美国浪漫主义.ppt

American Romanticism The origin of American Romanticism one?of?the?most?important?periods?in?the history? of?American?literature stretches?from?the?end?of?the?18th?century?to?the?outbreak?of?the?Civil?War. ?It?started?with?the?publication?of?Washington?Irvings?The?Sketch?Book?and?ended?with?Whitmans?Leaves?of?Grass. Historical Background The?development?of?the?American?society?nurtured?the?literature?of?a?great?nation.?America?was?flourishing?into?a?politically,?economically?and?culturally?independent?country. Historically, it was the time of westward expansion in America Economically,?the?whole?nation?was?experiencing?an? industrial?transformation. Politically,?democracy?and?equa1ity?became? the?ideal?of?the?new?nation,?and?the?two-party?system?came?into ?being. 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 impact of European Romanticism on American 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,?the?American?writers?shared? some?common?features?with?the?English? Romanticists.?They?revolted?against?the?literary? forms?and?ideas?of?the?period?of?classicism?by? developing?some?relatively?new?forms?of?fiction? or?poetry.? They?put?emphasis?upon?the?imaginative?and?emotional?qualities?of?literature,?which?included?a?liking?for?the?picturesque,?the?exotic,?the?sensuous,?the?sensational,?and?the?supernatural. The?Americans?also?placed?an?increasing?emphasis?on?the?free?expression?of?emotions?and?disp1ayed?an?increasing?attention?to?the?psychic?states?of?their?characters.?Heroes?and?heroines?exhibited?extremes?of?sensitivity?and?excitement. The?strong?tendency?to?exalt?the?individual?and?the?common?man?was?almost?a?national?religion in?America. Writers?like ? Fr