American Literature Timeline

By sashankle

  • Romanticism. (1820-1861)

  • "A Dream Within A Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe

    "A Dream Within A Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe

  • Transcendentalism

    A cultural movement in which ideas in literature and philosophy emerged.

  • Realism. (1860-1890)

  • American Civil War begins (1861-1865)

  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is published

    Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is published

    Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are published in the United States, though published a year earlier in England.

  • Regionalism. (1900-1940)

  • Imagism. (1912-1927)

  • World War I begins. (1914-1918)

    World War I begins. (1914-1918)

    Austria declares war on Serbia starting the war.

  • Modernist movement begins.

    The modernist movement that changed American literature and train of thought begins.

  • The Harlem Renaissance begins.

  • Life Is Fine by Langston Hughes

  • Ulysses, written by James Joyce, is published.

    Ulysses, written by James Joyce, is published.

  • The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is published.

  • Great Depression begins.

  • Black Mountain Poets. (1933-1956)

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston, is published.

  • The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, is published

  • World War Two begins. (1939-1945)

  • Cold War begins. (1948-1991, on and off)

  • Animal Farm, written by George Orwell. is published.

    Animal Farm, written by George Orwell. is published.

  • The Beat Generation emerges.

    A group of American writers who emerged in the 1950s

  • Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, is published.

    1951, Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, is published.

  • "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou

  • Vietnam War begins. (1955-1975)

    Vietnam War begins. (1955-1975)

  • To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is published.

  • John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

    John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

  • Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated.

    Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated.

  • Slaughterhouse-five, written by Kurt Vonnegut, is published.

    Slaughterhouse-five, written by Kurt Vonnegut, is published.

  • Post-Modernism movement begins.

  • "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

  • "A Life" by Sylvia Plath

    "A Life" by Sylvia Plath

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