英美文学导论 ( 第二讲 )

1. 英美文学导论(第二讲) 主讲教师: 林春阳

2. Part Two • The 18th century—The Age of Enlightenment • The Romantic Period (1798—1832)

3. The 18th century—The Age of Enlightenment Ⅰ.Historical Background • England entered a period of a comparatively peaceful de- -velopment in the 18th century. • The Englishmen spent in their endless political discussion and in efforts to improve his government. • Another feature of the age was the rapid development of social life. • There sprang into life a public movement known as the Enlightenment. 1. It is an expression of struggle of the progressive class of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. 2. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagna- -tion, prejudice, and other survival of feudalism. 3. They accepted bourgeois relationship as rightful and rea- -sonable relationship among people.

4. Ⅱ.Literature • It is an age of prose rather than poetry, and in this respect it differs from all preceding ages of English literature. • The literature writing of the 18th century may be in three main division: the reign of so-called classicism, the revival of romantic poetry and the beginning of the modern novel. • The middle of the 18th century in England sees the inception of a new current—that of Sentimentalism. It came into being as a result of a bitter discontent on the part of certain enlighteners in a social reality. • Another conspicuous trend in the English literature of the latter half of the 18th century was the so-call -ed pre-romanticism. It originated among the cons- -ervative groups of men of letters as a reaction aga- -inst Enlightenment and found its most manifest ex- -pression in the “Gothic novel”.

5. Ⅲ.the main writers • Adventure Fiction Writers Daniel Defoe (1660—1731) Jonathan Swift (1667—1745) • Pre-Romantic Poets William Blake (1757—1827) Robert Burns (1759—1796)

6. Daniel Defoe (1661—1731) • Defoe was often given the credit for the discovery of the modern novel. • He created The Review, the first journal social and politi- -cal magazine. • Main works (1) “The Life and Strange Surprising Adventure of Robinson Crusoe” (鲁滨逊漂流记) (2) “Captain Singleton”(辛格顿船长) (3) “Moll Flanders”(摩尔弗兰斯) (4) “A Journal of the Plague Year”(大疫年日记) (5) “Roxana”(罗克萨娜) • Four fact helped the reader to understand the character of his work. (1) He was a jack-of-all-trades, as well as a writer (2) He was a radical Nonconformist in religion. (3) He was a journalist and pamphleteer. (4) He knew prison life.

7. Jonathan Swift (1667—1745) • The supreme master of the satires literature in the first part of the 18th century is Jonathan Swift. • “Tale of a Tub” and “Gulliver’s Travels” are the greatest satire in the English literature. • Main works: (1) “A Tale of a Tub” (一只桶的故事) (2) “The Battle of the Book” (书籍之战) (3) “The Drapier’s Letter” (布商来信) (4) “A Modest Proposal” (一个温和的建议) (5) “Journal to Stella” (给斯黛拉的日记)—according to the letters that Swift wrote to his girlfriends as the important works of the English dairy literature (6) “Gulliver’s Travels”(格列佛游记)—the immortal work of Swift written in 1726 and ranking among the best novels of world literature

8. William Blake (1757—1827) • Blake is the most independent and the most original of all the romantic poets of the 18th century. • He is a famous painter in English at the end of the 18th century and in the beginning of the 19th century. • In his earliest works, he seemed to go back to the Elizab- -ethan song writers for his models and break up the Ne- -oclassicism of the 18th century. • Main works: (1) “Poetical Sketches”(诗的素描) (2) “Songs of Innocence”(天真之歌) (3) “The Book of Thel” (塞尔书) (4) “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” (天堂与地狱的结合) (5) “Songs of Experience” (经验之歌) (6) “Vision of the Daughters of Albion” (阿尔比昂的女儿之 幻想) (7) “The Song of Los” (罗斯之歌)

9. Robert Burns (1759—1796) • He is the famous Scottish peasant poets. • Besides the songs of nature and of human emotion, Burns has given us a large number of poems. • Burns wrote the poetry with Scotch dialect. • Main works Lyrical poems: (1) “My Heart’s in the Highlands” (我的心在高原) (2) “A Red Red Rose” (一朵红红的玫瑰) (3) “John Anderson, My Jo” (约翰安德生, 我的爱人) (4) “Auld Lang Syne” (昔日时光) • Satiric poems: (1) “Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect” (苏格兰方言诗集) (2) “The Tree of Liberty” (自由树) (3) “Scots, Wha Hae” (苏格兰人) (4) “Holy Willie’s Prayer” (威利长老的祈祷) (5) “The Two Dogs” (两只狗)—a contrast between the rich and poor

10. The Romantic Period (1798—1832) Ⅰ. Historical Background • After the Industrial Revolution and French Revolution, England took place many changes in the society. (1) Britain became the “Workshop of the world”. (2) The bourgeoisie became the dominant position in the country. (3) The peasants became landless and had to find a new way of living and a new class, proletariat, had sprung in- -to existence. (4) The Revolution proclaimed the natural rights of men and the abolition of class distinctions. • The English people became more and more dissatisfied with the reality of other country. • Some reforms had been made in England since 1815, e.g. the destruction of the African salve trade. • The Reform Bill of 1832 shifted the center of political power to the middle class.

11. Ⅱ.Literature 1. Romanticism arose as a main literary trend, which pre- -vailed in England during 1798—1832, beginning with the publication of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads (1798), ending with Walter Scott’s death(1832). (1) introducer: Thomas, James and Thomas (2) symbol: with the publication of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads in collaboration with S.T. Coleridge (3) content: as a renewed interest in medieval literature (4) climax: the first half of the nineteenth century 2. The 18th century was distinctively an age of prose. 3. It is the second great age in English literary history. 4. The literature of the age was exceeding rich and varied.

12. Ⅲ.the main writers • William Wordsworth (1770—1850) • Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772—1834) • Jane Austen (1775—1817) • George Gordon Byron (1788—1824) • Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792—1822) • John Keats (1795—1821)

13. William Wordsworth (1770—1850) • He was awarded “Poet Laureate” in 1843. • Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey were called “Lake Poets”. • Main works: (1) “Lyrical Poems” (抒情歌谣集) (2) “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” (丁登寺杂咏) (3) “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” (不朽颂) (4) “The Solitary Reaper” (孤独的收割女) (5) “Lucy Poems” (露茜)—a series of poems (6) “The Prelude” (序曲)—the autobiographical poems • Characteristics: (1) simplicity and purity of the language (2) a passionate of lover of nature and his description of nature

14. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772—1834) • He was the outstanding representative of English ro- -manticism poem in the 19th century. • He was one of the “Lake Poet”. • As a good lecturer, his lectures on Shakespeare are considered an valuable Shakespeare critical materials. • He regarded the imagination as the soul and leading function of the literature. • His poem not only embodied the characteristic of the 19th century romanticism literature but also revealed his personal specific style and superb art.

15. As the literature critic, Coleridge enjoyed great pres- -tige. His work of literary criticism “Biographia Litera- -ria” summed up his and Wordsworth’s literature pra- -ctice and the creation ideas. • Main Works: (1) “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”(古舟子咏)—his masterpiece (2) “Christabel”(克丽斯塔贝尔) (3) “Kublakhan”(忽必烈汗) (4) “Biographia Literaria”(文学传记)—literary criticism work

16. Jane Austen (1775—1817) • Every novel of Austen is perfect, enjoying her qu- -iet irony and her simple delicate analysis of cha- -racter. There are no heroic passions nor astoun- -ding adventures. • Her style is easy and effortless. • She was the founder of the novel which deals wi- -th unimportant middle-class people and of which there are many fine examples in latter English fic- -tion.

17. Main works: (1)“Sense and Sensibility”(理智与情感)又名“Elinor and Marriane”---the first published book (2)“Pride and Prejudice”(傲慢与偏见) (3) “Mansfield Park”(曼斯菲尔德庄园) (4) “Emma”(爱玛) (5) “Northanger Abbey”(诺桑觉寺) (6) “Persuasion”(劝导)

18. George Gordon Byron (1788—1824) • He published the collection of lyrical verse “Hours of Idleness” which incurred the harsh criticism from “The Edinburgh Review”. • After he took his seat in the House of Lords, he published the first two cantos of “Childe Herold’s Pilgrimage”. The book made him famous quickly.

19. Main Works: (1)“Hours of Idleness”(闲散时刻)-the first collection of lyrical verse (2)“English Bards and Scotch Reviewers”(英国诗人 与苏格兰评论家) (3)“Childe Herold’s Pilgrimage”(恰尔德哈罗德游记) (4)“The Giaour”(异教徒)---narrative poem (5)“The Bride of Abydos”(阿比多斯的新娘) (6)“The Seige of Corinth”(柯林斯之围) (7) plays a. “Manfred”(曼弗雷德) b. “Cain”(该隐) (8)“Don Juan”(唐璜)---representative work

20. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792—1822) • He was expelled from the university for the publi- -cation of the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism. • His writings drew the Irish’s inspiration to strive the freedom. • Main works (1) poems (2) Long poems (3) Lyrical drama (4) Lyrical poems (5) prose

21. Main Works: (1) “The Necessity of Atheism”(无神论的必然性) (2) long poems a. “Queen Mab”(麦布女王) b. “The Revolt of Isiam”(伊斯兰反叛) (3) lyrical dramas a. “Prometheus Unbound”(解放普罗米修斯) b. “The Cenci”(钦契) (4) “Adonais”(阿多尼)---an elegiac poem on death of Keats (5) “Ode to the West Wind”(西风颂)---lyric poem (6) “England in 1819”(1819年的英国)---the political poem (7) “A Defence of Poetry”(诗辩)---prose

22. John Keats (1795—1821) • In 1817 he published his first collection of poems. • He published his long allegorical poem Endymion, which was severely attacked by conservative crit- -ics. • Keats’ principle is Beauty is true, truth of beauty. • Keats turned from Spenser and Ariosto to the gre- -at masculine poets of the 17th century, Shakesp- -eare and he found iron which was lacking in his earlier works by learning the lessons of the artist- -ic calmness and severity during the two years fr- -om 1818 to 1820.

23. Main Works: 1. long poem (1)“Endymion”(恩底弥翁) (2)“Isabella”(伊莎贝拉) (3)“The Eve of Saint Agnes”(圣阿格尼斯之夜) (4)“Hyperion”(赫披里昂) 2. sonnet (1)“Ode on a Grecian Urn”(希腊古瓮颂) (2)“Ode to a Nightingale”(夜莺颂)