Introduction of英国文学史及选读

A General Introduction

Main content：

A Brief Introduction to the History of British Literature

Time：the 1st and 2nd hours

Textbook：History and Anthology of English Literature by Wu Weiren

Objective：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 Period

In 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 England

The 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