1.American Romanticism.doc

American Romanticism名词解释：Romanticism（浪漫主义）:It refer to the literature in the Romantic period,which intends from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War.It’s characterized by a rejection of formal classical literature.It emphasizes sentiment over reason and views art as essentially an expression of the artist’s thoughts and feeling.The themes included “home,family and children,nature and idealized love,”but the writers exhibited an apparent apathy(冷漠） to the major problems of American life.Transcendentalism(超越论，先验论）:it,also regarded as philosophical romanticism,reached America a generation or two after it developed in Europe.It was based on the doctrine of ancient and modern European philosophers.It emphasis on spirit or the Over Soul,as the important thing in universe,and also om the importance of the individual.It was a reaction against dehumanization that came in the wake of developing capitalism.It took on special significance in America in the mid-19th century. 主要作家：8个l Herman Melville（1819-1891） :Experience:1. Melville’s childhood was happy to the age of eleventh when his father died in debt. He had little education and began to work early. 2. three things deserves mention：His experience and adventures on the sea stood him in rich stead； he had to write for money To support his wife; he and Hawthorne met3. He wrote glosses and commentaries as he raced through the volumes that came his wayWorks :1.The first three drew from his adventures among the people of the south pacific islands, suh as:Typee Omoo Mardi2.t is regarded as one of the world’s greatest masterpieces. To get to know the 19th century American mind and American itself------Moby Dick3 Later he wrote some other books like The Confidence Man and Billy Budd which he left in manuscript at time of his death.Character:1.Melville lies in the fact that he was unwilling to sacrifice his insight and artistic standards to cater to popular feeling and demand.2.His discovery of Shakespeare stirred him the depths of his reading. Carlyle and Hawthorne’ s symbolism fascinated him. For Emerson, he had mixed feeling of respect and repulsion.3.He was thus known as a popular writer of exotic talesExtra : 1.Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville’s bleak view of the world in which he lived.揭示出梅尔维尔的人与自然观：人类应该观察探索自然， 人类若狂妄地反抗自然， 就会导致毁灭2. 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔是美国最伟大的小说家之一，也是美国象征主义文学大师3. Constantly under his attack is its emphasis on individual and Oversoul. 相信邪恶的普遍性，怀疑超验主义的乐观主义理4. his characters forever trying to escape from their corrupt world into a better place to live, or what he calls another world. 在梅尔维尔看来 ，没有什么事物是绝对美好的或绝对罪恶的。

爱默生所宣扬的超验主义乐观精神对泱泱社会中的个人的发展并不能带来真正意义上的帮助个人的力量是渺小的，根本无力与社会进行抗争 l Edgar Allan Poe:Experience: 1. Born in Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849 ,he was an American writer, editor, and literary critic2. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year. Thus orphaned,3. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money. Poe quarreled with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name.4. Later failing as an officer's cadet at West Point and declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, Poe parted ways with John Allan.5. Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents Works:1. he released his first book, a 40-page collection of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems2. in February 1831, and released a third volume of poems, simply titled Poems.3. his only drama, Politian. The Baltimore Saturday Visiter awarded Poe a prize in October 1833 for his short story "MS. Found in a Bottle".4. in 1838,The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published and widely reviewed5. in 1839, the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in two volumes,6. In June 1840, Poe published a prospectus announcing his intentions to start his own journal, The Stylus7. On January 29, 1845, his poem "The Raven" appeared in the Evening Mirror and became a popular sensation Character:1. fictional depictions of Poe use his mystery-solving skills in such novels as The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pear2. Poe was mostly recognized as a literary critic3. Fellow critic James Russell Lowell called him "the most discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in America", suggesting—rhetorically—that he occasionally used prussic acid instead of ink4. Poe's early detective fiction tales featuring C. Auguste Dupin laid the groundwork for future detectives in literature Extra: 1.坡以神秘故事和恐怖小说闻名于世，他是美国短篇故事的最早先驱者之一，又被尊为推理小说的开山鼻祖，进而也被誉为后世科幻小说的始祖 2.他是第一个尝试完全依赖写作谋生的知名美国作家，从而导致贫困潦倒 3.爱伦·坡以恐怖小说这样一种特殊的文学形式深入刻画与呈现了非现实状态下人。