Topics for final exam

TOPICS FOR FINAL EXAM

PART I. Theoretical Questions: Definition, timeline, main features, prominent representatives, main literary works

1. 
   Colonial Period of American Literature
   

The Colonial Period of American Literature spans the time between the founding of the first settlement at Jamestown to the outbreak of the Revolution. The writings of this time centered on religious, practical, or historical themes. The man sometimes called the first American writer was Capt. John Smith. He was a soldier-adventurer who came to Virginia in 1607 and wrote pamphlets describing the new land. His first, A True Relation of Virginia (1608), aimed at attracting settlers and winning financial support for the colony. His General History of Virginia (1624) elaborates on his experiences. In it he tells how his life was saved by Pocahontas. Smith was an able leader and an interesting reporter. His books are valued because he was the first person to write about the English settlements. Colonial life in Virginia was best described by William Byrd, owner of Westover, an estate of almost 180,000 acres (73,000 hectares) on the James River. The beautiful house is a showplace today. Educated in England, Byrd returned home to lead the life of a country gentleman. He worked hard managing his affairs. His most notable public act was to survey the boundary between Virginia and Carolina, fighting his way through the great Dismal Swamp. He described this adventure of 1728–29 in History of the Dividing Line, published in 1841. He told, often amusingly, of settlement life in the backcountry. Byrd’s Secret Diary, discovered in 1940, gives intimate glimpses of colonial times and helps bring to life this refined and witty colonial gentleman. Plantation life in Virginia was civilized, even elegant. The people were not intellectual, however, and they produced little writing. The inhabitants, descended from the Royalist, or “Cavalier,” group in England, were faithful members of the Church of England. They accepted religion as a matter of course and felt no need to write about it. In addition, the system of plantation life produced a number of isolated communities, as did feudalism in the Middle Ages. This kept people from gathering in cities. People in the Southern Colonies therefore had little need to write, and social conditions, furthermore, did not encourage them to do so. The South’s great contributions, both to statecraft and to literature, came later. The significant writing of colonial times was done in New England, where American literature may properly be said to have begun. Colonial life began in New England with the landing of the Pilgrims at Cape Cod in 1620. Before going ashore they signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement to live together in harmony under law (see Mayflower). It is found in History of Plimoth Plantation. This moving account of the early struggles of the colonists was written by William Bradford, who was governor for 30 years. A similar journal was kept by Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded ten years after Plymouth. Present-day knowledge of Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims’ dealings with Indians, and other experiences of the first settlers comes from these two narratives of the colonization.

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