-
3
The
Literature of Reason and Revolution
I. Fill in the blanks.
1. At
the initial period the spread of ideas of the
American Enlightenment was largely
due
to_____.
2. Franklin edited the first
colonial magazine, which he called____.
3. Franklin
‘
s
best writing is found in his masterpiece_____.
4.
Thomas
Paine,
with
his
natural
gift
for
pamphleteering
and
rebellion,
was
appropriately born into an age of____.
5. On January 10, 1776,
P
aine‘
s famous pamphlet
appeared.
6.
In
Philadelphia,
______
the
Pennsylvania
magazine,
and
contributed
to
the
Pennsylvania journal.
7. A
series of sixteen pamphlets by Paine was
entitled_______.
8.
Paine
‘
s
second
most
important
work
__
as
an
impassioned
plea
against
hereditary monarchy.
9. The most outstanding poet in
American of the 18
th
century
was ____.
10. Philip
Freneau
‘
s famous poem
____was written about his imprisoned experience.
11. Philip Freneau was a close friend
and political associate of president _____
12. ___was considered as the
―
poet of the American
Revolution
‖
,
13.
Philip
Freneau
was
noteworthy
first
because
of
nature
of
his
poem.
They
were
truly American and very patriotic. In
this respect, he reflected the spirit of his age.
Therefore, he has been called the
―
__
of American
poetry
‖
.
14. In
1791, probably with
Jefferson
‘
s support, __
established in
Philadelphia the
national gazette.
15. In American literature, the
eighteenth century was an Age of__
and Revolution.
II. Matching
III. Multiple
Choice
1.
In American
literature, the
eighteenth
century was
the age of the
Enlightenment.
__was the dominant
spirit.
A. Humanism
B. Rationalism
C. Revolution
D. Evolution
2. In American
literature, the Enlighteners were not opposed to
_____.
A. the colonial
order
B. religious obscurantism
C.
the puritan tradition
D. the secular literature
3.
The English colonies
in
North
America rose in
arms against their parent
country
and the continental
congress adopted ___in 1776.
A. The
Declaration of Independence
B. the Sugar Act
C. The
Stamp act
D. the Mayflower Compact
4. Which statement about Franklin is
not true?
A. He instructed his
countrymen as a printer.
B. He was a
scientist.
C. He was s master of
diplomacy.
D. He was a Puritan.
1
5. The secular
ideals of the American Enlightenment were
exemplified in the life and
career of
___.
A. THOMAS Hood
B .Benjamin Franklin
C.
Thomas Jefferson
D. George
Washington
6. Which of the following
does not belong to this literary period?
A.
The American
Crisis
B.
The Federalist
C.
Declaration of Independence
D.
The Waste Land
7.
Benjamin Franklin was the
epitome of the ____.
A. American
Enlightenment
B.
Sugar act
C. Chartist
movement
D. Romanticist
8. From 1732 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin
wrote and published his famous _______,
an annual collection of proverbs.
A.
The Autobiography
B.
Poor R
ichard’
s
Almanac
C.
Common Sense
D.
The General
Magazine
9. Which is not
connected with Thomas Paine?
A.
Common Sense
B.
The American crisis
C.
Pennsylvania
Magazine
D.
The Autobiography
10. Choose the works which
is not written by Paine.
A.
Rights of Man
B.
The Age of
Reason
C.
Poor
Richards Almanac
D.
Common Sense
11.
The
first
pamphlet
published
in
America
to
urge
immediate
independence
from
Britain is____.
A.
The Rights of Man
B.
Common
Sense
C.
The American Crisis
D.
Declaration of
Independence
12.
―
These
are
the
times
that
try
men
‘
s
souls
‖
.
These
words
were
once
read
to
Washington troops and much to shore up
the spirits of the revolutionary soldiers.
Who is the author of these words?
A. Benjamin Franklin
B.
Thomas Jefferson
C. Thomas Paine
D. George Washington
13.
Which statement about Philip Freneau is not true?
A. He was a satirist
B. He was a pamphleteer
C. He was a singer
D. He was a bitter
polemicist
14. Which poem is not
written by Philip Freneau?
A.
The British Prison Ship
B.
T
he wild Honey Suckle
C.
The Indian
burying ground
D.
The day of
doom
15. Who was considered
as the
―
poet of American
revolution
‖
?
A.
Michael Wigglesworth
B. Edward
Taylor
C. Annne Bradstreet
D. Philip Freneau
16. It was not until January 1776 that
a widely heard public voice demanded complete
separation
from
England.
The
voice
was
that
of
___,
whose
pamphlet
Common
Sense
, with its heated
language, increased the growing demand for
separation.
A. Thomas Paine
B. Thomas Jefferson
C. George Washington
D. Patrick Henry
17.
At
the
reason
and
revolutionary
period,
Americans
were
influenced
by
the
2
European
movement called the______.
A. Chartist
Movement
B.
Romanticist Movement
C. Enlightenment
Movement
D.
Modernist Movement
18. Thomas
Jefferson
‘
s
attitude, that is, a firm belief in
progress, and the pursuit of
happiness,
is typical the period we now call_____.
A. Age of Revolution
B. Age of
Reason
C. Age of Romanticism
D. Age of
Regionalism
19. _____carries the voice
not of an individual but of a whole people. It is
more than
writing
of
the
revolutionary
period.
It
defined
the
meaning
of
the
American
Revolution.
A.
Common Sense
B.
The American
Crisis
C.
Declaration of Independence
D.
Deface of the
English People
20.
Benjamin
Franklin
shaped
his
writing
after
the
____by
the
English
essayists
Addison and Steele.
A.
Spectator Papers
B.
Walden
C.
Nature
D.
The Sacred
Wood
IV
. Literary
Terms
V
. Identification
Passage 1
These are the
times that try men
‘
s souls;
The summer soldier and the sunshine
patriot will in this crisis, shrink
from the service of their country; but he that
stands it
now deserves the love and
thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is
not easily
conquered; yet we have this
consolation with us, that the harder the conflict,
the more
glorious the triumph. What we
obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly:
?
tis dearness
only that gives everything its value.
Heaven knows how to put a paper price upon its
goods.
Questions:
1. Which book is
passage taken from?
2. Who is the
author of this book?
3. Whom is the
author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?
4. What do you think of the language
used in the book?
Passage 2
When
in
the
Course
of
human
events,
it
becomes
necessary
for
one
people
to
dissolve the political
bands which have connected them with another, and
to assume
among
the
powers
of
the
earth,
the
separate
and
equal
station
to
which the
Law
of
Nature
‘
s God
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that
they should
declare the causes which impel them to the
separation.
We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are endowed by their
Creator
with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of
Happiness;
That
to
secure
these
rights,
Government
are
instituted
among
Men,
deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed; That whenever any From
of Government becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter
or to abolish it.
Questions:
3
5. Which work
is this passage taken from?
6. What
truths are self-evident? What is the purpose of
government, and when should
a
government be replaced?
Passage 3
In a
branch of willow hid
Sings the evening
Caty-did:
From the lofty locust bough
Feeding on a drop of dew
In
her suit of green array
‘
d
Hear her singing in the shade
Caty-did, Caty-did, Caty-did!
Questions:
7. Who is the
writer of these verses?
8. What is the
title of this lyrical poem?
9. What is
a
―
Caty-
did
‖
?
Passage 4
It
was
about
this
time
I
conceived
the
bold
and
arduous
project
of
arriving
at
moral perfection. I wished to live
without committing any fault at any time; I would
conquer all that either natural
inclination, custom, or company might lead me
into. As
I knew, or thought I knew,
what was right and wrong, I did not see why I
might not
always do the one and avoid
the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a
task of
more difficulty than I had
imagined. While my care was employed in guarding
against
one
fault,
I
was
often
surprised
by
anther;
habit
took
the
advantage
of
inattention;
inclination was
sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at
length, that the mere
speculative
conviction
that
it
was
our
interest
to
be
completely
virtuous
was
not
sufficient
to
prevent
our
slipping;
and
that
the
contrary
habits
must
be
broken,
and
good
ones acquired and established, before we can have
any dependence on a steady,
uniform
rectitude
of
conduct.
For
this
purpose
I
therefore
contrived
the
following
method.
In the various
enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with
in my reading, I
found the catalog more
or less numerous, as different writers included
more or fewer
ideas under the same
name. Temperance, for example, was by some
confined to eating
and
drinking,
while
by
others
it
was
extended
to
mean
the
moderating
every
other
pleasure, appetite,
inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to
our avarice and
ambition. I proposed to
myself,, for the sake of clearness, to use rather
more names,
with fewer ideas annexed to
each, than a few names with more ideas; and I
included
under thirteen names
of
virtues
all
that at
that time occurred to
me as necessary or
desirable, and annexed to each a short
precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave
to its meaning.
Questions:
10. Which work is this passage taken
from?
11. Who is the author of this
book?
4
12. What
is your understanding of the book?
VI.
Questions and Answers.
1. What is a
proverb? Which writer in his period liked to use
proverbs?
2. What are the
characteristics of Benjamin
Franklin
‘
s literary work?
3. What work was
The
Federalist
?
4.
Who
said
―
Give
me
library,
or
give
me
death
‖
?
What
was
the
impact
of
the
quotation?
5. Could you
please give a brief account of American literature
of this period?
VII. Analysis of
Literary Works.
1. Write an analysis of
The Poor Richard’
s
Almanac
.
2. Write an
analysis of
The American
Crisis
.
3. Write an analysis
of
Declaration of
Independence
.
Keys
I. Fill in the blanks.
1. journalism
9. Philip Freneau
2.
The General Magazine
10.
The British
Prison Ship
3.
Autobiography
11. Thomas
Jefferson
4. revolution
12. Philip
Freneau
5.
Common
Sense
13. Father
6.
Thomas Paine
14. Philip Freneau
7.
The American
Crisis
15. Reason
8.
The Rights of
Man
II. Matching.
1---e;
2---I;
3---d;
4---c;
5---a;
6---g;
7---b;
8---f;
9---h;
10---j.
III. Multiple Choice.
1. B
2. D
3. A
4. D
5.
B
6. D
7.
A
8. B
9. D
10. C
11.
B
12. C
13. C
14. D
15. D
16.
A
17. C
18.
B
19. C
20. A
III.
Literary
Terms.
1.
Autobiography:
An
autobiography
is
a
person
‘
s
account
of
his
or
her
life.
Generally
written
in
the
first
person,
with
the
author
speaking
as
―
I
‖
,
autobiographies
present
life
events
as
the
writer
views
them.
In
addition
to
providing inside details
about the
writer
‘
s life,
autobiographies offer insights into
the
beliefs and perceptions of the author.
Autobiographies also offer a glimpse of
what it was like to live in the
author
‘
s time period.
Autobiographies often provide a
view of
historical events that you
won
‘
t find in history books.
Benjamin Franklin
‘
s
Autobiography
set the
standard for what was then a new genre.
2. Persuasion:
Persuasion is
writing meant
to
convince readers to
think or
act
in
a
certain
way. A persuasive writer appeals to emotions or
reason, offers opinions, and
urges
action.
3. Aphorism:
An
aphorism is a short, concise statement expressing
a wise or clever
observation
or
a
general
truth.
A
variety
of
devices
make
aphorisms
easy
to
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