Headless Horseman Research Paper

American literature has evolved greatly from the Native Americans to 1870’s. American literature has changed, it teaches us how we have become more independent ourselves. The World on a Turtle’s Back, a myth, The Scarlet Letter, a book in a puritan setting, and A Rose for Emily is a southern gothic story. American literature would not be the same today without these forms of writing. The teachings from these are passed down generation to generation.

American History, it has done so much in time that has affected how we live life today and how we interpret things. American Literature reflects that and all it has left us with. Throughout the stories and passages we’ve read this course all of them have left a impact on how and why the writers wrote about what they did. It was all because of American History which later went on and fathered American Literature. American Literature has made society how it is today and painted a vivid picture of how American’s and people live and many of these writers had that in mind when they took these notes.

In the 19th century, political philospher Alexis de Tocqueville claimed, “the in habitants of the United States have… properly speaking, no literature.” This will be demonstrated as false by looking into the unique literature produced by America. Two examples we will be looking at are from Sarah Orne Jewett and Edgar Allen Poe. The pair will prove that Alexis de Tocqueville’s statement is not accurate, and that America has very distinct literature.

As the new world struggled to gain impendence from its mother country, Britain, native authors also try to develop their own style of writings. It quickly became evident that the search for a native literature became a national obsession. Then with the triumph of American independence, many at the time saw this as a divine sign that America and her people were destined for greatness. Greatness came with a strong nation and thousands of poems and stories that still shape our nation. The recent revolution greatly expressed the heart of the American people. However, it would take another fifty years of development throughout American before it produced the first great generation of American writers such as, Washington Irving, Ralph

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” a cry to the world to send the people most in need of liberty, the wretched, and the homeless to America. This quote comes from the 1883 sonnet, New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus and is engraved on a plaque affixed to America’s most famous symbol and landmark, the Statue of Liberty. While American Literature predates Lazarus by a few centuries, her sonnet along with Thomas Jefferson’s contribution in 1776 in the Declaration of Independence help define what makes certain literature American. Clearly expressing the beliefs of the colonist, Thomas Jefferson, an immigrant, penned to the world the purpose of what America stood for, the preservation of individual God-given

All great legends in history must be honored for their sacrifice and leadership that marks a path in recent history. This is why one of the most patriotic and legendary warriors of the Old West known as Crazy Horse is still considered a historical symbol. Crazy Horse was a true American Indian whose independent and fierce spirit during a battle aids as an example of how a leader ought to be. His journey is a celebration of his time and his legacy. Let us reminisce about this era and how Crazy Horse arose to be a fearless Lakota leader.

The American Romantic period of American literature propagated itself throughout the United States and multiple artistic medium from 1800 to 1850. Despite possible confusion caused by the name’s Western implications, this particular literary style originated in Germany with the publication of Goethe’s “Sorrows of Young Werther”. (11. http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/american%20ROMANTICISM%20OVERVIEW.html) Stories originating from this period were typically about improbable feats of adventure which provided readers with euphoric experiences not typically common in everyday life. (11. http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/american%20ROMANTICISM%20OVERVIEW.html) Eventually spreading throughout English culture, romanticism soon infected the colossal talents

One of the most interesting things about a culture is the voice of the people. In the United States, the American Voice is the combined voices of the people who live in America and the mixing of thousands of different perspectives and ideas. The natural mixing of American culture leads to change whether for better or for worse, as time goes on, so does America and the American people. American literature commonly has strong themes of unity and equality. The clearest way to see the voice of a culture is through its literature, essays by american authors like The Declaration of Independance, Ain’t I a Woman, and Letters from Birmingham Jail.

Pieces of literature can be influenced by a wide variety of different factors that they experience everyday, whether the author intended on it or not. One fundamental factor that can influence a writer is their culture, in history it is especially visible. Culture can be defined as the customs, art, beliefs, and behavior of a group of people. Culture can indirectly influence an author or poet or it could be used deliberately in order for the writer to better express their views on a topic. One author that took advantage of his culture, in a possible attempt to bring more recognition to it, at every opportunity he had was John Greenleaf Whittier. Whittier was raised by a Quaker family in Massachusetts during the 1800s, which were part of a pivotal moment in history. Whittier’s works typically included subjects and areas close to his home, his experiences, and both his political and social/religious beliefs. Whittier was an outspoken abolitionist, just like many other Quakers during the time, and he became best known for his anti-slavery poems. One such poem that sticks out as being heavily influenced by his culture is The Hunters of Men, which can be found in the Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume B on page 609-610. When reading the work of Whittier his culture can be seen in three different ways the first is the culture itself, the second is where the culture fits into society, and how his culture impacts the ethics of this essay.

Crazy Horse is apart of the Oglala Lakota tribe and is from Rapid City, SD.  He lived from 1840 to 1877.  Crazy Horse is most famous for “Battle of Little Bighorn” and resisting being put on a reservation.  During this time he was constantly running and fighting. But, he surrendered eventually.  Of course not by choice though.

There are many authors that have made a great impact on their time period and the world today. Each author has a unique writing style due to the way that each individual was raised. For example, some authors may advocate slavery, but other authors were raised to believe slavery was a horrible mistreatment of others. Thus, whichever bias was believed by each author was reflected through their writing. Opinion after opinion, writers in America still had an influential voice. Phillis Wheatley’s “On Being Brought From Africa to America,” Henry Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government,” Frederick Douglass’ “A Parody,” and Fanny Fern’s “Male Criticism on Ladies Books” share a similar theme of injustice inferiority to others and bias; however, on the contrary, they differ in the seriousness

literature has meaning and a sturdy purpose. Three words with important meaning in society appear in

The development of American Literature, much like the development of the nation, began in earnest, springing from a Romantic ideology that honored individualism and visionary idealism. As the nation broke away from the traditions of European Romanticism, America forged its own unique romantic style that would resonate through future generations of literary works. Through periods of momentous change, the fundamentally Romantic nature of American literature held fast, a fact clearly demonstrated in the fiction of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In an era of post-war disillusionment, when idealism succumbed to hedonistic materialism, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s romantically charged novel,

American society is known for having the highest standard of living across the globe; this is solely due to the consumerist culture that is brought forth by capitalism. Americans in the U.S. take pride in these standards and in the freedoms that this democratic nation has established. The 20th century will always be remembered in American history as a century of radical changes on the social and political fronts of the nation. Literature, too, evolved quickly from specific, compartmentalized fields which fit into categories, to works which had no set definition—nobody knew what to do with them. These changes also took place in poetry; artistic expression began to change across the arts and so did the mediums. Poets across the nation

In the 19th century, two significant different genres in American literature emerged: Transcendentalism and Dark Romanticism/Anti-transcendentalism. Towards the middle of the 19th century, the Transcendentalism movement became significant in literature. Thus, as a reaction to the widespread movement, Dark Romanticism was founded. Transcendentalism was based on logical thinking and human’s consciousness, whereas, Dark Romanticism was different in many aspects.