英国文学简史完全笔记.docx

1、英国文学简史完全笔记英国文学简史完全笔记A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI.Introduction1. The historical background（1） Before the Germanic invasion（2） During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred

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

3、2. The Overview of the culture（1） The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2） Literature: a. poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II.Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1） the use of alliteration（2） the use of metaphors and understatements（3） the mixture

4、of pagan and Christian elementsIII.The Old English Prose1.What is prose?2.figures（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval Ages I.Introduction1. The Historical Background.（1） The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2） The social situations soon after the conqu

5、est.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3） The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.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. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Cart

6、a （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. 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 of women.e. the Hundred Years Warstarting

7、.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 Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）

8、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 century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer.II.Sir

9、Gawin and Green Knight.1. a general introduction.2. the plot.III.William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV.Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1） French period（2） Italian period（3） master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His

10、 Contribution.（1） He introduced from France the rhymed stanza 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 making the dialect of London the standard for the modern E

11、nglish speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI.Thomas Malory and English ProseVII.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 liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, re

12、aching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric 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. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson

13、by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as

14、 a filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristoc

15、ratic nature.英国文学简史完全笔记2007-7-2713:56Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance I.A Historical BackgroundII.The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing pressreadershipgrowth of middle classtrade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and

16、 direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents.1. poetryThe first tendency by

17、 Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical stylecomplexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reactionClassically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the nativ

18、e tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe Shakespeare Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II.English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1） Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2） Howard: introducing sonnets and

19、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） worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereuxplatonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits

20、 and original feelings-moving to creativenessbuilding of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literaturebeginning of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1） life: Cambridge - Sidneys friend - “Areopagus” Ireland - Westminster Abbey.

21、（2） worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queene:l The general endA romantic and allegorical epicsteps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: p

22、art of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.l Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicisma Christian humanist.（3） Spenserian Stanza.III.English Prose1. Thomas More（1） Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist,

23、prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2） Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the secondplace of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday） tells hi

24、s voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the boo

25、k: 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 character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved awa

26、y from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3） the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the fa

27、ther of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1） life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris knighted - Lord Chancellor bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature.（2） ph

28、ilosophical ideas: advancement of sciencepeople:servants and interpreters of naturemethod: a child before naturefacts and observations: experimental.（3） “Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action a

29、nd the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV.English Drama1. A general survey.（1） Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2） two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in conten

30、t;b. native or popular drama.（3） the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1） Life: first interested in classical poetrythen in drama.（2） Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3）

31、The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. 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 proprietor;（6） the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7） Retired, sonHamnet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1） Romeo and Juliettragic love and fate（2） The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3） Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4） Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5） HamletRevengeGood/evil