名词解释 英美文学

A Survey of British Literature

Ballad;A story told in verse and usually meant to be sung. In many countries, the folk ballad was one of the earliest forms of literature. Folk ballads have no known authors. They were transmitted orally from generation to generation and were not set down in writing until centuries after they were first sung. The subject matter of folk ballads stems from the everyday life of the common people. Devices commonly used in ballads are the refrain, incremental repetition, and code language. A later form of ballad is the literary ballad, which imitates the style of the folk ballad.

romance;Romance: Any imagination literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with a heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.

Alliteration Alliteration: The repetition of the initial consonant sounds in poetry.

Renaissance; Renaissance: The term originally indicated a revival of classical (Greek and Roman) arts and sciences after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism.

humanism; Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. It sprang from the endeavor to restore a medieval reverence for the antique authors and is frequently taken as the beginning of the Renaissance on its conscious, intellectual side, for the Greek and Roman civilization was based on such a conception that man is the measure of all things. Humanists believed that man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders. In a word, humanism suggests any attitude, which tends to exalt the human element or stress the importance of human interests, as opposed to the supernatural, divine elements.

Spenserian stanza; Spenserian stanza: A nine-line stanza with the following rhyme scheme: ababbabcc. The first eight lines are written in iambic pentameter. The ninth line is written in iambic hexameter and is called an alexandrine.

sonnet;Sonnet: A fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. A sonnet generally expresses a single theme or idea.

blank verse;Blank verse: V erse written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

university wits;大学才子从16世纪80年代开始，英国戏剧进入繁荣时期，新的剧院越来越多，演技水平也在不断提高，为适应戏剧发展的需要，一大群中产阶级出身、在大学念过书的作家产生了。他们大多受过人文主义思想的熏陶，具有比较丰富的古典文化修养，被称为“大学才子”。soliloquy; Soliloquy: In drama, an extended speech delivered by a character alone onstage. The character reveals his or her innermost thoughts and feelings directly to the audience, as if thinking aloud.

dramatic irony;It is theatrical or literary device in which the audience is aware of some fact or action that acts upon one or all of the characters without their knowledge.

--Iamb (Iambic) 抑扬格: ︶/: AW AY

--Trochee (Trochaic) 扬抑格: / ︶: ONLY

--Anapaest (Anapaestic) 抑抑扬格: ︶︶/: INTERVENE

--Dactyl (Dactylic) 扬抑抑格: / ︶︶: HAPPILY

--Monometer 一音部--Dimeter二音部

--Trimeter三音部

--Tetrameter四音部--Pentameter 五音部--Hexameter六音部--Heptameter七音部--Octameter 八音部--Nonameter 九音部

Cavalier poets refer to a group of English poets associated with Charles I (1600-49) and his exiled son. Most of their works were done between c.1637 and 1660.

Metaphysical School Metaphysical poetry: The poetry of John Donne and other 17th century poets who wrote in a similar style. Metaphysical poetry is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious