英国文学史Part one: Early and Medieval English LiteratureChapter 1 The Making of England1. The early inhabitants in the island now we call England were Britons,a tribe of Gelts.2. In 55 ., Britain was invaded by Julius Caesar.The Roman occupation lasted for about 400 years.It was also during the Roman role that Christianity was introduced toBritain.And in 410 ., all the Roman troops went back to the continent and neverreturned.3. The English ConquestAt the same time Britain was invaded by swarms of pirates(海盗). They werethree tribes from Northern Europe: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. And by the 7th century these small kingdoms were combined into a UnitedKingdom called England, or, the land of Angles.And the three dialects spoken by them naturally grew into a singlelanguagecalled Anglo-Saxon, or Old English.4. The Social Condition of the Anglo-SaxonTherefore, the Anglo-Saxon period witnessed a transition from tribalsociety to feudalism.5. Anglo-Saxon Religious Belief and Its InfluenceThe Anglo-Saxons were Christianized in the seventh century. Chapter 2 Beowulf1. Anglo-Saxon PoetryBeowulf, the national It is of long poem over 3,000 lines. is But there oneBeowulf.epic of the English people. Grendel is a monster described in3. Analysis of Its ContentBeowulf is a folk lengend brought to England by Anglo-Saxons from theircontinental homes. It had been passed from mouth to mouth for hundreds ofyears before it was written down in the tenth century.Beowulf4. Features ofThe most striking feature in its poetical form is the use ofalliteration,metaphors and understatements.Chapter 3 Feudal England1) The Norman Conquest2. The Norman ConquestThe French-speaking Normans under Duke William came in 1066. After defeating the English at Hastings, William was crowned as King of England.The Norman Conquest marks the establishment of feudalism in England.3. The Influence of the Norman Conquest on the English LanguageBy the end of the fourteenth century, when Normans and English intermingled,English was once more the dominant speech in the country.3) The Romance1. The Content of the RomanceThe most prevailing kind of literature in feudal England was the romance.Le Morte D'Arthur 4. Malory'sThe adventures of the Knights of the Round Table at Arthur's court Chapter 5 The English Ballads2. The BalladsThe most important department of English folk literature is the ballad.A ballad is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas, with the secondand fourth lines rhymed.Of paramount importance are the ballads of Robin Hood.3. The Robin Hood BalladsChapter 6 Chaucer1. LifeGeoffrey Chaucer, the founder/father of English poetry.Troilus and Criseyde3.Troilus and Criseyde is Chaucer's longest complete poem and his greatestartistic achievement.But the poet shows some sympathy for her, hitting that her fault springsfrom weakness rather than baseness of character.The Canterbury Tales4.The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer's masterpiece and one of the monumentalworks in English literature.6. His LanguageChaucer's language, now called Middle English, is vivid and exact. Chaucer's contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact thathe introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types, especiallythe rhymed couplet of 5 accents in iambic meter (the “the heroic couplet”)to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse.Chaucerand dialects, several of consisted time the of English spoken The did much in making dialect of London the standard for the modern Englishspeech.Part Two: The English RenaissanceChapter 1 Old England in Transition1. The New MonarchyThe century and a half following the death of Chaucer was full of greatchanges.And Henry 7, taking advantage of this situation, founded the Tudor dynasty,a centralized monarchy of a totally new type, which met the needsof therising bourgeoisie and so won its support.2. The ReformationProtestantismThe bloody religious persecution came to a stop after the church settlementof Queen Elizabeth.3. The English BibleWilliam TyndallThen appeared the Authorized Version, which was made in 1611 under theauspices of James I and so was sometimes called the King James Bible.The result is a monument of English language and English literature.The standard modern English has been fixed and confirmed.4. The Enclosure Movement5. The Commercial ExpansionChapter 2 More1. LifeThomas MoreUtopia 2.Utopia is More's masterpiece, written in the form of a conversationbetween More and Hythlody, a returned voyager.The name “Utopia” comes from two Greek words meaning “no place”. Utopia, Book One3.Utopia is a picture of contemporary England with forcible Book One ofexposure of the poverty among the laboring classes.Utopia, Book Two4.In Book Two we have a sketch of an ideal commonwealth in some unknown ocean,where property is held in common and there is no poverty.Chapter 3 The Flowering of English Literature3. Edmund Spenser1) LifeThe Poet's Poet of the period was Edmund Spenser.The Shepher's Calendar, a pastoral poem In 1579 he wrote in twelve books,one for each month of the year.The Faerie Queene (masterpiece)2)The Faerie Queene (published in 1589-1596), is s greatest work, Spenser'a long poem planned in 12 books, of which he finished only 6.iambic feet Spenserian Stanza4. Francis Bacon (father/founder of English essay)the founder of English English materialist philosophyEssays. When it included 58 essays. Bacon is also famous for his Bacon is the first English essayist.Chapter 4 Drama7. The PlaywrightsThere was a group of so-called “university wits” (Lyly, Peele, Marlowe,Greene, Lodge and Nash).Chapter 5 Marlowe1. LifeThe most gifted of the “university wits” was Christopher Marlowe. 2. WorkTamburlaine The Jew of Malta ,of his plays, three Marlowe' s best includesDoctor Faustus.and. Doctor Faustus3The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.owe's masterpiece is Marl5. Marlowe's Literary AchievementMarlowe was the greatest of the pioneers of English drama.It is Marlowe who first made blank verse (rhymeless iambic pentameter)the principal instrument of English drama.Chapter 6 Shakespeare1. LifeWilliam Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, inStratford-on-Avon.After his death, two of his above-mentioned fellow-actors, Herminge andCondell, collected and published Shakespeare's plays in 1623. To thisedition, which has been known as the First Folio.4. The Great ComediesA Midsummer Night's Dream The Merchant of Venice As You Like It and ,,Twelfth Night have been called Shakespeare's “great comedies”.6. The Great TragediesHamletOthello King Lear and , ,Shakespeare created his great tragedies,Macbeth.Hamlet7.the son of the Renaissance9. The PoemsVenus and Adonis1)The Rape of Lucrece2)3) Shakespeare's Sonnets10. Features of Shakespeare's DramaShakespeare and the Authorized Version of the English Bible are the twogreatest treasuries of the English language.Shakespeare has been universally acknowledged to be the summit of theEnglish Renaissance.Part Three: The Period of the English Bourgeois RevolutionChapter 1 The English Revolution and the Restoration5. The Bourgeois Dictatorship and the Restorationin 1688 Glorious Revolution6. The Religious Cloak of the English RevolutionPuritanism was the religious doctrine of the revolutionary bourgeoisieduring the English Revolution. It preached thrift, sobriety, hard work andunceasing labour in whatever calling one happened to be, but with noextravagant enjoyment of the fruits of labour.Chapter 2 Milton1. Life and WorkParadise LostParadise RegainedSamson Agonistes., andParadise Lost 2.Paradise Lost1)Paradise Lost is Milton's masterpiece.blank verse.Chapter 3 Bunyan1. LifeThe Pilgrim's Progress was published in 1678.The Pilgrim's Progress 2.The Pilgrim's Progress is a religious allegory. 1)Chapter 4 Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poetsa school of poets called “Metaphysical” by Samuel Johnson.by mysticism in content and fantasticality in formJohn Donne, the founder of the Metaphysical school of poetry. Chapter 6 Restoration Literature2. John DrydenThe most distinguished literary figure of the Restoration Period was JohnDryden.Dryden was the forerunner of the English classical school of literaturein the next century.Part Four: The Eighteenth CenturyChapter 1 The Enlightenment and Classicism in English Literature1. The Enlightenment and 18th Century England2) The Enlightenment in EuropeThe 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement in Europe,known as the Enlightenment, which was, on the whole, an expression ofstruggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners foughtagainst class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals offeudalism.3) The English EnlighternersThe representatives of the Enlightenment in English literature were JosephAddison and Richard Steele, the essayists, and Alexander Pope, the poet.Chapter 2 Addison and SteeleThe Tatler1. Steele and Richard SreeleThe Tatler, to enlighten, as well as to In 1709, he started a paper, entertain, his fellow coffeehouse-goers.His appeal was made to “coffeehouses,” that is to say, to the middle classes, for whose enlightenment he stood up.“Issac Bickerstaff”The Spectator2. Addison andThe general purpose is “to enliven morality with wit, and to temper witwith morality.”They ushered in the dawn of modern English novel.Chapter 3 Pope1. LifeAlexander Pope, the most important English poet in the first half of the18th century.3. Workmanship and LimitationPope was an outstanding enlightener and the greatest English poet of theclassical school in the first half of the 18th century.Pope is the most important representative of the English classical poery.But he lacker the lyrical gift.Chapter 4 Swift3. Bickersta f f Almanac (1708)Gulliver's Travels in Ireland.Swift wrote his greatest work Chapter 5 Defoe and the Rise of the English Novel1. The Rise of the English Novelthe realistic novel: Defoe, Swift, Richardson and Fielding Gulliver's Travels-famous novel Swift's world Robinson Crusoe (the forerunner of the English realistic novel)Defoe's PamelaClarissa Sir Charles Grandison, and Richardson:Fielding was the real founder of the realistic novel in England. The novel of this period … spoke the truth about life with an uncompromising courage.” The novelists of this period understood that “thejob of a novelist was to tell the truth about life as he saw it.”(Ibid.)This explains the achievement of the English novel in the 18th century.Robinson Crusoe4.Robinson Crusoe, his 1) Today Defoe is chiefly remembered as the author ofmasterpiece.Chapter 6 RichardsonSamuel RichardsonPamela was, in fact, the first English psycho-analytical novel. PamelaClarissa HarloweSir and other novels: After Richardson , wrote twoCharles Grandison.Clarissa is the best of Richardson's novel.Chapter 7 Fielding (the father of English novel)1. LifeJoseph Andrews was published in 1742.His first novelJonathan Wild appeared in 1743. It is a powerful political satire. HisTom Jones.In 1749, he finished his great novelAmelia Tom Jones, but has merits was his last novel. It is inferior toof its own.Joseph Andrews3.Tom Jones 4.1) The StoryThe History of Tom Jones a Foundling., Fielding's greatest work is6. Summary2) Fielding as the Founder of the English Realistic NovelAs a novelist, Fielding is very great. He is the founder of the Englishrealistic novel and sets up the theory of realism in literary creation.He has been rightly called the “father of the English novel.”Chapter 10 Johnson1. LifeSamuel Johnson, lexicographer, critic and poet.Dictionary2. Johnson'sDictionary was published. In 1755 hisDictionary also marked the end of English writers' reliance on the Hispatronage of noblemen for support.Chapter 13 Sentimentalism and Pre-Romanticism in Poetry1. LifeThomas Gray2. Pre-RomanticismIn the latter half of the 18th century, a new literary movement arose inEurope, called the Romantic Revival.Pre-Romanticism was ushered in by Percy, Macpherson and Chatterton, andrepresented by Blake and Burns.Chapter 14 Blake1. LifeWilliam BlakeSongs of InnocenceSongs of Experience and 2.4. Blake's Position in English LiteratureFor these reasons, Blake is called a Pre-Romantic or a forerunner of theRomantic poetry of the 19th century.Chapter 15 Burns1. LifePoems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect were printed. (masterpiece) HisThe Scots Musical MuseumSelect Collection of Original Scottish Airs and2. The Poetry of Burns1) Burns is remembered mainly for his songs written in the Scottish dialecton a variety of subjects.3. Features of Burns' PoetryBurns is the national poet of Scotland.Part Five: Romanticism in EnglandChapter 1 The Romantic Periodthe Industrial Revolution the French RevolutionAmid these social conflicts romanticism arose as a new literary trend.It prevailed in England during the period 1798-1832.These were the elder generation of romanticists, sometimes called escapistromanticists, including Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey, who have alsobeen called the Lake Poets.Active romanticists represented by Byron, Shelley and Keats.The general feature of the works of the romanticists is a dissatisfactionwith the bourgeois society, which finds expression in a revolt against oran escape from the prosaic, sordid daily life, the “prison of the actual”under capitalism.Poetry, of course, is the best medium to express all these sentiments.The only great novelist in this period was Walter Scott.Scott marked the transition from romanticism to the period of realism whichfollowed it.Chapter 2 WordsworthColeridgeLyrical Ballads. In 1798 they jointly published theLyrical Ballads marked the the break with the publication The ofconventional poetical tradition of the 18th century, ., with classicism,and the beginning of Romantic revival in England.Lyrical Ballads served as the the Preface of manifesto of the English TheRomantic Movement in poetry.Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey have often been mentioned as the “LakePoets” because they lived in the Lake District in the northwestern partof England.Lines Written His deep love for nature runs through such short lyrics asin Early SpringTo the Cuckoo I Wandered Lonely as a CloudLeaps Heart My , ,,UpIntimations of ImmortalityLines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern and ,Abbey. The last is called his “lyrical hymn of thanks to nature”. Wordsworth's poetry is distinguished by the simplicity and purity of hislanguage.Chapter 3 Coleridge and Southey1. ColeridgeThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner.Coleridge's best poems, Chapter 4 Byron1. LifeChilde Harold's PilgrimageChilde HaroldDon Juan., wrote his masterpiece He finished Childe Harold's Pilgrimage 2.This long poem contains four cantos. It is written in the Soenserianstanza.Don Juan 3.Byron remains one of the most popular English poets both at home and abroad.Chapter 5 ShelleyPromethus Unbound. 4Promethus Unbound, a lyrical drama in 4 acts. 's masterpiece is Shelley6. Lyrics on Nature and LoveOde to the West WindChapter 6 Keats2. Long PoemsEndymionIsabellaTheEveof St. Agnes, , Keats wrote five longpoems: ,LamiaHyperion. andHyperion has been regarded as Keat'5) The unfinished long epic s greatestachievement in poetry.3. Short Poems1) His leading principle is: “Beauty in truth, truth in beauty.”Ode to AutumnOde on MelancholyOde on a Grecian UrnOde to a and , , 3)NightingaleChapter 10 Scott2. His Historical NovelsScott has been universally regarded as the founder and great master ofthe historical novel.theScotland, of history the on group the subjet-matter, the to Accordinggroup on English history and the group on the history of European countries.In fact, Scott's literary career marks the transition from romanticismto realism in English literature of the 19th century.Part Six: English Critical RealismChapter 2 DickensCharles Dickens critical realismPickwick PapersAmerican NotesMartin Chuzzlewit Oliver and , Dickens:,Twist4) Dickens has often been compared Shakespeare for creative force and rangeof invention. “He and Shakespeare are the two unique popular classics thatEngland has given to the world, and they are alike in being remembered notfor one masterpiece but for creative world.”David CopperfieldChapter 3 ThackerayVanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero2.Vanity Fair is Thackeray's masterpiece. characters: Amelia Sedley andRebecca (Becky) SharpThackeray can be placed on the same level as Dickens, as one of the greatestcritical realists of 19th-century Europe.Chapter 4 Some Women Novelists1. Jane Austen (1775-1817)She herself compared her work to a fine engraving made upon a little pieceof ivory only two inches square.Northanger AbbeySense and SensibilityPride , Jane Austen wrote 6 novels: ,and PrejudiceMansfield ParkEmma and Persuasion., ,2. The Bronte SistersProfessor, was s maiden attempt at prose writing, the novel Charlotte'Jane Eyre, appearing in her next novel 1847, the rejected by publisher, butbrought her fame and placed her in the ranks of the foremost English realisticWuthering Heights appeared in 1847.writers. Emily's novel Agnes Grey Anne:4. George EliotMary Ann EvansAdam BedeThe Mill on the FlossSilas Marner and remarkable three novels: ,Silas Marner Critical realism was the main current 3) :of English literaturein the middle of the 19th century.Part Seven: Prose-Writers and Poets of the Mid and Late 19th Century Chapter 1 Carlylethe Victorian AgeChapter 3 Tennysonthe Victorian Age prose especially the novel1. Tennyson's Life and CareerAlfred Tennyson, the most important poet of the Victorian Age. In the same year (1850) he was appointed poet laureate in succession toWordsworth.Chapter 7 Literary Trends at the End of the Century1. NaturalismNaturalism is a literary trend prevailing in Europe, especially in Franceand Germany, in the second half of the 19th century.2. Neo-RomanticismStevenson was a representative of neo-romanticism in English literature.Treasure Island (masterpiece)3. AestheticismAestheticism began to prevail in Europe at the middle of the 19th century.The theory of “art for art's sake” was first put forward by the Frenchpoet Theophile Gautier.The two most important representatives of aestheticists in Englishliterature are Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde.2) Oscar Wilde dramatistLady Windermere's FanA Woman of No ImportanceAn Ideal , 1894; , 1893;HusbandThe Importance of Being Earnest, 1895 andThe Importance of Being Earnest is his masterpiece in drama.Part Eight: Twentieth Century English Literature(Modernism)Chapter 2 English Novel of Early 20th Century3. Henry JamesHe is regarded as the forerunner of the “stream of consciousness”literature in the 20th century.Chapter 3 Hardy1. Life and WorkTess of the D'UrbervilliesJude the Obscure. and famous Among his novels,Tess of the D'Urbervillies2.characters: Tess, Alec D'Urbervillies and Angel ClareChapter 6 Bernard ShawChapter 8 Modernism in Poetry1. ImagismEzra PoundThe two most important English poets of the first half of 20th centuryare W. B. Yeats and T. S. Eliot.2. W. B. YeatsThe Wild Swans at CooleMichael Robartes and the DancerThe Tower and, ,The Winding StairT. S. Eliot has referred to Yeats as “the greatest poet of our age-certainly the greatest in this . English) language.”3. T. S. EliotThe Waste Land (1922) is dignifying the emergence of Modernism.T. S. Eliot was a leader of the modernist movement in English poetry anda great innovator of verse technique. He profoundly influenced20th-centuryEnglish poetry between World Wars 1 and 2.Chapter 9 The Psychological Fiction1. D. H. LawrenceSons and Lovers(1913), the first of Lawrence's important novels, islargely autobiographical.This shows the influence of Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, especiallythat of the “Oedipus complex.”The RainbowWomen in LoveLady Chatterley's Lover and , 3. James JoyceUlysses (1922)June 16, 1904character: Leopold BloomJames Joyce was one of the most original novelists of the 20th century.Ulysses has been called “a modern prose epic His masterpiece ”. His admirers have praised him as “second only to Shakespeare in hismastery of the English language.”4. Virginia Woolf“high-brows” the Bloomsbury GroupThe Voyage OutNight and Day. and Virginia Wolf's first two novels,Jacob's RoomMrs. DallowayTo the LighthouseOrlando , and ,Part Nine: Poets and Novelists Who Wrote both before and after the Second WorldWarChapter 5 E. M. ForsterEdward Morgan Forster the Bloomsbury GroupWhere Angels Fear to TreadThe Longest Journey A Room with ,, four novels:a ViewHowards End andA Passage to India, published in 1924, is Forster's masterpiece. Aspects of In 1927, Forster published a book on the theory of fiction,the Novel.Chapter 10 William GoldingWilliam Gerald GoldingLord of the Flies His first novelChapter 11 Doris LessingGolden Notebook。