Romanticism in England
I. Historical Background
II. Romanticism
III. A. poets
1. Escapist romanticists / Lake Poets(湖畔派诗人) (William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey)
2. active romanticists /demonic group/Satanic school (撒旦派) (George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats)
B. essayists (Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, Thomas De Quincey)
C. novelist (Walter Scott)
I. Historical Background
(1) Industrial Revolution —transformed Britain from agricultural to industrial country, responsible for the change in the pattern of social life and the worsening of social contradictions;
(2) American revolution in 1775— the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, with its emphasis on individual rights;
(3) The French revolution in 1789 —introduced the democratic ideals: liberty, equality and fraternity for everybody;
(4)the abolition of slavery in the British colonies;
(5) the introduction of system of national education;
(6)the Factory Acts《工厂法案》 by which the employment of children under nine was forbidden by the law.
(7) Lyrical Ballads, 《抒情歌谣集》a collection of poem by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, published in 1798, which marked the start of Romanticism as a literary trend.
II. English Romanticism
1. definition—English Romanticism is generally said to have began in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth & Coleridge‘s Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott’s death and the passage of the first Reform Bill《改革法案》 in the Parliament.
English Romanticism is a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassical reason. The French Revolution of 1789-1794 and the English Industrial Revolution exert great influence on English Romanticism.
Romanticists show in their works their profound dissatisfaction with the social reality and their deep hatred for any political tyranny, economic exploitation and any form of oppression, feudal or bourgeois. In the realm of literature, they revolt against reason, rules, regulation, objectivity, common senses, etc. and emphasize the value of feelings, intuition, freedom, nature, subjectivism, individuality, originality, imagination, etc.
2. The features of the Romantic writings:
1) Dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society.
2) Their writings filled with strong-willed heroes or even titanic images, formidable events and tragic situations, powerful conflicting passions and exotic pictures.
3) pay attention to spiritual and emotional life of man. Most works are supernatural and full of imagination.
4) interest in the past, the unusual, the unfamiliar, the bizarre
5) strong desire to escape from the reality.
6) concerned much about the influence of nature.
7) Their writings free from any rules, they fight against the tenure of new classicism: order, harmony, balance, reason. They ask for the freedom of expression.
8) A feeling of loneliness & a note of melancholy
8) The glorification of the commonplace--- the aim of good poetry is “to choose incidents and situations from common life” and to use a “selection of language really spoken by men”, and to awaken in the reader “freshness of sensation” in the presentation of “familiar objects”.
9) characterized by 5 “I”s: Imagination, Intuition, Idealism, Inspiration, Individuality.
3. Two schools of Romanticism
A. escapist romanticists, “the Lake Poets”湖畔派, represented by William Wordsworth华兹华斯, Samuel Taylor Coleridge柯勒律治 and Robert Southey骚塞.
B. active romanticists, “the Satanic school”撒旦派, with Byron拜伦, Shelly雪莱 and Keats济慈 as representatives
湖畔派Lake Poets
18～19世纪的英国浪漫主义诗歌流派。主要成员有华兹华斯、柯尔律治和骚塞。由于他们三人曾一同隐居于英国西北部的昆布兰湖区，先后在格拉斯米尔和文德美尔两个湖畔居住，以诗赞美湖光山色，所以有“湖畔派诗人”之称。 在诗歌题材上，他们主张写下层人民的日常生活，强调诗人的内心探索和感情的自然流露；在诗体方面，主张发展民间诗歌的艺术传统，采用民间口语，发挥诗人的想象力。他们的理论和实践结束了英国古典主义诗学的统治，对英国诗歌的改革和发展起了很大作用。但是他们否定诗歌的社会作用，美化中世纪的田园生活，提倡唯心主义、唯灵主义、神秘主义；把“听天由命”看成是人的“天性的永恒部分”；拜伦和雪莱对此进行过激烈的批评。
湖畔派诗人起初都同情法国革命，随着革命的深入，由害怕革命而退却，进而逃避现实，迷恋过去，美化中世纪的宗法制，幻想从古老的封建社会中去寻找精神的安慰与寄托。当湖畔派诗人的消极倾向日益明显的时候，青年诗人拜伦、雪莱开始登上文坛，向湖畔派诗人展开论争。拜伦在一八O九年完成的讽刺长诗《英格兰诗人和苏格兰评论家》中，不仅回答了消极浪漫主义者操纵的刊物《爱丁堡评论》对拜伦诗作的攻击，而且还严厉地谴责了湖畔派诗人的消极倾向。由于他们敢于向湖畔派诗人作斗争，因而被英国绅土们斥之为撒旦(恶魔)，所以文学史上称拜伦、雪莱和济慈为“撒旦派”。
一般说，湖畔派诗人代表消极浪漫主义倾向，撒旦派代表积极浪漫主义精神。虽然湖畔派诗人在与古典主义的斗争中有过贡献，在诗歌的艺术上有较深的造诣，但其历史地位远不及撒旦派重要。
III. poets—Lake Poets1. William Wordsworth威廉·华兹华斯(重点)
Two periods of his literary career
A revolutionist with liberal politics idea and ambiguous religion
A conservative, coming to believe that man’s wild spirit is needed taming by the church
1.2 major works:
1) Lyrical Ballads 《抒情歌谣集》
followed by “The Preface to the Lyrical Ballads”—served as the manifesto of the English Romantic Movement in poetry.
2) famous short poems：
About nature: “I wondered Lonely as a Cloud” “独自漫游似浮云”，
or “The Daffodils” “咏水仙”
“Intimation of Immortality” “不朽颂”
“Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” “丁登寺” ;
“To the Cuckoo” “致布谷鸟”;
“My Heart Leaps up When I Behold” “我心雀跃” ;
“To a Butterfly” “致蝴蝶” “An Evening Walk” “黄昏漫步 ”
About human life:--sympathy for the poor
Lucy Poems 《露西组诗》 “The Solitary Reaper” “孤独的收割者”
“The Old Cumberland Beggar” “康伯兰的老乞丐”
“Michael” “迈克尔” “We are Seven” “我们七个”
3) “The Prelude” “序曲”--Wordsworth’s autobiographical poem in 14 books published after his death, a spiritual record of his mind, showing his own thought and sentiment.
1.3 Comment on Wordsworth
A. The poet of nature
Nature---medium---revelation (启示)
Nature--- entity--- communicating with God, learning more about God, and enjoying the holy and awesome feelings
Nature--- purest, most uncorrupted form, a manifestation of God’s creation power
B. Wordsworth’s definition to poetry
Good poetry must speak “the real language of man” and write about the life of common people in an imaginative way.
Good poetry is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”诗是强烈情感的自然流露。
Poetry “takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility”. 诗源于情感，但在平静中回忆。
The objects which excited these emotions were to be ordinary ones.
The style selected for the new poetry was also to be simple.
A poet should give pleasure and reveal universal truth.
Poetry is “the most philosophic of all writing”
1.4 “I wondered Lonely as a Cloud”
The poem contains 4 six-lined stanzas of Iambic tetrameter with the rhyme scheme of ababcc in each stanza.
Theme: eulogy for the harmony between things in nature and the harmony between nature and man
Lucy Poems--“She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways”《她住在人迹罕至的地方 》
(1)The rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef
(2) Yes, there are images in this poem: “a half hidden violet” and “a star shining in the sky”.
(3) No. the image of the violet shows that she is so modest, shy and unknown that no one will pay attention to her; the image of the star shining in the sky indicates that in her lover’s eyes, she is like the single star shining brightly and beautifully in the sky.
2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge（了解）
2.1 life
born into a clergyman’s family, a genius.
At 6, read the Bible, Robinson Crusoe and Arabian Nights.
full of fantasy and dreams.
made friends with Charles Lamb, the great essayist of English Romanticism in his Cambridge years.
ran away from the university and enlisted in the army;
2.2 major works:
Demonic Poems: 魔幻诗
The Rime of the Ancient Marine《古舟子咏》
Kubla Khan 《忽必烈汗》
Christabel 《克里斯塔贝尔》
Conversational poems 对话诗
Frost at Morning《午夜寒霜》
Dejection: An Ode 《沮丧：一首颂歌》
Essays
Biographia Literaria 《文学传记》
Lectures on Shakespeare between 1808 and 1815
2.3 artistic features：
(1) Mysticism神秘主义 and demonism魔鬼信仰with strong imagination;
(2) Depiction of unusual and supernatural images.
(3) pay close attention to language of poetry. He maintains that the true end of poetry is to give pleasure “through the medium of beauty”, not to instruct.
3. Robert Southey罗伯特·骚塞(了解)
3.1 One of the “Lake Poets”
Expelled from Westminster School for his outspoken composition against corporal punishment
In Oxford, made acquaintance of Coleridge and Wordsworth, and shared their revolutionary ardor in the 1790s
Radicalism faded at the turn of the century, changed from a revolutionist to a Tory, made Poet Laureate
3.2 major Works
epic— Joan of Arc 《圣女贞德》
Drama– Wat Tyler 《瓦特·泰勒》
Short poems— The Inchcape Rock《因尺角之石》
The Battle of Blenheim《布莱尼姆之战》
My Days among the Dead Are Passed《我与死者做伴的日子已结束》
Prose— The Life of Nelson《纳尔逊传》
Poetical romances--
Thalaba the Destroyer 《萨拉巴》
Madoc《麦道克》
The Curse of Kehama《克哈马的诅咒》
Roderick, the Last of the Goths 《罗德里克，最后的高斯人》
the Satanic school— 1. George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)
“ Forward! Forward! Follow me!”
1.1 life
Born in an aristocratic family
Became Lord Byron after inheriting the title and estate of his grand-uncle
a radical supporter of worker’s movement.
In 1811, took seat in the House of Lords(贵族院/上议院). He made vehement speeches to attack English government’s policy for the Luddites (workers who destroy machinery).
Byron left England for ever in 1816.
He first visited Switzerland, where he made acquaintance with Shelley.
Then he moved to Italy, where he finished Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage 《恰尔德·哈罗德游记》and wrote his masterpiece Don Juan《唐璜》.
Upon hearing the news of the Greek revolt against the Turks, Byron plunged himself into the struggle. The Greeks made him commander in chief (总司令) of their forces in 1824. Due to months’ hard work under bad weather, he fell ill and died. April 19, 1824, Byron died with “ Forward! Forward! Follow me!” The Greek people mourned over his premature death.
Byron was regarded as the “satanic poet” by the English government when he died. It was not until 1969 that a white marble memorial to Byron was erected in Westminster Abbey.
Nowadays his name is put in the Poets’ Corner.
1.2 major works:
(1). Hours of Idleness 《闲散的时刻》 --his first collection of poems composed in college dealing with childish recollections and early friendship, but was mercilessly criticized by Edinburgh Review, a blow to the young man, but didn’t discourage him;
(2). English Bards and Scotch Reviewers《英国诗人和苏格兰评论家》--a satirical poem against Edinburgh Review, in which Wordsworth, Southey and some other celebrities of the day were satirized;
(3) Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage 《恰尔德·哈罗德游记》
an autobiographical narrative poem written in Spenserian stanzas. It tells the travels and the reflections of a pilgrim, Childe Harold, who is tired of the empty life of pleasure and is now seeking spiritual rebirth.
(4) Don Juan《唐·璜》
Byron’s masterpiece, an epic satire in ottava rima(八行体) , A stanza of poem consisting of 8 lines in iambic pentameter rhyming abababcc. 16,000 lines long in 16 cantos.
唐璜》是拜伦后期最重要的一部长诗。唐璜原是一名西班牙家传户晓的一名传说人物，他并不是一个英雄，相反他却是一个因为诱骗了某贵族少妇而被驱逐并到处流亡的青年无赖式的人物。但在拜伦的笔下得以重新塑造，成为一个“极美貌、骄傲、大胆而又运气好的人” 。虽然他屡次身陷险境，但又每次都能从死神的身边安全逃开；虽然他经受过无数与情人生离死别的痛苦煎熬，但总有新的爱情给他带来新的幸福。他热情冲动、敏感正直，在遭遇饥饿的恐怖和沉船的厄运后，遇见了美丽的希腊少女海蒂。正陶醉于爱情和大自然时，一个游吟诗人的吟唱将唐璜带到了残酷的现实。这块如海蒂一般美丽的土地正饱受着土耳其的侵扰，并面临着即将灭亡的噩运。这段吟唱带给唐璜以巨大的震撼，诗人拜伦对这一切当然也感同身受。因为种种原因，作为希腊异族人的拜伦在他后来的生命岁月里选择了与希腊人民站在一起、并共同抵御外辱。而这段在《唐璜》中并不太起眼的第三章中的一节就在诗内和诗外的世界里也因此具有了特殊的意义
1.3 Contribution:chief contribution -- “Byronic hero” (拜伦式英雄)
then further developed in later works such as the Oriented Tales《东方故事集》，Manfred, 《曼弗雷德》 and Dan Juan in different guises.
2. Percy Bysshe Shelley （雪莱）(1792-1822)
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
2.1 life
born in Sussex; father a conservative narrow-minded country gentleman; though gentle by nature, he could not stand any injustice
In 1811, expelled from Oxford for an anti-religion pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism《无神论的必然》
at 19, alone in London, homeless. married a 16-year-old schoolgirl Harriet
in 1812, went to Ireland, Address to the Irish People 《告爱尔兰人民书》
in 1813, back in England wrote Queen Mab《麦布女王》
in 1814, broke with Harriet
in 1816, married Mary Godwin, daughter of radical philosopher Godwin
in 1818, Shelley’s happy marriage was broken by the sudden death of Harriet who jumped into a river.
in 1816 met Byron
In 1818 The Revolt of Islam 《伊斯兰的反叛》
in 1819, Prometheus Unbound 《解放了的普罗米修斯》，Ode to the West Wind《西风颂》 Masque of Anarchy 《专制魔王的化妆旅行》,The Cenci 《钦契》A Defense of Poetry《诗辩》
In 1820, To a Skylark 《致云雀》
in 1822. July 8th, a sudden tempest struck his boat, drowned. Inscription on his tombstone: “ P. B. Shelley. COR CORDIUM” = the heart of hearts 众心之心
他的一切并没有消逝 只是经历过海的变异 已变得丰富而且神奇
2.2 major works
A . “Queen Mab” 1813 《麦布女王》
A revolutionary poem condemning tyranny and exploitation and the unjust war waged by the rich to plunder wealth
B. “ The Revolt of Islam” 1818 《伊斯兰的反叛》a revolutionary epic
C. “Prometheus Unbound” 《解放了的普罗米修斯》1820
lyrical drama in 4 acts.Greek myth--Prometheus is reconciled to Zeus.But Shelley reinterpreted it. Prometheus is supported by public.
D. Ode to the West Wind 《西风颂》(重点)
best of Shelley’s lyrics
Expression of poet’s envy of the boundless freedom of the west wind
Melancholy in tune
But optimistic and resolute in theme
Poet’s conviction --- the good will certainly defeat the evil
frequently quoted epigram: “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”
Selective reading: 《西风颂》
(1) Form:
The poem is divided into 5 parts. Each part consists of four stanzas of terza rima and one couplet lines, rhymed aba bcb cdc ded ee
(3) Theme:
Revolutionary spirit.
Wish to destroy the old and build up a new.
(4) In what way is the west wind both a destroyer and a preserver? (南京大学07)
The west wind is considered the “destroyer” for driving the last signs of life from the trees; it is considered the “preserver” for scattering the seeds which come to life in the spring.
Definition:
terza rima(三行体)—verse form consisting of stanzas of three lines (tercets); the first and third lines rhyming with one another and the second rhyming with the first and third of the following tercet.
《西风颂》采用象征手法 《西风歌》不是风景诗，而是政治抒情诗，虽然没有一句直接描写革命，但整首诗都是在反映革命。五个小节格律完整，可以独立成篇。从内容来看，它们又熔为一体，贯穿着一个中心思想。第一节描写西风扫除林中残叶，吹送生命的种籽。(大地)第二节描写西风搅动天上的浓云密雾，呼唤着暴雨雷电的到来。（天空）第三节描写西风掀起大海的汹涌波涛，摧毁海底花树。（海上）三节诗三个意境，诗人幻想的翅膀飞翔在树林、天空和大海之间，飞翔在现实和理想之间，形象鲜明，想象丰富，但中心思想只有一个，就是歌唱西风扫除腐朽、鼓舞新生的强大威力。从第四节开始，由写景转向抒情，由描写西风的气势转向直抒诗人的胸臆，抒发诗人对西风的热爱和向往，达到情景交融的境界，而中心思想仍然是歌唱西风。因此，结构严谨，层次清晰，主题集中，是《西风颂》一个突出的艺术特点。
Jane Austin 1775 –1817 )Becoming a woman. Becoming a legend
English writer, who first gave the novel its modern character through the treatment of everyday life.
About her life
Born: on 16 December, 1775 at the rectory in the village of Steventon, in England
Family : the seventh of eight children (six brothers and a sister)
Education: mainly at home by her father
Hobbies: reading,dancing,writing
Marriage: never
At the age of 14 :wrote her first novel ---Love and Freindship and then A History of England
In her early twenties :wrote the novels that were later to be re-worked and published
The next four years : moved to Bath in 1801 firstly,and then moved to Southampton in 1805(after her father’s dead), wrote little in Bath and nothing at all in Southampton
In 1809-1816: revised Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and published them ( in 1811 and 1813) and then embarked on(着手) a period of intense productivity.
Mansfield Park came out in 1814, followed by Emma in 1815 and completed Persuasion (which was published together with Northanger Abbey in 1818.)
In 1816,she started Sanditon, but illness prevented its completion.
(None of her books published in her life-time had her name on them—they were described as being written “By a lady”)
sense and sensibility 1811 《理智与情感》
Pride and Prejudice 1813 《傲慢与偏见》
Mansfield Park 1814 《曼斯菲尔德庄园》
Emma 1815 《爱玛》
Sanditon (unfinished) 1816 《桑底顿 》
Northanger Abbey 1818 《诺桑觉寺》
Persuasion 1818 《劝导》
Writing style
Austin focused on the life of middle-class(中产阶级) with humor and understanding. She depicted(描绘) minor landed gentry(贵族们), country clergymen(牧师) and their families, in which marriage mainly determined women‘s social status. Most important for her were those little matters. Although Austen restricted(限制) to family matters, and she passed the historical events of the Napoleonic wars(拿破仑战争1803-1805), her wit(才智) and observant narrative(叙述) touch has been inexhaustible(无穷无尽的) delight to readers.
Walter Scott(1771—1832 )瓦尔特·司各特
1. The father of the historical novel2. Scottish Novelist and Poet3. His language is difficult with Scottish dialect.I. Life Story born in Edinburgh
Grandmother(legends the old Border feuds)
abandon the law()The Lay of the Last Minstrel《最末一个行吟诗人》 translation from
the German dramas and poems
Scott’s Historical Novels
founder and great master of the historical novel
from the Middle Ages to the 18th century
subjects: history of Scotland, English history, history of European countries.
history of Scotland,
Waverley 《威弗利》 Guy Mannering 《盖曼纳合》
Old Morality 《清教徒》 Rob Roy《罗布·罗伊》, the best of the group
5.The Heart of Midlothian《弥德洛西恩的心》,
Of the European countries
1.Quentin Durward 《昆丁·达沃德》,
the best-known novel on French history.
2. Talisman 《惊军英雄记》
3. Count Robert of Paris《巴黎的罗伯特伯爵》
Of the English history
1. Ivanhoe《艾凡赫》, Norman Conquest the best of the group
2. Kenilworth, 《肯纳尔沃思堡》 during the Tudor dynasty
3. The Fortunes of Nigel, 《尼格尔的家产》 Stuart rule
4. Woodstock 《皇家猎宫》The English Revolution
5. Peveril of the Peak 《贝弗利尔·皮克》 the Restoration
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