2015-2016(1)英国文学复习提纲.doc

2015-2016（1）英美文学（一）课程提纲Unit 2 Early and Medieval Literature 1. Key Facts:-three conquests-the medieval period: 476 A. Dthe 15th century-Anglo-Saxon Period (449-1066): -oral traditions;-“Beowulf”: the national epic-Caedmon: the first known English religious poet-Anglo-Norman Period (1066-15th century):-Popularity of romances;-Chaucer: the father of English poetry;-Ballads developed;-“Beowulf”: longest; an epic; features (Pagan and Christian coloring; kenning; metaphor)-Romance: It is a narrative verse of prose singing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds. Romances are popular in the medieval period; “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”-Geoffrey Chaucer: the father of English literature/poetry; The Canterbury Tales: a double fiction; the Wife of Baths prologue; The Wife of Baths Tale; heroic couplet)-Ballad: A story told in song, usually in four line stanzas, with the 2nd and the 4th lines rhymed; Robin Hood Ballads. 2. Selected Readings:-Geoffrey Chaucers “The Canterbury Tales”:THE PROLOGUEWhen in April the sweet showers fallAnd pierce the drought of March to the root, and allThe veins are bathed in liquor of such powerAs brings about the engendering of the flower,When also Zephyrus with his sweet breathExhales an air in every grove and heathUpon the tender shoots, and the young sunHis half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,And the small fowl are making melodyThat sleep away the night with open eye(So nature pricks them and their heart engages)Then people long to go on pilgrimagesAnd palmers long to seek the stranger strandsOf far-off saints, hallowed in sundry lands,And specially, from every shires endOf England, down to Canterbury they wendTo seek the holy blissful martyr,* quickTo give his help to them when they were sick.It happened in that season that one dayIn Southwark, at The Tabard, as I layReady to go on pilgrimage and startFor Canterbury, most devout at heart,At night there came into that hostelrySome nine and twenty in a companyOf sundry folk happening then to fallIn fellowship, and they were pilgrims allThat towards Canterbury meant to ride.The rooms and stables of the inn were wide;:They made us easy, all was of the best.And, briefly, when the sun had gone to rest,Id spoken to them all upon the tripAnd was soon one with them in fellowship,Pledged to rise early and to take the wayTo Canterbury, as you heard me say.But none the less, while I have time and space,Before my story takes a further pace,It seems a reasonable thing to sayWhat their condition was, the full arrayOf each of them, as it appeared to me,According to profession and degree,And what apparel they were riding in;And at a Knight I therefore will begin.Unit 3-6 The Renaissance1. Key Facts:-Renaissance-a thirsting curiosity for classical literature;-a keen interest in life and human activities.-Humanism-individualism; the joy of the present life; reason; the affirmation of self-worth-Humanism emphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life. Humanists voiced their beliefs that man was the center of the universe and man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of the present life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.-Sonnet: -Definition: It is a poem of 14 lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure; it expresses a single idea or theme. (Thomas Wyatt first introduced it to England)-Shakespearean sonnet: -Definition: A Shakespearean sonnet consists of three four-linestanzas(calledquatrains) and a finalcoupletcomposed iniambic pentameter with the rhymeschemeabab cdcd efef gg.-iambic pentameter:-Blank verse: having a regular meter, but no rhyme. (Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey)-Spenserian stanza: -Definition: Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single Alexandrine line in iambic hexameter. The rhyme scheme of these lines is ababbcbcc. -The first English essayist: Francis Bacon (“Of Studies”)-Elizabethan theatrethe golden age of English drama;-Shakespearean comedies: As You Like It; The Merchant of Venice; A Midsummer Nights Dream; Much Ado About Nothing; Twelfth Night-Shakespearean tragedies: Macbeth; King Lear; Hamlet; Othello2. Selected Readings:Sonnet 18by ShakespeareShall I compare thee to a summers day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summers lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or natures changing course, untrimmed;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst,Nor shall death brag thou wandrest in his shade,When in eternal lines to Time thou growst. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.From Hamletby ShakespeareTo be, or not to be: that is the question:Whether tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;No more; and by a sleep to say we endThe heart-ache and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to, tis a consummationDevoutly to be wishd. To die, to sleep;To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, theres the rub;For in that sleep of death what dreams may comeWhen we have shuffled off this mortal coil,Must give us pause: theres the respectThat makes calamity of so long life;For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,The oppressors wrong, the proud mans contumely,The pangs of despised love, the laws delay,The insolence of office and the spurnsThat patient merit of the unworthy takes,When he himself might his quietus makeWith a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,To grunt and sweat under a weary life,But that the dread of something after death,The undiscoverd country from whose bournNo traveller returns, puzzles the willAnd makes us rather bear those ills we haveThan fly to others that we know not of?Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sicklied oer with the pale cast of thought,And enterprises of great pith and momentWith this regard their currents turn awry,And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisonsBe all my sins rememberd.From Macbethby Shakespeare“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,To the last syllable of recorded time;And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Lifes but a walking shadow; a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. Unit 7 The Period of Revolution and Restoration (the 17th century) 1. Key Facts:-17th: the beginning of modern England;-Cavalier poets: -Reflected the royalist values;-Themes: beauty, love, loyalty, morality;-Style: Direct, short, frankly erotic-Motto: “Carpe Diem” “Seize the Day” -Robert Herrick, Ben Johnson, Richard Lovelace, etc;-Appreciation: “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” (Herrick; “to seize the day”) -Metaphysical school:-the founder of the Metaphysical school: John Donne-conceit: an extended metaphor involving dramatic contrasts or far-fetched comparisons;-John Donnes love poems: “The Flea”; “Valediction: Forbidden Mourning” (Appreciation)-Andrew Marvell: “To His Coy Mistress”-Puritan writers:-John Bunyanh: “The Pilgrims Progress” (a religious allegory)-John Milton: “Paradise Lost” (based on The Old Testament) 2. Selected Readings:From “The Paradise Lost”by John MiltonWhat though the field be lost?All is not lost: the unconquerable will,And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield:And what is else not to be overcome?To bow and sue for graceWith suppliant knee, and deify his powerWe may with more successful hope resolveTo wage by force or guile eternal war,Irreconcilable to our grand Foe,Who now triumphs, an din th excess of joySole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven. Unit 8&9 The 18th Century LiteratureThe Age of Enlightenment 1. Key Facts:-18th century: the golden age of English novels-Enlightenment-an intellectual movement in Europe in the 18th century;-Reason as the guiding principle for thinking and action;-the belief in eternal truth, eternal justice, natural equality ;-a continuation of Renaissance; (Belief in the possibility of human perfection through education).-Neo-classicism: -A revival of classical standards of order, harmony, balance, simplicity and restrainedemotion in literature in the 18th century.-Alexander Pope-“Essay on Criticism” by Alexander Pope-a manifesto of neoclassicism;-Appreciation: “A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing” (learning as mountain climbing; inadequate learning may impair a balanced appreciation of a poem).-Realistic novels: -Jonathan Swift; Gullivers Travels; A Modest Proposal; A Tale of a Tub; The Battle of the Books;-Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe;(Appreciation)-Henry Fielding: Tom Jones; Joseph Andrews; Jonathan Wilde the Great;-Sentimentalism-the middle and later decades of the 18th c.;-definition: passion over reason, personal instincts over social duties; the return of the patriarchal times; lamenting over the destructive effects of industrialization-Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Gray, etc.-The Graveyard School-subjects, style;-Thomas Grays “Elegy written in a country churchyard”: structure; theme; (Appreciation)-Pre-romanticism:-the latter half of the 18th century;-Robert Burns: “Auld Lyne Syne”; “A Red, Red Rose”-William Blake: “Songs of Innocence” “Songs of Experience”; “The Lamb”, “The Tyger”; -Richard Bringsley Sheridan: The School for Scandal; The Rivals;-Oliver Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield; She Stoops to Conquer2. Selected Readings:From “Essay on Criticism”by Alexander PopeA little learning is a dangerous thing;Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,And drinking largely sobers us again.Fired at first sight with what the Muse imparts,In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts,While from the bounded level of our mindShort views we take, nor see the lengths behind:Bur more advancd, behold with strange surpriseNew distant scenes of endliess science rise!So pleasd at first the towring Alps we try,Mount oer the vales, and seem to tread the sky;Theternal snows appear already past,And the first clouds and mountains seem the last:But those attaind, we tremble to surveyThe growing labours of the lengthend way;Thincreasing prospect tires our wandring eyes,Hills peep oer hills, and Alps on Alps arise!From Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DefoeI consulted several things in my situation, which I found would he proper for me: 1st, health and fresh water, I just now mentioned; 2ndly, shelter from the heat of the sun; 3rdly, security from ravenous creatures, whether man or beast; 4thly, a view to the sea, that if God sent any ship in sight, I might not lose any advantage for my deliverance, of which I was not willing to banish all my expectation yet. Before, as I walked about, either on my hunting or for viewing the coutnry, the anguish of my soul at my condition would break out just uopon me suddenly, and my very heart would die within me, to think of the woods, the mountains, the deserts I was in.But now I began to exercise myself with new thoughts. I daily read the Word of God, and applied all the comforts of it to my present state. One morning, being very sad, I opened the Bible upon these words, “I will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Immediately it occurred that these words were for me. Why else should they be directed in such a manner, just at the moment when I was mourning over my condition, as one forsaken of God and man? “My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich in subjects; and it was a merry reflection, which I frequently made, how like a king I looked. First of all, the whole country was my own mere property, Baso that I had an undoubted right of dominion. Secondly, my people were perfectly subjected. I was absolute lord and lawgiver, they all owed their lives to me, and were ready to lay down their lives, if there had been occasion of it, for me.”. Unit 10-12 The Romantic Period (1789-1832) 1. Key Facts:-The Romantic period: an age of poetry-Romanticism:-Manifesto of British Romanticism: Lyrical Ballads: co-published by Wordsworth and Coleridge-Features: individual as the center of all life and experience; from the outer world to the inner world; Passion; imagination ; Nature; pastoral; past ; Individual freedom; simple and spontaneous expression; symbolic presentations; fantastic elements;-English Romantic Poets-Lake Poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey-The Satanic Poets: Byron; Shelley; Keats-Lyrical Ballads: the manifesto of the English Romantic Movement;-William Wordsworth-“a worshipper of nature”;-nature and country poems: “I Wanderered Lonely as a Cloud”; “The World is Too Much with us”; “Tintern Abbey”; “To a Butterfly” “The Solitary Reaper”; “Lucy Poems”;-Wordsworths definition of poetry: “Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”-Wordsworths view of nature: critique of materialism; a source of mental cleanliness; the guardian of the heart; the beneficial influence of nature;-Appreciation: “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”; “Tintern Abbey”; -Samuel Taylor Coleridge:“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”-George Gordon Byron: -Byronic Hero: an idealised but flawedanti-hero created by Byron; love of freedom, hatred of tyranny, passionate, rebellious, chivalrous, arrogant, cynical, individualistic, isolated, single-handedly, melancholy -major poems by Byron: “Childe Harolds Pilgrimage” (Byronic Hero); “Don Juan”; “She Walks in Beauty”; “The Isles of Greece” (Appreciation)-Percy Bysshe Shelley: -Platos influence; pantheism -“Prometheus Unbound”; “Ode to the West Wind” “Prometheus Unbound”; “Ode to a Skylark”; “Queen Mab”; “A Defense of Poetry”; - Appreciation : “Ode to the West Wind”: themes of death and rebirth; destruction and regeneration;-John Keats- “Ode on a Grecian Urn”; “Ode to a Nightingale”; “Ode to Autumn”; “Endymion”; “Isabella” -Appreciation: “Ode on a Greican Urn”: the powers and limitations of art 2. Selected Readings:“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”-by William WordsworthI wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high oer vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee:A poet could not but be gay,In such a jocund company:I gazed-and gazed-but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.“Ode on a Grecian Urn”by John KeatsThou still unravished bride of quietness, Thou foster child of silence and slow time,Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?What men or gods are these? What maidens loath? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared, Pipe to the spirit dities of no tone.Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,Though winning near the goal-yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;And, happy melodist, unweari-ed, Forever piping songs forever new;More happy love! more happy, happy love! Forever warm and still to be enjoyed, Forever panting, and forever young;All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar, O mysterious priest,Leadst thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed?What little town by river or sea shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?And, little town, t