美国文学Chapter 3

Chapter 4
• Background • native factors: It is a period following American independence. (Political independence, economic development and territorial expansion contributed much to literature.) • foreign influence: Romanticism emerged from England and it added impetus to the growth of Romanticism in America.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
• In 1833 Poe lived in Baltimore with his father's sister Mrs. Maria Clemm. After winning a prize of $50 for a short story, he started career as a staff member of various magazines, among which Southern Literary Messenger he had to leave partly due to his alcoholism. During these years he wrote some of his best-known stories. • In 1836 Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm. She bust a blood vessel in 1842, and remained a virtual invalid until her death from tuberculosis five years later.
Chapter 4
3) American new ideals were strong enough to inspire Romantic spirit (America is a newly independent nation from the colonial rule. There’re many new ideals. Its ideals of individualism, political equality and American dream were distinctly American.) 4) both imitative & independent (As a logical result of the foreign and native factors, American Romanticism was both imitative & independent.)
Washington Irving (1783-1859)
Major works: A History of New York (1809) The Sketch Book(1819) 1.Rip Van Winkle This short story are based on German folk tales, but Irving changed the setting of the original to the native Hudson river valley. 2.The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Ichabod Crane—shrewd, credulous, self-assertive, coward, commercial Brom Bones—country bumpkin, rough, vigorous, inwardly good • Style: change/ mutability (theme)
Chapter 4
• Distinct Features of American Romanticism 1) It was in essence the expression of a real new experience ( For example, the American national experience of western expansion was a rich fund of material for American writers. They were quite responsive to the stimulus which American life offered. The authors described both the frontier & the Indian life.) 2) American Puritanism served as a cultural heritage in American literature. ( American moral values were essentially Puritanism. Its influence over American Romanticism was quite noticeable. Many American Romanticism writers tended to moralize more than their European brothers.
Washington Irving (1783-1859)
• Concerned for his health, Irving’s brothers financed an extended tour of Europe from 1804 to 1806. • In late 1809, Irving completed work on his first major book, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker. • Washington Irving arrived in New York, after seventeen years abroad on May 21, 1832. • On the evening of November 28, 1859, Washington Irving died of a heart attack in his bedroom at Sunnyside at the age of 76.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
His Life: • Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to parents who were actors. His father David Poe Jr. died probably in 1810. Elizabeth Hopkins Poe died in 1811, leaving three children. Edgar was taken into the home of a Richmond merchant John Allan. The remaining children were cared for by others. Poe's brother William died young and sister Rosalie become later insane. At the age of five Poe could recite passages of English poetry. • Poe was brought up partly in England (1815-20), where he attended Manor School at Stoke Newington. Later it become the setting for his story “William Wilson”. Never legally adopted, Poe took Allan's name for his middle name.
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Chapter 3
The Literature of the Romantic Period
Chapter 4
American Romanticism • Definition: An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 1 8th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions.
Washington Irving (1783-1859)
His Life • Washington Irving was born on April 3, 1783, the same week city residents learned of the British ceasefire that ended the American Revolution. • A disinterested student, Irving preferred adventure stories and drama and, by age fourteen, was regularly sneaking out ofnd the theater. • The nineteen year old Irving began writing letters to The Morning Chronicle in 1802, submitting commentaries on New York’s social and theater scene under the name of Jonathan Oldstyle.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
• Poe attended the University of Virginia (1826-1827), but was expelled for not paying his gambling debts. This led to quarrel with Allan, who refused to pay the debts. Allan later disowned him. During his stay at the university, Poe composed some tales, but little is known of his apprentice works. • In 1827 Poe joined the U.S. Army as a common soldier under assumed name, Edgar A. Perry. In 1830 Poe entered West Point. He was dishonorably discharged next year, for intentional neglect of his duties - apparently as a result of his own determination to be released.