英国文学名词解释(整理版)

Noun Explanation

Allegory:

A tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. An allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

Alliteration:

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

A person or force opposing the protagonist in a narrative; a rival of the hero or heroine.

Antithesis:

(a figure of speech) The balancing of two contrasting ideas, words phrases, or sentences. An antithesis is often expressed in a balanced sentence, that is, a sentence in which identical or similar grammatical structure is used to express contrasting ideas.

Aside:

In drama, lines spoken by a character in an undertone or directly to the audience. An aside is meant to be heard by the other characters onstage.

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.

Biography:

A detailed account of a person’s life written by another person. Blank verse:

Verse written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Classicism:

A movement or tendency in art, literature, or music that reflects the principles manifested in the art of ancient Greece and Rome. Classicism emphasizes the traditional and the universal, and places value on reason, clarity, balance, and order. Classicism, with its concern for reason and universal themes, is traditionally opposed to Romanticism, which is concerned with emotions and personal themes.

Climax:

The point of greatest intensity, interest, or suspense in a gogotory’s turning point. The action leading to the climax and the simultaneous increase of tension in the plot are known as the rising action. All action after the climax is referred to as the falling action, or resolution. The term crisis is sometimes used interchangeably with climax.

Comedy:

in general, a literary work that ends happily with a healthy, amicable armistice between the protagonist and society. Conceit:

A kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. A conceit may be a brief metaphor, but it usually provides the framework for an entire poem. An especially unusual and intellectual kind of conceit is the metaphysical conceit.

Conflict:

A struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a short