英国文学Lecture 2 (乔叟)

Chaucer’s literary achievements • Literary position: father of English poetry, founder of English literature • His Canterbury Tales demonstrates a panoramic realistic view of the social reality near the end of the Middle Ages by depicting vivid lives of people from all layers of society. • “He must have been a man of a most wonderful comprehensive nature, because…he has taken into the compass of his Canterbury Tales the various manners and humor of the whole English nation in his age.” (John Dryden in Preface to the Fables, 1700)
The famous lines in Canterbury Tales
• Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open eye(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages); Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages ---------in Middle English
The famous lines in The Canterbury Tales Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open eye(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages); Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
5) In 1359-1360, went to France with Edward III's army during the Hundred Years' War (13371453). 6) Got married in 1366 7) Went abroad several times for diplomatic and commercial missions. 8) especially in Italy, he met Boccaccio and Petrarch in 137273, much influenced by the Italian humanists, such as Dante.
• In structure: prologue and 24 stories (intended to have more than 100 stories and kept unfinished and handed down in manuscripts) • Prologue serves as a brief introduction, to enable readers to have a general view of the whole content. • Among the 24 individual stories, 2 in prose (the Tale of Melibee, the Parson’s Tale) and 22 in verse form.
T. S. Eliot’s Waste Land
• April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. • 四月是最残忍的一个月，荒地上 长着丁香，把回忆和欲望 参合在一起，又让春雨 催促那些迟钝的根芽。
When in April the sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root and all The vein are bathed in liquor of such power As brings about the engendering of the flower; When also Zephyrus with his sweet breath, Exhales an air in every grove and heath, Upon the tender shoots, and the young sun His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run, And the small fowl are making melody That sleep away the night with open eye (So Nature pricks them and their heart engages) Then people long to go on pilgrimage (modern translation)
9) Died in 1400 and buried in the poet’s corner of Westminster Abby 10) Chaucer’s monument was erected in 1555.
Chaucer’s main works
• Three periods 1) French period translation work: Romance of the Rose narrative poem: The Book of Duchess (the name Chaucer was from French origin and meant shoemaker) 2) Italian period • The House of Fame • Parliament of the Birds • Troilus and Criseyde 3) English period • The Canterbury Tales (unfinished)
英国文学史及选读
第二讲 乔叟
Chaucer’s life (1343-1400)
1) Born in 1343 in London 2) As a son of a wine merchant and deputy to the kings’ butler (男管家，司膳总管) 3) Little known about his education, he coulΒιβλιοθήκη Baidu read French, Latin and Italian. 4) Was appointed to the household of the Countess of Ulster in 1357 and started his royal service since then.
Wife of Bath’s Tale
• The Wife of Bath is depicted as the new bourgeois wife asserting her independence. • Homework: Read the tale of the wife of Bath, and I’ll ask one of you to retell the story in 5-10’ next week.
• As a transitional figure, he entered a new era and brought back the new ideas of Italian Renaissance writers. • Chaucer made a crucial contribution to English literature in writing in English at a time when much court poetry was still composed in AngloNorman or Latin. • Chaucer introduced from France the rhymed stanzas of various types to English poetry to replace alliteration, such as heroic couplet, and he first used iambic pentameter form.
当四月用它甜美的雨水 彻底驱走了三月的干旱， 并用浆汁滋润每根经脉， 任凭其力量使花苞绽放； 当春风用它芬芳的气息 令树林和灌木发出绿芽， 还有绿苗，那初春的太阳 已走完白羊座的一半路程， 小鸟们整天不停地鸣叫， 连晚上睡觉都张着眼睛 （大自然就这样使它们发情）； 这时人们便渴望去朝圣……
（总引1－12）（沈弘译，《外国文学评论》2009 年第3期）
In short, Chaucer’s greatness lies in his creation and innovation in learning and borrowing others.
When in April the sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root [1]
The Canterbury Tales
• A pilgrimage of 30 people on a route to and from Canterbury (England) • To tell stories to amuse themselves on the way • Harry Bailly, the innkeeper, promised a free meal for the best-story teller