Years: Pre 1607

Major Historical Events:  Congress Breaking treaty with Nitive Americans (recorded in 1871), Wounded Knee Battle (1890), Mention of Sitting Bull Protest (1891)

Major Authors / Works: Arapaho and the Sioux

Years: 1607-1763

Major Historical Events: The settling of Jamestown (1607), Bacon's Rebellion (1676), Salem Witch Trials (1692)

Major Authors / Works: Benjamin Franklin, John Winthrope, and Anne Bradstreet

Sources
"Libguides: Literature Research: Literary Periods: British & American". Masters.Libguides.Com, 2021, https://masters.libguides.com/c.php?g=598462&p=6105472#:~:text=The%20most%20influential%20writers%20of,Benjamin%20Franklin%2C%20and%20Anne%20Bradstreet.

"15 Most Important Colonial Era Events". Prezi.Com, 2021, https://prezi.com/clnhawnsr98z/15-most-important-colonial-era-events/.

Years: 1680-1820

Major Historical Events: Declaration of Independence (1776), The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1790), The Social Contract (1762) 

Major Authors / Works: John Locke (The Social Contract and Natural Rights), Mary Wallstonecraft, Abigail Adams

Time Period: Enlightenment

Dates: This poem was published in 1773 and it took place in America after Phillis Wheatley gained freedom.

Point of View: first point

Themes: Racism, Divinity, Mercy, Character, and religion

Connection: In Phillis Wheatley’s poem, she describes how she came from her pagan land. “'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,” (Wheatley 1). She describes how she came from her land as a slave and did not have any rights because of her color. This relates to the theme of racism and how it impacted African Americans. Phillis Wheatley then goes on to describe the connection between god. “That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:” (Wheatley 3). This relates to the Enlightenment and how God was really important to the enlightenment thinkers.

Sources
"Enlightenment". HISTORY, 2021, https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/enlightenment.

Time Period: Pre-Colonial

Dates: set in 1890 and published in 1892

Point of View: first person

Themes: Fate and free will, Man vs. nature, Nature as beauty, Earth, and Faith

Connection: The Wounded Knee Battle made a big impact on the Native Americans. This made them sad that they had lost many comrades and they are reaching out to god to help them out. “All are people are going up,” (Caddo 1) This describes how fate and will will determine where the people will go in the afterlife. “Above to where the father dwells,” (Caddo 3). This describes how the father is the Nature of all things and that it's a beautiful place.

Sources
Hall, Stephanie. "James Mooney Recordings Of American Indian Ghost Dance Songs, 1894 | Folklife Today". Blogs.Loc.Gov, 2021, https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2017/11/james-mooney-recordings-ghost-dance-songs/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20Ghost%20Dance%20Religion%20and,922%20%2D926.

"Tejas". Texasbeyondhistory.Net, 2021, http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/voices/images/ghost-dance.html.

Time Period: Colonialism

Dates: Published and set in 1741

Point of View: second person

Themes: Mercy, Grace, Wrath, Language, and Power

Connection: A great historical example of the enlightenment period was the Salem Witch Trials.. “...his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire;...” (Edwards 4) This shows how language was implimentied. It says how God has given up on you and that you are not worthy of him. “That world of misery; that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you.” (Edwards 2) This shows how much power god really has. God shows his power by making them miserable.

Sources
"Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God Themes | Litcharts". Litcharts, 2021, https://www.litcharts.com/lit/sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god/themes.

Years: 1820’s-1860’s

Major Historical Events: publication of Moby Dick (1851), publication of The Scarlet Letter (1850), publication of The Raven (1845)

Major Authors / Works: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, William Cullen Bryant

Sources
"Dark Romanticism Study Guide''. Americanliterature.Com, 2021, https://americanliterature.com/dark-romanticism-study-guide.

Time Period: Romanticism / Dark Gothic Romanticism

Dates: published and set in 1858

Point of View: first person

Themes: Man vs. nature, Nature as beauty, Beauty, Life, Nature

Connection: The Scarlet Letter is a great historical example when it comes to nature and man. It implements nature and man in many ways like how Hester was discriminated against the townspeople. “For I knew she was telling the bees of one Gone on the journey we all must go!” (Whittier 43–44) This describes how nature and the weather shows what the little girl is telling the bees. “Of the brook are her poor flowers, weed-o’errun, Pansy and daffodil, rose and pink.” (Whittier 11-12) This is a description of the nature that is around the beehives.

Sources
"Poem Of The Week: Telling The Bees By John Greenleaf Whittier". The Guardian, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/11/poem-week-telling-the-bees#:~:text=This%20week's%20choice%2C%20Telling%20the,common%20in%20rural%20New%20England.

Years: 1840’s-1860’s

Major Historical Events: publication of “Self Reliance” (1841), publication of “Walden” (1854), Henry David Thoreau living at Walden Pond (1845-1847)

Major Authors / Works: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau

Sources
"Henry David Thoreau | Biography, Civil Disobedience, Walden, Books, Beliefs, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-David-Thoreau.

Time Period: Transcendentalism

Dates: set and published in 1865

Point of View: first person

Themes: Death, Emotions, Pain, Sadness, Losing hope

Connection: Self Reliance is a great historical example because it shows that you have to rely on yourself and not others. “My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,” (Whitman 17-18) This describes Lincoln's death and how it has impacted this speaker. He was not able to see his captain again and never will. “But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies,” (Whitman 22-24) This describes the speaker's emotions after his captain has died.

Sources
"O Captain! My Captain". Prezi.Com, 2021, https://prezi.com/32psix20zrsl/o-captain-my-captain/.

Years: 1820’s-1865

Major Historical Events: British Carrabean (1770’s-1830’s),  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), Fugitive Slave Law (1850)

Major Authors / Works: Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Olaudah Equiano

Sources
"Slave Narrative | American Literature". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021, https://www.britannica.com/art/slave-narrative.

Time Period: Slave Narrative

Dates: set and published in 1845

Point of View: first person

Themes: Racism, Loss of innocence, Knowledge, Emotion, Power and corruption

Connection: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass ties with racism because there were many slaves that were used and treated as tools. “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest.” (Douglass 4) At this moment in time, Douglass loses his innocence and wants to gain freedom badly. “To those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavery…Those songs still follow me, to deepen my hatred of slavery,” (Douglass 8-9) This is a perfect quote that implements Douglass’ hatred for racism and slavery.

Years: roughly 1901-1950

Major Historical Events: World War I (1914-1918), The Great Depression (1929-1939), World War II (1939-1945, America entered 1941), the Holocaust (1941-1945), Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937),

airplanes (1903)

Major authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude Stein, Ralph Ellison, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, etc.

Time Period: Modernism

Dates: Published in 1925 & Set in 1922

Point of View: First person

Themes: Society, Desire, Class, The American Dream, and Love

Connection: The Harlem Renaissance is a great example that contributes to the American Dream because many black people wanted to achieve it. “He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God.” (Fitzgerald 70) The American Dream that Gatsby was chasing happened at that moment “At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.” (Fitzgerald 70) This quote perfectly shows how in love Gatsby was with Daisy and how he cherished the moment.