英国文学考点整理

术语解释：

1. Heroic couplet：Heroic couplet is a rhyming couplet of iambic pentameter, often containing a complete thought. There is a fairly heavy pause at the end of the first line and a still heavier one at the end of the second .Commonly there is a parallel or an antithesis within a line, or between the two lines. It is called heroic because in England ,especially in the 18th century, it was much used for heroic poems.

2. Renaissance: This term refers to a great bourgeois cultural movement in European which began in the 14th century and continued to the mid-17th. century. It first spread all over Europe. Originally, the term means rebirth or revival. And the movement seems to be a rebirth or revival of ancient Greek and Roman culture, caused by a series of historical events, such as the new discoveries in geography and astrology, the religious reformation and the economic expansion.

3.Gothic Novel: A long prose narrative of horror, often involving cerie medieval castles with secret passageways. Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto(1764) was the first of line that has stressed horror. Other notable works are Ann Radcliffe's The Adventure of Mysteries of Udopho, Mathew Lewis's The Monk, Mary Shelley' Frankenstein, and etc.

4.Sentimentalism: By the middle of the century, sentimentalism came into being as the result of a bitter discontent with social reality among the enlightened people. The sentimentalism continued to struggle against feudalism. But they sensed at the same time the contradictions in the process of capitalist development. Dissatisfied with reason, they appealed to sentiment. Sentimentalism turned to the countryside for its material, and so is in striking contrast to classicism. The appearance and development of sentimental poetry marks the midway in the transition from classicism to its opposite, romanticism, in English poetry.

5.Epic: Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified

language, like Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple but full of magnificence. Today, some long narrative works ,like novels that reveal an age and its people are also called epic.

6.Critical Realism : Critical Realism is the main trend of the literary thoughts in the 19th century. It reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of cash upon human nature. Critical realists first and foremost set themselves the task of criticizing capitalist society from a democratic viewpoint of bourgeoisie reality. As far as the literary form or “genre”is concerned ，the major contribution made by the 19th century critical realists lies in their perfection of the novels. Like the realists of the 18th century, the 19th century critical realists made use of the form of novel for full and detailed representations of social and political events, and of the fate of individuals and of whole social classes.

7.Modernism: Modernism was a complex and diverse international movement in all creative arts, originating about the end of the 19th century. It provided the greatest renaissance of the 20th century. It was made up of many facets, such as symbolism, surrealism , cubism, expressionism, futurism, etc. It has also been called“the tradition of the new”—a conscious rejection of established rules, traditions and conventions, and “the dehumanization of art”—pushing into the background traditional notions of the individuals and society.

8.Romanticism : Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1840. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution it was also 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, but had a major impact on historiography,education and the natural sciences .Its effect on politics was considerable and complex; while for much of the peak Romantic period it was associated with liberalism and radicalism, in the long term its effect on the growth of nationalism was probably more significant.

问答题：

1.什么是十四行诗?十四行诗有哪几类？

Sonnet is a type of poem consisting of one sight fourteen-line-stanza. It was perfected by the Italian poet in the 13th century and introduced into England in the early 16th century.

English sonnets, in terms of structure, largely fall into two classes: the Petrarchian or Italian and the Shakespearian or English forms. The former divides it fourteen lines of iambic pentameters into two parts: one octet and the other sestet; while the latter consists of three quatrains and a final couplet.The three quatrains develop the poem’s subject consistently and the couplets condenses the emotion into an epigram.

2.莎士比亚的文学成就有哪些？

(1)Shakespeare is one of the founders of realism in world literature. He maintains that the purpose of dramatic performance is “to hold, as it were, the mirror up to nature”.

(2)Shakespeare is amazing productive. Within 22 years, he produced 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 long poems.

(3) Shakespeare was skilled in many poetic forms: the song ,the sonnet, the couplet, and the dramatic blank verse. He is a great master of English language.

(4) Shakespeare’s works are full of humanism. He has been universally acknowledged to be the summit of the English Renaissance, and one of the greatest writers the world over.

3.总结威尼斯商人的主要内容及女主人公的性格特点。Bassanio, borrowed some money from his friend Antonio so that he can court Portia. But Antonio’s money was all invested in expeditions and what he lent to Bassanio was borrowed from Shylock. Antonio agreed to give him a pound of his flesh if he failed to returned the money. Unluckily, his ships had all been lost on the sea. The bond issue came before a court of law. Portia used her wisdom to save Antonio and Shylock had to undergo sever penalties.

Portia, she is beautiful, prudent, resourceful ,witty,learning and courageous. She chooses her own husband and is capable of rising to an emergency. She is independent in character and takes her own path of life.

4.概括狄更斯的文学成就及写作特点。

Charles Dickens is a great British critical realistic writer.He wrote a lot of works which give a broad description of social life in the nineteenth century-- Vitoria times, exposing all kinds of evils of the bourgeois. His gets a high reputation as "one of the distinguished novelist of Britain ". Dickens is a 19th century British literary realism key representative.The main character in his works are sharp social criticism, gentle humanitarian, vivid outward portrayal, humorous and pungent irony. Psychological analysis, as well as realism, romanticism are also used to describe the atmosphere and the organic integration of the said. His latter works become constantly inhibited by the consciousness of the unfunny side of life.