浪漫主义时期的诗歌和散文英国

浪漫主义时期的诗歌和散文Poetry and Essays in the Romantic AgeThe literary movement called Romanticism represented a renewal of progressive thought and emotion (liberal, free and open-handed), which had existed before the 1700s and which had never totally died out. While Romanticism in the1800s signaled a new mood (a feeling or emotion held by a large number of people at a time 当时许多人的一种共同的情绪), the world had witnessed earlier cultural movements that also merit the name Romanticism. Specifically, the ancient Greek epics （古代希腊史诗）can be called Romantic, as can much literature of the Medieval Period and of the Renaissance, or Elizabethan Age. All these writings---and the writings ofthe English Romantic Age under study here---emphasize human adventure, passion, delight, love of splendor, of extravagance, and of the supernatural. The Romantic tradition in all these periods can be viewed in contrast to another main literary tradition---Classicism or neoclassicism. The pendulum of literary taste seems to swing between the two traditions.Now let’s have a look and examine the following lists, which contrast elements, outlooks, and concerns associated with the neoclassicism of the 1700s and the Romanticism of the early 1800s. Keep in mind also that although earlier literary periods can indeed be seen as typically Romantic, the period discussed here (1798-1837) is considered the Romantic Age. Neoclassical RomanticTradition experiment society IndividualUrban ruralArtificial Nature loving Intellect, reason Imagination,emotionPublic Private,subjective Logical, solid Mysterious,supernatural aristocratic common Cultivated primitive Conformist independent constraint spontaneity Formal diction Natural diction Three notable poets of the 1700s---Thomas Gray, William Blake, and Robert Burns---were in many respects as “romantic”as any poets of the Romantic Age, but the work of these three was isolated. Why didEnglish literature change its views and philosophies, its aims and subject matter, so decisively at just the turn of the century?Certainly, the historical issues and developments of the time played a major role in provoking and shaping the new literary movement of Romanticism（诱发并造就）: One critic has said, “The French Revolution and Napoleon made a clean sweep（大获全胜）; after them it was no longer possible to think, act, or write as if the old forms still had life.” Also, the Industrial Revolution, its urbanization of English life, and its abuses against the working class called for a change in literary concerns and style. The Romantic poets in England also owed much to the Swiss-born Frenchphilosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). In his philosophies Rousseau rebelled against the cold logic of the 1700s and championed freedom and experimentation. He believed that man was most perfect in a state of nature, free from artificial societal restrains.The romantic Age in English literature begins in 1798 with the publication of Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth enunciated his aims, among which was his belief that poetry should reflect spontaneity and emotion rather than the more sedate ordered tones of the previous generation（稳重严肃的，四平八稳的）. Wordsworth also stressed a desire to depict commonplace situations involving common people living in natural settings. Coleridge chose to concentratehis efforts on the supernatural. But both poets intended that their work---whether a treatment of the ordinary or of the mysterious---would stimulate an awareness of the workings of the human mind and personality（激发对于人的大脑的工作机制和个性的自觉）. With respect to poetic form, they advocated using natural, ordinary speech over the formal, stylized diction of the 1700s.So we may summarize that it is in their view of nature and natural phenomena and in their treatment of the supernatural and mysterious that the Romantics differed most profoundly from the neoclassicists. Partly as a reaction against the urbanizing, dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution, the Romanticpoets regarded nature in a fresh light and abandoned the well-tended gardens of the 1700s for the wilderness. Though Romanticism shared with neoclassicism an interest in the past, Romanticism emphasized Ancient Greece over ancient Rome. Furthermore, the Romantic concern with the past encompassed a renewed interest in the Middle Ages. Finally, the Romantics paid greater attention to the works of Shakespeare, Spenser, and Milton than had literary critics of the neoclassical era.The essence of the English Romantic Ages contained in the works of five poets---Wordsworth and Coleridge constituting the so-called first generation of Romantic poets, and Percy Bysshe Shelly, Lord Byron, and John Keats composing the second generation. These poets also wroteessays and letters explaining their ideas about poetry. In addition, Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, and Thomas de Quincey wrote personal and subjective essays on a wide range of subjects.。