* Beowulf  (Old epic poem, 早期文字都是從詩歌開始)

* 1492 (Christopher Columbus found a new sea route to India on his maiden voyage)

 

* Robert Frost (American poet, regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and American colloquial speech)

* Rip Van Winkle (is a short story about a hen-pecker by an American author, Washington Irving)

* Features of literature:

            1. What is literature?

                        à Written form of delegated works of human’s thoughts

                        à 14^th century: polite learning though reading. (man of letters
                            aka literacy)

                        à 18^th century: practice and profession of writing

                        à 19^th century: the high skills of writing in the special context of
                            high imagination

                        à Modern definition: language artistically used to achieve
                            identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful
                            messages.
                        

        à Characteristics: beauty of expression and form; universal
                            intellectual and emotional appeal

            2. Why read literature?

                        à To read, understand, and appreciate the great books as well as
                           major literary genres of American literature from poetry to play.

                        à To enrich knowledge

                        à To explore human nature

            3. How to read literary works?

                        à Analytical approach (plot, character, point of view, basic
                            knowledge)

                        à Thematic approach (what is the story, play, poem, essay
                            about?)

                        à Historical approach (historical development or event)

            4. Define American Literature

                        à literary work of the U.S. and colonial America

            5. Qualities of American writer

                        à individualistic, independent, innovative, critical (which makes it
                            different from the British works)
 * Major periods

            Beginning of the 17^th century, United States had been probed by English and European explorers (Dutch, Germans, French, Italians, and Portuguese). Everything forming of the American civilization was for the most part English sustained; however their literary works are diverse due to the immigrants. The American literature was neither literature nor regular genre of American literature.
           
          1607 – 1765 (The literature of Colonial America)

                        à earliest form of literature, usually were pamphlets (小冊子) and
                            writings

                        à Forms of writing: histories, diaries, chronicles, poetry, sermons

                        à 1620 – 1783 Puritanism: philosophy of life, a dominant factor
                            in American life, it is a two-fold cultural heritage, one being
                            religious and the other practical
                            (aka: "practical idealist” or “doctrinaire opportunist”). The
                            Puritan style of writing is characterized by simplicity (fresh,
                            simple, and direst – not fancy).

                       à Captain John Smith (first permanent English author)

            1765 – the end of 19^th century (The literature of Reason and Revolution)

                        à politics and patriotism

                        à Benjamin Franklin

                        à Thomas Paine: Common Sense

            1800 – 1865 (The Literature of Romanticism)

            1865 – 1918 (The literature of Realism)

            1945 – recent (Contemporary literature)