Realistic+Time+Period

1865 - 1914
 * __Realistic American and British__**

__ World Events __
 * The end of the American Civil War [|Movie]
 * The Progresive Era
 * Industrial Revolution
 * Gilded Age
 * Start of World War 1


 * Authors **
 * __Mark Twain__- Author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He is also the Author of our poem that we anylized. Began his career writing more humorous stuff, but towards the end of his career he wrote about the bad things about mankind.
 * __ Stephen Crane __ - An author mainly of novels, short storys, poems, and he was a journalist as well. His style has been categorized as a mixture of naturalism, impressionalism, and realism.His main themes were ideals versus realities, spiritual stuff, and fear.
 * __ Rebecca Harding Davis __ - American author and journalist who is considered one of the pioneers of the Realistic time period. She wrote a bunch of stuff about the need for social change for different minority groups such as women, blacks, and immigrants.
 * __Hamlin Garland -__ Another American who wrote novels about real life situations. One of his most notable works is the Middle Border series.
 * __William Dean Howells -__ American realist author who lived from 1837 to 1920 who was born in Ohio! His view on realism was "nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material."
 * __ Upton Sinclair - __ author of the novel "The Jungle" which was a novel meant to portray what life was like for an immigrant in America, but scholars have focused more on the vivid details of the working conditions inside meat packing plants and this book is used in teaching today.


 * __Realistic Time Period Characteristics__ **

-Character is more important than the plot of the story, and was usually about ethical choices.

-Events in the books are for the most part realistic and could happen in real life. The novels of this time avoided sensational dramatic elements.

-The characters are realistic and usually abided by the social classes of the time period.

-The authors of this time made sure that they left their books open to interpretation.

-Authors preferred objective narratives.

A realistic book that was about a young boy and a negro that ran away from home down the Mississippi River. The plot of this book is generally realistic and the characters are very detailed and deep. A Lithuanian Family immigrates to Chicago and their life and hardships are shown in the book. The plot is extremely realistic because it is based of true stories of what people went through when they immigrated to the United States. Show the hardships of a boy who is trying to fend off a gang all by himself. This novel was controversial at the time for being too scandalous. This short story fit in well with this time period because it touched on all parts of life and the Author wasn’t afraid to put graphic details into the book. This book written by an Ohio native is about a man who grew from rags to riches which was a common story in real life around this time period. This is because at this time of industrialization, men we making incredible amounts of wealth due to increased productivity. A short story of what life was like in the iron mills during the Industrial Era. This is obviously a very realistic book because the Author interviewed and lived through the details she put into her book.
 * __ Literary Works __**
 * __ The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) __**
 * __ The Jungle (Upton Sinclair) __**
 * __ Maggie: A Girl on the Streets (Stephen Crane) __**
 * __ The rise of Silas Lapham (William Dean Howells) __**
 * __ Life in the Iron Mills (Rebecca Harding Davis) __**


 * __ Poem- __**

O Lord, our father,Our young patriots, idols of our hearts,Go forth to battle - be Thou near them!With them, in spirit, we also go forthFrom the sweet peace of our beloved firesides To smite the foe. O Lord, our God,Help us to tear their soldiersTo bloody shreds with our shells;Help us to cover their smiling fieldsWith the pale forms of their patriot dead; Help us to drown the thunder ofthe guns With the shrieks of their wounded,Writhing in pain. Help us to lay waste their humble homesWith a hurricane of fire;Help us to wring the hearts of theirUnoffending widows with unavailing grief; Help us to turn them out rooflessWith their little children to wander unfriended The wastes of theirdesolated landIn rags and hunger and thirst,Sports of the sun flames of summerAnd the icy winds of winter,Burdened in spirit, worn with travail,Imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it - For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord,Blast their hopes,Blight their lives,Protract their bitter pilgrimage,Make heavy their steps,Water their way with their tears,Stain the white snow with the bloodOf their wounded feet! We ask it in the spirit of love -Of Him who is the source of love,And Who is the ever-faithfulRefuge and Friend of all that are sore beset And seek His aid with humbleand contrite hearts. Amen
 * O Lord, Our Father **

Mark Twain

__**Analysis-**__

This poem was written in a time that was in between two major wars in American history. Twains anger of his "enemy" must have stemmed from post Civil War emotions. The implied meaning is to show how awful war is and how people will ask God for vengeance against their enemies who are just normal human beings too. This poem shows how both side forget their humanity during conflicts and will do anything that they possibly can to win (even if it means praying for their enemies slaughter). This poem is very ironic because it is asking for a peaceful loving god to strike down their foes which is totally against what the bible says. People should pray for their enemies not ask God for their destruction. The poem also includes metaphors, Imagery, personification, and consonance.

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