英国文学笔记

Middle English

Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century.For three centuries after Norman conquest , two languages were were used side by side in England , Latin and French were the languages of the upper classes, used in official and formal conditions.however the inflectional system of old English was weakened and a large number of French words had been absorbed.and many inflectional forms of the words were dropped and formal grammar simplified.

Romance

Romance is a type of literature that was very popular in the Middle Ages.Romance , in the original sense of the word , means the native language,as opposed to Latin,and later it means a tale in verse, embodying the life and adventures of knights.

John wycliff

He was one of the first man who demand to reform the church in order to do away with the corruption and rottenness, he was the one who translate the bible into standard english. His translation for bible is a great contribution to english literature ,as well as english lanuage. For he fixed a national standard for englsih prose to replace various dialects. His work owned him the title of father of english prose.

William langland

He is the author of Piers Plowman 《农夫皮尔斯》or the vision of piers plowman.The story takes the form of an allegory, but it gives a realsitic picture of 14th century England, (an allegory is a story or description in which the characters and events symbolize some deeper underlying meaning,and serve to spread moral teaching)in his work , within the scope of allegorical characters, the lives of the religious people and the laymen are vividly portrayed.the corruption and the rottenness of the church people are truthfully exposed.

Chaucer （The Canterbury Tales）

Geoffrey Chaucer, the founder of English poetry, father of English literature.was born, about 1340, in London.

Chaucer's contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact that he introduced the "heroic couplet"into English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse.

Though drawing influences from French, Italian and Latin models, he is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language. His production of so much excellent poetry was an important factor in establishing English as the literary language of the country. The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the foundation for modern English speech.