美国文学期末复习知识点-绪论
绪论
1.一般认为，美国文学史大致可分为七个时期，分别是殖民地时期、独立战争
前后时期、南北战争时期、南北战争后至第一次大战前时期、两次大战之间时期、第二次大战后至越南战争前时期、越南战争后至新世纪初时期。
2.殖民地时期的美国文学主要有三类，它们是原住民印第安人口头文学和民间
故事、欧洲探险者到北美的探险日记和航海记录、早期到北美殖民地的英国官员和牧师的散文和游记。
3.在殖民地英国官员和牧师作家们中大致可分为两类，即清教主义作家和反清
教主义作家。
4.独立战争前后的美国文学中，发展成果最为突出的文学类型是散文。
5.第一位获得国际声誉的美国小说家是华盛顿·欧文，他的短篇小说代表作是
《瑞普·凡·温克尔》、《睡谷传奇》。
6.詹姆斯·范·库柏创作了“皮袜子五部曲”：《开拓者》、《最后一个莫希干人》、
《草原》、《探路人》、《逐鹿者》；他是第一位描写美洲殖民地历史的历史小说家、第一位刻画印第安人形象的小说家。
7.爱默生的散文《论自然》是美国超验主义运动的宣言，在该文中，爱默生提
出新大陆需要精神独立。超验主义是民主思想在哲学上的表现。
8.美国诗人瓦尔特·惠特曼的诗集《草叶集》的问世标志着美国浪漫主义运动
达到高潮，爱默生欢呼的伟大的美国诗人诞生了。
9.惠特曼去世标志着浪漫主义文学时代的结束，美国文学迅速走进一个现实主
义和自然主义文学发展新时代。
10.马克·吐温的小说《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》开创了美国文学的一代新风；
威廉·豪威尔斯被认为是美国现实主义文学的奠基人，他最先指出“金钱成了时代的史诗”，“当个百万富翁成了美国人的理想”；而亨利·詹姆斯则开创了20世纪美国心理小说的新方向。
11.欧·亨利被誉为“美国短篇小说之父”，与法国作家莫泊桑和俄国作家契诃
夫并列为世界三大短篇小说家。
12.弗兰克·诺里斯是第一个名副其实的美国自然主义作家，西奥多·德莱赛被
称为第一次世界大战前最优秀的自然主义作家，其代表作品有《嘉莉妹妹》、《美国的悲剧》。
13.19世纪末20世纪初的美国涌现出一批优秀的女作家，如萨拉·奥恩·朱厄
特是新英格兰小说传统的乡土文学代表，代表作是《尖枞树之乡》；凯特·肖宾的小说《觉醒》流露了女权主义的现代意识；伊迪丝·华顿的代表作《纯
真年代》深刻揭示了纽约“金字塔”里妇女的不幸命运，抨击金钱至上的社会环境对青年的毒害和困扰；威拉·凯瑟是开发中西部边地新题材的杰出的先驱者。
14.女诗人艾莉米·狄更生是意象派诗人的先驱，一生共创作了一千七百七十五
首诗，生前仅发表了七首，诗歌主题主要包括自然、爱情、死亡、人生。
15.意象派诗歌运动的发起人主要包括狄更生、弗林特、奥丁顿、休姆，此后美
国女诗人艾米·洛厄尔又将意象主义引入美国诗坛，推动了美国现代主义新诗的发展。
16.第一次世界大战颠覆了西方社会传统的价值观，欧洲出现了所谓的精神上的
“荒原时代”。
17.美国“迷惘的一代”作家主要包括海明威、安德森、菲茨杰拉德、多斯·帕
索斯等，美国文学出现了第二次文艺复兴。
18.哈莱姆文艺复兴指的是20年代美国黑人文学的繁荣，一批朝气蓬勃的黑人
诗人和小说家迅速崛起。
19.1930年，辛克莱·路易斯成为第一位荣获诺贝尔文学奖的美国作家，这标志
着美国文学成为公认的独立的民族文学。此后，美国文坛先后有_____位作家获得诺贝尔文学奖，这些作家及其代表作分别是_____________。
20.两次世界大战之间的美国南方文学发展成就辉煌，如威廉·福克纳用意识流
手法创作了《愤怒与喧嚣》等十余部长篇小说，玛格丽特·米切尔的长篇小说《飘》等等。
21.美国现代主义诗歌成就辉煌，五大诗人诗风各异，将美国诗歌推向世界，这
些诗人及其代表作分别是罗伯特·弗洛斯特反应新英格大地生活的《诗集汇总》、埃兹拉·庞德的长诗《诗章》、托·斯·艾略特的长诗《荒原》、威廉·卡洛斯·威廉斯的长诗《佩特森》、华莱士·史蒂文斯的《星期天的早晨》。
22.1936年，尤金·奥尼尔荣获诺贝尔文学奖，美国戏剧结束了徘徊几十年的局
面，逐渐赶上世界戏剧水平。
23.二十世纪的文学批评空前发展，逐渐成为一门独立的学科，各种批评流派兴
起。其中，新批评派逐渐成为二十世纪上半叶美国文学批评的主宰力量，对文学创作、研究、教学等影响深远。它发源于20年代的英国，30年代在美国形成一个重要流派，40至50年代主宰美国文坛。代表人物有艾略特、瑞哈兹、燕卜孙、兰色姆、塔特等。
24.二十世纪60年代，嬉皮士运动催生了反文化潮流，大众文化有了新发展。
25.1961年，约瑟夫·海勒的《第二十二条军规》揭开了美国后现代派小说的序
幕。
26.二战之后的美国诗坛流派纷呈，走向多元，代表诗派如黑山派、垮掉派、自
白派、纽约派等。
27.二十世纪后半叶，新批评由盛而衰，以弗莱为代表的芝加哥学派和纽约批评
家们指出新批评形式主义的狭隘性。
28.80年代末，后现代派小说的发展达到高潮，代表作家有托马斯·品钦、威廉·加
迪斯、威廉·加斯、唐纳德、巴塞尔姆、约翰·霍克斯。90年代初，后现代主义作为一个哲学思潮已过去。但后现代派文学仍保持着活力并继续发展。
29.华裔作家汤亭亭和谭恩美分别以《女勇士》和《喜福会》打破了华裔文学多
年的停滞局面，吸引了美国文学界的目光。
30.世纪之交的美国文学批评也呈现多元化趋势。女权主义的新发展最为突出。
乔纳森·卡勒和雅克·德里达将结构主义传入美国，耶鲁大学学派的保尔·德曼、希利斯·米勒和哈罗德·布鲁姆主持美国批评界多年。詹姆逊是西方马克思主义批评派的代表。萨义德则系统地阐述了后殖民主义产生的背景、特色及表现形式。80年代末兴起的新历史主义批评和生态文学批评显示了前所未有的活力。文学批评和文学创作的关系更密切了。
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》期末考试试卷(A卷)答案
湖州师范学院外国语学院2008— 2009学年第二学期 《美国文学》期末考试试卷（A卷）答案暨评分标准 I. Write the names of the authors. (10%) ①Walt Whitman ②Edgar Allen Poe ③Wallace Stevens ④Franklin Norris ⑤Stephen Crane ⑥William Faulkner ⑦Sinclair Lewis ⑧John Steinbeck ⑨Langston Hughes ⑩Tennessee Williams II. Fill in the following blanks with appropriate information.（10%） ①New England ②Regionalism or Local color writing ③semi-autobiographical ④anti-realism ⑤Imagist ⑥Santiago ⑦multiple narrations or points of view ⑧1930 ⑨Harlem Renaissance ⑩Eugene O’Neill III. Choose only one answer form the four choices as the most appropriate answer. （20%） 1－5. A D C B B 6－10. D B E B A IV. Identify the author and the title of the work from which each of the following excerpts is taken. And then answer the question after each excerpt. (20%) Passage 1 the author: Walt Whitman (1%) the title of the work : Songs of Myself (1%) Question: What is the poet celebrating? (2%) The poet is celebrating individualism and nationalism, singing of all those people who form the American nationality.
美国文学史及选读期末复习
美国文学史复习1（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. 4、The earliest settlers included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards Italian, and Portuguese. 美国文学史复习2（reason and revolution) (2009-01-17 15:54:25) 一、美国的性质： The war for Independence ended in the formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic - the United States of America. 联邦的资产阶级民主共和国--美利坚合众国。 二、代表作家： 1、Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林 1706-1790 1）"Poor Richard's Almanac" 穷人查理德的年鉴 annual collection of proverbs 流行谚语集
美国文学史及选读复习重点
Captain John Smith (first American writer). Anne Bradstreet；The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America （colonists living） Edward Taylor(the best puritan poet) John Cotton ”the Patriarch of New England” teacher spiritual leader Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography Poor Richard’s Almanack Thomas Jefferson： Political Career Thoughts The Declaration of Independence we hold truth to be self-evidence Philip Freneau“Father of American Poetry” The Wild Honey Suckle American Romanticism optimism and hope Nationalism Washington Irving“Father of American Literature short story”The first “Pure Writer” A History of New York The Sketch Book marked the beginning of American Romanticism! “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”Rip Van Winkle James Fenimore Cooper Father of American sea and frontier novels Leather stocking Tales The Last of the Mohicans The Pioneers The Prairie The Pathfinder The Deerslayer Edgar Allan Poe father of detective story and horror fiction Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque “MS. Found in a Bottle” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” “The Fall of the House of Usher”“The Masque of the Red Death”“The
大四美国文学期末考试题型及例题
大四美国文学期末考试题型及例题： 1.选择/对错60分（40道选择，20个对错） 2.名词解释10分（5个） 3.选段配对10分（5个） 4.问答20分（10/2） 1．历史：Father / poetess… 2. 名作家：Hemingway, Faulkner, Poe, Hawthorne, Emerson 3．作品：The W asteland/Moby Dick/Scarlet Letter 1.a)选择题（40个，40分） 1. At the age of reason and revolution, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the ________. A. Chartist Movement B. Romanticist Movement C. Enlightenment Movement D. Modernist Movement 2. Which is NOT connected to Benjamin Franklin? ________ A. He was born in a poor family. B. He was a pious puritan. C. He was phrased as “Jack of all trades”. D. He was a master of diplomacy. 3. Ernest Hemingway is noted for the following EXCEPT ________. A. Lost Generation B. Iceberg theory C. American Dream D. Code Heroes 4. Which character is NOT from The Scarlet Letter? ________ A. Hester Prynne B. Roger Chillingworth C. Captain Ahab D. Pearl 5. Jack London’s semi-biographical novel ________well presents the disillusionment of American Dream. A. The American Tragedy B. The Call of the Wild C. Martin Eden D. The Grapes of Wrath b)判断对错题（20个，20分） 1. Poe’s masterpiece “To Helen” is written to memorize his deceased wife. (F) 2. The tone of “Annabel Lee” is optimistic and hopeful. (F) 3. Mark Twain's novel Jumping Frog was an artistic failure, but it gave its name to the America of the postbellum period which it attempts to satirize. (F) 4. Sister Carrie ended up in tragedy because she could not control her fate. (F)
美国文学简史 期末复习资料
i.T h e C o l o n i a l P e r i o d 1.关键词: America Puritanism 2.Calvinism特点: total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints 3.Anne Bradstreet( P17 ): a Puritan poet be known as “The Muse” 4.Thomas Paine: one of continual, unswerving fight for the rights of man. 5.works: “Common Sense”“American Crisis”“The Rights of Man”“The Age of Reason”理性时代 6.Phillip Freneau(P22): 美国文学史上的重要人物 7.dawning nationalism 代表人物 Poems: The Wild Honeysuckle野生的金银花 first modern American & the last medieval man 8.Jonathan Edwards( Calvinism ) 9. a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening 10.works: “The Freedom of the Will”《自由意志论》“The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended”《伟哉原罪论辩》“The Nature of True Virtue” “American Dream”“Self-made” 11.Benjamin Franklin(puritanism) 12.“Poor Richard’s Almance”“autobiography”新文学形式 13.“18th century enlightenment” ii.Romanticism 1.Washington Irving（1783-1859） 2.①titles: “the father of American literature” 3.“the American Goldsmith” 4.②works: The Sketch Book (marked the beginning of American Romanticism and the beginning of short stories as a genre in American literature) 5.Rip Van Winkle (P47—P48) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 6.James Fenimore Cooper（1789-1851） 7.①One of the first writer to write American Westward movement 8.②“The Leatherstocking Tales” (novel) 9.first is “The Pioneers” 10.---Plot: ---theme conflict between Natty Bumppo and Judge Temple- ---character: Natty Bumppo---innocent, simple, honest and generous, for freedom, against civilization, wilderness is good Judge Temple---just, reasonable, for civilization and law ③Writing style: intriguing plot majestic landscape descriptions rich imagination
美国文学史及选读期末复习题
1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer. 2.The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people. is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin. 4.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”. 5.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.
has been called the “Father of American Poetry”. 7.In Washington I rving’s appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature. 8.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his William Cullen Bryant’s wok. is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”. 10.Emerson believed above all in
美国文学史及选读考研复习笔记6.
History And Anthology of American Literature （6） 附：作者及作品 一、殖民主义时期The Literature of Colonial America 1．船长约翰·史密斯Captain John Smith 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》 “A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony” 《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》 “A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country” 《弗吉尼亚通史》“General History of Virginia” 2．威廉·布拉德福德William Bradford 《普利茅斯开发历史》“The History of Plymouth Plantation”3．约翰·温思罗普John Winthrop 《新英格兰历史》“The History of New England” 4．罗杰·威廉姆斯Roger Williams 《开启美国语言的钥匙》”A Key into the Language of America” 或叫《美洲新英格兰部分土著居民语言指南》 Or “A Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America Called New England ” 5．安妮·布莱德斯特Anne Bradstreet 《在美洲诞生的第十个谬斯》 ”The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America” 二、理性和革命时期文学The Literature of Reason and Revolution 1。本杰明·富兰克林Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) ※《自传》“ The Autobiography ” 《穷人理查德的年鉴》“Poor Richard’s Almanac” 2。托马斯·佩因Thomas Paine (1737-1809) ※《美国危机》“The American Crisis” 《收税官的案子》“The Case of the Officers of the Excise”《常识》“Common Sense” 《人权》“Rights of Man” 《理性的时代》“The Age of Reason” 《土地公平》“Agrarian Justice” 3。托马斯·杰弗逊Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) ※《独立宣言》“The Declaration of I ndependence” 4。菲利浦·弗瑞诺Philip Freneau (1752-1832) ※《野忍冬花》“The Wild Honey Suckle” ※《印第安人的坟地》“The Indian Burying Ground” ※《致凯提·迪德》“To a Caty-Did” 《想象的力量》“The Power of Fancy” 《夜屋》“The House of Night” 《英国囚船》“The British Prison Ship” 《战争后期弗瑞诺主要诗歌集》 “The Poems of Philip Freneau Written Chiefly During the Late War” 《札记》“Miscellaneous Works” 三、浪漫主义文学The Literature of Romanticism 1。华盛顿·欧文Washington Irving (1783-1859) ※《作者自叙》“The Author’s Account of Himself” ※《睡谷传奇》“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 《见闻札记》“Sketch Book” 《乔纳森·欧尔德斯泰尔》“Jonathan Oldstyle” 《纽约外史》“A History of New York” 《布雷斯布里奇庄园》“Bracebridge Hall” 《旅行者故事》“Tales of Traveller” 《查理二世》或《快乐君主》“Charles the Second” Or “The Merry Monarch” 《克里斯托弗·哥伦布生平及航海历史》 “A History of the Life and V oyages of Christopher Columbus” 《格拉纳达征服编年史》”A Chronicle of the Conquest of Grandada” 《哥伦布同伴航海及发现》 ”V oyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus” 《阿尔罕布拉》“Alhambra” 《西班牙征服传说》“Legends of the Conquest of Spain” 《草原游记》“A Tour on the Prairies” 《阿斯托里亚》“Astoria” 《博纳维尔船长历险记》“The Adventures of Captain Bonneville” 《奥立弗·戈尔德史密斯》”Life of Oliver Goldsmith” 《乔治·华盛顿传》“Life of George Washington” 2．詹姆斯·芬尼莫·库珀James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) ※《最后的莫希干人》“The Last of the Mohicans” 《间谍》“The Spy” 《领航者》“The Pilot” 《美国海军》“U.S. Navy” 《皮袜子故事集》“Leather Stocking Tales” 包括《杀鹿者》、《探路人》”The Deerslayer”, ”The Pathfinder” 《最后的莫希干人》“The Last of the Mohicans” 《拓荒者》、《大草原》“The Pioneers”, “The Praire” 3。威廉·卡伦·布莱恩特William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) ※《死之思考》“Thanatopsis” ※《致水鸟》“To a Waterfowl” 4。埃德加·阿伦·坡Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) ※《给海伦》“To Helen” ※《乌鸦》“The Raven” ※《安娜贝尔·李》“Annabel Lee” ※《鄂榭府崩溃记》“The Fall of the House of Usher” 《金瓶子城的方德先生》“Ms. Found in a Bottle” 《述异集》“Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque” 5。拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) ※《论自然》“Nature” ※《论自助》“Self-Reliance” 《美国学者》“The American Scholar” 《神学院致辞》“The Divinity School Address” 《随笔集》“Essays” 《代表》“Representative Men” 《英国人》“English Traits” 《诗集》“Poems” 6。亨利·戴维·梭罗Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) ※《沃尔登我生活的地方我为何生活》 1
美国文学期末考试复习必备(精)
美国文学期末考试复习必备（精） 1. What’s Puritanism? A religious and political movement which appeals to the right of the individual to political & religious independence. It includes three parts: a code of values, a point of view & a philosophy of life 2. What are the basic Puritan beliefs? 1). Total Depravity 2). Unconditional Election 3). Limited Atonement 4). Irresistible Grace 5). Perseverance of the "saints" 3. What are American Puritan values? Sobriety thrift, Self-reliance Diligence, Struggle, simple tastes 4. What are the features of American literature in the Colonial Period? A. Humble origins: diaries, journals, histories, letters. Its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period. B. in content: serving either god or colonial expansion or both C. in form: imitating English literary traditions. D. in style: tight and logic structure, precise and compact expression, avoidance of rhetorical decoration, adoption of homely imagery and simplicity of diction. E. Symbolism formed in this period ------To the pious Puritan, the physical, phenomenal world was nothing but a symbol of God. F. Simple, fresh and direct style
美国文学史及选读考试整理
Washington Irving Bracebridge Hall 布雷斯布里奇田庄 (1822) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tales of a Traveller 旅客谈 (1824) Christopher Columbus (1828) c. writing characteristics (1) humorous: the function of his writing is to amuse, to entertain instead of teaching or instruction (2) vivid and true character portrayal (3) finished (refined) and musical language, thus regarded as “the Amn. Goldsmith ” d. analysis on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(选自the sketch book 见闻札记 ) 1. the story:setting,character, plot 2. theme:conflicts and praise conflict betw. Ichabod and Brom conflict betw. the village and the outside world James Fenimore Cooper The Spy (1821): a historical novel The Pilot (1824): a sea novel Leatherstocking Tales 皮裹腿故事集(1823-1841): frontier novels The Last Mohicans (1826) (Colonial War betw. Britain and France) e. writing features: strong points: we can see a variety of incidents and tensions, complicated plot and structure and a beautiful description of nature. Weak points: characterization is weak. There is unsatisfactory description of characters (esp. female). He is not free from syntactical awkwardness, heavy-handed attempt at humor. “Where Irving excels Cooper is weak.” Dialect is not authentic. Edgar Allan Poe The Fall of the House Usher Feature: i. brevity (15 pages) ii. Single effect iii. originality in theme To Helen It was inspired by the beauty of the mother of a schoolmate of Poe in Richmond, Virginia. The poem is famous for a number of things: 1. its rhyme scheme: ababb 2. its varied line lengths 3. its metaphor of a travel on the sea 4. its oft-quoted lines: "To the glory that was Greece,/And the grandeur that was Rome." theme: praise the ideal love and beauty and ancient Greek and Roman civilizations The Raven 乌鸦 theme: the lament over the death of a beautiful woman tone: melancholy Transcendentalism (essayists, poets, novelists) Their journal is “The Dial ” . Definition: Transcendentalism is idealism. (Emerson) b. features (1) stress on Oversoul, that is spirit. (2) stress the importance of individual. (3) fresh conception of nature. c. significance (1) inspired a whole generation of writers such as Whitman, Melville and Dickinson. (2) dresses man ’s subjective initiative as opposed to materialism. (3) liberated people from Calvin ’s original sin d. limitation (1) shallow: cut off from real life or reality; initiated by the rich, they were limited in a certain circle. So, in some degree, they have been cut off from social life and can ’t understand the sufferings of the common people. (2) inward contradiction: gain knowledge by intuition, shows its idealistic aspect. R.W. Emerson (Ralph Waldo) Nature (1836): the Bible of New England transcendentalism The American Scholar (1837): "America's Declaration of Intellectual The Divinity School Address 神学院致辞 (1838) Essays (1841/1847) Representative Men (1850) English Traits (1856)