1. Transcendentalism is a group of ideas in literature and philosophy that developed in the 1830s and 1840s as a protest against the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian church. They believe in an ideal spirituality that "transcends" the physical and empirical and is realized only through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions.
The major figures in the movement were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau Margaret Fuller.
2. Modernism is a cultural movement that generally includes the progressive art of architecture, design, literature, music, dance, painting and other visual arts which emerged in the beginning of the 20th century, particularly in the years following World War I. It was a movement of artists and designers who rebelled against late 19th century academic and historic tradition, and embraced the new economic, social and political aspects of the emerging modern world.
Among American writers, the best-known Modernists are T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and so on.
3. Imagism was a movement in early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery, and clear, sharp language. The Imagists rejected the sentiment and artifice typical of much Romantic and Victorian poetry. This was in contrast to their contemporaries, the Georgian poets, who were by and large content to work within that tradition.
The most outstanding figures of the movement were Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell and Hilda Doolittle.
4. Puritanism refers to the movement arising within the Church of England in the latter part of the 16th century that sought to purify, or reform, that church and establish a middle course between Roman Catholicism and the ideas of the Protestant reformers. It remained the dominant religious force in New England throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The term Puritanism is also used in a broader sense to refer to attitudes and values considered characteristic of the Puritans.
Its representative figures are Anna Bradstreet Franklin, Thomas Paine.
5. Naturalism refers to the theory that literary composition should aim at a detached, scientific objectively in the treatment of natural man. The movement is an outgrowth of 19th century scientific thought. Artistically, naturalistic writings are usually unpolished in language, lacking in academic skills and unwieldy in structure. Philosophically, the naturalists believe that the real and true is always partially hidden from the eye of the individual.
Notable writers were Frank Norris, Sherwood Anderson and Theodore Dreiser.
6. Local colorism is a fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region. It put emphasis on physical setting and those distinctive qualities of landscape which condition human thought and behavior. It started from1860s to the end of 19th century.
Bret Hart e’s The Luck of Roaring Camp marked a significant development in the brief history of local color fiction. Another important figure was Mark Twain.
7. The Lost Generation refers to a group of the disillusioned intellectuals and artists,who lived in Paris and other parts of Europe from the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. They rebelled against former ideals and values but could replace them only by despair or a cynical hedonism.
Significant members included Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot.
