英美文学常用术语及解释

　　下面是学习啦小编整理的一些英美文学常用术语及解释，希望对大家有帮助。

　　01. Allegory(寓言)

　　Allegory is a story told to explain or teach something. Especially a long and complicated story with an underlying meaning different from the surface meaning of the story itself.2>allegorical novels use extended metaphors to convey moral meanings or attack certain social evils. characters in these novels often stand for different values such as virtue and vice.3>Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Melville’s Moby Dick are such examples.

　　02. Alliteration(头韵)

　　Alliteration means a repetition of the initial sounds of several words in a line or group.

　　2>alliteration is a traditional poetic device in English literature.

　　3>Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night is a case in point:” I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet”

　　03. Ballad(民谣)

　　Ballad is a story in poetic from to be sung or recited. in more exact literary terminology, a ballad is a narrative poem consisting of quatrains of iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimester.(抑扬格四音步与抑扬格三音步诗行交替出现的四行叙事诗)

　　2>.ballads were passed down from generation to generation. 3>Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a 19th century English ballad.

　　04. epic(史诗)

　　Epic, in poetry, refers to a long work dealing with the actions of goods and heroes.

　　2>Epic poems are not merely entertaining stories of legendary or historical heroes; they summarize and express the nature or ideals of an entire nation at a significant or crucial period of its history.

　　3>Beowulf is the greatest national Epic of the Anglo-Saxons.

　　05. Lay(短叙事诗)

　　It is a short poem, usually a romantic narrative, intended to be sung or recited by a minstrel.

　　06. Romance(传奇)

　　Romance is a popular literary form in the medic England.

　　2>it sings knightly adventures or other heroic deeds.

　　3>chivalry is the spirit of the romance.

　　07. Alexandrine(亚历山大诗行)

　　The name is derived from the fact that certain 12th and 13th century French poems on Alexander the Great were written in this meter.

　　2>it is an iambic line of six feet, which is the French heroic verse.

　　08. Blank Verse(无韵诗或素体广义地说)

　　Blank verse is unrhymed poetry. Typically in iambic pentameter, and as such, the dominant verse forms of English dramatic and narrative poetry since the mid-16th century.

　　09. Comedy(喜剧)

　　Comedy is a light form of drama that aims primarily to amuse and that ends happily. Since it strives to provoke smile and laughter, both wit and humor are utilized. In general, the comic effect arises from recognition of some incongruity of speech, action, or character revelation, with intricate plot.

　　10. Essay(随笔)

　　The term refers to literary composition devoted to the presentation of the writer’s own ideas on a topic and generally addressing a particular aspect of the subject. Often brief in scope and informal in style, the essay differs from such fomal forms as the thesis, dissertation or treatise.

　　11. Euphuistic style(绮丽体)

　　Its principle characteristics are the excessive use of antithesis, which is pursued regardless of sense, and emphasized by alliteration and other devices; and of allusions to historical and mythological personages and to natural history drawn from such writers as Plutarch(普卢塔克), Pliny(普林尼), and Erasmus(伊拉兹马斯).2>it is the peculiar style of Euphues(优浮绮斯)

　　12. History Plays(历史剧)

　　History plays aim to present some historical age or character, and may be either a comedy or a tragedy. They almost tell stories about the nobles, the true people in history, but not ordinary people. the principle idea of Shakespeare’s history plays is the necessity for national unity under a mighty and just sovereign.

　　13. Masques or Masks(假面剧)

　　Masques (or Masks) refer to the dramatic entertainments involving dances and disguises, in which the spectacular and musical elements predominated over plot and character. As they were usually performed at court, often at very great expense, many have political overtones.

　　14. Morality plays(道德剧)

　　A kind of medic and early Renaissance drama that presents the conflict between the good and evil through allegorical characters. The characters tend to be personified abstractions of vices and virtues, which can be named as Mercy. Conscience, etc. unlike a mystery or a miracle play, morality play does not necessarily use Biblical or strictly religious material because it takes place internally and psychologically in every human being.

　　15.Sonnet(十四行诗)

　　It is a lyric poem of 14 lines with a formal or recited and characterized by its presentation of a dramatic or exciting episode in simple narrative form.

　　2>it is one of the most conventional and influential forms of poetry in Europe.

　　3>Shakespeare’s sonnets are well-known.

　　16. Spenserian Stanza(斯宾塞诗节)

　　Spenserian Stanza is the creation of Edmund spenser.2>it refers to a stanza of nine lines, with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter(五音步抑扬格) and the last line in iambic hexameter(六音步抑扬格),rhyming ababbcbcc. 3>Spenser’s the Faerie Queen was written in this kind of stanza.

　　17. Stanza(诗节)

　　Stanza is a group of lines of poetry, usually four or more, arranged according to a fixed plan.2>the stanza is the unit of structure in a poem and poets do not vary the unit within a poem.

　　18. Three Unities(三一原则)

　　Three rules of 16th and 17th century Italian and French drama, broadly adapted from Aristotle’s Poetics<诗学>:

　　2>the unity of time, which limits a play to a single day; the unity of place, which limits a play’s setting in a single location; and the unity of action, which limits a play to a single story line.

　　19. Tragedy(悲剧)

　　In general, a literary work in which the protagonist meets an unhappy or disastrous end. Unlike comedy, tragedy depicts the actions of a central character who is usually dignified or heroic.

　　20.Conceit(奇特比喻)

　　Conceit is a far-fetched simile or metaphor, a literary conceit occurs when the speaker compares two highly dissimilar things.2>conceit is extensively employed in John Donne’s poetry.

　　21.Metar(格律)

　　The word”meter” is derived from the Greek word”metron” meaning”measure”.

　　2>in English when applied to poetry, it refers to the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

　　3>the analysis of the meter is called scansion(格律分析)

　　22. University Wits(大学才子)

　　University Wits refer to a group of scholars during the Elizabethan Age who graduated from either oxford or Cambridge. They came to London with the ambition to become professional writers. Some of them later became famous poets and playwrights. They were called” University Wits”

　　23.Foreshadowing(预兆)

　　Foreshadowing, the use of hints or clues in a novel or drama to suggest what will happen next. Writers use Foreshadowing to create interest and to build suspense.

　　method used to build suspense by providing hints of what is to come.

　　24. Soliloquy(独白)

　　Soliloquy, in drama, means a moment when a character is alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud..2>the line“to be, or not to be, that is the question”, which begins the famous soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

　　25.Narrative Poem(叙述诗)

　　Narrative Poem refers to a poem that tells a story in verse,

　　2>three traditional types of narrative poems include ballads, epics, metrical romances.

　　3>it may consist of a series of incidents, as John Milton’s paradise lost.

　　26.Robin Hood(罗宾.豪)

　　Robin hood is a legendary hero of a series of English ballads, some of which date from at least the 14th century.

　　2>the character of Robin Hood is many-sided. Strong, brave and intelligent, he is at the same time tender-hearted and affectionate.

　　3>the dominant key in his character is his hatred for the cruel oppression and his love for the poor and downtrodden.4>another feature of Robin’s view is his reverence for the king, Robin Hood was a people’s hero.

　　27. Beowulf(贝奥武甫)

　　Beowulf, a typical example of old English poetry, is regarded as the greatest national epic of t he Anglo-Saxons. 2>the epic describes the exploits of a Scandinavian hero, Beowulf, in fighting against the monster Grendel, his revengeful nother, and a fire-breathing dragon in his declining years. While fight against the dragon, Beowulf was mortally wounded, however, he killed the dragon at the cost of his life, Beowulf is shown not only as a glorious hero but also as a protector of the people.

　　28. Baroque(巴罗克式风格)

　　This is originally a term of abuse applied to 17th century Italian art and that of other countries. It is characterized by the unclassical use of classical forms, in a literary context; it is loosely used to describe highly ornamented verse or prose, abounding in extravagant conceits.

　　这原本是用来指17世纪的意大利艺术和其他国家艺术滥用的一个术语.这种风格主要是指对古典形式的非古典运用.在文学领域,这种风格松散地用来指十分雕饰的,大量运用奇思妙想的诗歌或散文.

　　29. Cavalier poets(骑士派诗人)

　　A name given to supporters of Charles I in the civil war. These poets were not a formal group, but all influenced by Ben Jonson and like him paid little attention to the sonnet. Their lyrics are distinguished by short lines, precise but idiomatic diction, and an urbane and graceful wit.

　　30. Elegy(挽歌)

　　Elegy has typically been used to refer to reflective poems that lament the loss of something or someone, and characterized by their metrical form.

　　31. Restoration Comedy(复辟时期喜剧)

　　Restoration Comedy, also the comedy of manners, developed upon the reopening of the theatres after the re-establishment of monarchy with the return of Charles II.. Its predominant tone was witty, bawdy, cynical, and amoral. Standard characters include fops, bawds, scheming valets, country squires, and sexually voracious young widows and older women. The principle theme is sexual intrigue, either for its own sake or for money.

　　复辟时期的喜剧,又称社会习俗讽刺喜剧,是在查理二世君主复辟后剧院重新开业的基础上发展起来的,其主要的基调是诙谐,淫秽,挖苦和非道德.标准的角色包括花花公子,鸨母,诡计多端的仆人,乡绅,性欲旺盛的年轻寡妇和老女人.主要的主题是奸情,有的是为了性,有的是为了钱.

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