Early America (through 1800)
A cultural form of literature and storytelling that Native American tribes had traditionally used.
What is oral literature?
One of the most influential and impactful writers in American history, he often parlayed his idealistic and individualistic views in his writings, and inspired numerous other famous American authors like David Thoreau, or Robert Frost with them.
Who was Ralph Waldo Emerson?
Songs or poetry written and sang often by anonymous African slaves in America. They were an amalgam of Christian hymns and more traditional African rhythms, usually with one person leading some verses and then being answered by the rest. They occasionally served as a sort of coded communication as well between slaves, usually for conveying escape plans.
What are 'spirituals' or 'sorrow songs'?
Who said this? "My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine. Everybody drinks water."
Mark Twain.
The wars themselves had a great effect, but things like the rising prominence of psychology, prevalence of modernism, popular poetry moving toward imagism, and perhaps most especially paper rations had a large effect on writing at the time, with very few new authors rising out of the ashes.
What were some influences on this era of literature?
Often found in Native American mythology and literature, this archetype is often a personified animal and always a acts like a clever trouble maker.
What is the trickster archetype?
An idea common in this period, similar to idealism, this asserts that reality is not shown through the sensory experiences but rather 'known' through intuition and ideas of those objects or experiences.
What is transcendentalism?
Who wrote this passage? "Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."
Frederick Douglass.
Who was Samuel Clemens?
Mostly relates to several expatriate authors living in Paris around the 1920s-30s. Authors like Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound can be attributed to this period. The writing of this group mostly consisted of their experiences during and after the war, with the massive changes they noticed not only in society as a whole but especially in the younger generations.
What was 'The Lost Generation'.
A man who helped forge the Iroquois Confederacy from 5 Native American tribes. He was Huron born and quickly built himself up with tribal leaders in Northern New York, eventually writing a constitution that unified the tribes of the region. He disappeared shortly after accomplishing this.
Who was Dekanawida?
Optimism, individualism, coexistence with nature, and the mysterious powers of darkness all served as the foundation for this period.
What were the main ideas of American Romanticism?
One of the loudest and proudest voices of abolition, he was a servant to a family that taught him some reading, until the father of the family put a stop to it. He continued his education in secret though, becoming quite well-versed in English and reading. Once escaped, Douglass spoke eloquently and passionately about his experiences as a slave to several antislavery conventions. From there he gained further renown, touring around to more conventions and even writing his own autobiography, now one of the most important chronicles of life under slavery. He was a staunch supporter of abolition and women's rights, and even was appointed advisor to Lincoln during the Civil War.
Who was Frederick Douglass?
Opposed to the typically romantic poetry at the time, this realism and irony-riddled collection of epitaphs served as somewhat of a shock when it was first released, but quickly came to be regarded as great poetry, though it was the author's only success in this regard.
What was the Spoon River Anthology?
A writer who took great interest early on in languages, especially in the construction of them. He fought in WWI, serving as a commander for a time of British forces, fighting in the Somme before being sent home for trench-foot. While working at Pembroke College, he wrote some of his most famous novels, focusing more on constructing a fantasy world around languages rather than the opposite. His translation of Beowulf around this time had a large impact on his writings and the world they were set in. He would fully release his most famous series in 1948, with it quickly becoming a fan favorite and one of the best-selling book series on Earth. He's one of my favorite fiction authors.
Who was J.R.R. Tolkien?
Plymouth settlers had met a man named Samoset who spoke some English, they negotiated a meeting with his tribe's leader and an interpreter more versed in English. Once the tribe's chief communed with the settlers, they negotiated a peaceful co-existent relationship, and the chief let the translator remain with them. He taught them things like how to sow corn, where to fish, and get other commodities, as well as piloted them around. He remained with the colony until his death.
Who was Squanto and how did he help Plymouth survive?
A very influential novel on feminism and female equality in general, started by one of the most enlightened and philosophical female writers of the 19th century, Margaret Fuller. She shared many views with R.W. Emerson and was a good friend of his.
What was 'Woman in the Nineteenth Century'?
A very quick-witted and observant lady, she was a daughter to a plantation owner in the South who also was a senator/governor. Though she vehemently opposed slavery, her family owned many, and she would frequently write about her life in this position, especially during the Civil War. Her chronicles are some of the best available from such a perspective, with her lamenting the cruelty of war, and reflecting what people of the time genuinely believed and said, showing the war from a different perspective than most have seen.
Who was Mary Chesnut?
A very controversial feminist figure at the time, and one of the earliest females to show through literature the discontent of many women confined to traditional roles and activities. In her time period, basically anything else but being a good wife, making babies, and raising those babies was bad for a woman. She, through her writings like The Awakening served to be one of the loudest voices to raise sentiment towards this, though it raised even more negativity due to it's extreme radicality for the time, covering a woman who leaves her family and children behind to find her identity. Chopin's works were mostly ignored until the women's movement really gained traction in 20th century America.
Who was Kate Chopin?
Who was one of the most influential poets of the 20th century. He would often use an odd syntax and lower case characters for emphasis in his poetry.
E.E. Cummings.
A revolutionary cry of a pamphlet released in 1776 that depicted England as 'a mother devouring her young' and called for complete independence from them. It was followed up by a series of 16 pamphlets in similar style and focus.
What was Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense'?
Known widely as one of the best American poets, a founder of the detective story, and even an early contributor to science fiction, this man struggled through harsh times during his literary time on this Earth, marrying his cousin and dying delirious on the street after her death. He struggled with poverty in his life constantly, though became unparalleled following his death in the darkness of his writings, the plethora of symbolism in them, and the popularity of them.
Who was Edgar Allen Poe?
A man named Walt Whitman was one of the first English poets to write similarly to how one would cadence their speech, with very open form and free verse. Whitman believed in gathering experiences and showing them in his poetry, holding countless jobs, and traveling around the country to talk to all sorts of unique characters and write of even the most typically mundane observation that to him celebrated the unique and varied faces and places of his nation. During the Civil War he worked as a nurse and would write some of his most famous works. He is my favorite poet of all time.
"The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem." - Walt Whitman
Who marked the start of the poetic revolution?
Starting early as a lover of the sea and expert sailer, this man had a hard start early on, being raised by a step-sister and family friend instead of his parents. Following his time sailing and writing about it, he rode the rails for awhile until the pain of the average person he saw in his travels made him vow to educate himself well and use that to survive. He completed high school in a single year! However he left college to go join a gold rush, but came up bust and returned home to write for a job. The man set himself the rigorous task of writing at least 1000 words a day in order to help support his family and friends, and became the country's first millionaire author, though he would quickly spend this money. For a time he was the highest-paid author around, writing rather famous novels like The Call of the Wild. Shamefully, he died at only 40 years old, three years after the house he built burned down before he could move in.
Who was Jack London?
Quite possibly the most influential writer (in my opinion) of the 19th-20th centuries. He wrote in a very understated method usually, with what he called 'Iceberg Theory', focusing on minimalism and surface facets rather than the 'deeper meaning', choosing to show meaning through implicity in the stories. He worked in the Italian front in WWI as an ambulance driver, as well as covered things like the Spanish Civil War, and even attended the Normandy landings in WWII, all of which had a huge impact on much of his writing.
Who was Ernest Hemingway?