英国文学史1 part1

1.What is Humanism？Humanism was a literary and philosophic system of thought which attempted to place the affairs of mankind at the center of its concerns. Originating in Italy during the Renaissance, it soon spread throughout most of western Europe.●It took as a major interest the life of man in the present, and unlike medieval philosophy,which postulated (要求,主张)a City of God in the hereafter(来世), it attempted to lay the foundations for a life of justice, nobility, and goodness on earth.●Humanism was an attitude rather than a philosophy, non-dogmatic(非教义).●According to humanists, man should mould(塑造) the world according to his own desires,and attain happiness by removing all external checks by the exercise of the human intellect. Humanism was one of the most important factors giving rise to the Renaissance.●Humanism became the keynote(主调）of English Renaissance.2. Edmund Spenser-The “Poet’s Poet”●Life: Cambridge – Sidney’s friend – Ireland – Westminster Abbey●Works: The Shepherd’s Calendar （a pastoral poem in twelve books.）The Faerie QueeneA moretti [æmə‘reti] 爱情小唱The Faerie Queen：● a great poem of its age.●According to Spenser’s own explanation, his principal intention is to present througha”historical poem”the example of a perfect gentleman:”to fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline.”●The Faerie Queene is written in a special verse form that consists of eight iambic pentameterlines followed by a ninth line of six iambic feet (an alexandrine), with the rhyme scheme ababbcbcc. This form has since been called the Spenserian Stanza.●The plan of the whole poem is this: the faerie queene holds a feast of 12 days, and on eachday a stranger in distress appears, claiming help against a dragon or giant of tyrant. A knight is assigned to each guest, and the 12 books were to descirbe the 12 adventures. Further, each knight represents a virtue, as Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice and Courtesy;and his wrfare represents the strife against a contrary vice, as Pride or Despair.●The dominating thoughts of the poem are nationalism, humanism and puritanism3.What is Blank verse（无韵诗/素体诗）？●Also called unryhmed poetry typically in iambic pentameter. Blank verse has been called themost “natural” verse form for dramatic works, since it supposedly is the verse form most close to natural rhythms of English speech, and it has been the dominant verse form of English drama and narrative poetry since the mid-sixteenth century.●In 1540, from Italy, blank verse was brought in English literature.4.What is the difference between blank verse and free rhythm？无韵诗和自由体的区别●Blank verse is a type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no rhyme. InEnglish, the meter most commonly used with blank verse has been iambic pentameter.●Free verse is a form of poetry which refrains from meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musicalpattern.5. Francis Bacon (1561-1626)●Lawyer, Judge ,Statesman, Philosopher, Master of English,“The wisest, brightest, meanest ofmankind●Bacon’s work:1. Philosophical:Advancement of Learning 《论学术的进展》Novum Organum/ new instrument 《新工具》2. Literary:Essays 《随笔》The New Atlantics (a utopian novel published in 1610) 《新大西岛》3. Professional:Maxim of the Law 法律箴言Reading on the Statute of Uses 谈使用法则●Characteristics of Bacon’s EssaysCompactLogicalPowerfulElegantParallel sentencesAntithesisBiblical allusionsMetaphorsCadence●Bacon’s Importance to Literature1st, he was the first English writer to pay attention to the audience to whom he was writing.2nd, he wrote the greatest tracts on education in the English language, Advancement of Learning.3rd, he and Newton represent the advancement of science during the 17th century. In fact, Bacon devised the inductive method of doing research.4th, he introduced the essay as a literary form into the English language.6. Christophe Marloew●the greatest of the pioneers of English drama●Literary achievement: blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter)●Major plays:Tamburlaine (贴木耳大帝)The Jew of Malta (马尔他岛的犹太人)Doctor Faustus (浮士德博士)●ContributionHe adopted blank verse and made it the principal medium of English drama. He created the renaissance hero for English drama and paved way for the plays of the greatest English dramatist Shakespeare.7. William ShakespereFour periods of William Shakespeare’s works●Period of early experimentation (1590—1594)It was marked by youthfulness and rich imagination, by extravagance of language and by the frequent use of rhymed couplets （英雄双行体）and blank verse（无韵诗）.●Period of rapid growth and development (1595—1600)He became a master in full command of his medium, wrote his best historical plays, brilliant comedies and sonnets.Four great comediesA Midsummer Night’s Dream《仲夏夜之梦》The Merchant of Venice《威尼斯商人》As You Like It《皆大欢喜》Twelfth Night《第十二夜》●Period of gloom and depression (1601—1608)The period marked the full maturity of his power and he produced the most powerful works, his four great tragedies and his dark comedies.Four great tragedies:Hamlet(1601)Othello(1604)King Lear (1605)Macbeth (1605●Period of calm after storm(1609-1612)He no longer hated the world but accepted it with a smile of resignation and again turned to comedies—romantic comedies.Main works:Cymbeline 《辛白林》The Winter’s Tale《冬天的童话》The Tempest《暴风雨》The Life of King Henry VIII《亨利八世》●ContributionsShakespeare is a realist and one of the founders of realism in English literature.His dramatic creation often used the method of adaption.His dramas are elastic(灵活的）, the action develops freely without being hindered by the classical rules.He is skilled in many poetic forms and his plays are poetical dramas.He is a great master of English language.●Analysis of HamletHamlet is considered the summit of Shakespeare’s art. The story comes from an old Danish legend. Before Shakespeare, Thomas Kyd had written a play on the same subject. But under Shakespeare's pen, the medieval story assumed a new meaning.Main CharactersHamlet：Prince of Denmark, hero of the playClaudius：New king of Denmark, uncle of HamletGertrude：Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s motherPolonius：An old Chamberlain, father of OpheliaOphelia: A girl loved by Hamlet, Polonius’ daughterLaertes : Ophelia’s old brother, Polonius’ son●Shakespeare’s sonnetThe bulk of Shakespeare’s sonnets were written between 1593 and 1598. Each line of a sonnet is in iambic pentameter(五音步抑扬格）, and the rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.His 154 sonnets seem to fall into two series: one series are addressed to W. H, evidently a patron（资助人）, and the other addressed to "dark lady".8. Metaphysical school定义The Metaphysical School of Poets (玄学派)appeared in England at about the beginning of the 17th century, due to the absence of any fixed standard of literary criticism. They tended to logically reason the things, esp. emotions, psychologically analyze the emotions of love and religion, love the novelty and the shocking, use the metaphysical conceits(奇喻), and ignore the conventional devices.●Writers: John Donne (founder)Andrew MarvelGeorge HerbertRichard Crashaw, etc.9. John Milton(1608—1747)●Greatest poet of the 17th century，best-known for his epic poem.●Main WorksParadise Lost(1667)Paradise Regained(1671)Samson Agonistes(1671)Importance1) He was the greatest English revolutionary poet of the 17th century.2) He wrote the greatest epic in English literature, with Shakespeare—regarded as two patterns of English verse.3) He was a master of the blank verse, first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.4) He was a great stylist, and famous for his grand style.●Analysis of Paradise LostIt is Milton’s masterpiece, a long epic in 12 books,written in blank verse. The stories were taken from the Old Testament(旧约): the creation, the rebellion in Heaven of Satan and his fellow-angels, their defeat and expulsion(驱逐) from Heaven, the creation of the earth and of Adam and Eve, the fallen angels in hell plotting against God, Satan’s temptation of Eve, and the departure of Adam and Eve from Eden(伊甸园).Theme:“to justify the ways of God to man” (submission to the Almighty)theme: praising the rebellious spirits against the despot(独裁者）Milton is a pious Christian. This epic is the production of the conflicts between his religious belief and political belief.Characterization：God: the despot, selfish, cruel and unjust (King of Britain)Satan: real hero, dare to revolt against the despot, persevering but not discouraged after the failure (Republicans including Milton)Satan is the real hero of the poem. He prefers independence to happy servility(奴隶性,隶属), he is the spirit questioning the authority of God, which represents the proud and sombre（阴沉的）political passions of the persecuted Republicans after Restoration.Miltonic style:to express the sublimity(庄严）of thought, sonority（洪亮）, eloquence（雄辩）, majesty （威严）and grandeur（壮丽）style (Latin words and Latin sentence structure, inversion, archaism（古风）, long sentence and mostly formal words, thus the style formed and his English rather difficult)10. Neoclassicism 新古典主义定义●The Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works,this tendency is known as neoclassicism.The neoclassicists held that forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers, such as Homer.Addison, Steele, Pope belonged to this school.11. Sentimentalism 感伤主义定义●Sentimentalism indulged in emotion and sentiment.●Criticized the cruelty of the capitalist relations and the gross social injustices brought aboutby the bourgeois revolutions and the Industrial Revolution. They react against anything rational and to advocate that sentiment should take the place of reason.●代表作家:Thomas Gray, Oliver Goldsmith, Laurence Stern, Samuel Richardson arerepresentatives of this school.12.Characteristics of Early/Pre-Romanticism 浪漫主义前期特征Romanticism has five prominent characteristics:1.The Romantic Movement was a strong reaction and protest against the bondage of rule andcustom, which generally tend to fetter the free human spirit.2.Romanticism returned to nature and to plain humanity for its material.3.It is marked by renewed interest in medieval ideals and literature.4. Romanticism was marked by intense human sympathy, an understanding of the humanheart. The sympathy for the poor, and the cry against oppression grew stronger.5. The Romantic Movement was the expression of individual genius rather than of establishedrules.13. Daniel Defoe●published over 560 books and pamphlets and is considered to be the founder of Britishjournalism and discover of the morden novel.）●Major works：the Life and Strange Surprising Adentures of Robinson Crusoe (1719)《鲁宾逊漂流记》Mariner(1719)Captain Singleton (1720) 《辛格顿船长Journal of the Plague Year (1722)《大疫年纪事》Colonel Jack (1722)《杰克上校》Moll Flanders (1722)《摩尔·弗兰德斯》Roxana,the Fortune Mistress (1724)●The image of Robin CrusoeThe image of Robinson Crusoe is one of an 18th-century English adventurer.On the uninhabited island, he is realistically depicted as a man struggling against nature anda man who finally creates some civilization in a seemingly primitive environment through hisincessant efforts.●Significance of Robinson CrusoeDefoe traces the development of Robinson from a naive and artless youth into a clever and hardened man tempered by numerous trials in his eventful life.Through his characterization of Crusoe, Defoe depicts him as a hero struggling against nature and human fate with his indomitable will and hands, and eulogizes赞颂creative labor, physical and mental, an allusion to the glorification of the bourgeois creativity when it was a rising and energetic class in the initial stage of its historical development. From an individual laborer to a master and colonizer, Crusoe seems to have gone through various stages of human civilization.14. Jonathan Swift 乔纳森·斯威夫特●Major worksA Tale of a Tub1697 《一只桶的故事》The Battle of the Books 1698 《书籍之战》The Drapier’s Letters 1724 《布商来信》Gilliver’s Travels 1726 《格列佛游记》A Modest Proposal 1729 《一个温和的建议》●Masterpiece: Gulliver’s TravelsIt contains four parts, each about one particular voyage during which Gulliver has extraordinary adventures.The four places he visits are: Lilliput, Brobdingnag, the Flying Land and the Houyhnhnm land, where he meets the Yahoos, hairy, wild, low and despicable brutes, who resemble human beings not only in appearance but also in almost every other way.As a whole, the novel is a bitter satire and harsh criticism of all aspects in the English and European life philosophically, socially, politically, scientifically, religiously, and morally.●The significance of “Gulliver's Travels ” in social criticismThe novel is one of the most effective and bitter criticism and satire of all aspects in the English and European life: socially, politically, religiously scientifically and morally.to improve humanity and society and hoped to change people's attitudes and behaviors by holding them up for ridicule. To cure the vices of the society by grave irony.a deep love for the people.Its exploration into human nature is profound.●Swift's Writing Features1)one of the realist writers. 2) expresses democratic ideas in his works. 3 ) one of thegreatest masters of English prose. His language is simple, clear and vigorous. He said, "Proper words in proper place, makes the true definition of a style.” There are noornaments in his writings. In simple, direct and precise prose, Swift is almost unsurpassed in English literature15．William Blake●Songs of Innocence 天真之歌Songs of Experience 经验之歌Poetical Sketches 素描诗集The Tiger 老虎●Analysis of Songs of InnocenceSongs of Innocence is a lovely volume of poems, presenting a happy and innocent world. Blake declares, he is writing “happy songs / Every child may joy to hear”. Using a language which even little babies can learn by heart, Blake succeeds in depicting the happy condition of a child before it knows anything about the pains of existence. The poet expresses his delight in the sun, the hills, the streams, the insects and the flowers, in the innocence of the child and of the lamb.The Chimney Sweeper is collected in the Songs of Innocence. 扫烟囱的孩子●Analysis of Songs of ExperienceSongs of Experience presents a different world, a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone.●London and The Tiger are collected in the Songs of Experience.●The Tiger is a famous poem by Blake. Lamb in the poem is a symbol of peace and puritywhereas tiger a symbol of dread and violence.。