古英语和中世纪英语

第一章

古英语时期和中世纪时期的英国文学考点

1. The Old English poetry can be divided into two groups: the religious group and the

secular one. The Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Beowulf

《贝尔武夫》

,

a

typical

example

of

Old

English

poetry

,

is

regarded

as

the

greatest

national epic of

the Anglo-Saxons.

The epic describes

the exploits of a Scandinavian

hero, Beowulf,

in

fighting against the

monster Grendel,

his

revengeful

mother, and a

fire-breathing

dragon

in

his

declining

years.

While

fighting

against

the

dragon,

Beowulf was

mortally

wounded. However, he killed

the dragon at the cost of his

life.

Beowulf is shown not only as a glorious hero but also as a protector of the people.

2.

Romance

is

a

popular

literary

form

in

the

medieval

England.

It

sings

knightly

adventures

or

other

heroic

deeds.

Chivalry

(such

as

bravery

,

honor,

generosity

,

and

kindness to the weak and poor) is the spirit of romance.

3. John Gower is the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the best romance of

the period.

William

Langland

is

a

more

realistic

writer

who

dealt

with

the

religious

and

social

issues of his day in Piers Plowman

《农夫皮尔斯》

.

4.

Geoffry

Chaucer

is

the

greatest

writer

of

Middle

Ages.

His

masterpiece

The

Canterbury Tales

< br>《

坎特伯蕾故事集》

presents, for the first time in English literature, a

comprehensive realistic

picture of the

medieval

English society and creates a whole

gall

ery of

vivid characters

from all

walks of

life. In ―The Canterbury Tales‖, Chaucer

developed

his

art

of

poetry

still

further

towards

drama

and

the

art

of

the

novel.

In

Troilus

and

Criseyd,

he

gave

the

world

what

is

virtually

the

first

modern

novel.

Chaucer

wrote

in

Middle

English

and

did

much

in

making

London

dialect

the

foundation

for

modern

English

language.

Though

essentially

still

a

medieval

writer,

Chaucer bore marks of humanism and anticipated a new era to come. As a forerunner

of

humanism,

he praises

man’s energy

,

intellect, quick

wit and

love of

life.

His tales

exposed

and

satirized

the

evils

of

his

time.

These

tales

attacked

the

degeneration

of

the

noble,

the

heartlessness

of

the

judge,

the

corruption

of

the

church,

etc.

In

his

works,

he

developed

his

characterization

to

a

higher

level

by

presenting

characters

with both typical qualities and individual dispositions. ―The Wife of Bath‖ is a famous

tale

in

which

the

heroine

is

depicted

as

the

new

bourgeois.

Taking

the

stand

of

the

rising bourgeoisie,

he affirms

men and opposes the dogma of asceticism preached by

the

church.

Chaucer

introduced

from

France

rhymed

stanzas

of

various

types

into

English poetry to replace the Old English alliterative verse. It was he who used for the

first time in English the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter that was later called the

―heroic couplet‖. The Chaucer’s reputation has been securely established as one of the

best English poets for his wisdom, humor, and humanity

. John Dryden called Chaucer

the father of English poetry

.

第二章

文艺复兴时期的英国文学考点

1. Renaissance refers to the transitional period from the medieval to the modern world.

It

first

started

in

Italy

in

the

14th

century

,

lasting

into

the

17th

century

.

The

Renaissance

means

rebirth

or

revival.

It

was

marked

by

a

humanistic

revival

of

ancient

Roman and

Greek classics expressed

in a

flowering of the

arts and

literature

and

by

the

beginnings

of

modern

science.

Humanism

is

the

essence

of

the

Renaissance.

The

English

Renaissance did

not begin

until the

reign of Henry VIII.

It

was

usually

regarded

as

England’s

Golden

Age,

especially

in

literature.

Among

the

literary

giants

were

Shakespeare,

Spenser,

Johnson,

Sidney

,

Marlowe,

Bacon

and

Donne, and John Milton was the

last

great poet of

the

English

Renaissance.

The real

mainstream of the English Renaissance is the Elizabethan drama.

2. Humanism

is

the

essence of the Renaissance.

It

emphasizes the dignity of

human

beings and the importance of the present life. Humanists voiced their beliefs that man

was the center of the universe and man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty

of the present life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.

3.

Petrarch

was

regarded

as

the

fountainhead

of

literature

by

the

English

writers.

Wyatt

introduced

the

Petrarchan

sonnet

into

England.

Surrey

brought

in

blank

verse

（无韵体诗）

，

i.e. the unrhymed iambic

（抑扬格的）

pentameter

（五音步 的）

line.

4.

Renaissance

drama:

the

Elizabethan

drama

is

the

real

mainstream

of

the

English

Renaissance.

English

dramas

were

influenced

by

the

Greek

and

Roman

classics.

Thomas

Kyd

wrote

the

earliest

popular

tragedy

of

blood

and

revenge,

The

Spanish

Tragedy

.

The

most

famous

dramatists

in

the

Renaissance

England

are

Christopher

Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and Ben Johnson. Elizabethan drama reached its peak

in

Shakespeare’s

works.

Shakespeare’s

compassionate

understanding

of

the

human

fate

has perpetuated

his

greatness and

made

him

the representative

figure of

English

literature

for the whole world. Francis Bacon was the

first

important

English essayist.

He was the

founder of

modern science

in England. His writing paved the way

for the

use of scientific method.

5.

University

Wit

refers

to

any

of

a

notable

group

of

pioneer

English

dramatists

writing

during

the

last

15

years

of

the

16th

century

.

They

transformed

the

native

dramatic

inheritance of

interlude and chronicle play

into a potentially

great drama by

writing plays of quality and diversity

. In doing so they prepared the ground for genius

of

William

Shakespeare.

Their

forerunner

was

John

Lily,

Christopher

Marlowe,

Thomas Nashe, Robert Green, and Thomas Kyd, etc. All these writers except Thomas

Kyd took degrees from universities like Oxford and Cambridge.

6.

Edmund

Spenser:

The

Shepherd’s

Calendar

is

his

early

work.

Spenser’s

masterpiece

is

the Faerie Queene

《仙后》

, a

great poem of

its age.

There are

five

main

qualities

in

Spenser’s

poetry:

a

perfect

melody;

a

rare

sense

of

beauty;

a

splendid

imagination; a

lofty

moral purity and seriousness, and a dedicated

idealism.

It is Spenser’s idealism, his love of beauty

, and his exquisite melody that earn him the

title

of

―the

poets’

poet.‖

(

诗人的诗人

)The

Faerie

Queene

is

written

in

the

stanza

invented by Spenser himself, the Spenserian stanza, i.e., a stanza

（诗的一节）

of nine

lines,

with

the

first

eight

lines

in

iambic

pentameter

and

the

last

line

in

iambic

hexameter

（六音步）

, rhyming ababbcbcc.

opher Marlowe:

(1) As

the

most

gifted of the

―University

Wits‖, Marlowe composed six plays

within

his short lifetime. Among them the most important are: Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus, The

Jew

of

Malta

and

Edward

II.

Tamburlaine

is

a

play

about

an

ambitious

and

pitiless

Tartar

conqueror

in

the

fourteenth

century

who

rose

from

a

shepherd

to

an

overpowering

king.

By

depicting

a

great

hero

with

high

ambition

and

sheer

brutal

force

in conquering one enemy after another, Morlowe

voiced the supreme desire of

the

man

of

the

Renaissance

for

infinite

power

and

authority

.

Dr.

Faustus

is

a

play

based

on

the

German

legend

of

a

magician

aspiring

for

knowledge

and

finally

meeting

his

tragic

end

as

a

result

of

selling

his

soul

to

the

Devil.

It

celebrates

the

human passion

for knowledge, power and

happiness;

it also reveals

man’s

frustration

in realizing the

high aspirations

in a hostile

moral order. And the confinement to time

is

the

cruelest

fact

of

man’

s

condition.

The

play

is

a

good

example

to

illustrate

the

idea that a man gains the whole world but loses his own soul.

(2)

Marlowe’s

greatest

literary

achievement

lies

in

that

he

perfected

the

blank

verse

and made it the principal medium of English drama. He brought vitality and grandeur

into the blank

verse with

his

―mighty

lines‖ which carry strong emotions. Marlowe’s

second achievement

is

his creation of

the

Renaissance

hero

for

English drama. Such

hero

is always

individualistic and

full of

ambition,

facing bravely

the challenge

from

both

gods

and

men.

Such

a

hero

embodies

Marlowe’s

humanistic

ideal

of

human

dignity and capacity

. With the endless aspiration for power, knowledge, and glory

, the

hero embodies the true Renaissance spirit.

8. William Shakespeare (1564

—

1616):

(1)

Shakespeare

was

born

on

April

23,

1564,

into

a

merchant’s

family

in

Stratford-on-Avon.

In

1582,

he

got

married

and

had

three

children.

It

was

probably

because

he

had

to

support

his

growing

family

that

he

left

for

London.

Shakespeare

wrote

38

plays,

154

sonnets

and

2

long

poems.

He

is

the

greatest

dramatist

of

the

English

Renaissance.

Shakespeare

is

above

all

writers

in

the

past

and

in

the

present

time.

Robert Greene, one of the

―University Wits‖, resentfully declared

him

to be ―an

upstart crow.‖

He died on April 23, 1616. Shakespeare is surpassingly great because

his works never

fail to bear a kind of closeness to

human

life and

never

fail

to be the

mirror

reflecting

human

nature.

Shakespeare

is

so

great

that

maybe

only

Ben

Johnson

’s praising poem will somewhat cover his greatness: ―…Soul of the Age! The

applause!

delight!

The

wonder

of

our

stage!

Triumph,

my

Britain,

thou

hast

one

to

show

To

whom all scenes of

Europe

homage owe.

He

was

not of an age, but

for all

time!‖

(2) Shakesp

eare’s four dramatic periods:

a.

His

first

dramatic

period

was

one

of

apprenticeship.

He

wrote

five

history

plays:

Henry

VI, Parts I,

II, and III,

Richard III, and

Titus

Andronicus; and

four comedies:

The Comedy of Errors, The Two Gentlemen of V

erona, The Taming of the Shrew, and

Love’s Labour’s Lost.

b. His second dramatic period was

highly

individualized. He wrote

five

history plays:

Richard

II,

King

John,

Henry

IV

,

Parts

I

and

II,

and

Henry

V;

six

comedies:

A

Midsummer Night’s

Dream,

The Merchant of

V

e

nice, Much

Ado About Nothing,

As

Y

ou

Like

It,

Twelfth

Night,

and

The

Merry

Wives

of

Windsor;

and

two

tragedies:

Romeo

and

Juliet

and

Julius

Caesar.

Romeo

and

Juliet

eulogizes

the

faithfulness

of

love

and

the

spirit

of

pursuing

happiness.

The

play

,

though

a

tragedy,

is

permeated

with

optimistic

spirit.

Shakespeare’s

history

plays

of

these

two

periods

are

mainly

written

under

the principle that

national

unity

under a

mighty and

just sovereign

is a

necessity

.

c. His third period includes his greatest tragedies and his so-called dark comedies. The

tragedies

of

this

period

are:

Hamlet,

Othello,

King

Lear,

Macbeth,

Antony

and

Cleopatra,

Troilus

and

Cressida,

and

Coriolanus.

The

two

comedies

are:

All’s

Well

That

Ends Well and Measure

for Measure.

Hamlet, Othello, King

Lear, and Macbeth

are Shakespeare’s four greatest tragedies. They have some characteristics in common.

Each

tragedy

portrays

a

noble

hero,

who

faces

the

injustice

of

human

life

and

is

caught

in a difficult situation and whose

fate

is closely connected

with

the

fate of the

whole

nation.

Each

hero

has

his

weakness

of

nature:

Hamlet,

the

melancholic

scholar-

prince, faces the dilemma between action and mind; Othello’s inner weakness

is

made use of by the outside evil

force; the old King Lear who

is unwilling

to totally

give

up

his

power

makes

himself

suffer

from

treachery

and

infidelity

.

In

King

Lear,

Shakespeare

has

not only

made a profound analysis of the social crisis

in which

the

evils can be seen everywhere, but also criticized the bourgeois egoism; an

d Macbeth’s

lust

for

power

stirs

ups

his

ambition

and

leads

him

to

incessant

crimes.

In

these

tragedies

Shakespeare

portrays

the

weakness

of

each

hero

and

shows

the

conflict

between the individual and the evil force in the society

.

d.

Shakespeare’s

last

p

eriod

includes

romantic

tragicomedies:

Pericles

Cymbeline,

The

Winter’s

Tale,

The

Tempest,

Henry

VIII

and

The

Two

Noble

Kinsmen.

The

Tempest is the best of his final romances. It typically shows Shakespeare’s pessimistic

views towards human life and society in his late years.

e. Shakespeare’s non

-dramatic poetry consists of two long narrative poems: V

enus and

Adonis

and

The

Rape

of

Lucrece

，

and

154

sonnets.

Shakespeare’s

sonnets

are

the

only

direct

expression

of

the

poet’s

own

feelings.

His

sonnets

numbered

1

-126

are

addressed

to

a

young

man,

Shakespea

re’s

beloved

friend.

The

sonnets

numbered

127-

152

involve

a

mistress

of

Shakespeare,

a

mysterious

―Dark

Lady‖.

His

sonnets’

most

common

themes

concern

the

destructive

effects

of

time,

the

quickness

of

physical

decay

,

and

the

loss

of

beauty

,

vigor,

and

love.

Sonnet

18

is

one

of

Shakespeare’s

most

beautiful

sonnets.

In

the

poem

he

has

a

profound

meditation

on

the destructive power of time and the eternal beauty brought forth by poetry to the one

he

loves. A

nice summer’s day

is

usually

transient, but the beau

ty

in poetry can

last

for ever. Thus Shakespeare

has a

faith

in the permanence of poetry

. The rhyme of the

poem is abab cdcd efef gg.

(3) Shakespeare’s literary ideas:

As a

humanist

writer, Shakespeare

has accepted

the

Renaissance

views on

literature.

He

holds

that

literature

should

be

a

combination

of

beauty

,

kindness

and

truth,

and

should

reflect

nature

and

reality

.

He

claims

through

the

mouth

of

Hamlet

that

the

―end‖

of

dramatic

creation

is

to

give

faithful

reflection

of

the

social

realities

of

the

time. He also says that literary works which have truly reflected nature and reality can

reach immortality

.

(4) The Merchant of Venice:

The

play

has

a

double

plot:

an

impoverished

young

man,

Bassanio

asks

his

friend,

Antonio,

for

a

loan

so

that

he

might

marry

Portia,

a

rich

and

beautiful

heiress

of

Belmont. They fall in love with each other at first sight. Bassanio passes the test of the

caskets

and

he

chooses

the

right

one

containing

Portia’s

portrait.

However,

their

rejoicing

is

interrupted

by

a

letter

fro

m

Antonio;

Antonio’s

money

is

all

invested

in

mercantile

expeditions.

He

has

to

borrow

money

from

Shylock,

the

Jewish

usurer.

Shylock

has

made a strange bond requiring

Antonio to surrender a pound of

his

flesh

if

he

fails

to repay

him within a certain peri

od of time.

Antonio’s

letter reads that

his

ships are

lost at sea, and he

is penniless, and will

have to pay the pound of

flesh.

The

most

famous part of the comedy

is Act IV

, Scene I. It

is the

major climax of the play

.

It

takes place

in

a court of

law at

which Portia appears disguised as a

young

lawyer

instructed to judge the case. She

first appeals to Shylock to

have

mercy

. But when

he

insists on the

letter of

the

law,

she

lets

him

have

it.

He

may

take

his pound of

flesh,

but there is no mention of blood

in the bond; if he sheds a single drop of a Christian’s

blood,

his

lands

and

goods

will

be

confiscated

by

the

State

according

to

the

law

of

V

enice.

Thus

Antonio

is saved, and Shylock

has to

undergo certain severe penalties,

including compulsory conversion to Christianity

. The traditional

theme of

the play

is

to praise the

friendship between Antonio and

Bassanio, to

idealize Portia as a heroine

of great beauty

, wit and loyalty

, and to expose the Insatiable greed and brutality of the

Jew.

But people today ten

d

to regard the play as

a satire of the Christian’s

hypocrisy

and

their

false

standards,

their

cunning

ways

of

pursuing

worldliness

and

their

unreasoning prejudice against Jews.

(5) Hamlet

Hamlet

is considered

the

greatest of Shakespeare’s

tragedies.

It

has

the qualities of a

-and-

thunder‖

thriller

and

a

philosophical

exploration

of

life

and

death.

Shakespeare

takes the bare outlines of

Revenge

Tragedy

used

in

Thomas Kyd

in

his

The

Spanish

Tragedy

.

The

timeless

appeal

of

Hamlet

lies

in

its

combination

of

intrigue, emotional conflict and searching philosophic melancholy

. In the play Hamlet

is

urged

by

the

ghost

of

his

father

(who

is

murdered

by

Claudius)

to

seek

revenge.

Hamlet

hesitates

in

his revenge

not because he

is

incapable of action, but because the

cast

of

his

mind

is

so

speculative,

so

questioning,

and

so

contemplative

that

action,

when it finally comes, seems almost like defeat, diminishing rather than adding to the

stature of the hero. He

lives suspended between

fact and

fiction,

language and action.

For Hamlet, soliloquy is a natural medium

，

a necessary release of his anguish. ―To be

or

not

to

be‖

soliloquy

is

the

best

known

and

often

felt

to

be

central

to

Hamlet’s

personality

.

It

provides

an

excellent

example

of

Hamlet

not

doing

anything.

In

his

case

we

can

conclude

that

too

much

thinking

makes

action

impossible.

The

play

is

also

Shakespeare’s

most

detailed

expose

of

a

corrupted

court

----

―an

unweeded

garden‖

in which there

is

nothing but

―a

foul and pestilent congregation of

vapours‖

（汇集着各种罪恶肮脏的气体）

.

(6) Macbeth

Macbeth

is one of Shakespeare

’s

four

greatest tragedies. He

is

introduced

in the play

as a warrior

hero, whose

fame on the battlefield

wins

him

great

honor

from

the king.

His

physical

courage

is

joined

by

a

consuming

ambition

and

a

tendency

to

self- doubt----the

prediction

that

he

will

be

king

brings

him

joy

,

but

it

also

creates

inner

turmoil.

These

three

attributes----bravery

,

ambition,

and

self-doubt----struggle

for

mastery of Macbeth throughout

the play

. Shakespeare

uses Macbeth

to show

the

terrible

effects

that

ambition

and

guilt

can

have

on

a

man

who

lacks

strength

of

character.

(7) King Lear

Lear’s

basic

flaw

at

the

beginning

of

the

play

is

that

he

values

appearances

above

reality

. He

wants to be treated as a king and

to enjoy

the title, but

he doesn’t want to

fulfill a king’s o

bligations of governing for the good of his subjects. Similarly

, his test

of

his

daughters

demonstrates

that

he

values

a

flattering

public

display

of

love

over

real

love.

But

his

values

do

change

over

the

course

of

the

play

.

As

he

realizes

his

weakness

and

insignificance

in

comparison

to

the

awesome

forces

of

the

natural

world,

he becomes a

humble and caring

individual.

Eventually,

Lear displays regret,

remorse, empathy

, and compassion for the poor, a population that Lear has not noticed

before. He comes to cherish Cordelia above everything else and to place his own love

for Cordelia above every other consideration, to the point that he

would rather

live

in

prison with

her than rule as a king again. King Lear’s

madness:

The

madness

in King

Lear enables

him to realize the essence of a corrupt society

,

in which each

is ready to

destroy the other. He not only sympathizes with the poor but realizes for the first time

with

much

remorse

for

his

former

tyranny

and

indifference

toward

the

suffering

multitude.

The

mad

ness

is

also

the

course

of

Lear’s

spiritual

pilgrimage

from

arrogance into humiliation, misery

, and finally a rebirth into a childlike simplicity and

humility

.

Moreover,

King

Lear

also

presents

Shakespeare’s

affirmation

of

national

unity and royal responsibility. Shakespeare seems to point out

that

the king,

however

great

he

might be, should be responsible

to the people. If,

in one way or another,

he

betrays the people’s

trust,

history will condemn

him.

It

is just at

this point, when

he

seems to have earned an innocent happiness, that his tragic suffering culminates, since

Cordelia meets her death in the very hour of victory

.

9. Francis Bacon

Francis

Bacon,

a

representative

of

the

Renaissance

in

England,

is

a

well-known

philosopher, scientist and essayist. He 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.

His

Essays

is

the

first

example

of

that

genre

in

English

literature.

Bacon

borro

wed

the

term

―essay‖

from

Montaigne,

the

first

great

modern essayist,

the predecessor of Bacon. The Advancement of Learning

is a

great

tract

on

education.

Here

Bacon

highly

praises

knowledge,

refuting

the

objections

to

learning and outlining

the problems

with

which

his plan

is to deal.

Also

he

answers

the charge that learning is against religion. Novum Organum (The New Instrument) is

a successful

treatise

written

in

Latin on

methodology

.

The argument

is

for the

use of

inductive method of reasoning (

归纳推理的方法

) in scientific study

. Of Studies is the

most

popular

of

Bacon’s

essays.

It

analyzes

what

studies

chiefly

serve

for,

the

different

ways

adopted

by

different

people

to

pursue

studies,

and

how

studies

exert

influence

over

human

character.

Forceful

and

persuasive,

compact

and

precise,

the

essay reveals to us Bacon’s mature attitude towards learning. Famous quotations from

Bacon:

Studies

serve

for

delight,

for

ornament

and

for

ability

.

Reading

makes

a

full

man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.

10. Metaphysical Poetry

（玄学派诗歌）

The

term

―metaphysical

poetry‖

is

commonly

used

to

name

the

work

of

the

17th- century writers who wrote

under

the

influence of John Donne. With a rebellious

spirit, the metaphysical poets tried to break away from the conventional fashion of the

Elizabethan

love

poetry

.

The

diction

is

simple

as

compared

with

that

of

the

Elizabethan

or

the

Neoclassical

periods,

and

echoes

the

words

and

cadences

of

common speech. The imagery is drawn from actual life. The form is frequently that of

an argument with the poet’s beloved, with God, or with himself. Modern poets like T.

S. Eliot, John Ransom,

and

Allen

Tate are examples

who

have been

mostly affected

by

the

metaphysical

influence.

11.

metaphysical

conceit:

The

metaphysical

conceit,

associated

with

the

Metaphysical

poets

of

the

17th

century

,

is

a

more

intricate

and

intellectual

device.

It

sets

up

an

analogy

,

usually

between

one

entity’s

spiritual

qualities

and

an

object

in

the

physical

world,

that

sometimes

controls

the

whole

structure

of

the

poem.

For

example,

in

John

Donne’s

A

V

alediction:

Forbidding

Mourning, two lovers’ souls are compared to a draftsman’s compass.

11. John Donne

John

Donne

is

the

leading

figure

of

the

―metaphysical

school‖.

The

most

striking

feature of

Donne’s poetry

is precisely

its tang of reality,

in the sense

that

it

seems to

reflect

life

in a real rather

than a poetical world. John Donne

is a religious poet. His

great

prose

works

are

his

sermons.

It

is

the

obsession

with

death

that

characterizes

Donne’s

mature

re

ligious works.

The Songs and Sonnets

is probably

his best-known

lyrics.

Love

is

the

basic

theme.

Donne

holds

that

the

nature

of

love

is

the

union

of

soul and body

. In his poetry

, Donne frequently applies conceits

（奇想

/

夸张的比喻）

,

i.e.

extended

metaphors

involving

dramatic

contrasts.

His

poem,

The

Sun

Rising,

is

taken from his Songs and Sonnets. The speaker in the poem is showing his annoyance

at the sun entering

the

lover’s secret room without their approval. Also

he

me

ans that

lover’s schedule needn’t follow the sun’s movement. His poem, Death, Be Not Proud,

is

taken

from

his

Holy

Sonnets.

The

poem

means

that

shortly

after

we

die

we

will

wake

up

(as

from

sleep)

and

live

eternally

.

It

reveals

the

poet’s

belief

in

life

af

ter

death: death is but momentary while happiness after death is eternal.

12. John Milton

John

Milton

is

a

versatile

writer.

He

wrote

sonnets,

elegies,

long

narrative

poems,

short

lyrics, and prose works. His

literary ambition of

his

youth was to

write a

n epic

which

England

would

―not

willingly

let

die.‖

As

a

real

revolutionary

,

a

master

poet

and

a

great

prose

writer,

Milton

holds

an

important

place

in

the

history

of

English

literature. His

literary achievements can be divided

into three groups: the early poetic

works,

the

middle

prose

pamphlets

and

the

last

great

poems.

In

his

early

works,

Milton appears as the

inheritor of all

that

was best

in

Elizabethan

literature.

Lycidas,

an elegy dedicated to a drowned

friend,

is a typical example.

His powerful pamp

hlets

in his middle period make him the greatest prose writer of his age. Areopagitica

《论

出版自由》

is probably his most memorable prose work. It is a great plea for freedom

of

the press. But, Milton’s

highest achievements

were

made

in

the

final period of

his

writing

career.

In

the

last

period,

he

wrote

three

major

poetic

works:

Paradise

Lost,

Paradise Regained

and Samson

Agonistes.

Among the three,

the

first

is

the

greatest,

indeed the only

generally

acknowledged epic

in English

literature since Beowulf; and

the

last

one

is

the

most

perfect

example

of

the

verse

drama

after

the

Greek

style

in

English.

Paradise

Regained,

a

long

narrative

poem,

tells

how

man,

in

the

person

of

Christ,

withstands

the

tempter

and

is

established

once

more

in

the

divine

favor.

In

Samson

Agonistes, a

verse drama

modeled on the Greek

tragedy

, Milton presents to

us

a

picture

of

how

Samson,

the

Israel’s

mighty

champion,

brings

destruction

down

upon

the

enemy

at

the

cost

of

his

own

life.

The

whole

poem

strongly

suggests

Milton’s

passionate

longing

like

Samson’s

that

he

too

could

bring

destruction

down

upon the enemy at the cost of

his own

life. In

this sense, Samson

is Milton. Paradise

Lost Paradise Lost, the only generally acknowledged epic in English since Beowulf, is

Milton’s

highest

achieve

ment

(his

masterpiece).

The

story

is

taken

from

the

Bible.

The

theme of the epic

is the

―Fall of Man,‖

i. e.

man’s disobedience and

the

loss of

Paradise, with its prime cause ---- Satan. It intends to expose the ways of Satan and to

―justify

the

ways

of

God

to

men.‖

In

Heaven,

Satan

led

a

rebellion

against

God.

Defeated, he and

his angels were cast

into Hell.

However, Satan refused to accept his

failure, vowing that ―all was not lost‖ and that he would seek revenge for his downfall.

In

order

to

achieve

his

ambition,

Satan,

in

the

shape

of

a

snake,

managed

to

tempt

Adam

and

Eve,

the

first

human

beings

created

by

God,

to

eat

fruit

from

the

tree

of

knowledge

against

God’s

instruction.

For

their

disobedience,

Adam

and

Eve

were

driven

out

of

Paradise.

Satan

is

the

real

hero

of

the

poem.

Satan,

in

the

image

of

a

rebel,

remains

obeyed

and

admired

by

those

who

follow

him

down

to

hell.

The

features

of

his

character

include

his

boldness,

unbending

ambition

and

―unconquerable will‖. The poem is full of biblical and clas

sical allusions. The majesty

of

expression

suits

well

the

sublimity

of

the

poet’s

thought.

John

Milton’s

style

reminds one of Roman poet Virgil.

第三章

新古典主义时期的英国文学

1. The Enlightenment Movement

（启蒙主义运动）

The eighteenth-century England

is known as

the Age of

Enlightenment or the Age of

Reason.

The

Enlightenment

Movement

was

a

progressive

intellectual

movement

which

flourished

in

France

and

swept

through

Western

Europe

at

the

time.

The

movement

was

a

furtherance

of

the

15th

and

16th

centuries.

Its

purpose

was

to

enlighten

the

whole

world

with

the

light

of

modern

philosophical

and

artistic

ideas.

The enlighteners celebrated reason or rationality, equality and science. They called for

a

reference

to

order,

reason

and

rules

and

advocated

universal

education.

Fa

mous

among

the

great

enlighteners

in

England

were

those

great

writers

like

John

Dryden

（约翰﹒德莱顿）

, Alexander Pope

（亚历山大﹒蒲柏）

, Joseph Addison

（约瑟夫

﹒艾迪森）