美国浪漫主义 超验主义.ppt

American Romanticism
Time
"Romanticism," as a term, derives from romance which means a story that is adventurous and improbable.
Britain: 1790s~1830s
America :1800 ~1860s
It started with the publication
of Washington Irving’s
The Sketch Book
ended with Whitman’s
Leaves of Grass .
Background
Historically， it was the time of westward expansion in America
Economically， the whole nation was experiencing an industrial revolution.
Politically， democracy and equality became the ideal of the new nation， and the two-party system came into being.
literary and cultural life , 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.
The impact of European Romanticism onAmerican 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, they revolted against
the literary forms and ideas of the
period of classicism。
Features
. For Americans in the early 19th century, their country and landscape was an entirely new one. The newness meant that even fairly ordinary, day-to-day things were very interesting, and lots of American writers wrote about ordinary events in a way that made them fresh and exciting.
2. Puritanism. Puritanism remained a strong influence. The public opinion was still overwhelmingly Puritan, so certain topics remained off limits- specifically sex.
:Without traditional context, insecurity about values arises, They are troubled by the loss of distinction
:They thought of America as a new Garden of Eden, and believed strongly in individualism and equality, to the extent that they saw themselves as a new kind of pioneer.