DOCUMENT RESUME ED 417 420 CS 216 258 AUTHOR Bode, Carl TITLE Highlights of American Literature. INSTITUTION United States Information Agency, Washington, DC. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. PUB DATE 1995-00-00 NOTE 291p.; "First published 1981; this edition reprinted 1995." PUB TYPE Guides - Classroom Learner (051) Guides Classroom Teacher (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC12 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Authors; Discussion (Teaching Technique); English (Second Language); Literary History; Literary Styles; *Novels; *Poetry; Questioning Techniques; *Reading Materials; Secondary Education; *United States Literature IDENTIFIERS Historical Background ABSTRACT Intended for high-intermediate/advanced level students of English as a foreign language, this book contains selections from the wide range of American literature, from its beginnings to the modern period. Each section begins with a general introduction to the literary period, and then presents essays about individual authors, selections from the author's writings, discussion questions at the end of each prose selection or group of poems, and discussion questions at the end of each chapter. The "National Beginnings" section discusses Benjamin Franklin, Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Philip Freneau, William Cullen Bryant, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The "Romanticism and Reason" section discusses Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, and Henry James, "The American Short Story: 19th Century Developments" section discusses Ambrose Bierce, Stephen Crane, Edgar Allan Poe, and Frank R. Stockton. The "Realism and Reaction" section discusses Theodore Dreiser, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Carl Sandburg, Sinclair Lewis, Henry L. Mencken, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and John Steinbeck. The "Modern Voices in Prose and Poetry" section discusses Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Robert Frost, Archibald Macleish, William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes, Katherine Ann Porter, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, Robert Lowell, Theodore Roethke, Randall Jarrell, and James Wright. The "Modern American Drama" section presents two short plays: "Return to Dust" (George Bamber) and "The Other Player" (Owen G. Arno). Suggestions to the teacher conclude the book. (RS) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy IIIIa a...a_ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 411411h.114E MMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMM k a IN a 119 illiabillaaaaaeNOWN MMMMM al NI SI IN II AvLJet.4111 as. MMMMMMMM **alga MMMMMM M : well ID MS is OOOOO as 411114aliaOOOOOOO it 811 OOOO 1 IN II OOOOO IN III II ks MI OOOOO OOOOOO To a., V 141P9 0 a 11144,1011411 r I 1 HIGHLIGHT L1312 LFLii Dean Curry, General Series Editor HIGHLIGHTS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE Based upon a core manuscript by Dr. Carl Bode, University of Maryland English Language Programs Division Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs United States Information Agency Washington, D.C. 20547 3 Highlights of American Literature Published by the Materials Branch English Language Programs Division U.S. Information Agency Washington, D. C. 20547 First published 1981. This edition reprinted 1995. Cover Photo: A view of Chicago skyscrapers from the 110th floor of the Sears Tower. Source: USIA 4 CONTENTS Page National Beginnings Introduction 5 Chapter I Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) 10 Chapter II Washington Irving (1783-1859) 16 Chapter HI James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) 22 Chapter IV Philip Freneau (1752-1832) 29 Chapter V William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) 33 Chapter VI Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) 39 Chapter VII Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) 44 Romanticism and Reason Introduction 52 Chapter VIII Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) 57 Chapter IX Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) 64 Chapter X Herman Melville (1819-1891) 71 Chapter XI Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) 77 Chapter XII Walt Whitman (1819-1892) 82 Chapter XIII Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) 90 Chapter XIV Mark Twain (1835-1910) 97 Chapter XV Stephen Crane (1871-1900) 104 Chapter XVI Henry James (1843-1916) 112 The American Short Story: 19th Century Developments Introduction 119 Chapter XVII Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) 120 Chapter XVIII Stephen Crane (1871-1900) 127 Chapter XIX Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) 135 Chapter XX Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902) 140 Realism and Reaction Introduction 145 Chapter XXI Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) 150 Chapter XXII Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935) 156 Chapter XXIII Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) 163 Chapter XXIV Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) 169 J Chapter XXV Henry L. Mencken (1880-1956) 175 Chapter XXVI F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) 181 Chapter XXVII John Steinbeck (1902-1968) 185 Modern Voices in Prose and Poetry Introduction 196 Chapter XXVIII Ernest Hemingway 201 Chapter XXIX William Faulkner 207 Chapter XXX Robert Frost 214 Chapter XXXI Archibald MacLeish, William Carlos Williams and Langston Hughes 221 Chapter XXXII Katherine Ann Porter 231 Chapter XXXIII Saul Bellow 238 Chapter XXXIV Ralph Ellison 244 Chapter XXXV Robert Lowell, Theodore Roethke, Randall Jarrell and James Wright 249 Modern American Drama Introduction 261 Chapter XXXVI Return to Dust 262 Chapter XXXVII The Other Player 270 Suggestions to the Teacher 282 Acknowledgments 287 NATIONAL BEGINNINGS The first American literature was neither hope of perfect recovery shortly, even by the American nor really literature. It was very wholesomeness of the air. not American because it was the work mainly of immigrants from England. It was not Poor Higginson did not fare as well as his literature as we know itin the form of poetry, son; he died the same year the essays, or fictionbut rather an interesting New-England's Plantation was published. mixture of travel accounts and religious Other writers echoed the descriptions and writings. exaggerations of Smith and Higginson. Their The earliest colonial travel accounts are purpose was to attract dissatisfied inhabitants records of the perils and frustrations that of the Old World across the ocean to the New. challenged the courage of America's first As a result, their travel accounts became a settlers. William Bradford's History of kind of literature to which many groups Plimmoth Plantation describes the cold responded by making the hazardous crossing greeting which the passengers on the ship to America. The earliest settlers included Mayflower received when they landed on the Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards, coast of America in 1620: Italians, and Portuguese. Of the immigrants who came to America in the first three Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and quarters of the seventeenth century, however, brought safe to land, they fell upon their the overwhelming majority was English. knees and blessed the God of Heaven who The English immigrants who settled on had brought them over the vast and furious America's northern seacoast, appropriately ocean, and delivered them from the perils and called New England, came in order to miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the practice their religion freely. They were either firm and stable earth, their proper element... But here I cannot stand half amazed at this Englishmen who wanted to reform the Church poor people's present condition; and so I of England or people who wanted to have an think will the reader, too, when he well entirely new church. These two groups considers the same. Being thus passed the combined, especially in what became vast ocean, ... they had no friends to Massachusetts, came to be known as welcome them nor Inns to entertain or refresh "Puritans," so named after those who wished their weatherbeaten bodies; nor houses or to "purify" the Church of England. much less towns to repair to, to seek for The Puritans followed many of the ideas of succour. the Swiss reformer John Calvin. Through the Calvinist influence the Puritans emphasized If the American wilderness did not provide the then common belief that human beings a hearty welcome for the colonists, it were basically evil and could do nothing nevertheless offered a wealth of natural about it; and that many of them, though not resources. "He is a bad fisher [who] cannot all, would surely be condemned to hell, kill on one day with his hooke and line, one, Over the years the Puritans built a way of two, or three hundred Cods" is a claim made life that was in harmony with their somber by Captain John Smith in A Description of religion, one that stressed hard work, thrift, New England (1616). "A sup of New piety, and sobriety. These were the Puritan England's air is better than a whole draft of values that dominated much of the earliest old England's ale" is a testimonial given by American writing, including the sermons, Francis Higginson in his New-England's books, and letters of such noted Puritan Plantation (1630). Higginson adds: clergymen as John Cotton and Cotton Mather. Besides, I have one of my children that was During his life Cotton Mather wrote more than formerly most lamentably handled with sore 450 works, an impressive output of religious breaking out of both his hands and feet of the writings that demonstrates that he was an king's evil, but since he came hither he example, as well as an advocate, of the is very well over [what] he was, and there is Puritan ideal of hard work. 5 7 HIGHLIGHTS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE During the last half of the seventeenth the day when God will decide the fate of man. century the Atlantic coast was settled both Most people will be sent to Hell; a few lucky north and south.