英国文学简史术语解释总结(英文)整理版

1.epic 史诗:a long narrative poem, grand in style, about heroes and heroic deeds, embodying heroicideals of a nation or race in the making. Beowulf is the English national epic that was passed from mouth to mouth and written down by many unknown hands.2.Conceit:a kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. Aconceit usually provides the framework for an entire poem. An especially unusual and intellectual kind of conceit is the metaphysical conceit, used by certain 17th-century poets, such as John Donne..3.Epiphany(顿悟）: a sudden revelation of truth about life inspired by a seemingly trivial incident4.Metaphysical poetry:玄学诗派the poetry of John Donne and other 17th-century poets who wrotein a similar style. It is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas .5.Stream of consciousness意识流: a kind of writing technique in which a character's perceptions, thoughts, andmemories are presented in an apparently random form, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or syntax.Often such writing makes no distinction between various levels of reality--such as dreams, memories, imaginative thoughts or real sensory perception.6.heroic couplet 英雄双韵体two successive lines of rhymed poetry in iambic pentameter. Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece The Canterbury Tale was written in heroic couplet.7.ballad meter 民谣体traditionally a four-line stanza containing alternating four-stress and three-stress lines, usually with a refrain and the rhyme scheme of abcb. Robert Burns’ “A Red, Red Rose” is a great love ballad.8.9.sonnet 十四行诗a fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of 5-foot iambic verse. It first flourished in Italy in the 14thcentury. William Shakespeare was a great English sonnet writer famous for his 154 sonnets.10.iambic pentameter 五步抑扬格the basic line in English verse, with five feet in a line, usually an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. It was probably introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer and certainly established by him in The Canterbury Tales.11.image 意象a concrete representation of an object or sensory experience. Typically, such a representation helpsevoke the feelings associated with the object or experience itself. Many images are conveyed by figurative language. An image may be visual, olfactory, tactile, auditory, gustatory, abstract and kinaesthetic. The rose in Robert Bur ns’ poem “A Red, Red Rose” is a beautiful image.12.“Dramatic monologue”戏剧独白that is a lyric poem which reveals “ a soul in action” through the conversation of one character in a dramatic situation. T he character is speaking to an identifiable but silent listener at a dramatic monent in the speaker’s life.13.blank verse 无韵诗，素体诗unrhymed iambic pentameter, the most widely used of English verse forms and usually used in English dramatic and epic poetry. Willi am Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is written in blank verse.14.Sonnet is a verse form of fourteen lines, in English characteristically in iambic pentameter and most often in one ofthe two rhyme schemes: the Italian(or Petrarchan) or Shakespearean15.essay 散文a composition, usually in prose, which may be of only a few hundred words or of book length andwhich discusses, formally or informally, a topic or a variety of topics. It is one of the most flexible and adaptable of all literary forms. Francis Bacon is a great essayist; his “Of Studies” is a model of good essay.16.English Romanticism 英国浪漫主义a literary movement that aimed at free expression of the writer’s ideas and feelings and flourished inthe early 19th century England. A great representative of this movement is Percy Bysshe Shelley, the author of “Ode to the West Wind”.17.18.Naturalism自然主义: A literary movement seeking to depict life as accurately as possible, without artificialdistortions of emotion, idealism, and literary convention. The school of thought is a product of post-Darwinian biology in the nineteenth century.19.Sentimentalism感伤主义：It is a literal movement in the middle of the 18th century in England which concentrateson the distressed of the poor unfortunate and virtuous people and demonstrates that effusive emotion was evidence of kindness and goodness.20.21.Bildungsroman: a novel that traces the initiation, development, and education of a young person. Examples areDickens’s David Copperfield and James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.22.ke poets 湖畔诗人the three romantic poets who lived in the Lake District of England and wrote poems about nature.William Wordsworth was the most famous of the lake poets; he wrote many great nature poems, including “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.24.25.poet laureate 桂冠诗人 A poet honored for his artistic achievement or selected as mostrepresentative of his country or era; in England, a court official appointed by the sovereign, whose original duties included the composition of odes in honor of the sovereign’s birthday and in celebration of state occasions of importance. William Wordsworth became poet laureate in 1843.26.Realism现实主义: An elastic and ambiguous term with two meanings. (1) First, it refers generally to any artistic orliterary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false ideals, literary conventions, or misplaced aesthetic glorification and beautification of the world. It is a theory or tendency in writing to depict events in human life in a matter-of-fact, straightforward manner.27.Allegory is a tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas ormoral qualities. Thus, an allegory is a story with two meaning, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.28.Byronic hero is a character-type found in Byron’s narrative Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. He is aboldly defiant but bitterly self-tormenting outcast, proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin. Emily Bronte’s Heath cliff is a later example.29.30.启蒙运动:The 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement in Europe, known as theEnlightenment, which was, on the whole, an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals of feudalism. They attempt to place all branches of science at the service of mankind by connecting them with the actual needs and requirements of people.31.English Renaissance 英国文艺复兴the literary flowering of England in the late 16th century and early 17th century, with humanism as its keynote. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is considered the summit of this renaissance.。

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名词解释1.Epic（史诗）(appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period ）It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style， offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition。

A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad＆Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes。

英国文学-名词解释-学习好资料欢迎下载1.epic 史诗:a long narrative poem, grand in style, about heroes and heroic deeds, embodying heroicideals of a nation or race in the making. Beowulf is the English national epic that was passed from mouth to mouth and written down by many unknown hands.2.Conceit:a kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. Aconceit usually provides the framework for an entire poem. An especially unusual and intellectual kind of conceit is the metaphysical conceit, used by certain 17th-century poets, such as John Donne..3.Epiphany(顿悟）: a sudden revelation of truth about life inspired by a seemingly trivial incident4.Metaphysical poetry:玄学诗派the poetry of John Donne and other 17th-century poets who wrotein a similar style. It is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas .5.Stream of consciousness意识流: a kind of writing technique in which a character's perceptions, thoughts, andmemories are presented in an apparently random form, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or syntax.Often such writing makes no distinction between various levels of reality--such as dreams, memories, imaginative thoughts or real sensory perception.6.heroic couplet 英雄双韵体two successive lines of rhymed poetry in iambic pentameter.Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece The Canterbury Tale was written in heroic couplet.7.ballad meter 民谣体traditionally a four-line stanza containing alternating four-stress and three-stress lines, usually with a refrain and the rhyme scheme of abcb. Robert Burns’ “A Red, Red Rose” is a great love ballad.8.sonnet 十四行诗a fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of 5-foot iambic verse. It first flourished in Italy in the 14thcentury. William Shakespeare was a great English sonnet writer famous for his 154 sonnets.9.iambic pentameter 五步抑扬格the basic line in English verse, with five feet in a line, usually an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. It was probably introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer and certainly established by him in The Canterbury Tales.10.image 意象a concrete representation of an object or sensory experience. Typically, such a representation helpsevoke the feelings associated with the object or experience itself. Many images are conveyed by figurative language. An image may be visual, olfactory, tactile, auditory, gustatory, abstract and kinaesth etic. The rose in Robert Burns’ poem “A Red, Red Rose” is a beautiful image.11.“Dramatic monologue”戏剧独白that is a lyric poem which reveals “ a soul in action” through the conversation of one character in a dramatic situation. T he character is speaking to an identifiable but silent listener at a dramatic monent in the speaker’s life.12.blank verse 无韵诗，素体诗unrhymed iambic pentameter, the most widely used of English verse forms and usually used in English dramatic and epic poetry. William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is written in blank verse.13.Sonnet is a verse form of fourteen lines, in English characteristically in iambic pentameter and most often in one of the two rhyme schemes: the Italian(or Petrarchan) or Shakespearean14.essay 散文a composition, usually in prose, which may be of only a few hundred words or of book length andwhich discusses, formally or informally, a topic or a variety of topics. It is one of the most flexible and adaptable of all literary forms. Francis Bacon is a great essayist; his “Of Studies” is a model of good essay.15.English Romanticism 英国浪漫主义a literary movement that aimed at free expres sion of the writer’s ideas and feelings and flourished in学习好资料欢迎下载the early 19th century England. A great representative of this movement is Percy Bysshe Shelley, the author of “Ode to the West Wind”.16.Naturalism自然主义: A literary movement seeking to depict life as accurately as possible, without artificial distortions of emotion, idealism, and literary convention. The school of thought is a product of post-Darwinian biology in the nineteenth century.17.Sentimentalism感伤主义：It is a literal movement in the middle of the 18th century in England which concentrateson the distressed of the poor unfortunate and virtuous people and demonstrates that effusive emotion was evidence of kindness and goodness.18.Bildungsroman: a novel that traces the initiation, development, and education of a young person. Examples are Dickens’s David Copperfield and James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man./doc/b03339706.html,ke poets 湖畔诗人the three romantic poets who lived in the Lake District of England and wrote poems about nature.William Wordsworth was the most famous of the lake poets; he wrote many great nature poems, including “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.20.poet laureate 桂冠诗人A poet honored for his artistic achievement or selected as mostrepresentative of his country or era; in England, a court official appointed by the sovereign, whose original duties included the composition of odes in honor of the sovereign’s birthday and in celebration of state occasions of importance. William Wordsworth became poet laureate in 1843. 21.Realism现实主义: An elastic and ambiguous term with two meanings. (1) First, it refers generally to any artistic orliterary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false ideals, literary conventions, or misplaced aesthetic glorification and beautification of the world. It is a theory or tendency in writing to depict events in human life in a matter-of-fact, straightforward manner.22.Allegory is a tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas ormoral qualities. Thus, an allegory is a story with two meaning,a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.23.Byronic hero is a character-type found in Byron’s narrative Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. He is aboldly defiant but bitterly self-tormenting outcast, proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin. Emily Bronte’s Heath cliff is a late r example.24.启蒙运动:The 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement in Europe, known as theEnlightenment, which was, on the whole, an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals of feudalism. They attempt to place all branches of science at the service of mankind by connecting them with the actual needs and requirements of people.25.English Renaissance 英国文艺复兴the literary flowering of England in the late 16th century and early 17th century, with humanism as its keynote. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is considered the summit of this renaissance.。

Iambic pentameter is a commonly used type of metrical line in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm that the words establish in that line, which is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". The word "iambic" refers to the type of foot that is used, known as the iamb, which in English is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The word "pentameter" indicates that a line has five of these "feet".Iambic rhythms come relatively naturally in English. Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry; it is used in many of the major English poetic forms, including blank verse, the heroic couplet, and some of the traditional rhymed stanza forms. William Shakespeare used iambic pentameter in his plays and sonnets.Allegory Allegories are typically used as literary devices or rhetorical devices that convey hidden meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, and/or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey.Epic(史诗) An epic is a long oral narrative poem that operates on a grand scale and deals with legendary or historical events of national or universal significance .Most epics deal with the exploits of a single individual and also interlace the main narrative with myths, legends, folk tales and past events; there is a composite effect, the entire culture of a country cohering in the overall experience of the poem . Epic poems are not merely entertaining stories of legendary or historical heroes; they summarize and express the nature or ideals of an entire nation at a significant or crucial period of its history.简史P39Blank verse is poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always iambic pentameters.[1] It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century"[2] and Paul Fussell has estimated that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."[3]Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential of blank verse. The major achievements in English blank verse were made by William Shakespeare. Blank verse, of varying degrees of regularity, has been used quite frequently throughout the 20th century in original verse and in translations of narrative verse.Ode(颂歌) Long, often elaborate formal lyric poem of varying line lengths dealing with a subject matter and treating it reverently. It aims atglorifying an individual, commemorating an event, or describing nature intellectually rather than emotionally. Conventionally, many odes are written or dedicated to a specifie subject. For instance,Ode to the West Wind is about the winds that bring change of season in England. Ode to the Nightingale is about the nightingale that lures the poet temporarily away from his great misery. The earliest English odes include the Epithalamion and the Prothalamion,or marriage hymns by poet Edmund Spenser.Metaphysical poetry（玄学诗） a derogatory term invented by John Dryden(1631-1700 ) and later adopted by Samuel Johnson(1709-1784) describing a school of highly intellectual poetry marked by bold and ingenious conceits,incongruous imagery,complexity of thought,frequent use of paradox,and often by deliberate harshness or rigidity of expression.The main themes of metaphysical poets are love,death,and religion.According to them,all things in the universe, no matter how dissimilar they are to each other,are closely unified in God.The chief representative of this school was John Donne.Byronic belonging to or derived from Lord Byron(1788-1824)or his works. The Byronic hero is a character-type found in his celebrated narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage(1812-18),his verse drama Manfred(1817),and other works:he is a boldly defiant but bitterly self –tormenting outcast,proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin. Emily Bronte’s Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights(1847)is a later example.Heroic couplet a rhymed pair of iambic pentameter lines:Let Observation with extensive ViewSurvey Mankind, from China to Peru (Johnson)Named from its use by Dryden and others in the heroic drama of the late 17th century,the heroic couplet had been established much earlier by Chaucer as a major English verse-form for narrative and other kinds of non-dramatic portry: it dominated English poetry of the 18th century,notably in the couplets of Pope,before declining in importance in the early 19th century.Soliloquy a dramatic speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on the stage (or while under the impression of being alone).The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to the audience,either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct address. Soliloquies often appear in plays from the age of Shakespeare, notably in his Hamlet and Macbeth. A poem supposedly uttered by a solitaryspeaker,like Robert Browning’s‘Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister’(1842),may also be called a soliloquy. Soliloquy is a form of monologue,but a monologue is not a soliloquy if (as in the dramatic monologue) the speaker is not alone.简史P39 Sonnet a lyric poem comprising 14 rhyming lines of equal length:iambic pentameters in English,alexandrines inFrench,hendecasyllables in ltalian. The rhyme schemes of the sonnet follow two basic patterns.①The Italian sonnet②The English sonnetSpenserian stanza （宾塞诗体）an English poetic stanza of nine iambic lines, the first eight being pentameters while the ninth is a longer line known either as an iambic hexameter or as an alexandrine.The rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc. The stanza is named after Edmund Spenser,who invented it------probably on the basis of the ottava rima stanza-----for his long allegorical romance The Faerie Queene (1590-6). It was revived successfully by the younger English Romantic poets of the early 19th century: Byron used it for Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage(1812,1816), Keats for‘The Eve of St Agnes’(1820),and Shelley for The Revolt of Islam (1818)and Adonais (1821).Lake poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey became known as the Lake Poets, because they lived in the Lake District in the northwestern part of England. According to the critics, such as, Francis Jeffrey, Thomas De Quincey, the Lake Poets shared only friendship and brief periods of collaboration, not similar philosophies or poetic styles.Wordsworth used his imaginative powers to idealize nature, Coleridge explored the philosophical aspects of poetry,Southey's Romantic efforts centered on travel and adventure.Stream of Consciousness(意识流) Stream of Consciousness(意识流)：Stream of consciousness, which presents the thoughts of a character in the random, seemingly unorganized fashion in which the thinking process occurs, has the following characteristics. First, it reveals the action or plot through the mental processes of the characters rather than through the commentary of an omniscient author. Second, character development is achieved through revelation of extremely personal and often typical thought processes rather than through the creation of typical characters in typical circumstances. Third, the action of the plot seldom corresponds to real, chronological time, but moves back and forth through present time to memories of past eventsand drams of the future. Fourth, it replaces narration, description, and commentary with dramatic interior monologue and free association.Critical Realism(批判现实主义) Critical realism is one of the literary genres that flourished mainly in the 19th century. It reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of cash upon human nature. Here lies the essentially democratic and humanistic character of critical realism. The English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. In their best works, they used humor and satire to contrast the greed and hypocrisy of the upper classes with the honesty and good-heartedness of the obscure “simple people” of the lower classes. Humorous scenes set off the actions of the positive characters, and the humor is often tinged with a lyricism which serves to stress the fine qualities of such characters. At the same time,bitter satire and grotesque is used to expose the seamy side of the bourgeois society. The critical realists, however, did not find a way to eradicate the social evils they knew so well. They did not realize the necessity of changing the bourgeois society through conscious human effort. Their works do not point toward revolution but rather evolution or reformism. They often start with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the bourgeois world in their works, but their novels usually have happy endings or an impotent compromise at the end. Here are the strength and weakness of critical realism.Classicism（古典主义）: A movement or tendency in art, music, and literature to retain the characteristics found in work originating in classical Greece and Rome. It differs from Romanticism in that while Romanticism dwells on the emotional impact of a work, classicism concerns itself with form and discipline.Romanticism(浪漫主义) The term refers to the literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and early 19th century. Romanticism rejected the earlier philosophy of the Enlightenment, which stressed that logic and reason were the best response humans had in the face of cruelty, stupidity, superstition, and barbarism. Instead ,the Romantics asserted that reliance upon emotion and natural passions provided a valid and powerful means of knowing and a reliable guide to ethics and living.The Romantic movement typically asserts the unique nature of the individual, the privileged status of imagination and fancy, the value of spontaneity over “artifice” and “convention”, the human need for emotional outlets, the rejection of civilizedcorruption, and a desire to return to natural primitivism and escape the spiritual destruction of urban life Their writings are often set in rural, or Gothic settings and they show an obsessive concern with “innocent”characters----children, young lovers, and animals. The major Romantic poets included William Blake, William Wordsworth, John Keats , Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Gordon Byron.Aestheticism( 美学主义) The basic theory of the Aesthetic movement----“art for art’s sake”----was set forth by a French poet, Theophile Gautier. The first Englishman who wrote about the theory of aestheticism was Walter Pater, the most important critical writer of the late 19th century. The chief representative of the movement in England was Oscar Wilde,with his Picture of Dorian Gray. Aestheticism places art above life, and holds that life should imitate art, not art imitate life. According to the aesthetes, all artistic creation is absolutely subjective as opposed to objective. Art should be free from any influence of egoism. Only when art is for art’s sake,can it be immortal They believed that art should be unconcerned with controversial issues, such as politics and morality, and that it should be restricted to contributing beauty in a highly polished style. This was one of the reactions against the materialism and commercialism of the Victorian industrial era, as well as a reaction against the Victorian convention of art for morality’s sake, or art for money’s sake.Neoclassicism The term mainly applies to the classical tendency which dominated the literature of the early period. It was, at least in part, the result of a reaction against the fires of passion which had blazed in the late Renaissance, especially in the metaphysical poetry. It found its artistic models in the classical literature of the ancient Greek and Roman writers like Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, etc. and in the contemporary French writers such as Voltaire and Diderot. It put the stress on the classical artistic ideals of order, logic, proportion, restrained emotion, accuracy, good taste and decorum.Such elegant styles were found in almost all the writings of the period, especially in those of John Dryden, Alexander Pope，Jonathan Swift, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Edward Gibbon , the man who wrote the famous history The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire(1776―1788) , and other neoclassicist writers. They were careful imitators. Their approach was thoroughly professional. Their works, mostly refined and perfect, are conscientiouscraftsmanship and often highly didactic. Neoclassical poetry , as represented by Dryden, Pope, and Johnson, reached its stylistic perfection during the period, although to the modem readers it seems to lack in imagination and energy. The neoclassical poetry is one of the most significant phenomena in the literature of the age, to which it has given its name.Naturalism（自然主义）: it first appeared in France, there naturalists including Zola turned especially to “slum life”, in England flourished in the 2nd half of 19th century; naturalists argued that literature reflect life, be “true to life”, writer must reproduce in his writings life exactly as it is, (including all details without any selection), theory of “a slice of life”; However, a fallacy, for impossible to include all the details in real life; only give the appearance of life but not its essence. In England, two outstanding writers in the last decades: George Gissing, George Moore.Neo-Romanticism（新浪漫主义）: it appeared at the end of 19th century and represented by Robert Louis Stevenson; it protests against the ugly social reality of their day but taking no positive steps about it，in a sense another form of escapism; dissatisfied with the contemporary reality, but at best a mild dissatisfaction; tried to find interest or enjoyment out from sheer imagination and fancy by creating exciting events and romantic characters that can hardly exist in reality，indulge in the description of exciting adventures in distant lands to deal with the heroic, to lay emphasis on the complexity and sensationalism of the material, Treasure Island, the representative in this school.Modernism（现代主义）: Around the two world wars, many writers and artists began to suspect and be discontent with the capitalism. They tried to find new ways to express their understanding of the world. It was a movement of experiments in techniques in writing. It flourished in the 20s and 30s in English literature.They turned their interest to describing what was happening in the minds of their characters. Because of their emphasis on the psychological activities of the characters, their writings are also called psychological novels. The Representatives are W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot,D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Foster, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.。

1、Epic :An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subjectcontaining details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form. Nonetheless, epics have been written down at last since Homer. Epics have nine characteristics: opens in media res; vast setting covering many nations, the world or the universe; begins with a n invocation to a muse; starts with a statement of the theme; the use of epithets; includes long lists; features long and formal speeches; shows divine intervention on human affairs; “star”heroes that embody the values of the civilization. Beowulf, the only organic whole poem of the old English period, is an epic of well over 3000 lines.2、Blank verse: Blank verse was first introduced by the Earl of Surrey in histranslations of Books 2 and 4 o f Virgil’s The Aeneid. It consists of lines of iambic pentameter (five-stress iambic verse) which are unrhymed—hence the term “blank”. Of all English metrical forms it is closest to the natural rhythms of English speech, and at the same time flexible and adaptive to diverse levels of discourse; as a result it has been more frequently and variously used than any other type of versification. It became the standard meter for Elizabethan and later poetic drama; a free form of blank verse is still the medium in twentieth-century verse plays.3、Modernism: A general term applied retrospectively to the wide range ofexperimental and avant-garde trends in literature of the early 20th century, including Symbolism, Futurism, Expressionism, Imagism, V orticism, Dada, and Surrealism, along with the innovations of the unaffiliated writers. Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base. It is a reaction against realism. It rejects rationalism which is the theoretical base of realism; it excludes from its major concern the external, objective, material world, which is the only creative source of realism; by advocating a free experimentation on new forms and new techniques in literary creation, it casts away almost all the traditional elements in literature such as story, plot, character, chronological narration, etc., which are essential to realism. As a result, the works created by the modernist writers can often be labeled as anti-novel, anti-poetry or anti-drama.4、Byronic hero: A stereotyped character created by Byron. This kind of hero is usually a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin. With immense superiority in his passions and powers, he would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in a corrupt society. He would rise single-handedly against any kind of tyrannical rules either in government, in religion, or in moral principles with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies. The conflict is usually one of rebellious individuals against outworn social systems and conventions.5、Gothic novel: An alternative term is Gothic romance. It is a story of terror andsuspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery. Following the appearance of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), the Gothic novel flourished inBritain from the 1790s to the 1820s, dominated by Ann Radcliffe, whose The Mysteries of Udolpho had many imitators.6、Utilitarianism: this was a hedonistic kind of philosophy, embracing Utility, or “the greatest happiness for the greatest number”as the sanction of morality, and spreadingthe belief that everyone was the best judge of his own interest. Jeremy Bentham and James Mill set the tone, and John Stuart Mill humanized it sufficiently to ensure its dissemination in the country. As a practical movement of philosophy, it advocated a few things which met the need of the age. One of these was its emphasis on the importance of representative government, universal education, trade unions, and philanthropy. It encouraged individual growth and social reform, and supported democratic politics and material progress. Utilitarianism was on the whole the reflection of the spirit of Victorian middle class liberalism, or philistinism as Matthew Arnold called it. And it provoked a reaction from the major authors of the period such Tennyson and Dickens.7、Humanism: Broadly, this term suggests any attitude, which tends to exalt the human element or stress the importance of human interests, as opposed to the supernatural, divine elements—or as opposed to the grosser, animal elements. In a more specific sense, humanism suggests a devotion to those studies supposed to promote human culture most effectively—in particular, those dealing with the life, thought, language and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. In literary history the most important use of the term is to designate the revival of classical culture that accompanied the Renaissance.8、Bildungsroman: This is a term more or less synonymous withErziehungsroman—literally an “upbringing” or “education” novel. Widely used by German critics, it refers to a novel which is an account of the youthful development of a hero or heroine (usually the former). It describes the processes by which maturity is achieved through the various ups and downs of life.9、Postmodernism: A term referring to certain radically experimental works of literature and art produced after World War II. Post-modernism is distinguished from modernism, which generally refers to the revolution in art and literature that occurred during the period 1910-1930, particularly following the disillusioning experience of World War I. Much of post-modernist writing reveals and highlights the alienation of individuals and the meaninglessness of human existence. Postmodernists break away from traditions through experimentation with new literary devices, forms, and styles.10、Neoclassicism: A style of western literature that flourished from themid-seventeenth century until the end of the eighteenth century and the rise of Romanticism. The neoclassicists looked to the great classical writers for inspiration and guidance, considering them to have mastered the noblest literary forms, tragicepic and the epic. Neoclassical writers shared several beliefs. They believed that literature should both instruct and delight, and the proper subject of art was humanity. Neoclassicism stressed rules, reason, harmony, balance, restraint, decorum, order, serenity, realism, and form---above all, an appeal to the intellect rather than emotion. The Restoration in 1660 marked the beginning of the neoclassical period in England, whose writers included John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, ect.2. Alliteration: repetition of the initial letter or first sound of several words, marking the stressed syllables in a line of poetry or prose. A simple example is the phrase “through thick and thin“. The device is used to emphasize meaning and thus can be effectively employed in oratory. Alliteration is a characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry, notably by the epic Beowulf; it is still used, with modifications, by modern poets.3. Ballad: A ballad is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas, with the second and forth lines rhymed, which are known as the ballad stanza, rhyming abcb. When it was chanted by ballad-singers, the audience joined in a refrain which usually followed each stanza.4. Sonnet: A sonnet is a 14-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme.5. Metaphysical poetry: is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar.6. Romance: it was a long composition, sometimes sin verse, sometimes in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. The central character of romance was knight and the reasons for their adventures could be love, religious faith, or the mere desire for excitement.7. Renaissance: in essence, was a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of conservatism in feudalist Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, to lift the restrictions in all areas placed by the roman church authorities.8. Enlightenment: is a term used to describe the trends in thought and letters in Europe and the American colonies during the 18th century prior to the French revolution. The phrase was frequently employed by writers of the period itself, convinced that they were emerging from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science, and a respect for humanity. The enlighteners believed in the power of reason, and that is why the 18th century in England has often been called “the age of reason “.9. heroic couplet: it is a term in poetry applied to two successive lines of verse that form a single unit because they rhyme. Couplets in English are usually written in10-syllableslines, a form first used by Chaucer. This evolved into the so-called heroic-couplet popular in 17th and 18th century. The heroic couplet, two rhyming iambic pentameter lines, is also called a closed couplet because the meaning and the grammatical structure are couplet within two lines.10. Iambic pentameter: is a verse form in which a\one line of poem contains 10 syllables, which could be divided into five feet. Two syllables in one feet are stressed syllable followed by a unstressed one.sonnet:The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song". By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure.代表人物：One of the best-known sonnet writers is William Shakespeare, who wrote 154 of them (not including those that appear in his plays).。

英国文学史名词解释1、Romanticism:浪漫主义An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism.English literary romanticism is from the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads in 1798 to the death of Sir Walter Scott in 1832.2、Byronic hero: 拜伦式英雄an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Byron:＊an exile流亡者, an outcast流浪者or an outlaw 歹徒＊being cynical愤世嫉俗的, rebellious反抗的, lonely＊against government, religion or moral values singly逐一地＊being passionate热情的, energetic积极的, talented多才的3、ottava rima ：Italian stanza form established by Boccaccio,An eight-line stanza of poetry in iambic pentameter (a five-foot line in which each foot consists of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable), following the abababcc rhyme scheme.4、Critical realism:批判现实主义English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. The critical realists described with much vividness and artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint. The representative realists of the time were Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, the Bronte sisters, Mrs. Gaskell, etc.The critical realists not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling class, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people.5、Dramatic monologue：戏剧独白a kind of poem in which a single fictional or historical character other than the poet speaks to a silent ‘audience’of one or mor e persons. Such poems reveal not the poet ‘s own thoughts; this distinguishes a dramatic monologue from a lyric，while the implied presence of an auditor distinguishes it from a soliloquy. Major examples of this form in English are Tennyson，Browning and T. S. Eliot.6、Aestheticism：美学主义the doctrine that regards beauty as an end in itself, and attempts to preserve the arts from subordination to moral, didactic, or political purposes. The term is often used synonymously with the Aesthetic Movement, a literary and artistic tendency of the late 19th century which may be understood as a further phase of Romanticism in reaction against vulgar bourgeois values of practical efficiency and morality.7、Naturalism:自然主义A literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions,heredity遗传and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character.8、Modernism:现代主义A general term applied to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in literature of the early 20th century. It takes the irrational philosophy and the theory ofpsycho-analysis as its theoretical base. It is a reaction against realism. It rejects rationalism which is the theoretical base ofrealism; by advocating a free experimentation on new forms and new techniques in literary creation, it casts away almost all the traditional elements in literature such as story, plot, character, chronological narration etc. , which are essential to realism.9、Imagism:意象派A literary movement started by British and American poets early in the 20th century that advocated the use of short lyrics, free verse, common speech patterns, and clear concrete images. Greatly under the influence of Symbolism, and was initially led by Ezra Pound.10、Stream of Consciousness:意识流One of the modern literary techniques, which is used to depict the mental and emotional reactions of characters to external events, rather than plot, story themselves. It adopts the psycho-analytic approach in literary creation to explore the existence of sub-conscious and un-conscious elements in the mind. And it neglects totally “fetters of grammar, syntax, and logic”。

（完整）英国文学名词解释大全（整理版）,推荐文档名词解释1.Epic(史诗)（appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period ）It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf （the pagan（异教徒），secular(非宗教的) poetry）Iliad 《伊利亚特》，Odyssey《奥德赛》Paradise Lost 《失乐园》，The Divine Comedy《神曲》2.Romance （传奇）(Anglo-Norman feudal England)Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form:long composition, in verse, in proseContent:description of life and adventures of a noble hero Character:a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures,taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king ?Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.①The Romance Cycles/Groups/DivisionsThree Groups●matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table （亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士）●matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers●matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of TroyLe Morte D’Arthur （亚瑟王之死）②Class Nature (阶级性) of the RomanceLoyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone（the most important part基石）of feudal morality.The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized （supported 庇护,保护）by the noble.3. Alliteration（押头韵）: a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.2.Sing a song of southern singer4. Understatement（低调陈述）（for ironical humor）not troublesome: very welcomeneed not praise: a right to condemn5. Chronicle《编年史》（a monument of Old English prose）6. Ballads （民谣）（The most important department of English folk literature ）①Definition:A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be sung or recited in musical form.An important stream of the Medieval folk literature②Features of English Ballads1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.③Stylistic （风格上）Features of the Ballads1. Composed in couplets （相连并押韵的两行诗,对句）or in quatrains （四行诗）known as the ballad stanza （民谣诗节）, rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables （重读音节）and the second and fourth carrying 3.2. Simple, plain language or dialect （方言，土语）of the common people with colloquial （口语的，会话的）, vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic （符合当地语言习惯的）expressions3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentation around the central plot.4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension （方面）to achieve dramatic effect.④Subjects of English Ballads1. struggle of young lovers2. conflict between love and wealth3. cruelty of jealousy4. criticism of the civil war5. matters of class struggle7. Heroic couplet （英雄双韵体）（introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer）Definition:the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体：用于史诗或叙事诗，每行十个音节，五个音部，每两行押韵。

1，alliteration 2，kenning 3，caesura 4,romance 5,chivalery 6,quatrain 7,meter:rhyme 8,heroic couplet 9iambic pentameter 10,bob and wheel 11,realism 12,idealism 13,renaissiance 14,blank verse 15,sonnet 16,comedy 17,tragedy 18,humanism 19,cavalier poets 20,metaphysical poets 21,metaphysical conceit1. Epic(史诗)（appeared in the Anglo-Saxon Period ）Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people are also called epic.E.g. Beowulf （the pagan（异教徒），secular(非宗教的) poetry）Iliad 《伊利亚特》，Odyssey《奥德赛》Paradise Lost 《失乐园》.1.Romance （传奇）(Anglo-Norman feudal England)•Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.•Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.Form:long composition, in verse, in proseContent:description of life and adventures of a noble heroCharacter:a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king •Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.•It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.•It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.•It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.3. Alliteration（押头韵）: a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.4. Heroic couplet （英雄双韵体）（introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer）Definition:the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.英雄诗体/英雄双韵体：用于史诗或叙事诗，每行十个音节，五个音部，每两行押韵。

名词解释1．Romance: a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, especially for the knight. The most popular theme employed was the legend of King Arthur and the round table knight.2．Renaissance: a revival or rebirth of the artistic and scientific revival which originated in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. It has two features: a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature and keen interest in activities of humanity.3．Sonnet: 14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. 4．Enlightenment: a revival of interest in the old classical works, logic, order, restrained emotion and accuracy.5．Neoclassicism: the Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in Greek and Roman works. This tendency is known as Neoclassicism.6．Romanticism: imagination, emotion and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. The particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism include: subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; freedom from rules; solitary life rather then life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason; and love of and worship of nature.7．Byronic Heroes: a variant of the Romantic heroes as a type of character( enthusiasm, persistence, pursuing freedom), named after the English Romantic Poet Gordon Byron. 8．Realism: seeks to portray familiar characters, situations, and settings in a realistic manner. This is done primarily by using an objective narrative point of view and through the buildup of accurate detail.9．Aestheticism: an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts.10．Stream-of-Consciousness: it is a literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur without any clarification by the author. It is a narrative mode. 11．Epic: a long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.一、The Anglo-Saxon period (449-1066)1、这个时期的文学作品分类：pagan(异教徒) Christian(基督徒)2、代表作：The Song of Beowulf 《贝奥武甫》( national epic 民族史诗) 采用了隐喻手法3、Alliteration 押头韵（写作手法）例子：of man was the mildest and most beloved,To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.二、The Anglo-Norman period (1066-1350)Canto 诗章1、romance 传奇文学2、代表作：Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (高文爵士和绿衣骑士) 是一首押头韵的长诗三、Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) 杰弗里.乔叟时期1、the father of English poetry 英国诗歌之父2、heroic couplet 英雄双韵体：a verse unit consisting of two rhymed(押韵) lines in iambic pentameter(五步抑扬格)3、代表作：the Canterbury Tales 坎特伯雷的故事(英国文学史的开端)大致内容：the pilgrims are people from various parts of England, representatives of various walks of life and social groups.朝圣者都是来自英国的各地的人,代表着社会的各个不同阶层和社会团体小说特点：each of the narrators tells his tale in a peculiar manner, thus revealing his own views and character.这些叙述者以自己特色的方式讲述自己的故事，无形中表明了各自的观点，展示了各自的性格。

名词解释1．Romance: a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, especially for the knight. The most popular theme employed was the legend of King Arthur and the round table knight.2．Renaissance: a revival or rebirth of the artistic and scientific revival which originated in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. It has two features: a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature and keen interest in activities of humanity.3．Sonnet: 14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. 4．Enlightenment: a revival of interest in the old classical works, logic, order, restrained emotion and accuracy.5．Neoclassicism: the Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in Greek and Roman works. This tendency is known as Neoclassicism.6．Romanticism: imagination, emotion and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. The particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism include: subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; freedom from rules; solitary life rather then life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason; and love of and worship of nature.7．Byronic Heroes: a variant of the Romantic heroes as a type of character( enthusiasm, persistence, pursuing freedom), named after the English Romantic Poet Gordon Byron. 8．Realism: seeks to portray familiar characters, situations, and settings in a realistic manner. This is done primarily by using an objective narrative point of view and through the buildup of accurate detail.9．Aestheticism: an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts.10．Stream-of-Consciousness: it is a literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur without any clarification by the author. It is a narrative mode. 11．Epic: a long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.一、The Anglo-Saxon period (449-1066)1、这个时期的文学作品分类：pagan(异教徒) Christian(基督徒)2、代表作：The Song of Beowulf 《贝奥武甫》( national epic 民族史诗) 采用了隐喻手法3、Alliteration 押头韵（写作手法）例子：of man was the mildest and most beloved,To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.二、The Anglo-Norman period (1066-1350)Canto 诗章1、romance 传奇文学2、代表作：Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (高文爵士和绿衣骑士) 是一首押头韵的长诗三、Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) 杰弗里.乔叟时期1、the father of English poetry 英国诗歌之父2、heroic couplet 英雄双韵体：a verse unit consisting of two rhymed(押韵) lines in iambic pentameter(五步抑扬格)3、代表作：the Canterbury Tales 坎特伯雷的故事(英国文学史的开端)大致内容：the pilgrims are people from various parts of England, representatives of various walks of life and social groups.朝圣者都是来自英国的各地的人,代表着社会的各个不同阶层和社会团体小说特点：each of the narrators tells his tale in a peculiar manner, thus revealing his own views and character.这些叙述者以自己特色的方式讲述自己的故事，无形中表明了各自的观点，展示了各自的性格。