英国文学史及选读第一册

1、精选优质文档-倾情为你奉上精选优质文档-倾情为你奉上专心-专注-专业专心-专注-专业精选优质文档-倾情为你奉上专心-专注-专业 英国文学史选读第一册Part I The Anglo-Saxon Period(449-1066)The literature: The literature of this period falls naturally into twodivisions: pagan(异教徒文学) and Christian(基督徒文学)Form: Alliterative verseThe coming of Christianity meant not simply a new

2、 life and leader forEngland; it meant also the wealth of a new language.Caedmon(开德蒙) wrote a poetic Paraphrase of the Bible.The great epicThe Song of Beowulf : The Song of Beowulf can bejustly termed Englands national epic and its hero Beowulfone of thenational heroes of the English people.Part II T

3、HE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD (1066-1350)Background: the Normans headed by William, defeated the Anglo-Saxon.The literature:The literature is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of love andadventure. English literature is also a combination of French and Saxonlanguage.Literary work: Sir Gawain and th

4、e Green KnightTerm explanation:Romance(传奇): Romance was a type of literature that was very popularin the Middle Ages. It is about the life and adventures undertaken by a knight. It reflected the spirit of chivalry. The content of romance: love,religion, chivalry. It involves fighting and adventures.

5、Part III GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1340?-1400)Geoffrey Chaucer, the “father of English poetry” and one of the greatestnarrative poets of England. Chaucers creative work vividly reflected thechanges which had taken root in English culture of the second half of the14 century.thChaucer chose the metrical form(

6、格律诗) which laid the foundation ofthe English tonico-syllabic verse. And also found the London dialect asthe English literary language.Works: The Canterbury TalesTerm explanation:Popular Ballads：The most important department of English folkliterature is the ballad. Ballads are anonymous narrative son

7、gs that havebeen preserved by oral transmission, usually in 4-line stanzas, with thesecond and fourth line rhymed. The subjects of ballads are various, as thestruggle of young lovers against their feudal-minded families. BishopThomas was among the first to take a literary interest in ballads. Therea

8、re various kinds of ballads: historical, legendary, fantastical, lyrical andhumorous. The paramount ballad is Robin Hood and Allin-a-Dale .Comments on Robin Hood: Robin Hood is a partly historical and partly legendary character. The first mention of Robin Hood in literature is inWilliam Langlands Th

9、e Vision of Piers, the Plowman.The character of Robin Hood is many-sided. Strong, brave and clever, heis at the same time tender-hearted and affectionate. His hatred for thecruel oppressors is the result of his love for the poor and downtrodden.Works: Robin Hood and Allin-a-DaleGet up and Bar the Do

10、orSir Patrick SpensPART IV THE RENAISSANCE(1485-1603) an age of drama andlyrical poetryThe 16 century in England was a period of the breaking up of feudalthrelations and the establishing of the foundations of capitalism.Term explanation:Renaissance:1) renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned

11、 roughly the14century to the 17 century. With the development ofth thbourgeois relationships and formation of the English national statethis period is marked by a flourishing of nation culture known asthe Renaissance. The term renaissance originally indicated arevival of classical(Greek and Roman) a

12、rts and sciences after thedark ages of medieval obscurantism(蒙昧主义). The greatest of the English humanists were Thomas More and WilliamShakespeare.2) Theme: the expression of secular values with man instead of Godas the center of the universe. It emphasizes the dignity of man,values of man.3) Two maj

13、or types: drama and lyrical poetry.It affirms the earthly achievement, mans desire for happiness andpleasure.Works:1. Thomas More: humanist,utopia (give a profound and truthful picture of thepeoples sufferings and put forward his ideal of a future happysociety.2. Francis Bacon: scientist and philoso

14、pher;his works may be divided onto three classes: thephilosophical, the literary, and the professionalessays3. Thomas Wyatt: the first to introduce the sonnet into Englishliterature.4. Edmund Spenser: The Fairy Queen5. John Lyly: Eupheus; gave rise to the term “euphuism”, designating an affected sty

15、le of court speech.6. Christopher Marlowe: the greatest pioneers of English drama;made bland verse the principal vehicle expression in drama.7. Robert Greene: George Green, the Pinner of Wakefield8. William Shakespeare: one of the first founders of realism, amaster hand at realistic portrayal of hum

16、an characters andrelations.Hamlet( Hamlet is considered to be thesummit of Shakespeares art. The whole tragedy is permeatedwith the spirit of Shakespeares own time. Hamlet is theprofoundest expression of Shakespeares humanism and hiscriticism of contemporary life.)PARTV THE 17THCENTURYTHE PERIOD OF

17、REVOLUTION AND RESTORATIONLiterary characteristics in this period:The 17 century was one of the most tempestuous periods in Englishthhistory. The contradictions between the feudal system and the bourgeoisiehad reached its peak and resulted in a revolutionary outburst.(1)The Puritan influence:medieva

18、l standard of chivalry, the impossible love and romances perished.The Puritans believed in simplicity of life. They disapproved of thesonnets and love poetry. The Bible became now the one book of the people.(2) the exaggeration of the “metaphysical” poetsPoetry took new and startling forms. Prose be

19、came somber. The spiritualgloom sooner or later fastens upon all the writers of this age. This so-called gloomy age produced some minor poems of exquisiteworkmanship, and one great master of verse whose work would glorifyany age or people-John Milton.(3) The French influence is most marked in the dr

20、ama.Rimed couplets instead of blank verse;The unities, a more regular construction, and the presentation rather thanindividual;The comedies are coarse in language and their view of the relationsbetween men and women is immoral and dishonest.(4) restoration created a literature of its own, that was o

21、ften witty andclever, but on the whole immoral and cynical. The most popular genrewas that of comedy those chief aim was to entertain the licentiousaristocrats. John Dryden, critic, poet and playwright was the mostdistinguished literary figure of that time.John Donne:His prose style, involuted and o

22、rnate, cumulative and Ciceronian, is oneof the more glorious monuments to the spirit of the early seventeenthcentury. Song (“ Go and Catch a Falling Star”)A Valediction: Forbidding MourningSonnet: Death be not proudJohn Milton: poet, Puritan, fight for human rights; in 1652 becametotally blind.Parad

23、ise Lost: it is based on the biblical legend of the imaginaryprogenitors of the human race-Adam and Eve, and involves God and hiseternal adversary, Satan in its plot. It presents the authors views in anallegoric religious form, and the reader will easily discern its basic idea-the exposure of reacti

24、onary forces of his time and passionate appeal forfreedom.Sonnet: On His BlindnessSonnet: On His Deceased WifeJohn Bunyan: spiritual independence, gave us the only great allegory.He was imprisoned for preaching without a license.The Pilgrims Progress: written in old-fashioned, medieval form ofallego

25、ry and dream.Bunyan speaks in terse, idiomatic prose, and his characters are living menand women.PARTVI THE 18THCENTURY ( an age of prose and novel)THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT IN ENGLANDThe theme: social reality, common peoples life. The enormous amount of eighteenth century writing devoted to transien

26、taffairs, to politics, fashions, gossip.Enlightenment: on the whole, was an expression of struggle of the thenprogressive class of bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlightenersfought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivalsof feudalism. They attempted to place all branc

27、hes of science at theservice of mankind by connecting them with the actual deeds andrequirements of the people. The problem of man comes to the fore,superseding all other problems in literature.1.Joseph Addison, Richard Steele: the publishers of a moralistic journalThe Tatler and The SpectatorThese

28、two magazines are the first important recognitions by literatureof the special of the special interests of women readers, and alsobrought literature down to everyday life and kept it clean andwholesome.The essays and stories of Addison and Steele, devoted not only to socialproblems, but also to priv

29、ate life and adventures, gave an impetus to thedevelopment of the 18 century novel.thSir Roger是 Joseph Addison塑造的经典形象。2.Alexander Pope: “ whatever is, is right.(存在即是合理)”highestauthority in matters of literature. He elaborated certain regulations for the style of poetical works and made popular the s

30、o-called heroiccouplets(five foot iambics rhymed in couplets)3.Daniel Defoe丹尼尔.笛福Robinson Crusoe: this book was one of the forerunners of the English18 century realistic novel. But it was Henry Fielding and TobiasthGeorge Smollet who became the real founders of the genre of thebourgeois realistic no

31、velThe features of his works: he is anti-romantic, anti-feudal realisticwriter.He often use long sentences without strong paused to give hisstyle an immediate quality, but the units of meaning are small and clearwith frequent repetition so that the writing gives an impression ofsimple lucidity.明朗4.J

32、onathan Swift乔纳森.斯威夫特1） He was the most outstanding of the epoch of Enlightenment, andthe most remarkable satirist讽刺家 in the 18thcentury whocriticized the new bourgeois-aristocratic贵族的 society of his agewith mercy.宽容，he supports the conservative Tory. He ruthlesslyexposed the dirty mercenary essence

33、 of bourgeois relationships.2） works:the tale of a tub木桶的故事 is a satire on religion.Gullivers Travels格列弗游记：he typified the bourgeois world,drew ruthlessly pictures of the depraved aristocracy and satirically portrayed the whole of English State system. The plot of the bookcomprises the extraordinary

34、 adventures of Gulliver, descriptions offantastic lands visited by him, their social systems, ways andcustoms of their inhabitants.A modest proposal一个小小的建议：is made to Englishgovernment to relieve the poverty of Irish people。强烈谴责了英国对爱尔兰人民的剥削和压迫。The bitter irony of the pamphletexpresses swifts great s

35、ympathy for the oppressed and hungrypeasants of Ireland and his anger at English landlords.5.Henry Fielding亨利.菲尔丁：the greatest novelist of the 18 century.thworks：Joseph Andrews( first novel)Jonathan Wild乔纳森.威尔德The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling弃婴汤姆琼斯的故事.The Journal of a Voyage to LisbonAmelia阿米莉亚

36、Henry Fielding is direct, vigorous, hilarious and coarse to the point ofvulgarity. He is full of animal spirits, he tells story of a vagabond life, notfor the sake of moralizing, or for emphasizing a forced repentance, butsimply because it interests him, and his only concerns is “ to laugh menout of

37、 their follies”. So his story, though it abounds in unpleasantincidents, generally leaves the reader with the strong impression of reality. 6.Thomas Gray托马斯.格雷：浪漫主义运动的先驱。work：Elegy written in a country churchyard墓园挽歌：表达了对农民贫苦遭遇的同情，歌颂了他们的质朴品质。7.Oliver Goldsmith奥利弗.歌尔德斯密斯：He was born in Ireland.As an essayist散文家，he is among the best in the century. As a