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美国文学考试重点美国文学考试的重点可以分为以下几个方面：1. 早期美国文学：- 殖民时期文学：包括早期殖民地的日记、信件和宗教作品等，如《普利茅斯纪事》和《普罗维登斯计划》。
- 紧随其后的大量宗教文学作品，如《新英格兰的校训》。
- 托马斯·佩恩的《常识》：这本书在美国独立运动中起到了重要的作用。
2. 美国文学的形成与发展：- 19世纪初的浪漫主义文学：如华盛顿·欧文的《睡美人和其他故事》和詹姆斯·菲尼莫尔·库珀的《最后的莫西干人》。
- 华尔特·惠特曼的《草叶集》：这本诗集在美国文学史上具有重要地位。
- 女性作家：如哈丽特·比彻·斯托的《汤姆叔叔的小屋》和艾米莉·迪金森的诗歌作品。
3. 20世纪的美国文学：- 现代主义文学：如欧内斯特·海明威的《老人与海》和威廉·福克纳的《喧哗与骚动》。
- 战争文学：如约翰·史坦贝克的《愤怒的葡萄》和约瑟夫·海勒的《23个故事和一个司令》。
- 迈尔斯·杰克逊的《杀死一只知更鸟》：这是美国文学中一本重要的反种族主义作品。
4. 当代美国文学：- 现实主义：如托尼·莫里森的《亲爱的》和唐·德里罗的《百年孤独》。
- 同性恋与性别研究：如杰夫·艾斯特里奇的《中性国度》和艾美丽·P. 亨德森的《一个男小地方》。
此外，还需要了解美国文学的主要流派和文学理论，如现实主义、象征主义、后现代主义等，以及相关的文学批评方法。
最好的准备方式是广泛阅读美国经典文学作品并理解其背后的文化、历史和社会背景。
英美文学选读自考重点英美文学选读是自考中一门重要且富有魅力的课程，它涵盖了英国和美国文学发展历程中的众多经典作品和重要作家。
对于自考生来说，掌握重点内容是顺利通过考试的关键。
以下将为您详细介绍英美文学选读自考的重点。
一、英国文学部分1、古英语时期与中世纪文学这一时期的重点是了解英国文学的起源和早期发展。
比如，《贝奥武甫》是英国文学史上第一部重要的史诗，要理解其主题、结构和语言特点。
另外，乔叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》也是重点，需掌握其对人物的刻画、叙事技巧以及反映的社会现实。
2、文艺复兴时期文学文艺复兴时期的英国文学成就斐然。
威廉·莎士比亚是重中之重，他的戏剧作品如《哈姆雷特》《罗密欧与朱丽叶》《麦克白》等，要深入研究其人物塑造、情节设置、主题思想以及对人性、命运、爱情等问题的探讨。
同时，还需了解这一时期其他重要作家如托马斯·莫尔的《乌托邦》。
3、 17 世纪文学这一时期的玄学派诗歌和清教徒文学是重点。
约翰·多恩的玄学派诗歌以奇特的比喻和复杂的思维著称，要理解其诗歌的独特风格和思想内涵。
而弥尔顿的《失乐园》《复乐园》等作品，则要把握其宗教主题和史诗般的气魄。
4、 18 世纪文学启蒙运动时期的英国文学注重现实和理性。
丹尼尔·笛福的《鲁滨逊漂流记》是必读作品，要分析主人公的形象和作品所反映的殖民主义、个人奋斗等主题。
此外，乔纳森·斯威夫特的《格列佛游记》也是重点，理解其讽刺手法和对社会现象的批判。
5、 19 世纪浪漫主义文学浪漫主义时期的诗人如威廉·华兹华斯、塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治、拜伦、雪莱和济慈的作品都需要认真研读。
了解他们各自的诗歌风格、主题以及对自然、爱情、自由等的追求。
同时，简·奥斯汀的小说《傲慢与偏见》也是常考内容，要分析其细腻的人物描写和婚姻爱情观。
6、 19 世纪现实主义文学查尔斯·狄更斯的作品在这一时期占据重要地位，如《雾都孤儿》《大卫·科波菲尔》《双城记》等，要理解其对社会现实的批判和对人性的关怀。
英美文学选读复习资料英美文学选读复习资料一、英国文学1、文艺复兴时期：莎士比亚的戏剧《哈姆雷特》、《李尔王》、《麦克白》等，以及弥尔顿的《失乐园》。
2、17世纪：约翰·多恩的玄学派诗歌，以及约翰·班扬的《天路历程》。
3、18世纪：启蒙时期，亨利·菲尔丁和理查逊的小说，以及亚历山大·蒲柏的讽刺诗歌。
4、19世纪：浪漫主义时期，包括拜伦、雪莱、济慈等人的诗歌，以及简·奥斯汀、爱米莉·勃朗特等的小说。
5、维多利亚时期：查尔斯·狄更斯、乔治·艾略特、托马斯·哈代等作家的小说，以及马修·阿诺德、约翰·罗斯金等人的诗歌。
二、美国文学1、浪漫主义时期：包括华盛顿·欧文的《睡谷传说》、爱伦·坡的短篇小说、以及纳撒尼尔·霍桑的《红字》。
2、现实主义时期：包括马克·吐温的《汤姆·索亚历险记》、亨利·詹姆斯的小说、以及艾米莉·狄金森的诗歌。
3、20世纪：包括F.斯科特·菲茨杰拉德的《了不起的盖茨比》、欧内斯特·海明威的《老人与海》、杰克·凯鲁亚克的《在路上》等文学作品。
三、文学术语和概念1、象征主义：通过象征性的符号或形象来表达某种思想或情感。
2、叙事视角：从特定的角度来描述故事，常见的有第一人称、第二人称、第三人称等。
3、意象主义：通过形象和比喻来表达情感和思想。
4、文艺复兴：欧洲历史上的一次文化运动，强调人文主义和古希腊罗马文化。
5、玄学派：17世纪英国的一种文学流派，强调诗歌中的哲学思考和神秘主义。
6、悲剧：一种戏剧类型，通常表现英雄人物的悲惨命运。
7、喜剧：一种戏剧类型，通常表现幽默、讽刺等轻松愉快的主题。
8、自然主义：一种文学流派，强调对自然和社会现实的客观描写。
9、超验主义：一种哲学思想，强调个人经验和直觉，反对传统权威。
PART TWO: AMERICAN LITERATUREChapter1 The Romantic Period1.主要作家及其作品：i.Washington Irving:The Sketch Book; Rip Van Winkle;The Legend of Sleepy Hollowii.Ralph Waldo Emerson:Essays; The American Scholar; Self-Reliance;The Over-Soul; The Poet; Experience; Nature iii.Nathaniel Hawthorne:Mosses from an Old Manse; The Scarlet Letter;The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales;The House of the Seven Gables;The Blithedale Romance;The Marble Fauniv.Walt Whitman:Leaves of Grass; There was a Child Went Forth;Drum Taps; Cavalry Crossing a Ford; Song of Myself;When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’dv.Herman Melville:Moby-Dick; Billy Budd; Typee; Omoo;Mardi; Redburn; White Jacket.2.清教主义Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. As the word itself hints，Puritans wanted to purify their religious beliefs and practices. They felt that the Church of England was too close to the Church of Rome in doctrine form of worship，and organization of authority. American Puritans，like their brothers back in England，were idealists，believing that the church should be restored to complete "purity". They accepted the doctrine of predestination，original sin and total depravity，and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. But in the grim struggle for survival that followed immediately after their arrival in America，they became more and more practical，as indeed they had to be. Puritans were noted for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that determinated their whole way of life. As a culture heritage，Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind and American values. American Puritanism also had a conspicuously noticeable and an enduring influence on American literature. It had become，to some extent，so much a state of mind，so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere，rather than a set of tenets.3.超验主义Transcendentalism has been defined philosophical1y as "the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively，or of attaining knowledge transcendingthe reach of the senses." Emerson once proclaimed in a speech，"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism inc1ude the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and，therefore，self-re1iant. The transcendentalists reacted against the cold，rigid rationalism of Unitarianism in Boston. They adhered to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation ，the innate goodness of man，and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths.4.象征主义5.自由诗Whitman is also radically innovative in terms of the form of his poetry. He adopted "free verse，" that is，poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. A looser and more open-ended syntactical structure is frequently favored. Lines and sentences of different lengths are left lying side by side just as things are，undisturbed and separate. There are few compound sentences to draw objects and experiences into a system of hierarchy. Whitman was the first American to use free verse extensively. By means of "free verse，" Whitman turned the poem into an open field，an area of vital possibility where the reader can allow his own imagination to play.6.爱默生的超验主义思想及他的自然观In his essays, Emerson put forward his philosophy of the over-soul, the importance of the Individual, and Nature. Emerson rejected both the formal religion of the churches and the Deistic philosophy. Emerson and other Transcendentalists believed that there should be an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal ―over-soul,‖ since the over-soul is an all-pervading power from which all things come from and of which all are a part. Emerson is affirmative about man’s intuitive knowledge, with which a man can trust himself to decide what is right and to act accordingly. The ideal individual should be a self-reliant man.. he means to convince people that the possibilities for man to develop and improve himself are infinite. Emerson’s nature is emblematic of the spiritual world, alive with God’s overwhelming presence; hence, it exercises a healthy and restorative influence on human mind. ―God back to nature, sink yourself back into its influence and you’ll become spiritually whole again.‖ By employing nature as a big symbol of the Spirit, or God, or the over-soul. Emerson has brought the Puritan Legacy of symbolism to its perfection. 7.《小伙子布朗》中的寓言和象征In ―Young Goodman Brown,‖ Hawthorne set out to prove that everyone possesses some evil secret. The story illustrates Hawthorne's allegorical theme of human evil. In the manner of its concern with guilt and evil，it exemplifies what Milville called the" power of blackness" in Hawthorne's work. In "Young Goodman Brown，" he sets out to prove that everyone possesses some evil secret. "Evil is thenature of mankind." Its hero，a naive young man who accepts both society in general and his fellow men as individuals worth his regard，is confronted with the vision of human evil in one terrible night，and becomes thereafter distrustful and doubtful.Allegorically，our protagonist，becomes an Everyman named Brown，a "young man" who will be aged in one night by an adventure that makes everyone in this world a fallen idol.However, The story is manipulated in such a way that we as readers feel that Hawthorne poses the question of Good and Evil in man but withholds his answer，and he does not permit himself to determine whether the events of the night of trial are real or the mere figment of a dream.8.霍桑的清教思想和他人性本恶的观点As we can see, Hawthorne’s literary world turns out to be a most disturbed, tormented and problematical one possible to imagine. This has much to do with his ―black‖ vision of life and human beings. According to Hawthorne, ―There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity. One source of evil that Hawthorne is concerned most is overreaching intellect, which usually refers to someone who is too proud, too sure of himself. He believed that ―the wrong doing of one generation lives into the successive ones,‖ and often wondered if he might have inherited some of their guilt. This sensibility led to his understanding of evil being at the very core of human life., which is typical of the Calvinistic belief that human beings are basically depraved and corrupted, hence, they should obey God to atone for their sins.9.麦尔维尔长篇小说《白鲸》的象征意义Moby-Dick is not merely a whaling tale or sea adventure，it is also a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe，a spiritual exploration into man's deep reality and psychology.Like Hawthorne，Melville is a master of allegory and symbolism. He uses allegory and symbolism in Moby-Dick to present its mighty theme. Instead of putting the battle between Ahab and the big whale into simple statements，he used symbols，that is，objects or persons who represent something else. Different people on board the ship are representations of different ideas and different social and ethnic groups；facts become symbols and incidents acquire universal meanings；the Pequod is the microcosm of human society and the voyage becomes a search for truth. The white whale，Moby Dick，symbolizes nature for Melville，for it is complex，unfathomable，malignant，and beautiful as well. For the character Ahab，however，the whale represents only evil. Moby Dick is like a wall，hiding some unknown，mysterious things behind. Ahab wills the whole crew on the Pequod to join him in the pursuit of the big whale so as to pierce the wall，to root out the evil，but only to be destroyed by evil，in this case，by his own consuming desire，his madness. For the author，as well as for the reader and Ishmael，the narrator，Moby Dick is still a mystery，an ultimate mystery of the universe，inscrutable and ambivalent，and the voyage of the mind will forever remain a search，not a discovery，of the truth.10.惠特曼《草叶集》的结构(自由诗)、主题、语言特色1. The themes in Whitman's poetry：His poetry is filled with optimistic expectation and enthusiasm about new things and new epoch. Whitman believed that poetry could play a vita1 part in the process of creating a new nation. It could enab1e Americans to celebrate their release from the Old World and the colonia1 rule. And it could also help them understand their new status and to define themse1ves in the new wor1d of possibi1ities. Hence，the abundance of themes in his poetry voices freshness. He shows concern for the whole hard-working people and the burgeoning life of cities. Pursuit of love and happiness is approved of repeatedly and affectionately in his lines. Sexual 1ove，a rather taboo topic of the time，is displayed candidly as something adorable. The individual person and his desires must be respected.2.Leaves of GrassWalt Whitman is a poet with a strong sense of mission，having devoted all his life to the creation of the "single" poem，Leaves of Grass.（1）the title ：It is significant that Whitman entitled his book Leaves of Grass . He said that where there is earth，where there is water，there is grass. Grass，the most common thing with the greatest vitality，is an image of the poet himself，a symbol of the then rising American nation and an embodiment of his ideals about democracy and freedom.（a）theme：In this giant work，openness，freedom，and above all，individua1ism（the belief that the rights and freedom of individual people are most important）are all that concerned him. Whitman brings the hard-working farmers and laborers into American literature ，attack the slavery system and racial discrimination. In this book he also extols nature，democracy，labor and creation ，and sings of man's dignity and equality，and of the brightest future of mankind . Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass sing of the "en-masse" and the self as well.（b）the poet's essentia1 purposeHis aim was nothing less than to express some new poetica1 feelings and to initiate a poetic tradition in which difference shou1d be recognized. The genuine participation of a poet in a common cultural effort was，according to Whitman，to behave as a supreme individualist；however，the poet's essentia1 purpose was to identify his ego with the world，and more specifically with the democratic "en-masse" of America，which is established in the opening lines of "Song of Myself".3.Whitman's poetic style and languageTo dramatize the nature of these new poetical fee1ings，Whitman employed brand-new means in his poetry，which would first be discerned in his style and language.（1）Whitman's poetic style is marked，first of a1l，by the use of the poetic "I." Whitman becomes all those people in his poems and yet still remains "Walt Whitman"，hence a discovery of the self in the other with such an identification. Insuch a manner，Whitman invites his readers to participate in the process of sympathetic identification.（3）Whitman is conversational and casual，in the fluid，expansive，and unstructured style of talking. However，there is a strong sense of the poems being rhythmical. The reader can feel the rhythm of Whitman's thought and cadences of his feeling. Parallelism and phonetic recurrence at the beginning of the lines also contribute to the musicality of his poems.（4）Whitman's languageContrary to the rhetoric of traditional poetry，Whitman's is relatively simple and even rather crude. Most of the pictures he painted with words are honest，undistorted images of different aspects of America of the day. The particularity about these images is that they are unconventional in the way they break down the social division based on religion，gender，class，and race. One of the most often-used methods in Whitman's poems is to make colors and images fleet past the mind's eye of the reader. Another characteristic in Whitman's language is his strong tendency to use oral English. Whitman's vocabulary is amazing. He would use powerfu1，colorful，as well as rarely-used words，words of foreign origin and sometimes even wrong words.美国现实主义时期1.Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn;The Adventures of Tom Sawyer;The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County;Innocents Abroad; The Gilded Age2.Henry James: The American; Daisy Miller;The Europeans; The Portrait of A Lady;What Maisie Knows; The Wings of the Dove;The Ambassadors; The Golden Bowl; The Art to Fiction3.Emily Dickinson:4. Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie; American Tragedy1.What is Realism?In art and literature, Realism refers to an attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures exactly as they act or appear in life. Realism emerged as a literary movement in Europe in the 1850s. In reaction to Romanticism, realistic writers should set down their observations impartially and objectively. They insisted on accurate documentation, sociological insight, and avoidance of poetic diction and idealization. The subjects were to be taken from everyday life, preferably from lower-class life. Realism entered American literature after the Civil War. William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James were the pioneers of realism in the U.S.1.What is Naturalism? (or American Naturalism)In literature, the term refers to the theory that literary composition should aim at a detached, scientific objectivity in the treatment of natural man. The movement is an outgrowth of 19th –century scientic thought, following in general the biological determinism of Darwin’s theory, or the economic determinism of Karl Marx. American Naturalism is a more advanced stage of realism toward the close of the 19th century. The American naturalists accepted the more negative implications of Darwin’s theory and used it to account 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. And consciously or unconsciously the American naturalists followed the French novelist and theorist Emile Zola's cal l that the 1iterary artist ―must operate with characters, passions, human and social data as the chemist and the physicist work on inert bodies, as the physiologist works on living bodies.‖ They chose their subjects from the lower ranks of society and portrayed the people who were demonstrably victims of society and nature. And one of the most familiar themes in American Naturalism is the theme of human ―bestiality‖, especially as an explanation of sexual desire.Artistically, naturalistic writings are usually unpo1ished in language, lacking in academic skills and unwieldly in structure. Philosophically, the naturalists believe that the real and true is always partially hidden from the eyes of the individual, or beyond his control. Devoid of rationality and caught in a process in which he is but a part, man cannot fully understand, let alone contro1, the world he lives in; hence, he is left with no freedom of choice.In a word, naturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more detached, ironic and more pessimistic. It is no more than a different philosophical approach to reality, or to human existence. Notable writers of naturalistic fiction were Frank Norris, Sherwood Anderson, and Theodore Driser.2.The distinction between Realism and NaturalismNaturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more detached, ironic and more pessimistic. It is no more than a different philosophical approach to reality, or to human existence.The distinction lies, first of all, in the fact that Realism is concerned directly with what is absorbed by the senses; Naturalism, a term more properly applied to literature, attempts to apply scientific theories to art. Second, Naturalism differs from Realism in adding an amoral attitude to the objective presentation of life. Naturalistic writers, adopting Darwin’s biological determinism and Marx’s economic determinism, regard human behavior as controlled by instinct, emotion, or social and economic conditions, and reject free will. Third, Naturalism had an outlook often bleaker than that of Realism, and it added a dimension of predetermined fate that rendered human will ultimately powerless.3.What is (Social) Darwinism?Social Darwinism is a belief that societies and individual human beings compete in astruggle for existence in which natural selection results in ―struggle of the fittest.‖ Social Darwinists base their beliefs on theories of evolution developed by British naturalist Charles Darwin. Social Darwinists typically deny that they advocate a ―law of jungle.‖ But most propose arguments that justify imbalances of power between individuals, races, and nations because they consider some more fit to survive than others. The theory had produced a big impact on Naturalism.马克吐温1.Twain as a local coloristTwain is also known as a local colorist, who 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. Consequently, the rich material of his boyhood experience on the Mississippi became the endless resources for his fiction, and the Mississippivalley and the West became his major theme. Unlike James and Howe1ls, Mark Twain wrote about the lower-class people, because they were the people he knew so we1l ancl their 1ife was the one he himself had lived. Moreover he successfully used local color and historical settings to i1lustrate and shed light on the contemporary societyAnother fact that made Twain unique is his magic power with language, his use of vernacular. His words are col1oquial, concrete and direct in effect, and his sentence structures are simp1e, even ungrammatical, which is typical of the spoken 1anguage. Mark Twain's humor is remarkable, too. It is fun to read Twain to begin with, for most of his works tend to be funny, containing some practical jokes, comic details, witty remarks, etc., and some of them are actually tall ta1es.(2) The novel’s theme, characterization of ―Huck‖ and the novel’s social significance: Theme: The novel is a vindication of what Mark Twain called ― the damned human race.‖ That is the theme of man’s inhumani ty to man---of human cruelty, hypocrisies, dishonesties, and moral corruptions. Mark Twain’s thematic contrasts between innocence and experience, nature and culture, wilderness and civilization. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is best known for Mark Twain’s wonderful characterization of ―Huck,‖ a typical American boy whom its creator described as a boy with ―a sound heart and a deformed conscience,‖ and remarkable for the raft’s journey down the Mississippi river, which Twain used both realistically and symbolically to shape his book into an organic whole.Through the eyes of Huck, the innocent and reluctant rebel, we see the pre-Civil War American society fully exposed and at the same time we are deeply impressed by Mark Twain’s thematic contrasts between i nnocence and experience, nature and culture, wilderness and civilization.黛西米勒的主题和主要人物的性格分析1.The theme of the novelDaisy Miller is one of James’s early works that dealt with the international theme, i.e.,to set against a large international background, usual1y between Europe and America, and centered on the confrontation of the two different cu1tures with two different groups of peop1e representing two different value systems: American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence and the moral and psychological complications arising therefrom.2.Characterization of Daisy MillerIn this novel, the ―Americanness ‖in Daisy is revealed by her relatively unreserved manners. Daisy Miller, a typical young American girl who goes to Europe and affronts her destiny. The unsophisticated girl is cruelly wronged because of the confrontation between the two value systems. Miller has ever since become the American Girl in Europe, a celebrated cultural type who embodies the spirit of the New World. However, innocence, the keynote of her character, turns out to be an admiring but a dangerous quality and her defiance of social taboos in the Old World finally brings her to a disaster in the clash between two different cultures. In this novel James’s sympathy for Daisy could be easily felt when we think of a tender flower crushed by the harsh winter in Rome.3.The content of this selection: Daisy has just arrived at Switzerland with her family and meets Winterborne for the first time. Two days later Daisy goes alone with Winterborne on an excursion to an old castle, which is soon in the air among theby its narration from the point of view of the American youth Winterborne狄金森诗歌的主题结构及艺术特色The thematic concerns and the original artistic features of Dickinson's poetry: 1．Themes: Dicksinson’s poems are usually based on her own experiences, her sorrows and joys. But within her litlle lyrics Dickinson addresses those issues that concern the whole human beings, which include religion, death, immortality, love, and nature.2．Artistic features: Her poetry is unique and unconventional in its own way. Her poems have no titles, hence are always quoted by their first lines. In her poetry there is a particular stress pattern, in which dashes are used as a musica1 device to create cadence and capital letters as a means of emphasis. Most of her poems borrow the repeated four-line, rhymed stanzas of traditional Christian hymns, with two lines of four-beat meter alternating with two lines of three-beat meter. A master of imagery that makes the spiritual materialize in surprising ways, Dickinson managed manifold variations within her simple form: She used imperfect rhymes, subtle breaks of rhythm, and idiosyncratic syntax and punctuation to create fascinating word puzzles, which have produced greatly divergent interpretations over the years. Dickinson’s irregular or sometimes inverted sentence structure also confuses readers. However, her poetic idiom is noted for its laconic brevity, directness and plainness. Her poems are usually short, rarely more than twenty lines, and many of them are centered on a single image or symbo1 and focused on one subject matter. Due to her deliberate sec1usion, her poems tend to be very personal and meditative. She frequently uses personae to render the tone more familiar to the reader, and personification to vivifysome abstract ideas. Dickinson's poetry, despite its ostensible formal simplicity, is remarkable for its variety, subtlety and richness; and her limited private world has never confined the limitless power of her creativity and imagination.美国现代时期1.Ezra Pound: The Cantos; In a Station of the Metro.2.Robert Lee Frost: The Road Not Taken; Stopping by Woods on aSnowy Evening3.Eugene O’Neill: Beyond the Horizon; The Emperor Jones; The HairyApe;All God’s Chillun Got Wings; Desire under the Elms;Anna Christie; The Great God Brown; Lazarus Laughed;Strange Interlude; The Iceman Cometh;Long Day’s Journey Into Night.4. F Scott Fitzgerald: This Side of Paradise; The Beautiful andDamned;The Great Gatsby; Tender is the Night;Flappers and Philosophers; Tales of the Jazz Age;All the Sad Young Men; Taps at Reveille;Babylon Revisited.5.Ernest Hemingway: In Our Time; The Sun Also Rises;A farewell to Arms; For Whom the BellTolls;The Old Man and the Sea; Men Without Women.6.William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury; Light in August;Absalom, Absalom; Go Down, Moses;A Rose for Emily.1）The Imagist Movement and the artistic characteristics of imagist poems：Led by the American poet Ezra Pound，Imagist Movement is a poetic movement that flourished in the U.S. and England between 1909-1917. It advances modernism in arts which concentrates on reforming the medium of poetry as opposed to Romanticism，especially Tennyson's worldliness and high-flown language in poetry. Pound endorsed three main principles as guidelines for Imagism，including direct treatment of poetic subjects，elimination of merely ornamental or superfluous words，and rhythmical composition should be composed with the phrasing of music，not a metronome. The primary Imagist objective is to avoid rhetoric and moralizing，to stick closely to the object or experience being described，and to move from explicit generalization. The leading poets are Ezra Pound，Wallace Stevens，wrence，etc.The characteristic products of the movement are more easily recognized than its theories defined；they tend to be short，composed of short lines of musical cadence rather than metrical regularity，to avoid abstraction，and to treat the imagewith a hard，clear precision rather than with overt symbolic intent. The influence of Japanese forms，tanka and haiku，is obvious in many. Most of the imagist poets wrote in free verse and they like to emply common speech. They stressed the freedom in the choice of subject matter and form.2）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. 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 Expressionism4）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，。
英美文学选读要点总结精心整理(只考26位作家)[英国』Chapter1 The Renaissance period（14世纪至十七世纪中叶）文艺复兴1. Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance.人文主义是文艺复兴的核心。
2. the Greek and Roman civilization was based on such a conception that man is the measure of all things.人文主义作为文艺复兴的起源是因为古希腊罗马文明的基础是以“人”为中心，人是万物之灵。
3. Renaissance humanists found in then classics a justification to exalt human nature and came to see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfection, and that the world they inhabited was theirs not to despise but to question, explore, and enjoy.人文主义者们却从古代文化遗产中找到充足的论据，来赞美人性，并开始注意到人类是崇高的生命，人可以不断发展完善自己，而且世界是属于他们的，供他们怀疑，探索以及享受。
4. Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are the best representatives of the English humanists.托马斯.摩尔，克利斯朵夫.马洛和威廉.莎士比亚是英国人文主义的代表。
Chapter 3 The Modern PeriodI. BackgroundIn the early 20th century, nothing had more important and long-lasting effect on America than the two great world wars. America entered the era of big industry and big technology, a mechanized age that deprived individuals of their sense of identity. The war affected young writers' attitude toward life, society, and writing. Also during the interval between the two wars, some significant events exerted great influence on American literature.II. Modern period charactersFirst, many young American writers and artists lived abroad for months and years.Second, Marxism and Freudianism were widely studied. They changed people's view of society and themselves. Third, up to this point, the typical American writer had been native-born, white, more or less rich, Protestant and Anglo-Saxon. After the war, the voices of new groups of Americans were heard. They were poor, or immigrants, or Jews, or blacks. There was the new literature coming out of the South and the literature written by women with awakened self-consciousness.Fourth, during this period there occurred in America an intense reexamination of the structure of literature and of the nature of the critical activity itself.During the first decades of the 20th century, modernism became an international tendency against positivism and representational an in art and literature.a. compared with earlier writings, especially those of the 19th century, modern American writings are notable for what they omit---the explanations, interpretations, connections, and summaries. A typical modern work will seem to begin arbitrarily, to advance without explanation, and to end without resolution.b. Modernistic techniques and manifestos were initiated by poets first and later entered and transformed fiction in this period as well like the poets, prose writers strove for directness,compression, and vividness and were sparing of words.III. Main writers:I. Robert Lee Frost(1874-1963)In 1912, Robert Frost took his family to England. There he met Ezra Pound who had a very good opinion about his poems and helped him to find British publishers.A Boy's Will(1913) and North of Boston(1914) were published and highly acclaimed in England.Most of his major poetry was written before 1930, although he continued writing all the way through the 1950s and into the early 1960s. His major books include Mountain interval (1916), New Hampshire(1923), West-Running Brook (1928), A Further Range (1936), A Witness Tree (1942), A Mosque of Reason (1945), A Masque of Mercy(1947), A Steeple Bush(1947), Complete Poems(1949), and In the Clearing(1962). Although recognition came late to him at the age of forty, Robert Frost was the most popular American poet from 1914 to his death.a. During the course of his career, he changed from a national critic to a national hero.b. His verse at first was terrifying, showing a dark side of human life, human society, and the problems which confronted his own life.c. By the end of his life, his poems were filled with more sunshine. He was more pleasant. This is an important change because America needed such a poet that it could admire, especially because the other modernist poets during this time were obscure. They were intellectuals. They could not be understood by the average person. Robert Frost could be understood by the average person and his poetry is full of life, truth, and wisdom.Frost's achievement was fantastic. He won the Pulitzer Prize four times, received honorary degrees fromforty-four colleges and universities, and became the nation's unofficial Poet Laureate when he was invited to read "The Gift Outright" at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 1961.d. he used simple spoken language and conversational rhythms, and achieved an effortless grace in his style. He combined traditional verse forms—the sonnet, rhyming couplets, blank verse—with a clear American local speech rhythm, the speech of New England farmers with its idiosyncratic diction and syntax.II: F. Scott Fitzgerald(1896-1940): he was a most representative figure of 1920s. who was mirror of the exciting age in almost every way.Main works:This Side of ParadiseThe Beautiful and Damned.The Great GatsbyTender is the NightThe Last TycoonFlappers and PhilosophersTales of the Jazz AgeAll the Sad Young MenTaps at ReveilleBabylon Revisited(short stories)His works characters:a.He was thought of in his day a short-story writer, too.b.most critics have agreed that he is both an insider and an outsider of the Jazz Age with double vision.c. his fictional world is the best embodiment of the spirit of the Jazz age, in which he shows a particular interest in upper-class society, especially the upper-class young people.d. he never spared an intimate touch in his fiction to deal with the bankruptcy of the American Dream, which is highlighted by the disillusionment of the protagonists personal dreams due to the clashes between their romantic vision of life and the sordid reality.e.he is still a great stylist in American literature. His style closely related to his themes, is explicit and chilly. his accurate dialogues, his careful observation of mannerism, styles, models and attitudes provide the reader with a vivid sense of realityIII: Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961): a Nobel Prize winner for literature.Main works: In Our TimeThe Sun Also RisesA Farewell to ArmsFor Whom the Bell TollsThe Old Man and the SeaMen without Women(The Undefeated, The Killers, Fifty Grand)Death in the AfternoonThe Green Hills of AfricaThe Snow of KilimanjaroTo Have and Have NotHis works characters:a. His world is limited. He deals with a limited range of characters in quite similar circumstances and measures then against an unvarying code, known as …grace under pressure‟, which is actually an attitude towards life that Hemingway had been trying to demonstrate in his works.b. Typical of the …iceberg‟analogy is Hemingway‟style, which he had been trying hard to get.c. His style is actually polished and tightly controlled, but highly suggestive and connotative.d. Render vividly the outward physical events and sensations Hemingway expresses the meaning of the story and conveys the complex emotions of his characters with a considerable range and astonishing intensity of feeling.e. He develops the style of colloquialism initiated by Mark Twainf. The accents and mannerisms of human speech are so well presented that the characters are full of flesh and blood and the use of short, simple and conventional words and sentences has an effect of clearness, terseness and great care.IV. William Faulkner(1897-1962): is regarded as one the leading American writers in the literary history of the United States.Main works:The Marble FaunSoldiers‟ paySartorisThe Sound and the FuryAs I Lay DyingLight in AugustAbsalom, AbsalomWild PalmsThe HamletThe UnvanquishedGo Down, MosesThe Portable FaulknerIntruder in the DustRequiem for a NunThe FableThe TownThe MansionThough in decline in the 20th century, the family retained some of the old customs and it was from his own family history, the southern region's characteristic of white social status, racial violence, honor codes, and traditional moral values that Faulkner drew the material for most of his fiction.With his friend Phil Stone's money he published The Marble Faun, a book of poems, in 1924. Since then his primary occupation was writing fiction.In 1925 he went to New Orleans where some of his early poems, articles, and sketches were published, and where he came into contact with the new intellectual current of his day, notably Freud's psychology and James Joyce's vanguard fiction.His works characters:a. he has always been regarded as a man with great might of invention and experimentation. He added to the theory of the novel as an art form and evolvedhis own literary strategies.b. his works were to explore and represent the infinite possibilities inherent in human life.c. he was a master of his own particular style of writing. His prose, marked by long and embedded sentences, co mplex syntax and vague reference pronouns on the one hand and a variety of “registers” of the English language on the other, is very difficult to read.d. he captured the dialects of the Mississippi characters, including Negroes and the red neck, as well as more refined and educated narrators like Quentin.IV. Terms definition:1. The Lost Generation: the disillusioned intellectuals and artists of the years following the First World War,who rebelled against former ideals and values but could replace them only by despair or a synical hedonism;/ you are all a lost generation, addressed to Hemingway by Gertrude Stein, which was used as a Preface to 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.2. The Imagist Movement: Led by the American poet Ezra Pound;/a poetic movement that flourished in the U.S. and England between 1909-1917;/three main principles endorsed by Pound as guidelines for Imagism: direct treatment of poetic subjects, elimination of merely ornamental or superfluous words, and rhythmical composition should be composed with the phrasing of music, not a metronome.3. Stream-of-Consciousness: a term coined by Willam James in his The Principles of Psychology to describe the flow of thoughts of the waking mind, now widely used in a literary context to describe the unspoken thoughts and feelings of the characters, without resorting to objective description or conventional dialogue;/ adapte d and developed by Joyce, V. Woolf, and others;/ the ability to represent the flux of a character‟s thought, impressions, emotions, or reminiscences, often without logical sequence of syntax, marked a revolution in the form of novel at that time.V. Questions and Answers1. Comment on Robert Lee Frost’s poetic stylea. well known as a lyrical poet, difficult to be classified with the old or the new: learned from the tradition and made the colloquial New England speech into a poetic expression;b. images and metaphors in his poems taken from simple rural life and pastoral landscape, profound ideas revealed under the disguise of plain language and simple form.c. combines traditional verse forms with a clear American local speech rhythm, writes in both the metrical forms and the free verse, and sometimes writes in a form that might be called semi-free conventional.2. Why is The Great Gatsby a successful novel?a. evoking a haunting mood of a glamorous, wild time that seemingly will never come again.b. sense of loss and disillusionment that comes with the failure embodied fully in the personal tragedy of a young man whose “incorruptible dream””smashed into pieces by the relentless reality”;c. Gatsby, a mythical figure whose personal experience approximates a sense of mind of the American; the last of the romantic heroes, whose energy and sense of commitment take him in search of his personal grail, Gatsby‟s failure predicts to a great extent the end of the American dream.3. Briefly introduce William Faulkner’s narrative techniques.a. would never step between the characters and the reader to explainb. purposely broke up the chronology of his narrative by juxtaposing the past with the present.c. the modern stream-of-consciousness technique also exploited to emphasize the reactions and inner musings of the narrator; the inner monologue helps achieve the most desirable effect of exploring the nature of human consciousness;d. good at presenting multiple points of view, which gave the story a circular form;e. the other narrative techniques include symbolism and mythological and biblical allusions.VI: Topic Discussion:1. Summarize the artistic features of imagist poems.a. Imagist poems tend to be short, composed of short lines of musical cadence rather than metrical regularity, to avoid abstraction, and to treat the image with a hard, clear precision rather than with overt symbolic intent/ the influence of Japanese forms, tanka and haiku, obvious in many.b. most of the imagist poets wrote in free verse and they like to employ common speech.they stresses the freedom in the choice of subject matter and form.2. Comment on Robert Frost’s nature poemsa. Robert Frost(1874-1963), American poet, known for his verse concerning New England life/ learned the familiar conventions of nature poetry from his predecessors, made the colloquial New England speech into a poetic expression; A poem so conceived thus becomes a symbol or metaphor, a careful, loving exploration of reality;b. Images and metaphors in his poems are drawn from the simple country life. However, profound ideas are delivered under the disguise of the plain language and the simple form;c. the thematic concern include the terror and tragedy in nature, as well as its beauty, and the loneliness and poverty of the isolated human being. In short, the nature poems demonstrate Frost‟s love of life and his belief ina serenity that comes from the common experience.3. Comment on the stylistic features of Hemingway’s novelsa. Hemingway once s aid,”The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water”.typical of this “iceberg”analogy is Hemingway‟s style: Hemingway‟s economical writing style often seems simple, but his method is calculated. In his writing, Hemingway provided detached descriptions of action, using simple nouns and verbs to capture scenes precisely to avoid describing his characters‟ emotions and thoughts directly. Hemingway was deeply concerned with authenticity in writing. Besides, Hemingway develops the style of colloquialism initiated by Mark Twain. The accents and mannerisms of human speech are well presented, and the use of short, simple words and sentences has an effect of clearness, terseness and great care.4. Summarize the feature of the main character in W. Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily.The story focuses on Emily, and eccentric spinster who refused to accept the passage of time, or the inevitable change and loss that accompanies it. As a descendent of the Southern aristocracy, Emily is typical of those in Faulkner‟s Yoknapatwapha stories that are the symbols of the Old South but the prisoners of the past. The deformed personality and abnormity of Emily demonstrates Faulkner‟s point of view that by alienating oneself from reality, a person is bound to be a tragedy. Emily is regarded as the symbol of tradition and the old way of life. Thus her death parallels with the decline of the Old South.。
《英美文学选读》（美国文学部分）American LiteratureChapter one : The romantic periodI. Emerson’s transcendentalism and his attitude toward nature:1.Transcendentalism—it is a philosophic and literary movement that flourish in New England, as a reaction against rationalism and Calvinism. It stressed intuitive understanding of god without the help of the church, and advocated independence of the mind.2. Emerson’s transcendentalism:The over-soul—it is an all-pervading power goodness, from which all things come and of which all are a part. It is a supreme reality of mind, a spiritual unity of all beings and a religion. It is a communication between an individual soul and the universal over-soul. And he strongly believe in the divinity and infinity of man as an individual, so man can totally rely on himself.3.His toward nature:Emerson loves nature. His nature is the garment of the over-soul, symbolic and moral bound. Nature is not something purely of the matter, but alive with God’s presence. It ex ercise a healthy and restorative influence on human beings. Children can see nature better than adult.II. Hawthorne’s Puritanism and his black vision of man:1. Puritanism—it is the religious belief of the Puristans, who had intended to purify and simplify the religious ritual of the church of England.2. his black vision of man—by the Calvinistic concept of original sin, he believed that human being are evil natured and sinful, and this sin is ever present in human heart and will pass one generation to another.3. Young Goodman Brown—it shows that everyone has some evil secrets. The innocent and na?ve Brown is confronted with the vision of human evil in one terrible night, and then he becomes distrustful and doubtful. Brown stands for everyone ,who is born pure and has no contact with the real world ,and the prominent people of the village and church. They cover their secrets during daily lives, and under some circumstances such as the witch’s Sabbath, they become what they are. Even his closed wife, Faith, is no exception. So Brown is aged in that night.III. The symbolism of Melville’s Mobby-Dick1.The voyage to catch the white whale is the one of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of universe.2. To Ahab, the whale is an evil creature or the agent of an evil force that control the universe. As to readers, the whale is a symbol of physical limits, or a symbol of nature. It also can stand for the ultimate mystery of the universe and the wall behind which unknown malicious things are hiding.IV. Whitman and his Leaves of Grass :1. Theme: sing of the “en-mass” and the self / pursuit of love, happiness, and ***ual love / sometimes about politics (Drum taps)2. Whitman’s originality first in his use of the poetic form free verse (i.e. poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme),by means of which he becomes conversational and casual.3.He uses the first person pronoun “I” to stress individualism, and oral language to acquire sympathy from the common reader.Chapter two : The realistic periodI. The character analysis and social meaning of Huck Finn in Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainHuck is a typical American boy with “a sound heart and a deformed conscience”. He appears to be vulgar in language and in manner, but he is honest and decent in essence. His remarkable raft’s journey down on the Mississippi river can be regarded as his process of education and his way to grow up. At first, he stands by slavery, for he clings to the idea that if he lets go the slave, he will be damned to go to hell. And when the “King” sells Jim for money, Huck decides to inform Jim’s master. After he thinks of the past good time when Jim and he are on the raft where Jim shows great care and deep affection for him, he decide to rescue Jim. AndHuck still thinks he is wrong while he is doing the right thing.Huck is the son of nature and a symbol for freedom and earthly pragmatism. Through the eye of Huck, the innocent and reluctant rebel, we see the pre-Civil War American society fully exposed. Twain contrasts the life on the river and the life on the banks, the innocence and the experience, the nature and the culture, the wilderness and the civilization.II. Daisy Miller by Henry James1. Theme: The novel is a story about American innocence defeated by the stiff, traditional values of Europe. James condemns the American failure to adopt expressive manners intelligently and point out the false believing that a good heart is readily visible to all. The death of Daisy results from the misunderstanding between people with different cultural backgrounds.2. The character analysis of Daisy: She represents typical American girl, who is uninformed and without the mature guidance. Ignorance and parental indulgence combine to foster he assertive self-confidence and fierce willfulness. She behaves in the same daring naive way in Europe as she does at home. When someone is against her, she becomes more contrary. She knows that she means no harm and is amazed that anyone should think she does. She does not compromise to the European manners.3. The character analysis of Winterbourne: He is a Europeanized American, who has live too long in foreign parts. He is very experience and has a problem understanding Daisy. He endeavors to put her in sort of formula, i.e. to classify her.III. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser:1. Theme: The author invented the success of Carrie and the downfall of Hurstwood out of an inevitable and natural judgment, because the fittest can survive in a competitive, amoral society according to the social Darwinism.2. The character analysis of Carrie: She follows the right direction to a pursuit of the American dream, and the circumstances and her desire for a better life direct to the successful goal. But she is not contented, because with wealth and fame, she still finds herself lonely. She is a product of the society, a realization of the theory of the survival of the fittest.3. The character analysis of Hurstwood: He is a negative evidence of the theory of the survival of the fittest. Because he is still conventional and can not throw away the social morals, he is not fitted to live in New York.Chapter Three: The Modern PeriodI. Ezra Pound and his theory of Imagism1. The principles: a. direct treatment of the thing; b. to use absolutely noword that does not contribute to the presentation; c. to compose in the sequence of the musical; d. to use the language of common speech and the exact word; e. to create new rhythms; f. absolutely freedom in the choice of subject.2. Imagism is to present an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time. An imagistic poem must present the object exactly the way the thing is seen. And the reader can form the image of the object through the process of reading the abstract and concrete words.II. Frost and his poetry on nature:Frost is deeply interested in nature and in men’s relationship to nature. Nature appears as an explicator and a mediator for man and serve as the center of reference of his behavior. Peace and order can be found in Frost’s poetical natural world. With surface simplicity of his poems, the thematic concerns are always presented in rich symbols. Therefore his work resists easy interpretation.III. F. Scott Fitzgerald and his The Great Gatsby1. Theme: Gatsby is American Everyman. His extraordinary energy and wealth make him pursue the dream. His death in the end points at the truth about the withering of the American Dream. The spiritual and moral sterility that has resulted from the withered American Dream is fullyrevealed in the article. However, although he is defeated, the dream has gave Gatsby a dignity and a set of qualities. His hope and belief in the promise of future makes him the embodiment of the values of the incorruptible American Dream .2. The character analysis of Gatsby: Gatsby is great, because he is dignified and ennobled by his dream and his mythic vision of life. He has the desire to repeat the past, the desire for money, and the desire for incarnation of unutterable vision on this material earth. For Gatsby, Daisy is the soul of his dreams. He believe he can regain Daisy and romantically rebels of time. Although he has the wealth that can match with the leisured class, he does not have their manners. His tragedy lies in his possession of a naive sense and chivalry.IV. Ernest Hemingway’s artistic features:1. The Hemingway code heroes and grace under pressure:They have seen the cold world ,and for one cause, they boldly and courageously face the reality. They has an indestructible spirit for his optimistic view of life. Whatever is the result is, the are ready to live with grace under pressure. No matter how tragic the ending is, they will never be defeated. Finally, they will be prevail because of their indestructible spirit and courage.2. The iceberg technique:Hemingway believe that a good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action. The one-eighth the is presented will suggest all other meaningful dimensions of the story. Thus, Hemingway’s language is symbolic and suggestive.V. The character analysis of Emily in A Rose for Emily:Emily is a symbol of old values, standing for tradition, duty and past glory. But she is also a victim to all those she cares and embrace. The source of Emily’s strange ness is from her born pride and self-esteem, the domineering behavior of her father and the betrayal of her lover. Barricaded in her house, she has frozen the past to protect her dreams. Her life is tragic because the defiance of the community, her refusal to accept the change and her extreme pride have pushed her to abnormality and insanity.。
《英美文学选读》笔记背完必过Part One: English LiteratureAn Introduction to Old and Medieval English LiteratureI Understanding and application: (理解应用)1. England’s inhabitants are Celts. And it is conquered by Romans, Anglo Saxons and Normans. The Anglo-Saxons brought the Germanic language and culture to England, while Normans brought the Mediterranean civilization, including Greek culture, Rome law and the Christian religion. It is the cultural influence of these two conquests that provided the source for the rise and growth of English literature.2. The old English literature extends from about 450 to 1066, the year of the Norman conquest of England.3. The old English poetry that has survived can be divided into two groups: The religious group and the secular one4. Beowulf: a typical example of Old English poetry is regarded as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. It is an example of the mingling of nature myths and heroic legends.5. After the Norman’s conquest, three languages co-existed in England. French is the official language that is used by king and the Norman lords. Latin is the principal tongue of church affairs and in universities. Old English was spoken only by the common English people.6. In the second half of 14th century, English literature started to flourish with the appearance of writers like Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, John Gower, and others II Recite: (识记再现)1. Romance:①It uses narrative verse or prose to sing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds is a popular literary form in the medieval period.②It has developed the characteristic medieval motifs of the quest, the test, the meeting with the evil giant and the encounter with the beautiful beloved.③The hero is usually the knight, who sets out on a journey to accomplish some missions. There are often mysteries and fantasies in romance.④Romantic love is an important part of the plot in romance.Characterization is standardized, While the structure is loose and episodic, the language is simple and straightforward.⑤The importance of the romance itself can be seen as a means of showing medieval aristocratic men and women in relation to their idealized view of the world.2. Heroic couplet:Heroic couplet is a rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter. It is Chaucer who used it for the first time in English in his work The Legend of Good Woman.3. The theme of Beowulf:The poem presents a vivid picture of how the primitive people wage heroic struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader. The poem is an example of the mingling of the nature myths and heroic legends.4. The Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales:The Wife of Bath is depicted as the new bourgeois wife asserting her independence. Chaucer develops his characterization to a higher artistic level by presenting characters with both typical qualities and individual dispositions.5. Chaucer’s achievement:①He presented a comprehensive realistic picture of his age and created a whole gallery of vivid characters in his works, especially in The Canterbury Tales.②He anticipated a new ear, the Renaissance, to come under the influence of the Italian writers.③He developed his characterization to a higher level by presenting characters with both typical qualities and individual dispositions.④He greatly contributed to the maturing of English poetry. Today, Chaucer’s reputation has been securely established as one of the best English poets for his wisdom, humor and humanity.6. “The F ather of English poetry”:Originally, Old English poems are mainly alliterative verses with few variations.①Chaucer introduced from France the rhymed stanzas of various types to English poetry to replace it.②In The Romaunt of the Rose (玫瑰传奇), he first introduced to the English the octosyllabic couplet (八音节对偶句).③In The Legend of Good Women, he used for the first time in English heroic couplet.④And in his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, he employed heroic couplet with true ease and charm for the first time in the history of English literature.⑤His art made him one of the greatest poets in English; John Dryden called him “the father of English poetry”.【例题】The work that presented, for the first time in English literature, a comprehensive realistic picture of the medieval English society and created awhole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life is most likely ______________.(0704)A. William Langland’s Piers PlowmanB. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury TalesC. John Gower’s Confession AmantisD. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight【答案】B【解析】(P4.para.2)本题考查的是中世纪时期几位诗人作品的创作主题和创作范围。
学历类《自考》自考专业(英语)《英美文学选读》考试试题及答案解析姓名:_____________ 年级:____________ 学号:______________1、Opposition leaders will be watching carefully to see how the Prime Minister ________ the crisis.A、handlesB、conductsC、observesD、directs正确答案：A答案解析：A应付，对付，控制B引导，进行，实施C观察，监测，遵守D指导，监督2、Now many major employers are beginning to demand _______ the completion of schoolA、morethanB、ratherthanC、otherthanD、betterthan正确答案：A答案解析：morethan：多于，不只。
句意：现在很多雇主开始不仅仅要求学业的完成。
3、In the original test，all the animals in a test group are given a substance _______ half of them dieA、unlessB、untilC、lestD、provided正确答案：B答案解析：本题考查词义辨析。
until：直到。
符合句意，表示givenasubstance持续到halfofthemdie。
4、Nobody but you _______ what he said.A、agreeswithB、agreesoutC、agreewithD、agreeto正确答案：A答案解析：主语为nobody时，谓语动词用单数，如果主语被but,aswellas,with等短语修饰，谓语仍与主语的数保持一致。
该题易误选C、D，选D的原因在于词组记忆不清，用介词to时之后应加具体项目。
