美国文学期末复习题

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美国文学期末考试复习必备(精)

美国文学期末考试复习必备（精）1. What’s Puritanism?A religious and political movement which appeals to the right of the individual to political & religious independence. It includes three parts: a code of values, a point of view & a philosophy of life2. What are the basic Puritan beliefs?1). Total Depravity 2). Unconditional Election 3). Limited Atonement 4). Irresistible Grace 5). Perseverance of the "saints"3. What are American Puritan values?Sobriety thrift, Self-reliance Diligence, Struggle, simple tastes4. What are the features of American literature in the Colonial Period?A. Humble origins: diaries, journals, histories, letters. Its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period.B. in content: serving either god or colonial expansion or bothC. in form: imitating English literary traditions.D. in style: tight and logic structure, precise and compact expression, avoidance of rhetorical decoration, adoption of homely imagery and simplicity of diction.E. Symbolism formed in this period ------To the pious Puritan, the physical, phenomenal world was nothing but a symbol of God.F. Simple, fresh and direct styleG. the Puritanism formed in this period was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature.5.What are the features of Washington Irving’s works?(1) Gentility, urbanity, pleasantness (2) Avoiding moralizing – amusing and entertaining (3) Enveloping stories in an atmosphere (4) Vivid and true characters (5) Humor – smiling while reading (6) Musical language6. What is theme of “Rip Van Winkle”?①it reveals conservative attitude of Irving. ②it might be an illustration of Irving’s argument that revolution upset the natural order of things.A. The story of man who has difficulties facing his advancing age;B.The contradictory impulses in America toward work-the puritan attitude as opposed to America desire for leisure;C .The theme of escape from one's responsibilities and even one's history;D .The loss of identity.7. What are the author’s attitude changes?It reveals conservative attitude of Irving and he is Unwilling to accept a modern democratic America and prefers the past & a dream-like world 8. What’s New England Transcendentalism?Transcendentalism is the summit of the Romantic Movement in the history of American literature in the 19th century. Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as “the recognition（认知）in man of thecapacity of knowing truth intuitively（直觉地）”. Transcendentalists place emphasis on the importance of the Over-soul, the individual and Nature.9. What are its basic assumptions?The intuitive faculty, instead of the rational or sensical, became the means for a conscious union of the individual psyche with the world psyche also known as the Over soul, life-force, prime mover and God 10. What are Allan Poe’s poetics theories?The poetry should appeal only to the sense of beauty, not truth, and sets himself against realistic details in poetry. He makes good use of a number of poetic devices to create a mood appropriate to the theme of his poems.11. Why was Nathaniel Hawthorne a master of symbolism?He uses concrete objects as well as characters to serve as his symbols. He likes to uses masks, veils, shadows to give dramatic forms to the universal dilemmas of humanity12. What is the theme of Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter?It Condemned the Puritan philosophy of life.Sin, knowledge and human condition; the nature of evil; identity and society4. What is the symbolic me aning of the Scarlet Letter “A”?A.” Adultery", a token of shameB. a sign of Hester's "ability“C. "Angel" appearing in the skyD.”Adamic", since the sin is prehistoric and human E .the rising “America"13. What story is told in Moby-Dick?It is a thrilling adventure story which is the realistic about a whaling voyage within which is set a symbolic account of the conflict between man and his fate.14. What is the symbolic meaning of Moby-Dick?1) Mystery of the universe, 2) power of grant nature, 3) evil of the world 4) Its whiteness-paradoxical color: death and corruption, purity, innocence and youth.15. What are the popular themes of Emily Dickinson’s poetry? Death, love, friendship, nature, immortality.ment on the image of Huckleberry Finn?He is loyal, cheerful, fair-minded boy with “a sound heart and a deformed conscience, with the eventual victory of his moral conscience over his social awareness, Huck grows. Huck is not only a lovely boy in the novel, but also a portrait standing for the young America. Huck is not only a lovely boy in the novel, but also a portrait standing for the young America.17. What’s the social significance of him?Huck develops a different view of blacks through the story. It is not an instant change, but a gradual process. Huck himself undergoes a change; he stops accepting the social norms and instead follows his own beliefs. He acquires these beliefs after many adventures with the slave Jim. In thisway, Twain encourages people to be like Huck and not to accept the racism just because society accepts it.18. Why are naturalists inevitably pessimistic in their view?A. Naturalism was greatly influenced by Darwin's evolutionary theory and French literatureB. Naturalists accepted the more negative implications of Darwin's theory and used it to count for the behavior of those characters in literary works who are conceived as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.C. Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic.19.What are the features of Frost’s poetry?1. Frost’s poetry mainly reflects life in rural New England2. His poems often shift dramatically from humorous tones to tragic ones3. Much of his poetry is concerned with how people interact with their environment4. Frost disliked free verse; He often wrote in the standard meter of blank verse20. What is the theme of “The Road Not taken” Individualism, Caution, Commitment, Accepting a ChallengeAnd “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”?The poem isprimarily oriented towards the pleasures of the scene and the responsibility of life.21.What are the features of modernist literature?A. Its strong and conscious break with traditional forms, perceptions and techniques of expression.B. Its great concern with language and aspects of its medium.22. What is “Lost generation”?Literally, it is the generation of people born between 1883 and 1900.They were disillusioned by World War I and displeased with American social values, sexual and aesthetic conventions, and established morality. They first fled to cities such as Chicago & San Francisco; then to Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome. They were full of youthful idealism and pioneered new ways of writing; they were devoid of faith and alienated from civilization.23. What is a typical Hemingway Code Hero?The Code Hero believes in “Nada,” meaning nothing. There is also no after life.•The Code Hero is an individualist and free-willed. He believes in courage and honor and has his own set of morals and principles based on his beliefs in honor, courage and endurance.• A code hero never shows emotions.• A code hero does not commit to women.• A code hero shows qualities such as bravery, adventure, and love of travel.• A code hero dislikes darkness. It symbolizes death and is a source of fear. The rite of manhood for the code hero is facing death.24.What is the theme of the short story “A Clean Well-LightedPlace”?Nothing (or nada) through the old man's unsuccessful suicide and the middle-aged man's soliloquy.25.What is the theme of The Great Gatsby?A sensitive and symbolic treatment of the themes of contemporary life related with irony and pathos to the legend of the "America dream" What kind of person is Gatsby?He is a poor youth from the Midwest and at last became a self-made wealthy man. Gatsby is the last romantic heroes and he is a mysterious figure whose intensity of dream partakes of a mind that embodies America itself.26.What are Faulkner’s famous novels? What are the features of his novels? "The sound and the Fury", "As I Lay Dying", "Light in the August", "Absalom, Absalom!" 2) On history and the problem of race; on folk human of the south; on horror, violence and abnormal to arouse moral outrage.1.Discuss Twain’s art of fiction2.A. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi alley as his fictional kingdom,writing about the landscape and people, the customs and the dialects of one particular region, and is therefore known as a local colorist. B. He creates life-like characters, especially the unconventional Huckleberry Finn, who runs away from civilization and stands opposite to conventional village morality. C. He uses a simple, direct vernacular language, totally different from any precious literary language. It is the kind of colloquial belonging to the lower class, the living local American English.D. He has created a special humor to satirize and the decayed convention.2 1). The story takes place along the Mississippi River before the Civil War in the United States, around 1850. Along the river floats a small raft, with two people on it: One is an ignorant, uneducated black slave named Jim and the other is little uneducated outcast white boy, Huck Finn. The novel relates the story of the escape of Jim from slavery and, more important, how Huck Finn, floating along with Jim and helping him as best as he could, changes his mind, his prejudice, about Black people, and comes to accept Jim as a man and as a close friend as well.2.) (theme)1) The Theme of the novel may be best summed in a word “freedom”: Huck wants to escape from the bond of civilization and Jim wants to escape from the yoke of slavery. 2) The novel is a criticism of social injustice, hypocrisy, conservativeness and narrow-mindedness of the American small town society.3.Make a brief comment on Mark Twain’s achievements in this novel in 200-250 words.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, first published in 1876, is a child’s adventure story; it is also, however, the story of a young boy’s transition into a young man. In some ways, it is a bildungsroman, a novel whose principle subject is the moral, psychological, and intellectual development of a youthful main character. It is not a true bildungsroman, however, because Twain did not take Tom into full1. The hero of the novel through adventures with lively style to satirize the American hypocrisy of social custom, vulgar hypocrisy of religious rituals and inflexible stale school education2. "Tom Sawyer--with its strong deep local characteristics of humor and keen observation of the character, had become the greatest of the children's literature works, is a United States rural " golden era "4. 1)The Pequod-a symbol of doom（death);named after a Native American tribe in Massachusetts, did not survive the arrival of white men (extincted), is painted gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and bones 2) Moby Dick-unknown and unknowable truths, inscrutable, mysterious, mirrors its environment, only the surface of the ocean is available for human observation and interpretation, the depths conceal unknown truths--A metaphor for the human relationship with the Christian God: God is unknown and cannot be pinned down (defined). to the pequod’screw, Moby Dick is a concept onto which they can display their anxiety about dangerous and frightening jobs, to Ahab Moby Dick is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the world, It is his destiny to get rid of this symbolic evil 3)Queequeg’s Coffin sy mbolizes life and death.5. Try to discuss the theme of “The Minister’s Black Veil”.A. Sin and EvilB. History and AntiquityC. Alienation - a character is in a state of isolation because of self-cause, or societal cause, or a combination of both.D. Puritan New England - used as a background and setting in many tales.E. Other themes include individual vs. society, self-fulfillment vs. frustration, hypocrisy vs. integrity, love vs. hate, and fate vs. free will, etc.。

美国文学史期末考试复习题.doc

美国文学史期末考试复习题可以参考课本及其他复习资料一、名词解释（交代背景、内容/特点、代表人物/作品）1. American Realism2. Black Humor3. Henry James’s international theme4. Beat Generation5. American Puritanism6. Transcendentalism7. Themes of Henry James’s writing8. The Lost Generation二、回答问题1. What are the characteristics of American romanticism？2. How is the Darwinian belief in naturalism opposed to the Christian creationist view? What is the determinist view of existence that informs naturalism? What are the implications of this view on ethics?3. What are the philosophical foundations and characteristics of American naturalism?4. What are the important point s for Hawthorne’s style?5. What is the predominant mood in Poe’s poetry? Discuss with two poems as examples.6. What are the parameters of American Realism?7. How is Thoreau revolt manifested both in his social actions and his writing? What is the nature of his revolt?8. The age of American realism is divided into two more periods. What are the periods called? What are the characteristics and who are the representatives of each period?。

(完整版)美国文学期末试卷及答案,推荐文档

《美国文学》期末考试试卷（B卷）1.Poor Richard’s Almanac ( )2.The House of the Seven Gables ( )3.“Raven”( )4.My Antonia ( )5.Babbitt ( )6.A Streetcar Named Desire ( )7.Maggie: A Girl of the Streets ( )8.A Farewell to Arms ( )9.The Call of the Wild ( )10.Long Day's Journey into Night ( )mon Sense ( )12. “Rip Van Winkle”( )13. Walden( )14. The Song of Hiawatha( )15. Uncle Tom’s Cabin( )16.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn( )17.Sister Carrie( )18.The Waste Land( )19. A Farewell to Arms( )20.The Great Gatsby( )1.defined poetry as the rhythmical creation of beauty.2.While working for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, Samuel LanghorneClemens adopted the pseudonym , the way of a boatman taking soundings, and meaning two fathoms.3.Ezra Pound initiated a campaign for , which emphasized the directtreatment of an object or situation. He also advocated the language of common speech, but always the exact word.4.Fitzgerald summarized the experiences and attitudes of the 1920s decade in hismasterpiece novel _________.5.is the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature for hisvigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters.6.The first of American literature was not written by an American, but by___________________, a British captain, who thus became the first American writer.7._________________ has been considered the “Father of modern American Poetry.\8._______________________was a great democratic poet. He is also the great poet touse the form of free verse.9._____________________is the first American lyric poet.10._______________________is also called novel of the road, it strings the incidentson the line of the hero’s travel.Ⅲ. Choose only one answer form the four choices as the most appropriate answer. (30%)1. In American literature, the eighteenth century was the age of the Enlightenment, _______________ was the dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. RationalismC. RevolutionD. Evolution2. Who was considered as the “Poet of American Revolution”?A. Michael WigglesworthB. Edward TaylorC. Anne BradstreetD. Philip Freneau3. The finest example of Hawthorne’s symbolism is the recreation of Puritan Boston in_______.A. The Scarlet LetterB. Young Goodman BrownC. The Marble FaunD. The Ambitious Guest4. ____________ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.A. ThoreauB. EmersonC. HawthorneD. Whitman5. Choose the work NOT written by Mark Twain.A. The Adventures of Tom SawyerB. Innocents AbroadC. Life on the MississippiD. The Rise of Silas Lapham6. Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?A. The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. The Conduct of LifeD. Representative Men7. Melville’s ____________________ is an encyclopedia of everything, history,philosophy, religion, etc, in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. Moby DickC. White JacketD. Billy Budd8. American literature produced only one female poet during the nineteenth century. Thiswas ___________.A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickinsonD. Harriet Beecher9. The main theme of _______________ The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo thatrepresentation of life should be the main object of the novel.A. Henry James’B. William Dean Howells’C. Mark Twain’sD. O. Henry’s10. ___________ showed great interest in Chinese literature and translated the poetry of Li Po into English, and was influenced by Confucian ideas.A. Ezra PoundB. Robert FrostC. T. S. EliotD. E. E. Cummings11. With William Dean Howells, Henry James, and Mark Twain active on the scene,_______ became the major trend in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism12. Ezra Pound's long poem____________ contained more than one hundred poemsloosely connected.A. The Waste LandB. The CantosC. Don JuanD. Queen Mab13. In Paris, Ernest Hemingway, along with _____________, accomplished a revolutionin literary style and language.A. Gertrude SteinB. Ezra PoundC. James JoyceD. all of the above14. __________ tells the Joad family' s life from the time they were evicted from theirfarm in Oklahoma until their first winter in California.A. Of Mice and MenB. The Grapes of WrathC. The Great GatsbyD. For Whom the Bell Tolls15. The two areas on which the modem American writers concentrated their criticismwere the failures of American society and ___________ .A. the failure of communication among AmericansB. the economic depressionC. the extreme prosperity of AmericaD. the paradise of New LandIV. Choose TEN of the following and decide whether the statements are true or false. (10%)1. All his literary life, Hawthorne seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life.2. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass are about love and religion.3.The First World War led the American intellectuals to a bitter disillusionment.4. Hemingway’s works have sometimes been read as an essentially negative commentary on a modern world filled with sterility, failure, and death.5.Mark Twain’s region was the Deep South, with its bitter history of slavery, civil war and destruction.6. Ernest Hemingway developed a spare, tight, reportorial prose based on simple sentence structure and using a restricted vocabulary, precise imagery, and an impersonal, dramatic tone.7.John Steinbeck' s theme was usually that simple human virtues such as kindness and fair treatment were far superior to official hard-heartedness, or the dehumanizing cruelty of exploiters for their own commercial advantage.8. Short-lived, the Imagist movement failed to exert a tremendous influence on modern poetry.9. Robert Frost won four Nobel Prizes in his life.10.In his novels, F. Scott Fitzgerald had revealed the stridency of an age of glittering innocence, he had portrayed the hollowness of the American worship of riches and the unending American dream of love, splendor and fulfilled desires.11.Of Plymouth Plantation was written by William Bradford.12.Realists thought highly of individual status and role in the world. The romanticists preferred the innate or intuitive perception by the heart of man. They thought that man was essentially of goodwill, only the civilized society made him degenerate. They pointed out, the means to uproot evils and to save mankind was habits, and to return to “natural primitive state”.13.Deists believed in a Creator God, but rejected providence(Godly direction) and revelation (divine will or Godly "truth")in favor of reason.14..President Lincoln praised Anne Bradstreet as “the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.”15.Edgar Allan Poe wrote two poems both entitled “ To Helen”.16.The thinking of Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau also greatly influenced the activethinking of Americans who became increasingly concerned with the possibility of building a government. Locke and Rousseau represented the impulse for a Jeffersonian democracy, and Hobbes represented the point of view, often expressed by Hamilton, of a strong central government.17.Hemingway, Pound, Cummings, Dos Passos, and Fitzgerald, belong to the school of “Beat Generation”.18.F. Scott Fitzgerald is called the leader and poet laureate of the Jazz Age who wrote the novels of the Jazz Age.19.Yoknapatawpha saga is a name for John Steinbeck’s novels.20.“Thanatopsis” is a word Bryant borrowed from Greek meaning “meditation on death”. V. Choose THREE of the following fragments and answer the questions. (20%)Passage OneLo! in you brilliant window-nicheHow statue-like I see thee stand,The agate lamp within thy hand!Ah, Psyche, from the regions whichAre Holy-Land!Questions:1.This is the last stanza of a poem “To Helen”. Its writer is _________.(1%)2. With whom is Helen associated in this stanza? (1%)3. How to appreciate the beauty of this poem? (3%)Passage 2I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the differenceQuestions:1. Who is the writer of this poem? (1%)2. What is the title of this poem? (1%)3. What kind of feeling does this stanza show? (3%)4. How do you appreciate this poem? (3%)Passage 3I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it byexperience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God. Questions:1. This passage is taken from a famous work entitled _________ . (1%)2. The author of the work is____________ . (1%)3.List by yourself at least five reasons that the author gives for going to live in thewoods. (5%)Passage 4But, on one side of the portal（入口），and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.Questions:1.This part is from the novel , written by . (2%)2.What does “the wild rose bush” symbolize according to your opinion? (5%)Passage 5Often I think of the beautiful townThat is seated by the sea;Often in thought go up and downThe pleasant streets of that dear old town,And my youth comes back to me.And a verse of a Lapland songIs haunting my memory still:"A boy's will is the wind's will,And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." Questions:1.The stanza is taken from the poem______?(1%)2.The author of the poem is_____ . (1%)3.The seventh line in each Stanza of this poem contains a key word, usually averb, which sums up the feeling established in the stanza. What is the verb andwhat kind feeling that it conveys?(4%)Passage 6Thou hast an house on high erect,Framed by that mighty Architect,With glory richly furnished,Stands permanent though this be fled.It’s purchased and paid for tooBy Him who hath enough to do.Questions:1.This stanza is taken from the poem _______by_______.(2%)2.What is one’s real house according to the poet? (5%)VI. Choose TWO of the following and Comment on them. (20%)1.Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. （10%）2.Emily Dickinson's “Because I Could not stop for Death”.（10%）3.Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance.（10%）《美国文学》期末考试试卷B卷答案暨评分标准Ⅰ. Choose TEN of the following works and write the names of the authors. (1*10=10%)1.Benjamin Franklin2.Nathaniel Hawthorne3.Edgar Allan Poe4.Willa Cather5.Sinclair Lewis6.Tennessee Williams7.Stephen Crane8.Ernest Hemingway9.Jack London10.Eugene O’Neill11.Thomas Paine12.Washington Irving13.Henry David Thoreau14.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow15.Harriet Beecher Stowe16.Mark Twin17.Theodore Dreiser18.T.S. Eliot19.Ernest Hemingway20.F. Scott FitzgeraldⅡ. Choose FIVE of the following and fill in the blanks. (2*5=10%)1.Edgar Allan Poe2.Mark Twain3.Imagism4.The Great Gatsby5.Sinclair Lewis6.John Smith7.Ezra Pound8.Walt Whitman9.William Cullen Bryant10.Picaresque novelⅢ. Choose only one answer form the four choices as the most appropriate answer. (2*15=30%)IV. Choose TEN of the following and decide whether the statements are true or false. (1*10=10%)V. Choose THREE of the following fragments and answer the questions. (20%)Passage 11.Edgar Allan Poe (1)2.Psyche (1)3.The beauty of form. （diction，rhyme and rhythm，rhetorical devices.）The beauty of content. (3)Passage 21.Robert Frost(1)2."Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"(1)3.This poem is written in classic five-line stanzas, with the rhyme scheme a-b-a-a-b and conversational rhythm. The poem seems to be about the poet, walking in the woods in autumn, choosing which road he should follow on his walk. In reality, it concerns the important decisions which one must make in life, when one must give up one desirable thing in order to possess another. Then, whatever the outcome, one must accept the consequences of one' s choice for it is not possible to go back and have another chance to choose differently.4.In the poem, the poet hesitates for a long time, wondering which road to take, because they are both pretty. In the end, he follows the one which seems to have fewer travelers on it. Symbolically, he chose to follow an unusual, solitary life; perhaps he was speaking of his choice to become a poet rather than some commoner profession. But he always remembers the road which he might have taken, and which would have given him a different kind of life.Passage 3Walden (1)Henry David Thoreau (1)Find the answer from the passage. (5)Passage 41.The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne.(2)2.life and liberty.(2)Passage 51.My Lost Youth.(1)2.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1)3.“haunting" sums up the feeling that was begun earlier with "Often in thought "and "comes back to me" .(3)Passage 61.Upon the Burning of Our House, Anne Bradstreet.(2)2.One's real house is in heaven, built by the great architect, God. (2)VI. Choose TWO of the three passages and comment on them. (20%)1. Analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. （10%）2. Analyze Emily Dickinson's “Because I Could not stop for Death”.（10%）3. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance.（10%）The score is given to the theme, (7) content (6) and writing style(7) of the work chosen.。

美国文学期末复习题-

美国⽂学期末复习题-1._ ___ had been an evident influence on Naturalism. It seemed to stress the animal impulse ofman, to suggest that man was dominated by the irresistible forces of evolution.A. UnitarianismB. Origins of SpeciesC. Puritanism and InfluenceD. Capitalist Economy2.Who is called “the true father of our national literature” by the writer H. L. Mencken?A. Benjamin FranklinB. Mart TwainC. HemingwayD. William Faulkner3.In the first part of the 20th century, apart from Darwinism, which was still a big influence uponthe writers of this period, there were two thinkers _____ whose ideas had the greatest impact on the period.A. the German Karl Marx and the American Sigmund FreudB. the German Karl Marx and the Austrian Sigmund FreudC. the Swiss Car Jung and the American William JamesD. the Austrian Karl Marx and the German Sigmund Freud4.The American realists approached the harsh realities and pressures in the post-Civil warsociety by _____.A. a comprehensive picture of modern life in its various occupations, class stratifications andmannersB. a psychological exploration of man’s subconsciousnessC. a disillusion of heroism resulting from the dark memories of the Civil WarD. both A and B5.By the turn of the century, with the publication of The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg andThe Mysterious Stranger, the change in Mark Twain from ______ to _____ could be felt.A. an optimist...an almost despairing pessimistB. an almost despairing pessimist...an optimistC. a local colorist...a naturalistD. a naturalist...a local colorist6.The Portrait of A Lady is generally considered to be Jame’s masterpiece, which ____.A. incarnates the clash between the Old World and the New in the life journey of an Americangirl in a European cultural environmentB. tells a story about a young and innocent American confronting the complexity of theEuropean lifeC. is about a young American girl who gets “killed” by the winter in RomeD. tells about some Europeans who learn with difficulty to adapt themselves to the American life7.About Henry James’ literary criticism, which of the following is not right?A. It is both concerned with form and devoted to human values.B. He indicates that the aim of the novel is to present life in every possible form.C. He advocates the freedom of the artist to write about anything that concerns him.D. He believes that the artist can’t feel the life, but he can understand human nature in their own way.8.The characters presented by the naturalist writers were _____.A. more often than not dominated by their environment and heredityB. usually idealized heroes or heroines of unspotted virtue and dazzling accomplishmentsC. in most cases examples of human experienceD. people who were simply all good or all bad9.After the Civil War America was transformed from ______ to ____.A. an agrarian community … an industrialized and commercialized societyB. an agrarian community … a society of freedom and equalityC. a poor and backward society … an industri alized and commercialized societyD. an industrialized and commercialized society … a highly developed society10.Which of the following is said of the American naturalism?A. They preferred to have their own region and people at the forefront of the stories.B. Their characteristic setting is usually an isolated town.C. Humans should be united because they had to adapt themselves to changing harsh environment.D. Their characters were conceived more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.11.Which of the following is not right about Mark Twain's style of language?A. His sentence structures are long, ungrammatical and difficult to read.B. His words are colloquial, concrete and direct in effect.C. His humor is remarkable and characterized by puns, straight-faced exaggeration, repetition and anti-climax.D. His style of language had exerted rather deep influence on the contemporary writers.12.Which of the following is not written by Henry James?A. The Portrait of A Lady and The EuropeansB. The Wings of the Dove and The AmbassadorsC. What Maisie Knows and The BostoniansD. The Genius and The Gilded Age13.By the end of the 19th century, the American realists sought to _____ and therefore rejected the portrayal of idealized characters and events in their writings.A. describe the wide range of American experienceB. show animal nature of human beingsC. present the subtleties of human personalityD. both A and C14.Which of the following is not right about Mark Twain?A. In his writings, he made a more extensive combination of American folk humor andserious literature than previous writers had ever done.B. His The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is usually considered a classic book written for boys about their particular horrors and joys.C. His caustic and increasingly bleak view of human nature began to appear in his early books.D. As a sequel to Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn marks the climax of his literary creativity.15.One of Henry James’s literary t echniques innovated to cater for his psychological emphasis is his________.A. technique of stream of consciousnessB. first person narrativeC. author’s participation in narratingD. narrative point of view16.The great American realist Henry James treated with great care _________ in the first period.A. ancient European civilization which is satirized severely in his writingsB. the emotional and moral problems of Americans in Europe, or Europeans in AmericaC. the clashes between two different cultures, European and AmericanD. both B and C17.Henry James’s fame generally rests upon his novels and stories with _______.A. the love and marriage themeB. the theme of humor and satire on lifeC. the theme of revealing the miserable life of the poor and criticizing the capitalismD. the international theme18.After the Civil War America had been transformed from to .A. an agrarian community…a society of freedom and equalityB. an agrarian community…an industrialized and commercialized societyC. an industrialized and commercialized society…a highly developed societyD. a poor and backward society…an industrialized and commercialized society19.The three dominant figures in the period of Realism of America are William Dean Howells,Mark Twain and________.A. Henry JamesB. Tom JamesC. James JoyceD. Henry Joyce20.The use of ________ in his writings has made Mark Twain one of the major literary figures inthe 19th century American literature.A. point of viewB. stream-of-consciousnessC. interior monologueD. vernacular21._______ is generally considered to be Henry James’ masterpiece, which incarnates the clashbetween the Old World and the New in the life journey of an American girl in a European cultural environment.A. The Portrait of a LadyB. The Golden BowlC. Daisy MillerD. The Turn of the Screw22. For Melville, as well as for the reader and _________, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe.A. AhabB. IshmaelC. StubbD. Starbuck23. Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more_____________.A. rationalB. humorousC. optimisticD. pessimistic24. Dreiser’s Trilogy of Desire includes three novels. They are The Financier, The Titan and_____ .A. The GeniusB. The TycoonC. The StoicD. The Giant25. The impact o f Darwin’s evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of the nineteenth-century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to yet another schoolof realism: American___________ .A. local colorismB. vernacularismC. modernismD. naturalism26. Robert Frost combined traditional verse forms -the sonnet, rhyming couplets, blank verse -with a clear American local speech rhythm, the speech of _______farmers with its idiosyncratic diction and syntax.A. SouthernB. WesternC. New HampshireD. New England27. As an autobiographical play, O’Neill’s ___________(1956) has gained its status as a world classic and simultaneously marks the climax of his literary career and the coming of age of American drama.A. The Iceman ComethB. Long Day’s Journey Into NightC. The Hairy ApeD. Desire Under the Elms28. Apart from the dislocation of time and the modern stream-of-consciousness, the other narrative techniques Faulkner used to construct his stories include_________, symbolism and mythological and biblical allusions.A. impressionismB. expressionismC. multiple points of viewD. first person point of view29. Stylistically, Henry James’ fiction is characterized by____________.A. short, clear sentencesB. abundance of local imagesC. ordinary American speechD. highly refined language30. One of the characteristics that have made Mark Twain a major literary figure in the 19th century America is his useof____________ .A. vernacularB. interior monologueC. point of viewD. photographic description31. It is on his____________ that Washington Irving’s fame mainly rested.A. childhood recollectionsB. sketches about his European toursC. early poetryD. tales about America32. At the middle of 19th century, America witnessed a cultural flowering which is called “____________________”.A. the English RenaissanceB. the Second RenaissanceC. the American RenaissanceD. the Salem Renaissance33. As a philosophical and literary movement, the main issues involved in the debate of Transcendentalism are generally concerning ____________________.A. nature, man and the universeB. the relationship between man and womanC. the development of Romanticism in American literatureD. the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism34. About the novel The Scarlet Letter, which of the following statements is NOT right?A. It’s very hard to say that it is a love story or a story of sin.B. It’s a highly symbolic story and the author is a master of symbolism.C. It’s mainly about the moral, emotional a nd psychological effects of the sin upon the maincharacters and the people in general.D. In it the letter A takes the same symbolic meaning throughout the novel.35. The great sea adventure story Moby-Dick is usually considered____________.A. a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe.B. an adventurous exploration into man’s relationship with natureC. a simple whaling tale or sea adventureD. a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the artistic truth and beauty36. In his poems, Walt Whitman is innovative in the terms of the form of his poetry, which is called“____________________.”A. free verseB. blank verseC. alliterationD. end rhyming37. After the Civil War America was transformed from ______ to _________.A. an agrarian community … an industrialized and commercialized societyB. an agrarian community … a society of freedom and equalityC. a poor and backward society … an industrialized and commercialized societyD. an industr ialized and commercialized society … a highly developed society38. Which of the following is said of the American naturalism?A. They preferred to have their own region and people at the forefront of the stories.B. Their characteristic setting is usually an isolated town.C. Humans should be united because they had to adapt themselves to changing harsh environment.D.Their characters were conceived more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes,their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.39. Which of the following is not right about Mark Twain’s style of language?A. His sentence structures are long, ungrammatical and difficult to read.B. His words are colloquial, concrete and direct in effect.C. His humor is remarkable and characterized by puns, straight-faced exaggeration，repetitionand anti-climax.D. His style of language had exerted rather deep influence on the contemporary writers.40. The impact of Darwin’s evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of t he 19th century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to another school of realism: American ______.A. RomanticismB. TranscendentalismC. RealismD. Naturalism41. Which of the following is not written by Henry James?A. The Portrait of A Lady and The Europeans.B. The Wings of the Dove and The Ambassadors.C. What Maisie Knows and The Bostonians.D.The Genius and The Gilded Age.42. More than five hundred poems Dickinson wrote are about nature, in which her generalSkepticism about the relationship between ______ is well-expressed.A. man and manB. men and womenC. man and natureD. men and God43. Which of the following is right about Emily Dickinson’s poems about nature?A. In them, she expressed her general affirmation about the relationship between man andnature.B. Some of them showed her disbelief that there existed a mythical bond between man andnature.C. Her poems reflected her feeling that nature is restorative to human beings.D.Many of them showed her feeling of nature’s inscrutability and indifference to the life and interests of human beings.44. As a great innovator in American literature, Walt Whitman wrote his poetry in an unconventional style which is now called free verse, that is _________.A. lyrical poetry with chanting refrainsB. poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme schemeC. poetry without rhymes at the end of the lines but with a fixed beatD. poetry in an irregular metric form and expressing noble feelings45. In the first part of the 20th century，apart from Darwinism, there were two thinkers -______，whose ideas had the greatest impact on the period.A. the German Karl Marx and the Austrian Sigmund FreudB. the German Karl Marx and the American Sigmund FreudC. the Swiss Carl Jung and the American William JamesD. the Austrian Karl Marx and the German Sigmund Freud46. Which of the following can be said about Eugene O’Neill plays?A. Most of his plays are concerned about the root, the truth of human desires and human frustrations.B. His tragic view of life is reflected in many of his works.C. His plays are concerned about the relationship between man and nature as well as man and woman.D. Both A and B.47. Most of O’Neill’s plays are concerned about the following except______.A.success and failure in man’s literary careerB. life and death, illusion and disillusion, dream and realityC. alienation and communication, self and society, desire and frustrationD. the basic issues of human existence and predicament48. Which of the following can be said about a typical modern literary work?A. It is a record of sequence and coherence of the history and the world.B. It is a juxtaposition of the past and present, of the history and the memory.C. It is a book of integrity drawn from diverse areas of experience.D. Its perspective is shifted from the internal to the external, from the private to the public.49. As to the great American poet Ezra Pound, which of the following is not right?A. His language is usually oblique yet marvelously compressed and his poetry is dense withpersonal, literary, and historical allusions.B. His artistic talents are on full display in the history of the Imagist Movement.C. From his analysis of the Chinese ideogram Pound learned to anchor his poetic language inconcrete, perceptual reality, and to organize images into larger patterns through juxtaposition.D.For he was politically controversial and notorious for what he did in the wartime, hisliterary achievement and influence are somewhat reduced.50. In his poetry, Robert Frost made the colloquial ______ speech into a poetic expression.A. EnglandB. New EnglandC. PlymouthD. Boston51. Which of the following statements is right about Robert Frost’s poetry?A. He combined traditional verse forms with the difficult and highly ornamental language.B. He combined traditional verse forms with the pastoral language of the Southern area.C.He combined traditional verse forms with a simple spoken language-the speech of NewEngland farmers.D. He combined traditional verse forms with the experimental.52. Which of the following statements can be said about the works of Scott Fitzgerald, a spokesman of the “Roaring 20s”?A. Many of them portrayed the hollowness of the American worship of riches and the unendingAmerican dream of fulfillment.B. They are symbolic of the psychological journey of the modern man and his helplessness in themodern world.C. They show the primitive struggle of individuals in the context of irresistible natural forces.D. They penetrate into the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself.53. Which of the following is not written by Ernest Hemingway, one of the best-known American authors of the 20th century?A. The Sun Also Rises.B. The Old Man and the Sea.C. Mosses From the Old Manse.D. The Green Hills of Africa.54. Which of the following statements is right about the novel A Farewell to Arms?A. The aut hor favored the idea of nature as an expression of either god’s design or hisbeneficence.B. The author attempted to write the epitaph to a decade and to the whole generation in the1930s.C. The author emphasizes his belief that man is trapped both physically and mentally andsuggests that man is doomed to be entrapped.D. It tells a story about the tragic love affair of a wounded American soldier with an Italiannurse.55. Which of the following is depicted as the mythical county in William Faulkne r’s novels?A. Cambridge.B. Oxford.C. Mississippi.D. Yoknapatawpha.56. To Faulkner, the primary duty of a writer was to explore and represent the infinite possibilities inherent in human life. Therefore a writer should ______.A. observe with no judgment whatsoever.B. reduce authorial intrusion to the lowest minimum.C. observe at a great distance and sometimes participate in the events.D. both A and B.57. Which of the following is right about American fiction from 1945 onwards?A. A group of new writers who survived the war wrote about their ideals within the artisticfield.B. There appeared a significant group of Jewish-American writers whose works were setagainst the Jewish experience and tradition.C. Black fiction began to attract critical attention during the 1950s.D. American fiction in the 1950s and 1960s proves to be a harvest which derived from itspredecessors.58. Which of the following is not a work of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s?A. The House of the Seven Gables.B. The Blithedale Romance.C. The Marble Faun.D.White Jacket.59. In Hawthorne’s novels and short stories, intellectuals usually appear as ______________.A. commentatorsB. observersC. villainsD. saviors60. Besides sketches, tales and essays, Washington Irving also published a book on ______, which is also considered an important part of his creative writing.A. poetic theoryB. French artC. history of New YorkD. life of George Washington61. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, there are detailed descriptions of big parties. The purpose of such descriptions is so show _______.A. emptiness of lifeB. the corruption of the upper classC. contrast of the rich and the poorD. the happy days of the Jazz Age62. 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 subject except _________.A. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnB. Dreiser’s Sister CarrieC. Copper’s Leather-Stocking TalesD. Thoreau’s Walden63. Which of the following novels can be regarded as typically belonging to the school of literarymodernism?A.The Sound and the FuryB. Uncle Tom’s Cabin.C. Daisy Miller.D. The Gilded Age.64. Emily Dickinson wrote many short poems on various aspects of life. Which of the following is not a usual subject of her poetic expression?A. Religion.B. Life and death.C. Love and marriage.D. War and peace.65. In 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson made a speech entitled _______ at Harvard, which was hailed by Oliver Wendell Holmes as "Our intellectual Declaration of Independence."A. "Nature"B. "Self-Reliance"C. "Divinity School Address"D. "The American Scholar"66. Which of the following statements about writers in 1920s is true?A. Mark Twain published his last and most important novel.B. F. Scott Fitzgerald received the Nobel Prize.C. Freudian psychology influenced many modern writers.D. Most writers were politically radical.67. In American literature the first important writer who earned an international fameon both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is_______________.A. Washington IrvingB. Ralph Waldo EmersonC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Walt Whitman68. The American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his“blac k vision．”TheTerm “black vision” refers to______________.A. Hawthorne's observation that every man faces a black WallB. Hawthorne's belief that all men are by nature evilC. that Hawthorne employed a dream vision to tell his storyD. that Puritans of Hawthorne's time usually wore black clothes69. Theodore Dreiser was once criticized for his____________ in Style，but as a true artist his strength just lies in that his style is very serious and well calculated to achieve the thematic ends he sought.A. crudenessB. eleganceC. concisenessD. subtlety70. Almost all Faulkner’s heroes turned out to be tragic because_____________.A. all enjoyed living in the declining American SouthB. none of them was conditioned by the civilization and Social institutionsC. most of them were prisoners of the pastD. none were successful in their attempt to explain the inexplicable71. Yank, the protagonist of Eugene O’Neill’s play The Hairy Ape, talked to the gorilla and set it free because____.A. he was mad，mistaking a beast for a humanB. he was told by the white young lady that he was like a beast and he wanted tosee how closely he resembled the gorillaC. he was caged with the gorilla after he insulted an aristocratic strollerD. he could feel the kinship only with the beast72. In__________, Robert Frost compares life to a journey, and he is doubtful whether he will regret his choice or not when he is old, because the choice has made all the difference.A. “After Apple-Picking”B. “The Road NOt Taken”C. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”D. “Fire and Ice”73. Though Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were romantic poets in theme and technique, they differ from each other in a variety of ways. For one thing, whereasWhitman likes to keep his eye on human Society at large, Dickinson often addresses such issues as_______, immortality, religion, love and nature.A. progressB. freedomC. beautyD. death74. The Romantic writers would focus on all the following issues EXCEPT the_______in the American literary history．A. individual feelingB. survival of the fittestC. strong imaginationD. return to nature75. Generally speaking，all those writers with a naturalistic approach to human realitytend to be_____________.A. transcendentalistsB. optimistsC. pessimistsD. idealists76. With Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the literary scene, ______becamethe major trend in American literature in the seventies and eighties of the 19thcentury．A. SentimentalismB. RomanticismC. RealismD. Naturalism77. American writers after World War I self-consciously acknowledged that they were(a)“_______,” devoid of faith and alienated from the Western civilization．A. Lost GenerationB. Beat GenerationC. Sons of LibertyD. Angry Young Men78. Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth and Pearl are most likely Characters in_______.A. The House of the Seven GablesB. The Scarlet LetterC. The Portrait of a LadyD. The pioneers79. In his realistic fiction, Henry James's primary concern is to present the_________.A. inner life of human beingsB. American Civil War and its effectsC. life on the Mississippi RiverD. Calvinistic view of original Sin80. Which of the following statements about E. Grierson, the protagonist in Faulkner'sStory “A Rose for Emily,” is NOT true?A. She has a distorted personality.B. She is physically deformed and paralyzed.C. She is the symbol of the old values of the South.D. She is the victim of the past glory.81. Which of the following is NOT the virtue that Franklin enumerated in his The Autobiography?A. TemperanceB. Humanity (Humility)C. FrugalityD. Immoderation82. American Romanticism stretches from the end of the ________ century through the outbreak of ______.A. 18th, the Civil WarB. 18th, the War of IndependenceC. 19th, WWID. 19th, WWII83. _________ believes that the chief aim of l iterary creation is beauty, and “the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.”A. Walt WhitmanB. Edgar Allen PoeC. Anne BradstreetD. Ralph Waldo Emerson84. In Emily Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop for Death, ______________.A. death is personified as a devilB. death is described as the tragic end of a person’s lifeC. death is a stage of life and it leads people to the Heaven of immortalityD. death is described as a beautiful gi rl who couldn’t find her final destination85. Which is generally regarded as the manifesto and the Bible of American Transcendentalism?A. Thoreau’s WaldenB.Emerson’s NatureC. Poe’s Poetic PrincipleD. Thoreau’s Nature86. Henry David Thoreau’s work, ________, has always been regarded as a masterpiece of theNew England Transcendental Movement.A. WaldenB. The PioneersC. NatureD. "Song of Myself"87 embodiment of________, which are written in the founding documents of both theRevolutionary War and the American Civil War.A. the democratic idealsB. the romantic idealsC. the self-reliance spiritsD. the religious ideals88. ________is the author of the work “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.A. Washington IrvingB. James JoyceC. Walt WhitmanD. William Butler Yeats89. After "The Adventure of Tom Sawyer", Twain gives a lite rary independence to Tom’s buddy Huck in a bookcalled_________, and the book from which "all modern American literature comes".A. Life on the Mississippi RiverB. The Gilded AgeC. Adventures of Huckleberry FinnD. The Sun Also Rises90. The greatest work written by Theodore Dreiser is__________.A. Sister CarrieB. An American TragedyC. The FinancierD. The Titan91. We can perhaps summarize that Walt Whitman’s poems are characterize d by all the following features except that they are _______________.A. conversational and crudeB. lyrical and well-structuredC. simple and rather crudeD. free-flowing92. Who exerts the single most important influence on literary naturalism, of which Theodore Dreiser and Jack London are among the best representative writers?。

美国文学期末试卷及其规范标准答案

美国文学题库整理版

美国文学史及选读期末复习重点考试题型：1.名词解释（20分）5个*4=20分2.选择题（20分）3.连线题（10分）4.判断题（10分）5.片段赏析（20分）一个10分2个一个小说一个诗歌6.论述题（20分）一个10分2个一个小说一个诗歌The Outline of American LiteratureThe Realistic Period 1865-1914Realists:Henry James and his psychological realismWilliam Dean Howells and his moral realismLocal Colorism/Regionalism: Mark TwainNaturalists:Stephen Crane /DreiserThe Modern Period 1914-1945Modern Poetry:Imagism:Ezra PoundW.C.WilliamsLyrical Poet：Robert FrostCarl SandburgWallace StevensModern Novelists:Representatives of the Lost Generation:(Jazz Age)F.Scott Fitzgerald/Ernest Hemingway/T.S.EliotEpitome of the Southern Renaissance:William FaulknerThe Leftist Novelists:John Dos Passos/John SteinbeckThe Jewish American Novelists in this period:Eugene O·NeillPart I Term Definition1.American Naturalism:美国自然主义1.Naturalism is a more deliberate kind of realism and this term describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity（客观）and detachment（冷静）to its study of human beings.2.Naturalism is a literary movement that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character.3.Although naturalist literaturedescribed the world with sometimes brutal realism, it sometimes also aimed at bettering the world throughsocial reform.4.It accepted the interpretation Dreiser is a leadingKey words：Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory;environment and heredity; objectivity and detachment Theodore Dreiser; Sister Carrie, Stephen Crane, etc.2.American Realism:美国现实主义1.时间：In American literature, the Civil War brought the Romantic Period to an end. The Age of Realism came into existence. 内战将浪漫主义结束，开启现实主义。

美国文学史期末考试复习资料

I.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items. (10 x 1’=10’)1.In American literature, the 18th century was the age of Enlightenment. ______ was the2.The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is taken from Irving’s work named______.3.Which of the following is not the characteristic of American Romanticism?4.The short story “Rip Van Winkle” reveals the ____ attitude of its author.5.Stylistically, Henry James’ fiction is characterized by _____.6.Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in _____ and Thoreau.7.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?8.____ is considered Mark Twain’s greatest achievement.9._____ is not among those greatest figures in “Lost Generation”.10.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing b ecomes lessserious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more ____.1-5，BBACD 6-10 BADCDII.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items. (10 x 1’= 10’)11.______ is the father of American Literature.12._____ is a fantasy tale about a man who somehow stepped outside the main stream oflife.13._____ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.14.Which of following is NOT a typical feature of Mark Twain’s language?15.From Thoreau’s jail experience, came his famous essay, _____ which states his belief thatno man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Sense16.17.Most of the poems in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass sing of the “en-mass” and the ____ as18.What did Fitzgerald call the 1920s?19.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing becomes less20.For Melville, as well as for the reader and ____, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery,an ultimate mystery of the universe.1-5 D A B C C 6-10 A C C D CII. Identify Works as Described Below (1’×15 =15’):1.The novel has a sole black protagonist who tells his own story but whose name inunknown to us.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains2.The main conflict of the play is the protagonist’s false value of fine appearance andpopularity with people and the cruel reality of the society in which money is everything.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journey into Nightd. Death of Salesman3.It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on the playwright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries4.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and how the society isresponsible for the murder.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains5._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the Second World War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge of Couraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead7.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma and travel toCalifornia to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.a.The Grapes of Wrathb. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March8.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, with suchtechniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.a.Babbittb. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath9.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whose title is takenfrom Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and how she becomes afamous actress and how her lover falls into a beggar and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. The novel is set on the Mississippi with the protagonist telling us the story in the localdialect. It is a representative work of local colorism.a.Sister Carrieb.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnd.The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions in the CivilWar.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of the universality andequality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a group of people on a whaling ship kill a great whale butthemselves are killed by the whale, with the conflict between man and his fate.a.The Octopusb. Moby-Dickc. The Rise of Silas Laphamd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a philosophical essay in 8 chapters plus an introduction mainly concerned with thefour uses of nature.a. Waldenb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. The American Scholar1-5.cdaad 6-10.aacbb cbbI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1’×15=15’):1.An English ship brought 102 people from Plymouth, England on September 16, 1620 andarrived in the present Provincetown harbor on November 21 in the same year. This ship was named ____________.a. The Pilgrimsb. Mayflowerc. Americad. Titanic2._________ is father of American drama and in his dramatic career he wrote 49 plays.a. Tennessee Williamsb. Eugene O’Neillc. Arthur Millerd. Elmer Rice3._________ was the first American writer to write entirely American literature.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Washington Irvingc. Mark Twaind. Ernest Hemingway4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5._______was the greatest woman poet in American literature and she wrote about 1,700 shortlyric poems in her life time.a. Pearl S. Buckb.Harriet Bicher Stowec. Emily Dickensond. Walter Whitman6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.William Dean Howells is concerned with the middle class life; ______ writes about the upper class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. Henry James8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. His writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts. He is______.a. Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. He wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in the deep south.He is ______.a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jews are majorcharacters.a. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Euge ne O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. He was the first black American to write a book about black life with great impact on theconsciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans. Who is he?a.Richard Wrightb. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15. Hemingway wrote about American compatriots in Europe whereas ________ wrote aboutthe Jazz age, life in American society.a.William Carlos Williamsb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. F. Scott Fitzgerald 1-5 bbccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcadI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1×15 %):2.The American Civil War broke out in 1861 between the Northern states and the Southstates, which are known respectively as the ______and the______.a. N, Sb. Revolutionaries, Reactionariesc. Union, Confederacyd. Slavery, Anti-Slavery2._____________was praised by the British as the “Tenth Muse in America”.a.Anne Bradstreetb. Edward Taylorc. Thomas Pained. Philip Freneau3.Mark Twain was a representative of ________ in American literature.a. transcendentalismb. naturalismc. local colorismd. imagism4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5.The greatest American poet and the first writer of free verse is ____________.a. Washington Irvingb.Ezra Poundc. Walt Whitmand. Emily Dickinson6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.Henry James is concerned with the upper class life; ______ writes about the middle class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. William Dean Howells8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. ________’s writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts.a. Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. ______ wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in the deepsouth. .a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jews are majorcharacters.a. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. _______ was the first black American to write a book about black life with great impact onthe consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans.b.Richard Wright b. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15. ________ first used the “Jazz age” as the title of a collection of short storiesa. F. Scott Fitzgeraldb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. Ernest Hemingway1-5.caccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcbaII. Identify Works as Described Below (1×15 %):6.The play is about a stoker whose identity as a human being is not recognized by his fellowhuman beings and who tries to find affinity with a monkey in the zoo and is finally killed by the animal.a. The Hairy Apeb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. Long Day’s Journey into Nightd. The Glass Menageries7.The protagonist in this play is a crippled girl named Amanda.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journey into Nightd.The Glass Menageries8.The hero of this novel tells about his own story to us but his name is unknown.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on the Mountains4. It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on the playwright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries5.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and how he is finallyarrested and tried and sentenced to death.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains6._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the Second World War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge of Couraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead10.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma and travel toCalifornia to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.b.T he Grapes of Wrath b. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March11.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, with suchtechniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.b.B abbitt b. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath12.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whose title is takenfrom Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and elopes with Hurstwoodand how she becomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into beggary and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. It is a novel with 135 chapters plus an epilog; in it a group of people on a whaling ship killa great whale but they themselves are killed by the whale in the end, except Ishmael thenarrator who survives by adhering to a coffin.b.Sister Carrie b.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. Moby Dickd. The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions in the Civil War,in which wound is called the red badge which symbolizes courage.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of the universality andequality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a man falls economically and socially but who rises morallybecause he gives up the opportunity to sell his factory to an English Syndicate, which would otherwise mean a ruin to that syndicate.a.The Octopusb. The Rise of Silas Laphamc. Moby-Dickd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a speech delivered at Harvard University. It is often hailed as the “declaration ofintellectual independence” in America.a. The American Scholarb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. Walden1-5.adcad 6-10.aacbb cbaII. Match the following (1×20%)A. Match Works with Their Authors1.Hugh Selwyn Mauberly2.Walden3. Autobiography4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer9. Long Day’s Journey into Night10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Mark Twain b . Ernest Hemingwayc. Eugene O’Neilld. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Benjamin Franklini.Henry David Thoreau j. Ezra Poundk.Thomas Jefferson l. T.S. EliotB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1.Hester Prynne2.Mrs. Touchett3.Frederick Henry4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 7.Bigger Thomas8.Yank 9.Happya.The Portrait of a Ladyb. The Scarlet Letterc. The Hairy Aped. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Deadh. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Sonj. Death of a Salesmank.Invisible Manl.Catch-22A. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edccbB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear. 1-5.badef 6-10.ghicjIII. Match the following (1’×20=20’)A. Match works with their authors1.Nature2.Rip Van Winkle3. Nature4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn9. Cantos10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Ezra Poundb. Ernest Hemingwayc. Mark Twaind. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Ralph Waldo Emersoni.Washington Irving j. Waldo Emersonk.T.S. Eliot l. Robert FrostB. Match characters with the works in which they appear.2.Captain Ahab and Starbuck 2.Isabel Archer3.Frederic Henry and Catherine4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 8.Bigger Thomas9.The Tyrones 10.Willy Lomana.The Portrait of a Ladyb. Moby-Dickc. Death of a Salesmand. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Dead h. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Son j. Long Day’s Journey into Nightk.Absalom, Absalom l. The Old Man and the SeaA. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edcabB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1-5.badef 6-10.edcabV. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.1.To the best of your knowledge, analyze and make comments on Emerson’s Naturement on any American poet you like.3.Analyze and/or comment on any one of the American novels or plays you have read.V. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a shortessay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you arenot simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are requiredto indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of yourown.)4.Make comments on an American novel we have discussed in this course.ment on an American poet.6.Describe how your knowledge of American literature is improved after taking thiscourse..IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)1.Why do people think Franklin is the embodiment of American dream?2.What is “Lost Generation”?V. Discussion. (1 x 20’ = 20’)State your own interpretations of Hemingway’s iceberg theory of writing?IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)3.Wha t is Hawthorne’s style? Explain the style with examples.4.At the end of the 19th century, there were three fighters for Realism. Who are they?What are their differences?________True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.2. Thomas Jefferson was the only American to sign the 4 documents that created the US.3. All his literary life, Hawthorne seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil.4. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass are about human psychology.5. Hurstwood is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.6. Faulkner’s region was the Deep North, with its bitter history of slavery, civil war and destruction.7. Placed in historical perspective, Howells is found lacking in qualities and depth. But anyhow he is a literaryfigure worthy of notice.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.10. Emily Dickinson expr esses her deep love in the poem “Annabel Lee”.1-5 F F T F F 6-10 F F T F FII. Decide whether the statements are True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.2. American Romantic writers avoided writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elements.3. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.4. “Young Goodman Brown” wants to prove everyone possesses kindness in heart.5. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Twain or Howells.6. The American realists sought to describe the wide range of American experience and to present the subtleties of human personality.7. Frost’s concern with nature reflected his deep moral uncertainties.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. Roger Chillingworth is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.10. After the Civil War, the Frontier was closing. Disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned to be a “Gilded” one.1-5 T F T F T 6-10 F T T F TIII. Please explain the follo wing terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. Free verse3. International novel: 4．Romanticism 5. Naturalism 6. American Realism 7.American Naturalism Modernism Imagism1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.Free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts toavoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.3.International novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities who representcertain characteristics of their own countries.4.Naturalism: It views human beings as animals in the natural world responding toenvironmental forces and internal stresses and drives, over none of which they havecontrol and none of which they fully understand. The literary naturalists have a majordifference from the realists. They look at a different spot to find real life.III. Please explain the following terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. international novel3. the lost generation4. free verse5.American transcendentalism Hemingway heroes1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.international novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities who representcertain characteristics of their own countries.3.the lost generation: reveals the huge destruction of the wars to the young generation. Itdescribes the Americans who remained in Paris as a colony of “expatriates”. They werelost in disillusionment.4.free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts toavoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.5.transcendentalism: It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learnthings both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner worldby intuition. It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God. All things in nature were symbolsof the spiritual, of God’s presence. It emphasized the significance of the individual andbelieved that the individual was the most important element in society and that the idealkind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish. Transcendentalists envisioned religion asan emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul”.。

美国文学一期末复习题

美国文学一期末复习资料I. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would best complete the statement.1. For Melville, as well as for the reader and _________, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe.A. AhabB. IshmaelC. StubbD. Starbuck8. Stylistically, Henry James’ fiction is characterized by____________.A. short, clear sentencesB. abundance of local imagesC. ordinary American speechD. highly refined language9. One of the characteristics that have made Mark Twain a major literary figure in the 19th century America is his use of____________ .A. vernacularB. interior monologueC. point of viewD. photographic description10. It is on his____________ that Washington Irving’s fame mainly rested.A. childhood recollectionsB. sketches about his European toursC. early poetryD. tales about America11. At the middle of 19th century, America witnessed a cultural flowering which is called “____________________”.A. the English RenaissanceB. the Second RenaissanceC. the American RenaissanceD. the Salem Renaissance12. As a philosophical and literary movement, the main issues involved in the debate of Transcendentalism are generally concerning ____________________.A. nature, man and the universeB. the relationship between man and womanC. the development of Romanticism in American literatureD. the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism13. About the novel The Scarlet Letter, which of the following statements is NOT right?A. It’s very hard to say that it is a love story or a story of sin.B. It’s a highly symbolic story and the author is a master of symbolism.C. It’s mainly about the moral, emotional and psychological effects of the sinupon the main characters and the people in general.D. In it the letter A takes the same symbolic meaning throughout the novel.14. The great sea adventure story Moby-Dick is usually considered____________.A. a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe.B. an adventurous exploration into man’s relationship with natureC. a simple whaling tale or sea adventureD. a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the artistic truth and beauty15. In his poems, Walt Whitman is innovative in the terms of the form of his poetry, which is called “____________________.”A. free verseB. blank verseC. alliterationD. end rhyming16. After the Civil War America was transformed from ______ to _________.A. an agrarian community …an industrialized and commercialized societyB. an agrarian community … a society of freedom and equalityC. a poor and backward society …an industrialized and commercialized societyD. an industrialized and commercialized society …a highly developed society18. Which of the following is not right about Mark Twain’s style of language?A. His sentence structures are long, ungrammatical and difficult to read.B. His words are colloquial, concrete and direct in effect.C. His humor is remarkable and characterized by puns, straight-facedexaggeration，repetition and anti-climax.D. His style of language had exerted rather deep influence on the contemporary writers.20. Which of the following is not written by Henry James?A. The Portrait of A Lady and The Europeans.B. The Wings of the Dove and The Ambassadors.C. What Maisie Knows and The Bostonians.D.The Genius and The Gilded Age.21. More than five hundred poems Dickinson wrote are about nature, in which hergeneral Skepticism about the relationship between ______ is well-expressed.A. man and manB. men and womenC. man and natureD. men and God22. Which of the following is right about Emily Dickinson’s poems about nature?A. In them, she expressed her general affirmation about the relationship betweenman and nature.B. Some of them showed her disbelief that there existed a mythical bondbetween man and nature.C. Her poems reflected her feeling that nature is restorative to human beings.D. Many of them showed her feeling of nature’s inscrutability and indifference tothe life and interests of human beings.23. As a great innovator in American literature, Walt Whitman wrote his poetry in anunconventional style which is now called free verse, that is _________.A. lyrical poetry with chanting refrainsB. poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme schemeC. poetry without rhymes at the end of the lines but with a fixed beatD. poetry in an irregular metric form and expressing noble feelings37. Which of the following is not a work of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s?A. The House of the Seven Gables.B. The Blithedale Romance.C. The Marble Faun.D.White Jacket.38. In Hawthorne’s novels and short stories, intellectuals usually appear as ______________.A. commentatorsB. observersC. villainsD. saviors39. Besides sketches, tales and essays, Washington Irving also published a book on ______, which is also considered an important part of his creative writing.A. poetic theoryB. French artC. history of New YorkD. life of George Washington41. 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 subject except _________.A. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Hu ckleberry FinnB. Dreiser’s Sister CarrieC. Copper’s Leather-Stocking TalesD. Thoreau’s Walden43. Emily Dickinson wrote many short poems on various aspects of life. Which of the following is not a usual subject of her poetic expression?A. Religion.B. Life and death.C. Love and marriage.D. War and peace.44. In 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson made a speech entitled _______ at Harvard, which was hailed by Oliver Wendell Holmes as "Our intellectual Declaration of Independence."A. "Nature"B. "Self-Reliance"C. "Divinity School Address"D. "The American Scholar"46. In American literature the first important writer who earned an international fameon both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is_______________.A. Washington IrvingB. Ralph Waldo EmersonC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Walt Whitman47. The American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his“black vision．”TheTerm “black vision” refers to______________.A. Hawthorne's observation that every man faces a black WallB. Hawthorne's belief that all men are by nature evilC. that Hawthorne employed a dream vision to tell his storyD. that Puritans of Hawthorne's time usually wore black clothes52. Though Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were romantic poets in theme andtechnique, they differ from each other in a variety of ways. For one thing, whereasWhitman likes to keep his eye on human Society at large, Dickinson oftenaddresses such issues as_______, immortality, religion, love and nature.A. progressB. freedomC. beautyD. death53. The Romantic writers would focus on all the following issues EXCEPT the_______in the American literary history．A. individual feelingB. survival of the fittestC. strong imaginationD. return to nature55. With Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the literary scene, ______becamethe major trend in American literature in the seventies and eighties of the 19thcentury．A. SentimentalismB. RomanticismC. RealismD. Naturalism57. Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth and Pearl are most likely Characters in_______.A. The House of the Seven GablesB. The Scarlet LetterC. The Portrait of a LadyD. The pioneers58. In his realistic fiction, Henry James's primary concern is to present the_________.A. inner life of human beingsB. American Civil War and its effectsC. life on the Mississippi RiverD. Calvinistic view of original Sin60. Which of the following is NOT the virtue that Franklin enumerated in his The Autobiography?A. TemperanceB. Humanity (Humility)C. FrugalityD. Immoderation61. American Romanticism stretches from the end of the ________ century through the outbreak of ______.A. 18th, the Civil WarB. 18th, the War of IndependenceC. 19th, WWID. 19th, WWII62. _________ believes that the chief a im of literary creation is beauty, and “the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.”A. Walt Whitman B. Edgar Allen PoeC. Anne BradstreetD. Ralph Waldo Emerson63. In Emily Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop for Death, ______________.A. death is personified as a devilB. death is described as the tragic end of a person’s lifeC. death is a stage of life and it leads people to the Heaven of immortalityD. death is described as a beaut iful girl who couldn’t find her final destination64. Which is generally regarded as the manifesto and the Bible of American Transcendentalism?A. Thoreau’s WaldenB.Emerson’s NatureC. Poe’s Poetic PrincipleD. Tho reau’s Nature65. Henry David Thoreau’s work, ________, has always been regarded as amasterpiece of the New England Transcendental Movement.A. WaldenB. The PioneersC. NatureD. "Song of Myself"66. ‘Leaves of Grass’ commands great attention because of its uniquely poeticembodiment of________, which are written in the founding documents of both the Revolutionary War and the American Civil War.A. the democratic idealsB. the romantic idealsC. the self-reliance spiritsD. the religious ideals67. ________is the author of the work “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.A. Washington IrvingB. James JoyceC. Walt WhitmanD. William Butler Yeats68. After "The Adventure of Tom Sawyer", Twain gives a literary independence toTom’s buddy Huck in a book called_________, and the book from which "all modern American literature comes".A. Life on the Mississippi RiverB. The Gilded AgeC. Adventures of Huckleberry FinnD. The Sun Also Rises69. The greatest work written by Theodore Dreiser is__________.A. Sister CarrieB. An American TragedyC. The FinancierD. The Titan70. We can perhaps summarize that Walt Whitman’s poems are characterized by all the following features except that they are _______________.A. conversational and crudeB. lyrical and well-structuredC. simple and rather crudeD. free-flowing72. Mark Twain, one of the greatest 19th century American writers, is well known for his ____.A. international themeB. waste-land imageryC. local colorD. symbolism74. Most of Herman Melville’s novels are based on sea voyag es and sea adventures. Which of the following is not the case?A. Typee.B. Moby-Dick.C. Omoo.D. The Confidence-Man75. In Henry James’ Daisy Miller, the author tries to portray the young woman as an embodiment of _______________.A. the force of conventionB. the free spirit of the New WorldC. the decline of aristocracyD. the corruption of the newly rich77. The Transcendentalists believe that, first, nature is ennobling, and second, the individual is ____________.A. insignificantB. vicious by natureC. divineD. forward-looking78. The Publication of ______established Emerson as the most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism.A. NatureB. Self-RelianceC. The American ScholarD. The Over-SoulExplain the following literary terms.2. American TranscendentalismNew England Transcendentalism was, in essence, romantic idealism on Puritan soil. It was a system of thought that originated from three sources. First William Ellery Channing (1780---1842) was an American Unitarian clergyman. His Unitarianism represented a thoughtful revolt against orthodox Puritanism. Unitarianism believed God as one being, rejecting the doctrine of trinity, stressing the tolerance of difference in religious opinion, and giving each congregation the free control of its own affairs and its independent authority. It laid the foundation for the central doctrines of transcendentalism. Secondly, the idealistic philosophy from France and Germany exerted enormous impact on American intellectuals. Thirdly, oriental mysticism asrevealed in Hindu and Chinese classics reached America in English translations. As a result, New England Transcendentalism blended native American tradition with foreign influences.3. American Realism Realism is the theory of writing in which familiar aspects of contemporary life and everyday scenes are represented in a straightforward or matter-of-fact manner. This is the theory that authors try to use and guide them in their writing. It stresses truthful treatment of material. It is anti-romantic, anti-sentimental, and without abstract interest in nature, death, etc. Mark Twain laughed at people who were caught up in the world of illusions, who were not mature enough to see real situations. This is one example of the truthful treatment of material.4. American RomanticismRomanticism was a rebellion against the objectivity of rationalism. It was a movement of conscious rebellion against being too objective. The romantic spirit was one of subjectivity of inward feelings that one could trust one’s subjective responses. Romantics placed a high premium upon the creative function of imagination, and saw art as a formulation of intuitive and imaginative perceptions that tend to speak a nobler truth than that of fact.5. Multiple points of view The employment of several narrators or narrative points of views to tell a story, thus making the structure of the book somewhat radioactive. For example, The Sound and the Fury uses four different narrative voices to piece together the story and thus challenges the reader by presenting a fragmented plot told from multiple points of view.Answer briefly4. Please give a brief analysis of the major features of American romanticism.5. Give a brief analysis of the differences between the three realists：William D. Howells，Mark Twain and Henry James7. Whitman has made radical Changes in the form of poetry by Choosing free verse ashis medium of expression．What are the characteristics of Whitman's free verse?9. What are the major features of New England Transcendentalism?10. What are the similarities and differences between Whitman and Dickinson’s poetry?11. What are th e writing features of Mark Twain’s literary creation?12. Who is the first American poet to write free verse? What is his masterpiece? What are the symbolic meanings of the title of this work?Topic Discussion1. What makes Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn more than a child’s adventure story? Briefly discuss the question from THREE of the followingaspects: the setting, the language, the character(s), the theme and the style.2. Take Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as an example to illustratethe statement that Mark Twain was a unique writer in American literature．6. O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done,The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is wonThe port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;But O heart! heart! heart!Where on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.1) Who is the writer of this poem?2) Who is “Captain” the poet compares to, and what do the “fearful trip” and the “prize” respectively refer to?3) What are major rhetorical devices used in this stanza?2. Take examples to analyze the style and theme of Mark Twain.9. Reality reflected in realistic writings （现实主义的简要背景，现实主义文学的特点，举例说明）Realism came as a reaction against ‘the lie’ of romanticism and sentimentalism. The battle between ‘idealists’ and ‘realists’ provided the major issue of American literary history after the Civil war (1861-1865). Literature began to pay less attention to general ideas and more to the immediate facts of life. As a way of writing, realism has been applied in almost every literature throughout history. But as a literary movement, realism is a period concept and it refers to the approach of realist fiction occurred at the latter part of the 19th century.In part, the rise of realism came as a protest against the falseness and sentimentality seen in romantic literature. The realists were determined to create a new kind of literature that was completely and totally realistic.Major Features1Realism is the theory of writing in which familiar aspects of contemporary life and everyday scenes are represented in a straightforward or matter-of-fact manner.This is the theory that authors try to use in their writing. It stresses truthful treatment of material. It is anti-romantic, anti-sentimental, and without abstract interest in nature, death, etc.2In realist fiction characters from all social levels are examined in depth. The realist writers hold on to characters and keep examining how these people relateto each other.3Open ending is also a good example of the truthful treatment of material.4Realism focuses on commonness of the lives of the common people who are customarily ignored by the arts. Realists are interested in commonplace, the everyday, the average, the trivial, and the representative.5Realism emphasizes objectivity and offers an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience. The realist writers are detached observers of life. They are like scientists, making an investigation.Realism presents moral visions. The author has a purpose for presenting an objective account of real life in order to express his moral sense. Realists are ethical writers, interested in the problems of the individual conscience in conflict with social institutions. Many of their works show the American businessman in the conflict over whether he should accept a bribe, give a bribe, participate in unfair business practices, etc. Generally, these writers show how the individual conscience wins when he opposes social conventions and social practices and they are always interested in focusing on the dilemma. This indicates their disbelief in romantic individualism.6. The influence of Transcendentalism（定义1分，社会意义1分，文学意义2分，代表人物1分）Transcendentalism can be best understood as a late and localized manifestation of romantic movement in literature and philosophy. The triumph of intuition over five senses, the elevation of the individual over society, the critical attitude toward formalized religion, the rejection of any kind of restraint or bondage to custom, the new and thrilling delight in nature --- all these were characteristics of transcendentalism.As formulated by Emerson, transcendentalism became a loud and clear call to action, urging young people to cast off their enslavement to the past, to follow God within, and to live every moment of life with great effort, to regard nature as the great objective lesson proving God’s presence everywhere in His creation.Transcendentalism was also an ethical and moral guide to life for a young nation of America. It preached the positive life and appealed to the best side of human nature. Therefore, it stressed the tolerance of difference in religious opinion and the free control of its own affairs by each congregation, and called to throw off shackles of custom and tradition, and to go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.Transcendentalism is important to American literature at least for two reasons:1)It is represented by two major writers of the country, Emerson and Thoreau. Theybecame movers and shakers whose writings have had more and more impact with the passage of time.A new group of writers under the influence of Emerson and Thoreau began to apply transcendental ideas in their works. Hawthorne, Melville, Lowell, Dickinson, and Whitman were all exponents of transcendentalism in one way or another. They createdone of the most prolific periods in the history of American literature.Topic Discussion:50. Mark Twain presented the 19th century America in his own unique way. Discuss Twain’s art of fiction: the setting, the language, and the characters, etc., based on his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.Answers:A. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi alley as his fictional kingdom, writing about the landscape and people, the customs and the dialects of one particular region, and is therefore known as a local colorist.B. He creates life-like characters, especially the unconventional Huckleberry Finn, who runs away from civilization and stands opposite to conventional village morality.C. He uses a simple, direct vernacular language, totally different from any precious literary language. It is the kind of colloquial belonging to the lower class, the living local American English.D. He has created a special humor to satirize and the decayed convention.III. Terms (10 points, 2.5 points for each)1. Puritanism2. Blank Verse3. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow4. Moby DickIV. Comment. (30 points, 15 points for each)1. Comment on Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.2. What are the artistic achievements of Edgar Allan Poe?3. Comment on Hawthorne’s "black" vision of life and human beings and its influence on his works.4. Comment on Whitman’s poetic style and language.5. What are the features of literature in Colonial America?6. What philosophical meaning is implied in Philip Freneau’s “The Wild Honey Suckle”?I. True or false questions: ( 20points, 1point for each)Directions: Decide whether the following statements are true or false and write A for true ones and B for false ones on your answer sheet.( ) 1.The Calvinist doctrine of "original sin" exerted great influence up Hawthorne.( ) 2.To Hawthorne, sin will get punished,one way or another.( ) 3.Emily Dickinson didn't like using capital letters where small ones are needed.( ) 4.Walt Whitman used parallelism and refrain in his poems.( ) 5.Walt Whitman was regarded as the Zenith in American romantic poetry.( ) 6.Dickinson was original. She never imitated others.( )7.Allan Poe was regarded as the forerunner of American Imagism.( ) 8.Allan Poe defined poetry as the rhythmical creation of beauty.( ) 9.O.Henry seldom wrote about poor people.( )10.According to Poe, art serves for pleasure.The chief aim of poetry is beauty, namely, to produce a feeling of beauty in the reader.( )11.According to Dickinson,death means immortality.( )12.According to Henry James,the aim of the novel is to reflect life reality.( )13.James wrote mostly of the upper reaches of American society,and Howells concerned himself chiefly with middle class life,whereas Twain dealt largely with the lower strata of society.( )14.Allan Poe advocated "pure" poetry.( )15.Mark Twain's contribution to the development of realism and to American literature as a whole was partly through his theories of localism in American fiction, and partly through his themes.( )16.Henry James adopted a new point of view in one of his novels.( )17.Henry James discovered the trick of making his characters reveal themselves with minimal intervention of the author.( )18.N.Hawthorne was a symbolic writer in some sense.( )19.Whitman's poetry suggests rather than tells.( )20. President Lincoln praised Anne Bradstreet as “the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.”Identification (16 points, 2point for each)Directions: Write the names of the novels or poems according to the given passage. ( ) 1. The carriage held but just OurselvesAnd Immortality( ) 3. " I will go home with you," said Mr. Dimmesdale ( ) 4. My Captain doesn't answer, his lips are pale and still.My father doesn't feel my arm, he has no pulse and will.( ) 5. Helen, thy beauty is to meLike those Nicean barks of yore( ) 6. I Loaf and invite my soulI Lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.( ) 7. But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and frail beauty to the prisoner as he went in...( ) 8. Were I with theeWild Nights should be Our luxury!Appreciation (10points)Directions: In this part of the test, there are two excerpts. Each of the excerpts is followed by several questions. Read the excerpts and answer the questions on the Answer Sheet.Part AI went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God.Questions:1. This passage is taken from a famous work entitled _________ . (1 points )2. The author of the work is____________ . (1 points )3. List by yourself at least five reasons that the author gives for going to live in the woods. (4 points )Part BIt was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may know.By the name of Annabel Lee; —And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me.Questions:1. The stanza is taken from the poem________________?(1 points )2. The author of the poem is____________ . (1 points )3. What is the most obvious rhetorical device the author uses for effect? (2 points )11。

(完整word版)大四美国文学期末考试题型及例题.docx

大四美国文学期末考型及例大四美国文学期末考型及例：1./60 分（ 40 道，20 个）2.名解10 分（5 个）3.段配10 分（5 个）4.答20 分（10/2）1．史： Father / poetess⋯2.名作家： Hemingway, Faulkner, Poe, Hawthorne, Emerson3．作品： The Wasteland/Moby Dick/Scarlet Letter1.a)（ 40 个， 40 分）1.At the age of reason and revolution, Americans were influenced by theEuropean movement called the ________.A. Chartist MovementB. Romanticist MovementC. Enlightenment MovementD. Modernist Movement2.Which is NOT connected to Benjamin Franklin? ________A.He was born in a poor family.B.He was a pious puritan.C.He was phrased as“Jack of all trades”.D.He was a master of diplomacy.3.Ernest Hemingway is noted for the following EXCEPT ________.A.Lost GenerationB.Iceberg theoryC.American DreamD.Code Heroes4.Which character is NOT from The Scarlet Letter? ________A.Hester PrynneB.Roger ChillingworthC.Captain AhabD.Pearl5.Jack London’s semi-biographical novel ________well presents thedisillusionment of American Dream.A.The American TragedyB.The Call of the WildC.Martin EdenD.The Grapes of Wrathb)判断（ 20 个， 20 分）1.Poe’smasterpiece“To Helen”is written to memorize his deceased wife.(F)2.The tone of “Annabel Lee”is optimistic and hopeful. (F)3.Mark Twain's novel Jumping Frog was an artistic failure, but it gave its name tothe America of the postbellum period which it attempts to satirize.(F)4.Sister Carrie ended up in tragedy because she could not control her fate(F).大四美国文学期末考试题型及例题2.名词解释题（5个，10分）1. It refers to t he religious beliefs held by the Puritans, who had intended to“ purif or simplify the religious ritual of the Church of England. They believed in the originalsin and the harsh Day of Doom, although some good people --- the chosen peopleor “ the Elect--- may” be saved. Puritanism)(2.A literary doctrine that called for “ realityand truth ”in the depiction of ordinarylife ．It had originated in France and was very popular in 19th century.Realism)(3.选段配对题（5个，10分）1.Fair flower, that dost so comely grow,Hid in this silent, dull retreat,Untouched thy honeyed blossoms blow,Unseen thy little branches greet:No roving foot shall crush thee here,No busy hand provoke a tear.The Wild Honey Suckle (Philip Freneau)2.During the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day in the autumn of the year,when the cloud hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, onhorseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself,as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. Iknow not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense ofinsufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.The Fall of the House of Usher(Edgar Allan Poe)4.问答题（ 10/2， 20 分）1. Transcendentalism(a) Transcendentalism (p56){1}As a moral philosophy, it exalted feeling over reason, individual expression overthe restraints of law and custom. & believed in the transcendence ofthe“oversoul ” {2}A literary movement flourishing in New England from the1830s to the Civil war. It stresses intuitive understanding of God, without the helpof the church and advocated independence of the mind. The representative writersare Emerson and Thoreau.{b} The significance of TranscendentalismTranscendentalism exerted a dominating notion onto the major wirers of the Romanticperiod and its essence has been permanently absorbed into the main stream ofAmerican thought. As a moral philosophy, Transcendentaliststook their ideas from theromantic literature of Europe, from neo-Platonism, from German idealistic philosophyand from the revelations of Oriental mysticism. They spoke for cultural rejuvenation andagainst the materialism of American society. They believed in the transcendence ofthe“Oversoul”, an all-pervading power for goodness from which all things come andof which all things are a part. As a philosophical and literarymovement, Transcendentalism flourished in New England from the 1830’s to the Civil War. Its doctrines found their greatest literary advocated in Emerson, who believed that man was a part of absolute good, and in Thoreau who beheld divinityin the “unspotted innocence”of nature. It was a powerful expression of the intellectual mood of the age, and the ideas it represented have remained a strong influence on great American writers from the days of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman to the present.2. “The Road Not Taken”Symbolic meanings of The Road Not Taken:In this poem, the author uses two roads in the woods to symbolize the choices inthe real life. The author suggests us not being afraid to take a chance, not following the crowd and trying new things. Individualism is highlighted in the poem because the speaker chooses to go his own way, taking the“road less traveled”.Caution is also taken before deciding to take the“road less traveled”, for the speaker takes time to consider the other road.Commitment is symbolized in the poem because the speaker does not havesecond thoughts after making his decision.The last symbolized theme is accepting a challenge. It may be that the road the speaker chooses is less traveled because it represents trials or perils. Such challenges seem to appeal to the speaker.The Road Not TakenThis poem, as many of Frost ’ sbeginspoems,with the observation of nature, as if the poet is a traveler sightseeing in nature. By the end, all the simple words condense into a serious proposition: When anyone in life is confronted with making a choice, in order to possess something worthwhile, he has to give up something which seems as lovely and valuable as the chosen one. Then, whatever follows, he must accept the consequence of his choice for it is not possible for him to return to the beginning and have another chance to choose differently. Frost is asserting that nature is fair and honest to everyone. Thus all the varieties of human destiny result from each person spontaneous capability of making choices.Form : The poem is very regularly structured with 4 classic 5-line stanzas, withthe rhyme scheme “ abaab” and in conversational rhythm.3. The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby the parody (戏仿 )of American dreamThematically ，the novel is a parody of the American dream as represented by Gatsby’s pursuit for wealth and love ．(1)American Dream(derived the Puritanism) is a popular belief that people can achieve success，whether it is wealth，fame or love through honest hard working ina new world of liberty ，equality，chances and promises． (e.g. Franklin, Obama )(2) It is true that Gatsby had a huge wealth，but it was built up through illegal means —bootlegging. Daisy was the embodiment of love for Gatsby，but the Daisy in Gatsby s’illusion was not the Daisy in reality —— a mindless and spiritless woman only with a beautiful appearance，who retreated to her boring but secure way of life rather than accept the responsibility at the moment of crisis．(3)Like Franklin ， Gatsby also made a time table and a list of“do’s anddon'ts”． But unfortunately he did not know that the time had changed．(4)Therefore, G’s dream is tarnished by his material possessions, much like America is now with the obsession with wealth. In any case, Gatsby would have failed to his idealistic dream inevitably, namely disillusion of American dream.Together with Martin Eden, it well presents the disillusionment of American Dream. Main ideas :Nick Caraway, the narrator decided to leave his family in the Midwest to study bond business in New York．He took a small house at West Egg of Long Island and became a neighbor of Jay Gatsby，a mysterious man of great wealth．He resumed acquaintance with Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy at a dinner party in their home． There he also met Jordan Baker，an attractive but arrogant young lady．He soon learned that their marriage was not happy and Tom has a mistress，Myrtle ， wife of George Wilson ，a garage owner in the Valley of Ashes．A few days later he was invited to Gatsby’s party. From Gatsby and later from Jordan, Nick learned of the love affair between Daisy and Gatsby before she married Tom．Gatsby then made a request of Nick：to bring Daisy to tea and meet Gatsby． At the reunion Gatsby changed from nervousness to excitement and from excitement to a remote fantasy． At a party Gatsby gave to the Buchanans，Nick and Jordan，Gatsby and Tom had a fierce quarrel over Daisy and Daisy sided with both men in turns．Then Daisy and Gatsby left in Gatsbys car while’ the others followed in Tom’s． On the way Gatsby’s car knocked Myrtle dead and ran away ， but he later told Nick that Daisy was driving at the time of the accident．Myrtle ，thinking Tom was in the car，ran toward it and was hit．Meanwhile Mr ．Wilson traced Gatsby’s car and found Gatsby's house． A few hours later both of them were found dead．Apparently Wilson shot Gatsby and then himself． Although Nick tried to make Gatsby’s funeral respectable，none of his friends came．Only Gatsby’s father appeared，still thinking that his son was a great man． On another occasion Nick met Tom and Daisy and was reluctant to shake hands with them．He already knew that it was Tom who made Wilson believe that Myrtle was Gatsby s’ lover and was run over by Gatsby． Soon Nick went back to his people in the MiddleWest．。

美国文学期末考试复习

美国文学期末考试复习美国文学期末考试复习Part one: Multiple choices. (25题，每题2分，共50分)1 "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" is a famous quote from __D__’s writings.A. Walt WhitmanB. Henry David ThoreauC. Herman MelvilleD. Ralph Waldo Emerson2 Which of Hemingway’s novels describes the drifting漂流life of American exiles流亡者in Europe? BA. The Sun Also Rises.B. A Farewell to Arms.C. For Whom the Bell Tolls.D. The Old Man and the Sea.3 The theme of ___C____ may be well stated as "It sings of nationalism and of the nature of the self inrelation to the cosmos and the meaning and purpose of birth and death."A. Edgar Allan Poe’s "To Helen"B. Robert Frost’s "The Road Not Take n"C. Walt Whitman’s "Song of Myself" 惠特曼〔1819-1892，美国诗人〕。

D. Emily Dickenson’s "BecauseI could not stop for Death"4 The American Puritanism清教as a cultural heritage遗产benefited the Americans in ___A____.A. strengthening their moral valuesB. weakening their religious faithC. knowing truth intuitivelyD. developing their science and technology5 Mark Twain, one of the greatest 19th century American writers, is well known for his ___C___.A. international themeB. waste-land imageryC. local colorD. symbolism6 "Strange names were over the doors -strange faces at the windows -every thing was strange. His mindnow began to misgive使害怕him, that both he and the world around him were bewitched. Surely this was his native village, which he had left but the day before." The above passage is taken from __A____.A. Irving’s "Rip Van Winkle"B. Hawthorne’s "Young Goodman Brown"C. James’ "Daisy Miller"D. Hemingway’s "Indian Camp"7 According to Hawthorne, the scarlet letter "A" which originally stood for "___A____" finally obtainedthe meaning of "able" or "angel" through Hester’s efforts.A. adulteryB. arroganceC. accomplishmentD. agony8 As a naturalist writer, Theodore Dreiser was greatly influenced by ___B____.A. Nathaniel HawthorneB. Charles DarwinC. Henry JamesD. Ralph Waldo Emerson9 In Sister Carrie, Hurstwood, extremely hopeless and totally devastated荒废, ends his life by turning on the gas, while at the same time Carrie is rocking comfortably in her luxurious豪华的hotel room before she boards a ship for ___B____.A. New YorkB. LondonC. ParisD, Geneva10 Which of the following is the masterpiece of Mark Twain? CA. The Call of the WildB. The Adventures of Tom SawyerC.The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnD. Jumping Frog11 “”was a term created by the Fr ench novelist, Emile Zola. BA. RealismB. NaturalismC. TranscendentalismD. Impressionism12 The Cop and the Anthem is written by . AA. O. HenryB. Henry JamesC. Jack LondonD. Mark Twain13 An American Dictionary of the English Language waspublished in 1828 by . BA. Samuel JohnsonB. Noah WebsterC. Daniel WebsterD. Daniel Defoe14 Walden is written by . BA. EmersonB. ThoreauC. PoeD. Hawthorne15 American writers of the first postwar era who were devoid 缺乏of faith and alienated疏远from the 。

英语专业美国文学期末考试复习资料--个人整理

一Colonial America1.The first English colony: Jamestown in Virginia in 16072Puritanism :Influence on American value system: simplicity, freedom, independence, hard work, etc. 3Anne Bradstreet，once called “Tenth Muse”二Reason and Revolution1.Benjamin Franklin---Poor Richard’s AlmanacModeled on farmers’annual calendar; kept publishing for many years;includes many classical sayings,2.Thomas PaineCommon Sense: a strong push for the Revolution Warfour parts (British enslavement of the colonies; praising democratic election; America’s economic and military potential to protect the rights of people)三RomanticismAn expression of an individual’s feeling and experiences; imagination & natureThe first literary Renaissance, in the history of American literature. It stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War. It st arted with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.1.Washington Irving (1783-1859)(1)Literary status: the first American to earn an international reputation; Father of the American short stories(2)Tow short stories----“Rip V an Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”: Americanized versions of European folk tales, from German legends, but achieving a distinct American tone and theme(3)The Sketch Book:The first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature, winning him international popularity2.James Fenimore Cooperthe first major American writer to deal imaginatively with American life, a critic of the political, social and religious problems of the day.Leatherstocking TalesIncluding: The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The DeerslayerCentre Character: Natty Bumppo (an ideal romantically; various names: Leatherstocking, Deerslayer, Pathfinder, Hawkeye; with two noble red men: Mohican Chief Chingachgook and his son, Uncas)3.William Cullen BryantLiterary status: one of America’s earliest naturalist poets; “the American Wordsworth”most famous poems: “Thanatopsis”; “To a Waterfowl”4.Edgar Allen PoeThe Raven:The poem is a verse-narrative and has 108 lines in 18 stanzas.TranscendentalismNature’s voice pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism, thesummit of American Romanticism.5.Henry David ThoreauLiterary status: a thorough practitioner of Transcendentalism; greatly influenced by Emerson (more radical)Civil Disobedience(在什么情况下写的：没交战争税，入狱)Walden (Walden is a faithful record of his reflections when he was in solitary communion with nature, an eloquent indication that he not only embraced Emerson’s Transcendentalist philosophy but went even further to illustrate that pantheistic quality of nature.)6Nathaniel HawthorneThe Scarlet Letter 《红字》(a simple but very moving story in which four people living in a Puritan community are involved in and affected by the sin of adultery in different ways, showing the reader the tension between society and individuals)7.Herman Melvillea master of allegory and symbolismmost of his novels based on sea sailors and adventur e except The Confidence-Man(1857) Literary achievements: Moby Dick四Realism1Walt Whitman ---Innovative poetic form: “free verse 自由体诗” (poetry without a fixed beator regular rhyme scheme; intriguing the reader’s own imagination); a looser and more open-ended syntactical structure; lines and sentences of different lengths; few compound sentences2.Theodore Dreiser(填空题)(1)欲望三部曲The Financier The Titan The Stoic(2) American Tragedy为什么叫美国悲剧-------典型地反应了当时美国人对财富的追求2.Mark Twain(1)The Gilded Age 《镀金时代》: written in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner, exploring the individualism in a world of unstable values, naming the get-rich-quick years of the post-Civil War(2).Mark Twain的贡献：making colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country3.Henry James(1)the first American writer to conceive his career in international termsInternational themes：the clashes between two different cultures and the emotional and moral problems of Americans in Europe, or Europeans in America 主题：inner world(2)The Portrait of A Lady -------It incarnates the clash between the Old World and the New World in the life journey of an American girl in a European environment(3)International theme--American innocence in face of European sophistication4 .Bret Harte in the 1860s was the first American writer of local color to achieve wide popularity,presenting stories of western mining towns with colorful gambles, outlaws, and scandalous.5.Naturalism emphasized heredity and environment as important deterministicforces shaping individualized characters who were presented in specialand detailed circumstances. At bottom, life was shown to be ironic even tragic五Twentieth-Century Literature1.Scott Fitzgerald(1)了不起的盖尔茨比反应了那个年代-----Jazz Age2.Robert Frost(填空题)（1）Robert Frost had rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, choosing instead" the old -fashioned way to be new". He employed the plain speech of rural New Englanders and preferred the short , traditional forms of lyric and narrative.（2）After Apple-PickingOf apple-Picking: I am overtiredOf the great harvest I myself desired.What is the two sentences imply?The speaker is indifferent to what he once desired.3The imagist Movement flourished from 1908 to 1917 and involved quite a number of British and American writers and poets4.PoundA Pact 契约(Ezar Pound)主要表达了意思5.With the slow disintegration of old prejudices came the “Harlem Renaissance” a burst of literaryachievement in the 1920s by Negro playwrights, poets, and novelists who presented new insights into the American experience and prepared the way for the emergence of numerous black writers after mid-century.阅读题一We passed the school, where children stroveAt recess----in the ring----We passed the fields of gazing grain----We passed the setting sun----1.作者Emily Dickinson作名：Because I could not stop for death2.Three images: school, field, setting sun, which stand for three stages of life: youth, mature period, end of life3.The school, the fields of Gazing Grain, the setting sun symbolize three stages of one's life:youth, manhood and old age.4."we" were riding in a hearse, heading toward Eternity.二Moby Dick1.作者：Herman Melville 作名：Moby Dick2.船长：Ahab3.发生的事：The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale, Moby-Dick, a white whale of tremendous size and ferocity, which destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. Ahab intends to exact revenge. However, at last the Pequod is sunk and the whole crew perish in the sea except Ishmael三The woods are lovely, dark and deepBut i have promises to keep,And miles to go before i sleep,And miles to go before i sleep.1.作者：Robert Frost 作名:stopping by woods on a snowy evening2.第二个sleep的意思：die3.what's the meaning of the passage?On the surface, the passage is deceptively simple. However, with the commonest words, it is deeply meditative. The simple poem uses its superb craftsmanship to come to a climax of responsibility: the promises to be kept, the obligations to be filled. The poet seems to show that he would like to stay forever in the beautiful snowy woods, but as a poet, he still has many tasks to fulfill in his life and has to go ahead.四“God knows,”exclaimed he, at his wit’s end; “I’m not myself----I’m somebody else----that’s me yonder----no----that’s somebody else, got in my shoes,----I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they’ve changed my gun, and every thing’s changed, and I’m changed, and I can’t tell what’s my name, or who I am!”A: Identify the work and the authorB: The speaker says he is changed. Do you think he is changed?C: What idea does the quoted sentences express?Answers ---A: Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Wrinkle”B: It’s the social environment that is changedC: When Rip is back home after a period of 20 years, he find that everything has changed. All those old values are gone, and he can hardly feel at home in a changed society. One of the functions that Rip serves in the story is to provide a measuring stick for change. It is through him that Irving expresses the theme that a desire for change, improvement, and progress subvert a stable society.问答题1.The symbolic meaning of the Letter A in the Scarlet Letter worn by Hester.The Letter A worn by Hester h as undergone great changes in meaning as the novel progresses.At first,it stands for a token of shame ----Adultery. Then Hester suffered from loneliness and alienation. Later with Hester's self-sacrificing sympathy and help offered to her fellow villagers the meaning of theletter A begins to imply Able and Admirable ,even Angel at the end of the story.2Herman MelvilleOne of the major themes in Melville is alienation, which he sensed existing in the life of his time on different level, between man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Captain Ahab seems to be the best illustration of it all.He is a typical Melvillean “isolato”, whose lips are set ever for an “I prefer not to”. He cuts himself off from his wife and kid, and stays away most of the time from his crew. He hates Moby Dick which is an embodiment of nature. He is angry because his pride is wounded. After the loss of his leg in his encounter whith the white whale, he seems to hold God responsible for the presence of evil in the universe. Thus his anger assumes the proportions of a cosmic nature. He is bent on avenging himself. He hears of no objection. In his egocentric obsession he loses his sanity and humanity and becomes a devilish creature rushing headlong toward his doom.Moby Dick thus reveals the basic pattern of 19th century American life: loneliness and suicidal individualism in a self-styled democracy3The major characteristics of imagist poetry are:1.Direct treatment of objects, concreteness of imagery . 2. No idea or insight but things or images . 3.Free verse without imposing a rhythmical pattern. 4. Cpmmon speech ,economy of expression.4Emily Dickinson 的诗歌特点Artistic features of Emily Dickinson’s poemsUnique and unconventional1). Her poems have no titles, always quoted by their first lines2). A particular stress pattern: dashes are used as a musical device to create cadence and capital letters as a means of emphasis3). The form of her poetry is like the hymns in the churches, familiar, communal, and irregular (sentences)4). Short: rarely more than twenty lines5). Centered on a single image or symbol and focused on one subject matter6). Personal and meditative due to her deliberate seclusionHer poetry is remarkable for its variety, subtlety and richness;Her limited private world has never confined the limitless power of her creativity and imagination5naturalismNaturalism, a more deliberate kind of realism, usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. As a literary movement, naturalism was initiated in France and it came to be led by Emile Zola, who claimed a "scientific" status for his studies of impoverished characters miserably subjected to hunger, sexual obsession, and hereditary defects. Natural fiction aspired to a offering detailed and fully researched investigations into unexplored comes of modern society. The most significant work of naturalism in English is Dreiser's Sisiter Carrie.6transcendentalism1.Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as "the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively , or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the sense".Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the Over-soul ,the Individual and Nature.Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual divine and, therefore, self-reliant.The New England Transcendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and European Romanticism.7Mark TwainAt first, through a local and particular book, it touches upon the human situation in a general, in deed “universal”way. Mark Twain once wrote about the book as “the struggle between a healthy heart and a deformed conscience.”between the false religious beliefs Huck has been taught and his good natural impulses. Humanitarianism ultimately triumphs. Mark Twain gives his young hero very adult problems.In the second, escaping “down”the river is a cruel irony in itself, provides the episodic structure which like in a picaresque novel, is the thread that holds together the developing relationship between the two runaways on the raft. The escape, the quest for freedom, is literal for both Huck and Jim as they flee from Pap and Miss Watson. It may also be seen as symbolic on several planes: historical, philosophical, and moral. The flight down the rivers is a flight from the complexities of the ever-expanding, westward-moving settlements of new civilization.Finally, having learned about the evil of the world during their trip in the various towns and villages along the way, Huck, meantime, is facing a big moral problem. The law of society says he must return Jim to his “owner”. But the moral climax of the novel comes in Chapter 31, when Huck decides that he “will go to hell”rather than turn in Jim. Huck thinks deeply about morality and then decides to break the law. The slave, to Huck, is now a man, not a “thing”. Many critics see Huck Finn as the great novel of American democracy. It shows the basic goodness and wisdom of ordinary people, of course it fully exhibits Twain’s particular humor. It is “a love song of the river.”。

(完整版)美国文学期末复习资料(完美版)

（美国文学期末复习资料(完美版）Imagism （意向主义）(1)Imagism came into being in Britain and US around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation。

（2）The Imagists， with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image。

（3) Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles： i） direct treatment of subject matter； ii） economy of expression; iii） as regards rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of metronome; iv) Ezra Pound’s In a Station of the Metro is a well—known imagist poem。

Ezra Pound (爱兹拉·庞德）Cathay （1915）《中国》a volume of Chinese translation.He blue—penciled The Waste Land《荒原》 the most significant American poem of the twentieth century.Cantos 《诗章》，a modern epic Pound’s major work of poetry。

美国文学史期末复习资料

I.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items.(10 x 1’= 10’)1.In American literature, the 18th century was the age of Enlightenment.2.The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is taken from Irving’s3.4.5.6.7.8.9.1-5，BBACD 6-10 BADCDII.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items.(10 x 1’= 10’)12._____ is a fantasy tale about a man who somehow stepped outside the main15.From Thoreau’s jail experience, came his famous essay, _____ which stateshis belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of agovernment.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Sense20.For Melville, as well as for the reader and ____, the narrator, Moby Dick is1-5 D A B C C 6-10 A C C D CII. Identify Works as Described Below (1’×15 =15’):1.The novel has a sole black protagonist who tells his own story but whosename in unknown to us.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains2.The main conflict of the play is the protagonist’s false value of fineappearance and popularity with people and the cruel reality of the society inwhich money is everything.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journeyinto Nightd. Death of Salesman3.It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on theplaywright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries4.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and howthe society is responsible for the murder.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains5._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the SecondWorld War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge ofCouraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead7.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma andtravel to California to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.a.T he Grapes of Wrathb. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March8.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, withsuch techniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.a.B abbittb. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath9.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whosetitle is taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and how shebecomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into a beggar and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. The novel is set on the Mississippi with the protagonist telling us the story inthe local dialect. It is a representative work of local colorism.a.Sister Carrieb.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnd.The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions inthe Civil War.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of theuniversality and equality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a group of people on a whaling ship kill a greatwhale but themselves are killed by the whale, with the conflict between man and his fate.a.The Octopusb. Moby-Dickc. The Rise of Silas Laphamd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a philosophical essay in 8 chapters plus an introduction mainlyconcerned with the four uses of nature.a. Waldenb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. The American Scholar1-5.cdaad 6-10.aacbb cbbI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1’×15=15’):1.An English ship brought 102 people from Plymouth, England on September 16, 1620 and arrived in the present Provincetown harbor on November 21 in the same year. This ship was named ____________.a. The Pilgrimsb. Mayflowerc. Americad. Titanic2._________ is father of American drama and in his dramatic career he wrote 49 plays.a. Tennessee Williamsb. Eugene O’Neillc. Arthur Millerd. Elmer Rice3._________ was the first American writer to write entirely American literature.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Washington Irvingc. Mark Twaind. Ernest Hemingway4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5._______was the greatest woman poet in American literature and she wroteabout 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Pearl S. Buckb.Harriet Bicher Stowec. Emily Dickensond. Walter Whitman6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.William Dean Howells is concerned with the middle class life; ______ writes about the upper class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. Henry James8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. His writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts. He is______.a. Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. He wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in thedeep south. He is ______.a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jewsare major characters.a. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. He was the first black American to write a book about black life with greatimpact on the consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans. Who is he?a.Richard Wrightb. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd.Ralph Ellison15. Hemingway wrote about American compatriots in Europe whereas ________wrote about the Jazz age, life in American society.a.William Carlos Williamsb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. F.Scott Fitzgerald1-5 bbccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcadI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1×15 %):2.The American Civil War broke out in 1861 between the Northern states and the South states, which are known respectively as the ______and the______.a. N, Sb. Revolutionaries, Reactionariesc. Union, Confederacyd. Slavery, Anti-Slavery2._____________was praised by the British as the “Tenth Muse in America”.a.Anne Bradstreetb. Edward Taylorc. Thomas Pained. Philip Freneau3.Mark Twain was a representative of ________ in American literature.a. transcendentalismb. naturalismc. local colorismd. imagism4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5.The greatest American poet and the first writer of free verse is ____________.a. Washington Irvingb.Ezra Poundc. Walt Whitmand. Emily Dickinson6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.Henry James is concerned with the upper class life; ______ writes about the middle class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. William Dean Howells8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. ________’s writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts.a. Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. ______ wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha Countyin the deep south. .a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jewsare major characters.a. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. _______ was the first black American to write a book about black life withgreat impact on the consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans.b.Richard Wright b. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15. ________ first used the “Jazz age” as the title of a collection of short storiesa. F. Scott Fitzgeraldb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. ErnestHemingway1-5.caccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcbaII. Identify Works as Described Below (1×15 %):6.The play is about a stoker whose identity as a human being is not recognizedby his fellow human beings and who tries to find affinity with a monkey in the zoo and is finally killed by the animal.a. The Hairy Apeb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. Long Day’s Journey into Nightd. The Glass Menageries7.The protagonist in this play is a crippled girl named Amanda.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journeyinto Nightd.The Glass Menageries8.The hero of this novel tells about his own story to us but his name isunknown.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains4. It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on the playwright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries5.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident andhow he is finally arrested and tried and sentenced to death.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It onthe Mountains6._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the SecondWorld War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge ofCouraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead10.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma andtravel to California to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.b.The Grapes of Wrath b. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March11.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, withsuch techniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.b.Babbitt b. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath12.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whosetitle is taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and elopes withHurstwood and how she becomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into beggary and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. It is a novel with 135 chapters plus an epilog; in it a group of people on awhaling ship kill a great whale but they themselves are killed by the whale in the end, except Ishmael the narrator who survives by adhering to a coffin.b.Sister Carrie b.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. Moby Dickd. The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions inthe Civil War, in which wound is called the red badge which symbolizes courage.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of theuniversality and equality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a man falls economically and socially but who risesmorally because he gives up the opportunity to sell his factory to an English Syndicate, which would otherwise mean a ruin to that syndicate.a.The Octopusb. The Rise of Silas Laphamc. Moby-Dickd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a speech delivered at Harvard University. It is often hailed as the“declaration of intellectual independence” in America.a. The American Scholarb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. Walden1-5.adcad 6-10.aacbb cbaII. Match the following (1×20%)A. Match Works with Their Authors1.Hugh Selwyn Mauberly2.Walden3. Autobiography4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer9. Long Day’s Journey into Night10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Mark Twain b . Ernest Hemingwayc. Eugene O’Neilld. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Benjamin Franklini.Henry David Thoreau j. Ezra Poundk.Thomas Jefferson l. T.S. EliotB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1.Hester Prynne2.Mrs. Touchett3.Frederick Henry4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 7.Bigger Thomas8.Yank 9.Happya.The Portrait of a Ladyb. The Scarlet Letterc. The Hairy Aped. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Deadh. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Sonj. Death of a Salesmank.Invisible Manl.Catch-22A. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edccbB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear. 1-5.badef 6-10.ghicjIII. Match the following (1’×20=20’)A. Match works with their authors1.Nature2.Rip Van Winkle3. Nature4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn9. Cantos10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Ezra Poundb. Ernest Hemingwayc. Mark Twaind. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Ralph Waldo Emersoni.Washington Irving j. Waldo Emersonk.T.S. Eliot l. Robert FrostB. Match characters with the works in which they appear.2.Captain Ahab and Starbuck 2.Isabel Archer3.Frederic Henry and Catherine4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 8.Bigger Thomas9.The Tyrones 10.Willy Lomana.The Portrait of a Ladyb. Moby-Dickc. Death of a Salesmand. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Dead h. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Son j. Long Day’s Journey into Nightk.Absalom, Absalom l. The Old Man and the SeaA. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edcabB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1-5.badef 6-10.edcabV. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.1.To the best of your knowledge, analyze and make comments on Emerson’sNaturement on any American poet you like.3.Analyze and/or comment on any one of the American novels or plays youhave read.V. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.)4.Make comments on an American novel we have discussed in this course.ment on an American poet.6.Describe how your knowledge of American literature is improved aftertaking this course..IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)1.Why do people think Franklin is the embodiment of American dream?2.What is “Lost Generation”?V. Discussion. (1 x 20’ = 20’)State your own interpretations of Hemingway’s iceberg theory of writing? IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)3.What is Hawthorne’s style? Explain the style with examples.4.At the end of the 19th century, there were three fighters for Realism. Whoare they? What are their differences?________True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.2. Thomas Jefferson was the only American to sign the 4 documents that created the US.3. All his literary life, Hawthorne seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil.4. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass are about human psychology.5. Hurstwood is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.6. Faulkner’s region was the Deep North, with its bitter history of slavery, civil war and destruction.7. Placed in historical perspective, Howells is found lacking in qualities and depth. But anyhow he is a literary figure worthy of notice.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.10. Emily Dickinson expresses her deep love in the poem “Annabel Lee”.1-5 F F T F F 6-10 F F T F FII. Decide whether the statements are True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.2. American Romantic writers avoided writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elements.3. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.4. “Young Goodman Brown” wants to prove everyone possesses kindness in heart.5. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Twain or Howells.6. The American realists sought to describe the wide range of American experience and to present the subtleties of human personality.7. Frost’s concern with nature reflected his deep moral uncertainties.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. Roger Chillingworth is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.10. After the Civil War, the Frontier was closing. Disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned to be a “Gilded” one.1-5 T F T F T 6-10 F T T F TIII. Please explain the following terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. Free verse3. International novel: 4．Romanticism 5. Naturalism 6. American Realism 7.American Naturalism Modernism Imagism1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.Free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and thatattempts to avoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses thecadences of natural speech.3.International novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities whorepresent certain characteristics of their own countries.4.Naturalism: It views human beings as animals in the natural worldresponding to environmental forces and internal stresses and drives, overnone of which they have control and none of which they fully understand.The literary naturalists have a major difference from the realists. They lookat a different spot to find real life.III. Please explain the following terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. international novel3. the lostgenerationHemingway heroes4. free verse5.Americantranscendentalism1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.international novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities whorepresent certain characteristics of their own countries.3.the lost generation: reveals the huge destruction of the wars to the younggeneration. It describes the Americans who remained in Paris as a colony of“expatriates”. They were lost in disillusionment.4.free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and thatattempts to avoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses thecadences of natural speech.5.transcendentalism: It stressed the power of intuition, believing that peoplecould learn things both from the outside world by means of the five sensesand from the inner world by intuition. It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God. All things in nature were symbols of the spiritual, of God’s presence. It emphasized the significance of the individual and believed that the individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish. Transcendentalists envisioned religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul”.。

美国文学史及选读期末复习题

1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer.5.The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people.6.The first major intellectual spokesman of the Massachusetts Bay colony was John Cotton,sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England.”7.Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, and she wasnicknamed the tenth Muse.8.Poor Richard’s Almanac is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.9.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration forIndependence”.10.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, BenjaminFranklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.11.Philip Freneau developed a natural, simple, and concrete diction, best illustrated in suchnature lyrics as “The Wild Honey Suckle” and “The Indian Burying Ground”.12.Philip Freneau has been called the “Father of American Poetry”.13.In Washington Irving’s Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first greatAmerican juvenile literature.14.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprisethe Leatherstocking tales.15.“To a Waterfowl” is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant’s wok.16.“Thanatopsis”, William Cullen Bryant’s best-known poem, consists of four stanzas in iambictetrameter abab. The title means “view of death”.17.Edgar Allan Poe is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothicstories”.18.Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.19.In Walden, Thoreau thought it better for a man to work one day a week and rest six, and therest of the time could be devoted to thought.20.Hawthorne’s stories touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature.21.Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seeminglysupernatural white whale.22.After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet’sCorner of Westminster Abbey.23.Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, had become an American institutionand the most famous literary woman in the world.24.William Dean Howells found his subject matter in the experiences of the American middleclass.25.William Dean Howells called for the treatment of the “smiling aspects of life” as being themore “American.”26.The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will,that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environment.27.The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse.28.O·Henry’s stories are usually short and interesting; Famous for theirsurprising end.29.Henry James is famous for his international theme of the traditionless American confrontingthe complexity of European life.30.Jack London believed in the inevitable triumph of the strongest individuals.31.Dreiser’s greatest and most successful novel, An American Tragedy, is about a young manwho acts as if the only way he can be truly fulfilled is by acquiring wealth—through marriage if necessary.32.Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a “LostGeneration,” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.33.Wallace Stevens’ work is primarily motivated by the belief that “ideas of order”.34.With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway became the spokesman for whatGertrude Stein had called “a lost generation.”Terms1.TranscendentalismTranscendentalism refers to the religious and philosophical doctrines of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others in New England in the middle 1800’s, which emphasized the importance of individual inspiration and intuition, the Oversoul, and Nature. Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and, therefore, self-reliant. New England Transcendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and European Romanticism.2.NaturalismNaturalism, a more deliberate kind of realism, usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. As a literary movement, naturalism was initiated in France and it came to be led by Zola, who claimed at “scientific” status for his studies of impoverished characters miserably subjected to hunger, sexual obsession, and hereditary defects. Natural fiction aspired to a sociological objectivity, offering detailed and fully researched investigations into unexplored corners of modern society. The most significant work of naturalism in English being Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.3.American DreamThe American Dream is the faith held by many people in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations.4.The Lost GenerationThe term Lost Generation was coined by Gertrude Stein to refer to a group of American Literary notables who lived in Paris from the time period which saw the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Significant members included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, T. S. Eliot, and Gertrude Stein herself. Hemingway likely popularized the term, quoting Stein (“You are all a lost generation”) as epigraph to his novel The Sun Also Rises. More generally, the term is being used for the young adults of Europe and America during World War I. They were “lost”because after the war many of them were disillusioned with the world in general and unwilling to more into a settled life5. ModernismModern writing is marked by a strong and conscious break with traditional forms and techniques of expression; it believes that we create the world in the act of perceiving it. Modernism implies historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, of loss, and of despair. Itelevates the individual and his inner being over social man and prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious.6. RomanticismRomanticism as a literary movement came into being in England in the later half of the 18th century. It first made its appearance in England as a renewed interest in medieval literature. William Blake and Robert Burns represented the spirit of what is usually called Pre-Romanticism. With the publication of W illiam Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads in collaboration with S. T. Coleridge, romanticism began to bloom and found a firm place in history of English literature. In fact, the first half the 19th century recorded the triumph of Romanticism.7. PuritanismThe principles and practices of puritans were popularly known as Puritanism. Puritanism accepted the doctrines of Calvinism: the sovereignty of God; the supreme authority of the Bible; the irresistibility of God’s will for man in every act of life from cradl e to grave. These doctrines led the Puritans to examine their souls to find whether they were of the elect and to search the Bible to determine God’s will.8.Hemingway Heroes / Code Hero“Hemingway Heroes” refer to some protagonists in Hemingway’s works. Such a hero usually is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent. And usually he is a man of action and of a few words. He is such an individualist, alone even when with other people, somewhat an outsider, keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-disciplined in a dreadful place where one can not get happiness. The Hemingway heroes stand for a whole generation. In a world which is essentially chaotic and meaningless, a Hemingway hero fights a solitary struggle against a force he does not even understand. The awareness that it must end in defeat, no matter how hard he strives, engenders a sense of despair. But Hemingway heroes possess a kind of “despairing courage” as Bertrand Russell terms. It is this courage that enables a man to behave like a man, to assert his dignity in face of adversity. Surely Hemingway heroes differ, one from another, in their view of the world. The difference which comes gradually in view is an index to the subtle change which Hemingway’s outlook had undergone.Identify the fragments.1. These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly—This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.(1)Which book is this passage take from?(2)Who is the author of this book?(3)Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?(4)What do you think of the language?Answer:(1) The American Crisis.(2) Thomas Paine(3) Paine is praising those who stand “it”, it referring to “the service of their country”. In themeantime, Paine is criticizing those who shrink from the service of their country in this crisis. (4) The language is plain, impressive and forceful. Paine himself once said that his purpose as a writer was to use plain language to make those who can scarcely read understand and to fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question and nothing else.2. From morning suns and evening dewsAt first thy little being came;If nothing once, you nothing lose,For when you die you are the same;The space between, is but an hour,The frail duration of a flower.(1) Who is the writer of these verses?(2) What is the title of this poem?(3) Give a brief comment on this poems.Answer:(1) Philip Freneau(2) The Wild Honeysuckle(3) Here Freneau offers a version of an abundant America with potential for providing a good life for all. The poem is also an indication of his dedication to American subject matter as he examined peculiarly American characteristics of the countryside.3.From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. Drowsy and dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was bewitched by a high German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. Question:(1) Who is the writer of this short story from which the passage is taken?(2) What is the title of this short story?(3) Give a definition of “short story”?Answer:(1) Washington Irving(2) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(3) A short story is a brief prose fiction, usually one that can be read in a single sitting. It generally contains the six major elements of fiction—characterization, setting, theme, plot, point of view and style.4. It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho, was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now widly heightened by circumstance of the Town-Ho’s story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its ownparticular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his mates…Nevertheless, so potent and influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod’s main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record.Question:(1)From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) What is the name of the novelist?(3) Who is Ahab?(4) What is Pequod?(5) What is the theme of the novel?Answer:(1) Moby Dick(2) Herman Melville(3) The captain of the whaling ship(4) The name of the whaling ship(5) The rebellious struggle of Captain Ahab against the overwhelming, mysterious vastness of the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces.5. To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generation the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these preachers of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.Question:(1)This paragraph is taken from a famous essay. What is the of the essay?(2)Who is the author?(3)What does the author say would happen if the stars appeared one night in a thousand years?(4)Give a peculiar term to cover the author’s belief.Answer:(1) Nature(2) Ralph Waldo Emerson(3)Then, the men cannot believe and adore the God, cannot preserve the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown.(4)Transcendentalism6. Isabel always felt an impulse to pull out the pins; not that she imagined they inflicted any damage on the tough old parchment, but because it seemed to her her aunt might make better use of her sharpness. She was very critical herself-it was incidental to her sex, and her nationality butshe was very sentimental as well, and there was something in Mrs. Touchett’s dryness that set her own moral fountains flowing.Questions:(1) This passage is taken from a well-known novel. What is the name of the novel?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) Make a brief comment on the heroine of this novel?(4) What is theme of the author? Tell something about it.Answer:(1) The Portrait of a Lady(2) Henry James(3) She is one of the Jamesian American girls. She arrives in Europe, full of hope, and with a will to live a free and noble life, but in fact, she only falls prey to the sinister designs of two vulgar and unscrupulous expatriates, Madam Merle and Gilbert Osmond.(4) Jamesian theme refers to Henry James’s handling of his major fictional theme, “the international theme”: the meeting of America and Europe, American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence and the moral and Psychological complications arising there from.7.When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human temper. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper cautious interpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognized for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) How do you understand “the cosmopolitan standard of virtue”?(4) Is there any naturalist tendency in this passage?Answer:(1)Sister Carrie(2) Theodore Dreiser(3) “The cosmopolitan standard of virtue” is something that makes a person become low in virtue and become worse.(4) Yes.Give brief answers to the following questions.1.What are the characteristics of the Colonial Literature?In a real sense, there were no literal works in the early colonial period. They were just personalliterature in the form of diaries, travel books, letters, journals, sermons, histories and prose.(1) In content, they wrote about the voyage to the new land, about adopting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops, about dealing with Indian, and especially about religion.(2) In form, English traditions were imitated.ment briefly on Emily Dickinson’s themes?(1)By far the largest portion of Dickinson’s poetry concerns death and immortality, theme which lie at the centre of Dickinson’s world.(2)Dickinson’s nature poems are also great in number and rich in matter. Natural phenomena, changes of seasons, heavenly bodies, animals, birds and insects, flowers of various kinds, and many other subjects related to nature find her way into her poetry.(3)Dickinson also wrote some poems about love. Like her death and nature poems, her love poems were original.(4)Besides deaths and immortality, nature and love, Dickinson’s poems are concerned about ethics, with respect to which, she emphasizes free will and human responsibility.3. Comment briefly on Theodore Dreiser’s themes and writing style?Theme: Dreiser’s works are mainly concerned with the tragic nature of the human condition by depicting the coarse, vulgar, cruel, and terrible aspects of life like sex and crime.Style: In terms of style, Dreiser has sometimes been censured for his clumsy syntax, deficient characterization, and inept and dull prose. Yet his accumulated detail, carefully selected and faithfully recorded, is a technique of power. Like the other naturalists, he refused to judge—to consider people as good or evil. He clothes his concepts symbolically in the details of reality. It is his journalistic method that has made him one of America’s foremost novelists.4 Henry James is a great realistic writer. Name two of his major works. Do you know anything about his narrative “point of view”? What is it for? How does James employ it in his works? Briefly discuss this question.(1) Henry James’s major works include Daisy Miller and The Portrait of A Lady, etc.(2) One of Henry James literary techniques is his narrative “point of view.” As the author, James avoids the authorial omniscience as much as possible and makes his characters reveal themselves with his minimal intervention. So it is often the case that in his novels we usually learn the main story by reading through one or several minds and share their perspectives. This narrative method proves to be successful in bringing out his themes.5. What are the three main principles that Ezra Pound endorsed?(1)Directly treat poetic subjects.(2)Eliminate merely ornamental or superfluous words.(3)Rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of metronome.6.Tell the differences between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman(1)Emily Dickinson expresses the inner life of individuals, while Walt Whitman keeps his eyes on the society at large.(2)Emily Dickinson is “regional”, while Walt Whitman is “national” in his outlook.(3)Formally, Emily Dickinson uses concise, simple dictions and syntax, while Walt Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs.7. Briefly discuss Hemingway’s Iceberg PrincipleIceberg principle is that the full meaning of the text is not limited to moving the plot forward:there is always a web of association and inference, a submerged reason behind the inclusion (or even the omission) of every detail.In Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway outlined his “theory of omission” or “iceberg principle.”He states: “is a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know only makes hollow places in his writing.”8. Briefly discuss the Jazz Age“The Jazz Age” describes the period the period of the 1920s and 1930s, the years between World War I and World War II, particularly in North America; with the rise of the Great Depression, the values of this age saw much decline. Perhaps the most representative literary work of the age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, highlighting what some describe as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of individualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term “The Jazz Age”. It can also be known as “The Roaring Twenties” and “The Dollar Decade.”9. Jack Landon’s themes(1) London was logically inconsistent in his viewpoint.On the one hand, he took faith in Darwin’s surviv al of the fittest, evolutionary concept of progress, and on the other hand, he embraced the socialists’ doctrines of Marx.(2) London wrote on many subjects and themes which centered around primitive violence, Anglo-Saxon supremacy(至上), biological evolution, class warfare, and mechanistic determinism. His heroes are physically robust and rugged but often psychologically harried(苦恼). His heroines are athletic, daring, yet intensely feminine. They are man’s intellectual equal and his emotional superior.10. Briefly discuss ImagismImagism was one of the modern literary movements which expressed the modern spirit, the sense of fragmentation（破裂）and dislocation（错位，混乱）. It came as a reaction to the traditional English poetics. The first Imagist theorist is the English writer T.E. Hume. He suggests that modern art deal with expression and communication of momentary（瞬间的）phases in the poet’s mind.Poetic techniques should become subtle enough to record exactly the momentary impressions. The most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through one dominant image. Each word must be an image seen. Each sentence should be a lump(团,块), a piece of clay, a vision seen. Hulme advises the poet to seek the hard, personal word for expression. The Imagist movement lasted from 1908 to 1917.。

美国文学期末总复习

I.选择题及问答题UNIT 2 Edgar Allan Poe简答题1) Who is the narrator? What wrong does he want to redress?2) What is the pretext Montresor uses to lure Fortunado to his wine cellar?3) What happens to Fortunado in the end?4) Describe briefly how Poe characterizes Mortresor and Fortunado as contrasts.参考答案1)It is Montresor. Fortunato has given Montresor thousands of injuries that he has to bear before he has this opportunity of taking revenge.2)He claims that he has just got a cask of Amontilado and stores it in the wine cellar before he may find a connoisseur to testify to its authenticity.3)The deceived Fortunado is killed because of his inability of getting out of the catacomb.4)Poe characterizes Mortresor and Fortunado as seemingly contrasting characters chiefly by presenting their identical habit in wine and their different manners towards each other, but actually he intends to show some similarly defective aspects in their nature. The similarity in their nature is also suggested by their names as synonyms in Italian: Mortresor means “fortune” while Fortunado “treasure”. Their defective nature is highlighted when the revenger Mortresor, who is fully prepared on psychological and operating levels, throws the hardly prepared but totally deceived wrong-doer Fortunado into the deep and damp catacomb and blocks up its entrance with huge rocks.选择题1) To Montresor, the fatal weakness of Fortunato is his _______ for his connoisseurship in wine.A) knowledgeB) arroganceC) faithD) seeming ignorance2) Montresor wants to take revenge on Fortunato during the carnival because _______ .A) almost all the people would habitually celebrate the festival, excessively drinking and dancing in delight and giving less attention to other activities beyond celebration.B) Fortunato would be too busy as a wine connoisseur during the festival so that he might not see through the tricky plan of Montresor to put an end to his life.C) he would work together with Fortunato during the festival so as to have chance to kill him.D) he chooses the time at random instead of a deliberate scheme.3) In the story Amontillado is known as the good wine whose _______ , as Montresor deceptively claims, has strong appeal to Fortunato.A) taste and smellB) reputation and tasteC) reputation and quantityD) recommendations by Italian virtuosos4) Who is Luchresi ?A) a boy in the barB) a arrogant neighborC) a wine connoisseurD) a Sherry producer5) As Montresor and Fortunato walk further into the catacomb, the latter keeps coughing becauseA) the nitre hanging like moss upon the vaults increases to strongly provoke him.B) he pretends so in order to encourage himself.C) he takes "Nemo me impune lacessit".D) the nitre distills the rheum of intoxication.6) Before taking his last breath, Fortunato still seems unable to perceive the intention of Montresor, mistaking what Montresor does to him as " a very good joke, indeed —an excellent jest". Why does he react so slowly?A) Fortunato has drunk too much to see his coming death.B) Poe intends to use Fortunato's slow comprehension as a foil to the blackness of Montresor 's well-planned revenge.C) Fortunato wants to get Montresor's mercy by fooling him this way so that he may free himself from the threshold of death.D) It is only Montresor's illusion because Fortunato has been dead when the former builds up the eleven tiers of the stone wall.7) Where does the story take place?A) It is only a psychological experience without the setting in reality.B) Poe never intends to give any information about the setting.C) It couldn't be identified.D) Italy as the setting of the story is only hinted in such as the names of characters and those of wines.8) Montresor and Fortunato mean "wealth " and "treasure" in the Italian language, symbolically mirroring _______ .A) their identical parentageB) something hidden as their mutual weaknessC) their mutual love of goldD) their mutual mania for material possession9) As it is suggestive of the Italian culture where the story is set, the word Palazzo means_______ .A) a fancy restaurant serving good winesB) a large, splendid residence or building such as a palace or museum for public activitiesC) a dreamy place as paradiseD) a place as storage of wine10) The story end with a Latin quotation "In pace requiescat", by which Poe hints that _______ .A) Montresor thinks he will die soonB) Montresor seems to be sorry for the death of FortunatoC) Montresor's hatred for Fortunato is still so strong that he couldn't get it over even when he murdered the latter half a century agoD) Montresor eventually regrets for what has done to Fortunato and implores God to give peace to the latter参考答案BACCA BDBBCUNIT 4 Nathaniel Hawthorne简答题1) Why is the prison the setting of Chapter II?2) Describe the appearance of Hester Prynne and the attitude of the people toward her.3) What has happened to Hester? Why does she make the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate? How does this tell us about her character?参考答案1)The prison is used as the setting of the story because the execution of Hester Prynne as an infamous culprit is expected to take place here and the sentence of a legal tribunal on her has but confirmed the verdict of public sentiment. In addition, the setting also suggests the tragic fate of the protagonist.2)Hester Prynne is a young and tall woman with dark and abundant hair that is so glossy that it may throws off the sunshine with a gleam. She has a beautiful face with the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. With a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale, she is ladylike with such character as characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace. Besides, the attitudes of the people toward her are diverse, but mostly negative and unsympathetic largely from the conventional moral stand of the times.3)As a married woman, Hester falls in love with Dimmesdale, a reverend minister of the local community, and their love affair is discovered after she gives birth to a baby daughter. She makes the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate in the hope that the letter may embody her affirmative attitude toward the dilemma in her life, and that it may have the effect of a powerful spell to take her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclose her in a sphere by herself. This detail also mirrors her idea of love and moral value, which is explicitly different from the cowardice and hypocrisy of Dimmesdale.选择题1) The story is set in Boston because this town as one of the largest communities of European immigrants of the time could stand in many ways for ________.A) the Puritan culture;B) the Continental culture;C) the typical culture of the native Indians;D) the trend of immigration.2) Generally speaking, the Puritan culture is characterized by ________.A) its moral rigor and its hostility to social pleasures and indulgences.B) a stress on education and simplicity of life.C) a stress on human creation and free will.D) its concern for the afterlife of man.3) Antinomian refers to a person who believes ________.A) that all the laws are harmful to human freedom.B) that Puritanism is the key to all social problems.C) that the Gospel frees Christians from required obedience to any law, whether scriptural, civil,or moral, and that salvation is attained solely through faith and the gift of divine grace.D) that moral power is the strongest and most useful for man’s self-perfection and social development.4) Why do people call Hester Prynne “Madam Hester”or “Mistress Prynne”, respectively?A) It reflects their habitual use of the English language.B) It makes no difference.C) It hints their social status.D) It shows their different attitudes toward her.5) Why doesn’t Hawthorne explicitly tell his audience the weaver of the scarlet letter upon the bosom of Hester Prynne, though its image he presents is “so fantastically embroidered and illuminated”?A) It means that no one knows the identity of the weaver.B) It means that he wants to increase the suspension of the story.C) He is reluctant to tell it because the weaver is the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, who is seemingly free from the scandal at the moment.D) He just hints that Hester Prynne is the weaver of the meaningful letter by way of the positive comment of a spectator on her skills at needlework, because he seems to think that such an indirect narrative helps mirror how much she has tried to reclaim herself without the public knowledge.6) The grim beadle loudly orders Hester Prynne to show her scarlet letter to all the spectators in the market place, as he desires to ________.A) make all the spectators know the power he has in the community.B) fulfill his duty there.C) humiliate her as an adulterous woman.D) gratify the demand of the spectators.7) As it is compared to “the guillotine among the terrorists of France”, the scaffold, in the front of which Hester Prynne and her daughter are humiliated, symbolizes ________.A) the severity of the social punishment on her.B) the long history of humiliating the convict in the market place.C) her courage in face of dilemma.D) the on-going influence of the European law in America.8) Whom does “the image of Divine Maternity”refer to?A) Hester Prynne.B) Blessed V irgin Mary as the mother of Jesus Christ.C) Hester Prynne’s mother living in England.D) the mother of a papist.9) It is by associating the figure of Hester Prynne to “the image of Divine Maternity”that Hawthorne intends to show that ________.A) he is sympathetic with Hester Prynne.B) he looks down on the cowardice of Dimmesdale.C) Hester Prynne’s visage resembles that of the V irgin Mary.D) as V irgin Mary is sinless, so is Hester Prynne.10) Standing on the scaffold and looking downwards at the assembly, Hester Prynne suddenly clutches her daughter so fiercely to her breast that it sends forth a cry, because she wants to________.A) distract herself from the dreadful gaze of the assembly.B) assure herself that her daughter is still with her.C) wake herself up from somewhat incontroable illusion about her early life.D) wake up her daughter.参考答案AACDD CABDCUNIT 13 Katherine Anne Porter简答题1. Does Granny Weatherall like Doctor Harry? Why or why not?2. Granny intends to do a lot "tomorrow." What is the most important thing? Can she do it?3. What advice does Granny give her family?4. What happened 60 years ago? Who is George? How does Granny feel about him?5. Who is John? How does Granny feel about him?6. What is it that she would like to tell George?7. What is it that she would like to tell John?8. Who does Granny want to see most before her death? Who is this person? Is Granny's wish realized?9. What is Granny's attitude towards death?10. When does Granny realize that she is going to die?11. What is the sign she looks forward to at the end of her life? Does it appear?参考答案1)Granny does not like Doctor Harry. First, she does not think she is ill and has to see the doctor. Second, she thinks the doctor treats her as if she were a child. He is not respectful to her.2)The most important thing is to go through George's letters and John's letters and her letters to them both. She cannot do this because she is now sick and has to stay in bed.3)She gives advice to Lydia about how to bring up children, to Jimmy about how to do business, even how to move the furniture to Cornelia.4)She was jilted by George, the man she was to marry. He did not come to the wedding. Granny is psychologically much wounded by George's jilting. She tries very hard to forget the event and suppresses her grief. However, just before her death, the agony surfaces and she cannot forget him 5)John is the man Granny marries eventually. They have several children during their marriage. Granny is thankful that John is sympathetic to her being jilted. She feels that, with John, there is nothing to worry about any more. But John dies when he is still rather young. She misses him from time to time, hoping to see him again in order to show him that she does not do badly without a husband.6)She, like any other woman, had a husband, fine children and a house. She is given back everything he takes away. However, the agony he causes her is 'unbelievable,' so great that she tries to think of it as that of having a baby.7)She has brought up their children, kept a good house and taken good care of the farm. She has changed, becoming tough by overcoming all the difficulties.8)It is Hapsy. She is Granny's daughter and she dies in childbirth. In her semi-consciousness,Granny feels as if she had to go through many rooms to find Hapsy with her baby. She even hears Hapsy say “I thought you'd never come,” and “Y ou haven't changed a bit!” Even at the time of death, she is concerned with the question “ What if I don't find her?”9)She thinks that she is well prepared for death. Twenty years ago, she felt very old and finished. So she went around making farewell trips to her children. Later she made her will and came down with a long fever. Then she got over the idea of dying for a long time. However, she becomes surprised when the real time comes and thinks it is not time yet and that she cannot go. Eventually, she accepts death by blowing out the light herself.10)It is when she realizes that her children have come a long way and are there by her bed to say good-bye to her.11)It is the sign of Jesus in the form of a bridegroom coming to take her to Heaven. But it does not appear. So she is jilted again.讨论题1. What are the qualities Granny Weatherall possesses that help her to live a successful life? Give examples from the story.2. Why are the events of the story not presented in chronological order? List the important events in chronological order.3. Does Granny Weatherall have any weaknesses?参考答案1。

美国文学复习题有答案

美国文学复习题有答案美国文学复习题及答案一、选择题1. 哪位作家被誉为“美国文学之父”？A. 爱德加·爱伦·坡B. 纳撒尼尔·霍桑C. 华盛顿·欧文D. 马克·吐温答案：C2. 《白鲸》的作者是谁？A. 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔B. 欧内斯特·海明威C. 杰克·伦敦D. 弗朗西斯·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德答案：A3. 以下哪部作品不是菲茨杰拉德所著？A. 《了不起的盖茨比》B. 《夜色温柔》C. 《太阳照常升起》D. 《草叶集》答案：D二、填空题4. 爱德加·爱伦·坡是19世纪美国文学中著名的_________和_________作家。

答案：恐怖小说；侦探小说5. 《草叶集》是19世纪美国著名诗人_________的代表作。

答案：沃尔特·惠特曼6. 欧内斯特·海明威的代表作《老人与海》讲述了一位古巴老渔夫_________的故事。

答案：桑地亚哥三、简答题7. 简述《汤姆叔叔的小屋》的主题和影响。

答案：《汤姆叔叔的小屋》是美国作家哈丽雅特·比彻·斯托所著的一部反奴隶制小说，通过描绘黑人奴隶汤姆叔叔的悲惨命运，揭露了奴隶制的罪恶，对美国南北战争的爆发和废奴运动产生了深远的影响。

8. 描述《了不起的盖茨比》中盖茨比的悲剧性。

答案：《了不起的盖茨比》中的盖茨比是一个富有的商人，他为了追求自己心中的爱情和美国梦，不惜一切代价。

然而，他的努力最终未能实现，他的爱情和梦想都被现实无情地粉碎，最终以悲剧收场，反映了20世纪20年代美国社会的虚伪和道德的沦丧。

四、论述题9. 论述美国文学中的“美国梦”主题。

答案：美国梦是美国文学中一个重要的主题，它代表了个人通过努力可以实现成功和财富的信仰。

从马克·吐温的《汤姆·索亚历险记》到菲茨杰拉德的《了不起的盖茨比》，再到约翰·斯坦贝克的《愤怒的葡萄》，美国梦一直是美国作家探讨的主题。

美国文学期末复习

一、填空1.The central movement in American literature in the period between the end of the Civil War in1865 and the dawn of the 20th century was the development of realism.2.Howell’s straightforward definition of realism is ―nothing more and nothing less than thetruthful treatment of material.‖3.Howells, James and Twain showed obvious differences in their writings. Howells was noted forhis presentation of middle-class American life. Jame s’ topics were taken mainly from the upper class of the society. As for Mark Twain, his interest lay in people of the lower class.4.Mark Twain is the pen-name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.5.Hemingway praised the adventures of Huckleberry fin as one from which ―all modern Americanliterature comes.‖6.Mark Twain wrote in a humorous and colloquial style.7.Mark Twain is remembered as a great literary artist and a social critic as well.8.The early years of the career of Henry James produced a number of novels, among which themost important are The American, Daisy Miller, The portrait of a lady. In those novels he deals with his major fictional theme, ―the international theme‖, the meeting of America and Europe.Americans often appears to stand for morality and Europeans for manners.9.Henry James is considered the founder of psychological realism. He believed that reality existedin the impressions made by life on the spectator, and not in any facts of which the spectator is aware.10.Naturalism 的代表作家Stephen Crane, Jack London, Theodore Dreiser11.Literary Naturalism depends upon a biological model, seeing man as victim of heredity and hisimmediate environment. It is essentially mechanistic in its view of matter and deterministic in its attitude toward human will.12.Determinism, survival, violence, sex and disease became the major themes of naturalism. 记三个就OK13.The American tragedy reveals a last stage in Dreiser’s thinking: social consciousness. Muchmore then in Sister Carrie, he sees his characters as victims of society.14.the most important literary development was the modernistic trend in which a new group ofwriters called the ―Lost Generation‖ rebelled for ideals and values.15.Of several descriptions of the culture of the twenties, two—Gertrude Stein’s ―lost generation‖and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ―Jazz Age‖ have proved most durable.16.Novelists like Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, e ecummings, and Ezra Pound are generally regarded as writers of the lost generation. 必考（记三个人名就好）17.Three Imagist poetic principles: direct treatment, economy of expression and rhyme.18.An image is a literal and concrete representation of a sensory experience of an object.19.―In a station of the metro‖ is a good example of an imagist poem. ―the apparition of these facesin the crowd; petals on a wet black bough‖20.the influence of Chinese poetry on eminent Imagist poets like Pound, Amy Lowell is especiallynoteworthy.21.Pound’s major work of poetry is the Cantos, his epic of fifty years’making. It contains 117poems and is a formidable piece of high modernist poetry.22.The waste land is a vision of the western world at the end of the First World War. It shows itsspiritual crisis at the time and also Eliot’s wish for the regeneration for the human race.23.Hemingway’s public image is one of a tough guy. He liked sports and bullfight, big-gamehunting and deep-sea fishing. He regards the world as ―all a nothing‖ or ―all nada‖ They try hard to find their way, to win the battle, and to show grace and dignity under pressure.24.The creation of Hemingway is guided by his ―iceberg‖ principle.25.The sound and the fury is Faulkner’s response to the old south myth and the new southernsituation.26.Faulkner is first and foremost a southern regionalist who spent his entire life chronicling hisown region. The major theme of Faulkner’s important works is the decadence of Southern character and society following the civil war.名词解释1.the law of jungleThe British philosopher Herbert Spencer employs Darwin’s doctrine of Natural selection and the survival of the fittest to human society. Spencer held that human beings, like animals, were forced to act as they did because of the appetites and urges formed by heredity and environment.The stronger and more intelligent would win.2.the international themeIt is the major fictional theme of Henry James which is about the meeting of America and Europe, American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence, and its moral and psychological complications.3.realismIt is a literary movement in America between the end of the civil war and the dawn of the 20th century. It is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material. The realistic writers truthfully depicted life around them, identified their characters with their surroundings, and sometimes achieved psychological penetration.4.naturalismIt is a literary movement that originates in France. It sees man as victim of heredity and his immediate environment. It is essentially mechanistic in its view of matter and deterministic in its attitude toward human will.5.the lost generationThe term is coined by Gertrude Stein to refer to a group of youth who are disillusioned by the First World War. They witness the economic growth after the war, in sharp contrast with the spiritual emptiness. They are cut off from the tradition and feel lost about their future.6.ImagismIt is a literary movement that flourishes in American poetry in the first years of the 20th century.The three imagist poetic principles are direct treatment, economy of expression and that no unnecessary words may be included in order to make meter or a rhyme.7.the Jazz AgeIt is a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald to describe the extravagant but meaningless life in America between the 1920s and 1930s. It was a generation grown up to find all gods dead, all wars fought, all faith in man shaken.8.iceberg principleIt is the guiding writing principle of Earnest Hemingway. He holds that like an iceberg, a story should be ―seven eighths under water for every part that shows.‖ It gives implications to the highly suggestive and connotative simplicity of Hemingway’s writing style.9.tough guyIt is the public image of Hemingway. He is a man of action, not of thoughts, who shows grace and dignity under pressure.三identify 2’*10 应该每个都会考到，有的可能要出现两次The adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark TwainDaisy Miller –Henry JamesTo build a fire—Jack LondonSister Carrie –Theodore DreiserHugh Selwyn Mauberley –Ezra PoundThe love song of J. Alfred Prufrock – T. S. EliotBig Two-hearted river—Earnest HemingwayA rose for Emily—William Faulkner四comment on character1. Huckleberry FinnHe is the hero of the adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain.六、简答A rose for Emily1. Emily, as the last member of the glorious aristocratic family, died. Her death is a mark of the end of the traditional southern culture. In addition, she is a ―fallen‖woman because she has a relationship with a northerner and a laborer which is prohibited.Because she was born in an aristocratic family, she didn’t have the freedom to choose her own marriage. Her father thought no young man was good enough for her. As a result, after her father’s death, she had to lead a lonely life on her own.2. The old mayor remitted Emily’s taxes, in the pretext that her father had made contribution to the town. He was considerate of the lady who lived alone. However, the new generation called Emily to pay the tax.The young generation is money-oriented. They lose their sense of morality and propriety.3. On the one hand, Faulkner loves the land of his nativity. On the other hand, he is aware of the defects of the southern civilization and foresees its decline.Big two-hearted river1.the burnt-over country, and the black grasshoppers living in the burnt-over land.2.He is physically totally engaged in the physical activities and do them step by step like rituals.The purpose of his journey is to heal the wound caused by war.3.yes. He is a man of action, not of thoughts. He is skillful in doing physical activities and seldomthinks.4.He language is simple and prefers to use repeated words and expressions.P291.they are too wise and intelligent to take action. as a result, they are timid and useless.They could talk about Michelangelo, but don’t dare to confess their love.2.He portrays them as measuring out their life with coffee spoons. They idle away theirextravagant life, which is in fact, empty and meaningless. They have no courage to change the world nor take action.P171.the modern world is full of disillusionment. The traditional western culture is dead.As the poet says, ―he strove to resuscitate the dead art of poetry, to maintain the sublime in theold sense.‖上册P 2141. The forces refer to the forces of nature and society. Men should go with these forces, ratherthan against them. Men are not able to defeat the environment and society.3. The motives are her selfish desire for her own benefits and desires.P1971.man is powerless in the face of nature. He could live only within certain narrow limits ofheat and cold.2.the dog is the fittest, because it has the instincts to be aware of the danger. In addition, it isborn with the thick fur to survive in the coldness. All these are gotten from heredity.3.the author has a pessimistic opinion about human civilization. Although the animal instinctsare less educated, they are wiser than human beings. The dog knows the cold, he knows it is not a good time for travel. However, the man did not know cold, possibly all the generations of his ancestors had been ignorant of cold.P1601.Daisy Miller, who represents the American culture has a dispute with Mrs. Walker, whorepresents the European culture. When Daisy has a walk with two young men, Mrs. Walker tries to persuade her to get into the carriage, because this behavior is against the European conventions. However, Daisy refuses to get on and continues her walking with the two men. 5.It symbolizes the western tradition and conventions.P1331.At the very beginning, Huck tries to make joke of Jim, and treats him as a person lower thanhimself. However, after their journey together, he finds that Jim is his best friend, and treats him equally as a man rather than a slave.2.On the one hand, his common sense and deformed conscience call on him to tell the owner ofJim. On the other hand, his sound heart tells him to save Jim and keep him free. He writes a letter to Miss Watson. After severe mental conflicts, he tears up the letter, and decides to save Jim.。

美国文学复习题有答案

美国文学复习题有答案
1. 谁是美国文学史上第一位重要的诗人？
答案：爱德华·泰勒（Edward Taylor）。

2. 19世纪美国文学中，哪位作家的作品以幽默和讽刺著称？
答案：马克·吐温（Mark Twain）。

3. 简述赫尔曼·梅尔维尔的《白鲸》中的主要冲突。

答案：《白鲸》中的主要冲突是船长亚哈对白鲸莫比·迪克的复仇。

4. 谁是“垮掉的一代”文学运动中最著名的诗人？
答案：艾伦·金斯伯格（Allen Ginsberg）。

5. 在菲茨杰拉德的《了不起的盖茨比》中，盖茨比的悲剧结局是什么？
答案：盖茨比被威尔逊误杀，因为他认为盖茨比是导致他妻子死亡
的罪魁祸首。

6. 描述艾米莉·狄金森的诗歌风格。

答案：艾米莉·狄金森的诗歌风格以简洁、使用短句和强烈个人情
感表达为特点。

7. 谁是20世纪美国文学中“南方文艺复兴”的代表人物？
答案：威廉·福克纳（William Faulkner）。

8. 在《杀死一只知更鸟》中，阿提克斯·芬奇律师为何受到小镇居民
的尊敬？
答案：阿提克斯·芬奇律师因坚持正义和平等，为一个被错误指控
的黑人辩护而受到尊敬。

9. 简述海明威的“冰山理论”。

答案：海明威的“冰山理论”是指在写作中只展示故事的表面部分，而将更深层的意义和情感留给读者去揣摩。

10. 在《愤怒的葡萄》中，约德一家的旅程象征着什么？
答案：约德一家的旅程象征着美国大萧条时期农民的苦难和对更
好生活的不懈追求。

美国文学期末考试复习

Ⅲ. 重要作家及作品Nathanial Hawthorne (纳撒尼尔·霍桑)1.life2.works(1)Two collections of short stories: Twice-told Tales, Mosses from an Old Manse(2)The Scarlet Letter(3)The House of the Seven Gables(4)The Marble Faun(5)The Blithedale Romance(6)―Rappaccini’s Daughter‖(7)―The Birth-ma rk‖(8)―Young Goodman Brown‖3.point of view(1)Evil is at the core of human life, ―that blackness in Hawthorne‖(2)Whenever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation (causality).(3)He is of the opinion that evil educates.(4)He has disgust in science.4.aesthetic美学的ideas(1)He took a great interest in history and antiquity.To him these furnish the soil on which his mind grows tofruition.(2)He was convinced that romance was thepredestined form of American narrative. To tell the truth and satirize and yet not to offend: That was whatHawthorne had in mind to achieve.5.style – typical romantic writer(1)the use of symbols(2)revelation of characters’ psychology(3)the use of supernatural mixed with the actual(4)his stories are parable (parable inform) – to teacha lesson(5)use of ambiguity to keep the reader in the worldof uncertainty – multiple point of view6.Hawthorne’s Literary View:(1)He repeatedly complains about ―the poverty of materials‖ in America.(2)He believes that romance is the predestined form of American narrative. He makes a distinction between novel and r omance in his Preface to ―The House of the Seven Gables‖.(3)He is haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life, therefore we see ―black vision‖ in his works.7.―The Minister’s Black Veil‖:Parable: allegoryMr. Hooper: a Christ figure; moral ambiguitythe veil: a symbol of sin, separationthemes: isolation of the individual from society; guilt of sinThe Scarlet Letter, （adultery）1.About the story:(1)The story of Hester Prynne Set: the 17th century(2)What is situated immediately outside the door ofthe prison in which Hester is kept: A rosebush(3)How does Hester support herself financially: as aseamstress(4)She always wears: black(5)―A‖ represents: adultery2.Major characters in the story:(1)Hester Prynne: wears ―A‖; ―A‖ defines her identity(2)Arthur Dimmesdale: wears ―A‖ in his heart; hissoul never in peace (invisible wearer)(3)Roger Chillingworth: the maker of scarlet letter(4)Pearl: the p roduct/result of ―A‖3.Symbolism: (special movement in literature; the use of symbols)In ―The Scarlet Letter‖:(1)The rosebush: passion(2)The forest: an ungovernable place(3)The scarlet letter: adultery; sin(4)Pearl: wildness; passion(5)The meteor: community4.Refuse to take off ―A‖:(1)For Hester, to remove scarlet letter would be toacknowledge the power it has in determining who she is(2)She is determined to transform its meaning andher identity(3)She wants to be the one who controls its meaning(4)She stands as a self-appointed reminder of theevils society can commitYoung Goodman Brown1. Psychological interpretation——Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychology):(1)superego——consciousness——the principle ofmorality 超我(2)ego——subconsciousness——the principle ofreality 自我(3)id——unconsciousness——the principle of pleasure本我Brown’s journey is psychological as well as physical:Village, a place of light and order——Forest, a place of darkness and wildnessconsciousness——unconsciousnessvillage——superego——FaithBrown——egoforest——id——SatanHawthorne saw the dangers of an overactive suppression of libido and the consequent development of tyrannous superego.2. Men, Women, and the loss of Faith:Despite the literary sexism of his day, Hawthorne portrays women as powerful moral agents.Although Faith is not a three-dimensional character, the story centers on her husband’s rejection of her. Women are victimized.Women——angle in the house——do not have desires, rights and needsFallen women——prostitutes, witches, and mad womenFaith to Brown is female sexuality; Satan to Brown is patriarchal authority3. Female images:Innocents vs. Temptresses:(1)Governor’s wife, Goody Cloyse, prostitutes,maidens, witches, Quaker women, Faith(2)Sex is seen as alluring and dangerous(3)Brown is an empty and failed husband and fatherHerman Melville (赫尔曼·麦尔维尔)1.life2.works(1)Typee 《泰皮》(2)Omio 《殴穆》(3)Mardi 《玛地》(4)Redburn 《雷德本》(5)White Jacket 《白外衣》(6)Moby Dick 《白鲸》(7)Pierre 《皮埃尔》(8)Billy Budd 《比利·巴德》3.point of view(1)He never seems able to say an affirmative yes to life: His is the attitude of ―Everlasting Nay‖ (negative attitude towards life).(2)One of the major themes of his is alienation (far away from each other).Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism (individualism causing disaster and death), rejection and quest, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts over the comforting 19c idea of progress4.style(1)Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique ofmultiple view of his narratives.(2)He tends to write periodic chapters.(3)His rich rhythmical prose and his poetic powerhave been profusely commented upon and praised.(4)His works are symbolic and metaphorical.(5)He includes many non-narrative chapters offactual background or description of what goes on board the ship or on the route (Moby Dick)Moby Dick《白鲸》：Moby-Dick, often considered the greatest American novel, is a masterpiece with many layers. It is a sea adventure, an exciting chase after a destructive and mysterious creature. The enormous white whale Moby-Dick torments Captain Ahab, who is obsessed with finding and killing Moby-Dick, having lost a leg in a previous encounter with the whale, and Ahab’s burning desire for revenge really is the center of the story. At the novel’s end, Ahab finds and attacks Moby-Dick, but the terrible whale takes Ahab, his ship Pequod, and nearly all its crew down to a watery grave with him.1. An encyclopedia of everythingA Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting against fates (extreme individualism)2. Image of ship: ship on the sea is the human soul search the meaning in the universe.3. Purpose——noble: he think Moby Dick as an evilHero: he is a hero but not a traditional hero (he does not stand for goodness); a villain hero4. Byronic hero (create by Byron): mad, bad, dangerous to know, obsessive——rebellions: challenge the authority; unconventional; right the wrongSatanic: revengeful; rebellious; the fight between God & Satan5. The Pequod——a symbol of doom(named after a native American tribe in Massachusetts; did not long survived of white men(extincted); is painted gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and bones)The sailors are of different ethics——all people in American (individual)Queequeg’s Coffin——life boat; life6. Theme of Moby Dick:(1)Melville’s bleak view (negative attitude) the senseof futility and meaninglessness of the world. His attitude to life is ―Everlasting Nay‖. Man in this universe lives ameaningless and futility.The adventure of killing Moby Dick is meaningless. Ahab tries to control it, which leads to his doom.Modern life——the loss of faith, the sense of futility——well expressed in Moby Dick(2)Alienation (far away from each other): exists between man & man, man & society, and man & nature.(3)Loneliness and suicidal individualism——the basic pattern of 19th century American life(individualism causing disaster and death)——Moby Dick isa negative reflection upon Transcendentalism.(4)Rejection and quest:Voyaging for Ishmael has become a journey in quest of knowledge and valuesHenry David Thoreau （亨利·戴维·梭罗）1.life2.works(1) A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River康《科德河和梅里麦克河上的一个星期》(2)Walden《瓦尔登湖》(3)Civil Disobedience 《论公民的不服从权利，又译作消极反抗》(4)Life Without Principle3.point of view(1)He did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was vehemently outspoken on the point.(2)He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system.(3)Like Emerson, but more than him, Thoreau saw nature as a genuine restorative, healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being.(4)He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.(5)He was very critical of modern civilization.(6)―Simplicity…simplify!‖(7)He was sorely disgusted with ―the inundations of the dirty institutions of men’s odd-fellow society‖.(8)He has calm trust in the future and his ardent belief in a new generation of men.WaldenEdgar Allen Poe (埃德加·爱伦·坡)I.Life诗人、小说家和文学评论家II.Works(1)Ms Found in a BottleThe Purloined LetterThe Fall of the House of UsherThe Masque of the Red DeathAnnabel LeeTo HelenSonnet—To ScienceThe Raven(2)Literary theorya.The Philosophy of Compositionb.The Poetic Principlec.Review of Hawthorne’s Twice-told TalesIII.Themes1.death –predominant theme in Poe’s writing―Poe is not interested in anything alive. Everything in Poe’s writings is dead.‖2.disintegration (separation) of life3.horror4.negative thoughts of scienceIV.Aesthetic ideas1.The short stories should be of brevity, totality, single effect, compression and finality.2.The poems should be short, and the aim should be beauty, the tone melancholy. Poems should not be of moralizing. He calls for pure poetry and stresses rhythm.V.Style – traditional, but not easy to readVI.Reputation: ―the jingle man‖ (Emerson)VII.His influencesWalt Whitman(沃尔特·惠特曼)1.life诗人、人文主义者2.work: Leaves of Grass 草叶集(9 editions)(1)Song of Myself(2)There Was a Child Went Forth(3)Crossing Brooklyn Ferry(4)Democratic Vistas(5)Passage to India(6)Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking3.themes –―Catalogue of American and European thought‖He had been influenced by many American and European thoughts: enlightenment, idealism, transcendentalism, science, evolution ideas, western frontier spirits, Jefferson’s individualism, Civil War Unionism, Orientalism.Major themes in his poems (almost everything):●equality of things and beings●divinity of everything●immanence of God●democracy●evolution of cosmos●multiplicity of nature●self-reliant spirit●death, beauty of death●expansion of America●brotherhood and social solidarity (unity of nations inthe world)pursuit of love and happiness4.style: ―free verse‖(1)no fixed rhyme or scheme(2)parallelism, a rhythm of thought(3)phonetic recurrence(4)the habit of using snapshots(5)the use of a certain pronoun ―I‖(6) a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure(7)use of conventional image(8)strong tendency to use oral English(9)vocabulary – powerful, colourful, rarely used words of foreign origins, some even wrong(10)sentences – catalogue technique: long list of names, long poem lines5.influence(1)His best work has become part of the common property of Western culture.(2)He took over Whitman’s vision of the poet-prophet and poet-teacher and recast it in a more sophisticated and Europeanized mood.(3)He has been compared to a mountain in American literary history.(4)Contemporary American poetry, whatever schoolor form, bears witness to his great influence.Ralph Waldo Emerson (拉尔夫·华尔多·爱默生)1.life (American philosopher, poet and essayist; the most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism)2.works(1)Nature——his first book expressing the main principle of Transcendentalism. It is regarded as―American’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence‖(2)Two essays: The American Scholar, The Poet(3)Self-Reliance(4)Each and All(5)Rhodora3.point of view(1)One major element of his philosophy is his firm belief in the transcendence of the ―oversoul‖.(2)He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man, and advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature.(3)If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself and brings out the divine in himself, he can hope to become better and even perfect. This is what Emerson means by ―the infinitude of man‖.(4)Everyone should understand that he makes himselfby making his world, and that he makes the world by making himself.老尹：(1)the transcendence of the Oversoul. His Nature records his ―moment of ecstasy‖, the moment of losing one’s individuality.(2)the infinitude of man and human perfectibility. Emerson believes that the possibilities for man to develop and improve himself are infinite.(3)nature as symbolic of God. In the eyes of Emerson,―nature is the vehicle of thought,‖ and ―particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts‖.4.aesthetic ideas(1)He is a complete man, an eternal man.(2)True poetry and true art should ennoble.(3)The poet should express his thought in symbols.(4)As to theme, Emerson called upon Americanauthors to celebrate America which was to him a lone poem in itself.5.How important is Emerson in history?He embodied a new nation’s desire and struggle to assert its own identity in its formative period.His aesthetics marked the birth of true American poetry.He called for an independent culture, which representedthe desire of the whole nation to develop a culture of its own.His reputation declined somewhat in recent years because of his cheerful optimism.Washington Irving（华盛顿·欧文）1.several names attached to Irving(1)first American writer(2)the messenger sent from the new world to the oldworld(3)father of American literature2.life作家3.works(1) A History of New York 《纽约外史》(2)The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. 《见闻札记》）(He won a measure of international recognition with the publication of this.)(3)The History of the Life and Voyages ofChristopher Columbus《哥伦布传》(4) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada《攻克格拉纳达》(5)The Alhambra《阿尔罕伯拉》4.Literary career: two parts(1)1809~1832a.Subjects are either English or Europeanb.Conservative love for the antique(2)1832~1859: back to US5.style – beautiful(1)gentility, urbanity, pleasantness(2)avoiding moralizing – amusing and entertaining(3)enveloping stories in an atmosphere(4)vivid and true characters(5)humour – smiling while reading(6)musical languageJames Fenimore Cooper（詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库柏）1.life (―father of American novelists‖; the creation of the west frontier and its heroes)2.works(1)The Precaution (《戒备》（1820, his first novel,imitating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice)(2)The Spy 《间谍》(his second novel and greatsuccess)(3)Leather stocking Tales 皮袜子故事集(hismasterpiece, a series of five novels)The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneer, The Prairie3.point of viewThe theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law,order vs. change, aristocrat vs. democrat, natural rights vs. legal rights4.style(1)highly imaginative(2)good at inventing tales(3)good at landscape description(4)conservative(5)characterization wooden and lacking in probability(6)language and use of dialect not authentic5.literary achievementsHe created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the history of the United States is, in a sense, the process of the American settlers exploring and pushing the American frontier forever westward, then Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the West. He turned the west and frontier as a useable past and he helped to introduce western tradition to American literature.Benjamin Franklin1.life (printer, enlightener, inventor, scientist, statesman, diplomat)2.works(1)Poor Richard’s Almanac(2)Autobiography——form: the first autobiography of Americanmeaning: American dream & individualismself-improvement; business (contents); prototype of American success (significance); Puritanism and enlightenment spirits3.contribution(3)He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society.(4)He was called ―the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case) from heaven‖.(5)Everything seems to meet in this one man –―Jack of all trades‖. Herman Melville thus described him ―master of each and mastered by none‖.(6)Aid Jefferson in writing The Declaration of IndependenceThomas Paine托马斯·潘恩1.father of the American Revolution2.propagandist, pamphleteer, a master of persuasion who understands the power of language to move a man to action3.main works:(1)The American Crisis(2)Common Sense(3)The Right of Man(4)The Age of ReasonPoetry:1.Genre:Narrative Poetry 叙事诗Epic Poetry 史诗Dramatic Poetry 戏剧诗Satirical Poetry 讽刺诗Lyric Poetry 抒情诗2.Basic Elements of Poetry:(1)R hythm: the beat created by the sounds of the poem(2)Meter: a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllablesa)Foot: unit of meter 有几个重音就有几个footb)Types of Feet: Iambic——unstressed, stressed抑扬格（最常见）Trochaic——扬抑格Anapestic——抑抑扬格Dactylic——扬抑抑格Kinds of Metrical lines: monometer (1 foot on a line), dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, octameter(3)Rhyme3.Free Verse Poetry:(1)D oes not have repeating patterns of stressed & unstressed syllables(2)Very conversational: sounds like someone talking with you(3) A modern type of poetry: does not have rhyme4.Blank Verse Poetry:Written in lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter but does not use end rhymeUnrhymed iambic pentameter5.End Rhyme尾韵: a word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line6.Alliteration头韵: consonant sounds repeated at the beginnings of words7.Consonance一致: similar to alliteration except the repeated consonant sounds can be anywhere in the words8.Internal Rhyme: in the same line9.Figures of speech修辞: simile明喻, metaphor暗喻，隐喻, personification拟人, onomatopoeia拟声, parallelism排比, allusion引喻。

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文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word 版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. 2013-2014-1 美国文学史及选读期末复习材料Ⅰ Multiple choices1. Which is not connected with Thomas Paine?A. Common SenseB. The American CrisisC. The Rights of ManD. The Autobiography2. “These are the times that try men ’s souls ”, these words were once read to Washington ’s troops and did much to spur excitement to further action with hope and confidence. Who is the author of these words?A. Benjamin FranklinB. Thomas PaineC. Thomas JeffersonD. George Washington3. At the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the ______.A. Chartist MovementB. Romanticist MovementC. Enlightenment MovementD. Modernist Movement4. In American literature, the Enlighteners were favorable to______.A. the colonial orderB. religious obscurantismC. the Puritan traditionD. the secular literature5. The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parent country and the Continental Congress adopted ______ in 1776.A. Declaration of IndependenceB. the Sugar ActC. the Stamp ActD. the Mayflower Compact6. ______ usually was regarded as the first American writer.A. William BradfordB. Anne BradstreetC. Emily DickinsonD. Captain John Smith7. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made such a stir in England that she became known as the “______” who appeared in America.A. Ninth MuseB. Tenth MuseC. Best MuseD. First Muse8. Who was considered as the “poet of American Revolution ”?A. Anne BradstreetB. Edward TaylorC. Michael WigglesworthD. Philip Freneau9. In 1817, the stately poem called Thanatopsis introduced the best poet ______ to appear in America up to that time.A. Edward TaylorB. Philip FreneauC. William Cullen BryantD. Edgar Allen Poe10. The finest example of Nathaniel Hawthorne ’s symbolism is the recreation of Puritan Boston in ______.A. The Scarlet LetterB. Young Goodman BrownC. The Marble FaunD. The Ambitious Guest11. “The universe is composed of Nature and the soul … Spirit is present everywhere ”. This is the voice of the book Nature written by Emerson, which pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England ______.A. RomanticismB. TranscendentalismC. NaturalismD. Symbolism12. Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism?A. NatureB. WaldenC. On BeautyD. Self-Reliance13. Mark Twain created, in _________, a masterpiece of American realism that is also one of the great books of world literature.A. The Adventure of Huckleberry FinnB. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word 版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. C. The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg D. The Gilded Age14. _________ marks the climax of Mark Twain ’s literary creativity.A . The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn B. The Gilded AgeC. Life on the MississippiD. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer15. Choose the novel which is not written by Henry James.A. The AmbassadorsB. The Wings of the DoveC. The BostoniansD. The Mysterious Stranger16. Generally speaking, all those writers with a naturalistic approach to human reality tend to be _________.A. transcendentalistsB. idealistsC. pessimistsD. impressionists17. Ezra Pound ’s long poem _________ contained more than one hundred poems loosely connected.A. The Waste LandB. The CantosC. Don JuanD. Queen Mab18. T. S. Eliot ’s first major poem _________(1917), has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes19. Ernest Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse. These two persons later became the characters of his novel _________.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. For Whom the Bell TollsC. The Sun Also RisesD. A Farewell to Arms20. In William Faulkner ’s The Sound and the Fury , he used a technique called _________, in which the whole story was told through the thoughts of one character.A. stream of consciousnessB. imagismC. symbolismD. naturalism21. Led by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and ______, there arose a kind of teachings of transcendentalism in the early nineteenth century.A. Herman MelvilleB. Henry David ThoreauC. Mark TwainD. Theodore Dreiser22. A New ______ had appeared in England in the last years of the eighteenth century. It spread to continental Europe and then came to America early in the nineteenth century.A. realismB. critical realismC. romanticismD. naturalism23. From Henry David Thoreau ’s jail experience, came his famous essay, ______ which states Thoreau ’s belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Sense24. Mark Twain, one of the greatest 19th century American writers, is well known for his _________.A. international themeB. waste-land imageryC. local colorD. symbolism25. Herman Melville ’s ______ is an encyclopedia of everything: history, philosophy religion, etc. in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry.A. The Old Man and the SeaB. Moby DickC. White Jacket C . Billy Budd26. The ship “______” carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.A. SunflowerB. ArmadaC. MayflowerD. Pequod27. From 1733 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous ______, an annual collection of proverbs.A. The AutobiographyB. Poor Richard ’s AlmanacC. Common SenseD. The General Magazine文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word 版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持.28. In American literature, the eighteen-century was the age of the Enlightenment. ______ was the dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. RationalismC. RevolutionD. Evolution 29. ______ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.A. Henry David ThoreauB. Ralph Waldo EmersonC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Walt Whitman30. Edgar Allen Poe ’s first collection of short stories is ______.A. Tales of a TravelerB. Leatherstocking TalesC. Canterbury TalesD. Tales of the Grotesque of Arabesque31. ______ was a romanticized account of Herman Melville ’s stay among the Polynesians. The success of the book soon made Melville well known as the “man who lived among cannibals ”.A. Moby DickB. TypeeC. OmooD. Billy Budd32. Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence ”?A. The American ScholarB. English TraitsC. The Conduct of LifeD. Representative Men33. The three dominant figures of the realistic period in American literature are _________.A. Theodore Dreiser, Emily Dickinson and William Dean HowellsB. Mark Twain, Henry James and William Dean HowellsC. Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser and William Dean HowellsD. Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson and William Dean Howells34. American literature produced only one female poet during the nineteenth century. This was _________.A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickinsonD. Harriet Beecher35. In 1900, London published his first collection of short stories, named _________.A. The Son of the WolfB. The Sea WolfC. The Law of LifeD. White Fang36. In Henry James ’ Daisy Miler , the author tries to portray the young woman as an embodiment of _________.A. the force of conventionB. the free spirit of the New WorldC. the decline of aristocracyD. the corruption of the newly rich37. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” This is the shortest poem written by _________.A. T.S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD.38. The Fitzgerald lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than F. Scot Fitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as _________.A. The Roaring TwentiesB. The Jazz AgeC. The Dollar DecadeD. all of the above39. In 1954, _________ was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his “mastery of the art of modern narration ”.A. T.S EliotB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faukner40. William Faukner ’s novel _________ describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family, symbolizing the old social order, told from four different points of view.A. The Sound and the FuryB. StartorisC. The UnvanquishedD. The Town41. “The Lure of the Spirit: The Flesh in Pursuit ” is the title of one chapter in Dreiser ’s novel _________.A. An American DreamB. Sister Carrie文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word 版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. C. Dreiser Looks at Russia D. Jannie Gerhardt42. The main theme of _________ The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo that representationof life should be the main object of the novel.A. Henry James ’B. William Dean Howells ’C. Mark Twain ’sD. O. Henry ’s43. With William Dean Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the scene, _________became the major trend in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism44. While embracing the socialism of Marx, London also believed in the triumph of the strongest individuals. This contradiction is most vividly projected in the patently autobiographical novel _________.A. The Call of the WildB. The Sea WolfC. Martin EdenD. The Iron Heel45_________ is a novella about a young American girl who gets “killed ” by the winter in Rome, and it brought Henry James international fame for the first time.A. The AmericanB. The EuropeansC. Daisy MillerD. The Portait of a LadyAnswers: 1-5 DBCDA 6-10 DBDCA 11-15 BAAAD 16-20 CBADA21-25 BCCCB 26-30 CBBBD 31-35 BABCA 36-40 BCDBA 41-45 BACCCⅡ Filling the following blanks with proper answers1. Captain John Smith became the first American writer.2. The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people.3. The first major intellectual spokesman of the Massachusetts Bay colony was John Cotton, sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England.”4. Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America , and she was nicknamed the tenth Muse.5. Poor Richard ’s Almanac is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.6. Thomas Paine ’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence ”.7. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.8. Philip Freneau developed a natural, simple, and concrete diction, best illustrated in such nature lyrics as “The Wild Honey Suckle ” and “The Indian Burying Ground ”.9. Philip Freneau has been called the “Father of American Poetry ”.10. In Washington Irving ’s Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.11. Cooper ’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprise the Leatherstocking tales .12. “To a Waterfowl ” is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant ’s wok.13. “Thanatopsis ”, William Cullen Bryant ’s best-known poem, consists of four stanzas in iambic tetrameter abab. The title means “view of death ”.14. Edgar Allan Poe is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories ”.15. Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.16. In Walden , Thoreau thought it better for a man to work one day a week and rest six, and the rest of the time could be devoted to thought.17. Hawthorne ’s stories touch the deepest roots of man ’s moral nature.18. Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word 版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. 19. After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet ’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.20. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom ’s Cabin , had become an American institutionand the most famous literary woman in the world.21. William Dean Howells found his subject matter in the experiences of the American middle class.22. William Dean Howells called for the treatment of the “smiling aspects of life ” as being the more “American.”23. The naturalists emphasized that the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environment.24. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse.25. O ·Henry ’s stories are usually short and interesting; Famous for their surprising end.26. Henry James is famous for his international theme of the traditionless American confronting the complexity of European life.27. Jack London believed in the inevitable triumph of the strongest individuals.28. Dreiser ’s greatest and most successful novel, An American Tragedy, is about a young man who acts as if the only way he can be truly fulfilled is by acquiring wealth —through marriage if necessary.29. Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a “Lost Generation,” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.30. Wallace Stevens ’ work is primarily motivated by the belief that “ideas of order ”.31. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises , Hemingway became the spokesman for what Gertrude Stein had called “a lost generation.”Ⅲ Decide whether the statements are true or false (T/F).1. John Winthrop ’s reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been regarded as the first distinct American literature written in English.2. In 1612, William Bradford published in England a book called A Map of Virginia ; With a description of the country.3. Philip Freneau was neoclassical by training and taste yet romantic in essential spirit.4. Ralph Waldo Emerson was recognized as the leader of transcendentalist movement, but he always applied the term “Transcendentalist ” to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.5. To Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, the telling of a tale was a way of inquiring into the meaning of life.6. Walt Whitman was attacked in his lifetime for his offensive subject matter of sexuality and for his conventional style.7. Tom Sawyer walked out of Twain ’s pages directly from his fresh memory of his boyhood in the west.8. Hurstwood is a character in Theodore Dreiser ’s Sister Carrie .9. In the decade of the 1910s, American literature achieved a new diversity and reached its greatest heights.10. Edwin Arlington Robinson began his career as a novalist in bleakness and poverty.11.The greatest of America ’s realists, such as Henry James and Mark Twain, moved well beyond a superficial portrayal of nineteenth-century America.12.Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or William Dean Howells.13.Sister Carrie is generally regarded as Theodore Dreiser ’s masterpiece.14.Generally speaking, Jack London was much more interested in ideas than Stephen Crane and less sentimental than Frank Norris.15.Ralph Waldo Emerson ’s prose style was sometimes as highly individual as his poetry.文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word 版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. 16. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.17. Georgia, Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New England, all were named after Frenchmonarchs and lands.18. Benjamin Franklin was a prose stylist whose writing reflected the neoclassic ideals of clarity, restraint, simplicity and balance.19. The Fall of the House of Usher is one of Edgar Allan Poe ’s poems.20. The Scarlet Letter is set in the seventeenth century. It is an elaboration of a fact which the author took out of the life of the Puritan past.21. Walt Whitman was so great that he won respect and love during his lifetime for his Leaves of Grass .22. Many of O. Henry ’s stories contain a lot of slang and colloquial expressions, just like his own speech.23. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Mark Twain or William Dean Howells.24. Robert Frost rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, and chose “the old-fashioned way to be new ” instead.25. John Steinbeck ’s theme was usually that simple human virtues such as kindness and fair treatment were far superior to official hard-heartedness, or the dehumanizing cruelty of exploiters for their own commercial advantage.26. Transcendentalists spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society.27. Washington Irving was the first great belletrist, writing always for pleasure, and to produce pleasure.28. James Fennimore Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea adventure tale and the frontier saga.29. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was conspicuously noticeable.30. “Young Goodman Brown ” seems to prove everyone possesses some evil secrets1-5 FFTFT 6-10FTTFF 11-15 TFFTT 16-20 FFTFT 21-25FFFTT 26-30 TTTTTⅣ Answer the following questions briefly.1. These are the times that try men ’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly —This dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.Questions:(1)Which book is this passage taken from?(2)Who is the author of this book?(3)Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?(4)What do you think of the language?Answers:(1) The American Crisis.(2) Thomas Paine(3) Paine is praising those who stand “it ”, it referring to “the service of their country ”. In the meantime, Paine is criticizing those who shrink from the service of their country in this crisis.(4) The language is plain, impressive and forceful. Paine himself once said that his purpose as a writer was to use plain language to make those who can scarcely read understand and to fit the文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word 版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question and nothing else.2. It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho,was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now widly heightened by circumstance of the Town-Ho ’s story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his mates …Nevertheless, so potent and influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod ’s main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record.Questions:(1)From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) What is the name of the novelist?(3) Who is Ahab?(4) What is Pequod?(5) What is the theme of the novel?Answers:(1) Moby Dick(2) Herman Melville(3) The captain of the whaling ship(4) The name of the whaling ship(5) The rebellious struggle of Captain Ahab against the overwhelming, mysterious vastness of the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces.3. When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human temper. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper cautious interpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognized for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) How do you understand “the cosmopolitan standard of virtue ”?(4) Is there any naturalist tendency in this passage?Answers:(1)Sister Carrie(2) Theodore Dreiser文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word 版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. (3) “The cosmopolitan standard of virtue ” is something that makes a person become low in virtue and become worse.(4) Yes.4. Briefly discuss the novel The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one of the greatest novels in American literature. It fully explores the disillusionment and despair of the lost generation through the personal tragedy of a young man whose “incorruptible Dream ” is easily smashed into pieces by the crude reality. The protagonist, Gatsby, is a mythical figure whose intensity of dream partakes of a state of mind that embodies American itself. His failure magnifies the end of the American Dream. The style of the story is explicit and chilly. Fitzgerald ’s accurate dialogues, his careful observation of mannerism and the colorful images provide the reader with a vivid and profound scene of the reality.5. What are the three main principles that Ezra Pound endorsed?(1) Directly treat poetic subjects.(2) Eliminate merely ornamental or superfluous words.(3) Rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of metronome.6. Tell the differences between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman(1) Emily Dickinson expresses the inner life of individuals, while Walt Whitman keeps his eyes on the society at large.(2) Emily Dickinson is “regional ”, while Walt Whitman is “national ” in his outlook.(3) Formally, Emily Dickinson uses concise, simple dictions and syntax, while Walt Whitman uses endless, all-inclusive catalogs.Ⅴ Essay Writing (这个部分给大家的答案只是罗列了回答的要点，要将其连缀成文，如果简单按复习题给的答案罗列，只得一半分数)1. Write a short essay about the novel The Grapes of WrathWriter: John Steinbeck----won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962; spoke for the oppressed and sufferedBackground information: (1) Oklahoma used to be a major agricultural state. In the 1930s, a draught ruined this place. People had to leave here to seek a way out. Many of them went to California in hope of finding jobs there to support their family. (2)The Great Depression.Meaning of title: (1) Hope to despair; (2) Wrath of people; (3) Indications of revolution. Theme: (1) Embodying the mass misery of farmers; (2) Praising the spirit of love and unity; (3) Advocating fight and struggle for better life.Structure: (1) Its structure is dictated by the bible; (2) There are two blocks of material: a. the westward trek of the Joads; b. the depressed Oklahomans, and the general picture of the Great Depression.Symbols: (1) dust---evil forces; (2) grapes---hope →rage2. Write a short essay about the novel A Farewell to ArmsWriter: Hemingway---- (1) in 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize; (2) Main works: The Sun also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The old Man and the Sea. (3) His major contribution: a. Code hero---grace under pressure; b. Iceberg Theory--- economy of expression;(4) the lost generationBackground information: World War ⅡTheme: shows the filth, meaningless, calamity of war; the death, the nothingness of life; the disillusionment with future, hope and love, happiness. The universe is indifferent. There is no God to watch over man.文档来源为:从网络收集整理.word 版本可编辑.欢迎下载支持. Characters: Henry--- initially detached from life----though well-disciplined and friendly, he feels as if he has nothing to do with the war. After falling in love with Catherine he becamea code hero in some way. Catherine---code hero: unfaltering devotion to Henry, brave, considerate,optimisticSymbols: rain---sadness, desperation, depression. It is raining outside almost every time something bad occurs. mud---nature's hostility to man.3. Write a short essay about the novel The Adventures of Tom SawyerAuthor: Mark Twain —the first truly American writer, a local colorist; he used short, concrete and colloquial language; his sentences are simple, and even ungrammatical; good at writing children ’s adventures; masterpieces including: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom SawyerAbout the novel: The first famous novel about growing up and showing the contradictions between adults ’ world and teenagers ’ world, a story of his seeking for freedom, fame, fortune, love, manhood; reveals the American values such as hero complex and American dream; records the rising Age of American Bourgeois system; bears the irony and satire toward the religion and rigid, didactic children education, which curbed the imagination of children and their innate nature for freedom and adventures and molded them into a stereotype of lifeless man.4. Comment briefly on Theodore Dreiser ’s theme and writing style?Theme: Dreiser ’s works are mainly concerned with the tragic nature of the human condition by depicting the coarse, vulgar, cruel, and terrible aspects of life like sex and crime.Style: In terms of style, Dreiser has sometimes been censured for his clumsy syntax, deficient characterization, and inept and dull prose. Yet his accumulated detail, carefully selected and faithfully recorded, is a technique of power. Like the other naturalists, he refused to judge —to consider people as good or evil. He clothes his concepts symbolically in the details of reality. It is his journalistic method that has made him one of America ’s foremost novelists.。

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