专八英美文学知识点

Old & Medieval English Literature
Old English: 450-1066
<Beowulf> the national epic of the Anglo-Saons
Medieval English： 1066 - middle 14th century
Geoffrey Chaucer-the father of English poetry(wisdom, humor, humanity)
<The Canterbury Tales> first time to use 'heroic couplet'英雄双韵体
The Renaissance Period: 14th –mid 17th started in Italy
A series of historical events:
1.rediscovery of ancient Roman & Greek culture
2.new discoveries in geography & astrology(占星学)
3.the religious reformation & economic expansion
The Renaissance - rebirth or revival
Humanism - the essence of the Renaissance, the dignity of human being & the importance of the present life
Best representatives: Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare
The Elizabethan drama: the real mainstream of English Renaissance
Most famous dramatists: Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson
Edmund Spenser - the poets' poet
5 quality: 1) a perfect melody 2)a rare sense of beauty 3)a splendid imagination
4)a lofty(高尚的) moral purity and seriousness 5)a dedicated idealism
<The Shepherdes Calender> lament(哀悼) over the loss of Rosalind
<The Faerie Queene>
主角：Arthur - who possess 12 virtues
Gloriana – the Fairy Queen
The theme is not “Arms and the man,” but something more romantic –“Fierce warres and faithfull loves”
READING: excerpt from The Faerie Queene仙后
Content: Redcrosse Knight set out on his adventures.
克里斯托弗·马洛
Christopher Marlowe–“University Wits”,the pioneer of English drama
Hyperbole(夸张)
Marlowe‟s achievement: 1)blank verse无韵诗歌
It is Marlowe who brought vitality(活力) and grandeur(伟大) into the blank verse with his “mighty lines,” which carry strong emotions.
2) his creation of the Renaissance hero for English drama.(not strong in dramatic construction.)
→ the pioneer of English drama
3 tragedies: <Dr. Faustus> the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness
<Tamburlaine> 帖木耳大帝 a play about
an ambitious and pitiless overpowering king.
<The Jew of Malta> 马尔他的犹太人
non-drama <The Passionate Shepherd to His Love> pastoral(田园的) life ，the most beautiful lyrics(抒情诗)
READING: 1. excerpt from Dr. Faustus浮士德博士的悲剧
A play based on the German legend
Content: Faustus is a scholar who has a strong desire to acquire knowledge. By conjuration(念咒文召唤) he call up Mephistophilis, the Devil‟s servant. He make a bond(契约)
to sell his soul to the Devil in return for 24 years of life in which Mephistophilis to give him everything he desires. Devil‟s name is Lucifer.
Dominant moral is human rather than religious
2. The Passionate(热情的) Shepherd to His Love
this short poem is considered to be one of the most beautiful lyrics(抒情诗) in English literature.
The shepherd(牧羊人) enjoy an ideal country life, cherishing(珍爱) a pastoral(田园的) and pure affection for his love. Strong emotion is conveyed through the beauty of nature.
剧作家
William Shakespeare– playwright & poet (above all writers in the past and in the present time)
1.<Henry Ⅵ>, <Richard Ⅲ>…
2.<Richard Ⅱ>, <Henry Ⅳ>, <Henry Ⅴ>, <King John>…
Comedies: <A Midsummer Night’s Dream>, <The Merchant of Venice>, <Twelfth Night> …As You Like It
Tragedy: <Romeo and Juliet> romantic tragedy. To praise the faithfulness of love and the
spirit of pursuing happiness.
3.Four tragedies - <Hamlet>, <Othello>, <King Lear> & <Macbeth>
4.tragicomedies：<The Tempest>
Achievement:
A. exploring the characters‟s inner mind.
soliloquy(独白) or monologue - fully reveal the inner conflict of the characters
contrasts – bring vividness to the characters
B. adroit（精巧的） plot construction
C. Irony is a good means of dramatic presentation. Disguise is an important device to create dramatic irony.
D. the language.
READING： 1. Sonnet 18 (14 line)
<Sonnet 18> eternal or immortal（不朽的） beauty, have a faith in the permanence of poetry.
A nice summer‟s day is usually transient(短暂的), but the beauty in poetry can last for ever.
2.excerpt from The Merchant of Venice
<The Merchant of Venice> to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portiaa heroine of great beauty, wit and loyalty, to expose the insatiable（不知足的） greed and brutality of the Jew.
Double plot:(1) Bassanio ask Antonio for a loan so that he might marriage with Portia
(2) Antonio borrow money from Shylock, the Jewish usurer. Shylock make a strange bond that requires Antonio to surrender a pound of his flesh if he fail to repay him within a certain period of time. Portia disguised as a young lawyer instructed to judge the case: Shylock can take
his pound of flesh, but there is no mention of blood in the bond. Otherwise, his lands and goods will be confiscated(充公) according to he law of Venice.
3．Excerpt from Hamlet
<Hamlet> hesitate between fact and fiction, language and action, too sophisticated（复杂的） to degrade his nature to the conventional role of a stage revenger
content: Hamlet, the prince, appearing in a mood of world-weariness（厌世） occasioned by his father‟s death and his mother‟s hasty remarriage with Claudius, his father‟s brother. Hamlet is informed that Claudius has murdered his fa ther and then taken over both his father‟s throne and widow. Thus Hamlet is urged to seek revenge.
Note: To be, or not to be - to live on in this world or to die; to suffer or to take action
Francis Bacon–philosopher, scientist, essayist, lay the foundation for modern science His Essays is the first example of that genre in English literature.
Bacon‟s essays are famous for their brevity, compactness & powerfulness, well-arranging and enriching by Biblical allusions（典故）, metaphors（隐喻） and cadence（韵律）.
<The Advancement of Learning>man‟s understanding consists of three parts: history to man‟s memory, poetry to man‟s imagination and creation, and philosophy to man‟s reason.
<Novum Organum> written in Latin on methodology方法论
Bacon suggests the inductive reasoning 归纳法 ( i.e. proceeding from the particular to the general)
in place of Aristotelian method, the deductive reasoning 演绎法( i.e. proceeding from the general to the particular)
READING: Of Studies
<Of Studies> uses and benefits of study –studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Studies perfect nature, and are perfected by experience. Different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies - studies and experience are complementary (互补) to each other. The correct attitude to reading books - to weigh and consider. How studies exert influence over human character - reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
John Donne
〝Metaphysical poetry〞（玄学诗）- break away from love poetry, the diction(用语) is simple, the imagery is from the actual, the form is frequently an argument with the poet‟s beloved, with God, or with himself.
A)conceits B)syllogism (三段论)
Poetry 早期:<The Songs and Sonnets> holds that the nature of love is the union of soul and body.
晚期:<Holy Sonnets> <A Hymn to God the Father> religious poem
Prose: his sermons, which are both rich and imaginative
READING: 1. The Sun Rising 2. Death, Be Not Proud ( a sonnet,14 lines)
<The Sun Rising> the busy sun is always ready to interfere with other things and everywhere
<Death, Be Not Proud> whatever you are, you can not escape from death. When you are living, you are always in the shadow of death. Death only lasts a moment, our life after death is eternal. The more pleasure the death gives people, not only the pleasure of the rest & the sleep, because
'whom the gods love die young'. Though death is usually considered powerful, it actually provides a rest for a man's body and a birth for his soul.
John Milton
Achievement: 1)the early poetic works 2) the middle prose(散文) 3)the last great poems Elegy(挽歌) -<lycidas>利西达斯(his early work)
Epic(史诗) - <Paradise Lost> <Paradise Regained>
Dramatic poem(诗剧) - <Samson Agonistes>力士参孙 the most perfect example of the verse
drama after the Greek style in
English.
READING: excerpt from Paradise Lost
<Paradise Lost> the only generally acknowledged epic in English literature since Beowulf. The conflict is between human love and spiritual duty. The freedom of the will is the keystone of Milton‟s creed(纲领).
Take from the O ld Testament, the theme is the “Fall of Man”: Satan rebel against God and are driven from Heaven. He determined to revenge by seduce(引诱) Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge against God‟s instructions. So, Adam and Eve are exiled by God from the paradise.
新古典主义时期
The Neoclassical Period : 1660-1798 with the publication of Lyrical ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge
- a revival of interest in the old classical works, order, logic, restrained emotion(抑制情感) & accuracy 启蒙时代
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)
modern English novel–newly rising literary form现实主义小说诞生（the mid-century）Gothic novel(哥特式小说) - mystery, horror & castles (from middle part to the end of century)
John Bunyan
REAING: The Vanity Fair名利场 an excerpt form The Pilgrim’s Progress(天路历程) <The Pilgrim's Progress>, a religious allegory(寓言), its purpose is to urge people to abide by Christian doctrines and seek salvation(拯救) through constant struggles with their own weaknesses and all kinds of social evils. Its predominant metaphor –life as a journey
Alexander Pope亚历山大·蒲柏（英国诗人）
one of the first to introduce rationalism to England, for him the supreme value was order.
READING: excerpt from A n Essay on Criticism(论批评)
<An Essay on Criticism> a poem written in heroic couplets(对句), criticize the present poem lack of true taste & call on people to turn to the old Greek and Roman writers for guidance, true wit which is best set in a plain (simple & clear) style.
Daniel Defoe - the first writer study of the lower-class people, his language is smooth, easy, colloquial and mostly vernacular(方言).
READING: excerpt from Robinson crusoe
<Robinson Crusoe> praise the human labor and the Puritan fortitude (清教徒坚韧).
→ an adventure story, Robinson, narrates how he goes to sea, gets shipwrecked and marooned(放逐) on a lonely island, struggles to live for 24-years there and finally gets relieved and returns to England.
→ Robinson grew from a naïve and artless youth into a shrewd and hardened man, tempered by numerous trials in his eventful life.
Jonathan Swift
In his opinion, human nature is seriously and permanently flawed (缺点)
Achievement: 1)a master satirist. <A Modest Proposal> <Gulliver's Travels>
2) one of the greatest of English prose, he defined a good style as “Proper words in proper places”READING: excerpt from Gulliver’s Travels(格列佛游记)
<Gulliver's Travels> fictional work, four parts – Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Flying
Island & Houyhnhnm
(小人国) (大人国) (飞岛) (有人类理性的马)
→ the book is one of the most effective and devastating criticisms and satires of all aspects in the then English and European life.
Henry Fielding - Father of English novel, he was the first to write a “Comic epic in prose” (散文体史诗), the first to give the modern novel its structure and style. He adopted “the third-person narration”.
<The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews…> (约瑟夫·安德鲁)
<The History of Jonathan Wild the Great> (伟大的乔纳森·怀尔德)
<The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling> 汤姆·琼斯的历史,一个弃儿a masterpiece on the subject of human nature
<The History of Amelia> the unfortunate life of an idealized woman, a maudlin(伤感
的) picture of the social life at the time.
READING: excerpt from Tom Jones
Brings the author the name of the “Prose Homer”
In a way, Tom and Sophia, stands for a wayfaring(旅行的) Everyman, who is expelled from the paradise and has to go through hard experience to gain a knowledge of himself and finally to approach perfectness.
Samuel Johnson– the author of the first English dictionary by an Englishman, the
last neoclassicist enlightener.
<A Dictionary of the English Language> 英语大词典
READING: To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield
<To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield> the letter is written in a refined and very polite language, with a bitter undertone of defiance and anger. The seemingly peaceful
retrospection, reasoning and questioning express, to the best satiric effect, the author‟s
strong indignation at the lord‟s fame-fishing.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan - the only important English dramatist of the 18th century <The Rivals> and <The School for Scandal> 造谣学校are regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw.
READING: excerpt from The School for Scandal
A story about two brothers: Joseph Surface and Charles Surface. Charles in love
with Maria, Sir Peter Teazle is loved by Lady Sneerwell. The lady instigates(教唆) Joseph to pursue Maria For her Money. Joseph secretly seduce(引诱) Lady Teazle, Sir Peter‟s young wife. The play ends with great disgrace for Joseph and Charles wins his loves and the inheritance of his rich uncle.
It is a sharp satire on the moral degeneracy(堕落) of the aristocratic-bourgeois society in the 18th England.
Thomas Gray
the leader of the sentimental(悲情的) poetry of the day ,especially “The Graveyard School”
READING:Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
<Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard> reflects on death, the sorrows of life, and the mysteries of human life with a touch of his personal melancholy. He sympathized for the poor and the unknown, but mocks the great ones who despise the poor and bring havoc(破坏) on them.
The Romantic Period
△Romantic - emotion over reason, spontaneous (自发)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
△The romantic emphasized the special qualities of each individual’s mind.
△The romantic period began with： in 1798 the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge's
<Lyrical Ballads>
end in 1832with Sir Walter Scott‟s death
△two major novelists of the Romantic period are Jane Austen (realistic) and Walter
Scott(romantic).
William Blake- poet & engraver(雕刻家)
<Songs of Innocence>: a happy and innocent world from children's eye
<Songs of Experience> : a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy (忧郁的)tone from men eyes. Childhood, paradoxes, a pairing of opposites <Marriage of Heaven and Hell> marks his entry into maturity.
<The book of Urizen>(先知书) prophetic(预言的) book in his later period
He presents his view in visual images. Symbolism is also a distinctive feature of his poetry.
READING: 1. The Chimney Sweeper (from Songs of Innocence)
2. The Chimney Sweeper (from Songs of Experience)
3. The Tyger(from Songs of Experience)
William Wordsworth威廉·华兹华斯（英国诗人）
- the leading figure of the English romantic poetry, simple, spontaneous(自发的), “worshipper of nature”
- He defines the poet as a 'man speaking to men', and poetry as 'the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, which originates in 'emotion recollected in tranquillity'.
“Lake Poets”: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge & Robert Southey
<The Prelude>(序曲) his masterpiece
<To a Skylark> <Tintern Abbey>
READING: 1. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
<I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud> 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.
2. Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
<Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802> the sonnet describes a vivid picture of a beautiful morning in London, silent, bright, glittering（闪烁的）, smokeless & mildly （柔和的）. It is so touching a sight that the poet expressed his religion piety （虔诚）for nature.
3. She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
4. The Solitary Reaper
<The Solitary Reaper> thanks to poet's rich imagination, the mass of associations, this commonplace happening becomes a striking event, the poet succeeds in making the reader's share his emotion. The poem also shows the poet's passionate love of nature.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge - supernatural, remote
William Wordsworth and Coleridge: <Lyrical Ballads>
Poet can be divided into two groups - the demonic 恶魔的(supernatural) & the conversational
- The demonic group includes 3 masterpieces: <The Rime of the Ancient Mariner>,
<Chrisabel>, <Kubla Khan>
老水手之行克丽斯塔贝尔忽必烈汗Feature: mysticism, demonism with strong imagination, a strange territory
- Conversational poem: <Frost at Midnight> <The Nightingale>
READING: Kubla Khan
George Gordon Byron乔治·戈登·拜伦
'Byronic hero': is a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin, against tyrannical（暴君
的） rules or moral principles. Such a hero appears first in <Childe Harold's Pilgrimage> 怀尔德·哈罗德游记
<Don Juan> （唐璜）(the masterpiece of Byron, a long satirical poem, comic epic) by make use of Juan‟s adventures, to present a panoramic（全面） view of different types of society.
READING: 1.Song for the Luddites
<Song for the Luddites> 'will die fighting, or live free' Byron show his support of the Luddites who destroyed the machines in their protest against unemployment. The poet's great sympathy of the workers in their struggle against the capitalists is clearly shown.
2. The Isles of Greece (from Don Juan)
<The Isles of Greece> song by a Greek singer at the wedding of Don Juan and Haidee. 'Fill high the bowl with Samian wine'? By contrasting the freedom of ancient Greece and the present enslavement, the poet appealed to people to struggle for liberty.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
1) Lyrics（抒情诗）
<The Cloud> <Ode to the West Wind> <To a Skylark>云雀颂 the bird, suspended betweenreality and poetic image
2) poetic drama （诗剧）
<Prometheus Unbound> 解放了的米罗普修斯
READING: 1. A Song: Men of England
<Men of England> It is not only a war cry calling upon all working people of England to rise up against their political oppressors, but also an address to point out to them the intolerable injustice of economic exploitation.
2.Ode to the West Wind
<Ode to the West Wind> terza rima, destructive-constructive potential, hopeful, 'I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!', 'If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?' The author express his eagerness to enjoy the boundless freedom from the reality.
John Keats
4 great odes : <Ode on Melancholy>, <Ode on a Grecian Urn>, <Ode to a Nightingale>, <Ode to Psyche>
希腊古瓮颂夜莺颂
READING: Ode on a Grecian Urn
<Ode on a Grecian Urn> the contrast between the permanence of art and the transience (短暂)of human passion, 'Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter', 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'
Jane Austen
6 novels: <Sense and Sensibility> 理智与情感<Pride and Prejudice> 《傲慢与偏见》<Northanger Abbey> <Mansfield Park> <Emma> <Persuasion>
诺桑觉寺蔓斯菲尔德公园
→ Story of love and marriage provide the major themes in all her novels.
→3 types of attitudes in pursuit of marriage:
A)who would marry for material wealth and social position
B)who would marry just for beauty and passion
C)who would marry for true love with a consideration of the partner‟s personal merit and
hiseconomical and social status.
→concerning 3 or 4 landed gentry families with their daily routine life: relationships with members of their own family and with their friends, dancing parties, tea parties, picnics, and gossips.
READING: excerpt from Pride and prejudice
1.Elizabeth Bennet & Darcy : in the end false pride is humbled and prejudice dissolved.
2.Collins & Charlotte Lucas: see the reality of marriage as a necessary step if a woman is to
avoid the wretchedness(不幸) of aging spinsterhood（未婚妇女身份）.
3.Lydia & Wickham: shown the dangers of feckless（不负责任的） relationships unsupported by
money.
4.Mr. & Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins, Lady Catherine de Burgh: comic characters
The Victorian Period : 1836-1901 维多利亚时期
＊Common sense and moral propriety（规矩）, again became the predominant preoccupation.
Critical realists were all concerned about the fate of the common people.
＊Darwin's <The Origin of Species> and <The Descent of Man> shook the traditional faith, everything is created by God
＊George Eliot, the pioneering woman, was the first novelist that “started putting all the actions inside”
＊Thomas Hardy, that Wessex man who not only expose and criticize all sorts of social iniquities, but finally came to question and attack the Victorian conventions and morals.
＊Robert Browning, created the verse novel, revel and study characters‟ i nner
world (psycho-analytical)
Charles Dickens- one of the greatest critical realist writers of the Victorian Age
- Character-portrayal is the most distinguishing feature of his works
1) child characters 2) horrible and grotesque（可笑的） characters 3) broadly humorous or comical characters
- characterized by a mingling(混合) of humor and pathos (悲伤)
pathos: little Nell <The Old Curiosity Shop> , little Paul <Dombey and Son>
<A Tale of Two Cities> {Hard Times}艰难时世
READING: excerpt from Oliver Twist雾都孤儿
<Oliver Twist> is a boy brought up in the workhouse. One day, as Oliver asked for more food, he was sent to work as an apprentice and then ran away …The novel is famous for its vivid descriptions of the workhouse and life of the underworld（下层社会） in 19th London.
The Bronte Sisters
The Bronte Sisters - Charlotte, Emily & Anne
Emily, a rather reserved and simple girl, was very much a child of nature.
Charlotte, is a writer of realism combined with romanticism. Her works are famous for the depiction of the life of the middle-class working women, particularly governesses（家庭女教师）. READING: 1. excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 夏洛蒂·勃朗特（英国小说家）<Jane Eyre> 简·爱 Jane Eyre, a plain little orphan, was sent to Lowood, a charity school. There she suffer a lot and 8 years later she left school and became a governess at Thornfield Hall. There she falls in love with the master, Mr. Rochester.
- It is noted for its sharp criticism of the existing society, e.g. charity institution such as Lowood School
- successful introduction to the English novel the first governess heroine, whom represents those middle-class working women struggling for recognition of their basic rights and equality as a human being.
2. excerpt from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
<Wuthering Heights> 呼啸山庄 a story about 2 families and an intruding(闯入的) stranger. The Earnshaw family (Mr. Earnshaw, his wife, the son Hindley, the daughter Catherine) - Heathcliff
The Linton family ( Mr. Linton, his wife son Edgar, daughter Isabella
Alfred Tennyson - invents dramatic monologue(独脚戏), Poet Laureate 桂冠诗人, a real artist He has the natural power of linking visual pictures with musical expressions, and with
the feelings.
<In Memoriam> 悼念
<Ldylls of the King> 国王叙事诗 represent a cyclic history of western civilization, which, in Tennyson‟s mind, is going on a spiritual decline and will end in destruction.
READING: 1. Break, Break, Break 2. Crossing the Bar 3.ULysses
<Break, Break, Break> in memory of the death of his best friend, his sadness feeling are contrasted with the carefree, innocent joys of the children and the unfeeling movement of the ship and the sea waves
<Crossing the Bar>过沙洲 we can feel his fearlessness towards death, his faith in God and an afterlife. 'Crossing the bar' means leaving this world and entering the next world
<Ulysses> 尤利西斯 not endure the peaceful commonplace everyday life, old as he is, he persuades his old followers to go with him and to set sail again to pursue a new world and new knowledge, dramatic monologue, 'Myself not least, but honour'd of them all' means I am not the least important, but
honoured by all of them
Robert Browning - the most original poet, who improve and mature the dramatic
monologue（戏剧独白）
<The Ring and the Book> 指环与书 his masterpiece. Its symbolic meaning, the “ring ”– the goldsmith‟s（金匠的） technique of alloying gold（合金）in making rings. The “book” – the hard truth
READING:1. My Last Duchess 2. Meeting at Night 3. Parting at Morning
<My Last Duchess> 我逝去的公爵夫人this dramatic monologue is the duke's speech addressed to the agent who comes to negotiate the marriage, the duke is a self-conceited, cruel and tyrannical （残暴的）man
<Meeting at Night> 黑夜相会 the man, a lover, describes the whereabouts of their meeting place. <Parting at Morning> 晨别 here describe the sun-rise, the poet unconsciously expresses his helplessness in having to face up his duty as a man.
George Eliot: As a woman of exceptional （特有的）intelligence and life experience, she shows a particular concern for the destiny of women. She shows that the need of the individual for expansion and growth has to be brought into harmony with a sense of social responsibility.（人与社会的关系）
Naturalistic and psychological novel心理分析
READING: excerpt from Middlemarch
<Middlemarch>米德尔马契 a sharp contrast is set between the cold, lifeless, dull house and Dorothea who is full of youthful life and vigor
Dorothea Brooke (a beautiful, intelligent young lady) and Lydgate( a proud, ambitious young doctor), both fail in achieving their goals owing to the social environment as well as their own vulnerabilities.（易受伤）
Thomas Hardy - both a naturalistic and a critical realist writer
Local-colored, Wessex, 'novels of character and environment' :the fictional（虚构
的） primitive and crude rural region which is really the home place he both loves and hates.
<Tess of the D'Urbervilles> 德伯家的苔丝 experience is as to intensity, and not as to duration （持续）
Tess, as a pure woman brought up with the traditional idea of womanly virtues, is abused and destroyed by both Alec and Angel, agents of the destructive force of the society.
The Modern Period
ØThe writer concentrated on the private than on the public, more on the subjective than on theobjective. They are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual.
ØThe three trilogies（三部曲） of Galsworthy‟s Forsyte novels are masterpieces of critical realism in the early 20th century.
Ø“the Angry Young Men” with lower-middle-class or working class background. Kingsley Amis, John Wain, John Braine and Alan Sillitoe were the major novelists in this
group. Osborne, the first “Angry Young Man”
ØJames Joyce is the most outstanding stream-of-consciousness novelist; <Ulysses>
ØShaw, is considered to be the best-known English dramatist since Shakespeare.
ØYeats, the leader of the Irish National Theater Movement.
George Bernard shaw乔治·萧伯纳（英国剧作家）-dramatist (leading playwright)早期 <Widowers’ Houses> 鳏夫的房产 <Candida> 康蒂坦 <Mrs. Warren’s Profession>华伦夫人的职业
<Caesar and Cleopatra>凯撒和克莉奥佩特拉
中期<Man and Superman>人与超人
晚期<Back to Methuselah>回到麦修色拉<The Apple Cart>苹果车
Feature: 1.he makes the trick of showing up one character vividly at the expense
of another.
2. Shaw‟s characters are the representatives of ideas, points of view, that shift and alter, for he is interested in doctrines.
3．he inversion（倒装）, a device found in Shaw form beginning to end.
4.Action is reduced to a minimum, while the dialogue and the interplay of the minds maintain
the interest of the audience.
READING: excerpt from Mrs. Warren’s Profession about the economic oppression of women
John Galsworthy。