EnglishLiterature南师大英国文学笔记.docx

1、EnglishLiterature南师大英国文学笔记Brief Introduction1. Old English Period: William Shakespeare (15641616)2. Restoration, English revolution, the bourgeois Dictatorship (王朝复辟):John Milton (16081674)3. The Rise of Fiction(小说伊始):Daniel Defoe (16601731)Jonathan Swift (16671745)Henry Fielding (17071754)4. Pre-Ro

2、manticism: Robert Burns (17591796)William Blake (17571827)5. Romanticism (17981832): William Wordsworth (17701850)George Gordon, Lord Byron (17881824)Percy Bysshe Shelley (17921822)John Keats (17951821)6. Critical realism【Victorian Age (18321901)】: Jane Austen (17751817)批判现实主义作家，但不属于维多利亚时期Charles Di

3、ckens (18121870)William Makepeace Thackeray (18111863)Emily Bronte (18181848)Thomas Hardy (18401928)维多利亚时期向现实主义过度时期Oscar Wilde (18541900)John Galsworthy (18671933)George Bernard Shaw(18561950)批判现实主义但不属于维多利亚时期7. Modernism: D. H. Lawrence (18851930)William Butler Yeats (18651939)James Joyce (18821941)

4、Virginia Woolf (18821941)William Somerset Maugham (18741965)Thomas Stearns Eliot (18881965)John Boynton Priestley (18941984)Louis MacNeice (19071963)Old English Period: William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare(15641616) Literary Achievements: 37plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets (Sonnets 1-126 addr

5、essed to a young man, Sonnets 127-152 addressed to “Dark Lady”, Sonnets 153-154 addressed to Cupid, the God of love in Greek mythology) Literary Position:“not of an age, but for all time”, the greatest giant of English language and poetic form, one of the founders of realism in world literature, one

6、 of the greatest writers in the worlds literature. Sonnet: 1. Whats a sonnet?A poem in 14 lines; originated in Italy, a form very popular in Renaissance Europe, especially in Italy, France and England; introduced to England by Thomas Wyatt(怀亚特) and the Earl of Surrey (塞莱). 2. By rhyme scheme, sonnet

7、s can be classified into 2 styles: The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet(意大利型或彼得拉克型) & The Shakespearian or English sonnet(英国或莎士比亚型) The first eight linesoctave: the theme is put forward or a question is raised; the next six linessestet, the answer to the theme【abba abba cdc dcd (cde cde)】 Three quatrain

8、s (四行诗) the theme is put forward and developed; the couplet(两行诗)a surprising conclusion or a shift of ideas 【abab cdcd efef gg】 Plays (4 periods)1. First period (1592-1594): His apprenticeship in plays.Historical plays: King Henry VI 亨利六世, Richard 查理三世Comedies: Loves Labours Lost 爱的徒劳2. Second perio

9、d (1595-1600): Mature period, a marked increase in the knowledge of humanism(4大喜剧): A Midsummer Nights DreamThe Merchant of VeniceAs You Like It, Twelfth NightRomeo and Juliet3. Third period (1601-1608): Flourishing period, a period of gloomy and depression(4大悲剧): HamletOthelloKing LearMacbeth4. Fou

10、rth period (1608-1612): The period of romantic drama in the form of tragicomediesReconciliation plays: The Winters Tale冬天的童话, The TempestThe Merchant of VeniceWilliam Shakespeare1. The character of Shylock: 2. Stone-hearted and pitiless;Inhuman;Stubborn; Malicious; Revengeful;Eloquent, quick-minded

11、and flexible;Religious pious2. Theme of the play: to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia as a heroine of great beauty, wit and loyalty, to eulogize the triumph of friendship and love over greed and avarice, good over evil, humanity over inhumanity, commercial capit

12、alism over the feudal practice of usury, a satire on the Christian hypocrisy and their false standards of friendship and love, their cunning ways of pursuing worldliness and their unreasoning prejudice against the Jews.Restoration, English revolution, the bourgeois Dictatorship(王朝复辟)John Milton Hist

13、orical background1. The English revolution and the Restoration. Causes: the conflict between the monarch and Parliament; the persecution of the Puritans2. The bourgeois Dictatorship and the Restoration Glorious Revolutiona bloodless revolution The constitutional monarchy.John Milton (16081674) Liter

14、ary Achievements Pamphlets The Defense of the English People (1650) The Second Defense of the English People (1650) Poems Paradise Lost 失乐园(1667): his masterpieceThe greatest epic in English literature.Paradise Regained (1671) 复乐园Samson Agonistes (1671) 力士参孙 Literary Position A master of the Blank v

15、erse The greatest English revolutionary poet of the 17th century One of the greatest poets of the English languageParadise LostJohn Milton1. Introduction Long epic in 12 books Written in blank verse Based on Genesis创世纪in the Old Testament Dramatizes the Biblical account of humanitys banishment.2. Th

16、emeMiltons aimed purpose: “justify the ways of God to man”（昭示天道对人的公正）Real purpose: challenge the restored monarch God tyrannical, represents the kingSatan rebelling against monarchLove between Adam and Eve human pursuit for happiness, the spirit of Renaissance3. Writing featuresMilton style: Sonorit

17、y洪亮, Eloquence雄辩, Majesty尊严, Grandeur壮美The blank verseLong and involved sentencesLatinate styleInversionAllusionThe Rise of FictionDaniel Defoe (1660-1731)Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)Henry Fielding (1707-1754) FictionThe mainstream of 18th century literature, & The rise and growth of realistic novel t

18、he most prominent achievement of 18th century English literatureDaniel Defoe (1660-1731): Father of modern journalism, & “jack-of-all-traders” Literary Achievements: Robinson Crusoe (1719) Defoes masterpiece The first English novel in a real sense The first English realistic novelRobinson CrusoeDani

19、el Defoe1. Theme: to sing the praises of human laborto celebrate the strength of human rational will to conquer the natural environmentto beautify colonialism & Negro slavery2. Plot: run away from home become a sailor a planter in Brazil to an uninhabited island because of shipwreck made a living th

20、ere all by himself save a negro named Friday who became his servant back to England visit the remote island again and Friday was killed3. Robinson Crusoes characterization: typical of the rising English bourgeois class, practical, diligent, a restless curiosity to know more about the world and a des

21、ire to prove individual power in the face of social and natural challenges; shrewd, care about money and good at managing; courageous and intelligent to overcome all kinds of obstacles4. Style: journalistic truth with many vivid details, simple and plain sentence structure and language, first person

22、 point of view, natural order in narration, making the story intimate to the readers and become popular among lower classesJonathan Swift (1667-1745) Literary Achievements Books The Battle of Books 书籍之战 A Tale of Tub 一个桶子的故事 Gulivers Travels 格列佛游记his masterpiece: a satire on the whole English societ

23、y of the 18th century. Pamphlets The Drapers Letters一个布商的书信 A Modest Proposal 一个温和的建议(A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents)Gulivers Travels1. Plot: Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag Part III: A Voyage

24、 to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and Japan Part IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms 2. What are the implied ideas the author tried to convey by this chapter? The author believed Reason was very important for human being. If humans desires arent controlled by reason, human wil

25、l become disgusting like yahoos one day in the future. 3. Style of Swifts prose:His prose style is simple, clear and vigorous. His famous saying “Proper words in proper places, makes the true definition of a style” influenced a lot later writers. Henry Fielding (1707-1754) Literary Achievements Jose

26、ph Andrews 约瑟夫 安德鲁斯Fieldings first novelParody (satirical imitation) of Richardsons Pamela帕米拉/贞洁得报A comic epic poem in prose Jonathan Wild the Great 大伟人江奈生 魏尔德传 The History of Tom Jones, A Founding 弃儿汤姆 琼斯 Amelia 阿米利亚 Literary Position The father of English novel The founder of English realistic nov

27、el-setting up the theory of realism in literary position. Establishing once for all the form of the modern novel. Writing Features Third-person narration 第三人称叙述 Satire Human portraits & dialogue The educational function of the novel The purpose of the novel is not only to amuse, but also to instruct

28、. ParodyWriting, music, art something said, etc, which intentionally copies the style of someone famous or copies a particular situation, making the features or qualities of the original more noticeable in a way that is humorous. 为嘲弄某作者或某作品而作成的模仿滑稽作品The History of Tom Jones, A Founding Fieldings mas

29、terpiece, showing the whole life of 18th century England as she saw it. 18 books divided into 3 parts with 6 in each. Country-versus-city motif the countryside: the basic goodness of human race the city: evil and sin An allegorical (寓言的) novelThe 18th Century (1688-1798) Historical Background1. Comp

30、aratively peaceful development under the constitutional monarchy A compromise between Tory and Whig The leading navel power in Europe2. The Industrial Revolution 工业革命 Unprecedented technical innovations Rapid growth of industry and commerce The Enlightenment1. An intellectual movement in Europe bega

31、n in the late 17th and 18th centuries and ended with the French revolution of 1789Originated in France, represented by Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, RousseauAn expression of struggle of bourgeoisie against Feudalism2. The influence of science and philosophyNewtons discovery of universal gravitationJohn Locke Knowledge is not innate, but