英国文学和美国文学(八级)

英国文学部分

西方文学发展的两大源头

两大源头:古希腊, 罗马的神话，中世纪的基督教

A General Survey of English Literary History:

1．O ld English literature (The Anglo – Saxon Period) 449 – 1066

2. Medieval Period (The Anglo – Norman Period) 1066 – 1350

3. The Renaissance Period 14th– mid 17th

4. The 17th(The Period of Revolution and Restoration)

5. The 18th(The Age of Enlightenment)

6. The Romantic Period （Age of poetry）1798 – 1832

7. The Victorian Period ( The Age of Critical Realism) 1836 – 1901

8. The 20th(The Modern Period)

一．古英语和中世纪时期：

Old and Medieval English Literature: 449 -- 1066

Germanic tribes: Angles, Saxons and Jutes

Old English Poetic tradition :

a. The pagan poetry (secular group)

b. The Christian poetry (religious group)

National epic poem –Beowulf

Middle English Literature:

1. Christian literature

2. Romance the popular literary forms in medieval period

Geoffrey Chaucer: “father of English poetry” “English Homer”

The Canterbury Tales

For the first time in English literature presented a comprehensive realistic picture。He employed the heroic couplet for the first time in the history of English literature.

3. the English ballads: Robin Hood ballads

二，文艺复兴时期

Purpose of Renaissance:

1.Get rid of old feudalist ideas ,introduce new ideas of the rising

bourgeoisie

2.Recover the purity of the church

Literature of Renaissance

Poetry Essay Elizabethan Drama ( the mainstream)

Religious Reformation:

Martin Luther: a German Protestant, initiated the Reformation

In full Swing: Henry VIII

The major results: Bible in English

services were held in English Authorized Version

Renaissance 文艺复兴It refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries. It is an intellectual movement. It sprang first in Italy and gradually spread all over Europe. English Renaissance was England’s Golden Age, especially in literature.

Humanism:H. is the essence of the R. and reflected the new outlook of the rising bourgeois class. It e mphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life.

Best humanists: Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare

William Caxton: The first person to introduce printing into England.

Wyatt: Introduce the Petrarchan sonnet into England

Surrey: Introduce blank verse into England，

Marlowe gave new vigor to the blank verse.

Poet: Edmund Spenser The Fgaerie Queene The Shepheardes Calender

Playwrights:

Christopher Marlowe (pioneer of English drama)

Dr. Faustus, the Passionate Shepherd to His Love

William Shakespeare (the summit of Renaissance) 38 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems

Essayist: Francis Bacon

The Dramatic Career of William Shakespeare:

The Third Period：Four Great Tragedies

(Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth)

Shakespeare’s Historical Plays

Principle: Nation unity under a mighty and just authority is a necessity.

The first and second parts of Henry IV are the most widely read.

Features of Shakespeare’s Drama:

A. Shakespeare is one of the founders of realism in world literature;

B. Shakespeare is a great master of the English language.

C. Shakespeare has been universally acknowledged to be the summit of the

English Renaissance and one of the greatest writers the world over.

What is a tragedy:

A play having a serious mood and ending in death or disaster for the protagonist.

A tragedy is usually about a hero who is good, even noble, but who has some flaw or

makes some mistake that brings about the final disaster.

Hamlet --- Considered the summit of Shakespeare’s art. Comes from an old Danish legend. Regarded as Shakespeare’s most popular play on the stage.

Soliloquy:

戏剧独白In drama, an extended speech delivered by a character alone onstage.