2024年4月1日发(作者：)

术语解释（美国文学简史）

1、American Puritanism

Back grounding:

American Puritanism appeared in the colonial period, from 1607 to 1775, in

America.

Representatives:

There are many writers in this period, such as Captain John Smith, the author

of the

True Relation of Virginia (1608) and Description of New England (1616),

Anne

Bradstreet, who wrote the famous work called Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in

America (1650).

Main ideas:

They stress predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limited atonement

from God’s grace. They go to America to prove that they are God’s chosen

people who will enjoy God’s blessings on earth and in Heaven. Finally, they build

a way of life that stresses hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety.

Influences:

American Literature is based on a myth ------ the Biblical myth of the Garden

of Eden. The American Puritan’s metaphorical made of perception ---- symbolism.

It has a great influence not only on the Literary Scene in Colonial America, , but

also on the literature in the 18th century, especially on Jonathan Edwards and

Benjamin Franklin.

American Romanticism

Back grounding:

It appeared in the end of the 18

th

century through the outbreak of the Civil

War, from 1828 to 1865, and it was strongly influenced by European culture.

Representative:

There are some representative new England poets and out-sanding writers

such as, James Fenimaore Cooper, the author of

The Leather Stocking Tales,

Washington Irving , whose famous work is

The Sketch Book (1819)

.

Main ideas:

Romanticism is a rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism. .For romantics,

the feelings, intuitions and emotions are more important than reason and

common sense. They emphasize individualism, placing the individual against the

group, against authority.

Influence: