*American Renaissance
→In American literature, the American Renaissance was a period during which many of the literary works most widely considered American masterpieces were produced. The period is generally defined as the mid-19th century but especially the years roughly from 1850 to 1855. For example, major works from those years include Ralph Waldo Emerson's Representative Men, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables and so on.
1. 1492 Christopher Columbus(哥倫布)發現新大陸
→Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World.
→ refer to several periods of religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of increased religious enthusiasm occurring between the early 18th century and the late 19th century.
3. Emotion and feeling (Romanticism)
→Romanticism (also the Romantic era or the Romantic period) was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850.
-英國文學史各時期的消長
*每個時期都是上個時期的反動
(based on faith & based on reason)
(> the study of the languages, literature, laws, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other material culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome; especially during Classical Antiquity (ca. BCE 600 – AD 600). Traditionally, the study of Classical literature (Greek and Roman) was the principal study of the humanities.)
(>In European history, the Middle Ages, or Medieval period, lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. )
(>A period from the 14th to the 17th century, considered the bridge between the Dark Ages and Modern history. It started as a cultural movement in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spread to the rest of Europe. )
(> The name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, latterly competing with Romanticism.)
(>An artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. )
(>Tend to be idealised portraits of difficult lives in which hard work, perseverance, love and luck win out in the end; virtue would be rewarded and wrongdoers are suitably punished. They tended to be of an improving nature with a central moral lesson at heart. )
(>Literary modernism, or modernist literature, has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America. Modernism is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional styles of poetry and verse. )
4. Thomas Paine
→An English and American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary. As the author of the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, he inspired the rebels in 1776 to declare independence from Britain.
→管的最少的政府才是好政府
‘The best government is that which governs least.’
→最先提出得其實是 Thoreau
*《Common Sense》
→A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–76 that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. In clear, simple language it explained the advantages of and the need for immediate independence.
→ National treasure第一集就出現過
5. American Enlightenment 啟蒙時代
→A period of intellectual ferment in the thirteen American colonies in the period 1714–1818, which led to the American Revolution, and the creation of the American Republic. Influenced by the 18th-century European Enlightenment, and its own native American Philosophy, the American Enlightenment applied scientific reasoning to politics, science, and religion, promoted religious tolerance, and restored literature, the arts, and music as important disciplines and professions worthy of study in colleges.
→One of the Founding Fathers of the United States and in many ways was "the First American". A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.
6. Al Gore
→An American politician, advocate and philanthropist, who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States (1993–2001), under President Bill Clinton. Gore is currently an author and environmental activist. He has founded a number of non-profit organizations, including the Alliance for Climate Protection, and has received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in climate change activism.
7. Scottish referendum (蘇格蘭獨立公投)
-(See more)Link:
1. Scottish referendum: Scotland votes 'No' to independence
→A political upheaval that took place between 1765 and 1783 during which colonists in the Thirteen American Colonies rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy, overthrew the authority of Great Britain, and founded the United States of America. The American Revolution was the result of a series of social, political, and intellectual transformations in American society, government and ways of thinking.
9. ‘The Federalist’
→The Federalist (later known as The Federalist Papers) is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution.
10. Manifest destiny (*mani-: hand)
→In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was the widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent.
11. Territorial expansion→西進政策
→Transcendentalism is a religious and philosophical movement that developed during the late 1820s and '30s in the Eastern region of the United States as a protest against the general state of spirituality and, in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School.
13. Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803~1882
→An American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.
p.505的前三篇→美國文化的獨立宣言
*Notice:
-highlight the authors name from syllabus
-midterm 要考字源學的CH22
美國文學 (1)