主场外交(完整版)英美文学名词解释最全版

2020年12月23日发(作者：艾博彬)

01. Humanism(人文主义)
1>Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance.
2> it emphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life. Humanists
voiced their beliefs that man was the center of the universe and man did not only have the right to
enjoy the beauty of the present life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.
02. Renaissance(文艺复兴)
1>The word “Renaissance” means “rebirth”, it meant the reintroduction into western Europe of
the full cultural heritage of Greece and Rome.
2>the essence of the Renaissance is Humanism. Attitudes and feelings which had been
characteristic of the 14th and 15th centuries persisted well down into the era of Humanism and
reformation.
3> the real mainstream of the English Renaissance is the Elizabethan drama with William
Shakespeare being the leading dramatist.
03. Metaphysical poetry(玄学派诗歌)
1>Metaphysical poetry is commonly used to name the work of the 17th century writers who wrote
under the influence of John Donne.
2>with a rebellious spirit, the Metaphysical poets tried to break away from the conventional
fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry.
3>the diction is simple as compared with that of the Elizabethan or the Neoclassical periods, and
echoes the words and cadences of common speech.4>the imagery is drawn from actual life.
04. Classicism(古典主义)
Classicism refers to a movement or tendency in art, literature, or music that reflects the principles
manifested in the art of ancient Greece and Rome. Classicism emphasizes the traditional and the
universal, and places value on reason, clarity, balance, and order. Classicism, with its concern for
reason and universal themes, is traditionally opposed to Romanticism, which is concerned with
emotions and personal themes.
05. Enlightenment(启蒙运动)
1>Enlightenment movement was a progressive philosophical and artistic movement which
flourished in France and swept through western Europe in the 18th century.
2> the movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance from 14th century to the mid-17th century.
3>its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic
ideas.
4>it celebrated reason or rationality, equality and science. It advocated universal education.
5>famous among the great enlighteners in England were those great writers like Alexander pope.
Jonathan Swift. etc.
ssicism(新古典主义)
1>In the field of literature, the enlightenment movement brought about a revival of interest in the
old classical works.

2>this tendency is known as neoclassicism. The Neoclassicists held that forms of literature were
to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers such as Homer
and Virgil and those of the contemporary French ones.
3> they believed that the artistic ideals should be order, logic, restrained emotion and accuracy,
and that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity.
07. The Graveyard School(墓地派诗歌)
1>The Graveyard School refers to a school of poets of the 18th century whose poems are mostly
devoted to a sentimental lamentation or meditation on life. Past and present ,with death and
graveyard as themes.
2>Thomas Gray is considered to be the leading figure of this school and his Elegy written in a
country churchyard is its most representative work.
08. Romanticism(浪漫主义)
1>In the mid-18th century, a new literary movement called romanticism came to Europe and then
to England.
2>It was characterized by a strong protest against the bondage of neoclassicism, which
emphasized reason, order and elegant wit. Instead, romanticism gave primary concern to passion,
emotion, and natural beauty.
3>In the history of literature. Romanticism is generally regarded as the thought that designates a
literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and
experience. 4> The English romantic period is an age of poetry which prevailed in England from
1798 to 1837. The major romantic poets include Wordsworth, Byron and Shelley.
09. Byronic Hero(拜伦式英雄)
1>Byronic hero refers to a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin.
2> with immense superiority in his passions and powers, this Byronic Hero would carry on his
shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in a corrupt society. And would rise
single-handedly against any kind of tyrannical rules either in government, in religion, or in moral
principles with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies.
3> Byron’s chief contribution to English literature is his creation of the “Byronic Hero”
10. Critical Realism(批判现实主义)
1>Critical Realism is a term applied to the realistic fiction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
2> It means the tendency of writers and intellectuals in the period between 1875 and 1920 to apply
the methods of realistic fiction to the criticism of society and the examination of social issues.
3> Realist writers were all concerned about the fate of the common people and described what
was faithful to reality.
4> Charles Dickens is the most important critical realist.
11. Aestheticism（美学主义）
1>The basic theory of the Aesthetic movement--- “art for art’s sake” was set forth by a French
poet, Theophile Gautier, the first Englishman who wrote about the theory of aestheticism was
Walter Pater.

2> aestheticism places art above life, and holds that life should imitate art, not art imitate life.
3> According to the aesthetes, all artistic creation is absolutely subjective as opposed to objective.
Art should be free from any influence of egoism. Only when art is for art’s sake, can it be
immortal. They believed that art should be unconcerned with controversial issues, such as politics
and morality, and that it should be restricted to contributing beauty in a highly polished style.
4> This is one of the reactions against the materialism and commercialism of the Victorian
industrial era, as well as a reaction against the Victorian convention of art for morality’s sake, or
art for money’s sake.
美学运动的基本原则”为艺术而艺术”最初由法国诗人西奥费尔 .高缔尔提出,英国运用该美
学理论的第一人是沃尔特.佩特.美学主义崇尚艺术高于生活,认为生活应 模仿艺术,而不是艺
术模仿生活.在美学主义看来,所有的艺术创作都是绝对主观而非客观的产物.艺术 不应受任
何功利的影响,只有当艺术为艺术而创作时,艺术才能成为不朽之作.他们还认为艺术不应只< br>关注一些热点话题如政治和道德问题,艺术应着力于以华丽的风格张扬美.这是对维多利亚工
业发 展时期物质崇拜的一种回应,也是向艺术为道德或为金钱而服务的维多利亚传统的挑战.
Victorian period(维多利亚时期)
1>In this period, the novel became the most widely read and the most vital and challenging
expression of progressive thought. While sticking to the principle of faithful representation of the
18th century realist novel, novelists in this period carried their duty forward to criticism of the
society and the defense of the mass.
2> although writing from different points of view and with different techniques, they shared one
thing in common, that is, they were all concerned about the fate of the common people. They were
angry with the inhuman social institutions, the decaying social morality as represented by the
money-worship and Utilitarianism, and the widespread misery, poverty and injustice.
3>their truthful picture of people’s life and bitter and strong criticism of the society had done
much in awakening the public consciousness to the social problems and in the actual improvement
of the society.
4> Charles Dickens is the leading figure of the Victorian period.
13. Modernism(现代主义)
1>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 conventions. fresh ways of looking at man’s position and function in the universe
and many experiments in form and style. It is particularly concerned with language and how to use
it and with writing itself.
14. 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 feelings. Famous writers
to employ this technique in the English language include James Joyce and William Faulkner.

学术界认为意识流是一种通过直接描述人物思维过程来寻求个人视角的文 学写作技巧。意识
流是现代主义运动的体现，它首先出现在心现学领域，由梅.辛克拉提出的，后引进文 学领
域。意识流写作通常被认为是一种特殊形式的内心独白.它的特别是联想性,以句法和标点的
跳跃,文章的晦涩难懂为特征.来表现人物的片断思维和感官性直觉.比较著名的使用此技巧
的有乔伊 斯.福克纳.
15. American Puritanism(美国清教主义)
Puritanism was a religious reform that arose within the Church of England in the late 16th century.
Under siege from church and crown, it sent an offshoot in the third and fourth decades of the 17th
to the northern English colonies in the new world---a migration that laid the foundation for the
religious, intellectual, and social order of New England. Puritanism, however, was not only a
historically specific phenomenon coincident with the founding of new England, it was also a way
of being in the world---a style of response to lived experience--- that has reverberated through
American life ever since. Doctrinally, puritans adhered to the five points of Calvinism as codified
at the synod of dort in 1619:
1) Unconditional election: the idea that God had decreed at the synod of damned and who was
saved from before the beginning of the world;
2) limited atonement: the idea that Christ died for the elect only;
3) Total depravity: humanity’s utter corruption since the fall;
4) Irresistible grace: regeneration as entirely a work of God, which cannot be re3sisted and to
which the sinner contributes nothing;
5) The perseverance of the saints: the elect, despite their backsliding and faintness of heart, cannot
fall away from grace.
清教主义是16世纪晚期在英国教会内进行的 一场宗教改革.在教会和皇权的双重压力之下,
清教的一个分支于17世纪30,40年代迁至美洲新大 陆的北方殖民地,他们为新英格兰奠定了
宗教、知识和社会秩序的基础。清教主义不仅符合新英格兰成立 的特定历史，而且一直反映
了美国生活的一种生活方式。从教义上说，清教徒遵循加尔文派于1619年 多特宗教会议上
制定的五条信条：1）无条件拣选：神没有任凭人在罪中灭亡，而是在创世以前就拣选了 一
群人旅行拯救； 2）有限救赎： 基督的死只是为了特定数目的选民而死； 3） 完全堕落：自从亚当偷吃善恶果后，整个人类都堕落了；4）不可抗拒的恩典：圣灵的能力在罪人心里
运行，一 直到他认罪悔改方休；5）圣徒的坚守：圣徒是神所挑选的，无论他们如何退步，
始终在神的感召下。
16. American Romanticism(美国浪漫主义)
Romanticism refers to an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th
century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual’s

expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and
rebellion against established social rules and conventions. The romantic period in American
literature stretches from the end of the 18th century through the outbreak of the civil war. It was an
age of great westward expansion, of the increasing gravity of the slavery question, of an
intensification of the spirit of embattled sectionalism in the south, and of a powerful impulse to
reform in the north. In literature it was America’s first great creative period, a full flowering of the
romantic impulse on American soil. Although foreign influences were strong, American
romanticism exhibited from the very outset distinct features of its own. First, American
romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience”and contained “an alien
quality” for the simple reason that “the spirit of the place” was radically new and alien. Second,
puritan influence over American romanticism was conspicuously noticeable. Emerging as new
writers of strength and creative power were the novelists Hawthorne, Melville, the poets
Dickinson, Whitman, the essayists Thoreau, Emerson. These American writers had made a great
literary period by capturing on their pages the enthusiasm and the optimism of that dream.
浪漫主义是于18世纪晚期发起于欧洲的一场艺术性及思想性的运动，它注重自然，强调个
人 情感表达与想像力，向既定的社会制度和传统挑战，与古典主义形式相分离。美国的浪漫
主义时期从18 世纪末一直延续到内战爆发前。这个时期发生了大规模的西迁运动，日益严
峻的奴隶问题，南部各州的地 方保护主义的是益盛行以及北部呼声愈演愈烈火的革新运动。
在文学上，这个时期是美国第一次伟大的创 作时期，浪漫主义的种子在北美的土壤里生根发
芽。尽管受到欧洲浪漫主义运动的影响，美国浪漫主义文 学仍然呈现出自己的独特风格。第
一，美国浪漫主义在本质上是一个“全新的经历“的表达，因这个新大 陆充满着生机和活力
而使美国的浪漫主义蕴含异国的气质；第二，清教主义对美国浪漫主义有着显著的影 响，作
为新生创作力量的有小说家霍桑，麦尔维尔。诗人狄金森和惠特曼，散文家梭罗，爱默生。
这些美国作家充满热情地记录下这个伟大时代的乐观主义精神。
17. Transcendentalism(超验主义)
Transcendentalism is literature, philosophical and literary movement that flourished in new
England from about 1836 to 1860. it is the summit of American Romanticism. it originated among
a small group of intellectuals who were reacting against the orthodoxy of Calvinism and the
rationalism of the Unitarian Church, developing instead their own faith centering on the divinity
of humanity and the natural world. Transcendentalism derived some of its basic idealistic concepts
from romantic German philosophy, and from such English authors as Coleridge and Wordsworth.
Its mystical aspects were partly influenced by Indian and Chinese religious teachings. Although
Transcendentalism was never a rigorously systematic philosophy, it had some basic tenets that
were generally shared by its adherents. The beliefs that God is immanent in each person and in
nature and that individual intuition is the highest source of knowledge led to an optimistic
emphasis on individualism, self- reliance, and rejection of traditional authority. The ideas of
Transcendentalism were most eloquently expressed by Ralph waldo Emerson in such essays as
Nature, and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden.
超验主义是从1836至1860于新英 格兰发起的一场文学,哲学以及艺术运动.即浪漫主义的顶
点.由于一小群知识分子反对加尔文教派和唯 一神论教派理性的形式主义,他们从而提出人与
自然的神圣这一信念.超验主义受到德国浪漫主义哲学以 及英国浪漫主义作家柯勒律治和沃
兹华斯的影响,还在一定程度上受到东方古典哲学和宗教的影响.尽管 超验主义思想并不能算
是严格意义上的哲学, 但是它还是有一些基本原则的.超验主义者认为人人都有内在的神性,

只有通过接触自然才能 使神性与人的天性相互融合.从而超验主义十分强调个人主义,自立,
拒绝传统权威思想.超验主义思想 在爱默生的<论自然> 和梭罗的<瓦尔登湖>等书中表现得
淋漓尽致.
18. the Age of Realism(现实主义时期)
1).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 portrayal 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.
19. 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.
20. Naturalism(自然主义)
Naturalism is a literary movement related to and sometimes described as an extreme form of
realism but which may be more appropriately considered as a parallel to philosophic Naturalism. 2)
as a more deliberate kind of realism Naturalism usually involves a view of human beings as
passive victims of natural forces and social environment. In Naturalism a more documentary-like
approach is in evidence, with a great stress on how environment and heredity shape people. 3) As
a literary movement, Naturalism was initiated in France. 4) Naturalist fiction aspired to a
sociological objectivity, offering detailed and fully researched investigations into unexplored
concerns of modern society.
21. Local Colorism(乡土文学)
1>Generally speaking, the writings of local colorists are concerned with the life of a small,
well-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.
22. Imagism(意象主义)
1>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:A. direct treatment of subject
matter;B. economy 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 imagist poem.
23. The Lost Generation(迷惘的一代)
1>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 F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway and
John dos Passos.
24. Expressionism(表现主义)
1>Expressionism refers to a movement in Germany early in the 20th century. In which a number
of painters sought to avoid the representation of external reality and ,instead, to project a highly
personal or subjective vision of the world.
2> expressionism is a reaction against realism or naturalism, aiming at presenting a post-war
world violently distorted.
3> in a further sense, the term is sometimes applied to the belief that literary works are essentially
expressions of their authors’ moods and thoughts; this has been the dominant assumption about
literature since the rise of romanticism.
25. The Beat Generation(垮掉的一代)
1>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 Howl. Howl became the manifesto of The Beat
Generation.
26. 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”.
27. Surrealism(超现实主义)
An anti-rational movement of imaginative liberation in European in art and literature in the 1920s
and 1930s, which launched by Andre Breton after his break from the Dada group in 1922.
Surrealism seeks to break down the boundaries between rationality and irrationality, exploring the
resources and revolutionary energies of dreams, hallucinations and sexual desire. Influenced both
by the symbolists and by Sigmund Freud’s theories of the unconscious, the surrealists
experimented with automatic writing and with the free association of random images brought in
surprising juxtaposition.
超现实主义是20世纪20年代和30年代在欧洲文艺和文学界发起的 一场反对理性提倡思想
解放的运动.这场运动由安德烈.布里多尼和达达派决裂后发起.超现实主义试图 打破理性和
非理性之间的界限.探讨梦.幻觉以及性欲的源头和动力.由于受到象征主义和弗洛伊德无意
思理论的影响,超现实主义将自由联想和自由写作以不可思议的形式并置合并在一起.
28. Metaphysical poets(玄学派诗人）
It is the name given to a diverse group of 17th century English poets whose work is notable for its
ingenious use of intellectual and theological concepts in surprising conceits, strange paradoxes
and far-fetched imagery. The leading Metaphysical poet was John Donne, whose colloquial,
argumentative abruptness of rhythm and tone distinguishes his style from the conventions of
Elizabethan love lyrics.
29. New Criticism(新批评主义)
New Criticism is a movement in American literary criticism from the 1930s to the 1960s,
concentrating on the verbal complexities and ambiguities of short poems considered as
self-sufficient objects without attention to their origins or effects. The name comes from John
Chrisom’s book The New Criticism.
30. Feminism(女权主义)
1> Feminism 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.
31. Hemingway Code Hero(海明威式英雄)
1>Hemingway Code Hero, also called code hero, is one who, wounded but strong more sensitive,
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> barns 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
32. 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.
33. Postmodernism(后现代主义)
It is a disputed term that has occupied much recent debate about contemporary culture since the
early 1980s. in its simplest and least satisfactory sense it refers generally to the phase of 20th
century western culture that succeeded the reign of hign modernism, thus indicating the products
of the “space age” after some time in the 1950s. More often, though it is applied to a cultural
condition prevailing in the advanced capitalist societies since the 1960s, characterized by a
superabundance of disconnected images and styles. In this sense, post modernity is said to be a
culture of fragmentary sensations, eclectic nostalgia, disposable simulacra, and promiscuous
superficiality, in which the traditionally valued qualities of depth, coherence, meaning originality
and authenticity are evacuated or dissolved amid the random swirl of empty signals.
这个具有争议的名字概念是从20世纪80年代早期开始应用于近几十年的现代文化领域.最
简 单也最难说服人的说法是后现代主义是20世纪西方文明继高度现代主义之后的一个阶段.
后现代主义是 50年代太空时代的产物.通常它被用来解释自60年代起先进资本主义社会主
要的社会文化现象.从这 个意义上说.后现代主义被认为是片断构建的编织.折衷的怀旧主义,
滥用的仿物以及混杂的浅浮,而传 统所强调的深度.连贯.意义的原创性,真实性都在空洞信号
的随意泛滥中消失瓦解.
34. Confessional poetry(自白派诗歌)
It is an autobiographical mode of verse that reveals the poet’s personal problems with unusual
frankness. The term is usually applied to certain poets of the United states from the late 1950s to
the late 1960s, notably Robert Lowell. The term’s distinctive sense depends on the candid
examination of what were at the time of writing virtually unmentionable kinds of private distress.
The genuine strengths of confessional poets, combined with the pity evoked by their high suicide
rate, encouraged in the reading public a romantic confusion between poetic excellence and inner
torment.
自白诗歌是一种自传体诗歌 .诗歌主要用不寻常的坦白展示诗人的个人内心问题.自白诗歌是
指50年代后期到60年代后期出现的 诗人.特别是罗伯特.洛厄尔.此概念有时在广义上指任何
个人或自传的诗歌,但自白诗歌最明显的特征 ,是坦诚揭露写作时的所思所想,个人心里忧伤
的流露.自白派诗人杰出的文学才华和他们由于痛苦而引 起的高自杀率,以及诗歌中处处流露
着痛苦,迷茫,悲观,隐晦的气氛,让读者们阅读时产生一种诗歌精 妙和内心痛苦的迷茫感.
35. The New York School（纽约派）
The New York School was an informal group of American poets and painters active in 1950s New
York City, critics argued that their work was a reaction to the confessional’s movement in

contemporary poetry. Their poetic subject matter was often light, violent, or observational, while
their writing style was often described as cosmopolitan and world-traveled. the poets often drew
inspiration from surrealism and the contemporary avant-garde art movement, in particular the
action painting of their friends in the New York City art circle. there are also commonalities
between the New York School and the earlier Beat Generation poets active in 1940s and 1950s
New York City.
纽约派诗人是50年代活 跃在纽约的美国诗人和画家的非正式群体。评论家认为他们是对同
时代自白派诗歌运动的反抗。他们作品 的主题通常轻快，激烈或者观察入微。他们的写作风
格是全球性的。他们接受了超现实主义和先锋艺术运 动，特别是纽约画界的朋友的影响创作
诗。他们与40,50年代纽约的垮掉一代诗人有一定共同点.
36. The Absurd (荒谬派)
It is a term derived from the existentialism of Albert Camus, and often applied to the modern sense
of human purposelessness in a universe without meaning or value. Many 20th century writers of
prose fiction have stressed the absurd nature of human existence: notable instances are the novels
and stories of Franz Kafka, in which the characters face alarmingly incomprehensible
predicaments.
37. The Black Mountain Poets(黑山派诗人)
1>The Black Mountain Poets refer to a group of poets active on the contemporary scene, as these
people were either associated with Black Mountain college, or with Black Mountain Review, they
have become known as “The Black Mountain Poets”
2> the leading figure of this school of poetry was Charles Olson.
38. Realism(现实主义)
Realism was a loosely used term meaning truth to the observed facts of life (especially when they
are gloomy). Realism in literature is an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization
or romantic subjectivity.
39. Meditative Poetry(冥想派诗歌)
40. Allegory(寓言)
1>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.
41. Alliteration(头韵)
1>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”
42. Ballad(民谣)

1>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.
43. epic(史诗)
1>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.
44. Lay(短叙事诗)
It is a short poem, usually a romantic narrative, intended to be sung or recited by a minstrel.
45. Romance(传奇)
1>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.
46. Alexandrine(亚历山大诗行)
1>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.
47. 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.
48. 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.
49. 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 formal forms as the thesis, dissertation or treatise.
50. 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)
51. 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.
52. 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.
53. 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)
1>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.
55. 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.
56. 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.
57. Three Unities(三一原则)
1>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.
58. 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)
1>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)
1>
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)
61. 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 used to build suspense
by providing hints of what is to come.
63. 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)
1>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)
1>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.
66. Beowulf(贝奥武甫)
1>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.
67. 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.
68. 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.
69. 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.
70. 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.
71. 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.
72. 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.
73. 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.
74. 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.
75. 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.
76. Epigram(警句)
A short, witty, pointed statement often in the form of a poem.
77. Farce(闹剧)
Farce refers to a play full of ridiculous happenings, absurd actions, and unreal situations, meant to
be very funny.
78. 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.
79. Satire(讽刺)
1>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.
80. Sentimentalism(感伤主义文学)
1>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.
81. Aside(旁白)
1>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.

84. 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.
85. Irony(反讽)
1>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 .
(抒情诗)
1>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.
87. 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.

88. Ode(颂歌)
1>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.
89. 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.
90. 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)

1>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.
92. 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.
93. Canto(诗章)
1>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.
94. 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.
96. 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.
97. 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.
98. 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.
99. 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.
101. 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.
102. 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.
103. 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.
104. Flashback(倒叙)
1>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.
105. Narration
1>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.
107. Pragmatism(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.
108. 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.
109. 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.
110. 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.
111. 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)
112. Anti-hero(反面人物)
1>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.
113. Round Character(丰满的人物)
A Round Character is complex and undergoes development, sometimes reaches the point that the
reader is surprise.

114. Flat character(平淡的人物)
Flat character is relatively uncomplicated and does not change throughout the course of a literary
work.
115. Oedipus complex(俄狄浦斯情结 蛮母厌父情结)
1>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)
1>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.
117. 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.
118. 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.
119. 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.
120. 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.
121. Shakespearean sonnet(莎士比亚十四行诗)
Shakespearean sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a couplet ( rhyming abab cdcd efef gg).
122. 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).
123. 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.

124. 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)
125. 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.
126. 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.
127. 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.
128. 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.
129. 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.
130. 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.
131. 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.
132. 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.
133. Gothic novel(哥特式小说)

1>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.
134. Historical novel(历史小说)
A novel in which the action takes place during a specific historical well before the time of
writing,(often one or two generations before, sometimes several centuries). And in which some
attempt is 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.
135. 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.
136. Calvinism(加尔文主义)
1>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.
137. Assonance(类韵)
The repetition of similar vowel sounds, especially in poetry. Assonance is often employed to
please the ear or emphasize certain sounds.
138. Consonance(和音)
It refers to the repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighboring words whose vowel
sounds are different in a line of poetry.
139. Free Verse(自由体诗歌)
1>Free verse means the rhymed or unrhymed poetry composed without paying attention to
conventional rules of meter.

2> free verse was originated by a group of French poets of the late 19th century.
3>their purpose was to free themselves from the restrictions of formal metrical patterns and to
recreate instead the free rhythms of natural speech.
4>Walt Whitman’s leaves of grass is, perhaps, the most notable example.
(象征)
Symbol means an act ,a person, a thing, or a spectacle that stands for something else, usually
something less palpable than the named symbol.2>the relationship between the symbol and its
referent is not often one of simple equivalence. Allegorical symbols usually express a neater
equivalence with what they stand for than the symbols found in modern realistic fiction.
141. Theme(主题)
1>Theme means t he unifying point or general idea of a literary work.
2>it provides an answer to such question as “what is the work about”
3>each literary work carries its own theme or themes.
142. First- person narrative(第一人称小说)
First person narrative is also called first person point of view. Which is used in the analysis and
criticism of fiction of describe the way in which the writer presents the reader with the materials
of the story.
143. Harlem Renaissance(哈姆莱复兴)
1>Harlem Renaissance refers to a period of outstanding literary vigor and creativity that occurred
in the United states during the 1920s.
2> the Harlem Renaissance changed the images of literature created by many black and white
American writers. New black images were no longer obedient and docile. Instead they showed a
new confidence and racial pride.
3> the center of this movement was the vast black ghetto of Harlem. In New York City.
4> the leading figures are Langston Hughes, James W. Johnson、etc
144. Black humor(黑色幽默)
1>Black humor is also known as black comedy. It is a kind of writing that places grotesque
elements side by side with humorous ones in an attempt to shock the reader, forcing him or her to
laugh at the horrifying reality of a disordered world. it is humor out of despair and laughter out of
tears.
2> black humor conveys anguish and fury at conditions in which institutionalized absurdity gets
the upper hand. It intends to satirize hypocrisy, materialism, racial prejudice, and above all, the
dehumanization of the individual by a modern society. Black humor prevails in Modern American
literature.
145. Theatre of the Absurd(荒谬剧)
1>The absurd is a kind of drama that explains an existential ideology and presents a view of the
absurdity of the human condition by the abandoning of usual or rational devices and the use of
nonrealistic form.

2>the most original playwright of the theater of absurd is Samuel beckett, who wrote about human
beings living a meaningless life in a alien, decaying world.
146. Darwinism(达尔文主义)
1>Darwinism is a term that comes from Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory.
2> Darwinists think that those who survive in the world are the fittest and those who fail to adapt
themselves to the environment will perish. They believe that man has evolved from lower forms of
life. Humans are special not because God created them in his image. But because they have
successfully adapted to changing genetically.
3> influenced by this theory, some American naturalist writers apply Darwinism as an explanation
of human nature and social reality.
147. American Dream(美国梦)
1>American Dream refers to the dream of material success. In which one, regardless of social
status, acquires wealth and gains success by working hard and good luck.
2> in literature, the theme of American Dream recurs in The Great Gatsby comes from the west to
the east with the dream of material success. the novel tells the shattering of American Dream
rather than its success.
148. Anti-novel(反小说)
1>A term coined by French critic J.P. Sartre. It refers to any experimental work of fiction that
avoids certain traditional elements of novel- writing like the analysis of characters’ states of mind.
2> the anti-novel usually fragments and distorts the experience of its characters, forcing the reader
to construct the reality of the story from a disordered narrative.
ism(漩涡派)
Vorticism is a short-lived 20th century art movement related to futurism. Its members sought to
simplify forms into machinelike angularity.
150. Metafiction(元小说)
Metafiction, fiction about fiction; or more especially a kind of fiction that openly comments on its
own fiction status. The term is normally used for works that involve a significant degree of
self-consciousness about themselves as fictions, in ways that go beyond occasional apologetic
addresses to the reader. A notable modern example is john fowler’s The French lieutenant’s
woman, in which fowles interrupts the narrative to explain his procedures, and offers the reader
alternative endings.元小说就是关于小 说的小说,即小说公开开它自身的文学地位.它既沿用小
说这种体裁的现实主义原则,同时又竭力破坏这 些原则,它以彻底的自我观照形式,关注小说
自身的虚构和纪实的过程而非其结果.著名的现代例子是约 翰.福尔斯的<法国中尉的女人>,
在这部小说中福尔斯就打破了小说叙事.其间穿插解释他的写作过程 ,让读者选择不同的结
局.
151. Parody(滑稽模仿)
It is a mocking imitation of the style of a literary work or works, ridiculing the stylistic habits of
an author or school by exaggerated mimicry, parody is related to burlesque in its application of

serious styles to ridiculous subjects, to satire in its punishment of eccentricities, and even to
criticism in its analysis of style. In English, two of the leading parodists are Henry Fielding and
James Joyce.是指文学作品中以讽刺嘲笑为目的的模仿，通过 夸张的模仿来讽刺某个作家或
流派的写作风格，戏讽常用一种严肃的风格来描述一个滑稽的主题，以它的 古怪来进行讽刺。
甚至是通过风格分析批评来进行讽刺，英语文学中主要的讽刺作家是菲尔丁和乔伊斯.
152. Magic realism(魔幻现实主义)
It is a kind of modern fiction in which fabulous and fantastical events are included in a narrative
that otherwise maintains the “reliable” tone of objective realistic report. the term has been
extended to works from very different cultures, designating a tendency of the modern novel to
reach beyond the confines of realism and draw upon the energies of fable, folktale and myth while
retaining a strong contemporary social relevance.
153. Analogy(类比)
(a figure of speech) A comparison made between tow things to show the similarities between them.
Analogies are often used for illustration or for argument.
154. Anapest(抑抑扬格)
It’s made up of two unstressed and one stressed syllables, with the two unstressed ones in front.
155. Antagonist(次要人物)
A person or force opposing the protagonist in a narrative; a rival of the hero or heroine.
156. Antithesis(对立)
(a figure of speech) The balancing of two contrasting ideas, words phrases, or sentences. An
antithesis is often expressed in a balanced sentence, that is, a sentence in which identical or similar
grammatical structure is used to express contrasting ideas.
157. Aphorism(格言)
A concise, pointed statement expressing a wise or clever observation about life.
158. Apostrophe(顿呼法)
A figure of speech in which an absent or a dead person, an abstract quality, or something
nonhuman is addressed directly.
159. Argument(论据)
A form of discourse in which reason is used to influence or change people’s idea or actions.
Writers practice argument most often when writing nonfiction, particularly essays or speeches.
160. Autobiography(自传)
A person’s account of his or her own life. An autobiography is generally written in narrative form
and includes some introspection.
161. Ballad stanza(歌谣段)

A type of four-line stanza. The first and third lines have four stressed words or syllables; the
second and fourth lines have three stresses. Ballad meter is usually iambic. The number of
unstressed syllables in each line may vary. The second and fourth lines rhyme.

162. Biography(传记)
A detailed account of a person’s life written by another person.
163. Caesura(诗间休止)
A break or pause in a line of poetry.
164. Caricature(漫画)
The use of exaggeration or distortion to make a figure appear comic or ridiculous. A physical
characteristic, an eccentricity, a personality trait, or an act may be exaggerated.
165. Character(人物)
In appreciating a short story, characters are an indispensable element. Characters are the persons
presented in a dramatic or narrative work. Forst divides characters into two types: flat character,
which is presented without much individualizing detail; and round character, which is complex in
temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity.
166. Characterization(性格描绘)
The means by which a writer reveals that personality.
167. Climax(高潮)
The point of greatest intensity, interest, or suspense in a gadgetry’s turning point. The action
leading to the climax and the simultaneous increase of tension in the plot are known as the rising
action. All action after the climax is referred to as the falling action, or resolution. The term crisis
is sometimes used interchangeably with climax.
168. Conflict(冲突)
A struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a short story, novel, play, or narrative
poem. Usually the events of the story are all related to the conflict, and the conflict is resolved in
some way by the story’s end.
169. Connotation(隐含意义)
All the emotions and associations that a word or phrase may arouse. Connotation is distinct from
denotation, which is the literal or “ dictionary” meaning of a word or phrase.
170. Couplet(对偶)
Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme. A heroic couplet is an iambic pentameter couplet.
171. Dactyl(扬抑抑格)
It’s made up of one stressed and two unstressed syllables, with the stressed in front.
172. Denotation(意义)

The literal or “dictionary” meaning of a word.
173. Denouement(结局)
The outcome of a plot. The denouement is that part of a play, short story, novel, or narrative poem
in which conflicts are resolved or unraveled, and mysteries and secrets connected with the plot are
explained.
174. Description(叙述)
It is a great part of conversation and of almost all writing. It is a part of autobiography, storytelling.
With description, the writer tries terror, feel, and hear by showing rather than by merely telling.
It’s through the use of specific details and concrete language that abstract ideas and half- formed
thoughts are make vividly real. We have objective and subjective description.
175. Diction(措词)
A writer’s choice of words, particularly for clarity, effectiveness, and precision.
176. Dissonance(不协和音)
A harsh or disagreeable combination of sounds; discord.
177. Emblematic image(象征比喻)
A verbal picture or figure with a long tradition of moral or religious meaning attached to it.
178. Epigraph(题词)
A quotation or motto at the beginning of a chapter, book, short story, or poem that makes some
point about the work.
179. Epilogue(收场白)
A short addition or conclusion at the end of a literary work.
180. Epitaph(碑文)
An inscription on a gravestone or a short poem written in memory of someone who has died.
181. Epithet(称号)
A descriptive name or phrase used to characterize someone or something.
182. Exemplum(说教故事)
A tale, usually inserted into the text of a sermon that illustrates a moral principle.
183. Exposition(解释说明)
1>That part of a narrative or drama in which important background information is revealed.
2> It is the kind of writing that is intended primarily to present information. Exposition is one of
the major forms of discourse. The most familiar form it takes is in essays. Exposition is also that
part of a play in which important background information is revealed to the audience.
184. Fable(寓言)

A fable is a short story, often with animals as its characters, which illustrate a moral.
185. Figurative language(比喻语言)
Language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense. By appealing to the imagination,
figurative language provides new ways of looking at the world. Figurative language consists of
such figures of speech as hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron(矛盾修饰法),
personification, simile, and synecdoche.
186. Figure of speech(修辞特征)
A word or an expression that is not meant to be interpreted in a literal sense. The most common
kinds of figures of speech—simile, metaphor, personification, and metonymy—involve a
comparison between unlike things.
187. Foil(衬托)
A character who sets off another character by contrast.
188. Foot(脚注)
It is a rhythmic unit, a specific combination of stressed and unstressed syllables.
189. Hyperbole(夸张)
A figure of speech using exaggeration, or overstatement, for special effect.
190. Iamb(抑扬格)
It is the most commonly used foot in English poetry, in which an unstressed syllable comes first,
followed by a stressed syllable.
191. Image(影像)
We usually think with words, many of our thoughts come to us as pictures or imagined sensations
in our mind. Such imagined pictures or sensations are called images.
192. Incremental repetitio(递增重复)
The repetition of a previous line, or lines but with a slight variation each time that advances the
narrative stanza by stanza. This device is commonly used in ballads.
193. In medias res(中间部分)
A technique of plunging into the middle of a story and only later using a flashback to tell what has
happened previously. In medias res is Latin for “in the middle of things”.
194. Inversion(倒置)
The technique of reversing, or inverting, the normal word order of a sentence. Writers may use
inversion to create a certain tone or to emphasize a particular word or idea. A poet may invert a
line so that it fits into a particular meter or rhyme scheme.
195. Invocation(祈祷)

At the beginning of an epic (or other poem) a call to a muse, god, or spirit for inspiration.
196. Kenning(代称)
In Old English poetry, an elaborate phrase that describes persons, things, or events in a
metaphorical and indirect way.
197. Melodrama(通俗剧)
A drama that has stereotyped characters, exaggerated emotions, and a conflict that pits an all-good
hero or heroine against an all-evil villain. The good characters always win and the evil ones are
always punished. Also, each character in a melodrama had a theme melody, which was played
each time he or she made an appearance on stage.
198. Metaphor(暗喻)
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things that are basically dissimilar.
Unlike simile, a metaphor does not use a connective word such as like, as, or resembles in making
the comparison.
199. Metonymy(转喻)
A figure of speech in which something very closely associated with a thing is used to stand for or
suggest the thing itself.
200. Miracle play(奇迹剧)
A popular religious drama of media England. Miracle plays were based on stories of the saints or
on sacred history.
201. Motif(主题)
A recurring feature (such as a name, an image, or a phrase) in a work of literature. A motif
generally contributes in some way to the theme of a short story, novel, poem, or play. At times,
motif is used to refer to some commonly used plot or character type in literature.
202. Motivation(动机)
The reasons, either stated or implied, for a character’s behavior. To make a story believable, a
writer must provide characters with motivation sufficient to explain what they do. Characters may
be motivated by outside events, or they may be motivated by inner needs or fears.
203. Multiple Point of View(多视角)
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.
204. Narrator(叙述者)
One who narrates, or tells, a story. A story may be told by a first-person narrator, someone who is

either a major or minor character in the story. Or a story may be told by a third-person narrator,
someone who is not in the story at all. The word narrator can also refer to a character in a drama
who guides the audience through the play, often commenting on the action and sometimes
participating in it.
205. Nonet
the nine-line stanza. Spenserian stanza: ababbcbcc.
206. Nonfiction(写实文学)
It refers to any prose narrative that tells about things as the actually happened or that presents
factual information about something. The purpose of this kind of writing is to give a presumably
accurate accounting of a person’s life. Writers of nonfiction use the major forms of discourse:
description (an impression of the subject); narration (the telling of the story); exposition
(explanatory information); persuasion (an argument to influence people’s thinking). Forms:
autobiography, biography, essay, story, editorial, letters to the editor found in newspaper, diary,
journal, travel literature.
207. Novel(小说)
A book-length fictional prose narrative, having may characters and often a complex plot.
208. Octave(八行体诗)
the eight-line stanza. 2 quatrains 2 triplets + 1 couplet.
209. Onomatopoeia(拟声法构词)
The use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its meaning.
210. Oxymoron(矛盾修辞法)
a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory ideas or terms. An oxymoron suggests a
paradox, but it does so very briefly, usually in two or three words.
211. Paradox(自相矛盾)
A statement that reveals a kind of truth, although it seems at first to be self- contradictory and
untrue.
212. Parallelism(平行)
(a figure of speech) The use of phrases, clauses, or sentences that are similar or complementary in
structure or in meaning. Parallelism is a form of repetition.
213. Pathos(哀婉)
The quality in a work of literature or art that arouses the reader’s feelings of pity, sorrow, or
compassion for a character. The term is usually used to refer to situations in which innocent
characters suffer through no fault of their own.
214. Persuasion(说服)

It’s the type of speaking or writing that is intended to make its audience adopt a certain opinion or
perform an action or do both. Persuasion is one of the major forms of discourse.
215. Pictorialism(图像)
It’s an important poetic device characterized by efforts to achieve striking visual effects. Among
its features are irregularity of line, contrast or enchantment of light, color and image. Other means
of pictorialism include personification, juxtaposition and the matching of colors with verbs of
action.
216. Pre- Romanticism(先浪漫主义)
It originated among the conservative groups of men and letters as a reaction against Enlightenment
and found its most manifest expression in the “Gothic novel”. The term arising from the fact that
the greater part of such romances were devoted to the medi times.
217. Protagonist(正面人物)
The central character of a drama, novel, short story, or narrative poem. The protagonist is the
character on whom the action centers and with whom the reader sympathizes most. Usually the
protagonist strives against an opposing force, or antagonist , to accomplish something.
218. Psalm(圣歌)
A song or lyric poem in praise of God.
219. Psychological Realism(心理现实主义)
It is the realistic writing that probes deeply into the complexities of characters’ thoughts and
motivations. Henry James is considered the founder of psychological realism. His novel The
Ambassadors is considered to be a masterpiece of psychological realism.
220. Pun(双关语)
The use of a word or phrase to suggest tow or more meaning at the same time. Puns are generally
humorous.
221. Quatrain(四行诗)
Usually a stanza or poem of four lines. A quatrain may also be any group of four lines unified by a
rhyme scheme. Quatrains usually follow an abab, abba, or abcb rhyme scheme.
in(五行诗)
the five-line stanza.
223. Refrain(叠句)
A word phrase, line or group of lines repeated regularly in a poem, usually at the end of each
stanza. Refrains are often used in ballads and narrative poems to create a songlike rhythm and to
help build suspense. Refrains can also serve to emphasize a particular idea.
224. Rhythm(韵律)

It is one of the three basic elements of traditional poetry. It is the arrangement of stressed and
unstressed syllables into a pattern. Rhythm often gives a poem a distinct musical quality. Poets
also use rhythm to echo meaning.
225. Scansion(诗的韵律分析)
The analysis of verse in terms of meter.
226. Septet(七重唱)
the seven-line stanza. Chaucerian stanza: ababbcc.
227. Sestet(六重唱)
the six- line stanza. 3couplets a quatrain + a couplet 2 triplets.
228. Setting(背景)
The time and place in which the events in a short story, novel, play or narrative poem occur.
Setting can give us information, vital to plot and theme. Often, setting and character will reveal
each other.
229. Short Story(短篇小说)
A short story is a brief prose fiction, usually one that can be read in a single sitting. It generally
contains the six major elements of fiction—characterization, setting, theme, plot, point of view,
and style.
230. Simile(明喻)
(a figure of speech) A comparison make between two things through the use of a specific word of
comparison, such as like, as than, or resembles. The comparison must be between two essentially
unlike things.
231. Skaz
It’s a Russian word used to designate a type of first person narration that has the characteristics of
the spoken rather than the written word. In this kind of novel, the narrator is a character who refers
to himself as “I” and addresses the reader as “you”. He or she uses vocabulary and syntax
characteristic of colloquial speech, and appears to be relating the story spontaneously rather than
delivering a carefully constructed and polished written account.
232. Song(歌)
A short lyric poem with distinct musical qualities, normally written to be set to music. In expresses
a simple but intense emotion.
233. Speech(说话能力)
It was defined by Aristotle as the faculty of observing all the available means of persuasion.
234. Spondee(扬扬格)
It consists of two stressed syllables.

235. Sprung Rhythm
A term created by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to designate a variable kind of poetic meter in
which a stressed syllable may be combined with any number of unstressed syllables. Poems with
sprung rhythm have an irregular meter and are meant to sound like natural speech.
236. Stereotype(老套模式)
A commonplace type or character that appears so often in literature that his or her nature is
immediately familiar to the reader. Stereotypes, also called stock characters, always look and act
the same way and reveal the same traits of character.
237. Style(风格)
An author’s characteristic way of writing, determined by the choice of words, the arrangement of
words in sentences, and the relationship of the sentences to one another.
238. Suspense(悬念)
The quality of a story, novel, or drama that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about
the outcome of events.
239. Synecdoche(举隅法)
A figure of speech that substitutes a part for a whole.
240. Tone(格调)
The attitude a writer takes toward his or her subject, characters, or audience. The tone of a speech
or a piece of writing can be formal or intimate; outspoken or reticent; abstruse or simple; solemn
or playful; angry or loving; serious or ironic.
241. Triplet(三行联句)
The three-line stanza. Tercet: aaa, bbb, ccc, and so on; terza rima: aba, bcb cdc, and so on.
242. Trochee(扬抑格)
the reverse of the iambic foot.
243. Villanelle(维拉内拉诗)
An intricate verse form of French origin, consisting of several three-line stanzas and a concluding
four-line stanza.
244. Wit(才智)
A brilliance and quickness of perception combined with a cleverness of expression. In the 18th
century, wit and nature were related-nature provided the rules of the universe; wit allowed these
rules to be interpreted and expressed