American literature1

1 The Literature of Colonial America

Historical Background

Colonial Settlements

In 1607, the first permanent settlement was established at Jamestown, Virginia.

In 1620, the pilgrims, mostly humble countryfolks, stepped on the New England shore and

established Plymouth Colony. They were Separatists (name applied to those who split from the

Established Church of England in the 17th century, organizing independent congregations. They

had much in common with the Puritan party within the state church, but went beyond them in

desiring not merely purification in ceremonial but also complete independence. Frequently they

had no stated ministry, emphasizing only the bare letter of the Scripture, believing in voluntary

church membership, and a relatively democratic organization within the local church.)

In 1630, the Puritans came to colonize the Massachusetts Bay. These people had a great deal

of wealth and owned land in England. They wanted to reform the Church of England.

Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the

main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.

Pilgrims: name applied to the persons who came to Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620,

or by extension to all the early settlers of Plymouth Colony.

Literature of Early Settlements

The first American literature was neither American nor really literature. It was not American

because it was the work mainly of immigrants from England. It was not literature as we know

it—in the form of poetry, essay, or fiction—but rather and interesting mixture of travel accounts

and religious writings. It is mainly a literary expression of Puritan idealism. It is based on the

Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. The pious and self-disciplined Puritans worked with courage

and hope toward building a new Garden of Eden in America. They looked even the worst of life in

the face of with a tremendous amount of optimism. The puritan optimism has exerted enormous

impact on American literature.

The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds: (1) practical

matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people “at home” what

life was like in the new world, and often to induce their immigration; (2) highly theoretical

generally polemical, discussion of religious questions, which were later supplemented by political

debates about the colonies’ relations with the mother country. American literature grew out of

humble origins. Diaries, histories, journals, letters, commonplace books, travel books, sermons, in

short, personal literature in its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early

colonial period.

Types of writing: histories, travel accounts, biographies, diaries, letters, autobiographies, sermons,

and poems.

Reasons why there was not much written in English in America before the Revolutionary War

(1776-1781).

a. Great Britain discouraged printing in her colonies at that time.

b. Early colonists were too busy to read or write. 2 c. There were few schools in the colonies and most people could not read or write.

d. The puritans felt that religious books were the only books that one should read.

Characteristics of Colonial Literature

a. All of the works are utilitarian, polemical or didactic.

b. The purpose of literature for puritans was first of all usefulness. It should teach some kind of

lesson.

c. In content, the works served either God or colonial expression or both.

d. The style was determined by a practical consideration of the sort of impression each writer

wanted to make upon a selected group of readers. Thus they stressed plainness in writing

because they were interested in influencing the simple-minded people.

e. The writings are fresh, simple, direct and with a touch of nobility. As it faithfully imitated and

transplanted European forms to the new experience, early American literature was as much a

product of continuities as an indigenous creation.

American Puritanism

Puritanism is the practice and belief of the puritans. The new England settlements grew out of

religious controversy, out of an urge for religious freedom and determination, out of fleeing from

religious and political oppression and persecution, out of human thirst for greater economic

opportunity, for land, and for adventure. (New England: region including the present states of

Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, was named by

Captain John Smith in his map of 1616.)

The puritans are a group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious and moral