push什么意思英国文学重点

2021年1月20日发(作者：言)
英国文学重点评述

British literature

The
period
of
Old
English
literature
extends
from
about
450
to
1066,
the
year
of
the
Norman
Conquest
of
England.
Norman
Conquest
greatly
changed
English,
the
language,
and
England
entered
the
feudal
period.
The
most
prevailing
kind
of
literature
in
feudal
England
was
the
romance. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse, sometimes in prose, describing the life
and adventures of a noble hero. The central character of romances was the knight, a man of noble
birth
skilled
in
the
use
of
weapons.
The
theme
of
loyalty
to
king
and
lord
was
repeatedly
emphasized
in
romances,
as
loyalty
was
the cornerstone
of
feudal
morality,
without
which
the
whole structure of feudalism would collapse. Among all these kinds of romances, Beowulf was the
most famous one. It is a folk legend brought to England by Anglo-Saxons from their continental
homes. Besides Beowulf, Piers the Plowman is another famous poem. The poem sets forth a series
of wonderful dreams, through which we can see a picture of feudal England. The author of Piers
the Plowman, William Langland, is a more realistic writer who dealt with the religious and social
issues of his day. However, it is Chaucer who, for the first time in English literature, presented to
us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery
of vivid characters from all walks of his life in his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer is
the greatest writer of this period.


The Renaissance marks a transition from the medieval to the modern world. Generally, it refers to
the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries. It first started in Italy, with the flowering of
painting, sculpture and literature. From Italy the movement spread through the rest of Europe. The
Renaissance, which
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
religious
reformation
and
the
economic
expansion.
The
Renaissance, therefore, in essence, is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers
and scholars made attempts to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe, to introduce
new
ideas
that
expressed
the
interests
of
the
rising
bourgeoisie,
and
to recover
the
purity
of
the
early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.

The English Renaissance was perhaps England’s Golden Age, especially in literature. Among the
literary
giants
were
Shakespeare,
Spenser,
Jonson,
Sidney,
Marlowe,
Bacon
and
Donne.
The
English
Renaissance
had
no
sharp
break
with
the
past.
Attitudes
and
feelings
which
had
been
characteristic
of
the
14th
and
15th centuries
persisted well
down
into
the
era
of
Humanism
and
Reformation. Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. Human values are greatly emphasized
in this period. Thomas More was one of the greatest humanists. His masterpiece is
Utopia. It is
divided
into
two
books. The
first
book contains
a
long
discussion
on
the
social
conditions
of
England. In the second book, an ideal communist society is described in detail.

From the first half of the 16th century, the English Renaissance began to develop into a flowering
of literature and then England became “a nest of singing birds.” Transition occupied an important
place in the
English Renaissance. Another kind of literature prevailing at the time was the large
amount
of
books
describing
discoveries
and
adventures.
However,
the
vigor
of
the
age
found
better expression in the sphere of poetry and plays. Thousands of exquisite poems and songs were
written by known and unknown poets. The sonnet, an exact form of poetry in 14 lines of iambic
pentameter
intricately
rhymed,
was
introduced
to
England
from
Italy.
Sir
Philip
Sydney
is
a
well-
known poet. However, Edmund Spenser was the “poet’s poet” of this period. His masterpiece
is The Faerie Queene. The Faerie Queene is written in a special verse form that consists of eight
iambic
pentameter
lines
followed
by
a
ninth
line
of
six
iambic
feet,
with
the
rhyme
scheme
ababbcbcc.
This
for
has
since
been called
the
Spanserian
Stanza.
Another
famous
poet
is John
Milton, whose masterpiece is Paradise Lost.


The highest glory of the English Renaissance was unquestionably its drama. It could be dated back
to the Middle Ages. Interludes and morality plays thriving in the medieval period continued to be
popular
down
to
Shakespeare’s
time.
But
the
development
of
the
drama
into
a sophisticated
art
form required another influence
–
the Greek and Roman classics. The most famous dramatists in
the
Renaissance
England
are
Christopher
Marlowe,
William
Shakespeare,
and
Ben
Jonson.
And
with
humors
of
the
moment,
abstractions
of
philosophical
speculation,
and
intense
vitality,
this
extraordinary
drama,
with
Shakespeare
as
the
master,
left
a
monument
of
the
Renaissance
unrivaled for pure creative power by any other product of that epoch.

Francis
Bacon,
the
first
important
English
essayist,
is
best
known
for
his
essays which
greatly
influenced the development of this literary form. He was also the founder of modern science in
England. His writing paved the way for the use of scientific method. Thus, he is undoubtedly one
of the representatives of the English Renaissance.

Neoclassical period in English literature refers to the years between the return of the Stuarts to the
English
throne
in
1660
and
the
full
development
of
Romanticism.
The
English
society
of
the
neoclassical
period
was
an
age
full
of
conflicts
and
divergence
of
values,
and
the
eighteenth
century also saw the fast development of England as a nation. In Europe, the 18th century marked
the beginning of an intellectual movement, known as the Enlightenment, which was, on the whole,
an expression of struggle to the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The purpose of the movement was
to
enlighten
the
whole
world
with
the
light
of
modern
philosophical
and
artistic
ideas.
So
the
eighteenth-century England is also known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason.

In field of literature, the Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old
classical
works.
This
tendency
is
known
as
neoclassicism.
The
representatives
of
the
Enlightenment
in
English
literature
were Joseph
Addison
and
Richard
Steele,
the
essayists,
and
Alexander Pope, the poet. In their works, these writers criticized different aspects of contemporary
England,
discussed
social
problems,
and
even
touched
upon
morality
and
private
life.
So
the
literature
of
Enlightenment
in
England
mainly
appealed
to
the
middle
class
readers.
Mock
epic,
romance, satire and epigram were popular forms adopted by poets of the time. Besides the elegant
poetic
structure
and
diction,
the
neoclassical
poetry
was
also
noted
for
its
seriousness
and
earnestness in tone and contrast didacticism.

Neoclassicists had some fixed laws and rules for almost every genre of literature. Prose should be
precise, direct, smooth and flexible. Poetry should be lyrical, epical, didactic, satiric or dramatic,
and
each class
should
be
guided
by
its
own
principles.
Drama
should
be written
in
the
heroic
couplets
(iambic
pentameter
rhymed
in
two
lines);
the
three
unities
of
time,
space
and
action
should
be strictly
observed;
regularity
in
construction should
be
adhered
to,
and
type characters
rather than individuals should be represented.

The
mid-century
was,
however,
predominated
by
a
newly
rising
literary
form
–

the
modern
English
novel,
which,
contrary
to
the
traditional
romance
of
aristocrats,
gives
a
realistic
presentation of life of the common English people. This
–
the most significant phenomenon in the
history of the development of English literature in the eighteenth century
–
is a natural product of
the
Industrial
Revolution
and
a
symbol
of
the
growing
importance
and strength
of the
English
middle
class.
Among
the
pioneers
were
Danial
Defoe,
Samuel
Richardson,
Henry
Fielding,
Laurence Sterne, Tobias George Smollett, and Oliver Goldsmith.

The English drama of the 18th century does not reach the same high level as its novel. One of the
main reasons is that the Licensing Act of 1737 which drove fielding out of the theatre restricted
the freedom of expression by dramatists. But the English drama also experienced a brief flowering
in the second half of the 18th century for the comedies of Sheridan and Goldsmith.


At
the
turn
of
the
18th
and
19th centuries romanticism
appeared
in
England
as
a
new
trend
in
literature.
It
began
in
1798 with
the
publication
of
Wordsworth
and
Coleridge’s
Lyrical
Ballads
and
ended
in
1832 with Sir
Walter
Scott’s
death
and
the
passage
of
the
first
Refor
m
Bill
in
the
Parliament.

In
essence
romanticism
designates
a
literary
and
philosophical
theory
which
tends
to
see
the
individual as the very centre of all life and all experience. It also places the individual at the centre
of art, making literature most valuable as an expression of his or her unique feelings and particular
attitudes, and valuing its accuracy in portraying the individual’s experience.


The Romantic period is an age of poetry. Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats
are the major Romantic poets. Generally speaking, the romantic poets expressed the ideology and
sentiment
of
those
classes
and
social
strata
who
were
discontent
with,
and
opposed
to,
the
development
of
capitalism.
But
owing
to
difference
in
political
attitudes,
they
split
into
two
schools. Some romantic writers reflected the thinking of classes ruined by bourgeoisie, protested
against capitalist development, and turned to the feudal past. They were frightened by the coming
of industrialism and the nightmare towns of industry; they were turning to nature for protection.
They
were
called
passive
or
escapist
romanticists,
represented
by
Wordsworth,
Coleridge
and
Southey. Others expressed the aspirations of the classes created by capitalism and held out an ideal,
though a vague one, of a future society free from oppression and exploitation. These poets were
called active romanticists represented by Byron, Shelley and Keats. Nature is the dominant subject
matter for most romantic poets of this time.

Romantic prose of the time was represented by Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quincey and Hunt.