The english romanticism课件.ppt

Romanticism in England;Introduction; The romanticists express a negative attitude towards the existing social or political conditions. They place the individual at the center of art, as can be seen from Lord Byron’s Byronic Hero. The key words of English Romanticism are nature and imagination. ;What are the features of Romanticism?;Lakers or lake poets; Owing to differences in political attitudes, the romanticists split into two schools. Some romantic writers reflected the thinking of classes ruined by bourgeoisie, by way of protesting against capitalists development and turned to the feudal past , i.e., the “ merry old England “, as their ideal, or, “ frightened by the coming industrialism and the nightmare towns of industry, they turning to nature for protection.” These were the elder and sometimes called passive or escapist romanticists, represented by Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey.;Others expressed the aspirations of the classes created by capitalism and held out an ideal, though a vague one, of a future society free from oppression and exploitation. These were the younger and sometimes called active romanticists represented by Byron, Shelly and Keats. ;In contrast with the rationalism and enlighteners and classicists in the 18th century, the romanticists paid great attention to the spiritual and emotional life of man. Nature, often personified, also plays an important role in their works. The passions of nature and the beauties of nature appealed strongly to the imagination of the Romantic writer, and the glory of lakes and mountains , the little joys or sorrows of children, the weal and woe of ordinary, uncultured peasants, ;the wonder of the fairy world, and the splendor of the Greek art all became the fountain-heads in the writer’s inspiration. Poetry, of course, is the best medium to express all these sentiments. In fact, all the romanticists mentioned above were poets. The Romantic period was one of poetical revival. ;William Wordsworth 华兹华斯