《英国文学简史》刘炳善中文版.doc
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记(免费)
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI. Introduction1. The historical background（1）Before the Germanic invasion（2）During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）– thane - middle class （freemen）- lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1）The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2）Literature: a. Poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II. Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1）the use of alliteration（2）the use of metaphors and understatements（3）the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsIII. The Old English Prose1. What is prose?2.figures（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval Ages I.Introduction 1. The Historical Background.（1）The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2）The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3）The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4）The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5）The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6）The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliffe.（7）The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancaster and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1）the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur. （3）Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4）The romance.（5）the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer. II. Sir Gawin and Green Knight.1. A general introduction.2. The plot.III. William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV. Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1）French period（2）Italian period（3）master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1）He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types.（2）He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language. （3）The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI. Thomas Malory and English ProseVII. The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions – figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance I.A Historical Background II. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents.1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe – Shakespeare –Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II. English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1）Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2）Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1）Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2）worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1）life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” –Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2）worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queen:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.L Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3）Spenserian Stanza.III. English Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2）Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday）tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3）the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1）life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor –bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature.（2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people: servants and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV. English Drama1. A general survey.（1）Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2）two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3）the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1）Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama.（2）Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3）The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1）1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2）Grammar School;（3）Queen visit to Castle;（4）marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5）London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor;（6）the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7）Retired, son—Hamlet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1）Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate （2）The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3）Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4）Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5）HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6）OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality.（7）King LearFilial ingratitude（8）MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9）Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10）The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1）Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.（2）Sonnets:a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI. Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” （Sons of Ben）2.contribution:（1）the idea of “humor”.（2）an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1）Everyone in His Humor—“humor”; three unities.（2）V olpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century I.A HistoricalBackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1）The metaphysical poets;（2）The Cavalier poets.（3）Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1）The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2）The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3）The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4）The restoration drama.（5）The Age of Dryden.III. John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1）The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he is to be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632）are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2）The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3）The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1）Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2）Paradise Regained.（3）Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1）Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2）Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3）Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4）Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.IV.John Bunyan1. Life:（1）puritan age;（2）poor family;（3）parliamentary army;（4）Baptist society, preacher;（5）prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1）The allegory in dream form.（2）the plot.（3）the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument.2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry,polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's.VI. John Dryden.1. Life:（1）the representative of classicism in the Restoration.（2）poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3）changeable in attitude.（4）Literary career—four decades.（5）Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1）He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2）He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3）He developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th CenturyI. Introduction1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1）The Enlightenment.（2）The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favor.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4）Satiric literature.（5）SentimentalismII. Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:a. Catholic family;b. ill health;c. taught himself by reading and translating;d. friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e. An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g. Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:h. the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i. satire.（4）weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1）Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper. （2）Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele, 1711）（3）Spectator Club.（4）The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” provide a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as aliterary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:a. studies at Oxford;b. made a living by writing and translating;c. the great cham of literature.（2）works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3）The champion of neoclassical ideas.III. Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.1. Life:（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV. English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale – fables – myths – epic – poetry – romances –fabliaux – novella - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela. picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spain and depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b. Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3）novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a. business career;b. writing career;c. interested in politics.（2）Robinson Crusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a. unsuccessful dramatic career;b. legal career; writing career.（2）works.（3）Tom Jones.a. the plot;b. characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c. significance.（4）the theory of realism.（5）the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a. printer book seller;b. letter writer.（2）Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a. the storyb. the significancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people. b）Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c）It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a. born in Ireland;b. a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c. bookseller;d. the Literary Club;e. a miserable life;f. the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a. story;b. the signicance.VI. English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays. Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic AgeI. Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1）The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2）The creation of a world of imagination（3）The return to nature for material（4）Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace （5）Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius（6）The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models （7）The interest in old stories and medieval romances（8）A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9）The rebellious spiritII. Pre-Romantics1. Robert Burns（1）Life: French Revolution（2）Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3）Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humor, pathos, the response to nature – all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1）life: French Revolution（2）works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3）featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4）his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial tothe 20th century than they were to the 19th.III. Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1）Life:a. love nature;b. Cambridge;c. tour to France;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;f. The Lake District;g. friend of Coleridge;h. conservative after revolution.（2）works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3）Features of his poems.a. ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.b. characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1）Life:a. Cambridge;b. friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c. taking opium.（2）works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3）Biographia Literaria.（4）His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV. Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1）Life:a. Cambridge, published poems and reviews;b. a tour of Europe and the East;c. left England;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in Greece: national hero;f. radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2）Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3）Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4）Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1）Life:a. aristocratic family;b. rebellious heart;c. Oxford;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g. left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h. radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i. Friend with Byron（2）works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer （3）Characteristics of poems.a. pursuit of a better society;b. radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4）Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.（1）Life:a. from a poor family;b. Cockney School;c. friend with Byron and Shelley;d. attacked by the conservatives and died in Italy.（2）works.（3）Characteristics of poemsa. loved beauty;b. seeking refuge in an idealistic world of illusions and dreams. V. Novelists of the Romantic Age.。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记免费
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI. Introduction1. The historical background（1） Before the Germanic invasion（2） During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）–thane - middle class （freemen） - lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1） The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2） Literature: a. Poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures. II. Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1） the use of alliteration（2） the use of metaphors and understatements（3） the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsIII. The Old English Prose1. What is prose?2.figures（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval AgesI.Introduction1. The Historical Background.（1） The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2） The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3） The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4） The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5） The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6） The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliffe.（7） The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancaster and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1） the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur.（3） Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4） The romance.（5） the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer.II. Sir Gawin and Green Knight.1. A general introduction.2. The plot.III. William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV. Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1） French period（2） Italian period（3） master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1） He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types.（2） He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language.（3） The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI. Thomas Malory and English ProseVII. The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions –figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as filler than as the main partof an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance I.A Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents. 1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser:? ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe –Shakespeare – Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II. English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1） Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2） Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1） Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2） worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building?of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning?of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1） life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” –Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2） worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queen:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues:? Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.L Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3） Spenserian Stanza.III. English Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2） Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday） tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3） the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1） life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor – bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature. （2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people: servants? and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader? to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV. English Drama1. A general survey.（1） Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2） two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3） the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1） Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama. （2） Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3） The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1） 1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2） Grammar School;（3） Queen visit to Castle;（4） marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5） London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor; （6） the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7） Retired, son—Hamlet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1） Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate（2） The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3） Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4） Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5） HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6） OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality.（7） King LearFilial ingratitude（8） MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9） Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10） The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1） Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.（2） Sonnets:a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a ladyin dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI. Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literaryking” （Sons of Ben）2.contribution:（1）the idea of “humor”.（2） an advocate of classical drama and? a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1） Everyone in His Humor—“humor”; three unities.（2） Volpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century I.A Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1） The metaphysical poets;（2） The Cavalier poets.（3） Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1） The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2）The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3）The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4） The restoration drama.（5） The Age of Dryden.III. John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1） The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he is to be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632） are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2） The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he begana long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting. （3） The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1） Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2） Paradise Regained.（3） Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1） Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2） Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and firstused blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3） Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4） Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.IV.John Bunyan1. Life:（1） puritan age;（2） poor family;（3） parliamentary army;（4） Baptist society, preacher;（5） prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1） The allegory in dream form.（2） the plot.（3） the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured inpoetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument.2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's. VI. John Dryden.1. Life:（1） the representative of classicism in the Restoration.（2） poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3） changeable in attitude.（4） Literary career—four decades.（5） Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1） He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2） He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3） He developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th CenturyI. Introduction1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1） The Enlightenment.（2） The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favor.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4） Satiric literature.（5） SentimentalismII. Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:a. Catholic family;b. ill health;c. taught himself by reading and translating;d. friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e. An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g. Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:h. the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i. satire.（4） weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1）Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper.（2） Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele, 1711）（3） Spectator Club.（4） The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” provide a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor. （1）Life:a. studies at Oxford;b. made a living by writing and translating;c. the great cham of literature.（2） works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3） The champion of neoclassical ideas.III. Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.1. Life:（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV. English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale – fables – myths – epic – poetry –romances –fabliaux –novella - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela. picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spain and depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b. Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3） novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a. business career;b. writing career;c. interested in politics.（2） Robinson Crusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a. unsuccessful dramatic career;b. legal career; writing career.（2） works.（3） Tom Jones.a. the plot;b. characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c. significance.（4） the theory of realism.（5） the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a. printer book seller;b. letter writer.（2） Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a. the storyb. the significancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people.b） Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c） It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a. born in Ireland;b. a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c. bookseller;d. the Literary Club;e. a miserable life;f.?the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a. story;b. the signicance.VI. English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices ofthe day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays. Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic AgeI. Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1） The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2） The creation of a world of imagination（3） The return to nature for material（4） Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace （5） Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius（6） The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models （7） The interest in old stories and medieval romances（8） A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9） The rebellious spiritII. Pre-Romantics1. Robert Burns（1） Life: French Revolution（2） Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3） Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humor, pathos, the response to nature – all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1） life: French Revolution（2） works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3） featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4） his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial to the 20th century than they were to the 19th.III. Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1） Life:a. love nature;b. Cambridge;c. tour to France;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;f.?The Lake District;g. friend of Coleridge;h. conservative after revolution.（2） works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3） Features of his poems.a. ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit throughthe natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.b. characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1） Life:a. Cambridge;b. friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c. taking opium.（2） works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3） Biographia Literaria.（4） His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV. Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1） Life:a. Cambridge, published poems and reviews;b. a tour of Europe and the East;c. left England;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in Greece: national hero;f.?radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2） Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3） Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4） Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1） Life:a. aristocratic family;b. rebellious heart;c. Oxford;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f.?marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g. left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h. radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i.?Friend with Byron（2） works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer（3） Characteristics of poems.a. pursuit of a better society;b. radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4） Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.（1） Life:a. from a poor family;b. Cockney School;c. friend with Byron and Shelley;d. attacked by the conservatives and died in Italy.（2） works.（3） Characteristics of poemsa. loved beauty;b. seeking refuge in an idealistic world of illusions and dreams. V. Novelists of the Romantic Age.1. Water Scott. Novelist and poet（1） Life:a. Scotland;b. university of Edindurgh;c. poem to novel;d. unsuccessful publishing firm;e. great contribution: historical novel.。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记免费)
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI.Introduction1. The historical background（1） Before the Germanic invasion（2） During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）–thane - middle class （freemen） - lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1） The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2） Literature: a. poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II.Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1） the use of alliteration（2） the use of metaphors and understatements（3） the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsIII.The Old English Prose1.What is prose?2.figures（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval AgesI.Introduction1. The Historical Background.（1） The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2） The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3） The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4） The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5） The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6） The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliff.（7） The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancasters and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1） the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur.（3） Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4） The romance.（5） the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer.II.Sir Gawin and Green Knight.1. a general introduction.2. the plot.III.William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV.Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1） French period（2） Italian period（3） master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1） He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types. （2） He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language.（3） The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI.Thomas Malory and English ProseVII.The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and themarketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions –figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as a filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance I.A Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity andreformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents. 1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe –Shakespeare – Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II.English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1） Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2） Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1） Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2） worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1） life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” –Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2） worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queene:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.l Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3） Spenserian Stanza.III.English Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2） Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday） tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3） the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1） life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor – bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature. （2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people:servants and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental. （3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV.English Drama1. A general survey.（1） Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2） two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3） the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1） Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama. （2） Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3） The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1） 1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2） Grammar School;（3） Queen visit to Castle;（4） marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5） London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor; （6） the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7） Retired, son—Hamnet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1） Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate（2） The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3） Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4） Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5） HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6） OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality. （7） King LearFilial ingratitude（8） MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9） Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10） The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1） Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.（2） Sonnets:a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI.Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” （Sons of Ben）2.contribution:（1）the idea of “humour”.（2）an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1） Everyone in His Humour—“humour”; three unities.（2） Volpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century I.A Historical BackgroundII.The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1） The metaphysical poets;（2） The Cavalier poets.（3） Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1） The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2） The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3） The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4） The restoration drama.（5） The Age of Dryden.III.John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1） The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he is to be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632） are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2） The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3） The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we findhumanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1） Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2） Paradise Regained.（3） Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1） Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2）Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works. （3） Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4） Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.IV.John Bunyan1. life:（1） puritan age;（2） poor family;（3） parliamentary army;（4） Baptist society, preacher;（5） prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1） The allegory in dream form.（2） the plot.（3） the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument.2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's.VI.John Dryden.1. Life:（1） the representative of classicism in the Restoration. （2） poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist. （3） changeable in attitude.（4） Literary career—four decades.（5） Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1） He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2） He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3） He developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th Century I.Introduction1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1） The Enlightenment.（2） The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favour.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4） Satiric literature.（5） SentimentalismII.Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:a.Catholic family;b.ill health;c.taught himself by reading and translating;d.friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e.An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g.Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:h.the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i.satire.（4） weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1） Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper.（2） Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele,（3） Spectator Club.（4） The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” provide a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:a.studies at Oxford;b.made a living by writing and translating;c.the great cham of literature.（2） works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3） The champion of neoclassical ideas.III.Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV.English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale –fables –myths –epic –poetry –romances –fabliaux –novelle - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela.picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spainand depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b.Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3） novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a.business career;b.writing career;c.interested in politics.（2） Robinson Cusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a.unsuccessful dramatic career;b.legal career; writing career.（2） works.（3） Tom Jones.a.the plot;b.characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c.significance.（4） the theory of realism.（5） the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a.printer book seller;b.letter writer.（2） Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a.the storyb.the significancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people.b） Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c） It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a.born in Ireland;b.a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c.bookseller;d.the Literary Club;e.a miserable life;f. the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a.story;b.the signicance.VI.English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare andthose of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays.Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic Age I.Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1） The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2） The creation of a world of imagination（3） The return to nature for material（4）Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace（5） Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius （6） The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models（7） The interest in old stories and medieval romances （8） A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9） The rebellious spiritII.Pre-Romantics1. Robert Burns（1） Life: French Revolution（2） Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3） Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival wasembodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humour, pathos, the response to nature – all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1） life: French Revolution（2） works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3） featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4） his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial to the 20th century than they were to the 19th.III.Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1） Life:a.love nature;b.Cambridge;c.tour to France;d.French revolution;e.Dorathy;f. The Lake District;g.friend of Coleridge;h.conservative after revolution.（2） works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3） Features of his poems.a.ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.b.characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simplepeasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1） Life:a.Cambridge;b.friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c.taking opium.（2） works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3） Biographia Literaria.（4） His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV.Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1） Life:a.Cambridge, published poems and reviews;b.a tour of Europe and the East;c.left England;d.friend with Shelley;e.worked in Greece: national hero;f. radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2） Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3） Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4） Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1） Life:a.aristocratic family;b.rebellious heart;c.Oxford;d.Irish national liberation Movement;e.disciple of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g.left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h.radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i. Friend with Byron（2） works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer （3） Characteristics of poems.a.pursuit of a better society;b.radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4） Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.（1） Life:a.from a poor family;b.Cockney School;c.friend with Byron and Shelley;d.attacked by the conservatives and died in Italy.（2） works.（3） Characteristics of poemsa.loved beauty;b.seeking refuge in an idealistic world of illusions and dreams.。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记(免费)
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI. Introduction1. The historical background（1）Before the Germanic invasion（2）During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）– thane - middle class （freemen）- lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1）The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2）Literature: a. Poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II. Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1）the use of alliteration（2）the use of metaphors and understatements（3）the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsIII. The Old English Prose1. What is prose?2.figures（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval Ages I.Introduction 1. The Historical Background.（1）The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2）The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3）The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4）The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5）The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6）The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliffe.（7）The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancaster and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1）the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur. （3）Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4）The romance.（5）the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer. II. Sir Gawin and Green Knight.1. A general introduction.2. The plot.III. William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV. Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1）French period（2）Italian period（3）master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1）He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types.（2）He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language. （3）The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI. Thomas Malory and English ProseVII. The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions – figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance I.A Historical Background II. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents.1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe – Shakespeare –Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II. English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1）Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2）Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1）Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2）worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1）life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” –Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2）worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queen:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.L Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3）Spenserian Stanza.III. English Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2）Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday）tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3）the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1）life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor –bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature.（2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people: servants and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV. English Drama1. A general survey.（1）Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2）two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3）the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1）Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama.（2）Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3）The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1）1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2）Grammar School;（3）Queen visit to Castle;（4）marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5）London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor;（6）the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7）Retired, son—Hamlet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1）Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate （2）The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3）Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4）Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5）HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6）OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality.（7）King LearFilial ingratitude（8）MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9）Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10）The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1）Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.（2）Sonnets:a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI. Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” （Sons of Ben）2.contribution:（1）the idea of “humor”.（2）an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1）Everyone in His Humor—“humor”; three unities.（2）V olpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century I.A HistoricalBackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1）The metaphysical poets;（2）The Cavalier poets.（3）Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1）The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2）The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3）The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4）The restoration drama.（5）The Age of Dryden.III. John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1）The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he is to be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632）are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2）The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3）The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1）Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2）Paradise Regained.（3）Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1）Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2）Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3）Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4）Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.IV.John Bunyan1. Life:（1）puritan age;（2）poor family;（3）parliamentary army;（4）Baptist society, preacher;（5）prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1）The allegory in dream form.（2）the plot.（3）the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument.2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry,polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's.VI. John Dryden.1. Life:（1）the representative of classicism in the Restoration.（2）poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3）changeable in attitude.（4）Literary career—four decades.（5）Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1）He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2）He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3）He developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th CenturyI. Introduction1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1）The Enlightenment.（2）The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favor.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4）Satiric literature.（5）SentimentalismII. Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:a. Catholic family;b. ill health;c. taught himself by reading and translating;d. friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e. An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g. Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:h. the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i. satire.（4）weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1）Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper. （2）Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele, 1711）（3）Spectator Club.（4）The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” provide a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as aliterary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:a. studies at Oxford;b. made a living by writing and translating;c. the great cham of literature.（2）works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3）The champion of neoclassical ideas.III. Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.1. Life:（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV. English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale – fables – myths – epic – poetry – romances –fabliaux – novella - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela. picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spain and depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b. Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3）novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a. business career;b. writing career;.c. interested in politics.（2）Robinson Crusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a. unsuccessful dramatic career;b. legal career; writing career.（2）works.（3）Tom Jones.a. the plot;b. characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c. significance.（4）the theory of realism.（5）the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a. printer book seller;b. letter writer.（2）Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a. the storyb. the significancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people. b）Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c）It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a. born in Ireland;b. a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c. bookseller;d. the Literary Club;e. a miserable life;f. the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a. story;b. the signicance.VI. English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays. Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic AgeI. Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1）The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2）The creation of a world of imagination（3）The return to nature for material（4）Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace （5）Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius（6）The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models （7）The interest in old stories and medieval romances（8）A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9）The rebellious spiritII. Pre-Romantics1. Robert Burns（1）Life: French Revolution（2）Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3）Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humor, pathos, the response to nature – all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1）life: French Revolution（2）works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3）featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4）his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial tothe 20th century than they were to the 19th.III. Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1）Life:a. love nature;b. Cambridge;c. tour to France;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;f. The Lake District;g. friend of Coleridge;h. conservative after revolution.（2）works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3）Features of his poems.a. ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.b. characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1）Life:a. Cambridge;b. friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c. taking opium.（2）works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3）Biographia Literaria.（4）His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV. Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1）Life:a. Cambridge, published poems and reviews;b. a tour of Europe and the East;c. left England;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in Greece: national hero;f. radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2）Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3）Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4）Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1）Life:a. aristocratic family;b. rebellious heart;c. Oxford;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g. left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h. radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i. Friend with Byron（2）works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer （3）Characteristics of poems.a. pursuit of a better society;b. radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4）Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.（1）Life:a. from a poor family;b. Cockney School;c. friend with Byron and Shelley;d. attacked by the conservatives and died in Italy.（2）works.（3）Characteristics of poemsa. loved beauty;b. seeking refuge in an idealistic world of illusions and dreams. V. Novelists of the Romantic Age.。
《英国文学简史》刘炳善中文版
《英国文学简史》刘炳善中文版《英国文学简史》刘炳善中文版2010-09-09 21:00第一部分:早期和中世纪英国文学第一章:英国的组成1、大不列颠人(英国人)在开始学习英国文学史之前，了解一下英国这个民族是很必要的。
英国这个民族是一个混血族。
早期居住在这个岛上的居民是凯尔特人的一个部落，我们现在称它为大不列颠人。
大不列颠人把这个岛屿命名为大不列颠岛，凯尔特人是其原始居民。
他们分为几十个小部落，每个部落都以小屋群居为主。
"最古老的凯尔特人法律今天归结起来显示出氏族任然充满着生命力"。
英国人曾生活在部落社会。
2、罗马人的占领在公元前55年，大不列颠岛被罗马征服者凯撒入侵，而这是的凯撒刚刚占领了高卢。
但是罗马人刚登上大不列颠岛海岸时，就遭到了在首领领导下的大不列颠人的狮子般疯狂的反击，随着罗马将领来来往往的这个世纪，直到公元78年英国从被于罗马帝国完全征服过。
伴随着罗马人的侵略占领，罗马式的生活方式也开始融入英国。
罗马式剧院和澡堂很快的在城镇中兴起。
而这些高雅的文明只不过是罗马侵略者的娱乐享受方式罢了，大不列颠人民却像奴隶一样被压迫着。
罗马人的占领持续了将近400年，在这期间，罗马人因其军事目的在岛上修建了后来被称之为罗马路的纵横交错的公路，这些公路在后期发展中起到了很大的作用。
沿着这些公路开始建立起大量的城镇，伦敦就是其中之一，开始成为重要的贸易中心城市。
罗马的占领也带来了基督教文化。
但是在15世纪初期，罗马帝国处于逐渐的衰落阶段。
公元410年，所有罗马军队撤回欧洲大陆再也没有返回。
因此，也标志这罗马人占领的结束。
3、英国人的占领同时，大不列颠也被成群的海盗给侵略着。
他们是来自北欧的三个部落:盎格鲁人，撒克逊人和朱特人民族。
这三个部落在大不列颠海岸登路，把大不列颠人民赶到西部和北部，然后自己定居下来。
朱特人占领了岛屿东南部的肯特。
撒克逊人占领了岛屿南部地区，并建立起像韦塞克斯，埃塞克斯和东萨塞克斯这样的小王国。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记(免费)
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI. Introduction1. The historical background（1）Before the Germanic invasion（2）During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.；d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）–thane - middle class （freemen）- lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1）The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2）Literature: a. Poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II. Beowulf.；1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1）the use of alliteration（2）the use of metaphors and understatements （3）the mixture of pagan and Christian elements III. The Old English Prose1. What is prose（1）The Venerable Bede'（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval Ages 1. The Historical Background.（1）The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2）The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3）The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;;（4）The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5）The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6）The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;!b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliffe.（7）The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）|b. The War of Roses between Lancaster and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1）the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur.（3）Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4）The romance.（5）the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer. II. Sir Gawin and Green Knight.`1. A general introduction.2. The plot.III. William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV. Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1）French period（2）Italian period》（3）master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1）He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types.（2）He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language.（3）The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.$VI. Thomas Malory and English ProseVII. The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions – figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）￥Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, andsensible attitude of its classically educated adherents.1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Drama#a. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe – Shakespeare –Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II. English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1）Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2）Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.：2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1）Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2）worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning of literary criticism.,3. Edmund Spenser（1）life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” – Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2）worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queen:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.,L Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3）Spenserian Stanza.III. English Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2）Utopia: the first English science fiction.$Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday）tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3）the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.<b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1）life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris –knighted - Lord Chancellor –bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature.（2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people: servants and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV. English Drama1. A general survey.（1）Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.~（2）two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3）the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1）Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama.（2）Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.)（3）The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1）1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2）Grammar School;（3）Queen visit to Castle;（4）marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5）London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor;（6）the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7）Retired, son—Hamlet; H. 1616.—2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1）Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate（2）The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3）Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4）Julius Caesar|Republicanism vs. dictatorship.（5）HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6）OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality.（7）King LearFilial ingratitude$（8）MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9）Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10）The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1）Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.（2）Sonnets:a. theme: fair, true, kind.<b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI. Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” （Sons of Ben）:（1）the idea of “humor”.（2）an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1）Everyone in His Humor—“humor”; three unities.；（2）Volpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century Historical Background II. The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1）The metaphysical poets;（2）The Cavalier poets.（3）Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1）The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2）The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.！（3）The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4）The restoration drama.（5）The Age of Dryden.III. John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1）The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he is to be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632）are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoralelegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2）The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3）The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works；（1）Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2）Paradise Regained.（3）Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1）Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2）Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3）Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.;（4）Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.Bunyan1. Life:（1）puritan age;（2）poor family;（3）parliamentary army;（4）Baptist society, preacher;（5）prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1）The allegory in dream form.|（2）the plot.（3）the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument.2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's.VI. John Dryden.1. Life:（1）the representative of classicism in the Restoration.·（2）poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3）changeable in attitude.（4）Literary career—four decades.（5）Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1）He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2）He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3）He developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th CenturyI. Introduction~1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1）The Enlightenment.（2）The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As theMiddle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favor.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4）Satiric literature.（5）SentimentalismII. Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope￥（1）Life:a. Catholic family;b. ill health;c. taught himself by reading and translating;d. friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e. An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g. Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:|h. the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i. satire.（4）weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1）Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper.（2）Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele, 1711）（3）Spectator Club.（4）The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” provide a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.《c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:a. studies at Oxford;b. made a living by writing and translating;c. the great cham of literature.（2）works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3）The champion of neoclassical ideas.III. Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.1. Life:·（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.（Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV. English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale – fables – myths – epic – poetry – romances –fabliaux – novella - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela. picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spain and depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b. Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3）novel and drama （17the century）~2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a. business career;b. writing career;c. interested in politics.（2）Robinson Crusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language."3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a. unsuccessful dramatic career;b. legal career; writing career.（2）works.（3）Tom Jones.a. the plot;b. characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c. significance.（4）the theory of realism.\（5）the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a. printer book seller;b. letter writer.（2）Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a. the storyb. the significance、Pamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people.b）Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c）It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a. born in Ireland;b. a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c. bookseller;d. the Literary Club;、e. a miserable life;f. the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a. story;b. the signicance.VI. English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.&C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues andneat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays. Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic AgeI. Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:;（1）The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2）The creation of a world of imagination（3）The return to nature for material（4）Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace （5）Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius（6）The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models （7）The interest in old stories and medieval romances（8） A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9）The rebellious spiritII. Pre-Romantics@1. Robert Burns（1）Life: French Revolution（2）Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3）Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humor, pathos, the response to nature –all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake；（1）life: French Revolution（2）works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3）featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4）his influence)Blake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial to the 20th century than they were to the 19th.III. Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1）Life:a. love nature;b. Cambridge;c. tour to France;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;]f. The Lake District;g. friend of Coleridge;h. conservative after revolution.（2）works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3）Features of his poems.a. ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.$b. characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1）Life:a. Cambridge;b. friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c. taking opium.（2）works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Mariner·l Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3）Biographia Literaria.（4）His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language.In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV. Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1）Life:a. Cambridge, published poems and reviews;，b. a tour of Europe and the East;c. left England;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in Greece: national hero;f. radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2）Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3）Byronic Hero.^Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4）Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1）Life:a. aristocratic family;b. rebellious heart;c. Oxford;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;,g. left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h. radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i. Friend with Byron（2）works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer （3）Characteristics of poems.a. pursuit of a better society;b. radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4）Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.{（1）Life:a. from a poor family;。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记(免费)
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI. Introduction1. The historical background（1） Before the Germanic invasion（2） During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）–thane - middle class （freemen） - lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1） The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2） Literature: a. Poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II. Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1） the use of alliteration（2） the use of metaphors and understatements（3） the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsIII. The Old English Prose1. What is prose?2.figures（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval AgesI.Introduction1. The Historical Background.（1） The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2） The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3） The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4） The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5） The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6） The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliffe.（7） The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancaster and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1） the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur.（3） Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4） The romance.（5） the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer.II. Sir Gawin and Green Knight.1. A general introduction.2. The plot.III. William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV. Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1） French period（2） Italian period（3） master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1） He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types. （2） He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language.（3） The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI. Thomas Malory and English ProseVII. The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and themarketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions – figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance I.A Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity andreformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents. 1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe –Shakespeare – Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II. English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1） Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2） Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1） Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2） worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux —platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness —building of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1） life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus”– Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2） worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queen:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.L Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3） Spenserian Stanza.III. English Prose1. Thomas More（1） Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2） Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday） tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3） the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1） life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor – bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature. （2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people: servants and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV. English Drama1. A general survey.（1） Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2） two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3） the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1） Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama. （2） Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3） The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1） 1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2） Grammar School;（3） Queen visit to Castle;（4） marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5） London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor; （6） the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7） Retired, son—Hamlet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1） Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate（2） The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3） Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4） Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5） HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6） OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality. （7） King LearFilial ingratitude（8） MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9） Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10） The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1） Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.（2） Sonnets:a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI. Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king”（Sons of Ben）2.contribution:（1） the idea of “humor”.（2）an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1） Everyone in His Humor—“humor”; three unities.（2） Volpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century I.A Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1） The metaphysical poets;（2） The Cavalier poets.（3） Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1） The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2） The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3） The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4） The restoration drama.（5） The Age of Dryden.III. John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1） The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he isto be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632） are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2） The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3） The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1） Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2） Paradise Regained.（3） Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1） Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2）Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works. （3） Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4） Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.IV.John Bunyan1. Life:（1） puritan age;（2） poor family;（3） parliamentary army;（4） Baptist society, preacher;（5） prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1） The allegory in dream form.（2） the plot.（3） the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument. 2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's. VI. John Dryden.1. Life:（1） the representative of classicism in the Restoration. （2） poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3） changeable in attitude.（4） Literary career—four decades.（5） Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1） He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2） He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3） He developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th CenturyI. Introduction1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1） The Enlightenment.（2） The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favor.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4） Satiric literature.（5） SentimentalismII. Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:a. Catholic family;b. ill health;c. taught himself by reading and translating;d. friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e. An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g. Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:h. the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i. satire.（4） weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1） Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper.（2） Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator”（with Steele, 1711）（3） Spectator Club.（4） The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” providea new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:a. studies at Oxford;b. made a living by writing and translating;c. the great cham of literature.（2） works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3） The champion of neoclassical ideas.III. Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.1. Life:（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV. English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale – fables – myths – epic –poetry –romances –fabliaux –novella - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela. picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spain and depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b. Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3） novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a. business career;b. writing career;c. interested in politics.（2） Robinson Crusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a. unsuccessful dramatic career;b. legal career; writing career.（2） works.（3） Tom Jones.a. the plot;b. characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c. significance.（4） the theory of realism.（5） the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a. printer book seller;b. letter writer.（2） Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a. the storyb. the significancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous”accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people.b） Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c） It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a. born in Ireland;b. a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c. bookseller;d. the Literary Club;e. a miserable life;f. the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a. story;b. the signicance.VI. English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly atthe social vices of the day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays.Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic AgeI. Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1） The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2） The creation of a world of imagination（3） The return to nature for material（4）Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace（5） Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius （6） The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literarymodels（7） The interest in old stories and medieval romances （8） A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9） The rebellious spiritII. Pre-Romantics1. Robert Burns（1） Life: French Revolution（2） Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3） Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humor, pathos, the response to nature – all the poetic qualities that touch thehuman heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1） life: French Revolution（2） works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3） featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4） his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial to the 20th century than they were to the 19th.III. Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1） Life:a. love nature;b. Cambridge;c. tour to France;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;f. The Lake District;g. friend of Coleridge;h. conservative after revolution.（2） works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3） Features of his poems.a. ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.b. characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1） Life:a. Cambridge;b. friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c. taking opium.（2） works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3） Biographia Literaria.（4） His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV. Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1） Life:a. Cambridge, published poems and reviews;b. a tour of Europe and the East;c. left England;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in Greece: national hero;f. radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2） Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3） Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4） Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1） Life:a. aristocratic family;b. rebellious heart;c. Oxford;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g. left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h. radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i. Friend with Byron（2） works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer （3） Characteristics of poems.a. pursuit of a better society;b. radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4） Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.（1） Life:a. from a poor family;b. Cockney School;c. friend with Byron and Shelley;d. attacked by the conservatives and died in Italy.（2） works.（3） Characteristics of poemsa. loved beauty;b. seeking refuge in an idealistic world of illusions and dreams.V. Novelists of the Romantic Age.1. Water Scott. Novelist and poet。
英国文学简史汉语版
《英国文学简史》由以下八个部分66章组成，从早期、中世纪英国文学一直到二十世纪英国文学。
Part 1:Early And Medieval English LiteraturePart 2: The English RenaissancePart 3: The Period Of The English Bourgeois RevolutionPart 4:The Eighteenth CenturyPart 5: Romanticism In EnglandPart 6: English Critical RealismPart 7: Prose-Writers And Poets Of The Mid And Late 19th Century一、中世纪文学（约5世纪—1485）二、文艺复兴时期文学三、17世纪文学四、启蒙时期文学五、浪漫主义时期文学六、现实主义时期文学七、现代主义文学时期一、中世纪文学（约5世纪—1485）英国最初的文学同其他国家最初的文学一样，不是书面的，而是口头的。
故事与传说口头流传，并在讲述中不断得到加工、扩展，最后才有写本。
公元5世纪中叶，盎格鲁、撒克逊、朱特三个日耳曼部落开始从丹麦以及现在的荷兰一带地区迁入不列颠。
盎格鲁—撒克逊时代给我们留下的古英语文学作品中，最重要的一部是《贝奥武甫》（Beowulf），它被认为是英国的民族史诗。
《贝奥武甫》讲述主人公贝尔武甫斩妖除魔、与火龙搏斗的故事，具有神话传奇色彩。
这部作品取材于日耳曼民间传说，随盎格鲁-撒克逊人入侵传入今天的英国，现在我们所看到的诗是8世纪初由英格兰诗人写定的，当时，不列颠正处于从中世纪异教社会向以基督教文化为主导的新型社会过渡的时期。
因此，《贝奥武甫》也反映了7、8世纪不列颠的生活风貌，呈现出新旧生活方式的混合，兼有氏族时期的英雄主义和封建时期的理想，体现了非基督教日耳曼文化和基督教文化两种不同的传统。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记免费
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI. Introduction1. The historical background（1） Before the Germanic invasion（2） During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）–thane - middle class （freemen） - lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1） The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2） Literature: a. Poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II. Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1） the use of alliteration（2） the use of metaphors and understatements（3） the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsIII. The Old English Prose1. What is prose?2.figures（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval AgesI.Introduction1. The Historical Background.（1） The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2） The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3） The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4） The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5） The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6） The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliffe.（7） The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancaster and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1） the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur.（3） Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4） The romance.（5） the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer.II. Sir Gawin and Green Knight.1. A general introduction.2. The plot.III. William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV. Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1） French period（2） Italian period（3） master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1） He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types. （2） He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language.（3） The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI. Thomas Malory and English ProseVII. The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and themarketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions –figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance I.A Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents. 1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser:? ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe –Shakespeare – Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II. English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1） Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2） Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1） Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2） worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building?of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning?of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1） life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” –Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2） worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queen:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues:? Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.L Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3） Spenserian Stanza.III. English Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2） Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday） tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3） the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handlingscientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1） life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor – bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature. （2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people: servants? and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader? to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV. English Drama1. A general survey.（1） Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2） two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3） the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1） Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama. （2） Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3） The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1） 1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2） Grammar School;（3） Queen visit to Castle;（4） marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5） London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor; （6） the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7） Retired, son—Hamlet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1） Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate（2） The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3） Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4） Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5） HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6） OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality. （7） King LearFilial ingratitude（8） MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9） Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10） The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1） Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.（2） Sonnets:a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI. Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” （Sons of Ben）2.contribution:（1）the idea of “humor”.（2） an advocate of classical drama and? a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1） Everyone in His Humor—“humor”; three unities.（2） Volpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century I.A Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1） The metaphysical poets;（2） The Cavalier poets.（3）Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction 2. The restoration period.（1）The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2）The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662） were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3） The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4） The restoration drama.（5） The Age of Dryden.III. John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1） The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he is to beseen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632）are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2） The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3） The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1） Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2） Paradise Regained.（3） Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1） Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism. （2） Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3） Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4） Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.IV.John Bunyan1. Life:（1） puritan age;（2） poor family;（3） parliamentary army;（4） Baptist society, preacher;（5） prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1） The allegory in dream form.（2） the plot.（3） the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument.2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets.They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's.VI. John Dryden.1. Life:（1） the representative of classicism in the Restoration.（2） poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3） changeable in attitude.（4） Literary career—four decades.（5） Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1） He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2） He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3） He developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th CenturyI. Introduction1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1） The Enlightenment.（2） The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favor.（3） Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4） Satiric literature.（5） SentimentalismII. Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:a. Catholic family;b. ill health;c. taught himself by reading and translating;d. friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e. An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g. Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:h. the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i. satire.（4） weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1） Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper.（2） Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele, 1711）（3） Spectator Club.（4） The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” providea new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor. （1）Life:a. studies at Oxford;b. made a living by writing and translating;c. the great cham of literature.（2） works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3） The champion of neoclassical ideas.III. Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.1. Life:（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV. English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale – fables – myths – epic – poetry – romances – fabliaux – novella - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela. picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spain and depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b. Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3） novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a. business career;b. writing career;c. interested in politics.（2） Robinson Crusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a. unsuccessful dramatic career;b. legal career; writing career.（2） works.（3） Tom Jones.a. the plot;b. characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c. significance.（4） the theory of realism.（5） the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a. printer book seller;b. letter writer.（2） Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a. the storyb. the significancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people.b） Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c） It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a. born in Ireland;b. a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c. bookseller;d. the Literary Club;e. a miserable life;f.?the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a. story;b. the signicance.VI. English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inbornknowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays.Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic AgeI. Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1） The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2） The creation of a world of imagination（3） The return to nature for material（4） Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace （5） Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius（6） The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models （7） The interest in old stories and medieval romances（8） A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9） The rebellious spiritII. Pre-Romantics1. Robert Burns（1） Life: French Revolution（2） Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny. （3） Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humor, pathos, the response to nature – all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day –the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1） life: French Revolution（2） works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3） featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4） his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial to the 20th century than they were to the 19th.III. Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1） Life:a. love nature;b. Cambridge;c. tour to France;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;f.?The Lake District;g. friend of Coleridge;h. conservative after revolution.（2） works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3） Features of his poems.a. ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.b. characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1） Life:a. Cambridge;b. friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c. taking opium.（2） works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3） Biographia Literaria.（4） His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV. Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1） Life:a. Cambridge, published poems and reviews;b. a tour of Europe and the East;c. left England;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in Greece: national hero;f.?radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2） Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3） Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers. （4） Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1） Life:a. aristocratic family;b. rebellious heart;c. Oxford;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f.?marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g. left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h. radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i.?Friend with Byron（2） works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer（3） Characteristics of poems.a. pursuit of a better society;b. radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4） Defense of Poetry.。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记(免费)
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI. Introduction1. The historical background（1） Before the Germanic invasion（2） During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）–thane - middle class （freemen） - lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1） The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2） Literature: a. Poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II. Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1） the use of alliteration（2） the use of metaphors and understatements（3） the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsIII. The Old English Prose1. What is prose（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval Ages 1. The Historical Background.（1） The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2） The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3） The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4） The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5） The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6） The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliffe.（7） The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancaster and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1） the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur.（3） Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4） The romance.（5） the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer.II. Sir Gawin and Green Knight.1. A general introduction.2. The plot.III. William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV. Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1） French period（2） Italian period（3） master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1） He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types.（2） He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language.（3） The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI. Thomas Malory and English ProseVII. The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions –figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents.1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe –Shakespeare – Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II. English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1） Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2） Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1） Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2） worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1） life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” –Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2） worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry inRenaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queen:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.L Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3） Spenserian Stanza.III. English Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2） Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday） tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3） the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: hecomposed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1） life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor – bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature.（2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people: servants and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV. English Drama1. A general survey.（1） Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2） two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3） the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare andmost gifted of the Wits.（1） Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama.（2） Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3） The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1） 1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2） Grammar School;（3） Queen visit to Castle;（4） marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5） London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor;（6） the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7） Retired, son—Hamlet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1） Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate（2） The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.National unity.Falstaff.（4） Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5） HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6） OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality.（7） King LearFilial ingratitude（8） MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9） Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10） The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1） Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI. Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” （Sons of Ben）:（1）the idea of “humor”.（2）an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1） Everyone in His Humor—“humor”; three unities.（2） Volpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1） The metaphysical poets;（2） The Cavalier poets.（3） Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1） The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2） The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3） The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4） The restoration drama.（5） The Age of Dryden.III. John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1） The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he isto be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632） are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2） The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3） The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1） Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2） Paradise Regained.（3） Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1） Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2）Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3） Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4） Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.Bunyan1. Life:（1） puritan age;（2） poor family;（3） parliamentary army;（4） Baptist society, preacher;（5） prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1） The allegory in dream form.（2） the plot.（3） the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument. 2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's.VI. John Dryden.1. Life:（1） the representative of classicism in the Restoration.（2） poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3） changeable in attitude.（4） Literary career—four decades.（5） Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1） He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2） He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3） He developed the art of literary criticism in his essaysand in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th CenturyI. Introduction1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1） The Enlightenment.（2） The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favor.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4） Satiric literature.（5） SentimentalismII. Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:a. Catholic family;b. ill health;c. taught himself by reading and translating;d. friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e. An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g. Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:h. the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i. satire.（4） weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1） Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper.（2） Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele,（3） Spectator Club.（4） The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” provide a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:a. studies at Oxford;b. made a living by writing and translating;c. the great cham of literature.（2） works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3） The champion of neoclassical ideas.III. Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV. English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale –fables –myths –epic –poetry –romances –fabliaux –novella - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela. picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spainand depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b. Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3） novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a. business career;b. writing career;c. interested in politics.（2） Robinson Crusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a. unsuccessful dramatic career;b. legal career; writing career.（2） works.（3） Tom Jones.a. the plot;b. characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c. significance.（4） the theory of realism.（5） the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a. printer book seller;b. letter writer.（2） Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a. the storyb. the significancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people.b） Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c） It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a. born in Ireland;b. a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c. bookseller;d. the Literary Club;e. a miserable life;f. the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a. story;b. the signicance.VI. English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare andthose of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays.Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic AgeI. Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1） The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2） The creation of a world of imagination（3） The return to nature for material（4）Sympathy with the humble and glorification of thecommonplace（5） Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius （6） The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models（7） The interest in old stories and medieval romances （8） A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9） The rebellious spiritII. Pre-Romantics1. Robert Burns（1） Life: French Revolution（2） Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3） Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature.They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humor, pathos, the response to nature – all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1） life: French Revolution（2） works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3） featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4） his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial to the 20th century than they were to the 19th.III. Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1） Life:a. love nature;b. Cambridge;c. tour to France;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;f. The Lake District;g. friend of Coleridge;h. conservative after revolution.（2） works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3） Features of his poems.a. ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.b. characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1） Life:a. Cambridge;b. friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c. taking opium.（2） works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3） Biographia Literaria.（4） His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV. Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1） Life:a. Cambridge, published poems and reviews;b. a tour of Europe and the East;c. left England;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in Greece: national hero;f. radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2） Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3） Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4） Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1） Life:a. aristocratic family;b. rebellious heart;c. Oxford;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g. left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h. radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i. Friend with Byron（2） works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer （3） Characteristics of poems.a. pursuit of a better society;b. radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4） Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.（1） Life:a. from a poor family;b. Cockney School;c. friend with Byron and Shelley;d. attacked by the conservatives and died in Italy.（2） works.（3） Characteristics of poemsa. loved beauty;b. seeking refuge in an idealistic world of illusions and。
《英国文学演进史》刘炳善中文版
《英国文学演进史》刘炳善中文版.doc 《英国文学演进史》刘炳善中文版简介《英国文学演进史》是刘炳善所著的一本关于英国文学发展历程的书籍。
本文档将对该书进行简要介绍。
内容概述《英国文学演进史》涵盖了英国文学的演进历程，从中世纪晚期一直延伸至现代。
该书以时间线为基础，按照不同的历史时期，介绍了各个时期的文学发展特点和代表作品。
结构该书分为多个章节，每个章节都以一个特定的历史时期为中心展开叙述。
以下是该书主要章节的简要概述：1.中世纪晚期：介绍了英国文学在中世纪晚期的发展状况，包括骑士文学和宗教文学等。
2.文艺复兴时期：探讨了文艺复兴对英国文学的影响，介绍了莎士比亚等重要作家及其作品。
3.18世纪启蒙运动：介绍了启蒙运动对英国文学的推动作用，包括强调理性和科学的作品。
4.浪漫主义时期：探讨了浪漫主义时期对英国文学的影响，包括布莱克和拜伦等作家的作品。
5.维多利亚时代：介绍了维多利亚时代英国文学的特点，包括狄更斯和勃朗特姐妹等作家的作品。
6.现代主义时期：探讨了现代主义对英国文学的影响，包括乔伊斯和伍尔夫等作家的作品。
重要作品《英国文学演进史》中介绍了一系列重要的文学作品，这些作品代表了各个历史时期的文学成就。
以下是其中的一些例子：- 中世纪晚期：《坎特伯雷故事集》- 文艺复兴时期：莎士比亚的《哈姆雷特》- 18世纪启蒙运动：斯威夫特的《格列佛游记》- 浪漫主义时期：拜伦的《唐璜》- 维多利亚时代：狄更斯的《雾都孤儿》- 现代主义时期：乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》总结《英国文学演进史》为读者提供了一份系统的英国文学发展历史，涵盖了多个重要历史时期和作家的作品。
这本书可以帮助读者更好地了解英国文学的演进过程和文学作品的变迁。
英国文学简史刘炳善著（1-3单元）
英国文学简史刘炳善著（1-3单元）Part oneConquests & InfluencesA. Early period:1.The Roman conquest:(1)The Roman civilization 文明；文化(2)Christianity (基督教)(3)Flouring (兴旺) of towns along military roads2. The English conquest:(1)Three tribes English old English (the Angles, Saxons and Jutes)(2)Tribal society-feudalism (社会封建制度)B. Medieval period:1.The Danish conquest2.The Norman conquest(1)The French-Speaking Normans under Duke William came in 1066(2)Establishment of feudalism (封建制度)(3)French words came to EnglishAnglo-Saxon Poetry (499-1066)1.Anglo-Saxons: the ancestors of today’s Englishmen2.The beginning of history of English literature3.Features: alliteration (头韵) & rhymes metaphors (押韵的比喻) and understatements (轻描淡写)4.The only great work: BeowulfBeowulf1.A national epic (史诗般的作品) of the English people.2.Pagan (异教徒的) poetry & No representative figure (没有代表性人物)3.A folk legend brought to England by Anglo-Saxon from Northern Europe.4.Praises man’s energy, intellect and love of life; and exposes the social vices. (社会的黑暗面)Features of Beowulf1.Alliteration2.Metaphors (隐喻)3.Understatements (保守的陈述)The significance of Beowulf1.This glorious (辉煌的) epic presents us a vivid picture of the life of Anglo-Saxon people and highly praises the brave and courageous spirit of the fighting against the vices.2.The epic reflects the situations the pagan tribalism (部落文化) and of the era (时代) of the Christianized (基督教化) feudal society.3.The epic gives the vivid portrayal (写照) of a great national hero, strong and courageous peopleand his kinfolk. (亲属)Feudal England1.The chief features of the society was division into two classes: Landlords and peasants.2.The peasants’ rising shook the feudal system in England to the root.The Romance1.The code of manners and morals of a knight is known as chivalry (骑士精神).2.The English versions of romances were translated from French or Latin.3.The romance of King Arthur is the most important for the history of English literature.4.The romance’s culmination (顶点) in (metrical romance)5.The romance’s summing up in Thomas Malory’s (in English prose散文)6.(i. E. the Death of King Arthur ) is a collection of stories about King Arthur, translated from French by Sir Thomas Malory.Langlandwritten by William Langland shows the existence of English popular literature.The English BalladsBallad: a story told in song, usually in four-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed.The various ballads of Robin Hood are gathered into a collection called: The Geste of Robin HoodChaucer一.Chaucer’s Literary CareerThe three periods of Chaucer’s career1.Works translated from French, as2.Works adapted from the Italian, as3. which is purely English二.The Canterbury Tales’ Social Significance(参考)1.A true-to-life picture of Chaucer’s time2.Taking the stand of the rising bourgeoisie, Chaucer affirms men’s rights to pursue their earthly happiness and opposes the dogma of asceticism preached by the church3.As a foreru nner of humanism, he praises man’s energy, intellect and love of life4.Attack social evils of his time三.The Wife of Bath四.Chaucer’s LanguageChaucer’s language, now called Middle English, is vivid andexact. He is a master ofworld-pictures. His verse (诗) is among the smoothest in English. There are pages where, in spite of trifling (微不足道的) differences in spelling and grammar, hardly a single word will offer difficulties to a man of tolerable (可容忍的) reading in modern English.五.Chaucer’s Contribution1.He introduced heroic couplet to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse.2.He was the first great poet who wrote in English language (Middle English) , thus establishing English as the literary language.3.He did much in making the London dialect the foundation for modern English language.名词解释1.AlliterationAlliteration is regular repetition of the same sounds---usu. Initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables----in Old and Middle English verse:’ Kindest to kinsmen and keenest for fame’in Beowulf Alliteration is also known as ‘initial rhyme’ or ‘head rhyme’.2.EpicA long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.3.Ballada story told in song, usually in four-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed.4.Heroic CoupletA traditional form for English poetry: it reflects to rhymed iambic pentameter lines in pairs. Use of the heroic couplet wasfirst pioneered by Geoffrey Chaucer in the Canterbury T ales.-Part twoOld English in Transition (过渡；转变)一.The Reformation (文化精神领域改革) （详细见书P27）二.The English BibleThen appeared the Authorized Version, which was made in 1611 under the auspices of James Ⅰand so was sometimes called the King James Bible.The result is a monument (不朽的作品) of English language and English literature.名词解释：1.Help-mate2.Peacemaker3.Tender mercy4.Loving flesh5.Root of all evil三.The Enclosure Movement (圈地运动)四.The Renaissance (文艺复兴) and Humanism （人道主义）A.Renaissance1.The Renaissance: an intellectual movement sprang first in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe.2.People had a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature.3.People showed the keen interest in the activities of humanity.4.People ceased to look upon themselves as living only for God and a future world.5.Humanism is the essence（本质）of the Renaissance.6.The Renaissance, therefore, is a history period in which the Europe humanist thinkers and scholars tried to get rid of thoseold feudalistic ideas in Medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman catholic church.B.Humanism1.Humanism emphasized the dignity and potential of the individual and the worth of life in this world.2.Man is the measure of all things.3.Man has ability to perfect themselves, to develop the individual.4.Man should enjoy the present life.MoreThomas More was born in a middle-class family. His father was a prominent (杰出的) lawyer, and later a judge.Utopia is More’s masterpiece, written in the form of a conversation between More and Hythloday, a returned voyager (航海者).The name ‘Utopia’ comes from two Greek words meaning ‘no place’ and was adopted by More as the name of his ideal commonwealth.The Flowering of English Literature1.Sir Philip SidneySir Philip Sidney is well-known as a poet and critic of poetry.His collection of love sonnets (十四行诗), Astrophel and Stella, was published in 1591, after his death.2.Edmund Spenser--’The Fairy Queen’The faerie Queeene is a long poem planned in twelve books, of which he finished only six.It is an allegorical work dedicated to Queen Elizabeth Ⅰ.Largely symbolic, the poem follows several knights in theiradventures to test their virtues: Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, Courtesy.Dominating thoughts: nationalism, humanism, and puritanism.Spenser’s position in English literatureSpenser has held his position as a model of poetical art among the Renaissance English poets, and his influence can be traced in the works of Milton, Shelley and Keats.3.Francis BaconBacon was the founder of modern science in England. It began with a survey of the accomplishments of science up to his time and an examination of the reasons why it has not achieve more.The English version of his part forms his Advancement of Learning.Then followed his New Instrument.Bacon is also famous for his Essays.Drama1.The Miracle Play2.The Morality PlayA morality presented the conflict of good and evil with allegorical personages, such as Mercy, Peace, Hate, Folly and so on.3.The InterludeThen there arouse a new kind of drama called ‘Interlude’, a short performance slipped into a play to enliven the audience after a solemn scene.4.The playwrightsThere was a group of so-called ‘university wits’ (Lyly, Peele, Marlowe, Greene, Lodge and Nash) wrote for the stage of thetime.MarloweThe most gifted of the ‘university wits’ was Christopher Marlowe.Marlowe was the son of a shoemaker in Canterbury.Marlowe’s best includes three of hi s plays, Tamburlaine (对权利的贪婪), The Jew of Malta (对钱的贪婪), and Doctor Faustus (对知识的贪婪)Marlowe’s Literary AchievementIt is Marlowe who first made blank verse (rhymeless iambic pentameter) the principal instrument of English drama. His blank verse is a living thing; it is vigorous, fluid and precise.His work paved the way for the plays of the greatest English dramatist Shakespeare---whose achievement were the monument of the English Renaissance.Shakespeare四大悲剧/喜剧悲剧：《Hamlet》《Othello》《King Lear》《Macbeth》喜剧：《A Midsummer Night’s Dream 》《As You Like It》《Twelfth Night》《The Merchant Of Venice》Shakespeare lived in an age when the old feudal social and economic order was being destroyed and a new capitalist society was being born and when London took a leading part in that destruction and that new birth.In 1593 and 1594, Shakespeare published his two narrative poem Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His Sonnets were printed in 1609.Scholars have had to work out the chronological (按时间顺序的) order of his plays, based on three kinds of evidence:A.External evidenceB.Internal evidenceC.Stylistic evidencePeriods of Shakespeare’s Dramatic CompositionⅠ.The period of his apprenticeship in play-writingⅡ.Mature period,mainly a period of ‘great comedies’ and mature historical playsⅢ.The period of ‘great tragedies’ and ‘dark comedies’Ⅳ,The period of romantic drama.。
英国文学简史（中文版）.doc
英国文学简史（刘炳善）第一章中世纪文学第一节古英语文学一从“不列颠”到“英格兰”与欧洲大陆隔海相望的不列颠岛上，很早就居住着克尔特人。
他们当中的布里顿族，在大约公元前５世纪进入不列颠，“不列颠”一词便来源于克尔特人的“布里顿”一词，意为“布里顿人的国度”。
克尔特人的口头文学历史悠久、丰富多彩，内容有多神教的神话故事和英雄传说，其中亚瑟王的故事不断流传、扩展，成为英国和西方文学的创作素材的一大源泉。
公元前５５年开始，罗马人由侵略到逐渐征服了不列颠，把不列颠划为罗马帝国的一个省，并带入了罗马文明。
他们的许多军事要塞发展成为今天的重要城市，他们修建的大道有的到十八世纪还是交通要道。
在古英语文学中保存下来的一首短诗《废墟》中，一位生活在七世纪的诗人凭吊被撒克逊人摧毁的罗马人的城镇，寻觅当时当地大厅浴堂的盛况而不可得。
罗马的势力维持到５世纪初期。
北欧的日耳曼人的骚扰不列颠的同时也大举入侵罗马帝国，罗马人不得不从４０１年起撤回本土，专心御敌，９年后罗马帝国皇帝宣布放弃对不列颠的主权。
罗马人在统治不列颠的３５０年中，对不列颠的语言文学没有产生很大的影响。
五世纪中期，日耳曼人中的盎格鲁、撒克逊、朱特等部落从欧陆渡海来到不列颠。
他们遭到了当地居民猛烈的反抗，大约１５０年后才征服不列颠南部、中部的大部分地区。
一些土著克尔特人沦为奴隶，又有一些克尔特人被驱赶到北部、西部的山区、威尔士、苏格兰，甚至渡海到爱尔兰、布列塔尼半岛。
盎格鲁人把不列颠称为“盎格兰”，这便是“英格兰”一词的由来。
克尔特的不列颠被盎格鲁—撒克逊的英格兰所替代。
盎格鲁—撒克逊人在征服和国家形成过程中，氏族制度逐渐解体，封建制度逐渐形成，多神教也逐渐为基督教所代替。
盎格鲁—撒克逊语便是古英语，英国文学史就是从五世纪盎格鲁—撒克逊族的征服开始的。
二来自北欧祖先的史诗：《贝奥武甫》如同许多民族，盎格鲁—撒克逊人的诗歌来源于人民的口头集体创作，反映了远占部落人们的生产劳动、对自然与社会现象的幻想性解释。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon Period1. The historical background（1） Before the Germanic invasion（2） During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）–thane - middle class （freemen） - lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1） The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2） Literature: a. poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures..1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1） the use of alliteration（2） the use of metaphors and understatements（3） the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsOld English Proseis prose（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval Ages 1. The Historical Background.（1） The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2） The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3） The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4） The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5） The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6） The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliff.（7） The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancasters and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1） the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur.（3） Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4） The romance.（5） the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer.Gawin and Green Knight.1. a general introduction.2. the plot.Langland.1. Life2. Piers the Plowman1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1） French period（2） Italian period（3） master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1） He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types.（2） He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language.（3） The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.Malory and English Prosebeginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions –figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as a filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents.1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe –Shakespeare – Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1） Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2） Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1） Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2） worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1） life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” –Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2） worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry inRenaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queene:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.l Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3） Spenserian Stanza.Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2） Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday） tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3） the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: hecomposed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1） life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor – bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature.（2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people:servants and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. （arguments）Drama1. A general survey.（1） Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2） two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3） the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare andmost gifted of the Wits.（1） Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama.（2） Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3） The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1） 1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2） Grammar School;（3） Queen visit to Castle;（4） marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5） London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor;（6） the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7） Retired, son—Hamnet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1） Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate（2） The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.National unity.Falstaff.（4） Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5） HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6） OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality.（7） King LearFilial ingratitude（8） MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9） Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10） The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1） Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” （Sons of Ben）:（1） t he idea of “humour”.（2）an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1） Everyone in His Humour—“humour”; three unities.（2） Volpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century Historical BackgroundOverview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1） The metaphysical poets;（2） The Cavalier poets.（3） Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1） The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2） The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3） The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4） The restoration drama.（5） The Age of Dryden.Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1） The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he isto be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632） are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2） The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3） The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1） Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2） Paradise Regained.（3） Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1） Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2）Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3） Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4） Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.Bunyan1. life:（1） puritan age;（2） poor family;（3） parliamentary army;（4） Baptist society, preacher;（5） prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1） The allegory in dream form.（2） the plot.（3） the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument. 2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's.Dryden.1. Life:（1） the representative of classicism in the Restoration.（2） poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3） changeable in attitude.（4） Literary career—four decades.（5） Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1） He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2） He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3） He developed the art of literary criticism in his essaysand in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th Century1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1） The Enlightenment.（2） The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favour.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4） Satiric literature.（5） Sentimentalism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:family;health;himself by reading and translating;of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;of two epics.（3）His contribution:heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;.（4） weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1） Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper.（2） Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele, 1711）（3） Spectator Club.（4） The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” provide a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:at Oxford;a living by writing and translating;great cham of literature.（2） works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3） The champion of neoclassical ideas.of Satire: Jonathan Swift.:（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale –fables –myths –epic –poetry –romances –fabliaux –novelle - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novelnovel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spain and depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often withsatiric or humorous effects.: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3） novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:career;career;in politics.（2） Robinson Cusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:dramatic career;career; writing career.（2） works.（3） Tom Jones.plot;: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;.（4） the theory of realism.（5） the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:book seller;writer.（2） Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.storysignificancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people.b） Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c） It described not only the sayings and doings of charactersbut their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:in Ireland;singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;;Literary Club;miserable life;f. the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.;signicance.Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays.Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic Age1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1） The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2） The creation of a world of imagination（3） The return to nature for material（4）Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace（5） Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius（6） The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models（7） The interest in old stories and medieval romances （8） A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9） The rebellious spirit1. Robert Burns（1） Life: French Revolution（2） Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3） Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humour, pathos, theresponse to nature – all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1） life: French Revolution（2） works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3） featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4） his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial to the 20th century than they were to the 19th.Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman ofRomantic poetry（1） Life:nature;;to France;revolution;;f. The Lake District;of Coleridge;after revolution.（2） works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3） Features of his poems.A constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1） Life:;with Southey and Wordsworth;opium.（2） works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3） Biographia Literaria.（4） His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1） Life:, published poems and reviews;tour of Europe and the East;England;with Shelley;in Greece: national hero;f. radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2） Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3） Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4） Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1） Life:family;heart;;national liberation Movement;of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;and sympathetic with the French revolution;i. Friend with Byron（2） works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer （3） Characteristics of poems.of a better society;beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4） Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.（1） Life:a poor family;School;with Byron and Shelley;by the conservatives and died in Italy.（2） works.（3） Characteristics of poemsbeauty;refuge in an idealistic world of illusions and dreams. V. Novelists of the Romantic Age.1. Water Scott. Novelist and poet（1） Life:;of Edindurgh;to novel;publishing firm;contribution: historical novel.（2） three groups of novels（3） Features of his novels.（4） his influence.2. Jane Austen（1） Life:clergyman;life, domestic duties;（2） works.（3） features of her writings.Austen's novels are britened by their witty conversation and omnipresent humour. Her stories are skillfully woven together; her plots never leave the path of realism, and have always been sensible. Her language shines with an exquisite touch of lively gracefulness, elegant and refined, but never showy. She herself compared her work to a fine engraving made up on a little piece of ivory only two inches square. The comparison is true. The。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记(免费)
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI.Introduction1. The historical background（1）Before the Germanic invasion（2）During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）– thane - middle class （freemen）- lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1）The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2）Literature: a. poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II.Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1）the use of alliteration（2）the use of metaphors and understatements（3）the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsIII.The Old English Prose1.What is prose2.figures（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval Ages I.Introduction 1. The Historical Background.（1）The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2）The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3）The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4）The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5）The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6）The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliff.（7）The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancasters and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1）the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur. （3）Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4）The romance.（5）the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer. II.Sir Gawin and Green Knight.1. a general introduction.2. the plot.III.William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV.Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1）French period（2）Italian period（3）master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1）He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types.（2）He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language. （3）The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI.Thomas Malory and English ProseVII.The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions – figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as a filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance I.A Historical Background II. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents.1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser:? ornate, florid, highly figured style.The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity.The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe – Shakespeare –Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II.English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1）Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2）Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1）Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2）worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building? of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning? of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1）life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” –Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2）worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queene:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues:? Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.l Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3）Spenserian Stanza.III.English Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2）Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday）tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3）the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1）life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor –bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature.（2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people:servants? and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader? to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV.English Drama1. A general survey.（1）Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2）two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3）the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1）Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama.（2）Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3）The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1）1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2）Grammar School;（3）Queen visit to Castle;（4）marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5）London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor;（6）the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7）Retired, son—Hamnet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1）Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate （2）The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3）Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4）Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5）HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6）OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality.（7）King LearFilial ingratitude（8）MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9）Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10）The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1）Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.（2）Sonnets:a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI.Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” （Sons of Ben）2.contribution:（1）the idea of “humour”.（2）an advocate of classical drama and? a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1）Everyone in His Humour—“humour”; three unities.（2）V olpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century I.A HistoricalBackgroundII.The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1）The metaphysical poets;（2）The Cavalier poets.（3）Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1）The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2）The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3）The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4）The restoration drama.（5）The Age of Dryden.III.John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1）The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he is to be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632）are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2）The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3）The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1）Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2）Paradise Regained.（3）Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1）Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an important prose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2）Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3）Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4）Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.IV.John Bunyan1. life:（1）puritan age;（2）poor family;（3）parliamentary army;（4）Baptist society, preacher;（5）prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1）The allegory in dream form.（2）the plot.（3）the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument.2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry,polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's.VI.John Dryden.1. Life:（1）the representative of classicism in the Restoration.（2）poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3）changeable in attitude.（4）Literary career—four decades.（5）Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1）He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2）He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3）He developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th Century I.Introduction1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1）The Enlightenment.（2）The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or general conversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favour.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4）Satiric literature.（5）SentimentalismII.Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:a.Catholic family;b.ill health;c.taught himself by reading and translating;d.friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e.An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g.Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:h.the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i.satire.（4）weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1）Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper. （2）Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele, 1711）（3）Spectator Club.（4）The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” provide a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling,they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:a.studies at Oxford;b.made a living by writing and translating;c.the great cham of literature.（2）works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3）The champion of neoclassical ideas.III.Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.1.Life:（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV.English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale – fables – myths – epic – poetry – romances –fabliaux – novelle - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela.picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spain and depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b.Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3）novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a.business career;b.writing career;c.interested in politics.（2）Robinson Cusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a.unsuccessful dramatic career;b.legal career; writing career.（2）works.（3）Tom Jones.a.the plot;b.characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c.significance.（4）the theory of realism.（5）the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a.printer book seller;b.letter writer.（2）Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a.the storyb.the significancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people. b）Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c）It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a.born in Ireland;b.a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c.bookseller;d.the Literary Club;e.a miserable life;f.? the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a.story;b.the signicance.VI.English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day.c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays. Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic Age I.Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1）The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2）The creation of a world of imagination（3）The return to nature for material（4）Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace （5）Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius（6）The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models （7）The interest in old stories and medieval romances（8）A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9）The rebellious spiritII.Pre-Romantics1. Robert Burns（1）Life: French Revolution（2）Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3）Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humour, pathos, the response to nature –all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1）life: French Revolution（2）works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3）featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4）his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial to the 20th century than they were to the 19th.III.Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1）Life:a.love nature;b.Cambridge;c.tour to France;d.French revolution;e.Dorathy;f.? The Lake District;g.friend of Coleridge;h.conservative after revolution.（2）works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3）Features of his poems.a.ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.b.characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simplepeasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1）Life:a.Cambridge;b.friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c.taking opium.（2）works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3）Biographia Literaria.（4）His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV.Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1）Life:a.Cambridge, published poems and reviews;b.a tour of Europe and the East;c.left England;d.friend with Shelley;e.worked in Greece: national hero;f.? radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2）Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3）Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. People imagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4）Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1）Life:a.aristocratic family;b.rebellious heart;c.Oxford;d.Irish national liberation Movement;e.disciple of William Godwin;f.? marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g.left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h.radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i.? Friend with Byron（2）works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer （3）Characteristics of poems.a.pursuit of a better society;b.radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4）Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.（1）Life:a.from a poor family;b.Cockney School;c.friend with Byron and Shelley;d.attacked by the conservatives and died in Italy.（2）works.（3）Characteristics of poemsa.loved beauty;b.seeking refuge in an idealistic world of illusions and dreams. V. Novelists of the Romantic Age.1. Water Scott. Novelist and poet（1）Life:。
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记免费
英国文学简史完全版A Concise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 English Literature of Anglo-Saxon PeriodI. Introduction1. The historical background（1）Before the Germanic invasion（2）During the Germanic invasiona. immigration;b. Christianity;c. heptarchy.d. social classes structure: hide-hundred; eoldermen （lord）– thane - middle class （freemen）- lower class （slave or bondmen: theow）;e. social organization: clan or tribes.f. military Organization;g. Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h. economy: coins, trade, slavery;i. feasts and festival: Halloween, Easter; j. legal system.2. The Overview of the culture（1）The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.（2）Literature: a. Poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.II. Beowulf.1. A general introduction.2. The content.3. The literary features.（1）the use of alliteration（2）the use of metaphors and understatements（3）the mixture of pagan and Christian elementsIII. The Old English Prose1. What is prose?2.figures（1）The Venerable Bede（2）Alfred the GreatChapter 2 English Literature of the Late Medieval Ages I.Introduction 1. The Historical Background.（1）The year 1066: Norman Conquest.（2）The social situations soon after the conquest.A. Norman nobles and serfs;B. restoration of the church.（3）The 11th century.A. the crusade and knights.B. dominance of French and Latin;（4）The 12th century.A. the centralized government;B. kings and the church （Henry II and Thomas）;（5）The 13th century.A. The legend of Robin Hood;B. Magna Carta （1215）;C. the beginning of the ParliamentD. English and Latin: official languages （the end）（6）The 14th century.a. the House of Lords and the House of Commons—conflict between the Parliament and Kings;b. the rise of towns.c. the change of Church.d. the role of women.e. the Hundred Years' War—starting.f. the development of the trade: London.g. the Black Death.h. the Peasants' Revolt—1381.i. The translation of Bible by Wycliffe.（7）The 15th century.a. The Peasants Revolt （1453）b. The War of Roses between Lancaster and Yorks.c. the printing-press—William Caxton.d. the starting of Tudor Monarchy（1485）2. The Overview of Literature.（1）the stories from the Celtic lands of Wales and Brittany—great myths of the Middle Ages.（2）Geoffrye of Monmouth—Historia Regum Britanniae—King Authur. （3）Wace—Le Roman de Brut.（4）The romance.（5）the second half of the 14th century: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer. II. Sir Gawin and Green Knight.1. A general introduction.2. The plot.III. William Langland.1. Life2. Piers the PlowmanIV. Chaucer1. Life2. Literary Career: three periods（1）French period（2）Italian period（3）master period3. The Canterbury TalesA. The Framework;B. The General Prologue;C. The Tale Proper.4. His Contribution.（1）He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types.（2）He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language. （3）The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.V. Popular Ballads.VI. Thomas Malory and English ProseVII. The beginning of English Drama.1. Miracle Plays.Miracle play or mystery play is a form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching its height in the 15th century. The simple lyric character of the early texts was enlarged by the addition of dialogue and dramatic action. Eventually the performance was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace.2. Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or lesson by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions –figures representing vices and virtues, qualities of the human mind, or abstract conceptions in general.3. Interlude.The interlude, which grew out of the morality, was intended, as its name implies, to be used more as filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple in plot, suited for the diversion of guests at a banquet, or for the relaxation of the audience between the divisions of a serious play. It was essentially an indoors performance, and generally of an aristocratic nature. Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissance I.A Historical BackgroundII. The Overview of the Literature （1485-1660）Printing press—readership—growth of middle class—trade-education for laypeople-centralization of power-intellectual life-exploration-new impetus and direction of literature.Humanism-study of the literature of classical antiquity and reformed education. Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sensible attitude of its classically educated adherents.1. poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spenser: ornate, florid, highly figured style. The second tendency by Donne: metaphysical style—complexity and ingenuity. The third tendency by Johnson: reaction——Classically pure and restrained style.The fourth tendency by Milton: central Christian and Biblical tradition.2. Dramaa. the native tradition and classical examples.b. the drama stands highest in popular estimation: Marlowe – Shakespeare –Jonson.3. Prosea. translation of Bible;b. More;c. Bacon.II. English poetry.1. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard （courtly makers）（1）Wyatt: introducing sonnets.（2）Howard: introducing sonnets and writing the first blank verse.2. Sir Philip Sidney—poet, critic, prose writer（1）Life:a. English gentleman;b. brilliant and fascinating personality;c. courtier.（2）worksa. Arcadia: pastoral romance;b. Astrophel and Stella （108）: sonnet sequence to Penelope Dvereux—platonic devotion.Petrarchan conceits and original feelings-moving to creativeness—building of a narrative story; theme-love originality-act of writing.c. Defense of Poesy: an apology for imaginative literature—beginning of literary criticism.3. Edmund Spenser（1）life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” –Ireland - Westminster Abbey.（2）worksa. The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry in Renaissance.b. Amoretti and Epithalamion: sonnet sequencec. Faerie Queen:l The general end——A romantic and allegorical epic—steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holiness, temperance, justice and courtesy.l Two-level function: part of the story and part of allegory （symbolic meaning）l Many allusions to classical writers.L Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissance Neoclassicism—a Christian humanist.（3）Spenserian Stanza.III. English Prose1. Thomas More（1）Life: “Renaissance man”, scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa. learned Greek at Canterbury College, Oxford;b. studies law at Lincoln Inn;c. Lord Chancellor;d. beheaded.（2）Utopia: the first English science fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of nowhere.A philosophical mariner （Raphael Hythloday）tells his voyages in which he discovers a land-Utopia.a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.c. the nature of the book: attacking the chief political and social evils of his time.d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.f. the Utopia（3）the significance.a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman（1）life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor –bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature.（2）philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people: servants and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.（3）“Essays”: 57.a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader to make the final decisions. （arguments）IV. English Drama1. A general survey.（1）Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.（2）two influences.a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;b. native or popular drama.（3）the University Wits.2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.（1）Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama.（2）Major worksa. Tamburlaine;b. The Jew of Malta;c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.（3）The significance of his plays.V. William Shakespeare1. Life（1）1564, Stratford-on-Avon;（2）Grammar School;（3）Queen visit to Castle;（4）marriage to Anne Hathaway;（5）London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor; （6）the 1st Folio, Quarto;（7）Retired, son—Hamlet; H. 1616.2. Dramatic career3. Major plays-men-centered.（1）Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate（2）The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil.Anti-Semitism.（3）Henry IV.National unity.Falstaff.（4）Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship.（5）HamletRevengeGood/evil.（6）OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap between appearance and reality.（7）King LearFilial ingratitude（8）MacbethAmbition vs. fate.（9）Antony and Cleopatra.Passion vs. reason（10）The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3. Non-dramatic poetry（1）Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.（2）Sonnets:a. theme: fair, true, kind.b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in darkcomplexion.c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.VI. Ben Jonson1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” （Sons of Ben）2.contribution:（1）the idea of “humor”.（2）an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism in English literature.3. Major plays（1）Everyone in His Humor—“humor”; three unities.（2）Volpone the FoxChapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century I.A Historical Background II. The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688）1. The revolution period（1）The metaphysical poets;（2）The Cavalier poets.（3）Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2. The restoration period.（1）The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized byreason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）（2）The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662）were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.（3）The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism.（4）The restoration drama.（5）The Age of Dryden.III. John Milton1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the revolution—persecuted—writing epics.2. Literary career.（1）The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he is to be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632）are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.（2）The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was insuch complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting.（3）The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.3. Major Works（1）Paradise Losta. the plot.b. characters.c. theme: justify the ways of God to man.（2）Paradise Regained.（3）Samson Agonistes.4. Features of Milton's works.（1）Milton is one of the very few truly great English writers who is also a prominent figure in politics, and who is both a great poet and an importantprose writer. The two most essential things to be remembered about him are his Puritanism and his republicanism.（2）Milton wrote many different types of poetry. He is especially a great master of blank verse. He learned much from Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3）Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style noted for its dignity and polish, which is the result of his life-long classical and biblical study.（4）Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.IV.John Bunyan1. Life:（1）puritan age;（2）poor family;（3）parliamentary army;（4）Baptist society, preacher;（5）prison, writing the book.2. The Pilgrim Progress（1）The allegory in dream form.（2）the plot.（3）the theme.V. Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets.1. Metaphysical PoetsThe term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to designate the works of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. Pressured by the harsh, uncomfortable and curious age, the metaphysical poets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies, new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured in poetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expression and the single-minded working out of a theme or argument.2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. They were often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and called themselves “sons” of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most of their verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterized by lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity of the Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter and neater but less fresh than the Elizabethan's.VI. John Dryden.1. Life:（1）the representative of classicism in the Restoration.（2）poet, dramatist, critic, prose writer, satirist.（3）changeable in attitude.（4）Literary career—four decades.（5）Poet Laureate2. His influences.（1）He established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry.（2）He developed a direct and concise prose style.（3）He developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th CenturyI. Introduction1. The Historical Background.2. The literary overview.（1）The Enlightenment.（2）The rise of English novels.When the literary historian seeks to assign to each age its favourite form of literature, he finds no difficulty in dealing with our own time. As the Middle Ages delighted in long romantic narrative poems, the Elizabethans in drama, the Englishman of the reigns of Anne and the early Georges in didactic and satirical verse, so the public of our day is enamored of the novel. Almost all types of literary production continue to appear, but whether we judge from the lists of publishers, the statistics of public libraries, or generalconversation, we find abundant evidence of the enormous preponderance of this kind of literary entertainment in popular favor.（3）Neo-classicism: a revival in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school.（4）Satiric literature.（5）SentimentalismII. Neo-classicism. （a general description）1. Alexander Pope（1）Life:a. Catholic family;b. ill health;c. taught himself by reading and translating;d. friend of Addison, Steele and Swift.（2）three groups of poems:e. An Essay on Criticism （manifesto of neo-classicism）;f. The Rape of Lock;g. Translation of two epics.（3）His contribution:h. the heroic couplet—finish, elegance, wit, pointedness;i. satire.（4）weakness: lack of imagination.2. Addison and Steele（1）Richard Steele: poet, playwright, essayist, publisher of newspaper. （2）Joseph Addison: studies at Oxford, secretary of state, created a literary periodical “Spectator” （with Steele, 1711）（3）Spectator Club.（4）The significance of their essays.a. Their writings in “The Tatler”, and “The Spectator” provide a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie.b. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century.c. In their hands, the English essay completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story telling, they ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:a. studies at Oxford;b. made a living by writing and translating;c. the great cham of literature.（2）works: poem （The Vanity of Human Wishes, London）; criticism （The Lives of great Poets）; preface.（3）The champion of neoclassical ideas.III. Literature of Satire: Jonathan Swift.1. Life:（1）born in Ireland;（2）studies at Trinity College;（3）worked as a secretary;（4）the chief editor of The Examiner;（5）the Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin.2. Works: The Battle of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.Part I. Satire—the Whig and the Tories, Anglican Church and Catholic Church.Part II. Satire—the legal system; condemnation of war.Part III. Satire—ridiculous scientific experiment.Part IV. Satire—mankind.IV. English Novels of Realistic tradition.1. The Rise of novels.（1）Early forms: folk tale –fables –myths –epic –poetry –romances –fabliaux –novella - imaginative nature of their material. （imaginative narrative）（2）The rise of the novela. picaresque novel in Spain and England （16th century）: Of or relating to a genre of prose fiction that originated in Spain and depicts in realistic detailthe adventures of a roguish hero, often with satiric or humorous effects.b. Sidney: Arcadia.c. Addison and Steele: The Spectator.（plot and characterization and realism）（3）novel and drama （17the century）2. Daniel Defoe—novelist, poet, pamphleteer, publisher, merchant, journalist.）（1）Life:a. business career;b. writing career;c. interested in politics.（2）Robinson Crusoe.a. the story.b. the significance of the character.c. the features of his novels.d. the style of language.3. Henry Fielding—novelist.（1）Life:a. unsuccessful dramatic career;b. legal career; writing career.（2）works.（3）Tom Jones.a. the plot;b. characters: Tom, Blifil, Sophia;c. significance.（4）the theory of realism.（5）the style of language.V. Writers of Sentimentalism.1. Introduction2. Samuel Richardson—novelist, moralist （One who is unduly concerned with the morals of others.）（1）Life:a. printer book seller;b. letter writer.（2）Pamela, Virtue Rewarded.a. the storyb. the significancePamela was a new thing in these ways:a）It discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people. b）Its intension was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction.c）It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but their also their secret thoughts and feelings. It was, in fact, the first Englishpsycho-analytical novel.3. Oliver Goldsmith—poet and novelist.A. Life:a. born in Ireland;b. a singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;c. bookseller;d. the Literary Club;e. a miserable life;f. the most lovable character in English literature.B. The Vicar of Wakefield.a. story;b. the signicance.VI. English Drama of the 18th century1. The decline of the drama2. Richard Brinsley SheridenA. life.B. works: Rivals, The School for Scandals.C. significance of his plays.a. The Rivals and The School for Scandal are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as true classics in English comedy.b. In his plays, morality is the constant theme. He is much concerned withthe current moral issues and lashes harshly at the social vices of the day. c. Sheridan's greatness also lies in his theatrical art. He seems to have inherited from his parents a natural ability and inborn knowledge about the theatre. His plays are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man.d. His plots are well-organized, his characters, either major or minor, are all sharply drawn, and his manipulation of such devices as disguise, mistaken identity and dramatic irony is masterly. Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays.Chapter 6 English Literature of the Romantic AgeI. Introduction1. Historical Background2. Literary Overview: RomanticismCharacteristics of Romanticism:（1）The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings（2）The creation of a world of imagination（3）The return to nature for material（4）Sympathy with the humble and glorification of the commonplace （5）Emphasis upon the expression of individual genius（6）The return to Milton and the Elizabethans for literary models （7）The interest in old stories and medieval romances（8）A sense of melancholy and loneliness（9）The rebellious spiritII. Pre-Romantics1. Robert Burns（1）Life: French Revolution（2）Features of poetrya. Burns is chiefly remembered for his songs written in the Scottish dialect.b. His poems are usually devoid of artificial ornament and have a great charm of simplicity.c. His poems are especially appreciated for their musical effect.d. His political and satirical poems are noted for his passionate love for freedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3）Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested that the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humor, pathos, the response to nature – all the poetic qualities that touch the human heart are in his poems, which marked the sunrise of another day – the day of Romanticism.2. William Blake（1）life: French Revolution（2）works.l Songs of Innocencel Songs of Experience（3）featuresa. sympathy with the French Revolutionb. hatred for 18th century conformity and social institutionc. attitude of revolt against authorityd. strong protest against restrictive codes（4）his influenceBlake is often regarded as a symbolist and mystic, and he has exerted a great influence on twentieth century writers. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have in many ways proved far more congenial to the 20th century than they were to the 19th.III. Romantic Poets of the first generation1. Introduction2. William Wordsworth: representative poet, chief spokesman of Romantic poetry（1）Life:a. love nature;b. Cambridge;c. tour to France;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;f. The Lake District;g. friend of Coleridge;h. conservative after revolution.（2）works:a. the Lyrical Ballads （preface）: significanceb. The Prelude: a biographical poem.c. the other poems（3）Features of his poems.a. ThemeA constant theme of his poetry was the growth of the human spirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states of mind.b. characteristics of style.His poems are characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic（1）Life:a. Cambridge;b. friend with Southey and Wordsworth;c. taking opium.（2）works.l The fall of Robespierrel The Rime of the Ancient Marinerl Kubla Khanl Biographia Literaria（3）Biographia Literaria.（4）His criticismHe was one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language. In both poetry and criticism, his work is outstanding, but it is typical of him that his critical work is very scattered and disorganized.IV. Romantic Poets of the Second Generation.1. Introduction2. George Gordon Byron（1）Life:a. Cambridge, published poems and reviews;b. a tour of Europe and the East;c. left England;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in Greece: national hero;f. radical and sympathetic with French Revolution.（2）Works.l Don Juanl When We Two Partedl She Walks in Beauty（3）Byronic Hero.Byron introduced into English poetry a new style of character, which as often been referred to as “Byronic Hero” of “satanic spirit”. Peopleimagined that they saw something of Byron himself in these strange figures of rebels, pirates, and desperate adventurers.（4）Poetic style: loose, fluent and vivid3. Percy Bysshe Shelley: poet and critic（1）Life:a. aristocratic family;b. rebellious heart;c. Oxford;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g. left England and wandered in EUrope, died in Italy;h. radical and sympathetic with the French revolution;i. Friend with Byron（2）works: two types – violent reformer and wanderer（3）Characteristics of poems.a. pursuit of a better society;b. radian beauty;c. superb artistry: imagination.（4）Defense of Poetry.4. John Keats.（1）Life:a. from a poor family;b. Cockney School;c. friend with Byron and Shelley;d. attacked by the conservatives and died in Italy.（2）works.（3）Characteristics of poemsa. loved beauty;b. seeking refuge in an idealistic world of illusions and dreams. V. Novelists of the Romantic Age.1. Water Scott. Novelist and poet（1）Life:a. Scotland;b. university of Edindurgh;c. poem to novel;d. unsuccessful publishing firm;e. great contribution: historical novel.（2）three groups of novels（3）Features of his novels.（4）his influence.2. Jane Austen（1）Life:a. country clergyman;。
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《英国文学简史》刘炳善中文版
《英国文学简史》刘炳善中文版2010-09-09 21：00第一部分：早期和中世纪英国文学
第一章：英国的组成
1、大不列颠人(英国人)
在开始学习英国文学史之前，了解一下英国这个民族是很必要的。
英国这个民族是一个混血族。
早期居住在这个岛上的居民是凯尔特人的一个部落，我们现在称它为大不列颠人。
大不列颠人把这个岛屿命名为大不列颠岛，凯尔特人是其原始居民。
他们分为几十个小部落，每个部落都以小屋群居为主。
"最古老的凯尔特人法律今天归结起来显示出氏族任然充满着生命力"。
英国人曾生活在部落社会。
2、罗马人的占领
在公元前55年，大不列颠岛被罗马征服者凯撒入侵，而这是的凯撒刚刚占领了高卢。
但是罗马人刚登上大不列颠岛海岸时，就遭到了在首领领导下的大不列颠人的狮子般疯狂的反击，随着罗马将领来来往往的这个世纪，直到公元78年英国从被于罗马帝国完全征服过。
伴随着罗马人的侵略占领，罗马式的生活方式也开始融入英国。
罗马式剧院和澡堂很快的在城镇中兴起。
而这些高雅的文明只不过是罗马侵略者的娱乐享受方式罢了，大不列颠人民却像奴隶一样被压迫着。
罗马人的占领持续了将近400年，在这期间，罗马人因其军事目的在岛上修建了后来被称之为罗马路的纵横交错的公路，这些公路在后期发展中起到了很大的作用。
沿着这些公路开始建立起大量的城镇，伦敦就是其中之一，开始成为重要的贸易中心城市。
罗马的占领也带来了基督教文化。
但是在15世纪初期，罗马帝国处于逐渐的衰落阶段。
公元410年，所有罗马军队撤回欧洲大陆再也没有返回。
因此，也标志这罗马人占领的结束。
3、英国人的占领
同时，大不列颠也被成群的海盗给侵略着。
他们是来自北欧的三个部落：盎格鲁人，撒克逊人和朱特人民族。
这三个部落在大不列颠海岸登路，把大不列颠人民赶到西部和北部，然后自己定居下来。
朱特人占领了岛屿东南部的肯特。
撒克逊人占领了岛屿南部地区，并建立起像韦塞克斯，埃塞克斯和东萨塞克斯这样的小王国。
盎格鲁人席卷了东部中部地区，并在东英吉利亚建立
王国。
七个像这样的王国在大不列颠岛上逐渐出现。
到公元7世纪，这些小王国开始合并成为今天称为英格兰的统一王国，或被称作盎格鲁人之国。
这三个部落的人混合在一起，被称为今天的英国人，而盎格鲁人占绝大多数。
他们说的三种方言自然而然的发展成为一种语言--盎格鲁撒克逊，或者古英语，和今天我们所说的英语有着很大的区别。
4、盎格鲁撒克逊人的社会状况
在盎格鲁撒克逊人定居在大不列颠之前，他们仍过着部落式生活。
家庭成员以亲属关系联合在一起，分别定居在不同的村落。
主要的战争乐团由年轻人组成，勇士们食用族长的食物与其分享战利品。
虽然说族长有权决定他子民的生死，但是将在外难免军令有所不受。
他熟悉他的每一个士兵，和他们一起吃喝玩乐。
这就是当时盎格鲁人称作为"氏族军事民主"。
在占领大不列颠后，盎格鲁撒克逊的社会形态发生了巨大的变化。
"我们知道，统治管理未屈服的人民是与非犹太人的法令相违背的…因此，非犹太人社会体系需要改革成为国家机关…首先，征服者代表必须是军事指挥官，被占领地区的内外安全需要加强指挥官的权利。
这样，军事领导权转变成君权的时刻到来。
一切以成定局。
因此，盎格鲁撒克逊时期见证了英国由部落社会向封建社会转变的过程。
5、盎格鲁撒克逊人的宗教信仰以及其影响
盎格鲁撒克逊人是异教徒。
他们信奉北欧的古老神话传说。
那就是为什么北欧神话学说在英语这门语言中留下痕迹的原因。
例如，一周中的天数就是由北神命名的。
奥丁，我们所说的神，星期三以他的名字命名，星期四以托尔的名字命名，美丽女神弗丽嘉，祈祷者以她的名字命名星期五。
星期二则是为了纪念另一个北欧之神--蒂乌。
盎格鲁撒克逊人受7个世纪基督教文化的影响，寺院在全国兴起。
在这些寺院中，只有极少数的和尚拥有读写能力，因此最早的英文书籍由他们记录下。
但是和尚憎恨异教徒书籍，因此他们给这些书添上基督教色彩，却和书的主要内容没有太大的关系。
第二章：贝奥武甫
1、盎格鲁撒克逊诗歌
英国文学始于盎格鲁撒克逊民族定居英格兰。
古英语文学仍然保留着5个遗迹，包括诗歌或歌曲，盎格鲁撒克逊的吟游诗人在宴会大厅里用他们来歌颂古时候首领和他的勇士们的英雄事迹。
其它四个是长篇诗歌的残余的一部
分。
但是，有一篇长达3000行的长篇诗歌，这就是英国人民的民族史诗--《贝奥武甫》。
2、贝奥武甫的故事
贝奥武甫是南部济兹国王哈吉拉可的外甥，丹麦日德兰人。
丹麦人国王王赫罗斯加有难的消息传到贝奥武甫那里。
王赫罗斯加建造了一座大厅，但是怪物戈兰德尔夜夜都侵扰这座大厅并每次带走国王的勇士，因而这座大厅就逐渐变的荒芜了。
当听到这个消息后，贝奥武甫带领14个随从向丹麦出发，决定帮助国王对付怪兽。
在受到接风洗尘后，贝奥武甫和他的同伴们在大厅里躺下，这时怪兽戈兰德尔出现了并吞食了贝奥武甫的一个同伴。
怪兽开始向贝奥武甫发起攻击，因为武器对怪兽不起作用，贝奥武甫便单手和怪兽扭打起来，经历了惨烈的徒手搏斗之后，戈兰德尔受到重伤并撤退，留下了一只手给贝奥武甫。
接下来，大厅又恢复到以往的生机，充满了欢声笑语，大家尽情的舞蹈歌唱。
但是，戈兰德尔的母亲因儿子重伤而死开始复仇，并劫走了王赫罗斯加的首席军师(顾问)，贝奥武甫和他的同伴们沿着血迹来到了一个湖的边缘，这时，贝奥武甫纵身跳入湖中，找到女怪兽并跟着她来到水底大厅。
这绝望的战斗之下，贝奥武甫的剑毫无作用，他几乎陷入绝境，幸而抓住了一把古时巨人留下的一把巨剑，他奋力的砍下了女怪兽的头颅。
在这所大厅之中，贝奥武甫找到了戈兰德尔的遗体并同时砍下他的头颅。
带着这两样战利品，贝奥武甫回到丹麦国王的大厅，胜利的喜悦被盛宴，歌声，舞蹈给庆祝着，之后，贝奥武甫回到了家乡南部济兹。
贝奥武甫现在成为了国王，并统治了将近50年。
然而这时，一条火龙从他的密室里出现并向他的子民喷射火焰，这时的贝奥武甫已经是一个年迈的老人了，但是他毅然决然的告别了他的家人，带领11位随从开始追寻火龙。
同样的，贝奥武甫单手与火龙搏斗，剑再次不起作用，他被火焰团团围住。
虽然火龙最后被消灭了，但是贝奥武甫也受了重伤。
这篇史诗以英雄贝奥武甫的葬礼结尾：
"他被南部济兹全国人民哀悼，
英雄逝去，但的精神永存，
与世界上的国王相比，
他是如此的和蔼和受爱戴，
我们歌颂他的仁慈，热情和善良。
3、《贝奥武甫》内容分析
《贝奥武甫》是一部民间传奇，由盎格鲁撒克逊人从他们的大陆家乡带到英国。
在10世纪以诗歌的形式写下之前已经被传诵了几百年之久。
故事主要内容(与怪兽战斗)明显地是原始北部部落的民间传奇。
这样的部落沿欧洲西北海岸聚居。
在他们聚居地后面是一片不可能穿越的森林，在其聚居地前面是一片充满暴风的北海。
他们必须与野兽斗争，与恶劣、神秘、未知的自然环境做斗争。
当他们带着功勋远航回来时，勇士们就把生活在海底、沼泽地和内陆黑暗森林怪异的怪兽的故事一一讲述。
勇士们很勇敢但是也很迷信。
这就是了不起的《贝奥武甫》的背景。
贝奥武甫是一个伟大的英雄，他淡泊名利，坦诚的对待自己的人民，独自勇闯陌生土地去拯救他的人民。
面对死亡，他毫无惧色，只想着他人的利益。
虽然这首长诗写于10世纪，但是这位英雄毫无疑问的是原始大陆部落的产物。
这首叙事诗很可能是由吟游诗人从北部欧洲传诵而来然后在英国完成的。
他的手稿源于英国和爱尔兰历史，盎格鲁人提及《贝奥武甫》的历史意义，反映了古时部落社会的特征。
4、《贝奥武甫》的特征
诗歌形式最显著的特征是运用了头韵。
在头韵诗歌中，每行特定的重音字节都以相同的辅音开头。
一行中有四个重读音节，三个突显出头韵特征，可以从引文中看出。
《贝奥武甫》的其它特征是隐喻和轻描淡写并用。
像"赏赐"一次是国王的象征，"壁炉同伴"是他随从勇士的代名词，海用"天鹅浴"或"鲸路"代替，"海洋木头"则代表船。
这样的隐喻在诗中大量的出现。
轻描淡写则以"不麻烦"代替热烈欢迎，"不需赞扬"替代有谴责的权利，给人留下深刻的印象并添上了讽刺的幽默色彩。
这种品质常被认为是英语的永久性特征。