【正文】 Concentration and intensity are two of the qualities that distinguish the poetic treatment of a subject from its treatment on prose. Poetry is characterized by the following elements: a musical effect created by rhythm and sounds, a precise and fresh imagery, and multiple levels of interpretation suggested by the connotation of the closer words and allusions. (the ultimate aim of a poet, is to integrate all of these elements in order to produce a verbal statement in which everything form overall shape to individual wordchoice is anically related in the most precise way possible.) Imagery is the use of descriptive language to recreate sensory experiences. An image is a verbal picture of an object, action, abstract idea, or sensation. It is often created by using figures of speech. There are ways making an idea or picture e closer into focus by relating the idea or experience to another that may be more familiar to the reader. Tone is inferred by the reader through the word choice, the connotation of those words, the verse form, the rhyme, the figurative language and the allusions. 7. Romanticism had appeared in England in the last years of the eighteenth century. It spread to continental Europe and then came to America early in the nieenth century. It came into being as a reaction against the prevailing neoclassical spirit and rationalism during the Age of Reason. Romanticism opposed neoclassicism which underlined formality, order, and authority, (rebellious in spirit)and stressed imagination and passion and individuality. It was pluralistic。 the three unities of time, space and action should be strictly observed. 5. Deism: deistic beliefs, a religion. Its followers believe in God who rules the world by established laws but not in the divinity of Christ or the inspiration of the Bible. It is a ―Natural‖ religion, based on reason and a study of nature opposed to ―revealed‖ religion. It developed a rationalistic ideology that more and more tended to rely on reason instead of revelation in the consideration of the relation of human beings to God and the universe. When rationalism was applied to theology, it led to the appearance of Deism. Deist held that first only one God was worth worshipping, secondly man could keep making progress by making use of his own moral sense and of his own intelligence and wisdom, thirdly man should love truth and do good。 fourthly education and science was an important means to create man’s happiness。 its manifestations were as varied, as individualistic, and as conflicting as the cultures and the intellects from which it sprang. Yet romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: enthusiasm, 2. faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception, and 3 a presumption that the natural world was a source of goodness and man’s societies a source of corruption. (It stressed the pursuit of freedom, individualism, a reliance upon the good of nature and ―natural‖ man and an abiding faith in the boundless resources of the human spirit and imagination.) 1. stress emotion, passion, imagination and fancy, rich in mystic color, deal with moral theme. exalted the individualism and encouraged people to fight for individual right and human happiness bravely. It displays personalities, expresses feelings and thoughts of mon people. It stresses man’s ability to master the world by one’s conscience or intuition. They believed that human nature was of goodwill. One form of it is transcendentalism. 3. The romantic showed a profound admiration and love for nature, the beauty and perfection of nature could produce in him an unspeakable joy and exaltation。 and lastly to serve God best was to do good for the mankind. 6. Poetry is an art of transforming an intensely personal moment /experience /emotion (subjective, inward) into an impersonal and municable image (objective, outward) through language, with a certain form and context, linelength, rhymescheme, regular meter. A poem is a verbal device that would preserve an experience indefinitely by reproducing it in whoever read the poem. (Philip Larkin) 詩歌強(qiáng)調(diào)擬物寄情，把凝結(jié)在大眾可普遍接受的客觀世界的物上，找到一種內(nèi)情和外露，個(gè)人體驗(yàn)與大眾審美都能兼顧，相結(jié)合的一種途徑、方法。美 國(guó) 文 學(xué) 名 詞 解 釋 1. Puritans: is English protestant, one division of Protestant (one division of Christianity, appeared in the 16th c, against the ruling Roman Catholic. In England, there were many divisions in protestant, for instance, Quakers, Baptism, 震顫派，喧囂派 ). They regarded the reformation of the Church under Elizabeth as inplete, and called for its further ―purification‖ from what they considered to be unscriptural and corrupt forms and ceremonies retained from the unreformed church. They objected, for instance, to the wearing of the surplice and to government by the prelates, and they demanded the right to partake of the munion in a sitting posture. Their Millenary Petition (1603) requested a reform of the church courts, a doing away with ―superstitious‖ customs, a discarding of the use of apocryphal books of the Bible, a serious observance of the Sabbath, and various ecclesiastical reforms. The 17th century American Puritans included two parts: one part of them were the creators of the Plymouth colony, called ―Separatists‖. They were so suppressed by the church of England that they sought escape. Those Separatists first went into exile to Holland, then were aboard ―Mayflower‖ in 1620 and settled down in Plymouth. America, therefore, as an infant was born. They considered that the Church of England had bee hopeless and advocated to separate from it since general reform would be useless. The other part was the Englishmen in the Massachusettes Bay Colony. Though they came later than those of Plymouth colony, they were richer and bettereducated. They devoted th