EARLY AMERICAN WRITING

1. EARLY AMERICAN WRITING AP ENGLISH III & ENGLISH III MRS. B. LEE

2. EXPLORING AMERICAN LITERATURE • Literature comes from all of us and belongs to everyone! • Early American literature began with the loreof the Native Americans, then appeared in the journalsof settlers, the lettersof Civil War soldiers, and the tales of Mark Twain.

3. WHY DOES AMERICAN LITERATURE MATTER? • Explores BIG Ideas • Build Cultural Literacy • Connect History and Literature • Appreciate a Legacy *Be able to elaborate on each concept! Go to pages 2-3. GROUP WORK TIME!!

4. WHAT IS A LITERARY MOVEMENT? • Literature of each historical period has a unique “flavor.” • Subject matter, style, form, and attitude all combine to create a literary movement, such as realism and regionalism.

5. 4 FLAVORS OF EARLY AMERICAN WRITING • The Native American Experience • Exploration and the Early Settlers • The Puritan Tradition • Writers of the Revolution

6. MEETING OF 2 WORLDS • Early American writing captures the nation in its infancy. • Chronicles the first interactions between Native Americans & Europeans to the stirrings of the Revolutionary War – writers chronicled the tensions and triumphs of the day.

7. MEETING OF 2 WORLDS CONT. • Due to the new experiences the settlers faced, writers concentrated on describing and trying to make sense out of their challenging new environment and the unfamiliar people with whom they shared it. • William Wood of Massachusetts Bay Colony noted the Native Americans, “took the first ship they saw for a walking island, the mast to be a tree, the sail white clouds.”

8. FROM COLONY TO COUNTRY • First permanent settlement was Jamestown in 1607 • Colonies became self-reliant & practiced self-rule • Initially thought of themselves still as subjects of England; however, over time and with the increase of taxes, the colonists began to rebel. • FAMOUS MOTTO: “No taxation without representation!”

10. CULTURAL INFLUENCES • Religion was most influential cultural force of this period. • Puritan values and beliefs directed people’s everyday lives. • Puritans were a group of English Protestants who wanted to “purify” the Church of England and return to simpler ways of worship.

11. CULTURAL INFLUENCES CONT. • Puritan settlers believed they were chosen by God to create a new order in America. • Saw human struggle with sin as a daily mission • Bible would help them through the torments of human weaknesses

12. CULTURAL INFLUENCES CONT. • Even though believed all humans essentially sinful, they believed the “elect” would be spared from eternal punishment by God’s grace. • Hard work, thrift, & responsibility seen as morally good • Were inflexible in their faith and intolerant of viewpoints of others • Primary example: Salem Witch Trials

14. IDEAS OF THE AGE • THE ENLIGHTENMENT • Burst of intellectual energy which began in Europe • Began to question accepted truths about who should hold the power in government • Americans adapted these ideals to promote action by colonists to form their OWN government • “Give me liberty, or give me death!” (TRIVIA: Who said the above quote, where was it said, and when?)

15. IDEAS OF THE AGE CONT. • THE GREAT AWAKENING • United colonists who may have been diverse in other ways • Began to feel that a higher power was helping Americans set a new standard for an ethical life • Continued the questioning of England’s rule over the colonists