The Literature of Romanticism

1. The Literature of Romanticism from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the civil war

2. Class Focuses: • Characteristics of Romanticism • General Features of the Writings of American Romanticism • Washington Irving

3. American Romanticism

4. General Introduction • The romantic period covers the first half of the 19th century. It started with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. It is a period of the great flowering of American literature and it is also called “American Renaissance”. • general characteristics:moral enthusiasm, faith in value of individualism, and intuitive perception, and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man’s societies a source of corruption.

5. New England Literary Renaissance or American Renaissance • It refers to the romantic period from the 1830s roughly until the end of the American Civil War in which U.S. literature came of age as an expression of a national spirit. • The literary scene was dominated by Schoolroom poets, notably Longfellow, Holmes, and Lowell. Also influential were the Transcendentalists, including Emerson and Thoreau, as well as the great imaginative writers Poe,Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, and Whitman.

6. I. Characteristics of Romanticism • Romanticism is a rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism. Romanticists affirm the inner life of the self, and want each person to be free to develop and express his own inner thoughts. They believe that the feelings, intuitions and emotions are more important than reason and common sense and that one could find truth through one’s feelings.

7. 2. Romanticists think that the world is not a ticking watch made by God but a living, breathing being. They view natureas a source of vivid physical beauty and as a manifestation of spirit in the universe. They stress the close relationship between man and nature.

8. 3. They emphasize individualism, placing the individual against the group, against authority. They see the individual at the very center of life and art. They emphasize personal freedom and freedom from formalism(形式主义), tradition, and conformity.

9. 4. They cherish strong interest in the past, (esp. the medieval), the wild, irregular, the indefinite, the remote, the mysterious, and the strange. They look at Indians as innocent and close to nature and therefore close in touch with God.

10. 5. They are interested in variety. Typical literary forms of romanticism include ballad, lyric, sentimental comedy, problem novel, historical novel, gothic romance, metrical romance, sonnet and critical essay.

11. Note • sentimental comedy, a kind of comedy that achieved some popularity with respectable middle‐class audiences in the 18th century. In contrast with the aristocratic cynicism of English Restoration comedy, it showed virtue rewarded by domestic bliss; its plots, usually involving unbelievably good middle‐class couples, emphasized pathos rather than humour. Pioneered by Richard Steele in The Funeral (1701) and more fully in The Conscious Lovers (1722), it flourished in mid‐century with the French comédie larmoyante (‘tearful comedy’) and in such plays as Hugh Kelly's False Delicacy (1768). The pious moralizing of this tradition, which survived into 19th‐century melodrama, was opposed in the 1770s by Sheridan and Goldsmith, who attempted a partial return to the comedy of manners.

12. American Romanticism • Time: from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War • (2)Reasons (Why Romanticism emerged?) • A. Fast development of the new nation (flood of immigrants; pioneers pushing the frontier further west; industrialization; economic boom; a promising new land with prevailed optimistic moods) • B. Development of journalism (Some influential periodicals appeared, such as The Atlantic Monthly. They need more literary productions.) • C. Foreign influence (Review history of English literature.)(from the 18th century classicism to sentimentalism to Pre-Romanticism to Romanticism which can be divided into passive group and active group)(most influential British writers to American Romanticists-Walter Scott)

13. American Romanticism • General features of Romanticism • A. Stressing emotion rather than reason • B. Stressing freedom and individuality • C. Idealism rather than materialism • D. Writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elements

14. More Features of Romanticism • emotions • subjective • original • youth • supernatural • into nature • innocent • pure of purpose • heavy figurative language • imaginative • American heroes • possibly: arabesque grotesque • past subject matter

15. American Romanticism • Features of American Romanticism • A. Imitative • B. Independent • a. peculiar American experience (landscape, pioneering to the West, Indian civilization, new nation\'s democracy and dreams) • b. Puritan heritage (more moralizing, edifying more than mere entertainment) (careful about love and sex. example: Scarlet Letter)

16. III. General Features of the Writings of American Romanticism: • As a logic result of the foreign and native factors at work, American Romanticism was both imitative and independent.

17. imitative / foreign influences • Foreign influences add incentive to the growth of Romanticism in America. Many English and European masters of poetry and prose all make a stimulating impact on the different departments of the country’s literature, e.g. • Sir Walter Scott • The Gothic tradition • graveyard • Robert Burns and Byron

18. Independent / distinct features • American Romanticism exhibit from the very beginning distinct features of its own. • 1. It originated from an amalgam of factors that were altogether American rather than anything else. American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience” and “an alien quality,” e.g., American “pioneering” into the west romances and sketches about frontier life and Indians

19. 2. Puritan influenceover American Romanticism is conspicuously noticeable. • (American moral values are essentially Puritan. Public opinions are overwhelmingly Puritan; the Puritan atmosphere of the nation predominantly conditioned social life and cultural taste.) • American Romantic authors tend more to moralize than their English and European brothers. American romantic writers intended to edify(教育、启迪) more than they entertained.

20. The “newness” of Americans as a nation Their ideals of individualism and political equality, and their dream that America is to be a new Garden of Eden for man are distinctly American. ( And their existence in any form in the minds of the people do probably produce a feeling of “newness”, a feeling strong enough to inspire the romantic imagination and channel it into a different vein of writing. Hence romanticists undertook to represent their people with the sense of mission in the new world.)

21. Features in theme and technique • In theme, American romanticists’ favorite themes include “home, family and children, nature, and idealized love”, but they exhibit an apparent apathy to the major problems of American life like the westward expansion and democracy and equality. • In technique they love traditional meters and stanza forms. In language their English is usually British. Their metaphors are sometimes stereotyped and their symbolism tends to be explicit and superficial.

22. 英国是最早出现浪漫主义文学的国家之一。英国的浪漫主义作家不满于资本主义城市文明的发展，具有愤世嫉俗、归隐自然的倾向。18世纪中后期的诗人罗伯特·彭斯（1759年－1796年）和威廉·布莱克（1757年－1827年7）是浪漫主义文学的先驱，他们在英语诗歌文体和语言上做出了很多可贵的尝试。彭斯从苏格兰民歌中吸取养料，其《苏格兰方言诗集》擅长抒情和讽刺，语言通俗；布莱克的《天真之歌》、《经验之歌》则具有象征意义和神秘色彩，在20世纪大放异彩，影响了整个现代英诗。 然而，英国浪漫主义第一批真正的大师则是被称为“湖畔派”的三位诗人。威廉·华兹华斯（1770年－1850年）是湖畔派诗人中成就最高者，他与“湖畔派”另一诗人萨缪尔·柯勒律治（1772年－1834年）共同出版《抒情歌谣集》，成为英国浪漫主义文学的奠基之作。诗集中收录的诗歌大部分为华兹华斯所做，而柯勒律治的名诗《古舟子咏》和《忽必烈汉》亦收入其中，充满幻觉和奇谲的意象。然而华兹华斯这一时期最重要的作品则是长诗《序曲》。骚塞的诗歌极富古之幽情，与世俗格格不入。湖畔派三位诗人均蛰居于英国西北湖区，缅怀中世纪和宗法式的乡村生活，是浪漫主义文学中温婉清丽的代表。 乔治·拜伦（1788年－1824年）和雪莱（1792年－1822年）两位诗人将英国的浪漫主义文学推向高峰。他们和湖畔派诗人的不同之处在于其作品更具战斗意识和政治倾向。雪莱的代表作《解放了的普罗米修斯》通过神话描写被压迫的人民的苦难和暴君的必然下场，预言革命一定会到来。他的短诗《西风颂》、《致云雀》等音韵铿锵，更有“冬天如果来了，春天还会远吗？”等名句传世。拜伦是19世纪上半期最为著名的浪漫主义诗人，他一生游历各地，其诗作充满异域情调。代表作《唐璜》是对资本主义制度的一场深入骨髓的检阅，发人深省。在欧洲，拜伦成为一种文化现象。人们把孤独、悲壮、崇尚个人式反抗的浪漫主义者形象称为“拜伦式英雄”。拜伦晚年投身于希腊的民族解放运动，并最终因伤寒而死于希腊战场。 英国浪漫主义文学的代表人物还包括约翰·济慈（1795年－1821年）。他的创作生涯只有5年，却写出了著名的抒情诗《夜莺颂》和《希腊古瓮颂》，沉醉于古代世界田园牧歌的美景之中。瓦尔特·司各特（1771年－1823年）以创作小说为主，《艾凡赫》以12世纪的英国为背景，塑造绿林英雄罗宾汉的形象，他是欧洲历史小说的创始人。

23. 由于美国和欧洲在历史、文化上的种种不同，以欧洲通行的文学流派的概念来衡量美国文学的发展实际上并不十分准确。但由于美国文学也是整个西方文学的一个部分，因此通常人们也将美国文学史放入整个西方文学史的框架内来研究。 美国的浪漫主义文学深受西欧浪漫主义文学的影响。19世纪上半叶，美国资本主义迅速发展，民族意识和爱国热情高涨，摆脱英国文学的束缚、重视人的精神创造和追求自由的超验主义蔚为大观，至此美国浪漫主义文学开始蓬勃发展。 爱默生 (Ralph Waldo Emerson)（1803年－1882年）和梭罗（1817年－1862年）是超验主义理论家，最先提出浪漫主义的主张。他们强调人的精神作用和直觉的意义，认为自然界充满灵性，人应该回归自然。梭罗的《瓦尔登湖》是美国浪漫主义文学的奠基之作。 美国前期浪漫主义作家的代表人物包括华盛顿·欧文（1783年－1859年）、詹姆斯·库柏（1789年－1851年）和爱伦·坡。欧文被称为美国文学之父，在他的小说中，“美国文学”这一概念第一次浮出水面，不再深受英国文学的拘束。库柏是美国民族文学的奠基人之一，他开创了以《皮袜子故事集》为代表的边疆传奇小说，最重要的一部是《最后一个莫希干人》。爱伦·坡主张艺术要使读者获得刺激而达到灵魂的升华，他的小说大部分以死亡、凶杀、复仇为题材，揭示人的幻觉状态和变态心理，他和法国诗人波德莱尔共同被尊为象征主义文学的先驱。 美国后期的浪漫主义文学以纳撒尼尔·霍桑（1804年－1864年）、沃尔特·惠特曼（1819年－1892年）和赫尔曼·麦尔维尔（1819年－1891年）为代表。霍桑在作品中对“隐秘的恶”进行挖掘，《红字》反映清教徒殖民统治的黑暗以及教会的虚伪和不公，象征手法运用纯熟。惠特曼的耗一生的经历编纂、扩充诗集《草叶集》，歌颂美利坚民族意识的觉醒，成为美国现代文学的鼻祖。麦尔维尔是美国浪漫主义小说家中成就最高者，擅长描写航海奇遇和异域风情，代表作《白鲸》是美国文学史上最杰出的小说之一，小说中的“白鲸”已经成为一种超然的、对人类怀有敌意而又难以征服的神秘物的图腾。

24. V. Washington Irving(1783-1859)Father of American Literature the first American author to achieve international renown, who created the fictional characters Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane. The enduring popularity of Irving’s tales involving these characters proved the effectiveness of the short story as an American literary form.

25. Life • Irving was born into a wealthy New York merchant family. From a very early age, he began to read widely and write juvenile poems, essays and plays. Later, he studied law. • His first book A History of New York, written under the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, was a great success and won him wide popularity. • In 1815, he went to England to take care of his family business ther, and when it failed, had to write to support himself.

26. Life • With the publication of The Sketch Book, he won a measure of international recognition. • In 1826, as an American diplomatic attaché, he was sent to Spain, where he gathered material for his writing. • From 1829 to 1832, he was secretary of the U.S Legation in London. • Then when he was fifty, he returned to America and bought “Sunnyside”, his famous home. There he spent the rest of his life, living a life of leisure and comfort, except for a period of four years (1842--1846), when he was Minister to Spain.

27. Significance • “Father of American literature” • “Father of the American short story” • The first American writher of imaginative literature to gain international fame. • The short story as a genre in American literature began with Irving’s The Sketch Book. • The Sketch Book also marked the beginning of American Romanticism.

28. Works • A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Diedrich Knickerbocker 1809 《纽约外史》 • The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent 1819-1820 《见闻札记》 • “Rip Van Winkle” • “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 《睡谷的传说》 • Bracebridge Hall 1822 《布雷斯布里奇庄园》 • Oliver Goldsmith 1840 《哥尔德斯密斯》 • Life of George Washington 1855-1859 《华盛顿传》

29. Literary significance • The first American author of imaginative literature to achieve international renown • The first great belletrist (纯文学作家) • The first modern short stories appearing in his Sketch Book (marked the beginning of romanticism) • Among the first to write good history and biography for literary entertainment • Introducing familiar essay (随笔杂谈) to America

30. Major Works • A History of New York (1809) 《纽约外史》 • The Sketch Book (of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.) (1819-1820) 《见闻札记》 • Rip Van Winkle《瑞普·凡·温克尔》 • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow • 《睡谷的传说》

31. Characteristics: • He writes to amuse and entertain; • He has a keen sense of humor; • He has an unusual power of investing his subjects with the proper atmosphere;. • His prose is clear, simple, smooth; his language is musical; • His characters are vivid and true so that they tend to linger in the readers’ mind.

32. 3. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow • Describe Sleepy Hollow.

33. 2) Who is the central character of the story?

34. 3) What “crossed his path” and “caused more perplexity” to Ichabod than ghosts?

35. 4) What happens on a fine autumnal day?

36. 5) What happens to him on his way back after the banquet?

37. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Setting: Sleepy Hollow Characters: Ichabod, Katrina, Brom Bones Analysis of the protagonist: Ichabod: superstitious, shrewd, speculative, scary, scholarly --- a city slicker Brom Bones: rough, vigorous, boisterous but inwardly good --- a country bumpkin

38. The rivalry in love between Ichabod and Brom assumes the dimensions of two ethical groups in a historic context. Ichabod is somewhat a destructive force in village life, or an interloper who comes along to swindle the villagers. At last he is driven away from where he does not belong, so that the serene village remains permanently good and happy.

39. Themes: • Satire on superstition • Urban vs. rural life • Mock at so-called intellectuals and provincial villagers

40. James Fenimore Cooper(1789 -1851): • James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo. Among his most famous works is the Romantic novel The Last of the Mohicans, which many consider to be his masterpiece.

41. Contributions • Finding "the West" and "the frontier life" as materials for literary works • Introducing Western tradition into American literature

42. Masterpiece: • The Leatherstocking Tales. • The Pioneers (1823), The Last of Mohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), The Pathfinder (1840), The Deerslayer (1841) The Leatherstocking Tales, (German edition)

43. Analysis of Leatherstocking Tales • llustrate the importance of the frontier and the wilderness for the first time in the history of American literature. • With the central figure Natty Bumppo, these novels unfold an epic account about his adventures from initiation into the backwoods until his final death in old age out on the prairies in the middle of America. D. H. Lawrence calledNatty Bumppo the essential American soul. • In the novels, Cooper implies his discourse and social ideology into the speech of the characters. Moreover, he uses story plot and structure to indicate class hierarchy. • Cooper’s conflict between “morally right” and “practically inevitable”: he was devoted to the principles of social order and at the same time responsive to the idea of nature and freedom in the wilderness.

44. Analysis of Natty Bumppo: Hawk-Eye; Pathfinder Deerslayer; Leatherstocking As a pioneer, his stories approximate the American national experience of adventure into the West. Presented as an ideal American, not realistically but romantically, living a virtuous and free life in God’s world. To him the wilderness is good, pure, perfect, where there is freedom not tainted by human institutions. An embodiment of human virtues like innocence, simplicity, honesty, and generosity, a man born with an immaculate sense of good and evil and right and wrong.

45. Writing style: powerful but clumsy • Good at inventing plots. Plots are incredible sometimes but stories are intriguing. • Landscape descriptions are majestic and suggestive of Walter Scott (being called “the American Scott”). Quite conscious of associations of different locales • Rich imagination: never been to the frontier and among the Indians • His style is dreadful, characterization wooden and lacking in probability, and his language, his use of dialect, is not authentic.

46. Class focuses • Transcendentalism • Emerson • Thoreau

47. New England Transcendentalism (1836-1855) • It was the first American intellectual movement which exerted a tremendous influence on the consciousness of American people. • Transcendental club became the movement’s center with its magazine The Dial(日晷). • The two representatives are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

48. The term Transcendentalism is derived from the Latin verb transcendere, meaning to rise above, or to pass beyond the limits. • Transcendentalism has been defined as the recognition in man of the capacity of acquiring knowledge transcending the reach of the five senses, or of knowing truth intuitively, or of reaching the divine without the need of an intercessor.

49. The following are the major concepts: (1)As romantic idealism (唯心主义), it put spirit first and matter second. (2)It stressed the power of intuition. (3) It advocated an intuitive belief based upon an ultimate unity - “Oversoul,” a spiritual essence or vital force in the universe in which all souls participate and that therefore transcends individual consciousness. (4)It emphasized the significance of the individual and self-reliance. (5) It took nature as symbol of spirit or God. (6) commerce is degrading and that a life spent in business is a wasted one.

50. Major Principles: • 1. The transcendentalists place emphasis on spirit, or the over-soul, as the most important thing in the universe. As romantic idealism, it puts spirit first and matter second. • Both spirit and matter are real, but spirit transcended matter and the permanent reality was the spiritual one.