①Beowulf: The national heroic epic of the English people. It has over 3,000 lines. It describes the battles between the two monsters and Beowulf, who won the battle finally and dead for the fatal wound. The poem ends with the funeral of the hero. The most striking feature in its poetical form is the use if alliteration. Other features of it are the use of metaphors(暗喻) and of understatements(含蓄).
②Alliteration: In alliterative verse, certain accented(重音) words in a line begin with the same consonant sound(辅音). There are generally 4accents in a line, 3 of which show alliteration, as can be seen from the above quotation.
③Romance:The most prevailing(流行的) kind of literature in feudal England was the Romance. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse(诗篇), sometimes in prose(散文), describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, usually a knight, as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournament(竞赛), or fighting for his lord in battle and the swearing of oaths.
④Epic:An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significantly to a culture or nation. The first epics are known as primacy, or original epics.
⑤Ballad: The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad which is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas(诗节), with the second and fourth lines rhymed. The subjects of ballads are various in kind, as the struggle of young lovers against their feudal-minded families, the conflict between love and wealth, the cruelty of jealousy, the criticism of the civil war, and the matters and class struggle. The paramount(卓越的) important ballad is Robin Hood(《绿林好汉》).
⑥Geoffrey Chaucer杰弗里?乔叟: He was an English author, poet, philosopher and diplomat. He is the founder of English poetry. He obtained a good knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. His best remembered narrative is the Canterbury Tales(《坎特伯雷故事集》), which the Prologue(序言) supplies a miniature(缩影) of the English society of Chaucer’s time. That is why Chaucer has been called “the founder of English realism”. Chaucer affirms men and women’s right to pursue their happiness on earth and opposes(反对) the dogma of asceticism(禁欲主义) preached(鼓吹) by the church. As a forerunner of humanism, he praises man’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life. Chaucer’s contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact that he introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the rhymed couplet of 5 accents in iambic(抑扬格) meter(the “heroic couplet”) to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse.
⑦【William Langland威廉?朗兰: Piers the Plowman《农夫皮尔斯》】
The English Bible:The first complete English Bible was translated by John Wycliffe(约翰?威克里夫). The Authorized Version is King James Bible made in 1611. The result is a monument of English language and English literature.
Renaissance:Renaissance or the birth of letters is an intellectual movement. Its two features are a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature and the keen interest in the activities of humanity. Humanism is the key-note of the Renaissance.
William Caxton威廉?卡克斯顿: He is the first English printer and invented in England the profession of publisher.
Thomas More托马斯?莫尔:The greatest of the English humanists was Thomas More, the author of Utopia《乌托邦》. He is also one of such “giants”(巨匠) of the Renaissance. He distinguished himself as a learned scholar, a master of Latin, a witty talker, a lover of music, an honest statesman , and a man of noble character, modest but steadfast(坚定的), to his convictions. He was a far-sighted thinker, aspired for a totally new society with happy, classless, and free from poverty and exploitation. He was one of the forerunners of modern socialist thought.
Utopia:It is More’s masterpiece, written in the form of a conservation between More and Hythloday, a returned voyager. It is divided into two books. The first book contains a long discussion on the social conditions of England. In the second book is described in detail an ideal communist society, Utopia. The name “Utopia” comes from Greek words meaning “no place” and was adopted by More as the name of his ideal commonwealth.
Philip Sidney菲利普?锡德尼: He is well-known as a poet and critic of poetry. His collection of love sonnets, Astrophel and Stella《爱星者与星》, was published in 1591.
Edmund Spenser埃德蒙?斯宾塞(莎翁之前最杰出的英国诗人)：The poet’s poet of the period was ES who was buried beside Chaucer in Westminster Abbey. ES has held his position as a model of poetical art among the Renaissance English poets, and his influence can be traced in the works of Milton, Shelley, and Keats. ES is the first master to make that language the natural music of his poetic effusions(感情的流露). His sonnets in Amoretti, together with Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella and Shakespeare’s sonnets ,are the most famous sonnet sequences of the Elizabeth Age.
【In 1579 he wrote The Shepherd’s Calendar《牧人日记》which marked the budding(萌芽) of the Renaissance flower in the northern island of England. The faerie Queen 《仙后》is his greatest work which was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth.】
Francis Bacon: He is the founder of English materialist philosophy and the founder of modern science in England. His New Instrument is called the Inductive Method of reasoning. He is also the first English essayist. To give a few, “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark..”“Studies serve for delight.”“Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an
exact man.”
Drama: The Miracle Play圣迹剧The Morality Play道德剧寓意剧
The Interlude幕间节目
Christopher Marlowe克里斯托弗·马洛: The most gifted of the “university wits”was Christopher Marlowe. His best work include 3 of his plays, Tamburlaine《帖木儿大帝》(1587), The Jew of Malta《马耳岛的犹太人》(1592), and Doctor Faustus《浮士德博士》(1588). He was the greatest of the pioneers of English drama. His work paved the way for the plays of the greatest English dramatist——Shakespeare——whose achievements were the monument of the English Renaissance. 【His plays show the spirit of the rising bourgeoisie, its eager curiosity for knowledge, its towering pride, its insatiable(不知足的) appetite for power won by military, might, knowledge, or gold. The theme of his plays is the praise of individuality freed from the restraints of medieval dogmas and law, and the conviction of the boundless possibility of human efforts in conquering the universe. The heroes in his plays are merely individualists, their individualistic ambition often brings ruin to the world and sometimes to themselves.】
William Shakespeare: Shakespeare is one of the founders of realism in world literature. His dramatic creation often used the method of adaptation. Shakespeare long experience with the stage and his intimate knowledge of dramatic art thus acquired make him a master hand for playwriting. Shakespeare was skilled in many poetic forms: the song, the sonnet, the couplet, and the dramatic blank verse. He was especially at home with the blank verse. Shakespeare was a great master of the English language. Shakespeare has been universally acknowledged to be the summit of the English Renaissance, and one of the greatest writers over the world.
①The great comedies:A Midsummer Might’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It,
Twelfth Night.
②The great tragedies:Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth.
The Merchant of V enice:威尼斯富商安东尼奥Antonio为了成全好友巴萨尼奥Bassanio的婚事，向犹太人高利贷者夏洛克Shylock借债。由于安东尼奥贷款给人从不要利息，并帮夏洛克的女儿私奔，怀恨在心的夏洛克乘机报复，佯装也不要利息，但若逾期不还要从安东尼奥身上割下一磅肉。不巧传来安东尼奥的商船失事的消息，资金周转不灵，贷款无力偿还。夏洛克去法庭控告，根据法律条文要安东尼奥履行诺言。为救安东尼奥的性命，巴萨尼奥的未婚妻鲍西娅Portia 假扮律师出庭，她答允夏洛克的要求，但要求所割的一磅肉必须正好是一磅肉，不能多也不能少，更不准流血。夏洛克因无法执行而败诉，害人不成反而失去了财产。剧本的主题是歌颂仁爱、友谊和爱情，同时也反映了资本主义早期商业资产阶级与高利贷者之间的矛盾，表现了作者对资产阶级社会中金钱、法律和宗教等问题的人文主义思想
Ben Jonson本?琼森: Of the many contemporaries and successors of Shakespeare, the most well-known was Ben Jonson. He wad a prolific(多产的) dramatist, writing dozens of plays, including tragedies, comedies, and ,masques(假面剧). Jonson’s comedies are “comedies of humours.”Every Man in His Humour《人各有癖》is one of his best comedies.
Part Three
John Milton:His nickname was “The lady of the Christ’s” when he was in college. Milton was political in both his life and his art. He wrote the greatest epic Paradise Lost《失乐园》in English literature. Milton is a master of the blank verse. He first use blank verse in non-dramatic works. Milton is a great stylist and famous for his grand style. He has always been admired for his sublimity(高尚) of thought and majesty of expression.
Paradise Lost: It is Milton’s masterpiece. It’s a long epic in 12 books, written in blank verse. The stories were taken from the Old Testament: the creation, the rebellion in Heaven of Satan and his fellow-angles; their defeat and expulsion(驱逐) from Heaven; the creation of the earth and of Adam and Eve; the fallen angles in hell plotting against God; Satan’s temptation of Eve; and the departure of Adam and Eve from Eden.【The finest thing in Paradise Lost is the description of hell, and Satan is the real hero of the poem. He is firmer than the rest of the angles and the spirit questioning the authority of God.】
Samson Agonistes《力士参孙》: It is a poetical drama modeled on the Greek tragedies. It deals with the story of Samson from the “Books of the Judges” in the Old Testament.
John Bunyan: John Bunyan, the son of a poor tinker, was born in the little village of Elstow. He had a sensitive imagination. When he was about 17, Bunyan enlisted in the parliament army, and served during the decisive battle of Naseby in 1645. After the Restoration, he was flung into Bedford prison in 1660, for refusing to obey the law prohibiting religious meetings. With the characteristic diligence Bunyan set to work in prison making shoelaces, and so earned a living for his family. In the prison, he wrote the book “The Pilgrim’s Progress”（《天路历程》）which was published in 1687. Bunyan cherished a deep hatred of both the king and his government.
The Pilgrim’s Progress: It is a religious allegory(讽喻). It tells of the spiritual pilgrimage(朝圣) of the Christian, who flies from the City of Destruction(毁灭之城), 【meets with the perils and temptations(诱惑) of the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, and Doubting Castle(疑虑之城), faces and overcomes the demon Appollyon, and finally comes to the Delectable Mountains and the Celestial City.】Bunyan intends to satirize the state trials in the reactionary(反动派的) reigns of Charles II and James II.
Metaphysical poets(玄学派诗人): About the beginning of the 17th century appeared a school of poets called “metaphysicals”by Samuel Johnson, the 18th century writer. The works of the Metaphysical poets are characterized, generally speaking, by mysticism in content and fantasticality in form. John Donne is the founder of the Metaphysical school of poetry.
John Donne(约翰??多恩):He is the founder of the Metaphysical school of poetry, lived and wrote during the succeeding reigns of Elizabeth I, James and Charles I. His poems can be divided into two categories: the youthful love lyrics(抒情诗) and sacred(宗教的) verse(诗篇).
John Dryden(约翰?德莱顿):The most distinguished literacy figure of the Restoration Period was John Dryden, poet, playwright and critic. During this period of revolution and
counter-revolution, Dryden turned with the tide. He was a prolific writer. His plays show the usual immorality of the age and have all been deservedly forgotten by posterity with the only exception of all for love《一切为了爱》【, a tragedy dealing with the same story as Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra】.Dryden established the heroic couplet and he was the forerunner of the English classical school of literature in the next century.
Part Four
Classicism: English literature of the Restoration period was modeled on the literature of France where classicism was then prevailing. The classicists upheld reason, law and order in literature. According to classicism, drama, poetry and prose should all be controlled by some fixed rules. The classicists modeled themselves on Greek and Latin authors. Rimed couplet obeys the three unities (三一律)of time, place and action, regularity in construction. Poetry following the ancient divisions, should be lyric, epic, didactic(教诲的)，satiric, or dramatic.
The English enlighteners: The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals of feudalism. They attempted to place all branches of science at the service of mankind by connecting them with the actual needs and requirements of people. The representatives of the Enlightenment in English literature were Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, the essayists, and Alexander Pope, the poet. 【These writers criticized different aspects of contemporary England, discussed social problems, and even touched upon morality and private life. The literature of the Enlightenment in England mainly appealed to the middle class readers.】
Richard Steele(斯梯尔) and Joseph Addison(艾迪生): They are linked together by the ties of a life-long friendship and the partnership in literary career. Their writings afford a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie. They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th-century. In the hands of Addison and Steele, the English essay had completely established itself as a literary genre(流派). Addison’s chief contribution to literature lies in his essays written for The Tatler and The Spectator.
The Spectator: It was a daily paper, publishing one essay every day. Its general purpose is “to enliven morality with wit, and to temper(缓和) wit with morality.” It preached moderation, reason, self-control, civility(礼貌), refinement(高尚) and good taste.
Alexander Pope(亚历山大?蒲柏): He is the most important English poet in the first half of the 18th century. When he was only 22, his poem Essay on Criticism《论批评》was published. He is a great master of verse in England and in Europe. Pope is the most important representative of the English classical poetry, though he lacked the lyrical gift.
【Essay on criticism: It tells the poet and critics to write and appreciate poetry according to the principles set up by the old Greek and Roman writers.】
【Essay on man《论人》: It is a philosophical poem in heroic couplets. It consists of 4 letters addressed to Lord Bolingbroke, a philosopher of the time. The idea is summed up in a well-known line: “One truth is clear, whatever is, is right.”】
Jonathan Swift: Swift is one of the greatest masters of English prose. His language is simple, clear and vigorous. He said, “Proper words in proper places, makes the true definition of a style.”Swift is a master satirist, and his irony is deadly which as shown in his Modest Proposal《温和的建议》and his greatest work is Gulliver’s Travels.
Gulliver’s Travels: It is Swift’s greatest work. The first part of it appeared in October 1762 and by November the book was in everybody’s hand. In the first part Gulliver describes his shipwreck in Lilliput(小人国). In the second part, the voyage to Brobdingnag(大人国) is described. The third part is a satire on philosophers and projectors. In the last part, Gulliver’s satire is of the bitterest. Gulliver’s Travels gives an unparalleled(无与伦比的) satirical depiction of the vices of his age.
【Pamphlets on Ireland: two of the most famous ones are The Drapier’s Letters《德拉皮尔的信》and A Modest Proposal. The Irish series reached its climax in A Modest Proposal (1729), in which Swift suggested, with bitter irony, that the poverty of the Irish people should be relieved by the sale of their children “at a year old”, as food for the rich. “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and herefore very proper for landlords.”】
Daniel Defoe: Defoe is ch iefly remembered as the author of Robinson Crusoe, his masterpiece. His other interesting books are Captain Singleton(1720)《辛格尔顿船长》, Moll Flanders(1722)《摩尔弗兰德斯》and Colonel Jacque(1722)《大疫年记事》.
Robinson Crusoe: The story takes place in the middle of the 17th century, in the family of an old English gentleman, Mr. Crusoe. The old man designs his son, Robinson, for the law, but the young man has set his mind on becoming a sailor. The character of Robinson Crusoe is representative of the English bourgeoisie at the earlier stages of its development. He is most practical and exact.
Samuel Richardson: He wrote a long tale, Pamela《帕米拉》【Richardson “had enlarge the knowledge of human nature.” His main achievement as a novelist lies in his technique to show characters as personalities, thinking and feeling for themselves with the author himself absent from the stage, refusing to intervene in the action.】
Henry Fielding: His first novel Joseph Andrews《约瑟夫?安德鲁传》was published in 1742. 【His Jonathan Wild《大伟人乔纳森.菲尔德传》appeared in 1743. Amelia (1751)《阿米莉亚》was his last novel. 】In the brief space of 9 years, Fielding wrote 26 plays. His plays include regular comedies, adaptations from the French, farces(闹剧), burlesques（滑稽戏）, and dramatic satires. As a satirist, he had the zeal(热心) of a social reformer. Fielding’s greatest work is the history of Tom Jones《汤姆·琼斯》. He is the founder of the English realistic novel. Some features of Fielding’s novels: 1) Fielding’s method of relating a story: The story may be told directly by the author. 2)Satire in Fielding’s novels: Satire abounds everywhere in Fielding’s works. There are 2 kinds of satire. One is the humorous satire which is meant to be instructive and corrective. On the other hand, there is a kind of grim satire, which is used to lash the cardinal evils of the corrupt ruling classes. 3) Fielding believed in the educational function of the novel. 4) Style: Fielding is a master of style. His style is easy, unlabored and familiar, but extremely vivid and vigorous.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan: The School for Scandal《造谣学校》
Samuel Johnson:He is a lexicographer(词典编纂者), critic and poet and he was buried in Westminster Abbey. His dictionary was published in 1775 which marked the end of English writers’ reliance on the patronage(赞助) of noblemen for support.
Oliver Goldsmith奥利弗·哥尔德斯密斯:He was a poet , novelist, dramatist and essayist, all combined in one person. He is an important writer of Johnson’s circle. His two poems, The Traveler《旅游人》and The Deserted Village《荒村》, are both written in heroic couplet, consisting of two iambic pentameter(五音步诗行/英雄诗体) lines linked by rhyme, which was the ruling poetic form in the 18th century. The vicar of Wakefield 《威克菲尔德的牧师》, The Good-Natured Man, The Citizen of the World《世界公民》.
Edward Gibbon爱德华?吉本: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire《罗马帝国衰亡史》
Sentimentalism: sentimentalists appealed to sentiment, “to the human heart.”
Thomas Gray:He took 6 years to compose his famous Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 《墓园挽歌》, which is a model of sentimentalism poetry. It shows a keen interest in the English countryside and a sincere feeling for the life of common people. The poet meditates(沉思) in village cemetery(墓地) on the graves of the humble and poor that surround him.
William Cowper: He is one of the representatives of sentimentalism.
William Blake(威廉?布莱克):The best of Blake’s short poems is to be found in these two little collections of lyrics, Songs of innocence《天真之歌》, contains poems which were apparently written for children, and Songs of experience《经验之歌》. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell《天国与地狱的婚姻》is important for its expression of Blake’s spirit of revolt against oppression. The whole temper of Blake’s genius was essentially opposed to the classical tradition of that age. Blake’s revolutionary passion came near to that of Shelley. For these reasons, Blake is called a Pre-Romantic or a forerunner of the Romantic poetry of the 19th century. 【The contrast between songs of innocence and songs of experience is of great significance. It makes a progress in the poet’s outlook on life. In the earlier collection, port’s first glimpse of the world was a picture of light, harmony, peace and love. Later years, experience had brought a fuller sense of the power of evil.】
Robert Burns(罗伯特?彭斯): Burns is the national poet of Scotland. He is remembered mainly for his songs written in the Scottish dialect on a variety of subject. Numerous are Burn’s songs of love and friendship, which describes the poet’s own emotions with such vividness and simplicity. Bruce at Bannockurn is a typical song of patriotism(爱国主义). 【This patriotism is inseparately bound up with Burn’s passionate love of his native country.】Burns was an outspoken supporter of the French Revolution. Burns also achieved success in the field of satire. His songs are Scottish to the core. It is here that we have the best, the truest and fullest revelation of the poet’s mind and heart. They are entirely his own. He was himself in his own rural theme. His great success was also largely due to his comprehensive(广泛的) knowledge and excellent mastery(精通) of the old song tradition.
Allegory is a tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. Thus, an allegory is a story with two meaning, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. Bildungsroman: a novel that traces the initiation, development, and education of a young person. Examples are Dickens’s David Copperfield and James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Byronic hero is a character-type found in Byron’s narrative Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. He is a boldly defiant but bitterly self-tormenting outcast, proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin. Emily Bronte’s Heath cliff is a later example. Conceit: a kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. A conceit usually provides the framework for an entire poem. An especially unusual and intellectual kind of conceit is the metaphysical conceit, used by certain 17th-century poets, such as John Donne.. Comedy of manners is a kind of comedy representing the complex and sophisticated code of behavior current in fashionable circles of society, where appearances count for more than true moral character. Its humor relies chiefly on elegant verbal wit and repartee. In England, the comedy of manners flourished as the dominant form of Restoration comedy in the works of Etheredge, Wycherley and Congreve. It was revived in a more subdued form in the 1770s by Goldsmith and Sheridan, and later by Oscar Wilde. An epic is a long narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating and celebrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the past history of a nation. Epiphany(顿悟）: a sudden revelation of truth about life inspired by a seemingly trivial incident Heroic couplet is the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter. Intrusive narrator: an omniscient narrator who, in addition to reporting the events of a novel’s story, offers further comments on characters and events, and who sometimes reflects more generally upon the significance of the story. Iambic pentameter: a poetic line consisting of five verse feet, with each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Iambic pentameter is the most common verse line in English poetry. Metaphysical poetry: the poetry of John Donne and other 17th-century poets who wrote in a similar style. It is characterized by verbal wit and excess, ingenious structure, irregular meter, colloquial language, elaborate imagery, and a drawing together of dissimilar ideas . Metaphysical Poetry Metaphysical Poetry is commonly used to name the work of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. With a rebellious spirit, the metaphysical poets try to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry. They are characterized by mysticism in content and fantasticality in form. John Donne is the lead ing figure of the “metaphysical school.” Naturalism: a post--Darwinian movement of the late 19th century that tried to apply the laws of scientific determinism to fiction. The naturalists went beyond the realists’ insistence on the objective presentation of the details of everyday life to insist that the materials of literature
①Beowulf: The national heroic epic of the English people. It has over 3,000 lines. It describes the battles between the two monsters and Beowulf, who won the battle finally and dead for the fatal wound. The poem ends with the funeral of the hero. The most striking feature in its poetical form is the use if alliteration. Other features of it are the use of metaphors(暗喻) and of understatements(含蓄). ②Alliteration: In alliterative verse, certain accented(重音) words in a line begin with the same consonant sound(辅音). There are generally 4accents in a line, 3 of which show alliteration, as can be seen from the above quotation. ③Romance: The most prevailing(流行的) kind of literature in feudal England was the Romance. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse(诗篇), sometimes in prose(散文), describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, usually a knight, as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournament(竞赛), or fighting for his lord in battle and the swearing of oaths. ④Epic: An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significantly to a culture or nation. The first epics are known as primacy, or original epics. ⑤Ballad: The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad which is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas(诗节), with the second and fourth lines rhymed. The subjects of ballads are various in kind, as the struggle of young lovers against their feudal-minded families, the conflict between love and wealth, the cruelty of jealousy, the criticism of the civil war, and the matters and class struggle. The paramount(卓越的) important ballad is Robin Hood(《绿林好汉》). ⑥Geoffrey Chaucer杰弗里.乔叟: He was an English author, poet, philosopher and diplomat. He is the founder of English poetry. He obtained a good knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. His best remembered narrative is the Canterbury Tales(《坎特伯雷故事集》), which the Prologue(序言) supplies a miniature(缩影) of the English society of Chaucer’s time. That is why Chaucer has been called “the founder of English realism”. Chaucer affirms men and women’s right to pursue their happiness on earth and opposes(反对) the dogma of asceticism(禁欲主义) preached(鼓吹) by the church. As a forerunner of humanism, he praises man’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life. Chaucer’s contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact that he introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the rhymed couplet of 5 accents in iambic(抑扬格) meter(the “heroic couplet”) to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse. ⑦【William Langland威廉.朗兰: Piers the Plowman《农夫皮尔斯》】
名词解释 Renaissance:The Renaissance indicates a revival of classical (Greek and Roman) arts and sciences in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world. Sonnet: A fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter and most often in one of the two rhyme schemes: the Italian(or Petrarchan) or Shakes pearean ( or English ). A sonnet is a 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme and meter .It has two main forms :the shakespearean sonnet and the Italian sonnet. Shakespeare Sonnet: a lyric with three quatrains and one couplet, rhyming ababcdcdefefgg, consisting of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter restricted to a definition rhyme scheme. A Shakespearean sonnet consists of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter, in which a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable is repeated five times. The rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g; the last two lines are a rhyming couplet. Enlightenment: the movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centries, a progressive intellectual movement, reason (rationality), equality & science (the 18th century) The Age of Enlightenment (also called the Age of Reason) refers to the 18th_ century England.The Enlightenment was a progressive intellectual movement.It celebrated reason (rationality), equality, science and human beings’ ability to perfect themselves and their society and it aimed to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern ,philosophical and artistic ideas. Romanticism: it flourished in literature, philosophy, music, and art in Western culture during most if the nineteenth century, beginning as a revolt against classicism. In it, emotion over reason, spontaneous emotion, a change from the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit, poetry should be free from all rules, imagination, nature, commonplace. Dramatic monologue: A kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in poem. The occasion is a crucial one in the speaker’s life, and the dramatic monologue reveals the speaker’s personality as
课件上找的 1)classicism 2)realism 3)sentimentalism 1.Epic: 史诗 A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated. Many epics were drawn from an oral form and were transmitted by song and recitation before they were written down. 2.Alliteration: 头韵 A rhetorical device, meaning some words in a sentence begin with the same consonant sound（头韵）. 3.Kenning:比喻的复合辞(=metaphor) A figurative, usually compound expression used in place of a name or noun, especially in Old English and Old Norse poetry; for example, storm of swords is a kenning for battle. 4.Understatement: expressing something in a controlled way. 5.Romance:传奇 A long composition, sometimes in verse, sometimes in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. 6.Renaissance文艺复兴（欧洲14至16世纪） Renaissance in European history, refers to the period between 14th century to 17th century. “Renaissance” means “revival”, the revival of interest in and getting rid of conservatism in feudalist Europe and introducing new ideas that express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie. The Renaissance, which means “rebirth” or “revival”, is actually an intellectual
Byronic hero A proud, mysterious, rebellious, gloomy figure of noble origin, with fiery passions and unbending will, expresses Byron’s own ideal of freedom. He rises against tyranny and injustice, but he’s merely a lone fighter striving for personal freedom. Sonnet A sonnet is a 14-line lyric poem with a single theme. Sonnets vary but are usually written in iambic pentameter, following one of two traditional patterns: the Petrarchan or Italian sonnet and the Shakespearean or English sonnet. A sonnet generally expresses a single theme or idea. Sonnet是一种欧洲传统的非常有影响力的诗歌形式。从形式上来说它有14行诗构成，通常是五步抑扬格，有着严格的特定的押韵方式。莎士比亚的十四行诗非常出名。 Lake Poets The Lake Poets all lived in the Lake District of England at the turn of the nineteenth century. As a group, they followed no single "school" of thought or literary practice then known, although their works were uniformly disparaged by the Edinburgh Review. They are considered part of the Romantic Movement 早期浪漫主义诗人Wordsworth，Coleridge和Southey，也被称为湖畔派诗人。他们都住在英国西北部的湖区，并且在文学和社会见解上有着一致性。湖畔派诗人主要回忆快乐的旧英格兰时代，把自然看作是精神上的避难所，因为他们惧怕即将到来的工业化和城市化。 Metaphysical poetry（玄学派诗歌） Metaphysical poetry is commonly used to name the work of the17t
名词解释 1．Romance: a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, especially for the knight. The most popular theme employed was the legend of King Arthur and the round table knight. 2．Ballad: a story told in song, usually in four-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed. 3．Heroic Couplet: a couplet consisting of two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter, and written in an elevated style. 4．Renaissance: a revival or rebirth of the artistic and scientific revival which originated in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. It has two features: a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature and keen interest in activities of humanity. 5．Sonnet: 14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. 6．Blank verse: poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. 7．Enlightenment: a revival of interest in the old classical works, logic, order, restrained emotion and accuracy. 8．Neoclassicism: the Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in Greek and Roman works. This tendency is known as Neoclassicism. 9．Sentimentalism:it was one of the important trends in English literature of the later decades of the 18th century. It concentrated on the free expression of thoughts and emotions, and presented a new view of human nature which prized feeling over thinking, passion over reason. 10．Romanticism: imagination, emotion and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. The particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism include: subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; freedom from rules; solitary life rather then life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason; and love of and worship of nature. 11．Lake Poets: the English poets who lived in and drew inspiration from the Lake District at the beginning of the 19th century. 12．Byronic Heroes: a variant of the Romantic heroes as a type of character( enthusiasm, persistence, pursuing freedom), named after the English Romantic Poet Gordon Byron. 13．Realism: seeks to portray familiar characters, situations, and settings in a realistic manner. This is done primarily by using an objective narrative point of view and through the buildup of accurate detail. 14．Aestheticism: an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts. 15．Stream-of-Consciousness: it is a literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur without any clarification by the author. It is a narrative mode. 16．Dramatic Monologue: a kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in the poem. 17．Iambic Pentameter: a poetic line consisting of five verse feet, with each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, that is, with each foot an iamb. 18．Epic: a long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated. 19．Elegy: a poem of mourning, usually over the death of an individual; may also be a lament over the passing of life and beauty or a meditation of the nature of death; a type of lyric poem. 20．Canto: a section of a long poem. The cantos can be a great poem
《英国文学史及选读》第一册复习要点 1. : ; ; , （此处可能会有填空，选择等小题） 2. （名词解释） 3. “ ”: a ’s 4. （名词解释） 5. 6. : ; ( ; 124 , 24 ; ; ; : ) 7. (名词解释)8. （名词解释）9 —— 10. （名词解释）11. （名词解释）12. “ ” 13. “” . “ ”（推荐阅读，学习写正式语体的英文文章的好参照，本文用词正式优雅，多排比句和长句，语言造诣非常高，里面很多话都可以引用做格言警句，非常值得一读） 14. 四大悲剧比较重要，此外就是罗密欧与朱立叶了，这些剧的主题，背景，情节，人物形象都要熟悉，当然他最重要的是这是肯定的。他的也很重要，最重要属18。（其戏剧中著名对白和几首有名的十四行诗可能会出选读） 15. 三大史诗非常重要，特别是和。对于需要知道它是写成的，故事情节来自，另外要知道此书和的形象。 16. ——’s 17. —— ; : , . 18. （名词解释） 19. （名词解释） 20. ——“ ”
21. ——“ ”这个比上面那个要重要，注意这个报纸和我们今天的报纸不一样，它虚构了一系列的人物，以这些人物的口气来写报纸上刊登的散文，这一部分要仔细读。 22. ’s ’s 23. : “ ”, “ ”, “ ”, “ ”; () 24. : “’s ”此书非常重要，要知道具体内容，就是游历过的四个地方的英文名称，和每个部分具体的讽刺对象; （我们主要讲了三个地方）“A ”比较重要，要注意作者用的也就是反讽手法。 25. 18 . 26. : “ ”, “ ”, 当然是比较重要，剧情要清楚，的形象和故事中蕴涵的早期黑奴的原形，以及殖民主义的萌芽。另外注意的和，另外是。 27. ——“” ( ), “ ”, “ ” 28. : “ ”, “ ”, “ ”第一个和第三个比较重要，需要仔细看。他是一个比较重要的作家，另外也被称为 . 29. ——“ ”项狄传 30. ——“ ” 31. ——“ ”(), “ ” () ( ), “ ” (), “ ” (), “ ” (), “ ” ( ) 32. （名词解释） 33. ——“ a ”（英国诗歌里非常著名的一首，曾经被誉为“有史以来英国诗歌里最好的一首”）(a 墓园派诗人) * / ”: A , a , , . , ’s
1. Ballad(民谣) A ballad originally is a song intended as an accompaniment to a dance or a popular song. In the relatively recent sense, now most widely used, a ballad is a single, spirited poem in short stanzas, in which some popular story is graphically narrated. The ingredients of ballads usually include a refrain, stock descriptive phrases, and simple, terse dialogue. 2. Alliteration(头韵) It refers to a repeated initial consonant to successive words and it is the most striking feature in its poetic form. In alliterative verse, certain accented words in a line begin with the same consonant sound. There are generally 4 accents in a line, three of which show alliteration, and it is the initial sound of the third accented syllable that normally determiners the alliteration. In old English verse, alliteration is not an unusual or expressive phenomenon but a regular recurring structural feature of the verse. 3. Sonnet (十四行诗) It is a poem of 14 lines (of 11 syllables in Italian and 10 in English), typically in rhymed iambic pentameter. Sonnets characteristically express a single theme or idea. The sonnet was introduced to England by Sir T. Wyatt and developed Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey) and was thereafter widely used notably in the sonnet sequences of Shakespeare, Sidney, and Spenser. 4. Tragedy(悲剧) The word is applied broadly to dramatic works in which events move to a fatal or disastrous conclusion. It is concerned with the harshness and apparent injustice of life. Often the hero falls from power and his eventual death leads to the downfall of others. The tragic action arouses feelings of awe in the audience. 5. Lyric(抒情诗) As a genre, it was the tradition of popular song flourishing in all the medieval literatures of Western Europe. In England lyric poems flourished in the Middle English period, and in the 16th century, heyday of humanism. This tradition was enriched by the direct imitation of ancient models. During the next 200 years the links between poetry and music was gradually broken, and the term “lyric” came to be applied to short poems expressive of a poet’s thoughts or feelings. 6. Epic(史诗) It is a poem that celebrates in the form of a continuous narrative the achievements of one or more heroic personages of history or tradition. Among the great epics of the world may be mentioned the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and Paradise Lost. 7. Renaissance(文艺复兴) The word “renaissance” means rebirth or revival. It is commonly applied to the movement or period of great flowering of art, architecture, politics, and the study of literature, usually seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern worn world. It came about under the influence of Greek and Roman models. It began in Italy in the late 14th century, reached the highest development in the early 16th century, and spread to the rest of Europe in the 15th century and afterwards. Its emphasis was humanist: that is , on regarding the human figure and reason without a necessary relating of it to the superhuman.
Part One: Early and Medieval English Literature 1. Beowulf: national epic of the English people; Denmark story; alliteration, metaphors and understatements 3. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”: a famous roman about King Arthur’s story 4. Ballad（名词解释） 5. Character of Robin Hood 6. Geoffrey Chaucer: founder of English poetry; The Canterbury Tales (main contents; 124 stories planned, only 24 finished; written in Middle English; significance; form: heroic couplet) 7. Heroic couplet (名词解释) Part Two: The English Renaissance 8. The Authorized Version of English Bible and its significance9. Renaissance（名词解释） 10.Thomas More??Utopia 11. Sonnet（名词解释） 12. Blank verse（名词解释） 13. Edmund Spenser “The Faerie Queene”; Amoretti (collection of his sonnets) Spenserian Stanza（名词解释） 15. Christopher Marlowe (“Doctor Faustus” and his achievements) Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem of unknown authorship, dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between the 8th[1] to the early 11th century,[2] and relates events described as having occurred in what is now Denmark and Sweden. Commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature, Beowulf has been the subject of much scholarly study, theory, speculation, discourse, and, at 3182 lines, has been noted for its length. 3 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the tale, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his beard and skin. The "Green Knight" offers to allow anyone to strike him with his axe if the challenger will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts, and beheads him in one blow, only to have the Green Knight stand up, pick up his head, and remind Gawain to meet him at the appointed time 4 A ballad is a poem usually set to music; thus, it often is a story told in a song[1]. Any myth form may be told as a ballad, such as historical accounts or fairy tales in verse form. It usually has foreshortened, alternating four-stress lines ("ballad meter") and simple repeating rhymes, often with a refrain 5