Patriotism In American Literature

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Recommended: The history of American literature

In essence, American literature refers to literature that was written as well as produced, in the United States of America and any other preceding colonies. In the early history of the United States, the country was a series of the many British colonies. In this case, early literary tradition begins with the broader tradition of English literature. However, there have been unique American characteristics as well as the breadth of the production, which has usually made it essential to consider it separately. In essence, New England colonies were involved in early American Literature. In particular, the revolutionary period was characterized by political writings by politicians like Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams. In the era after the War …show more content…

Therefore, most of the writings during the revolution were clamoring for independence, and mostly written at the battlefront making most of the important writings get lost. Patriotism and loyalty was a major factor and theme discussed in these writings, as authors sought to drive opinion towards support for independence and the war against the loyalties. The calls for patriotism are very touching to the soul as well as stirring and moving especially those written when the revolution was beginning (Blanchard, 40). Some of them were calls for arms and for cooperation for everyone to do whatever they could to support the revolution. Encouraging the patriotic people to keep fighting was of great essence, as well as shunning and speaking against the loyalists. Puritans also produced great literature at the moment. The Puritans saw life as a constant moral struggle and attempted to portray this in their writings and represent true life. During the revolution, as well as after it, there were just a few literary works to emerge as most books were reviewed in Britain, revealing just how dependent America was on the British literary model. Finding a true American literary identity was not easy in spite of the great patriotism they portrayed and many writings flopped (Phillips et al,

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