完整版英国文学名词解释

1、Part One Beowulf： The n atio nal heroic epic of the En glish peopi e. It has over 3,000 lin es. It describes the battles betwee n the two mon sters and Beowulf, who won the battle fin ally and dead for the fatal wound. The poem ends with the fun eral of the hero. The most strik ing feature in its p

2、oetical form is the use if alliteration. Other features of it are the use of metaphors（暗喻）and of un derstateme nts含蓄）.Alliteration: in alliterative verse, certain accented（重音）words in a line begin with the same consonant soun d（辅音）.There are gen erally 4acce nts in a line, 3 of which show alliterati

3、 on, as can be see n from the above quotatio n. Roma nee: The most p revail ing（流行的）ki nd of literature in feudal En gla nd was the Roma nee. It was a long compo siti on, sometimes in verse（诗篇）,sometimes in p rose （散文）, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, usually a knight, as riding

4、forth to seek adve ntures, tak ing part in tour name nt（ 竞赛）,or fighti ng for his lord in battle and the sweari ng of oaths. Epic： An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events sig ni fica ntly to a culture or n ati on. The

5、 first epics are known as p rimacy, or origi nal epics.Ballad： The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad which is a story told in song, usually in 4-1 ine stanzas诗节）,with the second and fourth lines rhymed. The subjects of ballads are various in kind, as the struggle of

6、young lovers aga inst their feudal-m in ded families, the con flict betwee n love and wealth, the cruelty of jealousy, the criticism of the civil war, and the matters and class struggle. The paramount（卓越的）important ballad is Robin Hood （绿林 好汉）. Geoffrey Chaucer 杰弗里？乔叟:He was an En glish author, po e

7、t, p hilos op her and dipIo mat. He is the foun der of En glish po etry. He obta ined a good kno wledge of Lati n, French and Italia n.His best remembered n arrative is the Can terbury Tales（坎特伯雷故事集），which thePrologue（序言）supplies a miniature（缩影）of the English society of Chaucer time. That is why Cha

8、ucer has been called the founder of English realism ”. Chaucer affirms men and women right to pursue their happiness on earth and opposes反对）the dogma of asceticism（禁欲主义） p reached（鼓吹） by the church. As a forerunner of huma ni sm, he p raises man energy, in tellect, quick wit and love of life. Chauce

9、r contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact that he introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the rhymed couplet of 5 acce nts in iambic（抑扬格）meter（the “ heroicco up let） to En glish po etry, in stead of the old An glo-Sax on alliterative verse.！ William Lang

10、land 威廉？朗兰：Piers the Plowman农夫皮尔斯】Part TwoThe En glish Bible: The first compi ete En glish Bible was tran slated by John Wycliffe（约翰？威克里夫）.The Authorized Version is King James Bible made in 1611. The result is a monument of En glish Ian guage and En glish literature.Renaissanee: Renaissanee or the b

11、irth of letters is an intellectual movement. Its two features are a thirsti ng curiosity for the classical literature and the kee n in terest i n the activities of huma nity. Huma nism is the key-note of the Ren aissa nee.William Caxton 威廉？卡克斯顿:He is the first English printer and invented inEngland

12、thepro fessi on of p ublisher.Thomas More 托马斯？莫尔：The greatest of the English humanists was Thomas More, the author of Utopia乌托邦 .He is also one of such giants”巨匠）of the Renaissanee. He disti nguished himself as a lear ned scholar, a master of Lati n, a witty talker, a lover of music, an honest state

13、sman , and a man of noble character, modest but steadfast（坚定的）,to his convictions. He was a far-sighted thi nker, aspired for a totally new society with happy, classless, and free from po verty and expl oitatio n. He was one of the forerunners of moder n socialist thought.Utop ia： It is More master

14、pi ece, writte n in the form of a con servati on betwee n More and Hythloday, a returned voyager. It is divided into two books. The first book contains a long discussi on on the social con diti ons of En gla nd. In the sec ond book is described in detail an ideal communist society, Utopia. The name

15、Utopia comes from Greek words meaningno place andwas ado pted by More as the n ame of his ideal com mon wealth.Philip Sidney 菲利普？锡德尼：He is well-known as a poet and critic of poetry. His collection of love sonnets, Astrophel and Stella爱星者与星，was published in 1591.Edmund Spenser埃德蒙？斯宾塞（莎翁之前最杰出的英国诗人）：Th

16、e poet poet of thep eriod was ES who was buried beside Chaucer in Westm in ster Abbey. ES has held his po siti on as a model of po etical art among the Ren aissa nee En glish po ets, and his in flue nee can be traced in the works of Milt on, Shelley, and Keats. ES is the first master to make that Ia

17、n guage the n atural music of his poetic effusions（感情的流露）.His sonnets in Amoretti, together with Sidney Astrophel and Stella and ShakespearWs sonnets ,are the most famous sonnet sequences of the Elizabeth Age.In 1579 he wrote The Shepherds Calendar牧人日记 which marked the budding（萌芽）of the Renaissanee

18、flower in the northern island of England. The faerie Queen 仙后 is his greatest work which was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth.】Fran cis Bacon: He is the foun der of En glish materialist p hilos ophy and the foun der of moder n scie nee in En gla nd. His New In strume nt is called the In ductive Method o

19、f reas oning. He is also the first English essayist. To give a few, Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.Studies serve for delight. Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing anexact man.”Drama: The Miracle Play 圣迹剧 The Morality Play 道德剧 寓意剧 The Interlude 幕间节目Christ o

20、p her Marlowe 克里斯托弗马洛:The most gifted of the Un iversity wits ” was Christ op her Marlowe. His best work in clude 3 of his plays, Tamburlai ne帖木儿大帝（1587）, The Jew of Malta马耳岛的犹太人（1592）, and Doctor Faustus浮士德博士（1588）. He was the greatest of the pioneers of English drama. His work paved the way for th

21、e plays of the greatest English dramatist Shakespeare whose achievements were the monument of the English Renaissance. 【 His plays show the spirit of the rising bourgeoisie, its eager curiosity for knowledge, its towering pride, its insatiable（ 不知足的 ） appetite for power won by military, might, knowl

22、edge, or gold. The theme of his plays is the praise of individuality freed from the restraints of medieval dogmas and law, and the conviction of the boundless possibility of human efforts in conquering the universe. The heroes in his plays are merely individualists, their individualistic ambition of

23、ten brings ruin to the world and sometimes to themselves. 】William Shakespeare: Shakespeare is one of the founders of realism in world literature. His dramatic creation often used the method of adaptation. Shakespeare long experience with the stage and his intimate knowledge of dramatic art thus acq

24、uired make him a master hand for playwriting. Shakespeare was skilled in many poetic forms: the song, the sonnet, the couplet, and the dramatic blank verse. He was especially at home with the blank verse. Shakespeare was a great master of the English language. Shakespeare has been universally acknow

25、ledged to be the summit of the English Renaissance, and one of the greatest writers over the world. The great comedies: A Midsummer Might s Dream, The Merchant of Venice , As You Like It, Twelfth Night . The great tragedies: Hamlet , Othello , King Lear , Macbeth.The Mercha nt of Ven ice:威尼斯富商安东尼奥An

26、ton io为了成全好友巴萨尼奥Bassa nio的婚事，向犹太人高利贷者夏洛克 Shylock 借债。由于安东尼奥贷款给人从不要利息，并帮夏洛克的 女儿私奔，怀恨在心的夏洛克乘机报复，佯装也不要利息，但若逾期不还要从安东尼奥身上割下 一磅肉。不巧传来安东尼奥的商船失事的消息，资金周转不灵，贷款无力偿还。夏洛克去法庭控 告，根据法律条文要安东尼奥履行诺言。为救安东尼奥的性命，巴萨尼奥的未婚妻鲍西娅Portia假扮律师出庭，她答允夏洛克的要求，但要求所割的一磅肉必须正好是一磅肉，不能多也不能少，更不准流血。夏洛克因无法执行而败诉，害人不成反而失去了财产。剧本的主题是歌颂仁爱、友谊和爱情，同时也反

27、映了资本主义早期商业资产阶级与高利贷者之间的矛盾，表现了作者对资产阶级社会中 金钱、法律和宗教等问题的人文主义思想Ben Jonson 本？琼森：Of the many contemporaries and successors of Shakespeare, the most well-known was Ben Jonson. He wad a prolific（ 多产的 ） dramatist, writing dozens of plays, including tragedies, comedies, and ,masques（假面剧）.Jonson comedies are com

28、edies of humours.”Every Man in His Humour 人各有癖 is one of his best comedies.Part ThreeJohn Milton: His nickname was The lady of the Christ when he was in college. Milton was political in both his life and his art. He wrote the greatest epic Paradise Lost失乐园 in English literature. Milt on is a master

29、of the bla nk verse. He first use bla nk verse in non-dramatic works.Milt on is a great stylist and famous for his gra nd style. He has always bee n admired for his sublimity（高尚）of thought and majesty of expression.P aradise Lost: It is Milt on master pi ece. It ado ng ep ic in 12 books, writte n in

30、 bla nk verse. The stories were take n from the Old Testame nt: the creati on, the rebelli on in Heave n of Sata n and his fellow-angles; their defeat and expuIsion（马驱逐）from Heaven; the creation of the earth and of Adam and Eve; the falle n an gles in hell pl ott ing aga inst God; Sata ntemp tatio n

31、 of Eve; and thepoem. He is firmer than the rest of the angles and the spirit:It is a po etical drama modeled on the Greek tragedies. It deals Books of the Judges” n the Old Testame nt.departure of Adam and Eve from Eden.【The finest thing in Paradise Lost is the description of hell, and Satan is the

32、 real hero of the questioning the authority of God.】 Sams on Ago nistes力士参孙 with the story of Sams on from theJohn Bunyan: John Bunyan, the son of a poor tinker, was born in the little village of Elstow. He had a sen sitive imagi nati on. When he was about 17, Bunyan en listed in the p arliame nt ar

33、my, and served duri ng the decisive battle of Naseby in 1645. After the Restorati on, he was flung into Bedford prison in 1660, for refus ing to obey the law p rohibit ing religious meet in gs. With the characteristic dilige nee Bunyan set to work in prison making shoelaces, and so earned a livi ng

34、for his family .In the prison, he wrote the book The Pilgrim P rogress”（天路历程） which was p ublished in 1687. Bunyan cherished a dee p hatred of both the king and his gover nment.The Pilgrim sProgress: It is a religious allegory（讽喻）.It tells of the spiritual pilgrimage（ 朝 圣）of the Christian, who flies

35、 from the City of Destruction（ 毁灭之城）,【meets with the perils and temp tatio ns（诱惑）of the Slough of Des pond, Va nity Fair, and Doubti ng Castle（ 疑虑之城）,faces and overcomes the dem on App oily on, and fin ally comes to the Delectable Mountains and the Celestial City.】 Bunyan intends to satirize the sta

36、te trials in the reactionary（ 反动派的）reigns of Charles II and James II.Meta physical p oets （玄学派诗人）:About the begi nning of the 17 th cen tury app eared a school of po ets called meta physicals ” by Samuel Joh nson, the 18th century writer. The works of the Meta physical po ets are characterized, gen

37、erally sp eak ing, by mysticism in content and fan tasticality in form. Joh n Donne is the foun der of the Meta physical school of p oetry.Joh n Donne（约翰？多恩）：He is the fou nder of the Meta physical school of p oetry, lived and wrote duri ng the succeedi ng reigns of Elizabeth I, James and Charles I.

38、 His po ems can be divided into two categories: the youthful love lyrics（ 抒情诗）and sacred（宗教的）verse（诗篇）.John Dryden （约翰？德莱顿）:The most distinguished literacy figure of the Restoration Period was John Dryden, poet, playwright and critic. During this period of revolution and coun ter-revoluti on, Dryde

39、n turned with the tide. He was a p rolific writer. His p lays show the usual immorality of the age and have all bee n deservedly forgotte n by po sterity with the only exce pti on of all for love一切为了爱【，a tragedy dealing with the same story as Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra 】.Dryden established th

40、e heroic couplet and he was the forerunner of the English classical school of literature in the next cen tury.Part FourClassicism: En glish literature of the Restorati on p eriod was modeled on the literature of France where classicism was the n p revail ing. The classicists up held reas on, law and

41、 order in literature. Accord ing to classicism, drama, po etry and p rose should all be con trolled by some fixed rules. The classicists modeled themselves on Greek and Lati n authors. Rimed couplet obeys the three un ities （三一律）of time, p lace and action, regularity in con struct ion. Poetry follow

42、 ing the ancient divisions, should be lyric, epic, didactic（ 教诲的）,satiric, or dramatic.The En glish en lighte ners: The enl ighte ners fought agai nst class in equality, stag natio n, p rejudices and other survivals of feudalism. They atte mp ted to place all bran ches of scie nee at the service of

43、mankind by connecting them with the actual needs and requirements of people. The rep rese ntatives of the En lighte nment in En glish literature were Jose ph Addis on and Richard Steele, the essayists, and Alexander Pope, the poet.【These writers criticized different aspects of contemporary England,

44、discussed social problems, and even touched upon morality and private life. The literature of the En lighte nment in En gla nd mainly app ealed to the middle class readers.】Richard Steele（斯梯尔）and Jose ph Addis on （艾迪生）:They are lin ked together by the ties of a life-l ong frien dsh ip and the partn

45、ersh ip in literary career. Their writi ngs afford a new code of social morality for the rising bourgeoisie. They give a true pi cture of the social life of En gla nd in the 18th-ce ntury. In the hands of Addis on and Steele, the En glish essay had compi etely established itself as a literary genre（

46、流派）.Addis on chief con tributi on to literature lies in his essays writte n for The Tatler and The Sp ectator.The Sp ectator: it was a daily paper, p ublish ing one essay every day. Its general purpose is to en live n morality with wit, and to temper（ 缓禾 R ） wit with morality. It p reached moderatio

47、 n, reas on, self-control, civility（ 礼貌）,refinement（高尚）and good taste.Alexander Pope （亚历山大 ？蒲枸：He is the most important English poet in the first half of the 18th century. When he was only 22, his poem Essay on Criticism论批评was published. He is a great master of verse in En gla nd and in Euro pe. Pop

48、e is the most imp orta nt rep rese ntative of the En glish classical po etry, though he lacked the lyrical gift.【Essay on criticism : It tells the poet and critics to write and appreciate poetry according to the principles set up by the old Greek and Roman writers.】【Essay on man论人：it is a philosophi

49、cal poem in heroic coupiets. It consists of 4 letters addressed to Lord Boli ngbroke, a p hilos op her of the time. The idea is summed up in a well-k nown line: One truth is clear, whatever is, is right.】Jon atha n Swift: Swift is one of the greatest masters of En glish prose. His Ian guage is sim p

50、ie, clear and vigorous. He said, Proper words in proper pl aces, makes the true defi niti on of a style. ” Swift is a master satirist, and his irony is deadly which as shown in his Modest Proposal 温和的 建议and his greatest work is Gulliver Travels.Gulliver Travels: It is Swift greatest work. The first

51、part of it appeared in October 1762 and by November the book was in everybody hand. In the first part Gulliver describes his ship wreck in Lilli put(小人国).In the sec ond p art, the voyage to Brobdi ngn ag(大人国)is described. The third part is a satire on p hilos op hers and p rojectors. In the last p a

52、rt, Gulliver s satire is of the bitterest. Gulliver Travels gives an unparalleled( 无与伦比的 )satirical depiction of the vices of his age.【Pamphlets on Ireland: two of the most famous ones are The Drapier Letters德拉皮尔的 信and A Modest Proposal. The Irish series reached its climax in A Modest Proposal (1729

53、), in which Swift suggested, with bitter irony, that the po verty of the Irish people should be relieved by the sale of their childre nat a year old ”，as food for the rich.I grant this food will be somewhatdear, and herefore very proper for Iandlords.”Daniel Defoe: Defoe is chiefly remembered as the

54、 author of Robinson Crusoe, his masterpiece. His other interesting books are Captain Singleton (1720)辛格尔顿船长，Moll Flanders (1722) 摩尔弗兰德斯 and Colonel Jacque (1722)大疫年记事.Robinson Crusoe: The story takes p lace in the middle of the 17 th cen tury, i n the family of an old En glish gen tlema n, Mr. Cruso

55、e. The old man desig ns his son, Robinson, for the law, but the young man has set his mind on becoming a sailor. The character of Robinson Crusoe is representative of the English bourgeoisie at the earlier stages of its development. He is most p ractical and exact.Samuel Richards on: He wrote a long

56、 tale, P amela帕米拉【Richards on had enl arge the knowledge of human nature. ” His main achievement as a novelist lies in his technique to show characters as personalities, thinking and feeling for themselves with the author himself absent from the stage, refusing to intervene in the action.】Henry Fiel

57、di ng: His first novel Jose ph An drews约瑟夫？安德鲁传was p ublished in 1742.【His Jonathan Wild大伟人乔纳森.菲尔德传appeared in 1743. Amelia (1751)阿米莉亚was his last novel.】In the brief space of 9 years, Fielding wrote 26 plays. His plays include regular comedies, adaptations from the French, farces(闹剧),burlesques (滑稽

58、戏)，and dramatic satires. As a satirist, he had the zeal(热心)of a social reformer. Fielding greatest work is the history of Tom Jones汤姆 琼斯.He is the founder of the English realistic novel. Some features of Fielding novels: 1) Fielding method of relating a story: The story may be told directly by the a

59、uthor. 2) Satire in Fielding novels: Satire abounds everywhere in Fielding works. There are 2 kinds of satire. One is the humorous satire which is meant to be in structive and corrective. On the other hand, there is a kind of grim satire, which is used to lash the card inal evils of the corr upt ruli ng classes.