英国文学选读知识总结.doc

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) 乔叟He was born in 1343 in London.
He died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, thus founding the “Poets Corner”.The father of English Poetry and one of the greatest narrative poets of England.“The Canterbury Tales” (1387-1400) It is Chaucer’s masterpiece and one of the monumental works in English literature.
Chaucer’s Contribution to English Literature Chaucer is regarded as the founder of English poetry and has been called “the founder of English realism.” He is the first great poet who wrote in the English language. He introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the “heroic couplet” (英雄双韵体) to English poetry.His masterpiece “The Canterbury Tales” is one of the monumental works in English literature 公爵夫人之书，百鸟议会，声誉之堂，特罗勒思和克里西德
Structure of a poem: A poem can be broken down into three parts:
(1) Stanza (节) : a group of lines set off from the other lines in a poem. It is the poetic equivalent of a paragraph in prose. In traditional poems, the stanza usually contains a unit of thought.(2) The line (行) : a single line of poetry
(3) The foot (音步) : a syllable or a group of 2 or 3 syllables. To scan a line of poetry one counts the number of feet in a line. For a beginner, the easiest thing to do is to count the number of stresses. Typically a foot will contain a stressed and an unstressed syllable.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) playwright, poet, actor. Shakespeare and Aeschylus are the two greatest dramatic geniuses the world has ever known.—Carl Marks. The Great Tragedies: 《哈姆雷特》(Hamlet,1601 ) 《奥赛罗》(Othello, 1604) 《李尔王》(King Lear, 1605) 《麦克白》(Macbeth, 1606) The Great Comedies威尼斯商人》(The Merchant of Venice, 1596) 《仲夏夜之梦》(A Midsummer Night's Dream,1596) 《第十二夜》(Twelfth Night, 1600) 《皆大欢喜》(As You Like It, 1601)
Shakespeare’s career as a dramatist may be divided into four major phases.: The First Period(1590-1594)
This period is the period of his apprenticeship in play-writing.
Works: Henry VI The Comedy of Errors《错误的喜剧》/《连环错》 Love’s Labor’s Lost《迷失的爱》/《空爱一场》/《爱的徒劳》 Romeo and Juliet, etc.
The Second Period (1595-1600)
This period is his mature period, mainly a period of “great comedies” and mature historical plays. It includes 6 comedies, 5 historical plays and 1 Roman tragedy. His sonnets are also thought to be written in this period.
The Third Period (1601-1607)
The third period of Shakespeare’s dramatic career is mainly the period of “great tragedies” and “dark comedies”. It includes 5 tragedies, 3 comedies and 2 Roman tragedies.Major works written in this period:Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra
The Fourth Period (1608-1612)
The fourth period of Shakespeare’s work is the period of romantic drama. It includes 4 romances or “reconciliation（和解，复合） plays”.
Shakespeare’s Literary Position:Shakespeare and the Authorized Version of the English Bible are the two greatest treasuries of the English language. Shakespeare has been universally acknowledged to be the summit of the English Renaissance, and one of the greatest writers in world literature.
Hamlet:Hamlet is considered the summit of Shakespeare’s art. It is one of Shakespeare’s canon, and it is universally included in the list of the world’s greatest works.It’s written in the form of blank verse.blank verse : poetry in rhymeless iambic pentameter.（素体诗剧）The story, coming from an old Danish legend, is a tragedy of the “revenge” genre. Shakespeare incorporates into the medieval story other major humanistic themes, including love, justice, good and evil, and most notably, madness, and the spirit of the time
Injustice, conspiracy, and betrayal in the society。1. first blow: father’s murder and mother’s re-marriage2.second blow: betrayal of his two former friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern3. third blow: betrayal of his girl friend OpheliaThe greatness of the play: in praise of the noble quality of Prince Hamlet as a representative of humanist thinkers and his disillusionment with the corrupt and degenerated society in which he lived.
Hamlet is a humanist, a man who is free from medieval prejudices and superstitions. He has an unbounded love for the world instead of the heaven. Starting from his humanist love of man, he returned to those around him with the same eagerness. He loves good and hates evil. A king and a beggar are all the same to him. His intellectual genius is outstanding. He is a close observer of men and manners. He easily sees through people. His image reflects the versatility of the men of the Renaissance.The key-note of Hamlet’s character is melancholy. But his melancholy is not the negative kind.
Reasons : 1)His mental world has gone through the shock of a personal wrong to an awakening of his great responsibility in reforming the world as a whole. But to realize his ideal in his time was beyond him. This is the cause of Hamlet’s profound melancholy2)He has the opportunity of killing the king, yet he refuses to do so. Because when the king is praying, if he kills him, he will send him to the heaven. the villain has become the king, if he is killed abruptly, it will cause panic to the people and danger to the state.
Life and death Life is full of hardship Death is also very mysterious (undiscovered country from which no traveler returns)
Hamlet: character analysis Philosophical Contemplative Melancholic
Beowulf: the national epic of Anglo-Saxons contains at least 3182 lines (alliteration 头韵, the repetition of the first consonant or vowel) The Canterbury Tales: a narrative poem written in rhymed iambic pentameter, heroic couplet (英雄双韵体) Shakespeare’s plays and Sonnets: unrhymed iambic pentameter (无韵式抑扬格五音步), blank verse (素体诗
Basic Knowledge of Poetry Tersa rima: three-lined stanza 三行诗节Quatrain: four-lined stanza 四行诗节Octave: 律诗 Sonnet: 十四行诗 Couplet: 双韵体 Rhythm: 格律 Poetic license: 诗的破格Poetic diction: 诗语（诗歌用词）：e.g. thou/thee—you; thy/thine—your; thyself—yourself; art—are; ow’st—own
单音步：monometer 两音步：dimeter 三音步：trimeter四音步：tetrameter五音步：pentameter六音步：hexameter七音步：heptameter 八音步：octameter
Rhythm 格律1. iambic 抑扬格: weak+strong2. trochaic扬抑格: strong+weak3. anapaestic 抑抑扬格: weak+weak+strong4. dactylic 扬抑抑格: strong+weak+weak5. spondaic (n.) (扬扬格): strong+strong6. pyrrhic (抑抑格): weak+weak
How1) 诗节： This poem consists of ___ stanza (s).2) 诗行：Each stanza has ____ lines.3) 音步：Each line has ____ feet.4) 格律：The meter in each line is generally __ with the exception of __ feet in __ line, which is __.5) 押韵：The rhyme scheme of each stanza is ___.6) 标出来：Demonstratione.g. This poem consists of two quatrains, and each line is of iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is a b a b.
Caesura (行内停顿): the pause in the middle of a line is called caesura.
End-stopped line (结句行): when a line ends in a full pause, marked by some kind of punctuation, it is called an end-stopped line.一行正好构成一个完整的意思
Run-on line (跨行句): when a line does not end in punctuation, and the sentence carries on into the next line, then it is called run-on line.几行加起来表达一个意思e.g. I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. 前两行是end-stopped line，后两行是run-on line.
Rhyme (押韵): the repetition of sound within and across lines
1. alliteration (头韵) 2. assonance (尾韵) 3. rhyme (韵脚
Sonnet：a fourteen-line poem usually in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme. 3）the English sonnet (the Shakespearean sonnet)rhyme scheme: a b a b, c d c d, e f e f, g g
Sonnet 18
Shakespearean Sonnet is also called the English Sonnet, with three four-line stanzas (quatrains) and a two-line unit called a couplet （对子）.
The rhyme scheme is： a b a b, c d c d, e f e f, g g
Metrical pattern: iambic pentameter
The first stanza/quatrain：beginning 起The second stanza/quatrain： development 承The third stanza/quatrain：turn 转The couplet: conclusion 含
Rhythm & Meter:Iambic pentameter (五音步抑扬格)
1. Rhetorical question / apostrophe (顿呼法）The 1st line, used to create a tone of respect, and to engage the audience./ Speaking to thee directly.
2. Personification Lines 5,6 & 11, used to elevate the sun and death.
3. Parallelism / hyperbole The final couplet, used to emphasize the message: the beauty of the subject will be immortalized by the power of his art.
Theme: eternal life of art Time, beauty and poetry
1. Time and nature are forever transient. 大自然反复无常2. Beauty is always fading. 美人驻颜无术；3. Only art /poetry can be eternal. 为艺术可以不朽。
The conventional theme of Elizabethan sonnets
Comment on Sonnet 18
Sonnet 18 is Shakespeare’s best known poem in all of his 154 sonnets. It is a typical Shakespearean sonnet which consists of three four-lined stanzas followed by a couplet, and has the characteristic rhyme scheme: a b a b, c d c d, e f e f, g g. This sonnet aims at praising the eternal power of man by describing the instability of nature.
First the poet compares his friend as “a summer’s day”, and then he says his friend is “more lovely and more temperate” than the summer. He lists a lot of negative images to show the instability of the summer. It is short—“summer’s lease hath all too short a date,” and sometimes the sun is too hot—“sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines.” The poet also uses internal rhythm tospeed up the rhythm of the poem, such as in line 7, “And every fair from fair sometime declines.” Here, “fair” means beauty. It means the beauty of summer is fading very soon. While his friend’s beauty “shall not fade” nor “lose possession of that fair thou ow’st.” Even Death can not take him away. In the poet’s opinion, the summer which refers to nature is always changing, but his friend’s personality will last forever.
In conclusion, the poet compares his friend to summer, and then by describing the instability of summer to show his friend’s immortality. His purpose is to tell us that the power of beauty comes from man. Connecting the background, the poet is praising the spirit of Renaissance—Humanism.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)Born in a family that had connections with the court. Went to Cambridge at 12.The founder of English materialist philosophy.The founder of modern science. The first English essayist.
essayist and a humanist, English philosopher and statesman, one of the pioneers of modern scientific thought
Essays (1597)《散文集》Advancement of Learning (1605)《学术的进步》Novum Organum (New Instrument) (1620) 《新工具》De Augmentis (1623) 《辩论之论》NewAtlanti(1624)《新大西岛》 (a utopian novel)
Comments on “Essays”
First, Bacon borrowed the title from the French philosopher Montaigne. But different from Montaigne’s personal and informal style, Bacon’s style is more formal and more tightly organized. Second, these essays cover a variety of subjects, such as “the meaning of truth,” “the composition of beauty,” “friendship,” “marriage,” and “parents and children.” Third, these essays, though short, are sinewy（强壮的）, full of wisdom, and elegantly phrased. They offer people useful and practical advice, and encourage people to play more active roles in their social life.
Bacon’s Style: Brevity（简短）Compactness(紧密，简洁) Powerfulness
Metaphysical Poets refer to a school of poets that appeared at the beginning of the 17th century. The works of are characterized by mysticism in content and fantasticality in form.The main themes of the metaphysical poets are love, death and religion
John Donne (1572-1631) Lived and wrote during the succeeding reigns of Elizabeth I,James I and Charles I. Donne was educated at Hart‘s Hall, Oxford, and Lincoln’s Inn; he became prodigiously (=very much) learned, speaking several languages and writing poems in both English and Latin The founder of the Metaphysical school of poetry.
Features Wit 诙谐Subtle argumentation 论辩细致Muscular rhythms 强劲的韵律
Conceit (metaphor) 夸张的比喻Metaphysical poetry uses conceits to express ideas.
A conceit can also be called far-fetched comparisons. A comparison becomes a conceit when we are made to concede likeness while being strongly conscious of unlikeness.
. Love is the basic theme of his poems. Donne holds that the nature of love is the union of soul and body
Donne's father died when he was very young, as did several of his brothers and sisters, and his mother remarried twice during his lifetime. His early life was passed in dissipation（放荡，花天酒地） and roguery（无赖行为，淘气）, but later turned to saintly divine and ended as the Dean of St. Paul Cathedral, London. Donne's adult life was colorful, varied, and often dangerous; he sailed with the royal fleet and served as both a Member of Parliament and a diplomatIn 1601, he secretly married a woman named Ann More, and he was imprisoned by her father, Sir George More; however, after the Court of Audiences upheld his marriage several months later, he was released and sent to live with his wife's cousin in Surrey, his fortunes now in tatters. For the next several years, Donne moved his family throughout England, traveled extensively in France and Italy, and attempted unsuccessfully to gain positions that might improve his financial situationIn 1615, Donne was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church; in 1621, he became the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, a post that he retained for the rest of his life. A very successful priest, Donne preached several times before royalty; his sermons were famous for their power and directness. For the last decade of his life, before his death in 1631, Donne concentrated more on writing sermons than on writing poems, and today he is admired for the former as well as the latterHowever, it is for his extraordinary poems that Donne is primarily remembered; and it was on the basis of his poems that led to the revival of his reputation at the beginning of the 20th century, following years of obscurity.
Donne’s poems can be classified into 2 kinds: the youthful love lyrics and sacred verses.DonIn his poetry sensuality（淫荡，好色） is blended with philosophy, passion with intellect and contraries are ever moving into the other.On the one hand, he is impulsive（易冲动的）, playful（嬉戏的，幽默的）, and cynical in his poetry; on the other hand, he is a bold and serious thinker.ne is a poet of peculiar conceits, having his own way of reasoning and comparison.
Analysis of “The Flea”
The poet, John Donne wrote "The Flea." The Flea is a love sonnet bordering on the absurd. This flea is used to assist the poet in making his case for sex.
The poem ends with two pentameter lines at the close of each stanza. This Poem consists of three stanzas, and each stanza has nine lines.
This poem alternates metrically between lines in iambic tetrameter and lines in iambic pentameter, a four and five stress line, respectively. The rhyme scheme is in couplets with the final line in each stanza rhyming with the final couplet. The rhyming pattern is as follows AABBCCDDD.
Stanza 1: drawing the hearer’s attention to one flea.Stanza 2: warning the hearer not to kill the flea.Stanza 3: lamenting the killing of the flea and exposing his real p