美国文学欣赏ToaWaterfowl
odetothewestwind赏析
o d e t o t h e w e s tw i n d赏析-CAL-FENGHAI.-(YICAI)-Company One1Luna ShenJim FairchildLiterature of the Romantic Period10/01/12Transforming image in Shelley 's poetry--See through Ode to the West WindThe west wind was widely adopted in Shelley 's poetry. In his poems, the west wind is always embedded with strong and violent power, which can cause the leaves to fall down onto the floor and tears the clouds high in the sky. Moreover, it can also cause panic of the sea plants and wake up the sleeping ocean. The west wind, according to Shelley, can be regarded as strong power in the revolutionary movement. Also, the poet's eagerness and courage to be integrated with west wind also indicate that she is willing to contribute hisself to the revolutionary movement. The poet believes that positive power will definitely overwhelm the evil and the darkness. Righteousness is surely to win in the revolutionary movement.In the first stanza, the poet adopted the color contrast tactic and described the scene when west wind swept autumn--"Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red", indicating that turbulent west wind blew down leaves and spread the seeds into land again, waiting for the arrival of spring. In the sentence, people could imagine a fading scene full of fallen leaves. However, when the spring comes, colors will turn soft and bright-- "colors and fragrance will be spread over mountains and plains". The poet proved himself to be "color" player, in severallines of whose poems, the changing process of the nature, from dull to prosperous, was perfectly presented. Finally, the poet names the ubiquitous west wind as both "destroyer and protector," which includes certain understanding that west wind break the old world and create a completely new world. According to Maharishi, "The nature of life is to grow," west wind is the power of developing.In the second stanza, the perspective of the poet switched to the sky and described how west wind blew burst the clouds and formed the storm. The poet adopted bolder imagination and regarded the air in the sky to be "waving hair of a madwoman". The so-called "madwoman" or "Maenad", is a character in Greece mythology. She was used to be drawn in an furious image in ancient painting. It is the furious appearance and scattering hair that perfectly portray natural wonders with random floating clouds. This also indicates that nature is both mysterious and dangerous.In the third stanza, the view was switched from the high sky to the ocean. Shelley mainly described how the west wind woke up the ocean and caused panic among sea pants. Prior to the arrival of the west wind, the sea was as calm as if it has slept for a whole summer. Moreover, it also saw the "ancient palace and pavilions" in its dream. The readers were also able to see reflection of the pavilions the clear water and the ripples formed a scene with full-bodiedly beauty. Then, the sea was also embedded with also personality, who, prior to the arrival of west wind, actively split itself and exposed the sea plants which hid deeply at the bottom of the sea. This peculiar description seems to be completely broad imagination of thepoet, while also complies with the law of nature.In the above three stanzas, the poet described how the west wind swept from the sky to the sea. However, in the fourth stanza, the poet focused on himself and wished that the wester wind could took him away, like the way it did to leaves, clouds and ripples in the sea. The poet was eager to float in the world freely. In order to demonstrate speed of the west wind and the poet's eagerness, the poet used a series of the same sentence pattern and formed a clanging and floating rhythm of the poetry.In fifth stanza, such kind of rhythm becomes more vehement and increasingly strong. The poet switched to a series of invocatory sentences, expressing his determination and courage to be integrated with the west wind. A famous aphorism was illustrated in a form of rhetorical questions , which seems as if the poet is asking the readers questions. The west wind seems to have stopped all of a sudden and poetry connotation of the poem suddenly becomes meaningful.Ode to the west wind is a poem to think high praise of west wind and a song of Shelley's. Shelley is a warm romantic poet, who is also a brave revolutionary soldier. He armed himself with poetries and took an active part in revolutionary movement. In spite of failures and setbacks, he still maintained at a high fighting spirit.Ode to the west wind is also the voice of the time. In the early 19th century, prior to emerging of scientific socialism and workers' movement in European countries was still in aspontaneous stage, Ode to the west wind inevitably contained a "mild, indirect and sorrow" tone. However, as pioneer socialist, Shelley held a firm and optimistic belief upon future of the revolutions and fate of the human beings. He firmly believed that justice would surely overwhelmed evil and light would definitely take place of the darkness. The poet, as a"talented prophet" announced that, "If winter comes, can spring be far behind"。
美国文学秋季学期练习题4
美国文学史及作品选读练习4I. Match the works with the authors given below. (每小题1分，共10分)a.Michael Wigglesworthb. Franklinc.John Smithd. William Cullen Bryante.James Fennimore Cooperf.Philip Freneaug.Washington Irving1.( ) A Description of New England2.( ) Rip Van Winkle3.( ) The Day of Doom4.( ) Autobiography5.( ) The Wild Honey suckle6.( ) To a Waterfowl7.( ) The Deerslayer8 ( ) The Thanatopsis9.( ) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow10.( ) The SpyII. Blank Filling. （每小题2分，共20分）1.The term “ Puritan” was applied to those settlers who originally were devout members ofthe Church of ________.2.Michael Wigglesworth, another important colonial poet, achieved wide popularity amonghis contemporaries with his gloomy entitled ___________.3.In 1620, a number of Puritans who tried to purify or reform the church of Englandstepped on the New England shore at Plymouth in the ship named ________.4.Among all the settlers in the New Continent, _________ settlers were the mostinfluential.5.In American Literature, the eighteenth century was an Age of ________ and Revolution.6.In Franklin’s ________________, he talks first of all about how he studied language.7.Irving was best known for his famous short stories such as ____________ which is abouta good-natured lazy husband who falls into a 20-year sleep.8.“Supernal beauty” is believed by ___________ to be the principle of Poetry.9.Published in 1823, ___________was the first of the Leatherstocking Tales, in their orderof publication time, and probably the first true romance of the frontier in American literature.10.____________was considered as the “poet of the American Revolution” a nd the “Father of American Poetry.”III. Multiple Choice.(每小题2分，共30分)1.In the early nineteenth century American moral values were essentially Puritan. Nothing has left a deeper imprint on the character of the people as a whole than did_______.A. PuritanismB RomanticismC RationalismD Sentimentalism2. Franklin wrote and published his famous__________, an annul collection of proverbs.A. The AutobiographyB. Poor Richard’s AlmanacC. Common SenseD. The General Magazine3. In American literature, the eighteenth century was the age of the Enlightenment. _______was the dominant spirit.A. Humanism B Rationalism C Revolution D Evolution4.________ usually was regarded as the first American writer.A.William BradfordB. Anne BradstreetC.Emily DickinsonD. Captain John Smith5.Which is not Irving’s works in the following.A. The Sketch BookB. Tales of a Travelle rC. A History of New YorkD．To A Waterfowl6. Choose Freneau’s poem from the following.A. The RavenB. T o a Waterfow lC. To HellenD. The Wild Honey Suckle7. In 1817, the stately poem called Thanatopsis introduced the best poet_ _____to appear in America up to that time.A. Edward TaylorB. Philip FreneauC. William Cullen BryantD. Edgar Allan Poepared with his contemporaries, _________was no doubt the best in exploring thewildness and frontier in fiction.A. Washington IrvingB. James Fenimore CooperC. William Cullen BryantD. Philip Freneau9. Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle is famous for_________.A. Rip’s escape into a mysterious valleyB. The story’s German legendary source materialC. Rip’s seeking for happinessD. Rip’s 20-years sleep10. Choose Poe’s work from the followingA. The Day of DoomB. The Last of the MohicansC. The Indian Burying GroundD The Cask of Amontillado11.Choose Irving’s work from the following .A. The Sketch BookB. ThanatopsisC. The SpyD. The British Prison Ship12._______ is the most commonly used in English poetry, in which an unstressed syllable comes first followed by a stressed.A. the trochaic footB. an anapestic footC.a quatrainD.a iambic foot13. The Indian Burying Ground by___________ is the earliest poem which romanticizes the Indian as a child of nature.A. Washington IrvingB. Adgar Allan PoeC. Philip FreneauD. Nathaniel Hawthorne14._______ is a poetic device used to increase the musical quality and link the lines and stanzas of a poem.A. meterB. repetitionC. rhymeD. foot15. Poetry is aimed at conveying and enriching human experience which is formed through sense impressions. __________ is the representation of sense experience through language.A .MeterB. ImageC. ThemeD. AssonanceIV. Decide Whether the Statements are True or False. (每小题1分，共10分) 1.The Puritans in New England embraced hardships, together with the discipline of a harshchurch.2.In 1625 a number of Puritans came to settle in Massachusetts3.Mayflower in American history is the name of a flower.4.American poetry of the eighteenth century has an imitative character, imitating thereigning English models of the eighteen century.5.In Franklin’s Autobiography, he talks first of all about how he studied language6. Philip Freneau was a most important writer in American poetry of the eighteenth century.7. The early American romanticism gave emphasis to emotion, feeling, intuition instead of reason.8. Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea adventure tale, and the frontier stories.9. In the 19th century American literature, writers of Gothic terror novels sought to arouse in their readers a turbulent sense of the remote, the supernatural, and the terrifying by describing old castles ,deep valleys or bleak mountain tops.10.Puritan influence over American Romanticism was conspicuously noticeable.V. Choose the correct terms to match the following definitions. (每小题2分，共10分)a. iambic footb. meterc. image d . rhyme e. stanza f. alliterationg. trochaic foot h. consonance1._______ is the repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases that usually appearclose to each other in a poem.2.________ is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.3.________ is a structural division of a poem, consisting of a series of verse lines whichusually comprise a recurring pattern of meter and rhyme.4.________ is the most commonly used foot in English poetry, in which an unstressedsyllable comes first, followed by a stressed syllable.5.________ is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound within a line or a group ofwords.VI. Identify the fragments and answer the following questions.(共20分) Section A.(每小题2分，共10分)Fair flower, that does so comely grow,Hid in this silent, dull retreat,Untouched thy honied blossoms blow,Unseen thy little branches greet;No roving foot shall crush thee here,No busy hand provoke a tear.Questions:1.What is the title of this poem from which the selection is selected?2.The meter of this poem is_______.A. iambic pentameter B .tetrameter C anapestic rhythm D sonnet3.Who is the writer of the poem?4.To what does the writer compare the flower’s charms? ’5.What does the writer express in this poem?Section B（共10分）It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the seaThat a maiden there lived whom you may knowBy the name of Annabel Lee----And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThen to love and be loved by meShe was a child and I was a child,In this kingdom by the sea,But we loved with a love that was more than love—I and my Annabel Lee---With a love that the winged seraphs of HeavenCroveted her and me.And this was the reason that, long ago,In this kingdom by the sea,A wind blew out of a cloud by nightChilling my Annabel Lee;So that her highborn kinsmen cameAnd bore her away from me,To shut her up in a sepulchreIn this kingdom by the sea.The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,Went envying her and me---Yes! That was the reason (as all men know,In this kingdom by the sea)That wind came out of the cloud, chillingAnd killing by the sea)… …Comment on the poem by answering the following questions:1.What’s the theme of the poem?（1分）2.How many poetic devices does the poet use to create a mood appropriate to the theme? （9分）参考答案:I (10%): 1.-5 C. G A .B F 6-10 D E D G EII. (20%)1.England2. The Day of Doom3. May Flower4. English5. reason6. Autobiograph7. Rip Van Winkle8. Adgar Allan Poe9. The Pioneer 10. Philip FreaneauIII. (30%)1-5 A B B D D 6-10 D C B D D 11-15. A D C C BIV. (10%)T F F T T T T T T TV. (10%) d b e a fVI.(20%)Section A1.The Wild Honey Suckle2. B3.Philip Freneau4.The writer compares the flower’s charms to the prime time of human being.5.In this poem, the poet expresses a keen awareness of the loveliness andtransience of nature.Section B.1.The death of a beautiful woman--- the recurrent theme of Poe’s poems(1%)2. The poet creates a melancholic tone in the poem In creating the mood, He uses alliteration-----her high born kinsman…. ; not half so happy in Heaven…(2%)the accumulative repetition----- It was many and many a year ago… She wasa child and I was a child….(2%):assonance----- To shut her up in a sepulchre… A wind blew out of a cloud by night;(2%) and makes the even lines and end lines of each stanza rhyme strongly with the name of the girl to have the effect of a refrain, thus best echoing the insistent tolling of the church bell at the funeral. In this solemnity, the poem reaches its emotional climax of melancholy.(3%)吨。
odetothewestwind赏析
o d e t o t h e w e s t w i n d赏析(总4页)--本页仅作为文档封面，使用时请直接删除即可----内页可以根据需求调整合适字体及大小--Luna ShenJim FairchildLiterature of the Romantic Period10/01/12Transforming image in Shelley 's poetry--See through Ode to the West WindThe west wind was widely adopted in Shelley 's poetry. In his poems, the west wind is always embedded with strong and violent power, which can cause the leaves to fall down onto the floor and tears the clouds high in the sky. Moreover, it can also cause panic of the sea plants and wake up the sleeping ocean. The west wind, according to Shelley, can be regarded as strong power in the revolutionary movement. Also, the poet's eagerness and courage to be integrated with west wind also indicate that she is willing to contribute hisself to the revolutionary movement. The poet believes that positive power will definitely overwhelm the evil and the darkness. Righteousness is surely to win in the revolutionary movement.In the first stanza, the poet adopted the color contrast tactic and described the scene when west wind swept autumn--"Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red", indicating that turbulent west wind blew down leaves and spread the seeds into land again, waiting for the arrival of spring. In the sentence, people could imagine a fading scene full of fallen leaves. However, when the spring comes, colors will turn soft and bright-- "colors and fragrance will be spread over mountains and plains". The poet proved himself to be "color" player, in severallines of whose poems, the changing process of the nature, from dull to prosperous, was perfectly presented. Finally, the poet names the ubiquitous west wind as both "destroyer and protector," which includes certain understanding that west wind break the old world and create a completely new world. According to Maharishi, "The nature of life is to grow," west wind is the power of developing.In the second stanza, the perspective of the poet switched to the sky and described how west wind blew burst the clouds and formed the storm. The poet adopted bolder imagination and regarded the air in the sky to be "waving hair of a madwoman". The so-called "madwoman" or "Maenad", is a character in Greece mythology. She was used to be drawn in an furious image in ancient painting. It is the furious appearance and scattering hair that perfectly portray natural wonders with random floating clouds. This also indicates that nature is both mysterious and dangerous.In the third stanza, the view was switched from the high sky to the ocean. Shelley mainly described how the west wind woke up the ocean and caused panic among sea pants. Prior to the arrival of the west wind, the sea was as calm as if it has slept for a whole summer. Moreover, it also saw the "ancient palace and pavilions" in its dream. The readers were also able to see reflection of the pavilions the clear water and the ripples formed a scene with full-bodiedly beauty. Then, the sea was also embedded with also personality, who, prior to the arrival of west wind, actively split itself and exposed the sea plants which hid deeply at the bottom of the sea. This peculiar description seems to be completely broad imagination of thepoet, while also complies with the law of nature.In the above three stanzas, the poet described how the west wind swept from the sky to the sea. However, in the fourth stanza, the poet focused on himself and wished that the wester wind could took him away, like the way it did to leaves, clouds and ripples in the sea. The poet was eager to float in the world freely. In order to demonstrate speed of the west wind and the poet's eagerness, the poet used a series of the same sentence pattern and formed a clanging and floating rhythm of the poetry.In fifth stanza, such kind of rhythm becomes more vehement and increasingly strong. The poet switched to a series of invocatory sentences, expressing his determination and courage to be integrated with the west wind. A famous aphorism was illustrated in a form of rhetorical questions , which seems as if the poet is asking the readers questions. The west wind seems to have stopped all of a sudden and poetry connotation of the poem suddenly becomes meaningful.Ode to the west wind is a poem to think high praise of west wind and a song of Shelley's. Shelley is a warm romantic poet, who is also a brave revolutionary soldier. He armed himself with poetries and took an active part in revolutionary movement. In spite of failures and setbacks, he still maintained at a high fighting spirit.Ode to the west wind is also the voice of the time. In the early 19th century, prior to emerging of scientific socialism and workers' movement in European countries was still in aspontaneous stage, Ode to the west wind inevitably contained a "mild, indirect and sorrow" tone. However, as pioneer socialist, Shelley held a firm and optimistic belief upon future of the revolutions and fate of the human beings. He firmly believed that justice would surely overwhelmed evil and light would definitely take place of the darkness. The poet, as a"talented prophet" announced that, "If winter comes, can spring be far behind"。
Ode to the West Wind雪莱《西风颂》
Result:
11 killed & >500 injured（11死，500伤）
Stanza 1 Preserver------保护者
O thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
IV.Image analysis*
Stanza 1 Destroyer------破坏者
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing
你无形，但枯死的落叶被你横扫， 你无形，但枯死的落叶被你横扫， 落叶被你横扫 有如鬼魅碰到了巫师， 鬼魅碰到了巫师 有如鬼魅碰到了巫师，纷纷逃避
IV.Image analysis*
Stanza 4
Emotion: willing to be the revolution’s companion Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.
经典英语诗歌ToaWaterfowl欣赏
经典英语诗歌 To a Waterfowl欣赏威廉•库伦•布莱恩特的经典诗歌《致水鸟》，是英美文学必考的诗歌。
今天店铺在这里为大家介绍经典英语诗歌 T o a Waterfowl欣赏，欢迎大家阅读！经典英语诗歌 To a Waterfowl欣赏To a Waterfowl——William Cullen BryantWhither, midst falling dew,While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursueThy solitary way?Vainly the fowler's eyeMight mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,As, darkly seen against the crimson sky,Thy figure floats along.Seek'st thou the plashy brinkOf weedy lake, or marge of river wide,Or where the rocking billows rise and sinkOn the chafed ocean-side?There is a Power whose careTeaches thy way along that pathless coastThe desert and illimitable airLone wandering, but not lost.All day thy wings have fanned,At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,Though the dark night is near.And soon that toil shall end;Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.Thou 'rt gone, the abyss of heavenHath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,And shall not soon depart.He who, from zone to zone,Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone,Will lead my steps aright.威廉•库伦•布莱恩特《致水鸟》你要去往何方?露珠正在坠落，天穹闪耀着白昼最后的脚步，远远地，穿过玫瑰色的深处，你求索着孤独的道路。
美国文学史及选读期末复习题
1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer。
2.The puritans looked upon themselves asa chosen people.is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.4.Thomas Paine’s famousboldly advo cated a “Declaration for Independence”。
5.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams，Benjamin Franklin，Roger Sherman，and Robert Livingston.has been called the “Father of American Poetry”.7.In Washington Ir ving’sappeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.8.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novelsWilliam Cullen Bryant’s wok.is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories"。
10.Emerson believed above all inand self—reliance.11.deepest12.Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale. 13.After his death，Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey。
To a Waterfowl
“To a Waterfowl”is a poem by William Cullen Bryant that was first published in the North American Review in March 1818. English poet Matthew Arnold once acclaimed it as “the most perfect brief poem in the language.” In a winter day of 1815, Bryant, who was in a state of self-doubt and despair, made a solitary walk from Cummington to Plainfield, Massachusetts. At the close of that day, the poet saw a waterfowl flying in the sky. The sight of the bird and its flight became a great revelation to him and wrote this poem in memory of this experience.First Stanza – Where are you going?In the first stanza, the speaker addresses the bird, asking him where he is going and why it is alone. Now let‟s imagine if you are on a solitary walk in a winter day and you happen to notice a waterfowl flying alone “midst falling dew” at the end of the day. What kind of feeling you will have towards the waterfowl? Thus the author‟ purpose to arise sympathy with the bird is accomplished.As a matter of fact, the speaker‟s sympathy is not just with the waterfowl, but also with himself since he is alone just like the bird. The winter day, the setting sun, and the poet‟s gloominess adds a strong sentimental tone to this poem. <天净沙·秋思> 马致远枯藤老树昏鸦。
美国文学-复习资料+答案
美国⽂学-复习资料+答案1.The American Transcendentalists formed a club called _________ .the Transcendental Club2.______ was regarded as the first great prose stylist of American romanticism. WashingtonIrving3.At nineteen___________ published in his brother’s newspaper, his "Jonathan Oldstyle"satires of New York life.4.In Washington Irving’s work___________ appeared the first modern short stories and thefirst great American juvenile literature. The Sketch Book5.The first important American novelist was____________. James Fenimore Cooper6.James Fenimore Cooper’s novel ___________ was a rousing tale about espionage againstthe British during the Revolutionary War.The Spy7.The best of James Fenimore Cooper's sea romances was_____________.The Pilot8."To a Waterfowl" is perhaps the peak of_______________’s work; it has been called by aneminent English critic “the most perfect brief poem in the language.”William Cullen Bryant9.__________ was the first American to gain the stature of a major poet in the worldliterature.10.Edgar Allan Poe’s poem____________ is perhaps the best example of onomatopoeia in theEnglish language.The Bells11.Edgar Allan Poe's poem____________ was published in 1845 as the title poem of acollection. The Raven12.From Henry David Thoreau’s Concord jail experience, came his famous essay ______.Civil DisobedienceBy the 1830s Washington Irving was judged the nation' s greatest writer, a lofty position he later shared with James Fenimore Cooper and William Cullen Bryant.In the early nineteenth century, the attitude of American writers was shaped by their New World environment and an array of ideas inherited from the romantic tradition of Europe.As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.The foundation of American national literature was laid by the early American romanticists.At mid-19th century, a cultural reawakening brought a "flowering of New England". Romantic writers in the 19th century placed increasing value on the free expression of emotion and displayed increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters.With a vast group of supporting characters, virtuous or villainous, James Fenimore Cooper made the America conscious of his past, and made the European conscious of America.No other American poet ever surpassed Edgar Allan Poe’s ability in the use of English as a medium of pure musical and rhythmic beauty.The Fall of the House of Usher is one of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories.Ralph Waldo Emerson was recognized as the leader of transcendentalist movement, but he never applied the term "Transcendentalist" to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson published his first book, Nature, which met with a mild reception.Ralph Waldo Emerson's prose style was sometimes as highly individual as his poetry.The harsh rhythms and striking images of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poetry appeal to many modern readers as artful techniques.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s writings belong to the milder aspects of the Romantic Movement.American romanticism was in a way derivative: American romantic writing was some of them modeled on English and European works.Ralph Waldo Emerson’s aesthetics brought about a revolution in American literature in general and in American poetry in particular.Henry David Thoreau was an active Transcendentalist. He was by no means an "escapist" or a recluse, but was intensely involved in the life of his day.The Scarlet Letter is set in the seventeenth century. It is an elaboration of a fact which the author took out of the life of the Puritan past.2. Transcendentalism took their ideas from___________ .A. the romantic literature in EuropeB. neo-PlatonismC. German idealistic philosophyD. the revelations of oriental mysticismABCD8. Transcendentalists recognized__________ as the "highest power of the soul.”A. intuition10. Transcendentalism appealed to those who disdained the harsh God of the Puritan ancestors, and it appealed to those who scorned the pale deity of New EnglandA. TranscendentalismB. HumanismC. NaturalismD. UnitarianismD13. The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature, evident in _________ .A. James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking TalesB. Henry David Thoreau’s WaldenC. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry FinnD. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet LetterABC14. A preoccupation with the demonic and the mystery of evil marked the works of_________ , and a host of lesser writers.A. Nathaniel HawthorneB. Edgar Allan PoeC. Herman MelvilleD. Mark TwainABC16. In the nineteenth century America, Romantics often shared certain general characteristics. Choose such characteristics from the following.A. moral enthusiasmB. faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perceptionC. adoration for the natural worldD. presumption about the corrosive effect of human societyABCD17. Choose Washington Irving' s works from the following.A. The Sketch BookB. Bracebridge HallC. Tales of a TravellerD. A History of New YorkABCD18. In James Fenimore Cooper's novels, close after Natty Bumppo in romantic appeal , come the two noble red men. Choose them from the following.A. the Mohican Chief ChingachgookB. UncasC. Tom JonesD. Kubla KhanABIn 1817, the stately poem called Thanatopsis introduced the best poet___________ to appear in America up to that time.A. Edward TaylorB. Philip FreneauC. William Cullen BryantD. Edgar Allan PoeC To a Waterfowl Thanatopsis21. From the following, choose the poems written by Edgar Allan Poe.A. To HelenB. The RavenC. Annabel LeeD. The BellsABCD23. Edgar Allan Poe's first collection of short stories is___________ .D. Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque24. From the following, choose the characteristics of Ralph Waldo Emerson's poetry.A. being highly individualB. harsh rhythmsC. lack of form and polishD. striking imagesABCD25. Which book is not written by Ralph Waldo Emerson?A. Representative MenB. English TraitsC. NatureD. The RhodoraD26. Which essay is not written by Ralph Waldo Emerson?A. Of StudiesB. Self-RelianceC. The American ScholarD. The Divinity School AddressA30. Nathaniel Hawthorne's ability to create vivid and symbolic images that embody great moral questions also appears strongly in his short stories. Choose his short stories from the following.A. Young Goodman BrownB. The Great Stone FaceC. The Ambitious Guest ABCDD. Ethan BrandE. The Pearl32. Herman Melville called his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne_____________ in American literature.A. the largest brain with the largest heart34. __________ was a romanticized account of Herman Melville's stay among the Polynesians. The success of the book soon made Melville well known as the " man who lived among cannibals". Typee37. In the early nineteenth century American moral values were essentially Puritan. Nothing has left a deeper imprint on the character of the people as a whole than did__________ .A. Puritanism"The universe is composed of Nature and the soul... Spirit is present everywhere". This is the voice of the book Nature written by Emerson, which pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England______ Transcendentalism43. Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism?A. Nature45. _________ is an appalling fictional version of Nathaniel Hawthorne' s belief that "the wrong doing of one generation lives into the successive ones" and that evil will come out of evil though it may take many generations to happen.A. The Marble FaunB. The House of Seven GablesC. The Blithedale RomanceD. Young Goodman BrownBOnce upon a midnight dreary, while i pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door—Only this, and nothing more. "Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow; —vainly I had tried to borrowFrom my books surcease of sorrow-sorrow for the lost.Edgar Allan PoeThe RavenDescribe the mood of this poem: A sense of melancholy over the death of a beloved beautiful young woman pervades the whole poem, the portrayal of a young man grieving for his lost Leno-re, his grief turned to madness under the steady one-word repetition of the talking bird. Work 3: Nuture1.As the leading New England Transcendentalist, Emerson effected a most articulatesynthesis of the Transcendentalist views. One major element of his philosophy if hisfirm belief in the transcendence of the "Oversoul". His emphasis on the spirit runsthrough virtually all his writings. " Philosophically considered," he states in Nature,which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism, "theuniverse is composed of Nature and the Soul. " He sees the world as phenomenal, and emphasizes the need for idealism, for idealism sees the world in God. "It beholds thewhole circle of persons and things, of actions and events, of country and religion, as one vast picture which God paints on the eternity for the contemplation of the soul. " Heregards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man, andadvocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature. In thisconnection, Emerson' s emotional experiences are exemplary in more ways than one.Alone in the woods one day, for instance, he experienced a moment of "ecstasy" which he records thus in his Nature:2.Standing on the bare ground, my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinitespace, 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.3.Now this is a moment of "conversion" when one feels completely merged with theoutside world, when one has completely sunk into nature and become one with it, and when the soul has gone beyond the physical limits of the body to share the omniscienceof the Oversoul. In a word, the soul has completely transcended the limits ofindividuality and beome part of the Oversoul. Emerson sees spirit pervadingeverywhere, not only in the soul of man, but behind nature, throughout nature. Theworld proceeds, as he observes, from the same source as the body of man. "TheUniversal Being" is in point of fact the Oversoul that he never stopped talking about for the rest of his life. Emerson' s doctrine of the Oversoul is graphically illustrated in such famous statements; "Each mind lives in the Grand mind," "There in one mind common to all individual men," and "Man is conscious of a universal soul within or behind his individual life. " In his opinion, man is made in the image of God and is just a little less than Him. This is as much as to say that the spiritual and immanent God is operative in the soul of man, and that man is divine. The divinity of man became, incidentally, a favorite subject in his lectures and essays.4.This naturally led to another, equally significant, Transcendentalist thesis, that theindividual, not the crowd, is the most important of all. If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself, and brings out the divine in himself, he can hop to become better and even perfect. This is what Emerson means by the "infinitude of the privates man. " He tried to convince people that the possibilities for man to develop and improve himself are infinite. Men should and could be self-reliant. Each man should feel the world as his, and the world exists for him alone. He should determine his own existence. Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making his world, and that he makes the world by making himself. " Know then that the world exists for you " he says. "Build therefore your own world. " "Trust thy self!" and "Make thyself!" Trust your owndiscretion and the world is yours. Thus, as Henry Nash Smith ventures to suggest,"Emerson' s message was eventually (to use a telegraphic abbreviation) self-reliance. "Emerson' s eye was on man as he could be or could become; he was in the mainoptimistic about human perfectibility. The regeneration of the individual leads to the regeneration of society. Hence his famous remark, "I ask for the individuals, not the nation. " Emerson ' s self-reliance was an expression, on a very high level, of thebuoyant spirit of his time, the hope that man can become the best person he could hope to be. Emerson ' s Transcendentalism, with its emphasis on the democraticindividualism, may have provided an ideal explanation for the conduct and activities of an expanding capitalist society. His essays such as "Power", "Wealth", and "Napoleon"(in his The Representative Men) reveal his ambivalence toward aggressiveness andself-seeking.5.To Emerson's Transcendentalist eyes, the physical world was vitalistic and evolutionary.Nature was, to him as to his Puritan forebears, emblematic of God. It mediates between man and God, and its voice leads to higher truth. " Nature is the vehicle of thought,"and " particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts. " Thus Emerson' s world was one of multiple significance; everything bears a second sense and an ulterior sense. In a word, " Nature is the symbol of spirit." That is probably why he called his first philosophical work Nature rather ihan anything else. The sensual man, Emerson feels, conforms thoughts to things, and man' s power to connect his thought with its proper symbol depends upon the simplicity and purity of his character; "The lover of nature is he who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. " To him nature is a wholesome moral influence on man and his character. A natural implication of Emerson' s view on nature isthat the world around is symbolic. A lowing river indicates the ceaseless motion of the universe. The seasons correspond to the life span of man. The ant, the little drudge, with a small body and a mighty heart, is the sublime image of man himself.爱⼈者，⼈恒爱之；敬⼈者，⼈恒敬之；宽以济猛，猛以济宽，政是以和。
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Composition and publication history
• The inspiration for the poem occurred in December 1815 when Bryant, then 21, was walking from Cummington to Plainfield to look for a place to settle as a lawyer. The duck, flying across the sunset, seemed to Bryant as solitary a soul as himself, inspiring him to write the poem that evening.
Main works
• 1808 Tion against Jefferson’s trade restrictions
• 1817 Thanatopsis 死亡冥想brought him his first success but also general attention to his extraordinary genius.
• "To a Waterfowl" was first published in the North American Review in Volume 6, Issue 18, March 1818. It was later published in the collection Poems in 1821.
• Bryant developed an interest in poetry early in life. Under his father's tutelage, he emulated Alexander Pope and other Neo-Classic British poets. “The Embargo”, a savage attack on President Thomas Jefferson published in 1808, reflected Dr. Bryant's Federalist political views. The first edition quickly sold out—partly because of the publicity earned by the poet's young age—and a second, expanded edition, which included Bryant's translation of Classical verse, was printed. The youth wrote little poetry while preparing to enter Williams College as a sophomore, but upon leaving Williams after a single year and then beginning to read law, he regenerated his passion for poetry through encounter with the English pre-Romantics and, particularly, William Wordsworth.
Critical response
• Matthew Arnold praised it as "the best short poem in the language", and the poet and critic Richard Wilbur has described it as "America's first flawless poem".
To a Waterfowl 致水鸟
by William Cullen Bryant
Youth and Education
• Bryant was born on November 3, 1794,He was the second son of Peter Bryant, a doctor and later a state legislator, and Sarah Snell. His maternal ancestry traces back to passengers on the Mayflower; his father's, to colonists who arrived about a dozen years later. Bryant and his family moved to a new home when he was two years old. The William Cullen Bryant Homestead, his boyhood home, is now a museum. After just two years at Williams College, he studied law in Worthington and Bridgewater in Massachusetts, and he was admitted to the bar in 1815. He then began practicing law in nearby Plainfield, walking the seven miles from Cummington every day. On one of these walks, in December 1815, he noticed a single bird flying on the horizon; the sight moved him enough to write "To a Waterfowl".