Flashcards on American Literary Periods and Authors
American Literary Periods and Authors: A Student's Guide
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American literature
15 cards
Card 1
Question: What themes did Colonial Period American literature (1607–1776) primarily focus on?
Answer: Physical survival, exploration, and strict religious devotion—a literature of facts, faith, and first impressions.
Card 2
Question: How is American Romanticism (1820–1865) characterized?
Answer: A reaction against cold logic that emphasized the individual, the beauty of nature, and the power of emotion and imagination.
Card 3
Question: Which author is associated with Dark Romanticism and was mentioned as a master of the short story?
Answer: Edgar Allan Poe (Note: this card names him only because he appears in the provided content.)
Card 4
Question: What themes does Nathaniel Hawthorne explore in The Scarlet Letter?
Answer: Legalism, sin, and guilt within a strict Puritan society.
Card 5
Question: What was the American Renaissance (1840–1860) and what belief largely influenced it?
Answer: A sub-period of Romanticism when American literature flourished, largely influenced by Transcendentalism—the belief that people and nature are inheren
Card 6
Question: What idea did Ralph Waldo Emerson promote in his essay Nature?
Answer: Individualism and the spiritual connection between the human soul and the natural world.
Card 7
Question: How did Walt Whitman change American poetry and what did Leaves of Grass capture?
Answer: He used free verse (no regular rhyme or meter) to capture the vastness and diversity of the American experience and democracy.
Card 8
Question: What prompted the shift to Realism and Naturalism (1865–1915) in American literature?
Answer: The devastation of the Civil War prompted writers to move away from Romantic ideals toward portraying everyday life with scientific accuracy; Naturali
Card 9
Question: Why is Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn significant?
Answer: It used regional dialects and addressed deep-seated issues of racism and social injustice, earning it the label 'Great American Novel.'
Card 10
Question: Which writer exemplified Naturalist themes through adventure novels set in the Klondike wilderness?
Answer: Jack London, author of The Call of the Wild and White Fang, reflecting survival-of-the-fittest themes.