American Exceptionalism
Idea of American civilization as a role model
Also possibility of exceptional failure (American Jeremiad)
Still shape the American culture
Nature’s Nation
Idea that American uniqueness stems from its unique nature
Americans gained their national identity through their huge, unique, varied nature
“TO AN AMERICAN PAINTER DEPARTING FOR EUROPE” by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, (1829)
Thine eyes shall see the light of distant skies:
Yet, Cole! thy heart shall bear to Europe's strand
A living image of thy native land,
Such as on thy own glorious canvass lies.
Lone lakes--savannahs where the bison roves-- Rocks rich with
summer garlands--solemn streams-- Skies, where the desert
eagle wheels and screams-- Spring bloom and autumn blaze of
boundless groves. Fair scenes shall greet thee where thou
goest--fair, But different--every where the trace of men,
Paths, homes, graves, ruins, from the lowest glen
To where life shrinks from the fierce Alpine air. Gaze on them,
till the tears shall dim thy sight,
But keep that earlier, wilder image bright.
Sonnet 14 lines, ABBA CDDC EFFE GG
Using a European form - mixture of Italien and Shakespeare- but saying that America is better than Europe (identity crises and contradiction)
Create a sense of national identity through nature
1 – Friend the painter leaves for Europe
2 – Talking about nature, which is wild and interesting, amazing
using alliterations
using punctuation
personification
features used to make it sound more wild
3 – (Volta – twist) European nature which is not as nice as American nature (is different, humans have been there)
punctuation (commas)
different language compared to the second stanza
features used to compare the developed nature of Europe to the wild nature of America
4 – coming back to the second Quatrain to forget about Europe and remember the great image of great America
alliteration
keep the image of America
“I HEAR AMERICA SINGING” by Walt Whitman (1860)
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe
and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off
work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the
deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter
singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the
morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at
work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young
fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
Free verse with 11 lines
no rhyme scheme
no sonnet
no meta
human breath as a parameter
repetitions (of words or semantics)
Every line starts with an article
America in general
America is all these people
Each individual has something which you can’t take away from them
All Individuals together make America great and better
alliterations
repetition of the word singing
singing symbols the voice of each individual
Celebration of the community and society
Talking about the working class who make America
Create a sense of national identity through people
Egalitarianism
we are all equal
no matter about gender or race
Everybody can choose for themselves (freedom) - Humanist approach
1620–1776
The Colonial Period
1776–1830
The Early Republic
(American War of Independence started 1775)
1830–1865
The American Renaissance
1865-1910
Realism and Naturalism
1910-1945
Modernism
1960s–90s
Postmodernism
free verse
Most common in American Renaissance (Romanticism)
Invented by Waltman
Poetic declaration of independence: poetry does not need structural
Restraints (no meters, no rhyme scheme)
Poetry should feel more natural
Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
formal language
the second paragraph is a normal way of speaking
text is written in a way someone actually talks (in the second part)
realistic feeling
shows that he is a good writer with the first part (proper English)
radical and new
America after the civil war came together with different backgrounds (a variety of English language)
different identities
the story of an hour by Kate Chopin (1894)
Louise Mallard, a woman in a traditional Victorian marriage, who receives the news that her husband was killed in an accident
She was glad about his death (she begins to see opportunity and freedom in her future)
personal freedom before she was living to pleasure him
Women were expected to be passive
elements of spring points out the good things in life and freedom (using personification and imagism)
open window as a symbol for freedom and a way to escape to live for herself
She died because of the shock of him still living, even though the story started with her getting the news of his Death
his presence gives Louise the message that her freedom could never be a reality
death is the only way to gain independence
dramatic irony
Narrative situation
Extradiegetic Level
no interdiegetic level
Heterodiegetic narration (the narrator does not appear as a character in the story)
fixed zero focalization
covert as the narrator stays neutral
socio-politic, Agency of a Woman in patriarchy
Realism: Text about social reality (Content) even if there is no Reality effect
Perspective: All-knowing person – not only her perspective
foreshadowing
The Colonial Period (1620 - 1776)
Actually texts by Europeans
The Great Migration (1629-1640) as the birth of the American exceptionalism
they believe they are the role model
idea of America was first invented on paper (in literature)
Only way not to get punished is to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly before God
American Jeremiad
mainstream & deeply American way of thinking about a nation’s past, present, and future
if we fail we start again
Horror or stories about Zombies as imitation about the American product and the failure of America
Romantism 1776 – 1865
Early Republic and American Renaissance belong to Romanticism (romantic writing)
The early republic (1776 – 1830) was concerned with building a state
The American Renaissance (1830 – 1865) was concerned with finding the nation’s identity which is Nature, wilderness but not the native culture
America found its voice within Romanticism
4th of July sign of the declaration of independence
writing down what America actually is
There is no American culture yet
using the framework from romanticism (nature is important)
identity out of nature
America was invented by the Europeans
paintings from people who went to a German art school drawing Americas nature
Transcendentalism
Nature as a manifestation of the divine
looking at the positive things in life
Everything is connected to each other (God is within me)
Dark Romanticism
Nature is also dangerous (dark emotions such as anger)
Walking by Henry David Thoreau (1851)
long description
analyzes the relationship between man and nature
trying to find a balance between society and our raw animal nature
extradiegetic level
autodiegetic narration ( he himself and a companion)
overt narration
fixed internal focalization
separate from society to have a walk in the west
if the government doesn’t do its job you have the right to resist
idea of independence
resist without violence
rely on yourself
in the first sentence of "Walking" that nature in its most intense form — "absolute freedom and wildness"
speak a word for nature
referring to human’s role in nature “as an inhabitant, or a part or parcel of Nature.
later criticizes members of society for their lack of such a relationship with nature
uses questions to impact the reader
Thoreau believed that nature has a moral, spiritual, and philosophical significance
political issue
freedom vs slavery
Authors such as Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau
American Realism 1865-1910
began as a reaction to and a rejection of Romanticism, with its emphasis on emotion, imagination, and the individual
reaction to Romanticism
confronted with dead and destroyed areas
social reality
Romanticism thinks about things as philosophical
Realism thinks about it as sociological and political
activities of ordinary people
The Author to her book by Anne Bradstreet (1650)
Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,
Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find.
In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.
In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;
And take thy way where yet thou art not known,
If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none:
And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.
poem out of 24 lines
rhyme scheme
AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL
narrator is speaking directly to her own book
autobiographical poem in which Bradstreet reflects on the 1650 publication of her collection
Conceit: authorship is being compared to motherhood
Deals with the power an author holds over their work
but she lost that power because someone else published her work
Work was not finished yet and every time she tried to fix it she made it worse
The speaker is disappointed in this work that she has created and feels that her own failed intellect is the reason that she was unsuccessful
book was taken by her friends to be puplished even though in her mind it was not finished yet
Money as motive doesn’t make sense
Conceit is about authorship
Uses motherhood to talk about authorship which makes motherhood the source and authorship the target
even though she is ashamed of the product the book still belongs to her as a bad child belongs to his mother
The Great Migration
First American (female) writer
A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop (1630)
epigraph at the top of the page
following introduction points out the equality between rich and poor people
addressing the question of how a loving God could allow pain in the world
might discover a need for one another
second section
asks people to give, to lend, and to forgive.
the needs of one’s family come first
third section
love and brotherhood
love god and love each other (marriage as a for everlasting bond)
values can still be found in the Us in some form today
Text focuses on how Christian communities should practice charitable actions towards each other & how this will help them become the role model they intend to be
Some are rich and some are poor to inspire them to work together, to ensure all men need each other and to showcase Gods glory
Show mercy to your fellow Christians
Those who have more should give more but only if acceptable for the family
Love as the motivation for giving
Goal: improving the world → doing God works
Last changeda year ago