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Timeline AE Literature

This document provides a timeline of major periods in American literature from Native American literature to contemporary times. Each period includes the historical context, common genres and styles, and major writers of that era. The timeline moves from oral traditions of Native Americans to the religious writings of Puritans, the political works of the Enlightenment, the rise of Romanticism, and later periods including Realism, Modernism, and Contemporary literature post-World War II.

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59 views1 page

Timeline AE Literature

This document provides a timeline of major periods in American literature from Native American literature to contemporary times. Each period includes the historical context, common genres and styles, and major writers of that era. The timeline moves from oral traditions of Native Americans to the religious writings of Puritans, the political works of the Enlightenment, the rise of Romanticism, and later periods including Realism, Modernism, and Contemporary literature post-World War II.

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avid2chat
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TIMELINE of American Literature

Native American Literature Characteristics of Indian Literature: Communicated orally Myths, legends, chants Focus on nature Creation stories Ritualistic (healing, initiation, planting /harvesting, purification, hunting) Examples: How the World Was Made (Cheyenne) The Coming of Corn (Mikasuki) Night Chant Age of Faith (1607-1750) + Age of Reason ( 1750-1800) = Enlightenment (1607-1800) Romanticism (1800-1855) I. Historical Context: Puritans and Pilgrims Separated from Anglican church of England Religion dominates lives and writings Work ethic: belief in hard work and simple living II. Genre/Style: Sermons, diaries, personal narratives, slave narratives Instructive Plain style III. Major writers: Bradstreet, Taylor, Edwards, Smith I. Historical context: American Revolution Growth of patriotism Development of American character/democracy Use of reason as opposed to faith alone II. Genre/Style: Political pamphlets, essays, travel writing, speeches, documents Instructive Highly ornate writing style III. Major writers: Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Paine I. Historical context: Expansion of book publishing, magazines, newspapers Industrial revolution Abolitionist movement II. Genre/Style: Short stories, novels, poetry Imagination over reason Intuition over facts Focus on the fantastic of human experience Focus on inner feelings Gothic literature III. Major writers: Irving, Hawthorne, Poe, Melville

Transcendentalism (1840-1855) Genre/Style: Stresses individualism, intuition, nature, self-reliance Major writers: Ralph Waldo Emerson (Nature, Self-Reliance) Henry David Thoreau (Walden, Civil Disobedience) Whitman, Dickinson, Longfellow, Bryant, Holmes, Lowell, Dunbar, Robinson

Realism (1865-1915) I. Historical context: Civil War brings demand for truer type of literature that doesnt idealize people or places People in society defined by class; materialism, ideas of Darwin and Marx II. Genre/Style: Realism, naturalism, novels, short stories, aims to change social problem, themes: survival, fate, violence, nature as an indifferent force III. Major writers: Beecher Stowe, Douglas, Twain, Crane, London

Modernism (1915-1945) I. Historical context: Overwhelming technological changes World War I: first war of mass destruction Grief over loss of past; fear of eroding traditions Rise of youth culture II. Genre/Style: Dominant mood: alienation/disconnection, writing experimental: use of stream of consciousness, interior dialogue, unique styles III. Major writers: Steinbeck, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner

Contemporary (1945-present) I. Historical context: Media-saturated culture Post WWII prosperity Beginning of new century and millennium Social protest II. Genre/Style: reality blurred, mix of fantasy and non-fiction, no heroes/ anti-heroes, individual in isolation, detached, unemotional, humorless Emergence of ethnic and women writers III. Major writers: Kerouac, Ginsberg, Salinger, Ellison, Angelou,

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