英国文学.docx

1、英国文学Literature before the RenaissanceOld English PoetryGenerally speaking, the Old English poetry that has survived can be divided into two groups: the secular, or pagan, group and the religious, or Christian, one. The former is oral sagas sung by scops (吟游诗人); and the latter represents the writings

2、 developed under teaching of the monks, thus is mainly on biblical themes.Most works were preserved and put down in written form by unknown scribes. One of the most important is the national epic The Song of Beowulf and some lyrical poems of shorter length, such as Widsith or The Travellers Song, an

3、d the Seafarer. EpicThe Song of Beowulf 1.Beowulf is the oldest poem on the English language, and also the oldest surviving epic in the English language.2.The manuscript was written at the beginning of the 10th century and was not discovered until 1705. The poem itself was probably composed in the e

4、arly 8th century, after the Christianization of the whole nation. The historical event described in the poem belongs to the early 6th century.3.Though it is regarded today as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons, the story took place in ScandinaviaContent1.The story is about the three feats of brav

5、ery performed by Beowulf, nephew of the King of the Geats.2.Beowulf first fights a monster called Grendel and wounds it fatally. 3.Then he kills Grendels mother with a giant sword, a she-monster and comes in revenge of her son. 4.With these honors won, he returns to his homeland and reigns as its ki

6、ng for 50 years. Then a fire-breathing dragon comes out of its den and kills many people. 5.Though old now, Beowulf still kills it single-handedly. But he too is fatally wounded and later died.Medieval English LiteratureFrom 1066 to early 14th-century, there was not much to say about literature in E

7、ngland. But after that, English literature started to flourish: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Pearl, Piers the Plowman, and Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury TalesChivalric Romance1.The Norman Conquest brought a new literature, which is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of love and adventu

8、re, in marked contrast with the strength and somberness of Anglo-Saxon poetry. 2.Romance becomes a popular literary form, indicating the age to be a chivalric rather than heroic one.3.The romance is a long verse/prose composition about the life and adventures of a noble hero, with the characteristic

9、 medieval motifs of the quest, the test, the meeting with the evil giant and the encounter with the beautiful beloved.Sir Gawain the Green Knight1.The legend of King Arthur and his Round Table Knights was the most popular theme employed in English romances. 2.Sir Gawain the Green Knight, written in

10、1360-1370, in alliterative verse, is the best of Arthurian romances.3.Sir Gawain accepts the challenge of a gigantic knight (to exchange blows of a battle-ax). Gawain then begins his long journey, where he meets all sorts of adventures and tests. Finally the two meet at the Green Chapel, and Gawain

11、is almost killed but for his repentance for his deception.Popular Ballads1.The Middle Ages witnessed the flowering of several types of popular literature, the most important form of which is the popular ballads. 2.Ballads are anonymous narrative songs that have been preserved by oral transmission. 3

12、.Few of the English ballads were printed before the 18th-century. The most famous collection is Bishop Thomas Percys (1729-1811) Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.4.The English ballad as folk literature portrays the characters of the lower classes to the life, especially those brave outlaws in gree

13、nwood, who, having been oppressed and done an injustice by the nobles, fought for the weak against the strong.5.The most important of popular ballads are the Robin Hood ballads, a series of 37 ballads of different lengths. Robin Hood is portrayed as both strong, brave, clever, and tender-hearted and

14、 affectionate.6.There are also humours ballads such as Get up and Bar the Door.Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)1.Chaucer is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language. 2.His production of so much excellent poetry is an important factor in establishing English as the literary language

15、 of the country. 3.And he made the dialect of London the foundation for Modern English speech. Thats why John Dryden called him “the Father of English Poetry.” His Works1.Romance of the Rose (a translation from French);2.The Legend of Good Women;3.The House of Fame;4.The Parliament of Fowls;5.Troilu

16、s and Cressie (based on Boccaccios Filostrato);6. The Canterbury Tales.The Canterbury Tale1.The Canterbury Tales, generally considered to be Chaucers masterpiece, was written chiefly in the years 1387-1400. 2.For the first time, he was addressing himself not to the court but to a wider reading publi

17、c. He produced his works of full maturity free from any dominant foreign influence.3.Originally planned for 120 stories (2 stories each way on pilgrimage from London to Canterbury for 30 pilgrims), but only 22 completed, with 2 fragmentary tales.The Canterbury Tales1.Chaucer created a strikingly bri

18、lliant and picturesque panorama of his time and his country.2.His realism, trenchant irony and freedom of views reached such a high level of power that it had no equal in all the English literature up to the 16th century.3.His work is permeated with buoyant free-thinking, so characteristic of the ag

19、e of Renaissance whose immediate forerunner Chaucer thus becomes.The RenaissanceThe Renaissance in EnglandThe term Renaissance originally indicated a revival of classical arts and sciences after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism.The study and propagation of classical learning and art was carrie

20、d on by the progressive thinkers of the humanists.The humanists held their chief interest not in ecclesiastical knowledge, but in man, his environment and doings and bravely fought for the emancipation of man from the tyranny of the church and religious dogmas.Important FiguresThomas More (1478-1535

21、): Utopia (1516), a profound and truthful picture of the peoples sufferings and of an ideal future happy society;Thomas Wyatt (1503?-1542): the first to introduce the sonnet into English literature;Edmund Spenser (1552-1586): The Fairy Queen, the greatest epic poem of the time;English DramaThe epoch

22、 of Renaissance witnessed a particular development of English drama.The greatest of the pioneers was Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) who reformed that genre in England and perfected the language and verse of dramatic works.It was Marlow who made blank verse the principal vehicle of expression in dra

23、ma.William Shakespeare(1564-1616)154 sonnets, 37 plays, and 2 long narrative poems.Great Tragedies: Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Romeo and Juliet is very famous.Historicals: Henry IV, Henry V, Richard III;Comedies: A Midsummer Nights Dream; The Merchant of Venice; Twelfth Night;Romances:

24、 The Winters Tale; The Tempest.HamletHamlet is generally regarded as the greatest of all tragedies, the summit ofShakespeares art. The whole tragedy is permeated with the spirit of Shakespeares own time.Hamlet is the profoundest expression of Shakespeares humanism and his criticism of contemporary l

25、ife.Hamlets CharacterThe cast of Hamlets mind is so speculative, so questioning, and so contemplative.His life is one of constant role-playing, examining the nature of action only to deny its possibility, for he is too sophisticated to degrade his nature to the conventional role a stage revenger. So

26、liloquy in HamletSoliloquy: or monologue, a dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character reveals his or her thoughts when alone or unaware of the presence of other characters.For such a figure as Hamlet, soliloquy is a natural medium, a necessary release of his anguish; and some of hi

27、s questioning monologues possess surpassing power and insight, which have survived centuries of being torn from their context. The most famous soliloquy is perhaps “to be or not to be” in Act III, Scene I, Hamlet.The Form of the SoliloquyBlank verse (素体诗): an unrhymed iambic pentameter lines （无韵的抑扬五

28、步格）. Unrhymed: having no regular correspondence of sounds at the ends of lines.iambus: a metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable (-) followed by a stressed syllable (), e.g.: begin (- ).A pentameter means a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet. A foot is (usually) two or three s

29、yllables that contain one strong stress. Iambic Pentameter - - - - - - To be, | or not | to be: | that is | the question: - - - - - - Whether | tis nob | ler in | the mind | to sufferNotes: The third foot in Line 1 and the first foot in Line 2 are trochees (扬抑格). The last unstressed syllable in each

30、 line is what is called the feminine, or the “weak” ending (阴性结尾).To be or Not to Be Functions of the soliloquy:to give expression to a complicated state of mind and feeling of a characterto provide a point of view on the events of the play. Main Idea:This is an internal philosophical debate on the

31、advantages and disadvantages of existence, and whether it is ones right to end his or her own life. It presents a most logical and powerful examination of the theme of the moral legitimacy of suicide in an unbearably painful world.AnalysisIn addition to its crucial thematic content, this speech is i

32、mportant for what it reveals about the quality of Hamlets mind. His deeply passionate nature is complemented by a relentlessly logical intellect, which works furiously to find a solution to his misery. He has turned to religion and found it inadequate to help him either kill himself or resolve to kill Claudius. Here, he turns to a logical philosophical inquiry and finds it equally