English Literature in the Renaissance,Social and Historical Background,16th century: the foundation of capitalism, the rise of the bourgeois “Sheep devoured men” (Thomas More) Absolute monarchy 绝对君主制，中央集权君主制 : starting from King Henry VIII; reaching its summit during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (reigned 1558-1603) The Wars of Roses (1455-1485): self-destruction of nobility, the rise of the gentry Defeat of the Spanish Invincible Armada in 1588: the strengthening of hegemony on the high sea,Literature in the Renaissance,Humanist thinking: e.g. Thomas Mores Utopia (1516), Francis Bacons Essays (1625) Sonnets: Thomas Wyatt first introduced the sonnets into English literature; Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, gave the form that characterizes the English sonnets. Lyrical poetry: Philip Sidneys The Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia (阿卡迪亚); Edmund Spensers The Fairy Queen (仙后);,Novels: John Lylys Eupheus (“euphuism”, an affected style of court speech 倚丽体), Drama: Christopher Marlowes The Tragical History of Doctor Fausus; The Jew of Malta (Marlowe made blank verse the principal vehicle of expression in drama 素体诗剧), Robert Greene, William Shakespeare,William Shakespeare (1564-1616),William Shakespeare,the greatest of all English authors a landmark in the history of world culture and literature The first founders of realism, a masterhand at realistic portrayal of human characters and relations,William Shakespeare,154 sonnets, 37 plays, and 2 long narrative poems; Four great tragedies: Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Four great comedies: A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Twelfth Night,Sonnet,十四行诗，商籁体 Sonnet: a fourteen-line poem usually in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme.,Sonnet 18,Shakespearean sonnet is also called the English sonnet, with three four-line stanzas (quatrains) and a two-line unit called a couplet (对子). The rhyme scheme is as follows: First stanza (quatrain): ABAB; Second stanza (quatrain): CDCD; Third stanza (quatrain): EFEF; Couplet: GG.,Iambic Pentameter,iambus: a metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable (-) followed by a stressed syllable (), e.g.: begin (- ). A pentameter means a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet. A foot is (usually) two or three syllables that contain one strong stress.,Rhyme Scheme of Sonnet 18,Quatrain 1 A Shall I compare thee to a summers DAY? B Thou art more lovely and more temperATE: A Rough winds do shake the darling buds of MAY, B And summers lease hath all too short a DATE: Quatrain 2 C Sometime too hot the eye of heaven SHINES,. D And often is his gold complexion DIMMD;. C And every fair from fair sometime deCLINES, D By chance or natures changing course unTRIMMD;. Quatrain 3 E But thy eternal summer shall not FADE, F Nor lose possession of that fair thou OWEST;. E Nor shall Death brag thou wanderst in his SHADE, F When in eternal lines to time thou GROWEST:. Couplet G So long as men can breathe or eyes can SEE, G So long lives this and this gives life to THEE.,Quatrain 1,Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summers lease hath all too short a date: 我怎么能够把你来比作夏天？ 你不独比它可爱也比它温婉： 狂风把五月宠爱的嫩蕊作践， 夏天出赁的期限又未免太短：,Extravagant praise compares a summer day as less lovely and constant as the beloved.,If I compared you to a summer day, / Id have to say you are more beautiful and serene: / By comparison, summer is rough on budding life, / And doesnt last long either:,Quatrain 2,The sun is sometimes too hot in summer or occasionally shaded. Every beautiful thing becomes less beautiful through chance or time. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed, And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or natures changing course untrimmed: 天上的眼睛有时照得太酷烈， 它那炳耀的金颜又常遭掩蔽： 被机缘或无常的天道所摧折， 没有芳艳不终于雕残或销毁。,At times the summer sun is too hot, / And at other times clouds dim its brilliance; / Everything fair in nature becomes less fair from time to time, / By chance, or because of the rough hand of nature,Quatrain 3,Transition in the sestet to counter that the beloveds beauty will not fade or die because of the poem. But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst, Nor shall death brag thou wanderst in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growst, 但是你的长夏永远不会雕落， 也不会损失你这皎洁的红芳， 或死神夸口你在他影里漂泊， 当你在不朽的诗里与时同长。,However, you yourself will not fade, / Nor lose ownership of your fairness; / Not even death will claim you, / Because these lines I write will immortalize you:,Sonnet 18,Couplet: The poem will be read as long as man lives and the beloved will live on. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 只要一天有人类，或人有眼睛， 这诗将长存，并且赐给你生命。 Your beauty will last as long as men breathe and see, / As Long as this sonnet lives and gives you life,Literary Devices in Sonnet 18,Rhetori