Puritans
What are two Puritan themes evident in early American Literature?
Americans role as an idealistic leader, and the Christian attitude toward the world- we are in it not of it
What is the time span for the period known as American Romanticism?
1820-1865
What did the romantics believe was of primary importance in literary creation?
Imagination
Know who/what the transcendental true God is
The Over-soul that connects us all
Who wrote "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and why
Jonathan Edwards; to show the serious situation we are in without Christ
What contributions from the Puritan view of life still remain in our society today?
Work ethic, goal-centeredness, and subservience of pleasure to duty
What was the school of thought followed by the major romantic writers?
Universality in themes and forms
What did they believe replaced reason in the creative process?
Intuition
Who are the two optimists we studied?
Emerson and Thoreau
Basic Facts about Emerson:
What does Emerson have to say about why the world exists
Basic Facts about Thoreau:
Why was Thoreau placed in jail? What work was inspired by this experience?
philosophical leader, literary spokesman for transcendentalism, rejected the unitarian ministry, lectured about transcendentalists
The world exists for each of us personally
Naturalist, philosopher, and artist, hated government regulation, "conscience is above the law," helped in the underground railroad
He refused to pay his taxes which inspired "Civil Disobedience"
Why did the Puritans emphasize nature in their poetry?
They want to emphasis God the creator
What did the romantics believe was the way to improve man?
To remove negative influences from their lives
What are the basic ideas central to Unitarianism?
Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, Salvation of character, and leadership of Jesus
We studied two Transcendental pessimists- who were they
Hawthorne, Poe
Know who/what the literary circle called the Knickerbockers was
Who is Knickerbocker?
A large group of writers in New York founded by Irving and included James Cooper and William Bryant
He is the name that Washington Irving wrote under.
What Puritan stereotype is dispelled in Anne Bradstreet's "To My Dear and Loving Husband"?
Puritans were thought to have no feelings but she was trying to show that they did have emotions in relationships.
What did the romantics see as the only way to understand God?
By nature
What are the setting and theme of "Rip Van Winkle"?
The setting of "Rip Van Winkle" is in an old English colony/ village for the first half of the story but after Rips sleep it becomes America but it's the same village. the theme is changes in America
What are the five traits of Transcendentalism?
a. Man is inherently good
b. Man is guided to truth by his intuition
c. Man receives knowledge through nature by the oversoul
d. Man and nature contain a spark of the divine
e. everything comes from the oversoul
What were the three major literary groups of the period?
Knickerbockers, transcendentalist, new England school
summarize the differences between the Romantics and the Puritans' views of nature. Think of some examples of how these views were evidenced in the writings we read.
a. Puritans believed they could find God through nature
b. Romantics believed it was a means of knowing truth and literal subject matter
What are the four cornerstones of American Romanticism?
Nature, the Distant, Individualism, Imagination
Be able to write a characterization of Rip Van Winkle. Think about whether he is a flat or round character; static or dynamic. What are his good and bad characteristics?
Rip Van Winkle is a round static character. He changes physically but his main character trait that the reader knows does not change when he awakes from the sleep. He dissliked his wife before and after. He was very lazy with his actual resonsibilities but he was very willing to help other people who needed help.
Why did the Civil War signal the death of transcendentalism
ideals shifted to the civil rights movement
Washington Irving first emphasized what as a purpose for writing?
Irving is credited with creating what form of narrative writing?
Entertainment
Short story