英美文学重点整理

What’s symbolism?1）Symbolism is a movement in literature and the visual arts that originated in France in the late 19th century. In literature, symbolism was an aesthetic movement that encouraged writers to express their ideas, feelings, and values by means of symbols or suggestions rather than by direct statements. Hawthorne and Melville are masters of symbolism in America in the 19th century.2）举例。

48. “Young Goodman Brown ”is one of Hawthorne ’s most profound tales.What is the allegorical meaning of Brown, the protagonist? What does Hawthorne set out to prove in this tale? How does Melville comment on Hawthorne ’s manner of concerning with guilt and evil?**ELIZABETH**4. A comparison of the three giants: William Dean Howells; Mark Twain; and Henry James They are the three dominant figures of the realistic period. The forerunner of American Realism is Howells. Though the three writers wrote more or less at the same time, they differed in their understanding of the “truth.”While Mark Twain and Howells seemed to have paid more attention to the “life”of the Americans, Henry James had apparently laid a greater emphasis on the “inner world”of man.Though Twain and Howells both shared the same concern in presenting the truth of the American society, they had each of them different emphasis. Howells focused his discussion on the rising middle class and the way they lived, while Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories. This particular concern about the local character of a region cameabout as “local colorism,”a unique variation (变体) of American literary realism.**48．Why are naturalists inevitably pessimistic in their view?Hardy accepted Darwin’s idea of “survival of the fittest”(Origin of Species), and influenced by Spencer’s The First Principle, which led him to the belief that man’s fate is predetermined tragic, driven by a combined force of “nature”, both inside and outside. In his works, man is shown inevitably bound by is own inherent nature and hereditary traits which prompt him to go and search for some specific happiness or success and set him in conflict with the environment. The outside nature –the natural environment or Nature herself –is shown as some mysterious supernatural force, very powerful but half-blind, impulsive and uncaring to the individual’s will, hope, passion, or suffering. It likes to plays jokes upon human beings by producing a series of mistimed (打乱常规的）actions and unfortunate coincidences. Man provesimpotent before Fate, however he tries, and he seldom escapes his ordained destiny.Dreiser set himself to project the American values for what he had found them to be materialistic to the core. Living in such a society with such a value system, the human individual is obsessed with a never-ending, yet meaningless search for satisfaction of his desires.One of the desires is for money which was a motivating purpose of life in the United States in the 19th century. For example, in this novel, there is not one character whose status is not determined economically.Sex is another human desire that Dreiser explored to considerable lengths to reveal the dark side of human nature. Carrie climbs up the social ladder by means of her sexual appeal.48．What's Dreiser' s naturalistic belief? Please discuss the question with Carrie, a character in Sister Carrie as an example.47. Please summarize Emily Dickinson’s poetry features.Dickson’s poetry is unique and unconventional in its own way.1) No titles.2) Dashes are used as a musical device3) Capital letters as a means of emphasis.3) The form of her poetry is familiar, communal （公共的）, and sometimes, irregular.4) Short; a single image or symbol ; one subject matter.5) Personal and meditative.6) Personae人物and personification 拟人化are often usedDickinson’s poetry, despite its ostensible（表面上的）formal simplicity, is remarkable for its variety, subtlety and richness, and her limited private world has never confined the limitless power of her creativity and imagination.Please discuss Henry James’contribution to American literature in regard to his representative works, themes, writing techniques and language.1. His representative works are: The Portrait of A Lady; Daisy Miller.2. His works dealt with the international theme, i.e., to set a novel against a larger international background, usually between Europe and America, and centered on the confrontation of two different cultures .3. His realism is characterized by his psychological approach to his subject matter. His fictional world is concerned more with the inner life of human beings than with overt human actions.4. One of James’s literary techniques innovated to cater for this psychological emphasis is his narrative “point of view”(视角). As the author, James avoids the authorial omniscience as much as possible and makes his characters reveal themselves with his minimal intervention.5. As to his language, James is not so easy to understand. He is often highly refined and insightful. With a large vocabulary, he is always acute in word selection, trying to find the best expression for his literary imagination. Therefore Henry James is not only one of the most important realists ofthe period before the WWI, but also the most expert stylist of his time.50. Mark Twain presented the 19th century America in his own unique way. Discuss Twain’s art of fiction: the setting, the language, and the characters, etc., based on his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.A. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi alley as his fictional kingdom, writing about the landscape and people, the customs and the dialects of one particular region, and is therefore known as a local colorist.B. He creates life-like characters, especially the unconventional Huckleberry Finn, who runs away from civilization and stands opposite to conventional village morality.C. He uses a simple, direct vernacular language, totally different from any precious literary language. It is the kind of colloquial belonging to the lower class, the living local American English.D. He has created a special humor to satirize and the decayed convention.50.What makes Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn more than a child's adventure story? Briefly discuss the question from THREE of the following aspects: the setting, the language, the characterA.Setting: In the novel Mark Twain recreates a small-town world of America and presents the local color.nguage: He uses simple, direct language faithful to the colloquial speech, the vernacular language of the local people.C.Character（s）: The author creates two rebels and fugitives running away from civilization, especially Huckleberry Finn, an innocent boy who refuses to accept the conventional village morality.D.Theme: The novel is a criticism of social injustice, hypocrisy, conservativeness andnarrow-mindedness of the American small town society.E.Style: The novel employs a humorous style of narration and is also highly symbolic with the central symbol.50. Summarize the story of Mark twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in about 100 words, and comment on the theme of the novel.48.Briefly state Mark Twain’s magic power with language in his novels.49. Make a comment on the character of Jane Eyre, the heroine of the novel by Charlotte Bronte.**What is the difference between Romanticism and Neoclassicism?In defense of his unconventional theory of poetry, he wrote a “preface”to the 2nd edition of the Lyrical Ballads，in which he came up with theories.1. The source of poetic truth is the direct experience of the sense. E.g.The poem, "The Solitary Reaper" indicates that, to romanticists, poetry is an expression of an individual’s feelings and experiences no matter how fragmentary and momentary these feelings and experiences are.2. Poetry originates from “emotional recollection in tranquility. e.g. the poem, “Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”takes us to the core of this poetic beliefs.3. he maintained that the scenes and events of everyday life and the speech of ordinary people were the raw material of which poetry could and should be made .e.g. In “The Solitary Reaper”Rural figure is used to suggest the timeless mystery of sorrowful humanity and its radiant beauty.Part 1: In Llliput, the inhabitants are much smaller than normal human beings; Their life is miniature of that in the real world.Part 2: In Brobdingnag, the inhabitants are much bigger than normal human beings. They are superior in wisdomPart 3: In Flying Island, the philosophers and projectors工程家spend all their time studying some absurd problems.Part 4: In Houyhnhnm land, horses have reason and all good qualities while Yahoos, hairy, wild, low and despicable （可鄙的），resemble human beings in appearance and in every other way.According to Hemingway, good literary writing should be able to make readers feel the emotion of the characters directly and to set down exactly every particular kind of feeling without any authorial comments, without conventionally emotive language, and with a minimum of adjectives and adverbs. Seemingly simple and natural, Hemingway's style is actually polished and tightly controlled, but highly suggestive and connotative.While rendering vividly the outward physical events and sensations感觉, 感情Hemingway expresses the meaning of the story and conveys the complex emotions of his characters with a considerable range and astonishing intensity of feeling. Besides, he develops the style of colloquialism initiated by Mark Twain. The accents and mannerisms of human speech are well presented, and the use of short, simple words and sentences has an effect of clearness, terseness (洗练) and great care. His style of ruthless economy complies with the architectural maxim: "Less is more." He was praised by the NobelPrize Committee for "his powerful style-forming mastery of the art" of creating modern fiction.Fitzgerald is a great stylist in American literature. His style, closely related to his themes, is explicit and chilly （清晰而冷峻）. His accurate dialogues, his careful observation of mannerism, styles, models and attitudes provide the reader with a vivid sense of reality. He follows the Jamesian （詹姆斯式的）tradition in using th e scenic method（场景描写法）in his chapters, each one of which consists of one or more dramatic scenes （戏剧场景）,sometimes with intervening passages of narration (叙述), leaving the tedious process of transition to the readers’imagination. He also skillfully employs the device of having events observed by a “central consciousness”to his great advantage. The a ccurate details, the completely original diction and metaphors,the bold impressionistic and colorful quality have all proved hisconsummate （完美的）artistry.。