美国文学史知识点梳理.doc

Part I The Literature of Colonial America

I．Historical Introduction
The colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.)

II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:
1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration
2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions.

III．The First American Writer
The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians.
Captain John Smith is the first American writer.
A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608)
A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612)
General History of Virginia (1624): the Indian princess Pocahontas
Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.
One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas.

IV．Early New England Literature
William Bradford and John Winthrop
John Cotton and Roger Williams
Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor

V．Puritan Thoughts
1. The origin of puritan
In the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of England. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.

2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism
(1) predestination: God's elect
Puritans believed they are predestined before they were born.
Nothing or no good work can change their fate.
They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.
(2) Origianl sin and total depravity
Man is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.
(3) Limited atonement (the salvation of a selected few)
(4) theocracy
They combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.
The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.
Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment
3. Influence on American Literature
(1) Its optimism
American literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that, man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise, to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.
(2) Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.

Part II The Literature of Reason And Revolution

I．Historical Introduction
With the growth, especially of industry, there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not want colonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures to insure this dependence. They prevented colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country. Politically, the British government forced dependence by ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.
However, by the mid-eighteenth century, freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years (1776-1783) and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America.

II．American Enlightenment
It was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.
It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.
The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.
The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision of their writings.
At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.

III．Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
The Autobiography
Poor Richard’s Almanac
Life
Benjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.
He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader.
At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer.
At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym “Silence Do good” .
At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.
He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.

Multiple identities:
a printer
a leading author
a politician
a scientist
a inventor
a diplomat
a civic activist

Franklin’s Contributions to Society
He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital.
He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.
And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.

Franklin’s Contributions to Science
He was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.
And for his lightning-rod, he was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.”

Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.
He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:
The Declaration of Independence,
The Treaty of Alliance with France,
The Treaty of Peace with England,
The Constitution

The Autobiography
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.
The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices, the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person, the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God – all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then, the book is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrious, frugal, and prudent.
The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness and concision. The plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence of ornaments in wording and of complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.

IV．Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
Common Sense
American Crisis

V．Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
The Declaration of Independence

VI．Philip Freneau (1752-1832)
“Poet of the American Revolution”
“Father of American Poetry”
“Pioneer of the New Romanticism”
“A gifted and versatile lyric poet”

Works
“The Wild Honey Suckle”
“The Indian Burying Ground”
“To a Caty-Did”
Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.

Life Experience
►He was born in New York.
►At 16, he entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends (H. H. Brackenridge) a poem entitled “The Rising Glory of America”.
►Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780.
►After being released, he published “The British Prison Ship” in 1781.
►In the same year, he published “To the Memory of the Brave Americans”.
►After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government.
►But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.

Main Works
►“The Rising Glory of America” (1772) 《美洲光辉的兴起》
►“The House of Night” (1779,1786) 《夜之屋》
►“The British Prison Ship” (1781) 《英国囚船》
►“To the Memory of the Brave Americans” (1781) 《纪念美国勇士》
►“”The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786) 《野忍冬花》
►“The Indian Burying Ground” (1788) 《印第安人墓地》

野忍冬花
（黄杲炘译）
►美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，
却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——
甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，
招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；
　没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，
　没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。
►大自然把你打扮得一身洁白，
她叫你避开庸俗粗鄙的目光，
她布置下树荫把你护卫起来，
又让潺潺的柔波淌过你身旁；
　你的夏天就这样静静地消逝，
　这时候你日见萎蔫终将安息。
►那些难免消逝的美使我销魂，
想起你未来的结局我就心疼，
别的那些花儿也不比你幸运——
虽开放在伊甸园中也已凋零，
　无情的寒霜再加秋风的威力，
　会叫这花朵消失得一无踪迹。
►朝阳和晚露当初曾把你养育，
让你这小小的生命来到世上，
原来若乌有，就没什么可失去，
因为你的死让你同先前一样；
　这来去之间不过是一个钟点——
　这就是脆弱的花享有的天年。

►This poem is divided into four stanzas. Each stanza consists of six lines, rhyming “ababcc”, and sounds just like music.
►In the first two stanzas, Freneau devoted more attention to the environment of the flower in which he found it than to the appearance of the flower. He conmented on the secluded nature of the place where the honey suckle grew, drawing a conclusion that it was due to nature's protectiveness that the flower was able to lead a peaceful life free from men’s disturbance and destruction.
►But the next stanza immediately changed the tone from silent admiration and appreciation to outright lamentation over the “future’s doom” of the flower – even nature was unable to save the flower from its death.
►And then, Freneau said, “if nothing once, you nothing lose.” It is true in people’s existence. There is fate for the life and death. After one’s death, the only thing he can take away is what he brought when he gave birth to this world.

Part III  The Literature of Romanticism
I．Historical Introduction
 from early 19th century through the outbreak of the Civil War
 1. native factors
 It is a period following American Independence. In this period, democracy and political equality became the ideals of the new nation. America was in an economic boom. There is a tremendous sense of optimism and hope among the people. The spirit of the time is, in some measure, responsible for the outburst of romantic feeling.
 2. foreign influence
 Romanticism emerged in England from 1798 to 1832. It added impetus to the growth of Romanticism in America. In England the general features of the works of the romantics is a dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society. British Romanticism inspired the American imagination. Thus American Romanticism was in a way derivative.
II．American Romanticism: American Renaissance
 Romanticism (appeared in England in the last years of the 18th century and spread to continental Europe and then) came to America early in the 19th century. It was pluralistic; its manifestations were as varied, as individualistic, and as conflicting as the cultures and the intellects from which it sprang. Yet romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: moral enthusiasm, faith in the 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.
 It exalted the individual, which suited the nation's revolutionary heritage and its frontier egalitarianism. It revolted against traditional art forms, which gratified those cramped by the strict limits of neoclassic literature, painting, and architecture. It rejected rationalism, which gladdened those who were opposed to cool, intellectual religious wrapped with the remnants of Calvinism.
 Romantic writers placed increasing value on the free expression of emotion and display increasing attention to the spiritual states of their characters. Heroes and heroines exhibited extremes of sensitivity and excitement. The novel of terror became the profitable literary staple that it remains today. Writers of gothic novels sought to arouse in their readers a turbu