英国文学第一章文艺复兴时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1.“For herein Fortune shows herself more kind Than is her custom. It is still her use To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow An age of poverty; from which ling’ring penance Of such misery doth she cut me off”
1）Identify the title of the works and author.
The lines are from “The Merchant of Venice”, William Shakespeare.
2）Explain “from which…cut me off”.
This sentence means she, ’Lady Fortune(命运女神)’, is more kind to him because she is taking away both his wealth and life.
3）.What happened to him, which caused the words?
The speaker is Antonio, it’s said that his ship have all been lost, and he is penniless, and will have to pay the pound of flesh. (Because Shylock has made a strange bond that requires Antonio to pay him a pound of flesh if he can’t repay him the money that he borrowed for his friend in due time.)
2 “ Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
1) Where does the poem comes from? Who wrote it?
The poem is “ Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day”, by Shakespeare.
2)What does “eternal lines” mean?
Eternal lines means the lines of the poem and other sonnets.
3)Interpret it briefly.
It means: you will not lose your beauty, and death will not threaten you with darkness, either. As long as man can live in the world, they will see your beauty in my lines of my poem, which has given you eternal life.
3\“If he be not apt to beat over matters, let him study the lawyer’s cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.”
1)What does “beat over matters” mean? It means: make through examinations of things.
2)What does “receipt’ refer to? “Receipt” refers to cure, prescription.
3)From which essay does the above sentences come, what is the essay mainly about?
he sentences are from “Of Studies” (Francis Bacon). It is the most popular of bacon’s essays. It analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies, and how studies exert influence over human character.
III. Questions and answers:
1.How do you know about Renaissance? Give a summery about English literature in the period?
1)The Renaissance refers to the period between 14th----mid-17th century. It first started in Italy.2)The Renaissance means rebirth or revival----the discovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture.3)In essence, The Renaissance is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars tried to get rid of the old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie/middle class, and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of Roman Catholic church.4).Humanism is the essence of Renaissance -----Man is the measure of all things. The humanism exalted/praised human nature and emphasized the dignity of human beings and the present life. They thought man had the right to enjoy the beauty of life and had the ability to perfect himself and made wonders, which got ready for the appearance of the great Elizabethan writers in Britain. Poetry and drama were the most outstanding literary forms.5)Shakespeare, Marlowe and Francis Bacon etc. were the remarkable representatives of the English Renaissance.
2. Please give a brief analysis of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy.
question:“To be or not to be” is ’a philosophical exploration of life and death’. The soliloquy condemned the hypocrisy and treachery and general corruption of the world, and revealed the character of Hamlet---so ’speculative, questioning, contemplative and melancholy./gloomy’. It was not because he was not able to take action to revenge, but because of his ’hesitative/hesitant character’, when the chance for action came, it seemed defeat. It can be interpreted as: Hamlet bears the heavy burden of the duty to revenge his father’s death, he is forced to live in the suspense of facts and fiction, language and action. He considers that it would be better to ’commit suicide’, but being scared of what might happen to him in the afterlife. So he put off the thing because of the sin. He considers the plan carefully only to find reason for not carrying it out. The soliloquy conveys ’the sense of world-weariness’ . (P33-34)
4. What are the main themes of Shakespeare’s plays? question: Shakespeare’s plays are divided into 3 types: comedies, tragedies and historical plays.1) His historical plays are with the theme-----national unity under a might and just sovereign/ruler is necessary.2)In his romantic comedies, he takes an optimistic attitude toward love friendship and youth.3)In his tragedies, Shakespeare always portrays some noble heroes, who faces the injustice of life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of his nation. Each hero has his weakness of nature. We also see the conflict between the individual and the evil force in the society. And his major characters are always individuals representing certain types.
5、What are the characteristics of the Humanism?
question :1)’Humanism’ is the essence of Renaissance.2)Humanists see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfection, and that the world they inhabited was theirs not to despise . but to ’question, explore, and enjoy’.3)They also believe that man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders .
英国文学：新古典主义时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. "Words are like leaves;and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.
False eloquence, like the prismatic glass, Its gaudy colors spreads on every place;The face of Nature we no more survey, All glares alike, without distinction gay."
1) Identify the author and the passage？The passage is from Pope’s "An Essay on Criticism".
2) Name the devices used in the passage with examples？
In the passage the author used "Simile" the device, e.g. "Words are like leaves" and "false eloquence,
like the prismatic glass’ etc.
3) Explain "Words….found".？The sentence means: Where/When too many words are used,
they seldom express much sense.
4) What is the mainly implied idea of the passage?
The passage implies authors shouldn’t stress too much the artificial use of Conceit or the external beauty of language, they should pay special attention to True Wit, which is best set in the plain style
III. Questions and answers:
1.Please analyze the Neoclassical period and the characters of the literature.
question:1)The Neoclassical period is about 1660-1798, also known as "the Age of Enlightenment" or "the age of Reason".2)Its background was:a.It was an age full of conflicts and difference of values;
b.It was an age of fast development for English to become the first powerful capitalist country in the world;c.It was an age of economic development, in which bourgeois/middle class grew rapidly.3)In essence, the Neoclassical Period was a progressive intellectual movement.4)The Enlighteners believed in self-restraint, self-reliance and hard work;They celebrated reason/rationality, equality and science. They advocated universal education, which could make people rational and prefect, they believed.5)In literature, The Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the ancient Greek and Roman classical works; the works at the time, heavily didactic and moralizing; having fixed laws and rules for every type of the literature; among which prose and the modern English novel predominated the age. (At the end of the age sentimentalism and Gothic Novel appeared.) 6) The age was an important age with the remarkable authors Pope, Defoe, etc.
2.Please cite examples from "Gulliver’s Travels" to explain briefly how did Swift criticized and allude to the government and the society.
question:1)In the first part of the "Gulliver’s Travels", Swift described the tricks and practices in the competition held before royal members to allude to the fact that the success of the officials was not for their wisdom and excellence but fortheir skills in the games;2)In the part 4 of the book, Swift made horses with reason and good qualities.The citizens who are "hairy, wild, low and despicable brutes, who resemble human beings not only in appearance but also in almost every way" to criticize/satirize all respects of the English and European life, and urge people to consider the nature of the human and life. (P108-109)
3. People always say that: "As a member of the middle class, Defoe spoke for and to the members of his class" .How do you understand this sentence? Please explain it with the character of him.
question:1) In most of his works, Defoe gave his praise to the hard-working, sturdy middle class and showed his sympathy for the lower-class people. Robinson Crusoe was such a character.2) Robison goes out to sea, gets shipwrecked and marooned/landed on a lonely island, struggles to live for 24 years there and finally is saved by a ship and returns to England. During the period Robinson leads a harsh and lonely life and survives by growing corps, taming animals, etc. growing from a naive young man into a hardened man. 3) With a great capacity for work, inexhaustible energy, courage and persistence in overcoming difficulties, in struggling against nature, Crusoe becomes the prototype / representative of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist. 4) In the novel, Defoe glorified human labor and the puritan fortitudewhich the middle class praised highly, so he can be regarded as a spokesman of the bourgeois.
英国文学浪漫主义时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. "A little black thing among the snowCrying "’weep! ’weep! In notes of woe "where are thy father & mother? Say? ""They are both gone up to the church to prey."
(1)Identify the poem and poet.？ It is from "The Chimney Sweeper (from songs of experience) by Blake.(2)Explain "notes of woe"？."notes of woe" means the songs/notes of sadness.
(3)What does the sentence mean "they ate both gone up to the church to prey.？"It implies: religion is the instrument of their repression/ oppression, its nature is to help bring misery to the poor children
2. "The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece!
Where burning Sappho loved and sung,Where grew the arts of war and peace,Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!Eternal summer gilds them all,But all, except their sun, is set."
(1)Identify the poem and its author;
The poet is Byron. The poem is taken from "The Isles of Greece (from Don Juan)"
(2)What does it mean "But all, except their sun, is set."
The sentence means: The sun is still on the rise, but the rest things all set.
(3)What does the passage imply?
The passage implied: The author lamented over the fallen Greece: In the past, Greece nurtured/ cultivated great poets and heroes,who enjoyed freedom and civilization, but now Greece had been enslaved,the past honorable history couldn’t be found again.
3. "With plough and spade and hoe and loom Trace your grave and build your tomb And weave your winding-sheet---till fairEngland be your Sepulcher"
(1)Explain "sepulcher"？ Sepulcher means grave.
(2)What was the deep implication of the poem?
The poem ironically addressed to the workers who submit to capitalist exploitation. It warned them: If they gave up the struggle, they would be digging graves for themselves wish their own hands.
6. "For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dance with the daffodils."
(1) What is the "bliss of the solitude"? The Daffodils the poem saw.
(2) Interpret the passage.？It is a bliss/happiness to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind when he is solitude/lonely.
(3) Why did the poet write the poem, what did he want to express?
The poem depicts/deals with the flowers that he came across along waterside, by which he expresses the quiet, sympathy, loving feeling to nature just like his words "poetry is from "emotion recollected in tranquility".)
11. "Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!"
(1)What does the "wild spirit "refer to? "wild spirit" refers to west wind/autumn wind.
(2)Why called it "Destroyer and Preserver" at the same time?
Because west wind buried the dead year and year and prepared for a new spring, the poet call it "Destroyer and preserver".
(3)Identify the poet and the poem.？It is "Ode to the west wind" of Shelley.
III. Questions and answers:
2.William Wordsworth was the first representative author of Rom,How do you know his idea and style?
answer:(1)His poems are most about Nature and Human Life;(2)Beyond the pleasure of the picturesque with the eye and the external aspects of nature, however, lies in deeper moral awareness, a sense of completeness in multiplicity. (3)Common life and the joy and sorrow of the common people and inner self are his subjects;(4)He is a poet in memory of the past and was called "prophets of nature";(5)He deliberately writes in simple and ordinary speech 5)refuses to decorate the truth of experience of pure and profound feeling;(6)He thought poet is "a man speaking to men," poetry is "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, which originates in emotion recollected in tranquility."
(7)He always writes an elusive beauty of simplicity or a rural figure. (P176-179)
3.What thoughts and event influenced the period of Romanticism?
Answer:(1) Rousseau (a French philosopher) explored new ideas about nature, society and education, which provided guiding priding principles for the French Revolution and Romanticism;(2) The French Revolution and "the Declaration of Rights of Man"(written by Thomas Paine)aroused the great sympathy and enthusiasm in the English liberals and radicals,which became a great source for Romanticism.(3) England itself had experienced profound economic and social changes as industrialism,which were reflected in the works of literature. (P157-159)
4.Byron’s greatest contribution is his creation of the "Byronic hero" What kind of the hero he is? Give comment on him.
Answer:(1) "Don Juan" is Byron’s masterpiece, a great comic epic, in which Byron described a hero named Don Juan. He was a great lover and seducer of women. In the conventional sense,al positives like courage, generosity, and frankness… In a word, Don was proud Juan was immoral, but Juan had his own mor, mysterious, and a noble rebel figure. He was a young man with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies, one of rebellious individuals against outworn/outdated social systems and conventions.(2) Comment: The poet’s true intention is to present a panoramic view of different types of society,the main theme of the works the basic ironic theme of appearance and reality,during which the poet also presented various materials and the clash of emotions.
7. Jane Austen was the only important female author in the 18-19th century, how do you know about her?
Answer:Generally speaking, Austen was writer of the 18th century.(1)Her novels always dealt with the romantic entanglement of the heroines;(2)She believed in it that reason over passion, sense of responsibility, good manners,and clear judgment over romance; she honored the Augustan virtues of moderation, dignity disciplined emotion and common sense;(3)She contempt snobbery, stupidity, worldliness etc;(4)Her main concern was the relationship between men and women in love;(5)Her writing range was limited, all restricted to the provincial life of the 18th century England;(6)She presented the quiet, day-to-day country life of the middle -upper -class English.(7)Her characteristic theme was: maturity is got by the loss of illusions. (P223--226)
英国文学维多利亚时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1、“Sunset and evening star,And one clear call for me!And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea.”
1）Explain the implications of the “sunset, evening star, sea”.？
Sunset, evening star: the images of the death; sea symbolizes life.
2）Name the title of the poem and interpret it.？
The title is “Crossing the Bar”. It means leaving this world and entering the next world –the world of the spirit
3）Can you say some comment on the poem?
The poem expresses the fearlessness to death of the poet and his faith in God and an afterlife.
2、“My favour at her breast,The dropping of the daylight in the west,The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard of her, the white muleShe rode with round the terrace –all and each 。Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men –good! But thanked Somehow –I know not how –as if she ranked ，My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift”
1）Name the author and the title of the works.
This is the “My last Duchess” written by Robert Browning
2）What does it mean “a nine-hundred-years-old name”, and to whom the word was spoken?
It means the title of the Duchess (of Ferrara) the Duck gave her through marriage has a family history of over 900 years
3）Interpret the passage and analyze the character of the speaker.
Interpret: My favor –the title of the Duchess is better and more proud than any gifts of the world, but my last duchess was ready to be grateful to others’ flatter and The Duck was a self-conceited, cruel, possessive, and tyrannical person.The word was spoken to the agent who comes to negotiate the marriage of the Duck
4）What is the literary form?
The literary form is “dramatic monologue”
6、 “Come, Tess, Tell me in confidence.” …
“The trees have inquisitive eyes, haven’t they? … and drive all such horrid fancies away!”
1) Interpret the passage.
Answer:Tess, as pure woman brought up with the traditional ideas, is abused and destroyed by the destructive force, and the misery made her frightened to the future, which implied the naturalistic viewpoint of Hardy. (P303)
7. “Break, break, break,
On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thought that arise in me.”
1）Name the poet and the poem.？
Alfred Tennyson. “Break, Break, Break”.
2）Name the main tone of the whole poem, the device and the rhyme.？
The main tone is Sadness. The device is contract. The rhyme scheme is “a b c d”.
3）Interpret the passage.？
The poem expressed the poet’s feeling of sadness in memory of his best friend
Answer:
III. Questions and answers:
Ideologically, what influenced Victorian literature? What characters does it have?
answer: Darwin’s theory “the survival of the fittest” shook the theoretical basis of the traditional faith, many authors expressed their doubts and uncertainty in their works;Utilitarianism was widely accepted and practiced, many conscious authors severely criticized the Utilitarianism, especially its devalue of culture and its cold indifference to human feeling and imagination;Realism novels criticized the society and defended for the mass, and they concerned about the fate of the common people such as their poverty misery, angry with the inhuman social institution, the social immorality, injustice and money-worship.Victorian literature represents the reality of the age. The high-spirit vitality, the down-to-earth earnestness, the good-natured humour and unbound imagination are unprecedented. (P235—237)
3、Jane Eyre is the greatest governess image in the literature history; can you analyze the character of her?
answer: Jane Eyre was a little plain governess with quick wit, honesty, frankness, loving heart and the spirit of independence and self-dignity.In literature, she is an individual conscious to self-realization. She was lonely and neglected young woman with a fierce longing for love, understanding and a full, happy life.In author’s mind, man’s life is composed of perpetual struggle between sin and virtue, good and evil. The heroines’ joy, comes from the sacrifice of self and the overcome of some weakness.By Jane’s experience, we can see the cruelty, hypocrisy, and other evils of the upper classes and the misery and the suffering of the poor, and the false social convention on love and marriage. (P256—259)
4、Analyze the background of the Victorian Period.
answer: Economic developed rapidly and social problems prevailed in England and it became the “workshop of the world”.England settled down to a time of prosperity and stability, the people valued earnestness, respectability, modesty, and democracy.In the last decades, British empire declined, and Victorian values decayed.Analyze the character created by George Eliot with an example and his style.George Eliot set a new type of realism –both naturalistic and psychological novel;She sought to present the inner struggle of a soul and to reveal the motives, impulse and hereditary influences, the slow growth or decline of the character;Her masterpiece “Middlemarch” is a study of provincial life, showing a panoramic view of life in a small English town;She concerned for the destiny of women, the heroin in “Middlemarch” –Dorothea, was a typical character of Eliot. She was a lady with great intelligence, potential and social aspiration. She had the ideals to devote to the society, later, she married an elder man to realize her ideals by helping him in the holy Christianity Career. At the end of the story, she became content with giving her second husband “wifely help”.From her experience, we can see Eliot’s view: women were born with the pathetic tragedy. Her spirit declined owing to the social environment and her own weakness.
(the story is full of an air of a lifeless bitterness and disappointment) (P292—294)
5、 Analyze the style of Charles Dickens.
answer: Adeptness/skilfulness with the vernacular and large vocabulary,The most distinguishing/remarkable character-portrayal;The best writing from the child’s point of view; The depiction of those horrible and grotesque characters;The mingling/mixing features of humor and pathos/sorrow. (P241)
How do you know the naturalistic idea of Hardy?
answer: The tragic sense is the keynote of Hardy’s novels, and he is a nostalgic author.Hardy’s novels always set in Wessex, the fictional primitive and crude region, which is threatened by the invading capitalism, expressing the conflict between the traditional and the modern, the old and the modern.Man’s fate is tragic with born, driven by the force of the nature of outside and inside, and man is bound by his inherent nature and hereditary traits which prompt him to go and search for happiness or success, and set him in conflict with the environment; we can see he is influenced greatly by Darwin’s theory “survival of the fittest”.Man proves to be incompetent/impotent before Fate, and he seldom escapes his destiny. The pessimistic view of life predominates most works of Hardy, which earns him the name of a naturalistic writer.Hardy is noted for he rustic dialect and a poetic flavor, so he is also called local-colorist. (P300--302)
英国文学现代时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. Analyze the poem of T. S. Eliot -"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
1) "In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo"
<1> Why does the sentence repeat in the poem for several times?
Answer: The sentence symbolizes the remote and faraway things, it implies the inability to face up with the reality and the life of the hero. (P363)
2) "And indeed there will be time For the yellow smoke that slides along the street, ...
There will be time, there will be time ...."
<1> What deep implication can you get from the passage?
Answer:The hero was unable to face up with the life and reality bravely, but he was anxious to find time passing so quickly that he was very depressed. The passage shows the tragic character of the indecision of the young man. (P363)
3) "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from the father room.So how should I presume?
<1> What did the speaker presume? He will propose marriage to a girl, but he dare not
<2> Interpret the excerpt. The Excerpt shows the futile and boring life of the upper class.
5) "But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:Would it have been worthwhile" (此节选部分在P367)
<1> Interpret it.
Answer: The sentence implies the speaker’s incapability of facing up to love and to life. He is always fearful that others will see through his ideas and truth of falling love, which makes himself live in frightening and restlessness. (P363)
2. "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,And live alone in the bee-loud glade"
1) Identify the poem and poet;
The poem is "The Lake Isle of Innisfree", which was written by William Butler Yeats.
2) Interpret the poem.
In the poem, the poet imagined a place where he could live like a hermit, implying that he was tired of the life of his day, he sought to escape into and ideal "fairyland" where he could live calmly as a hermit and enjoyed the beauty of the nature
4. "You are not, my son. Battle-battle -and suffer. It’s about all you do, as far as I can see."
"But why not, my dear? I tell you it’s the best ---""It isn’t. And one ought to be happy, one ought."
By this time Mrs. Morel was trembling violently ..."Eh, my dear -say rather you want me to live."
1) Name the works and its writer.？The novel is named "Sons and Lovers". It’s the works of D. H. Lawrence
2) Who are the two speakers? How do you know her?
The two speakers are Mrs. Morel and her son 。Mrs. Morel is a strong-willed, intelligent and ambitious woman. Having been disappointed with her husband, a coal miner, she puts all her feeling on her son, hoping to realize her ideas of success, happiness and social esteem. The distorted relationship reflects the inhuman mechanical civilization and the indifference of the men.
1. What are the characters of Modernism?
Answer:1) Modernism rose out of scepticism and disillusionment of capitalism;2) The French symbolism heralded modernism;3) Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base;4) The major theme of Modernism are the distorted, alienated and ill relationship between man and society, man and nature, man and man, man and himself;5) The Modernists concern about the private, subjective, inner individual and the tone is disillusioned.
3. What philosophical ideas influenced Modernism?
Answer:1) Karl Marx’s scientific socialism;2) Darwin’s theory evolution -the social Darwinism "survival of the fittest";3) Einstein’s theory of relativity;4) Freud’s analytical psychology;5) The irrational philosophy.
4. Common sense about "The Waste Land"
Answer: "The Waste Land" is T. S. Eliot’s masterpiece:1) The poem presents a panorama of physical disorder and spiritual desolation;2) It reflects the mood of disillusionment, frustration, and despair of the whole post-war generation;3) It concerns with the spirit breakup that man has lost his meaning, significance, and purpose of life;4) The poem derogated/criticized the civilized world for its horror, menace, anguish and futility. (P359—362)
5. Analyze the background of the Modernism.
Answer:1) Natural and social sciences advanced greatly, capitalism came into its monopoly stage, the gap between the poor and the rich was deepened;2) The First World War and The Second World War happened, which influenced people greatly;3) All kinds of philosophical ideas were produced.
7. Why Modernism is different from Realism?
Answer:In many aspects, Modernism acts against Realism;1) Modernism rejects rationalism, while Realism stresses it;2) Modernism includes internal, subjective, psychological world, while Realism stresses external, objective, and material world;3) Modernism advocates new forms and new techniques, and it casts away all the traditional elements such as: story, character, etc. while Realism stresses it.4) Modernism works are called anti-novel, anti-poetry, anti-drama etc. (P313)
8. List the representative authors of the "Stream of Consciousness" and explain the theory.
Answer: 1) Stream of Consciousness is a narrative method to describing the unspoken thoughts and feelings of the characters, but not using objective description or conventional dialogue.
Authors represent the thought, emotions without logical sequence or syntax and make the characters tell the inner movement of consciousness and the thoughts.2) The representative authors are: James Joyce "Ulysses"Virginia Woolf "Mrs. Dalloway"Richardson "Pilgrimage"T. S. Eliot Henry James
George Eliot (P389)
美国文学浪漫主义时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. "Time grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on: a tart temper mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener by constant use. For a long while he used to perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village.
1) Please identify the author and the title of the work.？
This is an excerpt from "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving.
2) What’s the meaning of this passage?
With his wife’s dominance at home, the situation became harder and harder for Rip Van Winkle. His wife’s temper became worse and she scolded him for more often. He had to stay in the club with idle people. (P407)
2、Question: Please describe the changes Rip Van Winkle experienced.
Answer: 1) Rip Van Winkle was the hero in Irving’s works. He was a good-natured man, a henpecked husband.2) Because his wife’s shrewish treatment, Rip had to escape from his home to the little inn in the village. When it failed to give him some restful air, he had to go hunting in the high mountain, where Rip met a stranger, and the man asked Rip to carry keg for him. Then Rip reached the place in the valley, where many strangers were playing nine-pins. Later Rip got drunk after drinking the liquor, which made him sleep for 20 years.3) Rip woke up as an old man, entering the village learned that his wife had died, he got the freedom of his own,; and the American had been dependent from the control of Britain, he had changed from a subject of the King (George III) into a citizen of the independent new U.S.....
2. " I celebrated myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you"
1) Please identify the author and the title of the poem that had used when published. ？
In the 1856, the title was "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American",
then it became "Walt Whitman" in 1860, until 1881, it finally became "Song of Myself". The author is Walt Whitman.
2) What is the theme of this poem?
In this poem Whitman sets forth two principle beliefs:
A. The theory of universality, which is illustrated by lengthy catalogues of people and things;B. The belief in the singularity and equality of all beings in value.
III. Questions and answers:
1. The Romantic Period was called "The American Renaissance". Discuss the background of the Romantic Period, and compare it with the Romanticism of Britain.
Answer:1) The two Romanticism both stress the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature;2) They all pay attention to psychic states of the characters and exalt the individual and common man;3) American Romanticism revealed unique characteristics: (difference)
<1> American authors describe their native land,, especially the spirit of the pioneering into the west, the desire for an escape from society and a return to nature;<2> American writers use local dialect in language;<3> Puritanism has great influence over American Romantics;<4> Calvinism of original sin is obvious in their works;<5> Transcendentalism is very important theory in American Romanticism;<6> The important setting in American Romanticism are: ① the early puritan settlement; ② the confrontation with the Indians; ③ the frontiersmen’s life; ④ the wild west; ⑤ imagination. (P399—402)
2. Analyze the themes and characteristic of Hawthorne.
Answer: Hawthorne was a man with inquiring imagination, meditative mind and dark vision to life.His themes in writing are: 1) Man was born with evil and sin, one source of them is over-reaching intellect, whose image was always villain; (Chllingworth e.g.)
2) Hawthorne was influenced greatly by Puritanism, while he criticized it bitterly;
3) He believed Calvinistic ideas, thinking man was depraved and corrupted; they should obey God for saving the spirits;4) He concerned the moral life of man and human history;5) He was keen on the description of man’s development of psychology. (P432—433)
3. Explain the theory of Transcendentalism, then list its important author and works.
Answer:Transcendentalism is a very important theory in American Romanticism, its main ideas are:1) Man has the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or the ability of getting knowledge transcending the senses;2) Nature is ennobling and individual is divine, therefore, man should be self-reliant.3) Man is divine/holy and perfectible and man can trust himself to decide what is right and act accordingly; (but to Hawthorne and Melville man is a sinner);4) Universe is over-soul -a symbol of the spirit, God or the universe, there is an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal "over-soul" -unity of Nature.5) The important authors are: Emerson (The American Scholar) and Thoreau. 6) "Nature", Emerson’s works, is called the unofficial manifesto for the club. (P421—P422)
5. Washington Irving was called "Father of the American short stories" and "the American Goldsmith". What characteristics did he have?
Answer:1)He was nostalgic author, and he always juxtaposing the Old and the New world;2) He remained a conservative and ere always from legend, especially German legends, showing best classic style.always exalted a disappearing past, and he prefer the past to present, prefer a dream-like world to a real one;3) His stories w7. Walt Whitman is a unique poet. Can you explain what make him unique?
Answer:1) His themes are: Democracy; the Revolutionary War and the Civil War; freedom; openness; brotherhood; individualism; the growth of industry and the wealth of the cities; universality.2) His styles are special: "free verse"; "catalogue"; simple and even crude language. (P448-551)
美国文学 现实主义时期
4. "The Eyes around---had wrung them dry---And breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset----when the King Be witnessed---in the Room----"
1) What is the meaning of the first line? It means the relatives and friends had cried and cried so that there were no tears any more.
2) What does "the King" refer to? "The King" refers to the God of death.
3) What idea does the poem from which this stanza is taken express?
the poem expresses that the author even imagined her own death, the loss of her own body, and the journey of her soul to the unknown.
2. Take examples to analyze the style and theme of Mark Twain.
Answer:Mark Twain is a great literary of America, H. L. Mencken considered him "the true father of our national literature".1) Twain’s works like "Adventure of Huckleberry Finn" and "Life on the Mississippi" shaped the views of America and combined American folk humor and serious literature together;2) "The adventures of Tom Sawyer" and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" proved to be the milestone in American literature, and they were the record of a vanishing way of life in the pre-Civil War Mississippi.3) The books were noted for their unpretentious, colloquial, poetic, humorous, innocent and free style;4) The language of Twain was simple, direct, lucid and faithful to truth -"vernacular";5) Twain was famous for a local colorist, who presented social life through portraits of the local characters of his region -people living in the area, the landscape, the customs, dialects, costumes. Especially the theme of the Mississippi valley and the West;6) The work of Twain were always confined to a particular region, historical moment, strong accent, intensified humor to criticize the social injustice and satirize the decayed romanticism. (P477-481)
8. Analyze the theory of Theodore Dreiser’naturalism with example.
Answer:1) His naturalism emphasized heredity and environment as important deterministic forces shaping individualized characters who were presented in specialand detailed circumstances. At bottom, life was shown to be ironic, even tragic.2) The characters in his books are often subject to the control of the natural forces -especially those of environment and heredity. For example, the hero Hurstwood’s tragic death showed the theory.3) The effect of Darwinist idea of "survival of the fittest" was shattering. It is not surprising to find in Dreiser’s fiction a world of jungle, where "kill or to be killed" was the law.4) He criticizes materialistic to the core, living in such a society with such a value system, the human individual is obsessed with a never-ending, yet meaningless search for satisfaction of his/her desires. One of the desires is for money which was a motivating purpose of life in the United States in the late 19th century. For example in his masterpiece "Sister Carrie" he traces the material rise of Carrie Meeber, which indicates the critical attitude of the author.5) Sexual beauty symbolizes the acquisition of some social status of great magnitude.
9. Darwin’s evolutionary theory gave rise to American naturalism, what are their characteristics?
Answer:The American naturalists accepted the more negative implication of Darwin’s theory, and used it to explain the behaviours in literary works.
1) They regarded man as the complex combinations of inherited attributes/elements, their habits conditioned/controlled by social and economic forces;2) They chose their subjects from the lower ranks of the society and portrayed misery and poverty/poorness;3) They dealt with the nature of the man of "underdogs" -"bestiality", as an explanation of sexual desire;4) Their languages were unpolished;5) The naturalists believed that the real and true nature is hidden from the eyes o the individual, or beyond his control;6) Naturalism evolved/came from realism, but the tone of the authors were more ironic and pessimistic. (P475-476)
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1.“For herein Fortune shows herself more kind Than is her custom. It is still her use To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow An age of poverty; from which ling’ring penance Of such misery doth she cut me off”
1）Identify the title of the works and author.
The lines are from “The Merchant of Venice”, William Shakespeare.
2）Explain “from which…cut me off”.
This sentence means she, ’Lady Fortune(命运女神)’, is more kind to him because she is taking away both his wealth and life.
3）.What happened to him, which caused the words?
The speaker is Antonio, it’s said that his ship have all been lost, and he is penniless, and will have to pay the pound of flesh. (Because Shylock has made a strange bond that requires Antonio to pay him a pound of flesh if he can’t repay him the money that he borrowed for his friend in due time.)
2 “ Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
1) Where does the poem comes from? Who wrote it?
The poem is “ Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day”, by Shakespeare.
2)What does “eternal lines” mean?
Eternal lines means the lines of the poem and other sonnets.
3)Interpret it briefly.
It means: you will not lose your beauty, and death will not threaten you with darkness, either. As long as man can live in the world, they will see your beauty in my lines of my poem, which has given you eternal life.
3\“If he be not apt to beat over matters, let him study the lawyer’s cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.”
1)What does “beat over matters” mean? It means: make through examinations of things.
2)What does “receipt’ refer to? “Receipt” refers to cure, prescription.
3)From which essay does the above sentences come, what is the essay mainly about?
he sentences are from “Of Studies” (Francis Bacon). It is the most popular of bacon’s essays. It analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies, and how studies exert influence over human character.
III. Questions and answers:
1.How do you know about Renaissance? Give a summery about English literature in the period?
1)The Renaissance refers to the period between 14th----mid-17th century. It first started in Italy.2)The Renaissance means rebirth or revival----the discovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture.3)In essence, The Renaissance is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars tried to get rid of the old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie/middle class, and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of Roman Catholic church.4).Humanism is the essence of Renaissance -----Man is the measure of all things. The humanism exalted/praised human nature and emphasized the dignity of human beings and the present life. They thought man had the right to enjoy the beauty of life and had the ability to perfect himself and made wonders, which got ready for the appearance of the great Elizabethan writers in Britain. Poetry and drama were the most outstanding literary forms.5)Shakespeare, Marlowe and Francis Bacon etc. were the remarkable representatives of the English Renaissance.
2. Please give a brief analysis of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy.
question:“To be or not to be” is ’a philosophical exploration of life and death’. The soliloquy condemned the hypocrisy and treachery and general corruption of the world, and revealed the character of Hamlet---so ’speculative, questioning, contemplative and melancholy./gloomy’. It was not because he was not able to take action to revenge, but because of his ’hesitative/hesitant character’, when the chance for action came, it seemed defeat. It can be interpreted as: Hamlet bears the heavy burden of the duty to revenge his father’s death, he is forced to live in the suspense of facts and fiction, language and action. He considers that it would be better to ’commit suicide’, but being scared of what might happen to him in the afterlife. So he put off the thing because of the sin. He considers the plan carefully only to find reason for not carrying it out. The soliloquy conveys ’the sense of world-weariness’ . (P33-34)
4. What are the main themes of Shakespeare’s plays? question: Shakespeare’s plays are divided into 3 types: comedies, tragedies and historical plays.1) His historical plays are with the theme-----national unity under a might and just sovereign/ruler is necessary.2)In his romantic comedies, he takes an optimistic attitude toward love friendship and youth.3)In his tragedies, Shakespeare always portrays some noble heroes, who faces the injustice of life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of his nation. Each hero has his weakness of nature. We also see the conflict between the individual and the evil force in the society. And his major characters are always individuals representing certain types.
5、What are the characteristics of the Humanism?
question :1)’Humanism’ is the essence of Renaissance.2)Humanists see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfection, and that the world they inhabited was theirs not to despise . but to ’question, explore, and enjoy’.3)They also believe that man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders .
英国文学：新古典主义时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. "Words are like leaves;and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.
False eloquence, like the prismatic glass, Its gaudy colors spreads on every place;The face of Nature we no more survey, All glares alike, without distinction gay."
1) Identify the author and the passage？The passage is from Pope’s "An Essay on Criticism".
2) Name the devices used in the passage with examples？
In the passage the author used "Simile" the device, e.g. "Words are like leaves" and "false eloquence,
like the prismatic glass’ etc.
3) Explain "Words….found".？The sentence means: Where/When too many words are used,
they seldom express much sense.
4) What is the mainly implied idea of the passage?
The passage implies authors shouldn’t stress too much the artificial use of Conceit or the external beauty of language, they should pay special attention to True Wit, which is best set in the plain style
III. Questions and answers:
1.Please analyze the Neoclassical period and the characters of the literature.
question:1)The Neoclassical period is about 1660-1798, also known as "the Age of Enlightenment" or "the age of Reason".2)Its background was:a.It was an age full of conflicts and difference of values;
b.It was an age of fast development for English to become the first powerful capitalist country in the world;c.It was an age of economic development, in which bourgeois/middle class grew rapidly.3)In essence, the Neoclassical Period was a progressive intellectual movement.4)The Enlighteners believed in self-restraint, self-reliance and hard work;They celebrated reason/rationality, equality and science. They advocated universal education, which could make people rational and prefect, they believed.5)In literature, The Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the ancient Greek and Roman classical works; the works at the time, heavily didactic and moralizing; having fixed laws and rules for every type of the literature; among which prose and the modern English novel predominated the age. (At the end of the age sentimentalism and Gothic Novel appeared.) 6) The age was an important age with the remarkable authors Pope, Defoe, etc.
2.Please cite examples from "Gulliver’s Travels" to explain briefly how did Swift criticized and allude to the government and the society.
question:1)In the first part of the "Gulliver’s Travels", Swift described the tricks and practices in the competition held before royal members to allude to the fact that the success of the officials was not for their wisdom and excellence but fortheir skills in the games;2)In the part 4 of the book, Swift made horses with reason and good qualities.The citizens who are "hairy, wild, low and despicable brutes, who resemble human beings not only in appearance but also in almost every way" to criticize/satirize all respects of the English and European life, and urge people to consider the nature of the human and life. (P108-109)
3. People always say that: "As a member of the middle class, Defoe spoke for and to the members of his class" .How do you understand this sentence? Please explain it with the character of him.
question:1) In most of his works, Defoe gave his praise to the hard-working, sturdy middle class and showed his sympathy for the lower-class people. Robinson Crusoe was such a character.2) Robison goes out to sea, gets shipwrecked and marooned/landed on a lonely island, struggles to live for 24 years there and finally is saved by a ship and returns to England. During the period Robinson leads a harsh and lonely life and survives by growing corps, taming animals, etc. growing from a naive young man into a hardened man. 3) With a great capacity for work, inexhaustible energy, courage and persistence in overcoming difficulties, in struggling against nature, Crusoe becomes the prototype / representative of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist. 4) In the novel, Defoe glorified human labor and the puritan fortitudewhich the middle class praised highly, so he can be regarded as a spokesman of the bourgeois.
英国文学浪漫主义时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. "A little black thing among the snowCrying "’weep! ’weep! In notes of woe "where are thy father & mother? Say? ""They are both gone up to the church to prey."
(1)Identify the poem and poet.？ It is from "The Chimney Sweeper (from songs of experience) by Blake.(2)Explain "notes of woe"？."notes of woe" means the songs/notes of sadness.
(3)What does the sentence mean "they ate both gone up to the church to prey.？"It implies: religion is the instrument of their repression/ oppression, its nature is to help bring misery to the poor children
2. "The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece!
Where burning Sappho loved and sung,Where grew the arts of war and peace,Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!Eternal summer gilds them all,But all, except their sun, is set."
(1)Identify the poem and its author;
The poet is Byron. The poem is taken from "The Isles of Greece (from Don Juan)"
(2)What does it mean "But all, except their sun, is set."
The sentence means: The sun is still on the rise, but the rest things all set.
(3)What does the passage imply?
The passage implied: The author lamented over the fallen Greece: In the past, Greece nurtured/ cultivated great poets and heroes,who enjoyed freedom and civilization, but now Greece had been enslaved,the past honorable history couldn’t be found again.
3. "With plough and spade and hoe and loom Trace your grave and build your tomb And weave your winding-sheet---till fairEngland be your Sepulcher"
(1)Explain "sepulcher"？ Sepulcher means grave.
(2)What was the deep implication of the poem?
The poem ironically addressed to the workers who submit to capitalist exploitation. It warned them: If they gave up the struggle, they would be digging graves for themselves wish their own hands.
6. "For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dance with the daffodils."
(1) What is the "bliss of the solitude"? The Daffodils the poem saw.
(2) Interpret the passage.？It is a bliss/happiness to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind when he is solitude/lonely.
(3) Why did the poet write the poem, what did he want to express?
The poem depicts/deals with the flowers that he came across along waterside, by which he expresses the quiet, sympathy, loving feeling to nature just like his words "poetry is from "emotion recollected in tranquility".)
11. "Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!"
(1)What does the "wild spirit "refer to? "wild spirit" refers to west wind/autumn wind.
(2)Why called it "Destroyer and Preserver" at the same time?
Because west wind buried the dead year and year and prepared for a new spring, the poet call it "Destroyer and preserver".
(3)Identify the poet and the poem.？It is "Ode to the west wind" of Shelley.
III. Questions and answers:
2.William Wordsworth was the first representative author of Rom,How do you know his idea and style?
answer:(1)His poems are most about Nature and Human Life;(2)Beyond the pleasure of the picturesque with the eye and the external aspects of nature, however, lies in deeper moral awareness, a sense of completeness in multiplicity. (3)Common life and the joy and sorrow of the common people and inner self are his subjects;(4)He is a poet in memory of the past and was called "prophets of nature";(5)He deliberately writes in simple and ordinary speech 5)refuses to decorate the truth of experience of pure and profound feeling;(6)He thought poet is "a man speaking to men," poetry is "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, which originates in emotion recollected in tranquility."
(7)He always writes an elusive beauty of simplicity or a rural figure. (P176-179)
3.What thoughts and event influenced the period of Romanticism?
Answer:(1) Rousseau (a French philosopher) explored new ideas about nature, society and education, which provided guiding priding principles for the French Revolution and Romanticism;(2) The French Revolution and "the Declaration of Rights of Man"(written by Thomas Paine)aroused the great sympathy and enthusiasm in the English liberals and radicals,which became a great source for Romanticism.(3) England itself had experienced profound economic and social changes as industrialism,which were reflected in the works of literature. (P157-159)
4.Byron’s greatest contribution is his creation of the "Byronic hero" What kind of the hero he is? Give comment on him.
Answer:(1) "Don Juan" is Byron’s masterpiece, a great comic epic, in which Byron described a hero named Don Juan. He was a great lover and seducer of women. In the conventional sense,al positives like courage, generosity, and frankness… In a word, Don was proud Juan was immoral, but Juan had his own mor, mysterious, and a noble rebel figure. He was a young man with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies, one of rebellious individuals against outworn/outdated social systems and conventions.(2) Comment: The poet’s true intention is to present a panoramic view of different types of society,the main theme of the works the basic ironic theme of appearance and reality,during which the poet also presented various materials and the clash of emotions.
7. Jane Austen was the only important female author in the 18-19th century, how do you know about her?
Answer:Generally speaking, Austen was writer of the 18th century.(1)Her novels always dealt with the romantic entanglement of the heroines;(2)She believed in it that reason over passion, sense of responsibility, good manners,and clear judgment over romance; she honored the Augustan virtues of moderation, dignity disciplined emotion and common sense;(3)She contempt snobbery, stupidity, worldliness etc;(4)Her main concern was the relationship between men and women in love;(5)Her writing range was limited, all restricted to the provincial life of the 18th century England;(6)She presented the quiet, day-to-day country life of the middle -upper -class English.(7)Her characteristic theme was: maturity is got by the loss of illusions. (P223--226)
英国文学维多利亚时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1、“Sunset and evening star,And one clear call for me!And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea.”
1）Explain the implications of the “sunset, evening star, sea”.？
Sunset, evening star: the images of the death; sea symbolizes life.
2）Name the title of the poem and interpret it.？
The title is “Crossing the Bar”. It means leaving this world and entering the next world –the world of the spirit
3）Can you say some comment on the poem?
The poem expresses the fearlessness to death of the poet and his faith in God and an afterlife.
2、“My favour at her breast,The dropping of the daylight in the west,The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard of her, the white muleShe rode with round the terrace –all and each 。Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men –good! But thanked Somehow –I know not how –as if she ranked ，My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift”
1）Name the author and the title of the works.
This is the “My last Duchess” written by Robert Browning
2）What does it mean “a nine-hundred-years-old name”, and to whom the word was spoken?
It means the title of the Duchess (of Ferrara) the Duck gave her through marriage has a family history of over 900 years
3）Interpret the passage and analyze the character of the speaker.
Interpret: My favor –the title of the Duchess is better and more proud than any gifts of the world, but my last duchess was ready to be grateful to others’ flatter and The Duck was a self-conceited, cruel, possessive, and tyrannical person.The word was spoken to the agent who comes to negotiate the marriage of the Duck
4）What is the literary form?
The literary form is “dramatic monologue”
6、 “Come, Tess, Tell me in confidence.” …
“The trees have inquisitive eyes, haven’t they? … and drive all such horrid fancies away!”
1) Interpret the passage.
Answer:Tess, as pure woman brought up with the traditional ideas, is abused and destroyed by the destructive force, and the misery made her frightened to the future, which implied the naturalistic viewpoint of Hardy. (P303)
7. “Break, break, break,
On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thought that arise in me.”
1）Name the poet and the poem.？
Alfred Tennyson. “Break, Break, Break”.
2）Name the main tone of the whole poem, the device and the rhyme.？
The main tone is Sadness. The device is contract. The rhyme scheme is “a b c d”.
3）Interpret the passage.？
The poem expressed the poet’s feeling of sadness in memory of his best friend
Answer:
III. Questions and answers:
Ideologically, what influenced Victorian literature? What characters does it have?
answer: Darwin’s theory “the survival of the fittest” shook the theoretical basis of the traditional faith, many authors expressed their doubts and uncertainty in their works;Utilitarianism was widely accepted and practiced, many conscious authors severely criticized the Utilitarianism, especially its devalue of culture and its cold indifference to human feeling and imagination;Realism novels criticized the society and defended for the mass, and they concerned about the fate of the common people such as their poverty misery, angry with the inhuman social institution, the social immorality, injustice and money-worship.Victorian literature represents the reality of the age. The high-spirit vitality, the down-to-earth earnestness, the good-natured humour and unbound imagination are unprecedented. (P235—237)
3、Jane Eyre is the greatest governess image in the literature history; can you analyze the character of her?
answer: Jane Eyre was a little plain governess with quick wit, honesty, frankness, loving heart and the spirit of independence and self-dignity.In literature, she is an individual conscious to self-realization. She was lonely and neglected young woman with a fierce longing for love, understanding and a full, happy life.In author’s mind, man’s life is composed of perpetual struggle between sin and virtue, good and evil. The heroines’ joy, comes from the sacrifice of self and the overcome of some weakness.By Jane’s experience, we can see the cruelty, hypocrisy, and other evils of the upper classes and the misery and the suffering of the poor, and the false social convention on love and marriage. (P256—259)
4、Analyze the background of the Victorian Period.
answer: Economic developed rapidly and social problems prevailed in England and it became the “workshop of the world”.England settled down to a time of prosperity and stability, the people valued earnestness, respectability, modesty, and democracy.In the last decades, British empire declined, and Victorian values decayed.Analyze the character created by George Eliot with an example and his style.George Eliot set a new type of realism –both naturalistic and psychological novel;She sought to present the inner struggle of a soul and to reveal the motives, impulse and hereditary influences, the slow growth or decline of the character;Her masterpiece “Middlemarch” is a study of provincial life, showing a panoramic view of life in a small English town;She concerned for the destiny of women, the heroin in “Middlemarch” –Dorothea, was a typical character of Eliot. She was a lady with great intelligence, potential and social aspiration. She had the ideals to devote to the society, later, she married an elder man to realize her ideals by helping him in the holy Christianity Career. At the end of the story, she became content with giving her second husband “wifely help”.From her experience, we can see Eliot’s view: women were born with the pathetic tragedy. Her spirit declined owing to the social environment and her own weakness.
(the story is full of an air of a lifeless bitterness and disappointment) (P292—294)
5、 Analyze the style of Charles Dickens.
answer: Adeptness/skilfulness with the vernacular and large vocabulary,The most distinguishing/remarkable character-portrayal;The best writing from the child’s point of view; The depiction of those horrible and grotesque characters;The mingling/mixing features of humor and pathos/sorrow. (P241)
How do you know the naturalistic idea of Hardy?
answer: The tragic sense is the keynote of Hardy’s novels, and he is a nostalgic author.Hardy’s novels always set in Wessex, the fictional primitive and crude region, which is threatened by the invading capitalism, expressing the conflict between the traditional and the modern, the old and the modern.Man’s fate is tragic with born, driven by the force of the nature of outside and inside, and man is bound by his inherent nature and hereditary traits which prompt him to go and search for happiness or success, and set him in conflict with the environment; we can see he is influenced greatly by Darwin’s theory “survival of the fittest”.Man proves to be incompetent/impotent before Fate, and he seldom escapes his destiny. The pessimistic view of life predominates most works of Hardy, which earns him the name of a naturalistic writer.Hardy is noted for he rustic dialect and a poetic flavor, so he is also called local-colorist. (P300--302)
英国文学现代时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. Analyze the poem of T. S. Eliot -"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
1) "In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo"
<1> Why does the sentence repeat in the poem for several times?
Answer: The sentence symbolizes the remote and faraway things, it implies the inability to face up with the reality and the life of the hero. (P363)
2) "And indeed there will be time For the yellow smoke that slides along the street, ...
There will be time, there will be time ...."
<1> What deep implication can you get from the passage?
Answer:The hero was unable to face up with the life and reality bravely, but he was anxious to find time passing so quickly that he was very depressed. The passage shows the tragic character of the indecision of the young man. (P363)
3) "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from the father room.So how should I presume?
<1> What did the speaker presume? He will propose marriage to a girl, but he dare not
<2> Interpret the excerpt. The Excerpt shows the futile and boring life of the upper class.
5) "But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:Would it have been worthwhile" (此节选部分在P367)
<1> Interpret it.
Answer: The sentence implies the speaker’s incapability of facing up to love and to life. He is always fearful that others will see through his ideas and truth of falling love, which makes himself live in frightening and restlessness. (P363)
2. "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,And live alone in the bee-loud glade"
1) Identify the poem and poet;
The poem is "The Lake Isle of Innisfree", which was written by William Butler Yeats.
2) Interpret the poem.
In the poem, the poet imagined a place where he could live like a hermit, implying that he was tired of the life of his day, he sought to escape into and ideal "fairyland" where he could live calmly as a hermit and enjoyed the beauty of the nature
4. "You are not, my son. Battle-battle -and suffer. It’s about all you do, as far as I can see."
"But why not, my dear? I tell you it’s the best ---""It isn’t. And one ought to be happy, one ought."
By this time Mrs. Morel was trembling violently ..."Eh, my dear -say rather you want me to live."
1) Name the works and its writer.？The novel is named "Sons and Lovers". It’s the works of D. H. Lawrence
2) Who are the two speakers? How do you know her?
The two speakers are Mrs. Morel and her son 。Mrs. Morel is a strong-willed, intelligent and ambitious woman. Having been disappointed with her husband, a coal miner, she puts all her feeling on her son, hoping to realize her ideas of success, happiness and social esteem. The distorted relationship reflects the inhuman mechanical civilization and the indifference of the men.
1. What are the characters of Modernism?
Answer:1) Modernism rose out of scepticism and disillusionment of capitalism;2) The French symbolism heralded modernism;3) Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base;4) The major theme of Modernism are the distorted, alienated and ill relationship between man and society, man and nature, man and man, man and himself;5) The Modernists concern about the private, subjective, inner individual and the tone is disillusioned.
3. What philosophical ideas influenced Modernism?
Answer:1) Karl Marx’s scientific socialism;2) Darwin’s theory evolution -the social Darwinism "survival of the fittest";3) Einstein’s theory of relativity;4) Freud’s analytical psychology;5) The irrational philosophy.
4. Common sense about "The Waste Land"
Answer: "The Waste Land" is T. S. Eliot’s masterpiece:1) The poem presents a panorama of physical disorder and spiritual desolation;2) It reflects the mood of disillusionment, frustration, and despair of the whole post-war generation;3) It concerns with the spirit breakup that man has lost his meaning, significance, and purpose of life;4) The poem derogated/criticized the civilized world for its horror, menace, anguish and futility. (P359—362)
5. Analyze the background of the Modernism.
Answer:1) Natural and social sciences advanced greatly, capitalism came into its monopoly stage, the gap between the poor and the rich was deepened;2) The First World War and The Second World War happened, which influenced people greatly;3) All kinds of philosophical ideas were produced.
7. Why Modernism is different from Realism?
Answer:In many aspects, Modernism acts against Realism;1) Modernism rejects rationalism, while Realism stresses it;2) Modernism includes internal, subjective, psychological world, while Realism stresses external, objective, and material world;3) Modernism advocates new forms and new techniques, and it casts away all the traditional elements such as: story, character, etc. while Realism stresses it.4) Modernism works are called anti-novel, anti-poetry, anti-drama etc. (P313)
8. List the representative authors of the "Stream of Consciousness" and explain the theory.
Answer: 1) Stream of Consciousness is a narrative method to describing the unspoken thoughts and feelings of the characters, but not using objective description or conventional dialogue.
Authors represent the thought, emotions without logical sequence or syntax and make the characters tell the inner movement of consciousness and the thoughts.2) The representative authors are: James Joyce "Ulysses"Virginia Woolf "Mrs. Dalloway"Richardson "Pilgrimage"T. S. Eliot Henry James
George Eliot (P389)
美国文学浪漫主义时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. "Time grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on: a tart temper mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener by constant use. For a long while he used to perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village.
1) Please identify the author and the title of the work.？
This is an excerpt from "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving.
2) What’s the meaning of this passage?
With his wife’s dominance at home, the situation became harder and harder for Rip Van Winkle. His wife’s temper became worse and she scolded him for more often. He had to stay in the club with idle people. (P407)
2、Question: Please describe the changes Rip Van Winkle experienced.
Answer: 1) Rip Van Winkle was the hero in Irving’s works. He was a good-natured man, a henpecked husband.2) Because his wife’s shrewish treatment, Rip had to escape from his home to the little inn in the village. When it failed to give him some restful air, he had to go hunting in the high mountain, where Rip met a stranger, and the man asked Rip to carry keg for him. Then Rip reached the place in the valley, where many strangers were playing nine-pins. Later Rip got drunk after drinking the liquor, which made him sleep for 20 years.3) Rip woke up as an old man, entering the village learned that his wife had died, he got the freedom of his own,; and the American had been dependent from the control of Britain, he had changed from a subject of the King (George III) into a citizen of the independent new U.S.....
2. " I celebrated myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you"
1) Please identify the author and the title of the poem that had used when published. ？
In the 1856, the title was "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American",
then it became "Walt Whitman" in 1860, until 1881, it finally became "Song of Myself". The author is Walt Whitman.
2) What is the theme of this poem?
In this poem Whitman sets forth two principle beliefs:
A. The theory of universality, which is illustrated by lengthy catalogues of people and things;B. The belief in the singularity and equality of all beings in value.
III. Questions and answers:
1. The Romantic Period was called "The American Renaissance". Discuss the background of the Romantic Period, and compare it with the Romanticism of Britain.
Answer:1) The two Romanticism both stress the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature;2) They all pay attention to psychic states of the characters and exalt the individual and common man;3) American Romanticism revealed unique characteristics: (difference)
<1> American authors describe their native land,, especially the spirit of the pioneering into the west, the desire for an escape from society and a return to nature;<2> American writers use local dialect in language;<3> Puritanism has great influence over American Romantics;<4> Calvinism of original sin is obvious in their works;<5> Transcendentalism is very important theory in American Romanticism;<6> The important setting in American Romanticism are: ① the early puritan settlement; ② the confrontation with the Indians; ③ the frontiersmen’s life; ④ the wild west; ⑤ imagination. (P399—402)
2. Analyze the themes and characteristic of Hawthorne.
Answer: Hawthorne was a man with inquiring imagination, meditative mind and dark vision to life.His themes in writing are: 1) Man was born with evil and sin, one source of them is over-reaching intellect, whose image was always villain; (Chllingworth e.g.)
2) Hawthorne was influenced greatly by Puritanism, while he criticized it bitterly;
3) He believed Calvinistic ideas, thinking man was depraved and corrupted; they should obey God for saving the spirits;4) He concerned the moral life of man and human history;5) He was keen on the description of man’s development of psychology. (P432—433)
3. Explain the theory of Transcendentalism, then list its important author and works.
Answer:Transcendentalism is a very important theory in American Romanticism, its main ideas are:1) Man has the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or the ability of getting knowledge transcending the senses;2) Nature is ennobling and individual is divine, therefore, man should be self-reliant.3) Man is divine/holy and perfectible and man can trust himself to decide what is right and act accordingly; (but to Hawthorne and Melville man is a sinner);4) Universe is over-soul -a symbol of the spirit, God or the universe, there is an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal "over-soul" -unity of Nature.5) The important authors are: Emerson (The American Scholar) and Thoreau. 6) "Nature", Emerson’s works, is called the unofficial manifesto for the club. (P421—P422)
5. Washington Irving was called "Father of the American short stories" and "the American Goldsmith". What characteristics did he have?
Answer:1)He was nostalgic author, and he always juxtaposing the Old and the New world;2) He remained a conservative and ere always from legend, especially German legends, showing best classic style.always exalted a disappearing past, and he prefer the past to present, prefer a dream-like world to a real one;3) His stories w7. Walt Whitman is a unique poet. Can you explain what make him unique?
Answer:1) His themes are: Democracy; the Revolutionary War and the Civil War; freedom; openness; brotherhood; individualism; the growth of industry and the wealth of the cities; universality.2) His styles are special: "free verse"; "catalogue"; simple and even crude language. (P448-551)
美国文学 现实主义时期
4. "The Eyes around---had wrung them dry---And breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset----when the King Be witnessed---in the Room----"
1) What is the meaning of the first line? It means the relatives and friends had cried and cried so that there were no tears any more.
2) What does "the King" refer to? "The King" refers to the God of death.
3) What idea does the poem from which this stanza is taken express?
the poem expresses that the author even imagined her own death, the loss of her own body, and the journey of her soul to the unknown.
2. Take examples to analyze the style and theme of Mark Twain.
Answer:Mark Twain is a great literary of America, H. L. Mencken considered him "the true father of our national literature".1) Twain’s works like "Adventure of Huckleberry Finn" and "Life on the Mississippi" shaped the views of America and combined American folk humor and serious literature together;2) "The adventures of Tom Sawyer" and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" proved to be the milestone in American literature, and they were the record of a vanishing way of life in the pre-Civil War Mississippi.3) The books were noted for their unpretentious, colloquial, poetic, humorous, innocent and free style;4) The language of Twain was simple, direct, lucid and faithful to truth -"vernacular";5) Twain was famous for a local colorist, who presented social life through portraits of the local characters of his region -people living in the area, the landscape, the customs, dialects, costumes. Especially the theme of the Mississippi valley and the West;6) The work of Twain were always confined to a particular region, historical moment, strong accent, intensified humor to criticize the social injustice and satirize the decayed romanticism. (P477-481)
8. Analyze the theory of Theodore Dreiser’naturalism with example.
Answer:1) His naturalism emphasized heredity and environment as important deterministic forces shaping individualized characters who were presented in specialand detailed circumstances. At bottom, life was shown to be ironic, even tragic.2) The characters in his books are often subject to the control of the natural forces -especially those of environment and heredity. For example, the hero Hurstwood’s tragic death showed the theory.3) The effect of Darwinist idea of "survival of the fittest" was shattering. It is not surprising to find in Dreiser’s fiction a world of jungle, where "kill or to be killed" was the law.4) He criticizes materialistic to the core, living in such a society with such a value system, the human individual is obsessed with a never-ending, yet meaningless search for satisfaction of his/her desires. One of the desires is for money which was a motivating purpose of life in the United States in the late 19th century. For example in his masterpiece "Sister Carrie" he traces the material rise of Carrie Meeber, which indicates the critical attitude of the author.5) Sexual beauty symbolizes the acquisition of some social status of great magnitude.
9. Darwin’s evolutionary theory gave rise to American naturalism, what are their characteristics?
Answer:The American naturalists accepted the more negative implication of Darwin’s theory, and used it to explain the behaviours in literary works.
1) They regarded man as the complex combinations of inherited attributes/elements, their habits conditioned/controlled by social and economic forces;2) They chose their subjects from the lower ranks of the society and portrayed misery and poverty/poorness;3) They dealt with the nature of the man of "underdogs" -"bestiality", as an explanation of sexual desire;4) Their languages were unpolished;5) The naturalists believed that the real and true nature is hidden from the eyes o the individual, or beyond his control;6) Naturalism evolved/came from realism, but the tone of the authors were more ironic and pessimistic. (P475-476)
美国文学现代时期
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. "The apparition of these faces in the crowded; / Petals on a wet, black bough."
1) From which poem does the stanza come? Who is the author?
The lines are taken from "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound.
2) What does the “petals”mean? Here "petals" stands for "human faces".
3) Briefly interpret the two lines.？The two lines compare human faces to petals on a wet, black bough. This way of making poetry comes from Chinese poetics.
2. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I could。To where it bent in the undergrowth"
1) Please identify the poem and the poet;？
It is taken from Robert Lee Frost’s "The Road Not Taken"
2) Please briefly interpret this poem.？
n this meditative poem, the speaker tells us how the course of his life determined when he came upon two rods that diverged in a wood. Forced to choose, he “took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”He seems to be giving a suggestion to the reader: "Make good choice of your life."
III Questions and answers:
1. Analyze the background of the Modern Period.
Answer:(1) The U.S. participated in The First World War marked a crucial stage in the nation’s evolution/development to a world power.(2) The technology has brought about great changes in the life of the American people. (P544)
2. The ideology analyses about the people and especially the authors.
(The ideology analysis of "The Lost Generation)
Answer:(1) People became less certain about what might arise in this changing world and more cynical about accepted standards of honesty and morality. The idea of "seize the day" or "enjoy the present" was pervasive.(2) There was a decline in moral standard and the first few decades of the twentieth century was described as a spiritual wasteland. The censor/standard of a great civilization being destroyed or destroying itself, social breakdown, and individual powerlessness and hopelessness became part of the American experience as a result of the First World War, with resulting feelings of fear, loss, disorientation and disillusionment.(3) Disillusioned and disgusted by the frivolous, greedy, and heedless way of life in America, they began to write and they wrote from their own experience in the war.(4) The sense of loss and despair prevails among the post-war generation who are physically and psychologically scarred; Faulkner creates his own mythical kingdom that mirrors not only the decline of the Southern society but also the spiritual wasteland of the whole American society.(5) The world is even more disintegrating and fragmentary and people are even more estranged and despondent.(6) These writers shared almost the same belief that human beings are trapped in a meaningless world and that neither God nor man can make sense of the human condition.(7) In general terms, much serious literature written from 1912 onwards attempted to convey a vision of social breakdown and moral decay and the writer’s task was to develop techniques that could represent a break with the past. (P545-552)
6. What are the characteristics of the Eugene O’Neill’s plays?
(1) Of all the plays O’Neill wrote, most of them are tragedies, dealing with the basic issues of human existence and predicament: life and death, illusion and disillusion, alienation and communication, dream and reality, self and society, desire and frustration, etc. His characters (The Hairy Ape) in the plays are described as seeking meaning and purpose in their lives in different ways, some through love, some through religion, others through revenge, but all meet disappointment and despair.(2) Dramatization of man’s effort in finding the secret of life results in a reconciliation with the tragic impossibility.(3) "The Hairy Ape" is a play that concerns the problem of modern man’s identity. Yank’s sense of belonging nowhere, hence homelessness and rootlessness, is typical of the mood of isolation and alienation in the early twentieth century in the United States and the whole world as well. (P570-571)
7. Analyze "The Hemingway Code Hero"
Answer:(1) They are always Exposed to and victimized by violence in various forms, Nick becomes the prototype of the wounded hero who, with all the dignity and courage he could muster, confronts situation.(2) They are a group of wandering, amusing, but aimless people, who are caught in the war and removed from the path of ordinary life.(3) They are the men trapped both physically and mentally.(4) God’s design or his beneficence and to suggest that man is doomed to be entrapped.(5) They believe: life is worth living and there are causes worth dying for.(6) In a tragic sense, the struggle of Hemingway’s heroes show: it is a representation of life as a struggle against unconquerable natural forces in which only a partial victory is possible. Nevertheless, there is a feeling of great respect for the struggle and mankind.(7) Hemingway hero of athletic prowess and masculinity and unyielding heroism.(8) To master the code with the honest, the discipline, and the restrains are Hemingway Code heroes. In the general situation of his novels, life is full of tension and battles; the world is in chaos; man is always fighting desperately a losing battle. However, though life is but a losing battle, it is a struggle man can dominate in such a way that loss becomes dignity; man can be physically destroyed but never defeated spiritually. (P600---603)
II. Analyses on Faulkner’s techniques in writing:
Answer:1) He holds/believes in the infinite possibilities inherent in human life. Therefore a writer should observe with no judgment whatsoever and reduce authorial intrusion to the lowest minimum. The range of narrative techniques used by Faulkner is remarkable. He would never step between the characters and the reader to explain, but let the characters explain themselves and hinder as little as possible the reader’s direct experience of the work of art. (detached)2) He deliberately broke up the chronology of his narrative by juxtaposing the past with the present.3) Faulkner was good at presenting multiple points of view. (P615-616)
III. The character analyses about Miss Emily Grierson:
Answer:1) She is an eccentric spinster who refuses to accept the passage of time or the inevitable change and loss that accompanies it.2) She is the symbols of the Old South but the prisoners of the past.3) Something about plots: Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, and she vanquished the people in the town, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell. And she is the victim of the idea of her family: none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such. Then she fell in love with a Northerner, but some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young men. (P617)
I. Choose the right answer:
1. Dr. Faustus is a play based on the(Geramn)legend of a magician aspiring for (knowledge)and finally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the Devil.2. (Beowulf), is a typical example of Old English poetry, is regarded today as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons.3.It’s Chaucer alone who, for the first time in English literature, presented to us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English Society in his masterpiece(The Canterbury Tales).4. The Essence of Renaissance, the most significant intellectual movement, was(Humanism).5. “Prince Arthur’s greatest mission is his search for Gloriana, with whom he has fallen in love through a love vision.”The two figures come from(The Faerie Qeene).6. In “Sonnet 18”, Shakespeare(Meditate on the destructive power of time and etemal beauty by poetry).7. (Sidney)gave new vigor to the blank verse with his “mighty lines” and make ’blank verse’ the principle vehicle of expression in drama.8. Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies are the following works except(Romeo and Juliet).9. The Renaissance refers to between 14th----mid-17th century, which was under the reign of Queen(Elizabeth)and absolute monarchy in England reached its summit, and in which the ’real mainstream’ was (drama).10. In The Legend of Good Women, Chaucer used for the first time in English the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter, which is to be called later(The heroic couplet).11. The Redcrosse Knight in “The Faerie Queene” stands for(holiness), and Una stands for(truth).12. Which of the following is NOT regarded as one of the characteristics of Renaissance?(Praise of man’s efforts in soul delivery and personal salvation)13. “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” is an example of (Metaphor).14.(Normans/Anglo-Saxons) introduced the Petrarchan sonnet into England.15. It is(Geoffrey Chaucer) alone who, for the first time in English literature presented to us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life.16. The following belong to the characteristics of ’metaphysical poetry’ represented by ’John Donne’ except(Elegant style).17. Paradise Lost is actually a story taken from(The Old Testament).18. In “Paradise Lost”, Satan says “We may with more successful hope resolve/ To wage by force or guile eternal war, / Irreconcilable to our grand Foe” What does the “Eternal war” mean?(To corrupt God’s creation of man and woman—Adam and Eve)
19. (Hamlet), the first of the great tragedies, is generally regarded as Shakespeare’s most popular play on the stage, for it has the qualities of a “blood-and-thunder” thriller and a ’philosophical exploration’ of life and death.20. It was (Nomans)and (Anglo-Saxons)the two conquests that provided the source for the rise and growth of English literature.21. Paradise Lost is(John Milton)’s masterpiece, which is an epic in 12 books, written in blank verse, about the heroic revolt of Satan against God’s authority.22. The following description fit into Milton ’except’(a kind of elegant and refine stye).23. (Tamburlaine)is not written by John Milton.24. Marlow’s greatest achievement is that he perfected the ’blank verse’, and he is regarded as ’the pioneer of English drama’, which of the following is not written by him?(The Sun Rising)
25.(Francis Bacon’s)Essays is the first example of that genre in English literature, which has been recognized as an important landmark in the development of English prose.26. (Edmund Spenser)Was known as “the poets’ poet”.27. “And we will make thee beds of roses / And a thousand fragrant posies/ A cap of flowers, and a kirtle/ Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle.” The above lines are probably taken from(Marlow’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love)28. Which of the following statement best illustrates the theme of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18?(The speaker praises the power of artisitic creation)) 1. (Tom Jones)brings Henry Fielding the name of the "Prose Homer".2. Alexander Pope worked painstakingly on his poems and finally brought to its last perfection (the heroic couplet)Dryden had successfully used in his plays.3. Of all the 18th century novelists (Henry fielding)was the first to set out,both in theory and practice, to write specially a "comic epic in prose."4.(The Pilgrims progress)is the most successful religious allegory in the English language.5. In which of the following works can you find the proper names "Lilliput", "Brobdingnag", "Houyhnhnm" and "Yahoo"?(Gulliver’s travels)6. "As shades more sweetly recommend the light,So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit;For works may have more wit than does’em good,As bodies perish through excess of blood."In the above lines, Pope tries to sat that(too much wit will destroy good peotry).7. The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope is written in the form of a mock(epic), which describes the triviality of high society in a grand style.8. Which of the following is NOT a typical feature of Samuel Johnson’s language style? (He tends to use informal and colloquial words)9. "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,Awaits alike the inevitable hour.In the above quoted passage, Thomas Gray intends to say that great family, power, beauty and wealth(will never prevent people from reaching their final destination-grave).10.(Henry fielding)has been regarded by some as "Father of the English novel" for his contribution to the establishment of the form of the modern novel. 11. (Samuel Johnson)was very much concerned with the theme of the vanity of human wishes and tried to awaken men to this folly and hoped to cure them of it through his writing.12.(Richard Brinsley Sheridan)was the only important dramatist of the 18th century, in his plays, morality is the constant theme. 13. As the representative of the Enlightenment, Pope was one of the first to introduce(Rationalism)to England.14. The Rivals and (The School for Scandal)are generally regarded as important links between the masterpiece of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw.
15. (The School for Scandal)is a sharp satire on the moral degeneracy of the aristocratic-bourgeois society in the 18th century England.16. The poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Grayis regarded as the most representative work of (The Graveyard School).
17.(An Essay on Criticism), written in heroic couplet by Pope, is considered manifesto of English Neoclassicism.18.(Bitter satire)is a typical feature of Swift’s writings.19. In the following writings by Henry Fielding, which brings him the name of the "Prose Homer"?(The History of Tom Jones,A Foundling)20. "Hold! See whether it is or not before you go to the door----I have a particular message for you if it should be my brother." The two sentences are found in (The School Scandal). 21. In terms of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, which is wrong?(the author excessively expresses his personal melancholy)22. The Houyhnhnms depicted by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels are(horses that are endowed with reason).
1. The Romantic Movement expressed a more or less(negative)attitude toward the existing social and political conditions.2. It is(Jean Jacques Rousseau)who established the cult of the individual and championed the freedom of the human spirit.3. The two major novelists of the English Romantic Period are (Jane Austen)and Walter Scott.4. (William Wordsworth)defines the poet as "man speaking to men," and poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,which originates in emotion recollected in tranquility."
5. For the Romantics, (nature)_is not only the major source of poetic imagery, but also provides the dominant subject matter.6. In the Romantic period, (poetry)is the most prosperous literary form.7. The tone of literature in "Song of Experience" by William Blake is(doleful).8. (William Blake)is regarded as a "worship of nature".9. Which of the following writings is not created by William Wordsworth?(The Chimney Sweeper)10. Wordsworth’s short poems can be classified into two groups:poems about nature and poems about(human life).11. "Don Juan" is Byron’s masterpiece, a great (comic epic)of the early 19th century.
12. In his lyrics such as "Ode to Liberty", "Ode to Naples", Percy Bysshe Shelly expressed his love for_(freedom) and his hatredtoward tyranny.13. "Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; / Destroy and Preserver; hear, O hear!" The two lines are found in(Old to the West Wind by Shelly).14. In Shelly’s "To a Skylark", the bird, suspended between reality and poetic image, pours forth an exultant song which suggests to the poet(both celestial rapture and human limitation)15. The author of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is (Keats).16. Jane Austen’s first novel is (Sense and sensibility).17. In terms of Pride and Prejudice, which is not true?(Pride and Prejudice is a tragic novel)18. After reading the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, we may come to know that Mrs.Bennet is a woman of(simple character and poor understanding).19. Romanticism is a period of British literature roughly dated from(1798-1832).20. Which of the following is the Gothic novel?(Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein)21.The lines "It was a miracle of rare device,/ A sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice" are found in(Samuel Tayor Colridge’s “kubla Khan”). 22. Which of the following is taken from John Keats’ "Ode on a Grecial Urn"?(“Beauty is ture,true beaury.”)1.Chronologically the Victorian refers to(1836-1901).2.(Charles Dickens’s)works are characterized by a mingling of humor and pathos.3. (Oliver TWist)is famous for its vivid descriptions of the workhouse and life of the underworld in the 19th century London.4.(In Memoriam)is an elaborate and powerful expression of Alfred Tennyson’s philosophical and religious thoughts.4. The most distinguishing feature of Charles Dickens’s works lies in his (character-portrayal).5._(Idylls of the King)is based on the Celtic legends of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.5.(My Last Duches)is Robert Browning’s best-known dramatic monologue.6.(George Eliot)initiates a new type of realism and sets into motion a variety of developments, leading in the direction of both the naturalistic and psychological novel.7.(George Eliot’s)works are known as “novels of characters and environment.”8.(Thomas Hardy)belives that man’s fate is predeterminedly tragic, driven by a combined force of ‘nature”, both inside and outside.9. The author of the work “Dombey and Son” is(Charles Dickens).10. The most important characteristic in Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson is(use of the dramatic monologur) 11. “Self-conceited”, “cruel” and “tyrannical” are most likely the names of the character in(Robert Browning’s My Last Dickess).12. Robert Browning’s style is(rough and disproportionate in appearance).13. According to D.H. Lawrence,(George Eliot)was the first novelist that “started putting all the actions inside”.14. Middlemarch is considered to be George Eliot’s greatest novel, owing to all the following reasons EXCEPT(it probed into perpentual philosophical thoughts). 15. ‘Every day, every hour, brought to him one more little stroke of her nature, and to her one more of his”, the sentence is found in(Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy).16. Which of the following best describes the protagonist (Henchard) of Thomas Hardy’s “The Mayor of the Casterbridge”?(he is a man od self-sufficciency) 17. Which of the following description of Thomas Hardy is wrong?(frome The Mayor of casterbridge on ,the tragic sense becomes the keynote of his novels.)18. Charlotte’s works are famous for the depiction of the life of the middle-class working women, particularly(governesses). 1. The three trilogies of(john Galsworthy’s)Forsyte novels are masterpieces of critical realism in the early 20th century.2. (Oscar Wilder)is the most outstanding stream-consciousness novelist.3. In his famous poem(Sailing to Byzantium), Yeats explores the problems of death, love, old age and art.
4. (The Waste Land)is a poem concerned with the spiritual breakup of a modern civilization in which human life has lost its meaning, significance and purpose. 5. The Rainbow and(Woman in Love)are generally regarded as D.H. Lawrence’s masterpieces.6. In(Ulysses)_, James Joyce intends to present a microcosm of the whole human life by providing an instance of how a single event contains all the events of its kind, and how history is recapitulated in the happenings of one day. 7. Structurally and thematically, George Bernard Shaw follows the great tradition (Realism).8. Galsworthy was a(conventional)writer, having inherited the fine traditions of the great Victorian novelists of the critical realism such as Dickens and Thackeray.9. In "The Forsyte Saga" by John Galsworthy, a typical Forsyte has a remarkable characteristic-----a strong sense of(property).10. In "The Lake Isle of Innisfree", William Bulter Yeats expresses his (desire to escape into a “fairyland”) 11. In which of the following poems by Yeats did you find the allusion to Helen and Trojan War?(Leda and the Swan)12. Of the following poems by T.S. Eliot, which is hailed as a landmark and a model the 20th Century English Poetry?(The Waste Land)13. "The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the windowpanes,/ The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the windowpanes/ Linked its tongue into the corners of the evening,/ Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains." The stanza is taken from(T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock”).14. Which of the following best describes the speaker of ’The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"?(he is a man of inactivity)15. Of the following works by D.H. Lawrence, (Sons and Lovers)established his position as novelist.16. Which of the following is considered to be a better-structured novel?(Woman in Love)17. ’The Lawrence trilogy" refers to the following three plays except(Lady Chatterley’s Lover). 18. Which of the following writings is not the novel of D.H. Lawrence’s?(A Pertrait of the Artist as a Yong Man)19. Of the following writings by James Joyce, which is a prime example of modernism in literature?(Ulysses)20. Which of the following is not true according to James Joyce?(Joyce is a realistic writer in English literature history.)
1. Of all the following issues, (Human bestiality)is definitely NOT the focus of the Romantic writers in the American literary history. 2. Henry David Thoreau’s work, (Walden), has always been regarded as a masterpiece of the New England Transcendental Movement.3. "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" is a famous quote from(Ralph Waldo Emerson)’s writings.4. ’Leaves of Grass’ commands great attention because of its uniquely poetic embodiment of(the democratic ideals
)_, which are written in the founding documents of both the Revolutionary War and the American Civil War.) 5. According to Whitman, the genuine participation of a poet in a common cultural effort was to behave as a supreme(individualist).6. The period before the American Civil War is generally referred to as(The Romantic Period).7. In the following works, which sign the beginning of the American literature?
(Leaves of Grass)8.( Washington Irving)is the author of the work ’The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’.
9. Washington Irving’s ’Rip Van Winkle’ is famous for(Rip’s 20-years sleep).10. Which of the following statement is not true about Washington Irving?( Irving’s taste was essentially progressive or radical.)
11. The Publication of (Nature)_established Emerson as the most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism.12. The phrase "a transparent eye-ball’ compares philosophical mentation of Emerson’s. It appears in(Nature).13. In 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson made a speech entitled("The American Scholar")at Harvard, which was hailed by Oliver Wendell Holmeasas :Our Intellectual Declaration of Independence".
14.( Nathaniel Hawthorne)is the most ambivalent (有争议的) writers in the American literary history.
15. "There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity", which author of the following authors does the mention belong to(Nathaniel Hawthorne).16. In Hawthorne’s novels and short stories, intellectuals usually appear as(villains).
17. All of the following are works by Nathaniel Hawthorne except(White Jacket).
18. Walt Whitman is radically innovative in the form of his poetry. What he prefers for his new subject is(free verse).19. Which of the following features cannot characterize poems by Walt Whitman?
(Lyrical and well-structured)20. " The horizon’s edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh and shore mud. These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will always go forth every day." The two lines are taken from("There Was a Child Went Forth" by Walt Whitman).21. "Moby Dick" is regarded as the first American(Prose epic).22. The giant Moby Dick may symbolize all EXCEPT(. sin of the whale).23. Which of the following comments on the writings by Herman Melville is not true?( The Confidence---Man has something to do with the sea and sailors)
24. The Transcendentalists believe that, first, nature is ennobling, and second, the individual is(divine), therefore, self-reliant.1. Emily Dickinson was sometimes curious about the feeling of speech of death and in one of her poems she wrote about the(moment)of death, the title of the poem is "I heard a Fly buzz when I died". 2. Theodore Dreiser belonged to the school of literary (naturalism)which emphasized heredity and environment as important deterministic forces shaping individualized characters who were presented in special and detailed circumstances.3. More than five hundred poems that Dickinson wrote are about nature, in which her general(scepticism)about the relationship between man and nature is well expressed.
4. "This is my letter to the World" is a poem expressing Emily Dickinson’s(anxiety)about her communication with the outside world.5. Though secluded herself in her own house, Emily Dickinson was never really indifferent of the outside world, as could be seen in her poems such as "I like to see it lap the Miles", which describes a(n) (train), an embodiment of modern civilization.6. After "The Adventure of Tom Sawyer", Twain gives a literary independence to Tom’s buddy Huck in a book called(Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)_, and the book from which "all modern American literature comes".7. Winterbourne is used as a (A character of central consciousness)in Henry James’s "Daisy Miller".8. Emily Dickinson’s verse is most aptly characterized as (exhibiting sensitiveness to the symbolic implications of experience, such as love, death, immortality and etc.).
9. The author of "The Portrait of a Lady" is best at(a dramatizing the collisions between two very different cultural systems on an international scene).10. The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been referred to as (the Age of Realism).11.Who exerts the simple most important influence on literary naturalism?( Darwin) 12. One of the most familiar themes in American naturalism is the theme of human "(bestiality)".13. (Twain)is considered by H.L. Mencken as "the true father of our national literature."14. Mark Twain wrote most of his literary works with a(vernacular)language.15. Henry James’s fame generally rests upon his novels and stories with(international theme).16. In the following writers, who is generally regarded as the forerunner of the 20th century "Stream-of-consciousness" novels and the founder of psychological realism(Henry James).17. In Henry James’ "Daisy Miller", the author tries to portray the young woman as an embodiment of (the free spirit of the New World).18. Which of the following is NOT a usual subject of poetic expression of Emily Dickinson’s?( War and peace)19. The following titles are all related to the subject that escapes from the society and returns to nature except(Dreiser’s Sister Carrie).
20. The greatest work written by Theodore Dreiser is(An American Tragedy).21. Closely related to Emily Dickinson’s religious poetry are her poems concerning(Death and immortality).22. With Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the literary scene, (realism)became the major trend in American literature in the seventies and eighties of the 19th century.1. Ezra Pound is a leading spokesman of the(Imagist Movement).2. Strong affinity of the Chinese and Oriental literature can be found in the works of(Ezra Pound).
3. In Robert Frost’s famous poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", there are four lines like these: “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep,/ And miles to go before I sleep”. The second sleep refers to(die).4. Of the following American poets, whose work was first recognized in England and then in America?( Robert Frost)5. "For I have had too much/ Of apple-picking: I am overtired/ Of the great harvest I myself desired" From these lines we can conclude that the speaker (is tired of the work of apple-picking).6. In these lines "The apparition of these faces in the crowd; / Petals on a wet, black bough", Ezra Pound uses the figure of speech of (metaphor).7. O’Neill’s inventiveness seemingly knew no limits. He was constantly experimenting with new styles and forms for his plays, especially during the twenties when(Expressionism)was in full swing.
8. "He got me, aw right. I’m trou. Even him didn’t tink I belonged." In these sentences taken from ’The Hairy Ape’, the words “he” and “him” both refer to(God).9. (Cubism)is a school of modern painting, whose emphasis is on the formal structure of a work of art and especially on the multiple-perspective viewpoints.10. In a class which discuss the Imagist Movement in the United States, we will definitely NOT include(Gary Snyder).11. In which of the following poems by Ezra Pound did you find the allusion to Wi-shang?( The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter)12. In 1915, Ezra Pound began writing his great work(Cantos), which spanned from 1917 to 1959.13. Robert Frost was the Pulitzer winner on (four)occasions.
13. The founder of the American drama is(Eugene O’Neill).14. The first full-length play written by Eugene O’Neill is(Beyond the Horizon).14. Eugene O’Neill’s ’The Hairy Ape’ explores the problem of(the loss of human identity).15. Fitzgerald’s fictional world is the best embodiment of the spirit of(the Jazz age).
16. Fitzgerald wrote the following except(In Our Time).17. "There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the chamoagne and the stars...", the two sentences are taken from(’The Great Gatsby’ by Fitzgerald).18. Which of the following comments on the novel ’The Great Gatsby’ is not true?( Gatsby is wealthy but unintelligent and brutal.)19. (The Old Man and the Sea)is Hemingway’s masterpiece.
20. Which of the following best describes the protagonist of William Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily"?
(She is a prisoner of the past)21. Who, disregarding grammar and punctuation, always used "I" instead of "I" to refer to himself as a protest against self-importance?( Cummings)22. Who is the author of the writing "The Grapes of Wrath"?( John Steinbeck)
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. "The apparition of these faces in the crowded; / Petals on a wet, black bough."
1) From which poem does the stanza come? Who is the author?
The lines are taken from "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound.
2) What does the “petals”mean? Here "petals" stands for "human faces".
3) Briefly interpret the two lines.？The two lines compare human faces to petals on a wet, black bough. This way of making poetry comes from Chinese poetics.
2. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I could。To where it bent in the undergrowth"
1) Please identify the poem and the poet;？
It is taken from Robert Lee Frost’s "The Road Not Taken"
2) Please briefly interpret this poem.？
n this meditative poem, the speaker tells us how the course of his life determined when he came upon two rods that diverged in a wood. Forced to choose, he “took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”He seems to be giving a suggestion to the reader: "Make good choice of your life."
III Questions and answers:
1. Analyze the background of the Modern Period.
Answer:(1) The U.S. participated in The First World War marked a crucial stage in the nation’s evolution/development to a world power.(2) The technology has brought about great changes in the life of the American people. (P544)
2. The ideology analyses about the people and especially the authors.
(The ideology analysis of "The Lost Generation)
Answer:(1) People became less certain about what might arise in this changing world and more cynical about accepted standards of honesty and morality. The idea of "seize the day" or "enjoy the present" was pervasive.(2) There was a decline in moral standard and the first few decades of the twentieth century was described as a spiritual wasteland. The censor/standard of a great civilization being destroyed or destroying itself, social breakdown, and individual powerlessness and hopelessness became part of the American experience as a result of the First World War, with resulting feelings of fear, loss, disorientation and disillusionment.(3) Disillusioned and disgusted by the frivolous, greedy, and heedless way of life in America, they began to write and they wrote from their own experience in the war.(4) The sense of loss and despair prevails among the post-war generation who are physically and psychologically scarred; Faulkner creates his own mythical kingdom that mirrors not only the decline of the Southern society but also the spiritual wasteland of the whole American society.(5) The world is even more disintegrating and fragmentary and people are even more estranged and despondent.(6) These writers shared almost the same belief that human beings are trapped in a meaningless world and that neither God nor man can make sense of the human condition.(7) In general terms, much serious literature written from 1912 onwards attempted to convey a vision of social breakdown and moral decay and the writer’s task was to develop techniques that could represent a break with the past. (P545-552)
6. What are the characteristics of the Eugene O’Neill’s plays?
(1) Of all the plays O’Neill wrote, most of them are tragedies, dealing with the basic issues of human existence and predicament: life and death, illusion and disillusion, alienation and communication, dream and reality, self and society, desire and frustration, etc. His characters (The Hairy Ape) in the plays are described as seeking meaning and purpose in their lives in different ways, some through love, some through religion, others through revenge, but all meet disappointment and despair.(2) Dramatization of man’s effort in finding the secret of life results in a reconciliation with the tragic impossibility.(3) "The Hairy Ape" is a play that concerns the problem of modern man’s identity. Yank’s sense of belonging nowhere, hence homelessness and rootlessness, is typical of the mood of isolation and alienation in the early twentieth century in the United States and the whole world as well. (P570-571)
7. Analyze "The Hemingway Code Hero"
Answer:(1) They are always Exposed to and victimized by violence in various forms, Nick becomes the prototype of the wounded hero who, with all the dignity and courage he could muster, confronts situation.(2) They are a group of wandering, amusing, but aimless people, who are caught in the war and removed from the path of ordinary life.(3) They are the men trapped both physically and mentally.(4) God’s design or his beneficence and to suggest that man is doomed to be entrapped.(5) They believe: life is worth living and there are causes worth dying for.(6) In a tragic sense, the struggle of Hemingway’s heroes show: it is a representation of life as a struggle against unconquerable natural forces in which only a partial victory is possible. Nevertheless, there is a feeling of great respect for the struggle and mankind.(7) Hemingway hero of athletic prowess and masculinity and unyielding heroism.(8) To master the code with the honest, the discipline, and the restrains are Hemingway Code heroes. In the general situation of his novels, life is full of tension and battles; the world is in chaos; man is always fighting desperately a losing battle. However, though life is but a losing battle, it is a struggle man can dominate in such a way that loss becomes dignity; man can be physically destroyed but never defeated spiritually. (P600---603)
II. Analyses on Faulkner’s techniques in writing:
Answer:1) He holds/believes in the infinite possibilities inherent in human life. Therefore a writer should observe with no judgment whatsoever and reduce authorial intrusion to the lowest minimum. The range of narrative techniques used by Faulkner is remarkable. He would never step between the characters and the reader to explain, but let the characters explain themselves and hinder as little as possible the reader’s direct experience of the work of art. (detached)2) He deliberately broke up the chronology of his narrative by juxtaposing the past with the present.3) Faulkner was good at presenting multiple points of view. (P615-616)
III. The character analyses about Miss Emily Grierson:
Answer:1) She is an eccentric spinster who refuses to accept the passage of time or the inevitable change and loss that accompanies it.2) She is the symbols of the Old South but the prisoners of the past.3) Something about plots: Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, and she vanquished the people in the town, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell. And she is the victim of the idea of her family: none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such. Then she fell in love with a Northerner, but some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young men. (P617)
I. Choose the right answer:
1. Dr. Faustus is a play based on the(Geramn)legend of a magician aspiring for (knowledge)and finally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the Devil.2. (Beowulf), is a typical example of Old English poetry, is regarded today as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons.3.It’s Chaucer alone who, for the first time in English literature, presented to us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English Society in his masterpiece(The Canterbury Tales).4. The Essence of Renaissance, the most significant intellectual movement, was(Humanism).5. “Prince Arthur’s greatest mission is his search for Gloriana, with whom he has fallen in love through a love vision.”The two figures come from(The Faerie Qeene).6. In “Sonnet 18”, Shakespeare(Meditate on the destructive power of time and etemal beauty by poetry).7. (Sidney)gave new vigor to the blank verse with his “mighty lines” and make ’blank verse’ the principle vehicle of expression in drama.8. Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies are the following works except(Romeo and Juliet).9. The Renaissance refers to between 14th----mid-17th century, which was under the reign of Queen(Elizabeth)and absolute monarchy in England reached its summit, and in which the ’real mainstream’ was (drama).10. In The Legend of Good Women, Chaucer used for the first time in English the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter, which is to be called later(The heroic couplet).11. The Redcrosse Knight in “The Faerie Queene” stands for(holiness), and Una stands for(truth).12. Which of the following is NOT regarded as one of the characteristics of Renaissance?(Praise of man’s efforts in soul delivery and personal salvation)13. “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” is an example of (Metaphor).14.(Normans/Anglo-Saxons) introduced the Petrarchan sonnet into England.15. It is(Geoffrey Chaucer) alone who, for the first time in English literature presented to us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life.16. The following belong to the characteristics of ’metaphysical poetry’ represented by ’John Donne’ except(Elegant style).17. Paradise Lost is actually a story taken from(The Old Testament).18. In “Paradise Lost”, Satan says “We may with more successful hope resolve/ To wage by force or guile eternal war, / Irreconcilable to our grand Foe” What does the “Eternal war” mean?(To corrupt God’s creation of man and woman—Adam and Eve)
19. (Hamlet), the first of the great tragedies, is generally regarded as Shakespeare’s most popular play on the stage, for it has the qualities of a “blood-and-thunder” thriller and a ’philosophical exploration’ of life and death.20. It was (Nomans)and (Anglo-Saxons)the two conquests that provided the source for the rise and growth of English literature.21. Paradise Lost is(John Milton)’s masterpiece, which is an epic in 12 books, written in blank verse, about the heroic revolt of Satan against God’s authority.22. The following description fit into Milton ’except’(a kind of elegant and refine stye).23. (Tamburlaine)is not written by John Milton.24. Marlow’s greatest achievement is that he perfected the ’blank verse’, and he is regarded as ’the pioneer of English drama’, which of the following is not written by him?(The Sun Rising)
25.(Francis Bacon’s)Essays is the first example of that genre in English literature, which has been recognized as an important landmark in the development of English prose.26. (Edmund Spenser)Was known as “the poets’ poet”.27. “And we will make thee beds of roses / And a thousand fragrant posies/ A cap of flowers, and a kirtle/ Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle.” The above lines are probably taken from(Marlow’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love)28. Which of the following statement best illustrates the theme of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18?(The speaker praises the power of artisitic creation)) 1. (Tom Jones)brings Henry Fielding the name of the "Prose Homer".2. Alexander Pope worked painstakingly on his poems and finally brought to its last perfection (the heroic couplet)Dryden had successfully used in his plays.3. Of all the 18th century novelists (Henry fielding)was the first to set out,both in theory and practice, to write specially a "comic epic in prose."4.(The Pilgrims progress)is the most successful religious allegory in the English language.5. In which of the following works can you find the proper names "Lilliput", "Brobdingnag", "Houyhnhnm" and "Yahoo"?(Gulliver’s travels)6. "As shades more sweetly recommend the light,So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit;For works may have more wit than does’em good,As bodies perish through excess of blood."In the above lines, Pope tries to sat that(too much wit will destroy good peotry).7. The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope is written in the form of a mock(epic), which describes the triviality of high society in a grand style.8. Which of the following is NOT a typical feature of Samuel Johnson’s language style? (He tends to use informal and colloquial words)9. "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,Awaits alike the inevitable hour.In the above quoted passage, Thomas Gray intends to say that great family, power, beauty and wealth(will never prevent people from reaching their final destination-grave).10.(Henry fielding)has been regarded by some as "Father of the English novel" for his contribution to the establishment of the form of the modern novel. 11. (Samuel Johnson)was very much concerned with the theme of the vanity of human wishes and tried to awaken men to this folly and hoped to cure them of it through his writing.12.(Richard Brinsley Sheridan)was the only important dramatist of the 18th century, in his plays, morality is the constant theme. 13. As the representative of the Enlightenment, Pope was one of the first to introduce(Rationalism)to England.14. The Rivals and (The School for Scandal)are generally regarded as important links between the masterpiece of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw.
15. (The School for Scandal)is a sharp satire on the moral degeneracy of the aristocratic-bourgeois society in the 18th century England.16. The poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Grayis regarded as the most representative work of (The Graveyard School).
17.(An Essay on Criticism), written in heroic couplet by Pope, is considered manifesto of English Neoclassicism.18.(Bitter satire)is a typical feature of Swift’s writings.19. In the following writings by Henry Fielding, which brings him the name of the "Prose Homer"?(The History of Tom Jones,A Foundling)20. "Hold! See whether it is or not before you go to the door----I have a particular message for you if it should be my brother." The two sentences are found in (The School Scandal). 21. In terms of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, which is wrong?(the author excessively expresses his personal melancholy)22. The Houyhnhnms depicted by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels are(horses that are endowed with reason).
1. The Romantic Movement expressed a more or less(negative)attitude toward the existing social and political conditions.2. It is(Jean Jacques Rousseau)who established the cult of the individual and championed the freedom of the human spirit.3. The two major novelists of the English Romantic Period are (Jane Austen)and Walter Scott.4. (William Wordsworth)defines the poet as "man speaking to men," and poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,which originates in emotion recollected in tranquility."
5. For the Romantics, (nature)_is not only the major source of poetic imagery, but also provides the dominant subject matter.6. In the Romantic period, (poetry)is the most prosperous literary form.7. The tone of literature in "Song of Experience" by William Blake is(doleful).8. (William Blake)is regarded as a "worship of nature".9. Which of the following writings is not created by William Wordsworth?(The Chimney Sweeper)10. Wordsworth’s short poems can be classified into two groups:poems about nature and poems about(human life).11. "Don Juan" is Byron’s masterpiece, a great (comic epic)of the early 19th century.
12. In his lyrics such as "Ode to Liberty", "Ode to Naples", Percy Bysshe Shelly expressed his love for_(freedom) and his hatredtoward tyranny.13. "Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; / Destroy and Preserver; hear, O hear!" The two lines are found in(Old to the West Wind by Shelly).14. In Shelly’s "To a Skylark", the bird, suspended between reality and poetic image, pours forth an exultant song which suggests to the poet(both celestial rapture and human limitation)15. The author of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is (Keats).16. Jane Austen’s first novel is (Sense and sensibility).17. In terms of Pride and Prejudice, which is not true?(Pride and Prejudice is a tragic novel)18. After reading the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, we may come to know that Mrs.Bennet is a woman of(simple character and poor understanding).19. Romanticism is a period of British literature roughly dated from(1798-1832).20. Which of the following is the Gothic novel?(Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein)21.The lines "It was a miracle of rare device,/ A sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice" are found in(Samuel Tayor Colridge’s “kubla Khan”). 22. Which of the following is taken from John Keats’ "Ode on a Grecial Urn"?(“Beauty is ture,true beaury.”)1.Chronologically the Victorian refers to(1836-1901).2.(Charles Dickens’s)works are characterized by a mingling of humor and pathos.3. (Oliver TWist)is famous for its vivid descriptions of the workhouse and life of the underworld in the 19th century London.4.(In Memoriam)is an elaborate and powerful expression of Alfred Tennyson’s philosophical and religious thoughts.4. The most distinguishing feature of Charles Dickens’s works lies in his (character-portrayal).5._(Idylls of the King)is based on the Celtic legends of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.5.(My Last Duches)is Robert Browning’s best-known dramatic monologue.6.(George Eliot)initiates a new type of realism and sets into motion a variety of developments, leading in the direction of both the naturalistic and psychological novel.7.(George Eliot’s)works are known as “novels of characters and environment.”8.(Thomas Hardy)belives that man’s fate is predeterminedly tragic, driven by a combined force of ‘nature”, both inside and outside.9. The author of the work “Dombey and Son” is(Charles Dickens).10. The most important characteristic in Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson is(use of the dramatic monologur) 11. “Self-conceited”, “cruel” and “tyrannical” are most likely the names of the character in(Robert Browning’s My Last Dickess).12. Robert Browning’s style is(rough and disproportionate in appearance).13. According to D.H. Lawrence,(George Eliot)was the first novelist that “started putting all the actions inside”.14. Middlemarch is considered to be George Eliot’s greatest novel, owing to all the following reasons EXCEPT(it probed into perpentual philosophical thoughts). 15. ‘Every day, every hour, brought to him one more little stroke of her nature, and to her one more of his”, the sentence is found in(Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy).16. Which of the following best describes the protagonist (Henchard) of Thomas Hardy’s “The Mayor of the Casterbridge”?(he is a man od self-sufficciency) 17. Which of the following description of Thomas Hardy is wrong?(frome The Mayor of casterbridge on ,the tragic sense becomes the keynote of his novels.)18. Charlotte’s works are famous for the depiction of the life of the middle-class working women, particularly(governesses). 1. The three trilogies of(john Galsworthy’s)Forsyte novels are masterpieces of critical realism in the early 20th century.2. (Oscar Wilder)is the most outstanding stream-consciousness novelist.3. In his famous poem(Sailing to Byzantium), Yeats explores the problems of death, love, old age and art.
4. (The Waste Land)is a poem concerned with the spiritual breakup of a modern civilization in which human life has lost its meaning, significance and purpose. 5. The Rainbow and(Woman in Love)are generally regarded as D.H. Lawrence’s masterpieces.6. In(Ulysses)_, James Joyce intends to present a microcosm of the whole human life by providing an instance of how a single event contains all the events of its kind, and how history is recapitulated in the happenings of one day. 7. Structurally and thematically, George Bernard Shaw follows the great tradition (Realism).8. Galsworthy was a(conventional)writer, having inherited the fine traditions of the great Victorian novelists of the critical realism such as Dickens and Thackeray.9. In "The Forsyte Saga" by John Galsworthy, a typical Forsyte has a remarkable characteristic-----a strong sense of(property).10. In "The Lake Isle of Innisfree", William Bulter Yeats expresses his (desire to escape into a “fairyland”) 11. In which of the following poems by Yeats did you find the allusion to Helen and Trojan War?(Leda and the Swan)12. Of the following poems by T.S. Eliot, which is hailed as a landmark and a model the 20th Century English Poetry?(The Waste Land)13. "The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the windowpanes,/ The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the windowpanes/ Linked its tongue into the corners of the evening,/ Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains." The stanza is taken from(T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock”).14. Which of the following best describes the speaker of ’The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"?(he is a man of inactivity)15. Of the following works by D.H. Lawrence, (Sons and Lovers)established his position as novelist.16. Which of the following is considered to be a better-structured novel?(Woman in Love)17. ’The Lawrence trilogy" refers to the following three plays except(Lady Chatterley’s Lover). 18. Which of the following writings is not the novel of D.H. Lawrence’s?(A Pertrait of the Artist as a Yong Man)19. Of the following writings by James Joyce, which is a prime example of modernism in literature?(Ulysses)20. Which of the following is not true according to James Joyce?(Joyce is a realistic writer in English literature history.)
1. Of all the following issues, (Human bestiality)is definitely NOT the focus of the Romantic writers in the American literary history. 2. Henry David Thoreau’s work, (Walden), has always been regarded as a masterpiece of the New England Transcendental Movement.3. "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" is a famous quote from(Ralph Waldo Emerson)’s writings.4. ’Leaves of Grass’ commands great attention because of its uniquely poetic embodiment of(the democratic ideals
)_, which are written in the founding documents of both the Revolutionary War and the American Civil War.) 5. According to Whitman, the genuine participation of a poet in a common cultural effort was to behave as a supreme(individualist).6. The period before the American Civil War is generally referred to as(The Romantic Period).7. In the following works, which sign the beginning of the American literature?
(Leaves of Grass)8.( Washington Irving)is the author of the work ’The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’.
9. Washington Irving’s ’Rip Van Winkle’ is famous for(Rip’s 20-years sleep).10. Which of the following statement is not true about Washington Irving?( Irving’s taste was essentially progressive or radical.)
11. The Publication of (Nature)_established Emerson as the most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism.12. The phrase "a transparent eye-ball’ compares philosophical mentation of Emerson’s. It appears in(Nature).13. In 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson made a speech entitled("The American Scholar")at Harvard, which was hailed by Oliver Wendell Holmeasas :Our Intellectual Declaration of Independence".
14.( Nathaniel Hawthorne)is the most ambivalent (有争议的) writers in the American literary history.
15. "There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity", which author of the following authors does the mention belong to(Nathaniel Hawthorne).16. In Hawthorne’s novels and short stories, intellectuals usually appear as(villains).
17. All of the following are works by Nathaniel Hawthorne except(White Jacket).
18. Walt Whitman is radically innovative in the form of his poetry. What he prefers for his new subject is(free verse).19. Which of the following features cannot characterize poems by Walt Whitman?
(Lyrical and well-structured)20. " The horizon’s edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh and shore mud. These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will always go forth every day." The two lines are taken from("There Was a Child Went Forth" by Walt Whitman).21. "Moby Dick" is regarded as the first American(Prose epic).22. The giant Moby Dick may symbolize all EXCEPT(. sin of the whale).23. Which of the following comments on the writings by Herman Melville is not true?( The Confidence---Man has something to do with the sea and sailors)
24. The Transcendentalists believe that, first, nature is ennobling, and second, the individual is(divine), therefore, self-reliant.1. Emily Dickinson was sometimes curious about the feeling of speech of death and in one of her poems she wrote about the(moment)of death, the title of the poem is "I heard a Fly buzz when I died". 2. Theodore Dreiser belonged to the school of literary (naturalism)which emphasized heredity and environment as important deterministic forces shaping individualized characters who were presented in special and detailed circumstances.3. More than five hundred poems that Dickinson wrote are about nature, in which her general(scepticism)about the relationship between man and nature is well expressed.
4. "This is my letter to the World" is a poem expressing Emily Dickinson’s(anxiety)about her communication with the outside world.5. Though secluded herself in her own house, Emily Dickinson was never really indifferent of the outside world, as could be seen in her poems such as "I like to see it lap the Miles", which describes a(n) (train), an embodiment of modern civilization.6. After "The Adventure of Tom Sawyer", Twain gives a literary independence to Tom’s buddy Huck in a book called(Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)_, and the book from which "all modern American literature comes".7. Winterbourne is used as a (A character of central consciousness)in Henry James’s "Daisy Miller".8. Emily Dickinson’s verse is most aptly characterized as (exhibiting sensitiveness to the symbolic implications of experience, such as love, death, immortality and etc.).
9. The author of "The Portrait of a Lady" is best at(a dramatizing the collisions between two very different cultural systems on an international scene).10. The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been referred to as (the Age of Realism).11.Who exerts the simple most important influence on literary naturalism?( Darwin) 12. One of the most familiar themes in American naturalism is the theme of human "(bestiality)".13. (Twain)is considered by H.L. Mencken as "the true father of our national literature."14. Mark Twain wrote most of his literary works with a(vernacular)language.15. Henry James’s fame generally rests upon his novels and stories with(international theme).16. In the following writers, who is generally regarded as the forerunner of the 20th century "Stream-of-consciousness" novels and the founder of psychological realism(Henry James).17. In Henry James’ "Daisy Miller", the author tries to portray the young woman as an embodiment of (the free spirit of the New World).18. Which of the following is NOT a usual subject of poetic expression of Emily Dickinson’s?( War and peace)19. The following titles are all related to the subject that escapes from the society and returns to nature except(Dreiser’s Sister Carrie).
20. The greatest work written by Theodore Dreiser is(An American Tragedy).21. Closely related to Emily Dickinson’s religious poetry are her poems concerning(Death and immortality).22. With Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the literary scene, (realism)became the major trend in American literature in the seventies and eighties of the 19th century.1. Ezra Pound is a leading spokesman of the(Imagist Movement).2. Strong affinity of the Chinese and Oriental literature can be found in the works of(Ezra Pound).
3. In Robert Frost’s famous poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", there are four lines like these: “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep,/ And miles to go before I sleep”. The second sleep refers to(die).4. Of the following American poets, whose work was first recognized in England and then in America?( Robert Frost)5. "For I have had too much/ Of apple-picking: I am overtired/ Of the great harvest I myself desired" From these lines we can conclude that the speaker (is tired of the work of apple-picking).6. In these lines "The apparition of these faces in the crowd; / Petals on a wet, black bough", Ezra Pound uses the figure of speech of (metaphor).7. O’Neill’s inventiveness seemingly knew no limits. He was constantly experimenting with new styles and forms for his plays, especially during the twenties when(Expressionism)was in full swing.
8. "He got me, aw right. I’m trou. Even him didn’t tink I belonged." In these sentences taken from ’The Hairy Ape’, the words “he” and “him” both refer to(God).9. (Cubism)is a school of modern painting, whose emphasis is on the formal structure of a work of art and especially on the multiple-perspective viewpoints.10. In a class which discuss the Imagist Movement in the United States, we will definitely NOT include(Gary Snyder).11. In which of the following poems by Ezra Pound did you find the allusion to Wi-shang?( The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter)12. In 1915, Ezra Pound began writing his great work(Cantos), which spanned from 1917 to 1959.13. Robert Frost was the Pulitzer winner on (four)occasions.
13. The founder of the American drama is(Eugene O’Neill).14. The first full-length play written by Eugene O’Neill is(Beyond the Horizon).14. Eugene O’Neill’s ’The Hairy Ape’ explores the problem of(the loss of human identity).15. Fitzgerald’s fictional world is the best embodiment of the spirit of(the Jazz age).
16. Fitzgerald wrote the following except(In Our Time).17. "There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the chamoagne and the stars...", the two sentences are taken from(’The Great Gatsby’ by Fitzgerald).18. Which of the following comments on the novel ’The Great Gatsby’ is not true?( Gatsby is wealthy but unintelligent and brutal.)19. (The Old Man and the Sea)is Hemingway’s masterpiece.
20. Which of the following best describes the protagonist of William Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily"?
(She is a prisoner of the past)21. Who, disregarding grammar and punctuation, always used "I" instead of "I" to refer to himself as a protest against self-importance?( Cummings)22. Who is the author of the writing "The Grapes of Wrath"?( John Steinbeck)
