Caedmon---he is the first known religious poet of England. He is known as the father of English songs. His life story is vividly described in Bede’s The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. His first poem is The Hymn of Praise. He composed many other poems by using the biblical material.
Alfred the Great---king of Wessex kingdom. He is another important figure in prose writing of Anglo-Saxon period. He was a well-known translator. He translated some important Latin works into English, among which, the most important is The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This book records the main happenings of the Anglo-Saxon period. It is the best monument of the Old English prose. Beowulf---It is the oldest poem in the English language. It is the most important specimen of Anglo-Saxon literature, and also the oldest surviving epic in the English language. It consists of more than 3,000 lines. It had been passed form mouth to mouth for hundreds off years before it was written down in the 10th century or at the end of the 9th century. The main stories in the poem are based on the folk legends of the primitive northern tribes. Writing Features---1) It is not a Christian but a pagan poem, despite the Christian flavor given to it by the monastery scribe who wrote it down. It is the product of an advanced pagan civilization. The whole poem presents to us an all-round picture of the tribal society. The social conditions and customs can be clearly seen in the poem. It helps us a lot when we study the primitive society off Europe. So the poem has a great social significance. 2) The use of strong stresses and the predominance of consonants are notable in the poetical lines. Each line is divided into two halves, and each half is made to have two heavy stresses. 3) The use of alliteration is another notable feature of the poem. Three stressed syllables of each line are arranged in alliteration, which makes the whole line even more emphatic.
4) A lot of metaphors and understatements are used in the poem.
Romance----The romance was the prevailing literary form in the medieval period. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse and sometimes in prose, which described the life and adventures of a noble hero. Its essential features are the following: 1) It lacks general resemblance to truth or reality. 2) It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealises the virtues. 3) It contains perilous adventures more or less remote from ordinary life. 4) It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady. 5) The central character of the romance is the knight who is commonly described as riding forth to seek adventures, or taking part in tournaments, or fighting for his lord in battle. He is devoted to the church and the king. The romance, as a literary genre, prospered for about 300 years (1200-1500). It was written for the upper class, so it had little to do with the common people. Romance cycles: the matter of Britain, the matter of Rome, the matter of France. The master works of romance is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
The Norman conquest----In October 1066, the Duke of Normandy William the Great led the Norman army to attack England. The two armies met and fought at Hastings. Finally the English army was defeated. William and his men marched speedily into London and William became the king of England. Its consequences---William the Conqueror confiscated almost all the land and gave it to his Norman followers. He replaced the weak Saxon rule with a strong Norman government. So the feudal system was completely established in England. After the Norman conquest, chivalry was introduced into England. The knightly code, the romantic interest in women, tenderness and reverence paid to Virgin Mary were reflected in the literature of that period. English language was made a despised thing as the leading language used by the ruling class and a large number of French words entered the English language. Latin was used by the scholars and clergymen. Three languages existed in England then.
William Langland ------his masterpiece is Piers Plowman. Artistic Features of the poem---1) It is written in the form of a dream vision. The author tells the stories under the guise of having dreamed them. 2) The poem is an allegory that relates truth through symbolism. 3) The poet uses indignant satire in his description of social abuses caused by corruption prevailing among the ruling classes, ecclesiastical and secular. 4) The poem is written in alliteration. Social Significance of Piers Plowman----Piers Plowman, the hero of the story, is not a representative of the poor peasants. He is one of the well-to-do peasants. He has no intention of upsetting the feudal order of society, and he accepts the existing social relations. This is the limitation of the poem. In spite of that, Piers Plowman remains a classic in popular literature. It praises the poor peasants, and condemns and exposes the sins of the oppressors. It was very popular in the 14th and 15th centuries. It played an important part in arousing the revolutionary sentiment on the eve of the uprising of 1381 headed by Wat Tyler and John Ball. It gives us a realistic social picture of medieval England. Geoffrey Chaucer-------He is acclaimed not only as the father of English poetry but also as the father of English fiction. His literary career can be divided in to three periods. 1) The first period, about 30 years, including his youth and early manhood, is the period of French influence. In this period, he translated The Romaunt of the Rose, the most popular poem of Middle Ages, from French into English. 2) The second period, about 15 years, covers Chaucer’s active life as a diplomat and man of affairs. In this period, Italian influence seemed to be stronger than the French. The major works were adaptations from Italian writers in this period. His masterwork is Troilus and Criseyde. 3) The third period, covering his last 15 years, is generally known as the English period. His masterpiece is The Canterbury Tales. In this great work, the author gives his reader a picture of English society in Middle Ages. Features of Chaucer’s writing-----Chaucer’s language is vivid and exact. His style is flexible. His prose is easy and informal. He uses mild satire when he deals with people’s foibles and weaknesses. He uses rhyming couplet, which he introduced from France, in writing his major poems. He is the first great writer to use the dialect of London in writing. The social significance of Canterbury Tales----- In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer draws a true-to-life picture of English feudal society of his day. Taking the stand of the rising bourgeoisie, he affirms man’s right to pursue happiness and opposes the dogma of asceticism preached by the church. As one of the forerunners of humanism, he praises man’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life. His tales expose and satirise the social evils of his day. They criticize the degeneration of the noble, the heartlessness of the judge, and the corruption of the church.
Popular Ballads----popular ballads are originally dance songs. They are little stories in verse form, which can be sung or recited by the common people. The origin of the English and Scottish ballads is obscure. Usually they are anonymous, and are handed down orally for many generations. They are simple and crude in story and highly condensed and dramatic in presentation. In the 15th century, there were several kinds of ballads: historical, legendary, fantastical, lyrical and humorous. Popular ballads were found all over Europe in that period, but a particularly fertile soil was the border area between England and Scotland, for once many bloody battles were fought between the English and Scots there, such as Robin Hood.
Morality play----It is an allegory in dramatic form. It is a dramatization of the battle between the forces of good and evil in the human soul. A well-known example is Everyman.
Renaissance -------The original meaning of the word “renaissance” was the “rebirth’ of classical Greek and Latin literature. The term is commonly applied to the historical period which followed the Middle Ages. Renaissance period was thought to be in contrast with the Middle Ages, which
was considered and inhibited by dogmatic theology. Renaissance was extolled as learned, civilized, broad-minded, progressive, enlightened and free-thinking. Italy is customarily taken as the starting place of Renaissance. Later, the movement spread northward to other European countries—to France, to Germany, to the Low Countries, and lastly to England. English Renaissance started in the late 15th century or the early 16th century. In Renaissance period, great achievements were made by painters, writers, sculptors, architects, scientists, philosophers and astronomers. The famous writers in this period are: Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio in Italy; Erasmus in the Netherlands; Montaigne, Rabelais and the poets of the Pleiad in France; Lope de Vega and Cervantes in Spain; Sir Thomas More, Thomas Wyatt, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sidney, Shakespeare and Francis Bacon in England.
Sir Philip Sidney------He is known for three principal works. 1) Arcadia----It is a long prose-verse pastoral romance, written for the entertainment of Sidney’s sister. In this romance, the poet praises the delights of rural life and the love of the young people, and expresses his aspiration for a peaceful and happy life. 2) Astrophel and Stella-----This work is a collection of songs and sonnets. It consists of 108 sonnets and 11 songs. 3) An Apology for Poetry---It is one of the earliest English critical literary essays. It was written to answer a pamphlet called The School of Abuse, an attack on poetry and drama.
University wits: a name given to a group of writers who flourished in London in the last 20 years or so of the 16th century. All of members of this group were oxford or Cambridge university graduates, the most notable of them were: Marlowe, Nash, Greene, Lyly, Lodge and Peele. They were famous for writing comedies and tragedies.
Edmund Spenser: He is often referred to as “the poets’poet”because of his influence on later poets is considerable. He is generally acknowledged to be the greatest non-dramatic poet of the Elizabethan age. Major work: The Shepherd’s Calendar pastoral poem in twelve books, one for each month a year. The Shepherd in the poem represent the poet and his friends. It is Spenser’s first important poem, which consists of 12 eclogues and is written in different metres. All 12 eclogues, with the exception of the first and the last, are in dialogue form. The theme of love is the dominant one. And the more significant eclogues are those on the theme of religion. The poem demonstrates Spenser’s skilful mastery of a variety of meters and his innovative efforts also showed that the traditional form of pastoral could be adapted to a variety of subjects, moral or heroic. The Faerie Queen is a long poem planned in 12 books, of which he finished only 6. The work was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. The plan of the whole poem is a stranger in distress appears, claiming help against a dragon or giant. A knight is assigned to each guest, and the 12 books were to describe the 12 adventures of 12 knights who stand for 12 different virtues, as Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice and Courtesy. The dominating thoughts of the poem are nationalism, humanism and Puritanism. For The Faerie Queen, Spenser originated a nine-line verse stanza. The verse has 8 iambic pentameter lines followed by a 9th line of 6 iambic feet, with the rhyme scheme abab bcbc c. This verse, the “Spenserian Stanze” is justly famous and has often been used since. (characteristics of Spenser’s poetry:1.a perfect melody. 2. a rare sense of beauty.3.a splendid imagination.4.a lofty moral purity and seriousness.5.a dedicated idealism. In addition to above, Spenser uses strange forms of speech and obsolete words in order to increase his rustic effect.) William Shakespeare The second period: he wrote four histories: RichardⅡ, Henry Ⅳ,par tⅠ＆Ⅱ,and Henryⅴ;6 comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night and The Merry Wives of
Windsor, and two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. It is a period of “great Comedies” and mature historical plays. The general spirit of this period is optimism. Meantime, there is sorrow, there is pathos and there is sin; the innocent may suffer, the guilty may go unpunished for a time, and even find good fortune; but virtue, nevertheless, shall have its reward and triumph in the end, and the wrong shall disappear before the force of good. In the historical plays of this period, different phases of English life are shown before us: kings and princes, statesmen and courtiers, the rich citizen life and the life of the tavern, and the adventures of rogues and cheats, as a whole, this period is Shakespeare’s sweet and joyful time, in which he succeeds in portraying a magnificent panorama of the manifold pursuits of people in real life.(great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth great comedies: As you like it, Twelfth night, A mid-summer night’s dream, Merchant of Venice ) Features of Shakespeare’s Dramatic Works--- 1) Shakespeare is a realist. He is one of the founders of realism in English literature. His plays are mirrors of his age, reflecting the major contradictions of that time. He described the decaying of the feudal society and the rising of the bourgeois spirit. 2) In his plays, Shakespeare also clearly reflected the contradictions between the rich and the poor. He showed his sympathy to the poor people and disclosed the greed and cruelty of the upper class. 3) The story of Shakespeare’s plays often took place in other countries or in the past instead of in England or in his own age. 4) Shakespeare’s main characters are depicted in typical situations. They are typical characters. Their fundamental traits are revealed their conflicts with their surroundings, in their relations with they fellowmen. 5) Shakespeare’s dramatic form fits the content of his plays very well. His plays are not controlled by the rules of the classical unities of time, place and action. A plays covers several days or years. 6) In order to reproduce the manifold images of life, Shakespeare used peculiar combination in his drama: combination of majestic and funny, of poetic and prosaic, of tragic and comic. 7) Shakespeare was a great master of English language. The language of each of his characters fits his position in society and reveals the peculiarities of his character. He commanded a vocabulary larger than any other English writer. 8) Shakespeare is also a great poet. He was skilled in many poetic forms. He could write songs, lyrics, sonnets, couplets, quatrains, and blank verse. Influence------ 1) He is a universal poet. His genius includes all the world of nature and of man. He has been given the highest praise by various scholars and critics all over the world. 2) Shakespeare’s plays have been so widely read and so carefully studied that all English writers of any importance cannot escape form Shakespeare’s influence, either directly or indirectly, either in thought, content, or in poetic form or language. Moreover, he has been known all the world and his works have been translated into many different languages and consequently exerted great influences upon many writers in many countries. 3) As a great artist, Shakespeare was more than the supreme representative of a great era. Ben Jonson’s famous observation that “he was not of an age, but for all time” has stood the test of more than three centuries.
Restoration comedy: the kind of drama which prevailed between the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660 and early 18th century. It was chiefly concerned with presenting a society of elegance and stylishness. Its characters were gallants, ladies and gentlemen of fashion and rank, fops, rakes, social climbers and country bumpkins. Witty, urbane and sometimes licentious, it dealt with the intricacies of sexual and marital intrigue and also with adultery and cuckoldry. Wycherley’s The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer; and Congreve’s The Double Dealer and The Way of the World are example.
Francis Bacon------ When Bacon published in 1597 his first collection of short Essays, he became the first English “essayist”. His “scientific” style introduced to England a form of writing that was easy to understand, precise in language and diversified in topics. Bacon wrote prose in an age of poetry, when men around him were composing songs, sonnets and plays in verse, his pioneering efforts made essay writing a popular form in England.
Bacon’s works-----1) the philosophical works: The Advancement of Learning (In this work, it deals with the accomplishments of science up to his time.) The New Instrument (Bacon describes the method by which knowledge could be universalized,) 2) the literary works of Bacon are his essays. They are noted for their style and striking observations of life. They are the first true English prose classics. 3) the professional works: Essays (among these essays the famous pieces are Of Study, Of Travel, and Of Wisdom) Generally speaking, Bacon’s literary style has three prominent qualities: directness, terseness and forcefulness.
Unit 1 Geoffrey Chaucer 1343-1400 夏雨给大地带来了喜悦送走了土壤干裂的三月沐浴着草木的丝丝经络顿时百花盛开生机勃勃西风轻吹留下清香缕缕田野复苏吐出芳草绿绿碧蓝的天空腾起一轮红日青春的太阳洒下万道金辉小鸟的歌喉多么清脆优美迷人的夏夜怎好安然入睡美丽的自然撩拨万物的心弦多情的鸟儿歌唱爱情的欣欢香客盼望膜拜圣徒的灵台僧侣立愿云游陌生的滨海信徒来自全国东西南北众人结伴奔向坎特伯雷去朝谢医病救世的恩主以缅怀大恩大德的圣徒那是个初夏方临的日子我到泰巴旅店投宿歇息怀着一颗虔诚的赤子心我准备翌日出发去朝圣黄昏前后华灯初上时分旅店院里涌入很多客人二十九人来自各行各业不期而遇都到旅店过夜这些香客人人虔心诚意次日要骑马去坎特伯雷客房与马厩宽敞又洁净店主的招待周到而殷勤夕阳刚从地平线上消失众人同我已经相互结识大家约好不等鸡鸣就起床迎着熹微晨光干燥把路上可是在我叙述故事之前让我占用诸位一点时间依我之见似乎还很必要把每人的情况作些介绍谈谈他们从事什么行业社会地位属于哪个阶层容貌衣着举止又是如何那么我就先把骑士说说骑士的人品出众而且高尚自从军以来就驰骋于疆场待人彬彬有礼大度而豪爽珍惜荣誉节操和骑士风尚为君主效命创辉煌战绩所到国家之远无人能比转战于基督和异教之邦因功勋卓著缕缕受表彰他攻打过亚历山大利亚在普鲁士庆功宴上有他这位佼佼者多次坐首席从立陶宛直打到俄罗斯同级的骑士都大为逊色攻克阿给西勒有他一个还出征到过柏尔玛利亚夺取烈亚斯和萨塔利亚他还
多次游弋于地中海跟随登陆大军将敌战败十五次比武他大显身手为捍卫信仰而浴血奋斗在战场上三次杀死敌将高贵的武士美名传四方他还侍奉过柏拉西亚国君讨伐另一支土耳其异教军没有一次不赢得最高荣誉他骁勇善战聪慧而不痴愚他温柔顺从像个大姑娘一生无论是在什么地方对谁也没有讲过半个脏字堪称一个完美的真骑士他有一批俊美的千里马但是他的衣着朴实无华开价的底下是结识的布衣上上下下到处是斑斑污迹他风尘仆仆刚从战场归来片刻未休息就急忙去朝拜 Unit 2 William Shakespeare 1564-1616 生存或毁灭这是个必答之问题是否应默默的忍受坎苛命运之无情打击还是应与深如大海之无涯苦难奋然为敌并将其克服此二抉择就竟是哪个较崇高死即睡眠它不过如此倘若一眠能了结心灵之苦楚与肉体之百患那么此结局是可盼的死去睡去但在睡眠中可能有梦啊这就是个阻碍当我们摆脱了此垂死之皮囊在死之长眠中会有何梦来临它令我们踌躇使我们心甘情愿的承受长年之灾否则谁肯容忍人间之百般折磨如暴君之政骄者之傲失恋之痛法章之慢贪官之侮或庸民之辱假如他能简单的一刃了之还有谁会肯去做牛做马终生疲於操劳默默的忍受其苦其难而不远走高飞飘於渺茫之境倘若他不是因恐惧身后之事而使他犹豫不前此境乃无人知晓之邦自古无返者所以「理智」能使我们成为懦夫而「顾虑」能使我们本来辉煌之心志变得黯然无光像个病夫再之这些更能坏大事乱大谋使它们失去魄力第二场同前凯普莱特家的花园罗密欧上罗密欧没有受过伤的才会讥笑别人身上的创痕朱丽叶自上方
.. ;.. 一．中古英语时期 Beowulf is the oldest poem in the English language, and the most important specimen (范例、典范)of Anglo-Saxon literature, and also the oldest surviving epic in the English language. The romance is a popular literary form in the medieval period（中世纪）. It uses verse or prose to sing knightly a dventures or other heroic deeds. Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the greatest English poets, whose masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales（《坎特伯雷故事集》）,was one of the most important influences on the development of English literature. Chaucer is considered as the father of English poetry and the founder of English realism. 二．文艺复兴Renaissance Renaissance r efers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries. It marks a transition(过渡) from the medieval to the modern world. It started in Italy with the flowering of painting, sculpture（雕塑）and literature, and then spread to the rest of Europe. Humanism is the essence of Renaissance -----Man is the measure of all things. This was England’s Golden Age in literature. Queen Elizabeth r eigned over the country in this period. The real mainstream of the English Renaissance i s the Elizabethan drama. The most famous dramatists in the Renaissance E ngland are Christopher Marlowe and W illiam Shakespeare. The greatest of the pioneers of English drama was Christopher Marlowe. Francis Bacon was the best known essayist of this period. “Of Studies” is the most popular of Bacon’s 58 essays. Thomas More ——Utopia Edmund Spenser——The Faerie Queene 相关练习 1. Which is the oldest poem in the English language? A. Utopia B. Faerie Queene C. Beowulf D. Hamlet 2. _____ is the father of English poetry. A. Edmund Spenser B. William Shakespeare C. Francis Bacon D. Geoffrey Chaucer 3. ____ is not a playwright during the Renaissance period on England. A. William Shakespeare B. Geoffrey Chaucer C. Christopher Marlowe D. Ben Johnson 三．莎士比亚William Shakespeare “All t he world 's a stage, a nd all the men and women merely p layers.”——William Shakespeare William Shakespeare is considered the greatest playwright in the world and the finest poet who has written in the English language. Shakespeare understood people more than any other writers. He could create characters that have
《英美文学》（03119）复习大纲 第一部分英国文学 一、课程简介 本课程简要介绍英国各个历史断代的主要文学文化思潮,文学流派,主要作家; 本课程要求学生掌握英国文学史上各个时期的文学特点，出现的文学流派以及该时期一至两位重要作家的文学生涯,创作思想,艺术特色及代表作品；并要求学生做到在掌握有关知识理论的基础上使之转换这能力，即能用有关知识和理论来分析英国文学中的相关问题。 二、课程重点章节简介： 第一章:古代与中世纪英国文学 1. <<贝尔武夫>> 2. 乔叟及其代表作 第二章: 文艺复兴时期 1. 文艺复兴的定义 2. 萨士比亚的戏剧及十四行诗 3. 培根的代表作 第三章: 十七世纪英国文学 1.弥尔顿的代表作<<失乐园>>、诗剧<<力士参孙>>的主要内容及<<
失乐园>>选短
第四章: 启蒙运动时期 1.新古典主义 2.伤感主义 3.笛福及代表作 4.蒲伯及代表作 第五章: 浪漫主义时期 1.浪漫主义时期文学的特点 2.彭斯的创作特点及代表作 3.华兹华斯的创作特点及代表作 4.拜伦诗歌的特点及代表作 第六章: 维多利亚时期 1.维多利亚时期的文学特点 2.布朗蒂姐妹的代表作 第七章: 现代时期 1.现代主义文学 2.汤姆斯.哈代创作特点及代表作 3. D.H.劳伦斯创作特点及代表作 三、本课程重点和难点内容简介 第一章:古代与中世纪英国文学： 1．<<贝尔武夫>>简介及在英国文学史上的意义。
2．乔叟及其代表作《坎特伯雷故事集》对英国文学做出的贡献。3．名词解释“骑士抒情诗” 第二章: 文艺复兴时期： 1.文艺复兴时期的时间界定 2.“文艺复兴”的名词解释 3.“人文主义” 的名词解释 4.莎士比亚的“Sonnet 18”的主题 5.哈姆雷特的性格分析 6.英语解释《论学习》中的句子 第三章: 十七世纪英国文学： 1.英语解释弥尔顿《失乐园》选段中的句子 2.《失乐园》的主要内容和意义 3.《失乐园》中撒旦的人物分析 第四章: 启蒙运动时期： 1.启蒙运动时期的界定 2.新古典主义的基本主张和特色 3.伤感主义的名词解释 4.《鲁滨逊漂流记》中鲁滨逊的人物分析 5.蒲伯的《论批评》的主题
Allegory is a tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. Thus, an allegory is a story with two meaning, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. Bildungsroman: a novel that traces the initiation, development, and education of a young person. Examples are Dickens’s David Copperfield and James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Byronic hero is a character-type found in Byron’s narrative Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. He is a boldly defiant but bitterly self-tormenting outcast, proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin. Emily Bronte’s Heath cliff is a later example. Conceit: a kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. A conceit usually provides the framework for an entire poem. An especially unusual and intellectual kind of conceit is the metaphysical conceit, used by certain 17th-century poets, such as John Donne.. Comedy of manners is a kind of comedy representing the complex and sophisticated code of behavior current in fashionable circles of society, where appearances count for more than true moral character. Its humor relies chiefly on elegant verbal wit and repartee. In England, the comedy of manners flourished as the dominant form of Restoration comedy in the works of Etheredge, Wycherley and Congreve. It was revived in a more subdued form in the 1770s by Goldsmith and Sheridan, and later by Oscar Wilde. An epic is a long narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating and celebrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the past history of a nation. Epiphany(顿悟）: a sudden revelation of truth about life inspired by a seemingly trivial incident Heroic couplet is the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter. Intrusive narrator: an omniscient narrator who, in addition to reporting the events of a novel’s story, offers further comments on characters and events, and who sometimes reflects more generally upon the significance of the story. Iambic pentameter: a poetic line consisting of five verse feet, with each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Iambic pentameter is the most common verse line in English poetry. Metaphysical poetry: the poetry of John Donne and other 17th-century poets who wrote in a similar style. It is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas . Metaphysical Poetry Metaphysical Poetry is commonly used to name the work of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. With a rebellious spirit, the metaphysical poets try to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry. They are characterized by mysticism in content and fantasticality in form. John Donne is the lead ing figure of the “metaphysical school.” Naturalism: a post--Darwinian movement of the late 19th century that tried to apply the laws of scientific determinism to fiction. The naturalists went beyond the realists’ insistence on the objective presentation of the details of everyday life to insist that the materials of literature
第一部分：早期和中世纪英国文学 第一章：英国的组成 1、大不列颠人（英国人） 在开始学习英国文学史之前，了解一下英国这个民族是很必要的。英国这个民族是一个混血族。早期居住在这个岛上的居民是凯尔特人的一个部落，我们现在称它为大不列颠人。大不列颠人把这个岛屿命名为大不列颠岛，凯尔特人是其原始居民。他们分为几十个小部落，每个部落都以小屋群居为主。“最古老的凯尔特人法律今天归结起来显示出氏族任然充满着生命力”。英国人曾生活在部落社会。 2、罗马人的占领 在公元前55年，大不列颠岛被罗马征服者凯撒入侵，而这时的凯撒刚刚占领了高卢。但是罗马人刚登上大不列颠岛海岸时，就遭到了在首领领导下的大不列颠人的狮子般疯狂的反击，随着罗马将领来来往往的这个世纪，直到公元78年英国从被于罗马帝国完全征服过。伴随着罗马人的侵略占领，罗马式的生活方式也开始融入英国。罗马式剧院和澡堂很快的在城镇中兴起。而这些高雅的文明只不过是罗马侵略者的娱乐享受方式罢了，大不列颠人民却像奴隶一样被压迫着。罗马人的占领持续了将近400年，在这期间，罗马人因其军事目的在岛上修建了后来被称之为罗马路的纵横交错的公路，这些公路在后期发展中起到了很大的作用。沿着这些公路开始建立起大量的城镇，伦敦就是其中之一，开始成为重要的贸易中心城市。罗马的占领也带来了基督教文化。但是在15世纪初期，罗马帝国处于逐渐的衰落阶段。公元410年，所有罗马军队撤回欧洲大陆再也没有返回。因此，也标志这罗马人占领的结束。 3、英国人的占领 同时，大不列颠也被成群的海盗给侵略着。他们是来自北欧的三个部落：盎格鲁人，撒克逊人和朱特人民族。这三个部落在大不列颠海岸登路，把大不列颠人民赶到西部和北部，然后自己定居下来。朱特人占领了岛屿东南部的肯特。撒克逊人占领了岛屿南部地区，并建立起像韦塞克斯，埃塞克斯和东萨塞克斯这样的小王国。盎格鲁人席卷了东部中部地区，并在东英吉利亚建立王国。七个像这样的王国在大不列颠岛上逐渐出现。到公元7世纪，这些小王国开始合并成为今天称为英格兰的统一王国，或被称作盎格鲁人之国。这三个部落的人混合在一起，被称为今天的英国人，而盎格鲁人占绝大多数。他们说的三种方言自然而然的发展成为一种语言——盎格鲁撒克逊，或者古英语，和今天我们所说的英语有着很大的区别。 4、盎格鲁撒克逊人的社会状况 在盎格鲁撒克逊人定居在大不列颠之前，他们仍过着部落式生活。家庭成员以亲属关系联合在一起，分别定居在不同的村落。主要的战争乐团由年轻人组成，勇士们食用族长的食物与其分享战利品。虽然说族长有权决定他子民的生死，但是将在外难免军令有所不受。他熟悉他的每一个士兵，和他们一起吃喝玩乐。这就是当时盎格鲁人称作为“氏族军事民主”。 在占领大不列颠后，盎格鲁撒克逊的社会形态发生了巨大的变化。“我们知道，统治管理未屈服的人民是与非犹太人的法令相违背的……因此，非犹太人社会体系需要改革成为国家机关……首先，征服者代表必须是军事指挥官，被占领地区的内外安全需要加强指挥官的权利。这样，军事领导权转变成君权的时刻到来。一切以成定局。因此，盎格鲁撒克逊时期见证了英国由部落社会向封建社会转变的过程。 5、盎格鲁撒克逊人的宗教信仰以及其影响 盎格鲁撒克逊人是异教徒。他们信奉北欧的古老神话传说。那就是为什么北欧神话学说在英语这门语言中留下痕迹的原因。例如，一周中的天数就是由北神命名的。奥丁，我们所说的神，星期三以他的名字命名，星期四以托尔的名字命名，美丽女神弗丽嘉，祈祷者以她的名字命名星期五。星期二则是为了纪念另一个北欧之神--蒂乌。
英国文学史 Part one: Early and Medieval English Literature Chapter 1 The Making of England 1. The early inhabitants in the island now we call England were Britons, a tribe of Gelts. 2. In 55 B.C., Britain was invaded by Julius Caesar. The Roman occupation lasted for about 400 years. It was also during the Roman role that Christianity was introduced to Britain. And in 410 A.D., all the Roman troops went back to the continent and never returned. 3. The English Conquest At the same time Britain was invaded by swarms of pirates（海盗）. They were three tribes from Northern Europe: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. And by the 7th century these small kingdoms were combined into a United Kingdom called England, or, the land of Angles. And the three dialects spoken by them naturally grew into a single language called Anglo -Saxon, or Old English. 4. The Social Condition of the Anglo -Saxon Therefore, the Anglo -Saxon period witnessed a transition from tribal society to feudalism. 5. Anglo -Saxon Religious Belief and Its Influence The Anglo -Saxons were Christianized in the seventh century. Chapter 2 Beowulf 1. Anglo -Saxon Poetry But there is one long poem of over 3,000 lines. It is Beowulf, the national epic of the English people. Grendel is a monster described in Beowulf. 3. Analysis of Its Content Beowulf is a folk lengend brought to England by Anglo -Saxons from their continental homes. It had been passed from mouth to mouth for hundreds of years before it was written down in the tenth century. 4. Features of Beowulf The most striking feature in its poetical form is the use of alliteration, metaphors and understatements. Chapter 3 Feudal England 1）T he Norman Conquest 2. The Norman Conquest The French -speaking Normans under Duke William came in 1066. After defeating the English at Hastings, William was crowned as King of England. The Norman Conquest marks the establishment of feudalism in England.
一：The Eighteenth Century(1688---1798)-----The Age of Reason/Enlightenment 1)Pope 18世纪被称为是Pope的时代，18世纪最伟大的诗人，其诗多用 “heroic couplet” 1)16岁Pastorals《田园诗》 2)1711 Essay on Criticism《批评论》—heroic couplets and didactic poem 3)1714 The Rape of the Lock《卷发遇劫记》—a mock-heroic poem 4)The Dunciad《群愚史诗》 5)Essay on man《人论》—philosophical poem in heroic couplets 6)Imitation of Horace《仿贺拉斯》 7)Epistle to Dr.Arbuthnot《致阿勃诺斯特医生书》 2)Swift 讽刺作家 1)1704 A Tale of a Tub《木桶的故事》—parable寓言 2)1704 The Battle of the Books《书站》 3)1708 Bickerstaff Almanac《比克斯塔福历书》 4)1708 Elegy of Mr.Partridge《帕特里奇挽歌》 5)1708 Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaff《艾萨克·比克斯塔福的辩护》 6)1726，10 Gulliver’s Travels《格里佛游记》 7)Pamphlets on Ireland(小论文) 关于爱尔兰的小册子 （1）The Drapier’s Letters《布商的书信》 （2） A Modest Proposal《一个小小的建议》 8)Tragic love affairs: Candenus and V anessa《坎迪纳斯和文莎》、Journal to Stella《给斯拉特的信》—love-letters 9)1745 On the Death of Dr. Swift 3)Defoe “the pioneer novelist of England”英国现实主义小说开创人， 1)1701 Trueborn Englishman—A Satire《纯血统英国人》---- pamphlet 2)1702 The Shortest Way with the Dissenters《铲除新教徒的途径》 3)1703,5 Hymn to the Pillory《木枷颂》 4)The Review《评论报》—a political and literary magazine 5)代表作Robinson crusoe《鲁比逊漂流记》 Captain Singleton 《辛格顿船长》 Moll Flanders 《莫尔·弗兰德斯》 Colonel Jacque《雅克上校》 4. Richardson 1)1740 Pamela《帕米拉》或者Virtue Rewarded:In a Series of Familiar Letters from a Beaytiful Y oung Damsel to Her Parents—书信体形式 Epistolary novels，a long tale 2)1747-1748 Clarissa《克拉丽莎》—the best one 3)1753-1754 Sir Charles Grandison《查尔斯·格兰迪森爵士的历史》5. Fielding “ father of English Novel”英国小说之父
英国文学概述－王守仁 英国文学概述 英国文学源远流长，经历了长期、复杂的发展演变过程。在这个过程中，文学本体以外的各种现实的、历史的、政治的、文化的力量对文学发生着影响，文学内部遵循自身规律，历经盎格鲁—撒克逊、文艺复兴、新古典主义、浪漫主义、现实主义、现代主义等不同历史阶段。下面对英国文学的发展过程作一概述。 一、中世纪文学（约5世纪—1485） 英国最初的文学同其他国家最初的文学一样，不是书面的，而是口头的。故事与传说口头流传，并在讲述中不断得到加工、扩展，最后才有写本。公元5世纪中叶，盎格鲁、撒克逊、朱特三个日耳曼部落开始从丹麦以及现在的荷兰一带地区迁入不列颠。盎格鲁—撒克逊时代给我们留下的古英语文学作品中，最重要的一部是《贝奥武甫》（Beowulf），它被认为是英国的民族史诗。《贝奥武甫》讲述主人公贝尔武甫斩妖除魔、与火龙搏斗的故事，具有神话传奇色彩。这部作品取材于日耳曼民间传说，随盎格鲁-撒克逊人入侵传入今天的英国，现在我们所看到的诗是8世纪初由英格兰诗人写定的，当时，不列颠正处于从中世纪异教社会向以基督教文化为主导的新型社会过渡的时期。因此，《贝奥武甫》也反映了7、8世纪不列颠的生活风貌，呈现出新旧生活方式的混合，兼有氏族时期的英雄主义和封建时期的理想，体现了非基督教日耳曼文化和基督教文化两种不同的传统。 公元1066年，居住在法国北部的诺曼底人在威廉公爵率领下越过英吉利海峡，征服英格兰。诺曼底人占领英格兰后，封建等级制度得以加强和完备，法国文化占据主导地位，法语成为宫廷和上层贵族社会的语言。这一时期风行一时的文学形式是浪漫传奇，流传最广的是关于亚瑟王和圆桌骑士的故事。《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》（Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 1375-1400）以亚瑟王和他的骑士为题材，歌颂勇敢、忠贞、美德，是中古英语传奇最精美的作品之一。传奇文学专门描写高贵的骑士所经历的冒险生活和浪漫爱情，是英国封建社会发展到成熟阶段一种社会理想的体现。 14世纪以后，英国资本主义工商业发展较快，市民阶级兴起，英语逐渐恢复了它的声誉，社会各阶层普遍使用英语，为优秀英语文学作品的产生提供了条件。杰弗利?乔叟（Geoffrey Chaucer, 1343-1400）的出现标志着以本土文学为主流的英国书面文学历史的开始。《坎特伯雷故事》（The Canterbury Tales）以一群香客从伦敦出发去坎特伯雷朝圣为线索，通过对香客的生动描绘和他们沿途讲述的故事，勾勒出一幅中世纪英国社会千姿百态生活风貌的图画。乔叟首创英雄诗行，即五步抑扬格双韵体，对英诗韵律作出了很大贡献，被誉为“英国诗歌之父”。乔叟的文笔精练优美，流畅自然，他的创作实践将英语提升到一个较高的文学水平，推动了英语作为英国统一的民族语言的进程。 二、文艺复兴时期文学（15世纪后期—17世纪初） 相对于欧洲其他国家来说，英国的文艺复兴起始较晚，通常认为是在15世纪末。文艺复兴时期形成的思想体系被称为人文主义，它主张以人为本，反对中世纪以神为中心的世界观，提倡积极进取、享受现世欢乐的生活理想。托马斯?莫尔（Thomas More, 1478-1535）是英国最主要的早期人文主义者，他的《乌托邦》（Utopia）批评了当时的英国和欧洲社会，设计了一个社会平等、财产公有、
英国文学史（上册） 第一章安格鲁—撒克逊时期（450—1066） 1.历史背景 不列颠群岛最早的居民是凯尔特人，他们最初居住在莱茵河上游地区，大约在公元前600年，他们移居到了不列颠群岛。在大约公元前400到公元前300年时，凯尔特人的一个分支——布立吞人，来到了不列颠群岛，“不列颠”这个名字便是由他们所取。凯尔特人的文化属于铁器文化的早期阶段，他们知道如何铸造铁剑和种植庄稼。关于他们的信仰，我们所知甚少，但是我们能了解到他们五月节的宗教典礼和槲寄生（一种植物）的祭奠仪式，这些已经成为英国人民民族传统的一部分。 从公元前55年到公元407年，不列颠群岛在罗马帝国的统治之下。那时，罗马帝国是奴隶社会，它统治了整个欧洲，并且有很高的文明水平。罗马人打败了凯尔特人，成为了不列颠群岛的主人，伦敦就是在罗马人的统治时期内建成的。 第一个来到不列颠的罗马将领是著名的尤里乌斯.凯撒，公元55年，在他取得高卢战役的胜利后，带领一万名士兵跨过英吉利海峡来到那里。但是他只在哪儿待了几个星期，虽然他在第二年又来到了不列颠，他并没有在岛上驻扎军队，因为他当时正忙于平息欧洲大陆的叛乱，还有罗马帝国的内战。在罗马人对不列颠扩大征服之前，就这样过去了一个世纪。罗马人统治了不列颠三个半世纪，他们筑寺庙、修大路、砌城墙、建军营，但是，对凯尔特人的文化生活却影响不大。他们建成了四、五十个城邑，如今无论何时，如果你在英国听到一个城镇的名字是以“切斯特”或“卡斯特”结尾的，那么毫无疑问，它一定是坐落在一个罗马军队曾经的屯兵之地上。因为这样的词来源于拉丁语“卡斯楚”，它的意思是“要塞、堡垒”。大部分我们所知道的罗马统治时期的不列颠，都来源于凯撒的《高卢战记》，和普布里乌斯?克奈里乌斯?塔西佗的《日耳曼尼亚志》。 大约公元450年，大批的安格鲁人、撒克逊人和朱特人入侵不列颠群岛，他们定居在英格兰，把凯尔特人赶往威尔士、苏格兰和爱尔兰等周边地区。安格鲁人和撒克逊人是日耳曼部落，他们占据着易北河的两岸，也就是现在丹麦和德国的地方，这两个部族之间的语言也大致相同。从他们特有的的部族名字我们可以得知他们是非常勇敢的海上民族。古散克逊语“安古尔”意思是“钩子”，从中我们可以得知他们住在海边，以捕鱼为生。而“撒克逊”这个名字则源于“希克斯”，意思是短剑，从这个名字我们可以判断他们是坚强勇敢的战士。尽管遭到凯尔特人的奋勇抵抗，安格鲁—散克逊人最终还是将他们击败，成了不列颠群岛的新主人，也是现在英国人的祖先。 在大约公元500年，在对抗韦塞克斯王国的建立者——国王瑟迪克的过程中，一个传奇人物，凯尔特人的亚瑟王，名声大噪。在都城索美塞特夏，他的宫殿卡米洛特，亚瑟王召集了一批最勇敢的追随者，也就是著名的圆桌骑士。他为他的王国同安格鲁—撒克逊侵略者英勇作战了24年，后来他的故事也成了英国骑士文学的题材。 在从欧洲大陆移民之前，安格鲁—撒克逊人明显还处在部落社会的晚期，在他们移往不列颠之后，部落社会逐渐解体，封建社会开始形成。在将近公元6世纪时，在英格兰已经有7个较大的王国。 从8世纪后期开始，丹麦人，也就是维京人，开始入侵英格兰，起先只是沿着东海岸，
一．中古英语时期 ?Beowulf is the oldest poem in the English language, and the most important specimen (范例、典范)of Anglo-Saxon literature, and also the oldest surviving epic in the English language. ?The romance is a popular literary form in the medieval period（中世纪）. It uses verse or prose to sing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds. ?Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the greatest English poets, whose masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales（《坎特伯雷故事集》）,was one of the most important influences on the development of English literature. ?Chaucer is considered as the father of English poetry and the founder of English realism. 二．文艺复兴Renaissance ?Renaissance refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries. It marks a transition(过渡) from the medieval to the modern world. ?It started in Italy with the flowering of painting, sculpture（雕塑）and literature, and then spread to the rest of Europe. ?Humanism is the essence of Renaissance -----Man is the measure of all things. ?This was England’s Golden Age in literature. Queen Elizabeth reigned over the country in this period. The real mainstream of the English Renaissance is the Elizabethan drama. The most famous dramatists in the Renaissance England ? ?“Of Studies” is the most popular of Bacon’s 58 essays. ?Thomas More ——Utopia ?Edmund Spenser——The Faerie Queene 相关练习 ? 1. Which is the oldest poem in the English language? ? A. Utopia B. Faerie Queene ? C. Beowulf D. Hamlet ? 2. _____ is the father of English poetry. ? A. Edmund Spenser B. William Shakespeare ? C. Francis Bacon D. Geoffrey Chaucer ? 3. ____ is not a playwright during the Renaissance period on England. ? A. William Shakespeare B. Geoffrey Chaucer ? C. Christopher Marlowe D. Ben Johnson 三．莎士比亚William Shakespeare ?“All the world 's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”——William Shakespeare ?William Shakespeare is considered the greatest playwright in the world and the finest poet who has written in the English language. Shakespeare understood people more than any other writers. He could create characters that have
英国文学 1, Periods of English Literature from 449-1965 Old english literature (449-1066) Works: The epic poem Beowulf贝尔武甫(700-750) Midieval english literature(1066-1485) Background: Norman Conquest. English Literature in Age of Chaucer (14th century) Five main writers: Langland朗格兰, Wycliffe威克里夫, Gower高尼, Mandeville曼德维尔, Chaucer乔叟 Geoffrey Chaucer 杰弗瑞·乔叟(1340-1400): He is acclaimed not only as “the father of English poetry”but also as “the father of English fiction”. His main works: The Romance of the Rose, Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales坎特伯雷故事集 Folk literature:Robin Hood Ballads English Renaissance(1485-1660) Writers: William Shakespeare 威廉·莎士比亚(1564-1616) Francis Bacon 弗兰西斯·培根(1561-1626) John Milton约翰·弥尔顿(1608-1674) John Bunyan约翰·班扬(1628-1688) Joseph Addison约瑟夫·爱迪森(1672-1719) and Richard Steele理查德·史蒂尔(1672-1729) Neo-classicism （1660-1798） Major writers: William Blake威廉·布莱克(1757-1827) Robert Burns罗伯特·彭斯(1759-1796) Daniel Defoe丹尼尔·笛福(1660-1731) Henry Fielding亨利·菲尔丁(1707-1754) Alexander Pope 亚历山大·蒲伯Samuel Johnson塞缪·约翰逊Joseph Addison约瑟夫·爱迪森(1672-1719) Romanticism (1798-1832) Major writers: William Wordsworth威廉·华兹华斯(1770-1850) Samuel Taylor Coleridge 塞缪·泰勒·柯勒律治(1772-1834) George Gordon Byron乔治·戈登·拜伦(1788-1824) Percy Bysshe Shelley珀西·比西·雪莱(1792-1822) John Keats约翰·济慈(1759-1821) Charles Lamb 查尔斯·兰姆(1775-1834) William Hazlitt威廉·哈兹里特Walter Scott瓦尔特·司各特(1771-1832) Victoria age (1832-1901) Charles Dickens查尔斯·狄更斯(1812-1870) The Pickwick Papers匹克威克外传(1836-1837) Oliver Twist奥利弗·退斯特(1837-1838) Nicholas Nickleby尼古拉斯·尼克贝尔(1838-1839) David Copperfield大卫·科波菲尔(1949-1950) William Makepeace Thackeray威廉·马克皮斯·萨克雷(1811-1893) Anne Bronte安妮·布朗特(1820-1849) Agnes Grey艾格尼斯·格雷(1848) Mrs. Gaskell盖斯凯尔夫人(1810-1865) George Eliot乔治·艾略特(1819-1880) Modern period(1901-1965) George Gissing乔治·吉辛John Galsworthy约翰·高尔斯华绥(1867-1933) Bernard Shaw伯纳·肖(1856-1950) William Butler Y eats威廉·巴特拉·叶芝(1865-1939) T. S. Eliot托·斯·艾略特(1888-1965) James Joyce詹姆斯·乔伊斯(1882-1941) Robert Tressell罗伯特·特雷斯尔(1870-1911) Ralph Fox拉尔夫·福克斯(1900-1937)Wystan Huge Auden威·休·奥登(1907-1973) 2, English Renaissance literature(1485-1660)