英国文学 整理

Term Definition：

Alliteration（押头韵）: Alliteration is the repetition of a speech sound in a sequence of nearby words. The term is usually applied only to consonants, and only when the recurrent sound begins a word or a stressed syllable within a word.

Arthurian legend（亚瑟王传奇）: It is a group of tales (in several languages) that developed in the Middle Ages concerning Arthur L, semi-historical king of the Britons and his knights. The legend is a complex weaving of ancient Celtic mythology with later traditions around a core of possible historical authenticity.

Sonnet（十四行诗）: A lyric poem consisting of a single stanza of fourteen iambic pentameter lines linked by an intricate rhyme scheme. There are two major patterns of rhyme in sonnets written in the English language:

( 1) The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet (named after the fourteenth century Italian poet Petrarch) falls into two main parts: an octave(eight lines) rhyming abbaabba followed by a sestet (six lines) rhyming cdecde or some variant, such as cdccdc .

(2) the English sonnet, or else the Shakespearean sonnet. This sonnet falls into three quatrains and a concluding couplet: abab cdcd efef gg. There was one notable variant, the Spenserian sonnet, in which Edmund Spenser linked each quatrain to the next by a continuing rhyme: abab bcbc cdcd ee.

Conceit（夸张）: From the Italian concetto (meaning idea or concept), it refers to an unusually far-fetched or elaborate metaphor or simile presenting a surprisingly apt parallel between two apparently dissimilar things or feelings. Poetic conceits are prominent in Elizabethan love sonnets and metaphysical poetry. Conceits often employ the devices of hyperbole, paradox and oxymoron.

Neoclassicism（新古典主义）: A style of Western literature that flourished from the mid-seventeenth century until the end of the eighteenth century and the rise of Romanticism. The neoclassicists looked to the great classical writers for inspiration and guidance. They believed that literature should both instruct and delight, and the proper subject of art was humanity. Neoclassicism stressed rules, reason, harmony, balance, restraint, decorum, order, serenity, realism, and form—above all, an appeal to the intellect rather than emotion. The Restoration in 1660 marked the beginning of the Neoclassical Period in England, whose writers included John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, etc.

Romance（传奇小说）: It is a literary genre popular in the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century), dealing, in verse or prose, with legendary, supernatural, or amorous subjects and characters. Popular subjects for romances included the Macedonian King Alexander the Great, King Arthur of Britain and the Knights of the Round Table, and the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne.

Renaissance（文艺复兴）: Renaissance ("rebirth") is the name commonly applied to the period of European history following the Middle Ages. The development came late to England in the