Chapter 2(Page79 to Page156)

Chapter II The Neoclassical Period新古典主义1) The Enlightenment Movement启蒙运动The 18th-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 the whole Western Europe at the time. The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries. Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modem 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, Alexander pope and so on.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, all forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers (Homer, Virgil, 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, unity, harmony and grace 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.3) The heroic couplet 英雄双行体It means a pair of lines of a type once common in English poetry, which rhyme and are written with five beats each..4) the Realistic Novel英国现代小说The mid-century was, however, predominated by a newly rising literary form, the modern English novel, which, contrary to the traditional romance of aristocrats, gives a realistic presentation of life of the common English people. This-the most significant phenomenon in the history of the development of English literature in the eighteenth century - is a natural product of the Industrial Revolution and a symbol of the growing importance and strength of the English of the growing importance and strength of the English middle class, Among the pioneers were Daniel Defoe ,Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Tobias Creorge Smollott, and Oliver Goldsmith.I．John Bunyan约翰班扬His major worksJohn Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) 天路历程is the outstanding 17th-century English religious literature. 17世纪宗教文学的代表For more than 200 years this book was second in popularity only to the Bible. 圣经Selected Reading"The Vanity Fair", 名利场an excerpt from Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress.天路历程(1) Theme: The Pilgrim's Progress is the most successful religious allegory in the English language. Its purpose is to urge people to comply with Christian doctrines and seek salvation through constant struggles with their own weakness and all kinds of social evils. It is not only about something spiritual but also beats much relevance to the time. Its predominant metaphor-lifeas a journey-is simple and familiar.(2) "Vanity Fair" is the most famous part of The Pilgrim's Progress. It tells how Christian and his friend Faithful come to Vanity Fair on their way to heaven," a fair where in should be sold all sorts of vanity and that it should last all the year long: therefore at this fair all such merchandise sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures and delights of all sorts as harlots, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones and what not." As they refuse to buy anything but truth, they are beaten and put in a cage and then taken out and led in chains up and down the fair. They are sentenced to death-to be put to the most cruel death that can be invented." Vanity Fair" is a satirical picture of English society, law and religion in Bunyan's day.II. Alexander pope亚历山大蒲柏1. 一般识记His life and careerPope's mock-heroic poem 英雄双行体诗The Rape of the Lock 夺发记a delightful burlesque of epic poetry 一部奇妙的讽刺史诗.3. 识记His major works1). The Rape of the Lock夺发记A delightful burlesque of epic poetry, it ridicules the manners of the English nobility. The poem is based on an actual incident in which a young nobleman stole a lock of a lady's hair.2) An Essay on Criticism论批评His first important work, An Essay on Criticism was a long didactic poem in heroic couplets. In this work, he reflected the neo-classical spirit of the times by advocating good taste, common sense and the adherence to classical rules in writing and criticism. The whole poem is written in a plain style, hardly containing any imagery or eloquence andtherefore makes easy reading.3）The Dunciad群愚史诗Generally considered Pope's best satiric work, The Dunciad goes deep in meaning and works at many levels. Its satire is directed at Dullness in general, and in the course of it all the literary men of the age. Poets mainly who had made Pope's enemies, are held up to ridicule. But the poem is not confined to personal attack.Dullness as reflected in the corruptness of government, social morals, education and even religion, is expertly exposed and satirized.4. 领会His language style语言风格Pope's works are still enjoyed for their sparkling wit, good sense and charm of expression. After Shakespeare, he is the most widely quoted poet in English literature. He worked painstakingly on his poems, developed a satiric, concise, smooth, graceful andwell-balanced style.III. Daniel Defoe丹尼尔笛福His major worksPerhaps his most popular novel is Robinson Crusoe (1719)鲁滨逊漂流记, an adventure story based partly on the actual experience of a man who had been trapped on a deserted island. A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), sometimes considered his best work, has such a colorful and detailed account of the London plague of 1664 and 1665 that it seems to have been written by an observer on the scene. Defoe's third masterpiece, Moll Flanders (1722), is a lively novel tracing the adventures of a female rogue. Told in the form of "confessions", thenarrative includes vivid descriptions of the courts, prisons, and other social institutions of Defoe's era.4. 领会Characteristics of his worksDefoe was a very good story-teller. He had a gift for organizing minute details in such a vivid way that his stories could be both credibleand fascinating. His sentences are sometimes short, crisp and plain, and sometimes long and rambling, which leave on the reader on impression of casual narration. His language is smooth, easy, colloquial and mostly vernacular. There is nothing artificial in his language: it is common English at its best.5. 应用Selected ReadingAn Excerpt from chapter IV of Robinson Crouse. 鲁滨逊漂流记Robinson Crouse, an adventure story very much in the spirit of the time, is universally considered his masterpiece. In the novel, Defoe traces the growth of Robinson from a na?ve and simple youth into a mature and hardened man, tempered by numerous trials in his eventful life. The realistic presentation of the successful struggle of Robinson single-handedly against the hostile nature proves the best part of the novel. Robinson is here a real hero: a typical eighteenth-century English middle-class man with a great capacity for work, inexhaustible energy, courage, patience and persistence in overcoming obstacles, in struggling against the hostile natural environment. He is the very prototype of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist. In describing Robinson's life on the island, Defoe glorifies human labor andthe puritan fortitude, which save Robinson from despair and are a source of pride andhappiness .He toils for the sake of subsistence, and get his reward.VI. Jonathan Swift 乔纳森斯威夫特Swift is a master satirist 一位伟大的讽刺大师A master Droposal is generally takes as a prefect model 一个温和的建议被誉为一篇完美的讽刺小说领会His style写作风格Swift is a master satirist. His satire is usually masked by an out word gravity andan apparent earnestness which renders his satire all the more powerful.Swift is one of the greatest masters of English prose. He is almost unsurpassed in the writing of simple, direct, precise prose. He defined a good style as "proper words in proper places."恰当的地方用恰当的词Clear, simple, concrete diction, uncomplicated sentence structure, economy and conciseness of language mark all his writings-essays, poems and novels.应用Selected readingAn Excerpt from Chapter III, Part I of Gulliver's Travels.格列夫游记Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift's best fictional work, contains four parts, each about one particular voyage during which Gulliver has extraordinary adventures on some remote island after he has met with shipwreck or piracy or some other misfortune. As a whole the book is one of the most effective and devastating criticisms and satires of all aspects in the then English and satiresof all aspects in the then English and European life - socially, politically, religiously, philosophically, scientifically, and morally. Its social significance is great and its exploration into human nature profound.Gulliver's Travels is also an artistic masterpiece. Here we find its author at his best as a master of prose. In structure, the four parts make an organic whole, with each contrived upon anindependent structure, and yet complementing the others and contributing to the central concern of study of human nature and life. The first two parts are generally considered smallness in Part I words just as effectively as the exaggerated largeness in Part 2. The similarities between human beings and the Lilliputians and the contrast between the Brobdingnagians and human beings both bear reference to the possibilities of human state. Part 3 furthers the criticism of the western civilization and deals with different malpractices and false illusions about science, philosophy, history and false illusions about science, philosophy, history and even immortality. The lost part, where comparison is made through both similarities anddifferences, leads the reader to a basic question: What on earth is a human being?V. Henry Fielding 亨利菲尔丁１. 一般识记：His life and careerOf all his plays, the best known are The coffee-House Politician ((1730)咖啡馆的政治家, The Tragedy of Tragedies (1730),悲剧中的悲剧Pasquin (1736) 巴斯昆and The Historical Register for the Year 1736 ，1736历史鉴定(1737).In 1742 appeared his first novel, 第一部小说The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his friend Mr. Abraham Adams, Written in Imitation of the Manner of Cervantes, which was first intended as a burlesque of the dubious morality and false sentimentality of Richardson's Pamela. The next year came 第二部小说The History of Jonathan Wild the Great, a satiric biography that harks back to Fielding's early plays. The novel was followed by The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) and The History of Amelia (1751). The former is a masterpiece on the subject of human nature and the latter the story of the unfortunate life of an idealized woman, a maudlin picture of the social life at the time.2. 识记: His major works2) The History of Jonathan Wild the GreatIt's a satiric biography that harks back to Fielding's early plays. It takes the life of a notorious real-life thief as a theme for demonstrating the petty division between a great rogue and a great politician such as Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister. The ironical praises for the very qualities of the unscrupulous self-aggrandizement of wild point out the way the Prime Minister had achieved his "greatness." The Great Man, properly considered, is no letter than a great gangster.3. 领会：His achievement in English novelFielding has been regarded by some as "Father of the English Novel,"英国小说之父for his contribution to the establishment of the form of the modern novel. Of all the eighteenth-century novelists he was the first to set out, both in theory and practice, to write specifically a "comic epic in prose," 散文体喜剧史诗the first to give the modern novel its structure and style. B4. 领会：Characteristics of his language 语言特色His language is easy, unlabored and familiar, but extremely vivid and vigorous. His sentences are always distinguished by logic and rhythm, and his structure carefully planned towards an inevitable ending. His works are also noted for lively, dramatic dialogues and other theatrical devices such as suspense, coincidence and unexpectedness.5.应用：Selected ReadingAn Excerpt from chapter VIII, Book Four of Tom Jones. 汤姆琼斯Tom Jones, generally considered Fielding's masterpiece, brings its author the name of the"Pose Homer." The panoramic view it provides of the 18th century English country and city life with different places and about 40 characters is unsurpassed. The language is one of clarity and suppleness. And last of all, the plot construction is excellent. Its 18 books of epic form are divided into 3 sections, 6 books each, clearly marked out by the change of scenes: in the country, on the high way and in London. By this, Fielding has indeed achieved his goal of writing a "comic epic in prose."VI. Samuel Johnson塞穆尔约翰逊一般识记：His life and literary careerSamuel Johnson, English writer, critic, and lexicographer, born in Richfield, England, Sept.18.1709, and died in London. England, Dec, 13,1784.Samuel Johnson, commonly called Dr. Johnson, was one of the greatest figures of18th-century English literature. He was an energetic and versatile writer. He had a hand in all the different branches of literary activities. He was a poet, dramatist, prose romancer, biographer, essayist, critic, lexicographer and publicist.识记：His major worksHis major works include poems: "London"(1738),伦敦and "The vanity of Human Wishes"(1749);人类欲望的幻想a romance: The History of Rasselas拉塞拉斯的历史, Prince of Abyssinia (阿比西尼的王子1759); a tragedy: Irene (1749);艾琳As a lexicographer,辞典编纂家Johnson distinguished himself as the author of the first English dictionary 英国第一部英国辞典by an Englishman-A Dictionary of the English Language (1755),英文大字典Samuel Johnson was the last great neoclassicist enlightener in the late 18th century. 是18世纪新古典主义启蒙主义最后一位伟大的作家领会：His contribution to English language-A Dictionary of the English Language In 1746, a group of booksellers commissioned Johnson to prepare a dictionary. Published in 1755, A dictionary of the English Language was the first real attempt at a systematic and interestingly written survey of English usage and the first dictionary to quote from poets and other writers to illustrate definitions. On the whole, the work showed great scholarship, although it contained humor and reflected a number of Johnson's prejudices.VII. Richard Brinsley Sheridan 理查德B谢拉丹18世纪唯一一位重要的戏剧家The theme of his plays 剧作主题Morality is the constant theme of Richard B. Sheridan's plays. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.His major worksHis plays, especially The Rivals 情敌and The School for scandal,造谣学校as true classics in English comedy.真正的古典喜剧应用：Select readingAn Excerpt from Act 4, Scene III of The School for Scandal造谣学校1) Brief IntroductionsThe School for Scandal is mainly a story about 2 brothers, the hypocritical Joseph Surface and the good-natured, imprudent, spendthrift Charles Surface.2) ThemeThe School for Scandal is one of the great classics in English drama. It is a sharp satire on the moral degeneracy of the aristocratic-bourgeois society in the 18th-century England, on the vicious scandal mongering among the idle rich, on the reckless life of extravagance and love intrigues in the high society and above all, on the immorality and hypocrisy behind the mask of honorable living and high-sounding moral principles. And in terms of theatrical art, it shows the playwright at his best. No wonder, the play has been regarded as the best comedy since Shakespeare.VIII. Thomas Gray托马斯格雷识记: His major worksIn contrast to those professional writers, Gray's literary output was small. His masterpiece, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" 写在教堂墓地的挽歌was published in 1751. The poem once and for all established his fame as the leader of the sentimental poetry of the day, especially "the Graveyard School."墓地诗人作品In addition to his elegiac masterpiece, Gray is known for his odes, including "Ode on the Spring"(1742), "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"(1747), "Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat" (1748), "Hymn to Adversity"(1742), and two translations from old Norse: The Descent of Odin(1761) and The Fatal Sisters(1761).应用：Selected Reading"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" 写在教堂墓地的挽歌1) Theme: It is a meditation on human mortality, the tragic dignity it gives to all mankind, and the stability and serenity of rustic life. The Elegy lies in Gray's perfect expression of what all men feel about life and death. 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 ordinary people 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.。