英国文学名词解释definition.doc

Poetry is one of the three major types or genres of literature, the others being prose and drama. Poems are often divided into lines and stanzas.Types of poetry include narrative poetry（叙事诗）such as ballads（民谣）, epics, metrical romances; dramatic poetry（戏剧诗）like dramatic monologues（独白诗） and dramatic dialogues; lyrics（抒情诗） such as sonnets, odes（颂歌）, elegies（挽歌）and love poems.A sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem with a single theme, usually written in iambic pentameter.由十四行组成的抒情诗，通常由五步抑扬格诗行组成，表达单一的主题。2 kinds of sonnet:The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet皮特拉克或意大利十四行诗:an 8-line octave and 6-line sestet with the octave rhyming abba abba , the sestet cde cde. The octave raises a question, states a problem and the sestet answers the question, solves the problem.The Shakespearean or English sonnet: 3 4-line quatrains and a 2-line couplet rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. Each of the three quatrains usually explores a different variation of the main theme. The couplet presents a summarizing or concluding statement.Ode a lyric poem of some length that honors an individual, a thing or a trait dealing with a lofty theme in a dignified manner. The English odes are of three types. 颂词是篇幅较长的抒情诗。风格庄严，主题崇高，用以向某人致敬或诵物志事。Ode to the West Wind is of the horatian type: with stanza of uniform length and arrangement. It consists of five 14-lined stanzas of iambic pentameter, each of the stanza containing four tercets and a closing couplet. The rhyme scheme is aba, bcb, cdc, ded, ee.史诗Epic A. An extended narrative poem with a heroic or superhuman protagonist engaged in an action of great significance in a vast setting (often including the underworld and engaging the gods).叙事体长诗，以宏大华丽的风格来颂扬某传奇英雄的伟业。B. Examples: Edmund Spensers The Faerie Queene, John Miltons Paradise Lost, William Wordsworths The Prelude, and T. S. Eliots The Waste Land.Poetry stresses on rhythm, imagery, emotion and imagination.1. Meter 韵律A fixed arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables in a foot。主要有The iamb抑扬格/trochee扬抑格, anapest抑抑扬格, dactyl扬抑抑格Foot 音步 指诗歌保持节奏的不断重复的音节组合。The number of feet:Monometer 1 foot Dimeter 2 feetTrimeter 3 feet Tetrameter 4 feetPentameter 5 feet Hexameter 6 feetHeptameter 7 feet Octameter 8 feet五步抑扬格Iambic pentameterIambic pentameter is a meter in poetry. It has an unrhymed line with 5 iambs or feet. 即每行有五个音步，每个音步都是抑扬格。Iambic means the stress is on the second syllable, an example is the word repeat. 重读在第二个音节。Pentameter shows us that a line has 5 feet or clusters of two syllables adding up to 10 syllables a line. These feet are marked like this Hello/hello/hello/hello/hello.2. Rhyme压韵Rhyme is the identity of sound between words of verse lines. A rhyme begins in an accented syllable. From the accented vowel of that syllable to the end, the words intended to rhyme must be identical in sound, but the letter or letters preceding the accented vowel may be unlike in sound e.g. save, grave. End rhyme occurs when rhyming words appear at the ends of lines. Internal rhyme occurs when rhyming words fall within a line.Exact rhyme is the use of identical rhyming sounds, as in love and dove. Approximate, or slant rhyme, is the use of sounds that are similar but not identical, as in prove and glove. A RHYME SCHEME韵脚is a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem or stanza. To indicate a rhyme scheme, assign each final sound in the poem or stanza a different letter. In other words, it is the pattern of end rhymes or lines. The following lines from Charlotte Brontes on the death of Anne Bronte have been marked:Theres little joy in life for me, aAnd little terror in the grave ; bIve lived the parting hour to see aOf one I would have died to save bThe rhyme scheme of this stanza is abab.3. 头韵AlliterationAlliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighboring words. eg: sweet smell of success; “Now Beowulf bode in the burg of the Scyldings, Leader beloved, and long he ruled” 4. 诗节 STANZAA stanza is a group of lines in a poem, seen as a unit. Many poems are divided into stanzas that are separated by spaces. Stanzas often function like paragraphs in prose. Each stanza states and develops one main idea.Stanzas are commonly named according to the number or lines found in them, as follows:1. couplet: a two-line stanza2. tercet: a three-line stanza3. quatrain: a four-line stanza4. cinquain: a five-line stanza5. sestet: a six-line stanza6. heptastich: a seven-line stanza7. octave: an eight-line stanza5. Blank verse 无韵诗（素体诗） Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines.不押韵的抑扬格五步音诗。6. Free verse 自由诗 Poetry not written in a regular rhythmical pattern or meter.Elements of FictionFiction is a literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.1. Character (1) characters The protagonist-the central characterThe antagonist -the character against whom the protagonist struggles or contendsTo describe the relative degree a character was developed, critics refer them asA flat character who is built around with a single trait or quality or idea.A round character -they change and grow and thus they are dynamic. Often they exhibit contradictory traits and like real human beings, they frequently surprise us.(2) Methods of Characterization Characterization is about how a character is revealed or developed.2 basic ways to characterize: To tell and to showMethods of characterization by telling1) the use of name2) appearance: dress and physical appearance3) by the author: the author reveals the personality of the characters through a series of editorial comments, including the thoughts and feelings that pass through the characters mindsMethods of characterization by showing4) dialogue5) action2. PlotPlot is a term to indicate how the events are arranged to affect the reader. It is an artificial rather than a natural ordering of events. It is composed of two basic aspects of narration: the sequence, i.e. the story told in chronological order, or with a lot of flash back, or in psychic order; The development, i.e. whether in the traditional linear pattern (set-up/exposition rising action/ complications climax falling action resolution or modernist way (little action, inner world depiction, dialogues, no development). A work may have just one plot, or double plots, or multiple plots. 3. SettingSetting is the background against which the action of a narrative occurs, referring both to the time and place of the events in a story, including the specific time or period, geographic location, cultural environment as well as social and political realities. Setting is often established by description, but it may also be shown through characters action, dialogue or thinking. Although defined as the background, it can have great significance in the story. It not only gives the reader the impression of verisimilitude versmltju:d 真实, but may also function as “objective correlative” of the internal life of the character. The setting can also affect characters or plot by creating a certain atmosphere or mood, and help develop the theme either through suggestion or more direct symbolism. When setting dominates, or when a piece of fiction is written largely to present the manners and customs of a locality, the writing is often called Local Color writing or Regionalism. 4. ThemeTheme is the central or dominating idea in a literary work, and the soul of the story. In nonfiction prose it may be thought of as the general topic of discussion, the subject of the discourse, the thesis. In poetry, fiction, and drama it is the abstract concept which is made concrete through its representation in person, action, and image in the work. The theme of a work may be pronounced explicitly, but more often it emerges indirectly through the recurrence of motifs. Common themes of literature are about human nature and the most important human experiences which are universal, covering the primary emotions and relations in human life. 5. Point of View is the position or vantage-point from which the events of a story seem to be observed and presented to us. The chief distinction usually made between points of view is that between third-person narratives and first-person narratives. 1) Omniscient point of view A third-person narrator may be omniscient, and therefore show an unrestricted knowledge of the storys events from outside or “above” them. The narrator even intrudes in the story with personal opinion. This “all knowing” narrator firmly imposes his or her presence between the reader and the story and retains complete control over the narrative but the narrator is not a character in the story and is not involved in the plot.For example： The house was big, old, and Levin, though he lived alone, heated and occupied all of it. He knew that it was even wrong and contrary to his new plans, but this house was a whole world for Levin. It was the world in which his father and mother had lived and died. They had lived a life which for Levin seemed the ideal of all perfection and which he dreamed of renewing with his wife, with his family.2) Limited third-person point of view Another kind of third-person narrator may confine our knowledge of events to whatever is observed by a single character or small group of characters,For example, For Whom the Bell Tolls sticks firmly with one characters consciousness, that of Robert Jordan: This Anselmo had been a good guide and he could travel wonderfully in the mountains. Robert Jordan could walk well enough himself and he knew from following him since before daylight that the old man could walk him to death. Robert Jordan trusted the man, Anselmo, so far, in everything except judgment. He had not yet had an opportunity to test his judgment, and, anyway, the judgment was his own responsibility.The reader will only know Anselmos thoughts and responses insofar as he reveals them through his actions. But Robert Jordans thoughts will be shared throughout the story. Its his reactions and his interpretations of events that the reader will understand and follow.3) first-person point of viewA focal character addresses the reader directly. He/ she tells the tale in his or her words, using the first-person pronoun “I” and addresses the reader as “you”A first-person narrators point of view will normally be restricted to his or her partial knowledge and experience, and therefore will not give us access to other characters hidden thoughts. Many modern authors have also used “multiple points of view”, in which we are shown the events from the positions of two or more different characters. 6. StyleStyle is any specific way of using language, which is characteristic of an author, school, period, or genre. Particular style may be defined by their diction, tone, syntax, imagery, rhythm, and use of figures of speech, or by any other linguistic feature. Style is a combination of two elements: the idea to be expressed; and The individuality of the author. style.pdfBildungsroman（initiation stories）成长小说a kind of novel that follows the development of the hero or heroine from childhood or adolescence into adulthood, through a troubled quest for identity. The term comes from Germany, where Goethes Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-6) set the pattern for later bildungsromane.Some Prominent Older Examples Laurence Sternes Tristram Shandy Charles Dickens David Copperfield Charles Dickens Great Expectations Goethes Wilhelm Meisters Apprenticeship Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Some More Contemporary Examples C. S. Foresters Mr. Midshipman Hornblower Harper Lees To Kill A Mockingbird J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter series Betty Smiths A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Naturalism 自然主义 A more deliberate kind of realism, usually involving a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. It emphasizes the negative or bestial side of human nature , paying great attention to detailed description of the trivial and common life scenes and environmental scenes. Dramatic Monologue 戏剧独白a kind of poem in which the speaker is imagined to be addressing a silent audienceExample: “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning Dramatic monologue is a type of poem writing style in which a character, at some specific and critical moment, addresses an identifiable but silent audience, thereby unintentionally revealing his or her essential temperament and personality.Soliloquy内心独白a dramatic speech delivered by one character speaking aloud while under the impression of being alone. The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to the audience, either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct address. It is also known as interior monologue.内心独白Example: “to be, or not to be” -HamletModernism :A general term applied to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde trends in literature and other arts of the early 2oth century, including Symbolism, Futurism, Expressionism, Imagism, Dada, and Surrealism. It is characterized chiefly by a rejection of 19th century traditions, eg, a rejection of traditional metres. Stream-of-consciousness意识流 : The continuous flow of perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and memories in the human mind, or a literary method of representing such a blending of mental processes in fictional characters, usu. in an unpunctuated or disjointed form of interior monologue. Realism: A mode of writing that gives the impression of recording or “reflecting” faithfully an actual way of life . Associated with 19th century novels, in which the problems of ordinary people in unremarkable circumstances are rendered with close attention to the details of physical setting and the complexities of social life.Oedipus complexA Freudian term to designate attraction on the part of the child toward the parent of the opposite sex and rivalry and hostility toward the parent of its own. (Electra complex).According to Freud, Oedipus complex occurs during the phallic stage of the psycho-sexual development of the personality, approximately years three to five. Resolution of the Oedipus complex is believed to occur by identification with the parent of the same sex and by renunciation of sexual interest in the parent of the opposite sex.Neo-classicism: It was initiated by Dryden, culminated in Pope and continued by Johnson. Neo-classicists modeled themselves on classical, ancient Greek and Latin authors. They wanted to achieve perfect form in literature. They general tended to look at social and political life critically. They emphasize on intellect rather than imagination. They observed fixed laws and rules in literary creation. Poets preferred heroic couplet. In drama, they adhered to three unities, time, place and action. They emphasized on the didactic function of literature.Enlightenment: Enlightenment is an intellectual movement in Europe in 18th century. It was an expression of the struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other feudal survivals. It was so called because it considered the chief means for the betterment of the society was the “enlightenment” or “education” of the people.Sentimentalism: it came into being as a result of a bitter discontent on the part of certain enlighteners in social reality. (The representatives of sentimentalism continued to struggle against feudalism but they vaguely sensed at the same time the contradictions of bourgeois progress that brought with it enslavement and ruin to the people. ) The philosophy of the enlighteners, through rational and materialistic in its essence, did not exclude sences, or sentiments, as a means of perception and learning. Moreover, the cult of nature and , a cult of a natural man whose feelings display themselves in a most human and natural manner, contrary to the artful and hypocritical aristocrats. Gothic novel: Gothic novel, a type of romantic fiction that predominated in the late eighteenth century, was one phase of th