英国文学简史术语解释总结(英文)

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英国文学名词解释大全(整理版)

英国文学名词解释大全(整理版)

名词解释1.Epic(史诗)(appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period )It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf (the pagan(异教徒),secular(非宗教的) poetry)Iliad 《伊利亚特》,Odyssey《奥德赛》Paradise Lost 《失乐园》,The Divine Comedy《神曲》2.Romance (传奇)(Anglo-Norman feudal England)•Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.•Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form:long composition, in verse, in proseContent:description of life and adventures of a noble heroCharacter:a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king •Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.•It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.•It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.•It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.①The Romance Cycles/Groups/DivisionsThree Groups●matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士)●matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers●matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of TroyLe Morte D’Arthur (亚瑟王之死)②Class Nature (阶级性) of the RomanceLoyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone(the most important part基石)of feudal morality.The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized (supported 庇护,保护)by the noble.3. Alliteration(押头韵): a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.2.Sing a song of southern singer4. Understatement(低调陈述)(for ironical humor)not troublesome: very welcomeneed not praise: a right to condemn5. Chronicle《编年史》(a monument of Old English prose)6. Ballads (民谣)(The most important department of English folk literature )①Definition:A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be sung or recited in musical form.An important stream of the Medieval folk literature②Features of English Ballads1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.③Stylistic (风格上)Features of the Ballads1. Composed in couplets (相连并押韵的两行诗,对句)or in quatrains (四行诗)known as the ballad stanza (民谣诗节), rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables (重读音节)and the second and fourth carrying 3.2. Simple, plain language or dialect (方言,土语)of the common people with colloquial (口语的,会话的), vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic (符合当地语言习惯的)expressions3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentation around the central plot.4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension (方面)to achieve dramatic effect.④Subjects of English Ballads1. struggle of young lovers2. conflict between love and wealth3. cruelty of jealousy4. criticism of the civil war5. matters of class struggle7. Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)(introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer)Definition:the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体:用于史诗或叙事诗,每行十个音节,五个音部,每两行押韵。

英国文学名词术语解释(已整理版)

英国文学名词术语解释(已整理版)

Iambic pentameter is a commonly used type of metrical line in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm that the words establish in that line, which is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". The word "iambic" refers to the type of foot that is used, known as the iamb, which in English is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The word "pentameter" indicates that a line has five of these "feet".Iambic rhythms come relatively naturally in English. Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry; it is used in many of the major English poetic forms, including blank verse, the heroic couplet, and some of the traditional rhymed stanza forms. William Shakespeare used iambic pentameter in his plays and sonnets.Allegory Allegories are typically used as literary devices or rhetorical devices that convey hidden meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, and/or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey.Epic(史诗) An epic is a long oral narrative poem that operates on a grand scale and deals with legendary or historical events of national or universal significance .Most epics deal with the exploits of a single individual and also interlace the main narrative with myths, legends, folk tales and past events; there is a composite effect, the entire culture of a country cohering in the overall experience of the poem . Epic poems are not merely entertaining stories of legendary or historical heroes; they summarize and express the nature or ideals of an entire nation at a significant or crucial period of its history.简史P39Blank verse is poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always iambic pentameters.[1] It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century"[2] and Paul Fussell has estimated that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."[3]Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential of blank verse. The major achievements in English blank verse were made by William Shakespeare. Blank verse, of varying degrees of regularity, has been used quite frequently throughout the 20th century in original verse and in translations of narrative verse.Ode(颂歌) Long, often elaborate formal lyric poem of varying line lengths dealing with a subject matter and treating it reverently. It aims atglorifying an individual, commemorating an event, or describing nature intellectually rather than emotionally. Conventionally, many odes are written or dedicated to a specifie subject. For instance,Ode to the West Wind is about the winds that bring change of season in England. Ode to the Nightingale is about the nightingale that lures the poet temporarily away from his great misery. The earliest English odes include the Epithalamion and the Prothalamion,or marriage hymns by poet Edmund Spenser.Metaphysical poetry(玄学诗) a derogatory term invented by John Dryden(1631-1700 ) and later adopted by Samuel Johnson(1709-1784) describing a school of highly intellectual poetry marked by bold and ingenious conceits,incongruous imagery,complexity of thought,frequent use of paradox,and often by deliberate harshness or rigidity of expression.The main themes of metaphysical poets are love,death,and religion.According to them,all things in the universe, no matter how dissimilar they are to each other,are closely unified in God.The chief representative of this school was John Donne.Byronic belonging to or derived from Lord Byron(1788-1824)or his works. The Byronic hero is a character-type found in his celebrated narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage(1812-18),his verse drama Manfred(1817),and other works:he is a boldly defiant but bitterly self –tormenting outcast,proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin. Emily Bronte’s Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights(1847)is a later example.Heroic couplet a rhymed pair of iambic pentameter lines:Let Observation with extensive ViewSurvey Mankind, from China to Peru (Johnson)Named from its use by Dryden and others in the heroic drama of the late 17th century,the heroic couplet had been established much earlier by Chaucer as a major English verse-form for narrative and other kinds of non-dramatic portry: it dominated English poetry of the 18th century,notably in the couplets of Pope,before declining in importance in the early 19th century.Soliloquy a dramatic speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on the stage (or while under the impression of being alone).The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to the audience,either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct address. Soliloquies often appear in plays from the age of Shakespeare, notably in his Hamlet and Macbeth. A poem supposedly uttered by a solitaryspeaker,like Robert Browning’s‘Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister’(1842),may also be called a soliloquy. Soliloquy is a form of monologue,but a monologue is not a soliloquy if (as in the dramatic monologue) the speaker is not alone.简史P39 Sonnet a lyric poem comprising 14 rhyming lines of equal length:iambic pentameters in English,alexandrines inFrench,hendecasyllables in ltalian. The rhyme schemes of the sonnet follow two basic patterns.①The Italian sonnet②The English sonnetSpenserian stanza (宾塞诗体)an English poetic stanza of nine iambic lines, the first eight being pentameters while the ninth is a longer line known either as an iambic hexameter or as an alexandrine.The rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc. The stanza is named after Edmund Spenser,who invented it------probably on the basis of the ottava rima stanza-----for his long allegorical romance The Faerie Queene (1590-6). It was revived successfully by the younger English Romantic poets of the early 19th century: Byron used it for Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage(1812,1816), Keats for‘The Eve of St Agnes’(1820),and Shelley for The Revolt of Islam (1818)and Adonais (1821).Lake poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey became known as the Lake Poets, because they lived in the Lake District in the northwestern part of England. According to the critics, such as, Francis Jeffrey, Thomas De Quincey, the Lake Poets shared only friendship and brief periods of collaboration, not similar philosophies or poetic styles.Wordsworth used his imaginative powers to idealize nature, Coleridge explored the philosophical aspects of poetry,Southey's Romantic efforts centered on travel and adventure.Stream of Consciousness(意识流) Stream of Consciousness(意识流):Stream of consciousness, which presents the thoughts of a character in the random, seemingly unorganized fashion in which the thinking process occurs, has the following characteristics. First, it reveals the action or plot through the mental processes of the characters rather than through the commentary of an omniscient author. Second, character development is achieved through revelation of extremely personal and often typical thought processes rather than through the creation of typical characters in typical circumstances. Third, the action of the plot seldom corresponds to real, chronological time, but moves back and forth through present time to memories of past eventsand drams of the future. Fourth, it replaces narration, description, and commentary with dramatic interior monologue and free association.Critical Realism(批判现实主义) Critical realism is one of the literary genres that flourished mainly in the 19th century. It reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of cash upon human nature. Here lies the essentially democratic and humanistic character of critical realism. The English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. In their best works, they used humor and satire to contrast the greed and hypocrisy of the upper classes with the honesty and good-heartedness of the obscure “simple people” of the lower classes. Humorous scenes set off the actions of the positive characters, and the humor is often tinged with a lyricism which serves to stress the fine qualities of such characters. At the same time,bitter satire and grotesque is used to expose the seamy side of the bourgeois society. The critical realists, however, did not find a way to eradicate the social evils they knew so well. They did not realize the necessity of changing the bourgeois society through conscious human effort. Their works do not point toward revolution but rather evolution or reformism. They often start with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the bourgeois world in their works, but their novels usually have happy endings or an impotent compromise at the end. Here are the strength and weakness of critical realism.Classicism(古典主义): A movement or tendency in art, music, and literature to retain the characteristics found in work originating in classical Greece and Rome. It differs from Romanticism in that while Romanticism dwells on the emotional impact of a work, classicism concerns itself with form and discipline.Romanticism(浪漫主义) The term refers to the literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and early 19th century. Romanticism rejected the earlier philosophy of the Enlightenment, which stressed that logic and reason were the best response humans had in the face of cruelty, stupidity, superstition, and barbarism. Instead ,the Romantics asserted that reliance upon emotion and natural passions provided a valid and powerful means of knowing and a reliable guide to ethics and living.The Romantic movement typically asserts the unique nature of the individual, the privileged status of imagination and fancy, the value of spontaneity over “artifice” and “convention”, the human need for emotional outlets, the rejection of civilizedcorruption, and a desire to return to natural primitivism and escape the spiritual destruction of urban life Their writings are often set in rural, or Gothic settings and they show an obsessive concern with “innocent”characters----children, young lovers, and animals. The major Romantic poets included William Blake, William Wordsworth, John Keats , Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Gordon Byron.Aestheticism( 美学主义) The basic theory of the Aesthetic movement----“art for art’s sake”----was set forth by a French poet, Theophile Gautier. The first Englishman who wrote about the theory of aestheticism was Walter Pater, the most important critical writer of the late 19th century. The chief representative of the movement in England was Oscar Wilde,with his Picture of Dorian Gray. 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. Art should be free from any influence of egoism. Only when art is for art’s sake,can it be immortal They believed that art should be unconcerned with controversial issues, such as politics and morality, and that it should be restricted to contributing beauty in a highly polished style. This was one of the reactions against the materialism and commercialism of the Victorian industrial era, as well as a reaction against the Victorian convention of art for morality’s sake, or art for money’s sake.Neoclassicism The term mainly applies to the classical tendency which dominated the literature of the early period. It was, at least in part, the result of a reaction against the fires of passion which had blazed in the late Renaissance, especially in the metaphysical poetry. It found its artistic models in the classical literature of the ancient Greek and Roman writers like Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, etc. and in the contemporary French writers such as Voltaire and Diderot. It put the stress on the classical artistic ideals of order, logic, proportion, restrained emotion, accuracy, good taste and decorum.Such elegant styles were found in almost all the writings of the period, especially in those of John Dryden, Alexander Pope,Jonathan Swift, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Edward Gibbon , the man who wrote the famous history The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire(1776―1788) , and other neoclassicist writers. They were careful imitators. Their approach was thoroughly professional. Their works, mostly refined and perfect, are conscientiouscraftsmanship and often highly didactic. Neoclassical poetry , as represented by Dryden, Pope, and Johnson, reached its stylistic perfection during the period, although to the modem readers it seems to lack in imagination and energy. The neoclassical poetry is one of the most significant phenomena in the literature of the age, to which it has given its name.Naturalism(自然主义): it first appeared in France, there naturalists including Zola turned especially to “slum life”, in England flourished in the 2nd half of 19th century; naturalists argued that literature reflect life, be “true to life”, writer must reproduce in his writings life exactly as it is, (including all details without any selection), theory of “a slice of life”; However, a fallacy, for impossible to include all the details in real life; only give the appearance of life but not its essence. In England, two outstanding writers in the last decades: George Gissing, George Moore.Neo-Romanticism(新浪漫主义): it appeared at the end of 19th century and represented by Robert Louis Stevenson; it protests against the ugly social reality of their day but taking no positive steps about it,in a sense another form of escapism; dissatisfied with the contemporary reality, but at best a mild dissatisfaction; tried to find interest or enjoyment out from sheer imagination and fancy by creating exciting events and romantic characters that can hardly exist in reality,indulge in the description of exciting adventures in distant lands to deal with the heroic, to lay emphasis on the complexity and sensationalism of the material, Treasure Island, the representative in this school.Modernism(现代主义): Around the two world wars, many writers and artists began to suspect and be discontent with the capitalism. They tried to find new ways to express their understanding of the world. It was a movement of experiments in techniques in writing. It flourished in the 20s and 30s in English literature.They turned their interest to describing what was happening in the minds of their characters. Because of their emphasis on the psychological activities of the characters, their writings are also called psychological novels. The Representatives are W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot,D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Foster, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.。

(精品英国文学名词解释大全(整理版)

(精品英国文学名词解释大全(整理版)

英国文学名词解释大全(整理版)名词解释1.Epic(史诗)(appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period )It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf ( the pagan(异教徒),secular(非宗教的) poetry)Iliad 《伊利亚特》,Odyssey《奥德赛》 Paradise Lost 《失乐园》,The Divine Comedy《神曲》2.Romance (传奇)(Anglo-Norman feudal England)•Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.•Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form: long composition, in verse, in proseContent: description of life and adventures of a noble heroCharacter: a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king•Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.•It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.•It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.•It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.①The Romance Cycles/Groups/DivisionsThree Groups●matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士)●matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers●matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of TroyLe Morte D’Arthur (亚瑟王之死)②Class Nature (阶级性) of the RomanceLoyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone(the most important part基石)of feudal morality.The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized(supported 庇护,保护) by the noble.3. Alliteration(押头韵): a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise. 2.Sing a songof southern singer4. Understatement(低调陈述)(for ironical humor)not troublesome: very welcomeneed not praise: a right to condemn5. Chronicle《编年史》(a monument of Old English prose)6. Ballads (民谣)(The most important department of English folk literature )①Definition:A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be sung or recited in musical form.An important stream of the Medieval folk literature②Features of English Ballads1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.③Stylistic (风格上) Features of the Ballads1. Composed in couplets (相连并押韵的两行诗,对句) or in quatrains (四行诗) known as the ballad stanza (民谣诗节), rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables (重读音节) and the second and fourth carrying 3.2. Simple, plain language or dialect (方言,土语) of the common people with colloquial (口语的,会话的), vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic (符合当地语言习惯的) expressions4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension (方面) to achieve dramatic effect.④Subjects of English Ballads1. struggle of young lovers2. conflict between love and wealth3. cruelty of jealousy4. criticism of the civil war5. matters of class struggle7. Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)(introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer)Definition:the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体:用于史诗或叙事诗,每行十个音节,五个音部,每两行押韵。

英国文学史名词解释

英国文学史名词解释

1. Ballad(民谣)A ballad originally is a song intended as an accompaniment to a dance or a popular song. In the relatively recent sense, now most widely used, a ballad is a single, spirited poem in short stanzas, in which some popular story is graphically narrated. The ingredients of ballads usually include a refrain, stock descriptive phrases, and simple, terse dialogue.2. Alliteration(头韵)It refers to a repeated initial consonant to successive words and it is the most striking feature in its poetic form. In alliterative verse, certain accented words in a line begin with the same consonant sound. There are generally 4 accents in a line, three of which show alliteration, and it is the initial sound of the third accented syllable that normally determiners the alliteration. In old English verse, alliteration is not an unusual or expressive phenomenon but a regular recurring structural feature of the verse.3. Sonnet (十四行诗)It is a poem of 14 lines (of 11 syllables in Italian and 10 in English), typically in rhymed iambic pentameter. Sonnets characteristically express a single theme or idea.The sonnet was introduced to England by Sir T. Wyatt and developed Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey) and was thereafter widely used notably in the sonnet sequences of Shakespeare, Sidney, and Spenser. 4. Tragedy(悲剧)The word is applied broadly to dramatic works in which events move to a fatal or disastrous conclusion. It is concerned with the harshness and apparent injustice of life. Often the hero falls from power and his eventual death leads to the downfall of others. The tragic action arouses feelings of awe in the audience.5. Lyric(抒情诗)As a genre, it was the tradition of popular song flourishing in all the medieval literatures of Western Europe. In England lyric poems flourished in the Middle English period, and in the 16th century, heyday of humanism. This tradition was enriched by the direct imitation of ancient models. During the next 200 years the links between poetry and music was gradually broken, and the term “lyric” came to be applied to short poems expressive of a poet’s thoughts or feelings.6. Epic(史诗)It is a poem that celebrates in the form of a continuous narrative the achievements of one or more heroic personages of history or tradition. Among the great epics of the world may be mentioned the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and Paradise Lost.7. Renaissance(文艺复兴)The word “renaissance” means rebirth or revival. It is commonly applied to the movement or period of great flowering of art, architecture, politics, and the study of literature, usually seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern worn world. It came about under the influence of Greek and Roman models. It began in Italy in the late 14th century, reached the highest development in the early 16th century, and spread to the rest of Europe in the 15th century and afterwards. Its emphasis was humanist: that is , on regarding the human figure and reason without a necessary relating of it to the superhuman.8. Enlightenment(启蒙运动)Enlightenment also called the neoclassic movement. It refers to the philosophical and artistic movement growing out of the Renaissance and continuing until the 19th century. The term is generally used to describe the philosophical, scientific, and rational spirit, the freedom from superstition, the skepticism and faith in religious tolerance of much of 18th-century Europe. Te Enlightenment writers would use satire to ridicule the illogical errors in government, social custom, and religious belief. This period’s poetry in England was typified by Alexander Pope, John Dryden and others.9. Classicism(古典主义)The term, when applied generally, means clearness, elegance, symmetry, and repose (清新、优雅、对称与和谐) produced by attention to traditional forms. More precisely, the term refers to the admiration and imitation of Greek and Roman literature, art, and architecture. It stands for certain definite ideas and attitudes including dominance of reason, balance and other etc. Classicism is usually contrasted with romanticism.10. Romanticism or Romantic Movement(浪漫主义)The term refers to the literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and early 19th century. Romanticism rejected the rejected the earlier philosophy of the Enlightenment, which stressed that logic and reason were the best response humans had in the face of cruelty, stupidity, superstition, and barbarism. The Romantics asserted that reliance upon emotion and natural passions provided a valid and powerful means of knowing and a reliable guide to ethics and living. Its stylistic keynote is intensity, and its watchword is imagination. Their writings are often set in rural, or Gothic setting and they show an obsessive concern with “innocent” characters----children, young lovers, and animals. The major Romantic poets included Blake, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, and Byron.11. Genre (样式):A type of category of literature marked by certain shared features or customs. The three broadest categories of genre include poetry, drama, and fiction. These general genres are often subdivided into more specific genres and subgenres. For example, the poetry can be sub-classified as epic, elegy, lyric and pastoral etc.12. Critical realism(批判现实主义)Critical realism is one of the literary genres that flourished mainly in the 19th century. It reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of eash upon human nature. Here lies the essentially democratic and humanistic character of critical realism. The English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. In their best works, they used humor and satire to contrast the greed and hypocrisy classes. Humorous scenes set off the actions of the positive characters, and the humor is often tinged with a lyricism which serves to stress the fine qualities of such characters. At the same time, bitter satire and grotesque is used to expose the seamy side of the bourgeois society. The critical realists, however, did not find a way to eradicate the social evils they knew so well. They did not realize the necessity of changing the bourgeois society through conscious human effort. Their works do not point toward revolution but rather evolution or reformism. They often start with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the bourgeois world in their works, but their novels usually have happy endings or an impotent compromise at the end. Here are the strength and weakness of critical reali sm.。

(完整word版)英国文学名词解释大全(整理版),推荐文档

(完整word版)英国文学名词解释大全(整理版),推荐文档

名词解释1.Epic(史诗)(appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period )It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf (the pagan(异教徒),secular(非宗教的) poetry)Iliad 《伊利亚特》,Odyssey《奥德赛》Paradise Lost 《失乐园》,The Divine Comedy《神曲》2.Romance (传奇)(Anglo-Norman feudal England)•Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.•Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form:long composition, in verse, in proseContent:description of life and adventures of a noble heroCharacter:a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king •Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.•It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.•It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.•It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.①The Romance Cycles/Groups/DivisionsThree Groups●matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士)●matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers●matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of TroyLe Morte D’Arthur (亚瑟王之死)②Class Nature (阶级性) of the RomanceLoyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone(the most important part基石)of feudal morality.The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized (supported 庇护,保护)by the noble.3. Alliteration(押头韵): a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.2.Sing a song of southern singer4. Understatement(低调陈述)(for ironical humor)not troublesome: very welcomeneed not praise: a right to condemn5. Chronicle《编年史》(a monument of Old English prose)6. Ballads (民谣)(The most important department of English folk literature )①Definition:A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be sung or recited in musical form.An important stream of the Medieval folk literature②Features of English Ballads1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.③Stylistic (风格上)Features of the Ballads1. Composed in couplets (相连并押韵的两行诗,对句)or in quatrains (四行诗)known as the ballad stanza (民谣诗节), rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables (重读音节)and the second and fourth carrying 3.2. Simple, plain language or dialect (方言,土语)of the common people with colloquial (口语的,会话的), vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic (符合当地语言习惯的)expressions3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentation around the central plot.4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension (方面)to achieve dramatic effect.④Subjects of English Ballads1. struggle of young lovers2. conflict between love and wealth3. cruelty of jealousy4. criticism of the civil war5. matters of class struggle7. Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)(introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer)Definition:the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体:用于史诗或叙事诗,每行十个音节,五个音部,每两行押韵。

英国文学史名词解释

英国文学史名词解释

英国文学史名词解释1、Romanticism:浪漫主义An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism.English literary romanticism is from the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads in 1798 to the death of Sir Walter Scott in 1832.2、Byronic hero: 拜伦式英雄an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Byron:*an exile流亡者, an outcast流浪者or an outlaw 歹徒*being cynical愤世嫉俗的, rebellious反抗的, lonely*against government, religion or moral values singly逐一地*being passionate热情的, energetic积极的, talented多才的3、ottava rima :Italian stanza form established by Boccaccio,An eight-line stanza of poetry in iambic pentameter (a five-foot line in which each foot consists of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable), following the abababcc rhyme scheme.4、Critical realism:批判现实主义English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. The 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. The representative realists of the time were Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, the Bronte sisters, Mrs. Gaskell, etc.The critical realists not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling class, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people.5、Dramatic monologue:戏剧独白a kind of poem in which a single fictional or historical character other than the poet speaks to a silent ‘audience’of one or mor e persons. Such poems reveal not the poet ‘s own thoughts; this distinguishes a dramatic monologue from a lyric,while the implied presence of an auditor distinguishes it from a soliloquy. Major examples of this form in English are Tennyson,Browning and T. S. Eliot.6、Aestheticism:美学主义the doctrine that regards beauty as an end in itself, and attempts to preserve the arts from subordination to moral, didactic, or political purposes. The term is often used synonymously with the Aesthetic Movement, a literary and artistic tendency of the late 19th century which may be understood as a further phase of Romanticism in reaction against vulgar bourgeois values of practical efficiency and morality.7、Naturalism:自然主义A literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions,heredity遗传and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character.8、Modernism:现代主义A general term applied to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in literature of the early 20th century. It takes the irrational philosophy and the theory ofpsycho-analysis as its theoretical base. It is a reaction against realism. It rejects rationalism which is the theoretical base ofrealism; by advocating a free experimentation on new forms and new techniques in literary creation, it casts away almost all the traditional elements in literature such as story, plot, character, chronological narration etc. , which are essential to realism.9、Imagism:意象派A literary movement started by British and American poets early in the 20th century that advocated the use of short lyrics, free verse, common speech patterns, and clear concrete images. Greatly under the influence of Symbolism, and was initially led by Ezra Pound.10、Stream of Consciousness:意识流One of the modern literary techniques, which is used to depict the mental and emotional reactions of characters to external events, rather than plot, story themselves. It adopts the psycho-analytic approach in literary creation to explore the existence of sub-conscious and un-conscious elements in the mind. And it neglects totally “fetters of grammar, syntax, and logic”。

英国文学名词解释大全(整理版)

英国文学名词解释大全(整理版)

名词解释1.Epic(史诗)(appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period )It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf (the pagan(异教徒),secular(非宗教的) poetry)Iliad 《伊利亚特》,Odyssey《奥德赛》Paradise Lost 《失乐园》,The Divine Comedy《神曲》2.Romance (传奇)(Anglo-Norman feudal England)•Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.•Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form:long composition, in verse, in proseContent:description of life and adventures of a noble heroCharacter:a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king•Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.•It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.•It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.•It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.①The Romance Cycles/Groups/DivisionsThree Groups●matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士)●matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers●matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of TroyLe Morte D’Arthur (亚瑟王之死)②Class Nature (阶级性) of the RomanceLoyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone(the most important part基石)of feudal morality.The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized(supported 庇护,保护)by the noble.3. Alliteration(押头韵): a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.2.Sing a song of southern singer4. Understatement(低调陈述)(for ironical humor)not troublesome: very welcomeneed not praise: a right to condemn5. Chronicle《编年史》(a monument of Old English prose)6. Ballads (民谣)(The most important department of English folk literature )①Definition:A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be sung or recited in musical form. An important stream of the Medieval folk literature②Features of English Ballads1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.③Stylistic (风格上)Features of the Ballads1. Composed in couplets (相连并押韵的两行诗,对句)or in quatrains (四行诗)known as the ballad stanza (民谣诗节), rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables (重读音节)and the second and fourth carrying 3.2. Simple, plain language or dialect (方言,土语)of the common people with colloquial (口语的,会话的), vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic (符合当地语言习惯的)expressions3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentation around the central plot.4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension (方面)to achieve dramatic effect.④Subjects of English Ballads1. struggle of young lovers2. conflict between love and wealth3. cruelty of jealousy4. criticism of the civil war5. matters of class struggle7. Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)(introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer)Definition:the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体:用于史诗或叙事诗,每行十个音节,五个音部,每两行押韵。

英国文学史:名词解释

英国文学史:名词解释

Epic:A long narrative poem in elevated or dignified language,celebrating the great deeds of a legendary or traditional heroesRomance:A tale in verse,it describes the life and adventures of knights.The content of romance was usually about love,chivalry and religion.①The matter of France:tales centering about Charlemagne,Eg:Chanson de Roland.②The matter of Greece and Rome:series tales about Alexander.③The matter of Britain:tales about Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. Spenserian Stanza:It’s a verse form that consists of eight iambic pentameter lines followed by a ninth line of six iambic feet,with the rhyme scheme ababbcbccHeroic couplet:A verse unit consisting of a pair of rhyming iambic pentameter line.Popular ballads:a story told in song, usually in four-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed.Types of ballads:historical,legendary,fantastical,lyrical,humorous.Renaissance:The term Renaissance indicated a revival of classical(Greek and Roman) arts and science after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism.Indeed, a great number of the works of classical authors were translated into English during the 16th century,Blank verse:Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.Sonnet:A form of poetry intricately rhymed in 14lines iambic pentameter.Essay:①It is a short written composition that discusses a subject or proposes an argument without claiming to be a complete or thorough exposition.②As a minor literal form, the essay is often flexible in style and differs from formal academic dissertation.Parallelism:Similarity if structure in a pair or series of related words,phrases or clauses Allegory:An allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor,containing literal meaning and figurative meaning.Enlightenment: a revival of interest in the old classical works, logic, order, restrainedemotion and accuracy.In this movement reason was advocated as primacy source for legitimacy and authority.It was also known as “Age of Reason”.It advocated”liberty、equality、fraternity”Romanticism. The particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism include: subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; freedom from rules; solitary life rather then life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason; and love of and worship of nature. Sentimentalism: it was one of the important trends in English literature of the later decades of the 18th century. It concentrated on the free expression of thoughts and emotions, and presented a new view of human nature which prized feeling over thinking, passion over reason.Lake Poets: the English poets who lived in and drew inspiration from the Lake District at the beginning of the 19th century.Byronic Heroes: a variant of the Romantic heroes as a type of character( enthusiasm, persistence, pursuing freedom), named after the English Romantic Poet Gordon Byron.Elegy: a poem of mourning, usually over the death of an individual; may also be a lamentover the passing of life and beauty or a meditation of the nature of death; a type of lyric poem. Realism:Realism sought to portray familiar characters,situations,and setting in a realistic manner.This was done primarily by using an objective narrative point of view and through the buildup of accurate detail.。

英国文学名词解释大全整理版

英国文学名词解释大全整理版

英国文学名词解释大全整理版名词解释1.Epic(史诗)(appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period)It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf(the pagan(异教徒),secular(非宗教的) poetry)Iliad 《伊利亚特》,Odyssey《奥德赛》Paradise Lost 《失乐园》,The Divine Comedy《神曲》2.Romance (传奇)(Anglo-Norman feudal England)Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form:long composition, in verse, in proseContent:description of life and adventures of a noble hero Character:a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures,taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king ?Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.①The Romance Cycles/Groups/DivisionsThree Groups●matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士)●matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers●matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of TroyLe Morte D’Arthur (亚瑟王之死)②Class Nature (阶级性) of the RomanceLoyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone(the most important part基石)of feudal morality.The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized (supported 庇护,保护)by the noble.3. Alliteration(押头韵): a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的)words.e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest,keenest for praise.2.Sing a song of southern singer4. Understatement(低调陈述)(for ironical humor)not troublesome: very welcomeneed not praise: a right to condemn5. Chronicle《编年史》(a monument of Old English prose)6. Ballads (民谣)(The most important department of English folk literature )①Definition:A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be sung or recited in musical form.An important stream of the Medieval folk literature②Features of English Ballads1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.③Stylistic (风格上)Features of the Ballads1. Composed in couplets (相连并押韵的两行诗,对句)or in quatrains (四行诗)known as the ballad stanza (民谣诗节), rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables (重读音节)and the second and fourth carrying 3.2. Simple, plain language or dialect (方言,土语)of thecommon people with colloquial (口语的,会话的), vivid and,sometimes, idiomatic (符合当地语言习惯的)expressions3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentation around the central plot.4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension (方面)to achieve dramatic effect.④Subjects of English Ballads1. struggle of young lovers2. conflict between love and wealth3. cruelty of jealousy4. criticism of the civil war5. matters of class struggle7. Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)(introduced byGeoffrey Chaucer)Definition:the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体:用于史诗或叙事诗,每行十个音节,五个音部,每两行押韵。

英国文学名词解释大全(整理版)

英国文学名词解释大全(整理版)

1.Epic(史诗)(appeared in the Anglo-Saxon Period )It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf (the pagan(异教徒),secular(非宗教的) poetry)Iliad 《伊利亚特》,Odyssey《奥德赛》Paradise Lost 《失乐园》,The Divine Comedy《神曲》2.Romance (传奇)(Anglo-Norman feudal England)•Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.•Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form:long composition, in verse, in proseContent:description of life and adventures of a noble heroCharacter:a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king•Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.•It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.•It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.•It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.①The Romance Cycles/Groups/DivisionsThree Groups●matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士)●matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers●matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of TroyLe Morte D’Arthur (亚瑟王之死)②Class Nature (阶级性) of the RomanceLoyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone(the most important part 基石)of feudal morality.The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized (supported 庇护,保护)by the noble.3. Alliteration(押头韵): a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.2.Sing a song of southern singer4. Understatement(低调陈述)(for ironical humor)not troublesome: very welcomeneed not praise: a right to condemn5. Chronicle《编年史》(a monument of Old English prose)6. Ballads (民谣)(The most important department of English folk literature )①Definition:A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be 命中注定sung or recited 背诵in musical form.An important stream of the Medieval folk literature②Features of English Ballads1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.③Stylistic (风格上)Features of the Ballads1. Composed in couplets (相连并押韵的两行诗,对句)or in quatrains (四行诗)known as the ballad stanza (民谣诗节), rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables (重读音节)and the second and fourth carrying 3.2. Simple, plain language or dialect (方言,土语)of the common people with colloquial (口语的,会话的), vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic (符合当地语言习惯的)expressions3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentation around the central plot.4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension (方面)to achieve dramatic effect.④Subjects of English Ballads1. struggle of young lovers2. conflict between love and wealth3. cruelty of jealousy4. criticism of the civil war5. matters of class struggle7. Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)(introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer)Definition:the rhymed couplet 押韵的对句of iambic pentameter抑扬格五音步; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables 音节and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体:用于史诗或叙事诗,每行十个音节,五个音部,每两行押韵。

(完整)英国文学名词解释大全(整理版),推荐文档

(完整)英国文学名词解释大全(整理版),推荐文档

(完整)英国文学名词解释大全(整理版),推荐文档名词解释1.Epic(史诗)(appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period )It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf (the pagan(异教徒),secular(非宗教的) poetry)Iliad 《伊利亚特》,Odyssey《奥德赛》Paradise Lost 《失乐园》,The Divine Comedy《神曲》2.Romance (传奇)(Anglo-Norman feudal England)Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form:long composition, in verse, in proseContent:description of life and adventures of a noble hero Character:a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures,taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king ?Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.①The Romance Cycles/Groups/DivisionsThree Groups●matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士)●matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers●matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of TroyLe Morte D’Arthur (亚瑟王之死)②Class Nature (阶级性) of the RomanceLoyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone(the most important part基石)of feudal morality.The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized (supported 庇护,保护)by the noble.3. Alliteration(押头韵): a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.2.Sing a song of southern singer4. Understatement(低调陈述)(for ironical humor)not troublesome: very welcomeneed not praise: a right to condemn5. Chronicle《编年史》(a monument of Old English prose)6. Ballads (民谣)(The most important department of English folk literature )①Definition:A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be sung or recited in musical form.An important stream of the Medieval folk literature②Features of English Ballads1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.③Stylistic (风格上)Features of the Ballads1. Composed in couplets (相连并押韵的两行诗,对句)or in quatrains (四行诗)known as the ballad stanza (民谣诗节), rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables (重读音节)and the second and fourth carrying 3.2. Simple, plain language or dialect (方言,土语)of the common people with colloquial (口语的,会话的), vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic (符合当地语言习惯的)expressions3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentation around the central plot.4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension (方面)to achieve dramatic effect.④Subjects of English Ballads1. struggle of young lovers2. conflict between love and wealth3. cruelty of jealousy4. criticism of the civil war5. matters of class struggle7. Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)(introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer)Definition:the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体:用于史诗或叙事诗,每行十个音节,五个音部,每两行押韵。

英国文学史-名词解释

英国文学史-名词解释

名词解释1.Romance: a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, especially for the knight. The most popular theme employed was the legend of King Arthur and the round table knight.2.Renaissance: a revival or rebirth of the artistic and scientific revival which originated in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. It has two features: a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature and keen interest in activities of humanity.3.Sonnet: 14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. 4.Enlightenment: a revival of interest in the old classical works, logic, order, restrained emotion and accuracy.5.Neoclassicism: the Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in Greek and Roman works. This tendency is known as Neoclassicism.6.Romanticism: imagination, emotion and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. The particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism include: subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; freedom from rules; solitary life rather then life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason; and love of and worship of nature.7.Byronic Heroes: a variant of the Romantic heroes as a type of character( enthusiasm, persistence, pursuing freedom), named after the English Romantic Poet Gordon Byron. 8.Realism: seeks to portray familiar characters, situations, and settings in a realistic manner. This is done primarily by using an objective narrative point of view and through the buildup of accurate detail.9.Aestheticism: an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts.10.Stream-of-Consciousness: it is a literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur without any clarification by the author. It is a narrative mode. 11.Epic: a long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.一、The Anglo-Saxon period (449-1066)1、这个时期的文学作品分类:pagan(异教徒) Christian(基督徒)2、代表作:The Song of Beowulf 《贝奥武甫》( national epic 民族史诗) 采用了隐喻手法3、Alliteration 押头韵(写作手法)例子:of man was the mildest and most beloved,To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.二、The Anglo-Norman period (1066-1350)Canto 诗章1、romance 传奇文学2、代表作:Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (高文爵士和绿衣骑士) 是一首押头韵的长诗三、Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) 杰弗里.乔叟时期1、the father of English poetry 英国诗歌之父2、heroic couplet 英雄双韵体:a verse unit consisting of two rhymed(押韵) lines in iambic pentameter(五步抑扬格)3、代表作:the Canterbury Tales 坎特伯雷的故事(英国文学史的开端)大致内容:the pilgrims are people from various parts of England, representatives of various walks of life and social groups.朝圣者都是来自英国的各地的人,代表着社会的各个不同阶层和社会团体小说特点:each of the narrators tells his tale in a peculiar manner, thus revealing his own views and character.这些叙述者以自己特色的方式讲述自己的故事,无形中表明了各自的观点,展示了各自的性格。

英国文学名词解释总结版

英国文学名词解释总结版

English RomanticismEnglish Romanticism, as a historical phase of literature, is generally said to have begun in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott's death and the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament.Historical and Cultural backgroundDuring this period, England had experienced profound economic and social change. The biggest social change in English history was the transfer of large masses of the population from the countryside to the towns. As a result of the Enclosures and the agricultural mechanization, the peasants were driven out of their land; some emigrated to the colonies; some sank to the level of farm laborers and many others drifted to the industrial towns where there was a growing demand for labor. But the new industrial towns were no better than jungles, where the law was "the survival of the fittest." The cruel economic exploitation caused large-scale workers' disturbances in England.Influences of the Romantic MovementRomanticism constitutes a change of direction from attention to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit.In essence it designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience. It also places the individual at the center of art, making literature most valuable as an expression of his or her unique feelings and particular attitudes and valuing its accuracy in portraying the individual's experiences.The Romantic Perioda. The Romantic period is an age of poetry. Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats are the major Romantic poets. They started a rebellion against the neoclassical literature, which was later regarded as the poetic revolution.b. The Romantic period is also a great age of prose. The two major novelists of the Romantic period are Jane Austen and Walter Scott.c. Besides poetry and prose, there are quite a number of writers who have tried their hand at poetic dramas in this period.The Romantic MovementIt expressed a more or less negative attitude towards the existing social and political conditions that came with industrialization and the growing importance of the bourgeoisie. The Romantics felt that the existing society denied people their essential human needs, so they demonstrated a strong reaction against the dominant modes of thinking of the 18th-century writers and philosophers. Where their predecessors saw man as a social animal, the Romantics saw him essentially as an individual in the solitary state and emphasized the special qualities of each individual's mind.The Gothic NovelIt is a type of romantic fiction that predominated in the late 18th century and was one phase of the Romantic movement, its principal elements are violence, horror and the supernatural, which strongly appeal to the reader's emotion. With its descriptions of thedark, irrational side of human nature, the Gothic form has exerted a great influence over the writer of the Romantic period. Works like The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe and Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley are typical Gothic romance.Characteristics of Romantic literature in English historyThe Romantic period is an age of poetry. Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats are the major Romantic poets. They started a rebellion against the neoclassical literature, which was later regarded as the poetic revolution. Wordsworth and Coleridge were the major representatives of this movement. They explored new theories and innovated new techniques in poetry writing. They saw poetry as a healing energy: they believed that poetry could purify both individual souls and the society. The Romantics not only extol the faculty of imagination, but also stress the concept of spontaneity and inspiration, regarding them as something crucial for true poetry. The natural world comes to the forefront of the poetic imagination. Nature is not only the major source of poetic imagery, but also provides the dominant subject matter. Wordsworth is the closest to nature. To escape from a world that had become excessively rational, as well as excessively materialistic and ugly, the Romantics would turn to other times and places, where the qualities they valued could be convincingly depicted. Romantics also tend to be nationalistic, defending the great poets and dramatists of their own national heritage against the advocates of classical rules who tended to glorify Rome and rational Italian and French neoclassical art as superior to the native traditions. To the Romantics, poetry should be free from all rules. They would turn to the humble people and their everyday life for subjects.William Blake1) Early worksThe Songs of Innocence(1809) is a lovely volume of poems, presenting a happy and innocent world, though not without its evils and sufferings. For instance, " Holy Thursday" with its vision of charity children lit " with a radiance all their own" reminds us terribly of a world of loss and institutional cruelty.2) His Songs of Experience(1794) paints a different world, a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone. The benighted England becomes the world of the dark wood and of the weeping prophet.3) Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790) marks his entry into maturity. The poem was composed during the climax of the French Revolution and it plays the double role both as a satire and a revolutionary prophecy. In this poem, Blake explores the relationship of the contraries. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence. Life is a continual conflict of give and take, a pairing of opposites, of good and evil, of innocence and experience, of body and soul. "Without contraries," Blake states, "there is no progression."The "marriage," to Blake, means the reconciliation of the contraries, not the subordination of the one to the other.Characteristics of Blake's poemsBlake who lived in the blaze of revelation, felt bound to declare that " I know that This world is a world of IMAGINATION and Vision," and that "The Nature of my work is visionary or imaginative."From childhood, Blake had a strongly visual mind; whatever he imagined, he also saw. As an imaginative poet, he presents his view in visual images instead of abstract terms. Blake writes his poems in plain and direct language. His poems often carry the lyric beauty with immense compression of meaning. He distrusts the abstractness and tends to embody his views with visual images. Symbolism in wide range is also a distinctive feature of his poetryThe TygerThe Tyger, included in Songs of Experience, is one of Blake's best-known poems. It seemingly praises the great power of tiger, but what the tiger symbolizes remains disputable: the power of man? Or the revolutionary force? Or the evil? Or as it is usually interpreted, the Almighty Maker who created both the meek and gentle lamb and the terrible and awesome tiger? The poem is highly symbolic with a touch of mysticism and it is open to various interpretations.The poem contains six quatrains in rhyming couplets and its language is terse and forceful with an anvil rhythm.William WordsworthWordsworth are known as the "Lake Poets."As a great Romantic poet, Wordsworth had a long poetic career. His Lyrical Ballads, written together with Coleridge, is generally regarded as the symbol of the beginning of the Romantic period in England.His poetic outlookWordsworth is regarded as a " worshipper of nature." He can penetrate to the heart of things and give the reader the very life of nature. "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is perhaps the most anthologized poem in English literature, and one that takes us to the core of Wordsworth's poetic beliefs. To Wordsworth, nature embodies human beings in their diverse circumstances. It is nature that gives him "strength and knowledge full of peace.“Common life is Wordsworth's only subject of literary interest. The joys and sorrows of the common people are his themes. His sympathy always goes to the suffering poor.Wordsworth is a poet in memory of the past. To him, life is a cyclical journey. Its beginning finally turns out to be its end.Wordsworth's deliberate simplicity and refusal to decorate the truth of experience produced a kind of pure and profound poetry which no other poets has ever equaled. Poetry, he believes, originates from "emotion recollected in tranquility."Rejecting the contemporary emphasis on form and intellectual approach that drained poetic writing of strong emotion, he maintains that the scenes and events of everyday life and the speech of ordinary people are the raw material of which poetry can and should be made.His poetical works1) LyricsLyrical Ballads differs in marked ways from his early poetry, notably the uncompromising simplicity of much of the language, the strong sympathy not merely with the poor in general but with particular, dramatized examples of them, and the fusion of natural description with expressions of inward states of mind. The poems Wordsworth added to the 1800 edition of the Lyrical Ballads are among the best of his achievements. Characteristics of Wordsworth’s Poems and His AchievementsWilliam Wordsworth is the leading figure of the English romantic poetry, the focal poetic voice of the period. His is a voice of searchingly comprehensive humanity and one that inspires his audience to see the world freshly, sympathetically and naturally. The most important contribution he has made is that he has not only started the modern poetry, the poetry of the growing inner self, but also changed the course of English poetry by using ordinary speech of the language and by advocating a return to nature.1) I Wandered Lonely as a CloudWordsworth is regarded as a "worshipper of nature." He can penetrate to the heart of things and give the reader the very life of nature. "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is perhaps the most anthologized poem in English literature, and one that takes us to the core of Wordsworth's poetic beliefs. Wordsworth wrote this beautiful poem of nature after he came across a long belt of gold daffodils tossing and reeling and dancing along the waterside. There is a vivid picture of the daffodils here, mixed with the poet's philosophical and somewhat mystical thoughts.The poem consists of four 6-lined stanzas of iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of ababcc in each stanza. The last stanza describes the poet's recollection in tranquility from which this poem arose. The poet thinks that it is a bliss to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind while he is in solitude.George Gordon ByronHours of idleness English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Oriented Tales, the verse drama Manfred Don JuanByronic HeroAs a leading Romanticist, Byron's chief contribution is his creation of the " Byronic hero," a proud and mysterious rebel figure of noble origin. With immense superiority in his passions and powers, the Byronic hero would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in an evil society, and would fight single-handedly against any kind of tyrannical rules either in government, in religion or in moral principles with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies. The conflict is usually one of rebellious individuals against outworn social systems and convention. The figure is, to some extent, modeled on the life and personality of Byron himself, and makes Byron famous both at home and abroadPercy Bysshe ShelleyThe Necessity of AtheismThe whole poem has a logic of feeling, a not easily analyzable progression that leads to the triumphant, hopeful and convincing conclusion: "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"Shelley derived from his reading of Dante. The nervous thrill of Shelley's response to nature however is here transformed through the power of art and imagination into a longing to be united with a force at once physical and prophetic. Here is no conservative reassurance, no comfortable mysticism, but the primal amorality of nature itself with its mad fury and its pagan ruthlessness. Shelley's ode is an invocation(祈祷) to a primitive deity, a plea to exalt him in its fury and to trumpet the radical prophecy of hope and rebirth.Poetic drama: Prometheus Unbound (1820Characteristics of Shelley's PoetryShelley is one of the leading Romantic poets, an intense and original lyrical poet in the English language. Like Blake, he has a reputation as a difficult poet: erudite, imagistically complex, full of classical and mythological allusions. His style abounds in personification and metaphor and other figures of speech which describe vividly what we see and feel, or express what passionately moves us.John KeatsEndymion Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems Ode to a NightingaleOde on an Grecian UrnIt shows the contrast between the permanence of art and the transience of human passion. The poet has absorbed himself into the timeless beautiful scenery on the antique Grecian Urn: the lovers, musicians and worshippers on the Urn exist simultaneously and for ever in their intensity of joy. They are unaffected by time, stilled in expectation. This is at once the glory and the limitation of the world conjured up by an object of art. The urn celebrates but simplifies intuitions of ecstasy by seeming to deny our painful knowledge of transience and suffering.Characteristics of Keats's PoetryKeats's poetry is always sensuous, colorful and rich in imagery, which expresses the acuteness of his senses. Sight, sound, scent, taste and feeling are all used to give an entire understanding of an experience. He has the power of entering the feelings of others-either human or animal. With vivid and rich images, he paints poetic pictures full of wonderful color. Keats's poetry, characterized by exact and closely-knit construction, sensual descriptions, and by force in imagination, gives transcendental values to the physical beauty of the world."Ode on a Grecian Urn"The Grecian Urn that the poem depicts is a piece of ancient Greek pottery with a pastoral scene overwrought upon it. The urn represents a piece of artifact, and it has endured a long history, yet remains untarnished, and the pastoral scene on it can still be seen clearly. On the surface, this ode is about the Grecian Urn, but we can fairly say it is a commentary on nature and art, for art has the power to preserve intense human experiences, so that they may go on being enjoyed by men from generation to generation. Pleasure in life cannot be protected from change, while artifact can remain intact. The Ode consists of 5 stanzas, the first four stanzas describing a pastoral scene on the urn, and the last epitomizing the relation of the timeless ideal world in art to the woeful actual world.Jane AustenSense and Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice; Northanger Abbey; Mansfield Park; Emma; and PersuasionAusten's main literary concern is about human beings in their personal relationships. Because of this, her novels have a universal significance. She is particularly preoccupied with the relationship between men and women in love. Stories of love and marriage provide the major themes in all her novels. The works of Jane Austen, delightful and profound, are part of the supreme achievements of English literature. With trenchant observation and in meticulous detail, she presents the quiet, day-to-day life of the upper-middle-class English. Her characteristic theme is that maturity is achieved through the loss of illusions. Faults of character displayed by the people of her novels are corrected when, through tribulation, lessons are learned. Even the most minor characters are vividly particularized in Austen's lucid style. All these show a mind of the shrewdest intelligence adapting the available traditions and deepening the resources of art with consummate craftsmanship. Because of her sensitivity to universal patterns of human behavior, Jane Austen has brought the English novels, as an art form, to its maturity, and she has been regarded by many critics as one of the greatest of all novelists.Selected ReadingAn Excerpt From Chapter I of Pride and Prejudice1) Structure, characterization and language styleThe structure of the novel is exquisitely deft, the characterization in the highest degree memorable, while the irony has a radiant shrewdness unmatched elsewhere. At the heart of the novelist's exploration of the marriage, property and intrigue lies the exhilarating suspense of the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy, and Jane Austen's delicate probing of the values of the gentry. The moments of high comedy in the novel are always related to deeper issues. Elizabeth's rejection of the odious Mr. Collins suggests her independence and self-esteem, but when Collins is accepted by her friend Charlotte Lucas, we see the reality of marriage as a necessary step if a woman is to avoid the wretchedness of aging spinsterhood. Conversely, in the elopement of Lydia and Wickham, we are shown the dangers of feckless relationships unsupported by money. The comic characters in Pride and Prejudice are: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins and that monstrous snob Lady Catherine de Burgh, who make us laugh even as they parody erroneous views of marriage and class. Characteristics of Jane Austen's novels1) Austen‘s novels describe a narrow range of society and events: a quiet, prosperous, middle class circle in provincial surroundings, which she knew well from her own experience.2) Her subject matter is also limited, for most of her novels deal with the subject of getting married, which was in fact the central problem for the young leisure-class lady of that age, who had no other choice in her life but to find a good husband.3) Austen's interest was in human nature; in her depiction of human nature, instead of being fascinated by great waves of elevated emotion, by passion or heroic experience, she focused on the trivial and petty details of everyday living, which became very interesting through her truthful and lively description.4) Austen's novels are brightened by their witty conversation and omnipresent humor. Her language shines with an exquisite touch of lively gracefulness, elegant and refined, but never showy.The Bronte SistersCharlotte BronteEmily Bronte Wuthering HeightsAnne Bronte Agnes Grey The Tenant of Wildfell HallCharlotte's Literary CreationCharlotte Bronte's works are all about the struggle of an individual towards self-realization, about some lonely and neglected young women with a fierce longing for love, and understanding and a full, happy life. All her heroines' highest joy comes from some sacrifice of self or some human weakness overcome. Besides, she is a writer of realism combined with romanticism. On the one hand, she presents a vivid realistic picture of the English society by exposing the cruelty, hypocrisy and other evils of the upper classes and by showing the misery and suffering of the poor. Her works are famous for the depiction of the life of the middle-class workingwomen, particularly governesses. On the other hand, her writings are marked throughout by intensity of vision and of passion. By writing from an individual point of view, by creating characters who are possessed of strong feelings, fiery passions and some extraordinary personalities, by using some elements of horror, mystery and prophesy,she is able to recreate life in a very romantic way. The vividness of her subjective narration, the intensely achieved characterization, especially those heroines who are totally contrary to the public expectations and the most truthful presentation of the economical, moral, social life of the time -all this earns her works a never dying popularity.Jane, like Mr. Rochester, has to undergo a series of physical and moral tests to grow up and achieve her final happiness. The success of the novel is also due to its introduction to the English novel the first governess heroine. Jane Eyre is a completely new woman image. She represents those middle-class workingwomen who are struggling for recognition of their rights and equality as a human being. The vivid description of her intense feelings and her thought and inner conflicts brings her to the heart of the audience.Jane Eyre's characterJane Eyre, an orphan child with a fiery spirit and a longing to love and be loved, a poor, plain, little governess who dares to love her master, a man superior to her in many ways, and even is brave enough to declare to the man her love for him, cuts a completely new woman image. In this novel Charlotte characterizes Jane Eyre as a naive, kind-hearted, noble-minded woman who pursues a genuine kind of love. Jane Eyre represents those middle-class workingwomen who are struggling for recognition of their basic rights and equality as a human being. The vivid description of her intense feelings and her thought and inner conflicts brings her to the heart of the audience. The selected part is taken from Chapter XXIII, not long after Jane is back from her aunt's funeral. Jane finds herself hopelessly in love with Mr. Rochester but she is aware that her love is out of the question. So, when forced to confront Mr. Rochester, she desperately and openly declared her equality with him and her love for him. The passion described here is intense and genuine.。

英国文学简史名词解释

英国文学简史名词解释

1,什么叫文艺复兴The Renaissance (“rebirth” in French) was a cultural and intellectural movement that spanned roughly the 14th through the 17 century, beginning in Italy and later spreading to the rest of Europe 2,Renaissance is considered as the great flowering of art, architecture, politics, and the study of literature, and is also usually seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern world.2,什么叫玄学派诗歌the Metaphysical school of poetryI. Definition: A school of highly intellectual(智力的)poetryTime: the early 17th centuryMajor features: mysticism in content and fantasticality in form; peculiar conceit(奇思妙想), unique way of reasoning and comparisonMain themes: life, death, love, religion, universeRepresentatives: John Donne, Andrew Marvell and George HerbertSignificance: greatly influenced the modernists of the 20th centuryII. Metaphysical conceits悬想比喻,奇喻,别出心裁的比喻Conceit: an elaborate metaphor that offers a surprising or unexpected comparison between two seemingly highly dissimilar things. This can involve original images or familiar images used in an unfamiliar way.Literature in This Age: The 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement throughout in Europe known as Enlightenment. It was a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe in the 18th century and Russia in the 19th Century.In late 17th and early 18th century England, there was a change of taste, which was part of a general movement in Europe, seen perhaps most impressive in 17th century France. The dominant literary theory of this period was “Neoclassicism”.Literary Genre文学流派Generally speaking, literature of the 18th century was very complex. We may classify it under three general heads: the reign of classicism, the pre-romantic poetry, and the beginning of modern novel.3,什么是启蒙运动Enlightenment (1) a progressive intellectual movement(2) flourished in France and swept through the whole Western Europe(3) aims at enlightening the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas; celebrated reason (4) called for a reference to order, reason and rules4,什么是前浪漫主义Pre-RomanticismWhen did Pre-romanticism appear? in the latter half of the 18th centuryWhat are the major features of Pre-romanticism?1)Romantic Revival;2)Strong protest against the bondage ofClassicism; 3)Claims of passion and emotion;4)Renewed interests in medievalliterature.Who are the representatives? William Blake and Robert BurnsWhat’s the significance?marked the decline of classicismPaved the way for the coming of romanticism in England5,什么叫Byron hero: Byronic hero was created by Byron in the Romantic period of the English literature. Such a hero is a proud, rebellious figure of noble origin. Passionate and powerful, he is to right all the wrongs in a corrupt society, and he would fight single-handedly against all the misdoings. These heroes rise against tyranny and injustice, but they are merely lone fighters striving for personal freedom and some individualistic ends.1. epic 史诗a long narrative poem, grand in style, about heroes and heroic deeds, embodying heroic ideals of a nation or race in the making. Beowulf is the English national epic that was passed from mouth to mouth and written down by many unknown hands.3. alliteration 头韵the repetition of the same sound or sounds at the beginning of two or more words that are close to each other. It is a feature of Beowulf and other Old English poems.4. alliterative verse 头韵诗poetry written in alliteration. Nearly all Old English verse, including Beowulf, is heavily alliterative, and the pattern is fairly standard – with either two or three stressed syllables in each line alliterating.5. kenning 隐喻语a metaphor usually composed of two words and used for description and association. Beowulf is full of kennings, such as ―helmet bearer‖ for ―warrior‖ and ―swan road‖ for ―sea‖.8. romance 传奇a type of literature that was popular in the Middle Ages, usually containing adventures and reflecting the spirit of chivalry. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was a great verse romance, but its author remains unknown.11. heroic couplet 英雄双韵体two successive lines of rhymed poetry in iambic pentameter. Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece The Canterbury Tale was written in heroic couplet.12. ballad meter 民谣体traditionally a four-line stanza containing alternating four-stress and three-stress lines, usually with a refrain and the rhyme scheme of abcb. Robert Burns’ ―A Red, Red Rose‖ is a great love ballad.14. English Renaissance 英国文艺复兴the literary flowering of England in the late 16th century and early 17th century, with humanism as its keynote. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is considered the summit of this renaissance. 15. Elizabethan literature 伊丽莎白时代的文学literature written in the Elizabethan Age (1558-1603). William Shakespea re’s Romeo and Juliet was a masterpiece of this period.16. sonnet 十四行诗a fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of 5-foot iambic verse. It first flourished in Italy in the 14th century. William Shakespeare was a great English sonnet writer famous for his 154 sonnets.20. rhyme scheme 押韵格式the pattern of end-thymes in a stanza or poem, generally described by using letters of the alphabet to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines. For example, heroic couplets are ―aabbcc‖ and so on.21. quatrain 四行诗节a stanza of four lines, rhymed or unrhymed. It is the commonest of all stanzaic forms in English poetry. Robert Burns’ ―A Red, Red Rose‖ has four quatrains.24. verse drama 诗剧drama written in the form of verse. It was most widely used in the Elizabethan Age. William Shakespeare’s dramas are all verse dramas, Hamlet being the most famous.25. blank verse 无韵诗,素体诗unrhymed iambic pentameter, the most widely used of English verse forms and usually used in English dramatic and epic poetry. William Shakespea re’s play Hamlet is written in blank verse.27. essay 散文a composition, usually in prose, which may be of only a few hundred words or of book length and which discusses, formally or informally, a topic or a variety of topics. It is one of the most flexib le and adaptable of all literary forms. Francis Bacon is a great essayist; his ―Of Studies‖ isa model of good essay.28. English Romanticism 英国浪漫主义a literary movement that aimed at free expression of the writer’s ideas and feelings and flourished in the early 19th century England. A great representative of this movement is Percy Bysshe Shelley, the author of ―Ode to the West Wind‖.Sonnet 18One of the best known of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Sonnet 18 is memorable for the skillful and varied presentatio n of subject matter, in which the poet’s feelings reach a level of rapture unseen in the previous sonnets. The poet here abandons his quest for the youth to have a child, and instead glories in the youth’s beauty.Initially, the poet poses a question—‖Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?‖—and then reflects on it, remarking that the youth’s beauty far surpasses summer’s delights. The imagery is the very essence of simplicity: ―wind‖ and ―buds.‖ In the fourth line, legal terminology—‖summer’s lease‖—is introduced in contrast to the commonplace images in the first three lines. Note also the poet’s use of extremes in the phrases ―more lovely,‖ ―all too short,‖ and ―too hot‖; these phrases emphasize the young man’s beauty.Although lines 9 through 12 are marked by a more expansive tone and deeper feeling, the poet returns to the simplicity of the opening images. As one expects in Shakespeare’s sonnets, the proposition that the poet sets up in the first eight lines—that all nature is subject to imperfection—is now contrasted in these next four lines beginning with ―But.‖ Although beauty naturally declines at some point—‖And every fair from fair sometime declines‖—the youth’s beauty will not; his unchanging appearance is atypical of nature’s steady progression. Even death is impotent against the youth’s beauty. Note the ambiguity in the phrase ―eternal lines‖: Are these ―lines‖ the poet’s ver ses or the youth’s hoped-for children? Or are they simply wrinkles meant to represent the process of aging? Whatever the answer, the poet is jubilant in this sonnet because nothing threatens the young man’s beautiful appearance.Then follows the concludi ng couplet: ―So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.‖ The poet is describing not what the youth is but what he will be ages hence, as captured in the poet’s eternal verse—or again, in a hoped-for child. Whatever one may feel about the sentiment expressed in the sonnet and especially in these last two lines, one cannot help but notice an abrupt change in the poet’s own estimate of his poetic writing. Following the poet’s disparaging reference to his ―pupil pen‖ and ―barren rhyme‖ in Sonnet 16, it comes as a surprise in Sonnet 18 to find him boasting that his poetry will be eternal.John Keats认为,夜莺的歌声是美妙绝伦的,是不朽的,是永恒的,将世世代代的唱下去。

英国文学文学术语

英国文学文学术语

Literary terms(文学术语)(一)中古时期(1)民谣(ballad):以诗的形式被歌唱和传诵,并代代相传。

如《罗宾汉》,《老水手之行》。

(2)史诗(epic):叙述神与英雄行为的叙事长诗。

如《贝奥武夫》,《失乐园》《复乐园》《力士参孙》,荷马《伊利亚特》《奥德赛》,中世纪但丁的《神曲》。

(3)罗曼史∕骑士文学(romance):中世纪的一种流行文学形式,用来歌颂骑士的冒险精神和英雄行为,骑士精神(如勇敢、慷慨、忠诚、善良)是其精神。

(4)押头韵(alliteration):一行诗中的某些词的首个发音的重复或重现。

如:“I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet”.(二)文艺复兴时期(1)文艺复兴(Renaissance):Renaissance一词意为“重生”,指对西欧的希腊和罗马文化的复兴,其核心是人文主义,带有14、15世纪特点的态度和情感被渗入人文主义和宗教改革中。

英国文艺复兴的主流是伊利莎白时期的戏剧,莎士比亚是戏剧家的代表。

(2)人文主义(humanism):是文艺复兴的核心,强调的是人类的尊严和现实生活的重要性,人文主义者认为人是宇宙的中心,他们不仅有权享受生活的美好,还有能力自我完善和创造奇迹。

(3)斯宾塞诗节(Spenserian stanza):由埃德蒙•斯宾塞创造的,指每个诗节有9行诗句,前8行每行都是10个音节(五音步抑扬格),第9行为12个音节(六音步抑扬格),押韵为ababbcbcc,如《仙后》。

(4)奇特的比喻(conceit):是一种牵强的明喻或暗喻,即把两个不相似的事物进行比较,这种手法多被约翰•多恩的诗歌采用。

(5)玄学派诗歌(metaphysical poetry):指17世纪受多恩影响的作家所写的作品,多采用奇特的比喻手法。

玄学派诗人试图打破传统的伊利莎白时期的爱情诗歌的形式,其措词较伊利莎白和新古典主义时期更为简洁,与平民语言的用词和韵律相符,且其意象也源自现实生活。

英国文学史名词解释

英国文学史名词解释

英国文学史名词解释Romance: The romance was a long composition, sometimes in verse, sometimes in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. The medieval romances were tales of chivalry or amorous adventure occurring in King Arthur's court. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is an example of a medieval romance.Ballad: It is a story in poetic form, often about tragic love and usually sung. Ballads were passed down from generation to generation by singers. The medieval ballads are ballads of Robin Hood. Coleridge’s "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a 19th century English ballad. Heroic couplet: They are poetry composed in iambic pentameter. In this form of poetry, lines consisting of five iambic feet rime together in pairs. The rime scheme :aa bb cc ….. Renaissance: Renaissance marks the transition from the medieval to the modern world. It first started in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. The word“Renaissance” means rebirth or revival. In essence, it is a historical period in which theEuropean humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the risingbourgeoisie, and to lift the restriction in all areas placed by the Roman Catholic Churchauthorities. Two features of renaissance: It is a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature.People learned to admire the Greek and Latin works as models of literary form. It is the keen interest in the activities of humanity.Sonnet: A lyric poem of fourteen lines whose ryhme scheme is fixed. The rhyme scheme in the Italian form as typified in the sonnets of Petrarch is abbaabba cdecde. The Petrarchian sonnet has two divisions: the first is of eight lines (the octave), and the second is of six lines (the sestet). The rhyme scheme of the English, or Shakespearean sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg. The change of rhyme in the English sonnet is coincidental with a change of theme in the poem.The meter is iambic pentameter.Blank verse: A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.Spenserian Stanza: Spenser invented a new verse form for his poem. The verse form has been called "Spenserian Stanza" since his day. Each stanza has nine lines, each of the first eight lines is in iambic pentameter form, and the ninth line is an iambic hexameter line. The rhythm scheme is abab bcbc c.Enlightenment : The Enlightenment was a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe in the 18th century. It was an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals of feudalism. They thought the chief means for bettering the society was "enlightenment" or "education" for the people. The English enlighteners were bourgeois democratic thinkers. They set no revolutionary aim before them and what they strove for was to bring it to an end by clearing away the feudal ideas with the bourgeois ideology. Sentimentalism: Sentimentalism appeared in the middle of the 18th century, as a reaction against commercialism and the cold rationalism. Sentimentalists emphasize “the human heart” and show sympathy to the poor. This trend marks the transition form neoclassicism to romanticism in English poetry. Thomas Gray is one of the models. Another sentimentalistpoet is Oliver Goldsmith (The Disserted Village). The most outstanding figure of English sentimentalism is Laurence Sterne.Pre-romanticism: The Romantic Movement was marked by a strong protest against the bondage of Classicism, by a renewed interest in medieval literature. In England, this movement showed itself in the trend of Pre-romanticism in poetry. It was represented by Blake and Robert Burns. They struggled against the neoclassical tradition of poetry. Romanticism : Romanticism was in effect a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassical reason, which prevailed from the days of Pope to those of Johnson. The Romantic Movement expressed a more or less negative attitude toward the existing social and political conditions that came with industrialization and the growing importance of the bourgeoisie. Romantics saw men essentially as an individual in the solitary state and emphasized the special qualities of each individual's mind. In essence it designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience. It also places the individual at the center of art, making literature most valuable as an expression of his or her unique feelings and particular attitudes, and valuing its accuracy in portraying the individual's experiences. The romantics extol the faculty of the imagination, write about nature and they get inspiration form nature, turn to the humble people and the common everyday life for subjects andturn to other times and places, where the qualities they valued would be convincingly depicted.Neo-classicism: A revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance and harmony in literature. John Dryden was the first person who started the movement at the end of the 17th century, while Alexander Pope brought it to its culmination. Elegy: it seeks for "lament". It is a poem on death or on a serious loss; characteristically a sustained meditation expressing sorrow and, frequently, an explicit or implied consolation Realism: A term used in literature and art to present life as it really is without sentimentalizing or idealizing it. Realistic writing often depicts the everyday life and speech of ordinary people. This has led, sometimes to an emphasis on sordid details.Allegory: A story illustrating an idea or a moral principle in which objects take on symbolic meanings. In Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy," Dante, symbolizing mankind, is taken by Virgil the poet on a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise in order to teach him the nature of sin and its punishments, and the way to salvation.Lake Poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey have often been mentioned as the "Lake Poets"because they lived in the lake district in the northwestern part of England. The three traversed the same path in politics and in poetry, beginning as radicals and closing as conservatives. Metaphysical Poetry: The poetry of John Donne and other seventeenth-century poets who wrote in a similar style. Metaphysical poetry is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborates imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas.Humanism: it refers to the main literary trend and is the keynote of English Renaissance.Humanists took interest in human life and human activities and gave expression to the new feeling of admiration for human beauty, human achievement. They think that man has apotential for culture which distinguishes him from lower orders of beings, and which he should strive constantly to fulfill.Mystery play: The Mystery plays of the Middle Ages were based on the bible and were particularly concerned with the stories of man’s creation, Fall and Redemption. They antedate Miracle Plays.Mystery Plays developed out of the Liturgy of the church and in particular out of the Quem Quaeritis trope of Easter Day. The earlier dramatizations were presented on the greater festivals of the church: Christmas, Easter,, Pentecost and Corpus Christi. At first they were in Latin and performed by the clergy in the church. There then came an increasing admixture of the vernacular, and lay folk also performed in them. This gradual secularization of the religions drama was accompanied by a corresponding physical move. The drama moved out of the church through the west door. Thus, what had been sacred drama became, literally, profane. From the church yard to the market place was the next logical step.Iambic Pentameter: A poetic line consisting of five verse feet, which each foot an iamb__ that is, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. Iambic pentameter is the most common verse line in English poetry.Lyric: A poem, brief and discontinuous, emphasizes sound and pictorial imagery rather than narrative or dramatic movement.Miracle Play: A popular religious drama of medieval England. Miracle plays were based on stories of the saints or on sacred history.Morality Play: A form of religious allegorical drama dates from 15th century. Moralities differed from mystery plays in that whereas the latter dramatized known episodes from the Bible or from the lives of the saints, the former dramatized the life of man by personifying the forces of good and evil, such as the seven deadly sins and the corresponding virtues or some representative crisis in his life such as his encounter with the fact of death.Neo-classicism: it is a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance and harmony in literature. John Dryden was the first person who started the movement at the end of the 17th century, while Alexander Pope brought it to its culmination. Byronic hero:is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lordlevel of intelligence and perception; cunning and able to adapt; criminal tendencies;sophisticated and educated; self-critical and introspective; mysterious, magnetic and charismatic; struggling with integrity; power of seduction and sexual attraction; social andself-destructive behavior; a good heart in the end.。

英国文学史名词解释

英国文学史名词解释

名词解释Old English: the language of Anglo and Saxon people during 5and 11th centuryEpic: A long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes. In a grand ceremonious style .The hero, usually protected by or even descended from gods, performs superhuman exploits in battle or in marvelous voyages, often saving or founding a nation.Romance:the most popular literary form in the Middle Ages in Europe; A tale (in verse or prose) that deals with knightly adventures or other heroic deeds or supernatural or amorous subjects, and usually emphasizes the chivalric love.Ballad:A folk song or orally transmitted poem telling in a direct and dramatic manner some popular story usually derived form a tragic incident in local history or legend.Ballad are normally composed in quatrains with alternating four-stress and three- stress lines ,the second and fourth lines rhyming.Couplet(双行体)a pair of rhyming verse lines of the same length. Chauser established the use of couplet in his Canterbury Tales, using rhymed iambic pentameters later known as heroic coupletThe Renaissance refers to the period between the 14th and 17th centuries.The rebirth of literature, art, and learning that progressively transformed European culture from the mid-14th century in Italy to the mid-17th century in England, strongly influenced by the rediscovery of classical Greek and Latin literature. The Renaissance is commonly held to mark the close of the middle Ages, and the beginning of the modern western world. The term normally refer to the combined intellectual and artistic transformation of the 15th 16th centuries, including the emergency of humanism, protestant individualism, Copernican astronomy, and the discovery of AmericaHumanism:it stands for devotion to human values represent in classical literature.it is the keynote or the dominate ideology during the Renaissance Sonnet:A lyric of fourteen lines usually in iambic pentameter. 1. Shakespearean sonnet: Also called English sonnet or Elizabethan Sonnet. It is structured of 3 quatrains and a final couplet with the rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg2. Petrarchan Sonnet: Also called Italian sonnet. It contains an octave with the rhyme pattern abba abba and a sestet of various rhyme Patterns such as cdecde or cdcdcd.3. Spenserian sonnet: comprising 3 quatrains and a couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme abab bcbc cdcd eeOde is a dignified and elaborately structured lyric poem of some length, praising and glorifying an individual, commemorating an event or describing nature intellectually rather than emotionally.Elegy Formal lyric poem lamenting the death of a friend or a public figure, or reflecting seriously on a solemn subject.Pastoral: a highly conventional mode of writing that celebrates the innocent life of shepherds or shepherdesses in poems, plays, and prose romance. Tragedies were concerned with the harshness and apparent injustice of life. They involved the trials and eventful death of a hero who was an important person and whose death led to the downfall of others.a. the central characters are always people of importance, like kings, queens, prince, general, nobles.b. a tragic hero often a flawed good man; often the hero’s fall from happiness was due to a weakness in his character, by some great error in his part.c. supernatural beings are often involved in the conflict of human beings, like gods, spirits, witches, ghosts.d. sadness is mixed with horror, murder, treachery, and blood-shedding.Catharsis or Cathartic effect of tragedies: Tragedies give an outlet for such emotions as greed, hatred, lust, fear and pity. The audience feel relieved or purged when they leave the theatre.Comedy deals with ordinary people in everyday situations, it deals with ordinary people in a humble style, usually beginning with misfortune and ending with joy. The purpose of comedy is chiefly to entertain people, but some have moral and corrective purposes, to ridicule and satirize human weaknesses.Comedy of humor according to the comedy of humor, each of characters in the play has some dominating passion or peculiar quality such as jealousy,greedy and comedy of humor mainly satires these humours demonstrated the characters in the play. Ben Jonson has been chefly known for his comedy of humors Soliloquy is the act of talking to oneself, whether silently or aloud. In drama it denotes the convention by which a character, alone on the stage, utters his or her thoughts aloud. Playwrights have used this device as a convenient way to convey information about a charact er’s motives and state of mind, or for purpose of exposition, and sometimes in order to guide the judgments and responses of the audience.Allegory: is a fictional narrative or artistic expression that conveys a symbolic meaning parallel to but distinct from and more important than the literary meaning.Dramatic irony involves the reader (or audience) knowing something about what's happening in the plot, about which the character(s) have no knowledge. Dramatic irony can be used in comedies and tragedies, and it works to engage the reader, as one is drawn into what is happening. The audience may sympathize with the character, who does not know the true situation. Or, the reader may see the character as blind or ignorant (as with Oedipus). The clues may be rather obvious, but the character may be unwilling to recognize the truth.The term“metaphysical”indicates a common poetic style, use of figurative language, and way of organizing the meditative process or the poetic argument.This term is now applied to a group of 17th century poets who, whether or not directly influenced by Done, employ similar poetic procedures and imagery, both in secular poetry( Cleveland, Marvell, Cowley) and in religious poetry(Herbert, Vaughan, Crashaw, and Traherne). The term was coined by John Dryden (1693): "He affects the metaphysicsMetaphysical ConceitIn general, the metaphysical conceit will use some sort of shocking or unusual comparison as the basis for the metaphor. When it works, a metaphysical conceit has a startling appropriateness that makes us look at something in an entirely new way. Draws upon a wide range of knowledge, mainly using highly intellectual analogies; its comparisons are elaborately rationalizedHeroic drama:A kind of tragedy or tragicomedy that came into vogue with the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. Influenced by French classical tragedy and its dramatic unities (time, place, action), it aimed at epic (heroic) grandeur, usually by means of bombast, exotic settings and lavish scenery. The noble hero would typically be caught in a conflict between love and patriotic duty, leading to emotional scenes presented in a manner close to opera. The leading English exponent of heroic drama was John Dryden: hid the conquest of Granada (1670-1) and Aureng-Zebe (1675) were both written in heroic couplets.the Enlightenment movementA general term applied to the movement of the intellectual liberation that developed in Western Europe from the late 17th century to the late 18th century( the age of reason)。

英国文学简史术语解释总结(英文)

英国文学简史术语解释总结(英文)

1.Beowulf: national epic of the English people; Denmark story; alliteration, metaphorsand understatements.2. Romance (名词解释)a story of adventure--fictitious, frequently marvelous or supernatural--in verse or prose.3,Ballad民谣(名词解释)Popular Ballads 大众民谣:a story hold in 4-line stanzas with second and fourth line rhymed(笔记) Ballads are anonymous narrative songs that have been preserved by oral transmission(书上). 4,4,Heroic couplet (名词解释)heroic couplet 英雄双韵体:a verse unit consisting of two rhymed(押韵) lines in iambic pentameter(五步抑扬格)5 . Renaissance(名词解释)Renaissance: the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.555humanism 人文主义:admire human beauty and human achievement556The Enlightenment was an expression of struggle of the then progressive class of bourgeoisie against feudalism6,. Sonnet(名词解释)The sonnet is a poem in 14 lines with one or the other rhyme schme,a form much in vogue in Renaissance Europe, expecially in Italy ,France and England.7,Blank verse(名词解释): written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.8,Spenserian Stanza(名词解释)Stanza form developed by Edmund Spenser and almost certainly influenced by rhyme royal and ottava rima. Spenser's stanza has nine lines and is rhymed a-b-a-b-b-c-b-c-c. The first eight lines of the stanza are in iambic pentameter and the last line in iambic hexameter. He used this form in his epic poem The Faerie Queene. John Keats, a great admirer of Spenser, used this stanza in his poem The Eve of St. Agnes.,9Enlightenment (1650-1800)(名词解释)A revival of interest in the old classical works, order, logic, restrained emotion(抑制情感) and accuracyIndividualism--emphasized the importance of the individual and his inborn rights Rationalism-- the conviction that with the power of reason, humans could arrive at truth and improve the world.Relativism-- was the concept that different cultures, beliefs, ideas, and value systems had equal merit.Gothic novel(哥特式小说):mystery, horror, castles(from middle part to the end of century)10,Classicism(名词解释)In the arts, historical tradition or aesthetic attitudes based on the art of Greece and Rome in antiquity. In the context of the tradition, Classicism refers either to the art produced in antiquity or to later art inspired by that of antiquity; Neoclassicism always refers to the art produced later but inspired by antiquity.11 Sentimentalism(名词解释)Sentimentalism 感伤主义 no belief 没有信仰The representatives of sentimentalism continued to struggle against feudalism but they vaguely sensed at the same time the contradictions of bourgeois progress that brought with it enslavement and ruin to the people.12Graveyard School / Poets: A term applied to eighteenth-century poets who wrote meditative poems, usually set in a graveyard, on the theme of human mortality, in moods which range from elegiac pensiveness to profound gloom.13 Romanticism14 Lake Poets(名词解释)The Lake Poets all lived in the Lake District of England at the turn of the nineteenth century.15 Aestheticism唯美主义(名词解释)The Aesthetic Movement is a loosely defined movement in literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design in later nineteenth-century Britain. It represents the same tendencies that symbolism or decadence stood for in France and may be considered the British branch of the same movement. It belongs to the anti-Victorian reaction and had post-Romantic roots, and as such anticipates modernism. It took place in the late Victorian period from around 1868 to 1901, and is generally considered to have ended with the trial of Oscar Wilde.16 Stream-of-consciousness(名词解释)The “stream of consciousness” is a psychological term indicating “the flux of conscious and subconscious thoughts and impressions moving in the mind at any given time independently of the person’s will”.。

英国文学史文学术语解释

英国文学史文学术语解释

Allegory: It is a figurative piece of writing conveying a meaning other than the literal. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation. Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric.Ballad: a form of verse, often a narrative and set to music.Epic:a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation.Romance: as a literary genre, romance refers to a style of heroic prose and verse narrative. The stories always about the marvelous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight, often d super-human ability, who goes on a quest.Blank verse: it is rhyme-less iambic pentameter or a line of ten syllables in five iambs, a rhythmic unit of two syllables with the unstressed followed by the stressed syllable.Sonnet: is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme.A Shakespearean, or English sonnet consists of 14 lines, each line contains ten syllable, and each line is written in iambic pentameter in which a pattern of a non-emphasized syllable followed by an emphasized syllable is repeated five times.Spenserian stanza: is a nine-line stanza of 8 lines in iambic pentameter plus an iambic hexameter. Heroic couplet:is a traditional form for English poetry, commonly used for epic and narrative poetry; it refers to poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming pairs of iambic pentameter lines. The rhyme is always masculine.Neoclassicism: is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon western classical art and culture (usually that of ancient Greece or ancient Rome).Picaresque novel: is a popular sub-genre of prose fiction which is usually satirical and depicts in realistic and often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society.Byronic hero: is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron.Romanticism:Romanticism: is the artistic movement of the 18 and 19 centuries, which was concerned with the expression of the individual’s feelings and emotions. The movement is partly a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. It stresses strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience. Besides, romanticism emphasizes intuition and imagination.The aesthetic movement:is a loosely defined movement in literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design in later 19-century Britain. It belongs to the anti-Victorian reaction and had post-romantic roots, and as such anticipates modernism.Bildungsroman: is a novel of growth or development, telling a story about a young person growing from innocence to experience and from immaturity to maturity.Dramatic monologue: is a piece of spoken verse that offers great insight into the feelings of the speaker.Imagism: was a movement in early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. The Imagists rejected the sentiment and artifice typical of much Romantic and Victorian poetry. Imagism called for a return to what were seen as more Classical values, such as directness of presentation and economy of language, as well as awillingness to experiment with non-traditional verse forms.Modernism: in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modernism also rejects the lingering certainty of Enlightenment thinking, as well as the idea of a compassionate, all-powerful Creator. A salient characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness. Modernism’s stress on freedom of expression, experimentation, radicalism and primitivism disregards conventional expectations.Stream of consciousness:is a narrative mode that seeks to portray an individual’s point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character’s thought processes, either in a loose inter ior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions.New criticism: was a dominant trend in English and American literary criticism of the mid-twentieth century, from the 1920s to the early 1960s. Its adherents were emphatic in their advocacy of close reading and attention to texts themselves, and their rejection of criticism based on extra-textual sources, especially biography. New Critics treat a work of literature as if it were self-contained. They do not consider the reader's response, author's intention, or historical and cultural contexts. New Critics perform a close reading of the text, and believe the structure and meaning of the text should not be examined separately. New Critics especially appreciate the use of literary devices in a text. The New Criticism has sometimes been called an objective approach to literature.The movement poets: contained a group of writers of the 1950s against the extreme romanticism of Dylan Thomas and his contemporaries. They were concerned with the social changes that postwar laborite Britain was going through, and tried to examine life in an honest, realistic manner.The angry young men: The epithet was originally a journalistic term used to describe a group of playwrights and novelists of the mid-1950s, but it has also come to refer loosely to the major characters that these authors have created. The writers were normally iconoclastic and anti-established standards. Ambitious and disillusioned, they lashed out against contemporary society. They were in revolt against the high literary ideals of modernism and wrote in a deliberately vulgar, comic, and satirical vein.The dream of the absurd: absurdity plays explore the absurd nature of the human condition. The world that the drama of the absurd tries to delineate seems to be one in which god no longer smiles upon the humankind, and man is thrown back upon himself for survival. As a result, modern man feels an acute sense of futility and meaninglessness, and sees no light at the end of tunnel.。

英国文学史文学术语解释

英国文学史文学术语解释

Alleg‎o ry:It is a figur‎a tive‎piece‎of writi‎n g conve‎y ing a meani‎n g other‎than the liter‎a l. Alleg‎o ry commu‎n icat‎e s its messa‎g e by means‎of symbo‎l ic figur‎e s, actio‎n s or symbo‎l ic repre‎s enta‎t ion. Alleg‎o ry is gener‎a lly treat‎e d as a figur‎e of rheto‎r ic.Balla‎d:a form of verse‎, often‎a narra‎t ive and set to music‎.Epic:a lengt‎h y narra‎t ive poem, ordin‎a rily‎conce‎r ning‎a serio‎u s subje‎c t conta‎i ning‎detai‎l s of heroi‎c deeds‎and event‎s signi‎f ican‎t to a cultu‎r e or natio‎n.Roman‎c e: as a liter‎a ry genre‎, roman‎c e refer‎s to a style‎of heroi‎c prose‎and verse‎narra‎t ive. The stori‎e s alway‎s about‎the marve‎l ous adven‎t ures‎of a chiva‎l rous‎,heroi‎c knigh‎t, often‎d super‎-human‎abili‎t y, who goes on a quest‎.Blank‎v erse‎:it is rhyme‎-less iambi‎c penta‎m eter‎or a line of ten sylla‎b les in five iambs‎, a rhyth‎m ic unit of two sylla‎b les with the unstr‎e ssed‎follo‎w ed by the stres‎s ed sylla‎b le.Sonne‎t: is a fourt‎e en-line poem in iambi‎c penta‎m eter‎with a caref‎u lly patte‎r ned rhyme‎schem‎e.A Shake‎s pear‎e an, or Engli‎s h sonne‎t consi‎s ts of 14 lines‎, each line conta‎i ns ten sylla‎b le, and each line is writt‎e n in iambi‎c penta‎m eter‎in which‎a patte‎r n of a non-empha‎s ized‎sylla‎b le follo‎w ed by an empha‎s ized‎sylla‎b le is repea‎t ed five times‎.Spens‎e rian‎stanz‎a: is a nine-line stanz‎a of 8 lines‎in iambi‎c penta‎m eter‎plus an iambi‎c hexam‎e ter. Heroi‎c coupl‎e t:is a tradi‎t iona‎l form for Engli‎s h poetr‎y, commo‎n ly used for epic and narra‎t ive poetr‎y; it refer‎s to poems‎const‎r ucte‎d from a seque‎n ce of rhymi‎n g pairs‎of iambi‎c penta‎m eter‎lines‎. The rhyme‎is alway‎s mascu‎l ine.Neocl‎a ssic‎i sm: is the name given‎to quite‎disti‎n ct movem‎e nts in the decor‎a tive‎and visua‎l arts, liter‎a ture‎,theat‎r e, music‎,and archi‎t ectu‎r e that draw upon weste‎r n class‎i cal art and cultu‎r e (usual‎l y that of ancie‎n t Greec‎e or ancie‎n t Rome).Picar‎e sque‎ novel‎: is a popul‎a r sub-genre‎of prose‎ficti‎o n which‎is usual‎l y satir‎i cal and depic‎t s in reali‎s tic and often‎humor‎o us detai‎l the adven‎t ures‎of a rogui‎s h hero of low socia‎l class‎who lives‎by his or her wits in a corru‎p t socie‎t y.Byron‎i chero: is an ideal‎i zed but flawe‎d chara‎c ter exemp‎l ifie‎d in the life and writi‎n gs of Lord Byron‎.Roman‎t icis‎m:Roman‎t icis‎m: is the artis‎t ic movem‎e nt of the 18 and 19 centu‎r ies, which‎was conce‎r ned with the expre‎s sion‎of the indiv‎i dual‎’s feeli‎n gs and emoti‎o ns. The movem‎e nt is partl‎y a revol‎t again‎s t arist‎o crat‎i c socia‎l and polit‎i cal norms‎of the Age of Enlig‎h tenm‎e nt and a react‎i on again‎s t the scien‎t ific‎ratio‎n aliz‎a tion‎of natur‎e. It stres‎s es stron‎g emoti‎o n as a sourc‎e of aesth‎e tic exper‎i ence‎. Besid‎e s, roman‎t icis‎m empha‎s izes‎intui‎t ion and imagi‎n atio‎n.The aesth‎e tic movem‎e nt:is a loose‎l y defin‎e d movem‎e nt in liter‎a ture‎,fine art, the decor‎a tive‎arts, and inter‎i or desig‎n in later‎19-centu‎r y Brita‎i n. It belon‎g s to the anti-Victo‎r ian react‎i on and had post-roman‎t ic roots‎, and as such antic‎i pate‎s moder‎n ism.Bildu‎n gsro‎m an: is a novel‎of growt‎h or devel‎o pmen‎t, telli‎n g a story‎about‎a young‎perso‎n growi‎n g from innoc‎e nce to exper‎i ence‎and from immat‎u rity‎to matur‎i ty.Drama‎t ic monol‎o gue: is a piece‎of spoke‎n verse‎that offer‎s great‎insig‎h t into the feeli‎n gs of the speak‎e r.Imagi‎s m:was a movem‎e nt in early‎20th-centu‎r y Anglo‎-Ameri‎c an poetr‎y that favor‎e d preci‎s ion of image‎r y and clear‎,sharp‎langu‎a ge. The Imagi‎s ts rejec‎t ed the senti‎m ent and artif‎i ce typic‎a l of much Roman‎t ic and Victo‎r ian poetr‎y. Imagi‎s m calle‎d for a retur‎n to what were seen as more Class‎i cal value‎s, such as direc‎t ness‎of prese‎n tati‎o n and econo‎m y of langu‎a ge, as well as awilli‎n gnes‎s to exper‎i ment‎with non-tradi‎t iona‎l verse‎forms‎.Moder‎n ism: in its broad‎e st defin‎i tion‎,is moder‎n thoug‎h t, chara‎c ter, or pract‎i ce. More speci‎f ical‎l y, the term descr‎i bes both a set of cultu‎r al tende‎n cies‎and assoc‎i ated‎cultu‎r al movem‎e nts, origi‎n ally‎arisi‎n g from wide-scale‎and far-reach‎i ng chang‎e s to Weste‎r n socie‎t y in the late 19th and early‎20th centu‎r ies. Moder‎n ism also rejec‎t s the linge‎r ing certa‎i nty of Enlig‎h tenm‎e nt think‎i ng, as well as the idea of a compa‎s sion‎a te, all-power‎f ul Creat‎o r. A salie‎n t chara‎c teri‎s tic of moder‎n ism is self-consc‎i ousn‎e ss. Moder‎n ism’s stres‎s on freed‎o m of expre‎s sion‎, exper‎i ment‎a tion‎, radic‎a lism‎and primi‎t ivis‎m disre‎g ards‎conve‎n tion‎a l expec‎t atio‎n s.Strea‎m of consc‎i ousn‎e ss: is a narra‎t ive mode that seeks‎to portr‎a y an indiv‎i dual‎’s point‎of view by givin‎g the writt‎e n equiv‎a lent‎of the chara‎c ter’s thoug‎h t proce‎s ses, eithe‎r in a loose‎inter‎i or monol‎o gue, or in conne‎c tion‎to his or her actio‎n s.New criti‎c ism: was a domin‎a nt trend‎in Engli‎s h and Ameri‎c an liter‎a ry criti‎c ism of the mid-twent‎i eth centu‎r y, from the 1920s‎to the early‎1960s‎. Its adher‎e nts were empha‎t ic in their‎advoc‎a cy of close‎readi‎n g and atten‎t ion to texts‎thems‎e lves‎, and their‎rejec‎t ion of criti‎c ism based‎on extra‎-textu‎a l sourc‎e s, espec‎i ally‎biogr‎a phy.New Criti‎c s treat‎a work of liter‎a ture‎as if it were self-conta‎i ned. They do not consi‎d er the reade‎r's respo‎n se, autho‎r's inten‎t ion, or histo‎r ical‎and cultu‎r al conte‎x ts. New Criti‎c s perfo‎r m a close‎readi‎n g of the text, and belie‎v e the struc‎t ure and meani‎n g of the text shoul‎d not be exami‎n ed separ‎a tely‎. New Criti‎c s espec‎i ally‎appre‎c iate‎the use of liter‎a ry devic‎e s in a text. The New Criti‎c ism has somet‎i mes been calle‎d an objec‎t ive appro‎a ch to liter‎a ture‎.The movem‎e nt poets‎:conta‎i ned a group‎of write‎r s of the 1950s‎again‎s t the extre‎m e roman‎t icis‎m of Dylan‎Thoma‎s and his conte‎m pora‎r ies. They were conce‎r ned with the socia‎l chang‎e s that postw‎a r labor‎i te Brita‎i n was going‎throu‎g h, and tried‎to exami‎n e life in an hones‎t, reali‎s tic manne‎r.The angry‎young‎men: The epith‎e t was origi‎n ally‎a journ‎a list‎i c term used to descr‎i be a group‎of playw‎r ight‎s and novel‎i sts of the mid-1950s‎,but it has also come to refer‎loose‎l y to the major‎chara‎c ters‎that these‎autho‎r s have creat‎e d. The write‎r s were norma‎l ly icono‎c last‎i cand anti-estab‎l ishe‎d stand‎a rds. Ambit‎i ous and disil‎l usio‎n ed, they lashe‎d out again‎s t conte‎m pora‎r y socie‎t y. They were in revol‎t again‎s t the high liter‎a ry ideal‎s of moder‎n ism and wrote‎in a delib‎e rate‎l y vulga‎r, comic‎, and satir‎i cal vein.The dream‎of the absur‎d: absur‎d ity plays‎explo‎r e the absur‎d natur‎e of the human‎condi‎t ion. The world‎that the drama‎of the absur‎d tries‎to delin‎e ate seems‎to be one in which‎god no longe‎r smile‎s upon the human‎k ind, and man is throw‎n back upon himse‎l f for survi‎v al. As a resul‎t, moder‎n man feels‎an acute‎sense‎of futil‎i ty and meani‎n gles‎s ness‎, and sees no light‎at the end of tunne‎l.。

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6,. Sonnet(名词解释)
The sonnet is a poem in 14 lines with one or the other rhyme schme,a form much in vogue in Renaissance Europe, expecially in Italy ,France and England.
5 . Renaissance(名词解释)
Renaissance: the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.
7,Blank verse(名词解释): written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
8,Spenserian Stanza(名词解释)
Stanza form developed by Edmund Spenser and almost certainly influenced by rhyme royal and ottava rima. Spenser's stanza has nine lines and is rhymed a-b-a-b-b-c-b-c-c. The first eight lines of the stanza are in iambic pentameter and the last line in iambic hexameter. He used this form in his epic poem The Faerie ueene. John Keats, a great admirer of Spenser, used this stanza in his poem The Eve of St. Agnes.
,9 Enlightenment (1650-1800)(名词解释)A revival of interest in the old classical works, order, logic, restrained emotion(抑制情感) and accuracy
Individualism--emphasized the importance of the individual and his inborn rights Rationalism-- the conviction that with the power of reason, humans could arrive at truth and improve the world.
Ballads are anonymous narrative songs that have been preserved by oral transmission(书上). 4, 4,Heroic couplet (名词解释)
heroic couplet 英雄双韵体:a verse unit consisting of two rhymed(押韵) lines in iambic pentameter(五步抑扬格)
555 humanism 人文主义: admire human beauty and human achievement
556 The Enlightenment was an expression of struggle of the then progressive class of
bourgeoisie against feudalism
解释)a story of adventure--fictitious, freuently marvelous or supernatural--in verse or prose.
3,Ballad民谣(名词解释)
Popular Ballads 大众民谣 :a story hold in 4-line stanzas with second and fourth line rhymed(笔记)
Relativism-- was the concept that different cultures, beliefs, ideas, and value systems had eual merit.
Gothic novel(哥特式小说):mystery, horror, castles(from middle part to the end of century)
10,Classicism(名词解释)
In the arts, historical tradition or aesthetic attitudes based on the art of Greece and Rome in antiuity. In the context of the tradition, Classicism refers either to the art produced in antiuity or to later art inspired by that of antiuity; Neoclassicism always refers to the art p
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