American literature(3)

American literature 1820~1865

• Church of England

Pilgrims → separatist (n.)分離教派者

Pilgrims (激進派)


"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," ----that is all we know on earth, and all we need to know. —— John Keats

• Edgar A. Poe.

''Annabel Lee"
"The Raven"
"To Helen"

•  英國浪主義五大詩人

1.  （William Wordsworth，1770～l850） 
2. （Samuel T．Coleridge，1772—1834）
3. （ George G．Byron， 1788—1824） 
4. （Percy B．Shelley，1792—1822） 
5. （John Keats，1795—1821）

• 美國文學男主角的形象

     

• 南北戰爭

• Benjamin Franklin(1706~1790)

 

•  George Eliot(1818~1880)

 Mary Anne Evans , known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist, and translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era.

She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her works would be taken seriously. Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing lighthearted romances.

American literature(2)

•  羅馬的榮光   ‘’To Helen’’ by Edgar A. Poe.

Helen, thy beauty is to me

   Like those Nicéan barks of yore,

That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,

   The weary, way-worn wanderer bore

   To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,

   Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,

Thy Naiad airs have brought me home

   To the glory that was Greece,      

   And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche

   How statue-like I see thee stand,

The agate lamp within thy hand!

   Ah, Psyche, from the regions which

   Are Holy-Land!

 

• “The Roman Fever “by Edith Wharton（1934）

 The story about the power struggle for those in the upper classes.
The setting of the story takes place in the city of Rome.  The exotic setting illustrates the power and class from which the women hail, but the Old Rome context, such as the Colosseum, insinuates Roman Empire-style intrigue.

• Gilgamesh

 Gilgamesh is the central character in the Epic of Gilgamesh(吉爾伽美什史詩), the greatest surviving work of early Mesopotamian(美索不達米亞) literature. In Mesopotamian mythology, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who built the city walls of Uruk to defend his people from external threats.

• Manifest Destiny

         In the United States in the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was the widely held belief that American settlers were destined to expand across the continent. 

• Presumption of innocence (無罪推定原則) 

           is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty.

• Republican / Democrat

• 美國三大郵報：USA today/New York time/Washington post

• 西洋三大獎：The Academy Award of Merit /Golden Globe Awards /Grammy Award

 

   “Action is eloquence, and the eyes of th’ ignorant more learned than the ears” – Coriolanus

    William Shakespeare, Coriolanus (c. 1607-08), Act III, scene 2, line 76.

• 推薦電影：Working Girl(1988)、Far and Away(1992)

• 推薦音樂："Let the River Run" - Carly Simon、"Under the Sea" The Little Mermaid

 

• Vocabulary

       Law maker

       Rancor

       Ratified

       Concession

       Success/successful/successive/predecessor

       Electoral College

       Paranoia

       Defend(v.)捍衛

       Wiretapping(adj.)竊聽的

American Literature (1)

• Student orientation

Student orientation or new student orientation is a period of time at the beginning of the academic year at a university or other tertiary institution during which a variety of events are held to orient and welcome new students. The name of the period varies by country.

• Dome (n.) A dome is an element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. (圓頂，又稱穹頂)

 

              United States Capitol Washington, D.C., United States (美國華盛頓國會山莊)

Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building(美國國會圖書館)

White house(白宮)

• John Smith (c. January 1580 – 21 June 1631) (JOMESTOWN) 

• Wasp（White Anglo-Saxon Protestant，WASP）

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) is an informal term, sometimes derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of English Protestant ancestry. The term applies to a group believed to control disproportionate social and financial power. The term WASP does not describe every Protestant of English background, but rather a small restricted group whose family wealth and elite connections allow them a degree of privilege held by few others.

• Church of England

(1) Pilgrims wanted to separate from the established Church of England.(Mayflower)

(2)Puritans wished to purify the Church from within.

• The new promised land → Thirteen Colonies

"We shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us...," the Puritan John Winthrop wrote. The Puritans who disembarked in Massachusetts in 1620 believed they were establishing the New Israel. Indeed, the whole colonial enterprise was believed to have been guided by God.
Promised Land imagery figured prominently in shaping English colonial thought. The pilgrims identified themselves with the ancient Hebrews. They viewed the New World as the New Canaan. They were God's chosen people headed for the Promised Land. (資料來源：http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/joshua/manifest.html)
 

• 電影推薦：The Firm

• United States Declaration of Independence

     ........ That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, ............
     

• vocabulary

1.Lame duck

*無能力的人(組織或事物); 不中用的人(或物)

The government should not waste money supporting lame ducks .

*(任期將滿的)官員
a lame duck President

2.Senator(n.)議員

3. impeachment(n.)彈劾

The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career .

          4. government (n.)政府

             管理

         5. indifference(n.)冷漠