美国文学史 一二章.ppt

Colonial America Background: American Puritanism——one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature. Features of Puritanism (1)? Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred. (2)? Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation. (3)? Total depravity (4)? Limited atonement: Only the “elect” can be saved. Influence (1) A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature. (2) It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden. (3) Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. (4) With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible. literature Literature of the New England Settlement is mainly a literary expression of the puritan idealism. It is base on the biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. They are mainly written in the form of histories, travel accounts, biographies, diaries, letters, autobiographies, sermons, and poems. writers of colonial period (1) John Smith the “first author” in the history of American literature. Works: A True Relation of Virginia, A Map of Virginia with a Description of the County (2) William Bradford the “father of American history” Works: History of Plymouth Plantation (3) John Winthrop (The History of New England) (4)??Anne Bradstreet——the first poetess in the colonial period (The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America) (5)??Edward Taylor (Huswifery, Upon a Spider Catching a Fly) (6)?Roger Williams (Rhode Island Way) (7) John Woolman (A Plea for the Poor, The Journal) (8)??Thomas Paine A political pamph