DB 6A

ENG 205 week 6 Unit A: The Emergence of an American Literature

1. DISCUSSION BOARD (200 WORDS)

READING 1:  Philip Freneau (1752-1832)

Intro: pp. 591-93

Poems:  pp. 593-98

READING 2: Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-84)

Intro. pp. 599-601

Poems:  pp. 602-09

On Being Brought from Africa to America

To S.M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works

A Farewell to America.  To Mrs. S.W.

To His Excellency General Washington   

ALSO:  here is a short (3 1/2 minutes) audio about Phillis Wheatley from the University of Houston: http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi620.htm      

DISCUSSION QUESTION:

What do the poems of Freneau and Wheatley reveal about diversity in Revolutionary America? 

Hint, hint . . .

William Penn's Treaty with the Lenape Indians

German settlers in early Pennsylvania

2. Weekly wiki (150 words). Mark page number please.

Students will choose a short excerpt / quote from one of the readings of that week, type it in, then add a short (150 words or so) explanation for your choice. Was your selection important because it:

· is an example of beautiful or striking language?

· exemplifies a particular theme or character?

· makes the reader think about something in a new way?

· is typically "American" in some way (and in what way)?

· was just something that you liked?

Try not to use the same quote that someone else already has; if you must, make sure that what you say about it is original.

For example:

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."  Thomas Paine.  

I chose this quote because I think it is a good example of Enlightenment thought which was very popular during the late 1700's.  Paine is rejecting formal ties to any specific country or any particular religion (humanist world view).  He is focused on the here and now, not an afterlife, and this concern is evident in his writing about social and political systems that influenced the thinkers behind the American Revolution.  The language is simple and straightforward.

3. Write responses for another student’s work. (75 words)

  Olaudah Equiano had lived a crucial, yet interesting life. Like other authors that we have read about, he documented his experiences to share with others. A major part of Equiano's life was being sold, stolen, and treated as a slave. Equiano expressed his experiences and fears during the period in which he was enslaved. He noticed how cruelly he and others were being treated, he hated how unhumane his captors were being, and he feared for his life. Equiano was belived to be Christian and believed that God would find a way for him to reach freedom. Equiano's experiences are closely similar to those of Mary Rowlandson. Rowlandson was a Puritan and at the time before her capture, was a wife and mother. She and her family were attacked by Indians and were either killed or captured as slaves. Rowlandson was split from her surviving family and treated as a slave for a long period of time. She expressed in her writings of the constant fear that she had. She also prayed constantly that God would find a way for her to survive and be free again. Equiano and Rowlandson have close related experiences in slavery. Although they are of two, different racial backgrounds and lives, they both were treated in similar aspects.

 Equiano's narrative is appropriate for this American Literature class because he is can be seen as an American in two differents contexts:

(1) There is a strong possibility that Equiano was born in South Carolina and was later purchased as a slave by the British Navy. If this is true, this would mean that Equiano is an American by birthplace.

(2) Equiano embodies one of the four liberties, reciprocal liberty. Equiano did not believe slavery should exist and expressed this through his narrative. This is one of the thoughts of reciprocal liberty, through Pennsylvania. It also helps that Equiano sailed to freedom (Philadelphia) in a place where others also believed in the same form of liberty.