literary terms.docx

1、literary termsBenjamin Franklin1. works(1) Poor Richards Almanac(2) Autobiography2. contribution(1) He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society.(2) He was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case) from heaven”.(3) Everything seems

2、to meet in this one man “Jack of all trades”. Herman Melville thus described him “master of each and mastered by none”.Franklin (1706-1790) was a universal genius who did not realize that his Autobiography would eventually become a classic of its kind. It shows the beginnings of his personal, civic,

3、 and political success, yet the account is uncolored by vanity. Franklin shows us that he is a human being as well as a successful man.Though his style of writing was clear and even plain in his time, we now find it a bit hard to read. It has many long words, often from the Latin language, and long

4、sentences. But we must remember that he was writing two centuries ago. It is true that Franklins style is formal. The organization of much of what he says-if not how he says it-is informal, however. In his famous Autobiography, in particular, he talks first about one thing and then another with litt

5、le attempt at connecting them. We can see a man of versatile energy and new ideas.Of course, not all of his ideas were new. In some cases he simply became the most prominent advocate of old ones, especially the beliefs that we should work hard and that we should save our money. These principles had

6、been current since Puritan times but Franklin spread them widely by putting them into a popular almanac, or calendar, called Poor Richards Almanac, which he himself printed. It contained many popular sayings such as God helps them that help themselves, Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon ov

7、ertakes him, and Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship. Puritanism 1. Time: 17th century2. place: New England, the North America3. Historical Background:In the year 1620, 102 Pilgrims went on board the ship “the Mayflower” for Virginia, the British colony at that time. They

8、arrived at Cape Cod at the eleventh of November and settled at Plymouth (at the south of Massachussetts) and established the first colony, Plymouth. While on board the ship, 41 out of the 102 passengers signed “The Mayflower Compact ”, the first written law in American history.4Basic Puritan Beliefs

9、1). Total Depravity - the concept of Original Sin2). Unconditional Election - the concept of predestination3). Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.4). Irresistible Grace - Gods grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied.5). Perseverance of the saints - thos

10、e elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God.5. The Function of Puritan Writers1). To transform a mysterious God - mysterious because he is separate from the

11、 world.2). To make him more relevant to the universe.3). To glorify God.6. The Style of Puritan Writing1). Protestant - against ornateness; reverence for the Bible.2). Purposiveness - there was a purpose to Puritan writing - described in Part II above.3). Puritan writing reflected the character and

12、scope of the reading public, which was literate and well-grounded in religion.7. Common Themes in Early Puritan Writing1). Idealism - both religious and political.2). Pragmaticism - practicality and purposiveness.The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses the aspects of relationships, relig

13、ion, community, discipline and punishment in the puritan community of 17th century Boston. Relationships between men and women were very constrained and that is what made adultery such a bad sin in the eyes of everyone in the community. Religion seemed to govern over all, people would look up to rev

14、erends and the community believed that fate was their destiny. Public discipline and punishment were used to discourage everyone else from committing the same crime or sin as the offending criminal did. The community was to follow the beliefs of god and to do their duties the best they could, yet we

15、re there to criticize and punish all who disobeyed the religion or laws. In 17th century Boston every thing was very strict and everyone was expected to follow the laws, which makes Hesters sin such an excellent example of the beliefs of that time period. The first scaffold scene is very important b

16、ecause the scene sums up the beliefs of the general public at that time, and gives a prospective of what Hester Prynne must deal with. In the beginning of chapter two the scene is described as it could have betokened nothing short of the anticipated execution of some noted culprit,(47) showing that

17、the whole town was there for a ruthless public punishment. The crowd was not there for an execution though, but there for a public punishment of Hester Prynne who had committed adultery. A townsman describes Hesters punishment to a stranger as, they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only a space

18、of three hours on the platform of the pillory, and then thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom.(58) This scene shows the weight of values and morals upon society in the 17th century and how public punishment was not only used as punishment but as a

19、way to discourage others from committing the same crime. The community was key in this punishment because it helped alienate Hester and further her pain. The punishment brings forth Hesters underlying pain, Hester sent forth a cry she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched

20、it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real.(55) This pain only breaks surface once, yet throughout the whole story Hester must deal with the shame and emotional pain of the scarlet letter. The stranger sums it up best with the quotation, Thus she will be a living s

21、ermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone. Since religion was such a key part of their lives, anyone who did disobey their god was looked down upon. What made religion ironic in this story was how everyone looked up to a reverend that had committed the same sin a

22、s someone they looked down upon severely. Dimmesdale says, before the judgment-seat, thy mother, and thou, and I, must stand together! But daylight of this world shall not see our meeting!(134) The reverend knows his sin and wants be punished with Hester and Pearl, yet not until what he calls judgem

23、ent day. In the 17th century, Puritans believed that there was a stern God who had decreed in advance the fate of each person for all time. Therefore, there was not much people felt they could do to become a better person in Gods eyes but do his biding with their jobs. To increase their chances of g

24、etting to go to heaven the townspeople would often get one step closer to God by getting close to a religious leader, which was bad for Arthur Dimmesdale who was probably farther away from God than everyone else because of his sin. Relationships were looked upon as something sacred and a woman shoul

25、d be loyal to her husband. Once married it was considered a horrible offense if you were un-loyal to your spouse. They have not been bold to put force the extremity of our righteous law against her. The penalty therefor is death.(58) A townsman explains that the penalty is death for her crime (showi

26、ng the harshness of the 17th century), yet that the other party in the affair must have played a strong role in tempting her, so they just sentenced her to the letter on her chest and three hours on the scaffold. The stranger shows how most people reacted when only seeing one of the guilty two parti

27、es up on the scaffold, it irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side. Women still did not have that many rights, so anything Hester said in her defense would have just have been ignored. Relationships were not supposed to be broken

28、 unless by divorce, even if the husband was at the bottom of the sea-where Hesters husband was believed to be. Through relationships, religion, community, discipline and punishment the reader can get a better understanding of what was expected of towns people in the 17th century. The Scarlet Letter

29、shows the pain and suffering a woman went through when she broke her marriage, and disobeyed her religion. She then was sentenced to a public punishment to be humiliated, tormented, and alienated by the community around her. The fate driven religious society in 17th century Boston would not accept s

30、in of any kind and the punishment for adultery was death. Instead, the community branded Hester Prynne with the letter A for the rest of her life and made her stand in front of the whole community as an example for everyone that sin and corruption was not accepted in their society.British romanticis

31、m The romantic period in English literature is dated as beginning in 1785 or alternatively in 1789 (the outbreak of the French revolution), or in 1798 (the publication of Wordsworths and Samuel Taylor Coleridges Lyrical Ballads) and ending either in 1830 or else in 1832, the year in which Sir Walter

32、 Scotts died. Major English writers of the period, in addition to Wordsworth and Coleridge, were the poets Robert Burns, William Blake, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and Walter Savage Landor; the prose writers Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, Thomas De Quincey, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Leigh Hunt; and the novelists Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, and Mary Shelley. The span between 1786 and the close of the eighteenth century was that of the Gothic romances by William Beckford, Matthew Gregory Lewis, William Godwin, and above all, Anne Radcliffe. American Romanticism1. Backgroun