专八英美文学知识点

1、Old & Medieval English LiteratureOld En glish: 450-1066 the n ati onal epic of the An glo-Sa onsMedieval English :1066 - middle 14th centuryGeoffrey Chaucer - the father of English poetry （wisdom, humor, humanity） first time to use heroic coupiet英雄双韵体started in ItalyThe Renaissance Period : 14th -mi

2、d 17th1.2.3.A series of historical even ts: rediscovery of an cie nt Roma n & Greek culture new discoveries in geography & astrology（ 占星学） the religious reformati on & econo mic expansionThe Renaissance- rebirth or revivalHumanism - the esse nee of the Ren aissa nee, the dig nity of huma n being & t

3、he importance of the p rese nt lifeBest rep rese ntatives: Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe, William ShakespeareThe Elizabetha n drama: the real mai nstream of En glish Ren aissa neeMost famous dramatists: Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben JonsonEdmund Spenser| - the poets poet5 quality:

4、 1） a p erfect melody 2）a rare sense of beauty 3）a splen did imagi nati on4）a lofty（高尚的）moral purity and seriousness5）a dedicated idealism lament（哀悼）over the loss of Rosalind主角： Arthur - who possess 12 virtuesGloriana -the Fairy Quee nThe theme is not “ Arms and the man, ” but someth ing more Figian

5、ntiwarres and- faithfull loves ”READING : excerpt from The Faerie Queene 仙后Content: Redcrosse Kni ght set out on his adve ntures.克里斯托弗马洛Christopher Marlowe | - University Wits ” the pioneer of English dramaHyperbole（夸张）Marlowe?s achievement: 1） blank verse 无韵诗歌It is Marlowe who brought vitality（ 活力）

6、and grandeur（伟大）into the blank verse with his mighty lines , ” which carry stronemotions.2） his creati on of the Ren aissa nee hero for En glish drama.（ not strong in dramatic con struct ion.）T the pioneer of English drama3 tragedies: the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness 帖木耳大帝a play

7、aboutan ambitious and p itiless over po weri ng king.马尔他的犹太人non-drama pastoral（田园的）life , the most beautiful lyrics（抒情诗）READING: 1. excerpt from Dr. Faustus 浮士德博士的悲剧A p lay based on the Germa n lege ndContent: Faustus is a scholar who has a strong desire to acquire kno wledge. By conjuration（念咒文召唤）h

8、e call up Mephistophilis , the Devil?s servant. He make a bond（契约） to sell his soul to the Devil in return for 24 years of life in which Mep hist op hilis to give him everyth ing he desires. Devil?s n ame is Lucifer.Dominant moral is huma n rather tha n religious2. The Passionate（热情的）She pherd to Hi

9、s Lovethis short poem is considered to be one of the most beautiful lyrics（ 抒情诗）in English literature.The shepherd（牧羊人）enjoy an ideal country life, cherishing（ 珍爱）a pastoral（田园的）and pure affect ion for his love. Strong emoti on is con veyed through the beauty of n ature. 剧作家William Shakespearl -play

10、wright & poet （above all writers in the past and in the present time）1. , vRichard 川 2. vRichard n , vHenry IV , vHenry V , vKing John Comedies: A Midsummer Night s Dream, , As You Like ItTragedy: roma ntic tragedy. To p raise the faithfu In ess of love and the sp irit of pursuing happin ess.3. Four

11、 tragedies - vHamlet, vOthello, vKing Lear & vMacbeth4. tragicomedies : vThe TempestAchieveme nt:A. exploring the characters?s inner mind.soliloquy（独白）or monologue - fully reveal the inner conflict of the characterscontrasts -bring vividness to the charactersB. adroit （精巧的）plot con struct ionC. Iron

12、y is a good means of dramatic p rese ntatio n. Disguise is an imp orta nt device to create dramatic irony.D. the Ian guage.READING :1. Sonnet 18（14 line） eternal or immortal （不朽的） beauty, have a faith in the permanence of poetry. A nice summer?s day is usually transient（短暂的）,but the beauty in poetry

13、 can last for ever.2. excer pt from The Merchant of Venice to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portiaa heroine of great beauty, wit and loyalty, to expose the in satiable （不知足的）greed and brutality of the Jew.Double pl ot:（1） Bassa nio ask Anton io for a loa n so that h

14、e might marriage with P ortia（2） Anton io borrow money from Shylock, the Jewish usurer. Shylock make a stra nge bond that requires Antonio to surre nder a pound of his flesh if he fail to repay him with in a certa in p eriod of time. Portia disguised as a young lawyer in structed to judge the case:

15、Shylock can take18his pound of flesh, but there is no men ti on of blood in the bond. Otherwise, his lands and goods will be confiscated（充公）according to he law of Venice.3. Excerpt from Hamlet hesitate between fact and fiction, language and action, too sophisticated （复杂 的）to degrade his n ature to t

16、he conven tio nal role of a stage reven gercontent: Hamlet, the prin ce, app eari ng in a mood of world-weari ness （厌世）occasi oned byhis father?s death and his mother?s hasty remarriage with Claudius, his father?s brother. Hamlet is in formed that Claudius has murdered his fa ther and the n take n o

17、ver both his father?s throne and widow. Thus Hamlet is urged to seek reven ge.Note: To be, or not to be - to live on in this world or to die; to suffer or to take acti onFrancis Bacon| -philos op her, scie ntist, essayist, lay the foun datio n for modern scienceHis Essaysis the first exa mple of tha

18、t genre in En glish literature.Bacon?s essays are famous for theirbrevity, compactn ess & po werfu In ess, well-arra nging and en rich ing by Biblical allusi ons （典故），meta phors （隐喻）and cade nee （韵律）vThe Advancement of Learningman?s understanding consists of three parts:history to man?s memory, poet

19、ry to man?s imagi nati on and creati on, and p hilos ophy to man?s reas on.vNovum Organum written in Latin on methodology 方法论Bacon suggests the inductive reasoning 归纟纳法 （i.e. proceeding from the particular to the gen eral）in place of Aristotelian method, the deductive reasoning 演绎法 （i.e. proceeding

20、from the gen eral to the p articular）READING: Of Studies uses and ben efits of study -studies serve for delight, for orn ame nt, and for ability. Studies p erfect n ature, and are p erfected by exp erie nee. Different ways ado pted by different people to pursue studies - studies and experienee are c

21、ompiementary （互补）to each other. The correct attitude to read ing books - to weigh and con sider. How studies exert in flue nee over huma n character - readi ng maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writ ing an exact man.John DonneMetaphysical poetry （玄学诗）-break away from love poetry, the di

22、ction（ 用语）issimple, the imagery is from the actual, the form is frequently an argument with the poet?s beloved, with God, or with himself.A）conceits B）syllogism （三段论）Poetry 早期: holds that the nature of love is the union of soul and body.晚期：vHoly Sonnets religious poemProse: his serm ons, which are b

23、oth rich and imagi nativeREADING:1. The Sun Rising 2. Death, Be Not P roud （ a sonnet,14 lines） the busy sun is always ready to in terfere with other things and everywhere whatever you are, you can not escape from death. When you are living, you are always in the shadow of death. Death only lasts a

24、mome nt, our life after death is eter nal. The more pl easure the death gives people, not only the pl easure of the rest & the slee p, because whom the gods love die youn g. Though death is usually con sidered po werful, it actually p rovides a rest for a mans body and a birth for his soul.John Milt

25、on |Achievement: 1）the early poetic works2） the middle prose（散文）3）the last great poemsElegy（挽歌）-利西达斯（his early work）Epic（史诗）- Dramatic poem（诗剧）-力士参孙 the most perfect example of the verse drama after the Greek style in En glish.READING: excerpt from Paradise Lost the only gen erally ack no wledged ep

26、ic in En glish literature since Beowulf.The conflict is between human love and spiritual duty. The freedom of the will is the keystone of Milton?s creed（纲领）.Take from the O ld Testament, the theme is the“ Fall of Man ” ： Satan rebel against God andare driven from Heaven. He determined to revenge by

27、seduce（弓丨诱）Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of Kno wledge aga inst God?s in struct ions. So, Adam and Eve are exiled by God from the p aradise.新古典主义时期The Neoclassical Period : 1660-1798 with the publication of Lyrical ballads by Wordsworth andColeridge- a revival of interest in the old cl

28、assical works, order, logic, restrained emotion（ 抑制情感）& accuracy启蒙时代the Age of Enlightenment/Reason -the movement was a furtheranee of the Renaissanee of the 15th and 16th cen tries,a p rogressive in tellectual moveme nt, reason （rati on ality）, equality & science （the 18th century）modern English no

29、vel -newly rising literary form 现实主义小说诞生（ the mid-century ）Gothic novel（哥特式小说 ）-mystery, horror & castles （from middle part to the end ofcen tury）John BunyanI REAING: The Vanity Fair 名禾U场 an excerpt form The Pilgrim s Prog（天路历程）, a religious allegory（寓言）,its purpose is to urge people to abide by Chr

30、istian doctrines and seek salvation（拯救）through constant struggles with their own weaknesses and all kinds of social evils. Its predominant metaphor -ife as a journeyAlexander Pope I亚历山大蒲柏（英国诗人）one of the first to introduce rationalism to England, for him the supreme value was order.READING: excerpt

31、from A n Essay on Criticism论批评） a poem written in heroic coupiets（ 对句）,criticize the present poem lack of true taste & call on people to turn to the old Greek and Roma n writers for guida nee, true wit which is best set in a p lain （si mp le & clear） style.Daniel DefOe-the first writer study of the

32、lower-class peop le, his Ian guage is smooth, easy, colloquial and mostly vernacular（ 方言）.READING: excerpt from Robinson crusoe praise the human labor and the Puritan fortitude （清教徒坚韧 ）.T an adve nture story, Robinson, n arrates how he goes to sea, gets ship wrecked and maroon ed（放逐）on a Ion ely isl

33、a nd, struggles to live for 24-years there and fin ally gets relieved and returns to En gla nd.T Robinson grew from a n a?ve and artless youth into a shrewd and harde ned man, temp ered by nu merous trials in his even tful life.Jonathan Swift |In his opinion, human nature is seriously and permanentl

34、y flawed （ 缺点）Achievement: 1）a master satirist. 2） one of the greatest of En glish p rose, he defi ned a good style as Proper words in proper plaEes ”READING: excerpt from Gulliver s TraV格列佛游记） fictional work, four parts-Lilliput, Brobdingnag, FlyingIsla nd & Houvhnhnm（小人国）（大人国）（飞岛）（有人类理性的马）T the bo

35、ok is one of the most effective and devastating criticisms and satires of all aspects in the then English and European life.-Father of English novel, he was the first to write a Comic epic “Henry Fieldingprose” 散文体史诗 ）,the first to give the moder n novel its structure a nd style . He adop ted the. “

36、 third-person narration ”. （约瑟夫安德鲁） （伟大的乔纳森 怀尔德） 汤姆 琼斯的历史，一个弃儿 a master pi ece on the subject of human n ature the unfortunate life of an idealized woman, a maudlin（ 伤感 的）picture of the social life at the time.READING: excerpt from Tom JonesBrings the author the n ame of the Prose Homer ”In a way, T

37、om and Sophia, stands for a wayfaring（旅行的）Everyman, who is expelled from the p aradise and has to go through hard exp erie nee to gain a kno wledge of himself and fin ally to app roach p erfect ness.Samuel Johnsod -the author of the first _English dictionary by an Englishman, the_ last n eoclassicis

38、t en lighte ner. 英语大词典 READING: To the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield the letter is written in a refined and very po lite Ian guage, with a bitter un dert one of defia nee and an ger. The seem in gly p eaceful retrospection, reasoning and questioning express, to the best satiric efect, the

39、 author?s stro ng in dig nati on at the lord?s fame-fish ing.Richard Brinsley Sheridan | - the only important English dramatist of the 18th century and 造谣学校 are regarded as important links betwee n the master pi eces of Shakes peare and those of Bernard Shaw.READING: excerpt from The School for Scan

40、dalA story about two brothers: Joseph Surface and Charles Surface. Charles in love with Maria, Sir P eter Teazle is loved by Lady Sn eerwell. The lady in stigates（ 教唆）Jose ph to pursue Maria For her Money. Joseph secretly seduce（弓丨诱）Lady Teazle , Sir Peter?s young wife. The p lay ends with great dis

41、grace for Jose ph and Charles wins his loves and the in herita nee of his rich un cle.It is a shar p satire on the moral dege neracy（堕落）of the aristocratic-bourgeois society in the 18thE ngla nd.Thomas Gray the leader of the sen time ntal（悲情的）p oetry of the day ,es pecially The Graveyard School ”REA

42、DING: Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard reflects on death, the sorrows of life, and the mysteries of huma n life with a touch of his personal mela ncholy. He symp athized for the poor and the unknown, but mocks the great ones who des pise the poor and bring havoc（破坏）on them.The Romantic Period I

43、 Romantic - emotion over reason, spontaneous （自发）emotion, a change from the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit, poetry should be free from all rules, imagi nati on, n ature, com monp lace The romantic emphasized the special qualities of each individual s mind T

44、he romantic period began with : in 1798 the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridgesend in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott?s death two major no velists of the Roma ntic p eriod are Jane Austen （realistic） and Walter ScQlt（roma ntic）.William Blake | - poet & engraver（雕刻家）Songs of Innocence : a happy and i

45、nnocent world from childrens eye : a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy （忧郁的）tone from men eyes. Childhood, paradoxes, a pairing of opposites marks his entry into maturity.（先知书）prophetic（预言的）book in his later periodHe p rese nts his view in visual images. Symboli

46、sm is also a disti nctive feature of his p oetry.READING: 1. The Chimney Swee per（from Songs of Innocence2. The Chimney Swee per（from Songs of Exp erienc3. The Tyger （from Songs of ExperienceWilliam Wordsworth |威廉华兹华斯（英国诗人）-the leading figure of the English romantic poetry, simple, spontaneous（ 自发的）

47、,Worsh ipper of nature ”-He defi nes the p oet as a ma n sp eak ing to men, and po etry as the spontan eous overflow of po werful feeli ngs, which orig in ates in emoti on recollected in tran quillity.Lake Poets” William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge & Robert Southey（序曲）his masterpiece READING

48、: 1. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud the poet is very cheerful with recalling the beautiful sights. In the poem on the beauty of nature, the reader is presented a vivid picture of lively and lovely daffodils （水仙）and poets philosophical ideas and mystical thoughts.2. Comp osed upon Westminster Bridge, S

49、e ptember 3, 1802 the sonn et describes a vivid picture of a beautiful morning in London, sile nt, bright, glitteri ng（闪烁的） ，smokeless & mildly（柔和的）.It is so touchi ng a sight that the p oet exp ressed his religi on piety（虔诚）for n ature.3. She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways4. The Solitary Reaper tha

50、nks to poets rich imagination, the mass of associations, thiscom monp lace happening becomes a strik ing event, the poet succeeds in making the readers share his emoti on. The poem also shows the po ets p assi on ate love of n ature.Samuel Taylor Coleridge - supernatural, remoteWilliam Wordsworth an

51、d Coleridge: Poet can be divided into two groups - the demonic 恶魔的（supernatural） & the con versati onal -The dem onic group in cludes 3 master pieces: , , 老水手之行克丽斯塔贝尔忽必烈汗Feature: mysticism, dem onism with stro ng imag in ati on, a stra nge territory-Conversational poem: READING: Kubla KhanGeorge Gor

52、don Byrol乔治 戈登 拜伦Byronic hero: is a pro ud, mysterious rebel figure of n oble orig in, aga inst tyrann ical （暴君 的） rules or moral principles. Such a hero appears first in 怀尔 德哈罗德游记 （唐璜）（the master piece of Byron, a long satirical po em, comic ep ic） by make use of Jua n?s adve ntures, to present a p

53、ano ramic （全面）view of differe nt types of society.READING: 1. Song for the Luddites Song for the Ludditeswill die fighti ng, or live free Byron show his support of theLuddites who destroyed the mach ines in their p rotest aga inst unemployment. The po ets great symp athy of the workers in their struggle aga inst the cap italists is clearly show n.2. The Isles of Greece (from Don Juan) The Isles of Greecesong by a Greek sin ger at the weddi ng of Don Jua n and Haidee. Fill high the bowl with Samia n win e? By con trasti ng the fre