英美文学作品评论

英美文学作品评论 英国: The Canterbury Tales: It is a masterpiece by Geoffrey Chaucer. It gives a comprehensive picture of Chaucer?s time. The pilgrims cover a wide range of characters in the England of the time, from noblemen to peasants. They represent the whole range of 14th century society except the very top and the very bottom. This kind of a collection of tales put together was not rare in history. However, in The Canterbury Tales, stories are cleverly woven together by links between the stories. Most of the stories are related to the personalities of the tellers. The personality of each character, his private life and habits, his mood and social status are revealed in the prologue and in the story he tells, as well as by his behavior along the road and his remarks on the way. The links between the tales are of great interest. Most important is the part played by the host. He draws the shy ones out , smoothes over the differences, and keep the company generally in good spirits. The Faerie Queen: It is Edmund Sensor?s masterpiece. It was a long poem planned in 12 books, of which only 6 were finished. The book was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. The plan of the whole poem is this: The faerie queen(signifying Queen Elizabeth I) holds a feast of 12 days, and on each day a stranger in distress(不幸) appears, claiming help against a dragon or giant or tyrant. A knight was assigned to each guest, and the 12 books were to describe 12 adventures. Moreover, each knight represents a virtue, as Holiness, Temperance(温和), Chastity(纯洁), Friendship, Justice and Courtesy; and his warfare(战争) represents the strife(冲突) against a contrary vice, as pride or Despair. So the long poem is a continued allegory(寓言). The knights represent England and the devil figures stand for her enemies. Tamburlaine: It is a play by Christopher Marlowe. It is about an ambitious and pitiless(冷酷无情 的) Tartar conqueror in the 14th century who rose from a shepherd(牧羊人) to an overpowering king. By flouting(嘲笑) the given order and trampling(践踏) on despairing princes, Tamburlaine displayed a high-aspiring mind that was self-created and carried by love and dreams beyond the limits of moral existence. His victories were a triumph(胜利)of immense natural energy and of ruthlessness over equally cruel but weak and decadent civilizations. By depicting a great hero with high ambition and sheer brutal force in conquering one enemy after another, Marlowe voiced the supreme desire of the man of the Renaissance for infinite power and authority. Being a cruel conqueror, he finds consummate(至上的) happiness in subduing(征服) other Kingdoms. Hamlet: Hamlet is the most popular and the most discussed of Shakespeare?s tragedies. It bears strong resemblance to a lost earlier Hamlet and to The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd. The greatness of the play lies in the fact that in it Shakespeare expressed his praise of the noble quality of Prince Hamlet as a representative of humanist thinkers and his disillusionment with the corrupt and degenerated society in which he lived. Hamlet?s revenge is not only a personal matter. What troubles him most is the injustice, conspiracy(阴谋), and the betrayal in the society. His father is murdered by his uncle and his mother is married to his uncle right after his father?s death. The marriage of his mother is the first blow(打击)to him as he had regarded her as a virtuous woman. Then, his former friends are dispatched by the king to spy on him. This is a second blow, for as a humanist he sets great store by friendship(以友谊为 重). Then his girlfriend Ophelia is sent as a tool to find out whether or not he is really mad. This is something he can no longer endure. One incident after another seems to reveal to him that the time is “out of joint” and man is not so good as he had imagined. Hamlet would have been a tragedy of “blood and thunder”(充满凶杀情节) if Shakespeare had not imbued(使渗透) the play with the sort of philosophical thinking, this humanistic search for the value of man and the disappointment of such ideals. Of Studies: It is the most popular of Francis Bacon?s 58 essays. It analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies, and how studies exert influence over human character. Being forceful and persuasive, compact(紧凑的)and precise, it reveals to us Bacon?s mature attitude towards learning. Paradise Lost: Milton?s masterpiece, it is a long epic divided into 12 books. It is about Adam and Eve?s disobedience and fall from grace. The original story is taken from Genesis3:1-24 of the Bible. The theme is the “Fall of Man”, i.e. man?s disobedience and the loss of Paradise, with its prime cause——Satan. The poet, through depicting incurrence(遭受) of character in the poem, implied that the British Bourgeois Revolution is doomed to end in failure. The Pilgrim’s Progress: The Pilgrim’s Progress, written by John Bunyan, is the most successful religious allegory in the English language. Its purpose is to urge people to abide by Christian doctrines and seek salvation through constant struggles with their own weaknesses and all kinds of social evils. It is not only about something spiritual but also bears much relevance to the time. Its predominant metaphor——life is a journey——is simple and familiar. There are some main themes. First, knowledge gained through travel: The Pilgrim?s Progress demonstrates that knowledge is gained through travel by portraying Christian and his companions learning from their mistakes on their journey. The pilgrims must advance spiritually as he or she advances geographically. Second, the importance of reading: The importance of reading is emphasized throughout the book because the pilgrims reach salvation and happiness by understanding the Bible. Third, the value of community. Moll Flanders: It was written by Daniel Defoe. It is written in an autobiographical form called memoirs. In Moll Flanders, Defoe introduces, for the first time, a lowly woman as the subject of literature. And it anticipates many later novels that take women as the center of attention in order to expose how the social system has victimized those like Moll. At Defoe? s time, there are many popular novels and stories about the lives of villains or rogues(流氓). However, Moll?s life story is a departure from those, because those novels indulge in dramatizing(使戏剧化) the tricks and immortal schemes the anti-hero or anti-heroine adopts in order to achieve his or her purposes. Therefore, those works remain at the level of mere entertainment literature. Moll Flanders, on the other hand, has entered serious literature with a grave social theme. Tom Jones: Tom Jones is a masterpiece of Henry Fielding on the subject of human nature. There are 18 books divided into 3 parts with 6 in each. The first part describes Tom?s childhood in Mr. Allworthy? s home; the middle one contains adventures on the road to London; and the last tells what happens in London to Tom and Sophia. To Fielding, the countryside represents the basic goodness of human race, whereas the city stands for evil and sin. Therefore, Tom, growing in the countryside under the care of good Mr. Allworthy, is basically an upright young fellow, brave and honest and full of sympathy for the poor and weak. The farther he proceeds to London, the worse he becomes morally, spiritually, and even physically. In London, he degenerates into a kept man of a rich woman, ends up in prison, and is shocked by his alleged (声 称的)incestuous crime(乱伦罪). The School for Scandal: It is Sheridan? s masterpiece. It is written in the tradition of Comedy of Manners. It is a story about two brothers: Joseph Surface and Charles Surface. Charles falls in love with a rich heiress Maria and his love is returned. Joseph, his elder brother is also counting Maria for her fortunes. The play ends with the union of Charles and Maria and the exposure of Joseph?s hypocrisy. It is a sharp satire on the moral degeneracy(堕落)of the aristocratic-bourgeois(贵 族资产阶级) society in the 18th century of England. Sons of Innocence: William Blake? s most well known poems are collected in two collections. They are Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The poems collected in Songs of Innocence express the poet? s delight in life, even in the face of sorrow and suffering. The world is seen through the eyes of a child?s imagination. Blake? s vision of innocence is not that of a child?s only. It is a world that can be attained by the adults if they cast away(丢掉) the follies(罪恶) and deceits(欺 骗) of the hostile world and seek a visionary world through their imagination. In this collection we can have the first glimpse of Blake? s mysticism(神秘主义), which will develop in his later poems. Songs of Experience: William Blake? s most well known poems are collected in two collections. They are Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Songs of Innocence is a collection of poems and songs in which the atmosphere is no longer sunny but sad and gloomy. Evil is found everywhere in this world. Through the loss of imagination, man has become a slave to the falsehood(谎话) and hypocrisy of religion and society, and thus has lost the Heaven of Innocence and gained the Hell of Experience. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage:《恰尔德?哈罗德游记》 It is a lengthy narrative poem by George Gorgon Bryon. It tells a story of a pilgrim?s journey in Europe. The hero was called Childe Harold. He got tired of the meaningless and empty life of pleasure and escaped to seek a spiritual rebirth. Byron reflected the historical events and lamented on the sufferings of people, by which he showed his political and philosophical views. In the poem, Childe Harold was the poet himself; they both lamented over the corrupted reality and wanted to make a change; they loved freedom and were eager to build a marvelous career. The poem is an imaginative and romantic presentation of the poet?s disturbed emotions and eagerness for freedom. It also emphasizes individualism. This marvelous work exhibits Byron? s creative power and prepares him for a more powerful literary breakthrough. Don Juan: It is Byron? s masterpiece. The poem reveals the poet?s attacks on social injustice and political intrigue, on moral degeneracy and personal vices(恶习), as well as his philosophical reflections on his own life and on abstractions. Byron puts into Don Juan his rich knowledge of the world and the wisdom gained from experiences. It presents brilliant depictions of life in his various stages of love, joy, suffering, hatred and fear. The unifying theme in Don Juan is the basic ironic theme of appearance and reality. And the diverse materials and the clash(冲突) of emotions gathered in the poem are harmonized by Byron? s insight into the difference between life?s appearance and its actuality. All these constitute the poet?s unique style. Ode to the West Wind: This poem is most representative of Shelley? s feelings and thoughts at the time. It is a mixture of death and rebirth. Shelley is concerned with the regeneration of himself spiritually and poetically and of Europe politically. He is appealing to the west wind to effect this regeneration. In this poem, Shelley considers wind as “ destroyer and preserver”. It will destroy the old world and herald(通报，预示来临) in a new one. He abhorred(痛恨) the unjust and decayed society and conveyed his hope to build a bright world after wrecking(破坏) the old one through the power of the west wind. He would like to live in a harmonious society. Shelley showed his belief that the wind can destroy the old world and build a new one. He looked forward to the coming of Spring and had an optimistic feeling. On First Looking into Chapman’ s Homer It is the most important of Keats? early sonnets, where with his inimitable(独特的) poetic imagery and concise but rich language Keats first found his ideal world in poetry and art, by exulting over the great epic poetry of the ancient Greek poet Homer. He appreciated Homer?s rich imagination and passion very much. Tess of D’ Urbervilles It is Hardy? s masterpiece. It is the most pastoral(田园生活的)of Hardy? s novels. Its plot centers on the tragic occurrences of its heroine Tess? s life. It is a fierce attack on the hypocritical morality of the bourgeois society and the capitalist invasion into the country and the destruction of English.peasantry towards the end of the 19th century. Dr Faustus: Dr Faustus is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faustus?s story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil in return for power and knowledge. It is adapted by a popular old German legend. The play?s dominant moral is human rather than religious. It celebrates the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness; it also reveals man?s frustration in realizing the high aspirations in a hostile moral order. And the confinement to time is the cruelest fact of man?s condition. The play ends with Faustus? forced surrender(交出)of his soul to the devil after a lapse(消逝) of 24 years. Though the tragic ending suggests that the writer conforms with the orthodox teachings(正统的说教) of the church, the towering figure of Faustus is eloquent(雄辩的) evidence that the author has a will to search the infinite knowledge of life and to express his atheism(无神论) and patriotism. Julius Caesar: Julius Caesar is a historical play written by William Shakespeare. The play is a great one because it is concerned with several themes. One of them is whether one?s life is determined by his fate or by his free will. In Caesar?s case, he recognizes that some things like death are beyond human control, but to live passively(顺从的) is not a hero?s choice. The best course for him is to face death head-on, to die bravely and honorably. Another theme is inflexibility(不屈性)versus comprise. To gain one?s goal, sometimes one need to make some concessions and compromises. If one is as stubborn and inflexible as Caesar and Brutus, one has to pay a heavy price. On the contrary, if one is like Antony who can act according to the circumstances, he would win in the end. On the whole, the play is very enlightening because it provides multiple interpretations. A Modest Proposal: A Modest Proposal is a famous satire written by Jonathan Swift. Assuming the cool tone of an impartial outsider, the author suggests that children of the poor Irish people be sold at one years old as food for the English nobles. Written with much conciseness and terseness, the “proposal” is by far the most consummate(完美的)artistic expression of Swift?s indignation(愤怒)toward the terrible oppression and exploitation of the Irish people by the English ruling class. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud: It is written by William Wordsworth. This poem is about nature. With his pure and poetic language, Wordsworth brings us into a beautiful world where there are daffodils(水仙花)， trees and breeze. We follow the poet at every turn of his feelings. We share his melancholy(忧郁的) and his delight. We come to realize the great power of nature that may influence our life deeply as revealed in the poem. The poem?s main brilliance lies in the reverse personification of its early stanzas. The speaker is compared to a natural object, a cloud——“I wandered as lonely as a cloud”, and the daffodils are personified as human beings. This technique implies an inherent unity between man and nature, making it one of Wordsworth?s most basic and effective methods for instilling(逐渐灌输) in the reader the feeling the poet so often describes himself as experiencing. Ivanhoe: Ivanhoe is one of the best known historical fictions of Walter Scott. The background of Ivanhoe was set in the 12th century England. Since England was conquered by French Norman conqueror William, Anglo-Saxons lived a hard life under the rule of Normans. Richard, the protagonist, was portrayed as a knight. John, Richard? s brother, planned to seize the throne from Richard. Ivanhoe helped Richard to defeat John and restore Richard? s Kingship. The plot here is well constructed, and in the clever interweaving of complex events involving numerous characters we see Scott? s masterly skills in narrative art which has made this novel extremely engrossing(引人入胜的).In a whole, it is a great work of art for here we find the novelist?s truthful representation of the cruelty and inhumanity of feudalism and his sympathy for the people as well as his skills in presenting vivid portraits of characters and ingenious(独创的) arrangement of plots. Bleak House: It is one of Charles Dickens? representative works. Bleak House is chiefly aimed at the abuse of the Chancery courts with its interminable(无止尽的) delays and huge costs. The novel is not merely a attack on the Chancery courts, but also fierce satiric thrusts(刺) at the whole political system in England, particularly at the parliamentary system. The author shows that the legal procedure is the source of profit for the few and the cause of misfortune for the many. Asides from such satires on the law courts and on the parliamentary system, the novel contains an intricate(复杂的) story of an aristocratic woman Lady Dedlock. And through the story the terrible inside of this aristocratic family is also exposed to view, which constitutes a penetrating satire on the aristocratic families whose parasitic (寄生的)existence is described with much contempt by the author, So in the novel there is a distinct note of bitterness and the novel shows the author?s loss of hope for the English society of his age. Vanity Fair: It is William Makepeace Thackeray? s masterpiece. The title Vanity Fair is taken from John Bunyan?s The Pilgrim?s Progress, in which the protagonist Christian passes a Vanity Fair, where are sold all sorts of vanity. The writer?s attention is not to portray individuals, but the bourgeois and aristocratic society as a whole. My Last Duchess: It is one of the most representative of Robert Browning? s dramatic monologues. The poem is based on the true history. The poem is a monologue of the Duke. It comprises rhyming pentameter lines. The nonchalance(冷淡) in the Duke?s tone fully reveals the arrogance and cruelty of an Italian tyrant in the age of the Renaissance. Wuthering Heights: Wuthering Heights is a poem by Emily Bronte. It can be interpreted into a criticism on the bourgeois matrimonial(婚姻的) system. It tells the tale of the passionate, yet thwarted(挫败的) love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them. It is generally considered one of the most original works. In many aspects, it is unique and has no counterparts in mode as well as in manner of writing. For example, the novel contains many Gothic and supernatural elements, which adds its uniqueness. Wuthering Heights is characterized for its poetic language, exaggerated plots and the simple, naked statement of violent emotions. It is like a musical or poetic transcription(抄本) of the violent spirit of Emily Bronte herself. The story is also characterized by its structure. It is told in a paired point of view— —the third person and the first person. In this way, everything seems more truth-like. Heart of Darkness: The novel , written by Joseph Conrad, is based on his trip in Africa up to the Congo River in 1980. The story begins with Marlow telling his story to the other passengers while the ship is lying in anchor(抛锚) at the mouth of the Thames River. Major Barbara: Major Barbara is an important play by George Bernard Shaw. It touches on the fundamental issues of capitalism. Major Barbara is a play about two conflicting ideas. Major Barbara is the daughter of a millionaire named Andrew Undershaft, who was a foundling and a poor boy when young but has become a munition(军需品) magnate(富豪). Barbara wants to save the soul of the poor, and she has joined the Salvation Army(救世军)，a kind of religious faction, which is organized like the army. In the character of Undershaft are exposed the essential characteristics of monopoly capitalists with bitter satire. This is Shaw?s chief contribution in his play. But beyond the satire there is nothing. In spite of the satire on capitalism, Shaw suggests no way out and seems to get confused about what to do next. As a conclusion, he suggests a certain kind of compromise Ulysses: Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce. The title parallels and alludes to Odysseus, the hero of Homer?s Odyssey. The use of stream of consciousness, careful structuring, puns, allusions, as well as its rich characteristics and broad humor, made the book a highly regarded novel in the modernist pantheon.(名流群) The novel tells of the wanderings and “adventures” of Leopold Bloom, a modern Ulysses, during 24 hours of a single day. The whole novel is divided into 18 episodes in correspondence with the 18 hours of the day. With great many varieties and minute details, Ulysses embodies a symbolic picture of all human history, which simultaneously tragic and comic, heroic and trivial, magnificent(华丽的) and dreary. Look Back in Anger: It is a play by John Osborne. The play spawned(造成) the term “ angry young men” to describe Osborne and those of his generation who employed harshness(严肃) and realism in the theater in contrast to the more escapist fare previously seen. Waiting for Godot: It is Samuel Beckett?s masterpiece. In the play Beckett is discussing the absurdity of human life. He is exploring an answer to such question as “Who am I?”, or “What am I living for?” but in this world of absurdity he cannot find the answer. The play told that two tramps waited for Godot. Godot?s absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, has led to many different interpretations since the plays premiere. What is the meaning of the play? Who is Godot? Why are they waiting? All these questions puzzle the reader. The message of the play may be like this. At the bottom, life is cynical. It is spiraling(盘旋的) downward. In either case life seems repetitious(重复的), empty, boring, with no meaning in the sense of “purpose” or “progress”. Lord of the Flies: It is a novel by William Golding, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It tells the story about the fate of a group of English schoolboys who are marooned(放逐) and become isolated on an island, which is an allegory about the tragedy of human nature. The Picture of Dorain Gray: It is Oscar Wilde „s masterpiece. This is the representative work which reflects his artistic view, especially the principle of “art for art?s sake”. It touches upon a typical Victorian subject——the divided self(自我分裂) . The symbolic significance of the story is self-evident. 美国: The Autobiography: It could be seen as the representative work of Franklin, which has great impact on American literature. From the content, it is probably the first kind of autobiography in the history of American literature. It records the author?s rising from poverty or humble beginnings to success, including his studying in his young age and his experiences of work. And his achievement in politics, science and economy are also mentioned in this book. It is an early example of American dream. And from then on, people can think that they may write a book about his own life and make it useful to others. The whole book is filled with the style of Puritanism. The moralities of hard-will, self-education, self-retrospect, self-analysis and self- reliance are clearly seen from The Autobiography. And all these are the characteristics of Puritans. It teaches people how to be self-cultivated, how to be self-reliant and how to serve the God well. The Wild Honey Suckle: It is one of Philip Freneau?s most important works. This poem gives the reader of a simple and ordinary image——the wild honey suckle. It grows in the remote place and nobody even notices it. The poet is sorry for the short life of the honey suckle which even can not be traceable when it dies. The diction used in the poem is simple and direct. The imagery is sensuous. This poem celebrated the beauty of the countryside of the new continent by appreciating the common flower which grew up in America, contrasting the usual flower images in the Britain literature ever before. From then on, many writers found some useful materials in the American history and their eyes did not always focus on the Britain and European continent. The Raven: The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. This poem depicts the scene that the speaker talks to a raven. The raven can speak a word “nevermore” which interests the speaker. The speaker?s mind wanders back to his lover. All of the questions he intended to ask the raven indicated the speaker?s loss. And at last the speaker’s nerve can not handle grieve of the loss of his lover and breaks down. From the poem we can feel that the speaker?s anxiety and the trend of suddenly going to outbreak. The poem is pervaded with the atmosphere of the speaker?s dreamy imagination. It is more likely that the speaker is talking to the raven in his semi-stupor mental state (半昏迷状态)than in his sober mental state(清醒状态). The poem makes use of a number of folk, mythological(神话的), religious, and classical references. Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically(有 方法 快递客服问题件处理详细方法山木方法pdf计算方法pdf华与华方法下载八字理论方法下载 的), intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes. The American Scholar: The American Scholar was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his work Nature, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling(羽翼未丰的) society to regard the world. Sixty years after declaring independence, American culture was still heavily influenced by Europe, and Emerson, for possibly the first time in the country's history, provided a visionary philosophical framework for building a new, distinctly American cultural identity. Emerson uses Transcendentalist and Romantic views to get his points across by explaining a true American scholar's relationship to nature. In The American Scholar, Emerson is trying to say that “we Americans should stop imitating other countries in literature and we ought to create a way of our own”. It is a sign that American is trying to be away from the British or Europe influence and at the same time makes their own literature style——to be more specific——and set up their own American national characteristics. The Scarlet Letter: It is the masterpiece of Nathaniel Hawthorne, which established him as the leading American native novelist of the 19th century. The letter A initially is a sign of adultery(通奸) and penitence(赎罪), as the community sees the letter as a mark of just punishment and a symbol to deter(阻止) others from sin. Hester is a fallen woman with a symbol of her guilt. Later, when she becomes a frequent visitor in homes of pain and sorrow, the A is seen to represent “Able” or “Angel”. It has rejuvenated Hester. Its immortal enchantment(魅力) lies in not only its condemnation of the negative impact of Puritan society on people?s spirit, but also its affirmation of goodness. The novel aims at criticizing severely Puritanical asceticism(苦行主义), suggesting Hawthorne?s further thinking over the “original sin” “good and evil” “soul salvation” “total depravity” by analyzing the four main characters in the novel. The novel concerns the consequence caused by the sin and people?s attitude towards sin rather than the sin itself. He believes man can do good deeds to get rid of evil in his heart. Hester Prynne: The writer gives her some symbolic meanings by giving her this name. Hester sounds like Hestier, Zeu?s sister in Greek Mythology, who is a very beautiful goddess. This gives us a sense that Hester is a passionate beautiful woman. In this novel, she is the symbol of the truth, the goodness and the beauty. Arthur Dimmesdale: He is a well-regarded young minister, who initials are AD, which also stands for adultery. The author obviously tells us Arthur Dimmesdale is the pratner in sin of Hester Prynne by giving him this name. The word Dimmesdale also has symbolic meanings. Dim means dark and weak, and dale means valley, so the dimdale here is actually a symbol of the dim-interior of the lergyman. He loves Hester deeply, and he is the father of Pearl, but he can only show his passion for her in the forest or in darkness. His response to the sin is to die. A Psalm of Life: It is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?s most famous poem that encourages people to persevere(坚持)despite tragedy , to affirm life, to pick up courage from losses and to push ahead for all momentary defeats. It is a poem in which a young man entreats(恳 求) a psalmist(and readers) not to be optimistic, but to muster courage in adversity(逆境). Walden: It is Henry David Thoreau?s masterpiece, which is a great Transcendentalist work . The book is full of people waking up: as a matter of fact, he wakes up several times himself in the book. He records how he tries to minimize his own needs on Walden Pond. Thoreau was never tired of staying alone in nature. Walden is a faithful record of his reflections when he was in solitary communion with nature, an eloquent(雄辩的) indication that he not only embraced Emerson? s Transcendentalist philosophy but went even further to illustrate the pantheistic(泛神论的) quality of nature. Walden is a book about man, what he is , and what he should be and must be. Thoreau has faith in the inner virtue and inward, spiritual grace of man. He holds that the most important thing for men to do with their lives is to be self-sufficient and strive to achieve personal spiritual perfection. The fact that he moved into his shabby cabin illustrates his desire to be independent and find truth for himself. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a fiction by Mark Twain. The books relates the escape of Jim from slavery and more important, how Huck Finnm floating along with him and helping him, changes his mind, his prejudice about Black people, and comes to accept Jim as a man and as a close friend as well. Mark Twain starts the tradition of writing in colloquial way and using the dialect. He prefers simple language and sometimes there are even ungrammatical errors in the text. This practice narrows down the distance between readers and literature. By setting the novel before the Civil War, the novel reveals the hypocrisy(虚伪) of the “civilized” society and the cruelty done to the Black people. Contrary to people?s expectations, the white people depicted in the novel are mostly corrupted while the black people are represented by Jim are compassionate and humane. Although slavery has long been abolished, it notes that prejudice against the African race still exists. In this aspect, the novel has a far-reaching influence over today?s racism. Overall, this novel is far beyond being a child?s adventure story; it has many historical and literary values. Huckleberry Finn: Huckleberry Finn, the novel?s hero. He is a little uneducated outcast white boy of about the age of 13. He is taught by the white society to hate the black people, but his instinct and his experience along the river forces him to question that teaching. In this aspect, the author highlights instinct over knowledge and nature over culture. Jim: Jim runs away from his owner for the pursuit of his freedom. Jim is very humane. He cares about his family and looks after Huck as his own son. He is moral and noble and makes us a question the so-called white superiority. In a Station of the Metro: It is a poem by Ezra Pound. This poem is based on a real experience which pound has had in the Paris metro. He goes down into the metro and suddenly sees beautiful faces. And then he records that instant feeling in the poem. Following the rules of imagism poetry, this poem has the feature of concreteness and conciseness. There are only 14 words in the poem. The word apparition is carefully chosen. The people in the dim light subway rush to go their ways. So the poet does not really see the faces of these people, which suggests the fast speed of the modern life. The Red Wheelbarrow: The red wheelbarrow is a poem by William Carlos Williams. This poem is quite simple and it only has 16 words. But the poet passes to the readers some unique understandings through the structure of the poem and the choice of the images. First, the structure of the poem: this poem is in fact a sentence which is divided into four groups. It is odd that this sentence does not have the subject. We can assume that the poet leaves the readers a gap for their imagination. Everyone can have different interpretations toward the subject. Second, the images of the poem: the writer selects three images “red wheelbarrow”, “rain water” and “white chickens”. All these constitute a beautiful and pleasant picture for the readers with colors and light——the barrow is red, the chicken is white and the water is glazed. It is also a usual and common circumstance in the country because of the farm tools and the domestic animals. The choice of the images in this poem accords with Williams? poetic theory, that is ,we must root our poetry in the everyday life or the real life. At last we can assume that Williams is trying to reveal the truths of the life to readers, which are basically the farm tools and some domestic animals. They are the essential core of the human life. The Grapes of Wrath: The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited(引 用) prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize. The novel is one of the major American books. The title of the book comes from a war song of the Civil War. A story of the migration of agricultural workers from the dust bowl of Oklahoma to California, the novel is full of bitterness and pain but not exactly despair. The novel helped in great measure toward increasing the nation?s awareness of the seriousness of its problems. The reading of the book can be a very odd experience. One sees the Depression spreading devastation and desolation, the dispossessed(失去产业的) and the wretched (可怜的)walking the earth like so many condemned souls in Hell, and the worst of human nature in its uncontrolled and uncontrollable manifestations. One senses despair as one reads along, and sees no prospect of compensation for all this earthly suffering until one reaches the last chapter of the book. Death of a Salesman: Death of a Salesman is a play by Arthur Miller. This play was about a salesman Willy Loman who had his career in New York. There was much flashback of Willy in the play. It use flashbacks to present Willy’s memory during the reality. The illusion not only “suggests the past, but also presents the lost pastoral(田园的) life.” Willy has dreamed of success his whole life and makes up lies about his and Biff’s success. The more he indulges in the illusion, the harder it is for him to face reality. Biff is the only one who realizes that the whole family lived in the lies and tries to face the truth. The language in this drama is conversational and simple. It is just like the every day use of language in the typical American household. Also this play deals with the important Miller?s theme, which is the relation between the family and the work. The American Dream is the theme of the play, but everyone in the play has their own way to describe their American Dreams. Catch-22: Catch-22 is a satirical novel by the American author Joseph Heller. The novel tells a story of a pilot soldier Yossarian in WWII. His task is to accomplish a certain number of flying missions. But his superior keeps raising the number using one military rule catch-22. It mainly describes every effort the protagonist has made for his escape from the catch-22 and ultimately from the war. However, Catch-22 is an abstract thing. Yossarian later believes that Catch-22 does not really exist. It is a trap(圈套)made up of words, and words are faulty things, often misrepresenting reality. What is so upsetting about the way Catch-22 is applied throughout the novel is that real men are sent into real peril(危险)based on a few unreal and unreliable words. Many events in the book are repeatedly described from differing points of view, so the reader learns more about each event from each iteration. Heller uses Yossarian?s situation as a means to satirize and criticize the military and dehumanizing bureaucracies(官僚机构) in general. Herzog: It is one the masterpieces of Saul Bellow. Saul Bellow presents a multifaceted portrait of a modern-day hero, a man struggling with the complexity of existence and longing for redemption. The story is told entirely from Herzog's point of view. The character of Herzog in many ways echoes a fictionalized Saul Bellow. The letters that Moses writes to "newspapers, to people in public life, to friends and relatives and at last to the dead" appear in almost every chapter in the novel. These letters illustrate Moses' attempt to put the world around him in some kind of order. He talks and talks and writes and writes, trying to iron out(消除) the contradictions that exist in his philosophy, his life, and the life of others. There are many symbols in the novel. Moses' house in the country is symbolic of Moses himself and of the themes of the novel. The house is burdensome, isolated, and filled with memories.Moses, like the house, is burdensome, isolated, and plagued by memories, but the beauty of the world surrounds him. Catcher in the Rye: Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J?D Salinger. It is a controversial novel originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage angst(焦虑) and alienation. The Catcher in the Rye is narrated in a subjective style from the point of view of Holden Caulfield. It is a painful story of a high-school boy growing up in the world of descent New York. Holden prefers to retreat into his own imaginary view of the world rather than deal with the complexities of the world around him. He has a cynical, oversimplified(过于 简单化的) view of other people, and a large part view of his fantasy world is based on the idea that children are simple and innocent while adults are superficial and hypocritical. His Catcher in the rye fantasy reflects his innocence, his belief in pure, uncorrupted youth, and his desire to protect that spirit; on the other hand, it represents his extreme disconnection from reality and his naive(天真的)view of the world. Invisible Man: Invisible Man is a novel by Ralph-Ellison. Invisible Man is a highly symbolic and existential novel which deals with a nameless southern Negro who leaves the South to Harlem only to find that he is not seen as a fully individual person but a creation of the eyes which look at him. Moreover, both blacks and whites ignore his individuality, and his invisibility is both a plight(困境) and a device. The story is told with intensity. The characters are strongly simply drawn. They are often types, often exaggerations(夸张). Based on a set of symbols on the conscious use of myth, and on historical allusions, the novel presents the traditional theme of the search for identity and self-realization. Therefore, it is not a racial novel, but a novel about the existentialist crisis of modern man. Ellison identified his black protagonist to symbolize all people in a dehumanized society with their aspirations and frustrations. The Glass Menagerie: The Glass Menagerie is a play by Tennessee Williams. The Glass Menagerie is a pessimistic, even morbid(病态) play about a fallen southern family living in a slum struggling to survive physically and spiritually in the late 1930s. The play?s pathos(痛苦) arises first from the breakdown of a traditional southern way of life, obsessively(着迷的) recalled by the silly bewildered mother, and second from the isolation of the small family-the son imprisoned in a dreary dead-end job and the daughter unable to face life. Evidently, the play examines the theme of illusion versus reality. Howl: Howl is a poem by Allen Ginsberg. In Howl, Ginsberg celebrates his fellow “angelheaded hipsters”and excoriates(严厉 责难) what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States. Howl was written in long, tumbling (歪斜状的)lines in the poetic tradition of Blake and Whitman. Ginsberg tried to present his ideas as they were actually thought in rapid visual images. The poem?s casualness an spontaneity (自发 性)conceal(隐藏) and grow out of Ginsberg? s care and self-consciousness about rhythm and meter. The Ambassadors: It is a novel by Henry James. It is a comedy of American and European manners. It is one of the masterpieces of Jame?s final period. It follows the trip of the protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether to Europe in pursuit of Chad, his widowed fiancee?s supposedly wayward son, to bring the young man back to the family business, but he encounters unexpected complications. The Red Badge of Courage: The Red Badge of Courage is a novel by Stephen Crane set in the period of the Civil War. The basic theme of the animal man in a cold , manipulating world runs through the whole book. Here Crane is looking into man?s primitive emotions and trying to tell the elemental truth about human life. In this novel, war is seen as a force moving men ruthlessly and blindly as if they were pawns on a chess-board(棋盘上的棋子). Crane?s debunking(揭露) of war has a singularly modern touch about it. Against the romantic view of war as a symbol of courage and heroism, Crane talks about war in alarming(惊人的) honesty. War is a plain slaughter-house(屠宰场). There is nothing like heroism on the battlefield, and if there is anything, it?s fear of death, cowardice, the natural instinct of man to run from danger. By de-romanticizing war and and heroism, Crane initiated(开创) the modern tradition of telling the truth at all costs about the elemental human situation, and writing about war as a real human experience. This was an event of a revolutionary nature both in theme and technique, one which was bound to produce a far-reaching on later writers. Sister Carrie: Sister Carrie is a novel by Theodore Dreiser about a young girl who moves to Chicago where she starts realizing her own American dream by first becoming a mistress to men that she perceives as superior and later as a famous actress. With a painstaking documentation of detail, Dreiser portrays three different worlds in which Sister Carrie moves and which among them offer a view of the crude and the savage aspects of social life. These include her sister?s working class existence, her life with Druet in Chicago, and with Hurstwood in New York. Alone and hopeless, Sister Carrie moves along like a mechanism driven by desire and catches blindly at any opportunities for a better existence. A feather in the wind , she is totally at the mercy of forces she cannot comprehend, still less to stay control. Nature: Ralph Waldo Emerson is the leading New England Transcendentalist, and his wok Nature is regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism. And it has been called “ the manifesto of American Transcendentalism”. In Nature Emerson puts forward that behind every phenomenon of the nature there was the spirit of it. To Emerson?s eyes, the physical world is vitalistic and evolutionary, and nature is, emblematic(象征的)of God. It mediates between man and God. He presents his transcendental view about the universe, its origin, present condition and final destiny in Nature. He divides nature into four usages: Commodity, Beauty, Language and Discipline. These distinctions define the ways by which humans use nature for their basic needs, their desire for delight, their communication with one another and their understanding of the world. By sating “the universe is composed of nature and soul” and “spirit is present everywhere”, he holds the view that spirit involves man?s mind and the nature, and material is the symbol of spirit. So man?s transcendent effect should be unleashed.(不受约束) The last of the Mohicans: It is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales and the best known to contemporary audiences. It is an adventure story of the protagonist Natty Bumppo. Natty Bumppo at that time is in his thirties, and he joins the force with Chingachgook and Chingachgook?s son to save the life of the daughter of the fort?s commanding officer . These characters are sometimes seen as a microcosm(微观世界) of the budding American society, particularly with regards to their racial composition. It depicts some interesting chase moments on the lakes and the mountains and the forests. The Last of the Mohicans was praised at the time for its nonstop adventure, realism, and complex plotting, and using historical sources. The Leatherstocking Tales: The Leatherstocking Tales is a series of five novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, including The Deerslayer, The last of Mohicans, The pathfinder, The pioneers, The prairie. The novels feature the main hero Natty Bumppo, known by European settlers as "Leatherstocking," 'The Pathfinder", and "the trapper" and by the Native Americans as "Deerslayer," "La Longue Carabine" and "Hawkeye". Natty Bumppo is the protagonist of the series. Although he is the child of white parents, he grew up with native Americans, becoming a near-fearless warrior skilled in many weapons, one of which is the long rifle. He respects his forest home and all its inhabitants, hunting only what he needs to survive. When it comes time to fire his trusty flintlock, he lives by the rule, “one shot, one kill”. He and his Mohican “brother” Chingachgook champion goodness by trying to stop the incessant(不断的) conflict between the Mohicans and the Hurons. Moby Dick: Moby Dick is often considered as “the Great American Novel” and one of the treasures of world literature. In Moby Dick, Melville employs stylized language, symbolism, and metaphor to explore numerous complex themes. Through the main character?s journey, the concepts of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of gods are all examined as Ishmael speculates upon his personal beliefs and his place in the universe. Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville?s bleak(无希望的) view of the world in which he lived. It is at once Godless and purposeless. Man in this universe lives a meaningless and futile(无用的) life, meaningless because of futile. Man can observe and even manipulate in a prudent way, but he cannot influence and overcome nature at its source. He must, ultimately, place himself at the mercy of nature. Once he attempts to seek power over it he is doomed. A Farewell to Arms: A Farewell to Arms is a novel written by Ernest Hemingway set during the Italian campaign of World War I. The book is a first-person account of American Frederic Henry, serving as Lieutenant(中尉)in the ambulance corps of the Italian Army. The story focuses on a romance between him and Catherine Barkley against the backdrop(背景) of WWI ——cynical soldiers, fighting and the displacement of populations. The publication of this, Hemingway?s bleakest novel(色彩阴郁的小说), cemented(增加)his stature(高度)as a modern American writer, became his first best-seller. In this novel, the ambivalent feelings about the war——resentful of the terrible destruction it causes and doubtful of the glory it supposedly brings are clearly expressed by the main characters. Through this novel, Hemingway suggests that war is nothing more than the dark and murderous extension of a world that refuses to acknowledge, protect, or to preserve true love. The Waste Land: The Waste Land is the best-known poem by T?S Eliot and being revised by Ezra Pound. It has five parts: The burial of the dead, A Game of Chess, The Fire Sermon, Death by Water, What the Thunder Said. It has been called “one of the most important poems of the 20th century”. It?s a long poem of 433 lines, namely free verse with occasional snatches of rhyme and with many quoted lines in German, French, Italian and references and allusions to English writers as Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton and Goldsmith. It is a landmark in English poetry , ending the Romantic period and signifying the emergence of Modernism. The Great Gatsby: The Great Gatsby is a masterpiece by F?Scott Fitzgerald. The novel embodies the disillusionment of the American Dream. The story deals with human aspiration to start over again. Using elements of irony and tragic ending, it also delves into themes of excesses of the rich, and recklessness(轻率)of youth. Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque: Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque is a collection of 25 stories by Edgar Allan Poe. The “melancholy” is to be the tone of the story. For Whom the Bell Tolls: For Whom the Bell Tolls is one of the masterpieces of Ernest Hemingway. In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel. It tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat. Greater in power, broader in scope,and more intensely emotional than any of the author's previous works, it stands as one of the best war novels of all time. Leaves of Grass: Leaves of Grass which is a masterpiece by Walt Whitman is a landmark for the American poetry, to some extent. The poems include Song of Myself, There was a child went forth, Passage to India, and so on. The epic has profundity(深度) in its themes, such as the democracy, the death, the vast land of west and equality, etc. The Octopus: It is a novel by Frank Norris. It describes the raising of wheat in California, and conflict between the wheat growers and a railway company. It depicts the tension between the corrupt railroad and the ranchers(大农场工人) . The book emphasized the control of “forces”such as wheat and railroads over individuals. The Road Not Taken: It is a poem by Robert Frost. The roads symbolize the two choices of one?s own life. The poem clearly demonstrates Frosts belief that it is the road that one choose that makes the man who he is.