American Literature

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American Literature
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Anne Bradstreet
Colonial
The Iroquois Constitution
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Colonial
1600s-1700s
Explorers, colonists, and Puritans wrote of their
experiences and philosophy/theology.
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Colonial
1600s-1700s
Although not acknowledged by the European
settlers, the Native Americans also recorded
their experiences in poem, story and song.
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Neoclassical
Phillis Wheatley
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
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Neoclassical
LATE 1700s
Literature of this time period reflects a change
in the social structure from one which was
largely influenced by Protestant theology to one
which is centered on a respect for the common man
and a move toward democracy.
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Herman Melville
Henry David Thoreau
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Romanticism
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Edgar Allan Poe
Emily Dickinson
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Romanticism
Mid 1800s
These writers infused their writing with fancy,
imagination, emotion, nature, individuality and
exotica (The American Experience).
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Romanticism
Mid 1800s
Transcendentalism and Anti-Transcendentalism are
hallmarks of this era as many of these writers
explored mans relationship to nature and his
desire to reach a higher consciousness outside
traditional theology.
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Realism
Mark Twain
Kate Chopin
Walt Whitman
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Realism
1850s-1900s
Influenced by the events preceding and following
the Civil War, literature from this period is
less philosophical in nature than the Romantic
period and more cynical and questioning.
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Realism
1850s-1900s
This period reflects a concern for the everyday
experiences of the common man.
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Naturalism
Willa Cather
Jack London
Carl Sandburg
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Naturalism
LATE 1800s
Writers in this literary period tended to see
humans as the hapless victims of immutable
natural laws (The American Experience). They were
also influenced by the Industrial Revolution.
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F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ernest Hemingway
Modernism
John Steinbeck
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Modernism
1900 - 1950
The reader and the readers response to a text is
the focus of this time period. Writers began to
experiment with form and structure in order to
evoke a particular response from readers.
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Contemporary
Lorraine Hansberry
Karen Hesse
Homer Hickam
Kaye Gibbons
Bernard Malamud
Arthur Miller
Walter Dean Myers
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Contemporary
1950 - PRESENT
Literature of this period reflects the social
activism and social change characteristic of the
times.
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Contemporary
1950 - PRESENT
In the latter half of this period, the influence
of the digital age is reflected in new and
emerging forms of writing and literacy.
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American Literature
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Still Under Construction
Works Cited
Red Lit Book Literary Periods Bar Chart
Photo Credits
source web addresses
Music Credits
The American Collection Masterpiece Theater
Theme Yo Yo Ma, John Williams