英美文学术语汇总

1.An image is initially thought as a verbal picture, an object seen, or the concrete representation of the outward form of a person. An image can also be what is heard or what is felt: a sound, a touch, an odour, a taste and any bodily sensation. Broadly defined, and image is a word or a sequence of words which refers to any sensory experience.2. A symbol is a special kind of image, for it exceeds the image in the richness of its connotations. It is usually a visual object or an action which suggests some further meaning in addition to itself. By tradition, a rose is thought to represent love, a cross Christianity, and a national patriotism.3. The Lost Generation refers to the group of American writers who came of age during World War I and established their reputations in the 1920s. The writers considered themselves “lost” because their inherited values could not operate in the postwar world. The term is commonly applied to Hart Crane, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.4. In West European literature, critical realism is the traditional inheritance and development of realism; it is one of the specific literary thought and creative method in the 19th century. Critical realism refers to those novels which reflects the real life of society in 19th century through the descriptions of the relationship among people and a show of the real world and reveals the contradiction and dark aspects of the society.5. Puritanism is a Protestant movement which spread its influence into the New England colonies in the 17th century. The American Puritanism believed that the Church should be restored to the “purity” as established by Christ himself. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin, total depravity and limited atonement.6. Rhyme occurs when two words or phrases contain an identical or similar vowel sound, usually assented, and an identical consonant sound that follows the vowel sound. Rhyme is the major sound element, which contributes to the music of poetry.7. Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century. It heightened interest in nature and lay emphasis on the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination.8. Personification is an expression in which an object or an abstract concept is made human or endowed with animate or living qualities.When we say, “The yellow leaves flaunted their colors gaily in the wind.”we give the yellow leaves a human behavior and thus make them look like human.9. Sonnet is a poetic form which originated in Italy, By the thirteenth century it signified a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. In English, both English type (Shakespearean) sonnets and Italian type (Petrarchan [,pi'trɑ:kən) sonnets are traditionally written in iambic pentameter lines.10. The Stream of Consciousness is the continuous flow of sense-perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and memories in the human mind or a literary method of representing a blending of mental processes in fictional characters, usually in an unpunctuated or disjointed form of interior monologue.11.Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sound in a line, especially at the initial letter of successive words, e.g. “The sun sank slowly”and “Round the rocks runs the river.”The alliteration leads to repetition and music, and thus creates power aids to memory.12. Transcendentalism is a literary movement that flourished during the middle 19th century. Transcendentalism can be defined as the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses.13. Assonance is the repetition of the same sound in a line. Like alliteration, it may occur at the beginning of words, e.g “al l the aw ful au guries.” or within the words, e.g. “I r o se and t o ld of my w o e”Assonance creates music which draws attention to the sound, creates emphasis and makes the particular words and phrases memorable.14. A simile is a direct comparison of two different things, usually using connectives like “as”, “like” and “than”. A metaphor is an indirect or hidden comparison of two different things, usually by equating the two or by replacing one with the other.15. Hyperbole is a statement containing an exaggeration. For example, if one says, “I have told you a thousand times,” one does no mean “thousand times” literally. It is a deliberate exaggeration which is employed for the purpose of emphasis.16. Connotation: all the emotions and associations that a word or phrase may arouse. Connotation is distinct from denotation, which is the literal or “dictionary” meaning of a word or phrase.17. Essay: a piece of prose writing, usually short, that deals with a subject in a limited way and expresses a particular point or view. An essay may be serious or humorous, tightly organized or rambling, restrained or emotional.18. Irony: A contrast or an incongruity between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. Three kinds of irony are (1)verbal irony, in which a writer says one thing and means something entirely different (2)dramatic irony, in which a reader or an audience perceives something that a character in the story or play does not know; (3)irony of situation, in which the writer shows a discrepancy between the expected results of some action or situation and its actual results.19. Humanism refers to the main literary trend and is the keynote of English Renaissance. Humanists took interest in human life and human activities and gave expression to the new feeling of admiration for human beauty, human achievement.20. A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularlycharacteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa.。