英美浪漫主义比较.doc

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1、【精品文档】如有侵权，请联系网站删除，仅供学习与交流英美浪漫主义比较.精品文档.英美浪漫主义比较British Romanticism and American Romanticism are different in many ways, including their time span, historical and political background, definition, theme, contents and characteristics. Here I will take I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordswort

2、h and “Scarlet Letter” as two examples to demonstrate the differences between them.Firstly, in terms of their respective definition, English romanticism is generally regarded as a revolt of the English imagination against of the neo-classical reason, while American romanticism is generally considere

3、d as a revolt against classicism. Secondly, the theme is also different with English romanticism focusing on bitterness and melancholy and American romanticism on a strong sense of optimism and a mood of “feeling good” of the whole country. Thirdly, they differ greatly in contents. English romantici

4、sm mainly involves four items, namely, spontaneous outflow of power feelings, imagination, nature and escape from society and return to nature. On the other hand, the American romanticism is mainly concerned about the free expressions of emotions and psychic states of the character, the emphasis on

5、imaginative qualities: picturesque, exotic, sensuous, the supernatural, the wildness and American Puritanism and escape from society and return to nature. Besides, it is more moralizing. Fourthly, they have different characteristics. English romanticism contains many nature images, dream-like atmosp

6、here, music beauty and Gothic elements. American romanticism includes a lot of Calvinistic view of original sin and is more derivative. For instance, in I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, Wordsworth wrote this beautiful poem of nature after he came across a long belt of gold daffodils tossing & reeling &

7、 dancing along the waterside. There is a vivid picture of the daffodils here, mixed with the poets philosophical & somewhat mystical thoughts. The poet thinks that it is a bliss to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind while he is in solitude. This poem is filled with imagination, nature images

8、, dream-like atmosphere, melancholy and other powerful feelings, which fully exemplify the attributes of English romanticism.In “Scarlet Letter”, Hawthorne explores into “the conflict of the human heart with itself” and deals with the theme of sin and guilt. Through describing Hesters sorrowful fate

9、, it severely criticizes the injustice and cruelty of the Puritan way of life. Therefore, it demonstrates the free expressions of emotions and psychic states of the character, the emphasis on imaginative qualities and American Puritanism. Besides, it is really moralizing in criticizing the injustice

10、 and cruelty of the Puritan way of life. In addition, one source of evil that Hawthorne is concerned most is overreaching intellect, which usually refers to someone who is too proud, too sure of himself. In this sense, it is a revolt against classicism which places much emphasis on reason and intellect.