英国文学选读复习要点

英国文学选读复习要点内容摘要：

th century, failed to express man’s emotional nature and overlooked his profound inner forces. Romanticism emphasized individual values and aspirations above those of society. As a reaction to the industrial revolution, it looked to the Middle Ages and to direct contact with nature for inspiration. It gave impetus to the national liberation movement in 19thcentury Europe. The features of Romanticism were: 1) The romantics were against the modes of thinking in the 18th century which saw man as a social animal. 2) They emphasize the special qualities of each individual 3) So Romanticism actually constitutes a change of direction from attention to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of human spirit. 4) In essence it tends to see the individual as the very center of life and all experience. They also place the individual at the center of art and make literature most valuable as an express of his or her unique feelings and particular attitudes, and value its accuracy in portraying the individual’s experiences. Attitudes towards Individualism: Middle ages: emphasize on God。 man lived chiefly for the future world Renaissance period: man is the center of all concern。 emphasized on the dignity of man and the importance of the present life Enlightenment: saw man as social man。 the general or universal characteristics of human behavior were more suitable subject matter Romanticism: Saw man as an individual in the solitary state。 Emphasized the special qualities of each individual’s mind。 Value the exploration and evaluation of the inner self。 A prominence of firstperson lyric poem ―I‖ – the direct person of the poet。 A change of direction from attention to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit William Blake Literarily William Blake was the first important romantic poet, showing contempt for the rule of reason, opposing the classical tradition of the 18th century, and treasuring the individual’s imagination. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Romantic poetry of the 19th century. William Wordsworth Wordsworth is the most representative poet of English Romanticism. Wordsworth’s poetry is distinguished by the simplicity and purity of his language. He was a worshipper of nature from his childhood. In 1842, he received the government pension and in the following year, he succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate. In 1798, Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly published the Lyrical Ballads. The publication of this book marked the break with the conventional poetical tradition of the 18th century, ., with classicism, and the beginning of the Romantic revival in England. Definition of a poet and poetry He (poet) is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more prehensive soul, than are supposed to be mon among mankind. Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling。 Samuel Taylor Coleridge Poets are born and not made. A poem should not be judged as a mirror of truth—as we judge sciencebut as a thing in itself, almost as a living anism. Poems should be judged only according to their own lights and not according to any established precept or precedent. Lake Poets Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey have often been mentioned as the ―Lake Poets‖ because they lived in the Lake District in the northwestern part of England. The three traversed the same path in politics and in poetry, beginning as radicals and ends as conservatives. Jane Austen The major theme of her novel is love and marriage toward which she holds on a practical idealism—love should be justified by reason and disciplined by selfcontrol. Generally speaking, Jane Austen was a writer of the 18th –century, though she lived mainly in the 19th century. Her works show clearly her firm belief in the predominance of reason over passion, the sense of responsibility, good manners and clearsighted judgment over the Romantic tendencies of emotion and individuality. She shows contemptuous feelings towards snobbery, stupidity, worldliness and vulgarity through subtle satire and irony. Austen’s main literary concern is about human beings in their personal relationships. In her works, she characterizes a human being not at moments of crisis, but in the most trivial incidents of everyday life. Her characteristic theme is that maturity is achieved through the loss of illusions. Faults of character are corrected when through tribulation, lessons are learned. Because of her sensitivity to universal patterns of human behavior, Jane Austen has brought the English novel, as an art of form, to its maturity, and she has been regarded as one of the greatest of all novelists. Gee Gordon Byron He is well known in China. Don Juan, the long satirical epic, is generally considered his masterpiece. As a leading Romanticist, Byron’s chief contribution is his creation of the ―Byronic hero‖, a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin. With immense superiority in his passions and powers, this Byronic hero would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in a corrupt society, and would rise singlehandedly against any kind of tyrannical rules either in government, in religion, or in moral principles with unconquerable w。