美国文学Enlightenment

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美国文学名词解释

1 The Enlightenment（启蒙运动）: The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement originating in France, which attracted widespread support among the ruling and intellectual classes of Europ e and North America in the second half of the 18th century. It characterizes the efforts by certain European writers to use critical reason to free minds from prejudice, unexamined authority and oppression by Church or State. Therefore, the Enlightenment is sometimes called the Age of Reason2 American Dream(美国梦): It is the faith held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage, and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. Nowadays the American Dream has led to an emphasis on material wealth as measure of success or happiness3. Transcendentalism (超验主义、先验主义) : It was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture and philosophy that emerged in New England in the middle 19th century. It began as a protest against the general state of culture and society. Among transcendentalist’s core beliefs was an ideal spiritual state that “transcends”the physical and empirical(以观察或实验为依据的) and is only realized through the individual’s intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions. Prominent transcendentalists included Ralph Waldo Emerson（爱默生）, Henry David Thoreau（梭罗）, Walt Whitman（惠特曼）, etc. It is a kind of philosophy that stresses belief in transcendental things and the importanceof spiritual rather than material existence. （相信超凡的事物，认为精神存在比物质存在更重要).4. American Puritanism: It is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Puritan Church. The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them. They were a group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious and moral principles. As the word itself hints, Puritans wanted to purity their religious beliefs andpractices. They accepted the doctrine of predestination宿命论, original sin and total depravity性恶说, and limited atonement 有限的救赎through a special infusion 浸渍of grace from God. As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind.：It is the writing technique of using symbols. It’s a literary movement that arose in France in the last half of the 19th century and that greatly influenced many English writer, particularly poets, of the 20th century. It enables poets to compress a very complex idea or set of ideas into one image or even one word. It’s one of the most powerful devices thatpoets employ in creation.novel is a type of romance very popular late in the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th novel emphasizes things which are grotesque怪异的，violent，mysterious，supernatural，desolate 荒凉and horrifying. Gothic，originally in the sense of “medic医学，not classical”，with its descriptions of the dark，irrational side of human nature，Gothic novel has exerted a great influence over the writers of the Romantic period.8 Imagism: it’s a poetic movement of England and the flourished from 1909 to 1917. The movement insists on the creation of images in po etry by “the direct treatment of the thing” and the economy of wording. The leaders of this movement were Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell艾米•洛威尔.8. Imagism: It came into being in Britain and around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation. The imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image. Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles: direct treatment of subject matter; economy of expression; as regards rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of metronome节拍器. Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro”is a well-known imagist poem.9. Stream of Consciousness(意识流): It is a style used in the presentation of the character’s inner working of mind. The assumption is that an individual’s psychological processes are a continuous flow like a shifting, uninterrupted stream, highly changeable and confusing, often appearing illogical and contrary to reason. In tracing the stream of consciousness of an individual the writer may present interior monologue(内心独白) by his character, hint with symbols, reverse(颠倒) the order of time, and alternate（轮流的／交替的）recollections（回忆）with the present or sometime illusions（幻想）with given facts.10. Point of view( 视角)：It is a term referring to the vantage point(能观察某事物的有利位置) or position from which a story is told. To identify（识别）the narrator of a story is to identify the story’s point of view. Basically there are two narrative ways: first-person point of view and the third-personpoint of view.12. The Harlem Renaissance: it was the first important movement in black American literature. Immediately after the First World War, as a result of a massive black migration to Northern cities, a group of young, talented black artists congregated in Harlem, a predominantly black section of New York City, and made it the cultural, and intellectual capital of black America. They carried forward the cultural traditions of their people and demonstrated their achievements to the white society that habitually ignored them.13. Expressionism 表现主义: it arouse in German theater after World War I. Delighting in bizarre (奇异的) stage design and exaggerated makeup and costuming(服装), expressionists sought to reflect intense states of emotion. Its mode is “the externalization(外表性) of t he inner.”humor: It is a combination of humor with resentment(怨恨), gloom, anger, and despair. Seeing all that is unreasonable, hypocritical, ugly, and even frenzied(狂乱的)，writers of black humor nurse a grievance(不平) against their society which, according to them, is full of institutionalized(制度化的) absurdity. Yet they are cynical. They laugha morbid(病态的) laugh when facing the hideous（丑恶的）. In hopeless indignation （愤慨）they take up freezing irony and burning satire as their weapons. Their novels are often in the form of anti-novel（反传统小说）, devoid of(缺乏) completeness of plot and characterized by fragmentation（零碎的）and dislocation（混乱）.。

理性和革命时期美国文学

3. The procedures of the establishment of the new nation
(1) colonies (2) states (3) federal republic--- the United States of America
II. Enlightenment
Noah Webster & His Dictionary of the English Language
III. Literature
2. While imaginative literature (富有想象力的文学作品,fiction, mythology, poetry, drama, etc ) in America remained derivative (派生的;拷贝的) and dependent, the heroic and revolutionary ambitions of the age had created great political pamphleteering (小册子) and state papers. Essayists and journalists had shaped the nation’s beliefs with reason dressed in clear and forceful prose.
I. The American War for Independence 1775-1783
(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

the American Enlightenment美国启蒙运动文学

The War for Independence (1775-1783)
The hard-fought American Revolution against Britain was the first modern war of liberation against a colonial power. Military victory fanned nationalistic hopes for a great new literature. With the country’s independence, the beginnings of literary independence were evident in some writings. Yet American literature throughout the century was largely patterned on the writing of the eighteenth-century Englishmen. Except for the outstanding political writing, few works of note appeared during or soon after the Revolution.
The Age of Enlightenment
Features of the American Enlightenment
The War for Independence Characteristics of the literature
THE AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENT
The 18th-century American Enlightenment was a movement marked by an emphasபைடு நூலகம்s on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy. Enlightenment thinkers and writers were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equality as the natural rights of man. Deism(自然神论) :the belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.

美国文学术语解释

美国文学术语解释美国文学术语解释American puritanism(美国清教主义)Colonial American(殖民时期的美国)Great Aweaking(宗教大觉醒运动)American Romanticism(美国浪漫主义)Gothic tradition(哥特传统) Historical novel(历史小说)Civil War（美国内战）Transcendentalism(超验主义) Individualism(个人主义) Unitarianism(上帝一位论) Allegory(寓言) American Renaissance(美国文艺复兴)Original Sin(原罪)American Enlightenment(美国启蒙运动)Free verse(自由诗) Alliteration(头韵) Assonance(类韵) Consonance(和音)Lyric(抒情诗)Sonnet(十四行诗)Point of view(视角)Realism(现实主义)Local Colorism(地方特色主义) Irony(反讽)Naturalism(自然主义)Social Darwinism(社会达尔文主义)Dadaism(达尔文主义) Expressionism(表现主义) Harlem Renaissance(哈姆雷特文艺复兴)Imagism(意象主义)Jazz Age(爵士乐时代) Surrealism(超现实主义)V orticism(漩涡派)Dramatic Monologue(戏剧性独白)Lost Generation(迷惘的一代) Metaphysical poets(玄学派诗人)Narrator(叙述者)Stream of Consciousness(意识流) The Beat Generation(垮掉的一代) The 1930s(美国30年代)New Criticism(新批评主义) Theatre of the Absurd(荒诞剧) Postmodernism(后现代主义) Metafiction(元小说) Confessional poetry(自白派诗歌) The New York School(纽约派诗人)The absurd(荒谬派)Parody(戏讽)Magic realism(魔幻现实主义) The National Association for the Advancement of ColoredPeople(NAACP)(美国有色人种协进会)The Native American Renaissance(土著美国人文艺复兴)。

美国文学名词解释整理版

Colonial Period:1.American Puritanism（p16）It is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.,who were the first immigrants moved to American continent in the 17th century. They werea group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious andmoral principles. They wanted to purity their religious beliefs and practices. They accepted the doctrine of predestination original sin and total depravity and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind.Romanticism Period:2.Romanticism(p32)the literature term was first applied to the writers of the 18th century in Europe who broke away from the formal rules of classical writing. When it was used in American literature it referred to the writers of the middle of the 19th century who stimulated（刺激）the sentimental emotions of their readers. They wrote of the mysterious of life, love, birth and death.The Romantic writers expressed themselves freely and without restraint.They wrote all kinds of materials, poetry, essays, plays, fictions, history, works of travel, and biography.3.American Romantism(P34)①it is one of the most important periods in the history of American literature that stretches from the 18th century to the outbreak of the civil war. It started with the publication of Washington Irving‟s The Sketch Book and ended with Walt Whitman‟s Leaves of Grass.②being a period of the great flowering of American literature, it is also called “the American Renaissance ”.③American romantic works emphasize the imaginative and emotional qualities of nature literature. The strong tendency to eulogize the individual and common man was typical of this period. Most importantly, the writings of American Romanticism are typically American. Works concentrate on unique characteristics of the American land.⑤Romanticists include such literary figures as Washington Irving, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman and some others.4.Gothic tradition (哥特传统)Gothic novel or Gothic romance is a story of terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery very popular late in the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century.In an extended sense, many novels do not have a medievalzed setting, but share a comparably sinister, grotesque, or claustrophobic atmosphere have been classed as Gothic. It contributed to the new emotional climate of Romanticism.5.Transcendentalism (先验说,超越论)(p47)It is a philosophic and literary movement that flourished in New England, particular at Concord, as a reaction against Rationalism and Calvinism (理性主义and喀尔文主义). Mainly it stressed intuitive understanding of God, without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind,stress the importance of the Over-soul, the Individual and Nature.The representative writers are Emerson and Thoreau.6.Stream of consciousness（意识流）：It is one of the modern literarytechniques. It is the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character‟s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them. It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce. Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and skillfully the unconscious activity of the mind fast changing and flowing incessantly。

美国文学名词解释

（一）About Puritanism清教主义1.“would-be purifier”They wanted to purify the English Church and to restore church worship to the “pure and unspotted”condition of its earlier days .They opposed the elaborate rituals of the English Church. They believed that the Bible was the revealed word of God, therefore, people should guide their daily behavior with the Bible.2.Basic Puritan Beliefs（1）Total Depravity - through Adam's fall, every human is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.（2）Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation - concept of predestination（3）Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.（4）Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.（5）Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.2.The impact of Puritanism (1)High standards of moral excellence and conscience ;(2) Emphasis on education(3)Hard working, thrifty, independent spirit;(4)“Chosen people”consciousness .(诺斯替教）（二）Enlightenment(启蒙运动)Enlightenment is man’s leaving his self-caused immaturity.Immaturity is the incapacity to use one's intelligence without the guidance of another.@A term used to describe the trends in thought and letters in Europe and the American colonies during the 18th century prior to the French Revolution. The precursors of the Enlightenment can be traced to the 17th century and earlier.@The phrase was frequently employed by writers of the period itself, convinced that they were emerging from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science, and a respect for humanity.（三）Romanticism （浪漫主义）As an approach in literary creation, romanticism is ever present in literature of all times. But as a literary trend or movement, it occurred and developed in Europe and America at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries under the historical background of the Industrial Revolution around 1760 and the French Revolution (1789-1799). @ A movement in the literature of virtually every country of Europe, the United States, and Latin America that lasted from about 1750 to about 1870,@It was characterized by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealization of nature.（四）Transcendentalism（超验主义）Transcendentalism is the summit of the Romantic Movement in theU.S. in the first half of the 19th century. It asserts the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition .Transcendentalists place emphasis on the importance of the Over-soul, the individual and Nature. It was, in essence, romantic idealism on Puritan soil.（五）Free versepoetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.(六）Blank verse“Blank verse” is poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always iambic pentameters.（七）American Realism (1865—1918)（现实主义）American Realism came in the latter half of the nineteenth century as a reaction against Romanticism. It stresses truthful treatment of material. It focuses on commonness of the lives of the common people, and emphasizes objectivity and offers an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience. The three dominant figures of the period are William Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James.（八）Definition of Local Color（乡土特色）1.Literature that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography（地形）, and other features particular to a specific region that exploits the speech, dress, mannerisms, and habits of thatspecific region .2.Twain’s Local colorismTwain preferred to present social life through portraits of the local characters of his regions, including people living in that area, the landscape, and other peculiarities like the customs, dialects, costumes and so on. So the rich material of his boyhood experience on the Mississippi became endless resources for his fiction, and the Mississippi valley and the west became his major theme.（九）American Naturalism (1890s-1910s) （自然主义）1.Historical Background:—The spread of industrialization created extremes of wealth and poverty. —Farmers were still going westward, but frontiers were about the close. They had to depend on the transcontinental railway to transport their products.—The spread of Darwin’s theory of evolution changed people’s ideology.2. Thematically, naturalistic writers：-- wrote detailed descriptions of the lives of the downtrodden and of the abnormal-- had frank treatment of human passion and sexualit-- were concerned about how men and women were overwhelmed by the forces of environment and by the forces of heredity-- made detailed documentation of life: nothing but the truth, more naked and wicked than realism-- created gloomy and pessimistic atmosphere3. Here are the major features of naturalism.Humans are controlled by laws of heredity and environment.The universe is cold, godless, indifferent and hostile to human desires. @Naturalistic writers are pessimistic. They choose their subjects from the lower.(10)Modernism（现代主义）(1)appeared after World War I(2)cutting off history and a sense of despair and loss(3)refusing to accept the traditional concept of value and all traditional ideological influences.1. BackgroundIn the first world war, America got considerable benefits with animal cost, but many artist and thinkers with suffering consciousness felt the terribleness of modern wars.Their heroism in mind gradually disappeared. Some of them going into battle suffered the sight of blood and all kinds of disasters. After back to America, they found that the social reality had experienced great change.2.Features or changes of the period(1)Increasing industrialization (2)Deepening urbanization(3)High speed development of technology and science(4 )Trauma of the first world war(5)1930s economic depression(6)Collapse of social value system(7)Dropping moral standards(8)Common depression , fear ,sense of loss3. Features of the worksFreud’s psychoanalysis ,William James stream of consciousnesstheory and archetypal symbol had great impact on the writers of modern American writers. They pay special attention to the inner world of the people, during this period ,the most compelling literature movement is the writer’s self exile, also known as the second American renaissance .(十一）Novelists ——the Lost Generation“迷惘的一代”(1920s) The novelists who produced a literature of disillusionment in the aftermath of World War I, and some of them lived abroad:(1)Used their wartime experience as the basis for their works (2)were cut off from old values yet unable to come to terms with the new era(3)wondered pointlessly and restlessly(4)were frustrated by the war(5)spokesman ——Hemingway(十二）The Jazz AgeThe Jazz Age is the nickname in America of the decade of the 1920’s, beginning from 1919 to the Crash at the end of 1929.These ten years were, for Americans, a time of carefree prosperity, isolated from the world’s problem, bewildering great social change, and a feverish pursuit of pleasure.These were the ten years when the First World War was just over, when new inventions and manufacturing techniques greatly changed the way people lived; when people moved from the countryside in great numbers; when women won the right to vote and many started to earn their own money; when cars,washing machines,radios and vacuum cleaners became commonplace; and when millions of people lived beyond their means and went into debt in order to obtain such things while the middle class frantically pursued individual “success”and personal enjoyment. They lived a rich, extravagant, frivolous moneymaking life, and it was this style of living gave the decade of the 1920’s such nickname as the “Jazz Age”, the “Dollar Decade”, and the “Roaring Twenties.”（十三）Imagism(1900S-1910S)(意象派)The Imagist movement included English and American poets in the early twentieth century who wrote free verse and were devoted to "clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images." The Imagist Movement began in London and later spread to the US. It underwent three major phases in its development.（十四）IronyA contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in life and in literature.。

American Enlightenment__ Literature(美国文学)

3. Evaluation The Autobiography is a record of selfexamination and self-improvement. Benjamin Franklin was a spokesman for the new order of the 18th century enlightenment The Autobiography is a how-to-do-it book, a book on the art of self-improvement. (for example, Franklin’s 13 virtues) Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream. The Autobiography is in the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision.
1. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
1. Works
《自传》
《格言历书》
• The Autobiography • Poor Richard’s Almanack 2. Life
Benjamin 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.

美国文学史选读整理第一部分殖民地时期的文学

第一部分殖民地时期的文学17世纪历史文化背景1.17世纪早期，英国人最终在弗吉尼亚Virginia和马萨诸塞Massachusetts定居，奠定了人们熟知的美国主流文化的基础2.The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements.3.The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.4.New England: 美国东北部地区，范围包括缅因州，新罕布什尔，佛蒙特，马萨诸塞，罗得岛和康涅狄格。

1614年由英国人John Smith命名。

5.Jamestown: 北美洲英国第一个永久性殖民地，建于1607.5.14.这里最先种植烟草，建立了大陆上第一个代议制政府（1619），运进第一批非洲奴隶，建立了美洲第一个圣公会教堂。

6.John SmithWilliam Byrd II:文学巨匠，《分界线的历史》Thomas Jefferson: 政治型学者，美国第三任总统，《独立宣言》的主要起草人，《英属美洲权利概述》（1774）：英国国会无权为殖民地制定法律；《弗吉尼亚笔记》：种族问题。

美国第一位作家：Captain John Smith1.<A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the FirstPlanting of That Colony>16082.<A Map of Virginia>1612（第二本书，共出版了8本书,部分记载了关于新英格兰的事）3.<General History of Virginia>1624有关于酋长之女波卡洪特斯Pocahontas的故事早期新英格兰文学：1.勤劳hard work、节俭thrift、虔诚piety、节制sobriety2.The Puritans had come to New England for the sake of religious freedom, while Virginia had been plantedmainly as a commercial venture.3.清教传教士：John Cotton约翰·科登，Cotton Mather科登·马瑟William Bradford and John Winthrop1.Plymouth: 普利茅斯，北美第二个英国殖民地，1620五月花号抵达地2.威廉·布拉德福德（1590-1657）：<The History of Plymouth Plantation>(普利茅斯开发史)From my years young in days of youth那时我青春年少懵懂无知God did make known to me His Truth上帝眷顾教我真理And call’d me from my native place蒙他召唤我离开家乡For to enjoy the Means of Grace矢志追寻他的荣光In wilderness He did me guide苍茫大地他给我指引And in strange lands for me provide陌生土地终归我统领……As Pilgrim passed I to and fro.我作为清教徒而来，我作为清教徒而去3.约翰·温思罗普（1588-1649）：<The History of New England>(新英格兰史)清教徒的思想1.As the word itself hints, Puritans wanted to make pure their religious beliefs and practices. The Puritan wasa “would-be purified.”2.The Puritans wished to restore simplicity to church services and the authority of the Bible to theology.3.Separatists—they wished to break free from the Church of England.4.Emphasize the image of a wrathful God and to forget his mercy.Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor清教徒诗人1.安妮·布雷兹特里特（1612-72）：<The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America>(在美洲诞生的第十个缪斯); <Upon the Burning of Our House>; 《沉思录》；《疲乏的朝圣者》2.爱德华·泰勒（1642-1729）：清教徒诗人中最杰出的一位。

美国文学史习题(可编辑修改word版)

I.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items.(10 x 1’= 10’)1.In American literature, the 18th century was the age of Enlightenment.was the dominant.A.humanismB. rationalismC. romanticismD. evolution2.The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is taken from Irving’s worknamed .A.The Leatherstocking TalesB. The Sketch BookC. The AutobiographyD. The History of New York3.Which of the following is not the characteristic of AmericanRomanticism?A.RationalismB. inner selfC. personal feelingsD. individualism4.The short story “Rip Van Winkle” reveals the attitude of its author.A.optimisticB. pessimisticC. conservativeD. ironic5.Stylistically, Henry James’ fiction is characterized by .A.short, clear sentencesB. abundance of local imagesC. ordinary American speechD. highly refined language6.Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates inand Thoreau.A.JeffersonB. EmersonC. FreneauD. Mark Twain7.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?A.The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. OversoulD. Self-reliance8.is considered Mark Twain’s greatest achievement.A.The Gilded AgeB. Innocent AbroadC. The Adventures of Tom SawyerD. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn9.is not among those greatest figures in “Lost Generation”.A.Ezra PoundB. Robert FrostC. Walt WhitmanD. Hemingway10.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writingbecomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more .A.rationalB. humorousC. optimisticD. pessimistic II.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items.(10 x 1’= 10’)11.is the father of American Literature.A.Benjamin FranklinB. Philip FreneauC. PaineD. Washington Irving12.is a fantasy tale about a man who somehow stepped outside the mainstream of life.A.“Rip Van Winkle”B. “The Pioneers”C. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”D. “The Fall of the House of Usher”13.was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.A.ThoreauB. EmersonC. HawthorneD. Whitman14.Which of following is NOT a typical feature o f Mark Twain’s language?A.vernacularB. colloquialC. elegantD. humorousFrom Thoreau’s jail experience, came his famous essay, which stateshis belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of agovernment.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. CommonSense16.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?A.The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. OversoulD. Self-reliance17.Most of the poems in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass sing of the “en-mass” andthe as well.A.natureB. self-relianceC. selfD. life18.What did Fitzgerald call the 1920s?A.The Roaring 20sB. The Gay 20sC. The Jazz AgeD. The Lost Generation19.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writingbecomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more .A.rationalB. humorousC. optimisticD. pessimistic20.For Melville, as well as for the reader and , the narrator, Moby Dick isstill a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe.A.AhabB. StubbC. IshmaelD. StarbuckII.Identify Works as Described Below (1’×15 =15’):1.The novel has a sole black protagonist who tells his own story but whosename in unknown to us.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains2.The main conflict of the play is the protagonist’s false value of fineappearance and popularity with people and the cruel reality of the society in which money is everything.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journeyinto Night d. Death of Salesman3.It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on theplaywright himself.a.Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries4.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and howthe society is responsible for the murder.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains5.is one of the best works in American literature about the SecondWorld War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge ofCourage d. The Naked and the Dead6.The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead7.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma andtravel to California to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.a.The Grapes of Wrathb. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March8.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, withsuch techniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.a.Babbittb. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath9.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whosetitle is taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a.Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10.It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and how shebecomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into a beggar and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11.The novel is set on the Mississippi with the protagonist telling us the story inthe local dialect. It is a representative work of local colorism.a.Sister Carrieb.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnd.The Portrait of a Lady12.T he novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions inthe Civil War.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13.The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of theuniversality and equality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14.The novel is about how a group of people on a whaling ship kill a greatwhale but themselves are killed by the whale, with the conflict between man and his fate.a.The Octopusb. Moby-Dickc. The Rise of Silas Laphamd.Leaves of Grass15.It is a philosophical essay in 8 chapters plus an introduction mainlyconcerned with the four uses of nature.a.Waldenb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. The American ScholarI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1’×15=15’):1.An English ship brought 102 people from Plymouth, England on September 16, 1620 and arrived in the present Provincetown harbor on November 21 in the same year. This ship was named .a.The Pilgrimsb. Mayflowerc. Americad. Titanic2.is father of American drama and in his dramatic career he wrote 49 plays.a.Tennessee Williamsb. Eugene O’Neillc. Arthur Millerd. Elmer Rice 3.was the first American writer to write entirely American literature.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Washington Irvingc. Mark Twaind. Ernest Hemingway4.was the leader of American transcendentalism.a.Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5.was the greatest woman poet in American literature and she wroteabout 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a.Pearl S. Buckb.Harriet Bicher Stowec. Emily Dickensond. Walter Whitman6. is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a.Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.W illiam Dean Howells is concerned with the middle class life; writes about the upper class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a.Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. Henry James8.Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a.William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9.His writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts. He is .a.Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10.He wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in thedeep south. He is .a.William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11.is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jewsare major characters.a.Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12. is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a.Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a.John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14.He was the first black American to write a book about black life with greatimpact on the consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans. Who is he?a.Richard Wrightb. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd.Ralph Ellison15.Hemingway wrote about American compatriots in Europe whereaswrote about the Jazz age, life in American society.a.W illiam Carlos Williamsb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. F.Scott FitzgeraldI.C hoose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1×15 %):2.The American Civil War broke out in 1861 between the Northern states and the South states, which are known respectively as the and the .a. N, Sb. Revolutionaries, Reactionariesc. Union, Confederacyd. Slavery, Anti-Slavery2.was praised by the British as the “Tenth Muse in America”.a.Anne Bradstreetb. Edward Taylorc. Thomas Pained. Philip Freneau3.M ark Twain was a representative of in American literature.a.transcendentalismb. naturalismc. local colorismd. imagism4.was the leader of American transcendentalism.a.Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5.T he greatest American poet and the first writer of free verse is .a.Washington Irvingb.Ezra Poundc. Walt Whitmand. Emily Dickinson6.is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a.Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.Henry James is concerned with the upper class life; writes about the middle class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a.Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. William Dean Howells8.Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a.William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9.’s writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts.a.Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha Countyin the deep south. .a.William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Mark Twain11.is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jewsare major characters.a.Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12. is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a.Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a.John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14.was the first black American to write a book about black life withgreat impact on the consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans.b. Richard Wright b. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15.first used the “Jazz age” as the title of a collection of short storiesa.F. Scott Fitzgeraldb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. ErnestHemingwayII.Identify Works as Described Below (1×15 %):6.The play is about a stoker whose identity as a human being is not recognizedby his fellow human beings and who tries to find affinity with a monkey in the zoo and is finally killed by the animal.a. The Hairy Apeb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. Long Day’s J ourney into Nightd. The Glass Menageries7.The protagonist in this play is a crippled girl named Amanda.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journeyinto Nightd.The Glass Menageries8.The hero of this novel tells about his own story to us but his name isunknown.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on the Mountains4.It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on theplaywright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries5.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident andhow he is finally arrested and tried and sentenced to death.a.Native Sonb.Uncle To m’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains6.is one of the best works in American literature about the SecondWorld War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge ofCouraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead10.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma andtravel to California to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.b. The Grapes of Wrath b. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March11.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, withsuch techniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.b. Babbitt b. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath12.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whosetitle is taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a.Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10.It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and elopes withHurstwood and how she becomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into beggary and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11.It is a novel with 135 chapters plus an epilog; in it a group of people on awhaling ship kill a great whale but they themselves are killed by the whale in the end, except Ishmael the narrator who survives by adhering to a coffin.b.Sister Carrie b.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc.Moby Dickd. The Portrait of a Lady12.T he novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions inthe Civil War, in which wound is called the red badge which symbolizescourage.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13.The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of theuniversality and equality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14.The novel is about how a man falls economically and socially but who risesmorally because he gives up the opportunity to sell his factory to an English Syndicate, which would otherwise mean a ruin to that syndicate.a.The Octopusb. The Rise of Silas Laphamc. Moby-Dickd.Leaves of Grass15.It is a speech delivered at Harvard University. It is often hailed as the“declaration of intellectual independence” in America.a. The American Scholarb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. WaldenII.Match the following (1×20%)A.Match Works with Their Authors1.Hugh Selwyn Mauberly2.W alden3.Autobiography4.The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7.The Rise of Silas Lapham8.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer9.Long Day’s Journey into Night10.The Old Man and the Seaa.Mark Twain b . Ernest Hemingwayc. Eugene O’Neilld. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Benjamin Franklini.Henry David Thoreau j. Ezra Poundk.Thomas Jefferson l. T.S. EliotB.Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1. Hester Prynne2.Mrs. Touchett3.Frederick Henry4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.H olden Caulfield 7.Bigger Thomas8.Y ank 9.Happya.The Portrait of a Ladyb. The Scarlet Letterc. The Hairy Aped. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Deadh. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Sonj. Death of a Salesmank.Invisible Manl.Catch-22III.Match the following (1’×20=20’)A.Match works with their authors1.Nature2.R ip Van Winkle3.Nature4.The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7.The Rise of Silas Lapham8.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn9.Cantos10.The Old Man and the Seaa.Ezra Poundb. Ernest Hemingwayc. Mark Twaind. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Ralph Waldo Emersoni.Washington Irving j. Waldo Emersonk.T.S. Eliot l. Robert FrostB.Match characters with the works in which they appear.2. Captain Ahab and Starbuck 2.Isabel Archer3.Frederic Henry and Catherine4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 8.Bigger Thomas9.The Tyrones 10.Willy Lomana.The Portrait of a Ladyb. Moby-Dickc. Death of a Salesmand. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Dead h. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Son j. Long Day’s Journey into Nightk.Absalom, Absalom l. The Old Man and the SeaV.Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 300 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 3 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.1.To the best of your knowledge, analyze and make comments on Emerson’sNaturement on any American poet you like.3.Analyze and/or comment on any one of the American novels or plays youhave read.V. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 300 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have atleast 3 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may givea title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics itbelongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.)4.Make comments on an American novel we have discussed in this course.ment on an American poet.6.Describe how your knowledge of American literature is improved aftertaking this course..IV.Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ =20’)1.Why do people think Franklin is the embodiment of American dream?2.What is “Lost Generation”?V.Discussion. (1 x 20’ =20’)State your own interpretations of Hemingway’s iceberg theory of writing?IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)3.What is Hawthorne’s style? Explain the style with examples.4.At the end of the 19th century, there were three fighters for Realism. Whoare they? What are their differences?True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1.American literature is the oldest of all national literature.2.Thomas Jefferson was the only American to sign the 4 documents that created the US.3.All his literary life, Hawthorne seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil.4.Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass are about human psychology.5.Hurstwood is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.6.Faulkner’s region was the Deep North, with its bitter history of slavery, civil war and destruction.7.Placed in historical perspective, Howells is found lacking in qualities and depth. But anyhow he is a literary figure worthy of notice.8.Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9.As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.10.Emily Dickinson expresses her deep love in the poem “Annabel Lee”.II.Decide whether the statements are True or False. (10 x 2’=20’)1.Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.2.American Romantic writers avoided writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elements.3.As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.4.“Young Goodman Brown” wants to prove everyone possesses kindness in heart.5.Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Twain or Howells.6.The American realists sought to describe the wide range of American experience and to present the subtleties of human personality.7.Frost’s concern with nature reflected his deep moral uncertainties.8.Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9.Roger Chillingworth is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.10.After the Civil War, the Frontier was closing. Disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned to be a “Gilded” one.。

美国文学词条

Enlightenment: An 18th-century movement thatfocused on the ideals of good sense, benevolence,and a belief in liberty, justice, and equality as thenatural rights of man.The most important leaders of the American Enlightenment include Benjamin Franklin, Thomas JeffersonImagists: A group of mainly American poets, includingEzra Pound and Amy Lowell, who used sharpvisual images and colloquial speech; active from1912 to 1914.Irony: A meaning, often contradictory, concealedbehind the apparent meaning of a word or phrase.several categories, among which are: verbal, dramatic, and situational.Modernism: An international cultural movementafter World War I expressing disillusionment withtradition and interest in new technologies andvisions.Naturalism: A late 19th- and early 20th-century literaryapproach of French origin that vividly depictedsocial problems and viewed human beings as helplessvictims of larger social and economic forces.Neoclassicism: An 18th-century artistic movement,associated with the Enlightenment, drawing on classicalmodels and emphasizing reason, harmony, andrestraint.Postmodernism: A media-influenced aesthetic sensibilityof the late 20th century characterized byopen-endedness and collage. Postmodernism questionsthe foundations of cultural and artistic formthrough self-referential irony and the juxtapositionof elements from popular culture and electronic technology.Puritans: English religious and political reformerswho fled their native land in search of religious freedom,and who settled and colonized New England inthe 17th century.Romanticism: An early 19th-century movement thatelevated the individual, the imagination, and intuition. Romanticism, a reaction against neoclassicism,stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom fromclassical correctness in art forms, and rebellionagainst social conventions.Realism:Transcendentalism: A broad, philosophical movementin New England during the Romantic era(peaking between 1835 and 1845). It stressed therole of divinity in nature and the individual’s intuition,and exalted feeling over reason.Symbolism:The "Lost Generation" was the generation that came of age during World War I. The term was popularized by Ernest Hemingway, who used it as one of two contrasting epigraphs for his novel, The Sun Also Rises. This generation included distinguished artists such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passosthe generation of men and women who came of age during or immediately following World War I: viewed, as a result of their war experiences and the social upheaval of the time, as cynical, disillusioned, and without cultural or emotional stability.black humour, also called black comedy, writing that juxtaposes morbid or ghastly elements with comical ones that underscore the senselessness or futility of life. Black humour often uses farce and low comedy to make clear that individuals are helpless victims of fate and character.in literature, used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony. Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce.。

美国文学期末考试复习大纲

美国文学期末考试复习大纲Ⅰ. 文学史1.American Puritanism (美国请教主义):Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late 16th century.I.Background: Puritanism1.features of Puritanism(1)Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred.(2)Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation.(3)Total depravity(4)Limited atonement: Only the ―elect‖ can be saved.2.Influence(1)A group of good qualities –hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature.(2)It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden.(3)Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calli ng into beinga literary symbolism which is distinctly American.(4)With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.II.Overview of the literature1.types of writing: diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons2.writers of colonial period(1)Anne Bradstreet(2)Edward Taylor(3)Roger Williams(4)John Woolman(5)Thomas Paine(6)Philip Freneau(7)Jonathan Edwards(8)Benjamin Franklin2.American Enlightenment (美国启蒙运动):Enlightenment is a philosophical movement of the 18th century that emphasized the use of reason to scrutinize previously accepted doctrines and traditions and that brought about many humanitarian reforms.The American Enlightenment is a term sometimes employed to describe the intellectual culture of the British North American colonies and the early United States (as they became following the American Revolution).It is commonly dated from 1750—1820.Among the leading intellectual figures of this period are Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.Democratic Origins and Revolutionary Writers, 1776—18201.Background: American Revolution——historicalEuropean Enlightenment2.Basic Assumptions:(1)Reg ard ―enlightenment‖ or ―education‖ as the principle means for development of society(2)Show concern for civil rights, democracy in government and tolerance rather than earlier religious mysticism(3)Reconsider the relationship between man & God. Brief-Deism (natural religion)3.Transcendentalism (超验主义):Transcendentalism is literature, philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about1836 to 1860.It originated among a small group of intellectuals who were reacting against the orthodoxy of Calvinism and the rationalism of the Unitarian Church, developing instead their own faith centering on the divinity of humanity and the natural world.The ideas of transcendentalism were most eloquently expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in such essays as Nature (1836) and Self-reliance and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden (1854).I.Background: four sources1.Unitarianism(1)Fatherhood of God(2)Brotherhood of men(3)Leadership of Jesus(4)Salvation by character (perfection of one’s character)(5)Continued progress of mankind(6)Divinity of mankind(7)Depravity of mankind2.Romantic Idealism: Center of the world is spirit, absolute spirit (Kant)3.Oriental mysticism: Center of the world is ―oversoul‖4.Puritanism: Eloquent expression in transcendentalismII.Appearance1836, ―Nature‖ by EmersonIII.Features1.spirit/oversoul2.importance of individualism3.nature – symbol of spirit/God; garment of the oversoul4.focus in intuition (irrationalism and subconsciousness)IV.Influence1.It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature.It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.2.It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity often becameopportunism, and the desire to ―get on‖ obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height.It helped to create the first American renaissance – one of the most prolific period in American literature.4.Dark Romanticism1.Dark Romanticism & Gothic FictionSimilarities: darkness, supernatural, featuring charactersDifferences: sheer horror——Gothic Fiction’s purposedark mystery & skepticism of man——Dark Romance’s purpose2.Dark Romanticism——reaction against transcendentalismDark Romanticism is a literary subgenre that emerged from the transcendental philosophical movement popular in 19th century America. Some writers, including Poe, Hawthorne and Melville, found transcendental belief far too optimistic and egotistical and reacted by modifying.3.Dark Romanticism & Transcendentalism:Dark Romantics are much less confident about the notion that perfection is an innate equality of mankind, as believed by transcendentalists. Dark Romantics present individuals as prone to sin and self-destruction, not as inherently possessing divinity and wisdom.While both groups believe nature is a deep spiritual force, Dark Romanticism views it in a much more sinister light than does transcendentalism, which sees nature as a divine & universal organic mediator. For Dark Romantics, the natural world is dark, decaying, and mysterious, when it does reveal truth to man, its revelations are evil.Transcendentalists advocate social reform when appropriate, works of Dark Romanticism frequently show individuals, falling in their attempts to make changes for the better.4.Fiction:⑪ General term for invented storiesNovel, short story, novellas, romance, fable etc.《堂吉诃德》——the first novel of European⑫ Types of novel:①.Kunstlerroman 成长小说Bildungroman——《麦田守望者》②.Spy novel③.Historical novel④.Campus novel 校园小说⑤.Gothic novel⑥.Epistolary novel⑦.Picaresque novel⑧.Detective novel⑨.Sociological novel⑩.Psychological novel⑬ Elements of fiction:①.Setting (time, place, environment)②.Plot (selected events, cause & effect, structure)——conflict (exposition, rising action/complication, climax, falling action, resolution)③.Character (animal, inanimate things)④.Point of view (first person, third person, multiple)⑤.Theme (different from ―subject‖)⑥.Style (diction, syntax, figure of speech)⑦.Symbol & IronyⅡ. 文学概念1. Allegory (寓言)：Allegory is a story with a symbolic meaning used to teach a moral principle.Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.Thus, an allegory is a story with two meanings: a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.Many of Hawthorne’s stories are allegories dealing with pride, isolation, love and betray. For example, Y oung Goodman Brown tells Brown’s journey in the forest. After the journey, Brown changed a lot. In fact the story shows Brown’s struggle between goodness and evil and re veals the processes of losing one’s innocence.2. Romance:―Romance‖ is now frequently used as s term to designate a kind of fiction that differs from the novel in being more freely. It is the product of the author’s imagination than the product of an effo rt to represent the actual world with verisimilitude.Romance is a heightened, emotional, and symbolic form of the novel. Romances are not love stories, but serious novels that use special techniques to communicate complex and subtle meanings.Nathaniel Hawthorne is a representative of dark romance, most of his works reveals the dark side of human beings.3. Lyric(抒情诗)：In the modern sense, it is any fairly short poem expressing the personal mood, feeling, or meditation of a single speaker. Lyric poetry is the most extensive category of verse. Lyrics may be composed in almost any meter and on almost every subject, although the most usual emotions presented are those of love and grief. Among the common lyric forms are the sonnet, ode, elegy, and the more personal kinds of hymn.Lyric poetry is genre that does not attempt to tell a story but instead of a more personal nature. It portrays the poet’s own feelings, states of mind, and perceptions.While the genre’s name derived from ―lyre‖, implies that it is intended to be sung, much lyric poetry is meant purely for reading.The most popular form for western lyric poetry to take may be the 14-line sonnet, as practiced by Petrarch and Shakespeare. Lyric poetry shows a bewildering variety of forms, including, increasingly in the 20th century, unrhymed ones.Lyric poetry is the most common type of poetry.5.Allusion:It is one of the figures of speech.An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication.For example, in literature, the snake often represents the evil. It’s an allusion of Bible. In Bible, the snake allured Eve to eat the apple. Thus, they were punished by God.5. T rickster:Trickster always appears in mythology, it’s a kind of literary character.In mythology, and in the study of folklore and relig ion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior.Trickster is the ―rebellion‖ that challenges authority.The trickster is a very important archetype in the history of human kind.H e is the ―wise fool‖.It is he, through his creations that destroy the authority.He exists to question and to cause us to question.He is the Destroyer of the world and at the same time the Savior of us all.For example, Robin Hood, he is a thief, who steals the rich to help the poor. On one hand, a thief is supposed to be punished, but on another hand, he steals the money not for himself but to help others. Thus, we call him a trickster.6.Gothic Fiction:Gothic fiction rises in the late of 18th century.The Gothic relates the individual to the infinite universe.Gothic literature pictures the human condition as an ambiguous mixture of good and evil power that cannot be understood completely by human reason.The Gothic novel or short story is any story which can be describe as dark, mysterious, and grotesque. A Gothic story often has supernatural elements that give it a hint of horror/ terror.Gothic fiction is often psychological (from the villain’s perspective)It has romantic elements: the damsel in distress, the ghost of a loverCreates suspense: never sure what is going to happenIt adopts the use of doppelganger theme.The most familiar Gothic fiction to me is The V ampire Diaries. Similar to the Twilight, it tells a love story between the V ampire and a human being. There are many terror scenes with suspense and a doppelganger in the story. Now The V ampire Diaries is made into TV series. In the TV series, a vampire called Damon is my favorite one.7. Kunstlerroman8. Quest:―quest‖ means search, pursue, go on adventure. The Quest myth/ Quest story, similar to Romance is a genre of literature.The background, such as an imbalanced society, is often challenging.The hero leaves the society. His goals are always noble. He is always on the side of goodness, and his enemies are always evil.The hero must undergoes trials: physical tests—slaying a dragon, battling powerful opponents, rescuing maidens in distress etc.Having completed his quest, the hero returns to society to bring about spiritual transformation and restore the perfect human community.The Captain Ahab in Moby Dick is a hero of quest but not a traditional one, he is a villain hero who tries to conquer the nature.9. Iambic Pentameter:10. Point of View(视角)：It is the relationship of the storyteller or narrator, to the story.A story has a first-person point of view if one of the characters, referred to as ―I‖, tells the story.A story has a limited third-person point of view if the narrator reveals the thoughts of only one character but refers to that character as ―he‖ or ―she‖.A narrator who tells the thoughts of all the characters and who tells things that no one character could know uses the omniscient (all-knowing), or third-person, point of view.For example, in Moby Dick, Melville adopted the first-person narrator, Ishmael was the observer who saw the events of the story and played s minor role in the action.Ⅲ. 重要作家及作品Nathanial Hawthorne (纳撒尼尔·霍桑)1.life2.works(1)Two collections of short stories: Twice-told Tales, Mosses from and Old Manse(2)The Scarlet Letter(3)The House of the Seven Gables(4)The Marble Faun3.point of view(1)Evil is at the core of human life, ―that blackness in Hawthorne‖(2)Whenever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation (causality).(3)He is of the opinion that evil educates.(4)He has disgust in science.4.aesthetic美学的ideas(1)He took a great interest in history and antiquity. To him these furnish the soil on which his mind grows to fruition.(2)He was convinced that romance was the predestined form of American narrative. To tell the truth and satirize and yetnot to offend: That was what Hawthorne had in mind to achieve.5.style – typical romantic writer(1)the use of symbols(2)revelation of characters’ psychology(3)the use of supernatural mixed with the actual(4)his stories are parable (parable inform) – to teach a lesson(5)use of ambiguity to keep the reader in the world of uncertainty – multiple point of viewThe Scarlet Letter, （adultery）1.About the story:(1)The story of Hester Prynne Set: the 17th century(2)What is situated immediately outside the door of the prison in which Hester is kept: A rosebush(3)How does Hester support herself financially: as a seamstress(4)She always wears: black(5)―A‖ represents: adultery2.Major characters in the story:(1)Hester Prynne: wears ―A‖; ―A‖ defines her identity(2)Arthur Dimmesdale: wears ―A‖ in his heart; his soul never in peace (invisible wearer)(3)Roger Chillingworth: the maker of scarlet letter(4)Pearl: the p roduct/result of ―A‖3.Symbolism: (special movement in literature; the use of symbols)In ―The Scarlet Letter‖:(1)The rosebush: passion(2)The forest: an ungovernable place(3)The scarlet letter: adultery; sin(4)Pearl: wildness; passion(5)The meteor: community4.Refuse to take off ―A‖:(1)For Hester, to remove scarlet letter would be to acknowledge the power it has in determining who she is(2)She is determined to transform its meaning and her identity(3)She wants to be the one who controls its meaning(4)She stands as a self-appointed reminder of the evils society can commitYoung Goodman Brown1. Psychological interpretation——Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychology):(1)superego——consciousness——the principle of morality 超我(2)ego——subconsciousness——the principle of reality 自我(3)id——unconsciousness——the principle of pleasure 本我Brown’s journey is psychological as well as physical:Village, a place of light and order——Forest, a place of darkness and wildnessconsciousness——unconsciousnessvillage——superego——FaithBrown——egoforest——id——SatanHawthorne saw the dangers of an overactive suppression of libido and the consequent development of tyrannous superego.2. Men, Women, and the loss of Faith:Despite the literary sexism of his day, Hawthorne portrays women as powerful moral agents.Although Faith is not a three-dimensional character, the story centers on her husband’s rejection of her. Women are victimized.Women——angle in the house——do not have desires, rights and needsFallen women——prostitutes, witches, and mad womenFaith to Brown is female sexuality; Satan to Brown is patriarchal authority3. Female images:Innocents vs. Temptresses:(1)Governor’s wife, Goody Cloyse, prostitutes, maidens, witches, Quaker women, Faith(2)Sex is seen as alluring and dangerous(3)Brown is an empty and failed husband and fatherHerman Melville (赫尔曼·麦尔维尔)1.life(1)Typee 《泰皮》(2)Omio 《殴穆》(3)Mardi 《玛地》(4)Redburn 《雷德本》(5)White Jacket 《白外衣》(6)Moby Dick(7)Pierre 《皮埃尔》(8)Billy Budd 《比利·巴德》3.point of view(1)He never seems able to say an affirmative yes to life: His is the attitude of ―Everlasting Nay‖ (negative attitudetowards life).(2)One of the major themes of his is alienation (far away from each other).Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism (individualism causing disaster and death), rejection and quest, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts over the comforting 19c idea of progress4.style(1)Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multipleview of his narratives.(2)He tends to write periodic chapters.(3)His rich rhythmical prose and his poetic power have been profusely commented upon and praised.(4)His works are symbolic and metaphorical.(5)He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background or description of what goes on board the ship or onthe route (Moby Dick)Moby Dick《白鲸》：Moby-Dick, often considered the greatest American novel, is a masterpiece with many layers. It is a sea adventure, an exciting chase after a destructive and mysterious creature. The enormous white whale Moby-Dick torments Captain Ahab, who is obsessed with finding and killing Moby-Dick, having lost a leg in a previous encounter with the whale, and Ahab’s burning desire for revenge really is the center of the story. At the novel’s end, Ahab finds and attacks Moby-Dick, but the terrible whale takes Ahab, his ship Pequod, and nearly all its crew down to a watery grave with him.1. An encyclopedia of everythingA Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting against fates (extreme individualism)2. Image of ship: ship on the sea is the human soul search the meaning in the universe.3. Purpose——noble: he think Moby Dick as an evilHero: he is a hero but not a traditional hero (he does not stand for goodness); a villain hero4. Byronic hero (create by Byron): mad, bad, dangerous to know, obsessive——rebellions: challenge the authority; unconventional; right the wrongSatanic: revengeful; rebellious; the fight between God & Satan5. The Pequod——a symbol of doom(named after a native American tribe in Massachusetts; did not long survived of white men(extincted); is painted gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and bones)The sailors are of different ethics——all people in American (individual)Queequeg’s Coffin——life boat; life6. Theme of Moby Dick:(1)Melville’s bleak view (negative attitude) the sense of futility and meaninglessness of the w orld. His attitude to life is―Everlasting Nay‖. Man in this universe lives a meaningless and futility.The adventure of killing Moby Dick is meaningless. Ahab tries to control it, which leads to his doom.Modern life——the loss of faith, the sense of futility——well expressed in Moby Dick(2)Alienation (far away from each other): exists between man & man, man & society, and man & nature.(3)Loneliness and suicidal individualism——the basic pattern of 19th century American life(individualism causing disaster and death)——Moby Dick is a negative reflection upon Transcendentalism.(4)Rejection and quest:V oyaging for Ishmael has become a journey in quest of knowledge and valuesHenry David Thoreau1.life(1)A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River(2)Walden(3)A Plea for John Brown (an essay)3.point of view(1)He did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was vehemently outspoken on the point.(2)He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system.(3)Like Emerson, but more than him, Thoreau saw natur e as a genuine restorative, healthy influence on man’s spiritualwell-being.(4)He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.(5)He was very critical of modern civilization.(6)―Simplicity…simplify!‖(7)He was sorely disgusted with ―the inundations of the dirty institutions of men’s odd-fellow society‖.(8)He has calm trust in the future and his ardent belief in a new generation of men.WaldenEdgar Allen PoeI.LifeII.Works1.short stories(1)ratiocinative storiesa.Ms Found in a Bottleb.The Murders in the Rue Morguec.The Purloined Letter(2)Revenge, death and rebirtha.The Fall of the House of Usherb.Ligeiac.The Masque of the Red Death(3)Literary theorya.The Philosophy of Compositionb.The Poetic Principlec.Review of Hawthorne’s Twice-told TalesIII.Themes1.death – predominant t heme in Poe’s writing―Poe is not interested in anything alive. Everything in Poe’s writings is dead.‖2.disintegration (separation) of life3.horror4.negative thoughts of scienceIV.A esthetic ideas1.The short stories should be of brevity, totality, single effect, compression and finality.2.The poems should be short, and the aim should be beauty, the tone melancholy. Poems should not be of moralizing. Hecalls for pure poetry and stresses rhythm.V.Style – traditional, but not easy to readVI.R eputation: ―the jingle man‖ (Emerson)VII.His influencesWalt Whitman1.life2.work: Leaves of Grass (9 editions)(1)Song of Myself(2)There Was a Child Went Forth(3)Crossing Brooklyn Ferry(4)Democratic V istas(5)Passage to India(6)Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking3.themes –―Catalogue of American and European thought‖He had been influenced by many American and European thoughts: enlightenment, idealism, transcendentalism, science, evolution ideas, western frontier spirits, Jefferson’s individualism, Civil War Unionism, Orientalism.Major themes in his poems (almost everything):●equality of things and beings●divinity of everything●immanence of God●democracy●evolution of cosmos●multiplicity of nature●self-reliant spirit●death, beauty of death●expansion of America●brotherhood and social solidarity (unity of nations in the world)●pursuit of love and happiness4.style: ―free verse‖(1)no fixed rhyme or scheme(2)parallelism, a rhythm of thought(3)phonetic recurrence(4)the habit of using snapshots(5)the use of a certain pronoun ―I‖(6) a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure(7)use of conventional image(8)strong tendency to use oral English(9)vocabulary – powerful, colourful, rarely used words of foreign origins, some even wrong(10)sentences – catalogue technique: long list of names, long poem lines5.influence(1)His best work has become part of the common property of Western culture.(2)He took over Whitman’s vision of the poet-prophet and poet-teacher and recast it in a more sophisticated andEuropeanized mood.(3)He has been compared to a mountain in American literary history.(4)Contemporary American poetry, whatever school or form, bears witness to his great influence.Ralph Waldo Emerson (拉尔夫·华尔多·爱默生)1.life (American philosopher, poet and essayist; the most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism)2.works(1)Nature——his first book expressing the main principle of Transcendentalism. It is regarded as ―American’sDeclaration of Intellec tual Independence‖(2)Two essays: The American Scholar, The Poet3.point of view(1)One major element of his philosophy is his firm belief in the transcendence of the ―oversoul‖.(2)He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man, and advocated a direct intuition of aspiritual and immanent God in nature.(3)If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself and brings out the divine in himself, he can hope to become betterand even perfect. This is what Emerson means by ―the infinitude of man‖.(4)Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making his world, and that he makes the world by makinghimself.4.aesthetic ideas(1)He is a complete man, an eternal man.(2)True poetry and true art should ennoble.(3)The poet should express his thought in symbols.(4)As to theme, Emerson called upon American authors to celebrate America which was to him a lone poem in itself.5.his influenceWashington Irving1.several names attached to Irving(1)first American writer(2)the messenger sent from the new world to the old world(3)father of American literature2.life3.works(1)A History of New Y ork from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty(2)The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (He won a measure of international recognition with the publication ofthis.)(3)The History of the Life and V oyages of Christopher Columbus(4)A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada(5)The Alhambra4.Literary career: two parts(1)1809~1832a.Subjects are either English or Europeanb.Conservative love for the antique(2)1832~1859: back to US5.style – beautiful(1)gentility, urbanity, pleasantness(2)avoiding moralizing – amusing and entertaining(3)enveloping stories in an atmosphere(4)vivid and true characters(5)humour – smiling while reading(6)musical languageJames Fenimore Cooper1.life (―father of American novelists‖; the creation of the west frontier and its heroes)2.works(1)Precaution (1820, his first novel, imitating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice)(2)The Spy (his second novel and great success)(3)Leatherstocking Tales (his masterpiece, a series of five novels)The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneer, The Prairie3.point of viewThe theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat vs. democrat, natural rights vs. legal rights4.style(1)highly imaginative(2)good at inventing tales(3)good at landscape description(4)conservative(5)characterization wooden and lacking in probability(6)language and use of dialect not authentic5.literary 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.Benjamin Franklin1.life (printer, enlightener, inventor, scientist, statesman, diplomat)2.works(9)Poor Richard’s Almanac(10)Autobiography——form: the first autobiography of Americanmeaning: American dream & individualismself-improvement; business (contents); prototype of American success (significance); Puritanism and enlightenment spirits 3.contribution(11)He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society.(12)He was called ―the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case) from heaven‖.(13)Everything seems to meet in this one man –―Jack of all trades‖. Herman Melville thus described him ―master of each and mas tered by none‖.(14)Aid Jefferson in writing The Declaration of IndependenceThomas Paine1.father of the American Revolution2.propagandist, pamphleteer, a master of persuasion who understands the power of language to move a man to action3.main works:(1)The American Crisis(2)Common Sense(3)The Right of Man(4)The Age of Reason。

美国文学重点整理

美国文学重点整理O u t l i n e o f A m e r i c a n L i t e r a t u r e1.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f C o l o n i a lA m e r i c a殖民地时期美国文学 (17t h c e n t u r y)2.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R e a s o n a n d R e v o l u t i o n理性和革命时期文学（18t h C）3.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R o m a n t i c i s m 浪漫主义文学（19t h C）4.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R e a l i s m理性主义文学（19t h C）5.T w e n t i e t h-c e n t u r y L i t e r a t u r e 现代主义文学（20t h C）O u t l i n e o f E n g l i s h L i t e r a t u r e1.m e d i a e v a l l i t e r a t u r e中世纪文学（约5世纪—1485）2.R e n a i s s a n c e l i t e r a t u r e文艺复兴时期文学（15世纪后期—17世纪初）3.17t h C e n t u r y L i t e r a t u r e17世纪文学4.L i t e r a t u r e E n l i g h t e n m e n t p e r i o d启蒙时期文学（17世纪后期—18世纪中期）5.R o m a n t i c l i t e r a t u r e p e r i o d浪漫主义时期文学1798-1832）6.R e a l i s m p e r i o d现实主义时期文学 (19世纪30年代-1918）7.M o d e r n L i t e r a t u r e p e r i o d现代主义文学时期（1918-1945）8.C o n t e m p o r a r y L i t e r a t u r e当代文学（1945—今）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殖民地时期美国文学1.E a r l y i n t h e17t h C.,t h e E n g l i s h s e t t l e m e n t s i n V i r g i n i a a n d M a s s a c h u s e t t s b e g a n t h e m a i n s t r e a m o f A m e r i c a n n a t i o n a l h i s t o r y.2.I n1607,t h e f i r s t p e r m a n e n t E n g l i s h s e t t l e m e n t i n N o r t h A m e r i c aw a s e s t a b l i s h e d a t J a m e s t o w n, V i r g i n i a. T h i s y e a r i s o f t e n c o n s i d e r e da s t h eb e g i n n i n g o f A m e r ic a n h i s t o r y.3.C a p t a i n J o h n S m i t h---f i r s t A m e r i c a n w r i t e r,p u b l i s h e d8w o r k s i na l l.H i s r e p o r t s o f e x p l o r a t i o n h a v e b e e n d e s c r i b e d a s t h e f i r s td i s t i n c t l y A me r i c a n l i t e r a t u r e t o b e w r i t t e n i n E n g l i s h.h i sd e s c r i p t i o n o f A m e r i c a w e r e f i l l e d w i t h t h e m e s,m y t h s,i m a g e s,s c e n e s,c h a r a c t e r s a nde v e n t s t h a t w e r e af o u n d a t i o n f o r t h e n a t i o n’s l i t e r a t u r e.4.P u r i t a n w r i t e r s：t w o P o e t s：A n n eB r a d s t r e e t（T h e T e n t h M u s e L a t e l y S p r u n g u p i n A m e r i c a--《美国新崛起的第十位缪斯女神》）H e r w o r k s e r v e s a s a d o c u m e n t o f t h e s t r u g g l e s o f a P u r i t a n w i f e a g a i n s t t h e h a r d s h i p s o f N e w E n g l i s h c o l o n i a l l i f eE d w a r d T a y l o r①R e g a r d e d a s t h e b e s t o f t h e P u r i t a n p o e t s.②R e l i g i o u s t h e m e s.③B a s e d d i r e c t l y o n t h e P s a l m s(圣诗).P u r i t a n v a l u e s(e n d u r i n g持久的 i n f l u e n c e)s t r e s s e d h a r d w o r k,t h r i f t, p i e t y,s o b r i e t y（节制)T h e y r e g a r d e d t h e m s e l v e s a s c h o s e n p e o p l e o f G o d.T h e y e m b r a c e dh a r d s h i p s,i n d u s t r y a n d f r u g a l i t y(节俭).T h e y f a v o r e d a d i s c i p l i n e d,h a r d,s o m b e r,a s c e t i c(禁欲的)a n d h a r s h l i f e.T h e y o p p o s e d反对 a r t s a n d p l e a s u r e.T h e y s u s p e c t j o y a n d l a u g h t e r a s s y m p t o m s o f s i n.(c a n’t s m i l e i n t h e c h u r c h)P a r t I I.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R e a s o n a n d R e v o l u t i o n(18t h C)R e a s o n----- A m e r i c a n E n l i g h t e n m e n t1) P h i l o s o p h i c a l a n d i n t e l l e c t u a l m o v e m e n t.2)A d v o c a t e d r e a s o n(理性)o r r a t i o n a l i t y,t h e s c i e n t i f i c m e t h o d,e q u a l i t y a n d h u m a n b e i n g s'a b i l i t y t o p e rf e c t t h e m s e l v e s a n d t h e i rs o c i e t y.3. A g r e e d o n f a i t h i n h u m a n r a t i o n a l i t y a n d e x i s t e n c e o f d i s c o v e r a b l ea n d u n i v e r s a l l y v a l i d(有效的)p r i n c i p l e s g o v e r n i n g h u m a nb e i n g s,n a t u r ea n d s o c i e t y.4. O p p o s e d i n t o l e r a n c e, r e s t r a i n t, s p i r i t u a l a u t h o r i t y a n d r e v e a l e d r e l i g i o nB e n j a m i n F r a n k l i n(1706-1790)—T h e e p i t o m e(集中体现)o f t h e A m e r i c a n E n l i g h t e n m e n tM a i n W o r k s:P o o r R i c h a r d’s A l m a n a c《穷理查德年鉴》/《格言历书》 A c o l l e c t i o n o f p r o v e r b sA u t o b i o g r a p h y《自传》W i t h i t h e s e t t h e f o r m f o r a u t o b i o g r a p h y a s a g e n r e.建立了传记文学传统（A n i n s p i r i n g a c c o u n t o f a p o o r b o y’s r i s e t o a h i g h p o s i t i o n.I t i s a h o w-t o-d o-i t b o o k,o n e o n t h e a r t o f s e l f-i m p r o v e m e n t./S i g n i f i c a n c e:I t p r e s e n t s a p r o t o t y p e(原型)o f A m e r i c a n s u c c e s s w h i c h i n s p i r e d g e n e r a t i o n s o f A m e r i c a n s.I t i s a n e m b o d i m e n t体现 o f P u r i t a n i s m a n d e n l i g h t e n i n g s p i r i t.）S t y l e:h e d e v e l o p e d a n u t i l i t a r i a n(实利主义的 )a n d d i d a c t i c s t y l e.H i s s t y l e i s c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y s i m p l i c i t y,f r a n k n e s s,w i t,c l a r i t y, l o g i c a n d o r d e r.T h o m a s P a i n e托马斯佩恩(1737-1809)——F o u n d i n g F a t h e r o f U S AO f a l l t h e w r i t e r s o f t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n,h e w a s t h e l e a s t A m e r i c a n i n b a c k g r o u n d,i n s p i r i t a n d i n p u r p o s e.M a i n w o r k s:C o m m o n S e n s e《常识》T h e A m e r i c a n C r i s i s《美国危机》T h e r i g h t s o f m a n《人的权利》T h e A g e o f R e a s o n《理性时代》 D o w n f a l l o f D e s p o t i s m《专制体制的崩溃》“T h e m o s t b r i l l i a n t p a m p h l e t w r i t t e n i n A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n,a n d o n e o f t h e m o s t b r i l l i a n t p a m p h l e t s e v e r w r i t t e n i n t h e E n g l i s h l a n g u a g e.”————C o m m o n S e n s e“T h e s e a r e t h e t i m e s t h a t t r y m e n's s o u l s."T h i s s i m p l e q u o t a t i o n n o t o n l y d e s c r i b e s t h e b e g i n n i n g s o f t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n,b u t a l s o t h e l i f e o f P a i n e h i m s e l f.“I l o v e t h e m a n t h a t c a n s m i l e i n t r o u b l e,t h a t c a n g a t h e r s t r e n g t h f r o m d i s t r e s s,a n d g r o w b r a v e b y r e f l e c t i o n.”T h o m a s J e f f e r s o n托马斯·杰斐逊（1743－1826）s y m b o l o f A m e r i c a n d e m o c r a c y.P o l i t i c a l l y, h e i s c o n s i d e r e d t h e f a t h e r o f t h e d e m o c r a t i c s p i r i t i n h i s c o u n t r y.T h e D e c l a r a t i o n o f I n d e p e n d e n c e《独立宣言》:T h e e s s a y,a d o p t e d J u l y4, 1776,n o t o n l y a n n o u n c e d t h e b i r t h o f a n e w n a t i o n,b u t a l s o s e t f o r t h a p h i l o s o p h y o f h u m a n f r e e d o m w h i c h s e r v e d a s u n i m p o r t a n t f o r c e i n t h e w e s t e r n w o r l d.I t i s a s t a t e m e n t o f A m e r i c a n p r i n c i p l e s a n d a r e v i e w o f t h e C a u s e s o f t h e q u a r r e l w i t h B r i t a i n, p r e s e n t e d t h e A m e r i c a n v i e w t o t h e w o r l d w i t h c l a s s i c d i g n i t y.I t i n s t i l l e d(逐步灌输)a m o n g t h e c o m m o n p e o p l e a s e n s e o f t h e i r o w n i m p o r t a n c e a n d i n s p i r e d s t r u g g l e f o r p e r s o n a l f r e e d o m,s e l f g o v e r n m e n t a n d a d i g n i f i e d p l a c e i n s o c i e t y.P h i l i p F r e n e a u（佛瑞诺）(1752-1832)f a t h e r o f A m e r i c a n P o e t r y &l e a d e r o f18t h c e n t u r y n a t u r a l i s m‘P o e t o f t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n’T h e f i r s t A m e r i c a n-b o r n p o e t.H i s p o e m s p r e s e n t e d R o m a n t i c s p i r i t s b u t h i s f o r m w a s m a i n l y i n f l u e n c e d b y C l a s s i c i s m. M a i n W o r k s:T w o t h e m e s：n a t u r e a n d t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m e n a n d n a t u r e&t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n.T h e R i s i n g G l o r y o f A m e r i c a《蒸蒸日上的美洲》(1772) T h e B r i t i s h P r i s o n S h i p《英国囚船》 (1781)T o t h e M e m o r y o f t h e B r a v e A m e r i c a n s《纪念美国勇士》--同类诗中最佳T h e I n d i a n B u r y i n g G r o u n d《印第安人墓地》 (1788)T h e W i l d H o n e y S u c k l e《野生的金银花》 (1786)Q u e s t i o n s：W h a t’s t h e p o e t’s t o n e i n t h e p o e m,o p t i m i s t i c o r p e s s i m i s t i c?W h a t a r e t h e t h e m e s? W h a t c a n w e l e a r n f r o m t h e p o e m?S t a n z a1T h e f i r s t s t a n z a o f t h e p o e m t r e a t s t h e a d v a n t a g e s a s w e l l a s d i s a d v a n t a g e s o f t h e f l o w e r’s m o d e s t r e t i r e m e n t(隐居)—i t i s d e s i g n e d w i t h b e a u t y(f i r s t2l i n e s)a n d w e l l p r o t e c t e d(t h e l a s t2l i n e s) i n s o l i t u d e;w h e r e a s i t s b e a u t y m i g h t b e a d m i r e d b y f e w(t h e3r d &4t h l i n e s).S t a n z a2T h e s e c o n d s t a n z a s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e h o n e y s u c k l e b e a r s a s p e c i a l r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h n a t u r e w h i c h h a s a d v i s e d i t t o k e e p a w a y f r o m“v u l g a r e y e”,i t h a s s e n t t h e s o f t w a t e r s f l o w i n g g e n t l y b y.H o w e v e r,i n s p i t e o f a l l t h e n a t u r e’s k i n d n e s s,t h e f l o w e r c a n n o te s c a p e i t s d o o m(d e s t i n y).T h e b e s t t i m e of i t s l i f e i s f a d i n g,f o r d e a t h i s w a i t i n g.Q u e s t i o n s f o r D i s c u s s i o n：.F r e n e a u w a s e x t r e m e l y s e n s i t i v e t o t h e b e a u t i e s o f n a t u r e.I n t h i s p o e m h e e x p r e s s e s a k e e n a w a r e n e s s o f t h e l o v e l i n e s s a n d t r a n s i e n c e（短暂）o f n a t u r e.W h a t i m p r e s s i o n o f t h e f l o w e r i s g i v e n i n t h e f i r s t t w o s t a n z a s p a r t i c u l a r l y t h r o u g h t h e p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n o f n a t u r e?S t a n z a3T h e t h i r d s t a n z a r e v e a l s t h e i n d i f f e r e n c e o f n a t u r e---t h e “u n p i t y i n g f r o s t s” a r e a s m u c h a p a r t o f n a t u r e a s t h e“s o f t w a t e r s”. T h u s,t h e n o t i o n t h a t n a t u r e h a s p r o v i d e d a“g u a r d i a n s h a d e” f o r t h e p r o t e c t i o n o f t h e h o n e y s u c k l e i s a s e n t i m e n t a l f a n c y.W h y d o e s t h e p o e t f e e l g r i e f悲痛 a b o u t t h e f l o w e r’s d o o m? T o w h a t d o e s h e c o m p a r e i t s c h a r m s?S t a n z a4I n t h e f o u r t h s t a n z a,t h e p o e t s e e s h i s f a t e m i r r o r e d i n t h a t o f t h e f l o w e r. H u m a n b e i n g s, a s a n y o t h e r c r e a t u r e s o r f l o w e r s, a r e a p a r t o f n a t u r e.T h e y o r i g i n a t e d f r o m n a t u r e a n d w i l l s u r e l y r e t u r n t o n a t u r e s o m e d a y,t h u s t h e i r r e d u c t i o n t o n a t u r e i n t h ed a y a he a d w i l l c o n s t i t u t e n o r e a l l o s s.1.W h a t c o n c l u s i o n d o e s t h e p o e t d r a w i n t h e l a s t s t a n z a?2.D o y o u t h i n k F r e n e a u i s c o m p a r i n g t h e l i f e o f a f l o w e r w i t h t h e l i f e o f m a n?E x p l a i n y o u r r e a s o n i n g.W h a t m e a n i n g i s s u g g e s t e d b y t h e p h r a s e“b u t a n h o u r”?C o m m e n t o n“T h e W i l d H o n e y S u c k l e”：I t i s a d e i s t i c（自然神论的）c e l e b r a t i o n o f n a t u r e, r o m a n t i c u s e o f s i m p l e n a t u r e i m a g e r y, i n s p i r e d b y t h e m e s o f d e a t h a n d t r a n s i e n c e（短暂）.M u c h o f t h e b e a u t y o f t h e p o e m l i e s i n t h e s o u n d s o f t h e w o r d s a n d t h e e f f e c t s c r e a t e d t h r o u g h c h a n g e s i n r h y t h m(a b a b c c).F l o w e r v s H u m a n B e i n g& D u r a t i o n持久 v s L i f eS h o w u s h o w t o l i v e a n u s e f u l l i f e. I n a r e v o l u t i o n,o n e s h o u l d n o t d o n o t h i n g f o r h i s c o u n t r y f o r f e a r o f b e i n g h u r t,h a r m e d a n d d e s t r o y e d.D i f f e r e n t c o m m e n t s o n t h e p o e m：（1）T h e p o e m i s a b o u t l i f e.T h e f i r s t s t a n z a d e s c r i b e s a b a b y i n t h e w o m b.U n t o u c h e d,u n s e e n,a n d p r o t e c t e d.T h e s e c o n d t a l k s a b o u t c h i l d h o o d,b e i n g p r o t e c t e d i n s h a d e a n d f r o m v u l g a r i t y.T h e t h i r d i s a b o u t a g i n g t o t h e p r i m e o f l i f e“n o r w e r e t h o s e f l o w e r sm o r e g a y,T h e f l o w e r s t h a t d i d i n E d e n b l o o m.” F r e n e a u i n c l u d e s f o r e s h a d o w i n g o f t h e i m p e n d i n g（临近）d e c a y.T h e f l o w e r d i e s i n t h e f o u r t h s t a n z a a n d l e a v e s n o t r a c e. I t’s a l m o s ta s i f i t w a s n e v e r t h e r e.A l t h o u g h t h e h o n e y s u c k l e h a s g o n e t h r o u g ht h e s e c h a n g e s,i t's l i f e w a s s h o r t.B a s i c a l l y,F r e n e a u t e l l s u s t h a t o u r l i v e s a r e a l s o f r a i l a n d s h o r ta n d a r e a l l e q u a l i n d e a t h.（2）I m a g e r y意象P h i l i p F r e n e a u e m p l o y s a l a n g u a g e f u l l o f i m a g e r y.E s p e c i a l l y p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n s c o n s t i t u t e a m a i n p a r t o f“T h e W i l d H o n e yS u c k l e”.M o r e o v e r,t h e f l o w e r i t s e l f i s p e r s o n i f i e d.T h e n a r r a t o rt a l k s t o t h e f l o w e r a s i f i t w e r e a h u m a n b e i n g. H e e x p r e s s e s t h a tt h e“l i t t l e b r a n c h e s g r e e t” (l i n e4),h o p e s t h a t t h e r e w i l l b e n o “t e a r” (6) o f t h e f l o w e r a n d a d v i c e s i t t o“s h u n t h e v u l g a r e y e” (8).T h e“r o v i n g f o o t”a n d t h e“b u s y h a n d”(5f)a r e m e t a p h o r s o f t h ed e s t r u c t i o n o f n a t u r e b y m e n. N a t u r e i t s e l f i s p e r s o n i f i e d a s“N a t u r e’s s e l f” (7)w h i c h a r r a y e d t h e f l o w e r s“a n d p l a n t e d h e r e t h e g u a r d i a ns h a d e a n d s e n t s o f t w a t e r s m u r m u r i n g b y”(9f).T h e w a t e r s a r ep e r s o n i f i e d a s w e l l,b e i n g s m o o t h a n d p r o d u c i n g s o u n d s l i k e s i l e n tt a l k i n g.总结：这是一首脍炙人口的小诗，诗人以敏锐的观察力，浅俗的词汇，优美的韵律和清晰的意象，细腻生动地描述了盛开于北美大地不为人们注意的野金银花。

山东师范大学美国文学名词解释

一共考了四个，除了里边加红的三个还考了个international theme，这个我没整理，你到时找找哈！Allegory寓言:is a story with a symbolic meaning used to teach a moral principle.American renaissance:the name sometimes is given to a flourishing of distinctively Am erica literature in the period before the civil war.American Puritanism美国清教主义:it comes from the American puritans, who were t he first immigrants moved to American continent in the 17th century. Original sin, pre destination and salvation were the basic ideas of American Puritanism. And, hard-work ing, piousness thrift and sobriety were praised.American dream美国梦:is the faith held by many in the united states of America tha t through hard work,courage,and determination one can achieve a better life for onesel f,usually through financial prosperity.these were values held by many early European s ettlers,and have been passed on to subsequent generations. nowadays the American dre am has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of success and happiness.American revolution: the war between the American colonies and great Britain,leading the formation of independent united states, by the middle of the 18th century,differenc es in life, thought ,and interests had developed between the mother country and the gr owing colonies. local political institutions and practice diverged significantly from the english way,while social customs,religious beliefs ,and economic interests added to the potential sources of conflict. The British government, like other imperial powers in the 18th century, intended to regulate commerce in the British interest.American romanticism美国浪漫主义:romanticism refers to an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a height ened interest in nature,emphasis on the individua l’s e xpression of emotion and imagina tion,departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism and rebellion against establish ed social rules and conventions.American enlightenment美国启蒙运动:is a philosophical movement of the 18th centur y that emphasized the use of reason to scrutinize previously accepted doctrines and tra ditions. It is sometimes described as the intellectual culture of the British North Ameri can colonies and the early United States.Alliteration头韵:i t refers to the repetition of the same sounds—usually initial consona nts of words or of stressed syllables.Assonance类韵:it is the repetition of similar vowel sounds in a line of poetry. It has been an optional poetic device used within and between lines of verse for emphasis o r musical effect.Civil war美国内战:a military conflict between the US of American(the union)and the Confederate states of America(the confederacy)from1861 to1865.Consonance和音:it refers to the repetition of identical or similar consonants in neigh boring words whose vowel sounds are different in a line of poetry.Free verse自由诗:is a form of poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts to avoid and predetermined verse structure; instead,it uses the cadencesof natural speechGothic tradition哥特传统: gothic novel or gothic romance is a story of terror and su spense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery. In an extended sense,many n ovels that do not have a medievalized setting,but which share a comparably sinister,gr otesque,or claustrophobic atmosphere have been classed as gothic.Great awakening宗教大觉醒运动:is a series of religious revivals that swept over the American colonies about the middle of the 18th century. It resulted in doctrinal chang es and influenced social and political thought.Historical novel历史小说:a novel in which the action takes place during a specific hi storical period well before the time of writing(often one or two generations before,som etimes several centuries), and in which some attempt is made to depict accurately the customs and mentality of the period.Individualism个人主义: is a moral,political,and social philosophy,which emphasizes in dividual liberty, the primary importance of the individual, and the “virtues of self-reliance”Irony反讽:irony is a contrast or a difference between the way things seem and the w ay they really are.verbal irony occurs when words that appear to be saying one thing are really saying something quite different.situational irony occurs when what is expect ed to happen is not what actually comes to pass. Dramatic irony occurs when events that mean one thing to the characters mean something quite different to the reader. iro ny is often accompanied by a grim humor.Lyric抒情诗: in the modern sense, it is any fairly short poem expressing the personal mood,feeling,or meditation of a single speaker. Lyric poetry is the most extensive cat egory of verse. Lyrics may be composed in almost any meter and on almost every su bject,although the most usual emotions presented are those of love and grief. Among t he common lyric forms are the sonnet, ode, elegy, and the more personal kinds of hy mn.Local colorism地方特色主义: local colorism is a type of writing that was popular in the late19th century,particularly among authors in the South of the u.s. this style relie d heavily on using words,phrases,and slang that were native to the particular region in which the story took place.Naturalism自然主义:naturalism,a more deliberate kind of realism,usually involves a vi ew of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment.Natur al fiction aspired to a sociological objectivity,offering detailed and fully researched inv estigations into unexplored corners of modern society.Original sin原罪:i n christian theology,the sin of Adam,by which all humankind fell fr om divine grace,stating that the essentially graceless nature of humanity requires redem ption to save it.Point of view视角:it is the relationship of the storyteller or narrator, to the story.a st ory has a first-person point of view if one of the characters,referred to as “i”,tells the story. A story has a limited third-person point of vies if the narrator reveals the thou gh ts of only one character but refers to that character as “he”or”she”.Realism现实主义: it is, in literature,an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity.In part, realism was a reaction against the romant ic emphasis on the strange, idealistic, and long-ago and far-away.Sonnet十四行诗: it is a poem consisting of 14 lines,with rhymes arranged according t o one or other of certain definite schemes,of which the Petrarchan and the Elizabethan are principal ,namely:abba abba OR abab cdcd efef gg.Social Darwinism社会达尔文主义:social Darwinism was an application of Charles Dar win’s theory of evolution to the field of social relations. Social Darwinism argued that social progress resulted from conflicts in which the fittest or best adapted individuals, or entire societies, would prevail.Transcendentalism超验主义:is a literature, philosophical and artistic movement that fl ourished in new England from about 1836 to 1860. The beliefs that god is immanent in each person and in nature and that individual intuition is the highest source of kno wledge led to an optimistic emphasis on individualism, self-reliance, and rejection of t raditional.Unitarianism上帝一位论:is general,the form of Christianity that denies the doctrine of the Trinity,believing that God exists only in one person.The modern Unitarianism orig inated in the period of the Protestant Reformation.。

AmericanliteratureLecture2enlightenment

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2. Autobiography
▪ account of a poor boy’s rise
to wealth and fame and the
fulfillment of the American
dream
▪ a Puritan document: a
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Some sample maxims from Almanac
▪ God helps them that help themselves. ▪ Never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day. ▪ Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. ▪ Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy,
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II. Major Works: 1 Poor Richard’s Almanac
▪ a yearly almanac, using the
pseudonym of “Poor Richard”
▪ including the typical calendar,
weather,
▪ Benjamin Franklin: imitates Joseph Addison and Richard Steele’s Spectator Papers.
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Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790):
▪ The only good American
author

美国文学-Enlightenment-启蒙时期

invented the mathematical discipline of calculus (微积分)
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讲解：XX
7
John Locke （ 1632-1704 ）
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English philosopher;
The founder of Empiricism (经验主义)
On July, 4,1776
(4) In 1783, the British and American troops signed a treaty which ended the war;
(5) In 1788, the Constitution was ratified and came into effect. It centralized the power of the central government;
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讲解：XX
3
I. The Enlightenment (movement) (P29)
1. Definition
a. the movement of intellectual liberation ; in Western Europe; from the late 17th century to the late 18th century (often called the Age of Reason), especially in France.
讲解：XX
8
Jean-Jacques Rousseau（1712-1781）
1. Les Confessions 《忏悔录》 2. Èmile 《爱弥儿》 3. Discours sur l'origine et

美国文学殖民地时期

该年鉴中包括日历，天气，诗歌，谚语和天文和占星等等，还偶尔包括数学演习，这些格言通常带有节俭和礼貌的和玩世不恭。
从1732年到1758年，此书一直是北美13个殖民地的畅销书。对许多读者来说，除了《圣经》他们只看富兰克林的年鉴，因为“穷理查”教导人们勤奋工作、诚实守信，同时对事物持有健康的怀疑态度。当时美国人正在摆脱过去的清规戒律，“穷理查”代表了他们的精神特质，宣告了美国人共同的价值观。
人物生平

1810，结婚,苏珊·狄兰色(Susan DeLancey) 婚后，和妻子定居威契斯特，过着乡绅生活，直到一八二二年迁往纽约。

在威契斯特，听到不少关于独立战争时期的故事，为创作革命历史小说提供了素材
人物生平

有一次，他给妻子朗读一本英国传奇小说，他对这部作品大为不满，无意间声言他完全能写出一本比它更好的书来。于是妻子就抓住这句话，再三建议他写书。
美国前期浪漫主义作家的代表人物包括华盛顿· 欧文（1783年－1859年）、詹姆斯· 库柏（1789年－1851年）和爱伦· 坡。欧文被称为美国文学之父，在他的小说中，“美国文学”这一概念第一次浮出水面，不再深受英国文学的拘束。库柏是美国民族文学的奠基人之一，他开创了以《皮袜子故事集》为代表的边疆传奇小说，最重要的一部是《最后一个莫希干人》。爱伦· 坡主张艺术要使读者获得刺激而达到灵魂的升华，他的小说大部分以死亡、凶杀、复仇为题材，揭示人的幻觉状态和变态心理，他和法国诗人波德莱尔共同被尊为象征主义文学的先驱。

1760 年至1790 年是美国历史上黑暗的时期。18 世纪60 年代，英国殖民当局同北美大陆人民之间的矛盾日益尖锐。从1763 年起，13 个殖民地先后爆发反英斗争，建立了许多秘密的革命组织。 1770 年3 月，在波士顿发生了英军同当地居民的流血冲突事件，加剧了矛盾的发展。1773 年12 月16日，波士顿民众八千余人将价值一万八千英镑的茶叶投入大海；第二年年初，殖民当局下令封闭了波士顿港。1775 年4 月19 日，马萨诸塞的英国殖民军与当地“通讯委员会”的民兵又发生武装冲突，这场战斗揭开了美国独立战争的序幕。1776 年7 月4 日，13 个殖民地通过了由托马斯· 杰弗逊起草的《独立宣言》，宣布人人生而平等，并且名正言顺地组织起了独立、自主的合众国。宣言本着资产阶级民主精神，开创了美洲资产阶级革命的先河。

the American Enlightenment美国启蒙运动文学PPT文档资料

the natural rights of man.
Deism(自然神论) :the belief, based solely on reason, in a
God who created the universe and then abandoned it,
assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on
With the couinnings of literary independence were evident in some writings.
Yet American literature throughout the century was largely patterned on the writing of the eighteenth-century Englishmen. Except for the outstanding political writing, few works of note appeared during or soon after the Revolution.
disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.
participated in the War for Independence.
secular education and literature.
The 18th-century American Enlightenment was a movement marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning

美国文学 Enlightenment and War of independence

Part two. The period ofEnlightenment and the Independence War (1765 -1800)I. Historical Background1. The War of Independence•In the 1780s, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The Independent War lasted for eight years (1775----1783) and ended in the formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic----the United States of America.1775, Lexington, beginning of the Independence War.June 4th, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence.1778, alliance with France, turning point for American army.1778, English army surrendered.1783, formal recognition from Britain government.2. The American Enlightenment•It was a part of a larger intellectual movement known as the Age of Enlightenment.•Influenced by the scientific revolution of the 17th century, the Enlightenment took scientific reasoning and applied it to human nature and society.•Reason was advocated as the primary source and basis of authority.•There was a shift from God-centered thinking to human being centered.Instead of going through life unhappy and thinking they had to suffer so they could enjoy the afterlife - people began to think about what they could accomplish on earth.EqualityThe 18th-century American enlightenment as a movement marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy.Enlightenment thinkers and writers, such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine, were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equality as the natural rights of man.In these period with the exception of outstanding political writing, such as Common sense, Declaration of Independence, The Federalist Papers and so on, few works of note appeared. Even if there appeared poetry and fiction, they were full of imitativeness and vague universality. So most Americans were painfully aware of their excessive dependence on English literary models. The search for a native literature became a national obsession.Despite these we should pay attention to several points in this period:William Hill Brown (1765-1793) published the first American novel The Power of Sympathy in 1789.Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) was the first American author to attempt to live from his writing. He developed the genre of American Gothic.The Dictionary edited by Noah Webster (1758-1843) based the American l exicography. Updated Webster’s dictionaries are still standard today.Philip Freneau’s (1752-1832) was known as "the poet of the American Revolution". His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing. All the while...in romanticizing the wonders of nature in his writings...he searched for an American idiom in verse.II. Benjamin Franklin 1706 - 1790(An Extraordinary Life and An Electric Mind)1. His LifeBorn the tenth of fifteen children in a poor candle and soap maker’s family, he had to leave school before he was eleven.At twelve he was apprenticed to an older brother, James, a printer in Boston.As a voracious reader he managed to make up for the deficiency by his own effort and began at 16 to publish essays under the pseudonym, Silence Dogood, essays commenting on social life in Boston.When he was 17 he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune marking the beginning of a long success story of an archetypal kind.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher, found the Junto Club and subscription library, issued the immensely popular Poor Richard’s Almanac.Retired around forty-two, he did what was to him a great happiness: read, make scientific experiments and do good to his fellowmen. He helped to find the Pennsylvania Hospital, an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society.At the same time he did a lot of famous experiments and invented many things s uch as volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin Stove, bifocal glasses, efficient heating devices, lightning-rod and so on.Beginning his public career in the early fifties, he became a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, the Deputy Postmaster-General for the colonies, and for some eighteen years served as representative of the colonies in London.During the War of Independence, he was made a delegate to the Continental Congress and a member of the committee to write the Declaration of Independence. One of the makers of the new nation, he was instrumental in bringing France into an alliance with America against England, and played a decisive role at the Constitutional Convention.2. Major Works1)The Autobiography《自传》The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. It is perhaps the first real post-revolutionary American writing as well as the first real autobiography in English.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Benjamin Franklin was spokesman for the new order of 18th 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.Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream. It gives us the simple yet immensely fascinatingrecord 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.Now a look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision. 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.2)Poor Richar d’s Almanacfull of adages and common-sense witticism which became ,very quickly, household words.Benjamin Franklin Borrowed from such writers as Defoe, Swift, and Pope , and used his own wit to simplify and enrich their axiomsMaxims（谚语，格言）and axioms（哲理，格言）Lost time is never found again.A penny saved is a penny earned.God help them that help themselves.Fish and visitors stink in three days.Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.Ale in, truth out.Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation.Diligence is the Mother of Good Luck.One Today is worth two tomorrow.Industry pays debts.3. EvaluationHe was a rare genius in human history. Nature seemed particularly lavish and happy when he was shaped. 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, citizen, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, inventor, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador, musician and parlor man.He was the first great self-made man in America, a poor democrat born in an aristocratic age that his fine example helped to liberalize.Politically he brought the colonial era to a close. For quite some time he was regarded as the father of all Y ankees, even more than Washington was. 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, and the constitution.Scientifically, as the symbol of America in the Age of Enlightenment, he invented a lot of useful implements. His research on electricity, his famous experiment with his kite line and many others made him the preeminent scientist of his day.Literally, he really opened the story of American literature. D. H. Lawrance agreed that Franklin was everything but a poet. In the Scottish philosopher David Hume’s eyes he was America’s “first great man of letters”.。

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--- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. ---

It is a statement of American principles and a review of the Causes of the quarrel with Britain, presented the American view to the world with classic dignity. It instilled among the common people a sense of their own importance and inspired struggle for personal freedom, self government and a dignified place in society.

Philosophical and intellectual movement. Originated in Europe The 18th-century American Enlightenment was a movement marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy. Enlightenment thinkers and writers were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equality as the natural rights of man. The colonists who would form a new nation were firm believers in the power of reason; they were ambitious, inquisitive, optimistic, practical, politically astute, and self-reliant.
Historical Introduction (2)

Spiritual life of the colonies—Enlightenment. Resources: Newton‘s theory; deism; French philosophy (Rousseau, Voltaire) Basic principles: stressing education; stressing Reason (Order) ; employing Reason to reconsider the traditions and social realities; concerns for civil rights, such as equality and social justice
Enlightenment

Significance: accelerating social progress; freeing people from the limitations set by prevailing Puritanism; making spiritual preparation for American Revolution Influence on literature In form: imitating English classical writers In content: utilitarian tendency (for political or educational purpose) Representatives: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson etc.

and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature‘s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Chapter Two
Revolutionary Period (1775-1783)
―The Age of Reason‖ ―American Enlightenment‖

In the 18th century, people believed in man‘s own nature and the power of human reason. With Franklin as its spokesman, the 18th century America experienced an age of reason. Words had never been so useful and so important in human history. People wrote a lot of political writings. Numerous pamphlets and printings were published. These works agitated revolutionary people not only in America but also around the world.
2. Philip Freneau (1752-1832)

“Poet of the American Revolution” “Father of American Poetry” “Pioneer of the New Romanticism” “A gifted and versatile lyric poet”
Jeffersonian Democracy

faith in the individual and common man, dislike an overly strong government, and emphasis on the importance of education and on agrarianism and land ownership as they brought responsibility and true judgment. Politically, he is considered the father of the democratic spirit in his country. The society he thought of as ideal was one where landowning farmers could live under as little government as possible. Style: dignity, flexibility, clarity, command of generalization
The Declaration of Independence

The essay, adopted July 4, 1776, not only announced the birth of a new nation, but also set forth a philosophy of human freedom which served as unimportant force in the western world.
Part II. Historical Introduction(1)

Industrial Revolution（1750-1830）: spurred the economy in American colonies. Independence War: the industrial growth led to intense strain with Britain. The British government tried to suppress their growth economically, and ruled them from abroad politically and levied heavy tax on them. these aroused bitter resentment in colonies. Constant conflicts resulted in American revolutionary war.
Thomas Paine 1737-1809(1)

Propagandist, pamphleteer, a master of persuasion who understands the power of language to move a man to action. Main works: Common Sense The American Crisis The rights of man The Age of Reason

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ---That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…

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美国文学 Enlightenment and War of independence

the American Enlightenment美国启蒙运动文学

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