坚硬英国文学基础知识

英国文学第一学期名词解释

Allegory

:

a story or description in which the characters and events symbolize some deeper

underlying meaning, and serve to spread moral teaching.

Alliteration

:

A poetic device where the first consonant sounds or any vowel sounds in words or

syllables are repeated.

Allusion:

A reference to a familiar literary or historical person or event, used to make an idea

more easily understood.

Ballad:

A short poem that tells a simple story and has a repeated refrain. Ballads were originally

intended to be sung. Early ballads, known as folk ballads, were passed down through generations,

so their authors are often unknown. Later ballads composed by known authors are called literary

ballads.

Blank Verse

:

unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.

Carpe Diem

:

A Latin term meaning

especially lyrics. A

carpe diem

poem advises the reader or the person it addresses to live for today

and enjoy the pleasures of the moment.

Two celebrated

carpe diem

poems are Andrew Marvell's

Herrick's poem beginning

Conceit

:

an unusually far-fetched or elaborate metaphor or simile presenting a surprisingly apt

parallel between two apparently dissimilar things or feelings.

Connotation:

The impression that a word gives beyond its defined meaning.

Couplet:

Two lines of Poetry with the same rhyme and Meter, often expressing a complete and

self-contained thought.

Denotation:

The

definition

of

a

word,

apart

from

the

impressions

or

feelings

it

creates

in

the

reader.

Dramatic Monologue

Epic

:

A

long

narrative

poem

about

the

adventures

of

a

hero

of

great

historic

or

legendary

importance.

The

setting

is

vast

and

the

action

is

often

given

cosmic

significance

through

the

intervention of supernatural forces such as gods, angels, or demons. Epics are typically written in

a

classical

style

of

grand

simplicity

with

elaborate

Metaphors

and

allusions

that

enhance

the

symbolic importance of a hero's adventures.

Frame story:

a story in which another story is enclosed or embedded as a “tale within a

tale”, or which contains several such tales.

Foot:

The

smallest

unit

of

rhythm

in

a

line

of

Poetry.

In

English-language

poetry,

a

foot

is

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typically one accented syllable combined with one or two unaccented syllables.

There are many different types of feet. When the accent is on the second syllable of a two syllable

word (con-

tort

), the foot is an

tor

-ture) is a

feet that commonly occur in poetry in English are

an

accented

syllable

as

in

in-ter-

cept

,

and

an

accented

syllable

followed

by

two

unaccented syllables as in

su

-i-cide.

Grub Street Writers:

Hack writers in the Eighteenth Century England. Many of them lived on

Grub Street. They took writing as a profession.

Heroic Couplet:

A rhyming couplet written in iambic pentameter (a Verse with five iambic feet).

Humanism:

A philosophy that places faith in the dignity of humankind and rejects the medieval

perception

of

the

individual

as

a

weak,

fallen

creature.

typically

believe

in

the

perfectibility of human nature and view reason and education as the means to that end.

Iambic pentametre:

If

a

line

of

a

poem

has

five

feet,

and

in

each

foot

there

are

two

syllables,

the

first

being

unstressed,

the

second,

stressed,

the

line

is

an

iambic

pentameter line.

Irony:

In literary criticism, the effect of language in which the intended meaning is the opposite of

what is stated.

Metaphysical

Poetry:

The

body

of

poetry

produced

by

a

group

of

seventeenth-century

English

writers

called

the

Poets.

The

group

includes

John

Donne

and

Andrew

Marvell.

The Metaphysical Poets made use of everyday speech, intellectual analysis, and unique imagery.

They aimed to portray the ordinary conflicts and contradictions of life. Their poems often took the

form

of

an

argument,

and

many

of

them

emphasize

physical

and

religious

love

as

well

as

the

fleeting nature of life. Elaborate conceits are typical in metaphysical poetry.

Metaphysical Poets:

a group of 17

th

century English poets whose work is notable for

its

ingenious

use

of

intellectual

concepts

in

surprising

conceits,

strange

paradoxes,

and far-fetched imagery.

Meter:

In literary criticism, the repetition of sound patterns that creates a rhythm in Poetry. The

patterns are based on the number of syllables and the presence and absence of accents. The unit of

rhythm in a line is called a Foot. Types of meter are classified according to the number of feet in a

line. These are the standard English lines: Monometer, one foot; Dimeter, two feet; Trimeter, three

feet; Tetrameter, four feet; Pentameter, five feet; Hexameter, six feet (also called the Alexandrine);

Heptameter, seven feet (also called the

The

most

common

English

meter

is

the

iambic

pentameter,

in

which

each

line

contains

ten

syllables, or five iambic feet, which individually are composed of an unstressed syllable followed

by an accented syllable.

Oedipus Complex:

A son's amorous obsession with his mother. The phrase is derived from the

story

of

the

ancient

Theban

hero

Oedipus,

who

unknowingly

killed

his

father

and

married

his

mother.

Oxymoron:

A

phrase

combining

two

contradictory

terms.

Oxymorons

may

be

intentional

or

unintentional.

Paradox:

A statement that appears illogical or contradictory at first, but may actually point to an

underlying truth.

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