American Literature

1. Lecture 2 American Literature

2. Objectives • Enable the Ss to know the background, representative writers and their works of the Enlightenment period in American literary history; • Enable the Ss to know the thirteen moral virtues in Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography; • Enablethe Ss to learn to appreciate Philip Freneau’s “The Wild Honey Suckle”

3. Teaching Material • Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography • Philip Freneau: “The Wild Honey Suckle”

4. Teaching Methodology • Lecturing • Poems appreciation and analysis

5. Chapter Two “The Age of Reason” “American Enlightenment” Enlightenment and Revolutionary Period (1750-1810)

6. In the 18th century, people believed in man’s own nature and the power of human reason. With Franklin as its spokesman, the 18th century America experienced an age of reason. • Words had never been so useful and so important in human history. People wrote a lot of political writings. Numerous pamphlets and printings were published. These works agitated revolutionary people not only in America but also around the world.

7. The 18th-century American Enlightenment was a movement marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy. • Enlightenment thinkers and writers were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equality as the natural rights of man. • The colonists who would form a new nation were firm believers in the power of reason; they were ambitious, inquisitive, optimistic, practical, politically astute, and self-reliant.

8. Leading writers and their works • Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758): -The Great Doctrine of Original Sin defended(1758) • Thomas Jefferson(1743-1826): -The Declaration of Independence (1776) • Thomas Paine(1737-1809): -Common Sense (1776)

9. Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography • Philip Freneau: “The Wild Honey Suckle”

10. Jonathan Edwards • Born into a very religious New England family, educated in Yale • The first modern American and the country’s last medieval man • He represents the element of piety, the religious passion, the aspect of emotion and ecstacy, of New England tradition • Edwards was a great deal of a transcendentalist

11. Thomas Paine -to fight for the rights of man -to help spur and inspire two greatest revolution -He became a major influence in the American Revolution -Common Sense, American Crisis, The Rights of Man, The Age of Reason

12. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

13. He was the symbol of America in the Age of Enlightenment (Age of Reason). • He brought the colonial era to a close.

14. 《自传》 1. Works 《格言历书》 • The Autobiography • Poor Richard’s Almanac 2. Life • Benjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background. • He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader. • At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer. • At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym “Silence Do good” . • At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune. • He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.

15. Franklin’s Contributions to Society • He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital. • He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania. • And he helped found the American Philosophical Society. • Franklin’s Contributions to Science • He was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices. • And for his lightning-rod, he was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.” • Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S. • He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States: • The Declaration of Independence, • The Treaty of Alliance with France, • The Treaty of Peace with England, • The Constitution

16. 3. Evaluation • TheAutobiography is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. • Benjamin Franklin was a spokesman for the new order of the 18th century enlightenment • TheAutobiography is a how-to-do-it book, a book on the art of self-improvement. (for example, Franklin’s 13 virtues) • Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream. • The Autobiography is in the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision.

17. Questions Answering • 1. What are the thirteen names of moral virtues that Franklin enumerated? … (P 282)

18. “Poet of the American Revolution” “Father of American Poetry” “Pioneer of the New Romanticism” “A gifted and versatile lyric poet” 2. Philip Freneau (1752-1832)

19. 《美洲光辉的兴起》 1. Works • “The Rising Glory of America” (1772) • “The House of Night” (1779, 1786) • “The British Prison Ship” (1781) • “To the Memory of the Brave Americans” (1781) • “The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786) • “The Indian Burying Ground” (1788) • “The Dying Indian: Tomo Chequi” 《夜之屋》 《英国囚船》 《纪念美国勇士》 《野金银花》 《奄奄一息的印第安人：托姆·察吉》 《印第安人墓地》

20. Philip Freneau The Wild Honey Suckle中英对照 • Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, • Hid in this silent, dull retreat, • Untouched thy honeyed blossoms blow, • Unseen thy little branches greet: • No roving foot shall crush thee here, • No busy hand provoke a tear

21. Philip Freneau The Wild Honey Suckle中英对照 • By Nature's self in white arrayed, • She bade thee shun the vulger eye, • And planted here the guardian shade, • And sent soft waters murmuring by; • Thus quietly thy summer goes, • Thy days declining to repose.

22. Philip Freneau The Wild Honey Suckle中英对照 • Smit with those chams,t hat must decay, •  I grieve to see your future doom; •  They died--nor were those flowers more gay, •  The flowers that did in Eden bloom; •  Unpitying frosts, and Autumn's power •  Shall leave no vestige of this flower.

23. Philip Freneau The Wild Honey Suckle中英对照 • From morning suns and evening dews • At first thy little being came: • If nothing once,you nothing lose, • For when you die you are the same; • The space between,is but an hour, •  The frail duration of flower.

24. Philip Freneau The Wild Honey Suckle中英对照 • 美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。大自然把你打扮得一身洁白，她叫你避开庸俗粗鄙的目光，她布置下树荫把你护卫起来，又让潺潺的柔波淌过你身旁；你的夏天就这样静静地消逝，这时候你日见萎蔫终将安息。那些难免消逝的美使我销魂

25. Philip Freneau The Wild Honey Suckle中英对照 • ，想起你未来的结局我就心疼，别的那些花儿也不比你幸运——虽开放在伊甸园中也已凋零，无情的寒霜再加秋风的威力，会叫这花朵消失得一无踪迹。朝阳和晚露当初曾把你养育，让你这小小的生命来到世上，原来若乌有，就没什么可失去，因为你的死让你同先前一样；这来去之间不过是一个钟点——这就是脆弱的花享有的天年。

26. Assignment • 1. Read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “American Scholar” and be ready to answer the questions afterwards.