Unit One The Anglo-Saxon Period
?I. Historical Background
?II. Anglo-Saxon Poetry
?III. Anglo-Saxon Prose
I. Historical Background
The English people are a complicated race.
The first inhabitants of the island were commonly known as the Celts (or Kelts).
?55 BC saw the invasion of the island headed by Julius Caesar.
During the invasion these aborigines（土著人）Celts withdrew to the Welsh and Scottish mountains and left a great part of England to the Romans.
?Not until the 5th century did the Romans withdrew. England had been made a Roman Province
since 80 AD.
As the Roman legions withdrew, the Celts came back.
?Originally the name Anglo-Saxon denotes two of the three Germanic（日尔曼）tribes --- Angles,
Saxons and Jutes -- who in the middle of the 5th century left their homes on the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic（波罗的海）to conquer and colonize distant Britain.
They lived in the northern top of Germany and the southern part of Denmark at that time.
?The historical date that is worth memorizing is 449 AD.
?These three invading tribes came to settle down: Angles in the north of Thames, Jutes mainly in the
southwest called Kent（英国东南部郡）, and Saxons in the other places.
English literature originated in the Angles and Saxons who formed a literary tradition of their own.
?Important historical events:
1. Heptarchy（七王国）:
?The informal confederation（联邦）of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the fifth to the ninth century,
consisting of Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia.
2. the Vikings invasion:
?Vikings, collective designation of Nordic（北欧人）people—Danes, Swedes, Norwegians—who
explored abroad during a period of dynamic Scandinavian expansion from about AD 800 to 1100.
?Land shortage, improved iron production, and the need for new markets probably all played a part
in Viking expansion.
3. King Alfred the Great:
?In 871, Ethelred of Wessex is defeated by Danish forces January 4 at Reading, gains a brilliant victory
4 days later at Ashdown, is defeated January 22 at Basing, triumphs again March 2 at Marton in
Wiltshire, but dies in April.
?His brother, 22, pays tribute（贡物）to the Danes but will reign until 899 and be called Alfred the
Great.
4. Canute (994?-1035):
?King of England(1016-1035), Denmark (1018-1035), and Norway (1028-1035) whose reign, at first
brutal, was later marked by wisdom and temperance.
?He is the subject of many legends.
5. The Norman Conquest in 1066
?The year 1066 was a turning point in English history. William I, the Conqueror, and his sons gave
England vigorous new leadership. Norman feudalism (封建制度) became the basis for redistributing the land among the conquerors, giving England a new French aristocracy and a new social and political structure. England turned away from Scandinavia toward France, an orientation (倾向性) that was to last for 400 years.
6. St. Augustine:
?Italian-born missionary and prelate (高级教士) who introduced Christianity to southern Britain 597
and was ordained as the first archbishop (大主教) of Canterbury 598. Died c 604.
II. Anglo-Saxon Poetry
1. Beowulf --- the national epic
?Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic poem, the most important work of Old English literature.
The poem consists of 3183 lines, each line with four accents marked by alliteration and divided into two parts by a caesura (节律的停顿).
?The structure of the typical Beowulf line comes through in modern translation, for example: Then
came from the moor under misted cliffs Grendel marching God's anger he bore . . .
?The somber (昏暗的,忧郁的) story is told in vigorous, picturesque (独特的) language, with heavy
use of metaphor; a famous example is the term “whale-road”for sea.
?The poem tells of a hero, a Scandinavian prince named Beowulf, who rids the Danes of the monster
Grendel, half man and half fiend (魔鬼) and Grendel's mother, who comes that evening to avenge Grendel's death.
?Fifty years later Beowulf, now king of his native land, fights a dragon who has devastated his people.
Both Beowulf and the dragon are mortally wounded in the fight.
?The poem ends with Beowulf's funeral as his mourners chant his epitaph.
?Beowulf is a long verse narrative on the theme of “arms and man”and as such belongs to the
tradition of a national epic in European literature that can be traced back to Homer’s Iliad (荷马史市诗,描写特洛伊战争)and Virgil’s (古罗马诗人) Aeneid (埃涅伊德叙事诗).
?The earliest poets, whose names have long since been forgotten performed as storytellers and
minstrels before gatherings of listeners.
Often a lyre (七弦琴) or some other simple stringed instrument was used to accompany the poet's tale or song.
2. Secular (非宗教的) Poems
(1) Narrative Poems
(2) Lyrical Poems
(3) Riddles
? 3. Religious poems:
?(1) Caedmon (7th century): Died c. 680. The earliest English poet.
?According to Bede, Caedmon was an elderly herdsman who received the power of song in a vision.
?Caedmon was an illiterate herdsmen who had a vision one night and heard a voice commanding
him to sing of “the beginning of created things.”
?Later Caedmon supposedly wrote the poem about the creation known as Caedmon's Hymn, which
Bede recorded in prose.
Cynewulf
?(2) Cynewulf (8th century)
?Cynewulf (flourished AD 750), Anglo-Saxon poet, possibly a Northumbrian minstrel.
?In his poetry, he is revealed as a man of learning familiar with the religious literature of his day.
?Cynewulf’s (基涅武甫,古诗诗稿公元十世纪被发现) poems are religious works in Old English
entitled Ascension (耶稣升天), The Fates of the Apostles(使徒的命运), Juliana, and Elene; the latter two are legends about saints.
III. Anglo-Saxon Prose
? 1. Anglo-Latin Prose
?The Venerable Bede (673? –735): English Benedictine (天主教本笃会修士或修女) monk and
scholar, Father of English history, chiefly known for his Ecclesiastical (教会)History of the English People, a history of England from the Roman occupation to 731, the year it was completed.
?The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (55 BC -- 731):
This work is the only source of information about the most momentous (重大的) period in English history -- the period of change from barbarism to civilization.
? 2. Anglo-Saxon Prose (Old English Prose)
?(1) King Alfred (849 -- 901)
a. Numerous translations from Latin
b. The development of a natural style in English
c. The launching of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (1 AD -- 1154 AD)
?(2) Aelfric (c. 965 -- 1020)
Anglo-Saxon abbot (修道士) who is considered the greatest Old English prose writer.
His works include Catholic Homilies, Lives of the Saints, and a Latin grammar.
Aelfric brought English prose to high cultivation before the Norman Conquest -- a clear, flexible and popular English prose.
Unit Two The Late Middle Ages
I. The Anglo-Norman Period
II. The Age of Chaucer
III. Geoffrey Chaucer
The Middle Ages:In European history, the Middle Ages was the period between the end of
the West Roman Empire in 476 AD and the beginning of Renaissance about 1500 AD, especially
the later part of this period.
I. The Anglo-Norman Period (1066-1350)
History:
(1) the Norman Conquest of 1066
feudalism -- a strong centralized government
(2) the Magna Carta (the great charter) of 1215: charter granted by King
John of England to the English barons (男爵,英国最低贵族爵位) in 1215, and considered the basis of English constitutional liberties.
This is a document of concession made by King John to the feudal lords
The charter covered a wide field of law and feudal rights, but the two most
important matters were :
A. no tax should be made without the approval of the council,
B. no freeman should be arrested or imprisoned except by the law of the
land.
(3) the Hundred Years’ War
Hundred Years' War, series of armed conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453
between England and France.
The origin of the dispute lay in the fact that successive kings of England
controlled large areas of France and thus posed a threat to the French monarchy.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the kings of France attempted to
re-impose their authority over those territories.
(4) the Black Death of 1348 -- 49
outbreak of the plague, so called from the symptoms of internal
haemorrhage （内出血）which blackens the skin of the sufferer
The Black Death struck England in 1349, reducing the population by as
much as a third.
A labour shortage resulted, and when attempts to freeze wages were made,
unrest developed among serfs and workers, leading to the demise (瓦解) of serfdom in the next century.
(5) the Statute of Pleading (辩护法令)
Passed in 1362, according to which it was required that court proceedings
be conducted in English
2. Literature
(1) Anglo-Latin literature
Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 -- c. 1155): English historian and ecclesiastic(牧师).
He was the author of Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), a work purporting
to delineate (描绘) the lives of British kings from Brutus the Trojan, the mythical progenitor(祖先)of the British people, to Caedwalla, king of North Wales (reigned about 625-34).
Roger Bacon (1214?-1294), English Scholastic philosopher and scientist, one of the most influential
teachers of the 13th century.
In the late 1260s Bacon wrote his Opus Majus, an encyclopedia of all science.
He has been called Father of experimental science.
(2) Anglo-Norman literature
romance (Chanson de Roland)--- fabliau (讽刺性寓言诗)
(3) Folk literature in Middle Ages
A few themes:
Social satires
The popular lyric, with nature and love as the theme
(4) Religious work:
The Pearl : a didactic poem
The Pearl is an allegorical (寓言的) poem of 101 stanzas of 12 lines each, with both alliteration and
rhyme, and relates the vision of one who has lost a pearl of a daughter.
(5) Romances in Middle English
Three themes:
the matter of France;
the matter of Britain;
the matter of Rome.
The most outstanding single romance on the Arthurian legend was the anonymous Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight......
Two motifs (主题):
(the tests of faith, courage and purity; the human weakness of self-preservation自卫本能).
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
The semi-legendary King Arthur is probably the most well-known king in all of English literature.
Tales of Arthur and his knights span several centuries and many different languages. The so-called Round Table, the meeting place of Arthur and the knights, was round so that no one member
seemed favored over the others.
In Arthurian legend, the Round Table at Camelot served as a gathering place for King Arthur’s
knights.
The table’s shape ensured that all who sat around it were equals.
This replica of the Round Table can be seen at Winchester Castle in England.
King Arthur’s Round Table
Artistic merits:
(1) careful interweaving of episodes;
(2) the elements of suspense and surprise;
(3) psychological analysis;
(4) elaborate descriptions;
(5) simple, straightforward language
II. The Age of Chaucer (1350 -- 1400)
1. History:
(1) the Peasants’ Uprising in 1381:
led by Wat Tyler, Jack Straw and John Ball
“When Adam delve and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman?”
Wat Tyler, died in 1381
English revolutionary who led the Peasants' Revolt against Richard II's poll tax in June 1381.
The uprising ended when he was killed.
(2) The Lollards: church reformers, John Wycliff and his followers
Lollards, members of a religious sect in 14th- and 15th-century England. They were led by the
English theologian (神学者) and religious reformer John Wycliffe and followed the doctrines he preached. Lollards held the Bible to be the only authentic rule of faith; exhorted the clergy to return to the simple life of the early church; and opposed war, the doctrine of transubstantiation（圣餐的变体）, confession, and the use of images in worship.
(3) the decline of feudalism in England
2. Three important writers:
(1) John Wycliff (1324 -- 84)
Church reformer;
Father of English Prose: earliest translation of the entire Bible
(2) John Gower (1330 -- 1408)
three chief works in three different languages
(3) William Langland (1332?-1400?), English poet, who was supposedly the author of the religious
allegory The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman (written 1360?-1400?), better known as Piers Plowman.
Piers the Plowman holds up a mirror to Langland’s England, showing on the one hand the
corruption prevalent among the ruling classes, both secular and clerical, and on the other hand the uprightness and worthiness of the labouring folk and the miseries of the poor and needy.
In the form of allegory and vision, it is a “gospel of the poor”.
III. Geoffrey Chaucer
Father of English Literature, and Father of English Poetry. A great master of the English language
1. Three periods:
(1) The first period (1360 -- 1372): French influence
The Book of Duchess（公爵夫人之书）
(2) The second period (1372 -- 1385): Italian influence
The House of Fame（声誉之堂）;
Troylus and Criseyde（特罗勒斯与克丽西斯）;
The Legend of Good Women（善良女子徇情记）
(3) The third period (1386 -- 1400): English period or mature period
The Canterbury Tales（坎特伯雷故事集)
The Canterbury Tales, generally considered to be Chaucer’s masterpiece, was written chiefly in the
years 1386-1400.
It begins with a general prologue that explains the occasion for the narration of the tales and gives a
description of the pilgrims who narrate the tales. 120 tales are intended, but only 24 are completed.
The Canterbury Tales
Significance
a comprehensive picture of the social reality of the poet’s day
a framed story
anthology of medieval literature
humour, satire, irony
Chaucer, a master of the English language
Unit Three The Transitional Period (The 15th Century
I. Popular Ballads
II. Early English Drama
III. Chaucerian Poets
IV. Le Morte d’Arthur
Historical Background
1. The 15th century was a period of transition for Britain from the medieval to the Renaissance
world.
2. The War of the Roses (1455 -- 85): The rival houses of Lancaster and York, which were both
descended from Edward III, started a fight for power.
The flag for Lancaster showed a red rose, and the flag for York showed a white rose, so the struggle between them became known as the War of the Roses.
3. Printing press was introduced into England by William Caxton in 1476.
William Caxton (1422?-1491), first English printer, born probably in Tenterden, Kent. His translation and print of The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1474?) was the first book printed in English.
The more notable books from his press include The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde by
English poet Geoffrey Chaucer and Confessio Amantis by English poet John Gower.
Fewer than 40 of Caxton's publications still exist.
Caxton printed nearly 100 publications, about 20 of which he also translated from French and Dutch.
4. The literature of the 15th century was also in a transitional stage between the Age of Chaucer
and the Renaissance.
Themes:
(1) Border ballads: popular ballads narrating incidents on the
English-Scottish border.
(2) Robin Hood ballads
(3) Arthurian legend and Biblical material
(4) Domestic life: e.g. Get Up and Bar the Door
(5) Love
(6) Political treachery: e.g. Sir Patrick Spens
(7) Intelligence of the common labouring people
Ballad Metres are four-line stanzas with the alteration of 4 and 3 feet verse to the odd and even
numbered lines, and rhyming usually on the 2nd and 4th lines.
“The king sits in Dumferling toune
Drinking the blude-reid wine
O whar will I get guid sailor,
To sail this schip of mine?”
from Sir Patrick Spens
Robin Hood ballads
Robin Hood ballads are popular ballads dealing with the famous outlaw Robin Hood and his men and their activities.
Robin Hood, hero of a group of English ballads of the late 14th or early 15th century.
Robin Hood was portrayed as an outlaw who lived and poached in royal forests such as Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire.
Robin Hood robbed and killed those who represented government or church power, and he defended the needy and oppressed.
His comrades included Little John, Will Scarlet, and Friar Tuck.
Get Up and Bar the Door
It fell about the Martinmas time
And a gay time it was then,
When our goodwife got puddings to make,
And she’s boild them in the pan.
The wind sae cauld blew south and north,
And blew into the floor;
Quoth our goodman to our good wife,
‘Gae out and bar te door.’
II. Early English Drama
1. Folk drama: sword dance, morris dance, murmurs’ plays
2. Religious drama:
(1) The mystery play: drama based directly on stories from the Bible.
The best-known mystery play in England is the so-called Second Shepherds’ Play -- the second of the plays on the shepherds, in the Towneley Cycle. Its theme is to greet the newborn Christ.
The Birth of Jesus
(2) The miracle play: drama dealing with the legends of the Christian saints.
(3) The morality play: drama presenting allegorically some objects, lesson, or warning by means of
abstract characters or generalized types of man’s spiritual good.
The best known of the morality play is Everyman, produced in the last quarter of the 15th century,
dealing with what is supposed to happen to Everyone at the close of his life.
III. Chaucerian Poets
1. English Chaucerian:
John Lydgate (1370 -- 1450): English poet, born in Suffolk and educated at the monastery （修道院）
of Bury Saint Edmunds, where he was ordained a priest in 1397.
Lydgate may have been a friend and disciple (信徒,弟子) of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, and the two were equally popular in their time.
Some of Lydgate's work shows Chaucer's influence.
Although Lydgate was a prolific and influential poet of his day, much of his work is now considered verbose (冗长的) and overly moralistic.
His major poems include Troy Book (1412-1420), The Siege (围攻) of Thebes (1420-1422), and Fall of
Princes (1430-1438).
2. Scottish Chaucerians:
(1) James I of Scotland
(2) Robert Henryson
(3) William Dunbar
(4) Gavin Douglass
IV. Le Morte d’Arthur
It is a kind of final summing-up of the Arthurian legend built up from the 12th century to the 15th
century (21 books).
The Passing of Arthur
According to legend, King Arthur was seriously wounded in battle by his illegitimate son, Mordred.
Arthur’s half sister Morgan le Fay and a group of women then took him away to the island of Avalon to heal.
Le Morte d’Arthur may well be called the swan-song (最后的作品) of feudal knighthood and chivalry
which were much idealized in the heyday (全盛时期) of feudalism.
It is written in a lucid and simple style.
Both the Arthurian legendary material and the simple style had their wide and lasting influence
upon the English literature of later centuries.
Unit Four The Early Tudor Age and the Elizabethan Age
I. Renaissance
II. The Early Tudor Age
III. The Elizabethan Age
I. Renaissance
Renaissance is a political and cultural epoch.
The word “Renaissance”, meaning “rebirth”, is commonly applied to the movement or period which
marks the transition from the medieval to the modern world in Western Europe.
It is also called the revival of learning.
1. Characteristics:
(1) centralization of power
(2) church reformation
(3) geographical discoveries
(4) bankruptcy of peasantry
(5) emergence of bourgeoisie and proletariat
(6) growth of a new culture
The characteristics of the Renaissance
1.Politically the feudal nobility lost their power and with the establishment of the great monarchies there
was the centralization of power necessary for the development of the bourgeoisie.
2.The Catholic Church was either substituted by Protestantism（新教）as a result of the so-called
Reformation (as in Germany and England) or weakened in its dictatorship（专制）over men’s minds (as
in Italy and France and Spain).
3.Geographical discoveries opened up colonial expansion and trade routes to distant parts of the world
and brought back gold and silver and other wealth and also broadened men’s mental horizons.
4.In the countryside the peasants were terribly exploited and they either rose in uprisings or ran away
and flocked to the cities and added to the proletariat there.
5.In the cities the merchants and the master artisans（工匠）grew in wealth and in power and became
the bourgeoisie while handicraft turned gradually into manufacture and the modern proletariat sprang up among the employed workers in the factories.
6.Culturally, as the interest in God and in the life after death was transformed into the exaltation of man
and an absorption in earthly life and as materialistic philosophy and scientific thought gradually replaced the church dogmas and religious mysticism of the Middle Ages, a totally new culture rose out of the revival of the old culture of ancient Greece and Rome and out of the emergence of a new philosophy and science and art and literature through the exploration of the infinite capabilities of man.
2. Three stages of development:
(1) Early Tudor Age (1500 -- 1557)
(2) Elizabethan Age (1558 -- 1603)
(3) Jacobean Age (1603 -- 1625)
3. Two trends:
(1) Court literature
(2) Bourgeois literature
II. The Early Tudor Age (1500-1557)
1. The Oxford Reformers:
William Grocyn (1446 -- 1519), Thomas Linacre (1460 -- 1524) and John Colet (1467 -- 1519) ---- all
three of them were students at Oxford University, travelled and studied in Italy and introduced the study of ancient Greek as well as the new science and philosophy of the time in opposition to the rigid church dogmas of medieval scholasticism (经院哲学).
The Oxford Reformers helped to lay the foundations of the rise of a new literature in England in the later decades of the century.
2. Thomas More (1478 -- 1535)
Sir Thomas More was known for his intelligence and devotion to the Catholic church.
That devotion put him at odds with his one-time friend, King Henry VIII, who had More beheaded for refusing to sanction (同意), as lord chancellor, Henry’s divorce from Ca therine of Aragu.
Thomas More has chiefly been remembered for his Utopia (written in 1515).
This book contains (1) a realistic picture of early 16th-century England: social evils are exposed and attacked; (2) the first sketch of the ideal commonwealth by an English writer. It affords (提供) a valuable document of Utopian socialism.
Utopia
Thomas More’s Utopia
This woodcut, taken from the first edition of Sir Thomas More’s famous work Utopia, depicts the
island that symbolized More's concept of an ideal community. More, who was a statesman as well as a writer, used the fictional Utopia to satirize conditions in England.
Limitations of the book Utopia:
(1) His dream world did not have its sound political, economic and social bases;
(2) His indifferent attitude toward slavery and his actual contempt for physical labour;
(1) John Skelton (1460 -- 1529) (3) Contradictions in his world outlook.
Limitations of Utopia
1.Writing at the dawn of capitalism, More could not but build his dream of a communist society on the
social foundations of handicrafts manufacture, and this limitation of his age when there were yet no big industries nor a ripened proletariat, necessarily made his conception of an oppressionless, exploitationless society a rather vague, dreamy world which did not have its sound political, economic and social base.
2.More’s limitations as a member of the ruling and exploiting class himself manifest (证明) themselves in
his indifferent attitude toward salves and mercenary soldiers and in his actual contempt for physical labour—in spite of his insistence on the need of most utopians to participate in physical labour.
3.When we compare More’s views in Utopia with his life as a courtier (朝臣) and especially as a fervent
(狂热的) Catholic who chose rather to die than to give up his belief in the absolute authority of the Pope in Rome, we find curious but unmistakable contradictions in his world outlook.
3. Court poets:
a great satirist with a most effective verse metre,
repeated attacks on the vices of the court and clergy
(2) Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 -- 42)
He introduced into English poetry the sonnet form from the Italian. (The sonnet: a lyric poem of 14 lines.)
Thomas Wyatt also introduced into English poetry other stanzaic form: terza rima (3-line stanzas
rhyming aba bcb cdc ded ee; later employed by Shelley in Ode to the West Wind) and strambotti (also called ottava rima; octaves rhyming abababcc; later employed by Byron in Don Juan).
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517 -- 47), English soldier and poet.
Although not primarily a man of letters, Howard greatly enriched English literature by his introduction of new verse forms.
His love poems, like those of his contemporary Sir Thomas Wyatt, show the influence of Italian
models.
Howard introduced into English poetry the English form of sonnet (abab cdcd efef gg).
4. Religious drama:
A Pleasant Satire of the Three Estates, a morality by David Lyndsay.
An Interlude is a play brief enough to be presented in the interval of a dramatic performance.
The chief representative playwright was John Heywood (1497?-1580?), known for his didactic and
comic interludes, such as The Four P's (c. 1520), and numerous epigrams (警句) and proverbs.
III. The Elizabethan Age
Elizabeth I (1533-1603), queen of England and Ireland (1558-1603), daughter of King Henry VIII and
his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
England prospered under her, developing into a great maritime power.
Elizabeth was the last of the Tudor rulers of England.
The economy was stabilized, and foreign trade was encouraged.
Elizabeth never married, but she was besieged (包围) by royal suitors, each of whom she favored
when it was in her political interest to do so.
1. Court poetry
(1) Sir Philip Sydney (1554 -- 1586) :
Sydney earned his place of importance in English literature of his time as the earliest writer of a sonnet sequence (Astrophel and Stella), a prose pastoral romance (Arcadia) and a critical essay (The Defence of Poesie).
(2) Edmund Spenser (1552 -- 1590), English poet, who is most famous for his long allegorical
romance, The Faerie Queene. Spenser was born in London.
In 1579 he met English poet Sir Philip Sidney, to whom he dedicated his first major poem, The Shepheardes Calendar(1579). This work demonstrates the great poetic flexibility of the English language.
Spenser’s Works:
The Shepherd’s Calendar: a pastoral poem consisting of 12 eclogues（牧歌）.
Amoretti(爱情小唱) is a sonnet sequence of 88 love poems, written to celebrate his love and
marriage to his wife Elizabeth Boyle.
The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene has been regarded as Spenser’s masterpiece.
It is one of the great poems in the English language.
The poem is a literary epic, and according to the original plan was to consist 12 books but only six
books and two cantos of the 7th were completed.
The Faerie Queene is written in Spenserian stanza: a 9-line stanzaic form with the rhyme scheme of
abab bcbcc and with the first 8 lines in iambic pentameter and the last or the 9th line an alexandrine(iambic hexameter).
(Byron used this form in his Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage; Keats used this form in his Eve of St. Agnes;
and Shelley used this form in his Revolt of Islam and Adonais).
Spenser's lush and expansive imagination and vigorous approach to structure made him a powerful
influence on John Milton and the romantic poets, including John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. 2. Euphuistic style (绮丽体) in prose:
The term euphuism takes its name from John Lyly’s two-part work: Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit and Euphues and His England.
Eupheues is marked by
(1) the use of balanced sentence construction and other artificial elaborations in language, including antithesis (对偶) and alliteration;
(2) the employment of images and similes taken from ancient mythology and history, and also the use of quotations from and references to classical authors.
绮丽体,也叫尤弗伊斯体euphuism，指一种矫揉造作，过分文雅的文体，由文艺复兴时期,英国大学才子派剧
作家约翰·利利创立，因他的小说《尤弗伊斯》而得名。---“Euphues,or the anatomy of wit”
John Lyly (1554?-1606), English playwright and novelist who wrote a number of comedies that
influenced English drama.
3. Predecessors of Shakespeare
(1) Classical influence
The classical influence upon English drama developed in three stages
a. the acting of classical dramas in the original
b. the translation and acting of these drams in translation
c. the writing and production of plays in English
(2) The University Wits (大学才子):
The immediate predecessors of Shakespeare were a group of men from Oxford and Cambridge,
known as the University Wits, including John Lyly, George Peele, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, Thomas Kyd, and Christopher Marlowe.
(3) Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), considered the greatest English dramatist before William
Shakespeare, greatly advanced tragedy as an English dramatic form.
He was also the first English playwright to compose in blank verse (无韵体).
Marlowe is famous for four dramas, now known as the Marloesque or one-man type of tragedy,
each revolving about one central personality who is consumed by the lust of power.
Tamburlaine
Doctor Faustus
The Jews of Malta
Edward the Second
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Come, live with me, and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, or hills, or field,
Or woods and steepy mountains yield.
A pastoral is a poem treating of shepherds and rustic life, after the Latin word for shepherd pastor. Unit Five William Shakespeare
I. Life
II. Poetic Works
III. Dramatic Works
I. Life
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564, and died in Stratford-on-Avon
on April 23, 1616.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists.
A complete, authoritative account of Shakespeare's life does not exist, but it is commonly accepted
that he was born in 1564, and it is known that he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.
In 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. They had a daughter in 1583 and twins— a boy and a girl— in 1585. The boy did not survive.
By 1592 Shakespeare attained success as an actor and a playwright.
The publication of his two narrative poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) and of his Sonnets (1609) established his reputation as a gifted and popular poet.
Shakespeare's modern reputation, however, is based primarily on the 38 plays attributed to him.
He died on April 23, 1616.
No name was inscribed on his gravestone in the chancel of the parish church of Stratford-upon-Avon.
He formed his own acting company, the Chamberlain's Men, later called the King's Men, and two
theaters, the Globe Theatre and the Blackfriars.
II. Poetic Works
1. Two long narrative poems
Venus and Adonis;
The Rape of Lucrece
2. 154 sonnets (1593 -99)
Themes: time, love and friendship
Form: Shakespearean sonnet
3 quatrains + 1 couplet
abab cdcd efef gg
III. Dramatic Works
William Shakespeare has 37 plays to his credit.
First built in 1935, then rebuilt in 1959, Ashland’s Elizabethan Theatre is one of several venues for
plays in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Four periods of Shakespeare’s writing career:
Apprentice Period (1590-1594)
(1) Histories
Richard III
Henry VI
(2) Romantic tragedies
Titus Andronicus
Julius Caesar
Romeo and Juliet
(3) Experimental comedies
Love’s Labour Lost
The Comedy of Errors
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Julius Caesar is the second of Shakespeare’s tragedies based on ancient Roman history.
Period of Romantic Comedies (1595-1600)
Four great comedies:
The Merchant of Venice -- Portia
As You Like It -- Rosalind
Much Ado About Nothing -- Beatrice
Twelfth Night -- Viola
Mature Period (1601-1609)
This is the period of tragedies.
Four great tragedies:
Othello
King Lear
Hamlet
Macbeth
Last Period (1609-12)
This is the period of tragicomedies. The last period of Shakespeare’s dramatic career include chiefly
the last three tragicomedies:
Cymbeline
The Winter’s Tale
The Tempest
Shakespeare’s Contribution to Drama
①themes of progressive significance
②masterful character portrayal
③adroit plot construction
④great freedom and ease in the use of language
Unit Six The Jacobean Age
?I. The Jacobean Drama
?II. The Jacobean Prose
?III. The Jacobean Poetry
The Jacobean Drama
? 1. Shakespeare’s Contemporaries
?In the first dozen years or so of the 17th century, there was another flowering of English drama,
comparable to the great upsurge of the dramatic activities of the University Wits in the last two decades of the 16th century.
?The most important playwright among Shakespeare’s contemporaries was Ben Jonson (1573 --
1637).
Ben Jonson , English dramatist and poet, whose classical learning, gift for satire, and brilliant style made him one of the great figures of English literature.
He was born in Westminster.
Jonson's first original play, Every Man in His Humour,was performed in 1598 by the Lord Chamberlain's Company with English playwright William Shakespeare in the cast.
?Ben Jonson wrote poetry, but he was first of all a dramatist, having chiefly been known for his
“comedy of humours”.
美国文学史 1，Benjamin Franklin：merchant family，an apprentice in a printing house 2，Emerson：family：clergyman，philosophy of the soul，美国孔子，文明之父，transcendentalism（超验主义nature的出 版，nature is ennobling and individual is divine神圣的）chief spokesman, 最终除了你自己的思想头脑外,没有什么是神 圣的，the ame scholar（speech） 3，Ellen Poe：a poet and fiction writer，begin his literary by writing poets 4，Nathaniel Hawthorne：man and human history originates in puritanism（清教主义）,view ：there is evil in every heart，描写人性和社会的阴暗面，young goodman brown （desperate and gloomy）揭示每个人都有邪恶的秘密， rappaccini`s daughter(人性罪恶之源)，ambiguity is one of the salient characteristics of his art，美国文学史上最受争议的 （ambivalent）,intellectuals us appears as villains(恶棍) in his story，the house of the seven gables，the marble faun，the blithedale romance，the scarlet letter（加尔文主义） 5，Walt Whitman：family：carpenter（木匠）free verse（自由诗体），leaves of grass(获得成功的原因：the democratic ideas)歌整体和部分，when the lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed
1.作为欧洲最早出现的文学，古代希腊文学开创了一种什么样的文化传统？体现了早期西方人什么样的思想感情和审美趣味？古希腊文化中蕴含着原始的“人”的观点，它经由古罗马文化对后来的西方文学产生了深远影响，成为西方文学人文传统的主要源头之一。古希腊民族对人的重视，与该民族的自然观宇宙观有密切联系。古希腊人有强烈的个体意识，重视个体的人的价值的实现，强调人在自己对立物——自然与社会——面前的主观能动性，崇尚人的智慧和在智慧引导下的自由，肯定人的原始欲望的合理性，是古希腊文化的本质特征。蕴藏着根深蒂固的人本主义意识。古希腊文学中最为突出的是人本精神。无论神话史诗还是喜剧，都满腔热情地讴歌生活，赞美人生，讴歌人类的勇敢聪明和智慧，占在宇宙的高度审视人和大自然的搏斗，礼赞人性的悲壮和崇高，体现出他们热爱生活，积极进取，勇于追求的乐观精神。这一精神成为文艺复兴时期西方思想的主要来源 希腊人以为人在世界上是孤独的无助地站立着的，且因为他时时地战胜阻碍，庄严的承受命运最严刻的判定，于是人道的崇拜便成了希腊生活与希腊宗教的主要特点。 他们成就了简朴的直截的美：直白的真实的美。 2.希腊神话具有哪些特点，为什么会具有这些特点？ 1）原始、野蛮、未开化。希腊民族在原始公社和氏族社会就已经有了一套丰富而完整的神话。由于希腊神话起源很早，所以在希腊神话故事中往往会带一种原始、野蛮、未开化的气息。 2）人本主义与命运观念并存。希腊神话是原始初民的自由意志、自我意识和原
始欲望的象征表述。在神话中，神的意志和欲望就是人的意志和欲望，神和英雄们的所作所为、恣肆放纵的行为模式，隐喻了希腊人对自身原始欲望充分实现的潜在冲动，体现了个体本位的文化价值观念。希腊神话里真正具有宗教意义的神是命运，而那些热热闹闹的、欢愉活泼的、喧闹不已的诸神却没有一点宗教的意味。在希腊神话里表现了一个不出场的东西，这个东西就叫命运。它决定一切，包括神的命运也同样是由它决定的。因此，在希腊神话里面就包含了一个非常深刻的思想——命运。 3）人神同形同性论，处在核心地位是“人神同形同性论”，不仅使希腊神话较早的摆脱了兽型妖灵阶段，而且是深化体现了较强的民主意识和以人为本、注重现实的精神。希腊神话中的神不是有王或城邦统治者所垄断的，也不是高高在上，只供人们敬畏的神癨，而是属于整个希腊世界所有公民并生活与民众之中的神，神性与人性是相通的。不存在不可逾越的界限。神和人都有男女的形态，但有时人完美的体现，神的形象体现着人的智慧和美之所能达到的最高境界，但也和人一样有着七情六欲。 4）构建了一个多神系统。希腊人民以丰富、新奇的想象创造出了以宙斯为首的俄林波斯山众神，一般认为有十二主神。 5）赞扬乐观、积极进取的精神。希腊人民通过创造神来表达自己的理想和愿望，展现自己民族积极进取的精神风貌。 6）深刻的哲理意味。西绪弗斯滚石头，对一种看不见的终极目标的追求。 希腊神话故事是古希腊人民在努力从事生产生活活动过程中所创造的希腊神话故事是古希腊人民生活与人生的折射，它反映了古希腊人民对自然和英雄人物的崇拜与理想化，以及他们为了生存与自然所进行的顽强斗争。
英语专业-英美文学试卷及答案-期末
英美文学试卷A 共9页第 I. Mark the following statements as true (T) or false (F). (10 x 1’=10’) 1. ( ) Chaucer is the first English short-story teller and the founder of English poetry as well as the founder of English realism. His masterpiece The Canterbury tales contains 26 stories. 2. ( ) English Renaissance is an age of essay and drama. 3. ( ) The rise of the modern novel is closely related to the rise of the middle class and an urban life. 4. ( ) The French Revolution and the American War of Independence were two big influences that brought about the English Romantic Movement. 5. ( ) Charlotte’s novels are all about lonely and neglected young women with a fierce longing for life and love. Her novels are more or less based on her own experience and feelings and the life as she sees around. 6. ( ) The leading figures of the naturalism at the turn of 19th century are Thomas Hardy, John Galsworthy and Bernard Shaw. 7. ( ) Emily Dickinson is remembered as the “All American Writer”. 8. ( )The Civil War divides the American literature into romantic literature and realist literature. 9. ( ) Mark Twain is the first American writer to discover an American language and American consciousness.
一、填空题 1、（古希腊文学）和（希伯来文学）是欧洲文学的两大源流，文学史上称为“二希”传统。 2、欧洲古代文学包括（古希腊文学）和（古罗马文学）。 3、（古希腊）、（古罗马）是欧洲文明的发祥地。 4、公元前12世纪至公元前8世纪是古希腊从氏族公社制向奴隶制社会过度的时期，史称（“英雄时代”）、又称（“荷马时代”）。 5、（宙斯）是雷电神，（赫拉）是天后。 6、（波赛东）是海洋神，（得墨忒耳）是农神。 7、（阿波罗）是太阳神，（阿瑞斯）是战神， 8、赫淮斯托斯是（火神），（赫耳墨斯）是神使。 9、（雅典娜）是女战神，（阿佛洛狄忒）是爱神。 10、阿耳忒弥斯是（月神），（赫斯提亚）是家神。 11、英雄传说中的英雄都是神和人所生的后代，是（半神半人式）的英雄。 12、以某一英雄为中心，形成一个个传说系列，如俄狄浦斯传说系列，（赫拉克勒斯传说）系列，（奥德修斯传说）系列等等。 13、希腊神话的艺术特征主要有三点：1、（想象力极强）2、（故事性极强）3、（哲理性极强） 14、（柏拉图）称（萨福）为“第十位文艺女神”。 15、（《埃涅阿斯纪》）是欧洲文学史上第一部（文人）史诗。 16、流传至今的唯一一部完整的古希腊三连剧是（《俄瑞斯忒亚》），这个三部曲的基 本主题是反映（父权制）对母权制的斗争和胜利。 17、（埃斯库罗斯）被誉为“悲剧之父”。阿里斯托芬被誉为（“喜剧之父”）。 18、（教会文学）在中世纪欧洲文学史上长期占据统治地位，其文学题材大多取材于（《圣经》）。 19、（盎格鲁·撒克逊）人的（《贝奥武甫》）是流传迄今的欧洲最完整的一部史诗，共3100余行。 20、骑士抒情诗种类很多，其中以（《破晓歌》）最为有名。
English Literature Geoffrey Chaucer: the Father of English Poetry the Founder of English Realism the Master of modern English language The pioneer of the English Renaissance Beowulf: National epic of the Anglo-Saxons The story of Beowulf is a folk legend which reflects the feature of the tribal world.
外国文学史试题库 一、填空（85题） 1、美国废奴文学的代表作有《汤姆叔叔的小屋》、《白奴》。 2、俄国文学史上塑造“小人物”形象的作品有普希金的《驿站长》、果戈里的《外套》 以及陀斯妥耶夫斯基的《穷人》等。 3、现实主义是19世纪 30 年代首先在法国、英国等地出现的文学思潮，以后波及俄 国、北欧和美国等地，高尔基称之为“批判现实主义”。 4、哈代把他的小说分为三类：罗曼史和幻想小说、机敏和经验小说、性格和环境 小说。 5、海涅被称之为浪漫主义的“幻想之王”和开创新诗派的“第一只夜莺”。 6、《复活》的男女主人公分别是聂赫留朵夫、玛斯洛娃。 7、司汤达的著名的文学评论集是《拉辛与莎士比亚》。他的长篇小说《红与黑》在文 学史上的地位是现实主义的奠基作，其副标题是《1830年纪事》。 8、马克思所称赞的英国“一派出色的小说家”是狄更斯、萨克雷、盖斯凯尔夫人。 9、马克.吐温的代表作是《哈克贝利.芬历险记》。 10、“迷惘的一代”语出美国女作家斯泰因，她曾指着海明威等人说：“你们是迷惘 的一代”。 11、把现实主义从理论到创作都臻于完善，代表了西欧现实主义的最高成就是巴尔扎克 （作家）的《人间喜剧》（作品）。 12、巴黎公社文学最有代表性的作家有欧仁.鲍狄埃、路易丝.米雪尔（茹尔.瓦莱 斯、让-巴蒂斯特.克莱芒）等。 13、路易丝.米雪尔是巴黎公社的著名诗人和社会活动家，有“红色圣女”之称。 14、巴黎公社文学为 20世纪世界无产阶级文学的发展奠定了基础。 15、维尔特被恩格斯称为“德国无产阶级第一个和最重要的诗人”。 16、冈察洛夫的代表作《奥勃洛摩夫》塑造了俄国文学史上最后一个“多余人”形象。 17、车尔尼雪夫斯基的长篇小说《怎么办》是一部社会政治小说，其副标题是新人的故事，这部小说塑造了拉赫美托夫等“新人”的形象。 18、欧.亨利是美国著名的短篇小说家，他善于通过描写“小人物”的不幸命运，揭示资本主义的不平与虚伪；在艺术上，他的小说常常以“含泪的微笑”和辛酸的欢乐打动读者，善于构思一个出人意料的结局，这种写法被称为欧.亨利笔法。 19、《马丁.伊登》是杰克.伦敦的代表作。 20、1829年巴尔扎克发表了《朱安党人》，迈开了走向现实主义的第一步。他的《人间喜剧》分为三大类：风俗研究、哲学研究、分析研究，其中的风俗研究又分为私
Part One：English Poetry 1.William Shakespeare Sonnet 18 ?Why does the poet compare `thee` to a summer?s day? And who could `thee` be? Because summer?s day and thee both represent beauty . thee could be beauty, love. ?What picture have you got of English summer, and could you explain why? Warm, beautiful, sunshine. Because summer is the best season of a year ,the most beautiful season. It is like our May. ?How does the poet answer the question he puts forth in the first line? Thee is more beautiful than summer. ?What makes the poet think that “thou” can be more fair than summer and immortal? Because humanism is more eternal than summer and immortal. ?What figures of speech are used in this poem? Simile, metaphor, personification, oxymoron and so on . ?What is the theme of the poem? Love conquers all, Beauty lives on. 2. Thomas Nashe Spring ?Read the poem carefully, pay attention to those image- bearing words, and see how many images the poet created in the poem and what sense impressions you can get from those images. There is “Blooms each thing, maids dance in a ring, the pretty birds do sing, the palm and may make country houses gay, Lambs frisk' and play, the shepherds pipe all day, And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay, The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet, Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit, In every street these tunes bur ears do greet!” The “Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit，”impressions me most because of the harmony of the people?s relationship. ?Can you point out and explain the sound and their musical effect in the poem? In the Poem, each section has four lines, each line has ten syllables ( five tone step ) . In order to give the reader a spring breeze , streams , flowers , winding , Song Xin texture of sound and light flavor, Naixi greater uses English word S , z , f , V , R , L , and θconsonants means. In Naixi's poem, the use of phonological is also very harmonious, very smooth , very mellow. Section I of the poetry has Three pairs [ ing ] , section II of the poem has three pairs [ ei ] and the third quarter has three pairs [ i : ]. 3.John Donne A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning ?What is a “valediction” any way? Is the speaker in the poem about to die? Why does the speaker forbid mourning? No, it is about the lover s?separation. As the poem metaphors, the poet believed he and his wife?s love is sacred, he didn?t hope they cry when separation comes, let their love be stained by the ordinary and mundane.
外国文学史复习题及参考答案 第一章古代文学 一、单项选择题 1 ．古希腊最早的一部以现实生活为题材的诗作是（A ）。 A．《工作与时日》 B ．《胜利颂》 C ．《神谱》 D ．《牧歌》 2 ．古希腊最早的一部比较系统地叙述宇宙起源和神的谱系的作品是（B A ．《长征记》B．《神谱》 C ．《工作与时日》 D ．《胜利颂》 3 ．古希腊古典时期文学成就最大的是（ D）。 A ．抒情诗 B ．散文 C ．寓言D．戏剧 4 ．被柏拉图称为“第十位文艺女神”的诗人是（ C）。 A ．维吉尔 B ．贺拉斯C．萨福 D ．奥维德 5 ．《伊索寓言》主要反映的是（C ）。 A ．个人情感 B ．贵族与奴隶主的情趣 C ．奴隶制社会劳动人民的思想感情 D ．市民的思想感情
6 ．古希腊被称为“历史之父”的作家是（A ）。 A ．希罗多德 B ．修昔底德 C ．色诺芬 D ．苏格拉底 7 ．西方客观唯心主义的始祖是（ A）。 A ．柏拉图 B ．亚里士多德 C ．西塞罗 D ．卢克莱修 8 ．亚里士多德的文艺理论代表作品是（C ）。 A ．《理想国》 B ．《伊安篇》 C ．《诗学》 D ．《诗艺》 9 ．“希腊化时期”最著名的新喜剧作家是（ A）。 A ．米南德 B ．阿里斯托芬 C ．普劳图斯 D ．泰伦斯 10 ．泰伦斯的代表作品是（C ）。 A ．《双生子》 B ．《一罐黄金》 C ．《婆母》 D ．《恨世者》 11 ．维吉尔的《埃涅阿斯纪》被称为欧洲文学史上的第一部（A ）史诗。 A ．文人 B ．英雄 C ．民族 D ．悲剧
12 ．贺拉斯最重要的文艺理论著作是（ B）。 A ．《诗学》 B ．《诗艺》 C ．《讽刺诗》 D ．《颂歌集》 13 ．奥维德的代表作品是（B ）。 A ．《爱经》 B ．《变形记》 C ．《讽刺诗》 D ．《颂歌集》 14 ．《伊利昂纪》是一部描写部落战争的英雄史诗，开篇写的是（A ）。 A ．阿喀琉斯的愤怒 B ．希腊联军节节败退 C ．阿喀琉斯重上战场 D ．阿喀琉斯杀死赫克托耳 15 ．《奥德修纪》是一部（ B）。 A ．描写部落战争的英雄史诗 B ．反映氏族社会末期至奴隶社会初期人类对自然和社会斗争的史诗 C ．悲剧史诗 D ．英雄传说 16 ．奥德修斯的形象是一个（A ）。 A ．被理性化了的早期奴隶主的形象 B ．足智多谋的政治家形象 C ．战胜自然的形象 D ．漂泊者 17 ．被称为“古希腊悲剧之父”的是（ C）。
Preview for William Wordsworth I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud 1.Identify the poetic form （01黄唯隽，02李景怡） 2. What is the dominant image? How does the speaker feel like about this image?Is the speaker’s mood changed at the sight of this image? （03黎露琼，04刘江雨） 3. What kind of figures of speech are used here? What is the feature of the language? （05周嘉慧，06罗慧） 4.How do you interpret “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, which originates in emotion recollected in tranquility” ?(use some of the poetic lines) （07吴明珠，08阳灿） She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways Try to appreciate the poem (meter, rhyme, theme ,rhetorical devices, etc.). https://www.doczj.com/doc/d016265759.html,pare William Wordsworth and Tao Yuanming. What are their similarities and dissimilarities? （09彭腾，10孙琴） Preview for Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice Questions for consideration: 6. Pride and Prejudice is also named “the first impression”, do you think that the first impression is very important for you to know others? （11段冬平，12张贵红） 7. Must a single man in possession of a good fortune, be in want of a wife? If your answer is “no”, how would you improve this “truth”? （13王瑞芳，14李亮） 8. What are your opinions on love and marriage? （15曾卉，16章晗）
Comment on Walden In 1845, Thoreau decided to conduct an experiment of self-sufficiency by building his own house on the shores of Walden Pond and living off the food he grew on his farm. He sought to reduce his physical needs to a minimum, in order to free himself for study, thought, and observation of nature, himself. Walden can be many things and can be read on more than one level. But it is, first and foremost, a book about man, what he is, and what he should be and must be. Considered one of the all-time great books, Walden is a record of Thoreau's two year experiment of living at Walden Pond. The writer's chief emphasis is on the simplifications and enjoyment of life now. It is regarded as 1. a nature book.2. a do-it-yourself guide to simple life. 3. a satirical criticism of modern life and living. 4. a belletristic achievement 5. a spiritual book. The Scarlet Letter Symbolic meaning of the letter “A” :1.The scarlet letter “A” is the central symbol of the novel. At the beginning it symbolized the sin of Hester—“adultery”, 2.then gradually when Hester became accepted by the community, it stands for Hester’s intelligence and diligence—“able”. 3.At the end of the novel the symbol has evolved to represent the high virtues of Hester Prynne—“angel”. Comments on The Scarlet Letter:1.The theme of the story should be the moral, emotional and psychological effects of the sin on people. 2.Scarlet Letter is a cultural allegory, in which the author indirectly tells the future of Puritanism.3.Scarlet Letter is a sample in which American Romanticism adapted itself to American Puritanism.(Because of the strong influence of Puritanism in American society, Hawthorne only expressed his ideas on the sin indirectly by employing symbolism.) Symbolism in the novel Moby Dick A. the voyage itself is a metaphor for “search and discovery, the search for the ultimate truth of experience.” B. the Pequod is the ship of the American soul and consciousness. C. Moby Dick is a symbol of evil to some, of goodness to others, and of both to still others. D. The whiteness of Moby Dick is a paradoxical color, signifying death and corruption as well as purity, innocence and youth; it represents the final mystery of the universe. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Setting: unpopulated wildness an a dense forest along Mississippi River Characters:1.Ignorant uneducated black slave Jim2.Uneducated outcast white boy Huck Finn。Theme: Huck’s inner waving struggle between what he was taught and what he thought out of good-heart and humanity.Its Features：1.Profound portrait of Huckleberry Finn 2.Magic power with language, the use of vernacular. 3. Humor In a Station of the Metro1 by Ezra Pound The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough. Note: 1。a Paris subway station Analysis of this poem The poem’s form is similar to Japanese haiku, with considering its title as a verse-line. The word “apparition” has double meaning:1. “appearance”, something which can be clearly observed;2. something which seems real but perhaps is not real; something ghostly which cannot be clearly observed. Petals may refer to the faces in the crowd, while bough may refer to the railway in the Metro.
英美文学史名词解释 Document number：NOCG-YUNOO-BUYTT-UU986-1986UT
英美文学史名词解释 1.English Critical Realism English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. The realists first and foremost criticized the capitalist society from a democratic viewpoint and delineated (portrayed) the crying (extremely shocking) contradictions of bourgeois reality. The greatness of the English realists lies not only in their satirical portrayal of bourgeoisie and in the exposure of the greed and hypocrisy of the ruling classes, but also in their sympathy for the laboring people. Humor and satire are used to expose and criticize the seamy (dark) side of reality. The major contribution of the critical realists lies in their perfection of the novel. Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray are the most important representative of English critical realism. 2.The "Stream of Consciousness" The "stream of consciousness" is a psychological term indicating "the flux of conscious and subconscious thoughts and impressions moving in the mind at any given time independently of the person's will." In late 19th century, the literary device of "interior monologue" was originated in France as an application of modern psychological knowledge to literary creations. In the 20th century, under the influence of Freud 's theory of psychological analysis, a number of writers adopted the "stream of consciousness" method of novel writing. The striking feature
第一单元 1、古代希腊文学经历了哪些发展阶段？每一阶段的主要成就和主要特点是什么？列举主 要的代表作家和作品。 答：古希腊文学的发展可分四个时期：①氏族公社制向奴隶社会过渡的时期，史称“荷马时代（公元前11世纪~公元前9世纪），主要成就是神话和史诗。代表作有《希腊神话》和荷马《荷马史诗》，赫西奥德的教诲诗《工作与时日》和叙事长诗《神谱》。 ②希腊奴隶制城邦国家的形成和繁荣时期（公元前8世纪~公元前5世纪），主要成就是 抒情诗和寓言。代表作有萨福的独唱琴歌，和伊索的《伊索寓言》。③希腊奴隶制的全盛时期（公园前6世纪末~公元前4世纪初），史称“古典时期”，雅典成为全希腊的中心，雅典奴隶主民主制促进了雅典文化艺术的繁荣，主要成就是戏剧、散文和文艺理论。 代表作有柏拉图《理想国》、《裴德罗斯篇》、《伊安篇》、《会饮篇》；亚里士多德《诗学》。 ④希腊化时期（公元前4世纪~公元前2世纪），这一时期文学成就不大，只有新喜剧对 后世文学有一定影响。代表作米南德《恨世者》和《萨摩斯女子》。 2、希腊神话包括哪两方面的内容？它的主要特点是什么？ 答：希腊神话包括：神的故事英雄传说 主要特点：①以艺术的方式反映了希腊氏族社会的本质和面貌。 ②神人同形，神高度人格化 ③以人为本强调人的力量和奋斗精神 ④生动活泼、清新质朴、充满乐观精神。 3、荷马史诗的基本内容是什么？分析其主要思想和其中的几个主要人物形象。 答：基本内容：以特洛伊战争为背景，《伊利昂纪》写最后一年中51天内发生的事情。 全诗在为赫克托耳举行的盛大葬礼中结束。《奥德修纪》写木马计的设计者奥德修斯，海上十年历险和归家夫妻团聚的故事。 主要思想：以人为主，热爱现实，肯定人的奋斗精神。强调对人生采取积极的态度。 主要人物形象：①阿基琉斯：勇敢，义气，固执，任性，氏族英雄身上的个人意识。 ②奥德修斯：有心计，善于克制自己，狡猾，心狠手辣。 4、荷马史诗有什么艺术特色？ 答：1）创造了“英雄史诗“的形式：以英雄人物为中心，规模宏大，风格崇高。 2）结构灵巧，布局严整：《伊利昂纪》十年战争，最后一年，51天，4天激战（占整个篇幅的一半）。 3）自然的语言和“荷马式的比喻”：以自然界，日常生活，劳动过程中的某些现 象进行比喻。 4）使用现实主义和浪漫主义两种创作方法。 5）两步史诗的不同风格，阳刚之美和阴柔之美。 5、列举古希腊三大悲剧诗人及其代表作品，比较他们的创作特点。 答：埃斯库罗斯：他的剧作反映了雅典奴隶主民主制建成时期的社会生活。代表作《七将攻忒拜》（中，反映出作者的爱国思想和拥护民主制思想的一致性。）《俄瑞斯忒亚》（三部曲以一连串的复仇故事，反映出新观念新到的胜于旧观念旧道德、民主制优于旧传统的思想。）《被缚的普罗米修斯》。特点：悲壮、雄浑、自豪而又充满自信。 索福克勒斯：他的创作是雅典民主制盛极而衰时期的社会生活的反映。代表作《俄狄浦斯王》（他提倡民主精神，鼓吹英雄主义思想，强调人对命运的反抗。是雅典奴隶主兴盛时期民主派意识的特点。）特点：悲愤、迷惘、上下求索。 欧里庇得斯：他的作品反映了雅典奴隶主民主制危机时期的社会现实和思想意识。 代表作《特洛伊妇女》（以反对侵略战争为主题；）《美狄亚》（是为妇女地位的低下和
1、拜伦式英雄：在拜伦的《东方叙事诗》中，出现了一批侠骨柔肠的硬汉，他们有海盗、异教徒、被放逐者，这些大都是高傲、孤独、倔强的叛逆者，他们与罪恶社会势不两立，孤军奋战与命运抗争，追求自由，最后总是以失败告终。拜伦通过他们的斗争表现出对社会不妥协的反抗精神，同时反映出自己的忧郁、孤独和彷徨的苦闷。由于这些形象具有作者本人的思想性格特征，因此被称作拜伦式英雄 2、大学才子派：在莎士比亚之前，“大学才子”是对当时活跃于英国戏剧界的一批青年知识分子的统称，以马洛为首、包括格林、基德、李雷在内的人文主义诗剧派别。他们大多受过教育，具有人文主义思想。精通西欧各国的文艺复兴文学，对戏剧颇有创新，他们的戏剧创作和演出活动为莎士比亚的出现奠定了基础。其中马洛是莎士比亚前英国戏剧界最重要的人物，也是英国文艺复兴戏剧的真正创始人。一：莎士比亚戏剧擅长用内心独白手法直接揭示人物的内心世界，使之从而发掘生活的自然真实面目推动剧情发展，为塑造出众多栩栩如生、个性鲜明的典型人物形象起了关键作用，并且剧作中的人物不是单一平面的形象，而是具有多面性复杂性人格。如《哈姆莱特》里的主人公哈姆莱特既是个脱离群众的封建王子，又是个满怀抱负的人文主义者。莎剧还善于在人物的对比中突出主人公性格，如哈姆莱特与霍拉旭同样都是人文主义者，但是遭遇不同、地位不同，霍拉旭理智冷静，哈姆莱特热情深沉，更加反衬出哈姆莱特精神世界的深刻性。 第二：莎士比亚戏剧打破了古希腊古罗马悲喜剧的严格界限，不受古典戏剧“三一律”的束缚，使得戏剧情节具有生动性和丰富性特
点，遵循现实主义的创作原则，反映错综复杂的社会画面，增强浓郁的现实生活气息，往往在剧本里特意设计和安排了两个以上的故事情节或平行发展或曲折交错，彼此对照互相补充。如莎剧《哈姆雷特》矛盾复杂，仅以复仇而言，就有三条线索：丹麦王子哈姆莱特为父复仇而展开的同封建王权的代麦克劳狄斯之间的惊心动魄的斗争，小福丁布拉斯和雷欧提斯为泄私愤、报私仇分别所进行的复仇盲举。其中，以前者为主线，后者为副线，副线从属于主线，推动主要情节的发展。 第三：莎翁戏剧人物人物都是活动在一定社会历史条件下的典型环境之中，即为典型的人物形象塑造典型环境，使得戏剧显示出特殊的社会内容和鲜明的时代色彩（典型的人物形象是指血肉饱满的人物形象，典型环境是指人物所处的广阔的社会背景）也就是我们通常所说的人物借舞台背景而生存行动，舞台背景依赖人物而洋溢生气活力。 第四：莎翁是语言大师，他的戏剧语言词汇丰富多彩，具有个性化、形象化的语言特点。据统计他剧中用到的词汇量达29000个，远远超过他同时代的其他作家，使之闻其声若见其人，博大、深刻、富于诗意，做到哲理性和抒情性的交融，从而描绘更加广阔五光十色的社会生活图景。 第五：莎翁戏剧坚持探索勇于创新，如莎翁剧本所写大部分虽是陈旧题材，但经改造创作，加工变革推陈出新，就变成带有深刻莎土比亚印记的作品，展现浓郁的时代风貌。另外莎翁认为戏剧创作必须正视现实面向人生，与时代保持密切的联系，这正是他长期坚持现实