美国文学II的知识..
美国文学概论
美国文学概论The Outline of American LiteratureI Colonial Period (1607―1765) Colonial Part: American PuritanismII Revolutionary Period (1765―1800) 1 The Great Awakening 2 The EnlightenmentIII The Age of Romanticism (1800―1865) 1 American Romanticism2 New England Transcendentalism 新英格兰超验主义 IV The Age of Realism (1865―1918) 1 Beginning2 Local Colorism 乡土文学3 American Naturalism (1908―1918) V American Modernism (1918―1945)(I)Modern PoetryAmerican Modernism first began in poetry. 3 types of poems: A: Chicago PoetsB: Leading figures in the poetic revolution ---Imagism and New-poetry Movement C: in-between poets1 Great playwright of the 1920s2 playwrights of the 1930s (II) Modern Novels1 Lost Generation----Ernest Hemingway2 The Age of Jazz----F. Scott Fitzgerald3 Literature of Depression4 Literature of the South / the Southern Renaissance5 Other famous novelists in the 1920s6 Female Writers7 Li terary critics: New Criticism“新批评派”8 Black Literature: Harlem Renaissance哈莱姆文艺复兴 (III) American DramaVI Contemporary Literature (1945-- ) (I) Postwar Novels (II) Postwar Dramas (III) Postwar Poetry(IV) Multiethnic LiteratureAmerican LiteratureI Colonial Period (1607―1800) ⅠIntroductionThe period stretches roughly from the settlement of Americans in the early seventeenth century through the end of the eighteenth. The major topic is about American Puritanism, the one enduring influence in American literature. II American Puritanism PuritansEnglish religious and political reformers who fled their native land in search of religious freedom, and settled and colonized New England in the 17th century. They at first wishe d to reform or “purify” their religious beliefs and practices. To them, religion should be a matter of personal faith rather than a ritual. PuritanismPuritanism is the practices and beliefs of puritans. American PuritanismThe Puritans established their own religious and moral principles known as American Puritanism which became one of the enduring influences in American thought and American literature. American Puritanism stressed predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limited atonement (or the salvation of a selected few)from God's grace. With such doctrines in their minds, Puritansleft Europe for America in order to establish a theocracy in the New World. Over the years in the new homeland they built a way of life that stressed hard work, thrift, piety, and sobriety. The main doctrines of American Puritanism1 They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity. They considered that man was born sinful, was a sinner and could note redeem his original sin.“In Adam’s fall, we all sin.”2 Man did not know whether they could be God’s chosen people, but should live a saint-like life at ordinary times according to God’s will. The Holy Bible was the guidebook to man’s behaviors.3 Puritanism encoura ged people to struggle in their career. If one’s business was booming, it proved that he had gained god’s providence. Puritans meant to prove that they were God’s chosen people, enjoying his blessing on this earth as in heaven.4 Puritans dreamed of living under a perfect order and worked with indomitable courage and confident hope toward building a new Garden of Eden in America, where man could at long last live the way he should.5 Puritans stressed hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety. In people’s daily life, religious activities were a matter of first importance and allothers should serve the religion. Their lives were disciplined and hard. Significant change in the character of American Puritans Practical idealist, doctrinaire opportunistComparison between American Puritanism and Chinese Confucianism Influenceof Puritanism on American literature1 the spirit of optimism bustles out of the pages of many American authors2 symbolism as a technique has become a common practice in the writing of many American authors3 simplicity has left an indelible imprint on American writing Puritanstyle of writingThe style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, with a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible. III Literary Scene in Colonial Period(I) form, content and writing style in the literature of the earlycolonial period form: personal literature in its various forms;content: served either God or colonial expansion or both;writing style: imitated and transplanted English literary traditions （II）Two sorts of literary figures in Colonial Period A write for religion(1) Captain John Smith (1580―1631) 约翰.史密斯船长 Led the first group of immigrants in 1607Settled down and established the first British colony―Jamestown Colony A Description of New England 《新英格兰介绍》 The General History of Virginia (2) William Bradford (1590―1675) 威廉.布雷福德 Led Mayflower in 1620 and arrived at Cape Cod Established the Plymouth ColonyOf Plymouth PlantationChapter IV: Showing the Reasons and Causes of their Removal 4 reasons and causes:①Escape religious persecution ②For wealth③For a new and better life④Having “a great hope and inward zeal” to do the spadework for disseminating “the gospel of the kingdom of Christ” in the new world (3)John Winthrop (1588―1649) 约翰.温思罗普Led the first group of Puritans in the Great Immigration in 1630 Captainof AbraThe first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony A Model of Christian Charity --manifested the purpose and intention of their journey (4) Anne Bradstreet (1612―1672) 安妮.布雷特兹里特 Passenger on AbraOn the Burning of My House To My Dear and Loving Husband In Reference toMy ChildrenAs Weary PilgrimThe Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in AmericaSeveral Poems Compiled with a Great Variety of Wit and Learning, Full of Delight Contemplation(5) Edward Taylor (1642―1729) 爱德华.泰勒 Metrical History ofChristianityGod’s Determinations Touching His Elect: and the Elect’s Combat in Their Conversation, and Coming up to God in Christ Together with the Comfortable Effects ThereofPreparatory Meditations 217首 B write for civil and religious freedom(1) Roger Williams (1603-1683) 罗杰.威廉斯The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience (2) John Woolman (1720-1772) 约翰.乌尔曼 Some Considerations on the Keeping of NegroesA Plea for the Poor The Journal(3) Thomas Paine (1737―1809) 托马斯.潘恩 Common Sense (1776);The American Crisis (Dec. 1776―April 1783); The Rights of Man (1791―92); The Age of Reason (1794―95);(4)Philip Freneau (1752―1832) 菲利普.弗瑞诺 The British Prison shipThe Rising Glory of America The Indian Burying Ground The Wild Honeysuckle(5) Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) 查尔斯.布罗克丹.布朗 Wieland (or The Transformation: An American Tale Edgar Huntly OrmondArthur Mervyn2 The 18th Century:Enlightenment and the Great AwakeningEnlightenmentAn 18th-century movement that focused on the ideals of good sense,benevolence, and a belief in liberty, justice, and equality as the natural rights of man.The Great Awakening: series of religious revivals, which began with the evangelicalism of Jonathan Edwards.Revolutionary WarThe War of Independence, 1775-1783, fought by the American colonies against Great感谢您的阅读，祝您生活愉快。
外研社英美文学简史及名篇选读教学课件英国文学-教学计划2
英国文学重点时期： Modernism
美国文学重点时期 Romanticism Realism Modernism
I-2.课程重点
英国重点作家 （姓名，文学地位，代表作）：
Thomas Hardy 托马斯·哈代
(You need to write at least 180words ）
Literary Terms （文学术语）
2.2 理解和运用类文学术语 Satire (幽默讽刺) Setting （文学背景） Style (文体) Suspense (悬念) Symbol (象征) Symbolism (象征主义） Theme (主题) Tone （语气
VI.考试形式
I: Find the Relevant Match from Column B for Each Item in Column A (25%,每小题 1分） II: Choose the Best Answer for Each Blank
IV. 英美作品理解
（人物分析，主题，写作特色等） Tess of the D’Urbervilles The Scarlet Letter A Matter of Honor The Story of an Hour The Great Gatsby A Clean, Well-lighted Place
(15%,每小题1分）
III: Give the Definition of the Following Terms (10%) （每个术语5分，4个中间选做2个） IV: Answer the Questions According to the Given Texts (20%） V: Questions and Answers ( 30%)
英国文学与美国文学学习笔记摘抄
英国文学与美国文学学习笔记摘抄I.Literature文学i)English Literature英国文学I .Old and Medieval English literature(450-1066)&(1066-15世纪后期）上古及中世纪英国文学Background：英伦三岛自古以来遭遇过3次外族入侵，分别为古罗马人、盎格鲁-萨克逊人&诺曼底人。
其中后两次在英国文学史上留下了深远影响。
中世纪时期(约1066-15世纪后期）即从诺曼底征服起到文艺复兴前夕，为英国封建社会时期的文学，盛行文学形式为民间抒情诗(the folk ballad)和骑士抒情诗(the romance)。
I）The Anglo-Saxon Period(450-1066)盎格鲁撒克逊文明兴盛时期（上古时期）文学表现形式主要为诗歌散文。
i代表人物和主要作品：第一部民族史诗(the national epic)《贝奥武甫》Beowulf,体现盎格鲁撒克逊人对英雄君主的拥戴和赞美，歌颂了人类战胜以妖怪为代表的神秘自然力量的伟大功绩。
"Down off the moorlands' misting fells cameGrendel stalking;God's brand was on him.大踏步地走下沼泽地，上帝在每个人身上都打下了烙印。
"II)The Norman Period(1066-1350)诺曼时期In the early 11th century all England was conquered by the Danes for 23 years. Then the Danes were expelled, but in 1066 the Normans came from Normandy in northern France to attack England under the leadship of the Duck of Normandy who claimed the English throne. For the last Saxon king, Harold ,had promised that he would give his kingdom to William, Duck of Normandy, as an expression of his gratitude for protecting his kingdom during the invasion by the Danes. This is known as the Norman Conquest.诺曼征服Middle English中世纪英语III)The Age of chaucer(1350-1400)乔叟时期The Hundred Years' War英法百年战争Geoffrey Chaucer杰弗里.乔叟-中世纪最伟大诗人、英国民族文学奠基者。
美国文学2
Henry James’s Major Works
Daisy Miller (1878) The Portrait of a Lady (1881) The Wings of the Dove (1902) The Ambassadors (1903) The Golden Bowl (1904)
Characteristics of Mark Twain’s Works
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His works sum up the tradition of Western humor and frontier realism.
He writes about his people and his own life.
Am. Realism vs. Romanticism
objective view of human experience Idealized and poetic view of the world subjects taken from daily life abstract and ideal characters
3. Representative Writers: Howells, Twain, and James
1. Origin and Definition
• Originated in Europe in 1850s and entered American literature after the Civil War • Definition: ―Nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.‖( W.D. Howells) • Realism VS. Romanticism: a reaction against Romanticism
美国文学知识
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5. William Faulkner: Nobel Prize Winner in 1950; Yoknapatawpha saga约克纳帕塔法县家史; American South; The Sound and the Fury《喧哗与骚动》Light in August《八月之光》Absalom, Absalom《押沙龙, 押沙龙》Go Down, Moses《去吧,摩西》As I Lay Dying 在我弥留之际 6. Willa Cather: My Antonia; The Song of the Lark莺 之歌; rejecting the modern and trying to escape into the refuge of the past 7. Sherwood Anderson: Midwestern America; the first American psychological writer; Winesburg, Ohio 《俄亥俄州的瓦恩斯堡镇》”The Triumph of the Egg”鸡蛋的胜利 Death in the Woods林中之死 8. Sinclaire Lewis: the first American author to win the Novel Prize Main Street《大街》Babbitt巴比特: vulgar and philistine businessman
(2) James Fenimore Cooper (novelist): Leather Stocking Tales 皮袜子故事集 The Last of the Mohicans 最后的莫西干人 (3) William Cullen Bryant (poet): To a “Waterfowl” 致水鸟; “The Yellow Violet”黄 色的紫罗兰; poetic translation of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
naturalism美国文学自然主义
1. Background 1) The emergence of ―Modern America‖ Industrialism and science and the new philosophy of life——create the economic, social, and cultural transformations of the country 2) New ideas about man and man’s place in the universe began to take root in America. Darwin: evolution; Spencer: social evolution The survival of the fittest & the human beast 3) the change of the literary climate Realists : too old French naturalism 2. Representatives: Stephen Crane, Norris and Theodore Dreiser
Major works
Sister Carrie 嘉莉妹妹(1900) Jennie Gerhardt 珍妮姑娘(1911) The Financier 金融家 (1912) The Titan 巨头 (1914) The Stoic 斯多葛 (1947) Cowperwood trilogy， also called “Trilogy of Desire”欲望三部曲): （about the life of Cowperwood as a businessman） The Genius 天才(1915) An American Tragedy 美国的悲剧(1925) The Bulwark 堡垒(1946)
殖民地时期及独立革命时期的美国文学
第一章殖民地时期及独立革命时期的美国文学I.知识结构：见笔记II. 知识点精讲1.时代背景1)The Native American and their culture---Indians. Before Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent, there was no real literature.2)Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent in 1492.3)Captain Christopher Newport reached Virginia in 1607.4)Puritans came to the New England area, by Mayflower（五月花号）in 1620. (In 1629, the puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony.（马萨诸塞湾）Puritans came to America out of various reasons, but it should be remembered that they were a group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious and moral principles. It is true that they wished to escape religious persecution—and the English government regarded its American colony as an ideal dumping ground for the undesirables, but they were also determined to find a place where they could worship in the way they thought true Christians should. They regarded themselves as God's chosen people, they were meant to reestablish a commonwealth based on the teachings of the Bible, restore the lost paradise, and build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden.)5)The puritan migration began. (The settlement of the North American continent by the English began in the early part of the seventeenth century. The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them Puritans. They carried with them to America a code of values, a philosophy of life, and a point of view, which, in time, took root in the New World and became what is popularly known as American Puritanism.)6)The British Industrial revolution (1750-1830) spurred the economy in American colonies; in American, there was War of Independence (1776-1783); the spiritual life of the colonies----Enlightenment began toappear. Thus, this period was the literature of reason and revolution (1781-1815).2. 名词解释1）Puritans（清教徒）: They are one division of English Protestant. They regarded the reformation of the church under Elizabeth as incomplete, and called for further purification.The 17th century American Puritans included two parts: Separatists and Massachusetts Bay Group. Their religious doctrines are original sin, total depravity, predestination and limited atonement (or the salvation of a selected few) through a special infusion of grace from God. They regardedthemselves as chosen people of God. They were meant to reestablish a commonwealth based on the teachings of the Bible, restore the lost paradise, and build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. They opposed arts and pleasure. They suspect joy and laughter as symptoms of sin. They are opposed to mysticism and pantheism because these tended to destroy the transcendence of God.They embraced hardships, industry and frugality. They favored a disciplined, hard, somber, ascetic and harsh life. Their attitudes toward work: work itself is good in addition to what it achieves, that time saved by efficiency or good fortune should be spent in doing further work. Pushing the frontiers with them as they moved further and further westward, they became more practical, as indeed they had to be. "A doctrinaire opportunist" came perhaps closest to the American Puritan ideal for man.2) American Puritanism(美国清教主义): It is a religious and political movement.Through it, one sees emerging the right of the individual to political and religious independence. It has become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, rather than a set of tenets, a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the Americans breathe, that we may state with a degree of safety that, without some understanding of Puritanism, there can be no real understanding of American culture and literature. American Puritanism has been, by and large, a healthy legacy to the Americans.3) American Dream(美国梦):The American Dream is the faith held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage, and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. (These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. Nowadays the American Dream has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of success and/or happiness.)4) Great Awakening(宗教大觉醒): Great Awakening is a series of religious revivals that swept over the American colonies about the middle of the 18th century. It resulted in doctrinal changes and influenced social and political thought. In New England it was started (1734) by the rousing preaching of Jonathan Edwards.3.作家作品1）Captain John Smith(1580-1631)（约翰·史密斯）---first American writer Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers. One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. Anotherthing he wrote about that became historically important is his description of the fertile and vast new continent in his A Description of New England. His narrative reveals the early settlers' vision of the new land as something capable of being built into a new Garden of Eden.His contributions: There was the famous John Smith's description of New England as a promising virgin land, which came to the attention of many people in England and Europe and drew many of them over to the New World.His description of American was filled with themes, myths, images,scenes, characters and events that were a foundation for the nation’s literature. He lured the Pilgrims into fleeing here and creating a new land.2) William Bradford (1590-1657)（威廉·布拉德福德）---- the first governor of the PlymouthWilliam Bradford led the Mayflower endeavor and became the first governor of the Plymouth Plantation that he established with his group of Pilgrim Fathers. His Of Plymouth Plantation（《普利茅斯殖民史》）records, along with other things of a historic nature, the deliberations that the first settlers of North America had regarding their colonizing undertaking. In chapter IV, "Showing the Reasons and Causes of their Removal," Bradford states the fourth reason for their departure for the new world when he saysthat his people had "a great hope and inward zeal" to do the spadework for disseminating "the gospel of the kingdom of Christ" in the new world and they were even willing to be stepping-stones for others in doing this great work. The religious and idealistic nature of their adventure into the unknown world is self-evident.The characteristics of the Of Plymouth Plantation （《普利茅斯殖民史》）are simplicity, full of earnestness, direct reporting. It is readable and moving.3) John Winthrop 温斯罗普(1588-1649) ---- The first governor of theMassachusetts Bay ColonyJohn Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, states in this speech of his that there was the cause between God and his people who entered into a covenant with God for this work of building a new garden of Eden in the new worldJohn Wi nthrop’s works are A Model of Christian Charity（《基督教仁爱的典范》）, which is a speech, and The History of New England（《新英格兰的历史》）.4) Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)（安妮·布雷兹特里特）----- a Puritan poet The American poets who emerged in the 17th century adapted the style ofestablished European poets to the subject matter confronted in a strange, new environment. Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was one such poet.The argument of most of Anne Bradstreet’s poems is essentially about the justice of God’s ways with His Puritan floc k. Her works search for a sense of man’s nature and destiny and his mission in the new world. One more thing to note about Anne Bradstreet is her description of the early settlers’ life in the new world. For example, “As Weary Pilgrim,”（《疲倦的朝圣者》）one devoted to God as much as any of her other poems, offers some hints of the hardships that they suffered in their first days there.Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet who wrote “ponderous Verses ofinterminable, inter-locking poems” on the four elements, the constitutions and ages of man, the seasons of the year, and the chief empires of the ancient world. Her poems made such a stir in England that she became known as the “Tenth Muse” who appeared in America. Most of other verses (have fallen into the obscurity of time, but her gentle “Contemplations”（《沉思》）are still read today.The ninth offers the reader an insight into the mentality of the early Puritans pioneering in a new world. When the poet heard the grasshopper and the cricket sing, she thought of this as their praising their Creator and searched her own soul accordingly. It is evident that she saw somethingmetaphysical inhering in the physical, a mode of perception that was singularly Puritan.Her other poems such as “To My Dear and Loving Husband” （《致我亲爱的丈夫》）and “In Reference to Her Children,” however, denote the human side of her being clearly. Take “To My Dear and Loving Husband” for instance:Coming from a devout Puritan, these lines are surprising because they reveal the inner “soul-scape” of the “Puritans” so graphically. Read Anne Bradstreet’s poems on her children and grandchildren, and it will be clear that the love, the care, and the happiness that comes from family life are all the important to her indeed.“The Flesh and the Spirit”（《灵魂和肉体》）: The struggle between the two impulses (spiritual and material) is perennial and constitutes the basic texture of the Puritan mind. Her poem, “The Flesh and the Spirit,” depicting as it does two sisters arguing about their values, is a good illustration. The Flesh, one of the twin sisters, is forthright with her assertion of her views about the importance of this world while the Spirit, the other, tries to convince her of the greatness of the Kingdom of God. The Spirit seems to be winning as she has a much longer and more final argument to offer. The twin sisters are evidently the integral parts of one Puritan mind.5）Edward Taylor (1642-1729)（爱德华·泰勒）Edward Taylor (1642-1729) was a meditative poet. In his splendid, exotic images, Taylor came nearest to the English baroque poets. For all his indulgence in his “un-Puritan” imagery, however, he was, first and last, a Puritan poet, concerned about how his images speak for God.A good example is his poem, “Huswifery,” (《家务》)which indicates that he saw religious significance in a simple daily incident like a housewife spinning：The spinning wheel, the distaff, the flyers, the spool, the reel and the yarn have all acquired a metaphysical significance in the symbolic, Puritan eyes of Edward Taylor.In his interesting poem “Upon a Spider Catching a Fly”（《蜘蛛捕捉苍蝇之遐想》）, Taylor sees the spider as a symbol of Hell with its traps.It is obvious that Taylor has faith in God who can save the erring, or possibly sinful, humankind from the evil designs of Hell.6) Roger Williams (1603-1683) （罗杰·威廉斯）Roger Williams was one of the greatest Puritan dissenters in the early days of Puritan theocracy in New England. He came to America in 1630 and began to preach for civil and religious liberty and against the Puritanoligarchy of Boston. His call for democratic government and his opposition to the eviction of the Indians from their ancestral properties incurred the wrath and hatred of such “orthodox” Puritans as John Cotton (1584-1652), who banished him from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635. He lived for a while with the Indians before immigrating to Rhode Island, where he established the “Rhode Island Way” to encourage religious toleration, and protect Indian rights.Williams published his “The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for the Cause o f Conscience”（《血腥的迫害教义》）(1644), furiously attacking the “soul-killing” requirement of religious conformity and vigorously upholding the spiritual freedom of the individual.7) John Woolman (1720-1772)（约翰·伍尔曼）Born into a pious Quaker family in New Jersey, John Woolman was early convinced that true religion consisted in an inward life in which the heart loved and respected God and learned to exercise true justice and goodness toward men and brutes alike.His Journal (1774) veritably notes down his experience and feeling during witnessing the slave trade, revealing the cruel truth of black slave selling. Besides he has the courage to criticize himself and pursue self-perfection, which is consequently consideration as a “Quaker classic of the inner Light,”and countless non-Quaker readers have been touched by its “exquisite purity and grace.”His essays are "Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes" and "A Plea for the Poor," in which he tried to plead for the rights of all men and for the abolition of the slavery system. He also kept a Journal for the most part of his life, recording his spiritual experiences of inward communication with God.8) Thomas Paine (1737-1809)(托马斯·潘恩)The life of Thomas Paine was one of continual, unswerving fight for the rights of man. He was a propagandist and a major influence in the American Revolution. He wrote a number of works of such a revolutionary and inflammatory character that it is no exaggeration to state that he helped to spur and inspire two greatest revolutions that his age witnessed.His main works were a series of pamphlets. His Common Sense（《常识》）, declaring as it did that "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; In its worst state an intolerable one," attacked British monarchy and added fuel to the fire which was soon to bring the colossusof its colonial rule down in flames. The booklet was warmly received in the colonies both as a justification for their cause of independence and as anencouragement to the painfully fighting people. Paine became a major influence in the American Revolution.His American Crisis （《美国危机》）series of pamphlets came out at one of the darkest moments of the revolution when Washington's troops had just suffered one of the worst defeats in the war and were in the process of retreating. "These are the times that try men's souls," it declared. "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." Here the word “try” was in a sense of “test to the limit” and “subject to great hardships”.Later he participated in the French Revolution, and wrote The Rights of Man（《人权》）and The Age of Reason《(理性的时代》), spreading the ideals of the French Revolution among the people.9) Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)（托马斯·杰弗逊）Thomas Jefferson was a resourceful and intelligent man. He played different roles in his life. He was an enlightener, an aristocrat, a lawyer, scientist, inventor, musician, linguist, architect, diplomat and a writer.He was one of the men who drafted The Declaration of Independence （《独立宣言》）. It was adopted on July 4, 1776, announcing the birth of a new nation and a philosophy of human freedom. It was a statement of American principles and a review of the Causes of thequarrel with Britain. In The Declaration of Independence, people instilled a sense of their ownimportance and inspired struggle for personal freedom, self government and a dignified place in society.10) Philip Freneau (1752-1832) （菲利普·弗瑞诺）---- “poet of the revolution” and “Father of American Poetry”Philip Freneau was important in American literary history in a number of ways.a.He used his poetic talents in the service of a nation struggling for independence, writing verses for the righteous cause of his people and exposing British colonial savageries.b. He was a most notable representative of dawning nationalism in American literature.c. Almost alone of his generation, Freneau managed to peer through the pervasive atmosphere of imitativeness, see life around directly, and appreciate the natural scenes on the new continent and the native Indian civilization.His main works were "The Rising Glory of America," (《美国荣誉的崛起》1772)"The Wild Honey Suckle,"（《野忍冬花》1786）"The Indian Burying Ground"（《印第安墓地》1788）and "The Dying Indian: Tomo Chequi". Take "The Wild Honey Suckle," for instance.Stanza 1: the flowers hidden in the retreat;SStanza 3&4: reinforce the message.The lyric beauty, the heartfelt pathos, and the multiple emotional responses and echoes that, the sight described can awaken in the bosoms of the readers —all these are simply amazing. Through the poetic image, the poet describes the beauty of nature."The Indian Burying Ground"In this poem, Philip Freneau gave recognition to the Native American culture as a potential indigenous subject for American writers---- another potential subject for them; he revealed not only his tolerance of a different way of life, but also his admiration for it.11) Charles Brockden Brown（查尔斯·布洛克登·布朗）Charles Brockden Brown is one of the most prominent among these writers.a. His first novel, Wieland(《威兰》); or, The Transformation: An American Tale (1798) has been regarded as the first American novel.b. Basically, Brown was an imitator. The Gothic features of his works are a good illustration.c. He awared that his inspiration was rooted in his own land, its new life and energy which, he felt, offered the writers with areas of exploration different from European subjects. Brown believed that his novels were all about his country and histanza 2: Nature makes their beauty;people and that he employed new narrative techniques hitherto unheeded by his predecessors.d. Another thing of historic significance that Brown did was his description of his characters' inner world.e. His four major novels—Edgar huntly (1799), Ormond (1799), Arthur Mervyn (1800), as well as Weland—are all solid evidence of his literary beliefs put into practice.f. Brown began to explore the emotional world of his characters and found that man is not always controlled by reason and that sensual experiences, passion and illusion could all impact human thinking and emotional responses. He became aware that the subconscious is mystic and unfathomable and that art is a necessary medium to externalize the deeper impulses of the human psyche. In a manner of speaking, Brown's works can be read as psychological novels. His protagonists—Wieland or Huntly or Ormond—all exhibit the essential characteristics of a neurotic.12）Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)（乔纳森·爱德华兹）Edwards was born into a very religious New England family. He preached with horrific vividness in order to make religious ideas felt along the senses. His sermons taught the power of God and the depravity of man and man's need to communicate with the Holy Spirit to receive God's grace. What he was trying to do was to reinstate these Calvinist ideas in ways acceptable to an audience already becoming susceptible to the ideas of Enlightenment. Jonathan Edwards was probably the last great voice that was ever heard in America to reassert the Calvinist stance so as to bring the people back to its fold.His greatest works that have made people remember him even today. These include The Freedom of the Will (1754)（《论意志自由》）, The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended (1758)（《论原罪》）, and The Nature of True Virtue (1765)（《论真实德行的本源》）；His sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,"（《愤怒的上帝手中之罪人》）.He was the first modern American and the country’s last medieval man. In his works, he represents the element of piety, the religious passion, the aspect of emotion and ecstasy, of the New England tradition, a tradition that he did his best but failed torevitalize. He discovered, beneath the dogmas of the old theology, a dynamic world filled with the presence of God. Edwards believes in the regeneration of man. He urges his people toenjoy the sweetness of "conversion," the change of heart with the help of the grace of God. When Edwards saw the sun rise out of darkness and from under the earth, raising the whole world with it, raising mankind out of their beds and brightening up everything, he thought of Jesus Christ rising from His grave and from a state of death and bringing happiness, life and light to the world of man. His Images or Shadows of Divine Things （《圣灵的影像》）contains a great many instances of this kind which were part of the Puritan typological tradition and, in the way that Edwards extends typology beyond the strict limits of the Bible, the work anticipated the nature symbolism of nineteenth-century Transcendentalism. In his doctrines of inward communication of God and man, and of the immanence of God in nature, and in his literary expression of all these ideas, Edwards was, in the words of F. I. Carpenter, a good deal of a transcendentalist.13）Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)(本杰明·富兰克林)Franklin came from a very simple Calvinist background. Born in 1706 into a candle-maker's family—"poor and obscure" as he says of himself in his Autobiography（《自传》）, he had very little formal education. When still very young he was apprenticed to his olderhalf-brother, a printer, and began at 16, to publish essays under the pseudonym, Silence Dogood, essays commenting on social life in Boston. At 17 he ran away toPhiladelphia to make his own fortune. His entrance into the city marked the beginning of a long success story of an archetypal kind. He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher, founded the Junto Club (a society meeting regularly for informal discussions of good books, business ethics etc.) and a subscription library, issued the immensely popular Poor Richard's Almanac（《穷理查年鉴》）and retired around forty-two years of age, soon after he became financially independent. He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital, an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society. Among the things which he started and for which he is still remembered today were volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin Stove, bifocal glasses, and efficient heating devices. His research on electricity, his famous experiment with his kite line, the experiment that won Immanuel Kant's admiration when the German philosopher called him "the new Prometheus who had stolen fire[electricity in this case] from heaven," his lightning-rod, the recognition he won from the Royal Society of London—all these made him one of the preeminent scientists of his day.His major works: Poor Richard's Almanac and Autobiography.In Poor Richard's Almanac, sayings like "Lost time is never found again,""A penny saved is a penny earned,""God help them that helpthemselves,""Fish and visitors stink in three days" and "Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise"—these and many other similar statements filled the almanac, and taught as much as amused. The practical wisdom of Franklin shone forth rays of grandeur from its pages.AutobiographyThe book consists of four parts, written at different times. Franklin was 65 when he first wrote it.It is an inspiring account of a poor boy’s rise to a high position. It is a how-to-do-it book, one on the art of self-improvement. It covered Franklin’s life only until 1757 when he was 51 years old. It described his life as a shrewd and industrious businessman. He narrated how he owned the constant felicity of his life, his long-continued health and acquisition of fortune.The whole book is an impressive record of a man trying to be of value to mankind: Franklin spent his whole life doing all kinds of things for the welfare of the world, as indeed we have noted a moment earlier. Creating as it does the image of a boy's rise from rags to riches, the book demonstrates Franklin's confident belief that the new world of America was a land of opportunities which might be met through hard work andwisemanagement, and that "one man of tolerable abilities will work great changes and accomplish great affairs among mankind." Thus through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream.（14）Hector St. John de Crevecoeur (克雷福科)Crevecoeur was a French settler. He wrote letters back to Europe, explaining the meaning of America to the outside world. The first eight of Crevecoeur's twelve letters reveal the pride of a man being an American, the "new man," planted in a new world, who left behind him the old world with its oppression and servility, working and getting "rewards of his industry" and acquiring the dignity and self-confidence of a true human being in what he called "the most perfect society now existing in the world." In his letters we hear the note of pride in democratic equality and abundance of opportunity, a note we are to hear over and again in the writings of later American authors.The note of pessimism began to vibrate in Letters from an American Farmer (1775)（《美国农民的来信》）. In his lifetime, Crevecoeur also saw and spoke of the illusory nature of that dream. In fact, starting from his ninth letter, he began to speak with a different voice, the voice of a definitely disillusioned man. There in the same New World, he became aware of the existence of slavery, avarice, violence, famine and disease, and all other forms of evilthat hethought the American had left behind with his migration to this side of the Atlantic.4. 重点难点Puritanism’s influence on American literature 清教主义对美国的影响（1）American literature—or Anglo-American literature—is based on a myth, that is, the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. This literature is in good measure a literary expression of the pious idealism of the American Puritan bequest.(2) The American Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. To the pious Puritan the physical, phenomenal world was nothing but a symbol of God. Physical life was simultaneously spiritual; every passage of life, en-meshed in the vast context of God's plan, possessed a delegated meaning. The world was, in a word, one of multiple significance.(3) Style: With regard to technique one naturally thinks of the simplicity, which characterizes the Puritan style of writing. With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the structure is tight and logic; it adopts a lot of homely imagery; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.(4) A dominant factor in American life, American Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature. It has become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, rather than a set of tenets, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the Americans breathe, that we may state with a degree of safety that, without some understanding of Puritanism, there can be no real understanding of American culture and literature.All this has left an indelible imprint on American writing. Thus American Puritanism has been, by and large, a healthy legacy to the Americans. General features of Colonial American literature殖民时期美国文学特征(1) American literature grew out of humble origins. Diaries, histories, journals, letters, commonplace books, travel books, sermons, in short, personal literature in its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period.(2) In content these early writings served either God or colonial expansion or both. Most of them were practical matter-of-fact accounts of life in the new world; there were highly theoretical discussions of religious questions.(3) In form, English literary traditions were faithfully imitated and transplanted.(4) The purpose of these writings was pragmatic.。
美国文学史总结
美国文学史总结Part I The Literature of Colonial America（殖民地时期的文学）Chapter 1→John Smith 约翰.史密斯1. A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened inVirginia Since the First Planting of That Colony 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》（1608）2. A Map of Virginia with a Description of the Country 《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》（1612）3.The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles 《弗吉尼亚通史》（1624）Chapter 2→William Bradford （威廉.布拉德福德）→Of Plymouth Plantation 《普利茅斯开发史》（1826）→John Winthrop （约翰.温思罗普）→The History of New England from 1630 to 1649 《新英格兰史》（1856）Chapter 3→John Cotton （约翰.科登）→Roger Williams （罗杰.威廉姆斯）→ A Key into the Language of America 《开启美国语言的钥匙》/《美国新英格兰地区土著居民语言指南》Chapter 4→Anne Bradstreet（安妮.布雷兹特里特）（女性作家）→The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America 《在美洲诞生的第十位缪斯》→Edward Taylor （爱德华.泰勒）（女性作家）→Psalms 《诗篇》Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution（理性和革命时期文学）Chapter 5→Benjamin Franklin （本杰明.富兰克林）1.Poor Richard ’s Almanac 《穷理查德年鉴》（1732-1758，1729年正式出版）2.The Declaration of Independence 《独立宣言》（Franklin & Jefferson 杰弗逊）3.The Autobiography 《自传》4.Collect Works 《作品选集》Chapter 6→Thomas Paine （托马斯.佩因）1.The Case of the Officers of the Excise 《收税官的案子》（1772）（his first pamphlet）mon Sense 《常识》（1776）3.The America Crisis 《美国危机》（1776-1883）（a series of sixteen pamphlets）（signed“Common Sense” ）4.Rights of Man 《人权》（I 1791年， II 1792年）5.The Age of Reason 《理性时代》6.Agrarian Justice 《土地公平》（his last important treatise 他最后一部重要著作）Chapter 7→Thomas Jefferson （托马斯.杰弗逊）The Declaration of Independence 《独立宣言》（Benjamin Franklin & Jefferson 杰弗1.该集子并不是按写作顺序来安排的，而是按事件发展的先后顺序重新编排，即：TheDeerslayer（《杀鹿者》）；The Last of the Mohicans《最后的莫希干人》；The Pathfinder 《探路人》；The Pioneers《拓荒者》；The Prairie《大草原》}Chapter 11→William Cullen Bryant （威廉.卡伦.布莱恩特）1.Thanatopsis《死亡思考/死之思考》（1817）2.To a Waterfowl《致水鸟》（is perhaps the peak of his work 是其巅峰之作）Chapter 12→Edgar Allan Poe （埃德加.艾伦.坡）1.MS. Found in a Bottle 《金瓶子城的方德先生》2.The Fall of the House of Usher《鄂榭府崩溃记》3.Tales Of the Grotesque and Arabesque《述异集》（1840）4.The Raven《乌鸦》（1845）5.To Helen《给海伦》6.Annabel Lee《安娜贝尔.李》Chapter 13→Ralph Waldo Emerson（拉尔夫.沃尔多.爱默生）1.Nature《论自然》（1836）2.Two speeches（正真让他功成名就的是两次演讲）：The American Scholar《美国学者》（a great statements 一篇优秀的论说文）& Divinity School Address《神学院致辞》3.Poem《诗集》（1847）4.Essay《随笔录》5.Representative Men《代表》（1850）6.English Traits《英国人》（1856）7.Nature《论自然》8.Self-Reliance《论自助》Chapter 14→Henry David Thoreau（亨利.戴维.梭罗）1.Walden《沃尔登》（1854）Chapter 15→Nathaniel Hawthorne （纳撒尼尔.霍桑）1.The House of the Seven Gables《七个尖角阁的房子》2.Mosses from an Old Manse《古厦青苔》（1846）3.The Scarlet Letter 《红字》（1850）The Scarlet Letter is the introductory chapter of The Scarlet Letter. 《海关》是《红字》的前言。
美国文学-Enlightenment-启蒙时期
“我思故我在”(Cogito
ergo sum)
讲解：XX
6
Isaac Newton (1643―1727)
English scientist; Three Laws of Motion The Universal Law of
Gravitation He (in parallel with Liebnitz)
Empiricism
Rationalism
/k/kantme ta.htm
.hk/~ppp/cp r/toc.html
讲解：XX
10
Part II The Period of Enlightenment
c. Its central idea: need and the capacity of human reason to clear away ancient superstition, prejudice, dogma and injustice. Enlightenment thinking encouraged rational scientific inquiry, humanitarian tolerance and the idea of universal human rights.
The founder of modern Empiricism (the human mind begins as a tabula
rasa（白板说）, and we
learn through experience)
Some Thoughts
Concerning Education (1693). 《教育漫话》
讲解：XX
8
Jean-Jacques Rousseau（1712-1781）
美国文学名词解释
1、puritan thought:i : to make pure their religious beliefs and practicesii: wish to restore simplicity to church services and the authority of the Bibleiii: Puritans should include all kinds of people, humblest loftiest(最高贵的) ,poor and rich.iiii: Puritans opposition to pleasure and their lives were disciplined and hardiiiii: Puritan religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful (愤怒的)God and forget His mercy.2、Transcendentalism (超验主义)American Romanticism culminated around the 1840s in what has come to be known as “New England Transcendentalism” or “American Renaissance”. It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be pefected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture. The leading transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose Nature has been called “The Manifesto of American Transcendentalism”and whose “The American Scholar”has been rightly regarded as America’s “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”, advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature. Like him, most transcendentalists advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height. The views they kept helped to create the first American Renaissance- one of the most prolific period in American literature.3、The Lost GenerationAfter the First World War, some young writers voluntarily left America and settled in Paris, and others who stayed behind felt themselves to be exiles in spirit. All of them were “outsiders”who observed America society and culture objectively , from distance and tried to create new types of writing . Many of them took part in the war in Europe , experiencing shock, wounds and the death of close friends . They shunned避开the false idea of success put forth by the social system and looked on art as both a refuge庇护from bourgeois society and mirror in which America could be shown its true face. Cut off from the life of their own country by choice , cut off from a sense of historical continuity by the First World War, they were named “the Lost Generation”. Hemingway, Cummings and Pound have been the representatives of such writers.(An American woman writer named Gertrude Stein (1874- 1949) , Who had lived in Paris since 1903, welcomed these young writers to her apartment which was already famous as a literary salon. Stein was the advisor, friend, and confidante of some of the great friend, and confidante of some of the great French and American artists and writers of the time . In the early 1920 Ezra Pound joined her group and together they encouraged and helped such young writers as Hemingway and Cummings , both had suffered in the war . She called them “The Lost Generation”a name which stuck to them, because they had cut themselves off from their past in America in order to create new types of writing which had never beentried before.)4、The Southern LiteratureThe American South is a very distinctive region. The inhabitants are distinguished from other Americans by their Southern accent口音, culture and outlook, and their special history. The Civil War defeated and destroyed the South . The landowners became poor and backward and embittered 受苦的. In time , a new class was formed by low-class, landless people. They learned modern methods of business and farming , and began to replaced the traditional ruling class in position of power . These harsh苛刻的conflicting social elements form the background of “Southern Fiction”, which is often twisted , violent and pessimistic.Southern fiction had its roots in Edgar Allen Poe(1809-1849), whose strange , frightening tales had a dark , nightmarish quality even before the Civil War . The foremost Southern writer of 20th century was William Faulkner (1897-1962). He wrote feelingly of the decaying white upper class and crude , energetic white upstarts 暴发户. Faulkner was followed by some outstanding writers as Thomas Wolfe, Robert Penn Warren and Katherine Anne Porter, Carson Mc-Cullers . The later two were female writer whose work contained more delicate nuances细微差别of feeling and were quite original.5、The Jewish LiteratureIt is difficult to state exactly what is meant by Jewish Literature in America because all Jewish writers do not concern themselves only with Jewish subject. Norman Mailer , Allen Ginsberg and the like are not necessarily identifiable as “Jewish writers”though they were from Jewish family ,but Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Isaac Bashevis Singer are often identified as the representatives of Jewish Literature in US, for they habitually write from a Jewish point of view and usually choose Jew as the heroes of their books. The most important element in their point of view is the emphasis which Jew place upon the power of intellect 智力. The power to understand their own experience , to judge their lives rationally, to think well , is considered a high virtue.6、The Feminist LiteratureEducated women in US took an active part in the Anti-Slavery Movement. The two World Wars produced a demand for labor which again changed the role of women. But educated women still found their positions are lower than that of men’s in many walks of life, which gave rise to the Women’s Liberation. Serious women writers of the 1960’s and 1970”s have been influenced by the philosophy of the Women’s Lib, whether they took part in it or not . As a group , they are no longer willing to accept the traditional roles of women; they are self-conscious, determined pathfinders开创者in a society. Present-day women’s writing goes from political essays to high sensitive , pessimistic, even suicidal poetry . Gloria Steinem, Joyce Carol Oates , and Sylvia Plath are the three of best-known.7、The Beat GenerationIn the middle of the 1950’s, a group of writers in San Francisco put on a concerted商定的and well-publicized rebellion against “official”American life and culture. Jack Kerouac, a novelist, named the group Beat . The Beat Movement was a revolt against the frightened, conservative political mood, against the greedy, money-seeking “respectable”life of the dominant middle class and particularly against the literary formalism of American writing after the Second World War. The Beats read their outrageously critical poetry to the public in the coffee house and bars . They adopted an “unrespectable”way of life, growing their hair and bears very long, deliberately remaining poor and dressing like paupers, living in an unconventional and undisciplined way, and even smoking “pot” . They evolved a free , non-materialistic religion with no formal church, based loosely on the teachings of Buddha佛, comprising包含love , joy and anarchy无政府状态 . In rejecting the carefully written works of their contemporary writers, the Beats instead wanted to write with complete spontaneity自发性and honesty诚实, even if the effect was slap-dash匆促的. They wanted to express emotion “raw”处于自然状态，未加工的, exactly as it was felt, rather than “cooked”through memory and translation into art, which can be said as “counter-culture”. Unfortunately , the ideal became very degenerate退化的in practice. The leaders of “Beats”were poet Allen Ginsberg and novelist Jack Kerouac.8、The Black HumorThe term “Black Humor”was created in 1920’s ,but it was not noticed until 1960’s. It was particularly a literary phenomenon in America. Facing the absurd 荒诞and madness疯狂in the world , some sensitive intellectuals feel to have no alternative but to express their discontentment不满, anger and despair with the technique of self-mockery自嘲and humor. Black Humor often expresses a tragedy in the form of comedy to explore the oppression of the society . The heroes in the works of “black humor”are anti-heroic 反英雄full of suspicion and negation ,madness as well as holiness. Josegh Heller and Kurt Vonnegut are famous for their novels of “Black Humor”.9、The Black Literature ( Afro-American Literature )The Black Literature has developed with political movements as The Civil Rights Movement, Black Liberation Movement. In the 19th century appeared some outstanding writers as well as politicians. Harlem Renaissance in the 20’s of 20th century from the black community in Harlem was a cultural movement which took the reflection of the black culture as its responsibility and from which the figures of the New Negro came into being in American literature . Those New Negroes , independent , active ,and full of the pride of their race, have tried to create new idea of value and image of life for the Afro-American. In the 40’s of 20th century , the literary works by Negroes was no longer ignored and now Afro-American literature with some famous black writers as Langston Hughes , Richard Wright ,Ralph Ellison ,Toni Morrison who has just got the Noble Price , has become an important part of American Literature.10、Imagisma movement of poets who used ordinary but image-laden language, not poetic diction. The Imagists followed three principles:(1)“Direct treatment”The subject of poem must be expressed in such a way as toresemble象，类似it and reproduce it as closely as possible. Simple language must be used to create an “image”, which the reader can immediately see his own imagination.(2)“Economy of expression”No word must be used which does not contributedirectly to the image.(3)“Rhythm节奏，韵律”No unnecessary words may be included in order to makemeter or a rhyme韵. A poem should be composed with the phrasing of music, nota metronome节拍器 .11、The iceberg冰山principle:It is a principle that Hemingway usually abided by in his work. The phenomenon that an iceberg moving in the sea for only one third of it is on the surface of water with two third under it is consistent with the way of Hemingway’s writing in his work. Hemingway kept this principle and to embraced significant meaning 内涵with few words. Thus is formed his literary style :simplicity and economy of expression as a way to reach the goal; short , uncomplicated active sentences with very few adjectives to immerse使…陷入his readers in a “continuous present”.。
美国文学提纲(2)
I. Multiple Choice (20 points in all, 1 for each)1) Check the dictionary: pompous, vernacular2) At the beginning of Faulkner’s A Rose For Emily, there is a detailed description ofEmily’s old house. The purpose of such description is to imply that the pe rson living in it C.A. is a wealth ladyB. has good tasteC. is a prisoner of the pastD. is aconservative aristocrat3)Stylistically, Henry James’s fiction is characterized by D.A. short clear sentencesB. abundance of local imagesC. ordinary American speechD.highly refined language1. The convention of the desire for an escape from society and a reture to nature inAmerican Literature is particularly evident in AA. Cooper’s Leather-Stocking TakesB. Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Le tterC. Whitman’s Leaves of GrassD. Irving’s Rip Van Winkle2. In 1873, Ralph Waldo Emerson made a speech entitled at Harvard, which was hailedby Oliver Wendell Homes as “our Intellectual Dedaration of IA. NatureB. Self-RelianceC. Divinity Scholar AddressD. The AmericanScholar3. What’s the analogy that Emily Dickin son uses in her poem Because I could not stopfor death? AA.Horse and carriageB. stage and performanceC. Cloud and ShadeD. ship andharbor4. Most of the writers in the Modern Period were able to probe into the inner would of ofhuman reality on the base of DA. Carl Jung’s “collective unconscious” and “archetypal symbol”B. Sigmound Frend’s “interpretation of dreams”C. William Jame’s “stream of consciousness”D. all of the above.II. Blank Filling (10 points in all, 1 for each)1) Henry James is considered the founder of Psychological realism. He believed that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator.2) Mark Twain’s first novel, The Gilded Age was an artistic failure, but it gave itsname to the America of the postbellum period which it attempts to satirize.Blank FillingBlank Filling1. The best of puritan poets was Edward Taylor, whose complete edition of poems appeared in 1960, more than two hundred years after his death.8. Edwin Arlington Robinson produced a large body of works and was honored with the Pulitzer Prize in 1522, 1925 and 1928.10. Fitzgerald’s first novel This Side of Paradise, with its portrayal of casual dissipations of “f laming youth”, was an immediate commercial success.3. In “Song of Myself”, Whitman’s own early experience may well be identified with the children of a young growing American.4. The range of Dickinson’s poetry suggests not her limited experience but the power of her creativity and imagination.5. Mark Twain, breaking out of the narrow limits of local color fiction, described the breadth of American experience as no one had ever done before, or since.7. Many of O. Henry’s stones talk about the life of poor people in New York.8. Henry James realism is characterized by his psychological approach to his subject matter.9. The Financier, T he Tifan and The Stoic form Dreiser’s “Trilogy of Desire”12. American writers of first postwar era self ——consciously acknowledged that they were a “Lost Generation” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.13. At one time, Sandburg’s reputation mainly rested on a multi ——volume biography of Abraham Lincoln including “The Prairie Years” and “The War Years”14. For publication of his collected Poems, Wallace Stevens received the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize.15. In 1954, Hemingway was awarded a Nobel Prize for his “mastery of the art of modern narration”.16. In 1935, Steinbeck published Tortilla Flat. A collection of short story which vividly described the “life of poor Mexican——Americans with affection and humor.17. The Yoknapatawpha Country is a legendary kingdom created by Faulkner.18. The most significant American poem of the 20th century was The Waste Land.19. Edwin Arlington Robinson produced a large body of works and was honored with the Pulitzer Prize in 1922, 1925 and 1928.21. As Thomas Sterns Eliot’s declared, he followed strictly the advice of his doze friend Ezra Pound in cutting and concentrating The Waste Land12.“Martin Eden”is the novel into which Jack London put most of himself。
美国文学选读2知识整理
2.Rhyme occurs in most traditional poetry (except blank verse), and often with various schemes. In free verse, however, rhyme may or may not be present; but when it is, used with great freedom. 3.In conventional verse, the unit is often foot, or the line; but in free verse, the units are much larger, sometimes being paragraphs or strophes诗节. If the free verse unit is the line, as it is in Whitman, the line is usually determined by qualities of actual speech rhythm and thought, rather than feet or syllable count; thus the line may be as short as one word, or as long as a passage. 4.In comparison with conventional verse, free verse may be composed with rhythms and melodies more personal and individual, more appropriate to the subject and the theme. In the hands of the gifted poets free verse very often acquires rhythms and melodies of its own. There is in free verse greater flexibility of the form and greater agreement between sound and sense. There are signs of it in medieval alliterative verse and in the translation of the Authorized King James Bible, which attempts to approximate the Hebrew cadences. The Psalms and The Song of Solomon are noted examples of free verse.
美国文学史-知识点梳理
Part I The Literature of Colonial AmericaI．Historical IntroductionThe colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. < A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.>II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds:1> Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration2> Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American WriterThe first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians.Captain John Smith is the first American writer.A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony <1608>A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country <1612>General History of Virgini a <1624>: the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers.One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England LiteratureWilliam Bradford and John WinthropJohn Cotton and Roger WilliamsAnne Bradstreet and Edward TaylorV．Puritan Thoughts1. The origin of puritanIn the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII <At that time, the Catholics were not allowedto divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he> broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of England. But there was no radical difference between the doctrines of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. A group of people thought the Church of England was too Catholic and wanted to purify the church. Then came the name Puritans.2. Puritanism -- based on Calvinism<1> predestination: God's electPuritans believed they are predestined before they were born.Nothing or no good work can change their fate.They believed the success of one's business is the sign to show he is the God's elect. So the Puritans works very hard, spend very little and invest more for the future business. They lived a very frugal life. This is their ethics.<2> Origianl sin and total depravityMan is born sinful. This determines some puritans pessimistic attitude towards life.<3> Limited atonement <the salvation of a selected few><4> theocracyThey combined state with religion. Their government is at least not a liberal one.The Puritans established American tradition -- intolerant moralism. They strictly punished drunks, adultery & heretics.Puritans changed gradually due to the severity of frontier environment3. Influence on American Literature<1> Its optimismAmerican literature was from the outset conditioned by the Puritan heritage. It can be said American literature is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. After that, man have an illusion to restore the paradise. The puritans, after arriving at America, believing that God must have sent them to this new land to restore the lost paradise, to build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden. Fired with such a strong sense of mission, they treated life with a tremendous amount of optimism. The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American literature.<2> Puritan's metaphorical mode of perception changed gradually into a literary symbolism.Part II The Literature of Reason And RevolutionI．Historical IntroductionWith the growth, especially of industry, there appeared the intense strain with England. The British government did not want colonial industries competing with those in England. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country. They took a series of measures to insure this dependence. They prevented colonial economy by requiring Americans to ship raw materials abroad and to import finished goods at prices higher than the cost of making them in this country. Politically, the British government forced dependence by ruling the colonies from overseas and by taxing the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament.However, by the mid-eighteenth century, freedom was won as much by the fiery rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the eloquence of the Declaration of Independence as by the weapons of Washington. In the seventies of the 18th century, the English colonies in North America rose in arms against their mother country. The War for Independence lasted for 8 years <1776-1783> and ended in the formation of a federative bourgeois democratic republic -- the United States of America. II．American EnlightenmentIt was supported by all progressive forces of the country which opposed themselves to the old colonial order and religious obscurantism.It dealt a decisive blow upon the puritan traditions and brought to life secular education and literature. The spiritual life during that period was to a great degree moulded by it.The representatives set themselves the task of disseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas.The writers injected an invigorating vein into the English language in America as they aimed at clarity and precision of their writings.At the initial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to journalism. Writings of Europe were widely read in America. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.III．Benjamin Franklin <1706-1790>The AutobiographyPoor Richard’s AlmanacLifeBenjamin Franklin came from a Calvinist background.He was born into a poor candle-maker’s family. He had very little education. He learned in school only for two years, but he was a voracious reader.At 12, he was apprenticed to his elder half-brother, a printer.At 16, he began to publish essays under the pseudonym "Silence Do good〞.At 17, he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune.He set himself up as an independent printer and publisher. In 1727 he founded the Junto club.Multiple identities:a printera leading authora politiciana scientista inventora diplomata civic activistFranklin’s Contributions to SocietyHe helped found the PennsylvaniaHospital.He founded an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania.And he helped found the American Philosophical Society.Franklin’s Contributions to ScienceHe was also remembered for volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and efficient heating devices.And for his lightning-rod, he was called "the new Prometheus who had stolen fire from heaven.〞Franklin’s Contributions to the U.S.He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States:The Declaration of Independence,The Treaty of Alliance with France,The Treaty of Peace with England,The ConstitutionThe AutobiographyThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man.The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The meticulous chart of 13 virtues he set for himself to cultivate to combat the tempting vices, the stupendous effort he made to improve his own person, the belief that God helps those who helps themselves and that every calling is a service to God – all these indicate that Franklin was intensely Puritan. Then, the book is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that, in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrious, frugal, and prudent.The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenth-century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.A look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness and concision. The plainness of its style, the homeliness of imagery, the simplicity of diction, syntax and expression are some of the salient features we cannot mistake. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence of ornaments in wording and of complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all graphically demonstrated in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.IV．Thomas Paine <1737-1809>Common SenseAmerican CrisisV．Thomas Jefferson <1743-1826>The Declaration of IndependenceVI．Philip Freneau <1752-1832>"Poet of the American Revolution〞"Father of American Poetry〞"Pioneer of the New Romanticism〞"A gifted and versatile lyric poet〞Works"The Wild Honey Suckle〞"The Indian Burying Ground〞"To a Caty-Did〞Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.Life Experience►He was born in New York.►At 16, he entered the College of New Jersey <now PrincetonUniversity>. He decided to do a postgraduate study in theology. But two years later he gave it up. While still an undergraduate, he wrote in collaboration with one of his friends <H. H. Brackenridge> a poem entitled "The Rising Glory of America〞.►Later he attended the War of Independence, and he was captured by British army in 1780.►After being released, he published "The British Prison Ship〞in 1781.►In the same year, he published "To the Memory of the Brave Americans〞.►After war, he supported Jefferson, and contributed greatly to American government.►But after 50 years old, he lived in poverty. And at last he died in a blizzard.Main Works►"The Rising Glory of America〞<1772> 《美洲光辉的兴起》►"The House of Night〞<1779,1786> 《夜之屋》►"The British Prison Ship〞<1781> 《英国囚船》►"To the Memory of the Brave Americans〞<1781> 《纪念美国勇士》►"〞The Wild Honey Suckle〞<1786> 《野忍冬花》►"The Indian Burying Ground〞<1788> 《印第安人墓地》野忍冬花〔黄杲炘译〕►美好的花呀,你长得：这么秀丽, 却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵,招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎,没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪.►大自然把你打扮得一身洁白,她叫你避开庸俗粗鄙的目光,她布置下树荫把你护卫起来,又让潺潺的柔波淌过你身旁；你的夏天就这样静静地消逝,这时候你日见萎蔫终将安息. ►那些难免消逝的美使我销魂, 想起你未来的结局我就心疼,别的那些花儿也不比你幸运——虽开放在伊甸园中也已凋零, 无情的寒霜再加秋风的威力,会叫这花朵消失得一无踪迹. ►##和晚露当初曾把你养育,让你这小小的生命来到世上,原来若乌有,就没什么可失去,因为你的死让你同先前一样；这来去之间不过是一个钟点——这就是脆弱的花享有的天年.►This poem is divided into four stanzas. Each stanza consists of six lines, rhyming "ababcc〞, and sounds just like music.►In the first two stanzas, Freneau devoted more attention to the environment of the flower in which he found it than to the appearance of the flower. He conmented on the secluded nature of the place where the honey suckle grew, drawing a conclusion that it was due to nature's protectiveness that the flower was able to lead a peaceful life free from men’s disturbance and destruction.►But the next stanza immediately changed the tone from silent admiration and appreciation to outright lamentation over the "future’s doom〞of the flower – even nature was unable to save the flower from its death.►And then, Freneau said, "if nothing once, you nothing lose.〞It is true in people’s existence. There is fate for the life and death. After one’s death, the only thing he can take away is what he brought when he gave birth to this world.Part III The Literature of RomanticismI．Historical Introductionfrom early 19th century through the outbreak of the Civil War1. native factorsIt is a period following American Independence. In this period, democracy and political equality became the ideals of the new nation. America was in an economic boom. There is a tremendous sense of optimism and hope among the people. The spirit of the time is, in some measure, responsible for the outburst of romantic feeling.2. foreign influenceRomanticism emerged in England from 1798 to 1832. It added impetus to the growth of Romanticism in America. In England the general features of the works of the romantics is a dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society. British Romanticism inspired the American imagination. Thus American Romanticism was in a way derivative. II．American Romanticism: American RenaissanceRomanticism <appeared in England in the last years of the 18th century and spread to continental Europe and then> came to America early in the 19th century. It was pluralistic; its manifestations were as varied, as individualistic, and as conflicting as the cultures and the intellects from which it sprang. Yet romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: moral enthusiasm, faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception, and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man's societies a source of corruption.It exalted the individual, which suited the nation's revolutionary heritage and its frontier egalitarianism. It revolted against traditional art forms, which gratified those cramped by the strict limits of neoclassic literature, painting, and architecture. It rejected rationalism, which gladdened those who were opposed to cool, intellectual religious wrapped with the remnants of Calvinism.Romantic writers placed increasing value on the free expression of emotion and display increasing attention to the spiritual states of their characters. Heroes and heroines exhibited extremes of sensitivity and excitement. The novel of terror became the profitable literary staple that it remains today. Writers of gothic novels sought to arouse in their readers a turbulent sense of the remote, the supernatural, and the terrifying by describing castles and landscapes illuminated by moonlight and haunted by ghosts. A preoccupation with the demonic and the mystery of evil marked by the works of Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, and a host of lesser writers.Early American romanticism was best represented by New England poets William Cullen Bryant <1794-1878> and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow <1807-1882> inpoetry, and James Fenimore Cooper <1789-1851> and Washington Irving<1783-1859> in fiction.The later/peak period is represented by Ralph Waldo Emerson <1803-1882> and Henry David Thoreau <1817-1862>.III．WashingtonIrving1. Rip Van WinkleThe story, written while Irving was staying with his sister Sarah and her husband Henry van Wart in Birmingham, England, is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. A villager of Dutch descent escapes his nagging wife by wandering up Kaaterskill Clove near his home town of Palenville, New York in the Catskill Mountains. After various adventures <in one version of the tale, he encounters the spirits of Henry Hudson and his crew playing ninepins at the top of KaaterskillFalls>, he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep. He wakes up 20 years later and returns to his village. He finds out that his wife is dead and his close friends have died in a war or gone somewhere else. He immediately gets into trouble when he hails himself a loyal subject of George III, not knowing that in the meantime the American Revolution has taken place and he is not supposed to be a loyal subject of any Hanoverian any longer.The story has become a part of cultural mythology: even for those who have never read the original story, "Rip Van Winkle" means either a person who sleeps for a long period of time, or one who is inexplicably <perhaps even blissfully> unaware of current events.Rip Van Winkle has been seen as a symbol of several aspects of America. Rip, like America, is immature, self-centered, careless, anti-intellectual, imaginative, and jolly as the overgrown child. The town itself symbolizes America – forever and rapidly changing. Washington Irving has Rip sleep through his own country’s history, through what we might call the birth pangs of America, and return to the "busy, bustling, disputatious〞self-consciously adult United States of America. His conflicts and dreams are those of the nation – the conflict of innocence and experience, work and leisure, the old and the new, the head and the heart.2. The Legend of Sleepy HollowThe story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of TarryTown, in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a sycophantic, lean, lanky, and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head". Ichabod mysteriously disappears from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related". Although the nature of the HeadlessHorseman is left open to interpretation, the story implies that the Horseman was really Brom Bones in disguise.The creation of archetypes is a p articularly subtle feat of Irving’s consummate craftsmanship. We may see in Ichabod Crane a precocious, effect New Englander, shrewd, commercial, a city-slicker, who is rather an interloper, a somewhat destructive force, and who comes along to swindle the villagers. His book learning turns on him, and he is driven away from where he does not belong, so that the serene village remains permanently good and happy.Brom Bones, on the other hand, is of a Huck Finn-type of country bumpkin, rough, vigorous, boisterous but inwardly very good, a frontier type put out there to shift for himself.Thus, the rivalry in love between Ichabod and Brom, viewed in this way, suddenly assumes the dimensions of two ethical groups locked in a kind of historic contest. As to the style of the piece, it represents Irving at his best. The association between a certain local and the inward movement of a character, the emotional loading of almost every line of the story, their effect on the five sense of the reader whose attention is so fully engaged and who feels so much involved in what is happening – all these have placed this and other Irving stories among the best of American short stories.3. Irving’s Style<1> Irving avoids moralizing as much as possible. He writes simply to entertain rather to enlighten.<2> He is good at setting his stories in a magic and fantastic atmosphere. The richness of the atmosphere compensates for the slimness of his plot.<3> His characters are vivid and true to life. They tend to linger in the mind of the reader.<4> His writing is full of humor and satire.<5> two important themes, i.e. the themes of change and search for identify. These themes capture the spirit of Irving’s times and reflect his philosophical thinking on contemporary American social life.IV. James Fenimore Cooper 詹姆斯费尼莫尔库珀<1789--1851> -- launched two kinds of immensely popular stories → the sea adventure tale and the frontier sagaThe Leatherstocking Tales《皮袜子故事集》,regard as "the nearest approach yet to an American epic.〞〔开创了美国文学的一个重要主题—文明的发展对大自然和它代表的崇高品德的摧残与破坏〕Its central figure in the novels, Natty Bumppo <美国文学的一个重要的原型人物—独立不羁、逃避社会、在大自然中需求完美精神世界的班波>. Cooper’s Works<1> Precaution <1820, his first novel, imitating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice><2> The Spy <his second novel and great success><3> Leatherstocking Tales <his masterpiece, a series of five novels>The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneer, The Prairie Cooper’s Style<1> highly imaginative<2> good at inventing tales<3> good at landscape description<4> conservative<5> characterization wooden and lacking in probability<6> language and use of dialect not authenticLiterary AchievementsHe created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the historyof the United States is, in a sense, the process of the American settlers exploring and pushing the American frontier forever westward, then Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the West. He turned the west and frontier as a useable past and he helped to introduce western tradition to American literature.V. William Cullen Bryant 威廉卡伦布赖恩特<1794-1878>-- the first American to gain the stature of a major poet.To a Waterfowl《致水鸟》The Yellow Violet 《黄色的堇香花》VI. Edgar Allen Poe <1809-1849>American writer, known as a poet and critic but most famous as the first master of the short-story form, especially tales of the mysterious and macabre. The literary meritsof Poe's writings have been debated since his death, but his works have remained popular and many major American and European writers have professed their artistic debt to him.For a long time after his death Poe remained probably the most controversial and most misunderstood literary figure in the history of American literature.Emerson dismissed him in three words, "the jingle man.〞Mark Twain declared his prose to be unreadable.Henry James made the ruthless statement that "an enthusiasm for Poe is the mark of a decidedly primitive state of development.〞Whitman, who was the only famous literary figure present at the Poe Memorial Ceremony in Baltimore in 1875, had mixed feelings about him: he did admit Poe’s genius, but it was "its narrow range and unhealthy, lurid quality〞that most impressed him.T. S. Eliot proclaimed him a critic of the first rank, but charged him with "slipshod writing.〞Poe’s WorksPoetry: The Raven《乌鸦》Horror Fiction: The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍大厦的倒塌》Whodunit: Murders in the Rue Morgue《莫格街谋杀案》致海伦海伦,你的美在我的眼里, 有如往日尼西亚的三桅船船行在飘香的海上,悠悠地把已倦于漂泊的困乏船员送回他故乡的海岸.早已习惯于在怒海上飘荡, 你典雅的脸庞,你的鬈发, 你水神般的风姿带我返航, 返回那往时的希腊和罗马, 返回那往时的壮丽和辉煌. 看哪！壁龛似的明亮窗户里, 我看见你站着,多像尊雕像, 一盏玛瑙的灯你拿在手上！塞姬女神哪,神圣的土地才是你家乡！In the first stanza, Helen’s beauty is soothing. It provides security and safety. Perhaps the reader is expected to associate Marlowe’s famous line: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships〞to Helen’s beauty, for her beauty is as hypnotic for the speaker as were the ships that transported another wanderer – Ulysses - home from Troy.Throughout the poem, Poe uses allusions to classical names and places, as well as certain kinds of images to create the impression of a far-off idealized, unreal woman, like a Greek statue. Words that support the image of an ideal woman are "hyacinth〞and "classic〞<line 7>, "Naiad airs〞<line 8>, and "statue-like〞<line 12>. Helen stands, not like a real woman, but like a saint in a "window-niche〞<line 11>. She becomes a symbol both of beauty and of frustration, a romantically idealized, yet inaccessible image of the heart’s desire.乌鸦从前一个阴郁的子夜,我独自沉思,慵懒疲竭,沉思许多古怪而离奇、早已被人遗忘的传闻——当我开始打盹,几乎入睡,突然传来一阵轻擂,仿佛有人在轻轻叩击,轻轻叩击我的房门."有人来了,〞我轻声嘟喃,"正在叩击我的房门——唯此而已,别无他般.〞哦,我清楚地记得那是在萧瑟的十二月；每一团奄奄一息的余烬都形成阴影伏在地板.我当时真盼望翌日；——因为我已经枉费心机想用书来消除悲哀——消除因失去丽诺尔的悲叹——因那被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女,她美丽娇艳——在这儿却默默无闻,直至永远.那柔软、暗淡、飒飒飘动的每一块紫色窗布使我心中充满前所未有的恐怖——我毛骨惊然；为平息我心儿停跳．我站起身反复叨念"这是有人想进屋,在叩我的房门——.更深夜半有人想进屋,在叩我的房门；——唯此而已,别无他般.〞很快我的心变得坚强；不再犹疑,不再彷徨,"先生,〞我说,"或夫人,我求你多多包涵；刚才我正睡意昏昏,而你来敲门又那么轻,你来敲门又那么轻,轻轻叩击我的房门,我差点以为没听见你〞——说着我拉开门扇；——唯有黑夜,别无他般.凝视着夜色幽幽,我站在门边惊惧良久,疑惑中似乎梦见从前没人敢梦见的梦幻；可那未被打破的寂静,没显示任何迹象."丽诺尔？〞便是我嗫嚅念叨的唯一字眼,我念叨"丽诺尔！〞,回声把这名字轻轻送还,唯此而已,别无他般.我转身回到房中,我的整个心烧灼般疼痛,很快我又听到叩击声,比刚才听起来明显."肯定,〞我说,"肯定有什么在我的窗棂；让我瞧瞧是什么在那里,去把那秘密发现——让我的心先镇静一会儿,去把那秘密发现；——那不过是风,别无他般！〞我猛然推开窗户,.心儿扑扑直跳就像打鼓,一只神圣往昔的健壮乌鸦慢慢走进我房间；它既没向我致意问候；也没有片刻的停留；而以绅士淑女的风度,栖在我房门的上面——栖在我房门上方一尊帕拉斯半身雕像上面——栖坐在那儿,仅如此这般.于是这只黑鸟把我悲伤的幻觉哄骗成微笑,以它那老成持重一本正经温文尔雅的容颜,"虽然冠毛被剪除,〞我说,"但你肯定不是懦夫, 你这幽灵般可怕的古鸦,漂泊夜的彼岸——请告诉我你尊姓大名,在黑沉沉的冥府阴间！〞乌鸦答日"永不复述.〞听见如此直率的回答,我惊叹这丑陋的乌鸦,虽说它的回答不着边际——与提问几乎无关；因为我们不得不承认,从来没有活着的世人曾如此有幸地看见一只鸟栖在他房门的面——鸟或兽栖在他房间门上方的半身雕像上面,有这种名字"永不复还.〞但那只独栖于肃穆的半身雕像上的乌鸦只说了这一句话,仿佛它倾泻灵魂就用那一个字眼.然后它便一声不吭——也不把它的羽毛拍动——直到我几乎是哺哺自语"其他朋友早已消散——明晨它也将离我而去——如同我的希望已消散.〞这时那鸟说"永不复还.〞惊异于那死寂漠漠被如此恰当的回话打破,"肯定,〞我说,"这句话是它唯一的本钱,从它不幸动主人那儿学未.一连串无情飞灾曾接踵而至,直到它主人的歌中有了这字眼——直到他希望的挽歌中有了这个忧伤的字眼‘永不复还,永不复还.’〞但那只乌鸦仍然把我悲伤的幻觉哄骗成微笑,我即刻拖了X软椅到门旁雕像下那只鸟跟前；然后坐在天鹅绒椅垫上,我开始冥思苦想,浮想连着浮想,猜度这不祥的古鸟何出此言——这只狰狞丑陋可怕不吉不祥的古鸟何出此言,为何聒噪‘永不复还.〞我坐着猜想那意见但没对那鸟说片语只言.此时,它炯炯发光的眼睛已燃烧进我的心坎；我依然坐在那儿猜度,把我的头靠得很舒服,舒舒服服地靠在那被灯光凝视的天鹅绒衬垫,但被灯光爱慕地凝视着的紫色的天鹅绒衬垫,她将显出,啊,永不复还！接着我想,空气变得稠密,被无形香炉熏香,提香炉的撒拉弗的脚步声响在有簇饰的地板."可怜的人,〞我呼叫,"是上帝派天使为你送药,这忘忧药能中止你对失去的丽诺尔的思念；喝吧如吧,忘掉对失去的丽诺尔的思念！〞乌鸦说"永不复还.〞"先知！〞我说"凶兆！——仍是先知,不管是鸟还是魔！是不是魔鬼送你,或是暴风雨抛你来到此岸,孤独但毫不气馁,在这片妖惑鬼崇的荒原——在这恐怖萦绕之家——告诉我真话,求你可怜——基列有香膏吗？——告诉我——告诉我,求你可怜！〞乌鸦说"永不复还.〞"先知！〞我说,"凶兆！——仍是先知、不管是鸟是魔！凭我们头顶的苍天起誓——凭我们都崇拜的上帝起誓——告诉这充满悲伤的灵魂.它能否在遥远的仙境拥抱被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女,她纤尘不染——拥抱被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女,她美丽娇艳.〞乌鸦说"永不复还.〞"让这话做我们的道别之辞,鸟或魔！〞我突然叫道——"回你的暴风雨中去吧,回你黑沉沉的冥府阴间！别留下黑色羽毛作为你的灵魂谎言的象征！留给我完整的孤独！——快从我门上的雕像滚蛋！从我心中带走你的嘴；从我房门带走你的外观！〞乌鸦说"永不复还.〞那乌鸦并没飞去,它仍然栖息,仍然栖息在房门上方那苍白的帕拉斯半身雕像上面；而它的眼光与正在做梦的魔鬼眼光一模一样,照在它身上的灯光把它的阴影投射在地板；而我的灵魂,会从那团在地板上漂浮的阴暗被擢升么——永不复还！The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. The raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number of folk and classical references.安娜贝尔.李很久很久以前,在一个滨海的国度里,住着一位少女你或许认得,她的芳名叫安娜贝尔.李；这少女活着没有别的愿望,只为和我俩情相许.那会儿我还是个孩子,她也未脱稚气, 在这个滨海的国度里；可我们的爱超越一切,无人能与——我和我的安娜贝尔.李；我们爱得那样深,连天上的六翼天使也把我和她妒嫉.这就是那不幸的根源,很久以前在这个滨海的国度里,夜里一阵寒风从白云端吹起,冻僵了我的安娜贝尔.李；于是她那些高贵的亲戚来到凡间把她从我的身边夺去,将她关进一座坟墓在这个滨海的国度里.这些天使们在天上,不与我们一半快活, 于是他们把我和她妒嫉——对——就是这个缘故〔谁不晓得呢,在这个滨海的国度里〕云端刮起了寒风,冻僵并带走了我的安娜贝尔.李.可我们的爱情远远地胜利那些年纪长于我们的人——那些智慧胜于我们的人——无论是天上的天使,还是海底的恶魔,都不能将我们的灵魂分离,我和我美丽的安娜贝尔.李.因为月亮的每一丝清辉都勾起我的回忆梦里那美丽的安娜贝尔.李群星的每一次升空都令我觉得秋波在闪动那是我美丽的安娜贝尔.李就这样,伴着潮水,我整夜躺在她身旁。
美国文学二
Philip Freneau (1752-1832)
Freneau was the first American-born poet, representing the efforts for literary nationalism in America. He was called the ― Poet of the American Revolution‖ and ―Father of American poetry‖. He wrote many poems encouraging revolution and encouraging the glory that would be won by overcoming the British such as
2. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Man of God: embodying Puritan naï idealism ve
1)
Life Edwards was probably the last great voice to re-assert Calvinism in America and the most remarkable American Puritan. He was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, the only grandson of a very important Puritan pastor. And that meant that he too would have to become a pastor. He began his literary career at the age of eleven with the famous essay on the flying spider. When he was thirteen, his family sent him to Yale College, where he experienced a religious conversion. He succeeded his grandfather as minister in 1729. Edwards was a leading figure in the Great Awakening.
美国文学复习
Terms in American literature II1.The Beat Generation: After the war a group of American writers referred to as theBeat Generation communicated their profound disaffection with contemporary society through their unconventional writings and lifestyle.Notable writers associated with the group included novelists Jack Kerouac and William S.Burroughs and poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg. Their writing was characterized by a raw, improvisational quality as they liberated writing from formal concerns and plot, often drawing on personal experience.Perhaps the best-known Beat novel is Kerouac’s semiautobiographical On the Road (1957), which celebrates direct sensory experience and freedom from everyday responsibilities.2.Black Humor: Black humor refers to the use of the morbid and the absurd fordarkly comic purposes. It carries the tone of anger and bitterness in the grotesque situations of suffering, anxiety, and death. Black humor usually goes hand in hand with a pessimistic worldview. It manages to express a sense of hopelessness in a wry, sardonic way that is grimly humorous.3.Code Hero: Also The Hemingway hero, an individualist of decidedly masculinetastes, sensitive and intelligence, a man of action, and one of few words. That is an individualist keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place. Although he believes in the ideals of courage and honor he has his own set of morals and principles based on his beliefs in honor, courage and endurance. A code hero never shows emotions; showing emotions and having a commitment to women shows weakness.These people are usually spiritual strong, people of certain skills, and most of them encounter death many times.4.Drama: the general term for performance in which actors impersonate the actionsand speech of fictional or historical characters (or non-human entities) for the entertainment of an audience, either on a stage or by means of a broadcast; or a particular example of this art, i.e. , a play. Drama is usually expected to represent stories showing situations of conflict between characters, although the monodrama is a special case in which only one performer speaks.5.Harlem Renaissance：The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural,social, and artisticmovement that spanned the 1920s in Harlem, New York. During the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement," The Harlem Renaissance was considered to be a rebirth of African American arts.Though it was centered in the Harlemneighborhood, many black writers out of New York were also influenced by the Harlem Renaissance. The most important Feature of the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride represented in the idea of the New Negro, who couldchallenge the racism and stereotypes to promote social progressand "uplift" the race. It helped to shape a new black identity.6.Imagism : a school of poetry that flourished in North America and England, butespecially in the U.S, at the beginning of the twentieth century. Imagists reject the sentimentalism of the late 19th century verse in favor of a poetry that relied on concrete imagery. Ezra Pond led this movement. Imagists believe that poetry should: a. regularly use everyday speech, but avoid clichés; b. create new rhythms;c. address any subject the poet desired;d. depict its subjects through precise andclear images. Imagism poems, which are typically written in free verse, are generally short since imagism poets seek to render their response to a visualimpression as concisely and precisely as possible. Those taking part in the imagism movement included Hilda Doolittle, Carl Sandburg, William Carlos Williams, D. H. Lawrence and others. Imagism is a short-lived movement, but it has a subsequent influence on the 20th century poetry that continues to employ and juxtapose precise images.7.Irony: A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant orbetween what happens and what is expected to happen in life and in literature. In verbal irony, characters say the opposite of what they mean. In irony of circumstances or situation, the opposite of what is expected occurs. In dramatic irony, a character speaks in ignorance of a situation or event known to the audience or to the other characters.8.Lyric: As old as Greek poetry, the lyric is, by definition, a short personal poem.But its most essential characteristic is its musicality, which is achieved by traditional techniques of meter, rhyme, and stanzaic patterning.9.Modernism: a general term applied to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in the literature of early 20th century, including surrealism, futurism, expressionism, imagism, and surrealism. Modernists literature is characterized chiefly by a rejection of 19th century traditions: for instance, the conventions of realism were abandoned, while several poets rejected traditional meters in favor of free verse. Modernist writers tended to see themselves as avant-grade disengaged from bourgeois values, and disturbed their disturbed their readers by complex and difficult new forms and styles. In fiction, the chronological development was upset, new ways of tracing the flow of characters’thoughts were explored. In poetry, the logical exposition of thought was replaced with collages of fragmentaryimages and complex allusions. Modernist writing often expressed a sense of urban cultural dislocation.Its favored techniques of juxtaposition and multiple point of view challenge the reader to reestablish a coherence of meaning from fragmentary forms.10.Multiculturalism: Multiculturalism is the cultural diversity of communities withina given society and the policies that promote this diversity. As a descriptive term,multiculturalism is the simple fact of cultural diversity and the demographic make-up of a specific place, sometimes at the organizational level, e.g., schools, businesses, neighborhoods, cities, or nations. As a prescriptive term, multiculturalism encourages ideologies and policies that promote this diversity or its institutionalization. I n this sense, multiculturalism is a society “at ease with the rich tapestry of human life and the desire amongst people to express their own identity in the manner they see fit.11.Southern Renaissance: The Southern Renaissancewas the reinvigoration ofAmerican Southern literature that began in the 1920s and 1930s with the appearance of writers such as William Faulkner, Katherine Anne Porter, Allen Tate, Tennessee Williams, and Robert Penn Warren, among others.Prior to this renaissance, Southern writers tended to focus on historical romances about the "Lost Cause" of the Confederate States of America. This writing glorified the heroism of the Confederate army and civilian population during the Civil War and the supposedly "idyllic culture" that existed in the South before the war.TheSouthern Renaissance changed this by addressing three major themes in theirworks. The first was the burden of history in a place where many people still remembered slavery, Reconstruction, and a devastating military defeat. The second theme was to focus on the South's conservative culture, specifically on how an individual could exist without losing a sense of identity in a region where family, religion, and community were more highly valued than one's personal and social life. The final theme that the renaissance writers approached was the South's troubled history in regards to racial issues.12.Stream of Consciousness: Stream of consciousness was first used in the late 19thcentury by William James, the American philosopher and psychologist, in his book The Principles of Psychology(1890).As a literary technique that novelists experimented with in the 20th century, it is employed to evince subjective as well as objective reality. It reveals the character’s feelings, thoughts and actions, often following an associative rather than a logical sequence, without commentary by the author. It is a literary technique in which authors represent the flow of sensations and ideas, added to the depth of character portrayal. James Joyce brought it to its highest point of development in Ulysses. Other exponents of the form were William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf.13.Symbolism: symbolism refers to the use of symbols, or to a set of related symbols;however, it is also the name given to an important movement in late 19th-century and early 20th-century poetry. One of the important features of Romanticism and succeeding phases of Western literature was a much more pronounced reliance upon enigmatic symbolism in both poetry and prose fiction, sometimes invoking obscure private codes of meaning, as in the poetry of Blake or Yeats. Many novelists—notably Herman Melville and D. H. Lawrence—have used symbolic methods: in Melville’s Moby-Dick（1851）the White Whale（and indeed almost every object and character in the book）becomes a focus for many different suggested meanings. Melville’s extravagant symbolism was encouraged partly by the importance which American Transcendentalism gave to symbolic interpretation of the world.14.Theatre of Absurdity: Theatre of Absurdity is a term used to identify a body ofplays written primarily in France from the mid-1940s through the 1950s. These works usually employ illogical situations, unconventional dialogues, and minimal plots to express the apparent absurdity of human existence. The leading figures of the movement are Irish-born playwright Samuel Beckett and French playwright Eugene Lonesco.15.The Lost Generation: also termed the Sad Young Men, which was created by F.SFitzgerald in his book All the Sad Young Men, the term generally refers to the post-war generation, but especially a group of American writers who came of age during the war and established their literacy reputation in the 1920s. It stems froma remark made by Gertrude Stein to Hemingway, “You are all a lostgeneration.”T he generation was “lost” in the sense that its inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world and because of itsspiritual alienation froma US, that, backing under President Harding’s “back to normalcy” policy, seemedto its members to be hopelessly provincial, materialistic and emotionally barren.The term embraces Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, e. e.cummings, and many other writers who made Paris the center of their literaryactivities in the 1920s.They were never a literary school and in the 1930s these writers turned in different directions.16.The Roaring Twenties：The decade of the 1920s is often characterized as a periodof American prosperity and optimism. It was the “Roaring Twenties,” the decade of bathtub gin, the model T, the $5 workday, the first transatlantic flight, and the movie. It is often seen as a period of great advance as the nation became urban and commercial (Calvin Coolidge declared that America’s business was busin ess).The Roaring Twenties witnesses the uprising of the Lost Generation, Harlem Renaissance and the Southern Renaissance in literature.。
美国文学之《论自助》Unit Self-Reliance PPT
Topic 2―The theme of Self-Reliance
Key words: Fierce individualism; Dignity
Topic 2―The theme of Self-Reliance
The theme: This essay focuses on his discussion on the individual’s relation with his culture— culture in the broadest definition, thus exploring the implications of the fierce individualism at the heart of his Transcendental faith ： the dignity, the ultimate sanctity of each human being.
A man should learn to detect and watch the gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages.
（P969 —The Norton Anthology）
Key words: a sense of self-culture; the missionary of wisdom and virtue.
According to Emerson, a man is in want of a sense of self-culture. In manly hours, he should feel that duty is his place. On any occasion he is at home still, and shall make men sensible by the expression of his countenance, that he goes the missionary of wisdom and virtue.
美国文学史选择题
美国文学史选择题●美国文学主要分为四个时期：●I. The Literature Around the Revolution of Independence（独立革命前后的文学）。
●一、殖民地时期（The Literature of Colonial American) (Colonial Period 1607--1775[独立战争1775-1783]）●其他：●major topic: American Puritanism●起源（关键概括）：●是English Protestant的一个分支、Martin Luther(1517)、JohnCalvin、因他们认为伊丽莎白教会改革不彻底、unscriptural不根据基督教《圣经》来--而called for further purification、"would bepurifier"●清教主义信仰（关键内容概括）：●purify the English Church让宗教崇拜重返早期"pure and unspotted"condition、反教会的繁杂仪式rituals、人们要根据《圣经》行事●教条学说：●把宗教当成最重要的事●为了光辉上帝活着●相信：●predestination预言天数上帝拯救、拯救少数●limited atonement赎罪耶稣死亡是上帝选择、不是为了大家●oringinal sin & total depravity堕落每个人生来有原罪、应该努力工作●清教主义表现/影响：●道德卓越moral excellence与良知conscience●重教育●努力、节俭thrifty、独立●有上帝选民chosen people意识●实践理想主义、教条机会主义●欢愉是罪●文学贡献：促进了象征主义的发展--Puritans 认为任何一个简单的东西都有深意connoted deep meaning.●印第安文学Native American Literature●major forms: legends, folktales, battle songs and poems●早期来美洲的目的：金子、土地、宗教迫害persecution、政治观念错误、穷人、罪犯、经商●美洲殖民地：●第一个：1607 英国人建立Jamestown--现在的Virginia●第二个：1620 William Bradford领导的清教徒，乘坐May Flower号船，到今天的Massachusetts●人物集：●1、约翰•史密斯（John Smith）：早期英国殖民者、探险家，在弗吉尼亚建立了第一个永久英国殖民地。
(仅供参考)《美国文学II》试题库(带答案)
Part V. Twentieth Century Literature (I) Before WWIIPart V. Twentieth Century Literature (I) Before WWIII. Fill in the blanks.1.__________ stands as a great dividing line between thenineteenth century and the contemporary American literature.2.American writers of the first postwar era self-consciouslyacknowledged that they were a "__________ " , devoid of faithand alienated from a civilization.3.The most significant American poem of the twentieth centurywas_____________ .4.The publication of The Waste Land, written by____________ ,helped to establish a modern tradition of literature rich withlearning and allusive thought.5.In 1920, Sinclair Lewis published his memorable denunciation ofAmerican small-town provincialism in___________ .6.F. Scott Fitzgerald summarized the experiences and attitudes ofthe 1920s decade in his masterpiece novel___________ .7.The__________ of the 1930s greatly weakened the Americannation's self-confidence.8.An American woman writer named ____________ who had livedin Paris since 1903, welcomed the young expatriates to herliterary salon, and gave them a name "the Lost Generation".9._____ wrote about the disintegration of the old social system inthe American Southern States, and its effect on the lives ofmodern people, both black and white.10.Ezra Pound was the leader of a new movement in poetry which hecalled the "__________ " movement.11.Ezra Pound's major work of poetry is the long poemcalled______________ .12."After Apple-Picking" is a well-known poem written by_______ .13.______ was successful in two fields of activity which did notseem compatible with one another; he was a very successfulbusinessman and a very remarkable contemporary poet at thesame time.14.In 1915, __________ published his Prufrock and OtherObservations.15.In 1920, Thomas Stearns Eliot began to write hismasterpiece_______________ , one of the major works ofmodern literature.16.As Thomas Stearns Eliot declared, he followed strictly the adviceof his close friend___________ in cutting and concentrating TheWaste Land.17.In his work___________ , Thomas Stearns Eliot satirized thestraw men, the Guy Fawkles men, whose world would end "not with a bang, but a whimper. "18.Few men of letters have been more fully honored in their own daythan_____________ , and even those who strongly disagree with him seemed content with his selection for the Nobel Prize in1948.19.Thomas Stearns Eliot's last important work was____________ , aprofound meditation on time and timelessness, written in fourparts.20.F. Scott Fitzgerald' s first novel____________ , with its portrayalof casual dissipations of "flaming youth" , was an immediatecommercial success.21.In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his best novel_____________ .It is the story of an idealist who was destroyed by the influence of the wealthy, pleasure-seeking people around him.22.F. Scott Fitzgerald' s second novel______________ describes ahandsome young man and his beautiful wife, undoubtedlymodelled after himself and Zelda.23.The hero in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel_____________ is apsychiatrist who marries a rich patient. The author condemns the wasted energy of misguided youth.24.With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, _____________became the spokes man for what Gertrude Stein had called "aLost Generation".25.Emest Hemingway' s stature as a writer was confirmed with thepublication of his novel___________ in 1929. The novelportrayed a farewell both to war and to love.26.Set in Spain during the Civil War, the novel_____________stated again Hemingway ' s view of love found and lost, anddescribed the indomitable spirit of the common people.27.In the story The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingwayportrayed an old fisherman named___________ , who showstriumphant even in defeat.28.In 1954, Ernest Hemingway was awarded a_______________ forhis "mastery of the art of modem narration".29.In 1952, Ernest Hemingway published a successful novelentitled_____________ , which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and occasioned the award of the Nobel Prize in 1954.30.In the same way that F. Scott Fitzgerald' s Tales of the Jazz Agebecame the symbol for an age, Ernest Hemingway' s novel______ painted the image of a whole generation, the LostGeneration.31.___________ was the foremost novelist of the AmericanDepression of the 1930s.32.In the short novel___________ , John Steinbeck portrayed thetragic friendship between two migrant workers.33.__________ is generally regarded as John Steinbeck' smasterpiece.34.Quentin is a character in William Faulkner'snovel____________ .35.The works written by___________ may be viewed as aculmination of the development of twentieth-century southernfiction.II. Make multiple choices.1. The best-selling American books in the first decades of the twentieth century were__________ .A. traveling booksB. commercial booksC. historical romancesD. news reports2. Early in the 20th century, _________ published works that would change the nature of American poetry.A. Ezra PoundB. T. S. EliotC. Robert FrostD. Both A and B3. The American social upheavals and the literary concerns of the Great Depression years ended with the prosperity and turmoil brought by the _____________ .A. First World WarB. Second World WarC. Civil WarD. War of Independence4. The American "Thirties", lasted from the Crash, through the ensuing Great Depression, until the outbreak of the Second World War 1939. This was a period of__________ .A. povertyB. bleaknessC. important social movementsD. a new social consciousnessE. all of the above5. In the pre-war period, such writers as______________ , pointed out the contradictions between what American preached and they practiced.A. Mark TwainB. Jack LondonC. Stephen CraneD. Theodore DreiserE. all of the above6. In the Thirties, poets like Archibald Macleish and______________ wrote compassionately about common people, workers and farmers.A. Emily DickinsonB. Ezra PoundC. Robert FrostD. Langston Hughes7.The Imagist writers followed three principles, they respectively are _________ .A. direct treatmentB. economy of expressionC. clear rhythmD. blank verse8. "The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough. " This is the shortest poem written by____________ .A. Thomas Stearns EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD. E. E. Cummings9. __________ showed great interest in Chinese literature and translated the poetry of Li Po (Li Bai) into English, and was influenced by Confucian ideas.A. Ezra PoundB. Robert FrostC. T. S. EliotD. E. E. Cummings10. Ezra Pound' s long poem____________ contained more than one hundred poems loosely connected.A. The Waste LandB. The CantosC. Don JuanD. Queen Mab11. "Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy" are good examples of Edwin Arlington Robinson' s ______ attitude.A. romanticB. fantasticC. realisticD. materialistic12. "Ben Jonson Entertains a Man from Stratford", this poem was written by Edwin Arlington Robinson. It is a brilliant commentary on _____________'s character.A. Ben JonsonB. William ShakespeareC. John MiltonD. Samuel Johnson13. In his long works Merlin, Lancelot, and Tristram, Edwin Arlington Robinson wrote the most extensive poems based on_____________ since Tennyson.A. the Arthurian LegendsB. the Biblical StoriesC. the Greek MythologiesD. Indian Legends14. When Robert Frost was eighty-seven, he read his poetry at the inauguration of President__________ .A. Thomas JeffersonB. Theodore RooseveltC. Abraham LincolnD. John F. Kennedy15. Choose the books written by Robert Frost.A. Mountain IntervalB. New HampshireC. West-Running BookD. A Further Range16. Which of the following was not written by Robert Frost?A. "Tilbury Town"B. "A Witness Tree"C. "Steeple Bush"D. "In the Clearing"17. Robert Frost is famous for his lyric poems. Which of the following lyric poems was not written by Robert Frost?A. "Birches"B. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"C. "After Apple-Picking"D. "The Road Not Taken"E. "Richard Cory"18. The poems that made Carl Sandburg famous appeared in four volumes. Choose them from the following.A. Chicago PoemsB. Comhuskers<, /F, , ONT>C. Smoke and SteelD. Slabs of the Sunburn WestE. Design19. As a poet, Carl Sandburg was associated with the, Imagists and wrote well-known Imagist poems such asA. "Fog"B. "Lost"C. "Monotone"D. "The Harbor"E. all of the above20. Carl Sandburg had also taken interest in folk songs which he tried to collect and sing during his travels. These folk songs appeared eventually in print in his well-known___________ .A. Good Morning, AmericaB. The People, YesC. In Reckless EcstasyD. The American Songbag21. Thomas Sutpen is a character in William Faulkner's novel_______________ .A. Absalom, Absalom!B. Light in AugustC. Go Down, MosesD. The Sound and the Fury22. Wallace Stevens' s poetry is primarily motivated by the belief that true ideas correspond with an innate order in nature. Many of his good poems derive their emotional power from reasoned revelation. This philosophical intention is supported by the titles Wallace Stevens gave to his volumes such as_____________ .A. HarmoniumB. Ideas of OrderC. Parts of a WorldD. all of the above23. The two areas on which the modem American writers concentrated their criticism were___________ .A. the failure of communication among AmericansB. the failures of American societyC. the extreme prosperity of AmericaD. the paradise of New Land24. Choose the poems written by Wallace Stevens.A. "Anecdote of the Jar"B. "The Emperor of Ice-Cream"C. "Peter Quince at the Clavier"D. "Departmental"25. __________ , one of the essays in The Sacred Wood, is the earliest statement of Thomas Stearns Eliot' s aesthetics, which provided a useful instrument for modern criticism.A. "Sweeny Agonistes"B. "Tradition and the Individual Talent"C. " A Primer of Modern Heresy"D. "Gerontion"26. Thomas Stearns Eliot used a form, that is, the orchestration of related themes in successive movements, in such works as __________ .A. The Waste LandB. 77k? Hollow MenC. Ash-WednesdayD. Four Quartets27. Thomas Stearns Eliot' s second volume of criticism_____________ (1914) was much admired for its critical method.A. The Function of CriticismB. The Metaphysical PoetsC. Homage to John DrydenD. The Sacred Wood28. __________ , a poetic tragedy on the betrayal of Thomas a Becket, is a drama of impressive spiritual power.A. "The Confidential Clerk"B. "The Cocktail Party"C. "The Family Reunion"D. "Murder in the Cathedral"29. The first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature was a sharp social critic, whose name was_________________ .A. Sinclair LewisB. Thomas Stearns EliotC. Ernest HemingwayD. William Faulkner30. Thomas Stearns Eliot was a _____.A. poetB. playwrightC. literary criticD. novelist31. Thomas Stearns Eliot's first major poem____________ (1917), has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes32. The Fitzgeralds lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than F. Scoot Fitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as ______.A. The Roaring TwentiesB. The Jazz AgeC. The Dollar DecadeD. all of the above33. Choose the collections of short stories written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.A. Flappers and PhilosophersB. Tales of the Jazz AgeC. All the Sad Young MenD. Taps at Reveille34. Choose the novels written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.A. The Great GatsbyB. Tender Is the NightC. This Side of ParadiseD. The Beautiful and the Damned35. Point out the three poets who opened the way to Modern poetry.A. Ezra PoundB. Thomas Stearns EliotC. E. E. CummingsD. Robert Frost36. In Paris, Ernest Hemingway, along with _____________, accomplished a revolution in literary style and language.A. Gertrude SteinB. Ezra PoundC. Thomas Stearns EliotD. James JoyceE. all of the above37. In 1954,___________ was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his "mastery of the art of modern narration".A. Thomas Stearns EliotB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faulkner38. Ernest Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse. These two persons later became the characters of his novel__________ .A. The Old Man and the SeaB. For Whom the Bell TollsC. The Sun Also RisesD. A Farewell to Arms39. During the Depression, Ernest Hemingway first went to Spain and then , to the American West and to Africa on hunting expeditions. In the novels written in this period such as___________ , he wrote about bullfighting, hunting and his personal anecdote.A. Death in the AfternoonB. The Green Hills of AfricaC. Men without WomenD. The Old Man and the Sea40. Which authors committed suicide?A. Ernest HemingwayB. Jack LondonC. Robert FrostD. Mrs. Stowe41. __________ tells the Joad family' s life from the time they were evicted from their farm in Oklahoma until their first winter in California.A. Of Mice and MenB. The Grapes of WrathC. The Great GatsbyD. For Whom the Bell Tolls42. wrote about the society in the South by inventing families which re presented different social forces; the old decaying upper class; the rising, ambitious, unscrupulous class of the "poor Whites"; and the Negroes who la bored for both of them.A. William FaulknerB. F. Scott FitzgeraldC. Ernest HemingwayD. John Steinbeck43. In William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, he used a technique called_____________ , in which the whole story was told through the thoughts of one character.A. stream of consciousnessB. imagismC. symbolismD. naturalism44. William Faulkner's novel___________ describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family, symbolizing the old social order, toid from four different points of view.A. The Sound and the FuryB. StartorisC. The UnvanquishedD. The Town45. William Faulkner's novel___________ is about a poor white family' s journey through fire and flood to bury the mother in her hometown, Yoknapatawpha.A. Intruder in the DustB. As I Lay DyingC. Absalom, Absalom!D. Light in August46. Which three novels form a trilogy which tells the saga of the unscrupuloussnopes family?A. The HamletB. The TownC. The MansionD. The Unvanquished47. William Faulkner wrote altogether 18 novels and three volumes of short stories. Of these three novels, ___________ , _________ and___________ are master pieces by any literary standards.A. The Sound and the FuryB. Absalom, Absalom]C. Go Down, MosesD. The Wrath of the Grapes48. William Faulkner wrote about the histories of a number of Southern aristocratic families such as the___________ , the___________ , the__________ and the McCaslins, and traces them back to the very beginning when Chickasaw Indians were still lawful owners of the land.A. CompsonsB. SartorisesC. SutpensD. Joads49. Most of the important twentieth-century American poets were related with Imagist movement, including___________ .A. Ezra PoundB. Wallace StevensC. E. E. CummingsD. Carl SandburgE. Thomas Stearns EliotKeys to Part V.Keys to Part V.I. Fill in the following blanks?1.The First World War2.Lost Generation3.The Waste Land4.Thomas Stearns Eliot5.Main Street6.The Great Gatsby7.Great Depression8.Gertrude Stein9.William Faulkner10.Imagist11.The Cantos12.Robert Frost13.Wallace Stevens14.Thomas Stearns Eliot15.The Waste Land16.Ezra Pound17.The Hollow Men18.Thomas Stearns Eliot19.Four Quartets20.This Side of Paradise21.The Great Gatsby22.The Beautiful and the Damned23.Tender is the Night24.Ernest Hemingway25.A Farewell to Arms26.For Whom the Bell Tolls27.Santiago28.Nobel Prize29.The Old Man and the Sea30.The Sun also Rises31.John Steinbeck32.Of Mice and Men33.The Grapes of Wrath34.The Sound and the Fury35.William FaulknerII. Make multiple choice:1.C2.D3.B4.E5.E6.C7.ABC8.C9.A10.B11.C12.B13.A14.D15.ABCD16.A17.E18.ABCD19.E20.D21.A22.D23.AB24.ABC25.B26.ABCD27.C28.D29.A30.ABC31.A32.D33.ABCD34.ABCD35.ABC36.E37.B38.D39.ABC40.AB41.B42.A43.A44.A45.B46.ABC47.ABC48.ABC49.ABCDEPart VI. Twentieth Century Literature (II) After WWIIPart VI. Twentieth Century Literature (II) After WWIII. Fill in the blanks.1.The publication of Robert Lowell' s Life Studies marked thecoming of the age of _________ , which represents a new modeof perception and a way of writing.2.In poetry, Postmodernism strives to go against the vogueof______________ poem and its parent style, __________ of theprevious decades.3.One distinct group of poets in the postwar periodis_____________ , whose poetry seems to share common features such as ruthless, excruciating self-analysis of one's ownbackground and heritage, one's own most private desires andfantasies etc. , and the urgent " I'll-tell-it-all-to-you" impulse.4.__________ is the spokesman of postwar Beat Generation inAmerican literary history.5.Gary Snyder has been placed next to Allen Ginsberg among theBeat Generation. He seems to think that the job of the poet is tocatch sight of__________________ , which resides nowhere butin___________ .6.Gary Snyder may be didactic, but he has a______________vision.7.One of the things that the New York School did, for a while in the1960s, was their experiment with___________ .8.______ was noted for the " I do this I do that" types of poems. Inthese poems , he tells in a flat tone the little things he did on justone or any of the days in his life. The readers feel bored throughmost of the reading process, but feel well rewarded often by asurprise in wait for them, one that is not, however, alwaysapparent.9.The Black Mountain Poets are so called because these poets areassociated with ______, or with___________ .10.Charles Olson, the leading figure of the Black Mountain Poets, iswell-known for his essay___________ .11.Robert Duncan's ideas on poetry include his views of poetryas________________ and of language with its regenerativepossibilities to____________ .12.Ihab Hassan has noticed the variety of postwar fiction. Hiscategories include ______, ________ , __________ ,__________ , __________ , and satire and novel of manner.13.J. D. Salinger is probably best known for his novel ___________ .14.John Cheever has written some of the finest short stories, and hewrote mainly about the___________ people.15.Two of the best-known southern writers during the 1950sare_____________ and ______.16._________ by William Styron is a true story told in the form offiction.17.In the 1960s and 1970s, traditional novels were inadequate inpresenting life. _________ was the first to announce the death oftraditional novel, and that traditional novelistic resources havebeen exhausted.18.After the 1960s, the new experience gave a vigorous impetus to_______________ writing. Postmodernism made a huge strideforward.19.Joseph Heller's_________ is one of the most famous novelsdealing with the subject of absurdity in typical "obscure"techniques.20.Kurt Vonnegut's__________ focuses particularly on the absurdityof life and man' s modern diseases of schizophrenia.21.Gravity's Rainbow by_________ has won the National BookAward.22.The American writers of the 1950s often used the psychologicalinsights taken from the writing of Sigmund_____________ andhis followers.23.The 1950s American writers often used the narrative techniquesderived from William___________ .II. Make multiple choices.1. One major characteristic of postwar poetry is its diversity. Which of the following terms belong to this period?A. the Black Mountain PoetsB. Waste Land PaintersC. Poets of the Beat GenerationD. Poets of the San Francisco RenaissanceE. Poets of the New York School2. Robert Lowell's famous "Skunk Hour" was written in response to "Armadillo" , which was written by____________ .A. Thomas Stearns EliotB. Richard WilburC. Elizabeth BishopD. Marianne Moore3. Among these poets, choose the ones belonging to the Confessional School.A. Theodore RoethkeB. John BerrymanC. Ann SextonD. Sylvia PlathE. Robert Lowell4. Choose the books of verse written by Silvia Plath.A. A Winter ShipB. The Colossus and Other PoemsC. ArielD. Crystal Gazer and Other PoemsE. Life Studies5. The so-called New York School includes the poets_____________ .A. Robert BlyB. Frank O'HaraC. Kenneth KochD. John AshberryE. James Schuyler6. __________ is probably the most obscure of contemporary American poets. The reader can understand the surface meaning quite well; it is the undercurrent of meaning that his verbal structure embodies.A. John AshberryB. Fran O'HaraC. Robert BlyD. Kenneth Koch7. A. R. Ammons belongs to_____________ .A. the New York SchoolB. the Meditative PoetsC. the Black Mountain PoetsD. the Confessional Poets8. Which of the following poetic works were written by Denise Levertov?A. Here and NowB. The Jacob's LadderC. The Double ImageD. With the Eyes and the Back of Our HeadsE. The Sorrow Dance9. The American fiction after the 1960s is noted for____________ .A. nonfictionB. science fictionC. black and absurd humorD. parody and popE. experimental novelistic techniques10. Which of the following novels is NOT written by Saul Bellow?A. The Dangling ManB. HerzogC. The Naked and the DeadD. Mr. Sammler' s Planet11. Which of the following novels are written by Norman Mailer?A. The Naked and the DeadB. The Armies of the NightC. Ancient EveningD. Tough Guys Don't DanceE. Harlot's Ghost12. The title of J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye comes from___________ poem " if a body catch a body coming from the rye".A. William WordsworthB. William BlackC. Alfred TennysonD. Robert Burns13. Another Jewish novelist besides Saul Bellow is Bernard Malamud. His novels include__________ .A. The NaturalB. The AssistantC. The Dangling ManD. A New LifeE. The Fixer14. John Updike is best known for his "Rabbit" pentalogy, namely___ .A. Rabbit, RunB. Rabbit RedeuxC. Rabbit Is RichD. Rabbit at RestE. Licks of Love15. There are a Gothic element and an obvious absurdist tendency in Flannery O'Connor's works. These include____________ .A. Wise BloodB. A Good Man Is Hard to FindC. Lie Down in DarknessD. The Violent Bear It Away16. The novel of postmodernism after the 1960s includes _____ .A. the absurdB. metafictionC. avant-gardismD. the sentimental17. The characteristics of avant-garde novels are___________ .A. a breakaway from the normal novelistic conventionsB. having little or no story interestC. dull, not satisfyingD. offensive to middlebrow tasteE. often not readable18. Choose among the following novels written by John Barth.A. The Sot-Weed FactorB. Giles Goat-BoyC. One Flew over the Cuckoo' s NestD. Slaughterhouse-Five19. William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac belong toA. the Confessional SchoolB. the Black Mountain PoetsC. novelists of absurdityD. the Beat WritersKeys to Part VIKeys to Part VII. Fill in the blanks.1.Postmodernism2.the New Critical, the High Modernism3.the Confessional School4.Allen Ginsberg5.the poetic, the natural world6.political7.Surrealism8.Frank O' Hara9.Black Mountain College, Black Mountain Review10."Protective Verse"11.life-generating, renew and reorder12.the war novel, the southern novel, the Jewish novel, the Beatnovel, the Black novel13.The Catcher in the Rye14.suburban middle class15.Flannery O' Connor, William Styron16.The Confessions of Nat Turner17.John Barth18.experimental19.Catch-2220.Slaughterhouse-Five21.Thomas Pynchon22.Freud23.FaulknerII. Make multiple choices.1.ACDE2.C3.ABCDE4.ABCD5.BCDE6.A7.B8.ABCDL9.ABCDE10.D11.ABCDE12.D13.ABDE14.ABCDE15.ABD16.ABC17.ABCDE18.AB19.DPart VII. American DramaPart VII. American DramaI. Fill in the blanks.1.__________ is the first master in the American history of drama.2.In 1916, Eugene O' Neill's first play__________ was put on bythe Province-town Players, which was significant not only for him but for American Drama.3.If Eugene O' Neill dominated the theater in the 1920s, then it issafe to say that _______ did so in the post-war years.4.With the passage of time, there has appeared the increasinglymore obvious tendency to "decentralize" from Broadway withmore and more plays staged______________ and___________ .5.Eugene O' Neill received the_____________ Prize for his Beyondthe Horizon and Anna Christie between 1920 and 1922, and______________ Prize in 1936.6.The magic of Eugene O' Neill' s power lies in his never ceasingattempt to improve his art in step with the spirit of the times. Hebegan writing in a______________ vein, then, he moved on andbecame obsessed with devices such as_____ and ________.During the 1940s, he turned back to what he had started with.Thus, his career came full circle.7.The early 1920s saw the upsurge of the women's liberationmovement. ______________ was a well-known feminist authorof the time.8.__________ is the one who dares to deal with themes such asviolence, sex, and homosexuality on the stage in the postwarperiod.9.__________ ' s famous Bus Stop is an adequate expression of thespirit of the 1950s.10.__________ in the 1950s and 1960s refers to some plays, some ofwhich center on the meaninglessness of life with its pain andsuffering that seems funny, even ridiculous. __________ is one of the representatives.II. Make multiple choices.1. During the renaissance of drama in the 1920s, the plays which were put on include: _____.A. The Adding Machine by Elmer RiceB. Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O' NeillC. What Price Glory1? by Maxwell AndersonD. The Show-off by George Kelly。
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美国文学II知识要点总结
1. The authors and the works in the contents and the major works of Mark Twain ; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Hemingway and William Faulkner; O.Henry; T. S. Eliot, and Theodore Dreiser 2. What is the American Naturalism? Who are representatives and masterpiece? 3. What is the American Realism? Who is the arbiter of it ? What is the masterpiece? 4. What is the American Local Colorism,? Who are the representatives ? 5. Modernism 6. What is the psychological realism ? Who is the representative? What’s the meaning of international theme ?
美国文学II知识要点总结
8. Read the extracted chapters from the following works in your books 1) Chapter I from Sister Carrier 2) Chapter III from The Great Gatsby 9. Recite the poem 1) I Die for Beauty –but was scarce 2) Because I could not stop for death 3) The Road Not Taken 4) Evening 5) In a Station of the Metro
美国文学II知识要点总结
6.Summarize the following author’s writing style 2). Mark Twain 3). Earnest Hemingway Theodore Dreiser f. s. fizgerald
美国文学II知识要点总结
7. Complete the definition of the literature terms – Realism and Modernism ;local color – Naturalism ; Imagism; symbolism ;The American Dream ;The Lost Generation; – Ezra Pound ; – Exaggeration ; Oxymoron; Irony ; Analogy; Pun