1、English LiteratureChapters 78第1页,共22页。Key Points in Chapter 7Key Points in Chapter 7lMovement toward RomanticismlJames ThomsonlEdward YounglGeorge CrabbelWilliam Cowperl William BlakeIntroductionWorksl Robert BurnsIntroductionWorks第2页,共22页。Movement toward RomanticismExtremes tend to provoke a reacti
2、on.With Pope and then Samuel Johnson at the helm,the 18th century raged forward with the heroic couplet and almost outlawed other forms.However,from the very outset,some dissenting voices existed and tried to make themselves heard.There was also the sly but steady assertion of emotion in the age of
3、reason.With Robert Burns and William Blake coming forth eventually on the scene,the stage were well set for a new generation of poets,the Romantics.第3页,共22页。James Thomson(1700-1748)He is remembered now mostly for his The Seasons.The Castle of Indolence with its medieval allegorical kind of story,is
4、read occasionally as well.The Seasons is a long poem of over 5,500 lines,composed in blank verse instead of the tyrannical heroic couplet.第4页,共22页。Edward Young(1683-1765)He is now known solely for his long poem of some ten thousand lines,Complaint,or Night Thoughts on Life,Death,and Immortality,popu
5、larly known as Night Thoughts.The work helped to move poetry forward toward the age of Romanticism:for one thing,it was written in blank verse,not in the fashionable heroic couplet;then the poem is an adequate expression of emotions.Night Thoughts is noted for its psychological probings and its mixi
6、ng of personal sentiments with religious deliberations.第5页,共22页。William Cowper(1731-1800)His personal life was turbulent and depressing.He was high-strung and suicidal.His blank verse proved to be the best of his time.His major works include the Onley Hymns and The Task,for which he is known and rea
7、d today.第6页,共22页。William Blake(1757-1827)Introductiono Blake was an important landmark in between two literary periods,pointing directly to that of Romanticism.o There were two factors in his life that helped to orient his thematic thrust.One was his native sensitivity that enabled him to see vision
8、s and develop a kind of mysticism.The other was his contact with some radical people.o The two major thematic strands that make up the basic fabric of his poetry include his concern with social events and his mysticism.oBlake was basically a visionary第7页,共22页。William Blake(1757-1827)Works Songs of I
9、nnocence“Infant Joy”“The Blossom”“The Lamb”“The Divine Image”Songs of Experience“Infant Sorrow”“The Sick Rose”“The Tiger”“The Human Abstract”第8页,共22页。Robert Burns(1759-1796)Introductiono Born into a poor Scottish farmers family.He experienced dire poverty and had close contact with common life and c
10、ommon people.o He is critical of Calvinism and its hypocrisy and rigid morality.o Burns wrote in the Scottish dialect,English,and a medley of the two.第9页,共22页。Robert Burns(1759-1796)Works o“A Red Red Rose”o“Tam OShanter”o“For A That an A That”第10页,共22页。A Red Red RoseoO my Luves like a red,red roseTh
11、ats newly sprung in June;O my Luves like the melodieThats sweetly playd in tune.As fair art thou,my bonnie lass,So deep in luve am I:And I will luve thee still,my dear,Till a the seas gang dry:oTill a the seas gang dry,my dear,And the rocks melt wi the sun:I will luve thee still,my dear,While the sa
12、nds o life shall run.And fare thee well,my only LuveAnd fare thee well,a while!And I will come again,my Luve,Tho it were ten thousand mile.第11页,共22页。Key Points in Chapter 8Key Points in Chapter 8l18th Century FictionlJonathan SwiftWorksGullivers TravelslDaniel DefoeIntroductionRobinson CrusoelSamuel
13、 Richardsonl Henry FieldingAesthetic TheoriesWorksl Laurence Sternel Tobias Smollett第12页,共22页。1818thth Century Fiction Century Fiction 18th century was one in which the novel as a genre prospered not only in the practice,but also in the theory of the craft.The writers developed the realistic method
14、of presentation and brought story-telling infinitely closer to the real life as lived by the real people.第13页,共22页。Jonathan Swift(1667-1745)Works The Battle of the Books Tale of a Tub The Irish Drapiers Letters A Modest Proposal It is one of the most caustic satires ever written in literary history
15、Gullivers Travels第14页,共22页。Jonathan Swift(1667-1745)Gullivers TravelsoThis is a savage satire in the form of a fabulous travelogueoThe book consists of four parts,each recording one voyage to one outlandish“remote”place.oPart I:“A Voyage to Lilliput”o Part II:“A Voyage to Brobdingnag”oPart III:“A Vo
16、yage to Laputa,Balnibari,Glubbdubdrib,Luggnagg,and Japan”o Part IV:“A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhunms”第15页,共22页。Daniel Defoe(1660-1731)Introductiono His views on the novel focus on two things of significance to the emerging genre(novel):its realism and its moral aesthetic.o His protagonists
17、 are common people with real common names and speak as“I”,telling their own stories in the first-person narrative,addressing the readers directly without any mediation,just so as to increase the realistic effect of immediacy and involvement.第16页,共22页。Daniel Defoe(1660-1731)Robinson CrusoeoIt is the
18、work for which Defoe is remembered by all.oThe popular Robinson Crusoe story as people normally know it is in fact the narrative focus of the first part.oIt is first and foremost a middle class book,offering justification for the class forthcoming rise to pre-dominance in national life.oThe book is
19、a typical Puritan tale.oRobinson Crusoe is frequently seen simply as a true-to-life,no more and no less,specimen of the ordinary humankind.Bodying forth the sum total of the perseverance and indomitableness of human spirit.It is this quality in the character that remains eternally charming and great
20、.第17页,共22页。Samuel Richardson(1689-1751)o Pamela,Or Virtue Rewarded marks the beginning of conversational manner of narration.o Richard has been seen as the beginning in one of these psychological realism in the history of the English novel.第18页,共22页。Henry Fielding(1707-1754)Aesthetic TheoriesoHis wa
21、s the first attempt ever to define the novel as a prose epic(“Prosaic-comic-epic Writing”as he calls it)that is not inferior to an epic poem.o Fielding sees the novel as a vehicle for moral inculcation,a mirror and an imitation of nature and life.Though imitating life,art is,to him,not life.oFieldin
22、g deems it necessary for a writer to have four basic qualitiesnative gift,adequate learning,rich experience with life and a kind heart.第19页,共22页。Henry Fielding(1707-1754)WorksJoseph Andrews It has been seen as the first realistic novel in English fiction.Its focus is on the presentation of English l
23、ife as being lived then,so that it ends up as a novel of manners.Tom JonesIt is Fieldings masterpiece Major characters:Squire Allworthy,Tom Jones,Jenny Jones,Patridge,Bridget,Master Blifil,the Westerns,Sophia第20页,共22页。Laurence Sterne (1713-1768)He was an iconoclast.Dickens felt deeply impressed by h
24、is fictions major features such as their themes of grotesque goodness,sweet humility,sensitive humanity,their boisterous humor,and idiosyncratic discursiveness.His best know work is The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,Gentleman.Tristram Shandy,with its subtle and sensible dips into the deeps of
25、 memory,has been seem by some as the first true psychological novel in English literary history.Stern is remembered for his originality and his daring to break new ground.第21页,共22页。Tobias Smollett (1721-1771)His best novel is The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker.Smollett was one of the most original writers of his time.He is now read chiefly for his wit and his satire.第22页,共22页。