discoveries of america.pptVIP

Part I Early American Literature: Colonial Period to 1815 Chapter 1 The Literature of the New World Teaching plan Structure of American literature A List of Works Evaluation Discoveries of America “America” ---- ‘the New World’ ---North and South Americas ‘American literature’ ---- the body of literature created in the United States in North America The founding of the United States as a nation may be traced to the American Revolution in the 18th century, its multi-cultural heritages are rooted in the various explorations of the New World that had started several hundred years before the American Revolution. The discoveries are diverse in their cultural and historical situations. Christopher Columbus --- 2:00 am, Friday, October 12, 1492 --- (determined by some historians) American English consists of many cultural strains; it evolved as people of different national and cultural backgrounds came to America, discovered America in their own terms, and added their own linguistic and cultural attributes to it. We only focus on the European colonial experiences in the New World. (P1) Discovery or exploration has become part of the American spirit. The Maine Woods (Thoreau) 缅因森林 1864 America is always in the process of being discovered. After the Age of Exploration, many American writers continued the spirit of discovery in that they pursued a world that is always new and exciting. The inner story of the times More than a century after European explorers first landed in North America, there were still no permanent settlements in the Western Hemisphere. By 1607, however, a small group of English settlers was struggling to survive on a marshy island in the James River in the present state of Virginia. In 1611, Thomas Dale, governor of the colony, wrote a report to the king expressing the colonists’ determination to succeed. Despite disease and starvation, Jamestown did survive. The first settlers were entranced by the native inhabitants they met. They did not fi