Chapter1 Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the puritans. The Puritans were originally members of a division of the protestant church. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin , total depravity and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. As culture heritage, American Puritanism also had a enduring influence on American literature. 1.The Colonial Period stretches from the settlement of North America in the early seventeenth century through the end of the eighteenth.
2.The American Puritans accepted the doctrine(教义) of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement.
3.作者Anne Bradstreet（安妮.布雷特兹里特）---known as the “Tenth Muse”,作品Comtemplation《沉思录》。
节选9 I heard the merry grasshopper蝈蝈 then sing, The black-clad cricket蛐蛐 bear a second part乐章,
They kept one tune调子, and played on the same string弦, Seeming to glory光荣 in their little art.
Shall creatures abject thus their voices raise?
And in their kind resound回音（=repeat; because they have no ability to creat） their Master(God)'s praise:
Whilst I, as mute哑巴, can warble forth no higher lays.
4.作者 Philip Freneau(菲利普.弗伦诺)作品The Wild Honey Suckle《金银花》 Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, Hid in this silent,dull retreat, Untouched thy honeyed blossoms blow, Unseen thy little branches greet:
No roving（=wandering） foot shall crush thee here, No busy hand provoke a tear.
By Nature's self in white arrayed,（means God has made you a white flower） She(Nature) bade thee (flower)shun the vulger eye, And planted here the guardian shade, And sent soft waters murmuring by; Thus quietly thy(flower) summer goes, Thy days declining to repose.
Smit(overcharm) with those chams,that must decay,
I grieve to see your future doom(宿命); They died--nor were those flowers more gay, The flowers that did in Eden bloom; Unpitying frosts,and Autumn's power Shall leave no vestige of this flower. From morning suns and evening dews At first thy little being came: If nothing once,you nothing lose, For when you die you are the same;
The space between,is but an hour（描述花期的短暂）, The frail duration of flower. (Freneau) 野忍冬花（金银花） 菲利浦·弗瑞诺 (黄杲炘译) 美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽， 却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方—— 甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵， 招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏； 没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎， 没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。 大自然把你打扮得一身洁白， 她叫你避开庸俗粗鄙的目光， 她布置下树荫把你护卫起来， 又让潺潺的柔波淌过你身旁； 你的夏天就这样静静地消逝， 这时候你日见萎蔫终将安息。 那些难免消逝的美使我销魂， 想起你未来的结局我就心疼， 别的那些花儿也不比你幸运—— 虽开放在伊甸园中也已凋零，
无情的寒霜再加秋风的威力， 会叫这花朵消失得一无踪迹。
朝阳和晚露当初曾把你养育， 让你这小小的生命来到世上， 原来若乌有，就没什么可失去， 因为你的死让你同先前一样； 这来去之间不过是一个钟点—— 这就是脆弱的花享有的天年。 Chapter2
5.作者 Jonathan Edwards（乔纳森.爱德华）作品 Personal Narrative《自述》
―I felt an ardency of soul to be…emptied and annihilated; to lie in the dust and to be full of Christ alone; to love Him(God) with a holy and pure love; to trust in him; to live upon him; to serve and follow him; and to be perfectly sanctified and made pure, with a divine and heavenly purity.‖
6.作者 Benjamin Franklin (本加明.弗兰克林) 作品 Poor Richard’s Almanac; The Autobiography of Benjamin Frankin---a puritan document.it is puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. Chapter3
7.The Romantic period stretches from the end of the eighteenth century through the outbreak of the Civil war.
8.作者 Washington Irving(华盛顿.欧文)“The Style is the man”作品Rip Van Winkle《瑞普.凡.温克尔》The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 《睡谷传奇》内容、故事梗概。
9.James Fenimore Cooper（詹姆斯.费尼莫尔.库柏）（This ambivalence 矛盾心理 can be seen from the conflict between Leatherstocking and Judge Temple in The Pioneers）,the “Leatherstocking Tales”---The Pioneers拓荒者; The Last of the Mohicans最后的莫西干人;The Prairie平原;The Pathfinder探路者;The Deerslayer杀戮者 Chapter4 Transcendentalism
10.Nature（by Ralph Waldo Emerson）’s voice pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism, the summit of American Romanticism.
11.The major features of New England Transcendentalism : First, the Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe; Secondly, the Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual; Thirdly, the Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God; Forth,brotherhood of man.
12.作者 Ralph Waldo Emerson (call for “The American Scholar” and it was regarded as “American Declaration of Intellectual Independence”)作品Nature
Standing on the bare ground, my head bathed by the blithe(happy) air and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egoism vanishes.I become a transparent eyeball;I am nothing;I see all; the currents of the Universal Being (God)circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.
13.作者 Henry David Thoreau 作品Walden《瓦尔登湖》--- a book on self-culture and human perfectibility. Chapter5
14.作者Nathaniel Hawthorne 作品 The Scarlet Letter故事背景17th century的New England.主人公名：Hester；Dimmesdale（name suggests “weakness” →indeterminacy, lack of insight, and lack of will。He was a scholar of some renown at Oxford University—aloof( would not have much natural sympathy for ordinary man)）；Chillingworth（Name suggests “chill”, in fact he is cold and inhuman and thus brings a “chill” to Hester’s and Dimmesdale’s lives。His twisted, stooped, deformed shoulders mirror his distorted soul，he is a selfish husband, his death is a result of his nature）；Pearl（She is the living version of the scarlet letter (she is the physical consequence of sexual sin) She represents not only “sin” but also the vital spirit and passion that engendered that sin, thus she is also a blessing.）。女主人公：Hester Prynne（---passionate, brave, independent, intelligent, capable, a motherly figure who moderates her tendency to be rush, caring for the poor and brings them food and clothing, also victims under the town fathers’ sexism）. A—Adultery犯得罪是Lust. 第一只到达美洲大陆的船---五月花号（May Flower Boat）
15.Like Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and Henry James after him,Hawthrone repeatedly complained about “the poverty of materials” in a land( United States) 16.In craftmanship perhaps only The Great Gatsby can touch it in American Literature.
17.作者 Herman Melville 作品 Moby Dick《大白鲸》---Like the whale, only the surface of the ocean is available for human observation and interpretation, while its depths conceal unknown and unknowable truths. Furthermore, relationship with the Christian God (or any other god, for that matter): God is unknowable and cannot be pinned down.
Symbolism：①Ahab（captain）：embodies all of the evil. After the loss of his leg, he feels his pride has been woumded. He get so angry that he almost losses his sanity and humanity and become a devilish creature. He bears no objection, and resolves to take revenge even at the risk of the lives of the crew.②Moby Dick is an imperson force and the representation of God. The whiteness of it shows that it is horror, unknowable things, or unlucky things. Chapter6