英语专业英美文学文学汇总.doc

Literature terms 1Epic : a long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated. Many epics were drawn from an oral tradition and were transmitted by song and recitation before they were written down.（史诗） 2Romance: It was a long composition, sometimes in verse, sometimes in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero.（传奇文学） 3Heroic Couplet: the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter. (英雄双韵体) 4Iambic Pentameter: is the most common English meter, in which each foot contains an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable. (五音步抑扬格) meter 格律 foot音步 5ballad: is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed.（歌谣） 6Sonnet: It is a lyric poem of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, restricted to a definite rhyme scheme.（十四行诗） 7Blank verse: is a type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no rhyme.（无韵诗） 8Soliloquy: an utterance or discourse by a person who is talking to himself/ herself or is disregardful of or oblivious to any hearers present (often used as a device in a drama to disclose a character’s innermost thoughts); 2. the act of talking while or as if alone(独白) 9Classicism: Aesthetic attitudes and principles manifested in the art, architecture, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome and characterized by emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, and restraint. Classicism was popular in Europe in the 18th century.（古典主义） 10Neo-classicism: neo-classicism imitated the characteristics of Roman writers, including Horace, Virgil, Cicero, etc., in the days of Augustus. They tried to make English literature conform to rules and principles established by the great Roman and Greek classical writers. In writing plays, they used rhyme and couplet instead of blank verse, observed the trinity the unity of time, place and action.（新古典主义） 11An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is le