CLEP American Literature
*Aim was to purify church of England from “Popery”
*Persecuted harshly by Charles I and Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud.
*Established a Theocracy in the New World.
*Believed education was a religious duty and founded schools, colleges and established printing presses.
(Colonial Period)
2.) Our duty in this world is to see that God’s will prevails.
3.) Man is depraved from birth.
4.)Few will be saved. Damned are damned despite their best efforts.
*Belief in Covenant Theology : God’s covenant with Abraham guarantees our ability to win God’s favor through moral struggle.
(Colonial Period)
* Wrote “The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and The Summer Isles.”
*Archetypal American.
(Colonial Period)
*Chronicled the Pilgrim experience from the religious considerations that caused them to leave England for Holland and then for America.
*Used the language of the King James Bible to record the transatlantic voyage, Satan’s influence and survival struggles of the Separatists, and the heresy of Roger Williams.
* Style is dignified and Grave, and events are vividly rendered.
*Considered an excellent history book as well as a literary masterpiece.
(Colonial Period)
*Lead 2,000 English emigrant to Massachusetts Bay.
* Made daily journal-style entries until his death. Intended it to be an account of his long governorship.
*Style is plain and lucid, neutral and non-judgmental.
*Set forth heresies of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson and their expulsion to Rhode Island.
*Acquittal of misfeasance becomes a lesson on the distinction between natural liberty and liberty under law.
(Colonial Period)
*Did not come to settle the land and establish God’s Kingdom, but to trade beaver pelts and live pleasantly.
*Established Merry Mount, not far from Plymouth, and erected a giant Maypole.
*Wrote “The English Canaan” as an account of his experiences in the New World.
-Written in a jocular, rollicking style; highly ornamented with rhetorical flourishes, and heavily larded with classical references and allusions.
-satirizes the “pretentiousness” of the puritans.
-declared New England the land of milk and honey.
(Colonial Period)
*Last of the “pure” puritans.
*Strove to restore moral fervor to the Puritan Community.
*Greatest achievement was as an historian of the Puritan experience.
*Largest library in America (btw 7 &8 thousand books)
*Wrote 450 Books including :
– “Magnalia Christi Americana (“The Great Works of Christ in America”) : History of New England colonies, excellent short bios of the great founders.
– “Wonders of the Invisible World” : written to justify the execution of19 women during the Salem Witch Trials.
– “Manuductio ad Ministerium”: Guide for beginning ministers; important for its discussion of the allusive method in writing.
– “Diary of Cotton Mather” – Account of Mather wrestling with sexual temptation to marry a much younger women disapproved of by his family and the puritan community.
(Colonial Period)
* Published America’s first anti-slavery tract.
*Best known for his private diaries. Published in 3 volumes as “The Diary of Samuel Sewall”.
– “Diary” : Candid and humorous recordings of daily life.
– “The Selling of Joseph” : urged the end of slavery, saying, “It is most certain that all men, as they are sons of Adam, are coheirs; and have equal rights unto liberty.”
(Colonial Period)
*Church of England Virginia Aristocrat.
*Famous for “The History of the Dividing Line” and “The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover”
– “The History of the Dividing Line” : Vividly describes terrain and shrewdly observes the white settlers on its fringes during an expedition to survey the Great Dismal Swamp between Virginia and North Carolina.
– “Diary” : Recorded his daily life in a private shorthand. Speaks in a neutral tone, but frequently with lively humor.
(Colonial Period)
*Theologian and philosopher; vigorous defender of Calvinistic orthodoxy at the end of the Puritan era.
*Influenced major nineteenth century writers such as Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman.
*Discourses written in sermon form using scriptural text, doctrine, reasons and usage (applications to life).
* Arguments are densely textured, inexorable in its onward thrust, and plain in style.
*Often uses syllogisms to develop its careful analysis.
(Colonial Period)
*Not considered the best representation of poetry during the whole period. Rarely approached excellence of English models.
*Too much of an emphasis on heavenly values and therefore images of this world -poets stock in trade- are too infrequently introduced.
Bay Psalm Book : First book published in the English colonies.
Anne Bradstreet:
– Daughter and wife of Massachusetts Governors.
– “In Reference to Children” : Uses homely imagery to convey warmth of motherly love. (Unusual in puritan verse).
– First published poet.
Michael Wigglesworth:
– Wrote the most famous poem of 17th Century, “The Day of Doom” : proceeds from judgement day to hell and then to paradise.
– High seriousness and vivid scenes more suitable for a secular narrative.
-First American Best Seller
Edward Taylor:
– Greatest poet of American colonial period.
– No poems were published until the the 20th century.
-“Preparatory Meditations” : Prepared him to administer the sacrament and deliver his sermon. (Most famous).
– Rich in concrete imagery, rugged language. Marked by conceits.
-Influenced T.S Elliot, Ezra Pound, and other modern-day metaphysical poets.
*French map-maker that became an American Farmer.
* Wrote “Letters from an American Farmer.”
*American Adam : the idea that there is something different, unique and special about Americans.
*Melting Pot: That America’s unique identity transcends ethnic, cultural, or religious backgrounds.
Poetry: A type of literature win which words are selected and strung together for their beauty, sound, and power to express feelings.
Drama: A piece of literature intended to be performed in front of an audience.
(Types of Poetry)
Lyres: People who sang lyrics as they played string-like instruments.
(Types of Poetry)
Has plot. characters and theme.
(Types of Poetry)
Internal: occurs when words within a sentences share the same sound, such as “Each narrow cell in which we dwell.”
Lines of poems are grouped into stanzas, just as sentences of prose are grouped into paragraphs.
*Member of the First and Second Continental Congresses.
*Helped draft the Declaration of Independence.
*Husband of Abigail Adams.
*Wrote Poor Richard’s Alamanac
*Referred to as the “Sage of Monticello”
*Drafted the Declaration of Independence.
*Parallel Structure: repeated used of phrases, clauses, or sentences that are similar in structure.
*Rhythm
*Forceful and Direct Language
*Loaded Words: words that carry a strong emotional overtones.
“The Dying Redcoat”
*First Pamphlet was Common Sense : credited with getting the colonists to see the “advantage, necessity, and obligation” of breaking with Britain.
*Followed by a series of pamphlets, collectively called “An American Crisis.” (Model of effective propaganda.)
*Paine appealed to emotion as well as reason; he contrasted weak, self-centered people with courageous patriots; he used loaded language to emphasis British Tyranny; HE included his own view of the validity of the cause; he pledged God’s support.
*First American writer to achieve an international reputation.
*Rip Van Winkle (antihero). Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Devil and Tom Walker.
*Was 50 years old before his real name appeared on any of his books. Used aliases such as : Geoffrey Crayon, Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent., Anthony Evergreen, Gent., and Diedrich Knickerbocker.
*Started “local color” school of fiction.
*First successful American novelist. “Father of the American novel.”
*Very litigious, cranky and vain.
*Most famous for the “Leatherstocking Tales”: A series of five novels about the frontiersman, Natty Bumppo.
1.) The Pioneers
2.) The Last of the Mohicans.
3.) The Prairie
4.) The Pathfinder
5.) The Deerslayer
*Wrote “The Philosophy of Composition”, “The Raven”, “Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Gold Bug.” (The first detective novel)
*Emphasized ‘single effect’
*Poe called mystery: Ta;es of ratiocination.
*Key player in the transcendentalist movement.
*First to define what made American poetry American – it is verse that celebrates ordinary experience rather than the epic themes of the past.
*Wrote “Nature”, “Self-Reliance,” and “The American Scholar.” Gave “Divinity School Address” that got him banned from his alma mater for 30 years.
*Helped establish the philosophy of individualism, an idea that is deeply embedded in American culture.
(Actually coined by German philosopher, Immanuel Kant)
*Published slender magazine, The Dial
* Walden is a guidebook for life, showing the reader how to live wisely in a world designed to make wise living impossible.
*”On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” has become a primer for non-violent protest, used by Ghandi, MLK, Mandela and others.
*Transcendentalist
*”The Scarlet Letter”, “Young Goodman Brown”
*Claimed his work was romance and therefore not required to be realistic.
*Moby Dick is considered to be America’s greatest prose epic. It is also top contender for best American novel.
*Wrote the first great romance about the South Seas.
*Poster child for the misunderstood artist.
*UTC was the most influential book of the 19th century.
*Credited with starting the Civil War.
*Most famous American woman of her day.
*Escaped slave that became one o f the most effective orators of his day, an influential newspaper writer, a militant abolitionist, and a famous diplomat.
*Rejected conventional themes, traditional literary references, allusions, and rhymes.
*Used long lines to capture rhythms of natural speech, free verse, and vocabulary drawn from everyday speech.
*Oh Captain, My Captain, “Song of Myself”, “Noiseless Patient Spider”.
*Didn’t title her poems. All are designated by numbers.
*Paved the way for the Imagist movement of the 1920s.
*Considered on of the founders of Modern American Poetry.
*Concrete imagery, forceful language, and unique style ushered in poetry as we know it today.
*Wrote 1,775 but only published 7 in her lifetime.
*Wrote “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
*Master of “Local Color” writing.
*Used vernacular, exaggeration and deadpan narrator to create humor.
*Red Badge of Courage is considered the first modern war novel.
*Work is celebrated for its images and symbolism.
*Work is often described as impressionist due to his vivid renderings of moments of visual beauty and uncertainty.
*Attacked patriotism, individualism and organized religion to confront the meaningless of the world.
*Realists rejected the heroic and adventurous and concentrated on pessimistic views of poverty, prostitution and pain.
*Reaction to Romanticism.
*Also called Determinism for its belief in the effects of environment, heredity, and chance on human fate.
*Took an even darker view of the world than realists and believed: The universe is unpredictable, spontaneous, and discontinuous. Our fate is determined by our environment, heredity and chance. Free will is and illusion. Life is a cruel joke.
*Naturalists created characters whose lives were shaped by forces they could neither understand nor control.
*Rougon-Marcquart
*Socialist.
*Naturalist
*Wrote “McTeague, a Story of San Francisco”
*Wrote “An American Tragedy”
*local colorist
*”A Humble Romance” and “A New England Nun”
*Wrote “The Country of the Pointed Firs”
*Famous for use of idiomatic language, conservative values and imagery and vivid descriptions of rural New England.
*Wrote “The Awakening”
*Writing is memorable for its : Vivid and economical style, Rich Local Dialect, and Penetrating view of the culture of South Louisiana.
*Great Niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe.
*Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”
*Won a Pulitzer for her novel “One of Ours”
*Noted use of indirection and allusion.
*First women to win a Pulitzer for “The Age of Innocence”
*Main themes were upper-class life and the constraints it placed on both men and women.
*Writing style is elegant, graceful and honest.
*Main theme of his work was the innocence and exuberance of America compared to the corruption and wisdom of Europe.
*Wrote “The Portrait of a Lady,” “The Turn of the Screw”
*Writing style emphasizes: Short sentences, brief paragraphs, active verbs, authenticity, compression, clarity, and immediacy.
*Produced some of the most important works of 20th-century fiction between 1925 and 1929.
*Won a Pulitzer & Nobel Prize for the “Old Man and the Sea”
*Wrote “The Great Gatsby”
*Heavy drinking problem.
*Works focused on the South
*Wrote “As I Lay Dying,” “Sanctuary,” and “The sound and the Fury.”
*Experimented with Stream of Consciousness writing.
*Considered the most innovative novelist of his time.
*Ordinary Language
*Free Verse
*Concentrated Word Pictures
*Very specific words and phrases
*Advanced by Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell; also utilized by Robert Frost
*Wrote “In a Station of the Metro,” ” The Pisan Cantos,” “Hugh Selwyn Mauberly,” and “Mauberly.”
*Modeled “Cantos” after Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”
*Infamous traitor; Staunch supporter of Mussolini during WWII.
*Didn’t speak for the last 14 years of his life.
*Wrote “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,”
*Published “The Waste-Land” which became the most famous poem of the first half of the 20th Century.
*Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
*Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature, Pulitzer and and the National Book Award.
*Top 20th Century Poet
*Wrote “The Road Not Taken,” ” Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and “Mending Wall”
*Experimented with : form, punctuation, spelling, typography, grammar, imagery, rhythm, and syntax.
*Created poems dealing with historic myths and characters.
*Known primarily for short, ironic characteristics of ordinary individuals.
*Won 3 Pulitzers : “Collected Poems,” “The Man Who Died Twice,” and “Tristram”
*Wrote “Chicago,” and a biography of Abraham Lincoln.
*Poems describe everyday Americans, have a positive tone, use simple words, are easy to understand, and are written in free verse.
*Wrote “Lucinda Matlock”
*Created “Spoon River Anthology”
*Spoon River poems are characterized by: An unpoetic, colloquial style, frank descriptions of sex, a very critical view of small town life, and a description of he inner live of ordinary people.
*Work bridges folk poetry and modernist poems.
*Used music and strong rhythm
*Wrote “The Congo”
*First Black Best-Seller
*Staunch Communist : Believed it was black America’s best hope for equality.
*Wanted to capture the dominant oral traditions of black culture in written form.
*Best known for his poetry: “The Weary Blues,” “Fields of Wonder,” and “The Dream Keeper”
*Tried to re-create the rhythms of jazz in his poetry.
*Worked within traditional poetic forms rather than jazz rhythms.
*Wrote ” Copper Sun,” and “The Ballad of the Brown Girl.”
*Wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” “Mules and Men,” and “Jonahs Gourd Vine.”
*Considered one of the key black writers of the 20th Century.
*Much of his poetry evokes the rich heritage of Jamaica.
*Founder of the NAACP
*Wrote “Up From Slavery”
* Most of his works are autobiographical.
*Frequently experimented with drugs.
*He wrote the “Naked Lunch” and the “Cities of Red Night”
*Wrote “On the Road”
*All of his books are Autobiographical
*Poet
*Confessional Poet
*Won a Pulitzer for “Live or Die”
*Wrote “Lord Weary’s Castle” and “In Life Studies”
*Creates stories that simultaneously shock readers and reflect her strong Catholic faith.
*Peacocks
*Frequently explored the battle of the sexes.
*Wrote “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”
*Knock for her caustic and clever poems and short stories.
*Novels concentrate on the turmoil of modern Jewish life.
*Most famous novel is “Fear of Flying.”
*Wrote “The Executioner’s Song.”
*work reflects the changing attitude of Jews living in post-World War II America.
*Considered a landmark achievement in American literature
*Best known for her poems “The Bean Eaters” and “We Real Cool.”
*”I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
*Novel focus on black cultural identity in contemporary America.
*Wrote “The Bluest Eye,” “Tar Baby,” and “Beloved”