英国文学史学生笔记

2021年1月24日发(作者：英雄史诗)

/

Part one: Early and Medieval English Literature

Historical Background

1.

When does early and medieval period refer to

“
Early”
here
means
English
literature
in
primitive
and
slavery
society.

“Medieval”
means
English
literature
in
feudal
England
before
the
Renaissance.

2. What main events happened during this period

Roman conquest English conquest Norman conquest

Literature Achievements in old English period

!

groups
of
English
poetry
in
Anglo- Saxon
period.
The
first
group
was
the
pagan
（
异教徒）
poetry
represented
by
Beowulf
,
the
second
was
the
religious
poetry represented by the works of Caedmon and Cynewulf.

2. In the 8th century, Anglo- Saxon prose appeared. The famous prose
writers of that period were Venerable Bede and Alfred the Great.

Venerable Bede : is the first scholar and chronicler
（年代史编者）
in
England. The most important works : The Ecclesiastical History of the
English People.

Alfred the Great : started the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Beowulf

I.

Definition of epic
（史诗）
:an extended narrative poem
（叙事诗）

in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a
legendary or traditional hero.

II.

Story of Beowulf : P3-4

Questions : :2. characters:

$$

III. Some important points

“Beowulf”
is
a
folk
legend
brought
to
England
by
Anglo
-Saxons
from
their
continental homes. However
it also reflected the features of the tribal
society
（部落社会）
in Britain.

Originally Beowulf, the great epic, was in oral form and it must be a
collective creation.

Beowulf in
the epic
is
a
legendary
figure. In
formal
history
you
can
not
find a man named Beowulf.

IV.
Artistic features of “Beowulf’’

1. Using alliteration

Definition of alliteration: Words beginning with the same consonants
alliterate with each other within each line. Each line of verse may
contain
an
indefinite
number
of
words
or
syllables
but
generally
has
four
stresses, with a pause between the second and the third stresses.

2. ·Using metaphor and understatement



Definition of understatement: expressing something in a controlled way



Understatement is a typical way for Englishmen to express their ideas.


Literary Features of the Anglo-Saxon Period

1) secular(
非宗教的
) poetry, non religious poems but with Christian
coloring;

2) created collectively and orally;

3) based on history, legend or events of the time;

4) for entertainment;

$$

5) unknown writers, written down by the monks in the 10
th
century


Literature achievement in Middle English Period

: ( for noble )

（民歌）
: ( folk literature) (oral)( for English people)

3. Poetry:

1) William Langland (popular literature)

2) Chaucer ( the founder of English literature)


1.

*

2.

Romance:

It
is
the
most
prevailing
kind
of
literature
in
England
on
feudal
period.
It
is
a
long
composition,
in
verse
or
in
prose.
It
describes
the
life
and
adventures
of
a
noble
hero.
The
central
theme
is
loyalty
to
King
and
Lord.
The code of manners and morals of a knight is Chivalry
（骑士精神）
. The
most
important
romance
is
King
Arthur
and
his
knights
of
the
Round
Table.

2. Ballads:

a.

It is the most important form of English folk literature.

b.

It
is
a
story
told
in
song,
usually
in
4-line
stanzas
with
the
second
and fourth line rhymed.

c.

It
is
a
literature
of
common
people,(
mainly
the
literature
of the
peasants) from them one is able to understand the outlook of the
English common people in feudal society.

d.

It flourished in England in the 15
th
century.

e.

The most important ballads in England are Robin Hood .

,

3. Poetry

William Langland:

a. life:

b. content:

on the corruption of the rich and the wickedness of clergy

political situation of the time

for truth

4. attack on the seven Deadly Sins
（七宗罪）
:

{

(pride, lechery (
色欲）
，
envy, wrath, avarice, glutton, sloth)



c.
Social significance:

classic of popular literature


the toiling people’s sense of human dignity and equality before God

revolutionary sentiment

d. artistic features:

is written in the form of a dream vision.

is
an
allegory
（寓言）
which
relates
truth
through
symbolism.
But
in
the
main, it is a realistic picture of medieval England.

,

3.
The
poem
uses
satire
（讽刺）
in
his
description
of
social
abuses
caused
by the corruption

poem is written in alliteration.

style: lively speech of the countryside , blunt and unpolished words.


Geoffrey Chaucer

I. His Life


Born in a
wine merchant’s family


Trip
to the continent on diplomatic missions,two of
which took him to Italy


；


Buried in Westminster Abbey, the poets’ corner


Political background:relation with John of Gaunt

II. Literary Career:


French period:The Book of the Duchess


Italian period: works adapted from the Italian: Troilus and Criseyde


English period: The Canterbury Tales

He reached maturity and was free from dominant foreign influence.

III. His works:


?


The Book of the Dutchess
《公爵夫人之书》


The House of Fame
《声誉之堂》


The Parliament of Fowls
《百鸟议会》


The Canterbury Tales
《坎特伯雷故事集》


Troilus and Criseyde
《特罗勒斯和克莱西》


Troilus and Criseyde


It is based on a poem by Boccaccio, his longest poem, written in the rhymed
royal(
君王体）
(a seven-line stanza in iambic pentameter rhyming ababbcc.)

The Canterbury Tales


*


Questions :

1.
the
organization
of
the
book(
the
relationship
between
the
general
prologue
and
each tale)


main features of Chaucer’s narration

image of Wife of Bath


Basic information



Form: most of the tales are written in heroic couplet

Setting: Tabard Inn

Characters:
types
of
literature:
courtly
romance,
folk
tale.,beast
fable,
story
of
travel
and
adventure,
saint’s
life,
allegorical
tale,
sermon,
alchemical
account.

（

Language: Middle English, vivid, exact, word- pictures

Length:
planned
to
be
120
stories.
The
General
prologue,20
complete
tales,
4
fragments, separate prologues to each tale with links, comments,quarrels ,etc. in
between.

Arrangement:
linked
through
the
host’s
comments
and ways:
the
personality
of
the
st
host affords a clear string of connection from the 1
to the last tale. There is
an intimate connection between the tales and prologue.

Typical
characters:
almost
all
medieval
figures
from
different
sides
of
life
except
noble and serfs
（农奴）
.

Character
of
the
wife
of
Bath
：
the
owner
of
a
cloth
factory,
light-hearted,
merry,
somewhat vulgar and talkative. a lengthy account of her feelings about marriage.

The Canterbury Tales
’
significance

reflection
of
his
times---
a
panoramic
view
（
全景）
of
his
contemporary
life; reflection of his humanist idea---- he exposed the evils of the
chu
rch, the corruption of the upper class, praise man’s intellect and
love; he affirms men and women’s right to pursue their happiness and
oppose the dogma
（教条）
of
asceticism
（禁欲主义）
preached by
church.

IV. Chaucer’s contributions:

a.



b.

Forerunner of humanism

c.

The first realistic writer

d.

Father of English poetry

e.

Master of the English language

Part Two: The English Renaissance

1. Renaissance in Europe

a. It began in the 14
th
century in Italy.

b. nature: a cultural and intellectual movement

?

c. content: there arose a current for the study of Greek and Latin
authors; a general dissatisfaction at the catholic
（天主教）
and
feudal ideas.

d.
two
striking
（显著的）
features:
curiosity
for
classical
literature

interest in the activities of humanity

II. Historical Background

The establishment of Tudor Dynasty(1485-1603)

Religious Reformation

The establishment of Protestantism
（新教）

Commercial expansion abroad

[



The
war
with
Spain(English
bourgeoisie
资产阶级
fought
for
existence
and
power)

III. Renaissance and Humanism

Humanism

a.

Nature:
a
literary
and
philosophical
system
of
thought
which
attempt
to
place
the
affairs
of
mankind
at
the
center
of
its
concerns.

b.

Origin: in Italy

c.

Source: based on a new reading of Greek and Roman literature, and
an affirmation of the importance of Platonic philosophy
（柏拉图
哲学）
and reinterpretation of the writings of Aristotle
（亚里士
多德）
.

d.

Idea: It took the life of man in the presence as a major interest.

e.

Humanism was one of the most important factors giving rise to the
Renaissance. It is an attitude rather than a philosophy.

，

The main traits of the Renaissance Literature

a.
Its
chief
characteristic
is
the
expression
of
secular
（
世俗的）
values
with man instead of God as the center of the universe.

b.
It
emphasizes
the
dignity
of
man,
affirms
and
eulogizes
（颂扬）
the
value of man.

c.
It
advocates
the
full
expression
of
individualism
and
the
fulfillment
of one’s abilities against the despotic rule of the feudalism.


d.
It
affirms
the
delight
of
earthly
achievement
as
well
as
men’s
desire
for happiness and pleasure.


Poetry

I.

Two poets before the Elizabethan Age:

、

Thomas Wyatt; Henry Howard

a. sonnet: an exact form of poetry in 14 lines of iambic pentameter
（五步抑扬格）
rhymed, introduced to England from Italy by Sir Thomas
Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey.

b. Surrey: the first English blank verse, the form of poetry to be later
masterly handled by Shakespeare and Milton.

c. the songs and sonnets by Wyatt and Surrey was the first anthology of
English lyric poems.

poets of the Elizabethan Age

1. Philip Sidney

a. life: well-
known as a poet and critic of poetry. He is Spencer’s
friend.
Spencer
wrote
Shepherd’s
Calendar
to
dedicate
to
him.
He
was a courtier, a scholar and soldier.

b. his collection of love sonnets:Astrophel and Stella

,



c. criticism:

Apology for Poetry: represent the spirit of literary criticism of
the Renaissance.

2. Edmund Spencer


a. life : a minor noble family, good education, the Poet’s poet
（诗人的诗人）
,buried in Westminster Abbey.

b. works:

1) The Sheph
erds’
calendar

2) Amoretti
：a sequence of 88 sonnets, containing Spencer’s love
poems to his future wife, Elizabeth Boyle.

Question: what are most famous sonnet sequences
（十四行诗）
of the
Elizabethan Age

《

3) Masterpiece : Faerie Queen

Planned in 12 books but only 6 finished.

Content: In the epic each hero or heroine represents a virtue. In
the course of their trials, they come to fully embody that
virtue.
The
virtues
are
Holiness
（圣洁）
,
Temperance
（节欲）
,
Chastity
（贞洁）
,
Friendship
（友善）
,
Justice,
and
Courtesy
（恩惠）
.

Form: allegory

Language: has sweet melody and its lines are very musical

Verse form: “Spenserian Stanza”

Spenserian
Stanza:
First
eight
lines
are
iambic
pentameter
and
ninth
has two more syllables, rhyming ababbcbcc.

Theme: 1)nationalism 2) humanism 3) Puritanism

[

Influence: used by all the later poets, especially imitated by the
romantic poets of the 19th century.( Byron, Shelley, Keats)

Everything in the story has two levels
—
as part of the story and
as part of the allegory, or symbolic meaning. This can be seen in Book
I, which summarizes the
whole poem. As
a Romantic adventure,
this is the
story
of
the
Redcrosse
Knight
and
Lady
Una
searching
for
Una’s
parents,
who are trapped by a dragon. The knight kills the dragon and so wins the
right
t
o
be
the
lady’s
husband.
As
a
spiritual
allegory,
this
is
the
story
of a soul’s encounter with the seven deadly sins, its separation from
and reunion with the one
faith,
and its
final salvation by
divine grace.

c. school-belong: like Lyly and Sidney, Spencer was a court poet.

d. position: as a model of poetical art among the Renaissance English
poets, the 1st to make English the natural music in poetry.

Prose

I. Bible

a)

Translation
of
Bible:
the
first
complete
English
Bible
was


translated by John Wycliffe(1324-1384), the morning star of the
Reformation, and his followers.( from Latin to English)

b)

The Authorized Version of Bible: translated under the auspice
（赞
助）
of James I in 1611 and so it was called the King James Bible.
This version is simple and dignified in language.( modern English
has been fixed and confirmed.)

II.

'

III.

The greatest humanist: Thomas More

a.

was
born
in
a
middle-class
family.
humanist
leader
of
the
early
16th
century,
a
scholar,
master
of
Latin,
witty
talker,
music
lover,
great thinker; once Lord Chancellor; beheaded on a false charge
of treason.

b.

Masterpiece


Utopia in 1516(in Latin) translated into English in 1551.


Form: a conversation between More and a returned voyager.


Comment :

a. He is a far-sighted thinker, living on the eve of the bourgeois
revolution.

b.
More was
the first
to see the
relation between
wealth and poverty
and to bring up the ideal of communist society. He was one of the
forerunner of modern socialist thought.


#


Question:

What is More’s Limitation

IV.

Bacon( the most important prose writer)

Sir Francis Bacon was an English writer, philosopher and statesman
and was educated in Cambridge. When he was fourteen, Bacon finished his
education and went to Paris. In the French capital, he began to know
humanism.


In 1584, Francis Bacon was elected for the House of Commons
（议
会下院）
and started his political career. Bacon advised for the union
of
England
and
Scotland
and
suggested
ways
to
deal
with
Roman
Catholics.
For all these he had done, he was given the title of knight in 1603. By
the time of James I, he was named as Lord Chancellor in 1618. In 1621,
he was accused by Parliament and they said that he had accepted bribes
（赃款）
. For this reason his political career ended.


Drama:

1. Three kinds of drama:

a. the Miracle play
（神迹剧）
: it is the root of English drama. It
is based on Bible stories. Miracles were first performed in the church.

￥

b.
the
Morality
play
（道德剧）
:
It
presents
the
conflict
of
good
and
evil
with
allegorical
personages
（
角色）
such
as
Mercy,
Peace,
Hate,
Fally,


etc.)( eg: Everyman)

c.
the
Interlude
（插曲）
:
a
short
performance
during
the
break.(
eg:
the play of the weather)

2. Two influences on Elizabethan Drama

1) influence from the classics
（经典名著）
. (Greek and Latin drama)

2) influence from the popular drama.

3. Gammer Gurton’s needle is
the first English comedy, describing a
quarrel over the loss of a needle.

Gorboduc is the first English tragedy.

The
morality
play
Everyman
at
the
end
of
15th
century
makes
the
beginning
of modern English drama.

…

4. The London theatre and the audience

5. playwrights:

a.
The
University
Wits
（大学才子）
:
they
are
Lily,
Peele,
Marlowe,
Greene,
Lodge and Nash, etc. The most influential is Marlowe. They had studied
at
the
Universities
of
Oxford
or
Cambridge
and
then
set
up
as
professional
writers,
selling
their
learning
and
their
“
wits”
to
the
London
public
of playgoers and reading public as well.

b. Marlowe
（马洛）

Works: (tragedies)

Doctor Faustus( for knowledge)

Tamburlaine ( based on a German Legend, ambition)

Jew of Malta ( greed for wealth)

<

Themes of his plays:

scorn of orthodox creeds
（蔑视正统信条）

praise
of
individuality
,
freed
from
the
restraints
of
medieval
dogmas
and law.

Position and achievements:

He was the predecessor
（前辈）
of Shakespeare

He was the greatest pioneer of English drama.

His two achievements: 1) He first made blank verse (unrhymed iambic
drama), the principal instrument of English
drama.

2)
He
replaced
the
stilted
heroes
of
drama
in
the
past by men of
vitality and
passion. He
created the Renaissance
hero for
English drama.

'

b
、
Shakespeare


Life :


Four periods in play-writing


1st period:



Features:


a) It’s Shakespeare’s early experimental period. It is marked by
youthfulness and rich imagination.

b) by extravagance of language

c) by the frequent use of rhymed couplets with blank verse

！

d)
He
looked
down
upon
the
world
as
a
just
one.
Justice
would
eventually
win in the end.

e)
Love,
faith,
work
and
duty
were
the
four
elements
that
made
the
world
right.

2nd period:

Features:

a)

He worked as a master in play writing

b)

It was a period of rapid growth and development of his artistic
power.

c)

He
had
a
keen
insight
into
human
nature,
great
power
of
expression
and genius for constructing a play.

d)

This period belongs to his best history plays.

{

3rd period:

features:

a)

The period of gloom
（忧郁）
and depression

b)

He was concerned with deposit matters of human life.

c)

He grew in experience, in vision and in sympathy

d)

His belief and trust in mankind had been shattered
（打碎）
.

e)

He produced his four greatest tragedies.

4th period:

|

features:

a)

a period of unrealistic compromise and fantasy

b)

a period of restored serenity and tolerant resignation

c)

He sounds again a note of calm and hope and serene wisdom.

d)

His latest plays including Tempest have happy endings.

His comedies

Shakespeare
wrote
his
comedies
in
his
early
period.
In
these
plays
he portrayed the young people who had just freed themselves from
the feudal fetters. He sang of their youth, their love and ideal
of happiness. The heroes and heroines were sons and daughters of
the Renaissance. They trust not in God or King but in themselves.

16 comedies together. His main comedies are: Merchant of Venice; A
Midsum
mer Night’s Dream; As
You Like It; Twelfth Night.

)

His tragedies


Shakespeare’s great tra
gedies are associated with a period of


gloom
and
sorrow
in
his
life.
During
this
period,
England
witnessed
a
general
unrest,
and
social
contradictions
became
very
sharp.
What
caused the writer’s personal sadness is unknown to us. It is
generally
attributed
to
the
political
misfortune
of
his
friend
and
patron, Earl of Essex, who was killed by the Queen. Shakespeare
wrote 11 tragedies. His main tragedies are: Hamlet; Othello; King
Lear; Macbeth. All these plays express a profound dissatisfaction
with life. They show the struggle and conflicts between good and
evils, between justice and injustice. In these plays, the writer
Shakespeare condemns the dark and evil society.


Historical plays

Shakespeare’s
historical
plays
are
political
plays.
The
principal
idea of these plays is the necessity for national unity under one
sovereign
（君主）
.
At
his
time,
this
idea
was
anti- feudal
in
nature;
and it summed up the general opinion of the rising bourgeoisie in
Shakespeare’s
own
day.
Among
Shakespeare’s
10
historical
plays,
Henry IV and Henry V are two remarkable plays.


Shakespeare’s poetical works

Venus and Adonis Lucrece are two long narrative poems.

The
bulk
of
（大多数）
Shakespeare's
sonnets
were
written
between
1593
and 1598. Each line of a sonnet is in iambic pentameter, and the rhyme
is abab cdcd efef gg. His 154 sonnets seem to fall into two series:

One series are addressed to W. H, evidently a patron, and the other
addressed
to

lady
who
played
the
poet
false.
For
depth
of
sentiment,
for
mastery
of
diction,
for
perfection
of
finish,
they
are
among
the
most
excellent of Elizabethan poetry.


'


Features of Shakespeare’s drama

a) progressive significance of his theme

b) successful character portrayal

c) master hand in constructing plays

d) the ingenuity of his poetry

e) mastery of English language


c
、
Ben Jonson

I.

{

II.

Introduction:

Poet, critic,
poet’s laureate
; successor of Shakespeare. He was the
greatest writers of comedy after Shakespeare.

III.

His plays:

1)
His
plays
are
written
according
to
“
humors
”.
Every
character
i
n
his comedies personified a definite humor, so his characters are like
caricature
（讽刺画）
.



2)His plays were not deep but had much surface energy.

3)His masterpieces are Velpone and The Alchemist

III. His contribution:

a) humor

^

b) forerunner of classicism







English Literature in the seventeenth Century

I .Social Background

the English Revolution
（光荣革命）
and the Restoration
（王朝复辟）

II. Literary characteristics:

$$

1. literature of the Revolution period

Puritan
literature
period
is
different
from
the
literature
of
Elizabethan period in the following aspects:

1)
Elizabethan
literature
had
a
marked
unity
and
the
feeling
of
patriotism
（爱国主义）
and devotion to the Queen, but in the Revolution
Period
，
all
this
was
changed,
the
king
became
the
open
enemy
of
the
people,
and the country was divided by the struggle for political and religious
liberty. So literature was as divided in spirit as were the struggling
parties.

2) Elizabethan literature was generally inspiring. It throbbed with
youth
and
hope
and
vitality
（生气）
．
Literature
in
the
Puritan
Age
expressed
age and sadness. Even its brightest hours were followed by gloom and
pessimism.

3)
Elizabethan
literature
was
intensely
romantic
．
The
romantic
spirit
sprang from the heart of youth
．
People believed all things, even the
impossible
．
But in literature of the Puritan period, we cannot find any
romantic ardor.

main
literary
form
of
the
period
was
poetry
．
Among
the
poets,
Milton
was
the greatest. Besides him, there were two other groups of poets, the
Metaphysical Poets
（玄学派诗人）
and the Cavalier Poets
（骑士派诗人）
.

3.
Puritanism
was
the
religious
doctrine
of
the
revolutionary
bourgeoisie
during
this
period.
It
preached
thrift,
sobriety,
hard
work,
but
with
very
little
extravagant
enjoyment
of
the
fruits
of
labor.
Worldly
pleasures
were
condemned
as
harmful.
This
was
precisely
the
outlook
needed
by the bourgeoisie for the accumulation of capital.

Though
there
were
many
clever
men
in
England
during
the
latter
half
of
the
seventeenth
century,
there
were
only
two
minds
which
possessed
the
imaginative
faculty
in
a
very
eminent
degree.
One
of
these minds produced the
Paradise Lost
，
the other
The Pilgrim's
Progress
.

'

John Bunyan(
约翰·班扬
)

:son of a tinker. After receiving his early education at the Bedford
grammar school ,he followed his fath
er’ s trade. Later, He joined a
Baptist society and became a preacher. Soon he became active both in
preaching and writing. After restoration, he was arrested and kept in
prison for preaching. He was the chief puritan writer to participate in
the
struggle
against
the
corrupt
fedual-aristocratic
regimes
of
Charlies
II and James II after John Milton.

2.

Works:
Pilgrim’s Progress<<天路历程
>>


Bunyan’s
most
important
work
and
one
of
the
most
popular
books
in
the

English languages, was written in the form of an allegory.


Allegory(
寓言
)

It
loosely
describes
any
writing
in
verse
or
prose
that
has
a
double
meaning. This fictional literary narrative acts as an extended