古英语和中世纪文学
古英语和中世纪文学
Literary term
★ 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.
O—Hebrew N—Greek first English version: John Wycliffe most influential version: King James Version
• Features of A-S literature 1. old English literature
• /Arts/Literature/World_Literatur
e/British/Anglo-Saxon
12th-15th
Historical background literature
• background 1. the Norman conquest accelerated the development of feudalism. on land: the ruling class possessed large tracts of land on society: distinct class division, miseries of peasants on language: scholar wrote in French and Latin; enriched English.
英国文学史各个时期中的文学流派
英国文学史各个时期中的文学流派古英语和中古英语时期古英语时期是指英国国家和英语语言的形成时期.最早的文学形式是诗歌, 以口头形式流传,主要的诗人是吟游诗人.到基督教传入英国之后,一些诗歌才被记录下来.这一时期最重要的文学作品是英国的民族史诗《贝奥武夫》,用头韵体写成.古英语时期(1066?1500)从1066年诺曼人征服英国,到1500年前后伦敦方言发展成为公认的现代英语.文学作品主要的形式有骑士传奇,民谣和诗歌.在几组骑士传奇中,有关英国题材的是亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士的冒险故事,其中《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》代表了骑士传奇的最高成就.中世纪文学中涌现了大量的优秀民谣,最具代表性的是收录在一起的唱咏绿林英雄罗宾汉的民谣.3,最重要的诗人是被称为"英国诗歌之父"的乔叟,代表作是《坎特伯雷故事集》,取得了很高的艺术成就.他首创了诗歌的双韵体?每两行压韵的五步抑扬格,后被许多英国诗人采用.乔叟用伦敦方言写作,奠定了用英语语言进行文学创作的基础,促进了英语语言文学的发展.文艺复兴时期的英国文学得到了空前的发展,在诗歌,散文和戏剧方面尤其兴盛.诗歌方面,新的诗体形式如十四行诗,无韵体诗被介绍到英国.重要的诗人有Philip Sidney,他不仅写了许多优美的十四行诗,还创作了最早的诗歌理论作品之一《诗辩》.Edmund Spenser用斯宾塞诗节创作了著名长诗《仙后》.莎士比亚除了戏剧创作之外也是一位伟大诗人,著有两部叙事诗,两部长诗和154首十四行诗.英文的《圣经钦定本》作成于1611年,不仅具有重大的宗教意义,也是一部伟大的文学作品,并且对英国的语言文化产生了深远的影响.它的纯朴,平易,明晰的散文风格奠定了英国散文的传统.一个著名的哲学家兼散文家是Francis Bacon,他的文学著作主要有《随笔》,收录了他在各个时期发表的58篇随笔,思想深刻,文笔简洁,富有警句格言.戏剧代表文艺复兴时期英国文学的最高成就.主要戏剧家有马洛(Christopher Marlowe), 莎士比亚(W. Shakespeare).17世纪的英国文学17世纪是英国社会剧烈动荡的时期之一,由于君主专制和资产阶级之间的矛盾,爆发了1642年的内战并导致了1688年的"光荣革命".与政治斗争和资产阶级革命思想紧密相连的是宗教斗争和清教徒思想.因此这一时期的文学和艺术多展示革命思想的发展与成长,并带有浓厚的清教主义倾向.两个代表作家是弥尔顿和班扬.弥尔顿的代表作〈失乐园〉和班扬的代表作〈天路历程〉都取材于〈圣经〉.〈天路历程〉是一部寓言作品,用"基督徒"到达天国的历程象征人类追求美好未来的进程.18世纪的英国文学18世纪产生了一种进步思潮?启蒙运动,这一时期的思想家和作家们崇尚理性,认为启蒙教化是改造社会的基本手段,因此18世纪又被称为"理性的时代".在文学领域体现为18世纪上半期的新古典主义,代表作家有诗人蒲伯(A. Pope)和期刊随笔的创始人斯梯尔(R.Steele)和艾迪生(J.Addison).18中期兴起了英国现代小说,出现了大批有影响的小说家.理查逊(Samuel Richardson)的小说〈帕美拉〉(Pamela)采用书信体形式对人物的心理活动进行细致的描写,大大丰富了小说的创作方法.哥尔德史密斯(Oliver Goldsmith)的〈威克菲牧师传〉(The Vicar of Wakefield)是英国文学史上著名的感伤小说之一.劳伦斯斯特恩(Laurence Sterne)打破传统的叙事方法,创作了〈项迪传〉,而被认为是英国现代派文学的先驱.迪福(Daniel Defoe)是英国文学史上第一个现实主义小说家,代表作是〈鲁滨逊漂流记〉.讲述故事情节并分析鲁滨逊这一人物形象.斯威夫特是英国文学史上著名的讽刺小说家,以犀利的文笔对教会和社会的虚伪腐败进行了辛辣的讽刺.代表作是〈格列佛游记〉菲尔丁是英国最杰出的小说家之一,在理论与实践上都为英国小说的发展作出了贡献.在他的代表作〈汤姆?琼斯〉中,他塑造了众多栩栩如生的人物,展示了错综复杂的社会矛盾.讲述故事情节,分析主题和主要人物形象19世纪的英国文学19世纪英国文学主要包括上半期的浪漫主义时期和中后期的批判现实主义小说.布来克和罗伯特?彭斯属于前浪漫主义诗人.布来克的代表作品有〈天真之歌〉和〈经验之歌〉.彭斯是著名的苏格兰民族诗人,写了很多脍炙人口的歌颂友谊,爱情,自由,平等的诗歌,其中〈一朵红红的玫瑰〉广为流传.浪漫主义全盛时期以华滋华斯与柯律维治联合发表〈抒情歌谣集〉为开始,到瓦尔特斯各特的逝世为止,主要文学成就为诗歌,涌现了华滋华斯为代表的"湖畔派"诗人和拜伦,雪莱,济慈等富有革命理想,颂扬自由与解放的诗人.19世纪中后期的批判现实主义作家真实地描写了英国资产阶级的社会生活,暴露和批判了资产阶级社会的罪恶,对人民群众寄予了深刻的同情.狄更斯是英国最杰出的批判现实主义小说家,善于描写社会底层人们的生活和思想,作品题材广泛,思想深刻;萨克雷则善于描写上层社会形形色色的人物.批判现实主义女性小说家及她们的代表作品:Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Mrs. Gaskell, George Eliot.分析简?爱这一人物形象并分析小说的主题思想.托马斯?哈代是19世纪末20世纪初英国最伟大的现实主义小说家,他称自己的作品是"性格与环境的小说".代表作品是〈德伯家的苔丝〉.20世纪的现代派作家人们对西方文明的危机感和第二次世界大战的恶果促成了西方现代派文学的形成.主要表现为意识流小说,代表作家有詹姆斯乔伊斯和弗洁尼亚沃尔夫.乔伊斯的小说〈尤利西斯〉描写的是现代都市居民庸俗,猥琐的精神生活.弗洁尼亚的〈到灯塔去〉则运用了娴熟的象征手法和意识流技巧.英国文学发展史及每个阶段的特点毋庸置疑，英国小说是世界艺术之林中的一大景观。
英国文学简史分类
英国文学简史分类一、古英国文学古英国文学是指公元5世纪至公元11世纪之间的英国文学作品。
这一时期的文学作品主要以英国盎格鲁人和撒克逊人的口头传承方式流传下来。
最早的古英国文学作品是口头传承的史诗，如《贝奥武夫》和《西德里克史诗》。
这些作品描绘了英雄壮举和神话传说，展现了古英国人的价值观和文化背景。
二、中世纪文学中世纪文学是指公元11世纪至15世纪之间的英国文学作品。
这一时期的文学作品受到基督教和法国文学的影响，主题涉及爱情、骑士精神和宗教信仰等。
最著名的中世纪文学作品是《亚瑟王传奇》，它描绘了亚瑟王和圆桌骑士的故事，体现了骑士精神和中世纪的价值观。
此外，还有一些宗教戏剧，如《诗篇》和《谢弗尔诗篇》等，用于教育和传播基督教信仰。
三、文艺复兴文学文艺复兴文学是指16世纪至17世纪初期的英国文学作品。
这一时期的文学作品受到古希腊罗马文化的影响，主题多样化，包括诗歌、戏剧、散文等。
著名的文艺复兴文学作品包括莎士比亚的戏剧作品，如《哈姆雷特》和《罗密欧与朱丽叶》，以及约翰·米尔顿的史诗《失乐园》等。
这些作品在文学史上具有重要地位，对后世的文学创作产生了深远影响。
四、启蒙时代文学启蒙时代文学是指18世纪的英国文学作品。
这一时期的文学作品反映了对理性、科学和人权的追求。
著名的启蒙时代作家包括约翰·洛克、伊莱扎·海伍德和亚当·斯密等。
他们的作品涉及政治、哲学和经济等领域，对当时社会产生了重要影响。
其中，洛克的《人类理解论》被认为是启蒙运动的经典之作。
五、浪漫主义文学浪漫主义文学是指19世纪初期的英国文学作品。
这一时期的文学作品强调个人情感、自然景观和想象力。
著名的浪漫主义作家包括威廉·华兹华斯、塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治和乔治·戈登·拜伦等。
他们的作品描绘了自然的壮丽和人类的内心世界，对后世文学产生了深远影响。
其中，华兹华斯的《抒情诗集》被誉为浪漫主义诗歌的代表作品。
Shakespeare之前的英国文学简单介绍
关于莎士比亚之前的英国文学(2011-10-11 12:21:39)转载▼标签：杂谈英国文学源远流长，经历了长期、复杂的发展演变过程。
在这个过程中，文学本体以外的各种现实的、历史的、政治的、文化的力量对文学发生着影响，文学内部遵循自身规律，而在莎士比亚之前历经盎格鲁—撒克逊和文艺复兴两个阶段。
而盎格鲁—撒克逊阶段，也可以说是中世纪文学阶段。
一，中世纪文学（约5世纪—1485）英国最初的文学同其他国家最初的文学一样，不是书面的，而是口头的。
故事与传说口头流传，并在讲述中不断得到加工、扩展，最后才有写本。
比较著名的代表人物有：公元5世纪中叶，盎格鲁、撒克逊、朱特三个日耳曼部落开始从丹麦以及现在的荷兰一带地区迁入不列颠。
盎格鲁—撒克逊时代给我们留下的古英语文学作品中，最重要的一部是《贝奥武甫》（Beowulf），它被认为是英国的民族史诗。
《贝奥武甫》讲述主人公贝尔武甫斩妖除魔、与火龙搏斗的故事，具有神话传奇色彩。
这部作品取材于日耳曼民间传说，随盎格鲁-撒克逊人入侵传入今天的英国，现在我们所看到的诗是8世纪初由英格兰诗人写定的，当时，不列颠正处于从中世纪异教社会向以基督教文化为主导的新型社会过渡的时期。
因此，《贝奥武甫》也反映了7、8世纪不列颠的生活风貌，呈现出新旧生活方式的混合，兼有氏族时期的英雄主义和封建时期的理想，体现了非基督教日耳曼文化和基督教文化两种不同的传统。
公元1066年，居住在法国北部的诺曼底人在威廉公爵率领下越过英吉利海峡，征服英格兰。
诺曼底人占领英格兰后，封建等级制度得以加强和完备，法国文化占据主导地位，法语成为宫廷和上层贵族社会的语言。
这一时期风行一时的文学形式是浪漫传奇，流传最广的是关于亚瑟王和圆桌骑士的故事。
《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》（Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 1375-1400）以亚瑟王和他的骑士为题材，歌颂勇敢、忠贞、美德，是中古英语传奇最精美的作品之一。
01、古英语文学和中世纪文学
一、古英语文学和中世纪文学（中古英语）Chapter One The Old English Literature and the Medieval English Literature (about the 5th century - 1485)●古英语文学：（450-1066）The Old English Literature (also called The Anglo-Saxon Period)Ⅰ. Social BackgroundThe year 450 marked the coming of the Anglo-Saxons to England to settle in Wessex, while the year 1066 witnessed William Duke of Normandy conquering England.Ⅱ. Literary Characteristics and Major Writers and WorksBeowulf 贝尔武夫--------英雄史诗The earliest English poem we have known is Beowulf, composed in Anglo-Saxon about 700 by an unknown minstrel who composed poems that praised Anglo-Saxon ideals. This great epic tells of the adventures of Beowulf and his victories over the monster Grendel and Grendel’s mother. It ends with Beowulf’s final battle with a dragon and the hero’s death.记住“a saint, a cowman and a King 一个圣人，一个牧牛人，一个国王”Bede 比德(676-735) ---the first Anglo-Saxon who wrote the history in LatinHe is one early poet. His works survive in manuscripts across Europe and in Russia.Ecclesiastical History of the English People 英吉利教会史Caedmon 凯德蒙---the father of English songsAccording to Bede, the earliest known poet in English literature was Caedmon, a cowherd at Whitby Abbey in Northumbia. （在睡梦中创作出《创世纪》的赞歌）Caedmon’s Hymn 凯德蒙赞歌（一首9行头韵体赞美诗，一般认为这首对上帝的赞美诗就是最初他在梦里所做的）King Alfred the Great 阿尔弗雷德大帝(849-899)Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England, becoming the only English king to be accorded the epithet "the Great". He was the first who commissioned the writing of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles in old English vernacular.The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles 盎格鲁撒克逊编年史翻译比德的作品●中世纪文学：（1066-1485）The Medieval English LiteratureⅠ. Social BackgroundMiddle English literature refers to the literature in the period from Norman Conquest to the end of the Wars of the Roses and the accession of Henry Ⅶ. The evolution of something new is most apparent in some of the developments in religious writing in Middle English literature. The literature was various and deeply influenced by French.Ⅱ. Literary Characteristics and Major Writers and WorksTwo main literature forms:Medieval Romance (浪漫传奇：原本指中世纪早期地中海沿岸西部地区的一种用诺曼语讲述的故事。
英国文学史简介(中文版)
Early and Medieval English Literature(449-1485)英国中世纪文学史大致可分为盎格鲁-撒克逊（The Anglo-Saxon Period,449-1066）和中古英语（The Middle English Period,1066-1485）两个时期。
公元前八九世纪高卢（Gaul,今法国）人迁入不列颠岛，成为英国最早的居民。
公元1世纪至410年，英伦三岛为罗马人占领。
449年开始，北欧日耳曼部族的朱特人（Jutes）、盎格鲁人（Angles）和撒克逊人（Saxons）陆续入侵不列颠。
他们的语言——盎格鲁-撒克逊语（Anglo-Saxon）或古英语（Old English）——也开始广为传播。
597年，奥古斯丁（Saint Augustine,?-604）率40余名修士来到英格兰传教，基督教开始在不列颠岛盛行。
盎格鲁-撒克逊时代最重要的文学作品是长达3 000多行的头韵史诗《贝奥武甫》（Beowulf,700-750）,讲述了一个斯堪的纳维亚的民间传说。
古英语散文的杰出代表是比德（the Venerable Bede,673-735）的《英吉利人民宗教史》（Ecclesiastical History of the English People,731-732）,其中包括英国第一宗教诗人开德蒙（Caedmon）充满神奇色彩的生平事迹。
该作品用拉丁文写成，后译成英文，是了解早期英国历史的珍贵史料。
公元891年，韦塞克斯(Wessex)国王艾尔弗雷德（Alfred，849-901）开始组织修士汇编《盎格鲁-撒克逊编年史》(The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle),后人一直续编至1154年。
这是第一部用英语写成的散文巨著，文风简约、质朴，对英国散文的发展产生了深远的影响。
1066年，诺曼底公爵威廉（William,Duke of Normandy）打败英军，夺得王位，成为英国威廉一世（William I）,史称“诺曼征服”（the Norman Conquest）.此后今300年的时间里，法语一直是英国统治阶层的语言，教会学者用拉丁文写作，英语只在民众中通用，以至于在12世纪之前几乎没有用英文写成的文学作品。
古英语和中世纪英语 英国文学考点
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《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; asplendid 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.7.Christopher 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 toshow 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 Verona, 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 Ve nice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You 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: Venus 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 ofShakespeare’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 Venice. 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) HamletHamlet is considered the greatest of Shakespeare’s tragedies. It has the qualities of a “blood-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 Hamletis 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) MacbethMacbeth 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 LearLear’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 heseems to have earned an innocent happiness, that his tragic suffering culminates, since Cordelia meets her death in the very hour of victory.9. Francis BaconFrancis 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 Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, two lovers’ souls are compared to a draftsman’s compass.11. John DonneJohn 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 characterizesDonne’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 MiltonJohn 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 an 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 pamphlets 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 weredriven 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. Famous 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）and Sir Richard Steele（理查﹒斯蒂尔）, the two pioneers of familiar essays（随笔散文）, Jonathan Swift（乔纳森﹒斯威夫特），Richard Bringsley Sheridan（谢拉丹）, Daniel Defoe（丹尼尔﹒笛福）, Henry Fielding（亨利﹒菲尔丁）and Samuel Johnson（塞缪尔﹒约翰逊）.2. Neoclassicism（新古典主义）In the field of literature, the Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works. This tendency is known as neoclassicism. According to the neoclassicists（新古典主义者）, all forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers (Homer, Virgil（维吉尔）, and so on.) and those of the contemporary French ones. They believed that the artistic ideals should be order, logic, restrained emotion and accuracy, and that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity. This belief led them to seek proportion（协调性）, unity（统一性）, harmony（和谐性）and grace （典雅性）in literary expressions, in an effort to delight, instruct and correct human beings, primarily as social animals. Thus, a polite, urbane，witty, and intellectual art developed. The middle part of the 18th century was predominated by a newly rising literary form---the modern English novel, which gives a realistic presentation of life of the common English people. This is the most significant phenomenon in the history of the development of English literature.3. The Graveyard School (墓地派诗歌)It refers to a school of poets of the 18th century whose poems are mostly devoted to a sentimental lamentation or meditation on life, past and present, with death and graveyard as themes. Thomas Gray（托马斯﹒格雷）is considered to be the leading figure of this school and his “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”《写在乡村教堂墓地的挽歌》is its most representative work. In this poem, Gray reflects on death, the sorrows of life, and the mysteries of human life with a touch of his personal melancholy. The poet compares the common folk with the great ones, wondering what the commons could have achieved if they had had the chance. Here he reveals his sympathy for the poor and the unknown, but mocks the great ones who despise the poor and bring havoc on them.4. The Heroic Couplet（英雄体偶句）It means a pair of lines of a type once common in English poetry, in other words, it means iambic pentameter rhymed in two lines.5. Gothic Novel（哥特式小说）It is a school of novel that appeared in the 18th century. Such a novel is often of mystery and horror which takes place in some haunted or dilapidated Middle Ages castles.6. John BunyanBunyan is a religious novelist whose style was modeled after that of the English Bible. His concrete and living language and vivid details made it possible for the reader of the least education to share the pleasure of reading his novel and to relive the experience of his character. His masterpiece, The Pilgrim’s Progress《天涯历程》, is the most successful religious allegory, tells of the experience of a devout Christian the Pilgrim with a neighbor named Faithful in a world full of vice and wickedness. Through the Christian the Pilgrim’s allegorical journey from the doomed city to the Celestial City, Bunyan means to urge people to comply with Christian doctrines and seek salvation through constant struggles with their own weaknesses and all kinds of social evils. The novel is not only about something spiritual but also bears much relevance to the time. Its predominant metaphor ---life as a journey--- is simple and familiar. The Vanity Fair is a famous scene where all such merchandise sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, titles, countries, kingdom, lusts, pleasures, wives, husbands, children, blood, bodies, souls, gold, pearls…, etc. except one thing---truth.A wise saying goes, “All that cometh is vanity.”7. Alexander PopeAs a representative of the Enlightenment, Pope was one of the first to introduce rationalism to England. He was the greatest poet of the Neoclassical period. He。
新编英国文学及选读复习资料1
英语专业课程：新编英国文学选读复习大纲Part One: Early and Medieval English Literature1. Beowulf: national epic of the English people; Denmark story; alliteration, metaphors and understatements （此处可能会有填空，选择等小题）2. Romance （名词解释）3. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”: a famous roman about King Arthur‟s story4. Ballad（名词解释）5. Character of Robin Hood6. Geoffrey Chaucer: founder of English poetry; The Canterbury Tales (main contents; 124 stories planned, only 24 finished; written in Middle English; significance; form: heroic couplet)7. Heroic couplet (名词解释)第一章古英语和中古英语时期1、古英语时期是指英国国家和英语语言的形成时期。
最早的文学形式是诗歌，以口头形式流传，主要的诗人是吟游诗人。
到基督教传入英国之后，一些诗歌才被记录下来。
这一时期最重要的文学作品是英国的民族史诗《贝奥武夫》，用头韵体写成。
2、古英语时期（1066—1500）从1066年诺曼人征服英国，到1500年前后伦敦方言发展成为公认的现代英语。
文学作品主要的形式有骑士传奇，民谣和诗歌。
在几组骑士传奇中，有关英国题材的是亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士的冒险故事，其中《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》代表了骑士传奇的最高成就。
中世纪文学中涌现了大量的优秀民谣，最具代表性的是收录在一起的唱咏绿林英雄罗宾汉的民谣。
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• /Arts/Literature/World_Literatur
e/British/Anglo-Saxon
12th-15th
Historical background literature
• background 1. the Norman conquest accelerated the development of feudalism. on land: the ruling class possessed large tracts of land on society: distinct class division, miseries of peasants on language: scholar wrote in French and Latin; enriched English.
south: Wessex (9th, 10th)
D. Danish invasion late 8th, Danes late 9th, Alfred the Great 11th, Canute 25 years E. Norman Conquest 1066 William: Duke of Normandy --- William I the end of Anglo-Saxon period beginning of feudal society
Anglo-Saxon poetry
※ the bulk of A-S poetry extant is religious or Christian two Christian poets Caedmon Cynewulf
• The verse form for Old English poetry is an alliterative line of four stressed syllables and an unfixed number of unstressed syllables broken by a caesura and arranged in one of several patterns. Lines are conventionally end-stopped and unrhymed. The form lends itself to narrative; there is no lyric poetry in Old English. A stylistic feature in this heroic poetry is the kenning, a figurative phrase, often a metaphorical compound, used as a synonym for a simple noun, e.g., the repeated use of the phrases whale-road for sea and twilight-spoiler for dragon
1. Bede— ―The Ecclesiastical History of the English People‖ ① published in Latin, translated into AngloSaxon by king Alfred in 891. ② Roman invasion to A.D.731, relates history from religious point of view and full of strange stories and miracles. ③ ―Father of English History‖
F. social and religious features • Continent: tribal society, agriculture • late: feudal shape: class division
king—earl—freeman—serf
• heathen St. Augustine in 597
1th Julius Caesar
A.D.43 Claudius
C. mid-5th Anglo-Saxons (Angles, Saxons, Jutes)
Anglo-Saxon period
seven kingdoms:
north: Mercia and Northumberland (7th, 8th)
Anglo-Saxon Period
Historical background literature
• historical background: the making of Britain
A. Briton (Celtic tribes)
B. the Roman Conquest--- holy book which forms the basis of the Christian faith the Old Testament: God and the Laws of God (Hebrew)
the New Testament: doctrines of Jesus Christ
2. verse literature in oral form
3. The authors are mostly unknown
4. poems in alliteration
5. prose in Latin
More materials on-line
• /65/an/AnglSxLit.html • :8080/~hanly/oe/503.html • /anglosaxon/literature
• set in Denmark and Sweden
Beowulf 1. 3183 lines 2. contents: 3 adventures Monster---Grendel Grendel’s mother fiery dragon
3. theme: primitive people’s struggle against hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader 4. Features: ＊ part-historical and part legendary ＊ heathen tribal society, feudal elements, Christian coloring ＊A-S or old English; alliteration (P10); metaphor
―Anglo-Saxon Chronicle‖ — ―Old English Chronicle‖ ① A.D.1 to A.D.1154 ②contents: folk literature, natural phenomenon,
comments on kings (point of view of common people), passages describing the terrible political oppression and economic exploitation of common people
3. Aelfric
• chiefly religious in content, mainly some homilies. • translate in Anglo-Saxon of the first seven books of the Bible and wrote a treatise ―Concerning the Old and New Testament‖—a popular introduction to the contents of the Bible in old English.
2. King Alfred the Great (Wessex)
Life story: traveling experience to cultural center of Europe, in 871 became the king of Wessex, fight against the Danes, strength his nation and gather many scholars, do translation together, died in 901.
Literary term
★ 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.
within a century all England was Christianized
Anglo-Saxon Literature
1. Brief introduction:
• collective, working • History, legend, contemporaneous events, orally or sung, entertainment • professional: scops (own making), gleeman (retelling ) wandering minstrels
3. Other Old English poems include various riddles, charms, saints’ lives, gnomic poetry, and other Christian verse
A-S prose: earliest in Latin