Transcript Document

American Literature
Zhang Minghua
Teaching Objectives
Introduction
to Colonial period
Analysis of Anne Bradstreet
Analysis of Edward Taylor
Part I. Introduction

1. What is literature?
Robert Frost’s definition:

performance in words
5)
Modern definition:

language artistically used to achieve
identifiable literary qualities and to convey
meaningful messages.

Literature is characterized by beauty of
expression and form and by universal
intellectual and emotional appeal.
2. Why necessary?
1)
2)
3)
4)
language proficiency.
your knowledge about the
English culture.
the nature of human beings.
Great ideas.
3.How to define?
American
literature
mainly refers to
literature produced in
American English by
the people living in the
United States.
4.Basic Qualities
Independent
2) Individualistic
3) Innovative
4) Critical
5) Humorous
1)
5.How to study?
1)



3)
Analytical Approach
the elements of a literary work, eg: plot, character,
setting, point of view, etc;
Thematic Approach
“What is the story, the poem, the play or the essay
about?”
Historical Approach
Our ways of learning

1)
2)
3)
Read (Excerpts, original version,)
Learn how to notice details, how to get the main
idea, and how to skim to locate the most
meaningful passages in a literary work.
Cherish a strong desire to share your opinion.
author, the plot, character. etc.,
我爱记“诗词”
Idioms and proverbs
Idioms&Proverbs
A

bad workman always blames his tools.
拙匠总怪工具差。
 AL



Alabama [,ælə’bæmə]
阿拉巴马州
- Montgomery [mənt’ɡʌməri]
蒙哥马利
Outline
 1607-1765
 1765-1800
 1800-1865
 1865-1918
 1918-1945
 1945-
Colonial American Literature
Revolutionary American Literature
Romanticism
Realism
Modernism
Contemporary American Literature
Colonial Period
The literature of Colonial
America(1607-1765)
American
literature begins with
the orally transmitted myths,
legends, tales, and lyrics of Indian
cultures.
Colonial Period
 The
first colony: set up in 1585 at Roanoke(洛亚诺克),
off the coast of North Carolina(北卡罗来纳州)
 The second colony was more permanent:
Jamestown,（詹姆斯敦） established in 1607.
Virginia. Symbolize the beginning of American
literature.
 The written form of Colonial literature drove the oral
form of Indian literature away.
second permanent colony in Plymouth[‘pliməθ]
(普利茅斯），New England.
 REASON: People ran away from Europe to escape
persecutions from religions. They ran to find a
shelter for their freedom in faith.
 The
Colonial Period
literature of Colonial America (16071765)
 this
period stretches from the early 17th Century to
the middle 18th Century
 Literature: ships’ logs（航海日志）， travel
books/accounts(游记）, diaries, journals, letters,
reports, sermons, documents
 Nature of these works: religious, moral, political,
historical and practical
 Main influential idea.
 Puritanism
Colonial Period
American Puritanism
 Origins
of Puritanism
 Calvinism, John Calvin(1509-1564), great French
theologian[θiə’ləudʒən]
 Puritanism
 a religious reform movement that arose within the
Church of England in the late 16th century.
 the practices and beliefs of the Puritans who were a
group of serious, religious people, advocating highly
religious and moral principles.
Colonial Period
Basic Puritan Beliefs





Total depravity\Total inability
(almighty
Unconditional election
Limited atonement: Only the “elect”
can be saved.
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the saints 圣徒蒙保守
Colonial Period
Rules for the Puritans to follow each
day





Bible to read
Bible was the Law
Simplicity in church service and daily life
Cruelly get rid of heresy
Amusement and arts were forms of evil

God was a wrathful God


Seven Sacraments
洗礼 坚信礼 圣体
 Consider

joy and pleasure as sin
婚礼 病人敷圣油圣事 受戒
忏悔
“puritan” 理解为一种生活状态。最近在国外据说很推崇的生活观,其概括
起来的特点如:“不抽烟、不喝酒、没有艳遇、注重环保(开车不开suv,尽量
骑车)、不穿名牌、不吃油炸食品等。 Sports Utility Vehicles
Colonial Period
Puritan
 Puritan:
“A member of a group of English Protestants
who in the 16th and 17th centuries advocated strict
religious discipline along with simplification of the
ceremonies and creeds of the Church of England.”
 The Puritans, in short, were people who wanted to
reform or purify their church.
Colonial Period
 Protestant是16世纪脱离罗马天主教的各基督教派的新教徒。
 Puritan是英国16-17世纪的英国新教中要求简化宗教仪式的
那一派。
 Pilgrim是1620年到美国创建普利茅斯殖民地的那些Puritan。
 A pilgrim is one who makes a journey for a religious
purpose.
 Pilgrim: the small band of English people who came
here in 1620 on a vessel called the Mayflower and
settled in Plymouth.
Colonial Period
The Function of Puritan Writers
 1.
To transform a mysterious God mysterious because he is separate from
the world.
 2. To make him more relevant to the
universe.
3. To glorify God.
Colonial Period
The Style of Puritan Writing
 1.
Protestant - against ornateness华丽辞藻;
reverence for the Bible.
 2. Purposiveness - there was a purpose to
Puritan writing.
 3. Puritan writing reflected the character
and scope of the reading public, which
was literate and well-grounded in religion.
Colonial Period
Characteristics of Puritan writings







Form — personal literature, diaries,
histories, journals, letters, travel
books, sermons, etc.
Style — fresh, simple and direct
Content — strong religious color
Rhetoric(修辞)— plain and honest
faithfully imitated and transplanted English
literary traditions.
The puritans were against Fiction, drama. The
people there were struggling to survive
Characteristic: Religion esp. Puritanism
Colonial Period
Influence of Puritanism
A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety,
sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced
American literature.
 It led to the everlasting myth.
 All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden.
 With regard to their writing, the style is fresh,
simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest,
not without a touch of nobility often traceable to
the direct influence of the Bible.

Colonial Period
Ways of looking at things:
 1)sybolism:Nature
was the symbol of God
2)simplicity:Literary language should be clear,
simple, direct. Colloquialism by Mark Twain and
Hemingway
 3)sense of value: Literature focuses on sermonic
aesthetics(美学）( preaching 1st , amusement 2nd)
Colonial Period
Common Themes in Early Puritan
Writing
 1.
Idealism - both religious and political.
 2. Pragmatism - practicality and
purposiveness.
Colonial Period
John Smith (1580-1631)
 The
first American writer
 Originally an English soldier and sailor.
 Associated with the native American princess
Pocahontas(波卡洪塔斯)
 Major works:
 A True Relation of Such Occurrences and
Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia
since the First Planting of That Colony (1608)
 A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the
Country(1612)
 General History of Virginia(1624)
Colonial Period
William Bradford (1590-1657 )
威廉·布雷福德




The Father of American History.
the first historian of his colony: because of His
participation in the migration to Holland and
the Mayflower voyage to Plymouth, and his
duties as governor.
History Of Plymouth Plantation 《普利茅斯种植
园史》(1651), is a clear and compelling
account of the colony's beginning.
Bradford also recorded the first document of
colonial self-governance in the English New
World, the "Mayflower Compact," 《五月花号
公约》
Colonial Period
John Winthrop(1588–1649 )
约翰·温斯罗普
 governor
of the Massachusetts Bay colony
 The History of New England,( two
Volumes,1825,1826)
 Different from Bradford, his The History of
New England is written in the form of
diary.
Colonial Period
Anne Dudley Bradstreet
安妮·布雷特兹里特(1612-1672)

born and educated in
England

came to America in
1630 with her father
and husband

became known as the
“Tenth Muse”
appearing in America
Colonial Period
 published
the first book of poems in
American history. (the first noted poetess
in colonial period)
 The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in
America (1650) 《最近在北美出现的第十位缪
斯》（the only one before her death)
shows the influence of Edmund Spenser,
Philip Sidney, and other English poets as
well.
Colonial Period
Characteristics of her works
 Generally
imitative
 Major Influences: Edmund Spencer The Faerie
Queene（《仙后》）; Bartas(巴塔斯(Du
Bartas)1554-1590)
 Highly religious—God; heaven; Original sin;
death; immortality (piety, the intense inner
struggle for salvation)
 Metaphorical way of observing the world
characteristic of the Puritans.
 Love for her Family—her husband and children
Colonial Period
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" (1678)
 If
ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
New words
Colonial Period
 quench
 [kwentʃ]
 vt.
 (用水)扑灭(火焰等)
 The
firemen were unable to quench the fire.
 消防人员无法扑灭这场大火。
 解(渴)
 I quenched my thirst with a glass of cold beer.
 我喝了一杯冰啤酒解渴。
New words
Colonial Period
 recompense
 [‘rekəmpens]
 vt.
n.
 赔偿,报酬,补偿
 We have to recompense the peasants for the
loss of their goats.
 我们得赔偿农民损失的山羊。
 He received $2000 in recompense for the
damage to his car.
 他收到二千元作为对他汽车的损坏赔偿。
New words
Colonial Period
 manifold
 [‘mænifəuld]
 adj.多种多样的;
多方面的
 He has manifold talents.
 他有多方面的才能。
 The City Council has a manifold plan to beautify the
city.
 市政府制定了一个美化城市的多重规化。
 The reasons are manifold.
 原因是多方面的。
Colonial Period
 persevere
 [,pə:si’viə]
坚持
 Although he is in poor health, he still perseveres
in his studies.
 尽管他身体不好, 他仍孜孜不倦地学习。
 You'll need to persevere if you want the business
to succeed.
 要想事业成功,就得持之以恒。
 vi.坚忍,
Colonial Period
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" (1678)
 If
ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
Colonial Period
Quotes from the Bible “Song of
Solomon”
 8:7
Many waters cannot quench love,

Nor can the floods drown it.
 愿爱情，大水不能熄灭，
众水不能淹没~~~
 出自圣经 旧约 雅歌8:7 （雅歌八章第七节.）
Colonial Period
"To My Dear and Loving
Husband" (1678)
 oriental
imagery, love theme, and idea of
comparison popular in Europe at the time, but gives
these a pious（虔诚的） meaning at the poem‘s
conclusion. Most frequently quoted:
 Then
while we live, in love let’s so persevere
That when we live no more, we may live
ever.


当我们活在世上，让我们爱情长存。
当我们不再活着，让我们因此永生。
Colonial Period
Contemplations (9)观想
Anne Bradstreet
I
heard the merry grasshopper then sing.
The black-clad cricket bear a second part;
They kept one tune and played on the same string.
Seeming to glory in their little art .
Shall creatures abject thus their voices raise
And in their kind resound their Maker’s Praise,
Whilst I, as mute, can warble forth no higher lays?
Colonial Period
New words
 grasshopper
 [‘ɡrɑ:s,hɔpə]
 n.蚱蜢
 Grasshoppers
die in fall.
 蚱蜢在秋天死去。
Colonial Period
 clad
 [klæd]
 adj.
 [古]
clothe 的过 去式及过去分词
 穿衣的
 被覆盖的
 nurses clad in white; white-clad nurses.
 穿着白色衣服的护士；穿着白色衣服的护士。
Colonial Period
 Part
 partsinging
 n.重唱(法)
 part-song
 n.合唱歌曲
Colonial Period
 String
 (乐器上的)弦
 His
fingers swept the strings of the guitar.
 他的手指轻拂着吉他的弦。
 Of late they have been harping on the same
string.
 他们近来一直在重弹一个调。
Colonial Period
 glory
in
 v.自豪,得意
 Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.
 智者不可夸耀自己智慧。
 glory in honest poverty
 甘守清贫
Colonial Period
 abject
 [‘æbdʒekt]
绝望的
 The most abject slaves joined in the revolt.
 大多数生活悲惨的奴隶加入了起义。
 This policy has turned out to be an abject
failure.
 这一政策最后以惨败而告终。
 adj.(指境况)凄惨的;
Colonial Period
 resound
 [ri’zaund]
产生回响
 The echo resounded back to us.
 回声传回到我们的耳中。
 (指某处)回荡着声音; 回响
 The concert hall resounded with laughter
and applause.
 音乐厅里充满了笑声和掌声。
 vi.(指声音等)回荡于某处;
Colonial Period
 mute
 [mju:t]
 adj.缄默的;
无声的
 She gave me her hand with mute thanks.
 她向我伸手表示无言的谢意。
 哑的, 不会说话的
 The boy is mute and deaf.
 这男孩既聋又哑。
Colonial Period
 warble
 [‘wɔ:bl]
 v.鸟鸣,用柔和的颤声唱
 n.鸟啭,颤声
 warble
songs
 以颤声唱歌[鸣啼]
Colonial Period
Contemplations (9)观想
Anne Bradstreet
I
heard the merry grasshopper then sing.
The black-clad cricket bear a second part;
They kept one tune and played on the same string.
Seeming to glory in their little art .
Shall creatures abject thus their voices raise
And in their kind resound their Maker’s Praise,
Whilst I, as mute, can warble forth no higher lays?
Colonial Period
 Hearing
the singing of the grasshopper and cricket,
she thought these creatures were praising the God-their Maker. Thus she began to search her own
soul-- whether it could become closer to God.
 This is the right idea of Puritans, who dreamed to
purify the Church and Christianity and dedicate
themselves to God.
Colonial Period
Meditation Tradition
Imagine a scene or see a subject
 Draw arguments regarding eternal truths or relation
to God from the subject
 Colloquy with God involving the will, in which the
meditator





determines to have more faith
to cease from sin
to abide by God's laws
to come to moral discernment
Colonial Period
Edward Taylor (1642-1729)
爱德华·泰勒
a
New England puritan
and a meditative poet
 came from England as
a young man and
attended Harvard
 the most accomplished
poetic craftsman of the
early years
Colonial Period
Edward Taylor (1642-1729)
爱德华·泰勒
 The
greatest poet of Colonial period
 A selfless and pious man,
 working as the town minister, doctor, and
civic leader.
 Taylor never published his poetry while he
was alive and people discovered in
manuscript in 1930s.
Colonial Period
 To
him, God and the war between God and
Satan are reflected in the whole universe, from
the sunrise to the moonset, from flowers to spiders.
 Preparatory Meditations《准备领受圣餐前的内省》
 Praise God, autocriticism, ([ɔ:təukritisizəm]自我反
省). Purify the soul.
 Lord’s Supper, baptism
 Metrical History of Christianity《诗体基督教史》
 God’s Determinations Touching His Elect《上帝对
其选民有影响的决定》
 Sermons, Funeral elegies(哀歌, 挽歌), Lyrics,(抒情
诗),Translation Works
Colonial Period
Characteristics of his works
 Mostly
dealing with religious themes
extolling Jesus Christ who sacrifices himself
to save mankind
 Following the style and forms of the
leading English poets of the mid-17th
century
 Metaphysical by nature (fanciful imagery)
Colonial Period
 Each
man's death diminishes me, for I am involved
in mankind. Therefore, send not to know for whom
the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
 — John Donne

The Flea
 Oh stay! three lives in one flea spare
Where we almost, yea more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage-bed and marriage-temple is.
Huswifery
By Edward Taylor
Huswifery
Background
 Edward
Taylor’s work was generally unknown
during his lifetime.
 Some believe that he chose not to publish his
poems because their joyousness in the
sensory experience countered Puritan
attitudes that poetry be for moral instruction
only.
 The discovery in the 1930’s of a stash of
Taylor’s poems is considered a major literary
find of the twentieth century.
Huswifery
 Compares
the household task of making cloth
with the gift of God’s salvation.
 This extended metaphor expresses Edward
Taylor’s deep belief in God and celebrates the
divine presence in daily life.
 The poem is like a prayer imploring God to
guide the speaker to do his bidding.
 By submitting to God’s will, the speaker hopes to
achieve eternal glory.
Huswifery
Huswifery - Vocabulary
 distaff:
n. staff on which flax or wool is
wound for use in spinning.
 affections: n. Emotions
 flyers: n. part of a spinning wheel that
twists fibers into yarn.
 quills: n. Weaver’s spindles or bobbins
 ordinances: n. Sacraments or religious rites.
 fulling mills: n. Machines that shrink and
thicken cloth to the texture of felt.
 pinked: v. decorated
Huswifery
 Although
this poem uses simple words to
describe common household items, Taylor has
created a rich, multi-layered metaphor.
 Increasingly complex connections– spinning
wheel to yarn to loom to cloth to holy robes–
represent steps the speaker hopes he can
follow in life to glorify God and to achieve a
state of grace.
Huswifery




The poem begins with an analogy between the
writer and a spinning wheel.
However, at the end of the poem suddenly he is
no longer the spinning wheel, he is now a man
wearing the cloth that was spun by the spinning
wheel.
How could the main analogy of the poem shift so
drastically?
Actually, upon closer inspection, the shift does not
seem so bizarre.
 The main idea of the poem is followed through
from beginning to end.
 It is the story of a man who is truly devoted to the
Lord and how his relationship with the Lord evolves
from the point where he is seeking God in his life to
the point where he has found him and become a
changed man.
 As the man changes, the analogy within the
poem must naturally evolve to keep up with his
changes.
Huswifery
 In
the first line, Edward Taylor asks that God be
the master spinner behind his spinning wheel self
which indicates his desire for the Lord to take
control of his life and to use that life to create
what He will.
 He then expounds upon this idea by
incorporating many of the parts of a spinning
wheel into the analogy.
 Taylor asks that all that he believes come from the
Holy Word (his distaff) and that all that he longs
for be kept in line with the Lord's wishes by His
"swift flyers".
 He wants his conversation to spring forth from that
which the Lord is creating in him, just as the
thread, once spun, does not change in nature as
it is wound around the reel. Essentially, in this
stanza, he is saying: Lord, take me and mold my
heart for I am Yours.
Huswifery
 The
second stanza starts off saying much the
same thing. It expands upon the idea of wanting
the Lord to mold his heart and shape the kind of
person that he is.
 He again gives complete control to the Lord as
he says, "Then weave the web thyself. The yarn is
fine." Going along with the fabric = heart
analogy, this would seem to indicate that he
wants the Lord to pull together the pieces of his
heart, bring together all of his thoughts and
affections and focus them into one beautiful
creation.
 The "The yarn is fine." part of the line displays a
feeling of fragility. He does not believe that he is
capable of shaping his heart himself, and this is
why he must hand it over to the Lord. In his mind,
if he tries to do it on his own, the pieces will most
likely break (since the yarn is thin) and he will be
just another tattered rag thrown by the wayside,
not usable for its intended purpose.
Huswifery



Once he has been completely woven, and all the
essentials of a God-serving heart are completed, he then
goes on to ask of the Lord that He not just leave him plain
and dull.
He wants to be dyed with "heavenly colors choice." and
"pinked with varnished flowers of paradise." A garment
that has been woven and is left plain is very functional for
the owner of that garment, but will not be beautiful or
attractive to others. No one else will feel a great desire to
have a similar one for themselves.
One possible interpretation of this point is to think that the
author is now turning away from God and seeking his own
glory, asking that others be envious of him. However, this
would not fall in line with the very humble, God-serving
attitude displayed throughout each of the stanzas. It
seems more likely that he desires for others to see his inner
beauty that they might desire that same inner beauty for
themselves, leading them too to seek after the Lord.
Huswifery



Now that the colors and extra frills have been added on to
the garment, it is completed. His heart is now a finished
work, fully devoted to God - not limited to only himself, but
also reaching out to others and bringing others to devote
their lives to God as well.
And so, in the third stanza the spinning wheel is
completely dropped out of the poem which makes sense,
for once a machine's work is complete, there is no longer
a need for that machine. In essence, he's saying that his
life was just a machine for serving and creating hearts
devoted to God. Now that this purpose is complete, it is
time for him to pass on.
But he asks one thing of the Lord. Though his earthly body
and life may pass away, he wishes for his eternal soul, for
all that truly makes up who he is to be clothed with the
virtues the Lord has instilled in him. This is so that his
"apparel shall display before [God]" that he is "clothed in
holy robes for glory." In other words, he has done his best,
followed the Lord all his life, and now he is ready to be
taken to his eternal reward in Heaven.