American Literature

Huckleberry Finn

There have been many great works of American literature written over the years. One of these classics is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, penned by Mark Twain in 1884.

 

 What is American literature? It’s writing created by American authors writing in the English language. Much of this literature describes life in America or of Americans living elsewhere. Americans started writing soon after the first European settlers arrived in the 1600s. Ever since, American authors have asked questions: Who are Americans? What do they believe? How do they live, and what do they do?

THE NEW NATION

After the American Revolution (1775-1783), the United States strived for its own identity, culture, and literature.

Americans wanted books by American authors. They sought homegrown, real-life heroes like Daniel Boone. Biography and history books were popular. People eagerly read about Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and other Americans who explored the American West.

Literature also explored American problems. Slave narratives told about the evils of slavery. One of the best was the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. In New England, Henry David Thoreau wrote in favor of abolishing (outlawing) slavery.

TWO GREAT POETS

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson, one of America’s most famous writers, produced nearly 2,000 poems in her lifetime. She died in 1886.

 

Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are two of the greatest American poets. Both of them used simple, everyday language. Whitman celebrated freedom and American democracy. He wrote about laborers, immigrants, and others who led hard lives. Dickinson brilliantly expressed her thoughts and feelings, especially her fears about death.