american romanticism.ppt

1、Romanticism,Definition: romanticism rose in the eighteenth and nineteenth centturies. In contrast to classicism, it is associated with imagination and creation of individuality. Romantic writers attach importance to the portrayal of fitures of distinctive characters. They reproduce life in their wri

2、tings according to their ideal and prefer imaginative, even fantastic vision to restriction of objective depiction, passion to elegance, and irregular beauty to perfect proportion.,American romanticism:,The shattering of the yoke of colonialism inspired the Americans with the spirit of freedom and i

3、ndividualism. Romanticism, which had already been in full flush in Europe, naturally came to dominate the American world of literature. The first representatives of the Romantic movement included Irving, Cooper, and Poe.,One of the characteristics of the American Romantic movement was that it took a

4、 predomiantly philosophical tone. In the 1830s a group of intellectuals began meeting informally for philosophical discussion, and, drawaing nourishment from foreign thinkers, the German romantic philosphers, included, fromed the Transcententalist Club.,To free people from the still existing straitj

5、acket of Puritan theology the Transcententalists preached a complete break with tradition and custom, encouradged individualism and self-reliance, and proposed Nature as the new Bible. They held that man can intuitvely transcend the limits of his senses and directly reach truth.,Thus feeling was exa

6、lted over reason, intuitions and impulses over external authority, and individual expression over conventions. In their eyes everything in the world was a microcosm containing within itself all the laws and meanings of existence. Man should turn to Nature to renew his spirit and to make out its reve

7、lations.,In addition, the worth of a man as an individual also received a high assessment. Every man was endowed with a greatness in him that needed to be set free. The principle of self-reliance helped free the young nttion from the shackles of tradition and promoted the spirit of democracy. Most o

8、utstanding of the transcendentalists were two literary figures, Emerson and Thoreau.,Romanticism as a movement in American literary history lasted until after the Civil War. During this period a national literature developed and took shape with novels, short stories and poems as its principal forms.

9、 It was one of the motive forces for the spread of democracy and established new ways of perceiving humantity and the universe.,However, the development of industrialism and commercialism strikingly widened the gap between spiritual dreams and the realities of a growing materialism. Conditions for r

10、ealism gradually ripened.,Questions on the story Rip Van Winkle When does the story happen? Where does Rip Van Winkle live? What is the only trouble of Rip? What is his only alternative to escape from the labor of the farm an clamor of his wife?,What happened to Rip in the mountain? What happened wh

11、en he approched his village after 20-year sleep? Compare the ciffiferent situations in the village for Rip before and after his 20-year sleep. What is the authors opinion of Rip? And what is yours? Do you agree with Rips view as to the changes of states and empires? Why? Do you think Rips wife is al

12、so a well-developed figure? How does this figure impress you?,Adapted from a German folk tale, Rip Van Winkle views a striking contrast between the independent United States and the former British colony from the eye of a native inhabitant after his 20-year sleep. The charm of the story comes from t

13、he hero whose character is drawn by Irving in a Romantic way. Rip Van Winkle lives in a peaceful village where nagging from his wife is the most unbearable trouble. He is not diligent nor responsible for the support of his family but gets on well with his fellow villagers owing to his well-oiled dis

14、position.,On his return from a mysterious sleep he sees the American flag to be but “a singular assemblage of stars and stripes.” A general (Washington) has been substituted for the blessed ruler (King George). The harangue about rights of the citizens only serves to bewilder him. While Rip is confu

15、sed by questions which he never heard of before, the reader may share the exclamatory feeling but with a knowing smile. A rough sketch of the American society after the Revolution is thus seen in perspective.,Rip is allowed to sleep by Irving to sleep for twenty years which people usually regard as

16、the period for a new generation to grow up. When he feels sorry for the “sad changes”in his home village and sighs, “I cant tell whats my name, or who I am, ” he has identified himself with an outsider already forsaken by the younger generation. Here Irving is found to have more of his sympathy with

17、 Rip rather than with the younger gerneration.,This betrays Irvings conservative viewpoint. The conclusion that “changes of states and empires made but little impression on him”may also apply to the author, who fails to offer a penetrating insight into the profound influence of the American revoluti

18、on in this story. At any rate, Irvings critical hint deserves attention. Where the common people can not benefit from all the changes, of what avail is it to talk about the rights of citizens?,Irving has no American literary masters to model his writing on. His style is European. His picturesque des

19、cription of the natural environment as well as his precise and humorous language make the story even more fascinating. Rip Van Winkle is a lasting successful figure in American literature. Though he sleeps incredibly for twenty years the character is still true to life. Rips terse remarks also help

20、to vivify the image.,Nathanial Hawthorne but circumstances may rouse it to activity.” A piece of literary work should “show how we are all wronged and wrongers, and avenge one another.”,So in almost every book he wrote, Hawthorne discusses sin and evil. In “Young Goodman Brown,” he sets out to prove

21、 that everyone possesses some evil secret. “The Ministers Black Veil” goes further to suggest that everyone tries to hold the evil secret from one another in the way the minister tries to convince his people with his black veil. “The Birthmark” drives home symbolically Hawthornes point that evil is

22、mans birthmark, something he is born with.,As a man of literary craftsmanship, Hawthorne is extraordinary. The structure and the form of his writings are always carefully worked out to cater for the thematic concern. With his special interest in the psychological aspect of human beings, there isnt m

23、uch action, or physical movement going on in his works and he is good at exploring the complexity of human psychology.,Young Goodman Brown,Goodman Brown, a Puritan who lives in the village of Salem, leaves his wife Faith, who pleads him not to go, to attend a witches Sabbath in the woods. There, he

24、astonishingly finds lots of prominent people of the village and the church. When he is about to be confirmed into the group, he finds his wife Faith is also there beside him. He immedialtely cries out “look up to Heaven and resist the wicked one,”,only to find he is alone in the forest. He returns t

25、o his home, but since then lives a dismal and gloomy life because he is never able to believe in goodness or piety again. “Young Goodman Brown” is one of Hawthornes most profound tales. In the manner of its concern with guilt and evil, it exemplifies what Melville called the “power of blackness” in Hawthornes work. Its hero, a,Naive young man who accepts both society in general and his fellow men as individuals worth his regard, is confronted with the vision of human evil in one terrible night, and