考研英国文学复习要点(参照教材刘炳善《英国文学简史》)解析

Part One: Early and Medieval English Literature1. Beowulf: national epic of the English people; Denmark story; alliteration, metaphors and understatements （此处可能会有填空，选择等小题）2. Romance （名词解释）3. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”: a famous roman about King Arthur’s story4. Ballad（名词解释）5. Character of Robin Hood6. Geoffrey Chaucer: founder of English poetry; The Canterbury Tales (main contents; 124 stories planned, only 24 finished; written in Middle English; significance; form: heroic couplet)7. Heroic couplet (名词解释)Part Two: The English Renaissance8. The Authorized Version of English Bible and its significance（填空选择）9. Renaissance（名词解释）10.Thomas More——Utopia11. Sonnet（名词解释）12. Blank verse（名词解释）13. Edmund Spenser“The Faerie Queene”; Amoretti (collec tion of his sonnets)Spenserian Stanza（名词解释）14. Francis Bacon “essays” esp. “Of Studies”（推荐阅读，学习写正式语体的英文文章的好参照，本文用词正式优雅，多排比句和长句，语言造诣非常高，里面很多话都可以引用做格言警句，非常值得一读）15. Christopher Marlowe (“Doctor Faustus” and his achievements)16. William Shakespeare可以说是英国文学史中最重要的作家，一定要看熟了。

四大喜剧，四大悲剧比较重要，此外就是罗密欧与朱立叶了，这些剧的主题，背景，情节，人物形象都要熟悉，当然他最重要的喜剧作品是Hamlet这是肯定的。

他的sonnet也很重要，最重要属sonnet18。

（其戏剧中著名对白和几首有名的十四行诗可能会出选读）Lecture 1Part 1 Early and Medieval English Literature“Early” here means English literature in primitive and slav ery society.“Medieval period” is a quite special period in English history. In Chinese “Medieval” or “The Middle Age” means “中世纪”. You may hear something about this period. It was called “The Middle Age” because it was considered as the time between ancie nt world and the modern world. Here “Medieval” means English literature in feudal England before the Renaissance.I. Early English Literature (Anglo-Saxon Literature)1, Historical Background1 The earliest inhabitants of the British Isles were Britons, a tribe of Celts. Today most Celts lived in Scotland and Wales.2 From 55 B.C. to 410 A. D. Romans conquered the Great Britain. The Roman army was led by Julius Caesar, who was a very famous figure in ancient Rome. He was a famous general and conquered lot o f places in Europe and then he became dictator of Rome. He had famous words “I came, I saw, I conquered”. You can see how strong this man’s will is.Consequence of Roman conquest: a network of highways; scores of towns, including London; Roman lifestyle3 English Conquest•Shortly after Romans’ retreat, the Britain was invaded by Anglos, Saxons and Jutes. And by the 7th century Old English emerged.•Anglo-Saxon period witnessed a transition from tribal society to feudalism.•Anglo-Saxons were Christianized in the 7th century. Before Christianization, Anglo-Saxons believed in old northern European mythologies. If you are interested in old Britain mythologies you may read the famous novel “The Lord of the Rings”, which was a collection of old northern European mythologies. The Christianization of Anglo-Saxons influenced the record of old English literature.2, Beowulf —— National epic of English people1 Definition of epic: an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero2 Story of Beowulf•Ask students to read the story of Beowulf on textbook by themselves and then ask them “What are the three adventures mentioned in the story?”•The story of Beowulf includes three adventures: killing monster Grendel, killing Grendel’s mother and killing a fire dragon.3 Some important points•“Beowulf” is a folk legend brought to England by Anglo-Saxons from their continental homes. However it also reflected the features of the tribal society in Britain.•Originally Beowulf, the great epic, was in oral form and it must be a collective creation.•Beowulf in the epic is a legendary figure. In formal history you can not find a man named Beowulf.④Artistic features of “Beowulf”•Using alliterationDefinition of alliteration: a rhetorical device, meaning some words in a sentence begin with the same consonant sound（头韵）Some examples on P5•Using metaphor and understatementDefinition of understatement: expressing something in a controlled wayUnderstatement is a typical way for Englishmen to express their ideas. You may find some examples on P6⑤Epic tradition in Europelong narrative verse, part-historical and part-legendary originThis tradition can be traced back to Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. Similar wo rks in Europe are “Edda” and “Saga” from Iceland etc. (referring to 《欧洲文学史》)3, “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”• The book was conceived by King Alfred the Great. He also organized and supervised the writing process of the book.•This book is a very important hist orical document and specimen of Anglo-Saxon prose.II, Medieval English Literature1, Historical Background1 Norman conquest in 1066 marks the establishment of feudalism in England.2 By the end of the 14th century, the Middle English emerged.3 The ecclesiastics, from the monks and the clergy to the bishops and archbishops, together possessed over one third of the land in the country and owned numerous serfs, and had their tithes and ecclesiastical courts and the backing of the Pope in Rome. They had much political as well as religious power. Understanding the great influence of Christianity in the medieval Europe is very important for you to understand their literature because Christianity is one of the two resources of European culture. (referring toLecture 22. The Romance（骑士文学）1 Definition of the Romance: a long composition, sometimes in verse, sometimes inprose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. (P10)* Knight is a special group of people existed in the Middle Age in Europe. Nearlyall nobles were knights. However, nobody was born a knight. One nobleman who wantto become a knight must experience hard training and then the king will give himknighthood.* Codes of the Knight（骑士准则）:protect the weak, fight for church, loyal to yourlord, loyal to King, respect women of noble birth（西方人对于男士良好风度的概念起源于这些骑士准则，是以西方有“骑士风度”说法。