英文杂志英国文学知识点总结

英国文学知识点总结

Part One Early and Medieval English literature

&

Masterpiece: “The Song of Beowulf ”

1.

Significance:

?

The national epic of the English people;

?

A folk legend brought to England by Anglo-Saxons from Northern Europe;

?

Passed from mouth to mouth for hundreds of years before written down in

the 10th century;

?

The

most

important

and

representative

work

of

the

Old

English

(the

Anglo-Saxon )literature.

2. Characters:

Beowulf: nephew of Hygelac

Hygelac: king of Geats in Jutland

Hrothgar: king of the Danes

Grendel: a monster

3. Plot:

(1) Beowulf’s fight with the monster Grendel in Hrothgar’s hall

(2) Beowulf’s slaying of Grendel’s mother in her lair

(3) Beowulf’s return to his u

ncle, and his succession to the throne.

(4) Beowulf’s victory in death, fifty years later, over the fire dragon

4.

Features:

?

i.

Position

: The national epic and the first long poem in English .

?

ii.

Rhyme

:

The

poem

is

written

in

alliterative

verse

in

a

line,

with

4

accents in a line , three of which show alliteration( beginning with the same

consonant sound )

?

iii.

Rhetorics

: A figurative language is used , which is called “kenning”

or metaphor .

?

iv.

Structure

: It is written in inverted order with two parts in a line (as

pause)

&

The Medieval English Literature

I. Romance : (in prose or verse form)

a.

Subject matter (

题材，话题，论题

)

（

See the

de finition

）

：

The life and adventures of a noble hero , generally a knight

b. Theme (

)

（

See the definition

）

：

The loyalty to the king and lord .

c. Three romance cycles (

传奇故事系列

)

The Matter of France

(about Charlemagne and his peers )

The Matter of Rome

(about Alexander the Great )

The Matter of Britain(about the adventures of King Arthur and his Knights

of the Round Table)

d. The class nature of Romance :

It’

s written for the upper class

Chivalry

（骑士精神）

is

represented

to

show

the

quality

of

the

knight

:

courage , honor , courtesy , loyalty and devotion to the helpless , the weak

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英国文学知识点总结

and women .

e. Masterpiece :

“Sir Gawin and the Green Knight”

《

高文爵士和绿衣骑士》

in alliterative verse .

* Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)

1.

Position:

i.“The

father

of

English

poetry”

ii.

The

founder

of

English

realism (by Gorky)iii. The forerunner of humanism .

2. Contribution:

introduced

the

“heroic

couplet”

(the

rhymed

couplet

of

iambic

pentameter

抑扬格五音步

)

ii. He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language .

iii. He did much in making the dialect of London the foundation for modern

English speech .

3. Literary Creation:

Influenced by

：

Dante (1265-1321):

“The Divine Comedy”

Petrarch (1307-1374) :

“Sonnets”

Boccaccio (1313-1375):

“Decameron”

4. Masterpiece : “The Canterbury Tales”

i. Significance :

a. A comprehensive picture of Chaucer's time a splendid realistic portrayal .

b.

An

artistic

corridor

of

people

from

all

walks

of

life

in

the

medieval

England :

a)

the

gentle

class:

knight

,

squire

,

monk

prioress

(

女修道院的院长

),

the oxford scholar .

b) the burgher class : tradesman , carpenter , weaver , the Wife of Bath ,

lawyer

c. Realism and Humanism is revealed :

The praise of man’s energy quick wit and love of life .

The equal right of man and woman to pursue their happiness on earth and

the opposition of the dogma of asceticism.

ii.

Features:

a. Structural features :

a) A prologue and 24 tales

b) All the tales are closely knitted by interspersing

them with the talk ,the quarrels , opinions of the pilgrims and especially the

judgment of the innkeeper .

b. Literary features :

Heroic

couplet

:

a

pair

of

rhyming

iambic

pentameter

lines .Tone

:

gentle

satire and mild irony .

& The English Ballads

(Popular Ballads)

1. Literary Features :i. English folk literature in feudal society .

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ii.

In

song

,

usually

in

4-line

stanza

,

with

the

2nd

and

4th

lines

rhymed .

iii.

iambic trimeter / tetrameter

抑扬格三音步

/

四音步

2. Themes :i.

The struggle of young lovers against their feudal families.

ii. The conflict between love and wealth.

iii. The cruel effect of jealousy.

iv. The border wars between England and Scotland.

v.

The matters of class struggle.

3. Masterpieces:

1)

Robin

Hood

Ballads

:

gathered

into

a

collection

called

“The

Geste

of

Robin Hood”

2) “Ro

bin Hood and Allan

–

a

–

Dale” “Get up and Bar the Door”“Sir Patrick

Spans”

Robin Hood

?

Status: a yeoman forced to be an outlaw/fugitive

?

Deeds: Greenwood of Sherwood Forest near Nottingham in the center of

England

?

Hunting the King’s deer, robbing from the r

ich and distributing among the

poor

?

Friends and followers: the Merry Men (Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet,

and the romantic minstrel Alan-a-Dale)

?

His enemy: the Sheriff of Nottingham

?

His wife: Maid Marian

4. Linguistic characteristics:

1) economy of words2) direct speech3) repetition4) easily to be song

&

Romance

?

It uses narrative verse or prose to sing knightly adventures or other heroic

deeds is a popular literary form in the medieval period. It has developed the

characteristic medieval motifs of the quest, the test, the meeting with the evil

giant and the encounter with the beautiful beloved.

?

The

hero

is

usually

the

knight,

who

sets

out

on

a

journey

to

accomplish

some missions. There is often mysteries and fantasies in romance.

?

Romantic love is an important part of the plot in romance. Characterization

is

standardized,

while

the

structure

is

loose

and

episodic,

the

language

is

simple and straightforward.

?

The importance of the romance itself can be seen as a means of showing

medieval aristocratic men and women in relation to their idealized view of

the world.

?

Questions for consideration:

1. The features of the medieval English literature ?

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2. The significance of

The Canterbury Tales

?

3. The literary features of English ballads ?

4. The differences between romance and ballad

Part II

The English Renaissance

&Literary influence of the Bible on English language:

Household words from Bible:

root of all evil

万恶之源

clear as crystal

极其明白

a thorn in the flesh

眼中钉，肉中刺

to cast pearls before swine

明珠投暗

a labor of love

不计

较报酬的工作

eye for eye , tooth for tooth

以眼还眼，以牙还牙

The Development of Literature

i. The Beginning of the English Renaissance

a.

Geoffrey Chaucer

（

1340-1400

）

The forerunner of English Renaissance

b.

William

Caxton

introducing

printing

to

England

in

1476

bringing

a

multitude of classical works .

& c.

Thomas More

(1478-1535) The first humanist in England

I. Introduction

Great thinker and humanist in the Renaissance

II. Masterpiece: “

Utopia”

Utopia, from two Greek words meaning “nowhere”, is an island discovered

on a voyage to the newly discovered Americas.

It is an description of the ideal communist society and ideal commonwealth,

where property is held in common and there is no poverty.

Practical basis for the communist society:

From

everyone

according

to

his

capacities

,to

everyone

according

to

his

need

”

各尽所能，按需分配

)

B. Different Genres and their representatives: essay, poetry, drama

a. essayist: Francis Bacon

:Thomas

Wyatt,

HenryHoward,Sir

Philip

Sidney,

Edmund

Spenser,

William Shakespeare

c. dramatists/playwrights: Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben

Jonson

&1. Francis Bacon

A. Position and Contribution:

He

is

the

first

great

essayist

.

He

is

the

founder

of

English

materialist

philosophy

（唯物主义哲学）

He

is

the

founder

of

modern

science

in

England .Inductive Method of Reasoning (

归纳法

) was stated in his essay

“New Instrument”He represents the intellectual energy of the age .

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B. Masterpiece:

a. “

Advancement of Learning

”

《科学的进展》

b. “

New Instrument

”

新工具

c. “

Essays

”

《随笔集》

Subjects : love truth , friendship , parents and children , beauties , studies ,

riches , youth and ages , death etc .

Features : clearness ,brevity and force of expression .

C. Wise Sayings:“Knowledge is power”

“Men fear death, as chi

ldren fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in

children is increased with tales, so is the other. “

人们惧伯死亡，

正如孩童惧< /p>

于黑暗中行路：

孩童心中的恐惧感随着听到的童话故

事的增多而增长，

人们对死亡的惧怕亦是如此。< /p>

”

“Reading makes a full man , conference a ready man and writing an exact

man”.

“

读书使人充实，讨论使人机智，笔 记使人准确。

”

“Studies serve for delight, for ornament,

and for ability”.

“

读书足以怡情，足以博采，足以长才。

”

“Histories

make

men

wise;

poet,

witty;

the

mathematics,

subtle,

natural

philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. Abeunt

studia in mores”.

-----

From “Of Study”

“

< br>读史使人明智，读诗使人灵秀，数学使人周密，科学使人深刻，伦理

使人庄重，逻 辑修辞之学使人善辩。凡有所学，皆成性格。

”

& 2. Thomas Wyatt

托马斯

·

怀 亚特

（

1503

－

42

）

: The first to introduce the

sonnet into English literature.

& 3. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517?-47)

萨里伯爵

He wrote the first English blank verse (

无韵诗，素体诗

) to be masterfully

used by Shakespeare and Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson etc.

& 4. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86)

菲利普

·

锡德尼

Status: poet and critic of poetry

Masterpiece:a. “

Astrophel and Stella

” (1591)

《爱星者和星星》

: a collection

of sonnets

“astrophel” stands for “star” and “stella” stands for “star lover”

b.

“Apology

for

Poetry/Poesy

”

《为诗一辩》

one

of

the

earliest

literary

essays to answer the Puritan attack on poetry.

Main ideas:

& 5.

Edmund Spenser

In 1594, he married Elizabeth Boyle, the lady in his

sonnet sequence

Major works:

“The Shepherds’ Calendar”

《牧人月历》

“Amoretti” (1595)

(one of the three famous sonnet sequence)

《