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Civil War Literature. 1850-1880. Most of the literature in this period focused on the historical situation in America at this time: Conflicting ideas of the North & the South. Major Genres: letters, speeches, narratives. Statesmen: Abraham Lincoln Robert E. Lee Novelists:
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Civil War Literature 1850-1880
Most of the literature in this period focused on the historical situation in America at this time: • Conflicting ideas of the North & the South
Major Genres: letters, speeches, narratives • Statesmen: • Abraham Lincoln • Robert E. Lee • Novelists: • Louisa May Alcott—Little Women • Harriet Beecher Stowe—Uncle Tom’s Cabin • Slave Narratives: • Sojourner Truth—Narrative of Sojourner Truth • Harriet Jacobs—Life of a Slave Girl • Solomon Northup—Twelve Years a Slave
Major Genres: letters, speeches, narratives • Activists: • Booker T. Washington • Susan B. Anthony • Elizabeth Cady Stanton • Poets: • Walt Whitman • Emily Dickinson
Frederick Douglass: The North Star • 1st African-American newspaper • 3 beliefs • The worst thing about being a slave is knowing that you are a slave. • No one can enslaved if he/she can read, write, and think. • The prime way to enslave another human is to keep them from learning.
Poets: Whitman & Dickinson • Whitman: • Free verse: • irregular rhythm • irregular meter • no rhyme • Mimics the cadence of human speech • Catalog—long lists of related things, people, or events • Great admirer & proponent of Lincoln • “O Captain, My Captain” • “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” • Wrote of the universality of the human race
Poets: Whitman & Dickinson • Dickinson • Used signature dashes for emphasis • Used slant rhyme in addition to exact rhyme • Subjects consisted of: • Nature • Death • Spirituality • Chose to withdraw from society as means of protest