美国文学二期末复习资料2

美国文学期末考试复习必备（精）1. What’s Puritanism?A religious and political movement which appeals to the right of the individual to political & religious independence. It includes three parts: a code of values, a point of view & a philosophy of life2. What are the basic Puritan beliefs?1). Total Depravity 2). Unconditional Election 3). Limited Atonement 4). Irresistible Grace 5). Perseverance of the "saints"3. What are American Puritan values?Sobriety thrift, Self-reliance Diligence, Struggle, simple tastes4. What are the features of American literature in the Colonial Period?A. Humble origins: diaries, journals, histories, letters. Its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period.B. in content: serving either god or colonial expansion or bothC. in form: imitating English literary traditions.D. in style: tight and logic structure, precise and compact expression, avoidance of rhetorical decoration, adoption of homely imagery and simplicity of diction.E. Symbolism formed in this period ------To the pious Puritan, the physical, phenomenal world was nothing but a symbol of God.F. Simple, fresh and direct styleG. the Puritanism formed in this period was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature.5.What are the features of Washington Irving’s works?(1) Gentility, urbanity, pleasantness (2) Avoiding moralizing – amusing and entertaining (3) Enveloping stories in an atmosphere (4) Vivid and true characters (5) Humor – smiling while reading (6) Musical language6. What is theme of “Rip Van Winkle”?①it reveals conservative attitude of Irving. ②it might be an illustration of Irving’s argument that revolution upset the natural order of things.A. The story of man who has difficulties facing his advancing age;B.The contradictory impulses in America toward work-the puritan attitude as opposed to America desire for leisure;C .The theme of escape from one's responsibilities and even one's history;D .The loss of identity.7. What are the author’s attitude changes?It reveals conservative attitude of Irving and he is Unwilling to accept a modern democratic America and prefers the past & a dream-like world 8. What’s New England Transcendentalism?Transcendentalism is the summit of the Romantic Movement in the history of American literature in the 19th century. Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as “the recognition（认知）in man of thecapacity of knowing truth intuitively（直觉地）”. Transcendentalists place emphasis on the importance of the Over-soul, the individual and Nature.9. What are its basic assumptions?The intuitive faculty, instead of the rational or sensical, became the means for a conscious union of the individual psyche with the world psyche also known as the Over soul, life-force, prime mover and God 10. What are Allan Poe’s poetics theories?The poetry should appeal only to the sense of beauty, not truth, and sets himself against realistic details in poetry. He makes good use of a number of poetic devices to create a mood appropriate to the theme of his poems.11. Why was Nathaniel Hawthorne a master of symbolism?He uses concrete objects as well as characters to serve as his symbols. He likes to uses masks, veils, shadows to give dramatic forms to the universal dilemmas of humanity12. What is the theme of Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter?It Condemned the Puritan philosophy of life.Sin, knowledge and human condition; the nature of evil; identity and society4. What is the symbolic me aning of the Scarlet Letter “A”?A.” Adultery", a token of shameB. a sign of Hester's "ability“C. "Angel" appearing in the skyD.”Adamic", since the sin is prehistoric and human E .the rising “America"13. What story is told in Moby-Dick?It is a thrilling adventure story which is the realistic about a whaling voyage within which is set a symbolic account of the conflict between man and his fate.14. What is the symbolic meaning of Moby-Dick?1) Mystery of the universe, 2) power of grant nature, 3) evil of the world 4) Its whiteness-paradoxical color: death and corruption, purity, innocence and youth.15. What are the popular themes of Emily Dickinson’s poetry? Death, love, friendship, nature, immortality.ment on the image of Huckleberry Finn?He is loyal, cheerful, fair-minded boy with “a sound heart and a deformed conscience, with the eventual victory of his moral conscience over his social awareness, Huck grows. Huck is not only a lovely boy in the novel, but also a portrait standing for the young America. Huck is not only a lovely boy in the novel, but also a portrait standing for the young America.17. What’s the social significance of him?Huck develops a different view of blacks through the story. It is not an instant change, but a gradual process. Huck himself undergoes a change; he stops accepting the social norms and instead follows his own beliefs. He acquires these beliefs after many adventures with the slave Jim. In thisway, Twain encourages people to be like Huck and not to accept the racism just because society accepts it.18. Why are naturalists inevitably pessimistic in their view?A. Naturalism was greatly influenced by Darwin's evolutionary theory and French literatureB. Naturalists accepted the more negative implications of Darwin's theory and used it to count for the behavior of those characters in literary works who are 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 becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic.19.What are the features of Frost’s poetry?1. Frost’s poetry mainly reflects life in rural New England2. His poems often shift dramatically from humorous tones to tragic ones3. Much of his poetry is concerned with how people interact with their environment4. Frost disliked free verse; He often wrote in the standard meter of blank verse20. What is the theme of “The Road Not taken” Individualism, Caution, Commitment, Accepting a ChallengeAnd “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”?The poem isprimarily oriented towards the pleasures of the scene and the responsibility of life.21.What are the features of modernist literature?A. Its strong and conscious break with traditional forms, perceptions and techniques of expression.B. Its great concern with language and aspects of its medium.22. What is “Lost generation”?Literally, it is the generation of people born between 1883 and 1900.They were disillusioned by World War I and displeased with American social values, sexual and aesthetic conventions, and established morality. They first fled to cities such as Chicago & San Francisco; then to Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome. They were full of youthful idealism and pioneered new ways of writing; they were devoid of faith and alienated from civilization.23. What is a typical Hemingway Code Hero?The Code Hero believes in “Nada,” meaning nothing. There is also no after life.•The Code Hero is an individualist and free-willed. He believes in courage and honor and has his own set of morals and principles based on his beliefs in honor, courage and endurance.• A code hero never shows emotions.• A code hero does not commit to women.• A code hero shows qualities such as bravery, adventure, and love of travel.• A code hero dislikes darkness. It symbolizes death and is a source of fear. The rite of manhood for the code hero is facing death.24.What is the theme of the short story “A Clean Well-LightedPlace”?Nothing (or nada) through the old man's unsuccessful suicide and the middle-aged man's soliloquy.25.What is the theme of The Great Gatsby?A sensitive and symbolic treatment of the themes of contemporary life related with irony and pathos to the legend of the "America dream" What kind of person is Gatsby?He is a poor youth from the Midwest and at last became a self-made wealthy man. Gatsby is the last romantic heroes and he is a mysterious figure whose intensity of dream partakes of a mind that embodies America itself.26.What are Faulkner’s famous novels? What are the features of his novels? "The sound and the Fury", "As I Lay Dying", "Light in the August", "Absalom, Absalom!" 2) On history and the problem of race; on folk human of the south; on horror, violence and abnormal to arouse moral outrage.1.Discuss Twain’s art of fiction2.A. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi alley as his fictional kingdom,writing about the landscape and people, the customs and the dialects of one particular region, and is therefore known as a local colorist. B. He creates life-like characters, especially the unconventional Huckleberry Finn, who runs away from civilization and stands opposite to conventional village morality. C. He uses a simple, direct vernacular language, totally different from any precious literary language. It is the kind of colloquial belonging to the lower class, the living local American English.D. He has created a special humor to satirize and the decayed convention.2 1). The story takes place along the Mississippi River before the Civil War in the United States, around 1850. Along the river floats a small raft, with two people on it: One is an ignorant, uneducated black slave named Jim and the other is little uneducated outcast white boy, Huck Finn. The novel relates the story of the escape of Jim from slavery and, more important, how Huck Finn, floating along with Jim and helping him as best as he could, changes his mind, his prejudice, about Black people, and comes to accept Jim as a man and as a close friend as well.2.) (theme)1) The Theme of the novel may be best summed in a word “freedom”: Huck wants to escape from the bond of civilization and Jim wants to escape from the yoke of slavery. 2) The novel is a criticism of social injustice, hypocrisy, conservativeness and narrow-mindedness of the American small town society.3.Make a brief comment on Mark Twain’s achievements in this novel in 200-250 words.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, first published in 1876, is a child’s adventure story; it is also, however, the story of a young boy’s transition into a young man. In some ways, it is a bildungsroman, a novel whose principle subject is the moral, psychological, and intellectual development of a youthful main character. It is not a true bildungsroman, however, because Twain did not take Tom into full1. The hero of the novel through adventures with lively style to satirize the American hypocrisy of social custom, vulgar hypocrisy of religious rituals and inflexible stale school education2. "Tom Sawyer--with its strong deep local characteristics of humor and keen observation of the character, had become the greatest of the children's literature works, is a United States rural " golden era "4. 1)The Pequod-a symbol of doom（death);named after a Native American tribe in Massachusetts, did not survive the arrival of white men (extincted), is painted gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and bones 2) Moby Dick-unknown and unknowable truths, inscrutable, mysterious, mirrors its environment, only the surface of the ocean is available for human observation and interpretation, the depths conceal unknown truths--A metaphor for the human relationship with the Christian God: God is unknown and cannot be pinned down (defined). to the pequod’screw, Moby Dick is a concept onto which they can display their anxiety about dangerous and frightening jobs, to Ahab Moby Dick is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the world, It is his destiny to get rid of this symbolic evil 3)Queequeg’s Coffin sy mbolizes life and death.5. Try to discuss the theme of “The Minister’s Black Veil”.A. Sin and EvilB. History and AntiquityC. Alienation - a character is in a state of isolation because of self-cause, or societal cause, or a combination of both.D. Puritan New England - used as a background and setting in many tales.E. Other themes include individual vs. society, self-fulfillment vs. frustration, hypocrisy vs. integrity, love vs. hate, and fate vs. free will, etc.。

名词解释：Imagism: It’s a poetic movement of England and the U.S. flourished from 1909 to 1917.The movement insists on the creation of images in poetry by “the direct treatment of the thing” and the economy of wording. The leaders of this movement were Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell.Beat generation: The term was coined by Jack Kerouac in 1948 to refer to a group of disillusioned writers following World War Two. Later, this literary and cultural movement continued into the 1960s. The Beat Generation must not be confused with the Lost Generation of writers. Spokesmen and representatives of the Beat Generation were Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and others. They revolted against an America that was materialistic, belligerent and frustrating. Social, intellectual and sexual freedom was advocated. Traditional culture and normal social behavior were attacked and violated. Many of them were drug addicts wearing long hair and dirty clothes. They were fond of slangs and jazz. Masterpieces created by writers of this g roup include Kerouac’s On the Road and Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems, which were regarded as pocket Bibles of that generation. Other prominent Beats include William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Michael McClure, and Neal Cassady. The Beat Generation, had greatly influenced the countercultural movements of the 1960s and the adolescents and adults in other countries. In England, the “angry young men” made an echo and imitated the American “beatnik.”二、1. Ralph Waldo Emerson:Nature: it is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism.The American Scholar:it has been regarded as “America’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence”.2. Henry David Thoreau: Walden3. Nathaniel Hawthorne:The Scarlet Letter:主题：Hawthorne focuses his attention on the moral, emotional, and psychological effects or consequences of the sin on the people in general and those main characters in particular, so as to show us the tension between society and individuals. To Hawthorne, everybody is potentially a sinner, and great moral courage is therefore indispensable for the improvement of human nature.4. Herman Melville: Moby DickA. 作品分析：（1）Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville’s bleak view of the world in which he lived. It is at once godless and purposeless. The loss of faith and the sense of futility and meaningless which characterize modern life of the West were expresse d in Melville’s work so well that the twentieth century has found it both fascinating and great.(2) One of the major themes of this novel is alienation, which exists in the life of Melville on different levels, between man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Melville also criticizes New England Transcendentalism of its emphasis on individualism and Oversoul. Another theme of this novel is “rejection and quest.”(3) The novel is highly symbolic. The voyage itself is a metaphor for “search and discovery, the search for the ultimate truth of experience.” Moby Dick is the most conspicuous symbol in the book and it is capable of many interpretations. It is a symbol of evil to some, one of goodness to others, and both to still others. Its whiteness is a paradoxical color, signifying as it does death and corruption as well as purity, innocence, and youth. It represents the final mystery of the universe which man will do well to desist from pursuing.(4) Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple views of his narratives. He tends to write periodic sentences. His rich rhythmical prose and his poetic power have been profusely commented upon and praised.B. what does the white whale in Moby Dick symbolize? Why do you think so?For Captain Ahab, the white whale represents evil. After the loss of his leg in his encounter with the white whale, Ahab begins to hate Moby Dick and tries his best to kill the whale. It seems that he embodies all of the evil he once consigned to the white whale. For other members on the whaling ship, the white whale symbolizes the unknown, mysterious natural force of the universe. For the readers, the white whale is capable of many interpretations, for it is “paradoxically benign an d malevolent, nourishing and destructive,” “massive, brutal, monolithic, but at the same time protean, erotically beautiful, infinitely variable.”C. Major themes: obsession, religion, and idealism versus pragmatism, revenge, racism, sanity, hierarchical relationships, and politics.D. the Pequod is the microcosm of human society and the voyage becomes a search for truth. Moby Dick is a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe, and the voyage of the mind will forever remain a search, not a discovery, of the truth.The whole story turns out to be a symbolic voyage of the mind quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into man’s deep reality and psychology.5. Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass.It has been praised as “Democ ratic Bible”, and as American Epic.主题：(1)he shows concern for the whole hard-working people and the burgeoning life of cities. (2) realization of the individual value. (3) pursuit of love and happiness. (4) Before and during the Civil War, Whitman expressed much mourning for the sufferings of the young lives in the battlefield and showed a determination to carry on the fighting dauntlessly until the final victory.写作风格：(1) Whitman wrote “free verse”, that is,poetry without a fixed beat or regularrhyme scheme.(2) There is a strong sense of the poemsbeing rhythmical. Parallelism and phoneticrecurrence at the beginning of the linescontribute to the musicality of his poems.(3) Most of the pictures he painted withwords are honest, undistorted images ofdifferent aspects of America of the day.(4) Whitman’s language is relatively simpleand even rather crude. Anothercharacteristic in Whitman’s language is hisstrong tendency to use oral English.Whitman’s vocabulary is amazing. Hewould use powerful, colorful, as well asrarely-used words.Leaves of Grass的分析：(1). Grass, the most common thing with thegreatest vitality, is an image of the poethimself, a symbol of the then risingAmerican nation and an embodiment of hisideals about democracy and freedom.(2). In this giant work, openness, freedom,and above all, individualism are all thatconcerned him.(3). In this book he also praises nature,democracy, labor and creation, and sings ofman’s dignity and equality, and of th ebrightest future of mankind. Most of thepoems in Leaves of Grass sing of the“en-masse” and self as well.6. Emily Dickinson:诗歌的主要内容：love, nature, death andimmortality.7. Edgar Allen Poe: 短篇小说家和诗人。

英美文学II期末考试题型和复习围题型分布：I. Multiple choice.〔20%, 2 points for each〕II. Matching. (10%, 1 point for each)III. Literary Terms. (20%, 4 points for each)IV. Literary Translation. (20%)V. Literary work analysis. (30 %, 15 per each)1.Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography(富兰克林自传); Poor Richard’s Almanac (穷理查年鉴)2.托马斯·恩〔Thomas Paine): the age of reason(理性时代); the American crisis(美国危机)3.华盛顿·欧文(Washington Irving ：The Sketch Book〔见闻札记〕，a history of New York〔纽约外史〕4.James Fenimore Cooper〔詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库柏〕: 杀鹿者〔The Deerslayer〕最后的莫希干人(The Last of the Mohicans) ?探路人?The Pathfinder ?拓荒者?(The Pioneer) ?大草原?(The Prairie) the five novels prise (The Leatherstocking Tales)皮袜子故事集5.威廉·卡伦·布莱恩特〔William Cullen Bryant) :To a Waterfowl 致水鸟? ?死亡随想?(Thanatopsis)即英文“死亡观〞〔view of death〕的希腊文5.Nathaniel Hawthorne (纳撒尼尔·霍桑): 带七个尖顶的阁楼(The House of the Seven Gables ) 红字〔The Scarlet Lett er〕古宅青苔(Mosses from The Old Manse)The Marble Faun ?玉石人像?6.Herman Melville : 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔?白鲸?Moby-Dick ?泰比?Typee Omoo ?奥姆?Redburn ?雷德伯恩? ?白外套?White-Jacket ?水手比利·巴德? Billy Budd7.亨利·沃兹沃斯·朗费罗(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) A Psalm of Life 人生礼赞The Song of Hiawatha(海华沙之歌) 我逝去的青春my lost youth The Slave’s Dream奴隶的梦8.沃尔特·惠特曼〔Walt Whitman) ?草叶集?〔Leaves of Grass〕9.哈丽叶特·比切·斯托〔Harriet Beecher Stowe) 汤姆叔叔的小屋Uncle Tom's Cabin11. 马克·吐温〔Mark Twain〕: ?汉尼拔杂志?〔Hannibal Journal〕The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?汤姆·索亚历险记? 密西西比河上的生活Life on the Mississippi哈克贝利·费恩历险记?〔Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) ?镀金时代? the gilded age Innocents Abroad 〔流浪汉在外〕Missouri Courier Roughing It ?苦行记?12.O.Henry 欧·亨利?警察与赞美诗?〔The Cop and theAnthem〕13.Henry James 亨利·詹姆斯The American ?美国人? Daisy Miller?黛西·米勒? The Portrait of a Lady ?一位女士的画像? The Bostonians?波士顿人? The Wings of the Dove?鸽翼? The Ambassadors?使节? The Golden Bowl?金碗? 14.Jack London 杰克·伦敦Martin Eden,马丁·伊登The Call of the Wild ?野性的呼唤? The Sea Wolf ?海狼? White Fang?白牙?15.Theodore Dreiser西奥多·德莱塞: sister carrie?嘉莉妹妹? Jennie gerhardt?珍妮姑娘? An American Tragedy?美国悲剧?16.Ezra Pound 埃兹拉·庞德Hugh Selwyn Mauberley ?休·赛尔温·毛伯利? TheCantos?诗章?17. Edwin Arlington Robinson 埃德温·阿林顿·罗宾逊Richard Cory理查德·科里MiniverCheevy 米尼弗契维the house on the hill18.Robert Frost 罗伯特·弗罗斯特: Mountain Interval ?山间? New Hampshire新罕布什尔州19.Carl Sandburg桑德堡: chicago fog20.Wallace Stevens 华莱士·史蒂文斯Anecdote of the Jar 坛子轶事21.Thomas Stearns Eliot 托马斯·斯特尔那斯·艾略特Prufrock and Other Observations普鲁弗洛克及其他? The Sacred Wood ?神圣的树林? The22.Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald弗朗西斯·斯科特·基·菲茨杰拉德: This Side of Paradise人间天堂The Beautiful and Damned 美丽与消灭Tender Is the Night 夜色温柔The Great Gatsby了不起的盖茨比23.Ernest Miller Hemingway欧斯特·米勒尔·海明威: The Sun Also Rises?太阳照样升起? A Farewell to Arms?永别了，武器? For Whom the Bell Tolls?丧钟为谁而鸣? The Old Man and the Sea ?老人与海?24.John Steinbeck约翰·斯坦贝克: Tortilla Flat ?煎饼坪? Of Mice and Men?人鼠之间? The Long Valley 长谷The Grapes of Wrath?愤怒的葡萄?25.William Faulkner 威廉·福克纳: The Sound and the Fury ?喧哗与骚动? As I Lay Dying ?我弥留之际? Light in August ?八月之光? Absalom, Absalom! ?押沙龙，押沙龙！? Sanctuary ?圣殿? The Hamlet ?村子? Go Down, Moses ?去吧，摩西?26. EugeneO'Neill 尤金·奥尼尔: The Emperor Jones ?琼斯皇帝? The Hairy Ape?毛猿? Anna Christie安娜·克里斯蒂名词解释20个：1.Metaphor：隐喻A metaphor is a figure of speech that identifies something as being the same as some unrelated thing for rhetorical effect, thus highlighting the similarities between the two. While a simile pares two items, a metaphor directly equates them, and so does not necessarily apply any distancing words of parison, such as "like" or "as". A metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech which achieve their effects via association, parison or resemblance - including allegory, hyperbole, and simile.2. ; Lost Generation ：迷惘的一代The "Lost Generation" was the generation that came of age during World War I. The term was popularized by Ernest Hemingway, who used it as one of two contrasting epigraphs for his novel,The Sun Also Rises.In that volume Hemingway credits the phrase to Gertrude Stein, who was then his mentor and patron. This generation included distinguished artists such as F. Scott Fitzgerald,[1]T. S. Eliot,John Dos Passos,Waldo Peirce。

美国文学史期末考试复习题可以参考课本及其他复习资料一、名词解释（交代背景、内容/特点、代表人物/作品）1. American Realism2. Black Humor3. Henry James’s international theme4. Beat Generation5. American Puritanism6. Transcendentalism7. Themes of Henry James’s writing8. The Lost Generation二、回答问题1. What are the characteristics of American romanticism？2. How is the Darwinian belief in naturalism opposed to the Christian creationist view? What is the determinist view of existence that informs naturalism? What are the implications of this view on ethics?3. What are the philosophical foundations and characteristics of American naturalism?4. What are the important point s for Hawthorne’s style?5. What is the predominant mood in Poe’s poetry? Discuss with two poems as examples.6. What are the parameters of American Realism?7. How is Thoreau revolt manifested both in his social actions and his writing? What is the nature of his revolt?8. The age of American realism is divided into two more periods. What are the periods called? What are the characteristics and who are the representatives of each period?。

卷二I.Blanks： ( 10points, 1 point for each blank)Directions： In this part of the test， there are 9 items and 10 blanks。

Fill in the best answer on the Answer Sheet according to the knowledge you have learned。

1.The first American literature was neither ____ nor really ____.2.Of the immigrants who came to America in the first three quarters of theseventeenth century， the overwhelming majority was _____。

3.The English immigrants who settled on America’s northern seacoast were called_____, so named after those who wished to “purify” the Church of England.4.Washington Irving， the Father of American literature， developed the _____ asa genre in American literature。

5.Franklin’s best writing is found in his masterpiece _____。

6.The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was _____.7.In the early 19th century, “Rip Van Winkle”had established _____’s reputationat home and abroad, and designated the beginning of American Romanticism.8._____ has sometimes been considered the father of the modern short story。

英美文学（2）复习大纲1. Multiple Choices （30 points）基本的文学史实，包括不同时期文学的特点，主要作家的作品以及写作特点等。

2. Gap Filling (10 points)主要作家的代表作3. Definition of Terms (20 points)ImageryWords or phrases that create pictures, or images, in the reader’s mind.American TranscendentalismAme rican Transcendentalism or “New England Transcendentalism” or “American Renaissance” is more of a tendency, an attitude, than the philosophy of Transcendentalists. To “transcend” something is to rise above it, to pass beyond its limits. The major features of New England Transcendentalism can be summarized as the follows:Firstly, the Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirits, or the Over soul, as the most import thing in the Universe.Secondly, they stressed the importance of the individual. To them, the individual was the most important element of society.Thirdly, they offered a fresh perception of nature as symbol of the Spirit or God. Nature was, to them, alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Transcendentalism is based on the belie f that the most fundamental truths about life and death can be reached only by going beyond the world of senses.As a philosophical and literary movement, Transcendentalism flourished in New England from 1830s to the Civil War. Its doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in Emerson and Thoreau.Free VerseFree Verse is a verse that has either no metrical pattern or an irregular pattern. Although most free verse belongs to the 19th and 20th centuries, it can be found in earlier literature, particularly in the Psalms of the Bible.NaturalismAn extreme form of realism. Naturalistic writers usually depict the sordid side of life and show characters who are severely, if not hopelessly, limited by their environment or heredity.ImagismIt is an influential literary movement that took place in Europe and America from about 1910 to 1920. The imagist poet creates a single sharp image that evokes an emotional response in the reader. Imagism was in a reaction to the “bad habits” of the 19th century poets who were too explicit in their commentary and too repetitious in their subjects, patterns, and meters.Local ColoristsA group of writers who preferred to present social life through portraits of the local characters of specific regions, including people living in that area, the landscape, the other peculiarities like the customs, dialects, costumes and so on. The major local colorists are Hamlin Garland, Mark Twain.Lost GenerationThis term has been used again and again to describe the people of the postwar years. When the First World War broke out, many young men volunteered to take part in “the war to end all 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 experience in the war. Among these young writers were the most prominent figures in American literature, especially in modern American literature, for example, Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, etc. They were basically expatriates who left 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. They were later called by an American writer, Gertrude Stein, also expatriates, “The Lost Generation”.Hemingway HeroesThose protagonists in Hemingway’s fiction, who survive in the process if seeking to master the code known as “grace under pressure” with honesty, the discipline, and the restraint.American Puritanism1. The beliefs and practices characteristic of Puritans (most of whom were Calvinists who wished to purify the Church of England of its Catholic aspects)2. Strictness and austerity in conduct and religionAmerican Puritanism was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and American literature. It has become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, rather than a set of tenets, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the Americans breathe. Without some understanding of Puritanism, there can be no real understanding of American culture and literature.The Jazz Agethe era that immediately followed World War I and lasted until the beginning of the Depression, during which jazz increased in popularity. It was a reaction to the austerity and hardship of the war and was characterized by extravagance and hedonism.4. Questions (22 points)Because I could not stop for DeathSong of MyselfThe Road Not TakenPactIn a Station of the Metro5. Topic Discussion(18 points)Summarize the story of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and comment on the theme of the novel。

1. features of Puritanism 请教主义(1)Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred.(2)Original sin: Human beings were born to be evil, and this original sin can be passed down from generation to generation. (3)Total depravity(4)Limited atoneme nt: Only the “elect” can be saved.2, American Puritanism 美国请教主义的Basic Puritan Beliefs(1)Total Depravity - through Adam and Eve's fall, every person is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.(2)Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation - concept of predestination. (3)Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone. (4)Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.(5)Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.(6)Puritan values (creeds): Hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety, simple tastes. Puritans are more practical, tougher, to be ever ready for any misfortune and tragic failure and optimistic..3.Influence on American Literature对美国文学影响定义:America literature is in good measure a literary expression of the pious idealism of the American Puritanism bequest. All literature is based on a myth of garden of Eden.Symbolism象征the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chie fly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. Symbolism as a technique has become a common practice in American literature.With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.4. The literary Scene in colonial America 殖民地的美国Humble origins: diaries, histories, journals, letters,travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons各种作家Writers: (1)John Smith: the first American writer(2)Anne Bradstreet: a Puritan poet ,The Complete Work: Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America(3)Edward Taylor: a variety of verse: funeral elegies, lyrics, a medieval "debate," and a 500-page Metrical History of Christianity (mainly a history of martyrs). His best works, according to modern critics, are the series of short Preparatory Meditations.5;Features of Colonial Poets殖民地诗人的特征American literature grew out of humble origins. Diaries, histories, journals, letters, commonplace books, travel books, sermons, in short, personal literature in its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period.They faithfully imitated and transplanted English literary traditions.---In English styleThey were servants of God.---Puritan poetsThey served either God or colonial expansion or both.6,Anne Bradstreet’s Works1,“Some vers es on the Burning of Our House”2,“The Spirit and the Flesh”3,The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America(the first collection published by English colonists living in America)7.several points in this period:(1)William Hill Brown published the first American novel The Power of Sympathy in 1789.(2)Charles Brockden Brown) was the first American author to attempt to live from his writing. He developed the genre of American Gothic. He employed new narrative techniques. Another significance was his description of his characters’ in ner world, so his works can be read as psychological novel.(3)Roger Williams (1603-1683)Preach for civil and religious liberty and against the puritan oligarchy of Boston.Call for democratic government and oppose to the eviction of the Indians.Works: The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience(4)CJohn Woolman1:From a pious Quaker family 2:Transcendentalism humanitarianism3:Plea for the rights of all men and the abolition of the slavery system.Works: Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes; A Plea for the Poor.(5)Thomas Paine :A great influence in the American RevolutionWorks: The Rights of Man; The Age of Reason(6)Philip Freneau:“Poet of the American Revolution”“Father of American Poetry”,the most significant poet of 18th century in America. Some off his themes and images anticipated theworks of such 19th century American Romantic writers as Cooper, Emerson, Poe and Melville.His works:(1) The Rising Glory of America1772 《美洲光辉的兴起》(2) The Wild Honey Suckle 1786 《野地里德忍冬》(3) The Indian Burying Ground1788 《印第安人墓地》(4The Dying Indian: Tomo Chequi《奄奄一息的印第安人：托姆·柴吉》关于他的评价：He was the most significant poet of 18th century America.Some of his themes and images anticipated the works of such 19th century American Romantic writers as Cooper, Emerson, Poe and Melville.Poet of American Independence: Freneau provides incentive and inspiration to the revolution by writing such poems as "The Rising Glory of America" and "Pictures of Columbus."Journalist: Freneau was editor and contributor of The Freeman's Journal (Philadelphia) from 1781-1784. In his writings, he advocated the essence of what is known as Jeffersonian democracy - decentralization of government, equality for the masses, etc.Freneau's Religion: Freneau is described as a deist - a believer in nature and humanity but not a pantheist. In deism, religion becomes an attitude of intellectual belief, not a matter of emotional of spiritual ecstasy. Freneau shows interest and sympathy for the humble and the oppressedFreneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.All the while.in romanticizing the wonders of nature in his writings...he searched for an American idiom in verse.8：The American Enlightenment 美国启蒙运动(1)It was a part of a larger intellectual movement known as the Age of Enlightenment. Influenced by the scientific revolution of the 17th century, the Enlightenment took scientific reasoning and applied it to human nature and society.(2)Reason was advocated as the primary source and basis of authority.There was a shift from God-centered thinking to human being centered. Instead of going through life unhappy and thinking they had to suffer so they could enjoy the afterlife - people began to think about what they could accomplish on earth.(3)Equality The American Enlightenment inflenced Benjamin Franklin dramatically.Great Awening影响(1)It is a serires of religious revivals that swept over the American colonies about the middle of the 18th century.(2)It results in doctrinal changes and influnce social and political thought.In New England it was started by the rousing preaching of Jonathan Edwards9:Jonathan Edwards Works: (1)The Freedom of the Will《论意志自由》(2)The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended《论原罪》(3)The Nature of True Virtue《论真实德行的本原》AssessmentJonathan Edwards was a good deal of a transcendentalistbecause of his ideas:a, The spirit of revivalism b. Regeneration of man c. God’s presence d. Puritan idealism10:Benjamin Franklin Works:1：The Autobiography《自传》（1）The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is a record of self-examination and self-improvement.（2）The Autobiography is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Benjamin Franklin was spokesman for the new order of 18th century enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free, by nature endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.（3）Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream.Now a look at the style of The Autobiography will readily reveal that it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concisionThe Autobiography《自传》:It is perhaps the first real post-revolutionary American writing as well as the first real autobiography in English.It gives us the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man:2：Poo r Richard’s Almanac《穷理查德格言历书》Poor Richard’s Almanac is full of adages and common-sense witticism which became ,very quickly, household words.Benjamin Franklin Borrowed from such writers as Defoe, Swift, and Pope , and used his own wit to simplify and enrich their axioms11：General Introduction to Romanticism 浪漫主义介绍a. Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution.b. It was partly a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature.The movement stressed运动强调a. strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities, both new aesthetic categories.b. It elevated folk art and custom to something noble.c. It argued for a "natural" epistemology of human activities as conditioned by nature in the formof language, custom and usage.12：Characteristics of Romanticism:浪漫主义特征（1）an innate and intuitive perception of man, nature and society—reliance on the subconscious, the inner life, the abnormal psychology（2）an emphasis on freedom, individualism and imagination—rebellion against neoclassicism which stressed formality, order and authority（3）a profound love for nature—nature as a source of knowledge, nature as a refuge from the present, nature as a revelation of the holy spirit the quest for beauty—pure beautythe use of antique and fanciful subject matters—sense of terror, Gothic, grotesque, odd and queer13，Romanticism Historical Background历史背景1，Political: After American Revolution, American developed into a political, economic and cultural independence. Democracy and equality became the ideals of the new nation. Complete changes came about in the political life of the country.2. Economic: Industrialism spread widely and fast. A large number of immigrants arrived. All these produced an economic boom.3. Both the change in political and the economic development brought about a sense of optimism and hope.4. Culturally: Magazines appeared in ever-increasing numbers and they played an important role in facilitating literary expansion.5. Foreign influence added incentive to the growth of romanticism in America.14Features of American Romanticism美国浪漫主义特征a. Imitative: Some of the American Romantic writings were modeled on English and European works. The Romantic Movement proved to be a decisive influence. Without it, the rise of Romanticism would have been impossible. Romanticism writers such as Scott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron all made a stimulating impact on American literature.b. Independent: From the very beginning, American Romanticism exhibited distinct features of its own. It originated from a mixture of factors which were altogether American rather than anything else.c. Puritan influence over American Romanticism was clearly noticeable. E.g., the author tended more to moralize than writers in England.15：Uniqueness of Am. Romanticism:美国浪漫主义独特性Unique subject matter：The western movement ：the American national experience of pioneering into the west proved to be a rich source of material for American writers to draw upon. They celebrated American’s landsc ape with its virgin forests, meadows, groves, endless prairies, stream, and vast oceans. The wildness came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral law.Uniqueness of Am. Romanticism:：the newness as a nation美国浪漫主义独特性的具体体现（1）The ideals of individualism and political equality, and their dream that America was to be a new Garden of Eden for man were distinctly American. This feeling of newness was strong enough to inspire the romantic imagination and channel it into different vein of writing.Puritan moral values（2）Puritan influence over American Romanticism was clearly noticeable. E.g., the author tended more to moralize than writers in England.（3）Mixture of different races：The immigrants coming from different cultural and social background bring with them different cultures16. Two phases:两个时期a. 1770s to 1830s Early period Representatives: Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooperb.1830s to 1860s Late period summit of American literature Representatives: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Poe etc.；Washington Irving “Father of the American short storyHis Worksa. A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty1809 《纽约外史》b. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent1819-1820 《见闻札记》c. Bracebridge Hall 1822 《布雷斯布里奇庄园》d. Oliver Goldsmith 1840 《哥尔德斯密斯》e. Life of George Washington1855-1859 《华盛顿传》The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent1819-1820 《见闻札记》评价：（1）The Sketch Book is a collection of essays, sketches, and tales.（2）In The Sketch Book, the most famous and frequently anthologized（选编）are “Rip Van Winkle” 《瑞普·凡·温克》“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 《睡谷的传说》(3）The short story as a genre in American literature began with The Sketch Book.(4)The book touched the American imagination and foreshadowed the coming of Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe. (5)It also marked the beginning of American Romanticisms.The evaluation of Irving：a:Father of American literatureb：The beginning of short story as a genre-“Father of the American short story”c The first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international famed The Sketch Book also marked the beginning of American RomanticismThe theme of the storyThe story of man who has difficulties facing his advancing ageThe contradictory impulses in America toward work- the puritan attitude as opposed to the American desire for leisureThe theme of escape from one’s responsibilities and even one’s historyThe loss of identity19：James Fenimore Cooper(1789-1851)Major Works：Precaution戒备(1820, his first novel, imitating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) The Spy间谍(his second novel and great success)皮袜子故事集：“Leatherstocking Tales” (his masterpiece, a series of five novels): The Pioneers开拓者, The Last of the Mohicans最后的莫西干人, The Prairie草原, The Pathfinder探路者, The Deerslayer 杀鹿者point of view：the theme of wilderness vs. civilization, freedom vs. law, order vs. change, aristocrat vs. democrat, natural rights vs. legal rightsTheme：a. America was made conscious of his past, particularly the contribution from the Mohicans.b. The antithesis between nature and civilization, at the cost of the life and labor, will be dissolved to push the development of frontiers.c. The battle between the colonists caused the trage dy of Indians in American continentThe features of Cooper ：He is a mythic writer Good at inventing plots (Cooper had never been to the frontier area personally.)Style: powerful, yet clumsy and dreadfulWooden Characters ：Use of dialect, but not authentic (criticized by Mark Twain)19：超验主义：Transcendentalism （1）定义Emerson’s Definition：In his essay "The Transcendentalist," Emerson explained transcendentalism is “idealism; i dealism as it appears in 1842".The factors that influenced New England Transcendentalism：New England Transcendentalism was the Product of a combination of foreign influences and the American Puritan traditiona. Foreign influences: the introduction of idealism (唯心主义)from Germany and France and Oriental mysticismb. American PuritanismMajor Features超验主义特征：emphasis on spirit or the Oversoul as the most important thing in the universe. 1 The Oversoul was an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part. It exists in nature and man alike and constituted the chief elements of the universe2 It emphasized the significance of the individual and believed that the individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish.It took nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God3 All things in nature were symbols of the spiritual, of God’s presence. Nature was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Everything in the universe was viewed as an expression of the divine spirit.4 It stressed the power of intuition. It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition. But the things they learned from within were truer than the things they learned from without, and transcended them. It held that everyone had access to a source of knowledge that transcended the everyday experiences of sensation and reflection. Intuition was inner light within.Influence超验主义的影响：1 It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature. It stressed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.2 It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height.It helped to create the first American renaissance –one of the most prolific period in American literatureSignificance: New England Transcendentalism is the summit of American Romanticism. Representatives: Emerson, Thoreau20：Ralph Waldo Emerson拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生His Works：a. Essays《散文集》b. Nature《论自然》(a book which declared the birth of Transcendentalism)c. The American Scholar《论美国学者》(American’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence)d. Divinity, The Oversoul《论超灵》e. Self-reliance《论自立》f. The Transcendentalist《超验主义者》His point of view a. One major element of his philosophy is his firm belief in the transcendence of the “oversoul”.b. He regards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying(圣洁的神圣化的) moral influence on man, and advocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent(内在的固有的) God in nature.c. If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself and brings out the divine in himself, he can hope to become better and even perfect. This is what Emerson means by “the infinitude of man”.d. Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making his world, and that he makes the world by making himself.His aesthetics a. poets should function as preachers who gave directions to the mass.b. True poetry and true art should ennoble and serve as a moral purification and a passage toward organic unity(有机统一) and higher reality.c. Emerson places emphasis on ideas, symbols and imaginative words.d. As to theme, Emerson called upon American authors to celebrate America and the life today.e. Emerson’s aesthetics brought about a revolution in American li terature in general and in American poetry in particular. It marked the birth of true American poetry and true America poets such as Whitman and DickinsonNature （论自然）：Emerson’s first published work was Nature(1836). This work has the clearest statement of Transcendentalist ideas. Nature is considered the “gospel” (真理信条)of American Transcendentalism. It has an Introduction and eight chapters:1.Nature2. Commodity3. Beauty4. Language5. Discipline6. Idealism7. Spirit8. Prospects.The major thesis of the essay, in Emerson‘s words, is that we should now “enjoy an original relation to the universe,” and not become dependent on past experiences of others or on holy books, creeds ,dogma(教条教理).主要内容：In it Emerson stated that man should not see nature merely as something to be used; that man’s relationship with nature transcends the idea of usefulness. Nature is a kind of discipline to man. Once you are in nature, totally in solitude, you feel you’re nothing, but you see all. Nature makes people feel transparent(透明的) and humble. Meanwhile, He saw an important difference between understanding (judging things only according to the senses) and reasonThe American Scholar论美国学者These two works made him famous.As “Man Thinking”, the Scholar should know how to think when confronted with Nature, the Past (in the form of books) and Action (life).Emerson particularly warns that the past should be used to inspire and not to enslave the scholar. Emerson argued in the speech that the age called to the Scholar for active participation and leadership.It is American’s Declaration of Intellectual IndependenceSelf-Reliance(论自助)Self-Reliance is one of the most famous of these lecture essays, and is widely read in American high schools today. Emerson believed above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance; He admired courage and was not afraid of changing or clashing ideas.Equally important is Emerson’s essay The Over-Soul (1841).The Major Themes in Emerson’s Works：the emphasis on the independence and separateness of the individual, and the right (and duty) of man rise to his full potential, asserting the inalienable worth of every man.“Another sign of our times…is the new importance given to the single personEmerson’s Influences on A.La He called on American Writers to write about America in a peculiarly American way.b His perception of humanity and nature as symbols of universal truth encouraged the development of the symbolist movement in A. art and literature.c He embodied a new nation’s desire and struggle to assert（维护主张）its own identity in its formative period.Henry David Thoreau a. A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers(1849)《康科德和梅里马克河上的一周》b. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and Walden / Walden《瓦尔登湖》c. Civil Disobedience《论公民之不服从》It influenced people such as Mahatma Gandhi.point of viewHe did not like the way a materialistic America was developing and was vehemently(激烈的) outspoken on the point.He hated the human injustice as represented by the slavery system.Like Emerson, but more tha n him, Thoreau saw nature as a healthy influence on man’s spiritual well-being.He has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man.He was very critical of modern civilization.“Simplicity…simplify!”He has trust in the future and has belief in a new generation of men.Civil DisobedienceThe essay makes it clear that this stance(立场姿态) is not a matter of whim（一时的兴趣奇想）but a demanding moral principle.The appeal of civil disobedience in the North grew in the wake of the Compromise of 1850, whichincluded the hated Fugitive Slave Law, requiring all citizens to aid in the return of escaped slaves to their owners. Though civil disobedience is usually associated with passive resistance, Thoreau brought out the more direct action of John Brown.Thoreau's essay had a profound influence on reformers worldwide, from Gandhi in South Africa and India; to Martin Luther King, and the opposition to the Vietnam War in the United States.Walden (1854In 1854, Thoreau published the book by which he will always be best known, Walden, or Life in the Woods. It is by far the deepest, richest, and most closely jointed of his books. It shows Thoreau at his best, and contains all that he had to say to the world. In fact, he is a man of one book, and that book is Walden. Thoreau's Walden is mythic, poetic, fictitious, fabulous, and metaphoric in the best senses of these terms. In it the artistically recreated real-life experience (itself an experiment in "artistic" living) becomes a symbolic model or paradigm for an embodied spiritual quest for the disembodied, for a journey from the "gross" to the divine "necessaries of life." The thesis of Walden is clearly indicated in the first chapter of the book. True economy has nothing to do with the ways and means of increasing wealth, with methods for multiplying the superfluities, the "gross necessaries of life." True economy is that which simply provides the flesh with what belongs to the flesh so that the spirit may go about its own business.The book described the author’s extremely simple life and regeneration he experienced when he lived near the Walden pond.This is a book on self-culture and human perfectibilityThoreau has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man. He holds that the most important thing for men to do with their lives is to be self-sufficient and strive to achieve personal spiritual perfection.In the book Thoreau criticized the modern civilization and told people to leave the life of hurry and bustle and to sink themselves in nature.It is a book full of ideas expressed to jostle his neighbors out of their smug(自鸣得意的) complacency(自满满足For the fatal modern craze for monetary success he prescribes a panacea(灵丹妙药) “Simplicity…simplify!” Spiritual richness is real wealth.One’s soul might not help one up in the world, but it will help make real progress in self-improvementRegeneration is a major thematic concern of wardenRegeneration is a major thematic concern of warden and thus decide the structural framework of the book. The whole book is within the frame of a single year, and progresses through spring, summer and autumn to winter.EvaluationComparing with Emerson who was a great thinker, Thoreau was a great experimentalist who put Emerson's Transcendental doctrines into practice in the actual life.Herman Melville (1819 ---- 1891):Master of philosophical allegory寓言1:His point of view : a. negative attitude towards life. b. One of the major themes of his is alienation孤立（far away from each other）. c. Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism（individualism causing disaster and death）, rejection and quest, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts over the comforting 19th-century idea of progress2:His Writing Stylea. Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple view of his narratives.b. He tends to write periodic chapters.c. His rich rhythmical富有节奏感的prose and his poetic power have been profusely丰富地commentedupon and praised. d. His works are symbolic and metaphorical.e. He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background or description of what goes on board the ship or on the route (Moby Dick)His Worksa.Typee1846《泰比》b. Omoo1874《奥穆》c. Moby Dick 1851《莫比·迪克》d. Mardi1849《玛地》 f. White Jacket1850《白外衣》g. Pierre1852《皮尔埃》h. Billy Budd (posthumously) 《比利·巴德》Moby Dick(1)Ishmael, feeling depressed, seeks escape by going out to sea on the whaling ship, Pequod. The captain is Ahab, the man with one leg. Moby Dick, the white whale, had sheared off his leg on a previous voyage, and Ahab resolves to hunt him to kill him. He hangs a doubloon on the mast as a reward for anyone who sight the whale first. The Pequod makes a good catch of whales but Ahab refuses to turn back until he has killed his enemy. Eventually the white whale appears, and the Pequod begins its doomed fight with it. On the first day the whale overturns a boat; on the second it swamps another. When the third day comes, Ahab and his crew manage to plunge a harpoon into it, but the whale carries the Pequod along with it to its doom. All on board the whaler get drowned, except one, Ishmael, who survive to tell the tale.Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville’s bleak view of the world in which he lived. It is at once Godless and purposeless. Man in this universe lives a meaningless and futile life, meaningless because futile.One of the major themes in Melville is alienation, which he sensed existing in the life of his time on different levels, between man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Nature has overwhelming power. Man can’t conquer nature. Man, living in this world, is a tragedyIt is a negative reflection of self-reliance, and individualism. Ahab may have been Melville’s portrait of an Emersonian self-reliant individual. Melville lost no opportunity in his criticism of New England Transcendentalism. Constantly under his attack is its emphasis on individualism and Oversoul. The idea that man make the world for himself is nothing but a Transcendentalist folly.Symbolismthe voyage: the search for the ultimate truth of experienceMoby Dick: the final mystery of the universe which man will do well to desist from pursuing Ambiguity (You can understand his Moby Dick differently.)First, it can be understand as a tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming odds in an indifferent and even hostile universe. Thus, Captain Ahab is a hero who dares to fight though he failed at last.Then, it can be understood as a bitter satire on Transcendentalism’s emphasis on self-reliance. Captain Ahab believed in his own power (a human being’s power) too much and thus he doomed to fail, because human’s power is limited and there is a mysterious thing existed in the universe which controlled man’s life and cannot be understood by human being.Nowadays some new research indicated that the story means man should protect the nature otherwise man will be punished as those whalers in the story were punished by the whale.Melville spoke ahead of his time. He knew that he was doomed to write a book like Moby Dick in his day, but he just could not help himself because he was a dedicated literary artist. There was, to be sure, a good deal of Ahab in him. “I have written a wicked book,” he said after finishing Moby Dick, and the public felt outraged. Thus born in the 19th century, Melville did not receive recognition until the twentieth century. Scarlet Letter1:The beauty shows:Free in the jail in her mind.。

《美国文学》期末考查试题（开卷)2011～2012(2)/ 2012。

05。

25江苏大学文法学院中文2009级师范、文秘、汉教专业专业、班级__________ 学号___________ 姓名____________ 得分_____一、名词解释（4×3，12分）（8选4）1。

温斯罗普2。

《见闻札记》3。

拓荒者4。

超验主义5。

废奴文学6. 冰山原则7. 南方文学8. 黑色幽默二、常识简答（3×4，12分）（6选3）1。

美国文学可用一句话概括:“先是写给故乡的信，然后是宗教或哲学上的辩论，再然后是摹仿的作品，最终才有表现新生活的独特而有机的作品”(R0bert E。

Spiller：《美国文学的周期》）——试对上述分别所指作品只作简要举例证明（至少4个以上）。

2。

“最后一位清教徒”和“第一个美国人”分别为谁？各有哪些继承者？3。

举出具体作品，说明詹姆斯·费尼莫·库珀（1789～1851）在美国文学史上占有一个怎样的地位（即库珀文学创作的意义)?4. 为什么说爱伦·坡和霍桑是“美国的艺术家”？5。

国内学者关于梅尔维尔《白鲸》主题（意义和价值）的三个层次是如何概括的？6. 略述美国20世纪20年代美国现代派文学(“美国诗歌的文艺复兴"）在诗歌领域里的兴起表现。

三、问题论述（2×8,16分)（3选2）1．惠特曼《草叶集》中的“草叶"是怎样的意象？结合诗人的“有机”理论谈谈你的理解.2. 为什么说马克·吐温的《汤姆·索亚历险记》、《密西西比河上》和《哈克贝里·费恩历险记》三部作品实际上是一部作品？3. 美国当代作家迈克尔·布莱克谈及自己的小说《与狼共舞》（另有同名电影），对其“祖先以发展的名义和以由我们这些人构成的后代的名义所犯下种族绝灭和文化消失的罪恶的研究,往往是一种令人难过的研究"的反思,你认为其意义何在？四、综合分析（60分）1。

美国⽂学史期末考试复习资料Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items. (10 x 1’= 10’)1.In American literature, the 18th century was the age of Enlightenment. ______ was the dominant.2.The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is taken from Irving’s work named______.3.Which of the following is not the characteristic of American Romanticism?4.The short story “Rip Van Winkle” reveals the ____ attitude of its author.5.Stylistically, Henry James’ fiction is characterized by _____.6.Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in _____ and Thoreau.7.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?8.____ is considered Mark Twain’s greatest achievement.9._____ is not among those greatest figures in “Lost Generation”.10.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing b ecomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more ____.1-5，BBACD 6-10 BADCDI.Multiple choice. Please choose the best answer among the four items. (10 x 1’=10’)11.______ is the father of American Literature.life.13._____ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.14.Which of following is NOT a typical feature of Mark Twain’s language?15.From Thoreau’s jail experience, came his famous essay, _____ which states his belief that no man should violate his conscience at the command of a government.A. WaldenB. NatureC. Civil DisobedienceD. Common Sense16.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?17.Most of the poems in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass sing of the “en-mass” and the ____ as well.18.What did Fitzgerald call the 1920s?19.Naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more ____.20.For Melville, as well as for the reader and ____, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe.1-5 D A B C C 6-10 A C C D CII. Identify Works as Described Below (1’×15 =15’):1.The novel has a sole black protagonist who tells his own story but whose name in unknown to us.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains2.The main conflict of the play is the protagonist’s false value of fine appearance and popularity with people and the cruel reality of the society in which money is everything.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journey into Nightd. Death of Salesman3.It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on the playwright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries4.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and how the society is responsible for the murder.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains5._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the Second World War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge of Couraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead7.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma and travel to California to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.a.The Grapes of Wrathb. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March8.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, with such techniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.a.Babbittb. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath9.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whose title is taken from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and how she becomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into a beggar and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. The novel is set on the Mississippi with the protagonist telling us the story in the local dialect. It is a representative work of local colorism.a.Sister Carrieb.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finnd.The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions in the Civil War.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of the universality and equality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a group of people on a whaling ship kill a great whale butthemselves are killed by the whale, with the conflict between man and his fate.a.The Octopusb. Moby-Dickc. The Rise of Silas Laphamd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a philosophical essay in 8 chapters plus an introduction mainly concerned with thefour uses of nature.a. Waldenb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. The American Scholar1-5.cdaad 6-10.aacbb /doc/2ac563ad77a20029bd64783e0912a21614797f92.html cbbI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1’×15=15’):1.An English ship brought 102 people from Plymouth, England on September 16, 1620 andarrived in the present Provincetown harbor on November 21 in the same year. This ship was named ____________.a. The Pilgrimsb. Mayflowerc. Americad. Titanic2._________ is father of American drama and in his dramatic career he wrote 49 plays.a. Tennessee Williamsb. Eugene O’Neillc. Arthur Millerd. Elmer Rice3._________ was the first American writer to write entirely American literature.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Washington Irvingc. Mark Twaind. Ernest Hemingway4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5._______was the greatest woman poet in American literature and she wrote about 1,700 shortlyric poems in her life time.a. Pearl S. Buckb.Harriet Bicher Stowec. Emily Dickensond. Walter Whitman6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.William Dean Howells is concerned with the middle class life; ______ writes about the upper class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. Henry James8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. His writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts. He is______.a. Ernest Hemingwayb. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. He wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in the deep south.He is ______.a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jews are majora. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Euge ne O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. He was the first black American to write a book about black life with great impact on theconsciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans. Who is he?a.Richard Wrightb. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15. Hemingway wrote about American compatriots in Europe whereas ________ wrote aboutthe Jazz age, life in American society.a.William Carlos Williamsb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeckd. F. Scott Fitzgerald 1-5 bbccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcadI.Choose the Best Answer for Each of the Following (1×15 %):2.The American Civil War broke out in 1861 between the Northern states and the Southstates, which are known respectively as the ______and the______.a. N, Sb. Revolutionaries, Reactionariesc. Union, Confederacyd. Slavery, Anti-Slavery2._____________was praised by the British as the “Tenth Muse in America”.b. Edward Taylorc. Thomas Pained. Philip Freneau3.Mark Twain was a representative of ________ in American literature.a. transcendentalismb. naturalismc. local colorismd. imagism4. _______ was the leader of American transcendentalism.a. Benjamin Franklinb. Washington Irvingc. Ralph Waldo Emersond. Henry David Thoreau5.The greatest American poet and the first writer of free verse is ____________.a. Washington Irvingb.Ezra Poundc. Walt Whitmand. Emily Dickinson6._________ is father of the detective story and of psychoanalytic criticism.a. Washington Irvingb. Ralph Waldo Emersonc. Walt Whitmand. Edgar Allan Poe7.Henry James is concerned with the upper class life; ______ writes about the middle class society, and Mark Twain deals with the lower class reality.a. Stephen Craneb. Frank Norrisc. Theodore Dreiserd. William Dean Howells8. Which of the following is a naturalistic writer?a. William Dean Howellsb. Mark Twainc. Ernest Hemingwayd.Theodore Dreiser9. ________’s writings are characterized by simple, colloquial language and deep thoughts.b. William Faulknerc. F. Scott Fitzgeraldd. Mark Twain10. ______ wrote 18 novels all set in Jefferson Town, Yoknapatwapha County in the deepsouth. .a. William Faulknerb. John Steinbeckc. Ernest Hemingwayd. Mark Twain11. ________is Jewish in origin and in many of his novels the American Jews are majorcharacters.a. Sinclair Lewisb. Saul Bellowc. Norman Mailerd. Jerome David Salinger12._________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.a. Anne Bradstreetb. Robert Frostc. H.D.d. Emily Dickinson13.________ is father of American drama and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.a. John Steinbeckb. William Faulknerc. Eugene O’Neilld. Arthur Miller14. _______ was the first black American to write a book about black life with great impact onthe consciousness of the nation and his masterpiece is one of the three classics about black Americans.b.Richard Wright b. Harriet Beecher Stowec. Langston Hughesd. Ralph Ellison15. ________ first used the “Jazz age” as the title of a collection of short storiesa. F. Scott Fitzgeraldb. William Faulknerc. John Steinbeck1-5.caccc 6-10.dddaa 11-15.bdcbaII. Identify Works as Described Below (1×15 %):6.The play is about a stoker whose identity as a human being is not recognized by his fellow human beings and who tries to find affinity with a monkey in the zoo and is finally killed by the animal.a. The Hairy Apeb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. Long Day’s Journey into Nightd. The Glass Menageries7.The protagonist in this play is a crippled girl named Amanda.a.A Street Car Named Desireb. The Hairy Apec.Long Day’s Journey into Nightd.The Glass Menageries8.The hero of this novel tells about his own story to us but his name is unknown.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on the Mountains4. It is an autobiographical play and Edmund in the play is based on the playwright himself.a. Long Day’s Journey into Nightb. Henderson the Rain Kingc. The Hairy Aped. The Glass Menageries5.The novel tells of how a black man kills a white woman by accident and how he is finally arrested and tried and sentenced to death.a.Native Sonb.Uncle Tom’s Cabinc.Invisible Mand. Go Tell It on theMountains6._________ is one of the best works in American literature about the Second World War.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Catcher in the Ryec.The Red Badge of Couraged. The Naked and the Dead6. The novel by Hemingway is the best of its kind about World War I.a.A Farewell to Armsb.The Sun Also Risesc.The Old Man and the Sead. The Naked and the Dead10.The novel is about how a family of farmers cannot survive in Oklahoma and travel toCalifornia to seek a living and how they suffer hunger in California.b.T he Grapes of Wrath b. U.S. A.c.Babbittd. The Adventures of Augie March11.It is a trilogy including The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money, with suchtechniques as biographies, newsreels and camera eye.b.B abbitt b. Light in Augustc. U.S.A.d. The Grapes of Wrath12.It is a novel which uses the stream of consciousness technique and whose title is takenfrom Shakespeare’s Macbeth.a. Absolom, Absolom!b. The Sound and the Furyc.A Farewell to Armsd. The Great Gatsby10. It is a naturalistic work about how a country girl is seduced and elopes with Hurstwoodand how she becomes a famous actress and how her lover falls into beggary and finally commits suicide.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec. McTeagued.Maggie, A Girl of the Streets11. It is a novel with 135 chapters plus an epilog; in it a group of people on a whaling ship killa great whale but they themselves are killed by the whale in the end, except Ishmael thenarrator who survives by adhering to a coffin.b.Sister Carrie b.The Adventures of Tom Sawyerc. Moby Dickd. The Portrait of a Lady12.The novel is a psychological study of a soldier (Henry Fleming)’s reactions in the Civil War,in which wound is called the red badge which symbolizes courage.a.An American Tragedyb. Sister Carriec.The Red Badge of Couraged. McTeague13. The poem is written in free verse in 52 cantos with the theme of the universality andequality in value of all people and all things.a.Cantosb. The Ravenc. Song of Myselfd.Chicago14. The novel is about how a man falls economically and socially but who rises morallybecause he gives up the opportunity to sell his factory to an English Syndicate, which would otherwise mean a ruin to that syndicate.a.The Octopusb. The Rise of Silas Laphamc. Moby-Dickd. Leaves of Grass15. It is a speech delivered at Harvard University. It is often hailed as the “declaration ofintellectual independence” in America.a. The American Scholarb. Naturec. The Scarlet Letterd. Walden1-5.adcad 6-10.aacbb /doc/2ac563ad77a20029bd64783e0912a21614797f92.html cbaII. Match the following (1×20%)A. Match Works with Their Authors1.Hugh Selwyn Mauberly2.Walden3. Autobiography4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer9. Long Day’s Journey into Night10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Mark Twain b . Ernest Hemingwayc. Eugene O’Neilld. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Benjamin Franklini.Henry David Thoreau j. Ezra Poundk.Thomas Jefferson l. T.S. EliotB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1.Hester Prynne2.Mrs. Touchett3.Frederick Henry4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 7.Bigger Thomas8.Yank 9.Happya.The Portrait of a Ladyb. The Scarlet Letterc. The Hairy Aped. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Deadh. The Catcher in the Ryei. Native Sonj. Death of a Salesmank.Invisible Manl.Catch-22A. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edccbB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear. 1-5.badef 6-10.ghicj III. Match the following (1’×20=20’)A. Match works with their authors1.Nature2.Rip Van Winkle3. Nature4. The Scarlet Letter5.Leaves of Grass6.The Raven7. The Rise of Silas Lapham8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn9. Cantos10. The Old Man and the Seaa.Ezra Poundb. Ernest Hemingwayc. Mark Twaind. William Dean Howellse. Edgar Allan Poef. Walt Whitmang. Nathaniel Hawthorne h. Ralph Waldo Emersoni.Washington Irving j. Waldo Emersonk.T.S. Eliot l. Robert FrostB. Match characters with the works in which they appear.2.Captain Ahab and Starbuck 2.Isabel Archer3.Frederic Henry and Catherine4.Benjy Compson5.the Joads6.General Edward Cummings7.Holden Caulfield 8.Bigger Thomas9.The Tyrones 10.Willy Lomana.The Portrait of a Ladyb. Moby-Dickc. Death of a Salesmand. A Farewell to Armse.The Sound and the Furyf. The Grapes of Wrathg. The Naked and the Dead h. The Catcher in the Rye i. Native Son j. Long Day’s Journey into Nightk.Absalom, Absalom l. The Old Man and the SeaA. Match Works with Their Authors1-5.jihgf 6-10.edcabB. Match the Characters with the works in which they appear.1-5.badef 6-10.edcabV. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a short essay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you are not simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are required to indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of your own.1.To the best of your knowledge, analyze and make comments on Emerson’s Nature/doc/2ac563ad77a20029bd64783e0912a21614797f92.html ment on any American poet you like.3.Analyze and/or comment on any one of the American novels or plays you have read.V. Essay Questions (30%; c hoose only ONE of the following three topics and write a shortessay of at least 200 words. Note: [1]Your essay should have at least 2 paragraphs; you arenot simply to make a list of facts.[2] You may give a title to your essay, but you are requiredto indicate which of the 3 topics it belongs to. [3]You are not to write on a topic of yourown.)4.Make comments on an American novel we have discussed in this course./doc/2ac563ad77a20029bd64783e0912a21614797f92.html ment on an American poet.6.Describe how your knowledge of American literature is improved after taking thiscourse..IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)1.Why do people think Franklin is the embodiment of American dream?2.What is “Lost Generation”?V. Discussion. (1 x 20’ = 20’)State your own interpretations of Hemingway’s iceberg theory of writing?IV. Please answer the following questions briefly. (2 x 10’ = 20’)3.Wha t is Hawthorne’s style? Explain the style with examples.4.At the end of the 19th century, there were three fighters for Realism. Who are they?What are their differences?________True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. American literature is the oldest of all national literature.2. Thomas Jefferson was the only American to sign the 4 documents that created the US.3. All his literary life, Hawthorne seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil.4. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass are about human psychology.5. Hurstwood is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.6. Faulkner’s region was the Deep North, with its bitter history of slavery, civil war and destruction.7. Placed in historical perspective, Howells is found lacking in qualities and depth. But anyhow he is a literaryfigure worthy of notice.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.10. Emily Dickinson expr esses her deep love in the poem “Annabel Lee”.1-5 F F T F F 6-10 F F T F FII. Decide whether the statements are True or False. (10 x 2’= 20’)1. Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and began the main stream of what we recognizeas the American national history.2. American Romantic writers avoided writing about nature, medieval legends and with supernatural elements.3. As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.4. “Young Goodman Brown” wants to prove everyone possesses kindness in heart.5. Henry James was a realist in the same way as one views the realism of Twain or Howells.6. The American realists sought to describe the wide range of American experience and to present the subtletiesof human personality.7. Frost’s concern with nature reflected his deep moral uncertainties.8. Faulkner’s works have been termed the Yoknapatawpha Saga, “one connected story”.9. Roger Chillingworth is a character in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.10. After the Civil War, the Frontier was closing. Disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned to be a “Gilded” one.1-5 T F T F T 6-10 F T T F TIII. Please explain the follo wing terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. Free verse3. International novel: 4．Romanticism 5. Naturalism 6. American Realism 7.American Naturalism Modernism Imagism1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.Free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts toavoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.3.International novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities who representcertain characteristics of their own countries.4.Naturalism: It views human beings as animals in the natural world responding toenvironmental forces and internal stresses and drives, over none of which they havecontrol and none of which they fully understand. The literary naturalists have a majordifference from the realists. They look at a different spot to find real life.III. Please explain the following terms. (5 x 6’ = 30’)1. Puritanism2. international novel3. the lost generation4. free verse5.American transcendentalism Hemingway heroes1.Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.2.international novel: IN brings together persons of various nationalities who represent certain characteristics of their own countries.3.the lost generation: reveals the huge destruction of the wars to the young generation. It describes the Americans who remained in Paris as a colony of “expatriates”. They were lost in disillusionment.4.free verse: It is poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts to avoid any predetermined verse structure; instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.5.transcendentalism: It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition. It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God. All things in nature were symbols of the spiritual, of God’s presence. It emphasized the significance of the individual and believed that the individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish. Transcendentalists envisioned religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul”.。

美国文学复习提纲平时35。

期末65。

1．Match the literary work in column B with the author in the column A. (20 points)2. Decide the following statements true or false. (10 points)3. Define the following literary terms (20 points)一、时间（1分）；二、代表人物（1分）；三；主要特征（2分）；四、文学文化意义（1分）Hemingway’s “iceberg theory” and “the code hero”Iceberg theory:It was firstly proposed by Ernest Hemingway, the representative writer of the Lost Generation, in Death In the Afternoon (1932) which has such a description “The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.”The theory suggests that the writer include in the text only a small portion of what he knows, leaving about ninety percent of the content a mystery that grows beneath the surface of the writing. It‟s influence as a stylist was nearly expressed in the praise of the Nobel Prize Committee about “his powerful style-forming mastery of the art” of writing modern fiction.The code hero: Term Coined by Philip Young in 1952 to refer to Hemingway characters that have learned to control the chaos in their lives, chaos in the form of physical or mental stress, sometimes both. As Bertrand Russell comments, Hemingway‟s heroes have such kind of courage that enables a man to behave like a man, to assert this dignity in face of diversity. A code hero could be destroyed but not defeated.Modernism:Modernism is an omnibus term for a number of tendencies in the arts which were prominent in the first half of the 20th c.; In English literature it includes symbolism, futurism, expressionism, imagism, dada, and surrealism. It is particularly associated with the writings of T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, James Joyce etc. Broadly, Modernism reflects the impact upon literature of the psychology of Freud and the anthropology of Sir J. Frazer, as expressed in The Golden Bough (1890-1915). A sense of cultural relativism is pervasive in much modernist writing, as is an awareness of the irrational and the workings of the unconscious mind. Modernist literature is a literature of discontinuity, both historically, being based upon a sharp rejection of the procedures and values of the immediate past, to which it adopts an adversary stance; and aesthetically.The Lost Generation:The "Lost Generation" is a term was popularized by Ernest Hemingway in his novel, "The Sun Also Rises" used to refer to his generation; those who experienced alienation and the loss of ideals yet unable to come to terms with the new era when civilization had gone mad resulting from World War I .This generation included distinguished artists such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. EliotThe beat generation:The Beat Generation is a term for a group of American writers who came into prominence during the 1950s and offered a radical critique of middle class American values. The beats celebrated individual freedom, Zen Buddhism, and the free use of drugs;they attacked the conformity, complacency, and commercialism of the “tranquilized fifties.” The most prominent members of the group were the poet Allen Ginsberg and the novelist Jack Kerouac.New Criticism:The New Criticism is a movement in American literary criticism from the 1930s to the 1960s, which name comes from John Crowe Ransom‟s book The New Criticism (1941).The basic principle of New Criticism was to locate the meaning of a literary work not in the intention of the author nor in the experience of the reader, but in “the text itself,”the internal relations of language that constitute a “poem.”Also to be avoided, or at least subordinated to close reading, were “extrinsic” (that is, not dealing exclusively with the language of the text) approaches to the study of literature: social, psychological, economic, political, or historical.When it was at its peak, New Criticism greatly influenced both literary critics in their evaluation of literary works and poets in their writing of poems.Postmodernism:In literature, Postmodernism is a term used to describe characteristics of some contemporary literature that distinguish it from the literature of modernism. Where modernist literature was characterized by its commitment to the value of a unified, coherent work of art employing symbol and myth, exhibiting alienation from ordinary life, postmodernism celebrates incoherence, discontinuity, parody, popular culture, and the principle of metafiction. Postmodernism has combined formal experimentalism with powerful social and cultural criticism.Stream of Consciousness:The term was originally a psychological term to refer to the continuous flow of sense-perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and memories in the human mind. In literature it refers to a literary method of representing such a blending of mental processes in fictional characters, usually in an unpunctuated or disjointed form of interior monologue. As an important device of modernist fiction and its later imitators, the technique was pioneered by Dorothy Richardson in Pilgrimage (1915-35) and by James Joyce in Ulysses (1922), and further developed by Virginia Woolf in Mrs Dalloway (1925) and William Faulkner in The Sound and the Fury (1928).4. text analysis: 6选3 (30 points)In a Station of the Metro:1. Why does the poet call the faces of pedestrians “apparition”?Pound contrasts the factual, mundane image that he actually witnessed with a metaphor from nature and thus infuses this “apparition” with visual beauty. There is a quick transition from the statement of the first line to the second line‟s vivid metaphor; this …super-pository‟ technique exemplifies the Japanese haiku style. The word “apparition” is considered crucial as it evokes a mystical and supernatural sense of imprecision which is then reinforced by the metaphor of the second line.2. What do “petals” and “bough” stand for?The plosive word …Petals‟ conjures ideas of delicate, feminine beauty which contrasts with the bleakness of the …wet, black bough‟.The Red Wheelbarrow:1. How does the first two lines differ from the other pairs of lines?There is no exact thing presented in the 1st two lines. But, by adding those first four words the meanings of the poem just explode into a million different possible meanings.2. What is the meaning of “depends upon” in the 1st pair of lines?“Hardness and aesthetics of life.”One’s-self I singThe 1855 "Song of Myself" had announced that the "word of the modern" was "a word en masse," and eventually Whitman would revise this 1867 Inscription to affirm that "En-Masse" was also "the word Democratic." In a modern, democratic society, as Tocqueville had said, no intermediate allegiances stand between the individual citizen and the entire body politic. The Self is indeed separate, isolated; it has renounced party and creed and local custom, all mediating bodies that provide a system of preference or exclusion."One‟s-Self I sing, a simple separate person," run the opening lines of Leaves of Grass from 1871 on, "Yet utter the word Democratic." A poetic universe of productive tension is hinted by that "Yet"; the tense equipoise between individualism and democracy, this poem suggests, is the foundational theme of Whitman‟s book. The poem then goes on to introduce the site and symbol for this reconciliation of individual to mass: the body, "physiology from top to toe." We receive individual identity through our body, . . . yet at the same time, physicality, and especially physical affection, are universal, binding us together in common humanity. Much of the boldly progressive politics of Whitman‟s poetry will follow from this emphasis on the body; thus his introduction of the theme of "physiology" is followed by his (then quite radical) insistence on the political equality of male and female.The poet he imagines in the 1855 preface is, like his ideal republic, balanced between self and other: "The soul has that measureless pride which consists in never acknowledging any lessons but its own. But it has sympathy as measureless as its pride and the one balances the other and neither can stretch too far while it stretches in company with the other. The inmost secrets of art sleep with the twain. The greatest poet has lain close betwixt both and they are vital to his style and thoughts."This vision of a poet stretching within a universe bounded by pride and sympathy had as its political analogue the paradox of an American republic poised between self-interest and public virtue, liberty and union, the interests of the many and the good of the one. The secretof Whitman's art and the American Union, the paradox of many in one, eventually became the opening inscription and balancing frame of Leaves of Grass:One's-Self I sing, a simple separate person,Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.Balanced between the separate person and the en masse, the politics of Leaves of Grass is neither liberal nor bourgeois in the classical sense of the terms; rather, the poems represent the republican ideals of early-nineteenth-century artisan radicalism, emphasizing the interlinked values of independence and community, personal wealth and commonwealth.The open boatNature’s Indifference to ManDespite the narrator‟s profusion of animistic (animal-like), humanistic (manlike), and deistic (godlike) characterizations of nature, Crane makes clear that nature is ultimately indifferent to the plight of man, possessing no consciousness that we can understand. As the stranded men progress through the story, the reality of nature‟s lack of concern for them becomes increasingly clear. The narrator highlights this development by changing the way he describes the sea. Early in the story, the sea snarls, hisses, and bucks like a bronco; later, it merely “paces to and fro,” no longer an actor in the men‟s drama. In reality, the sea does not change at all; onl y the men‟s perception of the sea changes. The unaltered activity of the gulls, clouds, and tides illustrates that nature does not behave any differently in light of the men‟s struggle to survive.Crane strengthens the idea that nature is indifferent to man by showing that it is as randomly helpful as it is hurtful. For every malevolent whim that the men suffer, they experience an unexpected good turn in the form of a favorable wind or calm night. The fact that the men almost seem to get assistance from nature destroys the notion of nature as an entirely hostile force. Nothing highlights this point so much as the correspondent‟s final rescue. Plowed to shore and saved by a freak wave, the correspondent must embrace the fact that the very thing that has put him in harm‟s way has saved him. This freak wave, however, may also be responsible for killing the much hardier oiler, a turn of events that demonstrates two ideas: nature is as much a harsh punisher as it is a benefactor, and nature does not act out of any motivation that can be understood in human terms.Man’s Insignificance in the Universe“The Open Boat” conveys a feeling of loneliness that comes from man‟s understanding that he is alone in the universe and insignificant in its workings. Underneath the men‟s and narrator‟s collective rants at fate and the universe is the fear of nothingness. They have an egotistical belief that they should have a role in the universe, that their existence should mean something. When the correspondent realizes by section VI that fate will not answer his pleas, he settles into despair. His subsequent recollection of the poem about the soldier who lies dying in Algiers reflects his feelings of alienation at being displaced from his position in the universe. Like the soldier who dies in alien territory, the correspondent fears that he too will perish without a connection to whatever gives him his sense of self.Throughout “The Open Boat,” the correspondent understands pain to be the necessary byproduct of his efforts to overcome nature, the willful enemy. He comes to value hissuffering because it is nobly derived; in the earlier sections, the correspondent, whom the narrator says is cynical, is often cheerful and talkative in his descriptions of the physical pain he experien ces. By the end of the story, however, the correspondent‟s new awareness that the universe is unconcerned with the situation‟s outcome makes him physically and spiritually weary. He decides that there is no higher purpose to surviving other than prolonging a life that is meaningless. His comment in section VII that the coldness of the water is simply “sad” underscores this despair. At this point, all sensations of pain and pleasure are merely physical and have no spiritual meaning.A clean well-lighted placeLife as NothingnessIn “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” Hemingway suggests that life has no meaning and that man is an insignificant speck in a great sea of nothingness. The older waiter makes this idea as clear as he can when he says, “It was all a nothing and man was a no thing too.” When he substitutes the Spanish word nada (nothing) into the prayers he recites, he indicates that religion, to which many people turn to find meaning and purpose, is also just nothingness. Rather than pray with the actual words, “Our Father wh o art in heaven,” the older waiter says, “Our nada who art in nada”—effectively wiping out both God and the idea of heaven in one breath. Not everyone is aware of the nothingness, however. For example, the younger waiter hurtles through his life hastily and happily, unaware of any reason why he should lament. For the old man, the older waiter, and the other people who need late-night cafés, however, the idea of nothingness is overwhelming and leads to despair.The Struggle to Deal with DespairThe old man and older waiter in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” struggle to find a way to deal with their despair, but even their best method simply subdues the despair rather than cures it. The old man has tried to stave off despair in several unsuccessful ways. We learn that he has money, but money has not helped. We learn that he was once married, but he no longer has a wife. We also learn that he has unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide in a desperate attempt to quell the despair for good. The only way the old man can deal with his despair now is to sit for hours in a clean, well-lit café. Deaf, he can feel the quietness of the nighttime and the café, and although he is essentially in his own private world, sitting by himself in the café is not the same as being alone.The older waiter, in his mocking prayers filled with the word nada, shows that religion is not a viable method of dealing with despair, and his solution is the same as the old man‟s: he waits out the nighttime in cafés. He is particular about the type of café he likes: the café must be well lit and clean. Bars and bodegas, although many are open all night, do not lessen despair because they are not clean, and patrons often must stand at the bar rather than sit at a table. The old man and the older waiter also glean solace from routine. The ritualistic café-sitting and drinking help them deal with despair because it makes life predictable. Routine is something they can control and manage, unlike the vast nothingness that surrounds them.A rose for EmilyTradition versus ChangeThrough the mysterious figure of Emily Grierson, Faulkner conveys the struggle that comes from trying to maintain tradition in the face of widespread, radical change. Jefferson is at a crossroads, embracing a modern, more commercial future while still perched on the edge of the past, from the faded glory of the Grierson home to the town cemetery where anonymous Civil War soldiers have been laid to rest. Emily herself is a tradition, steadfastly staying the same over the years despite many changes in her community. She is in many ways a mixed blessing. As a living monument to the past, she represents the traditions that people wish to respect and honor; however, she is also a burden and entirely cut off from the outside world, nursing eccentricities that others cannot understand.Emily lives in a timeless vacuum and world of her own making. Refusing to have metallic numbers affixed to the side of her house when the town receives modern mail service, she is out of touch with the reality that constantly threatens to break through her carefully sealed perimeters. Garages and cotton gins have replaced the grand antebellum homes. The aldermen try to break with the unofficial agreement about taxes once forged between Colonel Sartoris and Emily. This new and younger generation of leaders brings in Homer‟s company to pave the sidewalks. Although Jefferson still highly regards traditional notions of honor and reputation, the narrator is critical of the old men in their Confederate uniforms who ga ther for Emily‟s funeral. For them as for her, time is relative. The past is not a faint glimmer but an ever-present, idealized realm. Emily‟s macabre bridal chamber is an extreme attempt to stop time and prevent change, although doing so comes at the expense of human life.The Power of DeathDeath hangs over “A Rose for Emily,” from the narrator‟s mention of Emily‟s death at the beginning of the story through the description of Emily‟s death-haunted life to the foundering of tradition in the face of modern changes. In every case, death prevails over every attempt to master it. Emily, a fixture in the community, gives in to death slowly. The narrator compares her to a drowned woman, a bloated and pale figure left too long in the water. In the same description, he refers to her small, spare skeleton—she is practically dead on her feet. Emily stands as an emblem of the Old South, a grand lady whose respectability and charm rapidly decline through the years, much like the outdated sensibilities the Griersons represent. The death of the old social order will prevail, despite many townspeople‟s attempts to stay true to the old ways.Emily attempts to exert power over death by denying the fact of death itself. Her bizarre relationship to the dead bodies of the men she has loved—her necrophilia—is revealed first when her father dies. Unable to admit that he has died, Emily clings to the controlling paternal figure whose denial and control became the only—yet extreme—form of love she knew. She gives up his body only reluctantly. When Homer dies, Emily refuses to acknowledge it once again—although this time, she herself was responsible for bringing about the death. In killing Homer, she was able to keep him near her. However, Homer‟s lifelessness rendered him permanently distant. Emily and Homer‟s grotesque marriage reveals Emily‟s disturbing attempt to fuse life and death. However, death ultimately triumphs.5. Writing: focus on the main characters in the following texts. 5选2。

美国文学史及选读期末复习.美国文学史复习1（colonialism)第一部分殖民主义时期的文学一、时期综述1、清教徒采用的文学体裁：a、narratives 日记b、journals 游记2、清教徒在美国的写作容：1）their voyage to the new land2) Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops3) About dealing with Indians4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit3、清教徒的思想：1）puritan want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices 净化信仰和行为方式2) Wish to restore simplicity to church and the authority of the Bible to the theology. 重建教堂，提供简单服务，建立神圣地位3）look upon themselves as chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone whochallenged their way of life is opposing God's will and is not to be accepted. 认为自己是上帝选民，对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝4）puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated. 反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步5）religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面，忽视上帝仁慈的一面。

History And Anthology of American Literature (VolumeⅡ)美国文学史及选读2PartⅣ The Literature Of Realism现实主义文学1.美国国内战争Civil War 1861-1865.美国现实主义文学：他们寻找描写美国人真实生活的方法，他们声称平凡的、就近的事件同重大的、遥运的事件一样都是艺术创作的源泉they sought to portray American life as it really was,, insisting that the ordinary and local were as suitable for artistic portrayal as the magnificent and the remote.2.现实主义一词来源于法语realism, 她是一种文学原则，她强调描写平凡的生活，强调其“真实性和现实性”。

Realism had originated in France asrealism, a literary doctrine that called for “reality and truth” in the depiction of ordinary life. “现实主义要求创作素材绝对真实，即不能夸张，也不能缩小”,William Dean Howells(豪厄斯) defined realism as “nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material”.他反对那些表现失意和绝望类苍白无力的小说，他强调现实主义作品要发掘出生活中微笑的一方面，因为美国人都坚信自己的国家是一个充满希望，什么奇迹都有可能发生的一个国家，作为文学也应该把这些特征表现出来he spoke out against the writing of a bleak fiction of failure and despair. He called for the treatment of the “Smiling aspects of life” as being the more “American”, insisting that Americ an was truly a land of hope and of possibility that should be reflected in its literature.3.美国现实主义文学总体说来对生活的表面现象进行了乐观的处理，这是其局限，然而最伟大的现实伟大的现实主义大师亨利·詹姆斯、马克·吐温则摆脱了对十九世纪美国进行肤浅描写的局限，詹姆斯对他作品中的人物个性心理进行了深度探讨，他运用深厚的和复杂的写作方式对复杂的个人经历进行了揣摩。

一Colonial America1.The first English colony: Jamestown in Virginia in 16072Puritanism :Influence on American value system: simplicity, freedom, independence, hard work, etc. 3Anne Bradstreet，once called “Tenth Muse”二Reason and Revolution1.Benjamin Franklin---Poor Richard’s AlmanacModeled on farmers’annual calendar; kept publishing for many years;includes many classical sayings,2.Thomas PaineCommon Sense: a strong push for the Revolution Warfour parts (British enslavement of the colonies; praising democratic election; America’s economic and military potential to protect the rights of people)三RomanticismAn expression of an individual’s feeling and experiences; imagination & natureThe first literary Renaissance, in the history of American literature. It stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the Civil War. It st arted with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.1.Washington Irving (1783-1859)(1)Literary status: the first American to earn an international reputation; Father of the American short stories(2)Tow short stories----“Rip V an Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”: Americanized versions of European folk tales, from German legends, but achieving a distinct American tone and theme(3)The Sketch Book:The first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature, winning him international popularity2.James Fenimore Cooperthe first major American writer to deal imaginatively with American life, a critic of the political, social and religious problems of the day.Leatherstocking TalesIncluding: The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The DeerslayerCentre Character: Natty Bumppo (an ideal romantically; various names: Leatherstocking, Deerslayer, Pathfinder, Hawkeye; with two noble red men: Mohican Chief Chingachgook and his son, Uncas)3.William Cullen BryantLiterary status: one of America’s earliest naturalist poets; “the American Wordsworth”most famous poems: “Thanatopsis”; “To a Waterfowl”4.Edgar Allen PoeThe Raven:The poem is a verse-narrative and has 108 lines in 18 stanzas.TranscendentalismNature’s voice pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism, thesummit of American Romanticism.5.Henry David ThoreauLiterary status: a thorough practitioner of Transcendentalism; greatly influenced by Emerson (more radical)Civil Disobedience(在什么情况下写的：没交战争税，入狱)Walden (Walden is a faithful record of his reflections when he was in solitary communion with nature, an eloquent indication that he not only embraced Emerson’s Transcendentalist philosophy but went even further to illustrate that pantheistic quality of nature.)6Nathaniel HawthorneThe Scarlet Letter 《红字》(a simple but very moving story in which four people living in a Puritan community are involved in and affected by the sin of adultery in different ways, showing the reader the tension between society and individuals)7.Herman Melvillea master of allegory and symbolismmost of his novels based on sea sailors and adventur e except The Confidence-Man(1857) Literary achievements: Moby Dick四Realism1Walt Whitman ---Innovative poetic form: “free verse 自由体诗” (poetry without a fixed beator regular rhyme scheme; intriguing the reader’s own imagination); a looser and more open-ended syntactical structure; lines and sentences of different lengths; few compound sentences2.Theodore Dreiser(填空题)(1)欲望三部曲The Financier The Titan The Stoic(2) American Tragedy为什么叫美国悲剧-------典型地反应了当时美国人对财富的追求2.Mark Twain(1)The Gilded Age 《镀金时代》: written in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner, exploring the individualism in a world of unstable values, naming the get-rich-quick years of the post-Civil War(2).Mark Twain的贡献：making colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country3.Henry James(1)the first American writer to conceive his career in international termsInternational themes：the clashes between two different cultures and the emotional and moral problems of Americans in Europe, or Europeans in America 主题：inner world(2)The Portrait of A Lady -------It incarnates the clash between the Old World and the New World in the life journey of an American girl in a European environment(3)International theme--American innocence in face of European sophistication4 .Bret Harte in the 1860s was the first American writer of local color to achieve wide popularity,presenting stories of western mining towns with colorful gambles, outlaws, and scandalous.5.Naturalism emphasized heredity and environment as important deterministicforces shaping individualized characters who were presented in specialand detailed circumstances. At bottom, life was shown to be ironic even tragic五Twentieth-Century Literature1.Scott Fitzgerald(1)了不起的盖尔茨比反应了那个年代-----Jazz Age2.Robert Frost(填空题)（1）Robert Frost had rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, choosing instead" the old -fashioned way to be new". He employed the plain speech of rural New Englanders and preferred the short , traditional forms of lyric and narrative.（2）After Apple-PickingOf apple-Picking: I am overtiredOf the great harvest I myself desired.What is the two sentences imply?The speaker is indifferent to what he once desired.3The imagist Movement flourished from 1908 to 1917 and involved quite a number of British and American writers and poets4.PoundA Pact 契约(Ezar Pound)主要表达了意思5.With the slow disintegration of old prejudices came the “Harlem Renaissance” a burst of literaryachievement in the 1920s by Negro playwrights, poets, and novelists who presented new insights into the American experience and prepared the way for the emergence of numerous black writers after mid-century.阅读题一We passed the school, where children stroveAt recess----in the ring----We passed the fields of gazing grain----We passed the setting sun----1.作者Emily Dickinson作名：Because I could not stop for death2.Three images: school, field, setting sun, which stand for three stages of life: youth, mature period, end of life3.The school, the fields of Gazing Grain, the setting sun symbolize three stages of one's life:youth, manhood and old age.4."we" were riding in a hearse, heading toward Eternity.二Moby Dick1.作者：Herman Melville 作名：Moby Dick2.船长：Ahab3.发生的事：The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale, Moby-Dick, a white whale of tremendous size and ferocity, which destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. Ahab intends to exact revenge. However, at last the Pequod is sunk and the whole crew perish in the sea except Ishmael三The woods are lovely, dark and deepBut i have promises to keep,And miles to go before i sleep,And miles to go before i sleep.1.作者：Robert Frost 作名:stopping by woods on a snowy evening2.第二个sleep的意思：die3.what's the meaning of the passage?On the surface, the passage is deceptively simple. However, with the commonest words, it is deeply meditative. The simple poem uses its superb craftsmanship to come to a climax of responsibility: the promises to be kept, the obligations to be filled. The poet seems to show that he would like to stay forever in the beautiful snowy woods, but as a poet, he still has many tasks to fulfill in his life and has to go ahead.四“God knows,”exclaimed he, at his wit’s end; “I’m not myself----I’m somebody else----that’s me yonder----no----that’s somebody else, got in my shoes,----I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they’ve changed my gun, and every thing’s changed, and I’m changed, and I can’t tell what’s my name, or who I am!”A: Identify the work and the authorB: The speaker says he is changed. Do you think he is changed?C: What idea does the quoted sentences express?Answers ---A: Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Wrinkle”B: It’s the social environment that is changedC: When Rip is back home after a period of 20 years, he find that everything has changed. All those old values are gone, and he can hardly feel at home in a changed society. One of the functions that Rip serves in the story is to provide a measuring stick for change. It is through him that Irving expresses the theme that a desire for change, improvement, and progress subvert a stable society.问答题1.The symbolic meaning of the Letter A in the Scarlet Letter worn by Hester.The Letter A worn by Hester h as undergone great changes in meaning as the novel progresses.At first,it stands for a token of shame ----Adultery. Then Hester suffered from loneliness and alienation. Later with Hester's self-sacrificing sympathy and help offered to her fellow villagers the meaning of theletter A begins to imply Able and Admirable ,even Angel at the end of the story.2Herman MelvilleOne of the major themes in Melville is alienation, which he sensed existing in the life of his time on different level, between man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Captain Ahab seems to be the best illustration of it all.He is a typical Melvillean “isolato”, whose lips are set ever for an “I prefer not to”. He cuts himself off from his wife and kid, and stays away most of the time from his crew. He hates Moby Dick which is an embodiment of nature. He is angry because his pride is wounded. After the loss of his leg in his encounter whith the white whale, he seems to hold God responsible for the presence of evil in the universe. Thus his anger assumes the proportions of a cosmic nature. He is bent on avenging himself. He hears of no objection. In his egocentric obsession he loses his sanity and humanity and becomes a devilish creature rushing headlong toward his doom.Moby Dick thus reveals the basic pattern of 19th century American life: loneliness and suicidal individualism in a self-styled democracy3The major characteristics of imagist poetry are:1.Direct treatment of objects, concreteness of imagery . 2. No idea or insight but things or images . 3.Free verse without imposing a rhythmical pattern. 4. Cpmmon speech ,economy of expression.4Emily Dickinson 的诗歌特点Artistic features of Emily Dickinson’s poemsUnique and unconventional1). Her poems have no titles, always quoted by their first lines2). A particular stress pattern: dashes are used as a musical device to create cadence and capital letters as a means of emphasis3). The form of her poetry is like the hymns in the churches, familiar, communal, and irregular (sentences)4). Short: rarely more than twenty lines5). Centered on a single image or symbol and focused on one subject matter6). Personal and meditative due to her deliberate seclusionHer poetry is remarkable for its variety, subtlety and richness;Her limited private world has never confined the limitless power of her creativity and imagination5naturalismNaturalism, a more deliberate kind of realism, usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. As a literary movement, naturalism was initiated in France and it came to be led by Emile Zola, who claimed a "scientific" status for his studies of impoverished characters miserably subjected to hunger, sexual obsession, and hereditary defects. Natural fiction aspired to a offering detailed and fully researched investigations into unexplored comes of modern society. The most significant work of naturalism in English is Dreiser's Sisiter Carrie.6transcendentalism1.Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as "the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively , or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the sense".Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the Over-soul ,the Individual and Nature.Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual divine and, therefore, self-reliant.The New England Transcendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and European Romanticism.7Mark TwainAt first, through a local and particular book, it touches upon the human situation in a general, in deed “universal”way. Mark Twain once wrote about the book as “the struggle between a healthy heart and a deformed conscience.”between the false religious beliefs Huck has been taught and his good natural impulses. Humanitarianism ultimately triumphs. Mark Twain gives his young hero very adult problems.In the second, escaping “down”the river is a cruel irony in itself, provides the episodic structure which like in a picaresque novel, is the thread that holds together the developing relationship between the two runaways on the raft. The escape, the quest for freedom, is literal for both Huck and Jim as they flee from Pap and Miss Watson. It may also be seen as symbolic on several planes: historical, philosophical, and moral. The flight down the rivers is a flight from the complexities of the ever-expanding, westward-moving settlements of new civilization.Finally, having learned about the evil of the world during their trip in the various towns and villages along the way, Huck, meantime, is facing a big moral problem. The law of society says he must return Jim to his “owner”. But the moral climax of the novel comes in Chapter 31, when Huck decides that he “will go to hell”rather than turn in Jim. Huck thinks deeply about morality and then decides to break the law. The slave, to Huck, is now a man, not a “thing”. Many critics see Huck Finn as the great novel of American democracy. It shows the basic goodness and wisdom of ordinary people, of course it fully exhibits Twain’s particular humor. It is “a love song of the river.”。

Part V. Twentieth Century Literature (I) Before WWIIPart V. Twentieth Century Literature (I) Before WWIII. Fill in the blanks.1.__________ stands as a great dividing line between thenineteenth century and the contemporary American literature.2.American writers of the first postwar era self-consciouslyacknowledged that they were a "__________ " , devoid of faithand alienated from a civilization.3.The most significant American poem of the twentieth centurywas_____________ .4.The publication of The Waste Land, written by____________ ,helped to establish a modern tradition of literature rich withlearning and allusive thought.5.In 1920, Sinclair Lewis published his memorable denunciation ofAmerican small-town provincialism in___________ .6.F. Scott Fitzgerald summarized the experiences and attitudes ofthe 1920s decade in his masterpiece novel___________ .7.The__________ of the 1930s greatly weakened the Americannation's self-confidence.8.An American woman writer named ____________ who had livedin Paris since 1903, welcomed the young expatriates to herliterary salon, and gave them a name "the Lost Generation".9._____ wrote about the disintegration of the old social system inthe American Southern States, and its effect on the lives ofmodern people, both black and white.10.Ezra Pound was the leader of a new movement in poetry which hecalled the "__________ " movement.11.Ezra Pound's major work of poetry is the long poemcalled______________ .12."After Apple-Picking" is a well-known poem written by_______ .13.______ was successful in two fields of activity which did notseem compatible with one another; he was a very successfulbusinessman and a very remarkable contemporary poet at thesame time.14.In 1915, __________ published his Prufrock and OtherObservations.15.In 1920, Thomas Stearns Eliot began to write hismasterpiece_______________ , one of the major works ofmodern literature.16.As Thomas Stearns Eliot declared, he followed strictly the adviceof his close friend___________ in cutting and concentrating TheWaste Land.17.In his work___________ , Thomas Stearns Eliot satirized thestraw men, the Guy Fawkles men, whose world would end "not with a bang, but a whimper. "18.Few men of letters have been more fully honored in their own daythan_____________ , and even those who strongly disagree with him seemed content with his selection for the Nobel Prize in1948.19.Thomas Stearns Eliot's last important work was____________ , aprofound meditation on time and timelessness, written in fourparts.20.F. Scott Fitzgerald' s first novel____________ , with its portrayalof casual dissipations of "flaming youth" , was an immediatecommercial success.21.In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his best novel_____________ .It is the story of an idealist who was destroyed by the influence of the wealthy, pleasure-seeking people around him.22.F. Scott Fitzgerald' s second novel______________ describes ahandsome young man and his beautiful wife, undoubtedlymodelled after himself and Zelda.23.The hero in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel_____________ is apsychiatrist who marries a rich patient. The author condemns the wasted energy of misguided youth.24.With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, _____________became the spokes man for what Gertrude Stein had called "aLost Generation".25.Emest Hemingway' s stature as a writer was confirmed with thepublication of his novel___________ in 1929. The novelportrayed a farewell both to war and to love.26.Set in Spain during the Civil War, the novel_____________stated again Hemingway ' s view of love found and lost, anddescribed the indomitable spirit of the common people.27.In the story The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingwayportrayed an old fisherman named___________ , who showstriumphant even in defeat.28.In 1954, Ernest Hemingway was awarded a_______________ forhis "mastery of the art of modem narration".29.In 1952, Ernest Hemingway published a successful novelentitled_____________ , which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and occasioned the award of the Nobel Prize in 1954.30.In the same way that F. Scott Fitzgerald' s Tales of the Jazz Agebecame the symbol for an age, Ernest Hemingway' s novel______ painted the image of a whole generation, the LostGeneration.31.___________ was the foremost novelist of the AmericanDepression of the 1930s.32.In the short novel___________ , John Steinbeck portrayed thetragic friendship between two migrant workers.33.__________ is generally regarded as John Steinbeck' smasterpiece.34.Quentin is a character in William Faulkner'snovel____________ .35.The works written by___________ may be viewed as aculmination of the development of twentieth-century southernfiction.II. Make multiple choices.1. The best-selling American books in the first decades of the twentieth century were__________ .A. traveling booksB. commercial booksC. historical romancesD. news reports2. Early in the 20th century, _________ published works that would change the nature of American poetry.A. Ezra PoundB. T. S. EliotC. Robert FrostD. Both A and B3. The American social upheavals and the literary concerns of the Great Depression years ended with the prosperity and turmoil brought by the _____________ .A. First World WarB. Second World WarC. Civil WarD. War of Independence4. The American "Thirties", lasted from the Crash, through the ensuing Great Depression, until the outbreak of the Second World War 1939. This was a period of__________ .A. povertyB. bleaknessC. important social movementsD. a new social consciousnessE. all of the above5. In the pre-war period, such writers as______________ , pointed out the contradictions between what American preached and they practiced.A. Mark TwainB. Jack LondonC. Stephen CraneD. Theodore DreiserE. all of the above6. In the Thirties, poets like Archibald Macleish and______________ wrote compassionately about common people, workers and farmers.A. Emily DickinsonB. Ezra PoundC. Robert FrostD. Langston Hughes7.The Imagist writers followed three principles, they respectively are _________ .A. direct treatmentB. economy of expressionC. clear rhythmD. blank verse8. "The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough. " This is the shortest poem written by____________ .A. Thomas Stearns EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD. E. E. Cummings9. __________ showed great interest in Chinese literature and translated the poetry of Li Po (Li Bai) into English, and was influenced by Confucian ideas.A. Ezra PoundB. Robert FrostC. T. S. EliotD. E. E. Cummings10. Ezra Pound' s long poem____________ contained more than one hundred poems loosely connected.A. The Waste LandB. The CantosC. Don JuanD. Queen Mab11. "Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy" are good examples of Edwin Arlington Robinson' s ______ attitude.A. romanticB. fantasticC. realisticD. materialistic12. "Ben Jonson Entertains a Man from Stratford", this poem was written by Edwin Arlington Robinson. It is a brilliant commentary on _____________'s character.A. Ben JonsonB. William ShakespeareC. John MiltonD. Samuel Johnson13. In his long works Merlin, Lancelot, and Tristram, Edwin Arlington Robinson wrote the most extensive poems based on_____________ since Tennyson.A. the Arthurian LegendsB. the Biblical StoriesC. the Greek MythologiesD. Indian Legends14. When Robert Frost was eighty-seven, he read his poetry at the inauguration of President__________ .A. Thomas JeffersonB. Theodore RooseveltC. Abraham LincolnD. John F. Kennedy15. Choose the books written by Robert Frost.A. Mountain IntervalB. New HampshireC. West-Running BookD. A Further Range16. Which of the following was not written by Robert Frost?A. "Tilbury Town"B. "A Witness Tree"C. "Steeple Bush"D. "In the Clearing"17. Robert Frost is famous for his lyric poems. Which of the following lyric poems was not written by Robert Frost?A. "Birches"B. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"C. "After Apple-Picking"D. "The Road Not Taken"E. "Richard Cory"18. The poems that made Carl Sandburg famous appeared in four volumes. Choose them from the following.A. Chicago PoemsB. Comhuskers<, /F, , ONT>C. Smoke and SteelD. Slabs of the Sunburn WestE. Design19. As a poet, Carl Sandburg was associated with the, Imagists and wrote well-known Imagist poems such asA. "Fog"B. "Lost"C. "Monotone"D. "The Harbor"E. all of the above20. Carl Sandburg had also taken interest in folk songs which he tried to collect and sing during his travels. These folk songs appeared eventually in print in his well-known___________ .A. Good Morning, AmericaB. The People, YesC. In Reckless EcstasyD. The American Songbag21. Thomas Sutpen is a character in William Faulkner's novel_______________ .A. Absalom, Absalom!B. Light in AugustC. Go Down, MosesD. The Sound and the Fury22. Wallace Stevens' s poetry is primarily motivated by the belief that true ideas correspond with an innate order in nature. Many of his good poems derive their emotional power from reasoned revelation. This philosophical intention is supported by the titles Wallace Stevens gave to his volumes such as_____________ .A. HarmoniumB. Ideas of OrderC. Parts of a WorldD. all of the above23. The two areas on which the modem American writers concentrated their criticism were___________ .A. the failure of communication among AmericansB. the failures of American societyC. the extreme prosperity of AmericaD. the paradise of New Land24. Choose the poems written by Wallace Stevens.A. "Anecdote of the Jar"B. "The Emperor of Ice-Cream"C. "Peter Quince at the Clavier"D. "Departmental"25. __________ , one of the essays in The Sacred Wood, is the earliest statement of Thomas Stearns Eliot' s aesthetics, which provided a useful instrument for modern criticism.A. "Sweeny Agonistes"B. "Tradition and the Individual Talent"C. " A Primer of Modern Heresy"D. "Gerontion"26. Thomas Stearns Eliot used a form, that is, the orchestration of related themes in successive movements, in such works as __________ .A. The Waste LandB. 77k? Hollow MenC. Ash-WednesdayD. Four Quartets27. Thomas Stearns Eliot' s second volume of criticism_____________ (1914) was much admired for its critical method.A. The Function of CriticismB. The Metaphysical PoetsC. Homage to John DrydenD. The Sacred Wood28. __________ , a poetic tragedy on the betrayal of Thomas a Becket, is a drama of impressive spiritual power.A. "The Confidential Clerk"B. "The Cocktail Party"C. "The Family Reunion"D. "Murder in the Cathedral"29. The first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature was a sharp social critic, whose name was_________________ .A. Sinclair LewisB. Thomas Stearns EliotC. Ernest HemingwayD. William Faulkner30. Thomas Stearns Eliot was a _____.A. poetB. playwrightC. literary criticD. novelist31. Thomas Stearns Eliot's first major poem____________ (1917), has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes32. The Fitzgeralds lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than F. Scoot Fitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as ______.A. The Roaring TwentiesB. The Jazz AgeC. The Dollar DecadeD. all of the above33. Choose the collections of short stories written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.A. Flappers and PhilosophersB. Tales of the Jazz AgeC. All the Sad Young MenD. Taps at Reveille34. Choose the novels written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.A. The Great GatsbyB. Tender Is the NightC. This Side of ParadiseD. The Beautiful and the Damned35. Point out the three poets who opened the way to Modern poetry.A. Ezra PoundB. Thomas Stearns EliotC. E. E. CummingsD. Robert Frost36. In Paris, Ernest Hemingway, along with _____________, accomplished a revolution in literary style and language.A. Gertrude SteinB. Ezra PoundC. Thomas Stearns EliotD. James JoyceE. all of the above37. In 1954,___________ was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his "mastery of the art of modern narration".A. Thomas Stearns EliotB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faulkner38. Ernest Hemingway was badly wounded in Italy and sent to a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse. These two persons later became the characters of his novel__________ .A. The Old Man and the SeaB. For Whom the Bell TollsC. The Sun Also RisesD. A Farewell to Arms39. During the Depression, Ernest Hemingway first went to Spain and then , to the American West and to Africa on hunting expeditions. In the novels written in this period such as___________ , he wrote about bullfighting, hunting and his personal anecdote.A. Death in the AfternoonB. The Green Hills of AfricaC. Men without WomenD. The Old Man and the Sea40. Which authors committed suicide?A. Ernest HemingwayB. Jack LondonC. Robert FrostD. Mrs. Stowe41. __________ tells the Joad family' s life from the time they were evicted from their farm in Oklahoma until their first winter in California.A. Of Mice and MenB. The Grapes of WrathC. The Great GatsbyD. For Whom the Bell Tolls42. wrote about the society in the South by inventing families which re presented different social forces; the old decaying upper class; the rising, ambitious, unscrupulous class of the "poor Whites"; and the Negroes who la bored for both of them.A. William FaulknerB. F. Scott FitzgeraldC. Ernest HemingwayD. John Steinbeck43. In William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, he used a technique called_____________ , in which the whole story was told through the thoughts of one character.A. stream of consciousnessB. imagismC. symbolismD. naturalism44. William Faulkner's novel___________ describes the decay and downfall of an old southern aristocratic family, symbolizing the old social order, toid from four different points of view.A. The Sound and the FuryB. StartorisC. The UnvanquishedD. The Town45. William Faulkner's novel___________ is about a poor white family' s journey through fire and flood to bury the mother in her hometown, Yoknapatawpha.A. Intruder in the DustB. As I Lay DyingC. Absalom, Absalom!D. Light in August46. Which three novels form a trilogy which tells the saga of the unscrupuloussnopes family?A. The HamletB. The TownC. The MansionD. The Unvanquished47. William Faulkner wrote altogether 18 novels and three volumes of short stories. Of these three novels, ___________ , _________ and___________ are master pieces by any literary standards.A. The Sound and the FuryB. Absalom, Absalom]C. Go Down, MosesD. The Wrath of the Grapes48. William Faulkner wrote about the histories of a number of Southern aristocratic families such as the___________ , the___________ , the__________ and the McCaslins, and traces them back to the very beginning when Chickasaw Indians were still lawful owners of the land.A. CompsonsB. SartorisesC. SutpensD. Joads49. Most of the important twentieth-century American poets were related with Imagist movement, including___________ .A. Ezra PoundB. Wallace StevensC. E. E. CummingsD. Carl SandburgE. Thomas Stearns EliotKeys to Part V.Keys to Part V.I. Fill in the following blanks?1.The First World War2.Lost Generation3.The Waste Land4.Thomas Stearns Eliot5.Main Street6.The Great Gatsby7.Great Depression8.Gertrude Stein9.William Faulkner10.Imagist11.The Cantos12.Robert Frost13.Wallace Stevens14.Thomas Stearns Eliot15.The Waste Land16.Ezra Pound17.The Hollow Men18.Thomas Stearns Eliot19.Four Quartets20.This Side of Paradise21.The Great Gatsby22.The Beautiful and the Damned23.Tender is the Night24.Ernest Hemingway25.A Farewell to Arms26.For Whom the Bell Tolls27.Santiago28.Nobel Prize29.The Old Man and the Sea30.The Sun also Rises31.John Steinbeck32.Of Mice and Men33.The Grapes of Wrath34.The Sound and the Fury35.William FaulknerII. Make multiple choice:1.C2.D3.B4.E5.E6.C7.ABC8.C9.A10.B11.C12.B13.A14.D15.ABCD16.A17.E18.ABCD19.E20.D21.A22.D23.AB24.ABC25.B26.ABCD27.C28.D29.A30.ABC31.A32.D33.ABCD34.ABCD35.ABC36.E37.B38.D39.ABC40.AB41.B42.A43.A44.A45.B46.ABC47.ABC48.ABC49.ABCDEPart VI. Twentieth Century Literature (II) After WWIIPart VI. Twentieth Century Literature (II) After WWIII. Fill in the blanks.1.The publication of Robert Lowell' s Life Studies marked thecoming of the age of _________ , which represents a new modeof perception and a way of writing.2.In poetry, Postmodernism strives to go against the vogueof______________ poem and its parent style, __________ of theprevious decades.3.One distinct group of poets in the postwar periodis_____________ , whose poetry seems to share common features such as ruthless, excruciating self-analysis of one's ownbackground and heritage, one's own most private desires andfantasies etc. , and the urgent " I'll-tell-it-all-to-you" impulse.4.__________ is the spokesman of postwar Beat Generation inAmerican literary history.5.Gary Snyder has been placed next to Allen Ginsberg among theBeat Generation. He seems to think that the job of the poet is tocatch sight of__________________ , which resides nowhere butin___________ .6.Gary Snyder may be didactic, but he has a______________vision.7.One of the things that the New York School did, for a while in the1960s, was their experiment with___________ .8.______ was noted for the " I do this I do that" types of poems. Inthese poems , he tells in a flat tone the little things he did on justone or any of the days in his life. The readers feel bored throughmost of the reading process, but feel well rewarded often by asurprise in wait for them, one that is not, however, alwaysapparent.9.The Black Mountain Poets are so called because these poets areassociated with ______, or with___________ .10.Charles Olson, the leading figure of the Black Mountain Poets, iswell-known for his essay___________ .11.Robert Duncan's ideas on poetry include his views of poetryas________________ and of language with its regenerativepossibilities to____________ .12.Ihab Hassan has noticed the variety of postwar fiction. Hiscategories include ______, ________ , __________ ,__________ , __________ , and satire and novel of manner.13.J. D. Salinger is probably best known for his novel ___________ .14.John Cheever has written some of the finest short stories, and hewrote mainly about the___________ people.15.Two of the best-known southern writers during the 1950sare_____________ and ______.16._________ by William Styron is a true story told in the form offiction.17.In the 1960s and 1970s, traditional novels were inadequate inpresenting life. _________ was the first to announce the death oftraditional novel, and that traditional novelistic resources havebeen exhausted.18.After the 1960s, the new experience gave a vigorous impetus to_______________ writing. Postmodernism made a huge strideforward.19.Joseph Heller's_________ is one of the most famous novelsdealing with the subject of absurdity in typical "obscure"techniques.20.Kurt Vonnegut's__________ focuses particularly on the absurdityof life and man' s modern diseases of schizophrenia.21.Gravity's Rainbow by_________ has won the National BookAward.22.The American writers of the 1950s often used the psychologicalinsights taken from the writing of Sigmund_____________ andhis followers.23.The 1950s American writers often used the narrative techniquesderived from William___________ .II. Make multiple choices.1. One major characteristic of postwar poetry is its diversity. Which of the following terms belong to this period?A. the Black Mountain PoetsB. Waste Land PaintersC. Poets of the Beat GenerationD. Poets of the San Francisco RenaissanceE. Poets of the New York School2. Robert Lowell's famous "Skunk Hour" was written in response to "Armadillo" , which was written by____________ .A. Thomas Stearns EliotB. Richard WilburC. Elizabeth BishopD. Marianne Moore3. Among these poets, choose the ones belonging to the Confessional School.A. Theodore RoethkeB. John BerrymanC. Ann SextonD. Sylvia PlathE. Robert Lowell4. Choose the books of verse written by Silvia Plath.A. A Winter ShipB. The Colossus and Other PoemsC. ArielD. Crystal Gazer and Other PoemsE. Life Studies5. The so-called New York School includes the poets_____________ .A. Robert BlyB. Frank O'HaraC. Kenneth KochD. John AshberryE. James Schuyler6. __________ is probably the most obscure of contemporary American poets. The reader can understand the surface meaning quite well; it is the undercurrent of meaning that his verbal structure embodies.A. John AshberryB. Fran O'HaraC. Robert BlyD. Kenneth Koch7. A. R. Ammons belongs to_____________ .A. the New York SchoolB. the Meditative PoetsC. the Black Mountain PoetsD. the Confessional Poets8. Which of the following poetic works were written by Denise Levertov?A. Here and NowB. The Jacob's LadderC. The Double ImageD. With the Eyes and the Back of Our HeadsE. The Sorrow Dance9. The American fiction after the 1960s is noted for____________ .A. nonfictionB. science fictionC. black and absurd humorD. parody and popE. experimental novelistic techniques10. Which of the following novels is NOT written by Saul Bellow?A. The Dangling ManB. HerzogC. The Naked and the DeadD. Mr. Sammler' s Planet11. Which of the following novels are written by Norman Mailer?A. The Naked and the DeadB. The Armies of the NightC. Ancient EveningD. Tough Guys Don't DanceE. Harlot's Ghost12. The title of J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye comes from___________ poem " if a body catch a body coming from the rye".A. William WordsworthB. William BlackC. Alfred TennysonD. Robert Burns13. Another Jewish novelist besides Saul Bellow is Bernard Malamud. His novels include__________ .A. The NaturalB. The AssistantC. The Dangling ManD. A New LifeE. The Fixer14. John Updike is best known for his "Rabbit" pentalogy, namely___ .A. Rabbit, RunB. Rabbit RedeuxC. Rabbit Is RichD. Rabbit at RestE. Licks of Love15. There are a Gothic element and an obvious absurdist tendency in Flannery O'Connor's works. These include____________ .A. Wise BloodB. A Good Man Is Hard to FindC. Lie Down in DarknessD. The Violent Bear It Away16. The novel of postmodernism after the 1960s includes _____ .A. the absurdB. metafictionC. avant-gardismD. the sentimental17. The characteristics of avant-garde novels are___________ .A. a breakaway from the normal novelistic conventionsB. having little or no story interestC. dull, not satisfyingD. offensive to middlebrow tasteE. often not readable18. Choose among the following novels written by John Barth.A. The Sot-Weed FactorB. Giles Goat-BoyC. One Flew over the Cuckoo' s NestD. Slaughterhouse-Five19. William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac belong toA. the Confessional SchoolB. the Black Mountain PoetsC. novelists of absurdityD. the Beat WritersKeys to Part VIKeys to Part VII. Fill in the blanks.1.Postmodernism2.the New Critical, the High Modernism3.the Confessional School4.Allen Ginsberg5.the poetic, the natural world6.political7.Surrealism8.Frank O' Hara9.Black Mountain College, Black Mountain Review10."Protective Verse"11.life-generating, renew and reorder12.the war novel, the southern novel, the Jewish novel, the Beatnovel, the Black novel13.The Catcher in the Rye14.suburban middle class15.Flannery O' Connor, William Styron16.The Confessions of Nat Turner17.John Barth18.experimental19.Catch-2220.Slaughterhouse-Five21.Thomas Pynchon22.Freud23.FaulknerII. Make multiple choices.1.ACDE2.C3.ABCDE4.ABCD5.BCDE6.A7.B8.ABCDL9.ABCDE10.D11.ABCDE12.D13.ABDE14.ABCDE15.ABD16.ABC17.ABCDE18.AB19.DPart VII. American DramaPart VII. American DramaI. Fill in the blanks.1.__________ is the first master in the American history of drama.2.In 1916, Eugene O' Neill's first play__________ was put on bythe Province-town Players, which was significant not only for him but for American Drama.3.If Eugene O' Neill dominated the theater in the 1920s, then it issafe to say that _______ did so in the post-war years.4.With the passage of time, there has appeared the increasinglymore obvious tendency to "decentralize" from Broadway withmore and more plays staged______________ and___________ .5.Eugene O' Neill received the_____________ Prize for his Beyondthe Horizon and Anna Christie between 1920 and 1922, and______________ Prize in 1936.6.The magic of Eugene O' Neill' s power lies in his never ceasingattempt to improve his art in step with the spirit of the times. Hebegan writing in a______________ vein, then, he moved on andbecame obsessed with devices such as_____ and ________.During the 1940s, he turned back to what he had started with.Thus, his career came full circle.7.The early 1920s saw the upsurge of the women's liberationmovement. ______________ was a well-known feminist authorof the time.8.__________ is the one who dares to deal with themes such asviolence, sex, and homosexuality on the stage in the postwarperiod.9.__________ ' s famous Bus Stop is an adequate expression of thespirit of the 1950s.10.__________ in the 1950s and 1960s refers to some plays, some ofwhich center on the meaninglessness of life with its pain andsuffering that seems funny, even ridiculous. __________ is one of the representatives.II. Make multiple choices.1. During the renaissance of drama in the 1920s, the plays which were put on include: _____.A. The Adding Machine by Elmer RiceB. Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O' NeillC. What Price Glory1? by Maxwell AndersonD. The Show-off by George Kelly。

9-1892)
2.Rhyme occurs in most traditional poetry (except blank verse), and often with various schemes. In free verse, however, rhyme may or may not be present; but when it is, used with great freedom. 3.In conventional verse, the unit is often foot, or the line; but in free verse, the units are much larger, sometimes being paragraphs or strophes诗节. If the free verse unit is the line, as it is in Whitman, the line is usually determined by qualities of actual speech rhythm and thought, rather than feet or syllable count; thus the line may be as short as one word, or as long as a passage. 4.In comparison with conventional verse, free verse may be composed with rhythms and melodies more personal and individual, more appropriate to the subject and the theme. In the hands of the gifted poets free verse very often acquires rhythms and melodies of its own. There is in free verse greater flexibility of the form and greater agreement between sound and sense. There are signs of it in medieval alliterative verse and in the translation of the Authorized King James Bible, which attempts to approximate the Hebrew cadences. The Psalms and The Song of Solomon are noted examples of free verse.

I.选择题及问答题UNIT 2 Edgar Allan Poe简答题1) Who is the narrator? What wrong does he want to redress?2) What is the pretext Montresor uses to lure Fortunado to his wine cellar?3) What happens to Fortunado in the end?4) Describe briefly how Poe characterizes Mortresor and Fortunado as contrasts.参考答案1)It is Montresor. Fortunato has given Montresor thousands of injuries that he has to bear before he has this opportunity of taking revenge.2)He claims that he has just got a cask of Amontilado and stores it in the wine cellar before he may find a connoisseur to testify to its authenticity.3)The deceived Fortunado is killed because of his inability of getting out of the catacomb.4)Poe characterizes Mortresor and Fortunado as seemingly contrasting characters chiefly by presenting their identical habit in wine and their different manners towards each other, but actually he intends to show some similarly defective aspects in their nature. The similarity in their nature is also suggested by their names as synonyms in Italian: Mortresor means “fortune” while Fortunado “treasure”. Their defective nature is highlighted when the revenger Mortresor, who is fully prepared on psychological and operating levels, throws the hardly prepared but totally deceived wrong-doer Fortunado into the deep and damp catacomb and blocks up its entrance with huge rocks.选择题1) To Montresor, the fatal weakness of Fortunato is his _______ for his connoisseurship in wine.A) knowledgeB) arroganceC) faithD) seeming ignorance2) Montresor wants to take revenge on Fortunato during the carnival because _______ .A) almost all the people would habitually celebrate the festival, excessively drinking and dancing in delight and giving less attention to other activities beyond celebration.B) Fortunato would be too busy as a wine connoisseur during the festival so that he might not see through the tricky plan of Montresor to put an end to his life.C) he would work together with Fortunato during the festival so as to have chance to kill him.D) he chooses the time at random instead of a deliberate scheme.3) In the story Amontillado is known as the good wine whose _______ , as Montresor deceptively claims, has strong appeal to Fortunato.A) taste and smellB) reputation and tasteC) reputation and quantityD) recommendations by Italian virtuosos4) Who is Luchresi ?A) a boy in the barB) a arrogant neighborC) a wine connoisseurD) a Sherry producer5) As Montresor and Fortunato walk further into the catacomb, the latter keeps coughing becauseA) the nitre hanging like moss upon the vaults increases to strongly provoke him.B) he pretends so in order to encourage himself.C) he takes "Nemo me impune lacessit".D) the nitre distills the rheum of intoxication.6) Before taking his last breath, Fortunato still seems unable to perceive the intention of Montresor, mistaking what Montresor does to him as " a very good joke, indeed —an excellent jest". Why does he react so slowly?A) Fortunato has drunk too much to see his coming death.B) Poe intends to use Fortunato's slow comprehension as a foil to the blackness of Montresor 's well-planned revenge.C) Fortunato wants to get Montresor's mercy by fooling him this way so that he may free himself from the threshold of death.D) It is only Montresor's illusion because Fortunato has been dead when the former builds up the eleven tiers of the stone wall.7) Where does the story take place?A) It is only a psychological experience without the setting in reality.B) Poe never intends to give any information about the setting.C) It couldn't be identified.D) Italy as the setting of the story is only hinted in such as the names of characters and those of wines.8) Montresor and Fortunato mean "wealth " and "treasure" in the Italian language, symbolically mirroring _______ .A) their identical parentageB) something hidden as their mutual weaknessC) their mutual love of goldD) their mutual mania for material possession9) As it is suggestive of the Italian culture where the story is set, the word Palazzo means_______ .A) a fancy restaurant serving good winesB) a large, splendid residence or building such as a palace or museum for public activitiesC) a dreamy place as paradiseD) a place as storage of wine10) The story end with a Latin quotation "In pace requiescat", by which Poe hints that _______ .A) Montresor thinks he will die soonB) Montresor seems to be sorry for the death of FortunatoC) Montresor's hatred for Fortunato is still so strong that he couldn't get it over even when he murdered the latter half a century agoD) Montresor eventually regrets for what has done to Fortunato and implores God to give peace to the latter参考答案BACCA BDBBCUNIT 4 Nathaniel Hawthorne简答题1) Why is the prison the setting of Chapter II?2) Describe the appearance of Hester Prynne and the attitude of the people toward her.3) What has happened to Hester? Why does she make the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate? How does this tell us about her character?参考答案1)The prison is used as the setting of the story because the execution of Hester Prynne as an infamous culprit is expected to take place here and the sentence of a legal tribunal on her has but confirmed the verdict of public sentiment. In addition, the setting also suggests the tragic fate of the protagonist.2)Hester Prynne is a young and tall woman with dark and abundant hair that is so glossy that it may throws off the sunshine with a gleam. She has a beautiful face with the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. With a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale, she is ladylike with such character as characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace. Besides, the attitudes of the people toward her are diverse, but mostly negative and unsympathetic largely from the conventional moral stand of the times.3)As a married woman, Hester falls in love with Dimmesdale, a reverend minister of the local community, and their love affair is discovered after she gives birth to a baby daughter. She makes the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate in the hope that the letter may embody her affirmative attitude toward the dilemma in her life, and that it may have the effect of a powerful spell to take her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclose her in a sphere by herself. This detail also mirrors her idea of love and moral value, which is explicitly different from the cowardice and hypocrisy of Dimmesdale.选择题1) The story is set in Boston because this town as one of the largest communities of European immigrants of the time could stand in many ways for ________.A) the Puritan culture;B) the Continental culture;C) the typical culture of the native Indians;D) the trend of immigration.2) Generally speaking, the Puritan culture is characterized by ________.A) its moral rigor and its hostility to social pleasures and indulgences.B) a stress on education and simplicity of life.C) a stress on human creation and free will.D) its concern for the afterlife of man.3) Antinomian refers to a person who believes ________.A) that all the laws are harmful to human freedom.B) that Puritanism is the key to all social problems.C) that the Gospel frees Christians from required obedience to any law, whether scriptural, civil,or moral, and that salvation is attained solely through faith and the gift of divine grace.D) that moral power is the strongest and most useful for man’s self-perfection and social development.4) Why do people call Hester Prynne “Madam Hester”or “Mistress Prynne”, respectively?A) It reflects their habitual use of the English language.B) It makes no difference.C) It hints their social status.D) It shows their different attitudes toward her.5) Why doesn’t Hawthorne explicitly tell his audience the weaver of the scarlet letter upon the bosom of Hester Prynne, though its image he presents is “so fantastically embroidered and illuminated”?A) It means that no one knows the identity of the weaver.B) It means that he wants to increase the suspension of the story.C) He is reluctant to tell it because the weaver is the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, who is seemingly free from the scandal at the moment.D) He just hints that Hester Prynne is the weaver of the meaningful letter by way of the positive comment of a spectator on her skills at needlework, because he seems to think that such an indirect narrative helps mirror how much she has tried to reclaim herself without the public knowledge.6) The grim beadle loudly orders Hester Prynne to show her scarlet letter to all the spectators in the market place, as he desires to ________.A) make all the spectators know the power he has in the community.B) fulfill his duty there.C) humiliate her as an adulterous woman.D) gratify the demand of the spectators.7) As it is compared to “the guillotine among the terrorists of France”, the scaffold, in the front of which Hester Prynne and her daughter are humiliated, symbolizes ________.A) the severity of the social punishment on her.B) the long history of humiliating the convict in the market place.C) her courage in face of dilemma.D) the on-going influence of the European law in America.8) Whom does “the image of Divine Maternity”refer to?A) Hester Prynne.B) Blessed V irgin Mary as the mother of Jesus Christ.C) Hester Prynne’s mother living in England.D) the mother of a papist.9) It is by associating the figure of Hester Prynne to “the image of Divine Maternity”that Hawthorne intends to show that ________.A) he is sympathetic with Hester Prynne.B) he looks down on the cowardice of Dimmesdale.C) Hester Prynne’s visage resembles that of the V irgin Mary.D) as V irgin Mary is sinless, so is Hester Prynne.10) Standing on the scaffold and looking downwards at the assembly, Hester Prynne suddenly clutches her daughter so fiercely to her breast that it sends forth a cry, because she wants to________.A) distract herself from the dreadful gaze of the assembly.B) assure herself that her daughter is still with her.C) wake herself up from somewhat incontroable illusion about her early life.D) wake up her daughter.参考答案AACDD CABDCUNIT 13 Katherine Anne Porter简答题1. Does Granny Weatherall like Doctor Harry? Why or why not?2. Granny intends to do a lot "tomorrow." What is the most important thing? Can she do it?3. What advice does Granny give her family?4. What happened 60 years ago? Who is George? How does Granny feel about him?5. Who is John? How does Granny feel about him?6. What is it that she would like to tell George?7. What is it that she would like to tell John?8. Who does Granny want to see most before her death? Who is this person? Is Granny's wish realized?9. What is Granny's attitude towards death?10. When does Granny realize that she is going to die?11. What is the sign she looks forward to at the end of her life? Does it appear?参考答案1)Granny does not like Doctor Harry. First, she does not think she is ill and has to see the doctor. Second, she thinks the doctor treats her as if she were a child. He is not respectful to her.2)The most important thing is to go through George's letters and John's letters and her letters to them both. She cannot do this because she is now sick and has to stay in bed.3)She gives advice to Lydia about how to bring up children, to Jimmy about how to do business, even how to move the furniture to Cornelia.4)She was jilted by George, the man she was to marry. He did not come to the wedding. Granny is psychologically much wounded by George's jilting. She tries very hard to forget the event and suppresses her grief. However, just before her death, the agony surfaces and she cannot forget him 5)John is the man Granny marries eventually. They have several children during their marriage. Granny is thankful that John is sympathetic to her being jilted. She feels that, with John, there is nothing to worry about any more. But John dies when he is still rather young. She misses him from time to time, hoping to see him again in order to show him that she does not do badly without a husband.6)She, like any other woman, had a husband, fine children and a house. She is given back everything he takes away. However, the agony he causes her is 'unbelievable,' so great that she tries to think of it as that of having a baby.7)She has brought up their children, kept a good house and taken good care of the farm. She has changed, becoming tough by overcoming all the difficulties.8)It is Hapsy. She is Granny's daughter and she dies in childbirth. In her semi-consciousness,Granny feels as if she had to go through many rooms to find Hapsy with her baby. She even hears Hapsy say “I thought you'd never come,” and “Y ou haven't changed a bit!” Even at the time of death, she is concerned with the question “ What if I don't find her?”9)She thinks that she is well prepared for death. Twenty years ago, she felt very old and finished. So she went around making farewell trips to her children. Later she made her will and came down with a long fever. Then she got over the idea of dying for a long time. However, she becomes surprised when the real time comes and thinks it is not time yet and that she cannot go. Eventually, she accepts death by blowing out the light herself.10)It is when she realizes that her children have come a long way and are there by her bed to say good-bye to her.11)It is the sign of Jesus in the form of a bridegroom coming to take her to Heaven. But it does not appear. So she is jilted again.讨论题1. What are the qualities Granny Weatherall possesses that help her to live a successful life? Give examples from the story.2. Why are the events of the story not presented in chronological order? List the important events in chronological order.3. Does Granny Weatherall have any weaknesses?参考答案1。

美文学美国部分——浪漫主义时期Part two: American LiteratureChapter 1 The Romantic Period浪漫主义时期1. From the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of he Civil War. It started with the publication of Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. It is also called “the American Renaissance”.浪漫主义时期开始于十八世纪末，到内战爆发为止，华盛顿.欧文出版的《见闻札记》标志着美国文学的开端，惠特曼的《草叶集》是浪漫主义时期文学的压卷之作。

（也可称为“美国德文艺复兴”）2. The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature.对逃离社会，回归自然的渴求成为美国文学的一个永恒的话题。

3. The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values.美国清教作为一种文化遗产，对美国人的道德观念产生了很大的影响。

4. Besides, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of original sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesser writers. 在霍桑，麦尔维尔以及其他一些小作家的作品种加尔文主义的原罪思想和罪恶的神秘性都得到了充分的表现。