American Literary Movements PART 2

ENLIGHTENMENT AT A GLANCE

Enlightenment is characterized by human desire to understand the world around them through the reason rather than faith. This era was mostly composed of philosophers and scientists whose writing sparked an enlightenment in thought. The people of this time focused on understanding and knowledge. The looked at science to better understand the world. The Enlightenment was, at its center, a celebration of ideas – ideas about what the human mind was capable of, and what could be achieved through deliberate action and scientific methodology.

Many of the American settings in this era center around big cities such as Philadelphia and Boston. 

Major Writers of the Enlightenment

• Congreve, William (1670-1729)
• Diderot, Denis (1713-1784)
• Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790)
• Hume, David (1711-1776)
• Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
• Locke, John (1632-1704)
• Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804)
• Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727)
• Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)
• Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
• Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)
• Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)
• Voltaire (1694-1778)
• Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797)

To every of this author find at least one of his works.