上海交通大学英美文学笔记-浪漫主义.doc

上海交通大学英美文学笔记-浪漫主义时期 时间：2005-6-7 10:59:30 作者：ginger 点击： 2497 评论 ? The Rise of Romanticism (1784-1798) Points to remember: Johnson and his group were the last great neoclassical writers. Younger authors began to revolt against classical rules of writing. The romantic writers were influenced by the philosophy of Jean Jacques Rousseau in France. Romanticism began as a deliberate movement in 1798. The Pre-Romantics James Thomson (1700-1748) expressed a romantic attitude toward nature in The Seasons. Thomas Gray (1716-1771) used a tone of sadness in his famous Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. William Cowper (1731-1800) indicated a sentimental love of nature in The Task. William Blake (1757-1827) and Robert Burns (1759-1796) were the greatest forerunners of the Romantic Movement. Romanticism (1789-1832) Romanticism arose as a main literary trend, which prevailed in England during the period of 1789-1932, beginning with the publication of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads (1789), ending with Walter Scott’s death (1832) The basic aims of romanticism were various: a) a return to nature; b) to belief in the goodness of man; c) the rediscovery of the artist as a supremely individual creator; d) the exaltation of senses and emotions over reason and intellect. Characteristic features of the Romantic Movement Subjectivism: Romantic poets describe poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,” which expresses the poet’s mind. The interest of them is not in the objective world or in the action of men, but in the feelings, thoughts and experiences of the poet themselves. Even the description of natural and human objects is modified by the poets’ feeling. In short, Romanticism is relating to subjectivism, whereas neo-classicisms is related to objectivism. The poetry of the Romantic Age in England is distinctive for its high degree of imagination. Spontaneity: Wordsworth defines poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of feelings.” This emphasis on spontan