英美文学考试.docx

1、英美文学考试Epic： A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated。 Many epics were drawn from an oral tradition and were transmitted by song and recitation before they were written down.Romance: Any imaginary literature that d

2、escribed the idealism world and that deals with heroic and adventures or battles between good characters and villains or monsters。 In general it was a medieval tale which involve with lovers and adventures of Kings， Queens, Knights, and Ladies， and including some unlikely or supernaturalism happenin

3、gs。Verse： Form of writing， arranged in lines, each containing a pattern of accented and unaccented syllables， all groups of lines forming a unit of rhyme scheme. John Dryden： English poetry and dramatists， also considered the father of English literature criticism， he became the Poet Laureate in 166

4、8。Black Verse: Blank verse is a verse that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter， used in Shakespeares dramas and Miltons Paradise Lost， is one of the most common metrical patterns in English poetry.Gothic novels-And from the middle part to the end of the century there was also an apparent shift

5、of interest from the classic literary tradition to originality and imagination， from society to individual, and from the didactic to the confessional（忏悔的）， inspirational and prophetic。 Gothic novelsmostly stories of mystery and horror which take place in some haunted or dilapidated（荒废的,破旧的) and Midd

6、le Age castles- were turned out profusely（丰富的） by both male and female writers； works such as The Castle of Otranto（1765）by Horace Walpole, The mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italian (1797） by Mrs. Ann Radcliffe，The Champion of Virtue, a Gothic Story (1777） by Clara Reeve, and The Monk (1796) b

7、y M。G.Lewis became very popular. Eulogizing（颂扬，称赞) or lamenting （挽歌，哀掉）lyrics by nature poets like James Thomson， William Collins, and William Cowper， and by such sentimentalists（多愁善感的人） as the ”Graveyard School” were widely read. The romantic poems of the Scottish peasant poet， Robert Burns and Wil

8、liam Blake also joined in, paving the way for the flourish of Romanticism early the next century。Modernism rose out of skepticism（怀疑主义）and disillusion（使醒悟） of capitalism(资本主义）. The appalling（可怕的）shock of the First World War severely destroyed peoples faith in the Victorian values； and the rise of th

9、e irrational(荒谬的） philosophy and new science greatly incited（煽动，激励） writers to make new explorations on human natures and human relationships. The French symbolism（象征主义）, appearing in the late 19th century, heralded（预示着,先驱） modernism. After the First World War， all kinds of literature trends of mode

10、rnism appeared: expressionism， surrealism, futurism， Dadaism（达达主义 崇尚虚无的艺术派别）， imagism and stream of consciousness. Towards the 1920s， these trends converged(聚合) into a mighty torrent of modernist movement， which swept across the whole Europe and America。 The major figures that were associated with t

11、his movement were Kafka， Picasso, Pound, Webern， Eliot， Joyce and Virginia woolf。 Modernism was somewhat curbed（抑制） in the 1930s。 But after the Second World War， a variety of modernism， or postmodernism, like existentialist literature, theater of the absurd, new novels and black humor, rose with the

12、 spur of the existentialist idea that the world was absurd, and the human life was an agony（苦恼).” Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psychoanalysis as its theoretical base. The major themes of the modernist literature are the distorted（扭曲的）， alienated（疏远的) and ill relationsh

13、ips between man and nature， man and society, man and man, and man and himself. The modernist writers concentrate more on the private than on the public, more on the subjective than on the objective。 They are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual。 Therefore， they pay more attention t

14、o the psychic（精神的,灵魂的） time than the chronological （按时间顺序的)one。 In their writings, the past， the present and the future are mingled （混合）together and exist at the same time in the consciousness of an individual。 Modernism is, in many aspects， a reaction against realism. It rejects rationalism， which

15、is the theoretical base of realism; it excludes from its major concern the external， objective， material world, which is the only creative source of realism； by advocating a free experimentation（实验） on new forms and new techniques in literary creation， it casts away almost all the traditional elemen

16、ts in literature such as story, plot， character， chronological narration， etc.， which are essential to realism。 As a result， the works created by the modernist writers are often labeled as antinovel, antipoetry and anti-drama. Page 12The period of Old English literature extends from about 450 to 106

17、6， the year of the Norman conquest of England。 The Germanic tribes from the Northern Europe brought with them not only the AngloSaxon language, the basis of Modern English, but also a specific poetic tradition， which is both bold and strong， mournful（悲哀的） and elegiac（哀伤的) in spirit。 Generally speaki

18、ng， the Old English poetry that has survived can be divided into two groups: the religious group and the secular（世俗的) one。 The poetry of the religious group is mainly on biblical（圣经的） themes。 Genesis A, Genesis B and Exodus are poems based on the Old Testament（旧约）; Whereas（然而） The Dream of the Rood

19、（基督受难的十字架）comes from the New Testament（新约. In this poem， Christ is portrayed（描绘） as the young warrior striding（大步行走） to embrace death and victory, while the rood (cross) itself takes on the burden of his suffering. In addition to these religious compositions， Old English poets produced the national

20、epic poem, Beowulf， and a number of more or less lyrical （抒情的）poems of shorter length， which do not contain specific Christian doctrines （教义，信条)， but evoke（唤起） the AngloSaxon sense of the harshness（严酷的） of circumstance and the sadness of the human lot。 The Wanderer，Deor,The seafarer, and the Wifes c

21、omplaint are among the most beautiful in this secular group。 The harsh climate of North Sea strongly affected the tone or mood of the poets。 The life is sorrowful, and the speakers are fatalistic(宿命论的）, though at the same time courageous and determined.Page 82Neoclassicists（新古典主义) had some fixed law

22、s and rules for almost every genre（流派） of literature。 Prose(散文） should be precise， direct， smooth and flexible. Poetry should be lyrical， epical, didactic（说教的）, satiric（讽刺的） or dramatic, and each class should be guided by its own principles。 Drama should be written in the Heroic Couplets（英雄双韵体） (iam

23、bic pentameter (抑扬格五音步）rhymed in two lines); The three unities of time， space and action should be strictly observed； regularity in construction should be adhered to, and type characters rather than individuals should be represented。Page 83And from the middle part to the end of the century there was

24、 also an apparent shift of interest from the classic literary tradition to originality and imagination, from society to individual， and from the didactic to the confessional(忏悔的）, inspirational and prophetic。 Gothic novels-mostly stories of mystery and horror which take place in some haunted or dila

25、pidated（荒废的，破旧的） and Middle Age castles- were turned out profusely(丰富的） by both male and female writers; works such as The Castle of Otranto（1765）by Horace Walpole, The mysteries of Udolpho (1794） and The Italian （1797) by Mrs. Ann Radcliffe，The Champion of Virtue， a Gothic Story （1777） by Clara Ree

26、ve, and The Monk (1796） by M.G.Lewis became very popular。 Eulogizing（颂扬,称赞） or lamenting (挽歌，哀掉)lyrics by nature poets like James Thomson， William Collins， and William Cowper, and by such sentimentalists（多愁善感的人) as the Graveyard School were widely read。 The romantic poems of the Scottish peasant poe

27、t， Robert Burns and William Blake also joined in, paving the way for the flourish of Romanticism early the next century。Page 157The movement which we call Romanticism is something not so easy to define, especially concerning its characteristics or dates。 For it is a broad movement that affected the

28、whole of Europe ( and America)。 However, English Romanticism， as a historical phase of literature, is generally said to have begun in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridges Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scotts death and the passage of the first Reform Bill

29、 in the Parliament.Page 235 Ideologically， the Victorians experienced fundamental changes。 The rapid development of science and technology, new inventions and discoveries in geology(地质学）, astronomy, biology and anthropology drastically shook peoples religious convictions(信念）。 The religious collision

30、 that started from the early nineteenth century continued and was intensified（变激烈） by the disputes over evolutionary （进化)science。 Darwins The Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent(血统) of Man （1871） shook the theoretical basis of the traditional faith. New scientific discoveries increased peoples

31、religious doubts and anxieties. In his long poem In Memoriam（悼念) Tennyson recorded his own experience of religious uncertainties before the falling faith in god。 On the other hand， Utilitarianism （实用主义） was widely accepted and practiced 。 Almost everything was put to the test by the criterion（准则) of

32、 utility， that is， the extent to which it could promote the material happiness. The Bible and the Evangelical（福音派） Orthodoxy（东正教） were regarded either as an outmoded (过时的）superstition or tested by the principle of utility。 Church service became a form instead of real devotion. This theory held a spe

33、cial appeal to the middleclass industrialists(工业家）， whose greed drove them to exploiting workers to the utmost and brought greater suffering and poverty to the working mass. Dickens, Carlyle, Ruskin and many other socially conscious writers severely criticized the utilitarian creed（信条，教义）, especially its depreciati