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Fill in the blanks.
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 19th century.
2. Edgar Allan Poe is generally thought of as the true beginner of the short stories because
he was the first writer who formulated a poetics of the short stories.
3. In the 20th century, there have been many who have won fame abroad as well as in the US
for their short stories: Sherwood Anderson, Hemingway Faulkner, 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.
II.
Multiple choice
1. Edgar Allan Poe wrote poems which are marvels of beauty and craftsmanship, such as
____.
A. I Hear America Singing B. The Raven
C. To a waterfowl D. The fall of the House of Usher
2. The common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasis on the___.
A. revolutionism B. reason C. individualism D. rationalism
3. In American literature, the 18th century was the Age of the Enlightenment, ___ was the
dominant spirit.
A. humanism B. rationalism C. revolution D. evolution
4. Who was considered the ―Poet of American Revolution‖?
A. Michael Wigglesworth B. Edward Taylor C. Anne Bradstreet D. Philip Freneau
5. 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
6. 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
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7. 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
8. Although realism and naturalism were products of the 19th century, their final triumph
came in the 20th 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
9. American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. She was___.
A. Anne Bradstreet B. Jane Austen C. Emily Dickinson D. Harried Beecher
10. With Howells, James and Mark Twain active on the scene, ____ became the major trend in
the seventies and eighties of the 19th century. A. sentimentalism B. romanticism C. realism D. naturalism
11. Choose from the following writers a staunch advocate of the 19th century American
realism.
A. Mark Twain B. Washington Irving C. Stephen Crane D. Jack London 12. Which writer has naturalist tendency?
A. Frank Norris B. William Dean Howells C. Theodore Dreiser D. Both A and C
13. Early in the 20th century, ____ published works that would change the nature of American
poetry.
A. Ezra Pound B. T.S. Eliot C. Robert Frost D. Both A and B
14. The Imagist writers followed three principles. They respectively are direct treatment,
economy of expression and ____.
A. local color B. irony C. clear rhythm D. blank verse
15. ____, one of the essays in The Sacred Wood, is the earliest statement of T.S. 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‘
16. T.S Eliot used a form, that is, the orchestration of related themes in successive
movements, in such works as ____.
A. The Waste Land B. ?A Rose for Emily‘ C. The Scarlet Letter D. The Egg
17. T.S. Eliot‘s first major poem (1917)____, has been called the first masterpieces of
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modernism in English.
A. ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ B. ?The Waste Land‘ C. ?Four Quartets‘ D. Prelude
18. The three poets Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and ____ opened the way to modern poetry.
A. O. Henry B. Henry David Thoreau C. E.E. Cummings D. Robert Frost
19. In 1954, ___ was awarded the Nobel prize for literature fro his ―mastery of the art of
modern narration‖.
A. T.S Eliot B. Earnest Hemingway C. John Steinbeck D. William Faulkner
20. 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 Grapes
IV. Questions and answers.
1. How do you understand Mark twain‘s use of local color in his writing?
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. Only 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.
2. Discuss the concept of wasteland in relation to the works of those writers in the 20th
century American literature.
?The Waste Land‘ is a poem written by T.S. 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 T.S. 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. Fitzgerald 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 physically destroyed but never defeated spiritually. 3. Analyze Walt Whitman‘s ?O Captain! My Captain‘ in terms of free verse.
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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
―separatists‖. Unlike the majority of Puritans, they saw no hope of reforming the Church of England from within. 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.
2.Pilgrims 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 sobriety, these were the puritan values that dominated much
of the early 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.
1.Separatists: In the colonial period, the Puritans who had gone to extreme were known as
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7. The Puritan philosophy known as Puritanism was important in New England during
colonial time, and had a profound influence on the early American mind for several generations.
III.
Multiple choice
1. Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in ___ began 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 early
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 early 1600s, have been regarded as the
first distinct American literature 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 strangely new environment? 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.
7. ____ was a civil covenant designed to allow the temporal state to serve the godly citizen.
A. The early history of Plymouth Colony. B. The Magnalia Christi America. C. Mayflower Compact. D. Freedom of the Will
8. Who among the following translated the Bible into the Indian tongue?
A. Roger Williams B. John Eliot C. Cotton Mather D. John Smith
9. 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 Taylor
10. English literature in America is only about more than ___ years old.
A. 500 B. 600 C. 200 D. 100
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11. The early history of ___ Colony was the history of Bradford‘s leadership.
A. Plymouth B. Jamestown C. New England D. Mayflower
12. The common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasis on the ___.
A. revolutionism B. reason C. individualism D. rationalism
13. 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
14. 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 15. Which writer best expressed the Puritan sense of the self?
A. Jonathan Edwards B. Cotton Mather C. John Smith D. Thomas Hooker
16. 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 into 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 standard for what was then a new genre.
2. Persuasion: Persuasion is writing meant to convince readers to think or act in a certain
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way. A persuasive writer appeals to emotions or reason, offer opinions and urges action. 3. Aphorism: An aphorism is a short, concise 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 largely 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 18th 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
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4. Which statement about Franklin is not true?
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.
5. 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
6. 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 7. Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the ___.
A. American Enlightenment B. Sugar Act C. Chartist movement D. Romanticist
8. 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
9. 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
10. ―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?
A. Benjamin Franklin B. Thomas Jefferson C. Thomas Paine D. George Washington 11. Which statement about Philip Freneau?
A. He was a satirist B. He was a pamphleteer. C. He was a singer. D. He was a bitter polemicist. 12. Who was considered as the ―poet of American Revolution‖?
A. Michael Wigglesworth B. Edward Taylor C. Anne Bradstreet D. Philip Freneau
13. 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
14. Thomas Jefferson‘s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress, and the pursuit of happiness,
is typical of the period we now call____.
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A. Age of Evolution B. Age of Reason C. Age of Romanticism D. Age of Regionalism IV.
Questions and Answers.
1. What are the characteristics of Benjamin Franklin‘s literary work?
The main quality in all Benjamin Franklin‘s writing is its genuine humanness. His literary work was typical 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
2. 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, nearly fifty newspapers had been established in the coastal cities. At the time of Washington‘s inauguration, there were nearly forty 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. 3. Write an analysis of The Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, not only announced the birth of a new 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 18th century in
Europe who broke away from the formal rules of classical writing. When it was used in American literature it referred to the writers of the middle of the 19th century who stimulated the sentimental emotions of their readers. They wrote the mysteries of life, love, birth and death. The romantic writers expressed themselves freely 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
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an image of comfort and unity, a place where families gathered to learn and tell stories. They were widely read around the hearthsides of 19th-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 influential set of authors based in Concord, Massachusetts and was led by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Like Romanticism, transcendentalism rejected both 18th 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 major 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 19th century. In literature, symbolism was an aesthetic movement that encouraged writers to express their ideas, feelings, and values by means of symbols or suggestions rather than by direct statements. Hawthorne and Melville are masters of symbolism in America in the 19th 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 19th century. Their purpose was to deliver poetry from 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 expressed 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 over 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 early 19th 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 early 19th 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
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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, one 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 capacity 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 19th century Emily Dickinson was the only woman poet who enjoys high
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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 18th 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 the 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 18th century. It spread to
continental Europe and then came to America early in the 19th century. A. Realism B. Critical realism C. Romanticism D. Naturalism
6. The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent
convention of American literature, evident in___. A. James 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 Natty Bumppo in romantic appeals, come
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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 Traveler 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 with the largest heart B. Father of American poetry 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, which 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 early 19th 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‖?
A. The American Scholar B. English Traits C. The Conduct of Life D. Representative Men
19. ___ 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
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C. TheBlithedale Romance D. ?Young Goodman Brown‘
20. 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?
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 Poets‘ Corner.
2. How to define the Romantic period in American history?
The period stretches from the end of the 18th 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 American literature, it is also called ―the American Renaissance‖.
3. 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 presumption that natural world was a source of goodness and man‘s society a source of corruption.
4. What is the relationship between American romanticism and European Romanticism?
They share much in common: in reaction to the enlightenment and its emphasis on reason, 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 typically 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 attention to the psychic states of their characters. The strong tendency to exalt the individual and common man was another focus of the movement.
5. What is Ralph Waldo Emerson‘s transcendental idea and his view of nature?
His transcendental idea has some ideological concerns of American Puritanism and European Romanticism, with its focus on the intuitive knowledge of human beings to grasp the absolute in the universe and the divinity of man. Emerson rejected the formal religion of the churches. He based his religion on an intuitive belief in an ultimate unity, which he called the ―over-soul‖. The over-soul is an all-pervading power from which all things come from and of which all are a part. In Emerson‘s view, nature is emblematic of
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the spiritual world, alive with God‘s overwhelming presence. It exercises a healthy and restorative influence on human mind. By employing nature as a big symbol of the spirit, or God, or the Over-soul, Emerson has brought the Puritan legacy of symboalism to its perfection.
6. What is the main idea of Henry David Thoreau‘s Walden?
Thoreau‘s work demonstrates how the abstract ideals of libertarianism and individualism can be effectively instilled in a person‘s life. In Walden (1854) Thoreau explains his motives for living apart from society and devoting himself to a simple lifestyle and to the observation of nature. The book not only displays Emersonian ideas of self-reliance but also develops Thoreau‘s own transcendental idea. For Thoreau, nature is not merely symbolic, but divine in itself and human beings can receive precise communication from the natural world by way of pure sense. To achieve personal spiritual perfection he thinks the most important thing for man is to be self-sufficient. 7. What are the artistic achievements of Edgar Allan Poe?
Poe is known as a poet and critic but most famous as the first master of the short story form, especially tales of the mysterious and macabre. He originated the novel of detection. The best known tale in this genre is The Murders in the Morgue (1841). Many of Poe‘s tales are distinguished by the author‘s unique grotesque inventiveness in addition to his superb plot construction. Such stories include The Fall of the House of Usher (1983), in which the penetrating gloominess of the atmosphere is accented equally with plot and characterization. Poe‘s poems are remarkable for their flawless literary construction and for their haunting themes and meters as in the poems ?The Raven‘ and ? Annabel Lee‘. 8. What are the artistic characteristics of the Scarlet Letter?
The novel, a story of rebellion within an emotionally constricted Puritan society, is an undisputed masterpiece written by Hawthorne. It reveals both Hawthorne‘s super craftsmanship and the powerful psychological insight with which he probed guilt and anxiety in the human soul. Hawthorne‘s remarkable sense of the Puritan past, his understanding of the colonial history in England, his apparent preoccupation with the moral issue of sin and guilt, and his keen psychological analysis of people are brought to full display in the novel. With modern psychological insight, Hawthorne probed the secret motivations in human behavior and the guilt and anxiety that he believed resulted from all sins against humanity, especially those of pride. Hawthorne is a master of symbolism. The structure and the form of the novel are carefully worked out to cater for the thematic concern. By using Pearl as a thematic symbol, Hawthorne emphasizes the consequence of the sin of adultery has brought to the community and people living in that community. The letter A takes on different layers of symbolic meanings. 9. Discuss the symbolism in Melville‘s Moby Dick?
Moby Dick was published in 1851. Holding the theme that ―all visible objects are but as pasteboard mask‖, Melville strikes through the surface of his adventurous narrative to formulate concepts of good and evil embedded as allegory in its events. Moby Dick is a
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symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into man‘s deep reality and psychology. The Pequod is the microcosm of human society and the voyage becomes a search for truths. The white whale, Moby Dick, symbolizes nature, for it is complex unfathomable, malignant and beautiful as well. For Ahab, the whale represents only evil. For the author, the narrator Ishmael and the readers, Moby Dick is an ultimate mystery of the universe. The voyage of the mind will forever remain a search of the truth.
10. Why is Leaves of Grass considered a milestone in American literature?
The work has always been considered a monumental work because of its uniquely poetic embodiment of American democratic ideal. It has nine editions and the first edition was published in 1855.In the giant work, Whitman shows concern for the whole hardworking people and the burgeoning life of the cities. The realization of the individual value also found a tough position in his poems in a particular way. In celebrating the self, Whitman emphasizes the physical dimension of the self and openly celebrates sexuality. Some of his poems are politically committed. Stylistically, Whitman experiments with a mixture of the colloquial diction and prose rhythm of journalism. The direct address is another salient feature of his poetry. He constructs a democratic ―I‖, a voice that sets out to celebrate itself and the rapture of its sense experiencing the world. He initiated the form of free verse in America that endows his poems with a flow of musicality a sense of rhythm.
11. What are the thematic concerns and the artistic characteristics of Emily Dickinson‘s
poetry?
Her poetry covers the issues vital to humanity, which include religion, death, immortality, love and nature. Her poems have no titles, hence are always quoted by their first lines. In her poetry, there is a particular stress pattern, in which dashes are used as a musical device to create cadence and capital letters as a means of emphasis. Most of her poems borrow the repeated four-line, rhymed stanzas of traditional Christian hymns, with two lines of four-beat meter alternating with two lines of three-beat meter. A master of imaginary that makes the spiritual materialize in surprising ways, Dickinson managed manifold variations within her simple form. She uses imperfect rhythms, subtle breaks of rhythm, and idiosyncratic syntax and punctuation to create fascinating world puzzles, which have produced greatly divergent interpretations over the years. Due to her deliberate seclusion, her poems tend to vivify some abstract ideas. Her poetry, despite its ostensible formal simplicity, is remarkable for its variety, subtlety and richness. Her limited private world have never confined the limitless power of her creativity and imagination.
Period of Realism
I.
Literary terms.
1. Realism: A mode of writing that gives the impression of recording or reflecting faithfully
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an actual way of life.
2. Naturalism: A more deliberate kind of realism in novels, stories and plays, usually
involving a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment.
3. Local color: It 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. 4. Psychological realism: It is the realistic writing that probes deeply into the complexities
of characters‘ thoughts and motivation. Henry James‘ novel The Ambassadors is considered to be a masterpiece of psychological realism. II.
Fill in the blanks
1. By 1875, American writers were moving toward realism in literature. We can see this in
the true-to-life descriptions of Bret Harte, Willim Dean Howells and Hamlin Garland. 2. The most straightforward definition of realism is probably the one given by the American
realist William Dean Howells. That is: ―nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.‖
3. Realism first appeared in the United States in the literature of local color, an amalgam of
romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things immediately observable: the dialects, customs, sights and sounds of regional.
4. As one of America‘s first and foremost realists and humorists, Mark Twain, the pen name
of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, usually wrote about his own personal experiences and things he knew about from firsthand experiences.
5. At the heart of Mark Twain‘s achievement is his creation of two characters: Tom Sawyer
and Huckleberry Finn.
6. Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835, in the village of Florida, Missouri, and
grew up in the larger river town of Hannibal. The steamboats which passed daily were the fascination of the town and became the subject matter of Twain‘s Life on the Mississippi. 7. Ernest Hemingway, whose own style is based on Twain‘s, once said, ―All modern
American literature comes from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.‖
8. Stephen Crane, the first American naturalist, was not much influenced by the scientific
approach. He was a genius with amazing sympathy and imagination.
9. In The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane‘s greatest novel, the accident of war makes
a young man seem to be a hero. War changes men into animals. In the view of the author, good or bad, hero or coward, are merely matters of chance, of fate.
10. Hamlin Garland developed a writing method which he called ―veritism‖ (meaning truth).
He described people, places and events in a careful and factual manner.
11. Henry James was a realist, but not a naturalist. He was an observer of the mind rather
than a recorder of time. His realism was a special kind of psychological realism.
12. Henry James first achieved recognition as a writer of the ―International‖ novel--- a story
which brings together persons of various nationalists who represent certain charactistics.
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13. The Portrait of a Lady is the best novel of Henry James‘ ―middle period‖. It is a story
about a young, bright American girl who goes to Europe to explore life.
14. Dreiser‘s greatest novel An American Tragedy, reveals a last stage in his thinking of
social consciousness.
15. Darwinism had an evident influence on naturalism. It seemed to stress the animality of
man, to suggest that man was dominated by the forces of evolution.
16. The Art of Fiction was Henry James‘ most famous and influential critical essay written in
response to a lecture on fiction delivered by an English novelist. III.
Multiple choice
1. ___, who became the editor of Harper‘s Monthly in 1891,created the first theory for
American realism.
A. Emile Zola B. Hamlin Garland C. Stephen Crane D. William Dean Howells
2. ___ in the 1860s was the first American writer of local color to achieve wide popularity.
A. Mark Twain B. William Dean Howells C. Bret Harte D. Harriet Beecher Stowe
3. Stephen Crane‘s novel: Maggie: A Girl of the Street, is the story of a girl ___.
A. who is brought up in a poor area of Chicago
B. who is loved by her family but betrayed by her friends.
C. who experienced the violence and cruelty of the society almost every day D. who is evil by nature.
4. In his short story, ___, Stephen Crane shows how even life and death are determined by
fate.
A. ‘The Open Boat‘ B. ?The Open Window‘ C. ?War Is Kind‘ D. ?War is Slaughterhouse‘
5. The naturalism of ___ was filled with deep sympathy for the common people. His
literature was a form of protests against the conditions which made the lives of Mid-western farmers so painful and unhappy. A. Harold Frederic B. Ambrose Bierce C. Henry James D. Hamlin Garland
6. The novel which was described by an American critic as ―an outrage to American
girlhood‖ is Henry James‘ ___.
A. Daisy Miller B. The Portrait of a Lady C. Woman in Love D. Awakening
7. Mark Twain‘s first novel, ___, was an artistic failure, but it gave its name to the America
of the period which it attempts to satirize.
A. The Gilded Age B. Life on the Mississippi C. The Innocents Abroad D. The Mysterious Stranger
8. Jack London was at his height of his powers when he wrote ___, which is deeply
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influenced by Darwinism.
A. The Sea Wolf B. To Build a Fire C. The Call of the Wild D. Martin Eton
9. With the publication of ___ in 1900, Theodore Dreiser committed his literary force to
opening the new ground of American naturalism. A. An American Tragedy B. Sister Carrie C. The Bulwark D. The Stoic 10. In his works, Theodore Dreiser‘s tone is always ___.
A. sad B. satirical C. comic D. serious IV.
Questions and answers
1. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn is a thirteen-year-old boy. Why does
Mark twain use a child as the center of consciousness in this book?
In using a child protagonist, Twain is able to imply a comparison between the powerlessness and vulnerability of a child and the powerlessness and vulnerability of a black man in pre-Civil War America. Huck and Jim frequently find themselves in the same predicaments: each is abused, each faces the threat of losing his freedom, and each is constantly at the mercy of adult white men. In Huck‘s moral dilemmas, Jim is also vulnerable to Huck who is white. Twain also uses his child protagonist to dramatize the conflict between societal or received morality. As a boy, Huck is a character who can develop morally, whose mind is still open and being formed, who does not take his principles and values for granted. By tracing the education and experiences of a boy, Twain shows that conclusions about right and wrong that are based on logic and experience. The society‘s rules and morals are often hypocritical rather than logical. 2. Discuss the influence of Charles Darwin‘s theories on The Call of the Wild.
In writing his novel, Jack London was profoundly influenced by the writings of Charles Darwin. Darwin, the founding father of evolution theory, thought that life in the national world consists of a constant struggle for survival, in which only the strong could thrive and produce offspring. This ―survival of the fittest‖ was the engine that drove evolution. The world that London creates in The Call of the Wild operates strictly according to Darwinist principles in its brutality and amorality, only the fit survives in the cruel landscape of the Klondike.
3. What is special about Mark Twain‘s realism?
Mark Twain‘s contribution to the development of realism and to American literature as a whole was partly through his theories of local color in American fiction, and partly through his colloquial style. Mark Twain drew heavily from his own rich fund of knowledge of people and places. He confined himself to the life with which he was familiar. By quoting from his own experience, he managed to transform into art the freedom and humor, in short, the finest elements of western culture.
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20th Century American Poetry
I.
Literary terms
1. Imagism: Imagism is a school of poetry that flourished in North America and England at
the beginning of the 20th century. Imagists rejected the sentimentalism of late 19th century verse in favor of the poetry that relied on concrete imagery. Ezra Pound originally led the movement. Amy Lowell soon became its proponent. The major criteria are : a) regularly use everyday speech but avoids clichés; b) create new rhythms; c) address any subject matter the poet desired; d)depict its subjects through precise, clear images. The poets include H.D., Carl Sandburg; William Carlos William, D. H. Lawrence etc.
2. Confessional poetry: An autobiographical mode of verse that reveals the poet‘s personal
problems with unusual frankness. The term is usually applied to certain poets of the US. From the late 1950s to the late 1960s, notably Robert Lowell, whose Life Studies and For the Union Dead deal with his divorce and mental breakdowns. Other examples are Anne Sexton‘s To Bedlam and Part Way Back, including poems on abortion and life in mental hospitals. John Berryman‘s Dream Songs on alcoholism and insanity; Sylvia Plath‘s poems on suicide in Ariel and W.D. Snodgrass‘ Heart’s Needle on divorce.
3. Black Mountain poets: A loosely associated group of poets that formed an important part
of the avant-garde of American poetry in the 1950s, publishing innovative yet disciplined verse in the Black Mountain Review (1954-57), which became a leading forum of experimental verse. Their experimental yet disciplined style took its impetus from the essay ―Projective Verse‖ (1950) by Charles Olson. The Black Mountain School is linked with Charles Olson‘s theory of ―projective verse‖, which insists on an open from based on the spontaneity of the breath pause in speech and the typewriter line in writing. The group grew up around the poets Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan and Charles Olson while they were teaching at Black Mountain.
4. The Beat Generation: The term Beat Generation was introduced by Jack Kerouac in
approximately 1948 to describe his social circle to a novelist who published an early novel about the generation. The members of the beat generation were engaged in a spontaneous, messy creativity. The beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non-conformity and for its non-conforming style. The major beat writings are Jack Herouac‘s On the Road, Allan Ginsberg‘s Howl and William Burroughs‘ Naked Lunch.
5. The New York School: Unlike the Beat poets, the poets of the New York School are not
interested in overtly moral questions and in general, they steer clear of political issues. They have the best formal education of any group. The major figures of the New York School—John Ashberry, Frank O‘Harra and Kenneth Koch—met while they were undergraduates at Harvard University. They are quintessentially urban, cool, nonreligious, witty with a poignant, pastel sophistication. Their poems are fast moving, full of urban
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detail, incongruity and an almost palpable sense of suspended belief. New York city is the fine arts center of America and the birthplace of abstract expressionism a major inspiration of this poetry. Most of the poets worked as art reviewers or museum curators, or collaborated with painters. Perhaps because of their feeling for abstract art, which distrusts figurative shapes and obvious meanings, their work is often difficult to comprehend, as in the later work of John Ashbery. II.
Fill in the blanks
1. Imagism is a poetic movement of England and the United States, which flourished from
1980-1917.
2. Generally considered the leader of the imagist movement, Ezra Pound borrowed
techniques from classical Chinese and Japanese poetry and produced poems stressing clarity, precision and economy of language and foregoing traditional rhyme and meter. 3. The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot is regarded as a central text of modernism. It is said to
catch precisely the state of culture and society after Word War I and graphically illustrate the spiritual poverty of the West of that time.
4. Published in 1917, Prufrock and Other Observations immediately established T.S. Eliot
as a leading poem of the avant-garde. The most notable poem in this collection is entitled ?The Love Song of Alfred J. Pruforck’.
5. In 1927, T.S. Eliot became a British citizen and converted from the Unitarian Church to
the Church of England.
6. Among the imagists, H.D. is credited with giving a female voice to classical myths. 7. Winner of the National Book Award in 1950 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1960, William C. Williams is the author of the five-volume epic Paterson which is a lucid statement of the author‘s aesthetics.
8. The prose masterpieces of Carl Sandburg is the monumental biography Abraham
Lincohn: The Praire Years and Abraham Lincohn: The War Years, the latter of which earned him the 1940 Pulitzer Prize in history.
9. Wallace Stephen was successful in two different fields which seemed rather incompatible
with each other: he was viece-president of an insurance company and a remarkable poet at the same time.
10. Besides, T.S. Eliot also wrote verse plays and he excelled in dramatic monologue, Murder in the Cathedral is widely acknowledged as his best verse play which is based on the story of Thomas a Becket, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church of the ancient time.
III.
Multiple choice
1. Imagist poems are mainly composed in the form of ___.
A. blank verse B. free verse C. heroic couplet D. sonnet
2. Imagism was equivalent to ___ in fiction in a sense. Imagist never stated the emotion in
the poem, but just presented an image: concrete, firm and definite in picture.
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A. naturalism B. romanticism C. modernism D. surrealism
3. Pioneer of modern American poetry,___ did not only produce great poetry himself but
also helped his contemporary poets including T.S. Eliot, H.D., and Robert Frost with their literary careers.
A. Robert Lowell B. Edgar Allan Poe
C. Ezra Pound D. William Carlos Williams 4. Which of the following poets is a Nobel Prize winner?
A. Ezra Pound B. Robert Frost C. T.S. Eliot D. Wallace Stevens
5. To many who read Fog, I Am the People, the Mob, Grass, and the 21 sections of Good
Morning, America, ___ was successor to 19th century poet Walt Whitman as the proclaimer of the American spirit.
A. T.S Eliot B. Ezra Pound C. Robert Frost D. Carl Sandburg
6. Four of Robert Frost‘s poetic collections were Pulitzer Prize winners. They are ___,
Collected Poems, A Further Range, and a Witness Tree.
A. Paterson B. New Hampshire C. Cathay D. Des Imagistes
7. E.A. Robinson wrote narrative poems based on Arthurian legends in his later life. The
poems include___, Lancelot, and Tristram.
A. Merlin B. Guinevere C. The Holy Grail D. Camelot 8. Which of the following was not written by Robert Frost?
A. ?The Road not Taken‘ B. ?After Apple –Picking‘ C. ?Birches‘ D. ‘Richard Cory’
9. Like T.S. Eliot, ___ mainly appealed to the taste of the so-called elites.
A. E.A. Robinson B. Wallace Stevens C. E.E. Cummings D. Carl Sandburg
10. Like Robert Frost, ___ was also noted for his use of a dry, sometimes biting, New
England humor.
A. Carl Sandburg B. Wallace Stevens C. E.A. Robinson D. E.E. Cummings 11. Carl Sandburg was associated with the imagists and wrote well-known imagist poems
such as___.
A. ?The Harbor’ B. ?Merlin‘ C. ?Smoke and Steel‘ D. ?Camelot‘
12. The imagist poets followed three principles, they are ___, direct treatment and economy
of expression.
A. blank verse B. clear rhythm C. free verse D. everyday speech 13. T.S. Eliot was a ___.
A. playwright, critic and poet B. critic, poet and novelist C. novelist, essayist and poet D. poet, novelist and politician
14. ___ championed the imagist movement from 1912 to 1914, setting down the imagist
principles. Then Amy Lowell led the movement into the period of ―Amygism‖, as Pound called it, from 1914 to 1917.
A. T.S. Eliot B. H.D. C. Ezra Pound D. Carl Sandburg
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IV.
Questions and answers
1. What are the major characteristics of imagist poetry? The major characteristics are as follows:
1) direct treatment of objects, concreteness of imagery. 2) No ideas or insight but things or images.
3) Free verse without imposing a rhythmical pattern. 4) Common speech, economy of expressions 2. What is the theme of The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot?
The theme is modern spiritual barrenness, the despair and depression that followed the WWI, the sterility and turbulence of the modern world, and the decline and break-down of western culture. It also shows the search for regeneration by people living in a chaotic world.
20th Century American Fiction
I.
Literary terms
1. Camera eye: A literary device developed by Dos Passos, which provides an
autobiography account of his life corresponding to the time of the fictional narrative. Written usually in a stream-of-consciousness style, they record the author‘s activities and reflections at roughly the same time that events in the fictional narratives are taking place. These impressionistic accounts recreate his changing moods in a turbulent age, showing that his private life is part of a greater cultural complexity.
2. Expressionism: The term refers to a movement in Germany early in the 20th century, in
which a number of painters sought to avoid the representation of external reality and instead , to project a highly personal vision of the world. The main principle involved is that expression determines form, and therefore imagery, punctuation, syntax and so on. In brief, any of the formal rules and elements of writing can be bent or disjointed to suit the purpose. Theatrically, expressionism was a reaction against realism in that it tends to show inner psychological realities.
3. Free association: A term commonly used in psychology but which has achieved some
currency in literary criticism and theory. The point involved is that a word or idea acts as a stimulus or trigger to a series or sequence of other words or ideas which may or may not have some logical relationship. Some writing that looks like it is probably the result of carefully thought out and contrived arrangement. This technique is often adopted in modern works, such as James Joyce‘s Ulysses.
4. Stream of consciousness: It was first used in the 19th century by William James, an
American philosopher and psychologist, in his book The Principle of Psychology. As a literary technique that novelists experiment with in the 20th century, it is employed to evince subjective as well as objective reality. It reveals the character‘s feelings, thoughts,
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and actions, often following an associative rather than a logical sequence, without commentary by the author. It is a literary technique in which authors represent the flow of sensations and ideas, added to the depth of character portrayal. The British Richardson was the pioneer in use of the device. James Joyce brought it to its highest point of development. Other exponents include Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.
5. Avant-garde: The French military and political term for the vanguard of an army or
political movement, extended since the late 19th century to that body of artists and writers who are dedicated to the idea of art as experiment and revolt against tradition. It means to stay ahead of one‘s time through constant innovation in forms and subjects.
6. Collage: A term adopted from the vocabulary of painters to denote a work which contains
a mixture of allusions, references, quotations, and foreign expressions. It is common in the work of James Joyce, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.
7. Lost Generation: Also termed the Sad Young Men, which was created by F.S. Fitzgerald
in his book All the Sad Young Men. The term in general refers to the post- World War I generation, but specifically a group of US writers who came of age during the war and established their reputation in the 1920s. It stems from a remark made by Gertrude Stein to Ernest Hemingway, ―You are all a lost generation.‖ Hemingway used it as an epigraph to The Sun Also Rises, a novel that captures the attitudes of a hard-drinking, fast living set of disillusioned young expatriates in postwar Paris. The generation was ―lost‖ in the sense that its inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world and because of its spiritual alienation from US, they seemed hopelessly provincial, materialistic, and emotionally barren. The term embraces Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dos Passos, e.e. cummings and so on.
8. Multiple point of view: William Faulkner is a master at presenting multiple points of
view, showing within the same story how characters react differently to the same person or the same events. It gives the story a circular form with one event as the center and various points of view radiating from it. This technique makes it difficult for the reader to see the truth of the story.
II.
Fill in the blanks
1. The impact of Darwin‘s evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of
the 19th century French literature on the American men of letters give rise to another school of realism: American naturalism.
2. The Sound and the Fury has four sections with four different narrators. The daughter of
the Compson family named Caddy, who is the only one capable of loving among the Compson children, appears in all the narratives.
III.
Multiple choice
1. Of the following Americans writers, who has NOT been an expatriate in Paris?
A. Ernest Hemingway B. Sherwood Anderson C. F.S. Fitzgerald D. Emily Dickinson
2. Which of the following works by Willa Cather shows Thea Kronberg finding spiritual
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renewal in the American Southwest?
A. O Pioneers! B. The Song of the Lark C. Death Comes for the Archbishop D. Shadows on the Rock 3. Which of the following statements concerning Willa Cather is NOT true?
A. Estrangement from conventional sexuality and sex roles is typical of Cather‘s main
characters.
B. O Pioneers represents the first stage of Cather’s literary life centering around
the theme of heroic manhood.
C. Books from her middle period include A Lost Lady and The Professor’s House; both
deal with spiritual and cultural crises in the lives of their main characters.
D. Death Comes for the Archbishop, a work that initiates her third stage and is set in
nineteenth century New Mexico, evokes the solidity of a vanished past.
4. In which of the works of Hemingway does the character Santiago occur?
A. In Our Time B. The Old Man and the Sea C. For Whom the Bell Tolls D. The Sun Also Rises
5. Which of the following statements concerning the role of the sea in Hemingway‘s novella
The Old Man and the Sea is NOT correct?
A. Through the protagonist‘s interactions with the sea, his character emerges. B. The sea provides glimpses of the depth of the protagonist‘s knowledge.
C. His struggle, resolve and pride are measured in terms of how far out into the gulf he
sails.
D. The sea symbolizes the benevolent side of nature. 6. The Hemingway code heroes are best remembered for their___.
A. indestructible spirit B. pessimistic view of life C. war experience D. masculinity
7. Which of the following statements concerning Ernest Hemingway is NOT true?
A. War, hunting, human dignity and triumph have been recurring motifs in Hemingway‘s
works.
B. His work is preoccupied with the cultural and psychological meanings of
femininity.
C. Hemingway identified the rapid change in women‘s status after WWI and the general
blurring of sex roles that accompanied the new sexual freedom.
D. As Hemingway aged, his interest in exclusively masculine forms of self-assertion and
self-definition became more pronounced.
8. Who has made the statement that all modern American literature comes from a single
book called The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn?
A. Ernest Hemingway B. William Faulkner C. F. S. Fitzgerald D. T.S. Eliot
9. Who was the first American author that won the Nobel Prize in 1930?
A. Toni Morrison B. Ernest Hemingway
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C. Sinclair Lewis D. John Steinbeck
10. Which of the following statements concerning Sherwood Anderson is NOT true?
A. His longer fiction is well known for its complex unity. B. He embraced simplicity and directness of style.
C. He made attractive the use of the point of view of outsider characters as a way of
criticizing conventional society.
D. He presents in his short stories a slice of life or a significant moment as apposed to
panorama and summary.
11. Which of the following statements concerning Winesburg, Ohio is NOT true?
A. The book consists of many individual tales with a loose but coherent structure. B. The lives of a number of people living in the town are observed by the native
adolescent George Willard.
C. The book ends with the death of George‘s mother and his departure from Winesburg. D. Through first person point of view, the book enables the reader to see how the
lives of the characters have been profoundly distorted by the frustration and suppression of so many of their desires.
12. ―There was music from my neighbor‘s house through the summer nights. In his blue
gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stares…‖. This quotation is taken from…..
A. Moby Dick by Herman Melville B. Daisy Miller by Henry James C. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser D. The Great Gatsby by F.S. Fitzgerald 13. Which of the following statements is NOT true in describing American naturalists?
A. They used some serious and more sympathetic tone in writing than realists. B. They were deeply influenced by Darwinism.
C. They were identified with French novelist and theorist Emile Zola. D. They chose their subjects from lower ranks of society.
14. Among the following writers, who is often acclaimed literary spokesman of the Jazz Age?
A. William Faulkner B. F.S. Fitzgerald C. Henry James D. Eugen O‘Neill 15. ―Nick Adams‖ is a character who frequently appears in___‘s stories.
A. William Faulkner B. Theodore Dreiser C. Mark Twain D. Ernest Hemingway 16. Nick‘s night trip to the Indian village and his experience inside the hut can be taken as
___.
A. an initiation to pain and suffering B. a confrontation with evil and sin C. an essential lesson about Indian tribes D. a learning process of human connections 17. It was The Viking Portable Faulkner edited by ___ in 1946 that first brought Faulkner to
critical attention.
A. Malcolm Cowley B. Phil Stone C. Sherwood Anderson D. Gertrude Stein
18. The fictional place that bears marked similarities to the town where___ had been raised
was called by himself his ―little postage stamp of native soil‖.
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A. William Styron B. Mark Twain C. William Faulkner D. John Barth
IV.
Questions and answers
1. What is the type of heroes in Hemingway‘s novels?
Some of his heroes live a disorderly and immoral life, wild with alcohol. Some of them are mentally wounded and hold a nihilistic or cynical view toward life. Deep at the bottom of their hearts, they are never lost. Nor they ever cease to search for the meaning and ultimate truth of life. They may be physically destroyed by fate, but they can never be spiritually defeated. The Hemingway code hero is brave and unyielding. Though suffering from physical pains and psychological alienations from their surroundings, they can always possess the quality of ―grace under pressure‖.
2. Why was Fitzgerald regarded as spokesman of the ―Jazz Age‖?
Fitzgerald was a representative figure of the 1920s. He never failed to remain detached and foresee the tragedy of the ―Dollar Decade‖. His works mirror the exciting age in almost every way. Through the glittering world of his fiction run the themes of moral waste and decay and necessity of personal responsibility. The Great Gatsby, a book about the Jazz Age, is a case study in people‘s pursuit of an elusive American Dream. It is also a powerful criticism of American society. Thus he is often acclaimed literary spokesman of the Jazz Age.
3. Where did William Faulkner usually locate his stories? What does the place stand for?
Faulkner usually located his stories in a fictional town called Jefferson in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. With his imagination, Faulkner turned the land, the people and the history of the place into a literary creation and a mythical kingdom, which stands for the American South. The Yoknapatawpha County fiction has an overall pattern in which Faulkner‘s protagonists collide with the 20th century society. Most of the major themes are directly related to this confrontation in Faulkner‘s fiction. 4. List at least three William Faulkner‘s themes.
The themes cover (a) the pre-civil war Southern values vs. the post civil war Southern values;(b) the decline of the old aristocratic families of the south; (c)the past vs. the present(social changes);(d) racial problems in the old south and the good traits of the blacks.
V.
Essay questions
1. Discuss Hemingway‘s ―iceberg principle‖ of writing.
His aim and achievement as a novelist and short story wrier were to convey his concerns in a prose style built from what was left after eliminating all the words one ―could not stand to bear‖. He once said ―I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it under water for every part that shows‖. He believes that a good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action; the one-eighth that is present will suggest all other meaningful dimensions of the story. According to him, good literary writing should be able to make readers feel the emotion of the characters directly and the best way to produce the effect is to set down exactly every particular kind of feeling
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without any authorial comments, with a bare minimum of adjectives and adverbs. His language is simple, symbolic and suggestive, improving more than what is actually said. 2. Compared with earlier writings, especially those of the 19th century , what are the
characteristics of modern American writings?
The modern work seems to begin arbitrarily, to advance without explanation, and to end without resolution. The book is no longer a record of sequence and coherence but a juxtaposition of the past and the present, of the history and the memory. There are shifts in perspective, voice and tone, but the biggest shift is from the external to the internal, from the public to the private, from the chronological to the psychological, from the objective description to the subjective projection. The traditional educated literary voice, conveying truth and culture, has lost its authority to a more detached and ironic tone.
20th Century American Drama
I.
Fill in the blanks
1. Of all the plays that O‘Neill wrote, most of them are tragedies, dealing with the basic
issues of human existence and predicament such as life and death.
2. A type of comedy which depends upon ridiculous situations, exaggerated character types,
coarse humor, and horseplay for its comic effects is called farce.
3. The final outcome of the main complication in a play or story is called denouement. 4. A kind of drama representing some action in which serious and comic scenes are blended
is called tragicomedy.
II.
Multiple choice
1. Eugene O‘Neill‘s The Hairy Ape explores the problem of ___ in the early 20th century.
A. human disillusionment B. the corruption of human desire C. the loss of human identity D. human responsibility
2. O‘Neill‘s inventiveness seemingly knew no limits. He was constantly experimenting with
new styles and forms for his plays, especially during the 20s when ___ was in full swing. A. symbolism B. expressionism C. romanticism D. realism
3. Which of the following statements concerning Eugene O‘Neill is NOT correct?
A. He was influenced by the idea of Freud.
B. He is interested in the world of the mind, of intense inner emotions, memories and
fears.
C. He found inspiration and confirmation for his approach in writing centering on
family relationship in classical Greek drama.
D. The unity of his work lies in its controlling intellectual idea.
4. Which of the following statements concerning O‘Neill‘s Long Day‘s Journey into Night is
NOT true?
A. The author focuses on the person, rather than the family in the play as the
fundamental human unit.
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B. The play is designed as a series of encounters. Each character is placed with one, two
or three of the others until every combination is worked through.
C. The Tyrone family is followed through one day. Thus it is a literal day in the lives of
the Tyrones.
D. It is also the Tyrones‘ journey through life toward death that readers witness. 5. Which of the following statements concerning Tennessee Williams is NOT correct?
A. He has been influenced by Anton, D.H. Lawrence and Hart Crane. B. His last Broadway play is named Clothes fore a Summer Hotel. C. His recurrent themes in many of his plays are loneliness and desire. D. He was awarded Nobel Prize for his brilliance as a dramatist.
Black American Literature
I.
Literary terms
1. Harlem Renaissance: A literary movement that began in the 1920s in the almost
exclusively African American area of Harlem in New York City. Harlem had grown tremendously following WWI, when a mass migration of black Americans out of the South and into northern cities had taken place. Thanks to the Harlem Renaissance, African American culture was for the first time highlighted for a multiracial, multiethnic national audience. The Harlem area became not only the link of black literature, theater, music, and dance but also, for a time, an intellectual and artistic nerve center for the entire nation. Distinguished writers included poets Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Cloude McKay and Sterling Brown, novelist Jean Toomer, Jessie Faucet and many essayists, memoirists and writers in diverse modes such as James Weldon Johnson and Arna Bontemps. The Great Depression of 1929 brought it to an end.
II.
Fill in the blanks
1. As spokesman for Harlem artists, Langston Hughes published an article ―The Negro
Artist and the Racial Mountain‖ in 1925, which can be viewed as his public declaration of their intent to break their literary heritage and to initiate a new trend in blank literature. 2. The Harlem Renaissance took form and the focal date fore the movement would be in
1925 when the black scholar Alain Locke published an anthology of current work entitled The New Negro: An Interpretation.
3. African American literature attained to a higher degree of maturity in 1952 when Ralph
Ellison‘s Invisible Man appeared in print, which tells an archetypal existential story of a nameless protagonist-narrator of modern times.
4. Toni Morrison is best known for her fifth novel Beloved, which is based on the true story
of a slave mother killing her own children just for them to avoid slavery.
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker is an epistolary novel which is mainly about African
American women‘s growth against the backdrop of social and familial oppression.
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III.
Multiple choice
1. ___, Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass are generally regarded as the three
African American writers in the 19th century. A. Ralph Ellison B. Langston Hughes C. Toni Morrison D. Du Bois
2. One of the most noticeable elements of Harlem Renaissance writing is its use of dialect
and folklore and its identification with the spirit of___. A. rap B. jazz C. blues D. R& B
3. Among the African American writers of the first half of the 20th century,___ was the most
durable and versatile: he was a poet, playwright, novelist, song writer, biographer, editor, newspaper columnist, translator and lecturer.
A. Counte Cullen B. Cloude McKay C. Jean Toomer D. Langston Hughes 4. The basic themes of James Baldwin‘s are ___.
A. race and death B. race and fate
C. race and homosexuality D. race and love between family members
5. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is written by___, oen of the important authors
in the first half of the 20th century.
A. Zora Neale Hurston B. Amiri Baraka C. Arna Bontemps D. Gwendolyn Brooks
6. ___ is multi-talented genius: she is an actress, dancer, singer, profeesor, writer, poet
educator, director and civil rights activist. In 1993 she became President Clinton‘s inaugural poet.
A. Toni Morrison B. Alex Haley C. Alice Walker D. Maya Angelou 7. Roots was authored by___.
A. Alex Haley B. Maya Angelou C. Gloria Naylor D. Toni Morrison
IV.
Questions and answers
1. What are the major themes of Native Son by Richard Wright?
They are racism, protest, alienation, frustration and mentality of African Americans.
V.
Essay questions
1. Make a summary of African American literature.
Due to racist discrimination, African Americans were segregated and denied the right to read and write during the 19th century. As a result, African American literature remained for a long time in the form of songs, ballads and spirituals. However, written literature found its way in the 18th and especially 19th century when some African American writers appeared on the scene. Douglass, Washington and Du Bois were the greatest African American writers in the 19th century, though more politically than artistically. Harlem Renaissance in the 1020s brought great prosperity of African American literature with Harlem area in New York City as a center of African American literature. Important literary figures of this time include Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Cloude McKay, Jean Toomer and Zora Nearle Hurston. The Great Depression of 1929 and the early 1930s
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brought it to an end. From 1930s, their works powerfully depict the brutality of racist oppression and its traumatic effects on African Americans. In the 1940s, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, with the universality of its profound theme and exquisite style, marked a higher degree of maturity of African American literature. Contemporary African American writers include Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Alex Haley, among whom Toni Morrison is the most outstanding of all.
African Americans have made significant contributions to all aspects of American life. The writers provide the most striking example of alienation in American literature. 2. Discuss Toni Morrison‘s art of fiction.
Toni Morrison is known for ―magical realism‖ in that she uses magic, folktales and the supernatural in her novels. Her style combines unrealistic elements with a realistic presentation of life and characters.
For Morrison, ―all good art has been political‖ and the Black artist has a responsibility to the Black community. She aims at capturing ―the something‖ that defines what makes a book ―Black‖. All her fiction ―bears witness‖ to the experience of the Black community. Sense of loss, roots, community and identity of the Blacks are usual themes of her works. Her sympathy is especially given to the Black women who suffer from both the Whites and Black men.
Morrison‘s prose has the quality of speech. She deliberately strives for this effect, which she calls ―aural literature‖. Morrison wants readers to participate in her novels, to be involved actively. Readers are encouraged to create the novel with her and to help construct the meaning.