英国文学选读要点(修改).doc

英国文学选读要点（2） - 诗人及其作品解读 1. Introduction of William Shakespeare Significance1. the greatest English poet and dramatist2. certainly the most important playwright of the English Renaissance 3Likely the most influential writer in all of English literature Theme of Sonnet 18His sonnet 18 expresses that beautiful things can rely on the force of literature to reach eternity.Analysis of the poemThe first two quatrains focus on the fair lords beauty: the poet attempts to compare it to a summers day, but shows that there can be no such comparison, since the fair lords timeless beauty far surpasses that of the fleeting, inconstant season. Summer - summer as a metaphor for youth, or perhaps beauty, or perhaps the beauty of youth.What does “eternal lines” mean in the last but one stanza? Whats the rhyme of Shakespearean Sonnet? Questions 1 in page 14：The speaker opens the poem with a question addressed to the beloved: Shall I compare thee to a summers day? The next eleven lines are devoted to such a comparison. In line 2, the speaker stipulates what mainly differentiates the young man from the summers day: he is more lovely and more temperate. The poet describes summer as a season of extremes and disappointments. Summers days tend toward extremes: they are shaken by rough winds; In them, the sun (the eye of heaven) often shines too hot, or too dim. And summer is fleeting: its date is too short, and it leads to the withering of autumn, as every fair from fair sometime declines. The final quatrain of the sonnet tells how the beloved differs from the summer in that respect: his beauty will last forever (Thy eternal summer shall not fade.) and never die. In the couplet, the speaker explains how the beloveds beauty will accomplish this feat, and not perish because it is preserved in the poem, which will last forever; it will live as long as men can breathe or eyes can see.2. Geoffrey Chaucer （1340 - 1400）Significance1. “the father of English poetry” (by John Dryden) 2the founder of modern English 3the founder of English realistic literature: the greatest literate before Shakespeare 4. He was the first to be buried in Westminster Abby, for his great contribution to the making of English and literature. Chaucers writing style1. His poetry is full of vigor and swiftness.2. He enriched the poetic forms for the English poetry.3. He is the first people who made the London vernacular the language of his work thus make it the foundation for modern speech and establishing English as the literary language of the country.General Introduction to The Canterbury TalesSignificance1. It was the last of Geoffrey Chaucers works 2. The Canterbury Tales is Chaucers Masterpiece and one of the monumental works in English literature.3. It is one of the landmarks of English literature, perhaps the greatest work produced in Middle English 4. It gives us a true to life picture of his time. The work stands as a historical and sociological introduction to the life and times of the late Middle Ages 3. Introduction of John Donne（1572 - 1631）Significance1. Founder of Metaphysical School2. Donne was the leading exponent of a style of poetry called metaphysical poetry, which flourished in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. 3. The most striking feature of Donnes Poetry is his frequent use of conceit.The main themes of the metaphysical poets are love, death and religion.Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,Themes of Holy Sonnet 10 （上p.151）His Holy Sonnet 10 reveals his belief in life after death. Death is momentarily while happiness after death is eternal.l One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. 1. What does sleep mean? Death.2. How do you understand we live eternally? Life and death are two periods. Death is the expansion of life. Shortly after our death, our soul will enter heaven and live happily forever.4. Introduction of Robert Burns（1759-1796）Significance1. Scottish poet and writer of traditional Scottish folk songs2. He is the national poet of Scotland. Robert Burns is representative of Scotland. He has become almost a national symbol of all things Scottish.3. the greatest poet Scotland in the late 18th century has ever produced;4. a remarkable lyricist on the theme of love and friendship; 5. a patriotic poet calling for national independence, liberty, equality and fraternity for all the people in the world ; 6. a peasant poet sharing his peoples feelings and drawing material form the folk legends and songs; 7. He was the peoples poet. He came from the people and wrote for the people.“A Red, Red Rose” is written as a ballad with four stanzas of four lines, or quatrains eachThemes of A Red, Red Rose Theme - this is a poem of love and reassurance. Burns is leaving his love and intends to reassure her of his fidelity and love for her in his absence.5.Introduction of William Wordsworth(1770-1850) Significance1. He is the third greatest poet and the greatest lyric poet in English literature. 2. He is the leading figure of the English Romantic poetry, and he is regareded as a “worshipper of nature”.3. He was one of “lake poets”4. He is a poet in memory of the past and was called prophets of nature I Wandered Lonely as a CloudFormThe four six-line stanzas of this poem follow a quatrain-couplet rhyme scheme: ABABCC.Each line is metered in iambic tetrameter. Characteristics The poem is a master piece on natureSignificance This poem typically depicts the serene beauty of nature and shows the poets respect for nature as well.ExercisesFor oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dance with the daffodils.(1) What is the bliss of the solitude? The Daffodils the poem saw.(2) Interpret the passage.It is a bliss/happiness to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind when he is solitude/lonely.(3) Why did the poet write the poem, what did he want to express? The poem depicts/deals with the flowers that he came across along waterside, by which he expresses the quiet, sympathy, loving feeling to nature just like his words poetry is from emotion recollected in tranquility. 5. Introduction of Percy Bysshe Shelley（17921822）Ode to the West WindGenre of the PoemThe ode is a lyric poem of some length, dealing with a lofty theme in a dignified manner and originally intended to be sung. Form of the poemEach of the seven parts of Ode to the West Wind contains five stanzas-four three-line stanzas and a two-line couplet, all metered in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme in each part follows a pattern known as terza rima三行诗节押韵法, Thus each of the seven parts of Ode to the West Wind follows this scheme: ABA BCB CDC DED EE.Summary Ode to the West Wind is one of Shelleys best known lyrics. The poet describes vividly the activities of the west wind on the earth, in the sky and on the sea, and then expresses his envy for the boundless freedom of the west wind, and his wish to be free like the wind and to scatter his words among mankind.Exercises O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumns being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, alliteration personificationQuestions: What kind of wind does west wind refer to? Autumn wind.What do these lines describe? The destructive power of the west wind that drives away all the old and rotten things.Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!“(1)What does the wild spirit refer to? wild spirit refers to west wind/autumn wind. (2)Why called it Destroyer and Preserver at the same time? Because west wind buries the dead leaves, the symbol of old rotten society, and also the things, thoughts, or ideas that are dead or obsolete. Meanwhile it prepares for a new spring, and preserves new life or seeds that will come to life in the spring, the symbol of a new world.(3)Identify the poet and the poem.Ode to the west wind of Percy Shelley. (terza rima) As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.Oh! Lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowedOne too like thee: tameless, and swift and proud.“A heavy weight of hoursIt refers to burdens and pressures of lifemoral and cultural conventions picked up by individuals in lifelessons learned from life experiencesufferings and misfortunes in life.(1)Explain I fall upon the thorns of life, I bleed“ The sentence call Shelleys desire that he couldnt best being fettered to/limited by the humdrum/too ordinary reality of everyday!(2)Can you comprehend the deep emotion contained in the poem? Whats that? In the poem, the west wind has become the poet himself, he wants to be free, proud and uncontrollable like the wild west wind, to destruct and construct with the strong power like the west wind. (3)The poet was called the the heart of all hearts, he trumpeted the radical prophecy of hope and rebirth. Please write out his classic words. If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?This is of course a rhetorical question because spring does come after winter. The question has a deeper meaning and does not only mean the change of seasons, but is a reference to death and rebirth as well. It illustrates Shelleys critical attitude to the ugly society and can best express Shelleys optimistic belief in the bright future of mankind in face of the cold winter, that is the cold society, and the harsh social reality.It may mean that after the struggles and problems in life, there would always be a solution.6. Introduction of John Keats (1795-1821)Significance1. The most talented of the English romantic poets2. He wrote best odes in English literature3. The last of the great Romantics 4. The most attractive Romantic figure because of his personal life and his poetry 5. A poet of great beauty 6. A close friend of ShelleysOde on a Grecian UrnType of poem: lyric poem Type of lyric poem: odeExercise 1:Thou still unravishd bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,Sylvan historian, who canst thus expressA flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:(1)Who is the poet? The name?(2)Explain the sentence.(3)What was the theme of the poem?Answer:(1)This is the ode on a Grecian Um, which was written by the poet-John Keats. (2)The sentence means: though time has passed, the urn, the works of the art still remains, and it tells a pastoral/lyrical tale to us, and the description of the urn is much more beautiful than the words of any human. (3)The theme is: Human life is transient, but the art is immortal. Exercise 2:O Attic shape! Fair attitude! With brede As doth eternity: cold pastoral!(1)How do you understand cold pastoral (2)What device is used in the poem?(3)Explain the implication of the poem. At the end of the poem, the poet gave a famous saying, and it is also the theme of the poem, what is that?Answer:(1)Cold pastoral means the lyrical scene on the Grecian urn lacks life and warmth. (2)Contrast.(3)The poet wanted to show the permanence of the art and the transience of human passion presenting his ambivalence/opposing feelings about time and nature of beauty. The saying is Beauty is truth, truth beauty7. Introduction of Alfred TennysonSignificanceHe was the most prolific poet in the 19th-century English literature.He is the most representative Victorian poet.His wonderful works show all the qualities of Englands great poets.Poet LaureateBreak，Break，BreakBreak, Break, Break is a lyric poem that Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was believed to have completed in 1834. It centers on Tennysons grief over the death of his best friend, Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet.The fishermans boy happily playing with his sister, the sailor merrily singing, the ship busily plying the waters of commerce：The poets own feelings of sadness are contrasted with the carefree, innocent joys of the children and the unfeeling movement of the ship and the sea waves. Themes Grief；Preciousness of Youth；Indifference of Nature 英国文学选读要点（3）- 散文家/短篇小说家/戏剧家及其作品解读 Francis Bacon（15611626）Significance1. He is a philosophy, a scientist and the first English essayist.2. He is best known for his Essays that is the first example of that genre in English literature.Of Studies - The most popular of Bacons essays.Language FeaturesForceful and persuasive; compact and precise; and the essays reveals to us Bacons nature attitude towards learning.What studies chiefly serve for.The different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies.How studies exert influence over human character ThemeDifferent ways of studies may exert different influences over human characters.10. David Herbert Lawrence，18851930Significance1. English novelist, story writer, critic, poet and painter2. one of the greatest figures in 20th-century English literature3. the greatest novelist form a working family4. one of the primary shapers of 20th-century fictionRocking Horse WinnerStyle The opening paragraphs of “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are written in a style similar to that of a fairy tale. ThemesThe theme of the story is that materialism can lead to spiritual death, and that when we gamble or game for gold, we only are going to win a hollow soul. Evident in The Rocking-Horse Winner is Lawrences distain for conspicuous consumption, crass materialism, and an emotionally distant style of parenting popularly thought to exist in England during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. rocking horse - by its very frantic motion, back and forth, symbolizes the frantic grasping for wealth. Hester - Pauls mother, a cold, unfeeling, wasteful, shallow and materialistic woman who is incapable of loving others. William ShakespeareWorks of Shakespeare and the three major periods of his literary lifeThe first period: 1590 to 1600, In this period he created his best comedies A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Merchant of Venice; Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It; and Twelfth Night;The second period began from 1601 to 1609. In this period he produced his four great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, which represent the climax of his dramatic power. Please give a brief analysis of Hamlets “To be or not to be” soliloquy “To be or not to be” is a philosophical exploration of life and death. The soliloquy conveys the sense of world-weariness.Analysis of HamletHamlet is a man of Renaissance with humanists ideal.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 the 17th century. The theme of “ Hamlet”It praises Hamlets struggle against his evil uncle.It expresses the sharp contradiction between the rising bourgeoisie and the feudal power through a bloody revenge. It also shows that England was no longer a merry England as it was before. Its a country full of disturbances, social evils. 英国文学选读要点（4）- 小说家及其作品解读 Daniel Defoe(1661-1731) and his Robinson CrusoeSignificance1. a pioneer novelist of England; 2. one of the forerunners of the English realistic novel;3. Along with Samuel Richardson, Defoe is considered the founder of the English novel. The themes|mans struggles against nature |Glorification of the bourgeois men who has the courage and will to face hardship and determination to improve his livelihood. |Glorification of labor The style|Realistic style Symbol The great wooden cross|The great wooden cross that Crusoe makes to mark time is a symbol of his journey towards rebirth. |The symbol casts a new, somewhat romantic light on the adventure, for it gives hope and foreshadows success for Robinson Crusoe The Capital letters on the cross|The large size and capital letters show us how important this cross is to Crusoe as a timekeeping device and thus also as a way of relating himself to the larger social world where dates and calendars still matter.|Its a memorial to Crusoe himself, underscoring how completely he has become the center of his own life. Character Analysis Robinson Crusoe|Robinson Crusoe is one of the protagonists drawn most successfully in English novels. |Through the characterization of Robinson Crusoe, Defoe depicts him as a hero struggling against nature, and human fate with his indomitable will and hand, and eulogizes creative labor, physical and mental, an allusion to glorification of the bourgeois creativity when it was a rising and more energetic class in the initial stage of its historical development. |From an individual laborer to a master and colonizer, Crusoe seems to have gone through various stages of human civilization, creating a visual picture to manifest how mans history has developed from the primitive to the feudal, and then to the capitalistic one in the eighteenth century. Jane Austen(1775-1817) and her Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen 16 December 1775 18 July 1817Significance1. a woman novelist of the 18th century 2. the only important female author in the 18-19th century3. the first writer who examines womens position and their problems in the society4. She presented the quiet, day-to-day country life of the middle -upper -class English.How do you understand Pride and Prejudice?|Pride and Prejudice is the most