英国文学简史复习资料.doc

A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE1. the Angles, Saxons and Jutes were three tribes from Northern Europe.2. English literature began with the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England. It is Beowulf, the national epic of the English people.3. Features of Beowulf 贝奥武普: the most striking feature in its poetical form is the use of alliteration头韵. （definition）In alliterative verse, certain accented words in a line begin with the same consonant sound. Other features of Beowulf are the use of metaphors and of understatements.4. The French-speaking Normans under Duke William came in 1066.(the Norman Conquest)5. The Romance 罗曼司-the most prevailing kind of literature in feudal England. It was a long composition, sometimes in prose, describing the life and a adventures of a noble hero. Adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table6. The Class Nature of the Romance The theme of loyalty to king and lord was repeatedly emphasized in romance , as loyalty was the corner-stone of feudal morality, without which the whole structure of feudalism would collapse. They were composed for the noble, of the noble, and in most cases by the poets patronized by the noble.7. the Ballads 民谣 The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad. A ballad is a story told in song; usually in 4-line, with the second and fourth lines rhymed.8. The Robin Hood Ballad - the various ballads of Robin Hood are gathered into a collection called The Geste of Robin Hood.绿林好汉罗宾汉的故事9. The founder of English poetry is Geoffrey Chaucer. 乔叟 The Canterbury Tales -(1) a collection of 24 stories (2)close links-stories are closely connected to each other (3)stories into groups on different subjects - story-tellers, from ranks, professions, religions (4)variation in form 三大著名教堂：Westminster Cathedral 西敏寺大教堂 Saint Pails Cathedral 圣保罗大教堂 Canterbury Cathedral 坎特布雷大教堂10. The Renaissance and Humanism The rise of the bourgeoisie soon showed its influence in the sphere of cultural life. The result is an intellectual movement known as the Renaissance, or, the rebirth of letters. It spang first in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. Two features are striking of this movement. The one is a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature. Old manuscripts were dug out. There arose a current for the study of Greek and Latin authors. While people learned to admire the Greek and Latin works as models of literary form, they caught something in spirit very different from the medieval Catholic dogma. So the love of classics was but an expression of the generation dissatisfaction at the Catholic and feudal ideas. Another feature of the Renaissance is the keen interest in the activities of humanity. Humanism is the key-note of the Renaissance. Humanism reflected the new outlook of the rising bourgeois class. According to the humanists, both man and world are hindered only by external checks from infinite improvement. Man could mould the world according to his desires, and attain happiness by removing all external checks by the exercise of reason.11. Edmund Spenser 斯宾塞 The poets poet of the period was Edmund Spenser. The Faerie Queene : nationalism, humanism , puritanism The Faerie Queene (definition)is written in a special verse form that consists of eight iambic pentameter lines followed by a ninth line of six iambic feet(an alexandrine), with the rhyme scheme ababbcbcc. This form has since been called the Spenserian Stanza.12.Drama 戏剧: the Miracle Play 奇迹剧, The Morality Play 道德剧 , The Interlude 幕间剧, The Classical Drama 古典剧12. Marlowe（马洛）s best includes three of his plays, Tamburlaine 帖木耳(1587), The Jes of Malta马耳他的犹太人(1592), and Doctor Faustus浮士德博士(1588).13. Social significance of Marlowes Plays: These plays show, in various ways, the spirit of the rising bourgeoisie , its eager curiosity for knowledge, its towering pride, its insatiable, appetite for power whether that be won by military might, knowledge, or gold. In Tamburlaine, it is ambition; in Doctor Faustus, desire for knowledge; in The Jew of Malta, greed for wealth. They were typical images of the era of the primitive accumulation of capital.14. William Shakespeare莎士比亚 was born on April 23, 1564, died on April 23, the anniversary of his birth, in 1616. A Chronological List of Shakespeares Plays: 四大悲剧 Hamlet 哈姆雷特 ,Macbeth麦克白 ,Othello 奥赛罗,King Lear 李尔王. The reasons of the Melancholy（忧郁）of Hamlet: (1)he seems to understand that his mere revenge upon his uncle would in no way solve the problems that trouble and upset him.(2)he does not want to include the Britain into the chaos.(3)the crisis of humanism-the root of the murder is the political system.15. Milton米尔顿 -Paradise Lost 失乐园， Samson Agonistes 力士参孙16. Bunyan 班扬-the Pilgrims Progress 天路历程17. Metaphysical玄学派Poets The works of the Metaphysical Poets are characterized, generally speaking, by mysticism in content and fantasticality in form. John Donne Another school of poetry prevailing in the period was that of Cavalier Poets.18. The Enlightenment 启蒙运动in Europe: The 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement in Europe, known as the Enlightenment, which was, on the whole, an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals of feudalism. They attempted to place al branches of science at the service of mankind by by connecting them with the actual needs and requirements of people. Steele and The Tatler闲话者 Addison and The Spectator观察家To sum up Steeles and Addisons contribution to the English literature: 1. Their writings afford a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie/ 2. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century. 3. In the hands of Addison and Steele, the English essay had completely established itself as a literary genre. Using it as a form of character sketching and story -telling, they ushered in the dawn of modern English novel.19. Jonathan Swift 乔纳森 斯威夫特-Gullivers Travels 格列佛游记 Pamphlets on Ireland 关于爱尔兰问题的小册子-A Modest Proposal 一个温柔的建议20. Richardson-he was noted as a storyteller, letter writer and moralizer. Pamela: Pamela was a new thing in three ways,firstly, it discarded the “improbable and marvelous” accomplishments of the former heroic romances, and pictured the life and love of ordinary people. Secondly, its intention was to afford not merely entertainment but also moral instruction. Thirdly, it described not only the sayings and doings of the characters but also their secret thoughts and feelings.22. Fielding 菲尔丁-Joseph Andrews(a parody 戏仿to Pamela)23.（约翰逊）Johnsons Dictionary:(1)it marked an epoch in the study of the English language.(2)also marked the end of English writers reliance on the patronage of noblemen for support.24.Sentimentalism感伤主义: it came into being as the result of a bitter discontent among the enlightened people with social reality. The representatives of Sentimentalism continued to struggle against feudalism, but they sensed st the same time the contradictions in the process of capitalist development. Dissatisfied with reason, which classicists appealed to, sentimentalists appealed to sentiment, “to the huamn heart.”25.Blake 布莱克-Songs of Innocence contains poems which were apparently written for children, using a language which even little babies can learn by heart, and in Songs of Experience, a much maturer work,entirely different themes are to be found, for in this collection of poems the poet drew pictures of neediness and distress and showed the sufferings of the miserable. The contrast between Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience is of great significance. It marks a progress in the poets outlook on life.26. Burns 彭斯 peasant poet 农民诗人（前浪漫主义诗人）27. Romanticism 浪漫主义prevailed in England during the period 1798-1832. Generally speaking, the romanticists expressed the ideology and sentiment of those classes and social strata who were discontent with, and opposed to, the development of capitalism. But owing to difference in social and political attitudes, they split into two schools. Some romantic writers reflected the thinking of classes ruined by the bourgeoisie, and by way of protest against capitalist development turned to the feudal past, i.e. The “” merry Old England,” as their ideal, or “frightened by the coming of industrialism and the nightmare towns of industry, they were turning to nature of protection.” These were the elder generation of romanticists, sometimes called escapist romanticists, including Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey, who have also benne called the Lake Poets because they had lived in the Lake District in the northwest of England and shared a community of literary and social outlook in their work. Other expressed the aspirations of the classes created by capitalism and held out an ideal, though a vague one, of a future society free from oppression and exploitation. These were the younger generation of romanticists and sometimes called active romanticists represented by Byron, Shelley and Keats. So the general feature if the works of the romanticists is a dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society, which finds expression in a revolt against or an escape from the prosaic, sordid daily life, the “prison of the actual” under capitalism. Their writings are filled with strong-willed heroes, formidable events, tragic situations, powerful conflicting passions, and exotic pictures. Sometimes they resort to symbolic methods. With the active romanticists, symbolic pictures represent a vague idea of some future society, while with the escapist romanticists, these often take on a mystic color. In contrast to the rationalism of the enlighteners and classicists in the 18th century, the romanticists paid great attention to the spiritual and emotional life of man. Nature, often personified, also plays an important role in their works. The passions of man and the beauties of nature appealed strongly to the imagination of the Romantic writer, and the glory of the lakes and mountains, the little joys or sorrows of children, the weal and woe of ordinary, uncultured peasants, the wonder of the fairy world, and the splendor of the Greek art all because the fountain-heads of the writers inspiration. Poetry, of course, is the best medium to express all these sentiments. In fact, all the romanticists mentioned above were poets. The Romantic Period was one of poetical revival.28. Wordsworth: in 1798 Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly published the Lyrical Ballads. The publication marked the break with the conventional poetical tradition of the 18th century, i.e. With classicism, and the beginning of the Romantic revival in England. “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling.” His “Lucy” poems are a series of short pathetic lyrics on the theme of harmony between humanity and nature. 29. Shelley 雪莱: Queen Mab 麦布女王 The Revolt of Islam 伊斯兰暴动 Prometheus Unbound 解放了的普罗米修斯30. Keats济慈: ode 颂 Ode to Autumn, Ode on Melancholy, Ode on a Grecian Urn 古瓮颂, Ode to a Nightingale 夜莺颂An Analysis of Jane EyreThe novel is rich in poetry, symbolism and metaphor. It does not fit easily into a definite pattern, being neither a novel of manners in the tradition of Austen, or a straightforward Gothic Romance in the style of Mrs Radcliffe. What Charlotte Bronte did was to create a work which cleverly blends elements of the two styles, and which remains uniquely independent of them at the same time, since it addresses issues which were at the time rather controversial.The novel is written in the first person, and thus magnifies the central character - the reader enters the world of Jane Eyre and is transported through her experiences at first hand. This at once makes the work subjective, especially since we know that Charlottes Brontes own life and experiences were so closely interwoven with the heroines. As well as this we learn only at the end of the novel that the events are being related to us ten years after the reconciliation with Rochester - thus the narrative is RETROSPECTIVE (looking back). CB is clever in blending the narrative so that at times Jane seems to be speaking as an adult with adult hindsight , while at others she she is in the middle of them, as a child or young woman. The indecision which is a central issue in the book, is heightened by this device. We never know, as readers, whether to be entirely trustful of Janes actions and thoughts, because we are never sure wheher she is speaking impulsively or maturely.This intensifies the readers dilemma as to what is right and wrong in the dramatic relationships which are part of JEs life. Can we believe what the heroine says, or is she deceiving herself? The novel is primarily a love story and a romance where wishes come true but only after trials and suffering. The supernatural has its place, as do dreams, portents and prophesies. The heroine begins poor and lonely and ends up rich and loved; the orphan finds a good family to replace the wicked one; all the basic ingredients of classic romantic fairytale are present.The romantic element is present in two forms in Jane Eyre; the family aspect is dealt with in the Gateshead, Lowood and Moor House episodes, which involve the exchanging of the wicked Reed family for the benevolent Rivers one; and the Love romance is dealt with in the Thornfield and Ferndean episodes. Both aspects are, of course linked and interwoven throughout the novel.There is also a strong element of realism in the novel, which, married to the romantic aspect, enhances the novels strength.The sense of place is very strong; we are able to experience both exterior and interior settings with startling clarity throughout the story, in a series of vivid deive passages. The central characters are also realistic and their confrontations and sufferings change them in a believable way.Even the unlikely is made plausible, with a unique blend of high drama and perceptive low comedy (the attack on Mason, for instance)The more fantastic romantic aspects; the coincidences; the secrets; the supernatural occurrences, are balanced by the realism, and this is of course a major strength.The Gothic influence cannot be ignored, although CB has refined the technique considerably from the authentic Gothic of the 1790s. In the original genre, the heroine would typically be abducted and threatened with seduction, or worse!. There would be a lover - a respectable, well-bred young man - who would endeavor to rescue the heroine and would succeed after many trial. the seducer would be a brigand Know that I adore Corsairs! and he would lock th