Social Change

I feel that the most important aspect of American Literature is how it reflects the social changes in America since its discovery.  These changes include how religion, blacks, and women have been viewed throughout the years.  Many of these social changes came about due to political changes in the United States.

First, I will cover the ever-changing views on religion throughout American History. Most of the first Americans were the pilgrims.  Pilgrims came to this country to escape religious persecution. Shortly after their arrival in America, history shows that there was the Great Awakening.  This is when many changes in religion began.  Some of our earliest literature comes from preachers such as Johnathan Edwards.  Through his sermons, he tried to help people as he saw their wrongs. Samson Occom also included wrongs such as drinking and cursing in his sermons.  However, unlike Edwards, Occom did not use scripture in his sermons.

The Great Awakening also found many deists and Unitarians.  Benjamin Franklin must have fallen under the deist category because in his writing, I found that he felt that all religious observances should be represented in this new country.  Franklin was one of the few published people of his time that did not believe that religion was more important than the sciences.

During the Romantic Period of literature, people began to focus more on transcendentalism.  Many of the writers in this time, such as Longfellow, Thoreau, and Emerson, believed that you could not depend on God and government to help you. They believed that you had to help yourself.  They also believed that creativity did not come from God, but it came from an inner light.

Later, writers began using psychological realism. They believed that what truly motivated people was not God, but was the psyche. This is also when writers first heard of Darwinism, which is a belief that man evolved from ape and did not come from God. Between the wars writers such as Willa Cather believed that good old values were gone to some people. Because of the political unrest in the world, a lot of people quit believing in God and started trying to be God. As the years progressed, there were less sermons and pieces of literature that had to do with God.

Also as the years progressed, the world began to see more changes for Black Americans. When America was first discovered, slavery was prevalent throughout the world. Most slave trade accounts are based on Olauduah Equiano’s story. Around the same time that he was published, Phillis Wheatley, a black female poet, wrote religious and faith related poetry as well as political poetry. During the Romantic Period, Harriet Jacobs wrote one of the most detailed collections of narratives written by any slave. Another celebrated author of this period is Harriet Beecher Stowe. She wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Though it was badly written, it was successful in making a strong political statement against slavery. Because the book was published in twenty different languages, it brought light, throughout the world, how inhumanely slaves were treated during this time.

Also from the Romantic Period, Fredrick Douglass figured out as a child that what he was denied was what he needed the most, such as an education.  After obtaining this education, Douglass ran an abolitionist newspaper and pushed for black rights.

After the civil war, there was a great deal of talented authors that were published.  One of which is Charles W. Chestnutt, who wrote by using linguistic realism.  His stories often told of the psychological difficulties of people from interracial relationships. This can also be found in Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby.”

During the same time period, Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois had the most impact on Civil Rights after the Civil War. Washington believed that blacks should learn to work within the system.  He felt they should be non-violent, educated, and economically independent to get political power. However, Du Bois wanted to take down the system and supported the Black Zionists Movement. He felt that blacks should fight for what they should already have, Civil Rights.

Between the wars is when the Harlem Renaissance began. Claude McKay was accredited for beginning this literary movement of art, literature, music, and dance. In his poem “America” he states, “I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!” In-other-words, McKay is saying that he loves America, but racial discrimination is ruining this country.

Zora Neale Hurston also wrote about discrimination in “How It Feels to be Colored Me.” Unfortunately, a lot of other black authors thought that Hurston was not fighting for black rights. One author of this time that was not accused of such a thing was Langston Hughes.  He wrote both prose and poetry about the oppression of blacks. “I Too” was Hughes’ answer to Whitman’s “I Sing America.” Hughes is basically stating, you may be American, but black men are too.

Unlike other Harlem Renaissance authors, Countee Cullen was a rarity of his time. He wanted to be a black person and be considered a poet without having to buy into any political movement. These positive social changes for blacks continued to develop throughout recent history and continue to develop today.

Along with the social changes for blacks due to the Civil Rights Movement, social changes for women have been an important aspect in American Literature. Ann Bradstreet was one of the first female American writers. She was more educated than most women of her time. Bradstreet was a poet that found comfort from the world around her, not from God.

Between the 1700 and 1820, Annis Boudinot Stockton was a key figure in changes that were to come for American women. She published most of her poetry under the names Mrs. A. S. or Mrs. S.  Stockton probably did so because it was not popular for a woman during this time to be educated. She had radical ideas for her time. In “A Sarcasm against the ladies in a newspaper; An impromptu answer” in layman’s terms she says, you may not understand women. You may want to change women, but you cannot. You need us the way we are, because you need us to fulfill your pleasures and needs. This was the general mindset for the purpose of women in Stockton’s time.  It was believed, though women may think, they are only able to do so in order to fulfill their husbands. Women are only put on this earth for men and procreation.

This reasoning began to change during the Romantic Period. This period shows a significant increase in female authors, which means a significant increase in educated women. This could perhaps also relate to the fact that the Romantic Era of Literature was known for emotion over reason and women tend to be more emotional. Many men did feel that women should be kept uneducated. However, they felt this way so that women would not be exposed to the type of literature written. Because a woman’s mind is so feeble, they will be more apt to be tempted by Satan if they read such things.

Fannie Fern was the most popular columnist of her time and chose very political subjects to write on. She was known for being a very sarcastic author. Another important female author is Margaret Fuller, who was thought to be well before her time. Fuller wanted and wrote about equal rights for women. Because of her radical ideas, most of her writings were suppressed up until recently.

Again, Kate Chopin can be accredited for aiding the Women’s Rights Movement. She wrote about the social inequalities of women compared to men, especially in the South. Chopin was raised by very strong women and wrote about very strong women. The women in her stories recognized that they had physical needs; therefore, she had a lot of sexual innuendo in these stories as well.

Like many female authors, Constance Fenimore Woolson had difficulty getting her readers to take her seriously.  Literature between the great wars was when a lot of changes came about for women. Because women were given the right to vote and allowed to work in factories while men were overseas, women pretty much ran the country during this time. Had it not been for them, the economy surely would have failed.

Edna S. Vincent Millay wrote many political speeches and became the national symbol of the modern woman. “Her poems are more founded in the failure of love than in the joy of sex” (2109). Like Millay, Katherine Anne Porter did not live her life in a traditional way. She was not a political writer and did not try to build any connections between herself and any political movements.

However, because of how she lived her life, Porter was an important figure in women’s rights as well. In Susan Glasspell’s stories, what it is like to be a woman in her time period can be found. The waves that all of these women caused still ripple throughout American society today.

These many pieces of American Literature reflect all of the social changes in America throughout the ages. Whether it is from women or blacks being able to climb the social ladder or from how Americans view God, these changes are the most important aspects found in American Literature.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Eolian Harp

composed at clevedon, somersetshire

My pensive Sara! thy soft cheek reclined
Thus on mine arm, most soothing sweet it is
To sit beside our Cot, our Cot o’ergrown
With white-flowered Jasmin, and the broad-leaved Myrtle,
(Meet emblems they of Innocence and Love!)
And watch the clouds, that late were rich with light,
Slow saddening round, and mark the star of eve
Serenely brilliant (such would Wisdom be)
Shine opposite! How exquisite the scents
Snatched from yon bean-field! and the world so hushed!
The stilly murmur of the distant Sea
Tells us of silence.

                            And that simplest Lute,
Placed length-ways in the clasping casement, hark!
How by the desultory breeze caressed,
Like some coy maid half yielding to her lover,
It pours such sweet upbraiding, as must needs
Tempt to repeat the wrong! And now, its strings
Boldlier swept, the long sequacious notes
Over delicious surges sink and rise,
Such a soft floating witchery of sound
As twilight Elfins make, when they at eve
Voyage on gentle gales from Fairy-Land,
Where Melodies round honey-dropping flowers,
Footless and wild, like birds of Paradise,
Nor pause, nor perch, hovering on untamed wing!
O! the one Life within us and abroad,
Which meets all motion and becomes its soul,
A light in sound, a sound-like power in light,
Rhythm in all thought, and joyance everywhere—
Methinks, it should have been impossible
Not to love all things in a world so filled;
Where the breeze warbles, and the mute still air
Is Music slumbering on her instrument.

    And thus, my Love! as on the midway slope
Of yonder hill I stretch my limbs at noon,
Whilst through my half-closed eyelids I behold
The sunbeams dance, like diamonds, on the main,
And tranquil muse upon tranquility:
Full many a thought uncalled and undetained,
And many idle flitting phantasies,
Traverse my indolent and passive brain,
As wild and various as the random gales
That swell and flutter on this subject Lute!

    And what if all of animated nature
Be but organic Harps diversely framed,
That tremble into thought, as o’er them sweeps
Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze,
At once the Soul of each, and God of all?

    But thy more serious eye a mild reproof
Darts, O beloved Woman! nor such thoughts
Dim and unhallowed dost thou not reject,
And biddest me walk humbly with my God.
Meek Daughter in the family of Christ!
Well hast thou said and holily dispraised
These shapings of the unregenerate mind;
Bubbles that glitter as they rise and break
On vain Philosophy’s aye-babbling spring.
For never guiltless may I speak of him,
The Incomprehensible! save when with awe
I praise him, and with Faith that inly feels;
Who with his saving mercies healèd me,
A sinful and most miserable man,
Wildered and dark, and gave me to possess
Peace, and this Cot, and thee, heart-honored Maid!

Kubla Kahn

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

I have always enjoyed Coleridge’s poetry. I like the imagery that Coleridge used in these two poems. Coleridge paints a beautiful picture. There is a dark undertone to his poetry as well. From what I have read, all Romantics have that particular element.

Coleridge sees himself as a priest-like visionary with a connection to God. Coleridge feels it is his responsibility to share the vision of God to the people. Like Wordsworth, Coleridge’s vision of God comes from nature.

“And that simplest lute,….Is Music slumbering on her instrument.” (lines 13-33)

Coleridge sees the poet as the lute, and the breeze is his muse. She gives him songs of beauty and God. These songs were meant to uplift the soul of man. The poet must translate these songs for the rest of us to hear, so that we all see the light. If the poet does not translate the “Music” or the message, then the message will never be heard.

“And what if all of animated nature….At once the Soul of each, and God of All?” (lines 44-48)

If we all were poets, our words would mean little. The rational or “intellectual breeze,” would change the meaning of nature, the meaning of God.

“On vain Philosophy’s aye-babbling spring….Peace, and this cot, and the, heart-honored Maid!” (lines 57-64)

Coleridge tells us that while he is in nature, down by the spring, he is with God. Coleridge goes on to say that he was “a sinful and most miserable man,” but because he found peace in his God, he has peace and beauty in his life.

“A damsel with a dulcimer…That sunny dome! those caves of ice!” (lines 37-47)

The narrator saw a woman in a vision. She sang a song that filled him with peace and happiness. Her song told the narrator that he must help to rebuild a paradise. The paradise should be well balanced.

Unlike Blake, Coleridge sees himself as more of a translator or priest-like visionary than a god-like prophet. Blake says, “Hear the voice of the bard! Who Present, Past, & Future sees;…” In other words, Blake is saying, I am all knowing and all seeing. Coleridge is more subtle with his message. In “The Eolin Harp” he says, “And the simplest lute…” This can be translated as I am just a simple instrument which nature uses to spread her message.

William Blake

Garden of Love

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And "Thou shalt not" writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore;

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be;
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briers my joys and desires.

London

I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.

How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.

But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.

Songs of Experience

Infant Joy

I have no name
I am but two days old.—
What shall I call thee?
I happy am
Joy is my name,—
Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy!
Sweet joy but two days old,
Sweet joy I call thee;
Thou dost smile.
I sing the while
Sweet joy befall thee.

Infant Sorrow

My mother groand! my father wept.
Into the dangerous world I leapt:
Helpless, naked, piping loud;
Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Struggling in my fathers hands:
Striving against my swaddling bands:
Bound and weary I thought best
To sulk upon my mothers breast.

And did those feet

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Blake shows contempt for society and the church. Blake must have felt that living within society’s boundaries restricted spirituality and individuality.

Struggling in my father’s hands, / Striving against my swaddling bands,” (“Infant Sorrow;” p. 95; lines 5-6) 

Although Blake’s father raised him to conform to society, he found it too constricting. Blake will strive if he breaks free from his rearing.

“I will not cease from Mental Fight, / Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand, / Till we have built Jerusalem / In England’s green and pleasant Land.” (“And did those feet;” p. 124; lines 13-16) 

Blake warns that no one can stop his mind. Blake’s “Sword” is his pen. He will continue to fight with words. Blake will not end his battle  until the views of England’s society changes.

“I went to the Garden of Love, / And saw what I never had seen: / A Chapel was built in the midst, / Where I used to play on the green. / And the gates of this Chapel were shut, / And “Thou shalt not” writ over the door; / So I turn’d to the Garden of Love, / That so many sweet flowers bore, / And I saw it was filled with graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be; / And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, And binding with briars my joys & desires.” 

The Garden of Love was once a beautiful, peaceful place where one could find God. The church has, now, turned its back on its people and  restricted them to the point of spiritual death.

“O Earth, O Earth, Return! / Arise from out the dewy grass; / Night is worn / And the morn / Rises from the slumberous mass.” (“From Songs of Experience;” p. 88; lines 11-15) 

Blake’s use of symbolism is rich in this verse. Blake calls for spiritual awakening throughout the land. He tells the reader to turn on their inner light. The time for dark times is over. Your inner light will aid in awakening others.

In our media-driven society, it is difficult for a person to show individuality. If a person acts different, doctors are quick to medicate them so they are like everyone else. People far too often use plastic surgery and bariatric surgery to change what makes them different. The media pushes conformity in similar ways Blake’s society pushed conformity.