American literature

THE LITERATURE
OF
EXPLORATION

The story of American literature begins
in the early 1600,
long

American literature starts with orally disseminated stories,
tales,
legends,
lyrical songs

Before the first Europeans arrived
there was no written literature
among

Native American oral literature
is rich and extremely diverse.
It contains

proverbs,
legends,
stories,
humorous jokes,
poetry,
magic
and dance ceremonials.

There were also vision songs,
healing songs,
hunting songs,
songs for

The mood of the songs, narratives and poetry
ranges from sacred

Indian oral tradition
is rich and diverse.

Its contribution to American literature
is important and significant.

The other group felt that American literature was too young to

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS –
Epistola Journal
He described his trip, the adventures

people’s fears and strange imaginative monsters.

In 1528, several years after Columbus, Spaniard named ALVAR DE VACA,

He created a story about the trip’s hardships and about
the

BARTHOLOME DE LAS CASAS
is one of the most important sources

He transcribed Columbus’s journal. He also wrote History of the Indians.

The first narrations were autobiographical.
They contained a strong autobiographical element.

They also were adventure stories.
Such writings left
by many adventurers

They usually described
the hardships and obstacles
the adventurers came across.

THE COLONIAL
PERIOD

The first colony was established in 1585
but all the colonists

The colony endured
starvation,
misery,
brutality.

Initial English attempts
at colonization were not successful.
The first colony was

The literature of this period describes America as
the land of

The first stories were adventure stories and autobiographical stories.
They contained

He created The Writings of Captain John Smith.
They try to

Smith has often been accused
of boasting,
and some people have

But it is certain that he repeatedly braved hardships, extreme dangers,

Thanks to him readers heard
the story of his capture by

Captain Smith also wrote Description of New England (1616).
The Puritans

He described how
she was risking her life
to save him

He described her visit
to England in 1616,
a few weeks

PURITAN
is a broad term, referring
to any number
of Protestant

Puritans wished to return to
the simple forms of worship and

Because they refused to conform to the state church’s beliefs and

Puritans suffered persecution. Some of them left England, at first for

But fearing that they would lose their identity as English Christians,

During the period
from 1620 to 1640,
large numbers of English

The Puritans
who came to America identified themselves with pilgrims.
The word

it was
a journey to salvation.

THOMAS HARRIOT
He wrote Brief and True Report of the New-Found Land

WILLIAM BRADFORD
1590 - 1657

William Bradford was born in 1590 in the Pilgrim district of

While a child, he attended
the religious meetings
of the Puritans.

W. Bradford wrote
Of Plymoth Plantation
the most interesting of
the Puritan

His History of Plymouth Plantation tells the story
of the Pilgrim

His History is not a record of the Puritans as a

and who, after remaining
there for nearly twelve years,
had the

For more than thirty years he was
Governor of the Plymouth

Captain Smith was not the only Englishman writing in the colonies

William Strachey,
a contemporary of Shakespeare
and secretary of the Virginian

He sent to London in 1610
the manuscript of
A True

This is a story of shipwreck
on the Bermudas and
of

and it is possible that it may even have some connections

A wealthy Virginian,
he was commissioned
by the Virginian colony
to

He wrote a History of the Dividing Line run in the

He created his book “in the plain style”.
It was The

His Journal is a record
of contemporaneous events from 1630 to

He very seldom shows
his feelings,
even when he is supposed

His style is rather dry.
He believed that most events could

One of the most notable characteristics of American literature is
the

The first accomplished poet
in the USA of either sex,
was

She was the first real New England’s poet, or "The Tenth

She became the wife
of another Puritan governor,
Simon Bradstreet, with

Although she was born before the death of Shakespeare,
she seems

Her first poems were criticized
but her later poems,
written with

She refused to describe adventures, brave soldiers, warriors, kings or captains.

Samuel Sewall graduated from Harvard in 1671 and became chief justice

His Diary is precious and influences the works of the next

In Sewall's Diary readers at once feel that they are very

Sewall was one of the seven judges who sentenced nineteen persons

She was the earliest woman writer who created prose. She wrote

Her tale is called
The Sovereignty and Godness of God, Together

Her narrative presents a terrifying and moving tale of a frontier

It was one of the most widely read prose works
of

The popularity of Rowlandson’s story gave rise to
a mass of

but they had a tragic side effect: they contributed
to the

The popularity of Rowlandson’s story gave rise to a mass of

These “captivity” stories might have been entertaining, but they had a