Terms in american literature

1. Calvinism

Calvinism is the doctrine of John Calvin, the great French theologian who then lived in

Geneva. It is a doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement

(or salvation of a selected few) through a special infusion of grace from God.

2. American Puritanism

American Puritanism refers to the beliefs and practices of those Puritans who came out of

different reasons to the New Continent and settled in what is now the United States. American

Puritans accepted as their theological foundation the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination,

original sin, total depravity, and salvation of a selected few through a special infusion of grace

from God. Being a group of seriously religious people, they had a strong sense of mission and

very idealistic, for they thought they were the people God chose and sent to the New World to

purify the beliefs and practices of the Church of England, from which they had separated

themselves, and built in America a new church. On the other hand, they were very practical, for

the struggle of survival in the New World had taught them to work hard for profits and material

success, which they believed was a sign of God's benevolence. Puritans in America were living a

very disciplined and simple style of life, devoid of earthly joy and extravagancy, so they are often

criticized. But as a philosophy of life and a culture heritage, American Puritanism has produced an

everlasting influence on the American life, and especially the American mind.

3. Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism refers to a kind of attitude that believes in the recognition in man of the

capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the

senses. In another word, transcendentalists believe that man learns things not only through

reasoning based on his five senses, or by his own sensual experiences, and that he also learns truth

spontaneously, out of his soul or instincts. In a literal sense, it means the belief that knowledge and

principles of reality can be obtained by studying thought, not necessarily by practical experiences.

In this sense the term is almost synonymous with the word mysticism. It was first applied to the

German philosophical systems of Hegel, Kant, and Fichte. Later the word came to be used more

loosely to apply to a movement that began in New England around 1830, the spokesman of which

was Ralph Waldo Emerson.

4. Free verse

Free verse refers to a kind of poetry whose rhythmical lines vary in length, adhering to no

fixed metrical pattern or the usually rhyming system. Such poetry may seem formless, but it does

have a form or pattern, often largely based on repetition and parallel structure. Walt Whitman’s

poems are typical examples.

5. Realism

American literary realism refers to a literary movement that sprang up in the latter half of the

19th century in the United States. It is considered as a reaction against the romantic idea about the

reality and human nature, and an answer to the gloomy picture of American life after the Civil War.

American literary realism aims at the interpretation of the actualities of any aspect of life, free

from subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color. Realistic writers are more concerned with the moral and social effects of their writings than the transcendental and symbolic implications of

their art. Instead of thinking about the mysteries of life and death and heroic individualism, their

focus of attention is now directed to the interesting features of everyday existence, to what is

brutal or sordid, and to the open portrayal of class struggle. The three dominant figures of the

period are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James. Howells, as the spokesman of

the Age of Realism in American Literature and the "Dean" of American letters, advocates in his

critical essays the general principles of American literary realism, saying that literary creation

should be "true to the motives, the impulses, and the principles that shape the life of actual men

and women". Henry James addresses the issue of international and cross-cultural confrontations

by way of probing into the psychological and moral nature of his characters. Mark Twain, by

contrast, prefers to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories; hence his works

are fresh and American.

6. The local color

The local color refers to a group of writers in the late 19th century whose writings carry with

them the quality of texture, that is, the elements that characterize a local culture, elements such as