Civil War Era Literature 1850 – 1880 Writers stopped focusing on Romantic ideals and began to give...
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Transcript of Civil War Era Literature 1850 – 1880 Writers stopped focusing on Romantic ideals and began to give...
Civil War Era Literature
1850 – 1880
Writers stopped focusing on Romantic ideals and began to give realistic portrayals of the problems
confronting the nation.
North vs. South
• The nation developed in two different directions– The North was a center for industrial
manufacturing and the export of finished goods
– The South was almost entirely agricultural, producing rice, tobacco, cotton, and sugar, and exporting many of these good to Great Britain
Tensions
• The differing values created tension between the North and the South– Fundamental differences in lifestyles
• Life in cities & towns vs. life on the farm• Work in mills or factories vs. work on the farm or
plantation
Slavery
• Some Southerners opposed slavery, but most saw it as a necessary part of the Southern economy– By 1830, there were approximately 3 million
slaves of African descent in the US. Approximately 85% of these were forced agricultural laborers
Slavery
• Strong abolitionist movement in the North produced significant publications– William Lloyd Garrison – The Liberator– Freedom’s Journal – first black-owned
newspaper (John Russwurm & Samuel Cornish)
– Frederick Douglass – The North Star
Literature of Abolition & Protest
• Abolitionist literature existed well before the Civil War– Some of the literature was written by Northern
whites, especially women, who tried to appeal to the family concerns of Southern women
– Slaves in the south developed original forms of literature
• Spiritual• Slave Narrative
Spirituals
• Combined African & European music and poetic text to create dramatic symbols of the suffering of slaves and their hope for deliverance
• Expressions of religious faith– generally Christian, and specific to the religious experience of Southern slaves
Slave Narratives
• Autobiographical account of the life of a former slave
• Chronicles the extraordinary conditions under which he or she lived
• Ranging in length from a few pages to entire books – hundreds were published in the decades before the civil war
Literature of the War
• Much of the literature during and immediately after the Civil War was concerned with restoring a national identity– Hoping to find threads of unity– Appealing to the honor and courage of those
who fought
Poetic Revolution
• Walt Whitman– Found poetry in the lives of everyday
Americans
• Emily Dickinson– Composed poetry that gave meaning to
ordinary life