英美文学史练习题及复习资料1.doc

文学青年@2班 英国文学史及选读 主讲教师：曹小雪
1. The Renaissance Period
Part I. Definition of literary terms （请背诵下来！！！）
1. Allegory. As a rule, an allegory (also defined as an extended metaphor) is a story in verse or prose with a double meaning: a primary or suface meaning, and a secondary or under-the-surface meaning. It is a story that can be read, understood and interpreted at two levels (and in some cases at three or four levels). It is closely related to fable and parable, which are didactic, comparatively short and simple allegories. The form may be literary or pictorial or both. An allegory has no definite length. The higher levels of meaning are usually concerned with moral, religious, political, symbolic or mythical ideas. In an allegory, characters or personifications represent something other than themselves--- virtues, vices, causes or issues. There are two kinds of allegory: those that use personifications, as in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Spenser’s The Faerie Queene; and those that use a special kind of symbolism, as in Dante’s Divine Comedy.
2. Blank verse. Blank verse is unrhymed poetry, typically in iambic pentameter, and, as such, the dominant verse form of English dramatic and narrative poetry since the mid-16th century. Blank verse is not wirtten in stanza form. Instead, the poem is developed in verse paragraphs that vary in length. Blank verse is a flexible form of expression that gives the poet a choice of many variations within the metrical pattern. Because of its flexibility, blank verse is especially appropriate for narrative and dramatic poetry and other longer kinds of poetry. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, adapted blank verse from Italian poetry to English in the early 1500’s. Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare used this form with great power and variety in their plays. Many poets of the 1800’s and 1900’s wrote in blank verse. They include William Wordsworth, Wiliam Cullen Bryant, John Keats, Lord Tennyson, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, and Wallace Stevens.
3. Humanism. Broadly, this term suggests any attitude, which tends to exalt the human element or stress the importance of human interests, as opposed to the supernatural, divine elements----or as opposed to the grosser, animal elements. In a more specific sense, humanism suggests a devotion to those studies supposed to promote human culture most effectively----iin particular, those dealing with the life, thought, language, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. In literary history the most important use of the term is to designate the revival of classical culture that accompanied the Renaissance.
4. Metaphysical. It refers to the school of poets that appeared in the Revolutionary period in England by using quite unconventional and often surprising conceits; the metaphsical poets wrote poems full of wit and humor. But sometimes the logic argument and conceits become pervasive, going to preposterous dimensions. The language is colloquial but very powerful, creating unorthodox images on the reader’s mind. John Donne and Andrew Marvell are the representative metaphisical poets.
5. Renaissance. It is the rebirth of artistic, literary and academic interest and creativity that marks the transition from Medieval Europe to the modern world. Generally dated from the 14th to the mid-17th century, the Renaissance emerged in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe. In outlook the Renaissance brought new importance to individual expression, self-consciousness, and worldy experience; cultually it was a time of brillant accomplishment in scholarship, literature, science, and the arts. More generally, it was an era of emerging nation-states and exploration, and the beginning of a revolution in commerce. It is best to regard the Renaissance as the result of a new emphasis upon and a new combination of tendencies and attitudes already existing, stimulated by a series of historical events. The new humanistic learning that resulted from the rediscovery of classical literature is frequently taken as the beginning of the Renaissance on its conscious, intellectual side. The influence of the Renaissance on future generations was to prove immense in many fields--- from art and literature to education, political science, and history. For centuries, most scholars have agreed that the modern ear of human history began with the Renaissance.
6. Sonnet. It is a basic lyric form, consisting of 14 lines of iambic pentameter rhymed in various patterns. The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet is divided clearly into octave and sestet, the first rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. In late 16th-century England, sonnets were written either independently as short epigrammatic forms, or grouped in sonnet sequences, i.e. collections of upwards of a hundred poems, in imitation of Petrarch, purportedly addressed to one central figure or muse--- a lady usually with a symbolic name like “Stella” or “Idea”. Milton made a new kind of use of the Petrarchan form, and the Romantic poets continued in the Miltonic tradition. Several variations have been devised, including the addtion of “trails” or extra lines, or the recasting into 16 lines, instead of 14.

Exercises
A. Multiple-choice question
1. Which of the following in NOT regarded as one of the characteristics of Renassance?
A. Exaltation of man’s pursuit of happiness in this life.
B. Cultivation of the genuine flavor of ancient culture.
C. Tolerance of human foibles.
D. Praise of man’s effforts in having his soul delivered.
2. The most significant intellectual movement of the Renaissance was ___
A. the Reformaion
B. humanism
C. the Italian revival
D. geographical explorations
3. What is the relationship between Claudius and Hamlet?
A. Cousins.
B. Uncle and nephew
C. Father-in-law and son-in-law.
D. Father and son
4. Which of the following plays does not belong to Shakespeare’s great tragedies?
A. Romeo and Juliet B. King Lear
C. Hamlet D. Macbeth
5. Which statement about the Elizabethan age is not true?
A. It is the age of translation.
B. It is the age of bourgeois revolution
C. It is the age of exploration.
D. It is the age of the protestant reformation.
6. In Hamlet’s soliloquy, when he says, “To sleep, perchabce to dream: ---ay, there’s the rub.” What is he primarily thinking about?
A. The bad dreams that have recently been troubling him.
B. The fact that if dying is like going to sleep, then perhaps after death we have bad dreams.
C. The sinful behavior of Gertrude, whose guilty dreams he would like to know.
D. His desire to sleep so that he will not have to take vengeful action.
7. ______ first made blank verse the principal instrument of English drama.
A. Shakespeare B. Wyatt C. Sidney D. Marlowe
8. “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” is an example of ____.
A. allegory B. simile C. metaphor D. irony
10. In “Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, / Thou mak’st thy knife keen”, Gratiano (a character in The Merchant of Venice) uses a rhetorical device called _____.
A. hyperbole B. homonym C. paradox D. pun
11. Of the following lines from Milton’s Paradise Lost, what statement is correct?
“To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deify his power
…--- that were low indeed,
That were an ignominy, and shame beneath
This downfall;…”
A. To beg God for mercy and worship his power were as low as this downfall.
B. To beg God for mercy and worship his power were more shameful and disgraceful than this downfall.
C. To beg God for mercy is more shameful than worship his power.
D. To fight against God is as low as to worship Satan.
12. In the sonnet “Death, Be Not proud”, Donne says to death: “Those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow/ Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.” What does he mean?
A. Death is very strong.
B. Death is not death, because after death we wake up to live eternally.
C. One must face death courageously and defiantly.
D. Death is not as strong as he thinks he is.
13. Milton’s Paradise Lost took its material from ____.
A. the Bible B. Greek myth
C. Roman myth D. French romance
14. Christopher Marlowe wrote all the following plays except ___.
A. Tamburlaine the Great
B. The Jew of Malta
C.Cymbeline
D. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
15. Which of the following plays by Shakespeare is NOT a comedy?
A. The Merchant of Venice
B. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
C. As You Like It
D. Romeo and Juliet
16. _____ is the most common foot in English poetry.
A. The iamb B. The anapest C. The trochee D. The dactyl
17. In “Sonnet 18”, William Shakespeare ______.
A.mediates on man’s mortality.
B. eulogizes the power of artistic creation
C. satirizes human vanity
D. presents a dream vision
18. In Paradise Lost, Satan says: “We may with more successful hope resolve/ To wage by force or guile eternal war,/ Irreconcilable to our grand Foe.” What is the “eternal war” Satan and his followers were to wage against God?
A. To plant a tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden.
B. To turn into poisonous snakes to threaten man’s life.
C. To remove God from His throne.
D. To corrupt God’s creation of man and woman.
19. Dr. Faustus is a play based on the German legend of a magician aspiring for ______ and finally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the Devil.
A. money B. immorality C. knowledge D. political power
20. “Bassanio: Antonio, I am married to a wife
Which is as dear to me as life itself;
But life itself, my wife, and all he world,
Are not with me esteem’d above thy life;
I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all,
Here to the devil, to deliver you.
Potia: Your wife would give you little thanks for that,
If she were by to hear you make the offer.”
The above is a quotation taken from Shakespeare’s comedy The Merchant of Venice, which can be regarded as a good example to illustrate what _____ is.
A. dramatic irony B. personification
C. allegory D. symbolism
21. “Read not to contradict and confuse, nor to believe and take for granted” is one of the epigrams found in _____.
A. Bacon’s “Of Studies”
B. Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress
C. More’s Utopia
D. Fielding’s Tom Jones
22. Which of the following is not typical of metaphysical poetry best represented by John Donne’s work?
A. Common speech B. Conceit
C. Argument D. Elegant language
B. Blank-filling
1. “When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eye” is the beginning line of a ______ written by William Shakespeare.
2. The epoch of Renaissance witnessed a particular development of English drama. It was Christopher Marlowe who made ____ the principal vehicle of expression in drama.
3. The greatest and most distinctive achievement of Elizabethan literature is _____.
4. John Milton is regarded the greatest ______ of the 17th century, and one of the giants of English literature.
5. Shakespeare’s plays have been traditionally divided into three categories: histories, _______ and tragedies.
6. In 1637 Milton wrote the finest _____ in English, Lycidas, in honor of a Cambridge friend.
7. “Death, Be Not Proud” focuses on a key _____ of Christian doctrine: we are afraid of death, yet we are not afraid of death.
8. The predominant rhetorical device employed in “The Sun Rising” is _______.
9. With few exceptions Shakespeare uses the sonnet form in the popular English form of three _______ and a couplet.
10. Edmund Spenser is often referred to as “the poet’s _____”. His masterpiece is The Fairie Queene.

C. T-F statements
1. Odyssey, Beowulf and Samson Agonistes are all great epics.
2. In his love poetry, Donne describes love as single, constant, spiritual and eternal.
3. In all his works, Spenser effectively blended classical literary themes and conventions with Christian morallism.
4. It was first in Dr. Faustus that Marlowe influenced later drama with his concentration on one heroic figure and his development of blank verse into a flexible poetic form for tragedy.
5. Donne’s dramatic conversational style enables him to devour all kinds of experiences in life and to put them into poetry.
6. William Caxton is important to the development of English literature because he wrote important tales about King Arthur.
7. In his history plays, Shakespeare expressed his wish for freedom and national unity.
8. Hamlet’s melancholy derives from his sudden exposure to the evil world and his thoughtfulness of the meaning of life in a corrupted society.
9. The Reformation was the great 16th-century religious revolution that resulted in the establishment of the Catholic churches.
10. The new humanistic learning that resulted from the renovation of classical literature is frequently taken as the beginning of the Renaissance on its conscious, intellectual side.

D. Work-author pairing-up:
( ) 1. Samson Agonistes A. Thomas More
( ) 2. Songs and Sonnets B. Francis Bacon
( ) 3. “Of Studies” C. John Donne
( ) 4. King Lear D. Edmund Spenser
( ) 5. Tamburlaine the Great E. John Milton
( ) 6. The Shepheardes Calender F. Philip Sidey
( ) 7. Antony and Cleopatra G. William Shakespeare
( ) 8. Lycidas H. George Herbert
( ) 9. The Jew of Malta I. Ben Jonson
( ) 10. As You Like It J. Christopher Marlowe

E. Reading Comprehension
(For each of the quotations listed below please give the name of the author and the title of the literary work from which it is taken and then briefly interpret it.)
1. “Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
Reference: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18: “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”
This lines mean “You will not lose your own beauty, nor shall death boast that you roam about in his darkness; So long as men can stay alive, so long as this poem lives, it gives you eternal life.” The sestet provides a major “turning” in the sonnet and answer the question raised earlier: a nice summer’s day is usually transient, but the beauty in poetry is eternal.

2. “One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.”
John Donne, “Death Be Not Proud”.
The meaning is “shortly after we die (compared to ‘sleep’), we’ll wake up and live eternally. In this sense, it’s death that shall die.” Paradox is very common in metaphysical poetry. John Donne concludes his poem with a couplet that first balances the ideas of death as a sleeping and death as a sleeping and death as a waking, and then summarizes the more profound paradox that a person’s death is his victory over dying and death.

3. “They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience; for natura