5全套美国文学精心整理的各个时期作家作品简介-American-Romanticism---A-General-Introduction.pptVIP

Lecture 5 The Literature of Romanticism (1800-1865) Content Historical Background American Romanticism Major writers and representative works Stages of American Romanticism Transcendentalism Historical Background Social and Economic Political Cultural and literary Social and Economic Background(1) Population rose from 7,000,000 to more than 31,000,000 in fifty years (1810-1861) Social and Economic Background(2) Frontier American Pioneers had pushed the frontier line of settlement beyond the Mississippi to the Great Plains Social and Economic Background(3a) The United States had begun to change into an industrial and urban society before 1860 vast material wealth brought by “Technology, automation, inventions, assembly-line mass production” Social and Economic Background(3b) The republic of small landowners without sharp contrasts of wealth grows to be a land of contrasting riches and poverty. Social and Economic Background(3c) New York became America’s largest city, supplanting Boston and Philadelphia as the economic and cultural capital of the nation. Political Background (1) the voting restriction being ceased the age of the Common Man had arrived by the 1840s Jeffersonian concept of the “natural aristocracy” being replaced by the egalitarian belief Political Background (2) “Natural aristocracy”: not born as aristocrats but become “aristocrats” naturally because of the owning of knowledge and virtue Egalitarian belief: all white men were literally equal and most were capable of political leadership Cultural and literary background(1) Pursuit of simplicity, utility, and perfection remain as an American characteristic in the first half of the century Utopian communal societies flourished Transcendentalist; Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists A renewed interest in reform and humanitarianism appeared Prevention of Pauperism; Anti-slavery The feminist movement: the opening of the first college-level institution for women, Mount Holyoke Female Semina