1 The Medieval Age
1. Types of Literature
Poetry，Drama，Prose（novels, short stories, and essays）
Anglo-Saxons:
2. Three tribes---- the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes
Language: Germanic dialects
3. Anglo-Saxon history
Anglo-Saxon period : 449-1066；Anglo-Norman period : 1066-1350；Literature is divided into two parts: Pagan（异教）and Christian
4. The Middle Ages
In Europe: usu. from 5th c. to 16th c., marked by division of Western Christianity in the Reformation, the rise of humanism in the Italian Renaissance, and beginnings of European overseas expansion which allowed for the Columbian Exchange.
In Britain: 446-1466
6. 3 stages of English lg Development
Old English /Anglo-Saxon (usu. the language up to 1066)；Middle English (about 1100-1500)；Modern English (about 1500-present)
II. Beowulf and ballads
Beowulf: heroic epic; 1st English national literary work
cf: First Chinese literary work
The Book of Songs (Classic of Poetry)（《诗经》）（305 poems from Xizhou to middle Chunqiu: folk songs, sacrificial songs and ceremonial songs ）
III. Geoffrey Chaucer(ca 1343-1400)
Major works: The House of Fame(1379-1384) ；Troilus and Criseyde(1372-1385) ；The Canterbury Tales(1386-1400)
Status in literature : “father of English poetry” & one of the greatest narrative poets in Britain;first great poet in the current English language;
IV. Selected writing
1. The Canterbury Tales
Original plan: a collection of stories in a frame tale, between 1387 and 1400 about 30 pilgrims from London to Canterbury. Each pilgrim, from all layers of society, tells 4 stories to each other to kill time while traveling.
Part IV The Renaissance
1. Renaissance
Definition---(Fr.)rebirth or revival: a cultural movement roughly from 14th to 17th c., from Italy in late Middle Ages and later to the rest of Europe; a revival of learning based on classical sources;
Influence: literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, religion, & other aspects of intellectual enquiry; best known for artistic developments & contributions of such polymaths(博学大师) as Leonardo da Vinci & Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance men".
Renaissance marked a transition from the Medieval Period to the modern age in European history.
2) Two features of Renaissance
(1) a thirst for classical lit.: They discovered and read ancient Greek & Roman classics which led
to flowering of painting, sculpture, architecture and so on.
(2) a keen interest in life and human activities rather than religion
3) Representatives & their famous works
Leonardo. Da Vinci(1452-1519) Mona Lisa (1479-1528), La Gioconda, wife of Francesco del Giocondo The Last Supper 1498
2) Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) sculptor, painter, architect & poet David Gigantic marble, started in 1501 & finished in 1504 The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist (the Doni Tondo)The Creation of Adam (Fragment of the Sistine Chapel ceiling)1511-12 Fresco(壁画):The Separation of Light and Darkness (1508-1512), Sistine Chapel, V atican
3) Dante (1472-1629)
Dante Alighieri：poet, prose writer, lit. theorist, moral philosopher, political thinker
Divine Comedy（《神曲》）To be widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, & as one of greatest works of world lit.
2. Old England in Transition
Historical background: 16th c----from feudalism to capitalism: “sheep devoured men” by Thomas More
Absolute monarchy: break off with the Pope, dissolving all the monasteries & abbeys(修道院), confiscating their lands and proclaiming himself head of the Church of England. Absolute monarchy reached its summit during reign of Queen Elizabeth(1558-1603).
Hundred Years’War with France(1336-1453) ?civil wars.
Henry VII(1481-1509): Tudor dynasty, a centralized monarchy of a totally new type, which met the needs of the rising bourgeoisie.
sea power after defeating Spain
development of science & art
3. English Renaissance
Definition: Largely literary, a great number of classical works were translated into Eng. during 16th c., which was carried out by progressive thinkers of humanists.
Chief interest: not in ecclesiastical（基督教的;(与)教会(有关)的）knowledge, but in man, his environment & doings; brave fight for emancipation（解放）of man from tyranny of the church and religious dogmas.
Greatest achievement:
Elizabethan drama →Shakespeare, C. Marlow (blank verse) & B. Johnson;
prose →F. Bacon, T. More (Utopia)
Subject matter: away from religious subjects, & into other realms of social & personal life
II. William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
1. Life and career
1564: Born in market town--- Stratford-upon-Avon; 1571: local grammar school (Latin & Greek); 1585, left for London, 1st worked by taking care of horses, gradually joined actors, & by 1592, a leading actor. In addition to acting, began to write plays and poems.
2. Works
Roughly 4 periods: 37 plays, 2 narrative poems & 154 sonnets
1590 -1594 -- apprenticeship: early history plays & a group of comedies
1595 -1600 -- rapid growth & development: more careful & artistic work, better plot, and a
marked increase in knowledge of human nature
1601 - 1608-- gloom and depression: a period of his tragedies
1609 -1612-- restored serenity: calm after storm
1) Comedy
All’s Well That Ends Well (dark comedy) As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline (romantic tragic comedy)（辛白林）Love’s Labour’s Lost (《爱的徒劳》) Measure for Measure The Merry Wives of Windsor Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night's Dream Much Ado About Nothing Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Taming of the Shrew The Tempest（骚动）(romantic tragicomedy) Troilus and Cressida Twelfth Night Two Gentlemen of Verona Winter's Tale (romantic tragicomedy)
2) History Henry IV, part 1 Henry IV, part 2 Henry V
Henry VI, part 1 Henry VI, part 2 Henry VI, part 3 Henry VIII King John RichardII Richard III
3) Tragedy Antony and Cleopatra Coriolanus Hamlet * Julius Caesar King Lear * Macbeth * Othello * Romeo and Juliet Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus
4) Poetry Sonnets A Lover's Complaint The Rape of Lucrece V enus and Adonis Funeral Elegy（哀歌）by W.S.
3. Shakespeare’s achievements
1) He represents the trend of history in giving voice to the desires & aspirations of the people: peace under a strong monarch who would unite the whole country.
2) Humanism: More important than his historical sense of his time, he reflects the spirit of his age.
3) Characters are “round”(many aspects or dimensions): vice & virtue commingle, true of common sense of humanity;
4) Originality: though drawing mostly from sources known to audience, his plays are original for his instilling into old materials a new spirit.
5) Shakespeare as a great poet---both a great dramatist & poet:
Sonnets, long poems, his dramas all in poetic form rich in images, conceit（别出心裁的比喻）, metaphors & symbols;
lyrical, poetical, ecstatic, pathetic（狂喜的）, cynical（愤世嫉俗的）, sarcastic, and ironic.
6) Shakespeare as master of the English language:
A command of about 15,000 words with different meanings of the same word, or vice versa; many of his quotations & phrases have been absorbed into the English lg.
4. Work study: Hamlet
Master art---
madness real & sham; intentional killing & unintentional; play within the play;
reversion or surprise turn of events; hesitation: both love & hatred for the mother;
killing & delay; language & characterization, etc.
Language
courtly: elaborate, witty discourse Hamlet is most skilled at rhetoric: highly developed metaphors, stichomythia(轮流对白), & in 9 memorable words, deploying both anaphora（首语重复）& asyndeton（连接词省略）: "to die: to sleep—/ To sleep, perchance to dream".
precise & straightforward，st. puns
Theme
revenge & struggle for the throne within the court, but main purpose was for the revelation of sth
more profound & realistic: contradiction between humanist ideals and the reality.
Soliloquy（独白）
a dramatic speech delivered by one character speaking aloud while under the impression of being alone. The soliloquist reveals inner thoughts & feelings to audience, either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct address; also known as interior monologue(内心独白). Hamlet's soliloquies
He interrupts himself, vocalising either disgust or agreement with himself, & embellishing(润色) his own words. He has difficulty expressing himself directly and instead blunts thrust of his thought with wordplay. It is not until late in the play, after his experience with the pirates, that he is able to articulate his feelings freely.
译文欣赏
生存还是毁灭，这是一个值得考虑的问题；默然忍受命运暴虐的毒箭，或是挺身反抗人世间无涯的苦难，通过斗争把它们扫清，这两种行为，哪一种更高贵？死了；睡着了；
什么都完了；要是在这一种睡眠之中，我们心头的创痛，以及其他无数血肉之躯所不能避免的打击，都可以从此消失，那正是我们求之不得的结局。死了；睡着了；睡着了也许还会做梦；嗯，阻碍就在这儿：因为当我们摆脱了这一具朽腐的皮囊以后，
在那死的睡眠里，究竟将要做些什么梦，那不能不使我们踌躇顾虑。人们甘心久困于患难之中，也就是为了这个缘故；谁愿意忍受人世的鞭挞和讥嘲、压迫者的凌辱、傲慢者的冷眼、被轻蔑的爱情的惨痛、法律的迁延、官吏的横暴和费尽辛勤所换来的小人的鄙视，
要是他只要用一柄小小的刀子，就可以清算他自己的一生？谁愿意负着这样的重担，
在烦劳的生命的压迫下呻吟流汗，倘不是因为惧怕不可知的死后，惧怕那从来不曾有一个旅人回来过的神秘之国，是它迷惑了我们的意志，使我们宁愿忍受目前的磨折，不敢向我们所不知道的痛苦飞去？这样，重重的顾虑使我们全变成了懦夫，决心那赤热的光彩，被审慎的思维盖上了一层灰色，伟大的事业在这一种考虑之下，也会逆流而退，失去了行动的意义。且慢！美丽的奥菲利娅！——女神，在你的祈祷之中，不要忘记替我忏悔我的罪孽。
3. Sonnets
2types: Italian & English or Shakespearean
Italian type: after Italian poet F. Petrarca (1304-74). 14 lines break into an octave(八行诗节,with rhymes abbaabba , describing a problem) and a sestet(六行诗节, with rhymes cdecde, cdccdc, or cdedce, providing a resolution).
English or Shakespearean type:
3 quatrains(四行诗) & a couplet with rhymes abab cdcd efef gg
Subject matter: Italian form: usu. a subject (problem) in the octave, then a turn at beginning of the sestet, releasing the tension built up in the octave.
Shakespearean form: a wider range of possibilities: an idea in the 1st quatrain, complicates it in the 2nd, complicates it still further in the 3rd, and resolves the whole thing in the final epigrammatic(警句的) couplet.
III. Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
1. Life and career
1561: son of a government minister attended Cambridge at 12 –16
at 17: ambassador to France At 26: Parliament Member →Lord Keeper, →Lord Chancellor of England Made a peer(贵族), with titles of Baron V erulam and Viscount(子爵) St Albans, but was imprisoned for taking bribes
2. Major works
1605: The Advancement of Learning（《论学术的进展》）1620: Novum Organum （《新工具》）1625: Essays 1627: The New Atlantis（《新大西岛》）
3. Bacon’s essays
1st to write essays in English; purpose: for ambitious Elizabethan & Jacobean youth of upper class to learn how to be efficient & make their way in public life; wide range of subjects: philosophy, science, history, literature, etc.
status: landmark in development of English prose; method: inductive method (归纳法) in place of deductive method (演绎法); features: brevity, compactness(紧凑) & powerfulness
4. B acon’s influence
His ideas about improvement of the human lot were influential in 1630-1650s among Parliamentarian scholars; During the Restoration, as a guiding spirit of Royal Society under Charles II in 1660; One of the 1st to fully understand that knowledge is power---- science would serve to improve the human conditions & create a better world. In 19th c., his emphasis on induction was revived & developed; The final goal of science is "the relief of man's estate" and the "effecting of all things possible."
5. Work study: “Of Studies”
Subject:
benefits of study - serve for delight, for ornament, & for ability; perfect nature, & to be perfected by experience; Different ways to pursue studies –study & experience are complementary to each other; Correct attitude to reading books - weigh & consider.
influence over human character - reading makes a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
Structure: A. analyzing what studies chiefly serve for;
B. different ways to pursue studies;
C. how studies exert influence over human character. Features: practical philosophy scientific accuracy rich knowledge & wisdom
Full of rhetoric
perfect art of prose：---witty, clear, concise ---forceful & persuasive, compact & precise, graceful & balanced, sensible & calm, & full of wisdom
论读书 --王佐良译
读书足以怡情，足以傅彩，足以长才。其怡情也，最见于独处幽居之时；其傅彩也，最见于高谈阔论之中；其长才也，最见于处世判事之际。练达之士虽能分别处理细事或一一判别枝节，然纵观统筹，全局策划，则舍好学深思者莫属。读书费时过多易惰，文采藻饰太盛则矫，全凭条文断事乃学究故态。读书补天然之不足，经验又补读书之不足，盖天生才干犹如自然花草，读书然后知如何修剪移接，而书中所示，如不以经验范之，则又大而无当。有一技之长者鄙读书，无知者羡读书，唯明智之士用读书，然书并不以用处告人，用书之智不在书中，而在书外，全凭观察得之。读书时不可存心诘难，不可尽信书上所言，亦不可只为寻章摘句，而应推敲细思。书有可浅尝者，有可吞食者，少数则须咀嚼消化。换言之，有只需读其部分者，有只须大体涉猎者，少数则须全读，读时须全神贯注，孜孜不倦。书亦可请人代读，取其所作摘要，但只限题材较次或价值不高者，否则书经提炼犹如水经蒸馏，淡而无味。读书使人充实，讨论使人机智，笔记使人准确。因此不常做笔记者须记忆力特强，不常讨论者须天生聪颖，不常读书者须欺世有术，始能无知而显有知。读史使人明智，读诗使人灵秀，数学使人周密，科学使人深刻，伦理学使人庄重，逻辑修辞之学使人善辩；凡有所学，皆成性格。人之才智但有滞碍，无不可读适当之书使之顺畅，一如身体百病，皆可借相宜之运动除
之。滚球利睾肾，射箭利胸肺，慢步利肠胃，骑术利头脑，诸如此类。如智力不集中，可令读数学，盖演题需全神贯注，稍有分散即须重演；如不能辩异，可令读经院哲学，盖是辈皆吹毛求疵之人；如不善求同，不善以一物阐证另一物，可令读律师之案卷。如此头脑中凡有缺陷，皆有特效可医。
IV. Conclusion
Renaissance——a transition from Medieval Period to the modern age in European history; fastening the breaking up of religion & politics, and rise up of the bourgeois class Shakespeare——greatest dramatist in history, leaving us a rich legacy of drama
Francis Bacon——1st to write essays & greatest essayist in English;
works covering a wide range of subjects: philosophy, science, history, literature, etc.
Part V Revolution & Restoration
I. Restoration
Monarchs:
House of Tudor: Elizabeth I (1558-1603)→
House of Stuart: James I (1603-25) & Charles I (1625-49) →
The Commonwealth: Oliver Cromwell (1649-58) & Richard Cromwell (1658-59) →
House of Stuart, Restored: Charles II (1660-85) & James II (1685-88)
17th c.: most tempestuous(狂暴的) period in Br. History---
revolution (contradictions betw. feudal & bourgeoisie)--Commonwealth (1653)
Puritans: divine right of individual conscience---renouncing(声明放弃) a life of joy in this world in hope of an eternal joy in the world to come;
struggle betw. people’s Parliament and the Throne;
Restoration: monarchy restored (1660);
Prince Willian Orange (1688): supremacy of Parliament, beginning of modern England, & final triumph of principle of political liberty;
II. Puritanism
Puritans refer to the more extreme Protestants in the 16th c. within the Church of England who thought the English Reformation had not gone far enough in reforming doctrines & structure of the church; they wanted to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence.
In 17th c. many Puritans emigrated to the New World, where they sought to found a holy Commonwealth in New England. Puritanism remained the dominant cultural force in that area into the 19th century.
Doctrines of Puritanism:
Sin: born with incurable sin
seven deadly sins: greed (avarice), envy, loath（不情愿）, gluttony(贪食), wrath, luxury & pride. Human beings are permanent sinners. It’s difficult to live a good life. Only after sin, we can go to the paradise. In a way, sin leads to a good way. Sin helps people to be redeemed.
They believe in an after-world life. Strict puritans even regarded drinking, gambling and participation in theatrical performances as punishable offences.
III. Literary characteristics
Puritan Age: Simplicity of life; disapproval of sonnets & love poetry; theatres closed; The Bible- the only one book;
Spiritual gloom Break away from old standards
Representatives: John Milton, John Bunyan, John Donne
IV. John Milton (1608–1674)
the most important transitional poet of the time: humanist ideals & Puritan morals
classic & revolutionary the greatest poet of the 17th century
a most influential poet in British history
1.Life and career
1608: son of a wealthy scrivener(公证人); At 15: went to Cambridge for 7 years; 5 years at home in the country studying; 1649: appointed Secretary for Foreign Tongues by the Cromwellian government, for opposing the monarchic party; 1652: wife died; he lost his sight;
3 marriages and 3 daughters;
2. Major Works
Political pamphlets—blindness—imprisonment—great Puritan poetry
1638: Lycidas; 1649: The Tenure (任期) of Kings and Magistrates ; 1651-55: 1st & 2nd Defense of the English People; Defense of Himself ; 1663: Paradise Lost (1667);
1670: History of Britain; 1671: Paradise Regain'd;Samson Agonistes
3. Themes
basic, timeless themes: sin and judgment authority and revolt love and hate
pride and humility ambition and failure.
4. Milton’s influence
On Romantic poets as William Blake, Percy Shelley, John Keat, Lord Byron, & other poets or writers such as Joseph Haydn, Alexander Pope, J.R.R. Tolkien, Nietzsche who regarded Satan as the real hero of the poem - a rebel against the tyranny of Heaven.
John Dryden: "This man cuts us all out, and the ancients too."
5. About Paradise Lost
overview
●An epic poem in blank verse, one of the greatest poems of the English language.
● a biblical story of the fall from grace of Adam & Eve (and, by extension, all humanity) in
language that is a supreme achievement of rhythm and sound.
●The main characters: God, Lucifer (Satan), Adam, and Eve
The Fall
Theme
The Importance of Obedience to God----“Man’s first Disobedience.”
Story of Adam & Eve’s disobedience: how & why it happens, & the story to be within larger context of Satan’s rebellion & Jesus’resurrection(复活). While Adam & Eve are first humans to disobey God, & Satan, first of all God’s creation to disobey.
●Hierarchical Nature of the Universe
Spatial hierarchy of the universe: Heaven above, Hell below, & Earth in middle →
a social hierarchy of angels, humans, animals & devils: the Son is closest to God, with archangels & cherubs(小天使) behind him. Adam & Eve & Earth’s animals come next, with Satan and other fallen angels following last. To obey God is to respect this hierarchy.
●The Fall as Partly Fortunate
The fall of humankind, while originally an unmitigated(十足的) catastrophe, brings good with it. Adam & Eve’s disobedience allows God to show his mercy & temperance in their punishments
& his eternal providence toward humankind. Humankind must now experience pain and death, but it can also experience mercy, salvation, and grace in ways
●While it has fallen from grace, individuals can redeem and save themselves through
continued devotion & obedience to God.
●Style: grand epic after the classic model of Homer & Virgil, iambic pentameter lines about Satan
●powerful & sympathetic characterization;
● A being of divinity and humanity;
● A tragic hero: possessing stature of the typical tragic hero who is guilty of pride, envy and
over-ambition; divine birth, just-minded, noble-spirited, invincible(不可征服的);
As real hero by poets as W. Blake & P. Shelley & applauded for rebellion against tyranny of Heaven;
●Many other works to be inspired by Paradise Lost, notably Joseph Haydn‘s oratorio The
Creation(1798) and John Keats’s long poem “Endymion” (月神，1818).
●William Blake: "a true poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it."
6. On His Blindness
●Subject matter: a man's acceptance of his disability through his conversation with
"Patience".
●Form: the Italian sonnet---abbaabba cdecde
●Allusion: the parable of the talents (money →light & literary talent– writing poetry )
●Octave: one sentence with complicated subordinates ---complicated mental state; long
vowels and diphthongs to slow down the rhythm ---anxiety, anger and rage
●Sestet（六行诗节）: grammar simplified; fewer vowels and diphthongs--- calmed down
with rage released & some edification;
●Light vs dark: light to be the 1st important thing given by God
1854年《遐迩贯珍》第9号刊载的译文：
世茫茫兮，我目已盲。静言思之，尚未半生。天赋两目，如托千金。今我藏之，其实难任。嗟我目兮，於我无用。虽则无用，我心郑重。忠以计会，虔以事主。恐主归时，纵刑无补。嗟彼上帝，既闭吾瞳。愚心自忖，岂责我工。忍耐之心，可生奥义。苍苍上帝，不较所赐。不较所赐，岂较作事。惟我与轭，负之靡暨。上帝惟皇，在彼苍苍。一呼其令，万臣锵锵。驶行水陆，莫敢遑适。彼待立者，都为其役。哀失明
我思量，我怎么还未到生命的中途，就已失去光明，走上这黑暗的，茫茫的世路，我这被死亡埋没了的才能，对我毫无用处，虽然我的心想要多多服务，想要鞠躬尽瘁地服务于我的造物主，奉献我的真心，免得他要向我发怒；“难道上帝不给光明却要人在白天工作吗？”我愚蠢地一问：“忍耐”就把我的话止住，立刻回答道：“上帝不强迫人服务，
也不要你奉还他的赐予；谁能忍受得起痛苦，就是最好的服务：他的国度气派堂皇，听他派遣的，不计其数，他们奔走忙碌于海洋与大陆；那些只站着待命的人，也是在服务。”V. John Bunyan (1628-1688) Christian writer & preacher
1. Life and career
son of a tinker 3 years in army in the civil war, with the side of the parliament; arrested and in prison for 12 years, with the greater part of his time in jail preaching and writing;
died in London a famous writer and preacher.
2. major works
1665: The Holy City 1666: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
1678-1684: The Pilgrim's Progress1680: The Life and Death of Mr Badman
1682: The Holy War1692: The Heavenly Footman
3. writing characteristics
vividness: absolute sincerity combined with imagination, making the reader see the thing that he describes; Ability to tell a story: telling a story highly effectively;
4. About The Pilgrim’s Progress
●Christian allegory
●Composition: 2 parts
●Subject matter: in allegorical form experiences of Christian from his first awareness of
sinfulness & spiritual need to his personal conversion to Christ, to his walk as a believer.
It’s a journey from home to heaven.
●Influence:
It sold 100,000 copies in his lifetime. In most 19th-c American homes, it occupied a place right next to the family Bible. In some respects, it’s the model for Stowe's narrative. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, it’s mentioned four times.
5. Excerpt study: “Vanity Fair”
●Vanity: definition
●something that is vain, empty, or valueless
●quality or fact of being vain
●inflated pride in oneself or one's appearance: conceit
● a fashionable trifle or knickknack(小玩意)
Features:
●Christianity Symbolism
everything & everyone stands for something else.
Christian -- every Christian reader;
his goal: the Celestial City-- Heaven;
Places through which he passes on his way (Lucre Hill, Vanity Fair, etc.) -- temptations that Christian readers were likely to encounter on their journey to salvation;
●Names of fellow travelers (Mr. Feeble-mind, Great-heart, and the like) -- not individual
characters but states of being;
●True to life description: ironic & sarcastic of the real world;
●If one wants to go to heaven, he/she has to experience all kinds of lures, lusts, etc. Questions to consider & answer:
●Why is it called Vanity Fair?
●How is Vanity Fair organized?
●What features does this Fair have?
●What do the pilgrims want to buy in Vanity Fair?
Part VI Age of Enlightenment
I. Background knowledge
1. 18th c. European Enlightenment
Definition：intellectual movement during 18th c.; expression of struggle of progressive class of bourgeoisie against feudalism-- class inequality, stagnation, prejudices & other survivals of
feudalism;
commitment to secular views based on reason or human understanding;
Emphasis on right to self-expression & human fulfillment, right to think freely & express views publicly without censorship or fear of repression;
ended by French Revolution & Napoleonic era (1789-1815)
2. Enlightenment in England
prolonged social stability & economic growth: Two opposite parties: the liberal Whigs & the conservative Tories; The press had become a mighty power; Rapid development of social life: some 3000 public coffeehouses & a large number of private clubs in London alone; Various reading materials available; Thinkers like John Locke, David Hume, and many others;
Old dogmas broken open by radical Quakers（贵格会成员）& Unitarians（一神论者）;
3. British literature
1) Copyright Act (1709) -- writing professional, thus more writers-A. Pope, J. Addison, R. Steele & S. Johnson, etc.;
2) neo-classicism-- imitation of Greek & Roman masters-- Homer, Virgil, Horace etc., stressing classical artistic ideals of order, logic, proportion, restrained emotion, accuracy, good taste & decorum. They fixed laws & rules for almost every genre of lit.
3) 18th c. modern realistic novels -- D. Defoe(forerunner), S. Richardson & Henry Fielding…
4) 18th c. sentimentalism -- as a result of a bitter discontent on part of certain enlighteners in social reality: They continued to struggle against feudalism but vaguely sensed contradictions of bourgeois progress that brought with it enslavement and ruin to the people.
5) pre-Romanticism -- Originated among conservative groups of men of letters as a reaction against Enlightenment & found its most manifest expression in the “Gothic novel”, arising from the fact that greater part of such romances devoting to medieval times. The mysterious element plays an enormous role in the Gothic novel.
English prose & poetry:
Representatives: Joseph Addison , Richard Steels, & Alexander Pope Subject matter: social problems, private life & adventures Pope: prosody(诗体论), regulations for style of poetical works, made heroic couplets popular;
II. Daniel Defoe(1660-1731)
English novelist, pamphleteer & journalist
1. life and career
1660: b orn from a butcher’s family;educated in a Dissenting Academy at Newington Green 1695- 1699: an accountant to the commissioners of the glass duty 1702-03: arrested and pilloried for seditious libel Jack-of-all-trades（万事通）man & writer
Radical nonconformist(非国教徒) in religion, & intended for independent ministry;
Journalist & pamphleteer Familiar with prison life
Eventful through extremes:
From poverty to wealth; from prosperous brick maker to starving journalist; from Newgate prison to immense popularity and royal favor;
2. major works
Robinson Crusoe ( 1719-20 ) The Life of Captain Singleton ( 1720 ) Memoirs of a Cavalier ( 1720 ) Journal of the Plague Year( 1722 ) Colonel Jack( 1722 ) The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders ( 1722 ) A Tour Through Great Britain ( 1724-1727 )
primary characters
R. Crusoe: rebellious youth with an inexplicable need to travel. Because of this need, he brings misfortune on himself & is left to fend for himself on a primitive land.
He is a contradictory character of practical ingenuity and immature decisiveness.
Friday: C’s friend/servant;
1st nonwhite character to be given in a realistic & individual portrayal;
obedient, friendly, kind & humane; basically C’s protégé（被保护人）, living example of religious justification of the slavery relationship betw. the two.
(1) symbols
Footprint: conflicted feelings about human companionship;
Crusoe’s Bower (凉亭) in Ch. XII: a radical improvement in C.’s attitude to his time on the island. Island life is no longer necessarily a disaster to suffer through, but may be an opportunity for enjoyment; Eating: symbol of his survival
（2）Themes
The ambivalence（矛盾心里）of mastery: in early part in a positive light ---mastering his situation, overcoming obstacles, & controlling his environment; his mastery over nature makes him a master of his fate & of himself. in later part, more complex & less positive after Friday’s arrival, with unfair relationships between human beings.
?Ordeals at Sea: encounter with water often associated not simply with hardships, but with
a kind of symbolic ordeal, or test of character. Life-testing water imagery has subtle
associations with rite of baptism, by which Christians prove their faith & enter a new life saved by Christ.
III. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Irish author & journalist, foremost prose satirist
1. life and career
best known for Gulliver's Travels(1726); 1667: born a fatherless child in Dublin;
1689: moved to England as a secretary to Sir William Temple for the next 10 years at Moor Park, Surrey; 1713 -42: dean(教长) of St. Patrick's Cathedral;
2. major works
1704, A Tale of A Tub; The Battle of the Books1708, Predictions for the Ensuing Year
1710-13, Journal to Stella ( published in 1766) 1726, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver1729, The Death of Mrs. Johnson
1732, The Lady's Dressing Room
Greatest satires in English language: A Tale of A Tub & Gulliver’s Travels
an allegorical and acidic（尖酸的）attack on the vanity & hypocrisy of contemporary courts, statesmen, & political parties, actually mocking all humankind. Nonetheless, it is so imaginatively, wittily, and simply written that it has remained a favorite children's book.
1)Themes
Might vs right: implicitly posing the question of whether physical power or moral righteousness should be the governing factor in social life;
Individual vs society: though his attitude to utopia is much skeptical, he points out about famous historical utopias is the tendency to privilege the collective group over the individual;
IV. Henry Fielding (1707-1754)
Greatest novelist in 18th c. England
1. life and career
son of a wealthy family, educated at Eton School & Univ. of Leyden; After university, an unsteady life by writing plays, farces & buffooneries (滑稽剧) for the stage; Married an admirable woman to live an extravagant life, & made her model for Sophia Western in Tom Jones & for heroine of Amelia; 1739-43: editor of The Champion; 1743: justice of the peace for Westminster;1747: scandal by marrying his wife's maid Mary Daniel;
1754: went to live in Portugal for health reasons, and died in Lisbon.
2. major works
1742: The Adventures of Joseph Andrews 1743: Jonathan Wild1749: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling1751: Amelia
Due to his sharp burlesques(滑稽) satirizing the government, Theatrical Licensing Act was passed, directed primarily at him.
3.Novel study: The History of Tom Jones
1) Main Character: Tom Jones
imperfect & “mortal”hero, representing his philosophy of Virtue
2) Theme: Virtue vs Vice
Virtue as action rather than thought: Tom, as active hero who saves damsels-in-distress & plans on fighting for his country, is embodiment of very active type of Virtue.
Impossibility of stereotypical categorization: In terms of genre, he cannot decide whether his novel is a "philosophical history," a “romance," or an "epi-comic prosaic poem." He would rather think of himself as "founder of a new Province of Writing.”To show life as it is. And every character has been thought out, not merely adumbrated(勾画). Question of the “morality”: war against humbug(欺骗), & how poorly vice rewarded its votaries(信仰者).
V. William Blake (1757-1827)
poet, painter, visionary mystic, & engraver, who illustrated & printed his own books;
1. Life and career
Son of a London haberdasher(男子服饰经销商); first educated chiefly by his mother; went to drawing school at 10; At 14, engraving apprentice for 7 ys, reading widely & beginning to try poetry; At 24, married & lived by drawing lessons, illustrating books & engraving designs; later under patronage of a wealthy poetaster(蹩脚诗人);
Blake said to have experienced in early years visions of angels & ghostly monks, & seen & conversed with angel Gabriel, Virgin Mary, & various historical figures.
Reverent of The Bible but hostile to Church of England, he is influenced by ideals & ambitions of Fr. & Am. revolutions, as well as by such thinkers as Jacob Boehme & Emanuel Swedenborg. He had no influence in his own time, for few understood his pure fancy, mystic & transcendental ideas.
The Ghost of a Flea, 1819-1820--one of his visions
2. Major works
1783Poetical Sketches 1789Songs of Innocence 1794Songs of Experience(most famous for "The Tyger" ) 1791The French Revolution1793 America: A Prophecy 1793Visions of the Daughters of Albion
Songs of Innocence:
Theme: presence of divine & sympathy even in trouble & sorrow; mutual self-sacrifice & death, a new birth;
Songs of Experience:
Theme: a sense of gloom & mystery, & of the power of evil;
Blake is most independent & original poet in 18th c., as a seminal figure in history of both poetry & visual arts of Romantic Age.
Probably the most singular of the English romantics. His poems & paintings are radiant, imaginative, & heavily symbolic, indicating spiritual reality underlying the physical reality. Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness & creativity, & for philosophical & mystical undercurrents within his work.
Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness & creativity, & for philosophical & mystical undercurrents within his work.
4. Poem study
?1) London
1st & 2nd stanzas --- alliteration & word choice to set the mournful atmosphere;
3rd stanza --- imagery of destruction & religion 4th stanza --- unraveling complex meanings
译文：
我徘徊在每一条富人专用的街上，不远处流动着属于他们的泰晤士河。我看到每一张迎面而来的脸庞，写着虚弱，刻着忧伤。在每一个人的每一声哭泣中，在每一阵婴儿的惊恐的啼号中，在每一种嗓音，每一条禁令中，我听到灵魂的镣铐在铮铮作响。扫烟囱孩子的哭喊，震撼着每一座熏黑的教堂，不幸士兵的仰天长叹，如鲜血沿着宫墙流淌。然而最令我夜不能寐的，是大街上年轻妓女的咒诅，那骂声凝固了婴儿惊吓的啼哭，一如瘟神，把新房变成灵堂。《英美名诗解读》P121-126 刘守兰编著
Comment Cambridge Companion to William Blake (2003) calls it "the most anthologized poem in English." Strong, simple words and imagery Highly ambiguous meaning:
When the stars threw down their spears,/And water’d heaven with their tears;
arms, hands, wings, etc.(Tiger or God creating tiger? His interpretations of biblical themes are as significant as Milton. Blake examines the fall of humanity from grace, out of the blissful innocence of the Garden and into the experience of contemporary life.
Different interpretations of the Tyger
representing the tumult & maddening power of the industrial world; as an emblem of evil & darkness; as an allegory of Fr. Revolution; the artist’s creative process;
Blake’s own special Gnostic mysticism;
The greatness of the poet lies in his prolific outpouring of prophetic works that are as artistically sound as they are visionary. His lines & images — in poetry as well as engraving — are nothing short of brilliant. Cf: The Lamb
老虎（郭沫若译）
老虎！老虎！黑夜的森林中燃烧着的煌煌的火光，是怎样的神手或天眼造出了你这样的威武堂堂？你炯炯的两眼中的火燃烧在多远的天空或深渊？他乘着怎样的翅膀搏击？用怎样的手夺来火焰？又是怎样的膂力，怎样的技巧，把你的心脏的筋肉捏成？
当你的心脏开始搏动时，使用怎样猛的手腕和脚胫？是怎样的槌？怎样的链子？在怎样的熔炉中炼成你的脑筋？是怎样的铁砧？怎样的铁臂敢于捉着这可怖的凶神？群星投下了他们的投枪。用它们的眼泪润湿了穹苍，他是否微笑着欣赏他的作品？他创造了你，也创造了羔羊？老虎！老虎！黑夜的森林中燃烧着的煌煌的火光，是怎样的神手或天眼造
出了你这样的威武堂堂?
VI. Robert Burns (1759-1796)
Scottish "ploughman poet"
1. Life and career
At 15, doing a man’s full labor;At 27, resolved to abandon farming & seek position in far-off island of Jamaica; published poems to secure money: Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, which sold 600 copies & got high praise; At 32, moved to nearby Dumfries, where he held a government position--excise-man(收税官); At 37, died miserably
2. Major works
Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect(1786) The Scots Musical Museum, 6 vol. (1787–1803) A Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs for the Voice (1793–1818)
3. comment
most poems written in Scots, a northern dialect, documenting & celebrating traditional Scottish culture, farm life, class & religious distinctions;
writing in a variety of forms: epistles (书信体诗文), ballads & songs;
Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) marks an epoch in history of Eng. Lit., suggesting the whole spirit of the romantic revival is embodied. Love, humor, pathos(哀婉), response to nature---all the poetic quali ties that touch the human heart are here. Even today, he’s often referred to as “the National Bard of Scotland”.
(A)Red, Red Rose
as a traditional ballad: four verses of four lines each;
Each stanza has alternating lines of four beats, or iambs, and three beats. Lines 1 & 3 have 4 iambs. Lines 2 & 4 consist of 3 iambs. This form is well adapted for singing or recitation.
Repetition of phrases & structures: a strong impetus and drive Two similes: popular poetic images 1st stanza-- beauty of the sweetheart: beautiful as a red rose - symbol of love, sweet as a melody – happiness；2nd & 3rd stanzas-- love to his lover, so deep that he promises to love her forever. 4th stanza-- Though going away, will come back even if it’s a long way. The poem’s famous because of strong love & its simplicity of the sentences.
?一朵红红的玫瑰
哦，我的爱像一朵红红的玫瑰，六月初绽的玫瑰。哦，我的爱像一段旋律，一段弹奏和谐的旋律。2你是如此美丽，我亲爱的姑娘，以至我爱你这样地深，我会一直爱着你，亲爱的，直到所有的大海干涸。3直到所有的大海都干涸，亲爱的，所有岩石都被太阳融化，哦，我会一直爱着你，亲爱的，直到生命最后的沙粒流尽。4分别了，我唯一的爱，暂别一会儿！我一定会回来的，我的爱，哪怕相隔千山万水！
Sung on following occasions: at midnight on New Year’s Eve at close of annual conference of the Trades Union Congress in many Burns Clubs, sung to end the Burns supper as a graduation or funeral song in Taiwan- an end or a goodbye On Christmas Day
旧日时光（友谊地久天长）旧日朋友怎能相忘，怎能不放心上？旧日朋友怎能相忘，还有旧日时光？为了旧日时光，亲爱的，为了旧日时光，我们来干一杯友谊的酒，为了旧日时光。我们曾漫山遍野地奔跑，还采摘美丽的野菊花；但如今我们已长途跋涉得疲惫不堪，失去了旧日时光。我们曾趟着河水，从清晨到黄昏；但如今我们之间隔着咆哮的无垠的大海，失去了旧日时光。这是我的手，我挚爱的朋友，请伸出你的手；我们来痛饮一杯，为了旧日时光。当然你将付你的酒钱，而我付我的；我们将干一杯友谊的酒，为了旧日时光。
Part VII Romantic Period
I. Historical Background
1. Industrial Revolution ----
Bourgeoisie became the ruling class & peasants, working class (proletariat);
2 kinds of changes: technological- & socio-economic-cultural changes:
Technological changes:
new raw materials (iron, steel);
new energy sources (coal, steam engine, electricity, petroleum & internal combustion engine); invention of new machines (spinning jenny, power; loom);
new organization of work (factory system), developments in transportation & communication (steam locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane, telegraph, radio) →increase of natural resources & mass production of manufactured goods;
Non-industrial changes:
agricultural improvements;
economic changes (wider distribution of wealth);
political changes (new political innovations corresponding to the needs of an industrialized society);
social changes (growth of cities, development of working-class movements, emergence of new patterns of authority, cultural transformations of a broad range);
2. French Revolution:
Natural rights of man & the abolition of class distinctions
“Liberty, equality & fraternity”
Influencing many British poets: W. Blake, R. Burns, G. Byron, P. Shelley, C. Lamb, W. Wordsworth, S. Coleridge, etc;
“French Revolution”: new hope to other revolutionaries in Europe;
Britain became the “workshop of the world”;
Distance between the rich & poor became wider & wider.
II．Romanticism
1. Origin :
Interest in the medieval period as a time of mystery, adventure, & aspiration evidenced in the Gothic romance and in the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott.
2. Time: Started in Germany around the French Revolution
3. Theme: Artistic & intellectual movement as a renewed interest in medieval lit., stressing strong emotion, imagination, freedom from art forms & rebellion against social conventions, ideals of originality, creativity & imagination, often elaborated in direct response to the deep social, political & cultural turmoil during late 18th & early 19th centuries.
4. Basic aims:
return to nature & a belief in the goodness of humanity;
artist as a supremely individual creator;
development of nationalistic pride;
exaltation of senses & emotions over reason & intellect;
philosophical revolt against rationalism;
5. British Romanticism
romantic elements in Eng. lit.: in the Elizabethan drama;
As a movement: from Lyrical Ballads (1798)---- In preface to 2nd edition (1800), Wordsworth: Poetry results from “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” & pressed for use of natural everyday diction in literary works.
Coleridge emphasized the importance of the poet’s imagination and discounted adherence to strict literary rules.
a turning point in the history of English literature
Other poetic representatives: Byron, Shelley, R. Burns, Keats, Robert Southey, & W. Cowper, often focused on the individual self, on the poet’s personal reaction to life;
Prose representatives: Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt and in Thomas De Quincey’s autobiographical Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1822).
III. William Wordsworth(1770-1850)
leader of the Romantic movement in England
2. Major works
Poetry
Lyrical Ballads 1798Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems, 1800, Volume 1
Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems, 1800, Volume 2 Poems in Two V olumes, Volume 1
Poems in Two Volumes, V olume 2
Famous Poems
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud Influence of Natural Objects London, 1802
Love My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
To a Skylark To the Cuckoo We Are Seven
3. About Lyrical Ballads (1798)
“Tintern Abbey”: introduced romanticism into England & became a manifesto for romantic poets;
language of ordinary people in poetry;
sympathizing with the poor people, landless & homeless peasants, & severely criticizing capitalism;
A 2nd edition (1800): with a critical essay outlining W’s poetic principles, in particular ideas about poetic diction & meter, but unmercifully attacked by critics;
4. Some of W’s themes
Nature
Nature is important, for it can have an impact on our emotional & spiritual lives;
Focus: his respondence & relationship to the world; relationship betw. nature & human life; Imagination
imagination: powerful & active force--- A strong imaginative life is essential for our well-being. Imagination works alongside our senses, interpreting how we view the world and influencing how we react to events.
5. Comment
Earlier work: poetic beauty of commonplace things & people;
His personality & poetry are deeply influenced by his love of nature, esp. by the Lake country; Use of daily lg.: though heavily criticized, but helps to rid English poetry of the more artificial conventions of 18th-c. diction.
As a profoundly earnest & sincere thinker, W. displays a high seriousness compa rable to Milton’s
but tempered with tenderness & a love of simplicity.
6. Poem study:
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
a kind of recollection in tranquility(宁静) that a lonely boy wanders as a cloud and watches the beautiful starry sky and dancing daffodils in the breeze. In the last stanza, he comprehends that the greatest happiness comes from solitude. “The bliss of solitude” stands for absolute freedom. Images:
1st--“A cloud”: absolute freedom---- traveling everywhere and changing into whatever shapes, while in the real world, people are under all kinds of burdens and constraints;
2nd-- picture of daffodils, fluttering and dancing in the breeze freely and sprightly in a beautiful & peaceful wild scene;
3rd-- “dancing stars”: absolute psychological freedom---even “outdid the sparkling waves in glee”;
thought has sublimed to a much higher level: absolutely free to do whatever without any troubling trifles
4th-- “ in vacant or in pensive (沉思的) mood ”: heart being filled with pleasure & “danced with the daffod ils” freely.
quatrain-couplet rhyme scheme: ABABCC in iambic tetrameter(四音步)
译文：我好似一朵孤独的流云，高高地飘荡在山谷之上，突然我看见一大片鲜花，是金色的水仙遍地开放，它们开在湖畔，开在树下，它们随风嬉舞，随风波荡。它们密集如银河的星星，象群星在闪烁一片晶莹；它们沿着海湾向前伸展，通向远方仿佛无穷无尽；一眼望去就有千朵万朵，万花摇首舞得多么高兴。粼粼湖波也在旁欢跳，却不知这水仙舞得欢俏；诗人遇见这快乐的伙伴，又怎能不感到欣喜雀跃；我久久凝视――却未能领悟，这景象所给我的精神至宝。后来多少次我郁郁独卧，感到百无聊赖心灵空漠；这景色便在脑海中闪现，多少次安慰过我的寂寞。我的心又随水仙跳起舞来，我的心又重新充满了欢乐。
IV. George Gordon Byron(1788-1824)
leading figure in Romanticism
Major works
1812-18: Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage1818-23: Don Juan 1814: She Walks in Beauty
3. Don Juan, epic poem
About the Spanish legend
Fictional character notorious as a heartless womanizer but also noted for his charm & courage; 1st appeared in a Spanish legend, Don Juan was a licentious(放肆的) rogue who seduced a young girl of noble family and killed her father.
Byron’s poem--- a long, digressive satiric poem based on the legend: Byron reverses the original image of Juan, from a womaniser to sb easily seduced by women;
Length: a dedication, 16 full cantos (averaging around 100 stanzas) & introductory fragment of a 17th canto;
Content: Don Juan’s birth, adventures, love affairs, slavery, fighting in Russia and entourage(随从), ambassador in London for Russia, among the British lords and ladies;
Unlike his more tortured early romantic works, Don Juan has a more humorous, satirical tendency.
Status: his masterpiece
4.‘Byronic hero’
Byron was as famous in his lifetime for his personality cult as for his poetry. He created the concept of the ‘Byronic hero’ -- a defiant, melancholy young man, brooding (沉思）on some mysterious, unforgivable event in his past. The image first appears in his semi-autobiographical epic narrative poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-18). After that, it appeared in many of Byron's other works, including his series of poems on Oriental themes: The Giaour (1813), The Corsair (1814) and Lara (1814); and his closet play Manfred (1817).
5. comment：Byron’s influence on European poetry, music, novel, opera, and painting has been immense, although widely condemned on moral grounds by his contemporaries.
6. Poem study: She walks in beauty
Sort of a love poem: about his cousin, he met at a party in a mourning dress of spangled black; How beautiful the woman is:
Combination of opposites (or extremes) in perfect proportions in her looks & personality; Whether it’s a true declaration of love or a statement of admiration just depends on the reader.
译文：她走在美的光彩中，象夜晚皎洁无云而且繁星漫天；明与暗的最美妙的色泽在她的仪容和秋波里呈现：耀目的白天只嫌光太强，它比那光亮柔和而幽暗。增加或减少一份明与暗就会损害这难言的美。美波动在她乌黑的发上，或者散布淡淡的光辉在那脸庞，恬静的思绪指明它的来处纯洁而珍贵。呵，那额际，那鲜艳的面颊，如此温和，平静，而又脉脉含情，那迷人的微笑，那容颜的光彩，都在说明一个善良的生命：她的头脑安于世间的一切，她的心充溢着真纯的爱情！
V. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
English leading Romantic poet & among the finest lyric poets in Eng. language
2. Major works
The Necessity of Atheism (1811) Queen Mab (Philosophical Poem) (1813)
Prometheus Unbound (lyrical drama, 1820) The Masque of Anarchy (political protest, 1832)
The Cenci ( A tragedy, 1819) A Defence of Poetry (1840)
most famous poems：
Ode to the West Wind (1819) To a Skylark (1820) The Cloud (1822)
3. comment
Shelley rebelled against English politics & conservative values. He drew no essential distinction between poetry & politics, and his work reflected radical ideas & revolutionary optimism of the era.
4. Some quotes
Man's yesterday may never be like his morrow.
Life may change, but it may fly not; Hope may vanish, but can die not; Truth be veiled, but still it burneth; Love repulsed, -- but it returneth.
5. Poem study: Ode to the West Wind
Background: conceived & written in a wood near Florence, & on a day when the tempestuous wind, at once mild & animating, was collecting vapors & pouring down rains, at sunset with a violent tempest of hail（冰雹）and rain, attended by that magnificent thunder and lightning peculiar to the Cisalpine（阿尔卑斯山）regions;
1-3 stanzas: senses divine force of nature, metaphorically represented by the West wind;
4-5 sts: Emotional transition, a reverence for an omnipotent & elusive(难捉摸) life-force →mourn for the separation of man from divine forces of nature, & a plea for heightened personal power;
Questions:
How do you understand the 1st line?
What can we learn about the west wind from lines 2-4?
How do you understand the word “destroyer” in line 14?
What can we learn about the west wind from lines 5-12? How do you understand the word “preserver” in line 14?
What time of the year does the poem describe?
What does the word “angels” in line 18 refer to?
How do you understand “ Thou firge of the dying year” in lines 23-24?
What does the poet want to express in lines 47-52?
What c an we learn about the author’s condition at that time from lines 55-56?
What does the last line mean? What does the poet want to exrpess by writing such a poem?
VI. John Keats (1795-1821)
principal poet of English Romantic movement
2. Major works
Imitation of Spencer （1811 ）First Looking into Chapman’s Homer （1816 ）
Poems （1817 ）Endymion（king or hunter, 1818 ）Hyperion（God of light, 1819,unfinished) Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, and Other Poems （1820）
1818 -1819:
To Autumn Ode to a Nightingale Ode on Grecian Urn
Ode on Melancholy The Eve of St Mark
3. comment
In spite of early harsh criticism, Keats's reputation grew after his death. His letters were published in 1848 and 1878. His works have influenced The Pre-Raphaelites, Oscar Wilde and Alfred Tennyson. Some later poets have attacked Keats and the Romantics: T.S. Eliot, Andrew Motion, etc., who claim that Keats was obsessed with sex and had venereal disease and these aspects of the poet’s life were hidden by early biographers, who underlined his poverty, poor health, & misunderstanding criticism.
His poems were marked with sadness partly because he was too poor to marry Fanny Brawne.
4. Poem study: To Autumn
homage to a particular goddess thus deifying(神化) the season of Autumn: a time of warmth & plenty, but perched on the brink of winter's desolation, as bees enjoy "later flowers," the harvest is gathered from the fields, the lambs of spring are now "full grown," and, in the final line of the poem, the swallows gather for their winter migration.
1st stanza: Autumn’s abundance and its intimacy with the sun, which ripens fruits and causes the late flowers to bloom.
2nd stanza: the figure of Autumn as a female goddess, often seen sitting on the granary(谷仓) floor, her hair "soft-lifted" by the wind, and often seen sleeping in the fields or watching a cider-press squeezing the juice from apples.
3rd stanza: speaker tells Autumn not to wonder where the songs of spring have gone, but instead to listen to her own music.
final line: understated sense of inevitable loss making it one of the most moving moments in all of poetry; it can be read as a simple, uncomplaining summation(总结) of the entire human condition. Despite the coming chill of winter, the late warmth of autumn provides ample beauty to celebrate:
the cottage and its surroundings in the 1st stanza, the agrarian haunts of the goddess in the 2nd, and the locales（场所）of natural creatures in the 3rd.
The extraordinary achievement of this poem lies in its ability to suggest, explore, and develop a rich abundance of themes without ever stirring its calm, gentle, and lovely description of autumn. 译文
1 雾气洋溢，果实圆熟的秋，你和成熟的太阳成为友伴；你们密谋用垒垒的珠球缀满茅屋檐下的葡萄藤蔓；使屋前的老树背负着苹果，让热味透进果实的心中，胀大了葫芦，鼓起了榛子壳，好塞进甜核，又为了蜜蜂一次次开放过迟的花朵，使它们以为日子将永远暖和，因为夏季早填满它们的粘巢。
2 谁不经常看见你伴着谷仓？在田野里也可以把你找到，你有时随意坐在打谷地上，让发丝随着簸谷风轻飘，有时候为罂粟花香所沉迷，你倒卧在收割一半的田垅，让镰刀歇在下一畦的花旁；或者像拾穗人越过小溪，你昂首背着谷袋，投下倒影，或者就在榨果架下坐几分钟，你耐心瞧着徐徐滴下的酒浆。
3 呵，春日的歌哪里去了？但不要想这些吧，你也有好的音乐-----当波状的云把将逝的一天映照，以胭红抹上残埂散碎的田野，这时啊，河柳下的一群小飞虫就同奏哀乐，它们忽而飞起，忽而下落，随着微风的起灭；篱下的蟋蟀在歌唱，在园中红胸的知更鸟就群起呼哨；而群羊在山圈里高声咩叫；丛飞的燕子在天空呢喃不歇。
VII. Jane Austen(1775-1817)
English novelist famous for realism, biting social commentary & masterful use of free indirect speech, burlesque and irony
2. Her works
Sense and Sensibility (1797,1811) Northanger Abbey (1798 ,1817)
Pride and Prejudice (1813) Mansfield Park (1814)
Emma (1815) Persuasion (1817)
3. comment
started writing at an early age and published anonymously. Her combination of irony, humor, and sophisticated observations of the social and cultural machinations(诡计）between the classes epitomize the often absurd problems of inheritance, courtship, morals, and marriage in Regency （摄政时期：1810-30）England.
She was the founder of the novel which deals with unimportant middle class people.
Modestly successful during her life, her works have gone on to inspire adaptations to the stage and film and have endured the test of time even into the 21st century.
Sir Walter Scott: “That young lady has a talent for desc ribing the involvements of feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with.”
4. Novel study: Pride and Prejudice
1st ch: A great example of Austen’s ironic wit.
The first sentence--- “It is a truth universall y acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. ” It’s used to start her novel on purpose so that the readers can learn the tone of this novel is ironic and that what importance money plays in marriage .
1) The analysis of the main characters
Mr. Bennet----humorous, odd, sensible, conservative, deep in thought, wise, introverted(内向）, looking down upon his wife.
Mrs. Bennet---- ignorant, not wise, realistic, extroverted(外向）, simple, changeable, considering
《英国文学史及选读》第一册复习要点 1. Beowulf: national epic of the English people; Denmark story; alliteration, metaphors and understatements (此处可能会有填空,选择等小题 2. Romance (名词解释 3. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”: a famous roman about King Arthur’ s story 4. Ballad(名词解释 5. Character of Robin Hood 6. Geoffrey Chaucer: founder of English poetry; The Canterbury Tales (main contents; 124 stories planned, only 24 finished; written in Middle English; significance; form: heroic couplet 7. Heroic couplet (名词解释 8. Renaissance(名词解释 9.Thomas More—— Utopia 10. Sonnet(名词解释 11. Blank verse(名词解释12. Edmund Spenser “The Faerie Queene” 13. Francis Bacon “essays” esp. “Of Studies” (推荐阅读,学习写正式语体的英文文章的好参照,本文用词正式优雅,多排比句和长句,语言造诣非常高,里面很多话都可以引用做格言警句,非常值得一读 14. William Shakespeare四大悲剧比较重要,此外就是罗密欧与朱立叶了,这些剧的主题,背景,情节,人物形象都要熟悉,当然他最重要的是 Hamlet 这是肯定的。他的sonnet 也很重要,最重要属 sonnet18。 (其戏剧中著名对白和几首有名的十四行诗可能会出选读 15. John Milton 三大史诗非常重要,特别是 Paradise Lost 和 Samson Agonistes。对于 Paradise Lost 需要知道它是 blank verse写成的,故事情节来自 Old Testament,另外要知道此书 theme 和 Satan 的形象。
第2章盎格鲁-诺曼底时期 2.1复习笔记 I.Background Knowledge(1066-1350)(背景知识) 1.The Norman Conquest(诺曼征服) A.Brief Introduction(简介) The French-speaking Normans began their conquest of Anglo-Saxon England under William, Duke of Normandy,with the battle of Hastings in1066. 说法语的诺曼底人在威廉公爵的带领下，在1066年的黑斯廷斯战役中打败了英国人，开始了对英国的统治。 B.Chief Influences(主要影响) (1)The bringing of Roman civilization to England; (2)The growth of nationality,i.e.a strong centralized government,instead of the loose union of Saxon tribes; (3)The birth of new English language and literature due to the integration with French vocabulary. （1）将罗曼文化带到英格兰； （2）促进了国家的发展，强大的中央集权政府代替了散乱的撒克逊部落联盟；（3）和法国语言的融合产生了新的英语语言和文学。 II.Features of the New Literature(新文学特征) (1)The new literature is a combination of French and Anglo-Saxon elements. (2)There are three classes of new literature: ①Matter of France(tales about Charlemagne and his peers); ②Matter of Greece and Rome(tales about Alexander and the fall of Troy); ③Matter of Britain(tales about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table).
①Beowulf: The national heroic epic of the English people. It has over 3,000 lines. It describes the battles between the two monsters and Beowulf, who won the battle finally and dead for the fatal wound. The poem ends with the funeral of the hero. The most striking feature in its poetical form is the use if alliteration. Other features of it are the use of metaphors(暗喻) and of understatements(含蓄). ②Alliteration: In alliterative verse, certain accented(重音) words in a line begin with the same consonant sound(辅音). There are generally 4accents in a line, 3 of which show alliteration, as can be seen from the above quotation. ③Romance: The most prevailing(流行的) kind of literature in feudal England was the Romance. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse(诗篇), sometimes in prose(散文), describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, usually a knight, as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournament(竞赛), or fighting for his lord in battle and the swearing of oaths. ④Epic: An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significantly to a culture or nation. The first epics are known as primacy, or original epics. ⑤Ballad: The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad which is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas(诗节), with the second and fourth lines rhymed. The subjects of ballads are various in kind, as the struggle of young lovers against their feudal-minded families, the conflict between love and wealth, the cruelty of jealousy, the criticism of the civil war, and the matters and class struggle. The paramount(卓越的) important ballad is Robin Hood(《绿林好汉》). ⑥Geoffrey Chaucer杰弗里.乔叟: He was an English author, poet, philosopher and diplomat. He is the founder of English poetry. He obtained a good knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. His best remembered narrative is the Canterbury Tales(《坎特伯雷故事集》), which the Prologue(序言) supplies a miniature(缩影) of the English society of Chaucer’s time. That is why Chaucer has been called “the founder of English realism”. Chaucer affirms men and women’s right to pursue their happiness on earth and opposes(反对) the dogma of asceticism(禁欲主义) preached(鼓吹) by the church. As a forerunner of humanism, he praises man’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life. Chaucer’s contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact that he introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the rhymed couplet of 5 accents in iambic(抑扬格) meter(the “heroic couplet”) to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse. ⑦【William Langland威廉.朗兰: Piers the Plowman《农夫皮尔斯》】
《英国文学选读》课程基本信息 课程发展的历史沿革 南京大学英国文学教学和研究历史悠久，基础厚实。 早在80年代，范存忠先生出版了《英国文学史提纲》，陈嘉先生编写的英文版《英国文学史》和《英国文学选读》获国家教委全国高等学校优秀教材奖。 王守仁教授主编的《英美小说》1995年获全国高校外国文学教学研究会首届优秀教材 奖。 王守仁教授主编的《英国文学选读》由北京高等教育出版社于2001年出版，列入面向21世纪课程教材、普通高等教育九五国家级重点教材”并作为英语专业系列教材”之一， 获2002年全国普通高等学校优秀教材一等奖。该教材修订版已列入普通高等教育十五国家 级教材规划选题” 2001年王守仁教授主持的英国文学网络课程作为教育部新世纪网络课程建设工程”项 目正式立项，获经费12万元。 2003年4月，英国文学网络课程在北京通过专家组质量认证。 f ---------------- 探教学内容 英国文学课程精选英国文学史上重要作家的名篇，包括莎士比亚、培根、华兹华斯、狄 更斯、哈代、艾略特、乔伊斯、劳伦斯等经典作家的名著以及当代作家的作品，题材涵盖小说、诗歌、戏剧和散文，教学内容全面系统，较好地体现了专业课程的基础性、先进性和前沿性。英国文学课程确立以文学作品为中心，采用读写议相结合的教学方式，注重培养学生的分析能力、思辩能力和语言表达能力，体现了素质教育的特点。通过对本课程的学习，学 生可以在教师的指导下阅读英语文学作品原著，理解英国文学与文化，提高文学批评鉴赏能 力和英语水平。 €--------------- la 探教学条件 英国文学课程以王守仁教授主编的《英国文学选读》为基本教材，充分发挥网络技术的 优势，基于课堂与网络，实行开放式教学。南京大学具备运行机制良好的硬件环境，开发的英国文学网络课件已从2002年春季学期起投入使用。英国文学网络课件以Web页面的形式 呈现教学内容，通过ASP技术，动态生成学习单元，每单元包括作者简介、背景介绍、作品赏析、作品选读和注释以及作家的相关网址，同时还配有相关评论、图片和名言。课件具有
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、人们和谐相处的理想国。Utopia现已成为空想主义的代名词，但乌托邦是作者对当时社会状况进行严肃思考的结果。《乌托邦》开创了英国哲理幻想小说传统的先河，这一传统从培根的《新大西岛》（The New Atlantis）、斯威夫特的《格列佛游记》（Gulliver's Travels）、勃特勒的《埃瑞璜》（Erewhon）一直延续到20世纪
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.
Charlotte Bronte 24 Charlotte’s works are all about the struggle of an individual consciousness towards self-realization, about some lonely and neglected young women with a fierce longing for love, understanding and a full, happy life. In her mind, man’s life is composed of perpetual battle between sin and virtue, good and evil. Besides, she is a writer of realism combined with romanticism. On one hand, she presents a vivid realistic picture of the English society by exposing the cruelty, hypocrisy and other evils of the upper classes, and by showing the misery and suffering of the poor. On the other hand, her writings are marked throughout by an intensity of vision and of passion. Idylls of the King 53 Idyll is a short poem describing an incident of country life in terms of idealized innocence and contentment, or any such episode in a poem or prose work. The term is virtually synonymous with pastoral poem. The title of Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, a sequence of Arthurian romance, bears little relation to the usual meaning. The Ring and the Book 64 The publication of the Ring and the Book established Browning’s position as one of the greatest English poets. My Last Duchess 63 Dramatic monologue is a kind of poem in which a single fictional or historical character other than the poet speaks to a silent “ audience” of one or more persons. Such poems reveal not the poet’s own thoughts but the mind of the impersonated character, whose personality is revealed unwittingly. It is in Browning’s hands that this poetic form reaches its maturity and perfection. “ Pippa Passes”, “ My Last Duchess,”The Bishuop Orders His Tomb”, “ The Ring and the Book” What does Wordsworth’s poem “ the Solitary Reaper” tell us about Romanticist? 1To romanticists. Poetry i s an expression of an individual’s feelings and experiences no matter how fragmentary and momentary these feelings and experiences are. 2 Romanticists take delight only in sound effect, the theme of a work is not their concern. 3Romanticists are not patient people; they would leave before the revelation of the theme. 4 Poetry should present the apparent and tangible. 2. The Romantic period is an age of poetry. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron and Keats are the major poets. They started a rebellion against the neoclassical literature, which was later regarded as _______. A. the poetic romance B. the poetic movement C. the poetic revolution D. the poetic reformation 4. William Wordsworth, a romantic poet, advocated all the following except __________. the using of everyday language spoken by the common people the expression of the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings the humble and rustic life as subject matter elegant wording and inflated figures of speech
名词解释 1．Romance: a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, especially for the knight. The most popular theme employed was the legend of King Arthur and the round table knight. 2．Ballad: a story told in song, usually in four-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed. 3．Heroic Couplet: a couplet consisting of two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter, and written in an elevated style. 4．Renaissance: a revival or rebirth of the artistic and scientific revival which originated in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. It has two features: a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature and keen interest in activities of humanity. 5．Sonnet: 14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. 6．Blank verse: poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. 7．Enlightenment: a revival of interest in the old classical works, logic, order, restrained emotion and accuracy. 8．Neoclassicism: the Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in Greek and Roman works. This tendency is known as Neoclassicism. 9．Sentimentalism:it was one of the important trends in English literature of the later decades of the 18th century. It concentrated on the free expression of thoughts and emotions, and presented a new view of human nature which prized feeling over thinking, passion over reason. 10．Romanticism: imagination, emotion and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. The particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism include: subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; freedom from rules; solitary life rather then life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason; and love of and worship of nature. 11．Lake Poets: the English poets who lived in and drew inspiration from the Lake District at the beginning of the 19th century. 12．Byronic Heroes: a variant of the Romantic heroes as a type of character( enthusiasm, persistence, pursuing freedom), named after the English Romantic Poet Gordon Byron. 13．Realism: seeks to portray familiar characters, situations, and settings in a realistic manner. This is done primarily by using an objective narrative point of view and through the buildup of accurate detail. 14．Aestheticism: an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts. 15．Stream-of-Consciousness: it is a literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur without any clarification by the author. It is a narrative mode. 16．Dramatic Monologue: a kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in the poem. 17．Iambic Pentameter: a poetic line consisting of five verse feet, with each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, that is, with each foot an iamb. 18．Epic: a long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated. 19．Elegy: a poem of mourning, usually over the death of an individual; may also be a lament over the passing of life and beauty or a meditation of the nature of death; a type of lyric poem. 20．Canto: a section of a long poem. The cantos can be a great poem
1. Analyse the themes and artistic features of Beowulf. themes : The main theme of Beowulf is heroism. This involves far more than physical courage. It also means that the warrior must fulfill his obligations to the group of which he is a key member. artistic features : The most noticeable artistic feature is alliteration. Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds, usually consonants, or consonant clusters. Alliteration is used off and on in modern poetry but it is an important device in Anglo-Saxon poetry. Another peculiar feature characteristic is the frequent use of kennings, to poetically present the meaning of one single word through a compound simile of two elements. Finally, the general mood and spirit of Anglo-Saxon epic poetry is both solemn and animated. 2. Comment on Chaucer’s achievements and contributions with examples from his works. Chaucer learned from both French and Latin poetry and then worked out a unique style for the English poetry. The realism and humanistic concerns demonstrated in his works looked forward to the coming English Renaissance. Because he uses the English of the London dialect to compose poetry, it becomes a literary language, which is a language rich and expressive enough to use for literary purposes. We call the English used and developed by Chaucer and his
I. Old English Literature & The Late Medieval Ages