莎士比亚对英国文学影响

Term Paper for A History of English and

American Literature (A)

(June 2011)

I. Write a paper of about 600 words on any one of the following topics:

1. Shakespeare’s contributions to literature and the English language

2. The general features of English critical realism

3. The influence of Puritanism on American literature

II. Note your Microsoft Word document should meet the following requirements:

1. The typeface is Times New Roman.

2. The title uses font size 16 and bold type.

3. The body uses font size 12 and normal font weight.

4. The entire document is single-spaced.

It is the East, Shakespeare is the Sun

(June 2011)

Name _陆雨婷Class_091__ Number __32__ Mark ________ Almost all of us know “Hamlet” “Romeo and Juliet”, but know very little about Shakespeare. Actually he did a lot to the English literature and English language.

“The English literature is nothing without Shakespeare.”This is someone’s appraise to Shakespeare Maybe you think that this is too high to him, but actually, he worth it. Shakespeare is one of the most popular and respected writer in the history.

Through his life, William Shakespeare published two long narrative poems, 154 sonnets and 37 plays. What’s more, almost all of his works are still loved by people after so many years. Shakespeare is the represent of English Renaissance. The best features of that time such as the feeling of freedom in thought and action, the excesses of energy and so on, are all reflected perfectly in his works. Shakespeare deal with love, life and death and these universal themes get beautiful touch by him. He is really knowledgeable. Therefore, his characters have become memorable in the field of literature.

There are many popular sayings from Shakespeare’ works. Such as “A light heart lives long.” “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.” Among all of these, “To be or not to be” is the most famous soliloquy in the history of the theater. Is it worth to fight with evil or is it better to ignore evil, endure the pain and live on? This discusses the attitude of a Renaissance humanist toward life and death. Also, this reflects in a modern man who is caught in the same situation.

The characters of his works are all not that simple. You can’t say that guy is good or bad. They all have several contract characters. Such as Hamlet, he is a hero in that play, but we all impressed by his procrastination. Sometimes, we are hard to understand why the young man does not take the immediate action.

Shakespeare liked to use pun and the justapositation of the comic element alongside the serious. He respected the sense of certitude and justice. His works are full of wisdom and philoso phy. They touch the reader’s souls. He believes in the goodness of human nature and man’s potential for self-improvement. William Shakespeare is a monument in the history of English literature.

Not only has Shakespeare contributed to the English literature, but also the English language.

As the represent of the Early Modern English’s users. He contributed a lot to the English’s development.

Early Modern English was unfixed in structure and vocabulary in comparison to Greek and Latin. Due to wars, exploration and other reasons, when Shakespeare began writing his works, the English language was rapidly absorbing words from other languages. By the age of Elizabeth, English had become widely used. But still, many writers expressed new ideas by inventing, borrowing or adopting words from another language. As someone’s research showed that between the year 1500 and