Literary Movements Overview

Literary Movements

• Romanticism: Inspired by nature, emphasizing change and flux in the universe. Focuses on experiencing the beauty of nature rather than fear of God.
• Rationalism: Emphasizes truth through reason, highlighting the Age of Enlightenment.
• Fireside Poets: Known for writing in conventional forms (meter and rhyme), easily memorable and recited. Focused on domestic life, mythology, legends, history, and politics.
• Transcendentalism: Part of Romanticism, emphasizing the universal spirit uniting all and the connection between people and nature. Believes the soul of the individual mirrors the soul of the world. The world and self transcend our immediate senses. Against conformity.
• Dark Romanticism: A darker perspective of the world, focusing on symbolism and nature. Exploring themes of human fallibility, sin, guilt, madness, death, good vs. evil. Distinctly American, emphasizing mental illness. Includes Gothic Fiction (medieval settings, mystery, violence) exemplified by Edgar Allan Poe.
• Realism: Based on truth as the author sees it. Consider social class and natural speech in describing characters, highlighting complex relationships. Character is more important than plot.
• Naturalism: An offshoot of Realism, emphasizing natural or biological forces, environmental forces beyond human control, affecting human action. Humans are not in control, nature is.
• Regionalism: A part of Realism, focusing on the local color (people, landscape, values, lifestyle) of an area. Highlighting Native and settler experiences. Natives explained nature and the world, while settlers recorded history and described land/people.

Literary Vocabulary

• Alliteration: Repetition of initial consonant sounds.
• Allusion: Reference to a well-known person, place, event, deepening understanding.
• Analogy: Comparison to explain things, suggesting similarities.
• Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds in close words.
• Connotation: The implied meaning or feeling associated with a word beyond the literal meaning.
• Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word.
• Dialect: A regional variety of a language.
• Diction: Author's careful word choices for effect.
• Figurative Language: Language using figures of speech.
• Hyperbole: Exaggeration not meant literally for emphasis.
• Imagery: Use of descriptive language to create vivid mental images.
• Metaphor: Comparing unlike things without using 'like' or 'as'.
• Mood: Atmosphere or feeling created by writing.
• Personification: Giving human qualities to non-human things.
• Repetition: Repeated use of a word or phrase.
• Rhetorical Question: Question not needing an answer, for effect mostly.
• Satire: Exaggeration, humor, irony to criticize or expose flaws in society.
• Simile: Comparing two things using 'like' or 'as'.
• Symbolism: Using a symbol to represent larger ideas.
• Theme: Underlying message or 'big idea' of a work.
• Tone: Writer's attitude toward a subject.
• Voice: Author's opinion or perspective in writing.

Literary Concepts

• Oral Tradition: Passing down stories or information through spoken word.
• Archetype: Recurring character type (e.g., trickster, evil stepmother).
• Theocracy: Government by religious leaders.
• Predestination: Belief that fate is determined by God.
• Emotional Appeal: Persuading through feelings.
• Logical Appeal: Persuading using logic and reasoning.
• Lyric Poetry: Highly musical, expressing strong emotions.
• Free Verse: Poetry without rhyme or regular meter, unusual form.
• Foil: Character opposite another, highlighting traits.
• Suspense: Creating anticipation or anxiety in a story.
• Stock Characters: Stereotypical characters (e.g., dumb blonde, loyal servant).

The Scarlet Letter Big Concepts

• Sin: Hester's adultery affects her appearance and identity. Dimmesdale internalizes shame; Chillingworth's obsession becomes destructive.
• Punishment: Hester publicly shamed. Dimmesdale self-punishes internally. Chillingworth torments others through obsession.
• Shame: Hester's public shame on the scaffold. Dimmesdale's internal shame.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Big Concepts

• Freedom: Jim's escape from slavery, Huck's freedom from societal expectations, Huck's personal freedom on the raft.
• Civilization: Constrained attempts to civilize Huck. Twain's commentary on the South and its hypocrisy.
• Prejudice: Huck's internal conflict about helping Jim, his development of empathy.