美国文学史精彩试题库

1、Fill in the bla nks.1. America n achieveme nts in the short story have dema nded intern ati onal respectand admiration for more than a century and a half. The first successful America n short stories came fromWash ington Irvi ngin the early 19 th cen tury.2. Edgar Alla n Poe is gen erally thought of

2、 as the true begi nner of the short stories because he was the first writer who formulated a poetics of the short stories.3. In the 20 th cen tury, there have bee n many who have won fame abroad as well asin the US for their short stories:Sherwood Anderson.Hemingway Faulkner,AnnaPorter,and doze ns o

3、f others.4. As you read from writer to writer, from Washington Irving ' s Rip Van Winkle 'to O' Connner ' s A Good Man is Hard to Find' , you will see the coming ofa short story age, grow ing from an en terta ining talein to a story which probesdeep into huma n souls.5. Moder n l

4、iterary fictio n has bee n domin ated by two forms:the short story andthe novel6. Wash ington Irving, the Father of America n Literature, developedthe shortstory as a genre in America n literature.7. Alla n Poe is usually ack no wledged as the origi nator of detective stories. Heis also credited wit

5、h develop ing many of the sta ndard features of detectivefictio n.II. Multiple choice1. Edgar Alla n Poe wrote poems which are marvels of beauty and craftsma nship,such as.A. I Hear America Si ngingB. The RavenC. To a waterfowlD. The fall of the House of Usher2. The com mon thread throughout America

6、 n literature has bee n the emphasis onthe .A. revolutio nismB. reas onD. rati on alism the 18 th century wasB. ratio nalismthe Age of the Enlightenment,C. i ndividualism3. In American literature, was the dominant spirit.A. huma nismC. revoluti onD. evoluti on4. Who was con sidered thePoet of Americ

7、a n Revoluti onA. Michael WigglesworthB. Edward TaylorD. Philip Fren eauC. Anne Bradstreet5. Thomas Jeffers on' s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress, and thepursuit of happ in ess, is typical of the period we now callA. Age of Evoluti onB. Age of Reas onC. Age of Roma nticism D. Age of

8、 Regi on alismMark Twain created, in, a masterpiece of America n realism that is alsoTom SawyerD. The Gilded Ageone of the great books of world literature.A. Huckleberry FinnB.C. The Man That Corrupted HadleyburyThe pessimism and determ ini sticideas of naturalism pervaded the works of suchAmerican

9、writers asA. Mark Twai n B. Scott FitzgeraldC. Walt WhitmanD. Stephe n CraneAlthough realismand naturalismwere products of the 19 th century,their finaltriumph came in the 20 th cen tury, with the popular and critical successes ofsuch writersasFaulk ner andEdwin Arli ngto n,WilliamCather,Robert Fros

10、t,WilliamA. Edgar Allan PoeC. Wash ington IrvingAmerican literatureB. Sherwood An ders onD. Ralph Ellisonproduced only one female poet during the 19th century.ShewasA. Anne BradstreetB. Jane Auste nC. Emily Dick insonD. Harried BeecherWth Howells, James and Mark Twain active on the scene,became the

11、majortrend in the seve nties and eighties of the 19th cen tury.A. sen time ntalismB. roma nticismC. realismD. n aturalismChoose from thefollowingwritersa staunch advocate of the 19 th centuryAmerican realism.A. Mark TwainB. Wash ington IrvingC. Stephe n CraneD. Jack LondonWhich writer has n aturalis

12、t tendency?A. Frank NorrisB. William Dean HowellsC. Theodore Dreiser Early in the 20thof America n poetry.D. Both A and Ccen tury,published works that would cha nge the n atureA. Ezra PoundB. T.S. EliotC. Robert FrostD. Both A and BThe Imagist writers followed three prin ciples. They respectively ar

13、e directtreatme nt, economy of expressi on and.A. local colorB. ironyC. clear rhythmD. bla nk verse, one of the essays in The Sacred Wood, is the earliest stateme nt of T.S..3.14.15.Eliot ' s aesthetics, which provided a usefulinstrumentfor modern criticism.A. Sweeny AgonistesB.

14、 Traditi on and In dividual Tale ntC. A Primer of Modern HeresyD. Gerention '16. T.S Eliot used a form, that is, the orchestrationof related themes insuccessive moveme nts, in such works asA. The Waste LandB.A Rose for EmilyC. The Scarlet LetterD. The Egg17. T.S. Eliots first major poem (1917)ha

15、s bee ncalled the firstmasterpieces of modernism in En glish.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD.Prelude18. The three poets Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot andopened the way to modern poetry.A. O. HenryB. Henry David ThoreauC. E.E. CummingsD. Robert Frost19. In 1954,was a

16、warded the Nobel prize for literature fro histhe art of modern narration” .mastery ofA. T.S EliotC. John Stein beckB. Earn est Hemin gwayD. William Faulk ner20. Wliam Faulkner is one of the most important southern writers in the UnitedStates.As I Lay Dying,Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom! are

17、worksthat ambitious critics tend to admire.A. The Sound and the FuryB. The In visible ManC. A Good Man is Hard to FindD. The Wrath of the GrapesIV. Questi ons and an swers.1. How do you understand Mark twain' s use of local color in his writing?Mark Twain ' s narratives are distinguished for

18、 his use of local color. Thismay be defined as the careful attention to details of the physical sceneand to thosemann erismsin speech, dress, or behavior peculiar to ageographical locality. He in sisted that the job of the n ative no velists wasto depict each of the country ' s regions and peopl

19、e accurately. Only in this way could the peculiarity of America n experie nee, the polyglot ton gues ofits people, and thevastnessof the continent be captured. He mainlyexploited the possibilities of the local color in the Mississippi regi on.2. Discuss the con cept of wastela nd in relati on to the

20、 works of those writersin the 20 th cen tury America n literature. The Waste Land ' is a poem written by T.S. Eliot on the theme of thesterility and chaos of th3 con temporary world. This most widely knownexpressionof thedespair in the postwar era has appeared over and over againin the worksofth

21、ose writersinthe 2othcen turyAmerica nliterature.Faulk ner exemplifiedT.S. Eliot'sconcept ofmodern societyas a wastelandis a dramaticway,he condemnedthemecha ni zed,in dustrializedsociety thathas dehuma ni zed man by forci ng him to cultivate false values and decreasethose essential human values

22、 such as courage, fortitude,honestyandgood ness. Fitzgerald sought to portray a spiritual wastela nd of the jazzage. Beneath the masks of relaxationand joviality, there was only sterility,meanin gless and futility amid the gra ndeur and extravaga nee, there was ahint of decade nee and moral decay. H

23、emin gway, the leadi ng spokesma n of theLost Generation, though disillusioned in the postwar period, strove to bring about man ' s “ grace under pressure” . He tried to bring out the idea thanman can be physically destroyed but n ever defeated spiritually.3. Analyze Walt Whitman' s O Captai

24、n! My Captain' in terms of free verse.In the poem, Whitma n celebrates the heroic struggle of the America n peoplefor democracy, freedom and justice and expresses his seeth ing hatred of slavery.Free verse is a kind of poetry that lacks regular meter or patter n and maynot rhyme. Depending on na

25、tural speech rhythms, its lines may be of differentlen gths and may switch abruptly from one rhythm to ano ther. Whitma n was thefirstAmerica npoet to use free verseexte nsively,because it is anappropriate form for his liberating view of life and for his poetry thatwould allow every aspect of life t

26、o speak without restraint. He tried toapproximate the naturalcadences of speech in his poetry, carefullyvaryingthe len gth of his lines accord ing to his inten ded emphasis.Literature of Colonial AmericaI. Literary Terms1. Separatists:In the colonial period, the Purita ns who had gone to extreme wer

27、eknown as “ separatists ” . Un like the majority of Purita ns, they saw no hopeof reforming the Church of En gla nd from withi n. They felt that the in flue ncesof politics and court had led to corrupti ons with in the church. They wishedto break free from the Church of England. Among them was the P

28、lymouth plantation group. They wished to follow Calvin' s model, and to set up“ particularchurches.2. Pilgrims and Purita ns:A small group of Europea ns sailed from En gla nd on theMayflower in 1620. The passe ngers were religious reformers- Purita ns whowere critical of the Church of England. H

29、aving given up hope of“ purifyingthe Church from withi n, they chose in stead to withdraw from the Church. Thisactio n earned them the n ame Separatists. We know them as the pilgrims.II. Fill in the bla nks1. The term “ Puritan ” was applied to those settlers who originallywere devoutmembers of the

30、Church of En gla nd.2. Harvard College was established in 1636, with a printing press set up nearlyin 1639.3. Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety, these were thepurita n values thatdomin ated much of the early America n writi ng.4. The America n poets who emerged in the seve ntee nth cen tury adap

31、ted the styleof established Europea n poets to the subject matter confron ted in a stra nge,new environment. Anne Bradstreet was one of such poets.5. Bradstreet used a word “ pilgrim ” to describe the community of believers who sailed from Southampton England, on the Mayflower and settled in Plymout

32、h,Massachusetts, in 1620.6. The writer who best expressed the Purita n faith in the colon ial period wasJoh n Win throp .7. The Puritanphilosophy known as Puritanism was important in New England duringcol on ial time, and had a profo und in flue nce on the early America n mind forseveral gen erati o

33、ns.III. Multiple choice1. Early in the 17th century, the English settlementsin began the main streamof what we recog nize as the America n n ati onal history.A. Virgi nia and Penn sylva niaB. Massachusetts and New YorkC. Virgi nia and MassachusettsD. New York and Penn sylva nia2. The first writi ngs

34、 that we call America n were the n arratives andof theearly settleme nts.A. journals B. poetry C. drama D. folklores3. Among the earliest settlers in North America were Fren chme n who settled inthe Norther n Colonies and along theRiver.A. St. LouisB. St. Lawre nceC. Mississippi D. Huds on4. In 1620

35、 a nu mber of Purita ns came to settle inD. MassachusettsA. Virgi nia B. Georgia C. Maryla nd as the first distinct American literature written in English?5. Whose reports of exploration,publishedin the early1600s, have been regardedA. John Winthrop' sB. John Smith ' sC. William Bradford 

36、9; s D. Christopher Columbus' s6. What style did the seve ntee nth cen tury America n poets adapt to the subjectmatter confron ted in a stra ngely new environment?A. The style of their own.B. The style mixed with En glish and America n eleme nts.C. The style mixed with native-American and Britis

37、h tradition.D. The style of established European poets7. was a civil cove nant desig ned to allow the temporal state to serve thegodly citize n.A. The early history of Plymouth Colony.B. The Magn alia Christi America.C. Mayflower Compact.D. Freedom of the Will8. Who among the following translated th

38、e Bible into the Indian tongue?A. Roger WilliamsB. Joh n EliotC. Cotton Mather D. Joh n Smith9. The best of Purita n poets was, whose complete editi on of poets appearedin 1960, more tha n two hun dred years after his death.A. Anne Bradstreet B. Michael WigglesworthC. Thomas HookerD. Edward Taylo r1

39、0. English literature in America is only about more thanyears old.A. 500 B. 600C. 200 D. 10011. The early history ofColony was the history of Bradford' s leadership.A. Plymout h B. Jamestow nC. New En gla ndD. Mayflower12. The com mon thread throughout America n literature has bee n the emphasis

40、 on theA. revoluti onism B. reas onC. i ndividualismD. rati on alism13. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made such a stir in England that she became known as the“” who appeared in America.A. Ni nth MuseB. Ten th MuseC. best MuseD. First Muse14. The ship carried about one hundred Pilgrim

41、s and took 66 days to beatits way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashoreat Plymouth, Massachusetts.A. Su nflowerB. ArmadaC. Mayflower D. Tita nic15. Which writer best expressed the Puritan sense of the self?A. Jon athan Edwards B. Cotton MatherC. John SmithD. Thomas Hoo

42、ker16. Beforethe American newspapers were cultural and literary nature, butafter this time, they became more political.A.1620 B.1700 C. 1775D.1750IV. Questi on and an swer.Who was Anne Bradstreet? What were her literary achieveme nts?Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) is one of the most importa nt figures

43、in thehistory of American literature. She is considered by many to be the firstAmerica n poet and her firstcollect ionof poems, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprungup in America, by a Gentlewoman of Those Parts, was the first book writtenby a woman to be published in the United States. Mrs. Bradstreet '

44、 s work also serves as docume nt of the struggles of a Purita n wife aga inst the hardshipsof new En gla nd coloni al life.Literature of Reason and RevolutionI. Literary terms.1. Autobiography:An autobiography is a person' s account of his or her life.Gen erally writte n in the first pers on, wi

45、th the author speak ing as“ I ”Autobiographies prese nt life events as the writer views them .In additi on toprovid ing in sidedetails about the writer ' s life, autobiographies offerof the author. They also offer's time period. They often't find in history books.in sightsinto the belief

46、s and percepti onsglimpse of what it was like to live in the authorprovide a view of historical events that you wonBenjam in Fran kli ns Autobiography set the sta ndard for what was the n a newgenre.2. Persuasi on:Persuasi on is writi ng meant to convince readers to think or actin a certa in way. A

47、persuasive writer appeals to emoti ons or reas on, offer opinions and urges acti on.3. Aphorism: An aphorism is a short, concise statementexpressinga wise or cleverobservatio n or a gen eral truth. A variety of devices make aphorisms easy toremember. Some contain rhymes or repeated words or sounds.O

48、thers use parallelstructure to present contrasting ideas. The aphorism“ no pains no gainsuses rhyme, repetiti on and parallel structure.II. Fill in the bla nks.1. At the in itial period the spread of ideas of the America n En lighte nment waslargely due tojourn alism.2. Franklin edited the first col

49、onialmagazine,which he called the GreatMagazine .3. Franklin ' s beat writing is found in his masterpieceAutobiography .4. Thomas Paine, with his natural gift for pamphleteering and rebellion, wasappropriately born into an age ofrevolutio n5. On January 10, 1776, Paine' s famous pamphlet Com

50、mon Sense appeared.6. Paine ' s second most important workThe Rights of Man was an impassioned pleaaga inst hereditary mon archy.7. The most outstanding poet in America of the 18th century wasPhilip Freneau.8. Philip Freneau' s famous poem “ The British Prison Ship” was written abouthis impr

51、isoned experienee.9. Philip Fren eau was a close friend and political associate of Preside nt Thomas Jeffers on.10. Philip Freneauwas considered as the“ poet of the American Revolution” ，because he wrote impassi oned verse in support of the America n revoluti on.11. Philip Freneau was noteworthy fir

52、st because of the nature of his poems. Theywere truly America n and very patriotic. In this respect, hereflected thespirit of his age. Therefore, he has bee n called the“ fatherof America npoetry ” .12. In America n literature,the eightee nthcen turywas an Age of Reas on andRevoluti on.III. Multiple

53、 choice1. InAmerica nliterature,theeightee nthcen turywas the age of theEn lighte nment.was the dominant spirit.A. Huma nismB. rati on alismC. Revoluti on D. Evolutio n2. In America n literature, the En lighte ners were not opposed to.A. the colonial order B. religious obscura ntismC. the Purita n t

54、raditi onD. the secular literature3. The En glish colonies in North America rose in arms aga insttheir pare nt countryand the Con ti nen tal Con gress adoptedin 1776.A. the Declaration of IndependenceB. the Sugar ActC. the Stamp ActD. the Mayflower Compact4. Which stateme nt about Fran kli n is not

55、true?A. He in structed his coun tryme n as a prin ter.B. He was a master of diplomacy.C. He was a Purita n.D. He was a scie ntist.5. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenmentwere exemplified in the lifeand career of .A. Thomas HoodB. Benjamin Fran kli nC. Thomas Jeffers onD. George Washi ngto

56、n6. Which of the following does not belong to this literary period?A. The America n CrisisB. The FederalistC. Declaratio n of In depe ndenceD. The Waste Land7. Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the.A. America n En lighte nment B. Sugar ActC. Chartist moveme ntD. Roma nticist8. From 1732 to 1758,

57、Benjamin Fran kli n wrote and published his famous, anann ual collect ion of proverbs.A. The Autobiography B. Poor Richard ' s AlmanacC. Com mon SenseD.The Gen eral Magaz ine9. The first pamphlet published in America to urge immediate in depe ndence fromBritai n is.A. The Rights of ManB. Com mon SenseC. The A