英国文学简史笔记整理

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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 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 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 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 calledthemselves “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 18thcentury.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 concernedwith 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 Scottishdialect.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, butit 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;。

刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记(免费)

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 figuredstyle.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 ofhis 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 influentialin 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 whichPuritans 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 theworks 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 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 ofordinary 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. Theysuggested 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 ofRomantic 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（1）Life:。

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 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 Ages1. 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 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 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）:（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 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 be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although hisPuritanism 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 lightpoetry, 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 CatholicChurch.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 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 anddisorganized.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 critica. 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.。

英国文学简史笔记(完整版)

Chapter 1伊丽莎白统治之前的时代分为三个阶段：古英语（安格鲁撒克逊）时期，中世纪英语（安格鲁诺曼）时期，伊丽莎白统治前时期。

大不列颠岛相继被卡尔特人、罗马人和安格鲁撒克逊人占据。

【 The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period 】✧sign: the Stonehenge（巨石阵）prehistoric monumental pile of stones Celts（凯尔特人）were probably the first inhabitants of the British Isles in recorded history.One of their tribes, the Britons（不列颠人）， came over in the 5th century BC. 亚瑟王传奇 Arthurian legends 500 yearsRoman Conquest, Julius Caesar（尤里乌斯凯撒） 55BC500 yearsAnglo-Saxon Conquest, 5th centuryIn 597 AD the Anglo-Saxons began to be converted to Christianity.pagan elements/regular elementsreligion elementsIn the second half of the 7th century, the first English poet, Caedmon byname， began to sing.Another century passed, Beowulf.In the 9th century, King Alfred decided that literature should be writtenin the vernacular（方言） of Old English.✧With the arrival of St. Augustine in 597 AD and the subsequent spread of Christianinfluence and classical learning, heathen poetry was maneuvered out of the scene.a time of intermingling（过渡时期） of the pagan with the Christian components in poetry.1. Thenational epic of English people, a pagan poem2. An epic of well over 3000 lines.3. The greatest epic ever left by the ancient Germanic tribes.4. The most ancient ever since the demise of the Greek andRoman literatures.5. The only organic whole poem to come out of the Anglo-Saxonperiod.6. The story takes place in Scandinavia, no mention ofEngland.7. Anglo Saxon’s early life in Englandth century hero, Beowulf. It is basicallya two-part narrative——Beowulf’s fight with the sea-monstersGrendel and his mother in the first part, and his killing a fierydragon and his death in the second.1.human desire for some super power to conquer nature.2.great tradition of realism（现实主义传统）Versification:1.Pagan story has an Christian overlay（覆盖物，表面）.（作诗法）The mixture of pagan and Christian elements2. using of kenning(一种描写手法)e.g.: sea is often ‚swan’s way‛ or ‚whale-path.3. conspicious occurrence of alliteration(头韵).4. narrator of the poem, the ‚I‛ is aminstrel/scop/gleeman（吟游诗人）5. story’s digressive manner of narration.6. elevated tone（提高的音调）.7. the use of metaphors and understatements✧Then the pagan was superseded（超过） by the religious spirit, and minstrels（吟游诗人） gave way to learned men.✧Caedmon（凯德蒙）: the first known poet in English literary history.✧The Ecclesiastical History of England（英格兰教会史）by the venerable Bede（比得）.欧洲最早的编年史：Anglo-Saxon Chronicle（编年史）founded by King Alfred the Great （阿尔弗雷德大帝）.【 Medieval（中世纪）Literature: a brief introduction 】✧☑In 1066, ____, with his Norman army, succeeded in invading and defeating England.A. William the ConquerorB. Julius CaesarC. Alfred the GreatD. Claudius☑After the Norman Conquest, three languages existed in England at that time. The Normans spoke _____.A. FrenchB. EnglishC. LatinD. SwedishThe changes and replacement of dynasty and government:The Norman line of kings90 years1154 Angevin kingsKing Henry Ⅱ and his descendants 245 years1399 The House of Lancaster✧William the Conqueror grabbed Anglo-Saxon land by force and gave it tohis nobles and followers.A historical record of Anglo-Saxon institutions, customs, and way oflife（十字军东征）A serious of wars between Christians and the Muslims (1096-1270)The first communication between east and west（大宪章）King John was forced to recognize the rights of the powerful barons.（男爵）（Duke公 Marquis侯 Count伯 Viscount子 Baron爵）Norman and Anglo-Saxon elements began to coalesce into one nation, andthe English language started to revive.The emergence of nation（民族兴起）✧传奇：The Growth of the Arthurian Legends（亚瑟王传奇）Not put down on paper until 1147 Geoffrey of Monmouth came out with hisLatin Historia Reugm Britanniae.Be enriched by a good number of later writers.1205 Layamon wrote his cast verse work of 32,000 lines Brut in English.The beginning of the revival of English as a literary medium骑士文学：Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:(《高文爵士和绿骑士》)or prose.☑The prevailing form of Medieval English literature is ____.A. novelB. dramaC. romanceD. essay☑The story of ___ is the culmination of the Arthurian romances.A. Sir Gawain and the Green KnightB. BeowulfC. Piers the PlowmanD. The Canterbury Tales☑The theme of ____ to king and lord was repeatedly emphasized in romances.A. loyaltyB. revoltC. obedienceD. mockeryA famous roman about King Arthur’s storyA 4-part work of 2,530 lines in 101 sections.knightly virtues: loyalty, valor（勇猛）,rectitude（正直）,and integrity.One Christmas（故事发生的时间）1.某年圣诞节，亚瑟王在自己的宫廷里举行宴会。

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 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 restrainedstyle.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 PenelopeDvereux—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 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 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》重点笔记(完整版)

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 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）Li fe: “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 Renaissancesecularism.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 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 therevolution—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 calledthemselves “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 writi ngs 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 – 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 forfreedom 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, 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》完整版笔记

Chapter 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）（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 —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 rareculture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.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 '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 Poets2. 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.（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）（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 in the 18th century.3. Samuel Johnson—poet, critic, essayist, lexicographer, editor.（1）Life:a. studies at ;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 .2. Works: The of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.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. : .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: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 ;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 .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.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. '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（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. ;c. tour to ;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;f. The ;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. ;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. , published poems and reviews;b. a tour of and the East;c. left ;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in : 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. ;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g. left and wandered in EUrope, died in ;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. ;c. friend with Byron and Shelley;d. attacked by the conservatives and died in .（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. ;b. ;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;b. uneventful life, domestic duties;（2）works.（3）features of her writings.（4）rationalism, neoclassicism, romanticism and realism. VI. Familiar Essays.1. Introduction2. Charles Lamb: essayist and critic（1）life:a. poor family;b. friend of Coleridge;c. sister Mary;d. worked in the East India House;e.a miserable life;f. a man of mild character.g. a Romanticist of the city.（2）works: Essays of Elia. Three groups.（3）Features.a. The most striking feature of his essays is his hum our.b. Lamb was especially fond of old writers.c. His essays are intensely personal.d. He was a romanticistChapter 7 English Literature of the Victorian AgeI. Introduction1. Historical Background（1）An age of expansion（2）The conditions of the workers and the chartist movement（3）Reforms（4）Darwin's theory of evolution and its influence（5）The women question2. Literary Overview: critical realism.In Victorian period appeared a new literary trend called critical realism. English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the 40s and in the early 50s. It found its expression in the form of novel. The critical realists, most of whom were novelists, described with much vividness and artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint.II. Novels of Critical Realists.1. Charles Dickens.（1）Life:a. clerk family;b. a miserable childhood;c. a clerk, a reporter, a writer;d. a man of hard work.（2）works of three periods.a. optimizeb. frustrationc. pessimism（3）Features of his works.a. character sketches and exaggerationb. broad humor and penetrating satired. the power of exposure2. William Makepeace Thackeray（1）Life:a. born in ;b. studied in ;c. worked as artist and illustrator and writer.（2）work: The Vanity Fair（3）Thackeray and Dickens – featuresa. Just like Dickens, Thackeray is one of the greatest critical realists of the 19th century . He paints life as he has seen it. With his precise and thorough observation, rich knowledge of social life and of the human heart, the pictures in his novels are accurate and true to life.b. Thackeray is a satirist. His satire is caustic and his humour subtle.c. Besides being a realist and satirist, Thackeray is a moralist. His aim is to produce a moral impression in all his novels.3. The Bronte Sisters（1）Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre（2）Emily Bronte and The Wuthering Heights.4. George Eliot.（1）Life:a. Mary Ann Evans;b. the rural midland;c. abandoned religion;d. interested in social philosophical problems;e. editor of the Westminster Review;f. George Henry Lewis.（2）worksl Adam Bedel Silas Marnerl Middlemarch（3）Features of works.As a moralist, she shows in each of her characters the action and reaction of universal forces and believes that every evil act must bring inevitable punishment to the man who does it. Moral law was to her as inevitable and automatic as gravitation.5. Thomas Hardy: novelist and poet（1）Life:a. —“Wexssex;b. close to peasantry;c. belief in evolution.（2）Works:a. Romances and fantasiesb. novels of ingenuityc. novels of characters and environment（3）Ideas of Fate.Unlike Dickens, most of Hardy's novels are tragic. The cause of tragedy is man's own behaviour or his own fault but the supernatural forces that rule his fate. According to Hardy, man is not the master of his destiny; he is at the mercy of indifferent forces which manipulate his behaviour and his relations with others.III. English Poets of the Age1. Alfred Tennyson（1）life:a. ;b. friend with Hallem;c. poet laureate.（2）Works: In Memoriam; Idylls of the King.2. Robert Browning.（1）Life: married Elizabeth Barret, a poetess.（2）Works（3）the Dramatic MonologueThe dramatic monologue is a soliloquy in drama in which the voice speaking is not the poet himself, but a character invented by the poet, so that it reflects life objectively. It was imitated by many poets after Browning and brought to its most sophisticated form by T. S. Eliot in his The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock （1915）IV. English Prose of the age1. Thomas Carlyle（1）life（2）works2. John Ruskin（1）life（2）works（3）social and aesthetic ideasV. Aestheticism1. AestheticismThe basic theory of the aesthetic –“art for art's sake” – was set forth by a French poet, Theophile Gautier. The first Englishman who wrote about the theory of aestheticism was Walter Peter, the most important critical writer of the late Victorian period, whose most important works were studies in the History of Renaissance and Appreciations. The chief representative of the movement in was Oscar Wilde, with his The Picture of Dorian Gray. Aestheticism places art above life, and holds that life should imitate art, not art imitate life. According to aesthetes, all artistic creation is absolutely subjective as opposed to objective. Art should be free from any influence of egoism. Only when art is for art's sake can it be immortal. It should be restricted to contributing beauty in a highly polished style.2. Oscar Wilde（1）Life: dramatist, poet, novelist and essayist, spokesman for the school of “Art for art's sake”, the leader of the Aesthetic movement（2）worksl The Happy Prince and Other Talesl The Picture of Dorian Grayl The Importance of Being EarnestChapter 8 English Literature of the first half of the 20th Century I. Historical Background1. Rational changes on old traditions, in social standards and in people's thoughts2. The high tide of anti-Victorianism3. The First World War4. The success of women's struggle for social and civil rightsII. Overview of the Literature – the Modernism1. What is modernism?2. Features of modernism（1）Complexity（2）Radical and deliberate break with traditional aesthetic principles（3）Back to Aristotle3. Development of modernism after WWIISection 1 Poetry I. A General Survey1. The century has produced a large number of both major and minor poets, many of whom have received general acclaim.2. Many writers of significant works of fiction also write distinguished poetry.3. The poets of the 20th century have tended to group themselves into schools whose poetry has particular distinguishing characteristics.II. Thomas Hardy1. Life2. Works（1）his poetrya. Poems and Other Versesb. Poems of the Past and the Presentc. Time's Laughing Stocksd. Moments of Visione. Late Lyrics and Earlierf. The famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwellg. Winter Words（2）his fictionsa. Tess of the D'Urbervillesb. Jude the Obscurec. The Return of the Natived. Far from the Madding Crowde. The Mayor of Casterbridge3. Point of viewAccording to his pessimistic philosophy, mankind is subjected to the rule of some hostile mysterious fate, which brings misfortune into human life.III. William Yeats1. Life – poet and dramatist2. Works（1）his poetrya. The Responsibilitiesb. The Wild Swans at Coolec. The Towerd. The Winding Stair（2）his dramasa. The Hour Glassb. The 's Desirec. On Baile's（3）his book of philosophy – Visions3. StyleIV.Thomas Stearns Eliot1. life- poet, playwright, literary critic2. Works（1）poemsl The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrockl The Waste Land （epic）l Hollow Manl Ash Wednesdayl Four Quarters（2）Playsl Murder in the Cathedrall Sweeney Agonistesl The Cocktail Partyl The Confidential Clerk（3）Critical essaysl The Sacred Woodl Essays on Style and Orderl Elizabethan Essaysl The Use of Poetry and The Use of Criticismsl After Strange Gods3. Point of view（1）The modern society is futile and chaotic.（2）Only poets can create some order out of chaos.4. Style（1）Fresh visual imagery, flexible tone and highly expressive rhythm（2）Difficult and disconnected images and symbols, quotations and allusions （3）Elliptical structures, strange juxtapositions, an absence of bridges5. The Waste Land: five parts（1）The Burial of the Dead（2）A Game of Chess（3）The Fire Sermon（4）Death by Water（5）What the Thunder SaidSection 2 Fiction I. The Continuing of Realism 1. The two characteristics of 20th century fiction （1）Modernism（2）Continuation of the tradition of realism2. The beginning3. General featuresII. John Galsworthy1. Life2. Works（1）The Island Pharisees（2）Turgenev（3）The Man of Property（4）In Chancery（5）Forsyte Saga（6）The End of the Chapter（7）The Silver Box（8）Strife3. Point of view4. Style（1）strength and elasticity（2）powerful sweep（3）brilliant illustrations（4）deep psychological analysisIII. Stream of Consciousness1. James Joyce（1）life（2）major worksa. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Manb. Dublinersc. Ulyssesd. Finnegans Wake（3）significance of his worksa. He changed the old style of fictions and created a strange mode of art to show the chaos and crisis of consciousness of that period.b. From him, stream of consciousness came to the highest point as a genre of modern literature.c. In Finnegans Wake, this pursue of newness overrode the normalness and showed a tendency of vanity.2. Virginia Woolf（1）life（2）worksa. Mrs. Dallowayb. To the Lighthousec. The Wavesd.e. Flushf. The Yearsg. Between the Actsh. A Room of One's Owni. Threej. Modern Fictionk. The Common Reader （2 series）（3）point of viewa. She challenged the traditional way of writing and created her novels in a new way.b. She thought the depiction of details darkened the characters.c. She called the writers for writing about events of daily life that gave one deep impression.3. Influence（1）The stream of consciousness presented by Joyce and Woolf marks a total break from the tradition of fiction and has promoted the development of modernism.（2）However, at the same time, because of the newness in form but hard to understand, this kind of fiction cannot attract readers.（3）The writers showed interest in the psychological depiction of the bourgeoisie but neglected the conflict that most people cared about at that time.IV.David Herbert Lawrence1. Life2. Works（1）Sons and Lovers（2）The Rainbow（3）Women in Love（4）Lady Chatterlay's Lover3. His influenceSection 3 Drama I. Overview1. the development of science （light）and the revival of drama2. Social dramas3. The renaissance of Irish dramas4. The poetic drama5. Different schools of dramaII. George Bernard Shaw1. Life2. Works（1）Widower's Houses（2）Man and Superman（3）Major Barbara（4）Pygmalion（5）Heartbreak House（6）Mrs. 's Profession（7）The Apple Cart（8）Saint Joan3. Point of view（1）Shaw was very much impressed by the Norwegian dramatist Ibsen.（2）He opposed the idea of “art for art's sake”, maintaining that “the theatre must turn from the drama of romance and sensuality to the drama of edification”.4. Style（1）Shaw is a critical realist writer. His plays bitterly criticize and attack English bourgeois society.（2）His plays deal with contemporary social problems. He portrays his situations frankly and honestly, intending to shock his audiences with a new view of society.（3）He is a humorist and manages to produce amusing and laughable situations.版权所有,谢绝转载~31/ 31。

刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记

英国文学简史完全版A Con cise History of British LiteratureChapter 1 En glish Literature of An glo-Sax on Period1.The historical backgro und(1)Before the Germanic invasion(2)During the Germanic invasiona.immigrati on;b.Christia ni ty;c.heptarchy.d.social classes structure: hide-hu ndred; eolderme n thane - middle class (freemen) - lower class (slave theow);e.social organization: clan or tribes.itary Orga ni zati on;g.Church function: spirit, civil service, education;h.economy: coins, trade, slavery;i.feasts and festival: Hallowee n, Easter; j. legal system.2.The Overview of the culture(1)The mixture of pagan and Christian spirit.(lord )- or bon dme(2)Literature: a. poetry: two types; b. prose: two figures.1.A gen eral in troducti on.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 En glish Proseis prose?(1)The Venerable Bede(2)Alfred the GreatChapter 2 En glish Literature of the Late Medieval Ages 1.The Historical Backgro und.(1)The year 1066: Norman Con quest.(2)The social situations soon after the conquest.A.Norma n n obles and serfs;B.restorati on of the church.(3)The 11th century.A.the crusade and kni ghts.B.dominance of Fre nch and Lat in;(4)The 12th century.A.the cen tralized gover nment;B.kings and the church (Henry II and Thomas );(5)The 13th century.A.The lege nd of Robin Hood;B.Magna Carta (1215);C.the begi nning of the Parliame ntD.English and Latin: official languages (the end )(6)The 14th century.a.the House of Lords and the House of Com mons —con flict betwee nthe Parliament and Kings;b.the rise of tow ns.c.the cha nge of Church.d.the role of wome n.e.the Hun dred Years' War —starti ng.f.the developme nt of the trade: London.g.the Black Death.h.the Peasa nts' Revolt —1381.i.The tran slation of Bible by Wycliff.(7)The 15th century.a.The Peasa nts Revolt (1453)b.The War of Roses betwee n Lan casters and Y orks.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 Monmout—Historia Regum Britanniae —King Authur.(3)Wace— Le Roman de Brut.(4)The romanee.(5)the second half of the 14th eentury: Langland, Gawin poet, Chaucer.Gawin and Gree n Kni ght.1.a gen eral in troducti on.2.the plot.Lan gla nd.1.Life2.Piers the Plowma n1.Life2.Literary Career: three periods(1)French period(2)Italian period(3)master period3.The Can terbury TalesA.The Framework;B.The Gen eral Prologue;C.The Tale Proper.4.His Con tributio n.(1)He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types.(2)He is the first great poet who wrote in the current EnglishIan guage.(3)The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standardfor the moder n En glish speech.V. Popular Ballads.Malory and En glish Prosebegi nning of En glish 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 enl arged by the additi on of dialogue and dramatic acti on.Eve ntually the performa nee was moved to the churchyard and the marketplace.2.Morality Plays.A morality play is a play enforcing a moral truth or less on by means of the speech and action of characters which are personified abstractions —figures representing vices and virtues, qualitiesof the huma n mind, or abstract con cepti ons in gen eral.3.I nterlude.The in terlude, which grew out of the morality, was inten ded, asits nameimplies, to be used more as a filler than as the main part of an entertainment. As its best it was short, witty, simple inplot, suited for the divers ion of guests at a banq uet, or for the relaxation of the audienee between the divisions of a serious play.It was esse ntially an in doors performa nee, and gen erally of an aristocratic n ature.Chapter 3 English Literature in the Renaissanee Historical Backgro undII. The Overview of the Literature (1485-1660)Printing press—readership —growth of middleclass —trade-educationfor laypeople-ce ntralizati on ofpower- in tellectual life-explorati on-new impetusand directionofliterature.Huma nism-study of theliteratureof classical an tiquity andreformed educati on.Literary style-modeled on the ancients.The effect of humanism-the dissemination of the cultivated, clear, and sen sible attitude of its classically educated adhere nts.1.poetryThe first tendency by Sidney and Spen ser: orn ate, florid, highly figured style.The sec ond tendency by Donne: metaphysical style —complexity and ingenu ity.The third tendency by Joh nson: reacti on ----- Classically pure and restrai ned style.The fourth tendency by Milt on: cen tral Christia n and Biblical traditi on.2.Dramaa.the n ative traditi on and classical examples.b.the drama sta nds highest in popular estimati on: Marlowe - Shakespeare - Jonson.3.Prosea.tran slati on of Bible;b.More;c.Bac on.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.En glish gen tlema n;b.brillia nt and fasc in at ing pers on ality;c.courtier.(2)worksa.Arcadia: pastoral roma nee;b.Astrophel and Stella (108) : sonnet seque nee to Pen elope Dvereux—plat onic devoti on.Petrarcha n con ceits and orig inal feeli ngs-movi ng to creative ness ——build ing of a n arrative story; theme-loveorig in ality-act of writ ing.c.Defense of Poesy: an apology for imagi native literature —begi nning of literary criticism.3.Edm und Spe nser(1)life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - “Areopagus” - Ireland -Westm in ster Abbey.(2)worksa.The Shepherds Calendar: the budding of English poetry inRen aissa nee.b.Amoretti and Epithalam ion: sonnet seque neee. Faerie Quee ne:l The gen eral end ----- A roma ntic and allegorical epie ——steps to virtue.l 12 books and 12 virtues: Holi ness, tempera nee, justice and courtesy.l Two-level funetion: part of the story and part of allegory (symbolic meaning )l Many allusi ons to classical writers.l Themes: puritanism, nationalism, humanism and Renaissanee Neoclassicism ——a Christia n huma ni st.(3)Spenserian Stanza.Prose1.Thomas More(1)Life: “Renaissanee man” ，scholar, statesman, theorist, prose writer, diplomat, patron of artsa.lear ned Greek at Can terbury College, Oxford;b.studies law at Lincoln Inn;c.Lord Chan cellor;d.beheaded.(2)Utopia: the first English scienee fiction.Written in Latin, two parts, the second—place of no where.A philosophical mariner (RaphaelHythloday ) tells his voyagesin which he discovers a Ian d-Utopia.a.The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depictinghis philosophy.b.The part two is a description of the island kingdom where goldand silver are worn by crim in al, religious freedom is total andno one owns any thi ng.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 Republicin a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resembla nee is in exter nals.e.it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Ren aissa nee secularism.f.the Utopia(3)the significanee.a.it was the first champion of national ideas and national Ianguages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.b.a elega nt Lat in scholar and the father of En glish prose: hecomposed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.2.Fran cis Bac on: writer, philosopher and statesma n(1)life: Cambridge - huma nism in Paris —kni ghted - Lord Chan cellor —bribery - focus ing on philosophy and literature.( 2 ) philosophical ideas: adva nceme nt of scienee —people:servants and interpreters of nature —method: a child before n ature ——facts and observati ons: experime ntal.(3)“Essays” : 57.a.he was a master of nu merous and varied styles.b.his method is to weigh and bala nee maters, in dicat ing the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadva ntages of each, but leav ing the reader to make the final decisi ons. (argume nts)Drama1.A gen eral survey.(1)Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.(2)two in flue nces.a.the classics: classical in form and English in content;b.n ative 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.Tamburla ine;b.The Jew of Malta;c.The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.(3)The significanee 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 —Ham net; H. 1616.2.Dramatic career3.Major plays-me n-ce ntered.(1)Romeo and Juliet ----- tragic love and fate(2)The Merchant of Venice.Good over evil. An ti-Semitism.(3)He nry IV.Nati onal uni ty.Falstaff.(4)Julius CaesarRepublicanism vs. dictatorship. (5)HamletRevengeGood/evil.(6)OthelloDiabolic characterjealousygap betwee n appeara nee and reality.(7)King LearFilial in gratitude(8)MacbethAmbiti on vs. fate.(9)Antony and Cleopatra.Passi on vs. reas on(10)The TempestReconciliation; reality and illusion.3.Non-dramatic poetry(1)Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.(2)Sonnets:a.theme: fair, true, ki nd.b.two major parts: a han dsome young man of n oble birth; a ladyin dark complexi on.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) the idea of “ humour”.(2)an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicismin En glish literature.3.Major plays(1) Every one in His Humour —“ humour” ; three un ities.(2)Volpone the FoxChapter 4 En glish Literature of the 17th Cen tury HistoricalBackgro undOverview 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 theRenaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction2.The restoration period.（1）The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literaturecharacterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson ）（ 2 ）The ideals of impartial investigation and scientificexperimentation 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 thetime emphasize rationalism.（4）The restoration drama.（5）The Age of Dryden.Milton1.Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting thecontinent —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 hisPuritanism 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 some15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. Hesacrificed 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 andPuritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and somefamous sonnets. Thethree 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 inmagnificence.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 isespecially a great master of blank verse. He learned muchfrom Shakespeare and first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.（3）Milton is a great stylist. Heis 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 commonlyused 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, newsciences, 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 ofa 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 wrotelight poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but oftensuperficial. 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 essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems. Chapter 5 English Literature of the 18th Century 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 owntime. 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 asa 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: atOxford;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 relatingto 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, infact, the first English psycho-analytical novel.3.Oliver Goldsmith —poet and novelist.A.Life:in Ireland;singer and tale-teller, a life of vagabondage;5Literary Club;miserable life;f. the most lovable character in English literature.B.The Vicar of Wakefield.5signicance.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: Romanticism Characteristics 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 poemsare 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 inthis obscure ploughman. Love, humour, pathos, the resp onse to n ature —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 ofthought 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 spokesmanof Romantic poetry（1）Life: nature;5to France;revolution;5f. 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 wasthe growth of the humanspirit through the natural description with expressions of inward states ofmind.of style.His poemsare characterized by a sympathy with the poor, simple peasants, and a passionate love of nature.3.Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet and critic （1）Life:5with 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 to language. In both poetry and criticism, his 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;attention work isEngland;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 poet1）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. Sheherself compared her work to a fine engraving madeup on a little piece of ivory only two inches square. The comparison is true. The ivory surface is small enough, but the lady who made the drawings of human life on it was a real artist.（4）rationalism, neoclassicism, romanticism and realism.。

《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 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 writ er, 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 La tin 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 CenturyI.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 —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 pamphleteeringfor 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 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 '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 ofa 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, thestatistics 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 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 ;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 .2. Works: The of Books, A Tale of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, Gulliver's Travels.3. Gulliver's Travels.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. : .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 th e “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 ;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 .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. '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. ;c. tour to ;d. French revolution;e. Dorathy;f. The ;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. ;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. , published poems and reviews;b. a tour of and the East;c. left ;d. friend with Shelley;e. worked in : 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. ;d. Irish national liberation Movement;e. disciple of William Godwin;f. marriage with Harriet, and Marry;g. left and wandered in EUrope, died in ;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. ;c. friend with Byron and Shelley;d. attacked by the conservatives and died in .（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. ;b. ;c. poem to novel;d. unsuccessful publishing firm;e. great contribution: historical novel.（2） three groups of novels。

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 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 meansof 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 tovirtue.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 rationalcommunication.（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 inhis 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 classicaland 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 expressionand 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 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 lovefor 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 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;。

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 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–Ireland - （1）life: Cambridge - Sidney's friend - ―Areopagus‖　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）Li fe: ―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 silverare 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 Renaissancesecularism.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 t o 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 a nd 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 Jonson（Sons1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the ―literary king of Ben）2.contribution:（1）the idea of ―humour‖．（2）an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism inEnglish 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（school reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity.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 therevolution—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 t hat 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 t radition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. I n 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 metaphysicalpoets sought to shatter myths and replace them with new philosophies,new sciences, new words and new poetry. They tried to break away fromthe conventional fashion of Elizabethan love poetry, and favoured inpoetry for a more colloquial language and tone, a tightness of expressionand the single-minded working out of a theme or argument.2. Cavalier PoetsThe other group prevailing in this period was that of Cavalier poets. Theywere often courtiers who stood on the side of the king, and calledthemselves ―sons‖ of Ben Jonson. The Cavalier poets wrote light poetry, polished and elegant, amorous and gay, but often superficial. Most oftheir verses were short songs, pretty madrigals, love fancies characterizedby lightness of heart and of morals. Cavalier poems have the limpidity ofthe Elizabethan lyric without its imaginative flights. They are lighter andneater 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 o f 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（with Steele, 1711）literary periodical ―Spectator‖　（3）Spectator Club.（4）The significance of their essays.a. Their writi ngs 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 18thcentury.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 – 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 moralinstruction.c）It described not only the sayings and doings of characters but theiralso 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 o f Shakespeare a nd 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 a lso lies in his theatrical art. He seems t o 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 forfreedom and fiery sentiments of hatred against tyranny.（3）Significance of his poetryHis poetry marks an epoch in the history of English literature. They suggested t hat the spirit of the Romantic revival was embodied in this obscure ploughman. Love, humour, pathos, the response t o 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 asPeople often been referred to as ―Byronic H ero‖　o f ―satanic spirit‖. 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。

刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记(汇编)

英国文学简史完全笔记Part one：early and medieval english literatureChapter 1: the making of england1 the Briton2 the Roman Consequent3 the English Consequent4 the social condition of the Anglo-SaxonsChapter 2: Beowulf<Beowulf>贝奥武夫:the national epic of the Anglo-SaxonsEpic: long narrative poems that record the adventures or heroic deeds of a hero enacted in vast landscapes. The style of epic is grand and elevated.e.g. Homer’s Iliad and OdysseyArtistic features:1 Using alliteration2 Using metaphor and understatementDefinition of alliteration: a rhetorical device, meaning some words in a sentence begin with the same consonant sound（头韵）Some examples on P5Definition of understatement: expressing something in a controlled way Understatement is a typical way for Englishmen to express their ideasChapter 3 : Feudal England1 the Norman Conquest:①the Danish invasionKing Alfred: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle②the Norman Conquest:Marks the establishment of feudalism in England\2 Feuda EnglandSocial features of the Feuda England：Two classes（landlord and peasant）The miseries of the peasant：Black DeathThe raising of 13813 the Romance: knightFamous three:King ArthurSir Gawain and the Green KnightBeowulfChapter 4 William LanglandPiers The Plowman耕者皮尔斯:a picture of feudal England①the exposure of the ruling classes②the story of the Cat and Rats③the marriage of lady Meed④the condition of the peasants⑤the search for truth⑥a representative of the most oppressed section of the peasantryArtistic features:It is written in the form of a dream visionUsing symbolismChapter 5 the English Bllads民谣Oral literatureBallad: is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed.The Robin Hood BalladChapter 6 Geoffery Chaucer英国文学史上首先用伦敦方言写作。

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 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 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 HistoricalBackgroundII. 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 RenaissanceNeoclassicism—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 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 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 wasin 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 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 peculiaritiesof 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 spiritthrough 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 poems。

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