英国文学1

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)杰佛利·乔叟I. Life and main works of ChaucerThough Chaucer was born over two hundred years earlier, we know a good deal more for certain about his life than we do of Shakespeare‘s. Because Chaucer was a public man as well as a poet: an eminent servant(官吏), diplomat, administrator, Justice of the Peace（治安官员）, andMember of Parliament. He was the representative writer of the century. Therefore, the 14th century is usually called ―The Age of Chaucer‖. Today Chaucer is acclaimed not only as ―the father of English poetry‖ （John Dryden）but also as ―the father of English fiction‖.His two visits to Italy must have been crucial, here he became acquainted with the new learning, with the works of Petrarch（彼特拉克，1304-1374，意大利诗人、学者、欧洲人文主义运动的主要代表）, Giovanni Boccaccio（乔万尼·卜伽丘，1313-1375，文艺复兴时期意大利，《十日谈》Decameron）. He was influenced by Dante (但丁，1265-1321意大利诗人，《神曲》Divine Comedy), Petrarch, and Boccaccio. It is possible thatBoccaccio‘s the collection of stories in Decameron gave Chaucer t he idea for The Canterbury Tales. After his death, he was buried in Westminster Abbey(英国名人墓地), ―Poet‘s Corner‖.１３４８年，意大利的佛罗伦萨发生了一场可怕的瘟疫。

每天，都有大批大批的尸体运到城外。

从３月到７月，病死的人达１０万以上，昔日美丽繁华的佛罗伦萨城变成了坟场。

这件事给当时意大利作家薄伽丘以深刻影响。

为了记下人类这场灾难，他以这场瘟疫为背景，写下短篇小说集《十日谈》。

原来，在佛罗伦萨闹瘟疫期间的一个清晨，７个美丽年轻而富有教养的小姐，在教堂遇到了３个英俊而富有热烈激情的青年男子。

７位小姐中的３人是他们的情人，别的几位和他们还有亲戚关系。

他们决心带着仆人，离开佛罗伦萨这座可怕城市。

他们相约，两天后到郊外的一座小山上的别墅里去躲避瘟疫。

这１０位年轻人每天不是唱歌弹琴，就是跳舞散步。

大家商定每人每天讲一个优秀动听的故事，以此来愉快地度过一天中最难熬的时光，他们一共讲了１０天，１０天合计讲了１００个故事，这些故事收集成集子就叫《十日谈》。

Chaucer‘s whole l ife can be divided into three periods. The first period, about thirty years,including his youth and early manhood, is the period of French influence.Chaucer‘s main works in this period were translations from French. The Romaunt of the Rose《玫瑰传奇》,t he most popular long love poem of the Middle Ages, was translated from French into English by Chaucer. The second period, about fifteen years, covers Chaucer‘s active life as diplomat and man of affairs（知识渊博的人）.In this period, Italian influence seemed stronger than the French. Chaucer produced worksadapted from Italian writers.His chief works of this period were Troilus and Criseyde《特罗勒斯与克丽西德》and The House of Fame 《声誉之堂》.The third period, including his last fifteen years, is generally known as the English P eriod. It is the period of Chaucer‘s richest development.His masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, is one of the most famous works in all literatures.II. The Canterbury TalesI n this great work, the author gives his reader a picture of English society in the MiddleAges. The whole work consists of a prologue and twenty-four tales. In the prologue, the author reveals his plan for writing this work, and also vividlydescribes the teller of each tale.Chaucer tells us that one spring day, he comes into the Tabard Inn in Southwark at the south end of London Bridge. Here he meets twenty nine pilgrims, who are going to Canterbury(坎特伯雷,英国东南部城市,在肯特郡.该城曾为肯特国王都城。

1170年12月29日，该城主教托马斯·阿·柏刻特因与国王亨利二世发生冲突被刺身亡，引起公愤。

1173年，柏刻特被尊为殉唯圣徒，其遗骨葬于坎特伯雷教堂，自那以后到乔叟时的200余年中，每年有络绎不绝的信徒前往朝拜。

它成了著名的圣地。

).In the General Prologue, the poet tells how, one day in April, he comes to the Tabard Inn in the southern suburb of London. By nightfall they arrive at the inn, twenty nine pilgrims are all ready to go to St. Thomas à Becket‘s tomb at Canterbury, and the poet joins the company and converses with all of them. At the proposal of Harry Bailey, the host of the inn, all the pilgrims agree that they make journey to and from Canterbury more interesting by telling stories to one another on the way. Each of them is to tell two stories on the outward trip and two more on the way back. Whoever tells the best tale is to be given a free supper, at the cost of all the rest, upon their return to the Tabard Inn. The host offers to go with them as their guide and judge.According to this arrangement, there should be altogether a hundred and twenty stories in the collection, but actually only twenty-four tales are preserved, among which two are left incomplete, being interrupted at it were in the course of narration, while two others obviously remain unfinished.The prologue includes a group of vivid sketches（素描）of typical medieval figures. All classes of the English feudal society, expect the royalty and the poorest peasant, are represented by these thirty pilgrims. They range from the knight and squire(律师、治安官), and prioress（女修道院院长）, through the landed proprietor and wealthy tradesman, down to the drunken cook and humble plowman. There are also a doctor and a lawyer, monks of different orders and nuns and priests, and a summoner（法院传票传达员）, a sailor, a miller, a carpenter, a yeoman（自耕农）, and an Oxford scholar. In the center of the group is the Wife of Bath( 巴斯妇), the owner of a large cloth-factory.Every figure is drawn with the accuracy of a portrait. The portraits of the thirty pilgrims supply a miniature of t he English society in Chaucer‘s time. Looking at the picture gallery, we know at once how people lived in that era. That is why Chaucer was praised by Gorky（高尔基）as ―the founder of English realism‖.III. Social Significance of The Canterbury TalesIn The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives us a true-to-life picture of the society of his time. Taking the stand of the rising bourgeoisie, he affirms men and opposes the dogma(教条) of asceticism(禁欲主义) preached by the Church. As a forerunner of humanism, he praise s man‘s energy, intellect, quick wit（机智）and love of life. His tales expose and satirize (讽刺性描写) the evils of his time. They attack the degeneration of the noble, theheartlessness of the judge, the corruption of the Church and so on.Living in a transitional period, Chaucer is not entirely devoid(缺乏的) medieval prejudices. He is religious himself. There is nothing revolutionary in his writing, though he lived in a period of peasant uprising. While praising man‘s right to earthly happiness, he someti mes likes to crack a rough joke and paint naturalistic pictures of sexual life.IV. Features of Chaucer‘s WritingChaucer wrote in vivid and exact language. His poetry is full of vigor and swiftness. Chaucer‘s contribution to English poetry is that he introduced from France the rhymed couplet of iambic（抑扬格）pentameter (五音步诗行)(which was later called the ―heroic couplet‖ 英雄双韵体) to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse(头韵诗). Chaucer is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language.He wrote his poetry by using the East Midland dialect of England, the dialect of London. So he did much in making the dialect of London, the foundation for modern English speech and establishing English as the literary language of the country. Chaucer displayed genius for vivid characterization, bland（柔和的）irony, oblique（坦率的）humor, and mix of practicality(实用性) and imagination, rhetoric（华丽的言语）and realism.Chaucer‘s style in The Canterbury Tales is remarkably flexible.His prose, like his vocabulary, is easy and informal.Chaucer is a great satirist, but he is almost never bitter when he pokes fun at the foibles and weakness of people.V．Let‘s read the selection of The Canterbury Tales (看课本2-5页)The PrologueWhen in April the sweet showers fallAnd pierce (penetrate)the drought of March to the root, and allThe veins(叶脉) are bathed in liquor (喻指甘霖)of such powerAs brings about the engendering （生长，发芽）of the flower,When also Zephyrus（希腊人认为西风神是森林诸神中最温柔者）with his sweet breathExhales [ eksˈheɪl] （breathe out）an air in every grove （wood）and heath(open and uncultivated land)Upon the tender shoots(嫩芽，幼苗), and the young sunHis half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,（白羊宫，但太阳经过白羊宫时为三月二十一日至四月二十一日，正值春天。