What is American Literature?

 I define American Literature as the literary works, such as stories and poems that are written by Americans or about America as a country. The literature is important for humans to read and study because it tells the story of America and how it has changed over time. Poetry has been used to pass on the people’s feelings and views. At the start of America lots of people wrote about their experiences from being colonized by Great Britain. During the Revolutionary War, the primary writers were Ben Franklin and Samuel Adams. They were famous for writing letters. There are two well known examples of American literature that every American should know. The first is the poem Yankee Doodle, which was published in the 1770’s and was written by Richard Shuckburgh. The second example is the Declaration of Independence which was declared in 1776. During the World War’s, America resorted to its literature and lots of writers wrote about how they felt about the wars. Music later became another way for people to express their feelings.

 Resources:
 http://folkmusic.about.com/od/folksongs/qt/YankeeDoodle.htm