American Literature Midterm

A statement that seems to be self-contradictory yet actually makes sense when understood in the right context

Realism and naturalism appeared on the literary scene in the years _____________.

Ambrose Bierce is regarded by many as the first writer of black humor in American Literature

In "Rip Van Winkle" what is Rip's primary fault ?

Which of these did not serve as a function of Negro Spirituals?

What man was a lifelong advocate of civil rights, those of women and blacks in particular?

William Cullen Bryant's poetry is

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words or stressed syllables

What did Fredrick Douglass say was the "pathway from slavery to freedom"?

The primary purpose of literature in early America was entertainment

Who was the master of the macabre

Lincoln was elected president as the nominee of the Democratic party

What is the term for lines composed of iambic pentameter rhymed in pairs

Edward Taylor's God's Determinations emphasizes _________________________.

What central recommendation is offered by Henry David Thoreau in Walden?

In " The Birthmark , " Georgiana's birthmark is an appropriate symbol for ______________________.

What event brought more attacks against the bible than did any other source

Who were the two leading figures of the Great Awakening?

Franklin is now known as the Father of the American Dream

Rip Van Winkle is a round and unsympathetic character, while his wife is a flat and sympathetic character

Desiree's Baby includes all of the following except

In "O Captain! My Captain!" what do the captain and the ship symbolize?

What effect did the Civil War have on literary trends

Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter

To what did the people often turn as religion lost its authority in society after the Civil War?

The central conflict in "A White Heron" is __________________.

Group of romantic writers known as the new England school was centered in Boston and focused on short story and novel

Which of the following characteristics is true of transcendentalism?

John Winthrop's Journal focuses primarily on __________________________.

Bret Harte's stories about the West became sucessful because ___________________.

What had to occur before a distinctly American literature could exist?

What characterizes the writing of a realistic writer?

Nathaniel Hawthorne's best known character, Captain Ahab of Moby Dick, hurls defiance at God

Passing down of cultural knowledge by mouth from generation to generation

Whitman actually proclaimed himself the National poet of the united states

Each of the following is true about Walt Whitman except which one?

Which author was the foremost political pamphleteer of his day uniting the colonists in the fight for independence?

According to the romantics, God

In "A Description of New England", Smith says religion should move Englishmen to show their faith in what way?

In his poem upon a spider catching a fly taylor uses a spider to symbolize satans power over adams race

In "The Author to Her Book" what is Bradstreet's opinion of her writing?

"On Being Brought from Africa to America" charges Christians to _____________________.

A striking comparison caried out in detail

Which author was the foremost voice in the literary war against slavery?

Naturalists portrayed man as more beast than human

What even inspired Thomas Paine to write the first and most famous of The American Crisis papers?

The romantics believed that the way to improve man was to _______________________.

Phillis Wheatley was

The use of Syntactical parallelism in two adjacent phrases or clauses to emphasize their contrasting meanings

In "The Author to Her Book" Anne Bradstreet refers to her book of poetry as her _________________.

The main motive behind the early migration to New England was religous

Bradstreet used many of her poems to express rebellion against the unfair treatment of women in her day

Each of the following ideas is true of Herman Melville except which one?

Harte concentrated on very realistic characters and was a classic realist

Which author was unquestionably the best regionalist of the post-Civil War era?

A revival spread in New England , and Jonathan Edwards became concerned ________________________.

The repetition of three parallel phrases or clauses of equal length within a sentence

During her lifetime Kate Chopin was known for

The major romantic writers

According to the autobiography Benjamin Franklin accepted each of the following principles of religion except

Ambrose Bierce's fiction reflects

Once the colonists were established, the subject matter of literature became predominantly ________________.

The use of emotional appeal to bypass reason

The author who best proved the notion that a Puritan could create excellent poetry was _______________________.

Abraham Lincoln's effectiveness as a speaker and writer was due to his skill in using ________________________.

Roger Williams belief about what principle has been influential among religious and political conservative since his day

According to The Autobiography which virtue did Franklin add because a friend pointed out that Franklin lacked it

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow did all of the following except

Who famously said, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"?

Thomas Jefferson believed in all of the following except that

Which statement best describes the naturalists?

In "Upon the Burning of Our House," what reason does Bradstreet cite for determining that God is just?

A system of beliefs and values through which one views the world

What is the unexpected result of Captain Smith's capture?