Taking ENGL 203: American Literature I was able to fulfill goal 3 for Longwood’s curriculum. Throughout this course I read a variety of works from comics to poetry and many short stories in between. I delved into the works of the authors who laid the foundation of American literature such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Anne Bradstreet, and many more. Below I am including my final paper for American Literature. It is a culmination of the various eras of American literature I learned about throughout this course. Each author had a distinctive style or message that contributed to the culture of American literature.