Preface xi
General Introduction xv
Note on the text xxv
Acknowledgements xxvii
Part One Beginnings to 1810
Associate Editor, Daniel B. Shea
I. A key into the languages of America 3
The native voice 5
The literature of discovery and exploration 16
English literature at the American Moment 24
The puritan Vision of the new world 33
II. The prose and poetry of Colonial America 45
History and Chronicle 47
Sermons and Theological Writings 56
Biography and Autobiography 67
The poetry of Colonial America 45
History and Chronicle 47
Sermons and Theological Writings 56
Biography and Autobiography 67
The poetry of colonial America 83
III. America in Transition 99
From Cotton Mather to Benjamin Franklin