美国文学本科试题

美国文学（本科）试题2I. Fill in the following blanks and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (15%, 1 point for each)1._____ was a founding figure of American poetry, whose innovation first of all liesin his use of the free verse, poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme schem e.2.The publication of Nature established ______ as the most eloquent spokesman ofNew England Transcendentalism.3.Hard work, thrift, ______ and sobriety were the Puritan values that dominated much of the earliest American writing.4._________ is considered to be the founder of psychological realism, who believedthat reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator.5.Martin Eden is the novel into which ______ put most of himself.6.The publication of _______ written by T. S. Eliot helped to establish a modern tradition of literature rich with learning and allusive thought.7.“The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” This is the shortest poem written by _____.8.With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, ________ became the spokesman forwhat Gertrude Stein had called “a Lost Generation”.9.“The Custom House” is an introductory note to the novel _______.10.Among the works attacking the “American Dream”, __________by Fitz gerald is apowerful piece.11.Emily Dickinson wrote 1775 poems, but only ____ of which had appeared duringher life time.12.______, the tragic hero of Moby Dick, burning with a baleful fire, becomes evilhimself in his thirst to destroy evil.13.As a poet, ________ heralded American literary independence: his close observation of nature distinguished his treatment of indigenous wild life and other native American subjects, e. g: The Wild Honey Suckle.14.The publication of Washington Irving’s _________,a collection of essays, sketches and tales, marks the beginning of American romanticism.the Anthem” is a short story written by ______.II. Each of the following statements is followed by four alternat ive answers. Choose the one that would best completethe statement. Put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 1point for each)1.In Leaves of Grass, _______ is all that concerned Whitman.A. individualismB. freedomC. democracyD. all the above2.______ is the narrator of Moby Dick.A. AhabB. IshmaelC. FlaskD. Queequeg3.In 1837, Ralph Emerson made a speech entitled _____ at Harvard, which was hailed by Oliver Wendell Holmes as “Our Intellectual Declaration of Independence.”A. Declaration of IndependenceB. Self-RelianceC. Divinity School AddressD. The American Scholar4.The Transcendentalists believe that, first, nature is ennobling; and second, the individual is ______.A. vicious by natureB. insignificantC. forward-lookingD. divine5.In Hawthorne’s novels and short stories, intellectuals usually appear as _____.A. saviorsB. villainsC. commentatorsD. observers6.In American literature, escaping from the society and returning to nature is a common subject. The following titles are all related, in one way or another, to the s ubject except _____.A.Dreiser’s Sister CarrierB.Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnC.Cooper’s Leather-Stocking TalesD.Thor eau’s Walden7.“I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”Who could have written these lines _____.A. Edgar Allan PoeB. Ralph EmersonC. Walt WhitmanD. Henry Thoreau8.Which of the following is Not optimistic about human natureA. Ralph EmersonB. Walt WhitmanC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Henry Thoreau9.Which of the following statements about The Scarlet Letter is Not true _____.A.It explores man’s never-ending search for the satisfaction of materialistic desires.B.It relates the conflicts between the society and the individual.C.It presents a psychological analysis of the inward tensions of the characters.D.It is about the effect of sin on the people involved and the society as a whole.10.Washington Irving was best known for his famous short stories such as _______.A.Rip Van Winkle and Moby DickB.Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy HollowC.Young Goodman Brown and Moby DickD.The Fall of the House of Usher and Rip Van Winkle11.Emily Dickinson wrote many of her poems on various aspects of life. Which ofthe following is Not a usual subject of her poetic expression _____.A. ReligionB. Life and deathC. Love and marriageD. War and peace12.Mark Twain wrote most of his literary works with a ____ language.A. grandB. pompousC. vernacularD. simple13.The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been referred to as _____.A. the Age of RomanticismB. the Age of RealismC. the Age of ModernismD. the Age of Colonialism14.______ is called by Hemingway the one from which “all modern American literature comes.”A. The Adventures of Tom SawyerB. Life on the MississippiC. The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnD. The Gilded Age15.The main theme of _______’s The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo that representation of life should be the main object of the novel.A. Mark TwainB. Henry JamesC. Theodore DreiserD. William Dean Howells16.It is not surprising to find in _____’s fiction a world of jungle, where “kill or tobe killed” was the law.A. Mark TwainB. Emily DickinsonC. Theodore DreiserD. Henry James17.According to Hawthorne, the scarlet Letter “A” which originally stands for “_____”, finally obtains the meaning of “able” or “angel” through Hester’s efforts.A. arroganceB. adulteryC. agonyD. accomplishment18.During the period after the Civil War, the American society entered in what Mark Twain referred to as _____.A. the Golden AgeB. the Modern AgeC. the Gilded AgeD. the Puritan Age19.Robert Frost is generally considered to be a regional poet in the sense that his subject matters mainly focus on the landscape and people in _____.A. New YorkB. the WestC. New EnglandD. Mid West20.William Faulkner’s works mainly concern the American _____.A. New EnglandB. SouthC. Mid WestD. West21.In 1954, _____ was awarded the Nobel Prize for Lit erature for his “mastery of the art of modern narration.”A. T. S. EliotB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faulkner22.“In a Station of the Metro” is regarded by critics as a classic specimen of _____.A. the imagist poetryB. the absurd poetryC. the romantic poetryD. the transcendental poetry23.Fitzgerald’s fictional world is the best embodiment of the spirit of ______.A. the Renaissance PeriodB. the Neoclassical PeriodC. the Jazz AgeD. the Romantic Period24._____ usually was regarded as the first American writer.A. William BradfordB. Anne BradstreetC. Emily DickinsonD. Captain John Smith25.The works of _______ reveal the misery of the migrant workers because of theAmerican Depression.A. F. S. FitzgeraldB. John SteinbeckC. Ernest HemingwayD. William Howells26._______ is NOT a fictional character in The Scarlet Letter.A. PearlB. Arthur DimmesdaleC. Roger ChillingworthD. Santiago27.At 87, ______ read his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.A. Edwin RobinsonB. Wallace StevensC. Carl SandburgD. Robert Frost28.“Let’s portray man and woman in a way that we meet them in our real life.” This may be a principle for the characterization of _______.A. romanticismB. realismC. naturalismD. modernism29.In 1862, President Lincoln exclaimed: “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!” Who is this woman referred to ______.A. Mrs. StoweB. Emily DickinsonC. George EliotD. Jane Austen30.All his novels reveal that, as time went on, Mark Twain became increasingly ______.B. pessimisticC. confidentD. contentedIII. Explain the following and put your answers onthe Answer Sheet. (15%, 5 points for each)1. New England literary renaissance2. “My Lost Youth” (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)HowellsIV. Read the poems carefully and answer the questions that follow. Put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 10 pointsfor each poem)1. I Sit and Look OutI sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon alloppression and shame;I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish withthemselves, remorseful after deeds done;I see in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying,neglected, gaunt, desperate;I see the wife misused by her husband—see the treacherous seducerof young women;I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love attempted to behid,I see these sights on the earth;I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny—I see martyrs andprisoners;I observe a famine at sea—I observe the sailors casting lots who shallbe kill’d to preserve the lives of the rest;I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons uponlaborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;All these—all the meanness and agony without, end, I sitting, lookout upon,See, hear, and am silent.Questions:1.1 Who wrote this poem (1%)1.2 What kind of poetical style is employed in the poem (1%)1.3 What is the function of the line “All these—all the meanness and agony without, end, I sitting, look out upon” (2%)1.4 What is the theme of the poem (3%)1.5 Why is the poem entitled “I Sit and Look Out” instead of “I Walk Around andSee”, and the like (3%)2. I heard a Fly buzz —when I died —I heard a Fly buzz —when I died —The Stillness in the RoomWas like the Stillness in the Air —Between the Heaves of Storm —The Eyes around —had wrung them dry —And Breaths were gathering firmFor that last Onset —when the KingBe witnessed —in the Room —I willed my Keepsakes —Signed awayWhat portion of me beAssignable —and then it wasThere interposed a Fly —With Blue —uncertain stumbling Buzz —Between the light —and me —And then the Windows failed —and thenI could not see to see —Questions:2.1 Who wrote this poem (1%)2.2 What is the poet or the speaker in the poem watching and recording (1%)2.3 What does “that Onset” in the 2nd stanza refer to What kind of onset is that(1%)2.4 What do “uncertain stumbling Buzz” and “And then the Windows failed” in thelast stanza suggest respectively (1%)2.5 Where does the “light” in the last stanza come from (1%)2.6 What does the “Fly” in the poem suggest (2%)theme of the poem (3%)V. Make a brief comment on the following and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 10 points for each)1.American Romanticism.2.Caroline Meeber in Sister Carrier.。