Gre Literature In English Subject Test: Authors

Front 1

Mary Rowlandson

Back 1

Colonial American woman (1637-1711). Wrote about her 3 month captivity by Native Americans in _A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson_. Genre: captivity narratives.

Front 2

Anne Bradstreet

Back 2

Colonial American poet (1612-1672). First American woman writer published. Known for her faith and her love of her husband and children. Wrote a number of famous poems, including, “Before the Birth of One of Her Children,” “Verses Upon the Burning of Our House,” “In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess Queen Elizabeth,” “The Author To Her Book”

Front 3

Phillis Wheatley

Back 3

Colonial American poet (1753-1784. Child prodigy and slave. Wrote pious poetry. Had to defend her literary ability in court. Washington praised her, Jefferson criticized her. Poetry published in London because Boston wouldn't publish a slave's work. 1st African American writer. Beginning of African-American literature. Wrote "An Elegy, Sacred to the Memory of the Great Divine, the Reverend and Learned Dr. Samuel Cooper, Who Departed This Life December 29, 1783" and
"To His Excellency George Washington"

Front 4

John Winthrop

Back 4

Colonial American preacher (1587-1649). Led a group of Puritans to the New World & elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Very religious. Called America "the City on the Hill." Wrote _The Journal of John WInthrop_, which chronicles early colonial life.

Front 5

John Edwards

Back 5

Colonial American preacher & theologian (1703-1758). Defended Calvinism. Wrote "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." His _Personal Narrative_ is a Puritan autobiography that tells the story of his spiritual conversion.

Front 6

Cotton Mather

Back 6

Colonial American preacher & writer (1663-1728). Very prolific & influencial. Wrote over 450 books & pamphlets. Most famous book: _Magnalia Christi Americana_ (or The Ecclesiastical History of New England) was written in 1702. Made up of two volumes and seven "books" about the religious development of Massachusetts, and other colonies throughout the 1600's. Also criticizes some of the methods the court used during the Salem Witch Trials, writes about the founding of Harvard, and asserts that Puritan slaveholders should do more to convert their slaves to Christianity.

Front 7

John Woolman

Back 7

Colonial American (1720-1772). Quaker preacher. Against slavery, taxation, and corruption. Killed a mother bird for fun, then felt bad for the baby birds and killed them. Then felt bad about that and resolved to love all creatures. Wouldn't transfer slaves in wills, paid slaves who helped him when he visited slaveholders, abstained from buying anything produced by slaves. Wrote "The Journal of John Woolman," a spiritual autobiography and a classic in American Literature.

Front 8

Edgar Allen Poe

Back 8

19th Century writer (1809-1849). Poet, short story author, editor, & critic. Wrote horror, satire, humor, hoaxes, adventure, & science fiction. Disliked Transcendentalism. Embraced Dark Romanticism. Progenitor of the Gothic. Admired Shelley, and was later admired by D.H.Lawrence. Wrote a number of macabre mysteries, including "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," “The Purloined Letter,” and “The Mystery of Marie Roget.” These three stories feature a brilliant detective, Auguste Dupin, who concludes that the murders were committed by an orangutan, the escaped pet of a sailor. Most famous poem: "The Raven." Last poem: "Annabel Lee."

Front 9

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Back 9

19th Century writer (1811-1896). Wrote more than 10 books, including two anti-slavery novels--Uncle Tom's Cabin & Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. Characters from Uncle Tom's Cabin: Uncle Tom, Eliza & George Harris, the Shelby Family & George Shelby, St. Clare & Eva, Tom Loker (the slave catcher), Cassy (who escapes and finds that Eliza is her daughter), and Simon Legree (who kills Tom).

Front 10

H.L.Mencken

Back 10

Late 19th & early 20th century writer (1880-1956). Journalist, satirist, & social critic. Admired Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Jonathon Swift. Friends with F. Scott Fitzgerald & Theodore Dreiser. Was later admired by Richard Wright. Wrote _The American Language_ in 1919 to catalog & defend American neologisms.