QE Review

• Early types of American poetry

  Autobiographical poems that revealed something about the poet's life, thoughts, and daily experiences
• Anne Bradstreet's poetry


  • Reflected Puritan sensibilities
  • Ownership of poetry was restrained due to Puritan patriarchal society's disapproval of women writers
• Anne Bradstreet arrived in America with her husband, parents, and several other Puritans and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Her life in England did not prepare her for the harsh living conditions in the colony
• Instead of writing about the rough and unfamiliar scenes of the colony, she looked inward and focused on the realities of her life
• Figures of speech used in Bradstreet's poems

  • Metaphor
  • Extended metaphor
  • Personification
  • Hyperbole
  • Biblical allusion
• Bradstreet's Puritan community placed her at the crossroads of conflicting values
• Archaic language


  Words that are now considered out-of-date
• Inverted syntax


  Sentence structure in which the expected order of words is reversed
• Hyperbole


  A figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis
• Bradstreet's poems reflected Puritan sensibilities
• Bradstreet's ownership of her poetry was restrained as the Puritan patriarchal society disapproved of women writers
• When we live no more


  We may live ever
• The English colonies in America were founded to increase England's wealth and broaden its influence in the "New World"
• Thirteen colonies established in America

  • Virginia (1607)
  • Massachusetts (1620)
  • New York (1626)
  • Maryland (1633)
  • Rhode Island (1636)
  • Connecticut (1636)
  • New Hampshire (1638)
  • Delaware (1638)
  • North Carolina (1653)
  • South Carolina (1663)
  • New Jersey (1664)
  • Pennsylvania (1682)
  • Georgia (1732)
• Settlers in the colonies

  • Driven by the pursuit to live in a new land, trade, and religious freedom
• England declared war against France


  Gained control over North America
• Cost of the war was imposed by England


  As new taxes on its American colonies
• The colonies opposed the imposed taxes which eventually resulted in the American Revolutionary War also known as the American War of Independence fought from 1775 to 1783
• Rationalism


  The belief that reason begets freedom– freedom of speech, freedom from arbitrary rulers, freedom to experiment, and freedom to question existing laws and institutions
• Deism


  God allowed all people to discover natural laws through reason and that decisions are based on logic rather than emotion
• Poetry during this period


  • Characterized by simplicity, order, and an emphasis on reason
• Prose during this period

  • Mostly contained the revolutionary movement for independence and the unification of the nation
• Memoir


  A form of literary nonfiction in which an author recounts experiences from his or her life and usually takes the form of a narrative
• Memoirs differ from autobiographical writing in the sense that their personalized accounts tend to focus more on how the writers remember their own life than their life's history
• The Whistle by Benjamin Franklin is a memoir
• The Whistle reflects the social and political climate of the revolutionary period in America


  The text is politically motivated and mostly revolutionary in character
• The Whistle reflects the philosophies of Rationalism and Deism


  The text emphasizes reason and logic over emotion
• The Whistle


  • Exhibits the characteristics of a memoir, with the author recounting his personal experiences and reflections
• Exploration narrative


  The earliest literature about America, consisting of records by European "explorers" detailing their impressions of America
• Explorers


  • Amerigo Vespucci
  • Christopher Columbus
• Historical narrative


  A shift from the exploration narrative when the "settlers" started documenting the dangers and challenges of colonial life
• Historical narrative


  • "The General History of Virginia" by Captain John Smith
• Sir Walter Raleigh, an English explorer and writer, founded the Roanoke colony in 1585, the first English colony in America
• Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the Virginia colony in America
• Captain John Smith was the appointed leader in Jamestown
• The General History of Virginia


  A narrative of Captain John Smith's personal experiences as a leader of Jamestown, the first English permanent settlement in America
• Captain John Smith wrote "The General History of Virginia"
• Point of view in narratives

  • First-person point of view: the author acts as the voice who tells their own stories
  • Third-person point of view: the author acts as an objective observer, experiencing the events themselves
• Captain John Smith chose the third-person point of view


  While experiencing the events himself