英国文学史及作品选读习题集(2).doc

(完整版)英国文学史及作品选读习题集(2)
2 English Literature in the Renaissance Period

Ⅰ。 Essay questions.
1. Comment on the theme of Thomas More’s Utopia.
2。 Comment on Christopher Marlowe's contribution to English literature.
3。 What is your opinion about the moral expressed in Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus?
4. What is the theme of The Merchant of Venice？
5. What gives Shakespeare the unwavering reputation for greatness in age after age?
Ⅱ。 Define the following terms。
1。 Renaissance 2。 Elizabethan period
3。 Drama 4. Jacobean age
5。 Sonnet 6. Essay 7soliloquy
7。 Soliloquy 8。 Eclogue
9。 Hymn 10. Spenserian stanza
11。 Miracle play 12。 Interlude
13. Euphuism 14. Revenge tragedy
15. Comedy 16. Dirge
17。 Farce 18. Tragedy
19。 Tragicomedy 20。 History play
21. Caroline age
Ⅲ。 Fill in the blanks.
1。 The second period of English renaissance is also called the __________period or the age of __________。
2. Soon after the __________ was introduced by the earl of surrey in his translation lf Virgil’s The Aeneid， and it became the standard meter for Elizabethan and later poetic drama。
3。 Shakespeare’s plays have been traditionally divided into four categories according to dramatic type: histories， __________， tragedies and __________.
4. William Caxton is important to the development of English literature in that he introduced __________ into England.
5. Thomas Wyatt is usually regarded as the first great English sonneteer. It is he who first used a __________ for the conclusion of Sonnet practice followed by Shakespeare。
6。 Edmund Spenser is often referred as “the poets’ __________”because of his considerable influence on later poets.
7。 There are two kinds of allegory： those that use __________, as in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim’s Progress, and those that use a special kind of __________, as in Dante’s Divine Comedy.
8。 Edmund Spenser’s best-known Poem The Shepherd’s Calendar consists of 12 __________poem or eclogues， one for each month of the year。
9. Edmund Spenser's Amoretti is a series of 88 __________ in which he links each quatrain to the next by a continuing rhyme： abab bcbc cdcd ee. This form is usually called __________。
10. Generally speaking, the development of early English drama experiences three periods: religious period， moral period and __________ periods.
11。 __________ is considered the first great English dramatist and the most important Elizabethan playwright before Shakespeare.
12。 Shakespeare’ a 154 sonnets fall into two series： one series are addressed to W。H， a young man， and the other addressed to __________.
13。 The writings of Francis bacon mainly fall into three categories: __________, purely literary and professional.
14。 The major, or central, character of the plot is called the __________； his opponent, the character against whom he struggles or contends, is called the __________。
15. A Shakespearean sonnet is composed of three four—line quatrains and a concluding two—line __________。
Ⅳ. Choose the best answer。
1。 In the English renaissance period， scholars began to emphasize the capacities of the human mind and the achievements of human culture. The most significant intellectual movement was __________。
A。 reformation
B. geographical explorations
C. humanism
D。 the Italian revival
2。 __________is regarded as the earliest popular tragedy of bold and revenge。
A。 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
B. The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd
C。 Alexander and Campaspe by John Lyly
D. King Lear by William Shakespeare
3。 Which of the following plays does not belong to Shakespeare’s great tragedies？
A。 Othello
B。 Macbeth
C。 Romeo and Juliet
D. Hamlet
4. Which of the following plays does not belong to Shakespeare's comedies?
A。 Henry Ⅴ
B。 The Merchant of Venice
C。 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
D。 The Winter’s Tale
5. An important Variety of ode in the 16th century was __________， a poem in praise of marriage， conventionally following the course of the wedding day。
A. hymn
B。 epithalamion
C。ode
D。 ballad
6. Sir Philip Sidney’s arcadia was a long __________ written in an elaborately artful prose.
A。 pastoral eclogue
B. pastoral lyric
C。 pastoral romance
D。 pastoral drama
7。 Sir Philip Sidney is known for the following three works except __________
A. Arcadia
B. Astrophel and Stella
C。 The Shepherd's Calendar
D. Apology for Poetry
8。 The following playwrights belong to the “university wits”， Shakespeare's predecessors， except __________.
A. John Lyly
B. Ben Jonson
C。 Thomas Kyd
D. Christopher Marlowe
9。 Which is not the works of Christopher Marlowe？
A。 Lycidas
B. Tamburlaine the Great
C。 The Jew of Malta
D. The tragic history of doctor Faustus
10. Which of the following poetic forms is the principal form of Shakespeare's dramas？
A。 lyric
B。 sonnet
C. blank verse
D。 quatrain
11。 Ben Jonson's poetic line “not of an age, but for all time” was dedicated to __________。
A. Edmund Spenser
B. Christopher Marlowe
C。 Geoffrey Chaucer
D. William Shakespeare
12. Which kind of comedy do Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and The Merry Wives of Windsor belong to？
A。 farce
B。 romantic comedy
C. satiric comedy
D. comedy of humours
13。 Of the following plays， which is not written by Ben Jonson？
A. Every Man in His Humor
B。 Volpone
C。 The Alchemist
D. The Shoemaker’s Holiday
14. __________is the most common foot in the English poetry.
A。 the iamb
B. the anapest
C。 the trochee
D. the dactyl
15。 “Prince Arthur’s great mission is his search for Gloriana， with whom he has fallen in love through a love vision。” The two literary figures “Arthur” and “Gloriana" are from __________.
A。 Morte d’Arthur
B。 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
C。 The Faerie Queene
D. Piers the Plowman
16. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is one of Christopher Marlowe’s best works in which dr。 Faustus seeds __________no matter at what cost and finally meets his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the devil.
A。 money
B。 immorality
C。 knowledge
D。 political power
17. “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested” is one of the epigrams found in __________
A。 Francis bacon's “of studies”
B。 Thomas Mors’s utopia
C. john Bunyan's the pilgrim's progress
D。 Henry fielding’s tom Jones
18. Christopher Marlow’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is a (n） .
A. pastoral lyric
B. elegy
C. eulogy
D。 epic
19。 Here are four lines taken from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene：” but on his brest a bloudie Crosse he bore, / the deare remembrance of his dying lord, / For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore, / and dead as living ever him adored.” who is the dying lord discussed in the above lines？
A。 Beowulf
B. king Arthur
C. Jesus Christ
D. Jupiter
20. In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice， Antonio could not pay back the money he borrowed from shylock because __________.
A. his money was all invested in the newly-emerging textile industry
B. his enterprise went bankrupt
C。 Bassanio was able to pay his own debt
D。 his ships had all been lost
21。 Which of the following statements best illustrate the theme of Shakespeare's sonnet 18?
A。 the speaker eulogizes the power of nature.
B。 the speaker satirizes human vanity.
C。 the speaker praises the power of artistic creation。
D。 the speaker meditates on man's salvation.
22。 The sentence “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?" is the beginning line of one of Shakespeare’s __________。
A。 comedies
B。 tragedies
C. sonnets
D. histories
23。 “Not on thy sole but on thy soul, harsh Jew， I thou mak’st thy knife keen” In the above quotation taken from The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare employs a （n) 。
A。 oxymoron
B。 pun
C。 simile
D。 synecdoche
24. The tragedy of Dr. Faustus, the protagonist in Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragic History of Dr。 Faustus， is the very fact that __________。
A. man is confined to time
B. he tried to join Africa to Spain
C。 he became a man with out soul after he sold it
D. he conjured up Helen, the lady who was the very cause of the Trojan War
Ⅴ. Short—answer questions
1. Please summarize the differences between traditional epics and literary epics。 Give examples to illustrate these two kinds of epics。
2。 Tell the characteristics of Edmund Spenser’s poetry。
3。 How many periods do Shakespeare's dramatic career fall into？
4。 What are the unique features of Shakespeare's sonnets？
5。 What is Ben Jonson’s theory on drama？
6. Please analyze briefly Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen。 What do those knights and the evil figures symbolize respectively? What kind of ideas does the author want to express under the guise of medieval knighthood?
Ⅵ. Answer the questions according to the following passages.
Passage 1
（from The Faerie Queen， Canto 1)
A gentle knight was pricking on the plaine，
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruell markes of many a bloudy fielde；
Yet armes till that time did he never wield;
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt，
As much disdaining to the curbe to yield?
Full jolly knightly giusts and fierce encounters fit.
And on his brest a bloudie Crosse he bore,
The deare rememberance of his dying lord,
For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead as living ever him ador’d:
Upon his shield the like was also scor’d,
For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had?
right faithfull true he was in deede and word，
But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad，
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.
Upon a great adventure he was bond，
The greatest Gloriana to him gave,
That greatest glorious Queene of faerie lond，
To winne him worship, and her grace to have，
Which of all earthly things he most did crave；
And ever as he rode, his hart did earne
To prove his puissance in battell brave
Upon his foe， and his new force to learne；
Upon his foe， a dragon horrible and stearne.
A lovely ladie rode him faire beside，
Upon a lowly asse more white then snow,
Yet she much whiter， but the same did hide
Under abele, that wimpled was full low？
And over all a blacke stole she did throw,
As one that inly mourned： so was she sad,
And heavie sat upon her palfrey slow：
Seemed in heart some hidden care she had，
And by her in a line a milke white lambe she lad。
Questions:
1。 What's the knight’s name in this part?
2. What does the knight stand for?
3. The knight set out on his quest to rescue the parents of Una， a beautiful lady. What does she symbolize？
4。 Analyze the writing features of this poem。

Passage 2
What judgment shall ii dread, doing no wrong?
You have among you many a Purchas’d slave，
Which， like your asses and your dogs and mules,
You use in abject and in slavish parts,
Because you bought them： shall I say to you，
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs？
Why sweat they under burdens？ let their beds
Be sesson’d with such viands？ You will answer:
‘The slaves are ours’: so do I answer you：
The pound of flesh which I demand of him，
Is dearly bought;’ tis mine and I will have it。
If you deny me, fie upon your law！
There is no force in the decrees of Venice。
I stand for judgment: answer， shall I have it?
Question：
5。 Where is this selection taken from?
6. Who is the character who said these lines in the play?
7。 Comment on the character.

Passage 3
Had I as many souls as there be stars
I’d give them all for Mephistophilis!
By him I’ll be great emperor of the world,
And make a bridge through the mobbing air
To pass he ocean with a band of men；
I’ll join the hills that country continent to Spain,
And both contributory to my crown;
The emperor shall not live but by my leave，
Not any potentate of Germany。
Now that I have obtained what I desire
I’ll live in speculation of this art
Till Mephistophilis return again.
Question:
8. Name the playwright and the title of the work from which the passage is taken。
9. Name the speaker of the passage quoted above.
10. Use the above passage as a guide and write down in one or two sentences the theme of the play。

Passage 4
“And the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought。” （Shakespeare， Hamlet）
Questions:
11。 What does the “native hue of resolution” mean?
12。 What does the “pale cast of thought” stand for？
13. What idea do the two lines express？

Keys
Ⅰ。 Essay questions.
1。 The name “utopia” comes from Greek words meaning “no place"。 It was used by Thomas more to name his ideal society. The subject is the search for the best possible form of government。 Central to the constitution of utopia is community of utopia is community of property。 No fundamental reform in society is possible until private property is abolished because the existence of private property is the source of all social evils。 Only utopia， where private property has been abolished， offers his ideal of a rationally planned and unchanging state。 Utopia is an enlightened pagan community in which all land and goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed； there is no private property of any kind. All the citizens, men and women， are on an equal footing and have the same rights; their interests are subordinate to those of society at large； and every one must engage in physical labor. A national system of education is extended to men and women alike strictly based on reasoning and persuasion. These conditions are markedly contrasted with those of English society, presenting a sharp criticism of current English society。 Utopia is regarded as one of the earliest work of utopian socialism.
2。 Christopher Marlowe was the greatest dramatic writer in the 16th century after Shakespeare, and the most important influence upon Shakespeare。 It is Marlowe who first made blank verse （unrhymed iambic pentameter） the principal instrument of English drama。 His blank verse is a living thing’ it is vigorous， fluid and precise。 His plays have great intensity, but they show a genius which is epic rather than dramatic。 The great characteristic of his genius is audacity； he insists on dealing with the most illustrious persons， the strongest situations, and the most tempestuous passions.
He first and alone guided Shakespeare into the right way of work. Before him there was neither genuine blank verse nor genuine tragedy in the English language. After his arrival the way was prepared， the pathos was made straight for Shakespeare. He is the greatest discoverer， the most daring and inspired pioneer in English literature。
3. According to the conventional view, Dr。 Faustus is a predominantly Christian play， carrying the essential element