Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Neoclassical Lit
Neoclassicism is immediately apparent in the visual arts and in architecture. In literature, neoclassicism entailed the revival of Classical Greek ethics, philosophy, and political ideals. Neoclassical literature sometimes drew on direct allusions to ancient Greece and Rome, using imagery of elements like statuary of gods. Because Reason fared prominently in the literature of ancient Greece, Reason also became a hallmark of neoclassical American writing. Thus, neoclassicism was an integral part of Enlightenment writing and literature.
One of the ways neoclassicism became a part of the American literary quilt was via the revival of original Greek and Roman texts. Insight into the roots of classical thought allowed American writers to apply ancient...
Therefore, Greek concepts of reason, democracy, and ethics became fused with the American sense of liberty. A Christian perspective prevented the neoclassical writers to do away with God entirely, but there was an increased expression of humanism and other Renaissance and Enlightenment ideals. It was within the neoclassical tradition that was borne the political documents that formed the foundation of the United States government.
While neoclassicism flourished, an equally as influential, if not ironic, trend also swept through the literature of early America. That trend was the Great Awakening. Sermon writers like John Edwards expounded on the angry Christian God, inspiring fear and submission into listeners and readers. The Great Awakening represented an almost totally opposite sentiment from neoclassicism. Whereas neoclassicism represented reason and the pursuit of enlightenment from a humanistic perspective, Christian fundamentalism represented a return to dogma and superstition. These two concurrent trends in…
Great Awakening in America The Great Awakenings refer to several waves of interest in religion in America. These waves have coincided with increases in economic prosperity and materialism that have caused people to view religion with less interest. It began in the 1930s as disunited attempts at religious revival and in the 1940s had matured into "the remarkable Revival of Religion" (Lambert, p. 6). During the 1740 sThe Great Awakenings aimed
Using Tennents' strategy, the clergymen of Presbyterian, Puritan and Baptist churches were conducting revivals in their regions by the 1740s. Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards stirred up flamboyant and terrifying images of the absolute corruption of the human nature in their emotionally charged sermons. These preachers also described the terrors awaiting the unrepentant in hell in their powerful sermons. Some of the converts from the early revivals in the northern
American History The Battle over Political Influence: Dominance of the 'New Lights' (Evangelist) Movement in the Great Awakening After the England colonies have established themselves in their newfound territory, New England, they started establishing a new society that will be governed under the Puritanist moral code. This is vital in understanding New England society, whose step towards self-governance is implementing laws and norms in the society adherent to the teachings of Puritanism,
great awakening was a religious revival that swept across America in the 1730s to 1740s that saw the restructuring of the society in general within America. For the very first time, this religious revival managed to bring the Native Americans and the blacks into the organized churches as opposed to the prior diverse ways of their worship to their various gods. It also brought the new colonialists into the
Great Awakening and the Enlightenment The Great Awakening, was not, as many believe a continuous spiritual awakening or revival in colonial America, instead it was a several revivals in a variety of locations (Matthews). However, The Great Awakening is an appropriate name. The new Americans had found their lives much different from their lives in England. In England the communities were compact, but in America people lived in great expanses
The multitudes of all sects and denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers (Brannan 1998). Franklin, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and a true Democrat, saw both Whitefield's democratic tendencies and the threat that he posed to the Established Church. He noted that