American Literature

Early American Literature Comparison

American literature is truly a literature of change. As the nation became independent of England, this new independence reflected in the ideals and philosophies of writers. Whereas early American literature was dominated by puritan forms, which contemplated the power of God and often were written copies of sermons or journals used by puritans, some stories still arose. These stories, filled with ideas of sin and repentance directly reflect the social limitations which puritans placed on early American society. Once the nation was founded, however, and the Constitution separated the power of the church from the government, new forms of literature were created that questioned the puritan authors and their principles. These literary styles included the romantics, transcendentalists, and abolitionists whose works stemmed from new sources of the mind and the new free nation around them. Regardless of these new forms, another type of literature...
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