Romanticism浪漫主义 (word版课件).doc

English Romanticism I. An Overview of Romanticism: 1. Definition: Romanticism (Romantic Movement) is a literary movement which took place throughout Europe during 1770-1848. It is characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on imagination, the exaltation of the individuals emotion over reason, departure from Enlightenment and classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. 2. English Romanticism: In Britain, the Romantic period began in 1798, the year of the first edition of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, and ended in 1832, the year which marked the death of Sir Walter Scott. II. Historical Background (3 revolutions and domestic political movement) French Revolution: influence on the English lower-class people and progressive intellectuals to fight for democracy; influence of the French ideal (“liberty, equality and fraternity”); call for natural human rights American Revolution: influence on the idea of independence, human freedom, and democracy Industrial Revolution: the birth of the proletariat; the poverty and merciless exploitation of the working class; the intense contradictions between the working-class people and the capitalists; spontaneous movement of the Luddites Domestic movements: upsurge of democratic movements among the popular masses to demand for political reform and fight against the English ruling class for their reactionary measures of suppressing the French Revolution and democratic movements; “Peterloo Massacre” in 1819; shaking the foundation of aristocratic rule in England. III. Characteristics of Romanticism: Glorification of human emotions and intuition; reaction against logic and reason (against neo-classicism and Enlightenment) Veneration of the beauty of nature (the natural world as a source of goodness); Appealing to imagination; sense of exoticism and the supernatural; Criticism of Industrial / modern society as a source of corruption; anti-science (against Indust