1、2021/3/10講解：XX1 American Literature The Romantic Period (1790- 1865) 2021/3/10講解：XX2 The Romantic Period nThe Romantic Period,one of the most important periods in the history of American literature, stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. It started with the publ

2、ication of Washington Irvings The Sketch Book and ended with Whitmans Leaves of Grass.It is a great flowering of American literature; It is also called “the American Renaissance”. 2021/3/10講解：XX3 The Romantic Period nBackground of American Romanticism nGeneral Characteristics of American Romanticism

3、 nMajor Writers of the period 2021/3/10講解：XX4 Backgrounds of American Romanticism nThe development of the America society nurturedthe literature of a great nation.America was flourishing into a politically,economically and culturally independent country. nI.National influences nII.International infl

4、uences 2021/3/10講解：XX5 I.National influences nIn:Democracy and political equality became the ideals of the new nation. Radical changes came about in the political life of the country. Parties began to squabble and scramble for power, and new system was in the making. nIn:The spread of industrialism,

5、 the sudden influx of immigration, and the pioneers pushing the frontier further west, all these produced something of an economic boon and with it, a tremendous sense of optimism and hope among the people. 2021/3/10講解：XX6 nIn: the publication of Websters Dictionary marked the beginning of the Ameri

6、can English; the appearance of many magazines and newspapers. 華盛頓 歐文 （Washington Irving, 1783-1859） Father of America Literature 2021/3/10講解：XX7 II.International influences nRomantic Movement in England and Europe proved to be a decisive influence; nMany English and European masters of poetry and pr

7、ose made stimulating impact on American Romanticism. 1.Walter Scott: Waverly novels, The Lady of the Lake 2.Byron: Oriental romances 3.Gothic tradition, the cult of solitude and gloom 2021/3/10講解：XX8 General Characteristics of American Romanticism 2021/3/10講解：XX9 n1.It was a rebellion against the ob

8、jectivity of rationalism. For romantics, the feelings, intuitions and emotions were more important than reason and common sense; n2.They put emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature, which included a liking for the picturesque, the exotic, the sensuous, the sensational, an

9、d the supernatural. n3.The Americans also placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and disp1ayed an increasing attention to the psychic states of their character s. Heroes and heroines exhibited extremes of sensitivity an d excitement. 2021/3/10講解：XX10 n4.The strong tendency

10、to exalt the individua l and the common man was almost a nationa l religion in America. Writers like Freneau, Bryant, and Cooper showed a great interest in external nature in their respective works. n5.In short, American Romanticism is, in a c ertain way, derivative. 2021/3/10講解：XX11 Characteristics

11、 of American Romanticism nI.The American national experience of pioneering into the west proved to be a rich source of material for American writers to draw upon. They celebrated Americas landscape with its virgin forests, meadows, groves, endless prairies, streams, and vast oceans. The wilderness c

12、ame to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral law. 2021/3/10講解：XX12 Characteristics of American Romanticism II.American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American Romanticism: 1.American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English

13、and European counterparts. 2.Besides a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of original sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesser writers. 2021/3/10講解：XX13 Characteristics of American Romanticism 3.With the growth of American national consciousness,

14、American character types speaking local dialects appeared in poetry and fiction with increasing frequency. 4.New England Transcendentalism is the most clearly defined Romantic literary movement in this period. 2021/3/10講解：XX14 Distinct Feature of American Romanticism n1.It was the expression of “a r

15、eal new experience”; n2.It tended to be didactic because of Puritan influence; n3.It was both imitative and independent 2021/3/10講解：XX15 Major writers in The Romantic Period 2021/3/10講解：XX16 Washington Irving(1783-l859) (華盛頓華盛頓歐文歐文 ) nWashington Irving was born in New York City in a wealthy family.

16、From a very early age he began to read widely and write juvenile poems, essays, and plays. 2021/3/10講解：XX17 nA History of New York(紐約外史紐約外史),1809 nThe Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.(見聞札記見聞札記) ,1820 nRip Van Winkle (瑞普凡溫克爾) nBracebridge Hall,1822 (布雷斯布里奇田莊) nTales of a Traveller,1824 (旅客談) nTh

17、e Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus,1828 (哥倫布傳) nThe Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada,1829 (攻克格拉納達) nTales of the Alhambra,1832 (阿爾罕伯拉) nAstoria,1836 (阿斯托里亞) nThe Life of Oliver Goldsmith,1840 (revised 1849) (哥爾德斯密斯傳) nMahomet and His Successors,1850 (穆罕默德及其繼承者) nThe Life of George Washi

18、ngton (5 volumes),1855-1859 (華盛頓傳) 2021/3/10講解：XX18 Ralph Waldo Emerson (拉爾夫拉爾夫華爾多華爾多愛默生愛默生 ) nRalph Waldo Emerson is the chief spokesman of New England Transcendentalism, which is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the Romantic period in the history of American literature 2021/3/10講解：XX19 nNatu

19、re, 1836 (論自然論自然) nThe American Scholar, 1837 (論美國學者) nDivinity School Address, 1838 (神學院演講) nThe Oversoul, 1841 (論超靈) nSelf Reliance, 1841(論自立) 2021/3/10講解：XX20 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-l864) (納撒尼爾納撒尼爾霍桑霍桑 ) nHe was born on the Fourth of July, l804 in Salem,Massachusetts, into a prominent Puritan

20、family. nHis thematic concerns : human sin and evil 2021/3/10講解：XX21 n1837重講一遍的故事， n Old Manse ,1846(古宅青苔) nThe Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales ,1851(雪像 和其他故事新編 ) nThe Scarlet Letter ,1850(紅字) nThe House of the Seven Gables ,1851 (帶有七個尖角閣的 房子 ) nThe Blithedale Romance ,l852(福谷傳奇 ) nThe Marble

21、Faun ,1860(玉石雕像 ) 2021/3/10講解：XX22 Walt Whitman (1819 -) (華爾特華爾特惠特曼惠特曼 ) nWhitman was born in 1819 into a working- class family and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. nDemocratic ideas govern his poetry-writing. His poetry is filled with optimistic expectation and enthusiasm about new things and new epo

22、ch. 2021/3/10講解：XX23 nLeaves of Grass (草葉集) nIt is significant that Whitman entitled his book Leaves of Grass . He said that where there is earth, where there is water, there is grass. Grass, the most common thing with the greatest vitality, is an image of the poet himself, a symbol of the then rising American nation and an embodiment of his ideals about democracy and freedom. 2021/3/10講解：XX24