| Colonial Period (primarily Puritan subdivision) |
Neo-Classic Period | Romantic Period |
|---|---|---|
| God-centered universe | man-centered universe | man & nature are one |
| faith, piety, grace, plainess | reason | emotion imagination intuition |
| emphasized religion | emphasized science | emphasized the mysterious, strange, ancient, supernatural, fantastic |
| sovereign will of God | deism mechanical view of the universe (clock-work theory) |
Over Soul |
| God intervenes in the personal lives of individuals | God intervenes in the affairs of nations | not much written about God's intervening |
| nature seen as mixture of good (God's creation) and evil (devil's domain) | nature seen as interaction of physical forces; science becoming dominant | nature seen as "mirror to the soul" (Bryant); "Know thyself" and "study nature" mean the same (Emerson); nature instructs man sipritually |
| leaders are ministers | leaders are politicians, businessmen, soldiers | leaders continue to be politicians, businessmen, soldiers |
| John Calvin (theologian who influenced perception of man's relationship to God) | John Locke (political theorist who influenced perception of man's relationship to society and other men) | Immanuel Kant (German philosopher of Transcendentalism); Emerson (main proponent in US); Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"; William Wordsworth's preface to Lyrical Ballads (1798) |
| theocracy (God-government) divine mission "city on a hill" society emphasized over individual conformity |
democracy (people-government) society emphasized over individual conformity |
emerging of "Utopian societies" individual emphasized over society individuality nonconformity |
| predestination | good is rewarded; evil is punished | not much written about this |
| purpose of education is to teach the reading of the Bible (man's relationship to God) | purpose of education is to make a better society democracy requires an educated public tableau rasa = blank slate |
increased emphasis on public education (lyceums and chautauquas) |
| Types of Writing: sermons poetry (little) spiritual autobiographies journals/diaries providential histories |
Types of Writing: newspapers magazines political documents speeches broadsides and pamphlets letters |
Types of Writing: newspapers magazines short stories poetry novels journals |
| Purpose of writing: to instruct God's elect to record spiritual growth of individual and community to inspire |
Purpose of writing: to persuade politically |
Purpose of writing: to entertain to instruct to educate to persuade |