The development of American literature may be treated under three
distinctly marked periods: (1) a colonial or ante-revolutionary period
(1620-1775), during which the literature of the colonies was closely
assimilated in form and character to that of England; (2) a first
American period (1775-1865), which witnessed the transition from a style
for the most part imitative to one in some degree national; and (3) a
second American period from 1865 to the present time, in which the
literature of the country has assumed a more decided character of
originality.