英美文学课件：英国浪漫主义时期

考点串讲

:

Ⅰ

.William Blake

1

．

Introduction:

English

poet,

artist,

&

philosopher,

born

in

London

England, Nov 28, 1757, and died in London, Aug 12,1827.

Blake

made

distinguished

contributions

to

both

Literature

& art.

He ranks with great poets in the English language & may be

considered

the earliest of the major English Romantic poets.

His

poems

range

from

lyrics

of

childlike

simplicity

to

mystical or prophetic works of great complexity.

As an artist he is best known for

his engravings

, which are

among the masterpieces of graphic art.

2. Viewpoints on politics and religion:

Blake

never

tried

to

fit

into

the

world;

he

was

a

rebel

innocently & completely all his life.

He was politically of the permanent left & mixed a good deal

with the radicals.

Blake

strongly

criticized

the

capitalists'

cruel

exploitation,

saying that the

children & forced prostitution.

Meanwhile

he

cherished

great

expectations

&

enthusiasm

for

the

French

Revolution,

&

regarded

it

as

a

necessary

stage

leading to the millennium predicted by the biblical prophets(

圣

经

)

3. Viewpoint on literature:

The first important Romantic poet,

Showing contempt for the rule of reason

Opposing the classical tradition of the 18th century

Treasuring the individual's imagination.

4. Main works:

Early works: Poetical Sketches

《诗学札记》

-- A collection

of

youthful

verse.

Joy,

laughter,

love

and

harmony

are

the

prevailing note and hint his later innovative style and theme

Masterpieces

Songs of Innocence

《天真之歌》

Songs of Experience

《经验之歌》

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

《天堂与地狱的婚姻》

The similarities and differences between two volumes:

Generally:

Hold the similar subject-matter

The childhood is the central to his concern

The tone, emphasis and conclusion differ

Specifically:

Infant Joy against Infant Sorrow

Lamb against Tyger

Chimney Sweeper

Ⅰ

against Chimney Sweeper

Ⅱ

Similarity:

to

reveal

the

relation

between

an

economic

circumstance and an ideological circumstance socially.

Difference: the former indicates the condition which makes

religion a consolation, a prospect of illusory happiness

The

later

reveals

the

true

nature

of

religion

which

helps

bring misery to the poor children

Later

works

--

reveal

him

as

the

prophet

of

universal

political

&

spiritual

freedom

and

show

the

poet

himself

as

the

spokesman of revolt(

反抗

).

The Book of Urizen

The Book of Los

The Four Zoas

Milton

【例题】

William

Blake?s

central

concern

in

the

Songs

of

Innocence

and

Songs

of

Experiences_______,

which

gives

the

two books a strong social and historical reference. (0804)

A. youth hood

B. childhood

C. happiness

D. Sorrow

【答案】

B

【解析】

(P169. para2)

布莱克的两部诗集中的作品，大多涉及儿童的生活和经历，

如《扫烟 囱的小男孩》

，

《小羊羔》等。

5. Language styles:

he write his poems in plain and direct language.

His

poems

often

carry

the

lyric

beauty

with

immense

compression of meaning.

He distrusts the abstractness and tends to embody his views

with visual images.

Symbolism

in

wide

range

is

also

a

distinctive

feature

of

his

poetry.

6. Selected reading:

①

Selected reading I

“The Chimney Sweeper”

from Songs of Innocence

In the 18th century, small boys sometimes no more than 4

or 5 years old were employed to climb up the narrow chimney

flues

&

clean

them,

collecting

the

soot

in

bags.

Such

boys,

sometimes

sold

to

the

master

sweepers

by

their

parents

were

miserably

treated

by

their

master

&

often

suffered

disease

&

physical deformity.

This poem, in fact, is a protest against

the harm that society

does to its children by exploiting them for labor of this kind

, The

poem

was

written

in

the

child's-eye

point

of

view,

&

the

dramatic

irony

(what

the

speaker

says

in

the

poem

is

different

from what the poet means) arises from the poet's knowing more

or seeing more than the child does.

②

Selected reading II

“The Chimney Sweeper”

from Songs of Experience

Songs

of

Experience

paints

a

different

world,

a

world

of

misery,

poverty,

disease,

war

&

repression

with

a

melancholy

tone,

The benighted England becomes the world of dark wood &

of the weeping prophet. The poem selected here reveals

the true

nature of religion which helps bring misery to the poor children.

The

poem

also

reveals

the

relation

between

economic

circumstance, i.e. the exploitation of child labor & an ideological

circumstance,

i.e.

the

role

played

by

religion

in

making

people

compliant to exploitation.

③

Selected reading III

“Tyger”

from Songs of Experience

The

Tyger,

included

in

Songs

of

Experience,

is

one

of

Blake's best-known poems.

It seemingly praises the great power of tiger, but what the

tiger symbolizes remains disputable: the power of man? Or the

revolutionary force? Or the evil? Or as it is usually interpreted,

the Almighty Maker who created both the meek & gentle lamb

& the terrible & awesome tiger?

The poem is highly symbolic with a touch of mysticism & it

is

open

to

various

interpretations.

The

poem

contains

six

quatrains in rhyming couplets & its language is terse & forceful

with an anvil rhythm.

Ⅱ

. William Wordsworth

1. Introduction:

William Wordsworth, known as

“the Lake Poets” together

with Coleridge and Southey,

is the leading figure of the English

Romantic poetry, the focal poetic voice of the period

He

is

the

voice

of

searchingly

co mprehensive

（广泛的）

humanity

and

one

that

inspires

his

audience

to

see

the

world

freshly, sympathetically and naturally

The most important contribution he has made is that

he has

not only started modern poetry, the poetry of growing inner self,

but also changed the course of English poetry by using ordinary

speech of the language and by advocating a return to nature

2. Types of his poem according to his poetic outlook:

According

to

the

subjects,

Wordsworth?s

short

poems

can

be

classified

into

two

groups:

poems

about

nature

and

poems

about human life.

①

Poems about nature:

I

Wandered

Lonely

as

a

Cloud

is

perhaps

the

most

anthologized

（被收入诗集）

poem in English literature, & one

that takes us to the core of Wordsworth's poetic beliefs

An Evening Walk

My Heart Leaps up

Tintern

Abbey

--

remains

a

profoundly

original

&

imaginative achievement; the valley of the Wye itself, the quiet

center of the returning wanderer's thoughts, is described with a

detail

that

conveys

a

sense

of

natural

order

at

once

vivid

&

eternal

Nature outlook:

Wordsworth

is

regarded

as

a

“

worshipper

of

nature.

He

can penetrate to the heart of things & give the reader the very

life of nature.

To Wordsworth, nature act as a substitute for imaginative

and intellectual engagement with the development

of embodied

human beings in their diverse circumstances

It

is

nature

that

gives

him

&

knowledge

full

of

peace.

②

Poems about human life:

The Thorn

The Sailor?s Mother

The Affliction of Margaret

The Old Cumberland Beggar

The old man in the poem, is seen as precious for his unique

self and the benevolence he evoke s in the small rural community

Michael

Suggests

the

grave

and

tender

dignity

of

the

author?s

meditation on man, the heart of man, and human life

Lucy Poem

Is

the

verse

of

love

and

loss which hold within

its

delicate

simplicity

a

meditation

on

time

and

death

which

rises

to

universal stature

The Idiot Boy

The irrational mind sees more deeply into the nature of life

than the commonsensical

The Solitary Reaper

To a Highland Girl

Use

rural

figure

to

suggest

the

timeless

mystery

of

sorrowful humanity and its radiant beauty

The Ruined Cottage

Rouse the tender, quiet compassion of those who are at one

with the timeless truth of existence