美国文学史试题库

F i l l i n t h e b l a n k s.1.American achievements in the short story have demanded international respect andadmiration for more than a century and a half. The first successful American short stories came from Washington Irving in the early 19th century.2.Edgar Allan Poe is generally thought of as the true beginner of the short stories becausehe was the first writer who formulated a poetics of the short stories.3.In the 20th century, there have been many who have won fame abroad as well as in the USfor their short stories: Sherwood Anderson, Hemingway Faulkner, Anna Porter,and dozens of others.4.As you read from writer to writer, from Washington Irving’s ‘Rip Van Winkle’toO’Connner’s ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’, you will see the coming of a short story age, growing from an entertaining tale into a story which probes deep into human souls.5.Modern literary fiction has been dominated by two forms: the short story and the novel.6.Washington Irving, the Father of American Literature, developed the short story as agenre in American literature.7.Allan Poe is usually acknowledged as the originator of detective stories. He is alsocredited with developing many of the standard features of detective fiction.II.Multiple choice1.Edgar Allan Poe wrote poems which are marvels of beauty and craftsmanship, such as____.A. I Hear America SingingB. The RavenC. To a waterfowlD. The fall of the House of Usher2.The common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasis on the___.A. revolutionismB. reasonC. individualismD. rationalism3.In American literature, the 18th century was the Age of the Enlightenment, ___ was thedominant spirit.A. humanismB. rationalismC. revolutionD. evolution4.Who was considered the “Poet of American Revolution”?A. Michael WigglesworthB. Edward TaylorC. Anne BradstreetD. Philip Freneau5.Thomas Jefferson’s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress, and the pursuit of happiness,is typical of the period we now call___.A. Age of EvolutionB. Age of ReasonC. Age of RomanticismD. Age of Regionalism6.Mark Twain created, in _____, a masterpiece of American realism that is also one of thegreat books of world literature.A. Huckleberry FinnB. Tom SawyerC. The Man That Corrupted HadleyburyD. The Gilded Age7.The pessimism and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of suchAmerican writers as___.A. Mark TwainB. Scott FitzgeraldC. Walt WhitmanD. Stephen Crane8.Although realism and naturalism were products of the 19th century, their final triumphcame in the 20th century, with the popular and critical successes of such writers as Edwin Arlington, William Cather, Robert Frost, William Faulkner and_____.A. Edgar Allan PoeB. Sherwood AndersonC. Washington IrvingD. Ralph Ellison9.American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. She was___.A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickinsonD. Harried Beecher10.With Howells, James and Mark Twain active on the scene, ____ became the major trend inthe seventies and eighties of the 19th century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism11.Choose from the following writers a staunch advocate of the 19th century Americanrealism.A. Mark TwainB. Washington IrvingC. Stephen CraneD. Jack London12.Which writer has naturalist tendency?A. Frank NorrisB. William Dean HowellsC. Theodore DreiserD. Both A and C13.Early in the 20th century, ____ published works that would change the nature of Americanpoetry.A. Ezra PoundB. T.S. EliotC. Robert FrostD. Both A and B14.The Imagist writers followed three principles. They respectively are direct treatment,economy of expression and ____.A. local colorB. ironyC. clear rhythmD. blank verse15.____, one of the essays in The Sacred Wood, is the earliest statement of T.S. Eliot’saesthetics, which provided a useful instrument for modern criticism.A. ‘Sweeny Agonistes’B. ‘Tradition and Individual Talent’C. ‘A Primer of Modern Heresy’D. ‘Gerention’16.T.S Eliot used a form, that is, the orchestration of related themes in successivemovements, in such works as ____.A. The Waste LandB. ‘A Rose for Emily’C. The Scarlet LetterD. The Egg17.T.S. Eliot’s first major poem (1917)____, has been called the first masterpiece s ofmodernism in English.A. ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’B. ‘The Waste Land’C. ‘Four Quartets’D. Prelude18.The three poets Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and ____ opened the way to modern poetry.A. O. HenryB. Henry David ThoreauC. E.E. CummingsD. Robert Frost19.In 1954, ___ was awarded the Nobel prize for literature fro his “mastery of the art ofmodern narration”.A. T.S EliotB. Earnest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faulkner20.William Faulkner is one of the most important southern writers in the United States. ____,As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom! are works that ambitious critics tend to admire.A. The Sound and the FuryB. The Invisible ManC. A Good Man is Hard to FindD. The Wrath of the GrapesIV. Questions and answers.1.How do you understand Mark twain’s use of local color in his writing?Mark Twain’s narratives are distinguished for his use of local color. This may bedefined as the careful attention to details of the physical scene and to those mannerismsin speech, dress, or behavior peculiar to a geographical locality. He insisted that the jobof the native novelists was to depict each of the country’s regions and people accurately.Only in this way could the peculiarity of American experience, the polyglot tongues ofits people, and the vastness of the continent be captured. He mainly exploited thepossibilities of the local color in the Mississippi region.2.Discuss the concept of wasteland in relation to the works of those writers in the 20thcentury American literature.‘The Waste Land’ is a poem written by T.S. Eliot on the theme of the sterility and chaosof th3 contemporary world. This most widely known expression of the despair in thepostwar era has appeared over and over again in the works of those writers in the 2othcentury American literature. Faulkner exemplified T.S. Eliot’s concept of modernsociety as a wasteland is a dramatic way, he condemned the mechanized, industrializedsociety that has dehumanized man by forcing him to cultivate false values and decreasethose essential human values such as courage, fortitude, honesty and goodness.Fitzgerald sought to portray a spiritual wasteland of the jazz age. Beneath the masks ofrelaxation and joviality, there was only sterility, meaningless and futility amid thegrandeur and extravagance, there was a hint of decadence and moral decay. Hemingway,the leading spokesman of the Lost Generation, though disillusioned in the postwarperiod, strove to bring about man’s “grace under pressure”. He tried to bring out theidea than man can be physically destroyed but never defeated spiritually.3.Analyze Walt Whitman’s ‘O Captain! My Captain’ in terms of free verse.In the poem, Whitman celebrates the heroic struggle of the American people fordemocracy, freedom and justice and expresses his seething hatred of slavery.Free verse is a kind of poetry that lacks regular meter or pattern and may not rhyme.Depending on natural speech rhythms, its lines may be of different lengths and mayswitch abruptly from one rhythm to another. Whitman was the first American poet touse free verse extensively, because it is an appropriate form for his liberating view oflife and for his poetry that would allow every aspect of life to speak without restraint.He tried to approximate the natural cadences of speech in his poetry, carefully varyingthe length of his lines according to his intended emphasis.Literature of Colonial AmericaI.Literary Terms1.Separatists:In the colonial period, the Puritans who had gone to extreme were known as“separatists”. Unlike the majority of Puritans, they saw no hope of reforming the Church of England from within. They felt that the influences of politics and court had led to corruptions within the church. They wished to break free from the Church of England.Among them was the Plymouth plantation group. They wished to follow Calvin’s model, and to set up “particular” churches.2.Pilgrims and Puritans: A small group of Europeans sailed from England on theMayflower in 1620. The passengers were religious reformers--- Puritans who were critical of the Church of England. Having given up hope of “purifying”the Church from within, they chose instead to withdraw from the Church. This action earned them the name Separatists. We know them as the pilgrims.II.Fill in the blanks1.The term “Puritan” was applied to those settlers who originally were devout members ofthe Church of England.2.Harvard College was established in 1636, with a printing press set up nearly in 1639.3.Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety, these were the puritan values that dominated muchof the early American writing.4.The American poets who emerged in the seventeenth century adapted the style ofestablished European poets to the subject matter confronted in a strange, new environment. Anne Bradstreet was one of such poets.5.Bradstreet used a word “pilgrim” to describe the community of believers who sailed fromSouthampton England, on the Mayflower and settled in Plymouth,Massachusetts, in 1620.6.The writer who best expressed the Puritan faith in the colonial period was JohnWinthrop.7.The Puritan philosophy known as Puritanism was important in New England duringcolonial time, and had a profound influence on the early American mind for several generations.III.Multiple choice1.Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in ___ began the main stream of what werecognize as the American national history.A. Virginia and PennsylvaniaB. Massachusetts and New YorkC. Virginia and MassachusettsD. New York and Pennsylvania2.The first writings that we call American were the narratives and ___ of the earlysettlements.A. journalsB. poetryC. dramaD. folklores3.Among the earliest settlers in North America were Frenchmen who settled in the NorthernColonies and along the ____ River.A. St. LouisB. St. LawrenceC. MississippiD. Hudson4.In 1620 a number of Puritans came to settle in ___.A. VirginiaB. GeorgiaC. MarylandD. Massachusetts5.Whose reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been regarded as thefirst distinct American literature written in English?A. John Winthrop’sB. John Smith’sC. William Bradford’sD. Christopher Columbus’s6.What style did the seventeenth century American poets adapt to the subject matterconfronted in a strangely new environment?A.The style of their own.B.The style mixed with English and American elements.C.The style mixed with native-American and British tradition.D.The style of established European poets.7.____ was a civil covenant designed to allow the temporal state to serve the godly citizen.A.The early history of Plymouth Colony.B.The Magnalia Christi America.C.Mayflower Compact.D.Freedom of the Will8.Who among the following translated the Bible into the Indian tongue?A. Roger WilliamsB. John EliotC. Cotton MatherD. John Smith9.The best of Puritan poets was____, whose complete edition of poets appeared in 1960,more than two hundred years after his death.A. Anne BradstreetB. Michael WigglesworthC. Thomas HookerD. Edward Taylo r10.English literature in America is only about more than ___ years old.A. 500B. 600C. 200D. 10011.The early history of ___ Colony was the history of Bradford’s leadership.A. Plymout hB. JamestownC. New EnglandD. Mayflower12.The common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasis on the ___.A. revolutionismB. reasonC. individualismD. rationalism13.Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made such a stir in England that shebecame known as the “___” who appeared in America.A. Ninth MuseB. Tenth MuseC. best MuseD. First Muse14.The ship “___”carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat its wayacross the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.A. SunflowerB. ArmadaC. MayflowerD. Titanic15.Which writer best expressed the Puritan sense of the self?A. Jonathan EdwardsB. Cotton MatherC. John SmithD. Thomas Hooker16.Before _____ the American newspapers were cultural and literary nature, but after thistime, they became more political.A. 1620B. 1700C. 1775D. 1750IV.Question and answer.Who was Anne Bradstreet? What were her literary achievements?Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) is one of the most important figures in the history of American literature. She is considered by many to be the first American poet and herfirst collection of poems, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America, by a Gentlewoman of Those Parts, was the first book written by a woman to be published inthe United States. Mrs. Bradstreet’s work also serves as document of the struggles of aPuritan wife against the hardships of new England colonial life.Literature of Reason and RevolutionI.Literary terms.1.Autobiography:An autobiography is a person’s account of his or her life. Generallywritten in the first person, with the author speaking as “I”. Autobiographies present life events as the writer views them. In addition to providing inside details about the writer’s life, autobiographies offer insights into the beliefs and perceptions of the author. They also offer glimpse of what it was like to live in the author’s time period. They often provide a view of historical events that you won’t find in history books. BenjaminFranklin’s Autobiography set the standard for what was then a new genre.2.Persuasion: Persuasion is writing meant to convince readers to think or act in a certainway. A persuasive writer appeals to emotions or reason, offer opinions and urges action.3.Aphorism:An aphorism is a short, concise statement expressing a wise or cleverobservation or a general truth. A variety of devices make aphorisms easy to remember.Some contain rhymes or repeated words or sounds. Others use parallel structure to present contrasting ideas. The aphorism “no pains no gains”uses rhyme, repetition and parallel structure.II.Fill in the blanks.1.At the initial period the spread of ideas of the American Enlightenme nt was largely due tojournalism.2.Franklin edited the first colonial magazine, which he called the Great Magazine.3.Franklin’s beat writing is found in his masterpiece Autobiography.4.Thomas Paine, with his natural gift for pamphleteering and rebellion, was appropriatelyborn into an age of revolution.5.On January 10, 1776, Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense appeared.6.Paine’s second most important work The Rights of Man was an impassioned plea againsthereditary monarchy.7.The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was Philip Freneau.8.Philip Freneau’s famous poem “The British Prison Ship”was written about hisimprisoned experience.9.Philip Freneau was a close friend and political associate of President Thomas Jefferson.10.Philip Freneau was considered as the “poet of the American Revolution”, because hewrote impassioned verse in support of the American revolution.11.Philip Freneau was noteworthy first because of the nature of his poems. They were trulyAmerican and very patriotic. In this respect, he reflected the spirit of his age. Therefore, he has been called the “father of American poetry”.12.In American literature, the eighteenth century was an Age of Reason and Revolution.III.Multiple choice1.In American literature, the eighteenth century was the age of the Enlightenment. ___ wasthe dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. rationalismC. RevolutionD. Evolution2.In American literature, the Enlighteners were not opposed to___.A. the colonial orderB. religious obscurantismC. the Puritan traditionD. the secular literature3.The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parent country and theContinental Congress adopted ___ in 1776.A. the Declaration of IndependenceB. the Sugar ActC. the Stamp ActD. the Mayflower Compact4.Which statement about Franklin is not true?A.He instructed his countrymen as a printer.B.He was a master of diplomacy.C.He was a Puritan.D.He was a scientist.5.The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and careerof ___.A. Thomas HoodB. Benjamin FranklinC. Thomas JeffersonD. George Washington6.Which of the following does not belong to this literary period?A. The American CrisisB. The FederalistC. Declaration of IndependenceD. The Waste Land7.Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the ___.A. American Enlightenmen tB. Sugar ActC. Chartist movementD. Romanticist8.From 1732 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous ___, an annualcollection of proverbs.A. The AutobiographyB. Poor Richard’s AlmanacC. Common SenseD. The General Magazine9.The first pamphlet published in America to urge immediate independence from Britain is___.A. The Rights of ManB. Common SenseC. The American CrisisD. Declaration of Independence10.“These are the times that try men’s souls”, these words were once read to Washington’stroops and did much to shore up the spirits of the revolutionary soldiers. Who is the author of these words?A. Benjamin FranklinB. Thomas JeffersonC. Thomas PaineD. George Washington11.Which statement about Philip Freneau?A. He was a satiristB. He was a pamphleteer.C. He was a singer.D. He was a bitter polemicist.12.Who was considered as the “poet of American Revolution”?A. Michael WigglesworthB. Edward TaylorC. Anne BradstreetD. Philip Freneau13.At the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the Europeanmovement called the___.A. Chartist MovementB. Romanticist MovementC. Enlightenment MovementD. Modernist Movement14.Thomas Jefferson’s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress, and the pursuit of happiness,is typical of the period we now call____.A. Age of EvolutionB. Age of ReasonC. Age of RomanticismD. Age of RegionalismIV.Questions and Answers.1.What are the characteristics of Benjamin Franklin’s literary work?The main quality in all Benjamin Franklin’s writing is its genuine humanness. His literary work was typical of himself. Honest, plain, democratic, clear-headed, shrewd, worldly-wise, he was interested in the practical side of life. The absence of ideality is obvious in all his compositions. He never reached the high levels of imaginative art. But on this lower plane of material interest and every-day life he was, the works possess a universal charm2.Give a brief account of American literature of this period.Much work during the Revolutionary period was public writing. By the time of the War for Independence, nearly fifty newspapers had been established in the coastal cities. At the time of Washington’s inauguration, there were nearly forty magazines. Almanacs were popular from Massachusetts to Georgia. The mind of the nation was on politics.Journalists and printers provided a forum for the expression of ideas. The writing of permanent importance is mostly political writing. The best-known writing of the period outside the field of politics was done by Benjamin Franklin.3.Write an analysis of The Declaration of Independence.The Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, not only announced the birth of a new nation, it also set forth a philosophy of human freedom which served as an important force in the western world. Its ideas inspired mass fervor for the American cause, for it instilled among the common people a sense of their own importance, and inspired struggle for personal freedom, self-government, and a dignified place in society.Romantic Period of American LiteratureI.Literary Terms.1.Romanticism: The literature term was first applied to the writers of the 18th century inEurope who broke away from the formal rules of classical writing. When it was used in American literature it referred to the writers of the middle of the 19th century who stimulated the sentimental emotions of their readers. They wrote the mysteries of life, love, birth and death. The romantic writers expressed themselves freely and without restraint. They wrote all kinds of materials: poetry, essays, plays, fiction, history, works of travel, and biography.2.Fireside poets:William Gullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James RusselLowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and John Greenleaf Whittier constituted a group called the Fireside Poets. They earned this nickname because they frequently used the hea rth as an image of comfort and unity, a place where families gathered to learn and tell stories.They were widely read around the hearthsides of 19th-century American families.3.Transcendentalism:In New England, an intellectual movement known astranscendentalism developed as an American version of Romanticism. The movement began among an influential set of authors based in Concord, Massachusetts and was led by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Like Romanticism, transcendentalism rejected both 18th century rationalism and established religion, which for the transcendentalists meant the Puritan tradition in particular. The transcendentalists celebrated the power of the human imagination to commune with the universe and transcend the limitations of the material world. They found their chief source of inspiration in nature. Emerson’s essay nature was the major document of the transcendental school and stated the ideas that were to remain central to it.4.Symbolism: It is a movement in literature and the visual arts that originated in France inthe poetry of Charles Baudelaire in the late 19th century. In literature, symbolism was an aesthetic movement that encouraged writers to express their ideas, feelings, and values by means of symbols or suggestions rather than by direct statements. Hawthorne and Melville are masters of symbolism in America in the 19th century.5.Free verse: free verse is the rhymed or unrhymed poetry composed without attention toconventional rules of meter. Free verse was first written and labeled by a grou p of French poets of the late 19th century. Their purpose was to deliver poetry from the restrictions of formal metrical patterns and to recreate the free rhythms of natural speech. Walt Whitman was the precursor who wrote lines of varying length and cadence, usually not rhymed.The emotional content or meaning of the work was expressed through its rhythm. Free verse has been characteristic of the work of many modern American poets, including Ezra Pound and Carl Sandburg.6.Puritanism:The word is originally used to refer to the theory advocated by a partywithin the Church of England. It is also used to refer to attitudes and values considered characteristics of the Puritans. It denotes a rigid moral, or the condemnation of innocent pleasure, or religious narrowness adhered by the early New England Puritans. It exerted great influence over American Romanticism. The preoccupation with the Calvinist view of original sin and the mystery of evil marked the works by such famous writers as Hawthorne and Melville.II.Fill in the blanks1.In the early 19th century Rip Van Winkle established Washington Irving’s reputation athome and abroad, and designed the beginning of American Romanticism.2.Ralph Waldo Emerson’s first book in 1836 Nature brought American Romanticism into anew phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism.3.In the early 19th century, Washington Irving wrote The Sketch Book which became thefirst work by an American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic. 4.Allan Poe’s poems have the musical quality and romantic beauty. The Raven is hisbest-known poem.5.The Civil War of 1861-1865 ended in the defeat of the Southerners and the abolition ofslavery.6.Leaves of Grass, either in content or form, is an epoch-making work in Americanliterature; its democratic content marked the shift from Romanticism to Realism, and its free verse form broke from old poetic conventions to open a new road for American poetry.7.Washington Irving was regarded as the first great prose stylist of AmericanRomanticism.8.In 1823 James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Pioneers, the first of the five novels that makeup The Leatherstocking Tales. The remaining four books: The Last of the Mohicans, the Prairie, the Pathfinder and the Deerslayer, contimue the story of Natty Bumppo, one of the most famous characters in American fiction.9.The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is taken from Washington Irving’s worknamed The Sketch Book.10.Washington Irving was the first American to achieve an international literary reputationafter the Revolutionary War.11.Melville is famous for writing about the sea and the islands of the Southern Pacific. In hismaster piece Moby Dick, he tells a story of whaling voyage which sets a symbolic account of the conflict between man and his fate.12.The first important American novelist was James Fennimore Cooper.13.The central figure in the Leatherstocking Tales is Natty Bumppo, who goes by thevarious names of Leatherstocking, Deerlayer, Pathfinder and Hawkeye.14.“To a Waterfowl”is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant’s work. It has beencalled by an eminent English critic “the most perfect brief poem in the language”.15.Among William Cullen Bryant’s most important later works are his translations of theIliad and the Odyssey into English blank verse.16.Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” is perhaps the best example of onomatopoeia in theEnglish language.17.Most of Allan Poe’s stories can be roughly divided into two kinds: tales of Gothic horroror grotesque like The Black Cat, an incisive enquiry into the capacity of the human mind to originate its destruction and The Fall of the House of Usher.18.A superb book Walden came out of Thoreau’s two-year experience at Walden Pond.19.From Thoreau’s Concord jail experience, came his famous essay “Civil Disobedience”.20.In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne brought out his masterpiece The Scarlet Letter, the storyof a triangle love affair in colonial America.21.Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage inpursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.22.In “I Hear America Singing”, Walt Whitman depicts the beauty of labor and laborers.23.For the whole 19th century Emily Dickinson was the only woman poet who enjoys highacademic esteem today. She has been acclaimed as a poet of philosophical and tragi c dimensions, a poet who was responsive to the challenging questions of man, nature and human consciousness.24.The American Romantic period stretches from the end of the 18th century through theoutburst of the Civil War.25.In The Pioneers, Natty Bumppo represents the ideal American, living a virtuous and freelife in God’s world.26.The way in which Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter suggests that AmericanRomanticism adapted itself to American Puritan morality.III.Multiple Choice.1.In 1837, the first college-level institution for women, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary,opened in ___ to serve the “Muslin sex”.A. New EnglandB. VirginiaC. MassachusettsD. New York2.As a philosophical and literary movement, ___ flourished in New England from the 1830sto the Civil War.A. modernismB. rationalismC. sentimentalismD. transcendentalism3.The appearance of the Scarlet Letter marked the maturity of Hawthorne as a novelist.Soon he composed the other three important novel including___, The B lithedale Romance and The Marble Faun.A. The House of the Seven GablesB. The PrairieC. The Fall of the House of UsherD. Walden4.Transcendentalism recognized ___ as the “highest power of the soul”.A. intuitionB. logicC. data of the sensesD. thinking5. A new ___ had appeared in England in the last years of the 18th century. It spread tocontinental Europe and then came to America early in the 19th century.A. RealismB. Critical realismC. RomanticismD. Naturalism6.The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanentconvention of American literature, evident in___.A.Jame s Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales.B.Henry David Thoreau’s WaldenC.Mark Twain’s Huckleberry FinnD.All of the above7.Herman Melville’s ___ is not only an adventure story, but also a significant philosophicalwork on spiritual exploration.。