古英语时期,中古英语Early and Medieval English-1

Literary term
★ Epic(叙事诗、史诗): a long narrative poem telling
about the deeds of a great hero like Homer’s Iliad ( 伊利亚特) & Odyssey（奥德赛） and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated. Many epics were drawn from an oral tradition and were transmitted by song and recitation before they were written down.
Three Most Famous Tales
• The wife of Bath’s tale of an Arthurian knight: wife’s domination leads to peace and happiness
• The Oxford clerk’s tale of the patient Griselda: the wife’s patience, meekness and full submission to her husband is the key to happy marriage
Session 2 Early and Medieval English Literature
Vivien Yuan
2012-12-12
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Outline
• • • • 1. The Making of England 2. Beowulf 3. The English Ballad 4. Chaucer
• Beowulf Author: Unknown(a Danish cleric who was familiar with both Christian Culture and Germainc Culture) Length: 3,000 lines Language: Old English Settings: Scandinavia
(2)The use of compound-words (kennings) to serve as metaphors: “Ring-giver” is used for king, “hearth-companion” for his attendant warriors, “swan’s bath” or “whale’s road” for sea, “sea-wood” for ship, the soldiers are called "shield-men"; the chieftains are called the "treasure keepers"; human-body is referred to as "the bone- house"; God is called "wonder-wielder " ; monster is referred to as "souldestroyer"， “bird’s joy” refers to the wing, “sky’s candle” refers to the sun, etc. (Such metaphors occur in great numbers.)
• The Franklin’s tale of Arveragus and Dorigen: a married couple’s ultimate happy ending should be achieved by mutual trust and understanding
The Wife of Bath Owner of a cloth factory, light-hearted, merry, vulgar and talktive—marries five husbands and expects one or two more—able to master them and rule the house— managed by making her husband jealous, husband is old—one treated her badly, she provoked him to beat her and pretended to be dead, got all the property into her hand Reflect the rising social status of women in Chaucer’s day.
The Making of England
Historical Background
A. Briton (Celtic tribes)
B. The Roman Conquest (55B.C.-410.A.D.)
C. Mid-5th Anglo-Saxons (449-1100) (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) D. Norman Conquest (Duke William 1066-1400 )
2012-12-12
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Initial Period: Beowulf (700 A.D.)
Medieval Period: Geoffrey Chaucer William Langland The Gawain-Poet
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Beowulf (created around A.D.700, the beginning of China’s Tang Dynasty)– National Epic
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Contents of The Canterbury Tales(P.15)
General Prologue + 24 tales (unfinished) Outline : in April, Tabard Inn, 30 pilgrims to St. Thomas Becket’s tomb in Canterbury, beguile the journey by story-telling, two going and two returning, the best storyteller will be given a free supper, 24 tales were written.
The poem ends with the funeral of the hero:
• • • • • “Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland, For their hero’s passing, his hearth-companions Quoth that of all the kings of earth, Of men he was the mildest and most beloved, To his kin the kindest, keenest to praise.” (In modern translation)
Poetic Forms and Features of Beowulf
• No other literary achievements in Old English can compare with Beowulf (1)The use of alliteration. Lines are conventionally end-stopped and unrhymed.
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer —founder of English poetry
1. Life story: court page, in the army fighting France and was taken prisoner, ten years diplomatic errands (nine times to Europe), contact with Renaissance in Italian literature, met Petrarch, had many public employments, died in 1400 and was the first to be buried in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.
Beowulf
1. 3183 lines 2. contents: 3 adventures Monster---Grendel Grendel’s mother fiery/fire dragon
Appreciation
• Form: Beowulf was written in alliterative verse ( 头韵) . • Features: (1) The use of alliteration is one of its most striking features. (In alliterative verse, certain stressed words in a line begin with the same consonant sound. There are 4 stresses in a line generally, three or two of which show alliteration, as can be seen from the lines from the end of the poem
★ the longest and most monument of Anglo-Saxon poems ★ the oldest surviving epic in British literature.
• oral form (6th),written down(7th or 8th)
• a heroic epic legend of primitive Northern tribes
Literary term
★ Alliteration: It is the repetition of the same
consonant sound in a line, especially at the beginning of successive words, e.g. “The sun sank slowly” A fair field full of folk found I there between
Of all manner of men, the mean and the rich. (William Langland’s “Piers Plowman”)
There Major Poets in 14th century England
• Geoffrey Chaucer(c.1340-c.1400) • William Langland(c. 1332-c.1400) • The Gawain-poet
2. Chaucer’s literary career ( 3 periods)
① (1360-1372): influenced by French poetry
• “Romanunt of the Rose” — translation from French, first introduced into English verse the octosyllabic couplet ② (1372—1385) influenced by Italian writers: Dante (“Divine Comedy”), Petrarch (“Rime Sparse”), Baccaccio (“Decameron”) “The House of Fame”
• “The Book of the Duchess”: original
“Troylus and Criseyde”
“The Legend of Good Women”
③1386-1400: free from foreign influences “The Canterbury Tales” —masterpiece