英国文学简史术语解释总结(英文)整理版
英国文学-名词解释-【整理后】汇编
1.epic 史诗:a long narrative poem, grand in style, about heroes and heroic deeds, embodying heroicideals of a nation or race in the making. Beowulf is the English national epic that was passed from mouth to mouth and written down by many unknown hands.2.Conceit:a kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. Aconceit usually provides the framework for an entire poem. An especially unusual and intellectual kind of conceit is the metaphysical conceit, used by certain 17th-century poets, such as John Donne..3.Epiphany(顿悟）: a sudden revelation of truth about life inspired by a seemingly trivial incident4.Metaphysical poetry:玄学诗派the poetry of John Donne and other 17th-century poets who wrotein a similar style. It is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas .5.Stream of consciousness意识流: a kind of writing technique in which a character's perceptions, thoughts, andmemories are presented in an apparently random form, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or syntax.Often such writing makes no distinction between various levels of reality--such as dreams, memories, imaginative thoughts or real sensory perception.6.heroic couplet 英雄双韵体two successive lines of rhymed poetry in iambic pentameter. Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece The Canterbury Tale was written in heroic couplet.7.ballad meter 民谣体traditionally a four-line stanza containing alternating four-stress and three-stress lines, usually with a refrain and the rhyme scheme of abcb. Robert Burns’ “A Red, Red Rose” is a great love ballad.8.9.sonnet 十四行诗a fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of 5-foot iambic verse. It first flourished in Italy in the 14thcentury. William Shakespeare was a great English sonnet writer famous for his 154 sonnets.10.iambic pentameter 五步抑扬格the basic line in English verse, with five feet in a line, usually an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. It was probably introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer and certainly established by him in The Canterbury Tales.11.image 意象a concrete representation of an object or sensory experience. Typically, such a representation helpsevoke the feelings associated with the object or experience itself. Many images are conveyed by figurative language. An image may be visual, olfactory, tactile, auditory, gustatory, abstract and kinaesthetic. The rose in Robert Bur ns’ poem “A Red, Red Rose” is a beautiful image.12.“Dramatic monologue”戏剧独白that is a lyric poem which reveals “ a soul in action” through the conversation of one character in a dramatic situation. T he character is speaking to an identifiable but silent listener at a dramatic monent in the speaker’s life.13.blank verse 无韵诗，素体诗unrhymed iambic pentameter, the most widely used of English verse forms and usually used in English dramatic and epic poetry. Willi am Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is written in blank verse.14.Sonnet is a verse form of fourteen lines, in English characteristically in iambic pentameter and most often in one ofthe two rhyme schemes: the Italian(or Petrarchan) or Shakespearean15.essay 散文a composition, usually in prose, which may be of only a few hundred words or of book length andwhich discusses, formally or informally, a topic or a variety of topics. It is one of the most flexible and adaptable of all literary forms. Francis Bacon is a great essayist; his “Of Studies” is a model of good essay.16.English Romanticism 英国浪漫主义a literary movement that aimed at free expression of the writer’s ideas and feelings and flourished inthe early 19th century England. A great representative of this movement is Percy Bysshe Shelley, the author of “Ode to the West Wind”.17.18.Naturalism自然主义: A literary movement seeking to depict life as accurately as possible, without artificialdistortions of emotion, idealism, and literary convention. The school of thought is a product of post-Darwinian biology in the nineteenth century.19.Sentimentalism感伤主义：It is a literal movement in the middle of the 18th century in England which concentrateson the distressed of the poor unfortunate and virtuous people and demonstrates that effusive emotion was evidence of kindness and goodness.20.21.Bildungsroman: a novel that traces the initiation, development, and education of a young person. Examples areDickens’s David Copperfield and James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.22.ke poets 湖畔诗人the three romantic poets who lived in the Lake District of England and wrote poems about nature.William Wordsworth was the most famous of the lake poets; he wrote many great nature poems, including “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.24.25.poet laureate 桂冠诗人 A poet honored for his artistic achievement or selected as mostrepresentative of his country or era; in England, a court official appointed by the sovereign, whose original duties included the composition of odes in honor of the sovereign’s birthday and in celebration of state occasions of importance. William Wordsworth became poet laureate in 1843.26.Realism现实主义: An elastic and ambiguous term with two meanings. (1) First, it refers generally to any artistic orliterary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false ideals, literary conventions, or misplaced aesthetic glorification and beautification of the world. It is a theory or tendency in writing to depict events in human life in a matter-of-fact, straightforward manner.27.Allegory is a tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas ormoral qualities. Thus, an allegory is a story with two meaning, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.28.Byronic hero is a character-type found in Byron’s narrative Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. He is aboldly defiant but bitterly self-tormenting outcast, proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin. Emily Bronte’s Heath cliff is a later example.29.30.启蒙运动:The 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement in Europe, known as theEnlightenment, which was, on the whole, an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals of feudalism. They attempt to place all branches of science at the service of mankind by connecting them with the actual needs and requirements of people.31.English Renaissance 英国文艺复兴the literary flowering of England in the late 16th century and early 17th century, with humanism as its keynote. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is considered the summit of this renaissance.。
英国文学-名词解释-
英国文学-名词解释-学习好资料欢迎下载1.epic 史诗:a long narrative poem, grand in style, about heroes and heroic deeds, embodying heroicideals of a nation or race in the making. Beowulf is the English national epic that was passed from mouth to mouth and written down by many unknown hands.2.Conceit:a kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. Aconceit usually provides the framework for an entire poem. An especially unusual and intellectual kind of conceit is the metaphysical conceit, used by certain 17th-century poets, such as John Donne..3.Epiphany(顿悟）: a sudden revelation of truth about life inspired by a seemingly trivial incident4.Metaphysical poetry:玄学诗派the poetry of John Donne and other 17th-century poets who wrotein a similar style. It is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas .5.Stream of consciousness意识流: a kind of writing technique in which a character's perceptions, thoughts, andmemories are presented in an apparently random form, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or syntax.Often such writing makes no distinction between various levels of reality--such as dreams, memories, imaginative thoughts or real sensory perception.6.heroic couplet 英雄双韵体two successive lines of rhymed poetry in iambic pentameter.Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece The Canterbury Tale was written in heroic couplet.7.ballad meter 民谣体traditionally a four-line stanza containing alternating four-stress and three-stress lines, usually with a refrain and the rhyme scheme of abcb. Robert Burns’ “A Red, Red Rose” is a great love ballad.8.sonnet 十四行诗a fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of 5-foot iambic verse. It first flourished in Italy in the 14thcentury. William Shakespeare was a great English sonnet writer famous for his 154 sonnets.9.iambic pentameter 五步抑扬格the basic line in English verse, with five feet in a line, usually an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. It was probably introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer and certainly established by him in The Canterbury Tales.10.image 意象a concrete representation of an object or sensory experience. Typically, such a representation helpsevoke the feelings associated with the object or experience itself. Many images are conveyed by figurative language. An image may be visual, olfactory, tactile, auditory, gustatory, abstract and kinaesth etic. The rose in Robert Burns’ poem “A Red, Red Rose” is a beautiful image.11.“Dramatic monologue”戏剧独白that is a lyric poem which reveals “ a soul in action” through the conversation of one character in a dramatic situation. T he character is speaking to an identifiable but silent listener at a dramatic monent in the speaker’s life.12.blank verse 无韵诗，素体诗unrhymed iambic pentameter, the most widely used of English verse forms and usually used in English dramatic and epic poetry. William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is written in blank verse.13.Sonnet is a verse form of fourteen lines, in English characteristically in iambic pentameter and most often in one of the two rhyme schemes: the Italian(or Petrarchan) or Shakespearean14.essay 散文a composition, usually in prose, which may be of only a few hundred words or of book length andwhich discusses, formally or informally, a topic or a variety of topics. It is one of the most flexible and adaptable of all literary forms. Francis Bacon is a great essayist; his “Of Studies” is a model of good essay.15.English Romanticism 英国浪漫主义a literary movement that aimed at free expres sion of the writer’s ideas and feelings and flourished in学习好资料欢迎下载the early 19th century England. A great representative of this movement is Percy Bysshe Shelley, the author of “Ode to the West Wind”.16.Naturalism自然主义: A literary movement seeking to depict life as accurately as possible, without artificial distortions of emotion, idealism, and literary convention. The school of thought is a product of post-Darwinian biology in the nineteenth century.17.Sentimentalism感伤主义：It is a literal movement in the middle of the 18th century in England which concentrateson the distressed of the poor unfortunate and virtuous people and demonstrates that effusive emotion was evidence of kindness and goodness.18.Bildungsroman: a novel that traces the initiation, development, and education of a young person. Examples are Dickens’s David Copperfield and James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man./doc/b03339706.html,ke poets 湖畔诗人the three romantic poets who lived in the Lake District of England and wrote poems about nature.William Wordsworth was the most famous of the lake poets; he wrote many great nature poems, including “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.20.poet laureate 桂冠诗人A poet honored for his artistic achievement or selected as mostrepresentative of his country or era; in England, a court official appointed by the sovereign, whose original duties included the composition of odes in honor of the sovereign’s birthday and in celebration of state occasions of importance. William Wordsworth became poet laureate in 1843. 21.Realism现实主义: An elastic and ambiguous term with two meanings. (1) First, it refers generally to any artistic orliterary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false ideals, literary conventions, or misplaced aesthetic glorification and beautification of the world. It is a theory or tendency in writing to depict events in human life in a matter-of-fact, straightforward manner.22.Allegory is a tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas ormoral qualities. Thus, an allegory is a story with two meaning,a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.23.Byronic hero is a character-type found in Byron’s narrative Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. He is aboldly defiant but bitterly self-tormenting outcast, proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin. Emily Bronte’s Heath cliff is a late r example.24.启蒙运动:The 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement in Europe, known as theEnlightenment, which was, on the whole, an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals of feudalism. They attempt to place all branches of science at the service of mankind by connecting them with the actual needs and requirements of people.25.English Renaissance 英国文艺复兴the literary flowering of England in the late 16th century and early 17th century, with humanism as its keynote. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is considered the summit of this renaissance.。
英国文学名词术语解释(已整理版)
Iambic pentameter is a commonly used type of metrical line in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm that the words establish in that line, which is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". The word "iambic" refers to the type of foot that is used, known as the iamb, which in English is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The word "pentameter" indicates that a line has five of these "feet".Iambic rhythms come relatively naturally in English. Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry; it is used in many of the major English poetic forms, including blank verse, the heroic couplet, and some of the traditional rhymed stanza forms. William Shakespeare used iambic pentameter in his plays and sonnets.Allegory Allegories are typically used as literary devices or rhetorical devices that convey hidden meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, and/or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey.Epic(史诗) An epic is a long oral narrative poem that operates on a grand scale and deals with legendary or historical events of national or universal significance .Most epics deal with the exploits of a single individual and also interlace the main narrative with myths, legends, folk tales and past events; there is a composite effect, the entire culture of a country cohering in the overall experience of the poem . Epic poems are not merely entertaining stories of legendary or historical heroes; they summarize and express the nature or ideals of an entire nation at a significant or crucial period of its history.简史P39Blank verse is poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always iambic pentameters.[1] It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century"[2] and Paul Fussell has estimated that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."[3]Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential of blank verse. The major achievements in English blank verse were made by William Shakespeare. Blank verse, of varying degrees of regularity, has been used quite frequently throughout the 20th century in original verse and in translations of narrative verse.Ode(颂歌) Long, often elaborate formal lyric poem of varying line lengths dealing with a subject matter and treating it reverently. It aims atglorifying an individual, commemorating an event, or describing nature intellectually rather than emotionally. Conventionally, many odes are written or dedicated to a specifie subject. For instance,Ode to the West Wind is about the winds that bring change of season in England. Ode to the Nightingale is about the nightingale that lures the poet temporarily away from his great misery. The earliest English odes include the Epithalamion and the Prothalamion,or marriage hymns by poet Edmund Spenser.Metaphysical poetry（玄学诗） a derogatory term invented by John Dryden(1631-1700 ) and later adopted by Samuel Johnson(1709-1784) describing a school of highly intellectual poetry marked by bold and ingenious conceits,incongruous imagery,complexity of thought,frequent use of paradox,and often by deliberate harshness or rigidity of expression.The main themes of metaphysical poets are love,death,and religion.According to them,all things in the universe, no matter how dissimilar they are to each other,are closely unified in God.The chief representative of this school was John Donne.Byronic belonging to or derived from Lord Byron(1788-1824)or his works. The Byronic hero is a character-type found in his celebrated narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage(1812-18),his verse drama Manfred(1817),and other works:he is a boldly defiant but bitterly self –tormenting outcast,proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin. Emily Bronte’s Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights(1847)is a later example.Heroic couplet a rhymed pair of iambic pentameter lines:Let Observation with extensive ViewSurvey Mankind, from China to Peru (Johnson)Named from its use by Dryden and others in the heroic drama of the late 17th century,the heroic couplet had been established much earlier by Chaucer as a major English verse-form for narrative and other kinds of non-dramatic portry: it dominated English poetry of the 18th century,notably in the couplets of Pope,before declining in importance in the early 19th century.Soliloquy a dramatic speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on the stage (or while under the impression of being alone).The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to the audience,either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct address. Soliloquies often appear in plays from the age of Shakespeare, notably in his Hamlet and Macbeth. A poem supposedly uttered by a solitaryspeaker,like Robert Browning’s‘Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister’(1842),may also be called a soliloquy. Soliloquy is a form of monologue,but a monologue is not a soliloquy if (as in the dramatic monologue) the speaker is not alone.简史P39 Sonnet a lyric poem comprising 14 rhyming lines of equal length:iambic pentameters in English,alexandrines inFrench,hendecasyllables in ltalian. The rhyme schemes of the sonnet follow two basic patterns.①The Italian sonnet②The English sonnetSpenserian stanza （宾塞诗体）an English poetic stanza of nine iambic lines, the first eight being pentameters while the ninth is a longer line known either as an iambic hexameter or as an alexandrine.The rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc. The stanza is named after Edmund Spenser,who invented it------probably on the basis of the ottava rima stanza-----for his long allegorical romance The Faerie Queene (1590-6). It was revived successfully by the younger English Romantic poets of the early 19th century: Byron used it for Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage(1812,1816), Keats for‘The Eve of St Agnes’(1820),and Shelley for The Revolt of Islam (1818)and Adonais (1821).Lake poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey became known as the Lake Poets, because they lived in the Lake District in the northwestern part of England. According to the critics, such as, Francis Jeffrey, Thomas De Quincey, the Lake Poets shared only friendship and brief periods of collaboration, not similar philosophies or poetic styles.Wordsworth used his imaginative powers to idealize nature, Coleridge explored the philosophical aspects of poetry,Southey's Romantic efforts centered on travel and adventure.Stream of Consciousness(意识流) Stream of Consciousness(意识流)：Stream of consciousness, which presents the thoughts of a character in the random, seemingly unorganized fashion in which the thinking process occurs, has the following characteristics. First, it reveals the action or plot through the mental processes of the characters rather than through the commentary of an omniscient author. Second, character development is achieved through revelation of extremely personal and often typical thought processes rather than through the creation of typical characters in typical circumstances. Third, the action of the plot seldom corresponds to real, chronological time, but moves back and forth through present time to memories of past eventsand drams of the future. Fourth, it replaces narration, description, and commentary with dramatic interior monologue and free association.Critical Realism(批判现实主义) Critical realism is one of the literary genres that flourished mainly in the 19th century. It reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of cash upon human nature. Here lies the essentially democratic and humanistic character of critical realism. The English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. In their best works, they used humor and satire to contrast the greed and hypocrisy of the upper classes with the honesty and good-heartedness of the obscure “simple people” of the lower classes. Humorous scenes set off the actions of the positive characters, and the humor is often tinged with a lyricism which serves to stress the fine qualities of such characters. At the same time,bitter satire and grotesque is used to expose the seamy side of the bourgeois society. The critical realists, however, did not find a way to eradicate the social evils they knew so well. They did not realize the necessity of changing the bourgeois society through conscious human effort. Their works do not point toward revolution but rather evolution or reformism. They often start with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the bourgeois world in their works, but their novels usually have happy endings or an impotent compromise at the end. Here are the strength and weakness of critical realism.Classicism（古典主义）: A movement or tendency in art, music, and literature to retain the characteristics found in work originating in classical Greece and Rome. It differs from Romanticism in that while Romanticism dwells on the emotional impact of a work, classicism concerns itself with form and discipline.Romanticism(浪漫主义) The term refers to the literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and early 19th century. Romanticism rejected the earlier philosophy of the Enlightenment, which stressed that logic and reason were the best response humans had in the face of cruelty, stupidity, superstition, and barbarism. Instead ,the Romantics asserted that reliance upon emotion and natural passions provided a valid and powerful means of knowing and a reliable guide to ethics and living.The Romantic movement typically asserts the unique nature of the individual, the privileged status of imagination and fancy, the value of spontaneity over “artifice” and “convention”, the human need for emotional outlets, the rejection of civilizedcorruption, and a desire to return to natural primitivism and escape the spiritual destruction of urban life Their writings are often set in rural, or Gothic settings and they show an obsessive concern with “innocent”characters----children, young lovers, and animals. The major Romantic poets included William Blake, William Wordsworth, John Keats , Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Gordon Byron.Aestheticism( 美学主义) The basic theory of the Aesthetic movement----“art for art’s sake”----was set forth by a French poet, Theophile Gautier. The first Englishman who wrote about the theory of aestheticism was Walter Pater, the most important critical writer of the late 19th century. The chief representative of the movement in England was Oscar Wilde,with his Picture of Dorian Gray. Aestheticism places art above life, and holds that life should imitate art, not art imitate life. According to the aesthetes, all artistic creation is absolutely subjective as opposed to objective. Art should be free from any influence of egoism. Only when art is for art’s sake,can it be immortal They believed that art should be unconcerned with controversial issues, such as politics and morality, and that it should be restricted to contributing beauty in a highly polished style. This was one of the reactions against the materialism and commercialism of the Victorian industrial era, as well as a reaction against the Victorian convention of art for morality’s sake, or art for money’s sake.Neoclassicism The term mainly applies to the classical tendency which dominated the literature of the early period. It was, at least in part, the result of a reaction against the fires of passion which had blazed in the late Renaissance, especially in the metaphysical poetry. It found its artistic models in the classical literature of the ancient Greek and Roman writers like Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, etc. and in the contemporary French writers such as Voltaire and Diderot. It put the stress on the classical artistic ideals of order, logic, proportion, restrained emotion, accuracy, good taste and decorum.Such elegant styles were found in almost all the writings of the period, especially in those of John Dryden, Alexander Pope，Jonathan Swift, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Edward Gibbon , the man who wrote the famous history The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire(1776―1788) , and other neoclassicist writers. They were careful imitators. Their approach was thoroughly professional. Their works, mostly refined and perfect, are conscientiouscraftsmanship and often highly didactic. Neoclassical poetry , as represented by Dryden, Pope, and Johnson, reached its stylistic perfection during the period, although to the modem readers it seems to lack in imagination and energy. The neoclassical poetry is one of the most significant phenomena in the literature of the age, to which it has given its name.Naturalism（自然主义）: it first appeared in France, there naturalists including Zola turned especially to “slum life”, in England flourished in the 2nd half of 19th century; naturalists argued that literature reflect life, be “true to life”, writer must reproduce in his writings life exactly as it is, (including all details without any selection), theory of “a slice of life”; However, a fallacy, for impossible to include all the details in real life; only give the appearance of life but not its essence. In England, two outstanding writers in the last decades: George Gissing, George Moore.Neo-Romanticism（新浪漫主义）: it appeared at the end of 19th century and represented by Robert Louis Stevenson; it protests against the ugly social reality of their day but taking no positive steps about it，in a sense another form of escapism; dissatisfied with the contemporary reality, but at best a mild dissatisfaction; tried to find interest or enjoyment out from sheer imagination and fancy by creating exciting events and romantic characters that can hardly exist in reality，indulge in the description of exciting adventures in distant lands to deal with the heroic, to lay emphasis on the complexity and sensationalism of the material, Treasure Island, the representative in this school.Modernism（现代主义）: Around the two world wars, many writers and artists began to suspect and be discontent with the capitalism. They tried to find new ways to express their understanding of the world. It was a movement of experiments in techniques in writing. It flourished in the 20s and 30s in English literature.They turned their interest to describing what was happening in the minds of their characters. Because of their emphasis on the psychological activities of the characters, their writings are also called psychological novels. The Representatives are W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot,D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Foster, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.。
英国文学史名词解释
英国文学史名词解释1. Ballad(民谣)A ballad originally is a song intended as an accompaniment to a dance or a popular song. In the relatively recent sense, now most widely used, a ballad is a single, spirited poem in short stanzas, in which some popular story is graphically narrated. The ingredients of ballads usually include a refrain, stock descriptive phrases, and simple, terse dialogue.2. Alliteration(头韵)It refers to a repeated initial consonant to successive words and it is the most striking feature in its poetic form. In alliterative verse, certain accented words in a line begin with the same consonant sound. There are generally 4 accents in a line, three of which show alliteration, and it is the initial sound of the third accented syllable that normally determiners the alliteration. In old English verse, alliteration is not an unusual or expressive phenomenon but a regular recurring structural feature of the verse.3. Sonnet (十四行诗)It is a poem of 14 lines (of 11 syllables in Italian and 10 in English), typically in rhymed iambic pentameter. Sonnets characteristically express a single theme or idea.The sonnet was introduced to England by Sir T. Wyatt and developed Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey) and was thereafter widely used notably in the sonnet sequences of Shakespeare, Sidney, and Spenser. 4. Tragedy(悲剧)The word is applied broadly to dramatic works in which events move to a fatal or disastrous conclusion. It is concerned with the harshness and apparent injustice of life. Often the herofalls from power and his eventual death leads to the downfall of others. The tragic action arouses feelings of awe in the audience.5. Lyric(抒情诗)As a genre, it was the tradition of popular song flourishing in all the medieval literatures of Western Europe. In England lyric poems flourished in the Middle English period, and in the 16th century, heyday of humanism. This tradition was enriched by the direct imitation of ancient models. During the next 200 years the links between poetry and music was gradually broken, and the term “lyric” came to be applied to short poems expressive of a poet’s thoughts or feelings.6. Epic(史诗)It is a poem that celebrates in the form of a continuous narrative the achievements of one or more heroic personages of history or tradition. Among the great epics of the world may be mentioned the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and Paradise Lost.7. Renaissance(文艺复兴)The word “renaissance” means rebirth or revival. It is commonly applied to the movement or period of great flowering of art, architecture, politics, and the study of literature, usually seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern worn world. It came about under the influence of Greek and Roman models. It began in Italy in the late 14th century, reached the highest development in the early 16th century, and spread to the rest of Europe in the 15th century and afterwards. Its emphasis was humanist: that is , on regarding the human figure and reason without a necessary relating of it to the superhuman.8. Enlightenment(启蒙运动)Enlightenment also called the neoclassic movement. It refersto the philosophical and artistic movement growing out of the Renaissance and continuing until the 19th century. The term is generally used to describe the philosophical, scientific, and rational spirit, the freedom from superstition, the skepticism and faith in religious tolerance of much of 18th-century Europe. Te Enlightenment writers would use satire to ridicule the illogical errors in government, social custom, and religious belief. This period’s poetry in England was typified by Alexander Pope, John Dryden and others.9. Classicism(古典主义)The term, when applied generally, means clearness, elegance, symmetry, and repose (清新、优雅、对称与和谐) produced by attention to traditional forms. More precisely, the term refers to the admiration and imitation of Greek and Roman literature, art, and architecture. It stands for certain definite ideas and attitudes including dominance of reason, balance and other etc. Classicism is usually contrasted with romanticism.10. Romanticism or Romantic Movement(浪漫主义)The term refers to the literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and early 19th century. Romanticism rejected the rejected the earlier philosophy of the Enlightenment, which stressed that logic and reason were the best response humans had in the face of cruelty, stupidity, superstition, and barbarism. The Romantics asserted that reliance upon emotion and natural passions provided a valid and powerful means of knowing and a reliable guide to ethics and living. Its stylistic keynote is intensity, and its watchword is imagination. Their writings are often set in rural, or Gothic setting and they show an obsessive concern with “innocent” c haracters----children, young lovers, and animals. The major Romantic poets included Blake, Wordsworth, Keats,Shelley, and Byron.11. Genre (样式):A type of category of literature marked by certain shared features or customs. The three broadest categories of genre include poetry, drama, and fiction. These general genres are often subdivided into more specific genres and subgenres. For example, the poetry can be sub-classified as epic, elegy, lyric and pastoral etc.12. Critical realism(批判现实主义)Critical realism is one of the literary genres that flourished mainly in the 19th century. It reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of eash upon human nature. Here lies the essentially democratic and humanistic character of critical realism. The English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. In their best works, they used humor and satire to contrast the greed and hypocrisy classes. Humorous scenes set off the actions of the positive characters, and the humor is often tinged with a lyricism which serves to stress the fine qualities of such characters. At the same time, bitter satire and grotesque is used to expose the seamy side of the bourgeois society. The critical realists, however, did not find a way to eradicate the social evils they knew so well. They did not realize the necessity of changing the bourgeois society through conscious human effort. Their works do not point toward revolution but rather evolution or reformism. They often start with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the bourgeois world in their works, but their novels usually have happy endings or an impotent compromise at the end. Here are the strength and weakness of critical reali sm.。
英国文学史名词解释
1、Epic :An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subjectcontaining details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form. Nonetheless, epics have been written down at last since Homer. Epics have nine characteristics: opens in media res; vast setting covering many nations, the world or the universe; begins with a n invocation to a muse; starts with a statement of the theme; the use of epithets; includes long lists; features long and formal speeches; shows divine intervention on human affairs; “star”heroes that embody the values of the civilization. Beowulf, the only organic whole poem of the old English period, is an epic of well over 3000 lines.2、Blank verse: Blank verse was first introduced by the Earl of Surrey in histranslations of Books 2 and 4 o f Virgil’s The Aeneid. It consists of lines of iambic pentameter (five-stress iambic verse) which are unrhymed—hence the term “blank”. Of all English metrical forms it is closest to the natural rhythms of English speech, and at the same time flexible and adaptive to diverse levels of discourse; as a result it has been more frequently and variously used than any other type of versification. It became the standard meter for Elizabethan and later poetic drama; a free form of blank verse is still the medium in twentieth-century verse plays.3、Modernism: A general term applied retrospectively to the wide range ofexperimental and avant-garde trends in literature of the early 20th century, including Symbolism, Futurism, Expressionism, Imagism, V orticism, Dada, and Surrealism, along with the innovations of the unaffiliated writers. Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base. It is a reaction against realism. It rejects rationalism which is the theoretical base of realism; it excludes from its major concern the external, objective, material world, which is the only creative source of realism; by advocating a free experimentation on new forms and new techniques in literary creation, it casts away almost all the traditional elements in literature such as story, plot, character, chronological narration, etc., which are essential to realism. As a result, the works created by the modernist writers can often be labeled as anti-novel, anti-poetry or anti-drama.4、Byronic hero: A stereotyped character created by Byron. This kind of hero is usually a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin. With immense superiority in his passions and powers, he would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in a corrupt society. He would rise single-handedly against any kind of tyrannical rules either in government, in religion, or in moral principles with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies. The conflict is usually one of rebellious individuals against outworn social systems and conventions.5、Gothic novel: An alternative term is Gothic romance. It is a story of terror andsuspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery. Following the appearance of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), the Gothic novel flourished inBritain from the 1790s to the 1820s, dominated by Ann Radcliffe, whose The Mysteries of Udolpho had many imitators.6、Utilitarianism: this was a hedonistic kind of philosophy, embracing Utility, or “the greatest happiness for the greatest number”as the sanction of morality, and spreadingthe belief that everyone was the best judge of his own interest. Jeremy Bentham and James Mill set the tone, and John Stuart Mill humanized it sufficiently to ensure its dissemination in the country. As a practical movement of philosophy, it advocated a few things which met the need of the age. One of these was its emphasis on the importance of representative government, universal education, trade unions, and philanthropy. It encouraged individual growth and social reform, and supported democratic politics and material progress. Utilitarianism was on the whole the reflection of the spirit of Victorian middle class liberalism, or philistinism as Matthew Arnold called it. And it provoked a reaction from the major authors of the period such Tennyson and Dickens.7、Humanism: Broadly, this term suggests any attitude, which tends to exalt the human element or stress the importance of human interests, as opposed to the supernatural, divine elements—or as opposed to the grosser, animal elements. In a more specific sense, humanism suggests a devotion to those studies supposed to promote human culture most effectively—in particular, those dealing with the life, thought, language and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. In literary history the most important use of the term is to designate the revival of classical culture that accompanied the Renaissance.8、Bildungsroman: This is a term more or less synonymous withErziehungsroman—literally an “upbringing” or “education” novel. Widely used by German critics, it refers to a novel which is an account of the youthful development of a hero or heroine (usually the former). It describes the processes by which maturity is achieved through the various ups and downs of life.9、Postmodernism: A term referring to certain radically experimental works of literature and art produced after World War II. Post-modernism is distinguished from modernism, which generally refers to the revolution in art and literature that occurred during the period 1910-1930, particularly following the disillusioning experience of World War I. Much of post-modernist writing reveals and highlights the alienation of individuals and the meaninglessness of human existence. Postmodernists break away from traditions through experimentation with new literary devices, forms, and styles.10、Neoclassicism: A style of western literature that flourished from themid-seventeenth century until the end of the eighteenth century and the rise of Romanticism. The neoclassicists looked to the great classical writers for inspiration and guidance, considering them to have mastered the noblest literary forms, tragicepic and the epic. Neoclassical writers shared several beliefs. They believed that literature should both instruct and delight, and the proper subject of art was humanity. Neoclassicism stressed rules, reason, harmony, balance, restraint, decorum, order, serenity, realism, and form---above all, an appeal to the intellect rather than emotion. The Restoration in 1660 marked the beginning of the neoclassical period in England, whose writers included John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, ect.2. Alliteration: repetition of the initial letter or first sound of several words, marking the stressed syllables in a line of poetry or prose. A simple example is the phrase “through thick and thin“. The device is used to emphasize meaning and thus can be effectively employed in oratory. Alliteration is a characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry, notably by the epic Beowulf; it is still used, with modifications, by modern poets.3. Ballad: A ballad is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas, with the second and forth lines rhymed, which are known as the ballad stanza, rhyming abcb. When it was chanted by ballad-singers, the audience joined in a refrain which usually followed each stanza.4. Sonnet: A sonnet is a 14-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme.5. Metaphysical poetry: is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar.6. Romance: it was a long composition, sometimes sin verse, sometimes in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. The central character of romance was knight and the reasons for their adventures could be love, religious faith, or the mere desire for excitement.7. Renaissance: in essence, was a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of conservatism in feudalist Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, to lift the restrictions in all areas placed by the roman church authorities.8. Enlightenment: is a term used to describe the trends in thought and letters in Europe and the American colonies during the 18th century prior to the French revolution. The phrase was frequently employed by writers of the period itself, convinced that they were emerging from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science, and a respect for humanity. The enlighteners believed in the power of reason, and that is why the 18th century in England has often been called “the age of reason “.9. heroic couplet: it is a term in poetry applied to two successive lines of verse that form a single unit because they rhyme. Couplets in English are usually written in10-syllableslines, a form first used by Chaucer. This evolved into the so-called heroic-couplet popular in 17th and 18th century. The heroic couplet, two rhyming iambic pentameter lines, is also called a closed couplet because the meaning and the grammatical structure are couplet within two lines.10. Iambic pentameter: is a verse form in which a\one line of poem contains 10 syllables, which could be divided into five feet. Two syllables in one feet are stressed syllable followed by a unstressed one.sonnet:The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song". By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure.代表人物：One of the best-known sonnet writers is William Shakespeare, who wrote 154 of them (not including those that appear in his plays).。
英国文学史名词解释
英国文学史名词解释1、Romanticism:浪漫主义An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism.English literary romanticism is from the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads in 1798 to the death of Sir Walter Scott in 1832.2、Byronic hero: 拜伦式英雄an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Byron:＊an exile流亡者, an outcast流浪者or an outlaw 歹徒＊being cynical愤世嫉俗的, rebellious反抗的, lonely＊against government, religion or moral values singly逐一地＊being passionate热情的, energetic积极的, talented多才的3、ottava rima ：Italian stanza form established by Boccaccio,An eight-line stanza of poetry in iambic pentameter (a five-foot line in which each foot consists of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable), following the abababcc rhyme scheme.4、Critical realism:批判现实主义English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. The critical realists described with much vividness and artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint. The representative realists of the time were Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, the Bronte sisters, Mrs. Gaskell, etc.The critical realists not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling class, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people.5、Dramatic monologue：戏剧独白a kind of poem in which a single fictional or historical character other than the poet speaks to a silent ‘audience’of one or mor e persons. Such poems reveal not the poet ‘s own thoughts; this distinguishes a dramatic monologue from a lyric，while the implied presence of an auditor distinguishes it from a soliloquy. Major examples of this form in English are Tennyson，Browning and T. S. Eliot.6、Aestheticism：美学主义the doctrine that regards beauty as an end in itself, and attempts to preserve the arts from subordination to moral, didactic, or political purposes. The term is often used synonymously with the Aesthetic Movement, a literary and artistic tendency of the late 19th century which may be understood as a further phase of Romanticism in reaction against vulgar bourgeois values of practical efficiency and morality.7、Naturalism:自然主义A literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions,heredity遗传and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character.8、Modernism:现代主义A general term applied to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in literature of the early 20th century. It takes the irrational philosophy and the theory ofpsycho-analysis as its theoretical base. It is a reaction against realism. It rejects rationalism which is the theoretical base ofrealism; by advocating a free experimentation on new forms and new techniques in literary creation, it casts away almost all the traditional elements in literature such as story, plot, character, chronological narration etc. , which are essential to realism.9、Imagism:意象派A literary movement started by British and American poets early in the 20th century that advocated the use of short lyrics, free verse, common speech patterns, and clear concrete images. Greatly under the influence of Symbolism, and was initially led by Ezra Pound.10、Stream of Consciousness:意识流One of the modern literary techniques, which is used to depict the mental and emotional reactions of characters to external events, rather than plot, story themselves. It adopts the psycho-analytic approach in literary creation to explore the existence of sub-conscious and un-conscious elements in the mind. And it neglects totally “fetters of grammar, syntax, and logic”。
英国文学名词解释综合版
英国文学名词解释综合版(总15页) --本页仅作为文档封面，使用时请直接删除即可----内页可以根据需求调整合适字体及大小--名词解释：1, Humanism: a variety of ethical theory and practice that emphas izes reason, scientific inquiry, and human fulfillment in the natural world and often rejects the importance of belief in God. It fo-cuses on human values and concerns, attaching prime importance to hum an rather than divine or supernatural matters. 人道主义2, Renaissance: the period of European history at the close of t he Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world; a cultural rebirth from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries. The renais sance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intell ectual life in the early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spre ading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence was felt in literature, philosophy, art, music, politics, science, religi on, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. Renaissance scholars em ployed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and hu man emotion in art. 文艺复兴3, Spenserian stanza: a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spens er for his epic poem The Fae-rie Queene. Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single 'Alexandrine' line in iambic hexameter The rhyme scheme of these lines is "ababbcbcc." 斯宾塞第二节诗4, Metaphysical poets: The metaphysical poets is a term coined by the poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of B ritish lyric poets of the 17th century, whose work was characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by speculation about topics such as love or religion. 玄学诗5, Lake Poets: The Lake Poets are a group of English poets who all lived in the Lake District of Eng-land at the turn of the nineteenth century. The three main figures of what has become known as the Lakes School are William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey 湖畔诗6, Beowulf: It is the oldest poem in the English language and t he most important specimen of Anglo-Saxon literature. The main stories are based on the folk legends of the primitive northern tribes. It is a pagan poem, which presents us an all-round picture of the tribal society. 贝奥武甫7, Byronic hero: The Byronic hero is a variant of the Romantic hero as a type of character, named after the English Romantic poet Lord Byron. a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in rev enge, yet capable of deep and strong affection 拜伦式英雄8, Romanticism: Romanticism is a literary and artistic movement, w hich prevailed in England from 1798 to 1832. It is concerned with the expression of the individual's feeling and emotions and stressed s trong emotion as a resource of aesthetic experience.浪漫主义9, Ode: a lyrical verse written in praise of, or dedicated to s omeone or something which captures the poet's interest or serves as an inspiration for the ode. 颂诗,赋(有特殊主题,多为歌颂特定人物或事的抒情诗)O~ to the West Wind.西风颂(雪莱 (Shelley) 的诗)O~ on a Grecian Urn.希腊古瓮之歌(济慈 (Keats) 的诗)10, University Wits: The University Wits were a group of late 16 th century English playwrights who were educated at the universities and who became playwrights and popular secular writers. Prominent memb ers of this group were Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene, and Thomas Nashe from Cambridge, and John Lyly, Thomas Lodge, George Peele fro m Oxford. 大学才子11, Sentimentalism: Sentimentalism stresses on material senses as being spiritual and/or consid-ers soul to be material, thus anything done on sentimental level is more or less materialistic rather than spiritual/transcendental. 情感主义12, Alliteration: Alliteration refers to the repetition of a parti cular sound in the first syllables of a series of words or phrases. Alliteration has developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to the poem's me-ter, are stressed. Alliteration is commonly used in many languages, e specially in poetry. 头韵13,Glorious Revolution: the name of the overthrow of King James I I of England (James VII of Scot-land and James II of Ireland) by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange). William's successful invasion of England w ith a Dutch fleet and army led to his ascending the English throne as William III of England jointly with his wife Mary II of Englan d. In 1688, William of orange landed at torbay and marched upon Lon don. This takeover was smooth, with neither bloodshed, nor any execut ion of the King, which became known as the glorious revolution. 光荣革命14, Norman Conquest: the invasion and conquest of England by an army of Normans and French led by Duke William II of Normandy. William, who defeated King Harold II of England on 14 Octo-ber 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, was crowned as king on Christma s Day 1066. He then consoli-dated his control over England and settled many of his followers in England, introducing a number of governmental and societal changes t o medieval England. 诺曼征服15, Ballad: A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular po etry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period u ntil the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later t he Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many ballads were written an d sold as single sheet broadsides. The form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ball ads. In the later 19th century it took on the meaning of a slow f orm of popular love song and the term is now often used as synony mous with any love song, particularly the pop or rock power ballad.歌谣16 .Free verse : Free verse has no overall rhyme scheme, nor basic meter informing the whole poem. Ezra pound advised poets to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of the metronome. Charles Olson advised poets t compose by listening to their own breath. Walt Whitman created an impressive rhythm by accumulation: keeping writing long lines of approximately the same length and causing the pause to recur at about the same interval after each line. 自由体诗17. Open form, Free verse, Prose Poem问答题：1. Humanism was a study first done in the renaissance. instead of l earning only about god and religion, people, for the first time, sta rted to just think about ourselves as people characteristics of human ism include anatomy, classicism, nature, realism, reason and learning, religion, individualism, youth, and perspective.2, Sonnet 18 theme of man and the natural world. On one level, Son net 18 is clearly concerned with the relationship between man and th e eventual, inescapable death he’ll encounter in nature. On another level, the poet also seems fascinated by the relationship between sea sonal weather and personal, internal "weather" and balance. Sonnet 18 Theme of Literature and Writing Like much of Shakespeare’s work, S onnet 18 is all about writing and expressing one’s self through lan guage. This is, at its clearest, a poem about the power of the wri tten word over death, fate, and possibly even love. Sonnet 18 Theme of Time The speaker of Sonnet 18 is absolutely fixated on fate and mortality, but believes he’s come up with an effective time machi ne: poetry. Sonnet 18 is addressed to a friend, not to a woman!!! Shakespeare compares his friendship to a summer's day. Friendship is unlike summer not changing and it is everlasting. Friendship is likea mild and eternal summer.3 movement of RomanticismThe historical issues and developments of the time played a major role in provoking and shap-ing the new literary movement of Romanticism. The Industrial Revolutio n, its urbanization of Eng-lish life, and its abuses against the working class called for a ch ange in literary concerns and style. The basis aims of romanticism w ere various: a return to nature and to belief in the goodness of m an; the rediscovery of the artist as a supremely individual creator; the exaltation of senses and emotions over reason and intellect. 4，Charlotte BronteIn this novel, Charlotte Bronte pours a great deal of her own exper iences, such as the life at Lo-wood School and life as a governess. One of the central themes of the book is the criticism of the bourgeois system of education. An other problem raised by Charlotte in the novel is the posi-tion of woman in society. Jane Eyre is an orphan child with a fier y spirit and a longing to love and be loved. She is poor and plai n but she dares to love her master, a man superior to her in many ways. As a little governess, she is brave enough to declare to th e man her love for him. She cuts a com-pletely new women image. She represents those middle-class working women who are strug-gling for recognition of their basic rights and equality as a human being.5，metaphysical poetry——complex, highly intellectual verse filled with intricate and far-fetched metaphors. John Donne is considered the greatest of the metap hysical poets.6 Swift's proseAnother important feature of Swift's prose is that he uses the commo n touch. In other words, everybody can understand his language that is why even children can read his books with so much enjoyment. Als o, Swift addresses people as rational and political beings, making th em his equals. Swift wrote in a very plain and downright style. He didn't use any embellishment. At times, when Swift was writing seri ous stuff this same plain style appears dry but when writing humorou sly, this same plainness gives his wit a singular edge. Swift didn't use ornate or rhetorical language.7 the general relation of Normans and SaxonsAfter the Norman Conquest, the general relation of Normans and Saxo ns was that of master and servant. One of the most striking manifes tations of the supremacy of the conquerors was to be seen in the l anguage. The Norman lords spoke French, while their English subjects retained their old tongue. For a long time the scholar wrote in Lat in and the courtier in French. There was al-most no written literature in English for a time. Chronicles and rel igious poems were in Latin. Romances, the prominent kind of literatur e in the Anglo-Norman period, were at first all in French. By the end of the four teenth century, when Normans and English intermingled, English was onc e more the dominant speech in the country. But now it became someth ing different from the old Anglo-Saxon. The structure of the language remained English, and the common words were almost all retained, though often somewhat modified in f orm. But many terms employed by the Nor-mans were adopted into the English language.8 The character Shylock, in Shakespeare's The Merchant of VeniceThe character Shylock, in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, is po rtrayed as a beastly monstrosity, with a lust for Antonio's life. Shylock is clearly a villain in the sense that he takes repeatedly takes advantage of people in vulnerable economic situations and makes a handsome living in this way. He is not an inherently likable ch aracter throughout “The Merchant of Venice”by Shakespeare; he avo ids friendships, he is cranky, and he is steadfast in his beliefs t o the point of being ri-gid. Shylock is also a man who is unreasonable and self-thinking, demanding Shylock is a man who is hardly likable in all a spects throughout “The Merchant of Venice”.9 Robinson Crusoe is one of the protagonists drawn most successfully in English novels. Through his characterization of Crusoe, Defoe des cribes him as a hero struggling against nature and hu-man fate with an indomitable will, and highly praises his creative l abor, physical and mental, an allusion to the glorification of the b ourgeois creativity when it was a rising and more energetic class in the initial stage of its historical development.10 In Shakespeare's Hamlet, a ghost tells Hamlet that his uncle, Cla udius, is responsible for the death of his father. Hamlet is driven to reveal the truth of his father's death and seeks to avenge his murder to achieve justice. In his quest to right the wrongdoing, H amlet delays acting toward justice for many reasons. The main factor for Hamlet's hesitation is attributed to his self-discipline. He lacks of ability to act on his emotions. Hamlet is an intelligent, moral, and reserved character. He restrains himself to act rationally and not on emotion. This hesitation is a tragic flaw for Ham-let, but in order to resolve the truth, it is necessary. Hamlet has doubts about the validity of the ghost; he is too rational a char acter to seek revenge on Claudius based on a conversation with a su pernatural spirit. He is unsure whether it was his father's ghost, or some evil deity trying to trick him.英国文学问答题:Questions:1. Why sleep is so frightening, according to Hamlet, since it can “end” the heartache and the thousand natural shocks”2. Why would people rather hear all the sufferings of the world instead choosing death to get rid of them, according to Hamlet3. What, after all, makes people lose their determination to take action Please explain in relation to the so-called hesitation of Hamlet.4. What does Romeo compare Juliet to in the beginning passage of the selection5. What is Romeo and Juliet’s attitude toward being a Montague or a Capuletdoes Romeo mean when he says “Look thou but sweet, /And I am proof against their e nmity”7.What’s your understanding on the utterance “to be or not be”8. Briefly comment on the characteristics of Hamlet’s personality. were Shakespeare’s major tragedies written What did he write about in his tragediesAnswers for reference:1. Nobody can predict what he will dream of after he falls asleep.is so mysterious that nobody knows what death will bring to us. Maybe bitter sufferings, great pains, heartbreaking stories…3.1) Conscience and over-considerations. 2) He wants to revenge, butdoesn’t know how; 2) He wants to kill his uncle, but find it too risky; 3) He lives in despair and wants to commit suicide,4)however, he kno ws if he dies, nobody will comfort his father’sghost. He is in face of great dilemma.4. Sun.5. They would give up their names for love’s sake.6. Only if you are kind to me, their hatred cannot hurt me.7. “To be or not to be” means to live or end one’s life by self-destruction. Hamlet has already spoken of suicide as a means of escape, and he dwells on it in a later part of this very speech, giving however a different reason for refraining. The notion that in the words “or not to be ” he is speculating on the possibility of “something after death”---whether there is a future life –cannot be entertained for a moment. The whole drift of the speech shows his belief in a future life. Practically the whole speech has become proverbial as an outpouring of utter worldly weariness.8. Hamlet is the typical of humanists under the pen of Shakespeare, who is characteristic of the perfection and perseverance in personality embodied in the Renaissance superman. As Ophelia tells us that he had been the ideal Renaissance prince___ a soldier, scholar, courtier, “the glass of fashion and the mold of form.” But since his father died and his mother hastily remarried, there is transition in his character. He was in the state of depression, melancholy and delay of revenging. Why Because he realizes, as a humanist, what his real duty lies in. So he pretended to be mad, melancholy, depressed and slow in action. By large, he is very sensitive, resourceful and has his own ideas, and the essence of his revenging his father is not for himself or for the bloody family feuds and hatred but lies in punishing the social corruptions, the wrongs, praising the good, and setting it right. As humanist himself he is all alone, detaching himself from the mass, which is the major reason why he failed himself.9. Shakespeare’s main tragedies were written during the period of gloom and depression, which dated from 1600 to 1607.Shakespeare’s great tragedies are associated with a period of gloom and sorrow in his life. During this period, England witnessed a general unrest, and social contradictions became very sharp. What caused the writer’s personal sadness is unknown to us. It is generally attributed to the political misfortune of his friend and patron, Earl of Essex, who was killed by the queen.10.What was the keynote of the Renaissance Can you define itAnswer: Humanism was the keynote of the Renaissance, reflecting the new outlook of the rising bourgeois class. The humanists advocated the emancipation of man, tried to have the new evaluation of man and his powers, fought for equality and justice and opposed feudal tyranny and religious obstinacy.11.What are Shakespeare’s four great comedies and four great tragedies Answer: The four great comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream As You Like itThe Merchant of Venice Twelfth NightThe four great tragedies: Hamlet Othello King Lear Macbeth12.What is the theme of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18Answer: Only literature (“eternal lines”, “this”) can contend with time,and literature is created by man, so in the final analysis, this poem glorifies man’s greatness and immortality, which is a feature of the Renaissance Period.:13.According to Bacon, what studies chiefly serve for14.According to Bacon, what are the disadvantages of studies15.According to Bacon, what is the relationship between studies and life experiences16.According to Bacon, different people have different attitudes toward studies, please name some.17.According to Bacon, what way should we have toward studies18.According to Bacon, how studies exert influence over human character19.Please list at least 4 major works written by Francis Bacon.Answers:13.Studies serve 1)for delight, 2)for ornament, and3) for ability. Their chiefuse for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgement and disposition of business.(3points)14.1)To spend too much time in studies is sloth; 2)to use them too much forornament, is affectation; 3) to make judgement wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. (3points)15.1)Studies perfect nature, and are perfectec by experience: 2)for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; 3)and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be boundedin by experience. (3points)16.1)Crafty men contemn studies, 2)simple men admire them, and 3)wise men use them; 4)for they teach not their own use; 5)but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation.(3points)17.1)Read not to contradict and confute;2) nor to believe and take for granted; 3)nor to find talk and discourse;4) but to weigh and consider. (3points)18.1)Histories make men wise; 2)poets witty; 3)the mathematics subtile;4)natural philosophy deep; 5)moral grave; 6)logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in morse. (3points)19.1)Advancement of Learning, 1605; 2)New Instrument,1620; 3)New Atlantis, 1626; 4)Essays, 1625.(3points)Austen:Questions:20. Why do you think of How can you characterize her21. What do you known about Jane Austen’s writing styleAnswers for reference:20. 1) She is mean, her only care is to marry her daughter to rich young men ; 2) She is simple and foolish, even cannot understand her husband’s ironical words. 3) She loves her daughter , though she doesn’t understand them ,but what she do is only for their happiness rather than herself.21. 1) keen observation of society around her , good ear for conversation, use of mild, irony and penetrating Style, clarity, economy, skillful dialogue, tight plotting, simple and clear. 3）Readers can find sth of themselves, comfort, tranquility, escape in her novels.22.Tell the story of Pride and Prejudice.Answer: Bingley, a rich bachelor, takes Netherfield Park, and brings there his friend Darcy. Bingley falls in love with Jane, and Darcy is attracted to her next sister Elizabeth, but offends her by his proud behavior. He proposes to her but is rejected. Her prejudice against him increases as more misunderstanding arises. After many twists and turns, however, things are cleared up, and the two couples are happily united.23.In Jane Austen’s surroundings, what were the only importantissues in lifeAnswer: In Jane Austen’s surroundings, marriage, inheritance of property and maintenance of social prestige were the only important issues in life.24. On what issues were Jane Austen’s novels centeredAnswer: Her novels were centered on such issues as marriage, inheritance of property and maintenance of social prestige.25. From what book is the following paragraph taken Who wrote it“Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the periodto which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances. The happiness which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. Had Elizabeth been able to encounter his eye, she might have seen how well the expression of heartfelt delight, diffused over his face, became him; but, though she could not look, she could listen, and he told her of feelings, which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made his affection every moment more valuable.”Answer: It is taken from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.26. Who said the following From what book is it taken“I cannot give you credit for any philosophy of the kind. Your retrospections must be so totally void of reproach, that the contentment arising from them is not of philosophy, but, what is much better, of innocence. But with me, it is not so. Painfulrecollections will intrude which cannot, which ought not, to be repelled. I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles,but left to follow them in pride and conceit. Unfortunately an only son (for many years an only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father, particularly, all that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my own family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least tothink meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.”Answer: It was said by Darcy. It is taken from Pride and Prejudice.27. D o you agree with the statement “it is a tr uth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune mustbe in want of a wife” WhyAnswer: To make the statement really true, it would be better to omit “in possession of a good fortune”. The original statement actually is only t he wishful thinking of Mrs. Bennet and is rather ironically amusing. Marriage and money have no relationship at all. We cannot define a man by his possession of fortune; marriage is something really holy and people marry because they fall in love with each other, not with moneyBronte:Questions:28.What’s the theme in Jane Eyre29.Please show your understanding on the love between Jane Eyreand Mr Rochester .Answers for reference:28.1) Jane Eyre is not only a love story; 2) it is also a plea forthe recognition of the individual’s worth and 3) sex equalitythat Women attempt to assert their own identity within the male-dominated society.29.Though poor and plain, Jane Eyre, who had a strong will of life,tried hard to get her rights of equality. She left the man verymuch who was about 20 years older than she and richer. She justwanted him to treat her equally. She was great because her lovemade disillusioned Rochester happy again. Mr. Rochester was a manfull of life’s misery, yet he loved Jane truly a nd respected her very much. That’s why he got her love.30. Why does Jane Eyre decide to stay with Mr. RochesterAnswer: She has always loved him. She doesn’t really want to marry St John. She once left Mr. Rochester because he was already married to Bertha, not because she stopped loving him. The call she hears at the window of “Jane! Jane!” makes her think Rochester is in trouble, so she goes back to find him.31.Tell the story of Jane Eyre.Answer: Jane becomes a governess for Rochester, who falls in love with her, and she with him. They are about to be married when Jane, learning that Rochester has a wife, a lunatic, flees from the house. She is taken in and cared for by Rev. Rivers. Meanwhile, a great misfortune befalls Rochester: he loses his sight during a fire in the house, set by his mad wife. Hearing that Rochester is penniless and disabled, Jane Eyre hurries to him and becomes his wife.32.Why is Jane Eyre so popularAnswer: The heroine is plain and poor; the heroine is the first female character to claim the right to feel strongly about her emotions and act on her convictions; such a psychologically complex heroine had never been created before.33. Who said the following From what book is it taken“Cruel, cruel deserter! Oh, Jane, what did I feel when I discovered you had fled from Thornfield, and when I could nowherefind you; and, after examining your apartment, ascertained that you had taken no money, nor anything which could serve as an equivalent!A pearl necklace I had given you lay untouched in its little casket; your trunks were left corded and locked as they had been prepared for the bridal tour. What could my darling do, I asked, left destitute and penniless And what did she do Let me hear now.”Answer: It was said by Mr. Rochester. It is taken from Jane Eyre.Dickens:Questions:34. How do you understand Pip’s so called “Great Expectation”35. Please explain the reason that Great Expectation is a so-called bildungsroman or growth novel.Answers for reference:(简略版)34.1) W hen he was young,he wanted to become a blacksmith like Joe, hisbrother in law. 2) When he met Havisham and fell in love with Estella, his expectations changed: to raise his social status and become a gentleman, get a better education and then marry Estella. 3) When Pip discovered that his benefactor was in fact a convict, his “greatexpectation” turned out to be bubble, beautiful but transient.Pip finally realized the money and social status is not the most important thing in life. W hat’s important is love and loyalty. M an's true value has nothing to do with his money and status.35.It is the novel of the growth and development of the hero Pip.There is absence of parents for Pip who is raised by his sisterand brother-in-law; As a gentleman, Pip condescends people oflower class, losing sight of the generous, kind aspect of being a gentleman; He is tested and drawn to destructive love etc.36.Tell the story of the excerpt from Great Expectations you haveread.Answer: One night, a familiar figure comes into Pip’s room –- the convict Magwitch, who surprises Pip by saying that he, not Miss Havisham, is the source of Pip’s fortune. He tells Pip that he wasso moved by Pip’ boyhood kindness that he had dedicated his life to making Pip a gentleman, and made a fortune in Australia for that very purpose. Magwitch is caught and sentenced to death, and Pip loses his fortune.37.What is the theme of the excerpt from Great Expectations youhave readAnswer: Affection, loyalty, and conscience were considered more important than social advancement and wealth38.From what book is the following paragraph taken Who wrote it“Nothing was needed but this； the wretched man， after loading wretched me with his gold and silver chains for years, had risked his life to come to me, and I held it there in my keeping！ If I hadloved him instead of abhorring him; if I had been attracted to him by the strongest admiration and affection，instead of shrinking from him with the strongest repugnance； it could have been no worse. On the contrary， it would have been better，for his preservation would then have naturally and ten derly addressed my heart.”Answer: It is taken from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.39.How do you evaluate the meeting of Pip with Magwitch。
（完整）英国文学名词解释大全（整理版）,推荐文档
（完整）英国文学名词解释大全（整理版）,推荐文档名词解释1.Epic(史诗)（appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period ）It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf （the pagan（异教徒），secular(非宗教的) poetry）Iliad 《伊利亚特》，Odyssey《奥德赛》Paradise Lost 《失乐园》，The Divine Comedy《神曲》2.Romance （传奇）(Anglo-Norman feudal England)Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form:long composition, in verse, in proseContent:description of life and adventures of a noble hero Character:a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures,taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king ?Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.①The Romance Cycles/Groups/DivisionsThree Groups●matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table （亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士）●matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers●matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of TroyLe Morte D’Arthur （亚瑟王之死）②Class Nature (阶级性) of the RomanceLoyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone（the most important part基石）of feudal morality.The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized （supported 庇护,保护）by the noble.3. Alliteration（押头韵）: a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.2.Sing a song of southern singer4. Understatement（低调陈述）（for ironical humor）not troublesome: very welcomeneed not praise: a right to condemn5. Chronicle《编年史》（a monument of Old English prose）6. Ballads （民谣）（The most important department of English folk literature ）①Definition:A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be sung or recited in musical form.An important stream of the Medieval folk literature②Features of English Ballads1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.③Stylistic （风格上）Features of the Ballads1. Composed in couplets （相连并押韵的两行诗,对句）or in quatrains （四行诗）known as the ballad stanza （民谣诗节）, rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables （重读音节）and the second and fourth carrying 3.2. Simple, plain language or dialect （方言，土语）of the common people with colloquial （口语的，会话的）, vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic （符合当地语言习惯的）expressions3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentation around the central plot.4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension （方面）to achieve dramatic effect.④Subjects of English Ballads1. struggle of young lovers2. conflict between love and wealth3. cruelty of jealousy4. criticism of the civil war5. matters of class struggle7. Heroic couplet （英雄双韵体）（introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer）Definition:the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体：用于史诗或叙事诗，每行十个音节，五个音部，每两行押韵。
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1.Beowulf: national epic of the English people; Denmark story; alliteration,
metaphors and understatements.
2. Romance （名词解释）a story of adventure--fictitious, frequently marvelous or supernatural--in verse or prose.
3，Ballad民谣（名词解释）
Popular Ballads 大众民谣：a story hold in 4-line stanzas with second and fourth line rhymed(笔记)
Ballads are anonymous narrative songs that have been preserved by oral transmission(书上). 4，4，Heroic couplet (名词解释)
heroic couplet 英雄双韵体：a verse unit consisting of two rhymed(押韵) lines in iambic pentameter(五步抑扬格)
5 . Renaissance（名词解释）
Renaissance: the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.
555humanism 人文主义：admire human beauty and human achievement
556The Enlightenment was an expression of struggle of the then progressive class of bourgeoisie against feudalism
6，. Sonnet（名词解释）
The sonnet is a poem in 14 lines with one or the other rhyme schme,a form much in vogue in Renaissance Europe, expecially in Italy ,France and England.
7，Blank verse（名词解释）: written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
8，Spenserian Stanza（名词解释）
Stanza form developed by Edmund Spenser and almost certainly influenced by rhyme royal and ottava rima. Spenser's stanza has nine lines and is rhymed a-b-a-b-b-c-b-c-c. The first eight lines of the stanza are in iambic pentameter and the last line in iambic hexameter. He used this form in his epic poem The Faerie Queene. John Keats, a great admirer of Spenser, used this stanza in his poem The Eve of St. Agnes.
,9 Enlightenment (1650-1800)（名词解释）A revival of interest in the old classical works, order, logic, restrained emotion(抑制情感) and accuracy
Individualism--emphasized the importance of the individual and his inborn rights Rationalism-- the conviction that with the power of reason, humans could arrive at truth and improve the world.
Relativism-- was the concept that different cultures, beliefs, ideas, and value systems had equal merit.
Gothic novel(哥特式小说)：mystery, horror, castles(from middle part to the end of century)
10，Classicism（名词解释）
In the arts, historical tradition or aesthetic attitudes based on the art of Greece and Rome in antiquity. In the context of the tradition, Classicism refers either to the art produced in antiquity or to later art inspired by that of antiquity; Neoclassicism always refers to the art produced later but inspired by antiquity.
11 Sentimentalism（名词解释）Sentimentalism 感伤主义 no belief 没有信仰
The representatives of sentimentalism continued to struggle against feudalism but they vaguely sensed at the same time the contradictions of bourgeois progress that brought with it enslavement and ruin to the people.
12 Graveyard School / Poets: A term applied to eighteenth-century poets who wrote meditative poems, usually set in a graveyard, on the theme of human mortality, in moods which range from elegiac pensiveness to profound gloom.
13 Romanticism
14 Lake Poets（名词解释）
The Lake Poets all lived in the Lake District of England at the turn of the nineteenth century.
15 Aestheticism唯美主义（名词解释）
The Aesthetic Movement is a loosely defined movement in literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design in later nineteenth-century Britain. It represents the same tendencies that symbolism or decadence stood for in France and may be considered the British branch of the same movement. It belongs to the anti-Victorian reaction and had post-Romantic roots, and as such anticipates modernism. It took place in the late Victorian period from around 1868 to 1901, and is generally considered to have ended with the trial of Oscar Wilde.
16 Stream-of-consciousness（名词解释）
The “stream of consciousness”is a psychological term indicating “the flux of conscious and subconscious thoughts and impressions moving in the mind at any given time independently of the person’s will”.。