1、Washington Irving,The Sketch Book,American Romanticism,It stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. started with the publication of Washington Irvings The Sketch Bookended with Whitmans Leaves of Grass.,Backgrounds of American Romanticism,A. Romantic Movement in En
2、gland and Europe proved to be a decisive influence;B. Many English and European masters of poetry and prose made stimulating impact on American Romanticism. 1).Walter Scott: Waverly novels, The Lady of the Lake 2).Byron: Oriental romances3).Gothic tradition, the cult of solitude and of gloom,Romanti
3、cism,associated with imagination and boundlessness, as contrasted with classicism, which is commonly associated with reason and restriction. The most profound and comprehensive idea of romanticism is the vision of a greater personal freedom for the individual.,Romanticism,A. a movement in literature
4、, philosophy, music and art which developed in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; B. It emphasized individual values and aspirations above those of society as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution; C. It looked to the Middle Ages and to direct contact with nature for inspiration; D.
5、 It gave impetus to the national liberation movement in 19th-century Europe.,American Romanticism,1.Time: the publication of Washington Irvings The Sketch Book（1819）and ended with Whitmans Leaves of Grass（1855）; 2. It was a rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism. For romantics, the feeling
6、s, intuitions and emotions were more important than reason and common sense; 3. The writers emphasized individualism, placing the individual against the group. They affirmed the inner life of the self, and cherished strong interest in the past, the wild, the remote, the mysterious and the strange.,A
7、merican Romanticism,4. the writers stressed the element of “Amerianness” in their works; 5. Being a period of the great flowering of American literature, it is also called the American Renaissance; 6. American Romanticism is, in a certain way, derivative.,American Romanticism,A. Romanticism celebrat
8、es the triumph of feeling and intuition over reason. It is suspicious of the rationalist explanations of the universe and human nature by the enlightenment writers. B.Since they placed a higher value on the free expression of emotion and on the power of imagination, they showed greater interests in
9、the psychic states.,American Romanticism,C. Romanticism looked back to the Middle Ages with a nostalgic fascination. Gothic styles, “oriental” styles and other exotic styles were favored by romanticists. D. Romanticism exalted the individual over society, thus showing a strong disliking for the bond
10、age of convention and customs.,American Romanticism,E. Nature is believed to be the source of goodness and antithesis of society as society tends to be corrupt. F. Cultural nationalism-or the proud belief on ones own cultural genius and heritage-is also a striking characteristic of romanticism.,Amer
11、ican Renaissance,also called New England Renaissance. a period of the great flowering of American literature, from the 1830s roughly until the end of the American Civil War. It came of age as an expression of a national spirit nationalism. One of the most important influences in the period was that
12、of the Transcendentalism, mainly from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau.,Major writers of American Romanticism,Poets: Henry Wordsworth Long Fellow, Edgar Ellen Poe, Walt Whitman, Emily DickinsonFiction: Washington Irving- comic fables James Fenimore Cooper - frontier adventures Nathaniel Hawt
13、horne - psychological romances Edgar Allen Poe - Gothic tales,Washington Irving(1783-1859),an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“ and “Rip Van Winkle“, both of which appear in his book The
14、 Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.,Washington Irving(1783-1859),the first American writers to earn an international reputation Father of the American literature His The Sketch Book marked the beginning of American romanticism,Washington Irvings Life,Irvings birthplace: New York CityFamily backgr
15、ound: a rather wealthy merchant family.Education: a desultory student; reading widely in English literature at home; studying law but showing more interest in literature,Washington Irvings Life,In 1783, Irving was born into a wealthy New York merchant family. From a very early age, he began to read
16、widely and write juvenile poems, essays and plays. Later(1806), he studied law and led for a time the leisurely life of a gentleman lawyer. In 1809,his first book A History of New York, written under the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, was a great success and won him wide popularity.,Washington Irvi
17、ngs Life,In 1815, he went to England to take care of his family business there, and when it failed, had to write to support himself. In 1826, as an American diplomatic attach, he was sent to Spain, where he gathered material for his writing. From 1829 to 1832, he was secretary of the U.S Legation in
18、 London. Then when he was fifty, he returned to America and bought “Sunnyside”, his famous home. There he spent the rest of his life, living a life of leisure and comfort. He died in 1859. He was not married.,Irving acquired his famous home in Tarrytown, New York,known as Sunnyside, in 1835. He spen
19、t his rest life, except for a period of four years(1842-1846).,Irvings grave,II. Literary Achievements,1809: A History of New York纽约外史1820: The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. 见闻札记Two folktales: “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”(睡谷传奇)1822: Bracebridge Hall布雷斯勃列奇庄园1824: Tales o
20、f a Traveller 游客谈1835: A Tour of the Prairies大草原游记,Comment,The first American author to win international recognitionThe first prose stylist of American romanticismIn his Sketch Book appeared the first modern American short stories. His essays are models of perfect English.,Comment,Irving created hu
21、mor by the way he said things: 1)He delighted in making ironic remarks which say just the opposite of what he meant.2) He used dignified words to produce a half-mocking effect. 3) He was also fond of exaggerating the seriousness of situations.,Comment,He not only provided a young nation with humorou
22、s, fictional accounts of the colonial past but also helped create an American mythology which is made up of stories about the American past so widely read as to be familiar to nearly every American.,Rip Van Winkle,Adapted from a German folktaleIt views a striking contrast between the independent Uni
23、ted States and the former British colony from the eye of a native inhabitant after his 20-year sleep.,Rip Van Winkle,The story of Rip Van Winkle is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. In a pleasant village, at the foot of New Yorks “Kaatskill“ Mountains, lives the kindl
24、y Rip Van Winkle, a colonial British-American villager of Dutch descent.,Rip Van Winkle,Rip is an amiable though somewhat hermitic man who enjoys solitary activities in the wilderness, but is also loved by all in townespecially the children to whom he tells stories and gives toys.However, a tendency
25、 to avoid all gainful labor, for which his nagging wife (Dame Van Winkle) chastises him, allows his home and farm to fall into disarray due to his lazy neglect.,Rip Van Winkle,One autumn day, Rip is escaping his wifes nagging, wandering up the mountains with his dog, Wolf. Hearing his name being sho
26、uted, Rip discovers that the speaker is a man dressed in antiquated Dutch clothing, carrying a keg up the mountain, who requires Rips help. Without exchanging words, the two hike up to an amphitheatre-like hollow in which Rip discovers the source of previously-heard thunderous noises: there is a gro
27、up of other ornately-dressed, silent, bearded men who are playing nine-pins.,Rip Van Winkle,Although there is no conversation and Rip does not ask the men who they are or how they know his name, he discreetly begins to drink some of their liquor, and soon falls asleep. He awakes in unusual circumsta
28、nces: It seems to be morning, his gun is rotted and rusty, his beard has grown a foot long, and Wolf is nowhere to be found. Rip returns to his village where he finds that he recognizes no one. Asking around, he discovers that his wife has died and that his close friends have died in a war or gone s
29、omewhere else.,Rip Van Winkle,He immediately gets into trouble when he proclaims himself a loyal subject of King George III, not knowing that the American Revolution has taken place; George IIIs portrait on the town inn has been replaced by that of George Washington.Rip is also disturbed to find ano
30、ther man is being called Rip Van Winkle (though this is in fact his son, who has now grown up).,Rip Van Winkle,The men he met in the mountains, Rip learns, are rumored to be the ghosts of Hendrick (Henry) Hudsons crew. Rip is told that he has apparently been away from the village for twenty years. A
31、n old local recognizes Rip and Rips now-adult daughter takes him in. Rip resumes his habitual idleness, and his tale is solemnly taken to heart by the Dutch settlers, with other hen-pecked husbands, after hearing his story, wishing they could share in Rips good luck, and have the luxury of sleeping
32、through the hardships of war.,“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“,It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, who is a lean, lanky, and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham “Brom Bones“ Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daug
33、hter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during “some nameless ba
34、ttle“ of the American Revolutionary War, and who “rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head“.,“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“,Ichabod mysteriously disappears from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was “to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was rel
35、ated“. Although the nature of the Headless Horseman is left open to interpretation, the story implies that the Horseman was really Brom in disguise.,How to Analyze an Essay?,1. Take a pencil in your hand. 2. Read the essay over once, quickly, looking for the main idea, for what the essay is about in
36、 general, and for what the author seems to be saying. Dont get bogged down in details. (If you come to an unfamiliar word, circle it but go on reading).,How to Analyze an Essay?,3. Check the meaning of unfamiliar words. If they seem to be key words, and scribble a brief definition at the bottom of t
37、he page or at the end of the essay. 4. Now re-read more slowly and carefully, this time making a conscious attempt to begin to isolate the single most important generalization the author makes: his thesis. Follow his line of thought; try to get some sense of structure.,How to Analyze an Essay?,5. Wh
38、en you think you have grasped the main point, the whole essay goes to prove, underline it and write thesis in the margin. If you find you have several possible theses, dont panic; they all fit together somehow. One or more will probably turn out to be supporting the thesis rather than part of it. No
39、w re-read for structure.,How to Analyze an Essay?,7. You now have the skeleton of the authors argument and should be able to follow his reasoning. 9. Finally, and very important, consider two other questions: WHY did the author write this, and for WHOM? What audience did he have in mind? What assump
40、tions did he make, i.e., what did he take for granted his audience already knew, or already believed, or both? Is his audience hostile or friendly?,How to Analyze an Essay?,10. If you know you are to be examined on the rhetorical techniques the author uses, now is the point to go on a deliberate hunt for them after you have thoroughly understood the essay.,
