i.The Colonial Period
1.关键词: America Puritanism
2.Calvinism特点: total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement,
Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints
3.Anne Bradstreet( P17 ): a Puritan poet be known as “The Muse”
4.Thomas Paine: one of continual, unswerving fight for the rights of man.
works: “Common Sense” “American Crisis” “The Rights of Man” “The Age of
Reason”理性时代
5.Phillip Freneau(P22): 美国文学史上的重要人物
dawning nationalism 代表人物
Poems: The Wild Honeysuckle野生的金银花
first modern American & the last medieval man
6.Jonathan Edwards( Calvinism )
a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening
works: “The Freedom of the Will”《自由意志论》“The Great Doctrine of
Original Sin Defended”《伟哉原罪论辩》“The Nature of True Virtue”
“American Dream” “Self-made”
7.Benjamin Franklin(puritanism)
“Poor Richard’s Almance” “autobiography”新文学形式
“18th century enlightenment”
ii.Romanticism
1.Washington Irving（1783-1859）
①titles: “the father of American literature”
“the American Goldsmith”
②works: The Sketch Book (marked the beginning of American
Romanticism and the beginning of short stories as a genre in American
literature)
Rip Van Winkle (P47—P48)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
2.James Fenimore Cooper（1789-1851）
①One of the first writer to write American Westward movement
②“The Leatherstocking Tales” (novel)
first is “The Pioneers”
---Plot:
---theme conflict between Natty Bumppo and Judge Temple-
---character:
Natty Bumppo---innocent, simple, honest and generous, for freedom,
against civilization, wilderness is good
Judge Temple---just, reasonable, for civilization and law
③Writing style:
intriguing plot
majestic landscape descriptions
rich imagination
wooden characterization
not authentic dialect
iii.New England Transcendentalism---the culmination of American Romanticism Beginning of the Transcendentalism---1836, Nature, Emerson (1830s –the Civil War)
Features：a:emphasizing on spirit or the Over-soul；b:stressing the importance of the individual；c:offering a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God.
1.Ralph Waldo Emerson：The founder of the Transcendentalist club and the
editor for a time of the journal the Dial
Works:
Nature ---“the Manifesto of American Transcendentalism” “the Bible of
New England”:
The Poet (from Nature)
The American Scholar --- “Intellectual Declaration of Independence”
2.Henry David Thoreau
Masterpiece: Walden (Failure first, success in the 20th century)
Content---a faithful record of his reflection in communicating with nature
3.Nathaniel Hawthorne
“The Scarlet Letter”
Plot(P74)
Theme:
---(general theme) evil and sin exist in human heart and will be punished
one day
moral, emotional and psychological effect of the sin on the people in general
---(specific theme) a hymn on the moral growth of the woman Hester when
sinned against
symbolism象征主义: “A”—Adultery—able—angel
“pearl”—treasure
4.Herman Melville
works: Moby Dick (1851)---little response, famous until the 20th century
Content:
---(general content) an encyclopedia of everything
---(specific content) a tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming
power in an indifferent even hostile world
5.Edgar Allan Poe
Theme: The death of beauty
Sense of loss
Works:
Poem--- “The Raven” “To Helen” “Annabel Lee”
Writing style:
Musical
Repetition of words
Paralleled structure
Melancholy atmosphere(tone)
