英国文学史名词解释

1. Ballad(民谣)A ballad originally is a song intended as an accompaniment to a dance or a popular song. In the relatively recent sense, now most widely used, a ballad is a single, spirited poem in short stanzas, in which some popular story is graphically narrated. The ingredients of ballads usually include a refrain, stock descriptive phrases, and simple, terse dialogue.2. Alliteration(头韵)It refers to a repeated initial consonant to successive words and it is the most striking feature in its poetic form. In alliterative verse, certain accented words in a line begin with the same consonant sound. There are generally 4 accents in a line, three of which show alliteration, and it is the initial sound of the third accented syllable that normally determiners the alliteration. In old English verse, alliteration is not an unusual or expressive phenomenon but a regular recurring structural feature of the verse.3. Sonnet (十四行诗)It is a poem of 14 lines (of 11 syllables in Italian and 10 in English), typically in rhymed iambic pentameter. Sonnets characteristically express a single theme or idea.The sonnet was introduced to England by Sir T. Wyatt and developed Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey) and was thereafter widely used notably in the sonnet sequences of Shakespeare, Sidney, and Spenser. 4. Tragedy(悲剧)The word is applied broadly to dramatic works in which events move to a fatal or disastrous conclusion. It is concerned with the harshness and apparent injustice of life. Often the hero falls from power and his eventual death leads to the downfall of others. The tragic action arouses feelings of awe in the audience.5. Lyric(抒情诗)As a genre, it was the tradition of popular song flourishing in all the medieval literatures of Western Europe. In England lyric poems flourished in the Middle English period, and in the 16th century, heyday of humanism. This tradition was enriched by the direct imitation of ancient models. During the next 200 years the links between poetry and music was gradually broken, and the term “lyric” came to be applied to short poems expressive of a poet’s thoughts or feelings.6. Epic(史诗)It is a poem that celebrates in the form of a continuous narrative the achievements of one or more heroic personages of history or tradition. Among the great epics of the world may be mentioned the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and Paradise Lost.7. Renaissance(文艺复兴)The word “renaissance” means rebirth or revival. It is commonly applied to the movement or period of great flowering of art, architecture, politics, and the study of literature, usually seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern worn world. It came about under the influence of Greek and Roman models. It began in Italy in the late 14th century, reached the highest development in the early 16th century, and spread to the rest of Europe in the 15th century and afterwards. Its emphasis was humanist: that is , on regarding the human figure and reason without a necessary relating of it to the superhuman.8. Enlightenment(启蒙运动)Enlightenment also called the neoclassic movement. It refers to the philosophical and artistic movement growing out of the Renaissance and continuing until the 19th century. The term is generally used to describe the philosophical, scientific, and rational spirit, the freedom from superstition, the skepticism and faith in religious tolerance of much of 18th-century Europe. Te Enlightenment writers would use satire to ridicule the illogical errors in government, social custom, and religious belief. This period’s poetry in England was typified by Alexander Pope, John Dryden and others.9. Classicism(古典主义)The term, when applied generally, means clearness, elegance, symmetry, and repose (清新、优雅、对称与和谐) produced by attention to traditional forms. More precisely, the term refers to the admiration and imitation of Greek and Roman literature, art, and architecture. It stands for certain definite ideas and attitudes including dominance of reason, balance and other etc. Classicism is usually contrasted with romanticism.10. Romanticism or Romantic Movement(浪漫主义)The term refers to the literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and early 19th century. Romanticism rejected the rejected the earlier philosophy of the Enlightenment, which stressed that logic and reason were the best response humans had in the face of cruelty, stupidity, superstition, and barbarism. The Romantics asserted that reliance upon emotion and natural passions provided a valid and powerful means of knowing and a reliable guide to ethics and living. Its stylistic keynote is intensity, and its watchword is imagination. Their writings are often set in rural, or Gothic setting and they show an obsessive concern with “innocent” characters----children, young lovers, and animals. The major Romantic poets included Blake, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, and Byron.11. Genre (样式):A type of category of literature marked by certain shared features or customs. The three broadest categories of genre include poetry, drama, and fiction. These general genres are often subdivided into more specific genres and subgenres. For example, the poetry can be sub-classified as epic, elegy, lyric and pastoral etc.12. Critical realism(批判现实主义)Critical realism is one of the literary genres that flourished mainly in the 19th century. It reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of eash upon human nature. Here lies the essentially democratic and humanistic character of critical realism. The English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. In their best works, they used humor and satire to contrast the greed and hypocrisy classes. Humorous scenes set off the actions of the positive characters, and the humor is often tinged with a lyricism which serves to stress the fine qualities of such characters. At the same time, bitter satire and grotesque is used to expose the seamy side of the bourgeois society. The critical realists, however, did not find a way to eradicate the social evils they knew so well. They did not realize the necessity of changing the bourgeois society through conscious human effort. Their works do not point toward revolution but rather evolution or reformism. They often start with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the bourgeois world in their works, but their novels usually have happy endings or an impotent compromise at the end. Here are the strength and weakness of critical reali sm.。