The literary form is “dramatic monologue”. (P281)
“Come, Tess, Tell me in confidence.” …
“The trees have inquisitive eyes, haven’t they … and drive all such horrid fancies away!”
1) Interpret the passage. Answer:
Tess, as pure woman brought up with the traditional ideas, is abused and destroyed by the destructive force, and the misery made her frightened to the future, which implied the naturalistic viewpoint of Hardy. (P303)
7. “Break, break, break,
On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter The thought that arise in me.”
Name the poet and the the main tone of the whole poem, the device and the the passage.
Answer:
Alfred Tennyson. “Break, Break, Break”. (P276)
The main tone is Sadness. The device is contract. The rhyme scheme is “a b c d”. (P277) The poem expressed the poet’s feeling of sadness in memory of his best friend. (P276)
III. Questions and answers:
Ideologically, what influenced Victorian literature What characters does it have？ Darwin’s theory “the survival of the fittest” shook the theoretical basis of the traditional faith, many authors expressed their doubts and uncertainty in their works; Utilitarianism was widely accepted and practiced, many conscious authors severely criticized the Utilitarianism, especially its devalue of culture and its cold indifference to human feeling and imagination;
Realism novels criticized the society and defended for the mass, and they concerned about the fate of the common people such as their poverty misery, angry with the inhuman social institution, the social immorality, injustice and money-worship.
Victorian literature represents the reality of the age. The high-spirit vitality, the down-to-earth earnestness, the good-natured humour and unbound imagination are unprecedented. (P235—237)
Jane Eyre is the greatest governess image in the literature history; can you analyze the character of her？
Jane Eyre was a little plain governess with quick wit, honesty, frankness, loving heart
and the spirit of independence and self-dignity.
In literature, she is an individual conscious to self-realization. She was lonely and neglected young woman with a fierce longing for love, understanding and a full, happy life. In author’s mind, man’s life is composed of perpetual struggle between sin and virtue, good and evil. The heroines’ joy, comes from the sacrifice of self and the overcome of some weakness.
By Jane’s experience, we can see the cruelty, hypocrisy, and other evils of the upper classes and the misery and the suffering of the poor, and the false social convention on love and marriage. (P256—259)
Analyze the background of the Victorian Period.
Economic developed rapidly and social problems prevailed in England and it became the “workshop of the world”. England settled down to a time of prosperity and stability, the people valued earnestness, respectability, modesty, and democracy.
In the last decades, British empire declined, and Victorian values decayed.
Analyze the character created by George Eliot with an example and his style.
George Eliot set a new type of realism –both naturalistic and psychological novel; She sought to present the inner struggle of a soul and to reveal the motives, impulse and hereditary influences, the slow growth or decline of the character;Her masterpiece “Middlemarch” is a study of provincial life, showing a panoramic view of life in a small English town;
She concerned for the destiny of women, the heroin in “Middlemarch” –Dorothea, was a typical character of Eliot. She was a lady with great intelligence, potential and social aspiration. She had the ideals to devote to the society, later, she married an elder man to realize her ideals by helping him in the holy Christianity Career. At the end of the story, she became content with giving her second husband “wifely help”.From her experience, we can see Eliot’s view: women were born with the pathetic tragedy. Her spirit declined owing to the social environment and her own weakness.(the story is full of an air of a lifeless bitterness and disappointment) (P292—294)
Analyze the style of Charles Dickens.
Adeptness/skilfulness with the vernacular and large vocabulary; The most distinguishing/remarkable character-portrayal;
The best writing from the child’s point of view; (His best depicted characters are those innocent, virtuous, persecuted, helpless children) The depiction of those horrible and grotesque characters;
The mingling/mixing features of humor and pathos/sorrow. (P241)
How do you know the naturalistic idea of Hardy？
The tragic sense is the keynote of Hardy’s novels, and he is a nostalgic author. Hardy’s novels always set in Wessex, the fictional primitive and crude region, which is threatened by the invading capitalism, expressing the conflict between the traditional and the modern, the old and the modern. Man’s fate is tragic with born, driven by the force of the nature of outside and inside, and man is bound by his inherent nature and hereditary traits which prompt him to go and search for happiness or success, and set him in conflict with the environment; we can see he is influenced greatly by Darwin’s theory “survival of the fittest”. Man proves to be incompetent/impotent before Fate, and he seldom escapes his destiny. The pessimistic view of life predominates most works of Hardy, which earns him the name of a naturalistic writer.
Hardy is noted for he rustic dialect and a poetic flavor, so he is also called local-colorist. (P300--302)
Chapter 5 The Modern Period I. Choose the right answer:
1. The three trilogies of_____Forsyte novels are masterpieces of critical realism in the early 20th century.
A. D. H. Lawrence’s B. John Galsworthy’s C. James Joyce’s D. Thomas Hardy’s Answer: B (P337)
2. ____is the most outstanding stream-consciousness novelist.
A. . Eliot B. Richard Brinsley Sheridan C. James Joyce D. Oscar Wilder Answer: D (P317)
3. In his famous poem_____, Yeats explores the problems of death, love, old age and art.
A. \and the Swan\B. \Second Troy\C. \1913\D. \to Byzantium\Answer: D (P354)
4. ____is a poem concerned with the spiritual breakup of a modern civilization in which human life has lost its meaning, significance and purpose. A. Ulysses B. The Waste Land C. The Confidential Clerk D. Dubliners Answer: B (P360)
5. The Rainbow and_____are generally regarded as . Lawrence’s masterpieces.
A. Women in Love B. Son s and Lovers C. Lady Chatterley’s Lover D. The Plumed Serpent Answer: A (P370)
6. In ____, James Joyce intends to present a microcosm of the whole human life by providing an instance of how a single event contains all the events of its kind, and how history is recapitulated in the happenings of one day.
A. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man B. Dubliners C. Ulysses D. Finnegans Wake Answer: C (P388)
7. Structurally and thematically, George Bernard Shaw follows the great tradition
_______.
A. Modernism B. Romanticism C. Realism D. Naturalism Answer: C (P323)
8. Galsworthy was a _____writer, having inherited the fine traditions of the great Victorian novelists of the critical realism such as Dickens and Thackeray. A. naturalistic B. romantic C. realistic D. conventional Answer: D (P338)
9. In \Forsyte Saga\by John Galsworthy, a typical Forsyte has a remarkable characteristic-----a strong sense of______. A. money B. property C. success D. privilege Answer: B (P339)
10. In \A. hope to go abroad B. desire to escape into a \D. hatred for war Answer: B (P356)
11. In which of the following poems by Yeats did you find the allusion to Helen and Trojan War？
A. Sailing to Byzantium B. Down by the Sally Garden C. The Lake Isle of Innisfree D. Leda and the Swan Answer: D (P354)
12. Of the following poems by . Eliot, which is hailed as a landmark and a model of the 20th Century English Poetry？
A. Poems B. The Hollow Men C. Prufrock and Other Observations D. The Waste Land Answer: D (P359)
13. \rubs its muzzle on the windowpanes/ Linked its tongue into the corners of the evening,/ Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains.\A. . Eliot’s \ B. Emily Dickinson’s \could not stop for Death\C. Alfred Tennyson’s \Break, Break\D. William Wordsworth’s \wandered Lonely as a Cloud\
Answer: A (P363---364)
14. Which of the following best describes the speaker of ’The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock\？
A. He is a man of an action. B. He is a man of apathy. C. He is a man of inactivity. D. All the above are wrong. Answer: C (P363)
15. Of the following works by . Lawrence, _______established his position as novelist. A. The White Peacock B. The Trespasser C. Women in Love D. Sons and Lovers Answer: D (P370)
16. Which of the following is considered to be a better-structured novel？
A. Women in Love B. Son s and Lovers C. The Rainbow D. Lady Chatterley’s Lover Answer: A (P372)
17. ’The Lawrence trilogy\
A. A Collier’s Friday Night] B. The Daughter -in-Law C. The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyed D. Lady Chatterley’s Lover Answer: D (P373)
18. Which of the following writings is not the novel of . Lawrence’s？
A. Sons and Lovers B. A Portrait of the Artist as a Yong Man C. The White Peacock. D. The Rainbow
Answer: B (P369---370)
19. Of the following writings by James Joyce, which is a prime example of modernism in literature？
A. Ulysses B. A Portrait of the Artist as a Yong Man C. Dubliners D. Finnegans Wake Answer: A (P386)
20. Which of the following is not true according to James Joyce？ A. Ulysses has become a prime example of modernism in literature.
B. Joyce is regarded as the most prominent stream-of-consciousness novelist. C. Joyce is a realistic writer in English literature history.
D. His novel \the hero’s bitter experiences and his final artistic and spiritual liberation. Answer: C (P386---389)
II. Read the quoted part and answer the questions:
1. Analyze the poem of T. S. Eliot -\1) \ Talking of Michelangelo\
<1> Why does the sentence repeat in the poem for several times Answer:
The sentence symbolizes the remote and faraway things, it implies the inability to face up with the reality and the life of the hero. (P363) 2) \
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street, ... There will be time, there will be time ....\
<1> What deep implication can you get from the passageAnswer:
The hero was unable to face up with the life and reality bravely, but he was anxious to find time passing so quickly that he was very depressed. The passage shows the tragic character of the indecision of the young man. (P363) 3) \I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from the father room. So how should I presume？
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