美国文学史复习整理

A m e r i c a n l i t e r a t u r e H i s t o r y 1607---1775 Colonial Period

1775---1865 the Early National Period

1828---1865 Romantic Period in American

1865---1914 Realistic Period

1914---1939 Modern Literature

1939--- Contemporary Period

Chapter 1 Colonial America(1607---1775)

The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. It endured starvation, brutality, and misrule. However, the literature of the period paints America in glowing colors as the land of riches and opportunity. Among the members of the small band of Jamestown settlers was Captain John Smith, an English soldier of fortune. His reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been described as the first distinct American literature written in English.

Mayflower, 1620 ,brought the Pilgrims from England to New England. Christopher Jones Plymouth

Before landing, an agreement for the temporary government of the colony by the will of the majority was drawn up in the famous Mayflower Compact.

Harvard, the first college in the colonies, was founded near Boston in 1636 in order to train new Puritan ministers. The first printing press in America was started there in 1638, and America’s first newspaper , The Boston Newsletter, appeared in 1704.

They did not draw lines of distinction between the secular and religious spheres: All of life was an expression of the divine will----a belief that later resurfaces in Transcendentalism.

Captain John Smith

William Bradford

John Winthrop

Cotton Mather

Anne Bradstreet

Edward Taylor

American Puritanism

•T hey stressed predestination, original sin, total depravity, and l imited atonement from God’s grace.

•T hey went to America to prove that they were God’s chosen people

who would enjoy God’s blessings on earth and in Heaven.

•F inally, they built a way of life that stressed hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.

•B oth doctrinaire and an opportunist.

Literary Influence:

•A merican Literature is based on a myth ------ the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden.

•T he American Puritan’s metaphorical made of perception ---- symbolism.

Chapter 2 Edwards·Franklin·Crevecoeur

•J onathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin shared the 18th century between them.

•T hey embodied Puritan naïve idealism and crude materialism.

•D eism

•T hey were not interested in theology but in mans own nature.

Jonathan Edward(1703-1758)

Edwards embodied the spirit of revivalism (Great Awakening)

He has 2 goals:

a.to evoke the original sense of religious commitment.

b. b. speak about the difference between head thinking and heart feeling

Major works:

The Freedom of the Will (1754)

The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended (1758)

The Nature of True Virtue (1765)