American Literary History:

Native American Period:

20,000 BC-Present

Characteristics: The literature is as diverse as the cultures that created it, but there are often

common elements such as stories explaining creation or natural forces.

The narratives, myths, legends, songs and narratives were passed down in an oral tradition.

Exploration Period:

1492-1607

Characteristics: The literature is composed of European writings that describe the explorers'

travels and impressions of the continent and its Native people.

The literature of this period comes to us in the form of letters and journals written by explorers

as well as Native American tribal leaders

Colonial Period:

1607-1765

Characteristics: The Colonial period was dominated by Puritan beliefs and thus literature of

this period is usually historical, religious, or didactic. The first slave narratives were written at this

time. Imaginative literature was rare; in some colonies, it was banned for being immoral.

The literature of this period comes to us in the forms of tracts, polemics, journals, narratives,

sermons, and some poetry

Revolutionary Period:

1765-1790

Characteristics: The Revolutionary period usually refers to writings that are politically

motivated, either in support of British rule, in support of American patriotism and

independence, or relating to the Constitution.

The writing at this time is dominated by political documents, speeches, and letters

1750-1800 is also known as the Period of Enlightenment because there is a lack of

emphasis and dependence on the Bible and more use of common sense (logic)

and science. There was not a divorce from the Bible but an adding to or expanding

of the truths found there.

American Literary History:

Romantic Period (American Renaissance):

1828-1865

Characteristics: This period was the first major explosion of a distinctly American body of

literature. Many of American literature's most well-known writers emerged during this time.

Romanticism was a literary and artistic movement of the nineteenth century that arose in

reaction against eighteenth-century Neoclassicism and placed a premium on fancy,

imagination, emotion, nature, individuality, and exotica.

Age of Transcendentalism:

1836-1860

Characteristics: Transcendentalism was an American literary and philosophical movement of

the nineteenth century. The Transcendentalists, who were based in New England, believed

that intuition and the individual conscience “transcend” experience and thus are better

guides to truth than are the senses and logical reason. Influenced by Romanticism, the

Transcendentalists respected the individual spirit and the natural world, believing that divinity

was present everywhere, in nature and in each person.

Anti-Transcendentalists & Fireside Poets

The anti-Transcendentalist (Hawthorne and Melville) rebelled against the philosophy

that man is basically good. A third group, the Fireside Poets, wrote about more

practical aspects of life such as dying and patriotism.

Realism:

1865-1900

Characteristics: The post-Civil War period was an era of increased industrialization and

urbanization as the nation attempted to recover emotionally, culturally, and politically from

the aftermath of the war. Though there were still elements of romanticism, this period was

considered realistic in its emphasis on unidealized and truthful depictions.

Naturalism:

1900-1914

Characteristics: The literature is composed of European writings that describe the explorers'

travels and impressions of the continent and its Native people.

American Literary History:

Modern Period:

1914-1939

Characteristics: A period in British and American literature spanning the years between WWI

and WWII. Works in this period reflect the changing social, political, and cultural climate and

are diverse, experimental, and nontraditional. An age of disillusionment and confusion—just

look at what was happening in history in the US during these dates—this period brought us

perhaps our best writers. The authors during this period raised all the great questions of

life…but offered no answers.

Imagism: 1912-1927

Imagism was a

literary movement

that flourished

between 1912 and

1927. Led by Ezra

Pound and Amy

Lowell, the Imagist

poets rejected

nineteenth-century

poetic forms and

language. Instead,

they wrote short

poems that used

ordinary language

and free verse to

create sharp, exact,

concentrated

pictures.

Harlem Renaissance:

1920s-1930s

The Harlem

Renaissance was

the first major

burgeoning of

visual, literary, and

performing arts by

African Americans

concerned with

African-American

life, art, culture, and

politics. The

influence of the

Harlem Renaissance

remained strong for

the remainder of

the 20th century.

Lost Generation:

1920s

After WWI, a group

of American writers

grew increasingly

disillusioned by, and

resistant to, what

they saw as

hypocrisy in

dominant American

ideology and

culture. Many of

these writers left

America in search

of a more artistic life

in London or Paris.

Beat Writers: 1950s

Beat Writers' writing was generally anti-traditional, anti-establishment, and anti-

intellectual. Prominent writers: Poetry: Allen Ginsberg's Howl, Lawrence Ferlinghetti;

Prose: Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot; Novels: William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac.