I. Explain the following literary terms.
1. Romanticism
The most profound and comprehensive idea of romanticism is the vision of a greater personal freedom for the individual. Appeals to imagination; Stress on emotion rather than reason; optimism, geniality. Subjectivity: in form and meaning.
2 American transcendentalism
American transcendentalism was an important movement in philosophy and literature that flourished during the early to middle years of the nineteenth century (about 1836-1860). For the transcendentalists, the soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world and contains what the world contains.
3 Realism: “nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.” the Civil war
a. verisimilitude of details derived from observation
b. representative in plot, setting and character
c. an objective rather than an idealized view of human experience
4. Modernism like modernism in general is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic. The general term covers many political, cultural and artistic movements rooted in the changes in Western society at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. American modernism is an artistic and cultural movement in the United States starting at the turn of the 20th century with its core period between World War I and World War II and continuing into the 21st century.
II. Questions and Answers. Give brief answers to each of the following questions in English.
1. What is local color？
an amalgam of romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things immediately observable: the dialects, customs, sights, and sounds of regional America”
2. What is American Puritanism
1). Total Depravity - the concept of Original Si
2). Unconditional Election - the concept of predestination
3). Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.
4). Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied.
5). Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God.
3. Analyze Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.
themes in autobiography: Self- Improvement Mind: Self-education Body: Physical Activity
Behavior: Moral Perfection Religion: The best service to God is to be good to man
Benjamin Franklin and aspects of The American Dream
Rags to Riches: Impotence to Importance: A Philosophy of Individualism:
Freewill vs. Determinism: Hope and Optimism:
The Autobiography is a record of self-examination and self-improvement.
Benjamin Franklin was a spokesman for the new order of the 18th century enlightenment
The Autobiography is a how-to-do-it book, a book on the art of self-im provement. (for example, Franklin’s 13 virtues) Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream.
The Autobiography is in the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision
4. What is Imagism?
It is a movement of English and American poets in revolt from Romanticism, which flourish 1910-1917. The characteristic products of the movement are more easily recognized than its theories defined: they tend to be short ,composed of short lines of musical cadence rather than metrical regularity, to avoid abstraction, and to treat the image with a hard, clear precision
rather than with overt symbolic intent.
As part of the modernist movement, away from the sentimentality and moralizing tone of nineteenth-century Victorian poetry, imagist poets looked to many sources to help them create a new poetic expression, aiming at clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images.
III. Topic discussion.
1. Discuss Allen Poe’s literary a chievements with his works.
famous American poet, short-story writer and critic father of detective story
master of gothic novel forerunner of symbolism
a father of detective story
Poe introduced of a new form of short fiction--- the detective story.
The word “detective” did not exist in English at the time that Poe was writing, but the genre has become a fundamental mode of twentieth-century literature and film.
b) master of gothic novel
Gothic novel, a genre that rose with Romanticism in Britain in the late eighteenth century, explores the dark side of human experience—death, alienation, nightmares, ghosts, and haunted landscapes. Poe brought the Gothic to America.
Gothic novels originated from The Castle of Otranto, written by Horace Walpole in Britain at the end of the 18th century, which created the early classical Gothic novel mode.
It leads habitually with darkness and horror. Gothic elements include horror, mystery, supernatural phenomenon, misfortune, death, haunted houses, and family curses.
C Literary critic
Poe is one of the few American writers who not only wrote poetry, but also wrote about how to write poetry. His critical essays on poetry include The Poetic Principle, and The Philosophy of Composition.
Poe remained the most controversial and most misunderstood literary figure in the history of American literature.
2. Analyze Freneau’s The Wild Honeysuckle.野金银花
Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, 美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，
Hid in this silent, dull retreat, 却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方——
Untouched thy honey'd blossoms blow, 甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，
Unseen thy little branches greet; 招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；
No roving foot shall crush thee here, 没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，
No busy hand provoke a tear. 没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。
By Nature’s self in white array’d, 大自然把你打扮得一身洁白，
She bade thee shun the vulgar eye, 她叫你避开庸俗粗鄙的目光，
And planted here the guardian shade, 她布置下树荫把你护卫起来，
And sent soft waters murmuring by; 又让潺潺的柔波淌过你身旁；
Thus quietly thy summer goes, 你的夏天就这样静静地消逝，
Thy days declining to repose. 这时候你日见萎蔫终将安息。
Smit with those charms, that must decay, 那些难免消逝的美使我销魂，
I grieve to see your future doom, 想起你未来的结局我就心疼，
They died----nor were those flowers more gay, 别的那些花儿也不比你幸运——
The flowers that did in Eden bloom; 虽开放在伊甸园中也已凋零，
Unpitying frosts, and Autumn’s power 无情的寒霜再加秋风的威力，
Shall leave no vestige of this flower. 会叫这花朵消失得一无踪迹。
From morning suns and evening dews 朝阳和晚露当初曾把你养育，
At first thy little being came; 让你这小小的生命来到世上，