《新编美国文学史（第三卷）》课件lecture 5

1、The Romantic Period, 1800-1865 (I)Lecture 51Outline: Emerson & Thoreau and the Transcendentalist movement1. Defining transcendentalism2. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Life and work3. Henry David Thoreau: Life and work 21. Defining transcendentalismMargaret Fuller,“American Literature; Its Position in the Pre

2、sent Time, and Prospects for the Future”“It does not follow because many books are written by persons born in America that there exists an American literature Before such can exist, an original idea must animate this nation and fresh currents of life must call into life fresh thoughts along the shor

3、e.” a mixed racewith ample field and verge enough to range in and leave every impulse free, and abundant opportunity to develop a genius, wide and full as our rivers, flowery, luxuriant and impassioned as our vast prairies, rooted in strength as the rocks on which the Puritan fathers landed.3Imaging

4、 Eden “a Virgin Countrey, so preserved by Nature out of a desire to show mankinde fallen into the Old Age of Creation, what a brow of fertility and beauty she was adorned with when the world was vigorous and youthfull.” “America is a poem in our eyes: its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and

5、 it will not wait long for metres.” -Ralph Waldo EmersonFrederic Edwin ChurchsCatopaxi(1855)4Time, person and place,1836-1882Boston and Concord in the 1830s and 1840s1836: Transcendentalist Club Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, the Alcotts, the Parkers, and the Peabody sisters. The Dial: 1840-1844

6、 5The January 1920 issue of The Dial. transcendentalismA new philosophy to serve a new nation A reaction to New England Calvinism Confucian, Hindu, and Buddhist themes: “four books”Do you see the influence of Confucius on Walden? What is Transcendentalism: “A little beyond”=a great leap beyond the m

7、aterial world=going a little beyond 6Transcendentalist ideas:Where is the divine?The indwelling of the divine in the human soul Whats the place of individual in relation to society? The superiority of the individual over society or its institutionsHow do we understand the world?Intuition, imaginatio

8、n, and visionWhat does nature mean for us?Nature as both a field of study and an inspiration to self-developmentHow is the universe like?The universe is organic, welcoming, and inherently good.7Social activism 8American romanticism vs. European romanticism“To speak truly, few adult persons can see n

9、ature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained th

10、e spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood.”Emerson, Naturea little beyond European Romanticism: Optimism: individual and democracyMY heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began, So is it now I am a man, So be it when I shall grow old 5 Or let me die! The ch

11、ild is father of the man: And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.9 Transcendentalism and LiteratureFuller, Dickinson, Thoreau Walt Whitman (18191892) Nathaniel Hawthorne (18041864) Herman Melville (18191891) Edgar Allan Poe (18091849) The Black CatThe Scarlet LetterMoby D

12、ick 102. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Life and work11Against Unitarianism EmersonHall, located inHarvardYard in CambridgeOld North Church is the oldest church in Boston12Travelling to Europe “Sage of Concord” : Emerson in his study in October 1879.13Ellen Louisa TuckerRepresentative worksNature (1836): natu

13、re serves as an intermediary between human experience and what lies beyond nature; “The American Scholar” (1837) : “Americas Intellectual Declaration of Independence”;“The Divinity School Address” (1838) : the divinity of all men rather than one single historical personage;“Self-Reliance” (1841) : “

14、Insist on yourself; never imitate.” 14Nature is butan imago orimitation of wisdom, the last thing of the soul;nature being a thing which doth only do,butnot know.PLOTINUS. /stream/naturemunroe00emerrich#page/n5/mode/2up 15Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers. It writes b

15、iographies, histories, and criticism. The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation

16、to us, and not the history of theirs?16“nature” What is nature?Why “look at the stars” ?Who is “the poet”? “I become a transparent eyeball”?Emerson as a Transparent Eyeballa cartoon by Christopher Cranch173. Henry David Thoreau: Life and work a version of “applied” Transcendentalism.Vs. Emerson A We

17、ek on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1848)Walden; or, Life in the Woods（1854)1854 portrait ofThoreau18Emerson: (“Thoreau”). “He was bred to no profession; he never married; he lived alone; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused to pay a tax to the State; he ate no flesh, he drank no

18、wine, he never knew the use of tobacco; and, though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun.”19A reproduction ofHenry David Thoreaus cabin nearWalden Pond. The cabin is based on Thoreau specifications and is part of the Walden Pond state park. A statue of Thoreau is in the foreground. 20Walden Po

19、nd“Thus was my first years life in the woods completed; and the second year was similar to it.” 21Chapter 1 & 2“Economy”“the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”“I learned from my two years experience that it would cost incredibly little trouble to obtain ones necessary food, even in this la

20、titude; that a man may use as simple a diet as the animals, and yet retain health and strength.” “Where I Lived and What I Lived For.” 22我到林中去，因为我希望谨慎地生活，只面对生活的基本事实，看看我是否学得到生活要教育我的东西，免得到了临死的时候，才发现我根本就没有生活过。我不希望度过非生活的生活，生活是那样的可爱；我却也不愿意去修行过隐逸的生活，除非是万不得已。我要生活得深深地把生命的精髓都吸到，要生活得稳稳当当，生活得斯巴达式的，以便根除一切非生活的东西

21、，划出一块刈割的面积来，细细地刈割或修剪，把生活压缩到一个角隅里去，把它缩小到最低的条件中，如果它被证明是卑微的，那么就把那真正的卑微全部认识到，并把它的卑微之处公布于世界；或者，如果它是崇高的，就用切身的经历来体会它，在我下一次远游时，也可以作出一个真实的报道。因为，我看，大多数人还确定不了他们的生活是属于魔鬼的，还是属于上帝的呢，然而又多少有点轻率地下了判断，认为人生的主要目标是“归荣耀于神，并永远从神那里得到喜悦”。（徐迟译）23Walden; Or, Life in the Woods Where is Walden?Walden as a place in the mind. liv

22、e through the visible to the invisible, through the temporary to the eternal Style: a masterful prose stylist “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” 24 “Civil Disobedience” “I heartily accept the mottoThat government is best which governs least; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematical