Colonial Period

Early American Literature

The Standards:

ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

• The student relates a literary work to primary source documents of its literary period or historical setting; the student:

• a. Relates a literary work to the seminal ideas of the time in which it is set or the time of its composition.

• i. Native American literature • ii. Colonial/Revolutionary/National literature

Native American Literature

• The earliest American Literature was composed by Native Americans.

• Much of Native American Literature was passed down orally.

• Native American tales were often mythological and/or folktales, such as Trickster tales.

Exploration Literature

• Once explorers began to travel to the New World, they chronicled their experiences in the form of diaries and letters home.

• Often, the diaries and letters were propaganda designed to increase settlers’ interest in the land.

I. Colonial Period (pre-1600 to 1760)

1. Begins with oral literature of Native Americans

2. No written literature among the more than 500 tribes before Europeans came

Note: 1 through 7 is a quick overview of this section.

3. Native American stories show deep respect for nature

4. Nature contains special forces

5. Main characters may be animals or plants

6. The focus was on society more than the individual person

7. This period was God-centered for the Puritans

A. The literature of Exploration

1. The written record of Jamestown (founded 1607) is mainly that of John Smith

a. John Smith was an incurable romantic

b. He stretched the truth in his stories

c. Pocahontas is the most famous one

2. Later in the 1600’s, pirates, adventurers, & explorers opened the way for a second wave of settlers at Plymouth

a. Their literature consisted of diaries, journals, ships’ logs, and reports

b. Because England eventually took control of the colonies, the best known colonial literature is English.

c. Today we are “discovering” the literature of many minorities who came here at the same time.

The Literature

Native American Literature:

Creation Myths

What is a myth?

The word itself comes from the Greek "mythos" which originally meant "speech" or "discourse"

Myth

A traditional story that deals with goddesses, gods, heroes, and/or supernatural forces. A myth may

explain a belief, a custom, or a force of nature.

Myths

• Contain supernatural elements • Often explain the unexplainable • Have also been told in order to teach a

moral lesson. • All cultures have myths, though often do

not see their stories myth but as fact.

Sacred Narratives

• A more culturally sensitive term for “origin myths” or “creation myths”

• No culture appreciates their beliefs being called “myths”…

What is a myth?

A traditional story A traditional story explaining how the explaining how the world and the things world and the things in it came to be.in it came to be.

Oral tradition • Native American myths originated as oral tradition: stories passed down verbally

Oral Tradition. . .

• Native American creation myths were not written down until just a few hundred years ago.

Four functions of myth:

1. To awaken us to the mystery and wonder of creation

2. To explain the workings of the natural world: every corner, every rock, hill, stone, and flower has its place and its meaning.

3. To pass down the moral and ethical codes that support and validate social customs.

4. To teach:

to guide the people through the trials of living

Creation myths

• Explain how the universe, the earth, and life on earth began.

Creation Myths• Creation myth- explanation for how the world began• Trickster- some one is creative curious and often

gets into trouble. Will sometimes find wisdom through their curiosity.

Essentials of Creation Myths

1. SHOW WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO THE TRIBE! (corn, animals, rituals, etc.)- CULTURAL DETAILS!!!

2. State the place and people of origin

3. Describe what existed before the “creation”

4. EXPLAIN the “creation” of things or the beginnings of rituals

5. EXPLAIN who or what did the creating

Creation Myths…

More About Native American Literature

• Oral Traditions• Integration of the natural world with the human

world• No separation of spiritual and physical• Importance of ancestors• Trixter figure – often a coyote• Rich literary tradition – developed mythology• Extremely diverse• Native American legacy today – Sherman Alexie

Native American Literature

• The Earth on Turtle’s Back

• When Grizzlies Walked Upright

• From The Navaho Origin Legend

• From the Iroquois Constitution

Colonial Period

The first migration to the Americas was not by the British.

The first migration occurred 20 – 40,000 years ago when Ice Age Hunters traveled

from Siberia to Alaska. Slowly these people and their descendents

migrated south. When European exploration began, these were the people

who were living in the “New World.”

In 1492, Columbus

“discovered” America.

Taking Native Americans with

him to Spain, stories began to circulate about the wonders of the New World,

about its exoticism and bountifulness.

Spanish and French explorers wrote about this new world in over-

exaggerated styles, praising its beauty,

making it appear as Al Dorado (the place of hopes and dreams).

America was viewed as the land of plenty, the

land of peace and hospitality, the land of

riches

This brought hope for those who were being prosecuted across the world.

When Europeans began voyaging to this world, they unleashed diseases such as smallpox, measles, typhus, and so on,

on the Natives, who were also enslaved and mistreated.

In the face of this, Native American population began to decline rapidly, and thus, Spain introduced African

slavery in 1501

The period of European exploration brought with it a huge body of

literature that is referred to as a literature of witness or exploration

narratives The early settlers brought with them their knowledge of written

communication with its particular style and content. They wrote about their new experiences in forms that

were familiar to them – letters, factual records, sermons, and poems.

Captain John Smith: A Description of New England (1616)

Exploration Literature

• Captain John Smith: – The General History of Virginia, New England, and the

Summer Isles (1624)The Generall Historie is Smith’s most comprehensive discussion of conquest and exploration and stands today as an exemplary text in the exploration literature of the 16th and 17th century

• William Bradford: – Of Plymouth Plantation (1650): a journal comprising the story

of the Pilgrims and the early years of the founding of their colony (from 1608 to 1647)

• Christopher Columbus:– From Journal of the First Voyage to America (1492):

a journal written nine days after Columbus Arrived in the Americas

The Many Faces of Pocahontas

Pocahontas

Your Homework tonight

• Directions:• Write an origin myth that is at least one page typed

(Double Spaced), 1” margins, 12 pt. Font)

or two pages (front and back written) Your myth must include the following elements:

• Explain the origin of a phenomenon in nature (refer to examples discussed in class)

• Creation of man, animals, or the earth• Must include an Immortal Being