3,The only great romantic novelist of this period was Walter Scott, whose historical novels combined a romantic atmosphere with a realistic description of historical background and common people’s life. Scott marked the transition from romanticism to the period of realism which followed it.
作家
William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850) (p212-217) Romantic Period威廉 伍兹沃斯
I. His fame Poet Laureate（桂冠诗人）: Poet officially appointed by the Royal Household in Britain to write poems for state occasions. III. His Works 1. Lyrical Ballads (p.213-214) 2. Poems on Nature and Country life (p.214) 3. His Sonnet 4. His Longer Poems (p.217) Comments on Wordsworth
(1) Wordsworth is the representative of the first generation of Romantic poets, who expressed the deepest aspirations for English Romanticism. (2) Wordsworth’s poetry is distinguished by the simplicity and purity of his language.
(3) His theory and practice in poetical creation started from a dissatisfaction with reality and tradition in society and in literature (4) Nearly all of his good poetry was written during the first decade of his literary career
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) (p.232-243) Romantic Period雪莱 II. His Major Works
1. His longer poetical works include: Queen Mab《麦布女王》, The Revolt of Islam 《伊斯兰的反叛》; Prometheus Unbound《解放了的普鲁米修斯》, The Masque of Anarchy 《专制者的假面舞会》 2. His Short Lyrics on Nature and love (240-243) Shelley’s short poems on nature and love form an important part of his literary output.
Comments on Shelley
1，Shelley is one of the leading romantic poets, an intense and original lyrical poet in English language.,
2，Like Blake, he has a reputation as a difficult poet, his poetry is full of complex images and classical and mythological allusions. 3，His style abounds in personification and metaphor and other figures of speech which make his description vivid and moving. 4，Shelley is a revolutionary and idealist, a dedicated seeker of an ideal world where love and brotherhood of man would prevail. 5，What makes Shelley a great poet is the sheer music and matchless spontaneity of his verse.
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Ode （颂诗）: it is a lyric poem of some length, dealing with a lofty theme in a dignified manner and originally intended to be sung.
Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) Romantic Period简 奥斯丁
Her major works:
6 novels,. Northanger Abbey《诺桑觉寺》, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park《曼斯菲尔的庄园》, Emma《爱玛》 and Persuasion《劝导》 III. Pride and Prejudice 傲慢与偏见
(2)The theme tells us different attitudes toward marriage in Austen’s time. Elizabeth’s attitude, that marriage is not built upon wealth and social position but on spiritual understanding of each other, is praised by the author. Through the problem of marriage, the writer reveals the social position of women at that time.
Austen has woven vivid pictures of everyday life of simple country society. Through the description of the daily talks and doings of young men and woman, she paints very real and interesting characters. She is at her best in writing about young girls, as she understands their hearts astonishingly well. Through Elizabeth, the writer shows women’s spirit of fighting for their independence, happiness and rights. Austen’s Writing features
(1) Jane Austen is one of the realistic novelists.
(2) Austen’s work has a very narrow literary field. She confines herself to small country parishes, whose simple country people become the characters of her novels (3) Her novels show a wealth of humor, wit, and delicate satire.
English Literature in Victorian Period (1836 –1901)(English Critical Realism)
一 Critical Realism in novel (p 276)
1 Definition: In Victorian period appeared a new literary trend – critical realism. English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. It found its expression in the form of novel. Most of the critical realists were novelists, they described with vividness and artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint.
2 Representative Writers: Charles Dickens（ greatest English critical realist） William Makepeace Thackeray（ a severe exposer of contemporary society.） Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. 3 Features
(1) not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also show profound sympathy for the common people，Hence, humor and satire
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abound in the English realistic novels of the 19th century.
(2) Critical Realism revealed the corrupting influence of the rule of cash upon human nature. (3) But the critical Realists did not find a way to eradicate the social evils they knew so well.
(4) The major contribution made by critical realists is their perfection of the novel. 19th century realistic novels “the Epic of the bourgeois society”. 二 Social Criticism in Prose
. The important prose writers who criticized the evils of the capitalist society were Thomas Carlyle. John Ruskin and Mathew Arnold. They mainly wrote social criticism.
三 English Poetry in this period
The Victorian Age was largely an age of prose, especially of the novel. However, the development of English poetry did not stop.
concerned itself with the poet‘s purely personal tastes or spiritual questionings. most important poets of the age was Alfred Tennyson, next to him were Robert Browning and Mrs. Browning.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) (P277-302)查理斯 狄更斯
III. Oliver Twist （p.284-286） 1. The story
2. Comments on the novel
This novel is a powerful exposure of the bourgeois society. shows the extreme brutality and corruption of the oppressors and their agents under the mask of philanthropy. offers vivid descriptions of the sufferings of the poor and oppressed.
Dickens, while sympathizing with the miseries of the people, did not know what and who was responsible for such miseries and even cherishes illusion about the rich idle and benevolent people. He believed that the social problems would be solved if only every employer followed the example set by “good gentlemen” Features of Charles Dickens’s Novels
(1) Dickens’s novels offer a most complete and realistic picture of the English society of his age.
(2) Dickens is a petty bourgeois intellectual. He could not overstep the limit of his class. That’s why most of his novels have happy endings. (3) His novels tell much of the unhappy experiences of his own childhood. (4) Dickens is a great satirist and humorist.
(5) He is a master story teller, a genius in story-telling.
(6) His character-portrayal is the most distinguishing feature of his creation. Among his characters, there are both types and individuals.His success with children lies in his writing from a child’s point of view.
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He is also famous for the characterization of horrible and grotesque figures such as Fagin and the broadly humorous or comical characters like Sam Weller/ Mr. Micawber.
In a word, Dickens is able to portray a character with just a few words by highlighting or exaggerating some peculiar feature of his characters.
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)(p.303-308)查克雷 II. Vanity Fair（名利场） 1. The story
2.Comments on the novel(p.307)
describes the life of upper class of England in early decades of 19th century, and attacks the social relationship of the bourgeois world by satirizing the individuals in different strata of the upper society. It is a world where money grubbing is the main motive for all members of the upper class. Becky Sharp is a classic example of this money-grubbing instinct. Everyone wishes to gain something in Vanity Fair, and acts almost in the same manner as Becky. The Character Becky Sharp is drawn with admirable skill.
Characteristics of Thackeray’s Novels
1,Just like Charles Dickens, Thackeray is one of the greatest critical realists of the 19th century England. 2,Thackeray is a satirist.
3,Besides being a realist and satirist, Thackeray is a moralist. 4,He is a conscientious writer.
The Bronte Sisters: Charlotte & Emily布隆特
II. Charlotte Bronte’s Masterpiece Jane Eyre 1. The Story
2. Comments on the novel
(1),Charlotte tells a great deal of her own experience, as the life at Charity school and life as a governess. One of the central themes of the book is the criticism of the bourgeois system of education. Another problem raised by Charlotte in the novel is the position of woman in society, through the mouth of Jane the writer maintains that woman should have equal rights and equal social position。
(2),Charlotte Bronte gives us realistic pictures of the social life of the 19th century . She attacks the evils in bourgeois society. But her realism is colored by the
petty-bourgeois philanthropy. She believes that education is the key solution to all social problems and by the improvement of the social system, most of the social evils could be removed.
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(3),Charlotte creates a new woman, Jane Eyre, independent, self-respected and generous. plain-looking but full of emotion. a rebellious woman character, striving for love, freedom and equal social position with man. So woman’s freedom and equal social status with man is one of the important themes of the novel.
(4)Jane Eyre is a realistic novel with romantic elements as well as some Gothic elements. It is written in the first person narrative. The story is told by the heroine herself.
III. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights 1. The Story
2. Comments on the Novel
(1) Theme: Love and revenge are two main themes of the novel. Through the tempestuous love story, the author seems to be telling the truth that love will overcome hatred. In the theme of revenge, we find the influence of racial discrimination and class discrimination. Heathcliff’s revolt and revenge is not his own , we may consider him to be one representative of those people in a lower position.
(2) Characterization: Heathcliff is depicted successfully in that he is a round character（浑圆人物） with changes and development. He is of primitive vitality, he is like lightening, fire and rock to Catherine. After Catherine’s marriage, he becomes a conscious rebel and a spirit of revolt against injustice. Catherine, the heroine, is
contradictory in herself: she loves Heathcliff the orphan but chooses to marry Edgar, who has social status but is like moon beam and frost. Thus her tragedy is caused by her own vanity. She betrays Heathcliff and kills herself.
(3)Narration: The story is told in a perspective that is between the first and the third person. In this way, everything seems more believable and the structure of the book is complete. The two narrators are important: Nelly Dean, the maid servant, has seen the two generations’ growth and gives them warnings and suggestions every now and then. Mr. Lockwood, a tenant of Thrushcross, is a conservative gentleman. Both of them are of common people’s viewpoints and find it difficult to
understand the love between Catherine and Heathcliff, they just tell us what they have seen and heard, and what has happened without any comment, this helps to show the main characters’ feelings.
(4) This novel is also remarkable for its simple, naked statement of violent emotions such as Catherine’s dying farewell to Heathcliff, for its images of savagery and scenes of hysteria and drunkenness such as in the description of Hindley and Hareton.
(5) This novel shows no remarkable conventional influence in either idea or form. Readers are especially struck by the apparent absence of social morality in the novel. In the novel, The writer shows with relentless truthfulness the weakness of Edgar, the silliness of his sister, Isabella; the brutality of Hindley, the egoism of
Catherine, the cruelty of Heathcliff as well as their force, and pathos of the grief and the love. But all these are just taken for granted by the readers, there is no slightest comment from the author, from this we can also see the truthfulness and vitality of the novel.
Victorian Poetry （P336)
1,Following the magnificent achievements of Romantic poetry, the Victorian poetry in many respects show a further development of themes and attitudes first explored by the Romantics.
The two great Victorian poets, Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning Tennyson’s early poetry was strongly influenced by Byron, Scott and Keats While
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