romanticism.doc

1 Please define the “American Romantic period”.The American Romantic period stretches from the end of the eighteenth century through the outbreak of the Civil War, and it is also the most important period of the American literature. The Sketch Book of Washington Irving marked the beginning of the American Romantic literature, while the Leaves of Grass written by Walt Whitman is the masterpiece of this period. The Romantic literature is the prosperity period of American literature, so it is also called “the Renaissance of America”.2 What is the background of American romanticism?1. Historically, westward expansion.2. Economically, the spread of industrialism, economic boom.3. Politically, democracy and equality became the ideal of the new nation.3 What are the general characteristics of American romanticism?Characteristics of romanticism1. subjectivity(1) feeling and emotions, finding truth(2) emphasis on imagination(3) emphasis on individualism personal freedom, no hero worship, natural goodness of human beings2. back to medieval, esp medieval folk literature(1) unrestrained by classical rules(2) full of imagination(3) colloquial language(4) freedom of imagination(5) genuine in feelings: answer their call for classics3. back to naturenature is “breathing living thing” (Rousseau)Features of American romanticism1. American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience” and contained “an alien quality” for the simple reason that “the spirit of the place” was radically new and alien.2. There is American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider. American romantic authors tended more to moralize. Many American romantic writings intended to edify more than they entertained.3. The “newness” of Americans as a nation is in connection with American Romanticism.4. As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticism was both imitative and independent.4 What is “American Puritanism”? American Puritanism refers to the beliefs and practices of those Puritans who came out of different reasons to the New Continent and settled in what is now the United States. 1. features of Puritanism(1) Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred.(2) Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation.(3) Total depravity:everyone is born in a state of corruption as a result of original sin(4) Limited atonement: Only the “elect” can be saved.2. Influence(1) A group of good qualities hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature.(2) It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth garden of Eden.(3) Symbolism: the American puritans metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American.(4) With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.5 What is “transcendentalism”? Background: four sources1. Unitarianism(1) Fatherhood of God(2) Brotherhood of men(3) Leadership of Jesus(4) Salvation by character (perfection of ones character)(5) Continued progress of mankind(6) Divinity of mankind(7) Depravity of mankind2. Romantic IdealismCenter of the world is spirit, absolute spirit (Kant)43. Oriental mysticismCenter of the world is “oversoul”4. PuritanismEloquent expression in transcendentalismAppearance1836, “Nature” by EmersonFeatures1. spirit/oversoul-most important thing in the universe2. importance of individualism3. nature symbol of spirit/Godgarment of the oversoul4. focus in intuition (irrationalism and subconsciousness)Influence1. It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.2. It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height.3. It helped to create the first American renaissance one of the most prolific period in American literature.6 Please list the literary representatives of this period and their works.WashingtonIrving (1783-1859华盛顿欧文)One of the first American writers to earn international reputation, an early Romantic writer, and father of the American short stories, “the American Goldsmith”. His first novel A History of New York (纽约外史) won him wide popularity The Sketch Book (见闻札记) won him international fame, which contains German folk tales “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. James Fennimore Cooper (1789-1851詹姆士库伯) “American Scott”He writes the west, the wilderness and the Indians there: Leather-stocking Tales (皮袜子的故事),The Pioneer (1832), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), The Pathfinder (1840), The Deerslayer (1841). He takes several first: the 1st frontier novelist, the 1st historical romance writer, the 1st writer of sea adventures. Edgar Allen Poe (1809-49埃德加艾伦坡) He is a poet of the first rank; a great writer of fiction; a critic of acumen & insight. During a short life of poverty, anxiety, and tragedy, Poe established a new symbolic poetry, formulated the new short story in the detective and science fiction line, developed an important artistic theory, and laid foundation for analytical criticism. Tales of ratiocination (推理小说): Ms. Found in a Bottle (瓶中信), The Murders in the Rue Morgue (莫格街谋杀案), The Purloined Letter (被窃的信). Gothic stories (哥特小说): The Fall of the House of Usher (厄舍古屋的倒塌), Ligeia ( 丽姬娅), The Masque of the Red Death (红色死亡假面舞会) Critical essay (文学评论): The Philosophy of Composition (创作原理), The Poetic Principle (诗的原则), Review of Hawthornes Twice-told Tales (评霍桑重 述的故事1842) New England Transcendentalism（超验主义） “American Renaissance” Transcendentalism is a philosophic and literary movement that flourished in New England, as a reaction against rationalism and Calvinism. It stressed intuitive understanding of god without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind. It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature. It helped to create the first American Renaissanceone of the most prolific periods in American literature. Ralph Waldo Emerson-(1803-1882拉尔夫爱默生) the spokesman of this movement Nature (论自然) is regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism, “The manifesto of American Transcendentalism”, Emersons first little book, which discusses the love of nature, the uses of nature. He placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the Universe. He stressed the importance of the individual. He offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was, to him, alive, filled with Gods overwhelming presence. The American Scholar(论美国学者)has been highly regarded as Americas “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862亨利大卫梭罗)Like Emerson, but more than him, Thoreau saw nature as a genuine restorative, healthy influence on mans spiritual well-being. Thoreau built and went to live in a small cottage on Walden Pond for a little over 2 years, and then came back to write about his experience there in his famous book Walden (瓦尔登湖). He did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was vehemently outspoken on the point. He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system. He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man. He was very critical of modern civilization. He was sorely disgusted with “the inundations of the dirty institutions of mens odd-fellow society”. He has calm trust in the future and his ardent belief in a new generation of men. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864纳撒尼尔霍桑) In almost every book, Hawthorne discusses sin and evil. Evil is at the core of human life. Whenever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation (causality). He is of the opinion that evil educates. He has disgust in science. In The Scarlet Letter what Hawthorne was predominantly concerned with was the moral, emotional and psychological effect of the sin on the people in general and those complicated in it in particular. It is not a praise of Hester Prynne sinning, but a hymn on the moral growth of the woman when sinned against. The House of the Seven Gables(七个尖角阁的房子), The Marble Faun (玉石雕像), Young Goodman Brown (小伙子布朗), The Ministers Black Veil(教长的黑面纱) Herman Melville (1819-1891赫尔曼麦尔维尔) -a master of allegory and symbolism He manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple views in his narratives. Moby Dick (白鲸)is such a masterpiece, the first American prose epic. It turns out to be a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into mans deep reality and psychology. New England Poets They include William Bryant (1794-1878威廉布莱恩特), Henry Longfellow (1807-82亨利朗费罗), Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-94奥利弗霍姆斯) and John Whittier (1807-92约翰惠蒂尔).