课外研学讲座听后感.doc

Glitter Within Mind43A11211 芦琛琛讲座名称：Guide to British Literature报告人：Jenna Victoria ShortenAbstract:This essay, which is based on Ms. Shorten s lecture, starts from the introductions of three great masters in Literature who have been mentioned, plus certain professional remarks that Ms. Shorten has given, and ends at my personal perspective.Key words: Literature、British history、Permanent influencesIntroduction:This lecture mainly gives introductions of three great British masters in Literature, they are: William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. Through the analysis of their works, we can see the evolution of British history and culture. The works of Shakespeare have achieved a perfect combination of myth legends in ancient Rome and Greece, enriching the local culture in Britain; Dickenss have presented a miserable picture of the working classs and orphans life, arousing peoples sympathy; Jane Austen uncovered the state of British upper class in a way of sarcasm. With an entry point of the works of these masters, the lecture interprets the connotation of British literature from an angle of the British themselves.Main Body:William Shakespeare(15641616):As a national poet of England, Shakespeare has been always considered to be The Bard in the Renaissance. He finished 38plays and 154 sonnets during his lifetime, and the most famous works are the four tragedies: Hamlet、Othello、King LearandMacbeth; and the four comedies:A Midsummers Night Dream、The Merchant Of Venice、As You Like ItandTwelfth Night. Besides, his history plays likeHenry VIII,Richard II、IIIand so on are also known to the world.The works of Shakespeare have a set of themes, such as: humans, psyche, love, friendship, families, greed, ambition, war, hatred, etc. When it comes to creating complex characters, he wrote about poor people too often for comedies, like what in theThe Merchant Of Venice. Theres no doubt that Shakespeare had great psychological understanding of humans. His plays are mostly based on myths(old stories), Greek and Rome history and English historian; While his proverbs came from three main sources: some used by native speakers, everyday language and some still relevant today. The following are several proverbs in his works with their real meaning in the brackets next to them:1、 The curse of true love never did run smooth.(Real love is always difficult.)2、 Alls well that ends well.(The result is important.)3、 It was Greek to me.(I do not understand the language.)4、 The lady doth protest too much, methinks.(Women never say what they mean. She is complaining so much that she must really agree.)5、 Whats done is done.(Do not worry about things you cannot change.)6、 I will wear my heart upon my sleeve.(I will not hide my feelings.)Theres a funny thing that some sentences were carved on Shakespeares tomb, known as his tombstone curse:Good friend for Jesus, sake forbear;To dig the dust enclosed here;Blest be the man that spares the stones;And curse be he that moves my bones.It is obvious that Shakespeare has an enduring influence on other writers, and is often reflected in certain behaviors. For instance, John Keats kept a burst of Shakespeare for inspiration; and countless literary works have been created in memorial of him.Some of Shakespeares famous quotes:To be or not to be, that is a question.HamletWhats in a name, that which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.Romeo And JulietIs this the dagger which I see before me?MacbethShall I compare three to a summers day?Sonnet,18Charles Dickens(18121870):With a focus on showing the life conditions of small potatoes who are at the bottom of the 19th centurys British society in order to reflect its complexity, Charles Dickens has made a great contribution to British critical realism literature. Even till today, his works are still spoken highly of in the literary field, of which the most typical ones include:Olive Twist(1838)、The Pickwick Papers(1836)、Great expectations(18601861) and many others. Dickens has been always regarded as a writer with a social conscience, for he often expressed sharp criticism and merciless satire towards social issues, like the new Poor Law in 1834 and the penalty system. The main characters in his works consist of different social roles, such as orphan boys, unfair class, labor children, fallen women and workhouses.Take the workhouses in London at that time as an example, in Olive Twist, Dickens described a vivid and real picture of living conditions of people who had lost their jobs and worked there: only three meals or gruels with an onion twice a day were provided, an average labor probably kept working for 12 hours a day, while merely had an hour to rest. Children did have free education, but without reading and writing. To conclude, working in the workhouses was simply for those who could not choose another way for their living. There even exists a short poem relevant:When my mother died, I was very young;And my dad sold me, while yet my tongue;Could scarcely cry Weep! Weep! Weep!So in your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.The Chimney SweeperWilliam Blake(1794)This poem showed that small children in the workhouses were treated badly and paid less than adults, and expressed the deep sympathy for them. As a matter of fact, the reality turned out to be more cruel. Many workers suffered from serious cankers during those dark days.Factory laws about child and woman laboring has evolved for quite a long time. In 1802, children under 9 years old must not work over 8; The maximum working time of children aged at 1418 was 12 hours. However, in 1850, the law stated that women did work for no more than 12 hours a day; for children aged at 58, the limitation time was 60 hours every week; those from 9 to 18 could only work for 10.5 hours(night or day). When in 1901, it was regulated that no children under 12 could work.Charles Dickens has been thought as a social reformer, for his works could always shock the readers and made the authorities take measures to realize improvements.Dickens also had a autographical novel named David Capperfield(1890).Jane Austen(17751817):Jane Austen was a noted British female novelist, whose works concentrated on the marriage and life of women in squire families. With delicate observation which is the unique quality of female and a humorous writing style, she displayed an authentic small world in her surroundings to the readers.Throughout Jane s lifetime, a total of 6 novels were finished, they are:Sense and Sensibility、Pride and Prejudice、Mansfield Park、Emma、PersuasionandNorthanger Abbey. Whats worth mentioning is that Pride and Prejudice, which has been adapted to a movie, ranks the second in the list of The Britishs favourite novels, andEmmais thought to be her most mature work.The quantity of Jane s works are not very large, and the sales were not very well at the time of being published. However, the status of Jane has become more and more significant as time goes by. She is commented to have developed the realist novel genre, and there even exist critics making remarks like Jane Austen is the one whose writing techniques are the closest to those of the master Shakespeare. But when pointing out where is her greatest part, it turns out to be hard to say. As what Virginia Woolf said, Among all the greatest masters in literature, her greatness is the most difficult to explain.Jane Austen is the first novelist to describe common people in daily lives in a real way. Her works reflect comedies of British middle classs life at that time, proving the possibility of family literature. She explored the process of young women s finding themselves,from falling into love to getting married. Such practice to analyze characters personalities and the intensive relationship between the heroine and the society, makes her novels get rid of a traditional and modern-resembled lifestyle in the 18th , and appeal to the readers for a long period.Memorable Quotes and quotations from Jane Austen are listed below:But when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way.Northanger AbbeyWhere any one body of educated