英国文学简史问答题期末考试复习提纲.doc

1、1. Howmuch do you know aboutthe English literature in the Romantic Age?The Romantic Age in England was like the Elizabethan Age, distinctively an age of poetry. It was regarded as the second great age in English literary history; for poetry is the highest form of literary expression, and seems to ha

2、ve been most in harmony with the noblest powers of the English genius. The glory of the age is in the poetry of Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelly, Keats, Moore, and Southey；Women novelists appeared in this age. It was during this period that women assumed for the first time, an important p

3、lace in English literature. Mrs. Anne Radcliff was one of the most successful writers of the school of exaggerated romance. Jane Austen offered us her charming descriptions of everyday life in her enduring work her masterpiece-Pride and Prejudice;The greatest historical novelist Walter Scott also ap

4、peared in this period. His historical novels combine a romantic atmosphere with a realistic description of historical background and common people life. Scott marked the transition from romanticism to the period of realism which followed it;Romantic prose was represented by Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quincey

5、 and Hume. Lamb was the best essayist, whose familiar essays are very famous.3. What are the major features of Dickens novels?Dickens novels offer a most complete and realistic picture of the English bourgeois society of his age. His novels tell much of the unhappy experiences of his own childhood.

6、They reflect the protest of the people against capitalist exploitation, and criticize the vices of capitalist society. The success of Dickens novels also lies in his character-portrayal. Not only are the major characters in his novels very carefully delineated and given distinctive individual charac

7、teristics but also his minor figures create in the readers mind strong impressions of their personalities. Some of Dickens characters are really such “typical characters under typical circumstances” that they become proverbial or are representative of a whole group of similar persons. Dickens is a g

8、reat humorist and satirist. His novels are full of humor and satire Dickens is not especially known for the construction of plot in his novels. There is in his novels often more than one minor thread of story beside the major one, and these threads are generally very loosely woven together. He seems

9、 to love a complicated and involved plot. In almost every one of Dickens novels there is a happy ending, which points to the authors optimism which is an admirable thing for a critical realist because that means his still has his hopes after seeing the gloomy world all around him and one hand, and a

10、s a petty-bourgeois intellectual, could not overstep the limits of his class on the other hand. Another feature in Dickens novels is his adroit use of language. On the whole Dickens has a richness of expressions and generally succeeds in using the right words and phrases at the right moments for the

11、 right characters to attain the right effects. 12. What arethe characteristics of Dickens novels?(同第三题)2. What are the chief characteristics of the 18thcentury literature in England?The main literary stream of the 18th century was realism. What the writers described in their works were social realit

12、ies. The main characters were usually common men. Most of the writers concentrated their attention on daily life;The 18th century was an age of prose. A group of excellent prose writers, such as Addison, Steele, Swift, Fielding were produced;Novel writing made a big advance on this century. The main

13、 characters in the novels were no longer kings and nobles but the common people;In this age satire was much used in writing. Since there was fierce strife of the political parties in society, nearly every writer of the century was employed and rewarded by Whigs or Tories for satirizing their enemies

14、. English literature of this age produced some excellent satirists, such as Pope, Swift and Fielding.14. What arethe chief characteristics of the 18thcentury literature in England?同第二题4. What are the major features of Shakespeares dramatic works?Shakespeare is a realist. He is one of the founders of

15、 realism in English literature. His plays are mirrors of his age. He described the decaying of the feudal society and the rising of the bourgeois spirit. His comedies reflect lives of the young men and women who just freed themselves from the fetters of feudalism and who were striving for individual

16、 emancipation. His comedies lay emphasis on emancipation of women. In his tragedies Shakespeare depicted the life and death struggle between the humaniststhe newly emerging forces and the corrupted king and his feudal followers the dark power of the town, and also the contradictions between the rich and poor.The stories of Shakespeares plays often took place in other countries or in the past instea