American Literature: Early - Mid 19th Century

Authors and Works

• Benjamin Franklin (Autobiography - nonfiction)
• Washington Irving ("The Angler" - essay)
• William Cullen Bryant ("The Poet," "To a Waterfowl," "Thanatopsis" - poetry)
• Frederick Douglass (Narrative - nonfiction)
• Edgar Allan Poe ("The Tell-Tale Heart" - short story)
• Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter - novel)
• Herman Melville (Moby-Dick - novel)
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Paul Revere's Ride," "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls," "The Village Blacksmith" - poetry)

Topics

• The Autobiography - Writing Yourself
• Sources of Ideas
• Rhyme in Poetry
• The Romantics
• The Slave Narrative
• Persuasive Writing
• Tone and Mood
• Ralph Waldo Emerson and Transcendentalism
• Conflict
• Character Development
• Meter in Poetry

Recommendations

This book is especially recommended for the following students:

• Freshmen
• Students new to Lightning Literature in any high-school grade
• Students taking American History
• Students interested in American literature

These should not be viewed as restrictions; this course can profitably be used by high-school students of any grade regardless of which previous Lightning Literature courses they have completed.