Introduction英美文学

of literature.
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Basic Qualities of American Writers
1) Independent
2) Individualistic
3) Critical
4) Innovative
5) Humorous
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Part II. The periods of American literature
II. American Prose Since 1945: Realism and Experimentation.
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• Literature is characterized by beauty of expression and form and by universality of intellectual and emotional appeal.
2. Forms (genres) of literature? Poetry, novel (fiction), drama, prose, essay, epic, elegy, short story, journalism, sermon, (auto) biography, travel accounts, novelette, etc.
2) Thematic Approach
➢ “What is the story, the poem, the play or the essay about?”
3) Historical Approach
➢ Aims at illustrating the historical development
1) Modern poetry: experiments in form (Imagism)

Writings began to flourish on every side. A large number of writers sprang up in a short time. They began to write all kinds of material; poetry, essays, plays, fiction, history, works of travel, and biography. Very little of this work has any lasting literary value. It lacked real artistic genius. It lacked universality of
There are four main reasons why there was very little written in English in North America before the Revolutionary War. First, Great Britain discouraged the printing of books in her colonies at that time. She wished the colonies to maintain farms, and to produde raw materials. She wished manufacturing of all types
American literature is the youngest of all national literatures. Although the continent of North America was discovered over hundreds of years, the writing of literature in the U.S did not begin until the end of the Revolutioary War. English literture in the United States is therefore only about 200 more years old. In spite of this fact the people of the U.S have produced some of the world’s best literature.

Test after each chapter
Assessment General performance 30%

Class attendance 40% Assignment ( class participation, homework,
presentation, book report)




Voice声音: Speaker & tone Diction Imagery Figures of speech: Simile and Metaphor Symbolism Syntax Sound: Rhyme, Alliteration头韵, Assonance腹韵 Rhyme节奏 and meter韵律
Recommended Novels for Reading
Swift’s masterpiece, it gives an unparalleled satirical depiction of the vices of his age.
an account of the process of the building of the British Empire in the 18th century; diary-like detailed description and narration;
Types of Poetry

Narrative poetry

Lyric poetry
Epic 史诗 Ballad 民谣 Romance传奇

Epigram 警句诗 Elegy 挽歌 Ode 颂 Aubade 黎明别歌 Sonnet 十四行诗

Elements of Poetry

British
Literature
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What’s Literature? The word ―literature‖ came into English from the 14th
century in the sense of polite learning through reading. Thus a man of literature, or a man of letters, meant what we would now describe as a man of wide reading. So, this word corresponds mainly to the modern meaning of the word ― literacy精通文学,有文化.‖ From the mid-18th century, literature referred to the practice and profession of writing. This appears to be closely connected with the heightened self -consciousness of the profession of authorship. Since the 19th century, literature has been the high skills of writing in the especial context of high imagination.
Recommended Novels for Reading
A Novel Without a Hero
tragic fate of a ―pure‖ young peasant woman at the time of capitalist invasion into the country in the 19th-century England