The Literary Periods of American Literature

1. The Literary Periods of American Literature Mrs. Iwanski’s ENG 11

2. Puritanism/Colonialism Colonialism involves the expansion of nationalism. Colonial literature often explores the exploitation of the place or people, or a discovery of new lands. • Anne Bradstreet -Here Follow Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666

3. Captivity Narratives Captivity narratives were popular in Colonial American Literature. Captivity Narratives presented quite sensational stories. The narrative detailed the capture and "deliverance" of Puritans. • Mary Rowlandson -A Narrative of the Captivity of Mary Rowlandson

4. Classicism Classicism is an approach to literature and the other arts that stresses reason, balance, clarity, ideal beauty, and orderly form in imitation of the arts of ancient Greece and Rome. The word "classical" refers to the ideal, a norm, or a standard against which everything else in its class must be measured. Examples:-Thomas Paine’s Speech to the Virginia Convention - The Declaration of Independence

5. Enlightenment – (1750-1800) Called the Enlightenment period due to the influence of science and logic, this period is marked in US literature by political writings. Genres included political documents, speeches, and letters. Benjamin Franklin is typical of this period. There is a lack of emphasis and dependence on the Bible and more use of common sense (logic) and science.

6. Romanticism/ 1800 - 1860 Romanticism stresses imagination, emotion, and individualism. Purely American topics were introduced such as frontier life. Romantic elements can be found in the works of American writers as diverse as Cooper, Poe, Thoreau, Emerson, Dickinson, Hawthorne, and Melville. • Washington Irving – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow • Edgar Allan Poe -Fall of the House of Usher -The Cask of Amontillado -The Black Cat -The Raven • Nathaniel Hawthorne -The Scarlet Letter -Rappaccini’s Daughter • Emily Dickinson - Poetry

7. Transcendentalism 1840 - 1860 Transcendentalism was an American literary and philosophical movement of the nineteenth century. The Transcendentalists, who were based in New England, believed that intuition and the individual conscience “transcend” experience and thus are better guides to truth than are the senses and logical reason. The Transcendentalists included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

8. Realism & Naturalism/ 1850 - 1900 Naturalism is an American literary movement. In general, the concept is one in which everything belongs to nature, is "natural." Realism is the presentation in art of the details of actual life. Realism was also a literary movement that began during the nineteenth century and stressed the actual as opposed to the imagined or the fanciful. The Realists tried to write truthfully and objectively about ordinary characters in ordinary situations. • Mark Twain -Life on the Mississippi • Ambrose Bierce -An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

9. Modernism/ 1900 - 1950 An age of disillusionment and confusion—just look at what was happening in history in the US during these dates—this period brought us perhaps our best writers. The authors during this period raised all the great questions of life, but offered no answers. Faulkner, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Frost are all examples. • Upton Sinclair/ The Jungle • Willa Cather/ A Wagner Matinee • Robert Frost/ Poetry • James Thurber/ The Secret Life of Walter Mitty ● Eudora Welty/ A Worn Path ● William Faulkner/ A Rose for Emily ● Ernest Hemingway/ The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

10. The Harlem Renaissance The "Harlem Renaissance" is a term that refers to the flowering of African-American literature following World War I and extending into the mid-twentieth century. The Harlem Renaissance represents the beginning of the struggle for a sense of African-American cultural legitimacy and independence. • Poetry by: Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes

11. Postmodernism/ 1950 - Present • Carl Sandburg -Chicago -Fog -The Harbor • Arthur Miller/ The Crucible