Old English Literature.docx

1、Old English LiteratureOld English Literature1. Historical Background -English literature begins around the 8th century, which is very different from English today -Old English was the language of England or a long time before the Norman Conquest in A.D.1066 and for some 100 years afterward 2. Writer

2、s and their work-Beowulf (about the 6th century)(-the study of English literature usually begins with the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf-Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic, in alliterative verse originating from the collective efforts of oral literature.-the story tells how the hero Beowulf defeats the m

3、onster and finally receives his own death in fighting with a fire dragon. -King Alfred ( 849-991) -In old English literature, he is an important figure and the only honored as “the Great” -A foundation stone of English history is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which was begun by Alfred or under his dire

4、ction -the King made or directed the many important translations from Latin to Old English, which did much to advance learning in what was still a rather wild kingdom -translation of Bedes Ecclesiastical history of the English People into old EnglishMiddle English Literature (1100-1500) -Geoffrey Ch

5、aucer (1340?-1400) -He was an English poet. -his masterpiece is The Canterbury Tales (1387), which contains 24 tales told by a group of pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury and are written in verse -He did not complete his total design but there are 24 tales -His contributions to English literatu

6、re is the innovation of English verse by introducing into the native alliterative verse of French and Italian styles - Chaucer is thus to be regarded as the first short story teller and the first modern poet in English literature.Renaissance in England (16th17th Century) -Historical Background -The

7、word “Renaissance” means revival, specifically revival of interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture, which refers to the period between the 14th and mid 17th century - Renaissance started in Florence and Venice with the flowering of Paintings, architecture. -In different countries , the movement o

8、ccurred in different periods with different emphasis: -in Italy it was most strongly felt in fine arts -in France it was literature -in England it was philosophy and drama -Renaissance in England 1. Historical Background -Renaissance came later in England than other European countries because of the

9、 War of Roses within the country and its weak and unimportant position in world trade -The English Renaissance had 5 characteristics: -But when it did come, it was to produce some towering figures in the English and the world literary heritage-William Shakespeare and so on. 2. Writers and their work

10、s 16th Century -Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) -He was a great humanist and the Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII. -His writings the best known is Utopia (1516 ), which comes from the Greek work meaning”nowhere” and tells of a journey to an imaginary island named Utopia,where an ideal from of society exist

11、s -Mores book has placed the word in our vocabularies in English Literature -Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) -He, with the Earl of Surrey(1517-47), established the sonnet-a 14-line poemas an English verse form. William Shakespeare(15641616)（He was a man of the late Renaissance who gave the fullest expr

12、ession to humanist ideals.） Literary Achievements: 37plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets (Sonnets 1-126 addressed 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”, t

13、he greatest giant of English language and poetic form, one of the founders of realism in world literature, one of the greatest writers in the worlds literature. -His plays fall into categories as following : -Tragedies : Hamlet (1600-1601) Othello (1604-1605) King Lear (1605-1606) Macbeth (1605-1606

14、) Romes and Juliet (1595) -Comedies : The Taming of the Shrew (1596) A Midsummer Nights Dream (1596) As you Like It (1599) Twelfth Night (1600) The Tempest (1611) -Chronicle Plays : Richard III (1595) Richard II (1595) Henry IV (1597-1598)-Part I, II Julius Caesar (1599) Anthony and Cleopatra (1607)

15、 -Sonnets (1609) -His masterful plays have dominated English-speaking stages, which have been translated into every major language. 17th Century Bourgeois Revolution and Restoration Period (十七世纪资产阶级革命时期) -The King James Bible (1611) -Britain under James I -Publication of the English version of the B

16、ible (1611) -The King James ordered the translation of the Holy Scripture, which was considered as a permanent monument of English literary style -Although it was not the first English translation, the king James version will probably never be matched for majesty of language. -Essays and Other Prose

17、 -Francis Bacon (1561-1626) -He was an English philosopher, essayist and statesman under both Elizabeth and James. -His essays made popular in English a literary form widely practiced afterward -Bacons major works: -The Advancement of Learning (1605) -The New Atlantis (1610) -The Novum Organum (New

18、Method) (1620) -Essays (1625) -Some of the famous quotations from Bacon: Knowledge is power. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested Books must follow sciences, and not sciences books -Thomas Hobbees (1588-1679) -He was one of the most celebrated p

19、olitical treatises and he wrote his famous Leviathan, -John Milton (1608-1674) and the English Revolution -In the English Revolution, there were two leaders: -Cromwell was the man of action in politics -Milton, the man of thought, who ranks with Shakespeare and Chaucer. -Milton wrote many essays, th

20、e best known prose Areopagitica -During the shadow of the Restoration, he wrote his three master epic poems: -Paradise Lost (1667) -which is a long epic poem divided into 12 books -Paradise Regained (1671) -Samson Agonistes (1671) -His body of poetry also includes some fine sonnets. -John Bunyan (16

21、28-1688) -He was often called”the tinker of Elstow” and a Puritan writer -His major works: -The Pilgrims Progress from this world to That which is to come (1678) -The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680) -The Holy War (1682)Restoration and Eighteenth Century Enlightenment(王朝复辟和启蒙主义时期) 1. General Intr

22、oduction -The Enlightenment characterizes the efforts by certain European writers to use critical reason to free minds from prejudice,authority and oppression by Church or State. -The most important forerunners were two persons: -John Lockes materialist theory -Newtons theory of gravitation 2. Write

23、rs and their works -Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) -He was a great satirical writer in the 18th century -His name is linked with the fanciful account of four voyages known to us as Gullivers Travels (1726)-Alexander Pope (1688-1744) -He was a gifted English poet in the 18th century -Two of his essays in

24、 verse stand out -the Essay on Criticism (1711) -The Rape of the Lock (1712-14) -Samuel Johnson (1709-84) -He is a lexicographer, essayist, and poet - the editor of a Dictionary of the English Language (1747-1755), the first great English dictionary. -Major works: -Vanity of Human Wisnes (1749) -Ras

25、selas (1769) -The Lives of the Poets (1779-1781) -Burke, Burns and Blake - Burke (1729-97), who was a writer of fine prose -Burns (1759-96), who produced a much-loved poet in Scottish dialect -Blake (1757-1827), who illustrated much of his own work, as well as the Bible and other writings. -his most

26、 famous poem The Tiger and Songs of Innocence -Daniel Defoe (1660?-1731) -Defoes first and greatest novel appeared in 1719, which was Robinson Crusoe -many other books Moll Flanders (1722) and Roxana (1724) -Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) -He is novelist and often called the founder of the English do

27、mestic novel -His type of novel is called the epistolary novel. -Major works -Pamela, or virtue Rewarded (1740) -Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady (1748) -Henry Fielding (1707-1754) -He was called “Father of the English novel” although he was not the first English novelist -He was instrumenta

28、l in the creation and development of the modern novel -His masterpiece is The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) -Journalism and the Periodical Essay -Joseph Addison (1672-1779), who is essayist, poet and statesman. -Richard Steele (1672-1729), Who is an essayist, dramatist and politician. -Bo

29、th contributed to -The Tatler (1709-1711) -The Spectator (1711-1712) The Early 19th Century-Romanticism（浪漫主义运动时期） 1. General Introduction -Romanticism was a movement in literature, Philosophy, music and art which developed in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. -It emphasized individua

30、l values and aspirations above those of society, which gave impetus to the national liberation movement in 19th-century Europe. -the leading Romantic writers -Blake Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley and so on in England -Hugo and Sand in France -Heine in Germany -Manzoni and Leopardi in Italy -Pushkin in R

31、ussia -Michiewica in Poland -This tendency to return to nature and to childlike innocence became such a stirring call that many other forms of thinking active at the time such as Pantheism. 2). Two Revolutions -the French revolution -the Industrial Revolution3). Writers and their works -The Romantic poets can be divided into two types: - The Passive Romantic Poets -The Lakers -Wordsworth and Coleridge -Wordsworth (1770-1850) -Lyrical Ballads (1798) -The Prelude(1850) -Coleridge (1772-1834) -Biographic Literature (1817) -The Rime of the Ancient Mariner -the Active Romantic Poets