Blank verse - John Milton(master)(Brit.) Free verse - Walt Whitman( Amer.)Geoffery Chaucer●Born in 1340●1066---1500 Middle English Period●Medieval Realism●<The Romaunt of the Rose> <Troilus and Griseyde> <The Canterbury Tales>●The Canterbury Tales:这部作品虽然没写完，但是这部作品刻画了当时英国社会的全景，故事讲了30个要去坎特伯雷教堂朝圣的人，路上无聊便一个人讲一个故事，这三十个人里有社会上层的骑士、神职人员，也有下层：磨坊主、农民等等，这也就说：他们是当时社会的缩影。
More than a mere collection of true-to-life pictures. His tales expose and satirize the evils of the time, affirm people’s right to pursue their happiness and opposes the dogma of asceticism. Praise man’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life.● 1.Messenger of Humanism; 2. The founder of English Realism; 3. the Father of EnglishPoetry; 4. the founder or master of the modern English Language, the pioneer of the English Renaissance.●Main significances of Chaucer and his works：They show a true life picture of his time.They indicate the rising of bourgeoisie of Britain.They sing the praises of man’s energy, intellect, wit and love of life.They satirize the evil of the time and degeneration of the noble and corruption of the church They give us the first smooth English.They introduce the French rhymed stanza, esp. the heroic couplet to English poetry.They create the famous terza rima三行诗节押韵法in English poetry writing.They foreshadow the coming the English Renaissance.William Shakespeare●Born in 1564●1500---1660 The Renaissance (or Early Modern)●Comedy:< A midsummer Night’s Dream>; <The Merchant of V enice>; <As you like it>;<Twelfth Night> Tragedy: <Hamlet>; <Othello>;< King Lear>;< Macbeth>●《哈姆莱特》是莎士比亚最主要的悲剧作品之一，叙述了丹麦王子哈姆莱特在德国读书时，他的叔父克劳狄斯毒死老哈姆莱特，篡夺了王位，并霸占了哈姆莱特的母亲。
哈姆莱特回国后，通过父亲的鬼魂，叙说自己致死的原因。
他遵照鬼魂嘱咐，决定为父报仇，这时叔父国王克劳狄斯，开始对哈姆莱特产生了怀疑。
在大臣波洛涅斯的策划下，利用其女哈姆莱特的情人奥菲利娅去试探他，又指使哈姆莱特两同学(罗森格兰兹和吉尔登斯吞)前去打探，都被哈姆莱特识破。
哈姆莱特利用剧团在宫廷演戏的机会，准备杀死国王。
结果他误杀了情人奥非利娅的父亲，奥菲利娅因为父亲被哈姆莱特杀死，疯癫自尽。
国王乘机挑拨波洛涅斯的儿子雷欧提斯以比剑为名，设计用毒剑刺死了哈姆莱特，该剧的结尾，哈姆莱特、国王、王妃、雷欧提斯同归于尽。
Hamlet is a hero of the Renaissance. His learning, wisdom, noble, nature, limitation and tragedy are all representative of the humanists at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries.●Shakespeare has been universally acknowledged to be the summit of the English Renaissance,and one of the greatest writers the world over.He is a great master of English language and isa great treasure of English language.John Milton●1500---1660 The Renaissance & the period of the English Bourgeois Revolution●<Paradise Lost>, <Paradise Regained>, <Samson Agonistes>●Paradise Lost:《失乐园》以史诗一般的磅礴气势揭示了人的原罪与堕落。
诗中叛逆之神撒旦，因为反抗上帝的权威被打入地狱，却毫不屈服，为复仇寻至伊甸园。
亚当与夏娃受被撒旦附身的蛇的引诱，偷吃了上帝明令禁吃的知识树上的果子。
最终，撒旦及其同伙遭谴全变成了蛇，亚当与夏娃被逐出了伊甸园。
该诗体现了诗人追求自由的崇高精神，是世界文学史、思想史上的一部极重要的作品。
The main idea of the poem is a revolt against God’s authority.●Milton was political in both his life and his art. He wrote the greatest epic in Englishliterature. Milton is a master of the blank verse. He is a great stylist. He has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.John Bunyan●17th-18th the period of the English Bourgeois Revolution & The Neoclassical Period●<The Pilgrim’s Progress>: It tells of the spiritual pilgrimage of Christian, who flies from theCity of Destruction, meets with the perils and temptations of the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, and Doubting Castle, faces and overcomes the demon Appollyon, and finally comes to the Delectable Mountains and the Celestial City.《天路历程》展示了复辟时期The restoration复杂的英国社会，表现了班扬对当时的社会历史的看法，也反映了基督徒在当时社会中的窘境，一方面是对清教的虔诚，一方面是世俗世界的自私和道德堕落。
●Bunyan’s prose is admirable and. It is popular speech ennobled by the solemn dignity andsimplicity of the language of the English Bible.Alexander Pope●The 18th century●Neo-Classicism●<Essay on Criticism><The Rape of the Lock><The Dunciad><Essay on Man>●Essay on Man 意义：It is a philosophical poem in heroic couplets. Essay on Criticism: It tellsthe poets and critics to write and appreciate poetry according to the principles set up by the old Greek and Roman writers.确立了新古典主义时期文学标准。
●Pope is the most important representative of the English classical poetry. He was at his bestin satire and epigram隽语. He was an example of conscious literary artistJonathan Swift●The 18th century●Realism & Neo-Classicism●<A Tale if a Tub><The Battle of the Books><Gulliver’s Travels><A Modest Proposal>●Gulliver’s Travels:小说以外科医生格列佛的四次出海航行冒险的经历为线索写成，一共由四部分组成。