part ii the literature of reason and revolution historical introduction important writers...

Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution

Historical IntroductionImportant writersDeclaration of Independence

Historical Introduction

I. The American War for Independence 1775-1783

II. Enlightenment Theology dominated the Puritan phase of Am

erican writing. Politics was now the great subject to command the attention of the best minds.


1. The writers held vitally important places in the movement for American independence. Freedom was won as much by their fiery and inspiring speeches and writings as by the weapons of Washington and Lafayette. The 13 original American states were persuaded to become a single nation by the arguments of statesmen and men of letters.


2. Strict rules made by English government hampered the economic development of the colonies. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country, which led to the colonies’ intense strain with England. So the American War for Independence broke out in 1775.


(1) 1775, Lexington, beginning of the Independence War(2) July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence(3) 1778, alliance with France, turning point for American army(4) 1778, English army surrendered(5) 1783, formal recognition by the British government3. The procedures of the establishment of the new nation(1) colony(2) state(3) federal republic--- the United States of America

II. Enlightenment

1. Enlightenment The spiritual life in the colonies during the period was to a great

degree molded by the bourgeois Enlightenment. (1) Originated in Europe in the 17th century (2) Sources: Newton’s theory; deism（自然神教派 ); French ph

ilosophy (Rousseau, Voltaire)(3) Basic principles: stressing education; stressing Reason (Order) (The age has been called Age of Reason.); employing Reason to reconsider the traditions and social realities; concerns for civil rights, such as equality and social justice; the idea of progress.

II. Enlightenment

2. At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. All the leaders of the revolution were influenced by the Enlightenment;3. Representatives: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, etc.

The representatives of the Enlightenment set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas. They also actively participated in the War for Independence.

II. Enlightenment

4. The new nation was set on the basic ideas and principles of the Enlightenment;5. Influence of the Enlightenment

(1) American Enlightenment dealt a decisive blow upon the Puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature.

(2) The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.

III. Literature

1. Call for America’s independence in literature As soon as America became politically and

economically independent, the call for its independence in literature started to emerge.

In 1783, Noah Webster declared, “America must be as independent as she is in politics, as famous for the arts as for arms”. Yet throughout the century American literature was largely patterned on the writing of 18th century Englishmen.

III. Literature

2. While imaginative literature in America remained derivative and dependent, the heroic and revolutionary ambitions of the age had created great political pamphleteering and state papers. Essayists and journalists had shaped the nation’s beliefs with reason dressed in clear and forceful prose.

3. Representative works Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence Thomas Paine: The American Crisis; Rights of Man; The

Federalist Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac; The

Autobiography

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

He was a jack of all trades; Born in a poor candle

maker’s family in Boston and had no regular education;Became an apprentice to a printer when he was 12;An editor of a newspaper and published lots of essays when he was 16;

I. Life

He went to Philadelphia when he was 17 and became a successful printer and publisher;Found the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic and political ideas;

Established America’s first circulating library, founded the college — University of Pennsylvania;

Retired when he was 42.

I. Life

(1) a businessman;(2) A scientist with lots of inventions and a famous experiment (kite, electricity, thunderstorm); first applied the terms “positive” and “negative” to electrical charges.

(3) a statesmanAs a representative of the Colonies, he tried in vain to counsel the British toward policies that would let America grow and flourish in association with England. He conducted the difficult negotiations with France that brought financial and military support for America in the war.

I. Life

Declaration of IndependenceThe Treaty of Alliance with FranceThe Treaty of Peace with EnglandThe Constitution(4) a writer

(5) an embodiment of the “American Dream”

II. Literary career

As an author he had power of expression. His works are well-known for their simplicity, subtle humor and being sarcastic.1. Representative works

(1) Poor Richard’s AlmanacModeled on farmers’ annual calendar; kept publishing for many years; includes many classical sayings, such as:

“A penny saved is a penny earned.” “A plowman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his

knees.”

Poor Richard’s Almanac

II. Literary career

(2) The Autobiography

Written when he was 65An introduction of his life to his own sonIncluding four parts written in different timesThe first success story of self-made Americans;

II. Literary career

In The Autobiography we will be able to notice:

1)Puritanism’s influence, such as self-examination and self-improvement (timetable, thirteen virtues, life style)2)Enlightenment spirits (man’s nature is good, rights of liberty, virtues include “order”)

II. Literary career

Style: simple, clear in order, direct, concise and humorous (“Nothing should be expressed in two words that can as well be expressed in one.”) (Puritanism’s influence);First of its kind in literature and set the autobiography as a genre;Popular, still well-read today.

II. Literary career

2. Influence His values and style influenced lots of Americ

ans “His shadow lies heavier than any other man’

s on this young nation.”

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

Revolutionary War patriot and pamphleteer, born in Thetford, England. Paine emigrated in 1774 to Pennsylvania, where he gravitated toward those who supported colonial independence.

I. Life and career

Paine's pamphlet Common Sense appeared in January 1776 and caused an immediate sensation. In it, Paine both supported American independence and attacked the corruption of the British hereditary monarchy. He fought in the Revolutionary War and continued to publish, including his 1776 essay The American Crisis.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

II. Major works

1.The Case of the Officers of the Excise (1772) --- his first pamphlet, a petition to Parliament for a

living wage for the excise collectors 2. Common Sense (1776)

--- signed simply “By an Englishman”, to urge the colonies to declare independence; Pain became forthwith the most articulate spokesman of the American Revolution.

II. Major works

3. The American Crisis (1776-1783)---Paine’s chief contribution was a series of 16 pamphlets (1776-1783) entitled The American Crisis and signed “Common Sense” which dealt directly with the military engagements to inspire the Continental Army.

4. The Rights of Man (1791 - 92) --- an answer to Burke’s Recent Reflections on the French Revolution, which not only championed Rousseau’s doctrines of freedom, but also suggested the overthrow of the British monarchy. Paine was indicted for treason and was forced to seek refuge in France.

II. Major works

5. The Age of Reason (1795) ---a deistic treatise advocating a rationalistic view of

religion. 6. Analysis of The American Crisis

(1776–1783) ---a series of pamphlets published in London from

1776–1783 during the American Revolution. It decried British actions and Loyalists, offering support to the Patriot cause.

The American Crisis

The first of the pamphlets was released during a time when the Revolution still looked an unsteady prospect; the opening sentence was adopted as the watchword of the movement to Trenton. the famous opening lines are:

These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

The pamphlet attempted to bolster morale and resistance among patriots, as well as shame neutrals and loyalists toward the cause.

Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)

Born: 13 April 1743 Birthplace: Shadwell,

Virginia Died: 4 July 1826 (natu

ral causes) Best Known As: Autho

r of the Declaration of Independence


1. His mind ranged curiously over many fields of knowledge---law, philosophy, government, architecture, education, religion, science, agriculture, mechanics---and whatever he touched, he enriched in some measure.


2. He was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of The Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States. High points of his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon and the exploration of the west by Lewis and Clark (1804–1806).


3. As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France. He idealized the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and favored states' rights and a strictly limited federal government. Jefferson supported the separation of church and state and was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786).


He was the eponym（名祖，指姓名被或被认为用来命名某物） of Jeffersonian democracy and the co-founder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, which dominated American politics for a quarter-century and was the precursor of the modern-day Democratic Party. Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1793) and second Vice President (1797–1801).


4. A polymath ( 学识渊博的人 ), Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist ( 古生物学者 ), author, inventor and founder of the University of Virginia.

II. The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies in North America were "Free and Independent States" and that "all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved."


The document, formally entitled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, explained the justifications for separation from the British crown, and was an expansion of Richard Henry Lee's Resolution (passed by Congress on July 2), which first proclaimed independence. An engrossed copy of the Declaration was signed by most of the delegates on August 2 and is now on display in the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.


The Declaration is considered to be the founding document of the United States of America, where July 4 is celebrated as Independence Day and the nation's birthday.

John Hancock, as the elected President of Congress, was the only person to sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. It was not until the following month on August 2nd that the remaining 55 other delegates began to sign the document.


The following statements have become world-famous since then:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.


我们认为下面这些真理是不言而喻的：造物者创造了平等的个人，并赋予他们若干不可剥夺的权利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。


That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, 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, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.


为了保障这些权利，人们才在他们之间建立政府，而政府之正当权力，则来自被统治者的同意。任何形式的政府，只要破坏上述目的，人民就有权利改变或废除它，并建立新政府；新政府赖以奠基的原则，得以组织权力的方式，都要最大可能地增进民众的安全和幸福。

Philip Freneau (1752 - 1832)

Philip Morin Freneau (1752-1832) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. Remembered as the poet of the American Revolution and the father of American poetry, he was a transitional figure in American literature.

I. Life and career

His political and satirical poems have value mainly for historians, but his place as the earliest important American lyric poet is secured by such poems as “The Wild Honeysuckle,” “The Indian Burying Ground,” and “Eutaw Springs.” Freneau was perhaps the most outstanding writer of the post-Revolutionary period.

I. Life and career

1. His poems are : strongly lyrical; with clear imagery; neoclassical in form, and romantic in spirit.

2. Philip Morin Freneau was a deistic ( 自然神论的 ) optimist.

Deism

cf. Deism ( 自然神论 , 自然神教派 ) is a religious philosophy and movement that derives the existence and nature of God from reason and personal experience. This is in contrast to fideism ([ 哲 ]信仰主义 ,僧侣主义 , 一种认为知识取决于信仰的学说 ) which is found in many forms of Christianity. Islam, Judaism and Catholic teachings hold that religion relies on revelation in sacred scriptures or the testimony of other people as well as reasoning.

Deism

Deists typically reject supernatural events (prophecy, miracles) and tend to assert that God does not interfere with human life and the laws of the universe. What organized religions see as divine revelation and holy books, most deists see as interpretations made by other humans, rather than as authoritative sources.

Deism

Deism became prominent in Great Britain, France, and the United States in the 17th and 18th centuries, mostly among those raised as Christians who found they could not believe in either a triune ( 三位一体的 ) God, the divinity of Jesus, miracles, or the inerrancy ( 无误 ; 绝对正确 ) of scriptures, but who did believe in one God. Initially it did not form any congregations, but in time deism led to the development of other religious groups, particularly Unitarianism ( 【宗】唯一神教派 , 基督教一派 , 认为上帝系单一者 , 反对三位一体的说法 ). It continues to this day in the form of Classical Deism and Modern Deism.

II. “The Wild Honey Suckle”


Freneau later retired to a more rural life and wrote a mix of political and nature works. His nature poem, “The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786), is considered an early seed to the later Transcendentalist movement taken up by William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.


In this poem the poet expressed a keen aware-

ness of the loveliness and transience of nature. He not only meditated on Mortality but also

celebrated nature. The poem implies that life and death are inevitable law of nature.

"The wild honey suckle“ is Philip Freneau's most widely read natural lyric with the theme of transience.


The central image is a native wild flower,

which makes a drastic difference from elite

flower images typical of traditional English

poems. The poem showed strong feelings for

the natural beauty, which was the characteristic of romantic poets.


The poem was written in regular 6-line tetrameter stanzas, rhyming: ababcc. The structure of the poem is regular, so it has the neoclassic quality of proportion and balance.

The line“ the space is but an hour“ contains a hyperbole stressing the transience of life. T

he tone of the poem is both sentimental and optimistic.

part ii the literature of reason and revolution historical introduction important writers...

Documents

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