英美文学史期末考试资料

Comment on WaldenIn 1845, Thoreau decided to conduct an experiment of self-sufficiency by building his own house on the shores of Walden Pond and living off the food he grew on his farm.He sought to reduce his physical needs to a minimum, in order to free himself for study, thought, and observation of nature, himself.Walden can be many things and can be read on more than one level. But it is, first and foremost, a book about man, what he is, and what he should be and must be.Considered one of the all-time great books, Walden is a record of Thoreau's two year experiment of living at Walden Pond. The writer's chief emphasis is on the simplifications and enjoyment of life now. It is regarded as 1. a nature book.2. a do-it-yourself guide to simple life. 3. a satirical criticism of modern life and living. 4. a belletristic achievement 5. a spiritual book. The Scarlet LetterSymbolic meaning of the letter “A” :1.The scarlet letter “A” is the central symbol of the novel. At the beginning it symbolized the sin of Hester—“adultery”, 2.then gradually when Hester became accepted by the community, it stands for Hester’s intelligence and diligence—“able”. 3.At the end of the novel the symbol has evolved to represent the high virtues of Hester Prynne—“angel”. Comments on The Scarlet Letter:1.The theme of the story should be the moral, emotional and psychological effects of the sin on people. 2.Scarlet Letter is a cultural allegory, in which the author indirectly tells the future of Puritanism.3.Scarlet Letter is a sample in which American Romanticism adapted itself to American Puritanism.(Because of the strong influence of Puritanism in American society, Hawthorne only expressed his ideas on the sin indirectly by employing symbolism.)Symbolism in the novel Moby DickA. the voyage itself is a metaphor for “search and discovery, the search for the ultimate truth of experience.”B. the Pequod is the ship of the American soul and consciousness.C. Moby Dick is a symbol of evil to some, of goodness to others, and of both to still others.D. The whiteness of Moby Dick is a paradoxical color, signifying death and corruption as well as purity, innocence and youth; it represents the final mystery of the universe.The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnSetting: unpopulated wildness an a dense forest along Mississippi River Characters:1.Ignorant uneducated black slave Jim2.Uneducated outcast white boy Huck Finn。

Theme: Huck’s inner waving struggle between what he was taught and what he thought out of good-heart and humanity.Its Features：1.Profound portrait of Huckleberry Finn 2.Magic power with language, the use of vernacular. 3. HumorIn a Station of the Metro1by Ezra Pound The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough.Note: 1。

a Paris subway stationAnalysis of this poemThe poem’s form is similar to Japanese haiku, with considering its title as a verse-line.The word “apparition” has double meaning:1. “appearance”, something which can be clearly observed;2. something which seems real but perhaps is not real; something ghostly which cannot be clearly observed.Petals may refer to the faces in the crowd, while bough may refer to the railway in the Metro.Theme: The faces in the subway station suggest both the impersonality and haste of city life and the greater transience of human life itself.The Great GatsbyTheme:the decline of the American Dream.the name of characters:Gatsby:the country’s history Daisy: seemingly beautiful American Dream Tom: commercialization which brought the country only moral depravity Nick: hope of the countryFitzgerald’s style: 1) flowery descriptive language 2) melancholy and often tragic ending3) symbolic imagery4) first person narrationComments on Fitzgerald:1.Fitzgerald's fictional world is the best embodiment of the spirit of the Jazz Age, in which he shows a particular interest in the upper-class society, especially the upper-class young people. 2.Fitzgerald’s fiction reveals the hollowness of the American worship of riches and the unending American dreams of love, splendor and gratified desires and shows what America meant in terms of the reckless 1920s: Prohibition, speakeasies, new cars, victory abroad, popular fads, and new wealth. 3.Fitzgerald was a realist in an old fashion. All his stories are about morality, industry, and maturity. 4.Therefore, his stories can be regarded as moral fables. He was interested in people’s dreams and failures. He showed more interest in subject matter than in structure.Hemingway style:1.Simplicity, economy of expression2.Diction: concrete, specific, commonly found, Anglo-Saxon, casual and conversational words, with few adverbs or adjectives3.Syntax: short, simple sentences, which are orderly and patterned, conversational and sometimes ungrammatical.4.A near "stream-of-consciousness" narration and interior monologue.5.Deceptive simplicity.On The Grapes of WrathIt is a story of the migration of agricultural workers from the dust bowl of Oklahoma to California, a portrait of the bitter conflict between the powerful and the powerless.In stark and moving detail, John Steinbeck depicts the lives of ordinary people striving to preserve their humanity in the face of social and economic desperation.It is a landmark of American literature, one that captures the horrors of the Great Depression as it probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America.It is Steinbeck’s clear expression of sympathy with the dispossessed and the wretched.The Road Not TakenSummary:1.In the first stanza, the speaker describes his position--the conflict between the common easy path and the exceptional challenging one.2.here are two roads he would like to try out both, but doubts he could do that. 3.Therefore he continues to look down the roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which road to take.Structure: 1.Four stanzas of five lines 2.Rhyme scheme: ABAAB 3.Four stressed syllables each line, varying on iambic tetrameter baseEmily Dickinson:. Themes of her Poetry1.Dickinson’s poems are usually based on her own experience, her sorrows and joys.2.Dickinson addresses those issues that concern the whole human beings, which include religion, death, immortality, love, and nature.3.Some of her poems are about her doubt and belief about religious subjects4.Some of her poems concern death and immortality (themes lying at the center of Dickinson’s world), ranging over the physic al as well as the psychological and emotionalaspects of deathThe Anecdote of the JarAnalysis:Actually this poem explains the relationship between art and the natural world. The jar changes how we perceive nature.This is about the white man coming to Tennessee and sticking out like a jar on a hill, but having dominion over the wild natives and plants and creatures, and taming them. Like the jar（罐）, the white man put himself above nature, and didn't give back。