ENG491 American Literature to 1860
Course Description
This course will survey major authors, ideologies, and historical contexts of American literature from colonial times until the Civil War era. A diverse range of works, genres, movements, and cultural narratives will be explored. Accounts of early explorers, Puritan sermons, American Indian mythology, slave narratives, political and social writings, and poetry will be read and discussed.
Topics and Objectives
The New World
- Identify the role of Native American myths and oral traditions in literary history.
- Summarize how culture, politics, and religion influenced the writings of the period.
- Recognize the predominant writing style and theme of the early explorers.
Colonial America
- Outline the role of religion in Colonial America.
- Identify how politics and historical events shaped the literary works of Colonial America.
- Recognize the major works and authors of the Colonial period.
The New Republic
- Identify the impact of the American Revolution on the literature of this period.
- Recognize the major works and authors of the New Republic.
- Identify how developing a national identity impacted the creation of an American literary culture.
- Describe how the land expansion of America westward influenced literature of the New Republic.
The American Renaissance
- Summarize how culture, politics, and religion influenced the writings of the American Renaissance.
- Recognize the major works and authors of the American Renaissance.
- Summarize the transcendentalist movement.
The American Renaissance (continued)
- Describe the increasing impact of slavery and the abolitionist movement on the literature of this period.
- Identify the role poetry played in the American Renaissance.
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