THE AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENT1776-1820

THE AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENT1776-1820

Background Information 1. The theology of John Calvin------Calvinism

2. The Age of Enlightenment helped to destroy

the concept of the Calvinism.

God is a God of Authority Mankind is totally depraved from birthSome few of men will be saved as an undeserved gift

from God. The damned are damned despite their best

efforts.

The Doctrine of Depravity

The 18th-century American Enlightenment was a movement marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy. Enlightenment thinkers and writers were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equality as the natural rights of man.

The Age of Enlightenment

Revolutionary Writers

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Philip Freneau (1752-1832)

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

“First great man of letters” ---- David Hume

scientific scheme of self-improvement13 virtues: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.

Theme A book of self-examination and self-improvement. Man could be improved by self-education. Man is good and capable of becoming better.

The first real account of the American Dream in action. The book demonstrates Franklin’s confident belief that the new world of America was a land of opportunity which might be met through hard work and wise management.

annual book of useful encouragement, advice, and factual information "God helps them that help themselves.“ "Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and wise.“"Diligence is the Mother of Good Luck"."One Today is worth two tomorrow."

Poor Richard's Almanac

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

pamphlet Common Sense "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind,"

Philip Freneau (1752-1832)

Poet of the American RevolutionFather of American PoetryPioneer of the New RomanticismA gifted and versatile lyric poet

Nature lyrics:

The Wild Honey Suckle

The Indian Burying Ground

The Wild Honey Suckle Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, Hid in this silent, dull retreat, Untouched thy honied blossoms blow, Unseen thy little branches greet; ...No roving foot shall crush thee here, ...No busy hand provoke a tear.

By Nature's self in white arrayed, She bade thee shun the vulgar eye, And planted here the guardian shade, And sent soft waters murmuring by; ...Thus quietly thy summer goes, ...Thy days declining to repose.

Smit with those charms, that must decay, I grieve to see your future doom; They died--nor were those flowers more gay, The flowers that did in Eden bloom; ...Unpitying frosts, and Autumn's power ...Shall leave no vestige of this flower.

From morning suns and evening dews At first thy little being came: If nothing once, you nothing lose, For when you die you are the same; ...The space between, is but an hour, ...The frail duration of a flower.

In the poem the poet expresses his keen awareness of the liveliness and transience of nature, celebrating the beauty of the frail forest flower, thus showing his deep love for nature.

The poem was written in six-line iambic tetrameter stanzas rhymed on ababcc pattern.

The poem is said to anticipate the nineteenth-century romantic use of simple nature imagery.

It is considered one of the author’s finest nature poems.

Analysis