英国文学简史常耀信.pptx

English LiteratureChapters 78Key Points in Chapter 7lMovement toward RomanticismlJames ThomsonlEdward YounglGeorge CrabbelWilliam CowperlWilliam BlakeIntroductionWorkslRobert BurnsIntroductionWorksMovement toward RomanticismExtremes tend to provoke a reaction.With Pope and then Samuel Johnson at the helm,the 18th century raged forward with the heroic couplet and almost outlawed other forms.However,from the very outset,some dissenting voices existed and tried to make themselves heard.There was also the sly but steady assertion of emotion in the age of reason.With Robert Burns and William Blake coming forth eventually on the scene,the stage were well set for a new generation of poets,the Romantics.James Thomson(1700-1748)He is remembered now mostly for his The Seasons.The Castle of Indolence with its medieval allegorical kind of story,is read occasionally as well.The Seasons is a long poem of over 5,500 lines,composed in blank verse instead of the tyrannical heroic couplet.Edward Young(1683-1765)He is now known solely for his long poem of some ten thousand lines,Complaint,or Night Thoughts on Life,Death,and Immortality,popularly known as Night Thoughts.The work helped to move poetry forward toward the age of Romanticism:for one thing,it was written in blank verse,not in the fashionable heroic couplet;then the poem is an adequate expression of emotions.Night Thoughts is noted for its psychological probings and its mixing of personal sentiments with religious deliberations.William Cowper(1731-1800)His personal life was turbulent and depressing.He was high-strung and suicidal.His blank verse proved to be the best of his time.His major works include the Onley Hymns and The Task,for which he is known and read today.William Blake(1757-1827)IntroductionBlake was an important landmark in between two literary periods,pointing directly to that of Romanticism.There were two factors in his life that helped to orient his thematic thrust.One was his native sensitivity that enabled him to see visions and develop a kind of mysticism.The other was his contact with some radical people.The two major thematic strands that make up the basic fabric of his poetry include his concern with social events and his mysticism.Blake was basically a visionary William Blake(1757-1827)WorksSongs of Innocence“Infant Joy”“The Blossom”“The Lamb”“The Divine Image”Songs of Experience“Infant Sorrow”“The Sick Rose”“The Tiger”“The Human Abstract”Robert Burns(1759-1796)IntroductionBorn into a poor Scottish farmers family.He experienced dire poverty and had close contact with common life and common people.He is critical of Calvinism and its hypocrisy and rigid morality.Burns wrote in the Scottish dialect,English,and a medley of the two.Robert Burns(1759-1796)Works“A Red Red Rose”“Tam OShanter”“For A That an A That”A Red Red RoseoO my Luves like a red,red roseThats newly sprung in June;O my Luves like the melodieThats sweetly playd in tune.As fair art thou,my bonnie lass,So deep in luve am I:And I will luve thee still,my dear,Till a the seas gang dry:oTill a the seas gang dry,my dear,And the rocks melt wi the sun:I will luve thee still,my dear,While the sands o life shall run.And fare thee well,my only LuveAnd fare thee well,a while!And I will come again,my Luve,Tho it were ten thousand mile.Key Points in Chapter 8l18th Century FictionlJonathan SwiftWorksGullivers TravelslDaniel DefoeIntroductionRobinson CrusoelSamuel RichardsonlHenry FieldingAesthetic TheoriesWorkslLaurence SternelTobias Smollett 18th Century Fiction18th century was one in which the novel as a genre prospered not only in the practice,but also in the theory of the craft.The writers developed the realistic method of presentation and brought story-telling infinitely closer to the real life as lived by the real people.Jonathan Swift(1667-1745)WorksThe Battle of the BooksTale of a TubThe Irish Drapiers LettersA Modest ProposalIt is one of the most caustic satires ever written in literary historyGullivers Travels Jonathan Swift(1667-1745)Gullivers TravelsThis is a savage satire in the form of a fabulous travelogueThe book consists of four parts,each recording one voyage to one outlandish“remote”place.Part I:“A Voyage to Lilliput”Part II:“A Voyage to Brobdingnag”Part III:“A Voyage to Laputa,Balnibari,Glubbdubdrib,Luggnagg,and Japan”Part IV:“A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhunms”Daniel Defoe(1660-1731)IntroductionHis views on the novel focus on two things of significance to the emerging genre(novel):its realism and its moral aesthetic.His protagonists are common people with real common names and speak as“I”,telling their own stories in the first-person narrative,addressing the readers directly without any mediation,just so as to increase the realistic effect of immediacy and involvement.Daniel Defoe(1660-1731)Robinson CrusoeIt is the work for which Defoe is remembered by all.The popular Robinson Crusoe story as people normally know it is in fact the narrative focus of the first part.It is first and foremost a middle class book,offering justification for the class forthcoming rise to pre-dominance in national life.The book is a typical Puritan tale.Robinson Crusoe is frequently seen simply as a true-to-life,no more and no less,specimen of the ordinary humankind.Bodying forth the sum total of the perseverance and indomitableness of human spirit.It is this quality in the character that remains eternally charming and great.Samuel Richardson(1689-1751)Pamela,Or Virtue Rewarded marks the beginning of conversational manner of narration.Richard has been seen as the beginning in one of these psychological realism in the history of the English novel.Henry Fielding(1707-1754)Aesthetic TheoriesHis was the first attempt ever to define the novel as a prose epic(“Prosaic-comic-epic Writing”as he calls it)that is not inferior to an epic poem.Fielding sees the novel as a vehicle for moral inculcation,a mirror and an imitation of nature and life.Though imitating life,art is,to him,not life.Fielding deems it necessary for a writer to have four basic qualitiesnative gift,adequate learning,rich experience with life and a kind heart.Henry Fielding(1707-1754)WorksJoseph AndrewsIt has been seen as the first realistic novel in English fiction.Its focus is on the presentation of English life as being lived then,so that it ends up as a novel of manners.Tom JonesIt is Fieldings masterpieceMajor characters:Squire Allworthy,Tom Jones,Jenny Jones,Patridge,Bridget,Master Blifil,the Westerns,Sophia Laurence Sterne (1713-1768)He was an iconoclast.Dickens felt deeply impressed by his fictions major features such as their themes of grotesque goodness,sweet humility,sensitive humanity,their boisterous humor,and idiosyncratic discursiveness.His best know work is The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,Gentleman.Tristram Shandy,with its subtle and sensible dips into the deeps of memory,has been seem by some as the first true psychological novel in English literary history.Stern is remembered for his originality and his daring to break new ground.Tobias Smollett (1721-1771)His best novel is The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker.Smollett was one of the most original writers of his time.He is now read chiefly for his wit and his satire.