自考英美文学选读笔记串讲-自考英美文学选读小抄笔记

Foreword一、课程特点（一）课程介绍在英语本科课程中，英美文学选读可以说是难度最大的一门课程,是为培养和检验自学者英美文学的基本理论知识和理解欣赏原著能力的一门专业课。该门课程所选用的作品都是英美两国经典作家的经典之作，时间跨度从14世纪到20世纪，涉及新古典主义、浪漫主义、现实主义等等不同阶段的几十位作家，而每位作家的作品的题材、风格、特色各异。因此，我们在学习时既要从语言的角度考虑，又要从文学的视角去理解，难度可想而知。因此同学们要仔细阅读原作。按照考试大纲的要求学习。（二）学习要求：宏观要求：对两国文学形成和发展有一个大概的了解。 微观要求：理解作品内容，分析/评价作品。（三）内容结构： 教材：分三个部分第一部分：对英美文学发展各阶段的总体评价（记忆）第二部分：作家及代表作品的介绍与评论（记忆）第三部分：作品选读（理解）（四）学习方法及注意事项文学发展的各阶段的评述就是教材上每一章的评论性部分，包括该时期社会背景、文学状况、文学流派、重要作家作品的介绍等，这一部分对整章内容来说具有纲领性意义，因此必须认真学习并记住主要内容。1.主要内容包括一些评论性、结论性论点。例：Humanism is the essence of Renaissance (文艺复兴的本质是人文主义)2.要记住某一时期开始和结束的时间及标志 例：英 国文艺复兴：14世纪-17世纪中叶新古典：1660-1798浪漫主义：1798-1832维多利亚：1836-1901现代：19世纪末-20世纪70年代初美 国浪漫主义：十八世纪末-内战（浪漫）维多利亚：1865-1914（现实）现代：20世纪初-中叶（现代）3.要记住每一个时期的主要特征、主要潮流例如：18世纪 诗歌-浪漫主义19世纪 小说-现实主义 4.书中所有作家并非全重要，要记住那些主要作家例如：文艺复兴时期 Shakespeare浪漫主义时期 Shelly二、关于作家作品部分介绍了作家的生平、创作及主要内容，近三年的考题中出现率极高作家生平及作家基本情况可作一般了解。文学生涯中，如文学流派要把握其特点；（浪漫主义、现实主义）；对其文学成就的高度评价，如，马洛：大学才子，菲尔丁：小说之父等。另外，还要注意作家的NO.1作品和代表作。代表作品、重要作品的介绍非常重要，必须熟记在心，这一部分在历年考试中所占比重很大。学习时要记住：作品基本内容及对作品的分析评论；不仅要注意选读的作品，非选读部分也应注意。三、应试（一）命题以大纲为主（二）按识记，领会，应用三个层次学习。 （三）能力层次和难易度能力层次：识记（30%），领会（30%），应用（40%）难易度：易（20%），较易（30%），较难（30%），难（20%）（四）考试题型一般为：1.单选 40分 401分2.阅读：针对原文作回答 16分 44分3.简答： 简明回答 24分 46分4.论述：短篇论文式的论述 20分 210分PART ONE：ENGLISH LITERATUREAn introduction to old and Medieval English literature一、Anglo-Saxons，the NormansThe Anglo-Saxons brought to England the Germanic language and culture.Normans brought a fresh wave of Mediterranean Civilization，Which includes Greek culture，Roman law，and the Christian religion.These two conquests provided the source for the rise and growth of English literature. 二、The Period of Old English literatureTime : 450-1066 the year of the Norman conquest of EnglandOld English poetry that divided into two groups:（1）The religious group（2）The secular group三、About BeowulfRegarded as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. It evokes the Anglo-Saxons sense of the harshness of circumstance and the sadness of the human lot.The hero and the setting of Beowulf have nothing to do with England; the story took place in Scandinavia.The exploits of a Scandinavian hero，Beowulf，in fighting against the monster Grendel，his revengeful mother，and a fire-breathing dragon.The poem presents a vivid picture of how the primitive people wage heroic struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader.The poem is an example of the mingling of nature myths and heroic legends.四、The Norman Conquest and its effectThe Norman Conquest brought England more than a change of rulers；Politically，a feudalist system was established in England; the Rome-backed catholic church had a much stronger control over the country，great changes also took place in language，after the conquest，three languages co-existed in England：French-official language，Latin-church affairs and in universities，old English -common English people.五、The Medieval period in English literature1.In the second half of the 14 century，English literature started to flourish with the appearance of writers like Geoffrey Chaucer William Langland，John Gower and others.2.Popular folk literatures occupy an important place in this period. Its presentation of the life is accurate，lively and colorful. And also strongly reflects the principles of the medieval Christian doctrine.3.Knightly adventures （1）Use narrative verse or prose to sing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds.The hero is usually the knight，who sets out on a journey to accomplish some missions - to protect the church，to attack infidelity，to rescue a maiden，to meet a challenge，or to obey a knightly command.（2） There is often a liberal use of the improbable，sometimes even supernatural，things in romance.（3）Romantic love is an important part of the plot in Romance.（4）The structure is loose and episodic; the language is simple and straight forward.（5）The importance of the romance itself can be seen as a means of showing medieval aristocratic men and women in relation to their idealized view of the world.六、Chaucer:1.Presented us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time.His masterpiece is the Canterbury Tales 2.Chaucer （1）for the first time in English literature presented us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time. His masterpiece is The Canterbury Tales.（2）He characteristically regard life in terms of aristocratic ideals，but he never lost the ability of regarding life as a purely practical matter.（3）He affirmed mans right of pursue earthly happiness and opposed asceticism，he praised mans energy，intellect，quick wit and love of life，he exposed and satirized the social vices，including religious abuses.（4）Chaucer explores the theme of the individuals relation to the society in which he lives; he portrays clashes of characters temperaments and their conflicts over material interests. （5）He introduced from France the rhymed stanzas of various types to English poetry. He first introduced the octosyllabic couplet, rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter (heroic couplet). 如需精美完整排版，请QQ: 手机:137 8381 6366 联系Chaucer is called the father of the English poetry.PART ONE：ENGLISH LITERATUREChapter 1 The Renaissance Period一、About the Renaissance1.The origination of RenaissanceThe renaissance makes a transition from the medieval to the modern word. Generally，it refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries. It fist started in Italy，with the flowering of painting，sculpture and literature.The Renaissance，which means re-birth or revival，is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events，such as the rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture，the new discoveries in geography and astrology，the religious reformation and the economic expansion.The Renaissance，therefore，in essence，is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe，to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie，and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.2.Humanism（1）Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance.（2）It sprang from the endeavor to restore a medieval reverence for the antique authors of Greek and Roman Civilization based on the conception that man is measure of all things.（3）Renaissance humanists found in the classics a justification to exalt human nature and came to see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfection, and that the world they inhabited was theirs not to despise but to question explore and enjoy.（4）By emphasizing the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of this life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.（5）Humanism began to take hold in England when the Dutch Scholar Desiderius Erasmus came to teach the classical learning, first at Oxford and then at Cambridge.（6）Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are the best representatives of the English humanists.3.The Renaissance in EnglandThe Renaissance was slow in reaching England not only because of Englands separation from the Continent but also because of its domestic unrest.（1）Till the region of Henry that the Renaissance came to England. With Henry VIIIs encouragement, the Oxford and Cambridge reformers, scholars and humanists introduced classical literature to England. The bible was revitalized, and the literature, already much read in 15 century, became more popular. （2）The main writer of this period: Shakespeare, Spenser, Jonson, Sidney, Marlowe Bacon and Donne.（3）Characteristic:The English Renaissance had no sharp break with the past. Attitudes and feelings which had been Characteristic of the 14 and 15 centuries persisted well down into the era of Humanism and Reformation.4.The Religious reformation of Protestantism（1）It was Martin Luther, a German Protestant, who initiated the Reformation, he believed that every true Christian was his Own priest and was entitled to interpret the Bible for himself.（2）Reformers from northern Europe vitalized the protestant movement, which was seen as a means to recover the purity of the early Church from the Corruption and superstition of the Middle Ages.（3）Henry 8 cut ties with Rome, Common English people welcomed and supported Henrys decision of breaking away from Rome, and declared himself through the Parliament as the supreme head of the Church of England. One of the major results was the fact that the Bible in English was placed in every church and services were held in English instead of Latin, so that people could understand. 如需精美完整排版，请QQ: 手机:137 8381 6366 联系（4）In the reign of Edward VI, the reform of the churchs doctrine and teaching was carried out.（5）After Mary ascended the throne, there was a violent swing to Catholicism.（6）By the middle of Elizabeths region, Protestantism had been firmly established.（7）Essence of it:The religious reformation was actually a reflection of the class struggle waged by the new rising bourgeoisie against the feudal class and its ideology.二、The literature in the Renaissance1.The background of history and culture.William Caxton，he was the first person who introduced printing into England. Thus，for the first time in history it was possible for a book or and idea to reach the whole nation in a speedy way.With the introduction of printing, an age of translation came into being.With classical culture and the Italian humanistic ideas coming into England, the English Renaissance began flourishing.2.The effect of Italian literature to EnglandThe first period of the English Renaissance was one of imitation and assimilation.Petrarch was regarded as the fountainhead of literature by the English writers. For it was Petrarch and his successors who established the language of love and sharply distinguished the love poetry of the Renaissance from its counterparts in the ancient world.Wyatt and Surrey began engraving the forms and graces of Italian poetry upon the native stock. While the former introduced the Petrarchan sonnet into England, the latter brought in bland verse, i.e. the unrhymed iambic pentameter line. Sidney followed with the sestina and terza rima and with various experiments in classic meters. And Marlowe gave new vigor to the blank verse with his mighty lines. 如需精美完整排版，请QQ: 手机:137 8381 6366 联系3.The poetry in Elizabethan period.The goals of humanistic poetry are: skillful handling of conventions, force of language, and, above all，the development of a rhetorical plan in which meter, rhyme, scheme, imagery and argument should all be combined to frame the emotional theme and throw it into high relief. Poetry was to be a concentrated exercise of the mind, of craftsmanship, and of learning.4.Elizabethan dramThe Elizabethan drama, in its totality, is the real mainstream of the English Renaissance.The most famous dramatists in the Renaissance England are Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and Ben Jonson.Interludes and morality plays thriving in the medieval period continued to be popular down to Shakespeares time. But the development of the drama into a sophisticated art form required another influence - the Greek and Roman classics. Lively, vivid native English material was put into the regular form of the Latin comedies of Plautus and Terence. Tragedies were in the style of Seneca. The fusion of classical form with English content brought about the possibility of a mature and artistic drama.They wrote plays with such universal qualities of greatness. By imitating the romances of Italy and Spain, embracing the mysteries of German legend, and combining the fictions of poetic fancy with the facts of daily life, they made a vivid depiction of the sharp conflicts between feudalism and the rising bourgeoisie in a transitional period.Francis Bacon（1561-1626）,the first important English essayist, is best known for his essays which greatly influenced the development of this literary form. He was also the founder of modern science in England. His writings paved the way for the use of scientific method. Thus, he is undoubtedly one of the representatives of the English Renaissance.三、The main writers根据新大纲，本章节考核的主要作家为：a. William Shakespeareb. John Milton（一）Edmund Spenser(1552-1599)1.生平Born in London. In 1598 a fierce Irish rebellion forced Spenser to abandon Kilcolman Castle. Spenser never recovered from the shock of this frightful experience. He returned to England heartbroken, and in the following year he died in an inn at Westminster. According to Ben Jonson he diedfor want of bread.He was buried beside his master Chaucer in Westminster Abbey.2.作品Spensers masterpiece is The Faerie Queene, a great poem of its age. According to Spensers own explanation, his principal intention is to present through ahistorical poemthe example of a perfect gentleman:to fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline.Main qualities of Spensers poetry 1)a perfect melody2)a rare sense of beauty 3)a splendid imagination4)a lofty moral purity and seriousness5)a dedicated idealism6)strange forms of speech and obsolete wordsHe is known asthe poets poet.3.Selected ReadingAn Excerpt from The Faerie Queene（1）（The following excerpt is taken from Canto I, Book I, in which Redcrosse Knight sets out on his adventures. Here the Knight, symbolizing the Anglican Church, is the protector of the Virgin Una who stands for truth or the true religion.）1A Gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,The cruell markes of many a bloudy fielde;Yet armes till that time did he never wield;His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,As much disdaining to the curbe to yieldFull jolly knight he seemed, and faire did sitt,As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.2But on his brest a bloudie Crosse he bore,The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,And dead as living ever him adored:Upon his shield the like was also scored,For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had:Right faithfull true he was in deede and word,But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.3Upon a great adventure he was bond,That greatest Gloriana to him gave,That greatest Glorious Queene of Faerie Lond,to winne him worship, and her grace to have,Which of all earthly things he most did crave;And ever as he rode, his hart did earne.To prove his puissance in battell brave Upon his foe, and his new force to learne;Upon his foe, a Dragon horrible and stearne.4A lovely Ladie rode him faire beside,Upon a lowly Asse more white then snow,Yet she much whiter,but the same did hideUnder a vele, that wimpled was full low,And over all a blacke stole she did throw,As one that inly mournd:so was she sad,And heavie sat upon her palfrey slow:Seemed in heart some hidden care she had,And by her in a line a milke white lambe she lad.5So pure an innocent, as that same lambe,She was in life and every virtuous lore,And by descent from Royall lynage cameOf ancient Kings and Queenes, that had of yoreTheir scepters stretcht from East to Westerne shore,And all the world in their subjection held;Till that infernall feend with foule uproreForwasted all their land, and them expeld:Whom to avenge, she had this Knight from far compeld. 如需精美完整排版，请QQ: 手机:137 8381 6366 联系6Behind her farre away a Dwarfe did lag,That lassie seemd in being ever last,Or wearied with bearing of her bagOf needments at his backe. Thus as they past,The day with cloudes was suddeine overcast,And angry Jove an hideous storme of raineDid poure into his Lemans lap so fast,That every wight to shrowd it did constrain,And this faire couple eke to shroud themselves were fain.7Enforst to seeke some covert nigh at hand,A shadie grove not far away they spide,That promist ayde the tempest to withstand:Whose loftie trees yclad with sommers pride,Did spred so broas, that heavens light did hide,Not perceable with power of any starre:And all within were pathes and alleies wide,With footing worne, and leading inward farre:Faire harbour that them seemes;so in they entred arre.（二）Christopher Marlowe1.生平He was the son of a shoemaker. Tamburlaine is written before he left Cambridge， he was killed in a quarrel.2.主要作品介绍（1）Tamburlaine （2）Dr. Faustus（3）The Jew of Malta （4）Edward（5）Hero and Leander（6）The passionate to his love（7）Translate Ovid mores3.艺术贡献blank verse and made it the principal medium of English dramahis creation of the renaissance hero for English drama4.作品选读 如需精美完整排版，请QQ: 手机:137 8381 6366 联系TamburlaineDr. Faustus （1）Tamburlaine is about an ambitious and pitiless conqueror in the 14 century who rose from a shepherd to a overpowering king. It displayed a high-aspiring mind that was self-created and carried by love and dream. By depicting a great hero with high ambition and sheer brutal force in conquering one enemy after another Marlowe voiced the supreme desire of the man of the Renaissance for infinite power and authority.（2）Dr. Faustus: based on German legend of magician aspiring for knowledge and finally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the Devil. The dominant moral is human not religious. It celebrates the human passion for knowledge， power and happiness， rev