英美文学期末复习

第一课1. 这段时间的历史背景：（1） ） the early inhabitants on the island we now called england werebritons(a tribe of celts ).（2） ）三次主要的侵略：a. the roman conquest.(in 55 b. c., britain was invaded by the roman general juliuscaesar.in 410,theromansabandonedtheisland,whichmarkstheendof “romanconquest ”(55 b. c. 410 a. d.)b. theenglish(anglo-saxons)conquestaround449. (englandwasinvadedby threegermanic (teutonic)tribes:the angles, the saxons and the jutes, who came from thenortheastof europe.theanglo-saxoninvadersestablishedsomesmallkingdomsin britain which by the 7th century were combined into a united kingdom called england (theland of angles). its people were called the english. the three dialects spoken by themnaturallygrewintoa singlelanguagecalledanglo-saxon, oroldenglish.古英语到norman conquest结束， it is the ancestor of the modern english)c. the norman conquestin 1066(3) the anglo-saxon period witnessed a transition from a tribal society to feudalism.2. 术语：（1） ）epic ：its a long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendaryheroes, majestic in theme and style.（史诗的例子： homer s epics:iliad and odyssey ）（2） ） alliteration ( 头韵 )the repetition of similar sounds, usually consonant or consonant clusters, in a group of精品资料words. sometimes the term is limited to the repetition of initial consonant sounds. (when alliteration occurs at the beginning of words, it is calledinitial alliteration ; when it occurswithinwords,it iscalledinternalorhiddenalliteration . it usuallyoccursonstressedsyllables.)3. 这一时期的文学：（1） ） the literature of this period falls naturally into two divisions-pagan and christian. two major genres:poetry and prose（2） ）the pagan represented bybeowulf and the christian poetry represented by the works of caedmon and cynewulf（ caedmon is the first known religious poet of england. he is known as the father of english song.he wrote a poeticparaphrase of the bible ）（3） ） anglo-saxonliterature,or theold englishliteratureis almostexclusivelya verseliteratureinoral form . it couldbepasseddownby wordof mouthfromgenerationto generation.4. 关于 beowulf的一些信息：（1 ） the song of beowulfis the oldest poem in the english language, and also the oldest surviving epic in the english language. the poem consists of 3182 lines. it isconsideredas the highest achievement of old english literature and the earliest european vernacular (using the native language of a region, especially as distinct from the literary language) epic. it has achievednational epic statusin britain.(2). it tells the story of thescandinavianhero beowulf, , who gains fame as a young man by vanquishing the monstergrendeland grendels mother; later, as an aging king, he killsa dragon but dies soon after, honored and lamented.(3). the whole epic is to be divide into two parts with an interpolation (添写 ;插补 ) between the two. the whole song ispagan in spirit and matter, while the interpolation is obviouslyan addition made by the christian who copied the song.(因此带有一点基督教的特点)（4 ） . the song of beowulf的一些 重要的特点 ：a. the use ofalliterationis one of its most striking features.b. the use of compound-words (kennings隐喻表达法 ) to serve asmetaphors .c. the use ofunderstatements.(5). the song of beowulf的主题或意义：thematically,thepoempresentsavividpictureof howtheprimitivepeoplewage struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader.第二课1. 历史背景：（1） ） normanconquest的定义： thefrench-speakingnormansunderdukewilliam came in 1066. after defeating the english athastings , william was crowned as king ofengland.itwascalledthenormanconquest. （ dukewilliam也被称作williamthe conqueror征服者威廉 ）（2） ） the norman conquest marks theestablishment of feudalismin england.（3） ） norman conquest的影响：the three chief effects of the conquestwere ：(a) the bringing of roman civilization to england;(b) thegrowthof nationality,i.e.a strongcentralizedgovernment,insteadof the looseunion of saxon tribes;(c) the new language and literature, which were proclaimed in chaucer.注：语言方面的变化-great changes took place in languages: after the conquest, three languagesco-existedin england.thenormansspokefrench , thelowerclassspoke english , and the scholars and clergymen usedlatin .（ there almost no written literature inenglishfor a time.romances , theprominentkindof literaturein theanglo-normanperiod, were at first all in french.）（4） ）在这一段历史时期内的重要事件：important historical eventsa. the hundred yearswar (1337-1453)b. the black death (1348-49/50)c. the rising of 13812. 术语 :(1).romance: it is theliterature for the upper class, whichis alongcompositionin the narrativeverseor proseform,describingthelifeandadventuresof a noblehero.it generally concerns knights and involves a large amount of fighting as well as a number of miscellaneous (各种各样的 )adventures.features of a romancea. in the narrative verse or prose form;b. central character: knightc. subjects: knightly adventures; chivalryloyalty; faith; courtesy;courtly love;d. romances had a lot to do with the noble, but nothing with the common folks;(2). legend( 民间传说 ): a song or narrative handed down from the past. legends differ from myths on the basis of the elements of historical truth they contain.3. the prevailing form of literature in the feudal england was the romance.romance ( 罗曼司 ;骑士传奇 ) was a type of literature that was very popular in the middle ages. fromfrance it was introduced into england in the second half of the 13th and 14th centuries.(是从法国引入的 )4. romance的主要分类：in subjectmatters(题材 ), romancenaturallyfallsintothree categories:(a) thematteroffrance : talesaboutcharlemagnethegreatandroland,a french national hero in the 8th century. the most well-known piece ischanson de roland;(b) matter of greece and rome: an endless series of fabulous tales about alexander thegreat, and about the fall of troy;(c) matterof britain : taleshavingfor theirheroesarthurandhis knightsof theround table .5. 有关亚瑟王的一些信息：king arthur is one of the great mythic figures of english literature, a legendary king and champion of the britons against the anglo-saxon invaders.6. 在关于亚瑟王的romance中， itsculmination(巅峰 ) isin “sirgawainandthegreenknight ”对“sir gawain and the green knight”的一些评价：1). thestoryof sir gawainand the greenknightis theculminationof thearthurian romances.2). itsthemeis a seriesoftestson faith,courage,purityandhumanweaknessfor self-preservation.3). by placing self-protection before honor, gawain has sinned and fallen and become animage of adam. human excellence (美德 ) is marked by original sin, and the girdle itself remains a perpetual reminder of his weakness.第三课乔叟一乔叟的一些荣誉以及生平：1.fatherof theenglishpoetry2.“thefatherof englishliterature ” 3.forerunnerof humanism,4. one of the greatest english poets (chaucer, shakespeare, milton)5. the first english poet to useheroic coupletdexterously in his writing 6.he maintained contacts ranged from the highest to the lowest.7.he died on oct. 25, 1340. he was buried inwestminster abbey, and his tomb becamethe nucleus of what is now known aspoets corner.二乔叟的文学创作阶段：translation-adaptation-writing（先翻译别人的，再改写别人的，最后再写自己的）(1) early worksthefirstperiodincludeshisearlywork(to1370),whichisbasedlargelyonfrench models ,the romaunt of the rose玫瑰传奇a translation, popular in middle agesthe book of the duchess悼公爵夫人the best work of the time (2)italian periodchaucerssecond period(upto c.1387) is called his italianperiodbecauseduringthistime his works weremodeled primarily on dante and boccaccio(薄伽丘 ).troilus and criseyde特罗伊洛斯和克瑞西德a poem of a love story(3) the canterbury talesto chaucersfinalperiod,inwhichheachievedhisfullestartisticpower,belongshis masterpiece,the canterbury tales(written mostly after 1387).关于 the canterbury tales的一些信息：the canterburytales -hismasterpieceand a representativeworksof themiddle ages.written sometime in the 1380s,the canterbury tales- the first selection of short storiesin english- - isabouta groupof pilgrimswhoagreeto tell storieswhiletheytravel together to canterbury, the seat of the english church (still catholic) and the site of theshrine dedicated to thomas a beckett, who was martyred for his faith. originally, he proposed 124 stories; he actually wrote 24.the canterbury talesis the imitation of boccaccios decamero