美国文学简答题
1. Transcendentalism:
1. a philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about 1836 to1860. It stood in reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment.
2. General features
(1)Emphasis on the significance of imagination, spirit and individualism, exploring the innermost being of man
(2)Opposition against neoclassical conception of formality and order
(3)Divinity of man and nature, perception of nature as symbolic of Spirit or God
(4) Further search into nature to acquire truth and knowledge than Romanticism
3. Major figures of Transcendentalism: Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller.
P78
2. American naturalism：
1. Flourished between1880 to 1940. It was a term created by Emile Zola. Charles Darwin?s evolutionary theory and French naturalism played an important role in American naturalism.
2. General features:
(1)A view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment.In naturalistic works, characters were conceived as complex combinations of inherited attributes and habits conditioned by social and economic forces. Naturalism emphasized：the world was around；men had no free will；religious“truth”were illusory；the destiny of human beings was misery in life and oblivion in death.
(2)Scientific accuracy and lots of factual details
(3)Attempt to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness
(4)Tone of such works: ugly side of the society, gloom, hopelessness, despair
3. Major figures of naturalism: Stephen crane，Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser. P275-P277
3.The lost generation:
1. The term came from Gertrude Stein who said in Hemingway's presence that “you are all a lost generation.”
2. It refers to the generation after the World War I or the young writers who lived as expatriates in Western Europe for a short time. Most of them were caught in the war and cut from the old value.
3. They were disillusioned with capitalist ideals and civilization and sense of loss after the world war.
4. These writers adopted unconventional style of writing and reacted against the tendencies of the older writers in the 1920s.
P333-334
4.Jazz age:
1. It refers to the time in 1930s after the World War I when there was a financial boom.
2. It is about life and fate of young men who indulged in stimulus and pleasure, and about disillusionment of American dream.
3. Fitzgerald was the literary spokesman for the Jazz age.
P335, P369
5．F ree verse:
1. It is a style of poetry that has irregular rhythms and lines and attempts to avoid any predetermined verse structure. Instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.
2. While it alternates stressed and unstressed syllables as stricter verse forms do, free verse does so in a looser way.
3. Whitman's poetry is the most impressive example of free verse. Other major figures of free verse include Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and other major American can poets of the 20th century.
6. The iceberg analogy:
1. The Iceberg Theory is a writing theory by Ernest Hemingway: "The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one eighth of it being above water.”
2. It means that a writer may omit things but the readers will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them if the writer is writing truly enough.
3. It was well suited to evoke the stoic courage of his characters who face lonely and thankless tasks. P343
1.Poe's Poetic Ideas
1. The function of poetry is not to summarize and interpret earthly experience, but to create a mood in which the soul soars toward supernal beauty.
2. T he elevation of excitement of the soul should be “the poetic principle” thus poetry must concer n itself only with “supernal beauty”.
3. Everything that detains human soul must be excluded from the poetry, including moral sense.
4. Poe defines poetry as “the rhythmical creation of beauty”, giving emphasis upon the importance of the rhythmical or musical element in poetry.
P130
2．Whitman's style
1. Transcendentalism: optimism, divinity of man and nature, and emphasis on individualism and exploring the innermost of being of man.
2. Democratic thought: celebration of ideal democratic society and attacks against corruption
3. The sprawling lines of the poems are often extremely long.
4. Parallelism: the parallel lines say the same thing but use different words.
5. Envelope structure: the first line begins with the subject, and then more and more lines list modifiers till the verb appears in the last line of the stanza. This is like enclosing a whole list of ideas in an envelope.
6. Catalogue technique: means listing. Typical poems by Whitman make long, long lists of images, of sights, sounds, smells, taste, and touch.
7. No conventional meters and rhythms
8. The verse unit is usually an independent clause.
P175
3．Formal features of Dickinson's poetry
1. Based on her own experience
2. Theme: love, nature, friendship, death and immorality
3. Peculiar poetic form: abundant dashes, irregular punctuation and capitalization, faulty grammar, no title, no regular line
4. Remarkable for its uncommon variety, original subtlety and unusual richness
5. Poetic indirection: e.g. “There is certain slant of light” and “Tell all the truth but tell its slant!”
6. On the ethical level Dickinson emphasizes free will and human responsibility.
4．The theme and techniques in Eliot's "The Waste Land"
Theme：
1. Modern spiritual barrenness
2. Despair and depression that followed the WWI
3. Sterility and turbulence of the modern world, and the decline and break-down of western culture
4. The search for regeneration by people living in a chaotic world.
Technique：
1. Varied length and rhythm to harmonize with the changing subject matter
2. Unrhymed lines
3. Lots of borrowings from different writers
5．Analysis of "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Theme：
"Richard Cory" is a short dramatic poem about a man whose outward appearance belies his inner turmoil. The tragedy in the poem reflects in its spirit the tragedies in Edwin Arlington Robinson's own life: Both of his brothers died young, his family suffered financial failures, and Robinson himself endured hardship before his poetry gained recognition
2. It seems that Cory?s life is happy and successful, but his inner world is far more complicated than what it appears to be. It tells us that success may be meaningless to some people and cannot reflect the true value of life. It also shows the hollowness and loneliness of modern people.
2. Technique
Wording:
(1)Lively words: “imperially”; “quietly”; “admirably”
(2)Simple words: looked at；clean favored；was arrayed；glittered; was human; put a bullet through his head
(3)Simple words to show contrast between the cheering life and the tragic ending
(4)Ancient words: …clean favored?、…arrayed?、…schooled?to correspond the serious topic
It has an unexpected ending, and sharp contrast and mild sarcasm, thus leaving much room for readers to taste the topic.
Poetic sounds: Traditional pentameter with a rhyming scheme of“abab, cdcd，elef, ghgh”
https://www.wendangku.net/doc/5a9744570.html,ment on “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
Summary and Theme:
The speaker is stopping by some woods on a snowy evening. He or she takes in the lovely scene in near-silence, is tempted to stay longer, but acknowledges the obligations and duties yet to be fulfilled before he or she can rest for the night. In this poem, Robert Frost discusses the relation between mortal obligations and the eternal rest.
Form:
The poem consists of four (almost) identically constructed stanzas. Each line is iambic, with four
stressed syllables. Frost also uses alliteration and repetition in his poems. The rhyme scheme he uses is a-a-b-a.
Features of content:
1. Plain in words, but profound in meaning. Simple words with far-reaching meanings
2. Since it is full of symbolic constructs, it is thought- provoking, and the readers can get great fun in developing the subtext.
Detailed analysis:
In the first stanza, the poet leads us to a piece of beautiful woods filled up with snow. The poet takes the woods as the eternal life. He is fed up with the routine duties, and wants to rest forever. The piece of woods happens to provide an ideal place.
Then it comes to the snowy evening. The snow is cold and the evening dark, all of which indicate that the poet is depressed inside. His subconscious wants him to stop, but his “little horse” with the inspiring bells, which is actually a symbol of vitality, urges him to go. T he poet uses “frozen lake” to denote death. Why he transfers the embodiment of death from the beautiful “woods” to the deadly “frozen lake” is because the point of view has changed from the poet to the litt le horse.
In the third stanza, the little horse wonders why the poet stops when he should go on. Only “the easy wind” and “downy flake” answer it with soft sweep. Actually t he poet?s answer is as slight and uncertain as the flakes, because he himself do esn?t know why he stops suddenly in the woods.
Toward the end, the poet comes back from the illusion. Though the woods are attractive, he must move on, because he has promise to keep. “The promise” could be an obligation or a goal. One cannot die before fulfilling one?s dream. The poet uses “sleep” to represent death, just as we usually do.
7.Theme and technique in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
Theme:
It resents the decline of the American dream in1920s, the hollowness of the upper class and the falseness of ideals and moves toward disillusion.
It also shows that American dream will not lead to a perfect country. Instead, it leads to total depravity. The nationals become hypocritical, indifferent, empty, and cruel, day and night indulged in material pursuing.
Technique:
1. Development of traditional narrative techniques and first-person narrator: The whole novel proceeded with Nick?s narration.
2. Two main clues of the story: The main clue is the imbroglio between Gatsby and the family of Tom, and the minor one is the imbroglio between Tom and the family of Wilson.
3. The contrastive techniques endow the novel with artistic glamour and profound connotation.
4. Technique of delayed character revelation to emphasize the theatrical quality of Gatsby?s app roach to life
P369
https://www.wendangku.net/doc/5a9744570.html,ment on Hemingway's style and Farewell to Arms"
Style:
1. News reporting style: direct, concise, life-like dialogues, less ornaments
2. exercised iceberg theory: omit something but the readers will still have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them thanks to the direct and true description.
3. Hemingway?s book paints the image of a whole generation, the Lost generation: people disillusioned after the world war by old values and insensitivity and hollowness of society
4. He wrote all his life about one theme, “grace under pressure”, and created one hero who acts that theme out. Hemingway code heroes: (1) physically strong, (2) endowed with certain skills, (3)strong will power(Man can be destroyed, not defeated; Courage=grace under pressure), (4)tested in difficulties
美国文学史常耀信版
美国文学史常耀信版 很有用的哦！ 2008-08-10 22:02 阅读206 评论0 字号：大中小 美国文学史常耀信版 美国文学 Part 1. Colonial America浪漫主义American Romanticism(1815-1865) 早期浪漫主义early romanticism——Irving欧文, Cooper库柏, Bryant布莱恩特 先验主义transcendentalism and symbolic representation——Emerson 爱默森，Margaret Fuller玛格丽特福勒，Thoreau 梭罗 三位重要的小说家——Hawthorne 霍桑，Melville 梅尔维尔，Poe 坡 二位重要的诗人——Whitman 惠特曼，Dickinson 狄更生 现实主义American Realism（1865-1914） 带有地方色彩的写作local color writing——Mark Twain马克吐温 现实主义literary realism——James 詹姆士，Howells 豪斯尔斯 自然主义literary naturalism——Garland 加兰特，Grane 格雷恩，Frank Norris 弗兰克诺里斯，Jack London 杰克伦敦，Theodore Dreiser 西奥多德莱塞 现代主义American Modernism(1914-1945) 现代主义在欧洲American modernism in Europe——Gerturde Stein 格特鲁德斯坦因，Ezra Pound 艾兹拉庞德，Amy Lowell 艾米洛威尔，H.D.(Hilda Doolittle) 杜丽埃尔 战时的现代派小说modern fiction between the wars——William Faulkner 威廉福克纳，Hemingway 海明威，Fitzgerald 费兹杰罗，Passos 帕索斯，Steinbeck 斯坦贝克 现代派诗歌modern American poetry——T.S. Eliot 艾略特，Wallace Stevens 史蒂文斯，William Carols Williams 威廉姆斯，卡明斯 Thomas Paine托马斯?潘恩1737-1809 The Case of the Officers of Excise税务员问题；Common Sense常识；American Crisis美国危机；Rights of Man人的权利：Downfall of Despotism专制体制的崩溃；The Age of Reason理性时代 Philip Freneau菲利普?弗伦诺1752-1832 The Rising Glory of America蒸蒸日上的美洲；The British Prison Ship英国囚船；To the Memory of the Brave Americans 纪念美国勇士-----同类诗中最佳；The Wild Honeysuckle野生的金银花；The Indian Burying Ground印第安人殡葬地 Jonathan Edwards The Freedom of the Will The Great Doctrine of Original Sin defended The Nature of True Virtue Benjamin Franklin本杰明?富兰克林1706-1790 A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Moneyoor Richard’s Almanack穷查理历书；The Way to Wealth致富之道；The Autobiography自传 Part 2. American Romanticism Washington Irving华盛顿?欧文1783-1859 A History of New York纽约的历史-----美国人写的第一部诙谐文学杰作；The Sketch Book见闻札记The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说-----使之成为美国第一个获得国际声誉的作家；
美国文学史总结
ⅠColonial America(17th century)殖民主义时期文学 1.In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered America and he mistook the native people on the new continent for Indians. Character of colonial literature: a.content: religious, political b.form: diary, journal, letters, travel books, sermons, history (personal literature) c.Style: simple. direct, concise d.out of humble origins Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history. The earliest settlers in America included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿) 2.Captain Town Smith, the first American writer 3.Puritan Thoughts: hard work, thrift(节俭), piety(虔诚), sobriety(节制), 这些也成了早期 美国作品主导思想. 典型的清教徒：John Cotton & Roger William, John Cotton was called “the Patriarch of New England(新英格兰教父)” 清教徒采用的文学体裁：narratives(日记) and journals(游记) 清教徒在美国的写作内容： 1）Their voyage to the new land 2）Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops 3）About dealing with Indians 4）Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit 4.Private literature: theological, moral, historical, political 5.The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor, rose to the level of real poetry. Anne Bradstreet is one of the most interesting of the early poets, 英国最早移民到美国的诗人. The best of the Puritan poets was Edward Taylor. ⅡReason and Revolution(18th century)理性和革命时期文学 1.The War for Independence (1776-1783) ended in the formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic - the United States of America. 2.Bourgeois Enlightenment 3.Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac(穷人理查德的年鉴), an annual collection of proverbs. The Autobiography, 18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传 ?The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The Puritans, as a type, were very much given to self-analysis. ?The Autobiography shows Franklin was spokesman for the new order of 18th-century Enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free, by nature endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
英美文学史及作品选读 复习题
1.Romance,which uses narrative verse or prose to tell stories of ___ adventures or other heroic deeds, is a popular literary form in the medieval period. A.Christian B.knightly C.Greek D.primitive 2. In The song of Beowulf , Beowulf fought against _______. A. Grendel B. a knight C. Hrothgar D. Sir Gawain 3. Among the great Middle English poets, Geoffrey Chaucer is known for his production of ___. A.Piers Plowman B.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight C.Confessio Amantis D.The Canterbury Tales 4. Which of the following statements best illustrates the theme of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18? A.The speaker eulogizes the power of Nature. B.The speaker satirizes human vanity. C.The speaker praises the power of artistic creation. D.The speaker meditates on man's salvation. 5. John Milton was the writer of ______ A. Paradise lost B. The Pilgrims progress C. Tess D. Emma 6. The greatest of all English authors is _______ A. William Shakespeare B. Charles Dickens C, Thomas Hardy D. Robert Frost 7. Of all the 18thcentury novelists, _______ and Tobias Gorge Smollet may be regard as the real founders of the genre of the bourgeois realistic novel in England and Europe. A. Henry Fielding B. Daniel Defoe C. Joseph Addison D. Richard Steel 8. The most outstanding figure of English sentimentalism was _____ A. Henry Fielding B. Daniel Defoe C. Joseph Addison https://www.wendangku.net/doc/5a9744570.html,urence Sterne 9. The most outstanding figure of the epoch of Enlightenment in England was ______. A. Oliver Goldsmith B. Jonathan Swift c. Thomas Grey D. Richard Steel 10. Daniel Defoe was the writer of ______ A. Gulliver’s Travels B. Robinson Crusoe C. Jane Eyre D. A Modest Proposal 11. Gulliver’s Travels was written by ______. A. Laurence Sterne B. Daniel Defoe C. Jonathan Swift D. Oliver Goldsmith 12. Tom Jones was written by _____ A. Oliver Goldsmith B. Jonathan Swift c. Thomas Grey D. Henry Feilding 13. The songs of Innocence was written by ____ A. William Wordsworth B. William Blake C. Robert Burns D. J.Keats 14. With the publication of William Wordsworth’s _____ in collaboration with S.T. Colerige, romanticism began to bloom and found a firm place in the history of English literature. A. The Cloud B. To a Sky-lark C. to Autumn D. Lyrical Ballads 15.“If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind!” is an epigrammatic line by __. A.J.Keats B.W.Blake C.W.Wordsworth D.P.B.Shelley 16. ______ was Byron’s greatest work. A. Don Juan B.She Walks in Beauty C. Cain D. Manfred. 17.Ulysses (1922) is generally acknowledged to be ______’s masterpiece and a typical example of stream of consciousness technique. A. James Joyce B. Virginia Woolf C. D. h. Lawrence D. Charles Dickens 18. The Title Vanity Fair was borrowed by Thackeray from the_____ by Bunyan. A. Pilgrim’s Progress B. Canterbury Tales C. Paradise Lost D. Beowulf
美国文学作家以及作品总汇
美国文学部分(American Literature) 一．独立革命前后的文学（The Literature Around the Revolution of Independence） 1．本章考核知识点和考核要求： 1)．殖民地时期的文学的特点 2)．主要的作家、其概况及其代表作品 2．独立革命前后时期的主要作家 本杰明·富兰克林Benjamin Franklin本杰明·富兰克林，散文家、科学家、社会活动家，曾参与起草―独立宣言。 《穷查理历书》Poor Richard’s Almanack 《致富之道》The Way to Wealth 《自传》The Autobiography 托马斯·潘恩Thomas Paine托马斯·潘恩，散文家、政治家、报刊撰稿人。 《税务员问题》The Case of the Officers of Excise 《常识》Common Sense 《美国危机》American Crisis 《人的权利》Rights of Man 《专制体制的崩溃》Downfall of Despotism 《理性时代》The Age of Reason 菲利普·弗伦诺Philip Freneau菲利普·弗伦诺，著名的―革命诗人‖。 《蒸蒸日上的美洲》―The Rising Glory of America‖
《英国囚船》―The British Prison Ship‖ 《纪念美国勇士》同类诗中最佳―To the Memory of the Brave Americans‖ 《野生的金银花》―The Wild Honeysuckle‖ 《印第安人殡葬地》―The Indian Burying Ground‖ 1二．美国浪漫主义文学（American Romanticism） 1．本章考核知识点和考核要求： 1)．美国浪漫主义文学产生的社会历史及文化背景 2)．主要作家的创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题结构、人物刻画和语言风格 3)．清教主义、超验主义、象征主义、自由诗等名词的解释 2.美国浪漫主义时期的主要作家 华盛顿·欧文Washington Irving华盛顿·欧文，美国著名小说家，被称为―美国文学之父‖.《瑞普·凡·温可尔》Rip Van Winkle 《纽约外史》A History of New York 《见闻札记》The Sketch Book 《睡谷的传说》The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀James Fenimore Cooper 詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀开创了以《皮裹腿故事集》为代表的边疆传奇小说，其中最为重要的一部是《最后的莫西干人》。 《皮裹腿故事集》Leatherstocking Tales 《间谍》The Spy 《领航者》The Pilot
美国文学史期末参考复习资料
仅作参考，最主要还是要自己消化，整理 Chapter 1 Colonial Period 1. Puritanism: American puritans accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. 2. Influence (1) A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature. (2) It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden. (3) Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chi efly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. (4) With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible. II. Overview of the literature 1. types of writing diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons 2. writers of colonial period (1) Anne Bradstreet (2) Edward Taylor III. Benjamin Franklin 1. life 2. works (1) Poor Richard’s Almanac (2) Autobiography 3. 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 to meet in this one man –“Jack of all trades”. Herman Melville thus described him “master of each and mastered by none”. Chapter 2 American Romanticism Section 1 Early Romantic Period I. American Romanticism 1. Background (1) Political background and economic development (2) Romantic movement in European countries Derivative – foreign influence 2. features (1) American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience and contained “an alien quality” for the simple reason that “the spirit of the place” was radically new and alien. (2) There is American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider. American romantic authors tended more to moralize. Many American romantic writings intended to edify more than they entertained. (3) The “newness” of Americans as a nation is in connection with Am erican Romanticism. (4) As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticism was both imitative and independent. II. Washington Irving: Father of American Literature 1. several names attached to Irving (1) first American writer (2) the messenger sent from the new world to the old world (3) father of American literature 2. life 3. works (1) A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty (2) The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (He won a measure of international recognition with the publication of this.) (3) The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (4) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada (5) The Alhambra 4. Literary career: two parts (1) 1809~1832
美国文学史复习资料
美国文学史复习（colonialism) 第一部分殖民主义时期的文学 一、时期综述 1、清教徒采用的文学体裁：a、narratives 日记b、journals 游记 2、清教徒在美国的写作内容： 1）their voyage to the new land 2) Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops 3) About dealing with Indians 4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit 3、清教徒的思想： 1）puritan want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices 净化信仰和行为方式 2) Wish to restore simplicity to church and the authority of the Bible to the theology. 重建教堂，提供简单服务，建立神圣地位 3）look upon themselves as chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God's will and is not to be accepted. 认为自己是上帝选民，对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝 4）puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated. 反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步5）religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面，忽视上帝仁慈的一面。 4、典型的清教徒：John Cotton & Roger William 他们的不同：John Cotton was much more concerned with authority than with democracy; William begins the history of religious toleration in America. 5、William的宗教观点：Toleration did not stem from a lack of religious convictions. Instead, it sprang from the idea that simply to be virtuous in conduct and devout in belief did not give anyone the right to force belief on others. He also felt that no political order or church system could identify itself directly with God. 行为上的德，信仰上的诚，并没有给任何人强迫别人该如何行事的权利。没有任何政治秩序和教会体制能够直接体现神本身的意旨。 6、英国最早移民到美国的诗人：Anne Bradstreet 7、在殖民时期最好的清教徒诗人：the best of Puritan poets is Edward Tayor. 学习指南： 1、Could you give a description of American Puritans? 关于美国清教徒的描绘 Like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the church should be restored to the "purity" of the first-century church as established by Jesus Christ himself. To them religion was a matter of primary importance. They made it their chief business to see that man lived and thought and acted in a way which tended to the glory of God. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God, all that John Calvin, the great French theologian who lived in Geneva had preached. It was this kind of religious belief that they brought with them into the wildness. There they meaant to prove that were God's chosen people enjoying his blessings on this earth as in Heaven. 2、Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety were the Puritan values that dominated much of the earliest American writing. 3、The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet & Edward Taylor, rose to the level of real poetry.
英美文学期末问答题核心内容
Rip Van Winkles https://www.wendangku.net/doc/5a9744570.html,pare the different situations in the village for Rip Van Winkle before and after his 20-year sleep. —Before: peaceful, phlegm (冷静) drowsy tranquility, quiet little inn —After: populous, large, their dress altered; hustling; busy; bustling disputatious; 2.Do you think Rip’s wife is also a well-developed figure? How does this figure impress you? —Yes, Rip’s wife is diligent, hard-working, shrew, responsible, but she loves his families and full of responsibilities. Scarlet Letter A.Natural symbols present things for the idea people commonly associate with them. i.Eg, a star for hope, night for death, rain often for fertility or the renewal of life. B.Conventional symbols present thing for the meanings people within a particular group have agreed to give them. C.Literary symbols sometimes build upon natural or conventional symbols, adding meanings appropriate primarily with the work at hand, but sometimes they also create meanings within a work for things that have no natural or conventional meaning outside it. Eg, a Christian cross for the association it evokes in people familiar with the religion. 1.What symbols have you found in the selection? Explain. —A：sin, adultery(通奸)；Adam; apostle; ambivalence(矛盾心理，矛盾情绪); Abba (father); Arthur (Dimmesdale); —Hester: Adultery; Anguish; Agony; Alone; Alienation（疏远）; Able; Aid; Angle 2.Who empowers Dimmesdale to stand on the scaffold? —God/Strong guilty/love 3.Why does Dimmesdale want to reveal? —His sin was forgiven. —He wanted to be sowed, selwared, live innocent and without sin. —He wanted to get rid of the woman's husband. —He wanted to be forgiven by god. 4.Why does Chillingworth try desperately to stop Dimmesdale from confessinghis sins on the scaffold? —①He wants to torture Dimmesdale again and kill him slowly. —②Compare with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth is more sinful. Song of Myself 1. What does “I” and “You” stand for? —“I”which serves as narrator, who should not be limited to or confused with the person of the historical. You: Reader. 2. Explain the symbolic meaning of “a spear of summer grass”. —“Grass” is a symbol of hope and youth, “spear” is a symbol of male energy, and “summer” is the hot season. All the three images put together form an energetic and hopeful picture, which indicates Whitman’ s optimism and experience. 3. What does “Creeds and schools in abeyance” refer to? — A state of being temporarily set aside the religion. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn 1.Read the first paragraph carefully, especially the last sentence and detect its language features. — A. Full of mistakes. B. The last sentence is so long with wrong grammatical structure. 2.How does Huck, a b oy with rebellious spirit, come to be a real hero in the reader’s mind? — All of Huck’ s heroic virtues come from his good heart and his sense of humanity. A. He loves freedom. When he is adopted by a widow, in fact, he doesn’t like the well-behaved life and he prefers the free and
美国文学史作品作家汇总 全
美国文学史作品作家汇总 美国文学 Part 1. Colonial America Thomas Paine托马斯?潘恩1737-1809 The Case of the Officers of Excise税务员问题；Common Sense常识；American Crisis美国危机；Rights of Man人的权利：Downfall of Despotism专制体制的崩溃；The Age of Reason理性时代 Philip Freneau菲利普?弗伦诺1752-1832 The Rising Glory of America蒸蒸日上的美洲；The British Prison Ship英国囚船；To the Memory of the Brave Americans纪念美国勇士-----同类诗中最佳；The Wild Honeysuckle 野生的金银花；The Indian Burying Ground印第安人殡葬地 .Jonathan Edwards The Freedom of the Will 论意志自由The Great Doctrine of Original Sin defended论原罪The Nature of True Virtue论真是德行的本原 Benjamin Franklin本杰明?富兰克林1706-1790 A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Money; Poor Richard’s Almanac穷查理历书；The Way to Wealth致富之道；The Autobiography自传 Part 2. American Romanticism Washington Irving华盛顿?欧文1783-1859 A History of New York纽约的历史-----美国人写的第一部诙谐文学杰作；The Sketch Book见闻札记The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说-----使之成为美国第一个获得国际声誉的作家；Brace bridge Hall布雷斯布里奇田庄；Talks of Travelers旅客谈；The Alhambra阿尔罕伯拉 Jamie Fennimore Cooper詹姆斯?费尼莫尔?库珀1789-1851 The Spy间谍;The Pilot领航者;The Little page Manuscripts利特佩奇的手稿;Leather stocking Tales皮裹腿故事集:The Pioneer拓荒者；The Last of Mohicans最后的莫希干人;The Prairie大草原;The Pathfinder探路者;The Deer slayer杀鹿者 Part 3.New England Transcendentalism Ralf Waldo Emerson拉尔夫?沃尔多?爱默生1803-1882 Essays散文集:Nature论自然-----新英格兰超验主义者的宣言书;The American Scholar 论美国学者;Divinity; The Over soul论超灵;Self-reliance论自立;The Transcendentalist超验主义者;Representative Men代表人物;English Traits 英国人的特征;School Address神学院演说 Concord Hymn康考德颂;The Rhoda杜鹃花;The Humble Bee野蜂;Days日
美国文学史-知识点梳理
Part I The Literature of Colonial America I．Historical Introduction The colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.) II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds: 1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration 2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American Writer The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians. Captain John Smith is the first American writer. A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608) A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612) General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers. One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England Literature William Bradford and John Winthrop John Cotton and Roger Williams Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor V．Puritan Thoughts 1. The origin of puritan In the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of