Hucklberry Finn
Autor: George Belov • March 1, 2015 • Term Paper • 3,107 Words (13 Pages) • 631 Views
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3Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)
- Biographical Dates
- Born in Florida Missouri in November 30, 1835
- Occupations
- Printers apprentice
- Steamboat pilot
- Confederate army member
- Miner
- Timber man
- Journalist
- Lecturer
- Wandering spirit
Literally Development
Early – Gentle satire
1/16/2014
Semester I Review
Puritans (1600-1700s)
Authors:
- William Bradford
- Jonathan Edwards
Desired religious freedom – Theocracy
- Considered themselves Modern Israelites
- Wanted to create “City on a Hill”
Characteristics
- Historical accounts/journals
- Sermons
Key concepts
- Continents first “Non-Conformists”
- Journals show:
- Habit of self-security
- Torment of “total depravity” – John Calvin
- Writings reveal a sadness about differences:
- Ideal vs real
- Utopian vs. actual
- Hard work ---- Success ------ Salvation?
- Success/hardships = allegory for God’s blessings/chastisements
Age of Reason
Authors
- Benjamin Franklin
- Thomas Paine
- Patrick Henry
Shift in thinking from Puritans
- Humans are bodies with souls and intellects
- Focus is on humanity’s capacity for reason
Characteristics
- Searching for political freedom
- Content/ideas more important than style
Subjects Areas/ Themes
- Creating an American “Identity”
- Self-Made Man
- Self-Improvement/improvement of society
- Man has improved himself
Romanticism
Authors
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Washington Irving
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
Shift in thinking from Age of Reason
- Humanity is minds, bodies and souls with imagination
- Focus is on humanity’s creativity
Characteristics
- Begin using symbols
- Sets stage for Transcendentalism:
- Fascination with individual experience
- Fascination with mystery of nature
Subjects Areas/ Themes
- Examines moral psychology/man’s dark side
- Complexity of man and nature
Transcendentalism (mid 1800s)
Authors
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Henry David Thoreau
- Extension of Romanticism
- Meaning in life transcends (goes beyond) the physical world – we are part of “Over soul”
- Rebelled against limits on individuality
- Knowledge exists at birth and via institution
Valued
- Inward, spiritual promptings
- Private relation between man and universe
Believed
- All have access to divine inspiration
- Each man is an expression of God
- Nature is a hieroglyph of spiritual world
- Power of self-reliance
Realism and Naturalism
Authors
- Mark Twain
- Ambrose Bierce
- Stephen Craine
Shift in thinking from Romanticism
- Imagination is not as powerful as reality
- Focus is on revealing “truth” via verisimilitude
Characteristics
- Use of mimesis/ Natural Vernacular
- Character more important than plot
Subject Areas/ Themes
- Man is a victim of forces outside his control
- Life is grim / hard
- Poverty and Corruption
- Cruelty and futility of War
Realist Poets
Authors
- Emily Dickenson
- Walt Whitman
Characteristics
- Use of common “every day” objects / subjects
- Figurative language
Subject Areas/ Themes
- The joy of living
- The timelessness of death
- Examination of individual feelings within the outer world
- Presence of the Transcendental
Whitman: Social/Public/Lengthy
Dickenson: Private/Personal/Meditative
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