英美文学名词解释Z

英美文学名词解释Z
英美文学名词解释
1. Epic(史诗)
Epic, in poetry, refers to a long work dealing with the actions of goods and heroes.2>Epic poems are not merely entertaining stories of legendary or historical heroes; they summarize and express the nature or ideals of an entire nation at a significant or crucial period of its history.3>Beowulf is the greatest national Epic of the Anglo-Saxons.
Epic:
Epic is a narrative poem on the grand scale and in majestic style concerning the exploits and adventures of a superhuman hero (or heroes) engaged in a quest or some serious endeavor. Among noted epics are Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, old English Beowulf and Milton’s Paradise Lost.
史诗：讲述英雄事迹并反映出这些英雄事迹的社会价值观的长篇叙事诗。

在成为之前，很多史诗都来自于口头传统并通过歌唱和背诵流传。

2. Allegory（寓言）: The word derives from the Greek allegoria. It loosely describes any writing in verse or prose, in which persons, abstract ideas, or events represent not only themselves on literal level, but also stand for something else on the symbolic level. An allegorical reading usually involves moral or spiritual concepts that may be more significant than the actual, literal events described in a narrative. Probably the most famous allegory in English literature is Joh n Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, a prose narrative symbolically concerning the human soul’s pilgrimage through temptation and doubt to reach salvation.
3. Sonnet(十四行诗)
A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme.
It is a lyric poem of 14 lines with a formal or recited and characterized by its presentation of a dramatic or exciting episode in simple narrative form.2>it is one of the most conventional and influential forms of poetry in Europe.3>S hakespeare’s so nnets are well-known. The famous poets are Shakespeare, Sidney, Daniel, Spenser and so on.
4. Humanism(人文主义)
Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance.2> it emphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life. Humanists voiced their beliefs that man was the center of the universe and man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of the present life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.
In Greek and Roman civilization, man is the measure of all things. Contrary to the medieval philosophy, the humanists believed that it was justified to praise human nature and that human beings are glorious creatures capable of development in the direction of perfection. The world was theirs not to dislike but to question, explore and enjoy. Thus, by emphasizing the value of human beings and the important of the present life, the emphasized that man not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of this life, but have the ability to perfect themselves and create wonders.
5. The angel in the house（屋中天使）
The Angel in the House is a narrative poem by Coventry Patmore, first published in 1854 and expanded until 1862. Although largely ignored upon publication, it became
enormously popular during the later 19th century and its influence continued well into the twentieth. The poem was an idealized account of Patmore's courtship of his first wife, Emily, whom he believed to be the perfect woman. Angel in the house are usually immensely sympathetic, immensely charming, utterly unselfish.
6. Byronic Hero(拜伦式英雄)
Byronic hero refers to a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin.2> with immense superiority in his passions and powers, this Byronic Hero would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in a corrupt and evil society, and would rise single-handedly against any kind of tyrannical rules either in government, in religion, or in moral principles with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies. The conflict is usually one of rebellious individuals against outworn social systems and convention. Such a hero appears first in Childe Harold’s pilgrimage and then further developed in later works such as Manfred and Don Juan.3> Byron’s chief contribution to English literature is his creation of the “Byronic Hero”
The Byronic hero is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterized by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb as being "mad, bad, and dangerous to know".[1] The Byronic hero first appears in Byron's semi-autobiographical epic narrative poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-18).
7. Gothic novel(哥特式小说)
Gothic novel is a type of romance very popular late in the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century.2> Gothic novel emphasizes things which are grotesque, violent, mysterious, supernatural, desolate and horrifying.3> Gothic,
originall y in the sense of “medi, not classical”. With its descriptions of the dark, irrational side of human nature, Gothic novel has exerted a great influence over the writers of the Romantic period.
Gothic Fiction: Gothic Fiction means a style of writing popular in the late 18th century which produced stories set in lonely frightening places. Gothic Fiction invariably exploits ghosts and monsters and setting such as castles, dungeons and graveyards, which imparts a suitably sinister and terrifying atmosphere. The Gothic Fiction have opened up to later fictions the dark, irrational side of human nature —the savage egoism, the perverse impulses, and the nightmarish terror that lie beneath the controlled and ordered surface of the conscious mind. Gothic Fiction has exerted significant influence on the literature of later generations. The first Gothic Fiction is Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto.
8. Naturalism(自然主义)
Naturalism is a literary movement related to and sometimes described as an extreme form of realism but which may be more appropriately considered as a parallel to philosophic Naturalism.
2) as a more deliberate kind of realism Naturalism usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. In Naturalism a more documentary-like approach is in evidence, with a great stress on how environment and heredity shape people. 3) As a literary movement, Naturalism was initiated in France. 4) Naturalist fiction aspired to a sociological objectivity, offering detailed and fully researched investigations into unexplored concerns of modern society. One of those significant works of naturalism is Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.
9. The Graveyard School(墓地派诗歌)
The Graveyard School refers to a school of poets of the 18th century whose poems are mostly devoted to a sentimental lamentation or meditation on life. Past and present, with death and graveyard as themes.2>Thomas Gray is considered to be the leading figure of this school and his
Elegy written in a country churchyard is its most representative work.
10. Metaphysical poets(玄学派诗人）
It is the name given to a diverse group of 17th century English poets whose work is notable for its ingenious use of intellectual and theological concepts in surprising conceits, strange paradoxes and far-fetched imagery. The leading Metaphysical poet was John Donne, whose colloquial, argumentative abruptness of rhythm and tone distinguishes his style from the conventions of Elizabethan love lyrics.
Metaphysical poetry(玄学派诗歌)
Metaphysical poetry is commonly used to name the work of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne.2>with a rebellious spirit, the Metaphysical poets tried to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry.3>the diction is simple as compared with that of the Elizabethan or the Neoclassical periods, and echoes the words and cadences of common speech.4>the imagery is drawn from actual life.
Metaphysical poetry: The poetry of John Donne and other 17th century poets who wrote in a similar style. Metaphysical poetry is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure; irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas. 玄学诗：约翰?多恩的
诗或17世纪其他诗人写的相同风格的诗。

玄学诗多使用巧智，结构精巧，韵律多变，语言口语化，意象奇特，把不同的事物进行并置。