Chapter 5 American Literature

Chapter 5 American Literature

Exercises

I. Explain the following in English:

1. The Letherstocking Tales

2. Transcendentalists

3. Walden

4. The Scarlet Letter

5. Moby Dick

6. Leaves of Grass

7. Mark Twain

8. the naturalists

9. The Waste Land

10. the "Lost Generation"

1 1. the Harlem Renaissance

12. the "Beat Generation"

II. Fill in the blanks:

1. and are the two major writers of the

post-Revolutionary period.

2. "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" were stories

written by

3. In 1852, a New England woman named Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a novel

titled , which intensified the political debate on slavery.

4 Mark Twain's is considered the greatest novel in American literature.

5.Henry James' major works include and . His

works often described Americans living in

6. Upton Sinclair's novel exposed the horrible lives of meat-packing

factory workers.

7. Ezra Pound's poetry is famous for , the use of strong, concrete images.

8. T. S. Eliot's long poem revealed a pessimistic view of post-World War

I society. He dominated so-called movement in poetry.

9. After World War I, many novelists produced literary works of disillusionment. Some of

them lived abroad and were known as the " "

10. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel was about youth's golden dream turning

to disappointment.

11. Name three novels written by Ernest Hemingway:

and

12. The Sound and the Fury was written by , whose prose style was

experimental.

13. Name two plays written by Eugene O'Neill: and

14 John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was a portrait of a poor family during the period

of

15. Richard Wright wrote the novel , and Ralph Ellison wrote the

novel . Both were writers.

16. The representative work of the "Beat Generation" was Alan Ginsberg's poem

17. won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, the first Afro-American writer to receive this honor.Two of her best novels are and

III. Choose the correct answer to each of the following questions:

l. Which of the following was a writer of the post-Revolutionary period?

A. Edgar Allan Poe

B. Natty Bumppo

C. Washington Irving

D. Rip Van Winkle

2. Which of the following is considered an American masterpiece?

A. The Last of the Mohicans

B. The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow

C. "The Masque of the Red Death"

D. Moby Dick

3. Which of the following was written by Thoreau?

A. Nature

B. Walden

C. The Scarlet Letter

D. The Fall of the House of Usher

4. Whitman's poetry has the following characteristics except

A. fragmented haunting images

B. long irregular lines

C. celebrating the American spirit

D. free-flowing structure

5. Mark Twain's works are characterized by the following except

A. sense of humor

B. egotism

C. jokes

D. tall tales

6, Three of the following are characteristics of Emily Dickinson's poems. Which one is not?

A. Her poems mix gaiety and gloom.

B. Her verses are filled with the names of faraway, exotic places.

C. Her poems are very long and powerful.

D. Her poems show that she was fascinated by both life and death.

7. was mainly interested in writing about Americans living in Europe.

A. Henry James

B. Mark Twain

C. William Dean Howells

D. Stephen Crane

8. is NOT included in the group of naturalists.

A. Sherwood Anderson

B. Stephen Crane

C. Jack London

D. Theodore Dreiser

9. Three of the following authors are Nobel Prize winners. Which one is not.

A. Ernest Hemingway

B. Eugene O'Neill

C. William Faulkner

D. F. Scott Fitzgerald

10.______does NOT belong to the "Lost Generation".

A. John Dos Passos

B. Ernest Hemingway

C. F. Scott Fitzgerald

D. John Steinbeck

11. was NOT written by Hemingway.

A. Light in August

B. The Sun Also Rises

C. A Farewell to Arms

D. For Whom the Bell Tolls

12. Which of the following is NOT a black author?

A. Richard Wright

B. Alan Ginsberg

C. James Baldwin

D. Ralph Ellison

13. The following authors were women writers who wrote novels in the late 19th and early

20th century with exception of___.

A. Emily Dickinson

B. Edith Wharton

C. Willa Cather

D. Kate Chopin

14. The following writers represent new American voices except

A. Toni Morrison

B. Alice Walker

C. T. S. Eliot

D. Maxine Long Kingston

Questions for Thought

1. What is the main theme in American literature according to the author? How does

the author illustrate his point?

2. What theories does Ralph Emerson explain in his essays? Why are they so

influential?

3. Why is Walt Whitman considered one of the most important poets in America?

4. Why did Mark Twain win so many readers both at home and abroad?

5. What are some of the major themes in novels written by the "Lost Generation" ?

Key:

Chapter 5

I. Explain the following:

l. the Letherstocking Tales

They refer to the five novels written by Fenimore Cooper: The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans,The Prairie, The Pathfinder and The Deerslaver, which tell stories about the hero Natty Bumppo. He was a fabulous woodsman, always wearing letherstockings.

2. Transcendentalists

In his book Nature, Emerson claimed that by studying and responding to nature individuals could reach a higher spiritual state without formal religion. A circle of intellectuals who were discontented with the New England establishment gathered around Emerson. They accepted Emerson's theories about spiritual transcendence.

They are known as Transcendentalists.

3. Walden

Henry David Thoreau was one of Emerson's gifted fellow-thinkers. He was passionate about individuals' learning to think for themselves and being independent.

He carried out this ideal by going to live by himself for two years in simple cabin beside a wooded pond named Walden. He spent the two years in labor and solitary meditation. He wrote about this experience in his book Walden.

4. The Scarlet Letter

A novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Set in the Puritan past, this masterpiece

is the stark drama of a woman harshly cast out from her community for committing the sin of adultery. In this novel Hawthorne explored certain moral themes such as guilt, pride and emotional repression.

5.Moby Dick

A novel written by Herman Melville. Moby Dick is the name of a big white whale. In

this book, the author uses a story of a whaling voyage to explore profound themes such as fate, the nature of evil,and the individual's struggle against the universe. The novel Moby Dick is considered an American masterpiece.

6. Leaves of Grass

A collection of poems written by Walt Whitman. It is a ground-breaking book.

Whitman used free flowing structures and long,, irregular lines in his poetry. He ventured beyond traditional forms to meet his need for more space to express the American spirit. In one of the poems `Song of Myself ' he dwelt on himself because he saw himself as a prototype of "The American."

7. Mark Twain

Mark Twain is the pen name of Samuel Clemens. He was one of the greatest American writers. He captured a peculiarly American sense of humor. He represented a new American voice. His major work was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1 884)which has been called the greatest novel in American literature.

8. the naturalists

They were novelists who concentrated upon the grim aspects of reality and a deterministic view of life. They were linked with European naturalists such as French novelist Zola. The most representative naturalists in American literature were Stephen Crane. Theodore Dreiser, and Jack London.

9. The Waste Land

This is a long poem published by T. S. Eliot in 1922. Using fragmented, haunting images and a dense structure of symbols, it revealed a pessimistic vision of post-World War I society. With the publication of "The Waste Land". Eliot dominated the so-called "Modern" movement in poetry.

10. the "Lost Generation"

In the aftermath of World War I. many novelists produced a literature of disillusionment . Some lived abroad. They were known as the "Lost Generation".

The two most representative writers of the "Lost Generation" were Hemingway and Fitzgeral.

11. the Harlem Renaissance

The 1920s saw the rise of an artistic black community centered in Harlem, a black neighborhood in New York City. Magazines and newspapers dedicated to the black

writing sprang up in Harlem. Black poets such as Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen wrote about what it meant to be black. The Harlem Renaissance gave African-American culture prominence and an impetus to grow.

12. The "Beat Generation"

The "Beat Generation" was made up of a group of young writers in the 1950s based in San Francisco. The name referred simultaneously to the rhythm of Jazz music, to their sense that society was worn out, to the interest in new forms of experience.

through drugs, alcohol or Eastern mysticism. AlanGinsburg's poem Howl set for them a tone of social protest.

II. Fill in the blanks:

l. Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper 2. Edgar Allan Poe

3. Uncle Tom's Cabin

4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

5. Any two of the following novels: The American, Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the

Dove, The Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl

6. The Jungle

7. imagism

8. The Waste Land, "Modern" 9. the "Lost Generation"

10. The Great Gatsby

11. The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls

12. William Faulkner

13. Any two of the following: Desire Under the ELlms, Mourning Becomes Electra, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey into Night

14. the Depression

15. The Native Son, Invisible Man 16. Howl

17. Toni Morrison; Song of Soloman; Be Loved

[II. Choose the correct answer to each of the following questions:

1.C

2.D

3.B

4.A

5.B

6.C

7.A

8.A

9.D 10.D 11.A 12.B 13.A 14.D