从美国浪漫主义文学特点看其产生原因

The characteristics of the American Romanticism——from the aspect of the cause of American RomanticismAs one of the important periods of American literature, romanticism period starts from the end of the 18th century until the civil war. During this period, America has experienced lots of changes, which involves society, politics, and culture. All these changes not only affect the development of America, but also show themselves in the literature. Therefore, we can find something through the cause of this period ——romanticism ——in order to explain its characteristics.America, as a new country, has to start from the beginning, which means it has to set its own rules and makes the best of the resources of the new land. People in this new land make their own homes with confidence and independence. The ambition of establishing the best country in the world makes them feel proud. The expectation exists not only in their hard work, but also in the literature. They want to make their own style of writing that shows their positive attitude to the new life and record how they make the new land powerful. Spontaneously, the romanticism starts.American romanticism, different from the one from Britain, has its own unique features, which include: (1) rich source of material from pioneering into the west; (2) the desire for an escape from society and a return to nature; (3) frequent use of local dialects in poetry and fiction;(4) great influences exerted by American Puritanism as a cultural heritage over American moral values and American Romanticism. This passage will explain how the characteristics are formed from the perspectives of the cause of American Romanticism.Around the period of the end of 18th century, the new-bored America makes efforts to stretch its territory that nearly reaches the west shore of the Pacific Ocean. In the movement, people act as the explorers, holding the will of success and marching to the deserted west. They believe that they can be successful if they are thrifty and hardworking. As a result, it provides abundant source of writing material which becomes the main theme of American romanticism. In the works about the west, the writers use lots of beautiful words to describe the rich virgin forests, meadows, groves, endless prairies, streams, and vast oceans. Through admiring the landscape of the west, these works show the spirits of American people. These are frankness, passion, modesty and justice. They praise the power and creation of people as the role of explorer.On the other hand, as the country are becoming stronger and stronger, patriotism rises naturally in the hearts of American people. They can feel that America, their own country, is developing through the efforts made by them. The national consciousness also reflects in the works of the writers. They tend to use American dialects to narrate their stories. Between the dialect words, the authors express their pride and love to the strengthening nation.At the same time, people’s power and creation have been recognized through their efforts to change the rough living environment. The status of people has been raised. The importance of human has reached unprecedented heights. Therefore, transcendentalism prevails in this land. Transcendentalists think that there is a ubiquitous power between nature and human that punishes evil-doers and praises good-doers. Moreover, human play an important role in the development of the society. Human can perfect the society via perfection of themselves. Another belief of transcendentalism is that nature has life and people should return to the nature to feel the true meaning of life. All the above are the main idea of American romanticism. That is the reason ofthe desire for an escape from society and a return to nature.Apart from transcendentalism, considering the main value of that time, it is mainly dominated by Puritanism，which was banned in Britain. The puritans, dominating the first group of people stepping onto the new land, then crossed the ocean and developed in America. They led a practical and hard life and believed in faith, humility, strictness, honesty, diligence and thriftiness. All these characters support them to overcome difficulties and harvest flourish, which strengthens their loyalty to Puritanism. As the result, American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values and American Romanticism.In brief, all the changes caused by people and the nation can be found in the works of this period and finally form the main characteristics of American Romanticism.。