美国文学术语
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1. EpicA long narrative poem, typically a recounting of history or legend or of the deeds of a national hero and of reflecting the values of the society from which it originated. Many epics were drawn from an oral tradition and were transmitted by song and recitation before they were written down. Later on this literary genre was written down by the poets, such as Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained. Two of the greatest epics are Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. While in British literary history, the national epic is Beowulf.2. HumanismHumanism refers to the main literary trend and is the keynote of English Renaissance. Humanists took interest in human life and human activities and gave expression to the new feeling of admiration for human beauty, human achievement.3. PuritanismThe term is used in a narrow sense of religious practice and attitudes, and in a broad sense of an ethical outlook, which is much less easy to define.1). In its strict sense, “Puritan” was applied to those Protestant reformers who rejec ted Queen Elizabeth’s religious settlement of 1560. This settlement sought a middle way between Roman Catholicism and the extreme spirit of reform of Geneva. The Puritans, influenced by Geneva, Zurich, and other continental centers, objected to the retention of bishops and to any appearance of what they regarded as superstition in church worship---the wearing of vestments by the priests, and any kind of religious image. Apart from their united opposition to Roman Catholicism and their insistence on simplicity in religious forms, Puritans disagreed among themselves on questions of doctrine and church organization. Puritans were very strong in the first half of 17th century and reached its peak of power after the Civil War of 1642-6, a war, which was ostensibly religious, although it was also political.2). In the broad sense of a whole way of life, Puritanism has always represented strict obedience to the dictates of conscience and strong emphasis on the virtue of self-denial. The word “Puritan” is often thoug ht to imply hostility to arts, but this is not necessarily true.4.RenaissanceIt is a cultural movement of the rising bourgeoisie. The key word for it is humanism, which emphasizes the belief in human beings, his environment and doings and his brave fight for the emancipation of man from the tyranny of the church and religious dogmas. It originally indicates a revival of classical arts and learning after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism. Its aim is to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval time and introduce new ideas that express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie. Shakespeare, Spenser, and Marlowe are all famous literary figures in this period.5.Enlightenment：Enlightenment is a progressive intellectual movement, whichswept over England and other lands in Western Europe in the 18th century.Enlightenment freed and reformed the thinking of man. Enlighteners strove to clearaway the feudal remnants and replace them by bourgeois ideologue.6. “Transcendentalism”is defined as the recognition in man of the capacity of acquiringknowledge transcending the reach of the five senses, or of knowing truth intuitively, or of reaching the divine without the need of an intercessor. It was the first American intellectual movement. It stressed the power of intuition and the significance of the individual. It placed spirit first and matter second, and took nature as symbolic of God.7.Naturalism is a kind of social Darwinism, which holds that the weak and stupid would fallvictim to economic forces. Literary naturalism holds that humans are controlled by laws of heredity and environment, and that the universe is cold and hostile to human desires.American naturalists wrote in a daring, open, and direct manner.8. Local Colorism: The local color writing was a form of regionalism popular after the Civil War.As a subordinate order of realism, regionalism (乡土主义，地方色彩) stresses a faithful representation of the habits, speech, manners, history, folklore, or beliefs of a particular geographical section. It’s characterized by vernacular language and satirical humor.9. Imagism:It is a Movement in U.S. and English poetry characterized by the use of concretelanguage and figures of speech, modern subject matter, metrical freedom, and avoidance of romantic or mystical themes, aiming at clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images.It grew out of the Symbolist Movement in 1912 and was initially led by Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and others.10.Metaphysical: It refers to the school of poets that appeared in the Revolutionary period inEngland by using quite unconventional and often surprising conceits; the metaphysical poets wrote poems full of wits and humor. But sometimes the logic argument and conceits become persuasive, going to preposterous dimensions. The language is colloquial but very powerful, creating unorthodox images on the reader’s mind. John Donne is the representative metaphysical poets.11.Blank verse: Blank verse is unrhymed poetry, typically in iambic pentameter, and, as such, thedominant verse form of English dramatic and narrative poetry since the mid-16th century.Blank verse is not written in stanza form. Instead, the poem is developed in verse paragraphs that vary in length. Blank verse is flexible form of expression that gives the poet a choice of many variations within the metrical pattern. Because of its flexibility, blank verse is especially appropriate for narrative and dramatic poetry and other longer kinds of poetry. Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare used this form with great power and variety in their plays.12. Free verse: Free verse refers to a kind of poetry whose rhythmical lines vary in length,adhering to no fixed metrical pattern or the usually rhyming system, such poetry may seem formless, but it does have a form or pattern, often largely based on repetition and parallel structure. Walt Whitman’s poems are typical example.。
