英国文学部分西方文学发展的两大源头两大源头:古希腊, 罗马的神话，中世纪的基督教A General Survey of English Literary History:1．O ld English literature (The Anglo – Saxon Period) 449 – 10662. Medieval Period (The Anglo – Norman Period) 1066 – 13503. The Renaissance Period 14th– mid 17th4. The 17th(The Period of Revolution and Restoration)5. The 18th(The Age of Enlightenment)6. The Romantic Period （Age of poetry）1798 – 18327. The Victorian Period ( The Age of Critical Realism) 1836 – 19018. The 20th(The Modern Period)一．古英语和中世纪时期：Old and Medieval English Literature: 449 -- 1066Germanic tribes: Angles, Saxons and JutesOld English Poetic tradition :a. The pagan poetry (secular group)b. The Christian poetry (religious group)National epic poem –BeowulfMiddle English Literature:1. Christian literature2. Romance the popular literary forms in medieval periodGeoffrey Chaucer: “father of English poetry” “English Homer”The Canterbury TalesFor the first time in English literature presented a comprehensive realistic picture。

He employed the heroic couplet for the first time in the history of English literature.3. the English ballads: Robin Hood ballads二，文艺复兴时期Purpose of Renaissance:1.Get rid of old feudalist ideas ,introduce new ideas of the risingbourgeoisie2.Recover the purity of the churchLiterature of RenaissancePoetry Essay Elizabethan Drama ( the mainstream)Religious Reformation:Martin Luther: a German Protestant, initiated the ReformationIn full Swing: Henry VIIIThe major results: Bible in Englishservices were held in English Authorized VersionRenaissance 文艺复兴It refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries. It is an intellectual movement. It sprang first in Italy and gradually spread all over Europe. English Renaissance was England’s Golden Age, especially in literature.Humanism:H. is the essence of the R. and reflected the new outlook of the rising bourgeois class. It e mphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life.Best humanists: Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe, William ShakespeareWilliam Caxton: The first person to introduce printing into England.Wyatt: Introduce the Petrarchan sonnet into EnglandSurrey: Introduce blank verse into England，Marlowe gave new vigor to the blank verse.Poet: Edmund Spenser The Fgaerie Queene The Shepheardes CalenderPlaywrights:Christopher Marlowe (pioneer of English drama)Dr. Faustus, the Passionate Shepherd to His LoveWilliam Shakespeare (the summit of Renaissance) 38 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long poemsEssayist: Francis BaconThe Dramatic Career of William Shakespeare:The Third Period：Four Great Tragedies(Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth)Shakespeare’s Historical PlaysPrinciple: Nation unity under a mighty and just authority is a necessity.The first and second parts of Henry IV are the most widely read.Features of Shakespeare’s Drama:A. Shakespeare is one of the founders of realism in world literature;B. Shakespeare is a great master of the English language.C. Shakespeare has been universally acknowledged to be the summit of theEnglish Renaissance and one of the greatest writers the world over.What is a tragedy:A play having a serious mood and ending in death or disaster for the protagonist.A tragedy is usually about a hero who is good, even noble, but who has some flaw ormakes some mistake that brings about the final disaster.Hamlet --- Considered the summit of Shakespeare’s art. Comes from an old Danish legend. Regarded as Shakespeare’s most popular play on the stage.Soliloquy:戏剧独白In drama, an extended speech delivered by a character alone onstage.“To be or not to be”----- the most famousComedy:A play that is humorous and usually has a happy ending. Most comedies use both humorous situations and amusing characters. The Merchant of Venice: The most important play among the comediesS o n n e t: A fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentametertwo traditional types: Italian sonnet (Petrarchan) —Shakespearean SonnetShakespeare’s Sonnets: Totally154 Sonnets;Sonnet 18 is one of the most beautiful sonnets written by Shakespeare. It is a typical British sonnet. “Shall I Compare Thee to A Summer’s Day”Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626)A representative of the Renaissance in England. His Essays is the first example of that genre in English literatureBacon’s essays are famous for their brevity, compactness and powerfulness.He lays the foundation for modern scienceOf Studies is t he most popular of Bacon’s 58 essays.It analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies, and how studies exert influence over human character. Of studies reveals Bacon’s mature attitude towards learning.三．17世纪The English Revolution：The Restoration:William “Glorious Revolution”,expelled James II, prince from Holland be the king of England.John Donne (1572 - 1631): The founder of the Metaphysical school of poetry.The Songs and Sonnets Love is the basic theme Form: argument conceitsJohn Milton(1608 – 1774) A great English poethis 3 major poetical works: Paradise Lost 失乐园Paradise regained 复乐园Samson Agonistes 力士参孙Paradise Lost is Milton’s masterp iece, the greatest English epicSource of story: Old Testament Epic in 12 books, written in blank verseTheme: Expose the reactionary forces, praise the fighting spirits and appeal for freedomJohn Bunyan The Pilgrim’s Progress 《天路历程》 A Religious Allegory Allegory: A story with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visual meaning. The principal technique of allegory is personification, whereby abstract qualities are given human shape.四．18th CenturyHistorical background:Economically, At home Industrial Revolution. Abroad, vast expansion of colonies.free capital + free labor = the first powerful capitalist countrySocially, the middle class grew rapidly.Ideologically, Enlightenment MovementIt was a progressive intellectual movement , flourished in France. The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance. Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world .The enlighteners celebrated reason or rationality, equality and science. They advocated universal education.Literatureneoclassicism (新古典主义）The 18th century is an age of prose rather than poetry.Early PoetryMid – century modern English/realistic novel (the most significant phenomenon in the history of English literature)Later years: Gothic Novels, Sentimental Poems, Romantic PoemsLiterary Representatives:➢Essayists : Joseph Addison Richard Steele➢Poet :Alexander Pope➢Novelists: Daniel Defoe Henry Fielding Jonathan Swift➢Playwright : Richard B. Sheridan➢Thomas Gray Sentimentalist➢William Blake, Robert Burns Pre-romantic poetRobinson Crusoe (By Daniel Defoe): It is an adventure story which represented the spirit of the time.The character ---- Robinson CrusoeA typical 18th English middle-class man at the earlier stage of bourgeoisie developmentJonathan Swift (1667-1745): A master satirist.Gulliver’s Travels〈格利佛游记〉The book is a satire of all aspects in English and European life. This book is artistic masterpiece. Four parts make an organic whole, each remain independent yet complementing the othersA Modest Proposal 〈一个温和的建议〉It is generally taken as a perfect model of Swift’s powerful satire.Henry Fielding: Farther of English Novel,the first to write a “comic epic in prose”The History of Tom Jones, a FoundlingTom Jones gives a comprehensive and realistic picture of the life of 18th century England, It bring author the name “Prose Homer”Thomas Gray (1716 –1771)A sentimentalist, leading figure of “Graveyard School”Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Gray’s best and most representative workthe best of the 18th century English poetrySheridan and 18th Century DramaThe only important English dramatist of the eighteenth century.His plays are regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw.The School for Scandal:It is one of the great classics in English drama.It is regarded as the best comedy since ShakespeareIt is a sharp satire on the moral degeneracy of the high society in the 18th century EnglandWilliam Blake❖Two groups of short lyricsSongs of Innocence: depicting the happy and innocent world of a childSongs of Experience: paints with a melancholy tone a world of misery, poverty, disease, war, suffering.Robert Burns (1759 – 1796)His poems were written in the Scottish dialect. They reflect the life of the common Scottish farmers.Auld Lang Syne , A Red Red Rose五．Romantic Period (1798 – 1832)Publication of Lyrical Ballads (1798) to the death of Sir Walter Scott (1832)Romanticists see man as an individual, emphasize the special qualities of each individual’s mind and inner world of the human spiritWilliam Wordsworth – the leading figure of the English romantic poetry; regarded as “worshipper of nature”Lake poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge and SoutheyHis principles of poetry:“all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”; ordinary peasants, children all may be used as subjects in poetical creation; language be near to the real language of men.His poetry: About nature: To a Skylark; To a Butterfly; To the Cuckoo; An EveningWalk….About human life The sailor’s mother; Michael; The Affliction ofMargaret; “Lucy poems”….I Wondered Lonely as a CloudGeorge Gordon, Lord Byron: (1788 --- 1824)Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage:Don Juan: Byron’s masterpiece. It vividly depicts the lives and manners of many lands, and bitterly satire the hypocrisy of his time.(famous excerpt The Isles of Greece)Byron’s chief contribution ---”Byronic Hero”A proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin. This hero would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in a corrupt society, and would rise single-handedly against any tyrannical rules.Samuel Taylor Coleridge:One of the first critics to give attention to language.The Rime of the Ancient Mariner kubla KhanPercy Bysshe Shelley:Lyrics Ode to the West Wind (If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind) Poetic drama Prometheus Unbound, The CenciProse The Defence of PoetryJohn Keats:Odes Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode To A Nightingale, To Autumn, To Psyche Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) one of the greatest women writers of the 19th century. Her major works ----- six novelsSense and SensibilityPride and Prejudice (five Bennet sisters and their search for suitable husbands) Northanger Abby, Mansfield Park, Emma,PersuasionStyle: she is a neoclassicismSetting: Within a narrow sphere --- “ three or four families in a country village”dancing parties, tea parties, picnics and gossips.Walter Scott (1771 -1832)realistic description of historical events.His contribution to English literature, even to world literature, is his historical novels. Ivanhoe六．The Victorian Period (1836 – 1901)Historical Background:Rapid economic development (industrial revolution + colonies)Serious social problems (Chartist Movement)Utilitarianism widely accepted and practisedLiterature: Critical Realism expose + criticizeVictorian Literature：Novel: Most VitalCharles Dickens(1812 – 1870) The greatest representative of English critical realism Gives a most vivid picture of the everyday life of the ordinary people of his time Major Works:The Pickwick Papers «匹克威克外传»Oliver Twist《雾都孤儿》Nichols Nickleby «尼古拉斯·尼克尔贝»The Old Curiosity Shop «老古玩店»American Notes«美国札记»Martin Chuzzlewit «马丁·朱述尔维特»Dombey and Son«董贝父子»David Copperfield «大卫·科波菲尔»his best book, most autobiographicalBleak House«荒凉山庄»Hard Times«艰难时世»Little Dorrit «小杜丽» A Tale of Two Cities«双城记»William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)Mainly describe people of the upper and middle classesWas cynic and doubt the goodness of human nature,Vanity Fair (Title is taken from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress<天路历程)）Charlotte Bronte Jane EyreEmily Bronte A poet + a novelistWhuthering Heights Two families + a strangerThomas Hardy Novelist + PoetThe last important novelist and poet of the 19th centuryNaturalistic View of life:“Wessex Novels”:novels describing the vicissitudes of people who live in an agricultural setting menaced by the forces of invading capitalism.“Novels of character and environment”Under the Greenwood Tree 《格林树下》Far from the Madding Crowd《远离喧嚣》The Return of the native《还乡》The Major of Casterbridge 《卡斯德拉大桥》Tess of the D’Urbervilles《德伯家的苔丝》Jude the Obscure 《无名的裘得》Tess : Both a naturalistic and a critical realistic workGeorge EliotAdam Bede The Mill on the Floss Silas Marner Middle MarchSeek to present the inner struggle of a soulVictorian Poetry: pave the way for modern poetryLord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)Break, Break, Break Ulysses Crossing the Bar In Memoriam Robert Browning Dramatic monologueMy Last Duchess The Ring and the Book: (established his position as oneof the greatest English poets)七．The Modern Period （20th century）Theoretical base: Irrational philosophy, Theory of psycho-analysis (Feud)Irrational Philosophy: creation, intuition, irrationality and unconsciousness.Modernism: T he French symbolism heralded modernism. After the First World War, all kinds of literary trends of modernism appeared. Towards the 1920s,thesetrends converged into modernist movement.Modernism curbed in the 1930s. After the Second World War, post-modernism, like Existentialist literature, theater of the absurd, new novels and black humor, rose with the existentialist idea that “ the world was absurd, and the human life was an agony.“the red thirties”“The Angry Young Men”George Bernard Shaw:realistic dramatist More than 50 plays “problem pla ys” ( indignation)Widowers’ Houses Mrs. Warren’s ProfessionOscar Wilde:Spokesman for Aesthetic Movement,“Art for Art’s Sake”Novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray 《道林。