英国文学名词解释大全.doc

名词解释
1. Epic (史诗)（appeared in the the Anglo-Saxon Period ）
It is a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical in its content, grand in its style, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or national tradition.
A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.
Epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, like Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey. It usually celebrates the feats of one or more legendary or traditional heroes. The action is simple, but full of magnificence.
Today, some long narrative works, like novels that reveal an age & its people, are also called epic.
E.g. Beowulf （ the pagan（异教徒），secular(非宗教的) poetry） Iliad 《伊利亚特》，Odyssey《奥德赛》 Paradise Lost 《失乐园》，The Divine Comedy《神曲》
2. Romance （传奇）(Anglo-Norman feudal England)
• Romance is any imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters.
• Originally, the term referred to a medieval (中世纪) tale dealing with the love and adventures of kings, queens, knights, and ladies, and including supernatural happenings.
Form: long composition, in verse, in prose
Content: description of life and adventures of a noble hero
Character: a knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons; often described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments(骑士比武), or fighting for his lord in battles; devoted to the church and the king
• Romance lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.
• It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues.
• It contains perilous (dangerous) adventures more or less remote from ordinary life.
• It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.
①The Romance Cycles/Groups/Divisions
Three Groups
l matters of Britain Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table （亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士）
l matters of France Emperor Charlemagne and his peers
l matters of Rome Alexander the Great and the attacks of Troy
Le Morte D’Arthur （亚瑟王之死）
②Class Nature (阶级性) of the Romance
Loyalty to king and lord was the theme of the romances, as loyalty was the corner-stone（the most important part基石）of feudal morality.
The romances were composed not for the common but for the noble, of the noble, and by the poets patronized（supported 庇护,保护） by the noble.
3. Alliteration（押头韵）: a repeated initial(开头的) consonant(协调,一致) to successive(连续的) words.
e.g. 1.To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise. 2.Sing a song of southern singer
4. Understatement（低调陈述）（for ironical humor）
not troublesome: very welcome
need not praise: a right to condemn
5. Chronicle《编年史》（a monument of Old English prose）
6. Ballads （民谣）（The most important department of English folk literature ）
①Definition:
A ballad is a narrative poem that tells a story, and is usually meant to be sung or recited in musical form.
An important stream of the Medieval folk literature
②Features of English Ballads
1. The ballads are in various English and Scottish dialects.
2. They were created collectively and revised when handed down from mouth to mouth.
3. They are mainly the literature of the peasants, and give an outlook of the English common people in feudal society.
③Stylistic （风格上） Features of the Ballads
1. Composed in couplets （相连并押韵的两行诗,对句） or in quatrains （四行诗） known as the ballad stanza （民谣诗节 ）, rhyming abab or abcb, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables （重读音节） and the second and fourth carrying 3.
2. Simple, plain language or dialect （方言，土语） of the common people with colloquial （口语的，会话的）, vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic （符合当地语言习惯的） expressions
3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentation around the central plot.
4. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension （方面） to achieve dramatic effect.
④Subjects of English Ballads
1. struggle of young lovers
2. conflict between love and wealth
3. cruelty of jealousy
4. criticism of the civil war
5. matters of class struggle
7. Heroic couplet （英雄双韵体）（introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer）
Definition: the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter; a verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses, in rhyming pairs.
英雄诗体/英雄双韵体：用于史诗或叙事诗，每行十个音节，五个音部，每两行押韵。
8 couplet（两行诗，对句）: Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.A heroic couplet is an iambic pentameter couplet. During the Restoration period and the 18th C. it was a popular verse form.
9. iambic pentameter: A poetic line consisting of five Verse feet (penta- is from a Greek word meaning “five”), with each foot an iamb-- that is, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
10. Rhyme（韵，押韵）: the repetition (反复) of sounds in two or more words or phrases that appear close to each other in a poem. E .g . river/shiver, song/long
11. meter (格律) （属于Prosody ['prɔsədɪ]（韵文学;诗体学；(某语言的)韵律(学)））: A generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables（音节） in poetry.
The meters with two-syllable feet are:
Iambic (x /)（抑扬格）: That time of year thou mayst in me behold
Trochaic (/ x)（扬抑格）: Tell me not in mournful numbers
Spondaic (/ /)（扬扬格）: Break, break, break/ On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
The meters with three-syllable feet are:
anapestic (x x /)（抑抑扬格）: And the sound of a voice that is still
dactylic (/ x x)（强弱格，长短格，扬抑抑格）: This is the forest primeval, the murmuring
pines and the hemlock
(a trochee replaces the final dactyl)
12. Rhythm（节奏，韵律）（属于Prosody ['prɔsədɪ]（韵文学;诗体学；(某语言的)韵律(学)））： refers to the regular recurrence（反复，重现） of the accent（重读） or stress in poem or song.
e.g. the rhythm of day and night, the seasonal rhythm of the year, the beat of our hearts, and the rise and fall of sea tides, etc.
basic patterns of rhythms
a) Iambic foot (iamb['aiæmb])（抑扬格）: an unstressed syllable followed by an stressed one as in the word “prevent” or “about”
It’s time the children went to bed.
We’ll learn a poem by Keats.
b) Trochaic [trəu'keiik] foot (trochee ['trəuki:])（扬抑格）: a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one as in “football”, “never”, “happy” or “English”
William Morris taught him English.
Double, double, toil and trouble.
Fire burns and cauldron bubble.
c) Anapestic foot (anapest [ˈænəpi:st] )（抑抑扬格）: two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one as in “comprehend” or “intervene”
I’ve been working in China for forty years.
d) Dactylic foot (dactyl)（强弱格，长短格，扬抑抑格）: a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones as in “dangerous”, “cheerfully”, “yesterday” or “merrily”
13．Common line lengths:
number of feet per line

• one foot monometer [mɔ'nɔmitə] (rare)（单音部）
• two feet dimeter ['dimitə] (二步)
• three feet trimester ['trimitə](三步)
• four feet tetrameter [te'træmitə](四步)
• five feet pentameter [pen'tæmitə](五步)
• six feet hexameter [hek'sæmitə]
• seven feet heptameter [hep'tæmitə] (rare)
• eight feet octameter [ɔk'tæmitə] (rare)
14．Line patterns:
Couplet（相连并押韵的两行诗,对句）: 2 lines rhyming with each other
• A heroic couplet is an iambic pentameter couplet.
Tercet ['tə:sit]（三行押韵诗句,三拍子）: 3 lines, terza rima (aba, bcb, cdc, ded)
Quatrain ['kwɔtrein]（四行诗）: 4 lines, ballad stanza (abcb)
Octave ['ɔktɪv, -,teɪv]（八行诗）: 8 lines, ottava rima (abababcc)
Spenserian stanza （斯宾塞诗节）: 9 lines (ababbcbcc) （The Faerie Queene（仙后））
Sonnet （十四行诗）: 14 lines (Shakespearean: ababcdcdefefgg)
l Example:
She walks in beauty, like the night
of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow’d to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies
1. Foot and length: Iambic tetrameter
2. Rhyme (scheme): ababab

15．Humanism
1) Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. According to humanists, human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfection and the world can be questioned, explored and enjoyed.
2) By emphasizing the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, in contrast to the medieval emphasis on God and contempt for the things of this world, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to pursue happiness of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wanders.
16. Drama
1. Definition
• Drama is “a composition in prose or verse, adapted to be acted upon a stage, in which a story is related by means of dialogue and action, and is represented with accompanying gesture, costume, and scenery, as in real life.”
2. The Development of Drama
1. Religious Period
1) Mystery plays presented stories from the Old and New Testament of the Bible.
• Creation of the World, the Fall, the Great Flood, Redemption, Final Judgment, etc.
• The birth of the Christ—child symbolized hope in the darkness of winter; Christ’s resurrection（复活） accorded with the earth’s renewal in spring, and the promise of harvest at midsummer.
2) Miracle plays （奇迹剧）
• Dramatizing（将-改编成剧本） the lives and miracles of saints, or divine intervention (神的干预，介入) in human affairs, that is, stories from the lives of saints.
• Often focused on blessed virgin Mary
3) Morality plays （道德剧）
• Presenting stories containing abstract（抽象的） virtues and vices （美德和恶习）as characters.
• They were plays which had a moral message: Good and Evil fight for domination（统治） of the human soul.
• Everyman, the best example, is the story of a character representing mankind.
2. Artistic Period
The first Comedy, Ralph Roister Doister《拉尔夫·罗伊斯特·多伊斯特》written by the schoolmaster, Nicholas Udall between 1550 and 1553
The first English tragedy, Gorboduc written in 1561 by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton
3. Elements of drama
1. Plot (情节)
The structure of a play’s action, the order of the incidents, their arrangement and form.
2. Character(人物): the vital center of a play
How they look, what they say and in what manners they say; what they do and how their actions reveal who they are and what they represent
The human qualities are the most engaging feature.
3. Dialogue(对白)
Drama is described as “persons moving about on stage using words.”
Major functions of Dialogue: to advance the plot, to establish setting, and to reveal character.
4. Staging(舞台设计)
Things like positions of actors, nonverbal gestures and movements, scenic background, props and costumes, lighting and sound effects
5. Theme(主题): the central idea of the play.
4. Dramatic Terms
1. Script(脚本): the written work from which a drama isproduced. It contains stage directions and
Dialogue
2. Stage Directions(舞台指导): notes provided by the playwright to describe how something should be presented or performed on stage
3. Monologue(独白): a long speech given by an actor
4. Soliloquy(独白): a speech given by a character who is alone (or thinks he is alone) on stage
5. Aside(旁白): a statement intended to be heard by the audience or by a single other character but not by all the other characters on stage
6. Act(幕): a major division of a drama
7. Scene(场): a division of an act. A scene typically begins with the entrance of one or more characters and ends with the exit of one or more characters.
17. Comedy(喜剧)（Drama form）
A play written chiefly to amuse its audience by appealing to a sense of superiority over the characters depicted. A comedy will normally be closer to everyday life than a tragedy, and will explore common human failings rather than tragedy’s disastrous crimes. Its ending will usually be happy for the leading characters.
• E.g. （莎士比亚）Romantic Comedies（the overcoming the obstacle of love）: As You Like It(皆大欢喜), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Twelfth Night, & The Merchant of Venice（威尼斯商人）
18. Tragedy（Drama form）
• A serious play or novel representing the disastrous downfall of a central character, the protagonist. According to Aristotle, the purpose is to achieve a catharsis through incidents arousing pity and terror. The tragic effect usually depends on our awareness of admirable qualities in he protagonist, which are wasted terribly in the fated disaster.
• E.g. （莎士比亚）Great Tragedies（四大悲剧）（explores the faults/weaknesses of humans）: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear& Macbeth
19. dramatic Romance (tragi-comedy)（悲喜剧）（莎士比亚）（Drama form）:
• Romances focus on the separation and reunion of families rather than love and marriage.
• Endings were characterized by homecoming, recognition, reconciliation, and forgiveness.
• The romances are set in mythical worlds where supernatural and magic and unlikely coincidences are commonplace.
E.g. Pericles《波里克利斯》, Cymbeline《辛柏林》, The Winter’s Tale《冬天的故事》, The Tempest《暴风雨》
20. Monologue（长篇独白）
• An extended speech uttered by one speaker, either to others or alone. Significant varieties include the dramatic monologue (a kind of poem in which the speaker is imagined to be addressing a silent audience), and the soliloquy (in which the speaker is supposed to be “overheard（偷听，无意中听到）” while alone).
21. Soliloquy
• A dramatic speech delivered by one character speaking aloud while under the impression of being alone. The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to the audience, either in supposed self-communion（自我反省） or in a consciously direct address（演说，演讲）. It is also known as interior monologue.内心独白
22. The basic plot of the play ( Freytag’s pyramid )
1. Exposition (阐述，讲解，说明): provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, such as the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, and the setting.
2. Rising action（发展）: during rising action, the basic internal（内部） conflict is complicated（复杂） by the introduction of related secondary conflicts, including various obstacles that frustrate the protagonist's attempt to reach his goal.
3. Climax（高潮）: the turning point, which marks a change, for the better or the worse, in the protagonist’s affairs. If the story is a comedy, things will have gone badly for the protagonist up to this point; now, the tide, so to speak, will turn, and things will begin to go well for him or her. If the story is a tragedy, the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with things going from good to bad for the protagonist.
4. Falling action: during the falling action, or resolution, which is the moment of reversal（反向，倒转，转变，颠倒） after the climax, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist. The falling action mig