1820-1865
The scope of the Romantic Period.
individual
At the heart of romanticism, the center of the literary act, is always the _______. Expressing feeling, emotion, and attitude are therefore key.
scientific reasoning
Romanticism rejected _______ __________ as the sole way to understand the universe or human nature.
William Cullen Bryant
Linked to the Fireside Poets, his career began with a volume of poetry entitled "Poems" (1821), lyrical intimations on the natural world and cycle of life. Found great truth and spirituality in the natural world and landscape.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Broke with the Unitarian church and became skeptical of religious dogma that seemed to oppress individuality. His essay "Nature" became the transcendental manifesto for writers. Published his transcendental ideas in The Dial. Influenced by German philosophy. Believed in the individual divine soul.
The Dial
A journal that ran from 1840-1844, powered centrally by transcendentalist writers Thoreau, Fuller, and Emerson.
The Fireside Poets
John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and William Cullen Bryant belonged to this group of famous poets known for their poetry's accessibility to memorization and public recitation.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Skeptical of transcendentalism and morally ambiguous, this author's work contains a sense of skepticism and social critique, especially in relation to Puritans and Calvinist theology. Despite this, he became friends with Thoreau, Fuller, and Emerson.
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterpiece, published in 1850.
Simms
William Gilmore _____: Strong supporter of slavery, opposed to "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Edgar Allen Poe pronounced him the best novelist America had ever produced. Major force in antebellum Southern literature.
John Greenleaf Whittier
Immensely popular, provocative, and well-read poet in his day, but his popularity waned after his death. Critics have dismissed his poetry for its didacticism and moralizing. Wrote over one hundred poems in support of immediate emancipation of the slaves and warnings of an inevitable war between the states. Fireside Poet.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Achieved rock-star status as a poet, so that even his birthdays were celebrated by whole towns and schools. Wrote "Poems on Slavery" (1842) which garnered much press for its abolitionist leanings; "Evangeline" (1847), a narrative love poem set during the French and Indian War; and "The Song of Hiawatha" (1855), a narrative poem on American Indian life and culture. Fireside Poet.
Voices of the Night
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's first book of poetry, published in 1839.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author based in Boston. Wrote the "Breakfast-Table" series, beginning with "The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table" (1858). Important medical reformer. Popularized the terms "Boston Brahmin" and "anesthesia.
Old Ironsides
Work of poetry by Oliver Wendell Holmes, published in 1830, which was influential in the eventual preservation of the USS Constitution.
Edgar Allen Poe
Best known for his gothic tales, he also wrote many poems and articles on literary criticism, and is known as the first detective-story writer. His life was turbulent and complex, the darkness of which permeates many of his stories. Coined the term "effect" as used to describe exciting the senses.
Margaret Fuller
Associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson because of her work for the Dial and membership in the Transcendental Club, this writer made her most lasting contributions to American Literature in relation to women's rights ("Woman in the Nineteenth Century" in 1845) and coverage of the Italian Revolution (1846-50).
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Author of the infamous "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1851), the most important text of the 19th century.
Henry David Thoreau
Writer who once decided to lie in the woods and begin writing a book centered completely in the natural world. Eventually the project evolved into "Walden," his most heralded work, organized by concurrent themes and motifs of simplicity, freedom from society, and the ills of materialism.
Henry David Thoreau
Great friends with fellow transcendentalists Fuller and Emerson, his work inspired Gandhi and MLK Jr. with its nonviolent approach to "civil" government.
Frederick Douglass
This former slave's autobiography, published in 1845, is the single most important narrative of slave life.
Jacobs
Harriet ______: African-American writer who escaped from slavery to become an abolitionist speaker and reformer. Her single work, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" (1861), published under the pseudonym Linda Brent, was one of the first autobiographical narratives about the struggle for freedom by female slaves and an account of the sexual harassment they endured.
Herman Melville
This writer's work leans close to the darker side of romanticism. His books often explore the struggles each individual faces with himself, God, the natural world, and his fellow man. As his novels became more ambitious, his readership and finances suffered.
I prefer not to
In Melville's highly-debated short story, "Bartleby the Scrivener," Bartleby's famous response when asked by the Lawyer to complete a simple task is: "__________.
Billy Budd
Unfinished sea novel left behind by Herman Melville upon his death and posthumously published in 1924.
Walt Whitman
The father of free verse. His poetry broke literary and social conventions while maintaining a strong connection with and for the American people and the country's social landscape. Called the first New Yorker.
Leaves of Grass
The seminal work by Walt Whitman, published in 1855 and revised so many times that studying definitive edition is difficult. Many reviewers found later revisions lewd, overtly sexual, subversive, and poetically inferior to the great British poets.
Harper
Frances Ellen Watkins _____: African-American abolitionist, poet, and author. Born free in Baltimore, her first and most famous novel, "Iola Leroy" (1892), explores the life of a free mulatta as she interacts with racism, classism, and sexism.
Cooke
Rose Terry _____: Published "The Mormon's Wife" (1855), which dealt powerfully with the leprosy of Mormonism.
Warner
Charles Dudley ______: Essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today" (1873). His reflective sketches, "My Summer in a Garden" (1870), were popular for their abounding, refined humour, mellow personal charm, and delicately finished style.
Charles Dudley Warner
Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." This remark is often misattributed to Mark Twain, but was actually made by his good friend, ___________________.
Emily Dickinson
A strict Calvinist whose poetry was never meant for publication. Her untitled poems used short, fragmented lines, capitalized nouns, an abundance of dashes and spaces, and extended metaphors.
Kirkland
Joseph ______: Chicago businessman, literary editor of the Chicago Tribune, and author of two realistic novels of pioneer life in the Far West: "Zury: The Meanest Man in Spring County" (1887) and "The McVeys" (1888).
Davis
Rebecca Harding ____: Author and journalist deemed a pioneer of literary realism in American literature. Her most important literary work is the novella "Life in the Iron Mills" (1861). Sought to effect social change for blacks, women, Native Americans, immigrants, and the working class, by intentionally writing about the plights of these marginalized groups. Credited with over 500 published works, yet almost entirely forgotten by the time of her death.
William Bradford
Govenor of Plymouth, Massachusets Bay Colony Recoreded the MayFlower CompactWrote much of the know history: barbaric winters, few freinds, iscolation
Anne Bradstreet
First American to publish a book of peoms. Wrote about religious and daily life, love poems to husband and childrenBorn in England, Moved when 18
Edward Taylor
First American writer. Studied at Harvard, minister and poet. Acted as a missionary. Wrote about Christian history, funeral elegies and a Medival Debate
Michael Wigglesworth
Harvard, minister doctor. Wrote "Day of Doom" under Calvinistic Doctrine. Fused horor and Calvinism. Wrote metaphysical poetry (out of style in UK). Bleived they paralelled old Testament
Samuel Sewall
Hravard, legal, admninistarative, biblical work. Dairy, account of his daily life. Wrote about his womans disagrements about wearing wigs and rideing in a coach
Mary Rowlandson
Ministers wifecaptive 11 weeks during Indian massacure, wrote anit-indian literature
Cotton Mather
Wrote of Massachustes settlement in biographies and pamphlets. His book represented the Puritians wondering into the wilderness of God's kingdom. "Saints Lives
Roger Williams
Banned from Mass., lived with indans that winter, started RI. Wrote Kings didnt have right to charter land that belonged to Indians. Cts. shouldnt punish ppl for reglious reasons. DemocracyWrote about indians and religous tolleration
John Woolman
Quakers journal about his inner life in a pure heartfelt way, little education First Anti Slavery writer "Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes,
Jonathan Edwards
Highly educatedDefended calvinsm, known for his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"God holds you over hellgrotest and horrifing sermons
Sothern Literature/ Middle Conolnies: Early
Aristocratic and Secular. There were man poor farmers but the ones who wrote were rich. The church was the focus of social life.
William Byrd
Described plantation life. Was merchant, trader and planter. Wrote the history of the Dividing Line betwen VA and NC. Critized the colonist in VA, saying they spent more on a tavern than their church.
Robert Beverley
Wealthy planter/author of "The Hisotry of the Present State of VA". Work aobut life in VA, it was satirical, iroinic about other colonies.
Olaudah Equiano
Black writer from Niger wrote "The Intresting Narative of the life of Olaudah Equian". Account of his homeland, horors of slavery. Became a Christian
Jupiter Hammon
Slaver writer on Long Island. Wrote relgious poems and "An Address to the Negroes of the State of New York". Wanted children of slaves to be free. "An Evening Thought" was the first AA poem published
John Winthrop
As governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Winthrop (1588-1649) was instrumental in forming the colony's government and shaping its legislative policy. He envisioned the colony, centered in present-day Boston, as a "city upon a hill" from which Puritans would spread religious righteousness throughout the world.
Thomas Shepard
Puritan misnister, transcribed confessions of his congregation, oral confessions rather than writtenCalvinist
John Smith
Helped found and govern Jamestown. His leadership and strict discipline helped the Virginia colony get through the difficult first winter. "He who shall not work shall not eat"Wrote of Histories of states and made maps
Early Colonial Literary Movements
Puritanism in New England Armianism Calvinism Sermon Structure Conversion Narratives Meditation Tradition Captivity Narratives Salem Witch Trials
Common Beliefs
Tabula RosaHumans can improve situationsReason (I think, therfore I am)Universal Benovlence (help others)Outdated social institutions cause unsociable behavior
Intrests of Writers
Bible, Classics, Nautre, Science, World, Utopian Societies, Duty to succeed, Self search
Characeristics of Society
Liberalism, Captialsim, Indepencence, Laissez Faire, Progressivism
Diesm
God is discovered through reason, no supernaturalGod created the Earth but disassociated with it
Traditoinal Religion
God is divine and created the world, worship in church
John and Abigail Adams
News Letters of Abigail AdamsLegal Papers of John Adams
Elizabeht Ashbridge
Some Account of the Fore Part of the Life of Elizabeth AshbridgeCame to NY as an indentured servant.Spiritual journey of Anglican, Baptist, Quaker
Hugh Henry Brackenridge
American lawyer and writer, "Modern Chivalry". Uses humor to reveal contraversy and humore of the early American Republic
Charles Brockden Brown
Wrote political pamphlets, but know for the early Amercian novel, wrote novels: Wieland, Ormond, Edgar Huntly, Alcuin
William Hill Brown
Rich knowledge of European lit, he wanted to make unqiuly American Lit. The first American Novel: "The Power of Sympathy
The Conneticut Wits
Joel Barlow (Prospects of Peace), and Timothy Dwight (the Conquest of Canaa), along with others wrote "a mock-heroic epic called The Anarchaid: A Poem on the restoration of Chaos and Substantial Night" A protest of post rev war political chaos
St. Jean De Crevecoeur
French writer, farmer. His book "Letters from an American Farmer" made him famous. Wrote about American life, values. Explored concept of American dream. Created an American identity for Europeans to look at/read about. Celebrated religious diversity, and the simplicity of life
Hannah Webster Foster
Wrote the Coquette: or the History of Eliza WhartonFancy vs reason: but reason rules (how women should make choices); Franklinian vs calvinism; imagination not safe; epistolary & seduction novel; wants personal freedom but cant have it; women need men in life; didacticism: women with too much freedom is dangerous (submit to authority, be pragmatic); teaches via poetic justice; novel requires imagination but discounts it at the same time.
Benjamin Franklin
Poor Richard's Almanack Intrest in the individual and society, distinct American values
Philip Morin Freneau
People are naturally good, nature is God's revalationwrote: The poems of Philip Freneau, poet of the American Revolution
Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence, Adams-Jefferson letters, Crusade against Ingorance
Sarah Kemble Knight
Bostonian, Schoolteacher, businesswomanTravelled Boston-New York-Boston (5 months)"The Journal of Madam Knight
Judith Sargent Murray
Wrote "On the Equality of Sexes" women's theorist who argued for women's education on the basis that women are equally mentally capable
Samson Occom
a Mohegan Indian who was the first Indian to attend school at Davenport. Raised money for charity for a school later known as Dartmouth University and few Indians could attend (The Great Awakening)Wrote "A short Narative of my Life
Thomas Paine
Patriot and writer whose pamphlet Common Sense, published in 1776, convinced many Americans that it was time to declare independence from Britain. Wrote "Common Sense
Francisco Palou
Devout missionary, in the San Fransisco Bay area, Native American
Susanna Haswell Rowson
author of Charlotte Temple (1791); tale of seduction & abondment ran up tremendous sales & remained in print for more than a century, First Best selling Novel
Royall Tyler
Wrote first American Play, Judge, Lawyer and Supreme Court"The Yankee in London" "The Contrast; a Comedy"wrote comedies
Mercy Otis Warren
New England author and poet, her plays and stories made fun of the British --> helped turn loyalists into patriots
Phillis Wheatley
A slave girl from Boston, became a distinguished poet and was brought to England, where she published a book of her versesWritings: An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of that celebrated Divine
1620-1820
The scope of the Colonial and Early National Period.
Casas
Bartolome de las ______: Spanish historian, social reformer, and Dominican friar, whose extensive accounts of the colonization of the West Indies revealed the atrocities committed by colonizers against the indigenous peoples.
Castillo
Bernal Diaz del ______: Spanish conquistador, encomendero, and governor in Chiapas and Guatemala, an outspoken critic of the over-blown claims made by Bartolome de las Casas.
Thomas Morton
Early American colonist from Devon, famed for founding the colony of Merrymount and writing the humorous three-volume "New English Canaan" (1637).
John Smith
Cheeky explorer who became popular for his own narrative of his capture by Powhatan and rescue by Pocahontas.
John Winthrop
Puritan pastor, famous for his sermon, "A Modell of Christian Prosperity" (City on a Hill), delivered to passengers on the flagship Arbella.
William Bradford
Leader of the Pilgrims, a group who breached from Roman Catholicism to form independent churches. Wrote "Of Plymouth Plantation", a definitive work detailing the Pilgrims' adventures.
Anne Bradstreet
Her collection of poems, "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America" (1650), reveals her love for her husband, devotion to her family, and observations of colonial life.
Mary Rowlandson
Captured by the Wampanoag Indians during King Philip's War, her account of captivity was published in 1682 and became the most popular American text in the 17th century.
Samuel Sewall
Judge, businessman, and printer. Best known for his involvement in the Salem Witch Trials. Wrote the essay "The Selling of Joseph" (1700) which criticized slavery.
Cotton Mather
Known for his history of Christianity in New England, "Magnalia Christi Americana" (1702), and for his heavy involvement in the Salem Witch Trials.
Jonathan Edwards
The most widely anthologized preacher of colonial America. The classic "fire and brimstone" preacher, his most famous sermon was "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741).
Benjamin Franklin
Took twenty years to write his autobiography. Created the humorous character Silence Dogood, who escapades were published in his brother's magazine when he was still a teenager. Strove to reach "Moral Perfection.
Samson Occum
The first Native American to publish his writings in English. One of the foremost missionaries, together with John Eliot, to cross-fertilize Native American communities with Christianized European culture.
Crevecoeur
J. Hector St. John de ______: Wrote "Letters from an American Farmer" which was highly successful in both England and France.
Equiano
Olaudah _____: His autobiography was the defining account of the life of a slave before Douglass's.
Phillis Wheatley
A young, black slave, her first book of poems, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religions, and Morals" (1773) was published before she was 20 and a letter of authentication had to be attached to the manuscript to prove she had written it.
Susanna Rowson
Published "Charlotte Temple" (1791) which became the first American best-selling novel.
William Hill Brown
Wrote the first American novel, "The Power of Sympathy" (1789).
Washington Irving
The first American international superstar. "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon" housed his most mythologized stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle.
Rip Van Winkle
The first American story.
Catharine Maria Sedgwick
American novelist of "domestic fiction," she promoted Republican motherhood. Wrote "Married or Single" (1857) which put forth the idea that women should not marry if it meant compromising their self-respect.
James Fenimore Cooper
Best known for his Leatherstocking series, five novels in which he reveals the underbelly of American nationalism. Most famous in the series is "The Last of the Mohicans" (1826). Wrote one of the first historical romances of the American Revolution, "The Spy" (1821), to prove to his wife he could write as well as his English contemporaries.
The Bread and Cheese Club
A literary society founded in part by James Fenimore Cooper, which housed romantic painters of the Hudson River School and even William Cullen Bryant.
William Apess
Ordained Methodist minister, writer, and activist of mixed Pequot descent, a leader in Massachusetts. His autobiography was among the first published by a Native American writer
The Puritan Age
1620-1720
Concerns of the Puritan Age
religion and survival
Writings of the Puritan Age
diaries, sermons, historical accounts, and poetry
The Age of Enlightenment
1720-1820
Concerns of the Age of Enlightenment
politics, human rights, and commerce
Writings of the Age of Enlightenment
philosophy, political documents, and speeches
The Romantic Age
1820-1865
Concerns of the Romantic Age
emotion, imagination, and intuition
Writings of the Romantic Age
poetry, short stories, novels, and philosophical essays
The Age of Realism
1865-1895
Concerns of the Age of Realism
life as it is, everyday people, events, language, places, and the Civil War
Writings of the Age of Realism
poetry, short stories, novels, and essays
The Age of Naturalism
1895-1920
Concerns of the Age of Naturalism
pessimism, and man as a victim
Writings of the Age of Naturalism
poetry, short stories, novels, essays, and nonfiction
The Age of Disillusionment
1920-1945
Concerns of the Age of Disillusionment
the results of WWI, the Great depression, despair, and WWII
Writings of the Age of Disillusionment
poetry, short stories, novels, essays, nonfiction, drama, and biographies
The Age of Anxiety
1945-present
Concerns of the Age of Anxiety
loss of identity, nuclear war, and technology
Writings of the Age of Anxiety
poetry, short stories, novels, essays, nonfiction, drama, and biographies
AMBIGUITY
The expression of an idea in language that gives more than one meaning and leaves uncertainty as to the intended significance of the statement. Literary critics often extend the meaning of this word to include a variety of ways that language can express ideas with artistic complexity, often through the play between denotations and connotations. See TENSION.
AMUSEMENT
That which detains or engages the mind; a pleasurable occupation of the senses, or that which furnishes it, as dancing, sports or music. [1828]
ANTEBELLUM
Of the decades in American history before the Civil War (1861-1865).
APPETITE
1. The natural desire of pleasure or good; the desire of gratification, either of the body or the mind. 2. A desire of food or drink; a painful sensation occasioned by hunger or thirst. 3. Strong desires; eagerness or longing. [1828]
BEAUTY
1. An assemblage of graces, or an assemblage of properties in the form of the person or any other object, which pleases the eye. . . . 5. In the arts, symmetry of parts; harmony; justness of composition [1828]
BELLES LETTRES
A mode of writing that, as literary historian David S. Shields explains in his contribution to the 1994 Cambridge History of American Literature, "subordinated the traditional tasks of edification, revelation, and memorialization to the work of stimulating social pleasure." This mode "flourished in England in conjunction with the rise of urban sociability in the 1670s" and, in British North America, it characterized the refined and cosmopolitan social life of the provincial capitals. It appeared in spoken performances (such as toasts), manuscripts (circulating "private" journals), and newspapers.
COSMOPOLITAN
Belonging to all parts of the world; not restricted to any one country or its inhabitants; having the characteristics which arise from, or are suited to, a range over many different countries; free from national limitations or attachments; also, usually, urban, and intimate with life in the capital.
COURAGE
That quality of mind which enables men to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, or without fear or depression of spirits [1828]
CULTURE
1. The act of tilling and preparing the earth for crops; cultivation; the application of labor or other means of improvement. 2. The application of labor or other means to improve good qualities in, or growth. [1828]
DEFERENCE
A yielding in opinion; submission of judgment to the opinion or judgment of another. Hence, regard; respect. [1828]
DESIRE
An emotion or excitement of the mind, directed to the attainment or possession of an object from which pleasure, sensual, intellectual or spiritual, is expected; a passion excited by the love of an object, or uneasiness at the want of it, and directed to its attainment or possession. [1828]
DICTION
Literary term. Choice of words.
DISTINCTION
1. The act of separating . . . 2. A note of mark or difference. . . . 7. Eminence; superiority; elevation of rank in society, or elevation of character; honorable estimation. 8. That which confers eminence or superiority. [1828]
DUTY
That which a person owes to another; that which a person is bound, by any natural, moral or legal obligation, to pay, do or perform [1828]
EGALITARIAN
That which asserts the equality of mankind. Note this is an early twentieth-century word. Compare LEVELER.
EXPERIENCE
1. Trial, or a series of trials or experiments; active effort or attempt to do or to prove something, or repeated efforts. . . . 3. Trial from suffering or enjoyment; suffering itself; the use of the senses . . . 4. Knowledge derived from trials, use, practice, or from a series of observations. [1828]
FANCY
The faculty by which the mind forms images or representations of things at pleasure. It is often confused with imagination; but imagination is rather the power of combining and modifying our conceptions. [1828]
FEELING
1. The sense of touch; the sense by which we perceive external objects which come in contact with the body, and obtain ideas of their tangible qualities; one of the five senses. 2. Sensation; the effect of perception. . . . 3. Faculty or power of perception; sensibility. 4. Nice sensibility . . . 5. Excitement; emotion. [1828]
FEMINIST
An advocate for the social, political, and legal equality of the sexes. A twentieth-century word. In the nineteenth century, feminists were known as advocates for "woman's rights.
FUN
Sport; vulgar merriment. A low word. [1828]
GENEROSITY
The quality of being generous; liberality in principle; a disposition to give liberally or to bestow favors; a quality of the heart or mind opposed to meanness or parsimony; nobleness of soul; magnanimity. [1828]
GRACE
1. The free, unmerited love and favor of God; eternal life, final salvation. 2. That, in manner, deportment or language, which renders it appropriate and agreeable; suitableness; elegance with appropriate dignity. [1828]
HIERARCHY
The classification of a group of people according to ability or to economic, social, or professional standing; also: the group so classified; a graded or ranked series. [1828]
HONEST
Upright; just; fair in dealing with others; free from trickishness and fraud; acting and having the disposition to act at all times according to justice or correct moral principles; applied to persons [1828]
HOSPITALITY
The act or practice of receiving or entertaining strangers or guests. [1828]
IDEA
1. Literally, that which is seen; hence, form, image, model of any thing in the mind; that which is held or comprehended by the understanding. [1828]
IDEALISM
The system or theory that makes every thing to consist in (to have its being in, to exist in) ideas, and denies the existence (continued being) of material bodies [1828]
IMPRESSION
1. Mark; indentation; stamp made by pressure. 2. The effect which objects produce on the mind. [1828]
INDIVIDUALISM
The state of individual interest, or attachment to the interest of individuals, in preference to the common interest of society; a feeling, which disposes each member of the community to sever himself, with his family and friends, from the mass of his fellow creatures. Coined by Alexis de Tocqueville, this word first appeared in Webster's only major supplement (1841) to his dictionary.
INDUSTRY
Habitual diligence in any employment, either bodily or mental; steady attention to business; assiduity. [1828]
INTEMPERATE
1. Not moderate or restrained within due limits; indulging to excess any appetite or passion, either habitually or in a particular instance; immoderate in enjoyment or exertion. 2. Addicted to an excessive or habitual use of spirituous liquors. 3. Passionate; ungovernable. 4. Excessive; exceeding the proper mean or degree. [1828]
INTUITION
A looking on; a sight or view; but restricted to mental view or perception. Particularly and appropriately, the act by which the mind perceives the agreement or disagreement of two ideas, or the truth of things, immediately, or the moment they are presented, without the intervention of other ideas, or without reasoning and deduction. [1828]
JUDGMENT
The faculty of mind by which man is enabled to compare ideas and ascertain the relations of terms and propositions. [1828]
LEVELER
One that destroys or attempts to destroy distinctions, and reduce to equality. [1828]
LIBERTY
Freedom from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body, or to the will or mind. [1828]
LICENTIOUSNESS
Excessive indulgence of liberty; contempt for the just restraints of law, morality and decorum. [1828]
LITERATURE
Learning; acquaintance with letters or books. [1828]
LOVE
An affection of the mind excited by beauty and worth of any kind, or by the qualities of an object which communicate pleasure, sensual or intellectual. It is opposed to hatred. [1828]
MANNER
Way; mode; deportment; behavior; conduct; course of life. [1828]
NATURE
1. In a general sense, whatever is made or produced; a word that comprehends all the works of God; the universe. 2. By a metonymy of the effect for the cause, nature is used for the agent, creator, author, producer of things, or for the powers that produce them. [1828]
NOBILITY
1. Dignity of mind; greatness; grandeur; elevation of soul. 2. Antiqutiy of family; . . . distinction by blood. 3. The qualities which constitute distinction of rank in civil society according to the customs or laws of the country. [1828]
PARTIAL
1. Biased to one party; inclined to favor one party in a cause, or one side of a question, more than the other. 2. Inclined to favor without reason. [1828]
PASSION
1. The impression or effect of an external agent upon a body; that which is suffered or received. .... 4. The feeling of the mind, or the sensible effect of impression; excitement, perturbation or agitation of mind. 5. Violent agitation or excitement of mind, particularly such as is occasioned by an offense, injury or insult; hence, violent anger. 6. Zeal; ardor; vehement desire. 7. Love. [1828]
POLITE
1. obs. Literally, smooth, glossy, and used in this sense [until about 1750]. 2. Being polished or elegant in manners; refined in behavior; well bred. 3. Courteous; complaisant; obliging. [1828]
PROSPERITY
Advance or gain in any thing good or desirable; successful progress in any business or enterprise; success. [1828]
PROVINCIAL
Having the manners or speech of a province or 'the provinces'; exhibiting the character, especially the narrowness of view or interest, associated with or attributed to inhabitants of 'the provinces'; lacking the culture or polish of the capital; one who dwells in or comes from the 'provinces' as distinguished from an inhabitant or native of the capital; hence, a 'countrified' person. [1828]
RACE
The lineage of a family, or continued series of descendants from a parent who is called the stock. [1828]
REASON
The faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes truth from falsehood, and good from evil, and which enables the possessor to deduce inferences from facts or from propositions. [1828]
REFINEMENT
The quality of being refined or the process of becoming refined: of learning, experiencing, and enjoying the use of expensive material goods. [1828]
ROMANCE
Generic term applied to prose fiction that is conceived in terms of the fanciful and idealistic, rather than in terms of observation and faithful description of fact. [1828]
SAVAGE
Pertaining to the forest; wild; remote from human residence and improvements. n. A human being in his native state of rudeness; one who is untaught, uncivilized or without cultivation of mind or manners. [1828]
SECULAR
Pertaining to the present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to things not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly. [1828]
SENSIBILITY
1. Susceptibility of impressions. 2. Acuteness of sensation. 3. Delicacy of feeling. [1828]
SENTIMENT
1. Properly. a thought prompted by passion or feeling. 2. In a popular sense, Thought; opinion; notion; judgement; the decision of the mind formed by deliberation or reasoning. [1828]
SOUL
The spiritual, rational and immortal substance in man, which distinguishes him from brutes; that part of man which enables him to think and reason, and which renders him a subject of moral government. [1828]
SUBLIME
1. High in place; exalted aloft. 2. High in excellence; exalted by nature; elevated. 3. High in style or sentiment; lofty; grand. 4. Elevated by joy . . . 5. Lofty of mein; elevated in manner. [1828]
SYMPATHY
1. Fellow feeling; the quality of being affected by the affection of another, with feelings by the affection of another, with feelings correspondent in kind, if not in degree. 2. An agreement of affections or inclinations, or a conformity of natural temperament, which makes two persons pleased with each other. [1828]
TASTE
2. The sense by which we perceive the relish of a thing. 3. Intellectual relish. 4. Judgment; discernment; nice perception, or the power of perceiving and relishing excellence in human performances; the faculty of discerning beauty, order, congruity, proportion, symmetry, or whatever constitutes excellence, particularly in the fine arts and belles lettres. This is not wholly the gift of nature, nor wholly the effect of art. It depends much on culture. . . . 5. Style; manner, with respect to what is pleasing; as a poem or music composed in good taste. [1828]
TEMPERANCE
Moderation; particularly, habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence. [1828]
TENSION
Literary term. The totality, or interrelation between, a concrete denotation and an abstract, metaphorical connotation; also and more often, a binary opposition that gives a work stability or wholeness; a balance and interplay between opposing elements or probable interpretations. Tension could be understood as a kind of artful ambiguity.
VICE
1. A spot or defect; a fault; a blemish in action or procedure 2. In ethics, any voluntary action or course of conduct which deviates from the rules of moral rectitude. . . . 3. Depravity or corruption of manners. [1828]
VIRTUE
1. Strength; that substance or quality of physical bodies, by which they act and produce effects on other bodies. 2. Bravery; valor. 3. Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and coversation to the moral law. [1828]
VULGAR
1. Pertaining to the common unlettered people . . . 2. Used or practiced by common people . . . 3. Vernacular; national. . . . 4. Common; used by all classes of people . . . 5. Public . . . . 6. Mean; rustic; rude; low; unrefined . . . 7. Consisting of common persons. [1828]
WILL
That faculty of the mind by which we determine either to do or forbear an action; the faculty which is exercised in deciding, among two or more objects, which we shall embrace or pursue. [1828]
1521
Spain conquers the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán (Mexico City).
1630
John Winthrop arrives at the Massachusetts Bay Colony with a large group of Puritans.
1690
About this time, some people in Boston (pop. 7,000) and New York (pop. 6,000) begin to prosper and "refine" themselves; the "refinement of America" will define the cultural and literary history of the eighteenth century (1700-1800).
1732
Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanac for the first time.
1776
Declaration of Independence adopted.
1787
U.S. Constitution written.
1803
The Louisiana Purchase doubles the size of the United States and energizes American politicians with plans of empire and expansion.
1825
The Erie Canal opens, connecting Lake Erie and the Great Lakes region to New York City's Hudson River and eastern markets. Construction begins on the Ohio and Erie Canal, which criss-crosses the enormous western state of Ohio. In a few years, construction will begin on the first U.S. passenger railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio. Transportation improvements in the interior of the country - along rivers as well as newly-built roads, canals, and railroads - speeds the "market revolution" or transition from subsistence/barter local economies to cash-based regional and national economies. Big-city books, magazines, and newspapers are much more accessible throughout the country.
1835
Penny papers" are now available in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore; steam-driven presses are now printing radically inexpensive reading materials. The number of American authors and publications begins to accelerate dramatically.
1839
The "Public School Movement" underway. Improved public schools increase the demand for reading material - and creative literature - in and out of the classroom. Children's literature begins to flourish as a distinct genre in both England and the United States.
1861
The Civil War begins.