美国文学the_American_Romanticism_1

1、American LiteratureThe American Romanticism(I) Lecture ThreeI. What is Romanticismv Simply speaking, Romanticism is a literary movement which flourished as a cultural force throughout the 19th C and it can be divided into the early period and the late period. Also it remains powerful in contemporary

2、 literature and art.v Romanticism, a term that is associated with imagination and boundlessness, is contrasted with classicism, which is commonly associated with reason and restriction. A romantic attitude may be detected in literature of any period, but as an historical movement it arose in the 18t

3、h and 19th centuries, in reaction to more rational literary, philosophic, artistic, religious, and economic standards. The most clearly defined romantic literary movement in the U. S. was Transcendentalism. vThe representatives of the early period includes Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper

4、, and those of the late period contain Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe.A. Washington Irving (1783-1859 )His fame “Father of American Imaginative literature” “Father of the American short story”His Worksv A Histo

5、ry of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Diedrich Knickerbocker 纽约外史 The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent “Rip Van Winkle” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 见闻札记 睡谷的传说 瑞普凡温克尔c) Bracebridge Hall 1822 d) Oliver Goldsmith 1840 e) Life of George Washington 1855-1

6、859 布雷斯布里奇庄园哥尔德斯密斯华盛顿传 The short story as a genre in American literature probably began with Irvings The Sketch Book, A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS, SKETCHES, AND TALES. It also marked the beginning of American Romanticism. B. James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) vIn his life Cooper wrote over thirty novels w

7、hich can be divided into frontier novels, detective novels and reference novels. He considered The Pathfinder 探路人(1840) and The Deerslayer杀鹿杀鹿者者 (1841) his best works.vThe unifying thread of the five novels collectively known as the Leather-Stocking Tales皮裹腿故事集皮裹腿故事集 is the life of Natty Bumppo, Coo

8、pers finest achievement. They constitute a vast prose epic with the North American continent as setting, Indian tribes as Characters, and great wars and westward migration as social background. The novels bring to life frontier America from 1740 to 1804.vThe Pioneers拓荒者(1823): Natty Bumppo first app

9、ears as a seasoned scout in advancing years, with the dying Chingachgook, the old Indian chief and his faithful comrade, as the eastern forest frontier begins to disappear and Chingachgook dies.His Major WorksvThe Last of the Mohicans最后的莫希干人(1826): An adventure of the French and Indian Wars in the L

10、ake George county.vThe Prairie大草原(1827): Set in the new frontier where the Leatherstocking dies.vThe Pathfinder(1840): Continuing the same border warfare in the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario county.vThe Deerslayer(1841): Early adventures with the hostile Hurons on Lake Otsego, NY.Ralph Waldo Emerson

11、(1803 - 1882)vIt is a 19th-century movement of writers and philosophers in New England who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of thought.vThe overall movement shared similar philosophies. These philosophies rested on the Lockian concept of Idealism and Kants belief in i

12、ntuition. vEmerson defined it as “idealism” simply. In reality it was far more complex collection of beliefs: that the spark of divinity lies within man; that everything in the world is a microcosm of existence; that the individual soul is identical to the world soul, or Over-Soul. By meditation, by

13、 communing with nature, through work and art, man could transcend his senses and attain an understanding of beauty and goodness and truth. Transcendentalismv In application, American transcendentalism urged a reform in society, and that such a reform may be reached if individuals resist customs and

14、social codes, and rely rather on reason to learn what is right. Ultimately, transcendentalists believed that one should transcend societys code of ethics and rely on personal intuition in order to reach absolute goodness, or Absolute Truth.v It was indebted to the dual heritage of American Puritanis

15、m. That is to say, it was in actuality romanticism on the puritan soil. His philosophy: Strongly he felt the need for a new national vision.He firmly believes in the Oversoul 超灵and thought that the universe was composed of Nature and the Soul. One could find redemption赎回，补救，兑现 only in ones own soul.

16、The individual, not the crowd, is the most important of all. That means to say he advocates the infinitude无限 of private man (transcendental individualism). To his eyes, the physical world was vitalistic生机论的 and evolutionary. Nature is the symbol of spirit. His Masterpiece:Nature vEvaluation to him:v

17、He was the first American to call for an independent culture in both Nature and The American Scholar.(Americas Declaration of Intellectual Independence).He called on American writers to write about America in a way peculiarly American. vEmersons aesthetics places emphasis on ideas, symbol, and imagi

18、native words, which brought about a revolution in American literature in general and in American poetry in particular. vHe embodied表现，象征 a new nations desire and struggle to assert its own identity in its formative 形成的，发展的period. vIn modern times he is sometimes dismissed自心中摈除，不再考虑/谈论 as having no s

19、ense of evil, and his optimistic philosophy as so much Transcendentalist folly愚蠢的行为，思想，做法. Henry David Thoreau(1817 - 1862)v He was one of the three great American authors of the 19th century who had no contemporary readers and yet became great in the 20th century, the other two being Herman Melvill

20、e and Emily Dickinson. v His masterpiece “Walden” holds that the most important thing for men to do is to be self-sufficient and strive to achieve personal spiritual perfection. He has been regarded as a prophet先知 of individualism in American literature. Walden can be read on more than one level. It

21、 is a book of essays put together,exploring subjects concerned with Nature, with the meaning of life,and with morality. Threau had three purposes in writing this book: to make the readers evaluate the way he lived and thought, to reveal the hidden spiritual possibilities in everyones life, and to co

22、ndemn the weakness and errors of society,such as the pursuit of material things. 3) He was very critical of modern civilization. He thought modern civilized life has dehumanized man and placed him in a spiritual quandary窘困; by trying to amass积累 material possessions, man is not really living, but is

23、digging his own grave. Civilized man is the slave of matter. Spiritual richness is real wealth. II. The Poets Walt Whitman Emily DickinsonWalt Whitman (1819 - 1892)v He was a catalog of American and European thought and was susceptible易受影响的 to many influences, such as, the Enlightenment and its idea

24、ls of the rights and dignity of the individual, Transcendentalism, German philosophy, science, pantheism泛神论, the idea of progress, and current American life with its western frontier spirit. v His masterpiece “Leaves of Grass”（the collection of over 400 poems） About his poem: 1) He seemed to keep hi

25、s eyes on society at large compared with Dickinson.2) In his poems he extols 赞扬the ideals of equality and democracy and celebrates the dignity, the self-reliant spirit and the joy of the common man. 3) Thematically主题 he extolled an emergent America, its expansion, its individualism and its Americann

26、ess. 4) In technical terms, he added to the literary independence of the new nation by breaking free of the convention of the iambic pentameter抑扬格五音部 and exhibiting a freedom in form unknown before. 哦船长，我的船长！ 哦船长，我的船长！我们险恶的航程已经告终， 我们的船安渡过惊涛骇浪，我们寻求的奖赏已赢得手中。 港口已经不远，钟声我已听见，万千人众在欢呼呐喊， 目迎着我们的船从容返航，我们的船威严

27、而且勇敢。 可是，心啊！心啊！心啊！ 哦殷红的血滴流泻， 在甲板上，那里躺着我的船长， 他已倒下，已死去，已冷却。 哦，船长，我的船长！起来吧，请听听这钟声， 起来，旌旗，为你招展号角，为你长鸣。 为你岸上挤满了人群为你，无数花束、彩带、花环。 为你，熙攘的群众在呼唤，转动着多少殷切的脸。 这里，船长！亲爱的父亲！ 你头颅下边是我的手臂！ 这是甲板上的一场梦啊， 你已倒下，已死去，已冷却。 我们的船长不作回答，他的双唇惨白、寂静， 我的父亲不能感觉我的手臂，他已没有脉搏、没有生命， 我们的船已安全抛锚碇泊，航行已完成，已告终， 胜利的船从险恶的旅途归来，我们寻求的已赢得手中。 欢呼，哦，海岸！

28、轰鸣，哦，洪钟！ 可是，我却轻移悲伤的步履， 在甲板上，那里躺着我的船长， 他已倒下，已死去，已冷却。 Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)Differences between Whitman and DickinsonIn contents: Whitman seems to keep his eye on society at large; Dickinson explores the inner life of the individual. Whitman is “national” in his outlook, Dickinson is “regional”

29、.In forms: Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs; Dickinson uses concise, direct, and simple diction and syntax.v She wrote altogether 1775 poems, of which only seven appeared in print in her lifetime. After her death her poems were discovered accidentally by her sister and were published int

30、ermittently间歇的（of and on）. In 1950 Harvard University bought all her copyright, and five years later the complete works of the poet, including three volumes of poems and three volumes of letters, was published. She was rediscovered after her death. Now she becomes as famous as Whitman. StyleRepresen

31、ting a personal vision or insight, the lyric poem often expresses a mood or feeling. Usually written in the first person, the poem reflects a specific point of view, but the “I” speaker or persona of the poem is not necessarily the poet. Dickinson was conscious of the musical element associated with the lyric and had a strong musical sense. Her frequent use of the dash f