英美文学重点知识归纳.docx
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英美文学重点知识归纳
英美文学重点知识归纳
Old English:
450-1066
the national epic of the Anglo-Saons
Medieval English:
1066- middle 14th century
Geoffrey Chaucer-the father of English poetry (wisdom, humor, humanity)
first time to use 'heroic couplet'
The Renaissance Period:
14th–mid 17th started in Italy
A series of historical events:
1. rediscovery of ancient Roman & Greek culture
2. new discoveries in geography & astrology(占星学)
3. the religious reformation & economic expansion
The Renaissance - rebirth or revival
Humanism - the essence of the Renaissance, the dignity of human being & the importance of the presentlife
Best representatives:
Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare
The Elizabethan drama:
the real mainstream of English Renaissance
Most famous dramatists:
Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson
Edmund Spenser - the poets' poet
5 quality:
1) a perfect melody 2)a rare sense of beauty 3)a splendid imagination
4)a lofty(高尚的) moral purity and seriousness 5)a dedicated idealism
lament(哀悼) over the loss of Rosalind
主角:
Arthur - who possess 12 virtues
Gloriana – the Fairy Queen
The theme is not “Arms and the man,” but something more romantic –“Fierce warres and faithfullloves”
READING:
excerpt from The Faerie Queene仙后
Content:
Redcrosse Knight set out on his adventures.
Christopher Marlowe – “University Wits”, the pioneer of Englishdrama
Hyperbole(夸张)
Marlowe’s achievement:
1) blank verse无韵诗歌
It is Marlowe who brought vitality(活力) and grandeur(伟大) into the blank verse with his “mighty lines,”which carry strong emotions.
2) his creation of the Renaissance hero for English drama.(not strong in dramatic construction.)
→ the pioneer of English drama
3 tragedies:
the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness
帖木耳大帝 a play about an ambitious and pitiless overpowering king.
马尔他的犹太人
non-drama pastoral(田园的) life ,the most beautiful lyrics(抒情诗)
READING:
1. excerpt from Dr. Faustus浮士德博士的悲剧
A play based on the German legend
Content:
Faustus is a scholar who has a strong desire to acquire knowledge. By conjuration(念咒文召唤)he call up Mephistophilis, the Devil’s servant. He make a bond(契约) to sell his soul to the Devil in returnfor 24 years of life in which Mephistophilis to give him everything he desires. Devil’s name is Lucifer.
Dominant moral is human rather than religious
2. The Passionate(热情的) Shepherd to His Love
this short poem is considered to be one of the most beautiful lyrics(抒情诗) in English literature.
The shepherd(牧羊人) enjoy an ideal country life, cherishing(珍爱) a pastoral(田园的) and pure affectionfor his love. Strong emotion is conveyed through the beauty of nature.
William Shakespeare – playwright & poet (above all writers in the past and in the present time)
1. , …
2. ,,, …
Comedies:
,,…
Tragedy:
romantic tragedy. To praise the faithfulness of love and the spirit ofpursuing happiness.
3. Four tragedies -,,&
4. tragicomedies:
Achievement:
A. exploring the characters’s inner mind.
soliloquy(独白) or monologue - fully reveal the inner conflict of the characters
contrasts – bring vividness to the characters
B. adroit(精巧的) plot construction
C. Irony is a good means of dramatic presentation. Disguise is an important device to create dramaticirony.
D. the language.
READING:
1. Sonnet 18 (14 line)
eternal or immortal(不朽的) beauty, have a faith in the permanence of poetry.
A nice summer’s day is usually transient(短暂的), but the beauty in poetry can last for ever.
2.excerpt from The Merchant of Venice
to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia aheroine of great beauty, wit and loyalty, to expose the insatiable(不知足的) greed and brutality of theJew.
Double plot:
(1) Bassanio ask Antonio for a loan so that he might marriage with Portia
(2) Antonio borrow money from Shylock, the Jewish usurer. Shylock make a strange bond that requiresAntonio to surrender a pound of his flesh if he fail to repay him within a certain period of time. Portiadisguised as a young lawyer instructed to judge the case:
Shylock can take his pound of flesh, but there isno mention of blood in the bond. Otherwise, his lands and goods will be confiscated(充公) according tohe law of Venice.
3.Excerpt from Hamlet
hesitate between fact and fiction, language and action, too sophisticated(复杂的) to degradehis nature to the conventional role of a stage revenger
content:
Hamlet, the prince, appearing in a mood of world-weariness(厌世) occasioned by his father’sdeath and his mother’s hasty remarriage with Claudius, his father’s brother. Hamlet is informed thatClaudius has murdered his father and then taken over both his father’s throne and widow. Thus Hamlet isurged to seek revenge.
Note:
To be, or not to be - to live on in this world or to die; to suffer or to take action
Francis Bacon –philosopher, scientist, essayist, lay the foundation for modern science
His Essays is the first example of that genre in English literature.
Bacon’s essays are famous for their brevity, compactness & powerfulness, well-arranging and enrichingby Biblical allusions(典故), metaphors(隐喻) and cadence(韵律).
man’s understanding consists of three parts:
history to man’smemory, poetry to man’s imagination and creation, and philosophy to man’s reason.
written in Latin on methodology方法论
Bacon suggests theinductive reasoning归纳法 ( i.e. proceeding from the particular to the general)
in place of Aristotelian method, the deductive reasoning演绎法 ( i.e. proceeding from the general tothe particular)
READING:
Of Studies
uses and benefits of study –studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Studiesperfect nature, and are perfected by experience. Different ways adopted by different people to pursuestudies - studies and experience are complementary (互补) to each other. The correct attitude to readingbooks - to weigh and consider. How studies exert influence over human character - reading maketh a fullman, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
John Donne
〝Metaphysical poetry〞(玄学诗)- break away from love poetry, the diction(用语) is simple, theimagery is from the actual, the form is frequently an argument with the poet’s beloved, with God, or withhimself.
A)conceits B)syllogism (三段论)
Poetry早期:
holds that the nature of love is the union of soul and body.
晚期:
religious poem
Prose:
his sermons, which are both rich and imaginative
READING:
1. The Sun Rising 2. Death, Be Not Proud ( a sonnet,14 lines)
the busy sun is always ready to interfere with other things and everywhere
whatever you are, you can not escape from death. When you are living, you arealways in the shadow of death. Death only lasts a moment, our life after death is eternal. The morepleasure the death gives people, not only the pleasure of the rest & the sleep, because 'whom the godslove die young'. Though death is usually considered powerful, it actually provides a rest for a man's bodyand a birth for his soul.
John Milton
Achievement:
1)the early poetic works 2) the middle prose(散文) 3)the last great poems
Elegy(挽歌) -利西达斯 (his early work)
Epic(史诗)-
Dramatic poem(诗剧)- 力士参孙 the most perfect example of the verse dramaafter the Greek style in English.
READING:
excerpt from Paradise Lost
the only generally acknowledged epic in English literature since Beowulf. The conflict isbetween human love and spiritual duty. The freedom of the will is the keystone of Milton’s creed(纲领).
Take from the Old Testament, the theme is the “Fall of Man”:
Satan rebel against God and are driven fromHeaven. He determined to revenge by seduce(引诱) Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree ofKnowledge against God’s instructions. So, Adam and Eve are exiled by God from the paradise.
The Neoclassical Period :
1660-1798 with the publication of Lyrical ballads by Wordsworth andColeridge
- a revival of interest in the old classical works, order, logic, restrained emotion(抑制情感)&accuracy
the Age of Enlightenment/Reason – the movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the 15thand 16th centries,a progressive intellectual movement, reason (rationality), equality & science (the 18thcentury)
modern English novel –newly rising literary form现实主义小说诞生(the mid-century)
Gothic novel(哥特式小说)- mystery, horror & castles (from middle part to the end of century)
John Bunyan
REAING:
The Vanity Fair名利场 an excerpt form The Pilgrim’s Progress (天路历程)
, a religious allegory(寓言), its purpose is to urge people to abide by Christiandoctrines and seek salvation(拯救) through constant struggles with their own weaknesses and all kinds ofsocial evils. Its predominant metaphor –life as a journey
Alexander Pope
one of the first to introduce rationalism to England, for him the supreme value was order.
READING:
excerpt from An Essay on Criticism(论批评)
a poem written in heroic couplets(对句), criticize the present poem lack oftrue taste & call on people to turn to the old Greek and Roman writers for guidance, true wit which is bestset in a plain (simple & clear) style.
Daniel Defoe - the first writer study of the lower-class people, his language is smooth, easy, colloquialand mostly vernacular(方言).
READING:
excerpt from Robinson crusoe
praise the human