Unit Two: Overview

This unit includes literature of a Growing Nation in four parts (1800-1870).  Part one includes authors such as Washington Irving, Longfellow, and Bryant.  After a review of some historical background, students will read various literary selections and analyze their themes and styles.  Part two explores the world of imagination in authors such as Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe.  Transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau are the focus of part three while part four deals with American Masters in poetry, including Dickinson and Whitman.

 

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