英美文学史Henry David Thoreau
美国文学 Henry David Thoreau 梭罗
Henry David Thoreau 梭罗(1817—1862)Henry David Thoreau(1817—1862)1. Life•a. His father was a storekeeper•b. went to Harvard, but did not like the life of the college much. On graduation he stayed with his family, first helping his father to make pencils and then, running a private school. •c. made friends with Emerson, used his library and embraced his ideas.•d. In 1845, with the permission of Emerson, he went to build a cabin on a piece of Emerson’s property on Walden Pond,and moved on July4 to live there in a very simple manner for a little over two years. There on the Pond, he tried to be self-sufficient in every thing.•e. detained for a night in jail for refusing to pay a poll-tax of $2.00 to a government he thought unjust.•It inspired him to write his famous essay “Civil Disobedience”, which influenced people such as Mahatma Gandhi.2. Major Literary Works1. Contents of Walden P63The book described the author’s extremely simple life and regeneration he experienced when he lived near the Walden pond.1).It is a faithful and beautiful record of Thoreau’s reflections when he was in solitary communion with nature.2).It is a book with a wealth of thought and comments on life, a book on self-culture and human perfectibility3).It is full of ironic humor, startling paradox and poetic imagination.2.Ideas and value of WaldenWalden holds that the most important thing for men to do with heir lives is to self-sufficient and strive to achieve personal spiritual perfection.In the book Thoreau criticized the modern civilization and told people to leave the life of hurry and bustle and to sink themselves in nature, for spiritual richness is real wealth.It represents(P63):1.Thoreau’s economic and social individualis m2.his faith in the values of the inner life of man3.his feeling for the unity of man and nature4.his revelation of the simplicity and divine unity of nature5.his understanding of nature and the future of man.3. Themes of Walden1) The Importance of Self-RelianceThoreau’s experiment put Ralph Waldo Emerson’s philosophical ideals --- “Self-Reliance.”into practice. Self-reliance is economic and social.Socially, Thoreau dwells on the contentment of his solitude, on his finding entertainment in the laugh of the loon and the march of the ants rather than in balls, marketplaces, or salons.Economically, he support himself through his own labor.2) SimplicityIn his “Economy” chapter, Thoreau asserts that a feeling of dissatisfaction with one’s possessions can be resolved in two ways:one may acquire more,;or reduce one’s desires.Thoreau patches his clothes instead of buying new ones;He builds his own shack instead of getting a bank loan to buy one.For Thoreau, anything more than what is useful is an extravagance.4. Symbols in Walden1) Walden pond(1) symbolizes the alternative to, and withdrawal from, social conventions and obligations.(2) symbolizes the vitality and tranquility of nature.A clue to the symbolic meaning of the pond lies in two of its aspects:a. its depth, is to be infiniteb. its pure and reflective quality.2) AnimalsAs Thoreau’s chief companions after he moves to Walden Pond, animals inevitably symbolize his retreat from human society and closer intimacy with the natural world.Thoreau devotes much attention in his narrative to the behavior patterns of woodchucks土拨鼠, partridges鹌鹑, loons潜鸟, and mice, among others.For example, Thoreau’s observatio n of the partridge and its young walking along his windowsill elicits a meditationon motherhood and the maternal urge to protect one’s offspring.5. Styles of Walden P55/63fresh, new, associative:1) Vivid descriptionas when he descri bes the sun as “too warm a friend”2) the use of poetic devicessuch as personification: when he drags his desk and chair out for housecleaning, he describes them as being happy outdoors and reluctant to go back inside.3) richly allusive style and command of epigrammatic statement4) skillful use of symbolic analogyas the “Ponds” chapter becomes a delicate allegory for the purity of the human soul.5) original sense of languageThoreau’s Point of ViewComparing with Emerson who was a great thinker,Thoreau was a great experimentalistwho put Emerson's Transcendental doctrines into practice in the actual life.⏹did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was strongly outspoken(直言的) on the point⏹hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system⏹saw nature as a genuine restorative(有助健康的), healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being▪had faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man▪was very critical of modern civilization.He thought modern civilized life has dehumanized man and placed him in a spiritual quandary, by trying to amass material possessions, man is not really living; he is digging his own grave.6. He was impatient with his fellowmen who did not want to spend so little time on the self-improvement.7. had trust in the future。
英美文学史简介
英美文学史简介Part A British LiteratureⅠEarly and Medieval English Literature 早期及中世纪英国文学1. “Beowulf”, the national epic of the English people.《贝奥武夫》（Beowulf），完成于八世纪，约750年左右的英雄叙事长诗，长达3000多行。
是以古英语记载的传说中最古老的一篇。
是现存古英文文学中最伟大之作，也是欧洲最早的方言史诗。
2. Geoffrey Chaucer ,the founder of English poetry.乔叟(1343-1400),英国诗歌之父.The Canterbury Tales 《坎特伯雷故事集》, 以一伙来自社会各个阶层的香客在宗教朝圣的路上讲述故事为线索，向我们清楚地展示了那个时代人们的生活。
在所有的23个故事中，除了两篇之外，其余都是诗歌体裁的作品。
ⅡThe Renaissance [ri′neis(ə)ns] 文艺复兴时期文学1.William Shakespeare 莎士比亚（1564～1616）英国文艺复兴时期伟大的剧作家、诗人，欧洲文艺复兴时期人文主义文学的集大成者。
莎士比亚给世人留下了37部戏剧play，其中包括一些他与别人合写的一般剧作。
此外，他还写有154首十四行诗sonnet和三、四首长诗poem。
四大喜剧： A Midsummer Night’s Dream 仲夏夜之梦The Merchant of Venice 威尼斯商人As You Like It 皆大欢喜Twelfth Night 第十二夜四大悲剧:Hamlet 哈姆雷特(To be, or not to be, that is the question)Othello 奥赛罗King Lear 李尔王Macbeth 麦克白其他：Romeo and Juliet 罗密欧与朱丽叶2.Francis Bacon 培根（1561-1626 ）The founder of English materialist philosophy and modern science.Bacon is especially famous for his Essays.培根,英国唯物主义和现代科学奠基人,散文家.代表作：散文Of Studies 《论学习》ⅢThe period of English Bourgeois [buə′ʒwɑ:] Revolution and Restoration 资产阶级革命时期文学1.John Milton 米尔顿Paradise Lost 《失乐园》2. John Bunyan 班扬The Pilgrim’s Progress 《天路历程》ⅣEighteenth Century English Literature 十八世纪英国文学1. Daniel Defoe: 笛福Robinson Crusoe 《鲁滨逊漂流记》2. Jonathan Swift：斯威夫特Gulliver’s Travels 《格列佛游记》3. Henry Fielding 菲尔丁the Founder of the English Realistic Nov 英国现实主义小说奠基人Joseph Andrew 《约瑟夫·安德鲁》4. William Blake 布莱克and Robert Burns彭斯: PoetⅤRomanticism in England 浪漫主义时期文学1. William Wordsworth 华滋华斯the representative poet of the early romanticism. 标志着浪漫主义的开始2. George Gordon Byron 拜伦Don Juan 《唐·璜》3. Percy Bysshe Shelley 雪莱Prometheus Unbound《解放了的普罗米修斯》If winter comes, can spring be far behind? 冬天来了,春天还会远吗?4. John Keats 济慈Ode to a Nightingale 《夜莺颂》5. Jane Austen 简·奥斯汀Pride and Prejudice 《傲慢与偏见》ⅥThe Victorian Age 维多利亚时期文学1. Charles Dickens 狄更斯代表作：Oliver Twist 《雾都孤儿》、A Tale of Two Cities《双城记》、David Copperfield 《大卫·科波菲尔》2. William Makepeace Thackeray 萨克雷代表作：Vanity Fair 《名利场》3. George Eliot 乔治·艾略特4. The Brontë Sisters 勃朗特三姐妹Charlotte Brontë夏洛蒂·勃朗特：Jane Eyre《简·爱》Emily Brontë艾米莉·勃朗特：Wuthering Heights 《呼啸山庄》Annie Brontë安妮·勃朗特5. The Brownings 勃朗宁夫妇Husband: Robert BrowningWife: Elizabeth BrowningSonnets from the Portuguese 《葡语十四行诗集》ⅦTwentieth Century English Literature 20世纪英国文学1. Thomas Hardy 托马斯·哈代Tess of the d’Urbervilles《德伯家的苔丝》2. John Galsworthy 高尔斯华绥3. Oscar Wilde 王尔德Poet，dramatist, novelist and essayist.The Happy Prince and Other Tales 《快乐王子和其他故事》4. George Bernard Shaw 萧伯纳the most important English dramatist5. D. H. Lawrence 劳伦斯Lady Chatterley’s Lover 《查泰来夫人的情人》6. Virginia Woolf 伍尔芙Feminism, the stream of consciousness意识流女权主义与现代主义小说的先驱7. James Joyce 乔伊斯Ulysses《尤里西斯》the stream of consciousness意识流Part B American LiteratureⅠThe Literature During the Colonial American and the American Revolution殖民地时期及独立战争时期的文学Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林ⅡAmerican Romanticism and New England Literature 浪漫主义及新英格兰时期文学1. Washington Irving华盛顿•欧文(1783-1859)the first American to achieve an international literary reputation. 是美国文学的奠基人之一。
3.7 Henry David Thoreau's Walden---lhy
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 –May 6,1862)American essayist, poet, naturalist, philosopher,and leading transcendentalist.Thoreau was a friend and the truest disciple / follower of Emerson. He put into practice many of Emerson’s theories. He personally practiced what Emerson preached. Emerson believed that human beings could live in a very simple way, a way from the extravangances and confusions from big cities, and Henry David Thoreau went into the woods, lived on the Walden pond for more than two years, practice Emrson’s ideas.Thoreau is considered one of the most influential figures in American thought and literature. That man is the richest whose pleasure are the cheapest.----by ThoreauThe lesson he taught himself, and which he tried to teach others, was summed in the one word ―simplify‖ (simplify the outward circumstances of your life, simplify your needs and your ambitions, learn to delight in the simple pleasures which the world of nature affords. And unlike most who advocate such attitudes, he put them into practice.Biographical Introductiona. Born in Concord in 1817, graduated at Harvard University in1837.b. During his stay with Emerson, Thoreau experienced what was to be the nearest he ever came to “falling in love.”He and his brother John both found, or thought themselves, in love with Ellen after they paid a visit to her in the summer of 1840. Each, without telling the other, proposed marriage. Ellen was disposed to accept Henry, bur yielded to the objections of her father.c. In 1845, he built a cabin on some land belonging to Emerson by Walden Pond and moved in to live a very simple manner for a little over two years, which gave birth to a great transcendentalist work Walden (1854).d.Active in social life and had a strong sense of justice. He once refused to pay a poll-tax of 2 dollars because he felt the tax was unfair, and thus he was jailed. And later he wrote an essay named "Civil Disobedience" which advocated passive resistance to unjust laws and influenced Gandhi in India.On July 25, 1846, Thoreau ran into the local tax collector, who asked him to pay six years of delinquent poll taxes. Thoreau refused because of his opposition to the Mexican-American War and slavery, and he spent a night in jail because of this refusal.Walden Pond is very peaceful. Clip Thoreau at Walden Pond which tells us his experiencesPiles of stones: People from all over the world come here to pay tribute to Thoreau. They pick up stones and put it here to show their respect for this person.Walden●author · Henry David Thoreau●type of work · Essay●genre · Autobiography; moral philosophy; natural history; social criticism●time and place written · 1845–1854, Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts●date of first publication · 1854●narrator · Henry David Thoreau●Walden: description of his life near the pond called Walden belonging to Emerson Theauthor lived there for nearly two years with only an axe at the beginning. This book was a failure in his own time but became very popular in the 20th century.●Walden presented Thoreau's unusual interest in nature and showed his individualismwhich inherited from American Puritanism. The book described the author's extremely simple life and regeneration he experienced when he lived near the Walden pond where he put Emerson's Transcendental doctrines into practice in the actual life.●It is a diary of a nature-lover containing essays of a self-reliant character.●He appeals to the primitive instinct that lies close to the heart of every man.●He saw nature as a genuine restorative , healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being,and regarded it as a symbol of spirit.●Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.●Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!●Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will besimpler.●If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what theysee.●Men are born to succeed, not fail.●Men have become the tools of their tools.Contents (14 parts)● 1. Economy● 2. Where I Lived, and What I Lived For● 3. Reading4. Sounds5. Solitude6. Visitors7. The Bean-Field8. The Village●9. The Ponds10. Baker Farm11. Higher Laws12. Brute Neighbors●13. House-Warming14. Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors●15. Winter Animals16. The Pond in Winter17. Spring18. ConclusionWalden●It came out of Thoreau’s two-year experiment at Walden Pond. It stresses the importanceof thought over material circumstance. He believed that there was the possibility for and importance of change in one’s spiritual life which is in harmony with nature. Emerson’s best friend.Thoreau’s ideas embodied in his Walden1.He saw nature as a genuine restorative healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being, andregarded it as a symbol of spirit. He firmly believes that ―nature objects and phenomena are the original symbols or types which express our thoughts and feelings.‖ He was seen lost in contemplation of the world around. 沃尔登中的第一个重要观点是：自然当作是真正的能够帮助人恢复本真的，具有教育意义的，精神的象征。
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)1. American writer, philosopher, and naturalist2.American essayist and poet3.Leader of American TranscendentalismThoreau's TranscendentalismHenry David Thoreau (1817-1862) is most often mentioned as inspired by Emerson, the most representative of the phi1osophical and literary school which is American Transcendenta1ism. Thoreau embraced his master's ideas as a disciple. In 1845 he built a cabin on some land belonging to Emerson by Walden Pond and moved in to live there in a very simple manner for a litt1e over two years, which gave birth to a great transcendentalist work Walden (1854). The book not only fully demonstrates Emersonian ideas of self-reliance but also develops and tests Thoreau's own transcendental philosophy.(1)For Thoreau, nature is not merely symbolic, but divine in itself and human beings can receive precise communication from the natural world by way of pure senses. So he was often alone in the woods or by thepond, lost in spiritual communion with nature.(2)Thoreau strongly believed in se1f-culture and was eager to identify himself with the Transcendental image of the self-reliant man. To achieve personal spiritual perfection, he thinks, the most important thing for men to do with their lives is to be self-sufficient, so he sought to reduce his physical needs and material comforts to a minimum to get spiritual richness.(3)His positiveness about the importance of individual conscience was so great that he even considered the society as fetters of the freedom of individuals.Works1. Walden, or Life in the Woods 18542. Civil Disobedience 18493. Life Without Principle 18634. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers 18495. The Maine Woods 18646. Cape Cod 18657. Slavery in Massachusetts 1854Evaluation1.He became one of the three great American authors of the 19th century who had not contemporary readers and yet became great in this century, the other two being Herman Melville and Emily Dickinson.2.His influence goes beyond America. His statue was placed in the hall of Fame in New York in 1969 alongside those of other great Americans.3.Thoreau has been regarded as a prophet of individualism in American literature. He was very critical of modern civilization. “Civilized man is the s alve of matter.”Comment on Walden1. Between the end of March 1845 and July4, Thoreau constructed a cabin on the shore of Walden Pond, near Concord. There he lived alone until September 1847, supplying his needs by his own labor and developing and testing his transcendental philosophy of individualism, self-reliance and material economy for the sake of spiritual wealth.2. He sought to reduce his physical needs to aminimum, in order to free himself for study, thought, and observation of nature, himself. Therefore his cabin was a simple room and he wore the cheapest essential clothing and restricted his diet to what he found.3.Walden can be many things and can be read on more than one level. But it is, first and foremost, a book about man, what he is, and what he should be and must be.4.Thoreau has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man. He holds that the most important thing for men to do with their lives is to be self-sufficient and strive to achieve person spiritual perfection. Thoreau was very critical of modern civilization. “Civilized man is the slave of matter,” he said on one occasion.5. Considered one of the all-time great books, Walden is a record of Thoreau's two year experiment of living at Walden Pond. The writer's chief emphasis is on the simplifications and enjoyment of life now. It is regarded as6.It exhibits his calm trust in the future andhis ardent belief in a new generation of men. The book concludes on a clear note of optimism and hope.7. Regeneration became one of its major thematic concerns and decided its structural framework. The whole book is within the frame of a single year, and progresses through summer and autumn to winter, and finally to a climax in the renascence of spring.Writing style of WaldenA . Prophetic V oice. The epigraph of Walden in a good example of how Thoreau was trying to be a prophet in this book. “I do not proposes to write an ode to dejection or sorrow but rather to brag as lustily as a chanticleer( rooster) in the morning standing on his roost if only to wake my neighbors up”That is Thoreau’s tone in much of this book.B. Direct Forceful Sentence. The transcendentalists were characterized by their moral earnestness. They were like Puritan preachers interested in conveying an importantmessage. The short clear direct sentences of much concerned to get his message across..C. Conversational in Tone. Often it seems tat Thoreau was talking to the reader rather than that he was putting his words on paper. This is another example of how eager he was to get his message across. On the surface , his essay seem to be nothing but casual accounts of his personal experience. In fact, they are carefully designed to carry his philosophical messages to the readers.D. humor, He achieved humor in four ways-------through puns, satire, irony, and sarcasm.E. Proverbial Expressions. Thoreau used a minimum of words to put a maximum of meaning.F. Brief Tales, Fables and Allegories. He made them fit very smoothly into the subject that he was discussing.The Reputation of Henry David ThoreauEmerson: "He was bred to no profession; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused to pay a tax to the State; he ate no flesh; hedrank no wine; he never knew the use of tobacco; and, though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun."▪Ellery Channing (poet, friend, and biographer): "Thoreau was the Poet-Naturalist, a sweet singer of woodland beauty."▪Frank Sanborn (young Abolitionist friend and biographer): He was a Concord warrior, a later embattled farmer."▪John Macy (early Socialist critic): "A powerful literary radical, but a little too selfish and aloof to be a good Socialist."▪Paul Elmer More: "He was one of Rousseau's wild men, but moving toward the higher self-restraint of neo-humanism's inner-check." ▪Lewis Mumford: "He was the Father of our National & State Parks."▪James Russell Lowell: "He was a Transcendentalist crackpot怪人and phony(impostor; a hypocrite)who insisted on going back to flint and steel when he had a matchbox in his pocket; a fellow to the loonieswho thought bran or wearing of the substitution of hooks and eyes for buttons would save the world."Thoreau’s Involvement in Public AffairsWriting Walden was the high point of Thoreau's life and his main manifesto. Y et there were other important things that involved him. He believed that 1.a writer's work and his life should be one, though he sometimes asserted the opposite. At any rate, he devoted both his writing and his life increasingly to public issues2.With word and deed he had fought against the Mexican-American war of the mid-1840s. And in the next decade he became totally involved in the struggle against slavery. In John Brown he found his only hero: he became Brown's friend and ardent defender, and after Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry Thoreau spoke out for him in the fieriest words he ever used.3.Thoreau always marched to the sound of his own drum, as he said in one of his most enduring aphorisms, and yet the changing times had some effect on him. In the 1840s he was still advising theabolitionists to free themselves before trying to free the slaves, but by the time he stood up for John Brown, he had become a confirmed abolitionist himself4. In the 1840s he still opposed war both in theory and practice. Yet when the Civil War came, he welcomed it. The thing that distinguished him was a matter of degree: he demonstrated, far more than most men, that his actions resulted from a consistent application of his personal philosophy.Emerson's Assessment1. The best analysis of Thoreau's character was Emerson's funeral elegy for him. Emerson was well aware of Thoreau's devotion to his principles and said that he "had a perfect probity." Emerson also realized, perhaps better than anyone else, that Thoreau gave an edge to his probity by his willingness to say no, to dispute, to deny.2. He could have been a notable leader, given all those qualities, but, Emerson remarked sadly, Thoreau chose instead to be merely the captain of a huckleberry party. Nevertheless, Thoreau was a remarkable man, andEmerson gave him the highest possible praise by calling him wise. "His soul, " said Emerson in conclusion, "was made for the noblest society."3. Emerson characterized Thoreau as a hermit and stoic but added that he had a softer side which showed especially when he was with young people he liked. Furthermore, Thoreau was resourceful and ingenious; he had to be, to live the life he wanted. He was patient and tenacious, as a man had to be to get the most out of nature.。
Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau thought if a law was unjust people could resist it; if a government was inefficient and unendurable people could overthrow it. His interest in abolition of slavery and his refusal to pay toll taxes were consistent with his belief in the essay.Thoreau was an individualist, distrusting group action and preferrring to depend on individual reform for the improvement of society. In his own words: “we should be men first, and subjects afterward.” To him, the regeneration of society could only come about the regeneration of the individual, Thus he wanted to have such a utopian State “which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor.”
Civil disobedience is one of the many ways people have rebelled against unfair laws. In seeking an active form of civil disobedience, one may choose to deliberately break certain laws, such as by forming a peaceful blockade(障碍物） or occupying a facility illegally. Protesters practice this non-violent form of civil disorder with the expectation that they will be arrested, or even attacked or beaten by the authorities. Protesters often undergo training in advance on how to react to arrest or to attack, so that they will do so in a manner that quietly or resists without threatening the authorities.
12 全套美国文学精心整理的各个时期作家作品简介Henry David Thoreau
Evaluation of Thoreau
• An active transcendentalist who put into practice many of Emerson’s theories • A prophet of individualism in American literature • Ideas influenced Gandhi and Martin Luther King
Writing Style
• Style
– Full of epigrams and Proverbial Expressions – Tone: Conversational and humorous – Figure of speech
• Metaphors • Brief Tales, Fables and Allegories
– Born in a poor family in Concord, Massachusetts in 1817 – Father: an unsuccessful storekeeper and maker of pencils – Mother: ambitious, sent Thoreau to Harvard though he did not like the life and curriculum there
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
• esspher
• naturalist • Leader of American Transcendentalism
Biographical Introduction (1)
• Family Background
What transcendental ideas can you find in Walden?
2013-10 Henry David Thoreau
3. His style
- A heightened passion, a natural and living energy. - Symbolism --- Walden pond: the mark of transcendentalism, the thinking in imagery. - Language: Directness of style; The suggestion of far more than appears on the surface; Every sentence is fabulous; Every word is shining. It is refreshing and stirs my heart. - Paradox, exaggeration, humor and irony, etc.
- Born in 1817, Concord, Mass. - Attended Concord Academy, and Harvard. - After graduation (1837), working in his father’s pencil factory. - Teaching at school for a short time. - Running a private school with his brother for two years.
- His experiment --- a reminder that we should not forget the pleasure of living near to nature. - Thoreau proved how far he could free himself from the hypocrisies and unnecessary complexities of the commercial society.
Thoreau
13
“Civil Disobedience”
He spent only one night in jail but it resulted in his most famous and most influential
essay “Civil Disobedience.”
to move in the opposite direction.”
35
Importance of the Work
It was Gandhi’s guidebook for his campaign to free
India from British rule.
17
Importance of the Work
It was adopted by resistance movements under Nazi occupation in Europe in 1940’s.
in touch with nature.
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精彩片段
一个人越是有许多事情能够放得下，他越是富有。 我时常看到一个诗人，在欣赏了一片田园风景中最珍贵 部分之后，就扬长而去，那些固执的农夫还以为他拿走 的仅是几枚野苹果。诗人却把他的田园押上了韵脚，这
ቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱ
么一道肉眼不能见的篱笆已经把它圈了起来，还挤出了
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Themes
It stresses the importance of self-reliance,
closeness to nature, and contemplation in
Lesson Plan 8 - Henry David Thoreau英美文学
Literary Style
• • • • • Very powerful imagery of nature Poetic Symbolic Philosophical and ideological Close attention to details
Walden
• In 1845 Thoreau began a two year residence at Walden Pond. • Walden is a record of Thoreau’s two year experiment of living alone at Walden Pond in a self-built house at the edge of the woods. • The writer’s chief emphasis is on the simplifications and enjoyment of life in the present moment.
Personal Views
• • • • • abolitionist environment conservationist minimalist naturalist philosopher of nature and its relation to the human condition
• "Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind." — Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau美国文学作家
Background information about Walden
A reproduction of Thoreau's cabin with a statue of Thoreau
Background information about Walden sojourn in a cabin near Walden The book details Thoreau's
Synopsis (contents)
Economy
– This is the first chapter and also the longest by far. Thoreau begins by outlining his project: a two-year and two-month stay at a crude cabin in the woods near Walden Pond. He does this, he says, in order to illustrate the spiritual benefits of a simplified lifestyle. He easily supplies the four necessities of life (food, shelter, clothing, and fuel). He meticulously records his expenditures and earnings, demonstrating his understanding of "economy," as he builds his house and buys and grows food. For a home and freedom, he spends a mere $28.13.
Henry David Thoreau
Other works
Summer 《夏》（1884年） Winter 《冬》 （1888年） Autumn 《秋》 （ 1892年 Miscellanies 《杂录》 （1894年） The First and Last Journeys of Thoreau 《梭罗最初与最后的旅行பைடு நூலகம்（1905年） Early Spring in Massachusetts 《马萨诸赛州的早春》（1881年)
3.He has made quite outstanding achievements in the development of literature. 在早期的美国文学作品中，他的《瓦尔登湖》一直被 后人奉为美国现代文学的经典之作。与其同时代的天 才作家霍桑、麦尔维尔和恩师爱默生相比，他的散文 似乎更具备20世纪的风尚。
Writing style
1.文字明白晓畅、简练准确 2.在行文中注重使用地方语言，特别是双关语等， 使自己的作品产生出一种“讽剌幽默”的意味.
Thank you!
2. Ecology
1. Transcendentalism
Walden 《瓦尔登湖》 （1854年） Walden 《瓦尔登湖》 （1854年） The Maine Woods 《缅因森林》 （1864年） Cape Cod 《科德角》（1865年）
3.Abolitionism
Civil Disobedience 《论公民的不服从权利》 （1849年） Slavery in Massachusetts 《马萨诸赛州的奴隶制度》 （1854年）
Excursions 《远足》 （ 1863年）
A Plea for Captain John Brown 《为约翰· 布朗上校请愿》 （1860年）
transcendentalism Emerson Thoreau英美文学史
Introduction
• The theme of it is : individualism • Emerson calls on individuals to value their own thoughts, opinions, and experience above those presented to them by other individuals, society, and religion . • “self -reliance” is widely considered to be the definitive statement of Emerson’s philosophy of individualism and the finest example of his prose.
• abundance of material & spirit exploration
• Establishment of a new writing style
• plain,concise • use of pun
Transcendentalism
the end
Emerson’s Influence to America
• • • •
Nation’s desire Revolution in American literature Best writer Gave spirits to others
Self-Reliance
• Introduction • excerpt
• —— Walden，Thoreau
Civil Disobedience
• Jailed experience
• nonpayment of poll tax
Henry David Thoreau1
Walden
Theme: Walden
emphasizes the importance of self-reliance, solitude, contemplation, and closeness to nature in transcending the "desperate" existence
Thank You !
Henry David Thoreau （1817- 1862 )
Transcendentalist Poet Philosopher
Contents
Life and career Major Works Thoreau’s Points of View Style Influence Transcendentalism
Thoreau’s Points of View
Did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was strongly outspoken on the point. Modern civilization degraded man. Hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system.
Transcendentalism
A literary and philosophical movement, associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition.
英美文学名词解释整理版 (1)
❖American Transcendentalism A literary and philosophical movement, associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition. 超验主义：一种文学和哲学运动，与拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生和玛格丽特·富勒有关，宣称存在一种理想的精神实体，超越于经验和科学之处，通过直觉得以把握❖English Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe.❖ode in ancient literature, is an elaborate lyrical poem composed for a chorus to chant and to dance to; in modern use, it is a rhymed lyric expressing noble feelings, often addressed to a person or celebrating an event.❖conceit 奇喻A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning 。
A kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. A conceit may be a brief metaphor, but it usually provides the framework for an entire poem. An especially unusual and intellectual kind of conceit is the metaphysical conceit.新奇的比喻：将两种截然不同的食物进行对比的一种隐喻。
英美文学史(作家及作品)
English LiteratureGeoffrey Chaucer: the Father of English Poetrythe Founder of English Realismthe Master of modern English languageThe pioneer of the English RenaissanceBeowulf: National epic of the Anglo-SaxonsThe story of Beowulf is a folk legend which reflects the feature of the tribalworld. <alliteration, metaphor,understatement>John Milton: Blank verse 双韵体、革命诗人John Donne: peculiar conceits奇喻metaphysical school形而上学派John Bunyan: The pilgrim’s progress 天路历程Daniel Defoe: Father of English novels 英国现代小说之父Jonathan Swift: Father of English stylisticsHenry Fielding: The founder of English realistic novel 小说艺术之父Alexander Pope: 英语诗歌艺术之父Robert Burns: The poet of peasants 农民作家Lyrical Ballads:The beginning of romantic revivalWalter Scott: The father of historical novel 历史小说之父Old English Literature(mid 5th-mid 11th)Background: Roman conquest A.D 78 <Mode of Life: Christianity, last for 400 years> Anglo-Saxon settled in English <military leadership into kingship>Old EnglishFrom tribal to feudalismMedieval English Literature (1066-14th末）Background: Norman conquest in 1066French and Latin prevailDivision into class <landlords and peasants>conflictsGeoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales--the rising the bourgeoisie of Britain--praise man’s energy, intellect, wit and love of life--satirize the evil of and degeneration of the noble andcorruption of the church--French rhymed stanza: heroic couplet<英雄双韵体>两行一韵:a-a-b-b-c-c-d-d-e-e-f-f-g-g--create the famous terza rima 三行诗run on line跳行--show a true life picture, the first smooth English--the foreshadow of the coming the English RenaissanceTroilus and Criseyde1383 <8000lines>William Langland:Piers the PlowmanThe English Renaissance(14th-17th)Background: politically--Henry VIII--Tudor dynasty<centralized monarchy>--break with Rome<enrich the new bourgeois>--new religious dogma protestantism--Queen Mary--反新教，互相妥协Economically--the closure movement <生产与土地需求，农民被剥削>--Commercial expansion--exploration and travel--colonyCulturally--Renaissance<curiosity for classic literature><admiration for human beauty, humanity> Military--with Spain<bourgeoisie fought for power, rose in the history> William Caxton: the first English printer< translate Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde>Thomas More:UtopiaWilliam Shakespeare:----Comedy: A mid summer Night’s DreamThe Merchant of VeniceAs you like itTwelfth Night----Tragedy: Hamlet、Othello、King Lear、Macbeth<早期>Romeo and JulietMain features: realistic writingImitation and adaptationLanguage masterDiversified writing skills and methods:song, sonnet, couplet, blank verse Sonnets 十四行诗a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f-g-g^-^-^-^-^- five feetOne foot 一个重音和一个或一个以上的非重音Iambic Pentameter抑扬格Edmund Spenser: The Shepherd CalendarThe Faerie QueeneAchievement: the Spenserian stanza9-line stanza--a b a b b c b c cIambic pentameter五步格, iambic hexameter六步格Christopher Marlowe: Tamburlaine、The Jews of Malta、Doctor FaustusBen Jonson(the successor of Shakespeare)---comedy: Every man in His HumourVolponeBartholomew FairFoxThe Alchemist---tragedy: SejanusCatilineFrancis Bacon: Advancement of LearningNew instrumentThe essays “knowledge is power”Translational periodJohn Milton: Paradise LostParadise RegainedSamson AgonistesJohn Donne: Songs and SonnetsJohn Bunyan: The Pilgrim’s progress18th English Literature (end of 17th-18th <1789>)Background: The Glorious Revolution in 1688 ended in a compromise between the aristocracy and bourgeois.English became constitutional monarchy and power passed from theKing to the Parliament and the cabinet minister.The Industrial RevolutionThe Enlightenment marked the beginning of an intellectual movementin Europe. An expression struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. Daniel Defoe:Robinson CrusoeJonathan Swift:Gulliver’s TravelsHenry Fielding: Joseph AndrewsJonathan WildTome JonesSamuel Richardson: Pamela <a long tale>Alexander Pope:An Essay on ManSentimentalism and Pre-romanticismSentimental novel: The vicar of WakefieldSentimental poetry: Elegy written in a country churchyard <Thomas Gray> Features: 1. emphasize too much emotion rather than reason2. optimistic attitude toward the goodness of humanityPre-romanticism representativesWilliam Blake: Songs of InnocenceSongs of ExperienceRobert burns:My love is like a Red Red roseStyle: emphasis on natural sentiment and individual originality, showing revolutionary passion against classical tradition, followed by Shelley.19th En Historical Background:Background: Industrial Revolution <home>French revolution, Independence of The United States<abroad>Scholars and writers are dissatisfactory with the development ofbourgeois, against the reason of enlightenment. Philosophers in Europeand America are active emotion ,imagination, independence,individuality and intuition of humankind prevail.<culture> Romantic MovementWilliam Wordsworth:Written in MarchWordsworth、Samuel T(aylor) Coleridge------Lyrical BalladsPercy Shelley: Ode to the West WindQueen MabThe revolt of IslamGeorge Byron: Don Juan“She walks in Beauty”John Keats: When I have fearsOde to a nightmareOde to a Grecian Urn“Beauty is truth, truth beauty”Jane Austin:Sense and sensibilityPride and prejudiceMansfield ParkEmmaNorthanger AbbeyPersuasionWalter Scott: WaverleyIvanhoeRob RoyFeatures: vivifying the past, closely pay attention to the fates of individuals, All kinds of people are described, both romantic imagination and realistic investigation, conservative in politicsRealistic movement (Victorian Period 1836)Historical Backgrounds: Critical realism, Victorian literature, Chartist literature Main features--the struggling of the proletariat for its rights--critical ideas occupied great place--women writers stood on the stage of literatureCharles Dickens: Oliver TwistDombey and sonDavid CopperfieldBleak HouseHard TimesA tale of two citiesOur Mutual FriendsWilliam Thackeray: Vanity Fair 名利场Charlotte Bronte: Jane EyreEmily Bronte: Wuthering HeightsGeorge Eliot <pseudonym:Mary Ann Evans>: MiddlemarchElizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell: Mary Barton <A Tale of Manchester Life>End of 19th centuryNaturalism---George Gissing: New Grub StreetNeo-romanticism---Robert Louis Stevenson:Treasure IslandStrange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Aestheticism---Oscar Wilder:The picture of Dorian GrayProse writers---Thomas Carlyle:Sartor ResartusHistory of French RevolutionHero-worshipPast and present---John Ruskin: Modern PaintersSeven Lamps of ArchitectureThe stones of VeniceUnto this lastPoetry writers---Alfred Tennyson: In Memoriam: “Break, Break, Break”1842 ---Robert Browning: Pippa PassesThe Ring and the BookMy last Duchess <Dramatic Monologue>20th English LiteratureBackground--At home: decline of the military and political power of the EnglishEmpire, frequent strikes of the workers. Monopoly capitalismplayed a decisive role in economy.--Abroad: conflicts between Britain and the colonists, conflicts betweenthe colonists, development of the other countries, theinfluence of the World War I, the influence of Russian Oct.Revolution, preparations of the war by Hitler and Mussoliniand inevitable World War II.--Cultural Background: the development of the science and technology, “the declineof the west” caused the skepticism and disillusionment, theinfluence of the theory of socialism, the influence of thetheory of evolution, the influence of psychology, the influenceof Oriental culture.Poetry---W.B. Yeats: 1923 he was awarded the Nobel prize for literature ---T.S.Eliot <Thomas Stearns Eliot>: the love song of J. Alfred PrufrockThe waste landThe Hollow menAsh WednesdayFour Quarters1947 he was awarded the Nobel prize for literature Novel---Joseph Conrad: Almayer’s Folly---Rudyard Kipling: KimThe Jungle BookThe second Jungle book---James Joyce: A portrait of the artist as a young manUlyssesFinneganns Wake---Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway 1925To the lighthouse 1927Orlando 1928A room of one’s own 1929The waves 1931The Years 1938Between the Acts 1941American LiteratureWashington Irving 美国小说之父Ralph Waldo Emerson--Father of American literature--dominant spirit of the age--proponent of “the American newness”--the leading spokesman for TranscendentalismNathaniel Hawthorne--Marginal transcendentalistEzra Pound--leader of imagist poetryPuritan literaturePuritan beliefs--First covenant: God and Adam, “original sin”;--Second covenant: God and Abraham, “grace”“original sin”and “grace”are two most important premises inPuritanism.--Puritan beliefs helped shape the colonial life.--Puritanism helped shape the colonial literature.BenjaminFranklin---the autobiographyAmerican romanticism(1815-1865)Early romanticism--Washington Irving: Rip Van winkleThe sketch bookThe legend of sleepy Hollow--James Fenimore Cooper: The pioneersThe last of the MobicansThe PrairieThe pathfinderThe Deerslayer Transcendentalism--Ralph Waldo Emerson: NatureThe American scholar“history”“self-reliance”“The over-soul”“the poet”“experience”“women”“Thoreau”--Henry David Thoreau:Civil DisobedienceWalden--Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet LetterThe House of seven GablesThe Blithedale RomanceThe Marble FaunLate 19th poets--Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass-song of myself (1855-1892)--Emily DickinsonAge of RealismPolitical and Social Background--1861-1865 Civil War--Scepticism of Transcendentalism--Increasing industrialization and mechanization--admiration for driving ambition and a lust formoney and power--frontier spirit closed ended the idealized romanticimagination of the New World--"Gilded" age coming--ending of romanticism and Transcendentalism--Impact of philosophy (Schopenhauer, Nietzsche,Bergson, Freud, James)Localism--Mark Twain(1843-1910): The Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn<the great American Novel>Roughing it--Henry James(1843-1916): The wings of DoveThe AmbassadorThe Golden BowlDaisy Miller<novellas>The Turn of the screw<novellas>--William Dean Howells(1837-1920)Features:1.concern for the world of experience, of commonplace and for the familiar and thelow;2. verisimilitude of detail derived from observation;3. a reliance on the representative in plot, setting and character;4. an objective rather than an idealized view of human nature and experience.5. Local color and regional writings constitudes the early realism in American literature. Naturalism is a very important variety.Naturalism<Higher realism>--Hamilton Garland: Grumbling Idols--Stephen Crane: Maggie: A girl of streetsThe red badge of courage--Frank Norris: McTeagueThe Octopus--Jack London:the Call of the Wild--Theodore Dreiser: Sister CarrieBackground of naturalism: the influence of European writers as Emile Zola, ThomasHardy and George Eliot; the influence of Darwinism,influence of European and American philosophy; situationat home.Modernism of 20th centuryPoetry--Ezra Pound: The Cathay 1915Hugh Selwyn MauberleyThe Cantos (1925-1955)--Gertrude Stein: Three livesThe making of Americans (1906)Tender Button (1914)--T.S.Eliot: The waste land 1922The love song of J.Alfred Prufrock--Wallace Stevens: Harmonium 1923--Amy Lowell--H.D--William Carlos William: Defamilarization断章--e.e cummingsFiction--William Faulkner:Soldier Pay 1926Mosquitoes 1927The sound and the Fury 1929As I Lay Dying 1930Light in August 1932--Ernest Hemingway:the Sun also RisesFor Whom the Bell TollsA Farewell to ArmsThe Old Man and the SeaIn 1954, he got the Nobel Prize--F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great GatsbyTender is the Night。
大学英专课程《美国文学》的总结
大学英专课程《美国文学》的总结美国文学-Alice总结和整理American LiteratureI, American Literary in Colony （殖民地时期的美国文学）John Smith, who was the first American writer. （John Smith 是美国的第一位作家）II, American Literary of American Revolution and Enlightenment （美国独立战争和启蒙运动时的文学）1，Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790) 本杰明·富兰克林He was one of the most important American thinkers during the revolutionary period. Franklin was also well known as a scientist, natural philosopher, statesman and literary man, one of the members of the committee to draft The Declaration of Independence.富兰克林是美国独立战争时期杰出的思想家之一。
同时他也是一位科学家、哲学家、政治家和散文家，曾参与起草“独立宣言”。
His works are,Poor Richard?s Almanack《穷查理历书》The Way to Wealth《致富之道》The Autobiography《自传》2，Thomas Paine 托马斯·潘恩Thomas Paine was a literary man and statesman in American revolution.托马斯·潘恩是美国独立革命时期的散文家和政治家、Common Sense 《常识》The Case of the Officers of Excise《税务员问题》American Crisis《美国危机》Rights of Man《人的权利》Downfall of Despotism《专制体制的崩溃》The Age of Reason《理性时代》3，Philip Freneau(1752-1832) 菲利普·弗伦诺Freneau was educated in Princeton, he was the Poet of the American Revolution and the Father of American Poetry.弗伦诺毕业于普林斯顿大学，是革命战争时期的美国诗人，被称为“美国诗歌之父”。
英美文学资料7
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
A supreme individualist, he championed the human spirit against materialism and social conformity. His most famous book, Walden (1854), is an eloquent account of his experiment in near-solitary living in close harmony with nature; it is also an expression of his transcendentalist philosophy. Thoreau was the truest disciple / follower of Emerson. He put into practice many of Emerson’s theories.
Henry David Thoreau
1. Life 1) Born in a common family in Concord, Mass., New England 2) Graduated from Harvard, but only stayed at home and helped family business 3) Active in social life and had a strong sense of justice. He once refused to pay a poll-tax of 2 dollars because he felt the tax was unfair, and thus he was jailed. And later he wrote an essay named "Civil Disobedience" which advocated passive resistance to unjust laws and influenced Gandhi in India.
第6组 美国文学Henry David Thoreau
.
Civil Disobedience and the Walden years,
1845–1849 In 1845, he began to take a two-year residence at Walden Pond. In January and February 1848, he delivered lectures on “The Rights and Duties of the Individual in relation to Government”-----“Civil Disobedience” Death： On May 6, 1862
Text study
Major Purposes
To make the reader evaluate the way he lived and thought. To reveal the hidden spiritual possibilities in everyone’s life. To condemn the weakness and errors of society.
General comment
Thoreau advocated a concept of life, a life
with simple lifestyle in opposition to a life with modern material. He can be called the transcendentalism practitioner. In the book, Walden, Thoreau not only advocated the protection of nature, but also encourage people to comprehend and return to nature. He told us, using his own experience by living a simple life close to nature, that we human beings will find out the true value of life and significance of existence.
Unit 6 Henry David Thoreau
In 1845 Thoreau built himself a small cabin on the shore of Walden Pond, near Concord; there he remained for more than two years, “living deep and sucking out all the marrow of life.” Wishing to lead a life free of materialistic pursuits, he supported himself by growing vegetables and by surveying and doing odd jobs in the nearby village.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Evaluation
He became one of the three great American authors of the 19th century who had not contemporary readers and yet became great in this century, the other two being Herman Melville and Emily Dickinson.
He devoted most of his time to observing nature, reading, and writing, and he kept a detailed journal of his observations, activities, and thoughts. It was from this journal that he later distilled his masterpiece, Walden. One of Thoreau’s most important works, the essay “Civil Disobedience” (1849), grew out of an overnight stay in prison as a result of his conscientious refusal to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War.
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—— By Serena
Henry David Thoreau
He born in Boston and his ancestor came from French. He has mother, father and a brother. He was great American writer, philosopher and naturalist, whose work demonstrates how the abstract ideals of libertarianism and individualism can be effectively instilled in a person's life.
Summary:
Rencently, with rapdly development of economy, we have tp pusiut the matertial life. we only pay attention to power and money. However, what I want to say is that we should not ignore the spiritual life. Or you will lose yourself and have no idea about who you are and what you really want to get.
Thank You ！！！
Death: Concord, Massachusetts, May 6, 1862
His Major Works
1. A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers ， 1849 2. Civil Disobedience ，1849 3. Slavery in Massachusetts ，1854 4. Walden ，1854 5. The Maine Woods ，1864 6. Early Spring in Massachusetts，1881
Walden
Walden:
• Walden mainly talked about Thoreau life and thoughts during he lived in the woods near walden pond. • Thoreau was close to nature and make himself as a part of nature.
Walden's Influence:
The influence to the time it was published: After Walden published, people admitted that he was the first creator of the nature of essays.Walden is , first and foremost, a book on self-culture and human perfectibility. Before walden published, there was only with "letters", "flash-back" and "magazine article" in the form of reports talking about nature. It is Thoreau that give natual prose a new conception. The influence on nowadays: Thoreau completely use his own hands to build house, feeding live a primitive simple life. He want to prove to the world through his own practice that people should not only focused on the endless pursuit of money and power. we should use more time to do things you really like.
His lifetime
Birth: on Boston, July 12, 1817
1833-1837，studing at Harvard University 1837, as a teacher after graduation 1841, begining to wtriting influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson 1845-1847, living in walden lake cabin. 1848, beginning his professional lectures 1854，pe animals living in the woods, the plants and flowers and all peaceful life.
• He described the charming and beautifu nature senery and visitors who were honest, thinkable and loving their life.