《英美文学选读》

《英美文学选读》

Thomas More: Utopia 《乌托邦》 Francis Bacon: Essays 《论说文集》或《随笔》

"Knowledge is power"— Bacon

Edmund Spencer: Faerie Queen 《仙后》 "Our sweetest songs are those that sing of saddest feelings." — Spencer

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

1. 23rd, April 1564, Stratford-on-Avon

2. His Father, a leather merchant 皮货商

3. His school, a local Grammar school for 6 years

4. His life, dramatist, actor, poet, proprietor

5. His first son, Hamnet

6. 4 tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth (Romeo and Juliet)

7. Main works: 37 plays, 154 sonnets , 2 narrative plays

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Titus Andronicus 《泰特斯?安德洛尼克斯》 Taming of the Shrew 《驯悍记》 The Two Gentlemen of Verona 《维罗纳二绅士》

Love's Labor's Lost 《爱的徒劳》 A Midsummer Night's Dream 《仲夏夜之梦》 King John 《约翰王的生平和逝世》 Much Ado about Nothing 《无事生非》 The Merry Wives of Windsor 《温莎的风流娘们》

Julius Caesar 《朱力叶斯?凯撒》 The Merchant of Venice 《威尼斯商人》 As you like it 《皆大欢喜》

8. Carl Marx: "Aeschylus and Shakespeare are the two greatest dramatic genius the world has ever known."

9. His friend: "He does not belong to one time, but belongs to all times

@@@William Shakespeare's writing feature

1. A play in the play.

2. Borrow plots from other stories such as Roman, Greek and ancient myth.

3. Several threads running through the play.

4. Combination of tragic and comic elements.

@@@@William Shakespeare's writing style

1. Tremendous vocabulary (16,000 words, invent words)

2. Literary devices (alliteration, simile, metaphor)

3. Use poetry in his play

@@@William Shakespeare's humanistic ideas

1. Against cruelty and anti-natural character of civil wars

2. Against religious persecution, racial discrimination, social inequality.

3. Hates rebellion and despises democracy

@@@Themes in Shakespeare's sonnets

1. Express love and praise to a young man

2. Immortalize beauty through verses

3. Friendship or betrayal of friendship

@@@Sonnet

Origin: Italy

Most famous and influential sonneteer: Petrach

Selected Reading of Shakespeare:

1. Shakespeare's Sonnet 18:

a. Ladies in the eyes of Shakespeare are not good and beautiful. His wife is 8 years older than him.

b. Iambic pentameter

c. Main ideas:

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i. Quatrain 1: praise the beauty of the young man

ii. Quatrain 2: changes in life and nature

iii. Quatrain 3: "your" beauty will last forever

iv. Co uplet: "your" beauty will live in my poem. à Immortalize beauty 2. An Excerpt from The Merchant of Venice

a. How does Shylock justify himself according to the accusation of Duke and Bassanio? 3 reasons.

b. Why does Shylock stick to his bond instead of taking twice his principle?

He hates the Christians and is determined to revenge on them because his daughter elopes with a Christian.

c. What do you think of Shylock in the early court scene? What about him later?

In the early court scene, Shylock is cruel, eloquent, stubborn, tricky, isolated from law and friendship. In the later court scene, Shylock is

greedy, sympathetic and oppressed by Christians.

d. What is Shakespeare's attitude towards Shylock?

He sympathizes those who are oppressed. Antonio is oppressed by Shylock. Shylock is oppressed by Christians.

e. The whole play is a tragi-comedy. In the scene, Shylock is the tragic side. Antonio and his friends is the comic side.

@@@

John Donne (1572-1631)

1572 Born in a merchant family

1591 Learn law at the Inns of Court in London

Private Secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.

1601 29y. Married Egerton's niece, Ann More. He worked hard to fight against poverty. However, it's a secret marriage. When the marriage was exposed, he was put into jail. The Egertons regarded the marriage as an offence.

1617 His wife died. He devoted his time and efforts to his priestly duties, writing sermons and religious poems.

1621 Donne was appointed the Dean of St. Paul's and kept the post until his death.

@@@John Donne's major work

1. Songs and Sonnets, wrote before 1600, 55 love poems.

2. The Elegies and Satires, his elegies wrote for love whereas others' wrote for mourning dead people.

3. Holy Sonnets & Sermons, Sonnets wrote about God, sexual life, problem of death and life. Sermons are Christian preaching.

@@@John Donne is famed for 3 things

1. A great visitor of ladies

2. A great frequenter of plays

3. A great writer of conceited verses

At his time, John Donne was famed as a preacher. Today, he is famed as a lyric poet. John Donne compared parting love to compass, flea compared to the union of lovers. John Donne's conceit can be seen from his "Go catching the falling star" in which he listed many impossible things—the most impossible thing is a woman's faith and heart.

Metaphysical poetry— is commonly used to name the work of the 17th-century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne.

Metaphysical poets— are the poets in the 17c England who often unconventionally use conceits and wit. The imagery is draw from everyday life. The form is the form of argument (with God, lover, himself). The diction is simple and the language is colloquial but powerful. John Donne is the leading of "metaphysical school".

@@@Selected Reading of John Donne

1. The Sun Rising

2. Death, Be not Proud (1)

@@@

John Milton (1608-1674)

1608 Born in London. A Catholic family. His father was both a

scholar and a businessman.

1620 Educated at St. Paul's School

1625 Educated in Cambridge

1643 Married a 17y. girl younger than him

1649 Appointed Latin Secretary to Cromwell's Council of State

1652 Became totally blind. His wife died. He married again.

@@@3 periods in John Milton's life

1. English revolution

1649 Charles I beheaded. Cromwell took the power

1660 Restoration. Charles II took the power

2. Political ideas: express his political ideas in pamphlets

3. Poem: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes.

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Paradise Lost is a long epic divided into 12 books. The theme is the "Fall of Man", i.e. man's disobedience and the loss of Paradise. The original story is taken from Genesis. Adam and Eve are originally in innocent spiritual love. They are punished by God because they eat the apple of the Tree of Knowledge seduced by a serpent. Since they eat the apple, they begin to make love. God thinks they are not innocent. They committed sin. God drives Adam and Eve out of Eden. Satan is punished by

God to suffer from fire. He knows that he can't win God by power, so he wins God by cheating. He seduced Eve to eat the apple. In Paradise Lost, Satan is the rebel who never bows down to God even when he failed. He is a good military leader. He refuses to acknowledge the power of God. He is determined to continue the battle. He feels sorrow at the sufferings of those angels. He has led to so terrible a punishment, but he is very cruel. He has indomitable pride, unconquerable rebellion, and the will to evil and power. He said, "Only do evil, no good". He tries to be as equal as God.

Selected Reading of John MiltonAn Excerpt from Paradise Lost

@@@Chapter 2 The Neoclassical Period (1600-1798)

The age of reason and enlightenment. It's a turbulent period.

1660 The Restoration

1665 The Great Plague — Black Death. 70,000 died, 2/3 homeless.

1688 The Glorious Revolution. James II exiled abroad. The

persecution of Protestants. James II's daughter Marry and her wife William turned back to England as figurehead (King and Queen) without power. Power was in the Parliament. England became the first capitalist country with Constitutional monarchy, which marked the end of feudal society.

1798 The publication of Lyrics by Wordsworth

@@@Industrial Revolution — at the 2nd half of 18c

Preparations for the revolution

1. money — by trading companies, e.g. East India Company；— by

money investment

2. goods, materials — colonies, e.g. India, North America

3. manpower — "Act of Enclosure". The landless and homeless peasant began to work in cities；— the invention of textile machine In the revolution, Bourgeois (middle class) became the main class in the society. Bankers, landlords, slave traders, merchants, colonists

controlled the economy of the country at the time. They believed in

self-reliance and hard working.

@@@The Giants of the Enlightenment Movement:

Voltaire 伏乐泰, Mosteiqeu 孟德斯鸠, Dierot 狄德罗, Rousseau 卢梭.

@@@Gothic Novel

1. Content: magic, supernatural elements, ghosts, monsters.

2. Setting: old castle, graveyard, dark forest

3. Atmosphere: horrible

@@@

John Bunyan (1628-1688)

1628 Born in a poor tinker's family. He received little education in

a Grammar School

1647 Married a Christian woman and became interested in Christianity.

1660 Bunyan began to preach, but he didn't have a preaching license

so he was put into jail for 6 years.

1665 Great Plague in England, he was released from jail. Few months later, he was in jail again for another 6 years.

1672 Declaration of Independence, he was released again.

1675 His license of lay preacher was temporarily cancelled and he was in prison again.

Throughout his life, he only read one book the Bible. His most famous work is The Pilgrim's Process.

@@@Bunyan's purpose of writing The Pilgrim's Process

1. Urge people to abide by Christian doctrine

2. To seek salvation through struggling with his own weakness and social evils

The content of The Pilgrim's Process is about Christianity. The

title means "life is a journey". It's a metaphor.

@@@Form of The Pilgrim's Process: Allegory

1. A story in verse or prose with double meanings or meanings at two levels.

2. Higher lever - concerning moral, religious, or political ideas. Lower level - your understanding of the story.

3. Main characters in the story Christian, Faithful, Hopeful.

4. The description of the story is realistic religious allegory.

@@@Selected Reading of John Bunyan: "The Vanity Fair" from The Pilgrim's Process

Why "The Vanity Fair" is a satire on the ruling class of Egnland?

1. It's a symbolic picture of London at the time of Restoration

2. In Vanity Fair, everything can be sold and bought, daily necessities, but also honor, kingdom, lust, pleasure and even lives.

3.

Evil things such as cheating, roguery, and adultery are normal in the Vanity Fair where there is no moral. It's a satire of the non-moral English ruling class.

4. Faithful is put to death for his despising of the Vanities. It's

a parallel of Bunyan's experience of imprisoned for preaching.

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@@@John Bunyan's writing style — moded after the Bible

@@@Language — easy to read, colloquial, concrete and concise

@@@Form — allegorical form, realistic, true to life.

@@@Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

1688 Born in the year of Glorious Revolution in a merchant Roman Catholic family. Because of his ill health, he didn't go to university. He received his education from a learned preacher. Because he is a Catholic, he can't do thing for the government. Pope is a deformed person. He suffered severe illness in his childhood. Illness accompanied him throughout his life.

@@@Alexander Pope's major work

1711 An Essay on Criticism. The poem is a manifesto of English neoclassicism. It's expressed Pope's aesthetic theories of poetry. The poem is divided into 3 parts with 744 lines.

Part I: bewailing the lack of true taste in critics; praising the ancients like Homer, Virgil

Part II: enumerating dangers of criticism; referring to literary scene of his day

Part III: giving rules for criticism; tracing the history of

literary criticism.

The poem is a comprehensive study on literary criticism. It was

written in heroic couplet as Pope is a master in heroic couplet. Heroic couplet is 2 lines with the same rhymes, same length. 10 syllables, 5 stressed, 5 unstressed. Heroic couplet was first used by Chaucer.

1712 The Rape of Lock is based on a real event. Bellina is as

beautiful woman as a Goodness. She is admired by all the people around her, esp. a young man name. A Baron cut a small amount of Bellina's hair. In Bellina's opinion, it's an offence. Baron just cut her hair for fun and admiration. So hatred is aroused between the two families. They become enemies. In this poem, Pope satires the idle, meaningless life of middle-class people.

1728 The Dunciad is consisted of 4 books. It's the best satire of Pope. It's a very famous satirical poem about against personal enemies. Pope tries to attack on all personal enemies.

1733-34 An Essay on Man. Pope gained his fame as a poet. It includes 4 epistles (letters). People review his philosophical and political

views as an enlgitener.

@@@Selected Reading of Alexander Pope: An excerpt from Part 2 of An Essay on Criticism.

@@@

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)

He was born in a butcher's family (wealthy but low social status). Defoe never went to university, but received good education in a Dissenting Academy. Defoe has two interests: interest in business and interest in politics.

Interest in business. He started from small business to become rich. He is a gifted man in business.

Interest in politics. His political stand swang between the Whigs and the Tories. He wrote political pamphlets to attack the Whigs, but both of the two parties thought the pamphlets insulted them. So Defoe was sent to jail and pillory. He negotiated with the Prime minister to become a spy to Scotland. He tried to make the union of Scotland and England.

1704, he issued a periodical The Review, on which he voiced his concerns for woman's right, economy, children and parents relationships, politics and other hot issues of the time.

1718, he began to write novel.

1719, his first novel Robinson Crusoe was published. It's based on a true story published on a newspaper. (Alexander is a Scottish who lives in an uninhabited island for 5 years.) The story is about the hero's

life on the island. The first part is about the career of Robinson Crusoe. The body of the novel is about his life on the island after the shipwreck. The story reveals the essence of British colonialism. @@@The themes of Robinson's Crusoe

a. man's struggles against nature

b. glorification of the bourgeois men who has the courage and will

to face hardship and determination to improve his livelihood. c. Glorification of labor (Robinson lives on his own hands)

@@@The style of Robinson's Crusoe

a. realistic style, true to life, in details

b. smooth, simple, colloquial language

c. long sentences are loose; short sentences are plain, easy to understand

d. presents facts in order, the meaning is clear

In the following years, Defoe wrote another 4 novels: Captain

Singleton (1720), Moll Flanders (1722), Colonel Jack (1722) and Roxana (1724). Defoe wrote them in the same pattern. The feature of the pattern:

a. Traces the personal history of the titular hero or heroine of a

low origin. After some ups and downs, he/she finally gets prosperity. b. Deals with moralizing, repentance, and revolutions to be good.

c. Expresses the struggles for mere existence. Show the conflicts between existence and social environment.

d. Blames the society for driving people to sinning.

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1720, Captain Singleton is sent to Africa when he was 3 months old.

In Africa, he experiences many adventures. With good luck, he wins much gold. Back to England, he goes bankrupt and becomes a pirate.

1722, Moll Flanders is the daughter of a woman thief. She is born in the Newgate Prison. In her life, she married 5 times with over 12

children. However, she never nurses a single child. She becomes a thief herself. She is transferred to the American colony as a criminal. She accumulates a wealth and buys a fare plant there. At the age of 30, she comes back to England.

1722, Colonel Jack is deserted by his parents at a very young age.

He becomes a pickpocket. He is kidnapped and sent to the American colony. He is very clever and finally becomes a rich plant owner.

1724, Roxana is the daughter of a Protestant refugee. She is

beautiful and clever. She marries an English merchant. Because the merchant deserts her, she becomes a famous international prostitute. In Holland, she married a Dutch merchant. After his death, she finds that

he was in great debts. She can't pay off the debts and is put into jail and died in jail.

Daniel Defoe's satirical poems.

1701, The True-Born Englishman, in the poem, Defoe defended King William, which won him the friendship of the King. He attacked the

racial and family pride of the aristocrats in England.

1703, A Hymn to the Pillory. He voiced his anger over the shameful punishment, courageous attack on the injustice of England's legal system. He was cheered by people as a hero to defend himself.

@@@Selected Reading of Daniel Defoe: An excerpt from Robinson Crusoe @@@

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

He was born in Dublin, Ireland, of an English family. His father

died before he was born. A rich uncle sent Swift to the Trinity College. His most deed is against the ruling class of England.

1689-1699, he worked as a private secretary to Sir William Temple, a retired diplomat. On the post, Swift made many famous politician friends and came to know many dirty and dishonest politicians of the day.

1704, Swift published the satire, The Battle of the Books, which

wrote about the quarrels between the Ancients and the Moderns. The Ancients were compared to bee. The Moderns were compared to spider. In literate theory, bee represents good - "bring honey"; spider represents selfish.

1704, A Tale of a Tub attacks on religion or Christianity. In the satire, the father represents the God. His 3 sons indicate the 3

branches of Christianity: Roman Catholic, English Church, and Dissenters. The Battle of the Books, and A Tale of a Tub established Swift's name as

a satirist.

1705, he became a clergyman.

1707, he moved to London and became a politician. He tries to speak

for the Irish people. He was the editor of The Examiner, a Tory's periodical.

1713, he was appointed the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

1716, Swift married a woman.

1724, there were 2 great events in England.

a. Wool industry --- English Congress passed the persuasion of developing wool industry in England. Irish people can't make money from wool because they have to return the land. Irish people had to live a miserable life. A famous slogan in Ireland at that time is "Burn everything that come from England except the coal" which voiced Irish people's determination of refusing England.

b. Coin event — A minister suggested and permitted to make new coins. The exchange rate between Irish coin and the new English coin was unfair. The minister and King got profit from the exchange.

1724, Swift published the satireThe Drapier's Letters to attack the event. The exchange of new coin is canceled.

1726, his wife died. It's a heavy blow on him. He wrote and

published his greatest satirical work, Gulliver's Travels. The story is divided into 4 parts.

Part I. Travels in Lilliput is a mini picture of modern English society. Two parties: High Heel and Low Heel indicates the Tories and the Whigs. Here, Swift satires the two parties. The war between Lilliput and its neighboring country about how to break eggs (big/small end). Big end — Roman Church. Small end — English Church. Swift satires the party and church fights are meaningless.

Part II. Travels in Brobdingnag

Part III. A show of the cruelty of the English ruling class. The Flying Island rules the below countries.

Part IV. It's the sharpest and bitterest satire. In this part, human beings are reduced to animals. A wiser creature governs human beings. Gulliver wants to be a horse rather than a man. It shows how mean the human beings are.

1729, the publication of the pamphlet A Modest Proposal. It's a greatest and bitterest satire.

The theme of A Modest Proposal

a. The poor Irish people were forced to sell their one-year-old

child for the rich people for food.

b. English King allowed French King to recruit soldiers from Ireland to solve the problem of over population.

c. Some politicians suggested sending Irish people to Australia to be concentrated servants because of over population.

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d. Swift lists some terrible scenes in the prose: a beggar mother followed by children in rugs; poor parents sell children. It's a satire against the English ruling class and the cruelty of English landlords.

Selected Reading of Jonathan Swift: [P107] An excerpt from

Gulliver's Travel

@@@Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

1707 Fielding was born in an aristocratic family. His great grandfather was an Earl. (Duke 公, Marquis 侯, Earl 伯, Viscount子, Baron男) He received his education in the Eton Public School 1728 21y. He published his first play in London, but failed.

1729 Fielding quarreled with his father, so his father cut off financial support. He had to make a living by himself.

1730-37 He produced 25 plays of different times. His ballads,

satires were also very successful.

1734 He got married.

1737 30y. The promulgation of Licensing Act restricted the

publication of plays. So Fielding took up law. He spent 3 years to

finish a 7-year course.

1740 Fielding became a bar, but the money he earn couldn't support his family

Henry Fielding wrote 4 novels in his life. Henry Fielding is regarded as "Father of English Novel".

1742 The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews. The hero Joseph Andrews is the servant of Mr. B's uncle and is the cousin of Pamela.

Samuel Richardson's Pamela is a collection of letters written by herself and her parents. Pamela is a very beautiful and clever girl. Mr. B's mother is very found of here and teaches her knowledge. After the mother died, Pamela wants to go home, but Mr. B as a noble man seduces her, doesn't allow her to go home and imprisons her. Pamela write

letters and sends the letters by a servant of Mr. B. Mr. B falls in love with Pamela through reading her letters. The novel persuades people to be virtuous.

@@@Henry Fielding's aims of writing the Adventures of Joseph Andrews

Part I, Fielding tries to attack Pamela. He thinks Pamela's chastity is pretentious and untrue. She uses her chastity to seduce Mr. B. Part II. Joseph Andrews meets his friend Parson Adams. Both of them travel through England. Fielding tries to give a panoramic view of @@@England.

Part I. It was first intended as a burlesque of the conventional

virtue of false sentimentality.

Part II. Fielding adopted "comic epic in prose"— to write common people in form of great novel. Epic is used to describe great figures

and

heroes. He gave a vivid picture of English life.

Major achievement: the description of Parson Adams. Adams is an

absent-minded, vain man, so he is a ridiculous person, easy to be cheated.

1743 Jonathan Wild the Great, Jonathan is a notorious criminal of

the London underworld. He is a real person. He is hanged in 1725. Jonathan is described as a great man. He never participated in any crime, but he orders other people to commit crimes. He commands crime. Henry Fielding compared Jonathan to Prime Minister Walpole. The story is a political satire.

1749 Tom Jones is a deserted child. He is adopted by a kind man who has his own child Blifil. The two children fell in love with the same

girl Sophia. Tom is kind and he is truly in love with Sophia. Blifil loves Sophia for her beauty and money. Sophia's father knows that Tom is

a deserted child so he wants Sophia to marry Blifil. Tom wants to see

the outside world and moves to London. Sophia wants to see the world too. So they go through a long journey and give a panoramic view of 18c's English life.

In this novel, social evils are presented: cruelty, moral degeneracy, deceit, and hypocrisy. It's showed Fielding's view about human nature. Henry Fielding thinks that human nature is a combination of good and evil.

@@@The writing feature of Tom Jones — "comic epic in prose",

displays a kind of classic epic form. The novel contains 18 books in 3 sections.

Section 1: life in the countryside

Section 2: life on the highway

Section 3: life in London

1750 Amelia marries a poor solider. Her husband goes to London to seek fortune. He fights with other people in the street so he is put

into jail. She is very faithful to her husband. When her husband is in prison, other officials try to seduce her. In the end, Amelia reunites with her husband and live happily.

@@@Henry Fielding's aim of writing Amelia

a. To condemn the moral degeneracy of the officials. To praise Amelia.

b. To reveal the shameless deed of the noble and the rich.

@@@Henry Fielding's writing style