Chapter 8: The Romantic Movement and Romantic Literature

浪漫運動 與 浪漫文學

I. The Spheres of the Movement

The movement occurred in literature, art, music, philosophy, religion, politics, education, architecture, gardening, landscape, etc. —almost all spheres of culture.

II. The Romantic Movement:Its Characteristics

浪漫運動的特徵

• 1. The use of autobiographical material.• 用自傳性材料• 2. An exaltation of the primitive and the common.• 喜原始與平常• 3. An appreciation of external nature, esp.,

untamed disorderly scenery. • 要野性自然• 4. An interest in the remote, esp., the medieval.

好遠古• 5. A predilection for melancholy. • 喜憂傷• 6. A preoccupation with death and decay.• 講死亡腐朽• 7. A tendency towards pantheism, animism,

mysticism, transcendentalism. • 傾向 泛神論、有靈論、神秘論、超越論

8. Love of freedom & hate for restraint. • 好自由• 9. A rebellious or revolting spirit & a revolutionary attitude.

反叛與革命精神 10. A belief in the natural goodness of man. • 相信性善論

II. The Romantic Movement :Its Characteristics

浪漫運動的特徵• • 11. A fondness of the extraordinary, the Gothic,

the supernatural. • 愛非凡、怪異、超自然• 12. A view of the individual as the center. • 講個人• 13. An emphasis on emotions, feelings, sentiment or

passion. • 重情緒、情感、情懷、情愛• 14. The extolment of the imagination. • 贊想像• 15. Valuing the expressive theory of art • 重「表現論」 (expressing: genius, soul, originality, spontaneity, sincerity,

loose open form, organic form, the fragmentary and incomplete, experimental, etc.)

( 表現：才華、心 靈、原創、自發、真誠、 鬆開形式、有機形式、片斷不全、試驗 等 )

• 16. Reacting against neo-classicism in numerous aspects. 反對 諸多新古典特徵

III.The Romantic Periods: Some Western countries witnessed Romanticism earlier than others:

England:

the pre-romantic period & the “Romantic Triumph”• (late 18th C.—1798—1832)• The Lyrical Ballads was first published in 1798.

• The Reform Bill was passed in 1832

• Germany: Early Romantics & High Romantics• (late 18th C.—early 19th C.—middle 19th C.)• Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress, 狂飆運動 ) in 1760s-1780s• emphasized individual subjectivity and free expression of emotion.

France: after middle 19th C. America: 1830-65

Generally speaking, European and American Romantic Movement occurred in early and middle 19th century.

IV. The Manifestos: 宣言• Preface to Lyrical Ballads 《抒情歌謠》前言 by Wordsworth & Coleridge. (1800, 1802) They want common things & common language: they want nature.

要平常話、平常事：要自然

• Preface to Cromwell 《克隆威爾》前言 by Hugo. (1827) They want no social rules or regulations: they want natural laws.

不要社會規則，只要自然規律

• Preface to Leaves of Grass 《草葉集》前言 by Whitman. (1855) They want self-expression & freedom: they want no restraint.

要表現自我、要自由：不要限制

V. The Major Authors:• England: • Blake, Burns, Wordsworth, Coleridge,

Byron, Shelley, Keats, Scott, Lamb, Hazlitt, • De Quincey, etc.• Germany: • Goethe, Schlegel, Tieck, Schelling, Novalis,

HÖlderlin, Hoffmann, Heine, etc.• France: • Rousseau, Lamartine, Nodier,

Chateaubriand, Madame de Staël, Hugo, • America: Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne,

Melville, Poe, Longfellow, Whitman, Thoreau, Emerson, etc.

Italy: Leopardi, Manzoni, Foscolo, etc. Spain: Espronceda. Poland: Slowacki. Hungary: PetrÖfi. Denmark: Oehenschläger. Russia: Pushkin, Lermontov, etc.

VI. Romantic Literature:A. Chief genres:

• Poetry: • lyric ( 抒情詩 )• including: love lyric, reflective lyric, nature lyric,

lyric of morbid melancholy and other sub-genres. ballad ( 民謠 ), folk song ( 民歌 ),

• ode ( 頌詩 ), dirge ( 哀歌 ), conversation piece ( 會話詩 ),

• vision ( 靈象詩 ), (supernatural) narrative poem ( 超自然 ) 故事詩 , etc.

• Fiction: • sentimental ( 濫情 ) novel, historical novel, Gothic ( 誌怪 ) novel, • fairy tales, romance, etc. 情、古、怪• Prose: • familiar essay ( 隨筆散文 ), confession ( 表白錄 ), autobiography, • letters, etc.

VI. Romantic Literature:• B. Some Famous Works• England: Blake ( 布雷克 ) ： Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Wordsworth ( 渥玆華斯 ) ： Lyrical Ballads, The Prelude, Coleridge ( 柯立基 ) ： The Ancient Mariner, Christabel, Byron ( 拜倫 ) ： Don Juan, Manfred, Shelley ( 雪萊 ) ： Prometheus Unbound, “Ode to the West Wind,”

Keats ( 濟慈 ) ： “ Ode to the Nightingale,” Lamia, etc.

• Germany: • Goethe ( 歌德 ) ： The Sorrows of Young Werther, Faust I, • Heine ( 海涅 ) ： Book of Songs, • Hoffmann ( 霍夫曼 ) ：“ A New Year’s Eve Adventure,” etc.

VI. Romantic Literature• B. Some Famous Works • France: Rousseau ( 盧梭 ): Confessions, 懺悔錄 Chateaubriand ( 沙妥布里昂 ) : Renè,

Hugo ( 雨果 ): The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 鐘樓怪人 The Miserable Ones, 悲慘世界 [ 孤星淚 ]

• America: • Irving ( 艾爾文 ) : Rip van Winkle, 李伯大夢• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 睡谷傳說• Cooper ( 庫柏 ) : The Leatherstocking Tales, 皮襪故事

• Melville ( 梅爾維爾 ) : Moby Dick, 白鯨記• Whitman ( 惠特曼 ) : Leaves of Grass (Song of Myself), • Poe ( 愛倫波 ) : “The Raven,” The Fall of the House of Usher, • Emerson ( 愛默生 ) : Nature, • Thoreau ( 梭羅 ) : Walden, 湖濱散記• Hawthorne ( 霍桑 ) : The Scarlet Letter, 紅字

VII. Some Major Subjects or Themes:

• 人： The man of feeling.• The fatal woman.• The Noble Savage, the natural man.• Children, idiots, rustic people, borderers.• Wanderers, lonely figurers, social outcasts.• The metaphysical quester. • The supernatural beings.

• 物： Historical or mythological figurers. • Birds, beasts, flowers, plants.• Moon, star, cloud, wind.• River, fountain, lake, sea, waterfall.• Rock, hill, vale, landscape.

• 事： Seasons, evening, night, dawn. • Voyage, adventure, quest, tour.• Good past, bad present, nostalgia.• Love, aspiration, dream, vision.• Impulse, inspiration, imagination.• Soul, death, immortality.• Change, eternity, revolution.• Marriage, apocalypse.

VIII. Some Typical Romantic Heroes:

• Prometheus, Satan : They revolt against authorities. 反權威

• Werther, Renè: They are confined and controlled by passions and feelings. 重情感

• Faust, Napoleon: Facing human limitations, they seek to have infinite power. 追求無限

• Don Juan, Eugene Onegin, Byron:• They are weary of social life. 反社會

• Natty Bumpo, Thoreau, Rousseau:• They are fond of nature. 喜自然

IX. Some Questions to Be Considered:

– What is the central idea of romanticism?

– Is there any purely romantic author, work, culture, or period?

– How is romanticism related to neo-classicism, realism, symbolism, modernism, postmodernism, etc.?

– Can we say the romantic movement is a democratic revolution in art and literature?

– What are our Chinese representative romantic authors and works?