Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution
美国文学史及选读复习笔记(1-2册) 2
History And Anthology of American Literature (VolumeⅠⅡ)美国文学史及选读1、2PartⅠThe Literature of Colonial America殖民主义时期的文学1.17世纪早期English and European explorers开始登陆美洲。
在他们之前100多年Caribbean Islands, Mexico andother Parts of South America已被the Spanish占领。
2.17th早期English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts(弗吉尼亚和马萨诸塞)开始了美国历史3.First colonies: named after English monarchs and English lands: Georgia, Carolina, Maryland, New York, NewHampshire, and New England(including 6 states)4.美国最早殖民者(earliest settlers)included Dutch ,Swedes ,Germans ,French ,Spaniards ,Italians and Portuguese(荷兰人,瑞典人,德国人,法国人,西班牙人,意大利人及葡萄牙人等)。
5.First writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. 采用in diaries and injournals(日记和日志),他们写关于the land with dense forests and deep-blue lakes and rich soil.6.第一批美国永久居民:the first permanent English settlement in North America was established atJamestown,Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿)。
英语专业美国文学复习资料。
1.The History of American literatureThe literature of Colonial American (1607-1765)The literature of Reason and Revolution(1765—18世纪末)The literature of Romanticism(1800—1865)The literature of Realism(1865—1918)The literature of Modernism(1918-1945)The contemporary literature (1945-Now)2.Benjamin Franklin The AutobiographyThat good fortune, when I reflected on it, which is frequently the case, has induced me something to say that were it left to my choice, I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end, only asking the advantage authors have of correcting in a second edition some faults of the first.3.Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of IndependenceWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.4.Edgar Allan Poe The Cask of AmontilladoI must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.5.Washington Irving Rip Van Winkle ( The Sketch Book )“Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains, and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but, sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.”Interpretations of Rip Van WinkleA New Critical Approach: A peaceful village before Revolution Natural world in the mountains ; A noisy world after revolution ------Irving was unwilling to accept a modern democratic America ------both Rip and Irving prefer the past and a dream-like worldA Feminist Approach : Rip is a good person with more advantages than disadvantages, and readers always show sympathy on him because he has such bad-tempered wife. It seems that he has good reason to go out from his family. He was forced to go out .In fact , Rip: a lazy ,foolish man,an irresponsible father,a hard-hearted husband.His wife :a hard-working ,thrift woman, a kind ,responsible mother, an able, brave woman.6.Summit of Romanticism (American Transcendentalism)Emerson Nature & Self-RelianceThoreau WaldenNature : Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances, -- master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages.Self Reliance:Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.Walden:1 A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.2 I have frequently seen a poet withdraw , having enjoyed the most valuable part of a farm, while the crusty farmers supposed that he had got a few apples only.3 The hollow and lichen-covered apple trees, gnawed by rabbits, showing what kind of neighbors I should have.4 But I would say to my fellows, once for all, as long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the country jail.5 As I have said , I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up.6 The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it.7 The Harivansa says,“An abode without birds is like a meat without seasoning.”such was not my abode, for I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds, not by having imprisoned one, but having caged myself near them8 “There was a shepherd that did live, And held his thoughts as high .As were the mounts whereon his flocks. Did hourly feed his by”What should we think of the shepherd’s life if his flocks always wandered to higher pastures than his thoughts?Purpose : 1.escaping the effects of the Industrial Revolution by leading to a simpler life.2.simplifying life and reducing expenditures, increasing writings time3.putting into practice the Transcendentalist beliefIdeas : 1. the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.2 .was very critical of modern civilization.3.spiritual richness is real wealth7.Hawthorne The Scarlet LetterHester Prynne--1.confesses her guilty, faces the future optimistically,helps others2. able to construct her life, wins a moral success3. moral growth-----angelDimmesdale----1.hides his guilty first2.undergoes the physical and spiritual tormentsChillingworth--morally degrades by his pursuit of revengePearl----1, it means treasure ( the treasure to her mother. )2, Came out of an ugly shell but is beautifulTheme: 1 Don’t intend to tell a love story2 assumes the universalityof guilty3 explores the complexities and ambiguities of man’s choices4 focuses his attention on the moral, emotional, and psychological effects of the sin on the people.8.Longfellow A Paslm of Life / The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls / I shot an Arrow / My Lost Youth / The Rainy DayThe tide rises,The Tide Falls (1879)The tide rises, the tide falls, The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;Along the sea-sands damp and brown, The traveler hastens toward the town,And the tide rises, the tide falls.Darkness settles on roofs and walls,But the sea in the darkness calls;The little waves, with their soft white hands,Efface the footprints in the sands,And the tide rises, the tide falls.The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls, Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;The day returns, but nevermore . Returns the traveler to the shore,And the tide rises, the tide falls.My Lost YouthOften I think of the beautiful townThat is seated by the sea;Often in thought go up and downThe pleasant streets of that dear old town,And my youth comes back to me.And a verse of a Lapland songIs haunting my memory still'A boy's will is the wind's will,And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughtsI shot an arrowI shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where;For, so swiftly it flew, the sight. Could not follow it in its flight.I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where;For who has sight so keen and strong,That it can follow the flight of song?Long, long afterward, in an oak. I found the arrow, still unbroken;And the song, from beginning to end,I found again in the heart of a friend.9.Edgar Allan Poe To Helen Annabel Lee “The Raven”For the moon never beams without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful ANNABEL LEE ;And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyesOf the beautiful ANNABEL LEE ;And so,all the night-tide , I lie down by the sideOf my darling —my darling —my life and my bride,In her sepulcher there by the sea—,In her tomb by the sounding sea.10.Emily Dickinson I Started Early-Took My Dog- I am NobodyTo Make a Prairie Success is counted sweetestI started Early -- Took my Dog -- And visited the Sea --The Mermaids in the Basement Came out to look at me --And Frigates -- in the Upper Floor Extended Hempen Hands --Presuming Me to be a Mouse -- Aground -- upon the Sands --But no Man moved Me -- till the Tide Went past my simple Shoe --And past my Apron -- and my Belt -- And past my Bodice -- too --And made as He would eat me up --As wholly as a Dew Upon a Dandelion's Sleeve --And then -- I started -- too -- And He -- He followed -- close behind --I felt his Silver Heel Upon my Ankle -- Then my ShoesWould overflow with Pearl --Until We met the Solid Town -- No One He seemed to know --And bowing -- with a Might look -- At me -- The Sea withdrew --1 The speaker is extremely frightened by the sea.2.The speaker also seems attracted to the sea.3. The speaker runs to town to escape the sea.4. She has a conflicted relationship to the sea.5. she is attracted to sth that frightens her---her self consciousness may mean she has some desire about which she feels guilty.Water, The seaThe unconscious, the emotions, the desire, the sexuality.The speaker’s conflicted attitude toward the sea implies a conflicted attitude toward sex (sex both attract and frightens her)11.Whitman Leaves of Grass One's Self I Sing O Captain! My Captain(free verse)The "ship" is intended to represent the United States of America, while its "fearful trip" recalls the troubles of the American Civil War. The "Captain" is Lincoln himself. (metaphor ) Rrhyme scheme : a a b b c d e d12.Mark Twain (realism) The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras CountyThe Adventure of Tom Sawyer13.Naturalism Theodore Sister CarrieStephen Crane The Open Boat1. Sister CarrieOh, Carrie, Carrie! Oh, blind strivings of the human heart! Onward, onward, it saith(say), and where beauty leads, there it follows. Whether it be the tinkle of a lone sheep bell o‘er some quiet landscape, or the glimmer of beauty in sylvan places, or the show of soul in some passing eye, the heart knows and makes answer, following. It is when the feet weary and hope seems vain that the heartaches and the longings arise. Know, then, that for you is neither surfeit(过量)nor content. In your rocking-chair, by your window dreaming, shall you long, alone. In your rocking-chair, by your window, shall you dream such happiness as you may never feel.2. The Open BoatNaturalism in the story1,The indifference of natureThe oiler was the most skilled and capable manIf nature were just, The oiler would be the last of the four men who should have died. The oiler’s death and lack of explanation surrounding it reinforce the randomness of nature’s whims and symbolize the indifference of nature toward manIn the story a bird watches them and is completely indifferent.2,The survival of the fittestWhile the cook, captain, and correspondent all depend on a manmade or naturally occurring device to help them to the shore, the oiler goes it alone, relying only on his human strength and not on his more evolved capacity for thought and strategy.The “fittest”are the men who have relied on man’s ability to intelligently adapt and create.3,Man’s insignificance and aloneness in the universeThey think the man sees them. Then they think they see two men, then a crowd and perhaps a boat being rolled down to the shore. They stubbornly think that help is on the way as the shadows lengthen and the sea and sky turn black.14.Sherwood Anderson The Triumph of The EggThe Egg’s Symbolic Meanings :1.The Egg: The Robber2.The Egg: Beautiful But Fragile American Dream3 The Egg: The Old Unsolved Riddle15.Anne Porter The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (Stream-of-Consciousness Narration)16.F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great GatsbyEast Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made richThe unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals.Do you think Gatsby deserves to be called “the great”?It is complicated to say Gatsby deserves to be “great”or not.For one thing, Gatsby’s capacity to dream makes him “great”. Gatsby was ambitious, hardworking, generous and passionate. He was so extremely loyal to his love Daisy that he could do anything to get Daisy back: he did shady business to earn money and social position; he threw luxurious parties just to draw Daisy’s attention; he could take the blame for a death that he did not cause. Gatsby never gave up his idealistic dream while striving for material joy. Gatsby kept on making efforts to balance the both sides. In this respect, he is great.For another thing, Gatsby never realized that Daisy wasn’t the girl he loved anymore. He is not so wise and he can not see the people clearly. Gatsby was so innocent that he staked everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. In this respect, He wasn’t sober enough to be great.17.Ernest Hemingway (Iceberg theory)A Clean, Well-lighted Place The Old Man and The Sea18.Modern Poetry ImagismPound In a Station of the MetroWilliam Carlos Williams Spring and All The Red Wheelbarrow so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.19.Robert FrostFire And IceThe Road Not TakenStopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningWhose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though; (woods 象征着大自然,而village 象征着人类社会)He will not see me stopping here,To watch his woods fill up with snow (snow --- purity )My little horse must think it queer,To stop without a farmhouse near,Between the woods and frozen lake,The darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shake, (he---My horse,Personification )To ask if there is some mistake.The only other sound’s the sweep, (Alliteration )Of easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark and deep, (Alliteration )But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.Rhyme : interlocking enclosed rhyme (aaba ,bbcb,ccdc, dddd)Rhetorical DeviceAlliteration---sound & sleep; dark & deepPersonification “he”—horse “My little horse must think it queer.”Repetition (重复) “and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.( Superficial meaning: there is still a long distance before the speaker arrives at home and sleeps. Implied meaning: there are still numerous responsibilities before the speaker’s life comes to an end.SymbolismWoods--The mystery of nature; the temptations in our lifeVillage & He (the owner of the woods)—Human world & societySnow--Something of purityPromises--The unavoidable responsibilities & obligationsMiles--Long distance; the heavy duty of lifeSleep--Rest during night; the end of life (death)I am on my way--The journey of life20.Eugene O’Neill Desire Under the Elms (Abbie,Eben,Ephraim, Simeon ,Peter)21.Toni Morrison Recitatif。
美国文学填空填空题练习
Part I. The Literature of Colonial America1. The most enduring shaping influence in American thought and American literature was American Puritanism11. Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety, these were the Puritan values that dominated much of the early American writing.Part II. The Literature of Reason and Revolution3. Benjamin Franklin also edited the first colonial magazine, which he called the General Magazine.4. Benjamin Franklin's best writing is found in his masterpiece Autobiography9. The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was Philip Freneau10. Philip Freneau's famous poem The British Prison Ship was written about his imprisoned experience.11. Philip Freneau was considered as the " poet of the American Revolution. "12. Philip Freneau has been called the "Father of American Poetry."14. In American literature, the eighteenth century was an Age of Reason and Revolution.Part III. The Literature of Romanticism1. In the early nineteenth century, Washington Irving wrote The Sketch Book which became the first work by an American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.2. In 1828, Noah Webster published his An American Dictionary of the English Language.3. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his remarkable dictionary named Dictionary of the English Language.4. The Civil War of 1861—1865 ended in the defeat of the Southerners and the abolition of Slavery5. The American Transcendentalists formed a club called the Transcendental Club.6. The Transcendental Club often met at Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord home.7.Washington Irving was regarded as the first great prose stylist of American romanticism.8. At nineteen, Washington Irving published in his brother's newspaper, his "Jonathan Old style" satires of New York life.9. In Washington Irving's work The Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.10. In Paris, Washington Irving met John Howard Payne, the American dramatist and actor, with whom Irving wrote his brilliant social comedy Charles the Second, or The Merry Monarch.11. The short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is taken from Washington Irving's work named The Sketch Book.12.Washington Irving was the first American to achieve an international literary reputation after the Revolutionary War.13. Washington Irving' s first book appeared in 1809. It was entitled The History of New York.14. Washington Irving also wrote two biographies, one is The Life of Oliver Gold¬smith, and the other is Life of Washington.15. The first important American novelist was James Fenimore Cooper16. James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Spy was a rousing tale about espionage against the British during the Revolutionary War.17. The best of James Fenimore Cooper's sea romances was The Pilot. The hero of the novel represents John Paul Jones, the great naval fighter of the Revolutionary War.18. The central figure in the Leather stocking Tales is Natty Bumppo , who goes by the various names of Leather stocking,Deer slayer, Pathfinder and Hawkeye.19. To a Waterfowl" is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant ' s work, it has been called by an eminent English critic " the most perfect brief poem in the language. "20.William Cullen Bryant was the first American to gain the stature of a major poet in the world literature.21. Among William Cullen Bryant's most important later works are his translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey into English blank verse.22. Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Bells is perhaps the best example of onomatopoeia in the English language.23. Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven was published in 1845 as the title poem of a collection.24. Ralph Waldo Emerson was responsible for bringing transcendentalism to New England.25. Ralph Waldo Emerson's truest disciple, the man who put into practice many of Emerson's theories, was Henry David Thoreau26. In 1845, Henry David Thoreau began a two-year residence at Walden Pond.27. A superb book entitled Walden came out of Henry David Thoreau's two-year experiment at Walden Pond.28. From Henry David Thoreau's Concord jail experience, came his famous essay Civil Disobedience.29. Hester Prynne is the heroine in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter.30. Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.31. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's first collection of poems entitled Voices of the Night appeared in 1838.32. The most scholarly of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's writings is his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy.33. Besides lyrics and longer poems Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote dramatic works, among which Michael Angelo is the most conspicuous.34. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Lowell are the only two American poets commemorated in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.35. After his death, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.36. The American Romantic period stretches from the end of the eighteenth century through the outburst of the Civil War.37. The English author named Sir Walter Scott was, in a way, responsible for the romantic description of landscape in American literature and the development of American Indian romance. His Waverley novels were models for American historical romances.38. Published in 1823, The Pioneers was the first of the Leather stocking Tales, in their order of publication time, and probably the first true romance of the frontier in American literature.39. In The Pioneers, Natty Bumppo represents the ideal American, living a virtuous and free life in God' s world.40. In 1836, a little book came out which made a tremendous impact on the intellectual life of America. It was entitled Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson41. Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay The American Scholar has been regarded as "America's Declaration of Intellectual Independence". It called on American writers to write about America in a way peculiarly American.42. Another renowned New England Transcendentalist was Henry David Thoreau a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson' s and his junior by some fourteen years.43. The way in which Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter suggests that American Romanticism adapted itself to American puritan moralism.44. Herman Melville's world classic novel Moby Dick was dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne a novelist.45. It is said that in his late years, Herman Melville stopped writing novels and stories and turned to poetry, Clarel is his most famous poetic work.46. Herman Melville is best known as the author of one book named Moby Dick which is, critics have agreed, one of theworld's greatest masterpieces.Part IV. The Literature of Realism1. Realism had originated in the country France as a literary doctrine that called for "reality and truth" in the depiction of ordinary life.2. The arbiter of nineteenth century literary realism in America was William Dean Howells.3. Henry James probed deeply at the individual psychology of his characters, writing in a rich and intricate style that supported his intense scrutiny of complex human experience.4. Mark Twain, breaking out of the narrow limits of local color fiction, described the breadth of American experience as no one had ever done before, or since.5. Darwinism had an evident influence on naturalism. It seemed to stress the animality of man, to suggest that he was dominated by the irresistible forces of evolution.6. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse, that is poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.7. In his cluster of poems called Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman gave America its first genuine epic poem.8. There is no doubt that the solitary Emily Dickinson of Amherst, Massachusetts, is a poet of great power and beauty.9. There was only one female prose writer in the nineteenth century. That was Harriet Beecher Stowe10. Harriet Beecher Stowe's masterpiece is Uncle Tom's Cabin.11. Samuel Langhorne Clemens is better known by the pen name Mark Twain .12. One of Samuel Langhorne Clemens' best books Life on the Mississippi is built around his experiences as a steamboat pilot.13. The result of Mark Twain's European trip was a series of newspaper articles, later published as a book called Innocents Abroad.14. Mark Twain was the first literary giant born west of the Mississippi.15. Mark Twain's work The Mysterious Stranger tells of the visits of an angel to the village of Eseldorf in Austria in 1590.16. William Sidney Porter, whose pen name was O. Henry, was the author of The Cop and the Anthem.17. Many of O. Henry's stories tell about the life of poor people in New York.18. 0. Henry sympathized with the poor's lot and hated those rich who exploited and despised them. This is especially seen in his story entitled An Unfinished story.19. It is said that O. Henry imitated a French author named De Maupassant as a model, and there is indeed much in common between these two writers.20. The title of one of O. Henry's books The Four Millions indicates that he considered all the people of New York City worth writing about, instead of only the upper class.21. Henry James' first novel is Watch and Ward, which failed to make him famous.22. The novel which was described by an American critic as "an outrage to American girlhood" is Henry James' Daisy Miller .23. Henry James' first important fiction was A Passionate Pilgrim in which he took up for the first time the theme of The American in Europe.24. In 1881, Henry James published his novel The Portrait of a Lady, which is generally considered as his masterpiece.25. Henry James is considered the founder of Psychological realism. He believed that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator.26. The name of the heroine in The Portrait of a Lady is Isabel Archer.27. In 1902 Jack London published his first novel A Daughter of the Snows .28. Martin Eden is the novel into which Jack London put most of himself.29. The first novel of Theodore Dreiser was Sister Carrie.30. The identification of potency with money is at the heart of Theodore Dreiser's masterpiece An American Tragedy.31. The protagonisw of Theodore Dreiser's Trilogy of Desire is Frank Cowperwood.32. Theodore Dreiser visited the Soviet Union in 1927 and published Dreiser Looks at Russia the following year.33. Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie , a commercial and critical failure when first published in 1900, was reissued in 1907 and won high praise for its grim, naturalistic portrayal of American society.34. Mark Twain's first novel, The Gilded Age was an artistic failure, but it gave its name to the America of the postbellum period which it attempts to satirize.35. Three years' life on the Mississippi left such a fond memory with Mark Twain that he returned to the theme more than once in his writing career. His book Life on the Mississippi relates it in a vivid, moving way.36. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was Mark Twain' s masterpiece from which, as Hemingway noted, "all modern American literature comes. "37. The best work that Mark Twain ever produced is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , which was a success from its first publication in 1884, and has always been regarded as one of the great books of western literature and western civilization.38. Stephen Crane is the pioneer who wrote in the naturalistic tradition.39. Stephen Crane's novel Maggi; A Girl of the Streets relates the story of a good woman' s down¬ fall and destruction ina slum environment.40. War in the novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is a plain slaughter-house. There is nothing like valor or heroism on the battlefield, and if there is anything, it is the fear of death, cowardice, the natural instinct of man to run from danger.41. Benjamin Frank Norris' novel McTe ague has been called "the first full-bodied naturalistic American novel" and "a consciously naturalistic manifesto".42. Jack London's masterwork Martin Eden is somewhat autobiographical.43. O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi is a very moving story of a young couple who sell their best possessions in order to get money for a Christmas present for each other.Part V. Twentieth Century Literature (I) Before WWII1. The First World War stands as a great dividing line between the nineteenth century and the contemporary American literature.2. American writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a "Lost Generation " , devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.3. The most significant American poem of the twentieth century was The Waste Land.4. The publication of The Waste Land, written by Thomas Stearns Eliot, helped to establish a modern tradition of literature rich with learning and allusive thought.5. In 1920, Sinclair Lewis published his memorable denunciation of American small-town provincialism in Main Street .6. F. Scott Fitzgerald summarized the experiences and attitudes of the 1920s decade in his masterpiece novel The Great Gatsby7. The Great Depression of the 1930s greatly weakened the American nation's self-confidence.8. An American woman writer named Gertrude Stein who had lived in Paris since 1903, welcomed the young expatriates to her literary salon, and gave them a name "the Lost Generation".9. William Faulkner wrote about the disintegration of the old social system in the American Southern States, and its effecton the lives of modern people, both black and white.10. Ezra Pound was the leader of a new movement in poetry which he called the "Imagist" movement.11. Ezra Pound's major work of poetry is the long poem called The Cantos.12. One of Edwin Arlington Robinson's early books, Captain Craig, once came to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt.13. Edwin Arlington Robinson produced a large body of works and was honored with the Pulitzer Prize in 1922, 1925 and 1928.14. Robert Frost' s first book A Boy's Will brought him to the attention of influential critics, such as Ezra Pound, who praised him as an authentic poet.15. Robert Frost's second volume of poems was North of Boston16. "After Apple-Picking" is a well-known poem written by Robert Frost17. New Hampshire, one of Robert Frost's longest poems, is a very witty and wise anecdotal discussion about the values of life and character.18. At one time, Sandburg's reputation mainly rested on a multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln including "The Prairie Years" and "The War Years".19. Carl Sandburg' s love of folklore developed in time into a rather modern tendency to represent it in literature such as in his The People,Yes .20. Wallace Stevens was successful in two fields of activity which did not seem compatible with one another; he was a very successful businessman and a very re¬markable contemporary poet at the same time.21. At the age of 44, Wallace Stevens was finally persuaded to publish a book of poems, entitled Harmonium.22. The Necessary Angel is a collection of Wallace Stevens' s occasional lectures on poetry.23. For the publication of his Collected Poems, Wallace Stevens received the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.24. After his death, Wallace Stevens' s previously uncollected works appeared under the title Opus Posthumous.25. In 1915, Thomas Stearns Eliot published his Prufrock and Other Observations.26. In 1920, Thomas Stearns Eliot published his The Sacred Wood, containing, among other essays, "Tradition and the Individual Talent", the earliest statement of his aesthetics.27. In 1920, Thomas Stearns Eliot began to write his masterpiece The Waste Land, one of the major works of modern literature.28. As Thomas Stearns Eliot declared, he followed strictly the advice of his close friend Ezra Pound in cutting and concentrating The Waste Land.29. Thomas Stearns Eliot's later poetry took a positive turn toward faith in life. This was demonstrated by Ash-Wednesday,a poem of mystical conflict between faith and doubt.30. In his work The Hollow Men, Thomas Stearns Eliot satirized the straw men, the Guy Fawkles men, whose world would end "not with a bang, but a whimper."31. Few men of letters have been more fully honored in their own day than Thomas Stearns Eliot, and even those who strongly disagree with him seemed content with his selection for the Nobel Prize in 1948.32. Thomas Steams Eliot wrote seven plays, the best of which is Murder in the Cathedral, a verse play on an ancient historical subject, written in 1935.33. Thomas Stearns Eliot's last important work was Four Quartets, a profound meditation on time and timelessness, written in four parts.34. F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel This Side of Paradise, with its portrayal of casual dissipations of "flaming youth" , was an immediate commercial success.35. In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his best novel The Great Gatsby. It is the story of an idealist who was destroyed by the influence of the wealthy, pleasure-seeking people around him.36. F. Scott Fitzgerald' s second novel The Beautiful and the Damned describes a handsome young man and his beautiful wife, undoubtedly modelled after himself and Zelda.37. The hero in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel Tender is the Night is a psychiatrist who marries a rich patient. The author condemns the wasted energy of misguided youth.38. F. Scott Fitzgerald's last novel The Last Tycoon remained unfinished.39. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway became the spokes¬ man for what Gertrude Stein had called "a Lost Generation".40. Emest Hemingway's stature as a writer was confirmed with the publication of his novel A Farewell to Arms in 1929. The novel portrayed a farewell both to war and to love.41. Set in Spain during the Civil War, the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls stated again Hemingway ' s view of love found and lost, and described the indomitable spirit of the common people.42. In the story The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway portrayed an old fisherman named Santiago, who shows triumphant even in defeat.43. In 1954, Ernest Hemingway was awarded a Nobel Prize for his "mastery of the art of modem narration".44. Numerous parallels exist between the events of Ernest Hemingway's life and those of his characters, but fewer were closer than those of Richard Cantwell, the hero of the work Across the River and into the Trees.45. In 1952, Ernest Hemingway published a successful novel entitled The Old Man and the Sea, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and occasioned the award of the Nobel Prize in 1954.46. In the same way that F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tales of the Jazz Age became the symbol for an age, Ernest Hemingway' s novel The Sun also Rises painted the image of a whole generation, the Lost Generation.47. Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms can be read as a footnote to The Sun Also Rises in that it explains how people, like Jake Barnes, come to behave the way they do.48. The Spanish war was conductive to Ernest Hemingway's writing The Fifth Column, a play which was universally deplored.49. John Steinbeck was the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s.50. In the short novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrayed the tragic friendship between two migrant workers.51. In the work The Long Valley John Steinbeck described the fate of the lowly whose instinctive responses to life led only to destruction.52. The Grapes of Wrath is generally regarded as John Steinbeck's masterpiece.53. In 1935, John Steinbeck published Tortilla Flat, a collection of short stories which vividly described the life of poor Mexican-Americans with affection and humor.54. John Steinbeck's post-war novel The Pearl reflected his bitter feelings against those greedy, rapacious elements of society which made the war possible.55. Quentin is a character in William Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury56. Joe Christmas is a character in William Faulkner's novel Light in August.57. The works written by William Faulkner may be viewed as a culmination of the development of twentieth-century southern fiction.58. Katherine Ann Porter's novel Ship of Fools consists of three parts, "Embarkation", "High Sea" , "The Harbors"59. In her essay "Place in Fiction" , Eudora Welty emphasizes the importance of for literary creations. She is noted for her fidelity to the American South, so her major theme relate to place, traditional southern family relationships.60. Carson McCullers was said to touch William Faulkner in writing, and her well-known novels are and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe61. One of the important figures in the 1930s who tried to adapt European avantgardism to American writing is Nathanael West62. The New Criticism first emerged in 1920s as a reaction against the prevailing time-honored critical tendency to focus on thetheme often in disregard of the form of the work. The name is given by John Crowe Ransom's collection of critical essays The New Criticism .Part VI. Twentieth Century Literature (II) After WWII2. In poetry, Postmodernism strives to go against the vogue of the New Critical poem and its parent style, the High Modernism of the previous decades.4. Allen Ginsberg is the spokesman of postwar Beat Generation in American literary history.17. J. D. Salinger is probably best known for his novel The Catcher in the Rye26. Joseph Heller's Catch-22is one of the most famous novels dealing with the subject of absurdity in typical "obscure" techniques.Part VII. American Drama1. Eugene O' Neill is the first master in the American history of drama.2. In 1916, Eugene O' Neill's first play Bound East for Cardiff was put on by the Province-town Players, which was significant not only for him but for American Drama.5. Eugene O' Neill received the Pulitzer Prize for his Beyond the Horizon and Anna Christie between 1920 and 1922, and Nobel Prize in 1936.10. The Theater of the Absurd in the 1950s and 1960s refers to some plays, some of which center on the meaninglessness of life with its pain and suffering that seems funny, even ridiculous. Edward Albee is one of the representatives.Part VIII. Multi-ethnic Literature1. African American literature centers on a myth, though also biblical, quite different from that on which mainstream American literature is based.2. African American literature is patterned on a myth of_deliverance from slavery, that of the Hebrew prophet Moses leading the Jews in their flight from the bondage in Egypt.3. African American literature has undergone a long process of evolution. Its early form was oral, including songs, ballads and spirituals, in short, folk literature in its various manifestations.6. In the 1940 Richard Wright's Native Son came out as a watershed in the tradition of the African American novel.7. Toni Morrison and Alice Walker are two of the most important female African American novelists.14. By far the most important person in the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes known as African Americans' poet laureate, who ultimately outgrew the movement, and developed into one of the major African American authors to help make African American culture.15. Langston Hughes was one of the founders of the black theater in the Federal Theater Project during the Depression. 18. Native Son by Richard Wright is a story about an African American adolescent's growth of awareness. It consists of three sections, namely "Fear", "Right" and "Fate".19. African American literature attained a higher degree of maturity in 1952 when Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man appeared in print.21. Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon is seen as another milestone in African American literature after Native Son and Invisible Man. It tells the story of an African American trying to recover his family roots.29. Another important Asian American writer is Amy Tan, whose first novel, The Joy Luck Club, made quite a stir on the contemporary American literary scene and brought Asian American literature to the intensive scrutiny of readers and critics alike.。
2.The literature of reason and revolution
Originated in Europe in the 17th century Resources: Newton’s theory自然科学 的发展使人们认识到人类是可以征服 自然的; deism(自然神教派,宗教与 启蒙精神相结合的产物); French philosophy <Rousseau卢梭(17121778), 法国启蒙思想家, 哲学家, 教育 家和文学家, Voltaire伏尔泰>
◆April 19, 1775, the battle of Lexington莱克星顿 战役, a town of northeast Massachusetts, the beginning of the Independence War ◆ July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, 托马斯·杰弗逊 (1743─1826,为美国第三任总统(1801─1809), Declaration of Independence ◆ 1778, alliance with France, turning point for American army ◆ 1778, English army surrendered ◆ 1783, formal recognition from Britain government
⑵ Literary works
Poor Richard’s Almanac《穷查理 的年历》 Modeled on farmers’ annual calendar; kept publishing for many years; includes many classical sayings. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” 省钱等于赚钱。勤俭积财。 “ Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
美国文学史及选读考研复习笔记2
History And Anthology of American Literature(2)Part ⅡThe Literature of Reason And Revolution理性和革命时期文学1.托马斯·佩因《常识》Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”;托马斯·杰弗逊《独立宣言》Thomas Jefferson “Declaration of Independence”2.在经济方面,英国要求美出口原材料,后从英国购回高成本的机器they hampered colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country.3.在政治方面,要求他们归英国政府统一管理,交各种税收但在议会中却没有代表by ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.4.美独立战争持续了八年(1776-1783)The War for Independence.诺亚·韦伯斯特(Noah Webster)说:文化上的独立,艺术上的著名。
5.文学上独立的代表作:1785年杰弗逊:《弗吉尼亚洲的声明》Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia”;1791年巴特姆:《旅行笔记》“Travels” by BartramⅠ. Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林1706-1790殖民地时期作家。
2 The Literature of Reason and Revolution _Benjamin Franklin
The Literature of Reason and Revolution(1765-1799)●Social background●Enlightenment in American●CultureNew York StateAmerican EnlightenmentAmerican and English Enlightenment:Similarities:Emphasis on education, science, reason, and orderDifference:“In America Enlightenment ideas nurtured a greaterparticipatory interest in worldly affairs: Americansbelieved that more reasonable political and socialorders should be established. Under the influence ofEnlightenment, Americans also learned to take actionsto resist oppressive power and to criticize and reformgovernments.”(Tong, 2002:40).●Social background●Enlightenment in American●Culture●(2) American RevolutionNew York StateThe War of Independence (1776-1783)(Main Literary Genre:essays, speeches, pamphlets)Thomas Paine–American Crisis (Common Sense)Thomas Jefferson—“The Declaration of Independence”The Most Important Writer of the AgeBenjamin Franklin --AutobiographyBenjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Everything seems to meet in this one man, mind and will, talent and art, strength and ease, wit and grace, and he became almost everything: a printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador.Herman Melville described him, “master of each and mastered by none”. (qtd. in Chang, 2006:34)As an inventor and scientist:He proved the identity of lightning and electricityand invented the lightning rod, etc.As a printer:He set up his own printing press.As a statesman and diplomat:He actively participated in the American Revolution.As a writer :Autobiography 《自传》(《富兰克林自传》)Poor Richard’s Almanac 《格言历书》● Contents of Poor Richard’s Almanac:● * Calendar, weather, astronomical information,● mathematical exercise● * Proverbs●●Sayings in Poor Richard’s Almanac:●Lost time is never found again.● A penny saved is a penny found.●God help them that help themselves.●Fish and visitors stink in three days.Autobiography is a book on the art of self-improvement , an inspiring account of a poor boy’s rise to wealth and fame.Benjamin FranklinAutobiographyMemoirsfour parts; 65 years old when he wrote itContentsAn inspiring account of a poor boy’s rise to a high position.A how-to-do-it book, one on the art of self- improvement;Covering his life only until 1757 when he was 51 years old;Describing his life as a shrewd and industrious businessman;Narrating how he owned the constant felicity of his life, his long-continued health and acquisition of fortune.Featuresa Puritan documentspokesman for American EnlightenmentStylesimplicity, directness and concisionSignificancethe beginning of the subject of American Dream in literaturebegan the genre of autobiography in American lit.●Structure of the Book:●Three parts:●* The first part portrays Franklin as a young man in Boston and Philadelphia.●(Narrator: a more mature adult Franklin)●* The second part –an “art of virtue”section.●* The third part reveals how the adult Franklin uses his principles of conduct to performhis roles as a scientist and a statesman.Franklin’s 13 virtuesAutobiography:1. TEMPERANCE Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation节制: 食不过饱,饮酒不醉2. SILENCE Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.寡言: 言必与人与己有益,避免闲聊3. ORDER Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.生活秩序: 每样东西应有一定地方,每件日常事应有一定时间去做4. RESOLUTION Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.决心: 决心做的事坚持不懈5. FRUGALITY Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, waste nothing.俭朴: 用钱必须与人与己有益,避免浪费6. INDUSTRY Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off allunnecessary actions.勤勉: 不浪费时间,每时每刻有事做,去掉一切不必要行动7. SINCERITY Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; speak accordingly.诚恳: 不欺骗人,思想要纯洁公正,说话也如此8. JUSTICE Wrong none by doing injuries; or omitting the benefits that are your duty.公正: 不做损人利己的事,不要忘记履行应尽的义务9. MODERATION Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.适度: 避免极端, 人若给你应得处罚, 当容忍之10. CLEANLINESS Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.清洁: 身体衣服和住所力求清洁11. TRANQUILITY Be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents common or unavoidable.镇静: 勿因小事和不可避免的事而惊慌失措12. CHASTITY Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.贞节: 绝不损害自己和他人的安宁和名誉13. HUMILITY Imitate Jesus and Socrates.谦虚: 仿效耶稣和苏格拉底●●What is it mainly about?●Experiences of reading as a child;●Experiences of becoming a printer and writing ballads;●Experiences of taking up prose writing.●Do you find the language difficult to understand?●Sentence length: mostly2-3 lines●Diction: mostly homely, simple words of Anglo-Saxon origin●Syntax: few inverted sentences●Few rhetorical devices●Significance of Franklin's Autobiography●Subject matter:●It is probably the first of its kind in Literature.● * A faithful account of the colorful life of America’s● first self-made man.* Poor and obscure* Wealthy and famous*A typical example of the fulfillment of the American Dream.●●Theme:●* A reflection of the age: a demonstration of Enlightenment.●emphasis on reason and order —13 virtues● e.g.●Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.●●Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of●your business have its time.●* A Puritan document.●(A Record of self-examination and self-improvement)●Style:● A Exhibition of a simple, concise, direct style.●As Chang points out, “it is safe to say that the book is an exemplaryillustration of the American style of writing”(2006:34).Other Possible Themes in Franklin’s Writing● 1. Interest in the individual and society; the creation of an American nationalidentity.● 2. Tension between aristocracy and democracy; the awareness of America beingdistinct from England in values and interests.● 3. Tension between appearance and reality; shift from an other worldly to thisworldly viewpoint.● 4. Tension between romantic idealism and pragmatic rationalism.。
美国文学史总结
PartITheLiteratureofColonialAmerica(殖民地时期的文学)Chapter1→JohnSmith约翰.史密斯1.ATrueRelationofSuchOccurrencesandAccidentsofNoteasHathHappenedinVirginiaSincetheFirstPlantingofThatColony《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》(1608)2.AMapofVirginiawithaDescriptionoftheCountry《弗吉尼亚地图,附:一个乡村的描述》(1612)3.TheGeneralHistoryofVirginia,NewEngland,andtheSummerIsles《弗吉尼亚通史》(1624)Chapter2→1.)monSense《常识》(1776)3.TheAmericaCrisis《美国危机》(1776-1883)(aseriesofsixteenpamphlets)(signed“CommonSense”)4.RightsofMan《人权》(I1791年,II1792年)5.TheAgeofReason《理性时代》6.AgrarianJustice《土地公平》(hislastimportanttreatise他最后一部重要著作)Chapter7→ThomasJefferson(托马斯.杰弗逊)TheDeclarationofIndependence《独立宣言》(BenjaminFranklin&Jefferson杰弗逊)(1776)Chapter8→PhilipFreneau(菲利普.弗瑞诺)1.ThePowerofFancy《想象的力量》(1770)2.TheHouseofNight《英国囚船》(1781)HisearlierpoemswerecollectedinThePoemsofPhilipFreneauWrittenChieflyDuringtheLateWar这些早期作品后来于1786年一起被收录在《战争后期弗洛诺主要诗歌集》中。
美国文学史总结
美国文学史总结Part I The Literature of Colonial America(殖民地时期的文学)Chapter 1→John Smith 约翰.史密斯1. A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened inVirginia Since the First Planting of That Colony 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》(1608)2. A Map of Virginia with a Description of the Country 《弗吉尼亚地图,附:一个乡村的描述》(1612)3.The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles 《弗吉尼亚通史》(1624)Chapter 2→William Bradford (威廉.布拉德福德)→Of Plymouth Plantation 《普利茅斯开发史》(1826)→John Winthrop (约翰.温思罗普)→The History of New England from 1630 to 1649 《新英格兰史》(1856)Chapter 3→John Cotton (约翰.科登)→Roger Williams (罗杰.威廉姆斯)→ A Key into the Language of America 《开启美国语言的钥匙》/《美国新英格兰地区土著居民语言指南》Chapter 4→Anne Bradstreet(安妮.布雷兹特里特)(女性作家)→The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America 《在美洲诞生的第十位缪斯》→Edward Taylor (爱德华.泰勒)(女性作家)→Psalms 《诗篇》Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution(理性和革命时期文学)Chapter 5→Benjamin Franklin (本杰明.富兰克林)1.Poor Richard ’s Almanac 《穷理查德年鉴》(1732-1758,1729年正式出版)2.The Declaration of Independence 《独立宣言》(Franklin & Jefferson 杰弗逊)3.The Autobiography 《自传》4.Collect Works 《作品选集》Chapter 6→Thomas Paine (托马斯.佩因)1.The Case of the Officers of the Excise 《收税官的案子》(1772)(his first pamphlet)mon Sense 《常识》(1776)3.The America Crisis 《美国危机》(1776-1883)(a series of sixteen pamphlets)(signed“Common Sense” )4.Rights of Man 《人权》(I 1791年, II 1792年)5.The Age of Reason 《理性时代》6.Agrarian Justice 《土地公平》(his last important treatise 他最后一部重要著作)Chapter 7→Thomas Jefferson (托马斯.杰弗逊)The Declaration of Independence 《独立宣言》(Benjamin Franklin & Jefferson 杰弗1.该集子并不是按写作顺序来安排的,而是按事件发展的先后顺序重新编排,即:TheDeerslayer(《杀鹿者》);The Last of the Mohicans《最后的莫希干人》;The Pathfinder 《探路人》;The Pioneers《拓荒者》;The Prairie《大草原》}Chapter 11→William Cullen Bryant (威廉.卡伦.布莱恩特)1.Thanatopsis《死亡思考/死之思考》(1817)2.To a Waterfowl《致水鸟》(is perhaps the peak of his work 是其巅峰之作)Chapter 12→Edgar Allan Poe (埃德加.艾伦.坡)1.MS. Found in a Bottle 《金瓶子城的方德先生》2.The Fall of the House of Usher《鄂榭府崩溃记》3.Tales Of the Grotesque and Arabesque《述异集》(1840)4.The Raven《乌鸦》(1845)5.To Helen《给海伦》6.Annabel Lee《安娜贝尔.李》Chapter 13→Ralph Waldo Emerson(拉尔夫.沃尔多.爱默生)1.Nature《论自然》(1836)2.Two speeches(正真让他功成名就的是两次演讲):The American Scholar《美国学者》(a great statements 一篇优秀的论说文)& Divinity School Address《神学院致辞》3.Poem《诗集》(1847)4.Essay《随笔录》5.Representative Men《代表》(1850)6.English Traits《英国人》(1856)7.Nature《论自然》8.Self-Reliance《论自助》Chapter 14→Henry David Thoreau(亨利.戴维.梭罗)1.Walden《沃尔登》(1854)Chapter 15→Nathaniel Hawthorne (纳撒尼尔.霍桑)1.The House of the Seven Gables《七个尖角阁的房子》2.Mosses from an Old Manse《古厦青苔》(1846)3.The Scarlet Letter 《红字》(1850)The Scarlet Letter is the introductory chapter of The Scarlet Letter. 《海关》是《红字》的前言。
Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution
II. Enlightenment
1. Enlightenment The spiritual life in the colonies during the
period was to a great degree molded by the bourgeois Enlightenment. (1) Originated in Europe in the 17th century (2) Sources: Newton’s theory; deism(自然神 教派); French philosophy (Rousseau, Voltaire)
Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution
Historical Introduction Important writers Declaration of Independence
பைடு நூலகம்
Historical Introduction
Two historical events 1. The American War for Independence
I. The American War for Independence 1775-1783
The War (1) 1775, Lexington, beginning of the
Independence War (2) July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence (3) 1778, alliance with France, turning point for American army (4) 1778, English army surrendered (5) 1783, formal recognition by the British government
美国-2 The Literature of Reason and Revolution
•
• During this period there were many brilliant • •
authors that helped shape the country. They all had different types of writings and different things that they wrote about. These authors included Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine and Philip Freneau .
• He perfected the smooth, clear, short sentences
of the Puritan plain style. • His Autobiography encourages hard work and emphasizes the importance of achievement. • Another work that is well known is Poor Richard‘s Almanack(年鉴), and many of the Almanack(年鉴), sentences have become popular quotations.
美国文学填空填空题练习
Part I. The Literature of Colonial America1. The most enduring shaping influence in American thought and American literature was American Puritanism11. Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety, these were the Puritan values that dominated much of the early American writing.Part II. The Literature of Reason and Revolution3. Benjamin Franklin also edited the first colonial magazine, which he called the General Magazine.4. Benjamin Franklin's best writing is found in his masterpiece Autobiography9. The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was Philip Freneau10. Philip Freneau's famous poem The British Prison Ship was written about his imprisoned experience.11. Philip Freneau was considered as the " poet of the American Revolution. "12. Philip Freneau has been called the "Father of American Poetry."14. In American literature, the eighteenth century was an Age of Reason and Revolution.Part III. The Literature of Romanticism1. In the early nineteenth century, Washington Irving wrote The Sketch Book which became the first work by an American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.2. In 1828, Noah Webster published his An American Dictionary of the English Language.3. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his remarkable dictionary named Dictionary of the English Language.4. The Civil War of 1861—1865 ended in the defeat of the Southerners and the abolition of Slavery5. The American Transcendentalists formed a club called the Transcendental Club.6. The Transcendental Club often met at Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord home.7.Washington Irving was regarded as the first great prose stylist of American romanticism.8. At nineteen, Washington Irving published in his brother's newspaper, his "Jonathan Old style" satires of New York life.9. In Washington Irving's work The Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.10. In Paris, Washington Irving met John Howard Payne, the American dramatist and actor, with whom Irving wrote his brilliant social comedy Charles the Second, or The Merry Monarch.11. The short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is taken from Washington Irving's work named The Sketch Book.12.Washington Irving was the first American to achieve an international literary reputation after the Revolutionary War.13. Washington Irving' s first book appeared in 1809. It was entitled The History of New York.14. Washington Irving also wrote two biographies, one is The Life of Oliver Gold¬smith, and the other is Life of Washington.15. The first important American novelist was James Fenimore Cooper16. James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Spy was a rousing tale about espionage against the British during the Revolutionary War.17. The best of James Fenimore Cooper's sea romances was The Pilot. The hero of the novel represents John Paul Jones, the great naval fighter of the Revolutionary War.18. The central figure in the Leather stocking Tales is Natty Bumppo , who goes by the various names of Leather stocking,Deer slayer, Pathfinder and Hawkeye.19. To a Waterfowl" is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant ' s work, it has been called by an eminent English critic " the most perfect brief poem in the language. "20.William Cullen Bryant was the first American to gain the stature of a major poet in the world literature.21. Among William Cullen Bryant's most important later works are his translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey into English blank verse.22. Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Bells is perhaps the best example of onomatopoeia in the English language.23. Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven was published in 1845 as the title poem of a collection.24. Ralph Waldo Emerson was responsible for bringing transcendentalism to New England.25. Ralph Waldo Emerson's truest disciple, the man who put into practice many of Emerson's theories, was Henry David Thoreau26. In 1845, Henry David Thoreau began a two-year residence at Walden Pond.27. A superb book entitled Walden came out of Henry David Thoreau's two-year experiment at Walden Pond.28. From Henry David Thoreau's Concord jail experience, came his famous essay Civil Disobedience.29. Hester Prynne is the heroine in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter.30. Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.31. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's first collection of poems entitled Voices of the Night appeared in 1838.32. The most scholarly of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's writings is his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy.33. Besides lyrics and longer poems Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote dramatic works, among which Michael Angelo is the most conspicuous.34. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Lowell are the only two American poets commemorated in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.35. After his death, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.36. The American Romantic period stretches from the end of the eighteenth century through the outburst of the Civil War.37. The English author named Sir Walter Scott was, in a way, responsible for the romantic description of landscape in American literature and the development of American Indian romance. His Waverley novels were models for American historical romances.38. Published in 1823, The Pioneers was the first of the Leather stocking Tales, in their order of publication time, and probably the first true romance of the frontier in American literature.39. In The Pioneers, Natty Bumppo represents the ideal American, living a virtuous and free life in God' s world.40. In 1836, a little book came out which made a tremendous impact on the intellectual life of America. It was entitled Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson41. Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay The American Scholar has been regarded as "America's Declaration of Intellectual Independence". It called on American writers to write about America in a way peculiarly American.42. Another renowned New England Transcendentalist was Henry David Thoreau a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson' s and his junior by some fourteen years.43. The way in which Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter suggests that American Romanticism adapted itself to American puritan moralism.44. Herman Melville's world classic novel Moby Dick was dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne a novelist.45. It is said that in his late years, Herman Melville stopped writing novels and stories and turned to poetry, Clarel is his most famous poetic work.46. Herman Melville is best known as the author of one book named Moby Dick which is, critics have agreed, one of theworld's greatest masterpieces.Part IV. The Literature of Realism1. Realism had originated in the country France as a literary doctrine that called for "reality and truth" in the depiction of ordinary life.2. The arbiter of nineteenth century literary realism in America was William Dean Howells.3. Henry James probed deeply at the individual psychology of his characters, writing in a rich and intricate style that supported his intense scrutiny of complex human experience.4. Mark Twain, breaking out of the narrow limits of local color fiction, described the breadth of American experience as no one had ever done before, or since.5. Darwinism had an evident influence on naturalism. It seemed to stress the animality of man, to suggest that he was dominated by the irresistible forces of evolution.6. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse, that is poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.7. In his cluster of poems called Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman gave America its first genuine epic poem.8. There is no doubt that the solitary Emily Dickinson of Amherst, Massachusetts, is a poet of great power and beauty.9. There was only one female prose writer in the nineteenth century. That was Harriet Beecher Stowe10. Harriet Beecher Stowe's masterpiece is Uncle Tom's Cabin.11. Samuel Langhorne Clemens is better known by the pen name Mark Twain .12. One of Samuel Langhorne Clemens' best books Life on the Mississippi is built around his experiences as a steamboat pilot.13. The result of Mark Twain's European trip was a series of newspaper articles, later published as a book called Innocents Abroad.14. Mark Twain was the first literary giant born west of the Mississippi.15. Mark Twain's work The Mysterious Stranger tells of the visits of an angel to the village of Eseldorf in Austria in 1590.16. William Sidney Porter, whose pen name was O. Henry, was the author of The Cop and the Anthem.17. Many of O. Henry's stories tell about the life of poor people in New York.18. 0. Henry sympathized with the poor's lot and hated those rich who exploited and despised them. This is especially seen in his story entitled An Unfinished story.19. It is said that O. Henry imitated a French author named De Maupassant as a model, and there is indeed much in common between these two writers.20. The title of one of O. Henry's books The Four Millions indicates that he considered all the people of New York City worth writing about, instead of only the upper class.21. Henry James' first novel is Watch and Ward, which failed to make him famous.22. The novel which was described by an American critic as "an outrage to American girlhood" is Henry James' Daisy Miller .23. Henry James' first important fiction was A Passionate Pilgrim in which he took up for the first time the theme of The American in Europe.24. In 1881, Henry James published his novel The Portrait of a Lady, which is generally considered as his masterpiece.25. Henry James is considered the founder of Psychological realism. He believed that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator.26. The name of the heroine in The Portrait of a Lady is Isabel Archer.27. In 1902 Jack London published his first novel A Daughter of the Snows .28. Martin Eden is the novel into which Jack London put most of himself.29. The first novel of Theodore Dreiser was Sister Carrie.30. The identification of potency with money is at the heart of Theodore Dreiser's masterpiece An American Tragedy.31. The protagonisw of Theodore Dreiser's Trilogy of Desire is Frank Cowperwood.32. Theodore Dreiser visited the Soviet Union in 1927 and published Dreiser Looks at Russia the following year.33. Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie , a commercial and critical failure when first published in 1900, was reissued in 1907 and won high praise for its grim, naturalistic portrayal of American society.34. Mark Twain's first novel, The Gilded Age was an artistic failure, but it gave its name to the America of the postbellum period which it attempts to satirize.35. Three years' life on the Mississippi left such a fond memory with Mark Twain that he returned to the theme more than once in his writing career. His book Life on the Mississippi relates it in a vivid, moving way.36. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was Mark Twain' s masterpiece from which, as Hemingway noted, "all modern American literature comes. "37. The best work that Mark Twain ever produced is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , which was a success from its first publication in 1884, and has always been regarded as one of the great books of western literature and western civilization.38. Stephen Crane is the pioneer who wrote in the naturalistic tradition.39. Stephen Crane's novel Maggi; A Girl of the Streets relates the story of a good woman' s down¬ fall and destruction ina slum environment.40. War in the novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is a plain slaughter-house. There is nothing like valor or heroism on the battlefield, and if there is anything, it is the fear of death, cowardice, the natural instinct of man to run from danger.41. Benjamin Frank Norris' novel McTe ague has been called "the first full-bodied naturalistic American novel" and "a consciously naturalistic manifesto".42. Jack London's masterwork Martin Eden is somewhat autobiographical.43. O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi is a very moving story of a young couple who sell their best possessions in order to get money for a Christmas present for each other.Part V. Twentieth Century Literature (I) Before WWII1. The First World War stands as a great dividing line between the nineteenth century and the contemporary American literature.2. American writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a "Lost Generation " , devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.3. The most significant American poem of the twentieth century was The Waste Land.4. The publication of The Waste Land, written by Thomas Stearns Eliot, helped to establish a modern tradition of literature rich with learning and allusive thought.5. In 1920, Sinclair Lewis published his memorable denunciation of American small-town provincialism in Main Street .6. F. Scott Fitzgerald summarized the experiences and attitudes of the 1920s decade in his masterpiece novel The Great Gatsby7. The Great Depression of the 1930s greatly weakened the American nation's self-confidence.8. An American woman writer named Gertrude Stein who had lived in Paris since 1903, welcomed the young expatriates to her literary salon, and gave them a name "the Lost Generation".9. William Faulkner wrote about the disintegration of the old social system in the American Southern States, and its effecton the lives of modern people, both black and white.10. Ezra Pound was the leader of a new movement in poetry which he called the "Imagist" movement.11. Ezra Pound's major work of poetry is the long poem called The Cantos.12. One of Edwin Arlington Robinson's early books, Captain Craig, once came to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt.13. Edwin Arlington Robinson produced a large body of works and was honored with the Pulitzer Prize in 1922, 1925 and 1928.14. Robert Frost' s first book A Boy's Will brought him to the attention of influential critics, such as Ezra Pound, who praised him as an authentic poet.15. Robert Frost's second volume of poems was North of Boston16. "After Apple-Picking" is a well-known poem written by Robert Frost17. New Hampshire, one of Robert Frost's longest poems, is a very witty and wise anecdotal discussion about the values of life and character.18. At one time, Sandburg's reputation mainly rested on a multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln including "The Prairie Years" and "The War Years".19. Carl Sandburg' s love of folklore developed in time into a rather modern tendency to represent it in literature such as in his The People,Yes .20. Wallace Stevens was successful in two fields of activity which did not seem compatible with one another; he was a very successful businessman and a very re¬markable contemporary poet at the same time.21. At the age of 44, Wallace Stevens was finally persuaded to publish a book of poems, entitled Harmonium.22. The Necessary Angel is a collection of Wallace Stevens' s occasional lectures on poetry.23. For the publication of his Collected Poems, Wallace Stevens received the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.24. After his death, Wallace Stevens' s previously uncollected works appeared under the title Opus Posthumous.25. In 1915, Thomas Stearns Eliot published his Prufrock and Other Observations.26. In 1920, Thomas Stearns Eliot published his The Sacred Wood, containing, among other essays, "Tradition and the Individual Talent", the earliest statement of his aesthetics.27. In 1920, Thomas Stearns Eliot began to write his masterpiece The Waste Land, one of the major works of modern literature.28. As Thomas Stearns Eliot declared, he followed strictly the advice of his close friend Ezra Pound in cutting and concentrating The Waste Land.29. Thomas Stearns Eliot's later poetry took a positive turn toward faith in life. This was demonstrated by Ash-Wednesday,a poem of mystical conflict between faith and doubt.30. In his work The Hollow Men, Thomas Stearns Eliot satirized the straw men, the Guy Fawkles men, whose world would end "not with a bang, but a whimper."31. Few men of letters have been more fully honored in their own day than Thomas Stearns Eliot, and even those who strongly disagree with him seemed content with his selection for the Nobel Prize in 1948.32. Thomas Steams Eliot wrote seven plays, the best of which is Murder in the Cathedral, a verse play on an ancient historical subject, written in 1935.33. Thomas Stearns Eliot's last important work was Four Quartets, a profound meditation on time and timelessness, written in four parts.34. F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel This Side of Paradise, with its portrayal of casual dissipations of "flaming youth" , was an immediate commercial success.35. In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his best novel The Great Gatsby. It is the story of an idealist who was destroyed by the influence of the wealthy, pleasure-seeking people around him.36. F. Scott Fitzgerald' s second novel The Beautiful and the Damned describes a handsome young man and his beautiful wife, undoubtedly modelled after himself and Zelda.37. The hero in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel Tender is the Night is a psychiatrist who marries a rich patient. The author condemns the wasted energy of misguided youth.38. F. Scott Fitzgerald's last novel The Last Tycoon remained unfinished.39. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway became the spokes¬ man for what Gertrude Stein had called "a Lost Generation".40. Emest Hemingway's stature as a writer was confirmed with the publication of his novel A Farewell to Arms in 1929. The novel portrayed a farewell both to war and to love.41. Set in Spain during the Civil War, the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls stated again Hemingway ' s view of love found and lost, and described the indomitable spirit of the common people.42. In the story The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway portrayed an old fisherman named Santiago, who shows triumphant even in defeat.43. In 1954, Ernest Hemingway was awarded a Nobel Prize for his "mastery of the art of modem narration".44. Numerous parallels exist between the events of Ernest Hemingway's life and those of his characters, but fewer were closer than those of Richard Cantwell, the hero of the work Across the River and into the Trees.45. In 1952, Ernest Hemingway published a successful novel entitled The Old Man and the Sea, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and occasioned the award of the Nobel Prize in 1954.46. In the same way that F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tales of the Jazz Age became the symbol for an age, Ernest Hemingway' s novel The Sun also Rises painted the image of a whole generation, the Lost Generation.47. Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms can be read as a footnote to The Sun Also Rises in that it explains how people, like Jake Barnes, come to behave the way they do.48. The Spanish war was conductive to Ernest Hemingway's writing The Fifth Column, a play which was universally deplored.49. John Steinbeck was the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s.50. In the short novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrayed the tragic friendship between two migrant workers.51. In the work The Long Valley John Steinbeck described the fate of the lowly whose instinctive responses to life led only to destruction.52. The Grapes of Wrath is generally regarded as John Steinbeck's masterpiece.53. In 1935, John Steinbeck published Tortilla Flat, a collection of short stories which vividly described the life of poor Mexican-Americans with affection and humor.54. John Steinbeck's post-war novel The Pearl reflected his bitter feelings against those greedy, rapacious elements of society which made the war possible.55. Quentin is a character in William Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury56. Joe Christmas is a character in William Faulkner's novel Light in August.57. The works written by William Faulkner may be viewed as a culmination of the development of twentieth-century southern fiction.58. Katherine Ann Porter's novel Ship of Fools consists of three parts, "Embarkation", "High Sea" , "The Harbors"59. In her essay "Place in Fiction" , Eudora Welty emphasizes the importance of for literary creations. She is noted for her fidelity to the American South, so her major theme relate to place, traditional southern family relationships.60. Carson McCullers was said to touch William Faulkner in writing, and her well-known novels are and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe61. One of the important figures in the 1930s who tried to adapt European avantgardism to American writing is Nathanael West62. The New Criticism first emerged in 1920s as a reaction against the prevailing time-honored critical tendency to focus on thetheme often in disregard of the form of the work. The name is given by John Crowe Ransom's collection of critical essays The New Criticism .Part VI. Twentieth Century Literature (II) After WWII2. In poetry, Postmodernism strives to go against the vogue of the New Critical poem and its parent style, the High Modernism of the previous decades.4. Allen Ginsberg is the spokesman of postwar Beat Generation in American literary history.17. J. D. Salinger is probably best known for his novel The Catcher in the Rye26. Joseph Heller's Catch-22is one of the most famous novels dealing with the subject of absurdity in typical "obscure" techniques.Part VII. American Drama1. Eugene O' Neill is the first master in the American history of drama.2. In 1916, Eugene O' Neill's first play Bound East for Cardiff was put on by the Province-town Players, which was significant not only for him but for American Drama.5. Eugene O' Neill received the Pulitzer Prize for his Beyond the Horizon and Anna Christie between 1920 and 1922, and Nobel Prize in 1936.10. The Theater of the Absurd in the 1950s and 1960s refers to some plays, some of which center on the meaninglessness of life with its pain and suffering that seems funny, even ridiculous. Edward Albee is one of the representatives.Part VIII. Multi-ethnic Literature1. African American literature centers on a myth, though also biblical, quite different from that on which mainstream American literature is based.2. African American literature is patterned on a myth of_deliverance from slavery, that of the Hebrew prophet Moses leading the Jews in their flight from the bondage in Egypt.3. African American literature has undergone a long process of evolution. Its early form was oral, including songs, ballads and spirituals, in short, folk literature in its various manifestations.6. In the 1940 Richard Wright's Native Son came out as a watershed in the tradition of the African American novel.7. Toni Morrison and Alice Walker are two of the most important female African American novelists.14. By far the most important person in the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes known as African Americans' poet laureate, who ultimately outgrew the movement, and developed into one of the major African American authors to help make African American culture.15. Langston Hughes was one of the founders of the black theater in the Federal Theater Project during the Depression. 18. Native Son by Richard Wright is a story about an African American adolescent's growth of awareness. It consists of three sections, namely "Fear", "Right" and "Fate".19. African American literature attained a higher degree of maturity in 1952 when Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man appeared in print.21. Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon is seen as another milestone in African American literature after Native Son and Invisible Man. It tells the story of an African American trying to recover his family roots.29. Another important Asian American writer is Amy Tan, whose first novel, The Joy Luck Club, made quite a stir on the contemporary American literary scene and brought Asian American literature to the intensive scrutiny of readers and critics alike.。
美国文学史综合
PartⅠ The Literature of Colonial America殖民主义时期的文学I.The Background Information1. 第一批美国永久居民:The first permanent English settlement in North America wasestablished at Jamestown, Virginia(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿)in 1607. At last early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts(弗吉尼亚和马萨诸塞) began the main stream of what we recognize as the American history.2. 清教徒采用的文学体裁:a、narratives 日记b、journals游记3. 清教徒在美国的写作内容:1〕their voyage to the new land ;2) Adapting themselves tounfamiliar climates and crops;3) About dealing with Indians;4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit4. 美国第一位作家〔The first American writer〕Captain John Smith. He published eightin all.1).1608年A True Relation of Virginia《关于弗吉尼亚的真实介绍》. 2) A Map of Virginia《弗吉尼亚地图》3).General History of Virginia《弗吉尼亚通史》他的作品(reports of exploration)17th早期出版,被认为是美国第一部真正意义上的文学作品in the early 1600s,have been described as the first distinctly American literature written in English.他的作品filled with themes, myths, images, scenes, character and events,吸引了朝圣者和清教徒前往lure the Pilgrims and the Puritans. He saw from the beginning what was eventually to be a basic principle of American history, the need of “workers” instead of “gentlemen” for the tough job of planting colonies and pushing the frontiers westward. 5.※美国清教主义〔American Puritanism〕: Puritans purified their religious beliefs and practices, and believed that God decides everything and they are God’s chosen people.Hard work, thrift (节俭;节约), piety (虔诚;虔敬), and sobriety (节制;严肃) were the Puritan spirit that dominated much of the earliest American writing(including the sermons, books, and letters of such noted Puritan clergyman as John Cotton and Cotton Mather).Cotton Mather: wrote more than 450works, an example as well as an advocate of the Puritan ideal of hard work.6. A literature of ideas: New England had from the beginning a literature of ideas: theological,moral, historical, and political.7.The Pilgrim Fathers:English Puritans who went to America in 1620 and founded the colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts.8.※Puritan:The “Puritan”was “a would-be purifier”. Puritans wanted to make pure their religious beliefs and practices. Their purposes are for religious freedom and political freedom. The major intellectual spokesmen of Puritanism are John Cotton, Roger Williams. II. Literature1.William Bradford(威廉·布拉德福德):The first governor of Plymouth(普利茅斯第一任首长),History of Plymouth Plantation《普利茅斯种植园史》He was perhaps the greatest of the Pilgrim Fathers〔“美国历史之父”〕2. John Winthrop(约翰·温斯罗普):波斯顿第一任首长The History of New England《英格兰历史》3.John Cotton(约翰·科顿):The Patriarch of New England〔“新英格兰教父”〕4.Roger Williams〔罗杰·威廉斯〕:1).He begins the history of religious toleration and theseparation of church and state.2). He is interested in the Indian language. eg: A Key into the Language of America《开启美国语言的钥匙》5.Anne Bradstreet(安妮·布莱德斯):The first woman poet in the English language.one of themost interesting of the early poets〔最幽默的诗人之一〕“The tenth muse lately sprung up in American”《最近出现在北美的第十位缪斯》6.Edward Taylor〔爱德华·泰勒〕:The best of the Puritan poets〔清教徒诗人最杰出的一位〕The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet & Edward Taylor, rose to the level of real poetry.Conclusion: The early American literature was European/English in style/form, but American in content/spirit.Part Ⅱ The Literature of Reason And Revolution理性和革命时期文学I. The Background Information1. The American War for Independence 〔1775-1783〕:Strict rules made by Englishgovernment hampered the economic development of the colonies. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country2. Enlightenment:1).an intellectual movement 2)the power of human reason 3)the scientificidea;4)the idea of progress.3. Enlightenment and American Revolution:1). all the leaders of the revolution wereinfluenced by the Enlightenment, representatives: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, etc. 2). The new nation was set on the basic ideas and principles of the Enlightenment.4.※Deism (自然神论, 自然神教派) is a religious philosophy and movement that derives the existence and nature of God from reason and personal experience.5. The important literature topics of the revolutionary period:1).theology, 2).politics3).enlightenmentII. LiteratureRepresentative works: Noah Webster诺亚·韦伯斯特:第一部美国英语字典Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence; Thomas Paine: The American Crisis; Rights of Man; The Federalist; Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac; The Autobiography 18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传1.Benjamin Franklin本杰明·富兰克林—The first major writer in the colonial period, theonly good American author before the Revolutionary War;one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a paradoxical combination of Puritanism and Enlightenment; anembodiment of the “American Dream”Representative works: (1) Poor Richard’s Almanac《穷人查理德的年鉴》an annual collocation of proverbs (It contains a large number of practice sayings about life,the common theme is that the industriousness and discretion are rewarded.(2) The Autobiography《自传》(a. The first success story of self-made Americans, it records the writer’s rising from poverty. b. Style: simple, clear in order, direct, concise and humorous. c.First of its kind in literature and set the autobiography as a genre. d. The early example of the American dream.) In The Autobiography we will be able to notice: 1)Puritanism’s influence, such as self-examination and self-improvement 2)Enlightenment spirits (man’s nature is good, rights of liberty, virtues including “order”)2. Thomas Paine 托马斯·佩因“Great Commoner of Mankind”(“人类伟大的平民);Pamphleteer(美国著名政治小册子家);Leading figure in American revolution. Representative works: 1〕famous pamphlet "Common Sense" 《常识》,it boldly advocateda "Declaration for Independence", and brought the separatist agitation to a crisis. 拥护独立宣言,是分裂活动发展成最后危机; Pain became the spokesman of the American Revolution 2〕"American Crisis" 《美国危机》“American Crisis” signed “Common Sense”was a series of16 pamphlets.3)The Rights of Man《人权》--a defense of the French Revolution. 4) The Age of Reason《理性的时代》5).Analysis of The American Crisis 3. Thomas Jefferson 托马斯·杰弗逊—an Enlightenment thinker and a leader ofAmerican revolution and; The third President of the United StatesThe aims of his life-pursuit: Freedom and DemocracyThe style of writings: clear; graceful; poetic.Representative work: drafted The Declaration of Independence—the Declaration isconsidered to be the founding document of the United States of America.All Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.4. Philip Freneau 菲利浦·弗瑞诺--the poet of the American Revolution “美国革命诗人”and the father of American poetry“美国诗歌之父”His poems are: neoclassical in form,romantic in spirit;strongly lyrical; clear imagery Philip Morin Freneau was a deistic (自然神论的) optimist.Representative work: The Wild Honey Suckle《野忍冬花》※1). In this poem the poet expressed a keen awareness of the loveliness and transience ofnature. He not only meditated on Mortality but also celebrated nature. The poem implies that life and death are inevitable law of nature. “The Wild Honey Suckle”is Philip Freneau's most widely read natural lyric with the theme of transience.2). The central image is a native wild flower, which makes a drastic difference from eliteFlower images typical of traditional English poems3). The poem showed strong feelings for the natural beauty, which was the characteristic ofromantic poets4). The poem was written in regular 6-line tetrameter stanzas, rhyming: ababcc. The structureof the poem is regular, so it has the neoclassic quality of proportion and balance.5). The line“the space is but an hour“contains a hyperbole stressing the transience of life.The tone of the poem is both sentimental and optimisticA). Theology dominated the Puritan phase of American writing. Politics was the next greatsubject to command the attention of the best minds.B). Freneau was neoclassical by training and taste ye romantic in essential spirit.Part ⅢThe Literature of Romanticism浪漫主义文学I. The Background Information1. Romanticism Characteristics: Romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics:moral enthusiasm, faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception, and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man’s societies a source of corruption浪漫主义之间大多是相通的,都注重道德,强调个人主义价值观和直觉感受,并且认为自然是美的源头,人类社会是腐败之源2.Literary forms文学形式:Novels, short stories, and poems3.Imaginative literature想象类文学:became intense, personal, and symbolic as more writers came to perceive themselves as prophets and seers.4.The wilderness came to function almost as a dramatic character that illustrated moral law.戏剧化特色的野性讽喻了时代的道德准则。
The Literature of Reason and Revolution
The Literature of Reason and Revolution----理性文学和革命文学[独立革命时期(1776-1783)的文学]It refers to the literary period roughly from 1776-1823 in American literatureI.BackgroundWith the settlement enlarged, colonial industry and trade developed quickly in spite of the restrictions of the English government. Most important, the economic prosperity led to inevitable social changes with the increase of newspapers, education, theater, music, poetry and all the fine arts. The economic and social changes caused diversity of opinion in religious matters and the decline of religion as well.In Europe, thinkers of the Enlightenment emancipated or enlightened people’s mind from the bondage of feudalistic chains of the Middle Ages, while in America the humanistic ideas of the movement gave a heavy blow to Puritanism in advocating science, knowledge and the power and ability of man.The English government wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. A natural outcome was increasing tension with England. In the end, the conflict led to the Revolutionary War which resulted in American independence and produced such Revolutionary figures as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine.II.LiteratureThe last decades of the 18th century witnessed a gradual decline of Puritanism.While theology dominated the writings of the colonial times, politics permeated the writings of the Revolution period. The 18th century rationalists advocated a rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political and economic issues. The enlightenment, a literary moment originated from Europe had influenced the best writers of this period. One of the most famous is Benjamin Franklin whose works displayed a departure from the stock puritan belief. The period also produced Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine who wrote political pamphlets appropriate to an age of Revolution. The enlightenment had also influenced the literature of that period in forming a style of clarity and precision.Literature in this period consists of prose, which was political, dealing with Revolutionary issues, poetry, drama and the novel.After the United States achieved its independence, American intellectuals set out on the journey to a literary independence. However, American literature throughout the century was largely patterned on the writings of 18th century English writers, notably Franklin by Addison and Steele. Joseph Addison and Richard Steele are publishers of a moralistic journal The Spectator. III.WritersBenjamin Franklin(1706-1790)the epitome of the Age of Reason.A. Life Achievement:a great statesman, diplomat, scientist and the first major American writer. P.18-19B. Philosophical ideas:As the chief representative of the American Enlightenment, he advocated a humanistic ideal. Pragmatic and optimistic, he highly regarded science, knowledge and education and believed inthe possibilities of human progress and the comforts of material success. He was symbolic of the age he belonged to in his paradoxical faith in both social order and in natural rights, in love of stability and devotion to revolutionary change. He was the first and perhaps the last positive representation of the values of the American Dream.C. Important works1.AutobiographyHis masterpiece, but left unfinished. It not only narrates his early life, but his life principles and philosophy. It is a how-to-do-good book and sets autobiography as a literature genre in American literature.2.Poor Richard’s Almanac《穷理查德警句》An annual collection of proverbs. In this book, he created the character of “Poor Richard” with humor and homespun wisdom. It contains many entertaining and useful witty aphorisms about working hard and getting wealth. His pragmatism and a sense of humor are fully demonstrated in this work.Eg. The sayingsBeware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.Diligence is the mother of goodluck.No morning sun lasts a whole day.Lost time is never found again.God helps them that help themselvesD. Writing StyleHis prose style follows the neoclassic ideals of clarity, restraint, simplicity and balance. Wrote in plain style---- simple, concise, clear, straightforward and fluent. A subtle humor and sarcastic notion are also found in his writings.Thomas Paine (1737-1809)A.Life AchievementA “Great Commoner of Mankind”----人类伟大的平民, a most important revolutionary activist and political writer during the War of Independence and the French Revolution..B.Important Worksmon Sense《常识》A famous pamphlet appeared in 1776, which boldly advocates a Declaration forIndependence and brings the separatist agitation to a crisis.2.The American CrisisA serial of 16 pamphlets during the War that greatly restored the morale andinspired the fighting spirit of the soldiers and people of North America in times of difficulties and contained many unforgettable sentences.C.Writing StyleHis pamphlets are succinct, powerful, persuasive and aphoristic.Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)A.Life AchievementAn important revolutionary statesman during the American War of Independence, the main drafter of The Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. His democratic ideas have run into the veins of the American people generation after generation.B.Life philosophyInfluenced by the writers and philosophers of the Enlightenment, he was a fervent believer and advocator of democracy, liberty and selfhood. He held that the natural rights of man must be secured by law inalienably for all. He believed in political equality and man’s natural goodness. He also believed in the importance of education as a vital part of democracy.C.WorksThe Declaration of Independence (1776)Written in two parts, not only to explain but also justify the cause of American Revolution.D. StyleDignified, flexible, clear, lyrical and logicalPhilip Freneau (1752-1832)A.Life Achievement“the Father of American Poetry”, the first important American poet. He was a transitional literary figure from the Enlightenment to the Romantic period---the post-Revolutionary period. A political journalist.B.Subject Matter, Themes and StyleDeism---like Franklin and Jefferson, Freneau was also a typical 18th century man who believed in scientific deism. This philosophy with its ideas of man’s natural goodness and equality, the noble savage, the evil of institutions, and the idea of progress, found expression in his political satp. 42----He was neoclassical by training and taste yet romantic in essential spirit. He was also at once a satirist and a sentimentalist, a humanitarian but also a bitter polemicist, a poet of Reason yet the celebrant of “lovely Fancy,”and a deistic optimist inspired by themes of death and transience ---the circle of life and death.p.44----As a poet, he heralded American literary independence . His close observation of nature distinguished his treatment of indigenous wild life and other native American subjects. His poems were mostly lyrical and haunting in beauty, dealing with the themes of nature’s mutability, the circle of life and death, sometimes being meditations on humanity, solitude, primitivism and the supernatural.Style ---- In contrast with the ornate style of his early couplets, he later developed a natural, simple, and concrete diction. Freneau did not establish trends, but he represented qualities that were to be characteristic of the next half century---Romanticism.C.Important Poems1.“The Wild Honey Suckle”(1786)《野忍冬花》It is his most widely read natural lyric with the theme of transience----. The central image is a native wild flower, which makes a drastic difference from elite flower images typical of traditional English poems. It is used as a symbol to convey the poet’s lament for the mutability of nature. It is meditative, sharp, delicate and restrained in tone and diction Abittersweet awareness of the transience of beauty permeates the poem.2.“The Indian Burying Ground”(1788)《印第安人的坟墓》It is another poetic description of native subjects----the Indians. The poem describes the way that American Indians bury their dead in sitting posture, which according to the poet, signifies the returning of the soul. In this poem, beauty, fancy, awe, death and eternity are harmoniously interwoven. The poem captures the poet’s feeling of respect for the noble savage.这是考验人的灵魂的时代。
美国文学Chapter 1 概述
In New England, Harvard College was founded as early as 1636.
3.2. Religious writing
• Religious writing: heavily weighted, in subject and style,因为宗教因素主题风格沉重 by religious considerations.
“Here nature and liberty afford us that freely which in England we want, or it costs us dearly. What pleasure can be more than…to recreate themselves before their own doors, in their own boats upon the sea…(to) take divers sorts of excellent fish at their pleasures? …If a man work but three days in seven he may get more than he can spend…here by their labor [they] may live exceeding well…. The masters by this may quickly grow rich; these [apprentices] may learn [by] their trades themselves to do the like, to a general and an incredible benefit for king and country, master and servant.”
PartII.TheLiteratureofReasonandRevolution
PartII.TheLiteratureofReasonandRevolutionPart II. The Literature of Reason and RevolutionI. Fill in the blanks.1.The War of Independence lasted eight years till_____.2.The United States of America was founded in _____.3.Benjamin Franklin also edited the first colonial magazine, which hecalled _____.4.Benjamin Franklin' s best writing is found in his masterpiece________ .5.Thomas Paine, with his natural gift for pamphleteering and rebellion,was appropriately born into an age of____________ .6.On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine's famous pamphlet ________appeared.7. A series of sixteen pamphlets by Thomas Paine was entitled_____________ .8.Thomas Paine's second most important work_____________ was animpassioned plea against hereditary monarchy.9.The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was_____________ .10.Philip Freneau' s famous poem____________ was written about hisimprisoned experience.11.___________ was considered as the " poet of the AmericanRevolution. "12._________ has been called the "Father of American Poetry. "13.In 1791, probably with Thomas Jefferson's support, ___________established in Philadelphia the National Gazette.14.In American literature, the eighteenth century was an Age of_________ and Revolution.15.The Calvinist beliefs brought about the Great Awakening during the1730s and 1740s. _________ was the most influential among thebelievers.16.Jonathan Edwards' work Images or Shadows of Divine Thingsanticipated the nature symbolism of___________ in the 19th century.we say Jonathan Edwards represents the upper levels of the American mind, _________ represents the lower levels.II. Decide whether the statements are true or false.1.The War of Independence lasted for eight years and ended in theformation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic, that is, theUnited States of America.2.The War of Independence was a revolution, but it was the bourgeoisiethat reaped its fruits. The rulers of the new state were hostile to thelaboring people.3.At the initial period the spread of ideas of the AmericanEnlightenment was largely due to journalism.4.Benjamin Franklin seemed to represent the age of reason andrevolution in his paradoxical faith in both social order and in naturalrights, in love of stability and devotion to revolutionary change.5.Benjamin Franklin was a prose stylist whose writing reflected theneoclassic ideals of clarity, restraint, simplicity and balance.6.Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the Enlightenment, theversatile, practical embodiment of rational man in the 18th century.7.In Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin edited Pennsylvania Magazine,and contributed to Pennsylvania Journal./doc/9f3042314.html,mon Sense boldly advocated a Declaration of Independence.9.For the pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas Paine was charged withtreason and fled to France, where he was made a citizen.10.Thomas Paine also edited the first colonial magazine The GeneralMagazine.11.Philip Freneau was the most important writer in American poetry ofthe eighteenth century.12.American poetry of the eighteenth century has an imitative character,imitating the reigning English models of the eighteenth century.13.Philip Freneau was a close friend and political associate of PresidentThom as Jefferson.14.Philip Freneau was once captured by the British and spent some timeon a prison ship.15.Philip Freneau wrote impassioned verse in support of the AmericanRevolution.16.Like Thomas Paine, Philip Freneau was a strong supporter of theFrench Revolution.17.Philip Freneau was noteworthy first because of the nature of hispoems. They were truly American and very patriotic. In this aspect, he reflected the spirit of his age.18.Philip Freneau was neoclassical by training and taste yet romantic inessential spirit.19.Most American literature in the eighteenth century was political.20.During the 1770s no one in America could claim to be a professionalnovelist, poet, or playwright.III. Make multiple choices.1. In American literature, the eighteenth century was the ageof the Enlightenment. _________ was the dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. RationalismC. RevolutionD. Evolution2. In American literature, the Enlighteners were opposed to ________ .A. the colonial orderB. religious obscurantismC. the Puritan traditionD. the secular literature3. The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parent country and the Continental Congress adopted____________ in 1776.A. the Declaration of IndependenceB. the Sugar ActC. the Stamp ActD. the Mayflower Compact4. Which statement about Benjamin Franklin is not true?A. He instructed his countrymen as a printer.B. He was a scientist.C. He was a master of diplomacy.D. He was a Puritan.5. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of___________ .A. Thomas HoodB. Benjamin FranklinC. Thomas JeffersonD. George Washington6. Which of the following stirred the world and helped formthe American republic?A. The American CrisisB. The FederalistC. Declaration of IndependenceD. The Waste Land7. Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the____________ .A. American EnlightenmentB. Sugar ActC. Chartist movementD. Romanticist8. From 1732 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous __________ , an annal collection of proverbs.A. The AutobiographyB. Poor Richard's AlmanacC. Common SenseD. The General Magazine9. Which is not connected with Thomas Paine?A. Common SenseB. The American CrisisC. Pennsylvania MagazineD. The Autobiography10. Choose the works written by Thomas Paine.A. Rights of ManB. The Age of ReasonC. Agrarian JusticeD. Common SenseE. The American Crisis1l. The first pamphlet published in America to urge immediate independence from Britain is__________ .A. The Rights of ManB. Common SenseC. The American CrisisD. Declaration of Independence12. "These are the times that try men' s souls", these words were once read to George Washington' s troops and did much to shore up the spirits of the revolutionary soldiers. Who is the author of these words?A. Benjamin FranklinB. Thomas JeffersonC. Thomas PaineD. George Washington13. Which statement about Philip Freneau is true?A. He was a satirist.B. He was a pamphleteer.C. He was a poet.D. He was a bitter polemicist.14. Which poem is not written by Philip Freneau?A. The British Prison ShipB. The Wild Honey SuckleC. The Indian Burying GroundD. The Day of Doom15. Who was considered as the "Poet of American Revolution"?A. Michael WigglesworthB. Edward TaylorC. Anne BradstreetD. Philip Freneau16. It was not until January 1776 that a widely heard public voice demanded complete separation from England. The voice was that of________ , whose pamphlet Common Sense, with itsheated language, increased the growing demand for separation.A. Thomas PaineB. Thomas JeffersonC. George WashingtonD. Patrick Henry17. During the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the____________ .A. Chartist MovementB. Romanticist MovementC. Enlightenment MovementD. Modernist Movement18. Thomas Jefferson' s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress, and the pursuit of happiness, is typical of the period we now call _________ .A. Age of EvolutionB. Age of ReasonC. Age of RomanticismD. Age of Regionalism19. __________ carries the voice not of an individual but of a whole people. It is more than writing of the Revolutionary period, it defined the meaning of the American Revolution.A. Common SenseB. The American CrisisC. Declaration of IndependenceD. Defence of the English People20. Benjamin Franklin shaped his writing after the______________ of the English essayists Joseph Addison and Richard Steele.A. Spectator PapersB. WaldenC. NatureD. The Sacred WoodIV. Identify the fragments.Passage OneThese are the times that try men' s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of theircountry; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks ofman and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet wehave this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the moreglorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem toolightly—This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heavenknows how to put a proper price upon its goods.Questions:1.Which book is this passage taken from?2.Who is the author of this book?3.Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?4.What do you think of the language?Passage TwoWhen in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected themwith another, and to assume among the powers of the earth,theseparate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature' s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankindrequires that they should declare the causes which impel them to theseparation.We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these areLife, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness? That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powersfrom the consent of the governed; That whenever any Form ofGovernment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of thePeople to alter or to abolish it.Questions:1.Which work is this passage taken from?2.What truths are self-evident? What is the purpose of government, andwhen should a government be replaced?Passage ThreeIn a branch of willow hidSings the evening Caty-did:From the lofty locust boughFeeding on a drop of dew,In her suit of green array' dHear her singing in the shadeCaty-did, Caty-did, Caty-did!Questions:1.Who is the writer of these verses?2.What is the title of this lyrical poem?3.What is a "Caty-did"?V. Analyze the main works.1.Analyze The American Crisis.2.Analyze Declaration of Indenpendence.3.Analyze The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.。
《美国文学史及选读》(第三版)(第一册)教学课件Chapter 5 Thomas Paine
CChhapatepr t3er 5 Thomas Paine
Selections
we have none to blame but ourselves. But no great deal is lost yet. All that Howe2 has been doing for this month past is rather a ravage than a conquest, which the spirit of the Jerseys3, a year ago, would have quickly repulsed, and which time and a little resolution will soon recover.
美国文学史知识点梳理
P a r t I T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f C o l o n i a l A m e r i c a I.Historical IntroductionThe colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.II.The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:1 Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming; hunting; travel; etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world; and; often; to induce their immigration2 Highly theoretical; generally polemical; discussions of religious questions.III.The First American WriterThe first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land; their lives in the new land; their dealings with Indians.Captain John Smith is the first American writer.A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony 1608A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country 1612General History of Virgini a 1624: the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown; Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess; Pocahontas.IV.Early New England LiteratureWilliam Bradford and John WinthropJohn Cotton and Roger WilliamsAnne Bradstreet and Edward TaylorV.Puritan Thoughts1. The origin of puritanIn the mediaeval Europe; there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century; the English King Henry VIII At that time; the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce; so he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established theChurch of England. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism1 predestination: God's electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard; spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.2 Origianl sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.3 Limited atonement the salvation of a selected few4 theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks; adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment3. Influence on American Literature1 Its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that; man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans; after arriving at America; believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise; to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission; they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.2 Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.Part II The Literature of Reason And RevolutionI.Historical IntroductionWith the growth; especially of industry; there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not want colonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures toinsure this dependence. They prevented colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country. Politically; the British government forced dependence by ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.However; by the mid-eighteenth century; freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century; the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years 1776-1783 and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America.II.American EnlightenmentIt was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision of their writings.At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin. III.Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790The AutobiographyPoor Richard’s AlmanacLifeBenjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years; but he was a voracious reader.At 12; he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother; a printer.At 16; he began to publish essays under the pseudonym “Silence Do good” .At 17; he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.Multiple identities:a printera leading authora politiciana scientista inventora diplomata civic activistFranklin’s Contributions to SocietyHe helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital.He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.Franklin’s Contributions to ScienceHe was also remembered for volunteer fire departments; effective street lighting; the Franklin stove; bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.And for his lightning-rod; he was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.”Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:The Declaration of Independence;The Treaty of Alliance with France;The Treaty of Peace with England;The ConstitutionThe AutobiographyThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born; the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.The Autobiography is; first of all; a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination andself-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices; the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person; the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God –all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then; the book is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that; in order to get on in the world; one has to be industrious; frugal; and prudent.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment; and that he represented in America all its ideas; that man is basically good and free by nature; endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity; directness and concision. The plainness of its style; the homeliness of imagery; the simplicity of diction; syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative; the absence of ornaments in wording and of complex; involved structures in syntax; and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole; it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.IV.Thomas Paine 1737-1809Common SenseAmerican CrisisV.Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826The Declaration of IndependenceVI.Philip Freneau 1752-1832“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”“Pioneer of the New Romanticism”“A gifted and versatile lyric poet”Works“The Wild Honey Suckle”“The Indian Burying Ground”“To a Caty-Did”Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death; nature; transition; and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.Life ExperienceHe was born in New York.At 16; he entered the College of New Jersey now Princeton University. He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate; he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends H. H. Brackenridge a poem entitled “The Rising Glory of America”.Later he attended the War of Independence; and he was captured by British army in 1780.After being released; he published “The British Prison Ship” in 1781.In the same year; he published “To the Memory of the Brave Americans”.After war; he supported Jefferson; and contributed greatly to American government.But after 50 years old; he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.Main Works“The Rising Glory of America” 1772 美洲光辉的兴起“The House of Night” 1779;1786 夜之屋“The British Prison Ship” 1781 英国囚船“To the Memory of the Brave Americans” 1781 纪念美国勇士“”The Wild Honey Suckle” 1786 野忍冬花“The Indian Burying Ground” 1788 印第安人墓地野忍冬花黄杲炘译美好的花呀;你长得:这么秀丽; 却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵;招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏;没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎; 没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪..大自然把你打扮得一身洁白; 她叫你避开庸俗粗鄙的目光; 她布置下树荫把你护卫起来; 又让潺潺的柔波淌过你身旁;你的夏天就这样静静地消逝;这时候你日见萎蔫终将安息..那些难免消逝的美使我销魂; 想起你未来的结局我就心疼; 别的那些花儿也不比你幸运——虽开放在伊甸园中也已凋零;无情的寒霜再加秋风的威力; 会叫这花朵消失得一无踪迹..朝阳和晚露当初曾把你养育; 让你这小小的生命来到世上; 原来若乌有;就没什么可失去;因为你的死让你同先前一样;这来去之间不过是一个钟点——这就是脆弱的花享有的天年..This poem is divided into four stanzas. Each stanza consists of six l ines; rhyming “ababcc”; and sounds just like music.In the first two stanzas; Freneau devoted more attention to the environment of the flower in which he found it than to the appearance of the flower. He conmented on the secluded nature of the place where the honey suckle grew; drawing a conclusion that it was due to nature's protectiveness that the flower was able to lead a peaceful life free from men’s disturbance and destruction.But the next stanza immediately changed the tone from silent admiration and appreciation to outright lamentation over the “future’s doom” of the flower – even nature was unable to save the flower from its death.And then; Freneau said; “if nothing once; you nothing lose.” It is true in people’s existence. There is fate for the life and death. After one’s death; the only thing he can take away is what he brought when he gave birth to this world.Part III The Literature of RomanticismI.Historical Introductionfrom early 19th century through the outbreak of the Civil War1. native factorsIt is a period following American Independence. In this period; democracy and political equality became the ideals of the new nation. America was in an economic boom. There is a tremendous sense of optimism and hope among the people. The spirit of the time is; in some measure; responsible for the outburst of romantic feeling.2. foreign influenceRomanticism emerged in England from 1798 to 1832. It added impetus to the growth of Romanticism in America. In England the general features of the works of the romantics is a dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society. British Romanticism inspired the American imagination. Thus American Romanticism was in a way derivative. II.American Romanticism: American RenaissanceRomanticism appeared in England in the last years of the 18th century and spread to continental Europe and then came to America early in the 19th century. It was pluralistic; its manifestations were as varied; as individualistic; and as conflicting as thecultures and the intellects from which it sprang. Yet romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: moral enthusiasm; faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception; and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man's societies a source of corruption.It exalted the individual; which suited the nation's revolutionary heritage and its frontier egalitarianism. It revolted against traditional art forms; which gratified those cramped by the strict limits of neoclassic literature; painting; and architecture. It rejected rationalism; which gladdened those who were opposed to cool; intellectual religious wrapped with the remnants of Calvinism.Romantic writers placed increasing value on the free expression of emotion and display increasing attention to the spiritual states of their characters. Heroes and heroines exhibited extremes of sensitivity and excitement. The novel of terror became the profitable literary staple that it remains today. Writers of gothic novels sought to arouse in their readers a turbulent sense of the remote; the supernatural; and the terrifying by describing castles and landscapes illuminated by moonlight and haunted by ghosts. A preoccupation with the demonic and the mystery of evil marked by the works of Poe; Hawthorne; Melville; and a host of lesser writers.Early American romanticism was best represented by New England poets William Cullen Bryant 1794-1878 and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882 in poetry; and James Fenimore Cooper 1789-1851 and Washington Irving 1783-1859 in fiction.The later/peak period is represented by Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882 and Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862.III.Washington Irving1. Rip Van WinkleThe story; written while Irving was staying with his sister Sarah and her husband Henry van Wart in Birmingham; England; is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. A villager of Dutch descent escapes his nagging wife by wandering up Kaaterskill Clove near his home town of Palenville; New York in the Catskill Mountains. After various adventures in one version of the tale; he encounters the spirits of Henry Hudson and his crew playing ninepins at the top of Kaaterskill Falls; he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep. He wakes up 20 years later and returns to his village. He finds out that his wife is dead and his close friends have died in a war or gone somewhere else. He immediately gets into trouble when he hails himself a loyal subject of GeorgeIII; not knowing that in the meantime the American Revolution has taken place and he is not supposed to be a loyal subject of any Hanoverian any longer.The story has become a part of cultural mythology: even for those who have never read the original story; "Rip Van Winkle" means either a person who sleeps for a long period of time; or one who is inexplicably perhaps even blissfully unaware of current events. Rip Van Winkle has been seen as a symbol of several aspects of America. Rip; like America; is immature; self-centered; careless; anti-intellectual; imaginative; and jolly as the overgrown child. The town itself symbolizes America –forever and rapidly changing. Washington Irving has Rip sleep through his own country’s history; through what we might call the birth pangs of America; and return to the “busy; bustling; disputatious” self-consciously adult United States of America. His conflicts and dreams are those of the nation –the conflict of innocence and experience; work and leisure; the old and the new; the head and the heart.2. The Legend of Sleepy HollowThe story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town; in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story ofIchabod Crane; a sycophantic; 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 daughter 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 battle" of the American Revolutionary War; and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head". Ichabod mysteriously disappears from town; leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones; who was "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related". Although the nature of the Headless Horseman is left open to interpretation; the story implies that the Horseman was really Brom Bones in disguise.The creation of archetypes is a particularly subtle feat of Irving’s consummate craftsmanship. We may see in Ichabod Crane a precocious; effect New Englander; shrewd; commercial; acity-slicker; who is rather an interloper; a somewhat destructive force; and who comes along to swindle the villagers. His book learning turns on him; and he is driven away from where he does notbelong; so that the serene village remains permanently good and happy.Brom Bones; on the other hand; is of a Huck Finn-type of country bumpkin; rough; vigorous; boisterous but inwardly very good; a frontier type put out there to shift for himself.Thus; the rivalry in love between Ichabod and Brom; viewed in this way; suddenly assumes the dimensions of two ethical groups locked in a kind of historic contest. As to the style of the piece; it represents Irving at his best. The association between a certain local and the inward movement of a character; the emotional loading of almost every line of the story; their effect on the five sense of the reader whose attention is so fully engaged and who feels so much involved in what is happening – all these have placed this and other Irving stories among the best of American short stories.3. Irving’s Style1 Irving avoids moralizing as much as possible. He writes simply to entertain rather to enlighten.2 He is good at setting his stories in a magic and fantastic atmosphere. The richness of the atmosphere compensates for the slimness of his plot.3 His characters are vivid and true to life. They tend to linger in the mind of the reader.4 His writing is full of humor and satire.5 two important themes; i.e. the themes of change and search for identify. These themes capture the spirit of Irving’s times and reflect his philosophical thinking on contemporary American social life.IV. James Fenimore Cooper 詹姆斯费尼莫尔库珀 1789--1851 -- launched two kinds of immensely popular stories → the sea adventure tale and the frontier sagaThe Leatherstocking Tales皮袜子故事集;regard as “the nearest approach yet to an American epic.” 开创了美国文学的一个重要主题—文明的发展对大自然和它代表的崇高品德的摧残与破坏Its central figure in the novels; Natty Bumppo 美国文学的一个重要的原型人物—独立不羁、逃避社会、在大自然中需求完美精神世界的班波. Cooper’s Works1 Precaution 1820; his first novel; imitating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice2 The Spy his second novel and great success3 Leatherstocking Tales his masterpiece; a series of five novels The Deerslayer; The Last of the Mohicans; The Pathfinder; The Pioneer; The PrairieCooper’s Style1 highly imaginative2 good at inventing tales3 good at landscape description4 conservative5 characterization wooden and lacking in probability6 language and use of dialect not authenticLiterary AchievementsHe created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the history of the United States is; in a sense; the process of the American settlers exploring and pushing the American frontier forever westward; then Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the West. He turned the west and frontier as a useable past and he helped to introduce western tradition to American literature.V. William Cullen Bryant 威廉卡伦布赖恩特1794-1878-- the first American to gain the stature of a major poet.To a Waterfowl致水鸟The Yellow Violet 黄色的堇香花VI. Edgar Allen Poe 1809-1849American writer; known as a poet and critic but most famous as the first master of the short-story form; especially tales of the mysterious and macabre. The literary merits of Poe's writings have been debated since his death; but his works have remained popular and many major American and European writers have professed their artistic debt to him.For a long time after his death Poe remained probably the most controversial and most misunderstood literary figure in the history of American literature.Emerson dismissed him in three words; “the jingle man.”Mark Twain declared his prose to be unreadable.Henry James made the ruthless statement that “an enthusiasm for Poe is the mark of a decidedly primitive state of development.” Whitman; who was the only famous literary figure present at the Poe Memorial Ceremony in Baltimore in 1875; had mixed feelings about him: he did admit Poe’s genius; but it was “its narrow range and unhealthy; lurid quality” that most impressed him.T. S. Eliot proclaimed him a critic of the first rank; but charged him with “slipshod writing.”Poe’s WorksPoetry: The Raven乌鸦Horror Fiction: The Fall of the House of Usher厄舍大厦的倒塌Whodunit: Murders in the Rue Morgue莫格街谋杀案致海伦海伦;你的美在我的眼里; 有如往日尼西亚的三桅船船行在飘香的海上;悠悠地把已倦于漂泊的困乏船员送回他故乡的海岸..早已习惯于在怒海上飘荡; 你典雅的脸庞;你的鬈发; 你水神般的风姿带我返航; 返回那往时的希腊和罗马;返回那往时的壮丽和辉煌..看哪壁龛似的明亮窗户里; 我看见你站着;多像尊雕像; 一盏玛瑙的灯你拿在手上塞姬女神哪;神圣的土地才是你家乡In the first stanza; Helen’s beauty is soothing. It provides security and safety. Perhaps the reader is expected to associate Marlowe’s famous line: “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships” to Helen’s beauty; for her beauty is as hypnotic for the speaker as were the ships that transported another wanderer –Ulysses - home from Troy.Throughout the poem; Poe uses allusions to classical names and places; as well as certain kinds of images to create the impression of a far-off idealized; unreal woman; like a Greek statue. Words that support the image of an ideal woman are “hyacinth” and “classic” line 7; “Naiad airs” line 8; and “statue-like” line 12. Helen stands; not like a real woman; but like a saint in a “window-niche” line 11. She becomes a symbol both of beauty and of frustration; a romantically idealized; yet inaccessible image of the heart’s desire.乌鸦从前一个阴郁的子夜;我独自沉思;慵懒疲竭;沉思许多古怪而离奇、早已被人遗忘的传闻——当我开始打盹;几乎入睡;突然传来一阵轻擂;仿佛有人在轻轻叩击;轻轻叩击我的房门..“有人来了;”我轻声嘟喃;“正在叩击我的房门——唯此而已;别无他般..”哦;我清楚地记得那是在萧瑟的十二月;每一团奄奄一息的余烬都形成阴影伏在地板..我当时真盼望翌日;——因为我已经枉费心机想用书来消除悲哀——消除因失去丽诺尔的悲叹——因那被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女;她美丽娇艳——在这儿却默默无闻;直至永远..那柔软、暗淡、飒飒飘动的每一块紫色窗布使我心中充满前所未有的恐怖——我毛骨惊然;为平息我心儿停跳.我站起身反复叨念“这是有人想进屋;在叩我的房门——..更深夜半有人想进屋;在叩我的房门;——唯此而已;别无他般..”很快我的心变得坚强;不再犹疑;不再彷徨;“先生;”我说;“或夫人;我求你多多包涵;刚才我正睡意昏昏;而你来敲门又那么轻;你来敲门又那么轻;轻轻叩击我的房门;我差点以为没听见你”——说着我拉开门扇;——唯有黑夜;别无他般..凝视着夜色幽幽;我站在门边惊惧良久;疑惑中似乎梦见从前没人敢梦见的梦幻;可那未被打破的寂静;没显示任何迹象..“丽诺尔”便是我嗫嚅念叨的唯一字眼;我念叨“丽诺尔”;回声把这名字轻轻送还;唯此而已;别无他般..我转身回到房中;我的整个心烧灼般疼痛;很快我又听到叩击声;比刚才听起来明显..“肯定;”我说;“肯定有什么在我的窗棂;让我瞧瞧是什么在那里;去把那秘密发现——让我的心先镇静一会儿;去把那秘密发现;——那不过是风;别无他般”我猛然推开窗户;..心儿扑扑直跳就像打鼓;一只神圣往昔的健壮乌鸦慢慢走进我房间;它既没向我致意问候;也没有片刻的停留;而以绅士淑女的风度;栖在我房门的上面——栖在我房门上方一尊帕拉斯半身雕像上面——栖坐在那儿;仅如此这般..于是这只黑鸟把我悲伤的幻觉哄骗成微笑;以它那老成持重一本正经温文尔雅的容颜;“虽然冠毛被剪除;”我说;“但你肯定不是懦夫;你这幽灵般可怕的古鸦;漂泊夜的彼岸——请告诉我你尊姓大名;在黑沉沉的冥府阴间”乌鸦答日“永不复述..”听见如此直率的回答;我惊叹这丑陋的乌鸦;虽说它的回答不着边际——与提问几乎无关;因为我们不得不承认;从来没有活着的世人曾如此有幸地看见一只鸟栖在他房门的面——鸟或兽栖在他房间门上方的半身雕像上面;有这种名字“永不复还..”但那只独栖于肃穆的半身雕像上的乌鸦只说了这一句话;仿佛它倾泻灵魂就用那一个字眼..然后它便一声不吭——也不把它的羽毛拍动——直到我几乎是哺哺自语“其他朋友早已消散——明晨它也将离我而去——如同我的希望已消散..”这时那鸟说“永不复还..”惊异于那死寂漠漠被如此恰当的回话打破; “肯定;”我说;“这句话是它唯一的本钱;从它不幸动主人那儿学未..一连串无情飞灾曾接踵而至;直到它主人的歌中有了这字眼——直到他希望的挽歌中有了这个忧伤的字眼‘永不复还;永不复还..’”但那只乌鸦仍然把我悲伤的幻觉哄骗成微笑; 我即刻拖了张软椅到门旁雕像下那只鸟跟前;然后坐在天鹅绒椅垫上;我开始冥思苦想;浮想连着浮想;猜度这不祥的古鸟何出此言——这只狰狞丑陋可怕不吉不祥的古鸟何出此言; 为何聒噪‘永不复还..”我坐着猜想那意见但没对那鸟说片语只言.. 此时;它炯炯发光的眼睛已燃烧进我的心坎;我依然坐在那儿猜度;把我的头靠得很舒服;舒舒服服地靠在那被灯光凝视的天鹅绒衬垫;但被灯光爱慕地凝视着的紫色的天鹅绒衬垫;她将显出;啊;永不复还接着我想;空气变得稠密;被无形香炉熏香;提香炉的撒拉弗的脚步声响在有簇饰的地板.. “可怜的人;”我呼叫;“是上帝派天使为你送药; 这忘忧药能中止你对失去的丽诺尔的思念;喝吧如吧;忘掉对失去的丽诺尔的思念”乌鸦说“永不复还..”“先知”我说“凶兆——仍是先知;不管是鸟还是魔是不是魔鬼送你;或是暴风雨抛你来到此岸;孤独但毫不气馁;在这片妖惑鬼崇的荒原——在这恐怖萦绕之家——告诉我真话;求你可怜——基列有香膏吗——告诉我——告诉我;求你可怜”乌鸦说“永不复还..”“先知”我说;“凶兆——仍是先知、不管是鸟是魔凭我们头顶的苍天起誓——凭我们都崇拜的上帝起誓——告诉这充满悲伤的灵魂..它能否在遥远的仙境拥抱被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女;她纤尘不染——拥抱被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女;她美丽娇艳..”乌鸦说“永不复还..”“让这话做我们的道别之辞;鸟或魔”我突然叫道——“回你的暴风雨中去吧;回你黑沉沉的冥府阴间别留下黑色羽毛作为你的灵魂谎言的象征留给我完整的孤独——快从我门上的雕像滚蛋从我心中带走你的嘴;从我房门带走你的外观”乌鸦说“永不复还..”那乌鸦并没飞去;它仍然栖息;仍然栖息在房门上方那苍白的帕拉斯半身雕像上面;而它的眼光与正在做梦的魔鬼眼光一模一样;照在它身上的灯光把它的阴影投射在地板;而我的灵魂;会从那团在地板上漂浮的阴暗被擢升么——永不复还The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe; first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality; stylized language; and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover; tracing the man's slow descent into madness. The lover; often identified as being a student; is lamenting the loss of his love; Lenore. The raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number of folk and classical references.安娜贝尔.李很久很久以前;在一个滨海的国度里;住着一位少女你或许认得; 她的芳名叫安娜贝尔.李;这少女活着没有别的愿望;只为和我俩情相许..那会儿我还是个孩子;她也未脱稚气;在这个滨海的国度里;可我们的爱超越一切;无人能及——我和我的安娜贝尔.李;我们爱得那样深;连天上的六翼天使也把我和她妒嫉..这就是那不幸的根源;很久以前在这个滨海的国度里;夜里一阵寒风从白云端吹起;冻僵了我的安娜贝尔.李;于是她那些高贵的亲戚来到凡间把她从我的身边夺去;将她关进一座坟墓在这个滨海的国度里..这些天使们在天上;不及我们一半快活;于是他们把我和她妒嫉——对——就是这个缘故谁不晓得呢;在这个滨海的国度里云端刮起了寒风;冻僵并带走了我的安娜贝尔.李.. 可我们的爱情远远地胜利那些年纪长于我们的人——那些智慧胜于我们的人——无论是天上的天使;还是海底的恶魔;都不能将我们的灵魂分离;我和我美丽的安娜贝尔.李..因为月亮的每一丝清辉都勾起我的回忆梦里那美丽的安娜贝尔.李群星的每一次升空都令我觉得秋波在闪动那是我美丽的安娜贝尔.李。
美国文学
American Literature1发源地(Virginia and Massachusetts)2 (The first writings)that we call Amrican were the (narratives)and (journals of these settlements).3 The first permanent settlement was established (Jamestown,Virginia in 1607)4 (Captain John Smith)~the first distinctly American literature written in English.~foundation for the nation's literature.5 John Smith's vision helped(lure the Pilgrims and the Puritans)6 The writrers of the (southern) and (Middle)colonies who follow (John Smith ) made contributions to American Literature (in the 18 century) in the age of (reason and revolution)7 The first intention in Massachusetts was to found a (theocracy) a society in which God would govern through the church.~~led to (injustice) and (intolerance)8 Somber religion stressed (hard work)(thrift)(piety)and (sobriety)9 Puritan religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a (wrathful God and to forget His mercy) 代表人物(Nathaniel Hawthorne)1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer.2.The General History of Virginia,New England,and the Summer Isles contains his most famous tales of how the Indian princess Pocahontas saved him from the wrath of her father Powhatan .3.William Bradford,first governor of Plymouth.4.John Winthrop was a man of the same caliber.5.John Cotton ,sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England”, he was “the teacher”,its guiding influence toward the ideals of theocracy.神权6.Roger Williams was more democratic in his view of church government than the leaders of any of the settlements.7.With Williams begins the history of religious toleration in America,and with him,too,the history of the separation of church and state.8.Anne Dudley Bradstreet is one of the most interesting of the early poets.The title of this collection of poems complimented her,in classical allusion,as The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America.9.The best of the Puritan poets was Edward Taylor.Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution1. Theology dominated the Puritan phase of American writing. (Politics) was (the next subject).2. (Thomas Paine) call on people to fight -- (Common Sense).Without the writings of Thomas Paine, there might have been no army for Washington to lead. Without the writings of (Thomas Jefferson) ( Declaration of Independence), France might never have aided the cause.3. The War for Independence 1775-17834.Bourgeois (Enlightenment) movement (启蒙运动)(Tasks): to disseminate knowledge among the people and to advocate revolutionary ideas.American Enlightenment brought to life (secular education) and (literature).The writers of the Enlightenment aimed at (clarity) and (precision) of their writings.5. The (secular ideals) of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of (Benjamin Franklin). He was a (prose stylist) whose writing reflected the (neoclassic ideals) of clarity, restraint, simplicity, and balance.6. The heroic and revolutionary ambitions of the age had created great (political pamphleteering) and (state papers). (Essayists) and (journalists) had shaped the nation’s beliefs with reason dressed in clear and forceful prose.7. (Benjamin Franklin)His famous (Poor Richard’s Almanac), an annual collection of proverbs.(The Autobiography) (自传), an introduction of his life to his own son.Chapter 61. Thomas Paine--Great Commoner of Mankind2. The American Crisis( a series of sixteen pamphlets 小册子) and signed Common Sense. It restored the morale and inspired the success of that citizen's army.Chapter 71. Thomas Jefferson--The Declaration of Independence 独立宣言state paperThe essay not only announced the birth of a new nation, but also set faith a philosophy of human freedom.Chapter 81. Philip Freneau-- PoetHe has been called the "Father of Americans poetry".His poems were full of American FeaturesChapter 91.Washington Irving--familiar style 随笔He was the first great prose stylist of American Romanticism. And he was the first great belletrist.纯文学家"Sketch Book " ----In this book, appeared the first modern short stories and the first great juvenile literature.He was among the first of the moderns to wrote good history and biography as literary entertainment.Legends of the Conquest of SpainPart III The literature of Romanticism1.The literature of Romanticism:history of the Age (from 1810-1861 the beginning of the Civil War)2.The feminist movement blazed forth with a host of notable women battling for their rights and for social reform. In 1837, the first college-level institution for women, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, opened in Massachusetts to serve the “muslin sex”3.In the years preceding the Civil WarSir Walter Scott-”the monarch and master of modern fiction”Washington Irving’s Sketch Book(the beginning and symbol of Romanticism)This book became the first work by an American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.4.Literary Characteristics(1)The attitudes of American writers were shaped by their New World environment and an array of ideas inherited.(2)直觉感受:moral enthusiasm, faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception, and a presumption(3)The romantic revolt against traditional art forms//The romantic rejection of rationalism gladdened//Calvinism.5.来源:transcendentalists took their ideas from the romantic literatures of Europe, from Neo-Platonism , from German idealistic philosophy, and from Oriental Mysticism.6.Transcendentalism was a powerful expression of the intellectual mood of the age, and the ideas it represented have remained a strong influence on great American writers from the days of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman to the present.7.Literature ceased to be primarily didactic, a servant of politics and religion. The great age of American political writing by the founding fathers had ended.8.Novels, short stories, and poems replaced sermons and manifestos as America’s p rincipal literary forms.9.想象文学:imaginative literature became intense, personal , and symbolic as more writers came to perceive themselves not as mere literary craftsmen following the ordered rules of neoclassic literature but as prophets and seers.10.The desire for an escape from society and return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature, evident in Cooper’s The Leatherstocking Tales, in Thoreau’s Walden, and later in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and in the twentieth-century writing of Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner.11.Romantic writers placed increasing value on the free expression of emotion and displayed increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters.12.The novel of terror became the profitable literary staple that it remains today.13.Writers of Gothic terror novels sought to arouse in their readers a turbulent sense of the remote, the supernatural, and the terrifying by describing castles and landscapes illuminated by moonlight and haunted by specters.14.新英格兰文艺复兴:at mid-century a cultural reawakening brought a “flowering of New England”15.校园诗人:”Schoolroom Poets”: Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes, and Whittier.1. James Fenimore CooperThe first important American novelist began his literary career on a dare.(The Spy) was a rousing tale about espionage against the British during the Revolutionary War. Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea adventure tale, and the frontier saga. The best of his many sea romances was (The Pilot).The Leatherstocking Tales five novels “the nearest approach yet to an American epic”The (central figure) in the noels, (Natty Bumppo), goes by the various names of Leatherstocking, Deerslayer, Pathfinder, and Hawkeye.(The Last of the Mohicans) (Hawkeye)2. William Cullen BryantIn 1817, the stately poem called “Thanatopsis”(Greek, meaning”view of death”)“(To a Waterfowl)” is perhaps the peak of his work. Matthew Arnold, the eminent English critic and poet, called it “(the most perfect brief poem in the language).”He was the first American to gain the stature of a major poet.3. Edgar Allan Poe1)As an editor, a poet, a literary critic, and a writer of fiction.2)He was an editor at various times of Graham’s Magazine, two newspapers, and Burton’s3)Gentleman’s Magazine(where “The Fall of the House of Usher” first appeared)4)His first collection of short stories, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, appeared in 1840.5)“The Raven” was published in 1845 as the title poem of a collection.6)Through his essays and reviews, Poe had also gained stature as a literary critic.7)The Raven Annabel Lee The Fall of the House of Usher4. Ralph Waldo EmersonEmerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.His first book, Nature.The American Scholar and Divinity School Address made him famous. Essays.Poems. Emerson’s poetry is uneven in quality, but always highly individual, and some of it is excellent.His harsh rhythms and striking images appeal to many modern readers as artful techniques.His unit of thought is generally the sentence rather than the paragraph.One of his great statements was in “The American Scholar.”Oliver Wendell Holmes called the speech “our intellectual Declaration of Independence.”(Henry david Thoreau)He was the man who put into practice many Emerson's theories.The reason why he( went to the woods) was that he wished to live deliberately,to front only the essential facts of life.(Walden)(Livil Disobedience) (famous essay), it stated Thoreau's belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.(Nathaniel Hawthorne)novelist shortstory aroter.(The House of the seven Gables)(Twice told tales)短篇小说集(Mosses from an old Manse)(The scarlet letter)----the finest example of the recreation of (puntan boston).It is a complex story of guilt, its effects on various persons,and how diciverance is obtained for some of them.4个人物:(Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Pearl, Roger Chillingworth)(Young goodman brown)Howthorne's unique gift was for the creation of strong symbolic stories which touch the deepest roots of man's moral natcme.His ability to create vivid and(symbolic images) that embody great moral questions.Melville called Hawthorne(the largest brain with the largest heart)Hawthorne shares with EdgarAllan Poe the distinction of (advancing the art of stort story). (Hawthorne's) work has more (depth of thought),while Poe was concerned with the(immediate emotional effects)of literature.(Herman Melville)(Moby-Dick)----a tremendous chronicle of a (whaling voyage) in pursuit of aseemingly super natural whitewhale. (monster) (Captain Ahab)This book is steeped in (symbolism).He said, a whaling ship,was(my yale college and Harward).(Typee)(Omoo)Melville thought (Ahab's ship) was like a world in miniature, with characters of the (observers) and (narrators Ishmael)(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)He was the (only American) to be honored worth a bust in the (Poets' corner) of (Westminster Abbey).His poverty was (gentleness),(sweetness) and (purity)He exercised a great influence in Bringjing European culture to the US, and did much to populize American folk themes abroad.(A Psalm of life)生命礼赞style of his poetry: purity, musicality, directness, moralization,sweetness,sent imentality, simplicity, and gentleness.。