Chapter 1
Literature of Colonial America

I．Fill in the blanks.

1．The most enduring shaping influence in American thought and American literature was American _____.

2．Among the members of the small band of Jamestown settlers was Captain John _____, an English soldier of fortune, whose reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been described as the first distinct American literature written in English.

3．Almost a hundred years earlier the Caribbean Islands, Mexico, and other parts of Central and South America had been occupied by the _____.

4．The term "Puritan" was applied to those settlers who originally were devout members of the Church of _____.

5．_____ College was established in 1636, with a printing press set up nearly in 1639.

6．Among all the settlers in the New Continent, _____ settlers were the most influential.

7．The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at , Virginia.

8．American literature is the _____ of all national literature.

9．In the book A Description of New _____ John Smith wrote that "here nature and liberty afford us that freely which in England we want, or it costs us dearly".

10．General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624) contains John Smith's most famous tale of how the Indian princess named _____ saved him from the wrath of her father.

11．Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety, these were the _____ values that dominated much of the early American writing.

12．The American poets who emerged in the 17th century adapted the style of established European poets to the subject matter confronted in a strange, new environment. _____ Bradstreet was one such poet.

13．William Bradford himself used a word "_____" to describe the community of believers who sailed from Southampton, England, on the Mayflower and settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.

14．In 1620, William _____ was elected Governor of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

15．From 1621 until his death, William _____ probably possessed more power than any other colonial governor.

16．William Bradford's work The History of Plymouth _____ consists of two books. The first book deals with the persecutions of the Separatists in Scrooby, England; the second book describes the signing of the "_____ Compact".

17．Many Puritans wrote verse, but the works of two writers, Anne Bradstreet and Edward _____, rose to the level of real poetry.

18．The History of New England is a priceless gift left us by John _____.

19．Cotton _____ wrote his most impressive work The Magnalia Christi America.

20．The writer who best expressed the Puritan faith in the colonial period was John _____.

21．The Puritan philosophy known as _____ was important in New England during colonial time, and had a profound influence on the early American mind for several generations.

22．With his elaborate metaphors, Edward _____ was reminiscent of Richard Crashaw and George Herbert in England.

23．A representative sermon A True Sight of Sin is Thomas _____ 's main work.

24．Before his death, Jonathan _____ had gained a position as America's first systematic philosopher.

25．Jonathan Edwards's masterpiece is _____ of the Will.

26．The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America is a collection of poems composed by Anne _____.

27．Edward _____ 's best verse is found in a series called Preparatory Meditations.

28．The Day of Doom, a long-standing best seller both in America and in England, was written by _____ Wigglesworth.

29．Charles Brockden Brown's first novel _____, or The _____ : An American Tale has been regarded as the first American novel.

II．Choose the best answer for each blank.

1．English literature in the U.S is only about more than _____ years old.

A．500

B．400

C．200

D．100

2．The establisher of Jamestown was the famous explorer and colonist _____.

A．John Winthrop

B．John Smith

C．William Bradford

D．John Goodwin

3．_____'s poetic output was sizable, and much of it was crowded with dire warnings.

A．Michael Wigglesworth

B．Roger Williams

C．Thomas Hooker

D．Cotton Mather

4．The early history of _____ Colony was the history of William Bradford's leadership.

A．Plymouth

B．Jamestown

C．New England

D．Mayflower

5．Georgia, Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New England, all were named after _____ monarchs and lands.

A．Spanish

B．American

C．English

D．French

6．_____ usually was regarded as the first American writer.

A．William Bradford

B．Anne Bradstreet

C．Emily Dickinson

D．Captain John Smith

7．Which statement about Cotton Mather is not true?

A．He was a great Puritan historian.

B．He was an inexhaustible writer.

C．He was a skillful preacher and an eminent theologian.

D．He was a graduate of Oxford College.

8．Jonathan Edwards's best and most representative sermon was _____.

A．A True Sight of Sin

B．Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

C．A Model of Christian Charity

D．God's Determinations

9．Among the following writers, _____ is not a poet.

A．Michael Wigglesworth

B．Anne Bradstreet

C．Edward Taylor

D．Thomas Hooker

10．The common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasis on the _____.

A．revolutionism

B．reason

C．individualism

D．rationalism

11．Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made such a stir in England that she became known as the "_____" that appeared in America.

A．Ninth Muse

B．Tenth Muse

C．Best Muse

D．First Muse

12．The ship "_____" carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

A．Sunflower

B．Armada

C．Mayflower

D．Pequod

13．Early in the _____ century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.

A．17th

B．18th

C．19th

D．16th

14．The first writings that we call American were the _____ and journals of the early settlements.

A．letters

B．essays

C．novels

D．narratives

15．The colonies that became the first United States were for the most part _____.

A．Spanish

B．American

C．English

D．French

16．Among the earliest settlers were _____ who settled in the Northern Colonies and along the St. Lawrence River.

A．Spaniards

B．Americans

C．Englishmen

D．Frenchmen

17．_____'s descriptions of America were filled with themes, myths, images, scenes, characters, and events that were a foundation for the nation's literature.

A．William Bradford

B．Anne Bradstreet

C．Emily Dickinson

D．Captain John Smith

18．The writers of the Southern and Middle Colonies who followed _____ also made their great contribution to early American literature, especially in the 18th century.

A．William Bradford

B．Anne Bradstreet

C．John Winthrop

D．John Smith

19．In 1612, _____ published in England a book called A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country , which was a guide to the country and invitation to the bold spirits.

A．Michael Wigglesworth

B．Edward Taylor

C．John Smith

D．Thomas Hooker

20．Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean _____ delivered his sermon A Model of Christian Charity. It became his important work.

A．William Bradford

B．Anne Bradstreet

C．John Winthrop

D．John Smith

21．_____ was regarded as the most eminent and admired minister in the first generation of New England Puritans.

A．William Bradford

B．John Cotton

C．John Winthrop

D．John Smith

22．Most of the religious writing in the colonies was done by persons who lived in .

A．Plymouth

B．Jamestown

C．New England

D．Mayflower

23．The early history of Plymouth Colony was the history of _____'s leadership.

A．William Bradford

B．John Cotton

C．John Winthrop

D．John Smith

24．The 17th-century American poets adapted the style of established _____ poets to the subject matter confronted in a strangely new environment.

A．European

B．English

C．French

D．Italian

25．_____ was interested in the Indian language. A Key into the Language of America was one of his works.

A．Edward Taylor

B．Roger Williams

C．John Winthrop

D．John Smith

26．The best of Puritan poets was _____, whose complete edition of poems appeared in 1960, more than two hundred years after his death.

A．Edward Taylor

B．Roger Williams

C．Thomas Hooker

D．John Smith

27．The writer who best expressed the Puritan sense of the self is _____.

A．Michael Wigglesworth

B．Roger Williams

C．Thomas Hooker

D．Cotton Mather

28．_____ was an inexhaustible writer, producing more than five hundred books on an incredible variety of subjects.

A．Edward Taylor

B．Roger Williams

C．Thomas Hooker

D．Cotton Mather

III．Find the relevant match from Column B for each item in Column A.

Column A

（　　）1．John Smith

（　　）2．William Bradford

（　　）3．John Winthrop

（　　）4．Anne Bradstreet

（　　）5．Edward Taylor

Column B

a．Huswifery

b．Contemplations

c．Of Plymouth Plantation

d．A Model of Christian Charity

e．A Description of New England

IV．Answer the following questions.

1．What is the significance of American Puritanism in American literature?

2．Comment briefly on Charles Brockden Brown's contribution to American novel.

3．Give an introduction to the periods of American Literature.