1、Washington Irving Bracebridge Hall 布雷斯布里奇田庄 (1822) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tales of a Traveller 旅客谈 (1824) Christopher Columbus (1828) c. writing characteristics (1) humorous: the function of his writing is to amuse, to entertain instead of teaching or instruction (2) vivid and true character po
2、rtrayal (3) finished (refined) and musical language, thus regarded as “the Amn. Goldsmith” d. analysis on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(选 自 the sketch book 见闻札记 ) 1. the story:setting,character, plot 2. theme:conflicts and praise conflict betw. Ichabod and Brom conflict betw. the village and the outsi
3、de world James Fenimore Cooper The Spy (1821): a historical novel The Pilot (1824): a sea novel Leatherstocking Tales 皮裹腿故事集 (1823-1841): frontier novels The Last Mohicans (1826) (Colonial War betw. Britain and France) e. writing features: strong points: we can see a variety of incidents and tension
4、s, complicated plot and structure and a beautiful description of nature. Weak points: characterization is weak. There is unsatisfactory description of characters (esp. female). He is not free from syntactical awkwardness, heavy-handed attempt at humor. “ Where Irving excels Cooper is weak.” Dialect
5、is not authentic. Edgar Allan Poe The Fall of the House Usher Feature: i. brevity (15 pages) ii. Single effect iii. originality in theme To Helen It was inspired by the beauty of the mother of a schoolmate of Poe in Richmond, Virginia. The poem is famous for a number of things: 1. its rhyme scheme:
6、ababb 2. its varied line lengths 3. its metaphor of a travel on the sea 4. its oft-quoted lines: “To the glory that was Greece,/And the grandeur that was Rome.“ theme: praise the ideal love and beauty and ancient Greek and Roman civilizations The Raven 乌鸦 theme: the lament over the death of a beauti
7、ful woman tone: melancholy Transcendentalism (essayists, poets, novelists) Their journal is “The Dial”. Definition: Transcendentalism is idealism. (Emerson) b. features (1) stress on Oversoul, that is spirit. (2) stress the importance of individual. (3) fresh conception of nature. c. significance (1
8、) inspired a whole generation of writers such as Whitman, Melville and Dickinson. (2) dresses mans subjective initiative as opposed to materialism. (3) liberated people from Calvins original sin d. limitation (1) shallow: cut off from real life or reality; initiated by the rich, they were limited in
9、 a certain circle. So, in some degree, they have been cut off from social life and can t understand the sufferings of the common people. (2) inward contradiction: gain knowledge by intuition, shows its idealistic aspect. R.W. Emerson (Ralph Waldo) Nature (1836): the Bible of New England transcendent
10、alism The American Scholar (1837): “Americas Declaration of Intellectual The Divinity School Address 神学院致辞 (1838) Essays (1841/1847) Representative Men (1850) English Traits (1856) Poems (1847) d. significance (1) He embodied a new nations desire and struggle to assert its own identity in its format
11、ive period. (2) his stress on individualism Limitation:self-centered, individual His ideas influence a lot of writers such as Dikinson, Hawthorne and Whitman. Henry David Thoreau A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers 康考德和梅里马克河上的一周 (1849) Walden, or Life in the Woods (1854) Civil Disobedience 不服
12、从论 (1849, an address) c. Walden main ideas: (1)on self-cultivation and human perfectibility, elevated from Puritan original sin, believe in inner virtue and inwardly grace (2) criticism on civilization and capitalism (3) only truth and knowledge cant be taken away, trust in future and in man Style:
13、pithy (colloquial sayings), vivid description, symbols and images Nathaniel Hawthorne Twice-Told Tales (1837): a collection of short stories Mosses from an Old Manse 古屋青苔 (1846): another collection of short stories The House of the Seven Gables 七个尖角的阁楼(1851): on the effect of a curse The Scarlet Let
14、ter (1850): masterpiece It s not a love story, trying to show the moral, emotional and psychological effects of sin on his characters. “A”: Adultery-Able-Angel “A” on chest: sinner, confessed, died, shows an honest man Moral: man should be true and honest and ready to show ones worst to the world（批评
15、与自我批评） Herman Melville Typee (泰比 1846) Omoo (奥穆 1847) Mardi (马尔迪 1847) 这三部作品描写塔希提群岛和马吉萨斯群岛以及他在岛上的奇遇。 Redburn (莱德勃恩 1849)：描写了他的第一次航海经验以及在利物浦港贫民窟的见闻。 White Jacket (白外套 1850)：根据他在美国海军军舰上服役时期的生活体验写成。 Pierre (皮埃尔 1852) Israel Potter (伊斯莱尔 波特 1855): historical novel Piazza Tales (广场故事 1856): a collection
16、of short story Moby Dick (白鲸 1851): masterpiece (1) a whaling book: an encyclopedia of whaling/description of a whalers life (2) a tragedy about man fighting against universe (hostile) Man in this universe lives a meaningless and futile life, meaningless because futile. Man can observe and even mani
17、pulate in a prudent way, but he cannot influence and overcome nature at its source. (3) alienation 异化 : between man and man between man and society (ship) between man and nature Ahab is the best representative. To him the world exists for his sake. His selfhood must be asserted at the expense of all
18、 else: lives may be sacrificed, and nature may have to be vanquished in order that he may do what he wills. Richard Chase says: the idea Melville conveys in it is “death-spiritual, emotional, physical“. (5) theme: quest (6) symbolism the voyage: a metaphor for “search and discovery, the search for t
19、he ultimate truth of experience“. the Pequod 皮阔德 : the ship of the American soul the endeavor of the crews: “the maniacal fanaticism of our white mental consciousness“ Moby Dick: (many interpretations) the symbol of nature W. C. Bryant the analysis on To a Waterfowl 致水鸟 It is the “most perfect brief
20、 poem in the language“. (Matthew Arnold) It is a poem of nature in quatrains rhyming in abab. theme: from a bird and its flight to an ordinary person and his course of life, this poem conveys that everything in nature is under the beneficence and protection of the Power. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow T
21、heme: idealized love, children, family and friendship A Psalm of Life The poem is divided into 9 stanzas, each composed of two iambic tetrameter lines and two trochaic trimeter lines rhyming abab. The first two stanzas refute the pessimism that life is but a dream, affirming the contrary that life i
22、s real. The following stanzas urge the reader to act in the present and to leave “footprints“ as great people did in order to inspire the followers. The last stanza ends with a resounding note while admonishing people to learn to wait as well as to labor. Realism（ the 19th-century literary movement
23、that reacted to romanticism by insisting on a faithful, objective presentation of the details of everyday life.） features: i.objective description (concern for the commonplace/the low) ii. criticism of society and reality, exposing and criticizing the society; the writers dissatisfaction; no longer
24、eulogize human glority iii. verisimilitude 逼真性 (true to details) iv. influenced by bourgeois 中产阶级 democratic ideas (not overthrow but reform, changes) v. reformative: to reform the society, not to change completely features: Naturalism（ A post-Darwinian movement of the late 19th century that tried t
25、o apply the “laws“ of scientific determinism to fiction.） is a theory which applied scientific concepts and methods to such problems as plot development and characterisation. Comparison between Realism and Naturalism: Realism. i. objective ii. creation of types iii. influenced by British Rom. works
26、with hope Naturalism i. scientific accuracy ii. collect material from their lives iii.against this, hopeless/gloomy picture of the society Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass草叶集 , (1) themes i. unity of all man and of man within universe ii. equality of all man iii. cycle of life and death iv. enthusiastic
27、 idea toward Westward Expansion v. brotherhood d. Song of Myself 自我之歌 (1) influence of Transcendentalism: praise of individualism (2) cycle of life and death (3) ideal of democracy: equality between different races and brotherhood Emily Dickinson A Bird came down the walk I died for Beauty-but was S
28、carce I Heard a Fly buzz-when I died- Because I could not stop for Death- H.B. Stowe Uncle Toms Cabin (1851): masterpiece significance: 1.intensified and strengthened abolitionist sentiment; 2. gave a better balanced, more specific picture of plantation life; 3. praised the merits of slaves and show
29、ed great sympathy for them Henry James The American (1877): begins with international theme Daisy Miller (1878): brings the author first international fame The Wings of the Dove (1902) The Ambassadors (1903) The Golden Bowl (1904) The Portrait of A Lady 贵妇画像 :masterpiece It tells about the fate of o
30、ne of those splendid Jamesian American girls, Isabel Archer, arriving in Europe, full of hope, and with a will to live a free and noble life, only to fail prey to the sinister designs of two vulgar and unscrupulous expatriates, Madam Merle and Gilbert Osmond International theme 国际主题 : the meeting of
31、 America and Europe; American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence and the moral and psychological complications arising therefrom; for the American it was a process of progression from inexperience to experience, from innocence to knowledge and maturity. Those American heroes o
32、r heroins who confronting European sophistication, either triumphed over it or were overwhelmed. Mark Twain The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Count 卡拉维拉斯县有名的跳蛙 (1865):a short story The Innocents Abroad 国外的无辜者 (1869): letters on his travelling in Europe and Near East Roughing It 苦行记 (1872): on
33、 his experience in the western America The Gilded Age (1873): his first novel, collaborated with Charles Dudley Warner The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 哈克贝利 费恩历险记 (1884): masterpiece Life on the Mississippi (1883) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court 误闯 亚瑟
34、 王宫 (1889) The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg 败坏了哈德莱堡的人 (1900) The Mysterious Stranger (1916) e. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1. It is “a boys book“ which sets 20 years before Civil War. 2. themes: 1)picaresque 以流浪汉和无赖为题材的 (adventure story) 2) moral growth of Tom 3. techniques: verisimilitude, humor,
35、 colloquial style Deadpan（铁面幽默） : oral humor/the teller has a strict face but the listeners are laughing. Language: dialects as forms of art Jack London The People of the Abyss 深 渊 居 民 (1903): about Londons slum The Iron Heel 铁 蹄 (1908): the first proletarian criterion novel which envisages the deve
36、lopment of fascism The Call of the Wild 野性的呼唤 (1903): the most widely read book The Sea Wolf 海狼 (1904) These two novels reflect the ideas of the law of survival and the will to power Martin Eden 马丁伊登 (1909): a reflection of the contradiction between these competeing beliefs c. Martin Eden-theme:the
37、failure of American Dream. After he realized his dream of getting into the upper class, he also realized the emptiness of it and committed suicide. “This is a book that missed fire with a majority of the critics. Written as an indictment of individualism, it was accepted as an indictment of socialis
38、m; written to show that man cannot live for himself alone, it was accepted as a demonstration that success made for death. Had Martin Eden been a socialist he would not have died.“ Consciously London meant the novel to show that only a belief in the people, only the devotion of ones life to a cause
39、greater than onself, could give life any real meaning. T. Dreisser 西奥多 德莱塞 Sister Carrie 嘉 莉 妹 妹 (1900): the first novel, masterwork Jannie Gerhardt (1911) The Fanancier (1912) The Titan (1914) The Stoic (1947) The Genius (1915) An American Tragedy 美国悲剧 (1925) Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928) c. Siste
40、r Carrie theme:the emptiness of Ameircan Dream i. jungle law Famous actress bank manager(the unfit is bound to die) Country girl (able to follow her instinct) commit suicide ii. chance and luck iii. criticism of American values: money and sex the standards to see if a person is successful iv. concer
41、n for the poor Jazz Age: the Jazz Age lasted from 1919-1929, the decade enjoyed economic prosperity. The war and economic boom encouraged a breaking with the tradition (Puritanism). People upheld the value of money-making and pleasure-seeking. Ezra Pound 埃兹拉 庞德 Imagism 意象派 Pound became the most impo
42、rtant figure. Imagist poetry reached the peak of literature for three things appeared: i. a manifesto ii. three principles iii. a lot of writings Pound said, an image is “that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time.“ In a Station of the Metro 在地铁车站 1. This is the
43、much-quoted masterpiece of Pound and a representative of the Imagist poetry. 2. In form, the poem is similar to the Japanese haiku, a two-line couplet with rhymes. Pounds poem reminds the Chinese of two lines by a Tang poet, Bai Juyi. When describing the sad yet beautiful face of Yang Huifei, a Tang
44、 emperess, the poet wrote, The beautiful face, lonesome with tears; A pear branch, radiant with rain. 3. The poem is a representative of Imagist poems in that the image of petals on a wet, black bough best represents the picture of those lovely faces in the crowd and that the image is dominant in th
45、e poem-the image itself is the poem. T.S. Eliot poetry: Prufrock and Other Observations (1917) Poems (1920) The Waste Land (1922) The Hollow Men (1925) Ash Wednesday (1930) Four Quartets (1943) plays: Sweeney Agonistes (1932) Murder in the Cathedral (1935) The Cocktail Party (1950) The Confidential
46、Clerk (1954) critical essays: The Sacred Wood (1920) For Lancelot Andrews (1928) The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933) After Strange Gods (1934) On Poetry and Poets (1957) c. The Waste Land 荒原 5 parts: The Burial of Dead, The Game of Chess, The Fire Sermon, Death by Water, What the Thund
47、er Said chief characteristics 1. quotations and allusions 暗示 2. objective correlative 3. juxtaposition 并 列 : mingle brand image with common image 4. use of antiquity 古风 The Love Song “Prufrock“ is not the image of one unlucky modern man; instead, he represents many other modern westerners who are “d
48、ivided between passion and timidity, between desire and impotence“. 4. theme This poem reflects the decadent modern civilization and the nightmarish inferno in which modern Westerners are living in. 5. techiniques 1) irony 2) striking images 3) the form of dramatic monologue The poem is written in irregular lines, with but a few rhymes. Robert Frost b. Characteristics 1. not in the main stream of modern poetry, but with conventional form and plain language. Thats why hes the most popular poet in the 20th century. 2. a kind of a regionalist-New England, but not local colori
