American Literature CLEP
Ralph Waldo Emerson's speech for Harvard
"The doctrine of the divine nature being forgotten, a sickness infects and dwarfs the constitution. Once man was all; now he is an appendage, a nuisance. And because the indwelling Supreme Spirit cannot wholly be got rid of, the doctrine of it suffers this perversion, that the divine nature is attributed to one or two persons, and denied to all the rest, and denied with fury. The doctrine of inspiration is lost; the base doctrine of the majority of voices, usurps the place of the doctrine of the soul.
Transcendentalism
A movement within Romanticism spearheaded by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Influenced by Immanuel Kant (German) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English). About how individuals should "move beyond" collective thought found in dogmas and doctrines and look within themselves for spirituality. Connection with the divine in nature, individual reflection and non-attachment are important. • Non-conformity, reliance on intuition, autonomy of individual spirit and the fomentation of creativity. The perils of collective reason and restrictions of institutional falsities. Detach through nature and meditation, find the inner self, and approach a higher interconnectivity and awareness
Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis
A novella about factory labor and women's issues. Initially published in The Atlantic Monthly. One of the first realist works of literature. • Exposes the avarice of capitalism of the Industrial Revolution. The naturalistic style portrays gender, ethnic and class struggles, and wage workers unable to move beyond the deplorable circumstances of factory life
The Encantadas by Herman Melville
A novella broken into ten parts or "sketches". It is a philosophical look at the Galapagos Islands off of Ecuador.It describes the desolate nature of the islands and some of their history, and, through some narrative sequences, how it affects humans that happen upon these cruel and isolated islands
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
A reclusive person. Wrote some 1,800 poems in her life. Not recognized in life. Now considered one the Great American poets of all time. Her style is unique: use of capital words, dashes and spaces, half rhymes, lack of titles, short lines, etc. Her themes surround death, nature, the self, poetry, and immortality
"She Came and Went" by James Russell Lowell
As a twig trembles, which a bird Lights on to sing, then leaves unbent, So is my memory thrilled and stirred;— I only know she came and went.
Beat! Beat! Drums! by Walt Whitman
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow! Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force, Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation, Into the school where the scholar is studying, Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride, Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain, So fierce you whirr and pound you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.
Poem 479 Emily Dickinson
Because I could not stop for Death - He kindly stopped for me - The Carriage held but just Ourselves - And Immortality. We slowly drove - He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility -
Moby Dick, Herman Melville,
Considered Melville's masterpiece.Dedicated it Nathaniel Hawthorne Partially inspired by a real whale, Mocha Dick. (albino sperm whale).• A novel that describes whaling life. References to the Bible and Shakespeare. Some themes in the novel are religion, revenge, literature, fate and free will. Ishmael is the narrator of the story. He travels with Captain Ahab aboard the whaling ship Pequod to hunt a white sperm whale named Moby Dick. The diverse crew also includes Queequeg, from Polynesia, and Starbuck, the first mate. They all perish in the hunt except for Ishmael, who lives to tell the tale
Thomas Harriot
He was a British astronomer and mathematician. A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, Learned Indian Language
Michael Wigglesworth
He wrote The Day of Doom (1660), a long, best-selling Puritan poem about the Last Judgment It goes into detail on the different categories of people that will be judged. It's the longest poem of the Colonial Period, with 224 stanzas
Samuel de Champlain
Pioneer to the "New France". Des Sauvages: The voyage of Samuel Champlain
Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
It is about mutiny aboard a Spanish slave ship. Amassa Delano narrates the odd situation on board Captain Benito Cereno's vessel, the San Dominick. The slaves roam freely on deck and the Spaniards are reclusive. The captain is followed by Babo, his servant, who, when it is revealed in the end, is actually the leader of the revolt and is making Benito take the slaves back to Africa. The novella is a criticism of the American slave trade.
Cadwallader Colden
Lieutenant governor of the state of New York, physician, scientist. He wrote on botany and science. Had a long-time epistolary relationship with Benjamin Franklin. The History of the Five Indian Nations (1727)
Eliza Harris by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Like a fawn from the arrow, startled and wild, A woman swept by us, bearing a child; In her eye was the night of a settled despair, And her brow was o'ershaded with anguish and care. She was nearing the river—in reaching the brink, She heeded no danger, she paused not to think! For she is a mother—her child is a slave— And she'll give him his freedom, or find him a grave!
Joseph Kirkland (1830-1894)
Literary editor of The Chicago Tribune. Fought in the Civil War. Worked as a lawyer and a businessman. Most famous work is Zury: The Meanest Man in Spring County (1887), a novel about pioneer life in the West. The name pretty much describes it: life in the West. About a tough man married to a strong, respected woman. Written in Hoosier dialect
John Trumball
Passed the entrance exams to get into Yale when he was seven, but didn't go until he was a teenager An American poet, known for his satire. Epithalamium is a name that comes from a poem designed for the bride on her way to consummating her marriage. Written with witty scholarship. Progress of Dulness (1772-73), criticizes educational techniques. Comic epic M'Fingal, epigrammatic form, its focus on independence and self-governance.
Anne Bradstreet
Poetry of spiritual reflection. Themes of religious nature and portraits of colonial life. The Tenth Muse is her only volume of poetry (1650, published in England). The first published book of poetry of the English colonies. Poems about gender issues, poems to her children and husband, poems about God and existence.
Benjamin Franklin
Printer, publisher, scientist, inventor, diplomat, author, etc. Influenced by the Enlightenment. His perspective of the self is more worldly and non-deterministic, and happiness can be found here and now in the autonomy of human rationale and reason.The Way to Wealth: It's a collection of work that was published in Poor Richard's Almanac over the course of many years.
Phillis Wheatley
She was the first African American writer to publish a book in the United States, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. People didn't think she was the actual author of her work, but she defended herself in court successfully. She wrote about religion and politics, and criticized slavery
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Sold about 300,000 copies in the first year in the US, and a million in Great Britain. The most popular novel of the 19th century. A sentimental novel (rely on emotions in the characters and readers) Denounces the evils of slavery. Other themes are Christianity and motherhood. At the time, the novel was criticized by some Southerners as overly exaggerating slave life on plantations. Abolitionists criticized the ending when some of her characters decided to immigrate back to Africa. Modern interpretations vary.
"My life having been attended with many uncommon occurrences, I have thought proper to make some remarks on the dealings of divine goodness with me."
Some Account of the Fore Part of the Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
The most famous in the slave narratives written of the 19th century. A very influential work of the the abolitionist movement.Written to educate people on the hypocrisies and inhumanity of slave ownership. People were impressed at his perception and insight, all which were reinforced in the speeches that he gave.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The most well known of the Fireside Poets. He translated the first American version of Dante's The Divine Comedy. The Song of Hiawatha (1855), an epic poem about the Ojibway Indians and their adaptation to the dominant, colonial presence; "Paul Revere's Ride" (1860) is an (historically inaccurate) recounting of the patriot's famous ride; and Evangeline (1847) is a story in verse about an Acadian youth named Evangeline who searches for her lost love during the Expulsion of the Acadians (1755-1764)
Life in the Iron-Mills Plot
The narrator (unknown) asks readers not to pass judgment on the characters of her story (objectivity in Realism). Deborah and Hugh Wolfe. Hugh doesn't think that he belongs in the iron mill as a worker. Explicit dialogue of the injustices of working conditions.Deborah, tired and hunchbacked, steals a wallet and gives it to Hugh. He thinks they deserve it because they work hard. They land in jail. He takes his own life after losing his mental stability.Contrast of classes. Contrast of living conditions. Misery and helplessness as people feel they can't get out of the confines of their destitution and poverty. In the end a Quaker woman intervenes and helps, albeit too late
The Eternal Goodness by John Greenleaf Whittier
Who fathoms the Eternal Thought? Who talks of scheme and plan? The Lord is God! He needeth not The poor device of man. I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground Ye tread with boldness shod; I dare not fix with mete and bound The love and power of God
The Romantic Period (1830-1870)
With wars (e.g. 1812 USA/ England) and revolutions (e.g. the American, and then French in 1789), a more subjective position to express and fight for the self (personal identity or national identity - hence the revolutions). This movement was itself, the Romantic era. Nature. the Wild West, the deep South, the mountains of the East, and the unique American landscape were the backdrop for this development.Writers like Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryant, George Washington Harris and Thomas Bangs Thorpe were involved in the early stages of this identity forging
Rebecca Harding Davis
Work inspired by the Industrial Revolution. Considered one of the country's first social historians. Brought to light the degrading conditions of industrial labor.Published some 500 works. Forgotten at her death. Rediscovered in 1972. Now considered a feminist writer because of the women protagonists in her works
Early National World 1750-1820
Work of this phase in history was influenced by the Age of Enlightenment.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Writer of fiction, poetry and literary criticism. Known best for his Gothic short stories. He is believed to be the inventor of the detective story, and influential in science fiction. Married his cousin when he was 20 and she was 13. He died as mysteriously as he lived: he was found dead on a street in Baltimore.He was most influential writer of the 19th century. "The Cask of Amontillado" "The Tell-Tale Heart" "The Fall of the House of Usher" "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" "The Black Cat" "The Pit and the Pendulum" He wrote a popular essay entitled"The Philosophy of Composition as literary criticism. More famous things he has said is that art should be enjoyed on one sitting
Herman Melville(1819-1891)
Writer of novels, short stories, essays and poetry. Darker style of Romanticism. Of metaphors, imagery and symbols. Dense Baroque style. Allusions to religion, mythology, literature. Many of this works reflect his time at sea. Typee (1846), his first novel, is a travel narrative about the South Pacific. Moby Dick (1851), his most well known novel, is about a whaling crew's failed experience at sea. Other important works by Melville include a series of short stories in The Piazza Tales, particularly "Bartleby, the Scrivener" (1853), The Encantadas (1854), and Benito Cereno (1855)
Walden Excerpt
"At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature. I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagvat Geeta, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions.
Moby Dick Excerpt
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet;... "
Civil Disobedience (1848) Excerpt
"If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go...if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine."
Philip Freneau
"Poet of the American Revolution". The subject matter of his poetry rolls between awareness of the Revolutionary War and the countryside."The Beauties of Santa Cruz" and "The House of Night" are two of his more famous poems. After being Captured by the British, Freneau wrote biting verse, as seen in "The British Prison-Ship (1781
The Colonial Period
1620-1776. Common writing about the captivity narrative, some spiritual autobiographies. Cervantes's Don Quixote as the first novel written
The Pilgrims
16th Century Henry VIII of England split from the Roman Catholic Church and created the Church of England are the separatist. William Bradford led the Pilgrims toward Virginia
Cotton Mather
400 works, but his most famous is the Magnalia Christi Americana, a super-long, seven-volume nostalgic work of the history of New England in a Christian context, how God helped people become civilized in the New World. Speaks of Bradford and Winthrop. He represents the old order of Puritan preachers, like his father. Ideas were ahead of his time. Promoted mental as well as the physical state of health
James Madison
4th president of the US. One of the Founding Fathers ( "Founding Fathers" were, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington)"Father of the Constitution" because of his work on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, he wrote the Federalist Papers, which were written in support of the Constitution
Poem 359
A Bird, came down the Walk - He did not know I saw - He bit an Angle Worm in halves And ate the fellow, raw, And then, he drank a Dew From a convenient Grass - And then hopped sidewise to the Wall To let a Beetle pass -
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
A New Yorker in spirit and heart, he was the poet for all Americans. A superlative of his time. Niched between transcendentalism and realism. The father of free verse.Leaves of Grass is his main work (1855, plus multiple subsequent revisions). Some later revisions considered controversial. Later, a writer for the Civil War and admirer of Lincoln
Edward Taylor
A Puritan poet who studied at Harvard then preacher in Westfield, Massachusetts.Preparatory Meditations before communicions
Jonathan Edwards
A Puritan preacher of great repute and fire. He was influenced by the Enlightenment. Worked in Northampton, Massachusetts as a preacher, replacing his grandfather. Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s, which strived to resuscitate American spiritual values. He published many of his sermons. His most famous is "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" in 1741:• Poetic language and imagery. Sense of urgency. God has a negative view on mankind. Novel:Personal Narrative
Elizabeth Ashbridge
A Quaker woman, minister, with an independent spirit that broke from her Anglican roots because she wanted more respect of women. She was an indentured servant to America. She returned to Europe on a trip and died quite young. Some Account of the Fore Part of the Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge: sins in youth, an awakening, cycles of faith, and final conversion and "salvation"
Naturalism
A branch of realism.Scientific observation. Objective standpoint of narrator. A focus on the "lower passions" of the lower classes in society. Widely deterministic -characters are controlled by an environment they don't fully understand. Cause and effect are realistic and natural and there is rarely serendipity, miracles or exceptional twists in the narrative.
Walt Whitman Style
A deist at heart, had a pantheistic view on the world. Influenced by transcendentalism. Subjectivism evident in 1st person voice and reflections on the self. This is the Romantic influence in him.Objectivism evident in the social awareness and universal voice in his poetry. This is the philosophical realist influence in him. Influential writer for future minds such as Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A major American essayist, lecturer and poet. Wrestled with Christianity, and with religious dogma in general. Wrote Nature in 1836, which became the manifesto of sorts of Transcendentalism. Women's voting rights and was against slavery, but didn't participate in group activities to this end. 1,500 lectures! Mentor of Henry David Thoreau. Basic philosophy was a fusion of God (pantheistic), nature and the individual
Thomas Bangs Thorpe
Antebellum writer form the South. "The Big Bear of Arkansas" (1841). It's about the character Jim Dogget, who hyperbolically explains the superiority of Arkansas though a series of tall tales and anecdotes. The Master's House (1854), an anti-slavery novel. It's not acerbic in its criticism of slavery, and may even come across as ambivalent to some readers, but it does poise itself as a milder version of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe that was published two years earlier.
Horatio Alger, Jr.
A writer of many "rags to riches" novels with the same stock characters in them. Ragged Dick (1867-1868) was his most popular novel.S ubgenre of Bildungsroman (German for a "coming of age novel" in which a young character undergoes moral and social education through a series of often serendipitous events).• Some of his later novels were darker, catering to a more sensationalist market. He wrote about 100 novels in his life. The prototype is a young lad who falls upon the chance to help a rich gentleman who in turn helps him out. Through a series of events and interchanges between the virtues and vices of different characters (virtue and honesty are traits of the young lad), the young man rises in society and becomes successful.Different ending from the typical Realist novel. Still deals with class, however
Frederick Douglass
African American abolitionist author and orator. His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) is his most famous work. Some of his other works are My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and the novella, The Heroic Slave (1853), among others
Prominent Deists
Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Beliefs that God created the world but has since been detached from it, which has let humans create their own path in life. rejected supernaturalism and relied on reason, evidence and natural phenomena to explain the existence of God and themselves
The Fireside Poets
American public wanted representation in verse. Known as the Household Poets and Schoolroom Poets) included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Popular for their accessibility and thematic appeal. Poems were about home and hearth, politics and daily life, and were written to a general audience without solipsism or esoteric significance. They were relatively easy to memorize and recite
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911)
An African-American abolitionist known for her poetry. Many of her themes were taken from Uncle Tom's Cabin. Fought for the rights of African Americans and women. Her poems are inspirational and a voice for the African American experience in America
Typee by Herman Melville
An adventure novel that takes place in Polynesia, loosely based on his own experiences. It recounts the experiences of the narrator, Tommo, and his shipmate, Toby, as they live among a group of cannibals. Shows sympathy toward the natives, somewhat along the lines of the myth of the noble savage.
George Washington Harris
An antebellum (pre - Civil war) humorist. Wrote about life in the South. His most famous character is "Sut Lovingood" a poorly educated Appalachian fellow who took joy in lies and tricks on others. Written with the characteristics of an exaggerated southern dialect. Influenced future writers of the South such as Mark Twain and William Faulkner
The Raven-Edgar Allen Poe Excerpt
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted—nevermore!
Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence, but Congress edited parts of it. He was the third president of the US. Founded the University of Virginia. His personal library was the foundation of the Library of Congress.
Puritains
Didn't want to separate entirely from the Church of England
John Smith
English Explorer. Leader of the Virigina Colony, named New England. Wrote The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles 1624. Pocahontas.
Genres in the New World
Explorers chronicles, Poetry, The captivity novel, The sermon, spiritual autobiography
Henry David Thoreau
Fellow transcendentalist with Emerson and major contributor to American letters. His two most famous works are Walden (1854) and Civil Disobedience
William Cullen Bryant
Fireside Poet. He was one of the Fireside Poets. He is considered one of the first Romantic writers.New York Evening Post and worked in journalism for some 50 years. His first book of poetry was entitled Poems (1821). His poetry has been described as meditative. "Thanatopsis" (a reflection on death). In it he says that we should not fear the end, as it it a natural process of nature and of life
Alexander Hamilton
Founding Fathers, wrote federalist papers for the constitution. Political rival of Thomas Jefferson. He was anti-slavery and promoted religious freedom. He dies in a duel with Jefferson's vice president, Aaron Burr
Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca
From Spain. He wrote, "Naufragios," which is Shipwrecks in 1542. Spanish conquistador that was shipwrecked and lost his crew off of the south of Florida. Vaca lived with the indians and became a shawman.
John Wolman
His The Journal of John Woolman is his legacy. Quaker, he rejected slavery, he lived under testimonies of peace and of simplicity, and, most notably, refused to use products produced from slave labor
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Got his penname from steamboat jargon. Most famous works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). Addresses social ills and class differences and criticizes slavery and social inequalities. Although seen as a major regionalist writer of the south because of his most known work, he also writes about other topics and geographic areas
John Greenleaf Whittier "Flowers in Winter"
How strange to greet, this frosty morn, In graceful counterfeit of flower, These children of the meadows, born Of sunshine and of showers!
A Song to Myself by Walt Whitman
I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death..
Benjamin Franklin Autobiography
In regard to his contribution to letters, his autobiography is one of the most popular ones in America. Written in 1771, 1783 and 1788. the first part talks about his youth and "errors" of youth. Striving for "moral perfection" (silence, frugality, chastity, humilityand moderation are just a few of them). It only covers until 1757 because he passed before he finished it
I Hear America Singing Walt Whitman
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs
Woman in the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Fuller
I solicit of women that they will say it to heart to ascertain what is for them the liberty of law. It is for this, band not for any, the largest, extension of partial privileges that I seek. I ask them, if interested by these suggestions, to search their own experience and intuitions for better, and fill up with fit materials the trenches that hedge them in. From men I ask a noble and earnest attention to anything that can be offered on this great and still obscure subject, such as I have met from many with whom I stand in private relations
Washington Irving
Involved in creating an autonomous American style about people, places and things purely American, he was the first to set this mold.He wrote on a great range of subjects and topography. He wrote about New York State, Christopher Columbus and the West of America. Best known for "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" that appear in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819-1820). He wrote satirical work. He wrote literary magazine Salmagundi with his brother. It was a satirical viewpoint about the life and politics of New York (it was here that he gave New York City the name "Gotham"). A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker in 1809, his first major book, satirical work about New York. Knickerbocker, his fictious name. Spain. Biography on Christopher Columbus and other books about Granada and the Alhambra. He was appointed the Minister to Spain, and spent many years there during the tumultuous 19th century on the Iberian peninsula. This left him disheartened and wishing to return home. Biographies about George Washington, Muhammad, and Oliver Goldsmith (an 18th century Irish writerAmerican West, such as The Adventures of Captain Bonneville and A Tour on the Prairies. Some believe he wrote these in response to those who criticized his European trips and interests
Margaret Fuller
Involved in the Transcendental Club. Well known for her work on women's rights. Educator in Providence, RI and Boston MA. At this time she developed her ideas on gender, that roles are learned and not innate. Eventually put together Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845) her major work. She married an Italian revolutionary. On their way back to America they died in 1850 when their boat sank. In that accident, she lost an important manuscript on Italy
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
It takes place in Puritan New England in the 17th century. Hester Prynne has a baby (named Pearl) out of wedlock and has to wear an "A" on her front. She won't reveal who the father of the child is.Arthur Dimmesdale, who is Pearl's father, suffers from guilt and whips himself daily. Hester's husband, Roger Chillingworth, returns and discovers all. The three (Chillingworth excluded) want to flee, but Dimmesdale dies after confession to the congregation, then Chillingworth dies, Pearl marries well, and Hester stays in the cottage for the rest of her life. She is buried next to Dimmesdale with an "A" above their gravesite
The Raven- Edgar Allen Poe
It's a narrative poem about a Raven's midnight visit to a distressed lover and how this lover slowly loses his wits thinking about his lost love, Lenore. supernatural, mythological, classical and religious elements about it. The constant repetition of the Raven saying "Nevermore" when the narrator asks it questions is staple in its meaning
John Winthrop
Led the Great Migration, Massachussets Bay Colony, "A Modell of Christian Charity" set the religious ideas of the new colony. He was aware the world would be watching their "model" of a City upon a hill
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur
Letters From an American Farmer (1782). The letters describe the botany of America and the conditions in which the settlers lived. denounces slavery. Wrote about Revolutionary War and how he felt things were beyond his control, he wanted to run away to live with the Native Americans until the war passed
"Song of Nature" . Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mine are the night and morning, The pits of air, the gulf of space, The sportive sun, the gibbous moon, The innumerable days. I hid in the solar glory, I am dumb in the pealing song, I rest on the pitch of the torrent, In slumber I am strong.
Mary Rowlandson
Most known for her captivity narrative (a common genre of the times) about her time under duress by the Wampanoag Indians. King's Phillips War. She was taken prisoner in 1626 for 11 weeks. She was taken from her home after one of her children was killed, she enslaved for a time, and was eventually released. A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson. dichotomy between her bitter criticism of the Native Americans and her appreciation and reverence to God. Captivity novels. Most popular novel of 17th century
"Song of the Negro Boatman Excerpt by John Greenleaf Whittier
Oh nebber you fear, if nebber you hear De driver blow his horn! We pray de Lord: he gib us signs Dat some clay we be free; De norf-wind tell it to de pines, De wild-duck to de sea; We tink it when de church-bell ring, We dream it in de dream; De rice-bird mean it when he sing, De eagle when he scream. De yam will grow, de cotton blow, We'll hab de rice an' corn
John Greenleaf Whittier
One of the Fireside Poets. In addition, he wrote poems against slavery. "Instructive" and "sermon-like". Wrote themes of nature, the individual, reform, nostalgia. Quaker, and many of his poems have a religious focus. 100 poems of his are now hymns sung in many churches. Wrote: Song of the Negro Boatman
Thomas Paine
One of the Founding Fathers. He emigrated to America when he was into his thirties. Involved in the revolutionary cause. He published a short text entitled Common Sense, 1776.Most likely the first work to directly ask for independence from Great Britain, written in plain language. Rights of Man: showed his support for the French Revolution. The Age of Reason:promoted deism and criticized organized religion and the Church as an institution
Realism (1870-1910)
Seeing life how it is and not how one single person thinks it should be. Looking at the group and not the individual. Portraying and not creating. The mundane and not the superlative. An interest in social reform not individual improvement. Disillusionment with the Civil War. Many writers were regionalists, those who wrote about a specific geographical area (Mark Twain, for example). Attention to detail. Slow plot development. There is an intrinsic sense of morality, albeit relative. Language is not poetic but rather natural, and sometimes regionalist. Characters are more important than plot
Harriet Beecher Stowe
She was a school teacher in CT, an abolitionist The most famous is Uncle Tom's Cabin.In 1853 she published A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, with real-life stories on which her fictional characters were based. She published subsequent antislavery novels: Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856) and The Minister's Wooing (1859)
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Son of one of the judges of the Salem witch trials (the only unrepentant one). Joined the transcendentalist community Brook Farm, but then became skeptical of transcendentalism. Twice Told Tales in 1837, a collection of short stories previously published in newspapers. He published other collections of short stories also. New England Puritanism, as can be seen in his most well-known novel, The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850. The House of Seven Gables (1851), The Blithedale Romance (1852), in which he criticized the life of transcendentalism like he saw in Brook Farm, and The Marble Faun (1860), a romance mix of different genres: gothic, travel guide, fable. His use of allegory (when the characters represent abstract concepts) and metaphor are important. Short stories: "Young Goodman Brown", The BirthMark", "Ethan Brand" and "The Minister's Black Veil". Dark Romanticism
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. "Daily Trials By a Sensitive Man"
Storms, thunders, waves! Howl, crash, and bellow till ye get your fill; Ye sometimes rest; men never can be still But in their graves
Romanticism
Subjective movement between two objective movements (the Enlightenment and Realism). Supremacy of the individual, feeling, thought and solitude, affinity to nature and the country (reflection and non-urbanism) and personal expression and emotion over collectivism and reason.
The House of Seven Gables
The novel is inspired by an actual house in Salem, MA that belonged to Hawthorne's cousin. Story is about a house built by Colonel Pyncheon on the same plot where Mathew Maule, an individual sentenced by Pyncheon, curses the house, which has tragic consequences the generations. Years later is when the novel transpires and how a Hepzibah Pyncheon tries to support her brother, Clifford, after he got out of prison for the murder of his uncle. He was framed by judge Jaffrey Pyncheon, who torments and threatens the siblings out of greed. He dies mysteriously also (like the colonel) and eventually the siblings inherit his estate and move out of the house. A social commentary on the haughty pretentions of people in power like the colonel and the judge, and how they veered from traditional Puritan thought for personal gain
Benjamin Franklin The Way to Wealth Sayings
There are no gains, without pains". "One today is worth two tomorrows". "Early to be, early to rise, makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise"
Walden (1854) By Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau went into the woods to live with nature. It was on property owned by Emerson. There, he wrote his most famous work, Walden. It's a series of reflections on society and the self meant to provoke thought in readers about their own existential state of affairs and choices in life. It was well received by readers and catapulted him into fame. It's a mélange of essays and reflections and is categorically hard to place as a genre. Connection with nature, autonomous spiritualism, and moves beyond that to encompass frugality, separation not only from dogma (Emerson) but also the immediate society around him in which its idea of development (urbanism, materialism) is a bifurcation from development of the self.
Transcendentalist Writers
Thoreau, Margaret Fuller and Bronson Alcott.
Snow-Bound" by John Greenleaf Whittier
Unwarmed by any sunset light The gray day darkened into night, A night made hoary with the swarm And whirl-dance of the blinding storm, As zigzag, wavering to and fro, Crossed and recrossed the wingëd snow: And ere the early bedtime came The white drift piled the window-frame
Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau
Wanting to practice what he preached, Thoreau stopped paying taxes and landed in jail one night for it. He developed non-anarchistic ideas on how to protest without compromising one's position in society, thus penning the seemingly oxymoronic term. Was inspiration for the political ideologies of Ghandi and MLK, Jr
Enlightment
Western culture in which the power of reason and objective thought influenced political, religious and institutional beliefs. General thought moved away from a strict adherence to the Bible and Puritan thought. General thought moved away from a strict adherence to the Bible, and many influential thinkers considered themselves Deists.
Samson Occom
Wrote A Short Narrative of My Life in 1768. A Mohegan Native American, he converted to Christianity and was a minister amongst various tribes.
James Fenimore Cooper
Wrote about the West and about the Navy. first work was The Spy (1821), about counterespionage during the Revolutionary War. Most famous for his books The Deerslayer (1841) and The Last of the Mohicans (1826), both of which were made movies in the 20th century. The Leatherstocking Series, a series of five historical novels about the difficulties Native Americans faced
Olaudah Equiano
Wrote:The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African. Universal narrative is the story of many Africans brought to America. He bought his freedom. Spokesperson of nearly the million slaves in America. Christian and used liturgical language to solicit interest in his cause
Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant
Yet not to thine eternal resting-place Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings, The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good, Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre.
"Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville
is narrated by a lawyer who hires Bartleby to accompany his existing workers, Nippers and Turkey. Productive at first, Bartleby eventually does nothing and responds to all requests as "I would prefer not to". Bartleby in the end dies of starvation in jail. It was revealed he worked in the dead letter office before that job. The story is about depression, isolation, and the work place
William Bradford
led the Pilgrims to Plymouth, first governor,• Helped establish the Mayflower Compact, their protectionist treatise that established the protection of individuals rights.He wrote Of Plimoth Plantation (pub. in 1856) Written in plain style, his style is purposefully accessible in common language to a large readership. It tells of the Pilgrims arrival, their hardships and survival, giving constant thanks to God
