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Period Characteristics:

1. Oral literature: epic narratives, creation myths, stories, poems, songs.

2. Use stories to teach moral lessons and convey practical information about the natural world.

3. Deep respect for nature and animals.

4. Cyclical worldview.

5. Figurative language/parallelism.

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2200 B.C.

1. The Tower of Babel is a biblical story found in Genesis 11:1-9, describing humanity’s attempt to build a tower reaching heaven to make a name for themselves.

2. According to the story, God confounded their language so they could no longer understand each other, which led to the scattering of people across the earth.

3. The tower was believed to be constructed in the city of Babel, which is often associated with ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia.

4. The story explains the origin of different languages and the diversity of human cultures.

5. Historically and archaeologically, no definitive evidence of the tower has been found, and it is generally considered a myth or allegory rather than a historical structure.

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1. c. 2100 B.C. – The decline of the Old Kingdom in Egypt and the beginning of the First Intermediate Period.

2. c. 1700 B.C. – The rise of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia.

3. c. 1500 B.C. – The Shang Dynasty begins in China, establishing early Chinese civilization.

4. 776 B.C. – The first recorded Olympic Games are held in Greece.

5. 476 A.D. – The fall of the Western Roman Empire, marking the end of Ancient Rome.

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1. 1607 – Jamestown, in present-day Virginia, becomes the first permanent English settlement in North America, established by the Virginia Company of London.

2. May 14, 1607 – The first successful English expedition lands at Jamestown, led by Captain Christopher Newport.

3. 1608 – John Smith arrives at Jamestown and helps establish order and discipline among the settlers, contributing to the colony’s survival.

4. 1610 – The “Starving Time” occurs during the winter, when food shortages nearly wipe out the colony, but it survives with aid from Native Americans.

5. 1619 – The first African slaves arrive in Jamestown, marking the beginning of African slavery in English North America; also, the first representative legislative assembly, the House of Burgesses, is established.

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Native American tribes had diverse and sophisticated cultures, with some, like the Iroquois Confederacy, developing complex political systems and alliances that influenced later democratic ideas.

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Many Native American societies were highly skilled in agriculture, cultivating crops such as maize (corn), beans, and squash, which formed the foundation of their diets and supported large, settled communities.

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Puritanism and Early Settlement  of First "American" colonies 1600 - 1800

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Puritanism and Early Settlement  of First "American" colonies 1600 - 1800

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1. Wrote mostly diaries and histories, which expressed the connections between God and their everyday lives.
2. South to "purify" the Church of England by reforming to the simpler forms of worship and church organization described in the New Testament.
3. Saw religion as a personal, inner experience.
4. Believed in original sin and "elect" who would be saved.
5. Used a plain style of writing.

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William Bradford
-"Of Plymouth Plantation"

Anne Bradstreet (poetry)

John Edwards
-"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

Edward Taylor
-"Huswifery"

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Between 1620 and 1640, some 80,000 Puritans left England for various destinations, including New England, the West Indies, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Many emigrants to New England came in family groups, not just single young men.

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The Massachusetts Bay Colony & Self-Government

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The Massachusetts Bay Colony & Self-Government

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In 1629, Puritan leaders got a royal charter from King Charles I, creating the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They brought the charter with them when they migrated to New England. Because of the charter, they were able to set up their own government, elect a governor, have a representative body, and exercise considerable self-rule.

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Benjamin Franklin - autobiography

Patrick Henry - "Speech to the Virginia Convention"

Thomas Paine - "The Crisis"

Phyllis Wheatley - Poetry

The Consitution

The Bill of Rights

The Declaration of Independence

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The Age of Reason, also known as the Enlightenment, encourages people to rely on logic, science, and reason instead of tradition or religious authority to understand the world.

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Many key ideas from this period (such as natural rights, democracy, and freedom of speech) directly influenced the American and French Revolutions and the creation of modern governments.

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The American Renaissance

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1. Everything in the world, including human beings, is a reflection of the Divine Soul.

2. People can use their intuition to behold God's spirit revealed in nature or in their own souls.

3. Self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority and link conformity to tradition.

4. Important social and political movements include the Abolitionist, Utopian, and Women's Suffrage Movements

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Ralph Waldo Emerson
—Nature
—"Self-Reliance"

Henry David Thoreau
—Walden
—Life in the Woods

Louisa May Alcott
—Little Women

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Informal movement: Transcendentalism wasn’t organized, but writers like Emerson and Thoreau met to share ideas in groups like the Transcendental Club.

Cultural influence: Its ideas on self-reliance and nature shaped American literature and inspired reformers, including early women’s rights advocates.

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1800 - 1860

The War of 1812

1812-1815

California Gold Rush 1848-1855

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1. Valued feeling, intuition, idealism, and inductive reasoning.

2. Placed faith in inner experience and the power of the imagination.

3. Shunned the artificiality of civilization and sought unspoiled nature as a path to spirituality.

4. Championed individual freedom and the worth of the individual

5. Saw poetry as the highest expression of the imagination

6. Dark Romantics: used dark and supernatural themes/settings (Gothic style)

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Washington Irving
—"Rip van Winkle"

Emily Dickinson
—poetry

Walt Whitman
—Leaves of Grass

Edgar Allan Poe
—"The Raven"

Nathaniel Hawthorne
—The Scarlet Letter

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Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, the same town known for the Salem witch trials. Thus history influenced his writing about sin, guilt, and judgement.

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Hawthorne was an important writer in the American Renaissance, a time when American literature grew and focused on human nature and morality.

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McCarthyism Fueled Hysteria and Persecution 

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McCarthyism Fueled Hysteria and Persecution 

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McCarthyism was a period in the early 1950s when fear of communism led people and government officials to make widespread accusations without solid evidence, creating a climate similar to the Salem witch trials. During this time, many government workers, artists, and actors were accused of communist sympathies, often ruining careers simply based on suspicion. Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory of this era to show how fear and accusation can destroy lives.

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Loyalty Programs and Anti-Communist Laws Increased Fear

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Loyalty Programs and Anti-Communist Laws Increased Fear

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In 1974, President Truman signed an executive order requiring federal employees to be screened for loyalty, which marked the start of a broader anti-communist movement. Later laws, like the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950, required Communist organizations to register with the government and heightened suspicion. These measures contributed to the political paranoia that The Crucible criticizes by showing how institutions can unjustly

target people.

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1. He was a major leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
Langston Hughes helped shape a cultural movement in the 1920s that celebrated African American art, music, and literature. His poems often reflected the everyday experiences, struggles, and hopes of Black Americans.

2. He wrote poetry inspired by jazz and blues music.
Hughes loved jazz and blues, and he often wrote poems that matched the rhythm and feeling of that music style. Because of this, some of his poems feel almost like song lyrics when you read them out loud.

3. He wrote more than just poetry.
Besides poems, Hughes also wrote novels, short stories, plays, newspaper columns, and children’s books. He wanted his writing to reach many different audiences and inspire people in different ways.

Source

Poetry Foundation – Langston Hughes Biography
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/langston-hughes

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1. She wrote nearly 1,800 poems, but very few were published while she was alive.
Emily Dickinson kept most of her poems in handwritten booklets called “fascicles.” After her death, her family discovered hundreds of poems that the world had never seen before.

2. She had a very unique writing style.
Dickinson often used dashes, unusual capitalization, and short lines in her poems. At the time, editors tried to “fix” her writing, but modern readers appreciate her original style because it gives her poetry a distinct voice.

3. She lived a very private and quiet life.
Later in her life, Dickinson rarely left her house and communicated with many friends through letters instead of visiting them. Despite this isolation, she wrote powerful poems about nature, death, love, and the human experience.

Source

Poetry Foundation – Emily Dickinson Biography
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/emily-dickinson

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1. He helped create the modern detective story.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” which introduced the character C. Auguste Dupin. This story is often considered the first modern detective story, influencing later characters like Sherlock Holmes.

2. He was famous for dark and mysterious writing.
Poe became well known for poems and stories that explore horror, death, and the supernatural, including famous works like “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

3. “The Raven” made him famous almost overnight.
When Poe published “The Raven” in 1845, it quickly became extremely popular. The poem’s repeating word “Nevermore” made it one of the most recognizable poems in American literature.

Source

Poetry Foundation – Edgar Allan Poe Biography
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/edgar-allan-poe

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Civil War (1861-1865)

Reconstruction Era (1865-1877)

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1) Feelings of disillusionment

2) Focus on slums, factories, poor workers, and corrupt politicians

3) Depicted everyday life realistically

4) Explained behavior through psychology and society.

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Mark Twain

Huckleberry Finn

Jack London

The Call of the Wild

"To Build a Fire"

Stephen Crane

"The Open Boat"

Ambrose Bierce

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"

Kate Chopin

"The Story of an Hour"

The Awakening

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The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, connecting the eastern and western United States and making travel and trade much faster.

Source:
https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/transcontinental-railroad

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The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886 and became a symbol of freedom and opportunity for immigrants arriving in America.

Source:
https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm

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Interesting Fact #1

Mark Twain worked as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, and his pen name comes from a riverboat term meaning the water was deep enough for safe navigation.

Source:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mark-Twain

Interesting Fact #2

He was fascinated by technology and was one of the first authors to use a typewriter to submit a manuscript.

Source:
https://www.history.com/topics/mark-twain

Interesting Fact #3

Twain became close friends with inventor Thomas Edison and even appeared in some of Edison's early films.

Source:
https://www.biography.com/writer/mark-twain

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Interesting Fact #1

Alice Walker became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Color Purple in 1983.

Source:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Walker

Interesting Fact #2

After an eye injury as a child, Walker spent more time reading and writing. Her mother gave her a typewriter, which helped encourage her love of writing.

Source:
https://www.britannica.com/explore/100women/profiles/alice-walker

Interesting Fact #3

Walker was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked to promote equality as she began her writing career.

Source:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Walker

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Modernism
1900-1950

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World War I
1914-1918

The Great Depression
1929-1939

World War II
1939-1945

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1. Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the "American Dream": the independent, self-reliant, individual will triumph.
2. Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form over the traditional.
3. Interest in the inner workings of the human mind (ex. Stream of consciousness).

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Lorraine Hansberry
-A Raisin in the Sun

F. Scott Fitzgerald
-The Great Gatsby

William Faulkner
-"A Rose for Emily"

Eudora Welty
-"A Worn Path"

Robert Frost
-poetry

T. S. Eliot
-The Waste Land
-"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

John Steinbeck
-Of Mice and Men
-The Grapes of Wrath

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Two Interesting Facts About Modernism (1900-1950)

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Two Interesting Facts About Modernism (1900-1950)

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Fact 1:

Many Modernist writers were deeply affected by World War I, which caused them to question traditional values and the idea that society was constantly progressing. This led to themes of disillusionment and uncertainty in their writing.

Fact 2:

The Lost Generation was a group of American writers, including Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, who came of age during World War I and wrote about the struggles of finding meaning in a changing world.

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Interesting Fact #1:
During the 1920s, many Americans believed the American Dream meant owning new consumer goods such as cars, radios, and household appliances. Easy access to credit allowed more families to buy products they could not previously afford, creating a culture focused on prosperity and success.

Source:
History.com – Roaring Twenties Overview

Interesting Fact #2:
The automobile became a symbol of the American Dream. By the end of the decade, millions of Americans owned cars, especially the Ford Model T, which provided greater freedom, mobility, and economic opportunity.

Source:
The Henry Ford – Model T Facts

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Fact 1: The American Dream Changed During the Great Depression

During the 1930s, many Americans struggled with unemployment and poverty because of the Great Depression. As a result, the American Dream became less about getting rich and more about having a stable job, food, and financial security.

Source:
History.com: Great Depression Facts

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Fact 2: World War II Created New Opportunities

During the 1940s, World War II helped revive the economy. Millions of Americans found jobs in factories producing military supplies, and many families experienced greater financial stability. This renewed hope in achieving the American Dream through hard work and opportunity.

Source:
National WWII Museum: The Home Front During WWII

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In the 1950s, owning a home in the suburbs became a major part of the American Dream. Programs like the GI Bill and FHA loans helped many families, especially returning veterans, buy affordable homes. Homeownership increased from about 40% in 1945 5o 60% by 1960.

Source:
Rise of the Suburbs (GBH)

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The American Dream in the 1950s also focused on middle-class prosperity and consumer goods. Many families hoped to own a house, a car, modern appliances, and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. However, opportunities were not ewual becuase discriminatory housing practices often excluded Black Americans from mnay suburban neighborhoods.

Source:
OpenStax: The American Dream

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"The Jazz Age"

"The Roaring 20s"

1920–1940

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1919-1925

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1920-1933

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1.Black cultural movement in Harlem, New York

2.Some poetry rhythms based on spirituals and jazz, lyrics on the blues, and diction from the street talk of the ghettos

3. Other poetry used conventional lyrical forms

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James Weldon Johnson

Claude McKay

Countee Cullen

Langston Hughes (poetry)

Zora Neale Hurston

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During the 1960s, the American Dream expanded beyond simply owning a home and having a stable job. The Civil Rights Movement helped advance the idea that all Americans should have equal opportunities to succeed, including access to housing, education, and employment. The passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 was an important step toward making the American Dream more accessible to everyone.

Source:

HUD Interactive Timeline

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Fair Housing Act or Civil Rights Movement march.

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During the 1970s, many Americans still pursued the American Dream through homeownership, but rising inflation and economic challenges made it harder for some families to achieve financial security. Homes increasingly became viewed as investments, while concerns about affordability and the cost of living grew.

Source:Time Magazine: Suburbs, Segregation, and Inequality

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A 1970s suburban neighborhood or a family standing in front of a newly purchased home.

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Fact 1:

In the 1980s, the American Dream became strongly tied to wealth, luxury, and material success. Many people believed success meant owning nice homes, cars, and showing financial achievement. This idea was heavily influenced by the rising corporate culture and media portrayals of success.

Source: https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/1980s-america

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The 1980s saw economic growth under Reaganomics, which focused on tax cuts and business expansion. While some Americans became very wealthy, income inequality increased, making the American Dream easier for some and harder for others.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Reaganomics

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The 1990s saw one of the longest periods of economic growth in U.S. history, which increased optimism that hard work could still lead to financial success and upward mobility.
Source: History of the 1990s Economy

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By the early 2000s, many Americans began to feel that the American Dream was becoming harder to reach due to rising inequality, job outsourcing, and economic uncertainty—even during periods of growth.
Source: Pew Research Social Trends – American Dream Attitudes

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Early 2000s Shift (Housing + Uncertainty)

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1950–present

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Korean War
1950-1953

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Vietnam War
1954-1975

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1. Influenced by studies of media, language, and information technology.
2. Sense that little is unique; culture endlessly duplicates itself.
3. New literary forms and techniques: works composed of only dialogue, or combining fiction and nonfiction, experimenting with the physical appearance of their work.

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Alice Walker

Wallace Stevens

e.e. cummings

Maya Angelou

Anne Sexton

James Baldwin

Richard Wright

Sandra Cisneros

Amy Tan