In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, which indicated the end of the American Revolution. The victory the American people ach

admin2019-02-25  47

问题    In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, which indicated the end of the American Revolution. The victory the American people achieved enabled them to establish an independent nation, and introduced a new era. From 1789 to 1865, the United States gradually formed its national identity and established its political and legal institution.

   When the United States began to develop into an industrial and urban society, the principle of assembly-line mass production was established, and technology began to bring vast material benefits to the industrial ized North. The South, however, remained agricultural. With an increasing number of farm laborers leaving the land to work in urban businesses and factories, cities grew bigger and bigger.
   With these significant developments, the United States became a new rising nation. The economic boom brought an overwhelming sense of optimism and hope to the people. This mood and spirit, together with the traditional American cultural heritage Puritanism, naturally brought out a romantic feeling. This feeling, as a joint outcome of the national and international factors, developed itself into a national literary movement-Romanticism.
   As a European literary movement, Romanticism originated and strengthened in Germany, France and England in the middle of the 18th century. It reached the New World in the first decade of the 19th century when more and more Americans traveled to Europe and brought back with them the influence of European Romanticism. Romanticism was rebellious in spirit. It emphasized freedom and individualism, believing that imagination and emotion were superior to rules and reason. American romantic authors were quite responsive to the stimulus which American experience offered. Their subjects were often the national ideals of individualism and democracy, history and frontier life of the new nation.
   Transcendentalism or Romantic Idealism emerged after 1830 when a book entitled Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, was published in 1836. It pushed American Romanticism into a new stage— American Transcendentalism, the summit of American Romanticism.
   Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit or the supernatural, and stressed the importance of the individual. Men should trust themselves and rely on themselves. They can make their own laws and live according to their own independent principles. The New World gives each the opportunity to become a completely free and independent individual. So Transcendentalism disregarded external authority, tradition and logical demonstration. Thoreau, Hawthorne, Longfellow, and Whitman were all transcendentalists in some form or other.
   In literature, Romanticism found recurrent themes in the evocation or criticism of the past, the cult of "sensibility" with its emphasis on women and children, the isolation of the artist or narrator, and respect for nature. Furthermore, several romantic authors, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, based their writings on the supernatural and human psychology. Romanticism tended to regard satire as something unworthy of serious attention, a prejudice still influential today.
   The precursors of Romanticism in English poetry go back to the middle of the 18th century, including figures such as Joseph Warton and his brother Thomas Warton, Professor of poetry at Oxford University. Joseph maintained that invention and imagination were the chief qualities of a poet. Thomas Chatterton is generally considered the first Romantic poet in England. The Scottish poet James Macpherson influenced the early development of Romanticism with the international success of his Ossian cycle of poems published in 1762, inspiring both Goethe and the young Walter Scott. Both Chatterton and Macpherson’s work involved elements of fraud, as what they claimed was earlier literature that they had discovered or compiled was, in fact, entirely their own work.
   In a word, American Transcendentalism and the Romantic Age was one of the most productive literature periods in American history. In this period, American literature became mature and grew into complexity and diversity.
Questions 71 to 75
   Complete the summary below with information from the passage, using no more than three words for each blank.
After the US stepped into an industrial and urban society, cities became bigger. The economic boqm produced a sense of【R1】______which together with Puritanism developed into a national literary movement, Romanticism. Early Romanticism was【R2】______in spirit which emphasized freedom and individualism. After 1830, American Romanticism reached its【R3】______, which is known as Transcendentalism or Romantic Idealism. During this period, spirit or the supernatural and importance of the individual were stressed. In literature, Romanticism found recurrent themes in the evocation or criticism of the past, regarding satire as something【R4】______serious attention. Romanticism helped American literature grow into【R5】______.
【R5】

选项

答案complexity and diversity

解析 (根据最后一段最后一句“American literature became mature and grew into complexity and diversity”可知,美国文学变得成熟、复杂而又多样。因此该空应填complexity and diversity。)
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/638K777K
0

随机试题
最新回复(0)