openings英国文学史及选读知识要点I

2021年1月20日发(作者：恨的英文)
Part

I The Anglo-Saxon Period(449-1066)

I Background

449 the Teutons ( the Jutes, the Anglos, the Saxons)
II Literature
The literature of this period falls into two divisions
—
pagan and Christian
Two Anglo-saxon Christian poets:
Caedmon
（凯德蒙，公元
7
世纪盎各鲁－萨克逊基督教诗人）
who lived in the latter half of the
7
th
century and who wrote a poetic Paraphrase of the Bible.
Cynewulf

（基涅武甫
,
盎各鲁――萨克逊诗人，生活在公 元
9
世纪，其古英语诗稿于
10
世纪被发现，有
《埃琳娜》
,
《使徒们的命运》
，
《基督升天》和《朱莉安娜》
）
,
the
author
of
poems
on
religious
subjects

III
The Song of Beowulf
(
Beowulf,
公元
7-8
世纪之交开始流传于民间的同名史诗中的主人公，
曾与水
怪，火龙搏斗
)

Status: England
’
s national epic
Written at the beginning of the tenth century
Composed much earlier
Length:3182
The whole song is essentially pagan in spirit and matter.

Features : alliteration; metaphors; understatement
Subject matter


















Part II The Anglo-Norman Period (1066
—
1350)
I

historical

background: The Norman Conquest

II. The Literature
The
literature
which
they
brought
to
England
is
remarkable
for
its
bright,
romantic
tales of love and adventure.
III. Romance
1. Romance was the prevailing form of literature in feudal England.
2. Definition and features(
理解
)

IV
. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
a late-14th century middle-English outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of
King

Arthur
’
s Round Table.
It was a verse romance of 2530 lines, considered as the best of Arthurian romances.

Part III

Geoffrey Chaucer(1340?-1400)
I Major works
The Romaunt of the Rose
《玫瑰传奇》

is a translation from a French poem.
His masterpiece:
The Canterbury Tales
II Contributions
1. Chaucer
—
the forerunner of Renaissanc
e

2. Chaucer
–
a master of realism
3

Chaucer
—“
father of English poetry
”

①
In
contradistinction
to
the
alliterative
verse
of
the
Anglo-Saxon
poetry,
Chaucer
chose the metrical form which laid the foundation of the English tonic-syllabic verse.

②

He
introduced
from
France
the
rhymed
couplet
(two
successive
lines
of
verse
equal in length and with thyme) of iambic pentameter which is to be called later
the
heroic couplet
III the Canterbury tales
1. status
The Canterbury Tales
is Chaucer's masterpiece and one of the monumental works in
English literature
2. It contains


(1) a general prologue (over 800 lines)

(2) 24 tales

(3) separate prologues and
“
the links that

accompany some of the tales
‖



Part IV


The Renaissance
I.

The Renaissance
Features
①

A thirsting curiosity for the classical literature.
②

The keen interest in the activities of humanity.

Essence: humanism
II. The 16th century England
III. The Renaissance Literature in England

Figures
1/ Thomas More (1478-1535,
托马斯
·
莫尔
)
—

the Forerunner of utopian socialism

Utopia
《乌托邦》

(1516)
2/ France Bacon (1561-1626,
弗朗西斯
·
培根）
--the scientist, philosopher and essayist

3/
Thomas
Wyatt
(1503?-1542,
托玛斯
·
维亚特）
--a
poet,
the
first
to
introduce
the
sonnet into English literature
4/.
Edmund Spenser
(1552-1599,
埃德蒙
·
斯宾塞
)
，
a great poet
The Faerie Queene

《仙后》
（
1590
）


5/

Christopher Marlowe(1564-1593)
—
the greatest

pioneer of English drama
Contributions:
He reformed the genre of drama in England and perfected the language and verse of
dramatic works.
He made blank verse the principal vehicle of expression in drama
6/ Prose writers
John
Lily(1553-1606
，约翰
·
黎利
)


Eupheus

（尤弗伊斯）
gives
the
term
of

euphuism
Thomas Loge (1558-1625
，托马斯
·
洛奇
)
Thomas Deloney (1543-1600,
托马斯
·
德罗尼）

Thomas Nashe
（
1567-1601
，托马斯
·
纳西）



William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
I.
status:
the
greatest
of
all
English
authors;
one
of
those
rare
geniuses
of
mankind; landmark in the history of world culture; one of the first founders of
realism; a masterhand at realistic portrayal of human characters and relations

the
greatest
dramatist
in
human
history
and
the
supreme
poet
of
the
English
language
—
he wrote poems and plays

II works
①
Poems

sonnets: 154










2 narrative poems

Venus and Adonis
《维纳斯和阿多尼斯》

The Rape of Lucrece

《鲁克莉斯受辱记》

②


plays(38)


tragedies


Romeo and Juliet
4 great tragedies
(
Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth
)

comedies
Mid-
Summer’ Night’s
Dream

histories
III.

Selected reading

①

Hamlet
②

Sonnet 18


Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
I

title
：

Philosopher,
scientist

(the
inventor
of
scientific
method);
Statesman
Jurist(
法学家）
;
essayist
II. works

Bacon
’
s works

may be divided into three classes:

a.


the philosophical works:








Advancement of Learning
(1605, in English)






Novum Organum
(1620, in Latin)






De Augmentis
(1623, in latin)

b.


the literary works:









Essays
( 1597,1612, 1625)

c.

the professional works:








Maxism of the Law





Reading on the Statute of Uses

用益权法


Part V

The 17th Century
The period of Revolution and Restoration
I. Social Background
1.
The
17th
century
was
one
of
the
most
tempestuous[
动荡的
]
periods
in
English history.

2.

In 1642, the civil war (English revolution/ Puritan revolution) broke out
between Charles I and the parliament.

3. The restoration (1660)
4.

The glorious revolution(1688)
II. Puritan and Puritanism
III. Literature of the 17th century
1.

The revolution period
General Characteristics

①

The Revolution Period was one of confusion in literature due to the breaking
up
of
the
old
ideals.
The
Puritans
believed
in
simplicity
of
life.
They
disapproved of the sonnets and the love poetry written in the previous period.
②

The Puritan influence in general tended to suppress literary art. Yet this hard,
stern sect produced a great poet, John Milton, and a great prose writer, John
Bunyan.
③


Literature
in
the
Puritan
Age
expressed
sadness.
Even
its
brightest
hours
were followed by gloom and pessimism.
④

John Milton, whose work would glorify any age and people, and in his work
the indomitable
（不屈服的）
revolutionary spirit found its noblest expression.
For this reason, this period is also called Age of Milton
．

⑤

The main literary form of the period was poetry. Besides Milton, there were
two other groups of poets, the Metaphysical Poets and the Cavalier Poets.

2. Literature of the Restoration
general characteristics

①

a sudden breaking away from old standards

②

Restoration
literature
is
deeply
influenced
by
French
classical
taste.
It
is
a
period of French influence.

















rimed couplets- blank verse
















The

unities
















A more regular construction
















The presentations of types rather than individuals

③

restoration comedies



Restoration created a literature of its own that was often witty and clever, but on
the
whole
immoral
and
cynical.
The
most
popular
genre
was
that
of
comedy
whose
chief
aim
was
to
entertain
the
licentious
aristocrats.
The
comedies
are
coarse
in
language
and
their
view
of
the
relations
between
men
and
women
is
immoral and dishonest.


④
John Dryden (1631-1670)








critic, poet, and playwright




the most distinguished literary figure of the time


(
一
)John Donne (1573-1631)
I
①

The founder of the Metaphysical School and very influential upon modern
writers
②
a preacher famous for his magnificent sermons at his time

III Major Works
Early works:

Songs and Sonnets
( written before 1600, 55 love poems)





















The

Flea
《跳蚤》











Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star










Woman’
s Constancy
《女人的忠贞》











A Valediction : of Weeping
《别离辞：哭泣》











A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
《别离辞：节哀》


late works: Religious poems and sermons
(
二
) John Milton(1608-1674)
I status
①
A great puritan poet
②

his work would glorify any age or people, and in him the indomitable puritan spirit finds the
noblest expression.
II Milton
’
s Works
Three literary periods:
①

early period: poems written in Cambridge and at Horton
②

middle-aged period: prose pamphlets

Areopagitica


(
Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed

Printing,
1644 )
Eikonoklaste
s (
Image Breaker,
1649)
Defense for the English People
(1650)
③

the period of his old age :great poems








Paradise Lost
(1658-1664)



Paradise Regained
(1671)



Samson Agonistes
(1671)
III
Paradise Lost

①

status:

?

the only great epic since
Beowulf
?

one of the greatest poems of the English language





②
Theme