Later 18th-Century U.S. Literature

What have we read so far that can be characterized as "creative literature?" (Hint: There's not much of it!)

But the time is ripe now in the late 18th century, and we'll be seeing much more of it.

What do you suppose are the reasons why that is true?

As we know, creative literature got off to a slow start in this country, but by the later 18th century the three major modern genre are much in evidence.

What are they?

We'll be looking at each one in the next couple of weeks.

Just a note about poetry: With some notable exceptions, the 18th century was generally a "fallow" period for United States poetry. What there was was imitative and derivative of the worst in English poetry. Two "groups," however, stood out above the pack: The Connecticut Wits and Philip Freneau.

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