《英美文学选读》笔记（简单版）
Thomas More: Utopia 《乌托邦》
Francis Bacon: Essays 《论说文集》或《随笔》
"Knowledge is power"----Bacon
Edmund Spencer: Faerie Queen 《仙后》
"Our sweetest songs are those that sing of saddest feelings."--- Spencer
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
1. 23rd, April 1564, Stratford-on-Avon
2. His Father, a leather merchant 皮货商
3. His school, a local Grammar school for 6 years
4. His life, dramatist, actor, poet, proprietor
5. His first son, Hamnet
6. 4 tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth (Romeo and Juliet)
7. Main works: 37 plays, 154 sonnets , 2 narrative plays
戏剧14行诗叙事诗
Titus Andronicus 《泰特斯·安德洛尼克斯》
Taming of the Shrew 《驯悍记》
The Two Gentlemen of Verona 《维罗纳二绅士》
Love's Labor's Lost 《爱的徒劳》
A Midsummer Night's Dream 《仲夏夜之梦》
King John 《约翰王的生平和逝世》
Much Ado about Nothing 《无事生非》
The Merry Wives of Windsor 《温莎的风流娘们》
Julius Caesar 《朱力叶斯·凯撒》
The Merchant of Venice 《威尼斯商人》
As you like it 《皆大欢喜》
8. Carl Marx: "Aeschylus and Shakespeare are the two greatest dramatic genius the world has ever known."
9. His friend: "He does not belong to one time, but belongs to all times."
William Shakespeare's writing feature
1. A play in the play.
2. Borrow plots from other stories such as Roman, Greek and ancient myth.
3. Several threads running through the play.
4. Combination of tragic and comic elements.
William Shakespeare's writing style
1. Tremendous vocabulary (16,000 words, invent words)
2. Literary devices (alliteration, simile, metaphor)
3. Use poetry in his play
William Shakespeare's humanistic ideas
1. Against cruelty and anti-natural character of civil wars
2. Against religious persecution, racial discrimination, social inequality.
3. Hates rebellion and despises democracy
Themes in Shakespeare's sonnets
1. Express love and praise to a young man
2. Immortalize beauty through verses
3. Friendship or betrayal of friendship
Sonnet
Origin: Italy
Most famous and influential sonneteer: Petrach
Selected Reading of Shakespeare:
1. [P37] Shakespeare's Sonnet 18:
a. Ladies in the eyes of Shakespeare are not good and beautiful. His wife is 8 years older than him.
b. Iambic pentameter
c. Main ideas:
i. Quatrain 1: praise the beauty of the young man
ii. Quatrain 2: changes in life and nature
iii. Quatrain 3: "your" beauty will last forever
iv. Couplet: "your" beauty will live in my poem. àImmortalize beauty
2. [P39] An Excerpt from The Merchant of Venice
a. How does Shylock justify himself according to the accusation of Duke and Bassanio?
[P40-41] There are 3 reasons.
b. Why does Shylock stick to his bond instead of taking twice his principle?
He hates the Christians and is determined to revenge on them because his daughter elopes with a Christian.
c. What do you think of Shylock in the early court scene? What about him later?
In the early court scene, Shylock is cruel, eloquent, stubborn, tricky, isolated from law and friendship.
In the later court scene, Shylock is greedy, sympathetic and oppressed by Christians.
d. What is Shakespeare's attitude towards Shylock?
He sympathizes those who are oppressed. Antonio is oppressed by Shylock. Shylock is oppressed by Christians.
e. The whole play is a tragi-comedy. In the scene, Shylock is the tragic side. Antonio and his friends is the comic side.
John Donne (1572-1631)
1572 Born in a merchant family
1591 Learn law at the Inns of Court in London
Private Secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.
1601 29y. Married Egerton's niece, Ann More. He worked hard to fight against poverty. However, it's a secret marriage. When the marriage was exposed, he was put into jail. The Egertons regarded the marriage as an offence. 1617 His wife died. He devoted his time and efforts to his priestly duties, writing sermons and religious poems. 1621 Donne was appointed the Dean of St. Paul's and kept the post until his death.
John Donne's major work
1. Songs and Sonnets, wrote before 1600, 55 love poems.
2. The Elegies and Satires, his elegies wrote for love whereas others' wrote for mourning dead people.
3. Holy Sonnets & Sermons, Sonnets wrote about God, sexual life, problem of death and life. Sermons are Christian preaching.
John Donne is famed for 3 things
1. A great visitor of ladies
2. A great frequenter of plays
3. A great writer of conceited verses
At his time, John Donne was famed as a preacher. Today, he is famed as a lyric poet. John Donne compared parting love to compass, flea compared to the union of lovers. John Donne's conceit can be seen from his "Go catching the falling star" in which he listed many impossible things---the most impossible thing is a woman's faith and heart.
Metaphysical poetry
--- is commonly used to name the work of the 17th-century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Metaphysical poets
--- are the poets in the 17c England who often unconventionally use conceits and wit. The imagery is draw from everyday life. The form is the form of argument (with God, lover, himself). The diction is simple and the language is colloquial but powerful. John Donne is the leading of "metaphysical school".
Selected Reading of John Donne
1. [P66]The Sun Rising
2. [P68]Death, Be not Proud (1)
John Milton (1608-1674)
1608 Born in London. A Catholic family. His father was both a scholar and a businessman.
1620 Educated at St. Paul's School
1625 Educated in Cambridge
1643 Married a 17y. girl younger than him
1649 Appointed Latin Secretary to Cromwell's Council of State
1652 Became totally blind. His wife died. He married again.
3 periods in John Milton's life
1. English revolution
1649 Charles I beheaded. Cromwell took the power
1660 Restoration. Charles II took the power
2. Political ideas: express his political ideas in pamphlets
3. Poem: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes.
Paradise Lost is a long epic divided into 12 books. The theme is the "Fall of Man", i.e. man's disobedience and the loss of Paradise.
The original story is taken from Genesis. Adam and Eve are originally in innocent spiritual love. They are punished by God because they eat the apple of the Tree of Knowledge seduced by a serpent. Since they eat the apple, they begin to make love. God thinks they are not innocent. They committed sin. God drives Adam and Eve out of Eden.
Satan is punished by God to suffer from fire. He knows that he can't win God by power, so he wins God by cheating. He seduced Eve to eat the apple.
In Paradise Lost, Satan is the rebel who never bows down to God even when he failed. He is a good military leader. He refuses to acknowledge the power of God. He is determined to continue the battle. He feels sorrow at the sufferings of those angels. He has led to so terrible a punishment, but he is very cruel. He has indomitable pride, unconquerable rebellion, and the will to evil and power. He said, "Only do evil, no good". He tries to be as equal as God.
Selected Reading of John Milton
1. [P73] An Excerpt from Paradise Lost
Chapter 2 The Neoclassical Period (1600-1798)
The age of reason and enlightenment. It's a turbulent period.
1660 The Restoration
1665 The Great Plague --- Black Death. 70,000 died, 2/3 homeless.
1688 The Glorious Revolution. James II exiled abroad. The persecution of Protestants. James II's daughter Marry and her wife William turned back to England as figurehead (King and Queen) without power. Power was in the Parliament. England became the first capitalist country with Constitutional monarchy, which marked the end of
feudal society.
1798 The publication of Lyrics by Wordsworth
Industrial Revolution --- at the 2nd half of 18c
Preparations for the revolution
1. money --- by trading companies, e.g. East India Company
--- by money investment
2. goods, materials --- colonies, e.g. India, North America
3. manpower --- "Act of Enclosure". The landless and homeless peasant began to work in cities
--- the invention of textile machine
In the revolution, Bourgeois (middle class) became the main class in the society. Bankers, landlords, slave traders, merchants, colonists controlled the economy of the country at the time. They believed in self-reliance and hard working.
The Giants of the Enlightenment Movement:
Voltaire 伏乐泰, Mosteiqeu 孟德斯鸠, Dierot 狄德罗, Rousseau 卢梭.
Gothic Novel
1. Content: magic, supernatural elements, ghosts, monsters.
2. Setting: old castle, graveyard, dark forest
3. Atmosphere: horrible
John Bunyan (1628-1688)
1628 Born in a poor tinker's family. He received little education in a Grammar
School
1647 Married a Christian woman and became interested in Christianity.
1660 Bunyan began to preach, but he didn't have a preaching license so he was put into jail for 6 years.
1665 Great Plague in England, he was released from jail. Few months later, he was in jail again for another 6 years.
1672 Declaration of Independence, he was released again.
1675 His license of lay preacher was temporarily cancelled and he was in prison again.
Throughout his life, he only read one book the Bible. His most famous work is The Pilgrim's Process.
Bunyan's purpose of writing The Pilgrim's Process
1. Urge people to abide by Christian doctrine
2. To seek salvation through struggling with his own weakness and social evils
The content of The Pilgrim's Process is about Christianity. The title means "life is a journey". It's a metaphor. Form of The Pilgrim's Process: Allegory
1. A story in verse or prose with double meanings or meanings at two levels.
2. Higher lever - concerning moral, religious, or political ideas. Lower level - your understanding of the story.
3. Main characters in the story Christian, Faithful, Hopeful.
4. The description of the story is realistic religious allegory.
Selected Reading of John Bunyan: [P85]"The Vanity Fair" from The Pilgrim's Process
Why "The Vanity Fair" is a satire on the ruling class of Egnland?
1. It's a symbolic picture of London at the time of Restoration
2. In Vanity Fair, everything can be sold and bought, daily necessities, but also honor, kingdom, lust, pleasure and even lives.
3. Evil things such as cheating, roguery, and adultery are normal in the Vanity Fair where there is no moral. It's a satire of the non-moral English ruling class.
4. Faithful is put to death for his despising of the Vanities. It's a parallel of Bunyan's experience of imprisoned for preaching.
John Bunyan's writing style --- moded after the Bible
Language --- easy to read, colloquial, concrete and concise
Form --- allegorical form, realistic, true to life.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
1688 Born in the year of Glorious Revolution in a merchant Roman Catholic family.
Because of his ill health, he didn't go to university. He received his education from a learned preacher. Because he is a Catholic, he can't do thing for the government.
Pope is a deformed person. He suffered severe illness in his childhood.
Illness accompanied him throughout his life.
Alexander Pope's major work
1711 An Essay on Criticism. The poem is a manifesto of English neoclassicism. It's expressed Pope's aesthetic theories of poetry. The poem is divided into 3 parts with 744 lines.
Part I: bewailing the lack of true taste in critics; praising the ancients likeHomer, Virgil
Part II: enumerating dangers of criticism; referring to literary scene of his day
Part III: giving rules for criticism; tracing the history of literary criticism.
The poem is a comprehensive study on literary criticism. It was written in heroic couplet as Pope is a master in heroic couplet.
Heroic couplet is 2 lines with the same rhymes, same length. 10 syllables, 5 stressed, 5 unstressed. Heroic couplet was first used by Chaucer.
1712 The Rape of Lock is based on a real event. Bellina is as beautiful woman as a Goodness. She is admired by all the people around her, esp. a young man name. A Baron cut a small amount of Bellina's hair. In Bellina's opinion, it's an offence. Baron just cut her hair for fun and admiration. So hatred is aroused between the two families. They become enemies. In this poem, Pope satires the idle, meaningless life of middle-class people. 1728 The Dunciad is consisted of 4 books. It's the best satire of Pope. It's a very famous satirical poem about against personal enemies. Pope tries to attack on all personal enemies.
1733-34 An Essay on Man. Pope gained his fame as a poet. It includes 4 epistles (letters). People review his philosophical and political views as an enlgitener.
Selected Reading of Alexander Pope: [P93] An excerpt from Part 2 of An Essay on Criticism.
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)
He was born in a butcher's family (wealthy but low social status). Defoe never went to university, but received good education in a Dissenting Academy. Defoe has two interests: interest in business and interest in politics. Interest in business. He started from small business to become rich. He is a gifted man in business.
Interest in politics. His political stand swang between the Whigs and the Tories. He wrote political pamphlets to attack the Whigs, but both of the two parties thought the pamphlets insulted them. So Defoe was sent to jail and pillory. He negotiated with the Prime minister to become a spy to Scotland. He tried to make the union of Scotland and England.
1704, he issued a periodical The Review, on which he voiced his concerns for woman's right, economy, children and parents relationships, politics and other hot issues of the time.
1718, he began to write novel.
1719, his first novel Robinson Crusoe was published. It's based on a true story published on a newspaper. (Alexander is a Scottish who lives in an uninhabited island for 5 years.) The story is about the hero's life on the island. The first part is about the career of Robinson Crusoe. The body of the novel is about his life on the island after the shipwreck. The story reveals the essence of British colonialism.
The themes of Robinson's Crusoe
a. man's struggles against nature
b. glorification of the bourgeois men who has the courage and will to face hardship and determination to improve his livelihood.
c. Glorification of labor (Robinson lives on his own hands)
The style of Robinson's Crusoe
a. realistic style, true to life, in details
b. smooth, simple, colloquial language
c. long sentences are loose; short sentences are plain, easy to understand
d. presents facts in order, the meaning is clear
In the following years, Defoe wrote another 4 novels: Captain Singleton (1720), Moll Flanders (1722), Colonel Jack (1722) and Roxana (1724). Defoe wrote them in the same pattern. The feature of the pattern:
a. Traces the personal history of the titular hero or heroine of a low origin. After some ups and downs, he/she finally gets prosperity.
b. Deals with moralizing, repentance, and revolutions to be good.
c. Expresses the struggles for mere existence. Show the conflicts between existence and social environment.
d. Blames the society for driving people to sinning.
1720, Captain Singleton is sent to Africa when he was 3 months old. In Africa, he experiences many adventures. With good luck, he wins much gold. Back to England, he goes bankrupt and becomes a pirate.
1722, Moll Flanders is the daughter of a woman thief. She is born in the Newgate Prison. In her life, she married 5 times with over 12 children. However, she never nurses a single child. She becomes a thief herself. She is transferred to the American colony as a criminal. She accumulates a wealth and buys a fare plant there. At the age of 30, she comes back to England.
1722, Colonel Jack is deserted by his parents at a very young age. He becomes a pickpocket. He is kidnapped and sent to the American colony. He is very clever and finally becomes a rich plant owner.
1724, Roxana is the daughter of a Protestant refugee. She is beautiful and clever. She marries an English merchant. Because the merchant deserts her, she becomes a famous international prostitute. In Holland, she married a Dutch merchant. After his death, she finds that he was in great debts. She can't pay off the debts and is put into jail and died in jail.
Daniel Defoe's satirical poems.
1701, The True-Born Englishman, in the poem, Defoe defended King William, which won him the friendship of the King. He attacked the racial and family pride of the aristocrats in England.
1703, A Hymn to the Pillory. He voiced his anger over the shameful punishment, courageous attack on the injustice of England's legal system. He was cheered by people as a hero to defend himself.
Selected Reading of Daniel Defoe: [P98] An excerpt from Robinson Crusoe
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
He was born in Dublin, Ireland, of an English family. His father died before he was born. A rich uncle sent Swift to the Trinity College. His most deed is against the ruling class of England.
1689-1699, he worked as a private secretary to Sir William Temple, a retired diplomat. On the post, Swift made many famous politician friends and came to know many dirty and dishonest politicians of the day.
1704, Swift published the satire, The Battle of the Books, which wrote about the quarrels between the Ancients and the Moderns. The Ancients were compared to bee. The Moderns were compared to spider. In literate theory, bee represents good - "bring honey"; spider represents selfish.
1704, A Tale of a Tub attacks on religion or Christianity. In the satire, the father represents the God. His 3 sons indicate the 3 branches of Christianity: Roman Catholic, English Church, and Dissenters.
The Battle of the Books, and A Tale of a Tub established Swift's name as a satirist.
1705, he became a clergyman.
1707, he moved to London and became a politician. He tries to speak for the Irish people. He was the editor of The Examiner, a Tory's periodical.
1713, he was appointed the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.
1716, Swift married a woman.
1724, there were 2 great events in England.
a. Wool industry --- English Congress passed the persuasion of developing wool industry in England. Irish people can't make money from wool because they have to return the land. Irish people had to live a miserable life. A famous slogan in Ireland at that time is "Burn everything that come from England except the coal" which voiced Irish people's determination of refusing England.
b. Coin event --- A minister suggested and permitted to make new coins. The exchange rate between Irish coin and the new English coin was unfair. The minister and King got profit from the exchange.
1724, Swift published the satireThe Drapier's Letters to attack the event. The exchange of new coin is canceled. 1726, his wife died. It's a heavy blow on him. He wrote and published his greatest satirical work, Gulliver's Travels. The story is divided into 4 parts.
Part I. Travels in Lilliput is a mini picture of modern English society. Two parties: High Heel and Low Heel indicates the Tories and the Whigs. Here, Swift satires the two parties. The war between Lilliput and its neighboring country about how to break eggs (big/small end). Big end - Roman Church. Small end - English Church. Swift satires the party and church fights are meaningless.
Part II. Travels in Brobdingnag
Part III. A show of the cruelty of the English ruling class. The Flying Island rules the below countries.
Part IV. It's the sharpest and bitterest satire. In this part, human beings are reduced to animals. A wiser creature governs human beings. Gulliver wants to be a horse rather than a man. It shows how mean the human beings are. 1729, the publication of the pamphlet A Modest Proposal. It's a greatest and bitterest satire.
The theme of A Modest Proposal
a. The poor Irish people were forced to sell their one-year-old child for the rich people for food.
b. English King allowed French King to recruit soldiers from Ireland to solve the problem of over population.
c. Some politicians suggested sending Irish people to Australia to be concentrated servants because of over population.
d. Swift lists some terrible scenes in the prose: a beggar mother followed by children in rugs; poor parents sell children. It's a satire against the English ruling class and the cruelty of English landlords.
Selected Reading of Jonathan Swift: [P107] An excerpt from Gulliver's Travel
Henry Fielding (1707-1754)
1707 Fielding was born in an aristocratic family. His great grandfather was an Earl. (Duke 公, Marquis 侯, Earl 伯, Viscount子, Baron男) He received his education in the Eton Public School
1728 21y. He published his first play in London, but failed.
1729 Fielding quarreled with his father, so his father cut off financial support. He had to make a living by himself. 1730-37 He produced 25 plays of different times. His ballads, satires were also
very successful. (Shakespeare wrote 37 plays)
1734 He got married.
1737 30y. The promulgation of Licensing Act restricted the publication of plays. So Fielding took up law. He spent 3 years to finish a 7-year course.
1740 Fielding became a bar, but the money he earn couldn't support his family
Henry Fielding wrote 4 novels in his life. Henry Fielding is regarded as "Father of English Novel".
1742 The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews. The hero Joseph Andrews is the servant of Mr. B's uncle and is the cousin of Pamela.
Samuel Richardson's Pamela is a collection of letters written by herself and her parents. Pamela is a very beautiful and clever girl. Mr. B's mother is very found of here and teaches her knowledge. After the mother died, Pamela wants to go home, but Mr. B as a noble man seduces her, doesn't allow her to go home and imprisons her. Pamela write letters and sends the letters by a servant of Mr. B. Mr. B falls in love with Pamela through reading her letters. The novel persuades people to be virtuous.
Henry Fielding's aims of writing the Adventures of Joseph Andrews
Part I, Fielding tries to attack Pamela. He thinks Pamela's chastity is
pretentious and untrue. She uses her chastity to seduce Mr. B.
Part II. Joseph Andrews meets his friend Parson Adams. Both of them travel through England. Fielding tries to give a panoramic view of England.
Part I. It was first intended as a burlesque of the conventional virtue of false sentimentality.
Part II. Fielding adopted "comic epic in prose"--- to write common people in form of great novel. Epic is used to describe great figures and heroes. He gave a vivid picture of English life.
Major achievement: the description of Parson Adams. Adams is an absent-minded, vain man, so he is a ridiculous person, easy to be cheated.
1743 Jonathan Wild the Great , Jonathan is a notorious criminal of the London underworld. He is a real person. He is hanged in 1725. Jonathan is described as a great man. He never participated in any crime, but he orders other people to commit crimes. He commands crime.
Henry Fielding compared Jonathan to Prime Minister Walpole. The story is a political satire.
1749 Tom Jones is a deserted child. He is adopted by a kind man who has his own child Blifil. The two children fell in love with the same girl Sophia. Tom is kind and he is truly in love with Sophia. Blifil loves Sophia for her beauty and money. Sophia's father knows that Tom is a deserted child so he wants Sophia to marry Blifil. Tom wants to see the outside world and moves to London. Sophia wants to see the world too. So they go through a long journey and give a panoramic view of 18c's English life.
In this novel, social evils are presented: cruelty, moral degeneracy, deceit, and hypocrisy. It's showed Fielding's view about human nature. Henry Fielding thinks that human nature is a combination of good and evil.
The writing feature of Tom Jones --- "comic epic in prose", displays a kind of classic epic form. The novel contains 18 books in 3 sections.
Section 1: life in the countryside
Section 2: life on the highway
Section 3: life in London
1750 Amelia marries a poor solider. Her husband goes to London to seek fortune. He fights with other people in the street so he is put into jail. She is very faithful to her husband. When her husband is in prison, other officials try to seduce her. In the end, Amelia reunites with her husband and live happily.
Henry Fielding's aim of writing Amelia
a. To condemn the moral degeneracy of the officials. To praise Amelia.
b. To reveal the shameless deed of the noble and the rich.
Henry Fielding's writing style
1. Comic epic in prose: the grand style of classic epic in the depiction of common, ridiculous people.
2. He started the third person narration. The narrator is a kind of all knowing God.
3. The characters are vivid, convincing and true to life,
4. His language is easy, familiar, vivid but vigorous.
5. The content is noted for the theatrical devices: suspense, coincidence, surprise.
What is "comic epic in prose"?
1. The description in a grand style of classic epic. "Classic epic" has:
(a) a great hero
(b) calls on Muses
(c) give a list of names of gods
(d) compare small fights to great wars.
2. Use verified language to narrate a small fight.
3. Different figure of speech esp. irony, hyperbole
Selected Reading of Henry Fielding: [P122] An excerpt from Tom Jones
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
1708 Johnson was born in a bookseller's family, in Richfield. His eyesight was very poor like John Milton
1715 8y. He went to a Grammar School for 8 years which provided him a solid knowledge of Latin
1728 He went to Oxford University
1731 22y. His father died. He quit Oxford without a degree.
1735 26y. He married an old rich widow who was 20years older than him. He
married her for money.
1738 29y. His first poem
1747 He compiled English dictionary
1752 His wife died. He was in great debt and was arrested.
1755 The first publication of English dictionary brought him fame and money.
1762 The British government gave him an annual pension of £300, which freed him from the burden of "writing for a living". His life before 1762 was very difficult.
He had a hand in all the different branches of literary activities. He was a poet诗人, dramatist 剧作家, prose romancer散文传奇小说作家, biographer 传记作者, essayist 随笔作家, critic 批评家, lexicographer 词典编纂者and publicist 政治评论家.
Johnson was the last great neoclassicist enlightener in the late 18c. His point of view:
1. He concerned with the theme of the vanity of human wishes.
2. In literary creation and criticism, he was rather conservative, openly showed his dislike and fondness.
3. He insisted that a writer should adhere to universal truth and experience i.e. Nature.
4. He was particularly found of moralizing 道德教化and didacticism 教训主义.
Johnson's writing style.
1. His language is characteristically general, of Latinate 从拉丁文衍生来的and frequently polysyllabic多音节的
2. His sentences are long and well structured, interwoven 交织with parallel words and phrases but clearly expressed.
3. He tends to use "learned words", uses words accurately.
Selected Reading from Samuel Johnson: [P132] "To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield"
Richard Brinkley Sheridan (1751-1816)
1751 Sheridan was born in Dublin, Ireland. His father was an actor and theater manager. He was educated at Harrow (Eton, 2 public schools). His works are mainly plays. In fact, Dublin is the cradle of many famous writers, like Jonathan Swift.
1770 Sheridan moved to Bath, the most fashionable place in 18c's England.
1772 He was in love with a beautiful lady who is a singer and actress. He fought two duels and finally married her. 1774 The appearance of his first play The Rivals won him an immediate success and fame.
1776 He became a part owner and manager of the Drury Lane Theater, so it's easy for him to stage his plays. 1777 The appearance of his masterpiece The School for Scandal.
1780 His play-writing career ended. He was elected M.P. of the Parliament and became an orator.
1809 The Drury Lane Theater was burn in a fire. His financial support was cut off.
1812 His political career ended. He had no money to afford the election.
1816 Sheridan died in poverty and neglect. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
The first English writer buried in Westminster Abbey was Chaucer. Samuel Johnson was also rested there. Richard Brinsley Sheridan is chiefly known as a playwright. Two plays: The Rivals, The School of Scandal.
The Rivals (1774)
The heroine Lydia comes from an upper-class family. Lydia is a sentimental girl. She often dreams to elope with a poor young man. Captain Absolute loves Lydia. He is a Baron. He pretends to be a poor young man to win the heart of Lydia. However, Lydia's aunt is a rich woman. She refuses the proposal made by Captain Absolute. Captain Absolute's father makes a proposal to Lydia's aunt. The father reveals the real identity of his son so the aunt accepts the proposal. When Lydia knows the identity of Captain Absolute, she is disillusioned. She finally realized that romance is not realistic.
Theme of The Rivals.
1. Sheridan ridicules the sentimental and pseudo-romantic fancies of the young woman of the upper class.
2. Sheridan presents a true picture of the aristocratic-bourgeois world where money talks. (like the arranged marriage)
The School of Scandal (1777)
The school of scandal refers to the living room of Lady Sneerwell.
Lady Sneerwell: She often laughs at people, esp. underdogs.
Mrs. Candour: Candour means justice, but here it's an irony. She is a scandal monger.
Sir Backbite: Backbite means bite people from behind. He is a two-blade man.
Joseph Surface and Charles Surface: Surface means superficial. You can't judge the brothers by their appearance. Theme of Sheridan [P136]
In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.
Writing style of Sheridan [P136-137]
1. His dramatic techniques are largely conventional. They are exploited to the best advantage.
2. His plots are well organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly.
3. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays.
Selected Reading of Sheridan [P137] An excerpt from The School for Scandal
In this scene, Lady Teazle, the wife of Sir. Peter, who is an innocent and beautiful girl is seduced by Joseph. Joseph wants to seduce her, but he says Charles wants to flirt with her. Joseph is evil. Charles is good.
Dramatic scene: people hide in different parts of the same room but don't know the hideouts of each other, later they discover each other.
The play is a satire against the meaningless of upper class.
Chapter 3 The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
Definition of Romanticism [P157, P160]
1. As a historical phase of literature, is generally said to have begun in 1789 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott's death and the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament. It was first started in Germany.
2. The Romantic Movement expressed a more or less negative attitude toward the existing social and political conditions.
3. The Romantics saw both the corruption and injustice of the feudal societies and the fundamental inhumanity of the economic, social and political forces of capitalism.
4. The leading romantic thinkers demonstrated a strong reaction against the dominant modes of thinking of the 18th-century writers and philosophers.
5. Romanticism actually constitutes a change of direction from attention to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit.
6. Romanticism tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience.
Historical Background of the Period
A. The French Revolution.
1. The French Revolution 1784-1794. It marked the end of French feudalism and the beginning of capitalism.
2. The revolution aroused the sympathy from English people.
3. When Jacobite took the power of French Revolution, the English ruling class was frightened. They formed alliance with the ruling class of other countries to fight the Napoleonic War.
4. In the Storm of Bastille, many political criminals were released. Joan of Arc became a national heroine.
5. Great thinkers in the revolution: [P157-158]
a. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher, wrote Du Contrat Social and Emile in 1762
b. 1790, Edmund Burke published Reflections on the Revolution in France. He was conservative.
c. 1791-1792,Thomas Paine and his Declaration of Rights of Man.
d. 1793, William Godwin's Inquiry Concerning Political Justice
e. William Cobbet whom Marx once extolled as "an instinctive defender of the masses of the people against the encroachment of the bourgeoisie."
B. The Industrial Revolution
1. The primarily agricultural society was replaced by a modern industrialized one.
2. The Industrial Revolution forced people to work in factory. It gives birth to the conflicts between factory owners and workers. The labors stroke for the improvement of working and living conditions. There are two famous events: Luddite's Destruction of Machinery and Peterloo Massacre.
3. 1810-1811, Luddite's Destruction of Machinery. Workers thought the invention of machinery took away their life from lands. They felt hatred toward machine.
4. 1819, Peterloo Massacre, in the textile city Manchester. Workers gathered for the improvement of living and working conditions. Troops killed 9 and wounded hundreds.
5. During the Industrial Revolution, the English society was often called "JUNGLE". It implies "the survival of the fittest" --- cruelty, the hardship of working class.
6. 1832, the Reform Bill gave capitalists the power of the nation.
The Romantic Movement started in Germany -- "the storm and stress" movement. Leading figure Goethe. Feature of Romanticism [P161-163]
1. Expressiveness.
a. The Romantic period is an age of poetry. The Romantics believed that poetry could purify both individual souls and the society.
b. Wordsworth's theory of poetry is calling for simple themes drawn from humble life expressed in the language of ordinary people.
c. The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.
d. The Romantics believed that object should be the expression of the writer's emotion, impression and beliefs.
2. Imagination. It is in solitude, in communication with the natural universe, that man can exercise this most valuable of faculties, the imagination.
3. Worship of Nature. Nature is not only the major source of poetic imagery, but also provides the dominant subject matter.
4. To escape from a world that had become excessively rational, as well as excessively materialistic and ugly, the Romantics would turn to other times and places, where the qualities they valued could be convincingly depicted. Lake poet or passive Romantic poet: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey - old and conservative.
Active Romantic poet: Byron, Shelly, Keats - young and revolutionary.
5. Romantics also tend to be nationalistic, defending the great poets and dramatists of their own national heritage against the advocates of classical rules.
6. Romantic writers are always seeking for the Absolute, the Ideal through the transcendence of the actual. They have also made bold experiments in poetic language, versification and design, and constructed a variety of forms on original principles of organization and style.
Political Writing [P164]
1. Leading figures: Coleridge, Hazlitt, Lamb, and De Quincey
2. William Hazlitt (1778-1830) is a great critic on Shakespeare, Elizabethan drama, and English poetry. He is also
a master of the familiar essays. He has developed an eloquent, courageous and arbitrary prose style.
3. Charles Lam (1775-1844) is a lovable essayist. His essay is a medium for a delightful literary treatment of life's small pleasures and reassurance. The essential characteristic of his essays is a strong clear intelligence, commanding in its centrality, its courage, and its vital irony.
4. Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) is one of the keenest intellects of the age. The great literary merit of his Confessions of an English Opium Eater lies in his subtle revelation of the potentiality of human dreams. His concern with the psychological effects of literature achieves. His style, sometimes stately, sometimes headlong, now gorgeous, now musical, shows a harmony between the idea and the expression.
Novelists of the period
1. Jane Austen (1775-1817) She honors the Augustan virtues of moderation, dignity, disciplined emotion and common sense. The major theme of her novels is love and marriage.
2. Walter Scott (1771-1832) is the most popular novelist of his day. His major novels: Waverley, Old Mortality, The Heart of Midlothian, Rob Roy and Ivanhoe. The last 3 are most famous.
Importance of Walter Scott:
a. In his depiction of Scotland, England, and the Continent from medieval times to the 18th century, he showed a keen sense of political and traditional forces and of their influence on the individual.
b. He is the first major historical novelist, exerting a powerful literary influence both in British and on the Continent throughout the 19th century.
Gothic Novel
It's a phase of the Romantic Movement. Its principal elements are violence, horror and the supernatural. + 前笔记=定义
Gothic Novel:
1. Content: magic, supernatural elements, ghosts, monsters.
2. Setting: old castle, graveyard, dark forest.
3. Atmosphere: horrible.
Lake Poet:
1. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey. They live in the district of Great Lake, northwestern England.
2. They have radical inclinations in their youth, but later turned conservative and received favors from the
Government.
3. They criticize the industrial capitalist society.
William Blake (1757-1827)
1757 He was born in an Irish family. His father was a small hosiery businessman. As a child, he was talented in drawing.
1767 At the age of 10, he was sent to a drawing school.
1771 Age of 14, he began his 7-year apprenticeship for an engraver.
1779 He began to earn a living as an engraver.
1780 He married Catherine Boucher. His marriage is a life long happiness. He
Blake often misunderstood by other people as a gifted but mad man. He wasn't rich as he spent most of his time on writing and painting. In his time, he wasn't known as a poet, because his poems were published posthumously. William Blake's 3 major works
1809 The Songs of Innocence is a lovely volume of poems, presenting a happy and innocent world, though not without its evils and sufferings.
Writing style of the poem: 1. He broke completely with the traditions of the 18th century. He experienced in meter and rhyme and introduced bold metrical innovations which could not be found in the poetry of his contemporaries.
1794 The Songs of Experience paints a different world, a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone.
The two books hold the similar subject matter, but the tone emphasis and conclusion differ.
e.g. "The Chimney Sweeper" in the two books
Difference The Songs of Innocence The Songs of Experience
Writing tone Happy and hopeful Bitter and ironical
Sweeper Sees duty a hope, if they do their duty, they will live happily in the heaven. Sees duty an exploitation. Religion Identify himself with religion or Christianity. He believes he will gain happiness if he does his duty. Sees the religion or Christianity as the source of misery. The suffering of the child reveals the false ideal of Christianity.
Selected reading from William Blake [P171-172] "The Chimney Sweeper" from The Songs of Innocence and The Songs of Experience.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
1770 He was born in the family of an attorney. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge.
1790-92He traveled to France and sensed the filthiness of the French Revolution
(Slogan "liberty, fraternity, and equality"). He saw that Jacobite took the power from Gironde, who was radical. Lewis XIIII was killed. He became conservative in politics.
1795 A gentleman friend gave him some money that enabled him to live in Great Lake with his sister Dorothy who never got married and live with William Wordsworth of all her life.
1798 The beginning of the Romantic period. He lived by the riverside with his sister writing poems for 8 years. 1813 Wordsworth received a sinecure as a distributor.
1843 He succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate.
William Wordsworth is the best-known and oldest poet among the Lake Poet.
3 groups of his poetry
1. Simple, rural folk: wrote when he lived in Great Lake district.
e.g. "Lucy Poem": full of innocence and simpleness.
2. Childhood: beautiful and instructive.
e.g. "We are seven", a short poem in the form of a dialogue between the poet and a 8-year-old girl. The poem reveals Wordsworth's philosophy of pre-existence of soul. The girl is too innocent to recognize death.
"Ode: Intimations and Immortality", explains his philosophy of pr-existence, explains the from childhood to manhood.
3. Nature - the most important part
About animals, plants, emotions.
e.g. "To a butterfly", "To a skylark",
"My heart leaps up", expresses the joy of seeing rainbow.
The major works of William Wordsworth.
Tintern Abby, it combines his feelings as worship of nature, with his impression gathered during his second visit. In this poem, Wordsworth reveals his innermost thoughts and emotions with regard to the natural world.
The Prelude, (1805) contains 14 books. His autobiographical poem. The first 8 books tell about his early life. The last 6 books tell about his growing maturity. Importance of the poem: it's a heart-pouring expression of Wordsworth's own spiritual development.
The Preface, (1800) added to the Lyrical Ballads (1798). It brought success to Lyrical Ballads. Importance: it's a piece of literary criticism which shows Wordsworth's theory of poetry writing.
1. Theme of poetry: incidents and situations chosen from common life.
2. Language: really used by common people.
3. Ordinary things are to be presented in an unusual way. ("We are seven")
4. Trace the primary laws of human nature.
Why Lyrical Ballads is a landmark in English poetry?
1. It's a collaboration of Wordsworth and Coleridge. (who are the major representatives of the Romantic Movement.)
2. In the book, they explored new theories and innovated new technologies in poetry writing. (New: break away with traditional writing style)
3. They saw poetry as a healing energy. They regard poetry could purify the souls of individuals and society.
4. The Preface to the 2nd edition is a manifesto of the Romantic Movement.
5. Lyrical Ballads uses simple language to show strong sympathy with the poor, and it's the fusion of natural ascription with expression of inward state of mind.
The importance of William Wordsworth.
William Wordsworth is the leading figure of the English romantic poetry.
His is a voice of searchingly comprehensive humanity and one that inspires his audience to see the world freshly, sympathetically and naturally.
The most important contribution he has made is that he has not only started the modern poetry, the poetry of the growing inner self, but also changed the course of English poetry by using ordinary speech of the language and by advocating a return to nature.
Selected Reading of William Wordsworth: [P179] I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
George Cordon Byron (1788-1824)
1788 He was born lame. Father died when he was 3 years old. He inherited the title of Baron and a large estate. He received his education at Harrow then Cambridge.
1809-11 He had a grand tour around Europe.
1811 23y, he took his seat in the House of Lords. He tried to show his sympathy for working class, esp. the Luddites. He made a speech at the House of Lords to attack royal people.
1815 He got married to Anna Isabella Milbanke. A year late, his wife left him and refused to return. His political enemy attacked him by saying his wife's leave was caused by his numerous love affairs with other women, esp. his half-sister Augusta.
1816 He exiled himself to Europe. He left England and never returned.
In Italy, Byron joined the Carbonari, a secret Italian revolutionary organization. He assisted the Italian patriots in an uprising against the Austrian rule.
In Greece, he not only gave financial support to Greek revolutionists, but also took part in the fight as commander in chief to attack the Turks.
1824 He died of disease in Greece at the age of 36.
Throughout his life, Byron is very revolutionary, reactionary, and always fights for freedom.
Byronic Hero [P195]
1. A proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin.
2. A Byronic hero would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in a corrupt society, and would rise single-handedly against any kind of tyrannical rules either in government, in religion, or in moral principles with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies.
3. The conflict is usually one of rebellious individuals against outworn social systems and conventions.
4. The figure is, to some extent, modeled on the life and personality of Byron himself.
Byron's Major Works
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
There are 4 cantos. First 2 cantos were written 1809-1810, England. Last 2 cantos were written after he exiled himself.
Childe is the hero of the poem. He is a young aristocratic. The poem is about his observation and reflection of his extensive travel to Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy.
Pilgrimage: a religious tour. Childe: Knight.
Writing style of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
1. Spenserian Stanza: 9 lines in a stanza. First 8 lines are written in iambic pentameter 五步抑扬格, and the 9th line in iambic hexameter 六步抑扬格. Rhyme scheme: aba b bcbcc.
2. Grand epic style.
4. Byron wrote this poem to satirize Spenser's Fairie Queen.
The most important theme of the poem:
Byron's consistent attitude of the antagonism towards tyranny and his enthusiasm for freedom.
Don Juan
1818-1823 written for 5 years. It contains 16 cantos. A few stanzas in the 17th canto. The poem isn't finished because of his death.
Don Juan is Byron's masterpiece, a great comic epic of the early 19th century. It's a poem based on a traditional Spanish legend of a great lover and seducer of women. Juan is immoral, yet Byron takes this poem as the most moral.
Byron invests in Juan the moral positives like courage, generosity and frankness, which, according to Byron, are virtues neglected by the modern society.
In the poem, Byron intends to present a panoramic view of different types of society. It presents brilliant pictures of life in its various stages of love, joy, suffering, hatred and fear. Byron is here attacking not a personal enemy but the whole hypocritical society.
Byron's Writing Style:
1. His poetry was popular at home and abroad and exerted great influence on the Romantic Movement.
2. Byron's diction, though unequal and frequently faulty, has on the whole a freedom, copiousness and vigor.
3. His description is simple and fresh, and often brings vivid objects before the reader.
4. His poetry is like the oratory.
5. The glowing imagination of the poet rises and sinks with the tones of his enthusiasm, roughing into argument,
or softening into the melody feeling and sentiments.
6. Byron employed the Octave Stanza from Italian mock-heroic poetry.
Importance of Byron:
Byron's poetry has great influence on the literature of the whole world. Byron has enriched European poetry with an abundance of ideas, images, artistic forms and innovations. He stands, with Shakespeare and Scott among the British writers who exert the greatest influence over the mainland of Europe.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
1792 Shelley was born in an aristocratic family. He was educated at Eton.
1810 18y, he went to Oxford Uni. He attacked war and glorified heroes and heroines of the French revolution. 1811 While in Oxford, he published The Necessity of Atheism in which he doubted the existence of God. As a result, he was expulsed by the university and his conservative father deprived him the heir of Barony and fortune. He went to London where he met Harriet Westbrook who was much younger than him and also came from an aristocratic family. They eloped to Scotland. Poverty finally separated the couple.
1814 He fell in love with Mary Wollstonecraft (daughter of Godwin) and eloped with her to Italy. In Italy, he met Byron with whom he kept a solid friendship.
1816 Harriet committed suicide. Shelley's political enemy attacked him an immoral man.
1818 He exiled himself to Italy and spent the rest of his life there.
1819 Peterloo Massacre happened in Manchester. The event marked a turning point in Shelley's view. Before that, he thought that workers should take up weapons and fights. After the event, he thought they should. Working class's resistance and anti-oppression became a constant theme of him.
1822 At the age of 30, he drowned in a small boat along the coast of Italy.
Shelley's Major Works
1813 Queen Mob shows Shelley's social philosophy.
1. He criticizes the rising capitalism and the feudal society.
2. He defends the rights of the labor against their exploiters and oppressors.
3. The story is a fairy tale dream. It's an optimistic poem. Through Queen Mob's words, Shelley shows his philosophy. It's a revolutionary poem in which Shelley declares war on the injustice and violence of the world. (Shelley is a revolutionary poet.)
1819 Prometheus Unbound
Prometheus is a god in Greek myth, who steals fire from heaven to help human. Zeus punishes him by hanging him on a cliff and sending eagles to bite his flesh.
Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound described how Prometheus steals the fire and his sufferings. At the end, Prometheus reconciled with Zeus.
Prometheus Unbound. In Shelley's work Prometheus doesn't comprise with authority (Zeus). At the end, Prometheus is freed from chains and revolts against Zeus. Zeus is overthrown by Prometheus. The work expresses:
1. Shelley's intense hatred for tyranny.
2. His admiration for the revolutionary fighters for freedom.
1819 Song to Men of England [P209]
This poem was written in 1819, the year of the Peterloo Massacre. It is unquestionably one of Shelley's greatest political lyrics. It is not only a war cry calling upon all working people of England to rise up against their political oppressors, but also an address to point out to them the intolerable injustice of economic exploitation.
Purpose of this poem: It's a real resistance that working people should adopt fight against their oppressors and exploiters.
1819 Ode to the West Wind [P211]
1. It's a symbolic poem. West wind refers to a powerful phenomenon of nature. West Wind is either a destroyer (of the old world) or a preserver (of the new things)
2. In the poem, Shelley eulogizes west wind enjoy the boundless freedom.
3. West wind is a messenger, to spread revolutionary message far and wide.
4. The dominant mood of this poem is hope --- Shelley's hope for freedom.
5. The poem was written in terza rima . Terza refers to 3 line groups, each terza has 3 lines. Rima: regular rhyme scheme, e.g. aba bcb cdc ded ee.
The structure of Ode to the West Wind
Part 1 to show the power of west wind over the earth, esp. leaves
Part 2 to show the power of west wind over the sky, esp. clouds.
Part 3 to show the power of west wind over the sea, esp. waves.
Part 4 and 5 to reviews the relationship between the poet and the wind.
Part 5 the west wind is regarded as a messenger that spread message.
The importance of Shelley
Shelley is a revolutionary poet. Shelley is one of the leading Romantic poets, an intense and original lyrical poet in the English language.
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
1775 She was born in a Christian family. Her father was a clergyman. She was educated at home and read a lot of books by herself. Her sister and her had never married all life. Jane lived a quite and comfortable life.
She started writing in early life. At her time, women was discriminated and not allowed to publish books. Many women writer published book with pseudonyms.
Jane Austen is a great English novelist. Her most important works are Emma and Pride and Prejudice. The theme of her novels is love and marriage. However, her writing sphere is narrow.
Jane's major works:
1811 Sense and Sensibility
1813 Pride and Prejudice
1814 Mansfield Park
1815 Emma
1818 Northanger Abbey
1818 Persuasion
Emma
Emma is the titular heroine. She leads a very comfortable life. She has nothing to do but binding couples. She has a good girlfriend. But whenever the girlfriend finds a boyfriend, Emma would break them down. Mr. Knight loves Emma, but Emma is too careless to notice the love. In the end, Emma marries Knight. It's a novel with a happy ending.
In this novel, Jane Austen expressed that love is not as easy as Emma thinks. Emma learns to love.
Pride and Prejudice.
The Bennets has 5 daughters. Jane, Elizabeth and Lydia all at the marriageable age. Mrs. Bennet tries to find rich and handsome young men for her daughters to be husbands.
Bingley marries Jane.
Darcy marries Elizabeth. Darcy represents Pride. Elizabeth represents Prejudice.
Lydia marries Wilkman who is not serious about marriage and poor in money.
It's a novel with a happy ending.
Themes of Pride and Prejudice
1. Pride and prejudice.
2. Love and marriage.
The characterization of Elizabeth
She is witty, intelligent.
She is tall, slim and graceful, though not as beautiful as Jane.
She is fearless, frank.
She is independent and has good judgment.
She is considerate for others.
Chapter 4 The Victorian Period (1836-1901)
Historical background
After the Reform Bill of 1832 passed the political power from the decaying aristocrats into the hands of the middle-class industrial capitalists, the Industrial Revolution soon geared up.
The bourgeois took the power which aroused the conflict between labor and capital.
Therefore the Chartist Movement, also known as Chartism (1836-1848) erupted. There were 3 petitions.
Before the 3 petitions, 2 laws enforced the hardship of labor, hardened the life of the laboring people. The Poor Law and The Corn Law 谷物法
1834 The Poor Law 平民法with its the workhouse system 工场制度法hardened the life of labor who worked from day to night, couldn't get enough food, couldn't support their family. The workhouse system classified labor to man worker, woman worker and children worker. The implementation of the workhouse system resulted in a lot of death.
The worsening living and working conditions, the mass unemployment and the new Poor Law with its workhouse system finally gave rise to the Chartist Movement. The 3 petitions were:
1839 Over 1 million people made their signatures to protest, but rejected by the Parliament who sent troops to quell. The petition ended as a failure.
1842 Over 3 million people made their signatures to protest, but rejected by the Parliament. Workers went on strikes. The government sent troops to quell and tried to drive them back to work, which caused death and injury. 1848 Over 5 million people made their signatures to protest, but rejected by the Parliament. After this petition, the Chartism declined.
The movement made factory owners to make improvement in working conditions so the movement is not a total failure.
Since the Industrial Revolution, England had begun to accumulate its wealth. England was the "workshop of the world". What England produced was sold to the world. In the middle of the 17c. England reached the summit (heyday) of empire. It was highly developed. It had many colonies.
From 1850s-1870s, it was the most prosperous, stable, peaceful period of U.K. There was no significant event. The conflict between labor and capital was mild.
Economic Crisis
1875 A decline in Britain's economy caused social disturbance.
1880
1884
1887 "Bloody Sunday" On the Trafalgar Square, troops were sent to stop worker's strike resulted in many death. Philosophy and Ideology of the Victorian Period.
(1) Utilitarianism
Definition = note+ [P235]
The theory was put forward by Jeremy Beathan and elaborated by John Stewart Mill. The word "utilitarianism"
was adopted from the word "utility". Its tenor is "the greatest happiness of the greatest number." People use it as the measure of right or wrong in social system. The Bourgeois use this theory to exploit working class. Utilitarianism was widely accepted and practiced. Almost everything was put to the test by the criterion of utility, that is, the extent to which it could promote the material happiness.
This theory held a special appeal to the middle-class industrialists, whose greed drove them to exploiting workers to the utmost and brought greater suffering and poverty to the working mass.
Charles Dickens attacked the Utilitarianism in his Hard Time.
(2) Darwin's Evolution.
Evolutionary theory: human beings are evolved from apes. The theory influenced and shakened the firm Christian belief (all things and man are created by God.)
(3) Herbert Spencer's Social Darwinism
Herbert applied Darwin's evolutionary theory to human society. That's
1, Struggle for existence. 生存竞争
2, Survival of the fittest. 适者生存
Herbert' social Darwinism severed for the Bourgeois class.
Utilitarianism and Social Darwinism served for the Bourgeois class. Darwin's evolutionary theory shattered the Christian belief.
Novel of the Victorian Period. [P236]
Novel became the most widely read and the most vital and challenging expression of progressive thought. A harvest in novel
Critical realists:
Charles Dickens
William Makepeace Thackeray
Charlotte Brontë
Emily Brontë
Mrs. Gaskell
Anthony Trollope
They were angry at the inhuman social institutions, the decaying social morality as represented by the
money-worship and Utilitarianism, and the widespread misery, poverty and injustice. Their truthful picture of people's life and bitter and strong criticism of the society had done much in awakening the public consciousness to the social problems and in the actual improvement of the society.
George Eliot, the pioneering woman, was the first novelist that "started putting all the actions inside"
Thomas Hardy, the Wessex man who not only continued to expose and criticize all sorts of social iniquities, but finally came to question and attack the Victorian conventions and morals.
Prose of the Victorian Period [P236]
Poetry of the Victorian Period [P236-237]
The poetry of this period was mainly characterized by experiments with new styles and new ways of expression. Robert Browning who created the verse novel by adopting the novelistic presentation of characters. This transferred the thematic主题的interest from mere narration of the story to revelation 新发现，提示and study of character's inner world and brought to the Victorian poetry some psycho-analytical element.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
The definition of Critical Realist:
(1) A number of novelists who are strongly critical of the social reality of their day.
(2) They don't want to overthrow the existing social order and so they can't see a way out of the terrible situation.
(3) They have a word of sympathy for the miseries of the poor laboring masses and cried out loud against social injustice.
(4) But they don't approve the use of violence to right the social wrongs.
(5) Therefore, they fear rather than welcome the Chartist Movement.
Life of Charles Dickens
1812 Son of a petty navy officer. Because of financial problem, his father along with his family members was put into prison. Dickens spent some of his childhood in prison.
1824 12y, He worked for a shoe blacking factory as a child work. Later, he wrote his miserable life there in Oliver Twist.
1827 Dickens entered a lawyer's office in London, where he acquainted with law court. While in London, he often read book at the British Museum Library.
1828 He became a Parliament reporter. The job enabled him to get some inside
knowledge of British legal and political system, a chance to meet people of
all kinds, a good foundation for writing.
1837 25y, Pickwick Paper was published. Dickens gained fame.
Major works of Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist (1837-1838) attacked the workhouse system.
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) attacked the French Revolution.
Dombey and Son (1846-1848) attacked the Capitalist.
Bleak House (1852-1853) attacked the law court.
Hard Time (1854) attacked the Utilitarianism (facts).
Oliver Twist
In this novel, Dickens attacked the workhouse system. Workers who worked hard but so little can't supply their family, hungry to death.
Plot
Oliver is an orphan working in a workhouse. He can't stand the hungry so he turns to theft. In order to live, he becomes a thief and leads an underworld life. At the end of the novel, with the help of kind-hearted men, he learns that he isn't an orphan but is born in a decent family.
Significance of Oliver Twist
(1) The novel is the truthful presentation of the miseries of the poor and the oppressed.
(2) It blames the social system and institutions for such miseries. In Dickens's depiction, labors, they either become oppressors or criminals.
The progressing aspect of the novel
It's said the publication of Oliver Twist has bettered the conditions in the English workhouses.
Dombey and Son àattacked the Capitalist
Dombey regards his wife chiefly as a woman whose duty is to give birth, and regards his son as someone who carries his name and inherit his property. He thinks that his daughter is useless, can be neglected. He teaches his son that money can buy everything. His son died young. After his wife died, he marries a young beauty. He thinks that he buys her and she gets social status and money. Dombey thinks the marriage is a good business.
Dombey is very inhumane to his daughter. When his second wife shows her concern to the daughter. Dombey is annoyed. He thinks that he buys the second wife to love him only. She can't love another person. The second wife finally elopes with Dombey's manager who later cheats away his money.
In his late life, Dombey lives in poverty and solitude. Only his daughter stays with him and takes care of him.
Bleak House àattacked the law court
It's about a family lawsuit. Almost all family members are involved in the lawsuit for many years. The result is that the long legal procedure makes everybody poor and miserable.
Chapter 3 The Romantic Period-the English Literature A basic introduction to the romantic period. 1) Began in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott's death and the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament. 2) what are the characxteristics of the Romantic literature? A) In poetry writing, the Romantics employed new theories and innovated new techniques, for example, the preface to the second edition of the "Lyrical Ballads"acts as a manifesto for the new school B)The Romantics not only extol the faculty of Ballads acts as a manifesto for the new school. B) The Romantics not only extol the faculty of imagination, but also elevate the concepts of spontaneity and inspiration. C) They regarded nature as the major source of poetic imagery and the dominant subject. D) Romantics also tend to be nationalistic. 3) The Romantic period is an age of poetry. Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, shelley and Keats are the major Romantic poets. They started a rebellion against the neoclassical literature, which was later regarded as the poetic revolution. 4) We can say that Romanticism actually consitutes a change of direction from attention to the outer 1) Literarily Blake was the first important Romantic poet , shwoing a contempt for the rule of reason,i th l i l t diti f th 18th t d t i th i di id l'i i ti )y y g world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit. In essence it designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience.William Blake opposing the classical tradition of the 18th century, and treasuring the individual's imagination.2) The Songs of Innocence is a lovely volume of poems, presenting a happy and innocent world, though not without its evils and sufferings; his Songs of Experience paints a different world, a world of misery,poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone . 3) particularly the practice of selling young children into apprenticeships, a practice which provides the context for the opening lines of the "Chimney Sweeper." The two "Chimney Sweeper" poems are good examples to reveal the relation between an economic circumstance,i.e.the exploitation of child labor,examples to reveal the relation between an economic circumstance, i.e. the exploitation of child labor,and an ideological cir cumstance, i.e. the role played by religion in making people compliant to exploitation. The poem from the Songs of Innocence indicates the conditions which make religion a consolation, a prospect of "illusory happiness;" the poem from the Songs of Experience reveals the true nature of religion which helps bring misery to the poor children. 4) Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell marks his entry into maturity(天堂与地狱的结合一诗标志着他创作上的成熟). 5) The Bok of Urizen, The Book of Los, The Four Zoas, and Milton (尤来森之书，洛斯之书，四个左义斯，弥尔顿）。 The Tyger The Chimney Sweeper ( from Songs of Innocence/Experien ce)
Chapter I The Renaissance Period Definitions of the Literary Terms: 文艺复兴时期的界定 1. The Renaissance: The Renaissance marks a transition from the medie val to the modern world. Generally, it refers to the period between the 14 th & 17th centuries. 历史文化背景It first started in Italy, with the flowering of painting, sculpture & literature. From Italy the movement went to emb race the rest of Europe. The Renaissance, which means "rebirth" or "reviva l," is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events, such as the re-discovery of ancient Roman & Greek culture, the new discoverie s in geography & astrology, the religious reformation & the economic expa nsion. The Renaissance, therefore, in essence is a historical period in whic h the European humanist thinkers & scholars made attempts to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that e xpressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, & to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. 2. 文艺复兴到英国比较晚的原因The Renaissance was slow in reaching Englan d not only becaus e o f England?s separation from the Continent but also be cause of its domestic unrest. It was not until the reign of Henry VIII that the Renaissance really began to show its effect in England. With Henry VII I?s encouragement the Oxford reformers, scholars and humanists introduc ed classical literature to England. 15th century, began the English Renaissa nce, which was perhaps England?s Golden Age, especially in literature. 人文主义H umanism: Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. It sprang from the endeavor to restore a medieval reverence for the ancient author s and is frequently taken as the beginning of the Renaissance on its consci ous, intellectual side, for the Greek and Roman civilization was based on s uch a conception that man is the measure of all things. Through the new l earning, humanists not only saw the arts of splendor and enlightenment, b ut the human values represented in the works. Renaissance humanists fou nd in the classics a justification to exalt human nature and came to see th at human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfections, and that the world they inhabited was thei rs not to despise but to question, explore, and enjoy. Thus, by emphasizin g the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy the bea uty of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wond ers. Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are the b est representatives of the English humanists. The first period of the English Renaissance was one of imitation and assimi lation.
英美文学选读要点总结精心整理3 I). Washington Irving华盛顿.欧文 11. He is regarded as Father of the American short stories.他是美国浪漫主义文学代表作家之一,美国短篇小说之父。 12. With the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Irving won a measure of international fame on both sides of the Atlantic.1819年至1820年，欧文出版了《见闻札记》，该书为欧文获得了欧美两大洲的文学荣誉。 13. A History of New York---He parodies or imitates Homer.《纽约史》在多方面模仿了荷马。 14. Like the two famous personae he created, Diedrich Knickerbocker and Geoffrey Crayon, Irving remained a conservative and always exalted a disappearing past.他所创造的两个人物Diedrich Knickerbocker和Geoffrey Crayon和他一样，都停留在对过去的事情的津津乐道上。 15. We hear rather than read, for there is musicality in almost every line of his prose. We seldom learn a moral lesson because he wants us amused and relaxed.他的作品行文优美流畅，犹如音乐。他的作品寓教于乐，给人以轻松安逸之感，如入梦境。 16. He is worth the honor of being“the American Goldsmith”for his literary craftsmanship.在创作艺术方面他堪称是“美国的近匠”。 17. “rip van winkle”—Here, Irving’s pervasive theme of nostalgia for the unrecoverable past is at on ce made unforgettable.“瑞普.凡.温克尔”---欧文在此表达了对一去不复返的东西十分依恋，笔触生动，令人难忘。 (II). Ralph Waldo Emerson拉尔夫.华尔多.爱默生 18. New England Transcendentalism, which is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the Romantic period in the history of American literature.在美国浪漫主义时期的文学中，新英格兰的超验主义是不可或缺的。 19. Emersonian Transcendentalism is actually a philosophical school which absorbed some ideological concerns of American Puritanism and European Romanticism, with its focus on the intuitive knowledge of human beings to grasp the absolute in the universe and the divinity of man.爱默生的超验主义实际上是在吸收美国清教思想，强调人类具有本能的掌握宇宙绝对真理和人的神性而形成的一个哲学流派。 20. In his essays, Emerson put forward his philosophy of the over-soul, the importance of the individual, and Nature.爱默生的文章提出了超灵哲学,个人及自然的重要性。 21. Emerson id a ffirmative about man’s intuitive knowledge, with which a man can trust himself to decide what is right and to act accordingly.爱默生相信人的直觉知识。人类可以利用自己的直觉决定是非并采取相应得行动。 22. The ideal individual should be a self-reliant man.一个理想的个人应是自助自立的人。 23. “Go back to nature, sink yourself back into its influence and you’ll become spiritually whole again.”“回到自然中去吧，沉浸在自然的影响中吧，你将重新获得精神的完整。” 24. In 1845, a great transcendentalist work Walden was born.1845年，写成了超验主义的伟大作品《沃尔登》。
自学考试 英美文学选读 Selected Readings In English And American Literatures Part one: English literature An Introduction to Old and Medieval English Literature 1. The Old English poetry that has survived can be divided into two group: the religious group and the secular one. The poetry of the religious group is mainly on biblical themes………In addition to these religious compositions, Old English poets produced the national epic poem, Beowulf, a typical example of Old English poetry, is regarded today as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. 2. Romance which uses narrative verse or prose to sing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds is a popular literary form in the medieval period. R omantic love is an important part of the plot in romance. 3. I t is Chaucer alone who, for the first time in English literature, presented to us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life in his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer is the greatest writer of this period. I n short, Chaucer develops his characterization to a higher artistic level by presenting characters with both typical qualities and individual dispositions. Chaucer introduced from France the rhymed stanzas of various types to English poetry to replace the Old English alliterative verse. Chaucer dominated the works of his15th-centtruy English followers and the so-called Scottish Chaucerians. For the Renaissance, he was the English Homer. Chapter 1 The Renaissance Period
简单电路》说课稿2 开场白：各位老师上午好，我今天说课的题目是《简单电路》，我主要从两大板块展开：说研究和说教学 第一板块：说研究 （一）说教材
《简单电路》教科版四年级下册第一单元《电》第三节，在本节课之前，学生已经认识了静电和电流的关系，清楚点亮小灯泡需要导线、电池；进而建构简单电路的科学概念，为接下来知识的迁移打下基础，也为第7节课《不一样的电路连接》串并联做铺垫。引领学生从前概念--科学概念--概念的迁移进行转化，而本节课正是构建科学概念的重点，因此本节课有重要的地位 （二）说学情 【知识基础】学生对简单电路认识停留在表面，知道点亮小灯泡需要电池和导线等材料，能动手连接电路，但缺乏对内部回路的认识。 因此我把本节课的重点设置为：在认识闭合回路的基础上连接电路 【认知困难】 学生能尝试连接点亮两只灯泡，但较难理解不同连接方式内部电流的流动规律 因此我把本节课的难点设置为：探究电路的不同连接方式，了解内部电流流动形成回路是点亮灯泡的基础 （三）说目标 基于学情以及新课标的要求，我设置了四维教学目标： 【科学概念】 1、知道简单的电路由电池提供电能。 2、了解电从电池的一端经过导线和用电器返回到电池的另一端，就组成了一个完整的电路。 3、知道使用相同的材料，电路可以有不同的连接方式。 【科学探究】 1、通过实物图与电路图的对比观察，了解闭合回路的形成。 2、通过“设计—实践”环节，发现让更多灯泡亮起来的不同的电路连接方式。 【科学态度】 激发对电探究的兴趣。 【科学、技术、社会与环境】 意识到电与生活息息相关
第二板块：说教学 我将从以下5点展开 一说教材处理 （1）教材以谈话法进行导入，缺乏直观感知与兴趣，对此我做了以下处理：
英美文学选读翻译（英语专业自考） 第一部分：英国文学 第一章文艺复兴时期 文艺复兴标志着一个过渡时期,即中世纪的结束和现代社会的开始。一般来说,文艺复兴时期是从十四世纪到十七世纪中叶。它从意大利兴起,伴随着绘画、雕塑和文学领域的百花齐放,而后文艺复兴浪潮席卷了整个欧洲。文艺复兴,顾名思义即重生、复苏,是由一系列历史事件激发推动的,其中包括对古希腊罗马文化的重新发现。地理天文领域的新发现,宗教改革及经济发展。因此,文艺复兴从本质上是欧洲人文主义者竭力摒弃中世纪欧洲的封建主义,推行代表新兴城市资产阶级利益的新思想,并恢复早期宗教的纯洁性,远离腐败的罗马天主教廷的一场运动。 文艺复兴浪潮影响到英国的速度比较慢,不仅因为英国远离欧洲大陆,而且还因为其国内的动荡不安。乔叟去世后的一个半世纪是英国历史上最动荡不安的时期。好战的贵族篡取了王位,使英国走上自我毁灭之路。著名的玫瑰之战就是极好的例子。后来理查三世的恐怖统治标志着内战的结束,在都铎王朝的统治下英国的民族情感又成长起来。然而直到亨利八世统治期间(1509-1547),文艺复兴的春风才吹入英国。在亨利八世的鼓励下,牛津的改革派学者和人文主义者们将古典文学引入英国。基于古典文学作品及《圣经》的教育重获生机,而十五世纪就被广泛传阅的文学作品则更加流行了。自此,英国的文艺复兴开始了。英国,尤其是英国文学进入了黄金时代。这个时期涌现出莎士比亚、斯宾塞、约翰逊、锡德尼、马洛、培根及邓恩等一大批文学巨匠。但英国的文艺复兴并未使新文学与旧时代彻底决裂,带有十四、十五世纪特点的创作态度与情感依然贯穿在人文主义与改革时代。 人文主义是文艺复兴的核心。它源于努力恢复中世纪产生的对古希腊罗马文化的尊崇。人文主义作为文艺复兴的起源是因为古希腊罗马文明的基础是以"人"为中心,人是万物之灵。通过这些对古代文化崭新的研究,人文主义者不仅看到了光彩夺目的艺术启明星,还在那古典作品中寻求到了人的价值。在中世纪的社会中,个人完全隶属于封建统治,没有独立和自由可言;在中世纪的神学理论中,人与周围世界的关系仅仅是人消极适应或消极遁世,不允许追求快乐,以备死后灵魂得以超脱。然而人文主义者们却从古代文化遗产中找到了充足的论据,来赞美人性,并开始注意到人类是光荣的生命,人自己可以不断发展,至善至美,而且人们生存的世界是属于他们的,供他们怀疑、探索以及享受。由此,人文主义者通过强调人类的尊严、强调今生今世的重要性,喊出了他们的信仰,即人类不仅有权利在今生今世美好生活,而且还有能力完善自我,创造奇迹。人文主义遍布英国思想领域的。标志是荷兰学者伊拉斯谟先后到牛津大学与剑桥大学讲授古典文化研究。托马斯·漠尔、克利斯朵夫·马洛和威廉·莎士比亚是英国人文主义的代表。
《英美文学选读》模拟试题（一） 一、单项选择题 1.The excerpt from Chapter 10 of Sons and Lovers ends with the conflict between Paul and his mother. The conflict is possibly caused by Paul and his mother’s different views towards _____. A. Paul’s father B. art C. life D. Paul’s brother 2.The _____ can be regarded as one of the themes of Joyce’s story “Araby”. A. loss of innocence 在所有有關童年故事中，孩子都是同叔叔同姨媽同住，父母則不在身邊—這便是一種象征，象征父母與孩子之間骨肉親情的隔絕和一種正常關系的缺 失. B. childish love C. awareness of harsh life D. false sentimentality 錯誤的多愁善感 3.After reading “Araby”, one more feel the story has a _____ tone. A. joyous B. harsh C. solemn D. painful 4.In “Araby”, Joyce’s diction evokes a sort of _____ quality that characterizes the boy on this otherwise altogether ordinary shopping trip. A. religious B. moral C. sentimental D. vulgar 5.The major concern of _____ fiction lies in the tracing of the psychological development of his characters and in his energetic criticism of the dehumanizing effect of the capitalist industrialization on human nature. A. D. H. Lawrence’s B. J. Galsworthy’s C. W. Thackeray’s D. T. Hardy’s 6.The mission of _____ drama was to reveal the moral, political and economic truth
九年级物理简单电路基础 知识测试题 Prepared on 22 November 2020
九年级物理第一章《简单电路》单元试题 一、基础识记 1、自然界存在_____种电荷，玻璃棒和丝绸摩擦时，玻璃棒带_____电荷；橡胶棒和毛皮摩擦时，橡胶棒带_____电荷；同种电荷相互________，异种电荷相互_________。 2、电荷的__________形成电流。把 __ 规定为电流的方向，负电荷定向移动的方向与电流方向______。在电源外部电流从_____极出发回到_____极。在电源内部电流从____极流向_____极。 3、电流的单位及换算：电流主单位________（用字母 _____表示）常用单位还有_______、。 1A= mA； 1mA= μA： 750 mA = A。 4、电流表的使用时：①电流表要_______联在电路中；②接线柱的接法要正确，使电流从______接线柱流入，从______接线柱流出；③被测电流不要超过电流表的 ______；④绝对不允许不经过用电器而把电流表连到电源的_______。电流表有两个量程：① A，每小格表示_____A；② A，每小格表示_____A。 5、_____是形成电流的原因，______是提供电压的装置；1节新干电池的电压___伏；家庭照明电压为____伏；安全电压是：_______伏．电压的主单位____ （用字母 表示）常用单位还有、。1KV= V；1V= mV； 360KV=_______mV。 6电压表的使用：①电压表要____联电路中；②使电流从____接线柱入，从____接线柱出；③被测电压不要超过电压表的______；在不知道电压大小时,可按从大到小的顺序采用______的方法。④可以直接接在电源两端，测的是 _____电压。电压表的量程：①0～3伏，每小格表示____伏；②0～15伏，每小格表示____伏。 7、串联电路电流特点是：；电压特点是： _______________________.。 并联电路电流特点是：；电压特点是： _______________________.。
电源电路单元 按单元电路的功能可以把它们分成若干类，每一类又有好多种，全部单元电路大概总有几百种。下面我们选最常用的基本单元电路来介绍。让我们从电源电路开始。 一、电源电路的功能和组成 每个电子设备都有一个供给能量的电源电路。电源电路有整流电源、逆变电源和变频器三种。常见的家用电器中多数要用到直流电源。直流电源的最简单的供电方法是用电池。但电池有成本高、体积大、需要不时更换（蓄电池则要经常充电）的缺点，因此最经济可靠而又方便的是使用整流电源。 电子电路中的电源一般是低压直流电，所以要想从 220 伏市电变换成直流电，应该先把220 伏交流变成低压交流电，再用整流电路变成脉动的直流电，最后用滤波电路滤除脉动直流电中的交流成分后才能得到直流电。有的电子设备对电源的质量要求很高，所以有时还需要再增加一个稳压电路。因此整流电源的组成一般有四大部分，见图 1 。其中变压电路其实就是一个铁芯变压器，需要介绍的只是后面三种单元电路。 二、整流电路 整流电路是利用半导体二极管的单向导电性能把交流电变成单向脉动直流电的电路。 （ 1 ）半波整流 半波整流电路只需一个二极管，见图 2 （ a ）。在交流电正半周时 VD 导通，负半周时 VD 截止，负载 R 上得到的是脉动的直流电
（ 2 ）全波整流 全波整流要用两个二极管，而且要求变压器有带中心抽头的两个圈数相同的次级线圈，见图2 （ b ）。负载 R L 上得到的是脉动的全波整流电流，输出电压比半波整流电路高。 （ 3 ）全波桥式整流 用 4 个二极管组成的桥式整流电路可以使用只有单个次级线圈的变压器，见图 2 （ c ）。负载上的电流波形和输出电压值与全波整流电路相同。 （ 4 ）倍压整流 用多个二极管和电容器可以获得较高的直流电压。图 2 （ d ）是一个二倍压整流电路。当 U2 为负半周时 VD1 导通， C1 被充电， C1 上最高电压可接近 1.4U2 ；当 U2 正半周时 VD2 导通， C1 上的电压和 U2 叠加在一起对 C2 充电，使 C2 上电压接近 2.8U2 ，是C1 上电压的 2 倍，所以叫倍压整流电路。 三、滤波电路 整流后得到的是脉动直流电，如果加上滤波电路滤除脉动直流电中的交流成分，就可得到平滑的直流电。 （ 1 ）电容滤波 把电容器和负载并联，如图 3 （ a ），正半周时电容被充电，负半周时电容放电，就可使负载上得到平滑的直流电。
Chapter 3 ------------The Romantic Period(英国） Romanticism refers to an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. Historical background: Rousseau’s ideas provided guiding principles for the French Revolution (1789-1794) The primarily agricultural society had been replaced by a modern industrialized one. Political reforms and mass demonstrations shook the foundation of aristocratic rule in Britain. Cultural background 1.Inspiration for the romantic approach initially came from two great shapers of thought, French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau and German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Rousseau established the cult of the individual and championed the freedom of the human spirit. Goethe and his compatriots extolled the romantic spirit as manifested in German folk songs, Gothic architecture, and the plays of English playwright William Wordsworth. 2. The Romantics saw man essentially as an individual in the solitary state and emphasized the special qualities of each individual’s mind. Romanticism actually constitutes a change of direction from attention to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit. 3. In the works of the sentimental writers, we note a new interest in literatures and legends other than those of Greece and Rome. It was in effect a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassical reason. Features of the romantic literature 1.Expressiveness: Instead of regarding poetry as “a mirror to nature”, the romantics hold that the object of the artist should be the expression of the artist’s emotions, impressions, or beliefs 2. Imagination: Romantic literature puts great emphasis on the creative function of the imagination, seeing art as a formulation of intuitive, imaginative perceptions that tend to speak a nobler truth than that of fact, logic, or the here and now. 3.Singularity: Romantic poets have a strong love for the remote, the unusual, the strange, the supernatural, the mysterious, the splendid, the picturesque, and the illogical. 4. Worship of nature: Romantic poets see in nature a revelation of Truth, the “living garment of God”. 5.Simplicity: Romantic poets tend to turn to the humble people and the everyday life for subjects, employing the commonplace, the natural and the simple as their materials 6.The Romantic period is an age of poetry. The Romantic period is also a great age of prose. The major novelists of the Romantic period are Jane Austen and Walter Scott. Gothic novel was one phase of the Romantic Movement. Its principal elements are violence, horror, and the supernatural Willam Blake Points of view: 1. Politically Blake was a rebel, mixing a good deal with the radicals like Thomas Paine. He strongly criticized the capitalists’cruel exploitation. He cherished great expectations and enthusiasm for the French Revolution and regarded it as a necessary stage leading to the millennium predicted by the biblical prophets. 2. Literarily Blake was the first important Romantic poet, showing a contempt for the rule of reason, opposing the classical tradition of the 18th century, and treasuring the individual’s imagination. His works: Poetical Sketches (1783) Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790) Songs of Innocence (1809) Songs of Experience (1794) 1. Songs of Innocence (1809)