AMERICAN

I.

PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD

Settlement about 28,000 years ago (from Southern Asia via South Sea islands)
Another wave of migration about 14,000 years ago (via the Bering Straight)
1492: -- 18 mio. people in North America; 5 mio. of them in what is now the United States
-- 300 cultural groups in North America, 200 languages spoken
-- no cultural/linguistic homogeneity, shifting alliances and enmities

Central Aspects of Native American Thought and Cultural Practice

1. The power of words
2. The significance of dreams
3. Personality (of all elements of creation)
4. Dualism
5. Father Sky and Mother Earth
6. The four world quarters
7. Syncretic religion
8. Hierarchy (spirit world - humans - animals - plants - physical geography - natural elements)
9. Goal of harmony
10. Anonymity (literary text is the cultural property of the whole tribe)

Characteristics
oral literature: song-poems, tales, legends, tales, ritual drama; spoken texts accompanied by dance
or performance;
texts passed on from one generation to the next for purposes of historiography, education, celebration

Cultural Context
literature as a communal text (audience response; no individual authorship);
assumption of harmony and correspondence in the universe

Historical Context
much linguistic and cultural diversity;
rivalries and wars between different tribes

Authors and Works

songs, poems and tales recorded in the 19th and 20th century and translated into English (available in
numerous anthologies)

II.

COLONIAL PERIOD/PURITAN/ENLIGHTENMENT
THE AGE OF FAITH 1607-1750

Historical Context
1) Puritans and Pilgrims: - separated from the Anglican church of England
- religion dominated their lives and writings
2) Work ethic - belief in hard work and simple, no-frills living

1)
2)
3)

Genre/Style
sermons, diaries, personal narratives, slave narratives
instructive
plain style
THE AGE OF REASON 1750-1800

1)
2)
3)

Historical context
American Revolution; growth of patriotism
Development of American character/democracy
Use of reason as opposed to faith alone

Genre/Style
1) political pamphlets, essays, travel writing, speeches, documents
2) instructive in values; highly ornate writing style

Characteristics
religious and historical writing; sermons; journals and accounts of life in the New World (e.g.
"captivity narratives");
political writing, especially in the 1770s;
autobiography (starting with Benjamin Franklin);
first American novels in the late 18th century

Cultural Context
17th century: Puritanism in New England; colonial inferiority complex toward England; contrast:
popular culture and lack of literacy in the Southern colonies;
18th century: birth of the "American Dream" ("from rags to riches"); search for a national identity;
decline of Puritanism

Historical Context
1607: founding of Jamestown, Virginia;
1620: Mayflower Plymouth Plantation, Massachusetts;
1630: Massachusetts Bay Colony
1730s: "Great Awakening" (religious revival movement)
1776: Declaration of Independence

 Authors and Works

John Winthrop (sermon A Model of Christian Charity)
Ann Bradstreet (poetry)
Phillis Wheatley (first African-American poet)
Benjamin Franklin (autobiography, essays)
Royall Tyler, The Contrast (1790, first American play)
Charles Brockden Brown (early novel)

III.

ROMANTICISM/THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE

TRANSCENDENTALISM 1840-1855
Transcendentalism: stressed individualism, intuition, nature, self-reliance
1) Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
a. his writings helped establish the philosophy of individualism, an idea deeply
embedded in American culture
b. "Nature"

c. "Self-Reliance"
2) Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
a. resisted materialism; chose simplicity, individualism
b. Walden
1. lived on Walden Pond for 2+ years
2. a guidebook for life, showing how to live wisely in a world designed to
make wise living impossible
c. "Civil Disobedience": a primer for nonviolent protest
d.
New Poetic Forms:
1) Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
a. rejected conventional themes, forms, subjects
b. used long lines to capture the rhythm of natural speech, free verse, everyday
vocabulary
c. "Song of Myself"
d. "I Hear America Singing"
e. "O Captain My Captain"
2) Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
a. her poetry broke with convention: didn't look right; didn't rhyme; too bold; too radical
b. concrete imagery, forceful language, unique style
c. wrote 1775 poems, published only 7 in her life
d. "Because I could not stop for Death--"
e. My life closed twice before its close
f. The Soul selects her own Society
g.

Characteristics
influence of English romanticism, but search for truly American topics and settings;
celebration of American landscapes and values; short story and novel are most important;
essay established as an American genre

Cultural Context
struggle for cultural independence from Europe;
desire to define a national identity of the U.S. and to establish a national culture;
Transcendentalism: romantic philosophy and mode of writing that values intuition as a guide to
what lies underneath the surfaces

Historical Context
massive immigration & diversification;
westward expansion / Frontier;
slavery, abolitionist movement;
1861-65: Civil War

Authors and Works

William Cullen Bryant (romantic poetry);
Washington Irving (short stories);
James Fenimore Cooper, Leatherstocking novels;

 Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau (Transcendentalism);

Edgar Allan Poe (poetry, short stories);
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter;
Herman Melville, Moby Dick;
Walt Whitman (free verse, democratic, national poet);
Emily Dickinson (unconventional poetry)

IV.

Realism and Naturalism

Realism

Naturalism

1) a reaction against romanticism; told

1) like Realism but a darker view of

it like it was
2) focus on lives of ordinary people;

the world
2) the universe is unpredictable; fate

rejected heroic and adventurous

3) anti-materialism; rejected the new

is determined by chance; free will

"class" system
4) view of nature as a powerful and

is an illusion
3) characters' lives shaped by forces
they can't understand or control

indifferent force beyond man's

gggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

control

ggggggg

5)

Characteristics
Am. lit. dominated by the novel;

realism: represent average Americans truthfully (W.D. Howells)

starting in the 1870s: local color writing (e.g. Mark Twain);
psychological explorations in fiction: Henry James's use of "free indirect style"

(erlebte Rede)

pessimism towards the end of the century

 Cultural Context
realism: present the lives of ordinary Americans truthfully
end of the century: in the wake of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution naturalism:

pessimistic, dark realism that depicts life as a struggle;

on stage: melodrama

Historical Context
South: devastation after the Civil War,
struggle with Southern heritage and race division; North: growing industrialization

and urbanization;
mass immigration;
westward expansion (completed in the 1890s);
discussion of the position of African Americans

Authors and Works

Samuel Clemens [Mark Twain], Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

William Dean Howells (realist fiction);
Henry James (fiction; psychological realism);
Kate Chopin (woman-centered fiction);
Stephen Crane (naturalist fiction);
Theodore Dreiser (naturalist fiction);
Booker T. Washington (African American)

W.E.B. DuBois (African American)

V.

Modernism

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)

The Harlem Renaissance (1915-1929)

A black cultural movement that emerged in Harlem during the 20's; literature, music and art
flourished
Langston Hughes: most successful black writer in America; wrote poetry, drama, novels,
songs, movie scripts, etc.
Countee Cullen: the "black Keats" for his youth, skill as a poet, use of traditional forms
Zora Neale Hurston: rediscovered by the women's movement in the 70's
Jean Toomer: "Cane" regarded as one of the most influential works of the era
Claude McKay: poetry evokes the heritage of his native Jamaica

Characteristics
Away from fixed concepts, statements, figures or perceptions;
pessimism and uncertainty;
no longer a belief in absolute truths;
importance of perspective and limits of knowledge;
processual quality of everything rather than stasis and stability;
stream-of-consciousness;
questioning of tradition.

Cultural Context
After World War I: pessimism, sense of alienation and vulnerability;
Modern physics (Albert Einstein: theory of relativity; Werner Heisenberg etc.:

quantum physics): absolute positions become questionable

Following Sigmund Freud: explorations of the unconscious, of drives and

motivations; complexity of the human mind and of thought processes;

emphasis on perspective and on fragmentation;
Growing importance of film; cubism in art;
1920s: Harlem Renaissance; expatriates in Paris and London

Historical Context
1914-1919: World War I; anti-immigrant sentiment;

 1929: Depression;
1930s:
widespread poverty;
rise of socialist and communist movements (Red Thirties);
social reform programs in the New Deal;
uncertainty of the inter-war period

Authors and Works

John Dos Passos (fiction; importance of perspective);

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby;
William Faulkner (Southern fiction);
Ernest Hemingway (international fiction);
Langston Hughes (poet of the Harlem Renaissance);
Zora Neale Hurston (Harlem Renaissance fiction);
Eugene O'Neill (psychological drama);
Modernist poetry: T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, e.e. cummings

VI.

Contemporary Literature

Characteristics
Diversity of styles: realism, surrealism, postmodernism, parody, etc.
"Beat Poetry" and "Confessional Poetry;"
Postmodernism: self-reflexivity; the world is treated as a text, total lack of

certainty/fixedness; everything is constructed; widening concept of what can be considered

"literature"; rise of popular culture;
literary self-assertion of women and (ethnic) minorities;
literature as social and political critique.

Cultural Context
Shock of World War II;
1950s: Conservatism and McCarthyism;
constant change and fast progression;
instability of identity and culture;
globalization;
post-colonialism;
growing skepticism;
uses of virtual reality.

Historical Context
Cold War;
Civil Rights Movement;
Vietnam War; Watergate;
conservative presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush;
"Information Age," "Information Overload;"
advent of the internet;
"War on Terrorism" after September 11, 2001.

Authors and Works

Lorraine Hansberry (African-American drama);

August Wilson (African-American drama);
mainstream drama: Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, A. Miller;
gay theater: Tony Kushner;
postmodernism: John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, Donald Barthelme;
Beat Literature: Allen Ginsberg (poetry), Jack Kerouac (fiction);
Jewish American Fiction: Philip Roth,

 suburban fiction: John Updike;

Fiction by ethnic minority writers: Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, Maxine Hong Kingston,
Sandra Cisneros;
African-American poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks;
Confessional Poetry: Robert Lowell

 BRITISH

I.

THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

THE OLD ENGLISH/ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 428-1066

During the Old English Period, written literature began to develop from oral
tradition, and in the eighth century poetry written in the vernacular Anglo-Saxon (also
known as Old English) appeared. One of the most well-known eighth century Old
English pieces of literature is Beowulf, a great Germanic epic poem. Two poets of the
Old English Period who wrote on biblical and religious themes were Caedmon and
Cynewulf.

Themes/Influences:

1. strong belief in fate

2. juxtaposition of church and pagan

worlds

3. admiration of heroic warriors who

prevail in battle

4. express religious faith and give moral

instruction through literature

Effect Literature Had on Culture:

1. Christianity helps literacy to spread

2. introduces Roman alphabet to Britain

3. oral tradition helps unite diverse

peoples and their myths

Style/Genre/Literary Elements:

1. oral tradition of literature

2. poetry dominant genre

3. unique verse form

4. caesura

5. alliteration

6. repetition

7. four-beat rhythm

Literature & Authors:

Beowulf

The Venerable Bede

Exeter

Historical Context:

1. life centered around ancestral tribes or clans that ruled themselves

2. at first the people were warriors from invading outlying areas: Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Danes


3. later they were agricultural

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD 1066-1450

The Middle English Period consists of the literature produced in the four and a half centuries
between the Norman Conquest of 1066 and about 1500, when the standard literary language,
derived from the dialect of the London area, became recognizable as "modern English."
Prior to the second half of the fourteenth century, vernacular literature consisted primarily of
religious writings. The second half of the fourteenth century produced the first great age of secular
literature. The most widely known of these writings are Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales,
the anonymous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur.

Themes/Content/Influences:

Style/genre:

1. plays that instruct the illiterate masses

in morals and religion

1. oral tradition continues

2. chivalric code of honor/romances

2. folk ballads

3. religious devotion

3. mystery and miracle plays

Literature & Authors:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,

4. morality plays

5. tock epithets

Pearl

Domesday Book

LMorte de Arthur

Geoffrey Chaucer

6. kennings

7. frame stories

8. moral tales

Effect Literature Had on the Culture:

1. church instructs its people through the morality and miracle plays

2. an illiterate population is able to hear and see the literature

Historical Context:

1. Crusades bring the development of a money economy for the first time in Britain trading
increases dramatically as a result of the Crusades
2. William the Conqueror crowned king in 1066
3. Henry III crowned king in 1154 brings a judicial system, royal courts, juries, and chivalry to
Britain

II.

THE REANAISSANCE AND REFORMATION PERIOD

EARLY TUDOR PERIOD 1485-1558

ELIZABETHAN PERIOD 1558-1603

The Elizabethan Age of English Literature coincides with the reign of Elizabeth I, 1558 - 1603.
During this time, medieval tradition was blended with Renaissance optimism. Lyric poetry, prose,
and drama were the major styles of literature that flowered during the Elizabethan Age. Some
important writers of the Elizabethan Age include William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe,
Edmund Spenser, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Ben Jonson.

JACOBEAN PERIOD 1603-1625

The Jacobean Age of English Literature coincides with the reign of James I, 1603 - 1625. During
this time the literature became sophisticated, sombre, and conscious of social abuse and rivalry. The
Jacobean Age produced rich prose and drama as well as the King James translation of the Bible.
Shakespeare and Jonson wrote during the Jacobean Age, as well as John Donne, Francis Bacon, and
Thomas Middleton.

CAROLINE AGE 1625-1648

The Caroline Age of English Literature coincides with the reign of Charles I, 1625 - 1649. The
writers of this age wrote with refinement and elegance. This era produced a circle of poets known as
the "Cavalier Poets" and the dramatists of this age were the last to write in the Elizabethan tradition.

COMMONWEALTH PERIOD 1649-1660

The Commonwealth Period, also known as the Puritan Interregnum, of English Literature includes
the literature produced during the time of Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell. This period produced the
political writings of John Milton, Thomas Hobbes' political treatise Leviathan, and the prose of
Andrew Marvell. In September of 1642, the Puritans closed theatres on moral and religious grounds.
For the next eighteen years the theatres remained closed, accounting for the lack of drama produced
during this time period.

Themes/ Content/Influences:


1. world view shifts from religion and after life to one stressing the human life on earth

2. popular theme: development of human potential

3. popular theme: many aspects of love explored

4. unrequited love

5. constant love

6. timeless love

7. courtly love

8. love subject to change

Style/Genres:

1. poetry

2. the sonnet

3. metaphysical poetry

4. elaborate and unexpected metaphors called conceits

5. drama

6. written in verse

7. supported by royalty

8. tragedies, comedies, histories

Effects Literature Had on the Culture:

1. commoners welcomed at some play productions (like ones at the Globe) while conservatives try
to close the theaters on grounds that they promote brazen behaviors

2. not all middle-class embrace the metaphysical poets and their abstract conceits

Historical Context:

1. War of Roses ends in 1485 and political stability arrives

2. Printing press helps stabilize English as a language and allows more people to read a variety of
literature

3. Economy changes from farm-based to one of international trade

Literature & Authors:

William Shakespeare
Thomas Wyatt
Ben Jonson
Cavalier Poets
Metaphysical Poets
John Donne

Christopher Marlowe
Andrew Marvell
Robert Herrick
Katherine Phillips

III.

ENLIGHTMENT (NEOCLASSICAL) PERIOD

The Neoclassical Period of English literature (1660 - 1785) was much influenced by

contemporary French literature, which was in the midst of its greatest age. The literature of this time is
known for its use of philosophy, reason, skepticism, wit, and refinement. The Neoclassical Period also
marks the first great age of English literary criticism.

RESTORATION PERIOD 1660-1700

The Restoration, 1660 - 1700, is marked by the restoration of the monarchy and the triumph

of reason and tolerance over religious and political passion. The Restoration produced an abundance of
prose and poetry and the distinctive comedy of manners known as Restoration comedy. It was during the
Restoration that John Milton published Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.

Other major writers of the era include John Dryden, John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester, and John

Locke

THE AUGUSTAN AGE 1700-1750

The English Augustan Age derives its name from the brilliant literary period of Vergil and
Ovid under the Roman emperor Augustus (27 B.C. - A.D. 14). In English literature, the Augustan Age,
1700 - 1745, refers to literature with the predominant characteristics of refinement, clarity, elegance, and
balance of judgment. Well-known writers of the Augustan Age include Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope,
and Daniel Defoe. A significant contribution of this time period included the release of the first English
novels by Defoe, and the "novel of character," Pamela, by Samuel Richardson in 1740.

THE AGE OF SENSIBILITY 1750-190

During the Age of Sensibility, literature reflected the worldview of Enlightenment and began

to emphasize instinct and feeling, rather than judgment and restraint. A growing sympathy for the Middle
Ages during the Age of Sensibility sparked an interest in medieval ballads and folk literature. Another
name for this period is the Age of Johnson because the dominant authors of this period were Samuel

Johnson and his literary and intellectual circle. This period also produced some of the greatest early novels
of the English language, including Richardson's Clarissa (1748) and Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749).

Themes/Content/Influences:

1. emphasis on reason and logic

2. stresses harmony, stability, wisdom

3. Locke: a social contract exists between the government and the people. The government governs
guaranteeing natural rights of life, liberty, and property

Style/Genres:

1. satire

2. poetry

3. essays

4. letters, diaries, biographies

5. novels

Effects:

1. emphasis on the individual

2. belief that humanity is basically evil

3. approach to life: the world as it should be

Historical Context:

1. 50% of males are functionally literate (a dramatic rise)

2. Fenced enclosures of land cause demise of traditional village life

3. Factories begin to spring up as industrial revolution begins

4. Impoverished masses begin to grow as farming life declines and factories build

5. Coffee houseswhere educated men spend evenings with literary and political associates

Literature & Authors:

Alexander Pope
Daniel Defoe
Jonathan Swift
Samuel Johnson
John Bunyan

John Milton

IV.

ROMANTIC PERIOD

The Romantic Period of English literature began in the late 18th century and lasted until
approximately 1832. In general, Romantic literature can be characterized by its personal nature, its
strong use of feeling, its abundant use of symbolism, and its exploration of nature and the
supernatural. In addition, the writings of the Romantics were considered innovative based on their
belief that literature should be spontaneous, imaginative, personal, and free.

Content/Themes/Influences:

1. human knowledge consists of impressions and ideas formed in the individuals mind

2. introduction of Gothic elements and terror/horror stories and novels

3. in nature one can find comfort and peace that the man-made urbanized towns and factory
environments cannot offer

Style/Genres:

1. poetry

2. lyrical ballads

Effects Literature Had on the Culture:

1. evil attributed to society not to human nature

2. human beings are basically good

3. movement of protest: a desire for personal freedom

4. children seen as hapless victims of poverty and exploitation

Historical Context:

1. Napoleon rises to power in France and opposes England militarily and economically

2. gas lamps developed

3. Tory philosophy that government should NOT interfere with private enterprise

4. middle class gains representation in the British parliament

5. railroads begin to run


Key Literature/Authors:

1. Novelists : Jane Austen and Mary Shelley

2. Poets

Robert Burns
William Blake
William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

V.

Lord Byron

Percy Shelley

J.Keats

VICTORIAN PERIOD AND THE 19TH CENTURY

Because the Victorian Period of English literature spans over six decades, the year 1870 is often
used to divide the era into "early Victorian" and "late Victorian." In general, Victorian literature
deals with the issues and problems of the day. Some contemporary issues that the Victorians dealt
with include the social, economic, religious, and intellectual issues and problems surrounding the
Industrial Revolution, growing class tensions, the early feminist movement, pressures toward
political and social reform, and the impact of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution on philosophy
and religion.

THE PRE-RAPHAELITES 1848-1860

It was the aim of this group to return painting to a style of truthfulness, simplicity, and religious
devotion that had reigned prior to Raphael and the high Italian Renaissance. Rossetti and his literary
circle, which included his sister Christina, incorporated these ideals into their literature, and the
result was that of the literary Pre-Raphaelites.

AESTHETICISM AND DECADENCE 1880-1901

The authors of this movement encouraged experimentation and held the view that art is totally
opposed "natural" norms of morality. This style of literature opposed the dominance of scientific
thinking and defied the hostility of society to any art that was not useful or did not teach moral
values. It was from the movement of Aestheticism and Decadence that the phrase art for art's sake
emerged.

Themes/Content/Influences:

1. conflict between those in power and the common masses of laborers and the poor shocking life
of sweatshops and urban poor is highlighted in literature to insist on reform

2. country versus city life

3. sexual discretion (or lack of it)


4. strained coincidences

5. romantic triangles

6. heroines in physical danger

7. aristocratic villains

8. misdirected letters

9. bigamous marriages

Genres/Styles:

1. novel becomes popular for first time; mass produced for the first time

2. bildungsroman

3. political novels

4. detective novels (Sherlock Holmes)

5. serialized novels (Charles Dickens)

6. elegies

7. poetry: easier to understand

8. dramatic monologues

9. drama: comedies of manners

10. magazines offer stories to the masses

Effects on the Culture:

1. literature begins to reach the masses

Historical Context:

1. paper becomes cheap; magazines and novels cheap to mass produce

2. unprecedented growth of industry and business in Britain unparalleled dominance of nations,

economies and trade abroad

Key Literature/Authors:

Charles Dickens
Thomas Hardy
Rudyard Kipling
Robert Louis Stevenson
George Eliot

Oscar Wilde
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Charles Darwin
Charlotte Bronte
Robert Browning

VI.

EDWARDIAN PERIOD

The Edwardian Period is named for King Edward VII and spans the time from Queen Victoria's
death (1901) to the beginning of World War I (1914). During this time, the British Empire was at its
height and the wealthy lived lives of materialistic luxury. However, four fifths of the English
population lived in squalor. The writings of the Edwardian Period reflect and comment on these
social conditions. For example, writers such as George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells attacked
social injustice and the selfishness of the upper classes. Other writers of the time include William
Butler Yeats, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, and E.M. Forster.

VII. MODERN PERIOD

The Modern Period applies to British literature written since the beginning of World War I in 1914.
The authors of the Modern Period have experimented with subject matter, form, and style and have
produced achievements in all literary genres

Content(still evolving):

1. Dystopia/utopia

2. Freedom/protests/anti-government
sentiment

3. Racial tensions

4. Technology

5. Politicsdemocracies/global
challenges

6. Interconnectedness

7.

Genres/Styles:

1. poetry: free verse

2. epiphanies begin to appear in literature

3. speeches

4. memoirs

5. novels

6. stream of consciousness

Historical Context:

1. British Empire loses 1 million soldiers to World War I

2. Winston Churchill leads Britain through WW II, and the Germans bomb England directly
3. British colonies demand independence

Key Literature and Authors:

James Joyce
Virginia Woolf

 T. S. Eliot
Joseph Conrad

D.H. Lawrence
Graham Greene
Dylan Thomas
George Orwell

VIII.

POSTMODERN PERIOD

Following World War II (1939-1945), the Postmodern Period of British Literature developed.
Postmodernism blends literary genres and styles and attempts to break free of modernist forms.
While the British literary scene at the turn of the new millennium is crowded and varied, the authors
still fall into the categories of modernism and postmodernism. However, with the passage of time
the Modern era may be reorganized and expanded.