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Till-: STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



A M I:RICAN LITERATURE continued 



American history and American literature are 

 not contemporaneous terms. American history 

 with the European settlement of the 

 American continent, but the literature not until 

 generations later, when the life of the new world 

 had created distinctively different ideals and 

 different currents of thought and emotion. 

 American literature was in its origin simply a 

 branch of English literature set in new earth. 

 Our intellectual dependence on England has 

 gradually lessened, and as we have gained inde- 

 pendence in national affairs, national ideals 

 nave grown clearer and our character more 

 definitely denned. This gradual change in 

 national character has been reflected period by 

 period in our literature, but American literature 

 remains to-day, and it is desirable that it shall 

 ever remain, a branch of the great literature of 

 England which binds together the great body of 

 the English speaking people. 



PERIODS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

 I. The Colonial Period, 1607-1765. 

 II. The Revolutionary Period, 1765-1789. 



III. The Period of the Republic, 1789-1908. 



Colonial Period, 16O7-1765. It is 

 important to remember that the group of Eng- 

 lish colonies scattered along the Atlantic coast 

 represented entirely separate communities. There 

 was no national life. The literature of the 

 colonial period had its beginnings in no one 

 center. Colonial literature is a literature of sec- 

 tions, each reflecting the character of the set- 

 tlers. 



In Virginia education was despised. All were 

 in eager search for ease of life or gold. The 

 earliest writings in this colony were news letters 

 and various descriptions of the new and strange 

 country or the story of mishaps and prosperity, 

 written by the settlers to their friends in Eng- 

 land. Very little attempt was made at beauty 

 of style. Captain John Smith had printed when 

 he returned to London "A True Relation of 

 Virginia," published in 1608. "We doubt not," 

 he writes, "but by God's gracious assistance, 

 and the adventurous, willing minds and speedy 

 furtherance to so honorable an action in after 

 times, to see our nation enjoy a country, not 

 only exceedingly pleasant for habitation, but 

 also very profitable for commerce in general, no 

 doubt pleasing to Almighty God, honorable to 

 our gracious sovereign, and commodious gener- 



ally to the whole kingdom." This and other 

 writings of the early Virginia colonists form 

 very valuable historic documents. Certain few 

 attempts at scholarly work were made, such as 

 the translation of Ovid's "Metamorphoses," by 

 George Sandys, treasurer of the Virginian colony 

 and son of the archbishop of York. 



Among the narratives and descriptions of the 

 country were "Good News from Virginia," by 

 Alexander Whitaker, published in London in 

 1613; and "Leah and Rachel," by John Ham- 

 mond, published in 1656. But books of this 

 character cannot be said to belong to the new 

 continent. They were written by Englishmen 

 and printed in England to be read by their 

 countrymen. 



Great importance was attached to education 

 in the New England colonies. Schools, colleges, 

 the printing press, were soon established. Books 

 and pamphlets were published. The first book 

 printed was the "Bay Psalm Book." Before 

 1630 public instruction was compulsory in New 

 England. 



Among the earliest writings were diaries, his- 

 tories, and descriptions. The events of the first 

 year of the Plymouth Colony were recorded in 

 the "Journal of William Bradford and Edward 

 Winslow," vivid and full of interesting incidents. 

 The "History of Plymouth," by William Brad- 

 ford, for thirty years governor of the colony, 

 comes down to 1646. 



The literature of New England was, through- 

 out the Colonial period, of a religious character. 

 The only questions of general interest were ques- 

 tions of theology. The writers of books and 

 pamphlets were men who had fought for their 

 religious opinions. They had exiled themselves 

 that they might be free to worship God accord- 

 ing " to the dictates of their own conscience. 

 Naturally, the first publications were in defense 

 of their creed. Their only literary object was 

 to explain divine truth as they perceived 

 it. Religious books and pamphlets, therefore, 

 form the great bulk of the publications of the 

 period. 



Most prominent among the clergy were Roger 

 Williams, the author of many writings, in which 

 he boldly stood for liberty of conscience; John 

 Eliot, the "Apostle to the Indians" and a writer 

 of books; the Mathers, father, son, and grand- 

 son, who were men of great mental power and 

 voluminous sermons. 



