Epic is a long oral narrative poem that operates on a grand scale and deals with
legendary or hisrotical events of national or universal significance.
Alliteration is regular repetition of the same sounds---usu. Initial consonants of
words or of stressed syllables--- in Old and Middle English verse.
Ballad歌谣,民谣
The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad, which is
mainly the literature of the peasants.
a story told in song
in various English and Scottish dialects
usually in 4-line stanzas(节,段), with the second and fourth lines rhymed anonymous
created collectively and constantly revised by the people handed down from mouth to mouth
a vehicle to the outlook of the English common people in feudal society
Romance
the literature for the upper class, which was a long composition in verse or prose.
the life and adventures of a noble hero, or a knight, riding forth to seek adventures,
taking part in tournaments, or fighting for his lord in battle. The code of manners
and morals of a knight is known as chivalry.
The theme of loyalty to King and Lord was repeatedly emphasized.
Heroic couplet （英雄双韵体）
A verse form in epic poetry, with lines of ten syllables and five stresses , in rhyming pairs.
Humanism
It suggests any attitude which tends to exalt the human element or stress the importance of human interests, as opposed to the supernatural, divine elements---or as opposed to the grosser, animal elements.
The Spenserian stanza: a verse form consisting of 8 iambic pentameter lines
followed by a ninth line of 6 iambic feet (Alecandrine) with the rhyme scheme ababbcbcc.
Blank verse
Poetry that has a regular rhythm, usually with ten syllables and five stresses in each line, but which does not rhyme;simply put,it is rhymeless iambi pentameter 无韵诗
（不押韵的抑扬五音步诗行，常为每行十个音节）
Allegory is a story told to explain or teach something. Especially, a long and
complicated story with an underlying meaning different from the surface meaning of the story itself. Allegorical novels use extended metaphors to convey moral meanings or attack certain social evils. characters in these novels often stand for different values such as virtue and vice
Essay A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal
view of the author.
Comedy is a light form of drama that aims primarily to amuse and that ends happily.
Since it strives to provide smile and laughterm both wit and humor are utilized.
Tragedy is concerned with the harshness and apparent injustice of life. It usually
recounts an important and casually related series of events in the life of a person of significance, it means the purging from the mind of the feelings of pity and fear the play have aroused.
Metaphysical poets is the name given to a diverse group of 17 th-century
English poets whose work is notable for its ingenious use of intellectual and theological （神学） concepts in surprising conceits (奇想;(诗中)夸张的比喻), strange paradoxes （奇特的悖论）, and far-fetched imagery （把截然不同的意象牵强地结合在一起） . The leading metaphysical poet was John Donne, whose colloquial, argumentative abruptness of rhythm and tone distinguished his style from the conventions of Elizabethan love lyrics In the 20 th century, T. S. Eliot and others revived it.
conceit is an elaborate metaphor comparing two apparently disimilar objects or
emotions, often with an effect of shock or surprise.
Enlightenment Movement
The 18th-century England is known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason.
The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement which
flourished in France & swept through the whole Western Europe at the time. The enlighteners celebrated reason or rationality，equality & science. They called for
a reference to order， reason & rules & advocated universal education. Famous among the great enlighteners in England were those great writers like John
Dryden， Alexander pope & so on.
Neo-classicism
It is a revival in the 17th and 18th centuries of classical standards of order, balance,
and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.
Characteristics :
People emphasized reason rather than emotion, form rather than content.
As reason was stressed, most of the writings of the age were didactic and satirical. As elegance, correctness, appropriateness and restraint were preferred, the poet
found couplet he only possible verse form for serious work. Fiction
（小说 ） is a literary work whose content is produced by the
imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. Polt: character , theme
Setting: point of view , tone and style
Sentimentalism: is a literal movement in the middle of the 18th century in
England which concentrates on the distressed of the poor unfortunate and virtuous people and demonstrates that effusive emotion was evidence of kindness and goodness.
Lake poets
Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey were known as Lake Poets because they lived
and knew one another in the last few years of the 18th century in the district of the great lakes in Northwestern England. The former two published The Lyrical Ballads together in 1798, while all three of them had radical inclinations in their youth but later turned conservative and received pensions and poet laureateships（诗人桂冠） from the aristocracy.
English Romanticism begins in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s The Lyrical Ballads and ends in 1832 with Walter Scott’s death.
The romantic period is an age of poetry. Wordsworth and Coleridge are the most
representative writers. They explore new theories and innovate new techniques in versification. They believe that poetry could purify individual souls and society.
Other greatest Romantic poets are: John Keats, P.B. Shelley and G. G. Byron. It prevailed in England during the period (1798-1832). There are two schools of
Romanticists: (p211)
(1) active. They held out an ideal of a future society free from oppression and exploitation. (Byron, Shelly, Keats)
(2) passive or escapist These writers protested against capitalist development by turning to the feudal past, turning to nature for protection. (Wordsworth, Coleridge)
