比较齐全的美国文学名词解释

Stream of consciousness(意识流)(or interior monologue);In literary criticism, Stream of consciousness denotes a literary
technique which seeks to describe an individual’s point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character’s thought
processes. Stream of consciousness writing is strongly associated with the modernist movement. Its introduction in the
literary context, transferred from psychology, is attributed to May Sinclair. Stream of consciousness writing is usually
regarded as a special form of interior monologue and is characterized by associative leaps in syntax and punctuation that can
make the prose difficult to follow,tracing as they do a character’s fragmentary thoughts and sensory writers
to employ this technique in the english language include James Joyce and William Faulkner.
American realism ：（美国现实主义）Realism was a reaction against Romanticism and paved the way to Modernism;
2).During this period a new generation of writers, dissatisfied with the Romantic ideas in the older generation, came up with
a new inspiration. This new attitude was characterized by a great interest in the realities of life. It aimed at the interpretation
of the realities of any aspect of life, free from subjective prejudice, idealism, or romantic color. Instead of thinking about the
mysteries of life and death and heroic individualism, people’s attention was now directed to the interesting features of
everyday existence, to what was brutal or sordid, and to the open portayal of class struggle;3) so writers began to describe
the integrity of human characters reacting under various circumstances and picture the pioneers of the far west, the new
immigrants and the struggles of the working class; 4) Mark Twain Howells and Henry James are three leading figures of the
American Realism.
American Naturalism(美国自然主义文学)：The American naturalists accepted the more negative interpretation of
Darwin’s evolutionary theory and used it to accout for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were regarded
as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.2)
naturalism is evolved from realism when the author’s tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more
ironic and more pessimistic. It is no more than a gloomy philosophical approach to reality, or to human existence.3>Dreiser
is a leading figure of his school.
Local Colorism(乡土文学)：Generally speaking, the writings of local colorists are concerned with the life of a small,
weell- defined region or province. The characteristic setting is the isolated small town. 2) Local colorists were consciously
nostalgic historians of a vanishing way of life, recorders of a present that faded before their eyes. Yet for all their
sentimentality, they dedicated themselves to minutely accurate descriptions of the life of their regions, they worked from
personal experience to record the facts of a local environment and suggested that the native life was shaped by the curious
conditions of the local. 3) major local colorists is Mark Twain.
Imagism(意象主义)：Imagism came into being in Britain and U.S around 1910 as a reaction to the traditional English
poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation.2>the imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the
most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image.3>imagism is
characterized by the following three poetic principles: treatment of subject matter;y of expression;C. as
regards rhythm ,to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of metronome. 4> pound’s In a
Station of the Metro is a well-known inagist poem.
The Lost Generation(迷惘的一代）：The lost generation is a term first used by Stein to describe the post-war I generation
of American writers:men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of
the war.2>full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had love affairs and
created some of the finest American literature to date.3>the three best-known representatives of lost generation are
Fitzgerald, hemingway and John dos Passos.
The Beat Generation(垮掉的一代):The members of The Beat Generation were new bohemian libertines. Who engaged in
a spontaneous, sometimes messy, creativity.2> The Beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its
advocacy of non-conformity and for its non- conforming style.3> the major beat writings are Allen Ginsberg’s
became the manifesto of The Beat Generation.
A Jazz age(爵士时代):The Jazz Age describes the period of the 1920s and 1930s, the years between world war I and world

war II. Particularly in north America. With the rise of the great depression, the values of this age saw much decline. Perhaps
the most representative literary work of the age is American writer Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Highlighting what some
describe as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of individualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining
the term” Jazz Age”.
Feminisim(女权主义): Feminisim incorporates both a doctrine of equal rights for women and an ideology of social
transformation aiming to create a world for women beyond simple social equality.2>in general, feminism is ideology of
women’s liberation based on the belief that women suffer injustice because of their sex. Under this broad umbrella various
feminisms offer differing analyses of the causes, or agents, of female oppression.3> definitions of feminism by feminists
tend to be shaped by their training, ideology or race. So, for example, Marxist and socialist feminists stress the interaction
within feminism of class with gender and focus on social distinctions between men and women. Black feminists argue much
more for an integrated analysis which can unlock the multiple systems of oppression.
Hemingway Code Hero(海明威式英雄): Hemingway Code Hero ,also called code hero, is one who, wounded but strong
more sentitive, enjoys the pleasures of life( sex, alcohol, sport) in face of ruin and death, and maintains, through some notion
of a code, an ideal of himself.2> barnes in the sun also Rises, henry in a Farewell to arms and santiago in the old man and
the sea are typical of Hemingway Code Hero
Impressionism(印象主义):Impressionism is a style of painting that gives the impression made by the subject on the artist
without much attention to details. Writers accepted the same conviction that the personal attitudes and moods of the writer
were legitimate elements in depicting character or setting or action.2>briefly, it is a style of literature characterized by the
creation of general impressions and moods rather that realistic mood.
Modernism(现代主义)：Modernism is comprehensive but vague term for a movement , which begin in the late 19th
century and which has had a wide influence internationally during much of the 20th century.2> modernism takes the
irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical case.3> the term pertains to all the creative arts.
Especially poetry, fiction, drama, painting,music and architecture.4> in england from early in the 20th century and during
the 1920s and 1930s, in America from shortly before the first world war and on during the inter-war period, modernist
tendencies were at their most active and fruitful.5>as far as literature is concerned, Modernism reveals a breaking away from
established rules, traditions and ways of looking at man’s position and function in the universe and many
experiments in form and is particularly concerned with language and how to use it and with writing itself.
the gilded age: Plains Indians were pushed in a series of Indian wars onto restricted period also witnessed
the creation of a modern industrial economy. A national transportation and communication network was created, the
corporation became the dominant form of business organization, and a managerial revolution transformed business
operations. By the beginning of the twentieth century, per capita income and industrial production in the United States
exceeded that of any other country except Britain. Long hours and hazardous working conditions, led many workers to
attempt to form labor unions despite strong opposition from industrialists and the era of intense political
partisanship, the Gilded Age was also an era of reform. The Civil Service Act sought to curb government corruption by
requiring applicants for certain governmental jobs to take a competitive examination. The Interstate Commerce Act sought
to end discrimination by railroads against small shippers and the Sherman Antitrust Act outlawed business monopolies.
These years also saw the rise of the Populist crusade. Burdened by heavy debts and falling farm prices, many farmers joined
the Populist party, which called for an increase in the amount of money in circulation, government assistance to help farmers
repay loans, tariff reductions, and a graduated income Twain called the late nineteenth century the
By this, he meant that the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. In the popular view, the late nineteenth
century was a period of greed and guile: of rapacious Robber Barons, unscrupulous speculators, and corporate buccaneers,
of shady business practices, scandal-plagued politics, and vulgar display. It is easy to caricature the Gilded Age as an era of
corruption, conspicuous consumption, and unfettered capitalism. But it is more useful to think of this as modern America’s
formative period, when an agrarian society of small producers was transformed into an urban society dominated by

industrial corporations.
Regionalism(地区主义)：In literature, regionalism or local color fiction refers to fiction or poetry that focuses on specific
features – including characters, dialects, customs, history, and topography – of a particular region. Since the region may
be a recreation or reflection of the author's own, there is often nostalgia and sentimentality in the gh the terms
regionalism and local color are sometimes used interchangeably, regionalism generally has broader connotations. Whereas
local color is often applied to a specific literary mode that flourished in the late 19th century, regionalism implies a
recognition from the colonial period to the present of differences among specific areas of the country. Additionally,
regionalism refers to an intellectual movement encompassing regional consciousness beginning in the 1930s. Even though
there is evidence of regional awareness in early southern writing—William Byrd's History of the Dividing Line, for example,
points out southern characteristics—not until well into the 19th century did regional considerations begin to overshadow
national ones. In the South the regional concern became more and more evident in essays and fiction exploring and often
defending the southern way of life. John Pendleton Kennedy's fictional sketches in Swallow Barn, for example, examined
southern plantation life at length.
multiple points of view（多视角）：Multiple Point of View: It is one of the literary techniques William Faulkner used, which
shows within the same story how the characters reacted differently to the same person or the same situation. The use of this
technique gave the story a circular form wherein one event was the center, with various points of view radiating from it. The
multiple points of view technique makes the reader recognize the difficulty of arriving at a true judgment.
Confessional poetry ：Confessional poetry emphasizes the intimate, and sometimes unflattering, information about details of
the poet's personal life, such as in poems about illness, sexuality, and despondence. The confessionalist label was applied to
a number of poets of the 1950s and 1960s. John Berryman, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Theodore Roethke,
Anne Sexton, and William De Witt Snodgrass have all been called 'Confessional Poets'. As fresh and different as the work of
these poets appeared at the time, it is also true that several poets prominent in the canon of Western literature, perhaps most
notably Sextus Propertius and Petrarch, could easily share the label of with the confessional poets of the
fifties and sixties.
Ecocriticism：Ecocriticism is the study of literature and environment from an interdisciplinary point of view where all
sciences come together to analyze the environment and brainstorm possible solutions for the correction of the contemporary
environmental situation. Ecocriticism was officially heralded by the publication of two seminal works, both published in the
mid-1990s: The Ecocriticism Reader, edited by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, and The Environmental Imagination,
by Lawrence the United States, Ecocriticism is often associated with the Association for the Study of Literature and
Environment (ASLE), which hosts biennial meetings for scholars who deal with environmental matters in literature. ASLE
has an official journal—Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (ISLE)—in which much of the most current
American scholarship in the rapidly evolving field of ecocriticism can be ticism is an intentionally broad
approach that is known by a number of other designations, including (cultural) studiesand

Dramatic Conflict：At least not the special kind of conflict that drives plays, the gas that fuels the dramatic engine.
Arguments in real life are usually circular -- nobody gets anywhere, except a little steam's been blown off. And they're
boring for everyone except the folks doing the ic Conflict draws from a much deeper vein, rooted in the
Subtext of your central characters. It's driven by fundamentally opposing ct is a necessary element of fictional
literature. It is defined as the problem in any piece of literature and is often classified according to the nature of the
protagonist or antagonist。
Confessional poetry(自白派诗歌)：designates a type of narrative and lyric verse, given impetus by Robert Lowell’s Life
Studies, which deals with the facts and intimate mental and physical experiences of the poet’s own life. Confessional poetry
was written in rebellion against the demand for impersonality by T. S. Elliot and the New Criticism. The representative
writers of confessional school include Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath and so on.

01. Allegory(寓言)
Allegory is a story told to explain or teach something. Especially a long and complicated
story with an underlying meaning different from the surface meaning of the story
itself.2>allegorical novels use extended metaphors to convey moral meanings or attack
certain social evils. characters in these novels often stand for different values such
as virtue and vice.3>Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Melville’s Moby Dick are such
examples.
02. Alliteration(头韵)
Alliteration means a repetition of the initial sounds of several words in a line or group.
2>alliteration is a traditional poetic device in English literature.
3>Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night is a case in point:” I have stood still and
stopped the sound of feet”
03. Ballad(民谣)
Ballad is a story in poetic from to be sung or recited. in more exact literary terminology,
a ballad is a narrative poem consisting of quatrains of iambic tetrameter alternating
with iambic trimester.(抑扬格四音步与抑扬格三音步诗行交替出现的四行叙事诗)
2>.ballads were passed down from generation to generation. 3>Coleridge’s The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner is a 19th century English ballad.
04. epic(史诗)
Epic, in poetry, refers to a long work dealing with the actions of goods and heroes.
2>Epic poems are not merely entertaining stories of legendary or historical heroes; they
summarize and express the nature or ideals of an entire nation at a significant or crucial
period of its history.
3>Beowulf is the greatest national Epic of the Anglo- Saxons.
05. Lay(短叙事诗)
It is a short poem, usually a romantic narrative, intended to be sung or recited by a
minstrel.
06. Romance(传奇)
Romance is a popular literary form in the medic England.

2>it sings knightly adventures or other heroic deeds.
3> chivalry is the spirit of the romance.
07. Alexandrine(亚历山大诗行)
The name is derived from the fact that certain 12th and 13th century French poems on
Alexander the Great were written in this meter.
2>it is an iambic line of six feet, which is the French heroic verse.
08. Blank Verse(无韵诗或素体广义地说)
Blank verse is unrhymed poetry. Typically in iambic pentameter, and as such, the dominant
verse forms of English dramatic and narrative poetry since the mid-16th century.
09. Comedy(喜剧)
Comedy is a light form of drama that aims primarily to amuse and that ends happily. Since
it strives to provoke smile and laughter, both wit and humor are utilized. In general,
the comic effect arises from recognition of some incongruity of speech, action, or
character revelation, with intricate plot.
10. Essay(随笔)
The term refers to literary composition devoted to the presentation of the writer’s
own ideas on a topic and generally addressing a particular aspect of the subject. Often
brief in scope and informal in style, the essay differs from such fomal forms as the thesis,
dissertation or treatise.
11. Euphuistic style(绮丽体)
Its principle characteristics are the excessive use of antithesis, which is pursued
regardless of sense, and emphasized by alliteration and other devices; and of allusions
to historical and mythological personages and to natural history drawn from such writers
as Plutarch(普卢塔克), Pliny(普林尼), and Erasmus(伊拉兹马斯).2> it is the peculiar
style of Euphues(优浮绮斯)
12. History Plays(历史剧)
History plays aim to present some historical age or character, and may be either a comedy
or a tragedy. They almost tell stories about the nobles, the true people in history, but
not ordinary people. the principle idea of Shakespeare’s history plays is the necessity
for national unity under a mighty and just sovereign.
13. Masques or Masks(假面剧)

Masques (or Masks) refer to the dramatic entertainments involving dances and disguises,
in which the spectacular and musical elements predominated over plot and character. As
they were usually performed at court, often at very great expense, many have political
overtones.
14. Morality plays(道德剧)
A kind of medic and early Renaissance drama that presents the conflict between the good
and evil through allegorical characters. The characters tend to be personified
abstractions of vices and virtues, which can be named as Mercy. Conscience, etc. unlike
a mystery or a miracle play, morality play does not necessarily use Biblical or strictly
religious material because it takes place internally and psychologically in every human
being.
(十四行诗)
It is a lyric poem of 14 lines with a formal or recited and characterized by its
presentation of a dramatic or exciting episode in simple narrative form.
2>it is one of the most conventional and influential forms of poetry in Europe.
3>Shakespeare’s sonnets are well- known.
16. Spenserian Stanza(斯宾塞诗节)
Spenserian Stanza is the creation of Edmund spenser.2>it refers to a stanza of nine lines,
with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter(五音步抑扬格) and the last line in iambic
hexameter(六音步抑扬格),rhyming ababbcbcc. 3> Spenser’s the Faerie Queen was written
in this kind of stanza.
17. Stanza(诗节)
Stanza is a group of lines of poetry, usually four or more, arranged according to a fixed
plan.2>the stanza is the unit of structure in a poem and poets do not vary the unit within
a poem.
18. Three Unities(三一原则)
Three rules of 16th and 17th century Italian and French drama, broadly adapted from
Aristotle’s Poetics<诗学>:
2> the unity of time, which limits a play to a single day; the unity of place, which limits
a play’s setting in a single location; and the unity of action, which limits a play to
a single story line.
19. Tragedy(悲剧)

In general, a literary work in which the protagonist meets an unhappy or disastrous end.
Unlike comedy, tragedy depicts the actions of a central character who is usually dignified
or heroic.
t(奇特比喻)
Conceit is a far-fetched simile or metaphor, a literary conceit occurs when the speaker
compares two highly dissimilar things.2>conceit is extensively employed in John Donne’s
poetry.
(格律)
The word”meter” is derived from the Greek word”metron” meaning”measure”.
2>in English when applied to poetry, it refers to the regular pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables.
3> the analysis of the meter is called scansion(格律分析)
22. University Wits(大学才子)
University Wits refer to a group of scholars during the Elizabethan Age who graduated
from either oxford or Cambridge. They came to London with the ambition to become
professional writers. Some of them later became famous poets and playwrights. They were
called” University Wits”
adowing(预兆)
Foreshadowing, the use of hints or clues in a novel or drama to suggest what will happen
next. Writers use Foreshadowing to create interest and to build suspense.
method used to build suspense by providing hints of what is to come.
24. Soliloquy(独白)
Soliloquy, in drama, means a moment when a character is alone and speaks his or her thoughts
aloud..2>the line “to be, or not to be, that is the question”, which begins the famous
soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
ive Poem(叙述诗)
Narrative Poem refers to a poem that tells a story in verse,
2>three traditional types of narrative poems include ballads, epics, metrical romances.
3>it may consist of a series of incidents, as John Milton’s paradise lost.

Hood(罗宾.豪)
Robin hood is a legendary hero of a series of English ballads, some of which date from
at least the 14th century.
2>the character of Robin Hood is many-sided. Strong, brave and intelligent, he is at the
same time tender-hearted and affectionate.
3> the dominant key in his character is his hatred for the cruel oppression and his love
for the poor and downtrodden.4>another feature of Robin’s view is his reverence for the
king, Robin Hood was a people’s hero.
27. Beowulf(贝奥武甫)
Beowulf, a typical example of old English poetry, is regarded as the greatest
national epic of t he Anglo-Saxons. 2> the epic describes the exploits of a Scandinavian
hero, Beowulf, in fighting against the monster Grendel, his revengeful nother, and a
fire-breathing dragon in his declining years. While fight against the dragon, Beowulf
was mortally wounded, however, he killed the dragon at the cost of his life, Beowulf is
shown not only as a glorious hero but also as a protector of the people.
28. Baroque(巴罗克式风格)
This is originally a term of abuse applied to 17th century Italian art and that of other
countries. It is characterized by the unclassical use of classical forms, in a literary
context; it is loosely used to describe highly ornamented verse or prose, abounding in
extravagant conceits.
这原本是用来指17世纪的意大利艺术和其他 国家艺术滥用的一个术语.这种风格主要是指对古典
形式的非古典运用.在文学领域,这种风格松散地用 来指十分雕饰的,大量运用奇思妙想的诗歌或
散文.
29. Cavalier poets(骑士派诗人)
A name given to supporters of Charles I in the civil war. These poets were not a formal
group, but all influenced by Ben Jonson and like him paid little attention to the sonnet.
Their lyrics are distinguished by short lines, precise but idiomatic diction, and an
urbane and graceful wit.
30. Elegy(挽歌)
Elegy has typically been used to refer to reflective poems that lament the loss of
something or someone, and characterized by their metrical form.
31. Restoration Comedy(复辟时期喜剧)

Restoration Comedy, also the comedy of manners, developed upon the reopening of the
theatres after the re- establishment of monarchy with the return of Charles II.. Its
predominant tone was witty, bawdy, cynical, and amoral. Standard characters include fops,
bawds, scheming valets, country squires, and sexually voracious young widows and older
women. The principle theme is sexual intrigue, either for its own sake or for money. 复辟时期的喜剧,又称社会习俗讽刺喜剧,是在查理二世君主复辟后剧院重新开业的基础上发展起
来 的,其主要的基调是诙谐,淫秽,挖苦和非道德.标准的角色包括花花公子,鸨母,诡计多端的仆人,
乡 绅,性欲旺盛的年轻寡妇和老女人.主要的主题是奸情,有的是为了性,有的是为了钱.
32. Action(情节)
A real or fictional event or series of such events comprising the subject of a novel,
story, narrative poem, or a play, especially in the sense of what the characters do in
such a narrative.
33. Adventure novel(探险小说)
The adventure novel is a literary genry that has adventure, an exciting undertaking
involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme, in which exciting events and fast
paced actions are more important than character development, theme, or symbolism.
34. Archaism(古语)
A word, expression, spelling, or phrase that is out of date in the common speech of an
era, but still deliberately used by writer, poet, or playwright for artistic purposes.
35. Atmosphere(基调)
The prevailing mood or feeling of a literary work. Atmosphere is often developed, at least
in part, through descriptions of setting. Such descriptions help to create an emotional
climate for the werrors to establish the reader’s expectations and attitudes.
36. Didactic literature(说教文学)
Didactic literature is said to be didactic if it deliberately teaches some moral lesson,
the use of literature for such teaching is one of its traditional justifications.2>most
modern literary works during the enlightenment period tended to be didactic.
37. Epigram(警句)
A short, witty, pointed statement often in the form of a poem.
38. Farce(闹剧)

Farce refers to a play full of ridiculous happenings, absurd actions, and unreal
situations, meant to be very funny.
39. The Heroic Couplet(英雄对偶句)
The Heroic Couplet means a pair of lines of a type once common in English poetry, in other
words, it means iambic pentameter rhymed in two lines.
40. Satire(讽刺)
Satire means a kind of writing that holds up to ridicule or contempt the weakness and
wrongdoings of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general.
2> the aim of satirists is to set a moral standard for society, and they attempt to persuade
the reader to see their point of view through the force of laughter.
3> Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a great satire of the English society from different
aspects.
41. Sentimentalism(感伤主义文学)
Sentimentalism is a pejorative term to describe false or superficial emotion, assumed
feeling, self- regarding postures of grief and pain,
2> in literature it denotes overmuch use of pathetic effects and attempts to arouse feeling
by “pathetic” indulgence.
42. Aside(旁白)
Aside refers to words spoken by an actor which the other actors are supposed no to hear,
2> an actor’s asides are usually spoken to the audience.3>Hamlet’s very first line is
an aside.
ment(戏剧结局)
Denouement, pronounced Dee-noo-na, is that part of a drama which follows the climax and
leads to the resolution.
e(寓言)
A parable is a very short narrative about human beings presented so as to stress the tacit
analogy, or parallel, with a general thesis or lesson that the narrator is trying to bring
home to his audience.
45. Genre(流派)

A type or category of literature marked by certain shared features or customs. The three
broadest categories of genre include poetry, drama, and fiction.
46. Irony(反讽)
It refers to some contrast or discrepancy between appearance and reality. It is a
discrepancy between what is expected and what is revealed. It may be found either in
language usage or in the working out of the action of a story.
2> surprise endings always depend on some sort of irony, often crude. Irony may appear
in the difference between a character’s understanding of his or her situation and the
reader’s estimate of it .
47. Lyric(抒情诗)
Lyric is a short poem wherein the poet expresses an emotion or illustrates some life
principle.
2>Lyric often concerns love.
3>the elegy, ode and sonnet are all forms of the lyric.
48. Mock Epic(诙谐史诗)
A mock epic is a long poem that burlesques the classical epic by treating a trivial subject
in the lofty style. The poet often takes an elevated style of language, but incongruously
applies that language to mundane or ridiculous objects and situations. Alexander Pope’s
The Rape of the Lock is perhaps the finest mock epic poem in English.
49. Ode(颂歌)
Ode is a dignified and elaborately structured lyric poem of some length, praising and
glorifying an individual, commemorating an event, or describing nature intellectually
rather than emotionally.
2> John Keats wrote great Odes, his Ode on a Grecian Urn is a case in point.
50. Picaresque Novel(流浪汉小说)
A humorous novel in which the plot consists of a young knave’s adventures and escapades
narrated in comic or satiric scenes. The picaresque novel is usually in nature and
realistic in its presentation of the all around aspects of society.
51. Pastoral(田园诗)

A literary work dealing with and often celebrating a rural world and a way of life lived
close to nature. It usually idealized shepherds’ lives in order to create an image of
peaceful and uncorrupted existence. Typically, pastoral liturgy depicts beautiful
scenery, carefree shepherds, seductive nymphs, and rural songs and dances. A good example
of pastoral poetic conventions occurs in Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.
Rima(三行诗)
Terza Rima is an Italian verse that consists of a series three-line stanzas in which the
middle line of each stanza rhymes with the first and third lines of the following stanza
with the rhyming scheme a b a, b c b , c d c, d e d?.
2>Shelly’s Ode to the west wind is a case in point.
53. Ottava Rima(八行诗)
Ottava Rima is a form of eight-line iambic stanza rhyming abababcc.2>Byron’s Don Juan
are outstanding examples.
54. Canto(诗章)
Canto is a section of division of an epic or narrative poem comparable to a chapter in
a novel. 2>the most famous cantos in literature are those that make up Dante’s Divine
comedy, a 14th century epic.
55. High Comedy(正统喜剧)
High comedy is a comedy that deals with polite society and depends more on witty dialogue
and well-drawn characters that on comic situations.
Poets(湖畔诗人)
In English literature Lake Poets refer to such romantic poets as William Wordsworth,
Coleridge and Southey who lived in the Lake District. They came to be known as the lake
school or Lakers.
57. Imagery(比喻)
A rather vague critical term covering those uses of language in a literary work that evoke
sense impressions by literal or figurative reference to perceptible or “concrete”
objects, scenes, actions, or state as distinct from the language of abstract argument
or expositon.2> the imagery of a literary work thus comprises the set of images that it
uses, these need not be mental” pictures” but may appeal to senses other than sight.
58. Dramatic monologue（戏剧独白）

Dramatic monologue is a kind of poem in which a single fictional or historical character
other than the poet speaks to a silent “audience” of one or more persons. Such poems
reveal not the poet’s own thoughts but the mind of the impersonated character, whose
personality is revealed while the implied presence of an auditor distinguishes it from
a soliloquy, have also been called Dramatic monologue. But to avoid confusion it is
preferable to refer to these simply as monologues or as monodramas.2>Robert Browning’s
My Last Duchess is a case in point.
59. Pre-Raphaelites(先拉菲尔派)
A mid-19th century self-styled brotherhood of London artists, all young, who united to
resist current artistic conventions and to create ,or recreate, art forms in use before
the period of Raphel.2>the poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites showed a distinct liking for
medism, 18th century ballads, archaic diction, symbolism and sensuousness. The poets were
considerably under the influence of Spenser.
先拉菲尔派是19世纪中叶旅居在伦敦的一群年轻艺术家自发组成的兄弟会,他们联 合起来抵制当
时的艺术传统,主张创造或再创造拉菲尔艺术时期之前的艺术形式.先拉菲尔派的诗歌明显 对中世
纪艺术,18世纪歌谣,古老的修辞手法,象征主义及感官享受表示青睐.
60. Psychological novel(心理小说)
Psychological novel refers to a kind of novel that dwells on a complex Psychological
development and presents much of the narration through the inner workings of the
character’s mind.
of View(叙述角度)
Point of view can be divided by the narrator’s relationship with the character,
represented by the grammatical person: the first-person narrative, the third-person
narrative, and omniscient narrator.
62. plot(情节)
Plot refers to the structure of a story,2> the plot of a literary work includes the rising
action, the climax, the falling action and the resolution. It has a protagonist who is
opposed by an antagonist ,creating what is called conflict.
63. Allusion(典故)
Allusion means a reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer
expects the reader to recognize and respond to. 2> an Allusion may be drawn from history,
geography, literature, or religion. 3>allusion is a device that allows writer to compress
a great deal of meaning into a very few words.

64. Protagonist and Antagonist(正面人物与反面人物)
In literary work protagonist refers to the hero or central character who is often hindered
by some opposing force either human or animan. Antagonist is a person or force opposing
the protagonist in a narrative; a rival of the hero or heroine.
65. Flashback(倒叙)P133
A device by which the writer presents scenes or incidents that occurred prior to the
beginning of a story or play.2> various devices may be used, among them recollections
of the characters, narration by the characters, dream sequence and reveries. This is a
break in the chronological sequence of a story made to deal with earlier events.
66. Narration
It is a synonym for story-telling. 2> in fiction, narrative passages are to be
distinguished from descriptions and scenes, in narrative passages the chronology is
condensed so that relatively few words will encompass the events of an extended period
of time. Most writers use narrative passages to fill in the links between events. There
were two types of narration, first-person narration and third-person narration.
ity
Ambiguity means two or more simultaneous interpretations of a word, phrase, action,
or situation, all of which can be supported by the context of a work.2> deliberate
ambiguity can contribute to the effectiveness and richness of a work, however,
unintentional ambiguity obscures meaning and can confuse readers.
68. Pragnatism(实用主义)
A doctrine which tests truth by its practical consequences. Truth is therefore held to
be relative and not attained by metaphysical speculation.2> it was first formulated by
and was developed by William James.
69. Symbolism(象征主义)
Symbolism works under the surface to tie the story’s external action to the theme. It
was often produced through allegory, giving the literal event and its allegorical
counterpart a one-to-one correspondence.
70. Dadaism(达达主义)
Dadaism refers to an international nihilistic movement amone European artists and writers
that lasted from 1916-1922. it originated in the widespread disillusionment engendered
by world war 1. Dada attacked conventional standards of aesthetics and behavior and

stressed absurdity and the role of the unpredictable in artistic creation. Dada principles
were eventually modified to become the basis of surrealism in 1924.
71. The Angry young men(愤怒的青年)
In the mid-1950s and early 1960s, there appeared a group of young novelists and playwrights
with lower-middle-class or working-class background, who were known as “The Angry young
men”2> they demonstrated a particular disillusion over the depressing situation in
Britain and launched a bitter protest against the outmoded social and political values
in their society.3> kingsley Amis is a leading figure of this group.
72. Existentialism(存在主义)
Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the
individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as
unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences
of one’s acts.2>its famous motto is “existence precedes essence”(存在先于本质)
73. Anti-hero(反面人物)
Anti-hero is a character who lacks the qualities needed for heroism.
2>an anti-hero does not posses nobility of life or mind and does not have an attitude
marked by high purpose and lofty aim.
3>anti-hero typically distrust conventional values and are unable to commit themselves
to any ideals. they generally feel helpless in a world, over which they have no control.
Anti-heroes usually accept succumb to, and often celebrate, their positions as social
outcasts.
74. Round Character(丰满的人物)
A Round Character is complex and undergoes development, sometimes reaches the point that
the reader is surprise.
75. Flat character(平淡的人物)
Flat character is relatively uncomplicated and does not change throughout the course of
a literary work.
76. Oedipus complex(俄狄浦斯情结 蛮母厌父情结)
Oedipus complex is a term coined by Sigmund Freud to designate a son’s subconscious
feeling of love toward his mather and jealousy and hatred toward his father.
2>D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and lovers is a case in point.

ience(无所不知的)
The narrator is capable of knowing, seeing and telling all the actions of the character.
And the narrator feels free to make comments on the meaning of actions.
2> it is characterized by freedom in shifting from the exterior world to the inner selves
of a number of characters and by a freedom in movement both in time and space.
78. Poetry(诗歌)
Poetry is one of the three types (or genres) of literature. The others being prose and
drama. Poems are often divided into lines and stanzas. Many poem emply regular rhythmical
patterns, or meters. However, some are written in free verse. Most poems make use of highly
concise, musical, and emotionally charged language.
79. Rhyme(押韵)
Rhyme is the repetition of sounds at the ends of words. End rhyme occurs when rhyming
words appear at the ends of lines. internal rhyme occurs when rhyming words fall within
a line.
80. Iambic pentameter(五音步诗)
Iambic pentameter is the most common English meter, in which each foot contains an
unaccented syllable and an accented syllable.
81. Rhyme royal
Rhyme royal is a poetic pattern with seven iambic pentameters rhyming ababbcc which
pronounce a final short e, and often end in an 11th, unstressed syllable.
82. Shakespearean sonnet(莎士比亚十四行诗)
Shakespearean sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a couplet ( rhyming abab cdcd efef
gg).
83. Italian or petranrchan sonnet(意大利十四行诗)
Italian or petranrchan sonnet, composed of an octave and s sestet( rhyming abbaabba
cdecde).
84. Alliteration and assonance(头韵和半韵)
Alliteration and assonance are said to rhyme only today when the sound of the final
accented syllable of one word( paced usually at the end of a line of verse) agrees with
the final accented syllable of another word so place.

85. Poetic license(诗的破格)
Poetic license means such liberties a poet adopts as “approximate rhymes”, or
“eye- rhymes”. (Words which are spelled alike but not pronounced alike)
86. Epiphany(主显节?)
Epiphany is an appearance or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something,
which is adapted by James Joyce to describe the sudden revelation of whatness of a thing,
the moment in which the soul of the commonest object seems to us radiant.
87. Psychological penetration(心理透视)
Psychological penetration is a writing device that involves such psychological elements
as “Id”, “ego”, “superego” in the depiction of characters’ inner thinking or mental
activities.
88. Legend(传说)
Legend is a widely told story about the past that may or may not be based in fact. A legend
often reflects a people’s identity or cultural values, generally with more historical
and less emphasis on the supernatural things in a myth.
89. Myth(神话)
Myth is a fictional tale originally with religious significance, which explains the
actions of gods or heroes, the causes of natural phenomena, or both. Allusions to
characters and motifs from Greek, Roman, Celtic myths are common in English literature.
90. Pessimism(悲观主义)
Pessimism denotes an attitude of hopelessness towards life, a vague general opinion that
pain and evil predominate in human affairs.
91. Jacobean age(英王詹姆斯一世时期)
Referring to the reign of King James I of England, the term came from the Latin form of
James, Jacobus. It is generally applied to the literature(especially drama) of that
period.
92. Tragicomedy(悲喜剧)
Tragicomedy is a play in which the action, though apparently leading to a catastrophe,
is reversed to bring about a happy ending.2> the typical tragicomedy concerns noble
characters involved in improbable situations. Love, frequently seen as a contrast of the

pure and the sensual, is the central motive of the elaborate plot, in which both hero
and heroine are rescued from imminent disaster so that the play may conclude happily.
93. Comedy of manners(风俗喜剧)
Popular during the Restoration period, these plays are concerned with the manners and
conventions of an artificial and “highly sophisticated” society. A hundred years later,
Goldsmith and Sheridan also wrote plays of the same nature.
94. Gothic novel(哥特式小说)
Gothic novel is a type of romance very popular late in the 18th century and at the
beginning of the 19th century.
2> Gothic novel emphasizes things which are grotesque, violent, mysterious, supernatural,
desolate and horrifying.
3> Gothic, originally in the sense of “medic, not classical”, with its descriptions
of the dark, irrational side of human nature, Gothic novel has exerted a great influence
over the writers of the Romantic period.
95. Historical novel(历史小说)
A novel in which the action takes place during a specitic historical well before the time
of writing,(often one or two generations before, sometimes several centuries). And in
which some attempt ih made to depict accurately the customs and mentality of the period.
The central character---real or imagined--- is usually subject to divided loyalties
within a larger historic conflict of which readers know the outcome, the pioneers of this
genre were Walter Scott and cooper.
历史小说指故事发生在特定历史时期的一类小说 ,(通常相隔一代或两代,有时几个世纪),这类小
说试图准确描述当时那个时期的风俗以及人的思想情 况,主人公或虚构或真实,通常被置于历史冲
突中,而这个事件的结局早已为读者所熟知,历史小说的开 创者是沃尔特.司格特和库珀.
96. Unitarianism(上帝一位论)
Unitarianism is, in general, the form of Christianity that denies the doctrine of the
trinity. Believing that God exists only in one person, modern Unitarianism originated
in the period of the protestant Reformation.
上帝一位论从总体 上说是基督教的一派,反对上帝三位一体说,相信上帝只存在于一个人身上,现
代的上帝一位论起源于新 教改革时期.
97. Calvinism(加尔文主义)
Calvinism refers to the religious teachings of John Calvin and his followers.

2>Calvin taught that only certain persons, the elect, were chosen by God to be saved,
and these could be saved only by God’s grace.
3>Calvinism forms the basis for the doctrines and practices of the Huguenots, puritans,
Presbyterians, and the reformed churches.
98. Assonance(类韵)
The repetition of similar vowel sounds, especially in poetry. Assonance is often employed
to please the ear or emphasize certain sounds.
99. Consonance(和音)
It refers to the repetition of identical or similar consomants in neighboring words whose
vowel sounds are different in a line of poetry.