英国文学史名词解释(吴伟仁).doc

英国文学史名词解释（仅供参考） 1. Iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter is a commonly used metrical line in traditional verse and verse drama. The term describes the particular rhythm that the words establish in that line. That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups of syllables are called feet. The word iambic describes the type of foot that is used (in English, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). The word pentameter indicates that a line has five of these feet. 2. Stream of consciousness Stream of consciousness is a narrative mode that seeks to portray an individuals point of view by giving the written equivalent of the characters thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions. Stream-of-consciousness writing is usually regarded as a special form of interior monologue and is characterized by associative leaps in syntax and punctuation that can make the prose difficult to follow. 3. Humanism Humanism is a literary and philosophical view emphasizing humankind as its center concerns. Humanism originated in the Renaissance, the term has been used many ways, but always suggests humanity as the central concern, with the natural world (science) and the spiritual world (religion) valued for their relation to people. 4. Romanticism Roughly the first third of the 19th century makes up English literature’s romantic period. Writers of romantic literature are more concerned with imagination and feeling than with the power of reason. A volume of poems called Lyrical Ballads written by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is regarded as the romantic poetry’s “Declaration of Independence.” Keats, Byron and Shelley, the three great poets, brought the Romantic Movement to its height. The spirit of romanticism also occurred in the novel. 5. Critical Realism Critical Realism is the main trend of the literary thoughts in the late 19th century. It reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of