英国文学简史期末考试复习要点 刘炳善版

英国文学史资料British Writers and Works

I. Old English Literature & The Late Medieval Ages

贝奥武夫:the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons

Epic: long narrative poems that record the adventures or heroic deeds of a hero enacted in vast landscapes. The style of epic is grand and elevated.

e.g. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey

Artistic features:

ing alliteration

Definition of alliteration: a rhetorical device, meaning some words in a sentence begin with the same consonant sound（头韵）

Some examples on P5

ing metaphor and understatement

Definition of understatement: expressing something in a controlled way Understatement is

a typical way for Englishmen to express their ideas

Geoffery Chaucer 杰弗里•乔叟1340(?)~1400

(首创“双韵体”，英国文学史上首先用伦敦方言写作。约翰·德莱顿（John Dryden）称其为“英国诗歌之父”。代表作《坎特伯雷故事集》。)

The father of English poetry.

It is ____alone who, for the first time in English literature, presented to us a comprehensive (综合的，广泛的)realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life. ( A )

A. Geoffrey Chaucer

B. Matin Luther

C. William Langland

D. John Gower

writing style: wisdom, humor, humanity.

① 坎特伯雷故事集：

first time to use ‘heroic couplet’(双韵体) by middle English

②特罗伊拉斯和克莱希德

③ 声誉之宫

Medieval Ages’ popular Literary form: Romance(传奇故事)

Famous three：King Arthur

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Beowulf

II The Renaissance Period

A period of drama and poetry. The Elizabethan drama is the real mainstream of the English

Renaissance.

Renaissance: the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.

Two features

1. a thirsting curiosity for the clasical literature

2.the keen interst in the activities of humanity.

The Renaissance marks a transition from the medieval to the modern world. The Renaissance is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts:

(1)to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe,

(2)to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie,

(3)to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.

Three historical events of the Renaissance – rebirth or revival:

1.new discoveries in geography and astrology

2.the religious reformation and economic expansion

3.rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture

The most famous dramatists:

Christopher Marlowe

William Shakespeare

Ben Johnson.

English Renaissance:the early 16th century to the early 17th century.

1.E dmund Spenser埃德蒙•斯宾塞1552~1599

（后人称之为“诗人的诗人”。）The poets’poet.The first to be buried in the Poet’s corner of Westerminster Abbey

12. Which of the following statements is not the reason for that Edmund Spenser is famous for “the poet’s poet”? ( B )

A. Spenser’s idealism

B. his struggle for criteria

C. his love of beauty

D. his exquisite melody

①仙后(for Queen Elizabeth)

The theme is not “Arms and the man”, but something more romantic “Fierce wars and faithfull loves”.

Artistic features:

ing Spenserian Stanza

Definition of Spenserian Stanza:a stanza of nine lines ababbcbcc. Eight lines in iambic pentameter, and last line in iambic hexameter.

②牧人日历

The theme is to lament over the loss of Rosalind.

③ 爱情小唱

2. Thomas More托马斯•莫尔1478~1535

One of the greatest English humanists

①乌托邦

3. Francis Bacon弗兰西斯•培根1561~1626

（哲学家、散文家；在论述探究知识的著作中提出了知识就是力量这一著名论断；近代唯物主义哲学的奠基人和近代实验科学的先驱。）

Philosopher, scientist, lay the foundation for modern science. The first English essayist.

Writing style:brevity, compactness&powerfulness, well-arranging and enriching by Biblical allusions, metaphors and philosophy to man’s reason.

①学术的推进

②随笔(famous quotas: )

The theme of Of Studies: uses and benefits of study and different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies.

4. Ben Jonson

①

②狐狸

5. Christopher Marlowe柯里斯托弗•马洛1564~1595

“University Wits”, the pioneer of English drama（完善了无韵体诗。）

Blank verse: written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

14. Marlowe gave new vigor to ____ with his “mighty lines” ( D )

A. the Petrarchan sonnet

B. sestina

C. terza rima

D. blank verse

①浮士德博士的悲剧（根据德国民间故事书写成）