American Literature 9 Weeks Exam Review

1. American Literature 9 Weeks Exam Review

2. Pre-Colonial • Native American Creation Myths • Focused on EXPLAINING the origin of the world, man, and the causes of natural events and supernatural events. • Nature was VERY important – it was the source of all life. • Passed down through oral tradition • When Grizzlies Walked Upright • The Navajo Origin Legend • The Earth on the Turtle’s Back

3. Colonial/Puritan Literature • Mainly took the form of sermons, diaries, letters and journals. • The relationship with God was the most important focus of these texts – the writing reflected the fact that the Puritan culture had very strict religious tenants to follow. • They believed that Nature was evil or savage because it was new, uncontrollable, and ‘scary’. • Their poetry was not supposed to create anything ‘new’ and ‘beautiful’ because only God could do that – it was only supposed to glorify God and celebrate his creations. • There is a large presence of bias in the Puritan texts regarding non-Puritans and the Native Americans.

4. Edward Taylor – Huswifery • Anne Bradstreet – To My Dear and Loving Husband • Johnathan Edwards – Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God • Mary Rowlandson – A Narrative of the Captivity • William Bradford – Of Plymouth Plantation

5. Revolutionary • Focuses on the fight for our nation’s ideals and beliefs – democracy, individual freedom, representation in government, and the ‘natural rights of man’. • The Age of Reason was a large influence on writing from this time period, and the influence of religion is less apparent. • The use of rhetoric should be carefully analyzed in Revolutionary texts. • Bias in regards to the Native Americans, and slaves, is still present.

6. Ben Franklin – Notes Concerning the Savages • Thomas Jefferson – The Declaration of Independence • Patrick Henry – Speech to the Virginia Convention • Oudalah Equiano – Slave Narrative • Phyllis Wheatley – On Being Brought from Africa to America

7. Expansionism • America is now a country – YAY! • Texts examine the themes of ‘what does it mean to be ‘American’?, the idea of America’s ‘destiny’, how industrialization impacts American life, and how we extend our rights and ideals to others. • Major influences include the Second Great Awakening, the industrial revolution and widening American borders (manifest destiny). • Extreme bias towards the Native Americans, most evident in the US government’s responses during Indian Removal. • American culture conducts its first big ‘split’ between the federalist who mainly stay on the east coast and are concerned with growing America through monetary and industrial means, and the anti-federalist, who feel that industry is enslaving them and move west in response to find ‘freedom’.

8. Thomas Jefferson’s Letters • To Chastellux, the French Ambassador • To Lewis and Clarke • To John Adams • Excerpts from Lewis and Clarke’s Journal • Letters from the ‘Heathen School’ • Indian Removal Act documents • Young Goodman Brown (this starts our shift into Romanticism)

9. Romanticism • A direct response to Expansionism. • Individuals are frustrated with industrialization, and decide to ‘return to nature’ to find a simpler, peaceful way of life. • Focuses on the ideas of individualism, intuition, imagination, escapism, Nature as Spirituality, looking to the past for wisdom, and the common man as a hero. • Romantic writing took influences from the Native Americans (the importance of nature) as a direct rebuttal to Puritan ideals. • Three distinct groups – The Fireside Poets, the Transcendentalist, and The Dark Romantics. • The Fireside Poets took British forms and melded them with American content. • Transcendentalist wrote in a ‘uniquely American’ style. • The Dark Romantics focused on the darker psychological side of man (Poe).

10. The Fireside Poets • The Cross of Snow • Tide Rises, Tide Falls • The Song of Hiawatha • Old Iron side • The Crossing • The Search • The Chambered Nautilus • Excerpts from Emerson • Nature • Self Reliance • Circles • Excerpts from Thoreau • Walden • Walt Whitman • Song of Myself • Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking

11. Tasks and Skills

12. Analyzing Rhetoric Remember, use SOAP, determine the Tone, and then focus on the PLUS. Remember – don’t just tell me the author uses ethos/pathos/logos… tell me WHY they use it and HOW it helps to appeal to their audience. Remember, and author doesn’t always have to use rhetoric effectively – based on their audience they might NOT use it effectively… you just have to explain your reasoning.

13. Analyzing Poetics If you haven’t learned the literary devices, you’re going to have a hard time. If you don’t know what a metaphor is, or what slant rhyme is, or why those devices are used/what purpose they serve, you’re not going to be able to analyze. Have you studied all of those terms? Do you know what they do? I will never ask you to analyze EVERYTHING in a poem…. Go back and review the ones from class… which devices did we focus on the most in class together? That’s probably the one I’m going to give you questions about on the test…. Remember that theme is the lesson or message you learn, NOT THE MAIN IDEA. Remember, the speaker isn’t always the poet.

14. Writing Short Answers Yes, the answers must be in complete sentences. Yes, the answers have to be grammatically correct. No, you don’t have to cite evidence in your answer. Please make your answer as concise as possible… you only need a one or two sentence answer here.

15. Writing Constructed Responses Remember, ANSWER THE QUESTION right at the beginning VERY CLEARLY. Remember, find the best quote you can that supports the answer you’ve given. Remember, EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER. If your constructed response end with a quote, you’ve done it wrong… you’ve got to follow up all quotes with explanations…. And explanations of how it proves your answer is correct, not just you re-writing what the quote is saying in your own words. Be succinct and concise…. Brevity is the soul of wit.