American literature from the pre-colonial era to the end of the 18th century..
Identify literary genres, major writers, and important schools of thought in American literature from the pre-colonial era to the end of the 18th century. • Summarize, interpret, and analyze literary texts in relation to a specific argumentative thesis. • Utilize and extend the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills developed in ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102. • Identify the cultural factors that shaped American literature and define the common concerns and values of humanity as expressed through literature. -You will want to support your response not only with good logic and explanations on your part but also with pertinent passages (short quotations are best) from the texts that pertain to the question you have chosen. • Your response should be in the form of a typical essay (probably four to six paragraphs), with a short introduction, thesis statement, and supporting paragraphs with a conclusion. Choose one of the questions below to answer for this assignment. Please remember to copy/paste the question with your response and analysis. You should choose a question that you find interesting and believe you can answer in an engaging manner. You will want to support your response not only with good logic and explanations on your part but also with pertinent passages (short quotations are best) from the texts that pertain to the question you have chosen. LIST OF QUESTIONS(pick one) Do you think that American culture today exhibits more tendencies toward the “civil liberty” promoted by Winthrop in his “Speech to the General Court” or the “natural liberty” exhibited those who saw America as a land of unlimited individual freedom? Discuss the ways in which Columbus, John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson depict their interactions with the Native peoples with whom they come into contact? How do they view their social, spiritual, and intellectual capacities? Do they seem them as like themselves or some “other” that they have no relation to at all? If not, why do they not make a better connection with the native peoples? Many critics in the 1970s believed that Anne Bradstreet’s poetry reflected a writer who was not comfortable with her Puritan faith, and that she was actually rebelling against it. Others have seen her as very supportive of her Puritan faith. Which side of this debate do you agree with most? what is your evidence? In what ways does the poetry of Phillis Wheatley reflect or not reflect this same conflict? One critic has written of Jonathan Edwards: ‘‘He demanded faith in divine omnipotence and human limitation at a time when Americans were moving toward other beliefs.” In light of that statement, compare the Edwards’s Personal Narrative and its basis in Puritan theology with Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography and his engagement with Deism and the elevation of human reason and morality. Crevecoeur’s famous essay, “What is an American,” lists many characteristics of the “new” American. First, in what ways do passages in Smith’s Description of New England confirm or contrast with Crevecoeur’s descriptions? Second, in what ways do these works serve as examples of early American promotional literature? In The Coquette, women play a prominent role. Though these women have not been marginalized or silenced (women’s letters dominate the Coquette), women of this period are often described as essentially powerless. Do you see powerlessness at work or displays of power in the women characters in these two works? Or possibly a combination of both?
American literature from the pre-colonial era to the end of the 18th century.