The Beginnings of a National Literary Tradition
Canadians throughout their history have been concerned over the status
of their national literature. One of the major problems facing early Canadian
writers was that the language and poetic conventions that they had inherited
from the Old World were inadequate for the new scenery and conditions in which
they now found themselves. Writers such as Susanna Moodie, Samuel Hearne, and
Oliver Goldsmith were what I would consider "Immigrant" authors. Even though
they were writing in Canada about Canada their style and their audiences were
primarily England and Europe. These authors wrote from an Old World perspective
and therefore were not truly Canadian authors. It took a group of homespun
young writers in the later part of the 19thCentury to begin to build a genuine
"discipline" of Canadian literary thought. This group, affectionately known as ‘
The Confederation Poets', consisted of four main authors: Charles G.D. Roberts,
Bliss Carman, Duncan Campbell Scott, and Archibald Lampman. The Poets
ofConfederation "established what can legitimately be called the first distinct
"school" of Canadian poetry"(17, Keith). The term ‘The Poets of Confederation'
is a misnomer since not one of these poets/authors was more than ten years old
when the Dominion of Canada was formed in 1867. However, all of these writers
were aware of the lack of a distinctive Canadian literary tradition and they
made efforts to create one for their successors. While each of these men had
their own distinctive writing style they all sought to contribute and create a ‘
national' literature. According to R.E.Rashley in Poetry in Canada: The First
Three Steps " there is no Canadian poetry before [The Confederation Poets]
time"(98). These men were the first in a long line of authors and artists to
conceive of the need for a discernible national literature. The Confederation
Poets function was to "explore the new knowledge that they had acquired of
themselves that had been created by the interaction of environment and people
and the concept of evolutionary growth"(Rashley 98). Archibald Lampman was a
key note in the beginnings of a national literary movement. Before Lampman and
the other Confederation poets there seemed to be a mere repetition of European
ideas in literature in Canada. Even though Lampman was influence...
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...oet of Nature. Montreal: Louis
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Jeffrey M. Heath. Toronto: Dundurn Press Ltd., 1980.
Lampman, Archibald. The Poems of Archibald Lampman. Toronto: University of
Toronto, 1974.
Marshall, John. "Archibald Lampman". Critical Views on Canadian Writers:
Archibald Lampman. Ed. Michael Gnarowski. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1970.
Rashley, R.E. Poetry in Canada: The First Three Steps. Toronto: Ryerson Press,
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Writers throughout history have always influenced or have been influenced by the era that which they live in. Many famous authors arose during The Age of Discovery and The Romantic Period all of whom had very distinctive writing styles that held true to their era. To find the differences between the two eras, it is important to understand the era at which time the literature was wrote, the writing style, and the subject matter.
History is rich with culture and tradition. Culture and traditions greatly influence people’s behaviors, the way they perceive others, and the way they are perceived by others. Environment also plays into the development of culture and the decisions people make. Although each person has an individualized idea of what culture is and practices their own unique traditions, the fact remains true that every human being is subject to the effects of culture and tradition. Three classic authors accurately portray culture through setting and tradition in order to affect the reader’s view toward the characters and the authors themselves in Zora Neale Hurston’s “The Gilded Six-Bits”, Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, and John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable.
Strong author of the scale is the ability to literature passage are set separately from the context and the expression of all of the recipes or writing. When this happens, and integrated into the total work is a sign of true art. Ernest Hemingway, author of the lost generation, was one of the writers who have mastered the art of investment mastered to build a simple sentence with complex layers of meaning. Hemingway, who was a journalist in the early years of his career in writing and published in prose style or a short induction. He said the emotional depth and meaning conveyed minimalist text is great. And also try to develop a stream of consciousness by writers such as James Joyce and William
From the very beginning of creating America as a country, American literature was formed from writing letters with different languages to describe the new land and nation until writers wrote novels, poems, sermons, and narratives. By the mid - nineteen century, American literature stepped into a new realm, and many different ideas including economic, religious and political reforms caused big changes in American literature, which affected American society as well. There were many far-famed abolitionist writers in American society that wrote different passages about slavery, and they fought against slavery in their writings. These writers described the condition of African American slaves in the plantation region and made narratives of fugitive
Americans Literature has an immense amount if history with in it. There are many lessons that we have learned from reading and reviewing the history along with Americans Literature. There are many questions asking what is American Ethnic Literature, and this literature centers on the voices that govern out country. These voices work hard be heard, and will continue to struggle to be heard at all.
Throughout history, women have struggled with, and fought against oppression. They have been held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male dominated society which has controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structure. During the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the role that had been defined for them. Fighting with the powerful written word, women sought a voice, equality amongst men and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, during the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society. Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men.
Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. Print.
While the United States was forming as a country, its literary identity was forming as well through a melting pot of writers including Benjamin Franklin, St. John de Crévecœur, Thomas Paine, and Phillis Wheatley. This included a number of forms of literature including the epic, political pamphlets, and poetry.
When a writer starts his work, most often than not, they think of ways they can catch their reader’s attention, but more importantly, how to awake emotions within them. They want to stand out from the rest and to do so, they must swim against the social trend that marks a specific society. That will make them significant; the way they write, how they make a reader feel, the specific way they write, and the devotion they have for their work. Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgard Allan Poe influenced significantly the American literary canon with their styles, themes, and forms, making them three important writers in America.
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: the Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale UP, 2000. Print.
Early American literature consisted mainly of diaries, journals, short stories, and Indian creation stories. Since some of the language used was of older English and other languages, early American literature was difficult to read.The first story I read was Spanish Explorers in the New World. This story was a journal of Cabeza de Vaca’s travels and discoveries in the New World. After having a shipwreck, he and his fellow sailors were made slaves of the Indians. They walked barefoot, bleeding and ate raw meat for food. He also described how one tribe took over land.
Eastern and Western literature dates far back in time. Many of the key characteristics of both styles of writing are what make them what they are today.
To what extent can literature have an affect on the way we judge society? Humans are naturally able to make a first impression on countries, religions, and people based upon their own beliefs. Writers are grown up in different societies and express their own beliefs on countries, religion and people through their own life experiences. Writers have enough power to change the reader’s preconceived ideas by the writers sharing of their own perspective on their beliefs. Through analyzing different forms of literature such as White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Joseph Brodsky’s “A commencement Address,” and watching Chimamanda Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story” I have realized that reading literature has the ability to change our thinking which in return affects the we judge different society. There have been controversies that media is a huge factor in altering the mind of humans. Literature can be also viewed as a type of media because literature helps the readers understand the conditions of certain societies.
The colonial period in American Literature was a time spanning from European settlements from the very beginning of the colonization of America to the transition or change into the United States of America. Where they created new and innovative ideas and thoughts that set them apart, especially in their writings. What was the goal of this all? People that wanted to colonize America came from many European places, they came prepared with a highly developed military, navy, government, and innovation ability. Europeans traveled to America to increase their money, power, and overall influence in international deals.
English literature, literature written in English since c.1450 by the inhabitants of the British Isles; it was during the 15th cent. that the English language acquired much of its modern form.