The course objective is to provide a survey of American Literature, Beginnings through The Age of Romanticism including an overview of the literature and historical timeframe for this period. Stories, personal narratives, biographical sketches, poems, speeches, letters, and essays comprise the course in order to provide a rich array of readings for this literary study. American authors from about late 1400s to late 1800s are studied. Students will engage in a process of critical reading, responding, analyzing, interpreting, and writing in the course.