,Selected readings In English And American Litercatures Tracy_0823,Part one Old and Medieval English Literature,1. Old English Poetry and “Beowulf”(贝尔武夫) “Beowulf ” the national epic of the Anglo-Saxon and English people Alliteration( 头韵） 2.Middle English Literature and the Canterbury Tales The Romance( describing the life and adventures of a noble hero) Geoffrey Chaucer the “father of English poetry”, “The Canterbury Tales” is Chaucers masterpiece (stories narrated by Pilgrims) he introduced rhymed couplet to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse. (Couplet: A stanza of two lines, usually rhyming. ),King Arthur Arthur and His Round Table Knights,Sir Gawain and the Green Knights,Utopia (socialism) The definition of Utopia is no place.,Thomas More (1478-1535),Edmund Spenser(1552-1599),The shepheardes Calwnder The Faerie Queene,Christopher Marlowe(1564-1593),1.University wits, the greatest pioneer of English drama 2. a)Tamburlaine b) Doctor Faustus c)the jew of malta 3.Verse consisting of unrhymed lines, usually of iambic pentameter. 无韵诗，素体诗,Francis Bacon培根 (1561-1626),II.Bacons works “Advancement of Learning”学术的推进: “New Instrument” :新工具 the inductive method of reasoning 3. “New Atlantics” : an ideal society 新大西岛 4. “Essays” / 58 essays论说文集 A wide variety of subjects: love, truth, friendship, beauty, studies, riches His style: clearness, brevity, force of expression his essays is an important landmark in the development of English prose,William Shakespeare,the greatest English poet and dramatist 154 sonnets, 37 plays, including 14 comedies, 12 tragedies, and 11 historical plays, 2 long poems. But for such a great writer, we have very little definite knowledge about his life.,Shakespeares Tragedies,(1) Hamlet (2) Othello (3) King Lear (4) Macbeth, to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia a heroine of great beauty, wit and loyalty, to expose the insatiable greed and brutality (Shylock) hesitate between fact and fiction, language and action To be, or not to be - to live on in this world or to die; to suffer or to take action Soliloquy or monologue - fully reveal the inner conflict of the characters,poetry,1. Narrative poetry the epic the romance popular ballads 2.Lyric poetry the elegy: a lyric poem lamenting the death of an individual. the ode: a lyric poem of considerable length to sing in honor a person or a thing. It is serious in subject and formal in style. 3.Dramatic poetry : dialogue in the drama,Sonnet,A 14-line verse form usually having one of several conventional rhyme schemes. Rhyme: abab cdcd efef gg 3 quatrains(3 four-line stanza )+ 1 couplet(2 lines),The period of the English Bourgeois Revolution, Historical background : two revolutions: puritan revolution and glorious revolution the transition from the absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy 1. two literary schools of poets the school of Metaphysical the school of Cavaliers. 2. the most important poet:John Milton,Metaphysical Poetry（玄学派诗歌) It is the poetry of John Donne and other seventeenth-century poets who wrote in a similar style. dislike traditional poem Scholar, Highly abstract or theoretical;,John Milton约翰弥尔顿,(1) the last great poems Paradise Lost失乐园 Paradise Regained复乐园 Samson Agonistes. The two most essential things: Puritanism and his republicanism. the only generally acknowledged epic in English literature since Beowulf. the main idea of the poem is a revolt against Gods authority Satan is the real hero of the poem. Satan led a rebellion against God with his unconquerable will.,John Bunyan (1628-1688)班扬,Puritan author His best known work, The Pilgrims Progress天路历程 a religious allegory,18世纪英国文学Cultural Background,1. Enlightenment Movement 启蒙运动 A progressive intellectual movement Enlighteners considered “Enlightenment” or “education” of the people to be their chief objective. They believed in the power of reason (the age of reason ) two groups: the moderate (Pope, Defoe, Addison)（温和派） support the principles of the existing social order) the radical (Swift, Fielding, Sheridan)（激进派） crisis Sentimentalism（感伤主义）,18世纪英国文学,Complex: An age of prose( Addisons essay Swifts satire Fieldings novel) 1. Neo-classicism新古典 A revival interest in old classic works, order,logic (PopeAddisonSteel: model themselves after Greek and Latin authors) 2.Sentimentalism (Gray Goldsmith Richardson Sterne: discontent with the social reality “Heart”) 3.The beginning of modern novel Major novelists :Defoe SwiftFielding Richardson, 4.Pre-romanticism in English poetry 5.English Drama ( Sheridan: the school for Scandal),Neo-classicism新古典,A revival interest in old classic works, order,logic (model themselves after Greek and Latin authors) 1.Alexander Pope蒲伯:Heroic couplet英雄双韵体 2.Joseph Addison艾迪生 and Sir Richard Steele斯梯尔 :The Spectator旁观者 3.Samuel Johnson : Dictionary,Alexander Pope蒲柏,Neo-classicism新古典 Heroic couplet英雄双韵体 Lines of iambic pentameter rhyme in pairs Pope carried this to its