第一篇：美國文學讀后感

About Writing

Experience and thinking makes a great writer is what I learned from the book “History and Anthology of American Literature”.Traveling and adventure to the literature creation is what source to a river.Those writers who are popular around the world all have tremendous experience which are deeply influence their literature achievements.A book always reflects the background of the time, the trend of the society and the movement of the new thinking.Only people who involve themselves in the stream of history and observe the subtle change of the events can create great works.Ralph Waldo Emerson is the leader of Transcendentalism and famous in literature circle.He is an American but he travelled to Europe, spending most of his time in Italy and England which are helpful to his work.Herman Melville's adventure led to his literature career.A writer with few life experience is just like a dying well which can't produce water.There is an old saying that experience is our life treasure and we get it at the cost of time and youth.If experiences are the bricks of a literature, then thinking is the concrete which makes the bricks together and in a shape.No matter how many material a person has, they are dead before analysing and assembling.The reason why writers are knowledgeable and sensitive is that they would dig into the events while others just stay on the surface.Writers always learn from each other and argue if they come into conflicts.one can't make a carriage at home without learning from others.It is the same that Sharing ideas with others is powerful than thinking by oneself.It's hard to be a writer acknowledged by the public.Many writers fail to publish their works or are refused by thousands of magazines.Some are even pool and notorious through the whole life, but their books become popular years after they die.Then people begin to pay attention to these unknown writers.The works are still the works when they are alive, but why there's such a big difference?

Opportunity or the trend of the time in another way is the point.People are not enlightened at that time to discover the great works or the works didn't match the taste of the time.A small fact will have an impact on the sales of a book.Once a book is well selling, other books of the writer will be popular soon.Then writer will run out of success though he is nothing before.It comes to question what's the purpose of writing.Some writers devote their whole life to literature, however, the works can't support their daily life.As a result some give up because literature can't provide them with reputation and property.But probably they will be success in the future.If people write for the sake of writing, they would feel satisfied in spirit regardless of the poverty in material.On the contrary, if people write in order to seek for fame, they won't last long and will fade gradually in the rive of history.We admire the great writers not only because of their excellent writing, but also because of their pure pursuit for literature.Reading books is communicating with great thinkers in the world, absorbing their deep thought and broadening our horizon.Once i chatted with my friend about literature and we argue on the point of the purpose of writing.I believed that writing is to enlighten people and makes them more wise.While my friend insisted that writers are just expressing their feelings and complaining.They wouldn't think about the enlightenment or education.To some extent, I agree with my friend, but in object they do have enlightenment function and there're some examples like Helen Kaller.Through conversation I find that the meaning of literature is sharing ideas with great writers and people around us.Books will die as the time passes by, but the great minds will shinning forever.

第二篇：美國文學 老人與海讀后感 英文版

美國文學史 論文

On Character of the Old Man in 《The Old

Man and the Sea》

Name：Wang Jianye Student ID：161310322

Abstract: He is a man who can be destroyed but cannot be defeated.But what makes he can do this,or in other word what character does he have?As far as I am concerned the most important character is that he never give up.And the most appropriate word to describe the old man I can thing out is touch.Yes,he's a tough guy.Key Words: the old man;character;touch;can not be defeated,touch guy.Body: After I read the book that is called “The old man and the sea”,I was deeply moved by the old man and his spirit.This book talked about such a story, old fisherman Santiago de Cuba consecutive 84 days did not catch the fish, was another loser as a fisherman, but he was persistent, and finally caught a big marlin large

美國文學史 論文

Marlins his boat dragged on for three days at sea, exhausted, was tied to the boat he was killed on one side, and then Return Journey repeatedly been shark attacks, he has exhausted all means to counterattack.Back to Hong Kong only the head and a fish tail spine.Although the fish have bitten gone, but whatever can not destroy the will of his bravery.Santiago was old just as Hemingway said “Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.” He think every day is a new day.No matter how old he is.He said “It’s better to be lucky.But I would rather be exact.Then when luck comes you are ready.”

Santiago was poor;he had nothing except a little boat and harpoon.But he said “Now is no time to think of what you do not have.Think of what you can do with what there is.”

Santiago was alone.Mandolin can not go to sea with him because of his parents.He catches fishes alone.He fights with sharks alone.He can talk to nobody except himself.No one will help him.But even though he faced hungry;weary and difficulty alone, he does not give up.Why the old man persists to take dentuso back.It’s so dangerous to fight with sharks.He is so brave and persevering.“But a man is not made for defeat” he said “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”Yes,he's a tough cookie.2 美國文學史 論文

Santiago in self-confidence is absolute self-confidence, is not to environmental change and changes in self-confidence, it does not compare with others, self-confidence.In Santiago's philosophy of existence, even when confronted with a pole of the unlucky people can only self-confidence.Bones are the pillars of the spirit, Hemingway seems to Santiago did not let the success of the elderly, but to the bare bones of the elderly to play the hardness of life.Hemingway's novel won the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize.The bones in hundreds of pieces of shrapnel left the tough guy writer, the proper strength to write his life, tell us how to deal with birth, old age, sickness and death, tells us how wide the heart, such as the sea in general.The elderly are lonely, he was approached in an ideal road trip travelers, but he is not lonely, because his will is so strong.Conclusion: The old man is a touch guy.If he want to do something he will never give up.This book reveals to us a truth: people are not born to fail, and a person can be destroyed, but can not be defeated.

第三篇：美國文學 讀后感 three days to see

外國語學院 英語08-1班 葉思萍 30號

After I Read “Three Days to See”

After I read “Three days to see”, I get an idol.That’s Helen Keller.I never worship any woman except my mother, but Helen beat my mother down.Who is she? Mark Twain said, there were two great persons appearing in 19th century, one was Napoleon, the other was Helen Keller.The Times reported Helen Keller as the great willpower idol of human.Those who didn’t know her must guess her as a person with forceful figure, strong arm, agile hearing and sharp eyes.Actually, those who know her must shake their heads to the guessing, because Helen Keller was just a handicapped with dull ear and blind eyes.But they all know she is much more than that.On June 27, 1800, a beautiful girl was born in Tuscumbia, a little town of northern Alabama, USA.She was Helen Keller.Unfortunately, she was deprived her sight and hearing when she was less than two years old by a terrible illness.Being imprisoned by the dark and silent world, she was unable to communicate with others normally;as a result, she became wilful and obstinate.When she was seven, Anne Mansfield Sullivan came to her sides, bringing knowledge and love to her.Besides of developing Helen’s intelligence, Miss Sullivan also taught her how to admire the beautiful things, as well as educating her to love her life, love others, and to be confident and graceful.With the company and encouragement of Miss Sullivan, Keller came over the unimaginable difficulties and got the permission to the Harvard.Then she became an excellent social activist，who had visited many countries and gave speech, collecting funds for the blind, deaf and dumb.During World WarⅡ, Helen Keller extended her regards to the soldiers who lost their sight, and encouraged those broken hearts with her own spirit.What’s more, she devoted herself to the social activities of helping the handicapped children, protecting the rights and interests of the women and1

fighting for the equality of races.In her 88-year life, she spent 87 of them in dark and silent world, but she brought endless light to the world.In 1964, she was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was the greatest honor for the American citizens.After I read Helen Keller’s “Three Days to See”, I formed a habit that walking with closed eyes while there are few people on the road.It’s a strange experience.The closed eyes sharpen each sensation.I feel the more gentle morning breeze, the clearer birds’ singing, the sweeter flowers and the warmer sunshine.Helen Keller was right, she experienced more than us seeing people.However, to be honest, while I felt so many wonderful things, I felt a little nervous and fear, for I don’t know what lies ahead of me.Everyone will feel worried about the unknown future.Every step I moved was with great care.But at the same time, actually, I couldn’t focus myself on enjoying the beauty around me.So I admired Helen Keller so much for her brave and good-at –finding-beauty heart.Helen Keller said, “If each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days, at some time during his early adult life.Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight;silence would teach him the joys of sound.” Though I was just “blind” for a few minutes, I had appreciated much more than I could at the usual time.Then how much had Helen Keller appreciated through her whole life? Helen and the people with good sight, who is blind to the life? I doubt that.Even I myself, who I think have caught every moment of beauty in life, have lost a lot if comparing with Helen Keller.I saw those beauties, but she touched them, and kept them in her heart.She felt “the delicate symmetry of a leaf”, “the smooth skin of a silver birth”, “the rough, shaggy bark of a pine”, every small scenery she had experienced, every little change in nature she had noticed.She is the real master of nature.After I read “Three Days to See”, I began to doubt whether I really know well the friends who are near to me.After Keller asked, “Can you describe

accurately the faces of five good friends?” I felt at sea.I closed my eyes and tried to form the image of one of my good friends.It was clear.But when I went into the details of her face, I felt ashamed that I couldn’t remember anything.Then I opened my eyes and looked into her face.It was the first time that I had realized there being a mole around her corner of eye.And there were two new acnes on her forehead.Her hair was longer and she wore a new skirt.That was much different from my imagination.In fact, she has been much beautiful but I didn’t realize it, neither give my appreciation to her in time.I have become so much accustomed to the routine of my surroundings, and only see the startling and spectacular.So have most of seeing people.The careless husbands don’t know the colors of their wives’ eyes, the busy parents don’t realize their children’s growing height, and the so-called motherlike teachers don’t notice the emotional change on their students’ faces.That’s embarrassed for a seeing person.I think if everyone pays one more glance at our surroundings, it will make us a much more harmonious society.After I read “Three Days to See”, I had an impulse to visit the museums, which symbolize “the pageant of man’s progress”.Once I hated to visit museums because they were all about the old past which I was not interested in.Why do people want to know about the past life when we have lived a better one? Keller didn’t think so.She was eager to see with her eyes the condensed history of the earth and its inhabitants displayed in the Museum of Natural History.As well, she longed to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which showed the myriad facets of the human spirit.I was convinced by her.No past, no present.Human’s history is a very good source for us to understand this world and ourselves.By viewing those living things pictured in the museums, at the same time wandering in the long history river, we will understand how much great our human beings were, who had created so much wonders in the world.I was attracted by Keller’s words about the

museums and the wonders human beings had made, so I decided to find out those wonders by myself.After I read “Three Days to See”, I feel much grateful that I have a pair of seeing eyes.Keller was upset that she could only imagine the fascinating figure of Hamlet, or the gusty Falstaff amid colorful Elizabethan trappings, but I can see each movement of the graceful Hamlet, each strut of the hearty Falstaff.I never think it is such a great gift that I could own my seeing eyes, but Keller said, when we gaze at a play, a movie or any spectacle, we should realize and give thanks for the miracle of sight which enables us to enjoy its color, grace and movement.Besides that, our beautiful nature, the greatly developed technology, the various faces from different countries, all those things created by nature and our human beings are miracles, but they need our eyes to find them.So from now on, open your heart and open your eyes, hold a grateful mind to find out the miracles around you.You will have a different life.I am still unaware of the dark world.But if one day I lost my sight I would know how to deal with it.Escaping from the reality, complaining about the unfair fate, or abusing the friends around me, are not the ways to overcome the tragedy.I should learn from Helen Keller and set her as my idol.Maybe my dark world was not so beautiful as hers, but I would try my best to make it meaningful.It is beyond my imagination how Keller learned language without hearing.But nothing is impossible to a willing heart.As long as we set our goal and make a determined mind, is there any difficulty we can’t overcome?

Reference:

假如給我三天光明：英漢對照/（美）凱勒（Keller, H.）著；鵬鑫譯。北京：外文出版社，2009。

第四篇：美國文學教案

Lecture 1

The American Literature

I.Teaching Aim: through introduction, the students should get an idea about the history and development of American nation and how did the American literature came into being and what is the characteristic of its early literature.II.Teaching method: Teacher’s Presentation.III.Teaching Tool: multi-medium.Key points: the characteristics of literature.一、基本概況

國名

美利堅合眾國（United States of America），簡稱美國（U.S.A.），舊稱花旗國?！久娣e】9629091平方公里（其中陸地面積915.8960萬平方公里），本土東西長4500公里，南北寬2700公里，海岸線長22680公里。

【人口】2.96億（2005年7月）。白人占75%，拉美裔占12.5%，黑人占12.3%，亞裔占3.6%，華人約243萬，占0.9%，多已入美國籍（2000年美人口普查數據）。通用英語。56%的居民信奉基督教新教，28%信奉天主教，2%信奉猶太教，信奉其他宗教的占4%，不屬于任何教派的占10%。

【首都】 華盛頓哥倫比亞特區（Washington D.C.），人口約55.4萬（2004年）。

【國慶日】7月4日（美國獨立日，1776年）。美國文學的歷史不長，它幾乎是和美國自由資本主義同時出現，較少受到封建貴族文化的束縛。美國早期人口稀少，有大片未開發的土地，為個人理想的實現提供了很大的可能性。

美國人民富于民主自由精神，個人主義、個性解放的觀念較為強烈，這在文學中有突出的反映。美國又是一個多民族的國家，移民不斷涌入，各自帶來了本民族的文化，這決定了美國文學風格的多樣性和龐雜性。美國文學發展的過程就是不斷吸取、融化各民族文學特點的過程。許多美國作家來自社會下層，這使得美國文學生活氣息和平民色彩都比較濃厚，總的特點是開朗、豪放。內容龐雜與色彩鮮明是美國文學的另一特點。個性自由與自我克制、清教主義與實用主義、激進與反動、反叛和順從、高雅與庸俗、高級趣味與低級趣味、深刻與膚淺、積極進取與玩世不恭、明快與晦澀、犀利的諷刺與陰郁的幽默、精心雕琢與粗制濫造、對人類命運的思考和探索等傾向，不僅可以同時并存，而且形成強烈的對照。

美國文學表現為平民化，多元化，富于陽剛之氣，熱愛自由，追求以個人幸福為中心的美國夢。美國文學大致出現過3次繁榮：19世紀前期形成民族文學，第一和第二次世界大戰后，美國文學兩度繁榮，并產生世界影響，已有近10位作家獲得諾貝爾文學獎。

從來沒有一種潮流或傾向能夠在一個時期內一統美國文學的天下。美國作家敏感、好奇，往往是一個浪潮未落，另一浪潮又起。作家們永遠處在探索和試驗的過程之中。20世紀以來，許多文**流起源于美國，給世界文學同時帶來積極的與消極的影響。

Lecture 2

The American Literature

IV.Teaching Aim: through introduction, the students should get an idea about the history and development of American nation and how did the American literature came into being and what is the characteristic of its early literature.V.Teaching method: Teacher’s Presentation.VI.Teaching Tool: multi-medium.Key points: the characteristics of literature.按照體裁分類:

一、自傳

二、詩歌

三、戲劇

四、小說

最初的美國文學既不是美國的，也不是真正的文學。它不是美國文學是因為它主要是從英格蘭來的移民的作品。它不是文學是因為正如我們知道的—不是以詩歌、散文或小說的形式出現的—而是些頗有情趣的旅行記載和宗教作品。

殖民時期文學:這一時期的文學并不發達，主要以模仿為主，沒有自己的鮮明特點，但那時的政治，經濟和社會發展對美國文學的形成還是有很大的影響。例如：當年來美洲大陸移民的人基本上屬于兩種人，一類是為逃避國內政治迫害，追求宗教自由的英國清教徒，他們來到新英格蘭地區，扎根發展；另一類是謀求發財致富的歐洲平民百姓，包括野心勃勃的冒險家。不論是哪一種人都相信在新大陸都可以得到自由平等的待遇，都有機會實現自己的理想。這種觀點是“美國夢”成為日后美國文學的永恒主題。清教主義有關人生來有罪及上帝主宰一切等思想也影響了美國作家不斷思考人性與原罪、人與上帝的關系。由于這一時期文學不很發達，主要文學形式多為講經布道之作，也有游記、書信等其他文學作品。

這一時期大約從1607年約翰·史密斯船長領導第一批移民在北美大陸建立第一個英國殖民地詹姆斯敦到1765年殖民地人民憤怒抗議英國政府頒布的印花稅法。總的來說，殖民時期人們忙于生存，無暇吟詩作曲，清教主義反對虛構的小說戲劇，因此文學不很發達。當時的宗教領袖和殖民區領導人物如布雷福德（William Bradford，1590－1657）、溫思羅普（John Winthrop，1588－1649）等人撰寫的書籍多半是講道布經等有關神學的材料或日記。此外還有一些為歐洲讀者或親人撰寫的介紹新大陸的山水風貌和日常生活的小冊子或游記書信，最著名的作者是為英國人在北美建立第一個永久性殖民地的工作起重要作用的約翰.史密斯船長（Captain John Smith,1580-1631）.即便是詩歌也拜托不了宗教內容。比較出色的詩人有安妮.布雷特茲里特（Anne Bradstreet,約1612－1672）和愛德華.泰勒（Edward Taylor, 約1642-1729)。前者是北美第一位女詩人，她的詩歌雖然宗教氣息較濃，但她描寫夫妻恩愛，家庭美滿等日常生活題材的詩歌感情真摯，富有感染力。泰勒是位牧師，虔誠的情教徒，詩歌創作也是為上帝服務，有些跟他的講道有密切關系。他的作品在生前并未發表，直到20世紀30年代才被發現并整理出版。兩位詩人的一個共同特點是都受英國玄學派詩人的影響，詩歌有較大的模仿性。

二、啟蒙時期與獨立革命（1765－18世紀末）這是北美人民爭取獨立、建立美利堅合眾國的時期。17世紀末18世紀初，由于經濟的發展，殖民者的注意力開始轉向世俗生活，在歐洲啟蒙主義和自然神論等哲學思潮的影響下，上帝的作用大大削弱，清教主義的統治逐漸衰落。18世紀美國啟蒙運動的代表人物富蘭克林（Benjamin Frankin,1706－1790）。富蘭克林是個人文主義者，相信人性善良、主張人權天賦、政治平等，認為行善是忠于上帝的最好表示。他出身貧苦，但意志堅定，頑強奮斗，從商、參政，寫文章、研究科學，終于成為文學家、科學家和在美國立國過程中起重大作用的政治家。他的《格言歷書》（Poor Richard's Almanac）通過大量的格言警句宣傳創業持家、待人處世的道德原則和勤奮致富的生活道路。他在獨立革命期間撰寫的《自傳》（Autobiography）以親身經歷再次說明，美國有的是機會，只要勤奮便能成功。富蘭克林的成功經驗對美國人的人生觀、事業觀和道德觀產生過深遠的影響。他的《自傳》還開創了美國名人寫傳記的風氣，建立了傳記文學的傳統。

從1765年英國殖民者第一次反對英國政府的印花稅到1789年美國聯邦政府成立的20多年里，北美大陸的政治形勢發展很快，1775年獨立戰爭爆發，1776年宣布獨立，1783年對英戰爭勝利，1789年新憲法生效，華盛頓當選第一任總統。獨立革命時期文學的主要形式跟殖民時期一樣以理性的敬文為主。主要是各派政治力量對于革命的必要性、革命的前途與方向、政府的形式與性質等重大問題展開激烈爭論時所產生的大批論點鮮明、充滿戰斗力和說服力的雜文、政論文和演講辭，如潘恩（Thomas Paine，1737－1809）的《常識》（Common Sense）、杰弗遜（Thomas Jefferson,1743－1826）的《獨立宣言》（The Declaration of Independence）

三、浪漫主義時期（1800－1865）19世紀初，美國完全擺脫了對英國的依賴，以獨立國家的身份進入世界政治舞臺。民族文學開始全面繁榮，逐漸打破英國文學在美國的壟斷局面。這時期作家們跟英國浪漫主義作家一樣，強調文學的想象力和感情色彩，反對古典主義的形式與觀點，歌頌大自然，崇尚個人和普通人的思想感情，并且尋根問祖發幽古之思情。但他們雖然模仿美國作家，素材卻完全取自美國現實，如西部開發與拓荒經歷。他們贊美美國山水，謳歌美國生活，反映美國人民的樂觀與熱情。

早期浪漫主義的主要代表作家是歐文（Washington Irving，1783－1859）、庫柏（James Fenimore Cooper，1789－1851）和布賴恩特（William Cullen Bryant，1794－1878）。歐文以短篇小說見長，他的《見聞札記》（The Sketch Book）開創了美國短篇小說的傳統，使他成為第一個享有國際聲譽的美國作家。庫柏主要寫長篇小說，而且有三種不同類型的小說：歷史小說、細節準確詳盡的冒險小說和對后來西部文學影響甚大的邊疆小說--《皮襪子故事集》（The Leather Stocking Tales）五部曲。布賴恩特是美國第一個浪漫主義詩人，也是第一個受到英國詩壇贊賞的美國詩人?！吨滤B》（To a Waterfowl）

19世紀的浪漫主義運動的中心在新英格蘭地區，主要表現形式為超驗主義（Transcendentalism）。超驗主義理論崇尚直覺，反對理性和權威，強調人有能力憑直覺直接認識真理，人能超越感覺獲得知識，因此，人的存在就是神的存在的一部分，人在一定范圍內就是上帝，自然界是神對人的啟示，人可以從自然界認識真理，了解物質發展規律，得到精神道德原則方面的啟示。超驗主義理論的奠基人是愛默生（Ralph Waldo Emerson，1803－1882）。愛默生的《論自然》（Nature）、《論自立》(Self-Reliance）等著作對打破神學統治，摒棄以神為中心的清教教義，強調人在宇宙萬物中的地位，確立民主思想和發展民族文化起了極大的作用?！墩撟匀弧吩环Q為超驗主義理論的“圣經”。

棱羅（Henry David Thoreau,1817－1862）是愛默生的朋友和門徒。他接受愛默生關于認識自我和研究自然的思想，并且身體力行，獨自在家鄉森林沃爾登湖畔生活了兩年，把超驗主義的原則和自己的哲理信念付諸實踐?！段譅柕呛罚╓alden）詳細描寫他在湖畔的生活，宣傳自然的美好，批判資本主義文明的消極影響，呼吁人們返樸歸真，到自然中去尋找生活的意義和豐富的精神世界。梭羅富有正義感，反對美國對墨西哥的戰爭，譴責蓄奴制。他的《論公民的不服從》（Civil Disobedience）主張用和平斗爭的方式反對戰爭和奴隸制，對印度的甘地、60年代的美國黑人領袖馬丁·路德·金等人起過積極的影響。

在詩歌方面，新英格蘭地區比較出名的詩人有朗費羅（Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,1807-1882），霍姆斯（Oliver Wendell Holmes,1809-1894）和洛威爾（James Russell Lowell, 1810-1891）等。他們大都出身世家，有地位有名望，文化修養比較高，但又都比較守舊，缺乏創新精神，對社會問題雖有批評卻比較溫和。因此他們常被稱為波士頓的婆羅門（Brahmins）。19世紀美國最偉大的浪漫主義詩人是惠特曼（Walt Whitman，1819－1892），1855年出版的《草葉集》（Leaves of Grass）標志著美國文學進入了一個嶄新的時代。另一位革新詩歌的詩人是狄金森（Emily Dickinson，1830-1886）。1955年出版的《艾米莉·狄金森詩集》》確立了狄金森在美國文學史上的重要地位。

浪漫主義時期兩位重要的小說家是霍桑和梅爾維爾。霍桑（Nathaniel Hawthorne，1804－ 1864）不贊成超驗主義，尤其是“人即是神”的說法。《紅字》（The Scarlet Letter）描寫罪惡對人的精神面貌作用；《帶有七個尖角閣的房子》》（The House of the Seven Gables）表現祖上的罪孽對后代的報應。梅爾維爾（Herman Melville, 1819-1891）深受霍桑的影響，關心人類命運，相認邪惡的普遍性，懷疑超驗主義的樂觀主義理論，對社會進步持悲觀態度。他們兩人給美國文學帶來了戲劇色彩。但是梅爾維爾不像霍桑那樣安于命運、按受現實。他進行更為深刻的鉆研，探討上帝的本質、人類的天性和邪惡戰勝一切的原因。代表作《白鯨》（Moby Dick）對此作了深刻的反映。

四、現實主義時期（186－1918）南北戰爭（1861-1865）以后到第一次世界人戰爆發，美國完成了從農業社會到工業社會的轉化，社會面貌和經濟生活開始發生急劇的變化。

現實主義文學時期三位最重要的作家是豪威爾斯（William Dean Howells，1837-1920）馬克吐溫（Mark Twain，1835－1910）和詹姆斯（Henry James 1843－1916）。

五、現代主義時期（1918－1945）自20世紀開始，美國文學進入新的時代。第一次世界大戰對美國人的思想和精神面貌產生極大的影響。人們對自由民主的信念開始動搖，普遍感到迷惘，甚至絕望。

現代主義文學是從詩歌開始的。當時的詩人大致可分為三類：

（l）芝加哥詩人。他們無論在詩歌形式上還是題材上都堅持惠特曼的傳統，反映勞動人民的思想感情。（2）以龐德（Ezra Pound，1885-1972）和當時在倫敦居住尚未加入英國籍的艾略特（T．S．Eliot，1888－1965）為首的身居海外的詩人。（3）新英格蘭詩人弗洛斯特(Robert Frost，1874－1963)和羅賓遜（Edward Arlington Robinson，1869－1935）屬于第三類詩人，介乎上述兩派之間，受到新詩歌運動的感染，但并不全盤接受它的原則和主張。

很多在20年代發表作品的年輕作家往往被稱為“迷惘的一代”（the lost generation）。他們曾懷著自由民主的幻想參加過第一次世界大戰。然而，殘酷的戰爭、無謂的犧牲使他們的理想幻滅了。

菲茨杰拉德（F Scott Fitzgerald,1896－1940）雖然沒有去過前線，卻是典型的“迷惘的一代的作家。第一部長篇小說《人間天堂》和100多篇短篇小說真實地反映爵士時代人們醉生夢死的空虛的精神面貌，生動地再現了20年代美國青年認為”一切上帝都死亡了，一切戰爭都打完了和一切對人的信念都動搖了“的絕望心理。《了不起的蓋茨比》》和《夜色溫柔》（Tender is the Night）從內容到技巧都更為成熟，進一步揭露”美國夢“和”美國精神“的迷惑性和空虛。菲茨杰拉德是繼德萊塞以后又一個抨擊腐蝕人們靈魂的美國夢的作家。

海明威（Ernest Hemingway，1899－1961）是”迷惆的一代“作家的主要人物。《太陽照樣升起》》（The Sun Also Rises）反映大戰后在歐洲彷徨游蕩的美國青年絕望和幻滅的情緒?！队绖e了，武器》（A Farewell to Arms）表現戰爭如何粉碎人們的理想和生活目的?！秵淑姙檎l而鳴》（For Whom the Bell Tolls）描寫西班牙的內戰。海明威小說的主人公常常是位心靈受過創傷、敏感而玩世不恭的年輕人，但他作品里往往又有一位勇敢正直的英雄。海明威筆下的英雄可能是不見經傳的獵人、士兵、斗中土、拳擊家，但他們都具有”硬漢“性格，曲折不撓，視死如歸。他們給海明威的主人公以啟示，教育他們在困難前面不低頭、在壓力下面不彎腰的處世原則。《老人與?！罚═he Old Man and the Sea）中的老漁民集中體現了海明威大力推崇的在失敗中保持尊嚴從而取得精神勝利的生活原則。海明威不僅為美國文學創造了”硬漢"形象；他那含蓄簡練，清新有力的文體對美國文學也產生了極大的影響。

第五篇：美國文學名詞解釋

1.Naturalism:American naturalism was a new and harsher realism.America’s literary naturalists dismissed the validity of comforting moral truths.They attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were determined by their environment and heredity.Puritanism:Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans.They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace form God.3.Realism: Realism emphasizes on a faithful rendering of the ordinary, a slice of life as it is really lived.It expresses the concern for commonplace and the low, and it offers an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience.4.Romanticism: romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: moral enthusiasm, faith in value of individualism and intuitive perception, and a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man’s societies a source of corruption.Transcendentalism:They spoke for cultural rejuvenation and stressed the importance of the individual.They offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God.Nature was, to them, alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence.6.Imagism意象主義: It’s a poetic movement of England and the U.S.flourished from 1909 to 1917.The movement insists on the creation of images in poetry by “the direct treatment of the thing” and the economy of wording.7.Local Colorism: fiction or poetry that focuses on specific features – including characters, dialects, customs, history, and landscape – of a particular region.8.Lost Generation: It describes the Americans who remained in Paris as a colony of “expatriates” or exiles.It describes the writers like Hemingway who lived in semi poverty.It describes the Americans who returned to their native land with an intense awareness of living in an unfamiliar changing world.9.Beat Generation: It was a group of American post-World War IIwho came to prominence in the 1950s.They rejected conventional social and moral values;expressed their alienation in their works from conventional “square” society by adopting a life style which featured sex, drugs, jazz and the freedom of the open road.10.Symbolism: Symbolism is the writing technique of using symbols.It enables poets to compress a very complex idea or set of ideas into one image or even one word.It’s one of the most powerful devices that poets employ in creation.11.Modernism：is loosely a synonym of anything contemporary.Strictly, Modernism began in the late 19th century and regarded the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base.They pay more attention to the psychic time than the chronological one.12.A Jazz age(爵士時代):The Jazz Age describes the period of the 1920s and 1930s.With the rise of the great depression, the values of this age saw much decline.Highlighting what some describe as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of individualism.