The “Isms” of American Literature

Puritanism

Key Dates: 1620 – 1720

Founded by the Puritans who immigrated to American from England to escape religious persecution.

Puritan Subject Matter

• Preoccupied with sin and salvation.

• Emphasis on Religion• “Didactic” or

teaching through lecturing.

Puritan Beliefs

• People born from Original Sin.

• Hard Work and Discipline lead to salvation.

• Emphasis on conforming to God’s will and the will of the group.

Puritan Key Texts

1. “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” – Jonathan Edwards

2. “Huswifery” – Edward Taylor

3. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Rationalism(1720 – 1820)

• The period leading up to the Revolutionary War and the founding of the United States of America.

Rationalism Subject Matter

• Nature of Government

-Monarchy vs. Democratic

• Politics and Public Discussion

• Based upon Science

Rationalist Beliefs

• Support Personal Freedoms

• “Deism”

-Religion based upon reason vs. Didactic lecturing.

• Universe Explored through Discovery

Realist Key Texts

1. “Declaration of Independence” – Thomas Jefferson

2. “Speech in the Virginia Convention”- Patrick Henry

3. Various Modern Speeches

Romanticism (1820 – 1865)

• Influenced by the European Enlightenment.

• Valued individual rights, beauty in nature, and philosophy.

Romantic Subject Matter

• Quest for Beauty• Interest in the Strange

and Abnormal• Social and Political

Injustice

Romantic Beliefs

• Creativity• Symbolism• Love of Nature and

Rural Life

Romantic Key Texts

1. ““Thanatopsis” – William Cullen Bryant

2. “The First Snowfall” – James Russell

3. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Transcendentalism(1820 – 1865)

Influenced by Romanticism, but explores further connection between God and nature.

Transcendental Subject Matter

• Appreciation of Nature

• Emphasis on Mysteries of the Universe

• Nature is where humans find God.

Transcendental Beliefs

• Self Reliance: Depend on yourself for making good choices.

• God found through the individual

• Anti-Materialism: Build things yourself

Transcendental Texts

• “Nature” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

• “Self-Reliance” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

• “Walden” – Henry David Thoreau

Realism(1860 – 1900)

• The period leading up to, during, and after the Civil War where America debated about the ethics of the Institution of Slavery.

Realism Subject Matter

• The Abolition of Slavery

• Human Rights vs. Rights of Ownership

• Regionalism: emphasis on dialect on customs of the South.

Realist Beliefs

• Destiny controlled by Environment

• Debate:

-North: slavery was a cruel/inhuman institution.

-South: a necessity for their economy.

Realist Key Texts

• “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” – Olaudah Equiano

• “Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl” – Harriet Jacobs

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain

Modernism(1900 – 1945)

• The period between the turn-of-the century to the beginning of WWII.

• America’s change from a rural/Agrarian Society to a urban/cosmopolitan society.

Modernist Subject Matter

• Bold Experimentation• Disillusionment:

frustration with the society and the world.

• Rejection of traditional styles and beliefs

Modernist Beliefs

• American Dream belief that anyone can be successful.

• Individual over society by attacking the social order.

• Class warfare: low-class/rural life vs. high class/city life.

Modernist Key Texts

• “Chicago” – Carl Sandburg

• 4 poems by Langston Hughes

• The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald