美国文学复习资料Part 2 (II).doc

Section Two The Summit of American Romanticism New England Transcendentalism ( Bright Scene: Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Dickinson, Longfellow, Bryant )I. Transcendentalism i. Transcendentalist one whose feet did not touch ground ( derogatory ) ii. Transcendentalism defined philosophically as “ the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of sense” iii. Forming conditions it is the product of a combination of foreign influences and native American Puritan tradition A. American Puritan tradition a. Edwardian notion: inward communication of the soul with God and divine symbolism of nature intuitive knowledge of truth b. Benjamin Franklin: self-made man, self-reliance, self-cultured, self-improvement transcendentalists emphasis on the individual, “ the infinitude of the private individual” B. Idealistic philosophy from Germany and France Schelling, Fichte, Kant - acknowledging only one reality, the infinite and absolute Ego, of which the Universe is the expression - Kant: Critique of Pure Reason - the ultimate nature of reality ( of “the things in themselves”) remains forever inaccessible to the human mind. What we can know is phenomena. The mind impresses its forms of sensibility (space and time) on the original data of the senses and orders them according to the categories of thought (casualty, substance, etc.) the limits of knowledge - Kant: Critique of Practical Reason - a new foundation for ethics and religion in the categorical imperative - Kant: Critique of Judgment - a bridge between his theoretical and moral philosophy through the ideas of beauty and formal development C. Ancient Greek philosophy: Plato - Platonic Idealistic Nation the beautiful, ascending in a scale of perfection from human passion to ecstasy in the contemplation of the ideal D. Hindu: close to nature E. Chinese Confucius and Mencius revelation of Oriental mysticism iv. main ideas as an idealism:A. emphasis on spirit or Oversoul- a new way of looking at the world - soul: an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part. It existed in nature and man alike and constituted the chief element of the universeB. the importance of Individual - a new way of looking at man-Individual the most important element of society, self-culture, self-improvement, self-reliance, self-perfection, not selfish, man should bring out the divine in himself, the infinitude of private individual C. Nature: symbolic of the Spirit or God - nature is ennobling, religion in nature - nature as the garment of Oversoul with healthy and restorative influence - the natural world was a source of goodness and mans societies a source of corruption “unspotted innocence” of nature “Go back to nature” “Spiritual whole” - physical spiritual v. As a way of living:n living close to nature, the dignity of manual labourn the importance of spiritual living: Mans relationship to God was a personal matter and was to be established by the individual himself rather than through the church against Unitarianism (too rational)n self-trust, self-reliance were to be practiced at all times and on all occasions, since to trust ones self was really to trust the “voice of God” speaking intuitively within us n some extremists dietectics: not to take coffee, wine, and tobacco the body was the temple of the soul, keep the body puren in political life democracy, enfranchisement of women, against slavery vi. Slogans:n “The universe is composed of Nature and Soul”n “Spirit is present everywhere.”n “Nothing is sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”n “Individual soul could reach God.” vii. Opposingn the materialistic-oriented life of the time, the faith of Boston businessmen and the machinized, capitalistic, dehumanizing reality (including restraints of law and rules)n the Calvinist concept of total depravityn the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism viii. Weakness:n “bland mysticism” pantheticn anarchistic Thoreau (his jail experience): “ that government is best which governs least” “that government is best which governs not at all”n “shallow optimism” seems impossible to understand human sufferings scarred by the horrors of the Civil War, transcendentalist persuasion that humanity was godlike and that evil was nonexistent appeared to be an optimistic follyn lack of real spiritual origins ix. conclusion: - a way of knowing the belief that man can intuitively transcend the limits of the senses and of logic and receive directly higher truths and greater knowledge denied to other methods of knowing - another form of classic American value - individualism - another form of the American Dream the ability to succeed by ones own efforts - the answer of the concord idealists to the growing materialism and worldliness of the U.S. of the 1830s and 40s a land of contrasting wealth and poverty - an ethnical guide to life for a young generation: it appealed to the best side of human nature, confident in the spark in all mena call to throw off the shackles of custom and tradition, to go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American cultureII. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) i. A spiritual “Odyssey” - rejecting Calvinist beliefs such as total depravity, embracing the liberal Christianity of Unitarianism, then feeling the rationality of Unitarianism intolerable ii. philosophical ideas: Nature - firm belief in the transcendence of the “Oversoul” - He sees the world as phenomenal and emphasizes the need for idealism, for idealism sees the world in God - nature as the purest, the most sanctifying influence on man, a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature nature is emblematic of God, mediates between man and God, symbol of spirit - a moment of “ecstasy” a moment of “conversion” when one feels completely merged with the outside world, in which the soul has completely transcended the limits of individuality and become part of the Oversoul - man made in the image of God “the infinitude of man” self the individual, not the crowd, is the most important of all self-cultivation, man brings out the divine in himself - Like Sophocles, Emersons eye was on man as he could be or could become iii. aesthetics: The American Scholar, The Poet - free expression of thoughts and ideas instead of technique - true poetry and true art should ennoble; it should serve as a moral purification and a passage toward organic unity and higher reality ( the organic principle of Whitman ) ideas, symbols and imaginative words full of his works - “ Americas Declaration of Intellectual Independence” Americans should write about here and now instead of imitating and importing from other lands iv. defects his seemingly unqualified acceptance of life and his cheerful optimism not distinguishing good from evil everlasting “yes” v. style: poetry uneven quality, lack of form and polish, harsh rhythms, striking images prose disorganized, unite of thoughts, the sentence rather than the paragraphIII. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) i. life in Walden Pond - away from the rush and rustle of American life - self-sufficient in everything - far more than a hermit advocating passive resistance to unjust laws of society ( 1846 Civil Disobedience ) ( Mahatma Gandhi) individualism going extreme anarchism ii. Walden a nature worship - “ natural objects and phenomena are the original symbols or types which express out thoughts and feelings.” A. themes:a. nature: a genuine restorative, healthy influence on mans spiritual well-being b. man: self-culture and human perfectability against modern civilization ( the materialistic-oriented world), which is , in his opinion, degrading and enslaving man “ A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone” spiritual richness is real wealth B. structure: within the frame of a single year, progressing through summer autumn winter spring the whole universe vibrating with life and activity, and man with it; man possessing “an inward heat”, and “inward seed” C. style: like telling a fable, casual, optimistic and hopeful ii. a fellow spirit in Confucius doctrine of self-cultureIV. Walt Whitman (1819-1892 ) Leaves of Grass i. Emersons influence - a gregarious boy - they both wrote on the organic principle: art should be based organically on nature, the poets work grows out of nature and cosmic process and derives its form from within ii. themes: A. the theory of “the Great Chain of Being” - cosmos and man: unity, unreality of time and space, evil as only an appearance emerging into good, the equal potential divinity of everything from grass to mankind - “ I am large, I contain multitudes.” - idealism, general mysticism, anti-rationalism, pantheism B. equality and democracy, celebration of the dignity, the self-reliant spirit and the joy of common man the new children of Adam are being restored to the Garden of Eden, developing their potentiality to the fullest