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Early National Period.docx
- 1. EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD Writers, Work and Short Summary William Cullen Bryant Work, Poem: Thanatopsis 1817 Summary: "Thanatopsis" starts by talking about nature's ability to make us feel better. The speaker tells us that nature can make pain less painful. It can even lighten our dark thoughts about death. He tells us that, when we start to worry about death, we should go outside and listen to the voice of nature. That voice reminds us that we will indeed vanish when we die and mix back into the earth. The voice of nature also tells us that when we die, we won’t be alone. Every person who has ever lived is in the ground ("the great tomb of man") and everyone who is alive will be soon dead and in the ground too. This idea is meant to be comforting, and the poem ends by telling us to think of death like a happy, dream-filled sleep. Royall Tyler Work, Novel: The Contrast 1787 Summary: Shortly after the American Revolution (1775-1783) America was taking an intentional stance to grow independent from any British influences. The rejection of oligarchies and aristocracy is a common example. Although the political independence was successful, the cultural influence of Britain over America was hard to get rid of overnight. Long after the revolution, and even in recent times, there still some remaining British influences, especially in the literature department. Although The Contrast is a landmark in the history of American drama and theatre, it is not well known to the current public. To make an analogy, think of Copley’s famous portrait of Paul Revere 1768. The portrait often appearing in the chapters of American Revolution in the “Anglo- Saxon” history textbooks, symbolizes the ideal view that America had towards the work ethics of the New World. His unbuttoned vest and pulled up sleeves suggests his craftsmanship, but his stainless shirt, and spotless table makes it seem all too ideal. What can be taken away from the portrait is that during the time, in intention to stray way from British tradition, the concept of “American man work with their hands” –the root of all stereotypes regarding American manhood. Literary Movement Romanticism Realism and Naturalism Developmental Significance William Cullen Bryant stood among the most celebrated figures in the architrave of 19th-century America. “Thanatopsis,” if not the best-known American poem abroad before the mid-19th century, certainly ranked near the top of the list, and at home school children were commonly required to recite it from memory. Bryant served as editor of the New- York Evening Post for 50 years. When he passed away, New York City as a whole entered a state of mourning for the loss of its most revered resident, and eulogies flowed in like they hadn't for any other man of letters since the passing of the city's native son, Washington Irving, a generation before. The comparison was appropriate because Bryant introduced an American poet to the English- speaking world while Irving gave American fiction international recognition. Royall Tyler who was also a teacher, dramatist, US Lawyer and author of the first American comedy, The Contrast. Tyler was widely recognized as an art, wine, and food connoisseur. The Contrast serves as an advocate for his audience to decide for themselves the manners, native-born or foreign, they wish to call “American” and to determine what new literary influences or traditions they will invent and adopt in the next century to usher in what will become known as “American” literature. He died at the age of fifty-eight on February 3, 1953, in Paris, apparently by suicide.
- 2. James Fenimore Cooper Work: The Pioneers Short Summary: The Pioneers The story takes place on the rapidly advancing frontier of New York State and features an elderly Leatherstocking (Natty Bumppo), Judge Marmaduke Temple of Templeton (whose life parallels that of the author's father Judge William Cooper), and Elizabeth Temple (based on the author's sister, Hannah Cooper), daughter of the fictional Templeton. The story begins with an argument between the judge and Leatherstocking over who killed a buck. Through their discussion, Cooper reviews many of the changes to New York's Lake Otsego and its area: questions of environmental stewardship, conservation, and use prevail. Leatherstocking and his closest friend, the Mohican Indian Chingachgook, begin to compete with the Temples for the loyalties of a mysterious young visitor, a "young hunter" known as Oliver Edwards. The latter eventually marries Elizabeth Temple. Chingachgook dies, representing European-American fears for the race of "dying Indians", who appear to be displaced by settlers. Natty vanishes into the sunset. Edgar Allan Poe Work: The Raven Short Summary: Summary of "The Raven" opens with the poem's nameless narrator writing in his study late at night, or "a midnight gloomy," as he puts it. The narrator admits that he is reading to get his mind off of losing Lenore, his lover. He opens his door and calls out to Lenore when he hears knocking at it. He hears a bird tapping on the window and opens it rather than Lenore. A raven enters and sits on the Pallas bust that is located directly over the door. The bird answers, "Nevermore," when the man asks it what its name is, and the man feels the presence of what he calls an angel. He asks the raven if he will be forgiven his sins and allowed to see Lenore again in Heaven, to which the bird replies, "Nevermore." The man panics and tells the bird to go back to the night's "Plutonian shore," and the poem ends with the narrator telling the reader that the bird still sits above his door, casting a constant shadow on him. Romanticism and Naturalism Romanticism The frontier, the white/Indian conflict, and America's westward expansion were first established as legitimate literary themes by James Fenimore Cooper. Perhaps most significantly, he started to develop the romantic notion of the American West.