Early American literature genres have been cemented in time for many aspects ranging from outlandish hypotheticals to groundbreaking revelations. Forms such as romanticism, satire, and realism were popular for their outlook on society and individualism with prominent writers coming from every type. Twain paved the road for future satirists such as Kurt Vonnegut, while Hawthorne and Poe laid the groundwork for many romanticism hopefuls in the early 19th century with Ambrose Bierce establishing a solid position in realistic literature. Despite all peaking in roughly the same time period, each genre manages to distinguish itself through the respective ways their main idea is presented to the readers, albeit in a grandiose manner or a blunt one.
After World War I, American people and the authors among them were disillusioned by the effects that war had on their society. America required a literature that would expound what had happened and what was happening to their society. The realistic movement of the late 19th century saw authors accurately depict life and its problems. This realistic movement evolved because of many changes and transitions in American culture. In the late 1800's, the United States was experiencing swift growth and change because of a changing economy, society, and culture. The increase of immigrants into America was one of the reasons. Realists endeavored to give a comprehensive picture of modern life by presenting the entire picture. The true definition of literary realism as defined by Encyclopedia Britannica is an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity. Although realism is not limited to any one-century or group of writers, it is most often associated with the literary movement in 19th-century France, specifically with the French novelists Flaubert and Balzac. George Eliot introduced realism into England, and William Dean Howells introduced it into the United States. Realism has been chiefly concerned with the commonplaces of everyday life among the middle and lower classes, where character is a product of social factors and environment is the integral element in the dramatic complications.
They are the ones that with their unique styles managed to impress people from their society, and more importantly, continued to influence writers many years later. Although some of their works are considered a little out of tone with their time, perhaps controversial, one cannot deny that they are outstanding pieces of work because of their topic and theme. From satire to fiction, Washington Irving created a reputation for being the first American to transcend in America and England. Hawthorne used the events in his life as a source of inspiration, and better yet, his perspective of society and mankind, helped him write great novels Finally Edgard Allan Poe, a man with a troubled soul, managed to write entrancing works full of mystery, crime, and gothic themes. All three men were successful writers and no doubt their works will keep being an inspiration for many more
Even though Edgar Poe is most often remembered for his short stories, he considered himself first and foremost a poet, and many of his poems have directly influenced American culture in many ways than he thought. “He claims that “The Raven,” his most enduring and well-known poem, is as complex as a math problem and analyzes how a poem’s meter, length, rhyme and subject matter all contribute to its effect. His terror-fueled tales can be credited with influencing everyone from H.P. Lovecraft to Stephen King, not to mention the host of horror movies that sprung from the genre” (Brozak). Moreover, “Annabel Lee,” the last poem Poe wrote, has been translated into songs performed by both Joan Baez and Stevie Nicks, and lines from his poems -- especially
The impact that these two individuals have had on our society has shaped our world to be a better and more fascinating place. They presented to us new concepts of writing along with, intricate ways to communicate their ideas with their audience. Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic style of writing established a whole new view of how literature was viewed and received the attention from readers across the world. Mark Twain had a very light-hearted approach when he wrote his humoristic masterpieces. These authors left an enormous impression in the literary world that is still prevalent in literature today.
Authors crafted literary works based on city migrations, new opportunities, and new problems in society, showering the people with new ideas and different perspectives. Through their works, authors were able to express individual opinions on industrial life, thus influencing others to appeal for change in urban society as well. Many new authors crafted new ideologies that took America by storm, for example evolution and feminist
During the American Renaissance, writers were put into one of two categories. The categories were the Dark Romantics and the Transcendentalists. Some Dark Romantics include Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving. The Dark Romantics stories included creepy symbols, horrific themes, and psychological effects of guilt and sin. The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving gives a few examples as to why life is meaningless to some people.Humans are not all good, there are some cruel people in this world. The Pit and the Pendulum tells you exactly why.
Tennessee Williams described Sothern Gothic literature as a style that captured “the underlying dreadfulness in modern experience” (Hemmerling). The literature intended to reveal the social issues surrounding the time period. Features of this literature, “includes situations and places as well as unsavory characters that are often racist, religious fanatic, egotistical or self-righteous” (Kullmer). This description of Southern Gothic literature also fits other genres of post Civil War American literature. Works by authors such as Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt, Sui Sin Far, Henry James, Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurston and Earnest Hemingway also contain characters, situation, and places revealing similar social controversies displaying racism, sexism, and egotistical behavior.
Gothic literature has a number of conventions, including evils of horror, present of light and dark, suggestions of the supernatural, and dark and exotic localities such as castles and crumbling mansions (American). Violence in gothic literature never occurs just for the sake of violence; there is always a moral dilemma (Clarke 209). By going the extremes, a gothic author is able to accentuate a contrast allowing the author's point to be made more easily. American fiction was based on fantasy works of writers like Edgar Allan Poe. Although Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Frederick Douglass, all used gothic devices in their work, the question arises whether Poe's gothic techniques represented his fantasy, or did they represent his reality like they do with Stowe and Douglass. Poe's use of gothic device leads the readers into a downward fall of an insane world representing fantasy. Stowe and Douglass, on the other hand, used gothic details to reflect the reality of the lives of slaves as they struggle to climb upwards out of the descending fall of their lives.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pseudonym Mark Twain, has been central to American literature for over a century. His seemingly effortless diction accurately exemplified America’s southern culture. From his early experiences in journalism to his most famous fictional works, Twain has remained relevant to American writing as well as pop culture. His iconic works are timeless and have given inspiration the youth of America for decades. He distanced himself from formal writing and became one of the most celebrated humorists. Mark Twain’s use of the common vernacular set him apart from authors of his era giving his readers a sense of familiarity and emotional connection to his characters and himself.
Edgar Allan Poe has a unique writing style that uses several different elements of literary structure. He uses intrigue vocabulary, repetition, and imagery to better capture the reader’s attention and place them in the story. Edgar Allan Poe’s style is dark, and his is mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. What might be Poe’s greatest fictitious stories are gothic tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love, or both. His choice of word draws the reader in to engage them to understand the author’s message more clearly. Authors who have a vague short lexicon tend to not engage the reader as much.
Throughout my Junior year I have come across many pieces of American literature. When the question of “What makes American literature American?” Is asked, my answer is that the ideals and virtues (both positive and negative) embedded within the writing is what makes it American. American literature consists of tales of hard work, of standing up for personal belief, of the American Dream, but also consist of our corrupt Judicial system, of our past struggles with one another in terms of race, of how the American Dream is possible through hard work but that work might not always be considered “right.” The Americanality of American literature is not determined by the author of the piece, but of the morals that shine through in the piece.
Romantic literature, as Kathy Prendergast further claims, highlighted things like splendor, greatness, vividness, expressiveness, intense feelings of passion, and stunning beauty. The Romantic literary genre favored “parts” over “whole” and “content” over “form”. The writer argues that though both the Romantic literary genre and the Gothic art mode were medieval in nature, they came to clash with what was called classical conventions. That’s why, preoccupations with such things as the supernatural, the awful, the dreadful, the repulsive and the grotesque were the exclusive focus of the nineteenth century Gothic novel. While some critics perceived the Gothic as a sub-genre of Romanticism, some others saw it as a genre in its own right (Prendergast).
Edgar Allan Poe was able to change the way literature was read and written. He was one of the first critics to focus mainly on the effect of style and structure in a piece of literary work. To this day, it seems that nearly every important writer after Poe shows significant signs of influence, especially when works are written in a gothic style or with bizarre jest. Some writers such as Charles Baudelaire, Jules Verne and H. P. Lovecraft can be known as diverse writers who were influenced by Poe’s works.(“Edgar Allan Poe – Biography”) He introduced readers to the vagueness of both the characters and places so that they would focus more on theme and plot rather than what had been the previous focus. Poe changed the way prose was read and written and he even created a new genre of literature.
Of the Romantic Movement, two of the most well-known Gothic literature writers were Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Gothic writers mainly wrote about themes that showed that they did not believe that people were ‘good’ by nature and the stories they wrote focused on the evils and flaws of mankind. These two authors presented their respective stories “Bartleby the Scrivener” and “The Minister’s Black Veil” as novels that explore the lives and behaviors of other human characters. Although the stories have different perspectives and settings, they both reveal more about how the other human characters are and what dark or unusual traits and motives they have.
Many authors contributed to American literature between 1865 and 1914. Although these authors came from all over the country and lived different life styles, they still managed to include similar themes in their works. A theme is considered to be the main idea of the work, or a meaning behind the story. Within this period of American literature, three themes continued to emerge: the concept of true beauty, protection of nature, and perception versus reality.