英语文学课件

fiction: fiction: a. preferred the tale to other fictional forms/ stressed the principle of concentration and thematic totality. b. Writer should decide the effect first, and then invent events. c. Truth is the aim of the tale. d. Works should be judged by their psychological effect upon the reader.
III. Significance
Inspired English poets and German idealist philosophers A clarion call to action An ethical guide Great impact on American writers
IV. Weakness Never a systematic philosophy Rampant individualism rather than a democracy of mutual helpfulness Denial of the reality of evil Denial of its real spiritual origin
3. Literary theories poetry: poetry: The most important purpose of poetry is the creation of beauty which is the sole legitimate province of a poem. The tone of its highest manifestation is one of sadness./Music sadness./Music is essential to create a mood appropriate to the theme.(alliteration, assonance, and repetition)
Transcendentalism I. Growth and Development II. Major concepts III. Significance IV. Weaknesses
I. Growth and development
In essence, romantic idealism on Puritan soil 3 sources: Unitarianism/Idealistic philosophy from France and GeBiblioteka Baidumany/Oriental mysticism as revealed in Hindu and Chinese classics
Shakespeare ) (Ĭn sóoth,/Ĭ knów/nŏt whý/Ĭ ám/sŏ sád. só knó sá Ĭt wéa/riĕs mé;/yŏu sáy/ĭt wéa/riĕs yóu....) wé mé sá wé yó
Edgar Allan Poe
“Annabel Lee” Lee”
Listen to “Annabel Lee” Lee”
28annabel lee.wma
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) (18091. Life precarious, impoverished 2. Reputations not recognized in his own day— day— The French used Poe as the model for their symbolist school— school—European writers—20th writers— century, popular with Freudian psychological critics.
Review
Who is sometimes regarded as “the American Wordsworth?” Wordsworth?” 2. What are the four subjects that he always touches upon? 3. Name some of his important works. 4. What is alliteration? 5. What is consonance? 6. What is assonance?
II. Major concepts
1. Power of intuition 2. Spirit first, matter second 3. Nature as symbolic of spirit or God 4. Individual as the most important element in society/ self-reliant self5. Religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “oversoul” oversoul” 6. Commerce as degrading/ pay less attention to the material world
Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882) (1803American philosopher, poet and essayist. The most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism.
Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882) (18031. Life
style
Direct forceful sentences Conversational in tone Humor Proverbial expressions Brief tales, fables and allegories Metaphors Prophetic voice
General comment
Walden
Deceptively casual, like a diary of a nature lover. It’s a spiritual book. It’
subjects
Importance of thought over material circumstance Confidence in the individual The escape from the power of time To work hard to be close to nature
A prose stylist, a lover of nature, a New England mystic, a social philosopher, a particular kind of romantic, and a thorough transcendentalist Walden, a classic in American literature (nonviolence struggle as expressed in his “Civil Disobedience” Disobedience”)
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) (1817-
Henry David Thoreau (1817(18171862)
1. Life Born in Concord---a handyman in Concord---a Emerson’ house---lived Emerson’s house---lived alone in Walden Pond---devoted most of Pond---devoted his time to study and meditation-meditation--lectures
Criticism
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a novel, The Blithedale Romance (1852), satirizing the movement, and based it on his experiences at Brook Farm, a short-lived utopian Farm, shortcommunity founded on transcendental principles. Edgar Allan Poe had a deep dislike for transcendentalism, calling its followers "Frogpondians" after the pond on Boston Common. He ridiculed their writings in particular Common. by calling them "metaphor-run," lapsing into "obscurity "metaphorfor obscurity's sake" or "mysticism for mysticism's sake." "mysticism One of his short stories, "Never Bet the Devil Your Head", "Never Head", is a clear attack on transcendentalism, which the narrator calls a "disease". The story specifically mentions "disease". the movement and its flagship journal The Dial, though Poe denied that he had any specific targets.
Harvard— Harvard—Unitarianism (it rejected the Calvinist ideas of predestination, unconditional election, limited atonement, and total depravity) – Unitarian minister— minister—lectures —spokesman of transcendentalism
1.
7. What is a foot in poetic analysis? 8. What is a meter? 9. Please scan the following lines:
A gentle knight was pricking on the plain.
I still my old opinion keep. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad. It wearies me; you say it wearies you. (The Merchant of Venice, by William
2. Literary achievements
2 types: essays and poetry Essays: Nature (1836)(The manifesto of American transcendentalism), Essays (1841) Poems: Poems (1847) * “The American Scholar” Scholar” (“America’s Declaration of America’ Intellectual Independence)