英美文化1英国文学ppt课件

English RomanticismIn the latter half of the 18th century I. Features of RomanticismA. an emphasis on feeling and imagination-advocate the freedom to express personal feelingsQuestion: How would you describe the evening?(compare it to death, to a mysterious lady, to a comforting hand)example“let us go then, you and I.When the evening is spread out against the skyLike a patient etherized upon a table;” (T.S. Eliot)让我们一道去吧，你和我，当黄昏迎天伸展像个麻醉在手术桌上的病号；ContinuedSimilarly, in Chinese literature, Li Bai is regarded as a representative romantic poet. 我欲因之梦吴越，一夜飞渡镜湖月。湖月照我影，送我至剡溪。青冥浩荡不见底，日月照耀金银台。霓为衣兮风为马，云之君兮纷纷而来下。(梦游天姥吟留别 )B. a love of naturel Romantic poets write about nature and they get inspiration form nature. The natural world comes to the forefront of the poetic imagination. There are different perspectives with regard to nature - nature as a healing power, nature as a source of subject and image, nature as a refuge from the artificial constructs of civilization. C. Individualism a belief in individual and the common man,-place the individual rather than society at the center of their visionD. Glorification of the commonplacel The romantics turned to the humble people and the common everyday life for subjects. They found beauty in the lives of simple rural people and aspects of the every day world. l Suggested poem: Wordsworths “The Solitary Reaper”E. The lure of the exoticl an interest in the past, the unusual, the unfamiliar, the bizarre or picturesque.To escape from a world that had become excessively rational, as well as excessively materialistic, the Romantics would turn to other times and places, where the qualities they valued would be convincingly depicted. exampleWordsworth, Coleridge and Southey chose to live by the lakeside to escape from the “madding crowd”, while Byron and Shelley rejected the entire English society by their self-imposed exile. In the spirit of their new freedom, they turned back to the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century) for themes and settings. II. Two Groups of Romantic Poets l The general feature of the works of the romanticists is a dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society. But owing to their difference in political attitudes, they split into two schools.1. Passive or Escapist Romanticistsl Represented by Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey. (Lake Poets)l At the beginning of the French Revolution, they showed their support. But later, they became afraid of the revolution, frightened by the coming of industrialism. They showed their discontent with the society in escaping the social reality by turning to nature, to the feudal past and idealized the life of the Middle Ages to protest against capitalist development. Find expression in an escape from the sordid life under capitalism.2. Active Romanticistsl Represented by Byron, Shelley and Keats.l They held out an ideal of future society free from oppression and exploitation. They were the firm supporters of the French Revolution. Their writings are filled with strong-willed heroes, formidable events, tragic situations, powerful conflicting passions.III. Main writers and their worksl William Wordsworth l Percy Bysshe Shelley 1. William Wordsworth (1770-1850)1.1 Life l All his life he had not a happy home. His mother died when he was 8, his father when he was13, leaving the family very poor. He was brought up by his relatives. He was sent to school near his birthplace, where he developed a strong love of nature for comfort. l In 1787, he went to Cambridge, and in 1791 graduated from the University without distinction. l He went to France for two times, there the French Revolution with its slogans of “liberty, equality and fraternity” exercised a strong influence on his mind and wrote some democratic poems. But later, his political enthusiasm gradually receded and he retired to the northern Lake District to live in seclusion for a full half century, finally gave place to political conservatism.l In 1797, he made friends with Coleridge. In 1798, they jointly published Lyrical Ballads. Its publication marked the break with the conventional poetical tradition of the 18th century and the beginning of the romantic period in England.l In 1843, he was named poet laureate(桂冠诗人 ).1.2 Features of his PoemsA. Deep love for nature runs through poems. He often turned to nature to find spiritual comfort and his description of lakes and rivers, of meadows and woods, of skies and clouds are exquisite.l “I wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” 我好似一片孤独的流云 / 咏水仙 l “My Heart Leaps Up,” He describes his excitement when he sees a rainbow. To him, the natural charm of the rainbow had mystic and religious associations.l “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”,丁登寺旁 reveals the poets innermost thoughts and emotions with regard to the natural world intertwined with human society.B. searching and revealing the feelings of the common peopleThe themes of many of his poems were drawn from rural life and his characters are ordinary people in the English countryside. l “The Solitary Reaper”, 孤独的割麦女 draws pathetic pictures of the labouring people.l “We Are Seven”, 我们是七个 depict the naivety of simple peasant children. C. appealed directly to individual sensationsWordsworth based his own poetic theory on the principle that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”(好诗都是强烈感情的自然流露 )。He appealed directly to individual sensations (pleasure, excitement and enjoyment) as the foundation of the creation and appreciation of poetry. D. Show harmony between humanity and nature“Lucy” poems are a series of short pathetic lyrics on the theme of harmony between humanity and nature. In them, a woman figure called Lucy is involved. l “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways” 她住在人迹罕见的路旁 .l “I Travelled among Unknown Men” 我在陌生人中孤独旅行 ,the lyric expresses the travelers love towards the motherland and towards the beloved.E. Language is simple and pure2. Percy Bysshe Shelley(1792-1822)2.1 Life“a strange, unsocial being”, “Mad Shelley”. He and Byron were good friends. They met with each other in Switzerland and later again in Italy. He was died at 30, he was drowned while sailing in a small boat off Italian coast. The inscription on his tombstone reads: “Percy Bysshe Shelley, Cor Cordium”.(The Heart of Hearts)心中之心 .2.2 Ideologyl Shelley loved the people and hated their oppressors and exploiters. He called on the people to overthrow the rule of tyranny and injustice, and prophesied a happy and free future for mankind. l He and Byron are justifiably regarded as two great poets of revolutionary romanticism in England.2.3 Worksl Queen Mab 仙后麦布 Shelleys first long poem of importance, expresses almost all his major political ideas. It is a revolutionary poem condemning tyranny and exploitation and the unjust war waged by the rich to plunder wealth. Prometheus Unbound 解放了的普罗米修斯 - masterpiecel a lyrical drama in 4 acts.l According to Greek Myth, Prometheus stole fire from heaven and taught men how to use it. For this he was punished by Zeus, the supreme god, who chained him to a rock on a mountain, where during the daytime a vulture fed on his liver, which was restored each succeeding night. So the figure of Prometheus has been symbolic of those noble-hearted revolutionaries, who devote themselves to the just cause of the people and suffer great pains at the hands of tyrants.Continuedl In Shelleys poem Prometheus represents mankind itself and Zeus becomes the symbol of reactionary force. To Shelley, the image of Prometheus embodies four noble qualities: a mans intellect, his heroic endurance, his defiance of tyranny and his love of