7.2　考研真题与典型题详解

I. Fill in the blanks.

1．John Donne is a poet of peculiar ______, having his own way of reasoning and comparison.

【答案】conceits

【解析】作为“玄学派”诗人的代表，约翰·多恩是极具诗歌天赋的。他的诗采用奇特的比喻，多变的格律等，具有他独特的诗歌特色。

2．The poems of John Donne belong to two categories：the ______, and the later ______.

【答案】youthful love lyrics, sacred verses

【解析】受生活经历的影响，约翰·多恩的诗歌可分为两部分：年轻有活力的爱情诗和庄严的宗教诗。

3．John Donne and his followers wrote what would later be called ______--complex highly intellectual verse filled with metaphors. （南开大学2008研）

【答案】Metaphysical poetry

【解析】约翰·多恩是英国十七世纪玄学派诗人，玄学派诗歌以奇特的意象和独具匠心的暗喻著称。

II. Multiple Choices

1．“One short sleep past, we wake eternally” is taken from the poem written by ______. （首都师范大学2009研）

A. William Shakespeare

B. John Donne

C. John Milton

D. John Keats

【答案】B

【解析】这是约翰·多恩《神圣十四行诗》第十首里的一句诗。该诗是一首典型的玄学诗，主题是死亡。

2．One of the most noticeable features of John Donne’s poetry is his use of ______. （四川大学2009研）

A. classical vocabulary

B. conceit

C. dramatic monologue

D. exaggeration

【答案】B

【解析】作为玄学派的代表诗人，约翰·多恩以其奇妙大胆的想象和暗喻著称。

3．Which of the following is NOT a religious poem by John Donne? （大连外国语学院2008研）

A. A Hymn to God the Father

B. Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness

C. The Good-Morrow

D. Death Be Not Proud

【答案】C

【解析】《早安》是约翰·多恩的一首爱情诗。

4．______ founded a new school of poetry by the name of metaphysical school. （北京第二外国语学院2010研）

A. John Smith

B. John Bunyan

C. John Milton

D. John Donne

【答案】D

【解析】John Donne是17世纪玄学派诗人的重要代表人物，Ben Johnson是与莎士比亚同时代的剧作家，John Milton、John Bunyan虽都是17世纪著名作家，但作品风格与玄学派大相径庭。

5．The poetry of John Donne represents a sharp break from the poetry of his predecessors in the Elizabethian era. One of the outstanding features in his poetry is “conceit” which means ________. （天津外国语2009研）

A. irony

B. satire

C. elaborated metaphor

D. contrast

【答案】C

【解析】约翰·多恩是玄学派诗歌的代表人物，其作品中充满奇妙夸张的暗喻。

Ⅲ. Explain the following term.

Metaphysical poetry （南开大学2009研）

Key: The term “metaphysical poetry” is used to describe a certain type of the 17th century poetry. Dryden originally used the term to criticize John Donne for being too arcane and Samuel Johnson later used it to describe the specific poetic method used by poets like Donne. Metaphysical poets are generally in rebellion against the highly conventional imagery of the Elizabethan lyric. The metaphysical poetry is characterized by wits, subtle argumentations, “metaphysical conceits”, and an unusual simile or metaphor.

IV. Read the following quotation and answer the questions.Please analyze the following poem. （北航2010研）

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

By John Donne

Key: “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” is one of Donne’s most famous and simplest poems and also probably his most direct statement of his ideal of spiritual love.

The nine stanzas of this Valediction are quite simple compared to many of Donne’s poems, which utilize strange metrical patterns overlaid jarringly on regular rhyme schemes. Here, each four-line stanza is quite unadorned, with an ABAB rhyme scheme and an iambic tetrameter meter.

As the poem begins, the narrator talks of virtuous men that pass away and “whisper their souls to go,” meaning they pass away without lamenting. The narrator is telling his lover that their parting should be the same. They should not mourn or cry because it would profane their love to show it in this way.

He further confirms this by saying that earthquakes bring fear and commotion, but celestial movements, such as the procession of the equinox, are more innocent. The narrator is saying that he and his lover have a kind of celestial love. Therefore, their parting does not need to cause commotion, like an earthquake, or a movement between more physical lovers.

The narrator then says that lovers who are more physical could not stand to be absent from each other because absence removes the very thing that love about each other, which are their physical beings. However, since the narrator and his lover have a higher kind of love, they do not care as much that they will not be together physically.

The narrator states that their two souls are one. When they depart, they will not be separating, but expanding. He uses the conceit of gold (a metal that is beautiful and desirable) because gold is a malleable substance that can be stretched far apart while still staying together.

At the end, the poem famously uses the conceit of a drafting compass to describe the strength of their spiritual love.The narrator is saying that his lover is the fixed foot of the compass and that he is the other foot. Even when one foot moves away from the other, the fixed foot will stay in one spot but lean in the direction of the other foot. This is saying that his lover will still “hearken after” him as he travels away and will still be there when he comes back. Finally, the narrator says that he must go, like the other foot of the compass. However, the firmness of his lover is what makes him return to her.

V. Short answer question

Explain the “Puritanism” during the English Revolution.

Key: (1) Puritanism was the religious doctrine of the revolutionary bourgeoisie during the English Revolution.

(2) It preached thrift, sobriety, hard work and unceasing labor in whatever calling one happened to be, but with no extravagant enjoyment of the fruits of labor. Worldly pleasures were condemned as harmful. This was precisely the outlook needed by the bourgeoisie for the accumulation of capital.

(3) The Puritans opposed the old church that squandered considerable money upon robes, candles and magnificent processions.

(4) They closed down the London theatres in 1642, not only for their extravagance and deterioration but also for the puritanic abhorrence of “worldly” pleasures in general.

VI. Essay question

What are the different aspects between the literature of Elizabethan Period and the literature of the Revolution Period?

Key: There are three main characteristics in which Puritan literature differs from that of the preceding age:

(1) Elizabethan literature had a marked unity and the feeling of patriotism and devotion to the Queen, but in the Revolution Period, all this was changed. The king became the open enemies of the people, and the country was divided by the struggle for political and religious liberty. So literature was as divided in spirit as were the struggling parties.

(2) Elizabethan literature was generally inspiring. It throbbed with youth, hope and vitality. Literature in the Puritan Age expressed age and sadness. Even its brightest hours were followed by gloom and pessimism.

(3) Elizabethan literature was intensely romantic. The romantic sentiment sprang from the heart of youth. People believed all things, even the impossible. But in literature of the Puritan period, we cannot find romantic ardor.

（此题可从两个时期文学的政治态度、表达的思想、感情基调等方面作答。）