英美文学考试中，名词解释是一种常考的题型。在此为大家整理了一些解释，希望可以给你的复习带来便利！

1.Allegory (寓言)

A tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities.

寓言，讽喻：一种文学、戏剧或绘画的艺术手法，其中人物和事件代表抽象的观点、原则或支配力。

2.Alliteration (头韵)

Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound within a line or a group of words.

头韵：在一组词的开头或重读音节中对相同辅音或不同元音的重复。

3.Allusion (典故)

A reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects the reader to recognize and respond to.

典故：作者对某些读者熟悉并能够作出反映的特定人物，地点，事件，文学作品的引用。

4.Analogy (类比)

A comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them.

类比：为了在两个事物之间找出差别而进行的比较。

5. Antagonist (反面主角)

The principal character in opposition to the protagonist or hero or heroine of a narrative or drama.

反面主角：叙事文学或戏剧中与男女主人公或英雄相对立的主要人物。

6. Antithesis (对仗)

The balancing of two contrasting ideas, words, or sentences.

对仗：两组相对的思想，言辞，词句的平衡。

7. Aphorism (警句)

A concise, pointed statement expressing a wise or clever observation about life.

警句：蕴含关于人生真理的明智的看法的精练的语句。

8. Aside (旁白)

A piece of dialogue intended for the audience and supposedly not heard by other actors on stage.

旁白：只说给观众而认为不会让台上其他演员听到的一段对话。

9.Apostrophe (呼语)

The direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a speech or composition.

呼语：直接称呼不在场或虚构的人物或称呼拟人的事物，尤指作为演讲或作文过程中的离题话。

10.Assonance (类韵)

The repetition of similar vowel sounds, especially in poetry.

类音，类韵：相同或相似元音的重复，尤其指在诗歌中的重复。

11.Atmosphere (氛围)

The prevailing mood or feeling of a literary work.

12. Autobiography (自传)

A person‘s account of his or her own life.

13. Ballad (民谣)

A narrative poem, often of folk origin and intended to be sung.

14. Ballad Stanza (民谣诗节)

A type of four-line stanza, the first and the third lines have four stressed words or syllables; the second and fourth lines have three stresses.

15. Biography (传记)

A detailed account of a person‘s life written by another person.

传记：由他人篆写的关于某人生平的详细记录。

16.Blank Verse (无韵体诗)

Verse written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

17. Caesura (休止)

A break or pause in a line of poetry.

18. Canto (章)

One of the principal divisions of a long poem.

诗章：一首长诗的主要部分之一。

19. Caricature (夸张讽刺)

The use of exaggeration or distortion to make a figure appear comic or ridiculous.

夸张讽刺：为了使文中的人物显得可笑而使用的夸张或扭曲人物形象的手法。

20. Characterization (人物刻画)

The means by which a writer reveals the personality of a character.

人物刻画：作者表现作品中人物性格的方法。

21. Classicism (古典主义)

A movement or tendency in art, literature, or music that reflects the principles manifested in the art of ancient Greece and Rome.

古典主义：一种在文学，艺术，音乐领域体现古代希腊，罗马风格的运动。

22. Climax (高潮)

The point of greatest intensity, interest, or suspense in a narrative.

23. Comedy (喜剧)

A dramatic work that is often humorous or satirical in tone and usually contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.

喜剧：轻松的和常有幽默感的或在调子上是讽刺的戏剧作品，常包括主题冲突的愉快解决

24. Conceit (奇想)

A kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things.

奇想：一种在截然不同的事物之间建立起的比喻。

25. Conflict (冲突)

A struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem.

冲突：故事，小说，戏剧中相对的力量和人物之间的对立。

26. Connotation (外延)

All the emotions and associations that a word or phrase may arouse.

外延：包括单词字面意思之外的或被该词汇唤起的全部内涵的意义。

27. Consonance (辅音韵)

The repetition of consonants or a consonant pattern, especially at the ends of words.

辅音韵：辅音或辅音模式的重复，尤指位于词尾的。

28. Couplet (双韵体)

A unit of verse consisting of two successive lines, usually rhyming and having the same meter and often forming a complete thought or syntactic unit.

双韵体：包括两个相连的诗行的一种诗的单位，通常压韵并具有同样的格律，经常组成一个完整的意思和句法单位

29. Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)

A couplet written in iambic pentameter is called a heroic couplet.

英雄双韵体：五步抑扬格的双韵体称英雄双韵体。

30. Denotation (内涵)

The literal or dictionary meaning of a word.

直接意义：一个词的字面意义或词典意义。

31. Denouement (结局)

The final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot.

结局：戏剧或叙事场景的最后结果。

32. Diction (措辞)

A writer‘s choice and use of words in speech or writing, particularly for clarity, effectiveness, and precision.

措词：讲话或书写中，出于表述清晰，言简意赅对词语的使用或选择。

33. Dissonance

A harsh or disagreeable combination of sounds; discord.

34. Dramatic monologue (戏剧独白)

A kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in the poem.

35. Elegy (挽歌)

A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person.

挽歌，挽诗：专门为悼念某一死者所写的诗或歌.

36. Emblematic Image (象征)

A verbal picture of figure with a long tradition of moral or religious meaning attached to it.

37. Epic (史诗)

An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero.

史诗：用严肃或庄重的语言写成的叙事长诗，歌颂传奇中或历史上英雄的丰功伟绩

38. Epigram (隽语)

A concise, clever, often paradoxical statement, susally in the form of a poem.

隽语：一个简明，机智，常常似是而非的陈述,经常以诗的形式出现

39. Epigraph (引语/开场白)

A motto or quotation at the beginning of a literary composition, setting forth a theme.

引语：在一部文学作品开头的引言，警句，阐明主题

40. Epilogue (结语/收场白)

A short addition or concluding section at the end of a literary work, often dealing with the future of its characters. Also called In this sense, also called afterword

结语：文学作品结束时简短的附加或总结性章节，常常关于作品人物的未来也作 在此意义上也可称作 afterword.