自考英美文学选读_第一章_文艺复兴时期(英国)(课文翻译)

IV. Francis Bacon 1. ⼀般识记Brief Introduction English Renaissance philosopher， essayist， statesman， born in London， England， Jan 22，1561 and died in London， April 9 1626. One of the outstanding figures of the Renaissance， Bacon made important contributions to several fields. His chief interest were science philosophy， but he was also a distinguished man of letters & held several high governmental positions during the reign of king JamesⅠ。

He was one of the earliest & most eloquent spokesmen for experimental science. He lays the foundation for modern science with his insistence on scientific way of thinking & fresh observation rather than authority as a basis for obtaining knowledge. 2. 识记His works As an author， Bacon is most famous for his Essays， which deal with such subjects as honor， friendship， love， & riches. Written in a terse， polished style， with many learned allusions & metaphors， the essays rank with the finest in English literature. Bacon’s other important literary works include The New Atlantis， an account of an ideal society & an imaginary voyage， & The History of the Reign of King Henry Ⅶ， a perceptive psychological study of Henry’s mind & characters. His works can be divided into three groups： First group： The Advancement of Learning （1605） Novum Organum （1620）（Latin version） Second group： Essays Apophthagmes New & Old （1605） The History of the Reign of Henry Ⅶ（1622） The New Atlantis （unfinished） Third group： Maxims of Law The Learned Reading upon the Stature of Uses （1642） 3. 领会 His Major Works Essays The term "essay" was borrowed from Montaigne’s Essais， which appeared from 1580 to 1588. Bacon learned from Montaigne， the first great modern essayist， the economic & flexible way of writing. However， as a practical & prudential man， he intends to write for the ambitious Elizabethan & Jacobean youth of his class & tell them how to be efficient & make their way in public life. Bacon’s essays are famous for their brevity， compactness & powerfulness. The essays are well arranged & enriched by Biblical allusions， Metaphors & cadence. 4. 领会His achievements As a literary man， Bacon is the first English essayist， whose Essays won him a high place in the history of English literature. As a philosopher， he is the founder of English materialistic philosophy. He advocates the inductive method of reasoning. In his famous plea for progress， Bacon demands three things： 1） the free investigation of nature， 2） the discovery of facts instead of the blind belief in theories 3） the verification of results by experiment rather than by argument. In our day， these are the ABC of science， but in Bacon’s time they were revolutionary， Marx called him "the real father of English materialism & experimental science of modern times in general." 5. 应⽤ Of Studies Of Studies is the most popular of Bacon’s 58 essays. It analyzes what studies chiefly serve for， the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies， & how studies exert influence over human character. Forceful & persuasive， compact & precise， Of Studies reveals to us Bacon’s mature attitude towards learning. Bacon’s language isneat， priest， & weighty. It is some what affected， like the water in the reservoir， restricted & confined. V. John Donne 1.⼀般识记 Donne & the Metaphysical Poetry John Donne： English poet & Clergyman， born in London， England， 1572， and died in London， Mar. 31 1631. Donne is the leading figure of the 17th-century "metaphysical school." His poems give a more inherently theatrical impression by exhibiting a seemingly unfocused diversity of experiences & attitudes， & a free range of feelings & attitudes， & a free range of feelings & moods. The mode is dynamic rather than static， with ingenuity of speech，vividness of imagery & vitality of rhythms， which show a notable contrast to the other Elizabethan lyric poems， which are pure， serene， tuneful， & smooth running. The most striking feature of Donne’s poetry is precisely its tang of reality， in the sense that it seems to reflect life in a real rather than a poetical world. "Metaphysical Poetry" is commonly used to name the work of the 17th-century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. With a rebellions spirit， the metaphysical poets tried to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan Love poetry. The diction is simple as compared with echoes the words & cadences of common speech. The imagery is drawn from the actual life. The form is frequently that of an argument with the poet’s beloved， with God， or with himself. George Herbert， Andrew Marvell， Richard Crashaw， Henry Vaughan， Abraham Cowley， & Thomas Traherne are also considered to be metaphysical poets. They wrote on a variety of religious & secular themes， & to express their ideas， they used startling， highly imaginative comparisons known as conceits. A conceit is a combination of thoughts or images that are not usually associated with one another. The finest works of the metaphysical poets combine intellectual subtlety with great emotional power. The poems reflect a broad knowledge of science， art， & other branches of learning. At the same time， metaphysical poems express an intense awareness of common human feelings & experiences， such as jealousy， the loss of religious faith， the complexities of love & the fear of death. Although the imagery of metaphysical poetry is frequently strained， the language is often as natural & direct as ordinary speech. 2.识记His major works In his life， Donne wrote a large number of poems & prose works， His poems are especially admired for their unique combination of passionate feeling & intellectual wit. Many of his poems rank with the finest in the English language. Among his most famous works are the poems Death Be Not Proud， "Go & Catch a Falling Star，" The Ecstacy， & A Valediction Forbidding Mourning. Most of The Elegies & Satires & a good many of The Songs & Sonnets were written in the early period. He wrote prose works mainly in the later period. His sermons， which are very famous， reveal his spiritual devotion to God as a passionate preacher. His works are classified as songs & sonnets， epistles， elegies， & satires. When read in chronological order， the poems reveal his development from "Gay Jack Donne，" a reckless & cynical youth， to Dean John Donne， a man devoted to God. Donne’s great prose works are his sermons， which are both rich & imaginative， exhibiting the same kind of physical vigor & scholastic complexity as his poetry. For example， the well-known Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions （1623-1624）。

自考《英美文学选读》教材的中文翻译第一部分：英国文学上古及中世纪英国文学简介自从有人类历史记载以来,英伦三岛遭遇过三次外族入侵。

岛上最早的居民是凯尔特人,此后古罗马人、盎格鲁一萨克森人及法国诺曼底公爵纷至沓来,在英伦三岛各领风骚若干年。

古罗马人的入侵没有在这片土地上留下深远的影响,而后两者则不同了。

盎格鲁一萨克森人将日尔曼族语言及文化根植在岛上,而诺曼底人则带来了地中海文明的清新浪潮,所谓地中海文明包括希腊文化,罗马的法律,以及基督教。

正是这两次外族入侵所附带的文化影响为日后英国文学的兴起与发展提供了富足的源泉。

英国文学史的上古时期起于大约公元450年,止于1066年,即诺曼征服的那一年。

这一时期定盎格鲁一萨克森文明兴盛的时期。

这些日尔曼族部落来自北欧,带来了盎格鲁一萨克森语言,也就是现代英语的原形基础,除此之外,还带来了特别的诗歌传统。

他们的诗歌神韵中集合了粗狂豪勇的气度及悲情哀挽的风格。

总体来讲,流传至今的英国上古诗歌可分为两大类:宗教诗和世俗诗。

宗教诗的主题大多以《圣经》为基础。

比如《创世纪甲本》与《创世纪乙本》以及《出埃及记》都源于《圣经》的《旧约全书》;而《十字架之梦》则以《新约全书》为典故。

在《十字架之梦》这首诗中,耶稣基督被刻画成一位青年战士,勇往直前,拥抱死亡与胜利,而那善良的十字架自身则承受起基督所有的苦难与重负。

除了这些宗教诗歌,上古的英格兰诗人还创作了伟大的民族史诗《贝尔武夫》以及其它众多的短篇抒情诗。

这些世俗诗歌中虽然没有基督教教义,但它们唤起了盎格鲁一萨克森人对环境的严酷及人类命运的不幸的感知。

其中《流浪者,狄奥尔》、《航海者》和《妻子的抱怨》是当时世俗诗中的佼佼者。

诗文中的语气和基调深受北海恶劣气候的影响,生活惨淡无望,诗人的口气中带出大量宿命论的成份,尽管同时也显得勇敢而坚定。

《贝尔武夫》,英国上古诗歌的典型,在今天被誉为盎格鲁一萨克森的民族史诗。

尽管如此,诗中主人公及背景都与英国无关,这首叙事诗讲述的故事发生在北欧斯堪狄那维亚半岛。

Part one: English LiteratureChapter1 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充足的论据，来赞美人性，并开始注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，探索以及享受。

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。

文艺复兴（一）一、概念（Concept）意大利文艺复兴（Italy Renaissance）文艺复兴运动是发生在14—17世纪的欧洲，是正在形成中的资产阶级在复兴希腊罗马古典文化的名义下发起的弘扬资产阶级思想和文化的运动The Renaissance was occurred in 14 - seventeenth Century in Europe, is the emerging bourgeoisie in the revival of Greek classical culture in Rome under the name of initiating promoting bourgeois ideology and cultural movement为什么称这场运动为“文艺复兴”？Why is referring to this movement as " the renaissance "由于新生的资产阶级是借助古代希腊、罗马的文化来反对封建神学的，所以历史上称这场新兴的文化运动为“文艺复兴”。

The new bourgeoisie is have the aid of ancient Greece, the culture of Rome to oppose the feudal theology, so the history that the new cultural movement of the Renaissance " ".二、实质（Solid matter）是一场以古典文化复活为外衣的新文化运动，是当时欧洲社会经济与政治结构变革条件下的产物，是中世纪晚期欧洲世俗文化发展的必然结果，同时，它又反过来进一步加速欧洲社会的进步。

To be a classical culture the resurrection as the coat of the new culture movement, was the European social economy and political structure reform under the conditions of the product, is a late medieval secular European culture and the inevitable result of the development, at the same time, it in turn further acceleration of European society.实质：资产阶级文化的兴起性质：资产阶级性质Properties: bourgeois文艺复兴运动为什么首先开始于意大利？The Renaissance began in Italy why?(1) 资本主义萌芽最早出现在意大利，这是意大利成为文艺复兴发源地的前提条件。

英美文学简明教程上册课文翻译1. England’s inhabitants are Celts. And it is conquered by Romans(罗马)，Anglo Saxons (盎格鲁撒克逊人)and Normans (日耳曼). The Anglo-Saxons brought the Germanic language and culture to England,while Normans brought the Mediterranean civilization(地中海文明) , including Greek culture(古希腊文化)，Rome law(罗马法律)and the Christian religion(基督教). 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（古英语文学)extends from about 450 to 1066,the year of the Norman conquest of England.3. The old English poetry(古英语诗) that has survived can be divided into two groups: The religious group and the secular one(宗教类和世俗类).4. Beowulf（贝尔武夫): a typical example of 0ld English poetry is regarded as the national epic(民族史诗) of the Anglo-Saxons. It is an example of the mingling of nature myths and heroic legends.翻译：1.英格兰的居民是凯尔特人。

1234代价,与敌人同归于尽。

51. In his life, Milton shows himself a real revolutionary, a master poet and a great prose writer. 弥尔顿毕生都展现了真正的革命精神和非凡的诗歌才华。

52. Paradise Lost:人类由于理性不强,意志薄弱,经不起考验,暗示英国自产主义革命失败的原因。

Chapter2 The Neoclassical Period(1660-1798新古典主义1. In short, it was an age full of conflicts and divergence of values. 总之, 这一时期是矛盾与价值观分歧的时期。

2. The eighteenth-century England is also known as the Age of Enlighte nment or the Age of Reason. 英国的十八世纪也同时是启蒙主义时代, 或曰理性时代。

3. Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas. 运动的主旨便是用当代哲学与艺术思想的晨光启迪整个世界。

4. Enlighteners held that rationality or reason should be the only, the fin al cause of any human thought and activities. They called for a referenc e to order, reason and rules. 启蒙者主张理性是任何人思想与行动的唯一缘由。

他们大力提倡秩序,理性及法律。

5. As a matter of fact, literature at the time, heavily didactic and moralizi ng, becamea very popular means of public education. 其实, 当时的文学作品种充满了说教与道德理念,就已经成为大众教育的良好工具。

应用必背单元Chapter 1 The Ren aissa nee Period (2)Chapter 2 The Neoclassical Period (6)Chapter3 The Romantic Period. (9)Chapter 4 The Victorian Period (14)Chapter 5 The Modern Period (18)Chapter 1 The Renaissance Period1. 文艺复兴的主要作家及其作品1) Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene2) Christopher Marlowe: Dr Faustus Tamburlaine3) William Shakespeare: Henry IV; The Merchant of Venice; Hamlet; Othello;King Lear; Macbeth; Romeo and Juliet.4) John Donne: The Songs and Sonnets; The Sun Rising; Death, Be Not Proud5) John Milton: Paradise Lost; Paradise Regained; Samson Agonisttes2. 文艺复兴The Renaissanceis 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 form the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.3. 人文主义Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. It sprang from the endeavor to restore a medieval reverence for the antique authors and is frequently taken as the beginning of the Renaissanceon its conscious, intellectual side, for the Greek and Roman civilization was based on such a conception that man is the measure of all things. Thus, 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 enjoy the beauty of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.4. 玄学诗The term “metaphysical poetry”is commonly used to name the work of the 17th-century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. With a rebellious spirit the metaphysical poets tried to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry. The diction is simple as compared with that of the Elizabethan or the Neoclassic periods, and echoes the words and cadences of common speech. The imagery is drawn from the actual life. The form is frequently that of an argument with the poet's beloved, with God, or with himself.5. 莎士比亚的诗歌的主题、意向Shakespeare, as a humanist of the time, is against religious persecution and racial discrimination, against social inequality and the corrupting influence of gold andmoney. In his plays, he does not hesitate to describe the cruelty and anti-natural character of the civil wars, but he did not go all the way against the feudal rule. Shakespeare is against religious persecution and racial discrimination, against social inequality and the corrupting influence of gold and money.Shakespeare has accepted the Renaissance views on literature. He holds that literature should be a combination of beauty, kindness and truth, and should reflect nature and reality.A. Shakespeare's views on literature:Shakespeare has accepted the Renaissance views on literature. He holds that literature should be a combination of beauty, kindness and truth, and should reflect nature and reality. Shakespearealso states that literary works which have truly reflected nature and reality can reach immortality.B. The characteristics of Shakespear'se characters:Shakespear'es 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.C. The characteristics of Shakespear'se plot:Shakespear'es plays are well-known for their adroit plot construction. Shakespeare seldom invents his own plots; instead, he borrows them from some old plays or storybooks, or from ancient Greek and Roman sources.D. The characteristics of Shakespear'se language:It is necessary to study the subtlest of his instruments—the language. Shakespearecan write skillfully in different poetic form, like the sonnet, the blank verse, and the rhymed couplet. He has an amazing wealth of vocabulary and idiom. His coinage of new words and distortion of the meaning of the old ones also create striking effects on the reader.3. 莎士比亚的四大悲剧：Shakespear'es greatest tragedies are: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. They have some characteristics in common. Each portrays some noble hero, who faces the injustice of human life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole action. Each hero has his weakness of nature. With the concentration on the tragic hero, we see the sharp conflicts between the individual and the evil force in the society, which shows that Shakespeare is a great realist in the true sense. Hamlet the melancholic scholar; 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; and Macbeth 's lust for power stirs up his ambition and leads him to incessant crimes.4. 邓恩诗歌的主题、意向<The Songs and Sonnets>. Love is the basic theme. Donne holds that thenature of love is the union of soul and body. The perfection of human lovers will not be made with souls alone. This thought is quite contrary to the medieval love idea which merely put stress on spiritual love. Donne's interest lies in dramatizing and illustrating the state of being in love.5. 戏剧《威尼斯商人》的主题和主要人物的性格分析In his romantic comedies, Shakespearetakes an optimistic attitude toward love and youth, and the romantic elements are brought into full play. The most important play among the comedies is The Merchant of Venice. The sophistication derives in part from the play between high, outgoing romance and dark forces of negativity and hate. The traditional theme of this 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.Compared with the idealism of other plays, The Merchant of Venice takes a step forward in its realistic presentation of human nature and human conflict. Though there is a ridiculous touch on the part of the characters restrained by their limitations, Shakespeare's youthful Renaissance spirit of jollity can be fully seen in contrast to the medieval emphasis on future life in the next world.6. 哈姆雷特的性格分析Hamlet has none of the single-minded blood lust of the earlier revenger. 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 it finally comes, seems almost like defeat, diminishing rather than adding to the stature of the here. Trapped in a night mare world of spying, testing and plotting, and apparently bearing the intolerable burden of the duty to revenge his father's death, Hamlet is obliged to inhabit a shadow world, to live suspendedbetween fact and fiction, language and action. His life is one of constant role-playing, examining the nature of action only to deny its possibility, for he is too sophisticated to degrade his nature to the conventional role of a stage revenger.The hero Hamlet in Shakespeare's play Hamlet is noted for his hesitation to take his 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 who became king. He hated him so deeply that he wanted to kill him. But he loved his widowed mother who later married 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 lost the good chance. Hamlet represented humanism of his time.7. 诗歌《失乐园》的结构、人物性格、语言特点的分析Working through the tradition of a Christian humanism, Milton wrote Paradise Lost, intending to expose the ways of Satan and to“justify the ways of God to men.”At the center of the conflict between human love and spiritual duty lies Milton 's fundamental concern with freedom and choice; the freedom to submit to God's prohibition on eating the apple and the choice of disobedience made for love.Eve, seduced by Satan's rhetoric and her own confused ambition-as well as the mere prompting of hunger- falls into sin through innocent credulity. Adam falls by consciously choosing human love rather than obeying God. In the fall of man Adam discovered his full humanity. But man's fall is the sequel to another and more stupendous tragedy, the fall of the angels.The freedom of the will is the keystone of Milton 's creed. His poem attempts 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. And, thereby, it opens the way for the voluntary sacrifice of Christ which showed the mercy of God in bringing good out of evil.Chapter 2 The Neoclassical Period1. 新古典时期的作家及其作品1) John Bunyan ：<The Pilgrim's Progress>2) Alexander Pope：<An Essay on Criticism> <The Dunciad> <The Rape of theLock> <An Essay on Man>3) Daniel Defoe：<Robinson Crusoe>4) Jonathan Swift ：<A Tale of a Tub> <The Battle of the Books> <The Drapier'sLetters> <Gulliver's Travels> <A Modest Proposal>5) Henry Fielding：<The History of Jonathan Wild the Great> <The History ofTom Jones a Foundling> <The History of Amelia>6) Samuel Johnson：<To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chester field>7) Richard Brinsley Sheridan：<The School for Scandal>8) Thomas Gray ：<Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard>2. 启蒙运动The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement which flourished in France and swept through the whole Western Europe at the time. The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas. 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. They seek proportion, unity, harmony and grace in literary expressions, in an effort to delight, instruct and correct human beings. Thus a polite, elegant, witty, and intellectual art developed.3. 新古典主义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 neoclassical period, all forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers(Homer etc) and those of the contemporary French ones. 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.4. 英雄双行诗Prose should be precise, direct, smooth and flexible; Poetry should be lyrical 抒情的)，epical(叙事诗的,英雄的,有重大历史意义的)，didactic, satiric or dramatic, andeach class should be guided by its own principles; Drama should be written in the Heroic Couplets(iambic pentameter rhymed in two lines); the three unities of time,space and action should be strictly observed; regularity in construction should be adhered to, and type characters rather than individuals should be represented.5. 英国现实主义小说The modern English novel, which, contrary to the traditional romance of aristocrats, gives a realistic presentation of life of the common English people. Thus —the most significant phenomenon in the history of the development of English literature in the eighteenth century —is a natural product of the Industrial Revolution and a symbol of the growing importance and strength of the English middle class.6. 《天国历程》中“名利场”的寓意The Pilgrim's Progress is the most successful religious allegory in the English Ianguage. Its purpose is to urge people to abide（遵守，坚持）by Christian doctrines and seek salvation through constant struggles with their own weaknesses and all kinds of social evils. It is not only about something spiritual but also bears much relevance to the time. Its predominant metaphor（r寓意，隐喻）—life as a journey—is simple and familiar.7. 蒲伯的文学（诗歌）批评观点及其诗歌特色An Essay on Criticism, the poem, as a comprehensive study of the theories of literary criticism, exert great influence upon Pope's contemporary writers in advocating the classical rules and popularizing the neoclassicist tradition in England. The whole poem is written in a plain style, hardly containing any imagery or eloquence and therefore makes easy reading. Pope satirized all sorts of false learning and pedantry in literature, philosophy, science and other branches of knowledge.8. 鲁滨逊漂流记的特点The all-powerful influence of material circumstances or social environment upon the thoughts and actions of the hero or the heroine is highlighted. The struggle of the poor unfortunate for mere existence, mixed with their desire for great wealth, comes into conflict with the social environment which prevents them from obtaining the goal under normal circumstances and thus forces them into criminal actions or bold adventures.In most of his works, he gave his praise to the hard-working, sturdy middle class and showed his sympathy for the downtrodden, unfortunate poor.Robinson is here a real hero: a typical eighteenth-century English middle-class man, with a great capacity for work, inexhaustible energy, courage, patience and persistence in overcoming obstacles, in struggling against the hostile naturalenvironment. He is the very prototype（n雏形，范例，原型）of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist. In describing Robinson's life on the island, Defoe glorifies（v 赞美，美化）human labor and the Puritan（W青教徒）fortitude（n 刚/坚毅，不屈不挠）,which save Robinson from despair and are a source of pride and happiness9. 《格列佛游记》的社会讽刺As a whole, the book is one of the most effective and devastating criticisms and satires of all aspects in the then English and European life-socially, politically, religiously, philosophically, scientifically, and morally. Its social significance is great and its exploration into human nature profound.The exaggerated smallness in Part1 works just as effectively as the exaggerated largeness in Part 2. the similarities between human beings and the Lilliputians and the contrast between the Brobdingnagians and human beings both bear reference to the possibilities of human state. Part 3, though seemingly a bit random, furthers the criticism of the western civilization and deals with different malpractices and false illusions about science philosophy, history and even immortality. The last part, where comparison is made through both similarities and differences, leads the reader to fundamental question: What on earth is a human bein、g10. 菲尔丁“散文体史诗Fielding was the first to set out, both in theory and practice, to write specifically a "comic epic in prose". He adopted" the third—person narration," in which the author becomes the "al—l knowing God." He "thinks the thought " of all his characters, so he is able to present not only their external behaviours but also the internal workings of their minds. In planning his stories, he tries to retain the grand epical form of the classical works but at the same time keeps faithful to his realistic presentation of common life as it is.11. 格雷诗歌的主题与意象It is more or less或多或少）conn ected with the mela ncholy eve nt of death of Richard West, Gray's intimate friend. In this poem, Gray reflects on death, the sorrows of life, and the mysteries of human life with a touch of his personal melancholy. The poet compares the common folk with the great ones, wondering what the commons could have achieved if they had had the chance. Here he reveals his sympathy for the poor and the unknown, but mocks the great ones who despise the poor and bring havoc（n/v 破坏，混舌L ） on them.His poems, as a whole, are mostly devoted to a sentimental lamentation or meditation on life, past and present. His poems are characterized by an exquisite sense of form. His style is sophisticated and allusive. His poems are often marked with the trait （n 特征，特点）of a highly artificial diction and a distorted word order.Chapter3 The Romantic Period1. 浪漫主义时期的作家及其作品1) William Blake: Songs of Experience Songs of Innocence2) Marriage of Heaven and Hell3) William Wordsworth: The Prelude Composed upon Westminster Bridge4) Lyrical Ballads I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud5) The Solitary Reaper6) Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Kubla Khan The Rime of the Ancient Mariner7) George Gordon Byron: Don Juan Childe Harold ' s Pilgrimage8) Song for the Ludites9) Percy Bysshe Shelley: To a Skylark Men of England10) Ode to the West Wind11) John Keats: Ode to a Nightingale Ode on a Grecian Urn12) Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice2. 浪漫主义Romanticism actually constitutes a change of direction from attention to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit. In essenceit designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience. It also places the individual at center of art, making literature most valuable as an expression of his or her unique feelings and particular attitudes, and valuing its accuracy in portraying the individual 's experiences.3. 浪漫主义时期文学特点的分析A. In poetry writing, the romanticists employed new theories and innovated newtechniques, for example, the preface to the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads acts as a manifesto for the new school.B. The romanticists not only extol the faculty off imagination, but also elevate theconcepts of spontaneity and inspiration.C. They regarded nature as the major source of poetic imagery and the dominantsubject.D. Romantics also tend to be nationalistic.4. 浪漫主义(所选作品)的主题、意象分析A. To Wordsworth, nature acts as a substitute for imaginative and intellectual engagement with the development of embodied human beings in their diverse circumstances. It's nature that gives him“strength and knowledge full of peace.Wordsworth thinks that common life is the only subject of literary interest. The joys and sorrows of the common people are his themes. His sympathy always goes to the suffering poor.B. Byron puts into Don Juan his rich knowledge of the world and the wisdom gained from experience. It presents brilliant pictures of life in its various stages of love, joy, suffering, hatred and fear. The unifying principle in Don Juan is the basic ironic theme of appearanceand reality, ie. what things seem to be and what they actually are. Byron's satire on the English society in the later part of the poem can be compared with Pope's; and his satire is much less personal than that of Pope's, for Byron is here attacking not a personal enemy but the whole hypocritical society. And the diverse materials and the clash of emotions gathered in the poem are harmonized by Byron's insight into the difference between life's appearance and its actuality.5. a. The Romantic MovementIt expressed a more or less negative attitude towards the existing social & political conditions that came with industrialization & the growing importance of the bourgeoisie. The Romantics felt that the existing society denied people theiressential human needs, so they demonstrated a strong reaction against thedominant modes of thinking of the 18th-century writers & philosophers. Where their predecessors saw man as a social animal, the Romantics saw him essentially as an individual in the solitary state & emphasized the special qualities of each individual's mind. Romanticism actually constitutes a change of direction from attention to the outer.b. The Gothic novelIt is a type of romantic fiction that predominated in the late 18th century & was one phase of the Romantic movement, its principal elements are violence, horror & the supernatural, which strongly appeal to the reader's emotion. With its descriptions of the dark, irrational side of human nature, the Gothic form has exerted a great influence over the writer of the Romantic period. Works like The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe & Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley are typical Gothic romance.(2) Characteristics of Romantic literature in English history.The Romantic period is an age of poetry Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley & Keats are the major Romantic poets. They started a rebellion against the neoclassical literature, which was later regarded as the poetic revolution. Wordsworth & Coleridge were the major representativesof this movement. They explored new theories & innovated new techniques in poetry writing. They saw poetry as a healing energy: they believed that poetry could purify both individual souls & the society. The Romantics not only extol the faculty of imagination, but also stress the concept of spontaneity & inspiration, regarding them as something crucial for true poetry. The natural world comes to the forefront of the poetic imagination. Nature is not only the major source of poetic imagery, but also provides the dominant subject matter.Wordsworth is the closest to nature.To escape from a world that had became excessively rational, as well as excessively materialistic & ugly, the Romantics would turn to other times & places, where thequalities they valued could be convincingly depicted. Romantics also tend to be nationalistic, defending the great poets & dramatists of their own national heritage against the advocates of classical rules who tended to glorify Rome & rational Italian & French neoclassical art as superior to the native traditions. To the Romantics, poetry should be free from all rules. They would turn to the humble people & their everyday life for subjects, Romantic writers are always seeking for the Absolute, the Ideal through the transcendenceof the actual. They have also made bold experiments in poetic language, versification & design, & constructed a variety of forms on original principles of structure & style.6. 小说《傲慢与偏见》的主题和主要人物的性格分析Austen's main literary concern is about human beings in their personal relationships. Because of this, her novels have a universal significance. She is particularly preoccupied with the relationship between men & women in love. Stories of love & marriage provide the major themes in all her novels.1) Structure, characterization & language styleThe structure of the novel is exquisitely deft, the characterization in the highest degree memorable, while the irony has a radiant shrewdness unmatched elsewhere. At the heart of the novelist's exploration of the marriage, property & intrigue lies the exhilarating suspense of the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet & Darcy, & Jane Austen's delicate probing of the values of the gentry. The moments of high comedy in the novel are always related to deeper issues. Elizabeth's rejection of the odious Mr. Collins suggests her independence & self-esteem, but when Collins is accepted by her friend Charlotte Lucas, we see the reality of marriage as a necessary step if a woman is to a void the wretchedness of aging spinsterhood. Conversely, in the elopement of Lydia & Wickham, we are shown the dangers of feckless relationships unsupported by money. The comic characters in Pride & Prejudice are: Mr. & Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins & that monstrous snob Lady Catherine de Burgh, who make us laugh even as they parody erroneous views of marriage & class.5. 应用Characteristics of Jane Austen's novels1) Austen's novels describe a narrow range of society & events: a quiet, prosperous, middle class circle in provincial surroundings, which she knew well from her own experience2) Her subject matter is also limited, for most of her novels deal with the subject of getting married, which was in fact the central problem for the young leisure-class lady of that age, who had no other choice in her life but to find a good husband.3) Austen's interest was in human nature; in her depiction of human nature, instead of being fascinated by great waves of elevated emotion, by passion or heroic experience, she focused on the trivial & petty details of everyday living, which became very interesting through her truthful & lively description.4) Austen's novels are brightened by their witty conversation & omnipresent humor. Her language shines with an exquisite touch of lively gracefulness, elegant & refined, but never showy.6. 简奥斯丁对英国文学的伟大贡献：A ．Jane Austen is one of the most important Romantic novelists in Englishliterature. She creates six influential novels.B．Her main literary concern is about human beings in their personalrelationships. She makes trivial daily life as important as the concerns abouthuman belief career and salient social events. This is what makes her important in English literature.C．Jane Austen has brought the English novel, as an art of for, to its maturity becauseof her sensitivity to universal patterns of human behavior and heraccurate portrayal of human individuals.D．She describes the world from a woman's point of view, and depicts a group of authentic and common women.7. Wordsworth 的写作风格1) The Lyrical Ballads differs in marked ways from his early poetry, notablythe uncompromising simplicity of much of the language, the strongsympathy not merely with the poor in general but with particular,dramatized examples of them, and the fusion of natural description withexpressions of inward states of mind.2) According to subjects, Wordsworth's short poems can be classified intotwo groups: poems about nature and poems about human life.3) To Wordsworth, nature acts as a substitute for imaginative and intellectualengagement with the development of embodied human beings in theirdiverse circumstances. I'ts nature that gives him“strength and knowledgefull of peace.4) Wordsworth thinks that common life is the only subject of literary interest.The joys and sorrows of the common people are his themes. His sympathyalways goes to the suffering poor.5) Wordsworth's deliberate simplicity ad refusal to decorate the truth ofexperience produced a kind of pure and profound poetry which no otherpoet has ever equaled.8. Romantic poets 与Romantic Age 的不同处：The poetic ideals announced by Words worth and Coleridge provided a major inspiration for the brilliant young writers who made p the second generation of English Romantic poets. Wordsworth and Coleridge both became more conservative politically after the democratic idealism. The second generation of Romantic poets are revolutionary in thinking. They set themselves against the bourgeois society and the ruling class.9. Songs of innocence 与Songs of ExperieneeA. Songs of Innocence is a lovely volume of poems, presenting a happy andinnocent world, though not without its evils.B. Songs of Experience paints a different world, a world of misery, disease, warand repression with melancholy tone.C. The two books hold the similar subject-matter, but the tone, emphasis andconclusion differ.Chapter 4 The Victorian Period1. 维多利亚时期的主要作家与作品1) Charles Dicke ns: Oliver Twist; The Pickwick Paper; David Copper field.;Dombey and Son; A Tale of Two Cities; Bleak House; Hard Times; GreatExpectation; Our Mutual Friend.2) Emily Bronte: Wutheri ng Heights.Charlotte Bron te: Jane Eyre3) Alfred Tennyson: Ulysses; In Memoriam; Break, Break, Break;Dora; Crossing the Bar; Morte d' Arthur; The Gardener's Daughter; ThePrin cess4) Robert Browning: The Ring and the Book; My Last Duchess5) George Eliot: The Mill on the Floss: Middlemarch: Daniel Deron da; Romola6) Thomas Hardy: Under the Greenwood Tree; Far From the MaddingCrowd: The Return of the Native; The Mayor of Casterbridge: Tess of theD 'Urbervilles1. 宪章运动The worse ning liv ing and work ing con diti ons, the mass un employme nt fin ally gave rise to the Chartist Moveme nt. The En glish workers got themselves orga ni zed in big cities and brought forth the People's charter, in which they demanded basic rights and better living and working conditions. They, for three times, made appeals to the gover nment, with hun dreds of thousa nds of people's sig natures. The moveme nt swept over most of the cities in the country. Although the movement declined to an end in 1848, it did bring some improvement to the welfare of the working class. This was the first mass movement of the English working class & the early sign of the awakening of the poor, oppressed people.2. 功利主义Almost everything was put to the test by the criterion of utility, that is, the extent to which it could promote the material happ in ess. This theory held a special appeal to the middle-class in dustrialists, whose greed drove them to exploit ing workers to the utmost and brought greater sufferi ng and poverty to the work ing mass.3. 批判现实主义The Victorian Age is an age of realism rather than of romanticism-a realism which strives to tell the whole truth showing moral and physical diseases as they are. To be true to life becomes the first requirement for literary writing. As the mirror of truth, literature has come very close to daily life, reflecting its practical problems and interests and is used as。

英美文学选读要点总结精心整理[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充足的论据，来赞美人性，并开始注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，探索以及享受。

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。

5. Wyatt introduced the Petrarchan sonnet into England.怀亚特将彼特拉克的十四行诗引进英国。

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。