英美文学选读1.The Renaissance Period

新大纲自考《英美文学选读》笔记总结-背完必过(总65页)--本页仅作为文档封面，使用时请直接删除即可----内页可以根据需求调整合适字体及大小--《英美文学选读》笔记背完必过Part One: English LiteratureAn Introduction to Old and Medieval English LiteratureI Understanding and application: (理解应用)1. England’s inhabitants are Celts. And it is conquered by Romans, Anglo Saxons and Normans. The Anglo-Saxons brought the Germanic language and culture to England, while Normans brought the Mediterranean civilization, including Greek culture, Rome law and the Christian religion. It is the cultural influence of these two conquests that provided the source for the rise and growth of English literature.2. The old English literature extends from about 450 to 1066, the year of the Norman conquest of England.3. The old English poetry that has survived can be divided into two groups: The religious group and the secular one4. Beowulf: a typical example of Old English poetry is regarded as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. It is an example of the mingling of nature myths and heroic legends.5. After the Norman’s conquest, three languages co-existed in England. French is the official language that is used by king and the Norman lords. Latin is the principal tongue of church affairs and in universities. Old English was spoken only by the common English people.6. In the second half of 14th century, English literature started to flourish with the appearance of writers like Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, John Gower, and othersII Recite: (识记再现)1. Romance:①It uses narrative verse or prose to sing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds is a popular literary form in the medieval period.②It has developed the characteristic medieval motifs of the quest, the test, the meeting with the evil giant and the encounter with the beautiful beloved.③The hero is usually the knight, who sets out on a journey to accomplish some missions. There are often mysteries and fantasies in romance.④Romantic love is an important part of the plot in romance.Characterization is standardized, While the structure is loose and episodic, the language is simple and straightforward.⑤The importance of the romance itself can be seen as a means of showing medieval aristocratic men and women in relation to their idealized view of the world.2. Heroic couplet:Heroic couplet is a rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter. It is Chaucer who used it for the first time in English in his work The Legend of Good Woman.3. The theme of Beowulf:The poem presents a vivid picture of how the primitive people wage heroic struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader. The poem is an example of the mingling of the nature myths and heroic legends.4. The Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales:The Wife of Bath is depicted as the new bourgeois wife asserting her independence. Chaucer develops his characterization to a higher artistic level by presenting characters with both typical qualities and individual dispositions.5. Chaucer’s achievement:①He presented a comprehensive realistic picture of his age and created a whole gallery of vivid characters in his works, especially in The Canterbury Tales.②He anticipated a new ear, the Renaissance, to come under the influence of the Italian writers.③He developed his characterization to a higher level by presenting characters with both typical qualities and individual dispositions.④He greatly contributed to the maturing of English poetry. Today, Chaucer’s reputation has beensecurely established as one of the best English poets for his wisdom, humor and humanity.6. “The F ather of English poetry”:Originally, Old English poems are mainly alliterative verses with few variations.①Chaucer introduced from France the rhymed stanzas of various types to English poetry to replace it.②In The Romaunt of the Rose (玫瑰传奇), he first introduced to the English the octosyllabic couplet (八音节对偶句).③In The Legend of Good Women, he used for the first time in English heroic couplet.④And in his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, he employed heroic couplet with true ease and charmfor the first time in the history of English literature.⑤His art made him one of the greatest poets in English; John Dryden called him “the father of Englishpoetry”.【例题】The work that presented, for the first time in English literature, a comprehensive realistic picture of the medieval English society and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life is most likely ______________. (0704)A. William Langland’s Piers PlowmanB. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury TalesC. John Gower’s Confession AmantisD. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight【答案】B【解析】本题考查的是中世纪时期几位诗人作品的创作主题和创作范围。

◆Chapter 1 The Renaissance PeriodTime: Generally, it refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries.The Renaissance （文艺复兴）: The Renaissance is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. Humanism (人文主义): Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. “Man is the measure of all things.” Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are the best representatives of the English humanists.Mainstream of Literary Forms: In the early stage of the Renaissance, poetry and poetic drama were the most outstanding literary forms and they were carried on especially by Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. The Elizabethan drama, in its totality, is the real mainstream of the English Renaissance.◆Chapter 2 The Neoclassical PeriodTime: Between the return of the Stuarts to the English throne in 1660 and the full assertion of Romanticism which came with the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1798.Social Events: Glorious Revolution （光荣革命）; British colonies (Abroad); Acts of Enclosure （圈地运动）(At home); The Enlightenment Movement （启蒙运动）.The Enlightenment Movement: The 18th century England is known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement which purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas. The enlighteners celebrated reason or rationality, equality and science. They held that rationality or reason should be the only, the final cause of any human thought and activities. They called for a reference to order, reason and rules. They believed that when reason served as the yardstick for the measurement of all human activities and relations, every superstition, injustice and oppression was to yield place to “eternal truth,” “eternal justice” and “natural equality”. Great writers like John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele, the two pioneers of familiar essays, Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Henry Fielding and Samuel Johnson.Neoclassicism: In the field of literature, the Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works. This tendency is known as neoclassicism. According to the neoclassicists, all forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers. They believed that the artistic ideals should be order, logic restrained emotion and accuracy, and that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity. This belief led them to seek proportion, unity, harmony and grace in literary expression, in an effort to delight, instruct and correct human beings, primarily as social animals. Thus a polite, urbane, witty, and intellectual art developed.Neoclassicists had some fixed laws and rules for almost every genre of literature. Prose should be precise, direct, smooth and flexible. Poetry should be lyrical, epical, didactic, satiric or dramatic; Drama should be written in the Heroic Couplets (英雄双韵体诗).In the last few decades of the 18th century, the neoclassical emphasis upon reason, intellect, wit and form was rebelled against or challenged by the sentimentalists, and was gradually replaced by Romanticism.Novel: The mid-century was predominated by a newly rising literary form---the modern English novel. Gothic novels---mostly stories of mystery and horror which take place in some haunted or dilapidated Middle Age castles.◆Chapter 3 The Romantic Period(反新古典主义)Time: From 1798 with the publication of Lyrical Ballads to 1832 with Sir Walter Scott’s death and the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament.Social Events: French Revolution; English Industrial Revolution.Romantic Movement: The Romantics saw man essentially as an individual in the solitary state and emphasized the special qualities of each individual’s mind. Thus we can say that Romanticism actually constitutes a change of direction from attenti on to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit. In essence, it designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience.Major Figures: Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelly and Keats.Theme: Imagination and NatureMajor Literary Forms: Poetry (best), prose, novel (Jane Austen and Walter Scott). Drama is less successful.◆Chapter 4 The Victorian PeriodTime: Queen Victoria who ruled over England from 1836 to 1901. The period has been generally regarded as one of the most glorious in the English history.Social Events: Reform Bill （改革法案）；Chartist Movement (宪章运动)；Theme: Common sense and moral propriety, which were ignored by the Romanticists, again became the predominant preoccupation in literary works.Theory of “art for art’s sake”: Oscar Wilde and Walter PaterUtilitarianism(功利主义): Utilitarianism was widely accepted and practiced. Almost everything was put to the test by the criterion of utility, that is, the extent to which it could promote the material happiness. Dickens, Carlyle, Ruskin and many other socially conscious writers severely criticized the Utilitarian creed, especially its depreciation of cultural values and its cold indifference towards human feelings and imagination.Major Literary Forms:1. Novel (best): In this period, the novel became the most widely read and the most vital and challenging expression of progressive thought. While sticking to the principle of faithful representation of the 18th century realist novel, they carried their duty forward to the criticism of the society and the defense of the mass. They were all concerned about the fate of the common people. They were angry with the inhuman social institutions, the decaying social morality as represented by the money-worship and Utilitarianism, and the widespread misery, poverty and injustice.2. Prose: Many of the prose writers joined forces with the critical realist novelists in exposing and criticizing the social reality, and some became very influential in the ideological field.3. Poetry: The poetry of this period was mainly characterized by experiments with new styles and new ways of expression. “psycho-analytical” element.◆Chapter 5 The Modern PeriodTime: 1850-1910Social Events: First World War; Sun-never-set Empire collapsedNew Theories:1. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: they put forward the theory of scientific socialism.2. Darwinism: Darwin’s theory of evolution exerted a strong influence upon the people, causing many to lose their religious faith. The social Darwinism, under the cover of “survival of the fittest,” vehemently advocated colon ialism or jingoism.3. Einstein: Einstein’s theory of relativity provided entirely new ideas for the concepts of time and space.4. Freud: Freud’s analytical psychology drastically altered our conception of human nature.5. Arthur Schopenhauer: a pessimistic (悲观主义) philosopher, started a rebellion against rationalism（唯理主义）, stressing the importance of will and intuition.6. Friedrich Nietzsche: he went further against rationalism by advocating the doctrines of power and superman and by completely rejecting the Christian morality.7. Henry Bergson: He established his irrational philosophy, which put the emphasis on creation intuition, irrationality and unconsciousness. The irrationalist philosophers exerted immense influence upon the major modernist writers in Britain. Modernist Movement: Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base. The major themes of the modernist literature are the distorted, alienated and ill relationships between man and nature, man and society, man and man, and man and himself. The modernist writers concentrate more on the private than on the public, more on the subjective than on the objective. They are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual. Modernism is a reaction against realism. It rejects rationalism, which is the theoretical base of realism. As a result, the works created by the modernist writers are often labeled as anti-novel, anti-poetry and anti-drama.Major Figures: Kafka, Picasso, Pound, Webern, Eliot, Joyce and Virginia Woolf.Major Literary Forms:1. Modern Poetry: The early poems of Pound and Eliot and Yeats’s matured poetry marked the rise of “modern poetry”, which was a revolution against the conventional ideas and forms of the Victorian poetry. The modernist poets fought against the romantic fuzziness and self-indulged emotionalism, advocating new ideas in poetry-writing such as to use the language of common speech, to create new rhythms as the expression of a new mood, to allow absolute freedom in choosing subjects, and to use hard, clear and precise images in poems.2. Realistic Novel: The realistic novels in the early 20th century were the continuation of the Victorian tradition, yet its exposing and criticizing power against capitalist evils had been somewhat weakened both in width and depth. Another important aspect of realistic novels in this period is the fact that there rose a few working class writers, who gave a direct portrayal of the working-people’s poverty and sufferings, by singing highly of the heroic struggles against capitalism waged by the working class.3. Modernist Novel: In stimulating the technical innovations of novel creation, the theory of the Freudian and Jungian psycho-analysis played a particularly important role. Writers like Dorothy Richardson, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf concentrated all their efforts on digging into the human consciousness. They had created unprecedentedstream-of-consciousness novels such as Pilgrimage by Richardson, Ulysses by Joyce.4. Drama: Oscar Wi lde and G.B. Shaw, who, in a sense, pioneered the modern drama, though they didn’t make so many innovations in techniques and forms as modernist poets or novelists.American Part◆Chapter 1 The Romantic PeriodTime: From the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. It started with the publication of Washington Irving’s “The sketch Book” and ended with Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”. Being a period of the great flowering of American literature, it is also called “the American Renaissance”.Features: In the most of the American writings in the period there was:1. A new emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature, which included a liking for the picturesque, theexotic, the sensuous, the sensational, and the supernatural.2. The American also placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and displayed an increasing attention tothe psychic states of their characters/3. A great interest in external nature in their respective works.American Romanticism is, in a certain way, derivative.Although foreign influences were strong, the great works that demonstrate what American Romantic writings were are typically American.1. The American national experience of “pioneering into the west”.2. With the growth of American national consciousness, American character types speaking local dialects speared in poetry andfiction with increasing frequency.3. The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values. One of themanifestations in the fact that American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English and European counterparts.4. A preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of original sin and the mystery of evil.New England Transcendentalism: Transcendental ism has been defined philosophically as “the recognition is man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses. This Transcendentalist group includes two of the most significant writers America has produced so far, Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.◆Chapter 2 The Realistic PeriodTime: The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been referred to as the Age of Realism in the literary history of the US. Realism: Realism was a reaction against Romanticism or a move away from the bias towards romance and self-creating fictions, and paved the way to Modernism. After the Civil War, the Americans began to be tired of the sentimental feelings of Romanticism.A new generation came up with a new attitude was characterized by a great interest in the realities of life. Instead of thinking about the mysteries of life and death and heroic individualism, people’s attention was now directed to the interesting featur es of everyday existence, to what was brutal or sordid, and to the open portrayal of class struggle.、“The Gilded Age”: People became dubious about the human nature and the benevolence of God, which the Transcendentalists cared most. Gone was the frontier and the spirit of the frontiersman, which is the spirit of freedom and human connection, and gone was a place to escape for the American Dream. In place of all this is what Mark Twain referred to as “The Gilded Age.”Major Figures: The three dominant figures of the period are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James. Together they brought to fulfillment native trends in the realistic portrayal of the landscape and social surfaces, brought to perfection the vernacular style, and explored and exploited the literary possibilities of the interior life. Though the three prominent writers wrote more or less at the same time, they differed in their understanding of the “truth”. While Mark Twain and Howells seemed to have paid more attention to the “life” of the Americans, Henry James had apparently laid a greater emphasison the “inner world” of man. Howells focused his discussion on the rising middle class and the way they lived, while Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories. This particular concern about the local character of a region came about as “local colorism”, a unique variation of American literary realism.American Naturalism (悲观决定论): The impact of Darwin’s evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of the 19th century French literature on American men of letters gave rise to yet another school of realism: American naturalism. The American naturalists accepted the more negative implications of the Darwinism theory and used it to account for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were conceived as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces.Chapter 3 The Modern PeriodTime: The 20th centurySocial events: 2 World Wars; The Great Economic Depression in 1930s; Ku Klux KlanSpiritual WastelandThe Expatriate Movement: There was a spiritual crisis in this period, but a full blossoming of literary writings. The most recognizable literary movement that gave rise to the 20th century American literature, or we may say, the second American Renaissance, is the expatriate movement. Writers were basically expatriates who left America and formed a community of writers and artists in Paris, involved with other European novelists and poets in their experimentation on new modes of thought and expression. These writers were later named by a American writer, Gertrude Stein, also an expatriate, “The Lost Generation”. Major Figures in Literature: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemingway, and William Faulkner are considered to be the masters in the field of American fiction. The leading playwright of the modern period in American literature, if not the most successful in all his experiments, is E ugene O’Neil.Features:Modern American writings are notable for what they omit---the explanations, interpretations, connections, and summaries. If realistic fiction achieved its effects by accumulation and saturation, modern fiction preferred suggestiveness. Modern American writers in general emphasize the concrete sensory images or details as the direct conveyer of experience. Traditional fiction featured an authoritative narrator in telling a story, while modern fiction tended to employ the first person narration or limit the reader to the “central consciousness” or one character’s point of view。

Chapter I The Renaissance PeriodDefinitions of the Literary Terms: 文艺复兴时期的界定1. The Renaissance: The Renaissance marks a transition from the medie val to the modern world. Generally, it refers to the period between the 14 th & 17th centuries. 历史文化背景It first started in Italy, with the flowering of painting, sculpture & literature. From Italy the movement went to emb race the rest of Europe. The Renaissance, which means "rebirth" or "reviva l," is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events, such as the re-discovery of ancient Roman & Greek culture, the new discoverie s in geography & astrology, the religious reformation & the economic expa nsion. The Renaissance, therefore, in essence is a historical period in whic h the European humanist thinkers & scholars made attempts to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that e xpressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, & to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.2. 文艺复兴到英国比较晚的原因The Renaissance was slow in reaching England not only because of England‟s separation from the Continent but also be cause of its domestic unrest. It was not until the reign of Henry VIII that the Renaissance really began to show its effect in England. With Henry VII I‟s encouragement the Oxford reformers, scholars and humanists introduc ed classical literature to England. 15th century, began the English Renaissa nce, which was perhaps England‟s Golden Age, especially in literature.人文主义H umanism: Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. It sprang from the endeavor to restore a medieval reverence for the ancient author s and is frequently taken as the beginning of the Renaissance on its consci ous, intellectual side, for the Greek and Roman civilization was based on s uch a conception that man is the measure of all things. Through the new l earning, humanists not only saw the arts of splendor and enlightenment, b ut the human values represented in the works. Renaissance humanists fou nd in the classics a justification to exalt human nature and came to see th at human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfections, and that the world they inhabited was thei rs not to despise but to question, explore, and enjoy. Thus, by emphasizin g the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy the bea uty of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wond ers. Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are the b est representatives of the English humanists.The first period of the English Renaissance was one of imitation and assimi lation.Petrarch was regarded as the fountainhead of literature by the English writ ers. For it was Petrarch and his successors who established the language o f love and sharply distinguished the love poetry of the Renaissance from it s counterparts in the ancient world . Wyatt and Surrey began engraving th e forms and graces of Italian poetry upon the native stock. While the form er introduced the Petrarchan sonnet into England , the latter bought in bla nk verse. And Marlowe gave new vigor to the blank verse with his …mighty lines‟. In the early stage of the Renaissance, poetry and poetic drama we re the most outstanding literary forms and they were carried on especially by Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. The Elizabethan drama is the real main stream of the English Renaissance. The most famous dramatists in the Ren aissance England are Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and Ben J onson.Please state Shakespeare‟s views on the Renaissance literature. Shakespeare has accepted the Renaissance view on literature. He holds th at literature should be a combination of beauty, kindness and truth, and s hould reflect nature and reality. Based on this consideration, he has claimed trough the mouth of Hamlet that the …end‟of dramatic creation is to give faithful reflection of the social realities of the time. Shakespeare also sta tes that literary works which have truly reflected nature and reality can re ach immortality. From his sonnets, we can find quite a few examples in w hich Shakespeare sings the immortality of poetry.Ⅲ. William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was the greatest writer of plays who ever lived. His f riend & fellow playwright Ben Jonson said that Shakespeare was "not of a n age but for all time." The 18th-century English essayist Samuel Johnson described his work as "the mirror of life." The 19th-century English poet S amuel Taylor Coleridge spoke of "myriad-minded Shakespeare." The 20th-c entury English dramatist George Bernard Shaw stressed his "enormous po wer over language."He has 38 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems.领会His Influence1) Contributions to languageMany words and commonly used phrases have been added to everyday En glish vocabulary through their appearance in Shakespeare's works.2) Effects on literatureShakespeare's plays & poetry have had a pervasive influence on world liter ature. Most of the great literary figures of the world have been inspired &stimulated by his achievement.On the whole, however, Shakespeare's contribution has been to the langua ge & spirit of later writing rather than to its form. References & parallels t o Shakespeare's phraseology have occurred in literature since the 16th cen tury.Perhaps the greatest inspiration to subsequent authors has been Shakespe are's capacity to depict life in all its complexity & to illuminate man's char acter & destiny.What did Shakespeare criticize in his plays?The conscientious playwright criticized various kinds of human vices and si ns , like greed, betrayal, pride, prejudice and deception, including acts of social inequality, sexual and racial discriminations in plays such as The Mer chant of Venice and The Tempest. In his tragedies, he condemned the hyp ocrisy, treachery and general corruption at the royal court. He does not he sitate to describe the cruelty and anti-natural character of the wars , agai nst religious persecution and the corrupting influence of money and gold. In King Lear , he criticized the bourgeois egoism while he feared anarchy, hated rebellion and despised democracy.Why is Hamlet so impressive in Shakespeare‟s Hamlet?The hero Hamlet in Shakespeare‟s plays noted for his hesitation to take hi s revenge, his melancholy nature of action only to deny possibilities to do anything. He came to know that his father was murdered by his uncle wh o became king. He hated his so deeply that he wanted to kill him. But he loved his widowed mother who later married his uncle. This made him de ep in trouble. When he planned to kill his uncle, and he was afraid to hurt his mother. And also, when everything was ready for him to kill his uncle, he forgave him for his uncle was praying to God for his crime. Thus he l ost the good chance. Hamlet represented humanism of his time.What are the main themes of Shakespeare’s plays?参考答案：Shakespeare’s plays are divided into 3 types: comedies, trage dies and historical plays.1) His historical plays are with the theme-----national unity under a might and just sovereign/ruler is necessary.2) In his romantic comedies, he takes an optimistic attitude toward love fr iendship and youth.3) In his tragedies, Shakespeare always portrays some noble heroes, who faces the injustice of life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fa te is closely connected with the fate of his nation. Each hero has his weak ness of nature. We also see the conflict between the individual and the evi l force in the society. And his major characters are always individuals repr esenting certain types.Four periods of his dramatic career:1. The first period was one of apprenticeship. He wrote five history plays: Henry VI, Parts I, II and III, Richard III, and Titus Andronicus泰托斯*安东尼; four comedies: The Comedy of Errors, The Two Gentleman of Verona, 维罗纳二绅士The Taming of the Shrew, and Love‟s Labour‟s Lost.2. In the second period, his style and approach became highly individualiz ed. He made subtle comments on a variety of human foibles. He wrote fiv e histories: Richard II, King John, Henry IV, Part I and II, and Henry V; si x comedies: A Midsummer Night‟s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Much A do About Nothing,无事生非As You Like It皆大欢喜, Twelfth Night, and The Merry Wives of Windsor; two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesa r.3. His third period includes his greatest tragedies and his so-called dark c omedies: tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleo patra,安东尼与克里奥佩特拉Troilus and Cressida特洛伊勒斯与克里希达, and Cori olanus科里奥拉那斯. two comedies: All‟s Well That Ends Well终成眷属and M easure for Measure.一报还一报4. The last period includes his principal romantic tragicomedies: Pericles, 伯利克利Cymbeline,辛白林The Winter‟s Tale and The Tempest; and his two final plays: Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen.两位贵族亲戚His authen tic non-dramatic poetry consists of two long narrative poems: Venus and A donis and The Rape of Lucrece, and his sequence of 154 sonnets.Try to analyze the character Hamlet?Hamlet is neither a frail and weak minded youth nor a thoughtsick dreame r. He has none of the single minded blood lust of the earlier revengers. It is not because he is incapable of action, but because the cast of his mind is so speculative, so questioning and so contemplative that action, when i t finally comes, seems almost like defeat. Trapped in a nightmare world of spying, testing and plotting , and apparently bearing the intolerable burde n of the duty to revenge his father‟s death, Hamlet is obliged to inhabit ashadow world ,to live suspended between fact and fiction, language and ac tion. His life is one of constant role playing, examining the nature of actio n only to deny its possibility, for he is too sophisticated to degrade his n ature to conventional role of a stage revenger. By characterizing Hamlet, S hakespear successfully makes a philosophical exploration of life and death. Hamlet is also a humanist, a man who is free from medieval prejudices a nd superstitions. He has an unbounded love for the world rather than hea ven. He cherishes a profound reverence for man and a firm belief in man‟s power over destiny.Discuss his art of creations.(1)His major characters are neither merely individual ones nor type ones; they are individuals representing certain types. Each character has his or her own personalities; meanwhile, they may share features with others.(2) By applying a psycho-analytical approach, Shakespeare succeeds in ex ploring the character‟s inner mind.(3) Shakespeare seldom invents his own plots; instead, he borrows them f rom some old plays or storybooks.(4) In his writings, disguise is also an important device to create dramatic irony, usually with woman disguised as man.(5) He often wrote skillfully in different poetic forms , like the sonnet, the blank verse, and the rhymed couplet.4. 领会His Major Works1) DramaA. The Merchant of VeniceTheme: to praise the friendship between Antonio & Bassanio, to idealize P ortia as a heroine of great beauty, wit & loyalty, & to expose the insatiabl e greed & brutality of the Jew.Plot: The play has a double plot (P39)B. HamletHamlet is generally regarded as Shakespeare's most popular play on the st age, for it has the qualities of a "blood-and-thunder" thriller & a philosophi cal exploration of life & death. And the timeless appeal of this mighty dra ma lies in its combination of intrigue, emotional conflict & searching philos ophic melancholy.C. The TempestThe Tempest, an elaborate & fantastic story, is known as the best of his fi nal romances. The characters are rather allegorical & the subject full of suggestion. The humanly impossible events can be seen occurring everywher e, in the play. The playwright resorts to the supernatural atmosphere & to the dreams to solve the conflict. To Shakespeare, the whole life is no mo re than a dream. Thus, The Tempest is a typical example of his pessimistic view towards human life & society in his late years.2) PoemsA. SonnetsThe first 126 sonnets are apparently addressed to a handsome young nobleman, presumably the author's patron. The poems express the writer's selfless but not entirely uncritical devotion to the young man.Twenty of the sonnets are about a young woman characterized as a " dark lady," whom the poet distrust but cannot resist. The poems addressed directly to her are perhaps the most remarkable in the sequence because their unsentimental tone is unlike that of traditional love sonnets.A philosophical theme that appears in many of the sonnets is that of ti me as the destroyer of all mortal things. Also expressed in the poems is t he author's disillusionment with the false ness of earthly life.The form of the poems is the English Variation of the traditional Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet, Shakespeare's sonnets have three quatrains, or gr oups of four lines, & a final couplet. Their rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, ef ef, gg. A theme is developed & elaborated in the quatrains, & a concluding thought is presented in the couplet.7. 应用Selected Readings1) Sonnet 18Theme: a profound meditation on the destructive power of time & the eternal beauty brought forth by poetry to the one he loves.Imagery: a summer's day-youththe eye of heaven-the sun2) The Merchant of VeniceTheme: To praise the friendship between Antonio & Bassanio, to idealiz e Portia as a heroine of great beauty, wit & loyalty, & to expose the insati able greed and brutality of the Jew.3) HamletThis is one part of Hamlet's most famous monologue. Hamlet, facing t he dilemma of action & mind, is hesitating whether he should revenge for his father, which may bring him death, or he should suffer & hide his hatr ed for his uncle in his deep heart, which may secure his life.Ⅵ. John MiltonAccording to the setting of the poem Paradise Lost , discuss the theme, th e author‟s intention to create it and the implication that the poem express es.(1)The theme of the poem Paradise Lost is the …Fall of Man‟, i.e. man‟s dis obedience and the loss of Paradise, with its prime cause-----Satan.(2)The author‟s intention to write this poem is to expose the ways of Sata n and to …justify th ways of God to men‟.(3)In this poem, the author implicitly expresses his fundamental concern w ith freedom and choice and his belief that the unquestionable truth of Bibli cal revelation means that an all knowing God was just in allowing Adam a nd Eve to be tempted and of their free will choose sin and its inevitable p unishment.1.一般识记Brief IntroductionJohn Milton, English poet & prose writer, born in London, England, Dec. 9, 1608, and died in London, Nov 8, 1674.Milton was one of the greatest poets in the English language & one of the towering figures in all literature. His masterpiece, Paradise Lost, is con sidered the unsurpassed English epic poem. It is a powerfully imaginative & dramatic work, based in part on the Biblical story of the temptation & fa ll of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. Milton, a deeply religious man, w rote the epic " to justify the ways of God to men." He is also famous for his graceful lyric poems, such as Lycidas, L'Allegro, & for his intensely mo ving sonnets.Milton was a great master of language, & his poetry, both epic & lyric, is admired for its sublime eloquence & rich musical quality.2. 识记His literary achievementsMilton's literary achievements can be divided into three groups: the ea rly poetic works, the middle prose pamphlets & the last great poems.In his early works, Milton appears as the inheritor of all that was best in Elizabethan literature. Lycidas (1637) is a typical example, dedicated to Edward King, a fellow undergradu ate of Milton‟s at Cambridge. The poem moves from a sad apprehension of death, through regret, to passionate qu estioning, rage, sorrow & acceptance. The feelings begin in a low key but move on to the large questions of divine justice & human accountability. T he climax of the poem is the blistering attack on the clergy, i.e. the "Shep herds," who are corrupted by self-interest.All of Milton's early works reflect his interest in Greek & Latin poetry, whi ch greatly influenced his style. His poems contain a wealth of classical refe rences, figures of speech, & other poetic devices, all masterfully blended in to his rich verse.Areopagitica is probably his most memorable prose work. It is a great plea for freedom of the press.After the Restoration in 1660, Milton was imprisoned. His release was brought about mainly through the efforts of his friends, notably the poet Andrew Marwell, After that time he devoted himself to his 3 major poetical works: Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), & Samson Agonis tes (1671).(1)Paradise LostIt is the greatest , indeed the only generally acknowledged epic in Eng lish literature since Beowulf, and the last one is the most perfect example of the verse drama after the Greek style in English. It is a lone epic divid ed in 12 books.“man shall find grace.”But he must lay hold of it by an act of free wil l. The freedom of the will is the keystone of Milton‟s creed.(2)Paradise Regained(3)Samson AgonistesMilton again borrows his story from the Bible. But this time he turns t o a more vital and personal theme.。

英美文学选读中文翻译及重点习题答案英国文学(AMERICAN LITERATURE)第一章文艺复兴时期(The Renaissance Period)二、背景知识(Background knowledge)1、历史文化背景(Historical and cultural background)(1)文艺复兴是从中世纪向近代过渡时期发生在欧洲许多国家的一场思想文化运动。

它是在一些历史因素的合力作用下而引发的，如对希腊罗马古典文化的重新发现，宗教改革运动，地理和自然科学领域的探索，以及资本主义经济的扩张等。

(2)人文主义是文艺复兴的主要特征。

它颂扬人性，强调以“人”为本，宣传个性解放，反对神秘主义和中古神权，反对野蛮和兽性。

(3)16世纪的宗教改革导致了新教的创立。

英格兰同罗马教皇的决裂最初源于国王亨利八世决定与其第一位妻子离婚但遭到教皇否决。

宗教教义的改革则发生在后来的爱德华六世和女王伊丽莎白一世统治期间。

(4)工商业持续发展，中产阶级逐渐壮大，非神职人员获得受教育的机会，王权巩固，宫廷成为文化生活的中心，以及海外扩张和科学探索日益拓展人们的视野，所有这些都为文学提供了新的推动力和发展方向。

威廉·卡克斯顿首次将印刷术介绍到英国，使那里的出版社迅速增加，随之而来的是印刷书籍的繁荣。

2、英国文艺复兴时期文学的特点(Features of English Renaissance literature)(1) 诗歌(Poetry)开创文艺复兴时期一代新的华丽诗风的两个最重要的人物是菲利普·悉尼爵士和埃德蒙·斯宾塞。

在他们的抒情和叙事作品中，展现出一种词藻华丽、精雕细琢的文风。

到16世纪末，出现了两类新的诗歌风格。

第一类以约翰·邓恩和其他玄学派诗人为代表；第二类风格的典范是本·琼森和他所代表的流派。

英国文艺复兴时期的最后一位大诗人是清教作家约翰·密尔顿，他的诗歌具有惊人的震撼力和优雅的韵致，同时传达出深邃的思想。

Chapter 1 The Renaissance Period（二）一、单项选择题1.The renaissance is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events, such as the discovery of ancient and culture, the new discoveries in geography and astrology, 5the religious reformation and the economic expansion.A Chinese\IndiaB Hebrew\EgyptianC Roman\Greek2.The Renaissance was in reaching England not only because of England’s separation from the Continent but also because of its domestic unrest.A quickB slowC speedy3.The English Renaissance was perhaps England’s Age, especially in literature.A GoldenB FruitfulC volcanic4.William Caxton was the first person who introduced into England.A writingB printingC heroic couplet5.Wyatt, in the renaissance period, introduced the Petrarchan into England. While surrey brought in verse.A drama/ freeB sonnet/ blankC terza rima/6.Humanism sprang from the endeavor to restore a medieval reverence for the antique authors and is frequently taken as the beginning of the Renaissance on its conscious, intellectual side, for the Greek and roman civilization was based on such a conception that man is the of all things.A measureB kingC lover7.One of the major results of the reformation in England was the fact that the in English was placed in every church and services were held in English instead of Latin so that people could understand.A Canterbury talesB BibleC Old Testament8.The most famous dramatists in the renaissance England are Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and .A Edmund SpenserB Francis BaconC Ben Jonson9.The cradle of the renaissance is .A GermanyB EnglandC AmericaD Italy10.The real mainstream of the English renaissance is .A the Elizabethan dramaB the Elizabethan proseC ancient poemD romantic novel11.Which of the following best describes the protagonist of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine?A a man of sympathyB a man of cruelty and ambitionC a man of passionD a man of apathy12.Forward and backward anagrammatized,The breviated names of holy saints,Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,And characters of signs and erring stars.Where the excerpt is fromA Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”B Ma rlowe’s “Dr, Faustus”C bacon’s “Novum Organum”D Donne’s “the Songs and sonnets”13. is a play based on the German legend of magician aspiring for knowledge and finally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the Devil.A Hero and LeanderB TamburlaineC Dr. FaustusD Amores14.The lines “come live with me and be my love,And we will the pleasures proveThat valleys, groves, hills, and fields,Woods m or steepy mountain yields”A “ the faerie Queene” by Spen serB “Paradise Lost” by John MiltonC “The passionate Shepherd to His love” by Christopher MarloweD “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner15. was known as “the poets’ poet”.A William ShakespeareB Edmund SpenserC John DonneD John Milton16.In Spenser’ masterpiece “The faerie Queene’, he speaks of virtues of the private gentleman.A 10B 11C 12D 1317.The literary from of “The Faerie Queene” is .A allegorical poemB lyric poemC ironic poemD narrative poem18.“to fashion a gentle man or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline”, best describes principal intention.A Edmund Spenser’sB Daniel Defoe’sC Walt Whitman’sD William Shakespeare’s19.“shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” this is the beginning line of one of Shakespeare’s .A songsB sonnetsC playsD comedies20.“shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” this is the beginning line of one of Shakespeare’s .A songsB sonnetsC playsD comedies21.“ to be, or not to be - that is the question; whether’s tis nobler in the mind to suffer, the slings and arrows of outragerous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end then?” who said these words?A king LearB RomeoC AntonioD Hamlet22.Shakespeare has established his giant position in world literature with his plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems.A 47B 27C 52D 3823. is not Bacon’s work.A the advancement of learningB novum OrganumC the History of the Reign of henry8D Henry 524.Francis bacon is best known for his .A essaysB poemsc worksD plays25.According to Bacon, man’s understanding consists of three parts. Which of the following sentences is not one of the three parts?A the reflection of current situationB history to man’s memoryC poetry to man’s imagination and creationD Philosoph y to man’s reason.26.The term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to name the work of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of .A John MiltonB John DonneC John KeatsD John Bunyan27. holds that the nature of love is the union of soul and body.A John BunyanB John DonneC Samuel JohnsonD Daniel Defoe28.Which of the following is not true according to Donne?A he is the leading figure of the “metaphysical school”B the most striking feature of his poetry is precisely its tang of romance.C he is best known by the songs and Sonnets.D his great prose works are his sermons.29.In his life, shows himself a real revolutionary, a master poet and a great prose writer, he fought for freedom in all aspects as Christian humanist, while his achievement is literature make him tower over all the other English writers of his time and exert a great influence over later ones.A William ShakespeareB Edmund SpenserC John DonneD John Milton30.“all is not lost: the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and courage never to submit or yield; and what is else not to be overcome?”This part comes fromA Dr. FaustusB Paradise LostC Paradise RegainedD Tambutlaine31. shows how mankind, in the person of Christ, withstand the tempter and is established once more in the divine favor.A Paradise LostB Paradise RegainedC Samson AgonistesD Beowulf32.In his “the Advancement of Learning”, Francis bacon di vided into two kinds: the one obtained from Divine Revelation, and the other from the workings of human mind.A powerB knowledgeC godsD love33. , the first modern essayist, is the predecessor of Francis bacon, who borrowed the term “essay” and learned the economic and flexible way of writing from him.A PetrarchB OvidC MontaigneD Donne二、综合题1.The refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries, it first started in Italy, with the flowering of painting, sculpture and literature, from Italy the movement went to embrace the rest of Europe.2.It was Martin Luther, a German Protestant, who initiated the .3.The Elizabethan , is the mainstream of the English Renaissance literature.4.When Henry8 declared himself through the approval of the parliament as the supreme head of the church of England in 1534, the in England was in its full swing.5.By the middle of Elizabeth’s reign in England, has been firmly established, witha certain extent of compromise between Catholicism and Protestantism.6. , the first important English essayist, is best known for his essays which greatly influenced the development of this literary form.7.“If he be not apt to beat over matters, let him study the lawyer’s cases, so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.”A what does “beat over matters” mean?B what does “receipt” refer to?C from which essay does the above sentences come, what is the essay mainly about?8.“..So long as men can breath, or eyes can see, so long loves this, and this gives life to thee.”A identify the author and the title.B what is the implication of this work?C what idea do the two lines express?9.“here in the heart of hell to work in fire, or do his errands in the gloomy deep.”A identify the title and the author.B what’s the meaning of “ in the gloomy deep”?C what does the poem attempts to convince us?10.“And ever as he rode, his hart did earne, to prove his puissance in battle brave”A identify the poem and the poet.B what does the word “puissance” mean?C is the theme of the poem “Arms and the Man “? If not , tell your point and explain it briefly.11.Give brief answers to the following question in English:Humanism12.Give brief answers to the following question in English:Paradise lost: what are the characteristics in the style.答案部分一、单项选择题1.【正确答案】 C2.【正确答案】 B3.【正确答案】 A4.【正确答案】 B5.【正确答案】 B6.【正确答案】 A7.【正确答案】 B8.【正确答案】 C9.【正确答案】 D10.【正确答案】 A11.【正确答案】 B12.【正确答案】 B 13.【正确答案】 C 14.【正确答案】 C 15.【正确答案】 B 16.【正确答案】 C 17.【正确答案】 A 18.【正确答案】 A 19.【正确答案】 B 20.【正确答案】 B 21.【正确答案】 D 22.【正确答案】 D 23.【正确答案】 D 24.【正确答案】 A 25.【正确答案】 A 26.【正确答案】 B 27.【正确答案】 B 28.【正确答案】 B 29.【正确答案】 D 30.【正确答案】 B 31.【正确答案】 B 32.【正确答案】 B 33.【正确答案】 C二、综合题1.【正确答案】 renaissance2.【正确答案】 reformation3.【正确答案】 drama4.【正确答案】 Reformation5.【正确答案】 Protestantism6.【正确答案】 Francis bacon7.【正确答案】 A make thorough examinations of thingsB cure, prescriptionC Of Studies. It is the most popular of bacon’s essays. It analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies, and how studies exert influence over human character.8.【正确答案】 A William Shakespeare’s sonnet 18B the beauty in poetry can last forever.C Shakespeare’s faith in the permanence of poetry.9.【正确答案】 A paradise lost John MiltonB in chaosC the poem tries to convince us that the unquestionable truth of biblical revelation means that an all knowing god was just in allowing Adam and eve to be tempted and, of their free will to choose sin and its inevitable punishment.10.【正确答案】 A the Faerie Queene; Edmund SpenserB power, prowessC no, “fierce warres and faithful loves.”11.【正确答案】 1 Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance.2 It sprang from the endeavor to restore a medieval reverence for the antique authors of Greek and Roman Civilization based on the conception that man is measure of all things.3 Renaissance humanists found in the classics a justification to exalt human nature and came to see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfection, and that the world they inhabited was theirs not to despise but to question explore and enjoy.4 By emphasizing the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to perfect himself and to perform wonders.12.【正确答案】It is the greatest English epic since “Beowulf”, Long and complicated lines, formal words, A lot of contrasts and parallels. The meanings of some lines are vague, it is called Miltonic vagueness. The style is quiet grand.。

英美文学选读要点总结细心整理[英国』Chapter1 The Renaissance period（14世纪至十七世纪中叶）文艺复兴1. Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance.人文主义是文艺复兴的核心。

2. the Greek and Roman civilization was based on such a conception that man is the measure of all things.人文主义作为文艺复兴的起源是因为古希腊罗马文明的基础是以“人”为中心, 人是万物之灵。

3. Renaissance humanists found in then classics a justification to exalt human nature and came to see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfection, and that the world they inhabited was theirs not to despise but to question, explore, and enjoy.人文主义者们却从古代文化遗产中找到足够的论据, 来赞美人性, 并开始留意到人类是崇高的生命, 人可以不断发展完善自己, 而且世界是属于他们的, 供他们怀疑, 探究以及享受。

4. Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are the best representatives of the English humanists.托马斯.摩尔, 克利斯朵夫.马洛和威廉.莎士比亚是英国人文主义的代表。

自考英语本科《英美文学选读》英国文艺复兴时期一天全掌握English LiteratureThe Renaissance Period1. age: 1500-16602. background: stimulated by the rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek classic; England's Golden Age, especially in literature; the Church of England broke away from the Catholic Church3. features:(1)New poetical forms introduced, e.g. blank verse and sonnet;(2) the English drama based itself on the models of Roman and Greek classics and the precedents from Italy and Spain(3)the universal tend of humanism in emphasizing man's dignity and his worldly happinessEdmund Spenser埃德蒙.斯賓賽1. The poet's poet;2. Perfect melody; a rare sense of beauty; a splendid imagination; a lofty moral purity and seriousness; a dedicated idealismThe Faerie Queen仙后(The Shepheades Calender牧人日记;Epithalamion新婚喜歌) An allegory; "a historical poem" to present the example of a perfect gentleman; a hero represent one of the 12 virtues; fierce warres and faithful lovesChristopher Marlowe克里斯扥夫.馬洛（Blank verseUniversity wit）1. perfected blank verse and turned it into the principal medium of English drama2. created a series of images of the Renaissance hero for English dramaDr Fauctus浮士德博士The Passionate Shepherd to His Love多情的牧羊人致情人1. symbolic of a humanist in the Renaissance; based on the German legend of a magician aspiring for knowledge and finally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the Devil William Shakespeare威廉.莎士比亞The greatest playwright and the most popular sonnet writer;a creation of characters; skillful plot construction; irony; a good use of a language; skilled in various poetic forms; of three quatrains and a couplet(三节四行诗加一节偶句); national unity under a mighty and just sovereign is a necessity—―The King‘s government must be carried on‖ (在一个强大英明的君主统治下的国家，统一是非常必要的)(Each hero has his weekness of nature: Hamlet, the melancholic scholar-prince, faces the dilemma between action and mind; Othello‘s inner weakness is made use of by the outside evil force; the old king Lear who is unwilling to totally give up his power makes himself suffer from treachery and infidelity; and Macbeth‘s lust for power stirs up his ambition and leads him to incessant crimes.)literature should be a combination of beauty, kindness and truth, and should reflect nature and reality十四行詩The Merchant of Venice威尼斯商人Hamlet哈姆雷特(Venus and Adonis维纳斯和安东尼斯; The Rape of Lucrece鲁克丽斯受辱记;romantic tragicomedies浪漫悲喜剧;Romeo and Juliet;Shakespeare's greatest tragedies are : Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth1. 154 poems; English form2. The traditional theme of the play is to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia as a heroine of great beauty, wit and loyalty, and to expose the insatiable greed and brutality of the Jew. Many people today tend to regard the play as a satire of the Christians' hypocrisy and their false standards of friendship and love, their cunning ways of pursuing worldliness and their unreasoning prejudice against Jews (Shylock).3. A man of contemplation rather than action; has th e qualities of a ―blood-and-thunder‖ thriller and a philosophical exploration of life and deathFrancis Bacon弗蘭西斯.培根a well known philosopher scientist and essayist; lays the foundation of modern science; his "Essays" is an important landmark in the development of English prosebrevity\compactness\powerfulnessOf StudiesIt analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies, and how studies exert influence over human characterJohn Donne約翰.鄧恩John Milton約翰.彌爾頓the leading figure(代表人物) of the "metaphysical school(玄学派); his poems can be divided into two groups: the secular and the religious; sermons; The songs and Sonnetsa seemingly unfocused diversity of experiences and atti tudes and a free range of feelings and moods; dynamic rather than staticA versatile writer; fight for freedom in all aspects as a Christian humanistThe Sun Rising太阳升起Death, Be Not Proud死神，莫骄横（Holy Sonnets）Paradise Lost失樂園1. dramatizing and illustrating the state of being in love2. a bold challenge to the proud DeathSatan, after being defeated in his rebel against God, tempts Adam and Eve to eat the apples from the Forbidden Tree, and causes the Fall of Man时间界定English Romanticism is generally said to have begun in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge's LyricalBallads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott's death and the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament.浪漫主义时期英国―湖畔派‖英国文学中最早出现的浪漫主义作家，是华兹华斯（1770－1850）、柯勒律治（1772－1834）和骚塞（1774－1843）。