English Review Questions - AmLit

Set 1

1 Iroquois Creation Story:

  1. Who helped Sky Woman? The Turtle.

  2. What happened to Sky Woman? The bad mind burst out of sky woman through her arm, and she died

  3. What happened to the Bad Mind? He was killed by the good mind and became a sort of ruler of the underworld as he had control over the souls of the dead

2 Navajo Creation Story:

  1. How many worlds are there in the Navajo creation story? 4 worlds

  2. Why did First Man and First Woman fight? They thought they could live without each other

3 Trickster Tales:

  1. What did the bulb on the bush keep saying? If you eat me you will defecate

  2. What is the significance of the trickster? Provides an important POV of morality

  • What is Ethnocentrism? Looking through another culture through the lense of your own, which can lead to believing your culture is superior to others.

  • What’s the difference between Literature and Orature? Literature is written words preserved in physical form while Orature is spoken word and preserved through recitation

  • What are the similarities between two creation myths? Dualism, Balance, Nature, and the Supernatural?

4 Columbus:

  1. What ended up happening to Columbus? He was arrested and sought refuge from the King of Spain

  2. What did Columbus see himself doing? Spreading Christianity

  3. Who was the primary audience? An intimate audience with the rulers of Spain

5 De Las Casas:

  1. What did he witness? The abuse of Native Americans

6 De Vaca:

  1. What happened to De Vaca? He was basically stranded and ended up in what is now present-day Texas. He accounts his journey to the King of Spain.

  • What is American literature? Polyphonic, so it’s both multilingual and multicultural

7 Bradford:

  1. Who was Bradford? A pilgrim who moves to Plymouth Rock and interacts with Native Americans Samoset and Squanto

8 Winthrop:

  1. Who was Winthrop? A puritan who becomes the governor of Mas. Bay Colony.

  2. What was his goal with the church? To set a shining example of what the Church needed to be, as his settlement was going to be “the city on a hill”

  3. Why are there difference in wealth? It allows for a variety of ways for God to be honored, it allows for charity from the rich to the poor to honor God, and it allows for the shared struggles among a certain class which is nessc. for society

  4. What were the two laws the governed everything? Justice and Mercy

  5. What do Pilgrims want to do? Completely separate from the Church of England and start anew

  6. What do Puritans want to do? Change the church from within

    • Describe TULIP: The tenets of puritanism

      • T:  Total Depravity - We’re all sinners

      • U: Unconditional Election - No free will, as God knows the fate of everything and it’s out of your control

      • L: Limited Atonement - Only a few will be spared from Hell

      • I: Irresistible Grace - The chosen can’t resist God’s grace, so you’re completely off the hook for hell

      • P: Perseverance of the Saints - Once you are saved, you are always saved

    • What was the important thing with Puritans? The fostered literacy, since you needed to be able to read the bible they pushed for the english translation of it

9 Anne Bradstreet:

  1. Who was Anne Bradstreet? A puritan poet who became the first accomplished New World poet. She was formally educated by her father in Britain.

  • Know how to do the poem thing (50% of grade)

  • Feet: 2-3 syllables

  • Unstressed: U

  • Stressed: /

10 Mary Rowlandson (InQuisitive!):

  1. Who did Mary rely on to help her get through her captivity? God

  2. What happened to her youngest daughter? She died, but her son and other daughter lived

  3. How long was she captured for? A little over 11 weeks

11 Cotton Mather:

  1. What is Cotton Mather’s role in the witchcraft trials? He’s a puritan documenting what happened during a witch trial, like a historian

  2. Who was Martha Carrier? A supposed witch whose children also were witches. The townspeople blamed her for their misfortunes such as losing their cattle mysteriously. Claimed that the devil promised her to be the “queen of hebrews”

  3. What does the Malleus Maleficarum say? Witchcraft is a hersey and should be punished

  4. Why were their witch trials in NE? Hate satan, the crops fail, tensions with Natives, Smallpox outbreak, and loss of Mass. Bay charter

  5. Which tenet of Puritanism leads to an increase in witchcraft trials? Total Depravity, because Satan is real and has an active presence

  6. What’s Maleficia? Bad things, such as familiars, witches marks, and spectral evidence

12 Jonathan Edwards (InQuisitive!):

  1. What’s a difference between Mather and Jonathan Edwards? Edwards was sensational/used Ethos while Mather was logical and used Logos. Edwards was also a part of the great awakening whilst Mather was a part of the witch trials

  2. What’s the Covenant of Works? What promise god made with adam before they fell

  3. What’s the Covenant of Grace? God plans to save sinners

  4. What’s the Halfway Covenant? Partial church membership to children whose parents had been baptized but not a member of the Church

  5. What’s the purpose of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God? It’s supposed to act wake up call because people were getting too complacent with their growing secular lifestyles.

  6. What’s the importance of the Epigraph? Sets the tone of certainty throughout the sermon and he uses it to structure his remarks around

  7. How is the sermon structured? Scripture and Application (notes has more explanations)

  8. What ends up happening to Edwards? Gets kicked out b/c he takes it too far


  • Know the structure

Monday: Make flashcard, and final review 


Set 2 

1 Phillis Wheatley:

  1. What was her Backstory? Brought to America from West Africa when she was 6, Was sold into slavery but her parents educated her (reading the classics). She was more successful in Britain as there was trouble finding her a sponsor in America.

  2. What’s the similarity and difference between Bradstreet and Wheatley? Bradstreet talks about more intimate subjects in her life, like losing her belongings in a fire. However, Wheatley writes about Public Topics such as slavery and rejects the concept of total depravity as she understands slaves can get into heaven too. Both use the conventional form/verse. 

2 Benjamin Franklin and Enlightenment:

  1. What happens culturally under Ben Franklin? A shift from the Puritan ideals into the Enlightenment. Economy grows in the Colonies which means that slavery also becomes attractive. 

  2. What was the difference between the Enlightened God and the Puritan God? The Enlightened God is the Clockmaker God who wound the wheel and let go. While he’s not involved anymore, God works in reasonable ways and so does everything he makes. Absence of total depravity and Unconditional Election 

  3. What was important about his Autobiography? It was essentially the first-self help book. Shows that humans are capable of being important and that it’s a distinctly American element. 

    1. What is an autobiography book as a category? It doesn’t have an certain objectivity to it, so it create a unique form of authenticity since the writer is expressing their own viewpoint on their life. 

3 The Coquette: 

  1. Why weren’t novels taken seriously? Most at the time were written by women and read by women. It wasn’t as prestigious as poetry since one had to have the privilege to learn the “rules” to write poems. 

  2. What does the Epistolary form provide for this novel? Story through a series of letters/documents. Provides:

    1. Privacy - only the addressed can read it

    2. Intimacy - Relationship of Exclusivity (I know something you don’t)

    3. Authenticity - Why wouldn’t you tell the truth to a confidant? (Trustworthiness)

    4. Indirectness - We’re a voyeur, it’s not meant for us 

  3. What was a major theme in the novel and how was it played out? Reason v. Fancy → Boyer is the rational priest while Sanford is the passionate soldier. Her fancy gives way to reason and she ends up pregnant with Sanford’s illegitimate child and dies alone. 

  4. What was the “point” of the novel?" Marriage. It has its good sides for women, such as being safe and secure, but women are still limited because they give up their autonomy/assets for this security. 

4 Washington Irving:

  1. What happened after the American Revolution? Americans wanted a cultural identity that was separate from England.

  2. Why was it hard to find our own artistic culture that was separate from Britain?  A lot of colonial writers were educated in Britain so they had British influences, Writing wasn’t a sustainable job, and it was very expensive to publish. Irving helped change this. (Father of the American Short Story) He was a man of many letters (Diplomat and Lawyer) 

  3. What was the European Gothic? Focused on the Supernatural, Removed from regular life (Ghosts, curses), Architecture (Castles) and Ancestral lines (family tree)

  4. What was the American Gothic? Focused on the Setting (In the USA), Interiority (Mental mechanics, Family homes [estates];shifted from exteriority), and the Mundane (compared to the fantastical nature of European Gothic) 

  5. What’s important about the setting in both stories? Almost a character in themselves, and suggest local legend and superstitions since these small dutch villages in Upstate NY were in remote areas with little contact with the rest of the world. 

    5 Rip Van Winkle:

  1. What happened in Rip Van Winkle? Guy escapes from nagging wife into the forest, and a strange old man beckons him to follow him. He gets so drunk he passes out for 20 years, and when he wakes up discovered the the world and landscape has changed. 

    6 Legend of Sleepy Hollow: 

  1. What happened in Sleepy Hollow? Ichabod Crane, a schoolmaster, wants to marry the town beauty. Some altercation happens after a party at Katrina’s house and Ichabod Crane comes face to face with the headless horseman, never to be seen again. 

7 Edgar Allen Poe: 

  1. Compared to other authors, what distinguished Edgar Allen Poe? Helped established a unique American Literature, and was one of the first to be recognized overseas. He was also able to make a living out of it.

    8 The Raven: 

  1. What happened? Guy comes across raven who drives him crazy. Lost his love Lenore. 

  2. What’s important about “Once Upon a midnight Dreary?” References “Once upon a time” and “a dark and stormy night” → shows how it’s going to be a dark, nightmarish fairytale 

  3. What the importance and “Nevermore” and “Evermore?” Captures a feeling of sadness and mourning, esp. since Poe had a hard life. Persistence of memory, an especially dark and disturbing one 

  4. What was ironic about the publication of this? It was very popular but did not make him much money (only $9 or $364 in today’s money) 

    9 The Fall of the House of Usher:

  1. What happened? Goes to a friends house to help him be less sad and strange things happen. Sister… Dies? Roderick is killed by Madeline? House splits into 2? 

  2. What’s important about the Epigraph? Sets the tone of the story. It’s in French so it acts like a barrier to the reader; almost a warning especially with the grim nature of the story. 

  3. What’s important about the opening passage? Literal (Personified house w/ “windows of a vacant eye” and Emotional darkness (the setting of the swamp/bog nearby weighs down the characters) 

  4. What’s the story about theme wise + basic Evidence? It’s a story about Sanity. We aren’t sure if the events really happened, such as the sister getting buried alive or dead, or if she’s just an embodiment of paranoia. 

11 Fireside Poets: 

  1. What are they? First group of American Poets to rival British poets in popularity. They often used American legends and scenes. 

  1. Who was the most famous and what impact did he have? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the most famous. When he was criticized by Poe, the latter was ostracized. He’s the only one with a bust in the Westminster poet area. Brought issues like slavery to the forefront with something palatable like poetry. Paved the way for later romantic writers like Emerson. 

  2. What’s conventional form? Long-standing method of poetry that everyone uses and agrees on what the definition of is, like a sonnet or ballad. 

  3. What’s occasional Poetry? Poetry written for a certain occasion, such as to celebrate something important. 

  4. Longfellow? Translates Dante’s Inferno

  5. Bryant? Help to establish the Republican Party and supported Lincoln. 

  6. Lowell? Abolitionist from Boston, active in anti-slavery causes

  7. Holmes? Also a medical doctor who gave the term for anesthesia. 

  8. Whittier? Another Abolitionist

12 Ralph Waldo Emerson (Nature) and Transcendentalism:

  1. What’s important about NE? This is where Puritan ideals are either rejected or accepted.

  2. What’s Emerson’s background? He was the son of a Unitarian minister who studied to become one himself. He can’t bit his tongue though and rejects Puritanism. 

  3. Where does Transcendentalism have its roots from? Unitarianism, which is responding to Puritans and Rationalists. 

  4. What does the word Transcend mean? It’s a combination of “across” and “to climb”. It’s to be beyond limits, having a level above the physical senses. 

  5. What are some beliefs of Transcendentalism?

    • The Universe is inherently good and welcoming.

    • It’s an extension of Rationalism, but there’s intuition involved instead of just relying on the five senses and direct observation. 

      • Idea of the Qualitative in addition to Quantitative

    • The Individual over the society/community

      • Didn’t want to conform to social norms 

  6. How is it different from Puritanism? It creates a new understanding of the universe, as there’s no total depravity or Unconditional Election. You spend time in nature to understand this. God is is the “oversoul”, or an energy force that is present in all living things

    • Jesus is just a man, but this promotes mankind to the same divinity as God 

  7. How is Nature divided? Into four uses that are systematically organized since he was deeply influenced by the sermon-writing  

  8. What are the four usages? 

    1. Commodity: How we use it (like clothes) which is why colonizers came for crops

    2. Beauty: Looking at it is nice

    3. Language: Nature is a vehicle of thought

    4. Discipline: You gain knowledge by nature and oversoul coming together 

  9. What is really important in this essay? Sight! He uses the transparent eyeball as an example. When you are in nature you understand and submit to the divine which fixes you. Seeing is very important because it opens up a portal into a new ways of knowing things.