the selection of characters.
• A) marked physical but small intellectual activity.
• B) excited, neurotic temperament
• C) strong characters whose wills are broken
Naturalism

D. Naturalism is sometimes (not
always) socialistic or radical in
politics.
Naturalism

D. Typical naturalistic writers:
Ernest
Hemingway
Sherwood
Anderson
Jack
London
Modernism

The Modern Self
• The chief characteristic of the self is alienation.
• The modern self is often unable to act, feel or
express love.
• The modern self has a tormented recollection
of the past.
Modernism
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Themes of Modern Literature
•
•
•
•
•
Collectivism versus individualism
Anxiety regarding the past
Historical discontinuity
Disillusionment
Violence and alienation
Modernism

Themes of Modern Literature
• Decadence and decay
• Loss and despair
• Breakdown of social norms and cultural
sureties
• Race and gender relations
• Sense of place, local color
Modernism

Stylistic Innovations
• A disruption of original syntax and form
• Stream of consciousness- presents the thoughts and
feelings of a character as they occur without regard
for chronological sequences or traditional syntax
Modernist Writers
Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises
The Old Man and the Sea
A Farewell to Arms
T.S. Eliot
Prufrock and Other Observations
The Waste Land
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tender is the Night
The Great Gatsby
Postmodernism

The Difference between Modernism and
Postmodernism
• Modernism presents a fragmented view of
human subjectivity, and presents that
fragmentation as tragic, something to be
mourned as a loss
• Postmodernism still represents a fragmented
view of human subjectivity, BUT does NOT
lament the idea of fragmentation or
incoherence. The world is meaningless? Let’s
not pretend that literature can make meaning
then, let’s just play with nonsense.
Postmodern Writers
Allen Ginsberg
Toni Morrison
Gwendolyn Brooks
Essential Questions:
 What
defines a literary
movement?
Essential Questions:
 How
does literature reflect
social climate?
Essential Questions:
 How
does literature and an
understanding of its
chronology and themes show
how we as a people, came to
be who we are today?