American Division Literature [ 22 ]

22- ] American Division Literature .

The Following is a Sample of Such Groupings .

1-] Pastoral Literature .

 A life apart from the urban main stream ; rural setting , country people . It includes :

1-] Pastoral poems :  Poems about shepherds and rural life [ many written between 1550 and 1750 ] .

2-] Pastoral elegies :  Poems using pastoral imagery to mourn a death .

3-] Pastoral drama :  [ It is also called pastoral plays ] plays that use shepherds and the conventions of pastoral poems .

4-] Pastoral romance :  Shepherds and pastoral conventions in a long prose narrative [ for example “ Rosalynde” by Thomas Lodge ] .

2-] Literature of The Absurd .

Poems , prose and plays that emphasize an existential sense of isolation , using such devices as black humor [ morbid and grotesque humor ] to show the writer’s view of the absurdity of life .

                                           3-] Escape Literature .

Poems , prose and plays with the main purpose to allow the reader to escape real life .

4-] Genteel Tradition .

American poems and plays that stress conventional correctness .

5-] History Literature .

Poems , prose and plays based on history [ prose forms can include historical fiction and historical novels ] .

6-Local Color Writing .

Predominantly American poems , prose and drama based on regionalisms such as dialect , dress and geographical setting .

7-] Folklore .

Folklore was not used as a literary term until the 19^th century , and it refers to many different genres that include a people’s traditions . These traditions of course are filled with customs , beliefs and rituals . As a result , they have given rise to innumerable formula plots , conventions motifs and literary traditions .

Folklore includes [ to name a few ] : popular ballads , cowboy songs , stories , riddles . nursery rhymes and legends .