Part Five: Romanticism in England the Age of Poetry
Teaching Arrangement: 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 Poets
1. William Wordsworth威廉·华兹华斯(重点) 1.1 life
Born in 1770 in a lawyer?s family Orphaned when he was 14
Went to school in Hawkshead, developed a deep love for nature 1787-1791 Studied at Cambridge--political enthusiasm roused 1790-1792 visited France twice
In 1797, moved to Somerset with his sister Dorothy and made friends with Coleridge, all devoting their time writing poetry
Published Lyrical Ballads together with Coleridge.
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
英国文学18-19世纪浪漫主义
