American literature in Colonial Period.ppt

4. Anne Bradstreet 布拉德斯特里特(1612-1672) the first poet and first female writer in the British North American colonies to be published. The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America Her first volume of poetry published in 1650 the first book written by a woman to be published in the United States. Bradsteets poems are associated mostly with Romanticism. She tends to present Romanticism in the form of idealism, individualism, and the discussion of an exotic place. Anne Bradstreet expresses Romanticism in her poetry not necessarily in the sense of her own choice of subject but in the way of her own feelings. 5. Edward Taylor 爱德华·泰勒(1645/42-1729) “Saint and Singer” considered the finest Puritan poet regarded as a major figure in colonial literature His reputation, however, was posthumously established. As he lay dying at the age of 88, Taylor requested that his poetry not to be published. His heirs honored his request. Consequently, Taylor’s poems lay buried in dust and anonymity for 2 centuries. In 1937, his manuscript, some four hundred pages bound in a leather book, was discovered in the Yale University Library. Taylor’s poems were an expression of his deeply held religious views acquired during a strict upbringing and shaped in adulthood by New England Puritans. * * * * Their concern for education was important in the development of the United States. The idea of congregational democratic church government was carried into the political life of the state as a source of modern democracy. Topic 3：American Literature in Colonial America Contents I. Influence of Puritanism on American literature II. The Function of Puritan Writers III. The Style of Puritan Writing IV. The main forms of literary works V. Common Themes in Early Puritan Writing VI. Major Writers of the Colonial Period I. Influence of Puritanism on American literature a. The spirit of optimism b. Symbolism as a technique c. Simplicity Puritans had a strict set of religious and moral principles that were