新乡学院外国语学院美国文学课件 第04章.pptVIP

Romanticism The Literature of Romanticism from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the civil war Class Focuses: Characteristics of Romanticism General Features of the Writings of American Romanticism Washington Irving General Introduction The romantic period covers the first half of the 19th century. It started with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. It is a period of the great flowering of American literature and it is also called “American Renaissance”. general characteristics: moral enthusiasm, faith in value of individualism, and intuitive perception, and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man’s societies a source of corruption. I. Characteristics of Romanticism Romanticism is a rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism. Romanticists affirm the inner life of the self, and want each person to be free to develop and express his own inner thoughts. They believe that the feelings, intuitions and emotions are more important than reason and common sense and that one could find truth through one’s feelings. 2. Romanticists think that the world is not a ticking watch made by God but a living, breathing being. They view nature as a source of vivid physical beauty and as a manifestation of spirit in the universe. They stress the close relationship between man and nature. 3. They emphasize individualism, placing the individual against the group, against authority. They see the individual at the very center of life and art. They emphasize personal freedom and freedom from formalism(形式主义), tradition, and conformity. 4. They cherish strong interest in the past, (esp. the medieval), the wild, irregular, the indefinite, the remote, the mysterious, and the strange. They look at Indians as innocent and close to nature and therefore close in touch with God. American Romanticism Time: from t