英美文学考前串讲（7）American LiteratureChapter 1 The Romantic PeriodI. Choose the right answer:1. Of all the following issues, _____is definitely NOT the focus of the Romantic writers in the American literary history. A. Puritan morality B. Human bestiality C. Noble sav ages D. Divinity of man Answer: B (P401)2.Henry David Thoreau’s work, ________, has always been regarded as a masterpiece of the New England Transcende ntal Movement.A. WaldenB. The PioneersC. NatureD. "Song of Myself" Answer: A (P402)3. "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" is a famous quote fr om______’s writings. A. Walt Whitman B. Henry David Thoreau C. Herman Melville D. Ralph Waldo Eme rson Answer: D (P402)4. Leaves of Grass’commands great attention because of its uniquely poetic embodiment of ________, which are written in the founding documents of both the Revolutionary War and t he American Civil War.A. the democratic idealsB. the romantic idealsC. the self-reliance spiritsD. the relig ious ideals Answer: A (P447)5. According to Whitman, the genuine participation of a poet in a common cultural effortwas to behave as a supreme_________. A. democrat B. individualist C. romanticist D. lead er Answer: B (P448)6. The period before the American Civil War is generally referred to as ___________.A. The Naturalist PeriodB. The Modern PeriodC. The Romantic PeriodD. The Realistic Pe riod Answer: C (P399)7. In the following works, which sign the beginning of the American literature? A. The S ketch Book B. Leaves of Grass C. Leather Stocking Tales D. Adventures of Huckleberry FinnB (P399)8._____is the author of the work ’The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’. A. Washington Irving B. James Joyce C. Walt WhitmanD. William Butler Yeats Answer: A (P404)9. Washington Irving’s ’Rip Van Winkle’is famous for_________. A. Rip’s escape into a mysteriousB. The story’s German legendary source materialC. Rip’s seeking for happinessD. Rip’s 20-years sleep Answer: D (P406)10. Which of the following statement is not true about Washington Irving?A. Washington Irving is regarded as Father of the American short stories.B. Irving’s relationship with the Old World in terms of his literary imagination can hardly be ignored considering his success both abroad and at home. C. Irving’s taste was essentially progressive or radical.B.D. Washington Irving has always been regarded as a writer who "perfected the best class ic style that American literature ever produced." Answer: C (P403---406)11. The Publication of ______established Emerson as the most eloquent spokesman of New Eng land Transcendentalism. A. Nature B. Self-Reliance C. The American Scholar D. The Over-Soul Answer: A (P420)12. The phrase "a transparent eye-ball’compares philosophical mentation of Emerson’s. It appears in_________.A. The American ScholarB. NatureC. The over SoulD. Essays: Second Series Answer: B ( P423)13. In 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson made a speech entitled _______at Harvard, which was hail ed by Oliver Wendell Holmeasas :Our Intellectual Declaration of Independence".A. "Self-Reliance"B. "Divinity School Address"C. "The American Scholar"D. "Nature" Answe r: C (P423)14. _____is the most ambivalent (有争议的) writers in the American literary history.A. Nathaniel HawthorneB. Walt WhitmanC. Ralph Waldo EmersonD. Mark Twain Answer: A (P 429)15. "There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, through the w hole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity", which author of the following aut hors does the mention belong to________.A. Washington IrvingB. Ralph Waldo EmersonC. Nathaniel HawthorneD. Walt Whitman Answe r: C (P431)16.InHawthorne’s novels and short stories, intellectuals usually appear as________.A. saviorsB. villainsC. commentatorsD. observers Answer: B (P432)17. All of the following are works by Nathaniel Hawthorne except_______.A. The House of the Seven GablesB. White JacketC. The Marble FaunD. The BlithedaleRomance Answer: B (P431)18. Walt Whitman is radically innovative in the form of his poetry. What he prefers forhis new subject is__________. A. free verse B. blank verse C. lyric poem D. heroic cou plet Answer: A (P450)19. Which of the following features cannot characterize poems by Walt Whitman?A. Lyrical and well-structuredB. Free-flowingC. Simple and rather crudeD. Conversationaland casual Answer: A (P450---451)20.The horizon’s edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh and shore mud. These became par t 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____________. A. "There Was a Child Went Forth" by Walt Whitman B. "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound C. "Cavalry Crossing a Fo rd" by Walt Whitman D. "Ulysses" by Joyce Answer: A (P454)21. "Moby Dick" is regarded as the first American_________.A. Prose epicB. Comic epicC. Dramatic fictionD. Poetic fiction Answer: A (P460)22. The giant Moby Dick may symbolize all EXCEPT________.A. mystery of the universeB. sin of the whaleC. power of the great NatureD. evilof the world Answer: B (P461)23. Which of the following comments on the writings by Herman Melville is not true?A. "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is a short story.B. "Benito Cereno" is a novella.C. The Confidence---Man has something to do with the sea and sailors.D. Moby-Dick is regarded as the first American prose epic. Answer: C (P459---460)24. The Transcendentalists believe that, first, nature is ennobling, and second, the indivi dual is____, therefore, self-reliant.A. insignificantB. vicious by natureC. divineD. forward-looking Answer: C (P402)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 t art 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.Questions:1) Please identify the author and the title of the work. 2) What’s the meaning of this passage?参考答案:1) This is an excerpt from "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving. (P408)2) 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) 附: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 (惧内的，妻管严的) husband.2) Because his wife’s shrewish (泼妇一样的) treatment, Rip had to escape from his home to the little inn in the village. Whenit 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 t he 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, hegot 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.....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 a nd 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> Americ an 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: ①the early puritan settlement; ②the confrontation with the Indians; ③the frontiersmen’s life; ④the wild west; ⑤imagination. (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, whoseimage 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 obe y 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. An swer: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 knowledgetranscending 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 rightand 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 emot ional communication between an individual soul and the universal "over-soul" -unity of Natu re.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)4. Hawthorne was a master in using symbol and allegory; cite some example to analyze it.Answer:1) Allegorically, Young Goodman Brown becomes an Everyman called Brown, who will be aged in one night by an evil adventure, and the evilness makes everyone a fallen idol in the world.2) In the angle of Symbol: "Brown look up to the Heaven and resist the wicked one" sym bols Brown has the force to resist the evilness of the Nature and he still has the fai th to God; but "he is alone in the forest" symbols the society is the place full of s ins and evilness, Brown’s strength is not enough at all; then after returning, he lives a dismal and gloomy lif e symbols he has been crushed down by the social evilness and lost his belief in goodne ss and piety. (P434—435)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 always exalted a disappearing past, and he prefer the past to present, prefer a dream-like world to a real one;3) His stories were always from legend, especially German legends, showing best classic style. (P405—406)6. Sea adventures are Melville’s favorite subject; "Moby-Dick" is a great novel in the theme, which is also noted for its symbolism, please analyze it in detail. Answer:1) About the sea adventure: it symbols the voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe; a spirit exploration into man’s deep reality and psychology;2) About the boat; it symbols the society, and the crew symbol all kinds of people with different social and ethnic ideas;3) About the white whale: To the author, it symbols nature, it is a complex, unfathomable and beautiful; To the captain Ahab, it is evilness, is a wall. So he will lead all his crew to cut through the wall to dig out all the unknown, mysterious things behind i t. To the narrator, Ishmael, it is a mystery. (P460—461)7. 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; universa lity.2) His styles are special: "free verse"; "catalogue"; simple and even crude language. (P44 8-551)。