简明英国文学史 简答题 重点精编资料

简明英国文学史 简答题 重点 精品资料

仅供学习与交流，如有侵权请联系网站删除 谢谢2 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

contemporaries Middle English, which was the foundation of modern English. His

masterpiece and representative work is The Canterbury Tales.

3. Say something about Neoclassicism and its representation in English

literature. 精品资料

仅供学习与交流，如有侵权请联系网站删除 谢谢3 Neoclassicism was inspired by the rationality, simplicity grandeur of ancient

Greece and Rome. These movements were between 18th and 20th centuries. There

are many reasons that Neoclassicism happened in British. First, the glorious

revolution made the constitutional monarchy was established. Second, there were

many conflicts in the religious. Third, deism became a new force.

During this time, English literature had many special changes. First English

literature show respect for classic writers, especially the Roman. Second, many

writers have a new thinking about poems. The poems became more formal and

followed more rules.

There were many good poets during this time, such as John Dryden,

Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift and Johnson.

4. Comment on Alexander Pope and his contributions to English poetry.

Alexander Pope is the greatest poet of the Augustan age, best known for his

satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. His major works are An Essay on

Criticism, An Essay on Man, The Rape of the Lock.

He was so perfect in heroic couplets that no one can approach him. And in the

field of satiric and didactic verse, he was the undisputed master. He popularized

the neo-classical literary tradition. He was one of the early representatives of the

Enlightenment who introduced into English culture the spirit of rationalism and

greater interest in the human world. He represented the highest glory and authority

in matters of literary art and made great contributions to the theory and practice of

prosody.

5. Write an introduction of Shakespeare, his life and his literary achievements. 精品资料

仅供学习与交流，如有侵权请联系网站删除 谢谢4 Shakespeare has been and is still one of the greatest playwrights the world has

ever had. He was born and raised in Stratford-on-Avon. Between 1585 and 1592,

he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer and part owner of a

playing company, later known as The King’s Men. After he retired to Stratford in

1610, he still went on writing. He died in 1616. Shakespeare wrote altogether 37

plays and 154 sonnets. His contribution to the development of drama is

tremendous. His major works are As You Like It, The Twelfth Night, Hamlet, King

Lear and The Winter’s Tale.

6. Give a historical review of the Old English Period.

In about BC 600 Celts, who inhabited the upper Rhineland, started to migrate

to the British Isles, and among them the Britons came to the Isles in BC 400 to BC

300. Later, the Romans invaded the British Isles. After the Romans, the Teutonic

or Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes moved to live in the British Isles.

Starting from the late 8th century, the Danes from Scandinavia came plundering the

Isles. The greatest historical event that followed was the Norman Conquest of 1066.

And gradually the English language entered a new period of its history.