Civil War Era Literature

1850 – 1880

Writers stopped focusing on Romantic ideals and began to give realistic portrayals of the problems

confronting the nation.

North vs. South

• The nation developed in two different directions– The North was a center for industrial

manufacturing and the export of finished goods

– The South was almost entirely agricultural, producing rice, tobacco, cotton, and sugar, and exporting many of these good to Great Britain

Tensions

• The differing values created tension between the North and the South– Fundamental differences in lifestyles

• Life in cities & towns vs. life on the farm• Work in mills or factories vs. work on the farm or

plantation

Slavery

• Some Southerners opposed slavery, but most saw it as a necessary part of the Southern economy– By 1830, there were approximately 3 million

slaves of African descent in the US. Approximately 85% of these were forced agricultural laborers

Slavery

• Strong abolitionist movement in the North produced significant publications– William Lloyd Garrison – The Liberator– Freedom’s Journal – first black-owned

newspaper (John Russwurm & Samuel Cornish)

– Frederick Douglass – The North Star

Literature of Abolition & Protest

• Abolitionist literature existed well before the Civil War– Some of the literature was written by Northern

whites, especially women, who tried to appeal to the family concerns of Southern women

– Slaves in the south developed original forms of literature

• Spiritual• Slave Narrative

Spirituals

• Combined African & European music and poetic text to create dramatic symbols of the suffering of slaves and their hope for deliverance

• Expressions of religious faith– generally Christian, and specific to the religious experience of Southern slaves

Slave Narratives

• Autobiographical account of the life of a former slave

• Chronicles the extraordinary conditions under which he or she lived

• Ranging in length from a few pages to entire books – hundreds were published in the decades before the civil war

Literature of the War

• Much of the literature during and immediately after the Civil War was concerned with restoring a national identity– Hoping to find threads of unity– Appealing to the honor and courage of those

who fought

Poetic Revolution

• Walt Whitman– Found poetry in the lives of everyday

Americans

• Emily Dickinson– Composed poetry that gave meaning to

ordinary life