《英国文学选读》复习题.doc

Part I: the Anglo-Saxon period (449-1066)1. Historical backgroundThe early inhabitants in the island we now call England were Britons, a tribe of Celts. From the Britons the island got its name Britain, the land of Britons, who were a primitive people living in the tribal society.After the fall of the Roman Empire (410AD) and the withdrawal of Roman troops, the Teutonic tribes, esp., the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, conquered the island and called it Angle-land, then England. 2. Literature：The Song of BeowulfThe Song of Beowulf = the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons or English people. The Song of Beowulf Features1) The use of alliteration the most striking one. In alliterative verse, certain accented words in a line begin with the same consonant sound. There are generally 4 accents in a line, 3 of which show alliteration, 2) ThemesIt can be concluded that this poem shows how the primitive people fight against the forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader. But it seems that all themes are part of a larger thematic scheme which centers upon the conflict between good and evil. Part II: The Anglo-Norman Period (10661350)1.Historical background: The Norman Conquest: After the battle of Hastings in 1066, came the French-speaking Normans under Duke William. 1) Three chief effects of the Conquest: B The bringing of Roman civilization The growth of nationality a strong centralized government The new language and literature2. Literature Romance:1) The literature the Normans brought to England is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of love and adventure, in remarkable contrast with the strength and somberness of the Anglo-Saxon poetry. 2) Sir Gawain and the Green Knighta) The best of Arthurian romances, anonymous, in alliterative verseb) Theme: A test of mans virtue and truth Part III: Geoffrey Chaucer (13401400)1. The Canterbury Tales1) The General Prologue: The tales begin with a general prologue, which provides a framework for the tales and comprises a group of vivid sketches of typical medieval figures. 2) Chaucers contributions Aa. a master of realism: In his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales, all classes except the royalty and the poorest peasants are presented by the pilgrims. Every figure is drawn with the accuracy of a portrait. It is no exaggeration to say the Prologue supplies a miniature of the English society of Chaucers time.b. founder of English literary language: He did much in making the London dialect the foundation for modern English language. He was the first great poet who wrote in English language (Middle English), thus establishing English as the literary language.c. Father of English poetry: He introduced from Italy and France the metrical form - the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the heroic couplet, iambic pentameters with the lines rhyming in pairs.2. Popular Ballads - DefinitionA ballad is a folk song or orally transmitted poem telling in a direct and dramatic manner some popular story usually derived from a tragic incident in local history or legend. The story is told simply, impersonally, and often with vivid dialogue. Usually, a ballad is composed in four-line stanzas with the second and the fourth lines rhymed. The first and the third lines carry four accented syllables whereas the second and the fourth carry three. Ballads flourished particularly strongly in Scotland from the 15th century onward. Since the 18th century, educated poets outside the folk-song tradition notably Coleridge and Goethe have written imitations of the popular ballads form and style: Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) is a celebrated example.3. William Langland and Piers the Plowman Piers the Plowman is one of the greatest of English poems of Medieval times.Part IV: The Renaissance1. The Renaissance a definition Renaissance, or, the rebirth of letters, is an intellectual movement. It sprang first in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. Two features are striking of the movement. One is a thirsting curiosity for classical literature. The other feature is the keen interest in life and human activities. People ceased to look upon themselves as living only for God and a future world. Thinkers, artists and poets arose, who gave expression, (sometimes in an old guise, though) to the new feeling of admiration for human beauty and human achievement, a feeling in sharp contrast with medieval theology. Hence arose Humanism, the spreading of which indicates that the Renaissance is rather the flourishment of bourgeois art and literature. 2. Humanism Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. Renaissance humanists found in the classics a justification to exalt human nature and came to see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfection, and that the world they inhabited was theirs not to despise but to question, explore, and enjoy. Thus, by emphasizing the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.3. Thomas More1) The first of the English humanists was Sir Thomas More (1478-1535). 2) The name “Utopia” comes from 2 Greek words meaning “no place” and was adopted by More as the name of his ideal commonwealth. It has been since used to designate the ideal state. 4. Francis Bacon (1561-1626)He introduced the essay as a literary form into the English language. 5. New Poetic Forms1) The sonnet, an exact form of poetry in 14 lines of iambic pentameter, was introduced from Italy to England by Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard. The first twelve lines are intricately rhymed, which are followed by a heroic couplet. For the next half century, it was one of the most popular forms of English verse.2) In the translation of Vigils Adenoid, Henry Howard also wrote the first blank verse, a form of unrhymed iambic pentameters. This form was later masterly handled by Marlowe, Shakespeare and Milton.3) In writing The Faerie Queene, the “poet of the poets” Edmund Spenser devised a special verse form of Spenserian Stanza that consists of eight iambic pentameter lines followed by an iambic hexameter, with a rhyme scheme as ababbcbcc. Later, this form was also used by Byron in his Childe Harolds Pilgrimage.6. Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)1) The Faerie Queene” - The dominating thoughts of the poem are nationalism, humanism and Puritanism, all typical of the poets age. But these new ideas are expressed under the guise of medieval knighthood. 2) The publication of Spensers first work The Shepherds Calendar marked the budding of the Renaissance flower, the language then to be called Modern English, to distinguish from the Middle English of Chaucers day.7. Christopher Marlowe1) The epoch of Renaissance witnessed a particular development of English drama.2) The greatest of the pioneers was Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), who reformed the genre in England and perfected the language and verse of dramatic works. 3) It was Marlowe who made blank verse the principal vehicle of expression in drama.4) Marlowes best includes three of his plays, Tamburlaine (1587), The Jew of Malta (1592) and Doctor Faustus (1588). William Shakespeare (1564-1616)1. Shakespeare: the summit of the English Renaissance1) Four greatest tragedies: Hamlet / Othello / King Lear / Macbeth2. Hamlet1) Hamlets character and his revenge Melancholy is the key-note of his character. a) REVENGE: The triple wrongs on the part of Hamlets Uncle: murder, usurpation, incest. By meditation he knows revenge is easy, but not merely personal one. His mere revenge upon his uncle would in no way solve the problems that trouble and upset him; to expose the roots of the evil and to establish a reign of justice. He has to consider the fate of his country, not merely his personal wrongs. b) PURPOSE: delay killing Claudius to kill the soul as well as the body. If the revenge is done without exposure of Claudius wrong, then the abrupt death of the king might cause panic to the people and danger to the state. In other words, his melancholy shows his responsibility, for, he considers not his personal wrong but the fate, the future of his country.3. The Merchant of Venice1) Portia, a woman of the Renaissance - beautiful, prudent, cultured, courteous and capable of rising to an emergency. She is one of Shakespeares ideal women. 2) The most remarkable character in the play is Shylock the Jew. Shakespeare shows us everything of Shylocks meanness, cunning and cruelty, and yet his portrayal of the Jew enlists our sympathy. Part V The 17th Century1. John Donne (1572-1631)1) Donnes poems can be divided into two categories: the youthful love lyrics and the later sacred verses. 2. John Milton ( 1608 1674) 1) the second greatest poet of the English language2) the greatest writer of the17th century3) Paradise Lost = his masterpiece3. John Bunyan Pilgrims Progress Part VI The 18th Century1. Enlightenment Movement 1) An intellectual movement that developed in Europe in the 17th century and reached its height in the 18th. The Enlightenment celebrated reason, equality, science and human beings ability to perfect themselves and their society.2) Characteristics of the EnlightenmentEmphasis on reason rather than authorityMans mind, not Gods wordEncouragement of scientific inquiryBelief in the perfectibility of Man3) In religion, it was against superstition, and dogmatism; in politics, it was against tyranny; and in society, it was against prejudice, ignorance, inequality, and any obstacles to the realization of an individuals full intellectual and physical well-being. At the same time, they advocated universal education. In their opinion, human beings were limited, imperfect, and yet capable of rationality and perfection through education. 2. Robinson CrusoeThemes of Robinson Crusoe: Glorification of the imperialist dream: Robinson = the prototype of the British Empire. 3. Gullivers Travels4. Laurence SternHe has often been claimed as a precursor of modernist experiment: events not in chronological order, chapters blank, juggled punctuation marks, drawings instead of words sometimes.5. Thomas Gray (1716-1771)An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard6. William Blake “The Tyger” “The question posed in the poem is whether God is the source of both good (the lamb) and evil (the tyger) in the world”.Prt VII Romantic English Literature1. English Romanticism begins in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridges The Lyrical Ballads and ends in 1832 with Walter Scotts death. 2. Romanticism = a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassicism reason3. Characteristics of RomanticismImagination / Idealization of Nature / Individualism / Glorification of the commonplace / The lure of the exotic4. Different perspectives about nature: a healing power; a source of subject and image; a refuge from the artificial constructs of civilization.5. Wordsworths Preface (1800) to Lyrical Ballads is the manifesto of English Romanticism. Multiple choice1. As the representative of the Enlightenment, Pope was one of the first to introduce _ to England.A. rationalismB. romanticism C. criticismD. realism2. “Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.” This sentence appears in _.A. The Advancement of Learning B. A Dictionary of the English LanguageC. An Es