English Literature 1.doc

English Literature 1The Origins of Western Literature. Literature1. What is literature? Literature refers to writings in prose or verse, esp. writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest. Genres of Literature Poetry Drama (tragedy, comedy.) Prose2. Aspects of literature Theme: What is presented? Form: How is it presented? Genre, structure, style, language, tone, rhetorical devices, point of view (perspective), characterization, etc. Background: How is the work related to the writers life and the social context?The Functions of Literature To delight and to teach To express. The Origins of Western Literature1. Greek classics Epic: Homer (before 700 B.C.): The IliadPlot Thetis marrying mortal Peleuswedding excluded Erisapple for “the fairest”Hera, Athena, AphroditeZeusParis, prince of Troy as the arbitorrewards: Athena: great hero, Hera: ruler of kingdom, Aphrodite: the most beautiful woman, Helen, a princess of Spartatoo many suitors, Odysseus (king of Ithaca) offers adviceoathmarrying Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, king of MycenaeMenelaus as king of SpartaParis leaving wife and visiting Spartaking away to Creteelope to TroyGreek army: Agamemnon, Odysseus, other suitors, 100 shipsten years siegeAchilles and Hector wooden horsefall of Troy Helen Helen of Troy by Evelyn de Morgan (1898, London); Helen admiringly displays a lock of her hair, as she gazes into a mirror decorated with the nude Aphrodite. The Odyssey(Odysseus Journey back to Ithaca) Tragedy:Aeschylus (524?-456 B.C.): AgamemnonSophocles (495-406 B.C.): Oedipus Rex son of Laius, king of Thebes, and Jocastathe oracleleft on hillsiderescued and raised as son of Corinthleft Corinthtraveled to Thebeskilled Laius on the waysolved Sphinx riddlemarried Jocastagouged his eyes and went into exile with his daughter Antigone (Note: Oedipus complex) AntigoneEuripides (480-406 B.C.): MedeaMedea, sorceress, daughter of Aeetes, king of Colchis accompanies Jason, helping him with magic arts to win the Golden Fleece. Deserted, she kills herself. Hippolytus Philosophy : Socrates (470-399 B.C.) (Confucius: 551-479 B.C.) Plato (429?-347 B.C.): Republic Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): PoeticsRoman writers: Virgil ( 70-19B.C.): The Aenead (Greek hero Aeneas-Carthage-Italy-to found Rome) Ovid (43B.C.17A.D.): Metamorphoses Ars amatoria2. The Bible The Old Testament (39) (1000BC100 A.D.): The creation and fall of man The New Testament (27) (49-120): Life and death of Christ.3. Medieval Romance King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table Sir Gawain and the Green Knight The Song of Roland Subject matter: knightly adventures and courtly love Action: the hero fights with other knights, giants or monsters. His goal (the quest): the ladys love, the Holy Grail: the vessel The lady the sovereign The hero her humble servant, petitioning for her favors. Cervantes puts an end to all romances by his Don Quixote.An Introduction to English Prosody英语诗歌格律概论. Types of Poetry Types of Poetry (1)poetrynarrativeepicballadmetricallyricgeneraldramaticpastoralsonnetodeelegyTypes of Poetry (2) PoetryRhymed VerseBlank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare, Milton, etc.Free Verse: Whitman, Eliot, etc. The Musical Effect of Poetry1. Meter (音步): rhythm of the poem, the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables used in the poem. One combination of these syllables is called a foot.Types of Metrical FeettypepatternexampleIambic 抑扬格 controlTrochaic 扬抑格 tigerAnapestic 抑抑扬格 contradictDactylic 扬抑抑格 foolishnessSpondaic 扬扬格 moonstone2. Length of line in terms of the number of feet typenumber of feet per lineMonometer 一步 1Dimeter 二步 2Trimeter 三步 3Tetrameter 四步 4Pentameter 五步 5Hexameter 六步 6Heptameter 七步 7Octameter 八步 8How to Describe a Poetic LineThus the feature of a poetic line can be described in terms of the type and number of feet it has.e.g. (scansion)格律分析 Whose woods these are I think I know. (iambic tetrameter) The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. (iambic pentameter)Caesura and EnjambmentCaesura: Pause within a lineslowing down. e. g. One truth is clear: whatever is, is right. Stop here, or gently pass.Enjambment: run-on linespeeding up. e. g. We would sit down and think which way To walk, and pass our long loves day.3. Rhyme: The repetition of similar sounds at regular intervals. End rhyme; Rhyme found at the end of verse lines. e. g. A little learning is a dangerous thing, Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.A. Complete rhyme: Same vowel (and same consonant). e. g. .late .fateB. Slant (near, half, partial) rhyme: .hall .hell .eyes .lightsC. Eye rhyme .move .love What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?D. Feminine rhyme: We poets in our youth begin in gladness But therefore come in the end despondency and madness. .hounding .boundingE. Masculine rhyme: Nature and Natures laws lay hid in night: God said let Newton be! and all was light.Rhyme scheme:The arrangement of rhyme in a stanza or a poem. e. g. Wordsworth: Upon Westminster Bridge abba baab cdcdcd Frost: Stopping by Woods. aaba bbcb ccdc dddd Elegy (Luo Jingguo. Book One. p. 319. ) Internal rhyme: Rhyme contained within a line of verse. e. g. The long light shakes across the lakes. “The game is done! Ive won! Ive won!” Alliteration: Repetition of two or more initial consonant sounds in words within a line. e. g. He clasps the crag with crooked hands. The plowman homeward plods his weary way. Beowulf (Luo Jingguo. Book One. p. 8)4. Stanza: A group of lines forming a unit in a poemtype of stanzanumber of linesCouplet 2Tercet (rhymed) 3Quatrain (ballad stanza) 4Cinquain 5Sestet 6Septet (rime royal) 7Octave 8Spenserian 9Sonnet 14III. Fi