英國(guó)文學(xué)名詞解釋

1、英國(guó)文學(xué)整理之靜候佳音TermsPart 1: Early and Medieval English LiteratureAnglo-SaxonThe term Anglo-Saxon is used by some historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Britain beginning in the early 5th century and the period from their creation of the English nation u

2、p to the Norman Conquest. The Anglo-Saxon era denotes the period of English history between about 550 and 1066.The term is also used for the language, now known as Old English, that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in England (and part of southeastern Scotland) betwee

3、n at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century.Old English period (the Anglo-Saxon period)The Old English period, extended from the invasion of Celtic England by Germanic tribes in the first half of the 5th century to the conquest of England in 1066 by the Norman French. Only after they had

4、 been converted to Christianity in the 7th century did the Anglo-Saxons, whose earlier literature had been oral, begin to develop a written literature. Chronicle(編年史)Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal w

5、eight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the chronicler. The most important English chronicles are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, started under the patronage of King Alfred in the 9th century

6、and continued until the 12th century.Gleeman (吟游詩(shī)人)A gleeman was a wandering minstrel, bard, or other poet common in medieval Europe but extinct today. They were a lower class than jesters or jongleurs, because they did not have steady work, but roamed about making their living instead.kenning (隱喻表達(dá)

7、法) In old English poetry, it is an elaborate phrase that describes persons, things, and events in a metaphorical and indirect way.It in the form of a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. The term kenning has been applied by modern scholars to simila

8、r figures of speech in other languages too, especially Old English.Alliteration (頭韻) It is the repetition of a speech sound in a sequence of nearby words. The term is usually applied only to consonants, and only when the recurrent sound begins a word or a stressed syllable within a word. Alliteratio

9、n has developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to the poems meter, are stressedOld alliterative verse In old alliterative verse, each line contained three alliterative words, two of which were placed in the f

10、irst half, and the third in the second half. Piers the Plowman is one of its representatives.Epic (史詩(shī))It is originally an oral narrative poem, majestic both in theme and style. Epics deal with legendary or historical events of national or universal significance, involving actions of broad sweep or g

11、randeur. They also deal with the exploits of a single individual, thereby giving unity to the composition.Great epics include The Odyssey by Homer. Beowulf Beowulf is the conventional title of an Old English heroic epic poem, which is commonly regarded as the greatest national epic of the Anglo-Saxo

12、n literature.The epic describes the exploits of a Scandinavian hero, Beowulf, in fighting against the monster Grendel, his revengeful mother, and a fire-breathing dragon in his declining years. He killed the dragon at the cost of his life. Beowulf is shown not only as glorious hero but also as a pro

13、tector of the people. Middle English period It is the four and half centuries after the Norman Conquest in 1066.It undergone radical changes in the language, life, and culture of England.About 1500, when the standard literary language had been recognizably “modern English”, that is, similar to the l

14、anguage we speak and write today. Anglo-Norman period The span from 1100 to 1350 is sometimes discriminated as the Anglo-Norman period, because the non-Latin literature of that time was mainly in Anglo-Norman. This language is the French dialect spoken by the invaders who had established themselves

15、as the ruling class of England, and who shared a literary culture with French-speaking areas of mainland Europe.Romance (羅曼史/騎士文學(xué))It is the most prevailing kind of literature in medieval England, which is any imagination literature that is set in an idealized world and deals with heroic adventures a

16、nd battles between good characters and villains or monsters.Originally, the term referred to a medieval tale dealing with the loves and adventures of kings, queens, knights and ladies, and including unlikely or supernatural happenings.John Keatss The Even of St.Agnes is one of the greatest metrical

17、romances ever written.Courtly love (宮廷式戀愛/典雅愛情)Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration.Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility.It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife.Legend (傳奇) A le

18、gend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. A majority of legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants

19、, but also never being resolutely doubtedLegend differs from myths on the basis of the element of historical truth they contain.Arthurian legend (亞瑟王傳奇)It is a group of tales (in several languages) that developed in the Middle Ages concerning Arthur, semi-historical king of the Britons. The legend i

20、s a complex weaving of ancient Celtic mythology with later traditions around a core of possible historical authenticity. Ballad(民謠)A ballad is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas ,with the second and forth lines rhymed. Two characteristics of the ballad are incremental repetition and the

21、 ballad stanza. They tell of love, death, the supernatural, or a combination of these. They are manly the literature of the peasants, and in them one is able to understand the outlook of the English common people in feudal society. Robin hood is a famous ballad singing the goods of Robin hood. Coler

22、idges The Rime of Ancient Mariner is a 19th century ballad.Folk ballad The folk ballad is usually anonymous and the presentation is impersonal. Literary ballad Literary or lyrical ballads deliberately imitates the form and the spirit of a folk ballad. it grew out of an increasing interest in the bal

23、lad form among social elites and intellectuals, particularly in the Romantic Movement from the later 18th century. Coleridges The Rime of Ancient Mariner is a 19th century literary ballad.Refrain(疊句)It is line or group of lines repeated regularity in a poem, usually at the end of each stanza. Refrai

24、ns are often used in ballads and narrative poems to create a songlike rhythm and to help build suspense. Refrain can also serve to emphasize a particular idea.Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary hero of a series of English ballads, some of which date from at least the 14th century. The character of

25、 Robin Hood is many-sided. Strong, brave and intelligent, he is at the same time tender-hearted and affectionate. The dominant key in his character is his hatred for the cruel oppression and his love for the poor and downtrodden. Robin Hood was a peoples hero as King Arthur was a nobles hero. Poetry

26、Poetry is a form of literary art which uses the aesthetic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive responses. The most distinctive char

27、acteristic of poetry is form and music.Poetry is concerned with not only what is said but how it is said. Imagination is also an essential quality of poetry. Poetry often leads us to new perceptions, new feelings and experiences of which we have not previously been aware.The Father of English Poetry

28、 It usually refers to Geoffrey Chaucer whose masterpiece The Canterbury Tales ranks as one of the greatest poetic works in English literature.Chaucer made a great contribution to English poetry by introducing from France the rhymed stanzas of various types to English poetry to replace the Old Englis

29、h alliterative verse. It was he who used for the first time the “heroic couplet” and wrote in the current English language. And he did much in making the dialect of London the foundation for modern English language. In his works Chaucer developed his characterization to a higher artistic level by pr

30、esenting characters with both typical qualities and individual dispositions. That is why John Dryden called him the Father of English Poetry. Verse The term is usually more neutral than poetry, indicating that the technical requirements of rhythm and meter are present, while poetic merit may or may

31、not be. It is always reserved for metrical compositions, the looser non-metrical category of free verse being a special case. Couplet (兩行詩(shī))A couplet is a pair of rhymed lines that are equal in length. Heroic couplet (英雄雙韻體)A heroic couplet is a traditional form for English poetry, commonly used for

32、epic and narrative poetry. It refers to poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming pairs of iambic pentameter lines. Use of the heroic couplet was first pioneered by Geoffrey Chaucer in the Legend of Good Women and the Canterbury Tales.Prologue(總序)A prologue is an opening to a story that establish

33、es the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. Meter(格律)It is a generally regular pattern of stressed or unstressed syllables in poetry. The analysis of the meter is called scansion(格律分析)Trochee(揚(yáng)抑格)It is a metr

34、ical foot used in formal poetry.It consists of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.Rhythm (韻律)It is the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern.Different kinds of rhythm are made by different alterations of stressed syllables with unstressed ones.Rhythm often gi

35、ves a poem a certain musical quality. Foot A foot is the combination of strong stress and the associated weak stress or stresses which make up the recurrent metric unit of line The relatively stronger-stressed syllable is called, for short, “stressed”; the relatively weaker-stressed syllables are ca

36、lled “l(fā)ight,” or mostly commonly, “unstressed”. Stanza (詩(shī)節(jié))Stanza is a group of lines of poetry, usually four or more, arranged according to a fixed plan. It consists of a grouping of two or more lines, set off by a space, which usually has a set pattern of meter and rhyme. The stanza in poetry is a

37、nalogous with the paragraph that is seen in prose, related thoughts are grouped into units.Consonance(輔音韻)Consonance is the repetition of the final consonant cluster in stressed syllables.Sometimes the term refers to the repetition of consonant sounds in the middle or at the end of words.Sometimes t

38、he term is used for slant rhyme (or partial rhyme ) in which initial and final consonants are the same but the vowels are different : little /letter ,green/ groan.Assonance (假韻/準(zhǔn)押韻)Assonance is the repetition of identical vowels or diphthongs in stressed syllables, especially in poetry. Assonance is

39、 often employed to please the ear or emphasize certain sounds.Simile (明喻) A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words like or as. It is different from a metaphor, which compares two unlike things by saying that the one thing is the other

40、 thing, unlike the simile that uses word “l(fā)ike” or “as”.Metaphor (暗喻)Metaphor as a figure of speech is an implied comparison between two things of unlike nature that yet have something in common.Unlike simile, a metaphor does not use a connective word such as like, as, or resemble in making the comp

41、arison.Understatement (含蓄)Understatement is a figure of speech which deliberately expresses an idea too weakly. It deliberately represents something as very much less in magnitude or importance than it really is, or is ordinarily considered to be. The effect usually is ironic.Part 2: The English Ren

42、aissanceRenaissance It was an intellectual movement that sprang first in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over the Europe. It originally indicated a revival of classical (Greek and Roman) arts and sciences after the dark ages of medieval obscuration. Humanism is its essence.The rea

43、l mainstream of English Renaissance is the Elizabeth drama with William Shakespeare being the leading dramatist.Humanism (人文主義)It is the essence of the Renaissance.It reflects the new outlook of the rising bourgeois and emphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life.Hu

44、manists voiced their beliefs that man was the center of the universe and man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of the present life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders. William Shakespeare is one of its representatives. Renaissance literature Renaissance Liter

45、ature refers to the period in European literature that began in Italy during the 14th century and spread around Europe through the 17th century. The impact of the Renaissance varied across the continent; countries that were predominantly Catholic or Protestant experienced the Renaissance differently

46、 compared to areas where the Orthodox Church was dominant as reflecting on its culture.It embraced the work of Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare, and marked by a new self-confidence in vernacular literatures, a flourishing of lyric poetry and a revival of such classical forms as epic and pastoral lite

47、rature. The Renaissance heroA Renaissance hero refers to one created by Christopher Marlowe in his drama. Different from the tragic hero in medieval plays, such a hero is always individualistic and full of ambition, facing bravely the challenge from both gods and men. He embodies Marlowes humanistic

48、 ides of human dignity and capacity and interprets the true Renaissance spirit. Both Tamburlaine and Faustus are typical in possessing such a spirit.Oxford Reformers(牛津改革派)It refers to scholars and humanists introduced classical literature to England and strove to reform education on a humanistic li

49、ne at the beginning of the 16th century.The representative humanist was Thomas More.UtopiaUtopia is an ideal community or society possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities. The word was coined in Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the A

50、tlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature.Utopian literature(烏托邦文學(xué))Today dreaming of or imagining better societies is usually called utopianism, and utopianism can be express

51、ed in a variety of ways. Utopian literature is the most commonly noted form in which utopianism is expressedSince Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1516, writers have tried to build upon and improve the utopian genre. For about 100 years after More utopian literature looked much the same: surrounding a fi

52、ctional place home to a happy society, an efficient workforce and morally superior community.But the vision changed with revolution and war, church reform, and a new type of economy, and writers began to reflect the new society in their work. Spenserian stanza（斯賓塞詩(shī)體）The Spenserian stanza is a fixed

53、verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene. Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single alexandrine line in iambic hexameter. The rhyme scheme of these lines is ababbcbcc.Euphuism (夸飾文體/尤弗伊斯體)Euphuism is a peculiar ma

54、nnered style of English prose, which takes its name from a prose romance by John Lyly. It consists of a preciously ornate and sophisticated style, employing in deliberate excess a wide range of literary devices such as antitheses, alliterations, repetitions and rhetorical questions.Essay(散文)It is a

55、piece of prose writing, usually short, that deals with a subjects in a limited way and expresses a particular point of view.An essay may be serious or humorous, tightly organized or rambling, restrained or emotional. The two general classifications of essay are the informal essay and the formal essa

56、y. An informal essay is usually brief and is written as if writer is talking informally to the readers about some topic, using a conventional style and a personal or humorous tone .By contrast, a formal essay is tightly organized, dignified in style and serious in tone. Francis Bacon is famous for e

57、ssay writing. Aphorism (格言)An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a concise and memorable form. In modern usage an aphorism is generally understood to be a concise statement containing a subjective truth or observation cleverly written.Miracle play(奇跡劇)It is a type of vernacular dr

58、ama performed in the Middle Ages, presenting a real or fictitious account of the life.Its subject is either a story from the Bible, or else in life and martyrdom of a saint. There was also homely realism in miracle plays.Morality play(道德劇)It is a kind of religious drama popular in England and elsewhere in Europe in the 15th and early 16th c