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46 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens
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Twain
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grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which is a town on the Mississippi River and more importantly, the source of most of his later novels
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Twain
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first good piece of lit. and the piece that got him recognized as a national lit. figure was his short story " The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaverez County"
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Twain
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his first career was as a Mississippi River boat pilot, an experience that led to his writing Life on the Mississippi, one of his many novels
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Twain
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because of his opposition to slavery, he left Missouri for Nevada, where he wrote his earliest pieces- after achieving moderate success, he went back East and settled in Hartford, Connecticut, with his new bride Olivia- the two decades after his marriage to Olivia were his most productive time literarily (7 novels- all classics)
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Twain
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credits: The Innocents Abroad, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Tramp Abroad, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Roughing It, and other lesser works
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Twain
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as good a writer as he was, he was a terrible businessman, often investigating in scams that lost the fortune that he had made from writing
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Twain
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his greatest literary talents were humor, satire, and "local color"
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Twain
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his latter days were quite pessimistic and cynical, largely because of personal misfortune ( his wife and 2 of 3 daughters died tragically)
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Twain
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historical title
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Civil War/ Reconstruction/ Westward Expansion
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literary title
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Tragedy and Renewal
"PERIOD OF TRANSITION |
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approximate years
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1861-1895ish
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a time of abrupt change because there was simply nothing optimistic, idealistic, beautiful, or aesthetic(transcendentalism) about the violence, brutality, bloodshed, and death of the CW
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CW Lit. Era
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How many major changes occurred in literary style during CW era
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2
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facts, details, and specifics became the key element of lit.
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change style
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"local color"- depicting characters exactly as they really were in their given environment or area ( dialect, customs, culture, socio-economic status, etc.) Mark Twain is usually given credit for the move toward this trend in style
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change style
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4 different categories of lit. of this era?
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war time
Southern nationalistic Western/Frointier |
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Abe Lincoln and Robert E. Lee
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war time
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(characterized by honor, aristocracy, and the love of beauty) William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Thomas Wolfe
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Southern
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(patriotic and supported national unity- opposed to the conflict between North and South- Walt Whitman
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nationalistic
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(truly "American"- new and unrefined)
Mark Twain and Bret Harte |
Western/Frontier
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16th President of US(considered one of the 4 best US presidents)
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Lincoln
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best personal attributes = honesty, sense of humor, and common sense ( only US president to have experienced the entire range on the socio-economic scale)
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Lincoln
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greatest talent as a writer = his ability to be so brief and to the point, concise and compact, amazing attention to meticulous word choice- "poetic prose"
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Lincoln
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one of the greatest tragic figures in American history
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Lincoln
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born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, entered politic in Illinois
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Lincoln
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his debates with Douglas debates made him a nationally known figure
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Lincoln
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" The Gettysburg Address" and the "Second Inaugural Address" are commonly considered two of the greatest political speeches ever written
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Lincoln
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wrote "Letter to Mrs. Bixby"- whole 4 sentences in length
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Lincoln
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1st American author established on the West Coast
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Harte
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greatest contribution to American lit. was that he created a whole new character mold(type of lit. character)- his characters were the "Old West" type and had never appeared in lit. before( i.e. mountain men, Indian scout, pioneer women, town marshal, gunfighter, cowboy, schoolmarm, gold miner, saloon girl, telegraph operator, etc.
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Harte
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born in East (Albany, New York ), but went west at age 18- he worked as a school teacher, pharmacist, miner, Wells Fargo messenger, printer- then a writer
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Harte
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he published the Overland Monthly, a literary magazine that was distributed in the East and extremely popular
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Harte
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Mark Twain credited him for having helped refine his own ability to write a good Western story
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Harte
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sudden rise to fame was short-lived, and his literary popularity faded as quickly as it rose up because of the nature of the genre
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Harte
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America's first modern poet- his poetry was different
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Whitman
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his poetry was different because he was the first to advocate and write free verse ( no set rhyme, rhythm, or line length)
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Whitman
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free verse poetry is considered truly American- with Dickinson's help, Whitman and she made free verse poetry
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Whitman
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this new development (free verse) was considered highly radical at the time, and he was hated by many writers/poets because free verse was so different from the norm
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Whitman
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given literary history- since his time- it is clear that his development of free verse poetry is one of the most innovative contributions to American literary history of all time
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Whitman
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grew up in poverty in Brooklyn, New York ( New York City)
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Whitman
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the first part of his writing career was spent as a journalist
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Whitman
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undoubtedly, his greatest credit was Leaves of Grass, a volume of poetry he worked on his whole life (multiple publications)
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Whitman
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he developed a deep-seated respect for President Lincoln by being the journalist assigned to cover the president at the time- he never actually met Lincoln personally
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Whitman
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he served as a nurse during the CW because he was too old to enlist and his brother was wounded
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Whitman
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definitely a pioneer in American poetry
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Whitman
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