美国文学史-考试资料(全)
An Overview of American Literature
1.Colonial period (early 17th—late 18th)
2. Romantic period (first half of 19th)
3. Realism (after 1865)
4. Naturalism (last decade of the 19th )
5. Modernism (the first half of the 20th)
American Literature The Literature of the Colonial Period
The first view of America
Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles --from William Bradford’s History of Plimmoth Plantation A Wealth of Natural Resources He is a bad fisher who cannot kill on one day with his hooke and line, one, two, or three hundred Cods. --John Smith, A Description of New England A sup of New England’s air is better than a whole draft of old England’s ale. --Francis Higginson, New-England’s Planatation The Colonies Jamestown, Virginia 1607 New England 1620 Massachusetts Bay 1630 American Puritanism ?Puritans? American Puritanism American Puritanism stressed predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limited atonement from God’s grace. A way of life that stressed hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety. ?He was a visionary who never forget that two plus two equals four; he was a soldier of Jehovah who never came out on the losing side of a bargain< He was a practical idealist Literature of Early Settlements A literary expression of the Puritan idealism. Types of writing: histories, travel accounts, biographies, diaries, letters, autobiographies, sermons, and poems< Usefulness and Plainness: Utilitarian, polemical, or didactic. Style: fresh, simple, direct and with a touch of nobility. The first published book of poems by an Americanwas also the first American book to be published by a woman—Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) Her ability to capture the colonial experience in poetry established her place as one of America’s most notable early writers. *Background/early life/education *Born and educated in England *Admired and imitated several English poets *At 18, she went to America in 1630. *Father and husband served as governors. *The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America (1650) Stylistic characteristics: Bradstreet’s p oems usually employ iambic pentameter with key variations in rhythm and syntax for special rhetorical effect or emphasis. Her poems are also filled with imagery, followed with sustained parallels. Metaphysical conceits could also be found in her poems. Her poems are also filled with self-effacing "apology" (art claiming artlessness), which gradually becomes more authoritative poetic persona(questioning God) (persona: A voice or character representing the speaker in a literary work) Language and imagery are often direct, and relatively simple. The Author To Her Book Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth did'st by my side remain, Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true, Who thee abroad exposed to public view, Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge, Where errors were not lessened (all may judge). At thy return my blushing was not small, My rambling brat (in print) should mother call. I cast thee by as one unfit for light, The visage was so irksome in my sight, Yet being mine own, at length affection would Thy blemishes amend, if so I could. I washed thy face, but more defects I saw, And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw. I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet, Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet. In better dress to trim thee was my mind, But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find. In this array, 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam. In critic's hands, beware thou dost not come, And take thy way where yet thou art not known. If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none; And for thy mother, she alas is poor, Which caused her thus to send thee out of door. *This casual poem is one of Anne Bradstreet’s most delightful and genuine. It recounts with humor her feelings at seeing her poems (The Tenth Muse) in print in 1650 without her authorization or correction, and her subsequent efforts to improve them. It appears that she intended this to stand last among her poems when she revised them about 1666 for a proposed second edition. American Literary and Cultural Independence The American Cleavage from the Parent Cultures No other country whose origin lies in Europe has had so sharp an awareness of its cleavage from, and superiority to, the parent cultures. Running through American history, and therefore through American literature, is a double consciousness of Old World modes and the New World possibilities. Yesterday has been dismissed and pined for: tomorrow has been invoked and dreaded. (palefaces for Europeanized concept of literature vs redskins for notion of native literature; stateroom vs steerage styles) The beginning of a myth Theodore Roosevelt said that whether those who came were called settlers or immigrants, they travelled steerage—the hard way. To transfer oneself and one’s family across the ocean was a step not lightly taken. It was something of an act of faith, the beginning of a myth. In the mythology, Europe was associated with the past *It’s a complex fate, being an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe. Henry James(1872) *America must be as independent in Literature as she is in politics, as famous for the arts as for arms. Noah Webster Literary and Cultural Independence Literature the Americans have none – no native literature, we mean. It is all imported. They had a Franklin, indeed; and may afford to live for half a century on his fame. <- and some pieces of pleasantry by Mr Irving. But why should the Americans write books, when a six weeks’ passage brings them in our own tongue, our sense, science and genius, in bales and hogsheads? -- Sydney Smith in Edinburgh Review, Dec. 1818 We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe. ---Emerson ?American Scholar? as America’s Intellectual Declaration of Independence Independence lay over the Horizon Can we never be thought /To have learning or grace/Unless it be brought/ From that damnable place? – Philip Freneau We have at length arrived at that epoch when our literature may and must stand on its own merits or fall through its own defects. We have snapped asunder the leading-strings of our British Grandmamma. – Edgar Allan Poe (1830) *It would take 50 years of accumulated history for America to earn its cultural independence and to produce the first great generation of American writers: *Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. Literature of the 18th Century The Literature of Reason and Revolution Literature of the 18th Century Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) and Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) shared the 18th century between them. Both Inheritors of the Puritan tradition but different directions. Jonathan Edwards: the Great Awakening(a period of new religious fervor in North America from 1735-1750). Franklin: the spirit of the Enlightenment in America. Jonathan Edwards Calvinism ?Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God? Described the agonies of hell and urged people to repent their sins. One of the hallmarks of American oratory. Benjamin Franklin American Enlightenment Rationality instead of tradition Scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma Representative government instead of monarchy Benjamin Franklin embodied the Enlightenment ideal of humane rationality. < with the advent of Enlightenment, the Puritans began to lose their grip. Benjamin Franklin—Pragmatic Individualism BF(1706-1790)was the one who really opens the story of American literature, though far more a Jack-of-all-trades than a man of letters.(the father of his country) In many ways it is Franklin who best represents the spirit of the Enlightenment in America: self-educated, social, assured, a man of the world, ambitious and public-spirited, speculative about the nature of the universe, but in manners of religion content to observe the actual conduct of men rather than to debate supernatural matters which are unprovable. Benjamin Franklin works: Poor Richard’s Almanac (Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. / God helps those that help themselves. / Lost time is never found again. / Beware of little expenses, a small leak will sink a great ship. / When the well’s dry, they know the worth of water. / Make hay while the sun shines./ The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise. / He that would be beforehand in the World, must be beforehand with his Business.) Richard Saunders, a cracker barrel philosopher maxims The Way to Wealth (1774) Essence of his teaching: thrift, carefulness, independence. The Autobiography (13 virtues – temperance / silence / order / resolution / frugality / industry / sincerity /justice / moderation / cleanliness /tranquility /chastity / humility.) An account of a poor boy’s rise to w ealth and fame and the fulfillment of the American Dream. *Franklin embodied the transition from Puritan piety, idealism and provincialism to the more secular, utilitarian, and cosmopolitan values of the American Enlightenment. Style Clear and plain in his time Formal, but organization of his material informal Simplicity, clarity, good sense Philip Freneau (1752-1832) The father of American poetry Poet of the American Revolution An outstanding representative of dawning nationalism in American literature. The beginning of American Romanticism. A transitional poet: Neoclassical and Romantic: ?And Reason’s self shall bow the knee / To shadows and delusions here.? Life The first American-born poet. Elite circles. Contributed patriotic poetry in support of American Revolution. ?The British Prison Ship? ?To the Memory of the Brave Americans? Died poor and unknown. “The Wild Honey Suckle”(忍冬, 杜鹃花) 野金银花 Fair flower, that does so comely grow, 美丽的金银花， Hid in this silent, dull retreat, 你粲然绽放于幽静一角。Untouched thy honied blossoms blow, 芳菲满枝,无人垂顾， Unseen thy little branches greet; 迎风起舞,无人注目。 No roving foot shall crush thee here, 游子从不践踏你的玉体， No busy hand provoke a tear. 过客从不催落你的泪滴。 By Nature’s self in white arrayed, 造化令你素裹银妆， She bade thee shun the vulgar eye, 你得以远离庸人的目光 And planted here the guardian shade, 她赐予你一片绿荫葱葱 And sent soft waters murmuring by; 她带给你一泓流水淙淙 Thus quietly thy summer goes, 恬静的夏日倏然流淌 Thy days declining to repose. 你终于红衰翠减，玉殒香消Smit with those charms, that must decay, 妩媚动人，你却无法盛颜久长I grieve to see your future doom; 落红满地，你令我黯然神伤They died—nor were those flowers more gay, 纵然在伊甸乐园，人间天堂The flowers that did in Eden’s bloom; 也难免一日凋零，满目凄凉Unpitying frosts, and Autumn’s power 萧瑟秋风，凄白秋霜 Shall leave no vestige of this flower. 你终于消失得无影无踪 From morning suns and evening dews 朝霞幕露 At first thy little being came; 孕育了你娇小的身躯 If nothing once, you nothing lose, 你从尘土来，又归尘土去 For when you die you are the same: 来时一无所有，去时化作尘土The space between, is but an hour, 可叹生命苦短 The frail duration of a flower. 你终究红消香断 *Theme: the mutability of flowers and by extension the transience of human life *Form: rhymed, orderly --Away from Puritanism, but pre-Romantic: Nature lyric The Indian Burying-Ground IN spite of all the learned have said, I still my old opinion keep; The posture that we give the dead Points out the soul’s eternal sleep. Not so the ancients of these lands;— The Indian, when from life released, Again is seated with his friends, And shares again the joyous feast. His imaged birds, and painted bowl, And venison, for a journey dressed, Bespeak the nature of the soul, Activity, that wants no rest. His bow for action ready bent, And arrows with a head of stone, Can only mean that life is spent, And not the old ideas gone. Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way, No fraud upon the dead commit, Observe the swelling turf, and say, They do not lie, but here they sit. Here still a lofty rock remains, On which the curious eye may trace (Now wasted half by wearing rains) The fancies of a ruder race. Here still an aged elm aspires, Beneath whose far projecting shade (And which the shepherd still admires) The children of the forest played. There oft a restless Indian queen (Pale Shebah with her braided hair), And many a barbarous form is seen To chide the man that lingers there. By midnight moons, o’er moistening dews, In habit for the chase arrayed, The hunter still the deer pursues, The hunter and the deer—a shade! And long shall timorous Fancy see The painted chief, and pointed spear, And Reason’s self shall bow the knee To shadows and delusions here. American Romanticism From the end of the 18th century To the Civil War Background The radical changes in American life and the buoyant mood of the nation: Great immigration Burgeoning industrialization Westward expansion European Influences American Features To moralize, to edify rather than to entertain An entirely new experience: a feeling of ?newness? Native Material Puritan heritage The Early Romantics Poetry ?William Cullen Bryant ?Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Fiction ?Washington Irving ?James Fenimore Cooper Transcendentalism Transcendentalism: a late and localized manifestation of romantic movement in literature and philosophy. The condensation of American romantic movement in literature of the period. Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau High Romantics Poetry ?Edgar Allan Poe ?Walt Whitman ?Emily Dickinson Fiction ?Edgar Allan Poe ?Nathaniel Hawthorne ?Herman Melville Comparison between Early Romantics and High Romantics ?Na?ve, experimental, conformist, self -conscious and imitative?– Spiller Their works were picturesque but lacked a deep power. Depart from the complacent romantic impulse (not Whitman) Well-conceived literary theories and well-structured literary forms Present dark and brooding pictures of the country (not Whitman) Not popular in lifetime Early Romantics: Fiction Irving, Cooper Washington Irving 华盛顿 · 欧文(1783-1859) Father of the American Short Story Life Born to a wealthy Merchant family in New York City. His first book: A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty纽约史(1809), under the name of ?Diedrich Knickerbocker?. Lived in Europe for 17 years and gained literary reputation. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent(1819-1820)札记集: Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Returned to America in 1832. Why is he important? The first prost stylist of American romanticism. The first American man of letters to support himself as a professional writer. The first American author to win international recognition. The first modern American short stories. He gave an impetus to the American humor and to the urbane wit. He introduced the familiar essay to America. He helped create what might be called an American Mythology. Style Sentimentalism, modeled himself on Oliver Goldsmith (1728-74) Among the first to confront the difficulty of finding a literary identity in a country lacking its own distinct cultural identity. Graceful, refined, fluent, dignified, urbane, witty, melodious —models of perfect English Humor: tongue-in-cheek irony, exaggeration The caricature, satire and local allusion in ?Knickerbocker? The clarity and grace of the ?Crayon? style Rip Van Winkle Setting: when and where a village in the mountains of upstate New York Period of Revolution Plot: hunting—gnomes—drinking—slumber—back—great changes Characterization: Rip (Wolf), the lazy husband the termagant wife Style: humor achieved through irony, dignified words and exaggeration Theme and motif The loss of manhood Escapism mutability 南朝(梁) 任昉《述异记》 晋王质入山采樵,见二童子对弈.童子与质一物如枣核,食之不饥.局终,童子指示曰: ?汝柯烂矣.?质归乡里,已及百岁. James Fenimore Cooper1789-1851 The First Important American novelist As a novelist Genres: 3 kinds of novels historical novels about the revolutionary past, eg. The Spy. the first to write a novel exclusively focusing on the sea, eg. The Pilot. about the American frontier The Leatherstocking Series: 皮袜子系列 The Pioneers开拓者, The Last of the Mohicans最后的莫希干人 The Prairie大草原, The Pathfinder探路人 The Deerslayer猎鹿人 As a critic Conservative Themes of Wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat vs. democrat, natural rights vs. legal rights. Features of Cooper’s Novels Language Plots Stylistic features Characters Nature ?Cooper’s interest in painting developed in him his excellent pictorial imagination which he applied effectively, counterpointing descriptions of conflict and violence with scenes of forest beauty.? The Leatherstocking Series An American Epic Setting: the early frontier period of American history in the American wilderness---the American West. Central character: Natty Bumppo: the essential American soul The heritage left by Cooper The figures in his novels helped create that part of American mythology most popular today: the story of the cowboy and the winning of the American West. Two of the great stock figures: the stoic, daring frontiersman and the bold, friendly Indian. ?Cooper’s genius lay in his ability to transform the personal terms of his crisis into larger terms—to give them a transpersonal dimension with national and even mythic implications.? William Cullen Bryant(1794-1878) The American Wordsworth Life ?Thanatopsis? 死亡随想曲, written when he was only sixteen. A great editor a leading advocate for the abolition of slavery, a supporter of Lincoln. The Central Park One of America’s earliest naturalist poets Theme: The beauty and harmony of nature as a source of solace, joy, and escape The dignity of humanity The sacredness of human freedom The power and beneficence of God Conventional in subject and style Transition towards Romanticism (transcendentalism) Thanatopsis ( Gr. a view of death) Bryant ?develops a view of death which represents a sharp break from the Puritan attitude toward man’s final destiny. To the Puritans, death was seen as a prelimina ry to an afterlife. Bryant, however, treats death as part of nature, the destiny of us all, and the great equalizer.? --Carl Bode TO A WATERFOWL William Cullen Bryant (1794 - 1878) Vainly the fowler’s eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, As, darkly painted on the crimson sky Thy figure floats along. (5-8) There is a Power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,-- The desert and illimitable air,-- Lone wandering, but not lost. (13-16) He, who, from zone, to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone, Will lead my steps aright. (29-32) 致水鸟 威廉·柯伦·布莱恩特 在漂洒的露水中， 天空闪烁着白日最后脚步的光辉， 穿过玫瑰色云霞的深处，你向哪里 去寻找你孤独的路? 捕鸟者恶意的目光 徒然注意到你在远处的飞翔 因为，绛红色的天幕映照出， 你潇洒飞翔的身影。 你在寻找潮湿的栖地， 是芳草萋萋的湖畔，还是宽阔河流的岸边抑或，是在寻找那波涛起伏 浪涛拍岸的海岸? 有一个神明关怀着你， 为你在没有路的岸边指路，—— 寂寥无际的万里长空，—— 孑然一身却从不迷途。你终日扑打双翼 在那浩淼的天际，穿过冰冷稀薄的空气疲倦了，你也从不俯身飞向热情的大地，尽管黑夜即将来临。 你辛劳的旅程即将告终 你将找到夏日的家园，在那里 你将在同伴中休憩鸣唱，芦苇将俯身 遮掩你隐蔽的鸟窝。 你袅袅而去，深邃的天空 吞噬了你的身影；然而，我心中 却深深地镌刻你留下的教益， 不会轻易忘记。 他，人间无处不在， 在无垠的天空指引着你的飞行， 在我孤独跋涉的漫长路上， 他将为我正确地导航。 Bryant Park Bryant Park was named after William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), a Lawyer, Poet and later in life, one of the nation's leading advocates for the abolition of slavery. The lawn at Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan is a big thing during most midday lunch-time hours in New York City. Usually, you'll see hundreds of people along the sides on the benches and within. Located between 40th - 42nd Streets at 6th Avenue behind our infamous NY Public Library this park is quite a special one. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) Tragic life, a gifted but tormented man ?Poe was the first American writer to succeed in creating a total life in art as a foil to the conflict and frustration of the human predicament.? Poet and short story writer( those of horrors and ?ratiocination?) Poe’s Theory of Poetry Beauty is the only legitimate province of the poet: The sense of the beautiful is an immortal instinct within men. ?The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic i n the world.?—Poe, 1846, ?The Philosophy of Composition? Poetry was, a ‘passion’, not merely a ‘purpose’; poetry should appeal only to the sense of beauty, not truth; informational poetry, or didactic poetry was illegitimate (in the times to inculcate a moral); poetic emotion was a vague sensory state, so against realistic details in poetry. The music of Language: language as medium of pure musical and rhythmic beauty A pioneering aesthetician and psychological investigator To Helen 致海伦 海伦，你的美丽对于我， 就像昔日尼斯安的小船， 在芳菲的大海轻轻颠簸， 载着精疲力竭的流浪汉 驶向他故乡的岸边。 早已习惯漂泊在汹涌的海上， 你堇色的秀发，典雅的容颜 和仙女般的风姿已令我知详 何谓希腊的华美壮观， 何谓罗马的宏伟辉煌。 瞧！在那明亮的壁龛窗里， 我看你玉立多像尊雕塑， 那镶嵌玛瑙的明灯在手！ 啊，普叙赫，你来自圣地， 那片天国净土！ His short stories ?The first to develop the short story as a distinctive art form and to elaborate criteria. ?Subject: Morbidity, necrophilia, the no man’s land between death and life; the strange, incestuous vampirism of the dead with the living ?Grotesque, Gothicism ?Brevity, single effect, truth instead of beauty, psychological effect on the reader ?The earliest American detective fiction and science fiction ??The Cask of Amontillado? ??The Masque of the Red Death? ??The Fall of the House of Usher? ??The Murders in the Rue Morgue? ??The Purloined Letter? –one of the world’s greates t detective stories. ?The Fall of the House of Usher? ? A gothic masterpiece ?The setting and symbols reveal character and conflict ?Study of fear ?Incestuous relationship (D. H. Lawrence) ?Plot: arrival of the narrator-the eerie atmosphere (the mansion, the lake)-Usher and Madeline-Madeline’s death-the verse-the book reading-Madeline came-death of the twins-the collapse of the mansion. ?Style: single effect ?Theme: Terror, Murder, Madness ?Symbolism: the mansion, the tarn, the bridge, the crack in the house, the storm Transcendentalism New England Transcendentalism American Renaissance (1836-1855) Transcendentalism and Romanticism ?Transcendentalism: a late and localized manifestation of romantic movement in literature and philosophy. ?The condensation of American romantic movement in literature of the period. Transcendentalism: Sources ?Unitarianism a revolt against orthodox Puritanism; belief: God as one being, rejecting the doctrine of trinity stressing the tolerance in religious opinion ?Idealism from France and Germany Kant (the father of Transcendentalism) Hegel (whose dialectic method of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis was used at times by Emerson). ?Oriental mysticism in Hindu and Chinese classics the Sayings of Confucius, the Hindu Bhagavad Gita《福者之歌》（印度教经典《摩阿婆罗多》的一部分）, and the Upanishads《奥义书》（印度教古代吠陀教义的思辩作品，是后世印度各派哲学的依据．）The Transcendental Club ?The club ?The journal: The Dial ?The Experiments Concepts ?Definition: ?The recognition in man of the capacity of acquiring knowledge transcending the reach of the five senses, or of knowing truth intuitively, or of reaching the divine without the need of an intercessor. ?Emerson: ?whatever belongs to the class of intuitive thought? Concepts--intuition ? 1. The power of intuition ?Things learned from within were truer than the things they learned from without, and transcended them. ?Intuition was inner light within. Concepts--spirit ? 2. Spirit first, matter second ?The reality of spirit is greater than that of matter. ?Transcendentalism stressed essence behind appearance. Concepts--nature ? 3. Nature is symbolic of spirit or God. ?Everything in the universe is viewed as an expression of the divine spirit. ?Nature is God’s enlightenment towards human beings: morality, beauty. ?Transcendentalism stresses unity of humanity and nature. Concepts--individual ? 4. The significance of the individual ?The individual is the most important element in society. ?The ideal kind of individual is self-reliant and unselfish. ? A greatness in all human beings that needs only to be set free. ?As an individual soul can commune with God, it is, therefore, divine. ?The individual soul can reach God without the help of churches or clergy. ?While stressing individuality, transcendentalism rejects the restraints of tradition and custom. Concepts--Oversoul ? 5. An emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal ?oversoul?. ?Oversoul: an all-pervading unitary spiritual power of goodness; all things come from it and everyone is a part of it; omnipresent and omnipotent; existing in nature and in humanity alike. Concepts—commerce is degrading ? 6. Commerce is degrading. Characteristics of Transcendentalism ?The triumph of intuition over five senses ?The exaltation of the individual over society ?The critical attitude toward formalized religion ?The rejection of any kind of restraint or bondage to custom ?The new and thrilling delight in nature Significance—an ethical guide to life ?Tolerance of difference in religious opinion and the free control of its own affairs by each congregation ?Throwing off shackles of custom and tradition ?The development of a new and distinctly American culture ?The essential worth and dignity of the individual as a powerful force for democracy ?An idealism that was needed in a rapidly expanded economy. Significance—a new group of writers ?Emerson and Thoreau ?Under the influence of Emerson and Thoreau: Almost all the writers of the period—Hawthorne, Melville, Lowell, Dickinson, Whitman. They created one of the most prolific periods in the history of American Literature. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) ?Transcendentalism’s most seminal force ?Unitarianism, a Unitarian minister, resigned. ?Traveled in Europe: Wordsworth, Carlyle, Coleridge. ? a public speaker ?The club and the journal: The Dial ?Essays: ?Nature: the manifesto of American transcendentalism ??The American Scholar?: America’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) ?Education ?Emerson’s handyman ?Living alone in Walden pond from July 1845 to September 1847 ?Put in jail for refusing to pay the poll-tax ??Civil Disobedience? (1849) ?Living with nature ??Break convention, live in new ways.? ?Walden I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life... to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. --Dead Poets Society From Walden I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. From Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson Section I (paragraphs 1-6): Trust thyself. ? 1. The importance of thinking for oneself. ? 2. ?Trust thyself?. Q: What does Emerson urge people to be? ? 3. The force of infancy and youth. Q: Why are children models of self-reliance? ? 4. The analogy between boys and the idealized individual. Q: In what ways are boys and the idealized individual similar? Why does Emerson say that the careful adult is clapped into jail by his consciousness? ? 5. The importance of an indivi dual’s resisting the pressure to conform to the external norms. Q: What does society conspire to do? ? 6. The necessity to follow one’s inner voice, whatever it is. Be a nonconformist. Q: How to resist this conspiracy? Section II (paragraphs 7-13): Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. ?Q: what are the two enemies of the independent thinker? ?7. Society’s disapproval or scorn. Q: Which is more formidable, the scorn of the cultivated classes or the outrage of the masses? ?8. The individual’s own s ense of consistency. ?9. Consistency drains our creativity. Q: what is the metaphor about memory? ?10. The Condemnation of the society that demands conformity. Q: Who are the great minds that Emerson cites? ?11. The ultimate consistency. Q: What are the two metaphors that Emerson uses? ?12. A true man is the center of things. ?13. Humans determine the worth of an object, not vice versa. Q: what is the fable of the drunkard about? Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864) ?The Scarlet Letter ?“Young Goodman Brown” ?He is ?remembered for helping to establish the short story?, ?he is remembered as a ?proponent of instilling morals and lessons into his writing? Nathaniel Hawthorne ?His ancestral burden: ?Hawthorne was ?burdened by the misdeeds of notorious Puritan ancestors? ?William Hathorne: ?One of Hawthorne’s ancesters, he migrated to America with the Puritans in 1630. ?? History records that William Hathorne once ordered that a burglar be branded with a B on his forehead? ?Persecuted Quakers ?John Hathorne (son of William Hathorne): ?Nathaniel’s great-grandfather ??was a prosecuting . . . magistrate at the infamous 1692 witch trials in Salem . . .? ?W? ?Family name Hathorne Nathaniel spells his: Hawthorne The House of the Seven Gables ??considers the effects of one man’s sin upon succeeding generations? ??The wrong-doing of one generation lives into the successive ones, and divesting itself of every temporary advantage, becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief.? Life ?Hawthorne’s father, a sea-captain, died of yellow fever in Dutch Guiana, leaving his widow to mourn him during a long life of eccentric seclusion, and this influenced her son’s somber and solitary attitude. ?Read widely. ?Graduated from Bowdoin College: Longfellow, Franklin Pierce. ?Returned to Salem. ?Published his first novel Fanshawe and Twice-Told Tales. ?Worked at the Customs House. ?Joined the transcendentalist community of Brook Farm. ?Turned to more profitable novels. ?Enjoyed frequent visits with his neighbor Herman Melville. ?Served as U.S. Consul at Liverpool. Works Collection of Short Stories ?Twice-Told Tales (1837) ?Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) ?The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales (1851) ??Young Goodman Brown? ??The Minister’s Black Veil? ??Ethan Brand? ??Dr. Heidegger’s Experiement? Novels: ?The Scarlet Letter, a treatment of the effects of sin on the human spirit. ?The House of Seven Gables(1851) ?The Blithedale Romance (1852) ?The Marble Faun (1860) Subjects and Themes ?the New England past and the subject and setting. ?Human psychology ?Intellect vs. feeling and warmth ?Sin and evil ?Puritanism ? A Moralist, a master of psychological insight, the first major novelist to wed morality to art. Major Comment on Hawthorne’s Themes ?Hawthorne was imbued with an inquiring imagination, an intensely meditative mind, and an unceasing interest in the ambiguity of man’s being. He was an anatomist of ?the interior of the heart?, conscious of loneliness of man in the universe, of the darkness that enshrouds all joys, and of the need of man to look into his own soul. ---Bode Style ?Romance ?Symbols and setting ?Narrative skills ?Soft, flowing style ?Ambiguity ?Allegory ?The supernatural ?Works ?Collection of Short Stories ?Twice-Told Tales (1837) ?Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) ?The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales (1851) “Young Goodman Brown” ??The Minister’s Black Veil? ??Ethan Brand? ??Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment? ?Novels: ?The Scarlet Letter, a treatment of the effects of sin on the human spirit. ?The House of Seven Gables(1851) ?The Blithedale Romance (1852) ?The Marble Faun (1860) ??Young Goodman Brown? ?Written in 1835 ??Known for being one of literature’s most gripping portrayals of seventeenth-century Puritan society? Summary ?‘Young Goodman Brown’ tells the tale of a young Puritan man drawn into a covenant with the Devil. Brown’s illusions about the goodness of his society are crushed when he discovers that many of his fellow townspeople, including religious leaders and his wife, are attending a Black Mass. At the end of the story, it is not clear whether Brown’s experience was nightmare or reality, but the results are nonetheless the same. Brown is unable to forgive the possibility of evil in his loved ones and as a result spends the rest of his life in desperate loneliness and gloom.? Comments ?Characters: Young Goodman Brown Faith Devil / Old Goodman Brown Goody Cloyse, the Minister, and Deacon Gookin. Goody Cloyse, Goody Cory, Martha Carrier. ?Themes: Good / Evil; Alienation/Community ?Hawthorne presents sin as an inescapable part of human nature?. Every human being is alone ‘in that saddest of all prisons, his own heart’ ?Symbolism and allegory: ?Point of view: The Scarlet Letter Synopsis And aged English scholar sends his young wife, Hester Prynne, to establish their home in Boston. When he arrives 2 years later, he finds her in the pillory with her illegitimate child in her arms. She refuses to name her lover and is sentenced to wear a scarlet A, signifying Adulteress, as a token of her sin. The husband conceals his identity, assumes the name Roger Chillingworth, the in the guise of a doctor seeks to discover her paramour. Hester, a woman of strong independent nature, becomes sympathetic with other unfortunates, and her works of mercy gradually win her the respect of her neighbours. Chillingworth meanwhile discovers that the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, a revered, seemingly saintly young minister, is the father of Hester’s beautiful, mischievous child, Pearl. Dimmesdale has struggled for years with his burden of hidden guilt, but though he does secret penance, pride prevents him from confessing publicly, and he continues to be tortured by his conscience. Chillingworth’s life is ruined by his preoccupations with his cruel search, and he becomes a morally degraded monomaniac. Hester wishes her lover to flee with her to Europe, but he refuses and makes a public confession on the pillory in which Hester had once been placed. He dies their in her arms. But Hester lives on, triumphant over her sin because she openly confessed it, to devote herself to ensuring a happy life for Pearl and helping others in misfortune. Themes Sin and its Effects Good and Evil The individual and the society Structure Symmetry Unity of place Symbols ?the first symbolic novel to be written in the United States? ?A? The scaffold The sun The forest The meaning of the “A” As the novel progresses, Hester ages and changes and the townspeople begin to see both her and the symbol A in differen t ways. Thus the ?A? comes to have a multiplicity of meanings, each of which deepens and develops the meaning of the novel A = Adulteress (Hester is guilty of the sin of adultery.) A = Art (Hester is a very creative, skilled seamstress who makes her living through this art) A = Able(Hester is able to support herself and daughter and to survive the town’s condemnation.) A = Admirable (The townspeople begin to admire Hester.) A = Angel(She tends the sick and dying and is an ?angel? of charity toward o thers.) A = Arthur (Everyone wants to know who the father of the illegitimate child is, but Hester will not betray him. Ironically, his initial is displayed in Hester’s punishment: his name is Arthur. Herman Melville(1819-1891) Life Family and schooling Education aboard the ship: Signed on to a merchant ship, than a whaling cruise Marriage Writing career: Established his reputation as an adventure writer. Influences: Shakespeare, Emerson, friendship with Hawthorne Moby Dick: not well received, 1920s, revival of Moby Dick, one of the most dramatic reversal in all literary history. A popular writer ?one of the half-dozen major American literary figures of the 19th century? Worked in New York City Custom House,20 years Works Early works Typee(1846) Omoo(1847) Mardi(1849) Redburn(1849) White Jacket(1850) Moby Dick(1851) Late works Pierre(1852) The Confidence-Man(1857) 美国文学史及选读试卷 Ⅰ.Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternatives. Choose the one that would best complete the statement. (60points in all, 2 for each) 1. Which of following can be said of the common features which are shared by the English and American Romanticists ? A. An increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions. B. An increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters. C. An increasing emphasis on the desire to return to nature. D. both A and B. 2. Which of the following statements about the Romantic period in the history of American literature is NOT true? （） A. In most of the American writings of this period there was a new emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. B. The writers of this period placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and displayed an increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters. C. There was a strong tendency to exalt the individual and the common man. D. Most heroes and heroines in the writings of this period exhibited extremes of reason and nationality. 3.______ is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the American Romanticism in the history of American literature. A. New England Transcendentalism B. England Transcendentalism C. the Harlem Renaissance D. New Transcendentalism 4.Hawthorn e’s unique gift was for the creation of ______ which touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature. A. symbolic stories B. romantic stories 仅作参考，最主要还是要自己消化，整理 Chapter 1 Colonial Period 1. Puritanism: American puritans accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. 2. Influence (1) A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature. (2) It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden. (3) Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chi efly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. (4) With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible. II. Overview of the literature 1. types of writing diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons 2. writers of colonial period (1) Anne Bradstreet (2) Edward Taylor III. Benjamin Franklin 1. life 2. works (1) Poor Richard’s Almanac (2) Autobiography 3. contribution (1) He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society. (2) He was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case) from heaven”. (3) Everything seems to meet in this one man –“Jack of all trades”. Herman Melville thus described him “master of each and mastered by none”. Chapter 2 American Romanticism Section 1 Early Romantic Period I. American Romanticism 1. Background (1) Political background and economic development (2) Romantic movement in European countries Derivative – foreign influence 2. features (1) American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience and contained “an alien quality” for the simple reason that “the spirit of the place” was radically new and alien. (2) There is American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider. American romantic authors tended more to moralize. Many American romantic writings intended to edify more than they entertained. (3) The “newness” of Americans as a nation is in connection with Am erican Romanticism. (4) As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticism was both imitative and independent. II. Washington Irving: Father of American Literature 1. several names attached to Irving (1) first American writer (2) the messenger sent from the new world to the old world (3) father of American literature 2. life 3. works (1) A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty (2) The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (He won a measure of international recognition with the publication of this.) (3) The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (4) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada (5) The Alhambra 4. Literary career: two parts (1) 1809~1832 1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer. 2.The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people. is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin. 4.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”. 5.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. has been called the “Father of American Poetry”. 7.In Washington I rving’s appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature. 8.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his William Cullen Bryant’s wok. is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”. 10.Emerson believed above all in Captain John Smith (first American writer). Anne Bradstreet；The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America （colonists living） Edward Taylor(the best puritan poet) John Cotton ”the Patriarch of New England” teacher spiritual leader Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography Poor Richard’s Almanack Thomas Jefferson： Political Career Thoughts The Declaration of Independence we hold truth to be self-evidence Philip Freneau“Father of American Poetry” The Wild Honey Suckle American Romanticism optimism and hope Nationalism Washington Irving“Father of American Literature short story”The first “Pure Writer” A History of New York The Sketch Book marked the beginning of American Romanticism! “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”Rip Van Winkle James Fenimore Cooper Father of American sea and frontier novels Leather stocking Tales The Last of the Mohicans The Pioneers The Prairie The Pathfinder The Deerslayer Edgar Allan Poe father of detective story and horror fiction Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque “MS. Found in a Bottle” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” “The Fall of the House of Usher”“The Masque of the Red Death”“The Washington Irving Bracebridge Hall 布雷斯布里奇田庄 (1822) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tales of a Traveller 旅客谈 (1824) Christopher Columbus (1828) c. writing characteristics (1) humorous: the function of his writing is to amuse, to entertain instead of teaching or instruction (2) vivid and true character portrayal (3) finished (refined) and musical language, thus regarded as “the Amn. Goldsmith ” d. analysis on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(选自the sketch book 见闻札记 ) 1. the story:setting,character, plot 2. theme:conflicts and praise conflict betw. Ichabod and Brom conflict betw. the village and the outside world James Fenimore Cooper The Spy (1821): a historical novel The Pilot (1824): a sea novel Leatherstocking Tales 皮裹腿故事集(1823-1841): frontier novels The Last Mohicans (1826) (Colonial War betw. Britain and France) e. writing features: strong points: we can see a variety of incidents and tensions, complicated plot and structure and a beautiful description of nature. Weak points: characterization is weak. There is unsatisfactory description of characters (esp. female). He is not free from syntactical awkwardness, heavy-handed attempt at humor. “Where Irving excels Cooper is weak.” Dialect is not authentic. Edgar Allan Poe The Fall of the House Usher Feature: i. brevity (15 pages) ii. Single effect iii. originality in theme To Helen It was inspired by the beauty of the mother of a schoolmate of Poe in Richmond, Virginia. The poem is famous for a number of things: 1. its rhyme scheme: ababb 2. its varied line lengths 3. its metaphor of a travel on the sea 4. its oft-quoted lines: "To the glory that was Greece,/And the grandeur that was Rome." theme: praise the ideal love and beauty and ancient Greek and Roman civilizations The Raven 乌鸦 theme: the lament over the death of a beautiful woman tone: melancholy Transcendentalism (essayists, poets, novelists) Their journal is “The Dial ” . Definition: Transcendentalism is idealism. (Emerson) b. features (1) stress on Oversoul, that is spirit. (2) stress the importance of individual. (3) fresh conception of nature. c. significance (1) inspired a whole generation of writers such as Whitman, Melville and Dickinson. (2) dresses man ’s subjective initiative as opposed to materialism. (3) liberated people from Calvin ’s original sin d. limitation (1) shallow: cut off from real life or reality; initiated by the rich, they were limited in a certain circle. So, in some degree, they have been cut off from social life and can ’t understand the sufferings of the common people. (2) inward contradiction: gain knowledge by intuition, shows its idealistic aspect. R.W. Emerson (Ralph Waldo) Nature (1836): the Bible of New England transcendentalism The American Scholar (1837): "America's Declaration of Intellectual The Divinity School Address 神学院致辞 (1838) Essays (1841/1847) Representative Men (1850) English Traits (1856) 美国文学史及选读试题 I. Multiple Choice 10’ 1. Who is different from others according to the division of writing period? A. Washington Irving B.William Cullen Bryant C. Captain John Smith D. James Fenimore Cooper 2. The American Romantic Period lasted roughly from ____ to ____. A. 1798-1832 B. 1810-1860 C. 1860-1864 D. 1776-1783 3. How many syllables are there in this first line of Raven? (“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,”) A. 11 B. 12 C. 13 D. 16 4. What dominated the Puritan phase of American writing? A. theology B. literature C. esthetics D. revolution 5. At the initial period of the spread of ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to ____. A. typography B. journalism C. revolution D. the development of paper-making industry 6. Who has been called the “Father of American Literature”? A. Walt Scott B. Geoffrey Chaucer 1.C aptain John Smith became the first American writer. 2.T he puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people. collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin. 4.T homas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”. 5.T homas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. has been called the “Father of American Poetry”. 7.I n Washington Irving’s appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature. 8.C ooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprise the is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant’s wok. “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”. History And Anthology of American Literature （6） 附：作者及作品 一、殖民主义时期The Literature of Colonial America 1．船长约翰·史密斯Captain John Smith 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》 “A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony” 《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》 “A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country” 《弗吉尼亚通史》“General History of Virginia” 2．威廉·布拉德福德William Bradford 《普利茅斯开发历史》“The History of Plymouth Plantation”3．约翰·温思罗普John Winthrop 《新英格兰历史》“The History of New England” 4．罗杰·威廉姆斯Roger Williams 《开启美国语言的钥匙》”A Key into the Language of America” 或叫《美洲新英格兰部分土著居民语言指南》 Or “A Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America Called New England ” 5．安妮·布莱德斯特Anne Bradstreet 《在美洲诞生的第十个谬斯》 ”The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America” 二、理性和革命时期文学The Literature of Reason and Revolution 1。本杰明·富兰克林Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) ※《自传》“ The Autobiography ” 《穷人理查德的年鉴》“Poor Richard’s Almanac” 2。托马斯·佩因Thomas Paine (1737-1809) ※《美国危机》“The American Crisis” 《收税官的案子》“The Case of the Officers of the Excise”《常识》“Common Sense” 《人权》“Rights of Man” 《理性的时代》“The Age of Reason” 《土地公平》“Agrarian Justice” 3。托马斯·杰弗逊Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) ※《独立宣言》“The Declaration of I ndependence” 4。菲利浦·弗瑞诺Philip Freneau (1752-1832) ※《野忍冬花》“The Wild Honey Suckle” ※《印第安人的坟地》“The Indian Burying Ground” ※《致凯提·迪德》“To a Caty-Did” 《想象的力量》“The Power of Fancy” 《夜屋》“The House of Night” 《英国囚船》“The British Prison Ship” 《战争后期弗瑞诺主要诗歌集》 “The Poems of Philip Freneau Written Chiefly During the Late War” 《札记》“Miscellaneous Works” 三、浪漫主义文学The Literature of Romanticism 1。华盛顿·欧文Washington Irving (1783-1859) ※《作者自叙》“The Author’s Account of Himself” ※《睡谷传奇》“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 《见闻札记》“Sketch Book” 《乔纳森·欧尔德斯泰尔》“Jonathan Oldstyle” 《纽约外史》“A History of New York” 《布雷斯布里奇庄园》“Bracebridge Hall” 《旅行者故事》“Tales of Traveller” 《查理二世》或《快乐君主》“Charles the Second” Or “The Merry Monarch” 《克里斯托弗·哥伦布生平及航海历史》 “A History of the Life and V oyages of Christopher Columbus” 《格拉纳达征服编年史》”A Chronicle of the Conquest of Grandada” 《哥伦布同伴航海及发现》 ”V oyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus” 《阿尔罕布拉》“Alhambra” 《西班牙征服传说》“Legends of the Conquest of Spain” 《草原游记》“A Tour on the Prairies” 《阿斯托里亚》“Astoria” 《博纳维尔船长历险记》“The Adventures of Captain Bonneville” 《奥立弗·戈尔德史密斯》”Life of Oliver Goldsmith” 《乔治·华盛顿传》“Life of George Washington” 2．詹姆斯·芬尼莫·库珀James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) ※《最后的莫希干人》“The Last of the Mohicans” 《间谍》“The Spy” 《领航者》“The Pilot” 《美国海军》“U.S. Navy” 《皮袜子故事集》“Leather Stocking Tales” 包括《杀鹿者》、《探路人》”The Deerslayer”, ”The Pathfinder” 《最后的莫希干人》“The Last of the Mohicans” 《拓荒者》、《大草原》“The Pioneers”, “The Praire” 3。威廉·卡伦·布莱恩特William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) ※《死之思考》“Thanatopsis” ※《致水鸟》“To a Waterfowl” 4。埃德加·阿伦·坡Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) ※《给海伦》“To Helen” ※《乌鸦》“The Raven” ※《安娜贝尔·李》“Annabel Lee” ※《鄂榭府崩溃记》“The Fall of the House of Usher” 《金瓶子城的方德先生》“Ms. Found in a Bottle” 《述异集》“Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque” 5。拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) ※《论自然》“Nature” ※《论自助》“Self-Reliance” 《美国学者》“The American Scholar” 《神学院致辞》“The Divinity School Address” 《随笔集》“Essays” 《代表》“Representative Men” 《英国人》“English Traits” 《诗集》“Poems” 6。亨利·戴维·梭罗Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) ※《沃尔登我生活的地方我为何生活》 1 美国文学史及选读试卷 Ⅰ. Multiple choices. (60 points in total, 2 for each) 1. The Romantic Period in American literature started from the publication of Washington Irving's ______ and ended with Whitman's Leaves of Grass. A. The Sketch Book B. Tales of a Traveller C. A History of New York D. The Scarlet Letter 2. At the middle of 19th century, America witnessed a cultural flowering which is called “_____”. A. the English Renaissance B. the Second Renaissance C. the American Renaissance D. the Salem Renaissance 3. As a philosophical and literary movement, the main issues involved in the debate of Transcendentalism are generally concerning ______. A. nature , man and the universe B. the relationship between man and woman C. the development of Romanticism in American literature D. the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism 14. In the following statements, _________ is NOT true about Washington Irving’s famous story “Rip Van Winkle.” A. The story is not only well-kno wn for Rip’s 20-year sleep but also considered a model of perfect English in American literature. B. The story is set against the background of the inevitably changing America. C. The social conservatism and literary preference for the past is revealed, to some extent, in the story. D. Irving describes Rip’s response and reaction in a dramatic way, so that we see clearly both the narrator and Irving agree on the preferability of the present to the past. 15. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Experience is a serous discussion about the conflict between _________ and ordinary life. I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 1 point for each) 1. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in . 2. became the first American writer. 3. Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety were the values that dominated much of the early American writing. 4. In American literature, the 18th century was an age of and Revolution. 5. Franklin’s best writing is found in his masterpiece . 6. On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet appeared. 7. The signing of symbolized the birth of an independent American nation. 8. The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was . 9. Washington Irving’s became the first work by an American writer to win international fame. 10. is the summit of American Romanticism. 11. With the publication of Emerson’s in 1836,American R omanticism reached its summit. 12. Hester Prynne is the heroine in Hawthorne’s novel . 13.Henry James’ major fictional theme is . 14. brought the Romantic period to an end. So the age of Realism came into existence. 15. The Poetic style invented by Whitman is now called . 16. “Because I could not stop for Death---” is written by . 17. The term The Gilded Age is given by to describe the post-civil war years. 18. Theodore Dreiser’s first novel is . 19. The leader of the literary movement Imagism is . 20. is the spokesman for Lost Generation. 答案: 1. 1607 2. John Smith 3. Puritan 4. Reason 5. The Autobiography 6. Common Sense 7. The Declaration of Independence 8. Philip Freneau 9. Sketch Book 10. Transcendentalism 11. Nature 12. The Scarlet Letter 13. international theme 14. The civil war 15. free verse 16. Emily Dickinson 17. Mark Twain 18. Sister Carrie 19. Ezra Pound 20. Ernest Hemingway II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 1 point for each) 1. The first American writer of local color to achieve wide popularity was . A. Bret Harte B. Mark Twain C. Henry James D. William Dean Howells 2. Which of the following is the masterpiece of Mark Twain? A. The Gilded Age B. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 苏州科技学院期末考试试题（卷） 评分标准及标准答案 A卷 院系：专业：考试科目：美国文学史及选读考试形式：闭卷考试时间： 100 分钟 I.Blanks: (10%)(每题1分，共10分，答错不给分) 1. American literature 2. English 3. Puritans 4. short story 5. Autobiography 6. Philip Freneau 7. Washington Irving 8. Edgar Allan Poe 9. The Scarlet Letter II.Multiple Choice: ( 20%)(每题1分，共20分，答错不给分) 1. A 2. B 3. C 4. A 5. A 6. C 7. B 8. C 9. B 10. D 11. A 12. B 13. B 14. B 15. C 16.C 17. B 18. A 19. C 20. D III.Identification (20%)（每题1分，共20分，答错不给分） 1.James Fenimore Cooper 2.Washington Irving 3.Anne Bradstreet 4.Michael Wigglesworth 5.Washington Irving 6.James Fenimore Cooper 7.Philip Freneau 8.William Cullen Bryant 9.Edgar Allan Poe 10.Edgar Allan Poe 11.Nathaniel Hawthorne 12.Edgar Allan Poe 13.Anne Bradstreet 14.Washington Irving 15.James Fenimore Cooper 16.Philip Freneau 17.William Cullen Bryant 18.Edgar Allan Poe 19.Nathaniel Hawthorne 20.Philip Freneau IV.Terms (20%)（每题4分，共20分） 1. Poor Richard’s Almanac key words: Benjamin Franklin, sayings, hard work, thrift, Puritan, quotes, printed himself, etc. 2. Leatherstocking Tales Key words: Cooper, five novels, Natty Bumppo, frontier, frontiersman, life from youth to old age, The Pioneer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer, etc. 3. Puritanism key words: Calvin, purify, hard work, thrift, predestination, salvation, sin, God, from England to America, immigration, etc. 4. Benjamin Franklin key words: statesman, scientist and writer, Autobiography, Poor Richard’s Almanac, puritan, hard work and thrift, successful, contributions, printer, etc. V.Appreciation (10%)（每题5分，共10分） Part A a)Philip Freneau’s（1分）The Wild Honey Suckle （1分） b)It is written in iambic tetrameter, the rhyme scheme is ababcc. （1分） c)“Little being” refers to the wild honey suckle. （1分）“But an hour” means the lifespan of a flower is very short. （1分）美国文学史及选读试卷 (1)
美国文学史期末参考复习资料
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美国文学史及选读试卷评分标准(A卷)