Early American and Colonial Period to 1776

Early American and Colonial Period to 1776 American writings begins with the orally transmitted myths, legends, tales, and lyrics (always songs) of Indian cultures. There was no scripted literature among the more than 500 different Indian languages and tribal cultures that existed in North America before the first Europeans arrived. As a result, Native American oral literature is preferably diverse. Narratives from quasi-nomadic hunting cultures like the Navajo are different from stories of settled rustic kin groups such as the pueblo-dwelling Acoma; the stories of northern lakeside dwellers such as the Ojibwa often differ radically from stories of desert tribes like the Hopi. Tribes kept up(p) their own religions -- worshipping idols, animals, plants, or sacred persons. Systems of government ranged from democracies to councils of elders to theocracies. These tribal variations present into the oral literature as well. Still, it is possible to make a few generalizations. Indian stories, for example, glow with reverence for nature as a spiritual as well as corporeal mother. Nature is alive and endowed with spiritual forces; main characters may be animals or plants, often totems associated with a tribe, group, or individual.

The circumferent to the Indian sense of holiness in later American literature is Ralph Waldo Emersons transcendental Over-Soul, which pervades all of life. The Mexican tribes revered the churchman Quetzalcoatl, a god of the Toltecs and Aztecs, and some tales of a high god or culture were told elsewhere. However, on that point are no long, alike(p) religious cycles about one supreme divinity. The closest equivalents to emeritus World spiritual narratives are often accounts of shamans initiations and voyages. Apart from these, there are stories about culture heroes such as the Ojibwa tribes Manabozho or the Navajo tribes Coyote. These tricksters are treated with varying degrees of respect. In one tale they may act like heroes, sequence in another they may seem... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

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