2. James Fenimore Cooper 詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀 (1789-1851) novelist

1. his Works. The Spy 1821 《间谍》 The Pilot 1823 《水手》Leatherstocking Tales

《皮袜子故事集》

Leatherstocking Tales

The Pioneers 1823 《拓荒者》 „„„„„„„ „„„„..4

The Last of the Mohicans 1826 《最后的莫希干人》„„.2

The Prairie 1827 《大草原》 „„„„„„„„„„„„.5

The Pathfinder 1840 《探路人》 „„„„„„„„„„..3

The Deerslayer 1841 《杀鹿者》„„„„„....................1

2. Life.

a. Born into a rich land-holding family of New Jersey, Cooper was one of the new American

authors who did not have to worry about money.

b.He was sent to Yale at 14, but was expelled in his junior year because of improper behavior

c.He went and spent five years at sea; then, while still in his early twenties, he inherited his

father’s vast fortune and settled down to a life of comfort and even luxury.

d.His second book, The Spy, a novel about the American Revolution, proved to be an

immense success.

3. His Skills

He is good at making plots. All his novels are full of myths.

He had never been to the frontier and among the Indians and yet could write five huge epic

books about them is an eloquent proof of the richness of his imagination.

He created the first Indians to appear in American fiction and probably the first group of

noble savages.

He hit upon the native subject of frontier and wilderness, and helped to introduce the

“Western” tradition into American literature.

4. Analysis of The Pioneers

The conflict of the story is between Leatherstocking and Judge Temple.

To Leatherstocking (Nutty Bumppo), the wilderness is good, pure, perfect.

Judge Temple holds the idea that man remains savage without law and order

Natty Bumppo represents the ideal American, living a virtuous and free life in God’s

world. To him and to Cooper, the wildness is good, pure, perfect, where there is freedom not

tainted and fettered by any forms of human institutions.

Natty Bumppo is a veritable embodiment of human virtues like innocence, simplicity,

honesty and generosity, a man born with an immaculate [i’mækjulit] sense of good and evil

and right and wrong. （纳蒂·班波）

Judge Temple, the portrayal of whose character is a good indication of Cooper's

ambivalence as a writer of frontier life. Judge Temple is a man of honor and integrity.

He is as much a frontiersman as Natty Bumppo. He represents "the practically inevitable"

aspect of frontier life.He symbolizes law and civilization.

5. Cooper's contribution to American Literature

1) Leatherstocking Tales is a series of five novels about the frontier of American settlers.

(2) The Pioneers was probably the first true romance of the frontier in American literature.

3).Cooper's claim to greatness in American literature lies in the fact that he created a myth

about the formative period of the American nation. (4). His achievement also lies in the establishment of "Cooper Style" which is full of

romanticism.(5). Cooper combined his creation with the development of the times, making

his works more popular.

3. William Cullen Bryant 威廉·柯伦·布莱恩特 (1794-1878)

 the first American lyric poet of distinction

1) Works

Poems 1821《诗选》 (2) The Fountain 1842《泉》(3) The White-Footed Deer 1844 《白蹄鹿》 (4) A Forest Hymn 1860《森林赋》(5) The Flood of Years 1878《似水流年》(6) To

a Waterfowl 1815《致水鸟》 (7)Thanatopsis ['θænə'tɔpsis] 1817《死亡随想》

(8) The Yellow Violet 1814《黄色堇香花》

2）Life

 Bryant was a poet, and editor.

 He was born into a doctor’s family in Massachusetts. He started to write poems

when he was 14 years old.

 Bryant quitted his study in university and then became a lawyer.

 In 1825, he turned to journalism. In 1827, he became an editor for Evening Post and

wrote a lot of political criticism. But it is his poetry which made him popular among

people.

 He was influenced by Graveyard School in England and wrote “Thanatopsis”.

 His best works are his lyric poems about nature and so his style is quite similar to

that of Wordsworth.

译作赏析 致水鸟3.1 Summary

• The narrator questions where the waterfowl is going. He questions his motives for

flying. He warns the waterfowl that he could possibly find danger, traveling alone.

But, this waterfowl is not alone. He knows that the waterfowl is being led by some

Power（神秘主义mysticism）. As the waterfowl reaches out of the narrator's sight,

the narrator reflects on God's guidance in his own life. The narrator is sure that God

has led this waterfowl, and that the waterfowl had faith in the narrator. Now, the

narrator's faith is strengthened. He knows that God is guiding him as well.

• As the narrator sees God directing the waterfowl, the narrator is reminded of God's

guidance in his own life. Through his observance in nature, the narrator is

reconnected with his faith in God.

• Stanza 1

Whither 1, midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,

Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue

Thy solitary way? 2

• Summary

• As the dew falls and the sun sets in the rosy depths of the heavens, I wonder where

you (waterfowl) are going?

• Notes

• 1.. Whither: Where.

2.. The speaker addresses the waterfowl as if it were present. Doing so constitutes a

figure of speech known as apostrophe.