7 Periods of American Literature

The Colonial Period

• Beginning to 1765

The Revoluntionary & Early National Period

• 1765 - 1800

The Romantic Period

• 1800 - 1855

The Realistic Period

• 1855 - 1870

Regionalism & Naturlism Period

• 1870 - 1910

The Harlem Renaissance & Modernaism Period

• 1910 - 1940

Contemporary or Post-modernism Period

• 1940 - Present