英国文学教案Lecture2

讲课时间讲课对象讲课主题

教课目标与要求

教课重、难点

主要教课方法

英国文学史及作品选读课程教课设计（第 2 讲）

2017-2018 学年第二学期

15-17 级各专业选修生

Chapter 1 The Seminal Period or Old English Period

1 Help the students know about the history and characteristics of literature in the

Old English Period and the Middle English Period.

2 Help the students know aboutBeowulf and its significance.

1Early History of England

2 Beowulf

Lecture; Discussion; Multi-media

教课内容的组织与

设计Detailed Teaching Points & Procedure

1 The early history of England

●The beginning of settlement in Britain took place in about 700 B. C. The settlers were

Celtic-speaking tribes called Britons (or Celts), from whom the island get its name—Britain (the land of Britons). The Britons were a primitive people, a bronze-age people entering an age of iron.

●In 55 B. C., Britain was invaded by the Roman general Julius Caesar. The Celts were

subjugated to the role of Rome for nearly 400 years. In 410, the Romans abandoned the island, which marks the end of“Roman Conquest”(55 B. C.—410 A. D.)

●After the withdrawal of the Roman troops, England was soon invaded by three

Germanic tribes: the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, who came from the Northeast of Europe. The Anglo-Saxon invaders established some small kingdoms in Britain which by the 7th century were combined into a United Kingdom called England (the land of Angles). Its people were called the English. The three dialects spoken by them naturally grew into a single language called Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, a derivative of Low German.

●(e. g. some of the names of the week in English derive from the names of Northern

gods: Tuesday—Tiu 战神 , Wednesday—Woden 主神 , Thursday—Thor 雷神 ,

Friday— Frigg 爱情女神 ). In 597, St. Augustine and his monks landed in Kent. Then England was Christianized part by part in the following century. Monasteries were

built all over the country. It was in these monasteriesthat the earliest English books were written down, because at that time few except monks could read and write. The conversion of The Anglo-Saxons to Christianity changed their intellectual outlook.

Christianity offered some values that were more consistent and solid than their pagan beliefs. It also enabled them to learn book knowledge in monasteries or schools from the Scriptures and the classical writings of Virgil (a great roman poet) and the ancient

Greeks. They travelled long distance to Rome on pilgrimages, and these experiences enriched their understanding of the world, broadened and deepened their mental and spiritual power.

●From 787, the English began to be troubled by bands of Danish Vikings (Scandinavian

sea robbers). At first they just invaded parts of the country from time to time. Gradually, however, they came to make permanent settlement and ruthlessly destroyed

many of the monasteries. The great hero of the time was King Alfred the Great (849-901) of the Kingdom of Wessex in the south, who succeeded in driving off the Danes.

It is to him that we owe much of the preservation of Older Anglo-Saxon Literature.

Equally important is the fact that he started the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical register of national events from dim past to his own age. This work was continued by monks long after his death. The Danes were eventually defeated, and the Anglo-

Saxons returned to rule in 1042. England did not have peace for long. Soon they were conquered in 1066 by the Norms from France. This is the end of the Anglo-Saxon

period.

The following is a formula for the nation:

+Saxons +Danes +Normans=English

Britons Jutes

2 Early English literature

●The Britons (Celts) had no written language, so their myths and legends were not

recorded for many centuries. (e. g. The Adventures of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Tableis about a Celtic Chieftain of the 5 th or 6th century, but these

legends were not written down until they reached eleventh century France and were circulated after the 13th century.) Therefore, English literature actually began with the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England.

●Beowulf

◆ It is a 3182-line alliterative verse, considered the monumental work in English

poetry of the Anglo-Saxon period, or the national epic of the English people. It is of

Germanic heritage, and contains evidently pre-Christian elements. The whole song is essentially pagan in spirit and matter. It is pervaded with paganism. In the noble figure of Beowulf, pagan heroism and fatalism are mingled with Christian qualities. The non-Christian story of monsters and mighty sea beasts is blended with some serious

thoughts on the power of a wise God. In the poem, the poet expresses a hope

that the evil should be punished, and the righteous will be rewarded.

th

◆ The poem probably existed in its oral form as early as the 6 century. It was written

down in the 7th or 8th century though the extant manuscript, discovered in 1705, dated back to the 10th century. The whole epic is divided into two parts with an interpolation. There are three episodes related in the career of Beowulf:

(1) The fight with the monster, Grendel

(2) The fight with Grendel ’s mother, a still more frightful she-monster

(3) The mortal combat with the Fire Dragon. (after being the king of the Geats for

50 years).

◆ The poem is more than a fairy story of heroes combating monsters.

▼It recaptures the values, beliefs and longing of the Anglo-Saxon people before they came to England. Though it is inferior to Iliad in artistic merit, it is