American__ Literature(part3)continued.ppt

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) best loved of American poets ---lyrical, easy rhyme ---obvious themes One of school room poet --- imitative of European writers ---conventional Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) Works: poem Song of Hiawatha, A Psalm of Life, My Lost Youth contribution: bringing European culture to the U.S., popularizing American culture abroad THE Arrow and the Song I shot an arrow into the air,It fell to earth, I knew not where;For, so swiftly it flew, the sightCould not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air,It fell to earth, I knew not where;For who has sight so keen and strong,That it can follow the flight of song? Question: Why did the speaker lose sight of his arrow and song?  THE Arrow and the Song Long, long afterward, in an oakI found the arrow, still unbroke;And the song, from beginning to end,I found again in the heart of a friend. Question: 1 When did he find them again? 2 What do arrow and song stand for in this poem? 3 Why do you think the author use “unbroke” instead of “unbroken”? A Psalm of Life (analysis) Theme: to praise significant life and to encourage people to do actively in life and try to achieve as much as possible Tone: optimistic, active, emotional Subject: life Writing style: 1 language: plain with neat rhyme 2 rhyme (abab cdcd efef ghgh…) 3 alliteration (repetition of an initial sound in two or more words in a line of poems) New England Transcendentalism---the culmination of American Romanticism 1 Beginning of the Transcendentalism --- 1836, Nature, Emerson (from 1830s – until the Civil War) 2 reason for its appearance: “Romanticism on the Puritan soil” ---the product of foreign Romanticism( idealism) and puritan tradition (self-improvement). New England Transcendentalism---the culmination of American Romanticism 3 What is Transcendentalism? a moral philosophy, neither logical nor systematized with different defi