《美国文学》练习问答题.docx

1、美国文学练习问答题Questions For American LiteratureWeek 1. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)1.Is Franklin a man of religious principles? Why does he stop attending public service?2.Explain 13 virtues Franklin chooses for his moral improvement.3.What is Franklin attitudes towards moral perfection?4.What are signi

2、ficance of themoralistic self- discipline, according to Franklin?5.What virtues does Franklin think he has never achieved?精选文档6.Comment on the Criticism that some authors made on Franklin, such as Hawthorn, Lawrence. (History p.53-54)Week 2: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)1.What does “whim ” mean in

3、 the “Self-reliance”? and why doesEmerson call consistency“foolish ”? 2.What is an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza character like, according tothe Self-relaince?3.Explain “to talk of reliance is a poor external way of speaking. Speak rather of that which relies, because 2精选文档it works and is.”and the

4、context that gives rise to this statement in the Self-reliance.4.What are Emersons comments on Jesus Christ in “The Divinity School Address”? Please compare it with Thomas Paines in The Age of Reason.Week Three： Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)1.What is the analogy between that striped snake lying on

5、 the bottom of the pond and the man in the early spring? How is a stray goose like the spirit of the fog? 3精选文档2.What is Thoreaus understanding of the beauty of an architecture? And what does he think of the architectural ornaments? In whatcases will a “carpenter” be a “coffin-maker”?3.Why does Thor

6、eau say“Those things for which the most money is demanded are never the things which the student most wants” ? What is your comment on Thoreaus idea of higher education?4.Is Thoreau a quietist or a hermit in the woods of Walden? Why or why not? 4精选文档Week four: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864):1.What

7、did the boy, at nightfall, hear when he was playing with the scattered fragments of marble? And how did he respond?2.What does author compare the kiln with?3.What question struck Ethan Brands mind on that portentous night 18 years ago? Did he find the answer to it after 18-year-wandering in the worl

8、d? What is it? 5精选文档4.What kind of person is Ethan Brand in his youth hood? What causes his transformation? What is the end of his life?5.How does the old dogs pursuit of his tail parallel Ethan Brands search for the Unpardonable Sin?6.What is your understanding of the little boy Joe? What virtues d

9、oes he stand for?Week Five: Herman Melville (1819-1891)1.How did Ahab respond when Moby-Dick appear before him in the last day of the chasing 6精选文档Moby-Dick? And how did herespond in the last two days before ?Do you think Ahab sattitudestowards Moby-Dick undergo anychanges? Why?2.What are theFedalla

10、h s prophecyabout Ahab s death? Does it cometrue? And how? I3.Who is the only survivor of the Pequod? And how?4.What are the symbolic meanings of Moby-Dick and Captain Ahab? And also the symbolic meaning of the death of the bird of heaven at the end of the novel?5.How do you understand the ending 7精

11、选文档sentence: “ andthe great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago. ? ”Week 6 Walt Whitman （1819-1892） 1.What does Whitmans“self”refer to?Why is Whitmans “myself” different from the narrow egotism?2.Why does Whitman call his life s work Leaves of Grass? What does “a leaf of

12、 grassmean to you? To Whitman?3.What is the ending of Song of Myself? And how will you respond to Whitmans invitation?Week 7 Emily Dickinson （1830-1886） 8精选文档1.Dickinson is well-known for herpoetic meditations ondyinganddeath. Whatisso movingandtouching in her death meditations?Do youthinkthe speak

13、fears ofdeath?Discussyourunderstanding with the help of herpoems.2.What images does the poetessintroduce in the “Hope”, and howdo they workas the metaphors ofthe idea -HOPE?3.How does thetriumphing humanspirit permeate through Dickinsonspoetryofhumansuffering?Illustrateyourideaswithher 9精选文档specific

14、 poems.Week 8 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)1.How many times is the word“nevermore” repeated? And whatinquiries that “I”raised incites theraven to respond to with“Nevermore?2.Besides “nevermore”, what is (are) the other word or words that you find highly repeated? Why?3.How do Poes poems and stories correspond to the literary principals he raised in his “Poetic Principles”and “The Philosophy ofComposition”? Discuss with Poes 10精选文档poems and stories as example. 11