AMERICAN LITERARY PERIODS

The Colonial Period of American Literature spans the time between the founding of the first settlement at Jamestown to the outbreak of the Revolution

The Colonial period was dominated by Puritan beliefs and thus literature of this period is usually historical, religious, or didactic.

Colonial American literature is characterized by the narrative, which was used extensively during this period

'Age of Reason' is defined as the period of rigorous scientific, political and philosophical

It was thought during the Enlightenment that human reasoning could discover truths about the world, religion, and politics and could be used to improve the lives of humankind

Some of the most important writers of the Enlightenment were the Philosophe of France, especially Voltaire and the political philosopher Montesquieu

Romanticism, attitude characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century

Among the characteristic attitudes of romanticism were the following: a deeper appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the senses over the intellect

Some of the most important writers of the Enlightenment were the Philosophe of France, especially Voltaire and the political philosopher Montesquieu

Transcendentalism is a 19th-century movement of writers and philosophers in New England who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation

The 19th-century Transcendentalism movement was inspired by German transcendentalism, Platonism and Neoplatonism, the Indian and Chinese scriptures, and also by the writings of such mystics as Emanuel Swedenborg and Jakob Böhme

Transcendentalism attracted such diverse and highly individualistic figures as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Orestes Brownson, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, and James Freeman Clarke, as well as George Ripley, Bronson Alcott, the younger W.E. Channing, and W.H. Channing.

Contemporary literature is ironic and reflects a society’s political, social and personal views. The term “contemporary literature” usually applies to anything written after World War II.

Contemporary literature reflects current trends in life and culture and because these things change often, contemporary literature changes often as well.

After World War II, the world had a different perspective on things. It changed rapidly and literature changed with it, almost as rapidly, despite the fact that some authors held on to their existing beliefs

Regionalism was a unique movement that grew out of the fear and uncertainty of the Great Depression. It was a rejection of many things that Americans blamed for the Depression, including the rapid urbanization and industrialization

Regionalism abandoned the cityscape and instead looked to rural America (which was still most of the country at this point), particularly the Midwest

Regionalist styles tended to be straightforward and direct, reflecting the spirit of the Midwest. In rejecting abstraction, they further demonstrated an isolationist and nationalist withdrawal from Europe and asserted that American arts didn't need to be like European ones in order to be valid

The term naturalism describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings

Naturalism shows how humans are dictated by their behaviors and environment. Natural forces of both society and heredity govern the world, and only the strongest will survive

which focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a philosophical position: for naturalistic writers, since human beings are, in Emile Zola's phrase, "human beasts,"

Realism or literary realism, is an era of literary technique in which authors described things as they are without embellishment or fantastical plots

The advent of literary realism was a direct response to the over-the-top stories typical of romanticism, an extremely popular movement in European literature and art between the late 18th century and the mid-19th century.

Realism is also a style of visual art that focuses on producing a photographic quality through realistic lighting, color palettes, and subject matter

Anti-transcendentalism was a literary subgenre that focused on human fallibility and proneness to sin

The dark romantics were characterized by the serious and horrific tones within their works. The most prominent dark romantics were Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Poe utilized symbols to carry out his effect

For these dark romantic writers, evil was everywhere, in terms of how it was preached by many of the New England Puritans. Dark romanticism branched out farther than New England and was picked up by British and German authors like Lord Byron and E.T.A. Hoffmann.

During this period, society at every level underwent profound changes. War and industrialization seemed to devalue the individual. Global communication made the world a smaller place.

Modernism fostered a period of experimentation in the arts from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, particularly in the years following World War I

Modernists felt a growing alienation incompatible with Victorian morality, optimism, and convention. New ideas in psychology, philosophy, and political theory kindled a search for new modes of expression