Introduction to British Literature

A General IntroductionMain content：A Brief Introduction to the History of British LiteratureTime：the 1st and 2nd hoursTextbook：History and Anthology of English Literature by Wu WeirenObjective：Make students have a basic frame of the development of British literature so that they may not feel difficult in understanding the main characteristics of the British literature at different time of British history.I. Early and Medieval English Literature (449—1500)1. the Anglo-Saxon PeriodIn 55 B.C., Britain was invaded by Julius Ceaser, the Roman conqueror. The roman occupation lasted about 400 years. In 410 A.D., all the Roman troops went back to the continent and never returned. Thus ended the Roman occupation in Britain. At this time, Britain was invaded by swarms of pirates. They were three tribes from Northern Europe: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. They landed on the British coast, drove the Britons west and north, and settled down themselves. They established different kingdoms. By the 7th century, these small kingdoms were combined into a united kingdom called England, or the land of Angles. The three tribes had mixed into a whole people called English, the Angles being the most numerous of the three. And the three dialects spoken by them naturally grew into a single language called Anglo-Saxon, or old English.English literature began with the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England. Of old English literature, five relics are still preserved. All of them are poems, or songs by the Anglo-Saxon minstrels who sang of the heroic deeds of old time to the chiefs and warriors in the feasting-hall. Four are short fragments of long poems. But there is one long poem of over 3,000 lines. It is Beowulf, the national epic of the English people.2. Feudal EnglandThe French-speaking Normans under Duke William came to Britain in 1066. After defeating the English at Hastings, William was crowned as King of England. Revolts were cruelly suppressed and the conquest was completed with violence. It was called the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror ruled England with a high hand. He pushed England well on its way to feudalism, and the Norman Conquest marks the establishment of feudalism in England.In feudal England, the society was divided into two distinct classes—landlords and peasants. The class conflict was fierce. In 1381, a rising took place.The most prevailing kind of literature in feudal England was the romance. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse, sometimes in prose. It described the life and adventures of a noble hero.William Langland is an important poet. His Piers the Plowman is a poem of over 7,000 lines. Most of the written literature in feudal England was intended only for the upper class. The English people had a literature of their own, not written but oral. English folk songs had existed long before the Norman Conquest. The song tradition continued after it. The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad.As to the poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer is the founder of English poetry. His The Canterbury Tales is his masterpiece and one of the monumental works in English literature.II. The Renaissance Period (1500—1660)The rise of the bourgeoisie soon showed its influence in the sphere of cultural life. The result is an intellectual movement known as the Renaissance, or the rebirth of letters. Originally, “Renaissance” means the “revival of learning”.It sprang first in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe.Two features are striking of this movement. The one is a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature. Another feature of the Renaissance is the keen interest in the activities of humanity. Humanism is the key-note of the Renaissance.In the days of Henry VIII (1509—1547), there were a group of scholars called Oxford Reformers, who introduced the classical literature to England and strove to reform education on a humanistic line. The greatest of the English humanists was Thomas More, the author of Utopia, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare.The highest glory of the English Renaissance was its drama. Famous dramatists are Marlowe, Shakespeare and Ben Johnson.As for poetry, sonnets become very popular. Famous poets were Philip Sydney, Edmund Spenser, etc. Metaphysical poems appeared at this time, headed by John Donn.Prose became popular as well. Francis Bacon is famous for prose writing.III. Neoclassicism period (1660—1798)The beginning of this period is the Restoration Period (1660—1688)(restoration of Stuart Monarchy). It was a period of reaction and degeneration. As soon as Charles II came back to Britain in 1660, the theatres were reopened and drama, esp. Comedy, flourished. But under the patronage of the king, it became only an entertainment of the corrupt court. At the same time, English literature of the Restoration period was modelled on the literature of France where classicism was then prevailing. The classicists upheld reason, law and order in literature instead of the free expression of man’s in dividuality in the Renaissance. According to classicism, drama, poetry and prose should all be controlled by some fixed rules. The English poets and writers of the Restoration wrote under this influence. John Drydon was the forerunner of the English classical school of literature.The “Glorious Revolution” of 1688 ended in a compromise between the aristocracy and bourgeoisie. England became a constitutional monarchy and power passed from the king to the Parliament and the Cabinet ministers. In the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution took place. Great changes also took place in rural England. The Enclosure Movement and expropriation of peasants begun in the 15th century was completed in the 18th century. The landless peasants went to the cities and became workers who owned nothing but labour and had to work long hours for low wages. The people in towns and villages protested against the unbearable conditions of life. Throughout the 18th century numerous uprisings broke out in the country.The 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement in Europe, known as the Enlightenment. On the whole, it is an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. England had gone through its bourgeois revolution in the 17th century. English enlighteners of the 18th century stove to bring it to an end by clearing away the feudal ideas with the bourgeois ideology. The representatives of the Enlightenment in English literature were Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, the essayists, and Alexander Pope, the poet. In their works, these writerscriticized different aspects of contemporary England, discussed social problems, and even touched upon morality and private life. They intended to reform social life according to a more reasonable principle, though this principle could never go beyond the limit of bourgeois interests. The literature of the Enlightenment in England mainly appealed to the middle class readers.The classicists modelled themselves on Greek and Latin authors, and tried to control literary creation by some fixed laws and rules drawn from Greek and Latin works. Drama, poetry and prose all followed some standards of classicism.The basic difference between Drydon and the 18th century enlighteners lie in the fact that the former wrote to please the declining aristocracy during the restoration period while the latter wrote for the rising bourgeoisie to tidy up the capitalist social order. Thus, owing to the need of the English middle class, classicism achieved a rapid growth and prevailed for the better part of the 18th century. After Pope, English classicism found still another exponent in Samuel Johnson.The novel is the most important gift of bourgeois civilization to the world’s imaginative culture. The modern European novel began after the Renaissance, with Cervantes’s “don Quixote”(1605—1615). The modern English novel began two centuries later. The rise and growth of the realistic novel is the most prominent achievement of 18th century English literature, which has given the world such novelists as Defoe, Swift, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett and Sterne.Swift’s world-famous novel “Gulliver’s Travels” typifies the bourgeois world in the repellent images of man-like creatures—Yahoos. He also drew ruthless pictures of the depraved aristocracy and satirically portrayed the whole of the English state system.Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” was one of the forerunners of the English realistic novel.It creates the image of an enterprising Englishman, typical of the English bourgeois of the 18th century.The development of the English novel was continued by Richardson. He wrote his first novel “Pamela” by accident.Fielding’s novels unfold a panorama of life in all sections of English society.He exposed the depraved aristocracy, the avaricious bourgeoisie and contrasted the luxurious life of the ruling classes with the misery of the people. He was the real founder of the realistic novel in England. He showed in his masterpiece “Tom Jones” the whole of the life of 18th century England as he saw it. His first novel was “Joseph Andrews”.Another 18th century novelist of the realistic school was Smollett, the author of Rodrick Random and Humphry Clinker.The new element of sentiment or sensibility was added to the novel by Sterne. His “Tristram Shandy” is a very strange novel in English literature.The 18th century was the golden age of English novel. The novel of this period spoke the truth about life with an uncompromising courage. The novelists of this period understood that “the job of a novelist” was to tell the truth about life as he saw it.In drama, Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s comedy was important.His masterpiece is The School for Scandal.In the first half of the 18th century, Pope was the leader of English poetry and the heroic couplet the fashion of poetry. By the middle of 18th century, sentimentalism turned to the countryside for its material (classicism and confined its material to the clubs and drawing-rooms, the social and political life of London), though its form was still in a classical style. The poetry of the sentimentalists is marked by a sincere sympathy for the poverty-stricken expropriatedpeasants. The appearance and development of sentimentalist poetry marks the midway in the transition from classicism to its opposite — romanticism in English poetry. The representative was Thomas Gray.In the latter half of the 18th century, a new literary movement arose in Europe, called the Romantic Revival. It was marked by a strong protest against the bondage of classicism, by a recognition of the claims of passion and emotion, and by a renewed interest in medieval literature. In England, this movement showed itself in the trend of Pre-romanticism in poetry. This trend was ushered by Percy, Blake and Burns.IV. Romanticism in English Literature (1798—1832)At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries romanticism appeared in England as a new trend in literature. It rose and grew under the impetus of the Industrial Revolution and French Revolution. It was the product of the social conflicts.Generally speaking, the romanticists expressed the ideology and sentiment of those classes and social strata who were discontent with, and opposed to, the development of capitalism. But owing to difference in political attitudes, they split into two schools. Some romantic writers reflected the thinking of classes ruined by the bourgeoisie, and by way of protest against capitalist development turned to the feudal past, i.e. the “merry old England” as their ideal.These were the older and sometimes called passive, or escapist romanticists. The representatives are Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey. Others expressed the aspirations of the classes created by capitalism and held out an ideal of a future society free from oppression and exploitation. These were the younger and sometimes called active romanticists represented by Byron, Shelley and Keats.The general feature of the works of the romanticists is the dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society, which finds expression in a re volt against prosaic, sordid daily life, against the “prison of the actual” under capitalism.The romanticists paid great attention to the spiritual and emotional life of man. Nature also plays an important role in their works. The passions of man and the beauties of nature appealed strongly to the imagination of the romantic writer, and the glory of lakes and mountains, the little joys or sorrows of children, the weal and woe of ordinary uncultured peasants, the wonder of the fairy world, and the splendour of the Greek art all became the fountain-heads of the writer’s inspiration.Poetry is the best medium to express all these sentiments. The romantic period was one of poetic revival.The great novelists in this period were Walter Scott and Jane Austen. Their works combines a romantic atmosphere with a realistic depiction of historical background and common people’s life. They marked the transition from romanticism to the period of realism which followed it. Romantic prose of the time was represented by Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quincey and Hunt.V. Victorian Age (1836—1901)—The Age of Critical RealismThe Chartist Movement took place in this period. It played an important role in the development of English progressive literature in connection with the working class movement. In this period of tense class struggle appeared a new literary trend—critical realism. The English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the 40s and early 50s. The critical realists described with much vividness and great artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint. The greatest English realist of the time was Charles Dickens. With striking force and truthfulness, he creates pictures of bourgeoiscivilization, describing the misery and sufferings of the common people. Other critical realists were William Makepeace Thackeray and Thomas Hardy.In prose writing, thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, Mathew Arnold, Thomas Babington Macaulay were important.The poetry in this period experienced some new ways of expression. Important poets were Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth Barrett (Mrs. Browning), and two Rossettis (Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina Georgina Rossetti).At the end of the 19th century, some literary trends appeared in the English literature. In fiction, naturalism was important. According to the theory of naturalism, literature must be “true to life” and exactly reproduce real life, including all its details without any selection. Naturalist writers usually write about the lives of the poor and oppressed, or the “slum life”, but by giving all the details of life without discrimination, they can only represent the external appearance instead of the inner essence of real life. However, some of the best naturalistic novels may approach or even become forceful realistic literature because naturalism in reality was a development of realism. George Gissing wrote under the influence of naturalism in Britain.Another literary trend prevailing at the end of the 19th century was neo-romanticism. Dissatisfied with the drab and ugly social reality, and yet trying to avoid the positive solution of the acute social contradictions, some writers adopted this new trend. Neo-romanticism lays emphasis upon the invention of exciting adventures and fascinating stories to entertain the reading public. It led the novel back toward story-telling and to romance. Robert Louis Stevenson was a representative of neo-romanticism in English literature. Treasure Island made him famous. Another famous book was Kidnapped.Another trend was aestheticism. Its theory was “art for art’s sake”.Walter Pater was a representative in prose, and Oscar Wilde in drama. Oscar Wilde and Shaw were forerunners of modernist drama.VI. The 20th CenturyIn the early 20th century, realist novels continued to prevail. Famous realists were John Galsworthy, H. G. Wells, Arnold Bennet.The first 30 years of the 20th century marked the golden age of modernism. The representatives in fiction included James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Laurence, Katherine Mansfield. In poetry, W.B. Yeats and T. S. Eliot were important. They two also played important roles in modernist drama. Lady Gregory and O’Casey tried in modern drama as well.Bernard Shaw has been regarded as the most famous dramatist in English literature after Shakespeare.。

ABriefIntroductiontoEnglishLiterature英国文学史A Brief Introduction to English Literature1、Early English LiteratureA brief history:The Early Settlers：BritonsIn the middle of the 5th century, Brain was invaded by three Germanic tribes- the Anglos,the Saxons and the Jutes. Old Englishappeared.Characteristics of Early English Literature：A handful of short heroic fragmentsSome short lyrics抒情诗Several Christian poemsA few prose works- mostly translations fromLatinObscure, repetitious, strangely childishRepresentative Work -BeowulfIt is the most important work of Old English literature.It is the national epic史诗of the English people. It is composed around 750 and passed from mouth to mouth for generations before it waswritten down.It consists of 3183 lines.The Story of BeowulfThree episodes in the story of Beowulf:The fight with the monster: GrendelThe fight with Grendel’s mother, a still more frightful she-monster.The mortal combat 生死之战with the Fire dragon.The ideals of the ancient British People:Valor勇猛, the love of glory; honor, duty, loyalty and the generosity.The vivid portrayal of a great national hero who is brave, courageous, selfless, and ever helpfulto his people and his kinsfolk.Language features of Beowulf: The use of alliteration“Thus joined the m en of the Geats in m ourningTheir h ero’s end. His h earth-companionsCalled him the best among the kings of the earthK indest to k insmen and k eenest for fame.”The use of metaphors and understatements Metaphor:King: ring-giverAttendant warrior: hearth companionsSea: s wan’s path; whale’s roadSolider: shield-bearer; spear-fighterUnderstatement:Very welcome: not troublesomeCondemn: deed not praise(gives an impression of reserve and at times a tinge of ironical humor.)A mixture of pagan 异教徒and Christianelements:For example:Blood-revenge; the praise of worldly glory (pagan)The existence of Heaven and Hell (Christian)2、The Middle English Literature(1066-1485)Historical Background:The Norman Conquest:In 1066 England was conquered by the Normans lead by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy.The Normans brought with them their social organization, new laws and new speech.French became the dominant language at that time, and English was only spoken by people of lower classes.The century and a half after the Conquest, English literature almost stood still. It wasn’t until the 14th century that the Middle English literature began to awake.Forms of Middle English LiteraturePoemsKing Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table Popular Ballads民谣Robin HoodMedieval dramamiracle playsmorality playsInterludes幕间幽默短剧Representative WorkThe Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey ChaucerThe Canterbury Tales presents before the reader a panoramic 全景的view of the Medieval life.(1)Chaucer is an artist. His poem is rich in musicand elegant to a very high degree.(2)He is a keen observer of life.(3)The characters in his tales are most vividlydrawn.(4)He sympathizes with true piety and goodnessand attacks severely the hypocritical伪善的人.(5)He is a master of satire. The fusion of humorwith satire is the basic note of his style.Chaucer’s Contribution to English Literature (1)He introduced from France and Italy the rhymedstanzas of various forms to English poetry. (2)He is the first poet who wrote in current Englishlanguage.3、The English Renaissance Renaissance Literature (1485-1660)“Renaissance” means “Rebirth”--Rebirth of interest in the Greek and Latin classicsCharacteristics：(1)Emphasis on humanistic education forstatesmanship政治才能.(2)Focus on the individual and a concern with thefullest possible cultivation of human potentialthrough proper education; focus on individualconsciousness and the Interior mind(3)Concern with the refinement of the language andthe development of a national literatureThree Stages of the English RenaissanceThe Beginning (1485-1558)The Elizabethan Age (1558-1603)The Seventeenth Century (1603-1660)The Beginning of the English Renaissance (1485-1558)The Oxford ReformersThey were students and later teachers at Oxford University. They traveled and studied in Italy, introduced classical literature to England and tried to reform education on a humanistic line.The Elizabethan Age(1558-1603)The Age of ShakespeareIt is the peak of the English Renaissance, and is considered the most creative period in thehistory of English literature. A golden age.Famous names at that time:–Edmund Spencer–Christopher Marlowe–Ben Johnson–Francis Bacon–William ShakespeareEdmund Spencer(1552-1599)Spencer was called the “poets’ poet” because of his superb technical skills, perfect melodies, rare sense of beauty, splendid imagination, lofty moral purity and seriousness, and delicate idealism.Representative Work:The shepherd’s CalendarFrancis Bacon (1561-1626)The most important prose writer. The first English essayist.Some Essays Written by BaconOf studyOf friendshipOf beautyOf loveOf envyOf revengeOf travelOf Marriage and single lifeOf Parents and KidsQuotes From Bacon’s WorksKnowledge is powerIt is impossible to love and be wise.Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studiesthemselves do give forth directions toomuch at large, except they be bounded in byexperience.William Shakespeare (1564-1616)As the greatest English poet and dramatist, he left us a great wealth of 154 sonnets, 37 plays including 14 comedies, 12 tragedies and 11 historical plays, as well as 2 long poems.S ome of Shakespeare’s Great WorksThe Merchant of VeniceA Midsummer Night’s dreamThe TempestTwelfth NightRomeo and JulietJulius CaesarHamletOthelloKing Lear……Theme in Shakespeare’s PoemGood always overcame evil in the long run, and justice would eventually win its cause in the end. Love, faith, work and duty were the four elements that in all ages made the world right.Youth, love and ideal of happiness, as well as the victory of the humanist ideal after severe struggle against all obstacles.The heroes and heroines fight against destiny itself andmould their own fate according to theirown will.There is an unconquerable contradiction between humanist ideals and terrible social realities. Chief Achievements and Characteristics of Shakespeare’s Dr amaThe progressive significance of his themes.His successful character portrayal.His master hand高超的技艺in constructing plays.The ingenuity巧妙of his poetryHis mastery of English Language.The Seventeen’s Century (1603-1660) Characteristics of this age:It has no unity of spirit as in the days of Elizabeth.Much of the literature of this period is somber in character. It saddens rather than inspires us. Itdoesn’t have the hopefulness and vigor of theprevious age.It has lost the romantic impulse of youth and become critical and intellectual.Representative WorkJohn Milton and His Paradise LostThe rebellion of Satan and his fellow angelsTheir defeat and expulsion from HeavenThe creation of the Garden of Eden and the first man and woman Adam and Eve ?The fallen angels in hell plotting against GodSatan’s temptation of EveThe exile of Adam and Eve from Paradise John Milton:The great poet and prose writer.4、The Eighteen’s Century Literature(1660-1798)The rise of the English novelDaniel Defoe and his Robinson Crusoe.5、The Age of Romanticism (1798-1832) Characteristics:(1)The Spontaneous Overflow of PowerfulFeelings(2)The creation of a world of Imagination(3)The Return for Nature for Material(4)Sympathy with the Humble and Glorificationof the Common-place(5) A sense of Melancholy and loneliness(6)The Rebellious SpiritRepresentative Works●William Wordsworth: Lyrical Ballads●Robert Burns: Red Red Rose●George Gordon Byron: When we two parted;She walks in Beauty●Percy Bysshe Shelley: Ode to the West Wind ●John Keats: Ode to a Nightingale6、The Victorian Age(1832-1901)Literature CharacteristicsVariety in style and subject matter.The flourishing of realistic novels.The memorable poetry of the “Big Three”: Tennyson, Browning and Arnold.The emergence of the Aesthetic美学的Movement, represented by Oscar Wilde. Representative WorksCharles Dickens (1812-1870)Oliver TwistDavid CopperfieldA Tale of Two CitiesGreat ExpectationsWilliam Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) Vanity FairGeorge Eliot (1819-1880)MiddlemarchCharlotte Bronte (1816-1855)Jane EyreThomas Hardy (1840-1928)Tess of the D’Urbervilles7、The Twentieth Century Literature Modernism:Radical and deliberate break from traditional forms. Symbolism; Impressionism; Stream of Consciousness Modernist Poets：Yeats and Eliot Characteristics of their poems:Direct treatment of things and avoidance of any unnecessary words.Freer metrical韵律的movementSymbolism in the poemsCloser to that of conversation by the use of colloquial expressions and even slangs.Frequent use of irony and puns Modernism NovelistHenry James (1843-1916)Daisy MillerPortrait of a LadyThe Emphasis is laid on how a character feels rather than how he acts, and the conflict are moved from the outside world to the inner world of the characters.Psychological NovelistD.H. Laurence (1885-1930)Sons and LoversThe RainbowA combination of psychological analysis and social criticism。