There has been extensive examination of the most popular terms used in American literature, such as romanticism and classicism, but little examination has been done on literary realism. Although realism was mostly ignored in the late 19th century, it has now become commonplace in American literature. Although Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge offers some examples of literary realism in its verisimilitude of detail and idealism, there were also many examples of fantastic imagery and an unrealistic sense of time, which is contradictory to literary realism. Because An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge offers an example both for and against definitions of literary realism, this article will be divided into three main sections. The first section will define realism in two different ways. The second section will show evidence to support that An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is an example of literary realism. The third section will show the evidence against this story as an example of literary realism. These sections will be followed by a cited page from the work and images of the literary works used for reference in this article. DEFINITIONS OF LITERARY REALISM Literary realism was defined by George J. Becker in an essay entitled Modern Language Quarterly with three criteria: “verisimilitude of detail… an effort to approximate the norm of experience… and an objective, insofar as a artist can achieve objectivity, rather than a subjective or idealistic view of nature and human experience” (Pizer 1). This, however, is not the only definition of realism that exists. Donald Pizer proposed to define realism as applied to the "late nineteenth-century American novel" (2). This is important... middle of the paper... lm." Fiction 17.1 (2009): 95-110. MLA International Bibliography. Network. 3 November 2011. Grattan, C. Hartley. Bierce amara. New York: Cooper Square Publishers , Inc., 1966. Print.Pizer, Donald. "Late Nineteenth-Century American Literary Realism." Realism and Naturalism in Late Nineteenth-Century American Literature. Rev. ed. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1984 .NetLibrary. March 30, 2009.Stoicheff, Peter. “Something Uncanny”: The Structure of the Dream in “AnOccurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. Print.Walz, Lawrence A. "Mary Henry's Journey from Owl Creek Bridge." Literature FilmQuarterly 23.4 (1995): 262-265. MLA international bibliography. Network. November 3, 2011.Wiggins, Robert A. Ambrose Bierce. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1964. Print.