Literature Terms文学术语

1.Romanticism: It was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment. It was influenced by three revolution: American and French revolutions, national liberation movements and democratic movements swept across many European countries.The essence of it is the glorification of instinct and emotion, a deep veneration of nature, and a flaming zeal to remark the world.2.Romantic movement: characteristic--subjectivism\spontaneity\singularity\worship of nature\simplicity\dominating note of melancholy\poets outpoured their feelings and emotions3.Luddite movement:it is a machine-breaking movement named after Ned Ludd. With the invention of new machines, many skilled workers were replaced by women and children. Workers organized themselves and gave voice to their distress by breaking machines. The riots lated from 1811 to 1818.4. Ballad:(1)a narrative poet that tells a story.(2) the beginning is often abrupt(3)have strong dramatic elements(4)often told through dialogue and action(5)the theme is often tragic(6) ballad meter:contains four-line stanzas. The odd numbered lines have four feet each and the even numbered lines have three feet each.Rhymes fall on the even numbered lines. And there is often a refrain at the end of each stanza.5. Byronic heroes: are men with fiery passions and unbending will and express the poet's own ideal of freedom. These heroes rise against tyranny and injustice, but they are merely lone fighters striving for personal freedom and some individualistic ends.6. Lyrical poets:the cavaliers were royalists,whose poetry was marked by courtliness,urbanity,and polish.(the theme is carpe diem,17th at the court reflected the extravanvgance and moral looseness of court life)7.Petrarchan sonnet:consists of an octave and a sestet, and the rhyme scheme is abba,abba,cdcdcd. first eight lines--an octave(abba abba)--raise problems;next six lines--a sestet(cde cde)--answer to the theme.8. Ode: in ancient literature, it is an elaborate, lyrical poem composed for a chorus to chant and to dance, to In modern use, it is a rhymed lyric expressing noble feelings, often addressed to a person or celebrating an event.9. Oxymoron: phrase combining two seemingly incompatible elements10. Terza rima: was used by Dante in The Divine Comedy. The first and third lines rhyme second line is in rhyme with the fourth and sixth lines, the rhyme scheme being aba,bab,cdc,ded,ee. This linked chain gives a feeling of onward motion; the verse has a breathless quality which is in keeping with the onward motion of the wind's movement. The metrical pattern of each line is basically iambic pentameter.11.writers at Victorian period:(victorian literature truthfully represents the reality and spirit of the age, vitality, down-to-earth, good natured humor and unbounded imagination--optimistic) Novelist: George Eliot, Thomas HardyProse writer: Thomas Carlyle, Mathew ArnoldPoets: Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browningthe early Victorian Period (ending around 1870) and the late Victorian Period. Writers associated with the early period are: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), Robert Browning (1812-1889), Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), Emily Bronte (1818-1848), Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), George Eliot (1819-1880), Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) and Charles Dickens (1812-1870).Writers associated with the late Victorian Period include: George Meredith (1828-1909), Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889), Oscar Wilde (1856-1900), Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), A.E. Housman (1859-1936), and Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894).12. realism: writing that stresses careful description of setting and trapping of daily life, psychological probability and the lives of ordinary people. Its practitioners believe they are presenting life"as it really is" Ibsen's A Doll House is an example.13. Dramatic monologue: perfected by Robert Browning, a type of poem, consists of a single speaker talking to one or more unseen audience,revealing much more about the speaker than he or she seems to intend, know more the personality of speaker rather than what's talking about. Penetrates to depth the psychology of his characters and through their own speeches, analyze and dissects his characters and reveals the innermost secret of their lives14. anapaestic: in the first two line two unaccented syllables of each foot are omitted,but the time is preserved by the three long pauses / (of a metric foot) characterized by two short syllables followed by a long one15. Aesthetic movement: appeared on the literary scene of England in the late Victorian period. It was influenced by the French symbolists. The predecessor of the movement was the Pre-Raphaelists, a group of young writers and artists who were opposed to the materialism and commercialism of the Victorian age and who wanted to create or recreate literary forms like those before the period of Raphaol,that is ,they wanted to go back to the medieval age.16. Hedonism: the belief that pleasure is the chief good in life1.Allegory: is a story or description in which the characters and events symbolize some deeper underlying meaning, and serve to spread moral teaching.It has a primary meaning and underlying meaning.2.Alliteration: the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other.3.Alliterative verse: paragraphs of long alliterative lines of varying length are followed by a single line of two syllables,called 'the bob' and a group of four-stressed lines called "the wheel"4.Anglo-Saxon prose: Created by King Alfred, not obscure.5.Ballad: (1)a narrative poet that tells a story.(2) the beginning is often abrupt(3)have strong dramatic elements(4)often told through dialogue and action(5)the theme is often tragic(6) ballad meter:contains four-line stanzas. The odd numbered lines have four feet each and the even numbered lines have three feet each.Rhymes fall on the even numbered lines. And there is often a refrain at the end of each stanza.6.Ballad: a narrative poem that tells a story. It has basic characteristics:the beginning is often abrupt;there are strong dramatic elements;the story is often told through dialogue and action;the theme is often tragic7.Border ballad: a group of ballad dealing with blood strifes on the English-Scottish border.8.Blank verse:unrhymed iambic pentameter.the chief verse used by Shakespeare.9.Caesura(中间休止)：a cutting, break or pause in a line of peotry.10.Epic: a lengthy narrative poem, containing details of heroic deeds,may be oral ofwritten; have been written down at least since Homer, and Virgil, Dante and John Milton.11.Feminine rhyme: the rhymed words with one or more unaccented syllables as in subtle,rebuttal12.Fytte: one section of a poem13.heroic couplet: this verse form was introduce into English by Geoffrey Chaucer. It is traditional form for English poetry,commonly used for epic and narrative poetry;it refers to poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming pairs(aa,bb...)of iambic pentameter(the ten-syllable line in rhymed couplets)lines.The rhyme is always masculine.14.Humanism(English Renaissance):man should be given full freedom to enrich their intellectual and emotional life. In religion they demanded the reformation of the church. In art and literature,instead of singing praise to God, they sang in praise of man and of the pursuit of happiness in this life. It shattered the shackle of spiritual bondage and opened his eyes to 'a brave new world' in front of him.15.Iambic: two-syllable foot consisting of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one.Trochaic: if we reverse the order of accented syllable,placing the stressed syllable to the first, we habe a trochaic.16.Kenning(隐喻): a metaphor usually composed of two words, which becomes the formula for a special object.17.Lyrical poets: the cavaliers were royalists,whose poetry was marked by courtliness,urbanity,and polish.(the theme is carpe diem,17th at the court reflected the extravanvgance and moral looseness of court life)18.Meter: meter is the patterned count of accent of syllable group in the line.19.Metaphysical poetry: 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 theme are love,death,religion)tonic style(Latinate): instead of using the common English sentence pattern of subject-verb0object order, Milton uses more elaborate patterns drawn from Latin. He is very fond of using inversion and allusions.(the blank verse, the unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter,is used throughout the epic and is characterized by its employment of long and involved sentences,which run on many lines with a variety of pauses,and achieving sometimes an elaborately logical effect. This richness of poetical style has been called "Mliton style")21.Octave: the first eight lines of a sonnet or a eight-line poemSestet（六行诗节）: the following six lines of a sonnet22.Petrarchan sonnet: consists of an octave and a sestet, and the rhyme scheme is abba,abba,cdcdcd.23.pun(双关):the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound. It consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. It can rely on the assumed equivalency of multiple similar words(homonymy), of different shades of meaning of one word (polysemy), or of a literal meaning with a metaphor. Bad puns are often considered to be cheesy.24.Repetition and variation: the same idea is expressed more than once by the use of different words which are more or less synonyms.25.Rhyme: the pulse or beat in the poetic line.26.rhythm:the basic unit of meter is called the foot, a foot is one unit of rhythm.33.Robinson style: words are plain,simple,almost without any imagery of figure speech.monotonous without rhetorical devices27.Romance: 12th and 13th means the vernacular language;means a tale in verse, embodying the life and adventures of knights, about love, chivalry and religion. Motif is quest and test, meeting the evil, attack infidelity and super-natural elements and imagined maiden to accomplish a mission and a happy ending.(structure is lose, episodic;language is simple, straightforward) It falls three categories:(1) France,Charlemagne the Great(Chanson de Roland)(2) Rome, Alexander the Great and the siege of Troy(3) Britain,Arthurian legend,about Sir Gawain, Launcelot,Merlin, the quest for the Holy Grail, and the death of King Arthur.28.Soliloquy(dramatic irony): the audience know everything,but characters don't.(often used in drama)29.Sonnet:a short song in the original meaning of the word, contains 14 lines,usually in iambic pentameter with various rhymimg schemes.It was first written by Petrarch. Petrarch's sonnet: first eight lines--an octave(abba abba)--raise problems;next six lines--a sestet(cde cde)--answer to the theme.Shakespear's sonnet: consists three quantrains(abab cdcd efef)--theme is put forward and developed ; ends with a couplet rhyming(gg)--a surprise conclusion of shift of ideas.30.Spenser stanza:a group of eight lines of iambic pentameter followed by a six-stress iambic line(an Alexandrine),with a rhyme scheme ababbcbcc31.Synecdoche(提喻):when one uses a part to represent the whole.32.The 18th century: 文学- age of Neo-classicism科学-age of reason人文-age of enlightenment34.Three dramatic units: action,place,time35.The ideal of feudal knighthood：chivalry,chastity, piety,friendliness and free-giving36.The four subjects of Medieval knowledge: Theology, Philosophy, Medicine and Law.。

1.poetry(un), poem/verse韵文/诗，poet诗人，poetess/woman poet女诗人，poetic有诗意的1.1.epic 史诗, epic writer史诗作者1.2.narrative poem叙事诗1.3.lyric poem抒情诗, lyrical有抒情意味的1.3.1. ode颂，sonnet十四行诗, ballad民谣, folk song民歌 etc.1.4. canto诗章, stanza诗段, line诗行, couplet二行诗段, quatrain四行诗段,etc., rhyme scheme/pattern韵脚, meter/foot音步1.5.iambic抑扬格的，trochaic扬抑格，anapestic抑抑扬格的，etc.2.prose（un）散文, prose writer散文作者, prosaic枯燥乏味的2.1.fiction(un)小说, fictional 虚构的2.1.1. novel长篇小说, novelist小说家2.1.2. novelette/novella中篇小说2.1.3. short story短篇小说2.1.4.viewpoint叙事角，the first-person narrator第一人称叙事角, the third-person narrator第三人称叙事角, the omniscient narrator全知叙事角, character人物protagonist=hero or heroine主角（女主角）,antagonist 反面人物, setting背景（包括地点和时间）2.2.mythology(un)神话, myth神话故事2.3.folk lore（un）民间文学，legend民间传说，folk tale民间故事，fairy tale童话，fable（短篇）寓言故事etc.2.4.essay杂文/散文, essayist杂文作家2.5.literary criticism文学批评, critic评论家2.6.biography传记, biographer传记作家，autobiography自传2.7.prose narrative叙事散文3.drama(un), play戏剧, dramatist/playwright剧作家, dramatic激动人心的3.1.verse drama诗体戏剧, prose drama散文体戏剧3.2. tragedy悲剧, tragedian悲剧作家, tragic 悲惨的3.3. comedy喜剧, comedian戏剧作家, comic/ comical 滑稽好笑的3.4. tragic-comedy悲喜剧3.4.1.act幕, scene场/故事发生地点, dramatis persona(e)戏剧人物, prologue序幕，epilogue尾声，soliloquy(monologue)独白，aside（旁白），stage direction舞台提示，conflict戏剧冲突，climax戏剧高潮，denouement结尾, enter（人物上场）, exit (pl. exeunt)人物退场，clown丑角4. miscellany混合类4.1. literature (n.),文学 literary(a.)文学的，man of letters文学家，romance传奇，allegory有道德教化意义的寓言式作品，satire讽刺作品etc.。

用英文实例来解析文学术语Literary terms worth knowing with definitions.What are idioms, metaphors and dangling modifiers? What are examples ofhyperboles, similes and homophones?Here is a guide detailing some of the more commonly referred to terms withexamples.AlliterationA literary style where there is repetition of the initial consonants in a series of words.As well as tongue twisters, alliteration is used in poems, song lyrics, and brandslogans and names:∙She sells seashells down by the seashore.∙Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.∙KitKat, Burt's Bees, Tetley Tea, Yoplait Yoghurt, Krispy Kreme.Dangling ModifierA modifier is a word or phrase that changes, limits, alters or adds information. Adangling modifier is an error caused by poor sentence construction because words are left out.For example, the writer may have meant to modify the subject, but the word order makes the modifier modify an object instead. These ambiguities can lead to difficulty in understanding the sentence:∙Whilst driving along Acacia Avenue last week, a branch fell towards Carol's car (it sounds like the branch was driving).∙Running for the taxi, my laptop fell onto the pavement (was the laptop running for the taxi?).∙Deciding to join the army, the recruiter eagerly greeted the group (is the recruiter or the group joining the army?).HomophoneWords that are pronounced the same way but are spelt differently:∙ A reel waist of thyme.∙Miss steaks like these will not bee putt rite bye ewer spell chequer.∙Their/there, saw/sore, bear/bare, whether/weather, ate/eight.HyperboleHyperboles are exaggerated figures of speech to create an effect or to emphasise a point:∙The suitcase weighed a ton (this makes the point that the bag was very heavy, though it probably doesn't weigh a ton).∙I'm so tired I could sleep for a year.∙I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.IdiomAn idiom is a word, phrase or expression that means something different from what it says; therefore, it cannot be taken literally, but can be understood due to their popular use:∙The handbags in that shop cost an arm and a leg (the handbags are very expensive). ∙It was raining cats and dogs on our trip to Wales (it was raining heavily).∙Joe thought the exam was a piece of cake (the exam was very easy).MetaphorA metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things (people, objects,animals, or places) that have something in common. Some metaphors used so often in everyday language that many don't realise that they are metaphors:∙The kid's room looks like a bomb site. He drove past like a speeding bullet. She has a bubbly personality.∙The clouds raced across the sky. The slippery slope from drugs to a life of crime. Pull your socks up.∙Life is a roller coaster. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. Love is a fine wine.See the difference between metaphors and similes explained below.OnomatopoeiaA word that sounds like the word it represents:∙Fizz; pop; boom; ding dong; hiss.∙Drip, drizzle, splash, sprinkle, plop.∙Croak, cackle, whoosh, gurgle, thud.PersonificationPersonification is a figurative language technique where an object or idea is given human characteristics or qualities. It is a method to describe something to emphasisea point and is a commonly literary tool:∙The rain kissed my face as it fell (the rain can't actually kiss). The flowers danced in the breeze (flowers can't dance). The thunderstorm raged in the distance (thunder doesn't rage - even though it sounds like it does).∙Time creeps up on you. I could hear the sea calling my name. The words leapt off the page.∙Opportunity knocked on the door. News travels quickly. Feed your mind with positive thoughts.SimileSimiles are figures of speech used to make comparisons that use as, like,so, or than for a saying. Metaphors and similes are often confused as the same thing, but a simile can be a metaphor, but not all metaphors are similes.A metaphor is a figure of speech that uses one thing to mean another and makes acomparison between the two. Whereas, a simile compares two different things in order to create a new meaning, such as:∙I'm as fresh as a daisy. He was quick as lightening. She's as cute as a button.∙The dress fits like a glove. That show was like watching paint dry. Beating that quiz team was like taking candy from a baby.∙He is so wrinkled he looks like a prune. I was happier than winning the lottery. The diamond shone brighter than the sun.Here is just a selection of commonly used literary terms and their differences with relevant examples. All of these can be used to enhance your writing to describe and add context which will leave a visual image in your reader's mind; used sparingly, they can add greatly to your tools as a writer.Also, with a greater understanding they can increase your ability to understand how these are applied to other works of literature and poetry.。

The Vicar of Wakefield《威克菲尔德牧师》、 She Stoops to Conquer《屈身求爱》
Hale Waihona Puke Neoclassicism(新古典主义)1)In the field of literature, the 18th century Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works. This tendency is known as neoclassicism.2)The neoclassicists hold that forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers such as Homer and Virgil and those of the contemporary French ones.3)They believed that the artistic ideas should be order, logic, restrained emotion and accuracy, and that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity.
Representative Writers and Their Works [作家作品]
❖ Alexander Pope(亚历山大·蒲伯) An Essay on Criticism《论批评》、The Rape of
the Lock《夺发记》、The Dunciad《群愚史诗》