英美文学名词解释

浪漫主义

Romanticism is a school of literature opposed to Neoclassicism.

The main form of literature for romanticists is poetry.

During the early part of the 19th century, class conflicts became more and more severe. The rational method could not solve the social problems. New approaches had to be found.

For romanticists, intuitions and emotions were more crucial than reason and common sense. They held that one could find truth through one’s feelings and that not everything in this world could be explained by reason.

Romanticists emphasized the power of passion and the value of individualism. They believe that radical actions could provide effective solutions to the existing social problems.

现实主义

Realism, during the reign of Queen Victoria, is based on the accurate, unromantic observation of human experiences. It insists on precise description, authentic action, true-to-life dialogue, moral honesty, and a democratic openness toward social realities.

The purpose of realism is to presnet an intense exposure and criticism of greed and hypocrisy of the ruling class.

现代主义

The catastrophe of the First World War had shaken the faith in the moral basis of Western civilization and raised doubts about the adequacy of traditional literary modes in representing the harsh realities of the postwar world

Influenced by different ideas, thoughts, and various social realities, modernism was made up of many facets in composing literature: naturalism, surrealism, existentialism, symbolism, imagism, fantasy, stream of consciousness, and the like.

Naturalism 自然主义

The practice of describing precisely the actual circumstances of human life in literature, it is the extreme form of realism.

Realism 现实主义

The representation in art or literature of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract form.

Romanticism浪漫主义

1>In the mid-18th century, a new literary movement called romanticism came to Europe and then to England. 2>It was characterized by a strong protest against the bondage of neoclassicism, which emphasized reason,

order and elegant wit. Instead ,romanticism gave primary concern to passion, emtion, and natural beauty. 3>In the histiry of literature. Romanticism is generally regarded as the thought that designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and experience. 4> The English romantic period is an age of poetry. Which prevailed in england from 1798 to 1837. the major romantic poets include wordsworth, Byron, shelley.