Search For Spiritual Values ​​rise

Alfred Tennyson was an important writer in UK in the 19th century. He had high achievement in art, and his works had close relations with greatly changing social thought of that period. The dissertation concentrates on Tennyson's opinion and expectation of historical process in his works through western religious and scientific tradition, social progress theory and scientific discovery. It shows that Tennyson's positive opinion to human achievement in historical process and his anxiety on human instinctive weakness, and as a result, he negated the possibility of human's infinite progress and perfection and hope that man can preserve spirit value and rescue evil through faith which can not be proved by reason. In the contradiction of reason and faith, substance as origin and spirit as origin, Tennyson showed his anxiety and hope of history in his works.The dissertation contains introduction and main body. The introduction retraces the researches of Tennyson around the world. As the most representative poet of the Victorian age, Tennyson's works have been studied abundantly. Tennyson has varied fame during different times, but he has been confirmed as an important poet in English literature. Scholars studied the poet from different angles, such as on the problem of faith and science that Tennyson showed great concern and other problems, using new literature theories. The amount of articles is considerable and has gained great achievement. Compared to the overseas research, the study of Tennyson in China is scattered and fragmentary. This article is to study the problem relatively studied less in past, which is Tennyson's human history notion from western philosophy and science tradition. The introduction presents development of western progress notion, which has deep relations with western history pattern and religion. Christian linear historical idea changed ancient Greek circle notion of history that ruled western idea. After Renaissance, accumulation of human knowledge and changes of society brought about idea of progress. It developed with advancing ages, and was united with the theory of evolution in the 19th century, reaching a zenith.Chapter I discusses Tennyson's positive attitude to idea of progress, because he lived in the 19th century, in which great changes of science, technology and society had a deep impact on him. Tennyson agreed with idea of progress partly in his early and later works, in which 'Locksley Hall' was the representative poem. In this poem, Tennyson human's power of progress will improve society, and therefore it can rescue human sin. Tennyson preferred moderate progress preserving maximum tradition to radical ways to change society. Because of rise of feminism, Tennyson wrote 'Princess, and propose moderate reform. Tennyson's conservative attitude was formed when he came to Spain to give help to Spanish revolution as a member of Cambridge 'Apostles', and this action failed. Further more, Tennyson disagreed with violence in French Revolution. More deep-seated reason was that he lived in an unhappy family as a child, which made him believe self-control and reason were better ways to treat this world.Chapter II discusses Tennyson's respect to spiritual value in idea of progress and introduce a holy frame in human progress. Tennyson's approval of progress was because of progress as a result of human knowledge accumulation and improvement of the world, which incarnate spiritual value. But secular progress could not solve the problem of preserving past and individual spiritual value. Tennyson's best friend Henry Hallam died in his early twenties, which made Tennyson want to have helpful historical ideas to explain the meaning of human life. At that time, discoveries of geology and biology impacted traditional notion of nature and society, but Tennyson tried to make them to be composition of his new historical frame as human spiritual achievements. German and English philosophical thought in 19^th century had already tried to distinguish between fields of reason and faith. Tennyson contacted Kant's and Coleridge's thought through Cambridge 'Apostles' members, especially his best friend Hallam. He approved reason, and at the same time, he put it into the frame of faith. According to this thought, being written to mourn Hallam, "In Memoriam" rendered that human spirit developed continually in nature and society and finally got to religious transcendence for spirit salvation and immortality.Chapter III discusses Tennyson's profound doubt on possibility of human getting to historical perfection. Tennyson was full of misgiving about optimistic idea of progress because he thought there was irrational characteristic in human nature. Tennyson wrote quite a few poems about madness. Through "Saint Simeon Stylites", "Lucretius", "Maud", Tennyson told that human would be mad with excessive sensation and reason, and madness in human nature caused mammonism and jungle law in society. 'Idylls of the King' is representative of Tennyson's despair in historical ideal. In this work, as the ideal state, Arthur's kingdom declined and fell, which showed that human beings could not conquer their own weakness. Human belonged to two different natures, spirit and matter. Nature of matter, desire, change and decay, would inevitably restrict the rise of spirit.Chapter IV discussed Tennyson's exploration of human and history in the traditions of matter as origin and spirit as origin because of his inner contradiction and the different traditions of philosophy he was in. Tennyson's contradiction was always rendered and was characteristic in his works. He admired human spirit value and hoped human's transcendence, but when he looked down to real world of substances, he found that a perfect future for human race was doubtful.