自考英语本科英美文学选读英美文学复习笔记整理

1、英国部分 The Renaissance Period 1. Renaissance :between 14th and mid-17th century. 2. Renaissance means rebirth or revival, is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events, such as the rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture, the new discoveries in geography and astrology, the

2、religious reformation and the economic expansion. 3. the Renaissance, therefore in essence is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and Scholars made attempt to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in Medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that expressed the purity of the risi

3、ng bourgeoisie, and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic church. 4. Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance (1) Capable of individual development in the direction of perfection. (2) They inhabited was theirs not to despise by to question, explore and

4、 enjoy. (3) By emphasizing the dignity of human being 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 (4) Tomas More, Christopher Marlow and William Shakespeare are the best representative of the English humanist

5、. 5 Metaphysical poetry: Metaphysical is characterized by passionate thought succession of concentrated image, exercise of elaborate ingenuity and “wit”, John Done was the famous of the Metaphysical poet. The Metaphysical Poets were men of learning and to show their learning was their endeavour. Edm

6、und Spencer Masterpiece: The Faerie Queene (allegory) Christopher Marlowe University wits Important plays: Tambulaine, Dr.Faustus, The Jewof Meta Edmund II Marlowe voiced the supreme desire of the man of the Renaissance of infinite powers and authority (1) Perfected the blank verse. (2) Creation of

7、the Renaissance hero to English drama ,it embodies Marlowes ideal of human dignity and capacity. Dr.Faustus: aspiring for knowledge, the plays dominant moral is human rather than religious, it celebrates the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness , it also reveals mans frustration in reali

8、zing the high aspiration in a hostile moral order and the confinement to time is the cruelest fact of mans condition. William Shakespeare 1. Works: 154 sonnets, 38 plays, 2 long poems Comedy :Merchant of Venice. 2 4 great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth Each portrays some noble hero,

9、who face the injustice of human fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation, each hero has his weakness of nature. Hamlet, the melancholic scholar-prince, faces the dilemma between action and mind: Othellos inner weakness is made use of by the outside evil force; the old King Lear wh

10、o is unwilling to totally give up his power makes himself suffer, from treachery and infidelity; Macbeths lust for power stirs up his ambition and leads him to incessant crime. 3 Merchant of Venice In this play, Shakespeare has created tension: ambiguity, a self conscious and self-delighting artific

11、e that is at once intellectually existing and emotionally engaging . The sophistication derives in part from the play between high, outstanding romance and dark faces of negating and hate the traditional theme of the play is to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia a

12、s a heroine of great beauty , wit and loyalty, and to explore insuitable greed and brutality of the Jew. 4 Hamlet. The play has the qualities of a “blood-and-thunder” thriller and a philosophical exploration of life of life and death, the timeless appeal of his mighty drama lies in its combination o

13、f injustice, emotional conflict and searching philosophic melancholy. Hamlet is obliged to inhabit a shadow world , to live suspended between fact and fiction, language and action. His life is one of the constant role-playing examining the nature of acting only to deny its possibility. For such a fi

14、gure, soliloquy is a natural medium, a necessary release of his anguish; and some of his questioning monologue posses surpassing power and insight. By revealing the power-seeking, the jostling for place , the hidden motives, the courteous superficialities that veil lust and guilty, Shakespeare conde

15、mns the hypocrisy and treachery and general religious corrupting at the royal count. Francis Bacon 1 Masterpiece: Essay; Novum Organum. 2 Novum Organum: most impressive display of Beacons intellect. The argument is for the use of inductiveness of reason in scientific study. 3 Beacon suggests the ind

16、uctive reasoning, i.e, proceeding from the particular to the general , in place of the Aristotelian method , the deductive reasoning ,i.e. proceeding from the general to the particular. 4 Beacons essay are famous for their brevity, compactness and powerfulness. John Done Metaphysical poetry The most

17、 striking feature of Dones poetry is precisely its tang of reality, in the sense that it seems to reflect life in a real rather than a poetical world. Done frequently applies conceits. John Milton Three major poetical works: Paradise lost , Paradise Regained, Samson Agonists The freedom of the will

18、is the keytone of Milton.s creed. Paradise Lost The epic is the masterpiece of John Milton The story is drawn from the Old Testament of the Bible, which tells how Satan, after being defeated in his rebel against God, temps Adam and Eve to eat the apples for the Forbidden Tree, and causes the Fall of

19、 Man. Satan, in the image of a rebel , still determines to fight back against God when he and his followers are cast into the Hell. The features of the character include his boldness, unbending ambition and his unconquerable will. The poem, as in other writing, is full of biblical and classical allu

20、sion, and is in a Latinized style with one sentence running perhaps across several lines. But, the majesty of expression suits well the sublimity of the poets thought.The Neoclassic Period 1 Between the return of the Stuarts to the English throne in 1660 and the full assertion of Romanticism which c

21、ame with the publication of lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge in 17981.Enlightenment or the Age of reason The Enlightenment movement was a progressive intellectual movement which flourished in France and swept the whole western Europe at the time Its propose was to enlighten the whole worl

22、d with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas. The enlightenmenters celebrated reason or rationally, equality and science. They called for a reference to order, reason and rule , yield place to “eternal truth” “eternal justice” and “natural equality” They believed that human beings wer

23、e limited , dualistic and imperfect literature at the time , heavily didactic and moralizing. They believed in self-restraint, self-reliance and hard work. To work , to economize and to accumulate wealth constitute the whole meaning of their life. This aspect of social life is best-formed in the rea

24、listic novels of the 18th century. 3 In the field of literature , they believed that the artistic should be order,logic, restrained emotion and accuracy . seek proportion, unity, harmony and grace in literary expression, in an effort to delight, instruct and correct human beings. 4 Neoclassicism. In

25、 English literature and, the stylistic trend between the Restoration and the advent of romanticism at the beginning of the 19th century is referred to as Neoclassicism. 5 Heroic: It is a pair of rhymed lines of iambic pentameter. The form was introduced into English by Chaucer and widely used subseq

26、uently.John Bunyan1.Masterpiece: The pilgrims progress 2.The “vanity fair” symbolizes human word, for all that comth is vanity Everything and anything in this world is vanity, having no value and no meaning. The vanity fair, a “market selling nothingness” of all sorts, is a dirty place originally bu

27、ilt up by details, but, this town “lay” in the way to the Celestial City, meaning pilgrims had to resist the temptations there when they made their way through. So, the depiction of the “Fair” in selling things worldly and in attracting people bad, represents John Bunyans rejection of the worldly se

28、ekings and pious longing for the pure and charming “Celestial city”, his Christian ideal. Alexander PopePope, a very sensitive man, would strike back hard, and in the constant verbal battles he developed a style of biting satire. He was one of the first to introduce rationalism to England, but was n

29、ot entirely blind to the rapid moral, political and cultural deterioration. For him the supreme values was order-cosmic order, political order , social order, aesthetic order, and this emphasis an order expression in all of his works. Pope made his name as a great poet with the publication of an Ess

30、ay on Criticism in 1711. Pope strongly advocated Neoclassicism, emphasizing that literary works should be judged by classical rule of order, reason, logic, restrained emotion, good taste and decorum. Daniel DefoeMasterpiece: Robinson Crusoe His language is smooth , easy, colloquial and most vernacul

31、ar. Defoe glorifies human labor and the puritan fortitude. It refers the enterprising sprit of the middle class. Jonathan Swift1. Chief works: A Tale of a Tub, The battle of the books, The Drapiers letters, Guillivers Travel and a Modest proposal. 2.Swift is almost unsurpassed in the writing of simp

32、le, direct, precise prose. He defined a good style as “proper words in proper places” clear, simple, concrete, diction, uncomplicated sentence structure and economy and concise use of language mark all his writing-essay, poems and novels. 3.As a whole , the book is one of the most effective and deva

33、stating criticism and satires of all aspects in the then English and European life- socially, politically, religiously, philosophically, scientifically and morally. Henry Fielding1.Masterpiece : A History of Tom Jones, a Foundling 2.Fielding has been regarded by some as “Father of the English Novel”

34、 for his contribution to the establishment of the form of the modern novel. 3.Fieldings language is easy, unlaboured and familiar but etremly vivid and vigorous. 4.Of all the 18th century novelist, he was the first to set out. Both in theory and practice. To write specially a “comic epic in poem” th

35、e first to give the modern novels its structure and story; he use epistolary form and “ the third-person narration”. 5.In planning his stories, he tries to retain the grand, epical of the classical works but at the same time keeps fatithful to his realistic presentation of common life as it is. Samu

36、el Johnson1.Lexicographer: the author of the first English dictionary by an English man-A Dictionary of the English Language(1755) 2.To the Right Honorable the Earl of-Chesterfield 3.He was particularly fond of moralizing, and didacticism. His language in characteristically general, often Latinate a

37、nd frequently polysyllabic. Richard Brinsley Sheridan1 Masterpiece: The school for scandle. 2 Sheridan has the only important English dramatist of the 18th century; important link between Shakespeare and Benard Shaw. 3 In his play, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the curren

38、t moral issue and harshly at the social life of the day. Tomas Gray1.His masterpiece, “ Elegy in a Country Churchyard” was published in 1751, the poem once and for all established his fame as the leader of the sentimental poetry of the day especially” the Graveyard School” 2.In his poem, Gray reflec

39、ts on death, the sorrow of life and the mysteries of human life with a touch of his Personal Melancholy. 3.His poem, as a whole are mostly devoted to a sentimental lamentation or mediation on life, past and present. His poems are characterized by an exquisite sense of form. His style is sophisticate

40、d and allusive. His poem are often marked with the trait of a highly artificial diction and a distorted word order.Romantic Period1.Major Romantic Points (1) a rebellion against neo-classicism (2) express on imagination (3) priorities been given to passion, emotion and feeling (4) being close to nat

41、ure for its purity while the society is corrupting (5) tremendous interest in something remote in term of space and time (6) favor of modernism (7) supremacy of freedom 2 Romantic period began in 1798 with the publication of wordsworth and Coleridges lyrical Ballads and have ended in 1852 with Sir W

42、alter Scotts death and the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament. 3. It was in effect a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassical reason which prevailed from the days of Pope to those of Johnson 1.Jean-Roseau: exploration new idea about Nature, society, Education. Tomas

43、 Paines Declaration of Rights of Man. 5 The Romantic Movement expressed a more or less negative attitude the existing social and political conditions that came with industria lization and the growing importance of the bourgeoisie. Thus, we can say that Romanticism actually constitute a change of dir

44、ection attention to the outerworld of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit 6 Nature: for the most influential 18th-century writers, was more something to be seen than something to be known. But for the Romantics, it is just the opposite. Nature to Wordsworth is a source of ment

45、al cleanliness and spiritual understanding. 7 Poetry has been traditionally regarded as an art governed by rules; but for Romantics, Poetry should be free from all rules. 8 Gothic novel: its principal elements are violence, horror and supernatural, which strongly appeal to the readers emotion. 9 How

46、 is Romanticism different from Neoclassicism? Provide brief evidence from the literary works you know best.a. Neoclassicists upheld that artistic ideals should be order, logic , restrained emotion and accuracy, and that literature, should be judged in terms of its service to humanity, and thus, lite

47、rary expressions should be of proportion, unity, harmony and grace. Popes An Essay on Criticism advocates grace, wit ( usually though satire/ humour ), and simplicity in language (and the poem itself is a demonstration of those ideals, too); Fieldings Tom Jones helped established the form of novel;

48、Grays Elegry Written in a country Churchyard” displays elegance in style, unified structure, serious tone and moral instructions. b.Romanticism tended to see the individual as the very center of all experience, including art, and thus, literary work should be “spontaneous overflow of strong of feeli

49、ng” and no matter how fragmentary those experience were ( Wordsworths “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” or “The Solitary Reaper,) 0r Coleridges “ Keble Khan”), the value of the work link lied in the accuracy of presenting those unique feelings and particular altitude. c. In a word, Neoclassicism empha

50、sized rationality and form but Romanticism attached great importance to the individuals mind ( emotion, imagination, temporary experience.)William Blake 1 (1)The songs of Innocence is a lovely volume poems, presenting a happy and innocent world, though not without its evil and sufferings.(2)The song

51、s of Experience paints a different world, a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repress with melancholy tone (1) The two books hold the similar subject-matter, but the tone, emphasis and conclusion differs. 2 Blakes Marriage of Heaven and Hell(1790) marks his entry into maturity. The Poem was

52、 composed during the change of French Revolution and it plays the double role both as a satire and a revolutionary Prophecy. In this Poem, Blake explain the relationship of the contraries. “without contraries, there is no progression. The marriage to Blake means the reconciliation of the contraries,

53、 not the subordination of the one to the other. 3 Blake writes his poem in plain and direct language ,his poem often carries the lyric beauty with immense compressing of meaning. He distrusts the abstractness and tend to embody his views with visual images, symbolism in wide range is also a distinct

54、ive feature of his poetry. William Wordsworth1 William Wordsworth, Samuel TAYLOR Coleridge and Robert Southey, the three man known as the “ Lake Poets” 2 Wordsworth is regarded as a “worshiper of nature” 3 Wordsworth thinks that common life is the only subject of literary interest. 4 Wordsworth see

55、the word freshly, sympathetically and naturally. 5 The most important contributionWordsworth has made is that he has not only started the modern poetry of the growing inner self, but also changed the course of English poetry by using ordinary speech of the language and by advocating a reform to natu

56、re. Samuel Taylor Coleridge1 Coledriges portion(work) was to deal with supernature thing for he wai more interested insomething remote strange on foreign. 2 Two divers group: the demonic and the conversational (1)The demonic group: beyond the control of reason. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “Chris

57、tabel” “Kuble Khan” (2)The conversational group: “Frost at Midnight” 3Coledrige is one of the firstcritics to give close critical affection to language, maintainng that the true end of poetry is togive pleasure “ through the medium of beauty” 4He was recongnized as alyrical poet and literary critic

58、of the first rank.His poetic themes range from the supernature to the domestic. His treatises, lectures, and compelling conversational powers made him one of the most influential English literary critics and philosophers of the 19th century. George Gordon Byron1 Masterpiece: Don Juan,Childe Herolds

59、Pilgrimate I awake one morning and found myself famous 2 Byron invests in Juan the moral positives like courage, generosity and frankness The unifying principal in Don Juan is the basic ironic theme of appearance and reality. 3 Byron has enriched European poetry with an abundance of ideas, images, a

60、rtistic forms and innovation. 4Byronic hero The creation of the Byronic hero is Byrons chief contribution to English Poetry, such a hero is a proud, mysterious rebel figure of nobleorigin. Passionate and powerful, he is to right all the wrongs in a corrupt society and he would fight single-handely a