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Puritanism
• 1600-1800• Narratives that looked inward
and expressed the connections between God and their everyday lives– Private letters, diaries, essays,
histories, sermons
Puritanism
• Sought to “purify” the Church of England by reforming to the simpler forms of worship and church organization described in the New Testament
• Saw religion as a personal, inner experience
• Believed in original sin and “elect” who would be saved
• Used a plain style of writing
Puritanism
• Historical Events of Importance– First “American” colonies
established– Salem Witch Trials
Age of Reason / Persuasion
• 1750-1800• Rise of political/public writing• Mostly comprised of
philosophers and scientists–Documents, almanacs, pamphlets,
speeches
• Valued reason over faith• Assumed people were good, not
evil
Age of Reason / Persuasion
• Focus on persuasive writing– Intended to convince citizens to join
revolutionary causes
• Most writing was political– Responses to the strained
relationship with Great Britain and trying to break free to form a new government
Age of Reason / Persuasion
• Historical Events of Importance– The Revolutionary War– The Constitution– The Bill of Rights– The Declaration of Independence
Romanticism
• 1800-1860• SHIFTS– From faith in reason to faith in the
senses, feelings, and imagination– From interest in urban society to an
interest in the rural and natural– From public, impersonal poetry to
subjective poetry– From concern with the scientific and
mundane to interest in the mysterious and finite
Romanticism
• Valued feeling, intuition, idealism, the individual, and the imagination
• Dark Romantics: Interested in the Medieval past, the supernatural, the mystical, the “gothic,” and the exotic
Transcendentalism
• 1840-1860• Developed as a protest against
the general state of spirituality and, in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University
• Core beliefs:– Inherent goodness of people– Inherent goodness of nature
Transcendentalism
• The soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world and contains what the world contains
• Transcendentalists believe that society and its institutions (organized religion, political parties) ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual.
Transcendentalism
• People are at their best when they are truly self-reliant and independent– Self-reliance and individualism must
outweigh external authority and blind conformity to tradition
• Had their own Club!– The Transcendental Club
• Published their own journal– “The Dial”
Transcendentalism
• Historical Events of Importance– The Abolitionist Movement– The Utopian Movement– The Women’s Suffrage Movement
Realism/Naturalism
• 1850-1900• Feelings of disillusionment• Common subjects:– Slums of rapidly growing cities– Factories replacing farmlands– Poor factory workers– Corrupt politicians
Realism/Naturalism
• Represented the manner and environment of everyday life and ordinary people as realistically as possible– Regionalism
• Sought to explain behavior– Psychologically– Socially
Modernism
• 1900-1950
• Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the “American Dream”
• The independent, self reliant individual will triumph
Modernism
• Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form over the traditional
• Interest in the inner workings of the human mind– Ex: Stream of Consciousness
Harlem Renaissance
• 1920-1940
• AKA: “The Jazz Age” and “The Roaring 20s”
• Black Cultural Movement in Harlem, New York
Harlem Renaissance
• Some poetry rhythms based on spirituals and jazz
• Lyrics from the blues• Diction from the street talk of
the ghettos• Other poetry used conventional
lyrics
Contemporary
• 1950-present• AKA: Post-modernism• Influenced by studies of media,
language, and information technology
• Sense that little is unique; culture endlessly duplicates and copies itself
Contemporary
• New literary forms and techniques:–Works composed of only dialogue– Combining fiction and non-fiction– Authors experimenting with the
physical appearance of their work
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