英语自考《英美文学选读》的资料

一莎士比亚In 1593 and 1594, he published two narrative poems(叙事诗), Venus and Adonis(维纳斯和安东尼斯) and The Rape of Lucrece(鲁克丽斯受辱记).

Four period:

First: The first period of Shakespeare's dramatic career was one of apprenticeship(学徒期). He wrote five history plays: Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III(亨利六世上，中，下),Richard III(理查三世), and Titus Andronicus(泰托斯.安东尼); and four comedies: The Comedy of Errors(错误的喜剧), The Two Gentlemen of Verona(维洛那二绅士), The Taming of the Shrew(训悍记), and Love's Labour's Lost(爱的徒劳).

Second: In the second period, Shakespeare's style and approach became highly individualized. By constructing a complex pattern between different characters and between appearance and reality, Shakespeare made subtle comments on a variety of human foibles. In this period he wrote five histories: Richard II(理查二世), King John(约翰王), Henry IV, Parts I and II(亨利四世上部和下部), and Henry V(亨利五世); six comedies: A Midsummer Night's Dream(仲夏夜之梦), The Merchant of Venice(威尼斯商人),Much Ado About Nothing(无事生非), As You Like It(皆大欢喜), Twelfth Night(第十二夜), and The Merry Wives of Windsor(温莎的风流娘们儿); and two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet(罗密欧与朱丽叶) and Julis Caesar(裘里斯.凯撒).

Third: Shakespeare's third period includes his greatest tragedies and his so-called dark comedies. The tragedies of this period are Hamlet(哈姆雷特), Othello(奥赛罗), King Lear(李尔王), Macbeth(麦克白), Angony and Cleopatra(安东尼与克利奥佩特拉), Troilus and Cressida(克利奥拉纳斯), and Coriolanus(). The two comedies are All's Well That Ends Wells(终成眷属)and Measure for Measure(一报还一报).

Last: The last period of Shakespeare's work includes his principal romantic tragicomedies(浪漫悲喜剧): Pericles(伯利克里), Cymbeline(辛白林), The Winter's Tale(冬天的故事) and The Tempest(暴风雨); and his two final plays: Henry VIII(亨利八世) and The Two Noble Kinsmen(两位贵族亲戚).

Shakespeare's authentic non-dramatic poetry consist of two long narrative poems: Venus and Adonis(维纳斯和安东尼斯) and The Rape of Lucrece(鲁克丽斯受辱记), and his sequence of 154 sonnets. Shakespeare's sonnets are the only direct expression of the poet's own feelings.

With three exceptions (99,126,154) Shakespeare writes his sonnets in the popular English form, first fully developed by Surrey, of three quatrains and a couplet(三节四行诗加一节偶句).

Shakespeare's history plays are mainly written under the principle that national unity under a mighty and just sovereign is a necessity(在一个强大英明的君主统治下的国家，统一是非常必要的).The three history plays on the reign of Henry VI are the beginning of Shakespeare's epic treatment.The first and second parts of Henry IV are undoubtedly the most widely read among his history plays. It reveals a troubled reign in the 15th century. Shakespeare presents the patriotic spirit when mourning over the loss of English territories in France. He also dramatizes the class struggle between the oppressors and the oppressored during Jack Cade's rising of 1450. Furthermore, he condemns the War of the Roses waged by the feudal barons in which innocent people were killed. Here Shakespeare has liberated himself from any imitations of the contempory example .

In his romantic comedies, Shakespeare takes an optimistic attitude toward love and youth, and the romantic elements are brought into full play.(在他的浪漫喜剧中，莎士比亚以乐观的态度对待爱情与青春，并将流浪色彩渲染到极致。)The most important play among the comedies is The Merchant of Venice, in which Shakespeare has created tension, ambiguity, a self-conscious and self-delighting artifice that is at once intellectually exciting and emotionally engaging. The sophistication derives in part from the play between high, outgoing romance and dark forces of negativity and hate. The traditional theme of the play is to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia as a heroine of great beauty, wit and loyalty, and to expose the insatiable greed and brutality of the Jew. Many people today tend to regard the play as a satire of the Christians' hypocrisy and their false standards of friendship and love, their cunning ways of pursuing worldliness and their unreasoning prejudice against Jews. Compared with the idealism of other plays, The Merchant of Venice takes a step forward in its realistic presentation of human nature and human conflict. Though there is a ridiculous touch on the part of the characters restrained by their limitations, Shakespeare's youthful Renaissance spirit of jollity can be fully seen in contrast to the medieval emphasis on future life in the next world.

The successful romantic tragedy is Romeo and Juliet,which eulogizes the faithfulness of love and the spirit of pursuing happiness. The play, though a tragedy, is permeated with optimistic spirit.

Shakespeare's greatest tragedies are :Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. They have some characteristics in common. Each portrays some noble hero, who faces the injustice of human life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation. Each hero has his weakness of nature.

In the plays of Shakespeare's last period, there is a prevalent Christian teaching of atonement. Shakespeare seems to have entered an imagined pastoral world. Thus, he could achieve what he failed to in the real world, i.e. to right the wrongs and to realize his ideals. The