Students in the undergraduate survey (American Literature 1) must memorize these words and definitions. And they remain useful for students in senior- and graduate-level seminars.
Words that explain antebellum American literature
Dr. Jon Miller • Univ. of Akron
The 1828 and 1841 definitions are from Noah Webster’s American Dictionary.
ANTEBELLUM, adj. Of the decades in American history before the Civil War (1861-1865). Historians generally characterize the 1830-1860 period as “antebellum America.” In literary history, these decades are sometimes called the period of “the American Renaissance.”
APPETITE, n. 1. The natural desire of pleasure or good; the desire of gratification, either of the body or the mind. 2. A desire of food or drink; a painful sensation occasioned by hunger or thirst. 3. Strong desires; eagerness or longing. [1828] Compare PASSION, HOSPITALITY.
BEAUTY, n. 1. An assemblage of graces, or an assemblage of properties in the form of the person or any other object, which pleases the eye. . . . 5. In the arts, symmetry of parts; harmony; justness of composition [1828]. Compare SENSIBILITY.
BELLES LETTRES [BELL LETtreh], n. A mode of writing that, as literary historian David S. Shields explains in his contribution to the 1994 Cambridge History of American Literature, “subordinated the traditional tasks of edification, revelation, and memorialization to the work of stimulating social pleasure.” This mode “flourished in England in conjunction with the rise of urban sociability in the 1670s” and, in British North America, it characterized the refined and cosmopolitan social life of the provincial capitals. It appeared in spoken performances (such as toasts), manuscripts (circulating “private” journals), and newspapers. Because it was strongly associated with a love of British social life, early American belles lettres gave way to more patriotic literary modes that emphasized the use of native materials (themes, characters, settings, historical events, etc.) and the importance of print publication as a sign of literary worth.
BREED, n. 1. A cast; a kind; a race of men or other animals, which have an alliance by nativity, or some distinctive qualities in common; as a breed of men in a particular country; a breed of horses or sheep. Applied to men, it is not elegant. We use race. [1828]
CIVIL, adj. 1. Reduced to order, rule and government; under a regular administration; implying some refinement of manners; not savage or wild. 2. Civilized; courteous; complaisant; gentle and obliging; well-bred; affable; kind; having the manners of a city. [1828] Compare SAVAGE, COSMOPOLITAN, REFINEMENT, NOBILITY.
COSMOPOLITAN, adj. Belonging to all parts of the world; not restricted to any one country or its inhabitants; having the characteristics which arise from, or are suited to, a range over many different countries; free from national limitations or attachments; also, usually, urban, and intimate with life in the capital. Compare PROVINCIAL.
DEFERENCE, n. 1. A yielding in opinion; submission of judgment to the opinion or judgment of another. Hence, regard; respect. [1828] Compare DUTY, GENEROSITY.
DESIRE, n. 1. An emotion or excitement of the mind, directed to the attainment or possession of an object from which pleasure, sensual, intellectual or spiritual, is expected; a passion excited by the love of an object, or uneasiness at the want of it, and directed to its attainment or possession. Desire is a wish to possess some gratification or source of happiness which is supposed to be obtainable. A wish may exist for something that is or is not abtainable. Desire, when directed solely to sensual enjoyment, differs little from appetite. In other languages, desire is expressed by longing or reaching toward, and when it is ardent or intense, it approaches to longing, but the word in English usually expresses less than longing . . . . Desire is that internal act, which, by influencing the will, makes us proceed to action. [1828]
DISTINCTION, n. 1. The act of separating or distinguishing. 2. A note of mark or difference. . . . 7. Eminence; superiority; elevation of rank in society, or elevation of character; honorable estimation. 8. That which confers eminence or superiority. [1828] Compare HIERARCHY, LEVELER.
DUTY, n. 1. That which a person owes to another; that which a person is bound, by any natural, moral or legal obligation, to pay, do or perform [1828]. The action and conduct due to a superior or an inferior as such; homage, obedience, or submission, if you are looking up to someone; generosity, compassion, or patronage, if you are looking down on someone. Early American hierarchical relationships were maintained primarily by frequent and seemingly trivial performances of duty. Note that individualism and egalitarianism create duty without hierarchy: as Americans approach the Civil War, duty is increasingly figured as a responsibility not to specific specific people (e.g., the father, the religious leader, the government official), but to ideals (e.g. love of country). Compare DEFERENCE, GENEROSITY, HIERARCHY.
EGALITARIAN, adj. That which asserts the equality of mankind. Note this is an early twentieth-century word. The early American term, “leveling,” has negative connotations. Compare LEVELER, HIERARCHY.
ELECTION, n. In theology, divine choice; predetermination of God, by which persons are distinguished as objects of mercy, become subjects of grace ("saints"), are sanctified and prepared for heaven [1828]. Compare GRACE.
FANCY, n. The faculty by which the mind forms images or representations of things at pleasure. It is often confused with imagination; but imagination is rather the power of combining and modifying our conceptions [1828]. Compare ROMANCE.
FEELING, n. 1. The sense of touch; the sense by which we perceive external objects which come in contact with the body, and obtain ideas of their tangible qualities; one of the five senses. It is by feeling we know that a body is hard or soft, hot or cold, wet or dry, rough or smooth. 2. Sensation; the effect of perception. . . . 3. Faculty or power of perception; sensibility. 4. Nice sensibility; as a man of feeling. 5. Excitement; emotion. [1828] Compare SENSIBILITY, PASSION.
FEMINIST, n. An advocate for the social, political, and legal equality of the sexes. Compare EGALITARIAN.
FUN, n. Sport; vulgar merriment. A low word. [1828]
GENEROSITY, n. The quality of being generous; liberality in principle; a disposition to give liberally or to bestow favors; a quality of the heart or mind opposed to meanness or parsimony; nobleness of soul; magnanimity [1828]. Compare DUTY, SENSIBILITY, NOBILITY.
GOVERN, v. 1. To direct and control, as the actions or conduct of men; to regulate by authority; to keep within the limits prescribed. 2. To regulate; to influence; to direct. 3. To control; to restrain; to keep in due subjection. [1829] Early Americans regarded "self-government" as a prerequisite for virtue and authority; a man who lacked the ability to restain, for example, his appetites and passions, was not qualified, in the eyes of most, for high station.
GRACE, n. 1. The free, unmerited love and favor of God; eternal life, final salvation. 2. That, in manner, deportment or language, which renders it appropriate and agreeable; suitableness; elegance with appropriate dignity. Compare ELECT, BEAUTY.
HIERARCHY, n. The classification of a group of people according to ability or to economic, social, or professional standing; also: the group so classified; a graded or ranked series. Note that hierarchies can be disordered, unclear, and/or the subject of constant negotiation. Note too that a person may hold different stations within different hierarchies separated by time or place. The steady increase of population, internal migration, and individualism, among other factors, made the social structures of early America increasingly fluid. Compare DUTY, INDIVIDUALISM.
HOSPITALITY, n. The act or practice of receiving or entertaining strangers or guests [1828]. Early Americans paid great attention to the satisfaction of appetite, and scenes of hospitality abound in the early texts we study. Note too that hospitality can be an act of deference, an act of generosity, or an assertion of equality, depending on the relative stations of the host and guest. Compare DUTY, APPETITE.
IDEA, n. 1. Literally, that which is seen; hence, form, image, model of any thing in the mind; that which is held or comprehended by the understanding. 2. In popular use, idea signifies notion, conception, thought, opinion, and even purpose or intention. 3. Image in the mind. [1828] Compare FANCY, IMPRESSION, IDEALISM.
IDEALISM, n. 1. The system or theory that makes every thing to consist in (to have its being in, to exist in) ideas, and denies the existence (continued being) of material bodies [1828, but parenthetical clarifications are mine]. Compare IDEA.
IMPRESSION, n. 1. Mark; indentation; stamp made by pressure. 2. The effect which objects produce on the mind. 3. Image in the mind; idea. [1828] Compare IDEA, PASSION.
INDIVIDUALISM, n. The state of individual interest, or attachment to the interest of individuals, in preference to the common interest of society; a feeling, which disposes each member of the community to sever himself, with his family and friends, from the mass of his fellow creatures [1841]. This word was coined by Alexis de Tocqueville. It did not appear in the first edition of Webster’s American Dictionary. Compare DUTY, HIERARCHY.
INDUSTRY, n. Habitual diligence in any employment, either bodily or mental; steady attention to business; assiduity [1828]. Compare DUTY, REFINEMENT, PROSPERITY.
INTEMPERATE, adj. 1. Not moderate or restrained within due limits; indulging to excess any appetite or passion, either habitually or in a particular instance; immoderate in enjoyment or exertion. 2. Addicted to an excessive or habitual use of spirituous liquors. 3. Passionate; ungovernable. 4. Excessive; exceeding the proper mean or degree. [1828]
INTUITION, n. A looking on; a sight or view; but restricted to mental view or perception. Particularly and appropriately,the act by which the mind perceives the agreement or disagreement of two ideas, or the truth of things, immediately, or the moment they are presented, without the intervention of other ideas, or without reasoning and deduction. We know by intuition, that a part is less than the whole. [1828]
JUDGMENT, n. The faculty of mind by which man is enabled to compare ideas and ascertain the relations of terms and propositions [1828]. Compare REASON, FANCY, DEFERENCE.
LEVELER, n. One that destroys or attempts to destroy distinctions, and reduce to equality [1828]. Compare EGALITARIAN, HIERARCHY.
LIBERTY, n. 1. Freedom from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body, or to the will or mine. [1828] Early Americans focussed on natural, civil, political, and religious liberty. Civil liberty, for example, "is the liberty of men in a state of society, so far only abridged and restrained, as is necessary and exedient for the safety and interest of society, state or nation" [1828]. Compare DUTY, LICENTIOUSNESS.
LICENTIOUSNESS, n. Excessive indulgence of liberty; contempt for the just restraints of law, morality and decorum [1828]. The extent to which restraint was "just" was, of course, much debated; one man's liberty may be another man's licentiousness. A licentious man is also known as a “libertine.” Compare LIBERTY, DUTY, LEVELER.
LOVE, n. 1. An affection of the mind excited by beauty and worth of any kind, or by the qualities of an object which communicate pleasure, sensual or intellectual. It is opposed to hatred. Love between the sexes is a compound affection, consisting of esteem, benevolence and animal desire. [1828] Compare BEAUTY, IDEALISM.
MANNER or MANNERS, n. Way; mode; deportment; behavior; conduct; course of life [1828]. Compare CIVIL, COSMOPOLITAN.
NATURE, n. 1. In a general sense, whatever is made or produced; a word that comprehends all the works of God; the universe. 2. By a metonymy of the effect for the cause, nature is used for the agent, creator, author, producer of things, or for the powers that produce them. [1828]
NOBILITY, n. 1. Dignity of mind; greatness; grandeur; elevation of soul. 2. Antiqutiy of family; descent from noble ancestors; distinction by blood. 3. The qualities which constitute distinction of rank in civil society according to the customs or laws of the country. [1828] Compare CIVIL, GENEROSITY, GOVERN.
PARTIAL, n. 1. Biased to one party; inclined to favor one party in a cause, or one side of a question, more than the other. 2. Inclined to favor without reason [1828]. Compare REASON, SOUL, NOBILITY, PROVINCIAL.
PASSION, n. 1. The impression or effect of an external agent upon a body; that which is suffered or received. .... 4. The feeling of the mind, or the sensible effect of impression; excitement, perturbation or agitation of mind. 5. Violent agitation or excitement of mind, particularly such as is occasioned by an offense, injury or insult; hence, violent anger. 6. Zeal; ardor; vehement desire. 7. Love [1828]. Passions challenged early Americans seeking the outward self-control that characterized their nobility. The various passions are provoked by different objects: there is greed, for example, which is the agitation caused by the impression of money; also lust, jealousy, anger, etc. Compare IMPRESSION, APPETITE, SOUL, VIRTUE.
PROSPERITY, n. Advance or gain in any thing good or desirable; successful progress in any business or enterprise; success [1828]. Compare REFINEMENT.
PROVINCIAL, adj. Having the manners or speech of a province or ‘the provinces’; exhibiting the character, especially the narrowness of view or interest, associated with or attributed to inhabitants of ‘the provinces’; lacking the culture or polish of the capital; one who dwells in or comes from the ‘provinces’ as distinguished from an inhabitant or native of the capital; hence, a ‘countrified’ person. Compare COSMOPOLITAN, PARTIAL, NOBILITY.
RACE, n.1. The lineage of a family, or continued series of descendants from a parent who is called the stock. A race is the series of descendants indefinitely. Thus all mankind are called the race of Adam; the Israelites are of the race of Abraham and Jacob. Thus we speak of a race of kings, the race of Clovis or Charlemagne; a race of nobles, &c. Hence the long race of Alban fathers come. 2. A generation; a family of descendants. A race of youthful and unhandled colts. 3. A particular breed; as a race of mules; a race of horses; a race of sheep. [1828]
REASON, n. The faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes truth from falsehood, and good from evil, and which enables the possessor to deduce inferences from facts or from propositions [1828]. Compare SOUL, PARTIAL.
REFINEMENT, n. The quality of being refined or the process of becoming refined: of learning, experiencing, and enjoying the use of expensive material goods. Early Americans perceive refinement as a polish of language, manners, taste, sensibility, mind, and morals. Literary knowledge was fundamental for the refinement process. The refinement of America begins about 1690 and continues with the nation’s ever-increasing material prosperity. Compare CIVIL, COSMOPOLITAN, PROSPERITY, SENSIBILITY.
ROMANCE, n. Generic term applied to prose fiction that is conceived in terms of the fanciful and idealistic, rather than in terms of observation and faithful description of fact [1828]. Compare FANCY, IDEALISM.
SAVAGE, adj. Pertaining to the forest; wild; remote from human residence and improvements.
SAVAGE, n. A human being in his native state of rudeness; one who is untaught, uncivilized or without cultivation of mind or manners. [1828] Compare CIVIL, PROVINCIAL.
SECULAR, adj. 1. Pertaining to the present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to things not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly [1828]. Compare COSMOPOLITAN, SOUL, IDEALISM.
SENSIBILITY, n. 1. Susceptibility of impressions. 2. Acuteness of sensation. 3. Delicacy of feeling. [1828] Early American readers regarded literature as a way to acquire and exercise a distinguished sensibility that featured the noble generosity that fit them for high station. Compare NOBILITY, GENEROSITY.
SENTIMENT, n. 1. Properly. a thought prompted by passion or feeling. 2. In a popular sense, Thought; opinion; notion; judgement; the decision of the mind formed by deliberation or reasoning. Thus in deliberative bodies, every man has the privilege of delivering his sentiments upon questions, motions and bills. Compare IDEA, REASON, PASSION, FEELING.
SOUL, n. 1. The spiritual, rational and immortal substance in man, which distinguishes him from brutes; that part of man which enables him to think and reason, and which renders him a subject of moral government [1828]. Compare REASON.
SUBLIME, a. 1. High in place; exalted aloft. 2. High in excellence; exalted by nature; elevated. 3. High in style or sentiment; lofty; grand. 4. Elevated by joy; as sublime with expectation. 5. Lofty of mein; elevated in manner. [1828] Antebellum literature often seeks the sublime. Compare HIERARCHY, NOBILITY, IDEALISM, ROMANCE.
TEMPERANCE, n. Moderation; particularly, habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence. [1828]
VICE, n. 1. A spot or defect; a fault; a blemish in action or procedure 2. In ethics, any voluntary action or course of conduct which deviates from the rules of moral rectitude. Vice differs from crime, in being less enormous. 3. Depravity or corruption of manners [1828]. Compare LICENTIOUSNESS.
VIRTUE, n. 1. Strength; that substance or quality of physical bodies, by which they act and produce effects on other bodies. 2. Bravery; valor. 3. Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and coversation to the moral law [1828]. Compare NOBILITY.
VULGAR, a. 1. Pertaining to the common unlettered people; as vulgar life. 2. Used or practiced by common people; as vulgar sports. 3. Vernacular; national. It might be more useful to the English reader, to write in our vulgar language. 4. Common; used by all classes of people; as the vulgar version of the scriptures. 5. Public; as vulgar report. 6. Mean; rustic; rude; low; unrefined; as vulgar ninds; vulgar manners. 7. Consisting of common persons. [1828]
WILL, n. 1. That faculty of the mind by which we determine either to do or forbear an action; the faculty which is exercised in deciding, among two or more objects, which we shall embrace or pursue. The will is directed or influenced by the judgment. The understanding or reason compares different objects, which operate as motives; the judgment determines which is preferable, and the will decides which to pursue. In other words, we reason with respect to the value or importance of things; we then judge which is to be preferred; and we will to take the most valuable. These are but different operations of the mind, soul, or intellectual part of man. Great disputes have existed respecting the freedom of the will. Will is often quite a different thing from desire. A power over a mans subsistence, amounts to a power over his will. [1828]
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