美国文学史整理

美国文学简答题1.Moby-dick is regarded as the Great American Novel, the first American prose epic(散文史诗：a long narrative poem telling of heroic deeds of reflecting the values of the society from which it originated), though it is presented in the form of a novel.①its surface meaning:It is a whaling tale or sea adventure, dealing with Ahab, a man with an overwhelming obsession to kill the whale which has crippled him, on board his ship Pequod in the chase of the big whale. The dramatic description of the hazards of whaling makes the book a very exciting sea narrative and builds a literary monument to an era of whaling industry in the nineteenth century.②The deep symbolic theme: Moby-Dick is not merely a whaling tale or sea adventure, considering that Melville is a great symbolist. It turns out to be a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into man's deep reality and psychology. This is shown in Captain Ahab's rebellious struggle against the overwhelming mysterious vastness of the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces.The Peduod is the miscrocosm of human society and the voyage becomes a search for truth; Moby Dick symbolizes nature for the author, evil for the character Ahab;2. 《the adventure of huckleberry finn》（1）Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is Mark Twain’s masterpiece. tells the story of a teenaged misfit，Huck，who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious.3. The Great Gatsby（1）The theme of the novel: The Great Gatsby, by summarizing the experiences and attitudes of the glamorous and wild 1920s, deals with the bankruptcy of the American Dream, which is high1ighted by the disillusionment of the protagonist's personal dream due to the clashes between his romantic vision of life and the relentless reality.（2）Chapter Ⅲof the novel, a vivid description of one of Gatsby's fabulous parties, presents a vivid atmosphere of paradox. Gatsby's party, characteristic of the roaring twenties in the U.S. evokes both the romance and the sadness of the Jazz Age. On the surface, the party is crowded, yet empty of warmth or friendship, with people coming to the party eagerly but appearing indifferent and contemptuous of their host. Gatsby himself as the host is a paradox -- exceedingly courteous but keeps himself detached from the noisy and confusing crowd, because he, though fascinated with the wealth, was fully aware of the corruptive nature of the society and the Vanity Fair. The charm and sweetness of the youth is spoiled by triviality and tawdriness; The splendid house and garden is purchased not for enjoyment but for impression. There is every sign of merriment, with guests eating, drinking, laughing, moving about and dancing, but people get dead drunk, break down in tears or quarrel over trivialities. So beneath the wealthy people's masks of relaxation and joviality there was only sterility, meaninglessness and futi1ity, and amid the grandeur and extravagance a spiritual waste1and and a hint of decadence and moral decay. This undeniable juxtaposition of appearance with reality, of the pretense of gaiety with the tension underneath, is easily recognizable in Fitzgerald's novels and stories.4.Ezra Pound<In a station of the Metro> 赏析The poem was first published in 1913 and is considered one of the leading poems of the Imagist tradition. Pound's process of deletion from thirty lines to only fourteen words typifies Imagism's focus on economy of language, precision of imagery and experimenting with non-traditional verse forms. The poem is Pound’s written equivalent for the moment of revelation and intense emotion he felt at the Metro at La Concorde, Paris.By linking human faces, a synecdoche for people themselves, with petals on a damp bough, the poet calls attention to both the elegance and beauty of human life, as well as its transience. A dark, wet bough implies that it has just rained, and the petals stuck to the bough were shortly before attached to flowers from the tree. They may still be living, but they will not be for long. In this way, Pound calls attention to human mortality as a whole - we are all dying.The word "apparition" is considered crucial as it implies both presence and absence – and thus transience as mentioned previously.The plosive word "Petals" conjures ideas of delicate, feminine beauty which contrasts with the bleakness of the "wet, black bough".5.William Wordsworth<I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud > 赏析6.Ode to the West Wind 第一段Stanza 1 Addressing the west wind as a human, the poet describes its activities: It drives dead leaves away as if they were ghosts fleeing a wizard. The leaves are yellow and black, pale and red, as if they had died of an infectious disease. The west wind carries seeds in its chariot and deposits them in the earth, where they lie until the spring wind awakens them by blowing on a trumpet (clarion). When they form buds, the spring wind spreads them over plains and on hills. In a paradox, the poet addresses the west wind as a destroyer and a preserver, then asks it to listen to what he says. The Rhyme scheme-aba bcb cdc ded ffIambic metre7.Oliver Twist 主要内容和思想主题One of Charles Dickens most enduringly popular stories is Oliver Twist, an early work published 1837-8. Oliver was a poor orphan orphan. He had no parents. At the workhouse, his masters were very stick. So, one day, he escaped to London. In London, he met a thief and his friends, who taught him to steal from rich people. During this time, he met a kind man, Mr.Brunlow. But the thief forced Oliver to steal from Mr.Brunlow. If Oliver refused, they would kill him. But one day ,the police found the thief and they arrested him and sent him to prison. Finally , adopted Oliver. Mr.Brunlow adopted.In Oliver Twist, Dickens mixes grim realism and merciless satire as a way to describe the effects of industrialism on 19th-century England and to criticize the harsh new Poor Laws. Oliver, an innocent child, is trapped in a world where his only options seemto be the workhouse.•industrial/institutional setting, however, a fairy tale also emerges. In the midst of corruption and degradation, the essentially passive Oliver remains pure-hearted; he steers away from evil when those around him give in to it, and in proper fairy-tale fashion, he eventually receives his reward — leaving for a peaceful life in the country, surrounded by kind friends. On the way to this happy ending, Dickens explores the kind of life an orphan, outcast boy could expect to lead in 1830s London.8.My Last Duchess 最后十行赏析The poem is written as a dramatic monologue: one speaker relates the entire poem as if to another person present with him. It uses iambic pentameter of AABB couplets.The speaker (presumably the Duke of Ferrara) is giving the emissary of his prospective second wife a tour of the artworks in his home. He stops before a portrait of the late Duchess, apparently a young and lovely girl. The Duke begins reminiscing about the portrait sessions, then about the Duchess herself. The Duke describes her happy, cheerful and flirtatious nature, which had displeased him. He wants to show himself off and show his wife’s disloyalty to him but on the contrary, the readers find out he is a savage, small-minded man. The Duke then resumes an earlier conversation regarding wedding arrangements, and in passing points out another work of art, a bronze statue of Neptune taming a sea-horse，as he wants to tame duchess.名词解释1.Transcendentalism was a religious and philosophical movement that developed during the late 1820s and '30s in the Eastern region of the United States as a protest against the general state of spirituality and, in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School.Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and nature. They believe that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed.2.Free verse is an open form of poetry. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech.3.The term "Stream of Consciousness" was coined by philosopher and psychologist William James in The Principles of Psychology (1890),and in 1918 May Sinclair first applied the term stream of consciousness, in a literary context.Stream of consciousness is a narrative device that attempts to give the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue , or in connection to his or her actions. In stream of consciousness the speaker's thoughtprocesses are more often depicted as overheard in the mind ; it is primarily a fictional device. 作家joyce《Ulysses》Virginia Wolf 《Mrs Dalloway》作家及诗歌4.Metaphysical poetryThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th-century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne.With a rebellious spirit, the metaphysical poets tried to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry.The diction is simple as compared with that of the Elizabethan or the Neoclassic periods, and echoes the words and cadences of common speech. The imagery is drawn from the actual life. The form is frequently that of an argument with the poet's beloved, with God, or with himself.5.Blank verseBlank verse is a type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no rhyme. In English, the meter most commonly used with blank verse has been iambic pentameter (like that which is used in Shakespearean plays) .This term was first brought into England by Surrey. Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential of blank verse.6.Heroic CoupletHeroic couplet is a rhyming couplet of iambic pentameter, often containing a complete though. There is a fairly heavy at the end of the first line and a still heavier one at the end of the second. Commonly there is a parallel or an antithesis within a line, or between the two lines. It is called heroic because in England, especially in the eighteenth century, it was much used for heroic (epic) poems.Use of the heroic couplet was pioneered by Geoffrey Chaucer in the Legend of Good Women and the Canterbury Tales, and was perfected by John Dryden in the Restoration Age.7. Romanticism VS Neoclasssisim1)a movement in literature, philosophy, music and art from late 18th century to early 19th century in Europe.2) 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.3)Representative writers(代表作家）: France:Hugo, Lamartine, George Sand Germany: Geothe, Schiller Russia:Pushkin, Lemontove America (30 years later): Irving, Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau(2)Neoclassicism: the Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in Greek and Roman works. The Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in Greek and Roman works. A revival in literature in the late 17th and 18th centuries, characterized by a regard for the classical ideals of reason, form, and restraint.8.Dramatic Monologue: a kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in the poem.作家与作品连线Edgar Allan Poe ：To Helen致海轮，Tamerlane and Other Poems贴木耳，Tales of The Grotesque and Arabesque，Tales，The Fall of The House of Usher,Ligeia, Annabel LeeRalph Waldo Emerson：Nature-新英格兰超验主义者的宣言书，The American Scholar，The Divinity School Address, Divinity; The Oversouls, Self-reliance,The Transcendentalist, Representative Men, The Humble Bee, DaysNathaniel Hawthorne：The Scarlet Lette红字r，Twice-told Tales，Mosses from an Old ManseHenry David Thoreau：Walden瓦尔登湖，On the Duty of Civil Disobedience，A week on the Concord and Merrimack RiverWalt Whitman：Leaves of Grass草叶集，song of myself,Song of the Broad-Axe, I hear America SingingEmily Dickinson：The Poems of Emily Dickinson，Tell all the truth and tell it slant William Faulkner：the sound and the fury喧嚣与骚动，The Marble Faun,Soldiers’ Pay,Ernest Hemingway:The Sun Also Rises太阳照样升起;Farewell to Arms永别了，武器;For Whom the Bell Tolls丧钟为谁而鸣,The old man and the sea 老人与海Robert Frost（连线）< A Boy’s will> <North of Boston> <New Hamphshire> <Collected Poems><A Further Range> <A witness tree>(Fire and Ice) (Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening) (The Road Not Taken)Eugene Glastone O’Neill<Bound East for Cardiff> <In the Zone> <The Long Voyage Home> <The Moon of the Caribees> <Emperor Jones> <The Hairy Ape> <The Great God Brown> <Strange Interlude> <Mourning Becomes Electra> <The Iceman Cometh> <A Touch of the Poet> <Hughie> <Long Day’s Journey Into Night> <The Moon for the Misbegottoen> <More Stately Mansions> (Desire Under the Elms)*Beyond the HorizonTennessee Williams P221A Streetcar Named Desire 主要内容P222Geoffrey Chaucer P1The Canterbury Tales 内容提要P1William Shakespeare(Hamlet): To be, or not to be—that is the question P8(Sonnet 18): Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? P14Francis Bacon(Of studies): Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.Abeunt studia in morse. P20John MiltonParadise lost 内容提要P27Daniel DefoeThe Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson 内容提要P34Jonathan SwiftGulliver’s Travels 内容提要P41A Modest Proposal 他建议爱尔兰的穷人把刚满一周岁的孩子卖给富人，富人可将孩子做成美餐，这样有很多好处：一，穷人可以获得收入，改变贫穷；二，富人有充足的肉食来源；三，社会上的人口减少，可以解决食物短缺问题。