英美文学选读课文选段总复习

Mark Twin presented the 19th century American in his own unique way. Discuss Twain’s art of fiction: the setting, the language, and the characters, etc., based on his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.1.Mark Twain uses the Mississippi alley as his fictional kingdom, writing about the landscape and people, the customs and the dialects of one particular region, and therefore known as a local colorist.2.He creates life-like characters, especially the unconventional Huckleberry Finn, who runs away from civilization and stands opposite to conventional village morality.3.He uses a simple, direct vernacular language, totally different from any precious literary language. It is the kind of colloquial language belonging to the lower class, the living local American English.4.He has created a special humor to satirize social injustice and the decayed convention.：1.How do you know about Renaissance? Give a summery about English literature in the period?1.The Renaissance refers to the period between 14th----mid-17th century. It first started in Italy.2.The Renaissance means rebirth or revival----the discovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture.3.In essence, The Renaissance is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars tried to get rid of the old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie/middle class, and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of Roman Catholic church.4.Humanism is the essence of Renaissance -----Man is the measure of all things. The humanism exalted/praised human nature and emphasized the dignity of human beings and thepresent life. They thought man had the right to enjoy the beauty of life and had the ability to perfect himself and made wonders, which got ready for the appearance of the great Elizabethan writers in Britain. Poetry and drama were the most outstanding literary forms.5.Shakespeare, Marlowe and Francis Bacon etc. were the remarkable representatives of the English Renaissance.2. Please give a brief analysis of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy “To be or not to be” is ’a philosophical exploration of life and death’. The soliloquy condemned the hypocrisy and treachery and general corruption of the world, and revealed the character of Hamlet---so ’speculative, questioning, contemplative and melancholy./gloomy’. It was not because he was not able to take action to revenge, but because of his ’hesitative/hesitant character’, when the chance for action came, it seemed defeat.It can be interpreted as: Hamlet bears the heavy burden of the duty to revenge his father’s death, he is forced to live in the suspense of facts and fiction, language and action. He considers that it would be better to ’commit suicide’, but being scared of what might happen to him in the afterlife. So he put off the thing because of the sin. He considers the plan carefully only to find reason for not carrying it out. The soliloquy conveys ’the sense of world-weariness 4. What are the main themes of Shakespeare’s plays?1.Shakespeare’s plays are divided into 3 types: comedies, tragedies and historical plays.1) His historical plays are with the theme-----national unity under a might and just sovereign/ruler is necessary.2)In his romantic comedies, he takes an optimistic attitude toward love friendship and youth.3)In histragedies, Shakespeare always portrays some noble heroes, who faces the injustice of life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of his nation. Each hero has his weakness of nature. We also see the conflict between the individual and the evil force in the society. And his major characters are always individuals representing certain types.5. Please comment on the character of Satan in “Paradise Lost.”1. Satan is a rebellious (叛逆的) figure against God in literature, defeated, he and his rebel angels were cast into hell. However, Satan refused to accept his failure, swearing that “all was not lost” and that he would revenge for his downfall. The freedom of the will is the keystone of Satan’s character, which was the important spirit of the rising middle class. While he tempted Adam and Eve, which proved his evilness.1.Please analyze the Neoclassical period and the characters of the literature.1)The Neoclassical period is about 1660-1798, also known as"the Age of Enlightenment" or "the age of Reason".2)Its background was:a.It was an age full of conflicts and difference of values;b.It was an age of fast development for English to becomethe first powerful capitalist country in the world;c.It was an age of economic development, in which bourgeois/middle class grew rapidly.3)In essence, the Neoclassical Period was a progressive intellectual movement.4)The Enlighteners believed in self-restraint, self-reliance and hard work;They celebrated reason/rationality, equality and science.They advocated universal education, which could make peoplerational and prefect, they believed.5)In literature, The Enlightenment Movement brought about arevival of interest in the ancient Greek and Roman classical works; the works at the time, heavily didactic and moralizing; having fixed laws and rules for every type of the literature; among which prose and the modern English novel predominated the age. (At the end of the age sentimentalism and Gothic Novel appeared.) 6) The age was an important age with the remarkable authors Pope, Defoe, etc.2.Please cite examples from "Gulliver’s Travels" to explain brieflyhow did Swift criticized and allude to the government and the society.1)In the first par t of the "Gulliver’s Travels", Swift described the tricks and practices in the competition held before royal members to allude to the fact that the successof the officials was not for their wisdom and excellence but fortheir skills in the games;2)In the part 4 of the book, Swift made horses with reason and good qualities.The citizens who are "hairy, wild, low and despicable brutes, who resemble human beings not only in appearance but also in almost every way" to criticize/satirize all respects of the English and European life, and urge people to consider the nature of the human and life. (P108-109)1.Please list the subjects and the faculties of theRomanticism.(1 The subjects are: love, nature, nationalism, individualism, (2) The faculties they cherished are: imagination, spontaneity, inspiration. (P162)2.William Wordsworth was the first representative author ofRom,How do you know his idea and style?(1)His poems are most about Nature and Human Life;(2)Beyond the pleasure of the picturesque with the eye and the external aspects of nature, however, lies in deeper moral awareness, a sense of completeness in multiplicity. (3)Common life and the joy and sorrow of the common people andinner self are his subjects;(4)He is a poet in memory of the past and was called "prophets of nature";(5)He deliberately writes in simple and ordinaryspeech ,refuses to decorate the truth of experience of pure and profound feeling;(6)He thought poet is "a man speaking to men," poetry is "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, which originates inemotion recollected in tranquility."(7)He always writes an elusive beauty simplicity or a rural figure.3.What thoughts and event influenced the period of Romanticism?(1) Rousseau explored new ideas about nature, society and education, which provided guiding priding principles for the French Revolution and Romanticism;(2) The French Revolution and "the Declaration of Rights ofMan"aroused the great sympathy and enthusiasm in the English liberals and radicals,which became a great source for Romanticism.(3) England itself had experienced profound economic and social changes as industrialism,which were reflected in the works of literature.how do you know about Jane AustenGenerally speaking, Austen was writer of the 18th century.(1)Her novels always dealt with the romantic entanglement of the heroines;(2)She believed in it thatreason over passion, sense of responsibility, good manners,and clear judgment over romance; she honored the Augustan virtues of moderation,dignity disciplined emotion and common sense;(3)She contempt snobbery, stupidity, worldliness etc;(4)Her main concern was the relationship between men and women in love;(5)Her writing range was limited, all restricted to theprovincial life of the 18th century England;(6)She presented the quiet,day-to-day country life of themiddle -upper -class English.(7)Her characteristic theme was: maturity is got by the loss of illusions.Ideologically, what influenced Victorian literature? Wha t characters does it have? Darwin’s theory “the survival of the fittest” shook t he theoretical basis of the traditional faith, many authors expressed their doubts and uncertainty in their works;Utilitarianism was widely accepted and practiced, many conscious authors severely criticized the Utilitarianism, especially its devalue of culture and its cold indifference to human feeling and imagination;Realism novels criticized the society and defended for the mass, and they concerned about the fate of the common people such as their poverty misery, angry with the inhuman social institution, the social immorality, injustice and money-worship.Victorian literature represents the reality of the age. Thehigh-spirit vitality, the down-to-earth earnestness, the good-natured humour and unbound imagination are unprecedented.can you analyze the character of Jane EyreJane Eyre was a little plain governess with quick wit, honesty, frankness, loving heart and the spirit of independence and self-dignity.In literature, she is an individual conscious to self-realization. She was lonely and neglected young woman with a fierce longing for love, understanding and a full, happy life.In author’s mind, man’s life is composed of perpetual struggle between sin and virtue, good and evil. The heroines’ joy, comes from the sacrifice of self and the overcome of some weakness.By Jane’s experience, we can see the cruelty, hypocrisy, and other evils of the upper classes and the misery and the suffering of the poor, and the false social convention on love and marriage. Analyze the background of the Victorian Period.Economic developed rapidly and social problems prevailed in England and it became the “workshop of the world”.England settled down to a time of prosperity and stability, the people valued earnestness, respectability, modesty, and democracy.In the last decades, British empire declined, and Victorian values decayed.Analyze the style of Charles Dickens.Adeptness/skilfulness with the vernacular and large vocabulary;The most distinguishing/remarkable character-portrayal;The best writing from thechild’s point of view; (His best depicted characters are those innocent, virtuous, persecuted, helpless children)The depiction of those horrible and grotesque characters;The mingling/mixing features of humor and pathos/sorrow. (P241) How do you know the naturalistic idea of Hardy?The tragic sense is the keynote of Hardy’s novels, and he is a nostalgicauthor.Hardy’s novels always set in Wessex, the fictional primitive and crude region, which is threatened by the invading capitalism, expressing the conflict between the traditional and the modern, the old and the modern.Man’s fate is tragic with born, driven by the force of the nature of outside and inside, and man is bound by his inherent nature and hereditary traits which prompt him to go and search for happiness or success, and set him in conflict with the environment; we can see he is influenced greatly by Darwin’s th eory “survival of the fittest”.Man proves to be incompetent/impotent before Fate, and he seldom escapes his destiny. The pessimistic view of life predominates most works of Hardy, which earns him the name of a naturalistic writer.Hardy is noted for he rustic dialect and a poetic flavor, so he is also called local-colorist.1.“For herein Fortune shows herself more kind……Of such misery doth she cut me off”1.I dentify the title of the works and author.2.Explain “from which…cut me off”.3.What happened to him, which caused the wordsThe lines are from “The Merchant of Venice”, William Shakespeare. (P48)2) This sentence means she, ’Lady Fortune(命运女神)’, is more kind to him because she is taking away both his wealth and life.3) The speaker is Antonio, it’s said that his ship have all been lost, and he is penniless, and will have to pay the pound of flesh. (Because Shylock has made a strange bond that requires Antonio to pay him a pound of flesh if he can’t repay him the money that he borrowed for his friend in due time.)3.“ Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;When in eternal lines to timethou grow’st:So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.1) Where does the poem comes from? Who wrote it?What does “eternal lines”mean? Interpret it briefly.1) The poem is “ Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day”, by Shakespeare. 2) Eternal lines means the lines of the poem and other sonnets. 3) It means: you will not lose your beauty, and death will not threaten you with darkness, either. As long as man can live in the world, they will see your beauty in my lines of my poem, which has given you eternal life. (Or A nice summer’s day is usually transient, but the beauty in poetry can last for ever.4.“… All is no lost: the unconquerable will,Irreconcilable to our grand Foe”1) Please identify the poem and the poet.2) Interpret“all is not lost”.3) What does the whole passage mean?1) It is taken from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. 2) “all is not lost” is the word from Satan----Satan and other angels rebel against God, but they are driven from Heaven into hell. In the fire of the hell, Satan is determined to fight back, just like what he says: not all is lost, the unconquerable will, the deep hatred, and the courage to fight till death still remain. 3) This passage shows Satan’s will not to submit and the desire to long for freedom; to beg God for mercy and worship his power is more shameful and disgraceful than the downfall.1. "A little black thing among the snowCrying "’weep! ’weep! "They are both gone up to the church to prey."(1)Identify the poem and poet.(2)Explain "notes of woe".(3)What does the sentence mean "they ate both gone up to the church to prey."(1)It is from "The Chimney Sweeper (from songs of experience) by Blake (2)"notes of woe" means the songs/notes of sadness.(3)It implies: religion is the instrument of their repression/ oppression, its nature is to help bring misery to the poor children.3. "With plough and spade and hoe and loom …England be your Sepulcher"(1)Explain "sepulcher"(2)What was the deep implication of the poem?(1)Sepulcher means grave. (2)The poem ironically addressed to the workers who submit to capitalist exploitation. It warned them: If they gave up the struggle, they wouldbe digging graves for themselves wish their own hands.6. "For oft, when on my couch I lie Which is the bliss of solitude;And dance with the daffodils."(1) What is the "bliss of the solitude"?(2) Interpret the passage.(3) Why did the poet write the poem, what did he want to express? (1)The Daffodils the poem saw. (2)It is a bliss/happiness to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind when he is solitude/lonely.(3)The poem depicts/deals with the flowers that he came across along waterside, by which he expresses the quiet, sympathy, loving feeling to nature just like his words "poetry is from "emotion recollected in tranquility".7. "Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,…He’d have God for his father, and never want joy."(1)Identify the poem and its poet;(2)What does the poem implies?(1) The poem is take from "The Chimney Sweeper (from Songs of Innocence)", which was written by William Blake. (2) This is a lovely poem presenting a happy and innocent world, though the wretched child are exploited and orphaned, they hadnicedream for life and the world, which implies religion make people obedient to exploitation, and from religion, they can get consolation and an "illusory happiness".8. "As thus with thee i n prayer in my sore need….One too like thee: tameless, and swift and proud."(1)Explain "I fall upon the thorns of life, I bleed" (2)Can you comprehend the deep emotion contained in the poem? What’s that?(3)The poet was called the "the heart of all hearts", he trumpeted the radical prophecy of hope and rebirth. Please write out his classic words.(1)The sentence call Shelley’s desire that he couldn’t best being fettered to/limited by the humdrum/too ordinary reality of everyday! (2)In the poem, the west wind has become the poet himself,he wants to be free, proud and controllable like the wild west wind,to destruct and construct with the strong power like the west wind. (3)"If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"10. "Where fore feed and Clothe and saveFrom the cradle to the graveDrain your sweat---nay, drink your blood?"(1)Who wrote the poem? What’s its name?(2) Explain "drones",(3) Interp(1)The poem is ret the passage."A song: Men of England" by Shelley. (2)Drones the male of the honey-bees that don’t work ,referring to the parasitic class in human society.(drones and bees are the devices of metaphor) (3)The poet called all working people to rise up against their political oppressors, but point out the intolerable injustice of economic exploitation. It expressed the love for freedom and the hatred to tyranny of the author.11. "Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!"(1)What does the "wild spirit "refer to?(2)Why called it "Destroyer and Preserver" at the same time?(3)Identify the poet and the poem.(1)"wild spirit" refers to west wind/autumn wind. (2)Because west wind buried the dead year and year and prepared for a new spring, the poet call it "Destroyer and preserver".(3)It is "Ode to the west wind" of Shelley.“You teach me now how cruel you’ve --- Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy?I have not one word of comfort---you deserve this…”Who is the speaker?What does it refer to “you despise me, you break your own heart”?What was the meaning of the story fro m the social point of view?What is the main device of the story in description?The speaker was Heathcliff. It refers to Cathy married her husband and deserted him and her own love.From the social point of view, it is a story about a poor man –Heathcliff abused, betrayed and distorted by his social betters/by the people with higher social position, because he is a poor nobody“In pursuance of this determination, little Oliver, to his excessive astonishment, Oliver begins to cry very piteously. Thinking, not unnaturally, that the board must fatten him up in this way.”Identify the title and the writer.Why Oliver was released from the bondage?Why had he been punished?Interpret “A very tremendous sight”.This is an excerpt from “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens. Because he would be sold to a notorious chimney-sweeper and became his apprentice. Oliver was punished for that “impious and profane offence of asking for more gruel.” Fromthe passage we can see the food is so little and poor in fact, but in the little Oliver’s eyes, it became “A very tremendous sight”. Because in the usual days Oliver and other children were maltreated and abused cruelly, they couldn’t eat well and were punished severely by the cruelty and hypocrisy of the dehumanizing workhouse board.“Come, Tess, Tell me in confidence.” …“The trees have inquisitive eyes, haven’t they? … and drive all such horrid fancies away!”1) Interpret the passage.Tess, as pure woman brought up with the traditional ideas, is abused and destroyed by the destructive force, and the misery made her frightened to the future, which implied the naturalistic viewpoint of Hardy.1.。