The Colonial and Early National Period
The Colonial and Early National period of American Literature took place between the 17th century to 1830. This period includes the writings of explorers, such as John Smith, the founding fathers, and writers of a young nation, including Phillis Wheatley and Washington Irving.
The authors listed here are a sampling of key American writers of the time period. Additional writers can be researched using the database links provided on this guide.
Databases
- American National Biography This link opens in a new window
American National Biography includes portraits of 18,700 men and women -- from all eras and walks of life -- whose lives have shaped the nation.
- Gale Literature: LitFinder This link opens in a new window
Gale Literature: LitFinder provides access to literary works and authors throughout history and includes more than 130,000 full-text poems and 650,000+ poetry citations, as well as short stories, speeches, and plays. The database also includes secondary materials like biographies, images, and more. - Humanities Source Ultimate This link opens in a new window
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Humanities Source Ultimate offers access to key content covering literary, scholarly, and creative thought. It also includes hundreds of scholarly full-text journals cited in leading subject indexes to round out student research.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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JSTOR includes journal content, primary sources, images, and more across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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MLA International Bibliography is a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books, and dissertations from the Modern Language Association.
Resources
- Characteristics of Colonial American LiteratureColonial American literature emerged from the original U.S. colonies during the period from 1607 to the late 1700s and was largely influenced by British writers. Many of the characteristics of colonial American literature can be found in the poems, journals, letters, narratives, histories and teaching materials written by settlers and religious and historic figures of the period. Colonial American literature includes the writings of Mary Rowlandson, William Bradford, Anne Bradstreet and John Winthrop.
- Periods of American LiteratureThe history of American literature stretches across more than 400 years. It can be divided into five major periods, each of which has unique characteristics, notable authors, and representative works.
- City Upon a Hill: Colonial American LiteratureJohn Winthrop used the phrase "City upon a Hill" to describe the new settlement, with "the eies of all people" upon them. And with those words, he laid a foundation for a new world. These new settlers certainly represented a new destiny for this land.