美国文学答案

Literary terms1. Transcendentalism: 超验主义1. Flourished from about 1836 to 1860. It stood in reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment, and as a revolt against the cultural dominion of England.2. General features(1)Emphasis on the significance of imagination, spirit and individualism, exploring the innermost being of man(2)Opposition against neoclassical conception of formality and order(3)Divinity of man and nature, perception of nature as symbolic of Spirit or God(4)Goes further into nature to acquire truth and knowledge than Romanticism3. Major figures of Transcendentalism: Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller.2. American naturalism：1. Flourished between1880 to 1940. It was a term created by Emile Zola. Charles Darwin‟s evolutionary theory and French naturalism played an important role in American naturalism.2. General features:(1)A view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment(2)Scientific accuracy and lots of factual details(3)Extreme objectivity and frankness(4)Tone: ugly side of the society, gloom, hopelessness, despair3. Major figures of naturalism: Stephen crane，Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser.3.The lost generation:1. The term came from Gertrude Stein who said in Hemingway's presence that “you are all a lost generation.”2. It refers to the generation after the World War I or the young writers who lived as expatriates in Western Europe for a short time. Most of them caught in the war and cut from the old value.3. They were disillusioned with capitalist ideals and civilization and sense of loss after the world war.4. These writers adopted unconventional style of writing and reacted against the tendencies of the older writers in the 1920s.4.Jazz age:1. It refers to the time in 1930s after the World War I when there was a financial boom.2. It is about life and fate of young men who indulged in stimulus and pleasure3. And disillusionment of American dream.4. Fitzgerald was the literary spokesman for the Jazz age.5.Free verse:1. It is a style of poetry that has irregular rhythms and lines and attempts to avoid any predetermined verse structure. Instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech.2. While it alternates stressed and unstressed syllables as stricter verse forms do, free verse does so in a looser way.3. Whitman's poetry is the most impressive example of free verse. Other major figures of free verse include Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and other major American can poets of the 20th century.6. The iceberg analogy:1. The Iceberg Theory is a writing theory by Ernest Hemingway: "The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one eighth of it being above water.”2. It means that a writer may omit things but the readers will have a feeling of those things as stronglyas though the writer had stated them if the writer is writing truly enough.3. It was well suited to evoke the stoic courage of his characters who face lonely and thankless tasks. 1.Poe's Poetic Ideas1. Poe believes that Poetry is not to summarize and interpret earthly experience, but the elevation of excitement of the soul should be “the poetic principle”. The best poetic topic is perishing of beauty, or “supernal beauty”.2. Everything that detains human soul must be excluded from the poetry, including moral sense.3. Poe defines poetry as “the rhythmical creation of beauty”, giving emphasis upon the importance of the rhythmical or musical element in poetry.2．Whitman's style1. Transcendentalism: optimism, divinity of man and nature, emphasis on individualism and exploring the innermost of being of man.2. Democratic thought: celebration of ideal democratic society and attacks against corruption3. The sprawling lines: extremely long.4. Parallelism: the parallel lines say the same thing but use different words.5. Envelope structure: the first line begins with the subject, and then more and more lines list modifiers till the verb appears in the last line of the stanza. This is like enclosing a whole list of ideas in an envelope.6. Catalogue technique: means listing. Typical poems by Whitman make long, long lists of images, of sights, sounds, smells, taste, and touch.7. No conventional meter and rhythm8. The verse unit is usually an independent clause.3．Formal features of Dickinson's poetry1. Based on her own experience2. Theme: love, nature, friendship, death and immorality3. Peculiar poetic form: abundant dashes, irregular punctuation and capitalization, faulty grammar, no title, no regular line4. Remarkable for its uncommon variety, original subtlety and unusual richness5. Poetic indirection: e.g. “There is certain slant of light” and “Tell all the truth but tell its slant!”4．The theme and techniques in Eliot's "The W aste Land"Theme：1. Modern spiritual barrenness,2. Despair and depression that followed the WWI3. Sterility and turbulence of the modern world, and the decline and break-down of western culture4. Shows the search for regeneration by people living in a chaotic world.Technique： 1. V aried length and rhythm to harmonize with the changing subject matter2. Unrhymed lines,3. Lots of borrowings from different writers5．Analysis of "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson1. Theme：It seems that Cory‟s life should be a happy and successful one, but his inner world is far more complicated than what he appears to be. It tells us that success may be meaningless to somepeople and cannot reflect the true meaning and value of life and shows the hollowness and loneliness of modern people.2. TechniqueWording: (1)Lively words: “imperially”; “quietly”; “admirably”(2)Simple words: looked at；clean favored；was arrayed；glittered; was human; put a bullet through his head(3)Simple words to show contrast between the cheering life and the tragic ending(4)Ancient words: …clean favored‟、…arrayed‟、…schooled‟to correspond the serious topic Unexpected ending, sharp contrast and mild sarcasm, leaving great room for readers to think about the topicPoetic sounds: Traditional pentameter with a rhyming scheme of“abab, cdcd，elef, ghgh”6. Comment on “Stopping by W oods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert FrostSummary and Theme:The speaker is stopping by some woods on a snowy evening. He or she takes in the lovely scene in near-silence, is tempted to stay longer, but acknowledges the obligations and duties yet to be fulfilled before he or she can rest for the night. In this poem, Robert Frost discusses the relation between mortal obligations and the eternal rest.Form:The poem consists of four (almost) identically constructed stanzas. Each line is iambic, with four stressed syllables:Features of content:1. Plain in words, but profound in meaning. Simple words with far-reaching meanings2. Since it is full of symbolic constructs, it is thought- provoking, and the readers can get great fun in developing the subtext.Detailed analysis:In the first stanza, the poet leads us to a piece of beautiful woods filled up with snow. As we all know that the woods are usually linked with myth, the unknown world, and the utmost tranquility. We can guess that, in this poem, the poet takes the woods as the eternal life, the bliss, that is to say the Heaven. He is fed up with the routine duties, and wants to rest forever. The woods happens to provide an ideal place.Then it comes to the snowy evening. “It is the darkest evening of the year.” The snow is cold and the evening dark, all of which indicate that the poet is depressed inside. His subconscious wants him to s top, but his “little horse” with the inspiring bells, which is actually a symbol of vitality, urges him to go. In the second stanza, the poet uses “frozen lake” to denote death. Why he transfers the embodiment of death from the beautiful “woods” to the deadly “frozen lake” is because the point of view has changed from the poet to the little horse.In the third stanza, the little horse wonders why the poet stops when he should go on. Only “the easy wind” and “downy flake” answer it with soft sweep. We can imagine the scene: the “downy flake” is so light and gentle that it flies in the soft wind. Thus we can get the idea: the poet‟s answer is as slight and uncertain as the flakes, because he himself doesn‟t know why he stops suddenly in the woods.Toward the end, the poet comes back from the illusion. Though the woods are attractive, he must move on, because he has promise to keep. “The promise” could be an obligation or a goal. One cannotdie before fulfilling one‟s dream. The poet uses “sleep” to represent death, just as we usually do.7.Theme and technique in The Great Gatsby by FitzgeraldTheme:It resents the decline of the American dream in1920s, the hollowness of the upper class and the falseness of ideals and moves toward disillusion. It also shows that will not to a perfect country. Instead, it leads total depravity. The nationals become hypocritical, indifferent, empty, and cruel, day and night indulged in material pursuing.Technique:1. Development of traditional narrative techniques and first-person narrator: The whole novel proceeded with Nick‟s narration.2. Two main clues of the story: The main clue is the imbroglio between Gatsby and the family of Tom, and the minor one is the imbroglio between Tom and the family of Wilson.3. The contrastive techniques endow the novel with artistic glamour and profound connotation.4. Technique of delayed character revelation to emphasize the theatrical quality of Gatsby‟s approach to lifement on Hemingway's style and Farewell to Arms"Style:1. News reporting style: direct, concise, life-like dialogues, less ornaments2. Iceberg theory: omit something but the readers will still have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them thanks to the direct and true description.3. The Loss generation: people disillusioned after the world war by old values and insensitivity and hollowness of society4. Hemingway code heroes: (1) physically strong, (2) endowed with certain skills, (3)strong will power(Man can be destroyed, not defeated; Courage=grace under pressure), (4)tested in difficulties Farewell to ArmsThemes:The grim reality of war, the relationship between love and pain, feelings of lossMotifs:Masculinity, games and divertissement, loyalty versus abandonment, illusions and fantasies, alcoholismSymbols: Rain serves in the novel as a potent symbol of the inevitable disintegration of happiness in life. Catherine‟s hair9.Analyze "Dry September" by William Faulkner1. “Dry September” was written in 1931, and is a well-known story of Faulkner.2. This story touches upon the strange relationship between sex and violence, examines the psychological state of the main characters, and exposes the crime of racial discrimination which makes one bristle with anger.3. The tone of this story contributes much to its effectiveness, particularly to the imagery of infernal heat and dryness and to the setting itself.4. From the character Miss Minnie the reader could perceive the obvious impact of Freud‟s ideas on William Faulkner.。

清教主义Puritanism：On the one hand, Puritanism is a highly strict religious doctrine. The Puritans were determined to find a place on the new continent where they could worship God in the way they thought true Christians should.On the other hand, Puritanism also has its practical aspect. The Puritans had to work hard in order to make a living and be ready for any misfortunes and tragic failures that might lie in wait for them.先验主义Transcendentalism：It was a form of idealism, or philosophical Romanticism. It was a way of knowing the belief that man can intuitively transcend the limits of the senses and of logic and receive directly higher truth and greater knowledge denied to other methods of knowing ---was another form of a classic American value-individualism. In fact, it was also another form of the American Dream, the ability to succeed by one’s own efforts . It was an ethical guide to life for a young nation.Imagists意象派：They are a group of English and American poets whose poetic tenets are: use of the common and “exact” word; creation of new rhythms; absolute freedom in choice of subject; presentation of sharp image; hard and clear poetry, never blurred or indefinite; concentration and suggestiveness. Among the imagist poets are Doolittle, Richard Aldington, Edith Sitwell, PondRealism现实主义Realism aimed at the interpretation of the actualities of any aspect of life, free from subjective prejudice, idealism , or romantic color. Instead of thinking about the mysteries of life and death and heroic individualism，p eople’s attention was now directed to the interesting features of everyday existence, to what was brutal or sordid , and to the open portrayal of class struggle.Robert Frost:. He won the Pulitzer Prize four times 获奖理由：begins in delight,and ends in wisdom.主要作品：Mountain Interval（山间）New HampshireWest-Running Brook（小溪）， A Further Range (山外边) A Witness TreeA Steeple Bush (尖塔丛), In the Clearing (林间空地).雪夜停马在林边Stopping By W oods On A Snowy Evening：1.Summary:The scene of this poem is a cold, snowy evening of early winter. The principal characters are the poet, a horse, and a winter night.2. Analysis:1)The form is regular iambic tetrameter (four-beat lines); the rhyme scheme is a fairly complex one, aaba, bbcb.2) Contrasts:impractical poet and the practical owner of the woods;the poet and his horse;The present natural world and the future world未选择的路The Road Not Taken1.Introduction:It was included in Mountain Interval.In reality, it concerns the important decisions which one must make in life, when one must give up one desirable thing in order to possess another. Then, whatever the outcome, one must accept the consequences of one’s choice for it is n ot possible to go back and have another to choose differently.It is the feeling that, no matter what kind of choice one makes, he will always have the suspicion in the back of his mind that the other road, too, could have been taken One cannot know, when he makes a choice, what the results of his decision will be. Rather than being sorry that he took the untravelled road, the poet seems to be saying that he would probably do the same thing again.The rhyme scheme: abaab. This rhyme scheme reflects the spe aker’s efforts to shape his life into a pleasing and coherent form简答：1 白鲸的象征意义1. The Pequod a symbol of doom. It is painted a gloomy black and covered inwhale teeth and bones, literally bristling with the mementos of violent death.It is, in fact, marked for death. Adorned like a primitive coffin, the Pequod becomes one.2. Moby DickMoby Dick possesses various symbolic meanings for various individuals.1) Symbol of nature for human beings, because it is mysterious, powerful,unknown.2) Symbol of evil for the Captain Ahab.3) Symbol of good and purity because of its whiteness.• 3 Voyage of the PequodSymbol of the pursuit of ideals, adventure, and the hunt in the vast wilderness.4 Ahab：Symbol of solipsism, revenge and then evil.5 Starbuck：Symbol of good and noble.• 6 the Doubloon：Symbol of the lure of evil and enticements to greed.•7 Sea:Symbol of vastness, loneliness, and isolation.2 美国现实主义Time: the latter half in the 19th century, (1870s--1880s)Features: a. verisimilitude of details derived from observationb. representative in plot, setting and characterc. an objective rather than an idealized view of human experienceTheme: the world of experience of the commonplace and the familiar and the low. Style: genteel , graceful prose ( Howells and Henry James)plain and rough ( Mark Twain)local color writersRepresentative writers:1.William Dean Howells,The Rise of Silas Lapham and Criticism and Fiction.2.Henry James,Daisy Miller, The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Art of Fiction.3.Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,Life on the Mississippi3海明威的冰山理论. Iceberg TheoryIf a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about，the may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough ,will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them .The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water .4 伟大的盖茨比象征Gatsby: the country’s historyDaisy: seemingly beautiful American DreamTom: commercialization which brought the country only moral depravityNick: hope of the countryTheme:Disillusionment of American Dream in the materialized America.书中重点：1 the first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown,Virginia in 1607.the first American writer is Captain John Smith.作品：A Map of Virginia:with a Description of the Country.2 Anne Bradstreet（puritans）:the first notable poet in America.她的诗是对上帝的歌颂3 Benjamin Franklin:There was only one writer in the colonial period,whose works are read today.this is Benjamin Franklin.He is the only good American author before the Revolutionary War.他发明了消防队眼镜路灯暖气电炉等。

1.The American Transcendentalists formed a club called _________ .the Transcendental Club2.______ was regarded as the first great prose stylist of American romanticism. WashingtonIrving3.At nineteen___________ published in his brother’s newspaper, his "Jonathan Oldstyle"satires of New York life.4.In Washington Irving’s work___________ appeared the first modern short stories and thefirst great American juvenile literature. The Sketch Book5.The first important American novelist was____________. James Fenimore Cooper6.James Fenimore Cooper’s novel ___________ was a rousing tale about espionage againstthe British during the Revolutionary War.The Spy7.The best of James Fenimore Cooper's sea romances was_____________.The Pilot8."To a Waterfowl" is perhaps the peak of_______________’s work; it has been called by aneminent English critic “the most perfect brief poem in the language.”William Cullen Bryant9.__________ was the first American to gain the stature of a major poet in the worldliterature.10.Edgar Allan Poe’s poem____________ is perhaps the best example of onomatopoeia in theEnglish language.The Bells11.Edgar Allan Poe's poem____________ was published in 1845 as the title poem of acollection. The Raven12.From Henry David Thoreau’s Concord jail experience, came his famous essay ______.Civil DisobedienceBy the 1830s Washington Irving was judged the nation' s greatest writer, a lofty position he later shared with James Fenimore Cooper and William Cullen Bryant.In the early nineteenth century, the attitude of American writers was shaped by their New World environment and an array of ideas inherited from the romantic tradition of Europe.As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither logical nor systematical.The foundation of American national literature was laid by the early American romanticists.At mid-19th century, a cultural reawakening brought a "flowering of New England". Romantic writers in the 19th century placed increasing value on the free expression of emotion and displayed increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters.With a vast group of supporting characters, virtuous or villainous, James Fenimore Cooper made the America conscious of his past, and made the European conscious of America.No other American poet ever surpassed Edgar Allan Poe’s ability in the use of English as a medium of pure musical and rhythmic beauty.The Fall of the House of Usher is one of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories.Ralph Waldo Emerson was recognized as the leader of transcendentalist movement, but he never applied the term "Transcendentalist" to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson published his first book, Nature, which met with a mild reception.Ralph Waldo Emerson's prose style was sometimes as highly individual as his poetry.The harsh rhythms and striking images of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poetry appeal to many modern readers as artful techniques.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s writings belong to the milder aspects of the Romantic Movement.American romanticism was in a way derivative: American romantic writing was some of them modeled on English and European works.Ralph Waldo Emerson’s aesthetics brought about a revolution in American literature in general and in American poetry in particular.Henry David Thoreau was an active Transcendentalist. He was by no means an "escapist" or a recluse, but was intensely involved in the life of his day.The Scarlet Letter is set in the seventeenth century. It is an elaboration of a fact which the author took out of the life of the Puritan past.2. Transcendentalism took their ideas from___________ .A. the romantic literature in EuropeB. neo-PlatonismC. German idealistic philosophyD. the revelations of oriental mysticismABCD8. Transcendentalists recognized__________ as the "highest power of the soul.”A. intuition10. Transcendentalism appealed to those who disdained the harsh God of the Puritan ancestors, and it appealed to those who scorned the pale deity of New EnglandA. TranscendentalismB. HumanismC. NaturalismD. UnitarianismD13. The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature, evident in _________ .A. James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking TalesB. Henry David Thoreau’s WaldenC. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry FinnD. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet LetterABC14. A preoccupation with the demonic and the mystery of evil marked the works of_________ , and a host of lesser writers.A. Nathaniel HawthorneB. Edgar Allan PoeC. Herman MelvilleD. Mark TwainABC16. In the nineteenth century America, Romantics often shared certain general characteristics. Choose such characteristics from the following.A. moral enthusiasmB. faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perceptionC. adoration for the natural worldD. presumption about the corrosive effect of human societyABCD17. Choose Washington Irving' s works from the following.A. The Sketch BookB. Bracebridge HallC. Tales of a TravellerD. A History of New YorkABCD18. In James Fenimore Cooper's novels, close after Natty Bumppo in romantic appeal , come the two noble red men. Choose them from the following.A. the Mohican Chief ChingachgookB. UncasC. Tom JonesD. Kubla KhanABIn 1817, the stately poem called Thanatopsis introduced the best poet___________ to appear in America up to that time.A. Edward TaylorB. Philip FreneauC. William Cullen BryantD. Edgar Allan PoeC To a Waterfowl Thanatopsis21. From the following, choose the poems written by Edgar Allan Poe.A. To HelenB. The RavenC. Annabel LeeD. The BellsABCD23. Edgar Allan Poe's first collection of short stories is___________ .D. Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque24. From the following, choose the characteristics of Ralph Waldo Emerson's poetry.A. being highly individualB. harsh rhythmsC. lack of form and polishD. striking imagesABCD25. Which book is not written by Ralph Waldo Emerson?A. Representative MenB. English TraitsC. NatureD. The RhodoraD26. Which essay is not written by Ralph Waldo Emerson?A. Of StudiesB. Self-RelianceC. The American ScholarD. The Divinity School AddressA30. Nathaniel Hawthorne's ability to create vivid and symbolic images that embody great moral questions also appears strongly in his short stories. Choose his short stories from the following.A. Young Goodman BrownB. The Great Stone FaceC. The Ambitious Guest ABCDD. Ethan BrandE. The Pearl32. Herman Melville called his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne_____________ in American literature.A. the largest brain with the largest heart34. __________ was a romanticized account of Herman Melville's stay among the Polynesians. The success of the book soon made Melville well known as the " man who lived among cannibals". Typee37. In the early nineteenth century American moral values were essentially Puritan. Nothing has left a deeper imprint on the character of the people as a whole than did__________ .A. Puritanism"The universe is composed of Nature and the soul... Spirit is present everywhere". This is the voice of the book Nature written by Emerson, which pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England______ Transcendentalism43. Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism?A. Nature45. _________ is an appalling fictional version of Nathaniel Hawthorne' s belief that "the wrong doing of one generation lives into the successive ones" and that evil will come out of evil though it may take many generations to happen.A. The Marble FaunB. The House of Seven GablesC. The Blithedale RomanceD. Young Goodman BrownBOnce upon a midnight dreary, while i pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door—Only this, and nothing more. "Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow; —vainly I had tried to borrowFrom my books surcease of sorrow-sorrow for the lost.Edgar Allan PoeThe RavenDescribe the mood of this poem: A sense of melancholy over the death of a beloved beautiful young woman pervades the whole poem, the portrayal of a young man grieving for his lost Leno-re, his grief turned to madness under the steady one-word repetition of the talking bird. Work 3: Nuture1.As the leading New England Transcendentalist, Emerson effected a most articulatesynthesis of the Transcendentalist views. One major element of his philosophy if hisfirm belief in the transcendence of the "Oversoul". His emphasis on the spirit runsthrough virtually all his writings. " Philosophically considered," he states in Nature,which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism, "theuniverse is composed of Nature and the Soul. " He sees the world as phenomenal, and emphasizes the need for idealism, for idealism sees the world in God. "It beholds thewhole circle of persons and things, of actions and events, of country and religion, as one vast picture which God paints on the eternity for the contemplation of the soul. " Heregards nature as the purest, and the most sanctifying moral influence on man, andadvocated a direct intuition of a spiritual and immanent God in nature. In thisconnection, Emerson' s emotional experiences are exemplary in more ways than one.Alone in the woods one day, for instance, he experienced a moment of "ecstasy" which he records thus in his Nature:2.Standing on the bare ground, my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinitespace, all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.3.Now this is a moment of "conversion" when one feels completely merged with theoutside world, when one has completely sunk into nature and become one with it, and when the soul has gone beyond the physical limits of the body to share the omniscienceof the Oversoul. In a word, the soul has completely transcended the limits ofindividuality and beome part of the Oversoul. Emerson sees spirit pervadingeverywhere, not only in the soul of man, but behind nature, throughout nature. Theworld proceeds, as he observes, from the same source as the body of man. "TheUniversal Being" is in point of fact the Oversoul that he never stopped talking about for the rest of his life. Emerson' s doctrine of the Oversoul is graphically illustrated in such famous statements; "Each mind lives in the Grand mind," "There in one mind common to all individual men," and "Man is conscious of a universal soul within or behind his individual life. " In his opinion, man is made in the image of God and is just a little less than Him. This is as much as to say that the spiritual and immanent God is operative in the soul of man, and that man is divine. The divinity of man became, incidentally, a favorite subject in his lectures and essays.4.This naturally led to another, equally significant, Transcendentalist thesis, that theindividual, not the crowd, is the most important of all. If man depends upon himself, cultivates himself, and brings out the divine in himself, he can hop to become better and even perfect. This is what Emerson means by the "infinitude of the privates man. " He tried to convince people that the possibilities for man to develop and improve himself are infinite. Men should and could be self-reliant. Each man should feel the world as his, and the world exists for him alone. He should determine his own existence. Everyone should understand that he makes himself by making his world, and that he makes the world by making himself. " Know then that the world exists for you " he says. "Build therefore your own world. " "Trust thy self!" and "Make thyself!" Trust your owndiscretion and the world is yours. Thus, as Henry Nash Smith ventures to suggest,"Emerson' s message was eventually (to use a telegraphic abbreviation) self-reliance. "Emerson' s eye was on man as he could be or could become; he was in the mainoptimistic about human perfectibility. The regeneration of the individual leads to the regeneration of society. Hence his famous remark, "I ask for the individuals, not the nation. " Emerson ' s self-reliance was an expression, on a very high level, of thebuoyant spirit of his time, the hope that man can become the best person he could hope to be. Emerson ' s Transcendentalism, with its emphasis on the democraticindividualism, may have provided an ideal explanation for the conduct and activities of an expanding capitalist society. His essays such as "Power", "Wealth", and "Napoleon"(in his The Representative Men) reveal his ambivalence toward aggressiveness andself-seeking.5.To Emerson's Transcendentalist eyes, the physical world was vitalistic and evolutionary.Nature was, to him as to his Puritan forebears, emblematic of God. It mediates between man and God, and its voice leads to higher truth. " Nature is the vehicle of thought,"and " particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts. " Thus Emerson' s world was one of multiple significance; everything bears a second sense and an ulterior sense. In a word, " Nature is the symbol of spirit." That is probably why he called his first philosophical work Nature rather ihan anything else. The sensual man, Emerson feels, conforms thoughts to things, and man' s power to connect his thought with its proper symbol depends upon the simplicity and purity of his character; "The lover of nature is he who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. " Tohim nature is a wholesome moral influence on man and his character. A natural implication of Emerson' s view on nature is that the world around is symbolic. A lowing river indicates the ceaseless motion of the universe. The seasons correspond to the life span of man. The ant, the little drudge, with a small body and a mighty heart, is the sublime image of man himself.。

美国文学本科试题及答案一、选择题（每题2分，共20分）1. 以下哪部作品是马克·吐温的代表作？A. 《白鲸》B. 《了不起的盖茨比》C. 《汤姆·索亚历险记》D. 《老人与海》答案：C2. 爱德加·爱伦·坡的哪部作品被认为是哥特式小说的典范？A. 《红字》B. 《呼啸山庄》C. 《乌鸦》D. 《简·爱》答案：C3. 以下哪位作家被誉为“美国现代小说之父”？A. 亨利·詹姆斯B. 威廉·福克纳C. 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔D. 约翰·斯坦贝克答案：A4. 《愤怒的葡萄》是哪个作家的作品？A. 约翰·斯坦贝克B. 欧内斯特·海明威C. 威廉·福克纳D. 弗朗西斯·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德答案：A5. 《草叶集》是哪个诗人的代表作？A. 罗伯特·弗罗斯特B. 华尔特·惠特曼C. 艾米莉·狄金森D. 埃德加·爱伦·坡答案：B6. 以下哪部作品是威廉·福克纳的代表作？A. 《老人与海》B. 《喧哗与骚动》C. 《太阳照样升起》D. 《了不起的盖茨比》答案：B7. 《红字》的作者是谁？A. 纳撒尼尔·霍桑B. 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔C. 爱德加·爱伦·坡D. 马克·吐温答案：A8. 《了不起的盖茨比》的作者是谁？A. 威廉·福克纳B. 弗朗西斯·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德C. 约翰·斯坦贝克D. 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔答案：B9. 《白鲸》的作者是谁？A. 爱德加·爱伦·坡B. 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔C. 马克·吐温D. 纳撒尼尔·霍桑答案：B10. 《简·爱》的作者是谁？A. 夏洛蒂·勃朗特B. 艾米莉·勃朗特C. 乔治·艾略特D. 简·奥斯汀答案：A二、填空题（每空1分，共20分）11. 《汤姆·索亚历险记》中的主人公汤姆·索亚是一个__________的男孩。

（完整版）美国文学课后答案1.Why did Franklin write his Autobiography?Franklin says that because his son may wish to know about his life, he is taking his one week vacation in the English countryside to record his past. He also says that he has enjoyed his life and would like to repeat it2.What made Franklin decide to leave the brother to whom he had been apprenticed?His brother was passionate, and had often beaten him. The aversion to arbitrary power that has stuck to him through his whole life .After a brush with the law, Franklin left his brother.3.How did he arrive in Philadephia?First he set out in a boat for Amboy, the boat dropped him off about 50 miles from Burlington, the next day he reached Burlington on foot, in Burlington he found a boat which was going towards Philadelphia, he arrived there about eight or nine o’clock, on the Sunday morning and landed at the Market Street wharf.4.What features do you find in the style of the above selection?It is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision(言简意赅). The narrative is lucid(易懂的), the structure is simple, the imagery is homely(朴素的).二、Questions1.How many characters does Poe include in The Cask of Amontillado? What are these names? Montresor, Fortunato and Luchesi2. What drink are the French most famous for?Wine3.Does Montresor have something of great value to him which we might consider to be his treasure? His pride and the pride of his French family heritage. Perhaps his devious plot of revenge.4.Does Montresor seem to have much respect for Italians?Montresor does not have much respect for Italians. He feels the French are superior, especially with respect to wine.5.What was Fortunato's insult?Poe does not tell us directly, but only implies it in the third paragraph6.Which wine does Montresor use to lure Fortunato into the catacombs?"Amontillado" (the Spanish wine; Montresor's ruse to lead Fortunato down into the catacombs.7.Why does Montresor entertain Fortunato with wines from his collection?Montresor wants to get Fortunato drunk enough to be able to trap him in his plan of vengeance.8.In what two ways does Montresor imprison Fortunato?He fetters (chains and locks) Fortunato to the wall of the catacombs.He builds a wall to close Fortunato off in a small corner of the catacombs, where Montresor will leave him to die.9.In what ways is The Cask of Amontillado grotesque? First, which of Montresor's actions are abnormal? The whole obsessive plot of vengeance.The fettering and entombment of Fortunato.Montresor's sick sense of humor.10.Is there anything grotesque about Fortunato?His obsession with alcohol.His drunkenness.His tendency to berate Luchesi (he may have been drunk and may have insulted Montresor in a similarHis manic laughter.Questions1.Who is the narrator? What wrong does he want to redress?Montresor.Fortunato,one of wine experts insulted him, so he wanted to murder him.2.What is the pretext he uses to lure Fortunato to his wine cellar?He baits Fortunato by telling him he has obtained what he believes to be a cask of Amontillado a rare and valuable sherry wine.Fortunato is anxious to determine whether or not it is truly Amontillado, so he goes to the vault with Montresor.3.What happens to Fortunato in the end?He was walled up alive behind bricks in a wine cellar.4.Describe briefly how Poe characterizes Montresor and Fortunato as contrasts?Poe uses color imagery to characterize them. Montresor face is covered in a black silk mask, In contrast, Fortunato dresses the motley-colored costume of the court fool, who gets literally and tragically fooled by Montresor's masked motives.The color schemes here represent the irony of Fortunato's death sentence.Through the acts, words, and thoughts of Fortunato,we know He is greedy, he was lured into the dark and somber vaults just because a cask of Amontillado.This is also due to his bad habit of bibulosity(酗酒）. He losthimself on hearing the wine.At the same time, he was cheated by his enemy, which reflected his ignorance.When he heard the pretended compliment from Montresor, he became very boastful and arrogant.He was easily confused by the superficial phenomena and failed to watch out for others. He couldn’t tolerate that others were stronger than him.For example, Montresor always stimulated him with Luchresi who was good at connoisseur（鉴赏）in wine. Under the impulse of vanity, he fell into Montresor’s terrible trap.In fact, he was careless and foolish and didn’t find that the danger was approaching him.He looked down upon Montresor and others.He didn’t realize his foolishness until the death was coming.Talking from the appearance, Monstresor was a well-educated and “kind” businessman.He enjoyed the honor and respect in the city. But in fact, he was an evil and awful person.His inner feelings were so cruel that they even made people tremble.Under his rich appearance was the dirty soul and despicable character.We couldn’t see any glorious virtues in his mind. Instead, his heart was cold and dark.It was the revenge that threw Montresor into the deep evil valley.红字Questions :1.Why is the prison the setting of Chapter 1 ?No matter how optimistic the founders of new colonies may be, they are quick to establish a prison and a cemetery in their“Utopia,” for they know that misbehavior, evil, and death are unavoidable.This belief fits into the larger Puritan doctrine, which puts heavy emphasis on the idea of original sin—the notion that all people are born sinners because of the initial transgressions of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. he is therefore using the prison building to represent the crime and the punishment which are aspect of civilized lifeWhat is the implication of the description of the roses?The rosebush symbolizes the ability of nature to endure and outlast man's activities.The narrator suggests that roses offer a reminder of Nature's kindness to the condemned; for his tale, he says, it will provide either a “sweet moral blossom” or else some relief in the face of unrelenting sorrow and gloom.2.Describe the appearance of Hester Prynne and the attitude of the people towards her.The second paragraph on page 30.The crowd in front of the jail is a mixture of men and women, all maintaining severe looks of disapproval. Several of the women begin to discuss Hester Prynne, and they soon vow that Hester would not have received such a light sentence for her crime if they had been the judges.One woman, the ugliest of the group, goes so far as to advocate death for Hester.3.What has happened to Hester?As a young woman, Hester married an elderly scholar, Chillingworth, who sent her ahead to America to live.While waiting for him, she had an affair with a Puritan minister named Dimmesdale, after which she gave birth to Pearl.The scarlet letter is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy.Why does she make the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate?It seems to declare that she is proud, rather than ashamed, of her sin.In reality, however, Hester simply accepts the “sin” a nd its symbol as part of herself, just as she accepts her child.And although she can hardly believe her present “realities,” she takes them as they are rather than resisting them or trying to atone for them.How does this tell us about her character?Throughout The Scarlet Letter Hester is portrayed as an intelligent, capable. It is the extraordinary circumstances shaping her that make her such an important figure.白鲸Questions1.What are the stories Ismael tells about Moby Dick?Ishmael compares the legend of Moby Dick to his experience of the whale.He notes that sperm whale attacks have increased recently and that superstitious sailors have come to regard these attacks as having an intelligent, even supernatural origin.In particular, wild rumors about Moby Dick circulate among whalemen, suggesting that he can be in more than one place at the same time and that he is immortal. Ishmael remarks that even the wildest of rumors usually contains some truth.Whales, for instance, have been known to travel with remarkable speed from the Atlantic to the Pacific; thus, it is possible for a whale to be caught in the Pacific with the harpoons of a Greenland ship in it. Moby Dick, who has defied capturenumerous times, exhibits an “intelligent malignity”（狠毒）in his attacks on men2.Why does Ahab react so violently against the white whale?First, he lost one of his legs because of the white whale.Second,He considers Moby Dick the embodiment of evil in the world, and he pursues the White Whale，because he believes it his inescapable fate to destroy this evil.Ishmael suggests that Ahab is “crazy”and call him “a raving lunatic.” Do you agree with him? Why or why not?Ishmael describes Ahab as mad in his narration, and it does indeed seem mad to try to fight the forces of nature or God.3.What narrative features can you find in the selected chapter?In the selected charpter, Melville employed the technique of multiple view of his narrative to portray Moby Dick to achieve the effect of ambiguity and let readers judge the meaning.瓦尔登Questions1.Where indeed did Thoreau live, both at a physical level and at a spiritual level?He lived in a cabin on Walden Pond, which belonged to Emerson’s property.2.Had Thoreau ever bought a farm? Why did he enjoy the act of buying?No, he hadn’t.He avoided purchasing a farm because it would inevitably tie him down financially and complicate his life. Thoreau didn’t see the acquisition of wealth as the goal for human existence, he saw the goal of life to be an exploration of the mind and of the magnificent world around us.He regarded the places as an existence free of obligations and full of leisure.3.Is it significant that Thoreau mentioned the Fourth of July as the day on which he began to stay in the woods? Why?Yes, it is.Because The Fourth of July is known as Independence Day,the birthday ot the United States.Here Thoreau uses the day to express his beginning of regeneration at Walden.It also means a symbol of his conquest of being.4.How could you answer the question Thoreau asked at the end of this selection?三、。

《美国⽂学》题库及答案《美国⽂学》题库及答案I.Multiple Choice1. American literature is only more than ____ years old.A. 500B.400C. 200D.1002. The Puritan values did no include______.A. wastefulnessB. thriftC. pietyD. hard work3. The 18th century was the age of the Enlightenment.______was the dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. RationalismC. RomanticismD. Realism4. Franklin was the epitome of the______.A. American EnlightenmentB. Sugar ActC. Charlist movementD. Romanticism5. _____was the most leading spirit of the Transcendentalism.A. FranklinB. HawthorneC. PaineD. Emerson6. “Moby Dick was written by_____A. Mark TwainB. ThoreauC. MelvilleD. Whitman7. “The Scarlet Letter” is characterized by its______.C. PlatonismD. classicism8. “Huckleberry Finn is the masterpiece of________.A. Henry JamesB. Jack LondonC. Mark TwainD. Stephen Crane9. Choose the novel written by Henry JamesA. The Golden BowlB. The Portrait of a LadyC. Sister CarrieD. Daisy Miller10. 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 B11._____ is the founder of “Imagist” movement.A. Ezra PoundB. HemingwayC. Robert FrostD. Steinbeck12. Mark Twain’s works are characterized by_____A. NaturalismB. TranscendentalismC. Local ColorismD. Imagism13. ________ is said to be the father of American poetryA. T.S. EliotB. E.D. RobinsonC. Philip FreneauD. Dreiser14. Hawthorne is regarded as a _______.C. realistD. romanticist15. ______ represents the most leading spirit of American Transcendentalism.A. EmersonB. FranklinC. Mark TwainD. Whitman16.“The Art of Fiction” was written by_____A. LongfellowB. Henry JamesC. FitzgeraldD. Faulkner17. Imagination plays the most important part in________.A. realismB. romanticismC. naturalismD. classicism18. ______ is considered to be the masterpiece of John Steinbeck.A. Mending WallB. Dry SeptemberC. A Farewell to ArmsD. The Grapes of Wrath19. Uncle Tom in the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a(n)______A. Negro slaveB. salesmanC. industrialistD. officer20. Mark Twain’s works are characterized by______A. NaturalismB. TranscendentalismC. Local ColorismD. Imagism21. “The Great Gatsby” is the masterpiece of_____C. DickinsonD. Hemingway22. The United States of America was founded in______.A. 1776B. 1876C. 1789D.168923. The ancestors of American Indians were______A. AsiansB. AfricansC. EuropeansD. Australians24. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was written by______.A. H.B. Stowe B. John SteinbeckC. HawthorneD. Mark Twain25. ______ does not belong to the lost generation.A. DreiserB. T.S. EliotC. FaulknerD. Hemingway26. ______ was well known for his story “Rip Van Winkle.”A. BryantB. Washington IrvingC. Allan PoeD. Philip Freneau27. “Farewell to Arms” is the master pieced produced by______A. FaulknerB. DreiserC. HemingwayD. Longfellow28. It was ______ who wrote the formal declaration of independence.A. Thomas JeffersonB. Benjamin FranklinC. WashingtonD. Washington Irving29. _____has been exerting a great and enduring influence upon world literature, especially that of France and European symbolism.A. FranklinB. BradstreetC. Edgar Allan PoeD. Philip Freneau30. The masterpiece of Hawthorne is _________.A. The Scarlet LetterB. Sister CarrieC. Richard CoryD. A Psalm of Life31. Engene O’Neill is a _______.A. novelistB. poetC. puritanD. dramatist32.Hemingway’s style of writing is characterized by______.A. high-sounding wordsB. simple dictionC. complicated sentencesD. mix metaphor33. T.S. Eliot is not only a poet but also a ______.A. criticB. statesmanC. churchmanD. novelists34. “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” was written by_____.A. T.S. EliotB. O’NeillC. Stephen CraneD. Saul Bellow35. “The Grape of Wrath” is one of the remarkable novels of_____.A. the Civil WarB. DepressionC. SuppressionD. Aggression36. Theodore Dreiser showed the_____ tendency in his novels.A. PuritanismB. classicismC. romanticismD. naturalism37. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the leading figure of________.A. TranscendentalismB. RomanticismC. RationalismD. Naturalism38. “The Sound and the Fury” was the masterpiece of ______A. Robert Lee FrostB. T.S. EliotC. FaulknerD. Steinbeck39. Emily Dickinson is an American________.A. dramatistB. novelistC. female poetD. male poet40. “Th Emily Dickinson is an American ark Twain’s______A. materialismB. classicismC. socialismD. colorism41. “The Portrait of a Lady” is one of best novels of_________.A. Henry JamesB. John SteinbeckC. William FaulknerD. Walt Whitman42. What Whitman is famous for his_________.A. “Leaves of Grass”B. “Mending Wall”C. “Richard Cory”D. “The Burial of the Dead”43. “Catch-22” is the masterpiece of______A. Saul BellowB. Joseph HellerC. DreiserD. Fitzgerald44. The English settlement in America began in_________A.1507B.1607C.1707D.180745. The first World War broke out in______.A.1614B.1714C.1814D.191446. The jazz age refers to the decade ofA.1950’sB.1980’sC.1920’sD.1820’s47. Franklin was a _____.A. PuritanB. romanticistC. classicistD. imagist48. “Rip Van Winkle” was written by_______.A. FreneauB. Allan PoeC. Washington IrvingD. Thomas Jefferson49.“The Scarlet Letter” is the masterpiece of______.C. BradstreetD. Allan Poe50.It was______who wrote “The Age of Reason”A. WashingtonB. JeffersonC. Benjamin FranklinD. Thomas Paine51.“Song of Myself” is a ______written by Whitman.A. novelB. poemC. dramaD. essay52.Tom in Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a _____.A. Negro slaveB. American IndianC. School masterD. industrialist53. Mark Twain belongs to the literary school of_____.A. transcendentalismB. realismC. romanticismD. naturalism54._______is a famous American female poet.A. Allan PoeB. FreneauC. Emily DickinsonD. Robinson55. “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” is the masterpiece of_____.A. Mark TwainB. Henry JamesC. Stephen CraneD. Robert Lee Frost56. It was____ who wrote the poem “The Road Not Taken.”C. Robert Lee FrostD. T.S.EliotⅡ Define the literary terms briefly in English1. American Transcendentalism2. Romanticism3. The Puritans4. Realism5. Enlightenment6. Transcendentalism7. EnlightenmentIII Explain the following quotations in your own words.1. Success is counted sweetest By those who ne’er succeed.2. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference.3. Let us, then, be up and doing, With heart for any fate;Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.4. And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked.5. Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream!_____6. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need.7. But still he fluttered pulses when he said,“Good morning”, and he glittered when he walked.8. something there is that doesn’t love a wall,He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.”9. Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, Hid in this silent, dull retreat10. But to act, that each tomorrow Find us farther than today11. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. Ⅳ Answer the following questions in English1. Why is American literature important for you?2. What is the theme of “The Waste Land”?3. Whose novel (or which novel) do you enjoy most?Why?4. What is the style of Hemingway’s novel?5. What is the significance of American literature?6. Do you like American literature? Why?7. What is the real theme in “Sister Carrie”?8. What is the central subject and primary significance of Hawthorne’s major works?9. Which American writer do you like best? Why?10. What is the theme of “Catch-22”?11. What are the features of Emily Dickinson’s poems?12. Why should we learn American literature?13. Which poem do you enjoy most? Why?《美国⽂学》作业参考答案I.Multiple Choice1.C2.A3.B4.A5.D6.C7.A8.C9.B 10.D11.A 12.C 13.C 14.D 15.A 16.B 17.B 18.D 19.A 20.C21.B 22.C 23.A 24.D 25.A 26.B 27.C 28.A 29.C 30.A31.D 32.B 33.A 34.B 35.B 36.D 37.A 38.C 39.C 40.D41.A 42.A 43.B 44.B 45.D 46.C 47.A 48.B 49. A 50.D51.B 52.A 53.B 54.C 55. A 56. CII.Define the literary terms briefly in English1.American transcendentalism was a philosophical dissent from Unitarianism. Transcendentalists rejected the materialistic psychology in favor of the idealism of Kant who asserted that intuition could surpass reason as a guide to the truth. To transcendentalists, spirit is inherent and pervading and is the only reality in the universe in which nature stood as a symbol of Spirit. Transcendentalismemphasized the divinity of man, the significance and right of the individual, and the possibility of the self-perfection of the individual.2. Romanticism is characterized by the pursuit of freedom, emphasis of individualism, a reliance upon the good of nature and “natural” man, and an abiding faith in the boundless resources of the human spirit and imagination.3.The Puritans were members of the church of England who at first wished to reform or “Purify its doctrines. They kept in common with all advocates o f strict Christian orthodox, insisting on man’s original sin and depravity.4. Realism is a literary school. The American realist William Dean Howells refered to the method of realistic literary creation as “nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material. The realists tended to be highly selective in their choice of material, focusing upon what seemed real to their largely middle-class readers.5. Enlightenment in America was a progressive “intellectual movement which contributed to free the Americans from the limitation of Puritanism which had been prevailing in American society, and stimulate them to strive for the establishment of their independent and democratic nation. The enlighteners were confident in the proqress by education and appealed to Reason.6．American transcendentalism was a political dissent from Unitarianism. Transcendentalists rejected the materialistic psychology in favour of the idealism of kant who asserted that intuition could surpass reason as a guide to the truth. To transcendentalists, spirit is inherent and pervading and is the only reality in the universe in which nature stood as a symbol of Spirit. Transcendentalists emphasized the divinity of man, the significance and right of the individual, and the possibility of the self-perfection of the individual.7. Enlightenment in America was a progressive intellectual movement which contributed to free the Americans fromthe limitations of Purtanism which had been prevailing in American society, and stimulate them to strive for their independent and democratic nation. The enlighteners were confident in the proqress of education and appealed to reason.III Explain the following quotations in your own words.1. Those who have never succeeded before will enjoy the sweetness o success most.2. In my life and literary creation, I did not follow others’ footsteps (or footprints). SometimesI chose a different way. That was the reason why I was unique and different from them both in life and poetic writing.3. Let us rise up and take actionTo meet any challenge in our life.We should learn to work and to be patientAnd persevere in pursuing our goalTill we reap the fruit of achievement one after another.4. He always dressed himself properly and elegantly And he showed his kindness and considerateness when talked with others.5. Don’t tell me in sad voice that life is nothing but an meaningless and empty dream.6. Only when you feel thirstiest and bitterest, can you really understand and enjoy the holy sweet drink.7. He stirred the pulses of the persons he was greeting with “Good morning”. While he was walking, his manners appeared to be so brilliant and attractive that he drow much public attention.8. Wall, as a barrier for communication or mutual understanding, is not good at all. Sometimes, it is necessary to remove the wall.Wall, as a boundary or limitation or border, is needed sometimes, so that good relations can be kept among different strata of people, or different countries.Wall is a paradox, which is both good and bad in haman life9.The honeysuckle qrows so agreeably and beautifully.However the beautiful flower hid its beauty in the quiet and lonely place.10.We had better take action every day, not remain idle and inactive so that we can make progress each day.11.I have a lot of obligations and duties to fulfill, so there is still a long way for me to go beforeI can relax or leave this world.Ⅳ Answer the following questions in English1. Key points:① the significance of American literature in the world literature ② the manifestation of American life and culture③the requirement of improving English2. The theme of the poem is modern spiritual barrenness, the despair and depression that followed the first world war, the sterility and turbulence of the modern world, and the decline and breakdown of Western culture.3. The answer depends on individual student’s inclination.4. His style of writing is characterized by short and terse sentences, simple diction filled with emotion, vivid colloquialisms, and particularly the simplicity of his laconic statements.5. Key points: ① its place in the world literature② the manifestation of American life and culture③ the requirement of professional knowledge and skills as English majon.6. The answer is flexible. It de pends on an individual Student’s inclination.7. The real theme in Sister Carrie is the purposelessness of life. While looking at individuals with warm, human sympathy, he also sees the disorder and cruelty of life in general.8. The central subject of Haw thorne’s major works was the human soul. His exploration of the soul resulted from his skeptical attitude toward the social reality that was characterized by a rapid change in almost all aspects of social life, and from his ambition to probe into the nature of man. The primary significance of his major works dwells in the interect and the consistend vitality of his criticism of life.9. The answer is flexible, depending on students’ inclination, logic and language skills.10. Its real theme is to expose the dehumanization of all contemporary institutions, the absurd and corrupt bureancracy and the alienation of individuals existing in a systemized chaotic condition, such as war.punctuation and capitalization. Her mode of expression is characterized by clear-cut and delicately original imagery, precise diction, and fragmentary and enigmatic metrical pattern.12. Key points: ①the significance of American literature in the world literature ② the manifestation of American life and culture ③ the requirement of improving English.13. The answer is flexible and depends on student’s inclination.。

美国文学史复习题及答案1. 美国文学史的起源可以追溯到哪个时期？答案：美国文学史的起源可以追溯到殖民时期。

2. 哪位作家被认为是美国文学之父？答案：华盛顿·欧文被认为是美国文学之父。

3. 19世纪美国文学中，超验主义运动的主要代表人物是谁？答案：19世纪美国文学中，超验主义运动的主要代表人物是拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生和亨利·大卫·梭罗。

4. 马克·吐温的哪部作品被认为是美国文学史上的第一部现实主义小说？答案：马克·吐温的《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》被认为是美国文学史上的第一部现实主义小说。

5. 20世纪初，哪位诗人开创了现代主义诗歌的新纪元？答案：T.S.艾略特开创了现代主义诗歌的新纪元。

6. 哪位作家的作品标志着“失落的一代”文学的诞生？答案：欧内斯特·海明威的作品标志着“失落的一代”文学的诞生。

7. 黑人文学中，哈莱姆文艺复兴运动的代表作家是谁？答案：哈莱姆文艺复兴运动的代表作家是兰斯顿·休斯和佐拉·尼尔·赫斯顿。

8. 20世纪中期，哪位作家的作品反映了美国社会的反文化运动？答案：20世纪中期，杰克·凯鲁亚克的作品反映了美国社会的反文化运动。

9. 后现代主义文学中，哪位作家的作品以其碎片化和非线性叙事而闻名？答案：后现代主义文学中，托马斯·品钦的作品以其碎片化和非线性叙事而闻名。

10. 当代美国文学中，哪位作家因其对种族和性别问题的深刻探讨而受到赞誉？答案：当代美国文学中，托尼·莫里森因其对种族和性别问题的深刻探讨而受到赞誉。

美国文学知到章节测试答案智慧树2023年最新泰山学院第一章测试1.The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nationwere quite a few of _______. （）参考答案:Puritans2.The common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasison the _______.（）参考答案:Individualism3.The ship “________”carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days tobeat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrimsashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.（）参考答案:Mayflower4.The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parentcountry and the Continental Congress adopted ________.（）参考答案:the Declaration of Independence5.Which of the following works is not connected with Thomas Paine?（）参考答案:The Autobiography6.Which of the following works is written by Philip Freneau?（）参考答案:The Wild Honey Suckle7.The English began to settle down in the early 17th century.（）参考答案:对8.Poor Richard''s Almanac was written by Philip Freneau.（）参考答案:错9.The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin can be divided into four parts.（）参考答案:对10.Philip Freneau is called the“Father of American Poetry”.（）参考答案:对第二章测试1.____________ was the most leading spirit of the Transcendental Club.（）参考答案:Emerson2.American literature produced only one female poet during the nineteenthcentury. This was ___________.（）参考答案:Emily Dickinson3.The House of Seven Gables is a famous mystery-haunted novel written by_____.（）参考答案:Nathaniel Hawthorne4.The following writers belong to the Romantic group in American literatureexcept _____.（）参考答案:William Blake5.There is a good reason to state that New England Transcendentalism wasactually _____ on the Puritan soil.（）参考答案:Unitarianism6.The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called blank verse, which ispoetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.（）参考答案:错7.After his death, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow became the only American tobe honored with a bust in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.（）参考答案:对8. A superb book Nature came out of Henry David Thoreau's two-yearexperiment at Walden Pond.（）参考答案:错9.James Fenimore Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories:the sea adventure tale, and the frontier saga.（）参考答案:对10.No other American poet ever surpassed Edgar Allan Poe's ability in the use ofEnglish as a medium of pure musical and rhythmic beauty.（）参考答案:对第三章测试1.Realism in American literature stretches from _____________ to the end of 19thCentury. （）参考答案:American Civil War2.Which ONE of the following concepts is related to the understanding ofliterary realism? （）参考答案:representation of characters, human nature and social actualities in a non-idealized way3.Where Mark Twain and William Dean Howells satirized European mannersat times, ________ was an admirer. （）参考答案:Henry James4.______________’s stories still had many unrealistic qualities: “tall tales” andunlikely coincidences. He is never a pure realist. （）参考答案:Mark Twain5.______________ is the novel into which Jack London put most of himself. （）参考答案:Martin Eden6.All the following concepts can be found in American naturalistic fictionEXCEPT ___________. （）参考答案:search for identity7.“_______________” was a term crea ted by the French novelist, Emile Zola. （）参考答案:naturalism8.Sister Carrie tells about a country girl coming to Chicago to look for a betterlife and to pursue the American Dream.（）参考答案:对9.The impact of Darwin’s evolutionary theory on the American thought and theinfluence of the nineteenth century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to another school of realism: American naturalism.（）参考答案:对10.In The Octopus written by Stephen Crane, wheat farmers struggle to growcrops and send them to market for a profit, while being beleaguered by the inflated prices of the giant railroad conglomeration.（）参考答案:错第四章测试1.Who is considered to be the first Imagist theorist? （）参考答案:T. E. Hulme2.Which poem doesn’t belong to Imagist poems? （）参考答案:Had I Not Seen the Sun3.What are the artistic features of Modernism? （）参考答案:Fragmentation;Unusual typography;Allusive language;Stream-of-consciousness4.What are the masterpieces of Hemingway? （）.参考答案:The Old Man and the Sea;For Whom the Bell Tolls;A Farewell toArms;The Sun Also Rises5.Ezra pound laid down three Imagist poetic principles. （）参考答案:对6.The Road Not taken is written by T. S. Eliot. （）参考答案:错7.Fitzgerald was once praised “the poet laureate of the Jazz Age”. （）参考答案:对8.“The Sound and the Fury” was the masterpiece of ___.参考答案:null9.The jazz age refers to the decade of ___.参考答案:null10.What is the style of Hemingway’s novel?参考答案:null第五章测试1.Postmodernist fictions is a continuation of modernism's alienated mood,daring experimentation and disorienting techniques.（）参考答案:对2.Black humor rose in America in the1980s and 1990s.（）参考答案:错3.Vladimir Nabokov is a representative of Black humor.（）参考答案:对4.Catch-22, a novel accounting a frantic bombardier's desperate efforts tosurvive, was written by Joseph Heller.（）参考答案:对5.Avant-pop Art is an artistic genre based on the combination of avant-gardeand pop art.（）参考答案:对第六章测试1.Ethnic American literature can be divided into _________. （）参考答案:Native American literature;African American literature;Asian American literature;Jewish American literature2.N. Scott Momaday is a _______ American writer.（）参考答案:Native3.Louise Erdrich's Tetralogy include ________.（）参考答案:Tracks;The Beat Queen;The Bingo Palace;Love Medicine4.The author of The Color Purple is ________.（）参考答案:Alice Walker5.Which ONE of the following is known as the masterpiece of Richard Wright?（）参考答案:Native Son6.Toni Morrison is the first African American novelist who received the NobelPrize for Literature.（）参考答案:对ngston Hughes was one of the most talented and original black writers inthe 20th century.（）参考答案:对8.Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You is a novel beyond nation, race,gender and age.（）参考答案:对9.Toni Morrison won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her God Help the Child.（）参考答案:错10.The Color Purple is an epistolary novel that depicted rape, incest, bisexuality,and lesbian love among African Americans.（）参考答案:对。

美国文学试题及答案一、单项选择题（每题2分，共20分）1. 马克·吐温的代表作是以下哪一部？A. 《了不起的盖茨比》B. 《哈克贝利·芬历险记》C. 《白鲸》D. 《老人与海》答案：B2. 爱伦·坡的《乌鸦》属于什么文学流派？A. 浪漫主义B. 现实主义C. 哥特式D. 现代主义答案：C3. 《飘》的作者是谁？A. 弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫B. 玛格丽特·米切尔C. 简·奥斯汀D. 乔治·艾略特答案：B4. 以下哪部作品不是亨利·詹姆斯的作品？A. 《贵妇人的画像》B. 《使节》C. 《简·爱》D. 《贵妇人的画像》答案：C5. 以下哪部作品是威廉·福克纳的代表作？A. 《了不起的盖茨比》B. 《喧哗与骚动》C. 《老人与海》D. 《白鲸》答案：B二、填空题（每题2分，共10分）1. 《汤姆叔叔的小屋》的作者是________。

答案：哈丽叶特·比彻·斯托2. 《红字》的作者是________。

答案：纳撒尼尔·霍桑3. 《草叶集》的作者是________。

答案：沃尔特·惠特曼4. 《愤怒的葡萄》的作者是________。

答案：约翰·斯坦贝克5. 《太阳照样升起》的作者是________。

答案：欧内斯特·海明威三、简答题（每题5分，共20分）1. 简述《白鲸》中主人公艾哈布船长的形象。

答案：艾哈布船长是《白鲸》中的主人公，他是一个对捕鲸有着极端执着的船长，他的复仇心理和对白鲸的执念几乎占据了他整个人生。

他的形象代表了人类对自然的挑战和对未知的恐惧。

2. 描述《了不起的盖茨比》中盖茨比的美国梦。

答案：《了不起的盖茨比》中的盖茨比代表了20世纪20年代的美国梦，他通过自己的努力从贫穷中崛起，追求财富和社会地位，但最终因为追求一个无法实现的爱情和对过去的执着而走向悲剧。