自考英美文学选读美国文史00604.docx

1、自考英美文学选读美国文史00604自考英美文学选读2(美国文史)（00604）英语语言文学专业美国浪漫主义时期 2美国现实主义时期 7美国现代时期 11PART TWO: AMERICAN LITERATURE美国浪漫主义时期1. 主要作家及其作品：i. Washington Irving: The Sketch Book; Rip Van Winkle; The Legend of Sleepy Hollowii. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays; The American Scholar; Self-Reliance; The Over-Soul; The Poet

2、; Experience; Natureiii. Nathaniel Hawthorne: Mosses from an Old Manse; The Scarlet Letter;The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales; The House of the Seven Gables; The Blithedale Romance; The Marble Fauniv. Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass; There was a Child Went Forth; Drum Taps; Cavalry Crossing a F

3、ord; Song of Myself; When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomdv. Herman Melville: Moby-Dick; Billy Budd; Typee; Omoo;Mardi; Redburn; White Jacket.2. 清教主义Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. As the word itself hints， Puritans wanted to purify their religious beliefs and practices. T

4、hey felt that the Church of England was too close to the Church of Rome in doctrine form of worship， and organization of authority. American Puritans， like their brothers back in England， were idealists， believing that the church should be restored to complete purity. They accepted the doctrine of p

5、redestination， original sin and total depravity， and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. But in the grim struggle for survival that followed immediately after their arrival in America， they became more and more practical， as indeed they had to be. Puritans were noted for

6、a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that determinated their whole way of life. As a culture heritage， Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind and American values. American Puritanism also had a conspicuously noticeable and an enduring influence on American literat

7、ure. It had become， to some extent， so much a state of mind， so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere， rather than a set of tenets.3. 超验主义Transcendentalism has been defined philosophical1y as the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively， or of attaining knowledge tra

8、nscending the reach of the senses. Emerson once proclaimed in a speech， Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism inc1ude the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and， therefore， self-re1iant. T

9、he transcendentalists reacted against the cold， rigid rationalism of Unitarianism in Boston. They adhered to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation ， the innate goodness of man， and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelatio

10、n of the deepest truths.4. 象征主义5. 自由诗Whitman is also radically innovative in terms of the form of his poetry. He adopted free verse， that is， poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. A looser and more open-ended syntactical structure is frequently favored. Lines and sentences of differen

11、t lengths are left lying side by side just as things are， undisturbed and separate. There are few compound sentences to draw objects and experiences into a system of hierarchy. Whitman was the first American to use free verse extensively. By means of free verse， Whitman turned the poem into an open

12、field， an area of vital possibility where the reader can allow his own imagination to play.6. 爱默生的超验主义思想及他的自然观In his essays, Emerson put forward his philosophy of the over-soul, the importance of the Individual, and Nature. Emerson rejected both the formal religion of the churches and the Deistic ph

13、ilosophy. Emerson and other Transcendentalists believed that there should be an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “over-soul,” since the over-soul is an all-pervading power from which all things come from and of which all are a part. Emerson is affirmative about ma

14、ns intuitive knowledge, with which a man can trust himself to decide what is right and to act accordingly. The ideal individual should be a self-reliant man. he means to convince people that the possibilities for man to develop and improve himself are infinite.Emersons nature is emblematic of the sp

15、iritual world, alive with Gods overwhelming presence; hence, it exercises a healthy and restorative influence on human mind. “God back to nature, sink yourself back into its influence and youll become spiritually whole again.” By employing nature as a big symbol of the Spirit, or God, or the over-so

16、ul. Emerson has brought the Puritan Legacy of symbolism to its perfection.7. 小伙子布朗中的寓言和象征In “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne set out to prove that everyone possesses some evil secret. The story illustrates Hawthornes allegorical theme of human evil. In the manner of its concern with guilt and evil，

17、it exemplifies what Milville called the power of blackness in Hawthornes work. In Young Goodman Brown， he sets out to prove that everyone possesses some evil secret. Evil is the nature of mankind. Its hero， a naive young man who accepts both society in general and his fellow men as individuals worth

18、 his regard， is confronted with the vision of human evil in one terrible night， and becomes thereafter distrustful and doubtful.Allegorically， our protagonist， becomes an Everyman named Brown， a young man who will be aged in one night by an adventure that makes everyone in this world a fallen idol.H

19、owever, The story is manipulated in such a way that we as readers feel that Hawthorne poses the question of Good and Evil in man but withholds his answer， and he does not permit himself to determine whether the events of the night of trial are real or the mere figment of a dream.8. 霍桑的清教思想和他人性本恶的观点A

20、s we can see, Hawthornes literary world turns out to be a most disturbed, tormented and problematical one possible to imagine. This has much to do with his “black” vision of life and human beings. According to Hawthorne, “There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, through

21、the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity. One source of evil that Hawthorne is concerned most is overreaching intellect, which usually refers to someone who is too proud, too sure of himself. He believed that “the wrong doing of one generation lives into the successive ones,” and o

22、ften wondered if he might have inherited some of their guilt. This sensibility led to his understanding of evil being at the very core of human life., which is typical of the Calvinistic belief that human beings are basically depraved and corrupted, hence, they should obey God to atone for their sin

23、s.9. 麦尔维尔长篇小说白鲸的象征意义Moby-Dick is not merely a whaling tale or sea adventure， it is also a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe， a spiritual exploration into mans deep reality and psychology.Like Hawthorne， Melville is a master of allegory and symbolism. He

24、uses allegory and symbolism in Moby-Dick to present its mighty theme. Instead of putting the battle between Ahab and the big whale into simple statements， he used symbols， that is， objects or persons who represent something else. Different people on board the ship are representations of different id

25、eas and different social and ethnic groups； facts become symbols and incidents acquire universal meanings； the Pequod is the microcosm of human society and the voyage becomes a search for truth. The white whale， Moby Dick， symbolizes nature for Melville， for it is complex， unfathomable， malignant， a

26、nd beautiful as well. For the character Ahab， however， the whale represents only evil. Moby Dick is like a wall， hiding some unknown， mysterious things behind. Ahab wills the whole crew on the Pequod to join him in the pursuit of the big whale so as to pierce the wall， to root out the evil， but only

27、 to be destroyed by evil， in this case， by his own consuming desire， his madness. For the author， as well as for the reader and Ishmael， the narrator， Moby Dick is still a mystery， an ultimate mystery of the universe， inscrutable and ambivalent， and the voyage of the mind will forever remain a searc

28、h， not a discovery， of the truth.10. 惠特曼草叶集的结构(自由诗)、主题、语言特色1. The themes in Whitmans poetry：His poetry is filled with optimistic expectation and enthusiasm about new things and new epoch. Whitman believed that poetry could play a vita1 part in the process of creating a new nation. It could enab1e Am

29、ericans to celebrate their release from the Old World and the colonia1 rule. And it could also help them understand their new status and to define themse1ves in the new wor1d of possibi1ities. Hence， the abundance of themes in his poetry voices freshness. He shows concern for the whole hard-working

30、people and the burgeoning life of cities. Pursuit of love and happiness is approved of repeatedly and affectionately in his lines. Sexual 1ove， a rather taboo topic of the time， is displayed candidly as something adorable. The individual person and his desires must be respected.2.Leaves of GrassWalt

31、 Whitman is a poet with a strong sense of mission， having devoted all his life to the creation of the single poem， Leaves of Grass.（1） the title ：It is significant that Whitman entitled his book Leaves of Grass . He said that where there is earth， where there is water， there is grass. Grass， the mos

32、t common thing with the greatest vitality， is an image of the poet himself， a symbol of the then rising American nation and an embodiment of his ideals about democracy and freedom.（a） theme：In this giant work， openness， freedom， and above all， individua1ism（the belief that the rights and freedom of individual people are most important） are all that concerned him. Whitman brings the hard-working farmers and laborers into American literature ，attack the slavery system and racial discrimination. In this book he also extols natur