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- Abolitionism
Active movement to end slavery in the U.S. North before the Civil
War in the 1860s.
- Allusion
An implied or indirect reference in a literary text to another
text.
- Beatnik
Artistic and literary rebellion against established society of the
1950s and early 1960s, associated with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and
others. "Beat" suggests holiness ("beatification") and
suffering ("beaten down").
- Boston Brahmins
Influential and respected 19th-century New England writers who
maintained the "genteel tradition"of upper- class values.
- Calvinism
Strict theological doctrine of the French Protestant church
reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) and the basis of Puritan society. Calvin
held that all humans were born sinful and only God s grace (not the
church) could save a person from hell.
- Captivity narrative
Account of capture by Native American tribes, such as those
created by writers Mary Rowlandson and John Williams in colonial times.
- Character writing
Popular 17th- and 18th-century literary sketch of a character who
represents a group or type.
- Civil War
The war (1861-1865) between the northern U.S. states, which
remained in the Union, and the southern states, which seceded and formed
the Confederacy. The victory of the North ended slavery and preserved the
Union.
- Conceit
Extended metaphor. Term used to describe Renaissance metaphysical
poetry in England and colonial poetry, such as that of Anne Bradstreet, in
colonial America.
- Decadents
Late 19th- and early 20th-century "aesthetic" artists
and writers, chiefly British and French, involved with "turn of
century" ideas of endings, decay, and artificiality.
- Deconstruction
Controversial mode of textual analysis that can reveal hidden
ideological assumptions. Questions hierarchical thinking in which one term
is privileged over another (e.g. culture versus nature, man versus woman).
Draws on thought of French theorist Jacques Derrida, who elaborated on
linguist Ferdinand de Saussure s vision of language as a system of
differences.
- Deism
An 18th-century Enlightenment religion emphasizing reason, not
miracles; partly a reaction against Calvinism and religious superstition.
- Election
A Puritan doctrine in which God "elects," or chooses,
the individuals who will enter heaven according to His divine will.
- Ellipsis
Omission from a text of one or more words that are obviously
understood but that must be supplied to make a construction gramatically
correct.
- Enlightenment
An 18th-century movement that focused on the ideals of good sense,
benevolence, and a belief in liberty, justice, and equality as the natural
rights of man.
- Existentialism
A philosophical movement embracing the view that the suffering
individual must create meaning in an unknowable, chaotic, and seemingly
empty universe.
- Expressionism
Post-World War I artistic movement, of German origin, that
distorted appearances to communicate inner emotional states.
- Faust
Literary character who sells his soul to the devil in order to
become all-knowing, or godlike; protagonist of plays by English
Renaissance dramatist Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) and German Romantic
writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).
- Feminism
The view, articulated in the 19th century, that women are
inherently equal to men and deserve equal rights and opportunities. More
recently, a social and political movement that took hold in the United
States in the late 1960s, soon spreading globally.
- Genre
A category of literary forms (novel, lyric poem, epic, for
example).
- Hartford Wits
Patriotic but conservative late 18th-century literary circle
centered at Yale College in Connecticut (also known as the Connecticut
Wits).
- Hudibras
A mock-heroic satire by English writer Samuel Butler (1612-1680).
Hudibras was imitated by early revolutionary-era satirists.
- Image
Concrete representation of an object, or something seen.
- Imagists
A group of mainly American poets, including Ezra Pound and Amy
Lowell, who used sharp visual images and colloquial speech; active from
1912 to 1914.
- Irony
A meaning (often contradictory) concealed behind the apparent
meaning of a word or phrase.
- Knickerbocker School
New York City-based writers of the early 1800s who imitated
English and European literary fashions. "Light" literature -
Popular literature written for entertainment.
- McCarthy era
The period of the Cold War (late 1940s and early 1950s) during
which U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy pursued American citizens whom he and
his followers suspected of being members or former members of, or
sympathizers with, the Communist party. His efforts included the creation
of "blacklists" in various professions -- rosters of people who
were excluded from working in those jobs. McCarthy ultimately was
denounced by his Senate colleagues.
- Metaphysical poetry
Intricate type of 17th-century English poetry employing wit and
unexpected images.
- Middle Colonies
Present-day Atlantic or eastern U.S. states -- colonial New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and sometimes Delaware -- known for commercial
activities centering on New York City and Philadelphia.
- Midwest
The central area of the United States, from the Ohio River to the
Rocky Mountains, including the Prairie and Great Plains regions (also
known as the Middle West).
- Millennialism
Seventeenth-century Puritan belief that Jesus Christ would return
to Earth and inaugurate 1,000 years of peace and prosperity, as prophesied
in the New Testament.
- Mock-epic
A parody using epic form (also known as mock-heroic).
- Modernism
International cultural movement after World War I expressing
disillusionment with tradition and interest in new technologies and
visions.
- Motif
A recurring element, such as an image, theme, or type of incident.
- Muckrakers
American journalists and novelists (1900-1912) whose spotlight on
corruption in business and government led to social reform.
- Multicultural
The creative interchange of numerous ethnic and racial
subcultures.
- Myth
Legendary narrative, usually of gods and heroes, or a theme that
expresses the ideology of a culture.
- Naturalism
Late 19th- and early 20th-century literary approach of French
origin that vividly depicted social problems and viewed human beings as
helpless victims of larger social and economic forces.
- Neoclassicism
An 18th-century artistic movement, associated with the
Enlightenment, drawing on classical models and emphasizing reason,
harmony, and restraint.
- New England
The region of the United States comprising present- day Maine,
Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut and
noted for its early industrialization and intellectual life.
Traditionally, home of the shrewd, independent, thrifty "Yankee"
trader.
- Objectivist
Mid-20th-century poetic movement, associated with William Carlos
Williams, stressing images and colloquial speech.
- Old Norse
The ancient Norwegian language of the sagas, virtually identical
to modern Icelandic.
- Oral tradition
Transmission by word of mouth; tradition passed down through
generations; verbal folk tradition.
- Plains Region
The middle region of the United States that slopes eastward from
the Rocky Mountains to the Prairie.
- Post-modernism
Media-influenced aesthetic sensibility of the late 20th century
characterized by open-endedness and collage. Post-modernism questions the
foundations of cultural and artistic forms through self-referential irony
and the juxtaposition of elements from popular culture and electronic
technology.
- Prairie
The level, unforested farm region of the midwestern United States.
- Primitivism
Belief that nature provides truer and more healthful models than
does culture. An example is the myth of the "noble savage."
- Providence
God s will, as expressed through events on Earth. Fate is seen as
revelation.
- Puritans
English religious and political reformers who fled their native
land in search of religious freedom, and settled and colonized New England
in the 17th century.
- Reformation
A northern European political and religious movement of the 15th
through 17th centuries that attempted to reform Catholicism; eventually
gave rise to Protestantism.
- Reflexive
Self-referential. A literary work is reflexive when it refers to
itself.
- Regional writing
Writing that explores the customs and landscape of a region of the
United States.
- Revolutionary War
The War of Independence, 1775-1783, fought by the American
colonies against Great Britain.
- Romance
Emotionally heightened, symbolic American novels associated with
the Romantic period.
- Romanticism
A reaction against neoclassicism. This early 19th- century
movement elevated the individual, the passions, and the inner life. It
stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom from classical correctness
in art forms, and rebellion against social conventions.
- Saga
An ancient Scandinavian narrative of historical or mythical
events.
- Salem Witch Trials
Proceedings for alleged witchcraft held in Salem, Massachusetts,
in 1692. Nineteen persons were hanged and numerous others were intimidated
into confessing or accusing others of witchcraft.
- Self-help book
Book telling readers how to improve their lives through their own
efforts. A popular American genre from the mid- 19th century to the
present.
- Separatists
A strict Puritan sect of the 16th and 17th centuries that
preferred to separate from the Church of England rather than reform. Many
of those who first settled America were separatists.
- Slave narrative
First black literary prose genre in the United States; accounts of
life of African-Americans under slavery.
- South
Region of the United States including Maryland, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, West Virginia, and
eastern Texas.
- Surrealism
European literary and artistic movement that uses illogical,
dreamlike images and events to suggest the unconscious.
- Syllabic versification
Poetic meter based on the number of syllables in a line.
- Synthesis
Blending of two senses, used by Edgar Allan Poe and others to
suggest hidden correspondences and create exotic effects.
- Tall tale
A humorous, exaggerated story common on the American frontier,
often focusing on cases of superhuman strength.
- Theme
Abstract idea embodied in a literary work.
- Tory
Wealthy pro-English faction in America at the time of the
Revolutionary War in the late 1700s.
- Transcendentalism
A broad, philosophical movement in New England during the Romantic
era (peaking between 1835 and 1845). It stressed the role of divinity in
nature and the individual s intuition, and exalted feeling over reason.
- Trickster
Cunning character of tribal folk narratives (particularly those of
African-Americans and Native Americans) who breaks cultural codes of
behavior; often a culture hero.
- Vision song
Poetic song which members of some Native American tribes created
when purifying themselves through solitary fasting and meditation.
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