1、American Romanticism名词解释：Romanticism（浪漫主义）:It refer to the literature in the Romantic period,which intends from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War.Its characterized by a rejection of formal classical literature.It emphasizes sentiment over reason and views art as essentiall
2、y an expression of the artists thoughts and feeling.The themes included “home,family and children,nature and idealized love,”but the writers exhibited an apparent apathy(冷漠） to the major problems of American life.Transcendentalism(超越论，先验论）:it,also regarded as philosophical romanticism,reached Americ
3、a a generation or two after it developed in Europe.It was based on the doctrine of ancient and modern European philosophers.It emphasis on spirit or the Over Soul,as the important thing in universe,and also om the importance of the individual.It was a reaction against dehumanization that came in the
4、 wake of developing capitalism.It took on special significance in America in the mid-19th century. 主要作家：8个l Herman Melville（1819-1891） :Experience:1. Melvilles childhood was happy to the age of eleventh when his father died in debt. He had little education and began to work early. 2. three things de
5、serves mention：His experience and adventures on the sea stood him in rich stead； he had to write for money To support his wife; he and Hawthorne met3. He wrote glosses and commentaries as he raced through the volumes that came his wayWorks :1.The first three drew from his adventures among the people
6、 of the south pacific islands, suh as:Typee Omoo Mardi2.t is regarded as one of the worlds greatest masterpieces. To get to know the 19th century American mind and American itself-Moby Dick3 Later he wrote some other books like The Confidence Man and Billy Budd which he left in manuscript at time of
7、 his death.Character:1.Melville lies in the fact that he was unwilling to sacrifice his insight and artistic standards to cater to popular feeling and demand.2.His discovery of Shakespeare stirred him the depths of his reading. Carlyle and Hawthorne s symbolism fascinated him. For Emerson, he had mi
8、xed feeling of respect and repulsion.3.He was thus known as a popular writer of exotic talesExtra : 1.Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melvilles bleak view of the world in which he lived.揭示出梅尔维尔的人与自然观：人类应该观察探索自然， 人类若狂妄地反抗自然， 就会导致毁灭2. 赫尔曼梅尔维尔是美国最伟大的小说家之一，也是美国象征主义文学大师3. Constantly under his attac
9、k is its emphasis on individual and Oversoul. 相信邪恶的普遍性，怀疑超验主义的乐观主义理4. his characters forever trying to escape from their corrupt world into a better place to live, or what he calls another world. 在梅尔维尔看来 ，没有什么事物是绝对美好的或绝对罪恶的。爱默生所宣扬的超验主义乐观精神对泱泱社会中的个人的发展并不能带来真正意义上的帮助。个人的力量是渺小的，根本无力与社会进行抗争。 l Edgar Alla
10、n Poe:Experience: 1. Born in Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 October 7, 1849 ,he was an American writer, editor, and literary critic2. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year. Thus orphaned,3. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due t
11、o lack of money. Poe quarreled with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name.4. Later failing as an officers cadet at West Point and declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, Poe parted ways with John Allan.5. Poe died in Baltimore; the cause
12、 of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents Works:1. he released his first book, a 40-page collection of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems2. in February 1831, and released a th
13、ird volume of poems, simply titled Poems.3. his only drama, Politian. The Baltimore Saturday Visiter awarded Poe a prize in October 1833 for his short story MS. Found in a Bottle.4. in 1838,The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published and widely reviewed5. in 1839, the collection Ta
14、les of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in twovolumes,6. In June 1840, Poe published a prospectus announcing his intentions to start his own journal, The Stylus7. On January 29, 1845, his poem The Raven appeared in the Evening Mirror and became a popular sensation Character:1. fictional dep
15、ictions of Poe use his mystery-solving skills in such novels as The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pear2. Poe was mostly recognized as a literary critic3. Fellow critic James Russell Lowell called him the most discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in Americ
16、a, suggestingrhetoricallythat he occasionally used prussic acid instead of ink4. Poes early detective fiction tales featuring C. Auguste Dupin laid the groundwork for future detectives in literature Extra: 1.坡以神秘故事和恐怖小说闻名于世，他是美国短篇故事的最早先驱者之一，又被尊为推理小说的开山鼻祖，进而也被誉为后世科幻小说的始祖 2.他是第一个尝试完全依赖写作谋生的知名美国作家，从而导致
17、贫困潦倒 3.爱伦坡以恐怖小说这样一种特殊的文学形式深入刻画与呈现了非现实状态下人的精神状态和心理特征，试图“以非现实、非理性的表达方式来揭示现代人的精神因顿 4.洛威尔一向不轻易赞扬别人，却把坡誉为“最有见识、最富哲理的大无畏评论家l Washington IrvingPersonal life:born in a merchant family.First a writer later a lawyer.Diedrich Knicherbocker, his first history book won his a great success but later fail to made
18、a living in this way so continue to business.SingleWorks:(imitative,vivid)A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of Dutch Dynasty The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, GentThe History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus The Chronicle of the Conquest of GranadaThe
19、AlhambraThe Crayon MiscellanyCharacter:father of American literature, first writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame.(a Chinese student of English may do well to read and even recite a little of Irving to improve his writing English.)l James Fenimore CooperPersonal Life:Born into
20、a land-holding family, first authors to write about the American Westward movement.His works (dreadful,not authentic,introduce the “western” tradition)The Pioneers The following are mythThe Last of the Mohican The PrairieThe Pathfinder, The Deerslayerl Nathaniel HawthorneExperience1. Born on July 4,
21、 1804 to a family with long puritan tradition in Salem, Massachusetts.2. His father died and he was raised by his mother.3. Spent 12 years studying American past after graduating from Bowdoin College in 1825.4. Worked at the Boston Customs House and married Sophia Peabody.Works1. First collection of
22、 stories, Twice-Told Tales, 18372. Second collection of stories, Mosses from an Old Mansion, 18463. The Scarlet Letter, published in 18504. Followed with The House of the Seven Gables (1851) and The Blithedale Romance (1852)5. Final major workThe Marble Faun, 1860Character1. His fiction deals with t
23、he themes of guilt and secrecy, and shows his constant preoccupation with the effects of Puritanism in New England.2. Convinced that there was both good and evil in Puritanism.3. He was interested in “the moral and psychological consequence that manifested themselves in human beings as a result of t
24、heir pride.4. His story displays a psychological insight into moral isolation and human emotion, and he was fond of using symbols to reveal the psychology of his character.5. His style is soft, flowing, and almost feminine, but his observation is always somber.Extra1. The House of the Seven Gables s
25、hows his believes: “the wrong doing of one generation lives into the successive ones” and that evil will come out of evil though it may take many generations to happen.2. Complained about the “the poverty of materials” in a land where there is no shadow, no antiquity, no mystery, no picturesque and
26、gloomy wrong, nor anything but a commonplace prosperity.3. The Scarlet Letter:only The Great Gatsby (by Scott Fitzgerald) can touch it in American literature. The letter A means: “ Adultery”-“Able” -“Angel”4. Female characters: Most of them are attractive, appealing and a mildly aggressive.5. The Mi
27、nisters Black Veil: 主题明显而集中:年轻的教长为什么戴上了黑面纱、为什在遭到各种议论，责难而仍然不肯摘下来。就在年老临终的那一刻也仍然要挣扎着把面纱盖住自己的脸?回答是有的，这黑纱象征了人的罪恶感，是认罪和赎罪的标志。对于戴黑纱的牧师究竟有什么罪，作者还提供了线索，他戴上黑纱之日，即一个少女死亡之时，而且葬礼上牧师露出面孔的一刹那，少女的尸体战栗起来。尸衣和那薄纱的帽子也跟着微微抖动;送葬的人也有一种幻觉，似乎牧师和少女的精灵手拉手在一起走着。看来又是一个类似红字里面的情况:宗教的外衣之下藏着一颗玩弄女性的心，不过这一次女的死亡，男的却以黑纱代替了赎罪!至少那位乡村医生是有
28、所知的。他说了一句意义深长的话:人有时是自己怕自己的。也许这就是为什么当那教长弥留之际，医生是在场者当中唯一的外表大庄严合度而无动于衷的人。写得恍惚，然而意思是明显的。但是作者又表明，这个罪却又不限于任何个人，而是连大地也戴着自己的黑纱，每一张脸上都有一面黑纱!这里有严厉的加尔文教义的声音，清教主义的声音-然而它却未必专指清教徒统治的早期英国在美洲的殖民地。由于霍桑写的大多是那个时期的事，由于他的作品里清教徒的罪恶观的气氛浓厚，文笔又带旧式的典雅，人们可能误以为他是生在那个时期的，其实他是十九世纪的人(1804-1864)，是在包括这篇小说在内的故事重述集于1837 年出版之后才建立了文名的。
29、他不能不注意到他当时的美国-而当时的美国正在经历着工业革命，新英格兰的商人和资本家正在依靠着1828年的新税律给他们的便利积极发展资本主义，而清教主义统治的教会已从国家政治生活里退出来对于这样的现实霍桑也是深有所感的，不满意的，他感对美国是一个没有阴影，没有模棱两可，没有神权，没有别致有趣的或阴沉的邪恶的国家，连替它写传奇故事也是困难的(大理名曲农牧神像序)。那么，他在早期着重写清教主义的罪恶观，写教长的黑面纱那样的气氛抑郁而神秘的寓言，是不是要替这个历史不长、缺乏传统、精神生活枯燥的国家增加一点阴影，一点神秘，一点阴沉的邪恶呢?无论如何，霍桑这个深刻的、复杂的作家在写教长的黑面纱的时候，是有
30、多种用意的。l Henry Wadsworth LongfellowExperience1. Born of a well-to do New England family on February 27, 1807 in Portland, Maine.2. After spending four years studying language in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and England, which against his fathers wish to be a lawyer, he became so skilled in language
31、s.3. He became Professor of Modern Languages at Harvard University in 1836 and didnt retire until 1854.4. The last twenty-eight years of his life were spent in writing, studying, and travel.Works1. Evangeline (1847), The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858), and “Paul Revered Ride” (1861).2. Late in l
32、ife, grieving over his wifes death, Longfellow translated Dantes The Divine Comedy.Character1. Wrote poems on a wide range of subjects, contemporary and historical, and he used many different verse forms and meters with great technical skill.2. Throughout his life Longfellow wrote noble and elevated
33、 verse built around romanticized characters and heroic sentiments.3. Longfellow had the gift of easy rhyme. He wrote poetry with natural grace and melody.4. His poetry expresses a spirit of optimism and faith in the goodness of life which evokes immediate response in the emotions of his readers.Extr
34、a1. A Psalm of Life: first published in 1839 and included in Longfellows first book of poems, Voices of the Night. It consists of nine quatrains of alternately rimed trochaic tetrameters. It was very popular when it was published because it fitted the spirit of enterprise and energy of the times.l W
35、alt Whiteman(1819-1892)1 The importance of this man Walt Whiteman was one of the most original and inspiring American poets of the nineteenth and a central influence on the direction of modern poetry.One of his contribution to American literature is his use of free verses,which has no regular meter,
36、rhyme,or time length.He creates a rhyme that depends in natural rhymes.He develops an original poetic style.He writes long lines which flow with a pulsing energy.2 His life He was born on long island,New York,into a Quaker family.He didnt have much formal education but taught himself by reading and
37、writing.His work is various,from office boy to editor of a New York newspaper,to a teacher in country schools,to working in camp hospital in Civil War,to a clerk in the Department of Interior,to working in the Attorney Generals office.3 His workHis one great book is Leaves of Grass(草叶集）.There are 40
38、0 poems in the book,which was published from 1855 to 1892.4 Characteristics Whitemans rich experience and his insights determined that the themes are multiple.He extol/phrase the ideals of democracy and celebrate the dignity and the joy of the common man,He also sings of science,labor,and nature.5.
39、specific poemsSong of myselfthe most significant poem of the volume.it reveals a world without rank and hierarchy,illustrating the principle of democracy and equality.l Emily Dickinson(1830-1886)1 The importanceShe was wholly original,taking the stuff of her poetry,merely from her experience to expr
40、ess she felt about love,nature,friendship,death,and immortality.2 Her life She was born in an educational family.She graduated from Amherst College and attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in south Hadley.And then,she visited Boston,Washington and Philadelphia.She was radiant but isolated.She was
41、never married.She wrote many poems but seven of them were published.3 Her work Her 1775 poems were numbered by editors after she died.And in 1950,Harvard University brought all her copyright.A complete collection,the Poems of Emily Dickinson, came out in 1955.4 Characteristics Her poems are written
42、in a wry(歪斜的，扭曲的） voice,with sharp ,unusual images and punctuation.She develop her own poetic form by using lots of dashes（破折号） and some special punctuation and capitalization（大写）.Her expression is also characterized by clear-cut （清晰的）and delicately original imagery（意象）,precise diction （明确的用语）and fragmentary （断断续续的）and mysterious rhythmic pattern.5. Specific poems Wild Nights-Wild NightsIt reveals all her innermost feelings to her lover.This is the most candidly erotic of Dickinsons poems.
