€ Periods of literature aren't decided upon when we're in them; these general periods are defined long after the writers and audiences have died.

€ Just as children grow questioning and rebelling against their parents' values, so too des a period in history change in response to the previous era &emdash; from Classical to Dark Ages to Medieval to Renaissance to Neoclassical (Age of Reason) to Romantic to Realism (Local Color, Naturalism) to Modern to Post Modern (Abstract Expressionism)

€ The Age of Reason (Neoclassical): This age sought to restore the classical virtues of order and reason. Gardens were laid out in strict geometrical forms; hedges were trimmed in artificial and ornate patterns; paintings tended toward the photographic with composition being carefully planned out to create balances; read "The Federalist Papers" and "The Declaration of Independence" to see hallmarks of American Neoclassical writing; read Swift ("Gulliver's Travels," "A Modest Proposal"), Pope "The Rape of the Lock"), Dryden "All for Love" and Johnson for the best British Neoclassical writers.

€ The Age of Romance: This age came in response and opposition to the Age of Reason and artists of this period relied on instinct and emotion over reason and logic. Gardens were created to look a little wild, a little overgrown; impressionist painting began to flourish (where artists sought to convey an emotional impression rather than a sense of moral order); and writers such as Emerson and Thoreau called on people to follow their God-inspired intuitions rather than the laws of the land. Artists turned to nature as sources for inspiration and as a symbol of God. The notion of "The Noble Savage" suggested that someone growing up apart from civilization could develop his or her native nobility freed from the corrupting influences of civilization. In other words, we were better off being rasied by a tribe of Native Americans than by the King of England.

€ The Age of Realism: As the 1800s progressed and technology played a greater role in society, as the Civil War erupted in America, as governmental corruption increased, faith in man's original goodness diminished and artists tried to reveal the real rather than idealize or romanticize it. Writing became more journalistic, with Twain and Harte attempting to capture dialects and the individual characteristics of the small towns and regions in America. Eventually, writing became Naturalistic; writers such as Steven Crane and Frank Norris wrote about the lack of freedom people experience as they are controlled by the twin forces of heredity and environment. While painters went from impressionism to pointillism to cubism to further levels of abstraction, a new art form, photography, was redefining the ways artists revealed life to their audiences.

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