Colonial period 17th
c
It was a literature f exploration. The English people made
colonies in South America: New
England, middle and southern England.
New England
People were puritans and they think that if you work hard you
will get the heaven so the most
writing were religious.
- William Bradford of Plymouth plantation (non religious story).
- Jonathan Edwards: sinners in the hand of an angry god (it was a
sermon). - Michel Wigglesworth: the day of Doom (a poem of the end
of the world). Middle England
People were tolerant.
We do not find important literature as the New England, because
they were more interested in
the economic aspect. And it was written by English people
considered as American people.
Southern England
William Byrd: history of the dividing lines.
People were protestant and do not pay attention to religion.
The purpose of the writers of that time was not about religion
as in New England but was for
agriculture of its fertile: farmers work in the land and the
aristocrat own it. So writing was
secular, they wrote about the social life focusing in the real
life of aristocrats = literature was
written.
National period
Southern and middle England people were not interesting on
writing, so it was difficult to
move from it because people like the writing of whom they
know.
Writers:
- Benjamin Franklin: autobiography; he wrote about his success
because he was famous. - Thomas Paine: common sense; pamplet (a
genre) for political purpose, he was just urgent
people to separate from Britain and describing Britain as a
country taken profit from the
new world and asking people to a revolution.
Romantic period 1820-1860 also known as American renaissance
Romanticism influenced the romantic period by the religion,
philosophy, politics and science.
Transcendentalism is a philosophic movement that mean going
beyond limits (every where
there is knowledge):
1. Nature is source of knowledge. 2. All souls belong to the god
soul. (People are equal). 3. inner light: light will guide you to
knowledge by feeling
Religion:
In the new world man is seen as good or evil but in the romantic
period he is seen as both.
Politics:
How philosophy influenced politics: by the transcendentalism
movement; as all souls are
equal, men are equal.
Philosophy:
To find knowledge we follow our feeling and intuition not the
logic and the reason.
Science:
People did not reject science as knowledge has no limit but they
rejected the extreme science
because it destroys feeling.
Mon site: chanou.e-monsite.com
