Literary Terms
英国文学史literary terms
1.Ballad:In more exact literary terminology, a ballad is a narrative poem consisting of quatrains of iambic tetrameter altering with iambic trimeter. Common traits of the ballad are that: the beginning is often abrupt; the story is told through dialogue and action; the language is simple or "folksy"; the theme is often tragic; the ballad contraints a refrain repeated several times. The ballad became popular in England in the late 14th century and was adopted by many writers. rhyme: abcb2.Romance(传奇文学): was the most prevailing kind of literature of the upper class in feudal England in the Medieval Ages. It is a long composition in verse or in prose which describes the life and chivalric adventures of a noble hero. The central character of romances is the knight, a man of noble birth skilled in the use of weapons. Some romances also deal with legendary, supernatural, or amorous subjects and characters.3.Humanism:Humansim suggests a devotion to those studies supposed to promote human culture most effectively---in particular, those dealing with the life, thought, language, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome;It proclaimed that man is the most important noble creature in the world; the goal of life is to enjoy oneself in this present world instead afterlife;According to humanists, both man and world are hindered only by externalchecks from infinite improvement;Man could mould the world according to his desires, and attain happiness by removing all external checks by the exercise of reason;4.Renaissance: The word means rebirth or revival;It is commonly applied to the movement or period in western civilization, which marks the transition from the medieval to the modern world;It first sprang up in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe;The Renaissance indicates a revival of classical arts and sciences after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism;They held their cheif interest no in ecclesiastical knowledge, but in man, his environment and doings and his brave fight for the emancipation of man from the tyranny of the church and religious dogmas;Because in the ancient Greek and Roman mythology were found the ideas of universal love, respect to human beings and approval of man's power, ability and knowledge;In short, man became the center of the world instead of God as upheld in the Middle Ages;The movement is a great revolution carried out in the 14th to the middle 17th century Europe.It broke the chain and bondage of feudal and theological ties and brought human wisdom and capacity into full play.5.Enlightenment:also called the neoclassic movement, thephilosophical and artistic movement growing out of the Renaissance and continuing until the 19th century. The Enlightenment was an optimistic belief that humanity could improve itself by applying logic and reason to all things.It rejected untested beliefs, superstition, and the "barbarism" of the earlier medieval period, and embraced the literary, architectural, and artistic forms of the Greek-Roman world.Enlightenment thinkers were enhanced by the perfection of geometry and mathematics, and by all things harmonious and balanced. Typically, these Enlightenment writers would use satire to ridicule what they felt were illogical errors in government, social custom, and religious belief.6.Romanticism:The term refers to the literary and artistic movement of the late 18th and early 19th century. Romanticism rejected the earlier philosophy of the Enlightenment, which stressed that logic and reason were the best response humans had in the face of cruelty, stupidity, superstition and barbarism. Instead, the Romantics asserted that reliance upon emotion and natural passions provided a valid and powerful means of knowing and a reliable guide to ethics and living. The Romantic movement typically asserts the unique nature of the individual, the privileged status of imagination and fancy, the value ofspontaneity over "artifice" and "convention," the human need for emotional outlets, the rejection of civilized corruption, and a desire to return to natural primitivism and escape the spiritual destruction of urban life. Their writings are often set in rural, or Gothic settings and they show an obsessive concern with "innocent" characters---children, young lovers and animals.7.Sonnet: a poem consisting of 14 lines, with rhymes arranged according to one or other of certain definite schemes, of which the Petrarchan and the Elizabethan are the principal, namely: ①abba abba, followed by two, or three, other rhymes in the remaining six lines, with a pause in the thought after the octave;②abab cdcd efef gg. The sonnets of Shakespeare are in the latter form;The sonnet was introduced to England by Wyatt and developed by Surry and was thereafter widely used. Most of them are amatory in nature, and contain a certain narrative development.。
literary terms韵律 RHYME
PoetryPoetry is one of the three major types or genres of literature, the others being prose and drama. Poems are often divided into lines and stanzas. Many poems employ regular rhythmical patterns or metres. However, some are written in free verse. Most poems make use of highly concise, musical and emotionally charged language. Many also use imagery, figurative language and devices of sound like rhyme. Types of poetry include narrative poetry such as ballads, epics, metrical romances; dramatic poetry like dramatic monologues and dramatic dialogues; lyrics such as sonnets, odes, elegies and love poems.Sonnet 十四行诗A sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem with a single theme, usually written in iambic pentameter.2 kinds of sonnet:The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet:an 8-line octave and 6-line sestet with the octave rhyming abba abba , the sestet cde cde. The octave raises a question, states a problem and the sestet answers the question, solves the problem.The Shakespearean or English sonnet : 3 4-line quatrains anda 2-line couplet rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. Each of the three quatrains usually explores a different variation of the main theme. The couplet presents a summarizing or concluding statement.Ode 颂词A lyric poem of some length that honors an individual, a thing or a trait dealing with a lofty theme in a dignified manner. The English odes are of three types.Ode to the West Wind is of the horatian type: with stanza of uniform length and arrangement. It consists of five 14-lined stanzas of iambic pentameter, each of the stanza containing four tercets and a closing couplet. The rhyme scheme is aba, bcb, cdc, ded, ee.史诗EpicA.An extended narrative poem with a heroic or superhumanprotagonist engaged in an action of great significance in a vast setting (often including the underworld and engaging the gods).B.Examples: Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, JohnMilton's Paradise Lost, William Wordsworth's The Prelude,and T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land.Elements of poetryPoetry stresses on rhythm, imagery, emotion and imagination.1. Meter 韵律A fixed arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables in a foot。
Literary term文学术语
Synecdoche
[sɪ'nekdəki] n.提喻法 Examples: • There are about 100 hands workin g in his factory. • He is the Newton of this century. • The fox goes very well with your c ap.
•
In the mid-18th century, a new literary movement called romanticism came to Europe and then to England. • It was characterized by a strong protest against the bondage of neoclassicism, which emphasized reason, order and elegant wit. Instead, romanticism gave primary concern to passion, emotion, and natural beauty. • In the history of literature. Romanticism is generally regarded as the thought that designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and experience. The English romantic period is an age of poetry which prevailed in England from 1798 to 1837. The major romantic poets include Wordsworth, Byron and Shelley.
Literary Terms文学课名词解释
Literary Terms1.Renaissance: As an artistic movement, Renaissance refers to a period inEuropean history between 14th and 17th centuries during which the discovering and reading of ancient Greek and Roman classics led to the flowering of painting, sculpture, architecture and so on. It first started in Italy and then spreaded all over Europe.2.Sonnet:The term “sonnet” derives from the Latin sonitus (meaning “sound”,“song”) The ordinary sonnet consists of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameters with considerable variations in rhyme scheme. There are three basic sonnet forms: The Italian or the Petrarchan Sonnet , The Spencerian sonnet and The English or the Shakespearean sonnet.3. English Romanticism: English literary romanticism is believed to date fromthe publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads (1798). In the preface to the second edition of that influential work (1800), Wordsworth stated his belief that poetry results from “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”It focuses on the individual self, on the writer’s personal reaction to life.Other Representatives include such poets as G. Byron, P.Shelley, R. Burns, Keats, Robert Southey, and prose writers as C. Lamb, and W. Hazlitt, etc..3.Stream of consciousness :Stream of consciousness is a narrative techniquethat presents thoughts as if they were coming directly from a character’s mind.Lacking chronological order, the events are presented from the character’s point of view, mixed in with the character’s ongoing feeling and memories, 4.Realism: It is a mode of writing that gives the impression of recording orreflecting faithfully an actual way of life. The term refers, both to a literary method based on detailed accuracy of description and to a more general attitude that rejects idealization, escapism, and other extravagant qualities of romance in favor of recognizing soberly the actual problems of life.5.Gothic novel : It is a type of prose fiction. The writers of this type of fictionsmostly set their stories in the medieval period and in a Catholic country. The locale was often a gloomy castle or house. This type of fictions made bountiful use of ghosts, mysterious disappearances, and other supernatural occurrences.6.Symbol: Generally speaking, a symbol is a sign which suggests more than itsliteral meaning. Literary symbols are of two broad types: the conventional ones and the occasionally-coined ones. For instance, roses symbolizes love;spring symbolizes life.7.Modernism: It is the name of the major artistic movement that attempted todevelop a response to the sense of social breakdown occurring the aftermath of World War I. It was an international movement shared by many art forms. As far as literature is concerned, it reflects the impact upon literature of the psychology of Freud.8. Enlightenment: It appeared in Europe and it lasted until the FrenchRevolution in 1789. It was closely associated with some new ideas such as liberty, democracy and rights of individuals which embodied the ideology of the rising middle class in Europe at that time.9. Puritanism：Puritans were the name given in the 16th century to the moreextreme Protestants within the Church of England who thought the English Reformation had not gone far enough in reforming the doctrines and structure of the church; they wanted to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence. They believed in the seven deadly sins: greed (avarice), envy, loath, gluttony, wrath, luxury and pride. Human beings are permanent sinners. Once it entered your life, there was no way to avoid it.It’s difficult to live a good life. But after sin, we can go to a paradise. They believed in after-world life. Strict puritans even regarded drinking, gambling and participation in theatrical performances as punishable offences.。
英美文学术语(英文版)-literary-terms
英国文学Alliteration:押头韵repetition of the initial sounds（不一定是首字母）Allegory:寓言a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.Allusion:典故a reference in a literary work to person, place etc. often to well-known characters or events. Archetype:原型Irony:反讽intended meaning is the opposite of what is statedBlack humor:黑色幽默Metaphor: 暗喻Ballad: 民谣about the folk logeEpic:史诗in poetry, refers to a long work dealing with the actions of gods and heroes.Romance: 罗曼史/骑士文学is a popular literary form in the medieval England./ChivalryEuphuism: 夸饰文体This kind of style consists of two distinct elements. The first is abundant use of balanced sentences, alliterations and other artificial prosodic means. The second element is the use of odd similes and comparisons.Spenserian stanza: It refers to a stanza of nine lines, with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter and the last line in iambic hexameter. 斯宾塞诗节新诗体，每一节有9排，前8排是抑扬格五步格诗，第9排是抑扬格六步格诗。
literary terms 2013
AllegoryIt refers to a story or description in which the characters and events symbolize some deeper underlying meaning, and serve to spread moral teaching. Allegory usually contains double meanings: primary meaning / surface meaning & secondary meaning / underlying meaning. In an allegory, abstract qualities or ideas, such as patience, purity, or truth, are personified as characters in the story.AlliterationIt’s a form of initial rhyme, or “head rhyme”. It is the repetition of the same sound or sounds at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other. Alliteration is to be found in the following poem “The Tyger” written by William Blake “Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright/ In the forests of the night...”BalladIt refers to a narrative poem that tells a story. In the field of folk literature, it became an important feature in the 15th century. Usually a ballad is with an abrupt beginning, and there are strong dramatic elements in it. In ballad, the ballad meter is used with four—line stanzas. And in odd numbered lines there are four feet, while in even numbered line, three feet. Usually rhymes fall on the even—numbered lines，and there is often a refrain at the end of each stanza. Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”is in the form of ballad.Dramatic monologueIt is the characteristic of Robert Browning’s poetry. i.e., a poem in which there is one imaginary speaker addressing an imaginary audience. In his dramatic monologues, he penetrates to depth the psychology of his characters and through their speeches, he analyzes and dissects his characters and reveals the innermost secret of their lives. The most representative work of this type of poem is Browning “My Last Dutchess”. Metaphysical poetryMetaphysical poetry is a derogatory term describing a school of highly intellectual poetry marked by bold and ingenious conceits, incongruous imagery, complexity of thought, frequent use of paradox, and often by deliberate harshness of rigidity of express.The main themes of the metaphysical poets are love, death, and religion.John Donne is the typical representative of the school.NeoclassicismNeo-classicism in literature draws inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. The main Neo-classical movement coincided with the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century. It emphasized reason rather than emotion, form rather than content. As reason was stressed, most of the writings of the age were didactic and satirical. As elegance, correctness, appropriateness and restraint were preferred, the poet found closed couplet the only possible verse form for serious work. It is almost exclusively a“town” poetry, catering to the interests of the “society” in great cities. The humbler aspects of life are neglected and it shows no love of nature, landscape, or country things or people. It is entirely wanting in all those elements that are related with the “romantic”. Alexander Pope is regarded as the representative figure of Neo-classicism in British literature.Ode:In ancient literature, is an elaborate lyrical poem composed for a chorus to chant and dance to; in modern use, it is a rhymed lyric expressing noble feelings, often addressed to a person or celebrating an event.Ode is a single, unified strain of exalted lyric verse, directed to a single purpose, and dealing with one theme. The term connotes certain qualities of both manner and form. In manner, the ode is an elaborate lyric, expressed in language dignified, sincere, and imaginative and intellectual in tone. In form, the ode is more complicated than most of the lyric types.SonnetA sonnet is a short song in the original meaning of the word. Later it became a poem of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter with various rhyming schemes. The Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet can be broken into two parts, the octave(eight lines) and the sestet(six lines). The rhymes are usually abba abba + cdecde. The Shakespearean (or English) sonnet is three quatrains and a couplet: typically abab cdcd efef gg. Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 is a typical example of sonnet.Stream of consciousnessStream of Consciousness is a literary technique which was pioneered by Dorothy Richardson, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce. Stream of consciousness is characterized by a flow of thoughts and images, which may not always appear to have a coherent structure or cohesion.The plot line may weave in and out of time and place, carrying the reader through the life span of a character or further along a timeline to incorporate the lives (and thoughts) of characters from other time periods. Stream of consciousness is a technique employed in Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway.。
litery terms
1.The Romance (传奇，骑士文学) was the most prevailing kind of literature in feudal England. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse(诗体), sometimes in prose（散文）, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. The central character of romances was the knight, a man of noble birth skilled in the use of weapons.•The romance of King Arthur is comparatively the most important for the history of English literature.•Loyalty to king and lord was the repeated theme in romances. The romances were composed for the noble, of the noble.•Le Morte D’ Arthur (The Death of King Arthur) is a collection of stories about King Arthur, translated from French by Sir Thomas Malory.2. The English BalladsIn feudal England, written literature was intended for the upper classes. For the English people, their literature was oral.The Ballad is the most important form of English folk literature. It is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas(诗节), with the second and fourth lines rhymed.•The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects. They were created collectively by the people and constantly revised in tahe process of being handed down from mouth to mouth.•The subjects of ballads:The struggle of young lovers against their feudal-minded families.The conflict between love and wealth.The cruelty of jealousy.The criticism of the civil war.The matters of class struggle.3. The Renaissance (French for "rebirth") was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe.Two features of the Renaissance:• A thirsting curiosity for the classical literature (Greek and Latin authors)• A keen interest in the activities of humanity- humanism.Humanism is the key-note of the Renaissance.4. The Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene. Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single 'Alexandrine' line in iambic hexameter. The rhyme scheme of these lines is "ababbcbcc."5. Elizabethan Drama:Elizabethan drama refers to the English comic and tragic plays produced during the Renaissance, or Amore narrowly, those plays written during the last years of and few years after Queen Elizabeth's reign. William Shakespeare is considered the most prolific and certainly the most famous Elizabethan dramatist.Other popular playwrights of the period included Christopher Marlowe (Dr. Faustus) and Ben Johnson (The Alchemist).6. Shakespearean Sonnet runs in iambic pentameter, rhymed abab cdcd efef gg. The 14 lines include three quatrains, with the last two lines in a rhymed couplet.•The collection of Shakespeare’s Sonnets contains 154 sonnets. They may be roughlydivided into three groups.•Numbers 1-17 are variations on one theme.•Numbers 18-126 are on a variety of themes associated with a handsome young man.•The rest is principally about the “dark lady of the sonnets.”7.Shakespearean Sonnet runs in iambic pentameter, rhymed abab cdcd efef gg. The 14 lines include three quatrains, with the last two lines in a rhymed couplet.。
Literary Terms
文学术语汇编11. Literature of the absurd: (荒诞派文学) The term is applied to a number of works in drama and prose fiction which have in common the sense that the human condition is essentially absurd, and that this condition can be adequately represented only in works of literature that are themselves absurd. The current movement emerged in France after the Second World War, as a rebellion against essential beliefs and values of traditional culture and traditional literature. They hold the belief that a human being is an isolated existent who is cast into an alien universe and the human life in its fruitless search for purpose and meaning is both anguish and absurd.2. Theater of the absurd: (荒诞派戏剧) belongs to literature of the absurd. Two representatives of this school are Eugene Ionesco, French author of The Bald Soprano (1949) (此作品中文译名<秃头歌女>), and Samuel Beckett, Irish author of Waiting for Godot (1954) (此作品是荒诞派戏剧代表作<等待戈多>). They project the irrationalism, helplessness and absurdity of life in dramatic forms that reject realistic settings, logical reasoning, or a coherently evolving plot.3. Black comedy or black humor: (黑色幽默) it mostly employed to describe baleful, naïve, or inept characters in a fantastic or nightmarish modern world playing out their roles in what Ionesco called a ―tragic farce‖, in which the events are often simultaneously comic, horrifying, and absurd. Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 (美国著名作家约瑟夫海勒<二十二条军规>) can be taken as an example of the employment of this technique.文学术语汇编24. Aestheticism or the Aesthetic Movement（唯美主义）: it began to prevail in Europe at the middle of the 19th century. The theory of ―art for art’s sake‖ was first put forward by some French artists. They decla red that art should serve no religious, moral or social purpose. The two most important representatives of aestheticists in English literature are Walt Pater and Oscar Wilde.5. Allegory（寓言）: a tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities, such as John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. An allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.6. Fable（寓言）: is a short narrative, in prose or verse, that exemplifies an abstract moral thesis or principle of human behavior. Most common is the beast fable, in which animals talk and act like the human types they represent. The fables in Western cultures derive mainly from the stories attributed to Aesop, a Greek slave of the sixth century B. C.7. Parable（寓言）: is a very short narrative about human beings presented so as to stress analogy with a general lesson that the narrator istrying to bring home to his audience. For example, the Bible contains lots of parables employed by Jesus Christ to make his flock understand his preach.(注意以上三个词在汉语中都翻译成语言，但是内涵并不相同，不要搞混)8. Alliteration（头韵）: the repetition of the initial consonant sounds. In Old English alliterative meter, alliteration is the principal organizing device of the verse line, such as in Beowulf.9. Consonance is the repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants but with a change in the intervening vowel, such as ―live and love‖.10. Assonance is the repetition of identical or similar vowel, especially in stressed syllables, in a sequence of near by words, such as ―child of silence‖.11. Allusion （典故）is a reference without explicit identification, to a literary or historical person, place, or event, or to another literary work or passage. Most literary allusions are intended to be recognized by the generally educated readers of the author’s time, b ut some are aimed at a special group.12. Ambiguity（复义性）:Since William Empson（燕卜荪）published Seven Types of Ambiguity（《复义七型》）, the term has been widely used in criticism to identify a deliberate poetic device: the use of a single wordor expression to signify two or more distinct references, or to express two or more diverse attitudes or feeling.文学术语汇编313. Antihero（反英雄）：the chief character in a modern novel or play whose character is totally different from the traditional heroes. Instead of manifesting largeness, dignity, power, or heroism, the antihero is petty, passive, ineffectual or dishonest. For example, the heroine of Defoe’s Moll Flanders is a thief and a prostitute.14. Antithesis（对照）：(a figure of speech) An antithesis is often expressed in a balanced sentence, that is, a sentence in which identical or similar syntactic structure is used to express contrasting ideas. For example, ―Marriage has many pains, but celibacy（独身生活）has no pleasures.‖ by Samuel Johnson obviously employs antithesis.15. Archaism（拟古）：the literary use of words and expressions that have become obsolete in the common speech of an era. For example, the translators of the King James Version of Bible gave weight and dignity to their prose by employing archaism.16. Atmosphere（氛围）: the prevailing mood or feeling of a literary work. Atmosphere is often developed, at least in part, throughdescriptions of setting. Such descriptions help to create an emotional climate to establish the reader’s expectations and attitudes.文学术语汇编417. Ballad（民谣）：it is a song, transmitted orally, which tells a story. It originated and was communicated orally among illiterate or only partly literate people. It exists in many variant forms. The most common stanza form, called ballad stanza is a quatrain in alternate four- and three-stress lines; usually only the second and fourth lines rhyme. Although many traditional ballads probably originated in the late Middle Age, they were not collected and printed until the eighteenth century.18. Climax：as a rhetorical device it means an ascending sequence of importance. As a literary term, it can also refer to the point of greatest intensity, interest, or suspense in a story’s turning point. The action leading to the climax and the simultaneous increase of tension in the plot are known as the rising action. All action after the climax is referred to as the falling action, or resolution. The term crisis is sometimes used interchangeably with climax.19. Anticlimax（突降）：it denotes a writer’s deliberate drop from the serious and elevated to the trivial and lowly, in order to achieve a comic or satiric effect. It is a rhetorical device in English.20. Beat Generation（垮掉一代）：it refers to a loose-knit group of poets and novelists, writing in the second half of the 1950s and early 1960s, who shared a set of social attitudes – antiestablishment, antipolitical,anti-intellectual, opposed to the prevailing cultural, literary, and moral values, and in favor of unfettered self-realization and self-expression. Representatives of the group include Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. And most famous literary creations produced by this group should be Allen Ginsberg’s long poem Howl and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.文学术语汇编521. Biography（传记）：a detailed account of a person’s life written by another person, such as Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the English Poets and James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson.22. Autobiography（自传）：a person’s account of his or her own life, su ch as Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography.23. Blank Verse consists of lines of iambic pentameter( five-stress iambic verse) which are unrhymed—hence the term ―blank‖. Of allEnglish metrical forms it is closest to the natural rhythms of English speech, and at the same time flexible and adaptive to diverse levels of discourse; as a result it has been more frequently and variously used than any other type of versification.24. A parody（模仿）imitates the serious manner and characteristic features of a particular literary work, or the distinctive style of a particular author, or the typical stylistic and other features of a serious literary genre, and deflates the original by applying the imitation to a lowly or comically inappropriate subject.文学术语汇编625. Celtic Revival also known as the Irish Literary Renaissance（爱尔兰文艺复兴）identifies the remarkably creative period in Irish literature from about 1880 to the death of William Butler Yeats in 1939. The aim of Yeats and other early leaders of the movement was to create a distinctively national literature by going back to Irish history, legend, and folklore, as well as to native literary models. The major writers of this movement include William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, John Millington Synge and Sean O’Casey and so on.26. Characters（人物）are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences fromthe dialogues, actions and motivations. E. M. Forster divides characters into two types: flat character, which is presented without much individualizing detail; and round character, which is complex in temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity.27. Chivalric Romance (or medieval romance)（骑士传奇或中世纪传奇）is a type of narrative that developed in twelfth-century France, spread to the literatures of other countries. Its standard plot is that of a quest undertaken by a single knight in order to gain a lady’s favor; frequently its central interest is courtly love, together with tournaments fought and dragons and monsters slain. It stresses the chivalric ideals of courage, loyalty, honor, mercifulness to an opponent, and elaborate manners.28. Comedy:（喜剧）in general, a literary work that ends happily with a healthy, amicable armistice between the protagonist and society.29. Farce （闹剧）is a type of comedy designed to provoke the audience to simple and hearty laughter. To do so it commonly employs highly exaggerated types of characters and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations.30. Confessional poetry（自白派诗歌）designates a type of narrative and lyric verse, given impetus by Robert Lowell’s Life Studies, which deals with the facts and intimate mental and physical experiences of the poet’s own li fe. Confessional poetry was written in rebellion against thedemand for impersonality by T. S. Elliot and the New Criticism. The representative writers of confessional school include Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath and so on.31. Critical Realism:（批判现实主义）The critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the fouties and in the beginning of fifties. The realists first and foremost set themselves the task of criticizing capitalist society from a democratic viewpoint and delineated the crying contradictions of bourgeois reality. But they did not find a way to eradicate social evils. Representative writers of this trend include Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray and so on.32. Drama:（戏剧）The form of composition designed for performance in the theater, in which actors take the roles of the characters, perform the indicated action, and utter the written dialogue. (The common alternative name for a dramatic composition is a play.)文学术语汇编733. Dramatic Monologue:（戏剧独白）a monologue is a lengthy speech by a single person. Dramatic monologue does not designate a component in a play, but a type of lyric poem that was perfected by Robert Browning. By using dramatic monologue, a single person, who is patently not thepoet, utters the speech that makes up the whole of the poem, in a specific situation at a critical moment. For example, Robert Browning’s famous poem ―My Last Duchess‖ was written in dramatic monologue.34. Elegy（哀歌或挽歌）：a poem of mourning, usually over the death of an individual. An elegy is a type of lyric poem, usually formal in language and structure, and solemn or even melancholy in tone.35. Enlightenment（启蒙运动）：The name applied to an intellectual movement which developed in Western Europe during the seventeenth century and reached its height in the eighteenth. The common element was a trust in human reason as adequate to solve the crucial problems and to establish the essential norms in life, together with the belief that the application of reason was rapidly dissipating the remaining feudal traditions. It influenced lots of famous English writers especially those neoclassic writers, such as Alexander Pope.36. Epic（史诗）：it is a long verse narrative on a serious subject, told ina formal and elevated style, and centered on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the human race.37. Epiphany:（顿悟）In the early draft of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce employed this term to signify a sudden sense of radiance and revelation that one may feel while perceiving acommonplace object. ―Epiphany‖ now has become the standard term for the description, frequent in modern poetry and prose fiction, of the sudden flare into revelation of an ordinary object or scene.38. Epithet: as a term in criticism, epithet denotes an adjective or adjectival phrase used to define a distinctive quality of a person or thing. This method was widely employed in ancient epics. For example, in Homer’s epic, the epithet like ―the wine-dark sea‖ can be found everywhere.39. Essay:（散文）any short composition in prose that undertakes to discuss a matter, express a point of view, persuade us to accept a thesis on any subject, or simply entertain. The essay can be divided as the formal essay and the informal essay (familiar essay).40. Euphemism（委婉语）: An inoffensive expression used in place of a blunt one that is felt to be disagreeable or embar rassing, such as ―pass away‖ instead of ―die‖41. Expressionism（表现主义）：a German movement in literature and the other arts which was at its height between 1910 and 1925 – that is, in the period just before, during, and after WWⅠ. The expressionist artist or writer undertakes to express a personal vision – usually a troubled or tensely emotional vision – of human life and human society. This is done by exaggerating and distorting. We recognize its effects, direct or indirect,on the writing and staging of such plays as Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman as well as on the theater of the absurd.42. Free verse（自由体诗）：Like traditional verse, it is printed in short lines instead of with the continuity of prose, but it differs from such verse by the fact that its rhythmic pattern is not organized into a regular metrical form – that is, into feet, or recurrent units of weak and strong stressed syllables. Most free verse also has irregular line lengths, and either lacks rhyme or else uses it only occasionally. Walt Whitman is a representative who employed this poem form successfully.文学术语汇编843. Gothic novel:（哥特式小说）It is a type of prose fiction. The writers of this type of fictions mostly set their stories in the medieval period and in a Catholic country, especially Italy or Spain. The locale was often a gloomy castle. The typical story focused on the sufferings imposed on an innocent heroine by a cruel villain. This type of fictions made bountiful use of ghosts, mysterious disappearances, and other supernatural occurrences. The principle aim of such novels was to evoke chilling terror and the best of this type opened up to the fiction the realm of theirrational and of the perverse impulses and nightmarish terrors that lie beneath the orderly surface of the civilized mind. Some famous novelists liked to employ some Gothic elements in their novels, such as Emily Bron te’s Wuthering Heights.44. Graveyard poets（墓园派诗歌）: A term applied toeighteenth-century poets who wrote meditative poems, usually set in a graveyard, on the theme of human mortality, in moods which range from pensiveness to profound gloom. The vogue resulted in one of the most widely known English poems, Thomas Gray’s ―Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard‖.45. Harlem Renaissance（哈莱姆文艺复兴）：a period of remarkable creativity in literature, music, dance, painting, and sculpture byAfrican-Americans, from the end of the First World War in 1917 through the 1920s. As a result of the mass migrations to the urban North in order to escape the legal segregation of the American South, and also in order to take advantage of the jobs opened to African Americans at the beginning of the War, the population of the region of Manhattan known as Harlem became almost exclusively Black, and the vital center of African American culture in America. Distinguished writers who were part of the movement included Langston Hughes and Jean Toomer. The Great Depression of 1929 and the early 1930s brought the period ofbuoyant Harlem culture – which had been fostered by prosperity in the publishing industry and the art world – effectively to an end.46. Heroic Couplet（英雄双韵体）refers to lines of iambic pentameter which rhyme in pairs: aa, bb, cc, and so on. The adjective ―heroic‖ was applied in the later seventeenth century because of the frequent use of such couplets in heroic poems and dramas. This verse form was introduced into English poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer. From the age of John Dryden through that of Samuel Johnson, the heroic couplet was the predominant English measure for all the poetic kinds; some poets, including Alexander Pope, used it almost to the exclusion of other meters.47. Hyperbole（夸张）:this figure of speech called hyperbole is bold overstatement, or the extravagant exaggeration of fact or of possibility. It may be used either for serious or ironic or comic effect.48. Understatement（轻描淡写）：this figure of speech deliberately represents something as very much less in magnitude or importance than it really is, or is ordinarily considered to be. The effect is usually ironic.49. Imagism（意象派）：it was a poetic vogue that flourished in England, and even more vigorously in America, between the years 1912 and 1917. It was planned and exemplified by a group of English and American writers in London, partly under the influence of the poetic theory of T. E. Hulme, as a revolt against the sentimental and mannerish poetry at theturn of the century. The typical Imagist poetry is written in free verse and undertakes to be as precisely and tersely as possible. Meanwhile, the Imagist poetry likes to express the writers’ momentary impression of a visual object or scene and often the impression is rendered by means of metaphor without indicating a relation. Most famous Imagist poem, ―In a Station of the Metro‖, was written by Ezra Pound. Imagism was too restrictive to endure long as a concerted movement, but it influenced almost all modern poets of Britain and America.50. Irony（反讽）：This term derives from a character in a Greek comedy. In most of the modern critical uses of the term ―irony‖, there remains the root sense of dissembling or hiding what is actually the case; not, however, in order to deceive, but to achieve rhetorical or artistic effects. 51. Local Colorism（地方色彩）was a literary trend belonging to Realism. It refers to the detailed representation in prose fiction of the setting, dialect, customs, dress and ways of thinking and feeling which are distinctive of a particular region. After the Civil War a number of American writers exploited the literary possibilities of local color in various parts of America. The most famous representative of local colorism should be Mark Twain who took his hometown near the Mississippi as the typical setting of nearly all his novels.52. Lyric（抒情诗）：in the most common use of the term, a lyric is any fairly short poems consisting of the utterance by a single speaker, who expresses a state of mind or a process of perception, thought and feeling.学术语汇编953. Metaphysical Poets（玄学派诗人）：The name is now applied to a group of seventeenth-century poets who, whether or not directly influenced by John Donne, employ similar poetic procedures and imagery, both in secular poetry and in religious poetry.Metaphysical poetry is characterized by irregular meter, colloquial language and original images.54. Modernism（现代主义）：The term modernism is widely used to identify new and distinctive features in the subjects, forms, concepts, and styles of literature and the other arts in the early decades of the 20th century, but especially after WWI. The specific features signified by―modernism‖ vary with the user, but many critics agree that it involves a deliberate and radical break with some of the traditional bases not only of Western art, but of Western culture in general.55.Postmodernism（后现代主义）：The term postmodernism is often applied to the literature and art after WWII. Postmodernism involves not only a continuation, sometimes carried to an extreme, of the countertraditional experiments of modernism, but also diverse attempts tobreak away from modernist forms which had, inevitably, become in their turn conventional, as well as to overthrow the elitism of modernist ―high art‖ by recourse to the models of ―mass art‖.56. Theme（主题）：The term is usually applied to a general concept or doctrine, whether implicit or asserted, which an imaginative work is designed to incorporate and make persuasive to the reader.57. Multiple Point of View （多重视角）：It is one of the literary techniques William Faulkner used, which shows within the same story how the characters reacted differently to the same person or the same situation. The use of this technique gave the story a circular form wherein one event was the center, with various points of view radiating from it. The multiple points of view technique makes the reader recognize the difficulty of arriving at a true judgment.58. Ode（颂诗）：An ode is a complex and often lengthy lyric poem, written in a dignified formal style on some lofty or serious subject.59. Magic realism（魔幻现实主义）is a new literary genre appeared in the 20th century. The writers, who employed magic realistic techniques, interweave, in an ever-lasting pattern, a sharply etched realism in representing ordinary events and descriptive details together with fantastic and dreamlike elements, as well as with materials derived frommyth and fairy tales. In American literature, some of Toni Morrison’s novels employed magic realistic elements.60. Transcendentalism（超验主义）：appeared in 1830s in US；emphasis on spirit or oversoul and stressing importance of the individual；regarding nature as symbols of the spirit or God and emphasis on brotherhood of man；representatives: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau 61. Lost Generation（迷惘的一代）：Many prominent American writers of the decade following the end of WWI, disillusioned by their war experience and alienated by what they perceived as the crassness of American culture are often tagged as Lost Generation. Their representatives are F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.62. Naturalism（自然主义）：Naturalism was a new and harsher realism. Naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. They attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity. In presenting the extremes of life, the naturalists sometimes displayed an affinity to the sensationalism of early romanticism, but unlike their romantic predecessors, the naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment, that thedestiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death. In American literature, Theodore Dreiser is a representative of naturalism.63. American Puritanism（清教主义）：Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Protestant Church. They were a group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious and moral principles. As the word itself hints, Puritans wanted to purity their religious beliefs and practices. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace form God. As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind. American Puritanism also had an enduring influence on American literature.64. Flashback（闪回）：interpolating narratives or scenes which represent events that happened before the time at which the work opened; for example, it is used in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.65. Plot（情节）：The plot in a dramatic or narrative work is constituted by its events and actions, as these are rendered and ordered toward achieving particular artistic and emotional effects.。
Definition of Literary Terms
（一）Definition of Literary Terms2’x101.Art for Art’s SakeThe idea was raised by an Irish author Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), who held that art has or should have no economic, social, political or religious functions, that beauty is its only sake.2. Dramatic MonologueA dramatic monologue is a piece of spoken verse within plays that are often linked to key themes of the play or offer great insight into the feelings of the speaker, which is usually directed toward a silent audience.3. Stream of ConsciousnessStream of Consciousness is a literary term pioneered by Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, which is characterized by a flow of thoughts and images where the plot line may weave in and out of time and space and the work of which focus on the emotional and psychological processes.4. The Romantic MovementThe Romantic Movement is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, which stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience.5. The Canterbury TalesThe Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, the stories in which were told by the pilgrims on a pilgrimage.6. EpicEpic is a long narrative poem, narrated in a grand style, typically a recounting of history or legend or of the deeds of a national hero and of reflecting the values of the society from which it originated. Many epics were drawn from an oral tradition and were transmitted by song and recitation before they were written down. Later on this literary genre was written down by the poets, such as Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained.7. The Metaphysical SchoolThe Metaphysical School is a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century and the representatives of which are John Donne & Andrew Marvell. They shared an interest in metaphysical concerns and a common way of investigating them and their style is characterized by wit, subtle argumentation and conceits.8. Round CharacterRound Character is a major character in a work of fiction, who encounters conflict and is changed by it and who tend to be more fully developed and described.9. Blank VerseBlank Verse is a type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no rhyme. Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential of blank verse and established it as the dominant form for English drama in the age of Elizabeth 1 and James1.10. SonnetA sonnet is a 14-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme. There are mainly two kinds of sonnets: Italian sonnet or Petrarchan sonnet and English sonnet or Shakespearean sonnet.11. Gothic NovelGothic Novel is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance, associated with Gothic Revival architecture, which embodies an appreciation of the joys ofextreme emotion, the thrills of fearfulness and awe inherent in the sublime, and a quest for atmosphere.12. ProtagonistProtagonist is the main character of the drama or story, the story of who may be told from perspective of a different character. (who may also, but not necessarily, be the narrator)13. ParodyThe humorous imitation of a work of literature, art, or music. A parody often achieves its humorous effect through the use of exaggeration or mockery. In literature, parody can be made of a plot, a character, a writing style, or a sentiment or theme. / Parody s a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation.14. OdeOde is a long, stately lyric poem in stanzas of varied metrical pattern, written in a dignified formal style on some lofty or serious subject, which are often written for a special occasion, to honor a person or a season or commemorate an event. Two famous odes are Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ode to the West wind” and John Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn.”15. MythA myth is a traditional story, often about immortals and sometimes connected with religious rituals, whose author is unknown. It has its roots in the primitive folk-beliefs of cultures and uses the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain a culture’s view of the universe and the nature of humanity.16. ClassicismClassicism is a specific genre of philosophy, expressing itself in literature, architecture, art and music, which has Ancient Greek and Roman sources and an emphasis on society. It was particularly expressed in the Enlightenment, and the age of reason.17. BalladA story told in verse and usually meant to be sung. In many countries, the folk ballad was one of the earliest forms of literature. Folk ballads have no known authors. They were transmitted orally from generation to generation and were not set down in writing until centuries after they were first sung. The subject matter of folk ballads stems from the everyday life of the common people. Devices commonly used in ballads are the refrain, incremental repetition, and code language. A later form of ballad is the literary ballad, which imitates the style of the folk ballad.18. AllusionAn allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to , or representation of , a place, event, literary work ,myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication.19. Theatre of the AbsurdTheatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. And Harold Pinter is one of them.20. The Graveyard SchoolThe Graveyard School is 18th century school of English poets who wrote primarily about human morality. James Thomson is a major poet of the period.21. ModernismModernism is an omnibus term for a number of tendencies in the arts which were prominent in thefirst half of the 20th century, which reflects the impacts upon literature of the psychology of Freud and the anthropology of Sir J.Frazer. In English literature, it is particularly associated with T.S.Eliot, W.B.Yeats etc.22. RenaissanceThe renaissance, which means “rebirth” or “revival”, first started from Italy and then spread all over Europe, is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events during the period between 14th and mid-17th century ,which marks a transition from the medieval to the modern world.23. The Bloomsbury GroupThe Bloomsbury Group was an English collectivity of friends and relatives who lived in or near London during the first half of the 20th century, whose work deeply influenced literature, aesthetics, criticism, and economics as well as modern attitudes towards feminism, pacifism, and sexuality.。
Literary terms英美文学黄钻有名词
Literary terms:1. Epic: long narrative poem, majestic both in theme and style. Epics deal with legendary or historical events of national or universal significance, involving action of broad sweep and grandeur. Most epics deal with the exploits of a single individual, thereby giving unity to the composition. Commonplace details of everyday life may appear, but they serve as background for the story and are described in the same lofty style as the rest of the poem.2. Blank Verse: in literature, unrhymed poetry, typically in iambic pentameter, and, as such, the dominant verse form of English dramatic and narrative poetry since the mid-16th century. Blank verse was adapted by Italian Renaissance writers from classical sources; and English playwright William Shakespeare transformed blank verse into a supple instrument, uniquely capable of conveying speech rhythms and emotional overtones. According to the English poet John Milton, only unrhymed verse could give English the dignity of a classical language. As he explained in the preface to his epic Paradise Lost, one of the greatest of all poems in blank verse:3.Sonnet:lyric poem of 14 lines with a formal rhyme scheme, expressing different aspects of a single thought, mood, or feeling, sometimes resolved or summed up in the last lines of the poem. Originally short poems accompanied by mandolin or lute music, sonnets are generally composed in the standard meter of the language in which they were written—for example, iambic pentameter in English, and the Alexandrine in French (see Versification).The two main forms of the sonnet are the Petrarchan, or Italian, and the English, or Shakespearean. The former probably developed from the stanza form of the canzone or from Italian folk song. The earliest known Italian sonneteer was Guittone d'Arezzo.4. soliloquy (from Latin: "talking by oneself") is a device often used in drama when a character speaks to himself or herself, relating thoughts and feelings, thereby also sharing them with the audience. Other characters, however, arecharacters; an aside is a (usually short) comment by one character towards the audience.Soliloquies in ShakespeareThe plays of William Shakespeare feature many soliloquies, the most famous being the "To be or not to be" speech in Hamlet. In Richard III and Othello, the respective villains use soliloquies to entrap the audience as they do the characters on stage. Macbeth's "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech and Juliet's "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" are other famous examples of Shakespearean soliloquies. (Juliet's speech is overheard by Romeo, but because she believes herself to be alone, her speech is still considered a soliloquy.) There are also a few in Macbeth "is this a dagger I see before me?" is one of the many.mental thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address anotherpoetry. Monologues share much in common with several other literary devicesbetween each of these devices.6. Couplet:, in poetry, term applied to two successive lines of verse that form a single unit because they rhyme; the term also is often used for lines that express a complete thought or form a separate stanza. Couplets in English are usually written in ten-syllable (decasyllabic) lines, a form first used by the14th-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer. This evolved into the so-called heroic couplet popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. The heroic couplet, two rhyming iambic pentameter lines, is also called a closed couplet because the meaning and the grammatical structure are complete within two lines. John Dryden and Alexander Pope employed this form with great effect,7. Romanticism: (literature), a movement in the literature of virtually every country of Europe, the United States, and Latin America that lasted from about 1750 to about 1870, characterized by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity of approach, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealization of nature. The term romantic first appeared in 18th-century English and originally meant “romancelike”—that is, resembling the fanciful character of medieval romances.The preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads (1800), by English poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge was also of prime importance as a manifesto of literary romanticism. Here, the two poets affirmed the importance of feeling and imagination to poetic creation and disclaimed conventional literary forms and subjects. Thus, as romantic literature everywhere developed, imagination was praised over reason, emotions over logic, and intuition over science—making way for a vast body of literature of great sensibility and passion. This literature emphasized a new flexibility of form adapted to varying content, encouraged the development of complex and fast-moving plots, and allowed mixed genres (tragicomedy and the mingling of the grotesque and the sublime) and freer style.8. Realism (art and literature), in art and literature, an attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures and objects exactly as they act or appear in life. Attempts at realism have been made periodically throughout history in all the arts; the term is, however, generally restricted to a movement that began in the mid-19th century, in reaction to the highly subjective approach of romanticism.In general, the work of these writers illustrates the main tenet of realism, that writers must not select facts in accord with preconceived aesthetic or ethical ideals but must set down their observations impartially and objectively. Concerned with the faithful representation of life, which frequently lacks form, the realists tended to downplay plot in favor of character and to concentrate on middle-class life and preoccupations, avoiding larger, more dramatic issues.9. Naturalism(literature), in literature, the theory that literary composition should be based on an objective, empirical presentation of human beings. It differs from realism in adding an amoral attitude to the objective presentation of life. Naturalistic writers regard human behavior as controlled by instinct, emotion, or social and economic conditions, and reject free will, adopting instead, in large measure, the biological determinism of Charles Darwin and the economic determinism of Karl Marx.Naturalism was first prominently exhibited in the writings of 19th-century French authors, especially Edmond Louis Antoine de Goncourt, his brother Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt, and Émile Zola.10. Stream of consciousness is often confused with interior monologue, but the latter technique works the sensations of the mind into a more formal pattern: a flow of thoughts inwardly expressed, similar to a soliloquy. The technique of stream of consciousness, however, attempts to portray the remote, preconscious state that exists before the mind organizes sensations. Consequently, the re-creation of a stream of consciousness frequently lacks the unity, explicit cohesion, and selectivity of direct thought.Stream of consciousness, as a term, was first used by William James, the American philosopher and psychologist, in his book The Principles of Psychology (1890). Widely used in narrative fiction, the technique was perhaps brought to its highest point of development in Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans Wake (1939) by the Irish novelist and poet James Joyce11.elegy originally, in classical Greek and Roman literature, a poem composed of distichs, or couplets. Classical elegies addressed various subjects, including love, lamentation, and politics, and were characterized by their metric form. Ancient poets who used the elegiac form include the Alexandrian Callimachus and the Roman Catullus. In modern poetry (since the 16th century) elegies have been characterized not by their form but by their content, which is invariably melancholy and centers on death. The best-known elegy in English is Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751), by the English poet ThomasGray, which treats not just a single death but the human condition as well.12. Lyric, short poem that conveys intense feeling or profound thought. In ancient Greece, lyrics were sung or recited to the accompaniment of the lyre. Elegies and odes were popular forms of the lyric in classical times. The lyric poets of ancient Greece included Sappho, Alcaeus, and Pindar; the major Roman lyric poets included Horace, Ovid, and Catullus. Lyrical poetry was also written in ancient India and China; and the Japanese verse called haiku is a lyric.13. Enlightenment, Age of, a term used to describe the trends in thought and letters in Europe and the American colonies during the 18th century prior to the French Revolution. The phrase was frequently employed by writers of the period itself, convinced that they were emerging from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science, and a respect for humanity.The precursors of the Enlightenment can be traced to the 17th century and earlier. They include the philosophical rationalists René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, the political philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and various skeptical thinkers in France such as Pierre Bayle. Equally important, however, were the self-confidence engendered by new discoveries in science and the spirit of cultural relativism encouraged by the exploration of the non-European world.14.Modernist literature has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America. Modernism is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional styles of poetry and verse. Modernistsmaxim to "Make it new." The modernist literary movement was driven by a conscious desire to overturn traditional modes of representation and expressFormal/Stylistic characteristicsJuxtaposition, irony, comparisons, and satire are important elements found in modernist writing. Modernist authors use impressionism and other devices to emphasize the subjectivity of reality, and they see omniscient narration and fixed narrative points of view as providing a false sense of objectivity. They also employ discontinuous narratives and fragmented plot structures. Modernist works are also often reflexive and draw attention to their own role as creator. Juxtaposition is used for example in a way to represent something that would be oftentimes unseen, for example, a cat and a mouse as best friends. Irony and satire are important tools used by the modernist writer to comment on society.Thematic characteristicsFor the first-time reader, modernist writing can seem frustrating to understand because of the use of a fragmented style and a lack of conciseness. Furthermore the plot, characters and themes of the text are not always presented in a linear way. The goal of modernist literature is also not particularly focused on catering to one particular audience in a formal way. In addition modernist literature often forcefully opposes, or gives an alternative opinion, on a social concept. Common concerns of modernism are: the breaking down of social norms, rejection of standard social ideas, and traditional thoughts and expectations, rejection of religion and anger against the effects of the world wars. As well, modernists tend to reject history, social systems, and emphasize alienation in modern urban and industrial societies. 期末考试范围，考查以下作家含教材中作品 1. Shakespeare4. Defoe 8. Shelley 9.Wordsworth 10. Keats 11. Jane Austen 12. Charlotte Bronte 13. Dickens 18. D. H. Lawrence以下作家(不含教材里的作品)2. Bacon 3. Milton6. Blake 5. Swift 7. Byron 14 .Hardy 15. George Bernard Shaw 16. T.S. Eliot 17. Joyce 19. William Golding 20. Doris Lessing。
Literary terms
Literary terms1. Epic：A long narrative poem of great scale and grandiose style about the heroes who are usually warriors or demigods. It reflects national history.2. The Renaissance：The movement changed the medieval Western Europe into a modern one. English Renaissance was at its height during the reign of Queen Eliza beth. Two Striking Features: 1. A thirsting curiosity for the classical literature, the Greek and Latin works 2. Keen interest in life and human activities3. Tragedy：It is concerned with the harshness and apparent injustice of life, recou nting an important or causally related series of events in the life of a person of sig nificance. The events would culminate in trials and catastrophes of a hero, who falls down from power and whose eventual death leads to the downfall of others.4.Soliloquy：Soliloquy is the act of talking to oneself, whether silently or aloud. In drama it denotes the convention by which a character, alone on the stage, utters his or her thoughts aloud. Playwrights have used this device as a convenient way t o convey informati on about a character’s motives and state of mind, or for purpose s of exposition, and sometimes in order to guide the judgments and responses of t he audience.5. Allegory: It is a fictional literary narrative or artistic expression that conveys a s ymbolic meaning parallel to but distinct from, and more important than, the literal meaning. Allegory has also been defined as an extended metaphor. The symbolic m eaning is usually expressed through personifications and other symbols. Related for ms are the fable and the parable, which are didactic, comparatively short and simple allegories.6. Romantic period：The romantic period is an age of poetry. Blake, Burns, Word sworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelly, and Keats are the major romantic poets. Imagina tion is the vital faculty that creates new wholes out of disparate elements. Nature c omes to the forefront of the poetic imagination. Poetry should be free from all rules7. Byronic Hero：A proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin, with fiery passi ons and unbending w ill, expresses Byron’s own ideal of freedom. He rises against ty ranny and injustice, but he’s merely a lone fighter striving for personal freedom.Thi s figure, to some extent, modeled on the life and personality of Byron himself, and makes Byron famous both at home and abroad.8. Critical Realism：It is the main trend of the literary thoughts in the 19th centu ry. It reveals the corrupting influences of the rule of cash upon human nature. Criti cal realists set themselves the task of criticizing capitalist society from a democratic viewpoint of bourgeois reality. The 19th century critical realists made use of the for m of novel to express their ideas.9. GothicIt is now generally applied to literature dealing with the strange, mysterious, and su pernatural designed to invoke suspense and terror in the reader. Gothic literature in variably exploits ghosts and monsters and settings such as castles, dungeons, and g raveyards, which imparts a suitably sinister and terrifying atmosphere.各个时期作者及其作品一．Old EnglishRepresentative work: BeowulfThe Medieval LiteratureI. Norman Conquest II. Main Literary Forms:1) Romance (prevailing form)2) Major P oetsGeoffrey Chaucer（杰弗里·乔叟）：《The Canterbury Tales》（坎特伯雷故事集）二．RenaissanceFrancis Bacon（弗朗西斯·培根）《0f Studies》《Questions for discussion》Sir Philip Sidney（辛德尼）《Arcadia—a prose romance with lyrics》《Astrophel and Stella( Starlover and Star)》Edmund Spenser (斯宾塞）Major Works:《The Shepheardes Calendar》（牧人日历）《The Faerie Queene》（仙后）William Shakespeare1. Major Comedies:《The Taming of the Shrew》(驯悍记)《Love’s Labor’s Lost》(空爱一场)《A Midsummer Night’s Dream》(仲夏夜之梦)《The Merchant of Venice》(威尼斯商人)《Much Ado about Nothing》(无事生非)《The Merry Wives of windsor》(温莎的风流娘们)2. Major Tragedies:《Hamlet》《Othello》《King Lear》《Macbeth》John Donne(多恩)n Metaphysics 形而上学John Bunyan (班扬)1.His Masterpiece：《The Pilgrim’s Progress》(天路历程）2.Prose Allegory：《Christian and Faithful》《The City of Destruction》毁灭城《The Celestial City》天国《The Slough of Despond》绝望泥潭《The valley of Humiliation》屈辱谷《The River of Death》死亡河《The Doubting Castle》猜忌城《The Vanity Fair》名利场Daniel Defoe1719, 《Robinson Crusoe》（鲁滨逊漂流记）1722, 《Moll Flanders》（摩尔·弗兰德斯）1722, 《Colonel Jack》Jonathan Swift《Tale of a Tub》《A Modest Proposal》《Gulliver's Travels》Samuel Richardson（塞缪尔·理查森）《Pamela》《Clarissa (the History of a Young Lady)》Henry Fielding《Joseph Andrews》,1742《Jonathan Wild》, 1743《Tom Jones》,174 9Founder of English Realistic Novel三．RomanticismWilliam Blake1. 《Poetical Sketches》2. 《Songs of Innocence》3. 《Songs of Expe rience》Robert Burns《A Red, Red Rose》; 《Auld Lang Syne》《My Heart’s in the Highlands》《A Man’s A Man for A’That》William Wordsworth《The Solitary Reaper》孤独的刈麦女《Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey》丁登寺《I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud》独自云游《Lucy Poems》露丝诗组G. G Byron1. 《Hours of Idleness>2. 《Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage》3. 《Don Juan》4. 《Short lyrics》P B Shelley《Queen Mab》《The Revolt of Islam》《Prometheus Unbound》《Short lyrics on Nature and Love》《Ode to the West Wind》《To a Skylark》《The Cloud》Novels of the 19th centuryThe Bronte SistersCharlotte:《Jane Eyre》/ 《Shirley》/ 《Villette》/ 《The Professor》Emily:《Wuthering Heights》Jane Austen《Sense and Sensibility》《Pride and Prejudice》《Northanger Abbey》《Mansfield Park》《Emma》《Persuasion》Thomas Hardy Wessex Series(“威塞克斯系列”) :1.Romances and Fantasies 罗曼史和幻想小说《The Trumpet Major 》（号兵长）2. Novels of Ingenuity 机敏和经验小说《Desperate Remedies》（非常手段）3. Novels of Character & Environment 性格和环境小说《The Return of the Native》（还乡）《Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a Pure Woman Fai thfully Portrayed》（德伯家的苔丝）《Jude the Obscure》（无名的裘德）。
英国文学Literary Terms
Literary TermsAlliteration[ə,lɪtə'reɪʃn]头韵The repetition of consonant sounds in words that are close to one another. Alliteration occurs most often at the beginning of words, as in ―rough and ready.‖ But consonants within words sometimes alliterate, as in ―baby blue.‖The echoes that alliteration creates can increase a poem’s rhythmic and musical effects and make its lines especially memorable. Alliteration is an essential feature of Anglo-Saxon poetry; in most lines, two or three of the four stressed syllables alliterate.Frame StoryAn introductory narrative within which one or more of the characters proceed to tell a story.Perhaps the best-known example of stories contained in a frame story is the Persian collection called The Thousand and One Nights. In English literature, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales uses a frame story involving a group of people on a pilgrimage; within the narrative frame, each of the pilgrims then tells his or her own story. Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron contains another notable example of the frame-story device.Couplet['kʌplɪt]对句, 对联Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme. The couplet has been widely used since the Middle Ages, especially to provide a sense of closure. A couplet that presents a completed thought is called a closed couplet. Shakespeare used closed couplets toend his sonnets, as in Sonnet 18.A couplet written in iambic pentameter is called a heroic couplet. Although the heroic couplet has been used in English literature since Chaucer, it was perfected during the eighteenth century.CharacterAn individual in a story or play. A character always has human traits, even if the character is an animal, like the March Hare in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in wonderland; or a god, as in the Greek and Roman myths; or a monster, as in Beowulf.A character may also be a godlike human, like Superman. But most characters are ordinary human beings, like Geoffrey Chaucer’s colorful pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.Characterization[‚kærəktəraɪ'zeɪʃn]特性描述; 性格描述The process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character is called characterization. A writer can reveal a character in the following ways:1. By telling us directly what the character is like: humble, ambitious, impetuous, easily manipulated, and so on2. By describing how the character looks and dresses3. By letting us hear the character speak4. By revealing the character’s private thoughts and feelings5. By revealing the character’s effect on other people –showing how othercharacters feel or behave toward the character6. By showing the character’s actionsThe first method of revealing a character is called direct characterization. The other five methods of revealing a character are known as indirect characterization.Classification of CharactersCharacters can be classified as static or dynamic. A static character is one who does not change much in the course of a story. A dynamic character, on the other hand, changes in some important way as a result of the story’s action. Characters can also be classified as flat or round. Flat characters have only one or two personality traits. They are one-dimensional –they can be summed up by a single phrase. In contrast, round characters have more dimensions to their personalities –they are complex, solid, and multifaceted, like real people.End-stopped and Run-on LinesAn end-stopped line is one in which the grammatical unit, be it clause or sentence, is coterminous with the line. Thus, there is the satisfaction of finding the line and the sense ending together.A run-on line (sometimes called an enjambed line) is where the grammar, and thus the sense, is left unfinished at the end of the line.Run-on lines create pleasurable feelings of expectation, as the reader has to lookfurther for the full sense of what is being said.Oxymoron ['ɒksɪ'mɔːrɒn]矛盾修饰法A figure of speech that combines apparently contradictory or incongruous ideas.“Bitter sweet,‖ ―cruel kindness,‖ and ―eloquent silence‖ are oxymorons. The classic oxymoron ―wise fool‖ is almost a literal translation of the term from the Greek –oxys means ―sharp‖ or ―keen,‖ and moros means ―foolish.‖A famous oxymoron in literature is John Milton’s description of Hell in Paradise Lost:A dungeon horrible, on all sides roundAs one great furnace flamed; yet fromthose flameNo light, but rather darkness visible. . .Soliloquy [sə'lɪləkwɪ]独白A long speech in which a character who is usually alone onstage expresses his or her private thoughts or feelings.The soliloquy is an old dramatic convention that was particularly popular in Shakespeare’s day. Perhaps the most famous soliloquy is the ―To be or not to be‖ speech in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.A soliloquy can be public, in which case the character directly addresses the audience, or private, in which case the audience overhears the character talking to himself or herself.In Shakespeare, soliloquies are usually only given to important character.For instance, Hamlet has a number of private soliloquies, and Iago a number of public ones.Characters very rarely tell lies in soliloquies, so you should pay particular attention to them."O brawling love, O loving hate,O anything of nothing first create!O heavy lightness, serious vanity,Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!"—This love feel I, that feel no love in this. Romeo, Act I Scene IPoetic ComparisonsPoetic comparisons may take a variety of forms: simile, metaphor, conceit, synecdoche, metonymy, and juxtaposition.Each form of comparison, however, serves the same basic set of purposes.Poets generally use comparisons to express abstract ideas in imagisticlanguage,thereby stimulating the reader’s imagination, providing additional information, and opening up endless opportunities for entertainment and persuasion.In the poem ―The Flea‖ the speaker tries to seduce a young woman by comparing theconsequences of their lovemaking with those of an insignificant flea-bite.ConceitA fanciful and elaborate figure of speech that makes a surprising connection between two seemingly dissimilar things.Although a conceit may be a brief metaphor, it usually forms the framework of an entire poem.One of the most important kinds of conceits is the metaphysical conceit, so called because it was widely used by the seventeenth century metaphysical poets.Eg.《金缕衣》(The Gold-Threaded Robe)To the Virgins, to Make Much of TimeUnfortunate CoincidenceOn My First Son_ by Ben Jonson-----Background:This poem is about Jonson’s son, Benjamin, who died of the plague on his seventh birthday. (Jonson and his wife also lost a daughter, Mary, in infancy.)The name Benjamin in Hebrew means ―a child of the right hand‖ and, ironically, connotes ―a lucky, clever child.‖Dr. Johnson and Dryden on the Metaphysical PoetsJohnson: “Their courtship was void of fondness and their lamentation of sorrow.”（他们的求婚缺乏爱情，他们的悼亡缺少悲伤。
Literary terms
1 Tragedy:A type of drama in which the characters experience reversals逆转of fortune, usu. for the worse. In tragedy catastrophe大灾难and suffering await many of the characters, esp. the hero.edy:A type of drama in which the characters experience reversals of fortune, usu. for the better. In comedy things work out happily in the end.3.Aside旁白:In drama lines spoken by a character in an undertone低声or directly to the audience.4.Soliloquy独白:In drama, an extended speech delivered by a character alone onstage. The character reveals展现his or her innermost thoughts and feelings directly to the audience, as if thinking aloud. 5.Protagonist主角The hero or central character of a literary work. In accomplishing his or her objective, the protagonist is hindered阻碍,干扰by some opposing force either human , animal or natural .6.Foil 衬托A character in a play who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison.7.SettingThe time and place in which a story unfolds. A drama may contain a single setting, or the setting may change from scene to scene.8.Exposition:The part of a drama in which important background information is revealed.9.Denouement结局The outcome of a plot. The denouement is that part of a play, short story, novel, or narrative poem in which conflicts are resolved or unraveled拆开, and mysteries and secrets connected with the plot are explained.10.Epilogue收场白:A short addition or conclusion at the end of a literary work.11.ToneIn literature, may be defined as the writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject, the audience, or toward herself/himself. Almost all the elements of poetry go into indicating its tone: connotation, imagery, and metaphor; irony and understatement; rhythm, sentence construction, and formal pattern.12.Rhythm :The term rhythm refers to any wave like recurrence of motion or sound.13.Meter is the recurrence, in regular units, of a prominent feature in the sequence ofspeech-sounds of a language.14.A Foot is the combination of a strong stress and the associated weak stress.15.The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectuallife in the early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence affected literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, religion, and other aspects. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art.It indicated a revival of classical (Greek and Roman) arts and sciences after medieval period.16.EnlightenmentIt was a progressive intellectual movement which flourished in France and swept through the whole Western Europe in the 18th century.Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas.The enlighteners celebrated reason and rationality, equality and science.17.Metaphysical PoetsThe name given to a group of English lyric poets of the 17th century. The term was first used by Samuel Johnson. The hallmark of their poetry is the metaphysical conceit (奇思妙喻) , a reliance on intellectual wit, learned imagery, and subtle argument(智慧的妙语，广博的意象，精妙的论证). The works of the metaphysical poets are characterized, generally speaking, by mysticism（神秘主义）in content and fantasticality(奇异) in form. The most important metaphysical poets are John Donne, George Herbert and Andrew Marvell.。
(完整word版)英美文学术语(英文版)_literary_terms
英国文学Alliteration:押头韵repetition of the initial sounds（不一定是首字母）Allegory:寓言a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.Allusion:典故a reference in a literary work to person, place etc. often to well-known characters or events. Archetype:原型Irony:反讽intended meaning is the opposite of what is statedBlack humor:黑色幽默Metaphor: 暗喻Ballad: 民谣about the folk logeEpic:史诗in poetry, refers to a long work dealing with the actions of gods and heroes.Romance: 罗曼史/骑士文学is a popular literary form in the medieval England./ChivalryEuphuism: 夸饰文体This kind of style consists of two distinct elements. The first is abundant use of balanced sentences, alliterations and other artificial prosodic means. The second element is the use of odd similes and comparisons.Spenserian stanza: It refers to a stanza of nine lines, with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter and the last line in iambic hexameter. 斯宾塞诗节新诗体，每一节有9排，前8排是抑扬格五步格诗，第9排是抑扬格六步格诗。
Literary Terms
Literary Terms
Allegory: It is a fictional literary narrative or artistic expression that conveys a symbolic meaning parallel to but distinct from, and more important than, the literal meaning. It has also been defined as an extended metaphor. The symbolic meaning is usually expressed through personifications and other symbols. Related forms are the fable and the parable, which are didactic, comparatively short and simple allegories. Exponents: Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene John Bunyan: Pilgrim’s Progress Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
Literary Terms
Imagism: Poetic movement that flourished in the U.S. and England between 1909 and 1917. The movement was led by the American poets Ezra Pound and, later, Amy Lowell. They placed primary reliance on the use of precise, sharp images as a means of poetic expression and stressed precision in the choice of words, freedom in the choice of subject matter and form, and the use of colloquial language. Irony: It refers to some contrast or discrepancy between appearance and In verbal irony there is a contrast between what is literally said and what is actually meant; in dramatic irony the state of affairs known to the audience is the reverse of what its participants suppose it to be.
Literary Terms
Literary Terms1.Allegory: a narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the surface oneintended to teach a lesson.2.Allusion: a reference to a person, place, thing, or even with which the reader is presumablyfamiliar.3.Ballad: a narrative poem written in a song-like form with four-line stanzas rhymed abcb andvery often a refrain.4.Blank verse: a poetic form with unrhymed poetic lines written in iambic pentameter.5.Carp diem: a Latin phrase meaning “seize the day”, generally referred to lyric poems thaturge the celebration of the fleeting present.6.Conceit: is related to the 17th century English Metaphysical poets. It is fanciful expression ofan extended metaphor or surprising analogy between two seemingly different things.7.Couplet: two successive rhymed poetic lines, usually written in the same meter.8.Dramatic monologue: a type of poem initiated by the English poet Robert Browning, inwhich a character speaks to an identifiable but silent audience, unintentionally revealing his or her essential temperament and personality.9.Elegy: a poem that laments or solemnly meditates on the death, loss, or the passing ofthings/persons of value.10.English sonnet or Shakespearean sonnet: a lyric poem with 14 iambic pentameter lines,divided into 3 quatrains and a couplet. The three quatrains deal with the different aspects ofa subject and the final couplet summarizes the theme of the whole poem. The rhymescheme is abab cdcd efef gg.11.Epic: a long narrative poem, elevated and dignified in theme, tone, and style, celebratingheroic deeds and historically important events, usually focused on the adventures of a hero who has superhuman or divine qualities and on whose fate very often depends the destiny ofa tribe, a nation, or even the whole of the human race.12.Epistolary novel: a novel written in the form of an exchange of letters13.Gothic novels: a new type of fiction prominent in the 18th century English literature,characterized with a desolate setting, mysterious and violent incident and grotesque and ghostlike characters.14.Heroic couplet: a pair of rhymed iambic pentameter lines15.Humanism: the main literary trend of the English Renaissance by focusing interest on humanlife and activities and by giving a new expression of the appreciation of human beauty and human achievements.16.Iambic pentameter: a poetic line consisting of five feet with each foot containing a stressedsyllable and an unstressed one.17.Neo-classicism: a revival in the 17th and 18th century of classic standard of order, balance andharmony in literature.18.Lyric: a short, songlike poem expressing a personal though, mood, or feeling.19.Metaphysical poetry: the poetry of the 17th century English poet John Donne and his peers.The poetry is marked with verbal wit, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a blending of dissimilar ideas.20.Narrative poem: a poem that tells a story21.Ode: a long lyric poem, serious and dignified in subject, tone and style, often written tocommemorate or celebrate an event or individual22.Realism: a literary movement insisting on a faithful, objective presentation of the details ofeveryday life.23.Romance 传奇: a tale set in an idealized world and dealing with heroic adventures andbattles between good characters and villains or monsters. Originally, it is referred to the Medieval tales dealing with the adventures of kings, queens, and knights and ladies and including supernatural events.24.Soliloquy/monologue: a dramatic talk in which a character, alone on stage, speaks aloud andshares his or her thoughts with the audience of a drama25.Stream of consciousness: the narrative method initiated by James Joyce to represent theinner psychological movement of a character’s mind.26.Style: a writer’s method of expression including diction, syntax, sentence pattern,punctuation, spelling, as well as the use of such devices of sound, rhythm, imagery, and figurative language.27.Bildungsroman 成长小说: a novel that deals with the development of a young person fromadolescence to maturity28.Aestheticism: A literary and artistic movement of the nineteenth century France and England.Followers of the movement believed that art is for art’s sake and art should not be mixed with social, political, or moral teaching. Oscar Wilde is one of the best-known "aesthetes" of the late nineteenth century.29.Elizabethan Age: A period of great economic growth, religious controversy, and nationalismclosely associated with the reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603). The Elizabethan Age is considered a part of the general Renaissance — that is, the flowering of arts and literature —that took place in Europe during the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. The era is considered the golden age of English literature. The most important dramas in English and a great deal of lyric Poetry were produced during this period, and modern English criticism began around this time. The notable authors of the period —Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Francis Bacon, and John Donne — are among the best in all of English literature.30.Novel of manners: A novel focusing on and describing in detail the social customs and habitsof a particular social group. Usually these conventions function as shaping or even stifling controls over the behavior of the characters. Examples: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair。
Literary Terms-poetry, 英语诗歌重点名词解释20条
诗歌术语1. Aestheticism, the doctrine that regards beauty as an end in itself, and attempts to preserve the arts from subordination to moral, didactic, or political purposes. The term is often used synonymously with the Aesthetic Movement, a literry and artistic tendency of the late 19th century which may be understood as a further phase of Romanticism in reaction against philistine bourgeois values of pratical efficiency and morality. Oscar Wilde, and several poets of the 1890s under the slogan ‘art for art’s sake’ were sometimes known as aesthetes.2. Alliteration(also known as ‘head rhyme’or initial rhyme’), the repetition of the same sounds—usually initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables—in any sequence of neighboring words. Now an optional and incidental decorative effect in verse or prose, it was once a required element in the poetry of Germanic language (including Old English and Old Norse) and in Celtic verse (where alliterated sounds could regularly be placed in positions other than the beginning of a word or syllable). Such poetry, in which alliteration rather than ‘rhyme is the chief principle of repetition, is known as alliterative verse; its rules also allow a vowel sound to alliterate with any other vowel.3. Assonance, the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in the stressed syllables (and sometimes in the following unstressed syllables of neighboring words; it is distinct from rhyme in that the consonants differ although the vowels or diphthongs match: sweet dreams, hit or miss. As a substitute for rhyme at the ends of verse lines, assonance (sometimes called vowel rhyme or vocalic rhyme) had a significant function in early Celtic Spanish, and French versification (notably in the chansons de geste). But in English it has been an optional poetic device used within and between lines of verse for emphasis or musical effect.4. Blank verse, unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. Black verse is a very flexible English verse form which can attain rhetorical grandeur while echoing the natural rhythms of speech and allowing smooth enjambment. First used by Henry Howard. Earl of Surrey, it soon became both the standard meter for dramatic poetry and a widely used form for narrative and meditative poems. Much of the finest verse in English-by Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Stevens-has been written in blank verse. In other languages, notably Italian (in hendecasyllables) and German, blank verse has been an important medium for people drama. Blank verse should not be confused with free verse, which has no regular meter.5. Byronic,belonging to or derived from Lord Byron or his works. The Byronic hero is a character type found in his celebrated narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, his verse drama Manfred and other works: he is boldly defiant but bitterly self-tormenting outcast, proud contemptuous of social norms but suffering fro some unnamed sin.6. Dramatic monologue, a kind of poem in which a single fictional or historical character other than the poet speaks to a silent ‘audience’of one or more persons. Such poems reveal not the poet’s own thoughts but the mind of the impersonated character, whose personality is revealedunwittingly; this distinguished a dramatic monologue from a lyric, while the implied presence of an auditor distinguishes it from a soliloquy.7. Elegy, an elaborately formal lyric poem lamenting the death of a friend or public figure, or reflecting seriously on a solemn subject.8. Epic, a long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes, in a grand ceremonious style, The hero, usually protected by or even descended from gods, performs superhuman exploits in battle or in marvelous voyages, often saving or founding a nation. The Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf (8th century AD) is a primary epic, as is the oldest surviving epic poem. The action of epics takes place on a grand scale, and in this sense the term has sometimes been extended to long romances to ambitious historical novels like Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1883-9), and to some large-scale film productions on heroic or historical subjects.9. Heroic couplet, a rhymed pair of iambic pentameter lines. Named from its use by Dryden and others in the heroic drama of the late 17th century, the heroic couplet had been established much earlier by Chaucer as a major English verse-form for narrative and other kinds of non-dramatic poetry: it dominated English poetry of the 18th century, notably in the closed couplets of Pope, before declining in importance in the early 19th century.10. Iambic pentameter, a metrical verse line having five main stresses, traditionally described asa line of five ‘feet’. In English poetry since Chaucer, the pentameter—almost always an iambic line normally of 10 syllables—has had a special status as the standard line in many important forms including blank verse, the heroic couplet, ottava rima, rhyme royal, and the sonnet. In its pure iambic form, the pentameter shows a regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. There are, however, several permissible variations in the placing of stresses, which help to avoid the monotony of such regular alternation; and the pentameter may be lengthened from 10 syllables to 11 by a feminine ending. In classical Greek and Latin poetry, the second line of the elegiac distich, commonly but inaccurately referred to as a ‘pentameter’is in fact composed of two half-lines of two and a half feet each, with dactyls or spondees in the first half and dactyls in the second.11. Imagism, the doctrine and poetic practice of a small but influential group of American and British poets calling themselves Imagist or Imagistes between 1912 and 1917. Led at first by Ezra Pound, and then--after his defection to V orticism--by Amy Lowell, the group rejected most 19th-century poetry as cloudy verbiage, and aimed instead at a new clarity and exactness in the short lyric poem. Influenced by the Japanese haiku and partly by ancient Greek lyrics, the imagists cultivated concision and directness, building their short poems around single images; they also preferred looser cadences to traditional regular rhythms. Apart from Pound and Lowell, the group also included Richard Aldington, 'H.D.'(Hilda Doolittle), F. S. Flint and William Carlos Williams.12. Lake poets, lake poets refer to William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge and Robert Southey who lived in the Lake District in the northwestern part of England. They traversed the same path in politics and in poetry, beginning as radicals and ending up as conservatives.13. Lyric, in the modern sense, any fairly short poem expressing the personal mood, feeling, or meditation of a single speaker (who may sometimes be an inverted character, not the poet). In ancient Greece, a lyric was a song for accompaniment on the lyre, and could be a choral lyric sung by a group (see chorus), such as a dirge or hymn: the modern sense, current since the Renaissance, often suggests a song-like quality in the poems to which it refers lyric poetry is the most extensive category of verse, especially after the decline-since the 19th century in the West-of the other principal kinds: narrative and dramatic verse. Lyrics may be composed in almost any metre and on almost every subject, although the most usual emotions presented are those of love and grief. Among the common lyric forms are the sonnets, ode, elegy, haiku, and the more personal kinds of hymn. Lyricism is the emotional or song-like quality, the lyrical property, of lyric poetry. A writer of lyric poems may be called a lyric poet, a lyricist, or a lyrist. In another sense, the lyrics of a popular song or other musical composition are the words as opposed to the music: these may not always be lyrical in the poetic sense(e.g. in a narrative song like a ballad).14. Metaphysical poetry, 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. Other poets to whom the label is applied include Andrew Marvell, Abraham Cowley, John Cleveland, and the predominantly religious poets George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and Richard Crashaw. In the 20th century, T. S. Eliot and others revived their reputation, stressing their quality of wit, in the sense of intellectual strenuousness and flexibility rather than smart humor. The term metaphysical poetry usually refers to the works of these poets, but it can sometimes denote any poetry that discusses metaphysics, that is, the philosophy of knowledge and existence.15. Ode, an elaborately formal lyric poem, often in the form of a lengthy ceremonious address to a person or abstract entity, always serious and elevated in tone. There are two different classical models: Pindar’s Greek choral odes devoted to public praise of athletes (5th century BC), and Horace’s more privately reflective odes in Latin. In English, these include the celebrated odes of John Keats, notably ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ and ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ (both 1820).16. Rhyme, the identity of sound between syllables or paired groups of syllables, usually at the ends of verse lines; also a poem employing this device. Normally the last stressed vowel in the line and all sounds following it make up the rhyming element: this may be a monosyllable (love / above ---known as ‘masculine rhyme ’), or two syllables (whether/together--known as ‘*feminine rhyme’or ‘double rhyme’),or even three syllables (glamourous /amorous--known as ‘triple rhyme’).Where a rhyming element in a feminine or triple rhyme uses more than one word (famous /shame us ),this is known as a ‘mosaic rhyme ‘.The rhyming pairs illustrated so far are all examples of ‘full rhyme ‘(also called ‘ perfect rhyme’ or ‘true rhyme’);departures from this norm take tree main forms : (i)*rime riche. in which the consonants preceding the rhyming elements are also identical ,even if the spellings and meanings of the words differ (made/maid); (ii)*eye rhyme. In which the spellings of the rhyming elements match, but the sounds do not(love/prove );(iii)*half-rhyme or ‘slant rhyme ’.where the vowel sounds do not match (love /have. or with rich *consonance .love/leave).Half-rhyme is known by several other names :’imperfect rhyme’, ‘near rhyme’, ‘pararhyme’, etc. Although rhyme is most often used at the ends of verse lines. internal rhyme between syllables within the same line is also found. Rhyme is not essential to poetry: many languages rarely use it ,and in English it finally replaced alliteration as the usual patterning device of verse only in the late 14th century .17. Rhythm, the pattern of sounds perceived as the recurrence of equivalent 'beats' at more or less equal intervals. In most English poetry, an underlying rhythm (commonly a sequence of four or five beats) is manifested in a metrical pattern--a sequence of measured beats and 'off beats' arranged in verse lines and governing the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. While meter involves the recurrence of measured sound unites, rhythm is a less clearly structured principle: one can refer to the unmeasured rhythm of everyday speech, or of prose, and to the rhythms or cadences of non-metrical verse (i.e. Free verse).18. Soliloquy, a dramatic speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on the stage (or while under the impression of being alone). The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to the audience, either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct address. Soliloquies often appear in plays from the age of Shakespeare, notably in his Hamlet and Macbeth. Soliloquy is a form of monologue, but a monologue is not a soliloquy if (as in the dramatic monologue) the speaker is not alone.19. Sonnet (Italian sonnet, English sonnet), a lyric poem comprising 14 rhyming lines of equal length: iambic pentameters in English and hendeca-syllables in Italian. Therefore sonnet has two types as Italian sonnet and English sonnet.Originating in Italy, the sonnet was established by Petrarch in the 14th century as a major form of love poetry. The standard subject-matter of early sonnets was the torments of sexual love (usually within a courtly love convention). The Italian sonnet comprises an 8-line octave followed by a 6-line sestet. The transition from octave to sestet coincides with a turn in the argument or mood of the poem. the Italian pattern has remained the most widely used in English and other languages.The English sonnet (also called the Shakespearean sonnet) comprises three quatrains and a final couplet, rhyming ababcdcdefefgg.20. Tone, a very vague critical term usually designating the mood or atmosphere of a work, although in some more restricted uses it refers to the author’s attitude to the reader (e.g. formal, intimate, pompous) or to the subject-matter (e.g. ironic, light, solemn, satiric, sentimental).。
literary terms
literary terms:epic史诗,叙事诗-a long narrative poem about the adventures of a herolong narrative poems that record the adventures or heroic deeds of a heroenacted in vast landscapes. The style of epic is grand and elevated.alliteration头韵-a rhetorical device, meaning some words in a sentence begin with the same consonant sound（头韵）understatement轻描淡写-expressing something in a controlled way Understatement is a typicalway for Englishmen to express their ideasheroic couplet: a verse unit consisting of two rhymed(押韵) lines in iambic pentameter(五步抑扬格)五步抑扬格:1．每一行诗有十个音节2．每十个音节中分五个音步3．每一个音步有两个音节，重音落在第二个音节上。
英雄双韵体:1、五音步抑扬格2、押尾韵对偶句3、韵尾双行押韵，英语称之为couplet不重复。
4、风格简洁。
音步是诗行中按一定规律出现的轻音节和重音节的不同组合成的韵律最小的单位romance骑士传奇1>In the mid-18th century, a new literary movement called romanticism came to Europe and then to England.2>It was characterized by a strong protest against the bondage of neoclassicism, which emphasized reason, order and elegant wit. Instead, romanticism gave primary concern to passion, emotion, and natural beauty.3>In the history of literature. Romanticism is generally regarded as the thought that designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and experience. 4>The English romantic period is an age of poetry which prevailed in England from 1798 to 1837. The major romantic poets include Wordsworth, Byron and Shelley.Ballad民谣：a story told in song, literature for the lower class.Basic features:repetitions of words;uniform in mood;dramatic in plotBallad is a story in poetic from to be sung or recited. in more exact literary terminology, a ballad is a narrative poem consisting of quatrains of iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimester.(抑扬格四音步与抑扬格三音步诗行交替出现的四行叙事诗)2>.ballads were passed down from generation to generation. 3>Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a 19th century English ballad.sonnet十四行诗:A sonnet is a lyric consisting of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter restricted to a definition rhyme scheme.Lyric(抒情诗)Lyric is a short poem wherein the poet expresses an emotion or illustrates some life principle.2>Lyric often concerns love.3>the elegy, ode and sonnet are all forms of the lyric.iambic pentameter:五步抑扬格Literary terms: monologue＞soliloquy独白有两种，一个是Monologue，一个是soliloquy。
Literary Terms英美文学中的常用词语
Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally
MyLuv'sLike a Red, Red Rose
Iamb:抑扬格
A metrical foot with the stress on the second syllable. The rhythm is “da-DUM”.
A philosophical movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century. The principal goals of the Enlightenment were liberty, progress, reason, tolerance, fraternity, empirical data, and the scientific method. It was extremely skeptical of religion, as well as religious and governmental abuses of power.
Ode to the West Wind
Ekphrasis？？！！
The use of one form of பைடு நூலகம்rt to describe another form of art (for example, using poetry to describe a Grecian urn).
Ode on A Grecian Urn
Canterbury Tales
Climax:
A decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot.
美国文学 Literary Terms
Literary Terms （American）1.TheocracyIt is a state system in which the state and the church are combined into one, with the idea that God would govern through the church. It was the major form of the government in colonial America.2.PuritanismPuritanism refers to the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. The Puritans are the people who wanted to purify the Church of England and were persecuted in England. The first settlers who became the founding father of the American nation were quite a few of them Puritans. They came to America out of various reasons, but because they were a group of serious and religious people, they carried a code of values, a philosophy of life, a point of view which, in time, took root in the New World, and became what is popularly known as American Puritanism.The American Puritans, like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the church should be restored to the “purity” of the first-century Church. To them religion wasa matter of primary importance. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin totaldepravity and God’s absolute sovereignty, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. It was this kind of religious belief that they brought with them into the wilderness. There they meant to prove that they were God’s chosen people enjoying His blessings on this earth as in heaven.In the grim struggle for survival that followed immediately after their arrival in America, the character of the people underwent a significant change. They became more practical, as indeed they had to be. gradually a set of Puritan values came into being. They believe in hard working, piety, and sobriety. They accumulated wealth and they regarded every event in daily life significant for the salvation. Their aim is to build a new Garden of Eden on the earth. That was the origin of the “American Dream”. But later Puritanism turned out to arouse sense of disgust because of its religious intolerance.In a word, American Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature. It has become, to some extent, a state of mend, rather that a set of tenets, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the American breathes. We can say that, without some understanding of Puritanism, there can be no real understanding of America and its literature. The representatives of Puritan writers are Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin. Their tone is basically optimistic.3.RomanticismRomanticism was originated in England and came to America early in the nineteenth century. It stretched from the end of the eighteenth century through the outbreak of the Civil War. After gaining political independence, America developed into an economic and cultural independent country. Democracy and political equality became the new ideals of the new nation. The spread of industrialism and, the sudden influx of immigration and the somethingof an economic boom made people feel a tremendous sense of optimism and hope. A nation busting into new life cried for literary expression. The buoyant mood of the nation and the spirit of the times seem in some measure responsible for the spectacular outburst of romantic feeling in the first half of the nineteenth century. Foreign influences added incentive to the growth of romanticism in America. So American romantic writing was some of them modeled on English and European works. In spite of this, American romanticism was in essence the expression of “ a real experience” and contained “an alien quality” for the simple reason that “ the spirit of the place” was originally new and alien. The ideals of individualism and political equality, and their dream that America was to be a new Garden of Eden for man were distinctly American. In a word, the general characters of American romanticism include moral enthusiasm, faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception, and a presumption that nature was a source of goodness and man’s society a source of corruption.Romanticism is above all an exaltation of individual values and aspirations above those of society. The movement looked to the Middle Ages and to direct contact with nature for inspiration. Through its concern with the hidden forces in man, Romanticism exerted a profound influence on modern thought, and opened the way e.g. of psychoanalysis. It was represented in America by the works of Irving, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman and Dickinson.It was the Civil Was that broke the “lie” of Romanticism.4.American TranscendentalismAmerican Transcendentalism is also called “New England Transcendentalism”or American Renaissance”. It is more of a tendency, an attitude than the philosophy of Transcendentalists.Emerson published his “Nature”in 1836 which represented a new way of intellectual thinking in America. Nature’s voice pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase the New England Transcendentalism, the summit of American Romanticism.Dissatisfied with the materialistic-oriented society and eager to save the soul with a doctrine of the mind, some American intellectuals were so athirst for new ideas that they formed an informal discussing group, the Transcendental Club. They met irregularly to discuss matters of interest to the life of the nation as a whole. The major features of New England Transcendentalism can be summarized as follows:First, Oversoul. The Transcendentalists placed emphasis of spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe.Secondly, individual. They stressed the importance of the individual. To them, the individual was the most important element of society.Thirdly, nature. They offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit of God. Nature is the garment of Oversoul with healthy and restorative influence. Nature was , to them alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Transcendentalists wrote in symbols. They advocated for being close to nature, and it turned out to be another form of the American Dream.Fourthly, Transcendentalism is based on the belief that the most fundamental truths about life it is the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of sense.As a philosophical and literary movement, Transcendentalism flourished in NewEngland from 1830s to the Civil Was. It was the answer of the idealists to the growing materialism and worldliness of the U.S. of the 1830s and 40s. It provided an ethnical guide to life for a young generation, so it was regarded as cultural rejuvenation, a “flowering of New England”. Its doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in Emerson and Thoreau.Without its impetus America might have been deprived of one of its prolific literary periods of its history.5.Gothic RomanceIt refers to the Romantic novels with the settings of the ancient castles of old houses and descriptions of supernatural elements like ghosts and specters, usually horror-provoking, like Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and some of Irving’s tales.6.Allegorical Novel (or Story)It refers to a novel or story with an allegorical feature, that is, characterizing name, an actual or symbolic journey and usually a “good vs. evil” theme, like Moby Dick by Melville or “Young Goodman Brown” by Hawthorne.7.Free VerseFree verse or New Poetry (Vers Libre) is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts to avoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech. While it alternates stressed and unstressed syllables as stricter verse forms do, free verse does so in a looser way. But free verse is also distinguished from prose by rhythm, a certain heightening of language, poetic intention or typographical display.Whitman’s poetry is an example of free verse at its most impressive. Whitman thought that the voice of democracy should not be haltered by traditional forms of verse. Whitman pioneered the form and made the free verse acceptable in American poetry (“Leaves of Grass”). It flourished during the interwar years, as a rebellion against Victorian poetry. It held that life was more sophisticated than most Romantic poets had admitted. Their poems expose the conflicts and contrasting value system, the incongruities of existence. They used humour, irony, wit and especially images, more intellectual and more related to life. It has since been used by Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, W.C.Williams, Carl Sanburge and other major American poets of the twentieth century. Even Robert Frost was indebted to it.8.American RealismRealism had originated in France as realisme, a literary doctrine that called for “reality and truth” in the depiction of ordinary life. The arbiter of nineteenth-century lioterary realism in America was William Dean Howells. He defined realism as “nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.” Realism is basically an attitude based on facts and reality as opposed to emotions and imaginings. On a philosophical level, it refers to the doctrine that ideas, or universals, have an absolute existence outside the mind ---- the belief that the objects of sense perception have real existence. In art and literature, it refers to fidelity to life as perceived and experienced.Under the new social situations by the end of the 19th c , there appeared a new group of writers who sought to portray American life as it really was, insisting that the ordinary andthe local were as suitable for artistic portrayal as the magnificent and the remote. These writers rejected the portrayal of idealized characters and events as the romanticists did.Instead, they sought to describe the wide range of American experience and to present the subtleties of human personality, to portray characters who were less simply all good or all bad.“Realism”first appeared in the United States in the literature of local color, and an amalgam of romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things was immediately observable: the dialects, customs, sights, and sounds of regional America. By the turn of the century local color fiction had begun to decline.It was the Civil War that brought the Romantic Period to an end. The war led people to see the darker side of reality; it taught man that life was not so good, man was not and God was not; it brought to people the deterioration in the quality of American life and moral values. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” had turned out to be a “Gilded” one.The Age of Realism came into existence. It came as a reaction against the “lie”of romanticism and sentimentalism, as Everett Carter put it. It expressed the concern for the world of experience, of the commonplace, and for the familiar and the low. Realist literature is based on the accurate, unromanticized observation of human experiences. It insists on precise description, authentic action and dialogue, moral honesty, and a democratic openness in subject matter ( especially the experiences of the American middle class, their houses, families, and jobs, their social customs, achievements and failures as well ) and style. Realist literature finds the drama and the tension beneath the ordinary surface of life. Writers turned their eyes to the suffering and unhappiness beneath the glittering surface of prosperity. The values of common humanity and representation of American life became the theme of writing.As for style, there was gentility and graceful prose on one hand and vernacular diction, rough and ready frontier humor on the other. A realist writer is more objective than subjective, more descriptive and symbolic. Realists looked for truth in everyday truths.“Realism”first appeared in the United States in the literature of local color, and an amalgam of romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things was immediately observable: the dialects, customs, sights, and sounds of regional America. By the turn of the century local color fiction had begun to decline as its limited resources were exhausted and as its most popular writers grew tediously repetitious or turned to other literary modes. The bulk of America’s literary realism was limited to optimistic treatment of the surface of life. Yet the greatest of America’s realists, Henry James and Mark Twain, moved well beyond a superficial portrayal of nineteenth-century America. James probed deeply at the individual psychology of his characters, writing in a rich and intricate style that supported his intense scrutiny of complex human experience. 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, and he created, in Huckleberry Finn(1884), a masterpiece of American realism that is one of the great books of world literature.9.Psychological RealismIt is the realistic writing that probes deeply into the complexities of characters’ thoughts and motivations. Henry James’ novel The Ambassadors is considered to be a masterpiece of psychological realism, and Henry James is considered the founder of psychological realism.He believed that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator, and not in any facts of which the spectator is unaware. Such realism is therefore merely the obligation that the artist assumes to represent life as he sees it, which may not be the same life as it “really”is.10.Local Color FictionLocal color fiction “exploits speech, dress, mannerisms, habits of thought, and topography peculiar to a certain region. Of course, all fiction has a locale, but local color writing exists primarily of the portrayal of the people and life of a geographical setting”(Holman295).The local color writing was a form of regionalism popular after the Civil War. Local colorism as a trend became dominant in American literature in the late 1860s and early 1870s.The movement once was so much widespread that it became as contagious as whooping cough. The list of names of local colorism is a long one. Hamlin Garland defined local colorism as having “such quality of texture and background that it could not have been written in any other place or by anyone else than a native.” Garland’s “texture” refers to the elements which characterize a local culture, such as speech, customs and other peculiarities.And his “background”covers physical setting and those distinctive qualities of Landscape which condition human thought and behaviour. The ultimate aim of the local colorists is, as Garland indicates, to create the illusion of an indigenous little world with qualities that tell it apart from the world outside. Their best work not only presents an authentic surface of a particular time and location with speech, dress, and gestures in exact focus, but also goes beyond the surface to the depths that transform the local into the universal. The closer these stories come the description and analysis, the better they are. They are strong sketches of an environment. Local color fiction relies on simplicity for its greatest effect. It is characteristic of vernacular language and satirical humor. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain is one of the greatest works of local color fiction.11.American Naturalism:Naturalism, as a mode of thought ( religious, moral or philosophical), glorifies nature and excludes super-natural and spiritual elements. In literature, it upholds close adherence to nature.Naturalism was an outgrowth of Realism that responded to theories in science, psychology, human behavior and thought current in the late nineteenth century. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, with the development of industry and modern science, intelligent minds began to see that man was no longer a free ethical being in a cold, indifferent and essentially Godless universe. In this chance world he was both helpless and hopeless. European writers like Emile Zola had already developed this acute social consciousness. They saw man’s life as governed by the two forces of heredity and environment, forces absolutely beyond man’s control. They tended to philosophize, using scientific concepts as a basis. They concluded that the forces at work in nature are in truth the only forces at work in man too.American naturalism was a new and harsher realism, and like realism, it had come from Europe. American naturalism had been shaped by the war, by the social upheavals that undermined the comforting faith of an earlier age, and by the disturbing teachings ofDarwinism ( Darwinian concepts like “the survival of the fittest” and “the human beast”), and also by the Sigmund Freud’s “scientific”theory of psychoanalysis. America’s literary naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths. For them, Realism was not “true to life”at all. They attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity. In presenting the extremes of life, the naturalists sometimes displayed an affinity to the sensationalism of early romanticism, by unlike their romantic predecessors, the naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that lives were controlled by heredity and environment, that the destiny of humanity was misery in life and oblivion in death. They took a truthful and scientifically objective attitude in their writing. Their typical settings are the slum. They wrote about the less elegant aspects of life.They ignored the so-called “literary beauty” or gentility. The pessimistic and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of such American writers as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser.Although naturalist literature described the world with sometimes brutal realism, it sometimes also aimed at bettering the world through social reform. It was the desire to assert one’s human dignity that saved them from total pessimism. This combination of grim reality and desire for improvement is typical of America as it moved into the twentieth century.12.M odernismDuring the first decades of the 20th century, modernism became an international tendency against positivism and representational art in art and literature. It aimed broadly at harmonizing traditional believes with modern scientific and philosophical thought The distinctive feature of literary modernism was its strong and conscious break with traditional forms, perceptions, and techniques of expression, and its great concern with language and all aspects of its medium. It was persistently experimental. The modernists made great efforts of remake the language of literature, and they were interested in technique and craftsmanship.And the conflict between dismantling narrative and plot continuity, and that between fracture and flow produced some distinctive literary forms in prose. Stream of consciousness, the use the myth as a structure principle, and the primary status given to the poetic image, all challenged traditional representation. Up to the age of the 1950s, Modernism under the lead of T.S.Eliot had already lost its original rebellious spirit, because it had been separated from the American life and reality for its conservatism, and it had become an academic literature of those professors. Generally speaking, this new desire in craftsmanship and skill was one of the hallmarks of the early decades of the 20th century.13.I magismThe First World War made America a different country, and its literature underwent a substantial change. The 1920s saw a vigorous literary activity in America. In poetry there appeared a strong reaction against Victorian poetry, the chief characteristics of which are its moralizing tendencies, its overpadding of extra-poetic matter, and its traditional iambic pentameter. The Emphasis was now on the economy of expression and on the use of a dominant image, aiming at simplicity and detachment in poetic expression by the clear presentation of visual images. T.E. Hulme formulated the ideas and also wrote a handful ofpoems. Ezra Pound took up Hulme’s ideas for a time and became the leading poet of the Imagist movement, after whom, it was Amy Lowell. Chinese poetry in translation was an important influence.The imagist poets expressed their momentary feelings of that fragmented reality. Their way of writing is a single dominant image or a quick succession of related images, through which, they thought, they endowed order and meaning to the disordered world through artistic creation. The basic poetic principles are: direct treatment of the “things”, whether subjective or objective; no words with no contribution to the expression; rhythm in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of a metronome. Instead of having the poet tell us what we should be feeling, Pound and his colleagues wanted an image to produce the emotion, to “speak for itself”.Imagism was a movement that came and went: few pure Imagist poems were written after 1920s. Nevertheless, the ideas of Imagism have had a great impact on modern poetry and on the way we read it. Other poets writing in Imagist approach are T.S.Eliot, Stevens, W.C.Williams, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg and e.e.cummings, who developed their own techniques respectively.14.L ost GenerationWriters of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledge themselves to be a “Lost Generation”, because they were devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.The term “Lost Generation” was first used by Gertrude Stein, one of the leaders of this group. It included the young English and American expatriates as well as men and women caught in the war and cut off from the old values and yet unable to come to terms with the new era when civilization had gone mad. It was a world in which “all is vanity and vexation of spirit”. If it is safe to say the “Jazz Age” renounced the apparent economic boom of these years, the “Lost Generation”disclosed the spiritual impotence of the first postwar period, resulting from the disillusionment with the reality. The war did not bring out any change , life was still a struggle for survival. Social morals were still deteriorating. The phrase means this generation has lost the beautiful sense of the calm idyllic past. They aimlessly wandered about the Continent, drinking, making love, and traveling from place to place and from party to party. These activities seam to justify their search for new meanings to replace the old ones.Yet in fact, they were lost in disillusionment and existential voids. They indulged in hedonism in order to make their life less unbearable.For American expatriates, they had cut themselves from their past in order to search for the meaning of their American experience. They lost their sense of being a part of American society. Since none of the best writers was closer to combat, it was not the war itself, but long exposure to European culture which intensified their criticism of American life. Now although they lived in Europe, they still thought about what it meant to be in America. So the lost generation stayed away from America to understand it better. Hemingway was the spokesman for the “Lost Generation”, and his masterpiece “The Sun Also Rises”depicts truthfully the image of that generation.15.H emingway Heroes“Hemingway’s Heroes” refer to some protagonists in Hemingway’s works. Such a herousually is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent. And usually he is a man of action and of few words. He is such an individualist, alone even when with other people, somewhat an outsider, keeping emotion under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place where on can not get happiness. Frederic Henry in A Farewell to Arms is completely disillusioned. He has been to the war, but has seen nothing sacred and glorious. Like Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises who hates to talk about the war, Henry is shocked into the realization that “abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene”. And feels “always embarrassed by words such as glory, sacred and sacrifice.”The Hemingway heroes stand for a whole generation. In a world which is essentially chaotic an meaningless, a Hemingway hero fights a solitary struggle against a force he does not even understand. The awareness that it must end in defeat, no matter how hard he strives, engenders a sense of despair. But the Hemingway hero possesses a kind of “despairing courage” (“grace under pressure”) as Bertrand Russell terms. It is this courage that enables a man to behave like a man, to assert his dignity in face of adversity. This is the essence of a code of honor in which all of Hemingway’s heroes believe. But surely they differ, some from others, in their view of the world. The difference which comes gradually in view is an index to the subtle change which Hemingway’s outlook had undergone.16.W aste Land Painters“Waste Land Painters”refer to such writers as F.Scott Fitzgerald, T.S.Eliot, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. With their writings, all of them painted the postwar Western world as a waste land, lifeless and hopeless. Eliot’s The Waste Land paints a picture of modern social crisis. In this poem, modern civilized society turns into a waste deathly land due to ethical degradation and disillusionment with dreams. His The Hollow Men exhibited a pessimism no less depressing than The Waste Land. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby wrote about the frustration and despair resulting from the failure of the American dream.Hemingway’s works, such as The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, portrayed the dilemma of modern man utterly thrown upon himself or survival in an indifferent world, revealing man’s impotence and his despairing courage to asset himself against overwhelming odds. Faulkner made the history of the Deep South the subject of the bulk of his work, and created a symbolic picture of the remote past. His fictional Yoknapatawpha represents a microcosm of the whole macrocosmic nature of human experience.17.T he Jazz AgeOr the “Roaring 20s”, the “sad years”, it refers to the 1920s during which there was glittering economic boom, all merrymaking. It was a name given by Fitzgerald, who also gave a name to those fashionable young women after the WWI, “flappers”.To many, World War I was a tragic failure of old values, of old politics, of old ideas. The social mood was often one of confusion and despair. Yet, on the surface the mood in America during the 1920s did not seem desperate. Instead, Americans entered a decade of prosperity and exhibitionism that prohibition, the legal ban against alcoholic beverages, did more to encourage than to curb. Fashions were extravagant; more and more automobiles crowded the roads, advertising flourished; and nearly every American home had a radio in it. Fads swept the nation. People danced the Charleston, and they sat upon the flagpoles. This was the JazzAge, when New Orleans musicians moved “up the river” to Chicago, and the theater of New York’s Harlem pulsed with the music that had become a symbol of the times. These were the Roaring Twenties. The roaring of the decade served to mask a quiet pain, the sense of loss that Gertrude Stein had observed in Paris. F.Scott Fitzgerald portrays the Jazz Age as a generation of “the beautiful and damned”, drowning in their pleasures.18.S tream-of-ConsciousnessStream-of-Consciousness or “interior monologue”is one of the modern literary techniques. This technique is a kind of multiple point of view, showing within the same story how the characters react differently to the same person or the same situation. It gives the story a circular form ---- wherein one event is the center, with various point of view radiating from it, rather than in a liner structure with one event following another by cause and effect, in a logical progression of time. This technique makes the reader recognize the difficulty of arriving a true judgment, and also reflects the truth of the multi-faceted reality and the chaotic and fragmentary human existence. By using this technique, authorial intrusion is reduced to the lowest minimum, and the reliability of the multiple narrators is strengthened, and the juxtaposed scenes involving either a lapse of lime or a change of place lead the reader to recognize both simultaneity and progression. The language is full of run-on sentences and colloquial regional dialect.It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce. This modernistic trend in 1920s, deeply influenced by the psycho-analytic approach in literary creation to explore the existence of subconscious and unconscious elements in the mind. In English fiction, the novels of Stream-of-Consciousness were represented by James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.Those novels broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and skillfully the unconscious activity of the mind fast changing and flowing incessantly, particularly the hesitant, misted, distracted and illusory psychology people had when they faced reality.Britain was the center of the novels of stream-of-consciousness. The modern American writer William Faulkner (e.g. The Sound and the Fury ) successfully advanced this technique. In his stories, action and plots were less important than the reactions and inner musings of the narrators. Time sequences were often dislocated. The reader feels himself to be a participant in the stories, rather than an observer. A high degree of emotion can be achieved by this technique. But it also makes the stories hard to understand.19.H arlem RenaissanceIn the 1920s in America, there was an upsurge of Black literature, popularly known as “Harlem Renaissance”, out of which such eminent literary figures as Langston Hughes grew.During this black poetry bloom, poems of Hughes, Brooks, Cullen, etc. were all tied up with the bitter experience of the Black people, centering on a Black myth ---- the deliverance from slavery. So, “Harlem Renaissance” is a burst of literary achievement in the 1920s by Negro playwrights, poets and novelists who presented new insights into the American experience and paved the way for the flourishment of Black literature in the mid-century.20.B eat Writers (Beat Generation)Or the “beatnik”, the “hippies”, the “hipsters”, “Beat” signifies both “beaten down” (that。
- 1、下载文档前请自行甄别文档内容的完整性，平台不提供额外的编辑、内容补充、找答案等附加服务。
- 2、"仅部分预览"的文档,不可在线预览部分如存在完整性等问题,可反馈申请退款(可完整预览的文档不适用该条件!)。
- 3、如文档侵犯您的权益，请联系客服反馈,我们会尽快为您处理(人工客服工作时间：9:00-18:30)。
Literary TermsAuthors and poets use many different techniques when they write. These techniques help to convey ideas and feelings and create memorable works of literature. As you become more familiar with these, you will begin to incorporate them in your own writing.What Is It Called?What Does It Mean?What Does it Look Like?Allegory The representation of ideas or moralprinciples by means of symboliccharacters, events, or objects Arthur Milller’s The Crucible uses the Salem Witch Trials as an allegory for the hunt for Communists in America during the 1950s.Alliteration The repetition of a consonant sound tocreate rhythm and aid memory The f alling f lakes f luttered to the ground. The s wift, s ilent s erpent s lithered along.Allusion A brief reference to a historical orliterary person, place, object, or event Biblical allusions are frequently used in English Literature; a writer may refer to Adam, Eve, Serpent or The Garden to tap into associations that already exist for the reader.Analogy The comparison of two similar thingsso as to suggest that if they are alike insome respects, they are probably alikein other ways as well Learning to walk is a good analogy for learning to ride a bike; you start slowly, you are a little wobbly at first, but once you have your balance, you are zooming along.Anecdote A short narrative that tells theparticulars of an interesting and/orhumorous event My father and mother often used anecdotes as a way to teach us various safety rules.Antagonist A person or thing that opposes theprotagonist or hero/heroine of a story The antagonist is not always a person; it may be a force of nature or a corrupt institution.Apostrophe A figure of speech where someone(usually absent or dead),an object,some abstract quality, or a nonexistentperson is directly addressed as thoughpresent and real "Roll on, thou deep an dark blue ocean--roll!" (Byron)"Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so." (Donne) "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." (E.B. Browning)Blank Verse Unrhymed, but otherwise regularverse, usually iambic pentameter Most of the text in Shakespeare's plays is written in blank verse, although he often liked to rhyme the last couplet of a scene so the audience would know it was ending.Caricature A representation or imitation of aperson's physical or personality traitsthat are so exaggerated or inferior asto be comic or absurd When a villain is not a caricature, it makes him/her much more complex and interesting which adds depth to the piece.Characterization The creation of imaginary persons sothat they seem lifelike.The six elements used to create a character are: physical description, speech, thoughts/feelings, actions/reactions, what other characters say about them and possible direct comments from a narrator.Cliché A word or phrase that is so overusedthat it is no longer effective in mostwriting situations "Never judge a book by its cover.""Don't count your chickens before they are hatched."Avoid cliches "like the plague." (irony intended)Climax A high point or turning point in apiece of literature, the point at whichthe rising action reverses and becomesthe falling action or denouement At the climax of the play the true villain was revealed to the audience; no one had suspected her at all.Coherence The parts of a composition should bearranged in a logical and orderlymanner so that the meaning and ideasare clear and intelligible.When we write essays, we want to check for coherence during the revision process so that our message is as clear and precise as possible.Conflict The problem or struggle that that thecharacters have to solve or come togrips with by the end of the story.There are five types of conflict: Person vs. PersonPerson vs. SocietyPerson vs. NaturePerson vs. SelfPerson vs. Fate (God)Connotation The emotions and feelings thatsurround a word; they may benegative, neutral or positive,depending on their context.When people want to "soften" the word "died," they may use the phrases: "passed away," "at rest," or "at peace," so that the connotation is not as harsh.Context The environment of a word, the wordsthat surround a particular word andhelp to determine or deepen itsmeaning.Often you can figure out the meaning of a word by re-reading the sentence or paragraph and looking for context clues that give you additional information about the word.Couplet In poetry (verse), two consecutivelines that rhyme "Tiger! Tiger! Burning brightIn the forests of the night," (Blake)Critique A critical examination of a work of artto determine its nature and how itmeasures up to established standards.Writing a critique of a book helps us to sharpen our critical thinking skills and deepen our understanding of what we look for in good literature.Denotation The literal or basic meaning of a word(the dictionary definition)The denotation of the word "died" is "to cease living."Denouement The resolution or outcome of a play orstory In the denouement of a play, the loose ends of the plot get tied up or answered.Dialogue The conversation between two ormore characters in a work ofliterature.To indicate dialogue in a novel, characters' exact words are enclosed in quotation marks, but in a play, where all the lines are made up of dialogue, the playwright does not need to use quotation marks.Diction The writer's choice of words based ontheir clarity and effectiveness Mark Twain once said, "The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."Drama A story told by actors who play thecharacters who reveal the conflictthrough their actions and dialogue.If the actors in a drama give a great performance, they seem to become the characters they are taking on and we get emotionally hooked.Editorial A short essay in a newspaper ormagazine that expresses the opinion ofthe writer.In the editorial section of the newspaper, the editor, as well as community members, can express their opinion on a current issue or topic.Elegy A formal poem that meditates ondeath or another solemn theme Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," was composed as the poet wandered in an old cemetery and thought about other people's deaths and his own as well.Empathy When you put yourself in someoneelse's place and imagine how thatperson must feel Sympathy is "feeling sorry for," someone, while empathy takes us closer to the experience by "feeling the same as" someone else.Epic A long narrative poem about the deedsof a great hero that reflects the valuesof the society that produced it.Beowulf is the oldest surviving piece of English literature; it is an epic that describes the gory details of gruesome battles between men and monsters.Epitaph A short verse or poem in memory ofsomeoneEpitaphs are often engraved on tombstones.Essay A piece of prose that expresses anindividual's point of view; it is a seriesof closely related paragraphs thatdiscuss a single topic.All strong essays need a clear and specific thesis statement that lets the reader know the writer's opinion and direction he/she will take.Eulogy A formal speech praising a person orthing A eulogy can be written for the living as well as for the dead.Euphemism When you replace one word or phrasefor another in order to avoid beingoffensive Corporate "restructuring" or "downsizing" are euphemisms for "laying off" or "firing" workers.Exposition The introductory section of a play ornovel that provides backgroundinformation on setting, characters, andplot Exposition helps the reader to get a sense of the who, when, and what a story or play is about.Fable A brief tale told to point to a moral Aesop, a Greek slave living about 600 B.C., wroteseveral fables that use animals as their maincharacters. In modern times, some of Walt Disney'sanimal stories and Jim Henson's muppet stories canbe classified as fables.Falling Action The last section of a play or story thatworks out the decision arrived atduring the climax During the falling action in a tragedy, the hero's fortunes will take a turn for the worse and often end in disaster or catastrophe.Farce Literature that has essentially onepurpose, to make the audience laugh Farce often depends less on plot and character than on improbable situations. Many situation comedies on television can be classified as farce.Figurative Language Language that cannot be takenliterally since it was written to create aspecial effect or feeling Writers use figurative language to add depth and interest to their pieces.Figures of Speech A literary device used to create aspecial meaning in a piece of writing The most commonly used figures of speech are: apostrophe, hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, personification, simile, symbol, and synecdoche.Flashback Insertion of a scene or event that tookplace in the past, for the purpose ofmaking something in the present moreclear A novelist may include a flashback to reveal a childhood incident in the life of an adult character.Foil The term is applied to any person whothrough contrast underscores thedistinctive characteristics of another.In the tragedy Hamlet, the characters of Laertes and Fortinbras serve as foils for the main character Hamlet; they offer a contrast since they are able to take swift action of which he is incapable.Foreshadowing The suggestion or hint of events tocome later in a literary work Gray clouds at the beginning of a story may foreshadow turmoil or conflict that occurs later.Free Verse Verse written without rhyme, meter orregular rhythm For centuries, many poets used regular patterns of rhyme, meter and rhythm in their poetry, but in the 18th century they began to free themselves from these strict conventions.Genre A French word used as a synonym fortype or form of literature The most common literary genres are: essay, drama, poetry, novel, screen play, short story, etc.Hamartia The error, frailty, mistaken judgment,or misstep through which the fortunesof a tragic hero are reversed Hamartia is similar to tragic flaw, yet is distinguished by the fact that it is not so much a defect in the character as it is a misjudgment or error that causes a definite action or failure to act.Heroic Couplet Two consecutive lines of rhymedverse written in iambic pentameter "But when to mischief mortals bend their will, How soon they find fit instruments of ill."Historical Fiction Fiction whose setting is in some timeother than that in which it is written Arthur Miller's The Crucible was written in the 20th century, but is a fictional account of the Salem witch trials.Hyperbole A type of figurative language thatmakes an overstatement for thepurpose of emphasis I was so embarrassed, I could have died. I’m so tired I could sleep for years.Iambic Pentameter A line of poetry that contains fiveiambic feet; an iamb is a footconsisting of an unaccented syllablefollowed by an accented syllable "And we / are put /on earth / a litt / le space,That we / may learn / to bear / the beams / of love." (William Blake)Imagery The use of descriptive words orphrases to create vivid mental picturesin the minds of the reader, oftenappealing to sight, sound, taste, orsmell The tree roots clutched the ground like gnarled fingers. The frightened screech of an unseen animal tore through the night.Irony: Dramatic When the audience knows more thanthe characters on stage, which createstension Horror films use dramatic irony to create suspense: the audience knows that the ax murderer is in the closet, but the unsuspecting victim is totally unaware …until it is too late!Irony: Situational A situation or event that is theopposite of what is or might beexpected It would be ironic if a lifeguard had to be saved from drowning.Irony: Verbal The expression of an attitude orintention that is the opposite of what isactually meant When a late-comer is told sarcastically, “Thanks for joining us.”Legend A narrative or tradition handed downfrom the past; distinguished from amyth by having more historical truthand perhaps less of the supernatural.Johnny Appleseed is a famous American legend.Limerick A form of light verse that follows adefinite rhyme scheme where the first,second, and fifth lines rhyme and thethird and fourth lines rhyme (patternsmay vary)"There once was a lady from Maine, Who was as thin as a cane;When her bathing was doneAnd the water did run,She slid through the hole in the drain."Lyric A short poem that expresses thepersonal feelings and thoughts of asingle speaker Types of lyrics include the elegy, epitaph, ode and sonnet.Malapropism When two words become jumbled inthe mind of a speaker because theyresemble each other and he/she usesthe wrong one In Ulysses, Joyce's character, Molly Bloom speaks of "the preserved seats" in a theatre, instead of "reserved seats."Melodrama An exaggerated, sensational form ofdrama which is intended to appeal tothe emotions of the audience Many television soap operas fall into the category of melodrama.MetaphorDirect Metaphor Indirect Metaphor A type of figurative language thatmakes a comparison but does not use“like” or “as”When the writer directly states both ofthe things being comparedWhen the writer states one of thethings and the reader must infer theotherThe girls were tigers on the playing field, devouringthe competition.All the world is a stage.Life is a long road with many twists and turns.You have come to a fork in the road and cannot goback.Metonymy The substitution of an object closelyassociated with a word for the worditselfInstead of referring to a monarch, often you mighthear a reference to "the crown."Mood The feeling a piece of literaturearouses in the reader The mood of the murder mystery was suspenseful and scary.Motif Recurring ideas, images, and actionsthat tend to unify a work The motif of love and its complications runs through many of Shakespeare's comedies.Myth A traditional story that presentssupernatural beings and situations thatattempt to explain and/or interpretnatural events The Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone was created to explain how the seasons came about.Narrator The person who is telling the story See point of view for the different choices ofnarration.Novel Covering a wide range of prosematerials which have two commoncharacteristics: they are fictional andlengthy Because of the length of a novel, the reader has the opportunity to see a character grow and develop as a result of events or actions.Objective When a writer makes every attempt tosimply present the facts, withoutopinion or bias The reporting of the news should be done in an objective manner so the reader can make up his/her own mind on the issues and events.Onomatopoeia A type of figurative language in whichwords sound like the things they namebang, buzz, crackle, sizzle, hiss, murmur, and roarOxymoron A self-contradictory combination ofwords (usually paired)Jumbo shrimp, dear enemy, sweet sorrow, bittersweet,Parable A short descriptive story whosepurpose is to illustrate a lesson ormoral Many religious works will use parables to teach the desired learning of that religion.Paradox A statement that at first seemscontradictory, but in fact, reveals a "I must be cruel, only to be kind." (Shakespeare) "Death, thou shalt die." (Donne)truthParody When a writer imitates an alreadyexisting form for the purpose ofhumor The television show, Saturday Night Live, uses parody to poke fun at famous people and political figures.Personification A type of figurative language thatgives animate (living) characteristicsto inanimate (nonliving) things The sun smiled down on the village. The leaves danced in the wind.The thunder growled in the distance.Plot The action of a story; all of the eventsthat occur from the beginning to theend.There are five basic parts or elements that make up the plot line or plot structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution (denouement).Point of View:First Person Second Person Third Person Omniscient Limited Omniscient From whose angle the story is beingtoldWhen a character in the story tells thestory using "I" or "We" (F or NF)Used in nonfiction, primarily for thepurpose of writing instructions ordirections, using "you" (NF)When the narrator is telling the eventsfrom "outside" the story from a neutralor unemotional viewpoint, using "he,""she," etc. (F or NF)When the narrator can see into thehearts and minds of more than one ofthe characters in the storyWhen the narrator can see into themind and heart of only one of thecharacters in the storyWriters think very carefully about their choice ofpoint of view since it has a tremendous impact onthe story.I strolled into the classroom, not knowing what toexpect on my first day of class.When you are a new teacher, you should try to be aswell prepared and as confident as possible.The young teacher strolled into his classroomlooking confident and competent.The teacher was giving himself a silent pep talkabout making his first day great. Casey, whoalways sat by the window, thought he looked like apretty nice guy.The teacher’s head was spinning with what heshould say first; Casey, who sat by the window,glanced up to take a look at the new teacher.Protagonist The main character in a work; theaction revolves around this person andthe antagonist, or opposing force The protagonist will never have a hard time finding an antagonist since their struggle is what creates the conflict and action of a story.Pseudonym Means "false name" and is used bysome writers instead of their real nameSamuel Langhorne Clemens used the pseudonymMark Twain when he published his work. CharlotteBronte used the pseudonym Currer Bell when shebegan since women often were not published unlessthey disguised their gender.Pun A word or phrase which has a "doublemeaning" as intended by the writer;often these words sound the same (ornearly the same) but have differentmeanings When Hamlet says, "I am too much in the sun," he is making a play on the words "sun" and "son."Repetition Repeating a word or group of wordsfor emphasis or effect There in the sudden blackness, the black pall of nothing, nothing, nothing – nothing at all.Resolution The portion of a play or story wherethe problem is solved Resolution does not always mean a happy ending; in some stories or plays, especially tragedies, the resolution of the conflict may end sadly.Rhetorical question A question asked only for effect or tomake a statement, but not to get ananswer How much longer will we put up with this injustice? Isn’t it time that we took action?Rising Action The portion of a play after the initialincident (introduction of the conflict)where the action is complicated by theopposing forces ending with the In a novel, play, or movie, the rising action moves the story along and the plot usually becomes more complicated. Because rising action leads to climax, there is usually building tension throughout theclimax rising actionSatire A type of writing that uses humor,irony, or wit to make a point At this rate, we might as well dump garbage straight into the ocean if we’re not going to increase the penalty for polluting the environment.Setting The time and place of a story The setting often plays an important role in a story,influencing characters, conflicts, and themes. In thecase of Call of the Wild by Jack London, forexample, the northern, snow-covered tundra playsan important role in the outcome of the story.Short Story A relatively brief fictional narrative inprose (500-12,000 words)Edgar Allen Poe's short stories often delight readers with their intrigue and suspense.Simile A comparison using "like" or "as"Her eyes gleamed like stars.The house was as large as a castle.Soliloquy A long speech given by a characteralone on stage that reveals his/herinnermost thoughts and feelings One of Shakespeare's most famous soliloquies begins with the line, "To be, or not to be, that is the question . ." spoken by the main character, Hamlet.Sonnet A poem of fourteen lines written iniambic pentameter that follows one ofseveral rhyme schemes Elizabeth Barrett Browning used the line, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways," as the opening to her famous love sonnet for her husband Robert Browning.Stereotype This is a pattern or form which doesnot change; this term is applied tooversimplified mental pictures orjudgments For many centuries, women were stereotyped as delicate and helpless creatures that needed a man to come in and rescue them from peril.Structure This is the organization or plannedframework that a writer creates forhis/her piece of literature Carefully examining a writer's structure may help readers deepen their understanding of the work.Style This refers to how the author writes(form) rather than what he/she writes(content)Style is a combination of a writer's diction, tone, and syntax.Subjective When a writer inserts opinion or biasinto the piece of writing An editorial is subjective since its purpose is to make clear one's opinion on a current topic.Symbolism A symbol is something that stands forsomething larger than itself A rose symbolizes beauty.The flag symbolizes the country. Darkness symbolizes evil or the unknown.Synecdoche When a part represents the whole orwhen the whole represents the part All hands on deck for duty!The law came to his door to issue a warrant for his arrest.Syntax The arrangement of words within aphrase, clause or sentence. Factorssuch as: the type of sentence, thelength of the sentence, the use ofpunctuation and the use of languagepatterns can all contribute to aneffective use of syntax.When the writer wanted the narrative pace to build, she lengthened her sentences and used very few pauses; then, just before the story's climax, she began to use short choppy sentences to build suspense which was an effective use of syntax.Theme A statement of the central idea of apiece of writing.Courage can be the topic or subject of a piece of writing, but the statement, "It takes a great deal of courage to stand up against one's peers," is a theme.Tone The attitude of the author towardhis/her subject and audience Comic, serious, formal, informal, solemn, playful, sarcastic, intimate, distant, etc.Tragedy Classical tragedy: A dramatic workwhere a noble hero's tragic flawcauses him/her to break a moral lawthat leads to his/her downfall.Modern tragedy: A dramatic workwhere the hero is often an ordinaryperson who faces their circumstanceswith dignity and courage of spirit.Oedipus Rex and Antigone are classical tragedies that deal with the fall of their respective hero and heroine due to a series of seemingly unavoidable circumstances.The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, and All My Sons are modern tragedies written by Arthur Miller.Unity A piece of writing is organized so thatall of its parts belong and are wellintegrated.When you revise a piece of your writing, check unity by making sure all of the sentences in a given paragraph belong and connect to the main idea.Writer's Voice The writer's awareness and effectiveuse of such elements as: diction, tone,syntax, unity, coherence and audienceto create a clear and distinct"personality of the writer."The more familiar a writer is with all of the possible literary devices and techniques, the stronger his/her writer's voice will become.。