Early American Literature 1607 - 1848

1. Early American Literature1607 - 1848 Characteristics

2. Puritan beliefs displayed • Example: poetry by Edward Taylor or Anne Bradstreet • writer examines relationship with God; • OR writer’s ideas reflect Puritan values, like love being more important than wealth; • OR work is a sermon or religious tract explaining a belief

3. Typical early genres • sermon, religious poem, religious tract, diaries or journals • Example: Taylor’s or Bradstreet’s religious poems; Mather’s sermons; Bradford’s history. • By end of 1700s, short fiction also became popular (add this to the options on your worksheet)

4. Settings firmly grounded in the new world • Story is located in America. • Place names and other details make this clear.

5. Focus on issues unique to the new world • Revolutionary War & creation of new government • Encounters with Native Americans • Forming new social norms – people don’t have to behave just like they did in Europe • Surviving in a wilder environment • etc.

6. Concerns about Native Americans • Settlers’ relationship with Native Americans • How should Native Americans be treated? • What are Native Americans like?

7. Concerns about slavery • Is it acceptable? • What are its consequences?

8. Developing new social codes and/or a national identity • How should people behave, e.g. • romantic relationships • marriage • status • treatment of Native Americans/slaves • What should the government be like?

9. Fictional plots are simple; stories are more like sketches • Sketch • prose that describes a scene or character; • not much plot, no conflict, no resolution

10. Use of realistic dialects • Characters sound like regular people, not aristocrats • How do we identify “realistic”? • Shortened words show natural pronunciation • charg’d, won’t, havin’, whipt • Look for flavoring particles • today you use “like” and “ya know” – what might be the equivalent in the stories you read? • Phonetic spelling of accented English • de = the; ting = thing