1、American Literature,Outline of American Literature,Colonial Period,American Romanticism,The Age of Realism,American Naturalism,The Modern Period,The Post-War Period: 50s & 60s,American Drama,Black American Literature,Colonial Period,Background information Writers and works,New England,New England s
2、composed of six states, including from north to south : Maine缅因州, New Hampshire新罕布什尔州, Vermont佛蒙特州, Massachusetts马萨诸塞州, Rhode Island罗德岛州, Connecticut康涅狄格州.,Historical Background American literature begins with the orally transmitted myths, legends, tales, and lyrics (always songs) of Indian cultures
3、. - no written literature The Indians contribution to America Indian words in everyday American English today such as “canoe”, “tobacco”, “potato”, “moccasin” 软鞋，鹿皮鞋, “raccoon” 浣熊“persimmon” 柿子“moose” 麋鹿“tomahawk” 战斧“totem” 图腾,the famous voyage of an Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus in 1492. E
4、uropean settlers came to American continent. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.,Puritanism,Puritans was the name given in the 16th century to the more extreme Protestants（新教徒，基督教徒） who thought the English Reformation （英国宗教改革）had no
5、t gone far enough. They wanted to purify their national church. In the 17th century many Puritans emigrated to the New World, where they sought to found a holy Commonwealth in New England. Puritanism remained the dominant cultural force in that area into the 19th century.,1. Features of Puritanism (
6、1) Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred. (2) Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation. (3) Total depravity (4) Limited atonement: Only the “elect” can be saved.,2. Influence (1) A group of good qu
7、alities hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature. (2) It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth garden of Eden. (3) Symbolism: the American puritans metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into bein
8、g a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. (4) With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.,Overview of the literature 1. types of writing diaries
9、, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons 2. writers of colonial period (1) Anne Bradstreet (2) Edward Taylor (3) Roger Williams (4) John Woolman (5) Benjamin Franklin (6) Thomas Paine (7) Thomas Jefferson (8) Philip Freneau,Major Writers and Literary Works,B
10、enjamin Franklin,Thomas Paine,Thomas Jefferson,Philip Freneau,Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790),Benjamin Franklin, - Americas “first great man of letters,” embodied the Enlightenment ideal of human rationality. Franklin recorded his early life in his famous Autobiography.,In many ways Franklins life ill
11、ustrates the impact of the Enlightenment on a gifted individual. Self-educated but well-read in John Locke, Joseph Addison, and other Enlightenment writers, Franklin learned from them to apply reason to his own life and to break with tradition-in particular the old-fashioned Puritan tradition-when i
12、t threatened to smother his ideals.,Benjamin Franklin,When Franklin died in 1790, one of his fellow Americans said, “His shadow lies heavier than any other mans on this young nation.” As an author, Franklins style is quite modern, and his works show a return to their “plain style”. At the same time,
13、 there is something “anti-literary” about Franklin. He had no liking for poetry and felt that writing should always have a practical purpose. In the language of his writing, Franklin admirably reflects both Lockes psychology and Lockes political theory, and influences other writers in their choices
14、of language, subject matter and worldview.,Inventor,Printer,statesman,Librarian,Benjamin Franklin - Printer,At the age of twelve, he started as an apprentice with his older brother James. At the age of twenty-two, he opened his own printing shop. His newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette zet became ve
15、ry popular and profitable. A few years later, Poor Richards Almanack was released and soon became the best selling book in the colonies, selling over 10,000 copies a year,Soon, he became the most active printer and was appointed the official printer of Pennsylvania.,Benjamin Franklin - Librarian,Som
16、e fellow printers and Benjamin Franklin , known as the Leather Apron Club (because most of us wore leather aprons) started a lending library that was open to everyone. They would pool their money and buy books, which people could borrow. In 1731, the first lending library in America opened. Soon, ot
17、her towns began to imitate the library, until reading became fashionable.,Benjamin Franklin - Inventor,At the age of forty-two, Benjamin Franklin retired from printing to explore his other interests. He devoted this time to inventing.,Also，he enjoyed experimenting，of which the most fascinating one i
18、s electricity. The story of Benjamins kite and electricity, and his lightening rod.,Benjamin Franklin - Statesman,During the fight for independence, he was sent to Europe to represent the colonies. In 1776, he signed the Declaration of Independence and, in 1778, the Treaty of Alliance with France.,W
19、hen the colonists won their independence in 1781, Franklin helped negotiate the peace with England and signed what ultimately became known as Treaty of Peace with Great Britain (1782).,His works (1) Poor Richards Almanac (2) Autobiography,Term:Almanacs - a popular form of practical literature contai
20、ning much useful information for farmers and sailors. Features:practical and usefulinteresting by creating the character “Poor Richard”continuation of simple but realistic story about Richard, his wife and familyincluding many “sayings” about saving money and working hard,Poor Richards Almanac,Some
21、of these are known to most Americans today: God helps them who help themselves. Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. One today is worth two tomorrow Diligence is the mother of good luck.,Autobiography,The capstone of Franklins achievement as a writer is his Autobio
22、graphy.contribution (1) He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society. (2) He was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case) from heaven”. (3) Everything seems to meet in this one man “Jack of all trades”. Herman Melville thus describ
23、ed him “master of each and mastered by none”.,- a pamphleteer, a fighter for independence and human rights “These are the times that try mens souls.” This simple quotation from Thomas Paines The Crisis not only describes the beginnings of the American Revolution, but also the life of Paine himself.
24、Throughout most of his life, he was a failure, living off the gratitude and generosity of others, but his writings helped to inspire a nation.,His works,The Crisis Common Sense The Rights of Man Age of Reason,Published in 1776, Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the
25、royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britian.,The Crisis is a collection of articles written by Thomas Paine during the American Revolutionary War. The essays collected here constitut
26、e Paines on-going support for an independent and self-governing America through the many severe crises of the revolutionary war.,This work contains the most famous passage in all of Paines writings: “These are the times that try mens souls.The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this cr
27、isis, shrink from the service of his country；but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered.”,In defense of the French Revolution Paine wrote and published The Rights of Man (1791). Four key rights are liberty, property, security,
28、 and resistance to oppression.,TO MY FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:I PUT the following work under your protection. It contains my opinions upon Religion. You will do me the justice to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own opinion, howe
29、ver different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it. The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I neve
30、r shall. Your affectionate friend and fellow-citizen, THOMAS PAINE,Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),Thomas Jefferson- political philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturist, diplomat, inventor, and third President of the United. Jefferson left to the future not only ideas
31、but also a great body of practical achievements.,With his strong beliefs in the rights of man and a government derived from the people, in freedom of religion and the separation between church and state, and in education available to all. Thomas Jefferson struck a chord for human liberty 200 years a
32、go that resounds through the decades. But in the end, Jeffersons own appraisal of his life, and the one that he wrote for use on his own tombstone, suffices: “Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virgini
33、a.“,Declaration of Independence Notes on the State of Virginia,Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),The Declaration of Independence (1776) is at once the nations most cherished symbol of liberty and Jeffersons most enduring monument. In exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions
34、in the minds and hearts of the American people and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.,Philip Freneau (1752-1832),- the earliest of American poets, who inspired American imagination. Ph
35、ilip Freneau left a body of poetic work important for its formative influence upon his immediate successors and notable in itself. Freneau was a pioneer, who found new subject matters for American literature: sea, Indian culture, and American wildness.,major works:The Wild Honey Suckle野金银花The Rising
36、 Glory of America美洲光辉的兴起The British Prisonship英国囚船The Indian Burying Ground印第安人墓地,Features of his poemssaturated lyrical tone Glorification of the nature and the primitive lives of the Indians Keen observation and feverish imagination He pioneered Romanticism represented by Emerson, Poe and Longfell
37、ow.,THE WILD HONEYSUCKLE,FAIR flower, that dost so comely grow, Hid in this silent, dull retreat, Untouched thy honied blossoms blow, Unseen thy little branches greet: No roving foot shall crush thee here, No busy hand provoke a tear.,By Natures self in white arrayed, She bade thee shun the vulgar e
38、ye, And planted here the guardian shade, And sent soft waters murmuring by; Thus quietly thy summer goes, Thy days declining to repose.,Smit with those charms, that must decay, I grieve to see your future doom; They died-nor were those flowers more gay, The flowers that did in Eden bloom; Unpitying
39、frosts and Autumns power Shall leave no vestige of this flower.,From morning suns and evening dews At first thy little being came; If nothing once, you nothing lose, For when you die you are the same; The space between is but an hour, The frail duration of flower.,Introduction:This poem, written in
40、1786, reveals to the readers the poets appreciation of the natural beauty specifically American. In it, there exists a metaphor, which as if compares the fertile America wildness to “Heaven on earth”. And this poem also indicates the poets courage to break away from the classic restrains and strike a new path in poetry writing.,
