英美文学选读(2)

自考《英美文学选读》（英）现代文学时期（2）-2二。

识记1. Shaw’s reform ideas：He regarded the establishment of socialism by the emancipation of land and industrial capital from individual and class ownership as the final goal. But on how to achieve it，he differed greatly from the Marxists. He was against the means of violent revolution or armed struggle in achieving the goal of socialism; he also had a distrust of the uneducated working class in fighting against capitalists. This reformist view of his caused him a painful，often conscious，inner conflict between his sincere desire for the new world and his inability to break out of the snobbish intellectual isolation throughout his life and work.2. His major works：Shaw wrote five novels in all the best of which is Cashel Byron’s Profession (1886)，which is about a world-famous prize fighter marrying a priggishly refined lady of property. His criticism is entitled Our Theaters in the Nineties (1931)。

自考《英美文学选读》（美）现代文学时期（2）-1Chapter 3 The Modern Period一。

识记1.The historical and socio-cultural background of the American literature between the two World Wars：(1) The two World Wars：The twentieth century began with a strong sense of social breakdown. The two Wor1d Wars，especially the First World War (l914——l918)，became the emblem of all wars in the twentieth century，which means violence，devastation，blood and death，and made a big impact on the life of the American people and their literary writings.With all these wars the whole wor1d had undergone a dramatic social change， a transformation from order to disorder. America in this period was characterized by economic boom and material prosperity but social chaos，spiritual waste and and moral decay. Economically，with America’s participation in Wor1d War I and the technological revolution，the United States had its booming industry and material prosperity. Socially，the world was disorderly and turbulent. There was a sense of unease and restlessness underneath. Spiritually and morally，there was a decline in moral standard and the first few decades of the twentieth century was best described as a spiritual wasteland. The censor of a great civilization being destroyed or destroying itself，social breakdown，and individual powerlessness and hopelessness became part of the American experience as a result of the First World War，with resulting feelings of fear，loss，disorientation and disillusionment.(2) The impact of Marxism，Freudianism and European modern art on American modern literature：Between the mid-l9th century and the first decade of the 20th century，there had been a big flush of new theories and new ideas in both social and natural sciences，as well as in the field of art in Europe，which played an indispensable ro1e in bringing about modernism and the modernistic writings in the United States.a. Marxism and FreudianismApart from Darwinism，which was still a big influence over the writers of this period，the two thinkers whose ideas had the greatest impact on the period were the German Karl Marx and the Austrian Sigmund Freud. Marx was a sociologist who believed that the root cause of all behavior was economic，and that the leading feature of the economic life was the division of society into antagonistic classes based on a relation to the means of production. Freud propounded an idea of human beings themselves as grounded in the “unconscious” that controlled a great deal of overt behavior，and made the practice of the psychoanalysis which emphasizes the importance of the unconscious or the irrationa1 in the human psyche. William James，an American psychologist famous for his theory of “stream of consciousness，” and Carl Jung，a Swiss psychiatrist，noted for his “collective unconscious” and “archetypal symbol” as part of modern mythology. Their theories，plus Freud’s interpretation of dreams，have infused modern American literature and made it possible for most of the writers in the modern period to probe into the inner world of human reality.b. European modern art：The implications of modern European arts to modern American writings can also be strong1y felt in the American literature between the wars，even thereafter. In painting，both the French Impressionist and the German Expressionist artists avoided the representation of external realityand depicted the human rea1ity in a rather subjective point of view. This highly personal vision of the world is self-evident in the works by writers such as William Faulkner，Eug ene O’Neill，etc. Cubism，another school of modern painting popular in the early 20th century with its emphasis on the formal structure of a work of art，especially its emphasis on the multiple-perspective viewpoints，had provided the writers with more than one way to explain the reality and engaged the readers in creating order out of fragmentation as we1l. Composers like Igor Stravinsky similar1y produced music in a “modern” mode，featuring dissonance and discontinuity rather than neat formal structure and appealing total harmonies.[Nextpage](3)The expatriate movementThere was a spiritual crisis in the modern period，but a full blossoming of literary writings. The expatriate movement，also called the second American Renaissance，is the most recognizable literary movement that gave rise to the twentieth century American literature. When the First World War broke out，many young men volunteered to take part in “the war to end Wars” only to find that modern warfare was not as glorious or heroic as they thought it to be. Disillusioned and disgusted by the frivolous，greedy，and heedless way of life in America，they began to write and they wrote from their own experiences in the war. Among these young writers were the most prominent figures in American literature，especially in modern American 1iterature. They were basically expatriates who 1eft America and formed a community of writers and artists in Paris，involved with other European novelists and poets in their experimentation on new modes of thought and expression. These writers were later named by an American writer，Gertrude Stein，also an expatriate，“The Lost Generation.”2. The historical and socio-cultural background of the American literature after the World War Ⅱ：What happened immediately after the Second World War in the United States and other parts of the world exerted a tremendous influence on the mentality of Americans. It changed man’s vi ew of himself and the world as well.First of all，the dropping of an atomic bomb over Hiroshima in Japan shocked the whole world and made possible the destruction of the Western civilization. Then a mutual fear and hostility grew between the Eastern and Western courtries with the Cold War，the effect of which could be felt in the form of McCarthyism in the Unites States. Besides，the Korean War and the Vietnam War broadened the gap between the government and the people. The assassination of John F. Kennedy，and of Martin Luther King，spokesman of the American Civil Rights Movement，the resignation of Nixon because of the Water-Gate scandal，etc. intensified the terror and tossed the whole nation again into the grief and despair. The impact of these changes and upheavals on the American society is emotional. People start to question the role of science in human progress and the fear of the misuse of modern science and technology is spreading. They no longer believe in God but start to reconsider the nature of man and man’s capacity for evil. They begin to think of life as a big joke or an absurdity. The world is even more disintegrating and fragmentary and people are even more estranged and despondent.二。

自考《英美文学选读》（英）现代文学时期（2）-1三。

应用：1. What is Modernism?Modernism was a complex and diverse international movement in all creative arts，originating about the end of the 19th century. It provided the greatest renaissance of the 20th century. After the First World War，all kinds of literary trends of modernism appeared：symbolism，expressionism，surrealism，cubism，futurism，Dadaism，imagism and stream of consciousness. Towards the 1920s，these trends converged into a mighty torrent of modernist movement，which swept across the whole Europe and America. It has also been called “the tradition of the new”-a conscious rejection of established rules，traditions and conventions，and “the dehumanization of art”-pushing into the background traditional notions of the individual and society. The major figures that were associated with Modernism were Kafka，Picasso，Pound，Webern，Eliot，Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Modernism was somewhat curbed in the 1930s. But after the Second World War，a variety of modernism，or post-modernism，like existentialist literature，theater of the absurd，new novels and black humor，rose with the spur of the existentialist idea that “the world was absurd，and the human life was an agony.”Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base. The major themes of the modernist literature are the distorted，alienated and ill relationships between man and nature，man and society，man and man，and man and himself. The modernist writers concentrate more on the private than on the public，more on the subjective than on the objective. They are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual. By advocating a free experimentation on new forms and new techniques in literary creation，Modernism casts away almost all the traditional elements in literature such as story，plot，character，chronological narration，etc.，which are essential to realism. As a result，the works created by the modernist writers are often labeled as anti-novel，anti-poetry and anti-drama.2. The basic philosophy or characteristics of Modernism in literature：Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base. One characteristic of English Modernism is “the dehumanization of art”. The major themes of the modernist literature are the distorted，alienated and ill relationships between man and nature，man and society，man and man，and man and himself. The modernist writers concentrate more on the private than on the public，more on the subjective than on the objective. They are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual. Therefore，they pay more attention to the psychic time than the chronological one. In their writings，the past，the present and the future are mingled together and exist at the same time in the consciousness of an individual.Modernism is，in many aspects，a reaction against realism. It rejects rationalism，which is the theoretical base of realism; it excludes from its major concern the external，objective，material world，which is the only creative source of realism; by advocating a free experimentation on new forms and new techniques in literary creation，it casts away almost all the traditional elements in literature such as story，plot，character，chronological narration，etc.，which are essential to realism. As a result，the works created by the modernist writers are often labeled as anti-novel，anti-poetry and anti-drama.I. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)一。

while the latter brought in blank verse. ②The second—(the peak) the Elizabeth Age (1558-1603) –The
Elizabethan drama • Poetry: Spenser & Marlowe ③The third– further development (1603—1660) • Poetry: John Donne & John Milton • Drama: Ben Jackson • Essay: Francis Bacon
• 布来克William Blake 华华William Wordsworth 叫, 科Samuel Taylor Coleridge 学家济兹John Keats 跟澳Jane Austen 雪Percy Bysshe Shelley 说 拜拜George Gordon Byron.
• 狄更斯Charles Dickens 爱George Eliot 喝Thomas Hardy 勃朗宁Robert Browning 的布Bronte Sisters 丁Alfred Tennyson.
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3. The Renaissance in England:
①The first—the beginning (1485-1558) --- imitation and assimilation
• Poetry: Wyatt & Surrey • The former introduced the Petrarchan sonnet into England,
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Spenserian stanza:

全国自考英美文学选读（综合）模拟试卷2(题后含答案及解析)全部题型 2. 阅读理解 3. 简答题 4. 论述题阅读理解1．To bow and sue for graceWith suppliant knee, and deify his power...—that were low indeed,That were an ignominy, and shame beneathThis downfall;...Questions:A. Who is the author?B. What is the title of the poem?C. What is the main idea?正确答案：A. John Milton.B. Paradise Lost.C. To beg God for mercy and worship his power were more shameful and disgraceful than this downfall. 涉及知识点：阅读理解2．I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.Questions:A. Identify the author and the work.B. What are the two principal beliefs that the poet set in this poem?正确答案：A. From Walt Whitman’ s “Song of Myself”.B. The two beliefs are the belief in the theory of universality and the belief in the singularity and equality of all beings in value. 涉及知识点：阅读理解3．“...Only Miss Emily’s house was left, rifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps—an eyesore among eyesores. “Questions:A. Identify the author and the title of the story from which the quoted lines are taken.B. What is the meaning of “an eyesore among eyesores”?C. What does this quoted passage indicate?正确答案：A. Faulkner, A Rose for Emily.B. The most unpleasant thing to look at.C. The house is a perfect mirror image of the owner who is stubborn and coquettish and deliberately detaches herself from the communal life in this small town. 涉及知识点：阅读理解简答题4．As a novelist Jane Austen writes within a very ______ sphere. The subject matter, the character range, the social setting, and plots are all restricted to the ______ of the late 18th-century England, concerning three or four landed gentry families with their daily routine life.正确答案：Shelley eulogized the powerful west wind and expressed his eagerness to enjoy the boundless freedom from the reality. 涉及知识点：简答题5．Analyze the character of Jane Eyre taken from Jane Eyre.正确答案：A. Jane Eyre, an orphan child with a fiery spirit and a longing to love and be loved, a poor, plain, little governess who dares to love her master.B. In Chapter XXIII, Jane finds herself hopelessly in love with Mr. Rochester but she is aware that her love is out of the question. When forced to confront Mr. Rochester, she desperately and openly declares her equality with him and her love for him. 涉及知识点：简答题6．What are the features of Whitman’ s poetry?正确答案：A. His poetic style is marked by the use of poetic “I”.B. He adopted”free verse” , poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.C. The images in his poems are unconventional.D. He uses oral English.E. His vocabulary is amazing.F. Parallelism and phonetic recurrence are used at the beginning of the lines. 涉及知识点：简答题7．Some of Hemingway’ s heroes are regarded as the Hemingway code heroes. Whatever the differences in experience and age, they all have something in common which Hemingway values. What are the characteristics of the Hemingway code hero?正确答案：A. They have seen the cold world and for one cause or another, they boldly and courageously face the reality; whatever the result is, they are ready to live with grace under pressure.B. Almost all his heroes are” soldiers” either in a narrow or broad sense. They are out there to fight against nature or the world, or even themselves. But no matter where the battleground is and how tragic the ending is, they will never be defeated.C. Hemingway himself is one of those Code heroes; some critics say his protagonists are autobiographical, for they share something that is Hemingway’ s. 涉及知识点：简答题论述题8．Robinson Crusoe is universally considered as Daniel Defoe’ s masterpiece. Robinson, apparently, is cast as a typical 18th-century pioneer colonist. Give a brief comment on Robinson Crusoe.正确答案：A. In Robinson Crusoe, Defoe traces the growth of Robinson from a naive and artless youth into a shrewd and hardened man, tempered by numerous trials in his eventful life. The realistic account of the successful struggle of Robinsonsingle-handedly against the hostile nature forms the best part of the novel.B. Robinson is here a real hero; a typical eighteenth-century English middle-class man, with a great capacity for work, inexhaustible energy, courage, patience and persistence in overcoming obstacles, in struggling against the hosr tile natural environment. He is the very prototype of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist.C. In describing Robinson’ s life on the island, Defoe glorifies human labor and the puritan fortitude, which save Robinson from despair and are a source of pride and happiness. He toils for the sake of subsistence, and the fruits of his labor are his own. 涉及知识点：论述题9．Make a brief comment on Elizabeth ‘ s character in Pride and Prejudice.正确答案：A. Elizabeth is clever, alert, observant. She is more observant and less charitable than Jane in recognizing the characters of Bingley’ s sisters. She recognizes Mr. Collins’ character in his letter and after meeting him turns down firmly and with dignity his patronizing proposal. She is able to match wits with Darcy several times and with Colonel Fitzwilliam, earning their respect and admiration.B. Fearless and frank, not rattled by the attack of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, she wins a notable victory, sending her Ladyship away completely routed. She is independent but not infallible in her judgment—taken in by the charm of the worthless Wickham. She cannot be blamed for misjudging Darcy.C. She shows flexibility, discernment, and honesty of mind when she reads Darcy’ s defense in his letter and admits the justice of much of what he says, thus beginning to lose her prejudice against him. She recognizes and values true worth when she encounters it in Jane, the Gardiners, and, near the end of the novel, in Darcy. She sees more clearly than her father the danger of sending Lydia to Brighton.D. She is able to control her emotions at times of stress —when she first encounters Darcy at Pemberley; when she realizes that she loves Darcy and has good reason to fear that she has lost him,she waits without repining for time to bring a solution. She is witty, fun-loving, recognizes humor in herself and in others, but ridiculing only folly, nonsense, and inconsistencies. She recognizes the follies of her own family and their shortcomings as well as their virtues.E. She is considerate of others but quite capable of asserting herself when occasion demands. She has a playful and unaffected manner, sunny disposition, natural animation, sense of fun, and sweet reasonableness. She is ready to laugh at herself and everything save “what is wise and good”. She shows a sense of humor by telling what Darcy has said about her at the Meryton ball. 涉及知识点：论述题10．Take Mark Twain’ s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as an example to illustrate the statement that Mark Twain was a unique writer in American literature.正确答案：A. Mark Twain shaped the world’ s view of America and made an extensive combination of American folk humor and serious literature.B. The novel has become a great contribution to the legacy of American literature.C. The novel is written in a language that is totally different from the rhetorical language used byMark Twain’ s contemporary writers such as Emerson, Poe and Melville. It is simple, direct, lucid and faithful to the colloquial speech. This style of colloquialism is best described as “ vernacular”.D. He successfully used local color and historical settings to illustrate and shed light on the contemporary society. That’ s why he is known as a local colorist.E. Mark Twain’ s humor is remarkable, too. Most of his works tend to be funny, containing some practical jokes, comic details, witty remarks, etc. Some of them are typically tall tales. And a great deal of his humor is characterized by puns, straight-faced exaggeration, repetition, and anti-climax. He uses his humor to criticize the social injustice and satirize the decayed romanticism. 涉及知识点：论述题。

⼆。

美国浪漫主义时期的主要作家 Ⅰ。

Washington Irving（1783-l859） Irving''s position in American literature Washington Irving was one of the first American writers to earn an international reputation， and regarded as an early Romantic writer in the merican literary history and Father of the American short stories. ⼀。

⼀般识记 His life and major works Washington Irving was born in New York City in a wealthy family. From a very early age he began to read widely and write juvenile poems， essays， and plays. In l798， he conc1uded his education at private schools and entered a law office， but he loved writing more. His first successful work is A History Of New York from the Beginning Of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty，which， written under the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker， won him wide popularity after it came out in 1809. With the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon， Gent. in serials between 1819 and 1820， Irving won a measure of international fame on both sides of the Atlantic. The book contains familiar essays on the Eng1ish life and Americanized versions of European folk tales like "Rip Van Winkle＂， and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Geoffrey Crayon is a carefully contrived persona and behind Crayon stands Irving， juxtaposing the Old World and the New， and manipulating his own antiquarian interest with artistic perspectives. The major work of his later years was The Life of George Washington. ⼆。

英美文学选读（2）Selected Readings of British and American Literature (2)一、基本信息课程代码：2020124课程学分：2面向专业：英语课程性质：专业必修课课程类型：理论教学课开课院系：外国语学院英语系使用教材：主教材：1、《美国文学史及选读》（第1册）（第2版），吴伟仁主编，外语教学与研究出版社，2008.2、《美国文学史及选读》（第2册）（第2版），吴伟仁主编，外语教学与研究出版社，2008.参考教材：《美国文学》，左金梅编，中国海洋大学出版社，2006.先修课程：《高级英语》（1）、《英美文学选读》（1）并修课程：《高级英语》（2）后续课程：《高级英语》（3）二、课程简介英美文学选读课程主要从英美两国历史、语言、文化发展的角度，介绍英美两国文学各历史阶段的主要背景，文学文化思潮，文学流派，社会政治、经济、文化等对文学发展的影响，主要作家的文学生涯、创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题结构、人物刻画、语言风格和思想意义等。

本课程旨在培养英语专业学生理解、掌握英美文学的基本理论知识和鉴赏英美文学原著的能力。

英美文学课程的开设有利于提高学生的语言运用能力、提升学生对文学原著鉴赏的水平，培养学生的文学审美意识，使学生在宏观把握文学课程的知识点的同时，增强语言功底，增强对英美文学原著的理解，特别是对作品中表现的社会生活和人物思想感情的理解，增强他们分析作品的艺术特色的能力、掌握正确评价文学作品的标准和方法，对英美两国文学形成与发展的全貌有一个概括的了解，为以后的研究打下坚实基础。

三、选课建议英美文学选读课程是英语专业高年级学生的必修课程，属于提升拔高课程，其前提是学生应具有扎实的语言基本功、一定的文学知识和初步的科学研究方法。

四、课程与培养学生能力的关联性五、课程学习目标通过本课程的学习，学生应知道英美两国文学的形成与发展过程，熟悉部分西方文化，了解西方主要文学流派和主要文学作家，理解文学的本质与基本特征，掌握文学批评的基本知识和方法。

⼆该时期的重要作家 I. William Blake 1.⼀般识记： His life English poet， artist， & philosopher， born in London England， Nov 28， 1757， and died in London， Aug12，1827. Blake made distinguished contributions to both Literature & art. He ranks with great poets in the English language & may be considered the earliest of the major English Romantic poets. His poems range from lyrics of childlike simplicity to mystical or prophetic works of great complexity. As an artist he is best known for his engravings， which are among the masterpieces of graphic art. 2. 识记 His political， religious & literary views Blake never tried to fit into the world； he was a rebel innocently & completely all his life. He was politically of the permanent left & mixed a good deal with the radicals like Thomas Paine& William Godwin. Like Shelley， Blake strongly criticized the capitalists'' cruel exploitation， saying that the "dark satanic mills left men unemployed， killed children & forced prostitution." Meanwhile he cherished great expectations & enthusiasm for the French Revolution， & regarded it as a necessary stage leading to the millennium predicted by the biblical prophets. Literarily Blake was the first important Romantic poet， showing contempt for the rule of reason， opposing the classical tradition of the 18th century & treasuring the individual''s imagination. 3. 领会 His poems （1） Early works The Songs of Innocence （1809） is a lovely volume of poems， presenting a happy & innocent world， though not without its evils & sufferings. For instance， " Holy Thursday" with its vision of charity children lit " with a radiance all their own" reminds us terribly of a world of loss & institutional cruelty. The wretched child described in " The Chimney Sweeper，" orphaned， exploited， yet touched by visionary rapture， evokes unbearable poignancy when he finally puts his trust in the order of the universe as he knows it. His Songs of Experience （1794） paints a different world， a world of misery，poverty， disease， war & repression with a melancholy tone. The benighted England becomes the world of the dark wood & of the weeping prophet. The orphans of " Holy Thursday" are now "fed with cold & usurious hand." The little chimneysweeper sings "notes of woe" while his parents go to church & praise "God & his Priest & King"——the very instruments of their repression. In "London"， the city is no longer a paradise， but becomes the seat of poverty & despair，of man alienated from his true self. Blake''s Marriageof Heaven & Hell （1790） marks his entry into maturity. The poem was composed during the climax of the French Revolution & it plays the double role both as a satire & a revolutionary prophecy. In this poem， Blake explores the relationship of the contraries. Attraction & repulsion， reason & energy， love & hate，are necessary to human existence. Life is a continual conflict of give & take， a pairing of opposites， of good & evil， of innocence & experience， of body & soul. "Without contraries，" Blake states， "there is no progression." The "marriage，" to Blake， means the reconciliation of the contraries， not the subordination of the one to the other. （2） Later works In his later period， Blake wrote quite a few prophetic books， which reveal him as the prophet of universal political & spiritual freedom and show the poet himself as the spokesman of revolt. The major ones are： The Book ofUrizen（1794），The Book of Los（1795）。

自考《英美文学选读》（美）现代文学时期（2）-22) The Lost GenerationIt refers to，in general，the post-World WarⅠgeneration，but specifically a group of expatriate disillusioned intellectuals and artists，who experimented on new modes of thought and expression by rebelling against former ideals and values and replacing them only by despair or a cynical hedonism. The remark of Gertrude Stein，“You are all a lost generation，“addressed to Hemingway，was used as an epigraph to the latter’s novel The Sun Also Rises，which brilliantly describes those expatriates who had cut themselves off from their past in America in order to create new types of writing. The generation was “lost” in the sense that its inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world and because of its spiritual alienation from a U.S. that seemed to its members to be hopelessly provincial，materialistic，and emotional barren. The term embraces Hemingway，F. Scott Fitzgerald，Ezra Pound，E.E.Cummings，and many other writers who made Paris the center of their literary activities in the 1920s.3) What is Expressionism?Expressionism is used to describe the works of art and literature in which the representation of reality is distorted to communicate an inner vision，transforming nature rather than imitating it. In literature it is often considered a revolt against realism and naturalism，a seeking to achieve a psychological or spiritual reality rather than to record external events.In drama，the expressionist work was characterized by a bizarre distortion of reality. Expressionist writers’s concern was with general truths rather than with particular situations，hence they explored in their plays the predicaments of representative symbolic types rather than of fully developed individualized characters. Emphasis was laid not on the outer world，which is merely sketched in and barely defined in place or time，but on the internal，on an individual’s mental state; hence the imitation of life is replaced in Expressionist drama by the ecstatic evocation of states of mind. In America，Eugene O’Neille’s Emperor Jones，The Hairy Ape，etc. are typical plays that employ Expressionism.4) The concept of “wasteland” in relation to the works of those writers in the twentieth-century American literatureThe Waste Land is a poem written by T.S.Eliot on the theme of the sterility and chaos of the contemporary world. This most widely known expression of the despair of the post-War era has appeared over and again in the works of those writers in the twentieth-century American literature. Fitzgerald sought to portray a spiritual wasteland of the Jazz Age. Beneath the masks of relaxation and joviality，there was only sterility，meaninglessness and futility amid the grandeur and extravagance，there was a hint of decadence and moral decay. Hemingway，the leading spokesman of the Lost Generation，dramatized in his novels the sense of loss and despair among the post-war generation who are physically and psychologically scarred. Though disillusioned in the post-war period，h e strove to bring about man’s “grace under pressure” and tried to bring out the idea that man can be physically destroyed but never defeated spiritually. William Faulkner exemplified T.S. Eliot’s concept of modern society as a wasteland in a dramatic way. He created his own mythical kingdom that mirrored not only the decline of the Southern society but also the spiritual wasteland of the whole American society. He condemned the mechanized，industrialized society that has dehumanized man by forcing him to cultivate false values and decrease those essential human values such as courage，fortitude，honesty and goodness.2. Postwar American literature1) The Beat GenerationAlso called Beat Movement，it is an American social and literary movement originating in the 1950s. Beat Generation writings expressed profound dissatisfaction with contemporary American society and endorsed an alternative set of values. They rejected traditional forms and advocated personal release，purification，and illumination through the heightened sensory awareness.Beat poets sought to liberate poetry from academic preciosity and bring it “back to the streets.” Allen Ginsberg and other major figures of the movement，such as the novelist Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder，advocated a kind of free，unstructured composition in which the writer put down his thoughts and feelings without plan or revision-to convey the immediacy of experience-an approach that led to the production of much undisciplined and incoherent verbiage on the part of their imitators.2) The pluralism of postwar American fiction：American fiction from 1945 onwards is a bigger story than poetry and drama.a. War fiction： A group of new writers who survived the war wrote about their traumatic experience within the military machine and on European and Pacific battlefields，among whom we have Norman Mailer and Herman Wouk.b. Southern literature：Robert Penn Warren and Flannery O’Conner are representatives of the talented Southern writers，who followed Faulkner’s footsteps in portraying the decadence and evil in the Southern society in a Gothic manner.[Nextpage]c. Jewish literature：By the 1950s a significant group of Jewish-American writers had appeared and one of them was Saul Bellow. Their works，drawing on the Jewish experience of suffering and endurance，tradition and the Jewish religion，examined subtly the dismantling of the self by an intolerable modern history. Other iportant Jewish writers include Bernard Malamud，Issac Bashevis Singer，and Philip Roth. Saul Bellow placed emphasis upon the power of intellect. The power to understand their own experience，to judge their lives rationally，to think well，is considered a high virtue. Self-teaching is at the heart of all his novels as his Jewish heroes or anti-heroes seek a rational interpretation of the world through their own experiences in it.d. Black fiction：It began to attract critical attention during this period too. The two major figures are Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison，both of whom captured the wide attention of the white readers by truthfully，openly，and shockingly describing the life of black people as they knew it from their own experience. For the first time in the history of American writings，African writers started to question their identity as a group and as an individual.e. Other important writers who were writing at the time include J.D.Salinger and John Updike. Salinger is considered to be a spokesman for the alienated youth in the post-war era and his The Catcher in the Rye (1951) is regarded as a students’ classic. Updike’s Rabbit novels examine the middle-class values and portray the troubled relationships in people’s private life and their internal decay under the stress of the modern times.f. “new fiction” or Novels of absurdity：American fiction in the 1960s and 1970s proves to be different from its predecessors in that the writers started to depart from the conventions of the novel writing and experimented with some new forms. Hence，it is referred to as “new fiction，”with Kurt Vonnegut，Joseph Heller，John Bath，and Thomas Pynchon at its forefront. Roughly speaking，these writers shared the same belief that human beings are trapped in a meaningless world and that neither God nor man can make sense of the human condition. What’s more，this absurdist vision is integrated with an absurd form，which is characterized by comic exaggerations，ironic uses of parodies，multiple realities，often two-dimensional characters，and a combination of fantastic events with realistic presentations.g. Literature of ethnic groups：More recently American literature is alive with a diversity of interests. Writers from different ethnic and multicultural backgrounds，including women writers，African-Americans，Asian-Americans，and Indian-Americans，are beginning to make their voices heard and they are writing about American experience and consciousness from quite a fresh outlook，hence，bringing vitality to the American literary imagination.3.The literary characteristics of American modern literature：1) Theme：In general terms，much serious literature written from 1912 onwards attempted to convey a vision of social breakdown and mora1 decay and t he writer’s task was to develop techniques that could represent a break with the past. Thus，the defining formal characteristics of the modernistic works are discontinuity and fragmentation.2) Technical experimentation：An awareness of the irrational and the workings of the unconscious mind are pervasive in much modernistic writing. Technically，modernism was marked by a persistent experimentalism. It rejected the traditional framework of narrative，description，and rational exposition in poetry and prose，in favor of a stream of consciousness presentation of personality，a dependence on the poetic image as the essential vehicle of aesthetic communication，and upon myth as a characteristic structural principle.Compared with earlier writings，modern American writings are notable for what they omit ——the explanations，interpretations，connections，and summaries. There are shifts in perspective，voice，and tone，but the biggest shift is from the external to the internal，from the public to the private，from the chronological to the psychic，from the objective description to the subjective projection. Modern American writers in general emphasize the concrete sensory images or details as the direct conveyer of experience. They strive for directness，compression，and vividness and are sparing of words. Modern fiction prefer suggestiveness and tend to employ the first person narration or limit the reader to the “central consciousness” or one character’s point of view. This limitation accorded with the modernistic vision that truth does not exist objectively but is the product of a personal interaction with reality. As a result，the effect of modern American writings is surprising，unsettling。

班扬 John Bunyan A. 作品风格 a. Bunyan's style was modeled after that of the English Bible. b. He used concrete and living language and vivid details. c. He made it possible for the reader of the least education to share the pleasure of reading his novel. B. 代表作 a. The Pilgrim's Progress is the most successful religious allegory in the English language b. Its predominant metaphor- life as a journey- is simple and familiar. 蒲柏 Alexander Pope A. 现实批评观 a. He upheld the existing social system as an ideal one, but he was not entirely blind to the rapid moral, political and cultural deterioration. b. He published The Rape of the Lock and use the mock epic form to retell the cutting of the lock, to ridicule the trivial incident and to satirize the foolish, meaningless life of the lords and ladies in the aristocratic bourgeois society of the eighteenth century England. B. ⽂学观He strongly advocated neoclassicism. C. 代表作品 An Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad,An Essay on Man. The translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. The edition of Shakespeare's plays. 笛福 Daniel Defoe A. 主要作品 a. The first novel: Robinson Crusoe. b. four other novels: Captain Singleton, Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack and Roxana. c. The pseudo-factual account of Great Plague: A Journal the Plague Year. B. 代表作 a. Robinson Crusoe, an adventure story very much in the spirit of the time, is universally considered his masterpiece. b. Robinson is here a real her a typical eighteenth-century English middle-class man. c. He is the very prototype of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist. In describing Robinson's life on the island, Defoe glorifies human labor and the Puritan fortitude. 斯威夫特 Jonathan Swift A. 创作: a. The works to establish his name: A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books established his name as a satirist. b. The Drapier's letters He published, under the pseudonym of Drapier, a series of letters. Even today Swift is still respected as a national hero in Ireland. c. The greatest satiric work: He wrote and published his greatest satiric work, Gulliver's Travels. B. 代表作 a. Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan's best fictional work. The book contains four parts: His experience in Lilliput, Alone in Brobdingnag, Visit to the Flying Island and Account of his discoveries in the Houyhnhnm land. In structure, the four parts make an organic whole. b. Gulliver gives an account of some aspects of Lilliputian life and obviously alludes to the similar ridiculous practices or tricks of the English government. 费尔丁 Henry Fielding A. 戏剧创作 The best known are The coffee-House Politician, The Tragedy of Tragedies, Pasquin, and The Historical Register for the Year1736. B. ⼩说创作 a. The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his friend Mr. Abraham Adams, the book quickly turns into a great novel of the open road, a "comic epic in prose". b. The History of Jonathan Wild the Great, points out the Great Man is no better than a great gangster. c. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling and The History of Amelia. The former is a masterpiece on the subject of human nature and the latter the story of the unfortunate life of an idealized woman.。

英美文学选读中文翻译及重点习题答案英国文学(AMERICAN LITERATURE) 第二章新古典主义时期（The Neoclassical Period）一、背景知识（Background knowledge）1、历史背景（Historical background）新古典主义时期的英国社会矛盾交织。

王室与议会、不同的教派之间、统治阶级与贫苦的劳动大众之间冲突不断，托利党与辉格党也为对议会和政府的控制而争斗不已。

概言之，那是一个充满了多种矛盾和多种价值观的时代。

18世纪的英国发展迅速，到世纪中叶，英国已成为世界上的头号资本主义强国。

随着经济的迅速发展，中产阶级也随之壮大了起来。

2、文化背景（Cultural background）（1）随着资本主义的发展，中产阶级的社会价值观和道德观占据了主宰地位。

中产阶级崇尚自制、自立和勤劳。

对他们而言，生活的意义就在于工作、节俭和积累财富。

（2）这一时期，启蒙运动在英国全面展开。

该运动的目的是用现代哲学和艺术观启迪社会。

启蒙主义者们宣扬理性、平等与科学，宣称理性是人类的一切思想和行动唯一的、终极的目标。

（3）启蒙者们相信当理性作为衡量一切人类行为和关系的标尺之时，一切迷信、压迫和不公正将让位于“终极真理”、“终极正义”和“终极平等”（4）启蒙者们鼓吹全民教育。

他们认为，大众受到教育才更有可能建成民主社会。

3、新古典主义文学的特征（Features of the neo-classic literature）（1）新古典主义文学奉古希腊、罗马的经典作品和当代法国作品为创作之圭臬。

（2）新古典主义作家自觉地追求均衡、统一与和谐表达的优雅，从而形成了雍容、雅致、诙谐、睿智的文风。

（3）这一时期的文学说教意味浓厚，成为流行一时的大众教育的手段。

（4）各种文学体裁均遵循某些固定的条律和规则。

（5）包括当时流行的模拟史诗、传奇、讽刺诗、讽刺短诗在内的各体诗歌结构工整，遣词雅致、语气庄严、注重说教。

2） Neoclassicism
In the field of literature， the Enlightenment Movement
brought about a revival of interest in the old classical
works. This tendency is known as neoclassicism. According to the neoclassicists， all forms of literature
3） The heroic couplet
It means a pair of lines of a type once common in English poetry， which rhyme & are written with five beats each……
4） the Realistic Novel
those of the contemporary French ones. Neoclassicists had some fixed laws &rules for almost every genre of literature， prose should be precise， direct， smooth & flexible. Poetry should be lyrical， epical， didactic， satiric or dramatic， &
be judged in terms of its service to humanity. This belief led them to seek proportion， unity， harmony & grace in literary expressions， in an effort to delight， instruct & correct human beings， primarily as social animals. Thus， a polite， urbane， witty， & intellectual art developed.

英美文学选读模拟题二A.Each of the statements below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would best complete the statement and put the letter in the brackets. (20x1 points)()1. _________ is regarded as the pioneer of English drama.A.William ShakespeareB.Christopher Marlowe.C.Edmund SpenserD.John Donne()2. n She I compare thee to a summers day?” This is the beginning line of Shakespeare'sA.songsB.playsediesD.son nets()3. Thomas Gray f s masterpiece, __________ once and for all established his fame ass the leader of the sentimental poetry of the day, especially "The Graveyard Schocd”.A.Ode on the SpringB.Ode on a Distant Prospect Of Eton CollegeC.Hymn to AdversityD.Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard()4. Which play is regarded ass the best English comedy since Shakespeare?A.She Stoops to ConquerB.The RivalsC.The School for ScandalD.The Conscious Lovers()5. The publication of f,_________ H marked the beginning of Romantic Age.A.Don JuanB.The Rime of the Ancient MarinerC.The Lyrical BalladsD.Queen Mab()6. As a new kind of ideology, _______ was widely accepted and practised in the later Victorian period.A.earnestnessB.utilitarianismC.respectabilityD.modesty()7. In his novels, Charles Dickens depicted a lot of child characters except _____________ .A.Oliver TwistB.Little NellC.Little DorritD.Charles Surface()8. ________ is acknowledged by many as the most original poet of the Victorian period.A.Robert BrowningB.Alfred TennysonC.George EliotD.John Keats()9. ________ is the last important novelist and poet of the 19th century.A.Thomas HardyB.George EliotC.Alfred TennysonD.Robert Browning()10. _______ does not belong to the post - modernism after the Second World War.A.Existentialist literatureB.Black HumorC.Heater of the AbsurdD.Stream of consciousness()11. In the works of E. M. Forster and D. H. Lawrence, the subject matter is ____________ ・A.the social turmoilB.the hypocrisy of the capitalismC.love and marriageD.human relati on ships()12. James Joyce's works are popular with the readers for in his writings Joyce uses the following kinds of expressing methods.A.sentimental romanceB.historical stylisticsC.in versionD.counterpoint()13. _______ f s f,Leaves of Grass11 established him as the most popular American poet of the 19th century.A.Edger Allen PoeB.James Russel LowellC.John Greenleaf WhitterD.Walt Whitman()14. In his essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson put forward his philosophy except of __________ .A.religionB.the over - soulC.the importance of the in dividualD.nature()15. In the following statements, __________ is not true about the local colorism in American literary realism.A.Their writings are concerned with the life of a small, well - defined region or province.B.The characteristic selling is the isolated small town.C.Their materials were extensive or wide ・ ranging, and the topics were connective.D.Local colorists were consciously nostalgic historians of a vanishing way of life, recorders of a present that faded before their eyes.()16. H______ 蔦a novella about a young American girl who gets "killecT by the winter in Rome, brought James inter national fame for the first time.A.The AmericanB.Daisy MillerC.The EuropeansD.The Portrait of a Lady()17. In his f,_______ Dreiser f s focus shifted from the pathos of the helpless protagonists at the bottom of the society to the power of the American financial tycoons in the late 19th century.A.Sister CarrieB.An American TragedyC.The GeniusD.Trilogy of Desire()18・______ is not among those greatest figures in "The Lost Generation11 or modern American literature.A.Ezra PoundB.Robert FrostC.Walt WhitmanD.William Carlos Williams()19. Robert Frost recited 11_______ ” at President Kennedy f s inauguration.A.The road Not TakenB.Mending the WallC.The Gift OutrightD.Birches()20. Mark Twain^ best works were produced when he was in the prime of his life. All these masterworks drew upon ________ .A.the scenes and emotions of his boyhood and youthB.the hypocrisy of the capitalismC.the bleak view of human natureD.the miserable life of the lower - class poorplete each of the following statements with a proper word or a phrase according to the textbook. ( 20x1 points)1 • In f,The Canterbury Tales1', Chaucer employed the _________ with true ease and charm for the first time in the history of English literature.2.Christopher Marlowe is the most gifted of the H_________ ”.3.The term H_________ H is commonly used to name the work of the 17th - century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne.4.Spenser is generally regarded as the greatest non dramatic poet of the Elizabetha n age. His fame is chiefly based on his masterpiece ”___________ u.5.Swift is a master ______ , his satire is usually masked by an outward gravity and an apparent earnestness which renders his satire all the more powerful.6.From the middle part to the end of the 18th century, in English literature__________ flourished. They were mostly stories of mystery and horror which take place in some haunted or dilapidated middle age castles.7.As a leading romanticist, Byron's chief contribution is his creation of the ,f _________ ”，a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin.8.________ is regarded as a ^worshipper of nature11.9.All of Charles Dickens f s later works, with the exception of f,______________ f,(1859), present a criticism of the more complicated and yet most fundamental social institutions and morals of the Victorian England.10.Bernard Shaw began his career as a dramatist in 1892, when his first play ”_________ f,(1892) was put on by the independent theater society.11.__________ was regarded as father of the American short stories.12.The way in which _______ wrote "The Scarlet Letter11 suggests that American Romanticism adapted itself to American puritan moralism.13.The most important feature of Mark 7wain f s Ianguage is the use of vernacular, or ___________ .14.H _________ 11 is Browning^ best - known dramatic monlogue.15.Ezra PouncTs major work of poetry is the long poem called ___________ .16.Hemingway's H____________ H (1936) tells a brilliant short story about a martially wounded American writer who attempts to redeem his imagination from the corrosions of wealth and domestic strife.17.__________ stands as a great dividing line between the nineteenth century and the contemporary American literature.18.Pound was the leader of a now movement in poetry which he called the ”________ 11 movement.19.M After Apple - Picking H is a well - known poem written by ____________ .20.George Eliot's greatest achievement is ,f __________ ,f.C.Decide whether the following statements are true or false and write your answers in the brackets・(10x1 points)()1 ・fl Dr. Faustus11 is a play based on the English Lege nd of a magician aspiring for knowledge and fin ally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the Devil.()2. Swift is a master satirist. His satire is usually masked by an outward gravity and an apparent earnestness which ren ders his satire all the more powerful. His H A Modest Proposal11 is gen erally taken as a perfect model.()3. Shelley's greatest achievement is his four ・ act poetic drama, "Prometheus Unbound M. (1820)()4・ Though Naturalism seems to have played an important part in Hardy f s works, there is also bitter and sharp criticism and even open challenge as the irrational, hypocritical and unfair Victorian institutions, conventions and morals which strangle the individual will and destroy natural human emotions and relationships.()5. Hardy is the founder of the '"stream of consciousness11 school of novel writing.()6. American romanticism was in a way derivative; American romantic writing was some of them modeled on English and European works.()7. With the publication of "Daisy Miller11, Henry James1 reputation was firmly established on both sides of the Atlantic and Daisy Miller has ever since become the American girl in Europe, a celebrated cultural type who embodies the spirit of the old world.()8. Altogether, Dickinson wrote 1775 poems of which most had appeared during her lifetime.()9. Hemingway develops the style of colloquialism initiated by Thomas Hardy.()10. Transcendentalism exalted reason over feeling, individual expression over the restraints of law and custom. the author of the following literary works. (5x1 points)1.The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling2.A Journal of the Plague Year3.Ode on a Grecian Urn4.The Lake Isle of Innisfree5.There Was a Child Went ForthE.Define the literary terms listed below. (2x4 points)1.Dramatic Monologue2.SymbolismF.For each of the quotations listed below please give the name of the author and the title of the literary work from which it is taken and then briefly interpret it. ( 2x4 points)1.If l wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.112."The apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough”.G.Give brief answers to the following questions. (3x5 points)1.What's the theme of "Jane Eyre"?2.What*s the theme of John Galsworthy's "The Man of Property*1?3.How did Walt Whitman make use of the poetic "I” in his works?H.Short essay questions. (2x7 points)I.Read the excerpt from chapter I of "Pride And Prejudice11 in our textbook, and answer the following questions.(1)What is this passage describing?(2)What f s the style of this passage?(3)Analyze the characters of the main roles of this passage: Mr. And Mrs. Bennet.附：答案全国高等教育白学考试模拟试卷(二)英美文学选读参考答案A.1.B2.D3.D4.C5.C6.B7.D8.A9.A10.D11.D12.C13.D14.A15.C16.B17.D18.C19.C20.AB.1 • heroic couplet2.University Wits3.metaphysical poetry4.The Faerie Queene5.satirist6.Gothic novels7.Byronic hero8.Wordsworth9.A Tale of Two Cities10.Widowers1 House11.Washington Irving12.Hawthorne13.Colloquialism14.My Last Duchess15.The Cantos16.The Snows of Kilimanjaro17.The First World War18.Imagist19.Robert Frost20.Middlemarchc.1.F2.T3.T4.T5.F6.T7.F8.F9.F10.FD.1 • Henry Fielding2.Daniel Defoe3.John Keats4.William Bulter Yeats5.Walt WhitmanE.1 • A kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not giver in the poem. The occasion is usually a crucial one in the speaker's life, and the dramatic monologue reveals the speaker's of a dramatic monologue is n My Last Duchess” by Robert Brow ning. In the poems in eluding n My Last Duchess11, Brow ning chooses a dramatic moment or a crisis, in which his characters are made to talk about their lives, and about their minds and hearts. In "listening” to those one - sided talks, readers can form their own opinions and judgements about the those one - sided personality and about what has really happened.2. Symbolism is the writing technique of using symbols. A symbol is something that conveys two kinds of meaning; it is simply itself, and it stands for something other than itself. In other words, a symbol is both literal and figurative. People, places, things and even events can be used symbolically.A symbol is a way of telling a story and a way of conveying meaning. The best symbols are those that are believable in the lives of the characters and also convincing as they convey a meaning beyond the literal level of the story. Hawthorne and Melville were the two masters of symbolism. For example, the scarlet letter ,f a lf on Hesters breast can give you symbolic meanings. If the symbol is obscure or ambiguous, then the very obscurity and the ambiguity may also be apt of the meaning of the story.F.1.The name of the author is William Wordsworth, and the title of the literary work is H l Wandered Lonely As a Cloud11.译文如下：我独自游荡，像一朵孤云高高地飞越峡谷和山巅，突然，我望见密密的一群，那是一大片金黄色水仙；它们在那湖边的树荫里，在阵阵微风中舞姿飘逸。

自考《英美文学选读》（英）浪漫主义时期（2）-32) The PreludeWordsworth is a poet in memory of the past. To him，life is a cyclical journey. Its beginning finally turns out to be its end. His philosophy of life is presented in his masterpiece The Prelude. It opens with a literal journey whose goal is to return to the vale of Grasmere. The journey goes through the poet’’s personal history，carrying the metaphorical meaning of his interior journey & questing for his lost early self & the proper spiritual home. The poem charts this growth from infancy to manhood. We are shown the development of human consciousness under the sway of an imagination united to the grandeur go nature. Later books of The Prelude describe Wordsworth’’s experiences in France，his republicanism，his affair with Annette Vallon，his “substantial dread” during the Terror & his continuing support of the ideals underlying the Revolution. The concluding description of the ascent of Snowdon becomes a symbol of the poet’’s climb to the height of his inspired po wers & to that state of vision in which，dedicating himself to humanity，he becomes one of the “ Prophets of Nature.”4.领会Characteristics of Wordsworth Poems & His Achievements.William Wordsworth is the leading figure of the English romantic poetry，the focal poetic voice of the period. His is a voice of searchingly comprehensive humanity & one that inspires his audience to see the world freshly，sympathetically & naturally. The most important contribution he has made is that he has not only started the modern poetry，the poetry of the growing inner self，but also changed the course of English poetry by using ordinary speech of the language & by advocating a return to nature.5. 应用：Selected Readings1) I Wandered Lonely as a CloudWordsworth is regarded as a “worshipper of nature.” He can penetrate to the heart of things & give the reader the very life of nature. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is perhaps the most anthologized poem in English literature，& one that takes us to the core of Word sworth’’s poetic beliefs. Wordsworth wrote this beautiful poem of nature after he came across a long belt of gold daffodils tossing & reeling & dancing along the waterside. There is a vivid picture of the daffodils here，mixed with the poet’’s philosophica l & somewhat mystical thoughts.The poem consists of four 6-lined stanzas of iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of ababcc in each stanza. The last stanza describes the poet’’s recollection in tranquility f rom which this poem arose. The poet thinks that it is a bliss to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind while he is in solitude2) Composed upon Westminster Bridge，September 3，1802This sonnet，written on the roof of a coach as Wordsworth was on his way to France，was published in Poems in Two V olumes，1807. The poem presents the speaker’’s view of London in the early morning. The speaker is not only profoundly touched by its beauty & tranquility of the morning，but even surprised to realize that London is part of Nature just as much as is his own beloved Lake Country.Wordsworth is regarded as a “ worshipper of nature.” Even in this poem，though he is looking at London，he is thinking of home where the sun steeps in his first splendor，valley，rock，or hill.”The poem is written after the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The octave recreates theexperience of London at morning，and the sestet enlarges on his reaction to the scene. The rhyme scheme of the poem is abbaabba，cdcdcd.3) She Dwelt Among the Untrodden WaysThis is one of the “Lucy poems，” written in 1799. The “Lucy Poems” describe with rare elusive beauty of simple lyricism & haunting rhythm a young country girl living a simple life in a remote village far from the civilized world. They are verses of love & loss which hold within their delicate simplicity a meditation on time & death which rises to universal stature.4) The Solitary ReaperWordsworth thinks that common life is the only subject of literary interest. The joys & sorrows of the common people are his themes.”The Solitary Reaper” is an example of his literary views. It describes vividly a young peasant girl working alone in the fields & singing as she works. The plot of the little incident is told straightforwardly in stanzas 1，3，& 4. Stanza 2，with its comparison of the girl’’s song to the cuckoo & the nightingale cannot be dismissed as vaguely ornamental comparisons. They are much more than that，& the impression of the girl’’s singing on the traveler is heightened through these comparisons.This poem is an iambic verse. Most of the lines in the poem are octosyllabics. The rhyme-scheme for each stanza is ababccdd.。

●The Realistic Period1. What is local colorism in American literature?A. Mark Twain, Sarah Orne Jewett and Joseph Kirkland are the representative of local colorists whose writings are concerned with the life of a small, well defined region or province. The characteristic setting is the isolated small town.B. These local colorists, especially Mark Twain, preferred to present social life through portraits of the local characters of his regions, including people living in that area, the landscape, and other peculiarities like the customs, dialects, costumes and so on.C. This particular concern about the local character of a region came about as "local colorism", a unique variation of American literary realism.2. The literary school of naturalism was quite popular in the late 19th century. What are the major characteristics of naturalism?A. Strongly influenced by social Darwinism, naturalism emphasizes t和determining power of the crushing forces of environment and heredity.B. Being devoid of the freedom of choice and incapable of shaping their own destinies, men and women are helpless and insignificant in a cold and indifferent world.C. The naturalistic writers reported truthfully and objectively, with a passion for scientific accuracy and overwhelming accumulation of factual detail.3. What are the similarities and differences between the three literary giants, Howells, Mark Twain, Henry James, in terms of their literary orientation?A. They are the three dominant figures of the Realistic Period. Together they brought to fulfillment native trends in the realistic portrayal of the landscape and social surfaces, brought to perfection the vernacular style, and explored and exploited literary possibilities of the interior life.B. Together in short, they set the example and charted the future course for the subject, themes, techniques and styles of fiction we still call modern.C. Howells focused his discussion on the rising middle class .and the way they lived. Mark Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories. While Henry James had apparently laid a greater emphasis on the "inner world" of man.4. Why are naturalists inevitably pessimistic in their view?A. Naturalism was greatly influenced by Darwin's evolutionary theory and French literature.B. Naturalists accepted the more negative implications of Darwin’s theory and use it to count for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were conceived as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.C. Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomesless serious and less sympathetic but moreironic and more pessimistic.◆Mark Twain(The Celebrated JumpingFrog of Calaveras County//InnocentsAbroad//The Gilded Age)1. Mark Twain and Henry James are tworepresentatives of the realistic writers inAmerican literature. How is Twain'srealism different from James’s realism?A. Mark Twain's realism is tainted withlocal color, preferring, to have his ownregion and people at the forefront of hisstories.B. James's realism is concerned with the"inner world" of man.C. James's realism is also concerned withthe international theme.D. Twain's language is simple andcolloquial.E. Twain employs humor in h is writingF. James's language is elaborate and refinedwith lengthy psychological analyses.2. What is the language style of MarkTwain?A. Use of vernacular made colloquialspeech an accepted, respected literarymedium in literary history.B. Words: colloquial, concrete and direct ineffect;C. Sentence structures: simple, evenungrammaticalD. Local colorism: his characters areconfined to a particular region and to aparticular historical moment; speak with astrong accent; different characters fromdifferent background talk differently.3. In American literature what is thesignificance of Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn by Mark Twain?The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and,especially, its sequence Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn proved themselves to bethe milestone in American literature, andthus firmly established Twain's position inthe literary world.The childhood of Tom Sawyer and HuckFinn in the Mississippi is a record of avanished way of life in the pre-Civil WarMississippi valley and it has movedmillions of people of different ages andconditions all over the world.Huckleberry Finn marks the climax ofTwain's literary creativity. Hemingwayonce described the novel the one bookforms which “a modern American literaturecomes".4. Briefly discuss Mark Twain's art offiction in terms of the setting, thelanguage and the characters, etc. , basedon his novel Adventures of HuckleberryFinn.A. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi valleyas his fictional kingdom, writing about thelandscape and people, the customs and thedialects of one particular region, and istherefore known as a local colorist.B. He creates life-like characters, especiallythe conventional Huckleberry Finn, whoruns away from civilization and standsopposite to conventional morality.C. He uses a simple, direct vernacularlanguage, totally different from anyprevious literary language. It is the kind ofcolloquial language belonging to the lowerclass, the living local American English.D. He has created a special humor tosatirize social injustices and the decayedconvention.5. Summarize the story of Mark Twain'sAdventures of Huckleberry Finn inabout 100 words and comment on thetheme of the novel.Huck escapes from a lonely cabin where hehas been punished by his father. He meetsJim, a run-away slave, and they start downthe river on a raft. After several adventures,the raft is hit and they are separated. Huckis saved and later he discover Jim. They setout again, giving refuge to a gang of frauds.Then he finds that Jim has been sold by the“King”. He and Tom try to rescue Jim. Inthe rescue, Tom is shot and Jim isrecaptures. Later, Tom reveals that therescue is necessary only because he wantsthe adventure. At last Huck is safe becausehis father dies. The theme of the novel is toexpose the pre-Civil War American society.It presents a sample of the small townworld of America and a survey of the socialworld from the bank of the river that runsthrough the heart of the country.◆Henry James(Daisy Miller//TheAmerican)1. What is the most famous theme inHenry James's fiction? And what is hisfavourite approach in characterization,which makes him different from MarkTwain and W. D. Howells as realists?Give two titles of his works in which thistheme and this approach are employed.(l) His most famous theme is internationaltheme.(2) Psychological approach.(3) The Portrait of A Lady; Daisy Miller.2. Daisy Miller brought Henry Jamesinternational fame for the first time.What’s the character of Daisy Miller, theprotagonist?A. the American Girl in Europe, embodyingthe spirit of the New World.B. Innocence turns out to be an admiringbut a dangerous quality and her defiance ofsocial taboos in the Old World finallybrings her to a disaster.3. According to Henry James' viewpoint,what is the conflict between theAmerican personalities and Europeanpersonalities?James's admiration for European culture ledhim to a lifelong interest in the conflict ofthe American and European personalities.He saw that Europeans were often regardedas overrefined, degenerate, and artificial byAmericans, and that Americans wereconsidered naive, vulgar, and ignorant bymany Europeans. The misunderstandingcaused personality conflicts. The typicalAmerican in James’ nov el is fresh,enthusiastic, not perhaps as cultured as hemight be, but eager to learn, and basically“good" in spite of h is disregard of theoutworn conventions and social graces ofEurope. The European, on the other hand, ishighly cultivated, urban, sometimes boring,but always correct. He was, however,something unprincipled. The Americansoften appeared to stand for morality, theEuropeans for manners.4. Henry James is regarded as one of themost important writers in the Age ofRealism in America. Try to discuss hisliterary achievements.A. International themes: novels always setagainst larger international background,usually between Europe and America;B. Psychological realism: concerned withthe inner life of human being, generallyregarded as the founder of psychologicalrealism and of 20th century"stream-of-consciousness;C. Highly refined language: most expertstylist in his time;D. Narrative point of view: moving awayfrom authorial omniscience9 makingcharacters reveal themselvesE. Literary criticism: “The Art of Fiction",theme: aim of the novel is to present life;freedom of the artist to write aboutanything that concerns him.5. Henry James is generally regarded asthe forerunner of the 20th century"stream-of-consciousness" novels andthe founder of psychological realism.Based on his work Daisy Miller, brieflydiscuss why he achieved this glory.A. James's fame generally rests upon hisnovels and stories with the internationaltheme.B. Henry James's literary criticism is anindispensable part of his contribution toliterature. It is both concerned with formand devoted to human values.C. James's emphasis on psychology and onthe human consciousness proves to be a bigbreakthrough in novel writing and has greatinfluence on the coming generations.D. Henry James is not only one of the mostimportant realists of the period before theFirst World War, but also the most expertstylist of his time.6. The publication of Daisy Millerbrought Henry James international famefor the first time. Try to discuss thecharacter of Daisy Miller and the themeof the novel.Daisy MillerA. A cultural type who embodies the spiritof the New World.B. Innocence--- the keynote of hercharacter; defiance of social taboo in theOld World which brings her to a disaster inthe clash between two different cultures.Theme of the novel: one of James's earlyworks dealing with the international theme----to set a novel against a largerinternational background, usually betweenEurope and America, and centered on theconfrontation of the two different cultureseach with its peculiar value, systems.◆Emily Dickinson(Because I could not stop for Death----//Iheard a Fly buzz—When I died---//Thisis my Letter to the World//I Like to see itlap the Miles---)Emily Dickinson is now recognized notonly as a great poetess on her own rightbut as a poetess of considerable influenceupon American poetry of the presentcentury. What are the qualities of herpoems?A. Dickinson’s poems are usually based onher own experiences, her sorrows and joys.B. Love is another subject Dickinson dwelt on.C. Many poems Dickinson 'wrote are about nature, in which her general skepticism about the relationship between man and nature is well-expressedD. Dickinson's poetry is unique and unconventional in its own way. Her poems have no titles, hence are always quoted by their first lines.Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death-------"What figure of speech is used in Line l and Line 4? Personification.What do "the School”,"the Fields of Gazing Grain" and "th eSetting Sun”represent?They represent three stages of life: "the School"-youth; "the Fields of Gazing"----ma ture period; “the Setting Sun"-end of life.◆Theodore Dreiser(Sister Carrie//American Tragedy)1. Theodore Dreiser is a celebrated American novelist in the realistic period. What does he discuss in his novel? Give examples to prove your viewpoint. Dreiser set himself to project the American values for what he had found them to be materialistic to the core. Living in such a society with such a value system, the human individual is obsessed with a never-ending, yet meaningless search for satisfaction of his desires. One of the desires is for money which was a motivating purpose of life in the United States in the late 19th century.For example, in Sister Carrie, there is not one character whose status is not determined economically. Sex is another human desire that Dreiser explored to considerable lengths in his novels to reveal the dark side of human nature. In Sister Carrie, Carrie climbs up the social ladder by means of her sexual appeal. Like all naturalists he was restrained from finding a solution to the social problems that appeared in his novels and accordingly almost all his works have tragic endings.2. What is Dreiser’s style?A. For lack of concision, his writings appear more inclusive and less selective, and the readers are sometimes burdened with massive detailed descriptions of characters and events.B. The time sequence is clear and the plot is straightforward, his sentence structure is awkward, inept and occasionally flatly wrong in word selection and meaning, and mixed and disorganized in voice and tone.C. He broke away from the genteel tradition of literature and dramatized the life in a very realistic way.3. Even then he stood there, hidden wholly in that kindness which is night, while the uprising fumes filled the room. When the odor reached his nostrils , he quit his attitude and fumbled for the bed."What's the use?" he said, weakly, as he stretched himself to rest.The above is quoted from Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie. Brieflytell the situation that leads to the suicideand interpret Hurstwood's final words"What's the use"?A. Sister Carrie has made a great success.As her fame arises, she deserts her formerlover Hurstwood In a cold winter;Hurstwood makes a last attempt to seekhelp from Carrie, but has failed, so indesperation, he decides to kill himself byturning on the gas.B. By making that comment, Hurstwoodseems to have realized that it is useless tocontinue to fight against fate. His fate isnot controlled by his own efforts but bysome social forces too strong for him toresist, so he decides to give up.11. “ln your rocking-chair, by yourwindow dreaming, shall you long, alone.In your rocking-chair, by your window,shall you dream such happiness as youmay never feel. “(from TheodoreDreiser's Sister Carrie)What idea can you draw from the“rocking-chair"?A. The rocking-chair is a symbol standingfor fate. It is like a cradle that makes onefeel peaceful.B. It is also like a tide that ever goes onwith life, the destiny of which is uncertain.1.We dasn't stop again at any town fordays and days; kept right along down theriver. We was down south in the warmweather now, and a mighty long ways fromhome. We begun to come to trees withSpanish moss on them, hanging downfrom the limbs like long, gray beards. Itwas the first I ever see it growing, and itmade the woods look solemn and dismal.So now the frauds reckoned they was outof danger, and they begun to work thevillages again.答：Mark Twain's Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn, “we” refers to Jim andHuck, The features of the language of thisnovel:Vernacular language.2.This is my letter to the world/that neverwrote to me/the simple News that naturetold /with tender Majesty答：Emily Dickinson, “the world ”meansthe human world. The author thinks Natureis more friendly than the human world. Shecould communicate with nature easily.Nature usually reveals the truth of life,i.ethe simple new.3.“The eyes around-had wrung themdry-/and breaths were gathering firm/Forthat last Onset-when the King/bewitnessed-in the Room-”答：EmilyDickinson ,I heard a Fly buzz-when I died.The theme is description of the moment ofdeath. The first line means the relatives andfriends had cried and cried that there wereno tears any more.4.With Blue-uncertain stumblingBuzz-/Between the light-and me -/Andthen the Windows failed-and then/I couldnot see to see-答：Emily Dickinson ,I hearda Fly buzz-when I died.windows stand foreyes,for they are considered as the windowsof human soul.What idea does the quoted passage express?The last ting the dying person saw was thefly and its buzz.when the eyes failed,thehuman soul was closed and the person died.The speakers could not see any of theafterlife or God or angels she expected tosee.5.I like to see it lap the Miles-/And lickthe V alleys up-/And stop to feed itelf atTanks/-And then-prodigious step”答：Emily Dickinson. I like to see it lap theMiles. It refers to a train.here it is comparedto a part of nature. This poem express idea:the author’s suspicion of the relationshipbetween man and nature6.To fit it’s Ribs/And crawlbetween/Complaining all the while/Inhorrid-hooting stanza-/then chase itselfdown Hill-答：Emily Dickinson, this poemis an interesting study of how Dickinsonmakes the train part of nature byanimalizing it. The poet is getting the soundof the train into the poem.7.We slowly drove-He knew no haste,AndI had put away My labor and my leisuretoo, For His Civility- we passed the Schoolwhere Children strove At Recess-in theRing-We passed the Fields of GazingGrain-We passed the Setting Sun-答：Emily Dickinson Because I could not stopfor Death-, Figure of speech:Personification. They represent three stagesof life: the school-youth; the Fields ofGazing-mature period the SettingSun-end of life.。

William Wordsworth （1770-1850） 1770 He was born in the family of an attorney. He was educated at St. John's College， Cambridge. 1790-92He traveled to France and sensed the filthiness of the French Revolution （Slogan "liberty， fraternity， and equality"）。

He saw that Jacobite took the power from Gironde， who was radical. Lewis XIIII was killed. He became conservative in politics. 1795 A gentleman friend gave him some money that enabled him to live in Great Lake with his sister Dorothy who never got married and live with William Wordsworth of all her life. 1798 The beginning of the Romantic period. He lived by the riverside with his sister writing poems for 8 years. 1813 Wordsworth received a sinecure as a distributor. 1843 He succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate. William Wordsworth is the best-known and oldest poet among the Lake Poet. 3 groups of his poetry 1. Simple， rural folk： wrote when he lived in Great Lake district. e.g. "Lucy Poem"： full of innocence and simpleness. 2. Childhood： beautiful and instructive. e.g. "We are seven"， a short poem in the form of a dialogue between the poet and a 8-year-old girl. The poem reveals Wordsworth's philosophy of pre-existence of soul. The girl is too innocent to recognize death. "Ode： Intimations and Immortality"， explains his philosophy of pr-existence， explains the from childhood to manhood. 3. Nature - the most important part About animals， plants， emotions. e.g. "To a butterfly"， "To a skylark"， "My heart leaps up"， expresses the joy of seeing rainbow. The major works of William Wordsworth. Tintern Abby， it combines his feelings as worship of nature， with his impression gathered during his second visit. In this poem， Wordsworth reveals his innermost thoughts and emotions with regard to the natural world. The Prelude，（1805） contains 14 books. His autobiographical poem. The first 8 books tell about his early life. The last 6 books tell about his growing maturity. Importance of the poem： it's a heart-pouring expression of Wordsworth's own spiritual development. The Preface，（1800） added to the Lyrical Ballads （1798）。

自考《英美文学选读》（英）维多利亚时期（2）-25. 应用Selected ReadingAn Excerpt from Chapter III of Oliver TwistThe novel is famous for its vivid descriptions of the workhouse & life of the underworld in the 19th-century London. The author’s intimate knowledge of peop le of the lowest order & of the city itself apparently comes from his journalistic years. Here the novel also presents Oliver Twist as Dickens’s first child hero & Fagin the first grotesque figure.This section，Chapter III of the novel，is a detailed account of how he is punished for that “ impious & profane offence of asking for more” & how he is to be sold. At three pound ten，to Mr. Gamfield，the notorious chimneysweeper. Though we can afford a smile now & then，we feel more the pitiable state of the orphan boy & the cruelty & hypocrisy of the workhouse board.II. The Bronte Sisters1. 一般识记Their lives & literary CareerCharlotte Bronte (1816-1855)，Emily Bronte (1818-1848)，& their gifted sister Anne Bronte (1820-1849)，came from a large family of Irish origin. Their father was a clergyman at Haworth，Yorkshire. When they were young，the Bronte sisters were sent to a school for clergymen’s daughters. The oldest two died there due to the poor & unhealthy conditions. This experience inspired the later portrayal of Lowood School in the novel Jane Eyre (1847)。