1
Chapter Ⅲ
The Literature of Romanticism
2
1,Historical Background,
? Before 1860 the United States had begun to change into
an industrial and urban society,In the years preceding the
Civil War relatively few volumes of imaginative literature
were published in the US,But as the century progressed,
American writers won increasing national and
international fame,
? Literature ceased to be didactic,a servant of politics and
religion,American nationalism stimulated a greater
literary interest in American subjects,At mid-century a
cultural reawakening brought,flowering of New
England”,the first literary renaissance in American
literary history,
3
2,The diversity of American romanticism,
? comic fables of Washington Irving;
? gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe,
? the frontier adventures of James Fenimore
Cooper;
? the Psychological romances of Nathanial
Hawthorne…
4
3,Washington Irving,(1783—1859)
? the first native American author to win
worldwide fame,
? Style,His graceful,humorous,stylistically
careful writing is in the tradition of
Addison,Steele,and Goldsmith,
? colorful legends of the Hudson River
Valley
5
? His stories based on the legends of Europe;
lacked a creative gift;
? Knickerbocker,
fictitious author of History of New York by
Washington Irving
6
3.1,Washington Irving,
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
? 1,Setting,What is the location of this story? The
atmosphere and the history of this area?
? 2,Who is the protagonist of this story? Describe
his physical features and the meaning of his name,
Where did he come from? What was he doing
there to make a living?
? 3,What is the main conflict?
? 4,Describe the plot of the story,
? 5,Retell the story of the headless horseman,
? 6,Brom Bones ( (see question No,2)
? 7,Katrina Van Tassel
7
4,James Fenimore Cooper
(1789—1851)
8
James Fenimore Cooper,
He is the Pioneer of----
a,American sea novel;
b,American espionage story;
c,American frontier adventure tales;
d,American sociopolitical novel,
9
? The Leatherstocking Tales,tell the tale of
their central character Natty Bumppo,
backwoodsman and wilderness scout,
Natty is a fictional character,based on
certain originals remembered from the
author’s boyhood,Here,embodied in a
clear-cut romantic type is the American
moral ideal,
4,1 The Leatherstocking Tales
10
4.2 Characters in The Last of the Mohicans
? Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans,was a
perfect example of the western man who had
broken away from the artificiality of civilization,
? Chingachgook,Hawkeye’s Indian companion,
was Cooper’s conception of the natural man,or
“noble savage,” shows native intelligence,loyalty,
and brotherly love,He was not spoiled by
civilization,
11
4.3 Cooper’s Defects
? Mark Twain in the essay entitled
“Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences”,
a,improbabilities,
b,Dialogue is often awkward,
c,Characters lack depth,
d,little sensuous immediacy;
e,scene and characters are imagined rather
than visualized,
12
5,Edgar Allan Poe (1809—1849)
? Poe,a pioneering aesthetician,psychological investigator,
and literary technician,
? Poe worked hard at structuring his tales of aristocratic
madmen,self-tormented murderers,neurasthenic
necrophilia’s,and other deviant types so as to produce the
greatest possible horrific effects on the reader,
? Such writers have been influenced by Poe,Frank Norris,
Theodore Dreiser,and William Faulkner,Vladimir
Navokov,Charles Baudelaire and Stephane Mallarme
idolize Poe and translate his works lovingly,
13
6,Transcendentalism
? A philosophic and literary movement that
flourished in New England,particularly at
Concord (c.1836—60),as a reaction against
18th-century rationalism,the skeptical philosophy
of Locke,and the confining religious orthodoxy
of New England Calvinism,This romantic,
idealistic,mystical,and individualistic belief was
more a cast of thought than a systematic
philosophy,It was eclectic in nature and had
many sources,
14
? Based on this identification of the
individual soul with God,there developed
the d o ctrin e of s el f- r elian ce an d
individualism,the disregard of external
a u t h o r i t y,t r a d it i o n,a n d l o g i ca l
demonstration,and the absolute optimism,
15
6.1 Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—82)
?
16
? Emerson,whose thought is often considered the
core of Transcendentalism,stood apart from
much of the activity of the movement,
? He had no complete philosophical system,but
preached the great doctrine of a higher
individualism,the spiritual nature of reality,the
importance of self-reliance,the obedience to
instinct,the obligation of optimism and hope,and
the existence of a unifying Over-Soul which
explains the many diverse phenomena of life,
17
Emerson:,Nature” (1836)
? Essay by Emerson,published anonymously
in 1836 and reprinted in Nature,Addresses,
and Lectures (1849),Based on his early
lectures,this first book expresses the main
principles of Transcendentalism,His belief
in the mystical,unity of Nature—the unity,
in variety,--which meets us everywhere,”
He develops his concept of the,Over-Soul”
or,universal Mind.”
18
Emerson:,Self--Reliance” (1841)
? An essay by Emerson,published in Essays,First
Series (1841),
?,Trust thyself,”
?,Envy is ignorance…imitation is suicide”
? be a nonconformist
?,To be great is to be misunderstood”;
? Deference to authority,to institutions,or to
tradition,
?,Nothing is set last sacred but the integrity of
your own mind.”
19
6.2 Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862)
20
? He was the answer to Emerson’s plea for an
“American Scholar.”
? Thoreau,Walden,or Life in the Woods (1854)
? His thought about this experience was developed
in the journals over a period of years,and the
result is Walden,a series of 18 essays describing
Thoreau’s idealistic creed as affected by and
expressed in his life at the Pond,
21
7,Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804—1864)
? Hawthorne has long been recognized as a classic
interpreter of the spiritual history of New
England,
? Like Poe,but with an emphasis on moral
significance,he was a leader in the development
of the short story as a distinctive American genre,
? Hawthorne wrote about the 17th century
witchcraft,about prophetic powers,and about
individual guilt,
22
7.1 Hawthorne’s Themes,
? the consequences of pride,selfishness,and
secret guilt; the difficulty of preventing
isolation from leading to coldness of heart;
the impingement of the past especially the
Puritan past) upon the present; the
impossibility of eradicating sin from the
human heart,
23
7.2 Hawthorne,The Scarlet Letter (1850)
? The Scarlet Letter (1850) is a depiction of the New
England confrontation of an,outcast” and a harsh society,
and delineates it as a 19th century conflict of ideas and
ways of living,
? Main Characters,
Hester Prynne,Arthur Dimmesdale,Roger Chillingworth,
? Setting,set in Puritan Boston during the mid-17th century,
? A romance of conscience and the tragic consequences of
concealed guilt,
24
7.3 Style of Hawthorne,
? Hawthorne’s vocabulary was well- controlled,
? frequent use of images,
? The sentences may appear to be too consistently
long,
? uses concrete objects as well as characters to
serve as his symbols,Emphasis on allegory and
symbolism causes his characters to be recalled as
the embodiment of psychological traits or moral
concepts more than as living figures,
Chapter Ⅲ
The Literature of Romanticism
2
1,Historical Background,
? Before 1860 the United States had begun to change into
an industrial and urban society,In the years preceding the
Civil War relatively few volumes of imaginative literature
were published in the US,But as the century progressed,
American writers won increasing national and
international fame,
? Literature ceased to be didactic,a servant of politics and
religion,American nationalism stimulated a greater
literary interest in American subjects,At mid-century a
cultural reawakening brought,flowering of New
England”,the first literary renaissance in American
literary history,
3
2,The diversity of American romanticism,
? comic fables of Washington Irving;
? gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe,
? the frontier adventures of James Fenimore
Cooper;
? the Psychological romances of Nathanial
Hawthorne…
4
3,Washington Irving,(1783—1859)
? the first native American author to win
worldwide fame,
? Style,His graceful,humorous,stylistically
careful writing is in the tradition of
Addison,Steele,and Goldsmith,
? colorful legends of the Hudson River
Valley
5
? His stories based on the legends of Europe;
lacked a creative gift;
? Knickerbocker,
fictitious author of History of New York by
Washington Irving
6
3.1,Washington Irving,
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
? 1,Setting,What is the location of this story? The
atmosphere and the history of this area?
? 2,Who is the protagonist of this story? Describe
his physical features and the meaning of his name,
Where did he come from? What was he doing
there to make a living?
? 3,What is the main conflict?
? 4,Describe the plot of the story,
? 5,Retell the story of the headless horseman,
? 6,Brom Bones ( (see question No,2)
? 7,Katrina Van Tassel
7
4,James Fenimore Cooper
(1789—1851)
8
James Fenimore Cooper,
He is the Pioneer of----
a,American sea novel;
b,American espionage story;
c,American frontier adventure tales;
d,American sociopolitical novel,
9
? The Leatherstocking Tales,tell the tale of
their central character Natty Bumppo,
backwoodsman and wilderness scout,
Natty is a fictional character,based on
certain originals remembered from the
author’s boyhood,Here,embodied in a
clear-cut romantic type is the American
moral ideal,
4,1 The Leatherstocking Tales
10
4.2 Characters in The Last of the Mohicans
? Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans,was a
perfect example of the western man who had
broken away from the artificiality of civilization,
? Chingachgook,Hawkeye’s Indian companion,
was Cooper’s conception of the natural man,or
“noble savage,” shows native intelligence,loyalty,
and brotherly love,He was not spoiled by
civilization,
11
4.3 Cooper’s Defects
? Mark Twain in the essay entitled
“Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences”,
a,improbabilities,
b,Dialogue is often awkward,
c,Characters lack depth,
d,little sensuous immediacy;
e,scene and characters are imagined rather
than visualized,
12
5,Edgar Allan Poe (1809—1849)
? Poe,a pioneering aesthetician,psychological investigator,
and literary technician,
? Poe worked hard at structuring his tales of aristocratic
madmen,self-tormented murderers,neurasthenic
necrophilia’s,and other deviant types so as to produce the
greatest possible horrific effects on the reader,
? Such writers have been influenced by Poe,Frank Norris,
Theodore Dreiser,and William Faulkner,Vladimir
Navokov,Charles Baudelaire and Stephane Mallarme
idolize Poe and translate his works lovingly,
13
6,Transcendentalism
? A philosophic and literary movement that
flourished in New England,particularly at
Concord (c.1836—60),as a reaction against
18th-century rationalism,the skeptical philosophy
of Locke,and the confining religious orthodoxy
of New England Calvinism,This romantic,
idealistic,mystical,and individualistic belief was
more a cast of thought than a systematic
philosophy,It was eclectic in nature and had
many sources,
14
? Based on this identification of the
individual soul with God,there developed
the d o ctrin e of s el f- r elian ce an d
individualism,the disregard of external
a u t h o r i t y,t r a d it i o n,a n d l o g i ca l
demonstration,and the absolute optimism,
15
6.1 Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—82)
?
16
? Emerson,whose thought is often considered the
core of Transcendentalism,stood apart from
much of the activity of the movement,
? He had no complete philosophical system,but
preached the great doctrine of a higher
individualism,the spiritual nature of reality,the
importance of self-reliance,the obedience to
instinct,the obligation of optimism and hope,and
the existence of a unifying Over-Soul which
explains the many diverse phenomena of life,
17
Emerson:,Nature” (1836)
? Essay by Emerson,published anonymously
in 1836 and reprinted in Nature,Addresses,
and Lectures (1849),Based on his early
lectures,this first book expresses the main
principles of Transcendentalism,His belief
in the mystical,unity of Nature—the unity,
in variety,--which meets us everywhere,”
He develops his concept of the,Over-Soul”
or,universal Mind.”
18
Emerson:,Self--Reliance” (1841)
? An essay by Emerson,published in Essays,First
Series (1841),
?,Trust thyself,”
?,Envy is ignorance…imitation is suicide”
? be a nonconformist
?,To be great is to be misunderstood”;
? Deference to authority,to institutions,or to
tradition,
?,Nothing is set last sacred but the integrity of
your own mind.”
19
6.2 Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862)
20
? He was the answer to Emerson’s plea for an
“American Scholar.”
? Thoreau,Walden,or Life in the Woods (1854)
? His thought about this experience was developed
in the journals over a period of years,and the
result is Walden,a series of 18 essays describing
Thoreau’s idealistic creed as affected by and
expressed in his life at the Pond,
21
7,Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804—1864)
? Hawthorne has long been recognized as a classic
interpreter of the spiritual history of New
England,
? Like Poe,but with an emphasis on moral
significance,he was a leader in the development
of the short story as a distinctive American genre,
? Hawthorne wrote about the 17th century
witchcraft,about prophetic powers,and about
individual guilt,
22
7.1 Hawthorne’s Themes,
? the consequences of pride,selfishness,and
secret guilt; the difficulty of preventing
isolation from leading to coldness of heart;
the impingement of the past especially the
Puritan past) upon the present; the
impossibility of eradicating sin from the
human heart,
23
7.2 Hawthorne,The Scarlet Letter (1850)
? The Scarlet Letter (1850) is a depiction of the New
England confrontation of an,outcast” and a harsh society,
and delineates it as a 19th century conflict of ideas and
ways of living,
? Main Characters,
Hester Prynne,Arthur Dimmesdale,Roger Chillingworth,
? Setting,set in Puritan Boston during the mid-17th century,
? A romance of conscience and the tragic consequences of
concealed guilt,
24
7.3 Style of Hawthorne,
? Hawthorne’s vocabulary was well- controlled,
? frequent use of images,
? The sentences may appear to be too consistently
long,
? uses concrete objects as well as characters to
serve as his symbols,Emphasis on allegory and
symbolism causes his characters to be recalled as
the embodiment of psychological traits or moral
concepts more than as living figures,
