American Literature: Mid - Late 19th Century

Authors and Works

• Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin - novel)
• Walt Whitman (selections from Leaves of Grass - poetry)
• Bret Harte ("The Outcasts of Poker Flat" - short story)
• Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn - novel)
• Paul Laurence Dunbar ("Sympathy," "We Wear the Mask," "The Haunted Oak," "An Easy Goin' Feller," "In the Morning" - poetry)
• Stephen Crane (The Red Badge of Courage - novel)
• Emily Dickinson (selected poems - poetry)
• Jack London (The Call of the Wild - novel)

Topics

• Theme
• Sound in poetry
• Regionalism and realism
• Local color
• Humor
• Register
• Realism and naturalism
• Description
• Figurative language
• Point of view

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.