英国文学史知识梳理

一、The Anglo-Saxon Period (449-1066)The literature：Two divisions: pagan and ChristianThe Song of Beowulf：the events which took place on the Continent at the beginning of the 6th Century，The poem tells of a hero, a Scandinavian prince named Beowulf, who rids the Danes of the monster Grendel, half man and half fiend, and Grendel's mother, who comes that evening to avenge Grendel's death. Fifty years later Beowulf, now king of his native land, fights a dragon who has devastated his people. Both Beowulf and the dragon are mortally wounded in the fight. The poem ends with Beowulf's funeral.Theme：the primitive people’s struggle against hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader.二、The Anglo-Norman Period(1066-1350)The Literature：The literature which they brought to England is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of love and adventure (Romance), in marked contrast with the strength and somberness(朴实无华)of Anglo-Saxon poetry (Epic).Explanation of Sir Gawain and Green Knight：Two motifs（主题）1.The test of faith, courage, purity2.The test of human weakness for self-preservation三、Geoffrey Chaucer(1340?-1400）Characteristics①His allegories and symbols are already tinged with realistic images②Chaucer’s poem is distinguished for its profound delineation of character and truthful description of human relations.The Canterbury Tales：The Host (Harry Baily) proposes a storytelling contest to pass the time; each of the 30 pilgrims (including the poet) is to tell four tales on the round trip.Major Work:1.The Legend of Good Women好女人的故事 2.The House of Fame声誉殿堂3.The Canterbury Tales 坎特伯雷故事集 4.Troilus and Cressida特洛伊勒斯和克莱西5.The Parliament of Fowls百鸟会议四、The Renaissance（16th Century）Two features：1.A thirsting curiosity for classical literature. 2.The keen interest in life and human activities.1.William Shakespeare(1564-1616)Three Periods of his Dramatic Career and its characteristics(1)the years from 1590 to 1600,are characterized from a degree by formal and rather obvious construction and by stylized verse to highly individualized.Comedies: 1)The Merchant of Vince, 威尼斯商人2)A Midsummer Night’s Dream,仲夏夜之梦Twelfth Night,第十二夜3)As You Like It.（皆大欢喜）4)The Comedy of Errors, 5)The Merry Wives of Window, the years from 1601 to 1608,the most profound of his works. Tragedies:1)Hamlet哈姆雷特2)King Lear李尔王3) Macbeth麦克白4) Othello奥赛罗5)Romeo and Juliet罗密欧与朱丽叶6) Timon of Athens.(雅典的泰门）the period from 1609-1612,principal romantic tragicomedies.The Themes of Hamlet：new themes:1.the impossibility of certainty; 2.the complexity of action;3the mystery of death;4.its exploration into man’s inner world, into human psychology through a series of soliloquy（自言自语，独白）.Traditional aspects of Themes ：1.Hesitation:2. Inherited Sin and Corruption(人生而有罪和堕落):3. Sons Seeking Revenge 4. Deception: Deception makes up a major motif in Hamlet. 5. Ambition6. Loyalty:7. Madness8.Empty ExistenceFeatures of Shakespeare’s Drama ：1). one of the founders of realism in world lit. 2) Skilled in many poetic forms .3). A great master of the English languagePetrarchan sonnet :The octave is eight lines long, and typically follows a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA, or ABBACDDC.The sestet occupies the remaining six lines of the poem, and typically follows a rhyme scheme of CDCDCD, or CDECDE.Shakespearean sonnet:ABAB CDCD EFEF GG The sonnet 18,16The Spencerian Sonnet:ABAB BCBC CDCD EE On His Blindness2.Francis Bacon(1561-1626)Major works:1)Advancement of Learning学术的进展2)New Instrument新工具3)New Atlantis 新大西岛; 4)Essays随笔(Of Truth; Of Friendship; Of Studies论学习; Of Wisdom for a Man’s Self)五、The Period of Revolution & Restoration （17th Century)Literary characteristics:Confusion; Absence of any fixed standard of literary criticism;1.John Donne (1572-1631)Metaphysical poetsA Valediction: forbidding mourningTheme:Real, complete love unites not only the bodies of a husband and wife but also their souls. Such spiritual love is transcendent, metaphysical, keeping the lovers together intellectually and spiritually even though the circumstances of everyday life may separate their bodies. Imagery:The circle 1. Marriage ring 2. Path of the planets 3. Path described by a compassThe compass Planetary trepidation Earthquakes The gold Valuable, noble, difficult to destroy Three kinds of poets.Puritan poet(清教徒派诗人), Cavalier poet(保皇派诗人),the Metaphysical poet(玄学派诗人).Literary term: Metaphysical poetry(玄学派诗歌)2.John Milton (1608-1674) An English Poet1)Paradise Lost (masterpiece)《失乐园》2)Paradise Regained《复乐园》3)Samson Agonistes 《力士参孙》4)Lycidas 《利西达斯》5) Areopagitica 《论出版自由》6)On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity《基督诞生晨颂》7)L’Allegro《快乐的人》8)Of Reformation in England 《论英国改革》9)Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce《离婚的戒律与学说》10)Penseroso《幽思的人》11)Comus 《科玛斯》Paradise Lost:It is about Satan’s rebellion against God and the expulsion(驱逐) of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.Theme :The theme of the poem is a revolt against God’s authorityOn His Blindness:theme:God judges humans on whether they labor for Him to the best of their ability.六、The Age of Enlightenment in England （The 18th Century）1.Daniel Defoe:The father of the English fiction(英国小说之父）Major works:1)The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe 《鲁滨逊漂流记》2)Captain Singleton 《辛格顿船长》3)Moll Flanders 《摩尔·弗兰德斯》4)A Journal of the Plague Year 《大疫年日记》5) Roxana 《罗克萨娜》THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOETheme:the power of the average man to preserve life and to organize economy in the face of unpromising environment.2.Jonathan Swift(1667-1745)One of the greatest masters of English prose;十八世纪杰出的政治家和讽刺小说家Major Works：1)A Tale of a Tub 《一个木桶的故事》2)Battle of the Books 《书籍之战》3)Journal to Stella 《给斯黛拉的信》4)The Drapier’s Letters《布商的信》5)A Modest Proposal 《一个温和的建议》Gulliver’s Travels 《格列佛游记》：Lilliput 小人国Brobdingnag 大人国Flying Island 飞岛国Houyhnhnm 马岛国Swift style :simple, clear, vigorous language;direct and precise prose;a master satirist;deadly(非常有效的) irony;powerful satire.3.Robert Burns(1759-1796):Scottish poet and writer of traditional Scottish folk songs.1)A Red Red Rose一朵红红的玫瑰2) Auld Longn Syne 往昔时光3)John Anderson,My Jo 约翰爱德生，我的爱人4)A Man’s a Man for A That不管那一套5) My Heart’s in the Highlands我的心在那高原上七、The 19th RomanticHistory Background:(1).Industrial Revolution and French Revolution had a strong influence in Britain literature.(2)Fighting for “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”also becomes British national spirit.1.William Wordsworth(1770-1850)与Samuel Taylor Coleridge,Robert Southey 同被称为Lake Poets(湖畔诗人）Characteristics:Wordsworth’s poetry is distinguished by purity and simplicity of his language which was spoken by the peasants who convey their feelings and emotions in simple and unelaborated（坦率的）expressions.Major Work:Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey“丁登寺杂咏”Wandered Lonely as a Cloud “我独自漫游像一朵浮云”The Prelude序曲The Excursion 远足Lyrical Balas 抒情歌谣集The Solitary Reaper”“孤独的收割者”2.George Gordon Byron(1788-1824))he is one of the most excellent representatives of English Romanticism and one of the most influential poets of the time.Major works:1) Hours of Idleness (1807)《闲暇时刻》2)The English Bards and Scott Reviewers (1809)《英国诗人和苏格兰评论家》3)Child Harold Pilgrimage (1st two cantos1812, the later cantos 1816-1818) 《恰尔德·哈罗德游记》written in Spenserian stanza.4) The Giaour 《异教徒》5) Lara (1814)《莱拉》6)The Corsair (1814)《海盗》7) Don Juan (1819-1824)《唐璜》masterpiece8) The Vision of Judgment 《审判的幻景》9)Cain 该隐10）She walks in Beauty 她走在美的光影里The characteristic of his poems:Byron’s poems show energy and vigor, romantic daring (bold, brave) and powerful passion.3.Persy Bysshe Shelly :one of the major English Romantic poets.Major works:1) Zastrozzi, 《柴斯特罗齐》2) The Necessity of Atheism, 《无神论的必要性》3) Queen Mab, 《仙后麦布》4) Prometheus Unbound,《解放了的普罗米修斯》5) “The Odes to the West Wind”,“西风颂6) The Masque of Anarchy, 《暴政的行列》7) A Defence of Poetry, 《诗之辩护》8) The Triumph of Life, 《革命的胜利行列》4.John Keats“Beauty is truth, truth beauty”.Major works:1)“O Solitude”,“孤寂”2)“On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”,“初读查普曼译荷马史诗”3)Poems，《诗集》，his first book. 4)Endymion,《恩底弥翁》his first long poem.5)Isabella,《伊莎贝拉》6)Hyperion,《许佩里翁》7)Lamia，《莱米亚》.The great odes: (1)On a Grecian Urn，“希腊古瓮颂”.(2)To Psyche，“心灵颂”.(3)On Melancholy，“哀感”.(4)To Autumn，“秋颂”.The characteristic of his poetry, characterized by exact and closely-knit construction, sensual descriptions, and by force of imagination, gives transcendental values to the physical beauty of the world.5.Jane Austin:one of the realistic novelists.Major works:Northanger Abbey《诺桑觉寺》Sense and Sensibility《理智与情感》Pride and Prejudice《傲慢与偏见》Mansfield Park 《曼斯菲尔德花园》.Emma《爱玛》Persuasion《劝告》The characteristic of her novel:1）She drew vivid and realistic pictures of everyday life of the country society 2）main concern is about human beings in their personal relations, human beings with their families and neighbors3）Stories of love and marriagePride and Prejudice：Main idea:The book mainly tells the love story between a rich, proud young man Darcy and the beautiful and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet. None of the daughters of the wealthy family can inherit the estate (property) of the family for it has been entailed (把遗产留给) upon the nearest male heir,William Collins. Collins intends to marry and he decides to choose Elizabeth. But Elizabeth rejects his proposal. When another young man called Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, she has prejudice against him because she thinks that he has nothing but pride. After many twists and turns, misunderstanding disappears and they are happily united.Theme:1)pride and prejudice2)love and marriage八、The Victorian AgeThe Mainly three kinds of literature and its characteristics1)the Chartist literature 2)English Critical Realism 3)Victorian poetry1.Charles DickensMajor works: 1)Oliver Twist 《雾都孤儿》2)The Pickwick Papers«匹克威克外传»3)Great Expectations «远大前程» 4)David Copperfield «大卫·科波菲尔»5)Bleak House «荒凉山庄»6)Hard Times «艰难时世»7）Little Dorrit «小杜丽»8）A Tale of Two Cities «双城记» 9）Dombey and Son (1847-1848)«董贝父子»10）Our Mutual Friend «我们的共同朋友»11）American Notes «美国札记»2.Charlotte Bronte:1)Anne Bronte(1820—1849) Agnes Grey,《安格尼斯·格雷》The Tenant of the Wildfell Hall《王尔德费尔庄园的佃户》Jane Eyre,《简爱》Themes :Love Versus Autonomy2)Emily Bronte(1818—1848) Wuthering Heights,《呼啸山庄》The theme of the novel: a full human life (完美人生) in a capitalist society was impossible of attainment (达到).They were all talented writers and all of them died young.3.Alfred,Lord TennysonMajor works:1).In Memoriam 《悼念》2). Poems, Chiefly Lyrical 《抒情诗集》3). Poems (two volumes) 《诗集》4). The Princess 《公主》5). Maud 《毛黛》6). The Idylls of the King 《国王叙事集》7. Poems by Two Brothers《哥俩集》4.Robert BrowningMajor works :1)“Home-Thoughts, from Abroad”2)《异域乡思》“Meeting at Night”《深夜幽会》“Parting at Morning”《清晨离别》。