Antebellum America

 

ENG 467: America’s Literary Journalists

Unit 2
January 28-February 11, 2002

Objectives

By the end of this unit, you should:

  • be familiar with the general character of antebellum American journalism;
  • be familiar with the general character of antebellum American literature;
  • have explored the journalistic and literary qualities in the writings of Walt Whitman, William Cullen Bryant, and Mark Twain.

Names 

Make sure you know the meaning and significance of each of the following names:

Schedule

Please complete these assignments on or before the dates in bold. 

 

Week 4

 

Jan. 28

Read: Antebellum Literature, Antebellum Journalism; Walt Whitman, “Life in New York,” “Life in a New York Market,” “The Last of Lively Frank,” “The Late Riots,” “Insult to American Citizenship,” “Americanism,” “The Penny Press,” “The New York Press” (all on reserve in ETL Library)

 

Feb. 1

Read: Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”

 

Week 5

 

Feb. 4

Read: William Cullen Bryant (“Thanatopsis,” “Hymn of the City,” timeline, biographical sketch)

 

Feb. 8

Read: Mark Twain, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” “Journalism in Tennessee”

 

Week 6

 

Feb. 11

Read: Margaret Fuller (To Be Announced)

Resources

You can find more information about the subject covered in this lesson by consulting the print or electronic resources listed below:

 

The Press in America is a clear, concise overview of American journalism history, from its origins to modern times.  In addition to describing important figures and trends, it covers issues related to freedom of expression.

American Journalism: A History: 1690-1960 covers important people and developments in American journalism over the past three centuries.

Updated February 4, 2001
© Mark Canada, 2001
mark.canada@uncp.edu
 

Introduction

Angela, who is scheduled to give a presentation on Margaret Fuller during Monday’s class, has not given me any readings to share with you all.  In case this presentation does not take place, please bring some materials for your own projects so that we can spend our class time productively in a writing, research, or revision workshop.

 

During this unit, we will take a look at the literature and journalism of antebellum America, focusing on works by Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, William Cullen Bryant, and Margaret Fuller.   In addition to this study guide, I have prepared a guide to the life, literature, and journalism of Walt Whitman.  I encourage you to read it along with the other assignments listed in the schedule at the left.

 

As I promised in class, I have posted a Web page with information about our trip to Carl Sandburg’s home in Flat Rock.  Please take a moment this weekend to read that information and respond to the short survey.

 

Finally, I will post the reading assignments for William Cullen Bryant and Mark Twain when I receive the information from Mary and Crystal.

Discussion

In this unit, we will discuss the growth of American journalism in the antebellum era, paying special attention to the advent of the penny press in the 1830s.  Having immersed ourselves in this historical context, we then will take a look at the numerous American writers who dabbled in both journalism and literature during this period.  We will begin with Walt Whitman, who worked as a journalist before he came out with Leaves of Grass in 1855.  Later Mary Williams will introduce us to the journalism and literature of William Cullen Bryant, one of the leading poets of the period and editor of the New York Evening Post for nearly a half-century, beginning in 1829.Finally, Crystal Craven will lead our discussion of Mark Twain, who wrote for his brother's newspaper and the Virginia Territorial Enterprise before writing his many famous novels, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 

 

A number of other notable American belletrists also worked as journalists at this time. Edgar Allan Poe edited several publications at the same time he was writing many of his short stories. Margaret Fuller, author of Summer on the Lakes in 1843 and Woman in the Nineteenth Century, edited the Transcendentalist periodical The Dial and later wrote for the New York Tribune.  Finally, Sarah Willis, writing under the pseudonym Fanny Fern, was one of the best-known newspaper columnists of her time.  In addition to writing for the New York Ledger, she published several books, including the novel Ruth Hall. 

Conclusion

In our next unit, we will turn to the literature and journalism of the postbellum era, when American newspapers and magazines flourished and nearly every major American writer had journalism experience.

Exercises

I have designed the following exercises to help you get the most out of this unit.  Please keep them in mind as you study the reading assignments and jot down some notes that will help you respond to them in class.

Overview

1A.  How would you characterize the journalism of antebellum America?  In what ways does it resemble antebellum literature?  Why might a writer have crossed from one field to the other?  Did these writers even think of them as distinct fields?

Featured Writers: Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, William Cullen Bryant, Margaret Fuller

1D.  Imagine Walt Whitman working as a journalist in New York and New Orleans in the years before the Civil War.  How might have this experience shaped his outlook, personality, and poetry?