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英语语言文学专业
文学部分（50分）
1. William the Conqueror and his achievements
2. the five-act structure of Shakespeare’s play
3. denotation and connotation
4. gothic novel
5. Ralph Waldo Emerson and his works
Questions 1 to 6 are based on the following poem by Edmund Spencer.
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away;
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
“Vain man,” said she, “that does in vain assay.
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And also my name be wiped out likewise.”
“Not so,” said I, “let baser things devise,
To die in dust, but you shall live in fame:
My verses your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in heavens write your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.”
1. What happens to what the speaker has written in the first four lines? What is the young woman’s response to what he has done?
2. In Lines 9–14, what does the speaker say his verses will do? What does the speaker say will live after death has “subdued” all the world?
3. To what time is the speaker referring in the last two lines? With what belief is he associating his love?
4. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?
5. Spencer uses alliteration in this poem. Please give two examples of alliteration in the poem. Why does he use alliteration?
6. What is the theme of the poem?
Questions 7 to 10 are based on the several stanzas from Edgar Allen Poe’s poem The Raven .
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—
“Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor
Eagerly I wished the morrow; —vainly I had sought to horrow
From my hooks surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door— This it is, and nothing more.”
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door—
Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”
Merely this and nothing more.
7. In Stanza 1, what is the speaker doing when he first hears the tapping? What doe he seek “to borrow”in Stanza 2?
8. What does the speaker say “to still the beating” of his heart? What does the speaker see when he opens the door?
9. What does the speaker whisper?
10. Paraphrase the first five stanzas of the poe.
1. William the Conqueror and his achievements
William the Conqueror was Duke of Normandy from 1035 and King of England from 1066 to death. To claim the English crown, William invaded England in 1066, leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest. His reign, which brought Norman culture to England, had an enormous impact on the subsequent course of England in the Middle Ages. In addition to political changes, his reign also saw changes to English law, a program of building and fortification, changes to the vocabulary of the English language, and the introduction of continental European feudalism into England.
2. the five-act structure of Shakespeare’s play
Most of Shakespeare’s plays are in the format of 5 acts. Act 1 is the exposition, in which the dramatis personae are presented, and time and place are established. We learn about the antecedents of the story. Act 2 is the complications in which the course of action becomes more complicated, the “tying of knots” takes place. Act 3 is the climax of action in which the development of conflict reaches its high point. Act 4 is reversals where the consequences of Act 3 play out, momentum slows, and tension is heightened by false hopes or fears. Act 5 is the catastrophe in which the conflict is resolved, whether through a catastrophe, the downfall of the hero, or through his victory and transfiguration. The format of five-act play is common in Shakespeare’s plays, and is grounded in the concepts of unity in Aristotle’s Poetics .
3. denotation and connotation
Denotation and connotation are two principal methods of describing the meanings of words.Denotation of a word is the thing in the real world the word is linked to, and it is the precise, literal definition of a word. Connotation of a word refers to the emotional meaning or associated meaning that a word may carry.
4. gothic novel
Gothic novel is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance.Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his novel The Cattleof Otranto. The gothic novels always include the following elements: the setting in a cattle, an atmosphere of mystery and suspense, an ancient prophecy, omens, portents, supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events,high, even overwrought emotion, women in distress or threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male, and the metonymy of gloom and horror. The gothic novel has influenced the novel, the short story,poetry and even film-making up to the present day.
5. Ralph Waldo Emerson and his works
Emerson is an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-l9th century. He is acclaimed as one of the major writers of the 19th century, one of the most stimulating American minds. His writing falls into two types: essay and poetry, and his fame came mainly from his essays. Among his best are Nature and The American Scholar and Self-Reliance.Nature has been called “the manifesto of American transcendentalism”; The American Scholar has been regarded as “America’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence.”
1. What happens to what the speaker has written in the first four lines? What is the young woman’ s response to what he has done?
In this poem, the speaker wrote his beloved’s name on the sand, but it was washed away by the tide. He wrote her name again, but again the tide washed it away. The young woman then told him that he was working in vain, because it is impossible to make something immortal that is not meant to be immortal.
2. In Lines 9–14, what does the speaker say his verses will do? What does the speaker say will live after death has “subdued” all the world?
The speaker says his verses can eternize the virtues of his lover and write her name in heaven. So in this way, he believes the love between them can live after death has “subdued” all the world.
3. To what time is the speaker referring in the last two lines? With what belief is he associating his love?
In the last two lines, the time the speaker refers to is the end of the world, when death takes all lives of the world. And he believes his love is the only thing that can survive death and renew the life.
4. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?
The rhyme scheme of this sonnet is abab bcbccdcd ee , which mirrors the motion of the waves Spenser describes crashing continually against the strand.
5. Spencer uses alliteration in this poem. Please give two examples of alliteration in the poem. Why does he use alliteration?
The alliteration can be found in these lines: “But came the waves and washed it away”, and“My verses your virtues rare shall eternize”. Waves and washed,verses and virtues are in alliteration.Alliteration in this sonnet serves two purposes: it is pleasing to the ear; then it emphasizes the words in which it occurs. The words wave,wash,verse andvirtue are the keys for us to understand the theme of this poem.
6. What is the theme of the poem?
The theme of this poem is clear: No matter how short life is, the poem can immortalize love and life.
7. In Stanza 1, what is the speaker doing when he first hears the tapping? What does he seek “to borrow” is Stanza 2?
In the first stanza, the speaker is pondering and nodding when he hears the tapping. He seeks to borrow “surcease of sorrow” from the book, that is to say, he wishes to forget the pain and sadness for the loss of a girl by reading books.
8. What does the speaker say “to still the beating” of his heart? What does the speaker see when he opens the door?
To still the beating of his heart, the speaker says repeatedly “Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door/ Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door” His words mean some visitor wants to come into his house. But when he opens the door, he sees nothing but darkness.
9. What does the speaker whisper?
The speaker whispers the name of a departed girl—Lenore.
10. Paraphrase the first five stanzas of the poe
It is a boring midnight. While I was tired, I was reading a strange and old collection of folklore,and while I dozed off, almost to the nap stage, I heard this weird tapping. It sounded like someone was knocking at the door. I thought it was nothing but a visitor.
It was bleak in December, nasty weather. The fire cast strange shadows on the floor. I suddenly wished it was the next day already. I had been reading, in an attempt to stop my thoughts, and to stop my broken heart for my lost love. Her name was Lenore. She was a very beautiful woman whom the angels named, but she was no longer with us, as she was dead.
The curtains blew with a draft of air, and it scared the living hell out of me, all kinds of strange ideas and terrors came into my head. I kept repeating to myself that it was just the visitor at the door,nothing else.
Then I found some courage, stopped stalling, and said “You didn’t knock loud enough. I’m sorry I didn’t hear you the first time! Because I was sleepy and your knock was not loud enough.” and then I opened the door. But there was only the dark of night, no one was there.
I stood in the darkness for a long time, wondering, fearing and doubting. I imagined the most horrible thing, but there was nothing but silence and darkness outside the door. I whispered the name of Lenore, and someone murmured the same word, just like an echo to my whisper, and that is the only sound I heard.