Harlem Renaissance Research Paper

The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance started in the 1920s. It was a movement by African Americans which was them trying to prove their stereotypes wrong. They did this by publishing many works of literature, such as The Weary Blues, a book of poetry written by Langston Hughes. Art in the Harlem Renaissance showed many African American achievements, such as in Palmer Hayden’s The Janitor who Paints. The American Dream was from the 1930s to present day. It was the thought that Americans should always be self-improving. Authors such as John Steinbeck, who wrote Of Mice and Men, wrote about the American Dream in many of their novels. Feminist literature attempts to show the public that gender roles should not be in place. They believe

They also have a theme of overcoming social classes. This is seen through Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. Naturalism has many of the same concepts as realism.Realism was from the mid-1800s to the late 1900s. Literature in this time period focused on the life of the people in the middle class. One author who focused on the middle class was Mark Twain, which can be seen through his novels such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The literature also showed real people, instead of fictional people that was in romantic literature. Realism was a movement in response to romanticism. Slavery and the Civil War literature was typically anti-slavery literature. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is an example of a piece of anti-slavery literature. Other literary works were slave narratives. There was also memoirs from war veterans. Many of these works used emotion in their words.The romantic period was from 1830 to 1870. Literature in this time period was heavily influenced by nature. The main point of many literary works was that the common man was a hero. This is seen especially through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark”. Romantic art emphasized the idea that you

Artists like Hieronymus Bosch, who painted The Garden of Earthly Delights, painted many gothic artworks. Transcendentalism was popular in the 18th and 19th century. Transcendentalist literature showed the main character or characters going on a life-changing journey, both physically and spiritually. Transcendentalist literature also has an imaginative emphasis. Many transcendentalist art was of landscapes, like Francois Regis Gignoux‘s Snowy Landscape. The Enlightenment period was the 18th century. In this period, it was thought that the methods of science should be used in order to understand the meaning of life. Literature in this time period had an optimistic attitude towards beliefs in science and education. John Locke wrote that all humans are born with a “blank slate”, which means that they are not born with sin, so they tally up the bad that they do. Baron de Montesquieu wrote The Spirit of Laws, which said that there are three forms of government. The Enlightenment was a period of renewing thought and education. Puritan literature was in the 1700s. Puritan literature was written with a very serious tone. Most pieces, like William Cowper’s “What is Man?”, there were two meanings, one was of the flesh, and