Eng 1207 Section A

PERIODS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE:

1) Puritans/Colonial America 1607-1720

 2) The Age of Reason/The Early Republic 1720-1800

 3) American Romanticism (corresponds to American Independence)

4) American Renaissance

PURITANISM

First Colonisers: French, Spanish, Dutch (a) Seeking for adventure and wealth (b)Criminals sent from Britain (c) People escaping religious persecution 

John Smith 1580-1631

·         1608 The General History of Virginia : First American book written in English

·          The advantages of settling in New World 

New England was the most intellectually advanced, religiously strict; there was a stress put on education.

·         1620 Puritans arrived and settled in the state of Massachusetts.

·           1636 Puritans founded Harvard University.

·          Puritans had escaped persecution, but they persecuted every other religion.

·          Calvinism – the concept of predestination (from the moment of birth, God knows people’s destiny).

·          Puritans committed much time to find in themselves if they were The Elects, the ones chosen by God.

·          Poverty treated as something shameful.

·          The Bible as the literal world of God. 

Literature written during the Colonial period:

1.       Religious: sermons, treatises  

2.       Diaries (tracing God’s signs of approval in their everyday life)

3.        Historical narratives, Indian-captivity narratives

4.        Basic Puritan beliefs: 

4.1.1. Total Depravity - every human is born sinful.

4.1.2. Unconditional Election - concept of predestination. 

4.1.3.  Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.

4.1.4. Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. 

4.1.5. Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. 

5.       Common themes:

(a) Idealism - both religious and political.  (b) Pragmaticism - practicality and purposiveness 

Michael Wigglesworth 1631-1705

·         1662 The Day of Doom – a religious poem * Very popular in the author’s time.

·          He torments himself in his diaries. * Unpleasant imagery connected with body parts.

·          Warning people about the danger of pleasure. 

William Bradford 1590-1657

·         First historian in New England

·          1630 Of Plymouth Plantation - the single most complete authority for the story of the Pilgrims and the early years of the Colony they founded.

 * A historical narrative * How Puritans arrive to New World and how God let them to do it, relations with Indians, trips on vessels, the importance of beer, etc. 

Mary Rowlandson 1637-1710/11

·         Most of her family was killed by Indians, she was kidnapped together with her children.

·          11 weeks and 5 days in captivity

·          1682 Narrative of Captivity – how Indians treated the captives, their daily habits

 * She never says anything good about Indians, although they treated her very well. *It was God who helped her, Indians were driven by Devil. * Use of dramatic irony * “I’m not saying it for my own glory, but for the glory of God.” * Her English is very pure, it’s pretty realistic. * Biblical references. 

Cotton Mather 1663-1728

·         1692 Wonders of the Invisible World – publication describing witches, devils, beings flying in the air. *“The world is alive with evil spirits which are invisible to us.”

·          He started the frenzy of Salem witch trials. 

Anne Bradstreet 1612-1672

1.       Women were not allowed to be taught to read and write.

2.        She was born in England and she came to America with her husband.

3.        Publishing poetry in America was impossible; she was accused of plagiarism.

4.        “Let such as say our sex is void of reason, / Know ‘tis slander now, but once was treason.”

5.        1666 Upon a Burning of Our House .

 *The beginning and ending – invocation to God * The middle – she describes the house and customs, she stresses that God took her beloved furniture. * She was not a fanatic, she believed that Puritans and Catholics believe in the same God. * Not a metaphysical poet, she talks about simple things. *Puritans didn’t believe in forcing someone to marriage. 

Edward Taylor 1644-1729

·         A country pastor born in England.

·          Strictly religious poems.

·          He didn’t let anybody read his poems.

·         1937 First publication of his poetry. He was acquainted with metaphysical poets, such as John Donne, and George Herbert. Association among Concept and image and infusion of comment

·         -Upon a Spider Catching a Fly  * Comical images 

In the 18th century Puritanism was fading, entertainment became common. Preachers were worried. Great Awakening (Religious revival) – the time when people were summoned to come back to religion and God. There were meetings organised to convince people to open their hearts to God’s grace.  Only the believers were destined to go to Heaven.

Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758

·         1741 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God – the most famous sermon. * Vivid imagery of Hell with observations of the world and citations of scripture. * Excellent language. * Emotional and intellectual. * Hard logic of consequences of sins. 

ENLIGHTENMENT or THE AGE OF REASON (18th century) : A cultural movement of intellectuals in the 17th and 18th century, which began first in Europe and later in the American colonies. 

·         Purpose: to reform society using reason, challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith, and advance knowledge through the scientific method. 

·          It promoted scientific thought, skepticism and intellectual interchange and opposed superstition, intolerance and some abuses of power by the church and the state. 

·          People were more interested in seeking for pleasures.

·         American Dream: An archetypal American journey from rugs to riches.. 

Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

·         The first American who considered America as a place with its own culture.

·          He was born in Boston.  He wrote essays to his brother’s newspaper: Freedom of Thought, Drunkeness, Pride and Hoop Pettycoats.

·          Plenty of common sense, humour, and free thinking; he often spoke against Puritans; stressed on  hard work.

·          1723 Franklin moved to Philadelphia.

·          1733 Poor Richard’s Almanack

1.1.1.1.              Almanac – an annual publication that includes information such as weather forecasts, farmers’ planting dates, tide tables, proverbs, etc.

1.1.1.2.              Themes: Optimism and practicality.

·         Franklin believed in progress of humanity and in the influence of science.  He proved Diderot, Voltaire and Hume.

·         Political writings and political cartoons.

1.       1771-1778 The Autobiography - Franklin's account of his life is divided into four parts, reflecting the different periods at which he wrote them.

*Themes: optimism, practicality of advice

* An allegory of American Dream. 

Thomas Paine 1737-1809

·         An English-American author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, revolutionary.

·          One of the Founding Fathers.

·          “A corset-maker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination.”

·          He emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 and he arrived in time to participated in the American Revolution.

·         1776 Common Sense - presented the American colonists with an argument for freedom from British rule at a time when the question of seeking independence was still undecided.

 * Understandable to common people. * Structured like a sermon. * Biblical references, to make his case to the people. * Independence connected with common dissenting Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American political identity. 

Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826

·         One of the Founding Fathers.

·          The principal author of the Declaration of Independence.

·         1776 United States Declaration of Independence – a formal proclamation of the thirteen American colonies announcing separation from England.

·          Main points:

1.1.1.1.              Revolution was necessary and justified;

1.1.1.2.               Blacks weren’t treated as men but as a cattle or children;

1.1.1.3.               Women had their rights only when protected by their husbands, fathers, sons.

1.1.1.4.              “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

Boston, 1619 The first slave-ship, Jesus of Lübeck, arrived to America. Slavery very quickly was discontinued in the North. 

Phillis Wheatley 1753-1784

·         The first African-American poet and first African-American women to publish her writing.

·          Born in Gambia and sold into slavery at the age of 7 or 8. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.

·          1775 To His Excellency, General Washington

 * Neoclassical poem, * An ode.

·         1773 On Being Brought from Africa to America

*Patriotic from the position of an American citizen. * Crediting her slavery as a positive, because it has brought her to Christianity. * Negroes may be saved by Christianity.

ROMANTICISM	AGE OF REASON
emotions and intuition
the individual is looking inward	rationality
subjective
dark realms of psyche, mystery, Medieval ruins and castles	society
nature
spiritual refreshment	solving a problem
wisdom → elderly person or a child
all kinds of dogmas become unimportant
common people

EARLY ROMANTICS:

Charles Brockden Brown 1771-1810

·         An American novelist, historian, and editor of the Early National period.

·          1798 Wieland: or, The Transformation: An American Tale - details the horrible events that befall Clara Wieland and her brother Theodore's family.

*The first, and most famous, American Gothic novel.

 * Plenty of blood, violence, psychic abnormality, death. 

Washington Irving 1783-1859

·         An American author, essayist, biographer and historian.

·         Patriotic themes, works about America.

·          Folk tradition – every country has to have its own literary tradition. He invented many folk tales which imitated European tales.

·          1819 Rip Van Winkle – the story of a man who sleeps for twenty years and awakens to a greatly changed world.

* Before the story itself begins, three paragraphs in brackets explain the story’s origin: The tale “was found among the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker,” a man who dedicated much of his life to studying and recording the history of the Dutch inhabitants of upstate New York.

 * Knickerbocker’s published history, the narrator claims, is known for its “scrupulous accuracy,” and the tale of Rip Van Winkle, therefore, should be accepted as truth.

·         1820 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - The story is set in 1790 in the countryside around the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (historical Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of  Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. As Crane leaves the party he attended at the Van Tassel’s house, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during “some nameless battle” of the American Revolutionary War. Ichabod mysteriously disappears from the town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom.

* The nature of the Headless Horseman is left to open interpretation, although the story implies that it was Brom in disguise.

* Anti-intellectualism, the smart man is ridiculed.

·         1824 The Devil and Tom Walker (col. of short stories Tales of a Traveller) – a gentleman Geoffrey Crayon, a fictional character created by the author, narrates the tale. It is said in New England in the early 1700s, a narrator relates a story he has heard about a local man’s dealings with the devil.

* References to the American culture: Indians, animals, plants, slavery.

* Portrait of a woman (Tom’s wife): "Tom's wife was a tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm. Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words."

INDIANS

 Indians fit the 19th century, because they’re different and exotic, “noble savages.” 

Songs of the Chippewa	A Teton Lakota Song
	Wolf
Love Song	A Wolf I considered myself
	But
A Loon	I have eaten nothing
I thought it was	And
But it was	From standing I am tired out.
My love’s	A wolf I considered myself
Splashing oar.	But
	The owls are hooting
	And
	The night I fear.

James Fenimore Cooper 1789-1851

·         A prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century, he is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels.

·          1823-1841 The Leatherstocking Tales – a series  of novels, each featuring the main hero Natty Bumppo, known by European settlers as “Leatherstocking”, “The Pathfinder”  and “the Trapper”, and by the Native Americans as “Deerslayer”, “La Longue Carabine” and “Hawkeye”. 1823 The Pioneers (story date: 1793, part 5) 1826 The Last of Mohicans (story date: 1757, part 3) 1827 The Prairie (story date: 1804, part 4) 1840 The Pathfinder (story date: 1750s, part 2) 1841 The Deerslayer (story date: 1740-1755, part 1)

·          Hero: the child of white parents, he grew up with Native Americans, becoming a near fearless warrior skilled in many weapons, one of which is the long rifle.  *He respects his forest home and all its inhabitants, hunting only what he needs to survive. *He lives by the rule, “One shot, one kill.”  * He and his Mohican ‘brother’ Chingachgook champion goodness by trying to stop the incessant conflict between the Mohicans and the Hurons. *Innocent man, normally alone, courageous, honest, generous. * An archetypal hero of an American novel. 

·          Themes: 1) Tension a. Between different kinds of society (Good and Bad Indians)

                                     b. Between society and the individual (the one who is right)

                                     c. Between civilisation and wilderness

                                       * Cooper protest against destroying wilderness but he knows that it has to happen.

                                    d. Between civil rights and natural rights.

                2) Frontier – most important factor shaping the American culture, there’s always something to be discovered.

                3) Women – Natty doesn’t trust women, he rejects them, they’re evil to him, he dies alone.

                4) Racism – Cooper adored Indians, “they’re beautiful but they’re not human.”

 *Cooper disliked the idea of a woman marrying an Indian.

* The Last of the Mohicans tells of Cora, white woman who had black ancestors, marrying Uncas, the son of Chingachgook.

·         1820 Precaution – Cooper’s first book, it was published anonymously. 

ROMANTIC POETRY

William Cullen Bryant 1794-1878

·         1817 Thanatopsis * Title – (Greek) “View of death” * Nature discusses death. * Theme: man must learn to conduct his life well and not to fear death. * Criticism: Thomas Holley Chivers (critic): “Only thing [Bryant] ever wrote that may be called Poetry is ‘Thanatopsis,’ which he stole line for line from the Spanish. The fact is, that he never did anything but steal – as nothing he wrote is original.”

·         He was influenced by the Graveyard Poets and by Wordsworth. * Death treated seriously but not obsessively like in Puritan tradition; * Restrained, dignified, simple poetry. 

THE GRAVEYARD POETS – a number of pre-Romantic English poets of the 18th century characterised by their gloomy meditations on mortality, ‘skulls and coffins, epitaphs and worms’ in the context of the graveyard. They include: Thomas Parnell, Thomas Gray, James MacPherson, and many more. 

THE FIRESIDE (HOUSEHOLD) POETS – the first group of American poets to rival British poets in popularity in either country. Representatives: * Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. * John Greenleaf Whittier * James Russell Lowell * Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * Ralph Waldo Emerson 

New England Brahmins – Came from wealthy Yankee families.

 First Family (200 years in America) – it mattered how long people lived in America.

 NORTH: Puritans, a caste of people intellectually superior (educated, snobbish, refined). * Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story Never Bet the Devil Your Head in which he embedded elements of deep dislike for Transcendentalism, calling Boston “Frogpondium.” 

SATURDAY CLUB – established in 1855, an informal monthly gathering in Boston, Massachusetts, of writers, scientists, philosophers, historians and others. The black and Jews weren’t allowed to be in the Club. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882

·         1855 The Song of Hiawatha – an epic poem * Exotic, interesting, no passion; * Rather for children than adults. * Folk themes, history, adventure. * Themes: gentle, sweet, pure, inoffensive * Strong conviction that he was an abolitionist.