美国文学史1所学知识总结
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A Review: 美国文学史（1）所学知识点总结
I The Colonial Period
Captain John Smith
American Puritanism
(Calvinism(TULIP:
Total depravity (全然败坏)
Unconditional election （无条件的挑选）
Limited atonement （有限的待赎）
Irresistible grace （不可抗拒的恩典）
Perseverance of the saints （圣徒蒙保守）
Protestantism, Puritanism )
What did most of the early writers write mostly?: description of the natural scene
of the new continent; religious zeal; record of their experiences of immigration and
their life in the new continent.)
II The Age of Enlightenment
“Reason ”
1. Benjamin Franklin (Deism,自然神论 Deists typically reject supernatural
events (prophecy, miracles) and tend to assert that God does not interfere with human
life and the laws of the universe.
1） Autobiography;（13 virtues: 1）Temperance;2) Silence
3) Order 4) Resolution 5) Frugality 6) Industry—Lose no time; be always
employed in something useful 7)Sincerity 8) Justice 9) Moderation
10) Cleanliness11) Tranquility12) Chastity13) Humility
2） Poor Richard’s Almanac(a collection of proverbs)
2. Thomas Paine:
Common Sense
III Romantic Period
1. Washington Irving “Father of American Literature” the first belletrist in Am Lit;
1) “Rip Van Winkle”
2) “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
2. James Fennimore Cooper “American Scott” * Historical Novel
“frontier, wilderness”
Leatherstocking Tales : a series of 5 novels:
The Deerslayer; The Last of the Mohicans; The Pathfinder;
The Pioneers; The Prairie
3. Nathaniel Hawthorne
His family history; his views of sin; feature of his writing: ambiguity
His major works;
E.g. The Scarlet Letter
(The Scarlet Letter；Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale,
Pearl,)
4. Herman Melville:
Moby Dick (symbols, major themes, characters: Ishmael . Ahab, Pequod)
5: New England Transcendentalism:
Features:
1) emphasis on spirit or the Oversoul as the most important thing in the
universe
2) the individual as the most important element of society
3) nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God
Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Nature” “The American Scholar”: America’s Declaration of
Intellectual Independence
Henry David Thoreau: Walden (which chapter in Walden impresses you most?)
“Civil Disobedience”: Nonviolent struggle
“A Plea for Captain John Brown”: his anti-slavery attitude
6. Edgar Allan Poe
Gothic Tales : Major features
a short story: “The Fall of the House of Usher”;
Poems: “The Raven”; “To Helen”
7. Two Greatest poets in 19th century America
Walt Whitman : “America’s poet”; “Father of free verse”
Free verse ; Leaves of Grass
“O Captain! My Captain!”
“Song of Myself”
“I Hear America Singing”
Emily Dickinson:
“Because I could not stop for Death”
“Wild Nights-Wild Nights ”
The subjects in her poetry;
Characteristics:
Short lines; Lack titles; Slant rhyme; Unconventional capitalization
Unconventional punctuation; full of images.
IV. American Realism
(Definition; fidelity, actuality, truthful depiction of life)
1. William Dean Howells （focusing on the rising middle class）
2. Mark Twain (focusing on the lower class) (Local Colorism)
3. Henry James (focusing on the upper class)(international theme, psychological
analysis)
The differences among the three writers.
American Naturalism: social and economic factors; natural and hereditary reasons
※ American Realism and American Naturalism
(3 major ideas; mood: pessimistic; objects; themes.)
Stephen Crane :
The Red Badge of Courage (war)
Maggie, A Girl of Streets
Frank Norris: Mcteague; The Octopus Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie
