(完整word版)英语专业美国文学复习资料。.docx

1. The History of American literature

The literature of Colonial American (1607-1765)

The literature of Reason and Revolution(1765 — 18 世纪末）

The literature of Romanticism （ 1800— 1865）

The literature of Realism （ 1865— 1918）

The literature of Modernism （ 1918－ 1945）

The contemporary literature (1945 －Now)

2.Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography

That good fortune, when I reflected on it, which is frequently the case, has induced me something to say that were it left to my choice, I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end, only asking the advantage authors have of correcting in a second edition some faults of the first.

3.Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

4.Edgar Allan Poe The Cask of Amontillado

I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt

as such to him who has done the wrong.

5.Washington Irving Rip Van Winkle ( The Sketch Book )

“ Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains, and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but, sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.”

Interpretations of Rip Van Winkle

A New Critical Approach : A peaceful village before Revolution Natural world in the mountains ; A noisy world after revolution ------Irving was unwilling to accept a modern

democratic America------both Rip and Irving prefer the past and a dream-like world

A Feminist Approach : Rip is a good person with more advantages than disadvantages, and readers always show sympathy on him because he has such bad-tempered wife. It seems that he has good reason to go out from his family. He was forced to go out .

In fact , Rip: a lazy ,foolish man,an irresponsible father,a hard-hearted husband.His

wife :a hard-working ,thrift woman, a kind ,responsible mother, an able, brave woman.

6.Summit of Romanticism (American Transcendentalism)

Emerson Nature & Self-Reliance

Thoreau Walden

Nature : Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances, -- master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages.

Self Reliance:

Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after

our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness

the independence of solitude.

Walden:

1 A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.

2 I have frequently seen a poet withdraw , having enjoyed the most valuable part of a farm, while the crusty farmers supposed that he had got a few apples only.

3 The hollow and lichen-covered apple trees, gnawed by rabbits, showing what kind of neighbors I should have.

4 But I would say to my fellows, once for all, as long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the

country jail.

5 As I have said , I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up.

6 The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are

the ears that hear it.

7 The Harivansa says,“ An abode without birds is like a meat without seasoning. ” such was not my abode, for I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds, not by having imprisoned one, but having caged myself near them

8 “There was a shepherd that did live, And held his thoughts as high .As were the mounts whereon his flocks. Did hourly feed his by ” What should we think of the shepherd ’s life if his flocks always wandered to higher pastures than his thoughts?

Purpose : 1.escaping the effects of the Industrial Revolution by leading to a simpler life.

2.simplifying life and reducing expenditures, increasing writings time

3.putting into practice the Transcendentalist belief

Ideas : 1. the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.

2 .was very critical of modern civilization.

3.spiritual richness is real wealth

7.Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter

Hester Prynne--1.confesses her guilty, faces the future optimistically，helps others

2.able to construct her life, wins a moral success

3.moral growth-----angel

Dimmesdale----1.hides his guilty first

2.undergoes the physical and spiritual torments

Chillingworth--morally degrades by his pursuit of revenge

Pearl----1, it means treasure ( the treasure to her mother. )

2, Came out of an ugly shell but is beautiful

Theme: 1 Don ’tintend to tell a love story

2 assumes the universalityof guilty

3 explores the complexities and ambiguities of man ’s choices

4 focuses his attention on the moral, emotional, and psychological effects of the sin on the people.

Longfellow

8.

A Paslm of Life / The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls / I shot an Arrow / My Lost Youth / The Rainy Day

The tide rises,The Tide Falls(1879)

The tide rises, the tide falls, The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;

Along the sea-sands damp and brown, The traveler hastens toward the town,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,But the sea in the darkness calls;

The little waves, with their soft white hands,Efface the footprints in the sands,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls, Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;

The day returns, but nevermore . Returns the traveler to the shore,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

My Lost Youth

Often I think of the beautiful town

That is seated by the sea;

Often in thought go up and down

The pleasant streets of that dear old town,

And my youth comes back to me.

And a verse of a Lapland song

Is haunting my memory still

'A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts

I shot an arrow

I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight. Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak. I found the arrow, still unbroken;

And the song, from beginning to end,I found again in the heart of a friend.

9. Edgar Allan Poe To Helen Annabel Lee“The Raven”

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE；

And the stars never rise but I see 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.

10. Emily Dickinson I Started Early-Took My Dog- I am Nobody

To Make a Prairie Success is counted sweetest

I started Early -- Took my Dog --And visited the Sea --

The Mermaids in the Basement Came out to look at me --

And Frigates -- in the Upper Floor Extended Hempen Hands --

Presuming Me to be a Mouse --Aground -- upon the Sands --

But no Man moved Me -- till the Tide Went past my simple Shoe --

And past my Apron -- and my Belt --And past my Bodice -- too --

And made as He would eat me up --

As wholly as a Dew Upon a Dandelion's Sleeve --

And then -- I started -- too --And He -- He followed -- close behind --

I felt his Silver Heel Upon my Ankle -- Then my Shoes

Would overflow with Pearl --

Until We met the Solid Town --No One He seemed to know --

And bowing -- with a Might look --At me -- The Sea withdrew --

1 The speaker is extremely frightened by the sea.

2.The speaker also seems attracted to the sea.

3.The speaker runs to town to escape the sea.

4.She has a conflicted relationship to the sea.

5. she is attracted to sth that frightens her---her self consciousness may mean she has some desire about which she feels guilty.

Water, The sea

The unconscious, the emotions, the desire, the sexuality.

The speaker’s conflicted attitude toward the sea implies a conflicted attitude toward sex (sex both attract and frightens her)

11.Whitman Leaves of Grass One's Self I Sing O Captain! My Captain(free verse)The "ship" is intended to represent the United States of America, while its "fearful trip" recalls the troubles of the American Civil War. The "Captain" is Lincoln himself. (metaphor ) Rrhyme scheme : a a b b c d e d

12.Mark Twain(realism)The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

The Adventure of Tom Sawyer

13.Naturalism Theodore Sister Carrie

Stephen Crane TheOpen Boat

1. Sister Carrie

Oh, Carrie, Carrie! Oh, blind strivings of the human heart! Onward, onward, it saith(say), and where beauty leads, there it follows. Whether it be the tinkle of a lone sheep bell o ‘ er some quiet landscape, or the glimmer of beauty in sylvan places, or the show of soul in some passing eye, the heart knows and makes answer, following. It is when the feet weary and hope seems vain that the heartaches and the longings arise. Know, then, that for you is neither surfeit( 过量） nor content. In your rocking-chair, by your window dreaming, shall you long, alone. In your rocking-chair, by your window, shall you dream such happiness as you may never feel.

2.The Open Boat

Naturalism in the story

1,The indifference of nature

The oiler was the most skilled and capable man

If nature were just, The oiler would be the last of the four men who should

have died. The oiler ’s death and lack of explanation surrounding it reinforce the randomness

of nature’ s whims and symbolize the indifference of nature toward man

In the story a bird watches them and is completely indifferent.

2,The survival of the fittest

While the cook, captain, and correspondent all depend on a manmade or naturally occurring device to help them to the shore, the oiler goes it alone, relying only on his human strength and not on his more evolved capacity for thought and strategy.

The “ fittest ” are the men who have relied on man ’s ability to intelligently adapt and create.

3,Man ’s insignificance and aloneness in the universe

They think the man sees them. Then they think they see two men, then a crowd and perhaps a boat being rolled down to the shore. They stubbornly think that help is on

the way as the shadows lengthen and the sea and sky turn black.

14.Sherwood Anderson The Triumph of The Egg

The Egg’ s Symbolic Meanings :

1.The Egg: The Robber

2.The Egg: Beautiful But Fragile American Dream

3 The Egg: The Old Unsolved Riddle

Anne Porter

15.

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (Stream-of-Consciousness Narration ) 16.F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

East Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made rich

The unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals.

Do you think Gatsby deserves to be called“the great”?

It is complicated to say Gatsby deserves to be “ great” or not.

For one thing, Gatsby ’s capacity to dream makes him “great” . Gatsby was ambitious, hardworking, generous and passionate. He was so extremely loyal to his love Daisy that he could do anything to get Daisy back: he did shady business to earn money and social position; he threw luxurious parties just to draw Daisy ’s attention; he could take the blame for a death that he did not cause. Gatsby never gave up his idealistic dream while striving for material joy. Gatsby kept on making efforts to balance the both sides. In this respect, he is great.

For another thing, Gatsby never realized that Daisy wasn ’t the girl he loved anymore. He is not so wise and he can not see the people clearly. Gatsby was so innocent that he staked everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. In this respect, He wasn’ t sober enough to be great.

17.Ernest Hemingway(Iceberg theory)

A Clean, Well-lighted Place The Old Man and The Sea

18.Modern Poetry Imagism

Pound In a Station of the Metro

William Carlos Williams Spring and All The Red Wheelbarrow so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. 19.Robert Frost

Fire And Ice

The Road Not Taken

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;(woods 象征着大自然，而village象征着人类社会)

He will not see me stopping here,

To watch his woods fill up with snow (snow --- purity )

My little horse must think it queer，

To stop without a farmhouse near,

Between the woods and frozen lake ，

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake, (he---My horse,Personification )

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound ’s the sweep, (Alliteration)

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, (Alliteration)

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Rhyme : interlocking enclosed rhyme (aaba ,bbcb,ccdc, dddd)

Rhetorical Device

Alliteration---sound & sleep; dark & deep

Personification“ he”—horse“ My little horse must think it queer.”

Repetition(重复 )“ and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.( Superficial meaning: there is still a long distance before the speaker arrives at home and sleeps. Implied meaning: there are still numerous responsibilities before the speaker ’ s life comes to an end.

Symbolism

Woods--The mystery of nature; the temptations in our life

Village & He (the owner of the woods)—Human world & society

Snow--Something of purity

Promises--The unavoidable responsibilities & obligations

Miles--Long distance; the heavy duty of life

Sleep--Rest during night; the end of life (death)

I am on my way--The journey of life

20.Eugene O’Neill Desire Under the Elms (Abbie,Eben,Ephraim, Simeon ,Peter)

Toni Morrison

21.

Recitatif