英美文学术语解释(16)

The analysis of verse in terms of meter. 87. Septet(七重唱)

the seven-line stanza. Chaucerian stanza: ababbcc. 88. Sestet(六重唱)

the six-line stanza. 3couplets/ a quatrain + a couplet/ 2 triplets. 89. Setting(背景)

The time and place in which the events in a short story, novel, play or narrative poem occur. Setting can give us information, vital to plot and theme. Often, setting and character will reveal each other.

90. Short Story(短篇小说)

A short story is a brief prose fiction, usually one that can be read in a single sitting. It generally contains the six major elements of fiction—characterization, setting, theme, plot, point of view, and style.

91. Simile(明喻)

(a figure of speech) A comparison make between two things through the use of a specific word of comparison, such as like, as than, or resembles. The comparison must be between two essentially unlike things. 92. Skaz

It’s a Russian word used to designate a type of first person narration that has the characteristics of the spoken rather than the written word. In this kind of novel, the narrator is a character who refers to himself as “I” and addresses the reader as “you”. He or she uses vocabulary and syntax characteristic of colloquial speech, and appears to be relating the story spontaneously rather than delivering a carefully constructed and polished written account. 93. Song(歌)

A short lyric poem with distinct musical qualities, normally written to be set to music. In expresses a simple but intense emotion. 94. Speech(说话能力)

It was defined by Aristotle as the faculty of observing all the available means of persuasion. 95. Spondee(扬扬格)

It consists of two stressed syllables. 96. Sprung Rhythm

A term created by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to designate a variable kind of poetic meter in which a stressed syllable may be combined with any number of unstressed syllables. Poems with sprung rhythm have an irregular meter and are meant to sound like natural speech. 97. Stereotype(老套模式)

A commonplace type or character that appears so often in literature that his or her nature is immediately familiar to the reader. Stereotypes, also called stock characters, always look and act the same way and reveal the same traits of character. 98. Style(风格)

An author’s characteristic way of writing, determined by the choice of words, the arrangement of words in sentences, and the relationship of the sentences to one another. 99. Suspense(悬念)

The quality of a story, novel, or drama that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events. 100. Synecdoche(举隅法)

A figure of speech that substitutes a part for a whole. 101. Tone(格调)

The attitude a writer takes toward his or her subject, characters, or audience. The tone of a speech or a piece of writing can be formal or intimate; outspoken or reticent; abstruse or simple; solemn or playful; angry or loving; serious or ironic. 102. Triplet(三行联句)

The three-line stanza. Tercet: aaa, bbb, ccc, and so on; terza rima: aba, bcb cdc, and so on. 103. Trochee(扬抑格)

the reverse of the iambic foot. 104. Villanelle(维拉内拉诗)

An intricate verse form of French origin, consisting of several three-line stanzas and a concluding four-line stanza. 105. Wit(才智)

A brilliance and quickness of perception combined with a cleverness of expression. In the 18th century, wit and nature were related-nature provided the rules of the universe; wit allowed these rules to be interpreted and expressed