英美文学课件：英国浪漫主义时期

Chapter 3: The Romantic Period

考核要求:

1.识记：浪漫主义时期的界定和历史文化背景

2.领会：浪漫主义思潮的意义与影响以及浪漫主义文学创作的基本主张及对后世文学的影响。

3.应用：名词解释浪漫主义以及浪漫主义时期文学特点的分析

1. Historical background:

Internationally,

①The French Revolutions: --the great event, arouse great sympathy and enthusiasm in the English liberals and Conservatives, they all declared Liberty, Equality and Fraternity

②Rousseau--the great French Philosopher. Influence by Rousseau, the writers began to explore the new ideas about Nature, Society and Education

These paved the way for the development of Romanticism in the literature internationally

Nationally,

①Industrial revolution (Industrialization, Further

capitalization and Urbanization)

②The survival of fittest (the sharper contradiction between

capitalists and the labors)

These are the national basis of the production of Romanticism

2. Literature background:

The early works with Romantic tendency are following:

Thomas Paine’s The Declaration of Rights of Man claiming Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

Edmund Burke published his Reflections on the Revolution in France.

William Godwin’s Inquiry Concerning Political Justice. Against the injustice, economic system and the oppression of the poor.

Mary Wollstonecraft urged the equal rights for women in her A Vindication(辩护) of the Right of Woman.

3. The definition, duration and characteristics of the Romanticism:

①The definition:

The Romantic Movement, which associated with vitality, powerful emotion and dreamlike ideas, is simply the expression of life as seen by the imagination rather than by prosaic common sense.

The contrast between Romanticism and Neoclassicism:

Romanticism: associated with vitality, powerful emotion and dreamlike ideas

Neoclassicism: associated with order, common sense and controlled reason

②Duration:

Beginning time: 1798 marked by the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge

Ending time: 1832 marked by the death of Scott and the passage of the first Reform Bill

【例题】Which of the following poems is a landmark in English poetry? (0704)

A. Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge

B. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”by William Wordsworth

C. “Remorse”by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

D. Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman

【答案】A

【解析】(P157. para.1)

所谓landmark，是指在英国文学史上具有划时代意义的作品。Lyrical Ballads 的出版标志着英国文学的浪漫主义时期的开始，所以答案是A

③Characteristics:

The spontaneous overflow(自然流露的) of powerful feeling The creation of a world of imagination

The return to nature for materials

Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the common place

Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius

A sense of melancholy and loneliness of the character

The rebellious spirits of the author

The major achievements are poetry

4. The viewpoints of Romanticists on society and literature:

①Socially:

Romanticist saw man essentially as an individual in the solitary state

The Romanticist emphasized the special qualities of each individual’s mind