The Comparative Study Of Romantic Literature Between The Thoughts Of Shen Congwen And Thoreau

In the 18 th and 19 th century in continental Europe, there rising a revolution related to political, economic, social, artistic and many other aspects. This revolution subsequently spread and then influenced the whole world. This is romanticism. And since then romantic literature has become a mainstream form of nineteenth-century literature. Under the influence of this thought, Shen Congwen and Thoreau formed their own style. They can compare to each other because they have many similarities. Their creations also provide a new research perspective for ecological criticism.The thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter one is an overview of romanticism and how Shen Congwen and Thoreau set foot onto the field of romantic literature. Firstly we simply organize the beginning and development of the romantic literature referring to the five books of Brandes? Mainstream nineteenth-century literature. Then we look back on cultural environment of academic field at that time by introducing the two authors? lifetime and then analysis their own achievements focusing on their ideological tendencies and literary aesthetics.Chapter two studies numerous works of Shen and Thoreau and then finds their common features of romanticism. We take “think ?alienation?: the critique of modernity from Shen and Thoreau”, “pay attention to emotions: the romantic qualities of Shen and Thoreau”, “back to nature: the aesthetic ideals of Shen and Thoreau”as three main arguments. We take Work content as evidence to illustrate. At last, we briefly sum up some differences although they have many similarities.Chapter three is a summary of Shen and Thoreau? literary thoughts? influence on the later world as well as inheritance and innovation of future generations. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part summarizes narrative mode of romanticism of idyllic type that it should have from the perspective of Bakhtin. The second part criticizes and rethinks ecological inspiration that Shen and Thoreau bring us. Although they both are advocating a return to nature, their “natures” are not identical. We should praise highly of Shen?s “gentle nature” from the perspective of ecological practice...