新编英国文学选读(上)chapter6

CHAPTER SIX

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (1603——1688)

1.Historical background:

The Stuart: James first (1603— 1625)

His son Charles I (1625—1649)

Commonwealth led by Oliver Cromwell (1649——1660) Charles II, the son of Charles I (1660——1665) James II, the brother of Charles II (1665——1688)

1）Causes of revolution

Lack of ruling skills

Worsening relationship between the parliament and the monarch

Puritans’s dissatisfaction and fear of persecution

2）Processes of revolution

breaking out of the bourgeois revolution in 1642: rejection of the Grand Remonstrance

The nature of the Lord Protector

restoration of the monarch

The Glorious Revolution in 1688

3）Influences of revolution

(1). supremacy of Parliament

(2). beginning of modern England

(3). final triumph of the principle of political liberty

4)The literary scene of the time

a.Decline of the English Renaissance:

b.Decline of drama in early 17th century to the closing of

the theaters in London in 1642

c.A new literary movement gathering way:

a movement away from the ornamental (artificial) language,

elaborate metaphors toward plainer language

2.The King James Bible of 1611

·Testament: covenant between God and Hebrews

·The Old Testament: in Hebrew

·The New Testament: in Greek

·Contributions:

a. influenced the English prose by its “biblical

language”

b. granted ordinary people access to the bible. Thus it

greatly promoted the protestant movement.

*Genesis

·the first book of the Old Testament

·Central theme:

God creates the world and appoints man as his regent, but man proves disobedient and God destroys his world through the Flood. The new post-Flood world is equally corrupt, but God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At God's command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob.

Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and through the agency of his son Joseph, the children of Israel descend into Egypt, 70 people in all with their households, and God promises them a future of greatness. Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, successively narrowing in scope from all mankind (the covenant with Noah) to a special relationship with one people alone.

3.FRANCIS BACON (1561—1626)

1)Question: Why did he, as Shakespeare’s contemporary belong to the next period?

(1)Chief figure in English prose with his Essays