英国文学选读要点

《英国文学选读》学习要点（1）-- 文学常识标签：英国文学选读要点文学常识分类：英国文学选读课程 2008-10-21 23:29文学常识部分：1. Poetry is the most compressed form of literature.2. Poetry is composed of carefully chosen words expressing great depth of meaning.3. Poetry uses specific devices such as connotation, sound, and rhythm to express the appropriate combination of meaning and emotion.4. Lyrical poetry presents the deep feelings and emotions of the poet as opposed to poetry that tells a story or presents a witty observation.5. Shakespeare writes his sonnets in the popular English form of three quatrains and a couplet.6. Soliloquy in drama a speech, often of some length, in which a character, alone on the stage, expresses his thoughts and feelings.7. Plot is known as the “series of related events”.8. There are five parts to a plot: introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution9. Climax is the "turning point of the story".10. Conflict describes the struggle between two characters or forces.11. The purpose of the short story's title is to inform readers of story content, to indicate main idea, to create curiosity12. Symbol is an object or idea that has its own meaning and representssomething else as well.13. Theme is the main idea or author's opinion about life expressed in a piece of literature.14. One character is clearly central to the story with all major events having some importance to this character - he/she is the protagonist. The opposer of the main character is called the antagonist.15. Characterization is the techniques writers use to create and develop characters.16. Point of View is the relationship between the narrator and the story (who is telling the story).17. A writer tells his story from a different point of view -- narration. There are 3 points of view when telling a story: First person: The narrator "I"; Omniscient: All-knowing narrator; Limited Omniscient: (third person)18. Setting is the time and place of the story.《英国文学选读》要点（2） -- 诗人及其作品解读标签：英国文学选读要点诗人及作品解读分类：英国文学选读课程 2008-10-21 23:361. Introduction of William ShakespeareSignificancel the greatest English poet and dramatistl certainly the most important playwright of the English Renaissancel Likely the most influential writer in all of English literatureTheme of Sonnet 18His sonnet 18 expresses that beautiful things can rely on the force of literature to reach eternity.Analysis of the poeml The first two quatrains focus on the fair lord's beauty: the poet attempts to compare it to a summer's day, but shows that there can be no such comparison, since the fair lord's timeless beauty far surpasses that of the fleeting, inconstant season.l Summer -- "summer" as a metaphor for youth, or perhaps beauty, or perhaps the beauty of youth.l What does “eternal lines” mean in the last but one stanza?l What’s the rhyme of Shakespearean Sonnet?Questions 1 in page 14：The speaker opens the poem with a question addressed to the beloved: "ShallI compare thee to a summer's day?" The next eleven lines are devoted to sucha comparison.l In line 2, the speaker stipulates what mainly differentiates the young man from the summer's day: he is "more lovely and more temperate."l The poet describes summer as a season of extremes and disappointments. Summer's days tend toward extremes: they are shaken by "rough winds"; In them, the sun ("the eye of heaven") often shines "too hot," or too dim. And summer is fleeting: its date is too short, and it leads to the withering of autumn, as "every fair from fair sometime declines."l The final quatrain of the sonnet tells how the beloved differs from the summer in that respect: his beauty will last forever ("Thy eternal summer shall not fade...") and never die.l In the couplet, the speaker explains how the beloved's beauty will accomplish this feat, and not perish because it is preserved in the poem, which will last forever; it will live "as long as men can breathe or eyes can see."2. Geoffrey Chaucer （1340 -- 1400）Significance| “the father of English poetry” (by John Dryden)| the founder of modern English| the founder of English realistic literature: the greatest literate before Shakespeare| He was the first to be buried in Westminster Abby, for his great contribution to the making of English and literature.Chaucer’s writing style|His poetry is full of vigor and swiftness.|He enriched the poetic forms for the English poetry.|He is the first people who made the London vernacular the language of his work thus make it the foundation for modern speech and establishing English as the literary language of the country.General Introduction to The Canterbury TalesSignificance| It was the last of Geoffrey Chaucer's works| The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer’s Masterpiece and one of the monumental works in English literature.| It is one of the landmarks of English literature, perhaps the greatest work produced in Middle English| It gives us a true to life picture of his time. The work stands as a historical and sociological introduction to the life and times of the late Middle AgesAn Analysis of the opening linesAs April comes, the narrator begins a pilgrimage to Canterbury from the Tabard Inn at Southwerk. Twenty-nine people make the pilgrimage toward Canterbury and the narrator describes them in turn.| These are the opening lines with which the narrator begins the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales. The imagery in this opening passage is of spring’s renewal and rebirth.| After the long sleep of winter, people begin to stir, feeling the need to “goon on pilgrimages,” or to travel to a site where one worships a saint’s relics as a means of spiritual cleansing and renewal.An analysis of the Knight|The Knight represents the ideal of a medieval Christian man-at-arms. The Knight is first to be described in the General Prologue because socially, the Knight is by far the most prestigious person on the pilgrimage. He is the highest on the social scale, being closest to belonging to the highest estate, the aristocracy.Four main qualities of the Knight.|The first is the Knight’s love of ideals—“chivalrie” (prowess), “trouthe”(fidelity), “honour” (reputation), “fredom” (generosity), and “curteisie”(refinement) (General Prologue, 45–46).|The second is the Knight’s impressive military career. The Knight has foughtin the Crusades, wars in which Europeans traveled by sea to non-Christian lands and attempted to convert whole cultures by the force of their swords.|The third quality the narrator remembers about the Knight is his meek, gentle, manner.|And the fourth is his “array,” or dress. The Knight wears a tunic made of coarse cloth, and his coat of mail is rust-stained, because he has recently returned from an expedition.3. Introduction of John Donne（1572 - 1631）Significancel Founder of Metaphysical Schooll Donne was the leading exponent of a style of poetry called "metaphysical poetry," which flourished in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.l The most striking feature of Donne’s Poetry is his frequent use of conceit.l The main themes of the metaphysical poets are love, death and religion.Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,l spare three lives in one fleal you, I, and the fleal Holy trinity: Holy father, Holy son, and Holy spiritWhen we almost, nay more than maryed are.This flea is you and I, and thisOur marriage bed, and marriage temple is;churchThough parents grudge, and you, w'are met,And cloysterd in these living walls of Jet.l live the fleaThough use make thee apt to kill me,Let not to this, selfe murder added bee,l Let self-murder not be added to thisAnd sacrilege, three sinnes in killing three.l Donne’s first metaphor: three lives in one fleal second metaphor: compares the flea to a “marriage bed and marriage temple”Themes of Holy Sonnet 10His Holy Sonnet 10 reveals his belief in life after death. Death is momentarily while happiness after death is eternal.l One short sleep past, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.1. What does sleep mean? Death.2. How do you understand we live eternally?Life and death are two periods. Death is the expansion of life. Shortly after our death, our soul will enter heaven and live happily forever.4. Introduction of Robert Burns（1759-1796）Significancel Scottish poet and writer of traditional Scottish folk songsl He is the national poet of Scotland. Robert Burns is representative of Scotland. He has become almost a national symbol of all things Scottish.l the greatest poet Scotland in the late 18th century has ever produced;l a remarkable lyricist on the theme of love and friendship;l a patriotic poet calling for national independence, liberty, equality and fraternity for all the people in the world ;l a peasant poet sharing his people’s feelings and drawing material form the folk legends and songs;l He was the people’s poet. He came from the people and wrote for the people.l “A Red, Red Rose” is written as a ballad with four stanzas of four lines, or quatrains each§Themes of A Red, Red RoseTheme - this is a poem of love and reassurance. Burns is leaving his love and intends to reassure her of his fidelity and love for her in his absence.5. Introduction of William Wordsworth(1770-1850)Significancel He is the third greatest poet and the greatest lyric poet in English literature.l He is the leading figure of the English Romantic poetry, and he is regareded as a “worshipper of nature”.l He was one of “lake poets”l He is a poet in memory of the past and was called "prophets of nature"I Wandered Lonely as a CloudForml The four six-line stanzas of this poem follow a quatrain-couplet rhyme scheme: ABABCC.l Each line is metered in iambic tetrameter.Characteristics – The poem is a master piece on natureSignificanceThis poem typically depicts the serene beauty of nature and shows the poet’s respect for nature as well.Exercises"For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dance with the daffodils.(1) What is the "bliss of the solitude"? The Daffodils the poem saw.(2) Interpret the passage.It is a bliss/happiness to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind when he is solitude/lonely.(3) Why did the poet write the poem, what did he want to express?The poem depicts/deals with the flowers that he came across along waterside, by which he expresses the quiet, sympathy, loving feeling to nature just like his words "poetry is from "emotion recollected in tranquility".I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.Questions:(1) Interpret briefly the meaning of this stanza.Like a cloud flying over valleys and mountains, I was traveling. Suddenly to my surprise, I saw a grove of daffodils at the side of a lake. How beautiful they were, fluttering and dancing in the wind.(2) Which literary trend does this poem belong to?Romantic period5. Introduction of Percy Shelly（1792～1822）Genre of the PoemThe ode is a lyric poem of some length, dealing with a lofty theme in a dignified manner and originally intended to be sung.Form of the poemEach of the seven parts of "Ode to the West Wind" contains five stanzas--four three-line stanzas and a two-line couplet, all metered in iambicpentameter. The rhyme scheme in each part follows a pattern known as terza rima, Thus each of the seven parts of "Ode to the West Wind" follows this scheme: ABA BCB CDC DED EE.SummaryOde to the West Wind" is one of Shelley's best known lyrics. The poet describes vividly the activities of the west wind on the earth, in the sky and on the sea, and then expresses his envy for the boundless freedom of the west wind, and his wish to be free like the wind and to scatter his words among mankind.Exercises| O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves deadAre driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, …alliteration personificationQuestions:|What kind of wind does west wind refer to?Autumn wind.|What do these lines describe?The destructive power of the west wind that drives away all the old and rotten things.|"Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!“(1)What does the "wild spirit "refer to?"wild spirit" refers to west wind/autumn wind.(2)Why called it "Destroyer and Preserver" at the same time?Because west wind buries the dead leaves, the symbol of old rotten society, and also the things, thoughts, or ideas that are dead or obsolete. Meanwhile it prepares for a new spring, and preserves new life or seeds that will come to life in the spring, the symbol of a new world.(3)Identify the poet and the poem."Ode to the west wind" of Percy Shelley. (terza rima)"As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.Oh! Lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowedOne too like thee: tameless, and swift and proud.“A heavy weight of hours|It refers to burdens and pressures of life|moral and cultural conventions picked up by individuals in life|lessons learned from life experience| sufferings and misfortunes in life.(1)Explain "I fall upon the thorns of life, I bleed“The sentence call Shelley’s desire that he couldn’t best being fetteredto/limited by the humdrum/too ordinary reality of everyday!(2)Can you comprehend the deep emotion contained in the poem? What’s that?In the poem, the west wind has become the poet himself, he wants to befree, proud and uncontrollable like the wild west wind, to destruct and construct with the strong power like the west wind.(3)The poet was called the "the heart of all hearts", he trumpeted the radical prophecy of hope and rebirth. Please write out his classic words.If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?| This is of course a rhetorical question because spring does come after winter.|The question has a deeper meaning and does not only mean the change of seasons, but is a reference to death and rebirth as well.|It illustrates Shelley’s critical attitude to the ugly society and can best express Shelley’s optimistic belief in the bright future of mankind in face of the cold winter, that is the cold society, and the harsh social reality.It may mean that after the struggles and problems in life, there would always be a solution.6. Introduction of John Keats (1795-1821)Significancel The most talented of the English romantic poetsl He wrote best odes in English literaturel The last of the great Romanticsl The most attractive Romantic figure because of his personal life and his poetryl A poet of great beautyl A close friend of Shelley’sType of WorkType of poem: lyric poem Type of lyric poem: odeExercise 1:"Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,Sylvan historian, who canst thus expressA flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:"(1)Who is the poet? The name?(2)Explain the sentence.(3)What was the theme of the poem?Answer:(1)This is the "ode on a Grecian Um", which was written by the poet---John Keats.(2)The sentence means: though time has passed, the urn, the works of the art still remains, and it tells a pastoral/lyrical tale to us, and the description of the urn is much more beautiful than the words of any human.(3)The theme is: Human life is transient, but the art is immortal.Exercise 2:"O Attic shape! Fair attitude! With brede …As doth eternity: cold pastoral!"(1)How do you understand "cold pastoral"(2)What device is used in the poem?(3)Explain the implication of the poem. At the end of the poem, the poet gavea famous saying, and it is also the theme of the poem, what is that?Answer:(1)Cold pastoral means the lyrical scene on the Grecian urn lacks life and warmth.(2)Contrast.(3)The poet wanted to show the permanence of the art and the transience of human passion presenting his ambivalence/opposing feelings about time and nature of beauty. The saying is "Beauty is truth, truth beauty"7. Introduction of Alfred TennysonSignificanceHe was the most prolific poet in the 19th-century English literature.He is the most representative Victorian poet.His wonderful works show all the qualities of England’s great poets.Poet LaureateAnalysis of the poemThe Eagle: A FragmentIn the first stanza the eagle sits perched up on some high mountain crag in some deserted area, and in the second stanza he suddenly swoops down in flight.Notice the contrast between the two stanzas: in the first the eagle is sittingstill, and in the second one he is in flight.Break，Break，Break"Break, Break, Break" is a lyric poem that Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was believed to have completed in 1834. It centers on Tennyson's grief over the death of his best friend, Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet.The fisherman's boy happily playing with his sister, the sailor merrily singing, the ship busily plying the waters of commerce：The poet’s own feelings of sadness are contrasted with the carefree, innocent joys of the children and the unfeeling movement of the ship and the sea waves.ThemesGrief；Preciousness of Youth；Indifference of Nature8 William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)Significance|an Irish poet, dramatist and prose writer|Yeats is the greatest poet in the history of Ireland|the greatest poet to write in English during the twentieth century|He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.The Second Coming|The poem uses religious symbolism to illustrate Yeats' anguish over the apparent decline of Europe's ruling class, and his occult belief that Western civilization (if not the whole world) was nearing the terminal point of a 2000-year historical cycle.|"The Second Coming" is one of Yeats's most famous and most anthologized poemsBackground|The title of the poem refers to the Christian belief that Christ will return to this earth some day and reign over an age of peace after a great war betweeen Good and Evil has destroyed the old civilizations. Theis rebirth of Christ at some future time is called “the Second Coming”Structure|the first stanza describes the conditions present in the world《英国文学选读》要点（3）-- 散文家/短篇小说家/戏剧家及其作品解读标签：英国文学选读要点散文家短篇小说家戏剧家作品解读分类：英国文学选读课程 2008-10-21 23:41Francis Bacon（1561—1626）Significancel He is a philosophy, a scientist and the first English essayist.l He is best known for his Essays that is the first example of that genre in English literature.Of Studies -- The most popular of Bacon’s essays.Language FeaturesForceful and persuasive; compact and precise; and the essays reveals to us Bacon’s nature attitude towards learning.l What studies chiefly serve for.l The different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies.l How studies exert influence over human characterThemeDifferent ways of studies may exert different influences over human characters.10. David Herbert Lawrence，1885～1930Significancel English novelist, story writer, critic, poet and painterl one of the greatest figures in 20th-century English literaturel the greatest novelist form a working familyl one of the primary shapers of 20th-century fictionRocking Horse WinnerStylel The opening paragraphs of “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are written in a style similar to that of a fairy tale. ThemesThe theme of the story is that materialism can lead to spiritual death, and that when we gamble or game for gold, we only are going to win a hollow soul.Evident in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is Lawrence's distain for conspicuous consumption, crass materialism, and an emotionally distant style of parenting popularly thought to exist in England during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.| rocking horse -- by its very frantic motion, back and forth, symbolizes the frantic grasping for wealth.| Hester -- Paul’s mother, a cold, unfeeling, wasteful, shallow and materialistic woman who is incapable of loving others.William ShakespeareWorks of Shakespeare and the three major periods of his literary life|The first period: 1590 to 1600, In this period he created his best comedies A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice; Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It; and Twelfth Night;|The second period began from 1601 to 1609. In this period he produced his four great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, which represent the climax of his dramatic power.Please give a brief analysis of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy| “To be or not to be” is a philosophical exploration of life and death. The soliloquy conveys ’the sense of world-weariness.Analysis of Hamlet|Hamlet is a man of Renaissance with humanist’s ideal.|Hamlet is a hero of the Renaissance. His learning, wisdom, noble nature, limitation and tragedy are all representative of the humanists at the turn of the 16th and the 17th century.The theme of “ Hamlet”|It praises Hamlet’s struggle against his evil uncle.|It expresses the sharp contradiction between the rising bourgeoisie and the feudal power through a bloody revenge.|It also shows that England was no longer a merry England as it was before.It’s a country full of disturbances, social evils.《英国文学选读》要点（4）-- 小说家及其作品解读标签：英国文学选读要点小说家作品解读分类：英国文学选读课程 2008-10-21 23:47Daniel Defoe(1661-1731) and his Robinson CrusoeSignificance|a pioneer novelist of England;|one of the forerunners of the English realistic novel;|Along with Samuel Richardson, Defoe is considered the founder of the English novel.The themes|man’s struggles against nature|Glorification of the bourgeois men who has the courage and will to face hardship and determination to improve his livelihood.|Glorification of laborThe style|Realistic styleSymbol – The great wooden cross|The great wooden cross that Crusoe makes to mark time is a symbol of his journey towards rebirth.|The symbol casts a new, somewhat romantic light on the adventure, for it gives hope and foreshadows success for Robinson CrusoeThe Capital letters on the cross|The large size and capital letters show us how important this cross is to Crusoe as a timekeeping device and thus also as a way of relating himself to the larger social world where dates and calendars still matter.|It’s a memorial to Crusoe himself, underscoring how completely he has become the center of his own life.Character Analysis – Robinson Crusoe|Robinson Crusoe is one of the protagonists drawn most successfully in English novels.|Through the characterization of Robinson Crusoe, Defoe depicts him as a hero struggling against nature, and human fate with his indomitable will and hand, and eulogizes creative labor, physical and mental, an allusion to glorification of the bourgeois creativity when it was a rising and more energetic class in the initial stage of its historical development.|From an individual laborer to a master and colonizer, Crusoe seems to have gone through various stages of human civilization, creating a visual picture to manifest how man’s history has developed from the primitive to the feudal, and then to the capitalistic one in the eighteenth century.Jane Austen(1775-1817) and her Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817Significance|a woman novelist of the 18th century|the only important female author in the 18-19th century|the first writer who examines women’s position and their problems in the society|She presented the quiet, day-to-day country life of the middle -upper -class English.How do you understand Pride and Prejudice?|Pride and Prejudice is the most popular of Jane Austen’s novels.|Pride and Prejudice is originally drafted as "First Impressions".|In this novel, the author explores the relationship between great love and realistic benefits.|In this novel, Darcy stands for Pride and Elizabeth represents Prejudice. In the end, pride is humbled and prejudice dissolved.Theme|Marriage is important to individuals and society.Analysis of the NovelIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.|This is the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice and stands as one of the most famous first lines in literature because of its masterful irony, its humorous tone, and its foreshadowing of the entire novel.|It offers a miniature sketch of the entire plot that the pursuit of “single men in possession of a good fortune” by various female characters.|The second half of the sentence, however, reveals that the "universal truth" is nothing more than a social truth, which ironically is not a truth at all, but a misrepresentation of social facts.|In fact, a woman who has no means of outside support in the 19th century is greatly in need of a wealthy husband.Mrs. Bennet|She is a stupid, vulgar, silly, and noisy woman.|She is a single-minded woman with the desire to see her daughters married and seems to care for nothing else in the world.|Austen uses her continually to highlight the necessity of marriage for young women.Elizabeth Bennet|The second daughter in the Bennet family, and the most intelligent and quick-witted, Elizabeth is the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice and one of the most well-known female characters in English literature.|She is lovely, clever, and, in a novel defined by dialogue, she converses as brilliantly as anyone.|Her beauty, honesty, virtue, and lively wit enable her to rise above the nonsense and bad behavior that pervade her class-bound and often spiteful society.|She pursues her true love bravely. She is also courageous, fearless and frank.|On the whole, Elizabeth is a typical image of the good, attractive lady in the 19th century.Charles Dickens and his Great ExpectationsSignificance|the greatest novelist in English literature.|the greatest representatives of English critical realism|one of the greatest critical realist writers of the Victorian Age|His works are intended to expose and criticize all the poverty, injustice, hypocrisy, and corruptness of the 19th-centuray England, particularly London.Key Facts|genres · Bildungsroman (also called initiation stories or coming-of-age stories), social criticism, autobiographical fiction|narrator · Pip|point of view · First personMain Idea of Great Expectations(1861) a novel by Charles Dickens about a young man called Pip who wants to become rich and successful. He is given money by an unknown person, and as a result he becomes a less nice person, but after several difficult experiences, he finally realizes that he must work hard to make enough money to live well, and he becomes a kind, generous man.Meaning of the Title|As a young man, Pip is led into making grave mistakes based on his false expectation of being a gentleman, his false expectation of marrying Estella, and his general false expectation of rising above his past.|Ultimately, he learns that true worth comes from inside a man, and turns away from his once-great expectations.Pip|Because Pip is narrating his story many years after the events of the novel。