Timeline of American Literature (Lecture Notes)

Vocabulary flashcards covering major movements, authors, and concepts from the notes.

Native American Literature

Literature rooted in Indigenous oral traditions and myth; authority from land, earth, and gods.

Myth

A traditional story that expresses a culture’s beliefs and explains natural or social phenomena.

Puritanism Literature

Literature shaped by Puritan religion; authority from God/Scripture; aims to preach biblical doctrine and promote personal piety.

Jonathan Edwards

Puritan preacher and theologian known for Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Puritan sermon by Edwards emphasizing divine wrath and the need for repentance.

Anne Bradstreet

Early American Puritan poet, author of Upon the Burning of Our House.

Romanticism

American literary movement (c. 1800–1865) valuing imagination, feeling, and nature over intellect.

New England School

Romantic-era group in New England, later associated with Transcendentalist thought.

Transcendental Optimists

Romantic subgroup emphasizing intuition, nature, and innate goodness.

Transcendental Pessimists

Romantic subgroup (e.g., Nathaniel Hawthorne) focusing on human flaws and darker themes.

Edgar Allan Poe

Romantic writer known for Gothic tales and psychological horror.

The Fall of the House of Usher

Gothic short story by Poe illustrating decay, madness, and atmosphere.

Realism Literature

Reaction against Romanticism; emphasizes empirical observation and naturalism; includes Naturalism, Regionalism, Local Color.

Naturalism

Realist movement focusing on determinism and the influence of environment on people.

Regionalism

Realist focus on a specific geographic area and its culture (often with local color).

Local Color

Realist emphasis on dialect, customs, and scenery of a region.

Modernism Literature

Early 20th-century movement (c. 1915–1966) valuing science/technology; divided into poetry, prose, and Imagism.

Imagism

Modernist movement led by Ezra Pound focusing on precise, clear imagery and minimal extraneous meaning.

Ezra Pound

Poet associated with Imagism, advocate of concise, image-driven poetry.

T. S. Eliot

Key Modernist poet known for works like The Waste Land; central to Modernism’s experimentation.

Harlem Renaissance

1920s African American literary and cultural flourishing in New York City.

Postmodernism Literature

Literary movement (c. 1966–2001) that questions absolute truths and emphasizes social construction of meaning.