American literature: The 6 periods

It was written in Oral Tradition which means that it was spoken from one generation to the next.

European Literature:

Was written by the Europeans when they arrived to the US.

It was written as diaries, letters and journals

Puritan Literature:

Was written by the settlers, to increase the labour.

It was religious, and forced every man to work hard and pray, else he would end up in hell.

Romantic Literature:

Was written by the poets in US.

It was not romantic in the way it sounds, it was focused at the nature, and described everything as beautiful.

Realism Literature:

Was a more realistic vision on what happened in US. It was sentimental, and very honest.

20th Century Literature:

Are the poems we read now, they’re about usually about love, death and sex

“History drives literature”

Meaning:

The meaning of “History drives literature” is that when something historical happens, people write about it. The Indians did it, the Europeans did it, and the US did it (after the civil war).

When there’s peace, the poets write about beauty and love, and when there’s war they write about death ECT.

Examples:

The Danes wrote about the romantic in the early 19 century, where there hadn’t been a war in more than 100 years.