简明英国文学史.doc

简明英国文学史A Brief History of English LiteraturePart I Old and Middle English Periods (450-1066)Chapter 1Old English Period and Beowulfn Historical situationBritons, a branch of Celts, came to the Isles in BC400 to BC300, at the early stage of the Iron AgeJulius Caesar of the Roman Empire defeated the Celts and ruled there from BC55 to AD 407The Roman Empire declined, the Teutonic or Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes moved to live in the British Isles in about AD450They drove the Celts to Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the English language has gradually changed, Old Anglo-Saxon. 8 to 11 Century, Danes from Scandinavia came to the Isles Norman Conquest 1066, it influenced the evolution of the English language, life style and culture. Religion Christianity Part II English Renaissance and Shakespeare (1485-1616)Chapter 3The English Renaissance Literaturen Historical situation from feudal society to capitalism; industry and commerce; “sheep devouring men” Tudor Reign: Religious Reformation, King Henry VIII (1509-1547), Protestantism Queen Elizabeh (1558-1603) moderate policies to keep balance between the rising middle class and the feudal lords, the Protestants and the Catholics. a powerful country, set up English colonies overseas.n Humanism and the Renaissance in England Renaissance: revival of arts and sciences of ancient Greece and Rome after the long years of neglect in the medieval time In England a strong interest in ancient Greek and Rome art and science; Humanism: concerned about the welfare of human beings and believed that human happiness in this life was more important that what people were supposed to. religious reformation of the church ; praised man and mans pursuit of happiness. n Chief Literary Achievement of the Period 1. translating classical Italian and French works; 2. poetry “ a nest of singing birds;” sonnet became the most popular poetic form; Thomas Wyatt 3. Drama and Theatre Performance Marlowe; Ben Jonson and Shakespeare London , the centre of drama performanceII. Ten Renaissance Writersn Thomas More：Utopian Edmund Spenser：The Faerie Queenen Philip Sidneyn University Wits: John Lyly: Euphues - Euphuism Thomas Nashe, Robert Greenen Francis Bacon essaysn Christopher Marlowe blank verse: the major vehicle of expression in draman Ben Jonson drama; prose workChapter 4William Shakespearen The life Stratford-on-Avon, 1564n Literary career and productions 37 plays 154 sonnetsShakespeares major worksn History plays get material from the English history and from the history of ancient Rome Julius Caesar Henry IV, Part I and Part II Richard II Henry V Henry VI, Part I , Part II , Part IIIn Comedies A Mid-Summer Nights Dream; As You Like It; The Twelfth Night; The Merchant of Venicen Tragedies Hamlet; King Lear Macbeth Othellon Tragic-comedies The Winters Tale The TempestSonnetsn Sonnet 73n Sonnet 18n Sonnet 130My Mistress EyesMy mistress eyes are nothing like the sunCoral is far more red than her lips red,If snow be white, why then her breasts arte dun,If hairs be wires, black wires grow upon her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white,But no such roses see I in her cheeks, And in some perfumes is there more delight, Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak: yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound,I grant I never saw a goddess go, My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare, As any she belied with false compare.Part IIIThe Seventeenth Century (1616-1688)Chapter 5The Bourgeois Revolution and Milton1. History of the 17th century: a.King Charles I-Long Parliament b.the civil war (1642-1649): army of the Parliament led by Oliver Cromwell; Bourgeois Revolution of England (Puritan Revolution); Puritans; King Charles IIJames II “glorious Revolution”（光荣革命） constitutional monarchy(君主立宪制） 2. Chief Literary Achievementsn The Bible ( The Old Testament and the New Testament) fountain heads of the Western Civilisation: The bible, Greek and Roman mythology and philosophy; HebrewGreekLatin English version: “The King James Bible” (47 scholars, 7 years) n Poetry a.“Metaphysical Poets”（玄学派）John Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert b.Cavalier Poets (骑士诗人） c. Epics（史诗） by John Miltonn Prose political pamphlets and essays; non-political mattersn Drama(Restoration period) comedies combined with the French taste with witty language; light, often coarse themes; emphasis on the wit of the characters they are criticised as decadent.n Dryden and Bunyan Dryden: man of letters Bunyan: The Pilgrims ProgressII. John Miltonn Paradise Lost （失乐园）n Paradise Regained （复乐园）n Samson Agonistes (力士生孙）Chapter 6The Metaphysical Poets and the Restoration Draman Metaphysical Poets (John Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert) “Death Be not Proud” “ The Flea” “ A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (理解诗歌：240）John Donne Death be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,For, those, whom thou thinkst, thou dost overthrow,Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me；From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,And soonest our best men with thee do go,Rest of their bones, and souls delivery.Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,And better than thy stroak； why swellst thou then？One short sleep past, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more； Death, thou shalt die.Chapter 7 Dryden and Bunyann John Bunyan The Pilgrims ProgressPart IV The Eighteenth Century(1688-1780)Chapter 8The Age of Classicismn Historical Situation science and technology: Steam engineIndustrial Revolution; political economics; Enlightenment Movement; religion: Deism, more individual,n Literary Achievements (In the first half of the 18th century): The Age of Classicism (or Neoclassicism) - Alexander Pope ( heroic couplet) - Swift ( master of satire) they admire and follow the styles of ancient poets in Roman Empire of Augustus in a metaphorical manner.; they worshipped reasons, so also called the Age of ReasonII. Chief Representativesn Alexander Pope An Essay on Criticism The Rape of the Lockn Jonathan Swift “A Modest Proposal” Gullivers Travels Lilliput; Brobdingnag; Laputa(flying island) Houyhnhnms (horsese), yahoo. n Joseph Addisonn Richard Steele The Spectatorn Samuel Johnson (a journalist, a biographer, a literary critic) The DictionaryChapter 9 The Rise of the Noveln Background About the Rise of the Novel science and technology developed; printing; reading makes the flourish of a book market; womens reading even writingII. Major Novelistsn 1. Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe ( a sailor, 28 years in an isolated island) Moll Flanders Roxanan 2. Samuel Richardson Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (letter novel) Clarissa, or The History of a Young Ladyn 3. Henry Fielding Joseph Andrews The History of Tom Jones, a Foundlingn 4. Laurence Sterne Tristram Shandy A Sentimental JourneyChaoter 10The Pre-Romantic Literaturen Background growth of cities, the bourgeois class, the book market From reason to passion; literature in the second half century shifted from paying attention to human fates and social problems to searching the meaning of life and death, from exploring human nature, philosophy of human congnition to experiencing and praising nature. Pre-Romantic Poetryn Graveyard Poets Thomas Parnell, Edward Young, Robert Blair Thomas Gray (Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard) wrote melancholy poems, often with the poet meditating on human mortality problems at night or in a graveyard.n Robert Burns, the Sctottish Bardn William Blake Songs of Innocence Songs of Experiencen The Gothic Novelists The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole The Monk Matthew Gregory Lewis The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann RadcliffePart V The Romantic Period (1780-1830)Chapter 11Wordsworth and Coleridgen Historical background Industrial Revolution, working class, the Luddites movement frame-breakers, breaking looms and machines, ignorant of the real cause for their sufferings; relationship with Ireland, Scotland and her colonies in North American became critical. American Revolution and the French Revolution; democracy, equality and freedom, social reformn Literary Achievements 1) Poetry Wordsworh, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats Lake Poets: Wordswoth, Coleridge, Southey 2) Novel Walter Scott, Jane Austenn Romanticism or Romantic Movement is a literary movement in Britain and the European Continent between 1770 and 1848. its keynote is “intensity(strong emotion)”, its watchword is “imagination”n The English Romantic Movement was marked by the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798.n Features of English Romanticism: simplicity (content and language); love of nature( respect natures force, feelings with nature); subjectivity (individual emotion recollected in tranquility); spontaneity (“the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”) subject: supernatural, mysterious, stange and splendid, remote time and place; tone:melancholyII. The Romantic SageWilliam Wordsworhn Lyrical Ballads, a joint work of Wordsworth and Coleridgen Poems in search for self-definition in relation with nature “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud”; “My Heart Leaps up When I Behold”; “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abby”n Poems of Solitary “The Solitary Reaper” I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by WordsworthI wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high oer vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of Golden daffodils:Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.The waves beside them danced; but theyOutdid the sparkling waves in glee;A poet could not but be gay;In such a jocund company;I gazed and gazed but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.The Solitary Reaperby Wordsworth Behold her, single in the field,Yon solitary Highland Lass!Reaping and singing by herself，Stop here, or gently pass!Alone she cuts and binds the grain,And sings a melancholy strain;O listen! for the Vale profoundIs overflowing with the sound. No Nightingale did ever chauntMore welcome notes to weary bandsOf travelers in some shady haunt,Among Arabian sands:A voice so thrilling neer was heardIn spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,Breaking the silence of the seasAmong the farthest Hebrides. Will no one tell me what she sings?Perhaps the plaintive numbers flowFor old, unhappy, far-off things,And battles long ago:Or is it some more humble lay,Familiar matter of to-day?Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been, and may be again? Whateer the theme, the Maiden sangAs if her song could have no ending;I saw her singing at her work,And oer the sickle bending;I listend, motionless and still;And, as I mounted up the hill,The music in my heart I bore,Long after it was heard no more. Composed upon Westminster Bridgeby WordsworhP.181III. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Poet and Critic“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” ( a strange, supernatural sea tale in the form of a ballad)“ Kubla Khan”Chapter 12Byron, Shelley and Keatsn Byron and the Byronic Hero major works: Childe Harolds Pilgrimage Don Juan What is a Byronic Hero?(P.189)n Shelley major works: Queen Mab ( first long poem) “Song to the Men of England” “Ode to the West Wind” “To a Skylark” Prometheus Unbound (lyrical drama)n John Keats, the Poet of Beauty “Ode to a Nightingale” “Ode on a Grecian Urn” “To Autumn” “ Ode to Psyche” “ On Melancholy”Chapter 13Walter Scott and Jane Austenn Walter Scott, Romantic Writer of Historical Themes major works: Ivanhoe (historical romance) Rob Roy ( a legendary hero of the Scottish people) features: combine historical facts with romantic adventures; characters: type, superficial, lacking development and psychological depth; colorful and exotic settings; out-of-date mode of language n Jane Austen, Novelist of Social Manners major works: Sense and Sensibility Pride and Prejudice Mansfield Park Emma Northanger Abby PersuasionPart VI The Victorian Literature (1830-1880)Chapter 14 The Victorian Agen What is Victorian? Why do we say that the Victorian Age was one of great changes? Queen Victoria (1837-1901) great development in industry, trade, science and technology, overseas expansion; social contradictions, national problems; diversity intellectual; disputes and changes in religionMajor Literary Achievementsn Prose: Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, Matthew Arnoldn Poets: Tennyson, Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, Raphaelite poets(combine Italian art with poetry): Rossetti, William Morris, Swinburne novelists: Charles Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, the Bronte sister, Mrs GaskellChapter 15Victorian Novelistsn Charles Dickens major works: David Copperfield Ble