美国文学复习资料+答案

1. The American Transcendentalists formed a club called ________

the Transcendental Club

2. _______ was regarded as the first great prose stylist of American romanticism.

Washington Irving

3. At nineteen __________ published in his brother 's newspaper, his

"Jonathan Oldstyle" satires of New York life.

4. In Washington Irving 's work _______________ appeared the first modern short

stories and the first great American juvenile literature. The Sketch

Book

5. The first important American novelist was ____________ .James Fenimore

Cooper

6. James Fenimore Cooper 's novel _______________ was a rousing tale about

espionage against the British during the Revolutionary War. The Spy 7. The best of James Fenimore Cooper's sea romances was ____________ .

The Pilot

8. "To a Waterfowl" is perhaps the peak of _____________ _'s work; it has been

called by an eminent English critic “ the most perfect brief poem in the lan guage . ”William Cullen Bryant

9. ______________ was the first American to gain the stature of a major poet in the

world literature.

10. E dgar Allan Poe 's poem _______________ is perhaps the best example of

onomatopoeia in the English language. The Bells

11. E dgar Allan Poe's poem ____________ was published in 1845 as the title poem

of a collection. The Raven

12. F rom Henry David Thoreau 's Concord jail experience, came his famous essay . Civil

Disobedience

By the 1830s Washington Irving was judged the nation' s greatest writer, a lofty position he later shared with James Fenimore Cooper and William Cullen Bryant.

In the early nineteenth century, the attitude of American writers was shaped by their New World environment and an array of ideas inherited from the romantic tradition of Europe. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.

The foundation of American national literature was laid by the early American romanticists. At mid-19th century, a cultural reawakening brought a "flowering of New

England".

Romantic writers in the 19th century placed increasing value on the free expression of emotion and displayed increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters.

With a vast group of supporting characters, virtuous or villainous, James Fenimore Cooper made the America conscious of his past, and made the European conscious of America.

No other American poet ever surpassed Edgar Allan Poe 's ability in the use of English as a medium of pure musical and rhythmic beauty.

The Fall of the House of Usher is one of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories . Ralph Waldo Emerson was recognized as the leader of transcendentalist movement, but he never applied the term " Transcendentalist" to himself or to

his beliefs and ideas .

In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson published his first book, Nature, which met with a mild reception.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's prose style was sometimes as highly individual as his poetry. The harsh rhythms and striking images of Ralph Waldo Emerson 's poetry appeal to many modern readers as artful techniques.