Colonial Era
Explain the term Eurocentrism and name at least one example
Eurocentrism is the tendency to view the world from a European or Western perspective, often assuming it is superior. Example: "Discovery"
What important document declared the colonies’ independence and when?
The Declaration of Independence in 1776
What were the major developments regarding technology/ transportation?
1840s: expansion of railroads to the west
first steamboats on Hudson river
constructing canals (Erie Canal) & economical forms of distribution
→ increasing urbanization, increasing industrialisation
What is Regionalism about?
Focuses on customs, manners, and local color of specific U.S. regions
What are typical modernist features?
innovation, abstraction, fragmentation, disjunction, disruption & break from tradition
(free verse, unreliable narrators...)
Name 3 common literary genres during the Colonial Era.
Autobiography
Sermons – to instruct and guide religious life
(Travel)Diaries and journals – personal reflections and records of daily life.
Poetry – often spiritual or reflective
Letters
What does “tabula rasa” mean?
The idea that the human mind is a blank slate shaped by experience (John Locke).
What is the significance of Young Goodman Brown’s encounters in the forest?
Reveals that evil exists in everyone, even respected Puritans
Shows the contrast between outward piety and inner sin
Challenges Goodman Brown’s faith and moral certainty, reflecting on human nature and Puritan society
Explain the term verisimilitude
the truth of appearance/semblance to reality, the quality of seeming true
What is the Harlem Renaissance?
A cultural, artistic, and literary movement in which African Americans created and celebrated a distinct Black identity
emerged due to the Great Migration out of the South
What are typical features of Puritan writing?
What intellectual movement strongly influenced the American Revolution? And what was it about?
The Enlightenment movement emphasized reason, science, individual rights, and skepticism toward authority.
What were main ideas of the Transcendentalist movement?
Humans born pure, corrupted by society
Emphasis on individualism and self-reliance
Nature has spiritual and moral power
Why was the Gilded Age considered “gilded”?
Wealth and progress covered underlying social problems.
Economic growth benefited few, while many lived in poverty (dire working conditions...)
Political corruption and exploitation were widespread.
What are the core principles of Imagism?
Conciseness: short, clear language; no unnecessary words.
focus on images instead of explanations
Free form: no need for rhyme or fixed meter.
How are Native Americans portrayed in Rowlandson’s narrative?
As “savages” or “hell-hounds,” reflecting a Eurocentric perspective (ignoring the historical reasons for their resistance).
Acts of kindness (e.g., giving her a Bible..) are not seen as Native mercy but as God’s providence
How does Thomas Paine portray Britain in Common Sense?
As an abusive mother/unnatural parent who exploits and harms her colonies.
How does Dickinson’s poem reflect Civil War imagery?
"Autumn" in quotation marks & the name of IT is.. (it must be sth. different than Autumn)
words that allude to the semantic field of redness
“a vein along the road” → refers to “Bloody Line”: 700m stretch with +5000 soldiers lying dead
What is the hypocrisy of Armand neglecting his mixed-race baby in Désirée’s Baby?
ignoring that white men commonly had children with slaves (Armand had a quadroon-boy himself)
& it turns out that Armand himself has Black ancestry (not Desiree)
How is segregation portrayed in "I, Too"?
the kitchen marks exclusion and segregation
the table signals inclusion and equalit
allusion to Whitman's poem “I hear America singing”
How do Puritan beliefs shape the interpretation of suffering in Bradstreet and Rowlandson?
Both see suffering as part of God’s divine plan and as a spiritual test meant to strengthen faith.
How does the mindset change from the Colonial to the Revolutionary Era?
The focus shifts from religious obedience and predestination to reason, individual rights, self-governance, and national identity.
Discuss how Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and Thoreau’s Walden differ in their treatment of isolation.
Thoreau: voluntary, positive, self-reflective isolation
Poe: forced, negative, leads to madness and decay
Nature / setting mirrors psychological states
Why is Editha a typical example of Realist literature?
Everyday life & ordinary people
Authentic dialogue & language
blurring nonfiction & fiction (fictional characters)
Learning process
Critiques social conventions and exposes the gap between appearance (romanticized war) and reality (George’s death).
What concepts of “kingdoms” is conveyed in "The Hollow Men"?
2 kingdoms: “our kingdom” (this world) & “the other kingdom” (the other world: paradise, heaven, death)
The hollow men exist in a state of in-betweenness, unable to enter the spiritual kingdom but also unable to act meaningfully in the worldly one.