英美文学复习资料.docx

1、英美文学复习资料英 美 文 学I. 本期讲过的所有名家名作II名词术语: Ode in ancient literature, is an elaborate lyrical poem posed for a chorus to chant and to dance to; in modern use, it is a rhymed lyric expressing noble feelings, often addressed to a person or celebrating an event.AlliterationIt is a form of initial rhyme, or h

2、ead rhyme. It is the repetition of the same sound or sounds at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other.e.g. He came on under the clouds, clearly saw at lastRage-inflamed, wreckage-bent, be ripped openKenninga figurative language in order to add beauty to ordinary o

3、bjects. It is a metaphor usually posed of two words, which bees the formula for a special object. e.g. Helmet bearer warriorSwan roadthe seaThe world candle the sunRepetition &Variatione.g. Grendel / The spoiler / warlike creature / the foe / horrible monsterA host of young soldiers / a pany of Kins

4、men / a whole warrior-bandCaesuraevery line consists of two clearly separated half lines between which is a pause, called caesura.e.g. Grendel stalking; Gods brand was on him.the gold-hall of men, the mead-drinking placenailed with gold plates. That was not the first visitBallad is a form of verse,

5、often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century andused extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many ballads were written and sold

6、as single sheet broadsides. The form was often used by poets and posers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century it took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and the term is now often used as synonymous with any love song, particularly the pop

7、 or rock power ballad.Epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. The first epics are known as primary, or original, epics. One such epic is the Old English story Beowulf. Epics that attem

8、pt to imitate these like Miltons Paradise Lost are known as literary, or secondary, epics.The six main characteristics:1. The hero is outstanding. He might be important, and historically or legendarily significant.2. The setting is large. It covers many nations, or the known world.3. The action is m

9、ade of deeds of great valor or requiring superhuman courage.4. Supernatural forcesgods, angels, demonsinsert themselves in the action.5. It is written in a very special style.6. The poet tries to remain objective.Sonnet (Italian Sonnet, Shakespearean Sonnet, Spenserian Sonnet, Miltonic Sonnet)Italia

10、n sonnet vcreated by Giao da Lentini, head of the Sicilian School.vPetrarch (1304-1374) most famous early sonneteer vIt falls into two main parts: van octave rhyming “abbaabba (set up a problem ) + voltavfollowed by a sestet rhyming “cdecde or some variant, such as “cdccdc (answer)English / Shakespe

11、arean sonnetvThe greatest practitioner: William Shakespearevthree quatrains followed by a couplet voften presents a repetition-with-variation of a statement in each of the three quatrainsvThe final couplet in the English sonnet usually imposes an epigrammatic turn at the end. a fourteen-line poem of

12、 iambic pentameters. This form is made up of 3 quatrains and a couplet, rhyming：ababcdcdefefggSpenserian sonnetv A variant on the English form is the Spenserian sonnet, named after Edmund Spenser v three quatrains connected by the interlocking rhyme scheme and followed by a couplet v the rhyme schem

13、e is abab, bcbc, cdcd, eehas the rhyme scheme ababbcbccdcdee and no break between the octave (an eight line stanza) and the sestet( a six line stanza). It is named after the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser. Miltonic SonnetConceitin literature, a conceit is an extended metaphor with a plex logic that

14、 governs a poetic passage or entire poem. By juxtaposing, usurping and manipulating images and ideas in surprising ways, a conceit invites the reader into a more sophisticated understanding of an object of parison. Extended conceits in English are part of the poetic idiom of Mannerism, during the la

15、ter sixteenth and early seventeenth century.Simileisafigureofspeechwhichmakesaparisonbetweentwounlikeelementshavingatleastonequalityorcharacteristicinmon.Simileisalmostalwaysintroducedbythefollowingwords:like,as,asas,asitwere,asif,asthough,besomethingof,similarto,etc.Metaphorisafigureofspeechwherepa

16、risonisimplied.Itisalsoaparisonbetweentwounlikeelementswithasimilarquality.Butunlikeasimile,thisparisonisimplied,notexpressedwiththewordasorlike.SymbolIn literary usage, a symbol is a specially evocative kind of image: that is, a word or phrase referring to a concrete object, scene, or action which

17、also has some further significance associated with it.Types of SymbolsI. Universal or cultural symbols/traditional symbolsare those whose associations are the mon property of a society or culture and are so widely recognized and accepted that they can be said to be almost universal. e.g. waterlife S

18、erpentthe Devil LambJesus ChristII. Contextual, Authorial, or Private symbolsare those whose associations are neither immediate nor traditional; instead, they derive their meaning, largely if not exclusively, from the context of the work in which they are used. e.g. the albatross in Coleridges “The

19、Rime of the Ancient MarinerSynecdochea figure of speech in which a part is substituted for a whole or a whole for a parte.g. My baby woke for a bottle. 提喻用局部代替全体,或用全体代替局部,或特殊代替一般.Oxymoron is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory. Oxymora appear in a variety of c

20、ontexts, including inadvertent errors (such as ground pilot) and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox. The most mon form of oxymoron involves an adjectivenoun bination of two words. For example, the following line from Tennysons Idylls of the King contains two oxymora:And faith unfaithful

21、kept him falsely true.e.g. painful pleasure a thunderous silencePunThe pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play that suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. Puns are used to crea

22、te humor and sometimes require a large vocabulary to understand. Puns have long been used by edy writers, such as William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and George Carlin. Puns can be classified in various ways: The homophonic pun, a mon type, uses word pairs which sound alike (homophones) but are not sy

23、nonymous.A homographic pun exploits words which are spelled the same (homographs) but possess different meanings and sounds.Homonymic puns, another mon type, arise from the exploitation of words which are both homographs and homophones.A pound pun is a statement that contains two or more puns.A recu

24、rsive pun is one in which the second aspect of a pun relies on the understanding of an element in the first.Visual puns are used in many logos, emblems, insignia, and other graphic symbols, in which one or more of the pun aspects are replaced by a picture.Personification a figure of speech which rep

25、resents abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities, including physical, emotional, and spiritual; the application of human attributes or abilities to nonhuman entities.Exaggeration Dramatic monologue a kind of poem in which the speaker is imagined to be addressing a silent audienceIrony

26、in its broadest sense, is arhetorical device,literary technique, or event characterized by an incongruity, or contrast, between what the expectations of a situation are and what is really the case. A subtly humorous perception of inconsistency, in which an apparently straightforward statement or eve

27、nt is undermined by its context so as to give it a very different significance.Allusionis a figure of speech, in which one refers covertly or indirectly to an object or circumstance from an external context. It is left to the reader or hearer to make the connection; where the connection is detailed

28、in depth by the author, it is preferable to call it a reference. Literary allusion is closely related to parody and pastiche, which are also text-linking literary devices.A type of literature has grown round explorations of the allusions in such works as Alexander Popes The Rape of the Lock or T. S.

29、 Eliots The Waste Land.James JoyceRomanticismRomanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe. In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of theAge of Enlightenmentand a reaction against the

30、 scientificrationalization of nature.It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature.Modernism Modernism is a rather vague term which is used to apply to the works of a group of poets, novelists, painters, and musicians between 1910 and the early years after the World War II.

31、 The term includes various trends or schools, such as imagism, expressionism, dadaism, stream of consciousness, and existentialism. It means a departure from the conventional criteria or established values of the Victorian age.The basic themes of modernism:1. Alienation and loneliness are the basic

32、themes of modernism. In the eyes of modernist writers, the modern world is a chaotic one and is inprehensible. 2. Although modern society is materially rich, it is spiritually barren. It is a land of spiritual and emotional sterility. 3. Human beings are helpless before an inprehensible world and no