Puritans yrs.
1620-1700
Rationalists yrs.
1700-1800
Romanticism yrs.
1800-1860
Transcendentalism yrs.
1830-1840
Dark Romanticism yrs.
1800-1860
Realism/Naturalism yrs.
1860-1920
Modernism yrs.
1900-1945
Post-Modernism yrs.
1945-Present
Puritans events
Founding of first colonies
Rationalist events
Revolutionary War
Romanticism events
Ended with Civil War
Realism/Naturalism events
Civil War- WWI
Modernism events
Ended with WWII
Post Modernism event
WWII- Now
Focused on religion, predestination, covenant of grace, american exceptionalism
Puritans themes
Self knowledge and self contol, individualism and self-control, reason and scientific observation, social contract, perfectability of man
Rationalists themes
Imagination over reason, emotion over fact, individuality, nature above all, quest of the individual to define himself
Romanticism themes
Individual is most important force in universe, highly valued nature, idea of an “over-soul”
Transcendentalism themes
Symbolic aspects of nature with human spirit, rejects optimism about human nature, deals with darker aspects of human nature
Dark Romanticism themes
Faithful representation of reality, regionalism, darwinism
Realism/Naturalism themes
Breakdown of cultural and social norms, alienation of the individual, valorization of the despairing individual
Modernism themes
Prosperity, rebellion, race, “loss of innocence”, identity, truth v. illusion
Post- Modernism themes
Sermons, diaries, personal narratives, slave narratives, instructive, plain style
Puritans characteristics
Political pamphlets, essays, travel writing, speeches, documents, instructive in values, highly ornate writing style
Rationalists characteristics
Short stories, novels, poetry,
Romanticism characteristics
Short stories detective and horror, use of super natural, characters with good and bad aspects, dark landscapes and depressed characters
Dark Romanticism characteristics
Poetry rejected conventioanl themes, forms, and subjects
Trancendentalism characteristics
Novels, short stories
Realism characteristics
Writing highly experimental; use of fragments, stream of consciousness, interior dialogue, open form, juxtaposition, classical allusions
Modernism characteristics
Lines of reality blurred, mixed fiction and non-fiction, no heros/ anti heros, detatched
Post- Modernism characteristics
William Bradford “Of Plymouth Plantation”, John Smith “A General History of Virginia”, John Winthrop “A Model of Christian Charity”
Puritan writing
Patrick Henry “Speech at Virginia Convention”, Thomas Paine “The American Crisis”
Rationalism writing
Henry W.
Longfellow “A Psalm of Life”
Romanticism writing
Ralph W. Emerson “Self Reliance”, Henry D. Thoreau Walden
Trancendentalist writing
Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Minister’s Black Veil”
Dark Romanticism writing
Kate Chopin “Story of an Hour”
Realism writing
Ernest Hemingway “In Another Country”, The Imagist Poets
Modernist writing
