美国文学史试题库
美国文学史试题库 TTA standardization office【TTA 5AB- TTAK 08- TTA 2C】
F i l l i n t h e b l a n k s.
1.American achievements in the short story have demanded
international respect and admiration for more than a century and a
half. The first successful American short stories came from
Washington Irving in the early 19t h century.
2.Edgar Allan Poe is generall y thought of as the tru e beginner of the
short stories because he was the first writer who formulated a
poetics of the short stories.
3.In the 20t h century, there have been many who have won fame
abroad as well as in the US for their short stories: Sherwood
Anderson, Hemingway Fau lkner, Anna Porter, and dozens of
others.
4.As you read from writer to writer, from Washington Irving’s ‘Rip
Van Winkle’ to O’Connner’s ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’, you
will see the coming of a short story age, growing from an
entertaining tale into a story which probes deep into human souls.
5.Modern literary fiction has been dominated by two forms: the short
story and the novel.
6.Washington Irving, the Father of American Literature, developed
the short story as a genre in American literature.
7.Allan Poe is usually acknowledged as the originator of detective
stories. He is also credited with developing many of the standard
features of detective fiction.
Multiple choice
8.Edgar Allan Poe wrote poems which are marvels of beaut y and
craftsmanship, such as ____.
A. I Hear America Singing
B. The Raven
C. To a waterfowl
D. The fall of the House of Usher
9.The common thread throughout American literature has been the
emphasis on the___.
A. revolutionism
B. reason
C. individualism
D. rationalism
10.In American literature, the 18t h century was the Age of the
Enlightenment, ___ was the dominant spirit.
A. humanism
B. rationalism
C. revolution
D. evolution
11.Who was considered the “Poet of American Revolution”
12.
A. Michael Wigglesworth
B. Edward Taylor
C. Anne Bradstreet
D. Philip Freneau
13.Thomas Jefferson’s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress,
and the pursuit of happiness, is typical of the period we now
call___.
A. Age of Evolution
B. Age of Reason
C. Age of Romanticism
D. Age of Regionalism
14.Mark Twain created, in _____, a masterpiece of American
realism that is also one of the great books of world literature.
A. Huckleberry Finn
B. Tom Sawyer
C. The Man That Corrupted Hadleybury
D. The Gilded Age
15.The pessimism and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded
the works of such American writers as___.
A. Mark Twain
B. Scott Fitzgerald
C. Walt Whitman
D. Stephen Crane
16.Although realism and naturalism were products of the 19t h
century, their final triumph came in the 20t h century, with the
popular and critical successes of such writers as Edwin Arlington, William Cather, Robert Frost, William Faulkner and_____.
A. Edgar Allan Poe
B. Sherwood Anderson
C. Washington Irving
D. Ralph Ellison
17.American literature produced only one female poet during the
19t h century. She was___.
A. Anne Bradstreet
B. Jane Austen
C. Emily Dickinson
D. Harried Beecher
18.With Howells, James and Mark Twain active on the scene,
____ became the major trend in the seventies and eighties of the 19t h century.
A. sentimentalism
B. romanticism
C. realism
D. naturalism
19.Choose from the following write rs a staunch advocate of the
19t h century American realism.
A. Mark Twain
B. Washington Irving
C. Stephen Crane
D. Jack London
20.Which writer has naturalist tendency?
21.
A. Frank Norris
B. William Dean Howells
C. Theodore Dreiser
D. Both A and C
22.Early in the 20t h century, ____ published works that would
change the nature of American poetry.
A. Ezra Pound
B. . Eliot
C. Robert Frost
D. Both A and B
23.The Imagist writers follow ed three principles. They
respectivel y are direct treatment, economy of expression and ____.
A. local color
B. irony
C. clear rhythm
D. blank verse
24.____, one of the essays in The Sacred Wood, is the earliest
statement of . Eliot’s aesthetics, which provided a useful instrument for modern criticism.
A. ‘Sweeny Agonistes’
B. ‘Tradition and Individual
Talent’
C. ‘A Primer of Modern Heresy’
D. ‘Gerention’
25. Eliot used a form, that is, the orchestration of related the mes
in successive movements, in such works as ____.
A. The Waste Land
B. ‘A Rose for Emily’
C. The Scarlet Letter
D. The Egg
26.. Eliot’s first major poem (1917)____, has been called the first
masterpieces of modernism in English.
A. ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’
B. ‘The Waste
Land’
C. ‘Four Quartets’
D. Prelude
27.The three poets Ezra Pound, . Eliot and ____ opened the way
to modern poetry.
A. O. Henry
B. Henry David Thoreau
C. . Cummings
D. Robert Frost
28.In 1954, ___ was awarded the Nobel prize for literature fro his
“mastery of the art of modern narration”.
A. Eliot
B. Earnest Hemingway
C. John Steinbeck
D. William Faulkner
29.William Faulkner is one of the most important southern
writers in the United States. ____, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom! are works that ambitious critics tend to
admire.
A. The Sound and the Fury
B. The Invisible Man
C. A Good Man is Hard to Find
D. The Wrath of the Gr apes
IV. Questions and answers.
1.How do you understand Mark twain’s use of local color in his
writing?
2.
Mark Twain’s narratives are distinguished for his use of local
color. This may be defined as the careful attention to details of the physical scene and to those mannerisms in speech, dress, or
behavior peculiar to a geographical locality. He insisted that the job of the native novelists was to depict each of the country’s
regions and people accurately. Onl y in this way could the
peculiarity of American experience, the polyglot tongues of its
people, and the vastness of the continent be captured. He mainly exploited the possibilities of the local color in the Mississippi
region.
3.Discuss the concept of wasteland in relation to the works of those
writers in the 20t h century American literature.
‘The Waste Land’ is a poem written by . Eliot on the theme of the sterility and chaos of th3 contemporary world. This most widely known expression of the despair in the postwar era has appeared over and over again in the works of those writers in the 2oth
century American literature. Faulkner exemplified . Eliot’s
concept of modern society as a wasteland is a dramatic way, he condemned the mechanized, industrialized society that has
dehumanized man by forcing him to cultivate false values and
decrease those essential human values such as courage, fortitude, honesty and goodness. Fitz gerald sought to portray a spiritual
wasteland of the jazz age. Beneath the masks of relaxation and
joviality, there was only sterility, meaningless and futility amid the grandeur and extravagance, there was a hint of decadence and moral decay. Hemingway, the leading spokesman of the Lost
Generation, though disillusioned in the postwar period, strove to bring about man’s “grace under pressure”. He tried to bring out the idea than man can be physicall y destroyed but never defeated spiritually.
4.Analyze Walt W hitman’s ‘O Captain! My Captain’ in terms of free
verse.
In the poem, Whitman celebrates the heroic struggle of the
American people for democracy, freedom and justice and
expresses his seething hatred of slavery.
Free verse is a kind of poetry that lacks regular meter or pattern and may not rhyme. Depending on natural speech rhythms, its
lines may be of different lengths and may switch abruptly from one rhythm to another. Whitman was the first American poet to
use free verse extensively, because it is an appropriate form for
his liberating view of life and for his poetry that would allow
every aspect of life to speak without restraint. He tried to
approximate the natural cadences of speech in his poetry, carefully
varying the length of his lines according to his intended emphasis.
Literature of Colonial America
I.Literary Terms
: In the colonial period, the Puritans who had gone to extreme were known as “separatists”. Unlike the majority of Puritans, they saw
no hope of reforming the Church of England from w ithin. They felt
that the influences of politics and court had led to corruptions
within the church. They wished to break free from the Church of
England. Among them was the Plymouth plantation group. They
wished to follow Calvin’s model, and to set up “particular”
churches.
and Puritans: A small group of Europeans sailed from England on the Mayflower in 1620. The passengers were religious reformers---
Puritans who were critical of the Church of England. Having given
up hope of “purifying” the Church from within, they chose instead
to withdraw from the Church. This action earned them the name
Separatists. We know them as the pilgrims.
II.Fill in the blanks
1.The term “Puritan” was applied to those settlers who originally
were devout members of the Church of England.
2.Harvard College was established in 1636, with a printing press set
up nearly in 1639.
3.Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriet y, these were the puritan values
that dominated much of the earl y American writing.
4.The American poets who emerged in the seventeenth century
adapted the style of established European poets to the subject
matter confronted in a strange, new environment. Anne Bradstreet
was one of such poets.
5.Bradstreet used a word “pilgrim” to describe the community of
believers who sailed from Southampton England, on the Mayflower
and settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.
6.The writer who best expressed the Puritan faith in the colonial
period was John Winthrop.
7.The Puritan philosophy known as Puritanism was important in New
England during colonial time, and had a profound influence on the
earl y American mind for several generations.
III.Multiple choice
1.Early in the 17t h century, the English settlements in ___ beg an the
main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.
A. Virginia and Pennsylvania
B. Massachusetts and New York
C. Virginia and Massachusetts
D. New York and Pennsylvania
2.The first writings that we call American were the narratives and ___
of the earl y settlements.
A. journals
B. poetry
C. drama
D. folklores
3.Among the earliest settlers in North America were Frenchmen who
settled in the Northern Colonies and along the ____ River.
A. St. Louis
B. St. Lawrence
C. Mississippi
D. Hudson
4.In 1620 a number of Puritans came to settle in ___.
A. Virginia
B. Georgia
C. Maryland
D. Massachusetts
5.Whose reports of exploration, published in the earl y 1600s, have
been regarded as the first distinct American lite rature written in
English?
A. John Winthrop’s
B. John Smith’s
C. William Bradford’s
D. Christopher Columbus’s
6.What style did the seventeenth century American poets adapt to the
subject matter confronted in a strangel y new environment?
7.
A.The style of their own.
B.The style mixed with English and American elements.
C.The style mixed with native-American and British tradition.
D.The style of established European poets.
8.____ was a civil covenant designed to allow the temporal state to
serve the godly citizen.
A.The earl y history of Plymouth Colony.
B.The Magnalia Christi America.
C.Mayflower Compact.
D.Freedom of the Will
9.Who among the following translated the Bible into the Indian
tongue?
A. Roger Williams
B. John Eliot
C. Cotton Mather
D. John Smith
10.The best of Puritan poets was____, whose complete edition of
poets appeared in 1960, more than two hundred years after his death.
A. Anne Bradstreet
B. Michael Wigglesworth
C. Thomas Hooker
D. Edward Taylo r
11.English literature in America is only about more than ___
years old.
A. 500
B. 600
C. 200
D. 100
12.The earl y history of ___ Colony was the history of Bradford’s
leadership.
A. Plymout h
B. Jamestown
C. New England
D. Mayflower
13.The common thread throughout American literature has been
the emphasis on the ___.
A. revolutionism
B. reason
C. individualism
D. rationalism
14.Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. Her poems made such a
stir in England that she became known as the “___” who appeared in America.
A. Ninth Muse
B. Tenth Muse
C. best Muse
D. First Muse
15.The ship “___” carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took
66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it
put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
A. Sunflower
B. Armada
C. Mayflower
D. Titanic
16.Which writer best expressed the Puritan sense of the self?
A. Jonathan Edwards
B. Cotton Mather
C. John Smith
D. Thomas Hooker
17.Before _____ the American newspapers were cultural and
literary nature, but after this time, they became more political.
A. 1620
B. 1700
C. 1775
D. 1750
IV.Question and answer.
Who was Anne Bradstreet What were her literary achievements
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) is one of the most important figures in the history of American literature. She is considered by
many to be the first American poet and her first collection of
poems, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America, by a
Gentlewoman of Those Parts, was the first book written by a
woman to be published in the United States. Mrs. Bradstreet’s
work also serves as document of the struggles of a Puritan wife
against the hardships of new England colonial life.
Literature of Reason and Revolution
I.Literary terms.
1.Autobiography: An autobiography is a person’s account of his or
her life. Generally written in the first person, with the author
speaking as “I”. Autobiographies present life events as the writer
views them. In addition to providing inside details about the
writer’s life, autobiographies offer insights in to the beliefs and
perceptions of the author. They also offer glimpse of what it was
like to live in the author’s time period. They often provide a view
of historical events that you won’t find in history books. Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography set the st andard for what was then a new genre.
2.Persuasion: Persuasion is writing meant to convince readers to
think or act in a certain way. A persuasive writer appeals to
emotions or reason, offer opinions and urges action.
3.Aphorism: An aphorism is a short, concis e statement expressing a
wise or clever observation or a general truth. A variety of devices
make aphorisms easy to remember. Some contain rhymes or
repeated words or sounds. Others use parallel structure to present
contrasting ideas. The aphorism “no pains no gains” uses rhyme,
repetition and parallel structure.
II.Fill in the blanks.
1.At the initial period the spread of ideas of the American
Enlightenment was largel y due to journalism.
2.Franklin edited the first colonial magazine, which he called the
Great Magazine.
3.Franklin’s beat writing is found in his masterpiece Autobiography.
4.Thomas Paine, with his natural gift for pamphleteering and
rebellion, was appropriately born into an age of revolution.
5.On January 10, 1776, Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense
appeared.
6.Paine’s second most important work The Rights of Man was an
impassioned plea against hereditary monarchy.
7.The most outstanding poet in America of the 18t h century was
Philip Freneau.
8.Philip Freneau’s famous poem “The British Prison Ship” was
written about his imprisoned experience.
9.Philip Freneau was a close friend and political associate of
President Thomas Jefferson.
10.Philip Freneau was considered as the “poet of the American
Revolution”, because he wrote impassioned verse in support of the American revolution.
11.Philip Freneau was noteworthy first because of the nature of
his poems. They were truly American and very patriotic. In this
respect, he reflected the spirit of his age. Therefore, he has been
called the “father of American poetry”.
12.In American literature, the eighteenth century was an Age of
Reason and Revolution.
III.Multiple choice
1.In American literature, the eighteenth century was the age of the
Enlightenment. ___ was the dominant spirit.
A. Humanism
B. rationalism
C. Revolution
D. Evolution
2.In American literature, the Enlighteners were not opposed to___.
A. the colonial order
B. religious obscurantism
C. the Puritan tradition
D. the secular literature
3.The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their
parent country and the Continental Congress adopted ___ in 1776.
A. the Declaration of Independence
B. the Sugar Act
C. the Stamp Act
D. the Mayflower Compact
4.Which statement about Franklin is not true?
5.
A.He instructed his countrymen as a printer.
B.He was a master of diplomacy.
C.He was a Puritan.
D.He was a scientist.
6.The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified
in the life and career of ___.
A. Thomas Hood
B. Benjamin Franklin
C. Thomas Jefferson
D. George Washington
7.Which of the following does not belong to this literary period?
A. The American Crisis
B. The Federalist
C. Declaration of Independence
D. The Waste Land
8.Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the ___.
A. American Enlightenmen t
B. Sugar Act
C. Chartist movement
D. Romanticist
9.From 1732 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his
famous ___, an annual collection of proverbs.
A. The Autobiography
B. Poor Richard’s Almanac
C. Common Sense
D. The General Magazine
10.The first pamphlet published in America to urge immediate
independence from Britain is ___.
A. The Rights of Man
B. Common Sense
C. The American Crisis
D. Declaration of Independence
11.“These are the times that try men’s souls”, these words were
once read to Washington’s troops and did much to shore up the
spirits of the revolutionary soldiers. Who is the author of these
words?
12.
A. Benjamin Franklin
B. Thomas Jefferson
C. Thomas Paine
D. George Washington
13.Which statement about Philip Freneau?
14.
A. He was a satirist
B. He was a pamphleteer.
C. He was a singer.
D. He was a bitter polemicist.
15.Who was considered as the “poet of American Revolution”
16.
A. Michael Wigglesworth
B. Edward Taylor
C. Anne Bradstreet
D. Philip Freneau
17.At the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were
influenced by the European movement called the___.
A. Chartist Movement
B. Romanticist Movement
C. Enlightenment Movement
D. Modernist Movement
18.Thomas Jefferson’s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress,
and the pursuit of happiness, is typical of the period we now
call____.
A. Age of Evolution
B. Age of Reason
C. Age of Romanticism
D. Age of Regionalism
IV.Questions and Answers.
1.What are the characteris tics of Benjamin Franklin’s literary work?
2.
The main quality in all Benjamin Franklin’s writing is its genuine
humanness. His literary work was t ypical of himself. Honest, plain, democratic, clear-headed, shrewd, worldly-wise, he was interested
in the practical side of life. The absence of ideality is obvious in all his compositions. He never reached the high levels of imaginative
art. But on this lower plane of material interest and every-day life
he was, the works possess a universal charm
3.Give a brief account of American literature of this period.
Much work during the Revolutionary period was public writing. By
the time of the War for Independence, nearl y fifty newspapers had
been established in the coastal cities. At the time of Washington’s
inauguration, there were nearl y fort y magazines. Almanacs were
popular from Massachusetts to Georgia. The mind of the nation was
on politics. Journalists and printers provided a forum for the
expression of ideas. The writing of permanent importance is mostly
political writing. The best-known writing of the period outside the
field of politics was done by Benjamin Franklin.
4.Write an anal ysis of The Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, not only
announced the birth of a ne w nation, it also set forth a philosophy
of human freedom which served as an important force in the western world. Its ideas inspired mass fervor for the American cause, for it
instilled among the common people a sense of their own importance, and inspired struggle for personal freedom, self-government, and a
dignified place in society.
Romantic Period of American Literature
I.Literary Terms.
1.Romanticism: The literature term was first applied to the writers of
the 18t h century in Europe who broke away from th e formal rules of
classical writing. When it was used in American literature it
referred to the writers of the middle of the 19t h century who
stimulated the sentimental emotions of their readers. They wrote the mysteries of life, love, birth and death. The romantic writers
expressed themselves freel y and without restraint. They wrote all
kinds of materials: poetry, essays, plays, fiction, history, works of
travel, and biography.
2.Fireside poets: William Gullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, James Russel Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and John Greenleaf Whittier constituted a group called the Fireside Poets.
They earned this nickname because they frequently used the hearth
as an image of comfort and unity, a place where families gathered
to learn and tell stories. They were widely read around the
hearthsides of 19t h-century American families.
3.Transcendentalism: In New England, an intellectual movement
known as transcendentalism developed as an American version of
Romanticism. The movement began among an i nfluential set of
authors based in Concord, Massachusetts and was led by Ralph
Waldo Emerson. Like Romanticism, transcendentalism rejected both
18t h century rationalism and established religion, which for the
transcendentalists meant the Puritan tradition in particular. The
transcendentalists celebrated the power of the human imagination to commune with the universe and transcend the limitations of the
material world. They found their chief source of inspiration in
nature. Emerson’s essay nature was the maj or document of the
transcendental school and stated the ideas that were to remain
central to it.
4.Symbolism: It is a movement in literature and the visual arts that
originated in France in the poetry of Charles Baudelaire in the late
19t h century. In literature, symbolism was an aesthetic movement
that encouraged writers to express their ideas, feelings, and values
by means of s ymbols or suggestions rather than by direct statements.
Hawthorne and Melville are masters of symbolism in America in the 19t h century.
5.Free verse: free verse is the rhymed or unrhymed poetry composed
without attention to conventional rules of meter. Free verse was
first written and labeled by a group of French poets of the late 19t h
century. Their purpose was to deliver poetry f rom the restrictions of formal metrical patterns and to recreate the free rhythms of natural
speech. Walt Whitman was the precursor who wrote lines of varying
length and cadence, usually not rhymed. The emotional content or
meaning of the work was expresse d through its rhythm. Free verse
has been characteristic of the work of many modern American poets, including Ezra Pound and Carl Sandburg.
6.Puritanism: The word is originally used to refer to the theory
advocated by a party within the Church of England. It is also used
to refer to attitudes and values considered characteristics of the
Puritans. It denotes a rigid moral, or the condemnation of innocent
pleasure, or religious narrowness adhered by the early New England
Puritans. It exerted great influence ove r American Romanticism.
The preoccupation with the Calvinist view of original sin and the
mystery of evil marked the works by such famous writers as
Hawthorne and Melville.
II.Fill in the blanks
1.In the earl y 19t h century Rip Van Winkle established Washington
Irving’s reputation at home and abroad, and designed the beginning
of American Romanticism.
2.Ralph Waldo Emerson’s first book in 1836 Nature brought
American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England
Transcendentalism.
3.In the earl y 19t h century, Washington Irving wrote The Sketch Book
which became the first work by an American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.
4.Allan Poe’s poems have the musical quality and romantic beauty.
The Raven is his best-known poem.
5.The Civil War of 1861-1865 ended in the defeat of the Southerners
and the abolition of slavery.
6.Leaves of Grass, either in content or form, is an epoch-making work
in American literature; its democratic content marked the shift from Romanticism to Realism, and its free verse form broke from old poetic conventions to open a new road for American poetry.
7.Washington Irving was regarded as the first great prose stylist of
American Romanticism.
8.In 1823 James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Pioneers, the first of the
five novels that make up The Leatherstocking Tales. The remaining four books: The Last of the Mohicans, the Prairie, the Pathfinder and the Deerslayer, contimue the story of Natty Bumppo, o ne of the most famous characters in American fiction.
9.The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is taken from
Washington Irving’s work named The Sketch Book.
10.Washington Irving was the first American to achieve an
international literary reputation after the Revolutionary War.
11.Melville is famous for writing about the sea and the islands of
the Southern Pacific. In his master piece Moby Dick, he tells a
story of whaling voyage which sets a symbolic account of the
conflict between man and his fate.
12.The first important American novelist was James Fennimore
Cooper.
13.The central figure in the Leatherstocking Tales is Natty
Bumppo, who goes by the various names of Leatherstocking,
Deerlayer, Pathfinder and Hawkeye.
14.“To a Waterfowl” is perhaps the peak of William Cullen
Bryant’s work. It has been called by an eminent English critic “the most perfect brief poem in the language”.
15.Among William Cullen Bryant’s most important later works
are his translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey into English blank verse.
16.Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” is perhaps the best
example of onomatopoeia in the English language.
17.Most of Allan Poe’s stories can be roughly divided into two
kinds: tales of Gothic horror or grotesque like The Black Cat, an
incisive enquiry into the capac it y of the human mind to originate its destruction and The Fall of the House of Usher.
18. A superb book Walden came out of Thoreau’s two-year
experience at Walden Pond.
19.From Thoreau’s Concord jail experience, came his famous
essay “Civil Disobedience”.
20.In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne brought out his masterpiece The
Scarlet Letter, the story of a triangle love affair in colonial
America.
21.Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick is a tremendous chronicle
of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seemingly supernatural white
whale.
22.In “I Hear America Singing”, Walt Whitman depicts the
beauty of labor and laborers.
23.For the whole 19t h century Emily Dickinson was the only
woman poet who enjoys high academic esteem today. She has been
acclaimed as a poet of philosophical and tragic dimensions, a poet
who was responsive to the challenging questions of man, nature and
human consciousness.
24.The American Romantic period stretches from the end of the
18t h century through the outburst of the Civil War.
25.In The Pioneers, Natty Bumppo represents the ideal American,
living a virtuous and free life in God’s world.
26.The way in which Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter
suggests that American Romanticism adapted itself to American
Puritan morality.
III.Multiple Choice.
1.In 1837, the first college-level institution for women, Mount
Holyoke Female Seminary, opened in ___ to serve the “Muslin sex”.
A. New England
B. Virginia
C. Massachusetts
D. New York
2.As a philosophical and literary movement, ___ flourished in New
England from the 1830s to t he Civil War.
A. modernism
B. rationalism
C. sentimentalism
D. transcendentalism
3.The appearance of the Scarlet Letter marked the maturity of
Hawthorne as a novelist. Soon he composed the other three
important novel including___, The Blithedale Romance and The Marble Faun.
A. The House of the Seven Gables
B. The Prairie
C. The Fall of the House of Usher
D. Walden
4.Transcendentalism recognized ___ as the “highest power of the
soul”.
A. intuition
B. logic
C. data of the senses
D. thinking
5. A new ___ had appeared in England in the last years of the 18t h
century. It spread to continental Europe and then came to America earl y in the 19t h century.
A. Realism
B. Critical realism
C. Romanticism
D. Naturalism
6.The desire for an escape from societ y and a return to nature became
a permanent convention of American literature, evident in___.
A.Jame s Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales.
B.Henry David Thoreau’s Walden
C.Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn
D.All of the above
7.Herman Melville’s ___ is not only an adventure story, but also a
significant philosophical work on spiritual exploration.
A. Moby Dick
B. The Egg
C. Nature
D. The Over-Soul
8.In James Fenimore Cooper’s novels, close after Natt y Bumppo in
romantic appeals, come the two noble red men. Choose them from the following items.
A. The Mohican Chief Chingachgook
B. Uncass
C. Tom Jones
D. Both A and B
9.Poe’s first collection of short stories is ____.
A. Tales of a Travele r
B. Leatherstocking Tales
C. Canterbury Tales
D. Tales of the Grotesque and
Arabesque
10.The first example of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s symbolism is the
recreation of Puritan Boston in ___.
A. The Scarlet Letter
B. Young Goodman Brown
C. The Marble Faun
D. The Ambitious Guest
11.Herman Melville called his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne ____
in American literature.
A.The largest brain w ith t he largest heart
B.Father of American poetr y
C. The Transcendentalist
D. The American scholar
12.Which is the character who appears in the novel Moby Dick?
A. Hester Prynne
B. Mr. Hooper
C. Ahab
D. Pearl
13.___ was a romanticized account of Melville’s stay among the
Polynesians. The success of the book soon made Melville known as
the “man who lived among cannibals”.
A. Moby Dick
B. Typee
C. Omoo
D. Billy Budd
14.With the appearance of ___ in 1855, whi ch is about American
Indian, Longfellow’s poetical reputation was established.
A. Evangeline
B. The Courtship of Miles Stanndish
C.Song of Hiawatha
D. Michael Angelo
15.In the earl y 19t h century American moral values were
essentially Puritan. Nothing has left a deeper imprint on the
character of the people as a whole than did___.
A. Puritanism
B. Romanticism
C. Rationalism
D.
Sentimentalism
16.“The universe is composed of nature and the Soul… Spirit is
present everywhere”. This is the voice of the book Nature written
by Emerson, which pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England___.
A. Romanticism
B. Transcendentalism
C. Naturalism
D. Symbolism
17.Which is generally regarded as the Bible of New England
Transcendentalism?
A. Nature
B. Walden
C. “On Beauty”
D. “Self-Reliance”
18.Which is regarded as the “Declaration of Intellectual
Independence”
19.
A. The American Scholar
B. English Traits
C. The Conduct of Life
D. Representative Men
20.___ is an appalling fictional version of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s
belief that “the wrong doing of one generation lives into the
successive ones” and that evilwill come out of evil though it may
take generations to happen.
A. The Marble Faun
B. The House of Sven Gables
C. TheBlithedale Romance
D. ‘Young Goodman Brown’
21.In addition to his novels,____ wrote about 120 short stories
and sketches. Among them are ‘Young Goodman Brown’ and ‘The
Minister of Black Veil’.
A. Henry David Thoreau
B. Nathaniel Hawthorne
C. Ralph Waldo Emerson
D. Herman Melville
IV.Questions and answers
1.What are the artistic achievements of Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow’s poetry?
2.
He was the best known of the Fireside Poets. American poetry
began its emergence from the shadow of its British parentage. His poetic narrative helped create a national historical myth,
transforming colorful aspects of the American past into memorable romance. The works include Evangeline (1847), the Song of
Hiawatha (1855). No American poet before or since was as widely celebrated during his or her lifetime as Longfellow. He became the first and the only American poet to be honored with a bust in the Poet s’ Corner.
3.How to define the Romantic period in American history?
The period stretches from the end of the 18t h century to the
outbreak of the Civil War. it started with the publication of
Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Being a period of the great flowing of America n literature, it is also called “the American Renaissance”.
4.What are the literary characteristics in the works of American
romantic period?
The characteristics are moral enthusiasm, faith in the value of
individualism and intuitive perception, and a presum ption that
natural world was a source of goodness and man’s society a source of corruption.
5.What is the relationship between American romanticism and
European Romanticism?
They share much in common: in reaction to the enlightenment and its emphasis on reas on, Romanticism stressed emotion, the
imagination, and subjectivity of approach. European literary
masters, especially the English counterparts exerted a stimulating impact on the writers of the new World. American romanticism is to some extent derivative after their English predecessors. But the
great American Romantic works were t ypically American. The
writers developed some new forms of fiction or poetry. They placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and
displayed an increasing at tention to the psychic states of their
characters. The strong tendency to exalt the individual and common man was another focus of the movement.
6.What is Ralph Waldo Emerson’s transcendental idea and his view of
nature?
美国文学史及选读试卷 (1)
美国文学史及选读试卷 Ⅰ.Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternatives. Choose the one that would best complete the statement. (60points in all, 2 for each) 1. Which of following can be said of the common features which are shared by the English and American Romanticists ? A. An increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions. B. An increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters. C. An increasing emphasis on the desire to return to nature. D. both A and B. 2. Which of the following statements about the Romantic period in the history of American literature is NOT true? （） A. In most of the American writings of this period there was a new emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. B. The writers of this period placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and displayed an increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters. C. There was a strong tendency to exalt the individual and the common man. D. Most heroes and heroines in the writings of this period exhibited extremes of reason and nationality. 3.______ is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the American Romanticism in the history of American literature. A. New England Transcendentalism B. England Transcendentalism C. the Harlem Renaissance D. New Transcendentalism 4.Hawthorn e’s unique gift was for the creation of ______ which touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature. A. symbolic stories B. romantic stories
美国文学史及选读自考考点
The literature of colonial America John Smith 1）The1st American writer 2）作品“reports of exploration”have been de scribed as the1st distinctly American literatur e written in English,attracted Pilgrims(朝圣者) &the Puritans. 3）1608，写了封信“A true Relation of Such O ccurance&Accidents of Note as Hath Happen ed in Virginia Since the1st planting of That c olony” 4）1612，第二本书“A map of Virginia:with a Description of the Country” 5）他一共出版了八本书，公司破产以后做了向导，he sought a post as guide to the pilgrims. 1624，“General History of Virginia”讲述How the Indian princess Pocahonats Saved him. 6）他早期记录和反映的思想慢慢演变成了美国历史的基本思想，这种思想推动了美国边疆的西移。7）早期英格兰文学主要关于theological(神学), moral(道德),historical and political.
The Puritans in New England embraced hards hips,together with the discipline of a harsh church.They had toughness,purpose and cha racter,they grappled strongly with challenges they set themselves.他们的基本价值观：hard w ork,thrift,piety and sobriety.（也是美国作品的主导思想） William Bradford&John Withrop 1）William Bradford：“The History of Plymouth Plantation”（从1630年写起，关于一群清教徒从英国出发到Amsterdam最后到新大陆的过程）Cotton Mather评价：“a common blessing and father to them all.” 2）John Withrop：“The History of New England”（1630，登上Arbella号去Massachusetts并keep a journal and to the rest of his life.1826年出版）3）Puritans -Puritans wanted to make pure their religious beliefs and practices.The Puritan was Would-be purifier. -Looked upon themselves as a choosen peol
美国文学史及选读期末复习题
1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer. 2.The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people. is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin. 4.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”. 5.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.
has been called the “Father of American Poetry”. 7.In Washington I rving’s appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature. 8.Cooper’s enduring fame rests on his William Cullen Bryant’s wok. is considered “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”. 10.Emerson believed above all in
美国文学史-知识点梳理
Part I The Literature of Colonial America I．Historical Introduction The colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.) II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds: 1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration 2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American Writer The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians. Captain John Smith is the first American writer. A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608) A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612) General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers. One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England Literature William Bradford and John Winthrop John Cotton and Roger Williams Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor V．Puritan Thoughts 1. The origin of puritan In the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of
美国文学史及选读复习重点
Captain John Smith (first American writer). Anne Bradstreet；The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America （colonists living） Edward Taylor(the best puritan poet) John Cotton ”the Patriarch of New England” teacher spiritual leader Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography Poor Richard’s Almanack Thomas Jefferson： Political Career Thoughts The Declaration of Independence we hold truth to be self-evidence Philip Freneau“Father of American Poetry” The Wild Honey Suckle American Romanticism optimism and hope Nationalism Washington Irving“Father of American Literature short story”The first “Pure Writer” A History of New York The Sketch Book marked the beginning of American Romanticism! “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”Rip Van Winkle James Fenimore Cooper Father of American sea and frontier novels Leather stocking Tales The Last of the Mohicans The Pioneers The Prairie The Pathfinder The Deerslayer Edgar Allan Poe father of detective story and horror fiction Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque “MS. Found in a Bottle” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” “The Fall of the House of Usher”“The Masque of the Red Death”“The
华师自考美国文学史及选读试题
美国文学史及选读试题 I. Multiple Choice 10’ 1. Who is different from others according to the division of writing period? A. Washington Irving B.William Cullen Bryant C. Captain John Smith D. James Fenimore Cooper 2. The American Romantic Period lasted roughly from ____ to ____. A. 1798-1832 B. 1810-1860 C. 1860-1864 D. 1776-1783 3. How many syllables are there in this first line of Raven? (“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,”) A. 11 B. 12 C. 13 D. 16 4. What dominated the Puritan phase of American writing? A. theology B. literature C. esthetics D. revolution 5. At the initial period of the spread of ideas of the Enlightenment was largely due to ____. A. typography B. journalism C. revolution D. the development of paper-making industry 6. Who has been called the “Father of American Literature”? A. Walt Scott B. Geoffrey Chaucer
美国文学选读期末考试重点
1、The Colonial Period（1607-1765） American Puritanism ( in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th) 北美第一位女诗人Anne Bradstreet(宗教气息，夫妻恩爱) Edward Taylor 都受英国玄学派影响（metaphysical） 2、The Enlightenment and Revolution Period Benjamin Franklin:Poor Richard's Almanac The Autobiography---“美国梦”的根源 3、American Romanticism（end of 18th to the civil war） American writers emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. 早期浪漫主义Washington Irving father of American Literature
美国文学史及选读期末复习题
1.C aptain John Smith became the first American writer. 2.T he puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people. collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin. 4.T homas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”.
5.T homas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. has been called the “Father of American Poetry”. 7.I n Washington Irving’s appeared the first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literature.
8.C ooper’s enduring fame rests on his frontier stories, especially the five novels that comprise the is perhaps the peak of William Cullen Bryant’s wok. “father of American detective stories and American gothic stories”.
美国文学史及选读考研复习笔记6.
History And Anthology of American Literature （6） 附：作者及作品 一、殖民主义时期The Literature of Colonial America 1．船长约翰·史密斯Captain John Smith 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》 “A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony” 《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡村的描述》 “A Map of Virginia: with a Description of the Country” 《弗吉尼亚通史》“General History of Virginia” 2．威廉·布拉德福德William Bradford 《普利茅斯开发历史》“The History of Plymouth Plantation”3．约翰·温思罗普John Winthrop 《新英格兰历史》“The History of New England” 4．罗杰·威廉姆斯Roger Williams 《开启美国语言的钥匙》”A Key into the Language of America” 或叫《美洲新英格兰部分土著居民语言指南》 Or “A Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America Called New England ” 5．安妮·布莱德斯特Anne Bradstreet 《在美洲诞生的第十个谬斯》 ”The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America” 二、理性和革命时期文学The Literature of Reason and Revolution 1。本杰明·富兰克林Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) ※《自传》“ The Autobiography ” 《穷人理查德的年鉴》“Poor Richard’s Almanac” 2。托马斯·佩因Thomas Paine (1737-1809) ※《美国危机》“The American Crisis” 《收税官的案子》“The Case of the Officers of the Excise”《常识》“Common Sense” 《人权》“Rights of Man” 《理性的时代》“The Age of Reason” 《土地公平》“Agrarian Justice” 3。托马斯·杰弗逊Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) ※《独立宣言》“The Declaration of I ndependence” 4。菲利浦·弗瑞诺Philip Freneau (1752-1832) ※《野忍冬花》“The Wild Honey Suckle” ※《印第安人的坟地》“The Indian Burying Ground” ※《致凯提·迪德》“To a Caty-Did” 《想象的力量》“The Power of Fancy” 《夜屋》“The House of Night” 《英国囚船》“The British Prison Ship” 《战争后期弗瑞诺主要诗歌集》 “The Poems of Philip Freneau Written Chiefly During the Late War” 《札记》“Miscellaneous Works” 三、浪漫主义文学The Literature of Romanticism 1。华盛顿·欧文Washington Irving (1783-1859) ※《作者自叙》“The Author’s Account of Himself” ※《睡谷传奇》“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 《见闻札记》“Sketch Book” 《乔纳森·欧尔德斯泰尔》“Jonathan Oldstyle” 《纽约外史》“A History of New York” 《布雷斯布里奇庄园》“Bracebridge Hall” 《旅行者故事》“Tales of Traveller” 《查理二世》或《快乐君主》“Charles the Second” Or “The Merry Monarch” 《克里斯托弗·哥伦布生平及航海历史》 “A History of the Life and V oyages of Christopher Columbus” 《格拉纳达征服编年史》”A Chronicle of the Conquest of Grandada” 《哥伦布同伴航海及发现》 ”V oyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus” 《阿尔罕布拉》“Alhambra” 《西班牙征服传说》“Legends of the Conquest of Spain” 《草原游记》“A Tour on the Prairies” 《阿斯托里亚》“Astoria” 《博纳维尔船长历险记》“The Adventures of Captain Bonneville” 《奥立弗·戈尔德史密斯》”Life of Oliver Goldsmith” 《乔治·华盛顿传》“Life of George Washington” 2．詹姆斯·芬尼莫·库珀James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) ※《最后的莫希干人》“The Last of the Mohicans” 《间谍》“The Spy” 《领航者》“The Pilot” 《美国海军》“U.S. Navy” 《皮袜子故事集》“Leather Stocking Tales” 包括《杀鹿者》、《探路人》”The Deerslayer”, ”The Pathfinder” 《最后的莫希干人》“The Last of the Mohicans” 《拓荒者》、《大草原》“The Pioneers”, “The Praire” 3。威廉·卡伦·布莱恩特William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) ※《死之思考》“Thanatopsis” ※《致水鸟》“To a Waterfowl” 4。埃德加·阿伦·坡Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) ※《给海伦》“To Helen” ※《乌鸦》“The Raven” ※《安娜贝尔·李》“Annabel Lee” ※《鄂榭府崩溃记》“The Fall of the House of Usher” 《金瓶子城的方德先生》“Ms. Found in a Bottle” 《述异集》“Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque” 5。拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) ※《论自然》“Nature” ※《论自助》“Self-Reliance” 《美国学者》“The American Scholar” 《神学院致辞》“The Divinity School Address” 《随笔集》“Essays” 《代表》“Representative Men” 《英国人》“English Traits” 《诗集》“Poems” 6。亨利·戴维·梭罗Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) ※《沃尔登我生活的地方我为何生活》 1
美国文学史及选读考试整理
Washington Irving Bracebridge Hall 布雷斯布里奇田庄 (1822) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tales of a Traveller 旅客谈 (1824) Christopher Columbus (1828) c. writing characteristics (1) humorous: the function of his writing is to amuse, to entertain instead of teaching or instruction (2) vivid and true character portrayal (3) finished (refined) and musical language, thus regarded as “the Amn. Goldsmith ” d. analysis on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow(选自the sketch book 见闻札记 ) 1. the story:setting,character, plot 2. theme:conflicts and praise conflict betw. Ichabod and Brom conflict betw. the village and the outside world James Fenimore Cooper The Spy (1821): a historical novel The Pilot (1824): a sea novel Leatherstocking Tales 皮裹腿故事集(1823-1841): frontier novels The Last Mohicans (1826) (Colonial War betw. Britain and France) e. writing features: strong points: we can see a variety of incidents and tensions, complicated plot and structure and a beautiful description of nature. Weak points: characterization is weak. There is unsatisfactory description of characters (esp. female). He is not free from syntactical awkwardness, heavy-handed attempt at humor. “Where Irving excels Cooper is weak.” Dialect is not authentic. Edgar Allan Poe The Fall of the House Usher Feature: i. brevity (15 pages) ii. Single effect iii. originality in theme To Helen It was inspired by the beauty of the mother of a schoolmate of Poe in Richmond, Virginia. The poem is famous for a number of things: 1. its rhyme scheme: ababb 2. its varied line lengths 3. its metaphor of a travel on the sea 4. its oft-quoted lines: "To the glory that was Greece,/And the grandeur that was Rome." theme: praise the ideal love and beauty and ancient Greek and Roman civilizations The Raven 乌鸦 theme: the lament over the death of a beautiful woman tone: melancholy Transcendentalism (essayists, poets, novelists) Their journal is “The Dial ” . Definition: Transcendentalism is idealism. (Emerson) b. features (1) stress on Oversoul, that is spirit. (2) stress the importance of individual. (3) fresh conception of nature. c. significance (1) inspired a whole generation of writers such as Whitman, Melville and Dickinson. (2) dresses man ’s subjective initiative as opposed to materialism. (3) liberated people from Calvin ’s original sin d. limitation (1) shallow: cut off from real life or reality; initiated by the rich, they were limited in a certain circle. So, in some degree, they have been cut off from social life and can ’t understand the sufferings of the common people. (2) inward contradiction: gain knowledge by intuition, shows its idealistic aspect. R.W. Emerson (Ralph Waldo) Nature (1836): the Bible of New England transcendentalism The American Scholar (1837): "America's Declaration of Intellectual The Divinity School Address 神学院致辞 (1838) Essays (1841/1847) Representative Men (1850) English Traits (1856)
美国文学史及选读试卷 (4)
美国文学史及选读试卷 Ⅰ. Multiple choices. (60 points in total, 2 for each) 1. The Romantic Period in American literature started from the publication of Washington Irving's ______ and ended with Whitman's Leaves of Grass. A. The Sketch Book B. Tales of a Traveller C. A History of New York D. The Scarlet Letter 2. At the middle of 19th century, America witnessed a cultural flowering which is called “_____”. A. the English Renaissance B. the Second Renaissance C. the American Renaissance D. the Salem Renaissance 3. As a philosophical and literary movement, the main issues involved in the debate of Transcendentalism are generally concerning ______. A. nature , man and the universe B. the relationship between man and woman C. the development of Romanticism in American literature D. the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism 14. In the following statements, _________ is NOT true about Washington Irving’s famous story “Rip Van Winkle.” A. The story is not only well-kno wn for Rip’s 20-year sleep but also considered a model of perfect English in American literature. B. The story is set against the background of the inevitably changing America. C. The social conservatism and literary preference for the past is revealed, to some extent, in the story. D. Irving describes Rip’s response and reaction in a dramatic way, so that we see clearly both the narrator and Irving agree on the preferability of the present to the past. 15. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Experience is a serous discussion about the conflict between _________ and ordinary life.
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