美国文学史期末复习资料
1. I Heard a Fly Buzz—When I Died—
by: Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died —
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air —
Between the Heaves of Storm —
The Eyes around — had wrung them dry —
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset — when the King
Be witnessed — in the Room —
I willed my Keepsakes — Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable — and then it was
There interposed a Fly —
With Blue — uncertain stumbling Buzz —
Between the light — and me —
And then the Windows failed — and then
I could not see to see —
IV. Give brief answers to the following and write your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 15 points for each)
1. Being a period of the great flowering of American literature, the Romantic Period is called “the American Renaissance”. Briefly discuss what the features of American literature in this period are.
2. How does Sister Carrie embody Dreiser’
2008-2009学年度第二期《美国文学史及作品选读》
（2006级本科）期末考试A卷
参考答案
命题人：王琪、丁华良、祝小丁
I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases and
put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 1 point for each)
1. 1607
2. John Smith
3. Puritan
4. Reason
5. The Autobiography
6. Common Sense
7. The Declaration of Independence
8. Philip Freneau 9. Sketch Book 10. Transcendentalism
11. Nature 12. The Scarlet Letter 13. international theme 14. The civil war
15. free verse 16. Emily Dickinson 17. Mark Twain
18. Sister Carrie 19. Ezra Pound 20. Ernest Hemingway
II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 1 point for each)
1 --- 5: A C A B D 6 --- 10: C D B C A
11 ---15:C B D C A 16 --- 20: B B C A A
21 ---25: B B C C D 26 --- 30: C C A C C
III. Comment on the following poems. Put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 10 points for each)
1. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" was Frost's favorite of his own poems and Frost in a letter to Louis Untermeyer called it "my best bid for remembrance."
This poem illustrates many of the qualities most characteristic of Frost, including the attention to natural detail, the relationship between humans and nature, and the strong theme suggested by individual lines. The speaker in the poem, a traveler by horse on the darkest night of the year, stops to watch a woods filling up with snow. He thinks the owner of the woods is someone who lives in the village and will not see him stopping there. While he is attracted by the beauty of the woods and nature, he is reminded by his little horse and realizes that he has obligations which pull him away from the lure of nature. The speaker describes the beauty and temptation of the woods as “lovely, dark and deep,” but reminds himself that he must not remain there, because he has “promises to keep,” and a long journey ahead of him. He has to complete his obligations and then make his aspirations to be realized. Through the symbolic woods and horse, we also get to know that the speaker has strong self-awareness and self-discipline.
In another way, the poem can be analyzed from the perspective of aspiration and realization. Aspiration is something to be worked at. We enjoy the fruit of our realization only when we reach our destination. But from the spiritual point of view, we notice something else that is the transformation of aspiration and realization. Today's aspiration transforms itself into tomorrow's realization. Again, tomorrow's realization is the pathfinder of a higher and deeper goal. There is no end to our realization, and there is no end of our aspiration as long as you are alive. Our journey is eternal, and the road that we are taking on is also eternal. All aspirations become realization till the end of one’s life.
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter in the Rubaiyat stanza created by Edward Fitzgerald. Each verse (save the last) follows an a-a-b-a rhyming scheme, with the following verse's a's rhyming with that verse's b, which is a chain rhyme. Overall, the rhyme scheme is AABA-BBCB-CCDC-DDDD.
2. The poetess is watching her own death and recording the process. Instead of seeing God and hearing the songs of angels yearned for by Puritans upon death she heard a fly buzz, which is really ironic. Fly: sets off the stillness in the room;
blocks off the light (from heaven);
suggests a coming decadence
→ the speaker loses the opportunity of gaining immortality after death
The fly plays an important role in the speaker’s experience of death. The poem is, in part, about “the conflict between preconception and perception.” The person on his or her deathbed shifts perspective from “the ritual of dying” to “the fact of death.” The fly, by interrupting the dying speaker with its “Blue — uncertain stumbling Buzz — ” obliterates his or her false notions of death. The sound of the fly represents “the last conscious link with reality.” The poem lacks any hint of a life after death.
IV. Give brief answers to the following and write your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 15 points for each)
1.
(1) The whole nation had a strong sense of optimism and the mood of “feeling good”, giving birth to
the spectacular outburst of romantic feeling.
(2) The English counterpart exerted a stimulating impact on the writers of the young nation.
(3) Taking foreign influence in consideration, the great works of American writers still carried
typically American romantic color.
(4) The young nation had brought forth its own philosophy. Transcendentalism stresses man’s
capacity of knowing truth intuitively, and of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses.
2.
(1) In this novel, Dreiser expressed his naturalistic pursuit by expounding the purposelessness of life
and attacking the conventional moral standards.
(2) The novel best embodies his naturalistic belief that while men are controlled by heredity, instinct
and chance, a few extraordinary and unsophisticated human beings refuse to accept their fate wordlessly and instead strive, unsuccessfully, to find meaning and purpose for their existence.
(3) To Sister Carrie, the world is cold and harsh. Alone, helpless, she moves along like a mechanism
driven by desire and catches blindly at any opportunities for a better existence, opportunities first offered by Drouet, and then by Hurstwood. A feather in the wind, she was totally at the mercy of forces she cannot comprehend, still less to say control. The famous picture of Carrie sitting in a rocking chair in her room in the evening, rocking back and forth, is a picture of Carrie’s drifting with the tide. She has no control, no freedom of will.
美国文学（本科）试题6
I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases: (20%, 1 point for each)
1. In 1817, the stately poem called “Thanatopsis” introduced the best poet, ______, to appear in America up to that time.
2. James Fennimore Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea adventure and
______.
3. Ralph Emerson was recognized throughout his life as the leader of ______ movement, yet he never
applied the term to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.
4. Herman Melville’s novel ______ is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a
seemingly supernatural white whale.
5. In the early 19th century, Washington Irving wrote ______ which became the first work by an
American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.
6. In 1845, Henry David Thoreau began a two-year residence at ______ Pond.
7. After his death, ______ became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet’s Corner
of Westminster Abbey.
8. The American Romantic period stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outburst of
the ______.
9. The arbiter of 19th century literary realism in America was ______.
10. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called ______, which is poetry without a fixed beat
or regular rhyme scheme.
11. ______ is considered the founder of psychological realism. He believed that reality lies in the
impressions made by life on the spectator.
12. ______ is the novel into which Jack London put most of himself.
13. O. Henry’s ______ is a very moving story of a young couple who sell their best possessions in order
to get money for a Christmas present for each other.
14. ______ was the leader of a new movement in poetry which he called the “Imagist” movement.
15. In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald completed his best novel ______. It is the story of an idealist who was
destroyed by the influence of the wealthy, pleasure-seeking people around him.
16. Ernest Hemingway’s stature as a writer was confirmed with the publication of his novel ______ in
1929. The novel portrayed a farewell both to war and to love.
17. ______ was the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s.
18. William Faulkner considered __________ to be “the first truly American writer”.
19. As a genre, naturalism emphasized heredity and ______ as important deterministic forces shaping
individualized characters that were presented in special and detailed circumstances.
20. A series of sixteen pamphlets by Thomas Paine was entitled ______.
II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions.
Choose the one that is the best in each case: (30%, 1 point for each)
1. Moby Dick was dedicated to ____.
A. Ralph Emerson
B. Nathaniel Hawthorne
C. Henry Thoreau
D. Henry Longfellow
2. ____ was Mark Twain’s masterpiece from which, as Hemingway noted, “all modern American
literature comes.”
A. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
B. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
C. Life on the Mississippi
D. The Gilded Age
3. ____ usually was regarded as the first American writer.
A. Emily Bradford
B. Ann Bradstreet
C. Emily Dickinson
D. John Smith
4. Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the ____.
A. American Enlightenment
B. Sugar Act
C. Chartist movement
D. Romanticist
5. Thomas Jefferson’s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress, and the pursuit of happiness, is
typical of the period we now call ____.
A. Age of Evolution
B. Age of Reason
C. Age of Romanticism
D. Age of Regionalism
6. As a literary and philosophical movement, ____ flourished in New England from the 1830s to the
Civil War.
A. modernism
B. rationalism
C. sentimentalism
D. transcendentalism
7. ____ is NOT written by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A. The American Scholar
B. Self-Reliance
C. The Divinity School Address
D. Civil Disobedience
8. There is a good reason to state that New England Transcendentalism was actually ____ on the
Puritan soil.
A. Romanticism
B. Symbolism
C. Mysticism
D. Rationalism
9. American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. This was ____.
A. Anne Bradstreet
B. Jane Austen
C. Emily Dickinson
D. Harriet Beecher
10. Which of the following statements about O. Henry is NOT right?
A. He wrote about the poor people.
B. The ends of his stories are always surprising.
C. Many of his stories contain a great deal of slang and colloquial expressions.
D. The plots are usually clumsy.
11. The main theme of ____’s The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo that representation of life
should be the main object of the novel.
A. Henry James
B. William Howells
C. Mark Twain
D. O. Henry
12. Which of the following does NOT have a naturalist tendency?
A. Stephan Crane
B. Frank Norris
C. Jack London
D. Walt Whitman
13. For Melville, as well as for the reader and _____, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery, an
ultimately mystery of the universe.
A. Stubb
B. Ishmael
C. Ahab
D. Starbuck
14. Which of the following is NOT optimistic about human nature?
A. Ralph Emerson
B. Walt Whitman
C. Nathaniel Hawthorne
D. Henry Thoreau
15. Emily Dickinson wrote many of her poems on various aspects of life. Which of the following is
NOT a usual subject of her poetic expression?
A. Religion
B. Life and death
C. Love and marriage
D. War and peace
16. Of the following American writers, _____ had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
A. Mark Twain
B. Ernest Hemingway
C. Henry James
D. F. S. Fitzgerald
17. In 1862, President Lincoln exclaimed: “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started
this great war!” The book refers to ____.
A. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
B. Beloved
B. Pride and Prejudice D. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
18. The works of _____ reveals the misery of the migrant workers because of the American Depression.
A. F. S. Fitzgerald
B. John Steinbeck
C. Ernest Hemingway
D. William Howells
19. In Leaves of Grass, _____ is all that concerned Whitman.
A. individualism
B. freedom
C. democracy
D. all the above
20. It is not surprising to find in _____’s fiction a world of jungle, where “kill or to be killed” was the
law.
A. Mark Twain
B. Emily Dickinson
C. Theodore Dreiser
D. Henry James
21. During the period after the Civil War, the American society entered in what Mark Twain referred to
as ____.
A. the Golden Age
B. the Modern Age
C. the Gilded Age
D. the Puritan Age
22. “The Custom-House” is an introductory note to _____.
A. Moby-Dick
B. The Scarlet Letter
C. The Marble Faun
D. The Blithedale Romance
23. When we say that a poor young man from the West tried to make his fortune in the East but was
disillusioned in the quest of an idealized dream, we are probably discussing ______’s thematic concern in his fiction writing.
A. Henry James
B. F. Scott Fitzgerald
C. Ernest Hemingway
D. William Faulkner
24. American writers after World War I self-consciously acknowledged that they were (a) “____”,
devoid of faith and alienated from the Western civilization.
A. Lost Generation
B. Beat Generation
C. Sons of Liberty
D. Angry Young Men
25. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of William Faulkner?
A. He is master of stream-of-consciousness narrative.
B. His writing is often complex and difficult to understand.
C. He often depicts slum life in New York and Chicago.
D. He represents a new group of Southern writers
26. The setting of the novel The Scarlet Letter is in ____.
A. England during World War I
B. Paris during the French Revolution
C. Puritan America
D. America after the Revolutionary War
27. Which statement is NOT true of the American naturalist?
A. They ventured the forbidden subjects such as sex, death, and violence.
B. They stressed the possible triumph of human will.
C. They wrote in a daring, open, and direct manner.
D. They see human beings no more than a physical object.
28. ____ is often acclaimed as the literary spokesman of the Jazz Age.
A. Ernest Hemingway
B. F. Scott Fitzgerald
C. William Faulkner
D. John Steinbeck
29. ____, one of America’s greatest playwrights, won the Nobel Prize in 1936, the first American
playwright to receive the honor. Some of his most famous works include The Hairy Ape, Long Day’s Journey into Night.
A. Arthur Miller
B. Tennessee Williams
C. Bernard Malamud
D. Eugene O’Neill
30. Edgar Allan Poe occupies an important position in American literature as a poet and a ____.
A. short story writer
B. novelist
C. dramatist
D. translator
III. Read the poems carefully and answer the questions that follow. Put your answers on the Answer Sheet: (20%, 10 points for each poem)
1. Because I could not stop for Death —
Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —
The Carriage held but just Ourselves —
And Immortality.
We slowly drove — He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility —
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess — in the Ring —
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain —
We passed the Setting Sun —
Or rather — He passed Us —
The Dews drew quivering and Chill —
For only Gossamer, my Gown —
My Tippet — only Tulle —
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground —
The Roof was scarcely visible —
The Cornice — in the Ground —
Since then — ’tis Centuries — and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity —
Questions:
1.1 Who wrote this poem? (1%)
1.2 What is the poet or the speaker in the poem watching and recording? (1%)
1.3 What is death compared to in the poem? (1%)
1.4 What is depicted in the 3rd stanza? How is it related to the whole poem? (2%) 1.5 What is depicted in the 4th stanza? (1%)
1.6 What does the poet or the speaker in the poem think of eternity? (2%)
1.7 What is the attitude of the poet or the speaker in the poem towards death? (2%)
2. Annabel Lee
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee; -
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love -
I and my Annabel Lee -
With a love that the wingéd seraphs in Heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher,
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me -
Yes! - that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we -
Of many far wiser than we -
And neither the angels in Heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee: -
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee: -
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling - my darling - my life and my bride,
In her sepulcher there by the sea -
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Questions:
2.1 Who wrote this poem? (1%)
2.2 What is the theme of the poem? (2%)
2.3 What is the mood of the poem? (1%)
2.4 How does the poem coincide with Poe’s poetics or theory of poetry writing? (3%)
2.5 What makes you think the poem reads like a fairy tale? (3%)
IV. Answer the following questions, and put your answers on the Answer Sheet: (30%, 15 points for each)
1. What is local color fiction? List at least 5 of the best known writers of local color.
2. Instead of having her punished for her life of sin, Dreiser let Caroline Meeber in Sister Carrier
become successful. Can you tell why?
2007—2008学年度第二期《美国文学史及作品选读》考试A卷
参考答案
命题人：王琪、丁华良
I: Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases. (20%, 1 point for each)
1. Bryant
2. frontier saga
3. transcendentalist
4. Moby Dick
5. Sketch Book
6. Walden
7. Longfellow
8. Civil War
9. Howells 10. free verse
11. Henry James 12. Martin Eden 13. The Gift of Magi
14. Pound 15. The Great Gatsby 16. A Farewell to Arms
17. Steinbeck 18. Mark Twain
19. Environment 20. American Crisis
II: Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case. (30%, 1 point for each)
1 --- 5: B B D A B 6 --- 10: D D A C D
11 ---15: A D B C D 16 --- 20: B D B D C
21 --- 25: C B B A C 26 --- 30: C B B D A
III. Read the poems and answer the questions that follow. (20%)
Poem 1
1.1 Who wrote this poem? (1%)
Emily Dickinson.
1.2 What is the poet or the speaker in the poem watching and recording? (1%)
Apparently the woman tells the story of how she is busily going about her day when a polite gentleman by the name of Death arrives in his carriage to take her out for a ride, but, in reality, the speaker is watching and recording her own funeral.
美国文学史及选读试卷 (1)
美国文学史及选读试卷 Ⅰ.Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternatives. Choose the one that would best complete the statement. (60points in all, 2 for each) 1. Which of following can be said of the common features which are shared by the English and American Romanticists ? A. An increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions. B. An increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters. C. An increasing emphasis on the desire to return to nature. D. both A and B. 2. Which of the following statements about the Romantic period in the history of American literature is NOT true? （） A. In most of the American writings of this period there was a new emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. B. The writers of this period placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and displayed an increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters. C. There was a strong tendency to exalt the individual and the common man. D. Most heroes and heroines in the writings of this period exhibited extremes of reason and nationality. 3.______ is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the American Romanticism in the history of American literature. A. New England Transcendentalism B. England Transcendentalism C. the Harlem Renaissance D. New Transcendentalism 4.Hawthorn e’s unique gift was for the creation of ______ which touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature. A. symbolic stories B. romantic stories
美国文学史及选读自考考点
The literature of colonial America John Smith 1）The1st American writer 2）作品“reports of exploration”have been de scribed as the1st distinctly American literatur e written in English,attracted Pilgrims(朝圣者) &the Puritans. 3）1608，写了封信“A true Relation of Such O ccurance&Accidents of Note as Hath Happen ed in Virginia Since the1st planting of That c olony” 4）1612，第二本书“A map of Virginia:with a Description of the Country” 5）他一共出版了八本书，公司破产以后做了向导，he sought a post as guide to the pilgrims. 1624，“General History of Virginia”讲述How the Indian princess Pocahonats Saved him. 6）他早期记录和反映的思想慢慢演变成了美国历史的基本思想，这种思想推动了美国边疆的西移。7）早期英格兰文学主要关于theological(神学), moral(道德),historical and political.
The Puritans in New England embraced hards hips,together with the discipline of a harsh church.They had toughness,purpose and cha racter,they grappled strongly with challenges they set themselves.他们的基本价值观：hard w ork,thrift,piety and sobriety.（也是美国作品的主导思想） William Bradford&John Withrop 1）William Bradford：“The History of Plymouth Plantation”（从1630年写起，关于一群清教徒从英国出发到Amsterdam最后到新大陆的过程）Cotton Mather评价：“a common blessing and father to them all.” 2）John Withrop：“The History of New England”（1630，登上Arbella号去Massachusetts并keep a journal and to the rest of his life.1826年出版）3）Puritans -Puritans wanted to make pure their religious beliefs and practices.The Puritan was Would-be purifier. -Looked upon themselves as a choosen peol
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-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
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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
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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
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美国文学史及选读试题 I. Multiple Choice 10’ 1. Who is different from others according to the division of writing period? A. Washington Irving B.William Cullen Bryant C. Captain John Smith D. James Fenimore Cooper 2. The American Romantic Period lasted roughly from ____ to ____. A. 1798-1832 B. 1810-1860 C. 1860-1864 D. 1776-1783 3. How many syllables are there in this first line of Raven? (“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,”) A. 11 B. 12 C. 13 D. 16 4. What dominated the Puritan phase of American writing? A. theology B. literature C. esthetics D. revolution 5. At the initial period of the spread of ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to ____. A. typography B. journalism C. revolution D. the development of paper-making industry 6. Who has been called the “Father of American Literature”? A. Walt Scott B. Geoffrey Chaucer
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1、The Colonial Period（1607-1765） American Puritanism ( in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th) 北美第一位女诗人Anne Bradstreet(宗教气息，夫妻恩爱) Edward Taylor 都受英国玄学派影响（metaphysical） 2、The Enlightenment and Revolution Period Benjamin Franklin:Poor Richard's Almanac The Autobiography---“美国梦”的根源 3、American Romanticism（end of 18th to the civil war） American writers emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. 早期浪漫主义Washington Irving father of American Literature
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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