专八人文知识讲义

1、Unit One English Literature and American LiteratureSection One English LiteratureThe Renaissance is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events, such as the rediscovery of ancient Rome and Greek culture, new discovery in geography and astrology and the religious reformation and t

2、he economic expansion.The Pilgrim s Progress （天路历程）is regarded as the most successful religious allegory in the English language.Among the representatives of the Enlightenment, Alexander Pope（蒲柏）was the first to introduce rationalism to England.Generally speaking, the Renaissance refers to the perio

3、d between the 14th and mid-17th centuries, its essence is humanism.In “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and thi gives life to thee.”（Shakespeare, Sonnets 18, “this” refers to poetry.About Renaissance, a） humanism is the essence; b） Attitudes and feelings which had b

4、een characteristic of the 14th and 15th centuries persisted well down into the era of Humanism and Reformation; c） The Elizabethan drama, in its totality, is the real stream of the English Renaissance.It is Geoffrey Chaucer （杰弗里乔叟） alone who, for the first time in English Literature, presented to us

5、 a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life.The sentence “Shall I compare thee to a summer s day” is the beginning line of one of Shakespeare s sonnets.The reasons for that Edmund Spenser（斯宾塞）is famous f

6、or “the poets poet areSpenser s idealism, his love of beauty and his exquisite melody.Marlowe （马洛）gave new vigor to blank verse with his “mighty lines.In Shellys “To a Skylark,（雪莱，云雀颂）the bird, suspended between reality and poetic image, pours forth an exultant song which suggests to the poet both c

7、elestial rapture and human limitation.“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless and if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it As hard for you to leave, as it is now for me to leave you. The above quoted passage is mo

8、st probably taken from Jane Eyre.The sentences “and now he stared at her so earnestly that I thought the very intensity of his gaze would bring tears into his eyes; but they burned with anguish, they did not melt are found in Wuthering Heightsby Emily Bronte.The most eminent dramatists in the Renais

9、sance England are Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson （琼森）.Descriptions about the Neoclassical Period: a） The Neoclassical Period is prior to the Romantic Period; b） Henry Fielding （菲尔丁）is one of the representatives of the Neoclassical period; c） The modern English novel came int

10、o being in the Neoclassical period.“O prince, O chief of my throned powers, / That led th embattled separation to war / Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds / Fearless, endangered Heavein s perpetual king . In the third line of the above passage quoted from Milton s Paradise Lost the phrase “thy

11、 conduct* refers to Satan s conduct.Comments on William Blake（布莱克）：a） Childhood is central to Blakes concern in the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience） Blake s Marriage of Heaven and Helmarks his entry into maturity; c） Symbolism in wide range is a distinctive feature of his poetry.It is gen

12、erally regarded that Keat s （济慈）most important and mature poems are in the form of ode.Daniel Defoe s （笛福鲁宾逊漂流记） novels mainly focus on the struggle of the shipwrecked persons for security.In the Shepherds Calendar Edmund Spenser tried to express his laments over the loss of Rosalind.In Beowulf （贝尔武

13、甫）Beowulf fought against the monster Grendel and a five breathing dragon.In Spenser s masterpiece The Faerie Queen （仙后）he speaks of 12 virtues of the private gentleman.Francis Bacon is best known for his essays which greatly influenced the development of this literary form.The literary form of The F

14、aerie Queen is allegorical poem.The characteristics of Spenser s poetry are a perfect melody, a rare sense of beauty and a splendid imagination.Most of Thomas Hardy s novels are set in Wessex （威塞克斯），a fictional primitive region.We can perhaps describe the west wind in Shellys poem Ode to the West Wi

15、n（is swift, proud and wild.“Blindness, “Partiality”， “Prejudice and Absurdity” in the novel Pride and Prejudice are most likely the characteristics of Elizabeth.The modern English novel came into being in the middle of the 18h century.In terms of Pride and Prejudice a） it is the most popular of Jane

16、 Austins novel; b） it is originally drafted as First Impressions ; c） In it, the author explores the relationship between great love and realistic benefits.Chronologically the Victorian Period refers to 1836-1901.Dickens first child hero is Oliver Twist.R. B. Sheridanh （谢里丹）was the only important En

17、glish dramatist of the 18 century. His plays especially The Rivals （情敌）and The School for Scandabre generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernald Shaw.Middlemarch （弥德玛契）is considered to the George Eliot* s （艾略特）greatest novel, owing to a） it vivid

18、ly depicts English country life; b） it provides a panoramic view of life; c） it reveals women* s true feelings.As the most gifted of the University Wits, Marlowe composed six plays within his short life, and among which there are Tamburlaine （帖木儿大帝，Dr. Faustus （浮士德）and The Jew of MaltaThe Romantic P

19、eriod is an age of poetry. Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelly and Keats are the major poets. They started a rebellion against the neoclassical literature, which was later regarded as the poetic revolution.The author of the writing The Return of the Native （还乡）is Thomas Hardy.The Major figur

20、es of modernist movement are Eliot, Joyce and Dickens.At last she spoke to me. When she addressed the first words to me I was so confused that I did not know what to answer. She asked me was I going to Araby. I forgot whether I answeredyes or no. It would be a splendid bazaar, she said; she would lo

21、ve to go. The passage is taken from James Joyce s DublinersTess of the Urbervilles one of Thomas Hardy s best known novels, portrays man ashaving no control over his own fate.The author of the writing Childe Harold s Pilgrimage （恰尔德哈罗德游记）is Byron.Pilgrimage （游记，Ulysses and Mrs. Dalloway are stream-o

22、f-consciousness novels.The Historyof Tom Jones, a Foundlingbrings Henry Feilding the name of the “Prose Homer”.Of all the 18thcentury novelists, he was the first to set out, both in theory and practice, to write specifically a “comic epic in prose”，and the first to give the modern novel its structur

23、e and style.In the Robert Browning s works, The Ring and the Boolestablished his position as one of the greatest English poets.The major concern of D. H. Lawence s fiction lies in the tracing of the psychological development of his characters and in his energetic criticism of the dehumanizing effect

24、 of the capitalist industrialization on human nature.George Bernard Shaw is considered to be the best-known English dramatist since Shakespeare.Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southy （骚塞）and William Wordsworth are regarded as “Lake Poets .Generally, English Romanticism refers to the period of 1836-1

25、901.The protagonist of Thomas Hardy s The Mayor of Casterbridge卡斯特桥市长）is a man of self-sufficience.The Pilgrim s Progress by John Bunyan is often said to be concerned with the search for spiritual salvation.The lines “Death, be not proud, though some have calledthee / Mighty anddreadful, for thou ar

26、t not so;” are found in John Donne s （多恩、邓恩）writings.Contrary to the traditional romance of aristocrats, the modern English novel gives a realistic presentation of life of the common English people.In ElegyWrittenin a CountryChurchyard （墓园挽歌，Thomas Gray reveals his sympathy for the poor and the unkn

27、own, but mocks the great ones whodespite them and bring havoc on them.Although writing from different points of view and with different techniques, writers in the Victorian Period shared one thing in common, that is, they were all concerned about the fate of the common people.Thomas Hardy not only c

28、ontinued to expose and criticize all sorts of social iniquities, but finally came to question and attack the Victorian conventions and morals.The protagonist of the poem Love Song of T. Alfred PrufrocKJ阿尔弗雷德普鲁弗 洛克的情歌艾略特）is a kind of figure caught in a sense of deafened idealism and tortured by satis

29、fied desires. He is neurotic, self-important and illogical.The sentence “Read not to contradict and confuse, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider” is from the essay Of Study by Francis Bacon.Women in Love is considered to be a better-structur

30、ed novel of D. H. Lawrence s. It is regarded to be a more profoundly ordered novel than any other writing by him.In the first part of Gulliver s Travels Gulliver told his experience in Lilliput.In the theatrical world of the neoclassical period, Richard Brinsley Sheridan was the leading figure among

31、 the host of playwrights.Francis Bacon lays the foundation for modern science with his insistence on scientific way of thinking and fresh observation rather than authority as a basis for obtaining knowledge.Alexander Pope strongly advocated neoclassicism, emphasized that literary works shouldbe judg

32、ed by classical rules of order, reason, logic, restrained emotion, good taste and decorum.Dickens works are characterized by a mingling of humor and pathos.James Joyce is regarded as the most prominent stream-of-consciousness novel, and his novel A Portraitof the Artistas a Young Man （一个青年艺术家的肖像）is

33、a naturalistic account of the herd s bitter experiences and his final artistic and spiritual liberation.Ulysses has become a prime example of modernism in literature and it could hardly be termed as a traditional novel, because there is no story, no plot and no action insideDon Juan s （唐璜拜伦） writing

34、s can be regarded as typically belonging to the school of Romantic literary.Byronic hero can be described as proud, mysterious and progressive.In Daniel Defoe s novels, his sympathy for the downtrodden, unfortunate poor is shown. Robinson Crusoe is his first novel and is universally considered his m

35、asterpiece.In the history of literature, Romanticism is generally regarded as the thought that designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience.After reading the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice we may come to know

36、 that Mrs. Bennet is a woman of simple character and poor understanding.According to D. H. Lawrence, George Eliot was the first novelist that “started putting all the actions inside” .The poetic form which Browning attached to maturity and perfection is dramatic monologue.The term “metaphysical poet

37、ry” is commonly used to name the work of the 17 century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne.“The Vanity Fair” （名利场）is a well-known part in The Pilgrim s ProgressIn The Songs and Sonnets （歌与十四行诗，for which Donne is probably best known, love is the basic theme.Bitter Satire is a typical

38、 feature of Swift s （斯威夫特）writings.The period of Old English literature refers to about the year 450-the year of 1066.The middle of the 18th century was predominated by a newly literary form, that is the modern English novel, which gives a realistic presentation of life of the common English people.

39、The protagonist of Marlowe s Tamburlaine is a man of cruelty and ambition.In Oliver Twist（雾都孤儿，Charles criticizes dehumanizing of workhouse system.Henry IV by Shakespeare is history play.William Wordsworth is regarded as a “worshipper of nature”.Charles works include A Tale of Two Cities Hard Times

40、and Oliver TwistRichard Brinsley Sheridan was the only important English dramatist of the eighteenth century. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. The School for Scandal is his masterpiece.The sentences, “This fair is no new-erected business, but a thing of ancient standing;I will show you

41、the original of it”，are taken from The Vanity Fai rCharles Dickens serious intention is to expose and criticize all the poverty, injustice, hypocrisy and corruptness he sees all around him. The later works such As Tale of Two Cities show his development towards a highly conscious artist of the moder

42、n type.In his novel Robinson Cruso Defoe eulogizes the hero of the hard-working people.The 18th century England is known as the Enlightenment in the history.George Bernard Shaw9 s career as a dramatist began in 1892, when his first play Widowers Houses （鳏夫的房产）was put on by the Independent Theater So

43、ciety. He began his literary career by writing novels soon after his settling down in London. His plays can be termed as problemplays.In Hardy s “Wessex” novels, there is an apparent nostalgic touch in his description of the simple and beautiful though primitive rural life.In Leda and the Swarby Wil

44、liam Butler Yeats we can find the allusion to Helen and the Trojan Way.The Waste Land （荒原）by T. S. Eliot （艾略特）is hailed as a landmark and a model of the 20thcentury English poetry.Section Two American LiteratureIn American literature, the eighteenth century was the age of the Enlightenment. Rational

45、ism was the dominant spirit.God help them that help themselves” is found in Franklin s work.Franklin was a scientist and a master of diplomacy. He instructed his countrymen as a printer.Declaration of IndependenceBtirred the world and helped form the American republic.Common Sense The American Crisi

46、sand The Rights of Manure connected with Thomas Paine.“These are the times that try men s souls” , these words were once read to Washington* s troops and did much to spur excitement to further action with hope and confidence. Their author is Thomas Paine.Philip Freneau （弗雷诺）was a satirist, a pamphle

47、teer and a poet. He wrote The Wild Honey Suckle （野金银花.He was considered as the “Poet of American Revolution.At the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the Enlightenment Movement.Hawthorne （霍桑）is a great allegorist and a master of symbolism. One sou

48、rce of evil that he is concerned most is over-reaching intellect.In Walt Whitman1 s Therewasa ChildWent Forth （有一个孩子向前走去，the child refers to the young America.In Moby-Dick （白鲸莫比敌，the voyage symbolizes a search for truth. The giant Moby Dick may symbolize mystery of the universe, power of the Great N

49、ature and evil of the world. It is regarded as the first American prose epic. For Melville, as well as for the reader and Ishmael, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the Universe.Thoreau was often alone in the woods or by the pond, lost in spiritual communication with

50、 nature.The Transcendentalist （先验论、超验主义）group includes two of the most significant writers America has produced so far, Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. As a philosophical and literary movement, transcendentalism flourished in New England from the 1830to the Civil War.The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne

51、 tells a simple but very moving story in which four people living in a puritan community are involved in and affected by the sin of adultery in different ways. In this writing, “A may stand for Adultery , Angel and Amiable.The Romantic Period of American literature started with the publication of Wa

52、shington Irving （欧文） s The Sketch Book （见闻札记）and ended withWhitman s Leaves of Grass（草 叶集）.And The Sketch Booksigns the beginn ing of the American literature.Washington Irving* s social conservation and literary for the past is revealed, to some extent, in his famous storyRip Van Winkle（瑞普凡温克尔.The c

53、onvention of the desire for an escape from society and a return to nature in American literature is particularly evident in this writing. His fame mainly rested on his Tales about AmericaPoe s （艾伦坡 first collection of short stories is Talesof the Grotesqueand Arabesque （怪诞奇异故事集.Characters which appe

54、ar in the novel The Scarlet Letterinclude Hester Prynne, Atthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth and Pearl.Typee （泰比）was a romanticized account of Melville s （麦尔维尔）stay among the Polynesians. The success of the book soon made Melville become known as the “man who lived among cannibals”.The period bef

55、ore the American Civil War is generally referred to as the Romantic Period.Works by Nathaniel Hawthorne includeThe House of the Seven Gables有七个尖角阁的房 子），The Marble Faun （玉石雕像and The Blithedale Romanc（福谷传奇.The main theme of Emily Dickinson is religion, love and marriage, and life and death. Emily Dick

56、inson s poetic idiom is noted for brevity, directness and plainest.thought “There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity” is reflected in NathanielHawthorne s Young Goodman BrowK小伙子布朗好人布朗古德曼.He is themost amb

57、ivalent writer in the American literary history.Washington Irving s Rip Van Winkle is famous for Rip s 20-year sleep.The publication of Natureestablished Emerson as the most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism.In the history of literature, Romanticism is regarded as the thought that

58、designates a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individuaas the very centerof all life and all experience.Typee, Omoo（奥穆and Mardi （玛地）drew from Melville s adventures among the people of the South Pacific islands.In the poem Song of Myself Whitman sets forth the principle belief

59、s of the theory of university and singularity and equality of all beings in value.Most of the poems in Whitman s Leaves of Grasssing of the “errmass and the self as well.Emily Dickinson s poems （441） “This is my letter to the World expresses the poet s anxiety about her communication with the outsid

60、e world.Poems by Walt Whitman are characterized by free-flowing, simple and rather crude, conversational and casual.Writings finished by Ralph Waldo Emerson include Nature （论自然，Essays （散文 集）and The Over-Soul （论超灵.In I hearda Fly buzz-whenl died （我在死时听到苍蝇的嗡嗡声），Emily Dickinson describes the moment of