Norteamericana todo, Ejercicios de Filología Inglesa

¡Descarga Norteamericana todo y más Ejercicios en PDF de Filología Inglesa solo en Docsity!

Literatura Norteamericana

hasta finales del s. XIX

I

THE COLONIAL PERIOD

described as an earthly paradise, as a land of endless bounty. His books are all fascinating

“advertisements” which try to persuade the reader to settle in the New World.

I.2 Early writings about New England : The Puritan doctrine and literature

Several years later, another group of settlers also arrived in the New World. This group was

looking for the Jamestown settlement. However, because of bad navigation, they landed in

Massachusetts. For these people emigration to America represented a chance to live a godly life

without interference. The New England colonies started in 1620 because of the lack of religious

freedom in England. They were called Puritans because they wanted to live a better life by

making themselves pure.

Puritanism came as a result of the Protestant Reformation. Many Protestants in England believed that King Henry VIII had not changed the church enough when he broke from the Roman Catholic church. They believed that the church needed to be further “purified” and brought closer to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Essentially, they

demanded that the rituals and structures associated with Roman Catholicism be replaced by

simpler Protestant forms of faith and worship. They wanted to purify it because they felt it had

been corrupted. They wished to restore simplicity to church services and the authority of the

Holy Bible to theology. The Puritans who settled in New England represented a different type

of colonist, one that emigrated for religious rather than economic reasons. They wanted to start

a new world governed by the Bible. In contrast to the Jamestown settlement in Virginia, the

New England settlements had a common ideological goal, to establish a true “religious society”.

To explain the Puritanism that dominated New England and its literature during the

seventeenth century it is necessary to distinguish between the founders of Plymouth Colony

and the founders of Massachusetts Bay:

 The Plymouth Colony in Cape Cod. The settlers—known as Pilgrim Fathers — were

Separatists ; they believed that the Church of England was corrupt and that true Christians must separate themselves from it. They were poor and uneducated. They arrived in New England (at Plymouth Rock) on board of the Mayflower in 1620. William Bradford was the leader of the settlement and church they founded in Massachusetts. They were escaping from persecution in Europe, and their main reason to the new land was to find religious freedom.

 The Massachusetts Bay Colony These were true Puritans and got to America on board of

the Arbella in 1630. They wanted to purify the Church of England of its popish customs, not to withdraw from it. In contrast to the Pilgrims, they were wealthy and well educated, many of them being substantial property owners or professional men, university-trained as was their governor, John Winthrop, who believed in reform but not separation. Most Massachusetts colonists were Non-separatist Puritans. Both Pilgrims and Puritans were Calvinists, followers of the Swiss theologian John

Calvin. Calvinism emphasizes original sin, man’s fall, and sees man as an utterly corrupt

being who can only be reborn through God’s grace. They accepted the main doctrines of

Calvinism of Natural depravity: All men are born in original sin and can do nothing to save

themselves, and Predestination: God knows from the beginning who has been elected.

Both Pilgrims and Puritans also held that the Bible was the guide for all aspects of life.

Puritan settlers believed themselves chosen by God to create a new order in America. They

came to view their arrival in America as an “ errand into the wilderness ”, referencing the

Biblical Israelites’ exodus from Egypt into the desert for 40 years before entering the Promised

Land. To achieve this, the Puritans dreamed of creating the Bible’s “ city upon a hill ” used by

the Puritan leader John Winthrop as the title of his 1630 sermon, a utopian community serving as a beacon for the rest of the world, a model of how to organize and live under the religious ideals that they believed a corrupted and crowded Europe had left far behind.

God´s Providence —that is, they believed that God continuously

directs the affairs of men. A successful business, for example, might very well indicate divine

favor and approval. They lived in a very symbolic world, in which every material object,

action, and outcome might represent profound meaning. The so called Protestant work ethic

originated with the Puritans, who believed that a person’s duty was to achieve success

through hard work, thrift, and self-discipline. Material prosperity was a sign of God’s grace.

Characteristics of Puritan literature :

The purposes of literature were utilitarian. They believed writing should be useful, a tool

to help readers understand the Bible and guide them in their daily lives. For this reason, logic,

clarity, and order were more prized in writing than beauty or adornment. Religion was very

WILLIAM BRADFORD (1 590 - 1657)

From Of Plymouth Plantation, Book I, Chapter 9 Of Their Voyage and How They Passed the Sea; and of Their Safe Arrival at Cape Cod

September 6. These troubles being blown over^1 , and now all being compact together in one

ship^2 , they put to sea again with a prosperous wind, which continued divers days together, which

was some encouragement unto them; yet, according to the usual manner, many were afflicted with seasickness. And I may not omit here a special work of God's providence. There was a proud and

very profane^3 young man, one of the seamen, of a lusty^4 , able body, which made him the more

haughty^5 ; he would always be condemning^6 the poor people in their sickness and cursing them

daily with grievous execrations^7 ; and did not let^8 to tell them that he hoped to help to cast half of them overboard before they came to their journey's end, and to make merry with what they had;

and if he were by any gently reproved^9 , he would curse and swear most bitterly. But it pleased

God before they came half seas over, to smite^10 this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard. Thus his

curses light on his own head, and it was an astonishment to all his fellows for they noted it to be

the just hand of God upon him.

After they had enjoyed fair winds and weather for a season, they were encountered many times with cross winds and met with many fierce storms with which the ship was shroudly^11

shaken, and her upper works made very leaky; and one of the main beams in the midships was

bowed and cracked, which put them in some fear that the ship could not be able to perform the

voyage… But to omit other things […] after long beating at sea they fell with that land which is called

Cape Cod^12 ; the which being made and certainly known to be it, they were not a little joyful. After

some deliberation had amongst themselves and with the master of the ship, they tacked about and resolved to stand for the southward to find some place about Hudson’s River 13 for their

habitation^14. But after they had sailed that course about half a day, they fell amongst dangerous

(^1) Ended without consequences. (^2) The Mayflower. (^3) Irreverent. (^4) Healthy and strong (^5) Arrogant; proud. (^6) Scorning, despising. (^7) Curses; angry words. (^8) Hesitate. (^9) Reprimanded. (^10) Strike. (^11) Wickedly. (^12) They arrived at Cape Cod in southeastern Massachusetts on November 9, 1620, after a 66-day voyage. (^13) They were trying for Manhattan Island. Henry Hudson had made his voyage in 1609 and had claimed the area for the Dutch, but the English did not recognize the Dutch claim. (^14) A place of residence.

shoals 15 and roaring breakers, and they were so far entangled therewith as they conceived

themselves in great danger; and the wind shrinking upon them withal^16 , they resolved to bear up

again for the Cape, and thought themselves happy to get out of those dangers before night overtook them, as by God's providence they did. And the next day they got into the Cape-harbor

where they rid in safety^17 [….]

Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and

blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils^18 and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth,

their proper element. […..]

But here I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amazed at this poor people's

present condition; and so I think will the reader, too, when he well consider the same. Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation, they had now no friends to

welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weather-beaten bodies; no houses or much less

towns to repair to, to seek for succor^19. It is recorded in Scripture as a mercy to the Apostle and his shipwrecked company, that the barbarians showed them^20 no small kindness in refreshing them;

but these savage barbarians, when they met with them were readier to fill their sides full of arrows

than otherwise. And for the season, it was winter; and they that know the winters of that country

know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search an unknown coast. Besides, what could they see but a hideous

and desolate^21 wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men? And what multitudes there might be

of them, they knew not. Neither could they, as it were, go up to the top of Pisgah^22 , to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their hopes; for which way soever^23 they turned

their eyes they could have little solace^24 or content in respect of any outward objects. For summer

being done, all things stand upon them with a weather-beaten face; and the whole country, full of

woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue^25. If they looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar and gulf to separate them

from all the civil parts of the world. […..] What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and

His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: `Our fathers were

Englishmen which came over this great ocean and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity…´

(^15) Shallow places in the sea. (^16) In addition; also. (^17) Rode. (^18) Exposure to harm or injury. (^19) To look for help or relief. (^20) A reference to the Bible. The Apostle Paul and his shipwrecked companions were greeted courteously by the natives (barbarians) of the island of Malta during a storm. (^21) Lonely, solitary. (^22) Mountain from which Moses saw the Promised Land. Settlers gave this name to certain mountains and forests in North America upon arrival in new lands. (^23) In any way. (^24) Comfort in sorrow or distress. (^25) Aspect; appearance, color.

EDWARD TAYLOR (1642-1729)

Huswifery^30 (audio clip Huswifery)

Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete. Thy holy word my distaff^31 make for me. Make mine affections^32 Thy swift flyers^33 neat, And make my soul Thy holy spool to be. My conversation make to be Thy reel And reel the yarn thereon spun of Thy wheel.

Make me Thy loom then, knit therein this twine: And make Thy holy spirit, Lord, wind quills^34 : Then weave the web Thyself. The yarn is fine. Thine ordinances^35 make my fulling mills^36. Then dye the same in heavenly colors choice, All pinked^37 with varnished^38 flowers of paradise.

Then clothe therewith mine understanding, will, Affections, judgment, conscience, memory; My words and actions, that their shine may fill My ways with glory and Thee glorify. Then mine apparel shall display before Ye That I am clothed in holy robes for glory.

(^30) Huswifery means “housekeeping” (^31) Staff on a spinning wheel for holding the wool to be spun. (^32) Emotions. (^33) Parts of spinning wheels that twist fibers into yarn. (^34) Rods used to wind and hold yarn. (^35) Sacraments or religious rites. (^36) Fulling mills: machines that beat and process woven cloth to make it denser and more compact. (^37) Decorated. (^38) Embellished.

II

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD

DEISM , as the religion of nature, developed out of this change in attitude. The deists

believed in God, but an impersonal God. To them, God was the PRIME MOVER , the divine

clock winder who set the universe in motion and let it run without interference. He was no

longer directly concerned with the affairs of men. Only through natural laws did he manifest

himself, and only through reason could man understand him. In general, the deists distrusted

the Bible and the clergy, denied the divinity of Christ and the concept of grace, and deplored all

forms of organized religion. Instead they put their faith in reason and science, believe in an

innate moral sense, and advocated a life of virtue.

The shift to rationalism also appeared in the new attitude toward man. During the

Enlightenment, man’s reason was dominant. With it he could learn the laws of nature and place

himself in harmony with the universe, thus fulfilling his purpose. He was no longer considered

a victim of original sin, and his reason could operate without help from the Bible or the clergy.

Man was also the source and object of government. It was believed that man is born with such

natural rights as those of life, liberty and property. He forms governments and chooses rulers,

not to surrender his rights, but to delegate to his rulers the power to protect them. Thus the

source of government is the people rather than God. American patriots adopted these ideas to

justify the Revolutionary War, believing that if man could form governments he could also

dissolve them.

the inevitability of progress

the perfectibility of man and his institutions

the efficacy of reason

the beneficence of God

the plenitude and perfection of nature

Characteristics of the literature of the period:

For colonists living in the 1700s, there was one topic around which most conversation

and writing revolved: the Revolution. The writing of this period was political writing (political

speeches, political essays and pamphlets), and it was persuasive. It had a life-and-death

purpose: to win over the hearts and minds of American colonists—and the rest of the world—to

the belief that rebellion was necessary. During the American Revolution, one important

literature piece is Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776) a political pamphlet that encouraged

separation of the colonies from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson wrote The Declaration of

Independence (adopted July 4, 1776), and found inspiration in the “ social contract theory ”:

governments are a contract between the governed and the people governing who have their

power from the consent of the people and whose purpose is to protect everybody’s rights. The

main purpose of The Declaration of Independence was to explain to foreign nations why the

colonies had chosen to separate themselves from Great Britain. A final example of literature

during the American Revolution is the United States Constitution. The purpose of this document

was to establish a federal government for the United States and delegate to the federal

government certain, limited powers.

The content of American literature between 1790 and 1820 was largely determined by

the peculiar circumstances of American life and shows the dominant nationalistic patterns of

thought of the period; the main preoccupation of the period was to create their own identity as

a new country, that is, the desire for a declaration of literary independence and a truly

American literature. At the end of the 18th^ century literature did not yet exist in the United

States as a profession that allowed a writer to earn a living by it. To British observers, the idea of

a distinct American literature seemed absurd: since it was written in English, made use of

English forms and relied on an English publishing market, literary production in America could

at best be regarded as a sub-category of English literature. Because it was a young country, with

a short history and hardly any monuments, many people believed that America did not offer

adequate subjects for literature.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1 706 - 1790)

From “ Remarks Concerning the Savages of North

America” (1784) & The Autobiography

From "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America" (1784)

SAVAGES we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs. Perhaps, if we could examine the manners of different nations with Impartiality, we should find no People so rude, as to be without any Rules of Politeness; nor any so polite, as not to have some remains of Rudeness. The Indian Men, when young, are Hunters and Warriors; when old, Counselors; for all their Government is by Counsel, or Advice, of the sages; there is no Force, there are no Prisons, no Officers to compel Obedience, or inflict punishment. Hence they generally study Oratory; the best speaker having the most Influence. The Indian Women till the Ground, dress the Food, nurse and bring up the Children, and preserve and hand down to posterity the Memory of Public Transactions. These Employments of Men and Women are accounted natural and honorable. Having few Artificial Wants, they have abundance of Leisure for Improvement by Conversation. Our laborious manner of Life, compared with theirs, they esteem slavish and base; and the Learning, on which we value ourselves, they regard as frivolous and useless. An instance of this occurred… [when] the commissioners from Virginia acquainted the Indians by a Speech, that there was at Williamsburg a College, with a Fund for Educating Indian Youth; and that, if the Six Nations would send down half a dozen of their sons to that College, the government would take Care that they should be well provided for, and instructed in all the Learning of the

white People. It is one of the Indian Rules of Politeness not to answer a public Proposition the same day that it is made; they think it would be treating it as a light Matter; and that they show it Respect by taking time to consider it, as of a Matter important. They therefore deferred their Answer till the day following; when their Speaker began by expressing their deep Sense of the kindness of the Virginia Government, in making them that Offer; for we know, says he, that you highly esteem the kind of Learning taught in those Colleges, and that the Maintenance of our Young men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are convinced, therefore, that you mean to do us good by your Proposal, and we thank you heartily. But who are wise, must know that different Nations have different Conceptions of things; and you will therefore not take it amiss, if our Ideas of this Kind of Education happen not to be the same with yours. The politeness of these savages in conversation is indeed carried to excess, since it does not permit them to contradict or deny the Truth of what is asserted in their Presence. By this means they indeed avoid Disputes, but then it becomes difficult to know their Minds, or what Impression you make upon them. The Missionaries who have attempted to convert them to Christianity, all complain of this as one of the great Difficulties of their Mission. The Indians hear with Patience the Truths of the Gospel explained to them, and give their usual Tokens of assent and Approbation: you would think

they were convinced. No such Matter. It is mere Civility. A Swedish Minister, having assembled the Chiefs of the Susquehanah Indians, made a Sermon to them, acquainting them with the principal historical Facts on which our Religion is founded, such as the Fall of our first Parents by Eating an Apple, the Coming of Christ to repair the Mischief, his Miracles and Suffering, etc. When he had finished, an Indian Orator stood up to thank him. What you have told us, says he, is all very good. It is indeed bad to eat Apples. It is better to make them all into Cyder. We are much obliged by your Kindness in coming so far to tell us those things which you have heard from your Mothers. In Return, I will tell you some of those we have heard from ours. When any of them come into our Towns, our People are apt to crowd round them, gaze upon them, and incommode

them where they desire to be private; this they esteem great Rudeness, and the Effect of the want of Instruction in the Rules of Civility and good Manners. We have, say they, as much Curiosity as you, and when you come into our towns we wish for Opportunities of looking at you; but for this purpose we hide ourselves behind Bushes, where you are to pass, and never intrude ourselves into Company. […] You know our Practice. If a white man, in traveling thro’ our Country, enters one of our Cabins, we all treat him as I treat you; we dry him if he is wet, we warm him if he is cold, and give him Meat & Drink that he may allay his Thirst and Hunger […] We demand nothing in return. But if I go into a White man’s House at Albany, and ask for Victuals and Drink, they say, Where is your Money? and if I have none they say, Get out, you Indian Dog…

From The Autobiography (1790)

At the time I establish’d myself in Pensylvania, there was not a good bookseller’s shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York and Philadelphia the printers were indeed stationers, they sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common school books. Those who lov’d reading were oblig’d to send for their books from England….I propos’d to render the benefit from books more common by commencing a public subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would be necessary, and got a skilful conveyancer…to put the whole in form of articles of agreement to be subscribed; by which each subscriber engag’d to pay a certain sum down for the first purchase of books and an annual contribution for increasing them. So few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of us so poor, that I was not able with great

industry to find more than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On this little fund we began. The books were imported. The library was open one day in the week for lending them to the subscribers, on their promisory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns and in other provinces, the libraries were augmented by donations, reading became fashionable, and our people having no public amusements to divert their attention from study became better acquainted with books, and in a few years were observ’d by strangers to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other countries [..…]

10. CLEANLINESS.

Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

11. TRANQUILITY.

Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

II.2. The Beginning of the African-American literary tradition: Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784)

Given the hardships of life in early America, it is ironic that some of the best poetry of the

period was written by an exceptional slave woman. The first African-American author of

importance in the United States, Phillis Wheatley was born in the Senegal/Gambia region on the

west coast of Africa around 1753. In 1761, when she was just seven or eight, she was captured by slave traders and transported on the slave ship Phillis to Boston, where she was purchased by the pious and wealthy tailor John Wheatley to be a companion for his wife. The Wheatleys recognized Phillis's remarkable intelligence and, with the help of their daughter, she learned to read and write. She studied

the Bible, read Latin poets, and was influenced by Milton, Pope, and Gray. Phillis published her

first poem when she was thirteen years old, and in 1773 with the publication of Poems on Various

Subjects, Religious and Moral, she was the first African American to publish a book of poetry. That

same year, John Wheatley emancipated her. Phillis Wheatley achieved international renown,

traveling to London to promote her book and being called upon as well as received by noted

social and political figures of the day -- including George Washington, to whom she wrote a

poem of praise at the beginning of the war, and Voltaire, who referred to her "very good English

verse." In 1778 she married a free black man but he could not support her; she died in poverty in

1784. Two centuries later, her book is often considered the starting place of African American

literature. "On Being Brought from Africa to America" shows her strong religious sensitivity

filtered through her experience of Christian conversion.

(audio clip … Download link )

"On Being Brought from Africa to America"

Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral ( 1773 )

'Twas mercy brought me from my pagan^39 land, Taught my benighted^40 soul to understand That there's a God, that there's a Savior too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable^41 race with scornful eye. "Their color is a diabolic^42 dye". Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain^43 , May be refined, and join the angelic train.

(^39) Having to do with a religion in which many gods are worshipped. (^40) Unenlightened, uninformed. (^41) Dark. (^42) Devilish. (^43) Cain killed his brother Abel and was “marked” by God for doing so.