英国文学史名词解释

英国文学史名词解释

1. Ballad(民谣)

A ballad originally is a song intended as an accompaniment

to a dance or a popular song. In the relatively recent sense, now

most widely used, a ballad is a single, spirited poem in short

stanzas, in which some popular story is graphically narrated. The

ingredients of ballads usually include a refrain, stock descriptive

phrases, and simple, terse dialogue.

2. Alliteration(头韵)

It refers to a repeated initial consonant to successive words

and it is the most striking feature in its poetic form. In alliterative

verse, certain accented words in a line begin with the same

consonant sound. There are generally 4 accents in a line, three of

which show alliteration, and it is the initial sound of the third

accented syllable that normally determiners the alliteration. In

old English verse, alliteration is not an unusual or expressive

phenomenon but a regular recurring structural feature of the

verse.

3. Sonnet (十四行诗)

It is a poem of 14 lines (of 11 syllables in Italian and 10 in

English), typically in rhymed iambic pentameter. Sonnets

characteristically express a single theme or idea.

The sonnet was introduced to England by Sir T. Wyatt and

developed Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey) and was thereafter

widely used notably in the sonnet sequences of Shakespeare,

Sidney, and Spenser. 4. Tragedy(悲剧)

The word is applied broadly to dramatic works in which

events move to a fatal or disastrous conclusion. It is concerned

with the harshness and apparent injustice of life. Often the hero

falls from power and his eventual death leads to the downfall of

others. The tragic action arouses feelings of awe in the audience.

5. Lyric(抒情诗)

As a genre, it was the tradition of popular song flourishing in

all the medieval literatures of Western Europe. In England lyric

poems flourished in the Middle English period, and in the 16th

century, heyday of humanism. This tradition was enriched by the

direct imitation of ancient models. During the next 200 years the

links between poetry and music was gradually broken, and the

term “lyric” came to be applied to short poems expressive of a

poet’s thoughts or feelings.

6. Epic(史诗)

It is a poem that celebrates in the form of a continuous

narrative the achievements of one or more heroic personages of

history or tradition. Among the great epics of the world may be

mentioned the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and Paradise Lost.

7. Renaissance(文艺复兴)

The word “renaissance” means rebirth or revival. It is

commonly applied to the movement or period of great flowering

of art, architecture, politics, and the study of literature, usually

seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the

Modern worn world. It came about under the influence of Greek

and Roman models. It began in Italy in the late 14th century,

reached the highest development in the early 16th century, and

spread to the rest of Europe in the 15th century and afterwards.

Its emphasis was humanist: that is , on regarding the human

figure and reason without a necessary relating of it to the

superhuman.

8. Enlightenment(启蒙运动)

Enlightenment also called the neoclassic movement. It refers

to the philosophical and artistic movement growing out of the

Renaissance and continuing until the 19th century. The term is

generally used to describe the philosophical, scientific, and

rational spirit, the freedom from superstition, the skepticism and

faith in religious tolerance of much of 18th-century Europe. Te

Enlightenment writers would use satire to ridicule the illogical

errors in government, social custom, and religious belief. This

period’s poetry in England was typified by Alexander Pope,

John Dryden and others.

9. Classicism(古典主义)

The term, when applied generally, means clearness, elegance,

symmetry, and repose (清新、优雅、对称与和谐) produced by

attention to traditional forms. More precisely, the term refers to

the admiration and imitation of Greek and Roman literature, art,

and architecture. It stands for certain definite ideas and attitudes

including dominance of reason, balance and other etc. Classicism

is usually contrasted with romanticism.

10. Romanticism or Romantic Movement(浪漫主义)

The term refers to the literary and artistic movements of the

late 18th and early 19th century. Romanticism rejected the

rejected the earlier philosophy of the Enlightenment, which

stressed that logic and reason were the best response humans

had in the face of cruelty, stupidity, superstition, and barbarism.

The Romantics asserted that reliance upon emotion and natural

passions provided a valid and powerful means of knowing and a

reliable guide to ethics and living. Its stylistic keynote is intensity,

and its watchword is imagination. Their writings are often set in

rural, or Gothic setting and they show an obsessive concern with

“innocent” characters----children, young lovers, and animals.

The major Romantic poets included Blake, Wordsworth, Keats,

Shelley, and Byron.

11. Genre (样式):

A type of category of literature marked by certain shared

features or customs. The three broadest categories of genre

include poetry, drama, and fiction. These general genres are

often subdivided into more specific genres and subgenres. For

example, the poetry can be sub-classified as epic, elegy, lyric and

pastoral etc.

12. Critical realism(批判现实主义)

Critical realism is one of the literary genres that flourished

mainly in the 19th century. It reveals the corrupting influence of

the rule of eash upon human nature. Here lies the essentially

democratic and humanistic character of critical realism. The

English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical

portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also

showed profound sympathy for the common people. In their best

works, they used humor and satire to contrast the greed and

hypocrisy classes. Humorous scenes set off the actions of the

positive characters, and the humor is often tinged with a lyricism

which serves to stress the fine qualities of such characters. At the

same time, bitter satire and grotesque is used to expose the

seamy side of the bourgeois society. The critical realists, however,

did not find a way to eradicate the social evils they knew so well.

They did not realize the necessity of changing the bourgeois

society through conscious human effort. Their works do not

point toward revolution but rather evolution or reformism. They

often start with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the

bourgeois world in their works, but their novels usually have

happy endings or an impotent compromise at the end. Here are

the strength and weakness of critical reali sm.