英国文学史资料British Writers and Works
I. Old English Literature & The Late Medieval Ages
Epic: long narrative poems that record the adventures or heroic deeds of a hero enacted in vast landscapes. The style of epic is grand and elevated. e.g. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
Artistic features:
1. Using alliteration
Definition of alliteration: a rhetorical device, meaning some words in a sentence begin with the same consonant sound（头韵） Some examples on P5
2. Using metaphor and understatement
Definition of understatement: expressing something in a controlled way Understatement is a typical way for Englishmen to express their ideas
Geoffery Chaucer 杰弗里?乔叟1340(?)~1400
(首创“双韵体”，英国文学史上首先用伦敦方言写作。约翰·德莱顿（John Dryden）称其为“英国诗歌之父”。代表作《坎特伯雷故事集》。)
The father of English poetry.
It is ____alone who, for the first time in English literature, presented to us a comprehensive (综合的，广泛的)realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life. ( A )
A. Geoffrey Chaucer B. Matin Luther C. William Langland D. John Gower
writing style: wisdom, humor, humanity. ①
first time to use ‘heroic couplet’(双韵体) by middle English
②
Medieval Ages’ popular Literary form: Romance(传奇故事) Famous three：King Arthur
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Beowulf
II The Renaissance Period
A period of drama and poetry. The Elizabethan drama is the real mainstream of the English Renaissance.
Renaissance: the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.
Two features
1. a thirsting curiosity for the clasical literature 2. the keen interst in the activities of humanity.
The Renaissance marks a transition from the medieval to the modern world. The Renaissance is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts: (1) to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe,
(2) to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie,
(3) to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.
Three historical events of the Renaissance – rebirth or revival: 1. new discoveries in geography and astrology 2. the religious reformation and economic expansion 3. rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture The most famous dramatists: Christopher Marlowe
William Shakespeare
Ben Johnson.
English Renaissance:the early 16th century to the early 17th century.
1. Edmund Spenser埃德蒙?斯宾塞1552~1599 （后人称之为“诗人的诗人”。） The poets’ poet.The first to be buried in the Poet’s corner of Westerminster Abbey
12. Which of the following statements is not the reason for that Edmund Spenser is famous for “the poet’s poet”? ( B ) A. Spenser’s idealism B. his struggle for criteria C. his love of beauty D. his exquisite melody
①
The theme is not “Arms and the man”, but something more romantic “Fierce wars and faithfull loves”.
Artistic features:
1. Using Spenserian Stanza
Definition of Spenserian Stanza:a stanza of nine lines ababbcbcc. Eight lines in iambic pentameter, and last line in iambic hexameter.
②
The theme is to lament over the loss of Rosalind. ③
2. Thomas More托马斯?莫尔1478~1535 One of the greatest English humanists ①
3. Francis Bacon弗兰西斯?培根1561~1626
（哲学家、散文家；在论述探究知识的著作中提出了知识就是力量这一著名论断；近代唯物主义哲学的奠基人和近代实验科学的先驱。）
Philosopher, scientist, lay the foundation for modern science. The first English essayist.
Writing style:brevity, compactness&powerfulness, well-arranging and enriching by Biblical allusions, metaphors and philosophy to man’s reason.
①
The theme of Of Studies: uses and benefits of study and different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies. 4. Ben Jonson
①
5. Christopher Marlowe柯里斯托弗?马洛1564~1595
“University Wits”, the pioneer of English drama（完善了无韵体诗。） Blank verse: written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
14. Marlowe gave new vigor to ____ with his “mighty lines” ( D ) A. the Petrarchan sonnet B. sestina C. terza rima D. blank verse
①
②
③
6. William Shakespeare威廉?莎士比亚1564~1616
① Historical plays: Henry VI ; Henry IV : Richard III ; Henry V ；Richard II；Henry VIII
②Four Comedies:
③Four Tragedies:
④Shakespeare Sonnet :154
A sonnet is a lyric consisting of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter restricted to a definition rhyme scheme.
III The 17th Century
1. John Milton约翰?弥尔顿1608~1674
（诗人、政论家;失明后写 《失乐园》、《复乐园》、《力士参孙》。） ①Epics:
②Dramatic poem: < Samson Agonistes>力士参孙
③
This sonnet is written in iambic pentameter rhymed in abba abba cde cde, typical of Italian sonnet.
Its theme is that people use their talent for God, and they serve him best sho can endure the suffering best.
2. John Bunyan约翰?班扬1628~1688
（代表作《天路历程》，宗教寓言，被誉为“具有永恒意义的百科全书”，是英国文学史上里程碑式著作。与但丁的《神曲》、奥古斯丁的《忏悔录》并列为世界三大宗教题材文学杰作。）
Puritan poet(清教徒派诗人)
①Religionary Allegory:
the Metaphysical poet(玄学派诗人). Metaphysical Poetry(玄学诗)：（用语）the diction is simple, the imagery is from the actual, (形式)the form is frequently an argument with the poet’s beloved, with god, or with himself.（主题：love, religious, thought）
Artistic features:
1. conceits or imagery奇思妙喻 2. syllogism三段论
① Meditations 沉思录 The Flea 虱子
② Songs And Sonnets Holy Sonnets
③Valediction:
IV The 18th Century：Enlightenment同时为美国独立战争与法国大革命提供了框架，并且导致了资本主义和社会主义的兴起，与音乐史上的巴洛克时期以及艺术史上的新古典主义时期是同一时期。
A revival of interest in the old classical works, order, logic, restrained emotion(抑制情感) and accuracy The Age of Enlightenment/Reason: the movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centries, a progressive intellectual movement, reason(rationality), equality&science(the 18th century)
小说崛起：In the mid-century, the newly literary form, modern English novel rised(realistic novel现实主义小说)
Gothic novel(哥特式小说)：mystery, horror, castles(from middle part to the end of century)
1. Alexander Pope亚历山大?蒲柏1688~1744
（18世纪英国最伟大的诗人，其诗多用“英雄双韵体”/ “ heroic couplets”。词句工整、精练、富有哲理性。）
As a representative of the Enlightenment， Pope was one of the first to introduce rationalism to England.... Eg. Among the representatives of the Enlightenment, who was one of the first to introduce rationalism to England? ( C ) A. John Bunyan B. Daniel Defoe C. Alexander Pope D. Jonathan Swift
①
1.Using “heroic couplets”
②
③
2. Samuel Johnson塞缪尔?约翰逊1709~1784
①Dictionary =英语大词典 3. Jonathan Swift乔纳森?斯威夫特1667~1745
（十八世纪杰出的政论家和讽刺小说家a master satirist。） ①
Four parts:
Lilliput 小人国 Brobdingnag 大人国 Flying Island 飞岛 Houyhnhnm 马岛 一个小小的建议 ②
③ 木桶的故事
④
4. Daniel Defoe丹尼尔?笛福1660~1731
（小说家，新闻记者，小册子作者；十八世纪英国现实主义小说的奠基人。）
He is the first writer study of the lower-class people, his language is smooth, easy, colloquial and mostly vernacular, and he is the founder of realistic novel. ①
It praise the fortitude of the human labor and the Puritan.
Robinson grew from a naive and artless youth into a shrewd and hardened man,tempered by numerous trials in his eventful life.
It is an adventure story, Robinson, narrates how he goes to sea, gets shipwrecked and marooned on a lonely island, struggles to live for 24-years there and finally gets relieved and returns to England.
②
5. Henry Fielding亨利?菲尔丁1707~1754
（英国小说家，戏剧家，被誉为“英国小说之父” 。）
He is called “Father of English novel”. He was the first to write a “Comic epic in prose”(散文体史诗), and the first to give the modern novel its structure and style. ① novels:
6. Oliver Goldsmith奥利弗?格尔德斯密斯1730~1774
① poems:
7. Richard Brinsley Sheridan理查德?布林斯利?施莱登1751~1816 ①
②
A happy and innocent world from children’s eye. ②
A word of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone from men eyes.
Include:
Lamb is a symbol of peace and purity Tyger is a symbol of dread and oiolence
③
Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect主要用苏格兰方言写的诗 ①
④ 不管那一套
⑤
V The Romantic Period
The romantic period began in 1798 the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s
Romanticism:It emphasize the specialqualitie of each individual’s mind.(人应该是独立自由的个体) In it, emotion over reason, spontaneous emotion, a change from the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit, poetry should be free from all rules, imagination, nature, commonplace.
Two major novelists of the Romantic period are Jane Austen (realistic) and Walter Scott (romantic). “The Lake Poets”湖畔诗人，who lived in the lake district. William Wordsworth; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Robert Southey 1. William Wordsworth威廉?华兹华斯1770~1850
（与柯尔律治、骚塞同被称为“湖畔派”诗人。 The Lake Poets） ①
Theme:1.Nature embodies human beings in their diverse circumstance. It is nature that give him “strength and knowledge fullof peace”
2.It is bliss to recolled the beauty of nature in poet mind while he is in solitude.
Comment:The poet is very cheerful with recalling the beautiful sights. In the poem on the beauty of nature, the reader is presented a vivid picture of lively and lovely daffodils(水仙) and poet’s philosophical ideas and mystical thoughts.
③ Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey ④ The Solitary Reaper孤独的割麦女 ②
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