英国文学第三讲布莱克的浪漫主义诗歌.pptVIP

Pre-Romanticism 2nd half of 18th century witnessed the arise of a new literary movement in Europe, Pre-Romanticism in England . As a historical period in English literature, the age of Romanticism extends from 1798, when Wordsworth and Coleridge published their Lyrical Ballads, to the 1832s, when all the major Romantic poets were either dead or no longer productive. Romanticism was expressed almost entirely in poetry. Impetus of Romantic Movement: the French Revolution (its ideals: liberty, equality, fraternity); the Industrial Revolution (with its new class contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the working class and its result, the workers’ struggles breaking out). Meaning of Romanticism The Romantic Movement, which Victor Hugo calls “liberalism in literature”, is simply the expression of life as seen by the imagination rather than by prosaic “common sense”， which was the central doctrine of English philosophy in the 18th century. As a way of thinking and as an approach to literature, Romanticism is associated with vitality, powerful emotion, limitless and dreamlike ideas; Classicism, by contrast, is associated with order, common sense, and controlled reason. Special Qualities of Romanticism The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. The creation of a world of imagination. The return to nature for material. Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the common place. Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius. The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models. The interest in old stories and medieval romances. A sense of melancholy and loneliness. The rebellious spirit. William Blake (1757-1827) Life Works Appreciation of his works Blake’s position in English literature Blake’s Time Line son of a London hosier; never went to school; at 14, apprenticed to an engraver; then, making a living as an engraver; in 1782, married Catherine Boucher, illiterate in 1793, began to write poems; at late age, gave up poetry,