美国文学史论文

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A Brief Summary of the History of American Literature

The American Romantic period, which was regarded as one of the most important period in the history of American literature, stretched from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. The Sketch Book written by Washington Irving marked the beginning of American Romanticism. American Romanticism was a rebellion against objectivity of the rationalism. The romantics emphasized individualism, affirmed the inner life of the self, and cherished strong interest in the past, the wild, the remote, the mysterious and the strange. In this period, we saw a rising America fast burgeoning into a political, economic, and cultural independence it had never known before.

There were many reasons why American Romanticism emerged. First, democracy and political equality became the ideals of the new nation. Radical changes came about in the political life of the country. Parties began to scramble for power, and a new system---two-party system was making. Second, the fast spread of industrialism, the sudden influx of immigrants, and the pioneers pushing the frontier further west---all these produced an economic boom and a sense of optimism and hope among the people. Third, a nation bursting into new life cried for literary expression. The buoyant mood of the nation and the spirit of the times seemed in some measure responsible for the spectacular outburst of romantic feeling in the first half of the nineteenth century. Forth, magazines appeared in ever-increasing numbers, which provided the vast stage for romantics. Fifth, foreign influences added incentive to the growth of romanticism in America. Sir Walter Scott, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Byron, Robert Bums, and many other English and European masters of poetry and prose all made a stimulating impact on the different departments of the country’s literature. For instance, Irving’s The Sketch Book was largely based on the essays of Addison and Steele, Bryan poetry was enlightened by Wordsworth, and Cooper’s novels were modeled after the works of Walter Scott. Thus American Romanticism was derivative in a way.

Although greatly influenced by the English and European literature, American Romanticism had distinctive features of its own. Different from their European counterparts, American Romanticism tended to moralize, to edify rather than to entertain. This is because there was American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider in their writings. Besides, American romanticism presented an entirely new experience alien to European culture. The exotic landscape, the frontier life, the