An Overview of American Literature1.Colonial period (early 17th—late 18th)2. Romantic period (first half of 19th)3. Realism (after 1865)4. Naturalism (last decade of the 19th )5. Modernism (the first half of the 20th)American Literature The Literature of the Colonial PeriodThe first view of AmericaBeing thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles<they had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weatherbeaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succour<savage barbarians were readier to fill their sides with arrows than otherwise. And for the reason it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country , know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms <the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wide and savage hue.--from William Bradford’s History of Plimmoth Plantation A Wealth of Natural ResourcesHe is a bad fisher who cannot kill on one day with his hooke and line, one, two, or three hundred Cods.--John Smith, A Description of New England A sup of New England’s air is better than a whole draft of old England’s ale.--Francis Higginson, New-England’s Planatation The ColoniesJamestown, Virginia 1607 New England 1620 Massachusetts Bay 1630 American Puritanism‚Puritans‛American PuritanismAmerican Puritanism stressed predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limited atonement from God’s grace.A way of life that stressed hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety.‚He was a visionary who never forget that two plus two equals four; he was a soldier of Jehovah who never came out on the losing side of a bargain< He was a practical idealist<His creed was the revealed word of God an d his life was the rule of moderation; his beliefs were handed down on high and his conduct was regulated by expediency. He was a doctrinaire and an opportunist.‛Literature of Early SettlementsA literary expression of the Puritan idealism.Types of writing: histories, travel accounts, biographies, diaries, letters, autobiographies, sermons, and poems<Usefulness and Plainness:Utilitarian, polemical, or didactic.Style: fresh, simple, direct and with a touch of nobility.The first published book of poems by an Americanwas also the first American book to be published by a woman—Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)Her ability to capture the colonial experience in poetry established her place as one of America’s most notable early writers.*Background/early life/education*Born and educated in England*Admired and imitated several English poets*At 18, she went to America in 1630.*Father and husband served as governors.*The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America (1650)Stylistic characteristics:Bradstreet’s p oems usually employ iambic pentameter with key variations in rhythm and syntax for special rhetorical effect or emphasis.Her poems are also filled with imagery, followed with sustained parallels. Metaphysical conceits could also be found in her poems.Her poems are also filled with self-effacing "apology" (art claiming artlessness), which gradually becomes more authoritative poetic persona(questioning God)(persona: A voice or character representing the speaker in a literary work)Language and imagery are often direct, and relatively simple.The Author To Her BookThou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,Who after birth did'st by my side remain,Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true,Who thee abroad exposed to public view,Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).At thy return my blushing was not small,My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.I cast thee by as one unfit for light,The visage was so irksome in my sight,Yet being mine own, at length affection wouldThy blemishes amend, if so I could.I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet.In better dress to trim thee was my mind,But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find.In this array, 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam.In critic's hands, beware thou dost not come,And take thy way where yet thou art not known.If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none;And for thy mother, she alas is poor,Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.*This casual poem is one of Anne Bradstreet’s most delightful and genuine. It recounts with humor her feelings at seeing her poems (The Tenth Muse) in print in 1650 without her authorization or correction, and her subsequent efforts to improve them. It appears that she intended this to stand last among her poems when she revised them about 1666 for a proposed second edition.American Literary and Cultural IndependenceThe American Cleavage from the Parent CulturesNo other country whose origin lies in Europe has had so sharp an awareness of its cleavage from, and superiority to, the parent cultures. Running through American history, and therefore through American literature, is a double consciousness of Old World modes and the New World possibilities. Yesterday has been dismissed and pined for: tomorrow has been invoked and dreaded. (palefaces for Europeanized concept of literature vs redskins for notion of native literature; stateroom vs steerage styles)The beginning of a mythTheodore Roosevelt said that whether those who came were called settlers or immigrants, they travelled steerage—the hard way. To transfer oneself and one’s family across the ocean was a step not lightly taken. It was something of an act of faith, the beginning of a myth. In the mythology, Europe was associated with the past<hunger, poverty, oppression. America, by contrast, was the future: plenty, prosperity, freedom.*It’s a complex fate, being an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe.Henry James(1872) *America must be as independent in Literature as she is in politics, as famous for the arts as for arms.Noah WebsterLiterary and Cultural IndependenceLiterature the Americans have none – no native literature, we mean. It is all imported. They had a Franklin, indeed; and may afford to live for half a century on his fame. <- and some pieces of pleasantry by Mr Irving. But why should the Americans write books, when a six weeks’ passage brings them in our own tongue, our sense, science and genius, in bales and hogsheads?-- Sydney Smith in Edinburgh Review, Dec. 1818We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe.---Emerson ‚American Scholar‛ as America’s Intellectual Declaration ofIndependenceIndependence lay over the HorizonCan we never be thought /To have learning or grace/Unless it be brought/ From that damnable place?– Philip Freneau We have at length arrived at that epoch when our literature may and must stand on its own merits or fall through its own defects. We have snapped asunder the leading-strings of our British Grandmamma.– Edgar Allan Poe (1830) *It would take 50 years of accumulated history for America to earn its cultural independence and to produce the first great generation of American writers:*Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson.Literature of the 18th Century The Literature of Reason and Revolution Literature of the 18th CenturyJonathan Edwards (1703-1758) and Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) shared the 18th century between them.Both Inheritors of the Puritan tradition but different directions.Jonathan Edwards: the Great Awakening(a period of new religious fervor in North America from 1735-1750).Franklin: the spirit of the Enlightenment in America.Jonathan EdwardsCalvinism ‚Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God‛Described the agonies of hell and urged people to repent their sins.One of the hallmarks of American oratory.Benjamin FranklinAmerican EnlightenmentRationality instead of traditionScientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogmaRepresentative government instead of monarchyBenjamin Franklin embodied the Enlightenment ideal of humane rationality.< with the advent of Enlightenment, the Puritans began to lose their grip.Benjamin Franklin—Pragmatic IndividualismBF(1706-1790)was the one who really opens the story of American literature, though far more a Jack-of-all-trades than a man of letters.(the father of his country)In many ways it is Franklin who best represents the spirit of the Enlightenment in America: self-educated, social, assured, a man of the world, ambitious and public-spirited, speculative about the nature of the universe, but in manners of religion content to observe the actual conduct of men rather than to debate supernatural matters which are unprovable.Benjamin Franklin works:Poor Richard’s Almanac (Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. / God helps those that help themselves. / Lost time is never found again. / Beware of little expenses, a small leak will sink a great ship. / When the well’s dry, they know the worth of water. / Make hay while the sun shines./ The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise. / He that would be beforehand in the World, must be beforehand with his Business.)Richard Saunders, a cracker barrel philosophermaximsThe Way to Wealth (1774)Essence of his teaching: thrift, carefulness, independence.The Autobiography (13 virtues – temperance / silence / order / resolution / frugality / industry / sincerity /justice / moderation / cleanliness /tranquility /chastity / humility.)An account of a poor boy’s rise to w ealth and fame and the fulfillment of the American Dream.*Franklin embodied the transition from Puritan piety, idealism and provincialism to the more secular, utilitarian, and cosmopolitan values of the American Enlightenment.StyleClear and plain in his timeFormal, but organization of his material informalSimplicity, clarity, good sensePhilip Freneau (1752-1832)The father of American poetryPoet of the American RevolutionAn outstanding representative of dawning nationalism in American literature.The beginning of American Romanticism.A transitional poet: Neoclassical and Romantic: ‚And Reason’s self shall bow the knee / To shadows and delusions here.‛LifeThe first American-born poet.Elite circles.Contributed patriotic poetry in support of American Revolution.‚The British Prison Ship‛‚To the Memory of the Brave Americans‛Died poor and unknown.“The Wild Honey Suckle”(忍冬, 杜鹃花) 野金银花Fair flower, that does so comely grow, 美丽的金银花，Hid in this silent, dull retreat, 你粲然绽放于幽静一角。