Major American Writers

What revolutions took place after the pre-colonial era?

Breaking away from England, Great Awakening, the family and romantic love, print culture.

The hero suffers for an earlier choice, but that choice causes suffering to those the hero loves or wants to protect. This moment spirals outward.

Catastrophe.

Her early works were inspired by both nationalistic sentiments and religious values and in the 17th century she revised conventional histories by calling into question the Puritan's harsh treatment of Indians. She also thought that not all women have to be wives and mothers. She never married and dedicated her life to charitable work, teaching, and was sympathetic to abolition.

Catharine Maria Sedgwick

Who is the author of "Cacoethes Scribendi"

Catharine Maria Sedgwick

Who was the idea behind giftbooks?

Catharine Maria Sedgwick

Career as an explorer. Committed to spread Christianity and sought to find a voyage that would find a way to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Took three ships from Spain and made it to the US.

Christopher Columbus

The moment of greatest tension, uncertainty, or audience involvement. Also called the crisis and is traditionally situated in the third act of a play.

Climax

An idealization of "home and family" as a space of moral purity protected from the harsher world outside. This Western cultural ideal centered on the belief that women were responsible for the moral affairs and everyday activities of the domestic sphere.

Cult of Domesticity

What factors led to the increased popularity of novels?

Development of power presses, lower cost of printing, rising literacy, increased leisure time for reading.

Emphasizes that a woman's place was in the home and a man's place was in the world. Women were charged to center their lives on the home, immersing themselves in domestic tasks.

Domesticity

Known as a writer and a leader of the crusade for women's rights. Her poems dealt with popular themes: the deaths of innocent children, the stages of life, and the importance of the home, religious faith, and self-reliance. She spent most of her career lecturing and writing about issues of women's rights like reform of marriage laws and women's suffrage.

Elizabeth Oakes Smith

American author that was an early advocate of clothing reform for women. She wrote spiritual novels and was an advocate for social reform, temperance, and emancipation of women. She wrote short stories and novels.

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

Who is the author of "The Tenth of January"

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

Who is the author of "The New Colossus"

Emma Lazarus

What kind of narrative became one of the most popular of all literary genres in colonial America?

Exploration

Early material providing the theme, establishing the setting, and introducing the major characters and sometimes early hints of the coming conflict.

Exposition

The earlier tragic force causes the falling fortunes of the hero. This culminates in the final scene and invokes emotional purgation in the audience.

Falling action

Took up journalism to make a living for her children. Was the first weekly newspaper columnist in the United States. Moved to NYC and wrote prominent periodicals and also published a novel Ruth Hall. She was the best-paid writer in the United States.

Fanny Fern

What was the family and romantic love revolution like?

Fathers are the head of the family and the mothers' are in charge of romantic love for their children.

She was heavily promoted by William Lloyd Garrison and wrote poetry. She also joined the underground railroad and became a traveling lecturer for the Maine Anti-Slavery Society. She published poems, essays, and stories in a variety of periodicals.

Frances E. W. Harper

His life represents a story of triumph over poverty and of slavery and racism. Learned about the abolitionist movement when he read "The Liberator." He traveled around the world giving public speeches insisting that blacks must assume a primary role in the struggle against slavery and racism.

Frederick Douglass

How does Douglass first learn about the abolitionist cause?

From reading "The Liberator," an abolitionist newspaper.

Religion and education were an important part of her family life. She wrote short articles and stories for a local literary group. She was determined to use literature as well as political articles to illustrate the evils of slavery. She wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Who is the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin?

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Born into slavery and was fleeing and hiding throughout her adolescence. During that time, she read and developed her skills as a writer and published letters about her experiences in and escape from slavery.

Harriet Jacobs

Who is the author of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl"

Harriet Jacobs

What did Benjamin Franklin create and how did it help print culture?

He created the Post Office which made circulation much easier and much cheaper reduced rates for people.

How did Douglass feel when he made it to the free states?

He felt the "highest excitement," he felt like a sailor rescued from pirates, he felt insecure and lonely, he felt like he "had escaped a den of angry lions."

Born a slave and became a minister of a church in New York. His militant position for abolition was endorsed by a growing number of abolitionists and was the first to press the government to enlist African American troops to fight in the Civil War. Lincoln invited him to deliver a sermon at the House of Representatives.

Henry Highland Garnet

What is one reason that William Apess used Bible verses and stories in his essay?

His audience was predominately Christian.

How does Frederick Douglass learn to read?

His mistress, Mrs. Auld.

Term used to refer to sexual relations between different races resulting in 'mixed' offspring.

Miscegenation

That moment in which the protagonist's fortunes change irrecoverably for the worse. The very trait we admire in the tragic hero is the same trait that brings about the hero's downfall.

Moment of reversal

How does "The Tenth of January" end?

Mr. Martyn tries to rescue Sene, but is pulled back.

Offspring of mixed European (caucasian) and African parentage.

Mulatto/a

Paula Gunn Allen's poem retells the story of Pocahontas and rewrites her place in history. What critical theory does she employ?

New Historicism

Which of the following facilitated the growth of literacy after the American Revolution?

Newspapers, libraries, public schools.

What books were not read by most Americans before the Revolution?

Novels

A Unitarian minister and an important figure in the early period of the transcendentalist movement. Offered an early analysis of capitalism and the class system that anticipated the work of Karl Marx.

Orestes A. Brownson

Who is the author of "What is an American"

de Crevecouer

Born into a distinguished slaveholding family but broke completely with the southern way she was raised. She wrote poems and blamed Lee for the deaths and carnage of the Civil War.

Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt

With the invention of the printing press in 1450 books were more accessible for Europeans. What were some of the genres of writing that became popular in this "emerging print culture"?

Sermon collections, books on farming, church stories, accounts of explorations.

Why does Xarifa become a "raving lunatic" by the end of "The Quadroons?"

She was raped by her slave mother, her lover George had been murdered while trying to save her, she discovered she is the daughter of a slave.

A written account by an escaped or freed slave of his or her experiences of slavery. A special American form of autobiography, this appeared as an important kind of abolitionist literature.

Slave Narrative

Born a slave but emancipated in 1827. She was among the first black women to speak publicly in the United States. Her most famous speech was delivered at a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio.

Sojourner Truth

Which nation was the dominant power in the Americas during the 16th century?

Spain

Benjamin Franklin was known in Colonial times as a:

Statesman, printer, writer, inventor.

A woman obey her parents and later her husband without question. Woman's passivity, dependence, self-effacement, and self-abnegation ensured that the patriarchal myth of male supremacy would remain the force.

Submissiveness

Who wrote "Who Reads an American Book"

Sydney Smith

A Shawnee military leader that fought to unite several tribes to gain power to persuade American government to deal fairly with Indians. He was a powerful speaker and protested the brutal treatment of Indians by the Americans.

Tecumseh

What types of literary pieces developed in the pre-colonial era?

The Bible, The Almanac, some newspapers.

Momaday tells a story about an arrow and the arrowmaker to illustrate the Kiowa belief in the sacredness of language. What does he say is the message of the story?

The arrowmaker is a man who knows how to use language - a man made of words.

After the moment of last suspense, what happens?

The denouement unwinds previous tension and helps provide closure.

"Cacoethes Scribendi" means:

The incurable disease of writing.

What is the "Middle Passage?"

The journey of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean.

True or False: British critic Sydney Smith asked "Who reads an American book?"

True

True or False: Emma Lazarus' poem "The New Colossus" is about the Statue of Liberty.

True

True or False: Phillis Wheatley was the first African slave poet in the American colonies.

True

True or False: Quakers believed everyone has an "inner light" which rejected Puritan notions of "original sin."

True

The term and concept of the True Woman pervaded antebellum nineteenth-century American culture, defining the proper role for middle-class white women. They must be pious, pure, submissive, and domestic.

True Woman

What was responsible for starting the American Civil War?

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Sojourner Truth was an emancipated slave who was also a:

Abolitionist, woman's rights advocate, author, public speaker.

16th President of the United States. Major sources of his success as a politician and a wartime leader were his abilities as a writer and the power of his rhetoric in his addresses. He was assassinated.

Abraham Lincoln

Why does Frederick Douglass call his "battle" with the "****** breaker" Mr. Covey "the turning point in my career as a slave?"

Because his defeat of Mr. Covey inspires him to once again try to escape slavery.

Douglass begins to hold a Sunday School when he is living at the plantation in St. Michael's. Why did the white overseers and masters break it up?

Because they would rather the slaves boxed, wrestled, or drank whiskey on Sundays.

British American colonists opposed the Stamp Act of 1765 because:

It made newspapers more expensive to purchase, it was a tool of censorship used by the British government, they did not like being taxed when they had no representation in Parliament.

The term "New World" is a problem when describing the Americas because:

It really is an old world, it is a term of European conquest and colonization, it was a world of continued migrations and settlements, and it was a land of diversity.

Why wasn't the novel accepted in the pre-colonial era?

It was the cause of female depravity.

Who were some important American authors after the Revolution?

James Fenimore Cooper and Catharine Maria Sedgwick.

Started in the military and then got involved in politics. He was named the head of the provisional government by the Congress of the Confederate States and became president of the Confederate States of America.

Jefferson Davis

Was active in the underground railroad and in groups organized to protect fugitive slaves. He emerged as a militant leader of free-soil settlers in their struggle with proslavery militia for control of the Kansas Territory. He seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry hoping to start a small insurrection, but he was sentenced to hang.

John Brown

His first interests were American folklore and history but he was later drawn to slavery. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the antislavery crusade as an editor and an author. He wrote poetry and was published in antislavery newspapers like The Liberator.

John Greenleaf Whittier

Pocahontas was married to:

John Rolfe

Who is the author of "I, Too, Sing America" and "Let America be America Again"

Langston Hughes

Raised a Quaker and considered slavery an evil to be opposed. She made public speeches for abolition and helped organize women's abolitionist societies. Along with Stanton, she brought together a local women's rights convention in Seneca Falls.

Lucretia Mott

Who is the author of "The Quadroons"

Lydia Maria Child

She was deeply committed to education for women and opened a school. She published more than 50 books of poetry and prose. She wrote about social and political problems in the United States and lyrics about nature.

Lydia Sigourney

Who is the author of "Indian Names":

Lydia Sigourney

She kept a diary that she kept throughout the Civil War. She had mixed feelings about slavery, as she thought it was necessary but women were treated poorly. She published her diary and then died.

Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut

The foremost virtue of True Womanhood stressing that woman was man's helpmeet, not his equal. A woman's duty was to serve her husband.

Piety

A "true woman" in antebellum America would be:

Pious, pure, and submissive.

What happened during the revolution of print culture?

Printing presses are cheaper and more technology.

James gave his speech at the 350th anniversary of who's landing in Plymouth rock?

Puritans or Pilgrims

What happened during the Great Awakening?

Puritans were getting people to be pious and devoted to religion.

Demanded of women chastity before marriage and fidelity afterwards.

Purity

The purposes of the Great Awakening among British Colonists, led by Methodist preacher George Whitefield were:

Restore the church to its central role in people's lives and revive spiritual piety.

An increase in tension or uncertainty developing out of the conflict the protagonist faces.

Rising action

What does Harriet Jacobs/Linda Brent call her "loophole of retreat?"

The tiny crawlspace above her grandmother's house.

What happens after the reversal?

The tragic hero realizes or verbalizes his tragic error.

How did the Second Great Awakening differ from the Great Awakening?

The use of tracts or printed texts.

James Fenimore Cooper created which of the following in American fiction?

The wild west, the stoic American Indian, the cowboy hero.

Why were the Cherokee's considered civilized?

They focused on education.

What crop made planters in colonial America very wealthy while increasing the slave trade?

Tobacco

Devoted himself to American scenes and subjects and was especially fascinated by the West. He is known as the "Father of the Short Story."

Washington Irving

Who is the author of "The Wife"

Washington Irving

Fanny Fern was the first national celebrity in the United States due to being a:

Wealthy heiress.

Deeply interested in the history and rights of Native Americans despite the fact he was not raised in his native Pequot culture. He became a Methodist minister and became involved in the settlement's struggle to retain its independence. He was influential in helping the Indians to assert their rights and retain their autonomy.

William Apess

Abolitionist poet and editor of the Evening Post. Admired President Lincoln and wrote a poem after his assassination speaking highly of the President.

William Cullen Bryant

Published poems and essays in periodicals while practicing law, then worked in newspapers as an editor and then owner of the Evening Post. His opposition of slavery prompted him to help form the Republican party and he is known as one of the most popular American poets of the first half of the 19th century.

William Cullen Bryant

What was the idea behind Women's Rights and Suffrage Movements?

Women wanted to be able to have rights over their own bodies and their property once they were married.