美国文学史期末复习资料
美国文学（本科）试题5
I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases and
put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 1 point for each)
1. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at
Jamestown, Virginia in1607 .
2. became the first American writer.
3. Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety were the values that dominated much of the early American writing.
4. In American literature, the 18th century was an age of and Revolution.
5. Franklin’s best writing is found in his masterpiece .
6. On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet appeared.
7. The signing of symbolized the birth of an independent American nation.
8. The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century was .
9. Washington Irving’s became the first work by an American writer to win international fame.
10. is the summit of American Romanticism.
11. With the publication of Emerson’s in 1836,American Romanticism reached its summit.
12. Hester Prynne is the heroine in Hawthorne’s novel .
13.Henry James’ major fictional theme is .
14. brought the Romantic period to an end. So the age of Realism came into existence.
15. The Poetic style invented by Whitman is now called.
16.“Because I could not stop for Death---” is written by .
17. The term The Gilded Age is given by to describe the post-civil war years.
18.Theodore Dreiser’s first novel is .
19.The leader of the literary movement Imagism is .
20.is the spokesman for Lost Generation.
II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers
or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 1 point for each)
1. The first American writer of local color to achieve wide popularity was .
A. Bret Harte
B. Mark Twain
C. Henry James
D. William Dean Howells
2. Which of the following is the masterpiece of Mark Twain?
A. The Gilded Age
B. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
C. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
D. Jumping Frog
3. Which writer has no naturalist tendency?
A. Mark Twain
B. Jack London
C. Theodore Dreiser
D. Frank Norris
4. Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in and
Thoreau.
A. Jefferson
B. Emerson
C. Freneau
D. Oversoul
5. Which of the following doesn’t belong to Dreiser’s “Trilogy of Desire”?
A. The Financier
B. The Titan
C. The Stoic
D. An American Tragedy
6. Which is the character who appears in the novel Moby Dick?
A. Hester Prynne
B. Mr. Hooper
C. transcendentalism
D. veritism
9. Jack London was at his height of his powers when he wrote, which is deeply influenced by Darwinism.
A. The Sea Wolf
B. To Build a Fire
C. The Call of the Wild
D. Martin Eden
10. The Cop and the Anthem is written by .
A. O. Henry
B. Henry James
C. Jack London
D. Mark Twain
11. “Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.” is a line in the poem The River-Merchant’s
Wife: A Letter written by .
A. T. S. Eliot
B.Robert Frost
C.Ezra Pound
D. Carl Sandburg
12. The imagist poets followed three principles, they are, direct treatment and economy of
expression.
A. blank verse
B. rhythm
C. free verse
D. common speech
13. Of the following American writers, who has NOT been an expatriate in Paris?
A. Ernest Hemingway
B. Ezra Pound
C. F. S. Fitzgerald
D. Emily Dickinson
14. Who was the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s?
A. Ernest Hemingway
B. Ezra Pound
C. John Steinbeck
D. F. S. Fitzgerald
15. The first writings that we call American were the narratives and of the early settlements.
A. journals
B. poetry
C. drama
D. folklores
16. An American Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1828 by .
A. Samuel Johnson
B. Noah Webster
C. Daniel Webster
D. Daniel Defoe
17. Walden is written by .
A. Emerson
B. Thoreau
C. Poe
D. Hawthorne
18.is famous for psychological realism.
A. Mark Twain
B. William Dean Howells
C. Henry James
D. Walt Whitman
19.Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism?
A. Nature
B. Walden
C. On Beauty
D. Self-Reliance
20. Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual Independence”?
A.The American Scholar
B. English Traits
C. The Conduct of Life
D. Nature
21. Santiago is the character in Hemingway’s novel .
A. In Our Time
B. The Old Man and the Sea
C. For Whom the Bell Tolls
D. The Sun Also Rises
22. Which of the following is a much harsher realism?
A. local colorism
B. naturalism
C. romanticism
D. imagism
23. Who is the arbiter of 19th century literary realism in America?
A. Mark Twain
B. Bret Harte
C. William Dean Howells
D. Henry James
24. F. S. Fitzgerald is NOT the author of .
A. The Great Gatsby
B. Tender is the Night
C. A Farewell to the Arms
D. This Side of Paradise
25. The pessimism and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of such American
writers as .
A. Mark Twain
B. F. S. Fitzgerald
C. Walt Whitman
D. Stephen Crane
26. Charles Drouet is a character in the novel of______.
A. The American
B. The Portrait of a Lady
C.Sister Carrie
D. The Gift of the Magi
27. American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. She was .
A. Anne Bradstreet
B. Jane Austen
C. Emily Dickinson
D. Harriet Beecher
28. read his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.
A. Robert Frost
B. T. S. Eliot
C. Carl Sandburg
D. Ezra Pound
29. With Howells, James and Mark Twain active on the scene,became the major trend in the
70s and 80s of the 19th century.
A. sentimentalism
B. romanticism
C. realism
D. naturalism
30.“The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough”. This is the shortest
poem written by .
A. T. S. Eliot
B. Robert Frost
C.Ezra Pound
D. Wallace Stevens
III. Comment on the following poems. Put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 10 points for each)
1.Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by: Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
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.
1.I Heard a Fly Buzz—When I Died—
by: Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died —
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air —
Between the Heaves of Storm —
The Eyes around — had wrung them dry —
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset — when the King
Be witnessed — in the Room —
I willed my Keepsakes — Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable — and then it was
There interposed a Fly —
With Blue — uncertain stumbling Buzz —
Between the light — and me —
And then the Windows failed — and then
I could not see to see —
IV. Give brief answers to the following and write your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 15 points for each)
1. Being a period of the great flowering of American literature, the Romantic Period is called “the American Renaissance”. Briefly discuss what the features of American literature in this period are.
2. How does Sister Carrie embody Dreiser’
2008-2009学年度第二期《美国文学史及作品选读》
（2006级本科）期末考试A卷
参考答案
命题人：王琪、丁华良、祝小丁
I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases and
put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 1 point for each)
1. 1607
2. John Smith
3. Puritan
4. Reason
5. The Autobiography
6. Common Sense
7. The Declaration of Independence
8. Philip Freneau 9. Sketch Book 10. Transcendentalism
11. Nature12. The Scarlet Letter13. international theme14. The civil war
15. free verse16. Emily Dickinson17. Mark Twain
18. Sister Carrie 19. Ezra Pound20. Ernest Hemingway
II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case and put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 1 point for each)
1 --- 5: A C A B D 6 --- 10: C D B C A
11 ---15:C B D C A16 --- 20: B B C A A
21 ---25: B B C C D26 --- 30: C C A C C
III. Comment on the following poems. Put your answers on the Answer Sheet. (20%, 10 points for each)
1. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" was Frost's favorite of his own poems and Frost in a letter to Louis Untermeyer called it "my best bid for remembrance."
This poem illustrates many of the qualities most characteristic of Frost, including the attention to natural detail, the relationship between humans and nature, and the strong theme suggested by individual lines. The speaker in the poem, a traveler by horse on the darkest night of the year, stops to watch a woods filling up with snow. He thinks the owner of the woods is someone who lives in the village and will not see him stopping there. While he is attracted by the beauty of the woods and nature, he is reminded by his little horse and realizes that he has obligations which pull him away from the lure of nature. The speaker describes the beauty and temptation of the woods as “lovely, dark and deep,” but reminds himself that he must not remain there, because he has “promises to keep,” and a long journey ahead of him. He has to complete his obligations and then make his aspirations to be realized. Through the symbolic woods and horse, we also get to know that the speaker has strong self-awareness and self-discipline.
In another way, the poem can be analyzed from the perspective of aspiration and realization. Aspiration is something to be worked at. We enjoy the fruit of our realization only when we reach our destination. But from the spiritual point of view, we notice something else that is the transformation of aspiration and realization. Today's aspiration transforms itself into tomorrow's realization. Again, tomorrow's realization is the pathfinder of a higher and deeper goal. There is no end to our realization, and there is no end of our aspiration as long as you are alive. Our journey is eternal, and the road that we are taking on is also eternal. All aspirations become realization till the end of one’s life.
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter in the Rubaiyat stanza created by Edward Fitzgerald. Each verse (save the last) follows an a-a-b-a rhyming scheme, with the following verse's a's rhyming with that verse's b, which is a chain rhyme. Overall, the rhyme scheme is AABA-BBCB-CCDC-DDDD.
2. The poetess is watching her own death and recording the process. Instead of seeing God and hearing the songs of angels yearned for by Puritans upon death she heard a fly buzz, which is really ironic.
Fly: sets off the stillness in the room;
blocks off the light (from heaven);
suggests a coming decadence
→ the speaker loses the opportunity of gaining immortality after death
The fly plays an important role in the speaker’s experience of death. The poem is, in part, about “the conflict between preconception and perception.” The person on his or her deathbed shifts perspective from “the ritual of dying”to “the fact of death.”The fly, by interrupting the dying speaker with its “Blue — uncertain stumbling Buzz —” obliterates his or her false notions of death. The sound of the fly represents “the last conscious link with reality.” The poem lacks any hint of a life after death.
IV. Give brief answers to the following and write your answers on the Answer Sheet. (30%, 15 points for each)
1.
(1) The whole nation had a strong sense of optimism and the mood of “feeling good”, giving
birth to the spectacular outburst of romantic feeling.
(2) The English counterpart exerted a stimulating impact on the writers of the young nation.
(3) Taking foreign influence in consideration, the great works of American writers still carried
typically American romantic color.
(4) The young nation had brought forth its own philosophy. Transcendentalism stresses man’s
capacity of knowing truth intuitively, and of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses.
2.
(1) In this novel, Dreiser expressed his naturalistic pursuit by expounding the purposelessness
of life and attacking the conventional moral standards.
(2) The novel best embodies his naturalistic belief that while men are controlled by heredity,
instinct and chance, a few extraordinary and unsophisticated human beings refuse to accept their fate wordlessly and instead strive, unsuccessfully, to find meaning and purpose for their existence.
(3) To Sister Carrie, the world is cold and harsh. Alone, helpless, she moves along like a
mechanism driven by desire and catches blindly at any opportunities for a better existence, opportunities first offered by Drouet, and then by Hurstwood. A feather in the wind, she was totally at the mercy of forces she cannot comprehend, still less to say control. The famous picture of Carrie sitting in a rocking chair in her room in the evening, rocking back and forth, is a picture of Carrie’s drifting with the tide. She has no control, no freedom of will.
美国文学（本科）试题6
I. Complete each of the following statements with proper words or phrases: (20%, 1 point for each)
1.In 1817, the stately poem called “Thanatopsis” introduced the best poet, ______, to appear in America up to that time.
2.James Fennimore Cooper launched two kinds of immensely popular stories: the sea
adventure and ______.
3.Ralph Emerson was recognized throughout his life as the leader of ______ movement, yet he
never applied the term to himself or to his beliefs and ideas.
4.Herman Melville’s novel ______ is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a
seemingly supernatural white whale.
5.In the early 19th century, Washington Irving wrote ______ which became the first work by an
American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.
6.In 1845, Henry David Thoreau began a two-year residence at ______ Pond.
7.After his death, ______ became the only American to be honored with a bust in the Poet’s
Corner of Westminster Abbey.
8.The American Romantic period stretches from the end of the 18th century through the
outburst of the ______.
9.The arbiter of 19th century literary realism in America was ______.
10.The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called ______, which is poetry without a fixed
beat or regular rhyme scheme.
11.______ is considered the founder of psychological realism. He believed that reality lies in the
impressions made by life on the spectator.
12.______ is the novel into which Jack London put most of himself.
13.O. Henry’s ______ is a very moving story of a young couple who sell their best possessions in
order to get money for a Christmas present for each other.
14.______ was the leader of a new movement in poetry which he called the “Imagist” movement.
15.In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald completed his best novel ______. It is the story of an idealist who
was destroyed by the influence of the wealthy, pleasure-seeking people around him.
16.Ernest Hemingway’s stature as a writer was confirmed with the publication of his novel ______
in 1929. The novel portrayed a farewell both to war and to love.
17.______ was the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s.
18.William Faulkner considered __________ to be “the first truly American writer”.
19.As a genre, naturalism emphasized heredity and ______ as important deterministic forces
shaping individualized characters that were presented in special and detailed circumstances. 20. A series of sixteen pamphlets by Thomas Paine was entitled ______.
II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers or completions. Choose the one that is the best in each case: (30%, 1 point for each)
1.Moby Dick was dedicated to ____.
A. Ralph Emerson
B. Nathaniel Hawthorne
C. Henry Thoreau
D. Henry Longfellow
2.____ was Mark Twain’s masterpiece from which, as Hemingway noted, “all modern American
literature comes.”
A. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
B. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
C. Life on the Mississippi
D. The Gilded Age
3.____ usually was regarded as the first American writer.
A. Emily Bradford
B. Ann Bradstreet
C. Emily Dickinson
D. John Smith
4.Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the ____.
A. American Enlightenment
B. Sugar Act
C. Chartist movement
D. Romanticist
5.Thomas Jefferson’s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress, and the pursuit of happiness, is
typical of the period we now call ____.
A. Age of Evolution
B. Age of Reason
C. Age of Romanticism
D. Age of Regionalism
6.As a literary and philosophical movement, ____ flourished in New England from the 1830s to
the Civil War.
A. modernism
B. rationalism
C. sentimentalism
D. transcendentalism
7.____ is NOT written by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A. The American Scholar
B. Self-Reliance
C. The Divinity School Address
D. Civil Disobedience
8.There is a good reason to state that New England Transcendentalism was actually ____ on
the Puritan soil.
A. Romanticism
B. Symbolism
C. Mysticism
D. Rationalism
9.American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. This was ____.
A. Anne Bradstreet
B. Jane Austen
C. Emily Dickinson
D. Harriet Beecher
10.Which of the following statements about O. Henry is NOT right?
A. He wrote about the poor people.
B. The ends of his stories are always surprising.
C. Many of his stories contain a great deal of slang and colloquial expressions.
D. The plots are usually clumsy.
11.The main theme of ____’s The Art of Fiction reveals his literary credo that representation of life
should be the main object of the novel.
A. Henry James
B. William Howells
C. Mark Twain
D. O. Henry
12.Which of the following does NOT have a naturalist tendency?
A. Stephan Crane
B. Frank Norris
C. Jack London
D. Walt Whitman
13.For Melville, as well as for the reader and _____, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery, an
ultimately mystery of the universe.
A. Stubb
B. Ishmael
C. Ahab
D. Starbuck
14.Which of the following is NOT optimistic about human nature?
A. Ralph Emerson
B. Walt Whitman
C. Nathaniel Hawthorne
D. Henry Thoreau
15.Emily Dickinson wrote many of her poems on various aspects of life. Which of the following is
NOT a usual subject of her poetic expression?
A. Religion
B. Life and death
C. Love and marriage
D. War and peace
16.Of the following American writers, _____ had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
A. Mark Twain
B. Ernest Hemingway
C. Henry James
D. F. S. Fitzgerald
17.In 1862, President Lincoln exclaimed: “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that
started this great war!” The book refers to ____.
A.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
B. Beloved
B.Pride and Prejudice D. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
18.The works of _____ reveals the misery of the migrant workers because of the American
Depression.
A. F. S. Fitzgerald
B. John Steinbeck
C. Ernest Hemingway
D. William Howells
19.In Leaves of Grass, _____ is all that concerned Whitman.
A. individualism
B. freedom
C. democracy
D. all the above
20.It is not surprising to find in _____’s fiction a world of jungle, where “kill or to be killed” was the
law.
A. Mark Twain
B. Emily Dickinson
C. Theodore Dreiser
D. Henry James
21.During the period after the Civil War, the American society entered in what Mark Twain
referred to as ____.
A. the Golden Age
B. the Modern Age
C. the Gilded Age
D. the Puritan Age
22.“The Custom-House” is an introductory note to _____.
A. Moby-Dick
B. The Scarlet Letter
美国文学史及选读试卷 (1)
美国文学史及选读试卷 Ⅰ.Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternatives. Choose the one that would best complete the statement. (60points in all, 2 for each) 1. Which of following can be said of the common features which are shared by the English and American Romanticists ? A. An increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions. B. An increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters. C. An increasing emphasis on the desire to return to nature. D. both A and B. 2. Which of the following statements about the Romantic period in the history of American literature is NOT true? （） A. In most of the American writings of this period there was a new emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. B. The writers of this period placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and displayed an increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters. C. There was a strong tendency to exalt the individual and the common man. D. Most heroes and heroines in the writings of this period exhibited extremes of reason and nationality. 3.______ is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the American Romanticism in the history of American literature. A. New England Transcendentalism B. England Transcendentalism C. the Harlem Renaissance D. New Transcendentalism 4.Hawthorn e’s unique gift was for the creation of ______ which touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature. A. symbolic stories B. romantic stories
美国文学史及选读自考考点
The literature of colonial America John Smith 1）The1st American writer 2）作品“reports of exploration”have been de scribed as the1st distinctly American literatur e written in English,attracted Pilgrims(朝圣者) &the Puritans. 3）1608，写了封信“A true Relation of Such O ccurance&Accidents of Note as Hath Happen ed in Virginia Since the1st planting of That c olony” 4）1612，第二本书“A map of Virginia:with a Description of the Country” 5）他一共出版了八本书，公司破产以后做了向导，he sought a post as guide to the pilgrims. 1624，“General History of Virginia”讲述How the Indian princess Pocahonats Saved him. 6）他早期记录和反映的思想慢慢演变成了美国历史的基本思想，这种思想推动了美国边疆的西移。7）早期英格兰文学主要关于theological(神学), moral(道德),historical and political.
The Puritans in New England embraced hards hips,together with the discipline of a harsh church.They had toughness,purpose and cha racter,they grappled strongly with challenges they set themselves.他们的基本价值观：hard w ork,thrift,piety and sobriety.（也是美国作品的主导思想） William Bradford&John Withrop 1）William Bradford：“The History of Plymouth Plantation”（从1630年写起，关于一群清教徒从英国出发到Amsterdam最后到新大陆的过程）Cotton Mather评价：“a common blessing and father to them all.” 2）John Withrop：“The History of New England”（1630，登上Arbella号去Massachusetts并keep a journal and to the rest of his life.1826年出版）3）Puritans -Puritans wanted to make pure their religious beliefs and practices.The Puritan was Would-be purifier. -Looked upon themselves as a choosen peol
美国文学史总结
ⅠColonial America(17th century)殖民主义时期文学 1.In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered America and he mistook the native people on the new continent for Indians. Character of colonial literature: a.content: religious, political b.form: diary, journal, letters, travel books, sermons, history (personal literature) c.Style: simple. direct, concise d.out of humble origins Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history. The earliest settlers in America included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿) 2.Captain Town Smith, the first American writer 3.Puritan Thoughts: hard work, thrift(节俭), piety(虔诚), sobriety(节制), 这些也成了早期 美国作品主导思想. 典型的清教徒：John Cotton & Roger William, John Cotton was called “the Patriarch of New England(新英格兰教父)” 清教徒采用的文学体裁：narratives(日记) and journals(游记) 清教徒在美国的写作内容： 1）Their voyage to the new land 2）Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops 3）About dealing with Indians 4）Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit 4.Private literature: theological, moral, historical, political 5.The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor, rose to the level of real poetry. Anne Bradstreet is one of the most interesting of the early poets, 英国最早移民到美国的诗人. The best of the Puritan poets was Edward Taylor. ⅡReason and Revolution(18th century)理性和革命时期文学 1.The War for Independence (1776-1783) ended in the formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic - the United States of America. 2.Bourgeois Enlightenment 3.Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac(穷人理查德的年鉴), an annual collection of proverbs. The Autobiography, 18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传 ?The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The Puritans, as a type, were very much given to self-analysis. ?The Autobiography shows Franklin was spokesman for the new order of 18th-century Enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free, by nature endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
美国文学史及选读期末复习题
1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer. 2.The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people. is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin. 4.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”. 5.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.
has been called the “Father of American Poetry”. 7.In Washington I rving’s appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature. 8.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his William Cullen Bryant’s wok. is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”. 10.Emerson believed above all in
美国文学史-知识点梳理
Part I The Literature of Colonial America I．Historical Introduction The colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.) II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds: 1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration 2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American Writer The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians. Captain John Smith is the first American writer. A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608) A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612) General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers. One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England Literature William Bradford and John Winthrop John Cotton and Roger Williams Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor V．Puritan Thoughts 1. The origin of puritan In the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of
华师自考美国文学史及选读试题
美国文学史及选读试题 I. Multiple Choice 10’ 1. Who is different from others according to the division of writing period? A. Washington Irving B.William Cullen Bryant C. Captain John Smith D. James Fenimore Cooper 2. The American Romantic Period lasted roughly from ____ to ____. A. 1798-1832 B. 1810-1860 C. 1860-1864 D. 1776-1783 3. How many syllables are there in this first line of Raven? (“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,”) A. 11 B. 12 C. 13 D. 16 4. What dominated the Puritan phase of American writing? A. theology B. literature C. esthetics D. revolution 5. At the initial period of the spread of ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to ____. A. typography B. journalism C. revolution D. the development of paper-making industry 6. Who has been called the “Father of American Literature”? A. Walt Scott B. Geoffrey Chaucer
美国文学选读期末考试重点
1、The Colonial Period（1607-1765） American Puritanism ( in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th) 北美第一位女诗人Anne Bradstreet(宗教气息，夫妻恩爱) Edward Taylor 都受英国玄学派影响（metaphysical） 2、The Enlightenment and Revolution Period Benjamin Franklin:Poor Richard's Almanac The Autobiography---“美国梦”的根源 3、American Romanticism（end of 18th to the civil war） American writers emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. 早期浪漫主义Washington Irving father of American Literature
美国文学史期末总结
美国文学史美国文学
全书的焦点集中于南太平洋一条名叫莫比·迪克的白鲸,以及捕鲸船皮廓德(Pequod)号的船长阿哈(Ahab)如何对它有不共戴天的仇恨.阿哈在一次航行中被莫比·迪克咬掉一条腿,立志报仇,指挥皮廓德号环航全球追踪,终于发现了它.经过三天放下小艇紧追.虽然刺中了这条白鲸,但它十分顽强狡猾,咬碎了小艇,也撞沉了大船.它拖着捕鲸船游开时,绳子套住阿哈,把他绞死了.全船人尽皆灭顶.只有一个水手借着由棺材改制的救生浮子而逃得性命.整个故事以这个水手伊希梅尔(Ishmael)自述的方式展开. The book focuses on a whale named Moby Dick lived in south pacific and the captain of whaler Pequod—Ahab. Ahab was once bite by Moby Dick and lost a leg, determined to revenge,he commanded whaler pequod do global tracking, and finally found it. After three days of hot pursuit with the skiff,while they stabbed this white whale, but it was very tenacious and cunning, eventually chewed the skiff, also sank the ship. It dragged whaler swimming away, the rope was around Ahab, he was hanged. Almost all of people on the boat drowned, only a sailor called Ishmael survived .
美国文学史及选读期末复习题
1.C aptain John Smith became the first American writer. 2.T he puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people. collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin. 4.T homas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”.
5.T homas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. has been called the “Father of American Poetry”. 7.I n Washington Irving’s appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.
8.C ooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprise the is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant’s wok. “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”.
美国文学史及选读考试整理
Washington Irving Bracebridge Hall 布雷斯布里奇田庄 (1822) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tales of a Traveller 旅客谈 (1824) Christopher Columbus (1828) c. writing characteristics (1) humorous: the function of his writing is to amuse, to entertain instead of teaching or instruction (2) vivid and true character portrayal (3) finished (refined) and musical language, thus regarded as “the Amn. Goldsmith ” d. analysis on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(选自the sketch book 见闻札记 ) 1. the story:setting,character, plot 2. theme:conflicts and praise conflict betw. Ichabod and Brom conflict betw. the village and the outside world James Fenimore Cooper The Spy (1821): a historical novel The Pilot (1824): a sea novel Leatherstocking Tales 皮裹腿故事集(1823-1841): frontier novels The Last Mohicans (1826) (Colonial War betw. Britain and France) e. writing features: strong points: we can see a variety of incidents and tensions, complicated plot and structure and a beautiful description of nature. Weak points: characterization is weak. There is unsatisfactory description of characters (esp. female). He is not free from syntactical awkwardness, heavy-handed attempt at humor. “Where Irving excels Cooper is weak.” Dialect is not authentic. Edgar Allan Poe The Fall of the House Usher Feature: i. brevity (15 pages) ii. Single effect iii. originality in theme To Helen It was inspired by the beauty of the mother of a schoolmate of Poe in Richmond, Virginia. The poem is famous for a number of things: 1. its rhyme scheme: ababb 2. its varied line lengths 3. its metaphor of a travel on the sea 4. its oft-quoted lines: "To the glory that was Greece,/And the grandeur that was Rome." theme: praise the ideal love and beauty and ancient Greek and Roman civilizations The Raven 乌鸦 theme: the lament over the death of a beautiful woman tone: melancholy Transcendentalism (essayists, poets, novelists) Their journal is “The Dial ” . Definition: Transcendentalism is idealism. (Emerson) b. features (1) stress on Oversoul, that is spirit. (2) stress the importance of individual. (3) fresh conception of nature. c. significance (1) inspired a whole generation of writers such as Whitman, Melville and Dickinson. (2) dresses man ’s subjective initiative as opposed to materialism. (3) liberated people from Calvin ’s original sin d. limitation (1) shallow: cut off from real life or reality; initiated by the rich, they were limited in a certain circle. So, in some degree, they have been cut off from social life and can ’t understand the sufferings of the common people. (2) inward contradiction: gain knowledge by intuition, shows its idealistic aspect. R.W. Emerson (Ralph Waldo) Nature (1836): the Bible of New England transcendentalism The American Scholar (1837): "America's Declaration of Intellectual The Divinity School Address 神学院致辞 (1838) Essays (1841/1847) Representative Men (1850) English Traits (1856)
美国文学史作品作家汇总 全
美国文学史作品作家汇总 美国文学 Part 1. Colonial America Thomas Paine托马斯?潘恩1737-1809 The Case of the Officers of Excise税务员问题；Common Sense常识；American Crisis美国危机；Rights of Man人的权利：Downfall of Despotism专制体制的崩溃；The Age of Reason理性时代 Philip Freneau菲利普?弗伦诺1752-1832 The Rising Glory of America蒸蒸日上的美洲；The British Prison Ship英国囚船；To the Memory of the Brave Americans纪念美国勇士-----同类诗中最佳；The Wild Honeysuckle 野生的金银花；The Indian Burying Ground印第安人殡葬地 .Jonathan Edwards The Freedom of the Will 论意志自由The Great Doctrine of Original Sin defended论原罪The Nature of True Virtue论真是德行的本原 Benjamin Franklin本杰明?富兰克林1706-1790 A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Money; Poor Richard’s Almanac穷查理历书；The Way to Wealth致富之道；The Autobiography自传 Part 2. American Romanticism Washington Irving华盛顿?欧文1783-1859 A History of New York纽约的历史-----美国人写的第一部诙谐文学杰作；The Sketch Book见闻札记The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说-----使之成为美国第一个获得国际声誉的作家；Brace bridge Hall布雷斯布里奇田庄；Talks of Travelers旅客谈；The Alhambra阿尔罕伯拉 Jamie Fennimore Cooper詹姆斯?费尼莫尔?库珀1789-1851 The Spy间谍;The Pilot领航者;The Little page Manuscripts利特佩奇的手稿;Leather stocking Tales皮裹腿故事集:The Pioneer拓荒者；The Last of Mohicans最后的莫希干人;The Prairie大草原;The Pathfinder探路者;The Deer slayer杀鹿者 Part 3.New England Transcendentalism Ralf Waldo Emerson拉尔夫?沃尔多?爱默生1803-1882 Essays散文集:Nature论自然-----新英格兰超验主义者的宣言书;The American Scholar 论美国学者;Divinity; The Over soul论超灵;Self-reliance论自立;The Transcendentalist超验主义者;Representative Men代表人物;English Traits 英国人的特征;School Address神学院演说 Concord Hymn康考德颂;The Rhoda杜鹃花;The Humble Bee野蜂;Days日
美国文学史及选读试卷 (4)
美国文学史及选读试卷 Ⅰ. Multiple choices. (60 points in total, 2 for each) 1. The Romantic Period in American literature started from the publication of Washington Irving's ______ and ended with Whitman's Leaves of Grass. A. The Sketch Book B. Tales of a Traveller C. A History of New York D. The Scarlet Letter 2. At the middle of 19th century, America witnessed a cultural flowering which is called “_____”. A. the English Renaissance B. the Second Renaissance C. the American Renaissance D. the Salem Renaissance 3. As a philosophical and literary movement, the main issues involved in the debate of Transcendentalism are generally concerning ______. A. nature , man and the universe B. the relationship between man and woman C. the development of Romanticism in American literature D. the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism 14. In the following statements, _________ is NOT true about Washington Irving’s famous story “Rip Van Winkle.” A. The story is not only well-kno wn for Rip’s 20-year sleep but also considered a model of perfect English in American literature. B. The story is set against the background of the inevitably changing America. C. The social conservatism and literary preference for the past is revealed, to some extent, in the story. D. Irving describes Rip’s response and reaction in a dramatic way, so that we see clearly both the narrator and Irving agree on the preferability of the present to the past. 15. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Experience is a serous discussion about the conflict between _________ and ordinary life.