英国文学史及选读知识要点I

Part I The Anglo-Saxon Period(449-1066)

I Background

449 the Teutons ( the Jutes, the Anglos, the Saxons)

II Literature

The literature of this period falls into two divisions—pagan and Christian

Two Anglo-saxon Christian poets:

Caedmon （凯德蒙，公元7世纪盎各鲁－萨克逊基督教诗人）who lived in the latter half of the 7th century and who wrote a poetic Paraphrase of the Bible.

Cynewulf（基涅武甫,盎各鲁――萨克逊诗人，生活在公元9世纪，其古英语诗稿于10世纪被发现，有《埃琳娜》,《使徒们的命运》，《基督升天》和《朱莉安娜》）, the author of poems on religious subjects

III The Song of Beowulf( Beowulf, 公元7-8世纪之交开始流传于民间的同名史诗中的主人公，曾与水怪，火龙搏斗)

Status: England’s national epic

Written at the beginning of the tenth century

Composed much earlier

Length:3182

The whole song is essentially pagan in spirit and matter.

Features : alliteration; metaphors; understatement

Subject matter

Part II The Anglo-Norman Period (1066—1350)

I historical background: The Norman Conquest

II. The Literature

The literature which they brought to England is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of love and adventure.

III. Romance

1. Romance was the prevailing form of literature in feudal England.

2. Definition and features(理解)

IV. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

a late-14th century middle-English outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table.

It was a verse romance of 2530 lines, considered as the best of Arthurian romances.

Part III Geoffrey Chaucer(1340?-1400)

I Major works

The Romaunt of the Rose《玫瑰传奇》is a translation from a French poem.

His masterpiece: The Canterbury Tales

II Contributions

1. Chaucer—the forerunner of Renaissanc e

2. Chaucer –a master of realism

3 Chaucer—“father of English poetry”

①In contradistinction to the alliterative verse of the Anglo-Saxon poetry, Chaucer chose the metrical form which laid the foundation of the English tonic-syllabic verse.

②He introduced from France the rhymed couplet (two successive lines of verse equal in length and with thyme) of iambic pentameter which is to be called later the heroic couplet

III the Canterbury tales

1. status

The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer's masterpiece and one of the monumental works in English literature

2. It contains

(1) a general prologue (over 800 lines)

(2) 24 tales

(3) separate prologues and “the links that accompany some of the tales”

Part IV The Renaissance

I.The Renaissance

Features

① A thirsting curiosity for the classical literature.

②The keen interest in the activities of humanity.

Essence: humanism

II. The 16th century England

III. The Renaissance Literature in England

Figures

1/ Thomas More (1478-1535, 托马斯·莫尔)—the Forerunner of utopian socialism Utopia《乌托邦》(1516)

2/ France Bacon (1561-1626,弗朗西斯·培根）--the scientist, philosopher and essayist 3/ Thomas Wyatt (1503?-1542, 托玛斯·维亚特）--a poet, the first to introduce the sonnet into English literature

4/. Edmund Spenser (1552-1599,埃德蒙·斯宾塞)，a great poet

The Faerie Queene《仙后》（1590）

5/ Christopher Marlowe(1564-1593)—the greatest pioneer of English drama Contributions:

He reformed the genre of drama in England and perfected the language and verse of dramatic works.

He made blank verse the principal vehicle of expression in drama

6/ Prose writers

John Lily(1553-1606，约翰·黎利) Eupheus（尤弗伊斯）gives the term of euphuism

Thomas Loge (1558-1625，托马斯·洛奇)

Thomas Deloney (1543-1600,托马斯·德罗尼）

Thomas Nashe（1567-1601，托马斯·纳西）