英国文学简史.doc

A Brief Outline of British Literature1. Anglo-Saxon Period盎格鲁-撒克逊时期（Around the 5th century BC to the 8th century AD, the earliest inhabitants of the British islands are Celtics that invaded the British Isles and settled there for nearly 500 years. This long period of time is called the Anglo-Saxon period. ）*Beowulf is seen as the early British epic poem, a long narrative poem about the making of a nation and the fate of its people.2.Medieval Period 中世纪时期（It began with thecollapseof theWestern Roman Empire(476) and merged into theRenaissance(15th- 17th century).）*Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) with his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales is regarded as the father of English poetry. （The Canterbury Tales is a collection of short stories in verse, depicting realistically the panorama of life in the 14th century England.）3.Renaissance period (Elizabethan period )文艺复兴时期 Late 15th c.early 17th c. Renaissance is the great flowering of art, architecture, politics, and literature, usually seen as the end of the Middle Age and the beginning of the modern world. The Middle Age is also called Dark Age, during which Christianity dominated all the western world and many famous scientists like Copernicus, Bruno, Galileo, were executed because of their scientific findings.The key ideology of this age is humanism, whose emphasis is on the truthfulness of science and the individualism of man.Representative Writers of British Renaissance：*Thomas More托马斯莫尔 (1478-1535): Utopia 乌托邦, a novel about idealistic socialism.*Edmund Spenser埃德蒙斯宾塞 (1552 -1599): Farie Queen仙后, an incomplete Englishepic poem. It was the first work written inSpenserian stanza (9-line stanza). It is an allegoricalwork as a praise ofQueen Elizabeth I.*Christopher Marlowe克里斯托弗马洛 (15641593): His masterpiece of drama is The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus 浮士德博士的悲剧.It is commonly referred to asDoctor Faustus, a play based on the German storyFaust浮士德, in which a man sells his soul to the devilfor power and knowledge. Tamburlaine帖木儿大帝 The Jew of Malta马耳他岛的犹太人*Francis Bacon弗兰西斯培根（1561-1626）: He is best remembered as the first important essayist in England. He was famous for his Collection of Fifty-eight Essays.论说文集His other works include New Instrument (Novum Organum) and Advancement of Learning. These works entitled him as the founder of modern science.*William Shakespeare威廉莎士比亚 (15641616), with his 154 sonnets and 37 plays, is the most influential writer of English literature. It is said that the three most important cultural sources include Greek literature, Bible, and Shakespeare.Four Great Tragedies: Hamlet哈姆莱特, Othello奥赛罗, King Lear李尔王, Macbeth麦克白 Four Great Comedies: The merchant of Venice威尼斯商人 A Midsummer Nights Dream仲夏夜之梦 Twelfth Night第十二夜; As you like it皆大欢喜 Great Histories: the life and death of Julius Caesar裘力斯凯撒 King Henry 亨利四世 The life of King Henry 亨利五世 The Life and Death of King Richard 理查三世Romeo and Juliet 罗密欧与朱丽叶 The Tempest 暴风雨The Taming of the Shrew驯悍记*Ben Johnson本琼生（1573-1637）：Every Man in His Humor人人高兴 Volpone狐狸 The Alchemist 练金术士4.Restoration literature王朝复辟时期（It is also called 17th Century Literature. When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, King Charles was beheaded and the republic of Great Britain was founded. After Charles II restored his reign, the Restoration age began. And more bourgeois writers appeared. Literature of this period is known as Restoration literature, chiefly to praise the harmony of the age and the glorious reign of King Charles II. ）Representative writers of Restoration literature：*John Milton (16081674): Paradise Lost失乐园 （dramatizes the Biblical account of humanitys banishment from Paradise.） Paradise Regained复乐园 （is Miltons sequel to Paradise Lost, in which Jesus triumphantly resists Satan and regains the Paradise lost by Adam and Eve.） Samson Agonistes力士参孙 （Milton employed the Old Testament story of Samson to inspire the defeated English Puritans with the courage to triumph through sacrifice. This is a rather revolutionary work at that time. We can guess that the first two masterpieces tend to foreshadow the purpose of this work.）*John Dryden 约翰德莱顿(1631 -1700) a laureate poet, an influential essayist and dramatist :Marriage A-la-Mode時尚婚姻(1672) All for Love 一切为了爱情(1678)“Song for St. Cecilias Day” is a famous short poem of irregular ode to sing a high praise of the power of music.*John Bunyan约翰班扬 ：The Pilgrims Progress天路历程*William Congreve威廉康格里夫： Love for Love以爱还爱 The Way of the World 如此世道5. Age of Enlightenment(18th-century Literature)启蒙时期（The British literature before 18th century chiefly belonged to the Age of neoclassicism, a term derived from classicism in Greek literature. Neoclassic writers in Britain esteemed such virtuous qualities as objectivity, harmony, rationality, dignity, proportion, and moderation. The 18th century is regarded as the Age of Enlightenment (or simply theEnlightenmentorAge of Reason). It was acultural movementofintellectuals to emphasizereasonandindividualismrather than old moral and tradition. Its purpose was to reform society using reason, to challenge conventional ideas, and to advance knowledge through scientific methods.）Enlightenment Writers：*Alexander Pope 亚历山大蒲柏(1688 -1744): a student of John Dryden and a poet. He wrote poems in the famous form heroic couplet (iambic pentameter rhyming in pairs). 是新古典主义诗歌的代表Essay on Criticism论批评Essay on Man人论The Rape of the Lock秀髮劫*Jonathan Swift 乔纳森斯威夫特(1667 -1745): Gullivers Travels格列佛游记 ，a novel as a political satire to lay bare the narrow-minded struggles between the two parties of Whigs and Tories in England. The Tories were the conserve party and the Whigs wereknown as the Liberal Party. *Samuel Johnson 塞缪尔约翰逊(1709 1784):As a real critic in English history, he wrote The Preface to Shakespeare 莎士比亚集 Lives of the poets诗人传As a linguist, he wrote Dictionary of the English Language for the first time in English history.*James Boswell詹姆斯鲍斯韦尔 (1740 -1795)：He is famous in the English world as the first real biographer in English for his The Life of Samuel Johnson约翰逊传 *Daniel Defoe丹尼尔笛福 (1660 1731)：Regarded as the father of English novels英国小说之父. His masterpiece is Robinson Crusoe鲁滨孙漂流记Through describing Crusoes marvelous capacity to survive on the isolated island, his boundless energy and persistence in overcoming obstacles, Defoe glorifies human labor and gives people the inspiration to realize their personal values through intelligent hard work.*Henry Fielding亨利菲尔丁:Tom Jones汤姆琼斯*Oliver Goldsmith奥利弗哥尔德斯密斯: The Deserted Village荒村*James Thomson 詹姆斯汤姆：The Seasons四季歌*William Collins 威廉柯林斯：Ode to Evening黄昏颂*Thomas Gray托马斯格雷：Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard墓园哀歌6. Romanticism (1798 1832) 浪漫主义时期（Romanticism is a school of literature opposed to Neoclassicism. The main form of literature for romanticists is poetry. During the early part of the 19th century, class conflicts became more and more severe. The rational method could not solve the existing social problems. New approaches had to be found. For romanticists, intuitions and emotions were more crucial than reason and common sense. They held that one could find truth through ones feelings and that not everything in this world could be explained by reason. Romanticists emphasized the power of passion and the value of individualism. They believe that radical actions could provide effective solutions to the existing social problems. ）Romantic Poets：*William Blake 威廉布莱克(1757 1827): pioneer of Pre-romantic Movement. He wrote two collections of poems: Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.These are two books of his collected poems, in which he adopts irony and severely criticizes the injustices of the cruel capitalist society. *Robert Burns 罗伯特彭斯(1759 1796)：He is a Scottish peasant poet, and wrote poems about the misery of the poor working class people. “To a Mouse”, “A Red, Red Rose”, “Auld Lang Syne” are just a few of his famous poems. Lake Poets：*William Wordsworth威廉华兹华斯 (1770 1850), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 -1834) and Robert Southey were regarded as the three great Lake Poets” or “three great Lakers”.Lyrical Ballads, co-authored by Wordsworth and Coleridge, was thought of as the declaration of Romanticism Movement.*George Gordon Lord Byron乔治戈登拜伦 (17881824)：Don Juan 唐璜（is Byrons masterpiece written in the prime of his creative power. His aim was to remove the cloak of the high society. He called this long poem an epic satire.） Childe Harolds Pilgrimage恰尔德哈罗尔德游记*Percy Bysshe Shelley 珀西比希雪莱(1792-1822)：A high-spirited revolutionary poet. Queen Mab 麦布女王 The Revolt of Islam 伊斯兰的反叛 Prometheus Unbound 解放了的普罗米修斯 The Mask of Anarchy 暴政的假面具 Ode to the West Wind 西风颂 A song: Men of England 给英格兰人的歌*John Keats约翰济慈（17951821）：To Keats, poetry exists for its own sake. By describing the beauty of nature, he wishes to arouse the readers heart to love nature and escape from the worldly worries. “Ode To a Nightingale”夜莺颂 , “Ode to the Grecian Urn”希腊古瓮颂, “To Autumn”秋颂 are just few of his many romantic poems.7. Period of Realism (1830 1918)批判现实主义时期（Realism(Victorian Literature) , during the reign of Queen Victoria, is based on the accurate, unromantic observation of human experiences. Realists insist on precise description, authentic action, true-to-life dialogue, moral honesty, and a democratic openness toward social realities. The purpose of realism is to present an intense exposure and sharp criticism of greed and hypocrisy of the ruling class and the injustices of the society.）Novelists of Realism：*Jane Austen 简奥斯汀(1775 1817): As a pre-realist, she paved a way for the later women writers, best at describing young girls from middle-class families. Pride and Prejudice傲慢与偏见 Emma爱玛 Persuasion劝导Sense and Sensibility理智与情感 Mansfield Park 曼斯菲尔德庄园*Charles Dickens查尔斯狄更斯（18121870) ：A radical, he uses humor and satire to write his works. He said, “The greatest literature was literature for the people.” Oliver Twist雾都孤儿 Hard Times艰难时世 A Tale of Two Cities双城记David Copperfield大卫科波菲尔 Great Expectations远大前程*Three Bronte sisters勃朗特三姐妹Charlotte Bronte夏洛蒂勃朗特 (1816 -1855): Jane Eyre简爱Emily Bronte艾米丽勃朗特(1818-1848): Wuthering Heights 呼啸山庄Anne Bronte 安妮勃朗特(1820-1849): Agnes Grey阿格尼斯格雷*William Makepeace Thackeray威廉梅克比斯萨克雷(1811 1863) ：His masterpiece is Vanity Fair名利场. The books title comes from John BunyansallegoricalstoryThe Pilgrims Progress天路历程. In that work, Vanity Fair refers to a stop along the pilgrims progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which is meant to represent mans sinful attachment to worldly things.*Thomas Hardy托马斯哈代(1840-1928)：Far from the Madding Crowd Mayor of the Casterbridge 卡斯特桥市长 Jude the Obscure 无名的裘德Tess of the Durbervilles 德伯家的苔丝 （presents the tragic fate of a “pure” young peasant woman at the time of capitalist invasion into the countryside in the 19th-century England.）Poets of Realism：*Robert Browning罗伯特布朗宁 (18121889): Pippa Passes 皮帕走过了 The Ring and the Book 指环与书My Last Duchess 我的前公爵夫人*Mathew Arnold 马修阿诺德(18221888): Dover Beach多佛海滩Realism Dramatists：*Richard Brinsley Sheridan理查德布林斯利谢里丹(1751-1816) :The School for Scandal造谣学校（This play can be considered as a Comedy of Manners. One of the characteristics of the Comedy of Manners is the hypocrisy of the characters.）*Oscar Wilde 奥斯卡王尔德(1854-1900)：The Importance of Being Earnest 不可儿戏/真诚最要紧，*George Bernard Shaw萧伯纳(1856-1950)：Pygmalion 卖花女（皮格马利翁） Major Barbara巴巴拉少校Mrs. Warrens Profession 华伦夫人的职业 Saint Joan 圣女贞德8. Modernism (1918 1945) 现实主义时期（Background: The catastrophe of the First World War had shaken the faith in the moral basis of Western civilization and raised doubts about the adequacy of traditional literary modes in presenting the harsh realities of the postwar world. Influenced by different ideas, thoughts, and various social realities, modernism was made up of many facets in composing literature: naturalism自然主义, surrealism超现实主义, existentialism存在主义, symbolism象征主义, imagism意象主义, fantasy幻想, stream of consciousness意识流, and the like. ）Modernist Writers：*D. H. Lawrence 戴维赫伯特劳伦斯(1885-1930): Sons and Lovers儿子与情人: the study of man-woman relations.Women in Love 恋爱中的女人 The Rainbow虹Lady Chatterleys Lover 查泰莱夫人的情人*William Golding威廉戈尔丁(1911-1993)：Lord of the Flies 蝇王（Its an anti-Utopian novel. A group of boys stranded on an island. They try to civilize nature, but instead descend into savagery of killing one another. This work successfully penetrates into the evilness of human nature.）*George Orwell乔治奥威尔(1903-1950):Animal Farm动物庄园 is considered an allegory a