chapter 7 讲稿Movement toward Romanticism

1、Movement toward RomanticismSocial Background:With Pope and then Johnson at the helm, the 18th century raged forward with the heroic couplet and almost outlawed all other forms. However, from the very outset, some dissenting voices existed and tried to make them heard. Although open rebellion did not

2、 become a major trend until the death of Johnson in 1784, something the nature of which Johnson did not approve had begun to surface. The stage was well set for a new generation of poets, the Romantics.Representatives of Pre-Romanticism:James Thomson (1700-1748), Edward Young (1683-1765), William Co

3、wper (1731-1800), George Crabbe (1754-1832), William Blake (1757-1827), and Robert Burns(1759-1796)James Thomson (1700-1748)His masterwork is The Season , written in blank verse, is a long poem over 5,500 lines. The major substance of the poem is about rustic sights and sounds that call naturally fo

4、r emotional echoes from the human bosom. It consists of the four seasons and a “Hymn”. The poem offers a pictured life of nature. Spring with the plowing, the north winds and the rain, the passions of the animals, and the joys of pastoral life; Summer with the delightful morning labor of the farmers

5、, the waterfall and the noontime meditations on the sun, the lightning and the youth; Autumn with the dreams of greatness, hopes of happiness, the rush and bustle, the festive nights; and Winter with storms of rain on land and at sea, the trembling boat, the snow scene. All through the poem the poet

6、 advises people to keep in sight the larger eternal scheme of God omnipresent.William Blake Life:Blake is famous for his short lyrics. They are remarkable and highly individual. He looks toward an anarchistic society and a religious mysticism seems to be the source of his inspiration. His poetry str

7、ikes us with its childish vision and simplicity.His first collection of poems, “ Poetical Sketches”诗歌素描集, was printed in 1783. Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are two other groups of Blakes short lyrics. The marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790), is a prophetic satire in prose. Under the imp

8、etus of the French Revolution, Blake wrote a series of long poems, which he called the “Prophecies”.预言 In 1827, Blake dies in obscurity and poverty. Blake was an important landmark in between two literary periods, pointing directly to that of Romanticism.Blakes Position in English Literature:Blakes

9、revolutionary passion came near to that of Shelly. He is called a Pre-Romantic or a forerunner of the Romantic poetry of the 19th century.Major Works:Poetical Sketches, 1783Songs of Innocence, 1789Songs of Experience, 1794The Book of Thel, 1789The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1790Appreciation:The be

10、st of Blakes short poems is to be found in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, two little collections of lyrics. The poems in Songs of Innocence were written for children. The poet expresses his delight in the sun, the hills, the streams, the insects and the flowers, in the innocence of the

11、child and of the lamb. In contrast, the poet drew pictures of neediness and distress and showed the sufferings of the miserable in Songs of Experience. “Innocence” and “Experience” here denote two different phases of human life with the different states of the human soul as the title of the edition

12、combining the two sequences indicates. They make a clear statement about the authors acutely conscious responses to life and society.The Marriage of Heaven and HellIt is Blake's most important prose work. It acquires great popularity because of its fresh and independent outlook. In this work, Bl

13、ake expresses his spirit of revolt against the social oppression, exposes and attacks all civil, moral and religious codes. The central idea of this work is his denial of the authority of injustice.Blakes position and features William Blake was the most extraordinary literary genius of his age. He w

14、as opposed to the classical tradition of that age. His lyrics display all the characteristics of the romantic spirit, according to which natural sentiment and individual originality are essential to literary creation. Blakes works are full of revolutionary passion and imagine and symbolism. He is ca

15、lled a Pre-Romantic or a forerunner of the Romantic Poetry of the 19th century.Robert Burns (1759-1796)ILifeBurns was born in 1759, Scotland. He was the eldest son of a poor Scotch peasant family. Burns got only a little schooling. He had a great passion for Scottish folk songs and an intimate knowl

16、edge of Scottish poets and their works. When he was 16, he became the principal laborer on the farm, but his interest in poetry developed and he already started writing some poems. When he was 27, he resolved to go abroad. He gathered together some of his early poems and published them under the tit

17、le of "Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect". The collection was a great success and took all Scotland by storm. Encouraged by the success of his collection, Burns decided to give up his journey abroad and went to Edinburgh to arrange for another edition of his poems. He was welcomed and

18、feasted by the best of the Scottish society. But nobody gave him real help, and very soon he found himself looked down upon in the aristocratic circles. Then he left the city in anger and disappointment.In 1788, he married his sweetheart Jean Armour.The last few years of the poet's life was a tr

19、agedy. Though he was appointed to be the collector of liquor revenues, he could only get a small salary, and he still lived in poverty. His support for the French Revolution brought him much trouble. In 1796, when he was only 37 years old, he died.Burns's PoetryA. Robert Burns is remembered main

20、ly for his songs written in Scottish dialect on a variety of subject.B. Most of Burnss poems are lyrics on love and friendship. They have a great charm of simplicity. His best-known lyrics are "A Red, Red Rose", and "Auld Lang Syne".C. Burns wrote some poems to express his hatred

21、 for the oppression of the ruling class and his love for freedom. A best-known poem of this kind is "A Man's A Man for That".D. Burns wrote some patriotic poems, in which he expresses his deep love for his motherland; such as "My Heart's in the Highlands".E. Burns wrote s

22、ome verse-tales which he based on old Scottish legends. In these poems, he sings of the heroic spirit of the Scottish people in their struggle against their oppressors. The best example of these poems is "John Barleycorn". F. Burns wrote a number of poems on the theme of revolution, such as “The Tree of Liberty” and “A Revolutionary Lyric”G. Burns also achieve success in the