英美文学选读历年主观题及答案

英美文学选读历年客观题

1.“Let it not be supposed by the enemies of‘the system,’that during the period of his solitary incarceration, Oliver was denied the benefit of exercise, the pleasure of society, or the advantages of religious consolation.”What do you think Charles Dickens intends to say in the above ironic statement taken from Oliver Twist?

The sentence is a typical example of irony. What Dickens intends to say is just the opposite of the sentence’s literal meaning.

For the “benefit” of exercise, Oliver whipped every morning in a stone yard; for the “pleasure” of society, he was carried away every other day to the dinning hall and flogged as a public warning and example to the boys; as for the “advantages” of the religious consolation, he kicked out i nto apartment every evening at prayer time and listened to the boy’s prayer to be guarded against his sins and vices.

The ironic statement is, in fact, a bitter denunciation and fierce attack at the brutal, inhuman treatment of the poor orphan by the workhouse authority.

2. How is Romanticism different from Neoclassicism? Provide brief evidence from the literary works you know best?

Neoclassicists upheld that the artistic ideals should be order, logic, restrained emotion and accuracy, and that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity, and thus, literary expressions should be of proportion, unity, harmony and grace.Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Criticism” advocated grace, wit (usually though satire / humor), and simplicity in language (and the poem itself is a demonstration of those ideals, too), Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones helped establish the form of novel; Gray’s Elegy Written in Country Churchyard displays elegance in style, unified structure, serious tone and moral instructions.

Romanticists tended to see the individual as the very center of all experience, including art, and thus, literary work should be “spontaneous overflow of strong feelings”, and no matter how fragmentary those experiences are (Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud or The Solitary Reaper or Coleridge’s Keble Khan), the value of the work lied in the accuracy of presenting those unique feelings and particular attitudes.

In a word, Neoclassicism emphasized rationality and form but Romanticism attached great importance to the individual’s mind.

3. English Romanticism is generally said to have begun in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads. Why is Lyrical Ballads considered the milestone to mark the beginning of English Romanticism?

In this book, Wordsworth and Coleridge explored new theories and innovated new techniques in poetry wring.

The preface to the Lyrical Ballads acts as a manifesto for the new school. In the preface, Wordsworth defines poetry and poets.

Wordsworth’s poems in this book differ in marked way from his early poetry: simplicity of the language, sympathy for the poor, and expressions of inward states of mind.

4. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen explored three kinds of motivations of marriage the middle-class people had in the second half of the 18th century. Try to make a brief discussion about them with specific examples from the novel. Make comments on Austen’s attitude towards these motivations.

Motivation one: to pursue material wealth and social position through marriage. Wickham, Miss Bingley and Charlotte Lucas are examples of this kind.

Motivation two: to seek sensual pleasure and beauty. Lydia and Mr. Bennet are examples of this kind.

Motivation three: to search for true love and also take personal merits and financial positions into consideration. Elizabeth Bennet is a typical example of this kind.

Austen celebrated the third kind of motivation of marriage while criticizing the first two motivations.

5．“ ‘My boy!’ said the old gentleman, leaning over the desk. Oliver started at the sound. He might be excused for doing so, for the words were kindly said, and strange sounds frighten one. He trembled violently, and burst into tears.”（from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twis t）