武汉大学英美文学考研真题及参考答案(2010～2012)【圣才出品】

武汉大学英美文学考研真题及参考答案（2010～2012）

武汉大学2012年英美文学考研真题

考试科目：英语综合（语言学，文学，翻译）

Section Two British and American Literature

I. Discuss the altruistic spirit reflected in O. Henry's short story “Two Tha nksgiving Day Gentlemen.”(10 points)

【答案】Stuffy Pete and the old gentleman are the two gentlemen in the short story, and both of them cherish a kind of altruistic spirit. Although Stuffy Pete has already had a big meal before he met the old gentleman, he tried to eat all the foods that the old gentleman gave him so as to fulfill the old gentleman’s wish. He would have told the old gentleman that he was full, but he chose to obey the appointment with the old gentleman. While the old gentleman himself owns a little money at that time, he still keeps the appointment to invite Stuffy Pete to dine. He thinks highly of being honest, and he would rather starve than break his promise.

II. Make a critical analysis of the following poem, evaluating how the form and the content interact with and enhance each other. (15 points)

Go and catch a falling star,

Get with child a mandrake root,

Tell me where all past years are,

Or who cleft the devil's foot,

Teach me to hear mermaids singing, Or to keep off envy's stinging,

And find

What wind

Serves to advance an honest mind.

If thou be'st born to strange sights, Things invisible to see,

Ride ten thousand days and nights, Till age snow white hairs on thee, Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me, All strange wonders that befell thee, And swear,

No where

Lives a woman true and fair.

If thou find'st one, let me know, Such a pilgrimage were sweet;

Yet do not, I would not go,

Though at next door we might meet,

Though she were true, when you met her,

And last, till you write your letter,

Yet she

Will be

False, ere I come, to two, or three.

Notes:

mandrake root: a forked root supposed to resemble the human shape.

【答案】

The poem is written by John Donne, and its rhyming scheme is ababccddd. The poem chiefly concerns the lack of constancy in women. The tone taken is one of gentle cynicism and mocking. Donne asks the reader to do the impossible, which he compares with finding a constant woman, thus insinuating that such a woman does not exist. Thus, it reveals Donne’s prejudice towards women.

The stanzas are slightly longer than might be expected, nine lines each, but this allows for the more complex and abstract ideas, which are the archetype of metaphysical poetry.

There is a very tight verse structure, which consists of a sestet of abab rhyme preceding the rhyming triplet in each stanza. The triplet shows an insistence of opinion, and it not only emphasizes the points being made but also creates a lilting rhyme to the end of each verse, like the refrain to a song. The two very short lines immediately precede a far longer one, thus creating contrast, which mirrors the