35. The Calvinist beliefs brought about the Great Awakening during the 1730s and 1740s.
___Jonathan Edward____was the most influential among the believers.
II. Make multiple choices.
1. English literature in the America is only about more than ___________ years old. A. 500 B. 400 C. 200 D. 100 2. The establisher of Jamestown was the famous explorer and colonist ________. A. John Winthrop B. John Smith C. William Bradford D. John Goodwin 3. The puritan dominating values were _______________. A. hard work B. thrift C. piety D. sobriety 4. Choose those that were named after English monarch of land. A. Georgia B. New York C. Carolina D. New Hampshire 5. Which statement about Cotton Mather is not true? A. He was a great Puritan historian. B. He was an inexhaustible writer. C. He was a skillful preacher and an eminent theologian. D. He was a graduate of Oxford College. 6. Jonathan Edwards? best and most representative sermon was ____________. A. A True Sight of Sin B. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God C. A Model of Christian Charity D. God?s Determinations
7. The common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasis on the
_________. A. Revolutionism B. Reason C. Individualism D. Rationalism
8. From 1622 until his death, ____________, one of the greatest of colonial American,
was reelected thirty times as governor. A. Anne Bradstreet B. William Bradford
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C. Edward Taylor D. Thomas Paine
9. _____________ carries the voice not of an individual but of a whole people. It is
more than writing of the Revolutionary period, it defined the meaning of the American Revolution. A. Common Sense B. The American Crisis C. Declaration of Independence D. Defense of the English people
10. ______________ usually was regarded as the first American writer. A. William Bradford B. Anne Bradstreet C. Emily Dickinson D. Captain John Smith 11. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made such a stir in England that she
became known as the “__________” who appeared in America A. Ninth Muse B. Tenth Muse C. Best Muse D. First Muse
12. The ship “__________” carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat
its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts. A. Sunflower B. Armada C. Mayflower D. Pequod 13. From 1733 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous __________,
an annual collection of proverbs. A. The Autobiography B. Poor Richards’ Almanac C. Common Sense D. The General Magazine
14. Which is not connected with Thomas Paine? A. Common Sense B. The American Crisis C. The Rights of Man D. The Autobiography
15. “These are the times that try men?s souls”, these words were once read to
Washington?s troops and did much to spur excitement to further action with hope and confident. Who is the author of these words? A. Benjamin Franklin B. Thomas Paine C. Thomas Jefferson D. George Washington
16. Who was considered as the “Poet of American Revolution”? A. Anne Bradstreet B. Edward Taylor
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C. Michael Wigglesworth D. Philip Freneau 17. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life of and
career of ____________. A. Thomas Hood B. Benjamin Franklin C. Thomas Jefferson D. George Washington
18. It was not until January 1776 that a widely heard public voice demanded complete
separation from England. The voice was that of ____________, whose pamphlet Common Sense, with its heated language, increased the growing demand for seperation. A. Thomas Paine B. Thomas Jefferson C. George Washington D. Patrick Henry
th
19. In American literature, the 18 century was the age of the Enlightenment and
______________ was the dominant spirit. A. Humanism B. Rationalism C. Revolution D. Evolution 20. At the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the European
movement called the _____________. A. Chartist Movement B. Romanticism Movement C. Enlightenment D. Modernist Movement
21. The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parent country and
the Continental Congress adopted ____________ in 1776. A. The Declaration of Independence B. the Sugar Act C. th Stamp Act D. the Mayflower Compact
III. Literary terms
1. American Puritanism 2. American Dream
IV. Questions:
1. What kind of book is Poor Richard’s Almanac? What qualities in this book are
literary? How did Franklin transform some of the well-known proverbs? 2. Read the following passage and answer the questions:
These are the times that try men?s souls: the summer soldier and the sunshine
patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly – This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put proper price upon its goods.
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1) Which book is this passage taken from? 2) Who is the author of this book?
3) Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing? 4) What do you think of the language?
V. Find the relevant match from column B for each item in column A.
A B
1. ( j ) John Smith 2. ( d ) John Winthrop 3. ( f ) William Bradford 4. ( b ) Ann Bradstreet 5. ( h ) Edward Taylor 6. ( c ) Jonathan Edwards 7. ( i ) Benjamin Franklin 8. ( e ) Thomas Paine 9. ( g ) Philip Freneau 10.( a ) Thomas Jefferson
a. The Declaration of Independence b. The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America c. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God d. The History of New England e. Common Sense f. Of Plymouth Plantation g. The Rising Glory of America h. Preparatory Meditations i. Poor Richard’s Almanac j. A Description of New England 14
Exercise 2
I. Fill in the blanks:
1. Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper and William Bryant are regarded as pioneers of American romanticism. Their works and the works of others constituted what is called “early romanticism”. P69
2. American romanticism did not achieve its most powerful articulations until Edgar Allan Poe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathanial Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. P68 3. Washington Irving was the first American writer to achieve international recognition. P77
4. “ Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” are two of Irving?s best known stories. Both are included in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., a collection of sketches and stories. p77
5. The story of Rip Van Winkle came from a German folktale. Irving made it American by translating it into the American historical context and by giving it American features. P75
6. In his imaginative and historical works, Irving has established a literary style known for his humor, his vivid characterization, his sense of irony, his finished style, and the definiteness of American location. P77
7. Irving?s major works may be divided into such categories as essays and sketches, tales or short stories, historical and biographical accounts. P79 8. In James Fenimore Cooper?s Leather-stocking Tales, the importance of the frontier and the wilderness in American literature was for the first time well illustrated and was to remain a major concern for many later authors.
9. The ideas of transcendentalism were most eloquently expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in such essays as Nature, and Self-Reliance and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden.
10. The Transcendental Club sponsored two major activities: The Dial, quarterly, between 1840 and 1844, and Brook Farm in 1841. p90 11. Emerson?s famous essay The American Scholar has been called “American?s Declaration of Intellectual Independence” because he called on American writers to write about America in an American way instead of imitating things foreign. This essay was first delivered to the faculty and students at Harvard in 1837, and soon became an influence across America.
12. Thoreau?s ideas have a direct and significant influence on world events. His first major influence is nonviolent struggle as expressed in his Civil Disobedience. His second major influence is his call of “ Back to Nature ”.
13. American romanticism reached its peak with the appearance of the major authors of the 19th century such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe in poetry, and Nathanial Hawthorne and Herman Melville in fiction. 14. In her life, Emily Dickinson wrote about 1755 poems, but only 7-11 were
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