英美文学名词解释

名词解释（英国）

Epic（叙事诗）: Epic is a narrative poem on the grand scale and in majestic style concerning the exploits and adventures of a superhuman hero (or heroes) engaged in a quest or some serious endeavor. Among noted epics are Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, old English Beowulf and Milton’s Paradise Lost.

Romance（传奇）：A Romance is a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. It generally concerns knights and involves a large amount of fighting as well as a number of miscellaneous adventures and a series of love stories.

Ballad（民谣）：Ballad is an anonymous narrative song, usually in 4-line stanzas, with the second and the fourth lines rhymed.

Renaissance（文艺复兴）：The word “Renaissance” means “rebirth”(of learning). The Renaissance period was marked by a reawakening of interest in learning, in the individual and in the world of nature. The revival of learning led scholars back to the culture of Greece and Rome. The rebirth of interest in the individual gave rise to a new appreciation of beauty, to a desire for self-expression in varied activities and to the creation of great works of art. The renewal of curiosity about the natural world ultimately drew men to discover new lands and new scientific truth. Humanism（人道主义）：Humanism was a literary and philosophic system of thought which attempted to place the affairs of mankind at the centre of its concerns. According to humanists, man should mould the world according to his own desires, and attains happiness by removing all external checks by the exercise of the human intellect.

Sonnet（十四行诗）：A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme. Puritanism（清教主义）：

Puritanism was the religious

doctrine of revolutionary

bourgeoisie during the English

Revolution. It preached thrift,

sobriety, hard work and

unceasing labor, with no

extravagant enjoyment of the

fruits of labor. Worldly

pleasures were condemned as

harmful. Puritans opposed

churches,squandering property.

Enlightenment（启蒙运动）：

The movement, on the whole,

an expression of the struggle of

the bourgeoisie against

feudalism, class inequality,

stagnation and prejudices. The

enlighteners believed in the

power of reason and the

watchword was Common

Sense.

Neo-classicism（新古典主

义）：Modeling itself on the

literature of ancient Greece and

Rome, neoclassicism exalts the

virtues of proportion, unity,

harmony, grace, taste, manners,

and restraint. It values realism

and reason over imagination

and emotion. Wit and satire

flourished in this period, as did

the ode and verse written in

heroic couplets.

Romanticism（浪漫主义）：

Romanticism is a movement

prevailing the Western world in

the 19th century in literature,

art, music and philosophy,

beginning as a reaction and

protest against the bondage of

rules and customs of

neo-classicism to unfetter

human spirit. It returned to

nature and plain humanity for

material. It is a movement of

expression of individual

originality. Imagination is

highlighted and a dream of

golden age is required against

stern reality.

Critical Realism（批判现实主

义）：Critical realists

described with much vividness

and artistic skill the chief traits

of the English society and

criticized the capitalist system

from a democratic viewpoint.

In their best works, the greed

and hypocrisy of the upper

classes are contrasted with the

honesty and good-heartedness

of the obscure “simple people”

of the lower classes. Humor

and satire abound. Without

finding a way of solution, they

do not point toward revolution

but rather evolution or

reformism with happy endings.

Aestheticism（唯美主义）：The

basic theory of the Aesthetic

movement---“art for art’s sake”.

Aestheticism places art above

life, and holds that life should

imitate art, not art imitate life.

According to the aesthetes, all

artistic creation is absolutely

subjective as opposed to

objective. Only when art is for

art’s sake, can it be immortal.

Stream of Consciousness（意

识流小说）：First, it reveals the

action or plot through the

mental processes of the

characters. Second, character

development is achieved

through revelation of extremely

personal and often typical

thought processes. Third, the

action of the plot seldom

corresponds to real

chronological time, but moves

back and forth through present

time to memories of past

events and dreams of the future.

Fourth, it replaces narration,

description, and commentary

with interior monologue and

free association.

Women’s Movement（女性运

动）：feminism is a belief in the

social, political and economic

equality of the sexes, and a

movement organized around

the conviction that biological

sex should not be the

pre-determinant factor shaping

a person's social identity or

socio-political or economic

rights.

Oedipus Complex（恋母情

结）：In Greek myth, Oedipus is

the king who is said to kill his

father and marry his mother.

According to Freud, children

may have sexual drives

subconsciously toward the

opposite parent. Here, Oedipus

complex refers to that boy’s

obsession to his mother. In

English literature, Lawrence is

the first to introduce male

characters’ impotence to

females because of mother’s

excessive love.