美国文学期末复习

Mayflower Compact
It is an agreement they signed before they left the ship,they decided to form a government and follow an elected leader. William Bradford(1590-1657) was elected as the second governor and reelected 30 times.
The Literature of Colonial American
The first writings The first American writer: Captain John Smith Mayflower What does “Puritan” mean ? Mayflower Compact and William Bradford Enlightenment

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The Literature of Colonial American




Time Line Pre-1400 Hundreds of American Indians tribes inhabit the America before European explorers arrive 1492 Christopher Columbus lands in the New World 1617 Jamestown,Virginia:the first permanent English settlement 1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth
8) Mark Twain The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County The Adventures of Tom Sawyer *9) Jack London Martin Eden *10) Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie 11) Robert Frost
雪夜林边停（二）
马儿甩动缰绳铃。欲告主人迷路经。 只闻轻风蔌蔌语，鹅毛雪片淅淅生。

夜林深沉尤可爱，信守诺言难久停。 找店尚早需赶路，投宿之前再远行。

A Religious Study
The owner of the woods is God. Whose house is in the village, that is, who has a church in the village. The poet is mistaken when he says that God will not see him, because God can see everything. God sent his message to through the horse.
The Elements of Fiction
Plot Characterization Theme Setting Point of view Symbolism Protagonist

How to appreciate a poem?

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Why do you study literature?
Literature gives pleasure.
How to analyze literature?

Literature is language Literature is aesthetic Literature is fiction Literature is true Literature is expressive
Reading List (continued)
5) H.W.Longfellow A Psalm of Life 6)Walt Whitman Song of Myself 7)Emily Dickinson Because I could not stop for Death
Reading List (continued)
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
雪夜林边停



树林属谁我自明， 他家住在那村中； 安能料到我来此， 赏观大雪漫林丛。 小小马儿显疑情， 为何偏在这儿停？ 冰湖林间无农舍， 又逢雪夜黑蒙蒙。
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening as a short story
It can be read as a poem about a man with a death wish. It makes sense to read the poem as a kind of very short story. Conflict:the appeal of the snowy woods versus the call to return to the human world. The world at the beginning of the poem is a world of property , but the world at the end of the poem is a world of mysterious responsibilities.
Reading List
*1) Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 2) E.A.Poe The Cask of Amontillado 3) Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter *4) James Fenimore Cooper The Last of the Mohicans

Mayflower

The ship “Mayflower” carried about 100 passengers(their leader called them pilgrims,or travelers) and took 66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, the Mayflower put the pilgrims ashore at Plymouth,Massachusetts.Before the winter was over, half of them were dead. Only some of these first colonists were Puritans.

A Religious Study
The picture of a snowy night suggests the scene of the birth of Jesus. In stanza four,tells of the man’s love of God’s creation,and the awareness of our responsibilities to other human beings.
(by Robert Frost)






Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village,though; He will not see me stopping here To watch the woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year.

Their lives were disciplined and hard.Puritans tended to suspect joy and laughter as symptoms of sin.As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind.American Puritanism also had a enduring influence on American literature.
What does “Puritan” mean ?

Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Protestant Church.As the word itself hints,Puritans wanted
American Literature
美国文学史及选读
外国语学院 王秀银
I Class Requirements
1.One term paper (less than 500 words typed paper 2.Two presentations in class 30% (including reciting,questions) 3.Close-book test 70% II Introduction 1.Text BookTaoJie: Selected Readings in American Literature 2.Video Watching Four times 3.Reading List



He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound’s the sweep Of 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.

Purify their religious beliefs and practices.They felt that the church of England was too close to the church of Rome in doctrine form of worship.The Puritans wished to restore simplicity to church services and authority of the Bible to theology.The Puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people, and it followed logically that anyone who challenged their way of life was opposing God’s will and was not to be accepted.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Reading List (continued)
*12) T.S.Eliot 13) F.Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby 14) Ernest Hemingway A Clean Well-Lighted Place A Farewell to Arms 15) William Faulkner Barn Burning A Rose for Emily