英美文学作家及文学评析培训讲学.doc

英美文学作家及文学评析

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英美文学作家及作品简介
英国文学
1. 古英语时期
（1）《贝奥武夫》
《贝奥武夫》( Beowulf) 一译贝奥武甫，是一部完成于公元八世纪左右的英国古代盎格鲁撒克逊( Anglo － Saxons) 民族的英雄叙事长诗，讲述了斯堪的纳维亚( Scandinavia)的英雄贝奥武夫(Beowulf) 的英勇事迹。该诗是现存古英语文学中最古老的作品，也是欧洲最早的方言史诗。这部英格兰的古典英雄史诗从发生的历史背景、地理位置、主要人物都与英国毫不相干。诗中的主人公贝奥武夫来自瑞典, 完成其英雄壮举却在丹麦。全诗分为两部分: 第一部分讲述丹麦洛斯格国王( King Hrothgar) 修建的宏伟宫殿在前后十二年中被半人半魔的妖怪哥伦多(Grendel) 每晚骚扰，捉食洛斯格的战士。此时恰逢瑞典南部济兹( Geats) 王子贝奥武夫率家臣来访，欲帮助洛斯格国王除害。国王当晚设宴款待，妖怪哥伦多再次出现，捉食一名济兹战士，贝奥武夫与之格斗，扭断其臂，妖怪落荒而逃，因受重伤回到栖身的洞穴后死去。第二天晚上，哥伦多的母亲前来为其子复仇，之后贝奥武夫将其在一湖泊的洞穴中杀死。史诗第二部分描叙贝奥武夫返回本国，被拥戴为王，统治国家五十年，举国大治。最后贝奥武夫以垂老之年，杀一喷火巨龙，身受重创死去。史诗以贝奥武夫的葬礼结束。
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines. It is possibly the oldest surviving long poem in Old English and is commonly cited as one of the most important works of Old English literature. It was written in England some time between the 8th and the early 11th century. The author was an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, referred to by scholars as the "Beowulfpoet" The poem is set in Scandinavia. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hroðgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland (Götaland in modern Sweden) and later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is fatally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants bury him in a tumulus, a burial mound, in Geatland.The full poem survives in the manuscript known as the Nowell Codex, located in the British Library. It has no title in the original manuscript, but has become known by the name of the story's protagonist. In 1731, the manuscript was badly damaged by a fire that swept through Ashburnham House in London that had a collection of medieval manuscripts assembled by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton.
（2） 乔叟（1340-1400）《坎特伯雷故事大全集》
杰弗雷·乔叟（1343-1400年10月25日），英国文学之父，被公认为中世纪最伟大的英国诗人，也是首位葬在维斯特敏斯特教堂诗人之角（Poet of Westminster Abbey）的诗人。作为诗人、哲学家、炼金术士和天文学家（为他十岁的儿子路易斯Lewis完成了关于星盘的著述）乔叟生前声名显赫。除此之外，他还积极投身于为民服务的职业中，做过官员，侍臣和外交家。他的众多作品中比较著名的有公爵之书（The Book of the Duchess,）声誉之屋（House of Fame）贤妇传奇（Lengend of Good Wife）托爱乐斯与克莱西达（Troilus and Criseyde ），最为著名的要数坎伯雷故事集（The Canterbury Tales）。乔叟在促进和中世纪英语白话的正统方面起着举足轻重的作用，当时的文学语言主要是法语和拉丁语。
Geoffrey Chaucer (1343 – 25 October 1400), known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to be buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.While he achieved fame during his lifetime as an author, philosopher, alchemist and astronomer, composing a scientific treatise on the astrolabe for his ten-year-old son Lewis, Chaucer also maintained an active career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Among his many works, which include The Book of the Duchess, the House of Fame, the Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde, he is best known today for The Canterbury Tales.Chaucer was a crucial figure in developing the legitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin.
《坎特伯雷故事集》是一部诗体短篇小说集，叙述朝圣者一行30人会聚在泰巴旅店，这些朝圣者有骑士、僧尼、商人、手工艺者、医生、律师、学者、农夫、家庭主妇等当时英国社会各个阶层的人士，他们准备前往坎特伯雷去朝拜圣托马斯。店主爱热闹，自告奋勇为他们担任向导，并提议在往返圣地的途中每人来回讲两个故事，以解旅途中的寂寥，并由店主做裁判，选出讲故事最好的人，回到旅店后大家合起来请他吃饭。众人接受了店主的建议，于是次日一同踏上朝圣之途，并开始讲故事。
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of over 20 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century, during the time of the Hundred Years' War. The tales (mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return. After a long list of works written earlier in his career, including Troilus and Criseyde, House of Fame, and "Parliament of Fowls", The Canterbury Tales is near-unanimously seen as Chaucer's magnum opus. He uses the tales and the descriptions of its characters to paint an ironic and critical portrait of English society at the time, and particularly of the Church. Structurally, the collection resembles The Decameron, which Chaucer may have read during his first diplomatic mission to Italy in 1372. It is sometimes argued that the greatest contribution The Canterbury Tales made to English literature was in popularising the literary use of the vernacular, English, rather than French or Latin. English had, however, been used as a literary language centuries before Chaucer's time, and several of Chaucer's contemporaries—John Gower, William Langland, the Pearl Poet, and Julian of Norwich—also wrote major literary works in English. It is unclear to what extent Chaucer was responsible for starting a trend as opposed to simply being part of it. While Chaucer clearly states the addressees of many of his poems, the intended audience of The Canterbury Tales is more difficult to determine. Chaucer was acourtier, leading some to believe that he was mainly a court poet who wrote exclusively for nobility.
2. 文艺复兴时期
（1） 马洛礼（1405-1471）
托马斯·马洛礼，（Sir Thomas Malory 1395-1471）生于明洪武二十八年，逝于明成化七年。英国作家，一生中最有名的著作为史诗式传奇《亚瑟王之死》，书中全面收录了亚瑟王圆桌骑士们的传奇故事和追寻圣杯的英雄壮举。于明英宗正统十三年受封为郡领骑士。《亚瑟王之死》以法国古书作为蓝本，加上了作者的很多虚构的创作内容，并杂糅了一些其他方面的素材，后世普遍认同此书为最完整地描述亚瑟王传奇的文学作品。同时，他也对英国散文叙事史诗的发展做出了不朽的贡献。
Sir Thomas Malory (died 14 March 1471) was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. Since the late nineteenth century he has generally been identified as Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire, a knight, land-owner and Member of Parliament. Previously, it was suggested by the antiquary John Leland, as well as John Bale, that he was Welsh. Occasionally, other candidates are put forward for authorship of Le Morte d'Arthur, but the supporting evidence for their claim has been described as "no more than circumstantial".
《三只乌鸦》
《三只乌鸦》是一首脍炙人口的苏格兰民谣，意象是其显著的特征之一。民谣中不同的意象如乌鸦、猎犬、雄鹰、雌鹿，不仅构成了一副动人的图画，而且对突出了忠诚、永恒的主题起到了重要的作用。
"The Three Ravens" is an English folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that. Newer versions (with different music) were recorded right up through the 19th century. Francis James Child recorded several versions in his Child Ballads (catalogued as number 26). A common derivative is called "Twa Corbies" ("Two Ravens" or "Two Crows"), and it follows a similar general story, but with a cynical twist. The ballad takes the form of three scavenger birds conversing about where and what they should eat. One tells of a newly slain knight, but they find he is guarded by his loyal hawks and hounds. Furthermore, a "fallow doe", an obvious metaphor for the knight's pregnant ("as great with young as she might go") lover or mistress (see "leman") comes to his body, kisses his wounds, bears him away, and buries him, leaving the ravens without a meal. The narrator, however, gradually departs from the ravens' point of view, ending with “God send euery gentleman/Such haukes, such hounds, and such a Leman” - the comment of the narrator on the action, rather than the ravens whose discussion he earlier describes. Alternatively, the lyrics may simply ascribe the apparent narrator's sentiments to the raven(s), which given the previous personification of the raven(s) seems just as possible.
《帕特里克·斯本土爵士》
"Sir Patrick Spens" is one of the most popular of the Child Ballads (No. 58) (Roud 41), and is of Scottish origin. It is a maritime ballad about a disaster at sea.The story as told in the ballad has multiple versions, but they all follow the same basic plot. The King of Scotland has called for the greatest sailor in the land to command a ship for a royal errand. The name "Sir Patrick Spens" is mentioned by a courtier, and the king despatches a letter. Sir Patrick is dismayed at being commanded to put to sea in the dead of winter, clearly realising this voyage could well be his last.Versions differ somewhat at this point. Some indicate that a storm sank the ship in the initial crossing, thus ending the ballad at this point, while many have Sir Patrick safely reaching Norway. In Norway tension arises between the Norwegian lords and the Scots, who are accused of being a financial burden on the king. Sir Patrick, taking offence, leaves the following day. Nearly all versions, whether they have the wreck on the outward voyage or the return, relate the bad omen of seeing "the new mune late yestreen, with the auld mune in her airms", and modern science agrees the tides would be at maximum force at that time. The winter storms have the best of the great sailor, sending him and the Scottish lords to the bottom of the sea.
《罗宾汉与三个乡绅》
《罗宾汉与三个乡绅》属于中世纪的英国古典歌谣，主要讲述了罗宾汉拯救一位老妇人的三个儿子的传奇故事。罗宾汉遇见了一位正在悼念儿子的老妇人，因为老妇人的三个儿子将国王的猎鹿偷走了。于是罗宾汉用自己华贵衣裳交换一位老人的破衣烂衫，装成刽子手。行刑时，他吹响号角召唤部下。最后，罗宾汉将州长吊死，放走了老妇人的三个儿子。后来，这三个儿子全部逃到绿林。
Transcript of Robin Hood and the Three Squires
Robin Hood and the Three Squires By James, Matt, Kelsey, and James At the beginning of the ballad, Robin Hood is headed to Nottingham and encounters an old man and woman. The woman tells him that three squires are condemned to death for slaying the king’s deer. Robin Hood then meets an old palmer who tells him the same news. He decides to switch clothes with the old man and go into Nottingham to save the three squires. When he arrives in Nottingham him and his attendants capture the sheriff and hang him while the three squires escape. Characteristics within Robin Hood "There are twelve months in all the year, As i hear many say, But the merriest month in all the year Is the merry month of May" Rhyme Throughout the whole poem, there are many examples of Dialogue. Dialogue - follows abcb pattern** Ex- "What News? what news, thou silly old woman? What news hast thou for me?" The most noticeable act of repetition is at the points where Robin Hood meeting with other people. Repetition Each time he met a civilian it started off, "Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone, with a link-a-down and a-day, and there he met a_____________. The theme throughout Robin Hood and the Three Squires is Rebellious. Theme For example, Robin Hood shows his bravery and rebellious side when he fought to save the squires from the crimes they committed.
（2） 斯宾塞（1552-1599）《仙后》
埃德蒙·斯宾塞（Edmund Spenser，1552年－1599年1月13日），英国文艺复兴时期的伟大诗人。其代表作有长篇史诗《仙后》，田园诗集《牧人月历》，组诗《情诗小唱十四行诗集》、《婚前曲》、《祝婚曲》等。斯宾塞是从杰弗雷·乔叟到莎士比亚之间的最杰出的诗人。他出生于伦敦一个布商家庭，1569年入剑桥大学学习文学、哲学和部分自然科学。毕业两年后他便成为贵族家的门客，同时结识了以菲利普·锡德尼爵士（Sir of Philip Sidney）为代表的英国创新诗歌的诗人。在这些诗人主张的影响下，1579年斯宾塞创作并发表了他的牧歌集《牧人月历》（The Shepheardes Calendar）。他还著有长诗《克劳茨回家记》（Colin Clouts Come Home Again,1595），十四行诗集《小爱神》（Amoretti,1595），《婚曲》（Epithalamion, 1959）等。
Edmund Spenser (1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and is often considered one of the greatest poets in the English language. Edmund Spenser was born in East Smithfield, London, around the year 1552, though there is some ambiguity as to the exact date of his birth. As a young boy, he was educated in London at the Merchant Taylors' School and matriculated as a sizar at Pembroke College, Cambridge.While at Cambridge he became a friend of Gabriel Harvey and later consulted him, despite their differing views on poetry. In 1578, he became for a short time secretary to John Young, Bishop of Rochester. In 1579, he published The Shepheardes Calender and around the same time married his first wife, Machabyas Childe. They had two children, Sylvanus (d.1638) and Katherine.
In July 1580, Spenser went to Ireland in service of the newly appointed Lord Deputy, Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton. Spenser served under Lord Gray with Walter Raleigh at the Siege of Smerwick massacre.When Lord Grey was recalled to England, Spenser stayed on in Ireland, having acquired other official posts and lands in the Munster Plantation. Raleigh acquired other nearby Munster estates confiscated in the Second Desmond Rebellion. Some time between 1587 and 1589, Spenser acquired his main estate at Kilcolman, near Doneraile in North Cork.[8] He later bought a second holding to the south, at Rennie, on a rock overlooking the river Blackwater in North Cork. Its ruins are still visible today. A short distance away grew a tree, locally known as "Spenser's Oak" until it was destroyed in a lightning strike in the 1960s. Local legend has it that he penned some of The Faerie Queene under this tree.
In 1590, Spenser brought out the first three books of his most famous work, The Faerie Queene, having travelled to London to publish and promote the work, with the likely assistance of Raleigh. He was successful enough to obtain a life pension of £50 a year from the Queen. He probably hoped to secure a place at court through his poetry, but his next significant publication boldly antagonised the queen's principal secretary, Lord Burghley (William Cecil), through its inclusion of the satirical Mother Hubberd's Tale.[10] He returned to Ireland.
By 1594, Spenser's first wife had died, and in that year he married Elizabeth Boyle, to whom he addressed the sonnet sequence Amoretti. The marriage itself was celebrated in Epithalamion. They had a son named Peregrine.
In 1596, Spenser wrote a prose pamphlet titled A View of the Present State of Ireland. This piece, in the form of a dialogue, circulated in manuscript, remaining unpublished until the mid-seventeenth century. It is probable that it was kept out of print during the author's lifetime because of its inflammatory content. The pamphlet argued that Ireland would never be totally 'pacified' by the English until its indigenous language and customs had been destroyed, if necessary by violence.
In 1598, during the Nine Years War, Spenser was driven from his home by the native Irish forces of Aodh Ó Néill. His castle at Kilcolman was burned, and Ben Jonson, who may have had private information, asserted that one of his infant children died in the blaze.
In the year after being driven from his home, 1599, Spenser travelled to London, where he died at the age of forty-six – "for want of bread", according to Ben Jonson, which is ironic considering Spenser's approving writing on the scorched-earth policy that caused famine in Ireland.[14] His coffin was carried to his grave in Westminster Abbey by other poets, who threw many pens and pieces of poetry into his grave with many tears. His second wife survived him and remarried twice. His sister Sarah, who had accompanied him to Ireland, married into the Travers family, and her descendants were p