i.T h e C o l o n i a l P e r i o d
1.关键词: America Puritanism
2.Calvinism特点: total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement,
Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints
3.Anne Bradstreet( P17 ): a Puritan poet be known as “The Muse”
4.Thomas Paine: one of continual, unswerving fight for the rights of man.
5.works: “Common Sense”“American Crisis”“The Rights of Man”“The Age
of Reason”理性时代
6.Phillip Freneau(P22): 美国文学史上的重要人物
7.dawning nationalism 代表人物
Poems: The Wild Honeysuckle野生的金银花
first modern American & the last medieval man
8.Jonathan Edwards( Calvinism )
9. a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening
10.works: “The Freedom of the Will”《自由意志论》“The Great Doctrine of
Original Sin Defended”《伟哉原罪论辩》“The Nature of True Virtue”
“American Dream”“Self-made”
11.Benjamin Franklin(puritanism)
12.“Poor Richard’s Almance”“autobiography”新文学形式
13.“18th century enlightenment”
ii.Romanticism
1.Washington Irving（1783-1859）
2.①titles: “the father of American literature”
3.“the American Goldsmith”
4.②works: The Sketch Book (marked the beginning of American Romanticism
and the beginning of short stories as a genre in American literature)
5.Rip Van Winkle (P47—P48)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
6.James Fenimore Cooper（1789-1851）
7.①One of the first writer to write American Westward movement
8.②“The Leatherstocking Tales” (novel)
9.first is “The Pioneers”
10.---Plot:
---theme conflict between Natty Bumppo and Judge Temple-
---character:
Natty Bumppo---innocent, simple, honest and generous, for freedom, against
civilization, wilderness is good
Judge Temple---just, reasonable, for civilization and law
③Writing style:
intriguing plot
majestic landscape descriptions
rich imagination
wooden characterization
not authentic dialect
iii.New England Transcendentalism---the culmination of American Romanticism iv.Beginning of the Transcendentalism---1836, Nature, Emerson (1830s –the Civil War)
v.Features：a:emphasizing on spirit or the Over-soul；b:stressing the importance of the individual；c:offering a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God.
1.Ralph Waldo Emerson：The founder of the Transcendentalist club and the editor
for a time of the journal the Dial
2.Works:
Nature --- “the Manifesto of American Transcen den talism” “the Bible of New England”:
The Poet (from Nature)
The American Scholar --- “Intellectual Declaration of Independence”
3.Henry David Thoreau
4.Masterpiece: Walden (Failure first, success in the 20th century)
5.Content---a faithful record of his reflection in communicating with nature
6.Nathaniel Hawthorne
7.“The Scarlet Letter”
8.Plot(P74)
Theme:
---(general theme) evil and sin exist in human heart and will be punished
one day
moral, emotional and psychological effect of the sin on the people in general
---(specific theme) a hymn on the moral growth of the woman Hester when
sinned against
symbolism象征主义: “A”—Adultery—able—angel
“pearl”—treasure
9.Herman Melville
10.works: Moby Dick (1851)---little response, famous until the 20th century
11.Content:
---(general content) an encyclopedia of everything
---(specific content) a tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming
power in an indifferent even hostile world
12.Edgar Allan Poe
13.Theme: The death of beauty
Sense of loss
Works:
Poem--- “The Raven” “To Helen” “Annabel Lee”
Writing style:
Musical
Repetition of words
Paralleled structure
