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Part One: English Literature

An Introduction to Old and Medieval English Literature

Beowulf, a typical example of Old English poetry, is regarded today as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons.

The work that presented, for the first time in English literature, a comprehensive realistic picture of the medieval English society and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life is likely Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.

Chaucer was called the father of English poetry.

Chapter One:    The Renaissance Period

The Renaissance marks a transition from the medieval to the modern world. Generally, it refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries.

The Renaissance, which means rebirth 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.

Humanism is the essence of Renaissance.

Elizabethan drama is the mainstream of the English Renaissance.

一、威廉·莎士比亚

William Shakespeare is one of the most remarkable playwrights and poets the world has ever known.With his 38 plays,154 sonnets and 2 long poems,he has established his giant position in world literature.

Shakespeare's history plays are mainly written under the principle that national unity under a mighty and just sovereign is a necessity.

The successful romantic tragedy is Romeo and Juliet,which eulogizes the faithfulness of love and the spirit of pursuing happiness.The play,though a tragedy,is permeated with optimistic spirit.

The soliloquies in Shakespeare's plays filly reveal the inner conflict of his characters.

Sonnet 18 is one of the most beautiful sonnets written by Shakespeare.The theme of this poem is: A nice summer's day is usually transient,but the beauty in poetry can last forever.Thus Shakespeare has a faith in the permanence of poetry.

Chapter Two:    The Neoclassical Period

Neoclassical period is the one in English literature between the return of the Stuarts to the English throne   in 1660 and the full assertion of Romanticism which came with the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1798.

The eigthteenth-century England is also known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason.

Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is regarded as the best model of satire, not only of the period but also   in the whole English literary history.

一、丹尼尔·笛福

Robinson Crusoe, an adventure story very much in the spirit of the time,is universally considered his masterpiece.

[简答]What are the features of Defoe's writings?

Defoe was a very good story-teller.He had a gift for organizing minute details in such a vivid way that his stories could be both credible and fascinating.His sentences are sometimes short, crisp and plain,and sometimes long and rambling,which leave on the reader an impression of casual narration.His language is smooth,easy,colloquial and mostly vernacular.There is nothing artificial in his language:it is common English at its best.

二、亨利·菲尔丁

Fielding has been regarded by some as "Father of the English Novel",for his contribution to the establishment of the form of the modern novel.

Of all the 18th century novelists Fielding was the first to set out,both in theory and practice,to write specifically a"comic epic in prose",the first to give the modern novel its structure and style.

Tom Jones,the full tile being The History of Tom Jones,a Foundling,is generally considered Fielding's masterpiece.

Briefly discuss the features of Fielding's writing、

Fielding's language is easy, unlaboured and familiar,but extremely vivid and vigorous.His sentences are always distinguished by logic and rhythm,and his structure carefully planned towards an inevitable ending.His works are   also noted for lively,dramatic dialogues and other theatrical devices such as suspense,coincidence and unexpectedness.

Chapter Three:    The Romantic Period

一、威廉·布莱克

The Songs of Innocence is a lovely volume of poems,presenting a happy and innocent world,though not without its evils and sufferings.

His Songs of Experience paints a different world,a world of misery,poverty,disease,war and repression with a melancholy tone.

In his poem “The Tyger”, William Blake expresses his perception of the “fearful symmetry” of the big cat.

The phrase “fearful symmetry” suggests the harmony of the two opposite aspects of God's creation.

Childhood is central to Blake's concern in the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience,and this concern gives the two books a strong social and historical reference.

Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell marks his entry into maturity.

二、威廉·华兹华斯

The poets Robert Southey,Wordsworth,Coleridge became known as the “Lake Poets”

William Wordsworth,a romantic poet,advocated the expression of the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.

三、珀·比·雪莱

In “The Cloud”, Shelley created a Platonic symbol of the spirit of man,a force of beauty and regeneration.In "To a Skylark",the exultant song which suggests to the poet both celestial rapture and human limitation.

“If winter comes,can Spring be far behind?” is an epigrammatic line by Shelley.

4.Shelley's greatest achievement is his four-act poetic drama,Prometheus Unbound.It's based on the Greek mythology.

四、简·奥斯汀

Austen's main literary concern is about human beings in their personal relationship.

The sentence “three or four families in a country village are the very thing to work on” can best reflect the writer's personal knowledge and range of writing.This writer is Jane Austen.

Pride and Prejudice mainly tells of the love story between a rich,proud young man Darcy and the beautiful and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet.

Chapter Four:    The Victorian Period

1.Chronologically the Victorian period roughly coincides with the reign of Queen Victoria who ruled over England from 1836 to1901.

一、查尔斯·狄更斯

Dickens' best-depicted characters are those innocent,virtuous,persecuted, helpless child characters such as Oliver Twist,Little Nell,David Copperfield and Little Dorrit; And he is also famous for the depiction of those horrible and grotesque characters like Fagin,Bill Sikes,and Quilp,and those broadly humorous or comical ones like Mr.Micawber,Sam Weller,and Mrs.Gamp.

Dickens' works are characterized by a mingling of humor and pathos.

二、夏洛特·布朗蒂

Charlotte's works are famous for the depiction of the life of the middle-class working women.

The success of the novel Jane Eyre is due to its introduction of the first governess heroine to the English novel.

三、托马斯·哈代

1.Hardy's novels are all Victorian in date.Most of them are set in Wessex,the fictional primitive and crude rural region which is really the home place he both loves and hates.