Cultural Developments: Literature

1
Cultural Developments Literature

• By Shaina, Scott, Shira, Libbey, Annika, Estevan

2
Noah Webster

• Strong Federalist
• Americanized English language (1783-1785)
• Rewrote Bible, basing it on King James version
  and integrating Hebrew and Greek Versions (1833)
• A Grammatical Institute of the English
• A Compendium Dictionary of the English Language

3
Noah Webster (cont.)

• Consistently sought to cement the independence of
  America by reforming the English language for the
  new nation.
• America laughs at Europes folly and shuns
  their errors She founds her empire upon the idea
  of universal toleration.

4
Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Wrote lectures and essays
• Commonly discussed individualism and rejected
  traditional authority
• Center of American Transcendential movement
• Centered around a protest of intellectualism at
  Harvard.

5
Ralph Waldo Emerson (cont.)

• Encouraged American scholars to break free of
  European influences.
• Nature, a collection of essays emphasizing a
  spiritual view of nature
• The American Scholar, lectures about breaking
  free of European cultural influence

6
John Greenleaf Whittier

• Poet, Abolitionist
• Quaker
• Helped form Republican Party
• Began writing as a poet for an Abolitionist
  newspaper

7
John Greenleaf Whittier (cont.)

• Abolitionist, stressed sentimentality and
  universalism
• Barbara Frietchie, poem with strong patriotic
  undercurrents written during the Civil War.
  (1864)
• Snow-bound, poem stressing the importance of the
  roots of the American people. (1866)

8
William Cullen Bryant

• Poet, Newspaper editor
• Highly influenced by English poetry
• Poetry inspired by New England countryside
• Reflected English romantics, personal simplicity
• editor-in-chief of New York Evening Post

9
William Cullen Bryant (cont.)

• Defended human rights, free trade, abolition of
  slavery
• Wrote essays on poetry, translated Iliad and
  Odyssey
• Argued for the economic policy of Laissez-Faire
• Campaigned for Abraham Lincoln

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Works Cited Page

• "brief biography." Online Photograph. Noah
  Webster, Writings and Biography. Museum of West
  Hartford History. 30 Sep 2007 lthttp//www.lexrex.c
  om/bios/pics/webster.gifgt. 30 Sep 2007
• "Bryant, William Cullen." Online Photograph.
  Encyclopedia Britannica. 30 Sep 2007
  lthttp//cache.eb.com/eb/image?id76588rendTypeId
  4gt.
• Morgan, John S.. Noah Webster. 1st.
  Mason/Charter, 1975.
• "Noah Webster. 09 028 2007. Virginia
  Commonwealth University. 30 Sep 2007
  lthttp//www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcedentialism/autho
  rs/emersongt.
• "John Greenleaf Whittier." John Greenleaf
  Whittier Homestead. 30 Sep 2007
  lthttp//home.comcast.net/whittierbirthplace/life.
  htmlgt.
• "John Greenleaf Whittier." Online Photograph.
  enotes.com. 30 Sep 2007 lthttp//www.enotes.com/ima
  ges/nineteenth-century/nclc_0001_0059_0_img0018.jp
  ggt.
• "Ralph Waldo Emerson." Online Photograph. The
  Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods Library. 30 Sep
  2007 lthttp//www.walden.org/Institute/thoreau/abou
  t2/E/Emerson_Ralph_Waldo/Emerson4.jpggt.
• "Ralph Waldo Emerson." The Literature Network.
  Jalic Inc.. 30 Sep 2007 lthttp//www.online-literat
  ure.com/emerson/gt.
• Rollins, Richard. The Long Journey of Noah
  Webster. Pennsylvania University of
  Pennsylvania, 1980.