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Survey of American Literature I Survey of American Literature I Survey of American Literature I SBCTC & Lumen Learning CONTENTS Reading and Interpreting Literary Texts ......................................................................................1 • Introduction to Reading and Interpreting Literary Texts..................................................................................... 1 • How to Analyze a Short Story............................................................................................................................ 2 • A Short History of the Early American Novel ..................................................................................................... 4 • Approaching Poetry ........................................................................................................................................... 7 • Free Verse ....................................................................................................................................................... 25 • Literary Terms: A Guide................................................................................................................................... 26 • Literary Criticism .............................................................................................................................................. 33 Early American and Puritan Literature (1650–1750) .................................................................40 • Introduction to Early American and Puritan Literature ..................................................................................... 40 • A Model of Christian Charity ............................................................................................................................ 41 • Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God ............................................................................................................ 47 • The Pilgrim's Progress..................................................................................................................................... 55 • Verses upon the Burning of Our House........................................................................................................... 56 • Additional Resources....................................................................................................................................... 57 Enlightenment Literature (1760–1820)......................................................................................58 • Introduction to Enlightenment Literature.......................................................................................................... 58 • Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death .................................................................................................................. 59 • Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin................................................................................................................ 60 • Additional Resources....................................................................................................................................... 61 Romantic Literature (1820–1860)..............................................................................................62 • Introduction to Romantic Literature.................................................................................................................. 62 • The Romantic Period, 1820–1860: Essayists and Poets................................................................................. 63 • Thanatopsis ..................................................................................................................................................... 70 • Wakefield......................................................................................................................................................... 72 • Song of Myself ................................................................................................................................................. 76 • The Use of Nature in American Gothic .......................................................................................................... 129 • The Indian Burying Ground............................................................................................................................ 133 • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow........................................................................................................................ 135 • The Raven ..................................................................................................................................................... 148 • History of American Literature ....................................................................................................................... 150 • The Second Great Awakening and Transcendentalism ................................................................................ 153 • Nature............................................................................................................................................................ 156 • The American Scholar ................................................................................................................................... 158 • Self-Reliance ................................................................................................................................................. 167 • Walden: Economy.......................................................................................................................................... 177 • Walden: Where I Lived, and What I Lived For ............................................................................................... 202 • Walden: Conclusion....................................................................................................................................... 208 • Women’s Sphere and the Emergence of the Women’s Rights Movement.................................................... 213 • Woman in the Nineteenth Century................................................................................................................. 216 • Resistance and Abolition ............................................................................................................................... 226 • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave ................................................................... 227 • Uncle Tom's Cabin ........................................................................................................................................ 267 Writing About Literature........................................................................................................... 269 • Introduction to Writing About Literature ......................................................................................................... 269 • Distinguish Between Primary and Secondary Sources ................................................................................. 269 • Annotated List of Useful Online Resources ................................................................................................... 270 • Using Databases: Periodical Indexes and Abstracts ..................................................................................... 273 • Annotated List of Useful Databases .............................................................................................................. 274 • Finding and Evaluating Research Sources.................................................................................................... 278 • Finding Literary Criticism ............................................................................................................................... 286 • Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Style ........................................................................................ 288 • Additional Resources..................................................................................................................................... 294 READING AND INTERPRETING LITERARY TEXTS INTRODUCTION TO READING AND INTERPRETING LITERARY TEXTS Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life. ― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft Learning Outcomes • Identify the key features of prose • Identify the key features of poetry • Identify and describe the major critical approaches to literary interpretation: New Criticism/Formalism, Reader-Response, Feminism, and Marxism Licensing & Attributions CC licensed content, Original • Key Features of Literary Texts. Provided byby: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution CC licensed content, Shared previously • Image of fridge poetry. Authored byby: Steve Johnson. Located atLocated at: https://flic.kr/p/86i9j2. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution 11 HOW TO ANALYZE A SHORT STORY What Is a Short Story? A short story is a work of short, narrative prose that is usually centered around one single event. It is limited in scope and has an introduction, body and conclusion. Although a short story has much in common with a novel (See How to Analyze a Novel), it is written with much greater precision. You will often be asked to write a literary analysis. An analysis of a short story requires basic knowledge of literary elements. The following guide and questions may help you: Setting Setting is a description of where and when the story takes place. In a short story there are fewer settings compared to a novel. The time
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