英美文学史 第一部分 盎格鲁.doc

第一部分 盎格鲁——撒克逊时期 III. 名词解释 Epic (or Heroic Poetry) It is, originally, an oral narrative poem, majestic both in theme and style. Epics deal with legendary or historical of events of national or universal significance, involving action of broad sweep and grandeur. Most epics deal with the exploits of a single individual, thereby giving unity to the composition. Typically, an epic includes several features: the introduction of supernatural forces that shape the action; conflict in the form of battles or other physical combat; and stylistic conventions such as an invocation to the Muse, a formal statement of the theme, long lists of the protagonists involved, and set speeches couched in elevated language. Commonplace details of everyday life may appear, but they serve as background for the story and are described in the same lofty style as the rest of the poem. Epic poems are not merely entertaining stories of legendary or historical heroes; they summarize and express the nature or ideals of an entire nation at a significant or crucial period of its history. Examples include the ancient Greek epics by the poet Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The characteristics of the hero of an epic are national rather than individual, and the exercise of those traits in heroic deeds serves to gratify a sense of national pride. At other times epics may synthesize the ideals of a great religious or cultural movement. The Divine Comedy by the Italian poet Dante expresses the faith of medieval Christianity. The Faerie Queene by the English poet Edmund Spenser represents the spirit of the Renaissance in English and like Paradise Lost by the English poet John Milton, represents the ideals of Christian humanism. Alliteration A repeated initial consonant to successive words. In Old English verse, any vowel alliterates with any others, and alliteration is not an unusual or expressive phenomenon but a regularly recurring structural feature of the verse, occurring on the first and thir