英国文学史名词解释

文学史

Renaissance: Renaissance marks a transition from the medieval to the modern world. Generally, it refers to the period between the 14th and mid 17th centuries. It first started in Italy, with the flowering of painting, sculpture and literature. From Italy the movement went to embrace the rest of Europe. Two features are striking of this movement. The one is a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature. Another feature of the Renaissance is the keen interest in the activities of humanity. Hence, humanism, which reflected the new outlook of the rising bourgeois class, is the key-note of the Renaissance. The greatest of the English humanists were Thomas More and William Shakespeare.

Passive Romanticism: English romanticism began when Lyrical Ballad was published in 1798 and ended in 1832. It in effect is a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassical reason. The romanticists who saw both the corruption of the feudal societies and the inhumanity of capitalism and felt that the society denied people their essential human needs. They were discontented with, and opposed to the development of capitalism. Some romantic writers reflected the thinking of classes ruined by the bourgeoisie, and by way of protest against capitalism development turned to the feudal past, i.e., the “merry old English”, as their ideal, or, “frightened by the coming of industrialism and the nightmare towns of industry, they were turning to nature to nature for protection.” These were the elder and sometimes called passive or escapist romantics, represented by Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Sonnet: Sonnet is a type of poem consisting of one single fourteen-line stanza. It was perfected by the Italian poet in the 13th century and introduced into England in the early 16th century. English sonnets in terms of structure, largely fall into two classes: Italian form (It consists of 14 iambic pentameter lines: the first 8 lines form the octet, which rhymes, the remaining 6 lines) and the Shakespearian (or English form) form. The former pides its 14 lines of iambic pentameters into two parts: one octet--- abbaabba and the other sestet--cdecde; while the latter consists of three quatrains (abab cdcd efef) and a final couplet（gg）. The three quatrains develop the poem’s subject consistently and the couplet condenses the emotion into an epigram. Shakespeare and Milton are very good at sonnet.

Ballad: ballad is a type of poem. In each stanza the odd-numbered lines are iambic tetrameters while the even-numbered lines are iambic trimeters, and the thyme scheme is abcd. “A Red, Red Rose” was written in Ballad metre by Robert Burns.

Active Romanticism: English romanticism English began in 1798 when Lyrical Ballad was published and ended in 1832. It in effect is a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassical reason. The romanticists who saw both the corruption of the feudal societies and the inhumanity of capitalism and felt that the society denied people their essential human needs. They were discontented with, and opposed to the development of capitalism. Some romantic writers expressed the aspirations of the classes created by capitalism and held out an ideal, though a vague one, of a future society free from oppression and exploitation. These were the younger and sometimes called active romantics represented by Byron, Shelley and Keats.

English Critical Realism: English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the 40s and in the early 50s. English critical realists described with much vividness and great artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from the a democratic viewpoint. The greatness of the English realists lies not only in their satirical portrayal of bourgeoisie and in the exposure of the greed and hypocrisy of the ruling classes, but also in their sympathy for the laboring people. Humor and satire are used to expose and criticize the seamy

文学史

(dark) side of reality. The major contribution of the critical realists lies in their perfection of the novel. Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray are the most important critical realists of the time.