古英语和中世纪英语英国文学考点.docx

1、古英语和中世纪英语 英国文学考点第一章古英语时期和中世纪时期的英国文学考点1. The Old English poetry can be divided into two groups: the religious group and the secular one. The Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Beowulf 贝尔武夫, a typical example of Old English poetry, is regarded as the greatest national epic of t

2、he Anglo-Saxons. The epic describes the exploits of a Scandinavian hero, Beowulf, in fighting against the monster Grendel, his revengeful mother, and a fire-breathing dragon in his declining years. While fighting against the dragon, Beowulf was mortally wounded. However, he killed the dragon at the

3、cost of his life. Beowulf is shown not only as a glorious hero but also as a protector of the people.2. Romance is a popular literary form in the medieval England. It sings knightly adventures or other heroic deeds. Chivalry (such as bravery, honor, generosity, and kindness to the weak and poor) is

4、the spirit of romance.3. John Gower is the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the best romance of the period.William Langland is a more realistic writer who dealt with the religious and social issues of his day in Piers Plowman农夫皮尔斯.4. Geoffry Chaucer is the greatest writer of Middle Ages. H

5、is masterpiece The Canterbury Tales坎特伯蕾故事集presents, for the first time in English literature, a comprehensive realistic picture of the medieval English society and creates a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life. In “The Canterbury Tales”, Chaucer developed his art of poetry still

6、 further towards drama and the art of the novel. In Troilus and Criseyd, he gave the world what is virtually the first modern novel. Chaucer wrote in Middle English and did much in making London dialect the foundation for modern English language. Though essentially still a medieval writer, Chaucer b

7、ore marks of humanism and anticipated a new era to come. As a forerunner of humanism, he praises mans energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life. His tales exposed and satirized the evils of his time. These tales attacked the degeneration of the noble, the heartlessness of the judge, the corrupti

8、on of the church, etc. In his works, he developed his characterization to a higher level by presenting characters with both typical qualities and individual dispositions. “The Wife of Bath” is a famous tale in which the heroine is depicted as the new bourgeois. Taking the stand of the rising bourgeo

9、isie, he affirms men and opposes the dogma of asceticism preached by the church. Chaucer introduced from France rhymed stanzas of various types into English poetry to replace the Old English alliterative verse. It was he who used for the first time in English the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter

10、that was later called the “heroic couplet”. The Chaucers reputation has been securely established as one of the best English poets for his wisdom, humor, and humanity. John Dryden called Chaucer the father of English poetry.第二章 文艺复兴时期的英国文学考点1. Renaissance refers to the transitional period from the m

11、edieval to the modern world. It first started in Italy in the 14th century, lasting into the 17th century. The Renaissance means rebirth or revival. It was marked by a humanistic revival of ancient Roman and Greek classics expressed in a flowering of the arts and literature and by the beginnings of

12、modern science. Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. The English Renaissance did not begin until the reign of Henry VIII. It was usually regarded as Englands Golden Age, especially in literature. Among the literary giants were Shakespeare, Spenser, Johnson, Sidney, Marlowe, Bacon and Donne, a

13、nd John Milton was the last great poet of the English Renaissance. The real mainstream of the English Renaissance is the Elizabethan drama.2. Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. It emphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life. Humanists voiced their beliefs t

14、hat man was the center of the universe and man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of the present life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.3. Petrarch was regarded as the fountainhead of literature by the English writers. Wyatt introduced the Petrarchan sonnet

15、into England. Surrey brought in blank verse（无韵体诗），i.e. the unrhymed iambic（抑扬格的）pentameter（五音步的）line. 4. Renaissance drama: the Elizabethan drama is the real mainstream of the English Renaissance. English dramas were influenced by the Greek and Roman classics. Thomas Kyd wrote the earliest popular t

16、ragedy of blood and revenge, The Spanish Tragedy. The most famous dramatists in the Renaissance England are Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and Ben Johnson. Elizabethan drama reached its peak in Shakespeares works. Shakespeares compassionate understanding of the human fate has perpetuated

17、his greatness and made him the representative figure of English literature for the whole world. Francis Bacon was the first important English essayist. He was the founder of modern science in England. His writing paved the way for the use of scientific method.5. University Wit refers to any of a not

18、able group of pioneer English dramatists writing during the last 15 years of the 16th century. They transformed the native dramatic inheritance of interlude and chronicle play into a potentially great drama by writing plays of quality and diversity. In doing so they prepared the ground for genius of

19、 William Shakespeare. Their forerunner was John Lily, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe, Robert Green, and Thomas Kyd, etc. All these writers except Thomas Kyd took degrees from universities like Oxford and Cambridge.6. Edmund Spenser: The Shepherds Calendar is his early work. Spensers masterpiece i

20、s the Faerie Queene 仙后, a great poem of its age. There are five main qualities in Spensers poetry: a perfect melody; a rare sense of beauty; a splendid imagination; a lofty moral purity and seriousness, and a dedicated idealism. It is Spensers idealism, his love of beauty, and his exquisite melody t

21、hat earn him the title of “the poets poet.” (诗人的诗人)The Faerie Queene is written in the stanza invented by Spenser himself, the Spenserian stanza, i.e., a stanza（诗的一节）of nine lines, with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter and the last line in iambic hexameter（六音步）, rhyming ababbcbcc.7.Christo

22、pher Marlowe: (1) As the most gifted of the “University Wits”, Marlowe composed six plays within his short lifetime. Among them the most important are: Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta and Edward II. Tamburlaine is a play about an ambitious and pitiless Tartar conqueror in the fourteenth c

23、entury who rose from a shepherd to an overpowering king. By depicting a great hero with high ambition and sheer brutal force in conquering one enemy after another, Morlowe voiced the supreme desire of the man of the Renaissance for infinite power and authority. Dr. Faustus is a play based on the Ger

24、man legend of a magician aspiring for knowledge and finally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the Devil. It celebrates the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness; it also reveals mans frustration in realizing the high aspirations in a hostile moral order. And the co

25、nfinement to time is the cruelest fact of mans condition. The play is a good example to illustrate the idea that a man gains the whole world but loses his own soul. (2) Marlowes greatest literary achievement lies in that he perfected the blank verse and made it the principal medium of English drama.

26、 He brought vitality and grandeur into the blank verse with his “mighty lines” which carry strong emotions. Marlowes second achievement is his creation of the Renaissance hero for English drama. Such hero is always individualistic and full of ambition, facing bravely the challenge from both gods and

27、 men. Such a hero embodies Marlowes humanistic ideal of human dignity and capacity. With the endless aspiration for power, knowledge, and glory, the hero embodies the true Renaissance spirit.8. William Shakespeare (15641616): (1) Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, into a merchants family in Str

28、atford-on-Avon. In 1582, he got married and had three children. It was probably because he had to support his growing family that he left for London. Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems. He is the greatest dramatist of the English Renaissance. Shakespeare is above all writers in

29、 the past and in the present time. Robert Greene, one of the “University Wits”, resentfully declared him to be “an upstart crow.” He died on April 23, 1616. Shakespeare is surpassingly great because his works never fail to bear a kind of closeness to human life and never fail to be the mirror reflec

30、ting human nature. Shakespeare is so great that maybe only Ben Johnsons praising poem will somewhat cover his greatness: “Soul of the Age! The applause! delight! The wonder of our stage! Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. He was not of an age, but for

31、 all time!”(2) Shakespeares four dramatic periods: a. His first dramatic period was one of apprenticeship. He wrote five history plays: Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III, Richard III, and Titus Andronicus; and four comedies: The Comedy of Errors, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, an

32、d Loves Labours Lost. b. His second dramatic period was highly individualized. He wrote five history plays: Richard II, King John, Henry IV, Parts I and II, and Henry V; six comedies: A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and The Mer

33、ry Wives of Windsor; and two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. Romeo and Juliet eulogizes the faithfulness of love and the spirit of pursuing happiness. The play, though a tragedy, is permeated with optimistic spirit. Shakespeares history plays of these two periods are mainly written under the principle that