文学术语1

文学术语1、Romance: It is a narrative verse of prose singing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds. Romances are popular in the medieval period.2Ballad: :A story told in song, usually in four line stanzas, with the 2nd and the 4th lines rhymed.3、Renaissance--a thristing curiosity for classical literature;--a keen interest in life and human activities.4、Humanism--individualism; the joy of the present life; reason; the affirmation of self-worth--Humanism emphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life. Humanists voiced their beliefs that man was the center of the universe and man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of the present life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.5、Sonnet: : It is a poem of 14 lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure; it expresses a single idea or theme. (Thomas Wyatt first introduced it to England)6、Shakespearean sonnet: : A Shakespearean sonnet consists of three four-line stanzas (called quatrains) and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg.7、iambic pentameter:is a form of rhythm that appears in poetry, songs, and some prose compositions. It is most closely associated with poetry, especially English poetry, which lends itself very well to this particular form of rhythm8、Blank verse: having a regular meter, but no rhyme. (Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey)9、Spenserian stanza斯宾塞诗体: : Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single 'Alexandrine' line in iambic hexameter. The rhyme scheme of these lines is "ababbcbcc."10、--Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare (“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day”): time, mortality, immortality11、Cavalier poets骑士诗人: --Reflected the royalist values;--Themes: beauty, love, loyalty, morality;--Style: Direct, short, frankly erotic--Motto: “Carpe Diem”“Seize the Day”12、Metaphysical school:玄学派--the founder of the Metaphysical school: John Donne--conceit: an extended metahpor involving dramatic contrasts or far-fetched comparisons;13、Enlightenment启蒙运动--an intellectual movement in Europe in the 18th century;--Reason as the guiding principle for thinking and action;--the belief in eternal truth, eternal justice, natural equality ;--a continuation of Renaissance; (Belief in the possibility of human perfection through education).14、Neo-classicism:新古典主义--A revival of classical standards of order, harmony, balance, simplicity and restrained emotion in literature in the 18th century.15、Sentimentalism--the middle and later decades of the 18th c.;--definition: passionover reason, personal instincts over social duties; the return of the patriarchal times; lamenting over the destructive effects of industrialization16、The Graveyard School---refers to a group of primarily 18th Century poets and writers, mostly male.whose frequently touched on themes of death, mortality, religion, and melancholy. Often elegiac in tone (and title) — an elegy is, by the 18th Century, simply a poem in lament of a death — these poems make frequent use of funereal or gloomy imagery, though their purpose was rarely sensationalist. . 17、Romanticism:--Features: individual as the center of all life and experience; from the outer world to the inner world; Passion; imagination ; Nature; pastoral; past ; Individual freedom; simple and spontaneous expression; symbolic presentations; fantastic elements;18、--Byronic Hero: an idealised but flawed anti-hero created by Byron; love of freedom, hatred of tyranny, passionate, rebellious, chivalrous, arrogant, cynical, individualistic, isolated, single-handedly, melancholy19、Female Gothic refers to the tradition of Gothic writing by women . . . that represents the female experience within domesticity as one of imprisonment, claustrophobia and terror.20、Naturalism: Heredity and social environment as the shaping forces of one’s character; to determine "scientifically" the underlying forces influencing the actions of the characters. pessimism; fatalism; detached perspective;21、Modernism:--1/theorytical basis---irrational philosophy,theory of psychoanalysis.2/innovative forms--- the rejection of tradition,critique of modern culture 3/thematic concerns---concerns for inner world,the subjective and the private(the nature of human existence,loneliness,anger,sense of loss,ill relationships,spiritual crisis)22、Steam of consciousness novel:the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelin gs, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them.23、Existentialism--“Existence precedes essence”--Theme;24、Symbolism:--the use of one object to represent another25、Metafiction: also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, uses literary techniques to draw attention to itself as a work of art, while exposing the "truth" of a story. "Metafiction" is the literary term describing fictional writing that self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in posing questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually using irony and self-reflection.26、Theatre of the Absurd；is a designation for particular plays of absurdistfiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s, as well as one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Their work expressed the belief that human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion, silence。