文学导论期末参考问题

《文学导论》复习索引

1.According to Harold Bloom, why do people read? And how should people read?

What are his five principles of the restoration of reading?

2.Explain the following terms.

Novel ，Poetry ，Drama (kinds and elements, 答案可以参考《文学导论》的目录，上海外语教育出版社)

Plot

Theme

Point of View

Fiction and human experience

Allusion in poetry

Symbol

Tragedy (Aristotle’s definition)

3.What is Plato’s understanding of imitation?

4.Please summarize Edmund Burke’s comments on the sublime.

5.Give a brief literature review of Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye. Then

please choose a theoretical framework which you are familiar with to analyze the novel.

6.What does the storm in Act III in King Lear symbolize? And analyze the

relationship between madness and blindness in the play.

7.Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that modern man had become mechanized, and

that instead of being the master of his machines, he has become their slaves. Was the play The Hairy Ape intended to dramatize the same philosophy? What are the major images and symbols employed in the play to dramatize the idea? How effective are they?

8.Samuel Beckett’s called his play Waiting for Godot a "tragicomedy." Do you agree

with this classification? If not, how would you classify the play? Do you think the play contains more elements of tragedy or comedy? What is the overall tone of the play? Is the reader left with a feeling of resignation that Godot will never come, and Vladimir and Estragon will continue to wait in vain, or is there some hope created? Do the changes in Pozzo and Lucky between the first and second acts contribute to an overall feeling of hopelessness? What about the changes in the tree? The coming of spring often suggests hope for the future; is this the case here?

9.Please a nalyze briefly the beauty of Shakespeare’s sonnet No. 95, 96, 100, 105.

10.Choose a modern or postmodern poem from Ways to Poetry, and analyze the

narrative techniques and themes of the poem.