American Literature: A Concise History
I. Review
1. Who wrote The American? (2008)
A. Herman Melville
B. Nathaniel Hawthorne
C. Henry James
D. Theodore Dreiser
2. Death of a Salesman was written by____. (2007)
A. Arthur Miller
B. Ernest Hemingway
C. Ralph Ellison
D. James Baldwin
3. The novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is written by___. (2006)
A. Scott Fitzgerald
B. William Faulkner
C. Eugene O’Neil
D. Ernest Hemingway
4. William Sydney Porter, known as O’Henry, is most famous for_____. (2005)
A. his poems
B. his plays
C. his short stories
D. his novels
II. Historical Periods
1. Colonial Period: 17th~18th (faith → reason)
2. Romantic Period: end of 18th to the Civil War ★
3. The Age of Realism: 1865-1890 ★
4. The Age of Naturalism: 1890-1900
5. Modern Period: 1912-1945 ★
6. Postwar Realism: 1950s-1960s
7. Postmodernism: 1960s-1980s
III. Key Figures
1. Benjamin Franklin
2. James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving; Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson/Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville (R. W. Emerson, H.D. Thoreau)
3. O’Henry, Henry James, Mark Twain
4. Stephan Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Jack London
5. Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, R.L. Frost/Ernest Hemingway, F.S. Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, John Steinbeck/Eugene O’Neil l, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller
6. Jerome Salinger
7. Nabokov
Mark Twain: ①Trend: realism (local colorism) ②Genre: fiction ③Masterpiece: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ④Distinctive Style: vernacular language ⑤Other Important Works
IV. Sample
1. American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. She was __________.
A. Anne Bradstreet
B. Jane Austen
C. Katherine Anne Porter
D. Emily Dickinson
2. The first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature was a sharp social critic, whose name was __________.
A. T.S. Eliot
B. Sinclair Lewis
C. Ernest Hemingway
D. William Faulkner
3. Which of the following is NOT included in Dreiser’s
trilogy of desire concerning the ruthlessness of
capitalists?
A. The Genius
B. The Financier
C. The Titan
D. The Stoic
4. With Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the scene, __________ became the major trend in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century.
A. sentimentalism
B. romanticism
C. realism
D. naturalism
5. From 1732 to 1758, Franklin wrote and published his famous __________, an annual collection of proverbs.
A. Autobiography
B. Poor Richard’s Almanac
C. Common Sense
D. The General Magazine
6. ―The American Renaissance‖ is the period of ______ in the history of American literature.
A. local colorism
B. Romanticism
C. Transcendentalism
D. Colonism
7. _________ is Mark Twain’s master work, the one book from which as Hemingway noted, ―All modern American literature comes‖.
A. The Gilded Age
B. Life on the Mississippi
C. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
D. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
8. _______ is the only American playwright awarded Nobel Prize of Literature.
A. Arthur Miller
B. Eugene O’Neill
C. Tennessee Williams
D. Sinclair Lewis
9. Which of the following does NOT be long to ―Beat Generation‖?
A. Jack Kerouac
B. F. S. Fitzgerald
C. Allen Ginsberg
D. William Burroughs
10. __________ is identified as the father of modern American poetry, who also plays an important role in transmitting Chinese culture to the English-speaking world.
A. T. S. Eliot
B. Robert Frost
C. Ezra Pound
D. Walt Whitman
I. Colonial Period: 17th~18th
The influence of Puritanism on writing:
fresh, simple and plain
traceable to the direct influence of the Bible
frequent reference to the technique of symbolism
Anne Bradstreet
The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America
Michael Wigglesworth
The Day of Doom
Edward Taylor: a metaphysical poet
Benjamin Franklin: the spokesman of the American Enlightenment (Age of Reason/Great Awakening); created the image of the Yankee
pseudonym: Silence Dogood
Poor Richard’s Almanac
Autobiography
Thomas Paine (his style: plain)
Common Sense—the first pamphlet urging immediate independence from Britain; his most famous pamphlet; the greatest of the Revolutionary pamphlets
Philip Freneau
The first American-born poet; Poet of the American Revolution
Theme: nationalism
The beginning of American Romanticism
II. Romantic Period: 1) Early Romantics
New England Poets (Fireside/Schoolroom Poets):
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The song of Hiawatha—the first American epic in blank verse about the American Indians
The first American poet to be honored by having his bust placed in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey
William Cullen Bryant: the American Wordsworth
Thanatopsis (pondering on death)—his greatest poem
Novelist:
James Fenimore Cooper: the first successful American novelist
32 novels
3 kinds:
about the revolutionary past—The Spy
about the sea—The pilot
★about the frontier—The Leatherstocking Tales (The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, and The Deerslayer; protagonist: Natty Bumppo-- ―the essential American soul‖ by D. H. Lawrence)
Story Writer and Prose Stylist:
Washington Irving
The Sketch Book won him international fame
―Rip Van Winkle‖ & ―The Legend of Sleepy Hollow‖
―Crayon‖ style
Introduced the familiar essay to America
II. Romantic Period: 2) Transcendentalists
New England Transcendentalism=American Renaissance
Features:
It stressed the power of intuition.
It placed spirit first and matter second.
It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God.
It emphasized the significance of the individual.
It envisioned religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal ―Oversoul‖.
It held that commerce was degrading.
The Transcendental Club & their journal The Dial
Essayists:
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Transcendentalism’s most seminal force
The Lyceum Movement
Nature—―the manifesto of American transcendentalism‖
The American Scholar—―America’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence‖
Henry David Thoreau
His first major influence: nonviolent struggle as expressed in his ―Civil Disobedience‖
His second major influence: call of ―Back to Nature‖
Walden—a classic of American prose; reads like a diary of a nature lover
Symbolism
II. Romantic Period: 3) High Romantics
Edgar Allan Poe
Literary theories:
1) A theory of Poetry
The most important purpose of poetry is the creation of beauty (English as a medium of pure musical and rhythmic beauty).
The tone of its highest manifestation is one of sadness.
The death of a beautiful woman is the most potential topic.
death –predominant theme in Poe’s writing
―Poe is not interested in anything alive. Everything in Poe’s writings is dead.‖
2) About His Fiction
The mental world of the people should be illuminated.
The principle of concentration and thematic totality should be stressed.
Truth rather than beauty is often the aim of the tale.
Literary achievements:
The Raven—his most famous narrative poem
Detective stories, ratiocinative stories & science fiction
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Masque of the Red Death
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass (9 editions)—America’s first genuine epic poem
Style: free verse
The envelope structure, catalogue technique, thought rhythm
Represents a turning point in the history of American poetry
Emily Dickinson
For the whole 19th century she was the only woman poet who enjoys high academic esteem today.
Poems
Themes:
religion – doubt and belief about religious subjects
death and immortality
love – suffering and frustration caused by love
physical aspect of desire
nature – kind and cruel
free will and human responsibility
Nathaniel Hawthorne—the first American romancer; the first major novelist in English to wed morality to art
His novels were perhaps the deepest and most psychological in the 19th century.
The Scarlet Letter
Hester Prynne, Pearl, Chillingworth, Dimmesdale
Point of view: Evil is at the core of human life. Wherever there is sin, there is punishment. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation.
Herman Meiville—an adventure writer, known as ―a man who lived with cannibals‖
Moby Dick—the first American prose epic; the greatest American novel by some critics
A symbol to represent cruel, brutal, malicious powers of nature
The technique of multiple views
Style: highly symbolic and metaphorical
III. The Age of Realism
Features:
truthful description of life
typical character under typical circumstance
objective rather than idealized, close observation and investigation of life
―Realistic writers are like scientists.‖
open-ending:
Life is complex and cannot be fully understood. It leaves much room for readers to think by themselves.
William Dean Howells
Productive except the genre of poetry
The Rise of Silas Lapham
William Sydney Porter (O. Henry)
The surprise ending is his specialty, e.g. ―The Cop and the Anthem‖.
Sherwood Anderson: Winesburg, Ohio
★Henry James: novels of manners
Developed the international novel
Daisy Miller established his reputation at home and abroad (theme: American innocence vs. European sophistication) The Ambassadors: his most ―perfect‖ work of art, claimed by himself
3 influential subjects: children, new women and artists
Theory of fiction in his The Art of Fiction
Chief criterion: showing rather than telling
honor s: the first of the ―modern psychological novelists‖
A ―realist of the inner life‖
A bridge of American and European cultures
Local Colorism
The late 1860s to early 1870s
To write or present local characters of their regions in truthful depiction distinguished from others, usually a very small part of the world.
Hamlin Garland’s ―Under the Lion’s Paw‖
Harriet Beech er Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin—the greatest of all anti-slavery literature
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)—―the Lincoln of our literature‖; the true father of American literature
One famous essay: ―To the Person Sitting in Darkness‖
His greatest achievement: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Other works: His penname was made famous by ―The Notorious Jumping Frog of the Calaverus County‖;
The Gilded Age: a satire against corruption
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Life on the Mississippi
colloquial language, vernacular language, dialects
local colour
syntactic feature: sentences are simple, brief, sometimes ungrammatical
humour
tall tales (highly exaggerated)
social criticism (satire on the different ugly things in society)
III. The Age of Realism: Comparison
Theme
Howells – middle class
James – upper class
Twain – lower class
Technique
Howells –genteel realism
James – psychological realism
Twain – local colorism and colloquialism
IV. The Age of Naturalism
Realism vs. Naturalism:
Though naturalists also describe real life, they present harsher reality, usually the violent, sensational, unpleasant, and ugly aspects of life.
Their writing style and technique were more innovative.
Stephan Crane--pessimism
Maggie, A Girl of the Streets—the first naturalistic novel written by an American
The Red Badge of Courage—his most famous book about the American Civil War
Style: realistic, naturalistic, and impressionistic
Frank Norris--optimism
McTeague—the first full-bodied naturalistic American novel
The Octopus—his most impressive prose epic
Theodore Dreiser–―the wheelhouse of American naturalism‖
Sister Carrie: a slave to her heredity and to her environment
An American Tragedy: his masterpiece
Style: journalistic method of reiteration, word-pictures, sharp contrast, stubborn honesty
Jack London
The Son of the Wolf—first collection of the stories
The Call of the Wild—an all-time best seller
His fiction has the unusual and intriguing power of ancient myth.
The originator of a new type of writing: rough realism
V. Modern Period: 1)Poetry
Sub-branches:
Imagism, symbolism, impressionism, futurism, constructivism, surrealism, etc
Features:
Modernism dramatized discontinuity.
Modernists had a sense of fragmentation.
It has a strong and conscious break with tradition. (stream of consciousness)
V. Modern Period 1) Poetry
Ezra Pound—the father of modern American poetry
Cantos—his major work of poetry
Cathay—a volume of Chinese translations
Style: clarity, precision and a direct conversational diction, economy of verse
Imagism
T. S. Eliot—a poet, a playwright, and a literary critic
He declared himself a ―classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and Anglo-Catholic in religion‖
The Waste Land—a central poem of modernism; reads like a manifesto of the ―Lost Generation‖
Five segments
Organizing principle: the myth of death and rebirth
New England Poets:
E. A. Robinson won Pulitzer for three times.
Robert Lee Frost—the most popular American poet from 1914 to his death
He won Pulitzer for four times.
Pastoral poetry
V. Modern Period 2) Fiction
Lost Generation:
The term was first used by Gertrude Stein.
Ernest Hemingway—a Nobel Prize Winner (1954)
The Sun also Rises
A Farewell to Arms: established his reputation as a great American writer
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The Old Man and the Sea
Telegraphic style
Iceberg theory of writing
―the code hero‖
Francis Scott Fitzgerald
This Side of Paradise—his first novel; the first American novel depicting the casual dissipations of ―flaming youth‖The Great Gatsby—his best novel which deals with the frustration and despair resulting from the failure of the American dream
★Sinclair Lewis—the first American writer to receive the Nobel Prize for literature (1930)
Main Street satirizes the smug provincial complacency of the middle class
Babbitt—his masterpiece
The word ―babbittry‖ means energetic shallowness and self-satisfaction
Satiric monologue
John Steinbeck—the foremost writer of the Great Depression
The Grapes of Wrath—his masterpiece, won a Pulitzer Prize
A combination of naturalist and symbolist technique
V. Modern Period: 3) Drama
Eugene O’Neill—the founder of modern American drama
3 Pulitzer Prizes & the Nobel Prize
Introduced trends of realism, naturalism and expressionism
Beyond the Horizon
Long Day’s Journey into Night
Tennessee Williams
The Glass Menagerie
A Streetcar Named Desire—won him his first Pulitzer Prize
Colloquial southern speech
Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman—his masterpiece; an American myth and a contemporary tragedy
VI. Postwar Realism
John Cheever—short fiction
John Updike—the most realistic of all the postwar realists; ―Olinger‖ stories
James Thurber—the greatest American literary humorist of the 20th century
Jerome Salinger—a representative of alienated young Americans; generation gap
The Catcher in the Rye—a modern Huck Finn
VII. Post-modernism: Fiction
Modernism vs. post-modernism
Unlike modernism, which suggested a historic period, post-modernism described a sensibility, a feeling for innovation.
Controllable vs. uncontrollable;
Order vs. disorder
Realistic vs. nihilistic
The fundamental rule: the absurd and the arbitrary
Style: fragmented, discontinuous, ironic, and full of black humor
Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita
Beat Generation
Women Writers
Black Literature
Southern Literature
1. Beat Generation
The term is associated with the first half of the 1950s.
★Jack Kerouac—the founder of the Beat Generation who first used the term; On the Road
★Allen Ginsberg—the poet laureate of the Beat Generation; Howl
Lawrence Ferlinghetti opened the City Lights Bookstore, the headquarters of the Beats.
William Burroughs
Women Writers: 1) Before the 20th C
Anne Bradstreet—the first lady of colonial literature in America
Emily Dickinson—America’s greatest woman poet
Margaret Fuller—Women in the Nineteenth Century: America’s first landmark feminist treatise
Women Writers: 2) Of the 20th C
Katherine Anne Porter
Joyce Carol Oates
Sylvia Plath
Joanna Russ
Alice Walker: a black woman writer
Black Literature
Langston Hughes—the ―Poet Laureate of Harlem‖/ ―O. Henry of Harlem‖
Richard Wright—protest fiction, Native Son
James Baldwin—race & homosexuality: two themes
Ralph Ellison—Invisible Man
★Toni Morrison (female)—Beloved, Nobel Prize (1993) (the second American woman writer to enjoy the honor) (the first American woman writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature: Pearl Buck)
Southern Literature
The South is known as the Bible Belt.
★William Faulkner—the foremost southern writer of the 20th C; Nobel Prize (1950)
The Sound and the Fury—Stream of Consciousness
Yoknapatawpha County
William Styron—Sophie’s Choice
美国文学 part 1 1607-1776 北美殖民时期 Colonial Settlements John Smith A Ture Relation of Virginia《关于费吉尼亚的真实叙述》（美国文学第一本书） 美国文学史上第一个作家 Part 2 1776-1783 独立革命时期 Revolution of Independence Benjamin Franklin Poor Richard’s Almanac穷查理历书 Thomas Paine Common Sense常识（独立战争宣传册revolutionary pamphlets） Rights of Man人的权利（支持法国革命） The Age of Reason 理性时代（基督给他名誉带来的影响） 美国独立之父 the father of American revolution Thomas Jefferson 独立宣言 Declaration of Independence Part 3 浪漫主义时期 Romanticism Washington Irving The Sketch Book见闻札记（标志浪漫主义开始） The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说 Rip Van Winkle里普?万?温克尔(李伯大梦) 美国文学之父 James Fenimore Cooper The Pilot领航者The Spy间谍 The Pioneer拓荒者 Ralf Waldo Emerson Nature论自然 The American Scholar论美国学者 Self-reliance论自立 超验主义 Henry David Thoreau Walden瓦尔登湖 Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter红字 19世界影响最 大的浪漫主义小 说家 Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass草叶集 Song of Myself 自我之歌 part 4 现实主义时期 Mark Twain The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Henry James Daisy Miller The American The Portrait of a Lady Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie An American Tragedy part 5 现代主义时期 American Modernism Ezra Pound In a station of the Metro在地铁站
英语专八英美文学常识汇总
3专八人文知识:英国地理概况 the english channel: the channel is a narrow sea passage which separates england and france and connects the atlantic ocean and north sea. 英吉利海峡：英吉利海峡是一道狭长的海峡，分割英法两国，连接大西洋和北海。 the dee estuary: a small sea ( in irish sea) where the dee river enters. 迪河河口：是迪河流入的一个小海。 "the act of union of 1801": in 1801 the english parliament passed an act by which scotland, wales and the kingdom of england were constitutionally joined as the kingdom of great britain. 1801合并法：1801年英国议会通过法令，规定英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士根据宪法合并成为大不列颠王国。 gaelic: it is one of the celtic language, and is spoken in parts of the highlands. 盖尔语：是盖尔特语言的一种，在高地地区仍有人说这种语言。 the "backbone of england": it refers to the pennies, the board ridge of hills.
Old English Literature 古英语文学 （450-1066年） Beowulf （贝奥武甫）---The first English national epic 中世纪英语文学（1066-1500） Geoffrey Chaucer(乔叟，c. 1343–1400) was an English poet. He is remembered for his The Canterbury Tales《坎特伯雷故事集》, called the father of English litera ture―英国文学之父‖William Langland (朗格兰，1330?-1400?),the author of the 14th-century English long narrative poem Piers Plowman《农夫皮尔斯》. 文艺复兴（16-17世纪） William Shakespeare (莎士比亚，1564-1616), English poet and playwright, his surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems Venus and Adonis 《维拉斯和阿多尼斯》The Rape of Lucrece.《鲁克丽丝受辱记》 Shakespeare‘s greatest works: greatest tragedies are King Lear 《李尔王》,Macbeth《麦克白》,Hamlet《哈姆雷特》, Othello 《奥赛罗》,Romeo and Juliet 《罗密欧与朱丽叶》 grea t comedies: A Midsumme r Night‘s Dream《仲夏夜之梦》,As You Like It 《皆大欢喜》,The Merchant of Venice 《威尼斯商人》, Twelfth Night 《第十二夜》 great historical plays: Richard III 《理查三世》,Henry IV 《亨利四世》, Henry V 《亨利五世》, Henry VII 《亨利八世》 John Milton (弥尔顿, 1608-1674)was an English poet and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost《失乐园》, Paradise Regained《复乐园》Samson 《力士参孙》. 18世纪文学和新古典主义 Alexander Pope (浦柏,1688-1744 ) is generally regarded as the greatest English poet of the eighteenth century, best known for his satirical epigram 讽刺隽语and heroic couplet英雄双韵体.His major works include mock epic satirical poem An Essay on Man 《人论》and An Essay on Criticism 《论批评》 Daniel Defoe ( 笛福，1660—1731)was an English writer who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe《鲁滨逊漂流记》, spokesman for middle-class people Henry Fielding (菲尔丁, 1707 ---1754) ，an English novelist known for his novel:The History of Tom Jones. Jonathan Swift (斯威夫特,1667-1745), was an Anglo-Irish novelist, satirist. He is remembered for novel such as Gulliver‘s Travels《格列佛游记》. Richard Sheridan ( 谢立丹，1751—1816), Irish playwright ,known for his satirical play School of Scandal(造谣学校). He was a represntative writer of Comedies of Manners. Laurence Sterne (斯特恩,1713—1768 ), an English novelist. He is best known for his novel Tristram Shandy （《商第传》）. Oliver Goldsmith （哥尔德斯密斯，1728-1774）English novelist, known for his novel Vicar of Wakefield (《威克菲尔德牧师传记》) Thomas Gray (托马斯?格雷1716—1771 )，an English poet, author of Elegy Written in a
八级模拟美国文学常识 1．The first colony was set up in_________ at, ______off the coast of North Carolina; The second colony was more permanent:______, establis hed in________. A.1585 ...Roanoke,...Jamestown (1607) B. Jamestown...1607,...concord, (1609) C. 1492,…New England…1585 …Roanoke D. 1492...New England ...Jamestown (1607) 2. ________ wrote the story recounts how Pocahontas, favorite daughte r of Chief Powhatan, saved Captain Smiths life when he was a prisoner of the chief. Later, when the English persuaded Powhatan to give Poc ahontas to them as a hostage, her gentleness, intelligence, and beaut y impressed the English, and, in 1614, she married John Rolfe, an Eng lish gentleman. The marriage initiated an eight-year peace between th e colonists and the Indians, ensuring the survival of the struggling new colony. A. Cristopher Columbus B. Harioit C. Winthrope D. Captain John Smith 3. The_____ definition of good writing was that which brought home a full awareness of the importance of worshipping God and of the spirit ual dangers that the soul faced on Earth A. Prostestant B. Puritan C. Catholic D. Indian 4. The link between_________ is Both rest on ambition, hard work, an d an intens e striving for success. A. Puritanism and consumerism B. Capitalism and commercialism C. Puritanism and capitalism https://www.doczj.com/doc/6d14326782.html,mercialism and capitalism 5 The first Puritan colonists who settled _________exemplified the se riousness of Reformation Christianity. Known as the "_________," they were a small group of believers who had migrated from England to Hol land -- even then known for its religious tolerance -- in 1608, durin g a time of persecutions. A. Roanoke…development B. Roanoke…progress C. New England… adventure D. New England… pilgrims
美国文学 第一章殖民地时期及独立革命时期的美国文学（1617——1783）Background: 1)The first permanent English settlement in North America at James Town, Virginia in 1617 2)In 1629 the puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 3)Independent War (1776——1783) Personal Literature In Its Various Forms John Smith A True Relation of Virginia《关于弗吉尼亚的真实叙述》William Bradford Of Plymouth Plantation《普利茅斯种植园史》 He was the first governor of the Plymouth Plantation Early Poetry Anne Bradstreet Contemplations《沉思集》 She was known as the “Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up”in America. Important Writers of American Puritanism Jonathan Edwards The Freedom of the Will《论意志自由》 His endeavors contributed to bringing about the “Great Awakening（大觉醒）”. 他被认为是美国超验主义的先驱。 Benjamin Franklin Poor Richard’s Almanac《穷查理年鉴》 The Autobiography《自传》 Authors who call for democratic government and writes for it Thomas Paine Common Sense《常识》 The American Crisis《美国危机》 The Rights of Man《人的权利》 The Age of Reason《理性的时代》 Philip Freneau The Indian Burying Ground《印第安人殡葬地》 “The Wild Honey Suckle”《野忍冬花》 He is “poet of the American Revolution”and the “father of American Poetry” Others Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence《独立宣言》 第二章浪漫主义时期的美国文学（19世纪上半叶） Early American Romanticism Washington Irving The Sketch Book《见闻札记》marked the beginning of American Romanticism. Rip Van Winkle《瑞普·凡·温克尔》 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow《睡谷传说》 He has been called the father of the American short story. He is the first American Writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame, so he was regarded as father of American literature. James Fennimore Cooper The Spy《间谍》
英语专八人文知识考试总结 1 专八考试人文知识考试内容总结 其中英美文学包括英国文学和美国文学。英国文学主要分为六个时期： 1. Old and Medieval English Literature（中古英国文学）。 2. The Renaissance Period（文艺复兴时期）。 3. The Neoclassical Period（新古典主义时期）。 4. The Romantic Period（维多利亚时期）。 5. The Victorian Period（维多利亚时期）。 6. The Modern Period（现代时期）。 美国文学主要分为四个时期： 1. The Literature Around the Revolution of Independence（独立革命前后的文学）。 2. American Romanticism（美国浪漫主义文学）。 3. American Realism（美国现实主义文学）。 4. American Modernism（美国现代主义文学）。 语言学，考生不光要知道语言的本质还要掌握语音学，音位学，形态学，句法学，语义学和语言学的知识。 关于英语国家概况，英语专业的学生都会开设英美概况这门课程，但是专八考试的中需要考生了解的是英语国家概况，不光包括英国和美国，还有其他一些说英语的地区，包括爱尔兰概况，加拿大概况，澳大利亚概况和新西兰概况。 3专八人文知识:英国地理概况 the english channel: the channel is a narrow sea passage which separates england and france
英国文学 一、古英语时期的英国文学（499-1066） 1、贝奥武夫 2、阿尔弗雷德大帝：英国散文之父 二、中古英语时期的英国文学 1、allegory体非常盛行 2、Romance开始上升到一定的高度 3、高文爵士和绿衣骑士 4、Willian Langlaud 《农夫皮尔斯的幻象》 5、乔叟坎特伯雷故事集（英雄双韵体） 6、托马斯.马洛礼《亚瑟王之死》 三、文艺复兴时期的英国文学（伊丽莎白时代）（14-16世纪） 1、托马斯.莫尔《乌托邦》 2、Thomas Wyatt 和Henry Howard引入sonnet 3、Philips Sidney 《The defense of Poesie》 《阿卡迪亚》描述田园生活；现代长篇小说的先驱 4、斯宾塞《仙后》诗人中的诗人；斯宾塞体诗节； 5、莎士比亚： 长篇叙事诗：《维纳斯和阿多尼斯》、《露克丝受辱记》 四大悲剧：哈姆雷特、李尔王、奥赛罗、麦克白 7、本.琼森风俗喜剧（comedy of manners）《人性互异》 8、约翰.多恩“玄学派”诗歌创始人
9、George Herbert 玄学派诗圣 10、弗朗西斯.培根现代科学和唯物主义哲学创始人之一 《Essays》英国发展史上的里程碑 《学术的推进》和《新工具》 四、启蒙时期（18世纪） 1、约翰、弥尔顿：《失乐园》、《为英国人民争辩》 2、约翰、班扬：《天路历程》religious allegory 3、约翰、德莱顿：英国新古典主义的杰出代表、桂冠诗人； 《论戏剧诗》 4、亚历山大.蒲柏：英国新古典主义诗歌的重要代表；英雄双韵体的使用达到登峰造极的使用；《田园组诗》是其最早田园诗歌代表作 5、托马斯、格雷：感伤主义中墓园诗派的代表人物《墓园挽歌》 6、威廉、布莱克：天真之歌、经验之歌； 7、罗伯特、彭斯：苏格兰最杰出的农民诗人； 8、Richard Steel和Joseph Addison合作创办《The tatler》和《the spectator》 9、Samuel defoe 英国现实主义小说的奠基人之一；《鲁滨逊漂流记》；《铲除非国教徒的捷径》，仪表达自己的不满； 10、Jonathan Swift 《一个小小的建议》；《格列佛游记》；《桶的故事》； 11、Samuel Richardson 英国现代小说的创始人；帕米拉；克拉丽莎；查尔斯.格蓝迪森爵士的历史； 12、Henry Fielding 英国现实主义小说理论的奠基人；《约瑟夫。安德鲁》；《汤姆.琼斯》，英国现实主义小说的最高成就； 13、劳伦斯、斯特恩：感伤主义小说的杰出代表，《项狄传》，第一部开创了意识流小说的先驱之作品；《感伤的旅行》
英语专业八级考试翻译历年真题汇总 1998年E-C: I agree to some extent with my imaginary English reader. American literary historians are perhaps prone to view their own national scene too narrowly, mistaking prominence for uniqueness. They do over-phrase their own literature, or certainly its minor figures. And Americans do swing from aggressive over phrase of their literature to an equally unfortunate, imitative deference. But then, the English themselves are somewhat insular in their literary appraisals. Moreover, in fields where they are not pre-eminent — e. g. in painting and music —they too alternate between boasting of native products and copying those of the Continent. How many English paintings try to look as though they were done in Paris; how many times have we read in articles that they really represent an “English tradition” after all. To speak of American literature, then, is not to assert(断言、声称)that it is completely unlike that of Europe. Broadly speaking, America and Europe have kept step(同步). At any given moment(在任何时候) the traveler could find examples in both of the same architecture, the same styles in dress, the same books on the shelves. Ideas have crossed the Atlantic as freely as men and merchandise, though sometimes more slowly. When I refer to American habit, thoughts, etc., I intend some sort of qualification(限制、限定、资格) to precede(领先、超前) the word, for frequently the difference between America and Europe (especially England) will be one of degree(唯一只是在程度上), sometimes only of a small degree. The amount of divergence(分歧、差异) is a subtle (微妙的)affair, liable(有可能的) to perplex the Englishman when he looks at America. He is looking at a country which in important senses (重要的感觉)grew out of his own, which in several ways still resembles his own — and which is yet a foreign country. There are odd overlappings and abrupt unfamiliarities; kinship(亲缘关系) yields to a sudden alienation(疏远关系), as when we hail(打招呼) a person across the street, only to discover from his blank(没有表情的) response that we have mistaken a stranger for a friend. 参考译文(翻译第二段)： 因此，我们在说“美国”文学，并不表明我们认为美国文学与欧洲文学截然不同。一般来说，美国和欧洲一直在同步发展。无论何时，旅游者在两地都能看到同一式的建筑，见到
英国文学部分 西方文学发展的两大源头 两大源头:古希腊, 罗马的神话，中世纪的基督教 A General Survey of English Literary History: 1．O ld English literature (The Anglo – Saxon Period) 449 – 1066 2. Medieval Period (The Anglo – Norman Period) 1066 – 1350 3. The Renaissance Period 14th– mid 17th 4. The 17th(The Period of Revolution and Restoration) 5. The 18th(The Age of Enlightenment) 6. The Romantic Period （Age of poetry）1798 – 1832 7. The Victorian Period ( The Age of Critical Realism) 1836 – 1901 8. The 20th(The Modern Period) 一．古英语和中世纪时期： Old and Medieval English Literature: 449 -- 1066 Germanic tribes: Angles, Saxons and Jutes Old English Poetic tradition : a. The pagan poetry (secular group) b. The Christian poetry (religious group) National epic poem –Beowulf Middle English Literature: 1. Christian literature 2. Romance the popular literary forms in medieval period Geoffrey Chaucer: “father of English poetry” “English Homer” The Canterbury Tales For the first time in English literature presented a comprehensive realistic picture。He employed the heroic couplet for the first time in the history of English literature. 3. the English ballads: Robin Hood ballads 二，文艺复兴时期 Purpose of Renaissance: 1.Get rid of old feudalist ideas ,introduce new ideas of the rising bourgeoisie 2.Recover the purity of the church Literature of Renaissance Poetry Essay Elizabethan Drama ( the mainstream) Religious Reformation: Martin Luther: a German Protestant, initiated the Reformation
美国文学 第一阶段独立革命之前（十七世纪中期之前）（before the revolution of independence） 第一节美国本土文学（美国印第安传统文学） 印第安传统文学的主要内容和形式：在各种典仪上咏颂的祝词，在劳作中吟唱的歌曲，时代交口相传的部落神话故事和英雄故事，刻写在山河岩壁上的象形史诗。 第二节北美殖民时期文学（十六世纪末-----十七世纪中）（colonial settlement） 这一时期的文学作品主要是一些英国的殖民地官员或者传道士、冒险家们以日记或游记等形式记录的新大陆的风土人情、自然景色和民间生活等。 John Smith 约翰·史密斯《关于弗吉尼亚的真实叙述》A True Relation of Virginia （被认为是美国文学史上的“第一部作品”） 第三节请教思想的表述（Puritanism） 他们的作品主要是以传布清教主义思想的布道文为主 第二阶段独立革命时期（十七世纪中期-------十八世纪末） （around the revolution of independence） 独立革命前后的美国文学，标志着北美文学产生后的第一次大转折 该期文学特色：充满浓烈的政治性和思辨性。主题多为爱国主义及对于独立民主自由的热切呼唤。 Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林《穷查理历书》Poor Richard’s Almanac 《自传》The Autobiography Thomas Paine 托马斯·潘恩《常识》Common Sense 《美国危机》The America Crisis 《人的权利》Rights of Human《理性时代》The Age of Reason Philip Freneau 菲利普·弗伦诺（18世纪最杰出的美国诗人，被誉为“the poet of the American revolution） 《英国囚船》The British Prison Ship 《美国的荣耀蒸蒸日上》The Rising Glory of America 《印第安人殡葬地》（lyric）The Indian Burying Ground 《野金银花》The Wild Honey Suckle 第三阶段浪漫主义时期（18世纪末---19世纪中后期）（American Romanticism） 该时期主题多为传统文化与现代文明之间的冲突、“对久远与遥远故事的兴趣”以及对死亡、潜意识的剖析等。 Washington Irving 华盛顿·欧文the first prose stylist of American Romanticism / “Father of American Literature” 《纽约史》A History of New York 《见闻札记》The Sketch Book---标致美国浪漫主义的开始 《瑞普·凡·温克尔》Rip Van Winkle 《睡谷的传说》The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 《旅行者的故事》Tales of Traveler 《阿尔罕伯拉》The Alhambra James Fenimore Cooper 詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀《间谍》The Spy《领航者》The Pilot “皮袜子故事系列”: 《杀鹿者》The Deerslayer 《最后的莫希干人》The Last Mohicans 《拓荒者》The Pioneers 《探路人》The Pathfinder《大草原》The Prairie Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 亨利·沃慈沃斯·朗费罗（美国第一个写叙述诗的诗人） 《夜吟》Voices of the Night《人生礼赞》A Psalm of Life William Cullen Bryant 威廉·柯伦·布莱恩特（强调美国人个人意识，关注自然） 《泉》The Fountain 《白蹄鹿》The White-Footed Deer 《森林赋》The Forest Hymn 《似水流年》The Flood of Years 《死亡随想》Thanatopsis
英国文学(English Literature) 一、Old and Medieval English Literature中古英语文学(8世纪-14世纪) 1) The Old English Period / The Anglo-Saxon Period古英语时期(449-1066) a. pagan poetry(异教诗歌): Beowulf《贝奥武甫》- 最早的诗歌；长诗(3000行) heroism & fatalism & Christian qualities the folk legends of the primitive northern tribes; a heroic Scandinavian epic legend; 善恶有报b. religious poetry: Caedmon(凯德蒙610-680): the first known religious poet; the father of English song Cynewulf(基涅武甫9C): The Christ c. 8th C, Anglo-Saxon prose: Venerable Bede(673-735); Alfred the Great(848-901) 2) The Medieval Period中世纪(1066-ca.1485 / 1500): a. Romance中世纪传奇故事(1200-1500): the Middle Ages; 英雄诗歌 无名诗人- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight《高文爵士与绿色骑士》: Celtic legend; verse-romance; 2530 lines ~ 14th C,Age of Chaucer: * Geoffrey Chaucer(乔叟1340-1400): 文风：vivid and exact language, his poetry is full of vigor and swiftness the father of English poetry; the father of English fiction; 首创“双韵体”couplet; 首位用伦敦方言写作英国作家 The Canterbury Tales:pilgrims stories 受Boccaccio(薄伽丘) - Decameron《十日谈》启发 The House of Fame; Troilus and Criseyde; The Romaunt of the Rose《玫瑰罗曼史》(译作) * William Langland(朗兰1332-1400)：The Vision of Piers Plowman《农夫皮尔斯之幻象》: 普通人眼中的社会抗议 b. 15th C, English ballads: Thomas Malory (1395-1471):Morte D’Arthur《亚瑟王之死》- 圆桌骑士 二、The Renaissance Period英国文艺复兴(1500-1660): humanism十四行诗，文艺复兴，无韵诗，伊丽莎白戏剧 1) 诗歌Henry Howard(霍华德1516-1547) a. Thomas Wyatt (怀亚特1503-1542): the first to introduce the sonnet into English literature b. Sir Philip Sidney(雪尼爵士1554-1586)：代表了当时的理想- “the complete man”Defense of Poetry《为诗辩护》 Astrophel and Stella; Arcadia《阿卡狄亚》: a prose romance filled with lyrics; a forerunner of the modern world c.Edmund Spenser(斯宾塞1552-1599): the poets’ poet; non-dramatic poet of伊丽莎白时代- long allegorical romance 文风：a perfect melody, a rare sense of beauty and a splendid imagination. The Shepherd Calendar The Faerie Queen《仙后》：long poem for Queen Elizabeth; Allegory - nine-line verse stanza/ the Spenserian Stanza Spenserian Stanza(斯宾塞诗体): Nine lines, the first eight lines is in iambic(抑扬格) pentameter(五步诗), and the ninth line is an iambic hexameter(六步诗) line.
历年专八英译汉翻译真题 1995 I, by comparison, living in my overpriced city apartment, walking to work past putrid sacks of street garbage, paying usurious taxes to local and state governments I generally abhor, I am rated middle class. This causes me to wonder, do the measurement make sense? Are we measuring only that which is easily measured--- the numbers on the money chart --- and ignoring values more central to the good life? For my sons there is of course the rural bounty of fresh-grown vegetables, line-caught fish and the shared riches of neighbours’ orchards and gardens. There is the unpaid baby-sitter for whose children my daughter-in-law baby-sits in return, and neighbours who barter their skills and labour. But more than that, how do you measure serenity? Sense if self? I don’t want to idealize life in small places. There are times when the outside world intrudes brutally, as when the cost of gasoline goes up or developers cast their eyes on untouched farmland. There are cruelties, there is intolerance, there are all the many vices and meannesses in small places that exist in large cities. Furthermore, it is harder to ignore them when they cannot be banished psychologically to another part of town or excused as the whims of alien groups --- when they have to be acknowledged as “part of us.” Nor do I want to belittle the opportunities for small decencies in cities --- the eruptions of one-stranger-to-another caring that always surprise and delight. But these are,sadly,more exceptions than rules and are often overwhelmed by the awful corruptions and dangers that surround us. 对我的几个儿子来说，乡村当然有充足的新鲜蔬菜，垂钓来的鱼，邻里菜园和果园里可供分享的丰盛瓜果。乡下有不用付报酬便可请来照看孩子的邻居，作为回报，我儿媳也帮着照看其孩子。乡邻之间互相交换技能和劳动。但比之更重要的是，你如何来衡量那静谧与安详？如何来衡量自我价值呢？ 我无意将小地方的生活理想化。因为有时外面的世界会无情地侵入：比如汽油价格上涨，开发商把眼睛盯住尚未开发的农田；那里充斥着凶残和偏狭，大城市的种种卑劣行径，小地方也一应俱全。不仅如此，当人们无法自欺欺人地硬把那些丑恶现象想象成只是小地方的一小部分或将它们解释为异乡人的为所欲为，而又不得不承认这一切是我们的一部分时，就更难以忽视它们。 1996 It should have been easy. They were battle-tested veterans with long ties to Reagan and even longer ties to the Republican party, men who understood presidential politics as well as any in the country. The backdrop of the campaign was hospitable, with lots of good news to work with: America was at peace, and the nation’s economy, a key factor in any election, was rebounding vigorously after recession. Furthermore, the campaign itself was lavishly financed, with plenty of money for a top-flight staff, travel, and television commercials. And, most important, their candidate was Ronald Reagan, a president of tremendous personal popularity and dazzling communication skills. Reagan has succeed more than any president since John F. Kennedy in projecting a broad vision of America – a nation of renewed military strength, individual initiative, and smaller federal government. 这应该不是件难事。这都是些跟着里根多年、久经沙场的老将，他们跟共和党则有更深厚的渊源，是这个国家里最熟悉总统政治的人。竞选的背景也很有利，也很多好消息可供炒作。例如，美国上下一片和平，美国经济这一竞选要素也在经过一段时间的衰退之后开始强劲反弹。此外，这次竞选本身得到了慷慨资助，因此有充裕的资用于组织一流的竞选班子、支付巡回演讲和电视广告的费用。而最重要的一点是，他们的候选人是罗纳德·里根，他可是位极具个人魅力和沟通技巧的总统。自约翰·F·肯尼迪总统以来，里根是最成功地勾勒出美国蓝图的总统：一个军事力量复兴、富有个人进取心、联邦政府得以精简的国家。