Earth on a Turtle’s Back
the Earth is created as soil is piled on the back of a great sea turtle that continues to grow until it is carrying the entire world.
The Iroquois Constitution
an oral narrative based om the formation of the 6 nations (Onondaga, Cayuga, Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, and Tuscarora nations)
Purpose of The Iroquois Constitution
to promote peace through an establishment of a league of native
Oral Tradition
The cultural knowledge and information that has been passed down through speech from one generation to the next
Anne Bradstreet
Female writer; Faced religious and emotional conflicts as being a woman writer and Puritan; Concerned with issues of sin, redemption, death, physical and emotional frailty, and immorality through life; Struggled to feel strongly connected to her family than to God - used inversion in her works
Edward Taylor
Puritan pastor; Devoted to Calvanistic and Puritan beliefs; Wrote Upon a Spider Catching a Fly & Huswifery Known for his imagery; Often combined two unlike symbols; Influenced by metaphysicals
Conceit
A fanciful expression in writing or speech, an elaborate metaphor
Puritans
Members of a religious reform movement; Believed that Church of England too similar to the Roman Catholic Church; Believed that ceremonies and practices not rooted in Bible should be eliminated
Pilgrims
Religious revival of American colonies during which number of new Protestant churches were established
Jonathan Edwards
Attended Yale, connected Protestant beliefs to the Enlightenment concepts of Newton & Locke; Leader of the 1st Great Awakening; wrote Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (most famous); Delivered a congregation that caused listeners to rise from their seats of hysteria
John Calvin
Stressed doctrine of predestination, and his interpretations of Christian teachings (Calvinism) influenced Reformed Churches
Calvinism Focuses on
Sovereignty of God
Depravity of humankind
doctrine of predestination
Predestination
the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul
the elect
the chosen people
puritain plain style
Type of writing which uncomplicated sentences and ordinary words to make simple direct statements; Used by Puritans to express themselves clearly w/ their religious beliefs
Enlightenment/Age of Reason
emphasized reason over superstition and science over blind faith.
deism
believing that God created the world but soon after left it to fend of it self; "God made the world with precision, but He is not involved”
ethos
ethics; appeals based on the reliability, creiditability, or expertise of the writer
pathos
emotions; Appeals to the audience's needs, values, or emotions
logos
logic; an appeal to logic or reason; logical argument
apophasis
The raising of an issue by claiming no to mention it
anaphora
the intentional repitition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a line for emphasis
imagery
visually descriptive or figurative language
Ben Franklin
BORN IN BOSTON; Known as the "Renaissance Man"
AN ABOLITIONIST; When working as an editor, the pseudonym was "Silence Dogood"
Purpose of autobiography-> to achieve moral perfection
"Instrumental in repealing the Stamp Act of 1765"
On the committee for writing the Declaration of Independence
Became an advocate for independence Frankin's role in repealing The Stamp Act made him well known
Wrote POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC Served as ambassador to France
IMPORTANT influence in French decision to ally with the Americans against the British
Signed Treaty of Paris
Was a delegate to the Convention that wrote and approved the U.S. constitution
A leading political figure till his death
One of final acts was to publish treaty against slavery in 1789
The Stamp Act
1765; Require all American colonists to pay taxes on every piece of printed paper that came into their house
Thomas Paine
vilified by the world for his anti-religious tone in the book; became a tax collector and was fired twice; wrote common sense and rights of man; perceived as anti0religious; saved by American government
Common Sense
a rational argument for colonies to break away from england
Rights of Man
supported the french and offended the english
captivity narrative
Suffer shows the evil of Purtian society and temptations from original sin; Biblical aspect Whole fear of cannibalism Fear that Native Americans would eat them; Feels like he is facing evil , has no way to get out, judging hypocrisy as Christians; Worried that they will eat him
slave narative
helped end the slave trade; understates the hardships of slavery
Olaudah Equiano
his autobioraphy led to the banning of the slave trade in the U.S. and England; renamed Gustavus Vassa; wrote slave and captivity narratives
Phyllis Wheatley
Wrote on being brought from Africa to America and on virtue
American Romanticism and Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism, which lasted from about 1830 to 1860, was a vital part of the Romantic movement.
Fireside Poets
popular poets during romanticism/transcendentalism; Their works were read around the fire; Teachers would assign it to be memorized
Fireside Poet Examples
William Cullen Bryant; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; John Greenleaf Whittier; James Russell Lowell; Oliver Wendell Holmes
William Cullen Bryan
poet and journalist; first american lit celebrity; started at 14, became famous at 17 for thanatopsis; lawyer for 10 years; editor of ny post; founder of the abolitionist party
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
the arrow and the song; the tide rises the tide falls
Washington Irving
The father of american lit; First to make his living off creative writing; First to be recognized as a significant literary figure in England; Work was in folklore tradition (inspired Sir Walter Scott); Famous "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", "The Sketch Book
Folklore
traditional customs, tales, sayings, dances, or art forms preserved among a people
F.O. Matthiessen's American Renaissance
yay sayers vs nay sayers
yay sayers
transcendentalists/optimists (emerson, thoreau, whitman)
nay sayers
dark romantics/pessimists (poe, hawthorne, dickinson)
Transcendentalism
a philosophy started in early 19th century that promotes intuitive/spiritual thinking instead of scientific thinking; optimistic part of romantic movement; involved environmentalism; Feminism; abolition of slavery
romanticism
movement in arts/literature that origniated in the late 18th century that emphasized inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual; Samuel taylor Coleridge and william wordsworth
gothic
Dark melodramatic writing with descriptive scenery; themes of exoticism, fear, dread, and mystery
organicism
strives to connect things that have been divided, like spirit and matter
sublime
literature that excites your thoughts or emotions; At the edge of terror and beauty
Walden
written by Henry David Thoreau; Walden details Henry David Thoreau's two-year stay in a self-built cabin by a lake in the woods sharing what he learned about solitude, nature, work; thinking and fulfillment during his break from modern city life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
transcendentalism; founded the dail; abolitionist; woman rights activist; yay sayer; thoreau’s mentor; fireside poet
William Wordsworth
a romantic poet; focused on the ideals of the romantic movement; person vs nature; spiritual and intellectual development; the prelude
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
supernatural themes and exotic images; culmination and romanticism in purest form; themes: nature, development, power of imagination; biographia literaria; lyrical ballads
The Dial
magazine of transcendentalists
Our literary Declaration of Independence
for American writers to turn away from British models and create their own literature was called; written by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Henry David Thoreau
fireside poet; mentor was emerson; wrote walden; solitude
Mexican American War
armed war in the mid 1800s; significant to transcendentalist bc expanded slave territory; authors refused to pay taxes to boycott
walt whitman
fireside poet; FREE VERSE; GREAT AMERICAN POET; "The poet"; wrote "Leaves of Grass"; work is seen as offensive; father of free verse
Leaves of Grass
indiviualism and beauty - together creates a united whole; controversial bc explicit sexualy imagery
Sojourner Truth
african american abolitionist; women’s rights, writer born into slavery; aib’t i a woman
Ain’t I a Woman
writing by truth that talks about how women can do just as much as men, she says how slave women were our working in the field just like a strong man
Sojourner Truth Project
recreation of truth's "ain't i a woman?" in what her voice would have sounded like
Characteristics of the Slave Narrative
An engraved portrait, signed by the narrator.
A title page that includes the claim, as an integral part of the title, "Written by Himself"
A handful of testimonials and/or one or more prefaces or introductions written either by a white abolitionist friend of the narrator
A poetic epigraph The actual narrative An appendix or appendices composed of documentary material--bills of sale, etc
Frederick Douglass
Born in slavery; Escaped at 20 to massachusetts; Admired willian lloyd Garrison "the Liberator" 1845 published autobiography Important advisor to President lincoln; Fought for equal rights and womens rights
Learning to Read and Write
story by frederick douglass where his mistress was first nice to him and taught him how to read and write, but soon saw how others treated the slaves and then treated him the same way
abolition
movement to end slavery
The Columbian Orator
written by Caleb Bingham; inspiring for a generation of American abolitionists including Frederick Douglass, Emerson; taught Douglass that "The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder
Sherdidan
Irish Politician, playwright, poet, satirist, and owner of Drury Lane; Plays: The Rivals, School for Scandal, The Duenna, and A Trip to Scarborough; Writing style: comedy (the Rivals & School for Scandal); Dramas reflect gentle morality & sentimentality; Satirized society
fugitive slave act of 1850
gave federal government authority in cases involving runaway slaves; aroused considerable opposition in the North.
emily dickinson
poet; well educated in science; winter is blonde assassin; nature is haunted house; she was skeptoc in faith
edgar allan poe
gothic horror story; architect of the modern short story; fall of the house of usher
Rene Descartes
father of modern philosophy
sonnet
14 line poem with a specific rhyme scheme
english sonnet
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Ittalian Sonnet
ABBA ABBA CD EC DE
Hyperbole
signifiant exaggeration
Alliteration
repetition of sound
Enjambment
the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza
Onomatopoeia
word that sounds like its meaning
caesura
a pause in a line of poetry
slant rhyme
words that almost rhyme
sight rhyme
looks like it should rhyme