英国文学复习要点_常炳善

考研英国文学复习要点 参照教材刘炳善 英国文学简史 本文供考研英国文学复习第二遍和第三遍的时候使用 第一遍要把教材细读一遍 很多人觉的文学学的乱七八糟 主要是因为脑子里没有一个清晰的纲领 在临考前脑子里 要对文学有很清晰的纲领 这样就算复习的差不多了 有人又问 什么是纲领 比如说英 国文学吧 你要知道英国文学大致分为多少个时期 每一个时期有什么总体特点 有什么 总体的 literary trend 然后这个时期有那些重要的作家 每一个重要的作家都写过什么重要 的作品 这些重要的作品大致内容是什么 有什么意义 有什么写作特色 除了这些之外 再对基本的文学术语有所了解就差不多了 当然如果要求选读的 选读作品得另看 这里 名词解释都没有具体打上 因为我在做另外一份专门的名词解释的文件 做好了传上来 还有选读作品的 本人学力有限 诗歌部分学的不错 等有空了也制一份文件传上来 Part One Early and Medieval English Literature 1 Beowulf national epic of the English people Denmark story alliteration metaphors and understatements 此处可能会有填空 选择等小题 2 Romance 名词解释 3 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight a famous roman about King Arthur s story 4 Ballad 名词解释 5 Character of Robin Hood 6 Geoffrey Chaucer founder of English poetry The Canterbury Tales main contents 124 stories planned only 24 finished written in Middle English significance form heroic couplet 7 Heroic couplet 名词解释 Part Two The English Renaissance 8 The Authorized Version of English Bible and its significance 填空选择 9 Renaissance 名词解释 10 Thomas More Utopia 11 Sonnet 名词解释 12 Blank verse 名词解释 13 Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene Amoretti collection of his sonnets Spenserian Stanza 名词解释 14 Francis Bacon essays esp Of Studies 推荐阅读 学习写正式语体的英文文章的好参 照 本文用词正式优雅 多排比句和长句 语言造诣非常高 里面很多话都可以引用做格 言警句 非常值得一读 15 Christopher Marlowe Doctor Faustus and his achievements 16 William Shakespeare 可以说是英国文学史中最重要的作家 一定要看熟了 四大喜剧 四大悲剧比较重要 此外就是罗密欧与朱立叶了 这些剧的主题 背景 情节 人物形象 都要熟悉 当然他最重要的喜剧作品是 Hamlet 这是肯定的 他的 sonnet 也很重要 最重 要属 sonnet18 其戏剧中著名对白和几首有名的十四行诗可能会出选读 英国文学的教案 刘炳善简史 Lecture 1 Part 1 Early and Medieval English Literature Early here means English literature in primitive and slavery society Medieval period is a quite special period in English history In Chinese Medieval or The Middle Age means 中世纪 You may hear something about this period It was called The Middle Age because it was considered as the time between ancient world and the modern world Here Medieval means English literature in feudal England before the Renaissance I Early English Literature Anglo Saxon Literature 1 Historical Background 1 The earliest inhabitants of the British Isles were Britons a tribe of Celts Today most Celts lived in Scotland and Wales 2 From 55 B C to 410 A D Romans conquered the Great Britain The Roman army was led by Julius Caesar who was a very famous figure in ancient Rome He was a famous general and conquered lot of places in Europe and then he became dictator of Rome He had famous words I came I saw I conquered You can see how strong this man s will is Consequence of Roman conquest a network of highways scores of towns including London Roman lifestyle 3 English Conquest Shortly after Romans retreat the Britain was invaded by Anglos Saxons and Jutes And by the 7th century Old English emerged Anglo Saxon period witnessed a transition from tribal society to feudalism Anglo Saxons were Christianized in the 7th century Before Christianization Anglo Saxons believed in old northern European mythologies If you are interested in old Britain mythologies you may read the famous novel The Lord of the Rings which was a collection of old northern European mythologies The Christianization of Anglo Saxons influenced the record of old English literature 2 Beowulf National epic of English people 1 Definition of epic an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero 2 Story of Beowulf Ask students to read the story of Beowulf on textbook by themselves and then ask them What are the three adventures mentioned in the story The story of Beowulf includes three adventures killing monster Grendel killing Grendel s mother and killing a fire dragon 3 Some important points Beowulf is a folk legend brought to England by Anglo Saxons from their continental homes However it also reflected the features of the tribal society in Britain Originally Beowulf the great epic was in oral form and it must be a collective creation Beowulf in the epic is a legendary figure In formal history you can not find a man named Beowulf Artistic features of Beowulf Using alliteration Definition of alliteration a rhetorical device meaning some words in a sentence begin with the same consonant sound 头韵 Some examples on P5 Using metaphor and understatement Definition of understatement expressing something in a controlled way Understatement is a typical way for Englishmen to express their ideas You may find some examples on P6 Epic tradition in Europe long narrative verse part historical and part legendary origin This tradition can be traced back to Homer s Iliad and Odyssey Similar works in Europe are Edda and Saga from Iceland etc referring to 欧洲文学史 3 Anglo Saxon Chronicle The book was conceived by King Alfred the Great He also organized and supervised the writing process of the book This book is a very important historical document and specimen of Anglo Saxon prose II Medieval English Literature 1 Historical Background 1 Norman conquest in 1066 marks the establishment of feudalism in England 2 By the end of the 14th century the Middle English emerged 3 The ecclesiastics from the monks and the clergy to the bishops and archbishops together possessed over one third of the land in the country and owned numerous serfs and had their tithes and ecclesiastical courts and the backing of the Pope in Rome They had much political as well as religious power Understanding the great influence of Christianity in the medieval Europe is very important for you to understand their literature because Christianity is one of the two resources of European culture referring to 欧洲文化入门 英国文学史第二讲 Lecture 2 2 The Romance 骑士文学 1 Definition of the Romance a long composition sometimes in verse sometimes in prose describing the life and adventures of a noble hero P10 Knight is a special group of people existed in the Middle Age in Europe Nearly all nobles were knights However nobody was born a knight One nobleman who want to become a knight must experience hard training and then the king will give him knighthood Codes of the Knight 骑士准则 protect the weak fight for church loyal to your lord loyal to King respect women of noble birth 西方人对于男士良好风度的概念起源于这些骑士准则 是以西方有 骑士风度 说法 参阅 欧洲文化入门 2 The great majority of the romances fall into three groups matters of Britain matters of France and matters of Rome Charlemagne a very great French emperor 查理曼大帝 参阅 欧洲文化入门 Alexander the Great a very great emperor in ancient Greece 亚历山大大帝 目前埃及名城 亚历山大就是以他的名字命名 参阅 欧洲文化入门 3 The Romance of King Arthur and his Round Table knights whose origin was in Celtic legend is comparatively the most important for the history of English literature especially the works called Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 关于亚瑟王的传说来自英国的凯尔特民族的传说 格温爵士和绿衣骑士 的故事可以在陈嘉 英国文学史 第 34 到 35 页找到 The theme of loyalty to king and lord is an important common theme of the Romance So they were composed for the noble class 英国的骑士文学 Romance 并没有产生如同法国的 罗兰之歌 那样多姿多彩的作品 中 世纪在整个欧洲骑士文学还是有很多的读者 有一些人甚至对骑士文学的喜爱到达痴迷的 程度 比如西班牙作家塞万提斯的名作 唐吉诃德 中刻画的主人公便是一位让人觉的可 笑又觉的同情的骑士文学迷 参阅 欧洲文学史 3 Piers the Plowman 农夫皮尔斯 1 The author William Langland Read his life story by yourself P12 He was lived in lower social position all his life and he was a person with strong Christian color These two elements concerning with his life experience influenced his literary creation 2 Story Read P12 to P16 and answer the following questions What kinds of people were considered as parasites Religion was compared to what kind of person What kind of social phenomenon was represented by Lady Meed Lady Meed is asked by King to marry whom Why Conscience refused to marry Lady Meed Who is the hero of the poem What kind of person he is 3 Features Important point which makes the work special The author considers the peasant named Piers to be the nearest to truth and salvation It was in the Middle Ages Nearly all literary works produced at that time was written about those noblemen Form a series of dreams Style alliterative verse Social significance kindling the toiling people s sense of human dignity and equality before God and playing a part in arousing their revolutionary sentiment Limitations conservatism See P16 The Class Nature of Piers Strong Christian color Artistic feature of the production allegory 寓言 personification 拟人 symbolism 象 征主义 用作品中具体的形象来代替某种现象或一个抽象概念 The usage of symbolism became a tradition of English literature You may find lots of similar works in later English literature for example Bunyan s The Pilgrim s Progress 4 The English Ballads 1 Definition of the ballad A ballad is a story told in song usually in 4 line stanzas with the second and four