英美文學術語大全
下面是本站小編整理的一些英美文學術語大全，歡迎大家閱讀!
sphere (氛圍)
The prevailing mood or feeling of a literary work.
2. Autobiography (自傳)
A person‘s account of his or her own life.
3. Ballad (民謠)
A narrative poem in short stanzas, with or without music,often of folk origin and intended to be sung. The term derives by way of French ballade from Latin ballare, "to dance," and once meant a simple song of any kind, lyric or narrative, especially one to accompany a dance. As ballads evolved, most lost their association with dance, although they kept their strong rhythms. Modern usage distinguishes three major kinds: the anonymous traditional ballad (popular ballad or folk ballad), transmitted orally; the broadside ballad, printed and sold on single sheets; and the literary ballad (or art ballad), a sophisticated imitation of the traditional ballad.
4. Ballad Stanza (民謠詩節)
A type of four-line stanza, the first and the third lines have four stressed words or syllables; the second and fourth lines have three stresses.
5. Biography (傳記)
A detailed account of a person‘s life written by another person.
傳記：由他人篆寫的關於某人生平的詳細記錄。
6. Antithesis (對仗)
The balancing of two contrasting ideas, words, or sentences.
對仗：兩組相對的思想，言辭，詞句的平衡。
7. Aphorism (警句)
A concise, pointed statement expressing a wise or clever observation about life.
警句：蘊含關於人生真理的明智的看法的精練的語句。
8. Aside (旁白)
A piece of dialogue intended for the audience and supposedly not heard by other actors on stage.
旁白：只說給觀衆而認爲不會讓臺上其他演員聽到的一段對話。
trophe (呼語)
The direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a speech or composition.
呼語：直接稱呼不在場或虛構的人物或稱呼擬人的事物，尤指作爲演講或作文過程中的離題話。
nance (類韻)
The repetition of similar vowel sounds, especially in poetry.
類音，類韻：相同或相似元音的重複，尤其指在詩歌中的重複。
gory (寓言)
A tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities.
A story suggests another story. An allegory is present in literature whenever it is clear that the author is saying, "By this I also mean that." In practice, allegory appears when a progression of events or images suggests a translation of them into conceptual language. Allegory is thus a technique of aligning imaginative constructs, mythological or poetic, with conceptual or moral models. During the Romantic era a distinction arose between allegory and symbol. With Coleridge, symbol took precedence: "an allegory is but a translation of abstract notions into picture-language," but "a symbol always partakes of the reality which it makes intelligible."
寓言，諷喻：一種文學、戲劇或繪畫的藝術手法，其中人物和事件代表抽象的觀點、原則或支配力。
teration (頭韻)
Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound within a line or a group of teration is thus the opposite of rhyme, by which the similar sounds occur at the ends of the syllables.
頭韻：在一組詞的開頭或重讀音節中對相同輔音或不同元音的重複。
sion (典故)
A reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects the reader to recognize and respond to.
典故：作者對某些讀者熟悉並能夠作出反映的特定人物，地點，事件，文學作品的引用。
ogy (類比)
A comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them.
類比：爲了在兩個事物之間找出差別而進行的比較。
15. Antagonist (反面主角)
The principal character in opposition to the protagonist or hero or heroine of a narrative or drama.
反面主角：敘事文學或戲劇中與男女主人公或英雄相對立的主要人物。
k Verse (無韻體詩)
Verse written in Unrhymed iambic pentameter. See also Meter. In the 1540s Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, seems to have originated it in English as the equivalent of Virgil's unrhymed dactylic hexameter. In Gorboduc (1561), Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton introduced blank verse into the drama, whence it soared with Marlowe and Shakespeare in the 1590s. Milton forged it anew for the epic in Paradise Lost (1667).
17. Caesura (休止)
A break or pause in a line of poetry.
18. Canto (章)
One of the principal divisions of a long poem..
詩章：一首長詩的主要部分之一。
19. Caricature (誇張諷刺)
The use of exaggeration or distortion to make a figure appear comic or ridiculous.
誇張諷刺：爲了使文中的人物顯得可笑而使用的誇張或扭曲人物形象的手法。
20. Characterization (人物刻畫)
The means by which a writer reveals the personality of a character.
人物刻畫：作者表現作品中人物性格的方法。
21. Classicism (古典主義)
A movement or tendency in art, literature, or music that reflects the principles manifested in the art of ancient Greece and Rome.
古典主義：一種在文學，藝術，音樂領域體現古代希臘，羅馬風格的運動。
22. Climax (高潮)
The point of greatest intensity, interest, or suspense in a narrative.
23. Comedy (喜劇)
A dramatic work that is often humorous or satirical in tone and usually contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.
喜劇：輕鬆的和常有幽默感的或在調子上是諷刺的戲劇作品，常包括主題衝突的愉快解決
24. Conceit (奇想)
A kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. Any fanciful, ingenious expression_r_r or idea, especially one in the form of an extended metaphor.
奇想：一種在截然不同的事物之間建立起的比喻。
25. Conflict (衝突)
A struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem.
衝突：故事，小說，戲劇中相對的力量和人物之間的對立。
26. Connotation (外延)
All the emotions and associations that a word or phrase may arouse.
外延：包括單詞字面意思之外的或被該詞彙喚起的全部內涵的意義。
27. Consonance (輔音韻)
The repetition of consonants or a consonant pattern, especially at the ends of words.
輔音韻：輔音或輔音模式的重複，尤指位於詞尾的。
28. Couplet (雙韻體)
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.
雙韻體：包括兩個相連的詩行的一種詩的單位，通常壓韻並具有同樣的格律，經常組成一個完整的意思和句法單位
29. Heroic couplet (英雄雙韻體)
A couplet written in iambic pentameter is called a heroic couplet.
英雄雙韻體：五步抑揚格的雙韻體稱英雄雙韻體。
30. Denotation (內涵)
The literal or dictionary meaning of a word.
直接意義：一個詞的字面意義或詞典意義。
31. Denouement (結局)
The final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot.
結局：戲劇或敘事場景的最後結果。
32. Diction (措辭)
A writer‘s choice and use of words in speech or writing, particularly for clarity, effectiveness, and precision.
措詞：講話或書寫中，出於表述清晰，言簡意賅對詞語的使用或選擇。
33. Dissonance (不協和)
A harsh or disagreeable combination of sounds; discord.
34. Dramatic monologue (戲劇獨白)
A kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in the poem.
35. Elegy (輓歌)
A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person.
輓歌，輓詩：專門爲悼念某一死者所寫的詩或歌.
36. Emblematic Image (象徵)
A verbal picture of figure with a long tradition of moral or religious meaning attached to it.
37. Epic (史詩)
An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero and of 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. Later on this literary genre was written down by the poets, such as Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained. Two of the greatest epics are Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. While in British literary history, the national epic is Beowulf. During the Renaissance, critical theory emphasized two assumptions:
史詩：用嚴肅或莊重的語言寫成的敘事長詩，歌頌傳奇中或歷史上英雄的豐功偉績
38. Epigram (雋語)
A concise, clever, often paradoxical statement, susally in the form of a poem.
雋語：一個簡明，機智，常常似是而非的陳述,經常以詩的形式出現
39. Epigraph (引語/開場白)
A motto or quotation at the beginning of a literary composition, setting forth a theme.
引語：在一部文學作品開頭的引言，警句，闡明主題
40. Epilogue (結語/收場白)
A short addition or concluding section at the end of a literary work, often dealing with the future of its characters. Also called In this sense, also called afterword
結語：文學作品結束時簡短的附加或總結性章節，常常關於作品人物的未來也作 在此意義上也可稱作 afterword.
41. Epiphany(頓悟)
A moment of illumination, usually occurrs at or near the end of a work.
頓悟:對現實真諦的頓悟或洞察,通常出現在作品的結尾.
42. Epitaph(墓誌銘)
An inscription on a tombstone or in a short poem in memory of someone who has been dead.
墓誌銘：刻於墓碑上用以懷念死者的碑銘.
43. Epithet (表述詞語)
A term used to characterize a person or thing。
表述詞語：用來表示某人某物特性的一個表達。
44. Essay (散文)
A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author.
散文：內容通常論及一個主題的短小文章，通常表達作者個人的觀點
45. Exemplum (說教故事)
A tale, usually inserted into the text of a sermon, that illustrates a moral principle.
說教故事:一種短小的體現某種道德原則的故事性文章，通常出現在佈道文中。
46. Fable (寓言)
A brief story that is told to present a moral, or practical lesson.
寓言：一種體現某種道德觀念或實用價值的說教性文章。
47. Farce (輕喜劇)
A kind of comedy based on a ridiculous situation, often with stereotyped characters.
輕喜劇: 一種以可笑的情節的爲基礎的喜劇，通常包含固定的角色。
48. Figurative Language (象徵性語言)
Language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense.
象徵性語言：不能直接用字面意義來理解的語言。
49. Figure of Speech (比喻)
A word or an expression that is not meant to be interpreted in literal sense.
比喻：不能直接按照字面意義理解的詞語或表述方法。
50. Flashback(倒敘)
A literary device in which an earlier event is inserted into a narrative.
倒敘，閃回鏡頭：一種文學或電影的表現手法，往往在一段按正常時間順序記敘的敘事中插入一件以前發生過的事情
51. Foil (陪襯)
A character who sets off another character by contrast.
陪襯：用來反襯其他人物的人物。
52. Foreshadowing (鋪墊)
The use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest what will happen later.
鋪墊：用來預示將要發生的事情的線索或暗示。
53. Free verse (自由詩體)
Verses that has neither a metrical pattern or an regular pattern.
自由詩體:既不具格式韻律又不具常規格律的詩體。
54. hyperbole (誇張法)
A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect
誇張法：一種比喻，使用誇張來強調或產生某種效果。
55. Iambic pentameter (五步抑揚格)
A poetic line consisting of five verse feet, with each foot an iamb--that is, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
五步抑揚格:一種詩句形式，每行詩句包含五個抑揚格音步。
56. Imagery(意象)
Words or phrases that create pictures, or images, in readers‘ mind.
意象：用來在讀者的思維中喚起某種圖示或形象的詞彙。
57. Incremental repetition (遞進重複)
The repetition of a previous line or lines, but with a slight variation each time that advances the narrative stanza by stanza.
遞進重複：詩歌中對上文中一行或幾行的重複，但每次重複都有一定的變化，而且每一節的重複中的敘述都有所強化。
58. Inversion (倒裝句)
The technique of reversing, or inverting the normal word order of a sentence.
倒裝句：一種將句子正常的表達方法倒置的技巧。
59. Invocation (開篇禱告)
A call to a muse, god or spirit for inspiration at the beginning of an epic or other poem.
開篇禱告：在史詩或詩歌的開篇企求神靈給予啓示的文字。
60. Irony (反語)
A contrast between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually happened.
反語：一種建立在字面表述和真實意義上或期待產生的結果和真實的結果之間的對比。
ing (隱喻語)
A figurative, usually compound expression used in place of a name or noun, especially in Old English and Old Norse poetry. for example, storm of swords is a kenning for battle.
隱喻語：尤指古英語和古斯堪的納維亞語詩中，一種比喻性的，在表名字或名詞時常用的複合表達方式，如“劍的風暴” 是 “戰爭” 的隱喻語
62. Lyric (抒情詩)
A poem, usually a short one, that expresses a speaker‘s personal thoughts or feelings.
抒情詩：一種用來抒發作者感情或思想的短詩。
63. Masque (假面劇)
A dramatic entertainment, usually performed by masked players representing mythological or allegorical figures, that was popular in England in the 16th and early 17th centuries.
假面劇：一種戲劇性娛樂，由代表神話或寓言中人物的佩戴面具者表演，該娛樂形式在16世紀和17世紀早期的英國很流行.
64. Melodrama (情節劇)
A drama that has stereotyped characters, exaggerated emotions, and a conflict that pits an all-good hero or heroine against an all-evil villain.
65. Metaphor (隱喻)
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison.
隱喻：一種語言表達手法，通常用指某物的詞或詞組來指代他物，從而暗示它們之間的相似之處.
physical Poetry (玄學派詩歌)
The poems of 17th-century English poets, whose verse is characterized by an intellectually challenging style and extended metaphors comparing very dissimilar is also featured by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas.
玄學派詩歌：17世紀英國詩人的詩歌，這種詩歌的特點是風格極具智慧，引人深思，善用引申的暗喻來對比極其不同的事物.
67. Meter (格律)
A generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.
格律：詩歌中通常的重讀音節和非重讀音節的排列模式。
68. Metonymy (轉喻)
A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.
轉喻：一種一個詞或詞組被另一個與之有緊密聯繫的詞或詞組替換的修辭方法.
69. Mock epic (諷刺史詩)
A comic literary from that treats a trivial subject in the grand, heroic style of the epic.
諷刺史詩：一種用史詩的宏大風格來描寫微不足道的事情的喜劇形式。
70. Motif (主旨)
A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work.
主題：藝術品或文學作品中反覆體現的、揭示主題的部分。
71. Motivation (動機)
The reasons, either stated or implied, for a character‘s behavior.
動機: 引發作品中人物行爲的理由。
72. Myth (神話)
A story, often about immortals and sometimes connected with religious rituals, that is intended to give meaning to the mysteries of the world.
神話：一種解釋世界上的神祕現象的關於神靈或同宗教儀式有聯繫的故事。
73. Narrative Poem (敘事詩)
A poem that tells a story.
敘事詩：講述一個故事的詩歌。
74. Narrator (敘述者)
One who narrates or tells a story.
敘述者：講述或敘述一個故事的人。
75. Naturalism (自然主義)
The practice of describing precisely the actual circumstances of human life in literature, it is the extreme form of realism.
自然主義：在文學中精確地描述人類現實環境的實踐,現實主義的最高表現形式。
76. Neoclassicism (新古典主義)
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.
新古典主義：17、18世紀晚期的文學復興，以尊重古代典型的推理形式和嚴謹文體爲特徵
77. Novel (小說)
A book length fictional prose narrative, having many characters and often a complex plot.
小說：虛構的敘述性文章，有一定長度，較多的人物，和思想複雜的情節。
78. Octave (八行詩)
An eight-line poem or stanza.
79. Ode (頌)
A complex and often lengthy lyric poem, written in a dignified formal style on some lofty or serious subject.
頌：一種複雜的，具有一定長度的詩歌，通常以高貴的風格寫成，用來表述一些高尚或嚴肅的主題。
80. Onomatopoeia (擬聲)
The formation or use of words by imitating the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
擬聲：通過模仿事物或行動的聲音構詞的方法。
81. Oxymoron (矛盾修飾法)
A rhetorical figure in which combines or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.
矛盾修飾法：一種把互相矛盾或不調和的詞合在一起的修辭手法，如在"震耳欲聾的沉默"和"悲傷的樂觀"
82. Paradox (似非而是)
A statement that reveals a kind of truth, although it seems at first to be self-contradictory and untrue./An apparently untrue or self-contradictory statement or circumstance that proves true upon reflection or when examined in another light.
似非而是:一種在字面上看起來自相矛盾，卻體現着一定的真理的說法。
83. Parallelism (並行)
The use of phrases, clauses, or sentences that are similar or complementary in structure or in meaning.
並行：結構或意義相近的詞彙，子句，句子的並用。
dy (模仿詩文)
A humorous imitation of a work of art for comic effect or ridicule./Originally, "a song sung beside" another. From this idea of juxtaposition arose the two basic elements of parody, comedy and criticism. As comedy, parody exaggerates or distorts the prominent features of style or content in a work. As criticism, it mimics the work, borrowing words or phrases or characteristic turns of thought in order to highlight weaknesses of conception or expression_r_r.
模仿詩文：一種爲取得喜劇或嘲諷效果，而對某一藝術作品進行的滑稽模仿。
85. Pastoral (田園詩)
A kind of poem, that deals in an idealized way with shepherds and rustic life.
田園詩：一種用理想的手法來體現牧羊人的鄉村生活的詩歌。
86. Pathos (悲悵)
The quality in a work of literature or art that arouses the reader‘s feelings of pity, sorrow, or compassion for a character.
悲悵：文學藝術作品的一種引發讀者憐憫，同情或傷感的特質。
87. Personification (擬人)
A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form./The technique of treating abstractions, things, or animals as persons. A kind of metaphor, personification turns abstract ideas, like love, into a physical beauty named Venus, or conversely, makes dumb animals speak and act like humans.
擬人：給無生命的東西或者抽象的東西賦予人的個性或繪以人的形象.
88. Plot (情節)
The plan of events or main story in a novel, narrative or drama.
情節：在小說，故事,或戲劇中事件的概要或主要故事.
89. Point of view (視角)
A point from which an author presents a story.
視角：作者闡述故事的角度。
90. protagonist (主角)
The main character in a drama or other literary work.
主角：戲劇或其他文學作品中的主要人物.
91. Psalm (讚美詩)
A song or lyric poem in praise of God.
讚美詩：用來頌揚上帝的詩歌或抒情詩。
92. Pun (雙關語)
The use of a word or phrase to suggest two or more meanings at the same time.
雙關語：用一個詞來同時表示兩個內涵。
93. Quatrain (四行詩)
A stanza or poem of four lines.
94. Realism (現實主義)
The representation in art or literature of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract form./The theory that reason, rather than revelation or authority, provides knowledge, truth, the choice of good over evil, and an adequate understanding of God and the universe.
現實主義：在藝術或文學中將事物，行爲或社會狀況按其起初情況進行的表現，而不用模糊的形式來表現或理想化
95. Refrain (副句)
A phrase, verse, or group of verses repeated at intervals throughout a song or poem, especially at the end of each stanza.
副句，副歌：一個短語、一句詩或一組詩句在一首歌或詩中每隔一段重複一次， 尤其在每個詩節的結尾處
96. Rhyme (壓韻)
The repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases that appear close to each other in a poem. /(sometimes Rime, an older spelling) The effect created by matching sounds at the ends of words. The functions of rhyme are essentially four: pleasurable, mnemonic, structural, and rhetorical. Like meter and figurative language, rhyme provides a pleasure derived from fulfillment of a basic human desire to see similarity in dissimilarity, likeness with a difference.
壓韻：音在兩個或兩個以上的詞彙或短語中的重複。
97. Rhythm (格律)
The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern.
重讀音節和非重讀音節的固定排列模式。
98. Romance (傳奇故事)
An imaginative literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with heroic adventures and battles between good and devil.
傳奇故事：設定在想象世界中的以英雄冒險和善惡之間的鬥爭爲題材的文學作品。
99. Romanticism (浪漫主義)
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.
浪漫主義：起源於18世紀末期歐洲的一種注重個人情感和想象力的表達的藝術和知識上的運動，它與古典主義的觀點和形式相悖.
100. Satire (諷刺文)
A kind of writing that holds up to ridicule or contempt the weakness and wrongdoings of individuals, institutions or humanity in general./Poking corrective ridicule at persons, types, actions, follies, mores, and beliefs
諷刺：一種諷刺個人，習俗或人性中的缺點或錯誤的文體。
101. Scansion(韻律分析)
The analysis of verse into meter patterns.
韻律分析：將詩劃分成音步的分析方法。
et (六行詩)
A six-line poem or stanza.
103. Setting (背景)
The time, place, and circumstances in which a narrative, drama, or novel takes place.
背景：記敘文、戲劇或小說發生的時間、地點和環境.
104. Simile (明喻)
A comparison made between two things through the use of a specific word of comparison.
明喻：兩種事物之間藉助於比喻詞彙進行的比較。
105. Soliloquy (獨白)
A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character reveals a character‘s thoughts when alone or unaware of the presence of other characters.
獨白：一種戲劇或文學的說話形式，其中某角色在獨自一人或不知道其他角色存在的情況下展示角色的思想。
106. Song (歌)
A short lyric poem with distinct musical qualities, normally written to be set to music.
歌:一種具有典型的音樂特徵的抒情詩體，通常爲譜曲而作。
107. Sonnet (十四行詩)
A 14-line verse form usually written in iambic pentameter.
十四行詩：一種由十四行組成的詩歌形式，通常以五步抑揚格爲押韻形式。
108. Spenserian Stanza (斯賓塞詩體)
A nine line stanza with the following rhyme scheme ababbcbcc.
109. Stream of consciousness (意識流)
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.
意識流：一種模仿作品中人物思想，思維，精神活動的自然過程的寫作技巧。
e(風格)
An author‘s characteristic way of writing ,determined by the choice of words, the arrangement of words in sentences, and the relationship of sentences to one and another.
風格：由詞彙的選擇，句子中詞彙的安排，句子之間的關係形成的某一作家的特定的寫作方式。
111. Suspense (懸念)
The quality of a story, novel, or drama that makes readers uncertain or tense about the outcome of events.
懸念：小說，故事，戲劇所具有的使讀者對結局產生不安或緊張的感覺的特質。
112. Symbol (象徵)
Any object, person, place, or action that has a meaning in itself and also stands for something larger than itself, such as a quality, attitude, or belief.
象徵：本身具有意義，用來體現高於自身意義的思想的，觀點的人，物，行爲，地點。
113. Symbolism (象徵主義)
A literary movement in the late19th century, characterized by the use of symbols to represent things.
象徵主義：十九世紀的一種文學潮流，運用象徵來體現事物。
114. Synecdoche (提喻法)
A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole.
提喻法：一種以局部代表整體的修辭方法。
115. Terza rima (三行體)
An Italian verse form consisting of a series of three line stanzas in which the middle line of each stanza rhymes with the first and the third lines of the following stanza.(aba bcb cde, ect.)
116. Theme (主題)
The general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express in a literary work.
作者在作品中表現的對於生活的總的觀點或看法。
(調子)
The attitude a writer takes toward his or her subject, characters, or audience.
調子：作者對於作品的主題，人物和讀者所持的態度。
118. Tragedy (悲劇)
In general, a literary work in which the protagonist meets an unhappy or disastrous end.
悲劇：以主人公可悲的或災難性的結局結束的故事。
(睿智)
A brilliance and quickness of perception combined with a cleverness of expression.
睿智：巧妙的思維和睿智的表達的結合。
sition (評註)
The part of a narrative or drama, in which important background information is revealed.
評註：記敘文章或戲劇中向讀者介紹主要的背景情況的部分。
121. Sentimentalism
Sentimentalism originated in the 18th century, and was a direct reaction against the cold, hard commercialism and rationalism that had dominated people’s life since the last decades of the 17th century. Besides, it seemed to have appeared hand in hand with the rise of realistic English novel. Sentimentalism often relates to sentimentality and sensibility in some literary works such as Richardson’s Pamela; Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield; Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. In Poetry, we have Thomas Gray’s “An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, Goldsmith’s “The Deserted Village”, and Cowper’s “Task”, not mention the various odes of sensibility which flourished in the later half of the century.
122. Humanism
Humanism refers to the main literary trend and is the keynote of English Renaissance. Humanists took interest in human life and human activities and gave expression_r_r to the new feeling of admiration for human beauty, human achievement.
123. Renaissance
It is a cultural movement of the rising bourgeoisie. The key word for it is humanism, which emphasizes the belief in human beings, his environment and doings and his brave fight for the emancipation of man from the tyranny of the church and religious dogmas. It originally indicates a revival of classical arts and learning after the dark ages of medi obscurantism. Its aim is to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medi time and introduce new ideas that express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie. Shakespeare, Spenser, and Marlowe are all famous literary figures in this period.
124. Enlightenment
Enlightenment is a progressive intellectual movement, which swept over England and other lands in Western Europe in the 18th century. Enlightenment freed and reformed the thinking of man. Enlighteners strove to clear away the feudal remnants and replace them by bourgeois ideologue.
125. Run-on Line
A line of poetry whose sense does not stop at the end, with punctuation, but runs on to the next line.
126. End Rhyme
Rhyme at the end of a line of verse (the usual placement), as distinguished from initial rhyme, at the beginning, or internal rhyme, within the line.
127. Foot
The metrical unit; in English, an accented syllable with accompanying light syllable or syllables.
128. Genre
A term often applied loosely to the larger forms of literary convention, roughly analogous to "species" in biology. The Greeks spoke of three main genres of poetry-lyric, epic, and drama. Within each major genre, there are sub-genres. In written forms dominated by prose, for example, there is a broad distinction between works of fiction (e.g., the novel) and thematic works (e.g., the essay). Within the fictional category, we note a distinction between novel and romance, and other forms such as satire and confession. The object of making these distinctions in literary tradition is not simply to classify but to judge authors in terms of the conventions they themselves chose.
129. Humor
A humor is a theory used by Ben Jonson in his play writing. A humor, according to the physiology and the psychology of the time, was one of the liquid constituents of the body, each of which had its peculiar emotional propensity. Every character in Jonson’s comedies personifies a definite humor, so his characters are like caricatures.
130. Internal Rhyme
Rhyme within a line, rather than at the beginning (initial rhyme) or end (end rhyme); also, rhyme matching sounds in the middle of a line with sounds at the end.
lier Poets
Cavalier poets were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. They mostly dealt in short songs on the flitting joys of the day, but underneath their light-heartedness lays some foreboding of impending doom. This spirit of pessimism and cynicism is typical of the aristocratic class in decline.
oism
Any reflection of Plato's philosophy, particularly the belief in the eternal reality of ideal forms, of which the diversities of the physical world are but transitory shadows.
