c. The natural world comes to the forefront of the poetic imagination. Nature is not only the major source of poetic imagery, but also provides the dominant subject matter.d. To escape from a world. Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey chose to live by the lakeside so as to escape from the "madding crowd," while Byron and Shelley rejected the entire English society by their self-imposed exile. e. Romantics also tend to be nationalistic（民族主义）. B. 散⽂ The Romantic period is also a great age of prose. Coleridge, Hazlitt, Lamb, and De Quincey were the leading figures. A）. William Hazlitt is a great critic on Shakespeare, Elizabethan drama, and English poetry. His last book is a four-volume Life of Napoleon. B）. Charles Lamb is a lovable essayist. Lamb's Essays of Elia is a good work that leads to a delightful interpretation of the life of London. C）. De Quincey 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. C. ⼩说 A）. Austen is of the 18th-century in her moral outlook. Her view of life is a totally realistic one. The major theme of her novels is love and marriage. B）. After establishing himself as a writer of romantic historical narrative poetry, Scott switched to novel writing. Waverley, Old Martality, The Heart of Midlothian, Rob Roy, and Ivanhoe are among the most popular ones of his novels. He is the first major historical novelist. C）. Gothic novel: 哥特式⼩说 a. Nature: Gothic novel, a type of romantic fiction that predominated in the late eighteenth century, was one phase of the Romantic movement. b. Subject matters: Its principal elements are violence, horror, and the supernatural. c. Works: Works like The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley are typical Gothic romance. D. 戏剧 Shelley's Prometheus Unbound and The Cenci, Byron's Manfred and Coleridge's Remorse are generally regarded as the best verse plays during this period. 本章主要作家及作品 布莱克 William Blake A. 创作 A）. The earlier period: a. The first printed work: Poetical Sketches is his first printed work, which is a collection of youthful verse. b. The songs of Innocence: It is a lovely volume of poems, presenting a happy and innocent world. c. The songs of Experience: It paints a different world, a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone. Childhood is central to Blake's concern in the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, and this concern gives the two books a strong social and historical reference. d. Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell marks his entry into maturity. In this poem, Blake explores the relationship of the contraries. B）. The later Period: a. In his later period, Blake wrote quite a few prophetic books, and showed the poet himself as the spokesman of revolt. b. The major ones are: The Book of Urizen, The Book of Los, The Four Zoas and Milton. B. 艺术成就 A）. The strong visual mind: From childhood, Blake had a strongly visual mind; whatever he imagined, he also saw. B）. The language: Blake writes his poems in plain and direct language. His poems often carry the lyric beauty with immense compression of meaning. C）.The Symbolism in wide range is also a distinctive feature of his poetry. 华兹·华斯 William Wordsworth A. 创作 A）. Wordsworth had a long poetic career. His first volumes are Descriptive Sketches, an Evening Walk. B）. The Lyrical Ballads differs in marked ways from his early poetry, notably the uncompromising simplicity of much of the language, the Lyrical Ballads are among the best of his achievements. C）. The Prelude is regarded as Wordsworth's greatest work. D）. In 1807 Poems in Two Volumes was published. The work contains much of Wordsworth's finest. B.作品主题 According to the subjects, Wordsworth's short poems can be classified into two groups: poems about nature and poems about human life. A）. The worshipper of nature: Wordsworth is regarded as a "worshipper of nature." He can penetrate to the heart of things and give the reader the very life of nature. To Wordsworth, nature acts as a substitute for imaginative and intellectual engagement. It's nature that gives him "strength and knowledge full of peace." B）. The theme of his works:。
