名词解释第二次作业1

名词解释第二次作业

10商英1班曹婉10020103 1.Romanticism

At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries romanticism appeared in England as a new trend in literature. It rose and under the impetus of the Industrial Revolution and French Revolution.

Romanticism prevailed in england during the period 1798---1832.generally speaking,the romanticists expressed the ideology and sentiment of these classes and social strata who were discontent with,and opposed to,the development of capitalism.but owing to difference in social and political attitudes ,they split into two schools. Some romantic writers reflected the thinking of classes ruined by the bourgeoisie, and by way of protest against capitalist development turned to the feudal past. These were the elder generation of romanticists, sometimes called escapist romanticists, including Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey. Others expressed the aspirations of the classes created by capitalism and held out an ideal, though a vague one, of a future society free from oppression and exploitation. These were the younger generation of romanticists and sometimes called active romanticists represented by Byron, Shelley and Keats. So the general feature of the works of the romanticists is dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society. Their writings are filled with strong-willed heroes, formidable events, tragic situations, powerful conflicting passions, and exotic pictures. Sometimes they resort to symbolic methods. With the active romanticists, symbolic pictures represent a vague idea of some future society, while with the escapist romanticists; these often take on a mystic color. Romantic prose of the time was represented by Lamb, Hazlitt, De Q uincey and Hunt. The only great novelist in this period was Walter Scott.

2 English Critical Realism

In the period of tense class struggle appeared a new literary trend-critical realism. English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. The critical realists described with much vividness and great artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint. The English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. The major contribution made by the 19th century critical realists lies in their perfection of the novel.Humour and satire were used in the English realistic novels of the 19th century. Through the sketches of various negative characters given birth to by the capitalist system, critical realism reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of cash o upon human nature. Here lies the root of the democratic and humanistic character of the critical realism of the 19th century Charles Dickens was the greatest representative of English critical realism. With striking force and truthfulness, he creates pictures of bourgeois civilization, describing the misery and sufferings of the common people.David Copperfield was his favourite among all his books. Thackeray, like Dickens, was a representative of critical realism in 19th century England. One of his masterpieces is Vanity Fair.