Semester 1 Final Flashcards
Puritans:
-Forms
-Style
- Diaries, autobiographies, history, poetry, sermons, no plays/fiction
- Plainness, inward focus. For instruction and inspiration.
Puritans:
-Beliefs
-Time period
- Industry, dependence on/sovereignty of God, family, church, grace granted by God, Puritan work ethic, God directly intervenes, predestination, evil is inner, God revealed in Bible
- 1609-1750
Puritans:
-Cultural and historical influence
- Relocated from England to escape religious persecution
- Puritan religion/God
- Work ethic: the more you do, the more God will smile on you
- “The Great Awakening” (religious revival)
Puritans:
-Writers and their works
William Bradford: “Of Plymouth Plantation”. Plain style. Son of preacher, nonconformist.
Jonathan Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Sermons/persuasive.
Anne Bradstreet: Poetry. Wrote about faith. Very educated.
Planters:
-Time period and location
- 1609-1750
- Located in Southern colonies, good climate and fertile lands
Planters:
-Ideas/Beliefs
- Outward focus
- Nature, vivid description
- Society, social responsibilities, art, politics, scientific inquiry
- Belong to Church of England
- Admired generosity, self control, gentlemanly mannered, obligation to public
Planters:
-Form
-Style/Purpose
- Travel logs, journals, diaries, essays, poems
- Satire and humor, used to entertain and pass time
Planters:
-Cultural and historical influences
- Settled in Southern colonies and plantations, aristocrats with slave labor
- Relocated for adventure, supported by King
- Church of England, cross between Catholic and Protestant
Planters:
-Author studied and works
William Byrd: “History of a Dividing Line”- journal entries from duty of finding dividing line between Virginia and N.C.
-Known for satire, entertaining style, keen observation of nature
Revolutionary:
-Time period
-Ideas/Beliefs
-1750-1800’s
- Science, ethics, government. Man best serves God by serving community.
- Use reason to manage selves/society, reason thrives on freedom
- Deism
Revolutionary:
-Style
- Forms
- Purpose
- Crisp, clear, economical
- Pamphlets, essays, songs, speeches
- Helped unify and create new society
Benjamin Franklin:
-Era
- Work
- Personal History
-Revolutionary (1706-1790)
- Poor Richard’s Almanac: Calendar, sunrise/tides/etc, aphorisms
- Autobiography: Letter to son William, covers life until 51
-Left school at 10, educated himself, settled in Philadelphia as a printer
Patrick Henry:
-Era
- Works
- Personal History
- Revolutionary (1736-1799)
- Speech to Virginia Convention: Urging President and fellow citizens to break free of Britain’s control
- Heard sermons during “GA”, after failed farming career went into politics (Rep. of Virginia House of Burgesses)
Thomas Paine:
-Era
- Works
- Background
-Revolutionary (1737-1809)
- Common Sense (1776): Pamphlet arguing for independence
- The Crisis (1776-83): 16 essays asking for support of Revolution
-Born in England, moved to America 1774, poorly educated
Romanticism:
-Time period
- Two branches of romanticism
- Historical/cultural influence
- 1790-1850
- Fireside Poets and Gothic (Anti-Transcendentalists)
- In response to Age of Reason
- Coincided with America grasping for her sense of individuality
Romanticism:
-Cause
-Subjects
-Rxn. to Age of Reason. Emphasized feeling/imagination over reason and fact.
- Nature: Beauty, mysterious, spiritual lessons. Confirms deepest intuitions and truths.
- The Past: Legends, folktales, Revolution, Indian Wars, conquest of wilderness
- Inner World of Human Nature: Emphasis on emotions, intuition of individual
Romanticism:
-Six Characteristics
- Profound love of nature.
- Focus on self and individual.
- Fascination w/ supernatural.
- Yearning for picturesque.
- Deep rooted idealism.
- Passionate nationalism. Love of country.
Washington Irving
-Era
- Works
- Personal history
- Romanticism
- “The Sketchbook”, “Rip Van Winkle”. “The Devil and Tom Walker”: Fable, brief story told to point out moral dealing with supernatural
- First internationally known American writer. Adapted stories.
Fireside Poets:
-Dates
- Names
- What was it?
- 1830-1865
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russesll Lowell, Oliver Wendall Holmes, William Cullen Byrant, John Greenleaf Whittier
- 1st American literary movement, still used British style
Fireside Poets:
-Values
- Imagination
- Emotion
- Individuality
- Nature
(INIEm)
Fireside Poets:
-5 beliefs
- Poetry is superior to science.
- Contemplation of material world is a way to discover truth behind reality.
- Distrust of industry and city life.
- Interest in “natural” past and spirituality.
Transcendentalism:
-Time period
- Location
- Values and beliefs
- 1840-1860
- Concord, MA
- God in every soul (Pantheism), people inherently good. Follow own beliefs. Optimism, freedom, self-reliance. Anti-materialistic.
Ralph Waldo Emerson:
-Era
- Works/Philosophy
- Personal History
- Transcendentalism
- “Nature”: Essay on romantic/idealistic philosophy. “Self Reliance.” Believed in Christianity, democracy, integrity of individual.
- Was pastor, traveled to England, returned to Boston and became lecturer. Founded the Dial, transc. magazine and Transc. club.
Henry David Thoreau:
-Era
- Works/Beliefs
- Personal History
- Transcendentalism
- “Walden” excerpts. Question authority, wanted to simplify things.
- Studied at Harvard, became teacher and was encouraged to resign, opened alternative school. Caretaker at Emerson’s.
Edgar Allen Poe:
-Era
- Works
- Personal History
- Romantic/Anti-Transcendentalism
- “The Black Cat”, “The Masque of the Red Death”. Used allegory (story behind story)
- Author, literary critic, master of short story. Mother, wife/cousin die of rabies. Poe found in gutter dead.
Nathaniel Hawthorne:
-Era
- Works
- Personal History
- Romantic/Anti-Transcendentalism
- The Scarlett Letter. House of Seven Gables. (“Minister’s Black Veil”)
- Descended from wealthy people, judges. Obsessed with cruelty, pride, intolerance.
Realism/Regionalism:
-Time period
- Characteristics:
- Local color
- Regionalistic writers
- Portrayed
-Late 1800’s
- Novel had quality of specific region, depicted life as it truly is. Authors idealized subjects and settings.
- Wrote dialogue with dialect of people, portrayed/analyzed people/events, used stereotypes
- Dialect, customs, mannerisms, dress, landscapes
Mark Twain:
-Era
- Works/Beliefs
- Personal History
- AKA Samuel Longhorn Clemens
- “Tom Sawyer”. “Huckleberry Finn”. Known for satire, exp., irony, humor, tall tale
- Boyhood on Miss. River, steamboat pilot, army, went west to write
Bret Harte:
-Era
- Works
- Personal History
- Regionalism
- “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”, used setting/characterization to build local character
- Established identity in American west, life in gold camps of Sierra
Emily Dickinson:
-Era
- Works/Beliefs
- Personal History
- Realism
- Selected poems. Always asking/answering metaphysical questions (morality, renunciation, perfection). Salvation, damnation, fear, love..
- Recluse, observer of nature, often depressed. Poetry was her release.
Walt Whitman:
-Era
- Works/Beliefs
- Personal History
- Realism/Romanticism
- Drum Taps. Used free verse, phrase rather than foot.Believed in democracy and common man. Faith in love, success of democracy, knowledge of God.
- Little formal education
Parallel Structure (Grammar)
Using same pattern of words to show two or more ideas have same level of importance. Word, phrase, or clause level.
Ex: Mary likes to hike, to swim, and to ride a bicycle.
Synecdoche
Part of something represents a whole. The whole of something represents a part.
Ex: Bread is used to represent food in general or money.
Ex: The world is not treating me well. (Part of world encountered is not)
Metaphor/Extended Metaphor
- Figure of speech that makes comparison between two unlike things without using specific words of comparison.
- Developed or extended over a number of lines in a poem or piece. (AKA conceit)
Metonymy
The use of one thing to represent something related.
Ex: “The White House said” to represent the President
Inverted Syntax
Reversal of usual word order to receive some sort of emphasis.
Ex: “So exciting was the movie, that I forgot to do my homework.”
Aphorism
A terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation.
Ex: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).
Allusion
Casual or indirect reference to something; history, bible, etc.
Ex: The Bible is a fertile source of allusion in art.
Satire
Literary composition in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
Antithesis
Placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas.
Ex: “Give me liberty or give me death.”
Free Verse
Verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern.
Slant Rhyme
(Imperfect, half rhyme) Rhyme in which either the vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables are identical.
Ex: Eyes, light; years, yours.
