英国文学复习资料

Epic, a poem that celebrates in the form of a continuous narrative the achievements of one or more heroic personages of history or traditio Basic information （1） the national epic of the Anglo-Saxon and English people） a long poem of about 3,000 lines3）a folk legend brought to England by the Anglo-Saxons from their continental home.///Features

（1） The use of alliteration (certain accented words in a line beginning with the same consonant sound, generally 4 accents in a line, three of them showing alliteration（2） The use of metaphor 3） The use of understatements 1. The Romance

The romance, the most prevalent kind of literature in feudal England, was a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. The central character of romances was the knight, （2）The romance cycles/groups1.“matters of Britain” (adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table)1. The theme --- loyalty (the corner-stone of feudal morality)2. The audience --- of the Court or of the castle3. The governing rule --- chivalry2. The Ballads1 A ballad is a story told in song, usually in 4-lins stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed（3）The Robin Hood Ballads 1.The origin： The perpetual struggles of the peasants against the landlords, against the local officials and against the king’s judges.2.The character：The hatred for the cruel oppressors and his love for the poor and downtrodden

三． Major writer: Geoffrey Chaucer—the founder of English poetry杰弗雷.乔叟

2. “The Canterbury Tales” (1307 -1400)《坎特伯雷故事集》

--- Chaucer’s masterpiece and one of the monumental works in English literature. 1 A collection of tales and stories 4 Twenty-nine other pilgrims (adding up to 31) to Canterbury 5Each telling two stories while going and two returning24 stories told altogether (Chaucer tells two)

（3）the social significance

1Affirming men and women’s right to pursuit happiness on earth 2 Opposing the dogma of asceticism preached by the church3 Praising men’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life.4）. Chaucer’s language (Middle English) Vivid and exact“heroic couplet”, the rhymed couplet of iambic pentametre 2 Doing much in making the dialect of London the foundation for modern English speech(1) The Nun’s Priest’s Tale 1One of the most admired of the Tale 2 the most typically “Chaucerian” in tone and content 3 telling of a fox that beguiled a cock by praising his father’s singing, and being in return beguiled by the cock by pausing to boast at his victory(2) The Wife of Bath’s Tale

1 The owner of a cloth factory, light-hearted, merry, somewhat vulgar, and exceedingly talkative 4(Chaucer) drawing widely on the medieval anti-feminist tradition

(3) The Pardoner’s Tale 1 Declaring his own covetousness and taking it as its theme

2 Relating covetousness to other sins: drunkenness, gluttony, gambling, swearing

1 Renaissance What features: a thirsting curiosity for classical literature; the keen interest in life and human activities;

Key-note: humanism; Humanism means a shift from the divine element to human element(3) the continuing development of trade, the growth of the middle class, the education for lay people, the centralization o f power, the widening horizons of exploration, printing introduced into England

1. Renaissance poetry Metaphysical poet --- John Donne; John Milton --- revealing poetic power and grace under the control of a profound mind;

Christopher Marlowe, beginning the tradition of the chronicle plays, and establishing blank verse in plays; William Shakespeare, depictions of world-shattering characters that strive to go beyond the normal human limitations.

1 Francis Bacon (1561 --- 1626)弗朗西斯.培根 His belief: people are the servants and interpreters of nature; truth is not derived from authority; knowledge is the fruit of experience; His contribution: to logic the method implicative inference

1．John Milton (A humanist: his passionate belief in free belief, his zeal for knowledge, his respect for truth; God --- representing power and love, the rule of reason in the universe and in the soul of man

3. Paradise Regained (1671)《复乐园》A four-book epic in blank verse. main idea: Based on the Gospels, it shows Christ in the wilderness withstanding Satan’s temptation, thereby proving his fitness for his ultimate trial and, in his human role, showing what humankind might achieve through strong integrity and humble obedience to the divine will

2. John Bunyan (1628 - 1688)约翰.班扬The Pilgrim’s Progress In allegorical form

一．The enlightenment movement

The essence: an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism

1. Daniel Defoe (1660 -1731)丹尼尔.笛Valuing the Puritan ethic Believing in diligence, self-reliance and fortitude.

2.Jonathan Swift having a deep hatred for the rich oppressors and a deep sympathy for the poor and oppressed; liberal-minded, a fighter for truth, justice, equality, and freedom Holding the opinion that human nature was seriously and permanently flawed.

a good style: “proper words in proper places”,his language, precise, simple, clear, vigorous, economical and concise master satirist

3.Joseph Addison (1672

Holding the opinion that human nature was seriously and permanently

3.Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719):

style: on grave subjects not formal, on light occasions not groveling, pure without scrupulosity, exact without elaboration

4.Samuel Richardson (1689 -1761)塞缪尔.理查逊

one of the chief founders of the modern novel;

his novels: epistolary;Clarissa (1747)《克拉丽莎》a story of intense tragedy,Clarissa, a daughter of a rich middle class, with virtue, beauty and intelligence contribution: entering into detailed psychological study of the female characters

5.Samuel Johnson (1709 -1784)1 style：typically neoclassical sentence：long and well structured, interwoven with parallel words and phrases thought: clearly expressed 5th the Romantic Period浪漫主义时期

一．Romanticism, features of the romantic literature Expressiveness: the object of the artist, the expression of the artist’s emotion, impression or belief, poetry, “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”;2 Imagination: emphasizing the creative function of the imagination, art, a formulation of intuitive, imaginative perceptions; Singularity: a strong love for the remote, the unusual, the strange, the supernatural, the mysterious, the splendid, the picturesque, the illogical;Worship of nature: nature, a revelation of Truth; the natural world, the dominant influence in changing people’s sensibilities; nature, a source of mental cleanness and spiritual understanding; Simplicity: subjects: the humble people and the everyday life;materials: the commonplace, the natural, the simple; language: everyday language spoken by the rustic people; An age of poetry

1William Blake (1757 - 1827)1 Politically, criticizing the capitalist’ cruel exploitation, cherishing great expectations and enthusiasm for the French Revolution; Religiously, the Bible, the causes of many errors, religion, outlawing the body and cutting off the mind from the real source of its energies (evils); literarily’ showing contempt for the rule of neo-classicism, opposing the classical tradition of the 18th century, treasuring the individual imagination.

2) Songs of Innocence (1789)a volume of poems, presenting a happy and innocent world, breaking completely with the traditions of the 18th century, introducing bold metrical innovations) Songs of Experience (1794)a volume of poems, painting a world of poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone1) major topic: political tyranny, economic exploitation, other evils of the reality in his day, fight for freedom;2) language: plain simple, direct 3) nature: visionary imaginative; 4) feature: symbolism The chimney sweepers get support for their position or situation from the dream of Tom Dacre, which supplies a vision of liberation the role of religion: to drug the people, to supply them with a sort of “illusory happiness”

2.London” (from Songs of Experience)After the French Revolution, the British government pressed down the democratic activities at their most. London city then was a world of misery, poverty disease and war. On the other hand, the city was under the full control of the capitalists. Even the beautiful Thames was dominated by chartered companies.

2.Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)1) the national poet of Scotland) his peasant origin aiding him in capturing the simplicity, humor, directness and optimism”

3.William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) (1) one of the great poets of nature, best at the truthful presentation of nature,) the theme, incidents and the situations of common life,man, not apart from nature,) advocating a return to nature: society, the unnatural life of cities, weakening and perverting humanity) language, simple, colloquial. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud a description of the scene and of the feelings matching it,abstracting the total emotional value of the experience and concluding by summing that up metaphor: the flowers, the waves, the wind --- eternal harmony and vitality

4.Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1) a lyrical poet and literary critic of the first rank, ” maintaining that the true end of poetry is to give pleasure “through the medium of beauty”. “Kubla Khan”

Main idea, a poem about poetry,the glorious creation, a balanced reconciliation of the natural and the artificial,reflecting Coleridge’s subconscious ruminations on poetry, paradise, and the heights and the depth of his own unfathomable intellectual and spiritual being.

5.George Gordon Byron (1788 - 1824)

5) employing the Octave Rima (Octave Stanza 八行诗节) from Italian mock-heroic poetry “She Walks in Beauty”

6.Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1821) poetry: having a variety of poetical style; rich in myth, symbols and classical allusions; having a strong dramatic power; having an intellectual thought, leading to a spirituality of vision) personification and metaphor and other figures of speech the west wind: a powerful phenomenon of the nature that is both a destroyer and preserver; enjoying boundless freedom, and having the power to spread messages far and wide;the keynote: wish for himself and his fellow men to share the freedom of the west wind, remembering meanwhile his own and common human miseries;the optimism expressed in the last two lines showing the poet’s critical attitude toward the ugly social reality of his day and his faith in a bright future for humanity.

7.John Keats (1795 - 1821)) poetry, sensuous colorful and rich in imagery expressing the acuteness of his senses) having the power of entering the feeling of others, either human or animal’ diction: beautiful words and phrases which sound musical,ode to the nigtingal

Ode to a Nightingale(Important Point) a. Poetical theory:

Negative Capability→when man is capable of being in uncertainties , mysterious, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason. In this ode, Keats not only expresses his raptures upon hearing the beautiful songs of the nightingale and his desire to go to the ethereal world of beauty together with the bird.2) But he also shows his deep sympathy for and his keen understanding of human miseries in the society in which he lived.

.Jane Austen(1775 -1817)main concern: human beings in their personal relations,subject: a narrow sphere genre: realistic novels with keen observation and penetrating analysis, the use of dialogues,language: simple, easy, lucid and economical.the heroine Elizabeth Bonnet, the hero Fitzwilliam Darcy;pride and prejudice,love and marriage.Feminism: beginning: the late 18th century, and political equality of women with men,feminist criticism, a critical literary approach

Charles Dickens(1812-1870)the greatest English realist of the times 书 Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte ane Eyre’s Development Jane’s childhood at Gateshead Education at Lowood School As Adele’s governess at Thornfield With the River family at Moor House Reunion with and marriage to Rochester at Ferndean

Themes of Jane EyreMorality: Jane works out a morality expressed in love, independence and forgiveness.b. Social class: . Gender relationships. love and passion. Independence: Settings:Wuthering Heights→呼啸山庄thrushcross Grange→画眉山庄lot: →The turbulent love story and revenge Catherine and Heathcliff’s love Catherine’s marriage to Edgar Linton Heathcliff’s plans for revenge.Themes:A romantic love story and a tale of revenge From the social point of view, the story is a tragedy of social in equally.The cosmic harmony of the destruction and re-establishment.

6Thomas Hardy the struggle between man and his environment, between aspiring human spirit and external inanimate nature, heroes and heroines: common working-class the strong elements of naturalism --- symbolism Tess of the D’Urberville a fierce criticism of the hypocritical morality of the society and the cruel and inhuman exploitation of the capitalists who invaded the English country and destroyed the peasantry from the root a strong naturalistic tendency fate plays an important role in Tess’ tragedy 7George Bernard Shaw (1865-1950)书267

7th the Twentieth Century二十世纪

一Modernist movement, the characteristics of modernism, stream of consciousness

1modernism rising out of skepticism and disillusionment of capitalism, the theoretical base: the irrational philosophy and the idea of psychoanalysis,the major themes: the distorted, alienated and ill relationship the chief characteristics break with the past the

need to move away from the public, the objective,stream of consciousness， Principle of Psychology,describing the flow of thoughts of the human mind describing the unspoken thoughts and feelings of the characters

1William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)（书290

2 T. S. Eliot (1888-1965

The Waste Land Theme: the spiritual breakup of a modern civilization structure: contrast in time contrasting ideas: life and death, fertility and sterility, love and lust, reality and imagination

3 D. H. Lawrence Themes:the dehumanizing effect of the bourgeois industrialization,the complexity of human relationship, the emotional possession of one person by another, the usual account of the spiritual liberation of the protagonist

Structure a structural pattern determined by the nature of human relationship the Oedipus love between Paul and mother the spiritual love between Paul and Miriam, the possessive love between Paul and Clare,the crippled marriage of Paul’s parents, 4 James Joyce (1882-1941)Epiphany: a moment of illumination, usually occurring at or near the end of a work

1 a self-conscious and self-prepared artist the subject matter of art: anything pleasing the aesthetic sensitivity, creative artist, being concerned with the beautiful

（2）three forms of literary art --- lyrical, epical and dramatic）the highest form of art: the dramatic form Artists’ opinion: completely objective）the perfect manner in art: comedy1 Ulysses (1922) story: an account of man’s life during one day (18 hours, June 16, 1904), in Dublin

Theme: to present a microcosm of the whole human life how a single event contains all the events of its kind,how history is recapitulated in the happenings of one day Structure ：formless style ：Joyce’s original style: subtlety, economy exactness stream of consciousness mock-heroic style

5 Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)writers’ task: to examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day theme: about the spirit not about the body a feminist opportunity for receiving higher education,small pay for equal work,women are treated as inferior. 32,33,36 38.40.42.44

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