美国文学史考点整理
(完整)美国文学复习整理
美国文学复习整理一、殖民主义时期的文学（colonial settlements)＆理性和革命时期文学（revolutionary period）（文艺复兴时期)1.清教主义的shaping influence2.代表人物“T he Tenth Muse”第一位移民诗人2. Philip Freneau 菲利普·佛瑞诺有宗教隐喻，关注本土地貌、人文.写印第安人故事。
美国诗歌之父 father of American poetry代表作《野金银花》The Wild Honey Suckle3。
Thomas Jefferson 托马斯·杰弗逊起草了独立宣言 The Declaration of Independence 17764.Thomas Paine 托马斯·佩因拥护独立宣言代表作：《常识》Common Sense《理性时代》The Age of Reason5.Jonathan Edwards乔纳森·埃德沃兹大觉醒运动的代表人物 the Great Awakening6.Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林代表作：《自传》The Autobiography《穷理查德历书》Poor Richard's Almanac美国梦的代表二．浪漫主义时期的文学(American Romanticism）早期浪漫主义（Early Romantic Period）1.背景：1> 时间：18世纪末到内战爆发前夕（1861）2> 条件：○1国家的快速发展，大量移民和工业化发展错误!小说的发展，期刊杂志（periodical)出现错误!受英国文学的影响2.浪漫主义的基本特征1>Stressing emotion rather than reason2>Stressing freedom and individuality3>Idealism rather than materialism4>Writing about nature, medieval legends（中世纪传说）and with supernaturalelements。
(完整版)美国文学史-知识点梳理
Part I The Literature of Colonial AmericaI．Historical IntroductionThe colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.)II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American WriterThe first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians.Captain John Smith is the first American writer.A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608)A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612)General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess PocahontasCaptain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England LiteratureWilliam Bradford and John WinthropJohn Cotton and Roger WilliamsAnne Bradstreet and Edward TaylorV．Puritan Thoughts1. The origin of puritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce hiswife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church ofEngland. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism(1) predestination: God's electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.(2) Origianl sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.(3) Limited atonement (the salvation of a selected few)(4) theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment3. Influence on American Literature(1) Its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that, man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise, to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.(2) Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.Part II The Literature of Reason And RevolutionI．Historical IntroductionWith the growth, especially of industry, there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not want colonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures to insure this dependence. They prevented colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country. Politically, the British government forced dependenceby ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.However, by the mid-eighteenth century, freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years (1776-1783) and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America. II．American EnlightenmentIt was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision of their writings.At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.III．Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)The AutobiographyPoor Richard’s AlmanacLifeBenjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader.At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer.At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym “Silence Do good” .At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.Multiple identities:a printera leading authora politiciana scientista inventora diplomata civic activistFranklin’s Contributions to SocietyHe helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital.He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.Franklin’s Contributions to ScienceHe was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.And for his lightning-rod, he was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.”Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:The Declaration of Independence,The Treaty of Alliance with France,The Treaty of Peace with England,The ConstitutionThe AutobiographyThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices, the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person, the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God – all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then, the book is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrious, frugal, and prudent.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness and concision. The plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence ofornaments in wording and of complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.IV．Thomas Paine (1737-1809)Common SenseAmerican CrisisV．Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)The Declaration of IndependenceVI．Philip Freneau (1752-1832)“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”“Pioneer of the New Romanticism”“A gifted and versatile lyric poet”Works“The Wild Honey Suckle”“The Indian Burying Ground”“To a Caty-Did”Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.Life Experience►He was born in New York.►At 16, he entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends (H. H. Brackenridge) a poem entitled “The Rising Glory of America”.►Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780.►After being released, he published “The British Prison Ship” in 1781.►In the same year, he published “To the Memory of the Brave Americans”.►After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government.►But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.Main Works►“The Rising Glory of America” (1772) 《美洲光辉的兴起》►“The House of Night” (1779,1786) 《夜之屋》►“The British Prison Ship” (1781) 《英国囚船》►“To the Memory of the Brave Americans” (1781) 《纪念美国勇士》►“”The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786) 《野忍冬花》►“The Indian Burying Ground” (1788) 《印第安人墓地》野忍冬花（黄杲炘译）►美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。
美国文学史
美国文学史美国文学史一.知识点1.清教主义代表人物：Edwards Franklin2.富兰克林的作品：《Poor Richard’s Almanac》《Autobiography》3.富兰克林自传中的十三个美德：Temperance（节制）silence （少言）order（秩序）frugality （节俭）Industry（勤勉）sincerity （真诚）resolution（决心）justice （公正）moderation （中庸）cleanliness（整洁）chastity(镇定) tranquility（节欲）humility（谦逊）This work is a puritan document. It is puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement.4.富兰克林作品中的谚语: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, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.5.美国浪漫主义代表人物：Irving Cooper6.Irving was the first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame.His works are《The Sketch Book》《Rip Van Winkle》《The Legend of Sleepy Hollow》7. Cooper’s claim to greatness in American literature lies in the fact that he created a myth about the formative period of the American na tion. “Leatherstocking tales” is a series of five novels described the frontier life of American settlers, that is, 《The Pioneers》《The Last of the Mohicans》《The Prairie》《The pathfinder》《The Deerslayer》8. Emerson 的代表作《Nature》. “The American Scholar” has be en regarded as the American’s declaration of intellectual independence.9.Thoreau的代表作《Walden》10.美国黑色浪漫主义代表人物：Hawthorne Melville Allan Poe11.Whitman的作品《Leaves of Grass》《Song of Myself》. 用来赞扬林肯的诗歌“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”“Captain, My Captain”12.Dickinson的诗歌“My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close”“Wild Nights”. Dickinson was original. She sees nature as both gaily benevolent and cruel. On the ethical level she emphasizes free will and human responsibility. Like Emerson, she holds that beauty, goodness, truth are the ultimately one. She is good at catching the charm of something but dropping the thing itself. 13. Allan Poe: Father of modern short story;Father of detective story;Father of psychoanalytic criticism;Father of mental analytic theory.14. Local Colorism的代表人物:Mark Twain15.Naturalism 时期：Crane的作品：《Maggie：A Girl of the Street》《The Red Badge of Courage》Dreiser的作品：《Sister Carrie》Jack London；O’Henry16. Imagism 的代表人物：Pound他的作品“In a Station of the Metro”(has been regarded asa classic specimen of imagist poetry) “Cantos”(has been called his intellectual diary since1915).17. Eliot 的作品《The Waste Land》18. Robert Frost的作品“Mending Wall”这里的名言是good fences make good neighbors. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”“The Road not Taken”19. Fitzgerald的作品《This Side of Paradise》《Tender is the Night》《The Last Tycoon》《The GreatGatsby》（代表作）二．名词解释1. American puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of puritans. The puritans areoriginally members of a division of the protestant church who wanted to purify their religious beliefs and practices. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin, total depravity and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from god. It had become, to some extent, so much a sense of mind, so much a part of national cultural background, rather than a set of tenets.2. Transcendentalism: it was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture and philosophythat emerged in newEngland in the early middle 19th century. Transcendentalists spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism in American society. It place emphasis on spirit, or the over soul as the most important thing in the world. It stressed the importance of the individual and offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the spirit or god.Prominent transcendentalists included Edwards and Thoreau.3. Local Colorism: Mark Twain was the representative of local colorism. It as a trend becamedominant in American literature in the late 1860s and early 1870s, it is defined by Hamlin Garland as having such quality of texture and background that it could not have been written in any other place or by anyone else than a native, as local colorists tried to immortalize the distinctive natural, social and linguistic features. It is characteristic of vernacular language and satiricalhumor. Generally speaking, the writings of local colorists are concerned with the life of a small, well-defined region or province. The characteristic setting is the isolated small town.4. Imagism: the 1920s saw a vigorous literary activity in America. In poetry there appeared astrong reaction against Victorian poetry. Imagists placed primary reliance on the use of precise, sharp images as a means of poetic expression and stressed precision in the choice of words, freedom in the choice of subject matter and form, and the use of oral language. Most of the imagist poets wrote in free verse, using such devices as assonance and alliteration rather than formal metrical schemes to give structure to their poetry. Its representative was Pound.5. Modernsim: American modernism was the phenomenon of international modernismtransplanted in the American context. The modernists have a more complex view of reality.They believe that reality is experienced from different perspectives and at different levels.Modernism is pluralistic in styles and inclusive of diverse responses to the human condition in the modern world.6. The Lost Generation: it is a term used to characterize a general feeling of disillusionment ofAmerican literary notables who lived in Europe, most notably Paris, after the First World War.Figures identified with the lost generation included authors and artists such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Pound and SherwoodAnderson.三．解答题1.超验主义三大特点。
美国文学史复习知识点
PuritanismFeatures of Puritanism1. Purification of the church2. Calvinism (John Calvin, 1509-1564, French protestant reformer)(1). Emphasis of Predestination “预定论”(2). Total depravity (Original Sin) 彻底的堕落(因原罪而起）(3). Limited atonement 有限的赎罪Anne Bradstreet (1612 — 1672)First famous poet in North America, known as the “Tenth Muse”最早写出真正有价值的英文诗歌的女诗人Major works:the first collection of poems in North America.The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America (1650)《最近在美洲出现的第十位缪斯》Contemplations《沉思录》Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790 )Statesman, essayist, orator, philosopher, ambassador, scientist, inventor, publisher“master of each and mastered by none”—Herman MelvilleOne of the Founding Fathers of AmericaSymbol of America in the Age of EnlightenmentThe only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:the Declaration of Independencethe treaty of alliance with Francethe treaty of peace with Englandthe constitutionThe symbol of American Dream, a self-made manHis Major WorksPoor Richard’s Almanac (1732)《格言历书》poems and essaysa good many adages and common sense witticismsAutobiography (1868)— the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity—the faithful account of the colorful career of American’s first self-made man.— a Puritan document (self-examination and self-improvement; illustration of Puritan ethics ) — a story of the fulfillment of American dream.Thirteen virtues from The Autobiography1. Temperance节制. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.2. Silence沉默. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.3. Order秩序. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.4. Resolution决心. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.5. Frugality节俭. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself, i.e., waste nothing.6. Industry勤奋. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessaryactions.7. Sincerity诚实. Use no harmful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speakaccordingly.8. Justice公正. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.9. Moderation适度. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.10. Cleanliness清洁. Tolerate no uncleanlinessin body, clothes, or habitation.11. Tranquility宁静. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.12. Chastity贞洁. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or theinjury of our own or another’s peace or reputation.13. Humility谦虚. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.The Style of Puritan Writing1. Protestant - against ornateness; reverence for the Bible. The Puritans chose the Bible as the guidebook to their Promised Land.2. Puritan writing reflected the character and scope of the reading public, which was literate and well-grounded in religion.American RomanticismTime Range:From the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War.Historical Background:National independence, democracyRising materialism and business: leisure and wealthReligious dogma, rationalismFeatures:American Romanticism was both imitative and independent.Imitative: English and European Romanticists, about home, family, nature, children and idealized love, etc.Independent: Emerson and Whitman, on major problems of American life, like the westward expansion and democracy and equality, etc.1. Romantic Subject Matter(1). The quest for beauty: non-didactic, "pure beauty." (Allan Poe)(2). The use of the far-away and non-normal - antique and fanciful (Hawthorn, Poe)(3). Escapism - from American problems (Irving).(4). Interest in external nature - for itself, for beauty(Emerson, Thoreau)2. Romantic Attitudes :(1). Appeals to imagination:remoteness of settings in time and space. improbable plots.(2). Stress on emotion rather than reason; optimism,(3). Authorial subjectivity: in form and meaning.3. Major Themes:a.Primitivism and the cult of the “noble savage”(Hiawatha 《海华沙》);b.The celebration of natural beauty and the simple life (Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau);mon man, uncorrupted by civilization (Whittier, Cooper);d.Interest in the picturesque past (Irving, Hawthorne);e.Interest in the remote places (Melville); medievalism (Longfellow);Representitive Writers and WorksWashington Irving’s The Sketch Book 《见闻札记》marks the beginning of American Romanticism.Whitman’s (慧特曼) Leaves of Grass 《草叶集》) is the last masterpiece of American Romanticism.James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales 《皮裹腿故事集》depicts as a pioneer,effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the West.Washington Irving（1783-1859）Father of the American short stories；the first great American writer；the first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame.Masterpiece:The Sketch Book (1820）marks the beginning of American Romanticism.Rip Van Winkle （《瑞普·凡·温克尔》）The Legend of Sleepy Hollow （《睡谷的传说》）James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)One of the first authors to write about the American Westward movement.The creation of a myth about the formative period of the American nation.The introduction of the “Western” tradition into American literature.Masterpiece:Leatherstocking Tales 《皮裹腿故事集》（a collection of tales）The Pioneer, 1823; 《拓荒者》The Last of the Mohicans, 1826;《最后的莫西干人》The Prairie, 1827; 《大草原》The Pathfinder, 1840; 《探路人》The Deerslayer, 1841.《杀鹿者》TranscendentalismFeatures:1.Oversoul2.Individualism3.NatureThe Transcendentalists:The Big Three:1.Ralph Waldo Emerson;2.Henry David Thoreau;3.Margaret FullerThree sources:1.A thoughtful revolt against Puritanism (total depravity, the original sin etc.).2.German philosophers of the 18th century.3.The effect of oriental thought on the Western world.Ralph Waldo EmersonMajor Works:1.Nature:Emerson’s best know workThe bible of New England transcendentalism2.“Divinity School Address”attacks organized Christianityargues for “moral sentiment” --- essence of all religionsurges the listeners to be the true teacher: offering first-hand revelations3.“The American Scholar”:America’s declaration of Intellectual Independenceasserts nature as a teacher that instructs man to see his connection with the worldmaintains creation is continuous and each age must have its own booksdeclares self-trust and independent thinking a necessity for the new scholar.Henry David ThoreauMajor Works:1.WaldenA book on self-culture and human perfectibilitycarrying out an experimentrecording in great detail a spiritually rewarding yet simple lifereflecting on nature’s restorative influenceA book that inspired modern nature preservation2.Civil DisobedienceNathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864)Major Works:(1). Fanshawe《范肖》(2). The Token were reprinted in Twice-told Tales. 《重述一遍的故事》(3). Twice-Told Tales, 1837; 《重述一遍的故事》(4). Mosses from an Old Manse, 1846; 《古屋青苔》,including “Young Goodman Brown”《年轻的古德曼·布朗》, “Rappaccini’s Daughter”《拉帕西尼的女儿》, “The Artist of the Beautiful”, “The Birthmark”, and “Roger Malvin’s Burial”.(5). Books for children:Grandfather’s Chair(1841);Famous Old People(1841),Liberty Tree(1841),Biographical Stories for Children(1842)(6). The Scarlet Letter, 1850; 《红字》(7). The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales (1851)(8). The House of Seven Gables , 1851; 《七个尖角阁的房子》(9). The Blithedale Romance, 1852; 《福谷传奇》(10). The Marble Faun , 1860; 《玉石雕像》(11). The Centenary Edition of the Works of Hawthorne, 18 vols. ed. W. Charvat et al., 1962-1987. Masterpieces:The Scarlet Letter (1850), written after Hawthorn’s dismissal from his post owing to a change of administrations, proved to be his greatest work, and indeed summed up in classic terms the Puritan dilemma that had so long occupied his imagination.Other Important books:The House of the Seven Gables (1851); is another great romance, concerned with the decadence of Puritanism, a novel based upon colonial America and filled with mysticism.The Blithedale Romance, (1852) in which he tuned to the contemporary scene and his Brook Farm experiences;The Scarlet Letter (1850)人物:1.Wife: Hester Prynne2.丈夫改名后: Roger Chillingworth3.Priest: Arthur DimmesdaleWalt Whitman (1819-1891)Whitman’s (慧特曼) Leaves of Grass 《草叶集》) is the last masterpiece of American Romanticism.Free verse1. without a fixed, traditional rhyme scheme2. It is sometimes referred to as “open form” verse, or by the French term vers libre.Whitman’s statusWhitman stands as one of two giants of American poetry in 19th C.found new subjects for typical American type of poetry.rejected conventional themes, traditional rhymeHe influenced Harlem Renaissance writers as Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson.Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot (Modernist poets) were also influenced by Whitman.Major Works:1.Leaves of Grass2.Song of Myself3.Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking4.When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d 纪念林肯Edgar Allan Poe1. Position(1). Poet, short-story writer and critic.(2). Unique position in the history of American literature:a. ancestor of the detective story (influencing Conan Doyle)b. forefather of psychological novels (psychological analysis)c. the first important American critic and father of psychoanalytic criticismd. (be regarded as) one of the first aesthetes in literary historyHowever, Poe may be the most controversial and most misunderstood literary figure in the history of American literature.2. Masterpieces:The Raven (1844)—one of his most enduring worksTo HelenHerman Melville:major theme: aliennationMasterpiece:Moby Dick 《白鲸》人物:1.Ishmael2.船长: Ahab3.白鲸: Moby Dick4.船: PequodA common Theme: one of“Rejection and quest”1.19世纪中期2.Cooper, Hawthorne, MelvilleEmily Dickinson (1830-1886)1.Pioneer of Imagism2.Calvinist family诗歌特点:1.Love: “With a Flower”, “Proof”2.Nature: “A Service of Song”, “Summer Shower”3.Death and immortality: “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”4.Miscellaneous: “Tell all the Truth but tell It Slant”Her techniques originality:1.Capitalizations and dashes2.Metaphors3.symbolismDickinson’s status1. Her unconventionality influenced modern poets like Adrienne Rich, Richard Wilbur, and William Stafford.Along with Walt Whitman, Dickinson is considered a true genius of American poetry of the 19th C. Works1.Because I could not …2.Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-3.With A Flower4.Proof5.A Service of Song6.This is my letterAmerican RealismTime Range:1865 – 1910Background:1. Aftermath of the Civil Wara.Social Problems: deterioration of moral values; extremes of wealth and poverty; majoritystruggled for survivalb.Question on the Transcendentalists’ assumptions2. A great interest in the realities of life3. The close of the frontierFeatures:1. Anti-romantic, anti-sentimental ; truthful description of life真实性2. Typical character and plot under typical setting人物情节与背景的典型性、代表性3. Objective rather than idealized view of human nature and experience客观性4. Concern for social and psychological problems关注社会与个人心理问题Realistic Techniques(1). Settings thoroughly familiar to the writer(2). Plots emphasizing the norm of daily experience(3). Ordinary characters, studied in depth(4). Complete authorial objectivity(5). Responsible morality; a world truly reportedRepresentative Writers and Works:1. William Dean Howells is the the champion of literary realism in America. His The Rise of SilasLapham, is about critical of the rise of materialism in American life2. Henry James is the forefather of psychological analysis and stream of consciousness.His famous work is The Portrait of a Lady.3. Mark Twain represents social life through portraits of local places which he knew best.His famous word is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.William Dean Howells （1837 — 1920）1.middle class2.smiling aspectcking of psychological depthMajor Works1.The Rise of Silas Lapham （1885）《塞拉斯·拉帕姆的发迹》Protagonist: Silas Lapham, a self-made man , a upstart2. A Modern Instance （1881）《现代婚姻》3.Indian Summer （1886）《晚秋之暧》4.Annie Kilburn （1888）《安妮·吉尔伯恩》5.A Hazard of New Fortunes （1890）《时来运转》6.A Chance AcquaintanceHenry James（1843 — 1916）1.upper class2.Harvard3.Novelist, critic, playwright, essayist4.Forefather of psychological analysis and stream of consciousness5.International theme: American innocence in face of European sophisticationMajor Works:1.The American （1877）《美国人》2.Daisy Miller （1879）《苔瑟·密勒》3.The Portrait of a Lady （1881）《贵妇人的画像》4.The Bostonians （1886）《波士顿人》5.The Princess Casamassima （1886）《卡萨玛西玛公主》6.What Maisie Knew （1897）《梅吉的见闻》7.The Turn of the Screw 《拧螺丝》Three great novels8.The Wings of the Dove （1902）《鸽翼》9.The Ambassadors （1903）《专使》10.The Golden Bowl （1904）《金碗》Local Colorism (1860s -- 1900) 乡土文学Features1.Emphasis of elements which characterize a local culture, such as speech, customs, and morespeculiar to one particular place.2.Emphasis of physical setting and those distinctive qualities of landscape which condition humanthought and behavior.3.dialect4.frame storyMark Twain（1835 — 1910）1.lower class2.social critic, local colorist3.colloquial speech4.southwestern humor5. stories peculiar to Mississippi and WestMajor Works1. 《卡拉韦拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 第一个成功文学作品2.《镀金时代》（The Gilded Age, 1873）3.《汤姆·索耶历险记》（The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876）4.《王子与贫儿》（The Prince and the Pauper, 1881）5.《密西西比河上》（Life on the Mississippi, 1883）6.《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》（The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1886）7. 《傻瓜威尔逊》Pud’nhead Wilson （1893）8. 《圣女贞德》Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc （1896）Following the Equator （1897）《赤道旅行记》9.《败坏了赫德莱堡的人》The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (1900)10.《傻子国外旅行记》Innocents Abroad (1869)11.《神秘的来客》The Mysterious Stranger (1906)12.《人是怎么一回事》What Is Man (1906)The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)人物:1.Huckleberry Finn: Main character of the book, who runs away from his adopted family to be freeof society and civilization.2.Tom Sawyer: Huck's best friend who freely spins lies and loves adventure.3.Widow Douglas: Adopts Huck to try and civilize him.4.Miss Watson: Sister of the Widow Douglas. She tries to teach Huck religion and how to spell.5.Jim: Miss Watson's slave. He runs away and journeys down the Mississippi River with Huck.6.Pap: Huck's drunkard father.7.The King and the Duke: two swindlersComparison of the three “giants”1. ThemeHowells – middle classJames – upper classTwain – lower class2. ToneHowells – smiling/genteel realismJames – psychological realismTwain – local colourism and colloquialismAmerican NaturalismTime Range:1890 -- 1920Background:1. Emergence of “Modern America” : financial giants vs. industria l proletariat2. New ideas about man and man’s place in the universe: in a cold, indifferent andGodless world, man is insignificant without freedom of will.3. Younger generation of writers thought Howellsian realism was too restrained andgenteel to tell the truth of the harsher realities of American life.Definition:a critical term applied to the method of literary composition that aims at a detached, scientific objectivity in the treatment of natural man. It is thus more inclusive and less selective than realism, and holds to the philosophy of determinism. It conceives of man as controlled by his instincts or his passions, or by his social and economic environment and circumstances. Since in this view man has no free will, the naturalistic writer does not attempt to make moral judgments, and as a determinist he tends toward pessimism. (The Oxford Companion to American lit.)Features:1. Humans are controlled by some deterministic forces, both internal (heredity) and external (environment)2. The universe is indifferent and hostile.3. The literary naturalists have a major difference from the realists.They described the violent, sensational, sordid, unpleasant, and ugly aspects of life instead of the averageInstead of reflecting the middle-class life, they would rather write about the life of failure, poverty and even crime.4. general tone: hopelessness, despair, gloom, pessimismRepresentative Writers and Works1. as a response to a darkening social outlook: the harsh futility of life in nature, on the farm, or inthe city (Stephen Crane) Maggie: A Girl of the Street (1893)2. Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie is a spiritual tragedy.3. the political implications of economic forces (Frank Norris) McTeagueStephen Crane (1871-1900)1.Pioneer in the field of Modern poetry : One of the two precursors of Imagist, the other beingEmily DicksonMajor Works:1. Maggie: A Girl of the Street (1893) 《街头女郎梅季》a.A masterpiece of Am. naturalism, the first naturalistic novel in American Literature.b.Tragic lifec.died in riverd.Pete seduces and abandons Maggie2.The Red Badge of Courage (1895)《红色英勇勋章3.The Open Boat《海上扁舟》(1897)4.The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky《新娘来到黄天镇》5.The Blue Hotel《蓝色旅馆》6.An Experiment in Misery7.Collection: The Black Riders and Other Lines《黑衣骑士及其他》(1895）8.Long poem: War Is Kind《战争是仁慈的》（1899）9.A Man Said to the Universe (book)10. A Man Adrift on a Slim Spar”(book)Frank Norris(1870-1902)Major Works:1. McTeague (1899) 《麦克提格》“the first full-bodied naturalistic American novel” / full l ength2.“The Epic of the Wheat”: a trilogy 《小麦史诗》3.The Octopus （1901）《章鱼》the best, about the production of the wheat, the octopus—the railroad4.The Pit (1903)《陷阱》the distribution and consumption of the wheat on the market5.The Wolf《野狼》Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)Major Works:1.Sister Carrie (1900) 《嘉莉妹妹》a.第一部小说b.先遭拒绝, 后出版2.The Trilogy of Desire”《欲望三部曲》:a.The Financier (1912) 《金融家》b.The Titan (1914) 《巨头》c.The Stoic,《禁欲者》(1945, unfinished)3.The 'Genius' (1915) 《天才》4.An American Tragedy (1925) 《美国悲剧》, 自传5.Dawn 《曙光》(1931)6.The Bulwark 《堡垒》(1946)Sister Carrie (1900)人物:1.Caroline Meeber, known as Carrie2.Charlie Drouet3.George HurstwoodThe 1920sAmerican ModernismTime Range:1910s – 1945Historical Background:1. The Influence of the WWI:A stronger image of America in international arena;The economic boom-a deceptive affluence;The development of a new type of industrial economy;2. Intolerance in American society: the discrimination against minorities.3. The loss of faith—the death of God.Intellectually, Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche, MarxSpiritually, sense of disillusionment & fragmentationDefinition:1. The attempt to create something new in the space of modern crisis and change.2.Discontentment and a deliberate & radical break with traditional ways of expression in Western arts & lit.3.Innovative experimentation in subjects, forms, concepts & stylesFeatures:Fragmentation and open-endedness in structureAlienation as the chief characteristicInterests in the psychological depths of characters (method of stream-of-consciousness)Gender, race, class as accepted registers-- efforts to represent postwar world as incoherent, futile, fragmented, and meaningless, man as misplaced, lost and alienated, to resist traditional totalized views of realityRepresentitive Writers and Works1.T. S Eliot is the most dominant literary figure between the two world wars.The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock2.Ezra Pound is the leader of the Imagist movement, mentor of many literary talents, tried for treasonIndebtedness to Chinese culture.In a Station of the Metro.Imagism 意象主义(1912—1914, with Ezra Pound as the leader)1.Rejected the effusive nature of Romantic and Victorian poetry2.Focused on directness of idea and economy of language3.Contemporary with and in harsh contrast to Georgian poetry4.Contemporaries: Ezra Pound, T.S. EliotRepresentatives: Pound, Hulme, Amy Lowell, H.D., Richard Aldington, William Carlos WilliamsFeatures of the Imagist Poetry:1.To use the language of common speech2.To create new rhythms – a new cadence means a new idea3.To allow absolute freedom in the choice of subject4.To present an image5.To produce poetry that is hard and clear, never blurred or indefinite6.Concentration is the very essence of PoetryEzra Pound (1885—1972) 庞德Major Works:1.In a Station of the Metro2.Indebtedness to Chinese culturea.Hugh Selwyn Mauberley《休·西尔文·毛伯莱》b.Cantos （1915-1945）《诗章》3.1908 A Lume Spento《灯火熄灭之时》4.1909 Personae《人物》5.1910 The Spirit of Romance《罗曼斯精神》6.1915 Cathay《中国》7.1919 Homage to Sextus Propertivs《向塞克斯图斯·普罗佩提乌斯致敬》8.1920 Hugh Selwyn Mauberley《休·赛尔温·毛伯利》9.1945 The Pisan Cantos《比萨诗章》10.1954 Letters of Ezra Pound，1907—1941《埃兹拉·庞德书信集》11.1973 Literary Essays《文学论文集》SelectedProse 1909—1965《文选》Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965)1.fragmentation2.modern man alienationMajor Works:1.The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1911)《普鲁弗洛克的情歌》2.The Waste Land (1922) 《荒原》3.Hollow Man (1925) 《空心人》4.Ash Wenesday (1930)《圣尘星期三》5.Four Quartets (1943)《四个四重奏》F.Scott Fitzgerald (1896—1940) 菲茨杰拉德1.The spokesman of the “Roaring twenties” and The Jazz Age2.StylistMajor Works:1.This Side of Paradise (1920) 《人间天堂》2.The Beautiful and Damned (1922)《美人与丑鬼》The first attempt at writing The Great Gatsby.3. The Great Gatsby (1925) 《了不起的盖茨比》a.F’s best, written in Paris, a masterpiece of the 1920sb.criticism on the Jazz Age4. Tender Is the Night (1934) 《夜色温柔》F’s second important novel, condemning the wasted energy of misguided youth.5. The Last Tycoon (1941)《最后一个巨头》unfinished6. Two short story collections:a.Flappers and Philosophers (1920) 《少女与哲学家》b.Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) 《爵士时代的故事》Give its name to the decade (1919-1929) –the Jazz Age (the “Roaring Twenties”, “The Flapper Period”)7.The Crack-Up (1945), essays collected by Edmund Wilson 《崩溃》The Great Gatsby (1925) 《了不起的盖茨比》人物:1.Tom Buchanan2.Daisy3.Gatsby4.Wilson5.Nick CarrawayErnest Hemingway (1899—1961) 海明威1.colloquial style2.iceberg theoryMajor Works:1. The Sun Also Rises (1926)《太阳照样升起》paints the image of a whole generation—the lost generation, spiritual crisis2. A Farewell to Arms (1929) 《永别了，武器》based on his war experience in Italy, a love tragedy in the War, the lovers called “modernRomeo and Juliet”, firmly established H’s reputation3. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) 《丧钟为谁而鸣》（《战地钟声》）Based on his experience as a journalist in Spain during its civil war, anti-Fascism4. The Old Man and the Sea (1952) 《老人与海》One of his best, winning the Nobel Prize5. Short story collections:a.Men without Women (1927)《没有女人的男人》b.Winner Take Nothing (1933) 《胜者无所得》6. Play:The Fifth Column (1940) 《第五纵队》The Old Man and the Sea (1952) 《老人与海》人物:1.Santiago2.marlinThe Lost Generation 迷惘的一代Writing Features:ing of age during the War, having something to do with it2.Disillusioned and antagonistic against war3.Unhappy about American culture4.Expatiates in Paris5.grace under pressure6.death7.war,violent, meaningless, chaotic, purposeless slaugterWilliam Faulkner(1897-1962)福克纳1.Southern Literature and Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha saga2.Fictional world3.Family community4.Style:a.stream of consciousness and interior monologueb.disorder of timec.freshMajor Works:1.The Sound and The Fury (1929) 《喧嚣与骚动》2.As I Lay Dying (1930) 《我弥留之际》3.Sanctuary (1931) 《圣殿》4.Light in August (1932) 《八月之光》5.Absalom, Absalom (1936)《押沙龙！押沙龙！》6.Go Down, Moses (1942) 《去吧，摩西》7.Trilogy of the Snopes familyThe Hamlet (1940) 《村子》The Town (1957) 《小镇》The Mansion (1959)《大宅》8. Short Story collection:The Unvanquished, 《没有被征服的人》(1938)9. A Rose for EmilyJohn Dos Passos (1896—1970) 约翰·多斯·帕索斯U. S. A. Trilogy 《美国》三部曲a. The 42nd Parallel (1930)《北纬四十二度》“machine” dominates and impedes the free growth of individuals b. 1919 （1932）《一九一九》A record of W W I, depersonalizing machinec. The Big Money （1936）《赚大钱》The booming twentiesJohn Steinbeck (1902-1968) 约翰•斯坦贝克The Grapes of Wrath （1939）《愤怒的葡萄》被称作”Uncle Tom’s Cabin” of the 1930sEugene O’Neill (1888-1953) 尤金·奥尼尔1.“Founder of the American drama,” and “the American Shakespeare” in the history of Americandrama.2.receive the Nobel Prize for literature (1936).Major Works:1.Bound East for Cardiff （1916）《东航卡迪夫》his first play, marking the beginning of O’s long and successful dramatic career and ushered in the modern era of the American theatre2.Beyond Horizon (1920) 《天边外》his first play of success, established his reputation, Pulitzer Prize3.The Emperor Jones (1920) 《琼斯王》4.The Hairy Ape (1922) 《毛猿》Ralph (Waldo) Ellison (1914-1994)Invisible Man--An archetypal existential story of modern times.（注：可编辑下载，若有不当之处，请指正，谢谢!）。
美国文学史总结
Part I The Literature of Colonial America（殖民地时期的文学）Chapter 1→John Smith 约翰.史密斯1. A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Sincethe First Planting of That Colony 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》（1608）2. A Map of Virginia with a Description of the Country 《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》（1612）3.The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles 《弗吉尼亚通史》（1624）Chapter 2→William Bradford （威廉.布拉德福德）→Of Plymouth Plantation 《普利茅斯开发史》（1826）→John Winthrop （约翰.温思罗普）→The History of New England from 1630 to 1649 《新英格兰史》（1856）Chapter 3→John Cotton （约翰.科登）→Roger Williams （罗杰.威廉姆斯）→ A Key into the Language of America 《开启美国语言的钥匙》/《美国新英格兰地区土著居民语言指南》Chapter 4→Anne Bradstreet（安妮.布雷兹特里特）（女性作家）→The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America 《在美洲诞生的第十位缪斯》→Edward Taylor （爱德华.泰勒）（女性作家）→Psalms 《诗篇》Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution（理性和革命时期文学）Chapter 5→Benjamin Franklin （本杰明.富兰克林）1.Poor Richard ’s Almanac 《穷理查德年鉴》（1732-1758，1729年正式出版）2.The Declaration of Independence 《独立宣言》（Franklin & Jefferson 杰弗逊）3.The Autobiography 《自传》4.Collect Works 《作品选集》Chapter 6→Thomas Paine （托马斯.佩因）1.The Case of the Officers of the Excise 《收税官的案子》（1772）（his first pamphlet）mon Sense 《常识》（1776）3.The America Crisis 《美国危机》（1776-1883）（a series of sixteen pamphlets）（signed “CommonSense” ）4.Rights of Man 《人权》（I 1791年，II 1792年）5.The Age of Reason 《理性时代》6.Agrarian Justice 《土地公平》（his last important treatise 他最后一部重要著作）Chapter 7→Thomas Jefferson （托马斯.杰弗逊）The Declaration of Independence 《独立宣言》（Benjamin Franklin & Jefferson 杰弗逊）（1776）Chapter 8→Philip Freneau （菲利普.弗瑞诺）1.The Power of Fancy 《想象的力量》（1770）2.The House of Night 《英国囚船》（1781）His earlier poems were collected in The Poems of Philip Freneau Written Chiefly During the Late War这些早期作品后来于1786年一起被收录在《战争后期弗洛诺主要诗歌集》中。
美国文学史复习要点手动
美国文学史复习要点手动1.早期美国文学（17世纪-18世纪）-早期美国文学的发展受到清教徒移民和殖民地环境的影响。
-早期作品主题包括宗教信仰、苦难和恐惧。
-著名作家有威廉·布拉德福和乔纳森·爱德华兹。
2.启蒙时期文学（18世纪）-美国启蒙时期的文学受到欧洲启蒙思想的影响。
-作品主题包括理性、自由和平等。
-著名作家有本杰明·富兰克林和汤玛斯·潘恩。
3.罗曼主义时期文学（19世纪早期）-罗曼主义时期美国文学反对启蒙时期的理性主义。
-作品主题包括个人感情、自然和超自然。
-著名作家有华盛顿·欧文和爱默生。
4.特拉华文学（19世纪中期）-特拉华文学是19世纪中期美国文学的重要流派。
-作品主题包括农民和工人的生活以及美国西部探险精神。
-著名作家有赫尔曼·梅尔维尔和华尔特·惠特曼。
5.现实主义和自然主义时期文学（19世纪末-20世纪初）-现实主义和自然主义时期的文学关注社会问题和个人命运。
-作品主题包括工业化、城市化和阶级冲突。
-著名作家有马克·吐温和斯蒂芬·克莱恩。
6.现代主义时期文学（20世纪初-中期）-现代主义时期的文学反对传统形式和价值观。
-作品表现迷失、不安和心理困惑。
-著名作家有欧内斯特·海明威和F·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德。
7.后现代主义时期文学（20世纪中期-现在）-后现代主义时期的文学拒绝一切形式的正统和稳定性。
-作品表现多样化的语言和视觉实验。
-著名作家有托尼·莫里森和大卫·福斯特·华莱士。
(完整版)美国文学史总结
ⅠColonial America(17th century)殖民主义时期文学1.In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered America and he mistook the native people onthe new continent for Indians.Character of colonial literature:a.content: religious, politicalb.form: diary, journal, letters, travel books, sermons, history (personalliterature)c.Style: simple. direct, concised.out of humble originsEarly in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.The earliest settlers in America included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese.The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿)2.Captain Town Smith, the first American writer3.Puritan Thoughts: hard work, thrift(节俭), piety(虔诚), sobriety(节制), 这些也成了早期美国作品主导思想.典型的清教徒：John Cotton & Roger William, John Cotton was called “the Patriarch of New England(新英格兰教父)”清教徒采用的文学体裁：narratives(日记) and journals(游记)清教徒在美国的写作内容：1）Their voyage to the new land2）Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops3）About dealing with Indians4）Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit4.Private literature: theological, moral, historical, political5.The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor, rose to the level of realpoetry. Anne Bradstreet is one of the most interesting of the early poets, 英国最早移民到美国的诗人. The best of the Puritan poets was Edward Taylor.ⅡReason and Revolution(18th century)理性和革命时期文学1.The War for Independence (1776-1783) ended in the formation of a Federative bourgeoisdemocratic republic - the United States of America.2.Bourgeois Enlightenment3.Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac(穷人理查德的年鉴), an annual collection ofproverbs.The Autobiography, 18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传⏹The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a recordof self-examination and self-improvement. The Puritans, as a type, were very much given to self-analysis.⏹The Autobiography shows Franklin was spokesman for the new order of 18th-centuryEnlightenment, 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.⏹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 obvious features we cannot mistake.⏹Tone: OptimismThe American dream began with the settlement of the American continent –the Promised Land – the Garden of Eden – optimistic about the future4.Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, 极大恢复士气5.Thomas Jefferson:The Declaration of Independence6.Philip Freneau, Father of American Poetry: The Indian Burring Ground(印第安人的坟地)The Wild Honey Suckle(野忍冬花)⏹The poem is an indication of the poet’s dedication to American subjectmatter and the natural scenes on the new continent.⏹Here in this poem Freneau deals with the themes of loveliness and thetransience of life.⏹This poem, well within the melancholy genre, consists of the poet’s pensivemusings on the flower’s story.⏹The first two stanzas picture the advantages of the flower’s country retreat.⏹The next two stanzas unite the theme of the seasons with the thought that allmust die. Death and decay, as well as creation, are so common, so much a part of the universal law.ⅢRomanticism(end of the 18th century——Civil War)浪漫主义文学1.Washington Irving, Father of American literature: Sketch Book(见闻札记, the firstmodern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature, a collection of essays, sketches, and tales)2.James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales(皮袜子故事集, the AmericanNational Epic) contains of The Deerslayer(杀鹿者), The Last of the Mohicans(最后的莫希干人), The Pathfinder(探路人), The Pioneers(拓荒者), and The Prairie(大草原).3.Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven(乌鸦), Annabel Lee(安娜贝尔·李), The Fall of the House ofUsher(鄂榭府崩溃记)To Helen○Edgar Allan Poe wrote “To Helen” as a reflection on the beauty of Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard, of Richmond, Va., who died in 1824. She was the mother of one of Poe’s school classmates, Robert Stanard. When Robert invited Edgar, then 14, to his home (at 19th and East Grace Streets in Richmond) in 1823, Poe was greatly taken with the 27-year-old woman, who is said to have urged him to write poetry. He was later to write that she was his first real love.○ 1 stanza⏹Helen: An allusion to Helen of Troy in Greek mythology.⏹Nicean: Of or from Nicea (also spelled Nicaea), a city in ancient Bithynia (nowpart of present-day Turkey) near the site of the Trojan War.⏹Barks: small sailing vessels.⏹End rhyme: A, B, A,B, B.○ 2 stanza⏹wont: accustomed to⏹Naiad: Naiads were minor nature goddesses in Greek and Romanmythology. They inhabited and presided over rivers, lakes, streams, and fountains.⏹Naiad airs: Peaceful, gentle breezes or qualities⏹The glory that . . .Rome: These last two lines, beginning with the glorythat was, are among the most frequently quoted lines in world literature.⏹End rhyme: A, B, A, B, A.Half rhyme: Face and Greece○ 3 stanza⏹Psyche: In Greek and Roman mythology, Psyche was a beautifulprincess dear to the god of love, Eros (Cupid), who would visit her in a darkened room ina palace. One night she used an agate lamp to discover his identity. Later, at the urging ofEros, Zeus gave her the gift of immortality. Eros then married her.⏹End rhyme: A, B, B, A, B.⏹from the regions which are Holy Land: from ancient Greece and Rome;from the memory Poe had of Mrs. Stanard○Theme■Beauty, as Poe uses the word in the poem, appears to refer to the woman's soul as well as her body. On the one hand, he represents her as Helen of Troy–the quintessence of physical beauty–at the beginning of the poem. On the other, he represents her as Psyche–the quintessence of soulful beauty–at the end of the poem. In Greek, psyche means soul.4.Transcendentalism(超验主义):❖19th-century movement of writers and philosophers in New England who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths. In their religious quest, the Transcendentalists rejected the conventions of 18th-century thought; and what began in dissatisfaction with Unitarianism developed into a repudiation of the whole established order.❖Representative figures: some 30 men and a couple of women such as Emerson, Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, and Margaret Fuller, most of them teachers or clergymen, radicals against rigid rationalism of Unitarianism.❖Time: 1836-1855❖Essence: “Transcendentalism is idealism” in essence❖Major Features:A.Emphasis on spirit;B.The importance of the individual as the most important element ofsociety;C．N ature as symbolic of the Spirit or GodRalph Waldo Emerson, Father of American Essay, Essayist, poet, philosopher, orator, critic : Nature(the Bible and manifesto(宣言) of the New England Transcendentalism), Self-relianceHenry David Thoreau(The Prophet(提倡者) of Non-Violence Movement, he wasEmerson’s truest disciple, who put into practice many of Emerson’s theories): Walden5.Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter⑴女主角honest, calmly face fault 诚实，坦然的面对罪过。
(完整word版)美国文学史-知识点梳理(word文档良心出品)
Part I The Literature of Colonial AmericaI．Historical IntroductionThe colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.)II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American WriterThe first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians.Captain John Smith is the first American writer.A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608)A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612)General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess PocahontasCaptain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England LiteratureWilliam Bradford and John WinthropJohn Cotton and Roger WilliamsAnne Bradstreet and Edward TaylorV．Puritan Thoughts1. The origin of puritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce hiswife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church ofEngland. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism(1) predestination: God's electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.(2) Origianl sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.(3) Limited atonement (the salvation of a selected few)(4) theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment3. Influence on American Literature(1) Its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that, man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise, to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.(2) Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.Part II The Literature of Reason And RevolutionI．Historical IntroductionWith the growth, especially of industry, there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not want colonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures to insure this dependence. They prevented colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country. Politically, the British government forced dependenceby ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.However, by the mid-eighteenth century, freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years (1776-1783) and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America. II．American EnlightenmentIt was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision of their writings.At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.III．Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)The AutobiographyPoor Richard’s AlmanacLifeBenjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader.At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer.At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym “Silence Do good” .At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.Multiple identities:a printera leading authora politiciana scientista inventora diplomata civic activistFranklin’s Contributions to SocietyHe helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital.He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.Franklin’s Contributions to ScienceHe was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.And for his lightning-rod, he was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.”Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:The Declaration of Independence,The Treaty of Alliance with France,The Treaty of Peace with England,The ConstitutionThe AutobiographyThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices, the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person, the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God – all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then, the book is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrious, frugal, and prudent.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness and concision. The plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence ofornaments in wording and of complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.IV．Thomas Paine (1737-1809)Common SenseAmerican CrisisV．Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)The Declaration of IndependenceVI．Philip Freneau (1752-1832)“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”“Pioneer of the New Romanticism”“A gifted and versatile lyric poet”Works“The Wild Honey Suckle”“The Indian Burying Ground”“To a Caty-Did”Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.Life Experience►He was born in New York.►At 16, he entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends (H. H. Brackenridge) a poem entitled “The Rising Glory of America”.►Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780.►After being released, he published “The British Prison Ship” in 1781.►In the same year, he published “To the Memory of the Brave Americans”.►After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government.►But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.Main Works►“The Rising Glory of America” (1772) 《美洲光辉的兴起》►“The House of Night” (1779,1786) 《夜之屋》►“The British Prison Ship” (1781) 《英国囚船》►“To the Memory of the Brave Americans” (1781) 《纪念美国勇士》►“”The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786) 《野忍冬花》►“The Indian Burying Ground” (1788) 《印第安人墓地》野忍冬花（黄杲炘译）►美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。
美国文学史整理资料
Colonial Period殖民时期Background:Puritanism背景：清教主义1.features of Puritanism特征宿命论:上帝决定一切之前发生的事情(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.原罪论:人类生来就是邪恶,这原罪(3).Total depravity性恶说有限的赎罪:可以通过一代一代(4).Limited atonement:Only the“elect”can be saved.只有选举才能得救2.Influence影响(1).A group of good qualities–hard work,thrift,piety,sobriety(serious and thoughtful)influenced American literature.一群好的品质——努力工作、节俭、虔诚、节制(严重的和深思熟虑的)美国文学的影响。
(2).It led to the everlasting myth.All literature is based on a myth–garden of Eden.它导致了永恒的神话。
所有的文学是基于一个神话——伊甸园。
(3).Symbolism:the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American.象征意义:美国清教徒的隐喻认知模式主要是在调用形成一个文学象征这是典型的美国人。
美国文学史复习资料
一、殖民主义时期 The Literature of Colonial America1．船长约翰•史密斯 Captain John Smith《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》“A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony”《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》“A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country”《弗吉尼亚通史》“General History of Virginia”2．威廉•布拉德福德 William Bradford 《普利茅斯开发历史》“The History of Plymouth Plantation”3．约翰•温思罗普 John Winthrop《新英格兰历史》“The History of New England”4．罗杰•威廉姆斯 Roger Williams《开启美国语言的钥匙》”A Key into the Language of America”或叫《美洲新英格兰部分土著居民语言指南》Or “ A Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America Called New England ”5．安妮•布莱德斯特 Anne Bradstreet 《在美洲诞生的第十个谬斯》”The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in Americ a”二、理性和革命时期文学 The Literature of Reason and Revolution1。
本杰明•富兰克林 Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)※《自传》“ The Autobiography ”《穷人理查德的年鉴》“Poor Richard’s Almanac”2。
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。
美国文学知识
美国文学知识一．殖民地时期（The Literature of Colonial American）北美的第一本书：《海湾圣诗》（The Bay Psalmbook）约翰·史密斯（John Smith）：被誉为美国文学的第一位作家。
代表作《关于弗吉尼亚的真实叙述》（A True Relation of Virginia）是美国文学第一书。
纳撒尼尔·沃德（Nathaniel Ward）：被誉为“北美讽刺文学第一笔”。
代表作《北美的阿格瓦姆鞋匠》（The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam in America）。
威廉·布拉福德（William Bradford）：被誉为“美国历史之父”。
代表作《普利茅斯种植园史》（History of Plymouth Plantation）。
安妮·布拉德斯特里特（Anne Bradstreet）：殖民地时期的第一位诗人。
代表作《最近在北美出现的第十位缪斯》（The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America）。
迈克尔·威格尔斯沃斯（Michael Wigglesworth）：诗人。
代表作《判决日》（The Day Of Doom）。
爱德华·泰勒（Edward Taylor）：诗人。
代表作《上帝对其选民有影响的决定》（Gods Determinations Touching His Elect）。
乔纳森·爱德华兹（Jonathan Edwards）：“大觉醒”（The Great Awakening）运动中的主要思想家。
代表作《愤怒是上帝手中之罪人》。
二．独立战争到南北战争（American Literature between the War of Independence and the Civil War）本杰明·富兰克林（Benjamin Franklin）：美国启蒙运动的开创者、科学家、实业家、政治家和革命家，参与撰写了《独立宣言》（Declaration of Independence）。
美国文学名师考点整理
美国文学殖民地时期（16 世纪末至 17 世纪中期）：主要记述殖民地时期的历史较多，游记等等作者作品The Bay Psalmbook 《海湾圣诗》 （北美出版的第一本书，是由希伯来语John Winthrop温斯洛普John Smith 约翰 史密斯 （美国文学和北美文学的第一作家）（Hebrew ）翻译过来的民歌体圣诗集）习惯用语 city upon a hill （ft 巅之城）来源于他的作品A True Relation of Virginia《关于佛吉尼亚的真实叙述》（1601 年）独立革命时期（17 世纪中期至18 世纪末）：大多数革命写作都是政治性的，开始出现诗歌浪漫主义时期（18 世纪末至 19 世纪中后期）：又称为为美国的文艺复兴，强调感情和感觉，而不是理性与尝试，超验主义（Transcendentalis ）m 是浪漫主义 （Romanticism ）的成熟期作者作品作者Benjamin Franklin 本杰明 弗兰克林Thomas Paine 托马斯 佩恩Thomas Jefferson 托马斯 杰弗逊（美国第三任总统） Philip Freneau 菲利普 费伦诺 （美国独立革命诗人，美国诗歌之父）作品Declaration of Independence《独立宣言》 Poor Richard’ s Almanac 《穷查理德年鉴》The Autobiography 《自传》 Common Sense 《常识》The American Crisis 《美国危机》 Declaration of Independence《独立宣言》The Wild Honey Suckle《野金银花》Washington Irving 华盛顿欧文（美国文学之父，擅长短篇小说）William Cullen Bryant威廉卡伦布莱恩特（美国首位浪漫派诗人，美国的“华兹华斯”）James Fenimore Copper詹姆斯菲利莫尔库伯Ralph Waldo Emerson拉尔夫瓦尔多爱默生（超自然主义（Supernaturalism）中心人物）Henry David Thoreau亨利大卫梭罗Henry Wadsworth Longfellow亨利沃兹沃斯朗费罗（美国第一个写叙述诗歌的诗人，曾经翻译过但丁（Dante）的神曲（DiveComedy）Nathaniel Hawthrone 纳撒尼尔霍桑（美国科幻小说的第一人）Edgar Allan Poe 埃德加艾伦坡（美国侦探小说之父）Herman M elville 赫尔曼麦尔维尔Emily Dickson 艾米丽迪克逊（其作品主要与宗教、生活和死亡有Rip Van Winkle《李普万温克尔》The Legend of Sleepy Hollow《睡谷的传说》（美国文学史上第一部短篇小说，标志着美国浪漫主义（Romanticism）的开始）To a Waterfowl《致水鸟》Thanatopsis《死亡随想》Leatherstocking Tales《皮袜子五部曲》The Last Mohicans《最后的莫西干人》Nature《自然》（被认为是美国超自然主义（Supernaturali s）m宣言）Walden《瓦尔登湖》Civil Disobedience《论公民的不服从》The Song of Hiawatha 《海华沙之歌》（描写印第安人的第一部作品）Evangeline 《伊万杰琳》APsalm of Life 《人生赞礼》The Scarlet Letter《红字》The House of the Seven Gables《有七个尖角阁楼的房子》Mosses from an Old House 《古屋青苔》诗歌：The Raven 《乌鸦》Annabel Lee《安娜贝尔李》小说：The Fall of the House Asher《厄舍古屋的倒塌》Moby Dick 《蓝鲸》Because I could not Stop for Death《因为我不能死亡》I’m Nobody, Who are You?关）Walt Whitman 沃尔特惠特曼（伟大的民主主义诗人，第一个自由体诗人）《我是无名小卒，你是谁？》Leaves of Grass《草叶集》（标志着美国浪漫主义的结束）现实主义时期(19 世纪中期至 20 世纪初期)：作者Harriet Beecher Stove哈里特比彻斯托美国现实主义（Realism）三位代表人物Henry James 亨利詹姆斯William Dean Howells威廉迪恩豪威尔斯Mark Twain 马克吐温（威廉福克纳（William Faulkner）称他为真正的美国文学之父，乡土文学代表）Stephen C rane 斯蒂芬克莱恩（自然主义（Naturalism）代表人物）Theodore Dreiser 西奥多德莱赛（最伟大的自然主义作家）Jack London 杰克伦敦作品Uncle Tom’s Cabin《汤姆叔叔的小屋》The Portrait of a Lady 《贵妇人画像》The Wings of Dove 《鸽翼》The Ambassadors 《奉使记》The Golden Bowl《金碗》Daisy Miller《黛西米勒》The Rise of Silas Lapham《塞拉斯拉帕姆的发迹》The Celebrated Jumping Frog ofCalaveras County《卡拉维拉斯郡著名的跳蛙》The Gilded Age 《镀金时代》The Adventure of Tom Sawyer《汤姆索亚的历险记》The Prince and the P auper《王子与贫儿》The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn《费恩历险记》The Red Badge of Courage《红色英勇勋章》Sister Carrie《嘉莉妹妹》An American Tragedy 《美国悲剧》Trilogy of Desire《欲望三部曲》Financer 《金融家》The Titan《巨人》Stotic《斯多葛》The Call of Nature 《野性的呼唤》（自然主义代表人物）O Henry 欧亨利（自然主义作家，短篇小说之父）Love of Life《热爱生命》Martin Eden《马丁伊登》The Gifts from Magi 《麦琪的礼物》The Cop and the Anthem《警察与赞美诗》现代主义时期（20世纪）：核心在第一次世界大战和第二次世界大战之时，标志性运动是意象派（Imagism）作者作品The Sun Also Rise 《太阳照常升起》Ernest Hemingway 欧内斯特海明威（第一部小说）（“迷茫的一代”（The Lost Generation ）代言人,1954 获得诺贝尔文学奖）A Farewell to Arms 《永别了，武器》For Whom the Bell Tolls《丧钟为谁而鸣》The Old Man and the Sea 《老人与海》Ezra Pound 埃兹拉庞德史诗：The Cantos 《诗章》（美国现代诗歌之父，最重要的意象派（Imagism）诗人之一）Robert Frost 罗伯特弗罗斯特（新英格兰诗人，四次获得普利策奖（Pulitzer Prize）T.S. Eliot 艾略特（美国出生英语诗人，1948 年获得诺贝尔文学奖）William Faulkner 威廉福克纳（20 世纪最重要的南方作家，1950 年获得诺贝尔文学奖,现代主义(Modernism)最重要的作家之一）Francis Scott Fitzgerald弗司各特菲兹杰拉德（爵士乐时代的代言人）In a Station of the Metro《在地铁站》诗集：Mending Wall《修墙》The R oad N ot T aken 《未选择的路》Stopping by the Woods on a SnowyEvening《雪夜林边小驻》Desert Places 《荒芜地带》The Waste Land《荒原》Four Quarters《四个四重奏》The Sound and the Fury《喧哗与骚动》Light in August 《八月之光》Absalom, Absalom《押沙龙，押沙龙》The Great Gatsby 《了不起的盖茨比》Tender is the Night《夜色温柔》John Steinbeck 约翰斯坦贝克（1962 年获得诺贝尔文学奖）Eugene Gladstone O’Neil尤金奥尼尔（剧本作家，1936 年获得诺贝尔文学奖，4 次获得普利策奖）Pearl S. Buck 赛珍珠（美国历史上第一个获得诺贝尔文学奖的女作家）The Grapes o f Wrath 《愤怒的葡萄》The Hairy Ape《毛猿》The Good Earth《大地》（取材于中国江苏、安徽农村地区）1945 年以来的文学：垮掉的一代、黑色幽默作者Allen Ginsberg 艾伦金斯堡（垮掉的一代（Beat Generation）的代表人物）Joseph Heller 约瑟夫海勒（黑色幽默（Black Humor）的代表人物）Tennessee Williams 西纳西威廉斯（美国战后伟大的剧作家）Arthur Miller 亚瑟米勒（被称为美国的易卜生）作品Howl《嚎叫》Catch 22《第二十二条军规》（黑色幽默代表作品）A Street Car Named Desire《欲望号街车》Death of Salesman 《推销员之死》All My Son《我的儿子们》。
美国文学史复习要点整理【手动】
美国文学史整理一、Colonial America 殖民时期1、New England：Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, andConnecticut.2、Doctrines of Puritanism清教American Puritanism stressed predestination（命运神定), original sin（原罪）, total depravity (彻底的堕落), and limited atonement (有限的赎罪)from God’s grace.3、Writing style：fresh, simple and direct and with a touch of nobility；the rhetoric is plain andhonest.4、Life style：hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.5、Main writer:①Thomas Paine 托马斯·潘恩work：Common Sense (1776) 《常识》American Crisis (1776-1783)《美国危机》The Rights of Man《人权》The Age of Reason《理性时代》②Benjamin Franklin（本杰明·富兰克林）Poor Richard’s Almanac《穷查理历书》Autobiography 《富兰克林自传》<clarity, good sense, and simplicity of the English essayists Joseph Addison and Richard Steele>③Thomas Jefferson 托马斯·杰弗逊Declaration of Independence (1776)《独立宣言》<simple and clear, powerful and graceful>二、American Romanticism (early period) 浪漫主义前期1、Characteristics：①A rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism.反对理性主义的客观性。
美国文学史复习
美国文学史复习（一）Colonialism（殖民主义）一、Puritan thoughts:1. to make their religious beliefs and practices pure,2. to restore simplicity,3. to live a hard and disciplined life4. to oppose pleasure and arts.二、Puritan values:hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (they dominated much of the earliest American writing.)（二）Romanticism一、文学特征：1. Environment:①shaped by their New World environment 美洲大陆新环境②array of ideas inherited from the romantic traditions of Europe 欧洲早期浪漫主义思潮2.美国文学的特点：①pluralistic多元化②manifestations varied 表现形式多样③individualistic个人主义④conflicting 矛盾3. Romanticism的特点：①moral enthusiasm注重道德②faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception强调个人主义价值观和直觉感受③the presumption that the natural world was a source of corruption.认为自然是美的源头，人类社会是腐败之源。
4. Transcendentalism：（超验主义）①As a moral philosophy, it was neither logical nor systematized.It exalted feeling over reason, individual expression over the restraints of law and custom.不讲逻辑，不讲系统只强调超越理性的感受，超越法律和世俗束缚的个人表达。
(完整word版)美国文学史-知识点梳理
Part I The Literature of Colonial AmericaI．Historical IntroductionThe colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.)II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American WriterThe first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians.Captain John Smith is the first American writer.A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608)A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612)General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess PocahontasCaptain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England LiteratureWilliam Bradford and John WinthropJohn Cotton and Roger WilliamsAnne Bradstreet and Edward TaylorV．Puritan Thoughts1. The origin of puritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce hiswife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church ofEngland. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism(1) predestination: God's electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.(2) Origianl sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.(3) Limited atonement (the salvation of a selected few)(4) theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment3. Influence on American Literature(1) Its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that, man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise, to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.(2) Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.Part II The Literature of Reason And RevolutionI．Historical IntroductionWith the growth, especially of industry, there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not want colonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures to insure this dependence. They prevented colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country. Politically, the British government forced dependenceby ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.However, by the mid-eighteenth century, freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years (1776-1783) and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America. II．American EnlightenmentIt was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision of their writings.At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.III．Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)The AutobiographyPoor Richard’s AlmanacLifeBenjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader.At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer.At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym “Silence Do good” .At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.Multiple identities:a printera leading authora politiciana scientista inventora diplomata civic activistFranklin’s Contributions to SocietyHe helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital.He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.Franklin’s Contributions to ScienceHe was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.And for his lightning-rod, he was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.”Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:The Declaration of Independence,The Treaty of Alliance with France,The Treaty of Peace with England,The ConstitutionThe AutobiographyThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices, the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person, the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God – all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then, the book is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrious, frugal, and prudent.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness and concision. The plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence ofornaments in wording and of complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.IV．Thomas Paine (1737-1809)Common SenseAmerican CrisisV．Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)The Declaration of IndependenceVI．Philip Freneau (1752-1832)“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”“Pioneer of the New Romanticism”“A gifted and versatile lyric poet”Works“The Wild Honey Suckle”“The Indian Burying Ground”“To a Caty-Did”Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.Life Experience►He was born in New York.►At 16, he entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends (H. H. Brackenridge) a poem entitled “The Rising Glory of America”.►Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780.►After being released, he published “The British Prison Ship” in 1781.►In the same year, he published “To the Memory of the Brave Americans”.►After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government.►But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.Main Works►“The Rising Glory of America” (1772) 《美洲光辉的兴起》►“The House of Night” (1779,1786) 《夜之屋》►“The British Prison Ship” (1781) 《英国囚船》►“To the Memory of the Brave Americans” (1781) 《纪念美国勇士》►“”The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786) 《野忍冬花》►“The Indian Burying Ground” (1788) 《印第安人墓地》野忍冬花（黄杲炘译）►美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。
（完整版）美国文学史-知识点梳理
（完整版）美国文学史-知识点梳理Part I The Literature of Colonial AmericaI．Historical IntroductionThe colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.)II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American WriterThe first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians.Captain John Smith is the first American writer.A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608)A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612)General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess PocahontasCaptain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders ofthe colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England LiteratureWilliam Bradford and John WinthropJohn Cotton and Roger WilliamsAnne Bradstreet and Edward TaylorV．Puritan Thoughts1. The origin of puritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church ofEngland. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism(1) predestination: God's electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived avery frugal life. This is their ethics.(2) Origianl sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.(3) Limited atonement (the salvation of a selected few)(4) theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment3. Influence on American Literature(1) Its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that, man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise, to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.(2) Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.Part II The Literature of Reason And RevolutionI．Historical IntroductionWith the growth, especially of industry, there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not wantcolonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures to insure this dependence. They prevented colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country. Politically, the British government forced dependenceby ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.However, by the mid-eighteenth century, freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years (1776-1783) and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America. II．American EnlightenmentIt was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision oftheir writings.At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.III．Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)The AutobiographyPoor Richard’s AlmanacLifeBenjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader.At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer.At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym “Silence Do good” .At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.Multiple identities:a printera leading authora politiciana scientista inventora diplomata civic activistFranklin’s Contributions to SocietyHe helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital.He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.Franklin’s Contributions to ScienceHe was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.And for his lightning-rod, he was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.”Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:The Declaration of Independence,The Treaty of Alliance with France,The Treaty of Peace with England,The ConstitutionThe AutobiographyThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices, the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person, the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God – all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then, the book is also a convincing illustration of thePuritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrious, frugal, and prudent.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness and concision. The plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence ofornaments in wording and of complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.IV．Thomas Paine (1737-1809)Common SenseAmerican CrisisV．Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)The Declaration of IndependenceVI．Philip Freneau (1752-1832)“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”“Pioneer of the New Romanticism”“A gifted and versatile lyric poet”Works“The Wild Honey Suckle”“The Indian Burying Ground”“To a Caty-Did”Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.Life ExperienceHe was born in New York.At 16, he entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends (H. H. Brackenridge) a poem entitled “The Rising Glory of America”.Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780.After being released, he published “The British Prison Ship” in 1781.In the same year, he published “T o the Memory of the Brave Americans”.After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government.But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.Main Works“The Rising Glory of America” (1772) 《美洲光辉的兴起》“The House of Night” (1779,1786) 《夜之屋》“The British Prison Ship” (1781) 《英国囚船》“To the Memory of the Brave Americans” (1781) 《纪念美国勇士》?“”The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786) 《野忍冬花》“The Indian Burying Ground” (1788) 《印第安人墓地》野忍冬花（黄杲炘译）美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。
美国文学史-知识点梳理
Part I The Literature of Colonial AmericaI．Historical IntroductionThe colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. < A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.>II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:1> Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration2> Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American WriterThe first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians.Captain John Smith is the first American writer.A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony <1608>A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country <1612>General History of Virgini a <1624>: the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England LiteratureWilliam Bradford and John WinthropJohn Cotton and Roger WilliamsAnne Bradstreet and Edward TaylorV．Puritan Thoughts1. The origin of puritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII <At that time, the Catholics were not allowedto divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he> broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of England. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism<1> predestination: God's electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.<2> Origianl sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.<3> Limited atonement <the salvation of a selected few><4> theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment3. Influence on American Literature<1> Its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that, man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise, to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.<2> Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.Part II The Literature of Reason And RevolutionI．Historical IntroductionWith the growth, especially of industry, there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not want colonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures to insure this dependence. They prevented colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country. Politically, the British government forced dependence by ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.However, by the mid-eighteenth century, freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years <1776-1783> and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America. II．American EnlightenmentIt was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision of their writings.At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.III．Benjamin Franklin <1706-1790>The AutobiographyPoor Richard’s AlmanacLifeBenjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader.At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer.At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym "Silence Do good〞.At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.Multiple identities:a printera leading authora politiciana scientista inventora diplomata civic activistFranklin’s Contributions to SocietyHe helped found the PennsylvaniaHospital.He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.Franklin’s Contributions to ScienceHe was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.And for his lightning-rod, he was called "the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.〞Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:The Declaration of Independence,The Treaty of Alliance with France,The Treaty of Peace with England,The ConstitutionThe AutobiographyThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices, the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person, the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God – all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then, the book is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrious, frugal, and prudent.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness and concision. The plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence of ornaments in wording and of complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.IV．Thomas Paine <1737-1809>Common SenseAmerican CrisisV．Thomas Jefferson <1743-1826>The Declaration of IndependenceVI．Philip Freneau <1752-1832>"Poet of the American Revolution〞"Father of American Poetry〞"Pioneer of the New Romanticism〞"A gifted and versatile lyric poet〞Works"The Wild Honey Suckle〞"The Indian Burying Ground〞"To a Caty-Did〞Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.Life Experience►He was born in New York.►At 16, he entered the College of New Jersey <now PrincetonUniversity>. He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends <H. H. Brackenridge> a poem entitled "The Rising Glory of America〞.►Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780.►After being released, he published "The British Prison Ship〞in 1781.►In the same year, he published "To the Memory of the Brave Americans〞.►After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government.►But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.Main Works►"The Rising Glory of America〞<1772> 《美洲光辉的兴起》►"The House of Night〞<1779,1786> 《夜之屋》►"The British Prison Ship〞<1781> 《英国囚船》►"To the Memory of the Brave Americans〞<1781> 《纪念美国勇士》►"〞The Wild Honey Suckle〞<1786> 《野忍冬花》►"The Indian Burying Ground〞<1788> 《印第安人墓地》野忍冬花〔黄杲炘译〕►美好的花呀,你长得：这么秀丽, 却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵,招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎,没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪.►大自然把你打扮得一身洁白,她叫你避开庸俗粗鄙的目光,她布置下树荫把你护卫起来,又让潺潺的柔波淌过你身旁；你的夏天就这样静静地消逝,这时候你日见萎蔫终将安息. ►那些难免消逝的美使我销魂, 想起你未来的结局我就心疼,别的那些花儿也不比你幸运——虽开放在伊甸园中也已凋零, 无情的寒霜再加秋风的威力,会叫这花朵消失得一无踪迹. ►##和晚露当初曾把你养育,让你这小小的生命来到世上,原来若乌有,就没什么可失去,因为你的死让你同先前一样；这来去之间不过是一个钟点——这就是脆弱的花享有的天年.►This poem is divided into four stanzas. Each stanza consists of six lines, rhyming "ababcc〞, and sounds just like music.►In the first two stanzas, Freneau devoted more attention to the environment of the flower in which he found it than to the appearance of the flower. He conmented on the secluded nature of the place where the honey suckle grew, drawing a conclusion that it was due to nature's protectiveness that the flower was able to lead a peaceful life free from men’s disturbance and destruction.►But the next stanza immediately changed the tone from silent admiration and appreciation to outright lamentation over the "future’s doom〞of the flower – even nature was unable to save the flower from its death.►And then, Freneau said, "if nothing once, you nothing lose.〞It is true in people’s existence. There is fate for the life and death. After one’s death, the only thing he can take away is what he brought when he gave birth to this world.Part III The Literature of RomanticismI．Historical Introductionfrom early 19th century through the outbreak of the Civil War1. native factorsIt is a period following American Independence. In this period, democracy and political equality became the ideals of the new nation. America was in an economic boom. There is a tremendous sense of optimism and hope among the people. The spirit of the time is, in some measure, responsible for the outburst of romantic feeling.2. foreign influenceRomanticism emerged in England from 1798 to 1832. It added impetus to the growth of Romanticism in America. In England the general features of the works of the romantics is a dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society. British Romanticism inspired the American imagination. Thus American Romanticism was in a way derivative. II．American Romanticism: American RenaissanceRomanticism <appeared in England in the last years of the 18th century and spread to continental Europe and then> came to America early in the 19th century. It was pluralistic; its manifestations were as varied, as individualistic, and as conflicting as the cultures and the intellects from which it sprang. Yet romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: moral enthusiasm, faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception, and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man's societies a source of corruption.It exalted the individual, which suited the nation's revolutionary heritage and its frontier egalitarianism. It revolted against traditional art forms, which gratified those cramped by the strict limits of neoclassic literature, painting, and architecture. It rejected rationalism, which gladdened those who were opposed to cool, intellectual religious wrapped with the remnants of Calvinism.Romantic writers placed increasing value on the free expression of emotion and display increasing attention to the spiritual states of their characters. Heroes and heroines exhibited extremes of sensitivity and excitement. The novel of terror became the profitable literary staple that it remains today. Writers of gothic novels sought to arouse in their readers a turbulent sense of the remote, the supernatural, and the terrifying by describing castles and landscapes illuminated by moonlight and haunted by ghosts. A preoccupation with the demonic and the mystery of evil marked by the works of Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, and a host of lesser writers.Early American romanticism was best represented by New England poets William Cullen Bryant <1794-1878> and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow <1807-1882> inpoetry, and James Fenimore Cooper <1789-1851> and Washington Irving<1783-1859> in fiction.The later/peak period is represented by Ralph Waldo Emerson <1803-1882> and Henry David Thoreau <1817-1862>.III．WashingtonIrving1. Rip Van WinkleThe story, written while Irving was staying with his sister Sarah and her husband Henry van Wart in Birmingham, England, is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. A villager of Dutch descent escapes his nagging wife by wandering up Kaaterskill Clove near his home town of Palenville, New York in the Catskill Mountains. After various adventures <in one version of the tale, he encounters the spirits of Henry Hudson and his crew playing ninepins at the top of KaaterskillFalls>, he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep. He wakes up 20 years later and returns to his village. He finds out that his wife is dead and his close friends have died in a war or gone somewhere else. He immediately gets into trouble when he hails himself a loyal subject of George III, not knowing that in the meantime the American Revolution has taken place and he is not supposed to be a loyal subject of any Hanoverian any longer.The story has become a part of cultural mythology: even for those who have never read the original story, "Rip Van Winkle" means either a person who sleeps for a long period of time, or one who is inexplicably <perhaps even blissfully> unaware of current events.Rip Van Winkle has been seen as a symbol of several aspects of America. Rip, like America, is immature, self-centered, careless, anti-intellectual, imaginative, and jolly as the overgrown child. The town itself symbolizes America – forever and rapidly changing. Washington Irving has Rip sleep through his own country’s history, through what we might call the birth pangs of America, and return to the "busy, bustling, disputatious〞self-consciously adult United States of America. His conflicts and dreams are those of the nation – the conflict of innocence and experience, work and leisure, the old and the new, the head and the heart.2. The Legend of Sleepy HollowThe story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of TarryTown, in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a sycophantic, lean, lanky, and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head". Ichabod mysteriously disappears from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related". Although the nature of the HeadlessHorseman is left open to interpretation, the story implies that the Horseman was really Brom Bones in disguise.The creation of archetypes is a p articularly subtle feat of Irving’s consummate craftsmanship. We may see in Ichabod Crane a precocious, effect New Englander, shrewd, commercial, a city-slicker, who is rather an interloper, a somewhat destructive force, and who comes along to swindle the villagers. His book learning turns on him, and he is driven away from where he does not belong, so that the serene village remains permanently good and happy.Brom Bones, on the other hand, is of a Huck Finn-type of country bumpkin, rough, vigorous, boisterous but inwardly very good, a frontier type put out there to shift for himself.Thus, the rivalry in love between Ichabod and Brom, viewed in this way, suddenly assumes the dimensions of two ethical groups locked in a kind of historic contest. As to the style of the piece, it represents Irving at his best. The association between a certain local and the inward movement of a character, the emotional loading of almost every line of the story, their effect on the five sense of the reader whose attention is so fully engaged and who feels so much involved in what is happening – all these have placed this and other Irving stories among the best of American short stories.3. Irving’s Style<1> Irving avoids moralizing as much as possible. He writes simply to entertain rather to enlighten.<2> He is good at setting his stories in a magic and fantastic atmosphere. The richness of the atmosphere compensates for the slimness of his plot.<3> His characters are vivid and true to life. They tend to linger in the mind of the reader.<4> His writing is full of humor and satire.<5> two important themes, i.e. the themes of change and search for identify. These themes capture the spirit of Irving’s times and reflect his philosophical thinking on contemporary American social life.IV. James Fenimore Cooper 詹姆斯费尼莫尔库珀<1789--1851> -- launched two kinds of immensely popular stories → the sea adventure tale and the frontier sagaThe Leatherstocking Tales《皮袜子故事集》,regard as "the nearest approach yet to an American epic.〞〔开创了美国文学的一个重要主题—文明的发展对大自然和它代表的崇高品德的摧残与破坏〕Its central figure in the novels, Natty Bumppo <美国文学的一个重要的原型人物—独立不羁、逃避社会、在大自然中需求完美精神世界的班波>. Cooper’s 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 Prairie Cooper’s 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 authenticLiterary AchievementsHe created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the historyof the United States is, in a sense, the process of the American settlers exploring and pushing the American frontier forever westward, then Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the West. He turned the west and frontier as a useable past and he helped to introduce western tradition to American literature.V. William Cullen Bryant 威廉卡伦布赖恩特<1794-1878>-- the first American to gain the stature of a major poet.To a Waterfowl《致水鸟》The Yellow Violet 《黄色的堇香花》VI. Edgar Allen Poe <1809-1849>American writer, known as a poet and critic but most famous as the first master of the short-story form, especially tales of the mysterious and macabre. The literary meritsof Poe's writings have been debated since his death, but his works have remained popular and many major American and European writers have professed their artistic debt to him.For a long time after his death Poe remained probably the most controversial and most misunderstood literary figure in the history of American literature.Emerson dismissed him in three words, "the jingle man.〞Mark Twain declared his prose to be unreadable.Henry James made the ruthless statement that "an enthusiasm for Poe is the mark of a decidedly primitive state of development.〞Whitman, who was the only famous literary figure present at the Poe Memorial Ceremony in Baltimore in 1875, had mixed feelings about him: he did admit Poe’s genius, but it was "its narrow range and unhealthy, lurid quality〞that most impressed him.T. S. Eliot proclaimed him a critic of the first rank, but charged him with "slipshod writing.〞Poe’s WorksPoetry: The Raven《乌鸦》Horror Fiction: The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍大厦的倒塌》Whodunit: Murders in the Rue Morgue《莫格街谋杀案》致海伦海伦,你的美在我的眼里, 有如往日尼西亚的三桅船船行在飘香的海上,悠悠地把已倦于漂泊的困乏船员送回他故乡的海岸.早已习惯于在怒海上飘荡, 你典雅的脸庞,你的鬈发, 你水神般的风姿带我返航, 返回那往时的希腊和罗马, 返回那往时的壮丽和辉煌. 看哪！壁龛似的明亮窗户里, 我看见你站着,多像尊雕像, 一盏玛瑙的灯你拿在手上！塞姬女神哪,神圣的土地才是你家乡！In the first stanza, Helen’s beauty is soothing. It provides security and safety. Perhaps the reader is expected to associate Marlowe’s famous line: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships〞to Helen’s beauty, for her beauty is as hypnotic for the speaker as were the ships that transported another wanderer – Ulysses - home from Troy.Throughout the poem, Poe uses allusions to classical names and places, as well as certain kinds of images to create the impression of a far-off idealized, unreal woman, like a Greek statue. Words that support the image of an ideal woman are "hyacinth〞and "classic〞<line 7>, "Naiad airs〞<line 8>, and "statue-like〞<line 12>. Helen stands, not like a real woman, but like a saint in a "window-niche〞<line 11>. She becomes a symbol both of beauty and of frustration, a romantically idealized, yet inaccessible image of the heart’s desire.乌鸦从前一个阴郁的子夜,我独自沉思,慵懒疲竭,沉思许多古怪而离奇、早已被人遗忘的传闻——当我开始打盹,几乎入睡,突然传来一阵轻擂,仿佛有人在轻轻叩击,轻轻叩击我的房门."有人来了,〞我轻声嘟喃,"正在叩击我的房门——唯此而已,别无他般.〞哦,我清楚地记得那是在萧瑟的十二月；每一团奄奄一息的余烬都形成阴影伏在地板.我当时真盼望翌日；——因为我已经枉费心机想用书来消除悲哀——消除因失去丽诺尔的悲叹——因那被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女,她美丽娇艳——在这儿却默默无闻,直至永远.那柔软、暗淡、飒飒飘动的每一块紫色窗布使我心中充满前所未有的恐怖——我毛骨惊然；为平息我心儿停跳．我站起身反复叨念"这是有人想进屋,在叩我的房门——.更深夜半有人想进屋,在叩我的房门；——唯此而已,别无他般.〞很快我的心变得坚强；不再犹疑,不再彷徨,"先生,〞我说,"或夫人,我求你多多包涵；刚才我正睡意昏昏,而你来敲门又那么轻,你来敲门又那么轻,轻轻叩击我的房门,我差点以为没听见你〞——说着我拉开门扇；——唯有黑夜,别无他般.凝视着夜色幽幽,我站在门边惊惧良久,疑惑中似乎梦见从前没人敢梦见的梦幻；可那未被打破的寂静,没显示任何迹象."丽诺尔？〞便是我嗫嚅念叨的唯一字眼,我念叨"丽诺尔！〞,回声把这名字轻轻送还,唯此而已,别无他般.我转身回到房中,我的整个心烧灼般疼痛,很快我又听到叩击声,比刚才听起来明显."肯定,〞我说,"肯定有什么在我的窗棂；让我瞧瞧是什么在那里,去把那秘密发现——让我的心先镇静一会儿,去把那秘密发现；——那不过是风,别无他般！〞我猛然推开窗户,.心儿扑扑直跳就像打鼓,一只神圣往昔的健壮乌鸦慢慢走进我房间；它既没向我致意问候；也没有片刻的停留；而以绅士淑女的风度,栖在我房门的上面——栖在我房门上方一尊帕拉斯半身雕像上面——栖坐在那儿,仅如此这般.于是这只黑鸟把我悲伤的幻觉哄骗成微笑,以它那老成持重一本正经温文尔雅的容颜,"虽然冠毛被剪除,〞我说,"但你肯定不是懦夫, 你这幽灵般可怕的古鸦,漂泊夜的彼岸——请告诉我你尊姓大名,在黑沉沉的冥府阴间！〞乌鸦答日"永不复述.〞听见如此直率的回答,我惊叹这丑陋的乌鸦,虽说它的回答不着边际——与提问几乎无关；因为我们不得不承认,从来没有活着的世人曾如此有幸地看见一只鸟栖在他房门的面——鸟或兽栖在他房间门上方的半身雕像上面,有这种名字"永不复还.〞但那只独栖于肃穆的半身雕像上的乌鸦只说了这一句话,仿佛它倾泻灵魂就用那一个字眼.然后它便一声不吭——也不把它的羽毛拍动——直到我几乎是哺哺自语"其他朋友早已消散——明晨它也将离我而去——如同我的希望已消散.〞这时那鸟说"永不复还.〞惊异于那死寂漠漠被如此恰当的回话打破,"肯定,〞我说,"这句话是它唯一的本钱,从它不幸动主人那儿学未.一连串无情飞灾曾接踵而至,直到它主人的歌中有了这字眼——直到他希望的挽歌中有了这个忧伤的字眼‘永不复还,永不复还.’〞但那只乌鸦仍然把我悲伤的幻觉哄骗成微笑,我即刻拖了X软椅到门旁雕像下那只鸟跟前；然后坐在天鹅绒椅垫上,我开始冥思苦想,浮想连着浮想,猜度这不祥的古鸟何出此言——这只狰狞丑陋可怕不吉不祥的古鸟何出此言,为何聒噪‘永不复还.〞我坐着猜想那意见但没对那鸟说片语只言.此时,它炯炯发光的眼睛已燃烧进我的心坎；我依然坐在那儿猜度,把我的头靠得很舒服,舒舒服服地靠在那被灯光凝视的天鹅绒衬垫,但被灯光爱慕地凝视着的紫色的天鹅绒衬垫,她将显出,啊,永不复还！接着我想,空气变得稠密,被无形香炉熏香,提香炉的撒拉弗的脚步声响在有簇饰的地板."可怜的人,〞我呼叫,"是上帝派天使为你送药,这忘忧药能中止你对失去的丽诺尔的思念；喝吧如吧,忘掉对失去的丽诺尔的思念！〞乌鸦说"永不复还.〞"先知！〞我说"凶兆！——仍是先知,不管是鸟还是魔！是不是魔鬼送你,或是暴风雨抛你来到此岸,孤独但毫不气馁,在这片妖惑鬼崇的荒原——在这恐怖萦绕之家——告诉我真话,求你可怜——基列有香膏吗？——告诉我——告诉我,求你可怜！〞乌鸦说"永不复还.〞"先知！〞我说,"凶兆！——仍是先知、不管是鸟是魔！凭我们头顶的苍天起誓——凭我们都崇拜的上帝起誓——告诉这充满悲伤的灵魂.它能否在遥远的仙境拥抱被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女,她纤尘不染——拥抱被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女,她美丽娇艳.〞乌鸦说"永不复还.〞"让这话做我们的道别之辞,鸟或魔！〞我突然叫道——"回你的暴风雨中去吧,回你黑沉沉的冥府阴间！别留下黑色羽毛作为你的灵魂谎言的象征！留给我完整的孤独！——快从我门上的雕像滚蛋！从我心中带走你的嘴；从我房门带走你的外观！〞乌鸦说"永不复还.〞那乌鸦并没飞去,它仍然栖息,仍然栖息在房门上方那苍白的帕拉斯半身雕像上面；而它的眼光与正在做梦的魔鬼眼光一模一样,照在它身上的灯光把它的阴影投射在地板；而我的灵魂,会从那团在地板上漂浮的阴暗被擢升么——永不复还！The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. The raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number of folk and classical references.安娜贝尔.李很久很久以前,在一个滨海的国度里,住着一位少女你或许认得,她的芳名叫安娜贝尔.李；这少女活着没有别的愿望,只为和我俩情相许.那会儿我还是个孩子,她也未脱稚气, 在这个滨海的国度里；可我们的爱超越一切,无人能与——我和我的安娜贝尔.李；我们爱得那样深,连天上的六翼天使也把我和她妒嫉.这就是那不幸的根源,很久以前在这个滨海的国度里,夜里一阵寒风从白云端吹起,冻僵了我的安娜贝尔.李；于是她那些高贵的亲戚来到凡间把她从我的身边夺去,将她关进一座坟墓在这个滨海的国度里.这些天使们在天上,不与我们一半快活, 于是他们把我和她妒嫉——对——就是这个缘故〔谁不晓得呢,在这个滨海的国度里〕云端刮起了寒风,冻僵并带走了我的安娜贝尔.李.可我们的爱情远远地胜利那些年纪长于我们的人——那些智慧胜于我们的人——无论是天上的天使,还是海底的恶魔,都不能将我们的灵魂分离,我和我美丽的安娜贝尔.李.因为月亮的每一丝清辉都勾起我的回忆梦里那美丽的安娜贝尔.李群星的每一次升空都令我觉得秋波在闪动那是我美丽的安娜贝尔.李就这样,伴着潮水,我整夜躺在她身旁。
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美国文学研究一、作者及其主要作品梭罗《瓦尔登，或林中生活》霍桑《红字》短篇小说如《教长的黑面纱》《小伙子布朗》等麦尔维尔《白鲸》爱伦·坡《怪诞故事集》惠特曼《草叶集》亨利·詹姆斯《一位女士的画像》马克·吐温《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》《神秘的陌生人》德莱塞《美国的悲剧》杰克·伦敦《马丁·伊登》、《野性的呼唤》、《海狼》、《白牙》T·S·艾略特《荒原》（诗歌）菲茨杰拉德《了不起的盖茨比》海明威《太阳照常升起》福克纳《喧哗与骚动》尤今·奥尼尔《毛猿》《琼斯皇》《进入黑夜的漫长旅程》（戏剧）斯坦贝克《愤怒的葡萄》索尔·贝娄《洪堡的礼物》、《挂起来的人》诺曼·梅勒《裸者与死者》塞林格《麦田里的守望者》厄普代克《兔子，跑吧》（“兔子四部曲”）海勒《第二十二条军规》纳博科夫《洛丽塔》凯鲁亚克《在路上》威廉斯《玻璃动物园》（戏剧）米勒《推销员之死》（戏剧）拉尔夫·埃里森《看不见的人》托尼·莫里森《所罗门之歌》爱丽丝·沃克《紫色》谭恩美《喜福会》独立战争前后的文学富兰克林《自传》《穷查理历书》《致富之路》托马斯·潘恩《常识》《人的权利》《理性的时代》托马斯·杰弗逊《独立宣言》克里夫古尔《一个美国农夫的信》弗瑞诺《野忍冬花》《印第安人墓地》《纪念英勇的美国人》查尔斯·布罗克丹·布朗《韦兰德》二、简答题+论述题1.美国文学的诞生及一般特色1)历史背景：1775-81年的北美独立战争；1783年美利坚合众国的成立；1861-65年的南北战争。
独立战争以后，特别是进入19世纪之后，独立的美国文学开始诞生。
2)美国文学的一般特色：A.早期人少地多，为个人理想的实现提供了很大的空间和可能性，因此美国文学富于民主自由精神，个人主义、个性解放的观念较为强烈；B.这是一个由各国移民组成的国家，所以文学的内容、思想倾向和艺术风格都呈现出多样性、庞杂性；C.许多作家直接来自社会下层，使得文学的生活气息浓郁，平民色彩鲜明，具有开朗、豪放的特点；D.由于美国作家的敏感、好奇，使得美国文学浪潮迭起，日新月异，瞬息万变。
3)它是一种个人主义和冒险精神的文学，一种扩张和探索的文学，一种种族冲突和帝国征服的文学，一种大规模移民和种族关系紧张的文学，一种资产阶级家庭生活和个人自由与社会限制不断斗争的文学······最后，这是一种始终由于有关身份的双重焦点而著称的文学：一方面它把这个国家奉为未来的土地，“明天之国”，试图制造一种关于“美国”的救世神话；另一方面它又进行自我折磨，对于身为“美国人”意味着什么怀着一种极其痛苦的焦虑。
——《剑桥美国文学史》2.浪漫主义时期的美国文学1)浪漫主义产生的背景：A.独立战争的胜利、美国的独立发展B.欧洲浪漫主义运动的盛行C.美国大陆新的自然和社会风貌2)前后两代浪漫主义：前期：以纽约为根据地的作家，如欧文、库柏后期：以波士顿为中心的新英格兰文化圈3.早期浪漫主义文学（30年代以前）民族文学的诞生以浪漫主义运动为开端，代表作家有欧文和库珀等。
他们以美国的历史传说、风土人情、自然风光为题材，用浪漫主义笔法，描画出“童年”美国的形象，写出了具有民族风格的作品，第一次打破了对英国文学的依附,可以说是美国民族文学的先驱。
1)华盛顿·欧文（1783-1859）——“美国文学之父”；他的《见闻札记》（1820 ），开创了美国短篇小说的传统；《瑞普·凡·温克尔》、《睡谷的传说》是其中的名篇。
《见闻札记》这是一部真实与虚构并存，在高超的技巧、丰富的想像力来反映新旧世界的作品。
在此书中，作者撷取自己在美国及旅欧时所闻所见的种种逸事，以小说家的手法，哲学家的冷静思辨，将之一一述来。
作者以漫画手沟勾勒人物，懒散的瑞普、富于浪漫情的鬼新郎和利欲熏心的乡村教师克兰，都已成为世界文学宝库的经典形象。
本书中的纪实与游记类作品中，贯穿着作者浓厚的人文主义思想。
本书是华盛顿·欧文的代表作。
作者以旅欧生涯的所见所闻，通过高超的艺术技巧，把浪漫主义奇想和日常生活场景的真实描写、幽默和抒情结合在一起。
书中不少篇章富有传奇色彩，情真意切，动人心魄，给人启迪。
欧文的语言十分典雅细腻，每篇文章开头之前多引一小诗，暗示作者要表达的主题。
文中大量应用比喻和排比等修辞手法，令全书文采飞扬。
2)库珀（1789-1851）开创了美国文学史上三种不同类型的小说：《间谍》（1821）——革命历史题材小说；《开拓者》（1823）——边疆题材（冒险）小说；《水手》（1824）——海上题材（冒险）小说。
早期浪漫主义文学的特点和它激起的反应满怀乐观向上的时代精神，反映了当时日益上升的民族意识，又隐含着对于资本主义现实的批判。
反应热烈。
因为它既满足了国内读者对民族题材的渴求，又向国外读者展现了美国这个新型国家的面貌。
4.后期浪漫主义文学（30年代以后）30年代以后美国社会意识的变化:民主空气增长；超验主义团体出现；作家们的种种疑虑的产生。
美国浪漫主义文学的基调由乐观转向怀疑；内容上集中于宣扬人的本性、智慧和创造力，强调个人意志和绝对自由。
超验主义是一场思想运动，也是后期浪漫主义文学的思想基础，其代表人物是爱默生。
1)爱默生（1803-1882）：《论自然》（1836）、《神学院献辞》（1838）等散文著作，集中表现了他的超验主义思想。
他同时也是美国后期浪漫主义文学在理论和创作上的最早代表。
《论自然》（1836）是爱默生的第1部重要哲学著作，最初发表于1836年。
它虽非作者成熟之作，但却集超验主义思想之大成，有新英格兰《论自然》超验主义宣言的美称。
全书由《前言》和《自然》等8章组成。
在表达自然神秘的统一性时，爱默生提出了“超灵”的概念。
《论自然》的发表为美国思想界吹来一股清风，一扫机械主义自然观的乌烟瘴气。
超验主义：主张人能超越感觉和理性而直接认识真理，认为人类世界的一切都是宇宙的一个缩影，强调万物本质上的统一，蔑视外部的权威与传统，依赖自己的直接经验；强调人的主观能动性，有助于打破加尔文教的"人性恶"、"命定论"等教条的束缚，为热情奔放，抒发个性的浪漫主义文学奠定了思想基础。
2)霍桑（1804-1864）：影响最大的浪漫主义小说家，短篇小说对人性的探讨很具深度 ,对超验主义的反思，表达罪性的普遍和恩典的缺．．．．．．．．．．．．失．短篇小说《小伙子布朗》《教长的黑面纱》运用了“寓言”手法，但不象大多数较长约“寓言”那样使人不愿读下去，它有足够的现实细节使得故事有一定的厚度和戏剧性，再加上霍桑向来善于描写气氛。
结果是：这个原本可以写得充满说教意味的寓言成为一篇内容深刻的文学创作。
这黑纱象征了人的罪恶感，是认罪和赎罪的标志。
《海德格尔先生的实验》《拉帕奇尼医生女儿》长篇小说《红字》（1850）。
海丝特·白兰、齐灵沃斯、牧师丁梅斯代尔的形象；《红字》讲述了发生在北美殖民时期的恋爱悲剧。
女主人公海丝特·白兰嫁给了医生齐灵沃斯，他们之间却没有爱情。
在孤独中白兰与牧师丁梅斯代尔相恋并生下女儿珠儿。
白兰被当众惩罚，戴上标志“通奸”的红色A字示众。
然而白兰坚贞不屈，拒不说出孩子的父亲。
作品以殖民地时期新英格兰生活为背景，通过上述人物形象及其命运，暴露了当时政教合一体制统治下社会的黑暗，深入探究了罪恶、人性、爱情、道德、宗教等问题揭示了“隐秘的罪恶”“道义的罪恶”。
艺术特色：想象丰富，浪漫气息浓郁，擅长揭示人物的内心冲突。
作家称自己的小说是“心理罗曼史”。
《七个尖角阁的房子》“过去”的力量《福谷传奇》对“乌托邦”的思考以布鲁克农场生活为题材，描写了一群内心苦闷的上层知识分子，离开城市到农村去组织村社，终因一事无成，失望离去的故事。
取材于新英格兰的历史或现实生活，着重探讨人性和人的命运等问题。
表达了作者对这种社会改良的尝试失望的心情以及对狂热的改革者的厌恶。
这作品为他奠定了在美国文学史上难以撼动的地位。
3)麦尔维尔（1819-1891）《白鲸》“美国人的想象力最完美的表现。
”本书叙述的是一艘捕鲸船在亚哈船长的指挥下，与海上恶魔——白鲸莫比·迪克作殊死搏斗的故事，塑造了一群团结协作、英勇无畏、敢于牺牲的水手形象。
情节惊险、曲折、扣人心弦。
象征和寓意：以实玛利，这个名字来自圣经，象征被社会唾弃的人亚哈船长“裴阔德”号白鲸莫比·狄克：自然力/恶的象征追击白鲸的意义：人类对自身命运的悲壮反抗；对宇宙本质的追索；对“必然”的探寻《白鲸》的风格：交响乐与史诗般的风格。
有人说，《白鲸》这部作品就像白鲸一样，是书中的怪兽，它既是冒险故事，又是戏剧，也是史诗；它既是一种哲学探索，就像亚哈的追击，又是一部科学研究，就如“以实玛利”后来对白鲸进行的细致的学术研究。
从人与大自然的关系考察善与恶的问题，带有神秘色彩，深得当今“生态文学批评”学者们的关注。
4)爱伦·坡（1809-1849）A.理论文章：《创作哲学》（1846）、《诗歌原理》（1850）。
认为诗应以“美”为目标，严格遵守格律；文学既不是客观现实的反映，也不是作家内心感受的抒发，而是一种“纯艺术”，为了创造某种“预定的气氛”而给人以美的享受。
B.诗歌《安娜贝尔·李》长诗《乌鸦》（1845）：诗人悲叹去世的爱人，流露出一种绝望的心理。
他的诗作中大都出现一些古怪、奇特、病态的形象，表现忧郁的情绪；常用象征、暗示的手法，一唱三叹，反复的节奏富有音乐性。
对法国象征派诗歌的影响非常大，波德莱尔最早把它介绍到欧洲。
C.小说（“统一效果论”）：短篇小说集《怪诞故事集》（1840）；恐怖小说（“心灵的恐怖”）：“如果在我的作品中恐怖一直是主题，那么我坚持认为那种恐怖不是日耳曼式的，而是心灵式的——我一直仅仅是从恐怖的合理源头将其演绎，并将其驱向合理的结果。
”《厄舍古屋的倒塌》罗德里克与年轻的妻子玛德莱娜生活在厄舍家族的古厦里，一位医生经常来这里看望体弱多病的玛德莱娜。
如同厄舍家族的所有男人，罗德里克充满激情地为妻子画肖像。
在这个过程中，玛德莱娜的健康每况愈下，好像她的灵魂逐渐转移到了肖像上。
随着肖像的完成，玛德莱娜停止了呼吸。
深深地爱着妻子的罗德里克相信妻子只是睡着了，拒绝将她埋葬，而是在孤独中等待她的归来。
一个电闪雷鸣的夜晚，他终于看到妻子活着回到了自己身边。
然后，他们一起飞向天空，看到身下的厄舍古厦在雷击引起的大火中化为灰烬。
《红死魔的面具》作者以绚丽是文笔描绘了文艺复兴时代当时的富丽奢华和隐藏在这背后的死亡的恐惧，小说以死神的舞蹈来象征死亡的不可避免。