Questions on “Song of Myself”
Recalling:
1.According to Line 1 of Section 1, who is the poet celebrating? Whom do lines 2-3 also
include in the celebration?
2.What facts about himself does Whitman reveal in lines 6-9 of section 1?
Interpreting
1.Describe the relationship Whitman sets up with the reader in the first section.
https://www.doczj.com/doc/ad18768743.html, as many characteristics of Whitman’s “self” as you can. Which characteristics seem the
most prominent?
Questions on “Beat! Beat! Drums!”
Recalling
1.What people do the drums and bugles disturb in each of stanzas 1, 2, and 3?
2.what verbs and adjectives are used to describe the sounds of the drums and bugles?
Interpreting
1.Based on the description of the drums and bugles and the effect they have, what do they seem
to represent? What does the simile in line 2 imply?
2.Are the people in stanzas 1 and 2 doing anything out of the ordinary? Why is this significant?
3.Why might the people in stanza 3 be praying, beseeching, and so on? What do the drums and
bugles do to their prayers and pleas?
4.Explain how rhythm and repetition reinforce the meaning of the poem. In particular, consider
the effect of lines 1, 8, and 15.
Extending
What images other than drums and bugles might Whitman have used to make his point? General writing topics on Whitman
1.Why might Whitman have called his volume of poetry Leaves of Grass?
2.By associating himself with the grass, what does the poet suggest about himself? Summarize
Whitman’s attitude toward nature.
3.Why is free verse particularly suited to Whitman’s ideas? How do you think it relates to
Whitman’s democratic principles?
Questions on “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”
Recalling
1.W here does the “Funeral” take place? Who keeps treading to and fro?
2.What keeps beating? What do the mourners lift?
3.According to stanza 3, what begins to toll after the mourners leave?
4.What breaks, according to stanza 5? What happens then?
Interpreting
1.What is the “Service” in line 6? What is the “Box” in line 9?
2.Whose funeral is the speaker envisioning? What might the last two stanzas be describing?
https://www.doczj.com/doc/ad18768743.html,pare the images beginning in line 12 with the images of the funeral presented in lines
1-11. Which group of images is clearer? Why?
Questions on “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—”
Recalling
1.What does the speaker hear in stanza 1? When does she hear it?
2.According to stanza 2, what are the “Eyes” and “Breaths” doing?
3.According to stanzas 3-4, what interposes between the light and the speaker? What happens
then?
Interpreting
1.What is happening to the speaker/ who are the other people in the room?
2.What is unusual about the description of the people in lines 5-6? From whose pint of view are
they being described?
3.Why is the fly’s appearance somewhat ironic? What basic message abou t death is suggested
to the poet by the appearance of the fly?
4.What slant rhymes—also called off rhyme, near rhyme, approximate rhyme and imperfect
rhyme—occur in “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died”? What effects do they have? How are the slant rhymes related to the meaning of each poem?
Questions on “Because I could not stop for Death—”
Recalling
1.According to stanza 1, why did Death stop for the speaker? What did Death’s carriage hold?
2.What three things did the speaker and Death pass in stanza 3? Where did they pause in stanza
5?
3.According to stanza 6, how much time has passed since the day of Death’s visit? What does
that time feel shorter than?
Interpreting
1.Is the speaker in this poem alive or dead? What day is she describing?
2.What do lines 1-2 suggest about human behavior?
3.What might the three things the speaker passed in stanza 3 represent?
4.What is the “House” in the ground in stanza 5? Is this the speaker’s final destination? Explain.
5.Why does the day described seem so long to the speaker?
General writing topics on Dickinson
1.One of Dickinson’s greatest talents was her ability to find universal meanings in everyday
events. Why do you think all great literature must be able to do this?
2.The scholar who edited the definitive texts of Dickinson’s poem s, Thomas H. Johnson, tells
us: “Emily Dickinson loved words ardently. Her feeling ab out them amounted to veneration and her selection of them was ritualistic.” What evidence do you find to support Johnson’s contention? What unusual or well-chosen words add power to the poems you have read?
How does Dickinson’s use of everyday words help make her abstract ideas more concrete?
Comprehensive questions
General writing topics
Comparing Whitman and Dickinson
1.Both Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were poets of great originality and intense emotion.
Yet in temperament and life style they were almost exactly opposite. What do Whitman’s and Dickinson’s poems suggest about the sources of poetic inspiration? Where do they suggest the truly imaginative life can be found? What do you think made the poetry of these writers so fresh and original?
Comparing Whitman, Dickinson and Twain
2.Whitman, Dickinson, and Twain all helped develop American literature as a singular
expression of American life. How do the styles and subjects of these three writers differ from those of the American authors who preceded them? What do you think makes Whitman, Dickinson, and Twain so distinctly American?
Writing topics on Jack London’s Martin Eden and Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie
1.To some extent, both the title characters are American dream makers and achievers. Please
compare and contrast them two from any perspective you like, for example, success, tragedy, morality, love, the meaning of life, etc.
2.To some extent, Martin Eden, Sister Carrie, Richard Cory, Gatsby are American dream
makers and achievers. Please compare and contrast them two from any perspective you like, for example, success, tragedy, morality, love, the meaning of life, etc.
Writing topics on The Portrait of a Lady
1.According to the novel, what do you think is James’s view of female independence? What do
you think is James’s view of marriage? How about your own understanding on the relationship between female independence and marriage? Are the two issues contradictory or not?
2.Make a contrastive comment on the endings of the two versions of The Portrait of a Lady
—the original novel and the movie version.
Questions on Edwin Arlington Robinson
Questions on “Richard Cory”
Recalling
1.Which line in the poem identifies the speaker? Which lines tell you about the economic
condition of the speaker?
2.What is Richard Cory “from sole to crown”? What effect does he have when he says “Good
Morning”?
3.What, “in fine,” do the people think of Richard Cory (Stanza 3)?
4.What is the “surprise” ending?
Interpreting
1.How are the “we” of the poem different from Richard Cory?
2.What do “crown” (line 3) and “imperially” (line 4) indicate about the speaker’s impression of
Richard Cory?
3.What effect does Cory’s final action seem to have on everyone in Tilbury Town? What does
Tilbury Town’s reaction to Cory’s life and death suggest about human understanding?
Questions on “Miniver Cheevy”
Recalling
1.For what does Cheevy sigh and mourn in the first five stanzas? What does Cheevy curse in
the sixth stanza?
2.What are Cheev y’s feelings about gold, according to the seventh stanza?
3.To what does Cheevy attribute his unhappiness in line 31? What does he keep on doing,
according to the last line of the poem?
Interpreting
1.What do lines 9-10 reveal about Cheevy’s character? Lines 17-18? Lines 25-26?
2.Basically, how does Cheevy see himself? How do we see him? What really causes his
unhappiness?
General writing topics on Robinson’s “Richard Cory” and “Miniver Cheevy”
1.Could Richard Cory and Miniver Cheevy be found only in a small Maine town at the turn of
the century? Explain your answer.
2.Irony is a contrast or a difference between the way things seem and the way they really are. In
literature there are three kinds of irony.
Verbal irony occurs when words that appear to be saying one thing are really saying something quite different.
Situational irony occurs when what is expected to happen is not what actually comes to pass.
Dramatic irony occurs when events that mean one thing to the characters mean something quite different to the reader.
Irony is often accompanied by a grim humor. There is an element of dark humor,
for example, in the mistaken ideas that the townspeople have of Richard Cory,
while Miniver Cheevy is almost comical in his hypocrisy and self-delusion.
Thinking about ironies in “Richard Cory” and “Miniver Cheevy”
1)How is the use of the adjective “calm”in the next-to-last line of
“Richard Cory” an example of verbal irony?
2)Explain the situational irony in “Richard Cory”
3)Tell why “Miniver Cheevy” is an example of dramatic irony.
3.Write a brief essay comparing and contrasting “Richard Cory” and “Miniver Cheevy”. Begin
with a statement of each poem’s theme. Then show what the characters have in common and how they differ. Conclude by discussing the tone of each poem and the general impression each leaves with the reader.
Questions on Ezra Pound’s poems
Questions on “In a Station of the Metro”
Recalling
1.Where does this poem take place?
2.What two images are juxtaposed, or placed next to each other, in the poem?
Interpreting
1.Does the poet supply you with any information about how you should think or feel about the
poem? What does the poem consist of? What makes it “poetic”?
2.Why does the poet use the word apparition rather than appearance? (consider the connotations
of apparition.)
3.Ezra Pound’s own comment on “In a Station of the Metro” shows the poet at work:
Three years ago in Paris I got out of a “metro” train at La Condorde, and saw
suddenly a beautiful face, and then another and another, and then a beautiful
child’s face, and then another beautiful child’s face, and then another beautiful
woman, and I tried all day to find words for what his had meant to me, and I
could not find any words that seemed to me worthy, or as lovely as that sudden
emotion. And that evening, as I went home . . . I was still trying and I found,
suddenly, the expression. I do not mean that I found words, but here came an
equation . . . not in speech, but in little splotches of color . . . . that is to say, my
experience in Paris should have gone into paint.
What does Pound mean when he says that an “equation” can be a poetic experience? Do you think “In a Station of the Metro” would have made a good painting? Why or why not?
Questions on “The River-Merchant’s Wife”
Recalling
1.What form does the poem take? Who is writing it?
2.At what age did the river-merchant’s wife marry? What did she stop doing at fifteen, and what
did she desire? What happened when the wife was sixteen?
3.What do the monkeys do in line 18? What do the butterflies do in line 25? What does the wife
do in line 25?
4.If her husband tells her when he is coming through the narrows of the river Kiang, what will
the wife do?
Interpreting
1.How have the wife’s feelings for her husband changed since she married him? How does she
feel about her husband’s absence?
2.Is monkeys’ chattering usually described as it is here? What do the negative descriptions of
the monkeys and butterflies reflect?
3.Is the tone of this poem sentimental or matter-of-fact? Cite lines to support your answer.
Writing topics on “The River-Merchant’s Wife”
1.Although longer and more narrative than a pure imagist poem, “The River-Merchant’s Wife”
uses many of the devices of Imagist poetry. In a brief essay discuss these devices and their relation to the poem’s subject matter. First explain the meaning of the poem. Then consider the poem’s use of
1)Simple, direct language
2)Free verse
3)Sharp images to convey emotions
https://www.doczj.com/doc/ad18768743.html,paring
How is the attitude of the wife in “The River-Merchant’s Wife”different from the attitude expressed in nineteenth-century Romantic poetry that you have read? Compare this poem to Poe’s “To Helen”.
Questions on T. S. Eliot
Questions on “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
Recalling
1.According to lines1-14, what are “you and I” going out to “make”? To what do the streets lead?
For what does Prufrock say there will be time in line 27? In lines 32-34?
2.According to lines 37-46, what would Prufrock “disturb” if he dared to ask his question? Why
“in short” doesn’t Prufrock “force the moment to its crisis” (lines 75-86)? What remark by someone “settling a pillow” would make asking the question not worthwhile (lines 87-98)?
3.After he fails to ask his question, who does Prufrock say he is and is not (lines 111-119)?
4.Whom has Prufrock heard singing, according to lines 124-131? What does he think these
creatures will do?
Interpreting
1.What do the opening quotation from Dante, the descriptions of the fog, and the simile in line
3 suggest about Prufrock’s mood or feelings?
2.Reread lines 10-11, 45-46, 80, and 93-94. What do these lines suggest about Prufrock’s
opinion of the question he considers asking? What does the title suggest about the question?
What is Profrock trying to avoid when he keeps saying “there will be time” in lines 23-48? 3.Why would Prufrock think of himself as “you and I”, or “we”? What do the following lines
reveal about Prufrock’s view of his life and his self-image: the opening quotation, lines 51, 73-74, 82, and 85?
4.How would Prufrock be like Lazarus if he asked the question? In not asking the question,
why is he unlike Hmalet?
5.What do the images in lines 121-123 suggest about the future Prufrock foresees for himself?
Is this future different from his past?
6.How are the mermaids unlike the women Prufrock visits? Why is it significant that Prufrock
hears the mermaids? That they will not sing for him?
Writing topics
1.In what ways are we all like Prufrock some of the time? Why might a middle-aged person in
particular identify with him?
2.Tell how this poem helps explain why the young Eliot called the modern world a “waste
land” and why Gertrude Stain called the young generation who had fought in World War I a “lost generation”.
3.Although Prufrock says he is not Hamlet, the Eliot critic Grover Smith believes that
“Eliot’s Prufrock is a tragic figure . . . . The plight of this hesitant, inhibited man, an
aging dramer trapped in decayed, shabby genteel surroundings, aware of beauty and
faced with sordidness, mirrors the plight of the sensitive in the presence of the dull”
—T. S. Eliot’s Poetry and Plays
What evidence supports Smith’s view? What evidence suggests that Prufrock is not
tragic but comic? Do you believe he is either one or the other? Explain.
4. Although “The Love Song of J. Afred Prufrock”is written in free verse, some
sections have distinct rhythms, and there is a good deal of rhyme. In a brief essay,
discuss the use of rhyme and rhythm in the poem. First show how Eliot prevents his
rhymes and rhythms from falling into a predictable pattern. Then explain how the
lack of pattern relates to the tone and content of the poem.
Questions on Robert Frost
Question on “The Road Not Taken”
Recalling
1.What diverged in the yellow wood? About what was the speaker sorry in the first
stanza? Where does the speaker stand and look?
2.According to line 7, why did the second road have the better claim?
3.For that did the speaker “keep” the first road? What did he doubt?
4.How does the speaker think he will be telling this story “ages and ages hence”? what
has “made all the difference”
Interpreting
1.Considering lines 9-10 and 11-12, how different were the two roads? What is Frost
therefore saying?
2.What might the roads represent? What does his choice indicate about the speaker?
3.Does the speaker think he made the wrong choice? Why or why not? How is his
attitude related to the title?
Extending
Suggest other dilemmas comparable to the speaker’s.
Questions on “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
Recalling
1.Where does the owner of the woods live? What will he not see, according to the first
stanza?
2.According to the speaker, what must the horse think? According to the second stanza,
when is the event in the poem taking place?
3.According to the final stanza, what must the speaker do before he sleeps? What does
the speaker say he must keep?
Interpreting
1.What causes the speaker to stop?
2.What do the owner and the horse have in common? How do they differ from the
speaker?
3.Why does the speaker leave the woods? Does he regret leaving?
4.What might the incident in the woods represent? What might lines 15-16, especially
“sleep” mean?
5.Describe the rhyme scheme of the poem. How is the poem “knit” to a close?
Writing topics on A Farewell to Arms
1.Do you think whether Henry has done the right thing to run away from the battle?
2.Is Catherine too good to be true?
Questions on The Great Gatsby
1.What is so fascinating about Gatsby? In what ways does he exemplify the "American Dream"?
Has Jay Gatsby attained what he believes the dream promises? Is there anything tragic about Gatsby?
2.What is the American dream? Does it mean the same thing for different
characters in the book?
3.Read a story or novel by Ernest Hemingway and compare it to a
Fitzgerald story or novel written at the same time. What are the stylistic differences? How does each author's style reflect his choice of subject material?
Questions on The Grapes of Wrath
Ch. 23
What forms of entertainment are available to the working people? What is the significance of the storyteller? How do these passages relate to the songs of the guitar player in Ch. 17? What is the significance of the story told? Why is it about the Indians? What does the storyteller suggest? How do these issues relate to what the workers and the country as a whole is experiencing in the novel's present? Who is responsible? Consider the significance of the following passage:
"They was a brave on a ridge, against the sun. Knowed he stood out. Spread his arms an' stood. Naked as morning, an' against the sun. Maybe he was crazy, I don't know. Stood there, arms spread out; like a cross he looked. Four hundred yards. An' the men--well, they raised their sights an' they felt the wind with their fingers; an' then they jus' lay there and couldn' shoot. Maybe that Injun knowed somepin. Knowed we couldn' shoot. Jes' laid there with the rifles cocked, an' didn' even put 'em to our shoulders. Lookin's at him. Head-band, one feather. Could see it, an' naked as the sun. Long time we laid there an' looked, an' he never moved. An' then the captain got mad. 'Shoot, you crazy bastards, shoot!' he yells. An' we jus' laid there. 'I'll give you to a five-count, an' then mark you down,' the captain says. Well, sir--we put up our rifles slow, an' ever' man hoped some-body's shoot first. I ain't never been so sad in my life. An' I laid my sights on his belly, cause' you can't stop a Injun no other
place--an'--then. Well, he jest plunkered down an' rolled. An' we went up. An' he wasn' big--he'd looked so grand--up there. All tore to pieces an' little. Ever see a cock pheasant, stiff and beautiful, ever' feather drawed an' painted, an' even his eyes drawed in pretty? An' bang! You pick him up--bloody an' twisted, an' you spoiled somepin better'n you; an' eatin' him don't make it up to you, 'cause you spoiled somepin in yaself, an' you can't never fix it up"
Questions on “A Rose for Emily”
1.What details foreshadow the conclusion of the story? Could the ending be anticipated?
2.Develop a list of the descriptive details associated with Emily: her appearance, surroundings,
the way in which she appears to the townspeople, etc.
3.At first glance, “A Rose for Emily” seems to be quite a peculiar title for this story. Why do
you think the story bears that title? What does the title mean, in your opinion?
4.Miss Emily is described as a monument at the first of the story? What is she a monument to?
Why does she deserve a rose?
5.Describe and discuss the symbolism of Miss Emily’s house.
6.How do the townspeople know what they know about Miss Emily’s life? What is the source
of their information?
7.Consider the mixed quality of the townspeople’s reactions to Miss Emily’s “failures.”
8.What is the significance of Miss Emily’s actions after the death of her father?
9.What role does Homer Barron play in the story? Is there anything ironic about a match
between him and Miss Emily?
10.Look closely at the second paragraph in section five. What does this paragraph suggest
about the nature of people’s memories of the past?
Writing topic
Write a story accounting what happened between Emily and Baron and how Baron died.
Questions on Carl Sandburg’s poems
Questions on “The People, Yes”
Recalling
1.According to lines 1-8, what will the “learning and blundering” people do? In
what are the people “so peculiar”? According to lines 8-20, what would the
people do if they had more time? What do they wish?
2.According to lines 21-28, what do the people know? With what are they “in
tune and step”?
3.According to lines 29-31, with what bundle do the people march? What do
they ask?
Interpreting
1.Citing details to support your answer, tell what kind or class of people this poem
is about. What aspects of “the people” are celebrated? (Consider especially lines 2, 5, 25, and the questions the people ask in the final line.)
2.Explain the “yes” in the poem’s title.
Writing topics
This poem was written during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Explain how knowing this affects your interpretation of the poem.
Questions on “Chicago”
Recalling
1.What is Chicago called in the first three lines?
2.What three things do “they” tell the speaker in lines 6-8? What does the speaker
say Chicago is like in line 10? In lines 13-17?
3.How does Chicago laugh in line 19? In line 20? What does it laugh in line 22?
Interpreting
1.What does the poet like about Chicago? What negative aspects does he
recognize? Explain how the good and bad are related.
2.In what ways does the form of the poem relate to its content?
Writing topics
1.What qualities of Sandburg’s Chicago do you think are still reflected in urban
life? Do you find big, bustling cities like Chicago as exciting as Sandburg does?
Why or why not?
2.In his biography of Sandburg, Professor Richard Crowder comments:
Whether consciously or not, Sandburg sensed that the spirit of Chicago could not be expressed totally in the confines of the usual lyric verse . . . .
“Chicago” unlocked language, form, and subject matter in a way that some critics found distasteful, some puzzling, and some invigorating.
—Carl Sandburg
How does Sandburg’s free-verse form relate to the spirit of Chicago that he wishes to convey? Why do you think some critics in Sandburg’s day might have found the language and subject matter of “Chicago” distasteful or puzzling?
Questions on Wallace Stevens
Questions on “Anecdote of the Jar”
Recalling
1.What shape is the jar? Where does the speaker place it?
2.According to the second stanza, what happens to the wilderness around the jar?
3.What does the jar “take” everywhere? Of what does it “not give”?
Interpreting
1.Explain in your own words the effect of the jar on the Tennessee wilderness. Does
its effect seem positive in the first two stanzas? In the third? Why is “jar”an appropriate word?
2.How is a jar different from the wilderness? What might the jar represent?
Writing topics
Luck Beckett writes in Wallace Stevens that the first lines of Stevens’“Anecdote of the Jar”“define lightly Steven s’hope for poetry, his belief that through it the slovenly wilderness of the modern world can be made, for however transient a time, to yield modern man something that will satisfy his need”. Tell in your own words what need it is that the poem attempts to satisfy. Describe how poetry and all the arts attempt to meet that need.
General writing topic
Tone in literature is the author’s attitude. An author can demonstrate an attitude toward characters, toward subjects, and toward the reader. Some tones are clearly defined and easy to notice, such as a humorous tone or an angry tone. Some tones are more complicated, reflecting a combination of emotions in the writer. An ironic tone, for example, can suggest that a writer is both sympathetic toward and critical of a character or a subject.
Tone is often crucial to understanding a poem or a story. It is sometimes necessary to read a passage several times, sometimes aloud, to try to hear the voice of the author and decide what tone is being conveyed. Mark Twain’s stories, for example, convey much of their wry humor and irony only through the tone adopted by the author.
1.Describe the tone in one poem by each of the following: Edwin Arlington Robinson,
Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, and Wallace Stevens. Which tone seems most like the tone of a poem by Robert Frost? Why?
2.Write a brief essay analyzing the relationship between the theme and the tone in one
of Robert Frost’s poems. Begin with a statement of the theme. Then describe the tone, and show how the tone supports or brings out the theme.
Part I The Literature of Colonial America I．Historical Introduction The colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.) II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds: 1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration 2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American Writer The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians. Captain John Smith is the first American writer. A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608) A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612) General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers. One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England Literature William Bradford and John Winthrop John Cotton and Roger Williams Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor V．Puritan Thoughts 1. The origin of puritan In the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of
2018春《美国文学》作业1．第1题 Among the following novels, only one was not written by Herman Melville. It is _____________. A.The Confidence-Man B.The PIlot C.Moby Dick 答案:B 您的答案：B 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 2．第2题 The Author of the short story "A Gift for Maggie" is ---. A. O. Henry B. Mark Twain C.Jack London 答案:A 您的答案：A 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 3．第3题 Of Mice ａnd Men is a novel written by ---. A. John Steinbeck B.Sherwood Anderson C.Sinklair Lewis 答案:A 您的答案：A 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0
4．第4题 “by nature’s self in white arrayed\ she bade thee shun the vulgar eye,\ ａnd planted here the guarding shade,\ ａnd sent soft waters murmuring by; \ thus quietly thy summer goes,\ thy days declining to repose.” the rhyme scheme of the lines above is ______________. A.ababab B.ababcc C.aabbcc 答案:B 您的答案：B 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 5．第5题 when we say that a poor young man ｆrom the west tried to make his fortune in the east but was disillusioned in the quest of an idealized dream, we are probably discussing about ______’s thematic concern in his fiction writing. A.Henry James B.Scott Fitzgerald C.Hemingway D.William Faulkner 答案:B 您的答案：B 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 6．第6题 ____ Bryant’s best-known poem, was written when
美国文学期末考试复习必备（精） 1. What’s Puritanism? A religious and political movement which appeals to the right of the individual to political & religious independence. It includes three parts: a code of values, a point of view & a philosophy of life 2. What are the basic Puritan beliefs? 1). Total Depravity 2). Unconditional Election 3). Limited Atonement 4). Irresistible Grace 5). Perseverance of the "saints" 3. What are American Puritan values? Sobriety thrift, Self-reliance Diligence, Struggle, simple tastes 4. What are the features of American literature in the Colonial Period? A. Humble origins: diaries, journals, histories, letters. Its various forms, occupy a major position in the literature of the early colonial period. B. in content: serving either god or colonial expansion or both C. in form: imitating English literary traditions. D. in style: tight and logic structure, precise and compact expression, avoidance of rhetorical decoration, adoption of homely imagery and simplicity of diction. E. Symbolism formed in this period ------To the pious Puritan, the physical, phenomenal world was nothing but a symbol of God. F. Simple, fresh and direct style
[0171]《美国文学史及选读》 第一次作业 [判断题]Faith in Christianity is one of the main ideas advocated by Raph Waldo Emerson, the chief spokesman of American Romanticism. 参考答案：错误 [判断题]In Desire Under the Elms by Eugene G. O'Neill, Abbie is the second wife of Cabot after his first wife dies. 参考答案：错误 [判断题]Langston Hughes is often entitled "New England Poet”. 参考答案：错误 [判断题]Franklin was a symbol of the American dream. 参考答案：正确 [判断题]Rip Van Winkle was written by James Cooper. 参考答案：错误 [判断题]Fitzgerald was the spokesman of the Jazz Age. 参考答案：正确 [判断题]Allan Poe wrote the first detective stories in America. 参考答案：正确 [判断题]The Beat Generation and the Lost Generation are the same. 参考答案：错误 [判断题]Beyond the Horizon was the first full-length play of O'Neill. 参考答案：正确 [判断题]Irving was the first American writer to get an international reputation. 参考答案：正确 第二次作业 [判断题]Chinese poetry and philosophy had exerted great influence on Ezra Pound. 参考答案：正确 [判断题]Howl is a symbol in the movement of the Beat Generation, which was written by Allen Ginsberg. 参考答案：正确 [判断题] Joseph Heller was an American satirical novelist, poet and short story writer. 参考答案：错误 [判断题]Mark Twain was the Lincoln of American literature. 参考答案：正确 [判断题]The best work of Whitman was The Leaves of Grass 参考答案：正确 [判断题]Anne Bradstreet was father of American poetry. 参考答案：错误 [判断题]The Autobiography was the masterpiece of Franklin. 参考答案：正确 [判断题]The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story 参考答案：正确
作业 1．第1题 When we say that a poor young man from the West tried to make his fortune in the East but was disillusioned in the quest of an idealized dream, we are probably discussing about ______’s thematic concern in his fiction writing. A.Henry James B.Scott Fitzgerald C.Hemingway D.William Faulkne 答案:B 您的答案：B 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 2．第2题 ___ did not ever show his/her concern for the Indians. A.Anne Bradstreet B.Philip Freneau C.Roger Williams D.John Eliot 答案:A 您的答案：A 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 3．第3题 ____ made many translations, among which, Dante’s Divine Comedy was the best. A.William C. Bryant B.Henry W. Longfellow C.Emerson D.Hawthorne 答案:B 您的答案：B 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 4．第4题 The Declaration of Independence was the product of the joint efforts by ___, A.George Washington
美国文学史复习1（colonialism) 第一部分殖民主义时期的文学 一、时期综述 1、清教徒采用的文学体裁：a、narratives 日记b、journals 游记 2、清教徒在美国的写作内容： 1）their voyage to the new land 2) Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops 3) About dealing with Indians 4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit 3、清教徒的思想： 1）puritan want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices 净化信仰和行为方式 2) Wish to restore simplicity to church and the authority of the Bible to the theology. 重建教堂，提供简单服务，建立神圣地位 3）look upon themselves as chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God's will and is not to be accepted. 认为自己是上帝选民，对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝 4）puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated. 反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步5）religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面，忽视上帝仁慈的一面。 4、典型的清教徒：John Cotton & Roger William 他们的不同：John Cotton was much more concerned with authority than with democracy; William begins the history of religious toleration in America. 5、William的宗教观点：Toleration did not stem from a lack of religious convictions. Instead, it sprang from the idea that simply to be virtuous in conduct and devout in belief did not give anyone the right to force belief on others. He also felt that no political order or church system could identify itself directly with God. 行为上的德，信仰上的诚，并没有给任何人强迫别人该如何行事的权利。没有任何政治秩序和教会体制能够直接体现神本身的意旨。 6、英国最早移民到美国的诗人：Anne Bradstreet 7、在殖民时期最好的清教徒诗人：the best of Puritan poets is Edward Tayor. 学习指南： 1、Could you give a description of American Puritans? 关于美国清教徒的描绘 Like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the church should be restored to the "purity" of the first-century church as established by Jesus Christ himself. To them religion was a matter of primary importance. They made it their chief business to see that man lived and thought and acted in a way which tended to the glory of God. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God, all that John Calvin, the great French theologian who lived in Geneva had preached. It was this kind of religious belief that they brought with them into the wildness. There they meaant to prove that were God's chosen people enjoying his blessings on this earth as in Heaven. 2、Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety were the Puritan values that dominated much of the earliest American writing. 3、The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet & Edward Taylor, rose to the level of real poetry. 4、The earliest settlers included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards Italian, and Portuguese. 美国文学史复习2（reasoning and revolution) (2009-01-17 15:54:25) 一、美国的性质： The war for Independence ended in the formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic - the United States of America. 联邦的资产阶级民主共和国--美利坚合众国。 二、代表作家： 1、Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林1706-1790 1）"Poor Richard's Almanac" 穷人查理德的年鉴annual collection of proverbs 流行谚语集 It soon became the most popular book of its kind, largely because of Franklin's shrewd humor, and first spread his reputation 2) Founded the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic and political ideas. 建立了一个秘密俱乐部，讨论的主题是政治、经济和科学等时事方面的问题 3）established America's first circulating library, founded the college--University of Pennsylvania. 建立了美国第一个可租借的图书馆，还创办了一所大学——就是现在的宾夕法尼亚大学。 4）first applied the terms "positive" and "negative" to electrical charges. 5)As a representative of the Colonies, he tried in vain to counsel the British toward policies that would let America grow and flourish in association with England. He conducted the difficulty negotiations with France that brought financial and military support for America in the war. 作为殖民地的代表，他不断建议英国改变政策，使美国可以和英国一起发展、繁荣。他说服法国支持美国的独立战争。 6）As an author he had power of expression, simplicity, a subtle humor, sarcastic.作为作家具有非凡的才能，表达简洁明了，幽默，讽刺天才、 7）The Way to Wealth致富之道The Autobiography自传18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传
《美国文学》期末考试试卷（B卷） 1.Poor Richard’s Almanac ( ) 2.The House of the Seven Gables ( ) 3.“Raven”( ) 4.My Antonia ( ) 5.Babbitt ( ) 6.A Streetcar Named Desire ( ) 7.Maggie: A Girl of the Streets ( ) 8.A Farewell to Arms ( ) 9.The Call of the Wild ( ) 10.Long Day's Journey into Night ( ) https://www.doczj.com/doc/ad18768743.html,mon Sense ( ) 12. “Rip Van Winkle”( ) 13. Walden( ) 14. The Song of Hiawatha( ) 15. Uncle Tom’s Cabin( ) 16.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn( ) 17.Sister Carrie( ) 18.The Waste Land( ) 19. A Farewell to Arms( ) 20.The Great Gatsby( ) 1.defined poetry as the rhythmical creation of beauty. 2.While working for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, Samuel Langhorne Clemens adopted the pseudonym , the way of a boatman taking soundings, and meaning two fathoms. 3.Ezra Pound initiated a campaign for , which emphasized the direct treatment of an object or situation. He also advocated the language of common speech, but always the exact word. 4.Fitzgerald summarized the experiences and attitudes of the 1920s decade in his masterpiece novel _________. 5.is the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters. 6.The first of American literature was not written by an American, but by ___________________, a British captain, who thus became the first American writer. 7._________________ has been considered the “Father of modern American Poetry.\
2013春美国文学在线作业100分 1．第11题 ___ is not a name to refer to Natty Bumppo in Cooper’s frontier saga. A.deerslayer B.pathfinder C.hawkeye D.Mohican 答案:D 您的答案：D 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 2．第12题 “these are times that try men’s souls”is a sentence quoted ｆrom paine’s pamphlet___. A.American Crisis https://www.doczj.com/doc/ad18768743.html,mon Sense C.On Human Rights 答案:A 您的答案：A 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 3．第13题 The first American writer who propounded that a piece of literary work should focus on the production of a single emotional effect is ___. A. Nathaniel Hawthorne B.Herman Melville C.Edgar Ellan Poe 答案:C 您的答案：C 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 4．第14题 "Lost Generation" is a term first coined by ---.
A.Ernest Hemingway B.Fitzgerald C. Gertrude Stein 答案:C 您的答案：C 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 5．第15题 Among the following 3 poets the one who was once imprisoned for political reasons is ---. A.Carl Sandburg B.Edwin Arlington Robinson C.Ezra Pound 答案:C 您的答案：C 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 6．第16题 As a Modernist poet, Pound is noted for his active involvement in the ______ A.cubist school of modern painting B.Imagist Movement C.stream-of-consciousness technique D.German Expressionism 答案:B 您的答案：B 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 7．第17题 The first great American juvenile literature was _____. A.Sketch Book B.The Legend of Sleepy Hollow C.Walden D.Mardi 答案:A 您的答案：A 题目分数：2.0
美国文学史作品作家汇总 美国文学 Part 1. Colonial America Thomas Paine托马斯?潘恩1737-1809 The Case of the Officers of Excise税务员问题；Common Sense常识；American Crisis美国危机；Rights of Man人的权利：Downfall of Despotism专制体制的崩溃；The Age of Reason理性时代 Philip Freneau菲利普?弗伦诺1752-1832 The Rising Glory of America蒸蒸日上的美洲；The British Prison Ship英国囚船；To the Memory of the Brave Americans纪念美国勇士-----同类诗中最佳；The Wild Honeysuckle 野生的金银花；The Indian Burying Ground印第安人殡葬地 .Jonathan Edwards The Freedom of the Will 论意志自由The Great Doctrine of Original Sin defended论原罪The Nature of True Virtue论真是德行的本原 Benjamin Franklin本杰明?富兰克林1706-1790 A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Money; Poor Richard’s Almanac穷查理历书；The Way to Wealth致富之道；The Autobiography自传 Part 2. American Romanticism Washington Irving华盛顿?欧文1783-1859 A History of New York纽约的历史-----美国人写的第一部诙谐文学杰作；The Sketch Book见闻札记The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说-----使之成为美国第一个获得国际声誉的作家；Brace bridge Hall布雷斯布里奇田庄；Talks of Travelers旅客谈；The Alhambra阿尔罕伯拉 Jamie Fennimore Cooper詹姆斯?费尼莫尔?库珀1789-1851 The Spy间谍;The Pilot领航者;The Little page Manuscripts利特佩奇的手稿;Leather stocking Tales皮裹腿故事集:The Pioneer拓荒者；The Last of Mohicans最后的莫希干人;The Prairie大草原;The Pathfinder探路者;The Deer slayer杀鹿者 Part 3.New England Transcendentalism Ralf Waldo Emerson拉尔夫?沃尔多?爱默生1803-1882 Essays散文集:Nature论自然-----新英格兰超验主义者的宣言书;The American Scholar 论美国学者;Divinity; The Over soul论超灵;Self-reliance论自立;The Transcendentalist超验主义者;Representative Men代表人物;English Traits 英国人的特征;School Address神学院演说 Concord Hymn康考德颂;The Rhoda杜鹃花;The Humble Bee野蜂;Days日
Young Goodman Brown is one of the best short fictions written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1835. It tells us a story that Young Goodman Brown, a religious element, left his wife Faith and ventured deep into the forest to attend the assembly of evil in order to satisfy his curiosity. However, as an eyewitness of the congregation, both sinners and saints and including his faithful wife Faith had converted the devil, young Goodman Brown broke down and became a zombie. Owing to the closeness of short stories and the features of Hawthorne’s novels (symbolism and indirectness), only when we do deep analysis on it, the whole world of the story can be stretched out.And this paper analyses the inner meaning of some words and phrases of Young Goodman Brown from three aspects: Firstly, what’s the inner meaning of some words in this story. Secondly, why Hawthorne wrote this story, which including the satire at politics, society, racial discrimination and the introspection on Salem Witch Trials. Thirdly, how to see the good and evil. What’s the inner meaning of some words in Young Goodman Brown? Salem: ①H awthorne’s hometown. ②It was where the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 happened. ③It means a city of peace. ④It is the latter part of Jerusalem, which shows the strong belief in Christianism of early colonist Young: ①Goodman Brown was in a young age. ②He just established his faith of God and just married with Faith. ③He has the curiosity to learn about the world. Goodman:①Good man, good-hearted person. ②It is a given name, which was given by families rather than born with. ③Irony. Brown is not actually a good man for he cheated on his wife (my journey is forth and back again), himself (felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose), the devil (they never spoke theses matters) and also Goody Cloyse (cut through the woods until left her behind). Brown:①a common last name. ②average person, everyman, every man. ③brown is a color that generated by mixing black, red and white. It also reflects that Brown is not totally a sinner nor a saint. ④Brown is a last name passed down from generation to generation which cannot be changed and it also reflects that everyone has the original sin. ⑤Something tires somebody. It indicates the death of Brown. Faith: ①Strong religious belief in God ②Loyal to love.
美国文学作业 作业 1．第9题 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court was written by _______. A.Henry James B.Mark Twain C.Jack London D.Theodore Dreiser 答案:B 您的答案：B 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 2．第10题 “all sappy as maples ａnd flat as the prairie” is a comment made by james russell lowell on the female characters in novels written by______. A.Washington Irving B.James Fenimore Cooper C.Philip Freneau D.George Washington 答案:B 您的答案：B 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 3．第11题 Among the following novels, only one was not written by Herman Melville. It is _____________. A.The Confidence-Man B.The PIlot C.Moby Dick 答案:B 您的答案：B
题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 4．第12题 Sister Carrie is a noel written by ___. A.Theodore Dreiser B.Stephen Crance C. Frank Norris 答案:A 您的答案：A 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 5．第13题 The central character’s name in James Fenimore Cooper’s novel series The Leatherstocking Tales is ______________. A.Isabelle Archer B.Natty Bumpo C.Ishmael 答案:B 您的答案：C 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：0.0 6．第14题 _______ does not belong to the school of naturalism in history. A.Stephen Crane B.Frank Norris C.Jack London D.Walt Whitman 答案:D 您的答案：D 题目分数：2.0 此题得分：2.0 7．第15题