美国文学整理

The Colonial Period And 17th Century Literature of Puritanism I. History Background

 Early settlement in America, the early settlers  Puritans and puritanism

 Features of American puritanism

 Struggles between the American Indians and the settlers, the fall of the American Indian tribes

 Puritanism exerted great influence in the intellectual and economic life of the settlers  Conflicts and battles between the European colonists

Puritans and puritanism

 Puritans was the name given in the 16th century to the more extreme Protestants within

the Church of England who thought the English Reformation had not gone far enough in

reforming the doctrines and structure of the church. They wanted to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence. In the 17th century many Puritans emigrated to the New World, where they sought to found a holy Commonwealth in New England. Puritanism remained the dominant cultural force in that area into the 19th century.

Puritans believed that human beings were predestined by God before they were born. Some were God's chosen people (God's elect) while others were predestined to be damned to hell. The success of one's work or the prosperity in his calling(vocation) given by God was the sign of being God's elect. Therefore, everyone must work hard, spend little and invest for more business. Working hard and living a moral life were their ethics. They regarded Bible to be the authority of their doctrine. To be able to read the Bible and understand God's will, education was essential for Puritans. They strictly punished drunks, adulterers, violators of the Sabbath（安息日）and other religious believers different from themselves. The American values such as individualism, hard work, and respect of education owe very much to the Puritan beliefs

 Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. The Puritans were originally

members of a division of the Protestant Church . As the word itself hints, Puritans wanted

to purify their religious beliefs and practices. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God.

II. The development of literature

 Early American writings: diaries, travel books, collections of letters, journals, histories,

poetry, biographies, autobiographies and prose; John Smith‘s writing

 Featurs fo the early Ameriocan literature: religious subject and imitation of English

literary traditions III. Important writers or writings in the colonial period 1. William Bradford

 Of Plimoth Plantation, written in Hebrew, published till 1856, recods of the Puritan

pilgrims

 The first ten chapters: the history of the Puritans beford 1620;

 The ―Second Book‖ :the puritans‘ history in Plymouth from 1620 until 17

2. The Bay Psalm Book—the first book written in English and printed in America (10), translated from Hebrew by approximately thirty clergymen including Richard Mather, John Eliot and Thomas Weld; the success of the book lies in its religious content and skillful translation 3. Anne Bradstreet – the first noteworthy American

 1)The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650) 《美洲最近出现的第十位缪斯》

 2) Feature of her poems: p11

 3) Read and appreciate her poem ―To My Dear and Loving Husband‖《献给我亲爱的丈

夫》  —It is a passionate love poem, lyrical, lovely, human and simple. Bradstreet is very clear

in her message in stating that she and her husband are very much in love and content with that love. It is also free of any religious dogma. For this reason, it may be considered to have the most heretical elements of any of her poems.  -- the last two lines form couplet:

 ―当我们活在世上，让我们爱情长存，/当我们不再活着，让我们因此永生。‖ 4. Roger Williams – symbolized the American ideals of liberty of conscience and toleration of racial and religious differences; his major works are in defence of religious freedom and social justice

5. Edward Taylor – the most gifted of the Puritan poets; resembling the metaphysical poets in England

6. Cotton Mather – a number of his writings have been considered a valuablem source for knowledge of the history and the people of colonial New England

The Period of Enlightenment

I. The background of American literature in the 18th century II. The literature of the Age of reason

III. Writers and Interpretation of their representative works

I. The background of American literature in the 18th century

The War of Independence 1775-1783

-- 18th-century American is an age of Enlightenment, of reason and order

-- Deism

 The Enlightment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement through Europe in

the 18thc. The Enlighteners believed that the social problems couldn’t be solved by

church doctrine or God, so they strongly advocated education, self-government and freedom for the masses of people. In other words, they believed in the power of reason. They began to reconsider the relations between man and Nature and God, believing that man could assume greater control of Nature without offending the majesty of God 

 Deism is the theistic belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe,

but shall not intervene in its normal operation. Deists typically reject most supernatural events (prophecy, miracles) and tend to assert that God does not intervene with the affairs of human life and the natural laws of the universe. Deists believe that God's greatest gift

to humanity is not religion, but the ability to reason.

Two features constituted the core of deism: The rejection of revealed religion

The belief that reason, not faith, leads us to certain basic religious truths

 Critical elements of deist thought included:

1) Rejection of all religions based on books that claim to contain the revealed word of God. 2) Rejection of reports of miracles, prophecies and religious \"mysteries\".

3) Rejection of the Genesis account of creation and the doctrine of original sin, along with all similar beliefs.

4) Rejection of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religious beliefs

 Constructive elements of deist thought included: 1) God gave men reason.

2) God exists, created and governs the universe.

3) God wants human beings to behave morally.

4) Human beings have souls that survive death; that is, there is an afterlife.

The Development of Literature in the Age of Reson

 An obvious transition from Puritanism to the Enlightment

 Utilitarian tendency – a principal feature in American literature

 Prose makes up a prominent part of 18thc American literature  Neoclassical taste was found in poetry

 Other literary gneres: early dramas, novels (gothic, sentimental and satirical)

Benjamin Franklin

―master of each and mastered by none—the type and genius of his land.‖

-- Herman Melville

--the symbol of America in the Age of Enlightenment, the embodiment of the national man and the American Dream

--his works: Poor Richard’s Almanac The Autobiography

famous sayings, mottos or maxims from his Poor Richard’s Almanac Lost time is never found again; -- A penny saved is a penny earned; -- God help them that help themselves; -- Fish and visitors stink in three days;

-- Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise

Philip Freneau

 1） Honors & significance

 ―Father of American Poetry‖; ―Father of American Revolution‖  A transitional figure between neoclassicism and romanticism

 Some of his themes and images anticipated the works of such 19th century American

Romantic writers as Emerson, Poe and Longfellow.

2) Major Works

a) The British Prison Ship 1781 《英国囚船》

b) To the Memory of the Brave Americans 1781 《纪念美国勇士》 c) The Wild Honey Suckle 1786 《野金银花》

d) The Indian Burying Ground 1788 《印第安人埋葬之地》

―The wild honey suckle\"is PhilipFreneau's most widely read natureal lyric with the theme of transience.the central image is a nativewild flower,which makes a drastic difference from elite flower images typical of tradition english poems.The poem showed strong feelings for the natural beauty,which was the characteristic of romantic poets.In this poem the poet expressed a keen awareness of the loveliness and transience of nature.He not only meditated on mortality but also celebrated nature.it implies that life and death are inevitable law of nature,

 The poem was written in regular 6-line tetrameter stanzas,rhyming:ababcc .The structure of the poem is regular,so it has the neoclassic quality of proportion and balance.

 The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables suggests the transience of the life of

the flower and the poet's emotional change.the poem is full of sensuous images such as

fair flower visual image,comely grow kinasthetic image and honeyed blossoms olfactory image.all the images make us feel pity for the beautiful flower which has only a short life.  Obviously the poet is sentimental,deistic optimist.The line\"the sapace is but an hour

\"contains a hyperbole stressing and transience of life.  The tone of the poem is both sentimental and optimistic.

The English Transcendentalism And The Romantic Age I. History The background

II. American Romanticism

III. Writers and works of American Romanticism

II. American Romanticism

(1) The Romantic period of American literature—from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War; beginning with the publication of Irving‘s The Sketch Book and ending with Whitman‘s Leaves of Grasses. This period is also called American Renaissance. (2) The summit of American romanticism — New England Transcendentalism New England Transcendentalism (1) Concept (2) Sorces (3) Reaction

(4) The features of Transcendentalism

(5) Transcendental club & the Transcendentalist journal-- The Dial

Concept

Transcendentalism, essentially, is a form of idealism. It was a philosophical, literary, social, and

theological movement that flourished in New England from about 1836 to 1860,, which absorbed some ideological concerns of American Puritanism and European Romanticism, with its focus on the intuitive knowledge of human beings to grasp the absolute in the universe and the divinity of man.

Sorces

a. From Plato came the idealism;

b. From Immanuel Kant came the notion of the ‗native spontaneity of the human mind‘; c.From Puritanism came the ethical seriousness and that an individual could receive divine light immediately and directly;.

d. German and English Romanticism provided some inspiration towards the search for some deeper 'truth.'.

e. Its mystical aspects were partly influenced by Indian and Chinese religious teachings,such as philosophy of Confucius and Mencius.

Reaction

• Reaction against New England Calvinism

Reaction against eighteenth-century rationalism Reaction against Lockean empiricism

The features of Transcendentalism

(1) It placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe. (a new way of looking at the world)

(2) It stressed the importance of individual and believed that the individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish. (a new way of looking at man)

(3)It offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit of God. Nature was the garment of the Oversoul.

(Nature was not purely matter. It was alive, filled with God‘s overwhelming presence

• ―The Universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.‖

• •

―Spirit is present everywhere.‖

The individual soul communed with the Oversoul and was therefore divine.)

(4) It held that commerce was degrading and that a life spent in business was a wasted life. Humanity could be much better off if people paid less attention to the material world in which they lived.

III. Writers and works of American Romanticism Washington Irving

James Fenimore Cooper Ralph Waldo Emerson William Cullen Bryant Edgar Allan Poe Nathaniel Hawthorne Harriet Beecher Stowe

Walt Whitman Emily Dickinson

Washington Irving

--the first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame; -- the father of American short stories;

-- the ―American Goldsmith‖ for his literary craftsmanship

-- his works:A History of New York

The Sketch Book (Rip Van Winkle The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)

James Fenimore Cooper

(1) Works: Leatherstocking Tales

The Pioneer /The Last of The Mohicans /The Prairie The Pathfinder / The Deerslayer

(2)Contributions of Cooper

A.The first successful American historical romance in the vein of Sir Walter Scott (The Spy, 1821). B. The first sea novel (The Pilot, 1824).

C. The first and only five-volume epic romance to carry its mythic hero - Natty Bumppo - from youth to old age

Edgar Allan Poe

(1) Works:

Ligeia/ The Fall of the House of Usher / William Wilson; The Raven / To Helen /Israfel / Annabel Lee The Philosophy of Composition / The Poetic Principles (2)Major Themes

A. Love - usually of a mourning man for his deceased beloved. B. Beauty - of a young woman either dying or dead. C. Death - a source of horror. (3) Major theories of poetry

(4) Read To Helen and The Raven

Major Theories of Poetry

• 1)The chief aim of poetry is beauty, namely to produce a feeling of beauty in the reader.

Beauty aims at ―an elevating excitement of the soul‖, and ―beauty of whatever kind, in its

supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.‖ Thus melancholy is the most legitimate of all the poetic tones.‖ Poe concludes that ―the death of a beautiful woman is , unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.‖ In his poetry, the loss of a beautiful and loved woman is his recurrent theme. •

• 2) In Poe‘s view, poems should be short enough to be read in one sitting, otherwise the

unity of effect would be dissipated.

• 3) Poe attached his importance and interest to the sound of the poetry. He constantly

experimented with ways to make it musical, and defined poetry as ―the rhythmic creation of beauty‖. In his poetry he often chose his words for the quality of their sound.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 -- 1882)

(1) Major works:

-- Nature, the manifesto or the Bible of New England Transcendentalism

-- The American Scholar, America‘s Declaration of Intellectual Independence

(2) Emerson’s fundamental ideas of Nature:

He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man, and advocates a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature. (3)Appreciate some excerpts from Nature

Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.

Now this is a moment of ―conversion‖ when one feels completely merged with the outside world, when one has completely sank into nature and become one with it, and when the soul has gone beyond the physical limits of the body to share the omniscience of the Oversoul. In a word, the soul has completely transcended the limits of individuality and become part of the Oversoul. Emerson sees spirit pervading everywhere, not only in the soul of man, but behind nature, throughout nature.

William Cullen Bryant (174-1878)

– the American Wordsworth; an influencial critic

1. Major works:

• 1)Poems (included ―Thanatopsis‖, ―To a Waterfowl‖, ―the Yellow Violet‖); The Fountain;

The White-Footed Deer; The Food of Years;

• Library of Poetry and Song (the first great critical anthology); • translations of Homer‘s Iliad and Odyssey

2. Themes: mainly focusing on nature, religion, and concern for humanitarian reforms and national maorlity

3. Poetic features

As a poet, he did not like the old neoclassical style. He believed that the new poetry should not copy the forms and ideas of the ancient classics. It should break away with the old patterns and help the reader understand the world through his emotions. For Bryant, nature is the symbol of God‘s transcendent beauty and awful power, and thus nature influences man for good. 4. Appreciate ―To a Waterfowl‖

给水鸟

露水正在降下,

天空眩丽地燃烧,随着白昼的最后脚步, 你穿过深邃的玫瑰色晚霞远去,到哪里

寻求你孤独的路?

猎鸟人的眼睛 徒然望着远远的你, 身影模模糊糊地贴着

深红色的天幕飘飘而去。

莫非你是在寻找

芦苇湖畔的沼泽地或水面宽阔的河滩, 或那波涛翻滚、 浪花飞溅的海岸?

神灵佑护着你,

引导你沿着无路可循的海岸飞翔, 在空漠、无际的天空孤身浪游, 却不迷失方向。

你奋翮飞行一整天,

在空气稀薄寒冷的高空,在九霄云端, 尽管疲惫不堪而黑夜将临, 委身大地你却不愿。

千辛万苦就要到头,

很快你就要找到夏天的家,美美睡上一觉, 你就要在伙伴中唧唧啼鸣,芦苇弯下腰, 遮住你隐蔽的巢。

你已去矣,天空的深渊

吞噬了你的身影,而你给我的启示 意味隽永,深深地留在我的心底, 不会很快消逝。

神灵引导着你

飞过无垠的苍穹,从一个地方到另一个地方, 漫漫人生之路我得独自行走,他也会为我 指出正确方向。

Appreciation (赏析)

•

此诗分为两部分,前一部分写意,后一部分说理,以鸟寄情,以鸟言志,诗总的运动方向与水鸟的去向和人生的去向一致,诗人注视着这只―神灵佑护着你‖―神灵引导着你‖、的水鸟, 感觉到也有一种力量在为自己的人生导航, 并相信自己能安全到达最后的避风港。此诗对大自然的道德启示渲染得特别成功,表现了诗人对上帝毫不动摇的信仰和―路漫漫兮其修远兮,吾将上下而求索‖的悲壮情怀。

Nathaniel Hawthorne

1. Influence of puritan heritage

--Salem and his puritan family background

-- Strong sense of sin and evil in life -- Belief in determination 2. Major works:

1) Collection of short stories: Twice Told Tales (1837), Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) 2) Novels: The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of the Seven Gables (1851), The Blithedale Romance (1852), The Marble Faun (1860)

3. Major themes in Hawthorne’s fictions

1) Alienation – a character is in a state of isolation because of self-cause, or social cause, or a combination of both;

2) Initiation – involves the attempts of an alienated character to get rid of his isolated condition;

3) Problem of Guilt – a character‘s sense of guilt forced by the puritanical heritage

4. Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter

1) Different meanings of the scarlet letter ―A‖:

In this novel, the scarlet letter \"A\" changes its meaning many times. This change is significant. It shows growth in the characters, and the community in which they live. The letter \"A\" begins as a symbol of sin--adultery. It then becomes a symbol of alone and alienation, and finally it becomes a symbol of able, angel and admirable; The scarlet letter \"A\" also can be seen the symbol of Adam.

2) The Symbolic Meaning of the four Major Characters' Names:

• 1.. Hester Prynne -- Hester sounds like Hestier, Zeus' sister in Greek mythology, who is a

very beautiful goddess. This gives us a sense that Hester is a passionate beautiful woman.

• •

In this novel, she is the symbol of the truth, the goodness and the beauty.

2. Arthur Dimmesdale is a well-regarded young minister, whose initials are AD, which also stands for adultery. The author obviously tells us Author Dimmesdale is the partner in sin of Hester Prynne by giving him this name. The word Dimmesdale also has many symbolic meanings. Dim means dark and weak, and dale means valley, so the dimdale here is actually a symbol of the \"dim-interior\" of the clergyman.

•

3. Roger Chillingworth, like all of Hawthorne's main characters, is complex and difficult to see through. The words \"chilling\" and \"worth\" compose the surname Chillingworth. Chilling comes from the word \"chilly\which means this man is a merciless avenger. Chillingworth also means that the avenger's life is worthless.

4.Pearl is one of the most complex and misunderstood symbols in the book, the daughter of Hester Prynne. Pearl, throughout the story, develops into a dynamic symbol - one that is always changing. Pearl was a source of many different kinds of symbolism. From being a living scarlet letter, to a valuable thing with high price, then to the moral in this novel. She was a kind of burden, yet love for Hester.

Puritan Family Background

•

William Hathorne, the author's great-great-great-grandfather, a Puritan, was the first of the family to emigrate from England, first settling in Dorchester, Massachusetts before moving to Salem. There he became an important member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and held many political positions including magistrate and judge, becoming infamous for his harsh sentencing.

• William's son and the author's great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne, was one of the

judges who oversaw the Salem Witch Trials

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-- 16)

-- ―the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war‖

• • • •

1. Life experience 2. Major works

3. Significance of Uncle Tome’s Cabin

Uncle Tom reflects the faithful, obedient, and good-natured black slave. The novelist‘s indignation against the slavery, her sympathy for the oppressed slave, her aspiration for abolishing the institution, and her profound humanitarianism were all woven into the novel so skifully that the readers would naturally become interested in the actions and the fate of characters. Thus the emotional effect and social significance made Uncle Tom‘s Cabin the first well-known sociological novel in American literature.

Walt Whitman (1819-12)

--The Father of American Poetry

1. Masterpiece: Leaves of Grass (1855)(―Song of Myself‖, ―I hear America Singing‖); Drum-Taps（1865）《桴鼓集》（ ―O Captain! My Captain!‖, ― When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom‘d‖）

2. Read excerpt of section 1 and section 10 in ―Song of Myself‖ , then discuss the symbolic meaning and theme of Leaves of Grass. 3. Technique and form of ―Song of Myself‖

• 我赞美我自己，歌唱我自己，

• • • • • • • • • •

我承担的你也将承担，

因为属于我的每一个原子也同样属于你。 我闲步，还邀请了我的灵魂，

我俯身悠然观察着一片夏日的草叶。

我的舌，我血液的每个原子，是在这片土壤、这个空气里形成的，

是这里的父母生下的，父母的父母也是在这里生下的，他们的父母也一样， 我，现在三十七岁，一生下身体就十分健康，

希望永远如此，直到死去。 信条和学派暂时不论，

且后退一步，明了它们当前的情况已足，但也决不是忘记，

• •

不论我从善从恶，我允许随意发表意见， 顺乎自然，保持原始的活力。

Free verse —poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. Blank verse – unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.

Much of the finest verse in English – by Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Stevens – has been written in blank verse

The runaway slave came to my house and stopt outside, I heard his motions crackling the twigs of the woodpile,

Through the swung half-door of the kitchen I saw him limpsy and weak, And went where he sat on a log and led him in and assured him,

And brought water and fill‘d a tub for his sweated body and bruis‘d feet,

And gave him a room that enter‘d from my own and gave him some coarse clean clothes, And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness, And remember putting plasters on the galls of his neck and ankles; He staid with me a week before he was recuperated and pass‘d north, I had him sit next me at table, my fire-lock lean‘d in the corner.

The symbolic meaning of The Leaves of Grass

It is significant that Whitman entitled his book Leaves of Grass . He said that where there is earth, where there is water, there is grass. Grass, the most common thing with the greatest vitality, is an image of the poet himself, a symbol of the then rising American nation and an embodiment of his ideals about democracy and freedom. The poet use the symbolic meaning of the grass to allude to the common, ordinary and hard-working American working people.

The theme in Leaves of Grass

In this giant work, openness, freedom, and above all, individua1ism(the belief that the rights and freedom of individual people are most important) are all that concerned him.Whitman brings the hard-working farmers and laborers into American literature, attack the slavery system and racial discrimination. In this book he also extols nature,democracy, labor and creation ,and sings of man's dignity and equality, and of the brightest future of mankind. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass sing of the \"en-masse\" and the self as well.

Technique and form of ―Song of Myself‖

• parallelism, phonetic recurrence and free verse

•

A looser and more open-ended syntactical structure is frequently favored. Lines and sentences of different lengths are left lying side by side just as things are, undisturbed and separate. There are few compound sentences to draw objects and experiences into a system of hierarchy. •

Try to understand the symbolic meaning of the three major symbols: The lilacs, the fallen western star, the song of the hermit thrush p198

1.

当紫丁香最近在庭园中开放的时候，

那颗硕大的星星在西方的夜空陨落了，

我哀悼着，并将随着一年一度的春光永远地哀悼着。 一年一度的春光哟，真的，你带给我三件东西： 每年开放的紫丁香，那颗在西天陨落了的星星， 和我对于我所敬爱的人的怀念。 2

啊，在西天的陨落的强大的星星哟，

啊，夜的阴影——啊，悲郁的，泪光闪烁的夜哟！

啊，巨大的星星消失了，——啊，遮没了星光的黑暗哟！

啊，紧攫着我使我完全无力挣扎的残酷的手哟，——啊，我的无助的灵魂哟！ 啊，包围着我的灵魂使它不能自由的阴霾哟！ 3

在一间古老的农舍前面的庭园里，靠近粉白的栅栏。 那里有一丛很高的紫丁香，长着心形的

碧绿的叶子，

开满了艳丽的花朵，充满了我所喜爱的强烈的芳香， 每一片叶子都是一个奇迹，——我从这庭园里的花丛中， 这有着艳丽的花朵和心形的绿叶的花丛中， 摘下带着花朵的一 4

在大泽中的僻静的深处，

一只隐藏着的羞怯的小鸟唱着一支歌。 这只孤独的鸫鸟，

它象隐士般藏起来，避开人的住处， 独自唱着一支歌。

唱着咽喉啼血的歌，

唱着免除死亡的生命的歌，（因为，亲爱的兄弟，我很知道， 假使你不能歌唱，你一定就会死亡。） 5

在春天的怀抱里，在大地上，在城市中，

在山径上，在古老的树林中，那里紫罗兰花不久前从地里长出来，点缀在灰白的碎石之间， 经过山径两旁田野之中的绿草，经过无边的绿草，

经过铺着黄金色的麦穗的田野，麦粒正从那阴暗的田野里的苞衣中露头， 经过开着红白花的苹果树的果园， 一具尸体被搬运着，日夜行走在道上， 运到它可以永远安息的墓地。

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) – one of the New England Poets

•

1. Major works:

1）Hyperion《许珀里翁》（1839）；

• Voices of the Night《夜吟》/《夜赖集》（1839）(A Psalm of life《人生礼赞》(1838))； 2）Three long narrative poems: Evangeline(1847), The Song of Hiawatha(1855), The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858)；

3）Translation of Dante‘s Divine Comedy

4）Christus: A Mystery (1872)《》（The Golden Legend, The New England Tradedies, The Divine Tragedy）

5）The Tide Rise, the Tide Fall (1879)

人生礼赞

―年青人的心对歌者说的话

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

不要用忧伤的调子对我说： ―人生不过是一场幻梦！‖ 昏睡的灵魂无异于死去， 事物的和外表不同。

人生是真切的！人生是实在的！ 它的归宿决不是荒坟； ―你本是尘土，必归于尘土‖， 这是指躯壳，不是指灵魂。

我们命定的目标和道路 不是享乐，也不是受苦； 而是行动，在每个明天 都超越今天，跨出新步

潮水起兮潮水落 王道余 译

• 潮水起兮潮水落，

暮霭沉沉麻鹬聒； 海边沙滩湿又暗， 旅人匆忙城里赶， 潮水起兮潮水落。 •

屋顶墙面黑渐多， 大海暗夜犹吟哦； 细浪出手白又软， 沙滩足印抹去完， 潮水起兮潮水落。 •

车夫唤时晓已破， 厩中良驹嘶又跺； 白日虽返人未返， 从此海滩不露面， 潮水起兮潮水落。

Emily Dickinson (1830- 1886)-- one of the precursors (another is Stephen Crane) of the

Imagist Movement

1. The major themes in her poems

-- Death and Immortality

(I heard a Fly buzz – when I died / Because I could not stop for death ) -- Love (Wild nights -- Wild nights!) -- Nature2. Poetic features

1) she use a particular rhyme pattern,uses dashes and capital letters as a means of emphasis 2) simplicity and plainness

3) focus on a single image or symbol 4) poems are personal and meditative

5) personification

成功的滋味最甜蜜

• 从未成功的人们 / 最能懂得成功的甜美 / 惟有极度的渴求 / 方能体会甘露的滋味

•

•

只有弥留之际的挫败者 / 凯歌声虽已渐行渐远 / 掠过他的耳际却犹是 / 那般痛彻而清晰！

身着紫袍的王者之师 / 虽显耀一时 / 又有谁能说清楚 / 胜利的确切含义

灵魂选择她自己的朋友 江枫 译

• 灵魂选择自己的伴侣 • 然后，把门紧闭— • 她神圣的多数—

• • • • • • • • • • •

再不容介入—

发现车辇，停在，她低矮的门前- 不为所动- -

一位皇帝，跪在她的席垫子- 不为所动- -

我知道她，从人口众多的整个民族- 选中了一个- -

从此，封闭关心的阀门- - 像块石头 --

殉 美

余光中 译

•

我为美死去，但是还不曾 安息在我的墓里， 又有个为真理而死去的人 来躺在我的隔壁。

他悄悄地问我为何以身殉？ ―为了美，‖我说。

―而我为真理，两者不分家； 我们是兄弟两个。‖

于是象亲戚在夜间相遇， 我们便隔墙谈天， 直到青苔爬到了唇际， 将我们的名字遮掩。

要说出全部真理，但不能直说—

•

要说出全部真理，但不能直说— 成功之道，在于迂回，

我们脆弱的感官承受不了真理 过分华美的宏伟

象用娓娓动听的说明解除孩子 对于雷电的惊恐

真理的强光必须逐渐释放 否则，人们会失明— •

I heard a Fly buzz---when I died--- The stillness in the Room

Was like the Stillness in the Air--- Between the Heaves of Storm---

The Eyes around---had wrung them dry--- And Breaths were gathering firm For the last Onset---when the King Be witnessed---in the Room

I willed my keepsakes---signed away What portion of me be

Assignable---and then it was There interposed a Fly---

With Blue---uncartain stumbling Buzz--- Between the light---and me---

And then the Windows failed---and then I could not see to see---

我听到苍蝇的嗡嗡声——当我死时

• 我听到苍蝇的嗡嗡声——当我死时

房间里，一片沉寂

就像空气突然平静下来——

在风暴的间隙

注视我的眼睛——泪水已经流尽—— 我的呼吸正渐渐变紧

等待最后的时刻——上帝在房间里 现身的时刻——降临

我已经分掉了——关于我的 所有可以分掉的

东西——然后我就看见了 一只苍蝇——

蓝色的——微妙起伏的嗡嗡声 在我——和光——之间 然后窗户关闭——然后 我眼前漆黑一片——

•

Because I could not stop for Death He kindly stopped for me

The Carriage held but just ourselves And immortality

We slowly drove. He knew no haste And I had put away

My labour and my leisure too For his civility

We passed the School where children strove At recess in the ring

We passed the Fields of Gazing grain We passed the Setting sun-

Or rather,he passed us

The dews drew quivering and chill For only gossamer my gown My tippet only tulle

We paused before a house that seemed A swelling of the ground The roof was scarcely visible The cornice in the ground

Since then 'its centuries, and yet Feels shorter than the day

I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity

因为我不能停步等候死神

• 因为我不能停步等候死神

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

•

Wild nights! Wild nights! Were I with thee Wild nights should be Our luxury!

Futile-the winds To a heart in port— Done with the compass- Done with the chart!

也许该说，是他经过我们而去 露水使我颤抖而且发凉 因为我的衣裳，只是薄纱 我的披肩，只是绢网

我们停在一幢屋前，这屋子 仿佛是隆起的地面 屋顶，勉强可见 屋檐，低于地面

从那时算起，已有几个世纪 却似乎短过那一天的光阴 那一天，我初次猜出 马头，朝向永恒 他殷勤停车接我 车厢里只有我们俩

还有―永生‖同座

我们缓缓而行，他知道无需急促 我也抛开劳作 和闲暇，以回报

他的礼貌

我们经过学校，恰逢课间休息 孩子们正喧闹，在操场上 我们经过注目凝视的稻谷的田地 我们经过沉落的太阳

• Rowing in Eden- Ah,the sea!

Might I but moor- To-night in thee!

暴风雨夜，暴风雨夜！ 我若和你同在一起， 暴风雨夜就是 豪奢的喜悦！

风，为力—— 心，已在港内—— 罗盘，不必—— 海图，不必!

泛舟在伊甸园—— 啊，海!

但愿我能，今夜，泊在—— 你的水域！

•

American Realism and Naturalism I. Introduction of American Realism II. Writers of American realism

III. Introduction of American Naturalism IV. Writers of American Naturalism

I. Introduction of American Realism

1. The factors for the emergence of American Realism (1) Economic aspect

-- technology developed quickly: transatlantic telegraph and transcontinental railroads made America not isolated any more; railroads changed the lifestyle of Americans;

(2) The frontier was closing, vast western areas were no longer unexplored, unknown;

(3) Population doubled, and income quadrupled; the the growth of business and industry also widened the gulf between the rich and the poor; (3) The cultural center ceased to be in New England, New England Renaissance had waned; new themes,new forms, new subjects, new regions, new authors, new audiences all emerged

2. Definition and Principles of realism

1) Realism is ―nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material‖ by

Howells

2) Principles of realism:

Subject– contemporary, ordinary, and of middle-class;

Characters – ordinary, average, contemporary people, which are more important than plots;

Plots – unobtrusive, made up of the trivial incidents of everyday life, as ―natural‖ as possible in

their development;

Language – characters are made to speak in the language of everyday life, and the language should reflect the characters‘ personality

II. Writers of American realism 1. William Dean Howells 2. Henry James 3. Mark Twain

William Dean Howells (1837-1920)

1. Just like his name – he is the Dean of American Realism, and made realism the ―mainstream‖ of American literature, and wrote in genteel realism

2. Major works:

1) Criticism and Fiction -- in which his literary-aesthetic ideas is best elucidated

2) The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885)

-- depicted the pictures of life of middle class in contemporary America, optimistic tone, moral development and ethics

Henry James (1843-1916)

1. Primary works: ( ―international theme‖, or American innocence in face of European sophistication)

The American(1877) / Daisy Miller(1879) / The Portrait of a Lady (1881)

The Ambassadors(1903) / The Wings of the Dove(1902) / The Golden Bowl(1904) 2. The Art of Fiction(1884):

-- concerned with ―point of view‖, telling story through one or several minds;

-- emphasized the inner awareness and inward movements of his characters, became the first of the modern psychological analysts in the novels, and used the modern stream-of-consciousness technique in his works

Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens 1835-1910)

1. Local Colorism

2. Mark Twain’s primary works

3. Differences among Howells, James and Twain

4. The themes and the style in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

1. Local Colorism

-- defined by Hamlin Garland as having ―such quality of texture and background that it could not have been written in any other place or by anyone else than a native‖;

-- local colorists emphasized on local peculiarities of speech, dress and habits of thought and the presentation of native character types;

-- one of the most significant local color fiction: Bret Harte‘s The Luck of Roaring Camp

2. Mark Twain’s primary works

The Celebrated Jumping Frog (1865) /

The Gilded Age(1873) /

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(1876) / Life on the Mississippi(1883) /

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) (―All modern American literature comes from Huckleberry Finn‖ by Hemingway) The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

3. Differences among Howells, James and Twain

• • •

4. The themes and the style in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

-- Themes: quest for freedom; alienation and initiation; criticism of pre-Civil War southern life, such as the slavery system, etc.

Style: vernacular language style, words are colloquial, concrete and direct; the sentence structures are simple, even ungrammatical, with a series of ―ands‖ and semi-colons serving as connectives.

III. Introduction of American Naturalism

1. Social background

• (1). After the Civil War, the rapid development of industrialism produced two extremes of

wealth and poverty. Slums appeared in great numbers. The city poor lived a life of insecurity, suffering and violence.

•

•

Now, Howell‘s ―Happy continent‖ became odious to this once smiling American, and his realism was now too restrained and genteel in tone to tell the truth of the harsher realities of American life.

2. Ideas or theories that influenced on American naturalism

(1) Darwinian concepts: ―the survival of the fittest‖, ―the human beast‖;

(2) Herbert Spenser‘s social Darwinism: man‘s life is controlled by environment and heredity; (3) Nietzsche‘s idea: ―superman‖, ―God is dead‖.

3. The features of Naturalism

a. Concerning with man‘s place in the universe, living in a cold, indifferent, and essentially Godless world, man was enslaved, they are helpless, insignificant and lacking dignity; b. Life became a struggle for survival, man reveals their animality while struggling for survival of power;

c. The whole picture is somber and dark, and the general tone is hopeless and even despair.

(2). Western settlers found themselves subject to the ruthless manipulation of forces (e.g, railroad charged heavy freight rates and drove farmers to bankruptcy). Howells -- middle class life; wrote in ―genteel realism‖

James -- upper reaches of American society; pursued an ―imaginative‖ or psychological treatment of reality

Twain -- lower strata of society; colloquial style

IV. Writers of American Naturalism Stephen Crane Frank Norris Jack London Theodore Dreiser

Stephen Crane (1871-1900)

1. He is one of the first to treat slums, prostitution, alcoholism and other unpleasant subjects which are associated with the school of naturalism.

2. He was the first American to portray war realistically from the point of view of the individual soldier.

3. His basic theme: environment and heredity will defeat man.

Major works:

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (13)《街头女郎梅季》-----– the first naturalistic novel The Red Badge of Courage《红色英勇勋章》 The Open Boat 《海上扁舟》 The Blue Hotel 《蓝色旅馆》

Crane‘s view on war

Against the romantic view of war as a symbol of courage and heroism, Crane talks about war in alarming honesty. He looks into man‘s primitive emotions and tried to tell the elemental truth about human life. War in The Red Badge of Courage is a plain slaughter-house. There is nothing like bravery or heroism on the battlefield. If there is any, it is a fear of death, cowardice, the natural instinct of man to run from danger.

Frank Norris （1870 -- 1902）

Mcteague 《麦克提格》 – the manifesto of naturalistic novels

A Tragedy of a dentist, McTeague.It is a classic case of study of the inevitable effect of environment and heredity on human lives. McTeague is an unschooled crude dentist. He is born and brought up in humble surroundings and his father is alcoholic. Due to greed, envious competition, he kills his wife with a thick stick.

His trilogy on the production, distribution and consumption of wheat: The Octopus 《章鱼》（1901） The Pit 《深渊》（1903） The Wolf (unfished when he died)

Comment on The Octopus

1. The railroad is compared to octopus with millions of tentacles. It illustrates how social and economics conditions ruined the lives of innocent, powerless people.

2. But Norris did not seem to blame the railroad officials for the tragedies. To him, conditions,

natural forces, not men were responsible for what had happened, and the laws of nature could ruin an insignificant farmer as well as a financial superman. 3.The novel reveals his determinist view clearly.

Jack London (1876-1916)

-- a spokesman for the working class; coming from the bottom of the society, his works are full of penetrating criticism on American The Call of the Wild 《野性的呼唤》 White Fang 《白牙》 The Sea Wolf 《海狼》

Martin Eden 《马丁·伊登》(his autobiography)

Theodore Dreiser (1871 -- 1945)

Sister Carrie 《嘉莉妹妹》 Jennie Gerhardt 《珍妮姑娘》 American Tragedy 《美国悲剧》

His Cowperwood trilogy (欲望三部曲):

The Financier 《金融家》/ The Titan 《巨人》/ The Stoic 《斯多葛》 His autobiographical work -- The Genius 《天才》

The story of Sister Carrie

A country girl comes to Chicago to look for a better life. On the train, she gets acquainted with a traveling salesman, Drouet. She first stays with her sister. However, her sister is too poor to keep her. Then when she is seriously ill, Drouet comes to her rescue and takes her home. Later, her beauty attracts Drouet‘s friend, Hurswood. He deserts his comfortable home and family, and forces her to elope with him. For sometime, they experience terrible poverty. Sister Carrie goes out to work on the stage and becomes successful. But Hurswood proves himself to be unfit. He tries different jobs but fails. Then Sister Carrie deserts him. On a cold winter night, he commits suicide.

Discussing Q: How to interpret the moral code and the naturalistic color in Sister Carrie?

Comment on Sister Carrie

1. It presents a new moral fiber: man is an animal in the jungle, driven by greed and lust in a struggle for existence, only the fittest survived. Therefore, existence is the most essential, the only instinct of man. In such circumstance, man has no power to assert his will, so man doesn‘t have to be responsible for his moral activity.

2. As for Sister Carrie, the world is cold and harsh to her. Alone and helpless, she moves along like a mechanism driven by desire and catches blindly at any opportunities for a better existence. She is a feather in the wind, and always at the mercy forces she cannot understand, let alone to control. She does not seem to possess what may be called a moral fiber.

Poetry and Poets of the 20th Century

Imagism Ezra Pound

Edwin Arlington Robinson Robert Lee Frost T. S. Eliot

The Imagist Movement

1. Imagism or imagist movement

It is a name given to a movement in poetry, originating in 1912 and represented by Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and others, aiming at clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images.

2.The development of imagist movement

(1) In 1908-1909, it first began in London, T. E. Hulme founded it and theorized the poetic

techniques;

(2) From 1912-1914, Ezra Pound took it over in America, and laid down the three Imagist

poetic principles; (3) From 1914-1917, Amy Lowell took it over and pushed it into ―Amygism‖, expanded the

poetic principles into six.

3.The three imagist poetic principles

(1) Direct treatment of the ―thing,‖ whether subjective or objective;

(2) To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation;

(3) As regarding rhythm, compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of a metronome.

4.Some representative imagist poets and poems (1) H. D.‘s ―Oread‖

(2)William Carlos Williams‘ ―The Red Wheelbarrow‖ (3) Carl Sandburg’s “Fog”

Ezra Pound (1885 -- 1972)

1. His life 2. His works:

-- Cathay 《华夏》/《神州集》(1915) collection of Chinese translations

-- Cantos《诗章》(1915-1969) the modern epic, Pound‘s ―intellectual diary since 1915‖ -- Hugh Selwyn Mauberley《休·赛尔温·莫伯利》（1920） 3. To appreciate “In A Station Of The Metro‖ with the theories of Imagist poetry

Ezra Pound’s Life

 Ezra Loomis Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho in 1885 but spent his formative years in

Wyancote, Pennsylvania, where his father was an assayer to the United States Mint. He

studied at the University of Pennsylvania for two years then transferred to Hamilton college, receiving a degree in 1905.

 After teaching Romance Languages at Wabash College in Indiana for two years, he

resigned and travelled to Spain, Italy and England, where, as the literary executor of the

scholar Ernest Fenellosa, he became interested in the poetry of the Chinese and Japanese. Ezra Pound founded the Imagist movement in poetry, which encouraged experimenting with different verse forms, and opposed representational art in favor of abstract forms.

 Ezra married the artist Dorothy Shakespear in 1914 and in 1922 began a life-long

relationship with violinist Olga Rudge. In 1924 he moved to Italy and became involved in Fascist politics, and did not return to the United States until 1945, when he was arrested for broadcasting facsict propaganda via radio to the United States during WWII, on charges of treason.

In 1946, he was acquitted, deemed unfit for trial, and declared insane. He was committed to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C. After many letters and appeals from friends and writers, including Robert Frost, Ezra won his release from the hospital in 1958. He soon returned to Venice, where he died, a recluse, in 1972.

In A Station Of The Metro

 The apparition of these faces in the crowd;  Petals on a wet, black bough.

地鐵車站

人群中這些面孔幽靈般顯現； 濕漉漉的黑枝條上朵朵花瓣。

Appreciate of “In A Station Of The Metro”

objects: the faces in the dim and damp context; -- image: flower petals on a wet, black bough;

-- The diction in the poem is concise, direct and definite, and there is no traditional rhyme or rhythm in this poem, while it still sounds musical.

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869 -- 1935)

-- won three Pulitzer Prizes

1. Major poetry

Torrent and the Night Before (16)《急流与昨夜》 Children of the Night (17）

Captin Craig and Other Poems (1902) )

The Town Down the River (1910)《河下游的城镇》 (dedicated to Roosevelt, included ―Miniver Cheevy‖)

“Richard Cory‖ / ―Mr. Flood‘s Party‖ 《弗罗德先生的酒会》

2. Poetic features 理查· 珂利

每当理查 珂利走进闹市， 我们，街上的人，两眼瞪圆： 他从头到脚是地道的绅士， 潇洒纤瘦，风度翩翩。

他衣着永远淡雅素净， 他谈吐永远文质彬彬， 当他向人问好，人们不禁

怦然心动，他走路光彩照人。

他有钱——是呵，富比王侯—— 令人钦佩地读遍各种学问， 总而言之，他总是无所不有， 谁都盼望能有他的福分。

我们苦干，等着福光降临， 整月没肉吃，面包讨人嫌， 而理查 珂利，在宁静的夏夜， 回家朝自己脑袋放一颗子弹。

Appreciation

The poem is composed of four quatrains, in which the miniature portrait of Richard Cory is depicted: a gentleman, rich and human, who seems to have the best things in the world. But one night, he put an end to his life. Readers are left asking why, and Robinson does not give an answer. It is Robinson’s best known statement on the hollowness of conventional success. It reveals the theme of “failure”– the success of material possession can not satisfy a noble heart.

Poetic Features

Robinson was a poet of transition. The early 20th century saw American poetry experimenting with new forms and content. He was noted for mastery of conventional forms. He loved the traditional sonnet and quatrain and he oftern used the old-fashioned language of romantic poetry. But his poetry often focused on the modern problems. He used the traditional forms to express the modern fears and uncertainty in his own era.His poetry includes such typical elements as characterization, indirect and allusive narration, contemporary setting, psychological realism and interest in exploring the tangles of human feelings and relationships.

Robert Frost (1874 -- 1963)

1. Honors & prizes

– an unofficial Poet Laureate; -- won Pulitzer Prize four times

2. Major collections of poems

 --North of Boston 《波士顿以北》  Mending Wall 《补墙》

 -- Mountain Interval 《山间》    

The Road Not Taken 《未选择的路》 -- New Hampshire《新罕布什尔》 Fire and Ice 《火与冰》

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 《雪夜林边小立》

 -- West-Running Brook 《西流溪》  -- A Further Range 《又一片山脉》

 Design 《设计》(a collection of ―dark poems‖)  -- A Witness Tree 《见证树》

3. Poetic features

 Frost is a modern poet following the traditional modes of poetry. Most of his poetry is

nature poetry. It has a surface smoothness and simplicity. Then, suddenly, the surface breaks under our feet, like ice on a pond. Frost wrote his poems in traditional rhymes and metrical forms like blank verse. Many of his poems are dramatic narratives and can be appreciated, like prose fiction, for their characterizations and plot development. His poems are free of the ornate, poetic diction which was so common in the 19th-c poetry, and one of his most impressive achievements was his ability to combine colloquial speech patterns with traditional verse forms. According to Frost, a good poem “begins in delight and ends in wisdom‖.

未选择的路

黄色的树林里分出两条路， 可惜我不能同时去涉足， 我在那路口久久伫立， 我向着一条路极目望去， 直到它消失在丛林深处。

但我却选了另外一条路， 它荒草萋萋，十分幽寂， 显得更诱人，更美丽； 虽然在这条小路上， 很少留下旅人的足迹。

那天清晨落叶满地，

两条路都未经脚印污染。 啊，留下一条路等改日再见! 但我知道路径延绵无尽头， 恐怕我难以再回返。

也许多少年后在某个地方， 我将轻声叹息将往事回顾： 一片树林里分出两条路

而我选择了人迹更少的一条，

从此决定了我一生的道路。

Appreciation

In this poem, the poet describes an archetypal human situation where man is faced with the

difficulty of making choices. The “roads” may signify many of the “choices” in life, life would come and go in full circle and the roads make no differences after all. Yet once you make a choice, you may miss many other choices, the poet seems to complaint that life is too confining to offer us much leeway for options. In the line “I took the one less traveled by”, the poet may indicate that he stands aside from the Modernist endeavor of his time -- he did not seem enthusiastic about experimentation in form, but keeps faith in the traditional forms of poetry.

雪夜林边小立 (飞白译)

我想我认识树林的主人 他家住在林边的农村； 他不会看见我暂停此地， 欣赏他披上雪装的树林。

我的小马准抱着个疑团： 干嘛停在这儿，不见人烟， 在一年中最黑的晚上， 停在树林和冰湖之间。

它摇了摇颈上的铃铎， 想问问主人有没有弄错。 除此之外唯一的声音 是风飘绒雪轻轻拂过。

树林真可爱，既深又黑， 但我有许多诺言不能违背， 还要赶多少路才能安睡， 还要赶多少路才能安睡。

Appreciation

The poem represent a moment of relaxation from the onerous journey of life, an almost aesthetic enjoyment and appreciation of natural beauty which is wholesome and restorative against the chaotic existence of modern man. To a person passing through the woods on his way from one village to another, which symbolizes obligations of life, the “dark and deep” natural world of the woods proves lovely and fascinating; the passenger would like to stay forever in comforting nature from the exacting life of commitments, but he changes his mind on second thought. Somewhat recharged by his brief stay in nature, he feels better, remembers that he has “promises to keep”, and is now ready to face the “miles” stretching before him.

T. S. Eliot （1888-1965）– a Nobel Prize winner- in 1948

1. A poet

2. A playwright 3. A literary critic 4. A lost leader

In 1927 he announced that he was a royalist in politics, a classicist in literature, and an Anglo-Catholic in relition, a declaration which, though it shocked few, angered and hurt a good many followers.

 Representative poems:

 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1911, with a notable modern emotional coloring)  The Waste Land (1922, read like the manifesto of the “Lost Generation‖)  Ash Wednesday (1930)

 Four Quartets (1943, indicates that he had turned conservative)

Representative dramas : Sweeney Agonistes Murder in the Cathedral The Cocktail Party The Confidential Clerk

(1)Representative critical essay: The Sacred Wood (which contained “Tradidion and Individual Talent”)

 (2) The basic theme of his criticism:

 A. concerned with the relationship between tradition and individual talent, and between the past, the present, and the future;

 B. ―impersonal theory‖ on poets and poetry; （―非人格化‖）

 C. “objective correlative” principle in composing poems （―客观对应物‖）

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock （1）

 Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherised upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent

To lead you to an overwhelming question. . .

Oh, do not ask, \"What is it?\" Let us go and make our visit.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock （2）

In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,

Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys, Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap, And seeing that it was a soft October night, Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

Apprciate of The Love Song

(1) The form of the poem:

soliloquy and interior monologue

(2) The ironic meaning of the title:

A. “Love Song” is in fact about the absence of love;

B. The name of Prufrock is that of a furniture dealer in St. Louis. His initial “J” sounds tony and classy, giving one a sense of the upper class to which he belongs;

C. The epigraph is taken from Dante’s Inferno, its implication is that Prufrock is, like Guido, also in Hell or a hellish situation. Since Prufrock is not guilty of anything and Guido is, the resemblance is highly ironic; it also implies that modern man inhabits a nightmarish inferno. (3)The significance of the image of Prufrock

It depicts a timid middle-aged man going (or thinking of going) to propose marriage to a lady but hesitating all the way there. Prufrock is the image of an ineffectual, sorrowful, tragic 20th century Western man, possibly the modern intellectual who is divided between passion and timidity, between desire and impotence. His tragic flaw is timidity; his “curse” is his idealism. Knowing everything, but able to do nothing, hi lives in an area of life and death; and caught between the two worlds, he belongs to neither. He craves love but has no courage to declare himself. He despairs of life. He discovers its emptiness and yet has found nothing to replace it. Thus the poem develops a theme of frustration and emotional conflict.

《荒原》赵萝蕤译

一、死者葬礼

 四月是最残忍的一个月，荒地上

长着丁香，把回忆和欲望 参合在一起，又让春雨 催促那些迟钝的根芽。 冬天使我们温暖，大地

给助人遗忘的雪覆盖着，又叫 枯干的球根提供少许生命。

夏天来得出人意外，在下阵雨的时候 来到了斯丹卜基西；我们在柱廊下躲避， 等太阳出来又进了霍夫加登， 喝咖啡，闲谈了一个小时。

我不是人，我是立陶宛来的，是地道的德国人。 而且我们小时候住在大公那里

我表兄家，他带着我出去滑雪橇， 我很害怕。他说，玛丽，

玛丽，牢牢揪住。我们就往下冲。 在山上，那里你觉得自由。

大半个晚上我看书，冬天我到南方。

American Modern Fiction

I. Introduction of the 1920s II. F. Scott Fitzgerald III. Ernest Hemingway IV. William Faulkner

I. Introduction of the 1920s – the ―Jazz Age‖

 (1) There appeared an economic boom, a deceptive affluence; there was a feeling that

there was money everywhere.

 (2) Automobiles and mass media widened the horizon of the people, enriched and impacted the way of popular thinking.

 (3) Old moral codes were breaking down; everything that involved women underwent a

rapid, palpable change; new industries emerged to cater to women‘s needs, new institutions were established to appeal to women‘s taste. The new women were called

―flappers‖.

The ―Jazz Age‖

The Jazz Age describes the period from 1918-1929, the years between the end of World War I and the start of with the Roaring Twenties; ending with the rise of the Great Depression. The age takes its name from F. Scott Fitzgerald and jazz music, which saw a tremendous surge in popularity among many segments of society. Among the prominent concerns and trends of the period are the public embrace of technological developments—cars, air travel and the telephone—as well as new modernist trends in social behavior, the arts, and culture. A great theme of the age was individualism and a greater emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment in the wake of the misery, destruction and perceived hypocrisy and waste of WWI and pre-war values

Flappers

The term flapper in the 1920s referred to a \"new breed\" of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered \"decent\" behavior. The flappers were seen as brash in their time for wearing makeup, drinking hard liquor, treating sex in a more casual manner, and smoking cigarettes, and otherwise flouting conventional social and sexual norms.

 (4) All social reforms and all assertion of social and religious rights were treated with least tolerance; Minorities, African Americans and newer immigrant people were discriminated against; it‘s an area of great popular contempt for the law.

 (5) Loss of faith, sense of life being fragmented, chaotic, and disjunctive, and feeling of

gloom and despair were intensified by the development of modern science.

II. F. Scott Fitzgerald (16-1940)– the spokesman of the ―Roaring Twenties‖, the ―Jazz Age‖

 2.1 His life

 2.2 His works

 2.3 American Dream and The Great Gatsby

2.1 His life

 -- joined the army but never sent abroad

 -- his marriage with Zelda Sayre, a social girl, made him write for money in order

to support their expensive lifestyle  -- loneliness, alcohol and the awareness that he was dissipating his talent combined

to break him down

2.2 His works

 This Side of Paradise (1920) -- the first novel, exactly caught the tone of the age  Two collections: Flappers and Philosophers (1920) (Who do ―flappers‖ refer to?);  Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) (When does ―jazz age‖ refer to?)

 The Beautiful and the Damned (1922);  The Great Gatsby (1925);

 Tender is the Night (1934);  The Last Tycoon (1941)

2.3 American Dream and The Great Gatsby

 (1) Read the story of The Great Gatsby, try to figure out what is Gatsby‘s American

Dream? Who represents his dream?

 (2) What is the significance of the image of Gatsby?

The Story

Fitzgerald presents the rise and fall of Jay Gatsby, as related in a first-person narrative by Nick Carraway. Carraway reveals the story of a farmer's son-turn racketeer, named Jay Gatz. His ill-gotten wealth is acquired solely to gain acceptance into the sophisticated, moneyed world of the woman he loves, Daisy Fay Buchanan. His romantic illusions about the power of money to buy respectability and the love of Daisy — the \"golden girl\" of his dreams — are skillfully and ironically interwoven with episodes that depict what Fitzgerald viewed as the callousness and moral irresponsibility of the affluent American society of the 1920s.

 America at this time experienced a cultural and lifestyle revolution. In the economic arena,

the stock market boomed, the rich spent money on fabulous parties and expensive acquisitions, the automobile became a symbol of glamour and wealth, and profits were

made, both legally and illegally. The whirlwind pace of this post-World War I era is captured in Fitzgerald's Gatsby, whose tragic quest and violent death foretell the collapse of that era and the onset of disillusionment with the American dream.

 By the end of the novel, the reader slowly realizes that Carraway is transformed as he

recognizes Gatsby's moral superiority to the Buchanans. In fact, the triumph of Gatsby's

legacy is reached by Nick Carraway's ruminations at the end of the book about Gatsby's valiant, however futile, attempts to regain his past love. The discrepancy between Gatsby's dream vision and reality is a prominent theme in this book.

The Great Gatsby is a concentrated meditation on \"the American dream,\" understood as the faith that anyone, even of the most humble origins, can attain wealth and social standing in the United States through talent and individual initiative. Fitzgerald explores the compelling appeal of this dream, and the circumstances that render it as deceptive as it is enduring.

The significance of the image of Gatsby

 A. Gatsby‘s life follows a clear pattern: at first, a dream, then a disenchantment, and

finally a sense of failure and despair. Gatsby‘s personal experience approximates the whole of the American experience up to the first decades of the 20th century.

 B. Gatsby is on the one hand, charmingly innocent enough to believe that past can be

recovered and resurrected, but on the other hand, both corrupt and corrupting, tragically convinced of the power of money. His personal life has assumed a magnitude as a ―cultural-historical allegory‖ for the nation.

III. Ernest Hemingway (19-1961) – the spokesman of the ―Lost Generation‖; Nobel Prize winner in 19

 3.1 His life

 3.2 His major works

 3.3 Hemingway theme, Hemingway situations & Hemingway hero  3.4 The significance of the image of Lieutenant Henry  3.5 Hemingway‘s writing style

3.1 His life

 -- influenced by his father, Hemingway was fond of sports, like boxing and football

 -- he went to Europe to join the First World War as an ambulance driver; this war

experience proved so shattering and nightmarish that his life and writings were permanently affected.

3.2 His major works

 The Sun Also Rises (1926); (it paints the image of a whole generation, the Lost

Generation; Jake Barnes‘ physical impotence is a token of modern man‘s spiritual importance)

 A Farewell to Arms (1928); (Frederic Henry, the story was set in World War I)

 For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940); (Robert Jordan, the story was set in the Spanish war)  The Old Man and the Sea (1952) （Santiago）

3.3 Hemingway theme, Hemingway situations & Hemingway hero

 -- Theme: ―grace under pressure‖;

 -- Situations: are usually characterized by chaos and brutality and violence, by crime and

death, and sport, hard drinking and sexual promiscuity.

 --Hero, who tried hard and learned to live in ―grace under pressure‖, possesses what

Bertrand Russell terms ―despairing courage‖, which enables a man to behave like a man, to assert his dignity in face of adversity；who is wounded but strong, more sensitive and wounded because stronger, enjoys the pleasures of life (sex, alcohol, sport) in face of ruin and death and maintains, through some notion of a code, and ideal of himself.

3.4 The significance of the image of Lieutenant Henry:

 He is a Hemingway hero, an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and

intelligent, a man of action, and one of few words. He is an individualist, alone even

when with other people, somewhat an outsider, keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place where one cannot have happiness. Frederic Henry is completely disillusioned. He has been to the war, has seen nothing sacred and glorious but has found it like a veritable Chicago slaughterhouse. Like Jake Barnes, he hates the war, feels ―always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain‖.

3.5 Hemingway’s writing style

 Influenced and schooled by Mark Twain, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson and Gertrude

Stein, he developed the colloquial style, and tried to achieve concision in his writing.  The words are concrete, specific, more commonly found, more Anglo-Saxon, casual and

conversational, and he employed then often in a syntax of short, simple sentences, which are orderly and patterned, conversational, and sometimes ungrammatical.

William Faulkner (17-1962) – Nobel Prize Winner of 1949

 1. His life

 2. His major works

 3. Faulkner‘s Southern Complex

2. The Major works of Faulkner

 Soldier’s Pay (1926), Mosquitoes (1927)

 Satoris (1929)(the first of his Yoknapatawpha novels―约克纳帕特法县‖, which composed of 14 novels)

 The Sound and the Fury (1929) 《喧嚣与骚动》  As I Lay Dying (1930) 《我弥留之际》  Sanctuary (1931) 《圣殿》

 Light in August (1932) 《八月之光》

 Absalom, Absalom! (1936) 《押沙龙，押沙龙！》  Go Down, Moses (1942) 《去吧，摩西》

 A Rose for Emily 《献给艾米丽的一朵玫瑰》

The Sound and the Fury

 It was perhaps Faulkner‘s finest novel. It tells the tragic story of the Compson family

from four different points of view: Benjy, the idiot; Quentin, his brother, who kills himself at Harvard; Jason, the evil, money-hungry brother; and Dilsey, the black servant who

keeps the family together with her love. The Compsons have sold their pasture in order that the favored son, Quentin, may attend Harvard. Quentin and his suicide are a mocking memory, like the fence that separates the Compsons from their land. Benjy spends much of each day mooning beside the fence, a hulking symbol of his family‘s decayed fortunes. Trapped in the changeless vault of his own mind, Benjy can only revisit the treasured scenes of childhood, which are as real to him as the weed that grows by the fence.

Technique in The Sound and the Fury

 Its innovative stream of consciousness technique establishes each character‘s fundamental

state of solitude and their individual experience of loss. The novel contains many features which appear in later Faulkner novels. One feature is the use of limited point of view. Each of the four characters see reality only in his or her own way. Each lives in his or her own reality. The past is the present for the characters in the novel because they are unable to reconcile the events of the past with their lives in the present. Faulkner‘s special technique of narration is another feature. The reader is put into the center of the story without any preparation. They must put together the facts of the story by themselves. In almost all of Faulkner‘s stories, time is treated in a special way. He use the ―continuous present‖ style of writing. Past, present and future events are mixed. In order to gain a truly comprehensive sense of what has taken place, the novel would have to be read and re-read.

A Rose For Emily

 A Rose For Emily is the representative of Faulkner‘s short stories and demonstrates

Faulkner‘s consistent thoughts and style. Emily was born in a local prestigious family which had declined in her time. In her youth, her father banned her from marriage and

drove away those young fellows who fell in love with her. After the death of her father, she still kept his portrait and didn‘t allow his copse to buried. Later, she fell in love with Homer Barron, a foreman in the north who was paving roads in her hometown. They were supposed to get married. However, Homer Barron was nowhere to be found. Emily locked herself indoors until she fell seriously ill and died at 74. After the death of Emily, people opened a room that was decked and furnished as for a bridal. They discovered the copse of Homer Barron lying in bed. Under the composition of Faulkner, the story was characterized with his unique theme and style.