1 Literary characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon period.The main literary form of the period is poetry and there are two groups: pagan poetry and religious poetry, and often Christian one.2He is regarded as “father of English poetry”, and one of the greatest narrative poets in England。

Chaucer’s main works masterpiece: The Canterbury Tales It is one of the most famous works in all literatures. In arranging the poem, he imitates the framework of Boccaccio’s Decamenon《十日谈》：a general prologue + 24 tales with interlogues.(P43)He covered all the major types of medieval literature in his masterpiece, such as romances, folk tales, animal stories.3 The definition English RenaissanceThe term Renaissance originally indicates a revival or rebirth of ancient Greekand Roman arts and sciences after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism.Indeed, a great number of the works of classical authors were translated intoEnglish during the 16th century. The study and propagation of classicallearning and art was carried on by the progressive thinkers of the humanists.They held their chief interest not in ecclesiastical knowledge, but in man, hisenvironment and doings and bravely fought for the emancipation of man fromthe tyranny of the church and religious dogmas.Two key features of RenaissanceA.The humanists showed a thirsting curiosity for classical literature. There aroused ageneral of the study of Greek and Latin authors.( e.g. translating their works, modeling their literary forms, borrowing their subjects )B.They had a keen interest in life and human activities. For the first time, man isconsidered as the centre of the universe. The interest in God and in the life after death is transformed into the exaltation of man and an absorption in earthly life.4 Christopher Marlowe and William ShakespeareChristopher MarloweMarlowe is one of the greatest playwrights in the English Renaissance. He is also a great lyrical poet. He reformed the genre of drama in England and perfected the language and verse of dramatic works. It was Marlowe who made blank verse (an unrhymed iambic pentameter) the principal vehicle of expression in drama.His main works : Dr. Faustus Tamburtaine, the Great The Jew of MaltaWilliam ShakespeareShakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon and died in 1616.Altogether, he produced 38 dramas, (history plays, tragedies, comedies, tragic comedies) 2 long narrative poems, and 154 sonnets.the first period is the period of his apprenticeship in play-writing.Content: bear the marks of youth, but of youth with astonishing versatility and wonderful talent.Style: the principle of causing the action to revolve one or two central figures and making the character not the incident the source of action is gradually followed.Language: blank verseThe second period (1595-1600)The second period of Shakespeare’s work is his mature period.Tone: sweet and joyfulTheme: all the wrong shall disappear before the force of good. Virtue will have its triumph in the end.Style: a great lift in characterization, esp. heroines of the comedies.The third period (1601-1607)the third period of Shakespeare's dramatic career is mainly the period of “great tragedies” and “dark comedies”Content: The complicated social contradictions are mercilessly exposed.Style: The tragic note is aggravated.Theme: A mass of evil is represented.The fourth period (1608-1612)the fourth period of Shakespeare’s work is the period of romantic drama.This period witnesses a turn from the storm, the gloom from the third period to “a great peacefulness of light”, and a harmony of earth and heaven. All shall be well in the end. Sonnets:sonnet: a lyric poem of fourteen lines, typically written in iambic pentameter and usually following strict patterns of stanza division and rhyme.Shakespearean sonnetSonnet 18 1.definition of English sonnet: It is a 14-line verse written in iambic pentameter with the rhymic form of ababcdcdefefgg.General comment on Shakespeare1.Shakespeare is one of the founders of realism n world literature.2.Shakespeare pictures a series of ideal characters to embody his humanist’s thoughts3.Shakespeare gives us a world of full-blooded people who represent all the complexitiesand implications of real life.4.Shakespeare is skillful in many poetic forms; the song, the sonnet, the couplet and thedramatic blank verse.5.Shakespeare is a great master of the English language.5English Revolution and Restoration Main literary menA.John Bunyan班扬The Pilgrim’s Progress 《天路历程》main story: Christian set out from the City of Destruction毁灭城to make his way to the Holy City. On his way, he meets with the perils and temptations of the Slough of Despond失望谷，Vanity Fair虚荣市, and Doubting Castle怀疑城. He faces and overcomes the demon Appolyon地狱魔王, and finally came to the Celestial City天国.definition of metaphysical poetry:玄学派诗歌The leading man of metaphysical school ohn Donne多恩/ 邓恩John Milton 弥尔顿his greatest works .Paradise lost失乐园(the greatest epic after Beowulf ) Paradise Regained 复乐园Samson Agonistes力士参孙Enlightenment启蒙运动A new prose literature in Addison and Steele.Periodical Literature报刊文学in the 18th-century England.Robinson Crusoe《鲁滨逊漂流记》28 荒岛生活Evaluation of the novel:1 Robinson Crusoe is a typical 18th English middle-class man, with a great capacity for work, inexhaustible energy, courage, persistence in overcoming obstacles in struggling against hostile natural environment.2 In the story of the Hero’s first adventures on the deserted island, the hero is depicted as a man struggling against nature, and he seems to live in this island through different stages of human civilization in a seemingly primitive environment.3 The hero’s adventures indicate the glorification of the bourgeois man who has the courage and will to face hardships and the determination to improve on his livelihood by struggling against nature.4) The novel is written in the style of autobiography. The book describes the hero’s career as a sailor, a merchant, a plantation owner, a slave trade, which, together with his adventures provides a realistic picture of the life of the 18th England.5) The book is written in a simple, straightforward style with vivid depiction of the detailed experiences and adventures. The sentences are variable, sometimes short and plain, sometimes long and rambling. The language is smooth, easy and colloquial.B. Jonathan Swift斯威夫特His work Gulliver’s Travels《格列夫游记》a. His voyage on the island of Lilliput小人国b His voyage on the island of Brobdingnag大人国c. His voyage on the island of Laputa飞鸟国d. His voyage on the island of Houyhnhnms彗马国6 Romanticism in EnglandA. Robert Burns彭斯Robert Burns (P290) was the best known Scottish lyric( 抒情诗)poetry about love and friendship, the most outstanding “A Red, Red Rose”（all long song 友谊地久天长）B William Blake布莱克William Blake (P282) is a famous democratic poet, his poetry is mainly about the life in London, chiefly the sufferings and hardships of the common people in the big city.---- His works:P285 The Songs of Innocence is a lovely volume presenting a happy and innocent world, though not without its evils and sufferings. The Songs of Experience describes a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone.C The active romanticists or the later generation of romanticists, which was represented by Byron拜伦, Shelley雪莱and Keats济慈D Jane Austen简·奥斯丁Features of her novelsA: narrow scope: country gentry life.B: realistic delineation: Austen employed a strong sense of irony in her critique of aristocratic disaffection and the pretensions of the nouveau riche.C: themes in Austen’s works: love and marriageD: witty, humorous and simple language and her subtle irony style.E: women as the main charactersF: criticism of Jane Austen:7The Victorian Age Poetry: Hood(lower); Tennyson and Browning (higher dramatic monologue)布朗宁诗歌的主要艺术特点：（1）戏剧独白Definition of Critical Realism: P153It is literary trend in the Victorian Age. It first rose in France and then spread to England and other European countries. Critical realism found its best and fruitful expression in novels. Critical realists followed the traditional humanism of Renaissance and Romanticism and the critical and rebellious spirit of the Chartist Movement. Their concern was directed on the life and destiny of common masses. They depicted a panoramic picture of the social life. They didn’t approve of the use of violence to set right the social justice, and the way they favored was that man reform the society with love.Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte, Agnes Grey by Anne Brönte.。