[文学]SH2012 Part 7 Prose-writers and poets of the mid and late 19th century.ppt

Part seven: Prose-writers and poets of the mid and late 19th century Prose Thomas Carlyle On Heroes and Hero Worship Past and Present Matthew Arnold Culture and Anarchy Matthew Arnold (1822 --- 1888) Born --- a clergyman’s family Family --- his father：a headmaster Education --- Oxford Work --- professor of poetry at Oxford Achievement --- a poet and a literary critic Writing aim --- reflects on the doubt of his age: conflict between science and religion Inherits a critical tradition from Samuel Johnson and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Unlike Coleridge, he acknowledges his debt to German philosophers A secular writer, he still believes strongly in absolutes -- that we can discern, for instance, what is “the best that is known and thought in the world” He says criticism can “attain any real authority” by being “absolutely and entirely independent” of “sects and parties” Dover Beach Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night. Poetry The year 1832 marks the death of Walter Scott. Keats, Shelley and Byron had died, Wordsworth had no longer written his best poems, and the glorious period of Romantic poetry had come to an end. The Victorian Age was largely an age of prose, especially the novel. However, the development of English poetry did not stop. Poetry was no longer a major art intended to change the world, as that of Byron and Shelly. It now seldom touched on the serious social problems, but mainly concerned itself with the poets’ purely personal tastes or spiritual questionings. The most admired poets: Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning and his wife. 2. Similes When you compare something using like or as. The river is peaceful,