What you'll learn

Skills you'll gain

Specialization - 7 course series

This Specialization is comprised of seven separate courses: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Mark Twain. Within each course there are a variety of quizzes, videos, and assignments.

This course introduces the concept of American Exceptionalism and explores the role of Emerson as a scholar. You will see how Emerson considered his early writings as part of the American Transcendentalist movement. It also explores Emerson's self-reliance and literary ethics. It further discusses how Emerson responded to the changing world and America’s place in it. You will also explore Emerson's role in the anti-slavery movement.

This course introduces you to Douglass's view of the anti-slavery movement to the abolition of the institution of slavery. You will also go through some parts of Douglass's narrative of his own life. You will also hear Professor Chaney explaining the rationale of Douglass's repeated acts of self-narration.

This course explores Whitman's working class context and explains why Whitman turned into a poet from a printer. You will also learn about Whitman’s free verse within the context of the post-Jacksonian American society. You will realize why Whitman revised some of his writings.

This course explores Hawthorne's aptitude in the genre of romance. It also discusses how he turned into an author from a civil servant. Additionally, you will explore a few important plot points of "The Scarlet Letter" and his art of second-thinking to the unfolding of the romance of "The Scarlet Letter".

This course explores Moby-Dick, Melville's great American novel. You will listen to a series of short lectures on the historical and cultural context that informed the writing of Moby-Dick. You will examine Starbuck’s argument with Ahab to explain why the crew does not mutiny in Moby-Dick, how the drowning of Pip qualifies as an example of the narrative performing the work of testimony, and the differences between Ishmael’s speculative and testamentary narratives. You will also explore different ideological appropriations of Moby-Dick.

This course explores the keywords such as melodrama and serialization with respect to Stowe's writings. It also examines how evangelical tradition in American literature is explored through Stowe's writings. Some key terms such as "sentimentalism" and "material culture" with respect to Stowe's writing will also be discussed.

This course explores Mark Twain's literary rivalry with Harriet Beecher Stowe and discusses why Huckleberry Finn’s story is labeled as a "tall tale". The module also defines "realism" and "naturalism" in terms of Twain's works. Next, it examines how blackface minstrelsy display the ambivalence as the basis for interracial bonds in the United States and compares the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Mark Twain's own autobiographical work, "Life on the Mississippi".

The American Renaissance and Frederick Douglass

The American Renaissance and Walt Whitman

The American Renaissance and Nathaniel Hawthorne

The American Renaissance and Herman Melville

The American Renaissance and Harriet Beecher Stowe

The American Renaissance and Mark Twain