1 Basic Literary Knowledge
Ⅰ. Fill in the blanks
1. The _____is the most commonly used foot in English poetry, in which an unstressed syllable comes first, followed by a ______syllable.
2. Rhyme is the _____of sounds in two or more words or phrases that usually appear close to each other in a poem. For example: we/thee, man/can, and gold/hold.
3. A _____is a sign that suggests more than its literal meaning.
4. The two-line stanza form is called the _____, the best-known being the _____which is written in iambic pentameter with an end rhyme.
5. The _____foot, which is the reverse of the iambic foot, also consists of one stressed and one unstressed syllables, but with the stressed one coming first.
6. An anapestic foot is made up of two _____and one stressed syllables, with the two unstressed in front.
7. American achievements in the short story have demanded international respect and admiration for more from ______in the early 19th century.
8. ______is generally thought of as the true beginner of the short stories because he was the first writer who formulated a poetics of the short stories.
9. There were two other American writers who had made significant contributions to the literary form of short story: ______, with his stories of early life in California, started a vogue of local color stories and made the short story seem completely at home in the US, and Henry James, brought to the form a careful writing that made his stories models.
10. In the 20th century, there have been many who have won fame abroad as well as in the US for their stories: ______, _______, _______, ________, and dozens of others.
11. As you read from writer to writer, from ______’s Rip Van Winkle to ______’s A Good Man is Hard to Find, you will see the coming of a short story age, growing from an entertaining tale into a store which probes deep into human souls.
12. Modern literary fiction has been dominated by two forms: _______
13. Washing Irving, the father of American literature, developed the _____as a genre in American literature.
14. ______is usually acknowledged as the originator of detective stories. He is also credited with developing many of the standard features of detective fiction. His detective M August Dupin of Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter is the forerunner of a long line of fictional detectives who are eccentric and brilliant.
15. ______is the repetition of similar vowel sounds situated in a sentence,
a verse line or series of words.
16. A dactylic foot is made up of one ______ and two _______syllables, with the stressed in front.
17. The _____is a structured division of a poem, consisting of a series of verse lines which usually comprise a recurring pattern of meter and rhyme. In traditional English poetry, there are various forms containing two, there, four, five, six, seven, eight or nine lines. 18. Consonance is the repetition of _____but with different preceding vowels e.g. heart/light, flag/plug. Unlike alliteration and assonance, consonance can serve as end rhythm.
Ⅱ. Multiple Choices
1. Edgar Allan Poe wrote poems which are marvels of beauty and craftsmanship such as ________.
A. I Hear America Singing
B. The Raven
C. To a Waterfowl
D. The Fall of the House of Usher
2. Which writer is not a poet?
A. Michael Wigglesworth
B. Anne Bradstreet
C. Edward Taylor
D. Thomas Hooker
.3. The common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasis on the _______
A. Revolutionism
B. Reason
C. Individualism
D. Rationalism
4. In American literature, the 18th century was the age of Enlightenment, ______was the dominant spirit.
A. Humanism
B. Rationalism
C. Revolution
D. Evolution
5. Who was considered as the “poet of American revolution”?
A. Michael Wigglesworth
B. Edward Taylor
C. Anne Bradstreet
D. Philip Freneau
6. 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
7. Howells defined realism as “nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material”, and he best exemplified his theories in three novels: The Modern Instance,The Rise of Silas Laphan, and ______.
A. White Fang
B. The last of the Mohicans
C. A Hazard of New Fortunes
D. The Prince and the Pauper 8．Mark twain created, in ______, a masterpiece of American realism that is also one of the great books of world literature.
A. Huckleberry Finn
B. Tom Sawyer
C. The Man That Corrupted Hadleybury
D. The Gilded Age
9. The pessimism and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of such American writers as ______.
A. Mark Twain
B. Francis Scott Fitzgerald
C. Wait Whitman
D. Stephen Crane
10. Although realism and naturalism were products of the 19th century, their final triumph came in the 20th century, with the popular and critical successes of such writers as Edwin Arlington, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, William Faulkner, and _____
A. Edgar Allan Poe
B. Sherwood Anderson
C. Washington Irving
D. Ralph Ellison
11. American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. She was ______.
A. Anne Bradstreet
B. Jane Austen
C. Emily Dickenson
D. Harriet Beecher
12. Choose the well-known short stories written by William Sidney Porter.
A. The Gift of the Magi
B. Self-Reliance
C. The Red Badge of Courage
D. The Minister’s Black Veil
13. In 1900, Jack London published his first collection of short stories, named _____
A. The Son of the Wolf
B. The Sea Wolf
C. The Law of Life
D. White Fang
14. With Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the scene, _______become the major trend in the seventies and eighties of the 19th century. A. sentimentalism B. romanticism
C. realism
D. naturalism
15. Choose from the following writers a staunch advocate of 19th century American realism.
A. Mark Twain
B. Washington Irving
C. Stephen Crane
D. Jack London
16. Which writer has naturalist tendency?
A. Frank Norris
B. William Dean Howells
C. Theodore Dreiser
D. Both A and B
17. Early in the 20th century, ______published works that would change the nature of American poetry.
A. Ezra Pound
B. T. S. Eliot
C. Robert Frost
D. Both A and B
18. The American “Thirties” lasted from the Crash, though the ensuing Great Depression, until the outbreak of the Second World WAR 1939. THIS WAS a period of “_______”
A. Poverty
B. Bleakness
C. Important social movements
D.A new social consciousness
19. The imagist writers followed three principles. They respectively are direct treatment, economy of expression and _______.
A. local color
B. irony
C. clear rhythm
D. blank verse
20. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” This is the shortest written by ______.
A. T. S. Eliot
B. Robert Frost
C. Ezra Pound
D. E .
E. Cummings
21. Richard Cory and Miniver Cheevy are good examples of Arlington Robinson’s_______ attitude.
A. romantic
B. fantastic
C. realism
D. materialistic
22. Frost is famous for his lyric poems. Which of the following lyric poems was not written by Frost?
A.Birches
B. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
C.After Apple-Picking
D. The Road Not Taken
E. Richard Cory
23. As a poet, Sandburg was associated with the Imagists and wrote well=known Imagist poems such as _______.
A. Fog
B. Lost
C. Monotone
D. The Harbor
E. all of the above
24. Sandburg had also taken interest in folk songs which he tried to collect and sing during his travels. These folk songs appeared eventually in print in his well-known _______.
A. Good Morning, America
B.The People, Yes
C. In Rechless Ecstasy
D. The American Songbag
25. ______, one of the essays in The Sacred Wood, is the earliest statement of T. S. Eliot’s aesthetics, which provided a useful instrument for modern criticism.
A. Sweeny Agonistes
B.Tradition and the Individual Talent
C. A Primer of Modern Heresy
D. Gerontion
26. T. S. Eliot’s used a form, that is, the orchestration of related themes in successive movements, in such works as ________.
A. The Waste Land
B. A Rose for Emily
C.The Scarlet Letter
D. The Egg
27. Eliot’s first major poem (1917) _______ has been called the first masterpiece of modernism in English.
A. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
B. The Waste Land
C. Four Quartets
D. Preludes
28. Choose the collections of short stories written by Fitzgerald.
A. Flappers and Philosophers
B. Tales of the Jazz Age
C. All the Sad Yong Men
D. All of the above
29. The three poets Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot and ______opened the way to Modern poetry.
A. O. Henry
B. Henry David Thoreau
C. E. E. Cummings
D. Robert Frost
30. In Paris, Hemingway, along with _______, accomplished a revolution in literary style and language.
A. Gertrude Stein
B. Ezra Pound
C. T. S. Eliot
D. James Joyce
31. In 1954, _______ was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for his “mastery of the art of modern narration”.
A. T. S. Eliot
B. Earnest Hemingway
C. John Steinbeck
D. William Faulkner
32. William Faulkner is one of the most important southern writer in the United States. ______, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom are works that ambitious critics tend to admire.
A. The Sound and the Fury
B. The Invisible Man
C. A Good Man Is Hard to Find
D. The Wrath of the Grapes
33. Most of the important 20th American poets were related with Imagist movement, including _______.
A. Ezra Pound
B. Wallace Stevens
C. E. E. Cummings
D. Carl Sandburg
E. all of the above
Ⅲ. Identification
Passage 1
These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of 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 lightly; it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to
enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but
” to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER,” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
Questions:
1. Which book is this passage taken from?
2. Who is the author of the book?
Passage 2
But you would have uttered more
Had you known of nature’s power;
From the world when you retreat,
And a leaf’s your winding sheet,
Long before your spirit fled,
Who can tell but nature said,
Live again, my Caty-did!
Live, and chatter Caty-did.
Questions:
3. Who is the writer of these verses?
4. What is the title of this lyrical poem?
5. What is Caty-did?
Passage 3
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten, I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.
Questions:
6. This is the first two stanzas in the first section of a long poem entitled______.
7. The name of the poet is _____.
8. What is the verse structure?
Passage 4
Because I could not stop for death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then ’t is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.
Questions:
9. Who is the writer of the lines?
10. In which category would you place this poem?
A. narrative
B. dramatic
C. lyric
11. The poet is noted for her uses of _____to achieve special effects.
A. perfect rhyme
B. exact rhyme
C. slant rhyme
Passage 5
When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human tempter. 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 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, vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper cautious 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:
12. From which novel is this paragraph taken?
13. Who is the author of the novel?
Ⅳ. Literary Terms
1. Satire 1
2. Irony
2. short story 1
3. Plot
3. Stanza 1
4. Nonfiction
4. Subtext 1
5. Narration
5. tall story/tall tale 1
6. Imagery
6. Verse 1
7. Simile and metaphor
7. Rhythm 18. Character
8. Foot 19. Surrealism
9. Meter 20. Theatre of Absurdity
10. Sonnet 21. Deconstructionism
11. Lyric
Ⅴ. Questions and Answers
1. How do you understand Mark Twain’s use of Local Color in his writing?
2. Discuss the reflection of realistic and naturalistic tendencies on the American 19th-century novels.
3. Discuss the concept of Wasteland in relation to he works of those writers in the 20th century American literature.
Ⅵ. Analysis of Literary Works
Rip Van Winkle
At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried the light smoke curling up from a village, whose shingle-roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints of the upland melt away into the fresh green of the nearer landscape. It is a little of great antiquity, having been founded by some of the Dutch colonists, in the early times of the province, just about the beginning of the government of the good Peter Stuyvesant, (may he rest in peace!) and there were some of the house of the original settlers standing within a few years, built of small yellow bricks brought from Holland, having latticed windows and gable fronts, surmounted with weather-cocks.
In that same village, and in one of these very houses (which, to tell the precise truth, was sadly time-worn and weather-beaten), there lived many years since, while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, a simple good-natured fellow of the name of Rip Van Winkle. He was a descendant of the Van Winkles who figured so gallantly in the chivalrous days of Peter Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege of
Fort Christina. He inherited, however, but little of the martial character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor, and an obedient hen-natured husband. Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which gained him such universal popularity; for those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home. Their tempers, doubtless, are rendered pliant and malleable in the fiery furnace of domestic tribulation; and a curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. A termagant wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing; and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed.
Questions:
1. Try to explain the setting by making reference to the above passage selected from Rip Van Winkle.
Daisy Miller
Winterbourne, who had returned to Geneva the day after his excursion to Chillon, went to Rome toward the end of January. His aunt had been established there for several weeks, and he had received a couple of letters from her.” Those people you were so devoted to last summer at Vesey have turned up here, courier and all,” she wrote.” They seem to have made several acquaintances, but the courier continues to be the most in time. The young lady, however, is also very intimate with some third-rate Italians, with whom she packets about in a way that makes much talk. Bring of that pretty novel of Cherbuliez’s---Paule-- Mere-and don’t come later than the 23rd.”
In the natural course of events, Winterbourne, on arriving in Rome, would presently have ascertained Mrs. Miller’s address at the American banker’s and have gone to pay his compliments to Miss Daisy.”After what happened at Vevey, I think I May certainly call upon them,” he said to Mrs. Costello.
“If, after what happens---at Vevey--- and everywhere-you desire to keep up the acquaintance, you are very welcome. Of course a man may know everyone. Men are welcome to the privilege!”
“Pray what is it that happens-here, for instance?” Winterbourne demanded.”
The girl goes about alone with her foreigners. As to what happens further, you must apply elsewhere for information .She has picked up half a dozen of the regular Roman fortune hunters, and she takes them about to people
’s houses. When she comes to a party she brings with her a gentleman with a good deal of manner and a wonderful mustache.”
“And where is the mother?”
“I haven’t the least idea. They are very dreadful people.”
Winterbourne meditated a moment.”They are very ignorant-very innocent only. Depend upon it they are not bad.”
“They are hopelessly vulgar,” said Mrs. Costello. “Whether or on being hopelessly vulgar is being ‘bad’is a question for the metaphysicians. They are bad enough to dislike, at any rate; and for this short life that is quite enough.”
The news that Dairy Miller was surrounded by half a dozen wonderful mustaches checked Winterbourne’s impulse to in straightway to see her. He had, perhaps, not definitely flattered himself that he had made an ineffaceable impression upon her heart, but he was annoyed at hearing of a state of affairs so little in harmony with an image that had lately flitted in and out of his own meditations” the image of a very pretty girl looking out of an old Roman window and asking herself urgently when Mr. Winterbourne would arrive. If, however, he determined to wait a little before reminding Miss Miller of his claims to her consideration, he went very soon to call upon two or three other friends. One of these friends was an American lady who had spent several winters at Geneva, where she had placed her children at school. She was a very accomplished woman, and she lived in the Via Gregoriana. Winterbourne found her in a little crimson drawing room on a third floor; the room was filled with southern sunshine. He had not been there ten minutes when the servant came in, announcing”Madame Mila!” This announcement was presently followed by the entrance of little Randolph Miller, who stopped in the middle of the room and stood staring at Winterbourne. An instant later his pretty sister crossed the threshold; and then, after a considerable interval, Mrs. Miller slowly advanced.
Questions:
2. In his whole writing career James is concerned with “point of view”, which is at the centre of his aesthetic of the novel. Comment on the “point of view” in this story.
3. Daisy defies European conventions and falls a victim to her own innocence. Discuss the character of Daisy.
4. In his story Winterbourne shows contradictory attitudes toward Daisy. He tries to decide whether she is a flirt or a native girl. Illustrate his attitude by citing some examples from the reading.
5. In this selected reading, when Daisy is taking a walk with Winterbourne and Giovanelli, Mrs. Walker gets there and tries to “rescue”her from her indiscretions. But Daisy refuses her. As an American Living in
Europe, what do you think Mrs. Walker represents?
6. James’fame largely rested on his handing “the international theme”----American innocence in contrast with European sophistication. What is James’s attitude towards the difference in morality of Daisy Miller from that of the Old World?
To Helen
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore,
That gently, o’er a perfumed sea,
The weary, wayworn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
Om desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face.
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome.
Lo! In yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand
The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy Land!
Questions:
7. “To take sound away from poetry”, said one poet “is like tearing the wings from a bird”. Poets, like musicians, are sensitive to the effects of sounds. Analyze the lines from To Helen and explain the device of alliteration in your own words.
O Captain! My Captain!
O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! My captain! Rise up and hear the bells:
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths---for you the shores a-crowding;
Here Captain! Dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm; he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Questions:
8. Read the poem lyrics of O Captain! My Captain! By Walt Whitman and analyze it terms of free verse.
Invisible man
XXV. The Hunting of the Invisible Man
For a space Kemp was too inarticulate to make Adye understand the swift things that had just happened. The tow men stood on the landing, Kemp speaking swiftly, the grasp something of the situation.
“He’s mad,”said Kemp; “inhuman. He is pure selfishness. He thinks of nothing but his own advantage, his own safety. I have listened to such a story this morning of brutal self-seeking! He has wounded men. He will kill them unless we can prevent him. He will create a panic. Nothing can stop him. He is going out now-furious!”
“He must be caught,” said Adye. “That is certain.”
“But how?”cried Kemp, and suddenly become full of ideas. “You must begin at once. You must set every available man to work. You must prevent his leaving this district. Once he gets away he may go through the countryside as he wills, killing and maiming. He dreams of a reign of terror! A reign of terror, I tell you. You must set a watch on trains and roads and shipping. The garrison must help. You must write for help. The only thing that may keep him here is the thought of recovering some books of notes he counts of value. I will tell you of that! There is a man in your police station—Marvel.”
“I know,” said Adye,” I know. Those books—yes.”
“And you must prevent him from eating or sleeping; day and night the country must be astir for him. Food must be locked up and secured, all food, so that he will have to break his way to it. The houses everywhere must be barred against him. Heaven send us cold nights and rain! The whole countryside must begin hunting and keep hunting. I tell you, Adye, he is a danger, a disaster; unless he is pinned and secured, it is frightful
to think of the things that may happen.
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
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
Captain John Smith (first American writer). Anne Bradstreet；The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America （colonists living） Edward Taylor(the best puritan poet) John Cotton ”the Patriarch of New England” teacher spiritual leader Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography Poor Richard’s Almanack Thomas Jefferson： Political Career Thoughts The Declaration of Independence we hold truth to be self-evidence Philip Freneau“Father of American Poetry” The Wild Honey Suckle American Romanticism optimism and hope Nationalism Washington Irving“Father of American Literature short story”The first “Pure Writer” A History of New York The Sketch Book marked the beginning of American Romanticism! “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”Rip Van Winkle James Fenimore Cooper Father of American sea and frontier novels Leather stocking Tales The Last of the Mohicans The Pioneers The Prairie The Pathfinder The Deerslayer Edgar Allan Poe father of detective story and horror fiction Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque “MS. Found in a Bottle” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” “The Fall of the House of Usher”“The Masque of the Red Death”“The
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
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”.
History And Anthology of American Literature （6） 附：作者及作品 一、殖民主义时期The Literature of Colonial America 1．船长约翰·史密斯Captain John Smith 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》 “A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony” 《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》 “A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country” 《弗吉尼亚通史》“General History of Virginia” 2．威廉·布拉德福德William Bradford 《普利茅斯开发历史》“The History of Plymouth Plantation”3．约翰·温思罗普John Winthrop 《新英格兰历史》“The History of New England” 4．罗杰·威廉姆斯Roger Williams 《开启美国语言的钥匙》”A Key into the Language of America” 或叫《美洲新英格兰部分土著居民语言指南》 Or “A Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America Called New England ” 5．安妮·布莱德斯特Anne Bradstreet 《在美洲诞生的第十个谬斯》 ”The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America” 二、理性和革命时期文学The Literature of Reason and Revolution 1。本杰明·富兰克林Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) ※《自传》“ The Autobiography ” 《穷人理查德的年鉴》“Poor Richard’s Almanac” 2。托马斯·佩因Thomas Paine (1737-1809) ※《美国危机》“The American Crisis” 《收税官的案子》“The Case of the Officers of the Excise”《常识》“Common Sense” 《人权》“Rights of Man” 《理性的时代》“The Age of Reason” 《土地公平》“Agrarian Justice” 3。托马斯·杰弗逊Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) ※《独立宣言》“The Declaration of I ndependence” 4。菲利浦·弗瑞诺Philip Freneau (1752-1832) ※《野忍冬花》“The Wild Honey Suckle” ※《印第安人的坟地》“The Indian Burying Ground” ※《致凯提·迪德》“To a Caty-Did” 《想象的力量》“The Power of Fancy” 《夜屋》“The House of Night” 《英国囚船》“The British Prison Ship” 《战争后期弗瑞诺主要诗歌集》 “The Poems of Philip Freneau Written Chiefly During the Late War” 《札记》“Miscellaneous Works” 三、浪漫主义文学The Literature of Romanticism 1。华盛顿·欧文Washington Irving (1783-1859) ※《作者自叙》“The Author’s Account of Himself” ※《睡谷传奇》“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 《见闻札记》“Sketch Book” 《乔纳森·欧尔德斯泰尔》“Jonathan Oldstyle” 《纽约外史》“A History of New York” 《布雷斯布里奇庄园》“Bracebridge Hall” 《旅行者故事》“Tales of Traveller” 《查理二世》或《快乐君主》“Charles the Second” Or “The Merry Monarch” 《克里斯托弗·哥伦布生平及航海历史》 “A History of the Life and V oyages of Christopher Columbus” 《格拉纳达征服编年史》”A Chronicle of the Conquest of Grandada” 《哥伦布同伴航海及发现》 ”V oyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus” 《阿尔罕布拉》“Alhambra” 《西班牙征服传说》“Legends of the Conquest of Spain” 《草原游记》“A Tour on the Prairies” 《阿斯托里亚》“Astoria” 《博纳维尔船长历险记》“The Adventures of Captain Bonneville” 《奥立弗·戈尔德史密斯》”Life of Oliver Goldsmith” 《乔治·华盛顿传》“Life of George Washington” 2．詹姆斯·芬尼莫·库珀James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) ※《最后的莫希干人》“The Last of the Mohicans” 《间谍》“The Spy” 《领航者》“The Pilot” 《美国海军》“U.S. Navy” 《皮袜子故事集》“Leather Stocking Tales” 包括《杀鹿者》、《探路人》”The Deerslayer”, ”The Pathfinder” 《最后的莫希干人》“The Last of the Mohicans” 《拓荒者》、《大草原》“The Pioneers”, “The Praire” 3。威廉·卡伦·布莱恩特William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) ※《死之思考》“Thanatopsis” ※《致水鸟》“To a Waterfowl” 4。埃德加·阿伦·坡Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) ※《给海伦》“To Helen” ※《乌鸦》“The Raven” ※《安娜贝尔·李》“Annabel Lee” ※《鄂榭府崩溃记》“The Fall of the House of Usher” 《金瓶子城的方德先生》“Ms. Found in a Bottle” 《述异集》“Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque” 5。拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) ※《论自然》“Nature” ※《论自助》“Self-Reliance” 《美国学者》“The American Scholar” 《神学院致辞》“The Divinity School Address” 《随笔集》“Essays” 《代表》“Representative Men” 《英国人》“English Traits” 《诗集》“Poems” 6。亨利·戴维·梭罗Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) ※《沃尔登我生活的地方我为何生活》 1
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.
苏州科技学院期末考试试题（卷） 评分标准及标准答案 A卷 院系：专业：考试科目：美国文学史及选读考试形式：闭卷考试时间： 100 分钟 I.Blanks: (10%)(每题1分，共10分，答错不给分) 1. American literature 2. English 3. Puritans 4. short story 5. Autobiography 6. Philip Freneau 7. Washington Irving 8. Edgar Allan Poe 9. The Scarlet Letter II.Multiple Choice: ( 20%)(每题1分，共20分，答错不给分) 1. A 2. B 3. C 4. A 5. A 6. C 7. B 8. C 9. B 10. D 11. A 12. B 13. B 14. B 15. C 16.C 17. B 18. A 19. C 20. D III.Identification (20%)（每题1分，共20分，答错不给分） 1.James Fenimore Cooper 2.Washington Irving 3.Anne Bradstreet 4.Michael Wigglesworth 5.Washington Irving 6.James Fenimore Cooper 7.Philip Freneau 8.William Cullen Bryant
9.Edgar Allan Poe 10.Edgar Allan Poe 11.Nathaniel Hawthorne 12.Edgar Allan Poe 13.Anne Bradstreet 14.Washington Irving 15.James Fenimore Cooper 16.Philip Freneau 17.William Cullen Bryant 18.Edgar Allan Poe 19.Nathaniel Hawthorne 20.Philip Freneau IV.Terms (20%)（每题4分，共20分） 1. Poor Richard’s Almanac key words: Benjamin Franklin, sayings, hard work, thrift, Puritan, quotes, printed himself, etc. 2. Leatherstocking Tales Key words: Cooper, five novels, Natty Bumppo, frontier, frontiersman, life from youth to old age, The Pioneer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer, etc. 3. Puritanism key words: Calvin, purify, hard work, thrift, predestination, salvation, sin, God, from England to America, immigration, etc. 4. Benjamin Franklin key words: statesman, scientist and writer, Autobiography, Poor Richard’s Almanac, puritan, hard work and thrift, successful, contributions, printer, etc. V.Appreciation (10%)（每题5分，共10分） Part A a)Philip Freneau’s（1分）The Wild Honey Suckle （1分） b)It is written in iambic tetrameter, the rhyme scheme is ababcc. （1分） c)“Little being” refers to the wild honey suckle. （1分）“But an hour” means the lifespan of a flower is very short. （1分）
美国文学史及选读试题上册 姓名：班级：学号 I. Multiple Choice 20’ I. 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 C. Washington Irving D. Philip Freneau 7. Who is the first American prose stylist that acquired international fame? A. Captain John Smith B. Washington Irving C. Benjamin Franklin D. E. A. Poe 8. Who is the writer of To a Waterfowl? A. Anne Bradstreet B. Thomas Hardy C. William Cullen Bryant D. Walt Whitman 9. Thomas Paine is a ____. A. novelist B. dramatist C. poet D. pamphleteer 10. Edgar Allan Poe mainly writes ____ A. short stories B. literary critic theories C. poems D. dramas II. Blank-Filling 20’ 1. ____’s reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been described as the first distinctly American literature to be written in English. 2. Hard work, ____, piety, and ____were the Puritan values that dominated much of the earliest American writing, including the sermons, books and letters of such noted Puritan clergymen as John Cotton and Cotton Mather. 3. Most Puritan verse was decidedly plodding, but the work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor, rose to the level of____ 4. From 1732 to 1785, Franklin wrote and published his famous ____, an annual collection of proverbs. 5. On January 10, 1776, Paine’s famous pamphlet ____ appeared. It boldly advocated a
Multiple Choice (1’×15=15’) 1.______was the first colony in American history. A. Massachusetts B. New Jersey C. Virginia D.Georgia 2. ______ was the only good American author before the Revolutionary War. One of his fellow Americans said, “His shadow lies heavier than any other man’s on this young nation.”Array A. John Smith B. Benjamin Franklin C. Thomas Jefferson D.Thomas Paine 3. Romantics put emphasis on the following EXCEPT ______. A. common sense B. imagination C. intuition D. individualism 4. The Raven was written in 1844 by ________ A. Philip Freneau B. Edgar Allan Poe C. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow D. Emily Dickinson 5. The ship ______ carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts. A. Sunflower B. Armada C. Mayflower D. Titanic 6. Melville’s novel ______ is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white whale. A. Typee B. Omoo C. White Jacket D. Moby Dick 7. As a philosophical and literary movement, ______ flourished in New England from the 1830s to the Civil War. A.Modernism B.Rationalism C.Sentimentalism D.Transcendentalism 8. The theme of original sin is fully reflected in _________. A. The Scarlet Letter B. Sister Carrie C. The Great Gatsby D. The Old Man and Sea 9. In all his novels Theodore Dreiser sets himself to project the ______ American values. For example, in Sister Carrie, there is not one character whose status is not determined economically. A. Puritan B. materialistic C. psychological D. religious 10. Realism was a reaction against______ or a move away from the bias towards romance and self-creating fictions, and paved the way to Modernism. A. Rationalism B. Romanticism C. Neoclassicism D. Enlightenment 11. ________ was a poet in American modern period who was deeply influence by eastern culture. A. T. S Eliot B. Robert Frost C. Ezra Pound D. Walt Whitman 12. Which of the following statements about Emily Dickinson is NOT true?