美国文学史及选读期末复习题

1、1. Captain John Smith became the first American writer.2. The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people.3. The first major intellectual spokesman of the Massachusetts Bay colony was John Cotton, sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England.”4. Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Late

2、ly Sprung Up in America, and she was nicknamed the tenth Muse.5. Poor Richards Almanac is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin.6. Thomas Paines famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”.7. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Indep

3、endence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.8. Philip Freneau developed a natural, simple, and concrete diction, best illustrated in such nature lyrics as “The Wild Honey Suckle” and “The Indian Burying Ground”.9. Philip Freneau has been called the “Father of Ame

4、rican Poetry”.10. In Washington Irvings Sketch Book appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.11. Coopers enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprise the Leatherstocking tales.12. “To a Waterfowl” is perhaps the

5、 peak of William Cullen Bryants wok.13. “Thanatopsis”, William Cullen Bryants best-known poem, consists of four stanzas in iambic tetrameter abab. The title means “view of death”.14. Edgar Allan Poe is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”.15. Emerson believed

6、 above all in individualism, independence of mind, and self-reliance.16. In Walden, Thoreau thought it better for a man to work one day a week and rest six, and the rest of the time could be devoted to thought.17. Hawthornes stories touch the deepest roots of mans moral nature.18. Moby Dick is a tre

7、mendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale.19. After his death, Longfellow became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey.20. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Toms Cabin, had become an American insti

8、tution and the most famous literary woman in the world.21. William Dean Howells found his subject matter in the experiences of the American middle class.22. William Dean Howells called for the treatment of the “smiling aspects of life” as being the more “American.”23. The naturalists emphasized that

9、 the world was amoral, that men and women had no free will, that their lives were controlled by heredity and the environment.24. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called free verse.25. OHenrys stories are usually short and interesting; Famous for their surprising end.26. Henry James is fa

10、mous for his international theme of the traditionless American confronting the complexity of European life.27. Jack London believed in the inevitable triumph of the strongest individuals.28. Dreisers greatest and most successful novel, An American Tragedy, is about a young man who acts as if the onl

11、y way he can be truly fulfilled is by acquiring wealththrough marriage if necessary.29. Writers of the first postwar era self-consciously acknowledged that they were a “Lost Generation,” devoid of faith and alienated from a civilization.30. Wallace Stevens work is primarily motivated by the belief t

12、hat “ideas of order”.31. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway became the spokesman for what Gertrude Stein had called “a lost generation.”Terms1. Transcendentalism Transcendentalism refers to the religious and philosophical doctrines of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others in New England

13、in the middle 1800s, which emphasized the importance of individual inspiration and intuition, the Oversoul, and Nature. Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism include the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and, therefore, self-reliant. New England Tra

14、nscendentalism is the product of a combination of native American Puritanism and European Romanticism. 2. Naturalism Naturalism, a more deliberate kind of realism, usually involves a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. As a literary movement, naturalism

15、was initiated in France and it came to be led by Zola, who claimed at “scientific” status for his studies of impoverished characters miserably subjected to hunger, sexual obsession, and hereditary defects. Natural fiction aspired to a sociological objectivity, offering detailed and fully researched

16、investigations into unexplored corners of modern society. The most significant work of naturalism in English being Dreisers Sister Carrie.3. American Dream The American Dream is the faith held by many people in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can ac

17、hieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. 4. The Lost Generation The term Lost Generation was coined by Gertrude Stein to refer to a group of American Literary nota

18、bles who lived in Paris from the time period which saw the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Significant members included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, T. S. Eliot, and Gertrude Stein herself. Hemingway likely popularized the term, q

19、uoting Stein (“You are all a lost generation”) as epigraph to his novel The Sun Also Rises. More generally, the term is being used for the young adults of Europe and America during World War I. They were “lost” because after the war many of them were disillusioned with the world in general and unwil

20、ling to more into a settled life5. ModernismModern writing is marked by a strong and conscious break with traditional forms and techniques of expression; it believes that we create the world in the act of perceiving it. Modernism implies historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, of loss, and

21、of despair. It elevates the individual and his inner being over social man and prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious.6. Romanticism Romanticism as a literary movement came into being in England in the later half of the 18th century. It first made its appearance in England as a renewed intere

22、st in medieval literature. William Blake and Robert Burns represented the spirit of what is usually called Pre-Romanticism. With the publication of William Wordsworths Lyrical Ballads in collaboration with S. T. Coleridge, romanticism began to bloom and found a firm place in history of English liter

23、ature. In fact, the first half the 19th century recorded the triumph of Romanticism.7. Puritanism The principles and practices of puritans were popularly known as Puritanism. Puritanism accepted the doctrines of Calvinism: the sovereignty of God; the supreme authority of the Bible; the irresistibili

24、ty of Gods will for man in every act of life from cradle to grave. These doctrines led the Puritans to examine their souls to find whether they were of the elect and to search the Bible to determine Gods will.8. Hemingway Heroes / Code Hero“Hemingway Heroes” refer to some protagonists in Hemingways

25、works. Such a hero usually is an average man of decidedly masculine tastes, sensitive and intelligent. And usually he is a man of action and of a few words. He is such an individualist, alone even when with other people, somewhat an outsider, keeping emotions under control, stoic and self-discipline

26、d in a dreadful place where one can not get happiness. The Hemingway heroes stand for a whole generation. In a world which is essentially chaotic and meaningless, a Hemingway hero fights a solitary struggle against a force he does not even understand. The awareness that it must end in defeat, no mat

27、ter how hard he strives, engenders a sense of despair. But Hemingway heroes possess a kind of “despairing courage” as Bertrand Russell terms. It is this courage that enables a man to behave like a man, to assert his dignity in face of adversity. Surely Hemingway heroes differ, one from another, in t

28、heir view of the world. The difference which comes gradually in view is an index to the subtle change which Hemingways outlook had undergone.Identify the fragments.1. These are the times that try mens souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of

29、their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightlyThis dearness only t

30、hat gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.(1)Which book is this passage take from?(2)Who is the author of this book?(3)Whom is the author praising? Whom is the author criticizing?(4)What do you think of the language? Answer: (1) The American Crisis. (2) Th

31、omas Paine(3) Paine is praising those who stand “it”, it referring to “the service of their country”. In the meantime, Paine is criticizing those who shrink from the service of their country in this crisis.(4) The language is plain, impressive and forceful. Paine himself once said that his purpose a

32、s a writer was to use plain language to make those who can scarcely read understand and to fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question and nothing else.2. From morning suns and evening dewsAt first thy

33、 little being came;If nothing once, you nothing lose, For when you die you are the same;The space between, is but an hour,The frail duration of a flower.(1) Who is the writer of these verses?(2) What is the title of this poem?(3) Give a brief comment on this poems.Answer: (1) Philip Freneau (2) The

34、Wild Honeysuckle(3) Here Freneau offers a version of an abundant America with potential for providing a good life for all. The poem is also an indication of his dedication to American subject matter as he examined peculiarly American characteristics of the countryside.3. From the listless repose of

35、the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. Drowsy and dreamy infl

36、uence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was bewitched by a high German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovere

37、d by Master Hendrick Hudson.Question:(1) Who is the writer of this short story from which the passage is taken?(2) What is the title of this short story?(3) Give a definition of “short story”?Answer: (1) Washington Irving (2) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(3) A short story is a brief prose fiction, usu

38、ally one that can be read in a single sitting. It generally contains the six major elements of fictioncharacterization, setting, theme, plot, point of view and style.4. It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho, was encountered. She was manned al

39、most wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now widly heightened by circumstance of the Town-Hos story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of o

40、ne of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his matesNevertheless, so p

41、otent and influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequods main-mast. Interweavi

42、ng in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record. Question:(1)From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) What is the name of the novelist?(3) Who is Ahab?(4) What is Pequod?(5) What is

43、 the theme of the novel?Answer: (1) Moby Dick (2) Herman Melville (3) The captain of the whaling ship(4) The name of the whaling ship(5) The rebellious struggle of Captain Ahab against the overwhelming, mysterious vastness of the universe and its awesome sometimes merciless forces. 5. To go into sol

44、itude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things. One might th

45、ink the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many ge

46、neration the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these preachers of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.Question:(1)This paragraph is taken from a famous essay. What is the of the essay?(2)Who is the author?(3)What does the author say

47、 would happen if the stars appeared one night in a thousand years?(4)Give a peculiar term to cover the authors belief.Answer:(1) Nature(2) Ralph Waldo Emerson(3)Then, the men cannot believe and adore the God, cannot preserve the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown.(4)Transcendentalis

48、m6. Isabel always felt an impulse to pull out the pins; not that she imagined they inflicted any damage on the tough old parchment, but because it seemed to her her aunt might make better use of her sharpness. She was very critical herself-it was incidental to her sex, and her nationality but she wa

49、s very sentimental as well, and there was something in Mrs. Touchetts dryness that set her own moral fountains flowing.Questions:(1) This passage is taken from a well-known novel. What is the name of the novel?(2) Who is the author of this novel?(3) Make a brief comment on the heroine of this novel?

50、(4) What is theme of the author? Tell something about it.Answer:(1) The Portrait of a Lady (2) Henry James(3) She is one of the Jamesian American girls. She arrives in Europe, full of hope, and with a will to live a free and noble life, but in fact, she only falls prey to the sinister designs of two

51、 vulgar and unscrupulous expatriates, Madam Merle and Gilbert Osmond.(4) Jamesian theme refers to Henry Jamess handling of his major fictional theme, “the international theme”: the meeting of America and Europe, American innocence in contact and contrast with European decadence and the moral and Psy

52、chological complications arising there from.7. When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances

53、, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human temper. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human. The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive

54、 light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper caut

55、ious interpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognized for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:(1) From which novel is this paragraph taken?(2) Who is the autho

56、r of this novel?(3) How do you understand “the cosmopolitan standard of virtue”?(4) Is there any naturalist tendency in this passage?Answer: (1)Sister Carrie(2) Theodore Dreiser(3) “The cosmopolitan standard of virtue” is something that makes a person become low in virtue and become worse.(4) Yes.Gi

57、ve brief answers to the following questions.1. What are the characteristics of the Colonial Literature?In a real sense, there were no literal works in the early colonial period. They were just personal literature in the form of diaries, travel books, letters, journals, sermons, histories and prose.(

58、1) In content, they wrote about the voyage to the new land, about adopting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops, about dealing with Indian, and especially about religion.(2) In form, English traditions were imitated.2. Comment briefly on Emily Dickinsons themes?(1) By far the largest portion of Dickinsons poetry concerns death and immortality, theme which lie at the centre of Dickinsons world.(2) Dickinsons nature poems are also great in number and rich in matter. Natural phenomena, changes of seasons, heavenly bodies, animals, birds and insects, fl