美国文学史及其选读期末复习资料题
美国文学期末复习题
美国文学期末复习题2013-2014-1 美国文学史及选读期末复习材料I Multiple choices1. Which is not connected with Thomas Paine?A. Common SenseB. The American CrisisC. The Rights of ManD. The Autobiography2. “These are the times that try men's souls”, these words were once read to Washington's troops and did much to spur excitement to further action with hope and confidence. Who is the author of these words?A.Benjamin FranklinB.Thomas PaineC. Thomas JeffersonD. George Washington3. At the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the European movement called theA. Chartist MovementB. Romanticist MovementC. Enlightenment Movement Modernist MovementD.4. In American literature, the Enlighteners were favorable to .A. the colonial orderB. religious obscurantismC. the Puritan traditionD.the secular literature5. The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parent country and the Continental Congress adopted _____________ in 1776.A. Declaration of IndependenceB.the Sugar ActC. the Stamp ActD.the Mayflower Compact6. ____ usually was regarded as the first Americanwriter.A. William BradfordB. Anne BradstreetC. Emily DickinsonD. Captain John Smith7. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made such a stir in England that she became known as the “”who appeared in America.A. Ninth MuseB. Tenth MuseC. Best MuseD. First Muse8. Who was considered as the “poet of American Revolution”?A. Anne BradstreetB. Edward TaylorC. Michael WigglesworthD. Philip Freneau9. In 1817, the stately poem called Thanatopsis introduced the best poet _____ to appear in Americaup to that time.A. Edward TaylorB. Philip FreneauC. William Cullen BryantD. Edgar Allen Poe10. The finest example of Nathaniel Hawthorne 's symbolism is the recreation of Puritan Boston in _____ A. The Scarlet Letter B. Young Goodman BrownC. The Marble FaunD. The Ambitious Guest11. The universe is composed of Nature and the soul Spirit is present everywhere”. This is the voice of the book Nature written by Emerson, which pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England.A. RomanticismB. TranscendentalismC. NaturalismD. Symbolism12. Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism?A. NatureB. WaldenC. On BeautyD. Self-Reliance13. Mark Twain created, in _______ , a masterpiece of American realism that is also one of the great books of world literature.A. The Adventure of Huckleberry FinnB. The Adventure of Tom SawyerC. The Man That Corrupted HadleyburgD. The Gilded Age14. ________ marks the climax of Mark Twain 'sliterary creativity.A . The Adventureof Huckleberry Finn B. The Gilded AgeC. Life on the MississippiD. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer15. Choose the novel which is not written by Henry James.A. The AmbassadorsB. The Wings of the DoveC. The BostoniansD. The Mysterious Stranger16. Generally speaking, all those writers with anaturalistic approach to human reality tend to beA. transcendentalistsB. idealistsC. pessimistsD. impressionists17. Ezra Pound 's long poem ________ contained more than one hundred poems loosely connected.A. The Waste LandB. The CantosC. Don JuanD. Queen Mab18. T. S. Eliot 's first major poem _______ (1917), has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes19. Ernest Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse. These two persons later became the characters of his novel . A. The Old Man and the Sea B. For Whom the Bell TollsC. The Sun Also RisesD. A Farewell to Arms20. In William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, he useda technique called ____________ , in which the whole story was told through the thoughts of one character.A. stream of consciousness C. symbolism naturalismB. imagismD.21. Led by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emersonand , there arose a kind of teachings of transcendentalism in the early nineteenth century.A. H erman Melville David Thoreau C. Mark Twain Theodore DreiserB. HenryD.22. A New _____ had appeared in England in the last years of the eighteenth century. It spread to continental Europe and then came to America early in the nineteenth century.A. realismB. critical realismC. romanticismD. naturalism23. From Henry David Thoreau 's jail experience, came his famous essay, _________ which statesThoreau's belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Senseth24. Mark Twain, one of the greatest 19th century American writers, is well known for his ________________ .A. international themeB. waste-land imageryC. local colorD. symbolism25. Herman Melville '__s ____ is an encyclopedia of everything: history, philosophy religion, etc. in addition toa detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. Moby DickC. White Jacket C. Billy Budd26. The ship “_______ ”carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.A. SunflowerB. ArmadaC. MayflowerD. Pequod27. From 1733 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous _____ , an annual collection of proverbs.A. The AutobiographyB. Poor Richard 's AlmanacC. Common SenseD. The General Magazine28. In American literature, the eighteen-century was the age of the Enlightenment. ______ was the dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. RationalismC. RevolutionD. Evolution29. ____ was the most leading spirit of theTranscendental Club.A. Henry David ThoreauB. Ralph Waldo EmersonC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Walt Whitman30. Edgar Allen Poe 's first collection of short stories isA. Tales of a TravelerTalesC. Canterbury Tales Grotesque ofArabesque31. _____ was a romanticized account of Herman Melville 's stay among the Polynesians.The successof the book soon made Melville well known as the “man who lived among cannibal ”s.A. Moby DickB. TypeeC. OmooD. Billy Budd B. LeatherstockingD. Tales of the32. Which is regarded as the“Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?A. The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. The Conduct of LifeD. Representative Men33. The three dominant figures of the realistic period in American literature are ________ .A. Theodore Dreiser, Emily Dickinson and William Dean HowellsB. Mark Twain, Henry James and William Dean HowellsC. Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser and William Dean HowellsD. Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson and William Dean Howells34. American literature produced only one female poet during the nineteenth century. This was ________ .A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickinsonD. Harriet Beecher35. In 1900, London published his first collection of short stories, named ____________ .A. The Son of the WolfB. The Sea WolfC. The Law of LifeD. White Fang36. In Henry James'Daisy Miler, the author tries to portray the young woman as an embodiment ofA. the force of conventionB. the free spirit of the New WorldC. the decline of aristocracyD. the corruption of the newly rich37. “ Theapparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” This is the shortest poem written by .A. T.S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD.E.E.Cumings38. The Fitzgerald lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than F. Scot Fitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as ________ .A. The Roaring TwentiesB. The Jazz AgeC. The Dollar DecadeD. all of the above39. In 1954, ________ was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his “mastery of the art of modern narration”.A. T.S EliotB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faukner40. William Faukner' snovel _________ describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family, symbolizing the old social order, told from four different points of view.A. The Sound and the FuryB. StartorisC. The UnvanquishedD. The Town41. “The Lure of the Spirit: The Flesh in Pursuit ” si the title of one chapter in Dreise'rs novel _______ .A. An American DreamB. Sister CarrieC. Dreiser Looks at RussiaD. Jannie Gerhardt42. The main theme of _________ The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo that representation of life should be the main object of the novel.A. Henry James'B. William Dean Howells'C. Mark Twain 'sD. O. Henry 's43. With William Dean Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the scene, _____________ became the major trend in the seventiesand eighties of the nineteenth century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism44. While embracing the socialism of Marx, London also believed in the triumph of the strongest individuals. This contradiction is most vividly projected in the patently autobiographical novel ________ .A. The Call of the WildB. The Sea WolfC. Martin EdenD. The Iron Heel45 ________ is a novella about a young American girlwho gets“killed”by the winter in Rome, and it broughtHenry James international fame for the first time.A. The AmericanB. The EuropeansC. Daisy MillerD. The Portait of a LadyAnswers: 1-5 DBCDA 6-10 DBDCA 11-15 BAAAD 16-20 CBADA21-25 BCCCB 26-30 CBBBD 31-35 BABCA36-40 BCDBA 41-45 BACCCn Filling the following blanks with proper answers 1. Captain John Smith became the first American writer. 2. The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people.3. The first major intellectual spokesman of theMassachusetts Bay colony was John Cotton, sometimes called the Patriarch of New England ”4. Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, andtenth Muse. 5. Poor Richard ' Almanac is proverbs written by Benjamin Frankli n.6. Thomas Paine ' famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a Declaration for Independence.7. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration ofIndependencewith John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingsto n.8. Philip Freneau developed a natural, simple, andconcrete diction, best illustrated in such nature lyrics as “ The Wild Honey Suckle ” and The Indian Burying Ground ”.9. Philip Freneau has been called the Father of American she was nicknamed the an annual collection ofPoetry”.10. In Washington Irving ' Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.11. Cooper' enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprise the Leatherstocking tales12. To a Waterfowl”is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant' wok.13. Thanatopsis, William Cullen Bryant' best-known poem, consistsof four stanzas in iambic tetrameter abab. The title means view of death”.14. Edgar Allan Poe is considered “father of American detective stories and Ameican gothic stories. ”15. Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.16. In Walden Thoreau thought it better for a man to work one day a week and rest six, and the rest of the time could be devoted to thought.17. Hawthorne' stories touch the deepest roots of man' moral nature.18. Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seeminglysupernatural white whale.19. After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet' Corner _of Westminster Abbe y.20. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom' Cabin, had become an American institution and the most famous literary woman in the world.21. William Dean Howells found his subject matter in the experiences of the American middle class.22. William Dean Howells called for the treatment of the smiling aspects of life” as being the moreAmerica n.23. The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environment.24. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse.25. O • Henry"s stories are usually short and interesting; Famous for their surprising end.26. Henry James is famous for his international theme of the traditionless American confronting the complexity of European life.27. Jack London believed in the inevitable triumph of the strongest individuals.28. Dreiser' greatest and most successfulnovel, AnAmerican Tragedy, is about a young man who acts as if the only way he can be truly fulfilled is by acquiring wealth—through marriage if necessary.29. Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a Lost Generation,” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilizatio n.30. Wallace Stevens work is primarily motivated by the belief that ideas of orde”.31. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises Hemingway became the spokesman for what Gertrude Stein had called a lost generation”川Decide whether the statements are true or false (T/F).1. John Winthrop ' reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been regarded as the first distinct American literature written in English.2. In 1612, William Bradford published in England a book calledA Map of Virginia; With a description of the country.3. Philip Freneau was neoclassical by training and taste yet romantic in essential spirit.4. Ralph Waldo Emerson was recognizedas the leader of transcendentalistmovement, but he always applied theterm “Transcendentalis”t to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.5. To Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, the telling of a tale was a way of inquiring into the meaning of life.6. Walt Whitman was attacked in his lifetime for his offensive subject matter of sexuality and for his conventional style.7. Tom Sawyer walked out of Twain 's pages directly from his fresh memory of his boyhood in the west.8. Hurstwood is a character in Theodore Dreise'rs Sister Carrie.9. In the decade of the 1910s, American literature achieveda new diversity and reached its greatest heights.10. Edwin Arlington Robinson began his career as a novalist in bleakness and poverty.11. T he greatest of America's realists, such as Henry James and Mark Twain, moved well beyond a superficial portrayal of nineteenth-century America.12. H enry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or William Dean Howells.13.Sister Carrie is generally regarded as TheodoreDreiser's masterpiece.14. G enerally speaking, Jack London was much more interested in ideas than Stephen Crane and lesssentimental than Frank Norris.15. R alph Waldo Emerson's prose style was sometimes as highly individual as his poetry.16. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.17. Georgia, Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New England, all were named after French monarchs and lands.18. Benjamin Franklin was a prose stylist whose writing reflected the neoclassic ideals of clarity, restraint, simplicity and balance.19. The Fall of the House of Usheris one of Edgar Allan Poe's poems.20. The Scarlet Letteris set in the seventeenth century. It is an elaboration of a fact which the author took out of the life of the Puritan past.21. Walt Whitman was so great that he won respect and love during his lifetime for hisLeaves of Gras.s22. Many of O. Henry 's stories contain a lot of slang and colloquial expressions, just like his own speech.23. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or William Dean Howells.24. Robert Frost rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, and chose “the old-fashioned way to be new”instead.25. John Steinbeck's theme was usually that simple human virtues such as kindness and fair treatment were far superior to official hard-heartedness, or the dehumanizing cruelty of exploiters for their own commercial advantage.26. Transcendentalistsspoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society.27. Washington Irving was the first great belletrist, writing always for pleasure, and to produce pleasure. 28. James Fennimore Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea adventure tale and the frontier saga.29. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was conspicuously noticeable.30. “Young Goodman Brown”seemsto prove everyone possesses some evil secrets1-5 FFTFT 6-10FTTFF 11-15 TFFTT 16-20 FFTFT 21-25FFFTT 26-30 TTTTTIV Answer the following questions briefl y1. These are the times that try men's souls: The summersoldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he that standsit now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly—This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.Questions:(1) Which book is this passage taken from?(2) Who is the author of this book?(3) Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?(4) What do you think of the language?Answers:(1) The American Crisis.(2) Thomas Paine(3) Paine is praising those who stand“it”, it referring to “the service of their country”. In the meantime, Paine is criticizing those who shrink from the service of their country in this crisis.(4) The language is plain, impressive and forceful. Painehimself once said that his purpose as a writer was to use plain language to make those who can scarcely read understand and to fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question and nothing else.2. It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho, was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by Polynesians.In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now widly heightened by circumstance of the Town-Ho's story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his mates…Nevertheless, so potent and influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governedin this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod's main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record. Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) What is the name of the novelist?(3) Who is Ahab?(4) What is Pequod?(5) What is the theme of the novel?Answers:(1) Moby Dick(2) Herman Melville(3) The captain of the whaling ship(4) The name of the whaling ship(5) The rebellious struggle of Captain Ahab against the overwhelming, mysterious vastnessof the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces.3. When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediatebalance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human temper. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expressionpossible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasivelight in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appealto the astonishedsensesin equivocal terms. Without a counselorat hand to whisper cautious interpretations, what falsehoodsmay not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognized for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) How do you understand “the cosmopolitan standard of virtue”?(4) Is there any naturalist tendency in this passage? Answers:(1) Sister Carrie(2) Theodore Dreiser(3) “The cosmopolitan standard of virtue”is something that makes a person becomelow in virtue and become worse.(4) Yes.4. Briefly discuss the noveTlhe Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one of the greatest novels in American literature. It fully explores the disillusionment and despair of the lost generation through the personal tragedy of a young man whose “incorruptible Dream”is easily smashed into pieces by the crude reality. The protagonist, Gatsby, is a mythical figure whose intensity of dream partakes of a state of mind that embodies American itself. His failure magnifies the end of the American Dream. The style of the story is explicit and chilly. Fitzgerald's accurate dialogues, his careful observation of mannerism and the colorful images provide the reader with a vivid and profound scene of the reality.5. What are the three main principles that Ezra Pound endorsed?(1) Directly treat poetic subjects.(2) Eliminate merely ornamental or superfluous words.(3) Rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of metronome.6. Tell the differences between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman⑴ Emily Dickinson expresses the inner life of individuals, while Walt Whitman keeps his eyes on the society at large.(2) Emily Dickinson is regional", while Walt Whitman is national” in his outlook.(3) Formally, Emily Dickinson uses concise, simple dictions and syntax, while Walt Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs.V Essay Writing (这个部分给大家的答案只是罗列了回答的要点，要将其连缀成文，如果简单按复习题给的答案罗列，只得一半分数)1. Write a short essayabout the novel The Grapes ofWrathWriter: John Steinbeck----won Nobel Prize forLiterature in 1962; spoke for the oppressed and suffered Background information: (1) Oklahoma used to be a major agricultural state .In the 1930s, a draught ruined this place. People had to leave here to seek a way out. Many of them went to California in hope of finding jobs there to support their famil y. (2)The Great Depressio n. Meaning of title: (1) Hope to despair; (2) Wrath of people; (3) Indications of revolutio n.Theme: (1) Embodying the mass misery of farmers; (2) Praising the spirit of love and unity; (3) Advocating fight and struggle for better life.Structure: (1) Its structure is dictated by the bible; (2) There are two blocks of material: a. the westward trek of the Joads; b. the depressed Oklahomans, and the general picture of the Great Depression.Symbols: ⑴ dust---evil forces; (2) grapes---hop e rage2. Write a short essay about the novel A Farewell to Arms Writer: Hemingway --- (1) in 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize; (2) Main works: The Sun also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The old Manand the Sea. (3) His major contribution: a. Code hero---grace under pressure; b. Iceberg Theory--- economy of expression; (4) the lost generation Background information: World War n Theme: shows the filth, meaningless,calamity of war; the death, the nothingnessof life; the disillusionment with future, hope and love, happiness.The universe is indifferent. There is no God to watch over man. Characters: Henry--- initially detached fromlife --- though well-disciplined and friendly, he feels as if he has nothing to do with the war. After falling in love with Catherine he became a code hero in some way. Catherine---code hero: unfaltering devotion to Henry, brave, considerate, optimisticSymbols: rain---sadness, desperation, depression. It is raining outside almost every time something bad occurs. mud---nature's hostility to man.3. Write a short essay about the noveTl he Adventures of Tom SawyerAuthor: Mark Twain —the first truly American writer, a local colorist; he used short, concrete and colloquial language; his sentences are simple, and even ungrammatical; good at writing children's adventures;masterpiecesincluding: The Adventuresof Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer About the novel: The first famous novel about growing up and showing the contradictions between adults ' world and teenagersw'orld, a story of his seeking for freedom, fame, fortune, love, manhood; reveals the American values such as hero complex and American dream; records the rising Age of American Bourgeois system; bears the irony and satire toward the religion and rigid, didactic children education, which curbed theimagination of children and their innate nature for freedom and adventures and molded them into a stereotype of lifeless man.4. Comment briefly on Theodore Dreiser's theme and writing style?Theme: Dreiser's works are mainly concerned with the tragic nature of the human condition by depicting the coarse, vulgar, cruel, and terrible aspects of life like sex and crime.Style: In terms of style, Dreiser has sometimes been censured for his clumsy syntax, deficient characterization, and inept and dull prose. Yet his accumulated detail, carefully selected and faithfully recorded, is a technique ofpower. Like the other naturalists, he refused to judge—to consider people as good or evil. He clothes his concepts symbolically in the details of reality. It is his journalistic method that has made him one of America's foremost novelists.。
(0171)《美国文学史及选读》复习思考题答案
（0171）《美国文学史及选读》复习思考题答案I. Write out the authors’ names of the following works. (15)Benjamin Franklin T. S. EliotJames Cooper Walt WhitmanJames Baldwell Ernest HemingwayJoseph Heller John SteinbeckWilliam Faulkner Mark TwainWashington Irving Ernest HemingwayRobert Frost Toni MorrisonRalph Ellison Eugene O’NeillJohn Steinbeck Allan PoeF. Scott Fitzgerald Tennessee WilliamsWashington Irving Robert FrostNathaniel Hawthorne Herman MelvilleEugen e O’Neill Mark TwainWilliam Faulkner Robert FrostArthur Miller James CooperH. D. Thoreau Henry JamesWhitman Jack LondonJack London O’NeillII. Define the following literary terms. (20)Beat generation:The term was coined by Jack Kerouac in 1948 to refer to a group of disillusioned writers following World War Two. Later, this literary and cultural movement continued into the 1960s. The Beat Generation must not be confused with the Lost Generation of writers. Spokesmen and representatives of the Beat Generation were Jack Kerouac, AllenGinsberg and others. They revolted against an America that was materialistic, belligerent and frustrating. Social, intellectual and sexual freedom was advocated. Traditional culture and normal social behavior were attacked and violated. Many of them were drug addicts wearing long hair and dirty clothes. They were fond of slangs and jazz. Masterpieces created by writers of this group include Kerouac‟s On the Road and Ginsberg‟s Howl and Other Poems, which were regarded as pocket Bibles of that generation. Other prominent Beats include William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Michael McClure, and Neal Cassady. The Beat Generation, had greatly influenced the countercultural movements of the 1960s and the adolescents and adults in other countries. In England, the “angry young men” made an echo and imitated the American “beatnik.”Protagonist: the principal character in a play or story; the central character who serves as a focus fo r the work‟s themes and incidents and as the principal rationale for its development; and one who is opposed to the antagonist. In the beginning of ancient Greek drama, there were only a chorus and one actor—the leader of the chorus. Thespis invented the first actor. Then Aeschylus and Sophocles added the second and third actors to the tragedy respectively. The three actors were names Protagonist, Deuteragonist and Tritagonist. In discussions of modern literature, the protagonist is sometimes referred to as the hero or anti-hero.Biography:an account of a person‟s life written by somebody else, or biographical writing as a form of literature.Novel: Generally speaking, it is an imaginative prose narrative of extended length dealing with fictional characters and events. The constituent elements of a novel include plot, character, conflict, and setting. But there can be exceptions. Some novels are short. Some novels are not fictional. Some novels are in verse. And some novels do not even tell a story. There have been many debates over the appropriate length of a novel. No established length for a novel has been agreed upon. It is generally held, however, that a full-length novel is longer than a novella or short novel, and a short novel is longer than a shot story. A novel should be long enough so as to appear in print in an independent volume. The great length of a novel makes it possible for the characters and themes in it to be developed more fully and subtly.Antihero: a main character in a story, novel, play or film who behaves in a completely different way from what people expect a hero to do. A non-hero is without the qualities and features of atraditional or old-fashioned hero. He is doomed to fail. Antiheroes of early days were Don Quixote, Macbeth, Rip V an Winkle, and Tristram Shandy. Examples of antiheroes in modern literature include Leopold Bloom, Jim Dixon, Jimmy Porter, Herzog, and Y assarian.Free verse:a form of poetry without rhyme, meter, regular line length, and regular stanzaic structure. It depends on natural speech for rhythm. Robert Frost compared it to “playing tennis with the net down.” Though much simpler and less restrictive than conventional poetry and blank verse, free verse does no mean “formlessness.” T. S. Eliot once said that “no verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job.” Though its origin is unknown, it was attempted by such early poets as Surrey, Milton, Blake, and Macpherson. It was Whitman who did the greatest contribution to the development and popularity of free verse. Whitman favored the simplicity and freedom of expression. According to him, “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of light of letters is simplicity. Noting is better than simplic ity.”Drama: a form of literature written for actors to perform. A drama is divided into acts. An act can be subdivided into scenes. The constituent elements of a drama include dialogue, plot, characters, setting, stage direction, and others. A drama can be as long as three parts called trilogy, or as short as one act only. Greek drama originated in religious ceremonial in honor of Dionysus. Medieval drama developed out of rites celebrating the life events of Jesus Christ. Dramatists of great importance in literary history include Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Shaw. In America, the firs important dramatist was Eugene O‟Neill who wrote the first serious plays. Before O‟Neill, America had theatre. Starting from O‟Neill, it began to have drama.Jazz age: Jazz is a form of dance music that is derived from early Afro-American folk music, ragtime, and Negro blues. It is marked with exciting rhythm, pronounced syncopation, and constant improvisation. The musical instruments used are mainly drums, trumpets, and saxophones. Major composers of Jazz music include Irvin Berlin and W. C. Handy. The term Jazz Age was specifically employed by Fitzgerald to denote the 1920s, which was characterized by the loss of traditional moral standards, indulgence in romantic yearnings, and great social excitement. According to Malco lm Cowley, the Jazz Age was “a legend of glitter, of recklessness, and of talent in such profusion that it was sown broadcast like wild oats.” F. Scott Fitzgerald‟s Tales of the Jazz Age, like Mark Twain‟s The Gilded Age, was an epoch-making work.Autobiography: a story a writer writes about his or her own life experiences. It is narrated fromthe first-person point of view. The term was probably first used by Southey. But the first important autobiography was Confessions written by Augustine of Hippo. Othe r examples include Franklin‟s Autobiography, Adams‟s The Education of Henry Adams, John Stuart Mill‟s Autobiography, Carlyle‟s Reminiscences, Henry David Thoreau‟s Walden, and so on. Sometimes, an autobiography can be fictionalized. An example of this kind is Rousseau‟s Confessions. Some novels and long poems are used for autobiography. Joyce‟s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Whitman‟s “Song of Myself” and Wordsworth‟s The Prelude fall in this category. Dickens‟s David Copperfield, Lawrence‟s Sons and Lovers and O‟Neill‟s Long Day’s Journey into Night have strong autobiographical elements in them.Blank verse: poetry that does not rhyme but has iambic pentameter lines. Though not originated in England or America, it has been the most important and most widely used English verse form. Blank verse is popular because it is closest to the rhythm of daily English speech. Thus most English poems which are dramatic, reflective or narrative are in the form of blank verse. This verse was probably first used in England by Surrey who translated Aeneid, by Sackville and Norton who composed Gorboduc. It was developed and perfected by Marlowe, Shakespeare and Milton. In the 18th century, most poets favored heroic couplets. But Y oung and Thomson were able to write in the tradition of blank verse. The 19th century saw a renewed interest in this poetic form. Masters of blank verse included Wordsworth, Coleridge and Bryant. The fact that blank verse is still practiced by writers like T.S. Eliot, Y eats, Frost and Stevens shows how influential and favorable it really is.Black humor:a term frequently used in modern literary criticism. It is sometimes called …black comedy‟ or …tragic farce.‟ It is humor or laughter resulting from great pain, despair, horror and the absurdity of human existence. Black humor is a common quality of modern anti-novels and anti-dramas. Examples are Franz Kafka‟s stories like “Metamorphosis”, “The Castle” and “The Trial”, Joseph Heller‟s novel Catch-22and Albee‟s The Zoo Story. Other writers who did much contribution to the popularity of black humor were Beckett, Camus, Ionesco, V onnegut, Pynchon and so on.Head rhyme: the use in verse or prose of several words close together which all begin with the same letter. It is done for special musical effect comparable to the effects of end rhyme. In mostcases, alliteration is the repetition of identical initial consonant sounds. Examples are Pope‟s “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” Poe‟s “The weary, wayworn wanderer bore,” and Coleridge‟s“Five miles meandering with a mazy motion.” Alliteration of initial vowels is quite limited in number. An example of vowel alliteration is “It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.”Surprise Ending:Also called “O. Henry ending,” it is a completely unexpected turn or revelation of events at the conclusion of a story or play. An example is “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Another instance is O. Henry‟s story “The Gift of the Magi.”III. Give brief answers to the following questions. (15)1.Who is the father of American literature? (Consult your book)2.Who is the father of American poetry? (Consult your book)3.What is Poe‟s theory concerning poetry? (Consult your book)4.What is Poe‟s theory concerning the short story? (Consult your book)5.What are the major characteristics of Twain‟s writing style? (Consult your book)6.What are the major characteristics of Irving‟s writing style? (Consult your book)7.What is “black humor? (Consult your book)8.What is the Harlem Renaissance? (Consult your book)9.What is the New England Renaissance? (Consult your book)10.What are the major characteristics of colonial American literature? (See your book)11.What is the Lost Generation? (Consult your book)12.What are Benjamin Franklin‟s contributions to A merican culture? (See your book)13.Why is colonial American literature neither American nor literary? (See your book)14.What is the Jazz Age? (Consult your book)15.What is American transcendentalism? (Consult your book)16.What is imagism? (Consult your book)17.What is O. Henry Ending? (Consult your book)18.What is free verse? (Consult your book)IV. Read the following poem and try to understand and explain it.(20)FogTHE FOG comesOn little cat feet.It sits lookingOver harbor and cityOn silent haunchesAnd then moves on(An imagist poem by Carl Sandburg; depicting the fog and its movement; free verse written in the tradition of Whiman.)In a Station of the Metro(Ezra Pound)The Apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.( a poem of the Imagist school, written by Ezra Pound.)The Road Not T aken(By Robert Frost)TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,Though as for that, the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Y et knowing how way leads to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.(A poem by Robert Frost. It is about the difficulty of making a choice.)Dreams(by Langston Hughes)Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.(Consult your book)。
西南大学网络教育0171美国文学史及选读期末考试复习题及参考答案
0171美国文学史及选读1、艾伦坡（Edgar Allan Poe）的小说表现出怎样的艺术特征？答：作品主题爱伦·坡的恐怖小说带有浪漫主义的特色。
纵观爱伦·坡的恐怖小说创作，其故事主题大都“揭示了人类意识及潜意识中的阴暗面”，这一点显然迥异于同时代的其他浪漫主义作家。
爱伦·坡以恐怖小说这样一种特殊的文学形式深入刻画与呈现了非现实状态下人的精神状态和心理特征，试图“以非现实、非理性的表达方式来揭示现代人的精神因顿”。
他借助想象奇特、恐怖怪异的故事情节，通过夸张、隐喻和象征等修辞手段表现人性的危机，激起读者浓厚阅读兴趣的同时，震撼心灵，发人深省。
爱伦·坡的创作原则是其“效果说”理论，他选择“死亡”作为其文学创作的主题是由他的这个创作原则决定的。
坡认为，无论是创作诗歌还是小说，作家必须讲究效果的统一，必须时刻想到预定的结局，要使每一个情节变得必不可少。
他在《评霍桑的“故事重述”》中曾经这样阐述自己的创作原则：“聪明的艺术家不是将自己的思想纳入他的情节，而是事先精心策划，想出某种独特的、与众不同的效果，然后再杜撰出这样一些情节——他把这些情节联结起来，而他所做的一切都将最大限度地有利于实现在预先构思的效果”。
使“每一事件，每一描写细节，甚至一字一句都收到一定的统一效果，一个预想的效果，印象主义的效果”。
他强调作品对读者所能唤起的情绪和产生的效果。
在“创作的哲学”中，他认为，故事的首要目的是要在情感上扣住读者的心弦，产生最激动人心的效果。
死亡主题是通过谨严紧凑的结构和作品的简洁而表现的。
爱伦坡的作品形式精美，技巧圆熟。
爱伦坡在《评霍桑的“故事重述”》里，强调了作品的简洁和统一效果。
在写作中，他还平萍理留情节和结构的高度简洁，小说中通常只有两个，最多三个人物，也没有离题的枝节和无关的装饰品。
在他看来，一位技巧高明的文学家在写作之前，必须成竹在胸，深思熟虑，为实现预期效果而选择和组织情节，并且不应该有一个词的意向直接或间接与预先的构思无关。
西南大学《美国文学史及选读》复习思考题及答案
（0171）《美国文学史及选读》复习思考题I. Write out the authors’ names of the following works. (15)1. Poor Richard’s Almanac2. The Wasteland3. The Pioneers4. The Leaves of Grass5. Go Tell it on the Mountain6. For Whom the Bell Tolls?7. Catch 22 8. Of Mice and Men9. The Sound and the Fury 10.Huck Finn11. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 12. The Old Man and the Sea13. Mending Walls 14. Beloved15. Invisible Man 16. Beyond the Horizons17. Of Mice and Men 18. The Raven19. The Great Gatsby 20. The Streetcar Named Desire21. Rip van Winkle 22. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 23. The Scarlet Letter 24. Moby Dick25. Desire Under the Elms 26. The Gilded Age27. The Sound and Fury 28. The Road Not Taken29. The Death of a Salesman 30. The Pathfinder31. Walden 32. Daisy Miller33. Song of Myself 34. The Call of the Wild35. Martin Eden 36. Long Day’s Journey into NightII. Define the following literary terms. (20)1. Beat Generation2. Protagonist3. Biography4. Novel5. Anti-hero6. Free Verse7. Drama 8. Jazz Age9. Biography 10. Blank Verse11. Black Humor 12. Head Rhyme13. Surprise ending 14. Transcendentalism15. Imagery 16. Stream of Consciousness17. Lost Generation 18. Short storyIII. Give brief answers to the following questions. (15)1.Who is the father of American literature?2.Who is the father of American poetry?3.What is Poe’s theory concerning poetry?4.What is Poe’s theory concerning the short story?5.What are the major characteristics of Twain’s writing style?6.What are the major characteristics of Irving’s writing style?7.What is “black humor?8.What is the Harlem Renaissance?9.What is the New England Renaissance?10.What are the major characteristics of colonial American literature?11.What is the Lost Generation?12.What are Benjamin Franklin’s contributions to American culture?13.Why is colonial American literature neither American nor literary?14.What is the Jazz Age?15.What is American transcendentalism?16.What is imagism?17.What is O. Henry Ending?18.What is free verse?IV. Read the following poem and try to understand and explain it.(20)FogTHE FOG comesOn little cat feet.It sits lookingOver harbor and cityOn silent haunchesAnd then moves onIn a Station of the Metro(Ezra Pound)The Apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.(Consult your book)The Road Not Taken(By Robert Frost)TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, Though as for that, the passing thereHad worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference. (Consult your book)Dreams(by Langston Hughes)Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.(Consult your book)（0171）《美国文学史及选读》复习思考题答案I. Write out the authors’ names of the following works. (15)Benjamin Franklin T. S. EliotJames Cooper Walt WhitmanJames Baldwell Ernest HemingwayJoseph Heller John SteinbeckWilliam Faulkner Mark TwainWashington Irving Ernest HemingwayRobert Frost Toni MorrisonRalph Ellison Eugene O’NeillJohn Steinbeck Allan PoeF. Scott Fitzgerald Tennessee WilliamsWashington Irving Robert FrostNathaniel Hawthorne Herman MelvilleEugene O’Neill Mark TwainWilliam Faulkner Robert FrostArthur Miller James CooperH. D. Thoreau Henry JamesWhitman Jack LondonJack London O’NeillII. Define the following literary terms. (20)Beat generation:The term was coined by Jack Kerouac in 1948 to refer to a group of disillusioned writers following World War Two. Later, this literary and cultural movement continued into the 1960s. The Beat Generation must not be confused with the Lost Generation of writers. Spokesmen and representatives of the Beat Generation were Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and others. They revolted against an America that was materialistic, belligerent and frustrating. Social, intellectual and sexual freedom was advocated. Traditional culture and normal social behavior were attacked and violated. Many of them were drug addicts wearing long hair and dirty clothes. They were fond of slangs and jazz. Masterpieces created by writers of this group include Kerouac’s On the Road and Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems, which were regarded as pocket Bibles of that generation. Other prominent Beats include William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Michael McClure, and Neal Cassady. The Beat Generation, had greatly influenced the countercultural movements of the 1960s and the adolescents and adults in other countries. In England, the “angry young men” made an echo and imitated the American “beatnik.”Protagonist: the principal character in a play or story; the central character who serves as a focus for the work’s themes and incidents and as the principal rationale for its development; and one who is opposed to the antagonist. In the beginning of ancient Greek drama, there were only a chorus and one actor—the leader of the chorus. Thespis invented the first actor. Then Aeschylus and Sophocles added the second and third actors to the tragedy respectively. The three actors were names Protagonist, Deuteragonist and Tritagonist. In discussions of modern literature, the protagonist is sometimes referred to as the hero or anti-hero.Biography:an account of a person’s life written by somebody else, or biographical writing as aform of literature.Novel: Generally speaking, it is an imaginative prose narrative of extended length dealing with fictional characters and events. The constituent elements of a novel include plot, character, conflict, and setting. But there can be exceptions. Some novels are short. Some novels are not fictional. Some novels are in verse. And some novels do not even tell a story. There have been many debates over the appropriate length of a novel. No established length for a novel has been agreed upon. It is generally held, however, that a full-length novel is longer than a novella or short novel, and a short novel is longer than a shot story. A novel should be long enough so as to appear in print in an independent volume. The great length of a novel makes it possible for the characters and themes in it to be developed more fully and subtly.Antihero: a main character in a story, novel, play or film who behaves in a completely different way from what people expect a hero to do. A non-hero is without the qualities and features of a traditional or old-fashioned hero. He is doomed to fail. Antiheroes of early days were Don Quixote, Macbeth, Rip Van Winkle, and Tristram Shandy. Examples of antiheroes in modern literature include Leopold Bloom, Jim Dixon, Jimmy Porter, Herzog, and Yassarian.Free verse:a form of poetry without rhyme, meter, regular line length, and regular stanzaic structure. It depends on natural speech for rhythm. Robert Frost compared it to “playing tennis with the net down.” Though much simpler and less restrictive than conventional poetry and blank verse, free verse does no mean “formlessness.” T. S. Eliot once said that “no verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job.” Though its origin is unknown, it was attempted by such early poets as Surrey, Milton, Blake, and Macpherson. It was Whitman who did the greatest contribution to the development and popularity of free verse. Whitman favored the simplicity and freedom of expression. According to him, “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of light of letters is simplicity. Not ing is better than simplicity.”Drama: a form of literature written for actors to perform. A drama is divided into acts. An act can be subdivided into scenes. The constituent elements of a drama include dialogue, plot, characters, setting, stage direction, and others. A drama can be as long as three parts called trilogy, or as short as one act only. Greek drama originated in religious ceremonial in honor of Dionysus. Medieval drama developed out of rites celebrating the life events of Jesus Christ. Dramatists of great importance in literary history include Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Shaw. In America, thefirs important dramatist was Eugene O’Neill who wrote the first serious plays. Before O’Neill, America had theatre. Starting from O’Neill, it began to have drama.Jazz age: Jazz is a form of dance music that is derived from early Afro-American folk music, ragtime, and Negro blues. It is marked with exciting rhythm, pronounced syncopation, and constant improvisation. The musical instruments used are mainly drums, trumpets, and saxophones. Major composers of Jazz music include Irvin Berlin and W. C. Handy. The term Jazz Age was specifically employed by Fitzgerald to denote the 1920s, which was characterized by the loss of traditional moral standards, indulgence in romantic yearnings, and great social excitement. According to Malcolm Cowley, the Jazz Age was “a legend of glitter, of recklessness, and of talent in such profusion that it was sown broadcast like wild oats.” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tales of the Jazz Age, like Mark Twain’s The Gilded Age, was an epoch-making work.Autobiography: a story a writer writes about his or her own life experiences. It is narrated from the first-person point of view. The term was probably first used by Southey. But the first important autobiography was Confessions written by Augustine of Hippo. Other examples include Franklin’s Autobiography, Adams’s The Education of Henry Adams, John Stuart Mill’s Autobiography, Carlyle’s Reminiscences, Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, and so on. Sometimes, an autobiography can be fictionalized. An example of this kind is Rousseau’s Confessions. Some novels and long poems are used for autobiography. Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Whitman’s “Song of Myself” and Wordsworth’s The Prelude fall in this category. Dickens’s David Copperfield, Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers and O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night have strong autobiographical elements in them.Blank verse: poetry that does not rhyme but has iambic pentameter lines. Though not originated in England or America, it has been the most important and most widely used English verse form. Blank verse is popular because it is closest to the rhythm of daily English speech. Thus most English poems which are dramatic, reflective or narrative are in the form of blank verse. This verse was probably first used in England by Surrey who translated Aeneid, by Sackville and Norton who composed Gorboduc. It was developed and perfected by Marlowe, Shakespeare and Milton. In the 18th century, most poets favored heroic couplets. But Young and Thomson were able to write in the tradition of blank verse. The 19th century saw a renewed interest in this poetic form. Masters of blank verse included Wordsworth, Coleridge and Bryant. The fact that blank verse isstill practiced by writers like T.S. Eliot, Yeats, Frost and Stevens shows how influential and favorable it really is.Black humor:a term frequently used in modern literary criticism. It is sometimes called ‘black comedy’ or ‘tragic farce.’ It is humor or laughter resulting from great pain, despair, horror and the absurdity of human existence. Black humor is a common quality of modern anti-novels and anti-dramas. Examples are Franz Kafka’s stories like “Metamorphosis”, “The Castle” and “The Tria l”, Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22and Albee’s The Zoo Story. Other writers who did much contribution to the popularity of black humor were Beckett, Camus, Ionesco, V onnegut, Pynchon and so on.Head rhyme: the use in verse or prose of several words close together which all begin with the same letter. It is done for special musical effect comparable to the effects of end rhyme. In most cases, alliteration is the repetition of identical initial consonant sounds. Examples are Pope’s “For fools rush in where an gels fear to tread,” Poe’s “The weary, wayworn wanderer bore,” and Coleridge’s “Five miles meandering with a mazy motion.” Alliteration of initial vowels is quite limited in number. An example of vowel alliteration is “It is impossible to enjoy idling thor oughly unless one has plenty of work to do.”Surprise Ending:Also called “O. Henry ending,” it is a completely unexpected turn or revelation of events at the conclusion of a story or play. An example is “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Another instanc e is O. Henry’s story “The Gift of the Magi.”III. Give brief answers to the following questions. (15)19.Who is the father of American literature? (Consult your book)20.Who is the father of American poetry? (Consult your book)21.What is Poe’s theory concerning p oetry? (Consult your book)22.What is Poe’s theory concerning the short story? (Consult your book)23.What are the major characteristics of Twain’s writing style? (Consult your book)24.What are the major characteristics of Irving’s writing style? (Consult your book)25.What is “black humor? (Consult your book)26.What is the Harlem Renaissance? (Consult your book)27.What is the New England Renaissance? (Consult your book)28.What are the major characteristics of colonial American literature? (See your book)29.What is the Lost Generation? (Consult your book)30.What are Benjamin Franklin’s contributions to American culture? (See your book)31.Why is colonial American literature neither American nor literary? (See your book)32.What is the Jazz Age? (Consult your book)33.What is American transcendentalism? (Consult your book)34.What is imagism? (Consult your book)35.What is O. Henry Ending? (Consult your book)36.What is free verse? (Consult your book)IV. Read the following poem and try to understand and explain it.(20)FogTHE FOG comesOn little cat feet.It sits lookingOver harbor and cityOn silent haunchesAnd then moves on(An imagist poem by Carl Sandburg; depicting the fog and its movement; free verse written in the tradition of Whiman.)In a Station of the Metro(Ezra Pound)The Apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.( a poem of the Imagist school, written by Ezra Pound.)The Road Not Taken(By Robert Frost)TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,Though as for that, the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.(A poem by Robert Frost. It is about the difficulty of making a choice.)Dreams(by Langston Hughes)Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.(Consult your book)。
美国文学史期末考试复习题.doc
美国文学史期末考试复习题可以参考课本及其他复习资料一、名词解释（交代背景、内容/特点、代表人物/作品）1. American Realism2. Black Humor3. Henry James’s international theme4. Beat Generation5. American Puritanism6. Transcendentalism7. Themes of Henry James’s writing8. The Lost Generation二、回答问题1. What are the characteristics of American romanticism？2. How is the Darwinian belief in naturalism opposed to the Christian creationist view? What is the determinist view of existence that informs naturalism? What are the implications of this view on ethics?3. What are the philosophical foundations and characteristics of American naturalism?4. What are the important point s for Hawthorne’s style?5. What is the predominant mood in Poe’s poetry? Discuss with two poems as examples.6. What are the parameters of American Realism?7. How is Thoreau revolt manifested both in his social actions and his writing? What is the nature of his revolt?8. The age of American realism is divided into two more periods. What are the periods called? What are the characteristics and who are the representatives of each period?。
美国文学期末复习题
2013-2014-1 美国文学史及选读期末复习材料实用标准文案Ⅰ Multiple choices1. Which is not connected with Thomas Paine?A. Common SenseB. The American CrisisC. The Rights of ManD. The Autobiography2. “These are the times that try men’s souls”, these words were once read to Washington’s troops and did much to spur excitement to further action with hope and confidence. Who is the author of these words?A.Benjamin FranklinB. Thomas PaineC. Thomas JeffersonD. George Washington3. At the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the ______.A. Chartist MovementB. Romanticist MovementC. Enlightenment MovementD. Modernist Movement4. In American literature, the Enlighteners were favorable to______.A. the colonial orderB. religious obscurantismC. the Puritan traditionD. the secular literature5. The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parent country and the Continental Congress adopted ______ in 1776.A. Declaration of IndependenceB. the Sugar ActC. the Stamp ActD. the Mayflower Compact6. ______ usually was regarded as the first American writer.A. William BradfordB. Anne BradstreetC. Emily DickinsonD. Captain John Smith7. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made such a stir in England that she became known as the “______” who appeared in America.A. Ninth MuseB. Tenth MuseC. Best MuseD. First Muse8. Who was considered as the “poet of American Revolution”?A. Anne BradstreetB. Edward TaylorC. Michael WigglesworthD. Philip Freneau9. In 1817, the stately poem called Thanatopsis introduced the best poet ______ to appear in America up to that time.A. Edward TaylorB. Philip FreneauC. William Cullen BryantD. Edgar Allen Poe10. The finest example of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s symbolism is the recreation of Puritan Boston in ______.A. The Scarlet LetterB. Young Goodman BrownC. The Marble FaunD. The Ambitious Guest11. “The universe is composed of Nature and the soul… Spirit is present everywhere”. This is the voice of the book Nature written by Emerson, which pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England ______.A. RomanticismB. TranscendentalismC. NaturalismD. Symbolism12. Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism?A. NatureB. WaldenC. On BeautyD. Self-Reliance实用标准文案 13. Mark Twain created, in _________, a masterpiece of American realism that is also one of the great books of world literature.A. The Adventure of Huckleberry FinnB. The Adventure of Tom SawyerC. The Man That Corrupted HadleyburgD. The Gilded Age14. _________ marks the climax of Mark Twain ’s literary creativity.A . The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn B. The Gilded AgeC. Life on the MississippiD. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer15. Choose the novel which is not written by Henry James.A. The AmbassadorsB. The Wings of the DoveC. The BostoniansD. The Mysterious Stranger16. Generally speaking, all those writers with a naturalistic approach to human reality tend to be _________.A. transcendentalistsB. idealistsC. pessimistsD. impressionists17. Ezra Pound ’s long poem _________ contained more than one hundred poems loosely connected.A. The Waste LandB. The CantosC. Don JuanD. Queen Mab18. T. S. Eliot ’s first major poem _________(1917), has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes19. Ernest Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse. These two persons later became the characters of his novel _________.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. For Whom the Bell TollsC. The Sun Also RisesD. A Farewell to Arms20. In William Faulkner ’s The Sound and the Fury , he used a technique called _________, in which the whole story was told through the thoughts of one character.A. stream of consciousnessB. imagismC. symbolismD. naturalism21. Led by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and ______, there arose a kind of teachings of transcendentalism in the early nineteenth century.A. Herman MelvilleB. Henry David ThoreauC. Mark TwainD. Theodore Dreiser22. A New ______ had appeared in England in the last years of the eighteenth century. It spread to continental Europe and then came to America early in the nineteenth century.A. realismB. critical realismC. romanticismD. naturalism23. From Henry David Thoreau ’s jail experience, came his famous essay, ______ which states Thoreau ’s belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Sense24. Mark Twain, one of the greatest 19th century American writers, is well known for his _________.A. international themeB. waste-land imageryC. local colorD. symbolism25. Herman Melville ’s ______ is an encyclopedia of everything: history, philosophy religion, etc. in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. Moby DickC. White Jacket C . Billy Budd26. The ship “______” carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.A. SunflowerB. ArmadaC. MayflowerD. Pequod实用标准文案 27. From 1733 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous ______, an annual collection of proverbs.A. The AutobiographyB. Poor Richard ’s AlmanacC. Common SenseD. The General Magazine28. In American literature, the eighteen-century was the age of the Enlightenment. ______ was the dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. RationalismC. RevolutionD. Evolution29. ______ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.A. Henry David ThoreauB. Ralph Waldo EmersonC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Walt Whitman30. Edgar Allen Poe ’s first collection of short stories is ______.A. Tales of a TravelerB. Leatherstocking TalesC. Canterbury TalesD. Tales of the Grotesque of Arabesque31. ______ was a romanticized account of Herman Melville ’s stay among the Polynesians. The success of the book soon made Melville well known as the “man who lived among cannibals ”.A. Moby DickB. TypeeC. OmooD. Billy Budd32. Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence ”?A. The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. The Conduct of LifeD. Representative Men33. The three dominant figures of the realistic period in American literature are _________.A. Theodore Dreiser, Emily Dickinson and William Dean HowellsB. Mark Twain, Henry James and William Dean HowellsC. Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser and William Dean HowellsD. Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson and William Dean Howells34. American literature produced only one female poet during the nineteenth century. This was _________.A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickinsonD. Harriet Beecher35. In 1900, London published his first collection of short stories, named _________.A. The Son of the WolfB. The Sea WolfC. The Law of LifeD. White Fang36. In Henry James ’ Daisy Miler , the author tries to portray the young woman as an embodiment of _________.A. the force of conventionB. the free spirit of the New WorldC. the decline of aristocracyD. the corruption of the newly rich37. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” This is the shortest poem written by _________.A. T.S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD.E.E.Cumings38. The Fitzgerald lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than F. Scot Fitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as _________.A. The Roaring TwentiesB. The Jazz AgeC. The Dollar DecadeD. all of the above39. In 1954, _________ was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his “mastery of the art of modern narration ”.A. T.S EliotB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faukner40. William Faukner ’s novel _________ describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family, symbolizing the old social order, told from four different points of view.A. The Sound and the FuryB. Startoris实用标准文案 C. The Unvanquished D. The Town41. “The Lure of the Spirit: The Flesh in Pursuit ” is the title of one chapter in Dreiser ’s novel _________.A. An American DreamB. Sister CarrieC. Dreiser Looks at RussiaD. Jannie Gerhardt42. The main theme of _________ The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo that representation of life should be the main object of the novel.A. Henry James ’B. William Dean Howells ’C. Mark Twain ’sD. O. Henry ’s43. With William Dean Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the scene, _________became the major trend in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism44. While embracing the socialism of Marx, London also believed in the triumph of the strongest individuals. This contradiction is most vividly projected in the patently autobiographical novel _________.A. The Call of the WildB. The Sea WolfC. Martin EdenD. The Iron Heel45_________ is a novella about a young American girl who gets “killed ” by the winter in Rome, and it brought Henry James international fame for the first time.A. The AmericanB. The EuropeansC. Daisy MillerD. The Portait of a LadyAnswers: 1-5 DBCDA 6-10 DBDCA 11-15 BAAAD 16-20 CBADA21-25 BCCCB 26-30 CBBBD 31-35 BABCA 36-40 BCDBA 41-45 BACCCⅡ Filling the following blanks with proper answers1. Captain John Smith became the first American writer.2. The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people.3. The first major intellectual spokesman of the Massachusetts Bay colony was John Cotton, sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England.”4. Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America , and she was nicknamed the tenth Muse.5. Poor Richard ’s Almanac is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.6. Thomas Paine ’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence ”.7. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.8. Philip Freneau developed a natural, simple, and concrete diction, best illustrated in such nature lyrics as “The Wild Honey Suckle ” and “The Indian Burying Ground ”.9. Philip Freneau has been called the “Father of American Poetry ”.10. In Washington Irving ’s Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.11. Cooper ’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprise the Leatherstocking tales .12. “To a Waterfowl ” is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant ’s wok.13. “Thanatopsis ”, William Cullen Bryant ’s best-known poem, consists of four stanzas in iambic tetrameter abab. The title means “view of death ”.14. Edgar Allan Poe is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories ”.实用标准文案 15. Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.16. In Walden , Thoreau thought it better for a man to work one day a week and rest six, and the rest of the time could be devoted to thought.17. Hawthorne ’s stories touch the deepest roots of man ’s moral nature.18. Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.19. After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet ’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.20. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom ’s Cabin , had become an American institution and the most famous literary woman in the world.21. William Dean Howells found his subject matter in the experiences of the American middle class.22. William Dean Howells called for the treatment of the “smiling aspects of life ” as being the more “American.”23. The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environment.24. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse.25. O ·Henry ’s stories are usually short and interesting; Famous for their surprising end.26. Henry James is famous for his international theme of the traditionless American confronting the complexity of European life.27. Jack London believed in the inevitable triumph of the strongest individuals.28. Dreiser ’s greatest and most successful novel, An American Tragedy, is about a young man who acts as if the only way he can be truly fulfilled is by acquiring wealth —through marriage if necessary.29. Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a “Lost Generation,” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.30. Wallace Stevens ’ work is primarily motivated by the belief that “ideas of order ”.31. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises , Hemingway became the spokesman for what Gertrude Stein had called “a lost generation.”Ⅲ Decide whether the statements are true or false (T/F).1. John Winthrop ’s reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been regarded as the first distinct American literature written in English.2. In 1612, William Bradford published in England a book called A Map of Virginia ; With a description of the country.3. Philip Freneau was neoclassical by training and taste yet romantic in essential spirit.4. Ralph Waldo Emerson was recognized as the leader of transcendentalist movement, but he always applied the term “Transcendentalist ” to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.5. To Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, the telling of a tale was a way of inquiring into the meaning of life.6. Walt Whitman was attacked in his lifetime for his offensive subject matter of sexuality and for his conventional style.7. Tom Sawyer walked out of Twain ’s pages directly from his fresh memory of his boyhood in the west.8. Hurstwood is a character in Theodore Dreiser ’s Sister Carrie .9. In the decade of the 1910s, American literature achieved a new diversity and reached its greatest heights.10. Edwin Arlington Robinson began his career as a novalist in bleakness and poverty.实用标准文案 11.The greatest of America ’s realists, such as Henry James and Mark Twain, moved well beyond a superficial portrayal of nineteenth-century America.12.Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or William Dean Howells.13.Sister Carrie is generally regarded as Theodore Dreiser ’s masterpiece.14.Generally speaking, Jack London was much more interested in ideas than Stephen Crane and less sentimental than Frank Norris.15.Ralph Waldo Emerson ’s prose style was sometimes as highly individual as his poetry.16. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.17. Georgia, Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New England, all were named after French monarchs and lands.18. Benjamin Franklin was a prose stylist whose writing reflected the neoclassic ideals of clarity, restraint, simplicity and balance.19. The Fall of the House of Usher is one of Edgar Allan Poe ’s poems.20. The Scarlet Letter is set in the seventeenth century. It is an elaboration of a fact which the author took out of the life of the Puritan past.21. Walt Whitman was so great that he won respect and love during his lifetime for his Leaves of Grass .22. Many of O. Henry ’s stories contain a lot of slang and colloquial expressions, just like his own speech.23. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or William Dean Howells.24. Robert Frost rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, and chose “the old-fashioned way to be new ” instead.25. John Steinbeck ’s theme was usually that simple human virtues such as kindness and fair treatment were far superior to official hard-heartedness, or the dehumanizing cruelty of exploiters for their own commercial advantage.26. Transcendentalists spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society.27. Washington Irving was the first great belletrist, writing always for pleasure, and to produce pleasure.28. James Fennimore Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea adventure tale and the frontier saga.29. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was conspicuously noticeable.30. “Young Goodman Brown ” seems to prove everyone possesses some evil secrets1-5 FFTFT 6-10FTTFF 11-15 TFFTT 16-20 FFTFT 21-25FFFTT 26-30 TTTTTⅣ Answer the following questions briefly.1. These are the times that try men ’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly —This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.Questions:(1)Which book is this passage taken from?实用标准文案 (2)Who is the author of this book?(3)Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?(4)What do you think of the language?Answers:(1) The American Crisis.(2) Thomas Paine(3) Paine is praising those who stand “it ”, it referring to “the service of their country ”. In the meantime, Paine is criticizing those who shrink from the service of their country in this crisis.(4) The language is plain, impressive and forceful. Paine himself once said that his purpose as a writer was to use plain language to make those who can scarcely read understand and to fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question and nothing else.2. It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho, was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now widly heightened by circumstance of the Town-Ho ’s story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his mates …Nevertheless, so potent and influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod ’s main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record.Questions:(1)From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) What is the name of the novelist?(3) Who is Ahab?(4) What is Pequod?(5) What is the theme of the novel?Answers:(1) Moby Dick(2) Herman Melville(3) The captain of the whaling ship(4) The name of the whaling ship(5) The rebellious struggle of Captain Ahab against the overwhelming, mysterious vastness of the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces.3. When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human temper. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished实用标准文案 by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper cautious interpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognized for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) How do you understand “the cosmopolitan standard of virtue ”?(4) Is there any naturalist tendency in this passage?Answers:(1)Sister Carrie(2) Theodore Dreiser(3) “The cosmopolitan standard of virtue ” is something that makes a person become low in virtue and become worse.(4) Yes.4. Briefly discuss the novel The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one of the greatest novels in American literature. It fully explores the disillusionment and despair of the lost generation through the personal tragedy of a young man whose “incorruptible Dream ” is easily smashed into pieces by the crude reality. The protagonist, Gatsby, is a mythical figure whose intensity of dream partakes of a state of mind that embodies American itself. His failure magnifies the end of the American Dream. The style of the story is explicit and chilly. Fitzgerald ’s accurate dialogues, his careful observation of mannerism and the colorful images provide the reader with a vivid and profound scene of the reality.5. What are the three main principles that Ezra Pound endorsed?(1) Directly treat poetic subjects.(2) Eliminate merely ornamental or superfluous words.(3) Rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of metronome.6. Tell the differences between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman(1) Emily Dickinson expresses the inner life of individuals, while Walt Whitman keeps his eyes on the society at large.(2) Emily Dickinson is “regional ”, while Walt Whitman is “national ” in his outlook.(3) Formally, Emily Dickinson uses concise, simple dictions and syntax, while Walt Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs.Ⅴ Essay Writing (这个部分给大家的答案只是罗列了回答的要点，要将其连缀成文，如果简单按复习题给的答案罗列，只得一半分数)1. Write a short essay about the novel The Grapes of WrathWriter: John Steinbeck----won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962; spoke for the oppressed and suffered实用标准文案 Background information: (1) Oklahoma used to be a major agricultural state. In the 1930s, a draught ruined this place. People had to leave here to seek a way out. Many of them went to California in hope of finding jobs there to support their family. (2)The Great Depression.Meaning of title: (1) Hope to despair; (2) Wrath of people; (3) Indications of revolution. Theme: (1) Embodying the mass misery of farmers; (2) Praising the spirit of love and unity; (3) Advocating fight and struggle for better life.Structure: (1) Its structure is dictated by the bible; (2) There are two blocks of material: a. the westward trek of the Joads; b. the depressed Oklahomans, and the general picture of the Great Depression.Symbols: (1) dust---evil forces; (2) grapes---hope →rage2. Write a short essay about the novel A Farewell to ArmsWriter: Hemingway---- (1) in 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize; (2) Main works: The Sun also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The old Man and the Sea. (3) His major contribution: a. Code hero---grace under pressure; b. Iceberg Theory--- economy of expression;(4) the lost generationBackground information: World War ⅡTheme: shows the filth, meaningless, calamity of war; the death, the nothingness of life; the disillusionment with future, hope and love, happiness. The universe is indifferent. There is no God to watch over man.Characters: Henry--- initially detached from life----though well-disciplined and friendly, he feels as if he has nothing to do with the war. After falling in love with Catherine he became a code hero in some way. Catherine---code hero: unfaltering devotion to Henry, brave, considerate, optimisticSymbols: rain---sadness, desperation, depression. It is raining outside almost every time something bad occurs. mud---nature's hostility to man.3. Write a short essay about the novel The Adventures of Tom SawyerAuthor: Mark Twain —the first truly American writer, a local colorist; he used short, concrete and colloquial language; his sentences are simple, and even ungrammatical; good at writing children ’s adventures; masterpieces including: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom SawyerAbout the novel: The first famous novel about growing up and showing the contradictions between adults ’ world and teenagers ’ world, a story of his seeking for freedom, fame, fortune, love, manhood; reveals the American values such as hero complex and American dream; records the rising Age of American Bourgeois system; bears the irony and satire toward the religion and rigid, didactic children education, which curbed the imagination of children and their innate nature for freedom and adventures and molded them into a stereotype of lifeless man.4. Comment briefly on Theodore Dreiser ’s theme and writing style?Theme: Dreiser ’s works are mainly concerned with the tragic nature of the human condition by depicting the coarse, vulgar, cruel, and terrible aspects of life like sex and crime.Style: In terms of style, Dreiser has sometimes been censured for his clumsy syntax, deficient characterization, and inept and dull prose. Yet his accumulated detail, carefully selected and faithfully recorded, is a technique of power. Like the other naturalists, he refused to judge —to consider people as good or evil. He clothes his concepts symbolically in the details of reality. It is his journalistic method that has made him one of America ’s foremost novelists.实用标准文案。
美国文学史及选读
• 13.The National Day for Americans is ……？
• July 4th 1775 • June 4th 1775 • July 4th 1776 • June 4th 1776
• July 4th 1776
▪ 14.An important document was announced on that day. It is ……？
▪ 11.How did “ Thanksgiving Day” come into being?
▪ To memorize the helps given by Indianans.
The Last of the Mohicans
▪ 12.New England were ……？
▪ In the Southeast. Northwest. Northeast. Southwest.
• 16.The spirit highlighted in the Declaration of Independence is ?
• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
▪ 21.The full name of MIT ? ▪ Massachusetts Institute of Technology
美国文学史及选读期末复习题
1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer。
2.The puritans looked upon themselves asa chosen people.is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.4.Thomas Paine’s famousboldly advo cated a “Declaration for Independence”。
5.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams，Benjamin Franklin，Roger Sherman，and Robert Livingston.has been called the “Father of American Poetry”.7.In Washington Ir ving’sappeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.8.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novelsWilliam Cullen Bryant’s wok.is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories"。
10.Emerson believed above all inand self—reliance.11.deepest12.Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale. 13.After his death，Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey。
南京师范大学《美国文学史及选读 》期末考试试卷(A卷)
专业课复习资料（最新版）封面《美国文学史及选读》期末考试试卷（A卷）学院班级学号姓名成绩题号一二三四五六七八九十总分分数得分Ⅰ.Write the names of the authors.(10%)1.Walden2.Maggie,A Girl of the Streets3.A Farewell to Arms4.White Fang5.“Legend of Sleepy Hollow”6.The Cantos7.“Birches”8.Poor Richard’s Almanac9.“One’s Self I sing”10.Twice Told Tales得分Ⅱ.Fill in the following blanks.(10%)1._________________________was one of the founders of the Jamestown colony in Virginia in1607and is known for his work describing the colonies.2.__________________________was a determined revolutionary whose work helped the cause ofthe American Revolution considerably,but who lost his popularity long before his death.3.The term refers to the group ofpeople,some of them important to American literature(especially secular essay writing), who led the American Revolution and helped create the early American Republic.4.________________________was an early form of horror fiction that originated in18thcentury Europe and was very popular in America during the Romantic Period.5._____________________________,known for her deeply personal poems and radicallydifferent poetic themes and form,didn’t achieve fame as a poet until long after her death.得分Ⅲ.Choose only one answer form the four choices as the most appropriate answer.(15%)1.Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet.When her poems were published in England,she became know as the“______”who appeared in America.A Ninth MuseB Tenth MuseC Best MuseD First Muse2.______is the sometimes exaggerated use of local language,characters and customs in regional literature.A purple proseB waste-land imageryC local colorD symbolism3.The first great flourishing of African American literature that appealed to a relatively large literate Black readership was known as_____.A The HolocaustB The Harlem RenaissanceC AbolitionismD The Civil Rights Movement4._______was a leading19th century feminist and one of the core members of the Transcendentalist movement.A Margaret FullerB Sylvia PlathC Hilda DoolittleD Gloria Stein5.Which of the following is not typical of modern poetry?A gushing sentimentalism and comfortable imagesB abandonment of earlier verse formsC use of free verseD an effort to find and/or explore a new role for the poet in a changing world6.Who was perhaps the most popular of all20th century American poets?A Ezra PoundB Walt WhitmanC Robert FrostD Allen Ginsburg7.The Fitzgeralds lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than F.Scoot Fitzgerald earned for parties,liquor,entertaining their friends and traveling.It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the1920s as_______.A The Jazz AgeB The Gilded AgeC The Roaring AgeD The Beat Age8.Which is true of the“Fireside Poets”?A They were generally strongly in favor of abolishing slavery.B They were deeply involved in the Transcendentalist movement.C They were a group of19th century New England poets who were tremendously popular and respected at the time they wrote.D They opposed to tradition and were in favor of radical change.9.Ernest Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love witha nurse.These two persons later became the characters of his novel________.A The Old Man and the SeaB For Whom the Bell TollsC The Sun Also RisesD Farewell to Arms10.The Brahmists or Boston Brahmi,in American literature,refers to_______.A The highest ranking of the Hindu castes.B A movement that emerged from rebellion against Puritan religious ideas and systems.C A group of New England writers known for their scholarship and/or conservative philosophy.D A school of imaginative writing.11.Which of the following is one of Ben Franklin’s famous proverbs?A“A stitch in time saves nine”B“God helps those who help themselves”C“A Friend in need is a friend indeed”D“Ask not who the bell tolls,the bell tolls for thee”12.___________was a reaction to the ideas of the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment.A RomanticismB RealismC NaturalismD Modernism13.Although her poems were never published in her lifetime and a complete collection of them didn’t appear until the1950’s,_____had a major impact on20th century poetry.A Anne BradstreetB Gertrude SteinC Emily DickinsonD Amy Lowell14.Which of the following writers died a natural death in his old age?A Jack LondonB Ernest HemingwayC Stephen CraneD Mark Twain15.Who of the following is NOT a20th century American poet?A Henry Wordsworth LongsfellowB Amy LowellC Ezra PoundD Robert Frost得分IV.Decide whether the statements are true or false.(10%)1.Hawthorne was a firm believer in Puritan principles and mourned their passing in his works.2.Frederick Douglas was a major19th century black writer.3.The sound of Whitman’s words casts a magic,romantic spell over readers.His tone isawesome,sad and melancholy.4.Haiku,a form of traditional Japanese poetry,greatly influenced the Imagist movement.5.Leaves of Grass is Whitman’s life work.6.Thanks in part to the efforts of Ezra Pound,Robert Frost was published in England andquickly became recognized as a major American poet.7.In1954,T.S.Eliot was awarded a Nobel Prize for his“mastery of the art of modernnarration.”8.Hemingway believed that a man could find meaning in life by facing is death with dignityand courage.9.Thomas Jefferson was famous for powerful,persuasive essays,such as his pamphlet CommonSense,which persuaded many people to support the American Revolution.10.William Hill Brown’s The Power of Sympathy,written in1789,is often called“the firstAmerican novel”.得分V.Identify the following fragments and then answer questions.(20%)Passage OneThe apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet,black bough.Questions:1.Who is the writer of this poem?_______________2.What is the title of this poem?_______________3.What images in this poem suggest Haiku poetry and what images are “modern”?4.What is the effect of the parallel between lines one and two of the poem?And what feeling and meaning does the poem express to you?Passage 2It was late and everyone had left the caféexcept an old man who sat in the shadowthe leaves of the tree made against the electric light.In the daytime the street was dusty,but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference.Questions:1.This part is from the novel ,writtenby.2.Why does the old man get drunk every night and why did he commit suicide?3.What does the young waiter think of the old man and how does he treat him?VI.Discuss the difference between Henry James’s realism and Mark Twain’s realism.(20%)VII.Analyze Robert Frost’s lyrical poem “The Road Not Taken”(15%)《美国文学史及选读》期末考试试卷（A 卷）答案I．Write the names of the authors.(1*10=10%)1.Henry David Thoreau2.Stephen Crane3.Ernest Hemingway4.Jack London5.Washington Irving得分得分6.Ezra Pound7.Robert Frost8.Benjamin Franklin9.Walt Whitman10.Nathaniel HawthorneII.Fill in the following blanks.(2*5=10%)1.John Smith2.Thomas Paine3.“founding fathers”4.Gothic Fiction5.Emily DickensonⅢ.Choose only one answer form the four choices as the most appropriate answer.(1*15=15%)1B2C3B4A5A6C7A8D9D10C11B12A13C14D15AIV.Decide whether the statements are true or false.(1*10=10%)1T2T3F4T5T6T7F8T9F10TV.Identify the following fragments and then answer questions.(20%)Passage11.Ezra Pound(1)2.In A Station of the Metro(1)3.Answer should comment on the parallel between the“modern”imagery(description of urbancrowds and transportation,loneliness)of the first line and the traditional“Oriental”imagery(budding flowers on a tree,wetness)of the second line.(4)4.What is the effect of the parallel between lines one and two of the poem?Describe thestylistic result of the parallel and the feelings it evokes(4)Passage21.This part if from the short story“A Clean Well Light Room”written by Ernest Hemingway.(2)2.Describe the old man’s character and relate it to the nihilist philosophy expressed inthe story.(3)3.What does the young waiter think of the old man(and why)and how does he treat him?Describethe young man’s character,his lack of understanding of the old man and the significance of how he treats the old man as described in the story.(5)VI.Discuss the difference between Henry James’s realism and Mark Twain’s realism.(20%)∙Although Henry James and Mark Twain both worked for realism,there were obvious differences between them.In thematic terms,James wrote mostly of the upper reaches of American society,whereas Mark Twain dealt largely with the lower strata of society.（4’）Technically,James pursued the Psychological realism,but Mark Twain’s contribution to the development of realism and to American literature as a whole was partly through his colloquial style.（4’）∙Henry James 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.James shifted the ground of realistic art from the outer to the inner world.（6’）∙Mark Twain preferred to represent social life through portraits of local places that he knew best.He drew heavily from his own rich fund of knowledge of people and places.He confined himself to the life with which he was familiar.By quoting from his own experience, Mark Twain managed to transform art into the freedom and humor,in short,the finest elements of western culture.（6’）VII.Write about120words to comment on Ezra Pound’s contribution to American Poetry of twenty century.(15%)∙Answer should mention his being an American poet writing from Europe and contacting American poets and discuss his role in the imagist movement,as a translator and hissupport(editing,assuring publication)of American writers.。
美国文学史期末考试复习资料
美国⽂学史期末考试复习资料Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items. (10 x 1’= 10’)1.In American literature, the 18th century was the age of Enlightenment. ______ was the dominant.2.The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is taken from Irving’s work named______.3.Which of the following is not the characteristic of American Romanticism?4.The short story “Rip Van Winkle” reveals the ____ attitude of its author.5.Stylistically, Henry James’ fiction is characterized by _____.6.Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in _____ and Thoreau.7.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?8.____ is considered Mark Twain’s greatest achievement.9._____ is not among those greatest figures in “Lost Generation”.10.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing b ecomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more ____.1-5，BBACD 6-10 BADCDI.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items. (10 x 1’=10’)11.______ is the father of American Literature.life.13._____ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.14.Which of following is NOT a typical feature of Mark Twain’s language?15.From Thoreau’s jail experience, came his famous essay, _____ which states his belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Sense16.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?17.Most of the poems in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass sing of the “en-mass” and the ____ as well.18.What did Fitzgerald call the 1920s?19.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more ____.20.For Melville, as well as for the reader and ____, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe.1-5 D A B C C 6-10 A C C D CII. Identify Works as Described Below (1’×15 =15’):1.The novel has a sole black protagonist who tells his own story but whose name in unknown to us.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains2.The main conflict of the play is the protagonist’s false value of fine appearance and popularity with people and the cruel reality of the society in which money is everything.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journey into Nightd. Death of Salesman3.It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on the playwright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries4.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and how the society is responsible for the murder.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains5._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the Second World War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge of Couraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead7.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma and travel to California to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.a.The Grapes of Wrathb. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March8.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, with such techniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.a.Babbittb. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath9.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whose title is taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and how she becomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into a beggar and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. The novel is set on the Mississippi with the protagonist telling us the story in the local dialect. It is a representative work of local colorism.a.Sister Carrieb.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnd.The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions in the Civil War.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of the universality and equality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a group of people on a whaling ship kill a great whale butthemselves are killed by the whale, with the conflict between man and his fate.a.The Octopusb. Moby-Dickc. The Rise of Silas Laphamd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a philosophical essay in 8 chapters plus an introduction mainly concerned with thefour uses of nature.a. Waldenb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. The American Scholar1-5.cdaad 6-10.aacbb /doc/2ac563ad77a20029bd64783e0912a21614797f92.html cbbI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1’×15=15’):1.An English ship brought 102 people from Plymouth, England on September 16, 1620 andarrived in the present Provincetown harbor on November 21 in the same year. This ship was named ____________.a. The Pilgrimsb. Mayflowerc. Americad. Titanic2._________ is father of American drama and in his dramatic career he wrote 49 plays.a. Tennessee Williamsb. Eugene O’Neillc. Arthur Millerd. Elmer Rice3._________ was the first American writer to write entirely American literature.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Washington Irvingc. Mark Twaind. Ernest Hemingway4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5._______was the greatest woman poet in American literature and she wrote about 1,700 shortlyric poems in her life time.a. Pearl S. Buckb.Harriet Bicher Stowec. Emily Dickensond. Walter Whitman6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.William Dean Howells is concerned with the middle class life; ______ writes about the upper class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. Henry James8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. His writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts. He is______.a. Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. He wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in the deep south.He is ______.a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jews are majora. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Euge ne O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. He was the first black American to write a book about black life with great impact on theconsciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans. Who is he?a.Richard Wrightb. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15. Hemingway wrote about American compatriots in Europe whereas ________ wrote aboutthe Jazz age, life in American society.a.William Carlos Williamsb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. F. Scott Fitzgerald 1-5 bbccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcadI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1×15 %):2.The American Civil War broke out in 1861 between the Northern states and the Southstates, which are known respectively as the ______and the______.a. N, Sb. Revolutionaries, Reactionariesc. Union, Confederacyd. Slavery, Anti-Slavery2._____________was praised by the British as the “Tenth Muse in America”.b. Edward Taylorc. Thomas Pained. Philip Freneau3.Mark Twain was a representative of ________ in American literature.a. transcendentalismb. naturalismc. local colorismd. imagism4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5.The greatest American poet and the first writer of free verse is ____________.a. Washington Irvingb.Ezra Poundc. Walt Whitmand. Emily Dickinson6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.Henry James is concerned with the upper class life; ______ writes about the middle class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. William Dean Howells8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. ________’s writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts.b. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. ______ wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in the deepsouth. .a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jews are majorcharacters.a. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. _______ was the first black American to write a book about black life with great impact onthe consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans.b.Richard Wright b. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15. ________ first used the “Jazz age” as the title of a collection of short storiesa. F. Scott Fitzgeraldb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeck1-5.caccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcbaII. Identify Works as Described Below (1×15 %):6.The play is about a stoker whose identity as a human being is not recognized by his fellow human beings and who tries to find affinity with a monkey in the zoo and is finally killed by the animal.a. The Hairy Apeb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. Long Day’s Journey into Nightd. The Glass Menageries7.The protagonist in this play is a crippled girl named Amanda.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journey into Nightd.The Glass Menageries8.The hero of this novel tells about his own story to us but his name is unknown.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on the Mountains4. It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on the playwright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries5.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and how he is finally arrested and tried and sentenced to death.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains6._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the Second World War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge of Couraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead10.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma and travel toCalifornia to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.b.T he Grapes of Wrath b. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March11.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, with suchtechniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.b.B abbitt b. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath12.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whose title is takenfrom Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and elopes with Hurstwoodand how she becomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into beggary and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. It is a novel with 135 chapters plus an epilog; in it a group of people on a whaling ship killa great whale but they themselves are killed by the whale in the end, except Ishmael thenarrator who survives by adhering to a coffin.b.Sister Carrie b.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. Moby Dickd. The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions in the Civil War,in which wound is called the red badge which symbolizes courage.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of the universality andequality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a man falls economically and socially but who rises morallybecause he gives up the opportunity to sell his factory to an English Syndicate, which would otherwise mean a ruin to that syndicate.a.The Octopusb. The Rise of Silas Laphamc. Moby-Dickd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a speech delivered at Harvard University. It is often hailed as the “declaration ofintellectual independence” in America.a. The American Scholarb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. Walden1-5.adcad 6-10.aacbb /doc/2ac563ad77a20029bd64783e0912a21614797f92.html cbaII. Match the following (1×20%)A. Match Works with Their Authors1.Hugh Selwyn Mauberly2.Walden3. Autobiography4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer9. Long Day’s Journey into Night10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Mark Twain b . Ernest Hemingwayc. Eugene O’Neilld. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Benjamin Franklini.Henry David Thoreau j. Ezra Poundk.Thomas Jefferson l. T.S. EliotB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1.Hester Prynne2.Mrs. Touchett3.Frederick Henry4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 7.Bigger Thomas8.Yank 9.Happya.The Portrait of a Ladyb. The Scarlet Letterc. The Hairy Aped. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Deadh. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Sonj. Death of a Salesmank.Invisible Manl.Catch-22A. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edccbB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear. 1-5.badef 6-10.ghicj III. Match the following (1’×20=20’)A. Match works with their authors1.Nature2.Rip Van Winkle3. Nature4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn9. Cantos10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Ezra Poundb. Ernest Hemingwayc. Mark Twaind. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Ralph Waldo Emersoni.Washington Irving j. Waldo Emersonk.T.S. Eliot l. Robert FrostB. Match characters with the works in which they appear.2.Captain Ahab and Starbuck 2.Isabel Archer3.Frederic Henry and Catherine4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 8.Bigger Thomas9.The Tyrones 10.Willy Lomana.The Portrait of a Ladyb. Moby-Dickc. Death of a Salesmand. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Dead h. The Catcher in the Rye i. Native Son j. Long Day’s Journey into Nightk.Absalom, Absalom l. The Old Man and the SeaA. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edcabB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1-5.badef 6-10.edcabV. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.1.To the best of your knowledge, analyze and make comments on Emerson’s Nature/doc/2ac563ad77a20029bd64783e0912a21614797f92.html ment on any American poet you like.3.Analyze and/or comment on any one of the American novels or plays you have read.V. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a shortessay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you arenot simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are requiredto indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of yourown.)4.Make comments on an American novel we have discussed in this course./doc/2ac563ad77a20029bd64783e0912a21614797f92.html ment on an American poet.6.Describe how your knowledge of American literature is improved after taking thiscourse..IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)1.Why do people think Franklin is the embodiment of American dream?2.What is “Lost Generation”?V. Discussion. (1 x 20’ = 20’)State your own interpretations of Hemingway’s iceberg theory of writing?IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)3.Wha t is Hawthorne’s style? Explain the style with examples.4.At the end of the 19th century, there were three fighters for Realism. Who are they?What are their differences?________True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.2. Thomas Jefferson was the only American to sign the 4 documents that created the US.3. All his literary life, Hawthorne seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil.4. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass are about human psychology.5. Hurstwood is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.6. Faulkner’s region was the Deep North, with its bitter history of slavery, civil war and destruction.7. Placed in historical perspective, Howells is found lacking in qualities and depth. But anyhow he is a literaryfigure worthy of notice.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.10. Emily Dickinson expr esses her deep love in the poem “Annabel Lee”.1-5 F F T F F 6-10 F F T F FII. Decide whether the statements are True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and began the main stream of what we recognizeas the American national history.2. American Romantic writers avoided writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elements.3. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.4. “Young Goodman Brown” wants to prove everyone possesses kindness in heart.5. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Twain or Howells.6. The American realists sought to describe the wide range of American experience and to present the subtletiesof human personality.7. Frost’s concern with nature reflected his deep moral uncertainties.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. Roger Chillingworth is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.10. After the Civil War, the Frontier was closing. Disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned to be a “Gilded” one.1-5 T F T F T 6-10 F T T F TIII. Please explain the follo wing terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. Free verse3. International novel: 4．Romanticism 5. Naturalism 6. American Realism 7.American Naturalism Modernism Imagism1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.Free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts toavoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.3.International novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities who representcertain characteristics of their own countries.4.Naturalism: It views human beings as animals in the natural world responding toenvironmental forces and internal stresses and drives, over none of which they havecontrol and none of which they fully understand. The literary naturalists have a majordifference from the realists. They look at a different spot to find real life.III. Please explain the following terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. international novel3. the lost generation4. free verse5.American transcendentalism Hemingway heroes1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.international novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities who represent certain characteristics of their own countries.3.the lost generation: reveals the huge destruction of the wars to the young generation. It describes the Americans who remained in Paris as a colony of “expatriates”. They were lost in disillusionment.4.free verse: It 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.5.transcendentalism: It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition. It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God. All things in nature were symbols of the spiritual, of God’s presence. It emphasized the significance of the individual and believed that the individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish. Transcendentalists envisioned religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul”.。
美国文学史期末考试复习资料
I.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items. (10 x 1’=10’)1.In American literature, the 18th century was the age of Enlightenment. ______ was the2.The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is taken from Irving’s work named______.3.Which of the following is not the characteristic of American Romanticism?4.The short story “Rip Van Winkle” reveals the ____ attitude of its author.5.Stylistically, Henry James’ fiction is characterized by _____.6.Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in _____ and Thoreau.7.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?8.____ is considered Mark Twain’s greatest achievement.9._____ is not among those greatest figures in “Lost Generation”.10.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing b ecomes lessserious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more ____.1-5，BBACD 6-10 BADCDII.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items. (10 x 1’= 10’)11.______ is the father of American Literature.12._____ is a fantasy tale about a man who somehow stepped outside the main stream oflife.13._____ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.14.Which of following is NOT a typical feature of Mark Twain’s language?15.From Thoreau’s jail experience, came his famous essay, _____ which states his belief thatno man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Sense16.17.Most of the poems in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass sing of the “en-mass” and the ____ as18.What did Fitzgerald call the 1920s?19.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing becomes less20.For Melville, as well as for the reader and ____, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery,an ultimate mystery of the universe.1-5 D A B C C 6-10 A C C D CII. Identify Works as Described Below (1’×15 =15’):1.The novel has a sole black protagonist who tells his own story but whose name inunknown to us.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains2.The main conflict of the play is the protagonist’s false value of fine appearance andpopularity with people and the cruel reality of the society in which money is everything.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journey into Nightd. Death of Salesman3.It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on the playwright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries4.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and how the society isresponsible for the murder.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains5._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the Second World War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge of Couraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead7.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma and travel toCalifornia to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.a.The Grapes of Wrathb. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March8.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, with suchtechniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.a.Babbittb. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath9.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whose title is takenfrom Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and how she becomes afamous actress and how her lover falls into a beggar and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. The novel is set on the Mississippi with the protagonist telling us the story in the localdialect. It is a representative work of local colorism.a.Sister Carrieb.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnd.The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions in the CivilWar.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of the universality andequality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a group of people on a whaling ship kill a great whale butthemselves are killed by the whale, with the conflict between man and his fate.a.The Octopusb. Moby-Dickc. The Rise of Silas Laphamd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a philosophical essay in 8 chapters plus an introduction mainly concerned with thefour uses of nature.a. Waldenb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. The American Scholar1-5.cdaad 6-10.aacbb cbbI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1’×15=15’):1.An English ship brought 102 people from Plymouth, England on September 16, 1620 andarrived in the present Provincetown harbor on November 21 in the same year. This ship was named ____________.a. The Pilgrimsb. Mayflowerc. Americad. Titanic2._________ is father of American drama and in his dramatic career he wrote 49 plays.a. Tennessee Williamsb. Eugene O’Neillc. Arthur Millerd. Elmer Rice3._________ was the first American writer to write entirely American literature.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Washington Irvingc. Mark Twaind. Ernest Hemingway4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5._______was the greatest woman poet in American literature and she wrote about 1,700 shortlyric poems in her life time.a. Pearl S. Buckb.Harriet Bicher Stowec. Emily Dickensond. Walter Whitman6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.William Dean Howells is concerned with the middle class life; ______ writes about the upper class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. Henry James8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. His writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts. He is______.a. Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. He wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in the deep south.He is ______.a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jews are majorcharacters.a. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Euge ne O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. He was the first black American to write a book about black life with great impact on theconsciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans. Who is he?a.Richard Wrightb. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15. Hemingway wrote about American compatriots in Europe whereas ________ wrote aboutthe Jazz age, life in American society.a.William Carlos Williamsb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. F. Scott Fitzgerald 1-5 bbccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcadI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1×15 %):2.The American Civil War broke out in 1861 between the Northern states and the Southstates, which are known respectively as the ______and the______.a. N, Sb. Revolutionaries, Reactionariesc. Union, Confederacyd. Slavery, Anti-Slavery2._____________was praised by the British as the “Tenth Muse in America”.a.Anne Bradstreetb. Edward Taylorc. Thomas Pained. Philip Freneau3.Mark Twain was a representative of ________ in American literature.a. transcendentalismb. naturalismc. local colorismd. imagism4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5.The greatest American poet and the first writer of free verse is ____________.a. Washington Irvingb.Ezra Poundc. Walt Whitmand. Emily Dickinson6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.Henry James is concerned with the upper class life; ______ writes about the middle class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. William Dean Howells8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. ________’s writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts.a. Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. ______ wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in the deepsouth. .a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jews are majorcharacters.a. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. _______ was the first black American to write a book about black life with great impact onthe consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans.b.Richard Wright b. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15. ________ first used the “Jazz age” as the title of a collection of short storiesa. F. Scott Fitzgeraldb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. Ernest Hemingway1-5.caccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcbaII. Identify Works as Described Below (1×15 %):6.The play is about a stoker whose identity as a human being is not recognized by his fellowhuman beings and who tries to find affinity with a monkey in the zoo and is finally killed by the animal.a. The Hairy Apeb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. Long Day’s Journey into Nightd. The Glass Menageries7.The protagonist in this play is a crippled girl named Amanda.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journey into Nightd.The Glass Menageries8.The hero of this novel tells about his own story to us but his name is unknown.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on the Mountains4. It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on the playwright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries5.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and how he is finallyarrested and tried and sentenced to death.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains6._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the Second World War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge of Couraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead10.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma and travel toCalifornia to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.b.T he Grapes of Wrath b. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March11.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, with suchtechniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.b.B abbitt b. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath12.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whose title is takenfrom Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and elopes with Hurstwoodand how she becomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into beggary and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. It is a novel with 135 chapters plus an epilog; in it a group of people on a whaling ship killa great whale but they themselves are killed by the whale in the end, except Ishmael thenarrator who survives by adhering to a coffin.b.Sister Carrie b.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. Moby Dickd. The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions in the Civil War,in which wound is called the red badge which symbolizes courage.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of the universality andequality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a man falls economically and socially but who rises morallybecause he gives up the opportunity to sell his factory to an English Syndicate, which would otherwise mean a ruin to that syndicate.a.The Octopusb. The Rise of Silas Laphamc. Moby-Dickd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a speech delivered at Harvard University. It is often hailed as the “declaration ofintellectual independence” in America.a. The American Scholarb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. Walden1-5.adcad 6-10.aacbb cbaII. Match the following (1×20%)A. Match Works with Their Authors1.Hugh Selwyn Mauberly2.Walden3. Autobiography4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer9. Long Day’s Journey into Night10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Mark Twain b . Ernest Hemingwayc. Eugene O’Neilld. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Benjamin Franklini.Henry David Thoreau j. Ezra Poundk.Thomas Jefferson l. T.S. EliotB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1.Hester Prynne2.Mrs. Touchett3.Frederick Henry4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 7.Bigger Thomas8.Yank 9.Happya.The Portrait of a Ladyb. The Scarlet Letterc. The Hairy Aped. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Deadh. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Sonj. Death of a Salesmank.Invisible Manl.Catch-22A. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edccbB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear. 1-5.badef 6-10.ghicjIII. Match the following (1’×20=20’)A. Match works with their authors1.Nature2.Rip Van Winkle3. Nature4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn9. Cantos10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Ezra Poundb. Ernest Hemingwayc. Mark Twaind. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Ralph Waldo Emersoni.Washington Irving j. Waldo Emersonk.T.S. Eliot l. Robert FrostB. Match characters with the works in which they appear.2.Captain Ahab and Starbuck 2.Isabel Archer3.Frederic Henry and Catherine4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 8.Bigger Thomas9.The Tyrones 10.Willy Lomana.The Portrait of a Ladyb. Moby-Dickc. Death of a Salesmand. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Dead h. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Son j. Long Day’s Journey into Nightk.Absalom, Absalom l. The Old Man and the SeaA. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edcabB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1-5.badef 6-10.edcabV. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.1.To the best of your knowledge, analyze and make comments on Emerson’s Naturement on any American poet you like.3.Analyze and/or comment on any one of the American novels or plays you have read.V. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a shortessay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you arenot simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are requiredto indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of yourown.)4.Make comments on an American novel we have discussed in this course.ment on an American poet.6.Describe how your knowledge of American literature is improved after taking thiscourse..IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)1.Why do people think Franklin is the embodiment of American dream?2.What is “Lost Generation”?V. Discussion. (1 x 20’ = 20’)State your own interpretations of Hemingway’s iceberg theory of writing?IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)3.Wha t is Hawthorne’s style? Explain the style with examples.4.At the end of the 19th century, there were three fighters for Realism. Who are they?What are their differences?________True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.2. Thomas Jefferson was the only American to sign the 4 documents that created the US.3. All his literary life, Hawthorne seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil.4. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass are about human psychology.5. Hurstwood is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.6. Faulkner’s region was the Deep North, with its bitter history of slavery, civil war and destruction.7. Placed in historical perspective, Howells is found lacking in qualities and depth. But anyhow he is a literaryfigure worthy of notice.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.10. Emily Dickinson expr esses her deep love in the poem “Annabel Lee”.1-5 F F T F F 6-10 F F T F FII. Decide whether the statements are True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.2. American Romantic writers avoided writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elements.3. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.4. “Young Goodman Brown” wants to prove everyone possesses kindness in heart.5. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Twain or Howells.6. The American realists sought to describe the wide range of American experience and to present the subtleties of human personality.7. Frost’s concern with nature reflected his deep moral uncertainties.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. Roger Chillingworth is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.10. After the Civil War, the Frontier was closing. Disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned to be a “Gilded” one.1-5 T F T F T 6-10 F T T F TIII. Please explain the follo wing terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. Free verse3. International novel: 4．Romanticism 5. Naturalism 6. American Realism 7.American Naturalism Modernism Imagism1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.Free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts toavoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.3.International novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities who representcertain characteristics of their own countries.4.Naturalism: It views human beings as animals in the natural world responding toenvironmental forces and internal stresses and drives, over none of which they havecontrol and none of which they fully understand. The literary naturalists have a majordifference from the realists. They look at a different spot to find real life.III. Please explain the following terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. international novel3. the lost generation4. free verse5.American transcendentalism Hemingway heroes1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.international novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities who representcertain characteristics of their own countries.3.the lost generation: reveals the huge destruction of the wars to the young generation. Itdescribes the Americans who remained in Paris as a colony of “expatriates”. They werelost in disillusionment.4.free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts toavoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.5.transcendentalism: It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learnthings both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner worldby intuition. It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God. All things in nature were symbolsof the spiritual, of God’s presence. It emphasized the significance of the individual andbelieved that the individual was the most important element in society and that the idealkind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish. Transcendentalists envisioned religion asan emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul”.。
美国文学史期末考试复习资料
一、作者-作品1.Eugene O’Neill 尤金·奥尼尔Desire under the Elms榆树下的欲望2.Washington Irving华盛顿.欧文The Sketch Book见闻札记The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说3.Nathaniel Hawthorne霍桑The Scarlet Letter红字4.Herman Melville麦尔维尔Moby Dick白鲸5.Edgar Allan Poe艾伦.坡The Raven乌鸦6.Walt Whitman惠特曼Leaves of Grass草叶集7. Harriet Beecher Stowe 哈丽雅特.比彻.斯托Uncle Tom’s Cabin汤姆叔叔的小屋8. Henry James 亨利.詹姆斯in the Portrait of a Lady一位女士的肖像9.Mark Twain 马克.吐温TheAdventures ofHuckleberry Finn哈克贝里.费恩历险The Gilded Age镀金时代10. O. Henry 欧.亨利The Gift of the Magi麦琪的礼物11. Stephen Crane：史蒂芬.克莱恩The Red Badge of Courage红色英勇勋章12.Theodore Dreiser 西奥多.德莱塞Sister Carrie嘉莉妹妹13.Jack London 杰克.伦敦The Call of the Wild野性的呼唤14. John Steinbeck 约翰.斯坦贝克The Grapes of Wrath愤怒的葡萄15.F. Scott Fitzgerald弗斯.菲茨杰拉德The Great Gatsby了不起的盖茨比16.Ernest Hemingway 海明威The Sun Also Rises太阳照样升起17.Katherine Anne Porter 凯瑟琳.安.波特Flowing Judas and other Stories犹大之花18. Ezra Pound 埃兹拉.庞德 Imagism 意象派The Cantos 诗章19.William Carlos Williams: 威廉.威廉姆斯The Red Wheelbarrow红色手推车20. Joseph Heller约瑟夫海勒：Catch-22 第22条军规21.Thomas Stearns Eliot爱略特The Waste Land荒原22.Zora Neal Hurston 佐拉.赫斯顿Their eyes were watching God 他们眼望上苍二、名词解释1.Transcendentalism超验主义:(1)As a philosophical and literary movement, American Transcendentalis m (also known as “ American Renaissance”) flourshed in New England fr om the 1830s to the Civil War. It is the high tide of American romanticism and its doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in Emerson and Thoreau. Transcendentalists spoke for the cultural rejuvenation and agai nst the materialism of American society.(2)The major features of Transcendentalism:① The Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe. 思想超灵宇宙② The Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. To t hem, the individual is the most important element of Society. 个体+社会③ The Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbol ic of the Spirit or God. Nature was not purely matter. It was alive, filled w ith God’s overwhelming presence. 自然+上帝代表人物：Emerson, Thoreau2.The Gilded Age镀金时代：an age of excess and extremes, of decline and progress, of poverty and dazzling wealth, of gloom and buoyant hope. Although Americans continued to read the works of Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Poe, the great age of American romanticism had ended. By the 1870s the New England Renaissance had waned. 无节制、走极端，倒退和进步、贫困和富有并存，既令人沮丧又让人有希望的时代。
美国文学史及选读期末复习
美国文学史及选读期末复习.美国文学史复习1（colonialism)第一部分殖民主义时期的文学一、时期综述1、清教徒采用的文学体裁：a、narratives 日记b、journals 游记2、清教徒在美国的写作容：1）their voyage to the new land2) Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops3) About dealing with Indians4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit3、清教徒的思想：1）puritan want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices 净化信仰和行为方式2) Wish to restore simplicity to church and the authority of the Bible to the theology. 重建教堂，提供简单服务，建立神圣地位3）look upon themselves as chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone whochallenged their way of life is opposing God's will and is not to be accepted. 认为自己是上帝选民，对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝4）puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated. 反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步5）religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面，忽视上帝仁慈的一面。
美国文学史及选读期末考试
Ⅰ. Write the author of each item. 10’1．Anne Bradstreet（The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America）①Contemplation②To My Dear and Loving Husband2. Benjamin Franklin①The Autobiography (early American Dream)3. Philip Freneau (Poet of American Revolution; The Father of American Poetry)①The Wild Honey Suckle②The Indian Burying Ground③To a Caty-Did4. Washington Irving (The Father of American Short Story; first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame; regarded as Father of American literature.)①The legend of Sleep Hollow②Rip Van Winkle③The Sketch Book(the beginning of American Romanticism)5. James Fennimore Cooper①The Last Mohicans②Leather Stocking Tales6. William Cullen Bryant①Thanatopsis②To a Water Fowl7. Edgar Allen Poe (Father of Modern Short Story; Father of Psychoanalysis criticism)①To Helen②The Raven③The Fall of the House of Usher④The Black Cat8. Ralph Waldo Emerson (leading New England transcendentalist)①Nature②Self-Reliance③The American Scholar9. Henry David Thoreau (an active transcendentalist)①Walden10. Nathaniel Hawthorne (a master of symbolism; first great American writer of fiction to work in moralistic tradition. combined the American romanticism with puritan moralism; created a new genre psychological romance)①The Scarlet Letter②Twice Told Tales③The Marble Faun④Blithedale Romance⑤The Minister’s Black Veil11. Herman Melville①Moby Dick12. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (the fireside poet; love of nature, love for the past)①A Psalm of Life②The Slave’s Dream③My Lost Youth④The Song of Hiawatha13. Walt Whitman①Leaves of Grass(first genuine epic poem)②Song of Myself③I Sit and Look Out④Beat！Beat！Drums！14. Emily Dickinson (the theme of her poetry concern religion, life, death, marriage, immorality, nature etc.)①I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed②I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain③A Bird Came Down the Walk④I Died for Beauty ___but Was Scarce⑤I Hear a Fly Buzz ___When I Died⑥Because I Could not Stop for DeathⅡ. True or False choice. 20’Ⅲ. Choose the best answer 10’Ⅳ. Appreciation 30’The Scarlet LetterAuthor: Nathaniel HawthorneSymbolism：The Scarlet Letter, A symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of identity to Hester. The letter’s meaning shifts as time passes. Originally intended to mark Hester as an adulteress, the “A” eventually comes to stand for “Able.”The Meteor , to Dimmesdale, the meteor implies that he should wear a mark of shame just as Hester does. The meteor is interpreted differently by the rest of the community, which thinks that it stands for “Angel” and marks Governor Winthrop’s entry into heavenThe Rosebush, Next to the Prison Door .The narrator chooses to begin his story with the image of the rosebush beside the prison door. The rosebush symbolizes the ability of nature to endure and outlast man’s activities.Pearl is a sort of living version of her mother’s scarlet letter. She is the physical consequence of sexual sin and the indicator of a transgression (evildoing). Upward American spiritCharacter analysis:Hester: disloyalty, betrayal, deception, sexual desire, adultery. Face, correct, redeem, purify. Praise, content, conformability.Dimmesdale: adultery, cowardice, hypocrisy, dishonesty, selfishness, too coward to confess, tortured by his conscience. Sympathetic, disfavor his hesitation, indecisiveness and cowardice.Chillingworth: revenge. Tortured by the desire of revenge, twisted and reduced to nothing. disgusted, think he committed greater crime.Puritanism in The Scarlet LetterPuritan background: setting, events, characters, thoughts, behaviors.Puritan doctrines: original sin, total depravity, predestination, limited atonement.Ralph Waldo Emerson1.NatureThe declaration of TranscendentalismAnalysis of “Nature”A long essay which has eight parts: the opening, commodity, beauty, language, discipline, Idealism, spirit and prospects. Our selection is taken from the opening. Taken as a whole, “Nature” expresses Emerson’s philosophy in a more systematic fashion than any other work of his.Meanings of natureI BeautyNature is beautiful. : the complete, mysterious, useful and moral beauty of nature. First, nature’s beauty lies in its completeness. Second, nature’s beauty lies in its mystery. cannot be manipulated. Only when he holds a sincere r espect for nature, can man feel the mysterious beauty of nature. Third, nature’s beauty lies in its usefulness. Nature provides man without any benefitII Nature Is Divine●Nature is divine and has the eternal order which should not be violated. Influenced in a way byChinese ancient philosophy, Emerson believes that all the things in the world come from the same root---the Oversoul.●Emerson believes that man can find God in his own heart by direct contact with nature●Nature has permeated (penetrate) all aspects of human life. Spirit embodied in nature hasinfluence upon us. Nature inspires man and gives him\her power. Man should find the truth, goodness and beauty in his own soul and bring into play his potentiality as human being. Then, he will become hims elf “All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do".●For Emerson, the individual is potentially the most divine and any organization or existing ideacan not limit the development of individual.III Nature Is ChangingEverything in nature is in a process---growing, withdrawing and falling into the ground. The flowing of nature comes from a force which impels it to develop. For instance, a river is always in constantly flowing. It originates from mountains, flows along great plains and ultimately converges into the sea. Transcendental philosophyNature symbolizes freedom, independence and change. These are Individualism elements which attend to significance of common life. Therefore Emerson's nature is the theoretical base of American Individualism---one of the characteristics of American culture. As the symbol of Spirit, nature helps to prove that man's soul is beautiful, divine and fluid. Man should pursue spiritual fulfillmentExcerpt from Nature: in Nature Emerson puts forward every phenomenon of the nature there was the spirit of the spirit of the nature.Here from this paragraph we could see that emerson found the beauty in the wildness nature rather than the village or something. “in the wildness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages.” In the wildness of the nature, emerson can transcend physical body to the spirit of the God and he can become one part of the spirit.He emerges into the nature, and then he goes into the Oversoul. “I am part or particle of God.” “I am nothing; I see all”. This sentence clearly shows that emerson merges into the sporit. And in the nature we could get the eternal beauty.2.Self-Reliance①“The Confidence”. a man must show his opinion confidently and bravely in spite of different ideas.②“The Independence”. A man should keep himself firmly ; not be easily influenced by environment.③Keep personality, which is closely related to the confidence and the independence. a man must keep his personality and conform to his own principles.④“Showing no Sympathy to the Poor” shows that why the poor are poor is mainly due to their backward thinking. Showing help to this kind of people means doing harm to them.Comment: In Self-reliance, Emerson expressed the romantic idea of individualism, with an emphasis on being self-sufficient. He promoted relying on oneself rather than on established society. Emerson was known for his repeated use of phrase “trust thyself”. “Self-reliance” is his explanation---both systematic and passionate of what he meant by this, and why he was moved to make it his catchphrase. Every individual possesses a unique genius, Emerson argues, that can only be revealed when that individual has the courage to trust his or her own thoughts, attitudes, and inclinations against all public disapproval.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1. A Psalm of Life①Love of nature, love for the past ②Trochaic tetrameter③constant theme for poets: The relationship of life and death. ④He expresses his pertinent interpretation to that by warning us that though life is hard and everybody must die, time flies and life is short, yet, human beings ought to be hold “to act,” to face the reality straightly so as to make otherwise meaningless life significant.2. My Lost YouthⅤ. Terms 10’New England PoetsThe new England poets were the representatives of imitation, authors like Irving, William Cullen Bryant, Henry wadsworth Longfellow etc. tried to imitate the forms and themes of their English brothers, such as Alexander Pope, Robert Burns, Thomas Gray, wordsworth and so on.Rip van winkleThis is one story in Washington Irving’s Sketch Book. It tells a story of a kind but hen-pecked man rip van winkle. The protagonist does not take care of his own family very well and just wants to live idly. But his wife does not want him to live the life like that and keeps talking to him. Unhappy at home, he enters in the mountain with his gun and dog. One afternoon, he meets some strangers looking people playing at nine pins. Out of curiosity, he drinks the wine and falls into sleep. When he wakes up, he finds his dog missing and his gun rusted. He has to go back to the village again. But can not recognize the village and the folks. Later his surprise, he has been slept for 20 years. And his wife has been dead and his children grow up. At the end of story, his daughter takes him home and he still lives the life as he was used to.Ⅵ.Comment 20’1. Comment on Moby Dick:a. Although the narrator sees insanity in Ahab, Melville’s emotional sympathy is with the deficient Ahab. He begins with a noble intention to crush evil, but in taking this to the extreme, he becomes evil himself. He is destroyed by his consuming desire to root out evil.b. Moby Dick is a symbol to represent cruel, brutal, malicious powers of nature. Nature is capable of destroying the human world. Nature threatens humanity & thus calls out the heroic powers of the human beings. So the power of the universe is both of blessing and curse. In this way, the author constructs a complicated statement about American view of nature.2. Compare: Emily Dickinson with Walt Whitman in their writing style.Similarities①Along with Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman stands as one of the two giants of American poetry in the nineteenth century.②Pioneers of imagism③Part of American Renaissance④Influenced by transcendentalism⑤Thematically, they both extolled in their different ways and emergent America, its expansion, its individualism and its Americanness, their poetry being part of “American Renaissance”⑥Technically, they both added to the literary independence of the new nation by breaking free of the convention of the iambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedom in form unknown before: they are pioneers in American poetry.Differences①Whitman seems to keep his eyes on society at large; Dickinson explores the inner life of the individual.②Whereas Whitman is “national” in his outlook. Dickinson is “regional”③Whitman has the “catalogue techniques”, all-inclusive catalogue. Whereas Dickinson’s concise, direct, simple diction and syntax。
美国文学期末复习题
美国文学期末复习题2013-2014-1 美国文学史及选读期末复习材料ⅠMultiple choices1. Which is not connected with Thomas Paine?A. Common SenseB. The American CrisisC. The Rights of ManD. The Autobiography2. “These are the times that try men’s souls”, these words were once read to Washington’s troops and did much to spur excitement to further action with hope and confidence. Who is the author of these words?A.Benjamin FranklinB. Thomas PaineC. Thomas JeffersonD. George Washington3. At the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the ______.A. Chartist MovementB. Romanticist MovementC. Enlightenment MovementD. Modernist Movement4. In American literature, the Enlighteners were favorable to______.A. the colonial orderB. religious obscurantismC. the Puritan traditionD. the secular literature5. The English colonies in North America rose in arms againsttheir parent country and the Continental Congress adopted ______ in 1776.A. Declaration of IndependenceB. the Sugar ActC. the Stamp ActD. the Mayflower Compact6. ______ usually was regarded as the first American writer.A. William BradfordB. Anne BradstreetC. Emily DickinsonD. Captain John Smith7. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made sucha stir in England that she became known as the “______” who appeared in America.A. Ninth MuseB. Tenth MuseC. Best MuseD. First Muse8. Who was considered as the “poet of American Revolution”?A. Anne BradstreetB. Edward TaylorC. Michael WigglesworthD. Philip Freneau9. In 1817, the stately poem called Thanatopsis introduced the best poet ______ to appear in America up to that time.A. Edward TaylorB. Philip FreneauC. William Cullen BryantD. Edgar Allen Poe10. The finest example of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s symbolism is the recreation of Puritan Boston in ______.A. The Scarlet LetterB. Young Goodman BrownC. The Marble FaunD. The Ambitious Guest11. “The universe is composed of Nature and the soul… Spirit is present everywhere”. This is the voice of the book Nature written by Emerson, which pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England ______.A. RomanticismB. TranscendentalismC. NaturalismD. Symbolism12. Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism?A. NatureB. WaldenC. On BeautyD. Self-Reliance13. Mark Twain created, in _________, a masterpiece of American realism that is also one of the great books of world literature.A. The Adventure of Huckleberry FinnB. The Adventure of Tom SawyerC. The Man That Corrupted HadleyburgD. The Gilded Age14. _________ marks the climax of Mark Twain’s literary creativity.A . The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn B. The Gilded AgeC. Life on the MississippiD. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer15. Choose the novel which is not written by Henry James.A. The AmbassadorsB. The Wings of the DoveC. The BostoniansD. The Mysterious Stranger16. Generally speaking, all those writers with a naturalistic approach to human reality tend to be _________.A. transcendentalistsB. idealistsC. pessimistsD. impressionists17. Ezra Pound’s long poem _________ contained more than one hundred poems loosely connected.A. The Waste LandB. The CantosC. Don JuanD. Queen Mab18. T. S. Eliot’s first major poem _________(1917), has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes19. Ernest Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse. These two persons later became the characters of his novel _________.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. For Whom the Bell TollsC. The Sun Also RisesD. A Farewell to Arms20. In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, he useda technique called _________, in which the whole story was told through the thoughts of one character.A. stream of consciousnessB. imagismC. symbolismD. naturalism21. Led by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and ______, there arose a kind of teachings of transcendentalism in the early nineteenth century.A.Herman MelvilleB. Henry David ThoreauC. Mark TwainD. Theodore Dreiser22. A New ______ had appeared in England in the last years of the eighteenth century. It spread to continental Europe and then came to America early in the nineteenth century.A. realismB. critical realismC. romanticismD. naturalism23. From Henry David Thoreau’s jail experience, came his famous essay, ______ which states Thoreau’s belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Sense24. Mark Twain, one of the greatest 19th century American writers, is well known for his _________.A. international themeB. waste-land imageryC. local colorD. symbolism25. Herman Melville’s ______ is an encyclopedia of everything: history, philosophy religion, etc. in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. Moby DickC. White Jacket C. Billy Budd26. The ship “______” carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.A. SunflowerB. ArmadaC. MayflowerD. Pequod27. From 1733 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous ______, an annual collection of proverbs.A. The AutobiographyB. Poor Richard’s AlmanacC. Common SenseD. The General Magazine28. In American literature, the eighteen-century was the age of the Enlightenment. ______ was the dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. RationalismC. RevolutionD. Evolution29. ______ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.A. Henry David ThoreauB. Ralph Waldo EmersonC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Walt Whitman30. Edgar Allen Poe’s first collection of short stories is ______.A. Tales of a TravelerB. Leatherstocking TalesC. Canterbury TalesD. Tales of the Grotesque of Arabesque31. ______ was a romanticized account of Herman Melville’s stay among the Polynesians. The success of the book soon made Melville well known as the “man who lived among cannibals”.A. Moby DickB. TypeeC. OmooD. Billy Budd32. Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?A.The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. The Conduct of LifeD. Representative Men33. The three dominant figures of the realistic period in American literature are _________.A. Theodore Dreiser, Emily Dickinson and William Dean HowellsB. Mark Twain, Henry James and William Dean HowellsC. Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser and William Dean HowellsD. Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson and William Dean Howells34. American literature produced only one female poet during the nineteenth century. This was _________.A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickinsonD. Harriet Beecher35. In 1900, London published his first collection of short stories, named_________.A. The Son of the WolfB. The Sea WolfC. The Law of LifeD. White Fang36. In Henry James’Daisy Miler, the author tries t o portray the young woman as an embodiment of _________.A. the force of conventionB. the free spirit of the New WorldC. the decline of aristocracyD. the corruption of the newly rich37. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” This is the shortest poem written by _________.A. T.S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD.E.E.Cumings38. The Fitzgerald lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than F. Scot Fitzgerald earned for parties,liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as _________.A. The Roaring TwentiesB. The Jazz AgeC. The Dollar DecadeD. all of the above39. In 1954, _________ was awarded the Nobel Prize for Lit erature for his “mastery of the art of modern narration”.A. T.S EliotB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faukner40. William Faukner’s novel _________ describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family, symbolizing the old social order, told from four different points of view.A. The Sound and the FuryB. StartorisC. The UnvanquishedD. The Town41. “The Lure of the Spirit: The Flesh in Pursuit” i s the title of one chapter in Dreiser’s novel _________.A. An American DreamB. Sister CarrieC. Dreiser Looks at RussiaD. Jannie Gerhardt42. The main theme of _________ The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo that representation of life should be the main object of the novel.A. Henry James’B. William Dean Howells’C. Mark Twain’sD. O. Henry’s43. With William Dean Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the scene, _________became the major trend in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism44. While embracing the socialism of Marx, London also believed in the triumph of the strongest individuals. This contradiction is most vividly projected in the patently autobiographical novel _________.A. The Call of the WildB. The Sea WolfC. Martin EdenD. The Iron Heel45_________ is a novella about a young American girl who gets “killed” by the winter in Rome, and it brought Henry James international fame for the first time.A. The AmericanB. The EuropeansC. Daisy MillerD. The Portait of a LadyAnswers: 1-5 DBCDA 6-10 DBDCA 11-15 BAAAD 16-20 CBADA21-25 BCCCB 26-30 CBBBD 31-35 BABCA 36-40 BCDBA 41-45 BACCCⅡFilling the following blanks with proper answers1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer.2.The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people.3.The first major intellectual spokesman of the Massachusetts Bay colony was John Cotton, sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England.”4.Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, and she was nicknamed the tenth Muse.5.Poor Richard’s Almanac is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.6.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”.7.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.8.Philip Freneau developed a natural, simple, and concrete diction, best illustrated in such nature lyrics as “The Wild Honey Suckle” and “The Indian Burying Ground”.9.Philip Freneau h as been called the “Father of American Poetry”.10.In Washington Irving’s Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.11.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprise the Leatherstocking tales.12.“To a Waterfowl” is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant’s wok.13.“Thanatopsis”, William Cullen Bryant’s best-known poem, consists of four stanzas in iambic tetrameter abab. The title means “view of death”.14.Edgar Allan Poe is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”.15.Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.16.In Walden, Thoreau thought it better for a man to work one day a week and rest six, and the rest of the time could be devoted to thought.17.Hawthorne’s stories touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature.18.Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.19.After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.20.Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle T om’s Cabin, had become an American institution and the most famous literary woman in the world.21.William Dean Howells found his subject matter in the experiences of the American middle class.22.William Dean Howells called for the treatment of the “smiling aspects of life” as being the more “American.”23.The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environment.24.The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse.25.O·Henry’s stories are usually short and interesting; Famous for their surprising end.26.Henry James is famous for his international theme of the traditionless American confronting the complexity of European life.27.Jack London believed in the inevitable triumph of thestrongest individuals.28.Dreiser’s grea test and most successful novel, An American Tragedy, is about a young man who acts as if the only way he can be truly fulfilled is by acquiring wealth—through marriage if necessary.29.Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that the y were a “Lost Generation,” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.30.Wallace Stevens’ work is primarily motivated by the belief that “ideas of order”.31.With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway became the spokesman for what Gertrude Stein had called “a lost generation.”Ⅲ Decide whether the statements are true or false (T/F).1. John Winthrop’s reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been regarded as the first distinct American literature written in English.2. In 1612, William Bradford published in England a book called A Map of Virginia; With a description of the country.3. Philip Freneau was neoclassical by training and taste yet romantic in essential spirit.4. Ralph Waldo Emerson was recognized as the leader of transcendentalist movement, but he always applied the term “Transcendentalist” to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.5. To Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, the telling of a tale was a way of inquiring into the meaning of life.6. Walt Whitman was attacked in his lifetime for his offensive subject matter of sexuality and for his conventional style.7. Tom Sawyer walked out of Twain’s pages directly from his fresh memory of his boyhood in the west.8. Hurstwood is a character in Theodore D reiser’s Sister Carrie.9. In the decade of the 1910s, American literature achieved a new diversity and reached its greatest heights.10. Edwin Arlington Robinson began his career as a novalist in bleakness and poverty.11.The greatest of America’s realist s, such as Henry James and Mark Twain, moved well beyond a superficial portrayal of nineteenth-century America.12.Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or William Dean Howells.13.Sister Carrie is generally regar ded as Theodore Dreiser’s masterpiece.14.Generally speaking, Jack London was much more interested in ideas than Stephen Crane and less sentimental than Frank Norris.15.Ralph Waldo Emerson’s prose style was sometimes as highly individual as his poetry.16. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.17. Georgia, Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New England, all were named after French monarchs and lands.18. Benjamin Franklin was a prose stylist whose writing reflected the neoclassic ideals of clarity, restraint, simplicity and balance.19. The Fall of the House of Usher is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s poems.20. The Scarlet Letter is set in the seventeenth century. It is an elaboration of a fact which the author took out of the life of the Puritan past.21. Walt Whitman was so great that he won respect and loveduring his lifetime for his Leaves of Grass.22. Many of O. Henry’s stories contain a lot of slang and colloquial expressions, just like his own speech.23. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or William Dean Howells.24. Robert Frost rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, and chose “the old-fashioned way to be new” instead.25. John Steinbeck’s theme was us ually that simple human virtues such as kindness and fair treatment were far superior to official hard-heartedness, or the dehumanizing cruelty of exploiters for their own commercial advantage.26. Transcendentalists spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society.27. Washington Irving was the first great belletrist, writing always for pleasure, and to produce pleasure.28. James Fennimore Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea adventure tale and the frontier saga.29. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was conspicuously noticeable.30. “Young Goodman Brown” seems to prove everyone possesses some evil secrets1-5 FFTFT 6-10FTTFF 11-15 TFFTT 16-20 FFTFT 21-25FFFTT 26-30 TTTTTⅣAnswer the fo llowing questions briefly.1. These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is noteasily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly—This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.Questions:(1)Which book is this passage taken from?(2)Who is the author of this book?(3)Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?(4)What do you think of the language?Answers:(1) The American Crisis.(2) Thomas Paine(3) Paine is praising those who stand “it”, it referring to “the service of their country”. In the meantime, Paine is criticizing those who shrink from the service of their country in this crisis.(4) The language is plain, impressive and forceful. Paine himself once said that his purpose as a writer was to use plain language to make those who can scarcely read understand and to fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question and nothing else.2.It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho, was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now widly heightened by circumstance of the Town-Ho’s story, which seemedobscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his ma tes…Nevertheless, so potent and influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpiredabaft the Pequod’s main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record.Questions:(1)From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) What is the name of the novelist?(3) Who is Ahab?(4) What is Pequod?(5) What is the theme of the novel?Answers:(1) Moby Dick(2) Herman Melville(3) The captain of the whaling ship(4) The name of the whaling ship(5) The rebellious struggle of Captain Ahab against the overwhelming, mysterious vastness of the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces.3. When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one oftwo things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human temper. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper cautious interpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognized for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) How do you understand “the cosmopolitan standard of virtue”?(4) Is there any naturalist tendency in this passage?Answers:(1)Sister Carrie(2) Theodore Dreiser(3) “The cosmopolitan standard of virtue” is something that makes a person become low in virtue and become worse.(4) Yes.4. Briefly discuss the novel The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one of the greatest novels in American literature. It fully explores the disillusionment and despair of the lost generation through the personal tragedy of a young man whose “incorruptib le Dream”is easily smashed into pieces by the crude reality. The protagonist, Gatsby, is a mythical figure whose intensity of dream partakes of a state of mind that embodies American itself. His failure magnifies the end of the American Dream. The style of the story is explicit and chilly. Fitzgerald’s accurate dialogues, his careful observation of mannerism and the colorful images provide the reader with a vivid and profound scene of the reality.5. What are the three main principles that Ezra Pound endorsed?(1)Directly treat poetic subjects.(2)Eliminate merely ornamental or superfluous words.(3)Rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of metronome.6.Tell the differences between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman(1)Emily Dickinson expresses the inner life of individuals, while Walt Whitman keeps his eyes on the society at large.(2)Emily Dicki nson is “regional”, while Walt Whitman is “national” in his outlook.(3)Formally, Emily Dickinson uses concise, simple dictions and syntax, while Walt Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs.ⅤEssay Writing (这个部分给大家的答案只是罗列了回答的要点，要将其连缀成文，如果简单按复习题给的答案罗列，只得一半分数)1. Write a short essay about the novel The Grapes of WrathWriter: John Steinbeck----won Nobel Prize for Literature in1962; spoke for the oppressed and suffered Background information: (1) Oklahoma used to be a major agricultural state. In the 1930s, a draught ruined this place. People had to leave here to seek a way out. Many of them went to California in hope of finding jobs there to support their family. (2)The Great Depression.Meaning of title: (1) Hope to despair; (2) Wrath of people; (3) Indications of revolution.Theme: (1) Embodying the mass misery of farmers; (2) Praising the spirit of love and unity; (3) Advocating fight and struggle for better life.Structure: (1) Its structure is dictated by the bible; (2) There are two blocks of material: a. the westward trek of the Joads; b. the depressed Oklahomans, and the general picture of the Great Depression.Symbols: (1) dust---evil forces; (2) grapes---hope→rage2. Write a short essay about the novel A Farewell to ArmsWriter: Hemingway---- (1) in 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize; (2) Main works: The Sun also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The old Man and the Sea. (3) His major contribution: a. Code hero---grace under pressure; b. Iceberg Theory---economy of expression; (4) the lost generation Background information: World War ⅡTheme: shows the filth, meaningless, calamity of war; the death, the nothingness of life; the disillusionment with future, hope and love, happiness. The universe is indifferent. There is no God to watch over man.Characters: Henry--- initially detached from life----though well-disciplined and friendly, he feels as if he has nothing to do with the war. After falling in love with Catherine he became acode hero in some way. Catherine---code hero: unfaltering devotion to Henry, brave, considerate, optimisticSymbols: rain---sadness, desperation, depression. It is raining outside almost every time something bad occurs. mud---nature's hostility to man.3. Write a short essay about the novel The Adventures of Tom SawyerAuthor: Mark Twain—the first truly American writer, a local colorist; he used short, concrete and colloquial language; his sentences are simple, and even ungrammatical; good at writing children’s adventures; masterpieces including: The A dventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer About the novel: The first famous novel about growing up and show ing the contradictions between adults’ world and teenagers’ world, a story of his seeking for freedom, fame, fortune, love, manhood; reveals the American values such as hero complex and American dream; records the rising Age of American Bourgeois system; bearsthe irony and satire toward the religion and rigid, didactic children education, which curbed the imagination of children and their innate nature for freedom and adventures and molded them into a stereotype of lifeless man.4. Comment briefly on Theodore Dreiser’s theme and writing style?Theme: Dreiser’s works are mainly concerned with the tragic nature of the human condition by depicting the coarse, vulgar, cruel, and terrible aspects of life like sex and crime.Style: In terms of style, Dreiser has sometimes been censured for his clumsy syntax, deficient characterization, and inept and dull prose. Yet his accumulated detail, carefully selected andfaithfully recorded, is a technique of power. Like the other naturalists, he refused to judge—to consider people as good or evil. He clothes his concepts symbolically in the details of reality. It is his journalistic method that ha s made him one of America’s foremost novelists.。
美国文学史及选读期末复习题
1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer.5.The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people.6.The first major intellectual spokesman of the Massachusetts Bay colony was John Cotton,sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England.”7.Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, and she wasnicknamed the tenth Muse.8.Poor Richard’s Almanac is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.9.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration forIndependence”.10.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, BenjaminFranklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.11.Philip Freneau developed a natural, simple, and concrete diction, best illustrated in suchnature lyrics as “The Wild Honey Suckle” and “The Indian Burying Ground”.12.Philip Freneau has been called the “Father of American Poetry”.13.In Washington Irving’s Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first greatAmerican juvenile literature.14.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprisethe Leatherstocking tales.15.“To a Waterfowl” is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant’s wok.16.“Thanatopsis”, William Cullen Bryant’s best-known poem, consists of four stanzas in iambictetrameter abab. The title means “view of death”.17.Edgar Allan Poe is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothicstories”.18.Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.19.In Walden, Thoreau thought it better for a man to work one day a week and rest six, and therest of the time could be devoted to thought.20.Hawthorne’s stories touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature.21.Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seeminglysupernatural white whale.22.After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet’sCorner of Westminster Abbey.23.Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, had become an American institutionand the most famous literary woman in the world.24.William Dean Howells found his subject matter in the experiences of the American middleclass.25.William Dean Howells called for the treatment of the “smiling aspects of life” as being themore “American.”26.The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will,that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environment.27.The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse.28.O·Henry’s stories are usually short and interesting; Famous for theirsurprising end.29.Henry James is famous for his international theme of the traditionless American confrontingthe complexity of European life.30.Jack London believed in the inevitable triumph of the strongest individuals.31.Dreiser’s greatest and most successful novel, An American Tragedy, is about a young manwho acts as if the only way he can be truly fulfilled is by acquiring wealth—through marriage if necessary.32.Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a “LostGeneration,” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.33.Wallace Stevens’ work is primarily motivated by the belief that “ideas of order”.34.With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway became the spokesman for whatGertrude Stein had called “a lost generation.”Terms1.TranscendentalismTranscendentalism refers to the religious and philosophical doctrines of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others in New England in the middle 1800’s, which emphasized the importance of individual inspiration and intuition, the Oversoul, and Nature. Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and, therefore, self-reliant. New England Transcendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and European Romanticism.2.NaturalismNaturalism, a more deliberate kind of realism, usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. As a literary movement, naturalism was initiated in France and it came to be led by Zola, who claimed at “scientific” status for his studies of impoverished characters miserably subjected to hunger, sexual obsession, and hereditary defects. Natural fiction aspired to a sociological objectivity, offering detailed and fully researched investigations into unexplored corners of modern society. The most significant work of naturalism in English being Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.3.American DreamThe American Dream is the faith held by many people in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations.4.The Lost GenerationThe term Lost Generation was coined by Gertrude Stein to refer to a group of American Literary notables who lived in Paris from the time period which saw the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Significant members included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, T. S. Eliot, and Gertrude Stein herself. Hemingway likely popularized the term, quoting Stein (“You are all a lost generation”) as epigraph to his novel The Sun Also Rises. More generally, the term is being used for the young adults of Europe and America during World War I. They were “lost”because after the war many of them were disillusioned with the world in general and unwilling to more into a settled life5. ModernismModern writing is marked by a strong and conscious break with traditional forms and techniques of expression; it believes that we create the world in the act of perceiving it. Modernism implies historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, of loss, and of despair. Itelevates the individual and his inner being over social man and prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious.6. RomanticismRomanticism as a literary movement came into being in England in the later half of the 18th century. It first made its appearance in England as a renewed interest in medieval literature. William Blake and Robert Burns represented the spirit of what is usually called Pre-Romanticism. With the publication of W illiam Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads in collaboration with S. T. Coleridge, romanticism began to bloom and found a firm place in history of English literature. In fact, the first half the 19th century recorded the triumph of Romanticism.7. PuritanismThe principles and practices of puritans were popularly known as Puritanism. Puritanism accepted the doctrines of Calvinism: the sovereignty of God; the supreme authority of the Bible; the irresistibility of God’s will for man in every act of life from cradl e to grave. These doctrines led the Puritans to examine their souls to find whether they were of the elect and to search the Bible to determine God’s will.8.Hemingway Heroes / Code Hero“Hemingway Heroes” refer to some protagonists in Hemingway’s works. Such a hero usually is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent. And usually he is a man of action and of a few words. He is such an individualist, alone even when with other people, somewhat an outsider, keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place where one can not get happiness. The Hemingway heroes stand for a whole generation. In a world which is essentially chaotic and 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 Hemingway heroes possess a kind of “despairing courage” 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. Surely Hemingway heroes differ, one from another, 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.Identify the fragments.1. These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly—This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.(1)Which book is this passage take from?(2)Who is the author of this book?(3)Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?(4)What do you think of the language?Answer:(1) The American Crisis.(2) Thomas Paine(3) Paine is praising those who stand “it”, it referring to “the service of their country”. In themeantime, Paine is criticizing those who shrink from the service of their country in this crisis. (4) The language is plain, impressive and forceful. Paine himself once said that his purpose as a writer was to use plain language to make those who can scarcely read understand and to fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question and nothing else.2. From morning suns and evening dewsAt first thy little being came;If nothing once, you nothing lose,For when you die you are the same;The space between, is but an hour,The frail duration of a flower.(1) Who is the writer of these verses?(2) What is the title of this poem?(3) Give a brief comment on this poems.Answer:(1) Philip Freneau(2) The Wild Honeysuckle(3) Here Freneau offers a version of an abundant America with potential for providing a good life for all. The poem is also an indication of his dedication to American subject matter as he examined peculiarly American characteristics of the countryside.3.From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. Drowsy and dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was bewitched by a high German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. Question:(1) Who is the writer of this short story from which the passage is taken?(2) What is the title of this short story?(3) Give a definition of “short story”?Answer:(1) Washington Irving(2) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(3) A short story is a brief prose fiction, usually one that can be read in a single sitting. It generally contains the six major elements of fiction—characterization, setting, theme, plot, point of view and style.4. It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho, was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now widly heightened by circumstance of the Town-Ho’s story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its ownparticular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his mates…Nevertheless, so potent and influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod’s main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record.Question:(1)From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) What is the name of the novelist?(3) Who is Ahab?(4) What is Pequod?(5) What is the theme of the novel?Answer:(1) Moby Dick(2) Herman Melville(3) The captain of the whaling ship(4) The name of the whaling ship(5) The rebellious struggle of Captain Ahab against the overwhelming, mysterious vastness of the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces.5. To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generation the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these preachers of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.Question:(1)This paragraph is taken from a famous essay. What is the of the essay?(2)Who is the author?(3)What does the author say would happen if the stars appeared one night in a thousand years?(4)Give a peculiar term to cover the author’s belief.Answer:(1) Nature(2) Ralph Waldo Emerson(3)Then, the men cannot believe and adore the God, cannot preserve the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown.(4)Transcendentalism6. Isabel always felt an impulse to pull out the pins; not that she imagined they inflicted any damage on the tough old parchment, but because it seemed to her her aunt might make better use of her sharpness. She was very critical herself-it was incidental to her sex, and her nationality butshe was very sentimental as well, and there was something in Mrs. Touchett’s dryness that set her own moral fountains flowing.Questions:(1) This passage is taken from a well-known novel. What is the name of the novel?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) Make a brief comment on the heroine of this novel?(4) What is theme of the author? Tell something about it.Answer:(1) The Portrait of a Lady(2) Henry James(3) She is one of the Jamesian American girls. She arrives in Europe, full of hope, and with a will to live a free and noble life, but in fact, she only falls prey to the sinister designs of two vulgar and unscrupulous expatriates, Madam Merle and Gilbert Osmond.(4) Jamesian theme refers to Henry James’s handling of his major fictional theme, “the international theme”: the meeting of America and Europe, American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence and the moral and Psychological complications arising there from.7.When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human temper. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper cautious interpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognized for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) How do you understand “the cosmopolitan standard of virtue”?(4) Is there any naturalist tendency in this passage?Answer:(1)Sister Carrie(2) Theodore Dreiser(3) “The cosmopolitan standard of virtue” is something that makes a person become low in virtue and become worse.(4) Yes.Give brief answers to the following questions.1.What are the characteristics of the Colonial Literature?In a real sense, there were no literal works in the early colonial period. They were just personalliterature in the form of diaries, travel books, letters, journals, sermons, histories and prose.(1) In content, they wrote about the voyage to the new land, about adopting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops, about dealing with Indian, and especially about religion.(2) In form, English traditions were imitated.ment briefly on Emily Dickinson’s themes?(1)By far the largest portion of Dickinson’s poetry concerns death and immortality, theme which lie at the centre of Dickinson’s world.(2)Dickinson’s nature poems are also great in number and rich in matter. Natural phenomena, changes of seasons, heavenly bodies, animals, birds and insects, flowers of various kinds, and many other subjects related to nature find her way into her poetry.(3)Dickinson also wrote some poems about love. Like her death and nature poems, her love poems were original.(4)Besides deaths and immortality, nature and love, Dickinson’s poems are concerned about ethics, with respect to which, she emphasizes free will and human responsibility.3. Comment briefly on Theodore Dreiser’s themes and writing style?Theme: Dreiser’s works are mainly concerned with the tragic nature of the human condition by depicting the coarse, vulgar, cruel, and terrible aspects of life like sex and crime.Style: In terms of style, Dreiser has sometimes been censured for his clumsy syntax, deficient characterization, and inept and dull prose. Yet his accumulated detail, carefully selected and faithfully recorded, is a technique of power. Like the other naturalists, he refused to judge—to consider people as good or evil. He clothes his concepts symbolically in the details of reality. It is his journalistic method that has made him one of America’s foremost novelists.4 Henry James is a great realistic writer. Name two of his major works. Do you know anything about his narrative “point of view”? What is it for? How does James employ it in his works? Briefly discuss this question.(1) Henry James’s major works include Daisy Miller and The Portrait of A Lady, etc.(2) One of Henry James literary techniques is his narrative “point of view.” As the author, James avoids the authorial omniscience as much as possible and makes his characters reveal themselves with his minimal intervention. So it is often the case that in his novels we usually learn the main story by reading through one or several minds and share their perspectives. This narrative method proves to be successful in bringing out his themes.5. What are the three main principles that Ezra Pound endorsed?(1)Directly treat poetic subjects.(2)Eliminate merely ornamental or superfluous words.(3)Rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of metronome.6.Tell the differences between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman(1)Emily Dickinson expresses the inner life of individuals, while Walt Whitman keeps his eyes on the society at large.(2)Emily Dickinson is “regional”, while Walt Whitman is “national” in his outlook.(3)Formally, Emily Dickinson uses concise, simple dictions and syntax, while Walt Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs.7. Briefly discuss Hemingway’s Iceberg PrincipleIceberg principle is that the full meaning of the text is not limited to moving the plot forward:there is always a web of association and inference, a submerged reason behind the inclusion (or even the omission) of every detail.In Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway outlined his “theory of omission” or “iceberg principle.”He states: “is a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know only makes hollow places in his writing.”8. Briefly discuss the Jazz Age“The Jazz Age” describes the period the period of the 1920s and 1930s, the years between World War I and World War II, particularly in North America; with the rise of the Great Depression, the values of this age saw much decline. Perhaps the most representative literary work of the age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, highlighting what some describe as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of individualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term “The Jazz Age”. It can also be known as “The Roaring Twenties” and “The Dollar Decade.”9. Jack Landon’s themes(1) London was logically inconsistent in his viewpoint.On the one hand, he took faith in Darwin’s surviv al of the fittest, evolutionary concept of progress, and on the other hand, he embraced the socialists’ doctrines of Marx.(2) London wrote on many subjects and themes which centered around primitive violence, Anglo-Saxon supremacy(至上), biological evolution, class warfare, and mechanistic determinism. His heroes are physically robust and rugged but often psychologically harried(苦恼). His heroines are athletic, daring, yet intensely feminine. They are man’s intellectual equal and his emotional superior.10. Briefly discuss ImagismImagism was one of the modern literary movements which expressed the modern spirit, the sense of fragmentation（破裂）and dislocation（错位，混乱）. It came as a reaction to the traditional English poetics. The first Imagist theorist is the English writer T.E. Hume. He suggests that modern art deal with expression and communication of momentary（瞬间的）phases in the poet’s mind.Poetic techniques should become subtle enough to record exactly the momentary impressions. The most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through one dominant image. Each word must be an image seen. Each sentence should be a lump(团,块), a piece of clay, a vision seen. Hulme advises the poet to seek the hard, personal word for expression. The Imagist movement lasted from 1908 to 1917.。
美国文学史概述及选读复习资料
美国文学史American Literature in the colonical and Revolutionary:1.Benjamin Franklin(本杰明.富兰克林)2.hilip Freneau 菲利普·费瑞诺Benjamin Franklin(本杰明.富兰克林)1)"Poor Richard's Almanac" 穷人查理德的年鉴(以笔名Richard Sunders)2)“annual collection of proverbs “流行谚语集(It soon became the most popular bookof its kind, largely because of Franklin's shrewd humor, and first spread his reputation) 3)The Way to Wealth (Father Abraham’s Sermon)致富之道(as the “perface to Poor RichardImproved)4)The Autobiography自传(18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传)5)Founded the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic and politicalideas. 建立了一个秘密俱乐部，讨论的主题是政治、经济和科学等时事方面的问题.6)established America's first circulating library, founded the college--University ofPennsylvania. 建立了美国第一个可租借的图书馆，还创办了一所大学——就是现在的宾夕法尼亚大学.7)first applied the terms "positive" and "negative" to electrical charges.8)Writer,printer,publisher,scientist,philanthropist,and diplomat,he was the most famousand respected private figure of his time.The Rising Glory of America蒸蒸日上的美洲；The British Prison Ship英国囚船；To the Memory of the Brave Americans纪念美国勇士-----同类诗中最佳；The Wild Honeysuckle野生的金银花；The Indian Burying Ground印第安人殡葬地(1)poet and political journalist 诗人和政治方面的新闻记者(2)perhaps the most outstanding writer of the post-revolutionary period.(3)has been called the "Father of American Poetry" 美国诗歌之父(4)Imaginative and melancholy treatment of nature and human life,and sharp satire against the British tyranny19th Century American LiteratureWashington Irving(华盛顿.欧文)1．James Fenimore Cooper(詹姆斯.芬尼莫.库珀)2．Nathaniel Hawthorne(纳萨尼尔.霍桑)3．Edgar Allan Poe （埃德加.阿伦.坡）4．Henry Daived Thoreau(亨利.戴维.梭罗)5．Herman Melville(赫尔曼.麦尔维尔)6．Walt Whiteman(沃尔特.惠特曼)The Rise of American Romanticism• One of the most important periods in the history of American literature, stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War(1861-65).• It started with the publication of Washington Irving's e T he h Sketch Book(1820) and ended with Whitman's s Leaves f of Grass(1855)..Romanticism的特点：frequently shared certain general characteristics, moral enthusiam,faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception, and apresumption that he natural world was a source of corruption.浪漫主义之间大多是相通的，都注重道德，强调个人主义价值观和直觉感受，并且认为自然是美的源头，人类社会是腐败之源。
美国文学期末复习资料题
2013-2014-1 美国文学史及选读期末复习材料.- Ⅰ Multiple choices1. Which is not connected with Thomas Paine?A. Common SenseB. The American CrisisC. The Rights of ManD. The Autobiography2. “These are the times that try men’s souls”, these words were once read to Washington’s troops and did much to spur excitement to further action with hope and confidence. Who is the author of these words?A.Benjamin FranklinB. Thomas PaineC. Thomas JeffersonD. George Washington3. At the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the ______.A. Chartist MovementB. Romanticist MovementC. Enlightenment MovementD. Modernist Movement4. In American literature, the Enlighteners were favorable to______.A. the colonial orderB. religious obscurantismC. the Puritan traditionD. the secular literature5. The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parent country and the Continental Congress adopted ______ in 1776.A. Declaration of IndependenceB. the Sugar ActC. the Stamp ActD. the Mayflower Compact6. ______ usually was regarded as the first American writer.A. William BradfordB. Anne BradstreetC. Emily DickinsonD. Captain John Smith7. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made such a stir in England that she became known as the “______” who appeared in America.A. Ninth MuseB. Tenth MuseC. Best MuseD. First Muse8. Who was considered as the “poet of American Revolution”?A. Anne BradstreetB. Edward TaylorC. Michael WigglesworthD. Philip Freneau9. In 1817, the stately poem called Thanatopsis introduced the best poet ______ to appear in America up to that time.A. Edward TaylorB. Philip FreneauC. William Cullen BryantD. Edgar Allen Poe10. The finest example of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s symbolism is the recreation of Puritan Boston in ______.A. The Scarlet LetterB. Young Goodman BrownC. The Marble FaunD. The Ambitious Guest11. “The universe is composed of Nature and the soul… Spirit is present everywhere”. This is the voice of the book Nature written by Emerson, which pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England ______.A. RomanticismB. TranscendentalismC. NaturalismD. Symbolism12. Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism?A. NatureB. WaldenC. On BeautyD. Self-Reliance.- 13. Mark Twain created, in _________, a masterpiece of American realism that is also one of the great books of world literature.A. The Adventure of Huckleberry FinnB. The Adventure of Tom SawyerC. The Man That Corrupted HadleyburgD. The Gilded Age14. _________ marks the climax of Mark Twain ’s literary creativity.A . The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn B. The Gilded AgeC. Life on the MississippiD. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer15. Choose the novel which is not written by Henry James.A. The AmbassadorsB. The Wings of the DoveC. The BostoniansD. The Mysterious Stranger16. Generally speaking, all those writers with a naturalistic approach to human reality tend to be _________.A. transcendentalistsB. idealistsC. pessimistsD. impressionists17. Ezra Pound ’s long poem _________ contained more than one hundred poems loosely connected.A. The Waste LandB. The CantosC. Don JuanD. Queen Mab18. T. S. Eliot ’s first major poem _________(1917), has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes19. Ernest Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse. These two persons later became the characters of his novel _________.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. For Whom the Bell TollsC. The Sun Also RisesD. A Farewell to Arms20. In William Faulkner ’s The Sound and the Fury , he used a technique called _________, in which the whole story was told through the thoughts of one character.A. stream of consciousnessB. imagismC. symbolismD. naturalism21. Led by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and ______, there arose a kind of teachings of transcendentalism in the early nineteenth century.A. Herman MelvilleB. Henry David ThoreauC. Mark TwainD. Theodore Dreiser22. A New ______ had appeared in England in the last years of the eighteenth century. It spread to continental Europe and then came to America early in the nineteenth century.A. realismB. critical realismC. romanticismD. naturalism23. From Henry David Thoreau ’s jail experience, came his famous essay, ______ which states Thoreau ’s belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Sense24. Mark Twain, one of the greatest 19th century American writers, is well known for his _________.A. international themeB. waste-land imageryC. local colorD. symbolism25. Herman Melville ’s ______ is an encyclopedia of everything: history, philosophy religion, etc. in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. Moby DickC. White Jacket C . Billy Budd26. The ship “______” carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.A. SunflowerB. ArmadaC. MayflowerD. Pequod.- 27. From 1733 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous ______, an annual collection of proverbs.A. The AutobiographyB. Poor Richard ’s AlmanacC. Common SenseD. The General Magazine28. In American literature, the eighteen-century was the age of the Enlightenment. ______ was the dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. RationalismC. RevolutionD. Evolution29. ______ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.A. Henry David ThoreauB. Ralph Waldo EmersonC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Walt Whitman30. Edgar Allen Poe ’s first collection of short stories is ______.A. Tales of a TravelerB. Leatherstocking TalesC. Canterbury TalesD. Tales of the Grotesque of Arabesque31. ______ was a romanticized account of Herman Melville ’s stay among the Polynesians. The success of the book soon made Melville well known as the “man who lived among cannibals ”.A. Moby DickB. TypeeC. OmooD. Billy Budd32. Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence ”?A. The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. The Conduct of LifeD. Representative Men33. The three dominant figures of the realistic period in American literature are _________.A. Theodore Dreiser, Emily Dickinson and William Dean HowellsB. Mark Twain, Henry James and William Dean HowellsC. Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser and William Dean HowellsD. Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson and William Dean Howells34. American literature produced only one female poet during the nineteenth century. This was _________.A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickinsonD. Harriet Beecher35. In 1900, London published his first collection of short stories, named _________.A. The Son of the WolfB. The Sea WolfC. The Law of LifeD. White Fang36. In Henry James ’ Daisy Miler , the author tries to portray the young woman as an embodiment of _________.A. the force of conventionB. the free spirit of the New WorldC. the decline of aristocracyD. the corruption of the newly rich37. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” This is the shortest poem written by _________.A. T.S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD.E.E.Cumings38. The Fitzgerald lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than F. Scot Fitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as _________.A. The Roaring TwentiesB. The Jazz AgeC. The Dollar DecadeD. all of the above39. In 1954, _________ was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his “mastery of the art of modern narration ”.A. T.S EliotB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faukner40. William Faukner ’s novel _________ describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family, symbolizing the old social order, told from four different points of view.A. The Sound and the FuryB. Startoris.- C. The Unvanquished D. The Town41. “The Lure of the Spirit: The Flesh in Pursuit ” is the title of one chapter in Dreiser ’s novel _________.A. An American DreamB. Sister CarrieC. Dreiser Looks at RussiaD. Jannie Gerhardt42. The main theme of _________ The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo that representation of life should be the main object of the novel.A. Henry James ’B. William Dean Howells ’C. Mark Twain ’sD. O. Henry ’s43. With William Dean Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the scene, _________became the major trend in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism44. While embracing the socialism of Marx, London also believed in the triumph of the strongest individuals. This contradiction is most vividly projected in the patently autobiographical novel _________.A. The Call of the WildB. The Sea WolfC. Martin EdenD. The Iron Heel45_________ is a novella about a young American girl who gets “killed ” by the winter in Rome, and it brought Henry James international fame for the first time.A. The AmericanB. The EuropeansC. Daisy MillerD. The Portait of a LadyAnswers: 1-5 DBCDA 6-10 DBDCA 11-15 BAAAD 16-20 CBADA21-25 BCCCB 26-30 CBBBD 31-35 BABCA 36-40 BCDBA 41-45 BACCCⅡ Filling the following blanks with proper answers1. Captain John Smith became the first American writer.2. The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people.3. The first major intellectual spokesman of the Massachusetts Bay colony was John Cotton, sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England.”4. Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America , and she was nicknamed the tenth Muse.5. Poor Richard ’s Almanac is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.6. Thomas Paine ’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence ”.7. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.8. Philip Freneau developed a natural, simple, and concrete diction, best illustrated in such nature lyrics as “The Wild Honey Suckle ” and “The Indian Burying Ground ”.9. Philip Freneau has been called the “Father of American Poetry ”.10. In Washington Irving ’s Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.11. Cooper ’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprise the Leatherstocking tales .12. “To a Waterfowl ” is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant ’s wok.13. “Thanatopsis ”, William Cullen Bryant ’s best-known poem, consists of four stanzas in iambic tetrameter abab. The title means “view of death ”.14. Edgar Allan Poe is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories ”..- 15. Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.16. In Walden , Thoreau thought it better for a man to work one day a week and rest six, and therest of the time could be devoted to thought.17. Hawthorne ’s stories touch the deepest roots of man ’s moral nature.18. Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.19. After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet ’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.20. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom ’s Cabin , had become an American institution and the most famous literary woman in the world.21. William Dean Howells found his subject matter in the experiences of the American middle class.22. William Dean Howells called for the treatment of the “smiling aspects of life ” as being the more “American.”23. The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environment.24. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse.25. O ·Henry ’s stories are usually short and interesting; Famous for their surprising end.26. Henry James is famous for his international theme of the traditionless American confronting the complexity of European life.27. Jack London believed in the inevitable triumph of the strongest individuals.28. Dreiser ’s greatest and most successful novel, An American Tragedy, is about a young man who acts as if the only way he can be truly fulfilled is by acquiring wealth —through marriage if necessary.29. Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a “Lost Generation,” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.30. Wallace Stevens ’ work is primarily motivated by the belief that “ideas of order ”.31. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises , Hemingway became the spokesman for what Gertrude Stein had called “a lost generation.”Ⅲ Decide whether the statements are true or false (T/F).1. John Winthrop ’s reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been regarded as the first distinct American literature written in English.2. In 1612, William Bradford published in England a book called A Map of Virginia ; With a description of the country.3. Philip Freneau was neoclassical by training and taste yet romantic in essential spirit.4. Ralph Waldo Emerson was recognized as the leader of transcendentalist movement, but he always applied the term “Transcendentalist ” to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.5. To Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, the telling of a tale was a way of inquiring into the meaning of life.6. Walt Whitman was attacked in his lifetime for his offensive subject matter of sexuality and for his conventional style.7. Tom Sawyer walked out of Twain ’s pages directly from his fresh memory of his boyhood in the west.8. Hurstwood is a character in Theodore Dreiser ’s Sister Carrie .9. In the decade of the 1910s, American literature achieved a new diversity and reached its greatest heights.10. Edwin Arlington Robinson began his career as a novalist in bleakness and poverty..- 11.The greatest of America ’s realists, such as Henry James and Mark Twain, moved well beyond a superficial portrayal of nineteenth-century America.12.Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or WilliamDean Howells.13.Sister Carrie is generally regarded as Theodore Dreiser ’s masterpiece.14.Generally speaking, Jack London was much more interested in ideas than Stephen Crane and less sentimental than Frank Norris.15.Ralph Waldo Emerson ’s prose style was sometimes as highly individual as his poetry.16. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.17. Georgia, Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New England, all were named after French monarchs and lands.18. Benjamin Franklin was a prose stylist whose writing reflected the neoclassic ideals of clarity, restraint, simplicity and balance.19. The Fall of the House of Usher is one of Edgar Allan Poe ’s poems.20. The Scarlet Letter is set in the seventeenth century. It is an elaboration of a fact which the author took out of the life of the Puritan past.21. Walt Whitman was so great that he won respect and love during his lifetime for his Leaves of Grass .22. Many of O. Henry ’s stories contain a lot of slang and colloquial expressions, just like his own speech.23. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or William Dean Howells.24. Robert Frost rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, and chose “the old-fashioned way to be new ” instead.25. John Steinbeck ’s theme was usually that simple human virtues such as kindness and fair treatment were far superior to official hard-heartedness, or the dehumanizing cruelty of exploiters for their own commercial advantage.26. Transcendentalists spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society.27. Washington Irving was the first great belletrist, writing always for pleasure, and to produce pleasure.28. James Fennimore Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea adventure tale and the frontier saga.29. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was conspicuously noticeable.30. “Young Goodman Brown ” seems to prove everyone possesses some evil secrets1-5 FFTFT 6-10FTTFF 11-15 TFFTT 16-20 FFTFT 21-25FFFTT 26-30 TTTTTⅣ Answer the following questions briefly.1. These are the times that try men ’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly —This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.Questions:(1)Which book is this passage taken from?.- (2)Who is the author of this book?(3)Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?(4)What do you think of the language?Answers:(1) The American Crisis.(2) Thomas Paine(3) Paine is praising those who stand “it ”, it referring to “the service of their country ”. In the meantime, Paine is criticizing those who shrink from the service of their country in this crisis.(4) The language is plain, impressive and forceful. Paine himself once said that his purpose as a writer was to use plain language to make those who can scarcely read understand and to fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question and nothing else.2. It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho, was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now widly heightened by circumstance of the Town-Ho ’s story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his mates …Nevertheless, so potent and influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod ’s main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record.Questions:(1)From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) What is the name of the novelist?(3) Who is Ahab?(4) What is Pequod?(5) What is the theme of the novel?Answers:(1) Moby Dick(2) Herman Melville(3) The captain of the whaling ship(4) The name of the whaling ship(5) The rebellious struggle of Captain Ahab against the overwhelming, mysterious vastness of the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces.3. When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human temper. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished.- by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper cautiousinterpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognizedfor what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) How do you understand “the cosmopolitan standard of virtue ”?(4) Is there any naturalist tendency in this passage?Answers:(1)Sister Carrie(2) Theodore Dreiser(3) “The cosmopolitan standard of virtue ” is something that makes a person become low in virtue and become worse.(4) Yes.4. Briefly discuss the novel The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one of the greatest novels in American literature. It fully explores the disillusionment and despair of the lost generation through the personal tragedy of a young man whose “incorruptible Dream ” is easily smashed into pieces by the crude reality. The protagonist, Gatsby, is a mythical figure whose intensity of dream partakes of a state of mind that embodies American itself. His failure magnifies the end of the American Dream. The style of the story is explicit and chilly. Fitzgerald ’s accurate dialogues, his careful observation of mannerism and the colorful images provide the reader with a vivid and profound scene of the reality.5. What are the three main principles that Ezra Pound endorsed?(1) Directly treat poetic subjects.(2) Eliminate merely ornamental or superfluous words.(3) Rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of metronome.6. Tell the differences between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman(1) Emily Dickinson expresses the inner life of individuals, while Walt Whitman keeps his eyes on the society at large.(2) Emily Dickinson is “regional ”, while Walt Whitman is “national ” in his outlook.(3) Formally, Emily Dickinson uses concise, simple dictions and syntax, while Walt Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs.Ⅴ Essay Writing (这个部分给大家的答案只是罗列了回答的要点，要将其连缀成文，如果简单按复习题给的答案罗列，只得一半分数)1. Write a short essay about the novel The Grapes of WrathWriter: John Steinbeck----won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962; spoke for the oppressed and suffered.- Background information: (1) Oklahoma used to be a major agricultural state. In the 1930s, a draught ruined this place. People had to leave here to seek a way out. Many of them went to Californiain hope of finding jobs there to support their family. (2)The Great Depression.Meaning of title: (1) Hope to despair; (2) Wrath of people; (3) Indications of revolution. Theme: (1) Embodying the mass misery of farmers; (2) Praising the spirit of love and unity; (3) Advocating fight and struggle for better life.Structure: (1) Its structure is dictated by the bible; (2) There are two blocks of material: a. the westward trek of the Joads; b. the depressed Oklahomans, and the general picture of the Great Depression.Symbols: (1) dust---evil forces; (2) grapes---hope →rage2. Write a short essay about the novel A Farewell to ArmsWriter: Hemingway---- (1) in 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize; (2) Main works: The Sun also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The old Man and the Sea. (3) His major contribution: a. Code hero---grace under pressure; b. Iceberg Theory--- economy of expression;(4) the lost generationBackground information: World War ⅡTheme: shows the filth, meaningless, calamity of war; the death, the nothingness of life; the disillusionment with future, hope and love, happiness. The universe is indifferent. There is no God to watch over man.Characters: Henry--- initially detached from life----though well-disciplined and friendly, he feels as if he has nothing to do with the war. After falling in love with Catherine he became a code hero in some way. Catherine---code hero: unfaltering devotion to Henry, brave, considerate, optimisticSymbols: rain---sadness, desperation, depression. It is raining outside almost every time something bad occurs. mud---nature's hostility to man.3. Write a short essay about the novel The Adventures of Tom SawyerAuthor: Mark Twain —the first truly American writer, a local colorist; he used short, concrete and colloquial language; his sentences are simple, and even ungrammatical; good at writing children ’s adventures; masterpieces including: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom SawyerAbout the novel: The first famous novel about growing up and showing the contradictions between adults ’ world and teenagers ’ world, a story of his seeking for freedom, fame, fortune, love, manhood; reveals the American values such as hero complex and American dream; records the rising Age of American Bourgeois system; bears the irony and satire toward the religion and rigid, didactic children education, which curbed the imagination of children and their innate nature for freedom and adventures and molded them into a stereotype of lifeless man.4. Comment briefly on Theodore Dreiser ’s theme and writing style?Theme: Dreiser ’s works are mainly concerned with the tragic nature of the human condition by depicting the coarse, vulgar, cruel, and terrible aspects of life like sex and crime.Style: In terms of style, Dreiser has sometimes been censured for his clumsy syntax, deficient characterization, and inept and dull prose. Yet his accumulated detail, carefully selected and faithfully recorded, is a technique of power. Like the other naturalists, he refused to judge —to consider people as good or evil. He clothes his concepts symbolically in the details of reality. It is his journalistic method that has made him one of America ’s foremost novelists..-。
美国文学史期末复习资料
美国文学（本科）试题5I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases andput your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 1 point for each)1. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 .2. became the first American writer.3. Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety were the values that dominated much of the early American writing.4. In American literature, the 18th century was an age of and Revolution.5. Franklin’s best writing is found in his masterpiece.6. On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet appeared.7. The signing of symbolized the birth of an independent American nation.8. The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was .9. Washington Irving’s became the first work by an American writer to win international fame.10. is the summit of American Romanticism.11. With the publication of Emerson’s in 1836,American Romanticism reached itssummit.12. Hester Prynne is the heroine in Hawthorne’s novel.13.Henry James’ major fictional theme is.14. brought the Romantic period to an end. So the age of Realism came intoexistence.15. The Poetic style invented by Whitman is now called .16. “Because I could not stop for Death---” is written by.17. The term The Gilded Age is given by to describe the post-civil war years.18. Theodore Dreiser’s first novel is.19. The leader of the literary movement Imagism is .20. is the spokesman for Lost Generation.II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answersor completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 1 point for each)1. The first American writer of local color to achieve wide popularity was .A. Bret HarteB. Mark TwainC. Henry JamesD. William Dean Howells2. Which of the following is the masterpiece of Mark Twain?A. The Gilded AgeB. The Adventures of Tom SawyerC. The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnD. Jumping Frog3. Which writer has no naturalist tendency?A. Mark TwainB. Jack LondonC. Theodore DreiserD. Frank Norris4. Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in and Thoreau.A. JeffersonB. EmersonC. FreneauD. Oversoul5. Which of the following doesn’t belong to Dreiser’s “Trilogy of Desire”?A. The FinancierB. The TitanC. The StoicD. An American Tragedy6. Which is the character who appears in the novel Moby Dick?A. Hester PrynneB. Mr. HooperC. transcendentalismD. veritism9. Jack London was at his height of his powers when he wrote , which is deeply influenced by Darwinism.A. The Sea WolfB. To Build a FireC. The Call of the WildD. Martin Eden10. The Cop and the Anthem is written by .A. O. HenryB. Henry JamesC. Jack LondonD. Mark Twain11. “Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.” is a line in the poem TheRiver-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter written by .A. T. S. EliotB.Robert FrostC.Ezra PoundD. Carl Sandburg12. The imagist poets followed three principles, they are , direct treatment andeconomy of expression.A. blank verseB. rhythmC. free verseD. common speech13. Of the following American writers, who has NOT been an expatriate in Paris?A. Ernest HemingwayB. Ezra PoundC. F. S. FitzgeraldD. Emily Dickinson14. Who was the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s?A. Ernest HemingwayB. Ezra PoundC. John SteinbeckD. F. S. Fitzgerald15. The first writings that we call American were the narratives and of the earlysettlements.A. journalsB. poetryC. dramaD. folklores16. An American Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1828 by .A. Samuel JohnsonB. Noah WebsterC. Daniel WebsterD. Daniel Defoe17. Walden is written by .A. EmersonB. ThoreauC. PoeD. Hawthorne18. is famous for psychological realism.A. Mark TwainB. William Dean HowellsC. Henry JamesD. Walt Whitman19. Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism?A. NatureB. WaldenC. On BeautyD. Self-Reliance20. Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?A.The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. The Conduct of LifeD. Nature21. Santiago is the character in Hemingway’s novel.A. In Our TimeB. The Old Man and the SeaC. For Whom the Bell TollsD. The Sun Also Rises22. Which of the following is a much harsher realism?A. local colorismB. naturalismC. romanticismD. imagism23. Who is the arbiter of 19th century literary realism in America?A. Mark TwainB. Bret HarteC. William Dean HowellsD. Henry James24. F. S. Fitzgerald is NOT the author of .A. The Great GatsbyB. Tender is the NightC. A Farewell to the ArmsD. This Side of Paradise25. The pessimism and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of suchAmerican writers as .A. Mark TwainB. F. S. FitzgeraldC. Walt WhitmanD. Stephen Crane26. Charles Drouet is a character in the novel of______.A. The AmericanB. The Portrait of a LadyC.Sister CarrieD. The Gift of the Magi27. American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century.She was .A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickinsonD. Harriet Beecher28. read his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.A. Robert FrostB. T. S. EliotC. Carl SandburgD. Ezra Pound29. With Howells, James and Mark Twain active on the scene, became the majortrend in the 70s and 80s of the 19th century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism30. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough”. Thisis the shortest poem written by .A. T. S. EliotB. Robert FrostC.Ezra PoundD. Wallace StevensIII. Comment on the following poems. Put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 10 points for each)1.Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Eveningby: Robert FrostWhose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake.The only other sound’s the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.1. I Heard a Fly Buzz—When I Died—by: Emily DickinsonI heard a Fly buzz — when I died —The Stillness in the RoomWas like the Stillness in the Air —Between the Heaves of Storm —The Eyes around — had wrung them dry —And Breaths were gathering firmFor that last Onset — when the KingBe witnessed — in the Room —I willed my Keepsakes — Signed awayWhat portion of me beAssignable — and then it wasThere interposed a Fly —With Blue — uncertain stumbling Buzz —Between the light — and me —And then the Windows failed — and thenI could not see to see —IV. Give brief answers to the following and write your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 15 points for each)1. Being a period of the great flowering of American literature, the Romantic Period is called “the American Renaissance”. Briefly discuss what the features of American literature in this period are.2. How does Sister Carrie embody Dreiser’2008-2009学年度第二期《美国文学史及作品选读》（2006级本科）期末考试A卷参考答案命题人：王琪、丁华良、祝小丁I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases andput your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 1 point for each)1. 16072. John Smith3. Puritan4. Reason5. The Autobiography6. Common Sense7. The Declaration of Independence8. Philip Freneau 9. Sketch Book 10. Transcendentalism11. Nature 12. The Scarlet Letter 13. international theme 14. The civil war15. free verse 16. Emily Dickinson 17. Mark Twain18. Sister Carrie 19. Ezra Pound 20. Ernest HemingwayII. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 1 point for each)1 --- 5: A C A B D 6 --- 10: C D B C A11 ---15:C B D C A 16 --- 20: B B C A A21 ---25: B B C C D 26 --- 30: C C A C CIII. Comment on the following poems. Put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 10 points for each)1. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" was Frost's favorite of his own poems and Frost in a letter to Louis Untermeyer called it "my best bid for remembrance."This poem illustrates many of the qualities most characteristic of Frost, including the attention to natural detail, the relationship between humans and nature, and the strong theme suggested by individual lines. The speaker in the poem, a traveler by horse on the darkest night of the year, stops to watch a woods filling up with snow. He thinks the owner of the woods is someone who lives in the village and will not see him stopping there. While he is attracted by the beauty of the woods and nature, he is reminded by his little horse and realizes that he has obligations which pull him away from the lure of nature. The speaker describes the beauty and temptation of the woods as “lovely, dark and deep,” but reminds himself that he must not remain there, because he has “promises to keep,” and a long journey ahead of him. He has to complete his obligations and then make his aspirations to be realized. Through the symbolic woods and horse, we also get to know that the speaker has strong self-awareness and self-discipline.In another way, the poem can be analyzed from the perspective of aspiration and realization. Aspiration is something to be worked at. We enjoy the fruit of our realization only when we reach our destination. But from the spiritual point of view, we notice something else that is the transformation of aspiration and realization. Today's aspiration transforms itself into tomorrow's realization. Again, tomorrow's realization is the pathfinder of a higher and deeper goal. There is no end to our realization, and there is no end of our aspiration as long as you are alive. Our journey is eternal, and the road that we are taking on is also eternal. All aspirations become realization till the end of one’s life.The poem is written in iambic tetrameter in the Rubaiyat stanza created by Edward Fitzgerald. Each verse (save the last) follows an a-a-b-a rhyming scheme, with the following verse's a's rhyming with that verse's b, which is a chain rhyme. Overall, the rhyme scheme is AABA-BBCB-CCDC-DDDD.2. The poetess is watching her own death and recording the process. Instead of seeing God and hearing the songs of angels yearned for by Puritans upon death she heard a fly buzz, which is really ironic.Fly: sets off the stillness in the room;blocks off the light (from heaven);suggests a coming decadence→ the speaker loses the opportunity of gaining immortality after deathThe fly plays an important role in the speaker’s experience of death. The poem is, in part, about “the conflict between preconception and perception.” The person on his or her deathbed shifts perspective from “the ritual of dying” to “the fact of death.” The fly, by interrupting the dying speaker with its “Blue — uncertain stumbling Buzz —” obliterates his or her false notions of death. The sound of the fly represents “the last conscious link with reality.” The poem lacks any hint of a life after death. IV. Give brief answers to the following and write your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 15 points for each)1.(1) The whole nation had a strong sense of optimism and the mood of “f eelinggood”, giving birth to the spectacular outburst of romantic feeling.(2) The English counterpart exerted a stimulating impact on the writers of the young nation.(3) Taking foreign influence in consideration, the great works of American writers stillcarried typically American romantic color.(4) The young nation had brought forth its own philosophy. Transcendentalism stressesman’s capacity of knowing truth intuitively, and of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses.2.(1) In this novel, Dreiser expressed his naturalistic pursuit by expounding thepurposelessness of life and attacking the conventional moral standards.(2) The novel best embodies his naturalistic belief that while men are controlled byheredity, instinct and chance, a few extraordinary and unsophisticated human beings refuse to accept their fate wordlessly and instead strive, unsuccessfully, to find meaning and purpose for their existence.(3) To Sister Carrie, the world is cold and harsh. Alone, helpless, she moves along likea mechanism driven by desire and catches blindly at any opportunities for abetter existence, opportunities first offered by Drouet, and then by Hurstwood. A feather in the wind, she was totally at the mercy of forces she cannot comprehend, still less to say control. The famous picture of Carrie sitting in a rocking chair in her room in the evening, rocking back and forth, is a picture of Carrie’s drifting with the tide. She has no control, no freedom of will.美国文学（本科）试题6I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases: (20%, 1 point for each)1. In 1817, the stately poem called “Thanatopsis” introduced the best poet, ______, to appear in America up to that time.2. James Fennimore Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: thesea adventure and ______.3. Ralph Emerson was recognized throughout his life as the leader of ______movement, yet he never applied the term to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.4. Herman Melville’s novel ______ is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage inpursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.5. In the early 19th century, Washington Irving wrote ______ which became the firstwork by an American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.6. In 1845, Henry David Thoreau began a two-year residence at ______ Pond.7. After his death, ______ became the only American to be honored with a bust inthe Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.8. The American Romantic period stretches from the end of the 18th century throughthe outburst of the ______.9. The arbiter of 19th century literary realism in America was ______.10. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called ______, which is poetry withouta fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.11. ______ is considered the founder of psychological realism. He believed that realitylies in the impressions made by life on the spectator.12. ______ is the novel into which Jack London put most of himself.13. O. Henry’s ______ is a very moving story of a young couple who sell their bestpossessions in order to get money for a Christmas present for each other.14. ______ was the leader of a new movement in poetry which he called the“Imagist” movement.15. In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald completed his best novel ______. It is the story of anidealist who was destroyed by the influence of the wealthy, pleasure-seeking people around him.16. Ernest Hemingway’s stature as a writer was confir med with the publication of hisnovel ______ in 1929. The novel portrayed a farewell both to war and to love.17. ______ was the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s.18. William Faulkner considered __________ to be “the first truly American writer”.19. As a genre, naturalism emphasized heredity and ______ as important deterministicforces shaping individualized characters that were presented in special and detailed circumstances.20. A series of sixteen pamphlets by Thomas Paine was entitled ______.II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case: (30%, 1 point for each)1. Moby Dick was dedicated to ____.A. Ralph EmersonB. Nathaniel HawthorneC. Henry ThoreauD. Henry Longfellow2. ____ was Mark Twain’s masterpiece from which, as Hemingway noted, “allmodern American literature comes.”A. The Adventures of Tom SawyerB. The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnC. Life on the MississippiD. The Gilded Age3. ____ usually was regarded as the first American writer.A. Emily BradfordB. Ann BradstreetC. Emily DickinsonD. John Smith4. Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the ____.A. American EnlightenmentB. Sugar ActC. Chartist movementD. Romanticist5. Thomas Jefferson’s attitude, that is, a firm b elief in progress, and the pursuit ofhappiness, is typical of the period we now call ____.A. Age of EvolutionB. Age of ReasonC. Age of RomanticismD. Age of Regionalism6. As a literary and philosophical movement, ____ flourished in New England fromthe 1830s to the Civil War.A. modernismB. rationalismC. sentimentalismD. transcendentalism7. ____ is NOT written by Ralph Waldo Emerson.A. The American ScholarB. Self-RelianceC. The Divinity School AddressD. Civil Disobedience8. There is a good reason to state that New England Transcendentalism was actually____ on the Puritan soil.A. RomanticismB. SymbolismC. MysticismD. Rationalism9. American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. Thiswas ____.A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickinsonD. Harriet Beecher10. Which of the following statements about O. Henry is NOT right?A. He wrote about the poor people.B. The ends of his stories are always surprising.C. Many of his stories contain a great deal of slang and colloquial expressions.D. The plots are usually clumsy.11. The main theme of ____’s The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo thatrepresentation of life should be the main object of the novel.A. Henry JamesB. William HowellsC. Mark TwainD. O. Henry12. Which of the following does NOT have a naturalist tendency?A. Stephan CraneB. Frank NorrisC. Jack LondonD. Walt Whitman13. For Melville, as well as for the reader and _____, the narrator, Moby Dick is still amystery, an ultimately mystery of the universe.A. StubbB. IshmaelC. AhabD. Starbuck14. Which of the following is NOT optimistic about human nature?A. Ralph EmersonB. Walt WhitmanC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Henry Thoreau15. Emily Dickinson wrote many of her poems on various aspects of life. Which of thefollowing is NOT a usual subject of her poetic expression?A. ReligionB. Life and deathC. Love and marriageD. War and peace16. Of the following American writers, _____ had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.A. Mark TwainB. Ernest HemingwayC. Henry JamesD. F. S. Fitzgerald17. In 1862, President Lincoln exclaimed: “So you are the little woman who wrote thebook that started this great war!” The book refers to ____.A. The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnB. BelovedB. Pride and Prejudice D. Uncle Tom’s Cabin18. The works of _____ reveals the misery of the migrant workers because of theAmerican Depression.A. F. S. FitzgeraldB. John SteinbeckC. Ernest HemingwayD. William Howells19. In Leaves of Grass, _____ is all that concerned Whitman.A. individualismB. freedomC. democracyD. all the above20. It is not surprising to find in _____’s fiction a world of jungle, where “kill or to bekilled” was the law.A. Mark TwainB. Emily DickinsonC. Theodore DreiserD. Henry James21. During the period after the Civil War, the American society entered in what MarkTwain referred to as ____.A. the Golden AgeB. the Modern AgeC. the Gilded AgeD. the Puritan Age22. “The Custom-House” is an introductory note to _____.A. Moby-DickB. The Scarlet LetterC. The Marble FaunD. The Blithedale Romance23. When we say that a poor young man from the West tried to make his fortune in theEast but was disillusioned in the quest of an idealized dream, we are probably discus sing ______’s thematic concern in his fiction writing.A. Henry JamesB. F. Scott FitzgeraldC. Ernest HemingwayD. William Faulkner24. American writers after World War I self-consciously acknowledged that they were(a) “____”, devoid of faith and alienated from the Western civilization.A. Lost GenerationB. Beat GenerationC. Sons of LibertyD. Angry Young Men25. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of William Faulkner?A. He is master of stream-of-consciousness narrative.B. His writing is often complex and difficult to understand.C. He often depicts slum life in New York and Chicago.D. He represents a new group of Southern writers26. The setting of the novel The Scarlet Letter is in ____.A. England during World War IB. Paris during the French RevolutionC. Puritan AmericaD. America after the Revolutionary War27. Which statement is NOT true of the American naturalist?A. They ventured the forbidden subjects such as sex, death, and violence.B. They stressed the possible triumph of human will.C. They wrote in a daring, open, and direct manner.D. They see human beings no more than a physical object.28. ____ is often acclaimed as the literary spokesman of the Jazz Age.A. Ernest HemingwayB. F. Scott FitzgeraldC. William FaulknerD. John Steinbeck29. ____, one of America’s greatest playwrights, won the Nobel Prize in 1936, the firstAmerican playwright to receive the honor. Some of his most famous works include The Hairy Ape, Long D ay’s Journey into Night.A. Arthur MillerB. Tennessee WilliamsC. Bernard MalamudD. Eugene O’Neill30. Edgar Allan Poe occupies an important position in American literature as a poetand a ____.A. short story writerB. novelistC. dramatistD. translatorIII. Read the poems carefully and answer the questions that follow. Put your answers on the Answer Sheet: (20%, 10 points for each poem)1. Because I could not stop for Death —Because I could not stop for Death —He kindly stopped for me —The Carriage held but just Ourselves —And Immortality.We slowly drove — He knew no hasteAnd I had put awayMy labor and my leisure too,For His Civility —We passed the School, where Children stroveAt Recess — in the Ring —We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain —We passed the Setting Sun —Or rather — He passed Us —The Dews drew quivering and Chill —For only Gossamer, my Gown —My Tippet — only Tulle —We paused before a House that seemedA Swelling of the Ground —The Roof was scarcely visible —The Cornice — in the Ground —Since then —’tis Centuries — and yetFeels shorter than the DayI first surmised the Horses’ HeadsWere toward Eternity —Questions:1.1 Who wrote this poem? (1%)1.2 What is the poet or the speaker in the poem watching and recording? (1%)1.3 What is death compared to in the poem? (1%)1.4 What is depicted in the 3rd stanza? How is it related to the whole poem? (2%)1.5 What is depicted in the 4th stanza? (1%)1.6 What does the poet or the speaker in the poem think of eternity? (2%)1.7 What is the attitude of the poet or the speaker in the poem towards death? (2%)2. Annabel LeeIt was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may knowBy the name of Annabel Lee; -And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me.I was a child and she was a child,In this kingdom by the sea;But we loved with a love that was more than love -I and my Annabel Lee -With a love that the wingéd seraphs in HeavenCoveted her and me.And this was the reason that, long ago,In this kingdom by the sea,A wind blew out of a cloud, chillingMy beautiful Annabel Lee;So that her high-born kinsmen cameAnd bore her away from me,To shut her up in a sepulcher,In this kingdom by the sea.The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,Went envying her and me -Yes! - that was the reason (as all men know,In this kingdom by the sea)That the wind came out of the cloud by night,Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.But our love it was stronger by far than the loveOf those who were older than we -Of many far wiser than we -And neither the angels in Heaven above,Nor the demons down under the sea,Can ever dissever my soul from the soulOf the beautiful Annabel Lee: -For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyesOf the beautiful Annabel Lee: -And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the sideOf my darling - my darling - my life and my bride,In her sepulcher there by the sea -In her tomb by the sounding sea.Questions:2.1 Who wrote this poem? (1%)2.2 What is the theme of the poem? (2%)2.3 What is the mood of the poem? (1%)2.4 How does the poem coincide with Poe’s poetics or theory of poetry writing? (3%)2.5 What makes you think the poem reads like a fairy tale? (3%)IV. Answer the following questions, and put your answers on the Answer Sheet: (30%, 15 points for each)1. What is local color fiction? List at least 5 of the best known writers of local color.2. Instead of having her punished for her life of sin, Dreiser let Caroline Meeber in Sister Carrier become successful. Can you tell why?2007—2008学年度第二期《美国文学史及作品选读》考试A卷参考答案命题人：王琪、丁华良I: Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases. (20%, 1 point for each)1. Bryant2. frontier saga3. transcendentalist4. Moby Dick5. Sketch Book6. Walden7. Longfellow8. Civil War9. Howells 10. free verse11. Henry James 12. Martin Eden 13. The Gift of Magi14. Pound 15. The Great Gatsby 16. A Farewell to Arms17. Steinbeck 18. Mark Twain19. Environment 20. American CrisisII: Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case. (30%, 1 point for each)1 --- 5: B B D A B 6 --- 10: D D A C D11 ---15: A D B C D 16 --- 20: B D B D C21 --- 25: C B B A C 26 --- 30: C B B D AIII. Read the poems and answer the questions that follow. (20%)Poem 11.1 Who wrote this poem? (1%)Emily Dickinson.1.2 What is the poet or the speaker in the poem watching and recording? (1%) Apparently the woman tells the story of how she is busily going about her day when a polite gentleman by the name of Death arrives in his carriage to take her out for a ride, but, in reality, the speaker is watching and recording her own funeral.1.3 What is death compared to in the poem? (1%)Death is compared to a polite gentleman or polite wooer.1.4 What is depicted in the 3rd stanza? How is it related to the whole poem? (2%) Death takes the woman on a leisurely ride to the grave and beyond, passing playing children, wheat fields, and the setting sun, which indicate the three periods of a day, morning, noon and evening and symbolize the three stages of human life — childhood, middle age and old age.1.5 What is depicted in the 4th stanza? (1%)In this stanza, the speaker describes her dead body and what is wearing. She feels cold because it is evening now and dew drops are forming and she is not wearing much, but more probably it is because she is dead and blood circulation in her body has stopped.1.6 What does the poet or the speaker in the poem think of eternity? (2%)The speaker is not quite sure whether there will be eternity after death since she just surmises that “the Horses’ He ads / were toward Eternity —”.。
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1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer.2.The puritans looked upon themselves asa chosen people.is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.4.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”.5.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.has been called the “Father of American Poetry”.7.In Washington I rving’sappeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.8.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novelsWilliam Cullen Bryant’s wok.is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”.10.Emerson believed above all inand self-reliance.11.Hawthorne’s stories touch the deepest12.Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale. 13.After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet’s Corne r of Westminster Abbey.14.Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, had become an American institution and the most famous literary woman in the world.15.The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that their lives werecontrolled by and the16.The poetic style Walt WhitmanHenry James is famous for his international theme of the traditionless American confronting the complexity of European life.17.Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a “Lost Generation,”devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization. 18.With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway became thespokesman for what Gertrude Stein had called “a lost generation.”Terms1.TranscendentalismTranscendentalism refers to the religious and philosophical doctrines of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others in New England in the m iddle 1800’s,which emphasized the importance of individual inspiration and intuition, the Oversoul, and Nature. New England Transcendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and European Romanticism.2.NaturalismNaturalism, a more deliberate kind of realism, usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forcesand social environment. As a literary movement, naturalism was initiated in France. Natural fiction aspired to a sociological objectivity, offering detailed and fully researched investigations into unexplored corners of modern society. The most significant work of naturalism in English being Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.The Lost GenerationThe term Lost Generation was coined by Gertrude Stein to refer to a group of American Literary notables who lived in Paris from the time period which saw the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Significant members included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein herself. More generally, the term is being used for the young adults of Europe and America during World War I. They were “lost” because after the war many of themwere disillusioned with the world in general and unwilling to more into a settled life5. ModernismModern writing is marked by a strong and conscious break with traditional forms and techniques of expression; it believes that we create the world in the act of perceiving it. Modernism implies historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, of loss, and of despair. It elevates the individual and his inner being over social man and prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious.6. Romanticism7. PuritanismThe principles and practices of puritans were popularly known as Puritanism. Puritanism accepted the doctrines ofCalvinism: the sovereignty of God; the supreme authority of the Bible; the irresistibility of God’s will for man in every act of life from cradle to grave. These doctrines led the Puritans to examine their souls to find whether they were of the elect and to search the Bible to determine Go d’s will.8.Hemingway Heroes / Code HeroSuch a hero usually is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent. And usually he is a man of action and of a few words. He is such an individualist, alone even when with other people, somewhat an outsider The Hemingway heroes stand for a whole generation. But Hemingway heroes possess a kind of “despairing courage” It is this courage that enables a man to behave like a man, to assert his dignity in face of adversity.Give brief answers to the followingquestions.1.What are the characteristics of the Colonial Literature?In a real sense, there were no literal works in the early colonial period. They were just personal literature in the form of diaries, travel books, letters, journals, sermons, histories and prose.(1) In content, they wrote about the voyage to the new land, about adopting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops, about dealing with Indian, and especially about religion.(2) In form, English traditions were imitated.ment briefly on Emily Dickinson’s themes?(1)By far the largest portion of Dickinson’s poetry concerns death and immortality, theme which lie at the centre of Dickinson’s world.(2)Dickinson’s nature poems are also great in number and rich in matter. Natural phenomena, changes of seasons, heavenly bodies, animals, birds and insects, flowers of various kinds, and many other subjects related to nature find her way into her poetry.(3)Dickinson also wrote some poems about love. Like her death and nature poems, her love poems were original. (4)Besides deaths and immortality, nature and love, Dickinson’s poems are concerned about ethics, with respect to which, she emphasizes free will and human responsibility.4 Henry James is a great realistic writer. Name two of his major works. Do you know anything about his narrative “point of view”? What is it for? How does James employ it in his works? Briefly discuss this question.(1) Henry James’s major works include Daisy Miller and The Portrait of A Lady, etc.(2) One of Henry James literary techniques is his narrative “point of view.” As the author, James avoids the authorial omniscience as much as possible and makes his characters reveal themselves with his minimal intervention. So it is often the case that in his novels we usually learn the main story by reading through one or several minds and share their perspectives. This narrative method proves to be successful in bringing out his themes.5. Tell the differences between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman(1)Emily Dickinson expresses the inner life of individuals, while Walt Whitman keeps his eyes on the society at large. (2)Emily Dickinson is “regional”, while Walt Whitman is “national” in his outlook.(3)Formally, Emily Dickinson usesconcise, simple dictions and syntax, while Walt Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs.8. Briefly discuss the Jazz Age“The Jazz Age” describes the period the period of the 1920s and 1930s, the years between World War I and World War II, particularly in North America; with the rise of the Great Depression, the values of this age saw much decline. Perhaps the most representative literary work of the age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, highlighting what some describe as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of individualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term “The Jazz Age”. It can also be known as “The Roaring Twenties” and “The Dollar Decade.”。