英美文学复习资料

英美文学I. 本期讲过的所有名家名作II．名词术语:Ode——in ancient literature, is an elaborate lyrical poem composed for a chorus to chant and to dance to; in modern use, it is a rhymed lyric expressing noble feelings, often addressed to a person or celebrating an event.Alliteration——It is a form of initial rhyme, or head rhyme.It is the repetition of the same sound or sounds at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other.e.g. He came on under the clouds, clearly saw at lastRage-inflamed, wreckage-bent, be ripped openKenning——a figurative language in order to add beauty to ordinary objects. It is a metaphor usually composed of two words, which becomes the formula for a special object.e.g. Helmet bearer—— warriorSwan road——the seaThe world candle—— the sunRepetition &Variatione.g. Grendel / The spoiler / warlike creature /the foe / horrible monsterA host of young soldiers / a company ofKinsmen / a whole warrior-bandCaesura——every line consists of two clearly separated half lines between which is a pause, called caesura.e.g. Grendel stalking; God’s brand was on him.the gold-hall of men, the mead-drinking placenailed with gold plates. That was not the first visitBallad——is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides. The form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century it took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and the term is now often used as synonymous with any love song, particularly the pop or rock power ballad.Epic——is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. The first epics are known as primary, or original, epics. One such epic is the Old English story Beowulf. Epics that attempt to imitate these like Milton’s Paradise Lost are known as literary, or secondary, epics.➢The six main characteristics:1. The hero is outstanding. He might be important, and historically or legendarily significant.2. The setting is large. It covers many nations, or the known world.3. The action is made of deeds of great valor or requiring superhuman courage.4. Supernatural forces—gods, angels, demons—insert themselves in the action.5. It is written in a very special style.6. The poet tries to remain objective.Sonnet (Italian Sonnet, Shakespearean Sonnet, Spenserian Sonnet, Miltonic Sonnet)①Italian sonnet❖created by Giacomo da Lentini, head of the Sicilian School.❖Petrarch (1304-1374) most famous early sonneteer❖It falls into two main parts:❖an octave rhyming “abbaabba” (set up a problem ) + volta❖followed by a sestet rhyming “cdecde” or some variant, such as “cdccdc” (answer)②English / Shakespearean sonnet❖The greatest practitioner: William Shakespeare❖three quatrains followed by a couplet❖often presents a repetition-with-variation of a statement in each of the three quatrains ❖The final couplet in the English sonnet usually imposes an epigrammatic turn at the end.——a fourteen-line poem of iambic pentameters. This form is made up of 3 quatrains and a couplet, rhyming：ababcdcdefefgg③Spenserian sonnet❖A variant on the English form is the Spenserian sonnet, named after Edmund Spenser❖three quatrains connected by the interlocking rhyme scheme and followed by a couplet ❖the rhyme scheme is abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee——has the rhyme scheme ababbcbccdcdee and no break between the octave (an eight line stanza) and the sestet( a six line stanza). It is named after the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser.④Miltonic SonnetConceit——in literature, a conceit is an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem. By juxtaposing, usurping and manipulating images and ideas in surprising ways, a conceit invites the reader into a more sophisticated understanding of an object of comparison. Extended conceits in English are part of the poetic idiom of Mannerism, during the later sixteenth and early seventeenth century.Simile—is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements hav ing at least one quality or characteristic in common.Simile is almost always introduced by th e following words:like,as,as…as,as it were,as if,as though,be something of,similar to,etc.Metaphor—is a figure of speech where comparison is implied.It is also a comparison between two unlike elements with a similar quality.But unlike a simile,this comparison is implied,not expressed with the word"as"or"like".Symbol——In literary usage, a symbol is a specially evocative kind of image: that is, a word or phrase referring to a concrete object, scene, or action which also has some further significance associated with it.➢Types of SymbolsI. Universal or cultural symbols/traditional symbolsare those whose associations are the common property of a society or culture and are so widely recognized and accepted that they can be said to be almost universal.e.g. water—lifeSerpent—the DevilLamb—Jesus ChristII. Contextual, Authorial, or Private symbolsare those whose associations are neither immediate nor traditional; instead, they derive their meaning, largely if not exclusively, from the context of the work in which they are used.e.g. the albatross in Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”Synecdoche——a figure of speech in which a part is substituted for a whole or a whole for a part e.g. My baby woke for a bottle. [提喻用部分代替全体,或用全体代替部分,或特殊代替一般.] Oxymoron——is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory. Oxymora appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors (such as "ground pilot") and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox. The most common form of oxymoron involves an adjective–noun combination of two words. For example, the following line from Tennyson's Idylls of the King contains two oxymora: And faith unfaithful kept him falselye.g. painful pleasure a thunderous silencePun——The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play that suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. Puns are used to create humor and sometimes require a large vocabulary to understand. Puns have long been used by comedy writers, such as William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and George Carlin.➢Puns can be classified in various ways:①The homophonic pun, a common type, uses word pairs which sound alike (homophones) but are not synonymous.②A homographic pun exploits words which are spelled the same (homographs) but possess different meanings and sounds.③Homonymic puns, another common type, arise from the exploitation of words which are both homographs and homophones.④A compound pun is a statement that contains two or more puns.⑤A recursive pun is one in which the second aspect of a pun relies on the understanding of an element in the first.⑥Visual puns are used in many logos, emblems, insignia, and other graphic symbols, in which one or more of the pun aspects are replaced by a picture.Personification——a figure of speech which represents abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities, including physical, emotional, and spiritual; the application of human attributes or abilities to nonhuman entities.ExaggerationDramatic monologue——a kind of poem in which the speaker is imagined to be addressing a silent audience——in its broadest sense, is a rhetorical device,literary technique, or event characterized by an incongruity, or contrast, between what the expectations of a situation are and what is really the case.——A subtly humorous perception of inconsistency, in which an apparently straightforward statement or event is undermined by its context so as to give it a very different significance.Allusion——is a figure of speech, in which one refers covertly or indirectly to an object or circumstance from an external context. It is left to the reader or hearer to make the connection; where the connection is detailed in depth by the author, it is preferable to call it "a reference". Literary allusion is closely related to parody and pastiche, which are also "text-linking" literary devices. A type of literature has grown round explorations of the allusions in such works as Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock or T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land. James JoyceRomanticism——Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe. In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature.Modernism——Modernism is a rather vague term which is used to apply to the works of a group of poets, novelists, painters, and musicians between 1910 and the early years after the World War II. The term includes various trends or schools, such as imagism, expressionism, dadaism, stream of consciousness, and existentialism. It means a departure from the conventional criteria or established values of the Victorian age.➢The basic themes of modernism:1. Alienation and loneliness are the basic themes of modernism. In the eyes of modernist writers, the modern world is a chaotic one and is incomprehensible.2. Although modern society is materially rich, it is spiritually barren. It is a land of spiritual and emotional sterility.3. Human beings are helpless before an incomprehensible world and no longer able to do things their forefathers once did.➢The characteristics of modernism：1. Complexity and obscurity: (juxtaposition, no limitation of space)2. The use of symbols: (symbol: a means to express their inexpressible selves)3. Allusion: (Allusion is an indirect reference to another work of literature, art, history, or religion.)4. Irony: (an expression of one’s meaning by using words that mean the direct opposite of what one really intends to convey.)Rhyme scheme——the pattern in which the rhymed line-endings are arranged in a poem or stanza. Head rhyme: As busy as a beeEnd rhymeCrossed rhymeWill ye bridle the deep sea with reins, will ye chasten the high sea with rods?Will ye take her to chain her with chains, who is older than all ye Gods?Internal rhyme:“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary"Iambic meter/ trochaic meter/anapestic meter❖Iamb is a metrical unit (foot) of verse❖about [ə'baʊt] =ə+'baʊt❖[ə'baʊt]❖an unstressed syllable(˘) +a stressed syllable(׳)❖=one iambic foot/meter❖About about about about about❖=iambic pentameter抑扬格(iambic):如果一个音步中有两个音节，前者为轻，后者为重，则这种音步叫抑扬格音步，其专业术语是（iamb, iambic.）。