美国文学教案(复习资料)

Colonial Period
I. Historical Background:
The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The first settlers advocated highly religious and moral principles. They carried with them to America a code of values and a philosophy of life-----Puritanism.
II. Thought, Culture:
American Puritanism was one of the most enduring influences on American thought and American literature. To some extent, it has become a state of mind. Puritanism is the religious beliefs of Puritans. They intended to “purify” the Church of England, so they came to America for the sake of religious freedom, and they wished to escape religious persecution. Their way of life was based on the doctrines. Puritan values dominated literature in colonial America, and greatly influenced the whole American literature.
III. Literature:
American literature grew out of humble origins. They mostly had close relationship with religion. There were such noted Puritan who was said the first American writer, because he first described New England as a promising virgin land. His writings about North America became the source of information, which aroused the attention of many people in England and Europe, and drew them over to this New World.
Anne Bradstreet. The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America
Edward Taylor. These two figures were the faithful disciple of the God.

Revolutionary Period
I. Historical Background:
From the middle of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century, North America had experienced great turbulence and social change. The mixture and alternation between the old and new, was the characteristic of this period. The ideas of the Enlightenment dealt a heavy blow to Puritanism.
II. Literary Figures:
1. Benjamin Franklin.
His ideas were expressed through his two famous literary works, Poor Richard’s Almanac and Autobiography.
(1) Poor Richard’s Almanac----an annual collection of proverbs.
(2) Autobiography----it is a how-to-do-good book, and sets autobiography as a literary genre in American literature.
Style:
2. Thomas Paine.
a most important revolutionary activist and political writer during the war of Independence. Common Sense The American Crisis The Rights of Man
3. Thomas Jefferson.
the main drafter of “The Declaration of Independence.”
the third president of the United States.
P. 37
4. Philip Freneau.
the first important American poet, called “Father of American poetry.” a transitional figure from the Enlightenment to the Romantic period.
His poems are featured with lyric beauty + heartfelt pathos
P.45 The Wild Honey Suckle
P.46 The Indian Burying Ground
Lecture 2
Teaching aim: to have an understanding of the historical background of romantic period and its influence on literature; to comprehend the essence of romanticism.
Teaching procedure: 1. Review; 2. historical background; 3. stages of the development of literature; 4. major writers and the

ir representative works.
Romanticism Period
We are now dealing with one of the most important periods in the history of American literature, the Romantic Period, which stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War (1861).
I. Stimulating Factors:
This period saw a rising America which declared its political, economic and cultural independence. Such a scene of prosperity cried for literary expression. The other incentive was the influence of Europe.
II. Features:
Although foreign influences were strong, American Romanticism presented distinct features of its own.
https://www.360docs.net/doc/7b4476305.html,mon features，P55
2. “newness.” It expresses “a real new experience.”
3. form, P. 57.
4. content, P. 58. a .nature b. psychic states
Washington Irving (1783-1859)
“the father of American literature.”
I. The Sketch Book:
It is the first collection of short stories. It also marked the beginning of American Romanticism.
In the series of tales in The Sketch Book, the most famous and frequently anthologized are Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Rip Van Winkle
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The purpose of this story is for fun and pleasure, with a light satirical notion on pedantrism as represented by the protagonist----Crane.
II. Conclusion:
Content: Irving’s stories carry a strong romantic sensibility, with a special interest in remoteness, the Gothic and supernatural elements.
Style: humorous, familiar and graceful.
James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)
? the first frontier novelist. the first writer of sea adventures.
Cooper created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. The work that established his fame in American literature was Leatherstocking Tales. It offers some fictional version of the American national experience of adventure into the West. The importance of the frontier and the wilderness in American literature was for the first time well illustrated in Leatherstocking Tales.

American romanticism culminated around the 1840s, and it has come to be known as “New England Transcendentalism” or “American Renaissance”(1836--1855). The leading figure in this period was Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803--1882)
I. Transcendentalism:
His literary work “Nature” came out in 1836. This book was a manifesto of “transcendentalism”, and made a tremendous impact on the intellectual life of America.
It comprises three major features:
① It puts emphasis on spirit, or the “Oversoul”
② It stressed the importance of the individual.
③ Transcendentalists consider that Nature was not purely matter.
II．Literary Works:
Nature ----“manifesto of New England Transcendentalism”
The American Scholar “Our intellectual Declaration of Independence.”
The Divinity School Address
Self-Reliance
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Thoreau

was a faithful disciple, a strict follower of Emerson.
Walden records his experiment in living at Walden Pond, relates his understanding of nature, his meditation on the meaning of life and utters his social criticism. Walden offers people various layers of interpretations.
Lecture 3
Teaching aim: to have an understanding of the unique contribution made by New England poets to American Renaissance; Hawthorne’s life experience.
Teaching procedure: 1. Review; 2. major writers and their representative works.
The strength that also contributed to the “New England Renaissance” was a group of poets. These poets were later known in American literary history as the “New England poets.” These include William Cullen Bryant & Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)
* forerunner of American romantic poetry. Representative works:
To a Waterfowl --- It well represents the peak of Bryant’s poetic creation. Simple as it is, this poem was rated as “the most perfect brief poem in the language.” It is a lyric poem with strong spiritual intent.
Thanatopsis ---- Bryant’s best known poem with the theme of death. It follows the tradition of the English “graveyard school.” This poem was written in blank verse.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Longfellow was the most influential American poet of history.
His important collections of poetry include:
Voices of the Night Ballads and Other Poems Poems on Slavery
His poems:
A Psalm of Life ---- the most famous poem in Voices of the Night. See textbook P. 253-255.
The Slave’s Dream My Lost Youth The Song of Hiawatha
Lecture 4
Teaching aim: to have an understanding of the unique contribution made by Hawthorne and Melville to American literature.
Teaching procedure: 1. Review; 2. life experienced of Hawthorne; 3. The Scarlet Letter. 4. Melville.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
With the publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne became famous as the greatest writer in the United States. And his reputation as a major writer has been on the increase ever since.
I. Life Experience:
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on the fourth of July, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. 附页。
Salem Witchcraft Trial in 1692.
In 1821, Hawthorne went to Bowdoin College, where he had Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as a classmate. He also developed a friendship with Franklin Pierce who was to become the 14th president of the United States. From 1825 to 1837, Hawthorne lived in solitude and seclusion.
II. Literary Creation:
Twice-Told Tales (1837)
Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) The House of the Seven Gables (1851)
The Blithedale Romance (1852) The Marble Faun (1860)
III. The Scarlet Letter:
1. plot: see textbook P.200-204.
2. Explanation:
The way in which Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter suggests that American Romanticism adapted itself to American Puritan moralism. The load of didacticism is obvious. What Hawthorne was

predominantly concerned with was the moral, emotional, and psychological effect of the sin on the people in general.
1) Hester Prynne first. In the strong character of Hester Prynne, we see the tension between society and solitude which lies near the center of all Hawthorne’s art. The Scarlet Letter is not a praise of a Hester sinning, but a hymn on the moral growth of the woman sinned against.
The scarlet letter in meaning undergoes, which symbolizes her moral development. At first, it is a token of shame----“Adultery;” but then, her genuine sympathy and help changes it into “Able.” Later, in the story, the letter “A” appears in the sky, signifying “Angel.”
2) Dimmesdale is totally different. He banishes himself from society. While Hester is able to reconstruct her life and win a moral victory, Dimmesdale undergoes the tragic experience of physical and spiritual torture. Hawthorne puts these two characters together, because he intends to illustrate that, the best policy for a man is to be true, honest, and ever ready to show one’s worst to the outside world.
3) The real villain of the story is Roger Chillingworth. The scholar, the embodiment of pure and intellect, commits “the Unpardonable Sin”----the violation of human heart.He keeps preying on Dimmesdale’s conscience until the poor is tormented to death.
4) Pearl.
3. Symbolism:
Hawthorne’s symbolism merits particular mention.
Adultery---Able---Angel. In addition, the names of the characters are symbolic, too.
IV. Tenor of Hawthorne’s Literary Creation:
All his life, Hawthorne seems to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life. Reading his tales and romances, one must be overwhelmed by the “black” vision.
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Melville and Hawthorne were very good friends. At that time, transcendentalism was very popular and American society was permeated with optimistic atmosphere. However, Melville was ahead of his age. He was critical of Emerson’s view of life. Melville found Hawthorne as his spiritual prop, because he considered Hawthorne as the only person who was aware of the darkness and evil in American society. Though oblivious to his contemporaries, Herman Melville aroused more and more readers’ and critics’ attention in modern society. The most important work that earned him the great fame was Moby Dick.
Moby Dick ---- Today, the novel is regarded as a great epic romance, a successful sea adventures and a highly philosophical allegorical novel.
1. plot: see textbook P. 219-224
2. theme:
Moby Dick represents Melville’s bleak view of the world: Man can never overcome nature. He must place himself at the mercy of nature. So, his book is first a Shakespearean tragedy of man who fights against overwhelming forces in an indifferent universe.
Secondly, man in this universe lives a meaningless and futile life. We find that, this theme turns out to be extremely popular in the West especially after the World War. S

o, that’s the reason why Melville’s work was revalued in the 20th century.
3. character:
Captain Ahab is a tragic hero. He cuts himself from his wife, his children and the outside world. He hates Moby Dick which is an embodiment of nature. He is angry because his pride is wounded. He hears of no objection, and finally becomes a devil who fulfils his own revenge at the expense of his life a well as the lives of his crew.
His tragedy stems from extreme individualism.
4. symbolism:
Ahab’s ship was like a world in miniature.
The voyage itself is a metaphor for “search and discovery.”
Moby Dick represents the mystery of the universe.

Lecture 5
Teaching aim: to have an understanding of the unique contribution made by Poe to American literature;
Teaching procedure: 1. Review; 2. Poe’s short stories and poems
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
I. Gothic Novel/Romance:
a story of terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery, with a comparably sinister and grotesque atmosphere. Gothic heroes and heroines tend to be equally mysterious, with dark histories and secrets of their own. Exaggeration and emotional language are frequently employed.
II. Life Experience:
III. Literary Creation:
Poe concentrated on strangeness, mystery, terror, insanity and death. He wrote about people buried while alive; about dreams that become true/ reality that seems like a dream.
1. Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1839) ----a collection of short stories.
“MS. Found in a Bottle” “The Tell-Tale Heart” “Black Cat” “The Cask of Amontillado” “Ligeia” “The Fall of the House of Usher” ----his best short story in the form of a horror tale.
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) “The Purloined Letter”
Poems:
“The Raven”----best-known poem, a poetic expression of melancholy.
“To Helen”----an awe-inspiringcelebration of classic beauty.
“Annabel Lee”----a poem about “lost love”----the death of a beautiful lady.
2. Beauty and Melancholy
IV. Poems:
The poem, Poe says, should be short and readable. Its chief aim is beauty, namely, to produce a feeling of beauty in the reader.
1. “To Helen” It is one of the most famous of Poe’s lyrics.
P.128.
2. “The Raven”
Central idea:
It is another testimony of Poe’s literary tendency. Here, a sense of melancholy over the death of a beloved beautiful young lady pervades the whole poem.
Poe’s poems are heavily tinted in a dreamy and illusory color.
V. Short Story----The Fall of the House of Usher:
1. narrator.
Poe places Roderick’s school friend besides him, watching and then coming back to retell the appalling process of the dissolution. What drives Roderick crazy is not immediately clear. It leaves for the reader’s imagination. Here, the use of the narrator, gives readers more vivid and detailed descriptions, and thus enhances the effect of horror.
2. distinct feature----Poe combines the o

utside world with the hero’s inner world perfectly.
3. symbolism:
It signifies “the doom of the isolated consciousness”----a modern theme.
VI. Two Sides of Poe’s Literary Creation:
the world of imagination and fancy; rational human being, with an intuitive faculty and a sixth sense.