Washington_Irving.pptVIP

The Literature of Am. Romanticism the War of Independence ~ the Civil War Class Focuses: Characteristics of Romanticism General Features of Am. Romanticism Washington Irving Rip Van Winkle Characteristics of Romanticism Reason or emotion? Objectivity or subjectivity? Idealism or materialism? Individualism or authority? Man or nature? American Romanticism Reasons (Why did Am. Romanticism emerge?) A. Fast development of the new nation (P52) B. Development of journalism C. Foreign influences (P55) Am. Romanticism Imitative Independent a. peculiar American experience (landscape, pioneering to the West, new nations democracy and dreams) b. Puritan heritage (more moralizing, edifying more than mere entertainment) American Romanticism General features of Romanticism A. Stressing emotion rather than reason B. Stressing freedom and individuality C. Idealism rather than materialism D. Writing about nature, medieval legends and supernatural elements 酬乐天扬州初逢席上见赠 　　唐代 刘禹锡 　　巴山楚水凄凉地，二十三年弃置身。 　　怀旧空吟闻笛赋，到乡翻似烂柯人。 　　沉舟侧畔千帆过，病树前头万木春。 　　今日听君歌一曲，暂凭杯酒长精神。 How to read it? Three aspects: 1) a story about a hen-pecked husband 2) a story about time and change identity 3) a story about the independence war (political reading) Study Questions Even though he was a failure as a farmer, Rip Van Winkle was a success as a human being. Do you think so? What were the most praiseworthy qualities that he possessed? If you fell asleep today and awakened 20 years from now, what questions would you ask the first person you saw?? If you were the wife in this story, how would you deal with such a husband? Study Questions When Rip returns to his village, he learns that Dame Van Winkle has died and that his fellow Americans liberated themselves from English rule in a revolutionary war. What do the war and the death of Rip’s wife have in common in terms of how Rip will live the rest of his life? Themes American Revolution Marital Conflict (a lazy husband VS. a bad-temp