then怎么读【答案】英国文学史名词解释

2021年1月20日发(作者：yizhi)

The Anglo-Saxon Period
I.
1.
_______________
can be termed England
'
s national epic and its hero Beowulf
—

one of the
national heroes of the English people.
The former represents the poetry which the Anglo-Saxons probably brought with them in the form of
, --the crude
material out of which literature was slowly developed on
English soil; the latter represents the
________

developed under teaching of the monks.
3.
The Song of Beowulf reflects events which took place on the
______ approximately at the
beginning of the 6
th
century, when the forefathers of the ___
lived in the southern part of
the _______ .
4.
The old English poetry can be divided into two groups: the
_
_______________ poetry and the
______

poetry. (secular, religious)
5.
_________ is the oldest poem in the English language, and also the oldest surviving epic in
the English language. (Beowulf)
II.
1.
_____ is the first important religious poet in English literature.
A. John Donne
B. George Herbert C. Caedmon
C. romantic
D. Milton
2.
The literature of Anglo-Saxon period falls naturally into two divisions, -- _____

and
_______
.

2.
In Anglo-Saxon period, Beowulf represented the
_______

poetry.
A. pagan B. religious
III. Define the literary terms
1.
Epic
It is, originally, an oral narrative poem, majestic both in theme and style. Epics deal with legendary or historical events of
national or universal significance, involving action of broad sweep and grandeur. Most epics deal with the exploits of a
single individual. The characteristics of the hero of an epic are national rather than individual. Typically, an epic includes
several features: the introduction of supernatural forces that shape the action; conflict in the form of battles or other
physical combat; and stylistic conventions such as a n invocation to the Muse, a formal statement of the theme, long lists
of the protagonist involved, and set speeches couched in elevated language. Examples include the ancient Greek epics by
Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser and The Paradise Lost by John Milton.
2.
Alliteration
A repeated initial consonant to successive words.
D. sentimental
The Anglo-Norman Period
I.
1. In the year
_
______
, at the battle of _____________
, the Normans headed by William, Duke
of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxons.
2. The literature which Normans brought to England is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of
and
, in marked
contrast with the
and
_____________________________ of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
3.
The literature of the An gio
-
Norma n period was of three classes: the matter of
_____________
matter of
_________________ matter of __________ .
4.
after the
_________Conq uest, feudal system was established in En glish society. (Norma n)


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5.
The most prevale nt kind of literature in feudal En gla nd was _______________ . It was a long
composition, sometimes in verse, sometimes in prose, describing the life and adventure of a no ble hero. (roma nee)
Geoffrey Chaucer
I.
1.
Geoffrey Chaucer, the
“

____________________
”

and one of the greatest narrative poets of
En gla nd, was born in London in or about the year 1340.
2.
Being specially fond of the great
_
_____________
w
riter Boccaccio, Chaucer composes a long
narrative poem
_
__________
, based upon Boccaccio
'
poem
__________ .
3.
Chaucer greatly contributed to the founding of the English literary Ianguage, the basis of which
was formed by the ________
dialect, so profusely used by the poet.
4.
Chaucer
'
masterpiece is
_____________ , one of the most famous works in all literature.
5.
The Prologue is a sple ndid masterpiece of _________
portrayal, the first of its kind in the
history of En glish literature.
6.
In his greatest work, The
Can terbury
T
ales, Chaucer
created a
strik in gly brillia nt
and
picturesque pano rama of his
______________
and his _____________ .
7.
Chaucer
'
work is permeated with buoyant free-thinking, so characteristic of the age of
whose immediate forerunner
Chaucer thus becomes.
II. Define the literary terms
1.
Roma nee
It is a literary genre popular in the Middle Ages, dealing, in verse or prose, with legendary, super natural, or amorous
subjects and characters. The term was applied to tales specifically concerned with knights, chivalry, and courtly love.
Popular subjects for romances included the Macedo nian King Alexa nder the Great, King Arthur of Brita in and the kni
ghts of the Round Table, and Emperor Charlemag ne.
2.
Ballad
It is a lyric poem gen erally of three eight-l ine sta nzas with a con cludi ng sta nza of four lines called an envoy. With some
variations, the lines of a ballad are iambic or anapestic tetrameter rhyming ababbcbc; the en voy, which forms a pers onal
dedicati on to some pers on of importa nee or to a personification. The ballad became popular in England in the late 14
th

century .
Ren aissa nee
I.
Complete the following statements with a proper word or a phrase accord ing to
the textbook.
1.
The 16
th
century in England was a period of the breaking up of
______________

relati ons and the establish ing of the foun dati ons of _________
.
2.
The 16
h
century was a time when, according to Thomas More,
“

”
.
3.
The term
___ originally indicated a revival of classic Greek and Roman arts and
scie nces after the dark ages of obscura ntism. (Re naissa nee)
4.

_
_______ broke off with the Pope, dissolved all the monasteries and abbeys in
the country, confiscated their lands and proclaimed himself head of
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5.
The old En glish aristocracy hav ing exterm in ated in the course of
________ , a
new n obility, totally depe ndent on the ki ng
'
power, came to the fore.
6.
At the beginning of the 16
th
century the outstanding humanist
________ wrote
his Utopia in which he gave a profound and truthful picture of the people
'
sufferi ngs and put forward
his ideal of a future happy society.
7.
Edmund Spenser was the author of the greatest epic poem of the time, ______ .
8.
The greatest of the pioneers of English drama was
________
who reformed that
genre in En gla nd and perfected the Ian guage and verse of dramatic works.
9.
William Shakespeare was born on the 23
rd
of April,
_
__________ , in _______
,
Warwickshire.
10.
_______ speaks the famous To be, or not to be
”

11. Shakespearessonnets fall into two series: The first 126 sonnets are addressed to
a young man, and the rest (except the last two on es) are addressedto
______ .
(dark lady)
12. The four great tragedies in Shakespearesmature period are ____ ,
_________
,

______
a
nd
__________
.
(Hamlet, Othello, Ki ng Lear, Macbeth)
13. Pope describe _____
asthe wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind'.
14. Of Baconsliterary works, the most important are the ________ .
II.
Define the literary terms listed below.
1.
Renaissanee:
Renaissanee, meaning rebirth
'
or revival
'
,marks a transition from the medieval to the moder n world.
Gen erally, it refers to the period betwee n the 14 and mid-17 centuries. It first started in Italy, with the
flowering of painting, sculpture, architecture, and literature. From Italy the movement spread to the
rest of Europe. It is a movement stimulated by a series of historical eve nts, such as the rediscovery of
an cie nt Roma n and Greek culture, the new discoveries in geography and astrology, the religious
reformatio n and the econo mic expa nsion.
Humanism is the essenceof the Renaissancehumanist thinkers found that huma n
beings were glorious creatures capable of in dividual developme nt in the directi on of perfecti on, and
that the world they in habited was theirs not to despise but to question, explore, and enjoy. To them,
nothing was impossible to accomplish. Thus, by emphasiz ing the dig nity of huma n beings and the
importa nee of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy
the beauty of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and perform won ders.
2.
Sonnet It is a lyrical poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme Traditionally, whe n
writ ing sonn ets, En glish poets usually employ iambic pen tamete.O ne of the best-k nown sonnet
writers is Shakespearewho wrote 154 of them. A Shakespearea n sonnet consists of 14 lines, and
each line is written in iambic pentameter The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB
CDCD EFEF GG, in which the last two lines are a rhymed couplet.
3.
Allegory: a tale in verse or prose in which characters, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral
qualities. An allegory is a story with two meanings : a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning
4.
Humanism: Humanism is the essence of the emphasizes the dig nity of huma n
beings and the importa nce of the prese nt life. Huma ni sts voiced their beliefs that man was the
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cen ter of the uni verse and man did not on ly have the right to enjoy the beauty of the present life,
but had the ability to perfect himself and perform won ders
III.
Literary Comprehe nsion and An alysis
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darl ing buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heave n shi nes,
And ofte n is his gold complexi on dimmed, And every fair from fair sometime decli nes,
By cha nce, or n ature's cha nging course un trimmed: But thy eter nal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possessi on of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wan der'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Questi ons:
1.
By means of what comparison does the author achieve this movement
from tan gible to intan gible? Trace his logic to show his moveme nt
2.
What does this” refer to in the last line? What is the speaker
'
purpose in writing his eternal
lines and what conditions are necessary for his purpose to be carried out?
1.
The author first compares the youth with a summer day, but then says that the youth is
more gen tle tha n a summer day. He expla ins that the summer can be imperfect with
the destructive wind and the hot sun, which will be dimmed by overcast and clouds.
Then he announ ces that the youth will possess eter nal beauty and perfect ion, thus
achieves his movement from the tangible natural objects to the intan gible youth.
2.
This” refers to the poem written by the author. He wants to dedicate

this poem to the pers on described in the poem. The con diti on is that as long as
huma ns live and breathe on earth with eyes that can see, this is how long these
verses will live. And these verses celebrate the youth and con ti nu ally renew the
youth
'
life.
IV.
An swer the followi ng questio ns briefly.
1.
Can you say something about Shakespearescharacterization?
Shakespeare is particularly good at character portrayal. During his long dramatic career, he has
created a variety of lifelike characters. The major characters in his plays are not simply type ones
represe nting certa in group or class of people, but are in dividuals with stro ng and dist inct pers
on alities. To achieve this, Shakespeare makes freque nt use of comparis ons and con trasts by
portray ing the characters in pairs or setting them against one another. He also individualizes his
characters by emphasiz ing each on e
s
do minant and unique qualities, such as the mela ncholy of
Hamlet, the wickednessof Claudius, the honesty of Othello, the ambition of Macbeth, and the
beauty and wit of Portia. In additi on, Shakespeare had made profound psycho-analytical studies
of his characters by revealing the intricate inner work ings of their minds through the full use of
soliloquies, from which we can see the breadth and depth of the characters thoughtful feelings.
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2.
What is the central theme of The Merchant of Venice?
The central theme of the play is the triumph of love (between Portia and Bassanio) and friendship
(between Antonio and Bassanio) over insatiable greed and brutality (as represe nted by Shylock). And
the play exalts the ingenious heroine Portia and the two great frie nds who she eve ntually saves from
the barbarous clutches of the villa in (Shylock). A completely happy ending is brought about whe n the
villa in is puni shed, the mercha nt
'
ships all come about home and the three pairs of lovers live
happily ever after. Such a conclusion was natural for the playwright as well as for his Elizabetha n
audie nee, whe n an ti-semitic sen time nts was prevaili ng in London. Yet even in such an
environment, in Shylock
s
vociferous complaints of his sufferings result ing from racial discrim in ati on
and religious persecuti on, we can hear quite unm istakably Shakespearesow n voice speak ing on
the Jew
s
behalf, and with great vehemenee sympathizing with the oppressed Shylock while
condemning racial persecuti on in gen eral. That Shakespeareshould sometimes condemn Shylock
and sometimes sympathize with him has led to much confusion for Shakespearean scholars and
critics and the gen eral read ing public, and hence the play has bee n regarded as not a pure comedy
but a tragic-comedy.
3.
What do the four heroes in Shakespeare
s
great tragedies have in com mon?
All of them face the in justice of huma n life and are caught in a difficult situatio n and their fate is
closely conn ected with the fate of the whole n ati on. Each hero has his weakness of nature:
Hamlet, the melancholic scholar-prinee, faces the dilemma betwee n acti on and mind; the old Ki
ng Lear who is un willi ng to totally give up his power makes himself suffer from treachery and in
fidelity; Macbeth
'
lust for power stirs up his ambition and leads him to incessant crimes; and
Othello was a brave man, but outside the battlefield he had in securities.
4.
The Renaissanee period of British Literature.
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the early 16
th

century to the 17
th
century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural
historians were believed originated in northerin Italy in the 14
th
cen tury.
The esse nceof the Ren aissa nceis huma ni sm, which spra ng from the en deavor to restore a
medieval reverence for the ancient authors. It is frequently taken as the beg inning of the Ren aissa
nceon its con scious, in tellectual side, for the Greek and Roman civilization was based on such a
conception that man is the measure of all thi ngs.
This era in English cultural history is sometimes referred to as
f
he Age of Shakespeare or
f
he
Elizabethan ights, such as Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, composes
theatrical represe ntati ons of the En glish. Poets such as Edm und Spen ser and Joh n Milt on
produces works that dem on strates an in creased interest in understanding English Christian beliefs,
such as the allegorical representation of the Tudor Dynasty in The Faerie Queene and the retelling of
mankin d
'
fall from paradise in Paradise Lost. Neari ng the end of the Tudor Dyn asty, philosophers like
Sir Thomas More and Sir Francis Bac on published their own ideas about humanity and the aspects of
perfect society, pushing the limits of metacognition at that time.
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The 17th cen tury Exercise
I.
Complete the followi ng stateme nts with a proper word or a phrase
accord ing to the textbook.
1.
The 17th century was a period when absolute monarchy impeded the further
developme nt of
_
___________
in En gla nd and the bourgeoisie could no Ion ger
bear the sway of __________
.
2.
There are religious division and confusion and a long bitter struggle between the
people
s
Parliame nt and the Throne--
_
______
fighting aga inst the _______
who
helped the king.
3.
In 1653, Oliver Cromwell imposed a military dictatorship on the country; after his
death mon archy was aga in restored. It was called the period of the
________ .
4.
in ____ , the Glorious Revolution took place.
5.
The Glorious Revolution meant three things: the supremacy of _____________ ,
the beg inning of ________ , and the final triumph of the prin ciple of ______ .
6.
The puritans believed in
____
of life.
7.
Restoration created a literature of its own, that was often ______________
a
nd

, but on the whole
and
. The most popular genre was that of whose chief aim was to entertain the
licentious aristocrats.
8.
The first thing to strike the reader is Donne's extraordinary frankness and
pen etrati ng
___________
. The n ext is the ________
which marks certa in of
the lighter poems and which represe nts a con scious react ion from the extreme
couraged by the Petrarcha n traditi on.
9.
The poems of John Donne belong to two categories: the youthful love lyrics, and
the latter
_______
.
(sacred verses)
10. Milt on opposed the ________ and gave all his en ergies to the writ ing of

__________
d
edicated to the peopl6sliberties.
11. Paradise Losttells how
___
rebelled against God and how Adam and Eve were
drive n out of ________ .
12. Paradise Lospresents the author sviews in an _________
form.
13. Paradise Lostc on sists of
_______ books. It is based on the
_
_______ lege nd of
the imagi nary proge nitors of the huma n race--
_______
and
__________
.

14. Joh n Milt on s Paradise Lost ends with the departure of
___________ from the
Garde n of Ede n. (Adam and Eve)
15. Paradise Lost is a long epic divided into 12 books, the stories of which are taken
from ______
.
(The Old Testame nt)
16. Milt on gave us the only
________ since Beowulf, and Bunyan gave us the only
great
________ .
17. Bunyans most important work is
______ , written in the old- fashioned, medieval
form of ___________
and
_________
.
18.
_______
is the most successful religious allegory in the En glish Ian guage. (The
Pilgrim s Progress)

of woma n en
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19. The Pilgrim s Progress begins with a man called
_______
setting out with a book
in his hand a great load on his back from the city of
_________
.
20.
_______
is famous for his metaphysical con ceit, that is, a comparis on betwee n
the two strikingly resembling objects. (John Donne)
21.
Sams on Ago ni stewas writte n by
_
___ . (Joh n Milt on)
22.
ff thou be est he
—
but oh how fallen! How unchanged /From him!
—
who in the
happy realms of light,/clothed with
transcendent brightness,/did st
outsh in e/Myriads, though bright
…”
are the lines from Milt on s
_
______ spoke n
to Beelzebub by
_
_____ . (Paradise Lost, Sata n)
II. Define the literary terms listed below
1.
Metaphysical poetry
The term metaphysical poetry
”
is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th cen tury writers
who wrote un der the in flue nee of Joh n Donne. Pressuredby harsh, un comfortable, and curious age,
the
metaphysical
poets
sought
to
shat
the
traditions
and
replace
them
with
new
philosophies,
new
sciences,new worlds and new poetry. Thus, with a rebellious spirit, they tried to break away from the
conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, in particular the Petrarchan tradition, which is full of refi
ned Ian guage, polished rhy ming schemes and eulogy to ideal love, and favored in poetry for a more
colloquial Ianguage and tone, a tightness of expressi on and the sin gle-min ded work ing out of a theme
or argume nt. Their poetry offers logical reas oning of the objects, psychological an alysis of the emoti
ons of love and religi on, prefers the no vel and the shock ing, uses the metaphysical con ceits, and
ignores the conven ti onal metric devices. Since Joh n Donne links up a wide range of ideas, explores
a complex attitude of the mind, and uses his wit and ingenious con ceits to put huma n experie nces
into poetry, he is gen erally regarded as the leadi ng member of the school.
2.
Carpe Diem; A tradition dating back to classical Greek and Latin poetry
and particularly
popular
among English Cavalier poets. Carpe Diem means literally
seize the day'that is, live for today
”

3.
Genre: A literary species or form, e.g., tragedy, epic, comedy, novel, essay, biography, lyric poem.
III.
IV.
An swer the follow ing questi ons.
1.
Comment on John Donnesstyle.
Most of Donne
'
poems employ a central speaker who takes effort to argue, to persuade, to an alyze or
to con fess. His voice resembles that of stage character 'sin the sense that the messagesare conveyed
in conversations, though in most cases, only the voice of one talker can be heard. TakeThe Fleaas an
example, the man
'
crafty persuasi on, the woma n
'
grow ing an ger, the killi ng of the flea, and the man
'
cunning response are vividly and immediately shown through the man
'
part in the dramatic con versati
on.
Daily used Ian guage is exploited to a great exte nt, capable of describ ing a large scale of human
experiences and feelings, from passions most sensual and earthly to religious devotion, from
mellifluous love to black sorrow of love's lost, from mischievous mockery to serious moral satire. The
colloquial style of talking, together with Donne 'sin comparable wit in edifice and Ian guage, fills his
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poetry with mobile images and moods, which can be easily felt and touched. The tone of the cen tral
speaker varies from sweet pleadi ng to scor nful disparageme nt, from bold bragg ing to plain
confession, from self- meditation in tranquility to cold philosophical analysis of an observer. Usually, it
is not hard to find an argumentative speaker who makes a full use of his dialectic and erudition to
persuade himself, his lady, God, the sun, the moon, etc. The various tones and roles taken by Donne
s
poetic speakers secure his poetry form monotony. Actually, Donne
'
dramatic con versati on style en
ables him to devour all kinds of experie nces in life and to put them into poetry.
2.
What is the central theme of Paradise Los? Give a brief analysis of
Sata n.
The central theme of Paradise Lost is taken from the Bible and deals with the Christian story of
f
he fall
of man
”
that is, how the first man and woman in the world, Adam and Eve, were tempted by Satan to
disobey God by eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Kno wledge, and how they were con seque
ntly puni shed by God and drive n out of paradise, with the prospect n evertheless of the eve ntual
redempti on of mankind by Jesus Christ. The purpose of the epic is, as the poet himself makes clear
in the first book, to
j
ustify the ways of God to man
”
The essentially religious nature of the poem
comes n aturally from Milt on
'
ferve nt belief in Christia nity as a Purita n, but this belief is itself a revolt
against the established doctrines of the Catholics and of the An glica n Church as he in sisted on the
freedom of each in dividual to in terpret the Bible for himself.
The epic seems to be a purely religious poem, both from its biblical story content and from its purpose
as declared by the author, but actually the poem contains much revolutionary content, which is
revealed chiefly through the poet
'
apparently sympathetic treatme nt of the revolt of Sata n and his
followers aga inst God. And here we see in the poem Milton
'
inner contradiction, between Milton the
Puritan and Milt on the republica n or bourgeois revolutio nist, for in the former capacity the poet was
or should be wholly on the side of God but because of his revolutionary sympathies he showed
himself frequently uttering his own fiery words of rebellion aga inst tyranny through the speeches of
Sata n and his adhere nts. Especially in Book I and II which have bee n gen erally bee n con sidered
as the best parts of the epic on acco unt of the powerful poetry in the umcompromis ing speeches of
the devil and his followers, the contradiction becomes most obvious as Satan and his mates in their
cries for freedom an
d against tyranny directly attack God for holding the tyranny of heaven” and the
poet as a rebel against tyranny seems to show tacitly but quite definitely his sympathy for and even
approval of such rebellious and sacrilegious sen time nts.
The 18th Cen tury Exercise
I.
Filling the blanks
1.
The en lighte ners repudiate the false religious doctri nes about the _____
o
f huma n n ature,
and prove that man is born
_
______ and ________
, and if he becomes depraved, it is only
due to the in flue nee of _______ social environment.
2.
We study eighteenth century writings in three main divisions: the reign of so-called, the
revival of
_
_______
poetry, and the begi nnings of the moder n
_______ .
3.
The 18
th
century En gla nd is known as the Age of En lighte nment or the Age of ____ .
4.
If the cen sure of Yahoos could any way affect me, I should have great reason to compla in
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that some of them are so bold as to think my book of travels a mere fiction out of mine own brain.
”
This quotation is
selected from ________________________________
.(Gulliver
'
Travels)
5.
The Yahoos are attacked by the writer n amed
_______ in his fan tasy work beari ng the title

_______ . (Jonathan Swift , Gulliver
'
Travels)
6.
The image of an enterprising Englishman of the 18th century was created by Daniel Defoe in
his famous novel
_____ .
7.
Henry Fielding has been regarded as
“

_
______
”
,
for his contribution to the establishment of
the form of the modern novel. (Father of the English Novel)
8.
In his world-famous novel _____ Jon atha n Swift typified the bourgeois world, drew ruthless
pictures of the depraved aristocracy and satirically portrayed the whole of the En glish State system.
9.
The excit ing tale of Robinson Crusoe is largely
____
story, rather tha n the study of ______ .
10.
Jonathan Swift was born of English parents in _______ .
11.
Of all the romantic poets of the 18
th
century, Blake is the most ______
and the most
_____ .
12.
___________
are in marked contrast with The Songs of Innocence. The brightness of the
earlier work gives place to a sense of
____ and mystery, and of the power of _________ .
13.
Robert Burns
'
poetry is bone of the bone and flesh of the flesh of the
_______ com mon
people.
14.
Elegy Witte n in a Country Churchyard by
__________ is take n as a model of sen time ntalist
poetry, esp. the Graveyard School
15.
Friday is a character in the novel
________ .
16.
Auld Lang Synewritten by
__________
d
eals with friendship and has long become a universal
parting song of all the En glish-speak ing coun tries (Robert Burns)
II.
Define the literary terms:
1.
En lighte nment:
The eightee nth-ce ntury En gla nd is known as the Age of En lighte nment or the Age of Reas on. The En lighte nment
was a progressive in tellectual moveme nt going on throughout Europe at the time, as France in the van guard. The En
lighte nment celebrated reas on (rati on ality), equality, scie nce and human being
'
ability to perfect themselves and their
society. The movement was based on the basic theories provided by the philosophers of the age, for example, Joh n
Locke s materialism, David Hume s skepticism. Whatever philosophical beliefs they might have, they held the com mon
faith in huma n rati on ality and the possibility of huma n perfecti on through educati on. They believed that whe n reas on
served as the yardstick for the measureme nt of all huma n activities and social relations, superstition, injustice, privilege
and oppression were to yield place to eternal truth
”
，
eternal justice
”
,a nd natural equality
”
or in alie nable rights of
men. The belief provided theory for the French Revolution in 1789 and the American War of Independence in 1776.
Alexa nder Pope, Joseph Addis on, Richard Steele, Jon atha n Swift, Dan iel Defoe, Henry Fieldi ng, and Samuel Joh nson
were the famous en lighte ners in En gla nd.
2.
Gothic no vel:
The term Gothic
”
derived from the frequent setting of the tales in the ruined, moss-covered castles of the Middle Ages, but
it has bee n exte nded to any no vel which exploits the possibilities of mystery and terror in gloomy, craggy Iandscapes,
decaying mansions with dark dungeons, secret passages, instruments of torture, ghostly visitations, ghostly music or
voices, ancient drapes and tapestries behind which lurks no one knows what, and often, as the central story, the
persecutio n of a beautiful maide n by an obsessed and haggard villa in. These no vels, in rebelli on against the increasing
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commercialism and rationalism, opened up to later fiction the dark, irrati onal side of huma n n ature
—
the savage egoism,
the perverse impulses, and the ni ghtmarish terror that lie ben eath the con trolled and ordered surface of the con scious
mind.
Horace Walpole
'
Castle of Otranto originated the mode. Some of the most powerful and in flue ntial writ ings are Mysteries
of Udolpho by Mrs. Ann Radcliffe, and Franken ste in by Mary Shelley.
3.
Irony
It refers to some con trast or discrepa ncy betwee n appeara nee and reality. Ir ony takes a nu mber of special forms: in
verbal irony there is a contrast between what is literally said and what is actually mean t.; in dramatic irony the state of
affairs known to the reader is the reverse of what its participa nts suppose it to be; in situati onal irony a set of circumsta
nces turns out to be the reverse of what is expected or is appropriate.
4.
Character
It is an in dividual within a literary work. Characters may be complex and well developed (round characters) or
undifferentiated and one-dimensional (flat characters), they may change in the course of the plot (d yn amic characters) or
rema in esse ntially the same (static characters).
5.
The Graveyard School: The Graveyard Scholl refers to a school of poets of the 18
th
century whose poems are mostly
devoted to a sen time ntal lame ntati ons or meditati on on life, past
and present, with death and graveyard as themes. Thomas Gray is considered to be the leading figure of this school
and his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is his represe ntative work.
6.
Neoclassicism: A revival in the seve ntee nth and eightee nth cen turies of classical sta ndards of order, balanee, and
harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Poe were major exp onents of the n eoclassical school.
7.
Mock epic: a comic literary form that treats a trivial subject in the grand, heroic style of the epic. A mock epic is also
referred to as a mock heroic poem
III.
Literary Comprehe nsion and An alysis
Tyger! Tyger! bur ning bright
In the forest of the ni ght
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what dista nt deeps or skies
Bur nt the fire of thi ne eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And What shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the si news of thy heart?
And whe n thy heart bega n to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the cha in?
In what furn ace was thy brain?
What the an vil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
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When the stars threw dow n their spears, And watered heave n with their tears, Did he smile his work
to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! bur ning bright
In the forests of the ni ght, What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Questio ns:
1.
Ide ntify the author and the book where the poem is take n from
2.
comme nt on the poem
1.
William Blake; It is The Tygerfrom Songs of Experienee
2.
The poem is comprised of six quatrains in rhymed couplets. The meter is regular and rhythmic; its
hammering beat is suggestive of the smithy that is the poem
'
cen tral image. The simplicity and
neat proporti ons of the poems form perfectly suit its regular structure, in which a stri ng of questi
ons all con tribute to the articulati on of a sin gle, cen tral idea.
The tiger initially
appears as a strikingly sensuous image. However, as the poem progresses, it
takes on a symbolic character, and comes to embody the spiritual and moral problem the poem
explores: Perfectly beautiful and yet perfectly destructive, Blake
'
tiger becomes the symbolic cen
ter for an inv estigati on in to the prese nee of evil in the world
The
Tygerc
on
sists
en
tirely
of
unan
swered
questi
ons,
and
the
poet
leaves
us
to
awe
at
the
complexity of creatio n, the sheer magn itude of God
'
power, and the in scrutability of divi ne will
The ope n awe of The Tyger con trasts with the easy con fide nee, in The Lamb of a child
'
innocent
faith in a ben evole nt uni verse.
III.
Give brief answers to the following questions:
1. Give a brief analysis of Robinson Crusoe.
The book is an immediate and perma nent success. It is gen erally ack no wledged as Defoe
'
most deeply original as well
as representative book. It is supposedly based on the real adventure of a Alexa nder Selkirk who once stayed alone on an
unin habited isla nd for five years.
The novel is about the adve ntures of Robinson Crusoe, son of a middle-class En glish family, who has an in satiable thirst
for the sea. It tells of his first misfort une at the sea, his life as a pla nter in South America, the fateful shipwreck that cast
him ashore on unin habited isla nd, and his twenty four years of isolated life there. It devotes the greater space to the
minute account of what happens there on the island, how, with the help of a few stores and utensils saved from the
wrecked ship and by the exercise of infinite ingenuity, Crusoe builds himself a house, domesticates goats, grows corn,
barley and rice, and makes himself a boat. It describes the cann ibal savages to the isla nd, and his rescue of the poor
savage Friday from death; his rescue of Friday
'
father and a Spani ard, and fin ally his own rescue whe n he saves the
capta in of an En glish ship from a mut inous crew.
The book is rich eno ugh to contain a nu mber of overlapp ing meanin gs. If it is an adve nture story, it is also a moral tale,
a commercial account and a Puritan fable. It is one of the great myths of moder n civilizati on .It celebrates the eightee nth
cen tury Wester n civilizatio n
s material triumph
and the stre ngth of huma n rati onal will to conq uer the n atural en vir onment. Robinson is cast as a typical eighteenth
century middle- class tradesman. He is the very prototype of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist. His success in
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building up a comfortable living environment and later a private colony, is shown as due to the sturdy qualities in his
character, to hi sown unaided efforts, to his courage and patienee, to his practical skill, and to this intelligent persistenee.
In ano ther sen se, Robinson is Everyma n, struggli ng with patie nee and fortitude through persiste nt work to conquer or
master nature. His adventures reflect different stages of civilization in our human world. Thus, Robinson is the embodiment
of private enterprise and colonization.
2.
What is the theme of Gulliver
'
s Travels.
As a popular fancy story, the novel never loses its charm with children. The wonderful stories about Gulliver s travels into
some strange places, the pigmies, the giants, the island that floats in the air, the intelligent horses, the despicable man-like
animals called Yahoos, and many other impossible situati ons have found their way into many a child
'
s dreams.
But it is more that a travel story. It is a satire on the eighteenth century English society, touching upon the political,
religious, legal, military, scientific, philosophical as well as literary institutions, about almost every aspect of the society.
Bitterly satirical, the book takes great pains to bring to light the wickedness of the English society, with its tyranny, its
political intrigues and corruption, its aggressive was and colonialism, its religious deputes and persecution, and its ruthless
oppressi on and exploitati on of the com mon people. The ugli ness of the eightee nth cen tury English society is no
elsewhere so thoroughly and forcefully exposed and condemned as in this single book. And, the satire, as its is, is not only
of practical significance in its own day in England and Europe but its exposure is also true of all countries, all ages. Its
satires are applicable to any class, any society, any where in the word and in any period of history.
The Roma ntic Period
I.
Complete the followi ng stateme nt with a proper word or a phrase accord ing to the textbook.
1.
Roma nticism as a literary moveme nt came in to being in En gla nd early in the
latter half of the _______
cen tury
2.

_
______ and
_
______ represented the spirit of what is usually called
Pre-Roma nticism.
3.
With the publication of William Wordsworth
'
s
_
_________ in collaboration with S.
T. Coleridge, romanticism began to bloom and found a firm place in the history of
En glish literature.
4.
The Roma nticism was gen erally in flue need by the In dustrial Revolutio n and
5.

_
______ ,
_
_________ , and
________ were the watchwords of the French
Revolutio n.
6.
The eighteenth century was distinctively an age of ____________
.
The Age of
Wordsworth
—
like the Age of Shakespear
—
was decidedly an age of _______ .
7.
in 1798,
_
_______
and Samuel Taylor Coleridge published a joint volume of
poetry entitled Lyrical Ballads, which became a Iandmark in English poetry. (William Wordsworth)
8.
Many of Wordsworth
'
s poems in Itlyeical Balladswere devoted to the position
of ______ and ______ peasa nts.
9.
In his poems Wordsworth aimed at
_____
and
_
______ of the Ianguage, fighting
aga inst the conven ti onal forms of the 18
h
cen tury poetry.
10. The definition that all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings” was written by

_
________
in
________ . (William Wordsworth, Lyrical
Ballads)
11. Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty
-
hat is all
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Ye know on earth, and all ye n eed to know.
This quotati on is selected from
__________
by
________
.

12. Childe Harold
'
s Pilgrimaga __________
n arrated by a mela ncholy, passi on ate,
well-read and very eloque nt tourist.
13. Byron chose for his poems the ______ stanza.
14.
_____
, Byron
'
s greatest work, was written in the prime of his creative power, in
the years 1818-1823.
15. As a leading Romanticist, Byron
'
chief contribution is his creation of the
“

”
,a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin. (Byronic Hero)
16. The long narrative poem the story of Endymion, the Latmian shepherd beloved
by the moon-goddess,______
,
was published in 1818.
17. The English Romantic period produced two major novelists: Scott and
_
______ .
18. In all Austen
'
s novels therloaking of her young people, though serious and

_______ , is subdued by
_____
to the ordi nary pla ne of emoti on on which most of us live.
19. Austen
'
s style is
______ and ______ .
20. The Bennets were speedily pronounced to be the luckiest family in the world, though only a few
weeks before when Lydia had first run away, they had been gen erally proved to be marked out
for misfort une.
This quotati on is selected from
_________
by
_________
.
(Pride and Prejudice,
Jane Auste n)
II. Define the literary terms listed below
1.
Free verse
A type of poetry that deliberately seeks to free itself from the restricti ons imposed by traditi on ally
fixed conven tio ns of meter, rhyme, and sta nza. Free verse is now ofte n called poetry in ope n
forms.
2.
Spenserian Stanza
In The Faeire Quee neSpe nser, a poet in the 1
炉

cen tury, orig in ated a nin e-l ine verse stanza,
now known as the Spenserian stanza
—
the first eight lines are iambic pentameter, and the ninth,
iambic hexameter; the rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc. For example, George Byron used this verse form
in hiChilde Harold
fe
Pilgrimage.
3.
Symbol
Literally, something that stands for something else. In literature, any word, object, action, or character
that embodies and evokes a range of additional meaning and sig nifica nee. In Joseph Conracb Heart
of Darkn ess, for example, the jour ney up the Congo River into the jungle is obviously a symbol of a
parallel journey into the recesses of the huma n heart and back into the bleakest corners of civilizati
on.
4.
Archetype
It is used in literary an alysis to describe certa in basic and recurre nt patter ns of plot, character, or
theme.
5.
Byronic Hero:
Byronic Hero refers to a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin. With immense superiority in his
passions and powers, he would carry on his shoulders the burde n of right ing all the wrongs in a
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corrupt society, and would rise sin gle-ha ndedly against any kind of tyrannical rules either in
government, in religion, or in moral prin ciples with unconq uerable wills and in exhaustible en ergies.
6.
Lake Poets:
Romantic poets such as poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey
who lived in the Lake District came to be known as the Lake School or Lake poets
III.
Literary Comprehe nsion and An alysis
It is a truth uni versally ack no wledged that a sin gle man in possessi on of a good fortune must be in
want of wife
However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a n eighborhood,
this truth is so well fixed in the mi nds of the surro unding families, that he is con sidered as the rightful
property of some one or other of their daughters. Questio ns:
1.
From which novel is this passage taken from?
2.
who is the author of this novel?
3.
what is the literary style of this novel
4.
what is this story about?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
Realism
It is a humorous story of love and life among English gentility during the Georgian era. Mr. Bennet
is an En glish gen tlema n with his overbeari ng wife. The Bennet
'
five daughters: the beautiful
Jane, the clever Elizabeth, the bookish Mary, the immature Kitty and the wild Lydia. Unfortunately
for the Bennets, if Mr. Bennet dies, their house will be in herited by a dista nt cous in whom they
have n ever met. The family
'
future happ in ess and security is depe ndent on the daughter
'
making good marriages. The main plot is about the five daughters, especially the main character
Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy as they deal with matters of upbringing, marriage, moral rightness
and education in her aristocratic society.
IV.
An swer the followi ng questi ons
1.
Give a general description of the Romanticism in England
En glish Roma nticism, as a historical phase of literature, is gen erally said to have beg un in 1798 with
the publicati on of Wordsworth and Coleridge
'
Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter
Scott
s
death and the passageof the first Reform Bill in the Parliament. The movement was provoked by
two important revolutio ns: the French Revolutio n and the En glish In dustrial Revoluti on.
The
Romantic
Movement
expressed
a
negative
attitude
toward
the
existing
social
and
political
conditions that came with industrialization and the growing importance of the bourgeoisie. The Roma
ntics saw both the corrupti on and in justice of the feudal societies and the fun dame ntal in huma nity
of the econo mic, social and political forces of capitalism. They felt that the society denied people their
essential huma n n eeds. So un der the in flue nce of the leadi ng roma ntic thi nkers like Kant and the
Post-Ka ntia ns, they dem on strated a stro ng react ion aga inst the dominant modes of thinking of the
18
th
-century writers and philosophers. Where their predecessors saw man as a social an imal, the Roma
ntics saw him esse ntially as an in dividual in the solitary state. Where the Augusta ns emphasized those
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features that men have in com mon, the Roma ntics emphasized the special qualities of each in dividual
s
m ind. Thus, we can say that Roma nticism actually con stitutes a cha nge of directi on from attention
to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit. In esse nce, it desig nates
a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the in dividual as the very cen ter of all life and all
experie nce. It places the in dividual at the cen ter of art.
The literary output of the Romantic Movement appeared as early as the nid-18
th
century. But it was not
until the very last years of the 18
th
century and the first two decades of the 19
th
century that romanticism
as a literary movement in England reached its full flowering, especially in the realm of poetry. Blake,
Wordsworth,
Coleridge,
Byron,
Shelley
and
Keats
are
the
major
Romantic
poets.
They
started
a
rebellion
against
the
neoclassical
literature,
which
was
later
regarded
as
the
poetic
revolution.
Wordsworth
and
Coleridge
were
the
major
representatives
of
this
moveme
nt.
They
explored
new
theories and inno vated new tech niq ues in poetry writing. In their separate ways, they saw poetry as a
healing energy; they believed that poetry could purify both in dividual souls and the society.
The Romantics extol the faculty of imagination. And nature is not only the major source of poetic imagery,
but also provides the dominant subject matter. To escape from a world that had become excessively
rati on al, as well as excessively materialistic and ugly, the Romantics would turn to other times and
places. The medieval or ren aissa nce world were particularly favored. There one could allow free play
to the
super
natural
without
arous
ing
feeli
ngs
of
incon
gruity.
Roma
ntics
also
tend
to
be
nationalistic,
defending
the
great
poets
and
dramatists
of
their
own
national
heritage
against
the
advocates
of
classical rules who tended to glorify Rome and rational Italian and French neoclassical art as superior
to the native tradition.
2.
According to Wordsworth, what are the essential to poetry?
Wordsworth
'
deliberate simplicity and refusal to decorate the truth of experienee produced a kind of
pure and profo und poetry which no other poet has ever equaled. In defe nse of his unconven ti onal
theory of poetry, Wordsworth wrote a Preface
as a manifesto for the new poetic school and sets forth his own critical creed.. His premise was that
the source of poetic truth is the direct experience of the senses. Poetry, he defined, as the spontan
eous overflow of powerful feeli ngs, which origi nates in emoti on recollected in tranq uility
”
. Rejecti
ng the con temporary emphasis on form and an in tellectual approach that drained the poetic writing of
strong emotion, he maintained that the sce nes and eve nts of everyday life and the speech of
ordinary people were the raw material of which poetry could and should be made.
3.
What are Keats
'
s poetry
'
s
?eature
Keats
s
poetry is sensuous, colorful and rich in imagery, which expresses the acute ness of his sen ses.
Sight, sound, sce nt, taste and feeli ng are all take n in to give an en tire un dersta nding of an experie
nce. He has the power of en teri ng the feeli ngs of others
—
either huma n or ani mal. He declared once
that whe n he saw a bird on the lawn, he entered imaginatively into the life of the bird. Keats draws
diction, style and imagery from works of Shakespeare,Milton and Dante. He delights to dwell on beautiful
15