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英国文学史-名词解释

名词解释1.Romance: a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, especially for the knight. The most popular theme employed was the legend of King Arthur and the round table knight.2.Ballad: a story told in song, usually in four-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed.3.Heroic Couplet: a couplet consisting of two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter, and written in an elevated style.4.Renaissance: a revival or rebirth of the artistic and scientific revival which originated in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. It has two features: a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature and keen interest in activities of humanity.5.Sonnet: 14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter.6.Blank verse: poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.7.Enlightenment: a revival of interest in the old classical works, logic, order, restrained emotion and accuracy.8.Neoclassicism: the Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in Greek and Roman works. This tendency is known as Neoclassicism.9.Sentimentalism: it was one of the important trends in English literature of the later decades of the 18th century. It concentrated on the free expression of thoughts and emotions, and presented a new view of human nature which prized feeling over thinking, passion over reason. 10.Romanticism: imagination, emotion and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. The particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism include: subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; freedom from rules; solitary life rather then life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason; and love of and worship of nature.11.Lake Poets: the English poets who lived in and drew inspiration from the Lake District at the beginning of the 19th century.12.Byronic Heroes: a variant of the Romantic heroes as a type of character( enthusiasm, persistence, pursuing freedom), named after the English Romantic Poet Gordon Byron. 13.Realism: seeks to portray familiar characters, situations, and settings in a realistic manner. This is done primarily by using an objective narrative point of view and through the buildup of accurate detail.14.Aestheticism: an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts.15.Stream-of-Consciousness: it is a literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur without any clarification by the author. It is a narrative mode. 16.Dramatic Monologue: a kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in the poem.17.Iambic Pentameter: a poetic line consisting of five verse feet, with each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, that is, with each foot an iamb.18.Epic: a long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.19.Elegy: a poem of mourning, usually over the death of an individual; may also be a lament over the passing of life and beauty or a meditation of the nature of death; a type of lyric poem. 20.Canto: a section of a long poem. The cantos can be a great poem21.Ode: a complex and often lengthy lyric poem, written in a dignified formal style on some lofty or serious subjects. Odes are written for a special occasion, to honor a person or a season or to commemorate an event.22.Song: a short poem with distinct musical qualities, normally written to be set to music. 23.Lyric: a poem, usually a short one, that expresses a speaker's personal thoughts or feelings. The elegy, song and ode are all forms of lyrics.24.Spenserian Stanza: a nine-line stanza made up of 8 lines of iambic pentameter ending with an Alexandrine. Its thyme scheme is ababbcbcc. This stanza was common to travel literature. 25.Metrical Pattern: a lyric poem of five 14-lined stanzas containing four tercets and a closing couplet. The rhyme scheme is aba bcb cdc ded ee.文学史中古时期1.Beowulf《贝奥武甫》: the natural epic of the English people; Denmark story, alliteration, metaphor, understatements2.Sir Gawain and Green Knight《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》3.Geoffrey Chaucer(杰弗里乔叟):the Father of English Poetry; The Canterbury Tales《埃特伯雷故事集》(24stories)文艺复兴时期1.Thomas More: Utopia《乌托邦》- the communication between more and the traveler which just came back from Utopia.2.Francis Bacon: the first English Essayist; Essays《随笔集》- Of Studies, Of Truth (philosophical and literary works)3.Thus Wyatt: first to introduce the sonnet into English literature.4.Edmund Spenser: Poet's poet; The Fairy Queen《仙后》(to Queen Elizabeth I)5.William Shakespeare:Sonnet 18(Shall I compare thee to a summer's day)四大悲剧:Hamlet (revenge of the Prince HamletKing Lear(年事已高的李尔王意欲把国土分给3个女儿,两个大女儿赢其宠信而瓜分国土,小女儿却因不愿阿谀奉承而一无所得。

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