英国文学史上-The Renaissance
英国文学renaissance名词解释

英国文学renaissance名词解释英国文学renaissance是一个重要的学术概念,它指的是16世纪中叶到17世纪初期,英国文学出现了一个显著的复兴潮流。
这一时期可以从几个方面来解释,主要有文体、主题、历史背景和文学作家,具体而言,这一时期的文学可以分为几个最具特色的流派。
首先,从文体上来看,英国文学renaissance当中有几个突出的流派,其中包括古典诗歌、英国人文主义小说、新古典讽刺诗以及宗教类文学等。
古典诗歌是17世纪英国文学发展的一大支柱,作品以写实主义的手法记述了文学时代的历史变迁,并突出了对社会现实的描绘。
英国人文主义小说代表作有《汤姆索亚历险记》和《革命的影子》,小说的笔触沉着地描绘了17世纪英国人的生活,突出了人文主义价值观。
新古典讽刺诗以讽刺社会风气为主,作品包括《抓住你吻你》和《十二步曲》,以有趣的诗歌方式,把讽刺对社会价值体系和特权阶层的反省表达得淋漓尽致。
宗教文学是17世纪英国文学发展的另一个重要流派,宗教文学把宗教经典和神秘文学元素融合在一起,以更具艺术性的方式把神秘宗教故事表达出来,包括《莎士比亚的威尼斯商人》、《葡萄牙战纪》等。
其次,从文学主题上来看,英国文学renaissance中出现了一系列典型的主题,如宗教和道德、社会关系、道德和荣誉等,作家在文学作品中通过深刻的刻画揭示了英国社会的思想观念和道德准则。
宗教主题是17世纪英国文学发展中最重要的主题之一,作家积极把宗教信仰融入文学作品当中,对社会生活和人性做出了深刻的揭示和抒发。
社会关系主题在17世纪英国文学中也占据了重要的地位,作家把社会上的不公平、多样及其他人性关系等以更准确的方式描绘出来,以强烈的情感表达出社会冲突以及人们生活状况的差异。
此外,道德和荣誉主题也是17世纪英国文学发展中不可缺少的一部分,如《汤姆索亚历险记》中被安排去海上航行的小男孩汤姆,他最终凭借勇气和道德准则圆满完成了历险任务,也体现了17世纪英国社会对荣誉的珍视和追求。
英国文学资料English-literature-of-the-renaissance

• Geographical Discoveries (commercial expansion and broadening the mental horizons)
• In the commercial expansion, Spain was the rival with England over the sea. At last a war broke out in 1588. it ended with the rout of the Spanish fleet “Armada”.
Arcadia
• Pastoral, as an adjective, refers to the lifestyle of shepherds and pastoralists, moving livestock around larger areas of land according to seasons and availability of water and food.
• Thomas Wyatt and Surrey were court poets. They are both top-notch aristocrats and their poetry was more representative of the thoughts and feelings of the nobility.
• Then Spenser studied at Cambridge, where she read the classics and italian poets and wrote poems. He received his M.A.degree in 1576.
• In 1579 he wrote The Shepherd’s Calendar, a pastoral poem in twelve books, one for each month of the year.
英国文学名词解释

1.the Renaissance: the period in Europe between the 14th and mid 17th centuries,when the art, literature, and ideas of ancient Greece were discovered again and widely studied, causing a rebirth of activity in all these things. On the foundations of medieval society and culture the Renaissance first rose in Italy in the 14th century and came to a flowering in the 15th century and then in the 16th century it spread to other countries, notably France, and then to Germany and England and Spain and the other countries.2.Humanism: a system of beliefs and standards concerned with the needs of people, and not with religious ideas人文主义;人道主义3.Metaphysical poem is a derogatory term invented by John Dryden and later adopted by Samuel Johnson describing a school of highly intellectual poetry marked by bold and ingenious(别出心裁的)conceits((尤指诗歌中)奇想;夸张的比喻), incongruous(不和谐的,不匀称的,不一致的)imagery(比喻), complexity of thought, frequent use of paradox, and often by deliberate harshness or rigidity of expression. The main themes of the metaphysical poets are love, death and religion.4.Allegory: A tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. Thus, an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. The most famous example is John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.5.Enlightenment: An eighteenth-century philosophical movement. It began in France but had a wide impact throughout Europe and America. Thinkers of the Enlightenment valued reason and believed that both the individual and society could achieve a state of perfection. Corresponding to this essentially humanist vision was a resistance to religious authority.6.Classicism: a term used in literary criticism to describe critical doctrines that have their roots in ancient Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, and art. Works associated with classicism typically exhibit restraint on the part of the author, unity of design and purpose, clarity, simplicity, logical organization, and respect for tradition.7.Neoclassicism:(also known as Age of Reason) in literary criticism, this term refers to the revival of the attitudes and styles of expression of classical literature. It is generally used to describe a period in European history beginning in the late seventeenth century and lasting until about 1800. In its purest form, Neoclassicism marked a return to order, proportion, restraint, logic, accuracy, and decorum(正统).8.Sentimentalism came into being as a result of a bitter discontent on the part of certain enlighteners in social reality. The later enlighteners found the power of reason to be insufficient, and therefore appealed to sentiment as a means of achieving happiness and social justice.9.Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution.[1] In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature,[2] and was embodied in the visual arts, music, and literature.10.The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song". By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. The conventions associated with the sonnet have evolved over its history. The writers of sonnets are sometimes referred to as "sonneteers," although the term can be used derisively. One of the best-known sonnet writers is William Shakespeare, who wrote 154 of them (not including those that appear in his plays). A Shakespearean, or English, sonnet consists of 14 lines, each line containing ten syllables and written in iambic pentameter, in which a pattern of an unemphasized syllable followed by an emphasized syllable is repeated five times. The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is ababcdcdefef gg; the last two lines are a rhyming couplet.Sonnet: A fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. A sonnet generally expresses a single theme or idea.11.Epic A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated. Many epics were drawn from an oral tradition and were transmitted by song and recitation before they were written down.12.Alliteration:The repetition of the initial consonant sounds in poetry.Alliteration is the repetition of a speech sound in a sequence of nearby words. The term is usually applied only to consonants, and only when the recurrent sound begins a word or a stressed syllable within a word. In old English alliteration meter, alliteration is the principal organizing device of the verse line: the verse is unrhymed; each line is divided into two half-lines of two strong stresses by a decisive pause.13. Ballad: A story told in verse and usually meant to be sung. In many countries, the folk ballad was one of the earliest forms of literature. Folk ballads have no known authors. They were transmitted orally from generation to generation and were not set down in writing until centuries after they were first sung. The subject matter of folk ballads stems from the everyday life of the common people. Devices commonly used in ballads are the refrain, incremental repetition, and code language. A later form of ballad is the literary ballad, which imitates the style of the folk ballad. 14. Classicism: A movement or tendency in art, literature, or music that reflects the principles manifested in the art of ancient Greece and Rome. Classicism emphasizes the traditional and the universal, and places value on reason, clarity, balance, and order. Classicism, with its concern for reason and universal themes, is traditionally opposed to Romanticism, which is concerned with emotions and personal themes.15. Comedy: in general, a literary work that ends happily with a healthy, amicable armistice between the protagonist and society.16.Couplet: Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme. A heroic couplet is an iambic pentameter couplet.in this form of poetry lines consisting of five iambic feet rime together in pairs. The rime scheme:aa bb cc17.Elegy: A poem of mourning, usually over the death of an individual. An elegy is a type of lyric poem, usually formal in language and structure, and solemn or even melancholy in tone.18.Essay: A piece of prose writing, usually short, that deals with a subject in a limited way and expresses a particular point or view. An essay may be serious or humorous, tightly organized or rambling, restrained or emotional. The two general classifications of essay are the informal essay and the formal essay. An informal essay is usually brief and is written as if the writer is talking informally to the reader about some topic, using a conversational style and a personal or humorous tone. By contrast, a formal essay is tightly organized, dignified in style, and serious in tone..19. Novel: A book-length fictional prose narrative, having may characters and often a complex plot.20.Poetry:The most distinctive characteristic of poetry is form and music. Poetry is concerned with not only what is said but how it is said. Poetry evokes emotions rather than express facts. Poetry means having a poetic experience. Imagination is also an essential quality of poetry. Poetry often leads us to new perceptions, new feelings and experiences of which we have not previously been aware.21.Pre-Romanticism:It originated among the conservative groups of men and letters as a reaction against Enlightenment and found its most manifest expression in the “Gothic novel”. The term arising from the fact that the greater part of such romances were devoted to the medieval times22.Romance: Any imagination literature that is set in an idealized world and that deals with a heroic adventures and battles between good characters and villains or monsters 【仅供参考】。
Renaissance英国文学文艺复兴时期

• 2). Religious reformation • Henry VIII declared the break with Rome • Catholicism(天主教)was got rid of and Protestantism (新教)became the official national religion.
The Bourgeoisie
• The word "bourgeoisie" originally meant "town dwellers", especially those who lived by trading. By nature, the feudal order was agrarian. At the time of the Renaissance, the bourgeoisie appeared as a new class of society, and the conflicts between the newly arising bourgeoisie and feudalism and the Church became the main social contradiction of the time. Humanism was the very weapon for the bourgeoisie to use in its fight against feudalism restrictions and the dominating influence of the church, which had ruled men’s minds for centuries.
General introduction
• The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century. It began in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spread to the rest of Europe by the 16th century. Its influence was felt in literature, philosophy, art, music, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry.
英国文学史The Renaissance(3).概要

Humanism
The Renaissance was marked by the spread of humanism, the keynote (the great spirit) of Renaissance. It sprang as a result of rediscovery and restudy of the Greek and Roman civilization which is based on the conception that man is the measure of all things, the man-centered culture. It stands for devotion to the humane values represented in classical literature.
The Evolution of Drama
English drama has roots reaching back to ① The miracle play ② The morality play ③ The Interlude ④ Classical Drama
Christopher Marlowe
---------What is Renaissance?
From the beginning of the 16th c, the English Renaissance witnessed the brisk development of literature: the translation of ancient English, Italian and French works, as well as classical works of Greece and Rome; books of discoveries and adventures; the flowering of sonnets; the highest glory of the English renaissance is its drama ( the Elizabethan drama). This was England’s golden age in literature. There appeared many literary giants such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Jonson, Sidney, Marlowe, Bacon and Donne.
英国文学简史Part Two The English Renaissance

Part Two The English Renaissance第二部分英国文艺复兴时期(14th century to 17th century)14世纪到17世纪I Background 背景1.It started in Italy and ended in England and Spain.起源于意大利,结束于英国和西班牙。
2.Meaning意义:(1)The Renaissance, which means “rebirth”or “revival’, is actually an intellectual movement with a thirsting curiosity for classical literature and the keen interest in the activities of humanity.文艺复兴意味着“复活”与“重生”,实际上是对古典文学与人文活动的热情。
(2)It aims to get rid of conservation in feudalist Europe and introducing new ideas that express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie.为了去除封建欧洲的特性,引进资产阶级的思想。
3.Essence of Renaissance文艺复兴的本质It is the reflection of the rise of bourgeoisie in the sphere of cultural life.资产阶级的上升在文化领域显示了其影响力,从而掀起了文艺复兴的学术运动。
II Chapter 1 Old England in Transition过渡时期的旧英格兰1.The Renaissance and Humanism文艺复兴和人文主义(1)The one is a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature. So the love of classics was but an expression of the general dissatisfaction at the Catholic and feudal ideas.一是对古典文学的渴望和好奇。
The Renaissance英国文学文艺复兴时期总结

The RenaissanceThis is a greatest and most advanced revolution in the human history. This is the age the giants are needed and produced.------F. Engles<1> Brief introduction▪Renaissance in European history, refers to the period between 14th century to 17th century. It started in Italy and ended in England and Spain.▪“Renaissance” means “revival”, the revival of interest in Ancient Greek and Roman culture and getting rid of conservatism in feudalist Europe and introducing new ideas that express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie.▪Renaissance sprang first in Italy (Florence and Venice) with the flowering of paintings, sculpture and architecture, and gradually spread all over Europe;▪Renaissance originally indicated a revival of classical arts and science (ancient Greek and Roman culture) after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism.During the period of Renaissance:1. the Roman Catholic Church was shaken,2. old sciences revived and new sciences emerged,3. national languages and cultures took shape,4. art and literature flourishedBrief introduction▪There arose an interest in the manuscripts surviving from ancient Greece and Rome. Classical learning and philosophy were enthusiastically studied.▪The intellectual wisdom of ancient Greece and Rome encouraged a rebirth of human spirit,a realization of human potential for development and creation.▪Never before in human history were men and women so eager to create and discover something new.In Italy a group of artists,scientists,politicians,and writers created the most brilliant page of culture and science in Renaissance Europe.Examples:①Copernicus (哥白尼) asserted that the earth was not the center of the universe;②The passionate Petrarch produced sonnets that influenced Shakespeare and many others;③Boccaccio(卜伽邱) wrote tales of eternal charm: The Decameron;④Marco Polo (马可波罗) made journeys into the remote kingdom of China;⑤Michelangelo(米开朗琪罗),Leonardo da Vinci (达芬奇),Raphael (拉斐尔),and Titian (提香) createdpaintings and sculptures that are invaluable treasures of the world.<2>Essence and features▪Essence: It is the reflection of the rise of bourgeoisie in the sphere of cultural life.(另版本):Renaissance, in essence, is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to:to get rid of conservatism in Feudalist Europe;to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie,to lift the restrictions in all areas placed by the Roman church authorities.Briefly it is the reflection of the rise of bourgeoisie inthe sphere of cultural life.▪Features: there are two striking features①A thirsting curiosity for the classical literature.②The keen interest in the activities of humanity.<3>Renaissance and HumanismRenaissance: the term originally indicated a revival of classical arts and science after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism. Indeed, a great number of the works of classical authors were translated into English during the 16th century.Humanism:The progressive thinkers of the humanists held their chief interest not in ecclesiastical knowledge, but in man, his environment and doings and bravely fought for the emancipation of man from the tyranny of the church and religious dogmas.Humanism is the key-note of the Renaissance. It reflected the new outlook of the rising bourgeois class;<4>HumanismHumanism is the essence of the Renaissance. It sprang from the endeavor to restore a reverence for the Greek and Roman civilization based on the conception that man is the measure of all things.Contrary to the subordination of individuals to the feudal rules and the sacrifice of earthly life for a future life in the medieval society, Renaissance humanists found in the classics a justification to exalt human nature and came to see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development for perfection.By emphasizing the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.<5>Features of humanism in RenaissanceEmphasizing the power, value and dignity of the human being and holding that human beings are glorious creatures The core of Renaissance thought is the greatness of man/giants. This is best summarized in the lines of Shakespeare’s HamletWhat a piece of work is man; how noble in reason; how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like and angel; in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals.人是一件多么了不起的杰作!多么高贵的理性!多么伟大的力量!多么优美的仪表!多么文雅的举动!在行为上多么像一个天使!在智慧上多么想一个天神!宇宙的精华!万物的灵长!▪1. Emphasizing secular happiness and individualism against the medieval ideas of asceticism;▪2.shifting man’s interest from Christianity to humanity, from religion to philoso phy, from beauty and greatness of God to the beauty of human body in all its joys and pains.▪3. Applying Aristotle’s theory, Humanist literature mainly use realistic style and take literature as the mirror or miniature of the society.<6>Influence and English RenaissanceInfluences:1.These Italians, and many others, helped to make Italy the center of the Renaissance movement in Europe.2.The movement changed the medieval Western Europe into a modern one.3.The intellectual wisdom of ancient Greece and Rome encouraged a rebirth of human spirit,a realization of human potential for development and creationEnglish Renaissance:Oxford Reformers: the Oxford reformers, scholars and humanists introduced classical literature to England. Education was revitalized and literature became more popular.This was England’s Golden Age in literature. There appeared many English literary giants such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Johnson, Sidney, Marlowe, Bacon and Donne.English RenaissanceContents●I.TheSixteenthCentury England ●II. Renaissance in England ●III. The main artistic styles●IV. William Shakespeare●V. Francis BaconI. The Sixteenth Century England1. Enclosure Movement2. The establishment of absolute monarchy3. Religious reformation4. International situation5. Cultural preparati●The background of the humanism in Europe●The introduction of printing led to an enlarged reading public and a commercial market for literature;●The great economic and political changes led to the rise of democracy;●The spirit of nationalism;●The growing of "new science” etc.Characteristics of the Elizabethan Age1. An age of comparative religious tolerance;2. An age of comparative social contentment;3. An age of dreams, of adventures, of unbounded enthusiasm;4. An age of intellectual liberty, of growing intelligence and comfort among all classes and of unbounded patriotism.II. Renaissance in England▪The time: mainly from the reign of Henry VIII, Edward, Mary and then to Queen Elizabeth and Jacobean Eraa. Beginning: the last years of the 15-th century---first half of the 16-th centuryb. Flourishing: the Elizabethan Age (1558-1603)c. Declining: the period of James I (1603-1625) early 17-th centuryThe flowering of English literatureThe second half of the 16th century, “a nest of singing birds”The early period:imitation and assimilation, translated works, poetry and poetic drama were the most outstanding literary forms. ▪Sonnet: an exact form of poetry in 14 lines of iambic pentameter intricately rhymed.▪Blank verse: iambic pentameter unrhymedThe latter period:Drama— the real mainstream of the English Renaissanceyears 1587-93. they were all of humble birth and struggled for a livelihood by writing. Through hard work, they revised old plays and wrote new ones. They made rapid progress in dramatic techniques because they has close contact with the actors and audiences. They were looked down upon by the gentlemen and suspected by the government. It was their industrious works that furnished the Elizabethan stage.Christopher MarloweWilliam ShakespeareIII. The main artistic stylesThe artistic styles as lyric poetry, narrative poetry, drama are maturized; new styles which characterized the modern literature such as sonnets, short stories and novels were produced.translation:Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Homer’s Iliad, Montaigne’s Essays▪travel books:More’s Utopia▪poetry: Edmund Spenser▪drama: “University Wits”, Marlowe, Shakespeare▪essay: Francis BaconForerunner of utopian socialism▪An imaginative travel narrative written in the form of conversation between More and Hythloday, a returned voyager describing an ideal state governed by reason.▪The subject is the search for the best possible form of government: Utopia---a community of property---a pure, pre-Marx form of communism.The Sheph erd’s Calendar 《牧人日历》: 12 pastoral poems and eclogues, one for each month, put into the mouths of speakers distinguishing themselves as shepherds, really representing Spenser and his friends.▪Amoretti《爱情小诗》:a series of 88 sonnets in honor of his lover Elizabeth. All except one was written in the Spenserian sonnet.▪Epithlamion 《婚后曲》: marriage hymns to celebrate his marriage with Elizabeth.The Faerie Queene《仙后》:▪The blending of religious and historical allegory with chivalric romance: a long poem planned 12 books. 12 knights for the qualities of the chivalric virtues--- the six completed books are holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice and courtesy.Fairy Queen—Queen Elizabeth, the knights as a whole --- England, the evil figures—enemies.Themes of the poem :●nationalism( celebration of Queen Elizabeth)●humanism (strong opposition to Roman Catholicism),●Puritanism (moral teaching)Spenserian stanza:it is a nine-line stanza with the first 8 lines iambic pentameter and the ninth, iambic hexameter 六步格的诗rhyming abab,bcbc,c which is the typical verse in The Faerie Queene.For its rare beauty, this verse form was much used by many later poets, esp. imitated by the romantic poets of the 19th century.Spenser’s position in English Literature:the publica tion of “The Shepherd’s Calendar” marks the budding of Renaissance flower in the northern island of England.The language he used was modern English which has distinguished itself from the Middle English of Chaucer's day. Spenserian stanza: a model of poetic art among the Renaissance English poets.“the poet’s poet”, the first master to make the Modern English the natural music of his poetic effusion and held his position as a model of poetic art. His influence can be traced in the works of Milton, Shelley and Keats.Life: short but riotous⏹Major works:➢Tamburlaine the Great:《帖木耳》•A drama in a blank verse•About the rise and fall of Tamburlaine the Mongol conqueror on the 14th century central Asia.•A tragedy about a man who thinks he can but actually can not control his own fate.•By depicting a great hero with high ambition and sheer brutal force, the author voiced the supreme desire of the man of the Renaissance for infinite power and authority.•➢The Jew of Malta:《马耳他的犹太人》•A study of the lust for wealth, which centers around Barabas the Jew, an old money lender, whose only philosophy is the art of gaining advantage.•Suggestive of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.•A tragic result: typically greedy of riches and gold, which is another feature shared by those in Renaissance England. •➢The History of Doctor Faustus 《浮士德博士》•Refer to compare with Goethe’s Faust•The Faust myth in 16th century Germany: the myth of men seeking great earthly power from demons at the cost of their immortal soul.•The conventional view: Dr. Faustus is a morality play that vindicates humility, faith and obedience to the law of God. •The new view: Dr. Faustus celebrates the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness, and also reveals man’s frustration in realizing the high aspiration in a hostile moral order.⏹Social significance and literary achievement1.showing the spirit of the rising bourgeoisie. Its eager curiosity for knowledge, power and gold.The praise of individuality freed from the restraints of medieval dogmas and the conviction of the boundless possibility of human efforts in conquering the universe.The heroes are mainly individualists. Their individualistic ambition often brings ruin to the world and to themselves.…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!William Shakespeare1. Brief Introduction2. Shakespeare’s dramaFour periods of his literary career Categories of his drama 3. the artistic features of his plays4. Shakespeare’s place and contribution5. Shakespeare’s sonnetsWhat to be at least known about ShakespeareLife: birthplace, birth date, death date, important time in his life and career●His major works: 37 plays(10histories, 10 comedies, 10 tragedies), 2 long narrative poems, 154 sonnets.Plays to be read: great comedies & 4 great tragedies●Writing features in each of four periodsI. Brief IntroductionA dramatist “not of an age, but of all time” by Ben Jonhson, not of Engla nd, but of the world.●Not only a master of English language but also a genius of character portrayal and plot construction●A “poet of reality” for his idea that literature should reflect nature and reality.●37 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems.II. Shak espeare’s dramaFour Periods of Shakespeare’s Literary careerFour major phrases represent respectively his early, mature, flourishing and late periods.1. Period of early experiment and apprenticeship (1590-1594)Background:A. it was in the middle of the highly thriving Elizabethan Age.B. The thoughts of humanism and the ideas of man’s emancipation, freedom of love was rapidly spread.C. Shakespeare was a young man full of astonishing versatility and wonderful talent and the great interest in the political questions of his time.Features:A. the writer made experiments in a number of dramatic forms: the historical plays, comedy, the revenge tragedy and the romantic tragedy.B. this period is distinctively marked by youthfulness and exuberance of imagination, by extravagance of witty language or speech, and by the final and frequent use of blank verse. In his hand, blank verse developed into a happy vehicle to express all kinds of thoughts and emotions (thus shaking off the rigidity of rimed and mechanic lines) .2. Period of maturity (1595-1600)Features:A. a period of “great comedies” and mature historical plays and sonnets.B. a sweet and joyful time when the writer portrays successfully a magnificent panorama of the manifold pursuit of people in real life.C. a great shift in characterization. A notable gallery of heroines in the comedies and vivid characters in historical plays is presented: Portia, Posalynd, Voila, Beatrice, Sir John Falstaff.3. Period of gloom and depression (1601-1607)Background:A. the aggravation of the social situation: the rising of peasants, the corruption, the tension between bourgeoisie and the feudal lands.B. the change of mood in the playwright: gloomy and indignantFeatures:A. a period of “great tragedies” and “dark comedies”B. the writer gave a scathing exposition of the somber pictures and scenes of murder, lust, treachery, ingratitude and crime.C. a higher level of crafts is reached: more intricate plotting, intense inner conflict, meticulous depiction of human mind.4. Period of calm and reconciliation (1608-1612)Background:A. the fall and collapse of absolute monarchB. the retirement of the playwright back into the tranquil countrysideFeatures:A. some serenity and optimism, instead of the beginning lightness and the middle somber violence reigned.B. romantic dramas and comedies were the main form.C. moral teaching and supernatural forces were relied on to restore the rightful honor and position. These plays all show a falling off from his previous works.Categories of his dramacomedies histories tragedies romances??Comedy is a light form of drama aiming primarily to amuse and ending happily. It often deals with people in their human state, restrained and ridiculous by their limitations, faults, bodily functions.Four Great ComdiesThe Merchant of VeniceA Midsummer Night’s DreamAs you Like itTwelfth NightComedies of the First PeriodThe keynote of his comedies:●to portray people just freed from the feudal fetters, sing of youth, love and ideas of happiness.●The heroes and heroines fight against destiny and mould their fate according to their own free will. Thus becomethe sons and daughters of Renaissance.●The victory of humanist ideal is inevitable. The general spirit of these plays is optimistic.The Merchant of Venice•The double plot: one is about the Bassanio’s winning of a bride by undergoing a test; the other is about the demanding of a pound of human flesh by Shylock.•The traditional theme 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.•The new one is to regard the play as a satire of the Christian hypocrisy and their false standards of friendship and love, their cunning ways of pursuing worldliness and unreasoning prejudice against Jews.Portia: a rich heiress of Belmont in Shakespeare's comedy The Merchant of Venice.●1. Portia is a woman of Renaissance—beautiful, prudent, cultured, courteous and capable of rising to an emergency. She is one of Shakespear’s ideal women.●2. the young heroes in Shakespeare's comedies are always independent in character and take their own path of life.History plays aim to present some historical age or character, and may be either a comedy or a tragedy.●His histories include two tetralogies (四部曲)and two other plays. Characterizes two centuries of English history from Richard III to Henry VIII (1377-1547)●There is only one ideal king---Henry V who represents the aspiration for national unity under a powerful and efficient monarchy.The image of Henry V:Henry V is the symbol of Shakespear’s ideal kingship. He represents the upsurging patriotism of the time. In depicting Henry V as a prince and as a man, Shakespeare looks deep into the personality of his hero and shows a profound understanding of the politics and social life of the time.Theme: Shakespeare’s historical plays describe the decaying of the old feudal society an d the rising of the new forces. His historical plays sum up the necessity for national unity under a mighty and just sovereign. The idea is anti-feudal inIt is concerned with the harshness and injustice of life. They are often serious plays with sad endings.●Often the hero’s tragedy is due to a weakness in his or her character which brings self-destruction. A weakness such as the excessive pride of Faustus, the overweening ambition of Macbeth, or the uncontrolled jealousy of Othello.●In S hakespeare’s plays, he saw sharp contradictions between his lofty humanistic ideals and the evil social forces. Background for Shakespeare’s tragediesHe began to observe life with penetration, to expose mercilessly the contradiction of the Elizabethan society. The economical and social crisis which began at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth continued right up to the English Revolution.The bourgeoisie intended to break up the yoke of absolute monarchy and struggled for free development.It was in this atmosphere of general unrest that he created his great tragedies.Four Great Tragedies All analyzing the human wickedness.●Hamlet: the hero’s weakness makes him vulnerable in fighting against the outward evil.●Othello shows how an outward evil make s use of the hero’s weakness and causes his fall.●King Lear demonstrates how man’s mistake sets free the evils of treachery, hypocrisy, flattery, selfishness and distrust.●Macbeth reveals how the outward evil stirs up the wickedness in man and destroys him.Hamlet“Hamlet” is considered the summit of Shakespeare's art.Hamlet is a man of genius, highly accomplished and educated, a man of profound perception and sparkling wit. He is a scholar, soldier and statesman all combined. His image reflects the versatility of the man of Renaissance.Hamlet’s melancholy is not the negative, over-subtle and fruitless kind, it is the result of his penetrating mind. It expresses, in away, the crisis of humanism at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century.III. the artistic features of his plays1. Characterization: By using comparison and contrasts, he depicts a group of individuals with strong and distinct personalities.The melancholy of Hamlet, the wickedness of Claudius and Iago, the honesty of Othello, ambition of Macbeth and the beauty and wit of Portia.2. Psycho-analytical study: He reveals the intricate inner workings of the character’s minds through the full use of soliloquies(独白).3. Structure:⏹His plays usu. have more than one plot. Through contrast and parallel, the major and minor plots are woven intoan organic whole.⏹the device of a play within the play also plays an important part.4. Language: Shakespeare is a master of the English language, with a large vocabulary of 16000 English words. More important are the figurative speeches such as analogy and metaphor.5. style: realistic style. The reader may be impressed by the typical speech modes —the question in Hamlet, the ambiguities in Macbeth, the exclamations and very simple but also very basic questions in King Lear.IV. Shakespeare’s place and contributionOne of the founder of realism in world literature. Living in the historical period of the transition from feudalism to capitalism, he paints a panorama of the decline of the old feudal nobility and the rise of new bourgeoisie.Amazing prolificacy. In 22years, nearly 40 plays, no two of which evoke the same feeling or image among the audience, a master of every forms of drama.Skilled in many poetic forms. The songs, sonnets, couplets, esp. at home with blank verse, which became a vehicle of utterance to all the possible sentiments of his characters.A great master of English language. He has an amazing wealth of vocabulary and idiom. He is known to have used 16,000 different words. His coinage of new words and distortion of the meaning of the old ones also create striking effects on the reader.He was universally regarded are the summit of English Renaissance. His influence on later writers is immeasurable. Almost all English writers after him have been influenced by him either in artistic point view, in literary form or in language.SonnetDefinition:▪A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme.Origin:▪A form of lyrical poetry was originated in Italy. “sonnet” was derived from Provencal (普罗旺斯语) “Sonet”. It was once a short popular poetry used for singing in the medieval age.▪Italian poet Petrarch was the major representatives of the poets who used this poetic form. He wrote altogether 375 sonnets, dedicated to his lover. That is the Petrarchan sonnet.▪Sonnet was introduced into England by Thomas Wyatt . It flourished in the 1590s and reach its peak of popularity with the surge of Renaissance in England.Two types of sonnetThe Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet :Petrarchan Sonnet▪The Italian form, in some ways the simpler of the two, Its fourteen lines break into an octave (八行诗)(or octet), which usually rhymes abba,abba, and a sestet (六行诗节), which may rhyme cdecde or cdcdcd, or any of the multiple variations possible using only two or three rhyme-sounds.▪It usually projects and develops a subject in the octave, then executes a turn at the beginning of the sestet, which means that the sestet must in some way release the tension built up in the octave.▪Example: see Wyatt's "Farewell Love and all thy laws for ever."Farewell, LoveSir Thomas Wyatt (1503~1542)Farwell, Love, and all thy laws forever,Thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more;Senec and Plato call me from thy lore,To perfect wealth my wit for to endeavor,In blind error then I did persever,Thy sharp repulse, that prickth aye so sore,Hath taought me to set in trifles no storeAnd’ scape forth since liberty is leverTherefore farewell, go trouble younger hearts, And in me claim no more authorityWith idle youth go use thy property,And therein spend thy many brittle darts,For hitherto though I have lost all my time,Me lusteth no longer rotten boughs to climb.别了,爱,以及你所有的法则,你上饵的钩子不再能把我缠绞,塞内克与柏拉图叫我离开你那套,并尽我才智把完美的财富获得。
文艺复兴在英国文学史中的作用

文艺复兴在英国文学史中的作用
文艺复兴(Renaissance)时期自14世纪末期起,持续到17世纪,是一个以英国文学发展史上的重要时期,也是文学发展史上极具影响力的时代。
它开始于英国东部的罗马天主教教廷,并逐渐演变为一种可以涵盖整个英国的文学文化活动。
文艺复兴活动的发展,对英国文学及政治文化有深远的影响。
文艺复兴对英国文学史的影响有三个方面。
首先,文艺复兴期间出现了许多作家,其中很多是英国史上重要的文学人物,包括莎士比亚、詹姆斯弗罗斯特、雪莱、毛姆、萨特、塞万提斯等。
他们写出的作品对当代英国文学产生了重大影响,开创了英国文学的先河,成为文学史上重要的经典作品。
其次,文艺复兴时期,英国文学中开始出现了大量的新文学流派,如圣诞歌剧、讽刺剧、童话、小说、诗歌等。
新的文学流派和作品大大丰富了英国文学的多样性,增进了英国文学的深度和广度。
最后,文艺复兴时期,英国文学受到欧洲大陆文学思想的深刻影响,出现了新的文学理论和观念,大大改变了英国文学的方向和未来发展趋势,开创了现代文学史的新纪元。
总而言之,文艺复兴为英国文学的发展史提供了重要的贡献,其影响力深远而持久。
文艺复兴时期出现的作家、新的文学流派和文学理论,成为了英国文学史上重要的时期,并为今后英国文学发展奠定了基础。
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The Renaissance PeriodReference: 1) 16th century, Thomas More, “sheep devoured men”羊吃人的时代2) At the beginning of the 16th century, absolute monarchy was formed in England. King Henry VIII broke off with the Pope, dissolved all the monasteries修道院and abbeys大修道院in the country, confiscated没收their lands and proclaimed himself head of the Church of England.3) The absolute monarchy in England reached its summit during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.4) Beginning of the 16th century, Thomas More, a outstanding humanist杰出的人文主义者, wrote Utopia in which he gave a profound and truthful picture of the people’s suffering and put forward his ideal of a future happy society.5) In the 1st half of the 16th century, there appeared lyrical poems抒情诗by Thomas Wyatt怀亚特. Wyatt was the first to introduce the sonnet into English literature. In the 2nd half of the 16th century lyrical poetry became widespread in England. Famous lyrical and epic poets of the time were Philip Sidney菲利普•锡德尼, Thomas Campion托马斯•坎皮恩and Edmund Spenser埃德蒙•斯宾塞(<The Faerie Queene>仙后)6) Various types of novels were developed in the 16th century. John Lyly约翰•黎里and Thomas Lodge托马斯•洛奇were authors of novels dealing with the court life and gallantry.(宫廷生活和侠士风流)John Lyly→Euphues: The Antatomy of Wit艳词(首创euphuism绮丽体这一修辞手段) Thomas Deloney托马斯•德洛尼&Thomas Nashe托马斯•纳什→developed the realistic tendencies发展了小说中的现实主义风格(devoted to the everyday life of craftsmen, merchants and other representatives of the lower classes)7) Drama→the greatest of the pioneers of English drama was Christopher Marlowe克里斯托弗•马洛. He made blank verse the principle vehicle of expression in drama.(把无韵诗作为英语戏剧主要表达方式His work→The Jew of Malta; The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus)8) A period of drama and poetry. The Elizabethan drama is the real mainstream of the English Renaissance.9) Three historical events of the Renaissance—rebirth or revival:①new discoveries in geography and astrology(占星术)②the religious reformation and economic expansion③rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek cultureDefinition of important literary terms:Renaissance:the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.William Shakespeare 1564~1616 P61Works: Stage1→1590 The Second Part of King Henry VIThe Third Part of King Henry VI1591 The First Part of King Henry VI1592 The Life and Death of King Richard IIIThe Comedy of Errors1593 Titus Andronicus泰特斯•安德鲁尼克斯(复仇悲剧)The Taming of the Shrew训悍记1594 The Two Gentlemen of Verona维罗纳两绅士Lover’s Labour Lost爱的徒劳Romeo and Juliet1595 The Life and Death of King Richard IIA Midsummer Night’s Dream 仲夏夜之梦1596 The Life and Death og King JohnThe Merchant of Venice维纳斯商人1597 The First Part of King Henry IVThe Second Part of King Henry IV1598 Much Ado About Nothing无事生非The Merry Wives of Windsor温莎的风流娘儿们The Life of King Henry V1599 The Life and Death of Julius Caesar尤里乌斯•凯撒As You Like It 皆大欢喜(Figure: Rosalind)1600 Twelfth Night, or What You Will第十二夜Stage2→1601 The Tragedy of Hamlet, Price of Denmark(复仇悲剧)√1602 Troilus and Cressida 特罗伊斯与克瑞西达(黑暗喜剧)All’s Well That Ends Well 终成眷属(黑暗喜剧)1603 Measure for Measure 一报还一报(黑暗喜剧)Othello, the Moore of Venice 奥赛罗(Figure: Desdemona)1605 King Lear李尔王(Figure: Cordelia)The Tragedy of Macbeth 麦克白1606 Antony and Cleopatra 安东尼和克利奥佩特拉1607 The Tragedy of Coriolanus 克利奥拉鲁斯Timon of Athens 雅典的泰门1608 Pericles, Prince of Tyre 佩里克里斯Stage3→(均为传奇剧)1609 Cymbeline, King of Britain 辛白林1610 The Winter’s Tale 冬天的故事The Tempest 暴风雨The Life and Death of Henry VIII( Comedy:—Tragedy:—)Four Comedies: <As You Like It>皆大欢喜<Twelfth Night>第十二夜<A Midsummer Night‟S Dream>仲夏夜之梦<Merchant Of Venice>威尼斯商人Four Tragedies:<Hamlet>哈姆莱特<Othello>奥赛罗<King Lear>李尔王<Macbeth>麦克白Shakespeare Sonnet: 154 <The Sonnets> (ababcdcdefefgg) 18(shall I compare thee)、29(when in disgrace)、106(when in the chronicle of wasted time)Shakespeare’s 2 narrative poems: Venus and Adonis维纳斯与阿多尼斯Lucrece露克里丝受辱记Figures and things mentioned: <In Hamlet> Horatio (Hamlet’s friend)霍拉旭Elsinore Castle埃利塞纳城堡Claudius (Hamlet’s uncle)克劳迪斯Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother)乔特鲁德Rosencrantz(Hamlet’s friend)罗森克兰茨Guildenstern(Hamlet’s friend)吉尔登斯坦Ophelia(Hamlet’s girlfriend)奥菲利亚Polonius (girlfriend’s father)波洛琉斯Laertes(girlfriend’s brother)雷欧提斯<In The Merchant of Venice>Bassanio 巴萨尼奥Antonio(Bassanio’s Friend)安东尼奥Portia鲍西娅Shylock (the wealthy Jew)Jessica(Shylock’s daughter, who ran off with Bassanio’s friend Lorenzo罗兰佐)Gratiano (Bassanio’s friend, fell in love with Portia’s waiting-woman Nerissa尼莉莎) Definition of important literary terms:1)Renaissance: Renaissance marks the transition from the medieval to the modern world. Itfirst started in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. The word“Renaissance” means rebirth or revival. In essence, it is a historical period in which theEuropean humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, and to lift the restriction in all areas placed by the Roman Catholic Churchauthorities. Two features of renaissance: It is a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature.People learned to admire the Greek and Latin works as models of literary form. It is the keen interest in the activities of humanity.2)Sonnet: 14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter.The rhymescheme in the Italian form as typified in the sonnets of Petrarch(彼得拉克)is abbaabbacdecde. The Petrarchian sonnet has two divisions: the first is of eight lines (the octave), and the second is of six lines (the sestet). The rhyme scheme of the English, or Shakespearean sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg. The change of rhyme in the English sonnet is coincidental(一致) with a change of theme in the poem.3)Spenserian Stanza: Spenser invented a new verse form for his poem. The verse form hasbeen called "Spenserian Stanza" since his day. Each stanza has nine lines, each of the first eight lines is in iambic pentameter form, and the ninth line is an iambic hexameter(六步抑扬格) line. The rhythm scheme is abab bcbc c.4) Humanism: it refers to the main literary trend and is the keynote of English Renaissance.Humanists took interest in human life and human activities and gave expression to the new feeling of admiration for human beauty, human achievement. They think that man has a potential for culture which distinguishes him from lower orders of beings, and which he should strive constantly to fulfill.FrancisBacon弗兰西斯•培根1561~1626 P103(哲学家、散文家;在论述探究知识的著作中提出了“知识就是力量”这一著名论断;近代唯物主义哲学的奠基人和近代实验科学的先驱。