美国文学考试重点
美国文学重点整理
美国文学重点整理美国文学题型：1.60分三篇小说，三个诗歌，作者，出处，作品分析2.20分名词解释3.20分论述1. 20世纪美国文学发展的经济背景关键词：Urbanization（new farm machines, rising productivity, rising leisure time）Industrialization(electric lights, camera, telephone, radio, type writer) CommercializationGlobalization.Philosophy: Schopenhauer叔本华Nietzsche 尼采Jean PaulFreud补充：Fitzgerald：tender is the night, all the sad young man, the rich boy,2. What is Lost Generation?①It is a term to describe a group of American intellectuals, poets, artists and writers who fled to France in the post WWI years to reject the values of American materialism and to seek the bohemian lifestyle in Paris.②It is full of youthful idealism, seeking the meaning of life, drank excessively, have love affairs,creating some of the finest American literature to date.③American poet Gertrude Stein coined this expression, speaking to Hemingway, she said, you are all a lost generation.the term stuck the mystique surrounding these individuals continues to fancy us.④Main representatives: F. Scott.Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos3. What is modernism? Main features.A cultural movement that generally includes the progressive art and architecture, design, literature, music, dance,painting and other visual arts which emerged in the beginning of the 20century, particularly in the years following WWI. It was a movement of artists and designers who rebelled against late 19th century academic and historic tradition, and embraced the new economic ,social and political aspects of the emerging modern world.The avant-garde movements that followed including impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism（立体主义）, futurism, expressionism, contructivism（构成主义）are generally defined as modernism.4. The Great Gatsby作者： F. Scott Fitzgerald男女主人公：Jay Gatsby & Daisy Fay BuchananWhy is Gatsby great? Why did he die?His flaws in characteristics: Naive,innocent, ideal正是因为美国社会缺乏盖茨比精神，社会不重视精神世界的充实，人们经历spiritual emptiness, 所以盖茨比伟大。
美国文学期末必考点总结
20151120美国文学必考点总结By Wang HX.说明：1，名词解释可参考我以前发的资料或者自己的资料，也可在网上搜美国文学名词解释。
2，作家作品一定要正确搭配，还要会写下面我列出的作家和作品。
作者是什么时代的代表，有什么称号要记住。
1,英国最早移民到美国的诗人：Anne Bradstreet，作品<The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America>first woman poet.2,Edward Taylor超验主义的先驱。
3，Hard work,thrift,piety and sobriety。
清教徒强调的四点，会写，可能填空。
4，Benjamin Franklin，作品"Poor Richard's Almanac"包括很多collection of proverbs流行谚语集。
The Autobiography自传。
5，Thomas Paine托马斯·佩因1737-1809"Great Common of Mankind"最平凡的人。
作品"American Crisis"《美国危机》，Common Sense常识。
6，Thomas Jefferson托马斯·杰弗逊，drafted the Declaration of Independence.起草了独立宣言。
All Men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life,Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.人人生而平等，他们都从“造物主”那边被赋予了某些不可转让的权利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。
美国文学复习重点
1. Colonial American (1607-1765)Puritanism in America 清教主义1.Influence①American Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature. It has become, to some extent, so much a state of mind(思维模式),rather than a set of tenets.( ['tɛnɪt] 教义)②To them, religion was a matter of primary importance.③They accepted the doctrine of predestination(命运),original sin(原罪),total depravity(堕落),and limited atonement(赎罪) through a special infusion([ɪn'fjuʒn] 神典) of grace from God.[John, Calvin]④In a word, American Puritans are ready for any misfortune and tragic failures that might lie in wait for them.2. Colonial America did not always write the way Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor wrote. Some people wrote for civil and religious freedom, and some others wrote for America shaking off(摆脱) the fetter(束缚) of the savage(残酷) and rapacious(贪婪) British colonial rule.3. Early writersJohn Smith A Description of New England《新英格兰叙事》Anne Bradstreet(first American poet) Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America ( 1650 )《第十位诗神》.On the Burning of Our House 《写在我家失火之际》Edward Taylor(finest 出色的) Huswifery 《家务》Upon a Spider Catching a Fly《蜘蛛扑捉苍蝇之遐想》Chapter 2. The period of Enlightenment and the Independence War (1765 -1800)1.Eighteenth-century American thinking was dominated by two basic patterns of thought .Toward the latter part of theseventeenth century, a completely new view of the universe came into being.(Deism 自然神论)2.Benjamin Franklin(Enlightenment thinkers and writers)1）Poor Richard’s Almanac《格言历书》（Maxims格言and axioms哲理)2）Autobiography《自传》a.It is perhaps the first real post-revolutionary (开山之作)American writing as well as the first real autobiography inEnglish.b.It gives us the simple yet immensely(全面) fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state ofpoverty and obscurity(卑微) into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man. (自我奋斗成功)c．Comments1) First of all, it is a puritan document(清教徒传记). The most famous section describes his scientific scheme ofself-examination(审视) and self-improvement(完善).2) It is also an eloquent elucidation(清楚表明) of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of eighteenthcentury enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free(善良自由), by nature endowed(赋予) by God with certain inalienable(不可剥夺的) rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.3) It is the pattern of Puritan(典型清教写作风格) simplicity, directness, and concision(明朗). The plainness(平实) of itsstyle, the homeliness(通俗) of imagery(比喻), the simplicity of diction(措词), syntax and expression are some of the salient(突出) features we cannot mistake.3.Hector St John de Crevecoeur Letters From an American Farmer «美国农人书简»或者《信札》\American Romanticism（1800-1865）Section 1 Early Romantic PeriodWhat is Romanticism?A．Romanticism is a literary movement throughout the 19th C and it can be divided into the early period and the late period. Also it remains powerful in contemporary literature and art.B. It started with the publication of Washington Irving's The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman's Leaves of Grass.C. Romanticism is associated with imagination and boundlessness, as contrasted with classicism,D. The most clearly defined romantic literary movement in the U. S. was Transcendentalism.E. The representatives of the early period includes Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper. Waldo EmersonHistorical Background: 1.American Puritanism 2.New England Transcendental Movement 3.American westward Expansion.American RomanticismFeatures：(1)American romanticism was in a way derivate: American romantic writing was some of them modelled onEnglish and European works.(2)American romanticism is a cultural heritage(文化遗产),American moral values were basically Puritan.(3)American romanticism was both imitative and independent.(4)Writers like Emerson and Whitman thought and wrote differently. They calling for the creation of a nativeAmerican culture and literature, represent“the deeper forces(坚实力量) ”of a Romanticisms at onceindigenous(本土化) and universal(广为人知).1. Washington Irving-- One of the first American writers to earn an international reputation, an early Romantic writer, and Father of the American short stories, The Father of American Literature ,“the American Goldsmith”Work：A History of New York《纽约外史》（DK）won him wide popularityThe Sketch Book《见闻札记》（GC）won international fame→contains German folk tales Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy HollowThe History of the Life and V oyages of Christopher Columbus 《哥伦布市传》A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada《攻克格拉纳达》The Alhambra《阿尔罕伯拉》Selections:Rip Van Winkle:I have observed that he was a simple, good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor and an obedient, henpecked husband.Rip’s sole domestic adherent was his dog Wolf, who was as much henpecked as his master; For a long while he used to console himself, when driven from home, by frequenting a kind of perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village, which held its sessions on a bench before a small inn, designated by a rubicund portrait of his majesty George the Third. “The Union Hotel, by Jonathan Doolittle.”Instead of the great tree which used to shelter the quiet little Dutch inn of yore, there now was reared a tall naked pole, with something on the top that looked like a red nightcap, and from it was fluttering a flag. The red coat was changed for one of blue and buff, a sword was stuck in the hand instead of a scepter, the head was decorated with a cocked hat, and underneath was painted in large characters, GENERAL WASHINGTON.The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tarry Town, New York, Ichabod Crane, Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, Katrina Van Tassel Literary career: two parts---1809~1832a.Subjects are either English or Europeanb.Conservative love for the antique---1832~1859: back to USStyle –beautiful, Romanticism, Humor, Irony(1)avoiding moralizing – amusing and entertaining(2)enveloping stories in an atmosphere(3)vivid and true characters(4)humour – smiling while reading(5)musical language2.James Fenimore Cooper (the American Scott)a. He is the first border writer;(边疆作家)b. Created a myth about the formative period of American nation;（创造了美国格式化时代的神话）c. Helped introduce the “Western”tradition into American literatureWork：A：Leatherstocking Tales 《皮袜子故事集》(masterpiece, a series of five novels)The Pioneers《拓荒者》The Prairie (1827), 《大草原》(1823)---old The Last of Mohicans(1826), 《最后的莫西干人》The Pathfinder 《探路者》(1840)---middle-age, The Deerslayer (1841) 《杀鹿人》---youth (This process is the American quest for an ideal community.)Analysis of Natty Bumppo:Presented as an ideal American, living a virtuous and free life in God’s world. To him the wilderness is good, pure, perfect, where there is freedom not tainted （变质）by human institutions; He find “civilization” both corrupt and corrupting; The civilization is poisoned at the root from the very beginning.Analysis of Judge Temple: Judge Temple is a good indication of Cooper’s ambivalence(矛盾)，as a Writer of frontier life; He is a man of honor and integrity. He is as much a frontiersman as Natty Bumppo; He represents “the practically inevitable” (实实在在的实用)aspect of frontier life, He symbolizes law and civilization.His themes:a.Native subject of frontier and wilderness(荒原)b.New sources of fiction.Section 2 American Transcendentalism （summit of the Romantic Movement）（1836-1860）Appearance：1836, “Nature” by EmersonBackground: The Mexican-America War(1846-1848)美西战争，The westward expansion 西部大开发开始What is Transcendentalism：（Puritan heritage+Foreign influence）●appeared in 1830s in US●emphasis on spirit or Oversoul and stressing importance of the individual●regarding nature as symbols of the spirit or God and emphasis on brotherhood of man●representatives: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David ThoreauResources：Transcendentalist Club in New England—the Dial《日晷》Features1.spirit/oversoul(超灵)2.importance of individualism3.nature – symbol of spirit/God; garment(外衣) of the oversoulSignificanceA. influenced a large group of writersB. summit of American RomanticismC. marked the independence of American literatureTranscendentalism: quotes----“Go back to nature, sink yourself back into its influence and you’ll become spiritually whole again.”1. Ralph Waldo Emerson (Father of Transcendentalism)Works:Nature 自然(1836) ：“the manifesto(宣言) of American transcendentalism” and “the Bible of New Eng land Transcendentalism.”----“a transparent eyeball”The American Scholar美国学者(1837)："America's Declaration of Intellectual Independence"(知识分子独立宣言) Self-Reliance 论自助: the importance of cultivating oneself (自我培养)----individualism2. Henry David ThoreauCivil Disobedience 《论公民的不服从》Walden：a series of 18 essays；Comparing with Emerson who was a great thinker, Thoreau was a great experimentalist Selection:“I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of lif e and see if I could not learn what it has to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.“We live meanly, like ants; though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men ... it is error upon error and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness. Our life is frittered away by detail. .”3. Nathaniel Hawthorne (Typical romantic writer ;born in Massachusetts)Works:Major romances or novels ：•The Scarlet Letter 《红字》(1850) (Hester Prynne 女主；Arthur Dimmesdale 情人；Roger Chillingworth 丈夫) •The House of the Seven Gables《七个尖角阁的房子》(Matthew Maule被害死，坏人也受到诅咒而死---sin will get punished)•The Blithedale Romance 《福谷传奇》(1852)•The Marble Faun《玉石雕像》(1860)Short stories：a)Twice-Told Tales 1837 《故事重述》b)Mosses from an Old Manse1843 《古宅青苔》c)The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales 1852 《雪人和其他重讲一遍的故事》Puritan background•The Birth-Mark《胎记》(1843)•Rappaccini’s Daughter《拉帕奇尼的女儿》(1844)•The Minister’s Black Veil《教长的黑面纱》(1836)•Young Goodman Brown《好小伙子布朗》(1835)* The Scarlet Letter(清教思想融入了美国浪漫主义，象征手法)：Adultery(通奸)—Able(能干)—Angle(天使)The scarlet letter A is ambiguous(不明确的). And the ambiguity is one of the salient(显著的) characteristics of Hawthorne’s art.*Young Goodman Brown :( Goodman Brown and Faith) Everyone possesses some evil secret.Hawthorne’s point of viewEvil is at the core of human life.(2) Whenever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation.(3) Evil educates.(4) He has disgust in science. One source of evil is overweening (too proud of oneself) intellect.4.Herman Melville (全拼—Going out to sea; marriage; friendship with Hawthorne)Works:•Typee«泰皮»•Omoo«欧穆»•Mardi«玛地»South Pacific islands•Redburn«雷得本»voyage to England•White Jacket«白外衣»United States•Pierre«皮埃尔»•Billy Budd《比利•巴德》(a sign that he had resolved his quarrel with God)•Clarel《克拉莱尔》( a poem)Moby-Dick «白鲸»(masterpieces)A．the first American prose epic散文史诗B．an encyclopedia百科全书of everythingC．a Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting against fatesPrincipal CharactersIshmael (The narrator of the story) ；Captain AhabThe symbolism of Mobby-Dick1.The voyage to catch the white whale is the one of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of universe.2. To Ahab, the whale is an evil creature or the agent of an evil force that control the universe. As to readers, the whale is a symbol of physical limits, or a symbol of nature. It also can stand for the ultimate mystery of the universe and the wall behind which unknown malicious things are hiding.5.Walt Whitman（Free verse（自由体诗）, Envelope structure（信件结构）I - me, my nation (society), Catalogue）Work：Leaves Of Grass 《草叶集》written in the founding documents of both the Revolutionary War in the United States and the Civil War.Including：1. There Was a Child Went Forth 2. Cavalry Crossing a Ford 3. Song of MyselfThere Was a Child Went Forth 《一个孩子的成长》how a child is greatly influenced by his growing environments, be identified with the childhood of a young, growing America.Selected readings：There was a child went forth every day, And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became, And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day, Or for many years or stretching cycles of years. The early lilacs became part of this child, And grass and white and red morning-glories, and white and red clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird, And the Third-month lambs and the sow's pink-faint litter, and the mare's foal and the cow's calf, And the noisy brood of the barnyard or by the mire of the pond-side,I Hear America Singing 《我听见美利坚在歌唱》Selected readings：I hear American singing, the varied carols I hear,Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strongThe carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck.The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, The hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,The day what belongs to the day-at night the party of young fellows, Robust, friendly,Singing with open moths their strong melodious songs.Song of Myself 《自我之歌》The longest and the best . Whitman is a man bubbling with energy and laden(装满) with ideas, spontaneous(自发的) expression of his original ideasSong of MyselfSelected readings：I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death.O Captain! My Captain! ( Captain" is Lincoln himself)When Lilac s Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,(小院丁香花开时)6. Emily Dickenson (Along with Whitman, Dickinson is one of the two giants of American poetry of the 19th century)Works(1)Because I Can’t Stop for Death (masterpiece about death )Selection:Because I could not stop for Death—He kindly stopped for me—The Carriage held but just Ourselves—And Immortality.We slowly drove—He knew no haste. And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility We passed the School, where Children strove .At Recess—in the Ring—We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—We passed the Setting Sun—Or rather—He passed Us—The Dews drew quivering and chill—For only Gossamer, my Gown—My Tippet—only Tulle—We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground—The Roof was scarcely visible—The Cornice—in the Ground—Since then—'tis Centuries—and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity—(Death is not to be feared since it is a natural part of the endless cycle of nature. )(2)I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I died (a description of the moment of death)Selection: I heard a Fly buzz --- when I died --- The stillness in the Room Was like the stillness in the Air -- Between the Heav es of Storm --The Eyes around -- had wrung when them dry -- And breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset -- when th e King Be witnessed ---- in the Room - I willed my keepsakes ---Signed away What portion of me be Assignable --- and then it was There interposed a Fly -With Blue - uncertain stumbling Buzz - Between the light ---- and me --And the windows failed ----and then I could not see to seethemes: based on her own experiences/joys/sorrows(1)religion – doubt and belief about religious subjects(2)death and immortality(3)love – suffering and frustration caused by love(4)physical aspect of desire(5)nature – kind and cruel(6)free will and human responsibilityStyle:(1)poems without titles(2)severe economy of expression(3)directness, brevity(4)musical device to create cadence (rhythm)(5)capital letters – emphasis(6)short poems, mainly two stanzas(7)rhetoric techniques: personification – make some of abstract ideas vividComparison: Whitman vs. Dickinson1.Similarities:(1)Thematically, they both extolled(赞美), in their different ways, an emergent America, its expansion, itsindividualism and its Americanness, their poetry being part of “American Renaissance”.(2)Technically, they both added to the literary independence of the new nation by breaking free of the convention ofthe iambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedom in form unknown before: they were pioneers in Americanpoetry.2.differences:(1)Whitman seems to keep his eye on society at large; Dickinson explores the inner life of the individual.(2)Whereas Whitm an is “national” in his outlook, Dickinson is “regional”.(3)Dickinson has the “catalogue technique” (direct, simple style) which Whitman doesn’t have.7. Edgar Allen Poe (inventor of the detective-fiction )WorksNovels(1)The Tell-tale Heart《泄密的心》(2)The Gold-Bug（侦探小说）《金甲虫》(3)The Black Cat《黑猫》(4)The Fall of the House of Usher”《厄舍古屋的倒塌》(5)The Purloined Letter” –one of the world’s greatest detective stories. 《一封失窃的来信》Poems•To Helen 《致海伦》-----physical beauty-soulful beauty–(选读)•Annabel Lee 《安娜贝尔·李》--expresses great loss and sadnessSelection: That a maiden there lived whom you may know 住着一位少女你或许认得Second stanza---But we loved with a love that was more than love可我们相爱，爱超越了爱---Coveted her and me. 也把我和她妒嫉。
美国文学考试重点
美国文学考试重点美国文学考试的重点可以分为以下几个方面：1. 早期美国文学：- 殖民时期文学：包括早期殖民地的日记、信件和宗教作品等，如《普利茅斯纪事》和《普罗维登斯计划》。
- 紧随其后的大量宗教文学作品，如《新英格兰的校训》。
- 托马斯·佩恩的《常识》：这本书在美国独立运动中起到了重要的作用。
2. 美国文学的形成与发展：- 19世纪初的浪漫主义文学：如华盛顿·欧文的《睡美人和其他故事》和詹姆斯·菲尼莫尔·库珀的《最后的莫西干人》。
- 华尔特·惠特曼的《草叶集》：这本诗集在美国文学史上具有重要地位。
- 女性作家：如哈丽特·比彻·斯托的《汤姆叔叔的小屋》和艾米莉·迪金森的诗歌作品。
3. 20世纪的美国文学：- 现代主义文学：如欧内斯特·海明威的《老人与海》和威廉·福克纳的《喧哗与骚动》。
- 战争文学：如约翰·史坦贝克的《愤怒的葡萄》和约瑟夫·海勒的《23个故事和一个司令》。
- 迈尔斯·杰克逊的《杀死一只知更鸟》：这是美国文学中一本重要的反种族主义作品。
4. 当代美国文学：- 现实主义：如托尼·莫里森的《亲爱的》和唐·德里罗的《百年孤独》。
- 同性恋与性别研究：如杰夫·艾斯特里奇的《中性国度》和艾美丽·P. 亨德森的《一个男小地方》。
此外，还需要了解美国文学的主要流派和文学理论，如现实主义、象征主义、后现代主义等，以及相关的文学批评方法。
最好的准备方式是广泛阅读美国经典文学作品并理解其背后的文化、历史和社会背景。
2023年美国文学考试必备知识点
Romanticperiod1.Washington Irving2.Edgar Allan Poe3.Nathanial Hawthorne4.Walt Whitman5.Emily Dickinson6.II.Realist period7.Mark Twain8.Sherwood Anderson9.Stephen Crane10.Theodore Dreiser11.III.Modern period12. F.S.Fitzgerald13.Ernest Hemingway14.William Faulkner1.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 intounexplored 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.It elevates the individual and his inner being over social man and prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious.6. Romanticism.7. Puritanism8.The principles and practices of puritans were popularly known asPuritanism.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 cradle 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.9.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.ExpressionismExpressionism refers to a movement in Germany early in the 20th century, in which a number of painters sought to avoid the representation of external reality and, instead, to project a highly personal or subjective vision of the world.The main principle involved is that expression determines form, and therefore imagery, punctuation, syntax, and so forth.In brief, any of the formal rules and elements of writing can be bent or disjointed to suit the purpose.Theatrically, expressionism was a reaction against realism in that it tends to show inner psychological realities.O’Neill’s playsare some of the best examples.The Imagist Movement (Imagism)(1)Led by Ezra Pound and flourished from 1909 to 1917, the movement advanced modernism in arts which concentrated on reforming the medium of poetry as opposed to Romanticism, especially Tennyson' s wordiness and high-flown language in poetry.The three principles followed by the Imagists were:(2)"Direct treatment" (2) "Economy of Expression" (3) " Rhythm"symbolismSymbolism originates in France in the middle 19th century.The poetry collection The Flowers of Evil by the French poet Charles Baudelaire is a representative work of this genre.Symbolism tries to express the dreamy mysterious inner world of the writer. Stream-of-consciousnessStream-of-consciousness begins in the 1920’s in Britain.It is a psychological term indicating “the flux of conscious and subconscious thoughts and impressions moving in the mind at any given time independently of the person’s will”.In late 19th century, the literary device of “interior monologue”was originated in France as an application of modern psychological knowledge to literary creation.In the 20th century, under the influence of Freud’s theory of psychological analysis, a number of writers adopted the “stream of consciousness”method of novel writing.The striking feature of these novelists is their giving precedence to the depiction of the characters’mental and emotional reactions to external events, rather than the events themselves.(to be continued)Free verse:a form of poetry without rhyme, meter, regular line length, and regular stanzaic structure.It depends on natural speech for rhythm.Robert Frost compared it to“playing tennis with the net down.”Though much simpler and less restrictive than conventional poetry and blank verse, free verse does no mean “formlessness.”T.S.Eliot once said that “no verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job.”Though its origin is unknown, it was attempted by such early poets as Surrey, Milton, Blake, and Macpherson.It was Whitman who did the greatest contribution to the development and popularity of free verse.Whitman favored the simplicity and freedom of expression.According to him, “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of light of letters is simplicity.Noting is better than simplicity.”Jazz age:Jazz is a form of dance music that is derived from early Afro-American folk music, ragtime, and Negro blues.It is marked with exciting rhythm, pronounced syncopation, and constant improvisation.The musical instruments used are mainly drums, trumpets, and saxophones.Major composers of Jazz music include Irvin Berlin and W.C.Handy.The term Jazz Age was specifically employed by Fitzgerald to denote the 1920s, which was characterized by the loss of traditional moral standards, indulgence in romantic yearnings, and great social excitement.According to Malcolm Cowley, the Jazz Age was “a legend of glitter, of recklessness, and of talent in such profusion that it was sown broadcast like wild oats.”F.Scott Fitzgerald’s Tales of the Jazz Age, like Mark Twain’s The Gilded Age, was an epoch-making work.Black humor:a term frequently used in modern literary criticism.It is sometimes called ‘black comedy’or ‘tragic farce.’It is humor or laughter resulting from great pain, despair, horror and the absurdity of human existence.Black humor is a common quality of modern anti-novels and anti-dramas.Examples are Franz Kafka’s stories like “Metamorphosis”, “The Castle”and “The Trial”, Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22and Albee’s The Zoo Story.Other writers who did much contribution to the popularity of black humor were Beckett, Camus, Ionesco, V onnegut, Pynchon and so on. Autobiography:a story a writer writes about his or her own life experiences.It is narrated from the first-person point of view.The term was probably first used by Southey.But the first important autobiography was Confessions written by Augustine of Hippo.Other examples include Franklin’s Autobiography, Adams’s The Education of Henry Adams, John Stuart Mill’s Autobiography, Carlyle’s Reminiscences, Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, and so on.Surprise Ending:Also called “O.Henry ending,”it is a completely unexpected turn or revelation of events at the conclusion of a story or play.An example is “The Necklace”by Guy de Maupassant.Another instance is O.Henry’s story “The Gift of the Magi.”Blank verse:poetry that does not rhyme but has iambic pentameter lines.Though not originated in England or America, it has been the most important and most widely used English verse form.Blank verse is popular because it is closest to the rhythm of daily English speech.Thus most English poems which are dramatic, reflective or narrative are in the form of blank verse.This verse was probably first used in England by Surrey who translated Aeneid, by Sackville and Norton who composed Gorboduc.It was developed and perfected by Marlowe, Shakespeare and Milton.In the 18th century, most poets favored heroic couplets.But Young and Thomson were able to write in the tradition of blank verse.The 19th century saw a renewed interest in this poetic form.Masters ofblank verse included Wordsworth, Coleridge and Bryant.The fact that blank verse is still practiced by writers like T.S.Eliot, Yeats, Frost and Stevens shows how influential and favorable it really is.Characteristics of Realism2.1 Realism aims at the description of the actualities of the life and free from subjective prejudice, idealism or romantic color.2.2 Realism focuses on commonness of the common people.The emphasis is on ordinary people, settings and events.2.3 Life is presented as it is.2.4 Use real characters, real incidents, real language and local dialects.2.5 In matters of style, diction and sentence structure tend toward a plain style.3.Representative writersWilliam Howells .Mark Twain .Henry JamesMajor features of Naturalism1.At the core of naturalism is determinism2.An individual’s course in life is wholly determined by some combination of animal instinct, heredity, and environment.Humans lack freedom of their own will.All of their actions are controlled, determined.3.The universe is cold, godless, indifferent and hostile to human desires.Life becomesa struggle for survival.Two of the naturalist’s recurrent concerns are: social systems that destroy and dehumanize, and individual experience of loss and failure.4.Naturalism is a harsher and extreme form of realism.The naturalists have a major difference from the realists.Themes of Hawthorne’s writing1.Explore the relationship between the past and the present2.Explore the hidden motivations of his characters.3.Examine the effect of hidden sin and secret guilt4.Moral or immoral, right or wrong is the question Hawthorne always talks about in his works.1.5.Style1.His style was soft, flowing and almost feminine.nguage: smooth, clear, beautiful in sound and meaning3.He also frequently uses symbols and settings to reveal the psychology of the characters.Appreciation of The Scarlet Letter1.Main Character:Hester Prynne., Roger Chillingworth., Arthur Dimmesdale3.Character AnalysisHester: brave, strong-minded, warm-hearted, intelligent, sacrificing, decisive Dimmesdale: timid, selfish, irresponsible, cowardly, weak-minded Chillingworth: cold-blooded, dehumanizedTheme of The Scarlet LetterTo escape the bondage of religion either on people’s spirit or on people’s natural desire4.Abundant use of symbolsA ---adultery angel ablePrison—the place that deprived people of spiritual freedomForest---the natureRose near the prison—Hester and her loveCap—sth controlling one’s beautyWalt Whitman(1819-1892)Leaves Of Grass“Song of myself”Analysis of the artistic features2.4.1.form: free verseOral and powerful lg: Although free verse, he wrote with repeated and parallel sentences to strengthen the feelings.He express what he wanted to express freely, smoothly, and heatedly.His poems are like waves of the sea that rushed to the beach violently, one after another.2.4.2 the first person narrator: direct and sympathetic to the reader2.4.3.topic: sex.To use his own expression, “he saw the world as a vision of love.”He believes that life is the source of poems, love and enthusiasm are the motives of creation.ments on the writer3.1.Subject: son of time, feels the pulse of the time.As a romanticist and transcendentalist, he broke the conventional poetic materials, no myth,no romance, no story of king and lords.He sings for self, common people, America, city life, nature, etc.3.2.Form: (Free verse) poetry without fixed beat or regular rhyme.Whitman is the first great American poet to use this form of poetry, he also used it more skillfully than any other poet.(1)One's Self I Sing1.What is the significance of singing about one's self?It is an exaltation of the individual spirit, which is typical of American people.2.What is the difference between physiology and physiognomy?Physiology is a science that deals with the functions and life process of human beings,whereas physiognomy refers to an art of judging character from contours of face itself or the appearance of a person.3.What does Whitman mean by the term of "the Modern Man"?He means that a man should be free from any prejudice and pride, totally different from the traditional one, that is full of bias.(3) O Captain! My Captain!1.Why is the word "Captain" capitalized throughout the poem?In this poem the word “Captain”specially refers to Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States.2.What overall metaphor does the poet employ in this poem?Life is a journey.3.Why do people on the shores exult and bells ring, while the speaker remains so sad?They welcome the ship returning from its hard trip, whereas the speaker is sad because the captain fails to receive his own honor.Mark Twain 马克·吐温The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Count卡拉维拉斯县有名旳跳蛙(1865):a short storyThe Innocents Abroad国外旳无辜者(1869)Roughing It苦行记(1872): on his experience in the western America The Gilded Age (1873): his first novel, collaborated with Charles Dudley Warner The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn哈克贝利·费恩历险记(1884): masterpiece Life on the Mississippi (1883)A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court误闯亚瑟王宫(1889)The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg败坏了哈德莱堡旳人(1900)The Mysterious Stranger (1916)e.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer1.It is "a boy's book" which sets 20 years before Civil War.2.themes:1)picaresque以流浪汉和无赖为题材旳(adventure story)2) moral growth of Tom3.techniques: verisimilitude, humor, colloquial styleMark Twain’s Style in Generalthe true father of American literatureFrequent use of sarcasm, slang and regional dialects.4.5.1.Subject Matter: came directly from American people’s life along the Mississippi River, less influenced by foreign cultures4.5.2.Genuine American style:a) Language: easy, informal, humorous and unaffected [free from affectation; sincere], wildb) He intentionally deviates from classical genteel and tends to use local dialects, colloquial language, even Black English, slang, clipped structures and ungrammatical sentencesMajor work : Huckleberry Finn《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》show escape to freedomTheodore Dreiser (1871-1945) 德莱赛Naturalism is a theory in literature emphasizing the role of heredity and environment upon human life and character development roughly between 1890’s and early 1900’s.There is no clear-cut chronological division between the American naturalists and the American realists.对比Realism Naturalismemphasis on the ordinary emphasis also on the extraordinarya mirror a lensthe observer the scientistmoral or rational the accidental and physiologicalMajor Writing Features6.3.1 As a naturalistic writer, Dreiser stressed determinism in his novels.·His characters can’t assert their will against natural and economic forces. ·Dreiser held that people are not entirely to blame for what they are and what they do.6.3.2.He developed the capacity for photographic and relentless observation, thereby truthfully reflecting the society and people of his time and making his novels very believable and convincing.·Almost all of his main characters are based on the real people.·Vivid description of environmental settings and social background6.3.3.His novels are full of tragedies, serious subjects and miserable side of the society.·Dreiser broke through the genteel tradition , revealed the life of the lower class people and dared to expose the vulgar and ugly side of the society.Style6.4.1. Language: very awkward, crude/on the bordering of line of grammar.6.4.2. Serious in tone: never satirical or comic6.4.3. Natural narrative method, free from artifice.His narrative is based on quantities of materials and detailed descriptions.作品Si ster Carrie 嘉莉妹妹(1900): the first novel, masterworkJannie Gerhardt (1911)The Fanancier (1912)The Titan (1914)The Stoic (1947)The Genius (1915)An American Tragedy美国悲剧(1925)Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928)c.Sister Carrietheme:the emptiness of Ameircan Dreami.jungle lawFamous actress bank manager(the unfit is bound to die) <——Country girl (able to follow her instinct) commit suicideii.chance and luckiii.criticism of American values: money and sex —the standards to see if a person is successfuliv.concern for the poorF.Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)an Irish-American Jazz Age novelist and short story writer.Theme of the American DreamFitzgerald’s favorite theme is the American Dream.In The Great Gatsby and other works, a general pattern can be found to fully demonstrate Fitzgerald’s enthusiasm and his disillusionment with the American Dream: formally, a poor young man from the West trying to make his fortune in the East, but thematically, the young man goes on a journey of discovery from dream, through disenchantment, and finally to a sense of failure and despair.In this general pattern of the protagonist’s personal experienceis incarnated the whole of American experience..Languagesmooth, sensitive, original, simple and gracefulJay Gatsby Nick Carraway Tom Buchanan Daisy BuchananThe Great GatsbyTheme:1.about reality and atmosphere of 1920s2.failure of American Dreamc.attitude towards the rich: paradoxicalHe is charmed by the rich.He is critical of the rich who are corrupted themselves and meanwhile corrupting others.d.attitude towards the Jazz Age: insider and outsider人物Jay Gatsby Nick Carraway Tom Buchanan Daisy Buchanan Gatsby, with all his freshness, his optimism, and his vitalityGatsby in the novel represents the newly rich upstart, vulgar in hisostentatious [showy] wealth.However, he becomes a kind of newAmerican Adam.He is “great”, because he is dignified and ennobledby his dream and his mythic vision of life.Tom Buchanan : He is vulgar, hypocritical racist and bigot [person who holds sth strongly].He is practical and non-idealistic, shallow and mistrustful of emotion.He never cares or takes responsibility.Daisy Buchanan: she also has an inner emptiness, marked by her boredom and cynicism and moral irresponsibility.She is afraid of being alone, as though she has no inner self.But she has the power to charm.Daisy represents material wealth to Gatsby,but it also connects with physical attraction.However, Daisy is unworthy of Gatsby’s love.She is incapable of living the fully imagined life that Gatsby has visualized.She is cowardly and selfish.Nick is both a narrator and a character in this novel.He leads us tothe dignity and depth of Gatsby’s character, and suggests the relationof his tragedy to the American situation.Ernest Hemingway 海明威style1.iceberg principle.The meaning here is that the writer should say only one eighth, in such a way that the remaining seven eighths be discerned and provided by the reader.nguage: short, common, fundamental words, simple sentence, structure.The effect of the language: clearness, cleanness and great care.3.dialogue: plays a very important part in his writings.Hemingway’s dialogue can show setting, development of plot, characters, even theme.4.cinematic way: he uses showing instead of telling.He likes to describes actions (kiss, withdraw hand) vividly instead of mental description.5.symbolisme of stream of consciousnesstraits for the Code Hero:(1) Measuring himself against the difficulties life throws in his way, realizing that we will all lose ultimately because we are mortals, but playing the game honestly and passionately in spite of that knowledge.(2) Facing death with dignity, enduring physical and emotional pain in silence(3) Never showing emotions(4) Maintaining free-will and individualism, never weakly allowing commitment toa single woman or social convention to prevent adventure, travel, and acts of bravery(5) Being completely honest, keeping one's word or promise(6) Being courageous and brave, daring to travel and have "beautiful adventures," as Hemingway would phrase it(7) Admitting the truth of Nada (Spanish, "nothing"), i.e., that no external source outside of oneself can provide meaning or purpose.This existential awareness also involves facing death without hope of an afterlife, which the Hemingway Code Hero considers more brave than "cowering" behind false religious hopesThemes nada, grace under pressure, code heroMagic realism 加西亚·马尔克斯《百年孤单》Garcia Marques Century Loneliness)Henry JamesThe American (1877): begins with international themeDaisy Miller (1878): brings the author first international fameThe Wings of the Dove (1902)The Ambassadors (1903)The Golden Bowl (1904)The Portrait of A Lady贵妇画像:masterpieceJack LondonThe People of the Abyss深渊居民(1903): about London's slumThe Iron Heel 铁蹄(1908): the first proletarian criterion novel which envisages the development of fascismThe Call of the Wild 野性旳呼唤(1903): the most widely read bookThe Sea Wolf 海狼(1904)These two novels reflect the ideas of the law of survival and the will to power Martin Eden马丁伊登Ezra Pound埃兹拉·庞德Imagism意象派Pound became the most important figure.Imagist poetry reached the peak of literature for three things appeared:i.a manifesto ii.three principles iii.a lot of writingsIn a Station of the Metro在地铁车站1.This is the much-quoted masterpiece of Pound and a representative of the Imagist poetry.2.Why does the poet call the faces of pedestrians "apparition"?These pedestrians are all walking in a hurry amidst the drizzling rain.3.What do "petals" and "bough" stand for? Petals refer to the faces while the bough stands for the floating crowd.Robert Frost⏹ b.Characteristics⏹ 1.not in the main stream of modern poetry, but with conventional form and plainlanguage.That’s why he’s the most popular poet in the 20th century.⏹ 2.a kind of a regionalist----New England, but not local colorism.He used New England asa metaphor for the whole world and universe.3.a plain poet using symbols from everyday country life.Simple symbols but express deep meanings.The Road Not Taken⏹ 1.The poem was written in very regular lines with iambic pentametre and rhyme schemeof abaab.⏹ 2.The symbolic meaning of the two divergent roads is rather clear.They represent anyimportant decisions in one's life.3.details:Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening⏹ 1.It is a lyric poem with iambic tetrametre and interlocking enclosed rhyme.2.It represents a moment of relaxation from the onerous journey of life, an almost aesthetic enjoyment and appreciation of natural beauty which is wholesome and retorative against the chaotic existence of modern man.William Faulkner (1897-1962)Sound and Fury: divided into 4 parts1.themes:a) downfall of the South.The south was in deterioration.It’s going from bad to worse.The present and the past form a contrast from Benjy’s eyes.He’s an idiot so his reactions were distinctive feeling.He felt strongly the loss of love.The downfall of Mr.Campson was not only a personal one but also a universal one---the society was in disorder.b) conflict between the old/young generationsFather of Southern American literatureNobel Prize for literature in 1950Special features2.1.Setting :Oxford is the model for his fictional Jefferson, the central place of his fictional Yoknapatawpha County2.2.Subjects :southern tradition, family, community, the land, history and the past,race, and the passions of ambition and love2.3.Characters:Typical of the historical growth and subsequent decadence of the South 写作技巧Multiple Points of View ：He always structure his stories in his own original fashion and is proficient in employing a distinctive narrative method of gradually fitting in and of withholding or even giving confusing information.Stream of consciousness, complex structures, epic style, symbolism William Faulkner威廉•福克纳1897-1962 1950年获诺贝尔文学奖, 普利策奖小说奖 1. 1929年《喧嚣与骚动》”The Sound and the Fury” 1930年《在我弥留之际》”As I Lay Dying” 1932年《八月之光》”Light in August”1936年《押沙龙, 押沙龙》”Absalom, Absalom”教材作品: 《给艾米莉小姐旳玫瑰》: “A Rose for Emily”南方文学特点:主题:作者获奖The Nobel Prize &The Pulitzer Prize: John Steinbeck约翰•斯坦贝克William Faulkner威廉•福克纳 Ernest Hemingway厄恩斯特•海明威The Nobel Prize: Thomas Stearns Eliot托马斯•斯特恩斯•爱略特The Pulitzer Prize: Wallace Stevens华莱士•斯蒂文斯 Robert Frost罗伯特•弗洛斯特 Edwin Arlington Robison埃德温•阿林顿•罗宾逊尤金.奥尼尔（Eugene O’Neill, 1888----1952）, 美国著名剧作家。
美国文学要点总结
美国文学史复习1（The Literature of Colonial）一、时期综述1、清教徒采用的文学体裁：a、narratives 日记b、journals 游记2、清教徒在美国的写作内容：1）their voyage to the new land2) Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops3) About dealing with Indians4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit3、清教徒的思想：1）puritan want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices 净化信仰和行为方式2) Wish to restore simplicity to church and the authority of the Bible to the theology. 重建教堂，提供简单服务，建立神圣地位3）look upon themselves as chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God's will and is not to be accepted. 认为自己是上帝选民，对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝4）puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated. 反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步5）religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面，忽视上帝仁慈的一面。
美国文学考试重点总结
Realism1、It aims at the interpretation of actualities of any aspect of life, free from subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color.2、Major features：（Familiar aspects of contemporary and everyday life are represented in a）straightforward or matter-of-fact manner;Characters from all social levels社会阶层; Open ending; Focus on commonness of the lives of the common people;objectivity客观; it presents moral visions.American realistic authors1、Bret Harte：the first American writer of local color .2、William Dean Howells: the arbiter of American realism /holds that truth is the highest beauty.3、Henry James insisted that art must be related to life.4、Henry James / Mark Twain: the greatest of American realists.5、Samuel Langhorne Clemens：American writer and humorist, whose best work is characterized by broad, often irreverent humor or biting social satire.（无礼的幽默和尖锐的社会讽刺）Twain's writing is also known for realism of place and language, memorable characters, and hatred of hypocrisy and oppression（憎恨虚伪和压迫）.6、Mark Twain's work during the 1890s and the 1900s is marked by growing pessimism and bitterness（不断增长的悲观和痛苦）Major works: The Gilded Age镀金时代（第一部长篇小说）: A Tale of To-day (1873); The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894);The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876);The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)《哈克贝里·费恩历险记》Travel fiction: The Innocents Abroad (or The New Pilgrim’s Progress)(1869) 《傻子国外旅行记》;Roughing It (1873) 艰难生涯;Life on the Mississippi (1883) 密西西比河上的生活，combines an autobiographical account(结合了自传)7、Historical Romance: The Prince and the Pauper(1882)（王子与贫儿）, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court（在亚瑟王朝廷中的康涅狄格州美国人）, It isa parable of colonialization(这是一个殖民化的寓言).8、The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865) 《卡拉维拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》充满夸张和喜剧的边疆生活。
美国文学考试期末知识点
1. features of Puritanism 请教主义(1)Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred.(2)Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation. (3)Total depravity(4)Limited atoneme nt: Only the “elect” can be saved.2, American Puritanism 美国请教主义的Basic Puritan Beliefs(1)Total Depravity - through Adam and Eve's fall, every person is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.(2)Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation - concept of predestination. (3)Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone. (4)Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.(5)Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.(6)Puritan values (creeds): Hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety, simple tastes. Puritans are more practical, tougher, to be ever ready for any misfortune and tragic failure and optimistic..3.Influence on American Literature对美国文学影响定义:America literature is in good measure a literary expression of the pious idealism of the American Puritanism bequest. All literature is based on a myth of garden of Eden.Symbolism象征the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chie fly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. Symbolism as a technique has become a common practice in American literature.With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.4. The literary Scene in colonial America 殖民地的美国Humble origins: diaries, histories, journals, letters,travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons各种作家Writers: (1)John Smith: the first American writer(2)Anne Bradstreet: a Puritan poet ,The Complete Work: Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America(3)Edward Taylor: a variety of verse: funeral elegies, lyrics, a medieval "debate," and a 500-page Metrical History of Christianity (mainly a history of martyrs). His best works, according to modern critics, are the series of short Preparatory Meditations.5;Features of Colonial Poets殖民地诗人的特征American literature grew out of humble origins. Diaries, histories, journals, letters, commonplace books, travel books, sermons, in short, personal literature in its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period.They faithfully imitated and transplanted English literary traditions.---In English styleThey were servants of God.---Puritan poetsThey served either God or colonial expansion or both.6,Anne Bradstreet’s Works1,“Some vers es on the Burning of Our House”2,“The Spirit and the Flesh”3,The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America(the first collection published by English colonists living in America)7.several points in this period:(1)William Hill Brown published the first American novel The Power of Sympathy in 1789.(2)Charles Brockden Brown) was the first American author to attempt to live from his writing. He developed the genre of American Gothic. He employed new narrative techniques. Another significance was his description of his characters’ in ner world, so his works can be read as psychological novel.(3)Roger Williams (1603-1683)Preach for civil and religious liberty and against the puritan oligarchy of Boston.Call for democratic government and oppose to the eviction of the Indians.Works: The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience(4)CJohn Woolman1:From a pious Quaker family 2:Transcendentalism humanitarianism3:Plea for the rights of all men and the abolition of the slavery system.Works: Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes; A Plea for the Poor.(5)Thomas Paine :A great influence in the American RevolutionWorks: The Rights of Man; The Age of Reason(6)Philip Freneau:“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”,the most significant poet of 18th century in America. Some off his themes and images anticipated theworks of such 19th century American Romantic writers as Cooper, Emerson, Poe and Melville.His works:(1) The Rising Glory of America1772 《美洲光辉的兴起》(2) The Wild Honey Suckle 1786 《野地里德忍冬》(3) The Indian Burying Ground1788 《印第安人墓地》(4The Dying Indian: Tomo Chequi《奄奄一息的印第安人：托姆·柴吉》关于他的评价：He was the most significant poet of 18th century America.Some of his themes and images anticipated the works of such 19th century American Romantic writers as Cooper, Emerson, Poe and Melville.Poet of American Independence: Freneau provides incentive and inspiration to the revolution by writing such poems as "The Rising Glory of America" and "Pictures of Columbus."Journalist: Freneau was editor and contributor of The Freeman's Journal (Philadelphia) from 1781-1784. In his writings, he advocated the essence of what is known as Jeffersonian democracy - decentralization of government, equality for the masses, etc.Freneau's Religion: Freneau is described as a deist - a believer in nature and humanity but not a pantheist. In deism, religion becomes an attitude of intellectual belief, not a matter of emotional of spiritual ecstasy. Freneau shows interest and sympathy for the humble and the oppressedFreneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.All the while.in romanticizing the wonders of nature in his writings...he searched for an American idiom in verse.8：The American Enlightenment 美国启蒙运动(1)It was a part of a larger intellectual movement known as the Age of Enlightenment. Influenced by the scientific revolution of the 17th century, the Enlightenment took scientific reasoning and applied it to human nature and society.(2)Reason was advocated as the primary source and basis of authority.There was a shift from God-centered thinking to human being centered. Instead of going through life unhappy and thinking they had to suffer so they could enjoy the afterlife - people began to think about what they could accomplish on earth.(3)Equality The American Enlightenment inflenced Benjamin Franklin dramatically.Great Awening影响(1)It is a serires of religious revivals that swept over the American colonies about the middle of the 18th century.(2)It results in doctrinal changes and influnce social and political thought.In New England it was started by the rousing preaching of Jonathan Edwards9:Jonathan Edwards Works: (1)The Freedom of the Will《论意志自由》(2)The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended《论原罪》(3)The Nature of True Virtue《论真实德行的本原》AssessmentJonathan Edwards was a good deal of a transcendentalistbecause of his ideas:a, The spirit of revivalism b. Regeneration of man c. God’s presence d. Puritan idealism10:Benjamin Franklin Works:1：The Autobiography《自传》（1）The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is a record of self-examination and self-improvement.（2）The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Benjamin Franklin was spokesman for the new order of 18th century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free, by nature endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.（3）Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream.Now a look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concisionThe Autobiography《自传》:It is perhaps the first real post-revolutionary American writing as well as the first real autobiography in English.It gives us the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man:2：Poo r Richard’s Almanac《穷理查德格言历书》Poor Richard’s Almanac is full of adages and common-sense witticism which became ,very quickly, household words.Benjamin Franklin Borrowed from such writers as Defoe, Swift, and Pope , and used his own wit to simplify and enrich their axioms11：General Introduction to Romanticism 浪漫主义介绍a. Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution.b. It was partly a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature.The movement stressed运动强调a. strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities, both new aesthetic categories.b. It elevated folk art and custom to something noble.c. It argued for a "natural" epistemology of human activities as conditioned by nature in the formof language, custom and usage.12：Characteristics of Romanticism:浪漫主义特征（1）an innate and intuitive perception of man, nature and society—reliance on the subconscious, the inner life, the abnormal psychology（2）an emphasis on freedom, individualism and imagination—rebellion against neoclassicism which stressed formality, order and authority（3）a profound love for nature—nature as a source of knowledge, nature as a refuge from the present, nature as a revelation of the holy spirit the quest for beauty—pure beautythe use of antique and fanciful subject matters—sense of terror, Gothic, grotesque, odd and queer13，Romanticism Historical Background历史背景1，Political: After American Revolution, American developed into a political, economic and cultural independence. Democracy and equality became the ideals of the new nation. Complete changes came about in the political life of the country.2. Economic: Industrialism spread widely and fast. A large number of immigrants arrived. All these produced an economic boom.3. Both the change in political and the economic development brought about a sense of optimism and hope.4. Culturally: Magazines appeared in ever-increasing numbers and they played an important role in facilitating literary expansion.5. Foreign influence added incentive to the growth of romanticism in America.14Features of American Romanticism美国浪漫主义特征a. Imitative: Some of the American Romantic writings were modeled on English and European works. The Romantic Movement proved to be a decisive influence. Without it, the rise of Romanticism would have been impossible. Romanticism writers such as Scott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron all made a stimulating impact on American literature.b. Independent: From the very beginning, American Romanticism exhibited distinct features of its own. It originated from a mixture of factors which were altogether American rather than anything else.c. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was clearly noticeable. E.g., the author tended more to moralize than writers in England.15：Uniqueness of Am. Romanticism:美国浪漫主义独特性Unique subject matter：The western movement ：the American national experience of pioneering into the west proved to be a rich source of material for American writers to draw upon. They celebrated American’s landsc ape with its virgin forests, meadows, groves, endless prairies, stream, and vast oceans. The wildness came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral law.Uniqueness of Am. Romanticism:：the newness as a nation美国浪漫主义独特性的具体体现（1）The ideals of individualism and political equality, and their dream that America was to be a new Garden of Eden for man were distinctly American. This feeling of newness was strong enough to inspire the romantic imagination and channel it into different vein of writing.Puritan moral values（2）Puritan influence over American Romanticism was clearly noticeable. E.g., the author tended more to moralize than writers in England.（3）Mixture of different races：The immigrants coming from different cultural and social background bring with them different cultures16. Two phases:两个时期a. 1770s to 1830s Early period Representatives: Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooperb.1830s to 1860s Late period summit of American literature Representatives: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Poe etc.；Washington Irving “Father of the American short storyHis Worksa. A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty1809 《纽约外史》b. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent1819-1820 《见闻札记》c. Bracebridge Hall 1822 《布雷斯布里奇庄园》d. Oliver Goldsmith 1840 《哥尔德斯密斯》e. Life of George Washington1855-1859 《华盛顿传》The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent1819-1820 《见闻札记》评价：（1）The Sketch Book is a collection of essays, sketches, and tales.（2）In The Sketch Book, the most famous and frequently anthologized（选编）are “Rip Van Winkle” 《瑞普·凡·温克》“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 《睡谷的传说》(3）The short story as a genre in American literature began with The Sketch Book.(4)The book touched the American imagination and foreshadowed the coming of Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe. (5)It also marked the beginning of American Romanticisms.The evaluation of Irving：a:Father of American literatureb：The beginning of short story as a genre-“Father of the American short story”c The first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international famed The Sketch Book also marked the beginning of American RomanticismThe theme of the storyThe story of man who has difficulties facing his advancing ageThe contradictory impulses in America toward work- the puritan attitude as opposed to the American desire for leisureThe theme of escape from one’s responsibilities and even one’s historyThe loss of identity19：James Fenimore Cooper(1789-1851)Major Works：Precaution戒备(1820, his first novel, imitating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) The Spy间谍(his second novel and great success)皮袜子故事集：“Leatherstocking Tales” (his masterpiece, a series of five novels): The Pioneers开拓者, The Last of the Mohicans最后的莫西干人, The Prairie草原, The Pathfinder探路者, The Deerslayer 杀鹿者point of view：the theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat vs. democrat, natural rights vs. legal rightsTheme：a. America was made conscious of his past, particularly the contribution from the Mohicans.b. The antithesis between nature and civilization, at the cost of the life and labor, will be dissolved to push the development of frontiers.c. The battle between the colonists caused the trage dy of Indians in American continentThe features of Cooper ：He is a mythic writer Good at inventing plots (Cooper had never been to the frontier area personally.)Style: powerful, yet clumsy and dreadfulWooden Characters ：Use of dialect, but not authentic (criticized by Mark Twain)19：超验主义：Transcendentalism （1）定义Emerson’s Definition：In his essay "The Transcendentalist," Emerson explained transcendentalism is “idealism; i dealism as it appears in 1842".The factors that influenced New England Transcendentalism：New England Transcendentalism was the Product of a combination of foreign influences and the American Puritan traditiona. Foreign influences: the introduction of idealism (唯心主义)from Germany and France and Oriental mysticismb. American PuritanismMajor Features超验主义特征：emphasis on spirit or the Oversoul as the most important thing in the universe. 1 The Oversoul was an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part. It exists in nature and man alike and constituted the chief elements of the universe2 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.It took nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God3 All things in nature were symbols of the spiritual, of God’s presence. Nature was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Everything in the universe was viewed as an expression of the divine spirit.4 It stressed the power of intuition. It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition. But the things they learned from within were truer than the things they learned from without, and transcended them. It held that everyone had access to a source of knowledge that transcended the everyday experiences of sensation and reflection. Intuition was inner light within.Influence超验主义的影响：1 It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.2 It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height.It helped to create the first American renaissance –one of the most prolific period in American literatureSignificance: New England Transcendentalism is the summit of American Romanticism. Representatives: Emerson, Thoreau20：Ralph Waldo Emerson拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生His Works：a. Essays《散文集》b. Nature《论自然》(a book which declared the birth of Transcendentalism)c. The American Scholar《论美国学者》(American’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence)d. Divinity, The Oversoul《论超灵》e. Self-reliance《论自立》f. The Transcendentalist《超验主义者》His point of view a. One major element of his philosophy is his firm belief in the transcendence of the “oversoul”.b. He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying(圣洁的神圣化的) moral influence on man, and advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent(内在的固有的) God in nature.c. 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”.d. Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making his world, and that he makes the world by making himself.His aesthetics a. poets should function as preachers who gave directions to the mass.b. True poetry and true art should ennoble and serve as a moral purification and a passage toward organic unity(有机统一) and higher reality.c. Emerson places emphasis on ideas, symbols and imaginative words.d. As to theme, Emerson called upon American authors to celebrate America and the life today.e. Emerson’s aesthetics brought about a revolution in American li terature in general and in American poetry in particular. It marked the birth of true American poetry and true America poets such as Whitman and DickinsonNature （论自然）：Emerson’s first published work was Nature(1836). This work has the clearest statement of Transcendentalist ideas. Nature is considered the “gospel” (真理信条)of American Transcendentalism. It has an Introduction and eight chapters:1.Nature2. Commodity3. Beauty4. Language5. Discipline6. Idealism7. Spirit8. Prospects.The major thesis of the essay, in Emerson‘s words, is that we should now “enjoy an original relation to the universe,” and not become dependent on past experiences of others or on holy books, creeds ,dogma(教条教理).主要内容：In it Emerson stated that man should not see nature merely as something to be used; that man’s relationship with nature transcends the idea of usefulness. Nature is a kind of discipline to man. Once you are in nature, totally in solitude, you feel you’re nothing, but you see all. Nature makes people feel transparent(透明的) and humble. Meanwhile, He saw an important difference between understanding (judging things only according to the senses) and reasonThe American Scholar论美国学者These two works made him famous.As “Man Thinking”, the Scholar should know how to think when confronted with Nature, the Past (in the form of books) and Action (life).Emerson particularly warns that the past should be used to inspire and not to enslave the scholar. Emerson argued in the speech that the age called to the Scholar for active participation and leadership.It is American’s Declaration of Intellectual IndependenceSelf-Reliance(论自助)Self-Reliance is one of the most famous of these lecture essays, and is widely read in American high schools today. Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance; He admired courage and was not afraid of changing or clashing ideas.Equally important is Emerson’s essay The Over-Soul (1841).The Major Themes in Emerson’s Works：the emphasis on the independence and separateness of the individual, and the right (and duty) of man rise to his full potential, asserting the inalienable worth of every man.“Another sign of our times…is the new importance given to the single personEmerson’s Influences on A.La He called on American Writers to write about America in a peculiarly American way.b His perception of humanity and nature as symbols of universal truth encouraged the development of the symbolist movement in A. art and literature.c He embodied a new nation’s desire and struggle to assert（维护主张）its own identity in its formative period.Henry David Thoreau a. A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers(1849)《康科德和梅里马克河上的一周》b. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and Walden / Walden《瓦尔登湖》c. Civil Disobedience《论公民之不服从》It influenced people such as Mahatma Gandhi.point of viewHe did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was vehemently(激烈的) outspoken on the point.He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system.Like Emerson, but more tha n him, Thoreau saw nature as a healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being.He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.He was very critical of modern civilization.“Simplicity…simplify!”He has trust in the future and has belief in a new generation of men.Civil DisobedienceThe essay makes it clear that this stance(立场姿态) is not a matter of whim（一时的兴趣奇想）but a demanding moral principle.The appeal of civil disobedience in the North grew in the wake of the Compromise of 1850, whichincluded the hated Fugitive Slave Law, requiring all citizens to aid in the return of escaped slaves to their owners. Though civil disobedience is usually associated with passive resistance, Thoreau brought out the more direct action of John Brown.Thoreau's essay had a profound influence on reformers worldwide, from Gandhi in South Africa and India; to Martin Luther King, and the opposition to the Vietnam War in the United States.Walden (1854In 1854, Thoreau published the book by which he will always be best known, Walden, or Life in the Woods. It is by far the deepest, richest, and most closely jointed of his books. It shows Thoreau at his best, and contains all that he had to say to the world. In fact, he is a man of one book, and that book is Walden. Thoreau's Walden is mythic, poetic, fictitious, fabulous, and metaphoric in the best senses of these terms. In it the artistically recreated real-life experience (itself an experiment in "artistic" living) becomes a symbolic model or paradigm for an embodied spiritual quest for the disembodied, for a journey from the "gross" to the divine "necessaries of life." The thesis of Walden is clearly indicated in the first chapter of the book. True economy has nothing to do with the ways and means of increasing wealth, with methods for multiplying the superfluities, the "gross necessaries of life." True economy is that which simply provides the flesh with what belongs to the flesh so that the spirit may go about its own business.The book described the author’s extremely simple life and regeneration he experienced when he lived near the Walden pond.This is a book on self-culture and human perfectibilityThoreau has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man. He holds that the most important thing for men to do with their lives is to be self-sufficient and strive to achieve personal spiritual perfection.In the book Thoreau criticized the modern civilization and told people to leave the life of hurry and bustle and to sink themselves in nature.It is a book full of ideas expressed to jostle his neighbors out of their smug(自鸣得意的) complacency(自满满足For the fatal modern craze for monetary success he prescribes a panacea(灵丹妙药) “Simplicity…simplify!” Spiritual richness is real wealth.One’s soul might not help one up in the world, but it will help make real progress in self-improvementRegeneration is a major thematic concern of wardenRegeneration is a major thematic concern of warden and thus decide the structural framework of the book. The whole book is within the frame of a single year, and progresses through spring, summer and autumn to winter.EvaluationComparing with Emerson who was a great thinker, Thoreau was a great experimentalist who put Emerson's Transcendental doctrines into practice in the actual life.Herman Melville (1819 ---- 1891):Master of philosophical allegory寓言1:His point of view : a. negative attitude towards life. b. One of the major themes of his is alienation孤立（far away from each other）. c. Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism（individualism causing disaster and death）, rejection and quest, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts over the comforting 19th-century idea of progress2:His Writing Stylea. Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple view of his narratives.b. He tends to write periodic chapters.c. His rich rhythmical富有节奏感的prose and his poetic power have been profusely丰富地commentedupon and praised. d. His works are symbolic and metaphorical.e. He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background or description of what goes on board the ship or on the route (Moby Dick)His Worksa.Typee1846《泰比》b. Omoo1874《奥穆》c. Moby Dick 1851《莫比·迪克》d. Mardi1849《玛地》 f. White Jacket1850《白外衣》g. Pierre1852《皮尔埃》h. Billy Budd (posthumously) 《比利·巴德》Moby Dick(1)Ishmael, feeling depressed, seeks escape by going out to sea on the whaling ship, Pequod. The captain is Ahab, the man with one leg. Moby Dick, the white whale, had sheared off his leg on a previous voyage, and Ahab resolves to hunt him to kill him. He hangs a doubloon on the mast as a reward for anyone who sight the whale first. The Pequod makes a good catch of whales but Ahab refuses to turn back until he has killed his enemy. Eventually the white whale appears, and the Pequod begins its doomed fight with it. On the first day the whale overturns a boat; on the second it swamps another. When the third day comes, Ahab and his crew manage to plunge a harpoon into it, but the whale carries the Pequod along with it to its doom. All on board the whaler get drowned, except one, Ishmael, who survive to tell the tale.Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville’s bleak view of the world in which he lived. It is at once Godless and purposeless. Man in this universe lives a meaningless and futile life, meaningless because futile.One of the major themes in Melville is alienation, which he sensed existing in the life of his time on different levels, between man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Nature has overwhelming power. Man can’t conquer nature. Man, living in this world, is a tragedyIt is a negative reflection of self-reliance, and individualism. Ahab may have been Melville’s portrait of an Emersonian self-reliant individual. Melville lost no opportunity in his criticism of New England Transcendentalism. Constantly under his attack is its emphasis on individualism and Oversoul. The idea that man make the world for himself is nothing but a Transcendentalist folly.Symbolismthe voyage: the search for the ultimate truth of experienceMoby Dick: the final mystery of the universe which man will do well to desist from pursuing Ambiguity (You can understand his Moby Dick differently.)First, it can be understand as a tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming odds in an indifferent and even hostile universe. Thus, Captain Ahab is a hero who dares to fight though he failed at last.Then, it can be understood as a bitter satire on Transcendentalism’s emphasis on self-reliance. Captain Ahab believed in his own power (a human being’s power) too much and thus he doomed to fail, because human’s power is limited and there is a mysterious thing existed in the universe which controlled man’s life and cannot be understood by human being.Nowadays some new research indicated that the story means man should protect the nature otherwise man will be punished as those whalers in the story were punished by the whale.Melville spoke ahead of his time. He knew that he was doomed to write a book like Moby Dick in his day, but he just could not help himself because he was a dedicated literary artist. There was, to be sure, a good deal of Ahab in him. “I have written a wicked book,” he said after finishing Moby Dick, and the public felt outraged. Thus born in the 19th century, Melville did not receive recognition until the twentieth century. Scarlet Letter1:The beauty shows:Free in the jail in her mind.。
美国文学期末复习知识点-绪论
绪论1.一般认为，美国文学史大致可分为七个时期，分别是殖民地时期、独立战争前后时期、南北战争时期、南北战争后至第一次大战前时期、两次大战之间时期、第二次大战后至越南战争前时期、越南战争后至新世纪初时期。
2.殖民地时期的美国文学主要有三类，它们是原住民印第安人口头文学和民间故事、欧洲探险者到北美的探险日记和航海记录、早期到北美殖民地的英国官员和牧师的散文和游记。
3.在殖民地英国官员和牧师作家们中大致可分为两类，即清教主义作家和反清教主义作家。
4.独立战争前后的美国文学中，发展成果最为突出的文学类型是散文。
5.第一位获得国际声誉的美国小说家是华盛顿·欧文，他的短篇小说代表作是《瑞普·凡·温克尔》、《睡谷传奇》。
6.詹姆斯·范·库柏创作了“皮袜子五部曲”：《开拓者》、《最后一个莫希干人》、《草原》、《探路人》、《逐鹿者》；他是第一位描写美洲殖民地历史的历史小说家、第一位刻画印第安人形象的小说家。
7.爱默生的散文《论自然》是美国超验主义运动的宣言，在该文中，爱默生提出新大陆需要精神独立。
超验主义是民主思想在哲学上的表现。
8.美国诗人瓦尔特·惠特曼的诗集《草叶集》的问世标志着美国浪漫主义运动达到高潮，爱默生欢呼的伟大的美国诗人诞生了。
9.惠特曼去世标志着浪漫主义文学时代的结束，美国文学迅速走进一个现实主义和自然主义文学发展新时代。
10.马克·吐温的小说《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》开创了美国文学的一代新风；威廉·豪威尔斯被认为是美国现实主义文学的奠基人，他最先指出“金钱成了时代的史诗”，“当个百万富翁成了美国人的理想”；而亨利·詹姆斯则开创了20世纪美国心理小说的新方向。
11.欧·亨利被誉为“美国短篇小说之父”，与法国作家莫泊桑和俄国作家契诃夫并列为世界三大短篇小说家。
12.弗兰克·诺里斯是第一个名副其实的美国自然主义作家，西奥多·德莱赛被称为第一次世界大战前最优秀的自然主义作家，其代表作品有《嘉莉妹妹》、《美国的悲剧》。
美国文学期末重点复习资料
美国文学一．术语解释1，Transcendentalism(超验主义):简略版：It started in 1830s in US; which emphasis on spirit or oversoul and stressing importance of the individual; regarding nature as symbols of the spirit or God. It took idea from the romantic literatures of Europe, from Neo-Platonism and so on. Emerson was its representative.深层次版：American Transcendentalism: the emergence of the Transcendentalists as an identifiable movement took place during the late 1820s and 1830s, but the roots of their religious philosophy extended much farther back into American religious history. Transcendentalism and evangelical Protestantism followed separate evolutionary branches from American Puritanism, taking as their common ancestor the Calvinism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the Universe. They stressed the importance of the individual. To them, the individual was the most important element of society. They offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was, to them, alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Transcendentalism is based on the belief that the most fundamental truths about life and death can be reached only by going beyond the world of the senses. Emerson’s Nature has been called the “Manifesto of American Transcendentalism” and his The American Scholar has been rightly regarded as America’s “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”.美国超验主义：美国超验主义出现的19世纪20年代末期到三十年代，但是它的根源在宗教史上要远得多。
英美文学考点(美国文学部分)
. 美国文学部分浪漫主义时期The Romantic Period第一位：washington irving1.A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, which written under the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, was a great success.2. The Sketch Book won a international fame on both sides of the Atlantic.3. “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” got ideas form German legends.4. the Bracebrige Hall and Tales of a Traveler.5. the Alhambra is usually regarded as Irving’s “Spanish Skethch Book”. Only because it has a strong flavor of spanish culture.6.Iring’s taste was essentially conservative.7. washing Iving’s has always been regarded as a writer who perfected the best classic sytle that American Literature ever produced.8. Washing Iving is worth the honor of being “the American Goldsmith” for his literary craftsmanship.9. Irving’s pervasive theme of nostalgia怀旧的) for the unrecoverable past is at once made unforgettable.第二位：Emerson1.Transcendentalism ---the romantic period in the history of American literature.2.the chief spokesman of this spiritual movement is Ralph Waldo Emerson3.transcendental club, the unofficial manifesto for the club is Nature.4.Nature did not establish him as an important American writer, his last reputationbegan with the publication of Essays, which convey the best of his philosophical discussions and transcendental pursuits. Such as The American Scholar ,Self-Reliance , The Over-Soul.5.The Poet, a reflection upon the aesthetic problems of the present state of Americanliterature6.The Experience, a discussion about the conflict between idealism and ordinarylife.7.transcendentalism---with its focus on the intuitive konwledge of human beings tograsp the absolute in the universe and the divinity of man. Emerson put forward his philosopy of over-soul, the importance of individual, nature.8.emerson and other transcendentalists believed that there should be a emtotionalcomunication between a individual soul and the universal over-soul.9. a “transparent eyeball” marks a paradoxical state of being, in which one ismerged into nature, the over-soul. While at the same time retaining a unique perception of experience.10.emerson’s essays often have a casual style, for most of them were derived fromhis journals and lectures.11.堪称“the American Scolar”12.in the essay Emerson clearly expresses the main priciples of his transcendentalist pursuitand his love for nature.第三位：Hawthorne1.Hawthorne remains one of the most interesting, yet most ambivalent (矛盾情感)writers in theAmerican literary history.2.The Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories which attracted critical attention.3.The Mosses of an Old Manse, Snow-Image and other Twice-Told Tales best demonstrateHawthorne’s early obsessions with the moral and phycological consequences of pride, selfishness and secret guilt that manifest themselves in human beings.4.The Scarlet Letter often regarded as the best of his works, tells a simply but very movingstory in which 4 people living in a Puritan Community are involved in and affected by the sin of adultery in different ways.5.The House of the Seven Gables6.The Blithedale Romance(福谷传奇) is a novel he wrote to reveal his own experiences on theBrook Farm and his own methods as a psychological novelist.7.The Mable Faun(玉石雕像) set in Italy, the book is concerned about the dark aberrations(失常方面) of human spirit.8.The Birthmark9.The Young Goodman Brown –everyone possesses evil secret10.The Minister’s Dark Veil11.The Rappaccini’s Daughter12.Hawthorne’s view of man, human history originates, to a great extent, in Puritanism13.The House of the Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter 反清教思想，同时反清教思想on the onehand, it provides him with a subject, on the other hand, with the Puritan world and society as a historical background, he disscusses some of the most improtant issues that concern the moral life of man and human society.14.the structure and form of his writings is always carefully worked out to cater for the thematicconcern.(精心设计的)15.allegorist预言家 symbolist第四位：walt whitman1.Leaves of Grass is Whitman’s representative work, 体现了American democratic ideals 反映了American Independent War and Cival War.2.Leaves of Grass has nine editions. In this giant work, openness, freedom, individualism areall that concerned him. His aim was nothing less than to express some new poetic feelings and to initiate poetic traditon in which difference should be recognized.3.the poet’s essential purpose was to indentify his ego with the world and more specificallywith the democratic “en-masse” of the America, which is established in the openning lines of the “Song of Myself”4.most of poems in Leaves of Grass sing of the “en-masse”and the self as well.5.politically committed 政治抒情诗such as Dump Taps6.Cavalry Crossing a Ford,Whitman expressed much mouring for the sufferings of the young livesin the battlefield and showed a determination to carry on fighting until the final victory.7.when Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d mournful as these poems are, a reader can detecta thin trace of ecstasy for the victory of the progress.8.Whitman’s potetic style is marked by the use of the poetic”Ⅰ”9.free verse, that is , poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.10.parallelism and phonetic recurrence at the beginning of the lines are contribute to themusicality of his poems.11.one of the most often-used methods in his poems is to make colors and images fleet past themind’s eye of the readers.第五位 Herman Melville1.Moby-Dick is his masterpiece.2.Billy Budd, his second famous work3.Melville’s writings can be divided into two groups, each with something in common in thelight of the thematic concern and imginative focus.4.Typee, Omoo, Mardi which drew from his adventures among the people of the south pacific island.Redburn is a semi-autobiographical novel, concerining the sufferings of a genteel youth among the brutal sailors. Whitejacket relates his life on the United States of man-of –war.5.pierre 作者本意是想发动妇女文学革命，但却遭到强烈反对，结果名声下降。
美国文学考点整理
作家作品：〔或参考课本目录，黑色斜体为课本目录〕The literature of Realism:Drum Taps (《桴鼓集》)Good-Bye, My Fancy ( 《再见，我的梦想》,)Leaves of Grass (《草叶集》)Passage to India ( 《通向印度之路》)Sequel to Drum Taps (《桴鼓集续集》)Song of Myself 《自己之歌》I Sit and Look Out 《我坐在这儿眺望着》Beat! Beat! Drum! 《敲呀！敲呀！鼓啊！》I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed 《我品味未经酿造的饮料》I felt a Funeral, in my Brain 《我感受了一场葬礼，在脑中》A Bird came down the Walk 《鸟儿沿着小径过来》I died for Beauty--- but was scarce《我为美而死》I heard a Fly buzz- when I died 《我听到苍蝇的嗡嗡声---在临死之前》Because I could not stop for Death 《因为我不能停下来等候死神》I’m Nobody! Who are You?Success is Counted SweetestUncle Tom's Cabin 《汤姆叔叔的小屋》Mark Twain 马克. 吐温The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 《汤姆.索亚历险记》.The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County ([kælə‘verəs] 《卡拉韦拉斯县著名的跳蛙》2.Innocents Abroad (《傻子国外旅行记》)3.Roughing It (《艰苦岁月》)4.The Gilded Age (with Charles Dudley Waenner, 《镀金时代》与查尔斯·达德利·沃纳合写)5.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (《汤姆·索耶历险记》)A Tramp Abroad (《国外流浪汉》)7. The Prince and the Pauper (《王子与贫儿》)8. Life on the Mississippi (《密西西比河上》)9.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (《哈克贝里·费恩历险记》)10.The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson ( 《傻瓜威尔逊》)11. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court ( 《亚瑟王朝廷上的康涅狄格州美国人》)12. The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg (《败坏赫德莱堡的人》)13. What Is Man? (《人是什么》)O.Henry 欧. 亨利The Cop and the Anthen 《警察与赞美诗》Henry James 亨利. 詹姆斯A Tragedy of ErrorsTransatlantic SketchesThe American 《美国人》Daisy Miller 《戴茜·米勒》The Europeans 《欧洲人》The Portrait of a Lady 《贵妇的肖像》Washington Square 《华盛顿广场》The Bostonians 《波士顿人》The Princess Casamassima 《卡萨玛西玛公主》The Tragic MuseGuy Domville (play, )What Maisie KnewThe Turn of the Screw 《碧庐冤孽》The Awkward AgeThe Wings of the Dove ) 《鸽之翼》The Ambassadors 《大使》(或译：奉使记) The Beast in the JungleThe Golden Bowl 《金碗》English HoursThe American SceneJack London 杰克. 伦敦The Sea Wolf《海狼》Martin Eden 《马丁.伊登》Theodore Dreiser 西奥多. 德莱赛Sister Carrie 《嘉莉妹妹》Jennie GerhardtThe FinancierThe TitanThe GeniusAn American TragedyTwentieth-Century Literature:Ezra Pound 埃兹拉. 庞德A Virginal 《处女无暇》Salutation《再次致敬》A Pact 《合同》In a Station of the Metro 《在地铁车站》The River-Merchant'sWife: A Letter 《长干行》Personae 《人物》Exultations 《狂喜》Cathay 译著《华夏》Homage to Sextus Propertius 《向赛克斯特斯.普罗波蒂斯致敬》Hugh Selwyn Mauberley 《休.赛尔温.毛伯利》The Cantos 《诗章》The ABC Reading (Literary Essay)Edwin Arlington Robinson 埃德温. 阿林顿. 罗宾逊The House on the Hill 《山上的古屋》Richard Cory 《理查.珂利》Miniver Cheevy 《米尼弗.契维》The Torrent and the Night Before 《急流与昨夜》The Town Down the River 《河下游的城镇》The Children of the Night 《夜之子》Mr. Flood’s Party 《弗罗德先生的酒会》The Man Against the Sky 《天边人影》Robert Frost 罗伯特. 弗洛斯特After Apple-Picking 《摘苹果之后》The Road Not Taken 《没有走的路》Stopping by Wood on a Snowy Evening 《雪夜林边小立》Departmental 《职责分明，各管各的》Design 《天意》The Most of It《他至多是》My butterfly 《我的蝴蝶》A Boy’s Will 《少年的意志》North of Boston 《波士顿以北》Mountain Interval 《山间》New Hampshire 《新罕布什尔》West-Running Brook 《向西流去的小溪》A Further Range 《又一片牧场》Mending Wall 《修墙》The Birches 《白桦树》A Witness Tree 《见证树》Steeple Bush 《尖塔丛》A Masque of Mercy 《假慈悲》Collected Poems 《诗选》Complete Poems 《诗歌全集》In the Clearing 《林间空地》Carl Sandburg 卡尔. 桑德堡In Reckless Ecstasy <心醉神迷>Chicago Poems <芝加哥诗集>Famous Imagist poems:Fog <雾>The Harbor <港口>←→Chicago <芝加哥>Cool Tombs <清冷的墓>The People, Yes <人民，是的>Flash Crimson 《闪烁的深红》Lost <失落>I Am the People, the Mob <我是人民群众>The American Songbag <美国歌集> or <美国歌袋>--folk songs of cowboys, vagabond and black peopleBiography of Lincoln (6 volumes) <林肯传>1 autobiography1 historical novelCornhuskers <碾米机>Smoke and Steel <烟与钢>Good Morning, America <早安，美国>Collected Poems <诗集>Wallace Stevens 华莱士. 斯蒂文斯Peter Quince at the Clavier 《彼得.昆士弹琴》Anecdote of the Jar 《坛子的轶事》The Emperor of Ice-Cream 《冰淇淋皇帝》Harmonium <风琴> (first collection of his poems at the age of 44)Notes toward a Supreme Fiction <关于高度虚构的笔记>The Idea of Orders <关于秩序的思想>The Man with the Blue Guitar <带蓝吉它的人>Parts of a World <一个世界的某些部分>Transport to Summer <转入夏季>The Auroras of Autumn <秋天的晨曦>Collected Poems <诗集>Opus Posthumous <遗作集>The Necessary Angel <必不可少的安琪儿>Thomas Stearns Eliot 托马斯. 斯特恩斯. 艾略特The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock〔杰阿尔弗雷德普鲁夫洛克的情歌〕The Waste Land 〔荒原〕The Hollow Men 〔空心人〕Preludes 《序曲》Journey of the Magi 《三贤者的旅程》Ash Wednesday 〔圣灰星期三：复活节前的第七个星期三〕Four Quartets〔四个四重奏/托马斯·斯特恩斯·艾略特〕F. Scott Fitzgerald 司各特. 菲茨杰拉德(1) This Side of Paradise 《人间天堂》(2) Flappers and Philosophers 《轻佻女郎与哲学家》(3) The Beautiful and the Damned 《漂亮冤家》(4) The Great Gatsby 《了不起的盖茨比》(5) Tender is the Night 《夜色温柔》(6) All the Sad Young Man(7) The Last Tycoon 《最后的巨石》8〕Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) 《爵士乐时代的故事》Ernest Hemingway 厄内斯特. 海明威1) In Our Time(2) Men Without Women(3) Winner Take Nothing(4) The Torrents of Spring(5) The Sun Also Rises 《太阳依照升起》(6) A Farewell to Arms 《永别了武器》(7) Death in the Afternoon 《午后之死》(8) To Have and Have Not(9) Green Hills of Africa 《非洲的青山》(10) The Fifth Column(11) For Whom the Bell Tolls 《丧钟为谁而鸣》(12) Across the River and into the Trees《过河入林》(13) The Old Man and the Sea 《老人与海》14〕The Spanish War 《西班牙战争》(1) Cup of Gold(2) Tortilla Flat(3) In Dubious Battle(4) Of Mice and Men(5) The Grapes of Wrath 《愤怒的葡萄》(6) Travels with Charley(7) Short stories: The Red Pony, The PearlWilliam Faulkner 威廉. 福克纳A Rose for Emily 《给艾米莉小姐的玫瑰》The Sound and the Fury 《喧哗与骚动》As I lay Dying 《在我弥留之际》Light in August 《八月之光》Absalom, Absalom！《押沙龙，押沙龙！》Go down, Moses 《去吧，摩西》2.terms：(课件版在课件相关知识拼凑版，需自己整理一下)1）Free verse(参考书版)It is a form of poetry. It means that the poetry is without a fixed beat or regular rhyme, a looser and more open-ended syntactical structure is frequently favored. Lines and sentences of different lengths are left lying side by side just as things are, undisturbed and separate. There are few compound sentences to draw objects and experiences intoa system of hierarchy2) American realism(参考书版)Realism refers to the literary tendency appeared after the American Civil War. The harsh realities of life as well as the disillusion of heroism resulting from the dark memories of the Civil War had set the nation against the romance. The Americans began to be tired of the sentimental feeling of Romanticism. A new generation of writers, dissatisfied with the Romantic ideas in the older generation ,came up with a new inspiration. This new attitude was characterized by a great interest in the realities of life. It aimed at the interpretation of the actualities of any aspect of life, free from subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color. Instead of thinking about the mysteries of life and death and heroic individualism, people's attention was now directed to the interesting features of everyday existence, to what was brutal or sordid, and to the open portray of class struggle. This literary interest in the so-called"reality" of life started a new period in the American literary writings knows as the Age of Realism.3)Local colorism(参考书版)Local color is a term applied to fiction or verse which emphasizes its setting, being concerned with the character of a district or of an era, as marked by its customs, dialect, costumes, landscape, or other peculiarities the have escaped standardizing cultural influences. As a variation of American realism, local colorism came into particular prominence in the U.S. after the Civil War, perhaps as an attempt to recapture the glamour of a past ear, or to portray the sections of the reunited county one to the other. The representive writer of this movement is generally accepted as Mark Twain who depicts the beautiful scenes along the Mississippi Rover that he knows very well from his childhood. Other local colorists include Bret Harte, Hamlin Garland and Kate Chopin.4)Naturalism(参考书版)Naturalism is a critical term applied to the method of literary composition that aims at a detached, scientific objectivity in the treatment of natural man. It is thus moreinclusive and less selective than realism, and holds to the philosophy of determinism. It conceives of man as controlled by his instincts or his passions, or by his social and economic environment and circumstances. Since in this view man has no free will, the naturalistic writer does not attempt to make moral judgements, outgrowth of 19th-century scientific thought, following in the general the biographical feterminism of Darwin's theory, or the economic determinism of Mars. In a word, naturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic. It is no more than a different philosophical approach to reality, or to human existence.5)the Imagism(参考书版)Imagism is a poetic movement of England and the United States, flourished from 1909 to 1917. Its credo, expressed in Some Imagist Poets(1915), included the use of the language of common speech, preoject matter, the evocation of images in hard, clear poetry, and concentration. Origination in the aesthetic philosophy of T.E. Hulme, the movement soon attracted Ezra Pound, who became the leader of a small group opposed to the romantic conception of poetry and inspired by Greek and Roman classic and by Chinese, Japanese, and modern French poets.6〕Object Correlative〔课件版〕Eliot’s famous principle of “objective correlative”〔客观对应物〕refers to using related objects, situations, events, all external facts, to express emotions. He said that the only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding the ‘objective correlative’, in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula〔配方〕of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked.7〕Lost Generation〔课件版〕It refers to, in general, the post-World War First’generation, but specifically a group of expatriate disillusioned intellectuals and artists, who experimented on new modes of thought and expression by rebelling against former ideals and values and replacing them only by despair or a cynical hedonism〔快乐论, 快乐主义〕.Lost generation brilliantly describes those expatriates who had cut themselves off from their past in America in order to create new types of writing.The generation was "lost" in the sense that its inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world and because of its spiritual alienation from a U. S. that seemed to its members to be hopelessly provincial, materialistic, and emotional barren.The term embraces Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, E. E. Cummings, and many other writers who made Paris the center of their literary activities in the 1920s.8）Psychological realism〔参考书版〕It is the realistic writing that probes deeply into the complexities of character's thoughts and motivations. Henry James 's novel The Ambassador is considered to be a masterpiece of psychological realism. And Henry James is considered the founder of psychological realism made by life on the spectator, and not in any facts of which the spectator is unaware. Such realism is therefor merely the obligation that the artist assumes to represent life as he sees it, which may not be the same life as it "really"is.3.Short Question and Answers:1)The social significance of Uncle Tom's CabinIt is the story of an old black slave, Uncle Tom, who has the hope of freedom held before him but who never escapes from his slavery. In the end, he welcomed the death caused by his cruel master, Simon Legree. As a masterpiece of Abolitionist propaganda, the book had its effect. It helped expand campaign in the North against Southern slavery that led to the Civil War.The novel exposed and denounced the slavery in the south in the 19th century. It arose at the historic moment of the high tide of the anti-slavery movement and exerted a great influence upon and greatly pushed forward the movement after its publication. Influence: enormous after the forty versions of different languages appeareda. It stirred the Civil War.b. It caused a lot of mothers sacrificing their sons.c. It also brought about the emancipation of black slaves.2)The International theme of Portrait of a Lady“The international theme”refers to the moral and psychological complications when the American innocence encountered the European sophisticationThe typical Americans in James: fresh, enthusiastic, eager to learn, and basically “good”, disregard of the conventions, stand for moralityThe Europeans in James : highly cultivated, elegant in manners, but sophisticated , stand for manners〔礼貌〕The meeting of America and Europe, American innocence in contract and contrast European decadence, and its moral and psychological complicationsIsabel Archer VS Madame Merle and Gilbert Osmond3)The analysis of Sister Carrie's themeWhen a girl leaves her home at 18, she does either of the 2 things:A.falling into saving hands and becoming better,B. or rapidly assuming the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and turning worse. Underthe circumstances, there is no possibility.The theme in Sister Carrie, a novel written by Theodore Dreiser, is materialism. The theme is primarily personified through Carrie with her desire for a fine home, clothes and everything else money can buy.Materialism, including the desire for money, is an important theme in Sister Carrie. The materialism is shown mostly through Carrie's character but also through Hurstwood, a man with a respectable life and money, who still wants more and for that reason commits a crime. The city in itself is also a place of materialism, it is a place that offers all kinds of amusements, pleasures and things to buy, but to participate in what the city has to offer one has to have money.4)The possible reason of Richard Cory's commit suiside〔好似是上课提到过的〕Abnormal state of mindMeaningless social valuesPerfect personSharp contrast sketches5)Analyse the character of The Love Song of J.Alfred PrufrockPrufrock is a bald middle-aged man fails the courage himself to confess his love to the woman which seems to be neither realistic romance nor nasty sexual desire, but somehow a sheer abstract symbol of adventure and departure. He leaves his love song in the hell of inner heart, locked up.Prufrock is the typical kind of modern educated man who hold the self-consciousness as a decent person, the moody, urban, isolated-yet-sensitive thinker. They want to pursue desire but worried about the effects it will brings to them. He undergoes the contradiction between reason and lust, and suffers in hesitation.With interior monologue as skill, Eliot presents a portraiture of modern man in awkwardness, impotence, and inner hollowness.Prufrock is typically a representative of modern man on this “Waste land”.6)Analyse the influence of American Dream on GatsbyA great number of his stories started with the basic situation in which a rising young man of the middle class is in love with the daughter of a very rich family. While The Great Gatsby explores a number of themes, none is more prevalent than that of the corruption of the American dream.Gatsby appears to be the embodiment of this dream –he has risen from being a poor farm boy with no prospects, to being rich, having a big house, servants, and a large social circle attending his numerous functions. He has achieved all this in only a few short years, having returned from the war penniless.However, Fitzgerald explores much more than the failure of the American dream –he is more deeply concerned with its total corruption.Gatsby has not achieved his wealth through honest hard work, but through bootlegging and crime. His money is not simply ‘new’money –it is dirty money, earned through dishonesty and crime.7)Hemingway's Iceberg TheoryAfter the publication of his last major work, The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway explained his "iceberg" theory of fiction writing in a Paris Review interview: “If it is any use to know it, I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg.”Hemingway's "iceberg theory" of prose style suggests that the writer should leave unsaid the vast majority of what might be written on a subject. The writer gains power by knowing what to leave out.4.Analysis1)I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed by Emily DickinsonThis peom is a ballad and the rhyme scheme of it:abcb1 stanzaI taste a liquor never brewed-----I taste a strong/sweet alcoholic spirit that has never been made to beer. Note the metaphor here.“A liquor never brewed”refers metaphorically to nature. The poet is lost in the beauty of nature.2 stanzaMolten blue---metaphorical use, referring to “heaven”or “nature”(天堂) The poet told readers humorously that she was drinking air and dew, and described herself as a drunken man to express she was intoxicating in nature very much. Image---inns of molten blue---the poet was deeply absorbed in the good days of summer full of blue sky and green grass.3 stanzaThe poet would intoxicate in nature for ever, comparing the bee, the butterfly. When the yellow flowers stopped blooming, the butterflies quitted gathering honey, the poet was still intoxicating in nature. (用类比的手法，把自己在自然中的沉醉之深比作喝了醇香美酒的感觉)From simple objects such as bees, butterflies, the poet shows her love towards nature and life.4 stanzaAlliteration: saints, swing, snowy, seraphsIn order to express her intoxication in nature, the poet described through the angels, the saints, and the snowy clouds. Even the saints and god also praised her“intoxication”.Emily Dickinson was greatly influenced by Emerson’s transcendentalism. She had a profound love for nature and was often intoxicated with the beauty of nature.The poet compares nature to liquor that has never been brewed and herself to a debauchee who loves wine more than her life. The image the poet uses to suggest drunkenness(醉态；酒醉)epitomizes her deep love for nature.The use of dash can delay the time to reflect the poet's slow advanced thinking and he lost in the beautiful nature.2)A Pact by Ezra Pound只找到前五节分析First,the words "pact" means "agreement"In these lines Pound comes to agree the importance of Walt Whitman although he has in the previous time rejected and attacked the achievements made by Whitman. Pound calls himself a grown child ,which means he has matured so that he would like to take up what Whitman has left. The poem shows the undeniable position of Walt Whitman in American literature.(As time went by, Pound had realized that some agreement existed between"Whitmanesque" free verse, which he used to attack for its carelessness in composition. He'd like to learn from the free verse and show respect to Whitman. )后面的老师上课提过的分析This reflect that the poet want to reform the old poetry style and follow Whitman to create new poetry style.〔或者自己翻译“改革旧的诗风，追随惠特曼创造新的诗风”〕3)The Road Not Taken by Robert FrostThis 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. The poet uses "the road " to symbolize life's journey.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.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.The literal meaning of this poem by Robert Frost is pretty obvious. A traveler comes to a fork in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue his journey. After much mental debate, the traveler picks the road "less traveled by."The figurative meaning is not too hidden either. The poem describes the tough choices people stand for when traveling the road of life. The words "sorry" and "sigh" make the tone of poem somewhat gloomy. The traveler regrets leaves the possibilities of the road not chosen behind. He realizes he probably won't pass this way again.。
美国文学期末复习笔记 (1)
美国文学笔记III. The Romantic period （浪漫主义时期）: （1800-1865）American Transcendentalism(美国超验主义）（1830s- Civil War）Summit of Romanticism/ American Renaissance1. Appearance1836, ―Nature‖ by Emerson2. Features of Transcendentalism(1). Spirit(思想）/Oversoul（超灵）(2). importance of individualism(3). nature – symbol of spirit/God；garment of the oversoul(4). focus in intuition (irrationalism and subconsciousness)IV. The American Realism 现实主义时期(1865-1918)1. Three Giants in Realistic PeriodWilliam Dean Howells –―Dean of American Realism‖Henry JamesMark Twain2. Comparison:Theme:Howells –middle classJames –upper classTwain –lower classTechnique:Howells –smiling/genteel realismJames –psychological realismTwain –local colourism and colloquialismMark Twain (1835-1910):1. Summary:American writer, short story writer/Humorist2. Major works:The Celebrated jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865)《卡拉维拉县弛名的跳蛙》Innocents Abroad (1869) 《傻子国外旅行记》The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) 《汤姆.索亚历险记》Life on the Mississippi (1883) 《密西西比河上》The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1886)《哈克贝里.费恩历险记》: All modern American literature comes from his masterpiece ―The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.‖——Ernest Hemingway3. Style:(1). colloquial language（口语）, vernacular (本土的）language, dialects(2). local colour(3). syntactic feature: sentences are simple, brief, and sometimes ungrammatical(4). humour(5). tall tales (highly exaggerated) （荒诞不经的故事）(6). social criticism (satire on the different ugly things in society)4. ContributionOne of Mark Twain’s significant contributions to American literature lies in the fact that he made colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country.Henry James (1843-1916)1. Summary:An American and British novelist, literary criticFounder of psychological realismFirst of the modern psychological novelistInitiator of the international theme: American innocence in face of European sophistication2. Major works:Daisy Miller （1878）《戴茜·米勒》The Portrait of a Lady (1881) 《贵妇的肖像》The Wings of the Dove (1902)《鸽翼》The Ambassadors (1903)《专使》The Golden Bowl (1904)《金碗》The Art of Fiction(1884)《小说的艺术》3. His Point of view(1). Psychological analysis, forefather of stream of consciousness(2).Psychological realism(3). Highly-refined language4. Style –“stylist”(1). Language: highly-refined, polished, insightful, and accurate(2).V ocabulary: large(3). Construction: complicated, intricateNaturalism（自然主义）1. Background:(1). Dar win’s theory: ―natural selection‖(2).Spenser’s idea: ―social Darwinism‖(3). French Naturalism: Zora2. Features(1). environment and heredity(2). scientific accuracy and a lot of details(3). general tone: ironic and pessimistic, hopelessness, despair, gloom, ugly side of the societySt ephen Crane (1881-1900)1. Summary:Novelist, poetPioneer in the naturalistic traditionPrecursors（先驱）of Imagist poetry2. Major Works:Maggie: A Girl of the Streets 《街头女郎麦姬》: the first naturalistic novel in AmericaThe Red Badge of Courage 《红色英勇勋章》The Open Boat《海上扁舟》V. AMERICAN MODERNISM (1918-1945)（美国现代主义）F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)1. Summary:Famous American novelist, short story writer, and essayistthe representative of the 1920sthe spokesman for the Jazz Ageone of the“lost generation”writers2. Major WorksThis Side of Paradise (1920) 《人间天堂》Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) 《爵士乐时代的故事》Tender Is the Night (1934) 《夜色温柔》The Great Gatsby (1925) 《了不起的盖茨比》:Narrative point of view – Nick CarrawayTheme: The decline of the American Dream3. His Point of view(1). He expressed what the young people believed in the 1920s, the so-called ―American Dream‖ is false innature.(2). He had always been critical of the rich and tried to show the integrating effects of money on theemotional make-up of his character. He found that wealth altered people’s characters, making them mean and distrusted. He thinks money brought only tragedy and remorse.(3). His novels follow a pattern: dream – lack of attraction – failure and despair.4. His ideas of “American Dream”It is false to most young people. Only those who were dishonest could become rich.William Faulkner (1897-1962)1. Sumary:An American novelist and poetInitiator of American Southern RenaissanceOne of the most influential modern novelists of 20th centuryNobel Prize winner for literature in 19492. Major Works:The Sound and the Fury 《喧哗与骚动》As I Lay Dying 《在我弥留之际》Light in August 《八月之光》Absalom, Absalom 《押沙龙，押沙龙！》Go Down, Moses 《去吧，摩西》Barn Burning 《烧牲口棚》Yoknapatawpha County（约克纳帕塔法县）:--- A fictional county in northern Mississippi, the setting for most of William Faulkner’s novels and short stories, and patterned upon Faulkner’s actual home in Lafayette County, Mississippi.3. Major Themes of his Works(1). history and race(2). Deterioration(3). Conflicts between generations, classes, races, man and environment(4). Horror, violence and the abnormal4. Faulkner's narrative technique(1).Withdrawal of the author as a controlling narrator(2). Dislocation of the narrative time: The most characteristic way of structuring his stories is to fragment thechronological time.(3). the modern stream-of-consciousness（意识流）technique and the interior monologue（内心独白）：(4). Multiple points of view（多重视角）(5). symbolism and mythological and biblical（圣经的）allusionsErnest Hemingway (1899—1961)1. Summary:Novelist and short-story writerOne of the great American writers of the 20th centuryThe Spokesman of the ―Lost Generation‖Nobel Prize winner for literature in 19542. Major worksThe Sun Also Rises 《太阳照常升起》A Farewell to Arms《永别了，武器》For Whom the Bell Tolls 《丧钟为谁而鸣》/ 《战地钟声》The Old Man and the Sea 《老人与海》A Clean, Well-lighted Place 《一个干净，明亮的地方》3. Major Themes(1).The ―Nada‖(虚无) Concept(2).Grace under pressure(压力下的优雅）―Man is not made for defeats. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.‖------The Old Man and the Sea(3). Code Hero（准则英雄/ 硬汉）a. The Hemingway hero is not a thinker; he is a man of action.b.―Grace under pressure is their motto.c.The Hemingway code heroes are best remembered for their indestructible(不可毁灭的）spirit.4. Artistic features(1) .The iceberg（冰山）techniqueThe dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.(2). Language stylea. simple and naturalb.direct, clear and freshc. lean and economicald.simple, conversational, common found, fundamental wordse. simple sentencesf. Iceberg principle: understatement, implied thingsg.SymbolismEzra Pound (1885—1972)1. Summary:A leading spokesman of the ―Imagist Movement‖(意象主义运动）One of the most influential American poets and critic2. Major works:Cathay:《华夏集》《神州集》《中国诗章》Hugh Selwyn Mauberley《休·赛尔温·毛伯利》Cantos /《诗章》3. Imagism (1909-1917)(1) .Background:Imagism was influenced by French symbolism, ancient Chinese poetry and Japaneseliterature ―haiku‖(2). Defintion : The imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to expressthe these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image.(3): Manifesto of Imagism:•Direct treatment•Economy of expression•New rhythmIn a station of the Metro《在一个地铁站》: a quintessential（典型的）imagist textRobert Frost（1847-1963）1. Summary:the most popular American poetWon Pulitzer Prize four timesReceived honorary degrees from forty-four colleges and universitiesRead ― The Gift Outright‖ at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 19612. Famous Poems:F ire and Ice《火与冰》The Road Not Taken 《未选择的路》Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 《雪夜伫立林边有感》Mending Wall《补墙》After Apple-Picking《摘罢苹果》3. Frost’s writing featureHis combination of the traditional verse pattern and a colloquial distinctive language (New England Speech)Eugene O’Neil (1888-1953)1. Summary:America's greatest playwrightWon the Pulitzer Prize four timesWon Nobel Prize in 1936Founder of the American drama2. Major WorksBeyond the Horizon (1920) 《天边外》The Emperor Jones(1920) 《琼斯皇帝》The Hairy Ape (1922)《毛猿》Desire under the Elms (1924) 《榆树下的欲望》美国文学笔记整理完整版18世纪末-19世纪中后浪漫主义时期Romanticism1. 早期浪漫主义华盛顿·欧文美国文学之父father of American Literature(为美国文学第一次赢得世界声誉)Washington Irving 以笔记小说和历史传厅闻名，humor1783-1859 The Sketch Book见闻札记（标志浪漫主义开始）A History of New York纽约史---美国人写的第一部诙谐文学杰作；----The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说---成为美国第1个获国际声誉作家-----Rip Van Winkle里普·万·温克尔(李伯大梦)The Alhambra阿尔罕伯拉2.超验主义New England Transcendentalism埃德加·爱伦·坡侦探小说之父Father of western detective stories and psychoanalytic criticism精神批Edgar Allan Poe 评，首开近代侦探小说先河，又是法国象征主义运动的源头1809-1849 Novelist小说家, poet, critic批评家good at writing Gothic(哥特式）and detective fictionPoetryThe Raven《乌鸦》To Helen《献给海伦》Short storiesHorror ( suspense, terror, Insanity, death，Revenge and rebirth）The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍古屋的倒塌》The Masque of the Red Death 《红色死亡的化妆舞会》The Black Cat《黑猫》The Cask of Amontillado《一桶白葡萄酒》Ligeia《丽姬娅》Detective /ratiocinative(推理的）(originator)The Purloined Letter 《窃信案》The Muder in the Rue Morgue 《莫格街谋杀案》The Mystery of Marie Rog《玛丽.罗热疑案》The Gold Bug 《金甲虫》拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生Nature论自然-----新英格兰超验主义者的宣言书manifestoRalf Waldo Emerson The American Scholar论美国学者;American essayist,lecturer, poetThe Founder of Transcendentalism1803-1882 Self-reliance论自立The Transcendentalist超验主义者Representative Men代表人物School Address神学院演说Days日子-首开自由诗之先河free verseRalph Waldo Emerson was an American philosopher, essayist, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism个人主义.纳撒尼尔·霍桑subject: human soul first great American writer of fiction 虚构Nathaniel Hawthorne 象征主义大师American novelist and short story writer1804-1864 The Scarlet Letter红字Twice-told Tales尽人皆知的故事Mosses from an Old Manse古屋青苔The House of the Seven Gables有七个尖角阁的房子The Marble Faun玉石雕像The Blithedale Romance福谷传奇Young Goodman Brown年轻的布朗The Birthmark胎记His point of view : Hawthorne is influenced by Puritanism（清教主义）deeply.(1). Evil is at the core of human life 邪恶是人类生活的中心(2).whenever there is sin 罪恶, there is punishment 惩罚. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation 代代相传(3). Evil educates. 邪恶的教育(4). He has disgust in science科学. One source of evil is overweening (自负的) (too proud of oneself) intellect . His intellectual characters聪明的特征are villains反派角色, dreadful可怕的and cold-blooded冷血的赫尔曼·迈尔维尔擅长航海奇遇和异域风情Herman Melville Moby Dick/The White Whale白鲸（first American prose epic史诗）1819-1891 Main characters: Ishmael(以实玛利）: the narrator 叙述者Ahab（埃哈伯）: the protagonist 主要人物Moby DickTypee泰比Omoo奥穆Mardi玛地White Jacket白外衣Pierre皮尔埃; Billy Budd比利·巴德沃尔特·惠特曼Father of free verse自由诗之父Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass草叶集（the birth of truly American poetry and the1819-1892 end of romanticism）共和圣经Democratic Bible 美国史诗American EpicAmerican poet, essayist散文家, journalist新闻工作者, and humanist人道主义学家The father of free verse（自由诗）Song of Myself自我之歌Democratic Vistas 民主的前景One’s Self I Sing 《我歌唱一个人的自己》O Captain! My Captain! 《噢，我的船长！我的船长！》3.Writing themes (almost everything):equality of things and beings 平等的事情和人divinity 神学of everythingImmanence（无所不在）of GodDemocracy 民主evolution of cosmos（宇宙的演化）multiplicity 多样性of natureself-reliant spirit 自力更生的精神death, beauty of deathexpansion of America 美国的扩张brotherhood 手足情谊and social solidarity（社会团结）(unity of nations in the world世界统一的国家) pursuit 追求of love and happiness4.S tyle: “free verse（自由诗）: the verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern固定的韵律模式, the verse without a fixed beat 固定的节拍or regular rhyme scheme规律的格律.(1).Parallelism（排比）(2).phonetic recurrence（同字起句法）（the repetition重复of words or phrases at the beginning of the line, inthe middle or at the end)(3).the use of a certain pronoun ―I‖ (the first person narrator)(4).strong tendency to use oral English使用英语口语的强烈倾向(5).the habit of using snapshots 生活小照(6).a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure语法结构(7).use of conventional image 传统的想象(8).vocabulary – powerful, colourful, rarely used words of foreign origins, some even wrong(9). sentences – catalogue目录technique: long list of names, long poem lines5. Significance of Leaves of GrassLeaves of Gras s, either in content or in form, is an epoch-making work in American literature:无论是在内容还是在形式上,是一个划时代的作品在美国文学→Its democratic content marked the shift from Romanticism to Realism. 其民主内容标志着从浪漫主义到现实主义的转变→Its free-verse form broke from old poetic conventions to open a new way for American poetry.其生发的形式从旧的诗意的约定了打开新的思路对美国诗歌。
美国文学重点整理
美国文学重点整理O u t l i n e o f A m e r i c a n L i t e r a t u r e1.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f C o l o n i a lA m e r i c a殖民地时期美国文学 (17t h c e n t u r y)2.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R e a s o n a n d R e v o l u t i o n理性和革命时期文学（18t h C）3.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R o m a n t i c i s m 浪漫主义文学（19t h C）4.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R e a l i s m理性主义文学（19t h C）5.T w e n t i e t h-c e n t u r y L i t e r a t u r e 现代主义文学（20t h C）O u t l i n e o f E n g l i s h L i t e r a t u r e1.m e d i a e v a l l i t e r a t u r e中世纪文学（约5世纪—1485）2.R e n a i s s a n c e l i t e r a t u r e文艺复兴时期文学（15世纪后期—17世纪初）3.17t h C e n t u r y L i t e r a t u r e17世纪文学4.L i t e r a t u r e E n l i g h t e n m e n t p e r i o d启蒙时期文学（17世纪后期—18世纪中期）5.R o m a n t i c l i t e r a t u r e p e r i o d浪漫主义时期文学1798-1832）6.R e a l i s m p e r i o d现实主义时期文学 (19世纪30年代-1918）7.M o d e r n L i t e r a t u r e p e r i o d现代主义文学时期（1918-1945）8.C o n t e m p o r a r y L i t e r a t u r e当代文学（1945—今）P a r t I.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f C o l o n i a l A m e r i c a殖民地时期美国文学1.E a r l y i n t h e17t h C.,t h e E n g l i s h s e t t l e m e n t s i n V i r g i n i a a n d M a s s a c h u s e t t s b e g a n t h e m a i n s t r e a m o f A m e r i c a n n a t i o n a l h i s t o r y.2.I n1607,t h e f i r s t p e r m a n e n t E n g l i s h s e t t l e m e n t i n N o r t h A m e r i c aw a s e s t a b l i s h e d a t J a m e s t o w n, V i r g i n i a. T h i s y e a r i s o f t e n c o n s i d e r e da s t h eb e g i n n i n g o f A m e r ic a n h i s t o r y.3.C a p t a i n J o h n S m i t h---f i r s t A m e r i c a n w r i t e r,p u b l i s h e d8w o r k s i na l l.H i s r e p o r t s o f e x p l o r a t i o n h a v e b e e n d e s c r i b e d a s t h e f i r s td i s t i n c t l y A me r i c a n l i t e r a t u r e t o b e w r i t t e n i n E n g l i s h.h i sd e s c r i p t i o n o f A m e r i c a w e r e f i l l e d w i t h t h e m e s,m y t h s,i m a g e s,s c e n e s,c h a r a c t e r s a nde v e n t s t h a t w e r e af o u n d a t i o n f o r t h e n a t i o n’s l i t e r a t u r e.4.P u r i t a n w r i t e r s：t w o P o e t s：A n n eB r a d s t r e e t（T h e T e n t h M u s e L a t e l y S p r u n g u p i n A m e r i c a--《美国新崛起的第十位缪斯女神》）H e r w o r k s e r v e s a s a d o c u m e n t o f t h e s t r u g g l e s o f a P u r i t a n w i f e a g a i n s t t h e h a r d s h i p s o f N e w E n g l i s h c o l o n i a l l i f eE d w a r d T a y l o r①R e g a r d e d a s t h e b e s t o f t h e P u r i t a n p o e t s.②R e l i g i o u s t h e m e s.③B a s e d d i r e c t l y o n t h e P s a l m s(圣诗).P u r i t a n v a l u e s(e n d u r i n g持久的 i n f l u e n c e)s t r e s s e d h a r d w o r k,t h r i f t, p i e t y,s o b r i e t y（节制)T h e y r e g a r d e d t h e m s e l v e s a s c h o s e n p e o p l e o f G o d.T h e y e m b r a c e dh a r d s h i p s,i n d u s t r y a n d f r u g a l i t y(节俭).T h e y f a v o r e d a d i s c i p l i n e d,h a r d,s o m b e r,a s c e t i c(禁欲的)a n d h a r s h l i f e.T h e y o p p o s e d反对 a r t s a n d p l e a s u r e.T h e y s u s p e c t j o y a n d l a u g h t e r a s s y m p t o m s o f s i n.(c a n’t s m i l e i n t h e c h u r c h)P a r t I I.T h e L i t e r a t u r e o f R e a s o n a n d R e v o l u t i o n(18t h C)R e a s o n----- A m e r i c a n E n l i g h t e n m e n t1) P h i l o s o p h i c a l a n d i n t e l l e c t u a l m o v e m e n t.2)A d v o c a t e d r e a s o n(理性)o r r a t i o n a l i t y,t h e s c i e n t i f i c m e t h o d,e q u a l i t y a n d h u m a n b e i n g s'a b i l i t y t o p e rf e c t t h e m s e l v e s a n d t h e i rs o c i e t y.3. A g r e e d o n f a i t h i n h u m a n r a t i o n a l i t y a n d e x i s t e n c e o f d i s c o v e r a b l ea n d u n i v e r s a l l y v a l i d(有效的)p r i n c i p l e s g o v e r n i n g h u m a nb e i n g s,n a t u r ea n d s o c i e t y.4. O p p o s e d i n t o l e r a n c e, r e s t r a i n t, s p i r i t u a l a u t h o r i t y a n d r e v e a l e d r e l i g i o nB e n j a m i n F r a n k l i n(1706-1790)—T h e e p i t o m e(集中体现)o f t h e A m e r i c a n E n l i g h t e n m e n tM a i n W o r k s:P o o r R i c h a r d’s A l m a n a c《穷理查德年鉴》/《格言历书》 A c o l l e c t i o n o f p r o v e r b sA u t o b i o g r a p h y《自传》W i t h i t h e s e t t h e f o r m f o r a u t o b i o g r a p h y a s a g e n r e.建立了传记文学传统（A n i n s p i r i n g a c c o u n t o f a p o o r b o y’s r i s e t o a h i g h p o s i t i o n.I t i s a h o w-t o-d o-i t b o o k,o n e o n t h e a r t o f s e l f-i m p r o v e m e n t./S i g n i f i c a n c e:I t p r e s e n t s a p r o t o t y p e(原型)o f A m e r i c a n s u c c e s s w h i c h i n s p i r e d g e n e r a t i o n s o f A m e r i c a n s.I t i s a n e m b o d i m e n t体现 o f P u r i t a n i s m a n d e n l i g h t e n i n g s p i r i t.）S t y l e:h e d e v e l o p e d a n u t i l i t a r i a n(实利主义的 )a n d d i d a c t i c s t y l e.H i s s t y l e i s c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y s i m p l i c i t y,f r a n k n e s s,w i t,c l a r i t y, l o g i c a n d o r d e r.T h o m a s P a i n e托马斯佩恩(1737-1809)——F o u n d i n g F a t h e r o f U S AO f a l l t h e w r i t e r s o f t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n,h e w a s t h e l e a s t A m e r i c a n i n b a c k g r o u n d,i n s p i r i t a n d i n p u r p o s e.M a i n w o r k s:C o m m o n S e n s e《常识》T h e A m e r i c a n C r i s i s《美国危机》T h e r i g h t s o f m a n《人的权利》T h e A g e o f R e a s o n《理性时代》 D o w n f a l l o f D e s p o t i s m《专制体制的崩溃》“T h e m o s t b r i l l i a n t p a m p h l e t w r i t t e n i n A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n,a n d o n e o f t h e m o s t b r i l l i a n t p a m p h l e t s e v e r w r i t t e n i n t h e E n g l i s h l a n g u a g e.”————C o m m o n S e n s e“T h e s e a r e t h e t i m e s t h a t t r y m e n's s o u l s."T h i s s i m p l e q u o t a t i o n n o t o n l y d e s c r i b e s t h e b e g i n n i n g s o f t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n,b u t a l s o t h e l i f e o f P a i n e h i m s e l f.“I l o v e t h e m a n t h a t c a n s m i l e i n t r o u b l e,t h a t c a n g a t h e r s t r e n g t h f r o m d i s t r e s s,a n d g r o w b r a v e b y r e f l e c t i o n.”T h o m a s J e f f e r s o n托马斯·杰斐逊（1743－1826）s y m b o l o f A m e r i c a n d e m o c r a c y.P o l i t i c a l l y, h e i s c o n s i d e r e d t h e f a t h e r o f t h e d e m o c r a t i c s p i r i t i n h i s c o u n t r y.T h e D e c l a r a t i o n o f I n d e p e n d e n c e《独立宣言》:T h e e s s a y,a d o p t e d J u l y4, 1776,n o t o n l y a n n o u n c e d t h e b i r t h o f a n e w n a t i o n,b u t a l s o s e t f o r t h a p h i l o s o p h y o f h u m a n f r e e d o m w h i c h s e r v e d a s u n i m p o r t a n t f o r c e i n t h e w e s t e r n w o r l d.I t i s a s t a t e m e n t o f A m e r i c a n p r i n c i p l e s a n d a r e v i e w o f t h e C a u s e s o f t h e q u a r r e l w i t h B r i t a i n, p r e s e n t e d t h e A m e r i c a n v i e w t o t h e w o r l d w i t h c l a s s i c d i g n i t y.I t i n s t i l l e d(逐步灌输)a m o n g t h e c o m m o n p e o p l e a s e n s e o f t h e i r o w n i m p o r t a n c e a n d i n s p i r e d s t r u g g l e f o r p e r s o n a l f r e e d o m,s e l f g o v e r n m e n t a n d a d i g n i f i e d p l a c e i n s o c i e t y.P h i l i p F r e n e a u（佛瑞诺）(1752-1832)f a t h e r o f A m e r i c a n P o e t r y &l e a d e r o f18t h c e n t u r y n a t u r a l i s m‘P o e t o f t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n’T h e f i r s t A m e r i c a n-b o r n p o e t.H i s p o e m s p r e s e n t e d R o m a n t i c s p i r i t s b u t h i s f o r m w a s m a i n l y i n f l u e n c e d b y C l a s s i c i s m. M a i n W o r k s:T w o t h e m e s：n a t u r e a n d t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m e n a n d n a t u r e&t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n.T h e R i s i n g G l o r y o f A m e r i c a《蒸蒸日上的美洲》(1772) T h e B r i t i s h P r i s o n S h i p《英国囚船》 (1781)T o t h e M e m o r y o f t h e B r a v e A m e r i c a n s《纪念美国勇士》--同类诗中最佳T h e I n d i a n B u r y i n g G r o u n d《印第安人墓地》 (1788)T h e W i l d H o n e y S u c k l e《野生的金银花》 (1786)Q u e s t i o n s：W h a t’s t h e p o e t’s t o n e i n t h e p o e m,o p t i m i s t i c o r p e s s i m i s t i c?W h a t a r e t h e t h e m e s? W h a t c a n w e l e a r n f r o m t h e p o e m?S t a n z a1T h e f i r s t s t a n z a o f t h e p o e m t r e a t s t h e a d v a n t a g e s a s w e l l a s d i s a d v a n t a g e s o f t h e f l o w e r’s m o d e s t r e t i r e m e n t(隐居)—i t i s d e s i g n e d w i t h b e a u t y(f i r s t2l i n e s)a n d w e l l p r o t e c t e d(t h e l a s t2l i n e s) i n s o l i t u d e;w h e r e a s i t s b e a u t y m i g h t b e a d m i r e d b y f e w(t h e3r d &4t h l i n e s).S t a n z a2T h e s e c o n d s t a n z a s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e h o n e y s u c k l e b e a r s a s p e c i a l r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h n a t u r e w h i c h h a s a d v i s e d i t t o k e e p a w a y f r o m“v u l g a r e y e”,i t h a s s e n t t h e s o f t w a t e r s f l o w i n g g e n t l y b y.H o w e v e r,i n s p i t e o f a l l t h e n a t u r e’s k i n d n e s s,t h e f l o w e r c a n n o te s c a p e i t s d o o m(d e s t i n y).T h e b e s t t i m e of i t s l i f e i s f a d i n g,f o r d e a t h i s w a i t i n g.Q u e s t i o n s f o r D i s c u s s i o n：.F r e n e a u w a s e x t r e m e l y s e n s i t i v e t o t h e b e a u t i e s o f n a t u r e.I n t h i s p o e m h e e x p r e s s e s a k e e n a w a r e n e s s o f t h e l o v e l i n e s s a n d t r a n s i e n c e（短暂）o f n a t u r e.W h a t i m p r e s s i o n o f t h e f l o w e r i s g i v e n i n t h e f i r s t t w o s t a n z a s p a r t i c u l a r l y t h r o u g h t h e p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n o f n a t u r e?S t a n z a3T h e t h i r d s t a n z a r e v e a l s t h e i n d i f f e r e n c e o f n a t u r e---t h e “u n p i t y i n g f r o s t s” a r e a s m u c h a p a r t o f n a t u r e a s t h e“s o f t w a t e r s”. T h u s,t h e n o t i o n t h a t n a t u r e h a s p r o v i d e d a“g u a r d i a n s h a d e” f o r t h e p r o t e c t i o n o f t h e h o n e y s u c k l e i s a s e n t i m e n t a l f a n c y.W h y d o e s t h e p o e t f e e l g r i e f悲痛 a b o u t t h e f l o w e r’s d o o m? T o w h a t d o e s h e c o m p a r e i t s c h a r m s?S t a n z a4I n t h e f o u r t h s t a n z a,t h e p o e t s e e s h i s f a t e m i r r o r e d i n t h a t o f t h e f l o w e r. H u m a n b e i n g s, a s a n y o t h e r c r e a t u r e s o r f l o w e r s, a r e a p a r t o f n a t u r e.T h e y o r i g i n a t e d f r o m n a t u r e a n d w i l l s u r e l y r e t u r n t o n a t u r e s o m e d a y,t h u s t h e i r r e d u c t i o n t o n a t u r e i n t h ed a y a he a d w i l l c o n s t i t u t e n o r e a l l o s s.1.W h a t c o n c l u s i o n d o e s t h e p o e t d r a w i n t h e l a s t s t a n z a?2.D o y o u t h i n k F r e n e a u i s c o m p a r i n g t h e l i f e o f a f l o w e r w i t h t h e l i f e o f m a n?E x p l a i n y o u r r e a s o n i n g.W h a t m e a n i n g i s s u g g e s t e d b y t h e p h r a s e“b u t a n h o u r”?C o m m e n t o n“T h e W i l d H o n e y S u c k l e”：I t i s a d e i s t i c（自然神论的）c e l e b r a t i o n o f n a t u r e, r o m a n t i c u s e o f s i m p l e n a t u r e i m a g e r y, i n s p i r e d b y t h e m e s o f d e a t h a n d t r a n s i e n c e（短暂）.M u c h o f t h e b e a u t y o f t h e p o e m l i e s i n t h e s o u n d s o f t h e w o r d s a n d t h e e f f e c t s c r e a t e d t h r o u g h c h a n g e s i n r h y t h m(a b a b c c).F l o w e r v s H u m a n B e i n g& D u r a t i o n持久 v s L i f eS h o w u s h o w t o l i v e a n u s e f u l l i f e. I n a r e v o l u t i o n,o n e s h o u l d n o t d o n o t h i n g f o r h i s c o u n t r y f o r f e a r o f b e i n g h u r t,h a r m e d a n d d e s t r o y e d.D i f f e r e n t c o m m e n t s o n t h e p o e m：（1）T h e p o e m i s a b o u t l i f e.T h e f i r s t s t a n z a d e s c r i b e s a b a b y i n t h e w o m b.U n t o u c h e d,u n s e e n,a n d p r o t e c t e d.T h e s e c o n d t a l k s a b o u t c h i l d h o o d,b e i n g p r o t e c t e d i n s h a d e a n d f r o m v u l g a r i t y.T h e t h i r d i s a b o u t a g i n g t o t h e p r i m e o f l i f e“n o r w e r e t h o s e f l o w e r sm o r e g a y,T h e f l o w e r s t h a t d i d i n E d e n b l o o m.” F r e n e a u i n c l u d e s f o r e s h a d o w i n g o f t h e i m p e n d i n g（临近）d e c a y.T h e f l o w e r d i e s i n t h e f o u r t h s t a n z a a n d l e a v e s n o t r a c e. I t’s a l m o s ta s i f i t w a s n e v e r t h e r e.A l t h o u g h t h e h o n e y s u c k l e h a s g o n e t h r o u g ht h e s e c h a n g e s,i t's l i f e w a s s h o r t.B a s i c a l l y,F r e n e a u t e l l s u s t h a t o u r l i v e s a r e a l s o f r a i l a n d s h o r ta n d a r e a l l e q u a l i n d e a t h.（2）I m a g e r y意象P h i l i p F r e n e a u e m p l o y s a l a n g u a g e f u l l o f i m a g e r y.E s p e c i a l l y p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n s c o n s t i t u t e a m a i n p a r t o f“T h e W i l d H o n e yS u c k l e”.M o r e o v e r,t h e f l o w e r i t s e l f i s p e r s o n i f i e d.T h e n a r r a t o rt a l k s t o t h e f l o w e r a s i f i t w e r e a h u m a n b e i n g. H e e x p r e s s e s t h a tt h e“l i t t l e b r a n c h e s g r e e t” (l i n e4),h o p e s t h a t t h e r e w i l l b e n o “t e a r” (6) o f t h e f l o w e r a n d a d v i c e s i t t o“s h u n t h e v u l g a r e y e” (8).T h e“r o v i n g f o o t”a n d t h e“b u s y h a n d”(5f)a r e m e t a p h o r s o f t h ed e s t r u c t i o n o f n a t u r e b y m e n. N a t u r e i t s e l f i s p e r s o n i f i e d a s“N a t u r e’s s e l f” (7)w h i c h a r r a y e d t h e f l o w e r s“a n d p l a n t e d h e r e t h e g u a r d i a ns h a d e a n d s e n t s o f t w a t e r s m u r m u r i n g b y”(9f).T h e w a t e r s a r ep e r s o n i f i e d a s w e l l,b e i n g s m o o t h a n d p r o d u c i n g s o u n d s l i k e s i l e n tt a l k i n g.总结：这是一首脍炙人口的小诗，诗人以敏锐的观察力，浅俗的词汇，优美的韵律和清晰的意象，细腻生动地描述了盛开于北美大地不为人们注意的野金银花。
美国文学试题及答案
美国文学试题及答案美国文学试题：1. 请描述美国文学的起源和发展过程。
2. 简要介绍美国文学中的几位重要作家及其代表作品。
3. 分析美国文学对社会和文化的影响。
4. 探讨美国文学在世界文学中的地位和影响力。
5. 比较美国文学与其他国家文学的异同之处。
6. 讨论美国文学中的主题和风格变化。
7. 探究美国文学与历史事件的关联。
美国文学答案：1. 美国文学的起源可以追溯到17世纪，当时美洲殖民地的英国移民开始写作并记录他们在新大陆的生活。
这些作品以宗教、开拓和探索为题材，如《普利茅斯的劝导师》(1620)等。
美国文学的发展经历了启蒙时代、浪漫主义运动、现实主义时期等阶段，并逐渐形成了独特的美国文学风格。
2. 以下是几位重要的美国作家及其代表作品：- 马克·吐温：《哈克贝里·费恩历险记》、《汤姆·索亚历险记》 - 菲利普·罗斯：《美国牧歌》、《喧哗与骚动》- 艾米丽·狄金森：《狄金森诗选》- 弗朗西斯·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德：《了不起的盖茨比》- 威廉·福克纳：《喧哗与骚动》、《把狗放了吧》3. 美国文学对社会和文化具有重要影响。
例如，哈莱姆复兴时期的作家们为非洲裔美国人争取了平等的机会，并反映了种族和身份认同的问题。
此外，20世纪美国现实主义文学通过揭示社会问题和不公正现象，推动了社会改革运动。
美国文学也塑造了美国人的国家意识和身份认同。
4. 美国文学在世界文学中占据重要地位，被广泛翻译和阅读。
美国作家的作品对世界文学发展产生了巨大影响，例如海明威、福克纳、杰克·伦敦等作家的作品具有全球影响力。
美国文学代表了美国独特的价值观和文化传统，吸引着世界各地读者的关注。
5. 美国文学与其他国家文学相比具有明显的不同。
美国文学更加关注个人主义、自由和追求幸福的主题。
与欧洲文学相比，美国文学较少涉及庄重的古典主题，更倾向于写实和现实主义的描写方式。
美国文学考试重点
•Historical background of American Romanticism•General characteristics of Romantics•Two chief elements shaped American Romanticism:••Literary characteristics of American Romanticism•The first great prose stylist of American Romanticism•The first modern short stories and and the first great American juvenile literature• A rollicking burlesque of the early Dutch settlers•The first American writer who gained international fame___•The first important American novelist•Cooper's stories mainly conlude two parts, what are they? List their titles.•Central figure of Leatherstocking tales?•Bryant's first important poem is ______•_____is perhaps the peak of Bryant's work.•Poe's first collection of short storiesis____.•Who wrote To Helen, The Raven, and Annabel Lee?•List one Gothic short story wrote by Poe.•Transcendentalism had been regarded as summit of _____, after that American literature enter into the first ______.•Three sources of tran•scendentalism•Appearance and features•Emerson’s two famous addresses:•Thoreau’s works:•Hawthorne’s famous short stories collection include_____and____. His masterpiece is ____, a novel, and its characters include:•In Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses a technique _____which makes the novel full of deeper meaning.•The symbolic significance of the letter “A”?•Symbolism•Herman Melville’s masterpiece.•Longfellow’s first collection of poems___, and his reputation was established by the publication of ____•Literary characteristics of American realism.•Leaves of Grass•Song of myself•Dickinson’s major poems.•Harriet Beecher Stowe’s masterpiece•Major Features of Mark Twain’s writing•Mark Twain’s major works•O. Henry’s major works•Henry James’s major phase•James first international theme novel. And his first international fame novel. •three staunch advocates of 19th century American realism•Features of James’ novels。
美国文学选读期末考试重点
1、The Colonial Period（1607-1765）American Puritanism ( in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th)北美第一位女诗人Anne Bradstreet(宗教气息，夫妻恩爱)Edward Taylor 都受英国玄学派影响（metaphysical）2、The Enlightenment and Revolution PeriodBenjamin Franklin:Poor Richard's Almanac The Autobiography---“美国梦”的根源3、American Romanticism（end of 18th to the civil war）American writers emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature.早期浪漫主义Washington Irving father of American Literature <The Sketch Book>短篇小说James Fenimore Cooper 历史，冒险，边疆小说《The Leather-stocking Tales>文明发展对大自然的摧残与破坏William Cullen Bryant 美国第一个浪漫主义诗人《To a Waterfowl><The Yellow Violet>美国山水，讴歌大自然，歌颂美国生活现实Edgar Allan Poe ---(48 poems,70 short stories)He greatly influenced the devotees of “Art for art’s sake.”He was father of psychoanalytic criticism , and the detective story.Ralph Waldo Emerson---The chief spokesman of New England TranscendentalismAmerican Transcendentalism (also known as “American Renaissance”) It is the high tide of American romanticism Transcendentalists spoke for the cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society. 《Nature》---the Bible of Transcendentalism by Emerson 《Self-Reliance》表达他的超验主义观点Henry David Thoreau------ Waldenhe regarded nature as a symbol of spirit.Thoreau was very critical of modern civilization.小说家：Hawthorne-赞成超验He is a master of symbolism The Scarlet Letter《红字》Melville 怀疑，悲观，sailing experiences Moby Dick百科全书式性质/海洋作品/动物史诗诗人Longfellow《I Shot an Arrow...》《A Psalm of Life》第一首被完整地介绍到中国的美国诗歌Whitman （Free Verse---without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme ）《Leaves of Grass》《One's Self I Sing》《O Captain! My Captain!》songDickinson inner life of the individual ---died for beauty4、The Age of RealismJames upper reaches of American society. <一位女士的肖像》inner world of manHowells, concerned himself chiefly with middle class life.<The Rise of Silas Lapman>Twain the lower strata of society. humor and local colorism<Life on the Mississippi> <The Adventures of Tom Sawyer> <The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn >American Naturalism 自然主义（新型现实）Stephen Crane；《Maggie: A Girl of the Streets》《The Red Badge of Courage》pessimisticTheodore Dreiser；Sister Carrie；Jennie Gerhardt；An American Tragedy(Trilogy of Desire)O.Henry (William Sydney Porter)：The Gift of the Magi；The Cop and the anthemJack London：The Call of the Wild；Martin Eden5、The Modern Period The 1920s-1930s ( the second renaissance of American literature)The Roaring Twenties ，The Jazz Age ，“lost”(Gertrude Stein) and “waste land”(T.S.Eliot)现代主义小说家F. Scott Fitzgerald：《The Great Gatsby》被视为美国文学“爵士时代”的象征，以美国梦American Dream为主线。
美国文学复习大纲
美国文学部分(American Literature)一．殖民时期文学（The Literature of the Colonial Period）1．本章考核知识点和考核要求：1) 早期殖民地时期的文学的特点2) 十八世纪美国文学的特点（重点是独立革命前后时期文学）3) 主要的作家、其概况及其代表作品4) 术语：the colonial period, American Puritanism, Puritans, Enlightenment in American, the Great A wakening2．主要作家作品John Smith第一个美国作家A True Relation of Virginia and General History of Virginia.Anne Bradstreet 殖民地时期女诗人The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America (1650)Jonathan Edwards十八世纪上半叶大觉醒时代的代表人物“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林，散文家、科学家、社会活动家，曾参与起草《独立宣言》。
十八世纪美国启蒙思想代言人。
《穷查理历书》Poor Richard’s Almanac（收录格言警句）《致富之道》The Way to Wealth《自传》The Autobiography （富兰克林原意为写给儿子的家书）Thomas Paine 托马斯·潘恩，散文家、政治家、报刊撰稿人。
《常识》Common Sense ( Paine 最知名的政论文：It was inspired by the first battle of the Revolutionary War—the Battle of Lexington in Concord.)《美国危机》American Crisis《人的权利》Rights of Man《专制体制的崩溃》Downfall of Despotism《理性时代》The Age of ReasonPhilip Freneau 菲利普·弗伦诺，著名的“革命诗人”。
重点参考美国文学史期末复习
H i s t o r y A n d A n t h o l o g y o f A m e r i c a n L i t e r a t u r e(V o l u m eⅠⅡ)美国文学史及选读1、2PartⅠThe Literature of Colonial America殖民主义时期的文学1.17世纪早期English and European explorers开始登陆美洲。
在他们之前100多年Caribbean Islands, Mexicoand other Parts of South America已被the Spanish占领。
2.17th早期English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts(弗吉尼亚和马萨诸塞)开始了美国历史3.美国最早殖民者(earliest settlers)included Dutch ,Swedes ,Germans ,French ,Spaniards ,Italians and Portuguese(荷兰人，瑞典人，德国人，法国人，西班牙人，意大利人及葡萄牙人等)。
4.美国早期文学主要为the narratives and journals of these settlements采用in diaries and in journals(日记和日志)，他们写关于the land with dense forests and deep-blue lakes and rich soil.5.第一批美国永久居民：the first permanent English settlement in North America was established atJamestown,Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿)。
6.船长约翰·史密斯Captain John Smith他的作品(reports of exploration)17th早期出版，被认为是美国第一部真正意义上的文学作品in the early 1600s,have been described as the first distinctly American literature written in English.他讲述了filled with themes, myths, images, scenes, character and events,吸引了朝圣者和清教徒前往lure the Pilgrims and the Puritans.7.美国第一位作家：1608年Captain John Smith写了封信《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》“A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony”.8.他的第二本书1612年《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》“A Map of Virginia: with a Description of theCountry”.9.他一共出版了八本书，其中有关于新英格兰的历史及描述。
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1.The literature of colonial AmericaWilliam Bradford威廉·布拉德福德（1590年-1657年），五月花号公约签署人之一，于1620年参与创立了普利茅斯殖民地，并在长达30余年的时间里担任普利茅斯总督。
他所撰写的《普利茅斯垦殖记》是关于欧洲新世界殖民史的早期著作之一。
Anne Bradstreet美国女诗人布莱德斯特律1612英格兰比安普敦～1672.9.16,马萨诸塞湾殖民地安多弗美国最早写出真正有价值的英文诗歌的一位女诗人。
她的宗教组诗《沉思集》(Contemplations)受到20世纪文学批评界的重视，被认为是一部不朽之作。
《凡人的虚荣》(Of the vanity of all worldly creatures)、《灵与肉》(The Flesh and the Spirit)、《献给我亲爱的丈夫》(To My Dear and Loving Husband)、《人世正凋萎，万物有终极》(All things within this fading world hath end)、《心痛手颤写诗句》(With troubled heart and trembling hand I write)、《大卫对扫罗和约拿单的哀悼》(David's Lamentation for Sauland Jonathan)Puritan Thoughts美国清教主义从一开始就是一种精神运动，它不仅仅是一种宗教信仰，而且还是一种极端民主与共和的理论。
清教徒在自己的祖国遭受迫害，对英国严酷的社会现实不满而移民到美国。
他们希冀按自己的意欲信仰上帝。
于是，他们致力于建立一个乌托邦式的重视伦理和精神生活的社会模式。
他们崇尚真正的自由——这种真正的自由涵盖了广泛的道德的含义。
他们把一切破坏和蔑视这种自由信念的行为一概斥责为对权威的亵渎。
因此，他们认为自己是一群称之为美国人的新人，命定要建立一个新的世界，为人类建造一座“山上的光辉的城市”。
Benjamin Franklin本杰明·富兰克林（Benjamin Franklin）(1706-1790)——资本主义精神最完美的代表，十八世纪美国最伟大的科学家和发明家，著名的政治家、外交家、哲学家、文学家和航海家以及美国独立战争的伟大领袖。
代表作《穷理查年鉴》，英文为《Poor Richard’s Almanack》，又叫《穷理查历书》。
《富兰克林自传》Philip Freneau“Poet of the American Revolution” , “Father of American Poetry”. He was the most significant poet of 18th century America.作品：a)《美洲光辉的兴起》b) 《夜之屋》c)《英国囚船》d)《纪念美国勇士》e)The Wild Honey Suckle f)《印第安人埋葬之地》g)《奄奄一息的印第安人：托姆•柴吉》早期印第安文学美国文学始于印第安人的口传神话、传说、故事和诗歌（全部是歌谣）。
在第一批欧洲人到达北美前，北美的500多种印第安人语言和部落文化中没有书面文学。
因此，美国原住民的口头文学相当多样化。
印第安人的故事表现出对自然界作为精神和肉体的母亲的崇拜。
大自然被视作具有生命力和精神力量；故事的主要人物可能是动物或植物，它们往往是与某个部落、团体或个人有关的图腾。
在后来的美国文学中与印第安人的自然崇拜观念最接近的是拉尔夫·爱默生（Ralph Waldo Emerson）提出的无所不在的“超灵”（Over-Soul）。
The Wild Honey-Suckle 野金银花By Philip FreneauFair flower, that dost so comely grow, 美丽的金银花，Hid in this silent, dull retreat, 你粲然绽放于幽静一角。
Untouched thy honied blossoms blow, 芳菲满枝，无人垂顾，Unseen thy little branches greet; 迎风起舞，无人注目。
...No roving foot shall crush thee here, 游子从不践踏你的玉体，...No busy hand provoke a tear. 过客从不催落你的泪滴。
By Nature's self in white arrayed, 造化令你素裹银妆，She bade thee shun the vulgar eye, 你得以远离庸人的目光。
And planted here the guardian shade, 她赐予你一片绿阴葱葱，And sent soft waters murmuring by; 她带给你一泓流水淙淙。
...Thus quietly thy summer goes, 恬静的夏日倏然流淌，...Thy days declining to repose. 你终于红衰翠减，玉陨香消。
Smit with those charms, that must decay, 妩媚动人，你却无法盛颜久长，I grieve to see your future doom; 落红满地，你令我黯然神伤。
They died--nor were those flowers more gay, 纵然在伊甸乐园，人间天堂，The flowers that did in Eden bloom; 也难免一日凋零，满目凄凉。
...Unpitying frosts, and Autumn's power 萧瑟秋风，凄白秋霜，...Shall leave no vestige of this flower. 你终于消失得无影无踪。
From morning suns and evening dews朝霞暮露，At first thy little being came: 孕育了你娇小的身躯。
If nothing once, you nothing lose, 你从尘土来，又归尘土去，For when you die you are the same; 来时一无所有，去时化作尘土，...The space between, is but an hour, 可叹生命苦短，...The frail duration of a flower. 你终究红消香断。
此诗分为两大部分，前两节写景，后两节抒情。
写景以抒情为目的，抒情以写景为背景，两部分互为烘托，成为不可分割的整体。
诗人以惊喜的目光看到自然界神奇的产物时，心中涌动的是对大自然无限的崇拜之情。
如果说“绿荫”指的是未受人类文明侵犯的新大陆处女地的话，那些“美丽的金银花”则应是大自然创作的生命的具体体现。
诗人用浅显的文字勾画出一片繁荣祥和的景象，在对生命的赞叹中，流露出返璞归真、崇尚自然的情节，充满了浪漫主义情调和理想主义色彩。
The Indian Burying GroundIn spite of all the learned have said,I still my old opinion keep;The posture that we give the dead, Points out the soul's eternal sleep.Not so the ancients of these lands--The Indian, when from life released, Again is seated with his friends,And shares again the joyous feast.His imaged birds, and painted bowl,And venison, for a journey dressed, Bespeak the nature of the soul, Activity, that knows no rest.His bow, for action ready bent,And arrows, with a head of bone,Can only mean that life is spent,And not the finer essence gone.Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way, No fraud upon the dead commit,Yet, marking the swelling turf, and say, They do not lie, but here they sit.Here, still a lofty rock remains,On which the curious eye may trace (Now wasted half by wearing rains)The fancies of a ruder race.Here, still an aged elm aspires,Beneath whose far-projecting shade (And which the shepherd still admires) The children of the forest played.There oft a restless Indian queen,(Pale Marian, with her braided hair)And many a barbarous form is seenTo chide the man that lingers there.By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews, In habit for the chase arrayed,The hunter still the deer pursues,The hunter and the deer-- a shade.And long shall timorous fancy seeThe painted chief, and pointed spear,And reason's self shall bow the kneeTo shadows and delusions here. 不管学者们说过什么我依然坚持我的老观点我们给死者安排的姿势表明了灵魂的永远安眠这地方的古人并不如此——印第安人一朝离开世人就再次同亲友坐在一起重新把欢乐的宴席分享鸟儿的装饰，带彩绘的碗为路上食用备好的鹿肉说明那灵魂具有的特点—它的活动可没有个尽头他的弓随时可以引满而发那一支支按有石镞的箭—这只能说明生命离开他但原来的想法没有改变陌生的人啊，你该来这里但是可不要把死者冤枉--- 把这隆起的草冢看仔细，并说他们是坐而不是躺这还剩一块高高的岩石，虽给雨侵蚀的斑驳无状（精细的眼睛能由此分辨）那原始民族的种种想象还有一颗高耸的老榆树在它伸得远远的影子下（牧羊人对此喜爱如初)林中的孩子们游戏玩耍常有不眠的印第安女王（这是梳辫的浅肤色Pale Sheba）和许多野蛮的形象出场把逗留在那里的人责骂只见他全身行猎的装束在月明露重的午夜时分这猎手仍在把鹿儿追可这猎手和鹿都是幽灵纹身的酋长，锋利的矛尖畏怯的想象将久久看见而理智本身会对之屈膝在这种种的幽灵、幻象前The poem is about an Indian culture, especially and Indian funeral. It describes death in this tradition, which is looked at as rude and savage. Still, the speaker reveals a lot about its strength and beauty as the poem goes on. It is a message inviting people to understand this culture as it is without prejudices.Unlike the white man's tradition, in the Indian's, the dead Indian is dressed in special clothes as though celebrating a happy event. Death in the Indian tradition has a different meaning. It is no longer that sad and dreadful event that everyone is afraid of. The dead person becomes a warrior who protects the land. This explains his posture and the way he is dressed in. The conception of death in this culture makes of it a different one from the white man's.2.The literature of romanticismWashington Irving华盛顿·欧文是19世纪美国最著名的作家，号称美国文学之父。