英美文学复习资料 - Copy

1. William Shakespeare1）Humanistic ideas: Shakespeare, as a humanist of the time, does not hesitate to describe the cruelty and anti-natural character of the civil wars, but he did not go all the way against the feudal rule. In his dramatic creation, especially in his histories and tragedies, he affirms the importance of the feudal system in order to uphold the nation unity and social order. He against religious persecution and racial discrimination, against social inequality and the corrupting influence of gold and money. However, there is also a limit to his sympathy for the downtrodden. He fears anarchy, hates rebellion and despises democracy. Thus, he finds no way to solve the social problems. In the end, the only thing he can do as a humanist is to escape from the reality to seek comfort in his dream.2) Literary ideas: Shakespeare has accepted the Renaissance views on literature. He holds that literature should be a combination of beauty, kindness and truth, and should reflect nature and reality. He claims through the mouth of Hamlet that the “end” of dramatic creation is to give faithful reflection of the social reality of the time. Shakespeare also states that literary works, which have truly reflected nature and reality, can reach immortality.2. SonnetThe term “sonnet” derives from the Latin sonitus(meaning “sound”) and the Italian sonetto (meaning “sound”, “song”). The ordinary sonnetconsists of fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameters with considerable variations in rhyme scheme. The basic sonnet forms are: 1) The Italian or the Petrarchan sonnet which comprises an octave rhyming abba abba or abab abab and a sestet rhyming cde cde or cd cd cd; 2) The English or the Shakespearean sonnet, comprising three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. 3) The Spenserian sonnet, again with three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab bcbc cdcd ee. However, there remain many deviations from the basic patterns. In English the most conspicuous variant, the 16-line poems of George Meredith’s se quence Modern Love(1862), is clearly related to the sonnet in its themes and abba cddc effe ghhg rhyme scheme.The Italian form of sonnet is the commonest: the octave develops one thought; there is then a “turn” or volta, and the sestet grows out of the octave, varies it and completes it. In the other two forms a different idea is expressed in each quatrain; each grows out of the one preceding it; and the argument, theme, and dialectic are concluded, “tied up” in the binding end-couplet.3. Generally speaking, the classic essay possesses the following characteristics of classic literature:1) Classic literature is of clarity, splendour, sublimity, and philosophicality. And these properties are common in almost all classic essays, as those by Aristotle, Cicero, Confucius, Montaigne, Bacon, Emerson and the kind.2) In western literature there is always a lasting trait of Greek and Roman vigour which fosters a classic temperament in the literary minds of many generations.Classic essayists as Bacon and Pope directly orindirectly adopt much of Homer, Horace, Virgil, Ovid or Seneca in subjects, styles, and even language itself. Their compositions are therefore of typical classic beauty and strength.3) Great importance is placed upon strict rules, elegant forms, refined diction, confined syntax, and balanced texture, in all classic literature including the classic essay, which is more flexible, though.Yet some essayists, such as those of the Augustan England and so comparable to the Tongcheng School of China, comply so strictly with the classic standards that their works bear much affectation, elaboration, and non-naturalness. These linguistic features are so true to classic essayists in England.4) The classic essay is as comprehensive in subject matters and styles as in all classic literature. In subjects, the classic essay deals with a variety of themes: philosophy, literary criticism, arts, politics, history, social problems, travels, and other aspects of life. Its style, however, varies with every individual essayist. For example, Cicero is gracefully eloquent; Bacon is weighty and highly sententious; Swift is deceptively plain and satirically forceful; Addison is “familiar but not coarse, elegant but not ostentatious.”4. The pastoral elegy is a specialized form of elegy, and is very popular with English poets. It bears the following conventions:(1) The scene is pastoral. The poet and the person he mourns are represented as shepherds;(2) The poet begins with an invocation to the Muses and refers to diverse mythological characters during the poem;(3) Nature is involved in mourning the shepherd’s death. Nature feels the wound, so to speak;(4) The poet inquires of the guardians of the dead shepherd where they were when death came;(5) There is a procession of mourners;(6) The poet reflects on divine justice and contemporary evils;(7) There is a “flower” passage, describing the decoration of the bier, etc;(8) At the end there is a renewal of hope and joy, with the idea expressed that death is the beginning of life.5.Desert Island Fiction is a form of fiction in which a remote and uncivilized island is used as the venue of the story and action. Usually itcan be placed right outside the “real” world and may be an image of the ideal, unspoiled or primitive existence, for it is often presented as an example of inner goodness, bravery, dignity and nobility, or adolescent innocence and purity uncorrupted by the evil force in civilization. It appeals directly to the sense of adventure, exploratory impulse, imaginative instinct and romantic desires of most people. It has a particular attraction to children with all kinds of foreign experiences, exciting challenges, and exotic scenes, as well difficult skills for survival and heroic individualism.6. Ballad, originally a short narrative folk song to accompany a dance, isa simple spirited poem in short stanzas in which a popular story is graphically told. This genre of verse is not restricted to the English-speaking world only, as all nations, eastern or western, may possess their own ballads of great literary merit.Traditional English ballads originated in the 13th century and most of them were collected by Child, Pepys, Bradford, Percy, Scott and others. They share with ballads of other nations some striking characteristics which include: 1) the tradition of oral transmission and an unknown authorship; 2) a variety of verse forms, among which the standard stanza form, known as the ballad stanza, “is a quatrain in alternative four and three-stress iambic lin es,” usually with only the second and fourth lines rhyming, such as the form of “Sir Patrick Spens” in the popular ballads; 3) the frequent adoption of refrains or repetitions to form musical echoes; 4) usually a compact little story is arranged in details within which a single incident is dramatically treated but not in a narrative continuity; 5) a multitude of subjects covering history, legends, wars, love stories, family affairs etc.; 6) simple words, plain language and dialogue are often used in the verse lines.7.Ode is a single, complex and often lengthy lyric poem, written in a dignified formal style on some lofty or serious subject. The term connotes some qualities:1) an elaborate stanza-structure, expressed in language dignified;2) a marked formality and stateliness in tone and style;3) more complicated than most of the lyric types in form;4) lofty sentiments and thoughts.In ancient literature, ode is composed for a chorus to chant and dance which is divided into strophe, antistrophe and epode (Moving in a dance rhythm to the left, the chorus chanted the strophe; moving to the right, the antistrophe; then standing still, the epode).There are two classical forms of ode: the Horatian Ode and the Pindaric Ode.。