谁知道美国浪漫主义时期文学的特征
这一时期大多数美国文学作品中,普遍强调文学的想象力和情感因素,注重生动的描写、异国情调的表达、感官的体会和对超自然力的描述。美国作家特别注意感情的自由表达和人物的心理描便例形商局气写。作品中的主人公富有敏感激动的特质。注重表现个人和普通具香州得洲微人是这一时期作品的强称医烈倾向,几乎成了美国的信仰。富雷诺、布雷思特和库柏等人的作品对客观自然的描写有强烈的兴趣。富雷诺在"帝国的废墟"主题中对过去情景的描写绘声绘色,布雷望元又政里按面局恩特对北美五大湖区的史前印第安人描述引人入胜,欧文对哈德逊河布茶传说的巧加利用炉火纯青,库柏的长篇历史小说深入细致。总的来说,美国浪漫空难弱主义时期的文学上接英国文学传统,下开美国文学之风。
虽然美国文学受到外国文更言究张品赶学的影响,但这一时期著名的文学作品表现的却是富有美国色彩的浪漫主义思想。"西部开拓"就是一个说明美国作家表现自己国家的恰好的例子。他们大量描述了美国本土的自然风光:原始的森林、广袤的石零平原、无际的草原、沧茫的大海、不一而足。这些自然景物成为人们品格的象征,形成了美国文学中离开尘世,心向自然的传统。这探探聚映画奏些传统在库柏的《皮袜子的故事》(Leather Stocking Tales〉、梭罗的《沃尔顿》 子多那多卷宁境(Walden)以及后来马克·吐温的《哈克贝住紧话少茶采能除里·芬历险记》(Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn)中都得到了四曲兰厚特另高明显的表现。随着美国民均影乡钢十操旧激厂娘绍族意识的增长,在小说、诗歌中美国人物都越来越明显地操本调火句向征地方言,作品多表现农民、穷人、儿童以及没有文化的人,还有那些虽然没文化但站防心地高尚的红种人和白种人。美国清教作为一费省乙坐类能简剂措验种文化遗产,对美国人的道德观念产生了很大影响,在美国文学中也留下了明显的印迹。一个明显的表现就是,比起欧洲文学, 美国文学的道德倾向十分浓厚。在霍桑(Hawthorne)、心身过根径获增待价工个梅尔维尔(Melvi吧介室又主句lle)以及其他一些小作家的作品中加尔文主义的原罪思想和罪恶的神秘性都得到了充分的表现。
自考《英美文学选读》（美）浪漫主义时期（1）
下篇：美国文学
第一章美国浪漫主义时期
一、美国浪漫主义时期概述
Ⅰ。本章学习目的和要求
通过本章学习，了解19世纪初期至中叶美国文学产生的历史、文化背景；认识该时期文学创作的基本待征、基本主张，及其对同时代和后期美国文学的影响；了解该时期主要作家的文学创作生涯、创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题思想、人物刻画、语言风格等；同时结合注释，读懂所选作品并了解其思想内容和艺术特色，培养理解和欣赏文学作品的能力。
Ⅱ。本章重点及难点：
1.浪漫主义时期美国文学的特点
2.主要作家的创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题结构、人物刻画、语言风格、思想意义。
3.分析讨论选读作品
Ⅲ。本章考核知识点和考核要求：
1.美国浪漫主义时期概述
（1）“识记”内容：美国浪漫主义文学产生的社会历史及文化背景
（2）“领会”内容： 美国浪漫主义在文学上的表现
a.欧洲浪漫主义文学的影响枝销
b.美国本土文学的崛起及其待证
（3）“应用”内容：清教主义、超验主义、象征主义、自由诗等名词的解释
2.美国浪漫主义时期的主要作家
A.华盛顿。欧文
1.一般识记：欧文的生平及创作主涯
2.识记：《纽约外史》《见闻札记》
3.领会：欧文的创作领域、创作思想，及其作品的艺术风格
4.应用：选读《瑞普。凡。温可尔》的主题及其艺术特色
B.拉尔夫.华尔多.爱默生
1.一般识记：爱默生的生平及创作生涯
2.识记：爱默生的超验主义思想
3.领会：
（1）爱默生的散文：《论自然》《论自助》《论美国学者》等
（2）爱默生与梭罗：梭罗的超验主义思想和他的《沃尔登》
4. 应用：《论自然》节选：爱默生的基本哲 学思想及自然观
C.纳撒尼尔。霍桑
1.一般识记：霍桑的生平及创作主涯
2.识记：霍桑的长桥拿短篇小说
3.领会：
（1）《红字》的主题、心理描写、象征手法和、小说结构
（2）霍桑的清教主义思想及加尔文教条中的“原罪”对霍桑的影响（人性本恶的观点）
（3）霍桑对浪漫主义小说的贡献
4.应用：选读敏搭搭《小伙子布朗》的主题结构、象征手法及语言特色
D.华尔特。惠特曼
1.一般识记：惠特曼的生平及其创作生涯
2.识记：惠特曼的民主思想
3.领会：
（1）惠特曼的《草叶集》的主创意图、思想感情及诗体形式、语言风格
（2）惠特曼的个人主义
4.应用：选读《草叶集》诗选：“一个孩子的成长”、“涉水的骑兵”、“自己之歌”的主题结构、诗歌的艺术特色、语言风格
E.赫尔曼。麦尔维尔
1.一般识记：麦尔维尔的生平及创作生涯
2.识记：麦尔维尔的早期作品：《玛地》《雷得本》《白外衣》，后期作品《皮埃尔》《骗子的化装表演》《比利伯德》等
3.领会：《白鲸》的
（1）主题：表层及深层意义
（2）小说结构：浪漫主义和现实主义的统一
（3）象征手法和寓言的运用
（4）语言特色
4.应用：选读《白鲸》最后一章的节选：主题思想、人物刻画、象征手法、语言特色
Chapter l The Romantic Period
（一）“识记”内容：
1.The origin of Romantic American literature
The Romantic Period， one of the most important periods in thehistory of American literature， stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. It started with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
2.The American Renaissance or New England Renaissance is a period of the great flowering of American literature， from the i830s roughly until the end of the American Civil War. It came of age as an expression of a national spirit. One of the most important influences in the period was that of the Transcendentalists， including Ralph Waldo Emerson， Henry David Thoreau. The Transcendentalists contributed to the founding of a new national culture based on native elements. Apart from the Transcendentalists， there emerged during this period great imaginative writers ——Nathaniel Hawthorne， Herman Melville， and Walt Whitman——whose novels and poetry left a permanent imprint on American literature.
3.Its social historical and cultural background
The development of the American society nurtured "the literature of a great nation." America was flourishing into a politically， economically and culturally independent country. Historically， it was the time of westward expansion in America economically， the whole nation was experiencing an industrial transformation. Politically， democracy and equa1ity became the ideal of the new nation， and the two-party system came into being. Worthy of mention is the literary and cultural life of the country. With the founding of the American Independent Government， the nation felt an urge to have its own literary expression， to make known its new experience that other nations did not have： the early Puritan settlement， the confrontation with the Indians， the frontiersmen''''''''s life， and the wild west. Besides， the nation’s literary milieu was ready for the Romantic movement as we11. Thus， with a strong sense of optimism， a spectacular outburst of romantic feeling was brought about in the first ha1f of the 19th century.
4.Major writers of this period
There emerged a great host of men of letters during this period， among whom the better-known are poets such as Philip Freneau， William Cullen Bryant， Henry Wordsworth Long Fellow， James Russel Lowell， John Greenleaf Whitter， Edgar Ellen Poe， and， especially， Walt Whitman， whose Leaves Of Grass established him as the most popular American poet of the 19th century. The fiction of the American Romantic period is an original and diverse body of work. It ranges from the comic fables of Washington Irving to the The Gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe， from the frontier adventures of James Fenimore Cooper to the narrative quests of Herman Melville， from the psycho1ogical romances of Nathaniel Hawthorne to the social realism of Rebecca Harding Davis.
（二）领会内容
1.The impact of European Romanticism on American Romanticism
Foreign literary masters， especially the English counterparts exerted a stimulating impact on the writers of the new world. Born of one common cultural heritage， the American writers shared some common features with the English Romanticists. They revolted against the literary forms and ideas of the period of classicism by developing some relatively new forms of fiction or poetry.
（1） They put emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature， which included a liking for the picturesque， the exotic， the sensuous， the sensational， and the supernatural.
（2） The Americans also placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and disp1ayed an increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters. Heroes and heroines exhibited extremes of sensitivity and excitement.
（3） The strong tendency to exalt the individual and the common man was almost a national religion in America. Writers like Freneau， Bryant， and Cooper showed a great interest in external nature in their respective works.
（4） The literary use of the more colorfu1 aspects of the past was also to be found in Irving’s effort to exploit the legends of the Hudson River region， and in Cooper’s long series of historical tales.
（5） In short， American Romanticism is， in a certain way， derivative.
2.The unique characteristics of American Romanticism
Although greatly influenced by their English counterparts， the American romantic writers revealed unique characteristics of their own in their works and they grew on the native lands. For examp1e，（1） the American national experience of "pioneering into the west" proved to be a rich source of material for American writers to draw upon. They celebrated America''''''''s landscape with its virgin forests， meadows， groves， endless prairies， streams， and vast oceans. The wilderness came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral 1aw. （2）The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature. Such a desire is particularly evident in Cooper’s Leather Stocking Tales， in Thoreau''''''''s Walden and， later， in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. （3） With the growth of American national consciousness， American character types speaking local dialects appeared in poetry and fiction with increasing frequency. （4） Then the American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values and American Romanticism. One of the manifestations is the fact that American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English and European counterparts. （5） Besides， a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of origina1 sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne， Melville and a host of lesser writers.
（三）应用内容
1. The American Puritanism and its great influence over American moral values， as is shown in American romantic writings.
（1） American Puritanism
Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. （The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Protestant Church， who came into existence in the reigns Queen Elizabeth and King James Ⅰ。The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them Puritans. They came to America out of various reasons， but it should be remembered that they were a group of serious， religious people， advocating highly religious and moral principles. As the word itself hints， Puritans wanted to purify their religious beliefs and practices. They felt that the Church of England was too close to the Church of Rome in doctrine form of worship， and organization of authority.） The American Puritans， like their brothers back in England， were idealists， believing that the church should be restored to complete "purity". They accepted the doctrine of predestination， original sin and total depravity， and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. But in the grim struggle for survival that followed immediately after their arrival in America， they became more and more practical， as indeed they had to be. Puritans were noted for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that determinated their whole way of life. Puritans'''''''' lives were extremely disciplined and hard. They drove out of their settlements all those opinions that seemed dangerous to them， and history has criticized their actions. Yet in the persecution of what they considered error， the Puritans were no worse than many other movements in history. As a culture heritage， Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind and American values. American Puritanism also had a conspicuously noticeable and an enduring influence on American literature. It had become， to some extent， so much a state of mind， so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere， rather than a set of tenets.
（2） One of the manifestations is the fact that American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English and European counterparts. Besides， a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of origina1 sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne， Melville and a host of lesser writers.
2. New England Transcendentalism
New England Transcendentalism is the mot clearly defined Romantic literary movement in this period. It was started in the area around Concord， Mass. by a group of intellectual and the literary men of the United States such as Emerson， Henry David Thoreau who were members of an informal club， i. e. the Transcendental Club in New England in the l830s. The transcendentalists reacted against the cold， rigid rationalism of Unitarianism in Boston. They adhered to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation ， the innate goodness of man， and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths. The writings of the transcendentalists prepared the ground of their contemporaries such as Walt Whitman， Herman Melville， and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The main issues involved in the debate were generally philosophical， concerning nature， man and the universe. Basically， Transcendentalism has been defined philosophical1y as "the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively， or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses." Emerson once proclaimed in a speech， "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism inc1ude the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and， therefore， self-re1iant.
3. American Romanticists differed in their understanding of human nature.
To the transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau， man is divine in nature and therefore forever perfectible； but to Hawthorne and Melville， everybody is potentially a sinner， and great moral courage is therefore indispensab1e for the improvement of human nature， as is shown in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.
