英国文学知识点总结

Part One Early and Medieval English literature
& Masterpiece: “The Song of Beowulf ”
1. Significance:
⏹The national epic of the English people;
⏹A folk legend brought to England by Anglo-Saxons from Northern Europe;
⏹Passed from mouth to mouth for hundreds of years before written down in the 10th century;
⏹The most important and representative work of the Old English (the Anglo-Saxon )literature.
2. Characters:
Beowulf: nephew of Hygelac Hygelac: king of Geats in Jutland Hrothgar: king of the Danes Grendel: a monster
3. Plot:
(1) Beowulf’s fight with the monster Grendel in Hrothgar’s hall
(2) Beowulf’s slaying of Grendel’s mother in her lair
(3) Beowulf’s return to his u ncle, and his succession to the throne.
(4) Beowulf’s victory in death, fifty years later, over the fire dragon
4. Features:
⏹i. Position: The national epic and the first long poem in English .
⏹ii. Rhyme: The poem is written in alliterative verse in a line, with 4 accents in a line , three of which show alliteration( beginning with the same consonant sound )
⏹iii. Rhetorics: A figurative language is used , which is called “kenning” or metaphor .
⏹iv. Structure: It is written in inverted order with two parts in a line (as pause)
& The Medieval English Literature
I. Romance : (in prose or verse form)
a.Subject matter (题材，话题，论题)（See the definition）：
The life and adventures of a noble hero , generally a knight
b. Theme (主题)（See the definition）：The loyalty to the king and lord .
c. Three romance cycles (传奇故事系列)
The Matter of France (about Charlemagne and his peers )
The Matter of Rome (about Alexander the Great )
The Matter of Britain(about the adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table) d. The class nature of Romance :
It’s written for the upper class
Chivalry （骑士精神）is represented to show the quality of the knight : courage , honor , courtesy , loyalty and devotion to the helpless , the weak
and women .
e. Masterpiece :“Sir Gawin and the Green Knight” 《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》in alliterative verse .
* Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
1. Position: i.“The father of English poetry”ii. The founder of English realism (by Gorky)iii. The forerunner of humanism .
2. Contribution:
i.He introduced the “heroic couplet”(the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter抑扬格五音步)
ii. He is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language .
iii. He did much in making the dialect of London the foundation for modern English speech .
3. Literary Creation:
Influenced by：Dante (1265-1321): “The Divine Comedy”
Petrarch (1307-1374) : “Sonnets”
Boccaccio (1313-1375): “Decameron”
4. Masterpiece : “The Canterbury Tales”
i. Significance :
a. A comprehensive picture of Chaucer's time a splendid realistic portrayal .
b. An artistic corridor of people from all walks of life in the medieval England :
a) the gentle class: knight , squire , monk prioress (女修道院的院长), the oxford scholar .
b) the burgher class : tradesman , carpenter , weaver , the Wife of Bath , lawyer
c. Realism and Humanism is revealed :
The praise of man’s energy quick wit and love of life .
The equal right of man and woman to pursue their happiness on earth and the opposition of the dogma of asceticism.
ii. Features:
a. Structural features :
a) A prologue and 24 tales b) All the tales are closely knitted by interspersing them with the talk ,the quarrels , opinions of the pilgrims and especially the judgment of the innkeeper .
b. Literary features :
Heroic couplet : a pair of rhyming iambic pentameter lines .Tone : gentle satire and mild irony .
& The English Ballads (Popular Ballads)
1. Literary Features :i. English folk literature in feudal society .
ii. In song , usually in 4-line stanza , with the 2nd and 4th lines rhymed .
iii. iambic trimeter / tetrameter 抑扬格三音步/四音步
2. Themes :i. The struggle of young lovers against their feudal families.
ii. The conflict between love and wealth.
iii. The cruel effect of jealousy.
iv. The border wars between England and Scotland.
v. The matters of class struggle.
3. Masterpieces:
1) Robin Hood Ballads : gathered into a collection called “The Geste of Robin Hood”
2) “Ro bin Hood and Allan –a –Dale” “Get up and Bar the Door”“Sir Patrick Spans”
Robin Hood
⏹Status: a yeoman forced to be an outlaw/fugitive
⏹Deeds: Greenwood of Sherwood Forest near Nottingham in the center of England
⏹Hunting the King’s deer, robbing from the r ich and distributing among the poor
⏹Friends and followers: the Merry Men (Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, and the romantic minstrel Alan-a-Dale)
⏹His enemy: the Sheriff of Nottingham
⏹His wife: Maid Marian
4. Linguistic characteristics:
Romance
It uses narrative verse or prose to sing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds is a popular literary form in the medieval period. It has developed the characteristic medieval motifs of the quest, the test, the meeting with the evil giant and the encounter with the beautiful beloved.
⏹The hero is usually the knight, who sets out on a journey to accomplish some missions. There is often mysteries and fantasies in romance.
⏹Romantic love is an important part of the plot in romance. Characterization is standardized, while the structure is loose and episodic, the language is simple and straightforward.
⏹The importance of the romance itself can be seen as a means of showing medieval aristocratic men and women in relation to their idealized view of the world.
•Questions for consideration:
1. The features of the medieval English literature ?
2. The significance of The Canterbury Tales ?
3. The literary features of English ballads ?
4. The differences between romance and ballad
Part II The English Renaissance
&Literary influence of the Bible on English language:
Household words from Bible:
root of all evil万恶之源clear as crystal极其明白a thorn in the flesh
眼中钉，肉中刺to cast pearls before swine明珠投暗a labor of love 不计较报酬的工作
eye for eye , tooth for tooth 以眼还眼，以牙还牙
The Development of Literature
i. The Beginning of the English Renaissance
a. Geoffrey Chaucer（1340-1400）The forerunner of English Renaissance
b.William Caxton introducing printing to England in 1476 bringing a multitude of classical works .
& c. Thomas More (1478-1535) The first humanist in England
I. Introduction
Great thinker and humanist in the Renaissance
II. Masterpiece: “Utopia”
Utopia, from two Greek words meaning “nowhere”, is an island discovered on a voyage to the newly discovered Americas.
It is an description of the ideal communist society and ideal commonwealth, where property is held in common and there is no poverty.
Practical basis for the communist society:
From everyone according to his capacities ,to everyone according to his need”各尽所能，按需分配)
B. Different Genres and their representatives: essay, poetry, drama
a. essayist: Francis Bacon
b.poets:Thomas Wyatt, HenryHoward,Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare
c. dramatists/playwrights: Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson
&1. Francis Bacon
A. Position and Contribution:
He is the first great essayist . He is the founder of English materialist philosophy （唯物主义哲学）He is the founder of modern science in England .Inductive Method of Reasoning (归纳法) was stated in his essay “New Instrument”He represents the intellectual energy of the age .
B. Masterpiece:
a. “Advancement of Learning”《科学的进展》
b. “New Instrument” 新工具
c. “Essays” 《随笔集》
Subjects : love truth , friendship , parents and children , beauties , studies , riches , youth and ages , death etc .
Features : clearness ,brevity and force of expression .
C. Wise Sayings:“Knowledge is power”
“Men fear death, as chi ldren fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. “人们惧伯死亡，正如孩童惧于黑暗中行路：孩童心中的恐惧感随着听到的童话故事的增多而增长，人们对死亡的惧怕亦是如此。

”
“Reading makes a full man , conference a ready man ; and writing an exact man”.
“读书使人充实，讨论使人机智，笔记使人准确。

”“Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability”.
“读书足以怡情，足以博采，足以长才。

”
“Histories make men wise; poet, witty; the mathematics, subtle, natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores”.-----From “Of Study”
“读史使人明智，读诗使人灵秀，数学使人周密，科学使人深刻，伦理使人庄重，逻辑修辞之学使人善辩。

凡有所学，皆成性格。

”
& 2. Thomas Wyatt 托马斯·怀亚特（1503－42）: The first to introduce the sonnet into English literature.
& 3. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517?-47) 萨里伯爵
He wrote the first English blank verse (无韵诗，素体诗) to be masterfully used by Shakespeare and Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson etc.
& 4. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86) 菲利普·锡德尼
Status: poet and critic of poetry
Masterpiece:a. “Astrophel and Stella” (1591)《爱星者和星星》: a collection of sonnets
“astrophel” stands for “star” and “stella” stands for “star lover”
b. “Apology for Poetry/Poesy” 《为诗一辩》one of the earliest literary essays to answer the Puritan attack on poetry.
Main ideas:
& 5.Edmund Spenser
In 1594, he married Elizabeth Boyle, the lady in his sonnet sequence
Major works:“The Shepherds’ Calendar” 《牧人月历》
“Amoretti” (1595) (one of the three famous sonnet sequence)《小爱神》/《爱
情小唱》
“The Faerie Queene” (1590-1596)《仙后》
Main themes:love, poetry, and religion
Influence:It sets the pastoral fashion in English literature
& 6.Christopher Marlowe
1. Literary position
He was the most gifted of the “university wits”;He was the true founder of English drama
2. Masterpiece1) “ Tamburlaine” 《帖木儿》Theme: Ambition for power
2) “The Jew of Malta” 《马耳他岛的犹太人》Theme: Greed for wealth
3) “Dr. Faustus” 《浮士德博士的悲剧》Theme:desire for knowledge 3. Contributions:
The first to establish blank verse as the regular measure for tragedy.
His blank verse is vigorous, fluid and precise.
His works paved the way for the plays of Shakespeare.
&7.Ben Jonson
1. Position：
One of the most outstanding figures in the literary world of the 17th century .
A man of versatility : poet ,playwright ,scholar ,critic
The “literary king” in his later years
the head of the so-called “sons of Ben” surrounding him.
2. Dramatic works : comedy, tragedy, masque
Features:“comedy of humors” (气质喜剧)
3. Literary ideas: He advocates principles of classical drama, taking a firm stand for the “Trinity Law”(the unity of tim e, place and action)
Time: representing events of a single day or 12 hours;
Place: within a single setting;Action: no subplot
& 8.William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
1．comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream《仲夏夜之梦》The Merchant of Venice 《威尼斯商人》As You Like It 《皆大欢喜》 Twelfth Night 《第十二夜》
2.tragedies: Hamlet Othello King Lear Macbeth
3. Features of his drama
1. A realist and one of the founders of realism in English literature.
2. Employing the method of adoption in his dramatic creation
3.Elastic drama, free developing actions without being hindered by theclassical rules.
4. Skilled in many poetic forms and his plays are poetical dramas.
5. A great master of English language.
Part III The Period of Revolution and Restoration
& John Milton 约翰。

弥尔顿
“Paradise Lost”（其他作品：Paradise Regained Samson Agonists ）
1) Position: the greatest epic after “Beowulf”
2) Composition: 12 books in blank verse
3) Main figures and meanings:
The God: despot, authority Satan: the revolting sirit Adam and Eve: knowledge craving
4) Purpose:--- To show the unconquerable will of the Puritans;
--- To present his determination against tyranny ;--- To call on people to fight ;
5) Theme: The heroic revolt of Satan against the God’s authority.
6) Image of Satan: --- The real hero of the poem, resourceful and courageous;
---- Prefers independence to happy servility,
---- Welcomes his defeat and his torments as a glory, a liberty, and a joy; ---- The spirit questioning the authority of God.
& John Bunyan 约翰·班扬
1. Masterpiece：“The Pilgrim’s Progress”《天路历程》(1678)
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. ---Bunyan 一鸟在手，胜于双鸟在林。

---班扬
“The land that flowed with milk and honey”——The Celestial City is，the vision of an ideal happy society dreamed of by the poor.
The Metaphysical Poets / School 玄学派
1) Definition: --- “metaphysics”: highly abstract inference and theory 高度抽象的推理，形而上学，玄学
2) Features : surprising conceits ，strange paradoxes ，far –fetched imagery
strange paradoxes ：proud humility不卑不亢painful pleasure 悲喜交集a thunderous
silence 无声胜有声bitter–sweet memories 苦甜参半的回忆poor rich guys
精神贫穷的富人 a wisely stupid idea 自作聪明的糊涂主意speaking silence , dumb confession ,passion’s birth , and infant’s play 千言万语的静默；默默无声的坦白；激情的产儿，孩童的游戏
& 3)代表人物：John Donne 约翰.多恩(1572-1631)
The founder of the metaphysical
“The Flea”《跳蚤》A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning《临别慰语---莫悲伤》
Part IV The 18th Century
❖Three successive tendencies in literature.
1. Neoclassicism:
2. Sentimentalism: (感伤主义)
3. Pre-romanticism:
& Samuel Richardson
I. Major novels:
1. “Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded: In a Series of Familiar Letters from a Beautiful Young Damsel to Her Parents”《帕米拉》，又称《贞洁/美德得报：一个漂亮姑娘写给父母的几封家信》
& Robert Steele
1. The founder of the newspaper:
“The Tatler”《闲谈者》Purpose: To enlighten and entertain the coffeehouse goers
2. Joint runner of the newspaper:“The Spectator”《旁观者》(1711-1712) To enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality以文思激发道德以道德调剂文思”
To make instruction agreeable, and diversion useful”“让教育变得令人愉悦，让娱乐给人启迪”
To gather new ideas of the time and put them within the reach of the reading public, aiming at social reform.
& Samuel Johnson
He founded the famous Literary Club (文学社) and became “the great cham of literature” (文学泰斗)
“The Rambler” (1750-1752) 《漫谈者》“The Idler” (1758-1760) 《闲散者》
& Alexander Pope
名言：An honest man is the noblest work of God. 诚实的人是上帝创造的最佳作品。

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said, 'Let Newton be!' and all was light.
(Epitaph for Isaac Newton’s tomb stone by Alexander Pope)
自然和自然的法则隐藏在黑暗之中。

上帝说：“让牛顿出世吧！”于是一切豁然开朗。

Major works：“Essay on riticism”《论批评》
Rules of criticism：The best rules of criticism exist in the ancient works that have stood the test of time.
Proverbs in this poem:“For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”初生牛犊不怕虎
“To err is human, to forgive, divine”凡人多舛误，唯神能见宥
“A little learning is a dangerous thing”一知半解最危险
“Essay on Man”《论人》
“Where there is life, there is hope”
——The scheme of the universe is the best despite the appearance of evil; “One truth is clear, whatever is, is right”(一个事实毋庸置疑，凡存在的，必合理。

)
——The failure to see the general perfection is due to our limited vision.
其他：“The Rape of the Lock”《夺发记》“The Dunciad”《群愚史诗》/ 《愚人志》
& Jonathan Swift ——“Gulliver’s Travels”
1．去过的四个地方A voyage to Lilliput: A voyage to Brobdingnag: The voyage to Laputa, the Flying Island A voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnyms
2. Swift’s style:He is one of the greatest masters of English prose.
His language is simple, clear and vigorous.
His literary ideas is reflected in the following sentence: “Proper words in proper places make the true definition of a style”
& Daniel Defoe
Robinson Crusoe (1719) : first novel and masterpiece
(1)The best qualities of Robinson Crusoe:
marvelous capacity for work, boundless energy，persistence in overcoming obstacles.
(2) The bourgeois outlook of Robinson Crusoe:
The character of Robinson Crusoe is representative of the English bourgeoisie at the earlier stages of its development.
3）Defoe’s bourgeois outlook manifests itself in the fact that he does not
“Robinson Crusoe”
a writer in the Enlightenment period, Defoe also attached great
importance to the moulding of character and to education through the influence of varied environment.
& Henry Fielding
Famous sayings by Henry Fielding:
Handsome is that handsome does. 行为善者始为美。

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.不要因为结束而哭泣,要为曾经拥有而微笑。

Money is the fruit of evil, as often as the root of it.金钱是罪恶的产物，正如它常被认为是罪恶的根源。

1.Literary position of Henry Fielding
-“Father of English novel”(by Walter Scott)
-“the founder of English realistic novel and he sets up the theory of realism in literary creation”
2. Masterpieces: four important novels
1) “Joseph Andrew”2) “Jonathan Wilde” 3) “Tom Jones”4) “Amelia”
《阿米莉亚》
3．His features
1) The novel should represent the reality of human nature and the inner
world of man by the probability and invariability (不变性) of the characters and events.
2) He sets four basic qualities for a novelist:
the native gift, adequate learning, rich experience with life and a kind heart
3）the basis of his work: “Nature herself”
4）. the centre of his working philosophy: “Man”
Sentimentalism
Objective: A keen interest in the English countryside and life of the common people.
& 代表人物：Thomas Gray 托马斯·格雷
The leader of the Sentimentalist poets (感伤主义诗人) and “the Graveyard School” (墓园派)
作品：Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 《墓畔挽歌》THE EPITAPH (墓志铭)
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 晚钟响起来一阵阵给白昼报丧，（宵禁钟声,晚八点钟敲,是中世纪遣留下来的风俗。

白日已尽,晚钟好像
是送别白昼的丧钟。

）
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, 牛群在草原上迂回，吼声起落，The plowman homeward plods his weary way,耕地人累了，回家走，脚步踉跄，
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.把整个世界留给了黄昏与我。

Pre-Romanticists
& William Blake (1757-1827)
To see the world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower; Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. “从一粒沙子看一个世界,从一朵野花里看见一个天堂;把无限掌握在你的手里,把永恒存在于一瞬间.”
Masterpieces:
Songs of Innocence《天真之歌》Songs of Experience《经验之歌》The Marriage of Heaven and Hell《天堂与地狱的结合》
Features of his poetry
a. Style: symbolic, mystic and prophetic
b. Spirit: romantic and revolutionary
c. Art: individual originality
& Robert Burns
Features of his poems：1. Written in the Scottish dialect, revealing the common feelings of the working people;2. Numerous songs of love and friendship, carrying with the spirit of romanticism.
A Red, Red Rose《一朵红红的玫瑰》--- a world famous love poem
Auld Lang Syne 《友谊地久天长》---the universal parting song in English- speaking peoples
Part V Romanticism
Romanticism --- a main literary trend, springing first in the movement of Sturm und Drang in Germany and then spread to Europe;
--- It prevailed in England during the period 1798 and 1832, beginning with the publication of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads(1798)and ending with Walter Scott’s death (1832);
--- The Preface to Lyrical Ballads serves as the manifesto of the English Romantic movement;
--- It expressed the ideology and sentiment of the social strata who were discontent with and opposed to the development of Capitalism;
--- It rejects the ordered rationality of the Enlightenment as mechanical, impersonal and artificial;
--- The chief emphasis was upon the freedom of individual self-expression: sincerity, spontaneity (自发性) and originality, which became the new standards in literature;
--- It turned to the emotional directness of personal experience and to the boundlessness of individual imagination and aspiration;
--- It drew energy from the associated revolutionary movements of democracy and nationalism
--- It split into two schools in terms of its difference of political attitudes: the passive (escapist) romanticists: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey (the Lake Poets) and Lamb
the active romanticists: Byron, Shelley , Keats and Walter Scott
& William Wordsworth
1. Source of good poetry:
All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling, recollected in tranquility.
2. Foundation of poetry:
He appeal directly to individual sensations in pleasure, excitement, enjoyment as the foundation in the creation of poetry.
3. The function of poetry:
To give an unexpected splendor (光彩，光辉) to familiar and common things in common life.
4. He endeavored to bring language to the real language of men.
5。

代表作
I wandered lonely as a cloud (1804) 《我如行云独自游》or 《黄水仙》--- My Heart Leaps Up《心情激荡》or 《我心驿动》
Famous saying in this lyric: “The child is father of the man.” “三岁看大，七岁看老”
Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey《丁登寺》
To the Cuckoo《致杜鹃》The solitary Reaper《孤独的割麦女》
Lucy poems《露西组诗》She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways《她居于人迹罕至之处》
& George Gordon Byron
Masterpiece:
1）Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage《恰尔德。

哈罗尔德游记》
Language: Spenserian Stanza (abab/bcbc/c)
2）Don Juan《唐璜》Language:Written in ottava rima (八行体)each stanza containing 8 iambic pentameter lines.
& Percy Bysshe Shelley(1792-1822) 珀西·比希·雪莱
Ode the West Wind西风颂
Features of the poem: Shelley uses terza rima （三行诗节隔句押韵法）in the poem.
& John Keats
His odes: Ode to a Nightingale《夜莺颂》Ode on a Grecian Urn《希腊古今颂》
Ode to Psyche《普赛克颂》Ode to Melancholy《忧郁颂》To Autumn《秋颂》
*Ode to a Nightingale*
1) Theme: melancholy is linked with joy.
2) Features:(1) In 10-line stanza with the rhyme pattern of each stanza abab ced ced (2) Rich in sensuous beauty（激发美感）(3) Appealing to the senses of sound, smell, taste in expression
3) Imagery analysis: “Nightingale”---- a symbol of external joy with a color of melancholy.
*Leading principle: (expressed in “Ode on Grecian Urn”)“Beauty is truth, truth beauty”
Part VI and VII English Critical Realism
& Charles Dickens
*A list of his novels and other collections in three periods:
(I)Sketches by Boz (1836)
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836-37)
Oliber Twist (1837-38)
Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39)
The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41) Barnaby Rudge (1841)
Feature: youthful optimism
(II)American Notes (1842)
Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-45) A Chrismas Carol (a Chrismas book) (1843)
The Chimes (a Chrismas book) (1844) The Cricket on the Hearth (a Chrismas book) (1845)
Dombey and Son (1846-48)
David Copperfield (1849-50) Feature: being shaken of the naive optimism and filled with excitement and irritation
(III)Bleak House (1852-53) Hard Time (1854)
Little Dorrit (1855-57)
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Great Expectations (1860-61) Our Mutual Friend (1864-65) Edwin Drood (unfinished) Feature: intensifying pessimism
& William M. Thackeray
The Book of Snobs 《势利者集》
His masterpiece:V anity Fair ，A Novel Without a Hero《名利场：没有正面主人公的小说》
1.The source of the title: John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress
2. The meaning of the subtitle:
T he writer’s intention was not to portray indiv iduals,but the bourgeois and aristocratic society as a whole.
In the way of characterization：On the one hand, there are only two heroines, as the major characters; on the other hand, neither Becky nor Amelia can be seen as the real heroines, for Becky seems too evil a character and Amelia appears too pale.
3. Purpose:
--- the life of the ruling classes of England in the early decades of the 19th century;
--- the attack and satirizing of the bourgeois upper society
& Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility 《理智与情感》Pride and Prejudice《傲慢与偏见》Mansfield Park《曼斯菲玛德庄园》Emma《爱玛》Persuasion《劝导》Northanger Abbey 《诺桑觉寺》
Features of her novels
plot: simple, clear
Characterization: precise expression in the words of the characters.
Tone: a mild touch of humor and satire Style: easy, effortless and graceful & The Bronte sisters
Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre Emily Bronte：Wuthering Heights
& Alfred Tennyson
Position: The greatest poet of the 19th century
Masterpieces：In Memoriam《悼念集》（Break, Break, Break 《浪花，拍，
拍，拍》）
The Idylls of the King《国王诗歌集》
& The Browning: Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret
Mr. Browning: Home Thoughts from Abroad
Mrs. Browning: How Do I Love Thee
& Hardy代表作Tess of the D’Urbervilles
& Bernard Shaw宿命论
Focus:
1. Position and influences of famous authors,
2. Puritanical ideas
3. Rhyme scheme and poetic features: blank verse, alliterative verse,
sonnet, Spenserian stanza, heroic couplet, ottava rima, terza rima, metaphysical poems and etc
4. Historical sequence of British literature
5. Representatives of different literary stages and trends or schools. eg.
Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, Bacon, Defoe, Fielding, Pope, Marlowe, Spenser, Swift, John Keats, Thomas Grey, William Blake and Robert Burns;
6. Well-known sayings in Bible and quoted from famous literary works。