2024年6月10日发(作者:)

英美文学名词解释

Alliteration (头韵)

Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound within a line

or a group of words.

头韵:在一组词的开头或重读音节中对相同辅音或不同元音的重复。

Classicism (古典主义)

A movement or tendency in art, literature, or music that reflects the principles

manifested in the art of ancient Greece and Rome.

古典主义:一种在文学,艺术,音乐领域体现古代希腊,罗马风格的运动。

Comedy (喜剧)

A dramatic work that is often humorous or satirical in tone and usually

contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.

喜剧:轻松的和常有幽默感的或在调子上是讽刺的戏剧作品,常包括主题冲突的愉快

解决

Conflict (冲突)

A struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a short story, novel,

play, or narrative poem.

冲突:故事,小说,戏剧中相对的力量和人物之间的对立。

Couplet (双韵体)

A unit of verse consisting of two successive lines, usually rhyming and having

the same meter and often forming a complete thought or syntactic unit.

双韵体:包括两个相连的诗行的一种诗的单位,通常压韵并具有同样的格律,经常组

成一个完整的意思和句法单位

Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)

A couplet written in iambic pentameter is called a heroic couplet.

英雄双韵体:五步抑扬格的双韵体称英雄双韵体。

Essay (散文)

A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the

personal view of the author.

散文:内容通常论及一个主题的短小文章,通常表达作者个人的观点

Figure of Speech

A word or an expression that is not meant to be interpreted in literal sense.

The most common kinds of figures of speech—simile, metaphor, personification,

and metonymy.

比喻:不能直接按照字面意义理解的词语或表述方法。常见的手法有明喻,暗喻,拟

人,借喻。

Flashback(倒叙)

A literary device in which an earlier event is inserted into a narrative.

倒叙,闪回镜头:一种文学或电影的表现手法,往往在一段按正常时间顺序记叙的叙

事中插入一件以前发生过的事情

Free verse (自由诗体)

Verses that has neither a metrical pattern or an regular pattern.

自由诗体:既不具格式韵律又不具常规格律的诗体

Iambic pentameter (五步抑扬格)

A poetic line consisting of five verse feet, with each foot an iamb--that is, an

unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Iambic pentameter is the most

common verse line in English poetry.

五步抑扬格:一种诗句形式,每行诗句包含五个抑扬格音步。五步抑扬格是英语诗歌最

常见的诗行。

Imagery(意象)

Words or phrases that create pictures, or images, in readers‘ mind.

意象:用来在读者的思维中唤起某种图示或形象的词汇。

Lyric (抒情诗)

A poem, usually a short one, that expresses a speaker‘s personal thoughts or

feelings.

抒情诗:一种用来抒发作者感情或思想的短诗。

Naturalism (自然主义)

The practice of describing precisely the actual circumstances of human life in

literature, it is the extreme form of realism.

自然主义:在文学中精确地描述人类现实环境的实践,现实主义的最高表现形式。

Neoclassicism (新古典主义)

A revival in literature in the late 17th and 18th centuries, characterized by a

regard for the classical ideals of reason, form, and restraint styles.

新古典主义:17、18世纪晚期的文学复兴,以尊重古代典型的推理形式和严谨文体为

特征

Novel (小说)

A book length fictional prose narrative, having many characters and often a

complex plot.

小说:虚构的叙述性文章,有一定长度,较多的人物,和思想复杂的情节。

Pastoral (田园诗)

A kind of poem, that deals in an idealized way with shepherds and rustic life.

田园诗:一种用理想的手法来体现牧羊人的乡村生活的诗歌。

Plot (情节)

Plot is the first and most obvious quality of a story. It is the sequence of events

or actions in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem. For the reader, the plot is

the underlying pattern in a work of fiction, the structural element that gives it unity

and order. For the writer, the plot is the guiding principle of selection and

arrangement.

Realism (现实主义)

The representation in art or literature of objects, actions, or social conditions

as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract form.

现实主义:在艺术或文学中将事物,行为或社会状况按其起初情况进行的表现,而不

用模糊的形式来表现或理想化

Rhyme (压韵)

The repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases that appear close to

each other in a poem.

压韵:音在两个或两个以上的词汇或短语中的重复。

Rhythm (格律)

The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern.

重读音节和非重读音节的固定排列模式。

Romanticism (浪漫主义)

An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th

century which emphasis on the individual‘s expression of emotion and

imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism.

浪漫主义:起源于18世纪末期欧洲的一种注重个人情感和想象力的表达的艺术和知

识上的运动,它与古典主义的观点和形式相悖.

Sonnet (十四行诗)

A 14-line verse form usually written in iambic pentameter.

十四行诗:一种由十四行组成的诗歌形式,通常以五步抑扬格为押韵形式。

Stream of consciousness (意识流)

The style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s

thoughts, feelings reflections, and mental images as the character experiences

them. It was first used in 1922 by the Irish novelist James Joyce. Those novels

broke through the bounds of time and space, and depicted vividly and skillfully the

unconscious activity of the mind fast changing and flowing incessantly(不间断地),

particularly the hesitant, distracted(心烦意乱的) and illusory(虚假的) psychology

people had when they faced reality. A high degree of emotion can be achieved by

this technique.

意识流:一种模仿作品中人物思想,思维,精神活动的自然过程的写作技巧。

Symbolism (象征主义)

A literary movement in the late19th century, characterized by the use of

symbols to represent things.

象征主义:十九世纪的一种文学潮流,运用象征来体现事物。

Theme (主题)

Theme; The general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express in

a literary work. All the elements of a literary work-plot, setting, characterization,

and figurative language-contribute to the development of its theme.

一篇文学作品中作家预期表达的关于生活的观点或见解。作品中所有其他的元素——

情节、背景、人物描写和比喻用语都是围绕主题展开的。

Tragedy (悲剧)

In general, a literary work in which the protagonist meets an unhappy or

disastrous end.

悲剧:以主人公可悲的或灾难性的结局结束的故事。

Character: In appreciating a short story, characters are an indispensable

element. Characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work.

Forst divides characters into two types: flat character, which is presented without

much individualizing detail; and round character, which is complex in

temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity.

Climax: The point of greatest intensity, interest, or suspense in a gogotory’s

turning point. The action leading to the climax and the simultaneous increase of

tension in the plot are known as the rising action. All action after the climax is

referred to as the falling action, or resolution. The term crisis is sometimes used

interchangeably with climax.

Denouement结局: The outcome of a plot. The denouement is that part of a

play, short story, novel, or narrative poem in which conflicts are resolved or

unraveled, and mysteries and secrets connected with the plot are explained.

Epic: 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.

Point of view: The vantage point from which a narrative is told. There are two

basic points of view: first-person and third-person. In the first-person point of view,

the story is told by one of the characters in his or her own words. The first-person

point of view is limited. In the third-person point of view, the narrator is not a

character in the story. The narrator may be an omniscient. On the other hand, the

third-person narrator might tell a story from the point of view of only one

character in the story.

Style: An author’s characteristic way of writing, determined by the choice of

words, the arrangement of words in sentences, and the relationship of the

sentences to one another.

Symbol: A symbol is a sign which suggests more than its literal meaning. In

other words, a symbol is both literal and figurative. A symbol is a way of telling a

story and a way of conveying meaning. The best symbols are those that are

believable in the lives of the characters and also convincing as they convey a

meaning beyond the literal level of the story.

Lost Generation: This term has been used again and again to describe the

people of the postwar years. It describes the writers like Hemingway who lived in

poverty. It describes the Americans who returned to their native land with an

intense awareness of living in an unfamiliar changing world. The young English

and American expatriates, men and women, were caught in the war and cut off

from the old values and yet unable to come to terms with the new era when

civilization had gone mad. They wandered pointlessly and restlessly, enjoying

things like fishing, swimming, bullfight and beauties of nature, but they were

aware all the while that the world is crazy and meaningless and futile. Their whole

life is undercut and defeated.

迷惘的一代:这个词往往被反复用来指战后的人们。它用来描述像海明威那样生活在

贫困中的作家,描写返回祖国后意识到他们生活在一个陌生的急剧变化的世界里的人们。

那些移居国外的那些年轻的美国人和英国人,不论男女,经历的战争的洗礼,他们和旧的

价值观完全的隔离然而又无法融入这个社会文明疯狂发展的新世界。他们漫无目的不停地

游荡,他们喜欢钓鱼、游泳、斗牛和大自然的美景,但他们自始至终都觉得这是一个疯狂、

毫无意义、颓废的时代。他们整个的生活都是颓废失败的。

Protagonist: The central character of a drama, novel, short story, or narrative

poem. The protagonist is the character on whom the action centers and with

whom the reader sympathizes most. Usually the protagonist strives against an

opposing force, or antagonist , to accomplish something.

主人公:戏剧、长篇小说、短篇小说或叙事诗的中心人物。主人公是所有行动所围绕

的中心,也是读者最为关心和同情的人物。主人公通常在故事中与反面人物作斗争以得到

某个东西。

Suspense: The quality of a story, novel, or drama that makes the reader or

audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events.

悬念:故事、小说或戏剧使得读者或观众对事件的结果所感到的不确定或紧张感。

Setting: The time and place in which the events in a short story, novel, play or

narrative poem occur. Setting can give us information, vital to plot and theme.

Often, setting and character will reveal each other.

背景:在短篇、长篇小说、或叙事诗里面故事发生的时间和地点,它和人物通常会相

互揭示。背景可以得读者提供对于情节和主题至关重要的信息。

Pun: The use of a word or phrase to suggest tow or more meaning at the same

time. Puns are generally humorous.

双关:使用一个词来同时指代两个或以上意义的一种幽默的方法,

Metaphysical poetry: The poetry of John Donne and other 17th century

poets who wrote in a similar style. Metaphysical poetry is characterized by verbal

wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate

imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas.

玄学诗:约翰•多恩的诗或17世纪其他诗人写的相同风格的诗。玄学诗多使用巧智,

结构精巧,韵律多变,语言口语化,意象奇特,把不同的事物进行并置。