殖民地时期文学.doc

Part I. The Literature of Colonial America v Historical Introductionv Puritan v Puritanismv Early American writers and Poets I. Historical Introductionv The native American and their culture-Indiansv Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent in 1492v Captain Christopher Newport reached Virginia in 1607.v Puritans came to the New England area by “Mayflower” in 1620.v The Puritan migration began. Puritansv One division of English Protestant. They regarded the reformation of the church under Elizabeth as incomplete, and called for further purification. To them, religion is a matter of primary importance.(p.12)v The 17th-century American Puritans included two parts: Separatists and Massachusetts Bay Group.Religious Doctrines of Puritansv Predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God.v They regarded themselves as chosen people of God. They embraced hardships, industry and frugality. They favored a disciplined, hard, somber, ascetic and harsh life. They opposed arts and pleasure. They suspect joy and laughter as symptoms of sin.Puritanismv A dominant factor in American life, one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature.(p.11)v it has been, by and large, a healthy legacy to the Americans though it was once under violent attacks for its religious intolerance and bigotry, for its austerity of taste and killjoy way of life.Puritanisms influence on American literature (p.14)v Purpose of writing: pragmaticv Contents: practical matter-of-fact accounts of life in the new world; highly theoretical discussions of religious questions.v Style: tight and logic structure, precise and compact expression, avoidance of rhetorical decoration, adoption of homely imagery, simplicity of diction.II. Literary Scene in Colonial America1. major forms: diaries, histories, journals, letters, commonplace books ( a personal journal in which quotable passages, literary excerpts and personal comments are written), travel books, sermons 2. Early American Writers and Poets（1）South, Jamestown, Virginia: v Captain John Smith-first American writer; A Description of New England.v Contributions: his description of America was filled with myths, images, scenes, characters and events that were a foundation for the nations literature. He lured the Pilgrims into fleeing to the new continent and creating a New land.（2）North, New England, Puritan Writers (p.16)v William Bradford: first governor of Plymouth, The History of Plymouth Plantation, simplicity, earnestness, direct reporting, readable, moving.v John Winthrop: first governor of Boston, The History of New England, A Model of Christian Charity (speech) candid simplicity, honesty（3） Colonial Poets: v Anne Bradstreet: the first woman poet of the country.v The Tenth Muse lately Sprung Up in America, 1650, the first poem collection by an American colonist got published and became one of the most widely read at that time.Bradstreets writing concernv The colonial experience,v Appreciation of private life,v Meditation over the puritan doctrinesv Four Elements (earth, air, fire and water)v Four seasonsAppreciation of the poem “To my dear and loving husband”v The poem was written between 1641 and 1643, but was not published until 1678, when the second edition of The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America appeared in the New Continent. v Anna Bradstreet wrote on the everlasting theme of love to eulogize the true love between her husband and her. She strongly praised the sincerity of their love and felt grateful for all the love she had enjoyed form her husband. When they were alive, that love was so abundant and burning hot that rivers cannot quench; when they die, their death would just prove the love constant. The true love has overgrown the power of time and space. v The short poem is written in iambic pentameter, rhymed “aa, bb, cc, dd, ee, ff.”. In other word, this poem is written in couplet.致我亲爱的丈夫v 假如红尘连理能融为一体,你我必添欢快,v 假如世间男子能得妻所爱,你可自去开怀,v 假如有哪位女子醉心于丈夫的给予,v 请你来和我比较,如果你有足够的幸福v 我赞美你的爱胜过普天之下的金矿,v 我珍惜你的爱强于东方世界的珍藏.v 我的爱热烈似火,万千河水熄不灭他的烈焰,v 惟有你的爱能补偿这无悔的灿烂;v 你的爱纯挚痴狂,我无以为报,v 苍天将赐予你更多，我虔诚祈祷,v 徜徉于人世,我们寻求永恒,v 当生命枯竭,我们因爱永生。Edward Taylor A meditative poet, Taylor came nearest to the English baroque poet. For all his un-puritan imagery, however, he was, first and last, a puritan poet, concerned about how his images speak for God. What makes Edward Taylors poetry and mediations unique is that his relationship with God is deeply rooted in the physical world. In incorporating God even into his own corporal body, Taylor marries together both the human and the divine, celebrating the best of both worlds .Appreciation of “huswifery”v Taylor gets straight to the human point even in the title, telling us that we are about to read about housework and domesticity. By asking God to use him as a woman would use a mundane, everyday object (in this case, a spinning wheel).v Taylor gives an account of each working part of a spinning wheel, each line adding a new layer to his metaphor in order to make him a Spinning Wheel complete .To start, the distaff is what holds the raw wool or flax into place when spinning; Taylor asks God to make His Holy Word his own distaff so that he can be guided into the proper places presumably to lead a virtuous life (2). The flyers are what regulate the action of the spinning, and Taylor wants Gods Swift Flyers to regulate and/or temper his own Affections and actions (3).v On a spinning wheel, the spool twists the yarn into a cord of consistent thickness (or weight); in asking God to make his soul a holy spool, Taylor is perhaps asking that his soul be a medium through which Gods doctrine is interpreted in a consistent manner (4). In the next two lines ,Taylor wants his own conversation to be Gods reel, to hold together the metaphorical thread of Gods Word, and through him and his conversation, God can gather together what he has spun on his Taylor-turned-spinning-wheel.v In just six lines, Taylor has effectively equated each way a spinning wheel works with a way in which he can takes Gods Word and doctrines, interpret them, and give them back to his congregation in a fashion that is both pleasing to God and understandable by his parishioners. Thomas Paine (1737-1809) 托马斯潘恩 v propagandistv a major influence in the American Revolution v Main works: (a series of pamphlets) Common Sense The American Crisis (16 pamphlets) The rights of man The Age of Reasonv style: plain and persuasivePhilip Freneau (1752-1832) Evaluation American poets before Freneau wrote mostly on the religious theme and either in style or structurally they imitated English poets. Freneau, the first American-born poet, was one of the earliest who cast their eyes over the natural surroundings of the New Continent and American subject matter. principal poet of the period; a transitional role between neoclassicism and romanticism.Major Works The Rising Glory of America (1772) The British Prison Ship (1781) The Wild Honey Suckle (1786) The Indian Burying Ground (1788)v some of his themes and images anticipated the works of some 19th-century writers.The Wild Honey Suckle （ 1786） This is one of the most quoted works of Freneau. It was written in 178 in regular 4 tetrameter stanzas, with 6 lines for each stanza and a rhyme scheme of “ababcc.”Appreciation of the poemv In this poem, honey suckle, instead of rose or daffodil become the subject of depiction; it is “wild” just to convey the fresh perception of the natural scenes on the new continent. The flowers, similar to the early Puritan settlers, used to believe they were the selects of God to be arranged on the abundant land, but now have to wake up from that fantasy and be more respectful to natural law. Time is constant but the time of a life is short, any favor is relative but change is absolute; with or without the awareness, nature develops; flowers were born, bloomed and declined to repose, and human being would exist in exactly the same way. A philosophical meditation is indicted by the description of the fate of a trivial wild plant. Theme: a deistic(无神论的） celebration of nature; romantic use of simple nature imagery; inspired by themes of death and transience. Features：much of the beauty