英国文学简史笔记.docx

1、英国文学简史笔记英国文学简史笔记 A Concise1 History of British Literature Chapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon Period I.Introduction 1. The historical background 1 Before the Germanic invasion 2 During the Germanic invasion a. immigration; b. Christianity; c. heptarchy.来源：考试大 d. social classes structure: hid

2、e-hundred; eoldermen lord thane - middle class freemen - lower class slave or bondmen: theow; e. social organization: clan3 or tribes. f. military Organization; g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education; h. economy: coins, trade, slavery; i. Feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. lega

3、l system. 2. The Overview4 of the culture 1 The mixture of pagan and Christian2 spirit. 2 Literature: a. poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures. II.Beowulf.来源： 1. A general introduction. 2. The content.考试大 3. The literary features. 1 the use of alliteration5 2 the use of metaphors6 and understatem

4、ents 3 the mixture of pagan and Christian elements III.The Old English Prose 1.What is prose? 2.figureswww.Examda.CoM 1The Venerable Bede 2Alfred the Great Chapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval Ages I.Introduction 1. The Historical Background. 1 The year 1066: Norman Conquest. 2 The soci

5、al situations soon after the conquest. A. Norman nobles and serfs; B. restoration of the church. 3 The 11th century. A. the crusade and knights8. B. dominance of French and Latin; 4 The 12th century. A. the centralized government; B. kings and the church Henry II and Thomas; 5 The 13th century. A. T

6、he legend of Robin9 Hood10; B. Magna Carta 1215; C. the beginning of the Parliament D. English and Latin: official languages the end 6 The 14th century. a. the House of Lords and the House of Commonsconflict between the Parliament and Kings; b. the rise of towns. c. the change of Church. d. the role

7、 of women. e. the Hundred Years Warstarting. f. the development of the trade: London. g. the Black Death. h. the Peasants Revolt1381. i. The translation of Bible by Wycliff. 7 The 15th century. a. The Peasants Revolt 1453 b. The War of Roses between Lancasters and Yorks. c. the printing-pressWilliam

8、 Caxton. d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy1485 2. The Overview of Literature. 1 the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittanygreat myths of the Middle Ages. 2 Geoffrye of MonmouthHistoria Regum BritanniaeKing Authur. 3 WaceLe Roman de Brut. 4 The romance. 5 the second half of the 14th cent

9、ury: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer. II.Sir Gawin and Green Knight7. 1. a general introduction. 2. the plot. III.William Langland. 1. Life 2. Piers11 the Plowman IV.Chaucer 1. Life 2. Literary Career: three periods 1 French period 2 Italian period 3 master period 3. The Canterbury Tales A. The Framew

10、ork; B. The General Prologue12; C. The Tale Proper. 4. His Contribution. 1 He introduced from France the rhymed stanza13 of various types. 2 He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language. 3 The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in m

11、aking the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech. V. Popular Ballads14. VI.Thomas Malory and English Prose VII.The beginning of English Drama. 1. Miracle Plays. Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy15 of the Roman C

12、atholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric16 character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace. 2. Morali

13、ty Plays. A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions figures representing vices17 and virtues18, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general. 3. Interlude. The interlude, which gre

14、w out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as a filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty19, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation20 of the audience between the divisions of a seri

15、ous play. It was essentially21 an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature. Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance1 I.A Historical Background II.The Overview2 of the Literature 1485-1660 Printing pressreadershipgrowth of middle classtrade-education for laypeople-centrali

16、zation of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus3 and direction of literature. Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity4 and reformed education. Literary style-modeled on the ancients. The effect of humanism-the dissemination5 of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude o

17、f its classically educated adherents6. 1. poetry The first tendency by Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style. The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical stylecomplexity and ingenuity7. The third tendency by Johnson: reactionClassically pure and restrained style. The fourth tendenc

18、y by Milton: central Christian8 and Biblical tradition. 2. Drama a. the native tradition and classical examples. b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe Shakespeare Jonson. 3. Prose a. translation of Bible; b. More; c. Bacon. II.English poetry. 1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard

19、 courtly makers9 1 Wyatt: introducing sonnets11. 2 Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse. 2. Sir Philip Sidneypoet, critic, prose writer 1 Life: a. English gentleman; b. brilliant and fascinating personality; c. courtier. 2 works a. Arcadia: pastoral romance; b. Astrophel and

20、 Stella 108: sonnet10 sequence to Penelope Dvereuxplatonic devotion. Petrarchan conceits12 and original feelings-moving to creativenessbuilding of a narrative13 story; theme-love originality-act of writing. c. Defense14 of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literaturebeginning of literary criticism.

21、3. Edmund Spenser 1 life: Cambridge - Sidneys friend - “Areopagus” Ireland - Westminster Abbey. 2 works a. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance. b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequence c. Faerie Queene: l The general endA romantic and allegorical epicsteps to vi

22、rtue15. l 12 books and 12 virtues16: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy. l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory symbolic17 meaning l Many allusions18 to classical writers. l Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicisma Christian humanist. 3 S

23、penserian Stanza19. III.English Prose 1. Thomas More 1 Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat20, patron of arts a. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford21; b. studies law at Lincoln Inn; c. Lord Chancellor22; d. beheaded. 2 Utopia: the first English scien

24、ce fiction. Written in Latin, two parts, the secondplace of nowhere. A philosophical23 mariner24 Raphael Hythloday tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia. a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting25 his philosophy. b. The part two is a description of the island k

25、ingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything. c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time. d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern ch

26、aracter and the resemblance is in externals. e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening26 of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism27. f. the Utopia 3 the significance. a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national lan

27、guages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic28 material. b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III. 2. Francis Bacon: writer, philoso

28、pher and statesman 1 life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris knighted - Lord Chancellor bribery29 - focusing on philosophy and literature. 2 philosophical ideas: advancement30 of science and interpreters of naturemethod: a child before naturefacts and observations: experimental. 3 “Essays”: 57. a. he wa

29、s a master of numerous and varied31 styles. b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. arguments IV.English Drama 1. A general su

30、rvey. 1 Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama. 2 two influences. a. the classics: classical in form and English in content; b. native or popular drama. 3 the University Wits. 2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright32 before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits. 1 Life: first interested

31、 in classical poetrythen in drama. 2 Major works a. Tamburlaine; b. The Jew of Malta; c. The Tragical33 History of Doctor Faustus. 3 The significance of his plays. V. William Shakespeare 1. Life 1 1564, Stratford-on-Avon; 2 Grammar School; 3 Queen visit to Castle; 4 marriage to Anne Hathaway; 5 London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor34; 6 the 1st Folio, Quarto; 7 Retired35, sonHamnet; H. 1616. 2. Dramatic career 3. Major plays-men-centered. 1 Romeo and Juliettragic love and fate 2 The Merchant of Venice. Good over evil. Anti-Semitism. 3