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| Also known as the Puritans who believed in reforming the Church of England, not separating from it. |
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| King of England at the time the Puritans and Pilgrims left England for America. Believed in the divine right of kings. He helped force the Puritans and Pilgrims from England by trying to force them to conform to the conservative views of the Church of England. |
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| Son of James I who dissolved Parliament in 1629 and sent the members home. Charles's inflexibility and unwillingness to compromise led to civil war in 1641. Charles was beheaded in 1649. |
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| The date of the civil war between the Royalists (supporters of King Charles) and Puritans (supporters of Oliver Cromwell). |
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| Believed in purifying the Church of England by eliminating some of its pageantry and ritual. Also believed in curbing the power of bishops. |
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| Written by William Bradford, a first-hand account of the trials and sacrifices of the Pilgrims and Puritans who settled in Massachusetts. Among other values, Bradford's account described the basis of democratic self-rule that became known as the Mayflower Compact. |
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| Sometimes referred to as the Pilgrims who believed in separating from the Church of England |
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| The Puritans brought with them to the New World the Geneva Bible favored by the Calvinists. The Calvinists believed in the chosen or elect, predestination, the innate depravity (sinfulness of man), and the arbitrary grace of God. |
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| Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536-59) |
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| A religious treatise written by John Calvin, the protestant reformer, that described in detail the essential religious principles that formed the basis of Calvinist thought. |
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| "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" |
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| Perhaps the most famous sermon in American Literature delivered by Jonathan Edwards in Enfield, Ct., in 1741.The sermon outlines the essential religious beliefs of the Puritans that formed the bedrock of early American religious thinking and practice. |
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| The Second Treatise on Government (1690) |
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| One of John Locke's political treatises that defines the natural rights of men and the importance of social contracts. John Locke's views were very influential in shaping the political thinking of the founding fathers. |
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| Written by Benjamin Franklin and our first great literary work. The Autobiography is an excellent example of utilitarian literature offering moral guidelines and instructional tips on how to succeed in life. |
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| Franklin’s nom de plume, or pen name, that he used in his early essays. |
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| Poems on Various Subjects, Religious, and Moral (1773) |
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| Written by Phillis Wheatley, establishing her reputation as an important poet. It was also most likely the first book ever published by a black American. |
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| Washington Irving’s nom de plume and among the more famous pen names in American literature. |
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| Written by Washington Irving, it was the first literary work by an American to receive international acclaim. It included “the Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “Rip Van Winkle.” |
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| a literary movement in America and Europe that began during the first two decades of the nineteenth century. Romanticists questioned scientific thinking as being the only explanation for the complexities of human existence and also reacted against the didactic view that all literature should be instructional. The romanticists stresses imagination, introspection, individualism and intuition as means for understanding human existence. |
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| a literary genre that focused on the surreal and supernatural. Poe helped perfect this genre in American literature. |
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| a literary genre invented by Poe that often focused on a literary detective who was able to solve the most difficult crimes through a combination of intelligence, imagination, cunning, and wit. August Dupin is the prototype of literary detectives. |
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| a literary technique often used by Poe and Twain to develop the dramatic tension in a story. The double may be a twin or another character that looks like the protagonist and often serves as a foil or opposing force to the main character in the story. |
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| a literary critic and contemporary of Poe who helped ruin Poe’s reputation while he was alive. He also penned the first biography of Poe, depicting Poe as demonic and depraved without any redeeming virtues. Much of this one-sided negative view of Poe, the person, has lasted, making Poe one of the more misunderstood literary figures in American literature. |
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| Written by Emerson, this remarkable collection of essays describing man’s relationship to nature focuses on how nature can help in the moral development of man’s character and contribute to self-awareness. The work is often referred to as the manifesto of New England transcendentalism. |
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| a philosophical and literary movement whose major proponent in America was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Transcendentalism stressed intuition as a guide to universal truths. The transcendentalists believed in what was often called the Over-soul, a belief that God was all loving and all pervading and existed in each individual, making that individual divine. They also believed that inner, moral truths are parallel point by point by the laws of nature as perceived by the senses. |
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| home of many of our first generation of great literary artists including Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau. |
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| A story in which people, objects, events, and/or settings have both a literal and symbolic meaning that reveals a moral truth or principle. “Young Goodman Brown” is a good example of an allegory. |
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| The Scarlet Letter (1850) |
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| Considered to be our first great American novel depicting our first great literary heroine, Hester Prynne. |
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| a literary pattern used by many writers where the protagonist is usually young, goes on a journey, is tested, and is transformed by the experience. |
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| “Civil Disobedience” (1848) |
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| Thoreau’s essay that remains one of the strongest statements in American Literature about an individual’s responsibility to be a “voice of one” when that person believes the government or any institution is morally wrong. |
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| Thoreau’s first-hand account of his two years and two months at Walden Pond. The work emphasizes the renewal properties in nature that can bring about self-awareness and spiritual rejuvenation. This work also emphasizes the importance of self-reliance. |
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| Considered along with The Scarlet Letter to be one of our great 19th century American novels and Melville’s greatest work. Having had little commercial success while Melville was alive, Moby Dick now is considered a classic because, in part, it focuses on the failures of human perception and the nature of evil. |
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| A pattern often used by writers (Melville and Twain, for example) to develop the dramatic tension in a story or play. The pattern often includes a character about whom little is known. He enters a society, changes it for the better or worse, and then leaves or dies. |
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| The date that Thoreau moved to Walden Pond |
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| A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) |
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| One of the notable examples of fugitive slave narratives that appeared in the North and banned in the South before the Civil War. The work is a powerful, first person account of the brutalities of slavery and the courage of the young Frederick Douglass. |
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| A famous anti-slavery journal edited by Frederick Douglass. |
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| Walt Whitman's life work and a remarkably fresh and new voice in American literature. Whitman's vision and style influenced many poets who followed him including Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Robinson Jeffers, and James Dickey. |
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| A literary movement in American literature that began in the years before the Civil War. The realists presented the world as it was focusing on both successes and failures. They focused on individualism and described characters and settings using lots of specific detail. Characters were often working people who lived in specific places who were often characterized by their dialects and local customs. |
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| A name often given to Walt Whitman |
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| a literary movement that was popular during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The naturalist were influenced by the social Darwinists and believed that man was no better than any other creature in nature. Man was struggling to survive in a hostile, or at best indifferent, world. |
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| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) |
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| Considered to be Twain's best work and considered to be one of the finest works in all of American literature. The novel gives us one of our more memorable characters in Huck Finn who was bothered by man's inhumanity to man. Twain tackles two of his favorite topics in the novel: bigotry and racial injustice. |
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