美国文学 选择题 诗歌分析题 有答案(8)

很有用的 美国文学选读 自考本科资料 试题

3. "We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess---in the Ring---

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain----

We passed the Setting Sun---”

Questions:

1) Please identify the poem and the poet;2) What does "the School, the Fields of Gazing Grain and the Setting Sun" stands for?

Answers:

1) The lines are from "Because I could not stop fro Death", Emily Dickinson. (P523)

2) It stands for three stages of life: the School----youth;

the Fields of Gazing Grain----mature period;

the Setting Sun------end of life. (P523)

4. "The Eyes around---had wrung them dry---

And breaths were gathering firm

For that last Onset----when the King

Be witnessed---in the Room----"

Questions:

1) What is the meaning of the first line? 2) What does "the King" refer to? 3) What idea does the poem from which this stanza is taken express?

Answers:

1) It means the relatives and friends had cried and cried so that there were no tears any more. (P521)

2) "The King" refers to the God of death. (P521) 3) The poem expresses that the author even imagined her own death, the loss of her own body, and the journey of her soul to the unknown. (P518)

III. Questions and answers:

1. What are the main ideas of Realists of America?

Answer:

The harsh life and disillusion from the dark memories of the Civil War made the nation dislike the romance, the new generation of writers came up with new inspirations:

1) They were interested in the realities of life. It aimed at the interpretation of the actuality of any aspect of life;

2) People’s attention was now directed the interesting features/things of everyday existence/things -something brutal, sordid/mean, class struggle etc.

3) The authors introduced common people such as: industrial workers and farmers, ambitious businessmen, vagrants, prostitutes/street girls, and unheroic soldiers in fiction;

4) American writers displayed native trends in portrayal of the landscape ad social surface realistically;

5) They formed perfect vernacular style in language;

6) Some authors explored and exploited/used the literary possibilities of the interior life/psychology, such as Henry James;

7) The representatives were: Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells;

In short, they set the example and pictured the future course for the modernism. (in the subject, themes, techniques, and styles of fiction) 美国文学 单选题 诗歌分析题 8 (P472---474)