英美文学选读练习题

English Literature

Questions on The Canterbury Tales

1. Lines 1-18 are the introduction to the weather. Why did the author write so many words to describe it?

To answer why so many pilgrim go to the Canterbury at the same time.

2. Summarize the main idea of lines 19-34.

A group of pilgrims came across at the Canterbury and go together.

3. How many people are there in the group of pilgrims?

Thirty

4. Based on Prioress’s portrait, can you give a possible reason why she is undertaking this pilgrimage?

She wants to look for the worldly love.

5. What details does the narrator use in describing the Prioress, and in what order? 1,Facial expression2,voice 3,etiquette 4，sympathy and charity 5，appearance 6，dress 7，personal accessories..

6. Why does the Wife of Bath go on pilgrimage? For husband.

7. What is the “framing device” that Chaucer uses for his collection of stories?

Framework: a narrative which was composed for the purpose of introducing and connecting a series of tales

8. The General Prologue was written in heroic couplet, analyze some of the lines.

9. Please name and define five specific methods of characterization Chaucer uses in the “General Prologue”.

Appearance description：her nose was elegant, her eyes glass-gray; her mouth was very small，but soft and red. Facial description：her way of smiling was simple and coy . behavior description： Color description 夸张

Questions on Sonnet 18

1. What are the themes of the sonnet 18?

2. What images does Shakespeare use in order to strengthen the theme? And what kinds of figures of speech are used in the sonnet?

3. Analyze the meter and rhyme of the poem.

Questions on Paradise Lost

1. The poem opens with a long sentence. Analyze the first sentence and identify the

writer’s conception about the poem.

2. Who first seduced the mother of mankind to the revolt?

3. How long does Satan and his peers suffer the penal fire?

4. How does Satan feel about being in Hell according to the poem?

5. Describe the condition of the Hell in your own words according to the poem.

6. Write an essay about the image of Satan.

Questions on The Pilgrim’s Progress

1. Why is the market called “Vanity Fair”?

2. What is the original of the fair?

3. What did people in the fair do to Christian and his friend?

4. What does this episode symbolize?

Questions on William Wordsworth’s poems 1. Identify the meter of the first poem.

2. What mood does the opening simile suggest, and what change in mood occurs later on?

3. At what time of day is London being described in the second poem?

4. Which descriptive elements are presented objectively and which subjectively?

5. What are the themes of the third poem?

6. There are two images in the third poem. Identify them and analyze them.

Questions on Great Expectations

1. In what details does Pip describe Miss Havisham and her room?

2. What is Pip’s impression about Estella?

3. How does Estella treat Pip? And why?

4. Analyze the characters of Miss Havisham and Estella.

5. Does Pip fall in love with Estella after the first meeting? And why?

6. There is an image in Chapter 8. Identify it and analyze it.

Questions on Tess of the d’Urbervilles

1. What effect does Tess’s confession have on Angel?

2. Why is Angel unable to forgive Tess when she just bestowed the gift of forgiveness on him?

3. Why does Tess submit to Angel’s anger and take no action to win him back?

4. What moral differences between men and women in the Victorian period, does this chapter reflect?

5. In Hardy’s works the strong element of naturalism are combined with a tendency towards symbolism. Identify and analyze the symbols in this chapter.

Questions on The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

1. What social class does Prufrock belong to? How could you tell?

2. When Prufrock starts talking about the “bald spot” in the middle of his head, what do you think he is worrying about?

3. What types of images show that people are dehumanized in modern life, and suggest that inanimate objects are alive?

4. What is the effect of the Biblical allusion in the poem?

5. Irony is everywhere in the poem. Identify them.

Questions on Araby

1. How does the boy describe his feelings for Mangan’s sister?

2. Why does the boy want to go to the bazaar?

3. Why does he arrive so late?

4. What is the role of the boy’s uncle in the story? What value and attitude does he represent?

5. What kind of conflict does the boy experience in the story between him and environment, or between him and the adults?

American Literature

Questions on Rip Van Winkle

1. What historical events did Rip Van Winkle sleep through?

2. Why was Rip Van Winkle so surprised when he returned to the village?

3. What comparison is Irving implying when he states at the end of the story that Dame Van Winkle’s death has released Rip from “petticoat government”?

4. How much effect did American Revolution have on daily life of the common people?

5. Analyze the humorous elements in Rip Van Winkle?

Questions on The Scarlet Letter

1. Who empowers Dimmesdale to stand on the scaffold?

2. Why does Dimmesdale want to reveal?

3. Why does Chillingworth try desperately to stop Dimmesdale from confessing his sins on the scaffold?

4. This novel makes extensive use of symbols. How do they help develop the themes and characters in the novel?

5. What is the narrative point of the novel? And what is the effect of the narrative

point of view?

Questions on Sister Carrie

1. How many scenes did the writer describe in this chapter? Name them.

2. Why does Carrie still suffer from unsatisfied desires after she became successful?

3. How do you see Draiser’s naturalism influencing his works in Sister Carrie?

4. Discuss the character of Carrie and her relationships with Drouet and Hurswood.

Questions on Indian Camp

1. What kind of relationship between Nick and his father does the story describe? Has the relationship changed? Why and how does it change?

2. Why did the husband kill himself?

3. What does the last sentence mean?

4. What did Nick learn from his witnessing both birth and death over one night?

Questions on The Great Gatsby

1. What kind of parties does Gatsby give on Saturdays according to the narrator?

2. What kind of people would attend the parties according to the narrator?

3. What is your impression on Gatsby after reading the text?

4. What is the theme of the novel?

5. Analyze the symbols in this chapter.

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