英美文学欣赏考题整理及答案

Part One

：

English Poetry

1.

William Shakespeare

Sonnet 18

?

Why does the poet compare `thee` to a summer?s day? And who could `thee`

be?

Because summer

?

s day and thee both represent beauty . thee could be beauty,

love.

?

What picture have you got of English summer, and could you explain

why?

Warm, beautiful, sunshine. Because summer is the best season of a year ,the

most beautiful season. It is like our May.

?

How does the poet answer the question he puts forth in the first line?

Thee is more beautiful than summer.

?

What

makes

the

poet

think

that

“thou”

can

be

more

fair

than

summer

and

immortal?

Because humanism is more eternal than summer and immortal.

?

What figures of speech are used in this poem?

Simile, metaphor, personification, oxymoron and so on .

?

What is the theme of the poem?

Love conquers all, Beauty lives on.

2.

Thomas

Nashe

Spring

?

Read the poem carefully, pay attention to those image- bearing words, and see

how many images the poet

created in

the poem

and what

sense impressions

you can get from those images.

There is

“

Blooms each thing, maids dance in a ring, the pretty birds do sing,

the

palm

and

may

make

country

houses

gay,

Lambs

frisk'

and

play,

the

shepherds pipe all day, And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay, The fields

breathe

sweet,

the

daisies

kiss

our

feet,

Young

lovers

meet,

old

wives

a-sunning sit, In every street these tunes bur ears do greet!

”

The

“

Young

lovers

meet,

old

wives

a-sunning

sit

，

”

impressions

me

most

because of the harmony of the people

?

s relationship.

?

Can you point out and explain the sound and their musical effect in the poem?

In the Poem, each section has four lines, each line has ten syllables ( five tone

step ) . In order to give the reader a spring breeze , streams , flowers , winding ,

Song Xin texture of sound and light flavor, Naixi greater uses English word S ,

z

,

f

,

V

,

R

,

L

,

and

θ

consonants

means.

In

Naixi's

poem,

the

use

of

phonological is also very harmonious, very smooth , very mellow. Section I of

the poetry has Three pairs [ ing ] , section II of the poem has three pairs [ ei ]

and the third quarter has three pairs [ i : ].

Donne

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

?

What

is

a

“

valediction

”

any

way?

Is

the

speaker

in

the

poem

about

to

die?

Why does the speaker forbid mourning?

No,

it

is

about

the

lover

s?

separation.

As

the

poem

metaphors,

the

poet

believed

he

and

his

wife

?

s

love

is

sacred,

he

didn

?

t

hope

they

cry

when

separation comes, let their love be stained by the ordinary and mundane.

?

2. Explain the metaphors in the poem.

In

the

first

verse,

the

poet

used

virtuous

men

?

s

death

metaphor

for

lovers

?

separation, in the third verse he used

“

moving of the earth

”

and

“

trepidation of

the spheres

”

metaphor for lovers

?

separation and the result of separation, in the

last

three

verse

he

used

stiff

twin

compasses

?

two

legs

metaphor

for

poet

himself

and

his

wife.

All

these

metaphors

show

poet

opinion

that

he

will

separate from his wife in peace, their love is a scared love, when they away

from each other, they will not be hurt by the pain of the separation. He and his

wife will not really separate. They care about each other and listen to the other

one

?

s heart, their trust and loyalty makes their love perfect like the circle made

by a twin compasses.

m Blake

The Tiger

?

What is the symbolic meaning of the tiger?

The

symbol

of

the

Tiger

is

unclear

what

it

exactly

symbolizes,

but

scholars

have

hypothesized

that

the

Tiger

could

be

inspiration,

the

divine,

artistic

creation, history, the sublime, or vision itself. The list is almost infinite. The

point is, the Tiger is important, and Blake

?s poem barely limits the possibilities

.

Here are two major symbolisms:

The tiger is the embodiment of God's power in creation.

The tiger shows the force of French Revolution.

?

What paradox can you find in the poem?

views of the 18?s century. The view only concluded that god create the lame,

he is so kind a father. But it didn?t know god also create the tough tiger. He

can also be very serious. The god is someone who can?t be truly

understood by

human beings.

Burns

A Red, Red Rose

?

How dose the narrator in the love song express his love

?

In stanza 1, the narrator presents two similes, the first comparing his love to a

rose and the second comparing his love to a melody.

In stanza 2, the narrator addresses the young lady as bonnie. In the last line of

the stanza, he presents hyperbole, a figure of speech that exaggerates.

In stanza 3, the man promises eternal love for her.

In stanza 4, the poet vows to love her however far he may go.

?

Why is this poem so touching to the readers?

Because this poem professes the poet

?

s true love for his beloved girl, and uses

the mentioned above to touch the readers.

m Wordsw orth

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

?

What does the poet see?

He sees some daffodils.

?

What is the poet?s mood before he sees the daffodils?

Vacant and pensive.

?

What is the poet?s mood after he sees the daffodils?

He is very pleasant.

?

How does the magical change occur?

Those

daffodils

show

a

fantastic

picture

to

the

poet,

and

the

poet

has

been

deeply affected by the scene, and his mood changes.

?

What is the theme of the poem? Or what does the poet want to tell you?

It shows the beauty of nature, and the nature

?

s beauty uplifts the human spirit,

and the harmony between human and nature.

Browning

My Last Duchess

?

1. In this poem, who and on what occasion is speaking to whom?

The

Duke

is

the

speaker

of

the

poem,

and

tells

us

he

is

entertaining

an

emissary

who

has

come

to

negotiate

the

Duke

’

s

marriage

(he

has

recently

been widowed) to the daughter of another powerful family.

?

What sort of person is the Duke’s last Duchess?

She is kind, easy-going, innocent and lively.

?

And what became of her in the end?

She

became

very

upset

and

worrying.

The

duchess

died

under

suspicious

circumstances on April 21, 1561, just two years after he married her. She may

have been poisoned.

?

2. What sort of person is the Duke?

He

is

outrageously

arrogant,

narrow-minded,

selfish,

hypocritical,

cold-blooded, crucial, greedy and treacherous.

Whitman

O Captain! My Captain!

?

Q:

Walt Whitman?s poem “O Captain! My Captain!” is written in the form of

an allegory. What is the overall connotative meaning in the poem?

A:

Ship

?

s

implied

meaning

is

America;

M

y

captain?

implied

meaning

is

Abraham Lincoln who leaded America to triumph in American Civil War then;

our fearful trip?

s implied meaning is American Civil War after which Lincoln

was assassinated. In this poem author spoken highly of Linco

ln?

contribution

and expressed his sorrow for

Lincoln? death

.

Dickinson

(1)Success is counted sweetest (67)

?

According to the poem,

who can understand success most? Do you agree or

not with the poet?s view that “Success is counted sweetest by those

who ne?er

succeed”?

The

person

who

best

understands

the

meaning

of

success

is

the

person who

fails

?

What sort of feelings does the poet show toward the victor and the defeated?

The

poet

shows

her

awareness

of

the

complicated

truths

of

human

desire.

Success

can be

comprehended by someone who

need it;

the defeated, dying

man understand victory more clearly than the victorious army does.

(2)

Because I could not stop for Death (712)

?

How many people are there in the carriage? And where are they going right

now?

There are three in the carriage, the Poet, Death, and Immortality.

?

Where did they pass? What can these places remind us of?

They passed the school, the fields of Gazing grain, the Setting Sun. It reminds us

of

childhood,

maturity

and

old

age,

the

children

are

evident

symbols

of

the

beginning of things, the grain rip of the adulthood, and the sun setting of the rest

of the days.

?

What is the poet?s attitude toward death and life implied in the poem?

The poet

?

s attitude is that death is nothing to be forced since it is natural part

of

the

endless

cycle

of

nature,

it

?

s

only

the

beginning

;to

die

is

to

go

on

another journey, although death takes one away from the earthy world there is

still something to look forward to when one dies, death means eternity.

Frost

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

?

Why did the speaker stop?

Literally he was fascinated by the beautiful night scene and stoped his horse to

watch the woods fill

up with

the snow,it was also

a little break for the long

travel. But in fact,it's symbolism,the 'woods' stands for the nature,the 'village'

stands for the human world, 'horse' for the animal world. The poem represents

a

moment

of

relaxation

from

the

burdensome

journey

of

life,

an

almost

aesthetic

enjoyment

and

appreciation

of

natural

beauty

which

is

wholesome

and restorative against the chaotic existence of modern man.

?

Why did he later decide to go?

As the last sentence said 'But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I

sleep.'

His 'horse' shake the bell to ask if they should go,which is actually a symbol of

vitality, urges him to go. He lives in the real life, and he has his own obligation

to

keep',he

hasn't

achieve

it,

so

he

must

go

on

his

trip,leave

the

beautiful

the

scene

is

so

amazing,he

has

to

have

the

real

life.

Though

the

real

life

is

so

hard,he

must

back

to

it,and

reach

his

goal.

One

leaves no regrets after he dies, as long as one has reached his goal.

?

What is your understanding of “promises to keep”?

“The

promise”

could

be

an

obligation

or

a

go

al.

One

cannot

die

before

fulfilling

one?s

dream.

The

poet

uses

“sleep”

to

represent

death,

just

as

we

usually

do.

People

have

their

own

dream

or

goal,it's

also

the

duty

for

us

to

finish,

we

live

for

ourselves

and

we

make

life

wonderful

by

keeping

on

reaching our goal,no regrets leaves as long as we have reached our goals.

11. Ezra Pound

In a Station of the Metro

Part Two: English Fiction

12. Jonathan Swift

Gulliver

’

s Travels

?

In

this

chapter,

Swift

describes

the

smallness

of

the

Lilliputians.

What

does

t

his

“smallness”

imply

in

the

author?s

satire

of

the

aristocratic

bourgeois

society of the time?

Key: The Lilliput scene depicted in the first volume of the novel is a microcosm of the

British Empire. The perennial endless struggle between UK Tories and Whigs and

external war are essentially just politicians intrigue in the section has nothing to do

with the national economy and the people's livelihood. The

“smallness” imply

that

…

?

What

is

the

cause

of

the

civil

strife

and

war

between

Lilliput

and

the