American Literature Midterm #1 Review

John Smith

The General History of Virginia

Handsome Lake

How America Was Discovered

Cherokee #1

First Fire

Cherokee #2

World Origin Story

Sherman Alexie

Native American History and Colonization

Anne Bradstreet

Religious Themes + Old English Spelling

Thomas Paine

Common Sense

Prince Hall

Petition to the Massachusetts Legislature

Abigail and John Adams

Politics, Revolution, Female Rights

Benjamin Franklin

First Person + Self Made Man

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Self Reliance

Walt Whitman

Song of Myself

Emily Dickinson

Short + Dashes

Herman Melville

Bartleby, the Scrivener

John Smith The General History of Virginia

3rd Person, calls Natives Savages or the English

Handsome Lake How America was Discovered

Mentions the Devil and Columbus, describes the colonization of Native Americans

Cherokee First Fire

Now and Then structure, mentions raven, screech owl, thunder, water spider

Cherokee World Origin Story

Personification of nature, mentions water beetle and the great buzzard

Thomas Paine Common Sense

Direct, fiery, persuasive, independence from Britain

Prince Hall Petition to the Massachusetts Legislature

Mentions liberty, natural rights, hypocrisy of slavery during the Revolution

Ralph Waldo Emerson Self Reliance

Philosophical, inspirational, dramatic, memorable aphorisms

Walt Whitman Song of Myself

Free verse, long lines, repetition, no fixed rhyme, celebrates democracy, nature, physical body

Herman Melville Bartleby, the Scrivener

Set in wall street law office, passive resistance catchphrase I would prefer not to