英国文学练习题

精品文库 英国文学选读练习1. English Romanticism is generally said to have begun with_in 1798.A. the publication of Lyrical Ballads B. the death of Sir ScottC. the birth of William Wordsworth D the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament2. The Romantic Period is first of all an age of_.A. Novel B. poetry C. drama D. prose3. Romanticism does not emphasize_.A. the special qualities of each individuals mind B. the inner world of the human spiritC. Individuality D. the features that men have in common4._ is not a Romantic poet.A. William Blake B. Sir Scott C. P. B. Shelley D. Lord Byron5. _ is a Romantic novelist but is impressed with neo-classic strains.A. Walter Scott B. Mary Shelley C. Jane Austen D. Ann Radcliff6. _ is not characteristic of William Blakes writing.A. plain and direct language B. compression of meaning C. supernatural quality D. symbolism7. Wordsworth published Lyrical Ballads in 1789 with _.A. Byron B. Coleridge C. Shelley D. Keats8. Wordsworth thinks that _ is the only subject of literary interest.A. the life of rising bourgeoisie B. aristocratic life C. the life of the royal family D. common life9. Don Juan is the masterpiece of_.A. Lord Byrons B. P. B. Shelleys C. John Keatss D. Samuel Coleridges10. _ is not a novel written by Jane Austen.A. Jane Eyre B. Sense and Sensibility C. Pride and Prejudice D. EmmaII. Decide whether the following statements are true or false and write your answers in the brackets.( T )1. The Romantic period is also a great age of prose.( T )2. Romantics also tend to be nationalistic, defending their own literary heritage against the advocates of classical rules.( F)3. Coleridge has been rewarded as Poet Laureate.( F )4. Keats is one of the “Lake Poets.”( F )5. Jane Austen is a typical Romantic writer.III. Name the author of each of the following literary work.1.“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”-Coleridge2.Songs of Innocence-Blake3“Ode to a Nightingale”-Keats 4.“A Song: Men of England”-Shelley5.The Prelude-WordsworthIV. Define the literary terms listed below1.Romanticism: Romanticism is a movement that flourished in literature, philosophy, music and art in western culture during most of the nineteenth century, beginning as a revolt against classicism. There have been many varieties of Romanticism in many different times and places. The leading features of Romantic movements are Wordsworth, Shelley, etc.2.Ode:Ode is a complex and often lengthy lyric poem, written in a dignified formal style on some lofty or serious subject. Odes are often written for a special occasion, to honour a person or a season or to commemorate an event.V. For each of the quotations listed below please give the name of the author and the title of the literary work from which it is taken and then briefly interpret it.1.Be through my lips to unawakened Earth.The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind,If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?2.For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.V. 1. It is taken from Shelleys Ode to the West Wind. In this poem, Shelley eulogizes the powerful west wind and expresses his eagerness to enjoy the boundless freedom from the reality. In these last lines, the poet shows his optimistic spirit for the future.2. It is taken from Wordsworths “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” The poet thinks that it is a bliss to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind while he is in solitude. He expresses his strong affecting for nature in the poem.1. The Renaissance is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events, which one of the following is not such an event?A.The rediscovery of ancient Rome and Greek culture.B.Englands domestic rest.C.New discovery in geography and astrology.D.The religious reformation and the economic expansion. 2. Which of the following is regarded as the most successful religious allegory in the English language.A.The Pilgrims Progress B. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners C.The Life and Death of Mr. Badman D. The Holy War 3. It is alone who, for the first time in English literature, presented to us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life.A. Geoffrey Chaucer B. Martin Luther C. William Langland D. John Gower 4. All of the following four except are the most eminent dramatists in the Renaissance England.A. Francis Bacon B. Christopher Marlowe C. William Shakespeare D. Ben Jonson 5. It is generally regarded that Keatss most important and mature poems are in the form of .A. elegy B. ode C. epic D. sonnet 6. Daniel Defoes novels mainly focus on .A. the struggle of the unfortunate for mere existence B. the struggle of the shipwrecked persons for securityC. the struggle of the pirates for wealth D. the desire of the criminals for property 7. In Beowulf, fought against the monster Grendel and a five breathing dragon.A. the Anglo-Saxons B. Beowulf C. the Scandinavian D. the Winter Dragon 8. Francis Bacon is best known for his which greatly influenced the development of this literary form.A. essays B. poems C. works D plays 9. Most of Thomas Hardys novels are set in Wessex .A. a crude region in England B. a fictional primitive region C. a remote rural area D. Hardys hometown 10. We can perhaps describe the west wind in Shelleys poem Ode to the West Wind with all the following terms except .A. swift B. proud C. tamed D. wild 11. Blindness, partiality, prejudice, and absurdity in the novel Pride and Prejudice are most likely the characteristics of .A. Elizabeth B. Darcy C. Mr. Bennet D. Mrs. Bennet 12. The modern English novel came into being in .A. the middle of the 17th century B. the 17th century C. the late 18th century D. the middle of the 18th century 13. Who is not the major figure of modernist movement?A. Eliot B. Joyce C. Charles Dickens D. Pound 14. Who is considered to be the best known English dramatist since Shakespeare?A. Oscar Wilde B. John Galsworthy C. W.B. Yeats D. George Bernard Shaw 15. Of the following poets, which is not regarded as Lake Poets?A. Samuel Taylor Coleridge B. Robert Southy C. William Words worth D. William Shakespeare 16. In the first part of Gullivers Travels, Gulliver told his experience in .A. Lilliput B. Brobdingnag C. Houyhnhnm D. England 17. Which of the following cannot describe Byronic hero?A. proud B. mysterious C. noble origin D progressive 18. In the history of literature, Romanticism is generally regarded as .A. the thought that designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience.B. the thought that designates man as a social animalC. the orientation that emphasizes those features which men have in commonD. the modes of thinking 19. The term metaphysical poetry is commonly used to name the work of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of .A. John Milton B. John Donne C. John Keats D. John Bunyan 20. The Vanity Fair is a well-known part in .A. The Pilgrims Progress B. Grace Abounding to the Chief of SinnersC. The Life and Death of Mr. Badman D. The Holy War 21. In Oliver Twist, Charles criticizes .A. money worshipping tendency B. dehumanizing of workhouse system C. hypocrisy of the upper society D. distortion of human heart 22. Which of the following plays by Shakespeare is history play?A. Otharo B. The Merry Wives of Windsor C. Henry IV D. King Lear 23. Who is regarded as a worshipper of nature. A. John Keats B. William Blake C. William Wordsworth D. Jane Austen 24. Which of the following writing is not the work by Charles Dickens?A. A Tale of Two Cities B. Hard Times C. Oliver Twist D. Sons and Lovers 25. The 18th century England is known as the in the history.A. Romanticism B. Classicism C. Renaissance D. Enlightenment26. Romance, which uses narrative verse or prose to tell stories of _ adventures or other heroic deeds, is a popular literary form in the medieval period.A. Christian B. knightly C. Greek D. Primitive27. The Romantic writers would focus on all the following issues EXCEPT the _ .A. individual feelings B. idea of survival of the fittest C. strong imagination D. return to nature28. Generally , the Renaissance refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries, its essence is .A. science B . philosophyC. arts D. humanism29. In the field of literature, the Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works. This tendency is known as .A. Classicism B. Neoclassicism C. Romanticism D. pre-Romanticism 30. Paradise Lost is actually a story taken fromA. the Renaissance B. the Old Testament C. Greek Mythology D. the New Testament Complete each of the following statements with a proper word or a phrase according to the textbook. ( 201 points)1. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer employed the heroic couplet with true ease and charm for the first time in the history of English literature.2. Christopher Marlowe is the most gifted of the University Wits .3. The term metaphysical poetry is commonly used to name the work of the 17th - century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne.4. Spenser is generally regarded as the greatest non-dramatic poet of the Elizabethan age. His fame is chiefly based on his masterpiece The Faerie Queene.5. Swift is a master satirist, his satire is usually masked by an outward gravity and an apparent earnestness which renders his satire all the more powerful.6. From the middle part to the end of the 18th century, in English literature Gothic novels flourished. They were mostly stories of mystery and horror which take place in some haunted or dilapidated middle age castles.7. As a leading romanticist, Byrons chief contribution is his creation of the Byronic hero, a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin.8. Wordsworth is regarded as a worshipper of nature.Romance: The romance was a long composition, sometimes in verse, sometimes in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. The medieval romances were tales of chivalry or amorous adventure occurring in King Arthurs court. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an example of a medieval romance.Ballad: It is a story in poetic form, often about tragic love and usually sung. Ballads were passed down from generation to generation by singers. The medieval ballads are ballads of Robin Hood. Coleridges The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a 19th century English ballad. For a ballad, in each stanza the odd-numbered lines are iambic tetrameters which the even-numbered lines are iambic trimeters, and the rhyme scheme is a,b,c,b.Heroic couplet: They are poetry composed in iambic pentameter. In this form of poetry, lines consisting of five iambic feet rime together in pairs. The rime scheme :aa bb cc .Renaissance: Renaissance marks the transition from the medieval to the modern world. It first started in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. The word “Renaissance” means rebirth or revival. In essence, it is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, and to lift the restriction in all areas placed by the Roman Catholic Church authorities. Two features of renaissance: It is a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature. People learned to admire the Greek and Latin works as models of literary form. It is the keen interest in the activities of humanity.Sonnet: A lyric poem of fourteen lines whose rhyme scheme is fixed. The rhyme scheme in the Italian form as typified in the sonnets of Petrarch is abbaabba cdecde. The Petrarchian sonnet has two divisions: the first is of eight lines (the octave), and the second is of six lines (the sestet). The rhyme scheme of the English, or Shakespearean sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg. The change of rhyme in the English sonnet is coincidental with a change of theme in the poem. The meter is iambic pentameter.Blank verse: A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.Spenserian Stanza: Spenser invented a new verse form for his poem. The verse form has been called Spenserian Stanza since his day. Each stanza has nine lines, each of the first eight lines is in iambic pentameter form, and the ninth line is an iambic hexameter line. The rhythm scheme is abab bcbc c.Enlightenment : The Enlightenment was a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe in the 18th century. It was an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals of feudalism. They thought the chief means for bettering the society was enlightenment or education for the people. The English enlighteners were bourgeois democratic thinkers. They set no revolutionary aim before them and what they strove for was to bring it to an end by clearing away the feudal ideas with the bourgeois ideology.Sentimentalism: Sentimentalism appeared in the middle of the 18th century, as a reaction against commercialism and the cold rationalism. Sentimentalists emphasize “the human heart” and show sympathy to the poor. This trend marks the transition form neoclassicism to romanticism in English poetry. Thomas Gray is one of the models. Another sentimentalist poet is Oliver Goldsmith (The Disserted Village). The most outstanding figure of English sentimentalism is Laurence Sterne.Pre-romanticism: The Romantic Movement was marked by a strong protest against the bondage of Classicism, by a renewed interest in medieval literature. In England, this movement showed itself in the trend of Pre-romanticism in poetry. It was represented by Blake and Robert Burns. They struggled against the neoclassical tradition of poetry.Romanticism : Romanticism was in effect a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassical reason, which prevailed from the days of Pope to those of Johnson. The Romantic Movement expressed a more or less negative attitude toward the existing social and political conditions that came with industrialization and the growing importance of the bourgeoisie. Romantics saw men essentially as an individual in the solitary state and emphasized the special qualities of each individuals mind. In essence it designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience. It also places the individual at the center of art, making literature most valuable as an expression of his or her unique feelings and particular attitudes, and valuing its accuracy in portraying the individuals experiences. The romantics extol the faculty of the imagination, write about nature and they get inspiration form nature, turn to the humble people and the common everyday life for subjects and turn to other times and places, where the qualities they valued would be convincingly depicted.Neo-classicism: A revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance and harmony in literature. John Dryden was the first person who started the movement at the end of the 17th century, while Alexander Pope brought it to its culmination.Elegy: it seeks for lament. It is a poem on death or on a serious loss; characteristically a sustained meditation expressing sorrow and, frequently, an explicit or implied consolationRealism: A term used in literature and art to present life as it really is without sentimentalizing or idealizing it. Realistic writing often depicts the everyday life and speech of ordinary people. This has led, sometimes to an emphasis on sordid details.Lake Poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey have often been mentioned as the Lake Poets because they lived in the lake district in the northwestern part of England. The three traversed the same path in politics and in poetry, beginning as radicals and closing as conservatives.Metaphysical Poetry: The poetry of John Donne and other seventeenth-century poets who wrote in a similar style. Metaphysical poetry is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborates imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas.Humanism: it refers to the main literary trend and is the keynote of English Renaissance. Humanists took interest in human life and human activities and gave expression to the new feeling of admiration for human beauty, human achievement. They think that man has a potential for culture which distinguishes him from lower orders of beings, and which he should strive constantly to fulfill.Iambic Pentameter: A poetic line consisting of five verse feet, which each foot an iamb_ that is, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. Iambic pentameter is the most common verse line in English poetry.Byronic hero: is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron. It first appears in Byrons semi-autobiographical epic narrative poem Childe Harolds Pilgrimage (1812-18). The Byronic h