美国历史复习资料

Early Colonial Literature(1607-1700)

1. Social background:

The first permanent English settlement in America was Captain John Smith( made at Jamestown in 1607)

2. Captain John Smith:

1) The mainstay of the Jamestown colony in the critical period of its early existence

2) a true soldier of fortune, venturesome, resolute, self-reliant, resourceful

3) a man of great good sense, and with the grasp on circumstances which belongs to the man of power.

4) a man of some literary craft, who, while leading the most strenuous life of all, efficiently protecting and heartening his less courageous comrades in all manner of perilous experiences

5) compiled and wrote with much literary skill the picturesque chronicles of the settlement.

3. Puritan:

1) Puritans was the name given in the 16th century to the more extreme Protestants within the Church of England who thought the English Reformation had not gone far enough in reforming the doctrines and structure of the church.

2) They wanted to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence.

3) The earliest European settlers of New England were English Protestants who came in search of religious liberty.

4) The puritans built a way of life that was in harmony with their somber religion, stressing hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.

4. American Puritanism :

1) Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the puritans

2) Most of these men held ideas in the mainstream of Calvinistic thought. In addition to believing in the absolute sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, and the complete dependence of human beings on divine grace for salvation, they stressed the importance of personal religious experience.

3) A desire to see education and enlightenment for the masses (especially so they could read the Bible for themselves)

During the whole colonial period Puritanism had direct impact on both religious thought and cultural patterns in America.

5. Importance of American Puritanism:

1) American Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature.

2) It has become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, rather than a set of tenets, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the Americans breathe. Without some understanding of Puritanism, there can be no real understanding of American culture and literature.

6. The New England :

1) Boston is its cultural center, New England is perhaps the best-defined region of the U.S., with more uniformity and more of a shared heritage than other regions of the country.

2) New England was considered the intellectual and cultural center of early America. Harvard, located in Massachusetts, was the first college founded in the United States.

7. Earliest American literature:

1)American Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American literature.

2) the puritan style of writing

3) the content of the earliest writings (including sermons, travel books, diaries, histories, journals, and letters.)

8. the Biblical myth:

1) It is a commonplace that American literature is based on a myth, that is, the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden.

2) American literature is in good measure a literary expression of the pious idealism of the American puritan bequest.