TheEvolutionofEnglishProse.ppt

英国散文的流变 the evolution of english prose,lecturer: danny r. chen phd candidate of the department of english, the chinese university of hong kong,chapter 1 english prose of the early and the medieval ages,1. prose vs. essay 1) oxd (oxford dictionary) definition: essay: a piece of writing, usu. short and in prose, on any one subject. prose: a written or spoken that is not in verse form. verse: (form of) writing arranged in lines, often with a regular rhythm or rhyme scheme; poetry.,1. prose vs. essay,sonnet 18 shall i compare thee to a summers day? (a) thou art more lovely and more temperate. (b) rough winds do shake the darling buds of may, (a) and summers lease hath all too short a date. (b) sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (c) and often is his gold complexion dimmed; (d) and every fair from fair sometime declines, (c) by chance, or natures changing course, untrimmed; (d) but thy eternal summer shall not fade, (e) nor lose possession of that fair thou owst, (f),nor shall death brag thou wandrest in his shade, (e) when in eternal lines to time thou growst. (f) so long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, (g) so long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (g) -william shakespeare this is a poem, and it is written in the form of verse, with iambic pentameter and a rhyming scheme of ababcdcdefefgg. writings not in the form of verse can be categorized as prose.,1. prose vs. essay,2) definition from wikipedia /wiki/prose prose is a form of language which applies ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure (as in traditional poetry). it is commonly used, for example,in literature, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, broadcasting, film, history, philosophy, law and many other forms of communication. novels, essays, short stories, and works of criticism are examples of prose. other examples include: comedy, drama, fable, fiction, folk tale, legend, myth, saga, science fiction, etc. so, generally speaking, essay and poem are forms of literary works, while prose and verse are forms of language.,1. prose vs. essay,3) definitions from two textbooks “散文似乎可有两义：1.所有不属于韵文的作品都是散文，这是广义；2.专指文学性散文，如小品文之类，这是狭义。我是倾向于广义的，也难说有多少科学根据，只是感到如果范围广些，更易看出散文的各种表现.” (1) 王佐良，英国散文的流变,1. prose vs. essay,3) definitions from two textbooks “散文是文学的四大体裁之一，为文学的重要组成部分.”(1) “广义散文其实指的是语言形式而非文学形式，除韵文外几乎无所不包，这就难以与其他文学形式相区别。而将散文作为一种文学体裁来研究，不仅范畴较明确，将文学形式与语言形式区别开来，且论述可更加集中深入，更符合文学研究的要求.”(1) 陈新，英国散文史,2. english prose from the 9th to the16th century,1) three invasions and the evolution of english the roman invasion before the coming of the age of the anglo-saxons, the celtic tribes lived in what is now britain. in the middle of the first century b.c., roman troops led by julius caesar invaded britain, then claudius conquered it in a.d. 43 and britain became a roman province till the beginning of the fifth century. during their rule the romans built roads, walls, garrisons, villas, etc., and the celts became either slaves or unfree cultivators of the land. then, in early 5th century, as the germanic races attacked and overran the roman empire, the roman garrisons in britain withdraw.,historical background of the evolution of english,the beginning of the anglo-saxon period not long after that, in the mid-5th century, the tribes of angles, saxons and jutes (later known simply as anglo-saxons) migrated to england from the european continent, or more specifically from western denmark and the northwest coast of germany. they settled down there and soon ruled over the whole of england, enslaving some of the native celts while driving the others to the hills north and west, to wales and scotland and even ireland across the sea. thus began the anglo-saxon period in english history.,historical background of the evolution of english,the danish invasion beginning from late 8th century the danes came to invade england and for more than a century they made intermittent raids on the eastern coast of britain and occupied for fairly long periods of time large areas of northeastern england. in late 9th century king alfred the great (a.d. 849-901?) of the kingdom of wessex successfully led the english people in a protracted war against the invading danes who were threatening to overrun the whole country. the invaders were repulsed and gradually all the kingdoms in england were united into one. however, in early 11th century the danes again came to invade england and under canute they conquered and ruled over all england for a quarter of a century (a.d. 1017-1042).,historical background of the evolution of english,the norman invasion then, following the expulsion of the danes the normans from normandy in northern france came to invade england in 1066, and under the leadership of william the duke of normandy (william the conqueror) who claimed the succession of the english throne they succeeded in defeating the english troops and conquering the whole of england. the “norman conquest” marked the end of the anglo-saxon period.,historical background of the evolution of english,the celtic tribes celtic the romans latin the danes danish the anglo-saxon tribes anglo-saxon the normans french for a long period of time, latin and french, considered as the more important languages, were applied in literature, official documents and grand studies, while english was depreciated as second-graded and was only popular among the low and poor. the earliest prose written in anglo-saxon england was in latin, known sometimes as anglo-latin writings.,2) king alfred and the anglo-saxon chronicle,i. king alfred and his contribution to the english language in the year 871 alfred became the king of wessex. during his reign, he collected around him a number of scholars, including some invited from abroad, who first taught him latin and then did translation work together with him, from latin. one of the most significant works of translation was historia ecclesiatical gentis anglorum (rendered into english as the ecclesiastical history of the english people) by the venerable bede, published in latin in 631. it was translated into anglo-saxon by king alfred in the year 891.,king alfred and his contributions to the english language,alfreds contributions to english literature are threefold. first, there were his numerous translation from latin of which four major works were particularly useful in his day: (1) pope gregory the greats “cura pastoralis” (pastoral care”, 889); (2) bedes “ecclesiastical history” (890-891); (3) “the history of the world” (“historia adverses paganos”) (891-893) by paulus orosius, a spanish priest of the 5th century, and (4) “the consolations of philosophy” (“de consolatione philosophiae”) (897-898) by boethius, the last great writer of ancient rome. these and other translations served to introduce to the english people the cultures of other historical times and other lands.,i. king alfred and his contributions to the english language,a second contribution of alfreds lies in his rather free way in translating from the latin works, and this helped him to write in a natural style in english. except in a few cases, he took liberties with the original writings by making alterations and additions and omissions wherever he thought fit, and thus preventing obscurity and lack of continuity in the expression of ideas.,i. king alfred and his contributions to the english language,alfreds third contribution to english literature was the role he played in the launching of the anglo saxon chronicle, which has become a very important historical document and specimen of anglo-saxon prose. alfred first conceived the idea of a national history for england in about 891. as the project steadily grew and was carried on long after alfreds time, it became know as the anglo saxon chronicle, which began with the year “a.d.1” and was carried on at several centuries after alfreds death till as late as a.d. 1154.,ii. the anglo-saxon chronicle,the most significant thing about the anglo-saxon chronicle is that it represents, on the whole, the thoughts and feelings of the common people of england, particularly in the entries between the middle of the 10th century to the middle of the 12th. the mention of bad weather (such as severe winters and strong winds, and of famines and diseases of cattle) the frequent mention of unusual sights or happenings in the natural world (such as the eclipse of the sun or the moon, earthquakes and certain superstitious phantasmagoria like “fiery dragons”, “fiery lights in heaven” or “bloody rain”).,ii. the anglo-saxon chronicle,above all, the anglo-saxon chronicle contains a number of passages describing the terrible political oppression and economic exploitation that the common people suffered at the hands of their foreign invaders or their native rulers. now lets have a look at the printed materials: william ii (1056-1100) (英国散文史,3)(text 1 on additional reading) king stephen (1092-1154) (英国散文史,3-4) (text 2 on additional reading),i. john wycliffes translation of the bible john wycliffe (1330-1384), known as “the morning star of the reformation”, was one of the earliest opponents of papal authority influencing secular power. wycliffe was also an early advocate for translation of the bible into the common language. he completed his translation directly from the vulgate into vernacular english in the year 1382, now known as wycliffes bible .,i. bible translation in the middle ages,please try and find out the correspondent form of the underlined words in modern english. “but in o day of the woke ful eerli thei camen to the grave, and broughten swete smelling spices that thei hadden araved. and thei founden the stton turned awey fro the graue. and thei geden in and foundun not the bodi of the lord jhesus. and it was don, the while thei weren astonyed in thought of this thing, lo twe men stodun bisidis hem in schynyng cloth. and whanne thei dredden and bowiden her semblaunt into erthe, thei seiden to hem, what seeken ye him that lyueth with deede men? he is not here: but he is risun: haue ye minde how he spak to you whanne he was yit in golilee, and seide, for it behoueth mannes sone to be bitakun into the hondis of sinful men: and to be crucified: and the thridde day to rise agen?” -from “luke” ,the new testament (圣经新约“路加福音”),comparison between medieval english and modern english,thei broughten swete hadden founden bisidis erthe hem deede risun spak mannes sone agen,they brought sweet had found beside earth them dead risen spoke man son again,compare the translations in medieval and modern english,“but on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. while they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “why do you look for the living among the dead? he is not here, but has risen. remember how he told you, while he was still in galilee, that the son of man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” - “luke”, the new testament, the holy bible, new revised standard version (158),ii. sir thomas malory and the death of arthur,sir thomas malory was knighted before 1442 and became member of parliament in 1445. he later fought on the side of the house of lancaster in the war of the roses, then was accused and found guilty of criminal acts and was imprisoned for a number of years in the newgate prison. he probably wrote le morte darthur (the death of arthur) while in prison and probably died there 1471. the death of arthur is the only monumental work of prose in 15th-century england. it is an important landmark in the development of english prose from late middle english to early modern english, and has the distinction of being written in a lucid and simple style.,ii. sir thomas malory and the death of arthur,the death of arthur is a kind of final summing-up of the arthurian legend built up from the 12th to the 15th century, though it does not contain all the stories about king arthur and all his knights. it includes: the birth, the exploits and the death of king arthur the stories about merlin, the stories about arthurs queen guenevere, the stories about his knights of the round table (chiefly sir launcelot, sir tristram, sir gawain, sir galahad, sir percival, sir balin, sir gareth, sir palomedes and the traitor knight sir mordred) and the stories about the quest for the sangrael (i.e., the holy grail).,sir galahad bade farewell to his father,please try and find out the correspondent form of the underlined words in modern english. thenne he wente to his fader and kyst hym swetely and sayd/ fair swete fader i wote not whan i shal see you more tyl i see the body of ihesu cryst/ i praye you sayd launcelot praye ye to the hyghe fader that he hold me in his seruyse and soo he took his hors/ and ther they herd a voice that sayd thynke for to doo wel/ for the one shal neuer see the other before the dreadful day of dome/ now sone galahad said launcelot syn we shal departe and neuer see other/ i pray to the high fader to conserue me and yow bothe/ sire said galahad noo prayer auaylleth soo moche as yours/ and there with galahad entryd in to the foreste/ and the wynde aroos and drofe launcelot more than a moneth thurgh oute the see where he slepte but lytyl but prayed to god that he might see some tydynges of the sancgreal/ soo hyt befelle on a nyghte at mydnyghte he aryued afore a castel on the bak side whiche was ryche and fayre/ and there was a posterne opened toward the see/ and was open withoute ony kepynge/ sauf two lyons kept the entre/ and the moone shone clere.,comparison between late medieval english and modern english,thenne whan wente praye kyst thynke entryed drofe hym fader neuer hyghe ryche fayre soo moche seruyse hyt mydnyghte kepynge,then when went pray kissed think entered drove him father never high rich fair so much service it midnight keeping,compare the translations in late medieval and modern english,then he went to his father and kissed him sweetly and said/ fair sweet father, i know not when i shall see you more till i see the body of jesus christ/ i pray that you would ask launcelot to pray to the high father that he hold me in his service and so he took his horse/ and there they heard a voice that said think for to do well (wish him good luck)/ for the one shall never see the other before the dreadful day of doom/ now son galahad said launcelot said we shall depart and never see other/ i pray to the high father to conserve me and you both/ sir said galahad no prayer assuages so much as yours/ and there with galahad entered in to the forest/ and the wind arose and drove launcelot more than a month through out the sea where he slept but little but prayed to god that he might see some things of the holy grail/ so it befell on a night at midnight he arrived afore a castle on the back side which was rich and fair/ and there was a postern opened toward the sea/ and was open without any keeping/ save two lions kept the entre/ and the moon shone clear.,2. english prose from the 9th to the16th century,4) thomas more and his prose i. historical and political backgrounds of mores literary creation: i. the renaissance and the humanists the renaissance, or, the rebirth of letters, sprang first in italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over europe. two features are striking of this movement. the one is a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature. old manuscripts were dug out. there arose a current for the study of greek and latin authors. another feature of the renaissance is the keen interest in the activities of humanity.,i. the renaissance and the humanists,people ceased to look upon themselves as living only for god and a future world. thinkers, artists and poets arose, who gave expression to the new feeling of admiration for human beauty and human achievement, a feeling in sharp contrast with theology. hence arose the thought of humanism reflected the new outlook of the rising bourgeois class, which saw the world opening before it.,ii. the enclosure movement,during the middle ages, england was a rural country with a lot of wool for export. but from the 15th century onward england passed definitely from being a mere producer of wool to being a manufacturer of cloth. the large-scale manufacture of cloth necessarily put the clothing industry on a capitalist line. and the increase in the export of cloth stimulated the greed of the moneyed classes to seize more and more land out of the hands of the peasants in order to turn the arable land into pasture. so the enclosure movement was carried on heartlessly in england. the helpless, dispossessed peasants, being compelled to work at a low wage, became hired labourers for the merchants. these labourers were the fathers of modern english proletarians.,ii. thomas more and his prose works,i. thomas more: life and work thomas more (1478-1535) was the son of sir john more, a judge, and received his education at oxford. his father made him study law and he became a well-known lawyer but he kept up his interest in literature and maintained intimate relations with the oxford humanists. in 1504, when he was only 26, he entered parliament, but his career as an m.p. was cut short after he offended henry vii by speaking in the parliament against the kings demands for subsidies. when henry viii came to the throne in 1509, more returned to active social life.,ii. thomas more: life and work,in 1515 he was sent to the low countries (holland and belgium) to negotiate a commercial treaty