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American Literature Mrs. Jestice English 3 August 23 “In 1492 . Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” financed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H CpTIn66Nd0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2ClSABkDp8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRdxUFDoQe0 ROMEO AND JULIET The United Kingdom New World Settlers American Folklore Davy Crockett https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= txcRQedoEyY Puritans—1620’s American values and character shaped by the moral, ethical, and religious convictions of the Puritans, who arrived in 1620 and by 1640, 20,000 Puritans had arrived. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2 eMkth8FWno and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k 3jt5ibfRzw Strict adherence to the Bible Heaven and Hell Bland clothing Puritan Feudalism? LAWS OF NEW ENGLAND RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM WE INHERITED—WORK ETHIC, DEMAND FOR JUSTICE, DESIRE FOR EQUALITY WITCH HUNTS . American Literary Timeline From 1750 to 1865 Classicism (Age of Reason) American Romanticism Early Romanticism 1800-1840 Historical setting: • Nationalism – the struggle, long after independence, to establish the US as a “real” country. • Economically, struggled for independence • Industrial Revolution – cities and factories • Manifest Destiny – westward expansion meant more land for farming, more roads, canals, and attempts at better communication. • Divisions – country was so big, communication still poor, so many political factions developed • In 1837, President Jackson warned that internal divisions were the greatest threat facing America. (Have things changed today…?) Writers and philosophers emphasized… • Intuition and imagination – not reason --to be freed from conventional thinking --inner life & one’s irrational mind were explored --be able to see the inner, infinite reality of Nature and Man • Potential for social and spiritual development – YET still valued individual over society. • Nature as a way to recover natural/moral virtues that are corrupted by society • Humanitarian concern for “common man” Writers emphasized… • Nature – beautiful, strange, mysterious, in constant change • The past – as a result of AND to create more nationalism – wanting to create a unique American tradition/folklore (Irving, Cooper) • Inner world of human nature – to find emotional truths (Bryant, Cooper) or examine the irrationality of the human mind (Poe) Authors and styles include… Edgar Allan Poe Washington Irving – – short stories, legends, folktales, short stories essays James Fenimore Cooper – novels William Cullen Bryant – poetry Major events include… 1803 – Louisiana Purchase 1804-1806 – Lewis & Clark explore new land 1812-1814 – second war with England 1823 – Monroe Doctrine (US would oppose any European expansion in the Western Hemisphere) 1825 – Erie Canal opens in New York 1828 – construction begins on B&O Railroad 1836 – Morris invents the telegraph American Romanticism 1820-1865 National Optimism • Rapid expansion of US population • Agricultural advancement • Industrial advancement • Frontier • Technological advancements •Completion of the Erie Canal •Vulcanization of rubber •First railroads •Reaping machine •The Revolver •Telegraph lines •Drilling of the first oil wells Issues Undermining Nat’l Optimism 1. SECTIONALISM – North vs. South • Economic security/superiority • Slavery expansion • Political leadership – Created compromises of 1820, 1833, and 1850 American Renaissance (a.k.a. Late Romanticism) 1840-1860 Historical setting: • Extreme growth – spread across continent, population doubled, industrialization, widespread poverty, little education • Nationalism and optimism • Slavery issue began to dominate – anti-slavery poets Lowell, Whittier, Thoreau. Reform efforts • Establish unions, utopian communities • Adult education (through speakers, libraries, museums, newspapers, etc.) and tax-supported public education in all states by 1860 • Women’s Rights Movement: --Before: women couldn’t vote, make legal decisions, wife beating was legal almost every state --Increased public schools = increased job opportunities for women = other job opportunities --Women became very involved in all reform efforts --National right to vote in 1920, but Colorado allowed it in 1898. 2. CIVIL WAR (N); WAR between the STATES (S) – South left devastated – Five billion dollars spent – 600,000 men dead – Constitutional questions of secession and slavery settled, but left “grim wounds of bitterness and hatred” that are still healing. 3. CULTURAL PROVINCIALISM – To do more with lit. than politics – No international copyright laws • Works from Europe pirated by American publishing companies • American writers received little critical or monetary encouragement to develop their talent. – Limited perspective and expectations of American readers. – Was American writing to be universal and comparable to the great works of Europe? • Broader view that wound up prevailing • (Thank goodness!) • Aided by the achievement of Romantic writers European Romanticism? • Early 1800’s-1850 • Fueled by desire for independence • Shelley, Keats, Lord Byron • Jane Austen American Romanticism • Roots in Europe • In the U.S., it ran from 1820-1865 • Of all the literary and philosophical movements, this one has probably most affected the perception of people’s relationships to others and to God. Romance: Less formal version of epic Noble character on a series of adventures Pastoral setting Love interest and the idealization of women Roots in medieval France Resurrected and recreated in Britain starting around 1798 Carried across the water to America Characteristics of American Literary Romanticism 1. INDIVIDUALISM – Popularized by the frontier tradition – Jacksonian democracy – Abolitionism Rejection of the Puritan belief in total depravity: Based on the teachings of John Locke and J.J. Rouseau . People were naturally benevolent . Mind was a tabula rosa at birth . Corrupted by institutions that sought to dehumanize individuals .People worth highlighting are those closest to Nature Rousseau’s “noble savage” British poets’ pastoral people as main characters 2. IMAGINATION – Reaction against the earlier age’s emphasis on Reason – Abandonment of literary tradition in favor of experimentation – “Organicism”: every idea held within it an inherent structure 3. EMOTION – Feeling is now considered superior to rationality as the mode of perceiving and experiencing reality – Intuition leads one to truth – Truth/reality are now highly subjective 4. NATURE – The means of knowing Truth • God reveals himself solely through Nature • Nature becomes a moral teacher – The actual subject matter of the Romantics Edenic and untouched by Adam’s fall A retreat for men . U.S. lit. full of lavish descriptions of Nature . U.S. lit. different in the sense of wild Nature vs. Europe’s cultivated Nature Literature • A huge amount, of a high quality • Nationalistic, but became universal too • Two main different ideas in philosophy/ writing at this time: and Transcendentalism • Form of idealism • Term originated with Immanuel Kant • People should “transcend” or rise above the lower animistic impulses of life and move from the rational to the spiritual • Truth, in other words, is not discovered through the 5 senses • Human soul is part of the Oversoul or universal spirit, which it returns to at a person’s death • This Oversoul/ Life Force is part of everyone • Oversoul can be found anywhere, so pilgrimages are not necessary • Ultimately a pantheistic set of religious ideas • Nature has spiritual manifestations, so God can be found in Nature • Death is never to be feared, for once we die, we merely pass to the Oversoul • Emphasis placed on the here and now American Authors THE KNICKERBOCKERS 1.WASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859) – Not so much fiction as “sketches” – Distinctly American settings and characters – The History of New York • Narrator: Diedrich Knickerbocker • “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 2. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851) Not a very accurate portrayal of the French-Indian War Not a very accurate picture of Native- Americans Praised more for what he attempted than what he actually wrote. NEW ENGLAND SCHOOL 1. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 2. Oliver Wendell Holmes 3. John Greenleaf Whittier 4. James Russell Lowell Popularized romantic ideas. Minor influences, though heavily anthologized Emerson and Thoreau • Believed universal truths lie beyond what we can know with our senses. --senses – we know the natural world --reason – use this knowledge to create new things --intuition – transcends the natural world – our souls relate to a world beyond the physical. • God, humanity, and all of nature share a universal soul. • Optimistic – nature is basically good, therefore man is basically good. • Emphasis on the individual – everyone can experience God, try to understand the inner self (irrational mind) through reflection. • Even people who disagreed with “Transcendentalism” found new self-awareness by relating to their inner selves and the natural world. TRANSCENDENTAL OPTIMISTS RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882) .Famous for poetry, Nature and “Self- Reliance” .Lived off his wife’s estate after she died of TB .Influenced heavily by the British Romantic poets .Spokesman for transcendentalism who was very optimistic about humans’ benevolent nature .Spent much of his life in Concord, Mass .Lectured and made the rounds as a proponent of transcendentalism TRANSCENDENTAL OPTIMISTS HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862) Probably best known for Civil Disobedience Practiced his own preaching Influenced future leaders • Walden
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