英国文学-世纪新古典主义风格课件

1、The 17th and 18th(Neoclassical) Century1625-1798Mrs. Cumberland第1页，共53页。A Turbulent Time: Historical BackgroundIn 1649, the English shocked the world by beheading their king and abolishing the monarchy.In the decades before the civil wars tore England apart, revolutions in science and religion had a

2、lready unsettled peoples worldview.第2页，共53页。ChangesThe new astronomy had exiled the Earth from the center of the universe to the vastness of infinite space.New religious creeds had altered or abolished the traditions of centuries.John Donne wrote, with his newfound insecurity, “Tis all in pieces, al

3、l coherence gone.”第3页，共53页。Monarch is Back By the 1700s, though, a monarch was back on the throne, and a new, competitive society had sprung up, with a looser social structure and greater freedom in religion and politics.第4页，共53页。Charles I and ParliamentCrowned in 1625Clashed with Parliament over mo

4、neyKing Charles needed money for his wars, and Parliament refused to fund them.第5页，共53页。Loans? No Loans?The king then extorted loans from his wealthy subjects and pressed the poor into service as soldiers and sailors.Parliament tried to prevent such abuses of power, so Charles eventually dissolved P

5、arliament and would not call it into session for 11yrs.第6页，共53页。Religious ControversyHe insisted the clergymen “conform,” or observe all the ceremonies of the Anglican Church.Puritans- Calvanists who wished to purify the Church of its Catholic traditions- were enraged by some of these requirements.第

6、7页，共53页。TorturePuritans believed that each group of worshipers, moved by the members divinely granted consciences, had the right to choose its own minister- an idea dangerously close to democracy. For these and other ideas, “dissenters” were persecuted and tortured as criminals.第8页，共53页。The Civil Wa

7、rCharless problem grew worse after he was forced to fight Scottish rebels outraged by his insistence on religious conformity.Desperate for money, he summoned a hostile ParliamentParliament condemned Charles I as a tyrant in 1642Civil war broke outIn 1645, Parliaments forces, led by Oliver Cromwell,

8、defeated the royalist army and captured Charles第9页，共53页。Cromwell RulesRadical Puritans: dominated ParliamentTried and convicted the king for treasonCharles I was beheaded on January 30, 1649Cromwell led the new government, called the English CommonwealthHe dissolved Parliament in 1653 and named hims

9、elf Lord ProtectorHe ruled as a dictator until 1658 when he died第10页，共53页。OutlawingCivil war had not led to the free society that many who had fought against the king expected.Hopes, economic hardship = unrestThe Commonwealth fueled discontent by outlawingGamblingHorse racingNewspapersFancy clothesP

10、ublic dancingThe theater第11页，共53页。The RestorationBy Cromwells death, England had had enough taxation, violence, and disorder. In 1658, Parliament offered the crown to the exiled son of Charles I, who became Charles II in 1660.The monarch was restored第12页，共53页。In sharp contrast to the drab Puritan le

11、aders, Charles II and his court copied the plush fashions of ParisCharlesAvid patron of the arts and scienceInvited Italian composers and Dutch painters to live and work in London.第13页，共53页。European Political ThinkersThinkerMajor IdeasQuotationThomas HobbesLeviathan(1651)People are driven by selfish

12、ness and greed. To avoid chaos, they give up their freedom to a government that will ensure order. Such a government must be strong and able to suppress rebellion“The condition of man in the state of nature is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.”第14页，共53页。European Political ThinkersThin

13、kerMajor IdeasQuotationJohn LockeTwo Treaties of Government(1690)People have a natural right to life, liberty, and property. Rulers have a responsibility to protect those rights. People have the right to change a government that fails to do so.“Men being by nature all free, equal, and independent, n

14、o one can be put out of this estate and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent.”第15页，共53页。European Political ThinkersThinkerMajor IdeasQuotationBaron de MontesquieuThe Spirit of the Laws(1748)The powers of government should be separated into executive, legislative, and j

15、udicial branches, to prevent any one group from gaining too much power.“In order to have liberty, it is necessary that government be set up so that one man need not be afraid of another.”第16页，共53页。A Glorious RevolutionCharles IIs successor: James IIDevout Catholic.Parliament invited Mary, the Protes

16、tant daughter of James II, to rule England jointly with her husband, William of Orange.Rather than fight, James escaped to FranceThe people of England hailed the event as the “Glorious Revolution of 1688” because not a drop of blood had been shed.第17页，共53页。1689 Bill of RightsWilliam and Mary agreed

17、to Parliaments Bill of RightsThis bill guaranteed Parliament the right to approve all taxes and forbade the monarch to suspend the law.England thus attained a limited, or constitutional, monarchy.第18页，共53页。Tories and WhigsIn ensuing decades, two political factions crystallized in Parliament: the con

18、servative, aristocratic Tories and the Whigs, drawn largely from Britains growing merchant class.A cabinet of ministers drawn from Parliament, and eventually unified under the leadership of a prime minister, began to rule the country.第19页，共53页。An Agricultural RevolutionBy the late 1600s, new farm to

19、ols made it possible for farms to produce much more food.Population surged upwardMany people left the countrysideGrowing townsBecame factory hands who ran the machines of the early Industrial Revolution第20页，共53页。The Industrial AgeBritish inventions after 1750 made the spinning and weaving of cloth m

20、uch more efficient.The steam engine was perfected and adapted to run a power loomFactories were built to produce vast quantities of cotton clothMerchants sold goods all over the worldAs late as 1790s: most were still earning a living as farmers第21页，共53页。The EnlightenmentThe scientific revolution tha

21、t made industry possible stemmed from a larger development in thought known as the Enlightenment.Through reason and observation of nature, human beings could discover the order underlying all things第22页，共53页。The EnlightenmentSir Isaac Newton: study of gravity第23页，共53页。The EnlightenmentMen, women, an

22、d children toiled at machines for 12-14 hr/dayPoor people crowded the towns and citiesBy the late 1700s “progress”= miseryWriters and intellectuals began to lose faith in the ability of human reason to solve every problem第24页，共53页。Technology and Society ConnectionsEfficiency and agriculture and indu

23、stry had deep social consequencesRich landowners pushed ahead with enclosure, by which they took over and fenced off the common land formerly shared by peasant villagers.Farm output roseProfits rose because large fields needed fewer people to work themSmall farmers were forced off their land because

24、 they could not compete with large landholdersThe jobless or landless farm workers migrate to the cities.第25页，共53页。Literature of the PeriodThe Schools of Jonson and Donne17th and 18th Century第26页，共53页。Ben Jonson ( 1572-1637)Strove for the perfection and harmony he found in his beloved classical auth

25、ors, turning away from the ornate style of Elizabethan times to create his own modern, strong voice.He wrote poems, plays, and masques (court entertainments)第27页，共53页。第28页，共53页。Ben JonsonTook seriously the role of the poetHe believed, in fact, that no other profession could compare to it.Poets, he w

26、rote, encourage “young men to all good disciplines, inflame grown men to all great virtues and keep old men in their best and supreme state“A person could not be a good poet without being a good man,” he asserted第29页，共53页。Jonson InfluencesHis critical opinion exercised a powerful influence on other

27、poets of the time.Robert Herrick ( 1591-1674)Sir John Suckling (1609-1642)Richard Lovelace (1618-1657)第30页，共53页。The Products of JonsonRobert HerrickSir John SucklingRichard Lovelace第31页，共53页。John Donne ( 1572-1631)第32页，共53页。John DonnePioneered a new, witty, cerebral style later known as Metaphysical

28、 PoetryCharacterized by:Unusual degree of intellectualismSubtle arguments that raid the worlds of science, law, and philosophy for surprising but strangely accurate comparisons.第33页，共53页。Examples of such“A Valediction of Weeping”Compares his tears, which reflect his lovers face, to coins that are st

29、amped with her image“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”Compares parted lovers to the two legs of a drawing compass第34页，共53页。Followers of Donne:George Herbert ( 1593-1633)Andrew Marvell ( 1621-1678)第35页，共53页。The FollowersGeorge HerbertHis mother was a friend of DonnesHis life parallels DonnesFelt te

30、nsion between worldly ambition and religious devotionBecame an Anglican deaconBest poems are religious lyrics collected in “The Temple”Andrew MarvellBest lyrics blend the brilliance of Donne and the classical finish of JonsonOffer observations on nature, love, and God that, at first, seem urbane and

31、 perhaps conventional, but on closer inspection prove profound.His best known poem, “To His Coy Mistress” is one of the best lyrics in English literature.第36页，共53页。The Puritan WritersPerhaps the greatest poet of the 17th century was a Puritan, not a Cavalier: John MiltonThe Puritan movement also pro

32、duced the best-selling prose writer of the century, John BunyanOnly the Bible sold more copies than Bunyans religious narrative, “The Pilgrims Progress.”第37页，共53页。John Milton ( 1608-1674)Learned disciple of Greek and Latin authorsStudied the Old Testament in Hebrew第38页，共53页。MiltonBorn to a prosperou

33、s middle-class familyStudied at CambridgeWrote political pamphlets for the Puritan cause when the battle between Charles I and Parliament was in the midst.Areopagitica ( Miltons pamphlet): a ringing call for freedom of the pressSupported the Commonewealth and Protectorate and defended the execution

34、of Charles I.Milton lost hope of forming a just society on earth when Cromwells rule turned to dictatorship第39页，共53页。Timeline 1625- 1798British Events/ World Events第40页，共53页。British Events/ World Events1627 Sir Francis Bacon publishes The New Atlantis1628 Willam Harvey explains blood circulation1633

35、 John Donnes Songs and Sonnets published1635 Public mail service established1637 John Milton publishes Lycidas1600 Japan: Kabuki theater developed1614 North America: Dutch found New Amsterdam第41页，共53页。Events第42页，共53页。British Events/World Events1640 Charles I summons Long Parliament1642 English Civil

36、 War begins1646 John Suckling publishes Fragmenta Aurea1647 George Fox founds Society of Friends ( Quakers)1649 Charles I beheaded; Puritans close theaters; Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector1650 Early newspaper ads appear; Full-blown wigs come into fashion1640 India: English settlement establis

37、hed in Madras1640 North America: Bay Psalm Book published in Massachusetts1643 France: Louis XIV becomes king1650 North America: Anne Bradstreets collection of poems is published1651 North America: William Bradford finishes Of Plymouth Plantation第43页，共53页。Events第44页，共53页。British Events/World Events1

38、658 Oliver Cromwell dies; Puritan government collapses1660 Monarchy restored; theaters reopen1666 Great Fire of London1667 John Miltons Paradise Lost published1668 John Dryden publishes An Essay of Dramatic Poesy1662 France: Louis XIV begins building palace of Versailles1664 North America: Britain seizes New Netherlands1666 Italy: Stradivari labels first violin第45页，共53页。Events第46页，共53页。British Events/World Events1685 James II becomes king1688 Glorious Revolution1688 Bill of Rights becomes law1702 First daily newspaper begins publication1680 China: All ports op