陶洁《美国文学选读》(第2版)复习笔记(第18单元 尤金

20.1复习笔记Tennessee Williams(1911-1983)（田纳西·威廉斯）1.Life（生平）Tennessee Williams was one of the greatest American dramatists.He was born Thomas Lanier Williams but he changed“Thomas”to“Tennessee”in1939.He was born in Columbus,Mississippi,in1911.Several years later,the family moved to the University City neighborhood of St.Louis,Missouri.In1929attended the University of Missouri,and dropped out in1932because of poverty.He finally earned a degree in1938from the University of Iowa.His first play,Battle of Angels, proved to be such a fiasco that he did not surface again,until1945when The Glass Menagerie won him international recognition.After that he kept writing at the rate of every two years and enjoyed popularity all along.He was also a novelist and a poet.He wrote a novel,two volumes of poetry,and six volumes of prose,including three collections of short stories.田纳西·威廉斯是美国最伟大的剧作家之一。

第1单元本杰明•富兰克林1. Why did Franklin write his Autobiography?Key: Because that when he was young, he has “never had a pleasure in obtaining any anecdotes” of his ancestors, and he held that it was a great pity because he was curious about them. So, he thought that his son would also want to know the story of him and he himself also had responsibility to share it with his son. In addition, he thought that his experiences and success would give some useful advice to his son. With such consideration in mind, Franklin wrote his autobiography.2.What made Franklin decide to leave the brother to whom he had been apprenticed?Key: The altercation between Franklin and his brother made him decide to leave. His brother considered himself as Franklin’s master and treated him harshly and tyrannically. This kind of treatment annoyed Franklin, so he decided to leave.3. How did he arrive in Philadelphia?Key: He arrived in Philadelphia with great difficulties. At the very start, he set out in a boat for Amboy, and in crossing the bay he, along with his companions, met with a squall that tore the rotten sails to pieces and drove him upon Long Island.On approaching the island, they had to drop anchor and swim out their cable towards the shore, etc. In a word, he went through many hardships on the way to Philadelphia.4. What features do you find in the style of the above selection?Key: This selection is written in the form of letters to his son. By this way, it can show the author’s honesty and frankness, which will make the reader stand close to him and actually feel and understand his emotions and experiences. Another feature is that this biography has a good narrative and reads like a story, which can arouse the readers’ reading interest and curiosity.。

4.1复习笔记I.Introduction to author（作者简介）Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864)is a novelist.纳撒尼尔·霍桑（1804-1864）是一位小说家。

1.Life（生平）Hawthorne was born in Salem,Massachusetts.Some of his ancestors were men of prominence in the Puritan theocracy.One of his ancestors was a colonial magistrate,notorious for his part in the persecution of the Quakers,and another was a judge at the Salem Witchcraft Trial in1692.Gradually,the family fortune declined.Hawthorn was intensely conscious of the wrongdoing of his ancestors, and this awareness led to his understanding of evil being at the core of human life, so he seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil in his life.霍桑出生于马萨诸塞州的萨勒姆镇，他的一些祖先是17世纪新英格兰清教神权统治中的显赫人物。

他的一位祖先是殖民地行政官，因参与迫害贵格派教徒而臭名昭著。

另一位祖先则是1692年萨勒姆审巫案的法官。

家族渐渐走向没落。

霍桑强烈地意识到他祖先的罪恶，这也让他明白了邪恶存在于人生命的核心部分，因此终其一生，他心中的罪恶感都挥之不去。

22.1复习笔记Robert Lowell(1917-1977)（罗伯特·洛威尔）1.Life（生平）Lowell came from a distinguished New England family.This background endowed him with culture and taste in the very texture of his being,and meanwhile offered a window of opportunity for him to scrutinize and dissect the decline of his New England tradition.He was well educated at Harvard and then at Kenyon College,Ohio under the well-known New Critical poet and critic John Crowe Ranson.Lowell’s poetic career reached a height when he received a Pulitzer for his second volume,Lord Weary’s Castle in1946.In1959his Life Studies came out,at that time he had switched from the New Critical style to open form,and had inadvertently initiated a new school of verse,the Confessional School poetry.He received the National Book Award for the new book.In the late1960s he once was arrested for his part in the march on the Pentagon against the Vietnam War.洛威尔来自显赫的新英格兰家庭。

第1单元本杰明•富兰克林1.1 复习笔记I. Introduction to author（作者简介）Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790) was a rare genius in human history. He became everything: a printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, inventor, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador, —“Jack of all trades.”本杰明·富兰克林(1706—1790)是人类历史上少有的天才。

他是出版家、邮政总长、历书作者、散文家、科学家、发明家、演说家、政治家、哲学家、政治经济学家、大使等等。

1. Life（生平）He was born into a poor family. He was a voracious reader. At 16 he published essays under the pseudonym Silence Dogood. At 17 he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune. He became a printer. He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital, an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society. He was a preeminent scientist of his day. He signed the Declaration of Independence. He was one of the makers of the new nation.富兰克林出生于一个贫穷的家庭。

美国文学选读PPTI. Romantic periodWashington IrvingEdgar Allan PoeNathanial HawthorneWalt WhitmanEmily DickinsonII. Realist periodMark TwainSherwood AndersonStephen CraneTheodore DreiserIII. Modern periodF. S. FitzgeraldErnest HemingwayWilliam FaulknerI. Early Romantics1.1. Backgrounda. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, romanticism occurredand developed in Europe.b. Industrial Revolution and French Revolution (1789) (fighting forliberty, equality and fraternity)c. Inspiration initially came from two great men: one is Frenchphilosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau and German writer Goethe (also related to lake poets)Goethe, Rousseau & Lake PoetsJohann Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1832): stressing feelings and individualityJean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): to free the individual personality and feelings, to return to natureIn 1798 Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly published the “Lyrical Ballads” , which marked the break with the classicism and the beginning of romanticism.d. Neoclassicism, as represented by John Dryden (1631-1700) and Alexander Pope (1688-1744), esteemed objectivity, harmony, rationality, dignity, proportion, and moderation.1.2. Features of the romantic literature1.2.1.Expressiveness:Wordsworth: “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling”The romanticists held that the writers should express their emotions, feelings, impressions, instinct, intuition, or their beliefs in their works instead of the imitation of the classical writers.1.2.2. Imagination:1.2.3. Worship of nature：1.2.4. Simplicity：turned to the humble people and the everyday life，adopted the everyday languageRomanticismRomanticism is a term applied to literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and early 19th century. It can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality that typified classicism in general and late 18th-century neoclassicism in particular. (to be continued)It was also to some extent a reaction against the Enlightenment and against 18th-century rationalism and physical materialism in general.Inspired in part by the libertarian ideals of the French Revolution, the romantics believed in a return to nature and in the innate goodness of humans, as expressed by Jean Jacques Rousseau. (to be continued)They emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental. They also showed interest in the medieval, exotic, primitive, and nationalistic. Critics date English literary Romanticism from the publication of William Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads in 1798 to the death of Sir Walter Scott and the passage of the first reform bill in the Parliament in 1832.II. American Romanticism(from the end of 18th to the Civil War)2.1. BackgroundA. American PuritanismB. America was striving for political, economic, and culturalindependence from Britain, radical changes took place: Development of industrialism, great immigration, westward expansion, etc. The buoyant mood of the nation called for a new literary expression, and romanticism answered the call.C. The European influence.2.2. Representative romanticists:In poetry: Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Henry Longfellow In fiction: James Cooper, Washington Irving, Nathaniel HawthorneLecture 1 .Washington Irving (1783 to 1859)3.3.Appreciation of Rip V an Winkle3.3.1. Main idea(reference to page406)3.3.2. Analysis of the characterRip Van Winkle:Hen-pecked, good-tempered, well-oiled, warm-hearted, lazy, care-free, simple-minded, obedient, irresponsible, a little foolish, etc.His wife:nagging, sharp-tongued, hard-working, uneducated country woman 3.3.3. Analysis of the theme1. A story of man who has difficulty in f acing his age or the author’sconservative attitude towards the American Revolution and the young Republic, and his dissatisfaction with American development2. Criticism of some teachings of Puritanism:Unceasing labor, no play, all kinds of pleasures are condemned, greedy for wealthExpress a strong desire for leisure3. The theme of escape from one’s responsibility and even one’shistory4. The loss of identity3.3.4. Analysis of writing style1. The use of humorHumor (sentences written in a funny way in order to amuse the reader)Jocular humor—Irving (for fun, for amusement)Satirical humor—Mark Twain (to satire, to criticize)Tearful humor—O’ Henry (arouse sympathy on the poor)Black humor—Joseph Heller (humor in facing death)2. Graceful, refined, fluent, dignified and standard language. Hisessays are models of English.3. Romantic imagination and fantasies4. Vivid and picturesque description of setting3.4. Comment on IrvingHe was the first American man of letters to support himself as a professional writer.He was the first American author who explored native themes.He was the first American writer to win international recognition, and was extremely popular in Europe.His popularity came from his humor (use dignified words to for unimportant things/ exaggerate the seriousness of the situation)Conservative in his attitude toward the social changes.Lecture 2 . Edgar Allan PoeIntroduction to poetry1.1. What is poetrya. Emily Dickinson: “when I read something I feel so cold that no fire ca n warm me, I know its poetry; when I read something I feel my head is chopped off, I know it’s poetry.”b. The poet has found the emotion, the emotion has found the word.c. Wordsworth: “All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”.d.“A good poem is the crystalization of word and emotions.”1.2.Types of poetry• 1.2.1. Narrative poetry• a. Epic: long narrative poems that record the adventures of a hero whose exploits [brave or adventurous deeds or action] are important to the history of a nation. As Homeric epics (a blind bard): The Iliad and The Odyssey• b. Ballad: a simple poem(less ambitious than epics) that tells a story.• c. Romance: another type of narrative poem, in which adventure is a central feature.1.2.2. Lyric poetry• a. Epigram[诙谐诗]: short poem expressing an idea in clear and amusing way• b. Elegy: a lament for the dead.• c. Ode: a long stately poem in stanzas of varied length, meter, and form.• d. Sonnet: 14 lines, the Italian (or Petrarchan: 8-line octave + 6-line sestet; typical rhyming: abbaabba+cdcdcd/cdecde) and the English (or Shakespearean: three 4-line quatrains + a concluding 2-line couplet)1.3. Elements of poetry• 1.3.1. V oice: speaker and tone• 1.3.2. Diction: the best words in the best order (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)• 1.3.3. Imagery: a concrete representation of a sense impression, a feeling, or an idea.•Images: visual, aural, tactile, olfactory (something smelled), gustatory (sth tasted)• 1.3.4. Figures of speech: simile and metaphor• 1.3.5. Symbolism: a symbol is any object or action that means more than itself, any object or action that represents sth beyond itself.• 1.3.6. Syntax: the grammatical structure of words in sentences and the development of sentences in longer units throughout the poem.1.3.7. SoundRhyme:two or more words or phrases contain an identical or similar vowel-sound, usually stressed, and the consonant sounds that follow the vowel-sound are identical and preceded by different consonants. eg. bright and night heaven and seven see and theeOn the basis of sound:Exact rhyme: repeat end sounds precisely eg. day — waySlant rhyme: provide an approximate sound eg.sun — boneIdentical rhyme: repeating the entire sound, including the initial consonant, sometimes by repeating the same word in a rhyme position and sometimes by repeating the sound with two senses. eg. two — tooEye rhyme: look alike, but sound different .eg. laughter —daughterOn the basis of the number of syllables:Masculine rhyme: the recurrence of sound is restricted to the final stressed syllable . eg. cold — boldFeminine rhyme: the stressed rhyming syllables are followed by identical unstressed syllableseg. spiteful— delightfulTriple rhyme: the rhyming stressed syllable is followed by two identical unstressed syllableseg. tenderly —slenderlyOn the basis of the position in a lineInternal rhyme: occurs at the beginning, sometimes combined with end rhyme eg. the grains beyond age, the dark veins of her motherEnd rhyme: occurs at the end of a lineeg. Three poets, in three distant ages born,Greece, Italy, and England did adorn.Alliteration is the repetition of consonants, especially at the beginning of words or stressed syllables. Eg. The willows waved violently in the wind. Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds within a noticeable range. Eg. All day the wind breathes low with mellower toneThro’ every holl ow cave and alley lone.Consonance is the repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after different vowels.Eg. tit and tat creak and crack• 1.3.8. Rhythm and meter• a. rhythm: beat we feel in a phrase of music or a line of poetry, the regular recurrence of the accent or stress in poem.• b. foot[音步]: unit of rhythm in a line of poetry containing one stressed syllable and one or more unstressed syllables, as in the four division of “four m an/may c ome/and m en /may g o”• c. meter[格律]: poetic metre with a given number of feet, or fixed arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables.•Rising feet/meter: iamb (iambic), anapest (anapestic)•Falling feet/meter: trochee (trochaic), dactyl (dactylic)•Number of feet per line Mo n ometer Tr imeter Te tr ameter Pentameter Hexameter Hep t ameter Oc t ameter1.4. Some features of poetry• 1.4.1. emotional, passionate,•Expressing and arousing strong feeling such as love, pity, fear, sadness, joy, etc from the author or from the reader• 1.4.2. Symbolic• A symbol is something that stands for something else. In literature, it refers to any word, object, action, or character that embodies and evokes a range of additional meaning and significance.•Imagery is the use of figurative language to produce a picture in the minds of readers or hearers.• 1.4.3. Condensed and vivid language•Language is the most important thing in poetry. Poetic language is the most vivid and condensed language in literature.2.3. Poe’s featuresa. A short story writerstories two kinds:Horror Ratiocination（推理）b. A poetfifty poems typically Romantic in both form and contentc. A literary criticPoe’s poetictheories“The Philosophy of Composition ““The Poetic Principle”Poetry should be short and readable at one sitting, should appeal only to “beauty” (aiming at “an elevating excitement of the soul”)True poetry is “the rhythmical creation of beauty”Poe’s aesthetic theory•a. “Beauty is the sole purpose of the poem.” Poetry must concern itself just with “supernal beauty”, not with the narration of a s tory, nor even with the beauty of particular things.•b. The immediate object of poetry is pleasure, not truth. The function of poetry is not to summarize, nor interpret earthly experience, but to create a mood in which the soul soars.•c. Melancholy is the most legitimate of all the poetic tones. Sickness, abnormal love, death of a beautiful woman, are to him, unquestionably, the most poetical topics in the world.•d. The length of writing, both of tales and poetry, should be about 100 lines, so that the reader can be well engaged in it without any interruption. Understanding “The Raven”3.1. Topic of the poem:death: “the death of a beautiful woman is , unquestionably, the most poetic in the world”→a sense of melancholy over the death of a beloved beautiful young woman 3.2. Setting of the poem:midnight: a time associated with the end of lifebleak December: a season associated with the end of lifethe room: warmed and lighted by “dying embers”, associated with the supernaturalthe purple curtains: a color associated with Fu n ereal custom3.3. Mood of the personamelancholic, sorrowful, even desperate (The repetition of the word “Nevermore”increases the speaker’s feelings of pain and loss. This pattern of self-inflicted torture builds in intensity until the speaker breaks down emotionally and demands that the raven “Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door”).3.4. SoundIt takes Poe 4 years to complete “The Raven”→a marvel of regularity:719 feet of which 705 are perfect trochees (1 strong + 1 weak), 10 doubtful trochees and only 4 clearly dactyls (1 strong + 2 weak)Rhyme scheme: abcbbbAlliteration (flirt, flutter; stately, saintly…)Assonance (dreary, weary; napping, tapping, rapping;morrow, borrow, sorrow, with the sound “o”to show one’s sad,sorrow and grief mood; …)Sound and rhythm make the poem musical and melodious. They contribute a lot to the mood and the theme of the writing at the same time.3.5 symbolism3.5.1 Raven: disaster and misfortuneRaven, the large bird-like crow with black feathers, in Western countries, as well as it is in China, is conventionally regarded as an ominous fowl, a symbol of misfortune. Thus with the repetition of the "napping and tapping" the poet was filled "with fantastic terrors never felt before."3.5.2 the "lost Lenore" : the soul of the radiant maiden, beauty and hopeAt the moment when the poet was in the darkness peering, wondering, expecting and whispering Lenore but was just responded with a "nothing more," the Raven, "with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door." A conversation was held and the poet was so comforted with it. For twice, the poet felt the bird "beguiling my sad fancy into smiling."3.5.3 The poet’s strong passion to Lenore: the sub-consciousness of the poetIn the conversation the poet distinctly expressed his strong passion to Lenore. However, the only response from the Raven was "Nevermore." It seems what the poet had expressed is simply the view out of the "id", while the Raven 's words are rather restrictive and seem out of "ego." The poet was too affectionate to Lenore to be restrictive, while the Raven was what warned him to be rational and that what had been lost would return "nevermore."3.5.4 The poet’s frustration: the modern realityThe poet was of the firm belief that in modern society human beings are apa th etic creatures. He was deeply resentful at the people's indifference towards his mourning to Lenore; therefore, he turned to the Raven for comfort. But quite to his disappointment, he was merely responded with a cold "nevermore."Lecture 3:Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804—1864)Introduction to the writerthe great romantic novelist in the nineteenth century . the pioneer of psychological analyst in the history of American literature.1.2. Point of viewBlack vision of human nature: Obsessed by the Calvinistic concept of the original sin, Hawthorne believes human beings are evil-natured and sinful and this sin and evil is ever present in human heart and will pass on from one generation to another. His writings are to show how we are all wronged and wrongers, and avenge one another.1.4. Themes of Hawthorne’s writing⏹ 1. Explore the relationship between the past and the present⏹ 2. Explore the hidden motivations of his characters.⏹ 3. Examine the effect of hidden sin and secret guilt⏹ 4. Moral or immoral, right or wrong is the question Hawthorne alwaystalks about in his works.1.5. Style⏹ 1. His style was soft, flowing and almost feminine.⏹ nguage: smooth, clear, beautiful in sound and meaning⏹ 3.He also frequently uses symbols and settings to reveal thepsychology of the characters.II. Appreciation of “Young Goodman Brown”2.1. The main idea of the work2.2. Understanding of the excerpt2.3. Analysis of the structure⏹At sunset, Goodman Brown leaves his wife Faith, spends the night inthe forest, and at dawn returns a changed man. Within this basic structure, the story further divides into four separate scenes, the first and last of which, that is, the departure from and the return to Salem, are balanced. (to be continued)⏹The night in the forest falls naturally into two parts: the temptation bythe Devil and the meeting of the witch. The two scenes, particularly the former, make full and careful use of the dramatic devices of suspense and climatic arrangement. The climax of the story comes when Brown calls upon his wife to look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one, which is cut off abruptly by anticlimax as the meeting vanishes in a roaring wind, and Brown leaning against the rock finds it chill and damp to his touch.2.4. Analysis of the theme⏹Everyone possesses some evil secret.2.5. Analysis of the writing style⏹ 2.5.1. Ambiguity:⏹Whether the events of the night are actual or dreamlike⏹Whether Brown is lost to the devil or saved by Faith2.5.2. Contrast⏹Day and night⏹Good and Evil⏹The red of fire and blood and the black of night and forest2.5.3. Symbolism⏹day and the town: human convention and society⏹night and forest: symbols of doubt and wandering⏹red: Sin or Evil⏹black: doubt of the reality of either Evil or Good that tortures Brown2.5.4. Allegory⏹The story is often read as a conventional allegory in the sense thatYoung Goodman is everyman, and his journey to the dark forest and his encounter with the devil are symbolic of man’s life journey from innocence to knowledge, from good to evil.⏹Faith, if taken as an allegorical figure, is the incarnation of Christianbelief.III. Comment on the writer⏹ 3.1. the great romantic novelist in the nineteenth century⏹ 3.2. the pioneer of psychological analyst in the history of Americanliterature.Appreciation of The Scarlet Letter⏹1. Main Character:Hester Prynne.Roger Chillingworth.Arthur Dimmesdale3. Character Analysis⏹Hester: brave, strong-minded, warm-hearted, intelligent, sacrificing, decisive⏹Dimmesdale: timid, selfish, irresponsible, cowardly, weak-minded⏹Chillingworth: cold-blooded, dehumanizedTheme of The Scarlet Letter⏹To escape the bondage of religion either on people’s spirit or on people’s natural desire⏹4. Abundant use of symbols⏹A ---adultery⏹angel⏹able⏹Prison—the place that deprived people of spiritual freedom⏹Forest---the nature⏹Rose near the prison—Hester and her love⏹Cap—sth controlling one’s beautyLecture 4:Walt Whitman(1819-1892)1.1. Background of the 1820’s♦ 1. Democratic idealism began to exert influence, the antislavery movement.♦ 2. Democratic and abolitionist literature began to rise. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published her Uncle Tom’s Cabin which was greatly honored by President Lincoln. “the little lady who wrote the book that made this big war.”♦ 3. The American literary field in the 19th century blossomed also with poetry. The most popular poet was Longfellow, because he was most interested in such subjects as home, family, nature and religion and his style was lyrical as well as conventional. But the best poet is no doubt Whitman.1.3. Major work♦Leaves Of Grass: a collection of Whitman’s poems, his lifelong achievement. The most famous pieces are “Song of Myself”, “There Was a Child Went Forth”, “Pioneers! Pioneers!” etc. Whitman experimented in his works with new poetic form of free verse and oral lg. Thus, Leaves of Grass has become landmark in American literary history, which represents the poet, the people, and the nation in the 19th America and celebrates the future of the nation and the ideals of equality and democracy.II. Appreciation of the selected readings2.1. “I hear American singing”♦ 2.1.1.Main idea: This poem is shortest among Whitman’s poems. It presents the reader a picture of the modern Americans: people from all walks of life are singing for their cheerful and creative work and their dream through out American.♦ 2.1.2.Themes: an eulogy to the thriving American nation, the laboring people; the poet’s optimistic attitude toward the world and life.♦ 2.1.3.Tone: Proud, cheerful, optimistic2.2. “There was a child went forth”2.2.1. Understanding of the poem:♦It is a poem about the experience of Whitman the child-poet as well as that of America the newly founded nation. Between the lines, Whitman recaptures the awakening consciousness of the child-poet and the lovely landscape in which the American child matures.♦The child went through several stages to know nature, human beings, his own origin, and at last the wide and endless world of sea. He was energetic, thirsty for knowledge. And the future for him is bright, for he will always go forth every day. By comparing the young nation to a child, Whitman made his optimistic view on its future felt and self-evident.2.2.2. Structure:The structure of the poem is a circular one. The first stanza is an introduction to the child. In the second stanza, it turns out to be a beautiful idyllic landscape where the child came to know nature. However, he went from the idyllic peaceful Eden to the noisy human city in the next stanza, and then came to know the conception of himself in the fourth stanza.♦In the last stanza, he saw his parents and other people in the crowding world. But the poem changes here into another idyllic episode: the beautiful scene on the sea. It is just like a circle. The child came in peace, grew in the crowded society, but went back to peace at the sea. The return to peace is just the beginning of another one. The child will mature day in and day out.2.3. “Song of myself”Theme:♦“Song of myself” , consisting 1345 lines, is the longest poem in Leaves of Grass. “Myself” is the central and principal image in this poem. It refers not only to the poet himself but also to a group of people who had the American national characteristics and the democratic ideals like Whitman.They were pioneers on the American continent: the ironsmiths, the carpenters, the butcher, and the waiters, etc., as listed in the poem.♦These people were optimistic in spirit and strong physically. They live harmoniously with other people in this world as well as with nature. In this song, Whitman sings of nationalism and of the nature of the self in relation to the cosmos and the meaning and purpose of birth and death.Individualism, nationalism, and internationalism or cosmopolitanism, the three contradicting beliefs are reasonably united.♦The selec ted part is the first and the sixth sections of “Song of myself”. In Section one, Whitman talks about the contradictory but also harmonious relations between myself and you, his willingness to live on this soil, and the importance of nature. These ideas are essential to understand Whitman’s philosophy and esp. the whole “Song of myself”♦In Section Six, the poet turns his attention to the grass. He probes into the relationships between the grass and himself/the Lord/a child or a new life/death and so on. The grass is a symbol of life and equality. He suggests the central underlying truth in nature is death. To him, death is not an ending, but the ultimate source of equality and unity. As a natural part of the cycle of life, in death the body becomes part of nature in a different way. Death is immortality, though people do not recognize that.2.4. Analysis of the artistic features♦ 2.4.1. form: free verse♦Oral and powerful lg: Although free verse, he wrote with repeated and parallel sentences to strengthen the feelings. He express what he wanted to express freely, smoothly, and heatedly. His poems are like waves of the sea that rushed to the beach violently, one after another.♦ 2.4.2 the first person narrator: direct and sympathetic to the reader♦ 2.4.3. topic: sex.♦To use his own expression, “he saw the world as a vision of love.” He believes that life is the source of poems, love and enthusiasm are the motives of creation.III. Comments on the writer♦ 3.1. Subject: son of time, feels the pulse of the time. As a romanticist and transcendentalist, he broke the conventional poetic materials, no myth,no romance, no story of king and lords. He sings for self, common people, America, city life, nature, etc.♦ 3.2. Form: (Free verse) poetry without fixed beat or regular rhyme.Whitman is the first great American poet to use this form of poetry, he also used it more skillfully than any other poet.Lecture 5:Emily Dickinson（1830-1886）1.2. Points of viewEmily Dickinson lived a life of self-seclusion. She was a sensitive woman and preferred to explore the inner life of herself other than the social one. Therefore, her poetry usually concerns her meditations on love, religion, death, immortality, and nature. Her world on one hand was small, because it was only a secluded woman’s world. But on the other hand, it was a cosmos, making up of the human inner world and natural outer one.1.2.1. Religious viewsCalvinism with its doctrine of predestination and its pessimistic ideas about life and man’s original sin haunted her during her childhood and adolescence. Because of the Calvinist influence, her view of life is pessimistic and her tone in the poems sounds tragic. In her poetry, we can strongly sense the doubts about the existence of God and the realization of after-life. She was so obsessed with this religious uncertainty that about one third of her poems are about death and immortality, themes that lie at the center of her poetic world.1.2.2. Ideas on loveLove is another subject Dickinson showed great interest in. She herself had lived a lonely life of a spinster. She had once or twice fallen in love with someone. But each time she was frustrated. Some of her love poems reflect the unhappy experiences of hers, such as “I never lost as much but twice”. There are also poems about the longing of physical love, the union of the bodies.1.2.3. Ideas on natureDickinson was also a nature poet. To her, nature is both simple and harmonious. She writes about nature to reveal its simplicity and profundity on one hand, and tries to establish a connection between nature and man on the other, like the transcendentalists. Her poems are full of insights intonature and human life.1.2.4. Ideas on poetry writingEmily Dickinson seemed to consider poetry writing as a private thing.When she was in her early twenties, she began to write poetry. Sometimes she would send her poems with letters to her friends. But she never approved of publishing her poems, for she thought, “Publication is the auction of the mind of man.”So she kept her poems to herself throughout the life. She did not regard herself as a poet. But in her opinion, a poet’s responsibility is to use concrete images to present abstract ideas. Her poems are terse and suggestive.1.3. Special features1.3.1. Experimentation on poetic forms: In poetic style, Dickinsonwas terse, suggestive, and indirect.1.3.2. PersonaDickinson’s poems present no identifiable speaker. It was only a supposed person in the poems. The speaker rarely has an age and often no gender; it emerges from no background and has no purpose beyond the moment of the speech. Her poetry is about personal crises of no particular individuals, nor is it about Emily Dickinson herself: instead, it speaks generally—addressing the human conditions.II. Appreciation of the selected works2.1. Wild Nights—Wild Night!2.1.1. Understanding the poemThis is a poem on love. Although Dickinson is a spinster, she is skillful in writing poems on love.2.1.2. Symbols:boat and the sea: male and female loverswild nights: passionate or wild love2.2. This is my letter to the world2.2.1. Understanding the poem：This is a poem on life.2.2.2. Theme: Dickinson’s proud expectation of a public place among her sweet countrymen.2.2.3. Structure2 stanzas: The first stanza is one sentence. There is a contrast in thisstanza: the World and Nature. The former never wrote to “me”the simple news, while the latter told “me”with tender Majesty. Thus the world is indifferent but nature is amiable. The second stanza is composed of 2 sentences. The first 2 lines reveal the way in which nature commits the news and the last two lines the poet’s request to the countrymen: judge tenderly to me.2.3. I died for Beauty—but was Scarce。

陶洁《美国⽂学选读》（第3版）笔记和课后习题详解（第18单元尤⾦第18单元尤⾦?格拉斯通?奥尼尔18.1复习笔记I.Introduction to author（作者简介）1.Life（⽣平）Eugene Glastone O’Neill(1888-1953)was the greatest playwright of US.He was born in New York.His father was a famous actor and O’Neill traveled around with his father’s group and took a year in Princeton,from which he was expelled because of misbehavior.Then he began his experience of wandering and loafing about which stand him in good stead.In the winterof1912-13he developed tuberculosis and was sent to a sanitarium.In this period he read widely in the world’s dramatic literature.In1916his one-act play Bound East for Cardiff was staged.The event marked the beginning of O’Neill’s long and successful dramatic career and ushered in the modern era of the American Theater.O’Neill was a prize-winning playwright.He received the Pulitzer Prize for his Beyond the Horizon and Anna Christie between1920and1922,and the Nobel Prize in1936.尤⾦·格拉斯通·奥尼尔(1888—1953)是美国最伟⼤的剧作家。

1、Benjamin Franklin（1706-1790）本杰明·富兰克林He is the representative of the Enlightenment in America in 18th century. Humanist, statesman, writer, scientist, inventor.The Autobiography《自传》♂简析：The book is about the course of Franklin's struggle for success. It tells us the importance of being diligent. The book had a great influence on American people,and changed the destinies of many youth.It is the first America successful biographical work（传记文学）, has an important position in the history of American Literaturel.Poor Richard’s Almanac 《格言历书》♂简析：A collection of maxims （格言），or proverbs, on the value of work and savings for success.2、Edgar Allan Poe(1809-1849) 埃德加·爱伦·坡 Novelist,poet,critic.Good at writing Gothic（哥特式）and detective fiction.Father of western detective stories and psychoanalytic criticism.（扩展：文学理论建树不容忽视，影响深远。

陶洁《美国⽂学选读》笔记和课后习题（含考研真题）详解（斯蒂芬克莱恩）【圣才出品】第10单元斯蒂芬?克莱恩10.1 复习笔记I. Introduction to author（作者简介）1. Life（⽣平）Stephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.斯蒂芬·克莱恩是美国⼩说家、短篇⼩说家、诗⼈、记者。

他在短暂的⼀⽣中著作颇丰，在现实主义传统下写了许多著名作品，也成为美国⾃然主义和印象主义的早期范例。

他被当代批评家认为是同时代最具有创意的作家。

2. Major Works（主要作品）Maggie: A Girl of the Street (1893) 《街头⼥郎麦姬》The Red Badge of Courage (1895) 《红⾊英勇勋章》“The Open Boat” (1897) 《海上扁⾈》The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky (1898)《新娘来到黄天镇》The Blue Hotel (1898) 《蓝⾊旅店》Ⅱ. Selected works（选读作品）◆The Open Boat《海上扁⾈》This story is based on Crane’s personal experiences. While traveling to Cuba to work as a newspaper correspondent during the Cuban insurrection against Spain, Crane was stranded at sea after his ship the Commodore sank off the coast of Florida. Stephen Crane and three others endured the rage of the sea for thirty hours. Billy Higgins a friend of Cranes drowned while swimming to shore. This realistic story of their life-threatening ordeal captures the emotions of four men in a fight against nature.Th e most significant aspect of this struggle lies in the men’s attempts to help one another survive when they are confronted with danger and disaster.故事取材于克莱恩真实的个⼈经历。

第1单元本杰明•富兰克林1.1 复习笔记I. Introduction to author（作者简介）Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a rare genius in human history. He became everything: a printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, inventor, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador,—“Jack of all trades.”富兰克林是人类历史上少有的天才。

他是出版家、邮政总长、历书作者、散文家、科学家、发明家、演说家、政治家、哲学家、政治经济学家、大使、业务员等等。

1. Life（生平）He was born into a poor family. He was a voracious reader. At 16 he published essays under the pseudonym Silence Do good. At 17 he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune. He became a printer. He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital, an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society. He was a preeminent scientist of his day. He signed the Declaration of Independence. He was one of the makers of the new nation.富兰克林出生于一个贫穷的家庭。