Romantic American Literature课件.pptVIP

Romantic American Literature;Origin of Romantic American literature;Also known as the American Renaissance or New England Renaissance --- a period of the great flowering of American literature, from the 1830s roughly until the end of the American Civil War. It came of age as an expression of a national spirit. One of the most important influences in the period was that of the Transcendentalists(超验主义者), which contributed to the founding of a new national culture based on native elements. ;New England Transcendentalism;New England Transcendentalism;Ralph Waldo Emerson is the chief spokesman of New England Transcendentalism. Emerson formed a club at Concord with people like Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, which was later known as the Transcendental Club. And the unofficial manifesto for the Club was Nature(l836), Emersons first little book. Nature was called the Manifesto of American Transcendentalism.;Henry David Thoreau;lived alone in a hut on the north shore of Walden Pond from 1845-47 wrote Walden in 1854;;Why Romanticism emerged?;Background;Historically: time of westward expansion Economically: an industrial transformation Politically: democracy and equality ; the two-party system ;Culturally, 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 early Puritan settlement, the confrontation with the Indians, the frontiersmens life, and the wild west. Besides, the nations literary environment was ready for the Romantic movement as well. Thus, with a strong sense of optimism, a spectacular outburst of romantic feeling was brought about in the first half of the 19th century. ;The impact of European Romanticism on 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 a