Revolutionary period in American literature

In the 18^th century, Puritan heritage fell to age of enlightenment with scientific arguments, rationality and liberty. American colonies achieved political independence but literary independence was slowed by a lingering identification with England. American authors were painfully aware of their excessive dependence on English literary canon and there were no authors who could equally rank with the contemporary school of English writers.

Talented and educated people went to politics, law and diplomacy, not literature. However, they produced outstanding political pamphlets reflecting the passion of Revolutionary period. Over two thousands pamphlets were published during the Revolution which filled the role of drama, often read aloud in public. Another problem was that writing did not pay as there was no copyright so writers could not live from their writing.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was a politician who founded the first society to abolish slavery and the first public library and university. He was a student of Cotton Mather but he realised that people do not care anymore about doom and preaching does not lead anywhere so he decided to publish more practical things based on common sense.

He wrote Autobiography in which he decided to become a model to all Americans so he altered his life to show himself in a good light as a poor orphan who made it to a diplomat. From this work came the concept of self-made man and the belief that no matter from which family you come, if you work hard you can be anything you want = American dream.

He was publishing the first American magazine New England Courant and Poor Richard´s Almanack that substituted religious writings and gave immigrants practical advices how to get money, that everyday work is more important than prayers and proverbs to encourage people to be better citizens since for him the best service was to be a good citizen. When it came to immigrants, he supported only people who would work (mostly farmers) so no aristocrats and people useless for society like artists.

THOMAS PAINE wrote very popular pamphlet Common Sense (1776) given also to soldiers so they would know for what they were fighting. It claimed why American has right to have its own economy and laws, criticized slavery, British monarchy and Christianity. His well-thought arguments for independence were these: 1. It was absurd for an island to rule a continent. 2. America was not a British nation but was composed of peoples from all of Europe. 3. Being a part of Britain would drag America into unnecessary European wars, and keep her from the international commerce. 4. Britain ruled the colonies for her own benefit, and did not consider the best interests of the colonists.

Paine considers the relationship between government and society in a state of natural liberty. He explains that the people find it easier to live together rather than apart; thus, they create a society. As the society grows, problems arise, and the people meet to make regulations in order to mitigate the problems. As the society continues to grow, a government becomes necessary to enforce these regulations, which over time, turn into laws. Soon, there are so many people within the society that they cannot all gather in one place to make the laws, so they begin holding elections. Paine goes on to consider the Constitution of the United Kingdom and finds aristocratic tyranny with aristocrats who contribute nothing to the people. Paine considers monarchy first from a biblical perspective, then from a historical perspective. He begins by arguing that all men are equal at creation and therefore the distinction between kings and subjects is a false one. Paine then examines some of the problems that kings and monarchies have caused in the past.

Paine also attacks the constitutional monarchy in which the powers of government are separated between a Parliament or Congress that makes the laws, and a monarch who executes them. The constitutional monarchy would limit the powers of the king sufficiently to ensure that the realm would remain lawful rather than easily become tyrannical. According to Paine, however, such limits are insufficient. In the third section Paine examines the hostilities between England and the American colonies and argues that best course of action is independence. Paine proposes a Continental Charter that would secure “freedom and property to all men, and… the free exercise of religion.” The fourth section includes Paine's optimistic view of America's military potential at the time of the Revolution. He even spends pages describing how colonial shipyards, by using the large amounts of lumber available in the country, could quickly create a navy that could rival the Royal Navy.

JEAN HECTOR DE CRÉVECOEUR was a French-American writer whose Letters from an American Farmer (1782) was basically a propaganda that mocks Britain. Author admired newcomers, describing how they felt when came and took refuge. He was French so not a Puritan. According to him, America offers independence, freedom, no persecution for different religious, land and there are possibilities for all. Author describes ideal successful and sober American family that works hard on the farm with fat wife for the chance of strong children.

In America, there are no lords who possess everything and a herd of people who have nothing – here are no aristocrats, the rich and the poor are not that far as in Europe. The American farmer works for himself, does not have to give his crops to lords so he naturally wants to cultivate as much as he can since all is for his family, his self-interest. Americans are the most perfect society in the world consisting of free men. It does not matter which religious tradition you worship if you are a good citizen. American persecutes nobody and nobody persecutes him. Since how does it concern the country if he´s a good farmer and sober? He compared Americans to west pilgrims that would one day be called changers of the world which shows that Puritan idea still lives and not necessarily in the sense of religion – America has right to bring freedom to the rest of the world.

The author compares Americans to plants that are formed with the influence of its land/soil. He came up with geographical determination = how climate influences people that can grow in free America that flourish them but would wither in Europe. People living by the sea are more enterprising; land people purify themselves by cultivation of soil, therefore, Natives living in the woods are wild as animals they catch. Americans are different nationalities mixed together (English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, German, Swedes) that create new society. However, not the whole Europe, only west Europe and Scandinavia – they did not want Polish or Italians or no other race except for the whites. He is not democratic at all, this new race is supposed to be superior and some people are better than others. Incomers are melted into new nation, idea of melting pot which does not work in reality.

So what is a definition of the new American? It is somebody who forgets everything about their home country since what attachment can a poor European have for a country where he had nothing? In American, he is a citizen with land to cultivate - a sober farmer. A free man who transforms together with his new land and adopts new laws. However, who actually did it? Anglo-Saxons did not forget the British culture and law and not any other. There is no original American culture; they took it with them from homeland.

THOMAS JEFFERSON was the third president and the author of The Declaration of Independence. The most significant part is concededly the quotation: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." As this statement seem to be noble and was revolutionary in its period, nowadays we can see holes in this concept of equality. First of all, signers of declaration were only men, therefore it can be argued, if the "men" were supposed to be people in general or only males. In addition, signers were only white, Christian and wealthy men.

Suddenly, the whole idea of declaration´s equality is very limited. The document is pretty vague about whether the same rights should apply also to the poor, women, Afro-Americans or Natives who were majority living in the colonies at that time. However, this fact does not decrease the importance of declaration – it simply corresponds the time period in which it was written. The preamble speaks about the right for such revolution. Nevertheless, the careful tone cannot be denied. Only if "government becomes destructive, it is the Right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government." Also: "governments long established should not be changed for light causes". It is as if the signers and the author of declaration were afraid of another uprising that could come after the Revolutionary War, therefore wanted to secure their government and positions.

Next part is the list of accusations against the British King George III, presented with the sentence: "To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world." It aimed to demonstrate that Great Britain violated colonists´ rights, making their revolution rightful. Candid world meant mainly France. Being short, their charges were these: Colonists were forbidden to pass their own laws of pressing importance; legislative bodies were called at unusual and distant places so they could not attend, dissolving Representative Houses repeatedly, refusing elections, not letting new settlers come to America, keeping British soldiers in colonies in the time of peace, pretended legislation and jurisdiction, mock trials, cutting off American trade with the world, imposing taxes without consent and other accusations. The hostility against Native Americans in the declaration is obvious. The text is calling them "merciless Indian Savages" that were excited by the British to harass colonists.

The final part is the actual declaration of independence. It stated that "repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury" and "a Tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of free people." The British "brethren" (as the document calls them) "have been deaf to the voice of justice…we must, therefore, hold them as the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends." This statement meant not only governmental separation, but also cultural.

  

Early American poetry

The revolution reflected also in poetry and the "poet of the American Revolution" was PHILIP FRENEAU with his Rising Glory of America which was a patriotic poem talking about the time when he was captured by the British and tortured. The Indian Burying Grounds is a lyrical poem about nature and Indians culture, especially Indian funerals. It is a message inviting people to understand this culture as it is without prejudices. Unlike the white man's tradition, in the Indian's, the dead Indian is dressed in special clothes as if celebrating a happy event. Death in the Indian tradition has a different meaning - it is not a dreadful event that everyone is afraid of. The dead person becomes a warrior who protects the land.

On the Emigration to American and Peopling the Western Country is a narrative poem describing emigration to America. It is about a young man who sets off from the despotic Europe to find his happiness in the new world. He goes to west to tame the nature and observes that the Mississippi should no longer be useless, he plans the commerce usage of it. The speaker provides an optimistic vision of the bright future of America but he shows no sympathy for the retreating Indians.

PHILLIS WHEATLEY (1753-1784) was brought to America at the age of 7 and became the first published African-American woman. She was sold into slavery but her master taught her to read and write and encouraged her to write poetry when he saw her immerse talent. She became famous for her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) and even George Washington praised her work. She did not write against slavery.

In her poem On Being Brought to America she describes as "mercy" that she was brought from "pagan land" (Africa) and masters taught her "benighted" (dark) soul to know God and Jesus the saviour. If she stayed in Africa, she would never knew about "redemption." She states that blacks are beautiful as well, not as "sable race" with "diabolic die" as many people saw it. The blacks are also offered redemption if they accept Christianity.

On Imagination is about the power of imagination and its potential. She is personifying imagination as a ‘queen’, beautiful and majestic. Then she mentions it’s ‘bright forms’ and elegance. ‘From Helicon’ is reference to Mt. Helicon, home of the Greek goddesses of literature, art and music. ‘Soft captivity’ is oxymoron, Wheatley was a slave but the family who bought her open-minded and tutored her, contrary to the usual treatment of slaves, let alone women. The family encouraged her to learn, think and imagine. In that sense, imagination freed her.

Atheism was written when Wheatley was only 14-year-old. Firstly, the narrator addresses those who do not believe in a any deity at all and then asks the universal questions whether there is God or not. She strongly believes superior being made the world, the God. She does not mention Christianity explicitly and even mentions antique gods, possibly because the Christians believe that everybody else, if not Christian, worship a false god so they are pagans, atheists. It seems as if she is asking these questions herself, not only readers because she used to be 'atheist' as well before she was taken to America and baptised. She seems to consider her people who stay in Africa atheists.

CONNECTICUT WITS was a group of American writers centred on Yale University who were conservative federalists and attacked their political opponents with satirical verse. They wanted to establish American national poetry and epic.

TIMOTHY DWIGHT was a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, influenced by Alexander Pope and other neo-classicist British authors. His Conquest of Canaan was a national patriotic poem dedicated to George Washington. It depicted a conquest of the Jewish homeland, continuation of the Purist´s idea that only Americans will be saved.

JOEL BARLOW’s The Columbiad is a national epic about a democratic vision of future America. He wrote patriotic political poems in which he tried to establish his own historical narrative.

JOHN TRUMBULL wrote satire mocking British loyalists and supporting revolution like in Oh America. He claimed that American culture will be equality good and soon American will leave Europe behind.

Early American drama

Puritans banned drama as devil's work and even after the revolution drama was still not appreciated since Jefferson said that America does not need art but stable economy and politics. In 1774 Continental Congress banned theatre and only patriotic dialogues were allowed. Otherwise popular plays were copied from Europe like Shakespeare and adapted to American setting.

THOMAS GODFREY wrote the very first American play Prince of Parthia (1767), it was a historical drama in verse.

ROYALL TYLER was a patriotic dramatist and his play The Contrast is contrasting the British (calling them hypocrites) and Americans (good and hardworking), an imitation of Sheridan's The School for Scandal.

WILLIAM DUNLAP wanted to wanted to free American drama from the European dominion and became the first theoretician of American theory with his work History of the American Theatre. He believed that drama was the most universal literary form. His best play André is about a captured British officer during the revolution, adapted it to political requirements of the Congress.

  

Early American prose

After the Revolution most people learned to read and write but because of non-existent copyright law authors were poorly pain or publishers just stole works of European writers.

SUSANNA ROWSON moved from Britain and wrote the first American best-seller Charlotte Temple (1794). It is a novel about young innocent British girl who was seduced by evil man who takes her to America and lets her die pregnant with his child.

HANNAH FOSTER’s The Coquette (1797) is a sentimental epistolary novel. Due to lack of copyright she did not receive much income from it and had to make a living in a different way.

WASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859)

He was a short story writer which became the most prominent American genre. His health was poor so he was sent to Europe where is was gathering folk stories (mainly Grimms) and when he returned, he published a collection of short stories Salmagundi or the Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff. In Europe he met Coleridge and Walter Scott (he even had an affair with Mary Shelley) and brought back to America Romanticism. Upon his return to New York, he was welcomed as the first American writer acknowledged internationally.

A History of New York is a comic history of Dutch regime in New York, published after his after pseudonym Dietrich Knickerbocker with whom he created an eccentric fictional figure of Dutch scholar, one of earliest historical fantasies of America. He is critical of practices of new settlers and describes how introduction of alcohol and many European diseases devastated Indians. It was so influential that the first school of writers was called The Knickerbocker Club.

The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon the Gentlemen is collection of short stories that started a long tradition of American short story. It contains his most famous short stories:

Rip Van Winkle portrays a simple good-natured and extremely lazy character named Rip Van Winkle of Dutch ancestry. The story is set a few years before the American Revolution. He is well liked as a good neighbour but he has aversion to hard labour and his wife shouts at him all the time. To escape another escapade of nagging, Rip takes his gun and his loyal dog to the mountains for stroll. In the woods, Rip sees a strange old fellow wearing antiquated Dutch dress so he pursues him. He meets strange creatures in costumes and he drinks with them and falls asleep. Upon waking up he realises his beard grown really long and his dog disappeared. He returns to the village but barely recognises the place.

He finally discovers that his wife has died and that friends fell in the war or moved away. He gets into trouble when he proclaims himself a loyal subject of King George, not aware that the American Revolution has taken place. King George's portrait in the inn has been replaced with one of George Washington. He finds another man called Rip Van Winkle, his grown up son. Rip Van Winkle learns the men he met in the mountains are rumoured to be the ghosts of Hudson's crew and Rip has been away for twenty years. However, Rip's grown daughter takes him in. He resumes his usual idleness and becomes a story-teller of times before the Revolution. He enjoys to be ridden of his wife's tyranny and takes little interest in changed politics. The name of his character is still used to depict someone who overslept and is behind times.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a gothic set in the late 18th century in the countryside around the Dutch settlement, in a secluded area called Sleepy Hollow which is renowned for its haunting atmosphere that pervades the imaginations of its inhabitants and visitors. The most infamous spectre in the Hollow is the Headless Horseman, said to be the ghost of a trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during the American Revolutionary War. The main protagonists, Ichabod Crane, is an extremely superstitious schoolmaster who has a love rival in a muscled local hero because he both love 18-year-old girl, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. Ichabod attend a party at her mansion but after failing to secure her hand in marriage, he rides home. As he passes several purportedly haunted spots, his imagination is vivid by the ghost stories told at the party.

After passing under a tree haunted by the ghost of British spy André, Ichabod encounters a cloaked rider and he is horrified to discover that his companion's head is not on his shoulders, but on his saddle. Ichabod rides for his life but the apparition throws his severed head into Ichabod's terrified face. The next morning, Ichabod has mysteriously disappeared from town. Although the nature of the Headless Horseman is left open to interpretation, the story implies that the ghost was really his love rival in disguise but the Dutch women continue to promote the belief that Ichabod was "spirited away by supernatural means," and another legend develops around his disappearance. In reality, Crane left after the headless horseman frightened him away.

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851)

He worked as a sailor but after the death of his father he left and started to write about tracing American past and the history of American border. He discovered the Wild West for readers and created a new type of American hero who has no past and survives in the wilderness. He laid ground for both sea novels and western novels.

His first significant work The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground (1821) is set during the American Revolution. The protagonists is in secret service to Washington but pretends to be a loyalist. The novel presents a human side of both opposing sides.

The series of novels Leatherstocking Tales depicts destruction of the wilderness and extension of boundaries. His masterpiece and the most important Romantic novel of the cycle is The Last of the Mohicans (1826). The main protagonist of the series, Natty Bumpoo nicknamed Hawkeye, became an important figure of American literature because he embodies a vision of a frontier's man as a gentleman = forerunner of Western heroes. He is portrayed as ideal moral man, superior to society he represents, who knows what is good and evil and tries to preserve nature