The-Literature-of-Romant课件

1、American Literature英美文学精品课程Part 3 The Literature of American RomanticismSection 1 Early Romantic PeriodWhat is Romanticism?An approach from ancient Greek: PlatoA literary trend: 18c in Britain (17981832) I. Preview: Characteristics of romanticism1. subjectivity(1) feeling and emotions, finding truth

2、(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 feel

3、ing3. back to naturenature is “breathing living thing” (Rousseau)II. American Romanticism1. Background(1) Political background and economic development(2) Romantic movement in European countriesDerivative foreign influence2. features(1) American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real n

4、ew 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 mo

5、re 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.III. Washington Irving1. several names attached to Irving(1) first

6、 American writer(2) the messenger sent from the new world to the old world(3) father of American literature 2. life3. works(1) A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty(2) The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (He won a measure of international recogni

7、tion with the publication of this.)(3) The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus(4) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada(5) The Alhambra 4. Literary career: two parts(1) 18091832a. Subjects are either English or Europeanb. Conservative love for the antique(2) 18321859: back to US

8、 5. style beautiful(1) gentility, urbanity, pleasantness(2) avoiding moralizing amusing and entertaining(3) enveloping stories in an atmosphere(4) vivid and true characters(5) humour smiling while reading(6) musical language IV. James Fenimore Cooper1. life2. works(1) Precaution (1820, his first nov

9、el, imitating Austens Pride and Prejudice)(2) The Spy (his second novel and great success)(3) Leatherstocking Tales (his masterpiece, a series of five novels)The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneer, The Prairie 3. point of view the theme of wilderness vs. civilization,

10、freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat vs. democrat, natural rights vs. legal rights 4. style(1) highly imaginative(2) good at inventing tales(3) good at landscape description(4) conservative(5) characterization wooden and lacking in probability(6) language and use of dialect not authentic5.

11、literary achievementsHe created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the history of the United States is, in a sense, the process of the American settlers exploring and pushing the American frontier forever westward, then Coopers Leatherstocking Tales effectively approximates

12、 the American national experience of adventure into the West. He turned the west and frontier as a useable past and he helped to introduce western tradition to American literature. Section 2 Summit of Romanticism American Transcendentalism Background: four sources1. Unitarianism(1) Fatherhood of God

13、(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 mankind 2. Romantic IdealismCenter of the world is spirit, absolute spirit (Kant)3. Oriental mysticismCenter of the world is

14、“oversoul”4. PuritanismEloquent expression in transcendentalism II. Appearance1836, “Nature” by EmersonIII. Features:1. spirit/oversoul2. importance of individualism3. nature symbol of spirit/Godgarment of the oversoul4. focus in intuition (irrationalism and subconsciousness)IV. Influence:1. It serv

15、ed 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 ideal

16、ism 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.V. R

17、alph Waldo Emerson1. life2. works(1) Nature(2) Two essays: The American Scholar, The Poet 3. point of view(1) One major element of his philosophy is his firm belief in the transcendence of the “oversoul”.(2) He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man, and advoca

18、ted a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature.(3) If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself and brings out the divine in himself, he can hope to become better and even perfect. This is what Emerson means by “the infinitude of man”.(4) Everyone should understand that he makes

19、 himself by making his world, and that he makes the world by making himself. 4. aesthetic ideas(1) He is a complete man, an eternal man.(2) True poetry and true art should ennoble.(3) The poet should express his thought in symbols.(4) As to theme, Emerson called upon American authors to celebrate Am

20、erica which was to him a lone poem in itself.5. his influenceVI. Henry David Thoreau1. life2. works(1) A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River(2) Walden(3) A Plea for John Brown (an essay)3. point of view(1) He did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was vehemently outspoke

21、n on the point.(2) He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system.(3) Like Emerson, but more than him, Thoreau saw nature as a genuine restorative, healthy influence on mans spiritual well-being.(4) He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.(5) He was ver

22、y critical of modern civilization.(6) “Simplicitysimplify!”(7) He was sorely disgusted with “the inundations of the dirty institutions of mens odd-fellow society”.(8) He has calm trust in the future and his ardent belief in a new generation of men. Section 3 Late RomanticismNathaniel Hawthornelife 2

23、. works(1) Two collections of short stories: Twice-told Tales, Mosses from and Old Manse(2) The Scarlet Letter(3) The House of the Seven Gables(4) The Marble Faun3. point of view(1) Evil is at the core of human life, “that blackness in Hawthorne”(2) Whenever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or

24、 evil can be passed from generation to generation (causality).(3) He is of the opinion that evil educates.(4) He has disgust in science.4. aesthetic ideas(1) He took a great interest in history and antiquity. To him these furnish the soil on which his mind grows to fruition.(2) He was convinced that

25、 romance was the predestined form of American narrative. To tell the truth and satirize and yet not to offend: That was what Hawthorne had in mind to achieve.5. style typical romantic writer(1) the use of symbols(2) revelation of characters psychology(3) the use of supernatural mixed with the actual

26、(4) his stories are parable (parable inform) to teach a lesson(5) use of ambiguity terrorr in the world of uncertainty multiple point of view Herman Melville1. life2. works(1) Typee(2) Omio(3) Mardi(4) Redburn(5) White Jacket(6) Moby Dick(7) Pierre(8) Billy Budd 3. point of view(1) He never seems ab

27、le to say an affirmative yes to life: His is the attitude of “Everlasting Nay” (negative attitude towards life).(2) One of the major themes of his is alienation (far away from each other).Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism (individualism causing disaster and death), rejection and quest

28、, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts over the comforting 19c idea of progress 4. style(1) Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple view of his narratives.(2) He tends to write periodic chapters.(3) His rich rhythmical pr

29、ose and his poetic power have been profusely commented upon and praised.(4) His works are symbolic and metaphorical.(5) He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background or description of what goes on board the ship or on the route (Moby Dick)Romantic Poets: Walt Whitman1. life2. work: L

30、eaves of Grass (9 editions)(1) Song of Myself(2) There Was a Child Went Forth(3) Crossing Brooklyn Ferry(4) Democratic Vistas(5) Passage to India(6) Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking3. themes “Catalogue of American and European thought”He had been influenced by many American and European thoughts:

31、 enlightenment, idealism, transcendentalism, science, evolution ideas, western frontier spirits, Jeffersons individualism, Civil War Unionism, Orientalism.Major themes in his poems (almost everything):equality of things and beingsdivinity of everythingimmanence of Goddemocracyevolution of cosmosmult

32、iplicity of natureself-reliant spiritdeath, beauty of deathexpansion of Americabrotherhood and social solidarity (unity of nations in the world)pursuit of love and happiness 4. style: “free verse”(1) no fixed rhyme or scheme(2) parallelism, a rhythm of thought(3) phonetic recurrence(4) the habit of

33、using snapshots(5) the use of a certain pronoun “I”(6) a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure(7) use of conventional image(8) strong tendency to use oral English(9) vocabulary powerful, colourful, rarely used words of foreign origins, some even wrong(10) sentences catalogue technique: long

34、 list of names, long poem lines 5. influence(1) His best work has become part of the common property of Western culture.(2) He took over Whitmans vision of the poet-prophet and poet-teacher and recast it in a more sophisticated and Europeanized mood.(3) He has been compared to a mountain in American

35、 literary history.(4) Contemporary American poetry, whatever school or form, bears witness to his great influence. Emily Dickenson1. life2. works(1) My Life Closed Twice before Its Close(2) Because I Cant Stop for Death(3) I Heard a Fly Buzz When I died(4) Mine by the Right of the White Election(5)

36、Wild Nights Wild Nights 3. themes: based on her own experiences/joys/sorrows(1) religion doubt and belief about religious subjects(2) death and immortality(3) love suffering and frustration caused by love(4) physical aspect of desire(5) nature kind and cruel(6) free will and human responsibility4. s

37、tyle(1) poems without titles(2) severe economy of expression(3) directness, brevity(4) musical device to create cadence (rhythm)(5) capital letters emphasis(6) short poems, mainly two stanzas(7) rhetoric techniques: personification make some of abstract ideas vivid Comparison: Whitman vs. DickinsonS

38、imilarities:(1) Thematically, they both extolled, in their different ways, an emergent America, its expansion, its individualism and its Americanness, their poetry being part of “American Renaissance”.(2) Technically, they both added to the literary independence of the new nation by breaking free of the convention of the iambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedom in form unknown before: they