The English people are a complicated race.
The first inhabitants of the island were commonly known as the Celts (or Kelts). 55 BC saw the invasion of the island headed by Julius Caesar.
During the invasion these aborigines（ 土著人）Celts withdrew to the Welsh and Scottish mountains and left a great part of England to the Romans. Not until the 5th century did the Romans withdrew. England had been made
a Roman Province since 80 AD.
As the Roman legions withdrew, the Celts came back.
Originally the name Anglo-Saxon denotes two of the three Germanic（日尔曼）
tribes --- Angles, Saxons and Jutes -- who in the middle of the 5th century left their homes on the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic（波罗的海） to conquer and colonize distant Britain.
They lived in the northern top of Germany and the southern part of Denmark at that time.
The historical date that is worth memorizing is 449 AD.
These three invading tribes came to settle down: Angles in the north of
Thames, Jutes mainly in the southwest called Kent（英国东南部郡）, and Saxons in the other places.
English literature originated in the Angles and Saxons who formed a literary tradition of their own.
Important historical events:
1. Heptarchy（七王国）:
The informal confederation（联邦）of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the fifth
to the ninth century, consisting of Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northumbria,
1
East Anglia, and Mercia. 2. the Vikings invasion:
Vikings, collective designation of Nordic（北欧人）people— Danes, Swedes,
Norwegians—who explored abroad during a period of dynamic Scandinavian expansion from about AD 800 to 1100.
Land shortage, improved iron production, and the need for new markets
probably all played a part in Viking expansion. 3. King Alfred the Great:
In 871, Ethelred of Wessex is defeated by Danish forces January 4 at Reading,
gains a brilliant victory 4 days later at Ashdown, is defeated January 22 at Basing, triumphs again March 2 at Marton in Wiltshire, but dies in April. His brother, 22, pays tribute（贡物）to the Danes but will reign until 9 and
be called Alfred the Great. 4. Canute (994?-1035):
King of England(1016-1035), Denmark (1018-1035), and Norway (1028-1035)
whose reign, at first brutal, was later marked by wisdom and temperance. He is the subject of many legends.
5. The Norman Conquest in 1066
The year 1066 was a turning point in English history. William I, the Conqueror,
and his sons gave England vigorous new leadership. Norman feudalism (封建制度) became the basis for redistributing the land among the conquerors, giving England a new French aristocracy and a new social and political structure. England turned away from Scandinavia toward France, an orientation (倾向性) that was to last for 400 years. 6. St. Augustine:
Italian-born missionary and prelate (高级教士) who introduced Christianity
to southern Britain 597 and was ordained as the first archbishop (大主教) of Canterbury 598. Died c 604.
II. Anglo-Saxon Poetry
1. Beowulf --- the national epic
2
Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic poem, the most important work of Old English
literature.
The poem consists of 3183 lines, each line with four accents marked by alliteration and divided into two parts by a caesura (节律的停顿).
The structure of the typical Beowulf line comes through in modern translation,
for example: Then came from the moor under misted cliffs Grendel marching God's anger he bore . . .
The somber (昏暗的,忧郁的) story is told in vigorous, picturesque (独特的)
language, with heavy use of metaphor; a famous example is the term “whale-road” for sea.
The poem tells of a hero, a Scandinavian prince named Beowulf, who rids the
Danes of the monster Grendel, half man and half fiend (魔鬼) and Grendel's mother, who comes that evening to avenge Grendel's death.
Fifty years later Beowulf, now king of his native land, fights a dragon who has
devastated his people. Both Beowulf and the dragon are mortally wounded in the fight.
The poem ends with Beowulf's funeral as his mourners chant his epitaph. Beowulf is a long verse narrative on the theme of “arms and man” and as
such belongs to the tradition of a national epic in European literature that can be traced back to Homer’s Iliad (荷马史市诗,描写特洛伊战争)and Virgil’s (古罗马诗人) Aeneid (埃涅伊德叙事诗).
The earliest poets, whose names have long since been forgotten performed
as storytellers and minstrels before gatherings of listeners.
Often a lyre (七弦琴) or some other simple stringed instrument was used to accompany the poet's tale or song. 2. Secular (非宗教的) Poems
(1) Narrative Poems (2) Lyrical Poems (3) Riddles 3. Religious poems:
3
(1) Caedmon (7th century): Died c. 680. The earliest English poet.
According to Bede, Caedmon was an elderly herdsman who received the
power of song in a vision.
Caedmon was an illiterate herdsmen who had a vision one night and heard a
voice commanding him to sing of “the beginning of created things.” Later Caedmon supposedly wrote the poem about the creation known as
Caedmon's Hymn, which Bede recorded in prose. Cynewulf
(2) Cynewulf (8th century)
Cynewulf (flourished AD 750), Anglo-Saxon poet, possibly a Northumbrian
minstrel.
In his poetry, he is revealed as a man of learning familiar with the religious
literature of his day.
Cynewulf’s (基涅武甫,古诗诗稿公元十世纪被发现) poems are religious
works in Old English entitled Ascension (耶稣), The Fates of the Apostles (使徒的命运), Juliana, and Elene; the latter two are legends about saints.
III. Anglo-Saxon Prose 1. Anglo-Latin Prose
The Venerable Bede (673? – 735): English Benedictine (天主教本笃会修士
或修女) monk and scholar, Father of English history, chiefly known for his Ecclesiastical (教会) History of the English People, a history of England from the Roman occupation to 731, the year it was completed. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (55 BC -- 731):
This work is the only source of information about the most momentous (重大的) period in English history -- the period of change from barbarism to civilization.
2. Anglo-Saxon Prose (Old English Prose) (1) King Alfred (849 -- 901)
a. Numerous translations from Latin
b. The development of a natural style in English
4
c. The launching of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (1 AD -- 1154 AD) (2) Aelfric (c. 965 -- 1020)
Anglo-Saxon abbot (修道士) who is considered the greatest Old English prose writer.
His works include Catholic Homilies, Lives of the Saints, and a Latin grammar. Aelfric brought English prose to high cultivation before the Norman Conquest -- a clear, flexible and popular English prose. Unit Two The Late Middle Ages I. The Anglo-Norman Period II. The Age of Chaucer III. Geoffrey Chaucer
The Middle Ages: In European history, the Middle Ages was the period between the end of the West Roman Empire in 476 AD and the beginning of Renaissance about 1500 AD, especially the later part of this period. I. The Anglo-Norman Period (1066-1350)
History:
(1) the Norman Conquest of 1066
feudalism -- a strong centralized government
(2) the Magna Carta (the great charter) of 1215: charter granted by King
John of England to the English barons (男爵,英国最低贵族爵位) in 1215, and considered the basis of English constitutional liberties.
This is a document of concession made by King John to the feudal lords The charter covered a wide field of law and feudal rights, but the two most
important matters were :
A. no tax should be made without the approval of the council,
B. no freeman should be arrested or imprisoned except by the law of the
land.
(3) the Hundred Years’ War
Hundred Years' War, series of armed conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453
5
between England and France.
The origin of the dispute lay in the fact that successive kings of England
controlled large areas of France and thus posed a threat to the French monarchy.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the kings of France attempted to
re-impose their authority over those territories. (4) the Black Death of 1348 -- 49
outbreak of the plague, so called from the symptoms of internal
haemorrhage （内出血） which blackens the skin of the sufferer The Black Death struck England in 1349, reducing the population by as
much as a third.
A labour shortage resulted, and when attempts to freeze wages were made,
unrest developed among serfs and workers, leading to the demise (瓦解) of serfdom in the next century. (5) the Statute of Pleading (辩令)
Passed in 1362, according to which it was required that court proceedings
be conducted in English 2. Literature
(1) Anglo-Latin literature
Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 -- c. 1155): English historian and ecclesiastic(牧师).
He was the author of Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), a work purporting to delineate (描绘) the lives of British kings from Brutus the Trojan, the mythical progenitor(祖先)of the British people, to Caedwalla, king of North Wales (reigned about 625-34).
Roger Bacon (1214?-1294), English Scholastic philosopher and scientist, one of the most influential teachers of the 13th century.
In the late 1260s Bacon wrote his Opus Majus, an encyclopedia of all science. He has been called Father of experimental science.
6
(2) Anglo-Norman literature
romance (Chanson de Roland)--- fabliau (讽刺性寓言诗) (3) Folk literature in Middle Ages A few themes: Social satires
The popular lyric, with nature and love as the theme (4) Religious work:
The Pearl : a didactic poem
The Pearl is an allegorical (寓言的) poem of 101 stanzas of 12 lines each, with both alliteration and rhyme, and relates the vision of one who has lost a pearl of a daughter.
(5) Romances in Middle English Three themes: the matter of France; the matter of Britain; the matter of Rome.
The most outstanding single romance on the Arthurian legend was the anonymous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...... Two motifs (主题):
(the tests of faith, courage and purity; the human weakness of self-preservation自卫本能).
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
The semi-legendary King Arthur is probably the most well-known king in all of English literature. Tales of Arthur and his knights span several centuries and many different languages. The so-called Round Table, the meeting place of Arthur and the knights, was round so that no one member seemed favored over the others.
In Arthurian legend, the Round Table at Camelot served as a gathering place for King Arthur’s knights.
The table’s shape ensured that all who sat around it were equals.
7
This replica of the Round Table can be seen at Winchester Castle in England. King Arthur’s Round Table Artistic merits:
(1) careful interweaving of episodes; (2) the elements of suspense and surprise; (3) psychological analysis; (4) elaborate descriptions;
(5) simple, straightforward language II. The Age of Chaucer (1350 -- 1400) 1. History:
(1) the Peasants’ Uprising in 1381: led by Wat Tyler, Jack Straw and John Ball “When Adam delve and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?” Wat Tyler, died in 1381
English revolutionary who led the Peasants' Revolt against Richard II's poll tax in June 1381.
The uprising ended when he was killed.
(2) The Lollards: church reformers, John Wycliff and his followers
Lollards, members of a religious sect in 14th- and 15th-century England. They were led by the English theologian (神学者) and religious reformer John Wycliffe and followed the doctrines he preached. Lollards held the Bible to be the only authentic rule of faith; exhorted the clergy to return to the simple life of the early church; and opposed war, the doctrine of transubstantiation（圣餐的变体）, confession, and the use of images in worship. (3) the decline of feudalism in England 2. Three important writers: (1) John Wycliff (1324 -- 84) Church reformer;
Father of English Prose: earliest translation of the entire Bible
8
(2) John Gower (1330 -- 1408)
three chief works in three different languages
(3) William Langland (1332?-1400?), English poet, who was supposedly the author of the religious allegory The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman (written 1360?-1400?), better known as Piers Plowman.
Piers the Plowman holds up a mirror to Langland’s England, showing on the one hand the corruption prevalent among the ruling classes, both secular and clerical, and on the other hand the uprightness and worthiness of the labouring folk and the miseries of the poor and needy. In the form of allegory and vision, it is a “gospel of the poor”. III. Geoffrey Chaucer
Father of English Literature, and Father of English Poetry. A great master of the English language 1. Three periods:
(1) The first period (1360 -- 1372): French influence The Book of Duchess （公爵夫人之书） (2) The second period (1372 -- 1385): Italian influence The House of Fame （声誉之堂）;
Troylus and Criseyde （特罗勒斯与克丽西斯）; The Legend of Good Women （善良女子徇情记） (3) The third period (1386 -- 1400): English period or mature period The Canterbury Tales （坎特伯雷故事集)
The Canterbury Tales, generally considered to be Chaucer’s masterpiece, was written chiefly in the years 1386-1400.
It begins with a general prologue that explains the occasion for the narration of the tales and gives a description of the pilgrims who narrate the tales. 120 tales are intended, but only 24 are completed. The Canterbury Tales Significance
a comprehensive picture of the social reality of the poet’s day
9
a framed story
anthology of medieval literature humour, satire, irony
Chaucer, a master of the English language Unit Three The Transitional Period (The 15th Century
I. Popular Ballads II. Early English Drama III. Chaucerian Poets IV. Le Morte d’Arthur Historical Background
1. The 15th century was a period of transition for Britain from the medieval to the Renaissance world.
2. The War of the Roses (1455 -- 85): The rival houses of Lancaster and York, which were both descended from Edward III, started a fight for power. The flag for Lancaster showed a red rose, and the flag for York showed a white rose, so the struggle between them became known as the War of the Roses. 3. Printing press was introduced into England by William Caxton in 1476. William Caxton (1422?-1491), first English printer, born probably in Tenterden, Kent. His translation and print of The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1474?) was the first book printed in English.
The more notable books from his press include The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde by English poet Geoffrey Chaucer and Confessio Amantis by English poet John Gower.
Fewer than 40 of Caxton's publications still exist.
Caxton printed nearly 100 publications, about 20 of which he also translated from French and Dutch.
4. The literature of the 15th century was also in a transitional stage between the Age of Chaucer and the Renaissance. Themes:
(1) Border ballads: popular ballads narrating incidents on the
10
English-Scottish border.
(2) Robin Hood ballads
(3) Arthurian legend and Biblical material (4) Domestic life: e.g. Get Up and Bar the Door (5) Love
(6) Political treachery: e.g. Sir Patrick Spens (7) Intelligence of the common labouring people
Ballad Metres are four-line stanzas with the alteration of 4 and 3 feet verse to the odd and even numbered lines, and rhyming usually on the 2nd and 4th lines.
“The king sits in Dumferling toune Drinking the blude-reid wine O whar will I get guid sailor, To sail this schip of mine?” from Sir Patrick Spens Robin Hood ballads
Robin Hood ballads are popular ballads dealing with the famous outlaw Robin Hood and his men and their activities.
Robin Hood, hero of a group of English ballads of the late 14th or early 15th century.
Robin Hood was portrayed as an outlaw who lived and poached in royal forests such as Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire.
Robin Hood robbed and killed those who represented government or church power, and he defended the needy and oppressed.
His comrades included Little John, Will Scarlet, and Friar Tuck. Get Up and Bar the Door It fell about the Martinmas time And a gay time it was then,
When our goodwife got puddings to make, And she’s boild them in the pan.
11
The wind sae cauld blew south and north, And blew into the floor;
Quoth our goodman to our good wife, ‘Gae out and bar te door.’ II. Early English Drama
1. Folk drama: sword dance, morris dance, murmurs’ plays 2. Religious drama:
(1) The mystery play: drama based directly on stories from the Bible. The best-known mystery play in England is the so-called Second Shepherds’ Play -- the second of the plays on the shepherds, in the Towneley Cycle. Its theme is to greet the newborn Christ. The Birth of Jesus
(2) The miracle play: drama dealing with the legends of the Christian saints. (3) The morality play: drama presenting allegorically some objects, lesson, or warning by means of abstract characters or generalized types of man’s spiritual good.
The best known of the morality play is Everyman, produced in the last quarter of the 15th century, dealing with what is supposed to happen to Everyone at the close of his life.
III. Chaucerian Poets
1. English Chaucerian:
John Lydgate (1370 -- 1450): English poet, born in Suffolk and educated at the monastery （修道院）of Bury Saint Edmunds, where he was ordained a priest in 1397.
Lydgate may have been a friend and disciple (信徒,弟子) of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, and the two were equally popular in their time. Some of Lydgate's work shows Chaucer's influence.
Although Lydgate was a prolific and influential poet of his day, much of his work is now considered verbose (冗长的) and overly moralistic.
12
His major poems include Troy Book (1412-1420), The Siege (围攻) of Thebes (1420-1422), and Fall of Princes (1430-1438). 2. Scottish Chaucerians: (1) James I of Scotland (2) Robert Henryson (3) William Dunbar (4) Gavin Douglass IV. Le Morte d’Arthur
It is a kind of final summing-up of the Arthurian legend built up from the 12th century to the 15th century (21 books). The Passing of Arthur
According to legend, King Arthur was seriously wounded in battle by his illegitimate son, Mordred.
Arthur’s half sister Morgan le Fay and a group of women then took him away to the island of Avalon to heal.
Le Morte d’Arthur may well be called the swan-song (最后的作品) of feudal knighthood and chivalry which were much idealized in the heyday (全盛时期) of feudalism.
It is written in a lucid and simple style.
Both the Arthurian legendary material and the simple style had their wide and lasting influence upon the English literature of later centuries.
Unit Four The Early Tudor Age and the Elizabethan Age
I. Renaissance II. The Early Tudor Age III. The Elizabethan Age I. Renaissance
Renaissance is a political and cultural epoch.
The word “Renaissance”, meaning “rebirth”, is commonly applied to the movement or period which marks the transition from the medieval to the modern world in Western Europe.
13
It is also called the revival of learning. 1. Characteristics: (1) centralization of power (2) church reformation
(3) geographical discoveries (4) bankruptcy of peasantry
(5) emergence of bourgeoisie and proletariat (6) growth of a new culture The characteristics of the Renaissance
1. Politically the feudal nobility lost their power and with the establishment of the great monarchies there was the centralization of power necessary for the development of the bourgeoisie.
2. The Catholic Church was either substituted by Protestantism（新教） as a result of the so-called Reformation (as in Germany and England) or weakened in its dictatorship（） over men’s minds (as in Italy and France and Spain). 3. Geographical discoveries opened up colonial expansion and trade routes to distant parts of the world and brought back gold and silver and other wealth and also broadened men’s mental horizons.
4. In the countryside the peasants were terribly exploited and they either rose in uprisings or ran away and flocked to the cities and added to the proletariat there. 5. In the cities the merchants and the master artisans（工匠） grew in wealth and in power and became the bourgeoisie while handicraft turned gradually into manufacture and the modern proletariat sprang up among the employed workers in the factories.
6. Culturally, as the interest in God and in the life after death was transformed into the exaltation of man and an absorption in earthly life and as materialistic philosophy and scientific thought gradually replaced the church dogmas and religious mysticism of the Middle Ages, a totally new culture rose out of the revival of the old culture of ancient Greece and Rome and out of the emergence of a new philosophy and science and art and literature through the exploration of
14
the infinite capabilities of man. 2. Three stages of development: (1) Early Tudor Age (1500 -- 1557) (2) Elizabethan Age (1558 -- 1603) (3) Jacobean Age (1603 -- 1625) 3. Two trends: (1) Court literature (2) Bourgeois literature II. The Early Tudor Age (1500-1557)
1. The Oxford Reformers:
William Grocyn (1446 -- 1519), Thomas Linacre (1460 -- 1524) and John Colet (1467 -- 1519) ---- all three of them were students at Oxford University, travelled and studied in Italy and introduced the study of ancient Greek as well as the new science and philosophy of the time in opposition to the rigid church dogmas of medieval scholasticism (经院哲学).
The Oxford Reformers helped to lay the foundations of the rise of a new literature in England in the later decades of the century. 2. Thomas More (1478 -- 1535)
Sir Thomas More was known for his intelligence and devotion to the Catholic church.
That devotion put him at odds with his one-time friend, King Henry VIII, who had More beheaded for refusing to sanction (同意), as lord chancellor, Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragu.
Thomas More has chiefly been remembered for his Utopia (written in 1515). This book contains (1) a realistic picture of early 16th-century England: social evils are exposed and attacked; (2) the first sketch of the ideal commonwealth by an English writer. It affords (提供) a valuable document of Utopian socialism. Utopia
Thomas More’s Utopia
15
This woodcut, taken from the first edition of Sir Thomas More’s famous work Utopia, depicts the island that symbolized More's concept of an ideal community. More, who was a statesman as well as a writer, used the fictional Utopia to satirize conditions in England. Limitations of the book Utopia:
(1) His dream world did not have its sound political, economic and social bases;
(2) His indifferent attitude toward slavery and his actual contempt for physical labour;
(1) John Skelton (1460 -- 1529) (3) Contradictions in his world outlook. Limitations of Utopia
1. Writing at the dawn of capitalism, More could not but build his dream of a communist society on the social foundations of handicrafts manufacture, and this limitation of his age when there were yet no big industries nor a ripened proletariat, necessarily made his conception of an oppressionless, exploitationless society a rather vague, dreamy world which did not have its sound political, economic and social base.
2. More’s limitations as a member of the ruling and exploiting class himself manifest (证明) themselves in his indifferent attitude toward salves and mercenary soldiers and in his actual contempt for physical labour—in spite of his insistence on the need of most utopians to participate in physical labour.
3. When we compare More’s views in Utopia with his life as a courtier (朝臣) and especially as a fervent (狂热的) Catholic who chose rather to die than to give up his belief in the absolute authority of the Pope in Rome, we find curious but unmistakable contradictions in his world outlook. 3. Court poets:
a great satirist with a most effective verse metre, repeated attacks on the vices of the court and clergy (2) Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 -- 42)
He introduced into English poetry the sonnet form from the Italian. (The
16
sonnet: a lyric poem of 14 lines.)
Thomas Wyatt also introduced into English poetry other stanzaic form: terza rima (3-line stanzas rhyming aba bcb cdc ded ee; later employed by Shelley in Ode to the West Wind) and strambotti (also called ottava rima; octaves rhyming abababcc; later employed by Byron in Don Juan). Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517 -- 47), English soldier and poet. Although not primarily a man of letters, Howard greatly enriched English literature by his introduction of new verse forms.
His love poems, like those of his contemporary Sir Thomas Wyatt, show the influence of Italian models.
Howard introduced into English poetry the English form of sonnet (abab cdcd efef gg). 4. Religious drama:
A Pleasant Satire of the Three Estates, a morality by David Lyndsay.
An Interlude is a play brief enough to be presented in the interval of a dramatic performance.
The chief representative playwright was John Heywood (1497?-1580?), known for his didactic and comic interludes, such as The Four P's (c. 1520), and numerous epigrams (警句) and proverbs.
III. The Elizabethan Age
Elizabeth I (1533-1603), queen of England and Ireland (1558-1603), daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
England prospered under her, developing into a great maritime power. Elizabeth was the last of the Tudor rulers of England.
The economy was stabilized, and foreign trade was encouraged.
Elizabeth never married, but she was besieged (包围) by royal suitors, each of whom she favored when it was in her political interest to do so. 1. Court poetry
(1) Sir Philip Sydney (1554 -- 1586) :
Sydney earned his place of importance in English literature of his time as the
17
earliest writer of a sonnet sequence (Astrophel and Stella), a prose pastoral romance (Arcadia) and a critical essay (The Defence of Poesie).
(2) Edmund Spenser (1552 -- 1590), English poet, who is most famous for his long allegorical romance, The Faerie Queene. Spenser was born in London. In 1579 he met English poet Sir Philip Sidney, to whom he dedicated his first major poem, The Shepheardes Calendar (1579). This work demonstrates the great poetic flexibility of the English language. Spenser’s Works:
The Shepherd’s Calendar: a pastoral poem consisting of 12 eclogues（牧歌）. Amoretti (爱情小唱) is a sonnet sequence of 88 love poems, written to celebrate his love and marriage to his wife Elizabeth Boyle. The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene has been regarded as Spenser’s masterpiece. It is one of the great poems in the English language.
The poem is a literary epic, and according to the original plan was to consist 12 books but only six books and two cantos of the 7th were completed. The Faerie Queene is written in Spenserian stanza: a 9-line stanzaic form with the rhyme scheme of abab bcbcc and with the first 8 lines in iambic pentameter and the last or the 9th line an alexandrine(iambic hexameter). (Byron used this form in his Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage; Keats used this form in his Eve of St. Agnes; and Shelley used this form in his Revolt of Islam and Adonais).
Spenser's lush and expansive imagination and vigorous approach to structure made him a powerful influence on John Milton and the romantic poets, including John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. 2. Euphuistic style (绮丽体) in prose:
The term euphuism takes its name from John Lyly’s two-part work: Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit and Euphues and His England. Eupheues is marked by
(1) the use of balanced sentence construction and other artificial elaborations
18
in language, including antithesis (对偶) and alliteration;
(2) the employment of images and similes taken from ancient mythology and history, and also the use of quotations from and references to classical authors.
绮丽体,也叫尤弗伊斯体euphuism，指一种矫揉造作，过分文雅的文体，由文艺复兴时期,英国大学才子派剧作家约翰·利利创立，因他的小说《尤弗伊斯》而得名。---“Euphues,or the anatomy of wit”
John Lyly (1554?-1606), English playwright and novelist who wrote a number of comedies that influenced English drama. 3. Predecessors of Shakespeare (1) Classical influence
The classical influence upon English drama developed in three stages a. the acting of classical dramas in the original
b. the translation and acting of these drams in translation c. the writing and production of plays in English (2) The University Wits (大学才子):
The immediate predecessors of Shakespeare were a group of men from Oxford and Cambridge, known as the University Wits, including John Lyly, George Peele, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, Thomas Kyd, and Christopher Marlowe.
(3) Christopher Marlowe (15-1593), considered the greatest English dramatist before William Shakespeare, greatly advanced tragedy as an English dramatic form.
He was also the first English playwright to compose in blank verse (无韵体). Marlowe is famous for four dramas, now known as the Marloesque or one-man type of tragedy, each revolving about one central personality who is consumed by the lust of power. Tamburlaine Doctor Faustus The Jews of Malta
19
Edward the Second
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love Come, live with me, and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, or hills, or field, Or woods and steepy mountains yield.
A pastoral is a poem treating of shepherds and rustic life, after the Latin word for shepherd pastor.
Unit Five William Shakespeare
I. Life
II. Poetic Works III. Dramatic Works I. Life
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 15, and died in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1616.
William Shakespeare (15-1616), English playwright and poet, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists.
A complete, authoritative account of Shakespeare's life does not exist, but it is commonly accepted that he was born in 15, and it is known that he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.
In 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. They had a daughter in 1583 and twins— a boy and a girl— in 1585. The boy did not survive. By 1592 Shakespeare attained success as an actor and a playwright. The publication of his two narrative poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) and of his Sonnets (1609) established his reputation as a gifted and popular poet.
Shakespeare's modern reputation, however, is based primarily on the 38 plays attributed to him. He died on April 23, 1616.
No name was inscribed on his gravestone in the chancel of the parish church
20
of Stratford-upon-Avon.
He formed his own acting company, the Chamberlain's Men, later called the King's Men, and two theaters, the Globe Theatre and the Blackfriars.
II. Poetic Works
1. Two long narrative poems Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece 2. 154 sonnets (1593 -99) Themes: time, love and friendship Form: Shakespearean sonnet 3 quatrains + 1 couplet abab cdcd efef gg III. Dramatic Works
William Shakespeare has 37 plays to his credit.
First built in 1935, then rebuilt in 1959, Ashland’s Elizabethan Theatre is one of several venues for plays in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Four periods of Shakespeare’s writing career: Apprentice Period (1590-1594) (1) Histories Richard III Henry VI
(2) Romantic tragedies Titus Andronicus Julius Caesar Romeo and Juliet (3) Experimental comedies Love’s Labour Lost The Comedy of Errors The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Julius Caesar is the second of Shakespeare’s tragedies based on ancient
21
Roman history.
Period of Romantic Comedies (1595-1600) Four great comedies:
The Merchant of Venice -- Portia As You Like It -- Rosalind
Much Ado About Nothing -- Beatrice Twelfth Night -- Viola Mature Period (1601-1609) This is the period of tragedies. Four great tragedies: Othello King Lear Hamlet Macbeth
Last Period (1609-12)
This is the period of tragicomedies. The last period of Shakespeare’s dramatic career include chiefly the last three tragicomedies: Cymbeline The Winter’s Tale The Tempest
Shakespeare’s Contribution to Drama ① themes of progressive significance ② masterful character portrayal ③ adroit plot construction
④ great freedom and ease in the use of language Unit Six The Jacobean Age I. The Jacobean Drama II. The Jacobean Prose III. The Jacobean Poetry The Jacobean Drama
22
1. Shakespeare’s Contemporaries
In the first dozen years or so of the 17th century, there was another flowering
of English drama, comparable to the great upsurge of the dramatic activities of the University Wits in the last two decades of the 16th century.
The most important playwright among Shakespeare’s contemporaries was
Ben Jonson (1573 -- 1637).
Ben Jonson , English dramatist and poet, whose classical learning, gift for satire, and brilliant style made him one of the great figures of English literature.
He was born in Westminster.
Jonson's first original play, Every Man in His Humour, was performed in 1598 by the Lord Chamberlain's Company with English playwright William Shakespeare in the cast.
Ben Jonson wrote poetry, but he was first of all a dramatist, having chiefly
been known for his “comedy of humours”.
In the comedy of humours, each of the characters has some dominating
passion or peculiar quality or humour, such as jealousy or greed or credulity. Ben Jonson’s most important play is Volpone, or the Fox, a bitter satire on
greed as the predominant trait of the rising bourgeois society.
The lust for money would bring the typical members of the bourgeoisie to
hypocrisy and shameless action. 2. Later playwrights ( up to 12)
Tragedies of blood (revenge plays popular in these years) have themes such
as attempted murders, treachery, court intrigue, and adultery.
The decadence of the themes show clearly signs of the decline of drama in the Jacobean age and Caroline age.
The theatres in London were finally closed down by the Puritans in 12. II. The Jacobean Prose 1. Francis Bacon (1561 -- 1626)
Francis Bacon was an important scientist, philosopher and essayist.
23
Marx called him the “real founder of English materialism and experimental
sciences of modern times in general.”
① New Instrument: In this work Bacon introduced the inductive method to
the science.
② The New Atlantis: In this book Bacon described a utopian society -- a
fictitious land where his principles of collaborative research have been put into effect in a great agricultural and mechanical experimental station called Solomon’s House.
③ Essays: first appeared in 1597 (10 essays); in complete series in 1625 (58
essays).
These essays reflect the author’s views on political, social and personal
problems and in turn the bourgeois ideals and limitations of a man of the Renaissance.
Conciseness of expression and simplicity of dictions are the two chief
characteristics of Bacon’s style.
Bacon’s essays exerted an important influence on the development of English
prose. They are the first “essays” in English. Of Studies
STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business.
Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them.
2. The King James Bible (the 1611 Authorized Version of the Bible): ① Early translations of the Bible: the Venerable Bede (the 8th century) King Alfred (the 9th century) John Wycliffe (the 14th century) William Tyndale (1526)
William Tyndale (1493--1536): the first to translate the New Testament into
24
English from the Greek text; the basis for the Authorized Version.
Literary merits of the King James Bible: The biblical language is simple and
direct and containing the flavour of the far away and the long ago yet never really archaic.
The King James Bible has been extensively used even to this day and
therefore had its lasting effect upon the development of English prose. The Bible as Literature
According to the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God created
Adam, the first man, in his own image from dust. The Story of Samson
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord
delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danties, whose
name was Manoa; and his wife was barren, and bore not. (Chapter13) Then went Samson to Gaza , and saw there a barlot, and went in unto her.
And it was told the Gazites, saying, “Samson is come hither.” And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.” (Chapter 16)
3. Robert Burton (1577 - 10)
Robert Burton, English cleric and writer known chiefly for his Anatomy of
Melancholy (1621), a treatise on the causes, symptoms, and cure of melancholy that ranges far afield in its lively depiction of everyday life. Robert Burton was a prominent prose writer, known for his one book The
Anatomy of Melancholy.
This book stands somewhat in opposition to Bacon’s works (pessimism vs
optimism). III. The Jacobean Poetry 1. The Spenserians:
The Spenserians were poets who continued and imitated the poetry of the
25
preceding age. Phineas and Giles Fletcher were the two chief Spenserians of the 17th century.
They wrote religious allegories, following Spenser in the writing of epics in
allegory and in the use of very rich, ornate language. 2. The metaphysical school
The metaphysical school denotes a succession of poets -- John Donne and his
followers George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan and Abraham Cowley.
Their subject was the relationship of spirit to matter or the ultimate nature of
reality.
Their distinctive way of expression is the so-called metaphysical conceit -- i.e.
paradoxical metaphor causing a shock to the mind by the unlikeliness of association.
John Donne (1572-1631), English poet, prose writer, and clergyman. Donne was born in London.
At the age of 11 he entered the University of Oxford, where he studied for
three years.
He began the study of law in 1592, and about two years later he joined the
Anglican church.
His first book of poems, Satires, is considered one of Donne's most important
works.
John Donne wrote love poetry, satires, divine poetry and sermons.
His poems are characterized by cynicism, morbidity, striving for the novelty,
and the use of “conceit” -- all these are signs of decadence.
An extreme example of this decadence may be seen in a poem entitled The
Flea.
George Herbert (1593-1633), English metaphysical poet whose works,
including “The Collar” (1633), are religious in theme and marked by rich symbolism and inventive meter. Virtue
26
Sweet day, so cool, so calm , so bright, The bridal of the earth and sky! The dew shall weep thy fall to-night; For thou must die.
Richard Crashaw (1613?-19), English metaphysical poet best known for his
collection of religious verse, Steps to the Temple (16).
Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), English metaphysical poet whose works
include Davideis (1656), an epic on the life of King David. 3. The “Sons of Ben” (or “Tribe of Ben”)
The disciples of Ben Jonson were called the Sons of Ben, or the Tribe of Ben.
Thomas Carew and Robert Herrick are two of them. They followed the classical discipline of form.
Ben Jonson is considered by many to be the founder of neo-classical tradition
in English poetry, anticipating John Dryden and Alexander Pope of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
The theme of making love while one is young is derived from the ancient
Roman poet Catullus.
Ben Jonson’s To Celia and Robert Herrick’s To the Virgin are examples of this
theme.
Thomas Carew (1595?-15?), English poet, born probably in West Wickham,
Kent, and educated at the University of Oxford. Carew was the first of the so-called Cavalier poets.
He was strongly influenced by both Ben Jonson and John Donne.
He wrote numerous short songs and light love lyrics, many of which were set
to music by English composers. Robert Herrick To the Virgins
Gather ye rose buds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles to day,
27
To-morrow will be dying. 比较：
花开堪折直须折, 莫待无花空折枝。
Unit Seven The English Revolution Period • I. The Cavalier Writers • II. The Puritan Writers • III. John Milton Historical Background
• 1. The English bourgeois revolution (12 --49)
• The conflict between the royalists and the parliamentarians led to the civil
war in 12.
• Charles I (1600-19), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1625-19). • His power struggles with Parliament resulted in the English Civil War
(12-18) in which Charles was defeated. • He was tried for treason and beheaded in 19. • The parliamentarians (the Puritans):
• The Presbyterians （长老派）: big bourgeoisie
• The Independents （派） led by Oliver Cromwell： middle layer of
bourgeoisie
• The Levellers （平均派） led by John Lilburne: petty bourgeoisie
• The Diggers （掘地派） led by Gerrard Winstanley: radical group of peasants • The civil war ended with England proclaimed a republic (commonwealth). • 2. The Restoration (1660)
• The re-establishment of monarchy in England with return of Charles II in 1660
is known as the Restoration. • The Glorious Revolution (1688)
Mary and William of Orange became joint rulers of England. The constitutional monarchy was established.
William of Orange turns 27 on November 4 and is married that day at London
28
to the duke of York’s daughter Mary, 15, a niece of England’s Charles II. A “Glorious Revolution” ends nearly 4 years of Roman Catholic rule in England.
English landowners seize the opportunity of the Glorious Revolution to enact
a bounty on the export of grain, an act that will increase domestic prices of grain (and of food) for the next few years. • 4. Two philosophers
• (1) Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679):
• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), English philosopher and political theorist. • He was the chief philosopher in the 17th century after Bacon, known for his
materialism, rationalism and the theory of egoism as determining all conduct of men. • (2) John Locke:
• He was in strong opposition to the theory of the divine right of kings (a theory
handed down from the Middle Ages, holding the view that the king’s right was endowed by the God).
• His philosophy is a summing-up of the theories of the 17th century and has
much influence on the 18th century. I. The Cavalier Writers
• The greatest pamphleteer, poet, and prose writer of the middle decades of
the 17th century was John Milton.
• There were a number of minor ones divided into the Cavalier and the Puritan
camps.
• 1. Cavalier poets:
• “Tribe of Ben” (Thomas Carew, John Suckling, Robert Herrick and Richard
Lovelace) followed in the tradition of court poetry of the Renaissance in the second half of the 16th century, with earthly and sensual love as its dominant theme treated in the spirit of hedonism（享乐主义）.
• The best of their lyric poems have been long remembered for their artistic
distinction.
29
• 2. Metaphysical poets:
• The followers of John Donne (George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, and Henry
Vaugan) were all of Royalist leanings, indulged in religious mysticism and the use of metaphysical conceits.
• 3. Minor prose writers with royalist sympathies:
• Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), English physician and writer known for the
richness of his prose in works such as Religio Medici (12), an attempt to reconcile Christian faith with scientific knowledge.
• Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), English clergyman and writer of several important
historical works, including The Church History of Britain (1655).
• Izaac Walton (1593-1683), English man of letters, who wrote what became
one of the most famous books in the English language, The Complete Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation.
• 中文本：《钓客清话》，花城出版社，2001年9月
• Walton's charming discourse on every aspect of fishing as a form of
recreation is interspersed with dialogue, verses, songs, and idyllic glimpses of pastoral life. II. The Puritan Writers • 1. Puritan poets:
• George Wither and Andrew Marwell were two Puritan poets (after Milton in
significance) who blended Cavalier, metaphysical and Puritan elements in their poetry.
• George Wither (1588-1667), English poet whose works include The
Shepherd's Hunting (1615) and Britain's Remembrancer (1628).
• Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), English poet and satirist, one of the
metaphysical poets.
• As assistant to John Milton (who was serving as Latin secretary for the
Commonwealth) from 1657 to 1659, Marvell wrote many poems in praise of the Lord Protector of England, Oliver Cromwell . • 2. Pamphleteers:
30
• Pamphlet literature flourished in the middle decades of the 17th century.
Milton achieved the highest distinction.
• Two other important pamphleteers are John Lilburne and Gerrard Winstanley. • The pamphlets and tracts were an important part of the political movement
of the Levellers and Diggers , and had their far-reaching effect at the time. • A number of them were significant declarations and were eloquently written
and therefore had their place in the field of literature besides being political documents. • Themes:
• The advocacy of proportional taxation • The basic belief in government by law • The frequent elections of the parliament • Universal manhood suffrage • Chief claims:
• The common ownership of land
• To practise a sort of primitive communism, based on the claims that the land
belonged to the whole people of England. • Man should live by the fruits of his own.
III. John Milton
• John Milton (1608-1674), English poet, whose verse was a powerful influence
on succeeding English poets, and whose prose was devoted to the defense of civil and religious liberty.
• Milton is often considered the greatest English poet after William
Shakespeare.
• Milton was a great English writer who is also a prominent figure in politics
and who is both a poet and an important prose writer. • (1) Early period (before 1639) • On Shakespeare -- a 16-line epigram • L’Allegro -- poem • Lucidas -- an elegy
31
• Comus -- a masque • (2) Middle period (1639 -- 60)
• ① Religious pamphlets: the need for greater freedom in religious worship
and against the tyrannous interference of the bishop
• ② Divorce pamphlets: Incompatibility should be considered an effective
reason for divorce.
• ③ Political pamphlets: to justify the execution of the king; the popular
concept of bourgeois democracy; counter-blows at the arguments advanced by the Royalists led by Salmasius
• ④ Areopagitica: the freedom of the press
• ⑤ 24 sonnets: the greatest of which is his second sonnet addressed to
Cyriack Skinner
• (3) Last period (after 1660)
• Paradise Lost: Milton’s greatest epic poem. It deals with the fall of man,
Satan’s revolt against God and man’s loss of Paradise. • The first three lines of Paradise Lost: • Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit • Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste • Brought death into the World, and all our woe
• Paradise Regained: another epic dealing with the redemption of man by
Christ
• Samson Agonistes: a tragedy in verse, dealing with a strong man betrayed and
made a slave, but finally rising up to bring destruction to his enemies. • Samson Agonistes is thought to reveal the personal feelings of Milton,
especially as regards to his blindness in old age, his wife and the Restoration. • The two sometimes conflicting life views upon which some of Milton’s poetry
is based are Puritanis and Renaissance humanism. The Miltonic verse is characterized by
• ① long and involved and sometimes interminable sentence construction;
32
• ② extreme variety of pauses. Unit 8 The Restoration Period (1660-1688) I. John Bunyan II. John Dryden
III. The Restoration Drama IV. Minor Writers I. John Bunyan
Besides Milton, John Bunyan (1628-1688) was the chief Puritan writer after Restoration. John Bunyan
While Milton voiced the Puritan ideals for the educated class, John Bunyan spoke for the common people.
John Bunyan, who has been named \"the Immortal Tinker\became one of the world's most well-known Christian writers.
He wrote many books, but his most famous one, \"Pilgrim's Progress\world classic.
Bunyan, a poorly educated tinker’s son who became an eloquent Puritan preacher, wrote the book while imprisoned in 1675 for his Nonconformist religious practices. The Pilgrim’s Progress
Excerpt from The Pilgrim’s Progress
Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity, and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair: it is kept all the year long; it beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is kept is lighter than vanity; and also because all that is there sold, or that cometh hither, is vanity. As the saying of the wise, “all that cometh is vanity.”
The Pilgrim’s Progress and The Life and Death of Mr. Badman are the two of his chief works, especially the first one. “All that cometh is vanity”
33
---- From The Book of Isiah (《以赛亚书》) Both works are allegories.
In terms of theme and content, his main literary concerns are his search for religious freedom and his attack (satire) on social evils, the social system, and the ruling class. Bunyan wrote in a simple but lively prose style.
His prose exerted great influence on the English language because of the great popularity of his books, especially of The Pilgrim’s Progress, through the centuries. II. John Dryden
John Dryden was the most prominent poet, dramatist, translator and literary critic of Restoration England; and in each of these capacities he distinguished himself not only with great artistic merits but also with great volume of his output.
John Dryden had extensive influence upon Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson of the 18th century.
He is the greatest neo-classicist of the Restoration period. The age he lived in has also been called the age of Dryden. His longest non-dramatic poem is The Hind and the Panther. A New Song1
Sylvia, the fair, in the bloom of fifteen,
Felt an innocent warmth as she lay on the green; She had heard of a pleasure, and something she guest By the towzing, and tumbling, and touching her breast. She saw the men eager, but was at a loss,
What they meant by their sighing, and kissing so close;
His main contribution to the dramatic tradition in England is his introduction of a new type of drama, known as the “heroic play”--- drama in epic mode, grand, rhetorical and declamatory, its themes being love and honour. The best-known heroic play is The Conquest of Grenada. He also re-wrote some of Shakespeare’s plays.
His best-known piece of literary criticism is An Essay of Dramatic Poesy, written in the form of a dialogue.
34
The comparative merits of English and French drama and those of the old and new English drama were discussed.
The classical rules of the three unities and the use of rhyme in drama were also discussed.
An Essay on Dramatic Poesy (Excerpt)
•If I would compare him with Shakespeare, I must acknowledge him the more correct
poet, but Shakespeare the greater wit. Shakespeare was the Homer, or father of our dramatic poets; Johnson was the Virgil, the pattern of elaborate writing; I admire him, but I love Shakespeare . III. The Restoration Drama
After the closing of theatres in London in 12 by the order of the Puritan parliament, English drama was practically at a standstill for 18 years. The theatres were reopened in 1660 by Charles II. The dominant figure in drama was John Dryden.
The earlier group of comedy writers in the Restoration includes chiefly George Etherege and William Wycheley.
William Wycheley’s The Country Wife gives a most vivid picture of how the court ladies pretend to be virtuous. The Restoration Drama
The restoration tradition of comedy of manners was climaxed by William Congreve. Millamant: Positively, Mirabell, I’ll lie abed in the morning as long as I please. Mirabell: Then I’ll get up in the morning as early as I please. ---from The Way of the World, by William Congreve IV. Minor Writers 1. Minor Poets
The court poets of the Restoration were not remarkable. The chief of them was Samuel Butler.
His chief work was Hudibras, a satire on the Puritans in the form of a mock-heroic poem.
35
Samuel Butler
Samuel Butler wrote the mock-heroic poem Hudibras, a satire on Puritanism, in octosyllabic couplets, inspired by the 17th-century Spanish novel Don Quixote. Samuel Butler
The first part of Hudibras was published in 1663, the second part in 16, and the third part in 1678. 2. Minor Prose Writers
The most brilliant of the minor prose writings were surely the diaries of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. Samuel Peppys
The diary of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) is of interest to us because it is an effective expose of the rotten English government under the Stuart rule and of a typical figure of a government official in Restoration England. A selection from the diary of Samuel Peppys. John Evelyn
John Evelyn (1620-1706), English writer whose Diary, published in 1818, is a valuable historical record of his times.
Evelyn’s diary is much inferior and much more formal than Pepys’s, but more scientifically minded.
His diary lacks the absolute sincerity and faithfulness in recording events and feelings that we find in that of Pepys. Reviw
Unit 9 The Enlightenment I. The Enlightenment II. Alexander Pope III. Addison and Steele I. The Enlightenment 1.Social background
(1) The glorious revolution (1688): a compromise between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie
36
(2) The industrial revolution: the invention of machines (3) The American Revolution (1775 -- 81) (4) The French Revolution (17) 2. Ideological background (1) The Enlightenment:
The Enlightenment was a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe in the 18th century and in Russia in the 19th century.
It is so called because the Enlighteners considered that the chief means for the betterment of society was “enlightenment” or education for the people.
In other words, they believed in the power of reason, and that is why the 18th century in England has been often called the “Age of Reason”.
Age of Enlightenment, term used to describe the trends in thought and letters in Europe and the American colonies during the 18th century before the French Revolution (17-1799).
Writers of the period itself frequently employed the phrase, convinced that they were emerging from centuries of darkness and ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science, and a respect for humanity. Characteristics of the Enlightenment: ① hostility against serfdom
② education, self-government and freedom for the people ③ rights and interests of the people (2) Deism(自然神论):
Deism is the belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation（启示）. Deism is the belief in natural religion.
The Deists admitted their belief in a Supreme Being, or God as the creator of the world of nature, but they glorified reason and so rejected the so-called “revealed” religion as well as the supernatural doctrines of Christianity.
In other words, the Deists denied the historical revelation made through Jesus Christ
37
and recorded in the Holy Scriptures, and believed only in a revelation seen by human reason in God’s created nature.
The Deists gloried reason, but often identified it with common sense or the almost institutional light of reason”. The Enlightenment
(3) Three great philosophers: ① John Locke (1632 --1704):
In the 17th century English philosopher John Locke developed theories of empiricism that emphasized the role of human experience in the pursuit of knowledge and truth.
Many of Locke’s political theories influenced the authors of the Constitution of the United States.
John Locke is perhaps the most important English philosopher.
He was most noted for his rationalism, utilitarianism, dualism of materialism and idealism.
The Enlightenment
② George Berkley (1685 -- 1753): Irish prelate and philosopher whose basic theory, directed against the materialism of Thomas Hobbes, is that to be is to perceive or to be perceived (immaterialism or phenomenalism).
George Berkley’s works include Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710). The Enlightenment
③ David Hume (1711 -- 1776):
British philosopher and historian who argued that human knowledge arises only from sense experience.
David Hume is known for his skepticism.
His works include A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740) and Political Discourses (1752). 3. Literature
(1) Two groups of English Enlighteners
38
① Those in favour of partial reform: Pope, Defoe, Addison and Steele, and Richardson
② The more radical wing: Swift, Fielding, Smollett, Sheridan and Goldsmith (2) Three periods
① The early period (1688 -- 1730s): the Age of Pope
② The more critical period (1740s --1750s): the Age of Johnson ③ The declining period (the last decades of the 18th century) II. Alexander Pope (1688 -- 1744)
Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English poet, who, modeling himself after the great poets of classical antiquity, wrote highly polished verse, often in a didactic or satirical vein.
In verse translations, moral and critical essays, and satires that made him the foremost poet of his age, he brought the heroic couplet, which had been refined by John Dryden, to perfection. Alexander Pope
Pope was born in London.
He first attracted public attention in 1709 with his Pastorals.
In 1711 his Essay on Criticism, a brilliant exposition of the canons of taste, was published. His most famous poem, The Rape of the Lock (first published 1712; revised edition published 1714), an ingenious mock-heroic work, established his reputation securely. Alexander Pope
In 1717 a collection of Pope's works containing the most noteworthy of his lyrics was published.
Pope's translation of Homer's Iliad was published in six volumes from 1715 to 1720; a translation of the Odyssey followed (1725-1726).
He also published an edition of English dramatist William Shakespeare's plays (1725). In 1728 Pope lampooned those he considered poor writers in one of his best-known works, The Dunciad, a satire celebrating dullness. In 1734 he completed his Essay on
39
Man.
Alexander Pope was known as the greatest poet of his day because he was an (1) enlightener, (2) neo-classicist, (3) satirist, (4) brilliant poet, and (5) had a great influence. Chief works:
(1) An Essay on Criticism: a manifesto of neo-classicism. Ancient poets are highly praised and rules are laid down to be observed.
Neoclassicism: A revival of classical aesthetics and forms, especially:
a. A revival in literature in the late 17th and 18th centuries, characterized by a regard for the classical ideals of reason, form, and restraint.
b. A revival in the 18th and 19th centuries in architecture and art, especially in the decorative arts, characterized by order, symmetry, and simplicity of style.
c. A movement in music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that sought to avoid subjective emotionalism and to return to the style of the pre-Romantic composers. Alexander Pope
Selections from An Essay on Criticism
True ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance, As those move easiest who have learn’t to dance. ‘Tis not enough no Harshness gives Offence, The Sound must seem an Echo to the Sense. Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth Stream in smoother Numbers flows; But when loud Surges lash the sounding Shore, The hoarse, rough Verse shou’d like the Torrent roar. (2) The Rape of the Lock: a mock-heroic poem
This poem derives much of its humor from applying the grandeur of the epic form to a trivial (and true) incident, in which a feud developed between two rich families over a lock of hair. The Rape of the Lock
(3) The Dunciad: a satire upon the literary men of the age
40
Alexander Pope
(4) An Essay on Man: the best known and the most quoted of all Pope’s works Alexander Pope
(5) Moral Essays: a didactic poem on practical morality pope.ram III. Addison and Steele
Joseph Addison(1672-1719), English essayist, poet, and statesman, whose work influenced the literary taste of the 18th century, in part by resurrecting the ballad form.
Addison and Steele
Addison was born in Milston, Wiltshire.
In 1709 Addison became a contributor to The Tatler, a periodical founded by essayist Sir Richard Steele. Addison and Steele
Two years later, Steele and Addison founded another periodical, The Spectator. Addison's literary reputation reached its highest point in 1713, when his tragedy Cato was produced in London.
Joseph Addison is now remembered mainly as one of the founders of the modern familiar essay. Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729), English essayist, playwright, and statesman, who founded and contributed frequently to the influential 18th-century journal the Spectator. Addison and Steele Steele was born in Dublin.
In 1709 Steele brought out, under the pseudonym of Isaac Bickerstaff, the first issue of the Tatler, a tri-weekly journal featuring essays and brief sketches on politics and society.
In addition to his own essays, Steele published a number of papers by the English essayist Joseph Addison.
This publication was succeeded in 1711, by the more famous Spectator with both Steele and Addison as contributors.
41
The names of Joseph Addison (1672 -- 1719) and Richard Steele (1672 -- 1729) have always been linked with the literary periodicals The Tatler (1709 -- 11) and The Spectator
(Excerpt 1, by Addison)
I have observed, that a Reader seldom perused a Book with Pleasure, till he knows whether the Writer of it be a black or a fair Man, of a mild or cholerick Disposition, Married or a Bachelor, with other Particulars of the like nature, that conduce very much to the right understanding of an Author. (Excerpt 2, by Steele)
The first of our Society is a Gentleman of Worcestershire, of ancient Descent, a Baronet, his Name Sir Roger de Coverly. … He is a Gentleman that is very singular in his Behaviour, but his Singularities proceed from his good Sense, and are Contradictions to the manners of the world, only as he thinks the World is in the wrong.
Importance of these two periodicals:
historical landmarks in the development of periodical literature; the creation of characters;
the comments on the manners and morals; interesting brief sketches and tales; a new genre of familiar essay. Review
I. The Enlightenment II. Alexander Pope III. Addison and Steele
Unit 10 Daniel Defoe And Jonathan Swift
I. Daniel Defoe II. Jonathan Swift
Daniel Defoe (1660 -- 1731)
Daniel Defoe (1660?-1731), English novelist and journalist.
42
Besides being a brilliant journalist, novelist, and social thinker, Defoe was a prolific author, writing more than 500 books, pamphlets, and tracts.
Defoe was born in London. He became a hosiery merchant and traveled throughout western Europe.
Defoe anonymously published a tract entitled The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, which satirized religious intolerance by pretending to share the prejudices of the Anglican church against Nonconformists.
In 1703, when it was found that Defoe had written the tract, he was arrested and imprisoned. Robert Harley, the speaker of the House of Commons, secured his release.
Defoe next became a journalist, issuing a tri-weekly news journal entitled The Review, for which he did most of the writing.
Defoe's first and most famous novel, The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, appeared in 1719, when he was almost 60 years old. A fictional tale of a shipwrecked sailor, it was based on the adventures of a seaman, Alexander Selkirk, who had been marooned on an island off the coast of Chile. The novel, Robinson Crusoe, which chronicles Crusoe's ingenious attempts to overcome the island's hardships, has become one of the classics of children's literature.
More novels followed, including The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1722), which is regarded as one of the great English novels. Periodical:
The Review (1704 -- 1713): containing four quarto pages three times a week and in each number a leading article on economic and social matters. A Hymn to the Pillory
“Justice with change of interest learns to bow, And what was merit once is murder now.” Daniel Defoe
Novels:
43
① Robinson Crusoe ② Captain Singleton ③ Moll Flanders ④ Colonel Jack ⑤ Roxana
⑥ A Journal of the Plague Year:
A unique book in describing vividly the horrors of the plague which took place in London in 1655. Robinson Crusoe
The story of the novel was possibly suggested by the real adventures of a real sailor widely known at the time -- Alexander Seilkirk.robinson.ram (Excerpt)
I was now landed and safe on shore, and began to look up and thank God that my life was sav’d in a case wherein there was some minutes before scarce any room to hope. Robinson Crusoe (Excerpt)
I walk’d about on the shore, lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I may say, wrapt up in the contemplation of my deliverance, making a thousand gestures and motions which I cannot describe. Notes: Picaresque Novel
Picaresque Novel, full-length fictional work, often satirical in nature, in which the principal character is cynical(愤世嫉俗) and amoral（与道德无关的）.
A picaresque novel generally consists of a series of incidents or episodes in the life of the principal character arranged in chronological order but not woven into a single, coherent plot. The form originated in Spain, and the earliest Spanish example is Lazaro of Tormes (1554), of unknown authorship. The earliest English picaresque novel is believed to have been The Unfortunate Traveller, or, The Life of Jack Wilton (1594) by Thomas Nashe.
Picaresque novels: Daniel Defoe’s five novels follow one pattern: tracing the personal
44
history of the hero or heroine of a low origin from his or her early unfortunate childhood through many vicissitudes（兴衰）of life, with ups and downs of personal fortune, to final prosperity or death and repentance（后悔）. Jonathan Swift (1667 -- 1745)
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Anglo-Irish satirist and political pamphleteer, considered one of the greatest masters of English prose. He was born in Dublin.
In 16 Swift became secretary to English diplomat and writer Sir William Temple. He returned to Ireland in 1694 and took religious orders.
Swift returned to Temple's household in 1696 and supervised the education of Esther Johnson, daughter of the widowed companion to Temple's sister. Swift privately called her Stella, and he began his Journal to Stella in 1710.
Scholars are unsure of Swift's exact relationship with Stella; they may have been secretly married. Jonathan Swift
Swift's earliest prose work was The Battle of the Books (1697), a burlesque of the controversy（辩论）then raging in literary circles over the relative merits of ancient and modern writers.
In 1710 a Tory government came to power in England, and Swift turned his biting satire against the Whigs.
He assumed the editorship of the Examiner, the official Tory publication, and defended the Tory administration's policies. Swift's pamphlet The Conduct of the Allies (1711), which charged that the Whigs had prolonged the War of the Spanish Succession out of self-interest, was instrumental in bringing about the dismissal of British army commander John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Jonathan Swift
In 1714 the Tory administration fell, and Swift's political power was ended. In 1724 and 1725 he anonymously issued his Drapier's Letters, a series of pamphlets that prevented the debasing of Irish currency.
In A Modest Proposal (1729), Swift ironically suggests that poor Irish children be sold
45
as food to wealthy English, thus turning an economic burden to general profit. For his championship of their cause in these essays, Swift became a hero of the Irish people.
Swift's masterpiece, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, more popularly titled Gulliver's Travels, was published anonymously in 1726 and met with instant success. The satire is an allegorical attack on human society. Jonathan Swift Poems:
Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift “His vein, ironically grave,
Exposed the fool, and lashed the knave.” Prose
① The Battle of Books: a satirical dialogue on the comparative merit of ancient and modern writers
② A Tale of a Tub: a sharp attack on the dispute among the different branches of the Christian religion Jonathan Swift
③ The Drapier’s Letters: the fundamental issue of English tyranny and the loss of freedom for the Irish people Jonathan Swift
④ A Modest Proposal: an ironical suggestion of offering one-year-old children of poor Irish parents on sale as food for the rich Ireland
Gulliver’s Travels: The four parts of the book: the isle of Lilliput, the island of Brobdingnagians, the floating island of Laputa, the island of the Houyhnhnms. the isle of Lilliput the island of Brobdingnagians The flying island
The book is a satire on the whole English society of the early 18th century, touching
46
upon the political, religious, legal, military, scientific, philosophical as well as literary institutions therein and the men who make their careers there. The Yahoos (Excerpt)
My master was yet wholly at a loss to understand what motives could incite（煽动） this race of lawyers to perplex（困惑）, disquiet（忧虑）, and weary（厌烦）themselves, and engage in a confederacy（同谋）of injustice, merely for the sake of injuring their fellow-animals. (Excerpt)
But in order to feed the luxury and intemperance（放纵）of the males, and the vanity of the females, we sent away the greatest part of our necessary things to other countries, from whence in return we brought the materials of diseases, folly, and vice, to spend among ourselves.
It is at once a fantasy and a realistic work of fiction. Review
Daniel Defoe Jonathan Swift
Unit 11 Richardson, Fielding and Smollett Novelists
I. Samuel Richardson II. Henry Fielding
III. Tobian George Smollett Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson (16-1761) is an outstanding novelist. Samuel Richardson was born in Derbyshire.
While engaged in writing a volume of model letters (Familiar Letters, 1741), he also wrote and published the celebrated novel Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded (2 volumes, 1740), telling, in the form of letters, the story of a young maid-servant's defense of her honor.
All of Richardson's novels are in epistolary form (a series of letters), a structure that
47
he refined and developed.
For this reason, Richardson is considered a founder of the English modern novel. Samuel Richardson is an outstanding novelist. He wrote three novels:
(1) Pamela: the first epistolary novel in the English language; sometimes called the first modern English novel because of its penetrating psychological analysis. (2) Clarissa:
the longest novel in Britain;
generally considered Richardson’s masterpiece
Clarissa; or the History of a Young Lady (7 volumes, 1747-1748), which explores the same events from the points of view of several of the characters, is considered his best work.
(3) Sir Charles Grandison: the least important of Richardson’s novels Significance:
① sympathy for women ② psychological study
③ exposure of the moral hypocrisy. Limitations:
① upheld the political and social status quo of his age ② his social criticism is feeble and ineffective
③ his sympathy ends in sentimentalism, in fact he is the earliest exponent of the sentimental tradition in 18th-century English literature.
Sentimental novel is a form of fiction popular in 18th-century England.
It concentrated on the distresses of the virtuous and attempted to show that a sense of honour and moral behaviour were rightly rewarded.
It also attempted to show that effusive emotion was evidence of kindness and goodness. Samuel Richardson
(Sentimentality: false or superficial emotion, assumed feeling, self-regarding postures of grief and pain.) Henry Fielding (1707 --1754)
48
English novelist and playwright Henry Fielding is credited for his innovative influence on the modern novel.
His best known works include the play Tom Thumb (1730) and the novel The History of
Henry Fielding (1707-1754), English novelist, playwright, and barrister, who helped establish the English novel tradition.
Fielding was born at Sharpham Park, Somerset, and educated at Eton College and in law at the University of Leiden.
From 1729 to 1737 he was a theatrical manager and playwright in London. His play Tom Thumb (1730) was a popular farce. In 1748 he became a justice of the peace.
His first published novel was The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams (1742).
Intended as a parody of the sentimental moralism of the popular novel Pamela (1740) by Samuel Richardson, it is a great comedy in its own right.
Two volumes of political journalism preceded publication of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749).
Tom Jones, regarded by critics as one of the great English novels, is in the picaresque tradition, involving the adventures and misadventures of a roguish hero.
Amelia (1751), a study of justice and the penal system in England, is the most serious of Fielding's fiction and his last novel.
In 1752 he returned to political writing as publisher of the periodical The Covent Garden Journal.
Henry Fielding is chiefly known as a novelist, and next as a playwright; in fact he has been considered the real founder of modern fiction.
He distinguished himself with his broad panoramic pictures of his age and his penetrating social satire.
The four vices Fielding called attention to are hypocrisy, avarice, slander and vanity. Bernard Shaw over-praised Fielding as “the greatest practicing dramatist, with the single exception of Shakespeare, produced by England between the Middle Ages and
49
the 19th century”.
Fielding’s plays are farces, comedies of manner, burlesques, and dramatic satires. His open attacks on the government of Robert Walpole led to the passing of Licensing Act, thus put an end to his career as a playwright. Four novels:
(1) Jonathan Wild (2) Joseph Andrews (3) Tom Jones (4) Amelia Jonathan Wild
(1) Jonathan Wild: a novel of political satire.
The satire is directed on Walpole through the drawing of parallel between the greatness of the thief and the prime minister. Joseph Andrews
(2) Joseph Andrews: a parody of Richardson’s Pamela, written in the picaresque tradition, it is a realistic novel, being the picture of English society where the ruing class oppress the poor.
(3) Tom Jones: Fielding’s masterpiece. The plot of the novel can be divided into three parts: in the countryside, on the road, and in London.
Tom Jones is considered as Fielding’s masterpiece because of its panoramic view of the English society in the 18th century, description of all kinds of people, its well-knit complete story, and the author’s sympathy for the poor and antipathy for the wicked. (Excerpt)
The reader may remember tat Mr.Allworthy gave Tom Jones a little horse, as a kind of smart-money for the punishment which he imagined he had suffered innocently.This horse Tom kept above half a year, and then rode him to a neighbouring fair, and sold him.
At his return, being questioned by Thwackum what he had done with the money for which the horse was sold, he frankly declared he would not tell him. Amelia
50
(4) Amelia: Fielding himself liked this novel best but was poorly received upon its publication.
Tobias George Smollett (1721 -- 1771)
Though Smollett was a versatile and prolific writer, he is considered now chiefly as a novelist, particularly as the author of three important novels. Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771), Scottish novelist. He was born in Dalquhurn, Dumbarton County.
His career as a writer began with a historical play and some political satires, but it was his first picaresque novel, The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), that made him famous.
It was followed by several other novels in which colorful adventures are mixed with grotesque characterizations and broad satire, including The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and Ferdinand Count Fathom (1753).
His best novel, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), has become a classic. The comic inventiveness of character and incident greatly influenced the work of English novelist Charles Dickens. Three important novels:
1. Roderick Random: the first sea novel in English literature, written more or less in the picaresque tradition and narrated in the first person. 2. Peregrine Pickle: a picaresque novel
3. Humphrey Clinker: the last of his five novels, written in the epistolary form. It is a rollicking story, told in a series of letters, about the travels of a family through England and Scotland.
Unit 12 Sterne, Goldsmith and Other Novelists I. Laurence Sterne II. Oliver Goldsmith III. The Gothic Romances IV. The Domestic Novels I. Laurence Sterne (1713 -- 1768)
51
Laurence Sterne (1713-1768), English novelist and humorist, whose novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, is a masterpiece of English fiction. Sterne was born in 1713, in Clonmel, Ireland, and educated at the University of Cambridge. He was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1738. He spent the next 21 years as a vicar in Yorkshire.
In 1760 Sterne settled in London. His Sermons of Mr. Yorick (1760-1769) was well received, and the first two volumes of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-1767) caused a literary sensation. Seven more volumes appeared between 1761 and 1767.
Of the commonly acknowledged four great English novelists of the middle decades of the 18th century, Laurence Sterne was the last and the most eccentric as he was also the chief writer in the literary tradition of sentimentalism. Sterne’s fame rests chiefly on his two books.
1. Tristram Shandy: While the full title of the novel is The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, actually the titular hero is not born till the 2nd book and at the last mention of him in the last book he is a child only enough to be put into breeches. This Novel purports to be the autobiography of Tristram Shandy but quickly turns into something else altogether, including something of a meditation on the twists and turns of fate in spite of all our efforts to find reason and order in the world. Tristram Shandy was a highly original and innovative work, exploding the conventions of the novel and confounding the expectations of its readers.
The novel is considered a precursor to the modern novel and the technique of stream of consciousness.
2. A Sentimental Journey: a travelogue sort of book; more continuity of narrative; curious blending of humanism and sentimentalism.
Sterne enjoys a European fame. He not only has his far-reaching influence upon English writers of later days, especially upon Byron and Thackeray, but also upon Diderot and Rousseau and Voltaire. II. Oliver Goldsmith (1728 - 1774)
Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774), Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist,
52
best known for his witty comedy She Stoops to Conquer and his novel The Vicar of Wakefield.
Goldsmith was born in Pallas, Ireland. In England, he worked for various publishers, producing literary works to order.
As a hack writer he wrote translations, books for children, and articles for newspapers and magazines.
Among these was a series of letters, supposedly written by a Chinese traveler, describing London, later reprinted as A Citizen of the World (1762).
Once Goldsmith's authorship of this series became known in London literary circles, he made many influential friends, including literary figure Samuel Johnson. In 17 Goldsmith's philosophic poem The Traveller was published, establishing him as an important writer.
The Vicar of Wakefield was published in 1766. In 1770 Goldsmith published the poem The Deserted Village, distinguished for its pastoral atmosphere and felicity of phrasing.
Goldsmith's play She Stoops to Conquer (1773) was an immediate success and remains one of the best-known British comedies.
Goldsmith continued to write popular books to order, including histories of Rome, Greece, and England, and books on natural history.
Goldsmith was a novelist, a dramatist, and a writer of journalistic prose and essays. He is now chiefly remembered for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield, his poem The Deserted Village, his comedy She Stoops to Conquer and his collection of essays The Citizen of the World. The Vicar of Wakefield
1. The Vicar of Wakefield: belief in the eventual triumph of the righteous and virtuous over the wicked; nostalgia; definite note of sentimentalism. 2. The Deserted Village:
a historical document on the common practice of enclosure of common land in 18th-century England. The Deserted Village
53
Sweet Auburn! parent of the blissful hour, Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power. Here as I take my solitary rounds,
Amidst thy tangling walks and ruined grounds, And, many a year elapsed, returned to view Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew, Remembrance wakes with all her busy train, Swells at my breast and turns the past to pain. When Lovely Woman Stoops to Folly When lovely woman stoops to folly, And finds too late that men betray, What charm can soothe her melancholy, What art can wash her guilt away? The only art her guilt to cover, To hide her shame from every eye, To give repentance to her lover, And wring his bosom - is to die. 3. She Stoops to Conquer:
By mistaking a private residence for an inn, the basic comic situation arises out of the wide gap between the different social classes.
She Stoops to Conquer ranks among the best English comedies of the 18th century and second only to Sheridan’s School to Scandal and The Rivals, and has always been successful when staged.
4. The Citizen of the World: a collection of 98 letters supposed to have been written by a philosophical Chinese traveller stopping in London. III. The Gothic Romances
Gothic Romances are novels of terror which employ medieval background and contain gloomy sentiment, superstitious horror and much supernaturalism. e.g. Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. Horace Walpole
54
Horace Walpole (1717-1797), British writer and historian whose correspondence and memoirs provide valuable information about his era.
He wrote The Castle of Otranto (17), considered the first Gothic novel in English. The Castle of Otranto (17) is one of the best-known works in the genre known as the Gothic romance novel.
English novelist Horace Walpole sets his story in a gloomy castle with secret underground passageways, haunted rooms, and apparitions. Anne Ward Radcliff
Mrs. Anne Ward Radcliff has been considered the most important writer of the Gothic romances because she was prolific, ingenious and popular. The Mysteries of Udolpho is certainly the most celebrated.
The Mysteries of Udolpho produces the excellent effect of high excitement and intense suspense as episode after episode of great terror and mystery are unfolded before the reader. Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), English novelist.
Daughter of the British philosopher William Godwin and the British author and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, she was born in London, and privately educated.
She met the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in May 1814, and two months later left England with him.
When Shelley's first wife died in December 1816, he married Mary.
In 1818 her first and most important work, the novel Frankenstein, was published. A remarkable accomplishment for a 20-year-old, the work was an immediate critical and popular success.
Repeatedly dramatized for both the theater and motion pictures, this tale of Frankenstein, a student of the occult, and the subhuman monster he assembles from parts of human corpses added a new word to the English language: A “Frankenstein” is any creation that ultimately destroys its creator.
No other work by Mary Shelley achieved the popularity or excellence of this first
55
work, although she wrote four other novels, books of travel sketches, and miscellaneous tales and verse.
One of her novels, The Last Man (1826), reveals her liberal social outlook; another of her books, Lodore (1835), is a novelized autobiography. Frankenstein
The nearly 200-year-old story of Frankenstein has endured not only because of its gruesome thrills, but also because of the penetrating questions author Mary Shelley raises about human nature, pride, and intuition.
While today the figure of Frankenstein is almost a caricature of a monster, the original Frankenstein is a sympathetic creature, whose motives (if not methods) are practically human. IV. The Domestic Novels Fanny Burney
Fanny Burney (1752-1840), English novelist and diarist, daughter of the musical historian Charles Burney.
She was born in King's Lynn and was self-educated. Her first novel, Evelina, was published anonymously in 1778.
After she acknowledged herself as author of the book, she became a favorite of the leading literary figures of the day, particularly Samuel Johnson and members of his famous Literary Club.
Fanny Burney’s Evelina anticipated Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, though the former describe the fashionable society in London, while the latter the life of landed gentry in provincial England.
The novels of English writer Fanny Burney often deal with the frustrations of young women as they seek to control their own lives. Burney’s third novel, Camilla (1796), portrays the mistakes of an inexperienced young woman as she enters into social life. Review I. Laurence Sterne II. Oliver Goldsmith III. The Gothic Romances
56
IV. The Domestic Novels
Unit 13 The 18th-Century Drama I. John Gay II. George Lilo III. Richard Sheridan John Gay (1685-1732)
John Gay (1685-1732), English dramatist and poet, who was one of the outstanding writers of the neoclassical period in English literature. John Gay was born in Barnstaple.
His early poetry includes The Shepherd's Week (1714) and Trivia（琐事）, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716), the latter a studiedly artificial counterpart（配对物） of Virgil's Georgics（田园诗）.
John Gay is famous for his Fables (two series, 1727 and, posthumously, 1738), tales in verse considered the best of their kind in English. The Beggar’s Opera
His fame as a playwright rests primarily on The Beggar's Opera (1728). The Beggar's Opera, in various adaptations, is still popular. The Beggar’s Opera
A sequel（续集）, entitled Polly (1729), was banned from the stage but was published and widely read.
Gay composed the lyrics to many songs, including “'Twas When the Seas Were Roaring,” and he wrote many ballads, the most familiar of which is “Sweet William's Farewell to Black-eyed Susan.”
The two operas that made John Gay famous are The Beggar’s Opera and Polly. These two operas are known as the ballad-operas, using the device called contrafactum（换词歌曲）, i.e. the writing of new words to an old melody. These two plays contain much political satire.
The satire is achieved by comparing the great men and the courtiers（大臣） to the robbers and other wicked persons in low life, and by contrasting the more primitive and more virtuous Indians with the more civilized and more wicked Europeans.
57
The Beggar’s Opera
The Beggar’s Opera (The first air) Through all the employments of life, Each neighbour abuses his brother;
Whore and rogue they call husband and wife; All professions be-rogue（欺诈） one another. The priest calls the lawyer a cheat; The lawyer be-knaves the divine; And the statesman, because he’s so great, Thinks his trade as honest as mine. The Three-Penny Opera
The Beggar's Opera (1728), a social satire that two centuries later inspired The Threepenny Opera (1928; trans. 1933) by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and the German-born American composer Kurt Weill.
In the twentieth century, Bertlolt Brecht adapted The Beggar’s Opera into The Three-Penny Opera.
Political and social satires prepared the way for the satirical dramas and novels of Henry Fielding.
John Gay’s contribution to English drama
① introduction of political and social satire to drama ② use of the themes of the robbers and highwaymen ③ employment of the ballad-opera medium ④ numerous charming lyrics in serious subjects George Lilo (1693 -- 1739)
British playwright, whose works include The London Merchant (1731) and Marina (1738).
The London Merchant, or The History of George Barnwell by English playwright George Lillo, 38, 6/22 at London’s Drury Lane Theatre.
Lillo’s play is the first serious prose drama whose chief figures are not of the nobility. George Lilo has been remembered chiefly for his one well-known drama, The London
58
Merchant.
It is a bourgeois tragedy or domestic tragedy. Instead of dealing with the conventional themes of “princes distressed, and scenes of royal woe(悲哀)”, he attempted to tell a story of “private woe”.
It had great influence on the French Enlightener Dederot and the German dramatist Lessing.
Richard Sheridan (1751 -- 1816)
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), British dramatist and politician, whose work is considered the finest development of the comedy of manners in 18th-century England.
Sheridan was born in Dublin, Ireland.
In 1775 three of his comic works— a drama, The Rivals; a farce, St. Patrick's Day; and an opera, The Duenna（保姆）— were produced with great success at Covent Garden, London.
Following his purchase of the Drury Lane Theatre, Sheridan, beginning in 1776, served as manager of the theater and produced several of his witty satires on fashionable society.
Among his works are The School for Scandal (1777) and The Critic (1779). Sheridan became a member of Parliament in 1780.
He then became undersecretary（副）for foreign affairs in 1782, secretary to the treasury in 1783, and treasurer of the navy and a member of the Privy Council in 1806.
Richard Sheridan is the greatest English playwright of the 18th century.
His comedies The Rivals and The School for Scandal serve as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw.
Sheridan's two major trademarks are his exaggerated characters and amusing twists of plot. The Critic
1. The Critic: the best farce according to Lord Byron. The Rivals
59
2. The Rivals: a clever satire on the sentimental and pseudo-romantic fancies of many young women of the upper classes of the day.
3. The School for Scandal: the most important play written by Richard Sheridan. The School for Scandal (1777), with its witty repartee（巧妙的应答）and social intrigues（阴谋），renewed the traditions of the great British comedies of the 17th century.
The School for Scandalscandal2.wav (prologue)
A School for Scandal! Tell me, I beseech you, Needs there a school this modish art to teach you?
The play opens in the “school” itself—the house of scheming（诡计多端的）Lady Sneerwell, who is speaking with her colleague, Snake.
She is soon joined by her partner in mischief, Joseph Surface, as well as fatuous（愚笨的） rumormonger Mrs. Candour（坦白）and goodhearted Maria, whom Joseph Surface is pursuing.
The School for Scandal is considered his masterpiece: a series of gossipy but polished（精炼的）, fast-paced scenes exposing contemporary foibles（弱点）through the actions of the vigorously drawn characters. (Excerpt)
Lady Sneerwell: The paragraph, you say, Mr. Snake, were all inserted?
Snake: They were, madam, and as I copied them myself in a feigned hand, there can be no suspicion whence they come.
Lady Sneerwell: Did you circulate the report of Lady Brittle’s intrigue with Captain Boastall?
Snake: That’s in as fine a train as your ladyship could wish. In the common course of things, I think it must reach Mrs. Clackit’s ears within four and twenty hours; and then, you know, the business is as good as done. The satire is directed at ① the moral degeneracy,
60
② the vicious scandal mongering（散播）, ③ the reckless（不记后果的）life
④ the immorality and hypocrisy of the aristocratic-bourgeois society. Unit 14
The 18-Century Prose The 18-Century Prose I. Samuel Johnson II. James Boswell III. Edward Gibbon IV. Edmund Burke
I. Samuel Johnson (1709 -- 1784)
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer, a major figure in 18th-century literature.
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson, (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer, a major figure in 18th-century literature. Early Life Early Life
Johnson later organized a school in Lichfield, but his educational ventures failed.
At the age of 26 Johnson married Elizabeth Jarvis Porter, a widow about 20 years his senior.
thth
Samuel Johnson
In 1737 Johnson moved to London and began writing for the Gentleman's Magazine.
His long poem The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) marked the beginning of a period of great
activity.
He founded his own periodical, The Rambler, which he published from 1750 to 1752. Samuel Johnson
In 1755 Johnson published his Dictionary of the English Language, which took him eight years to complete.
The dictionary contains about 40,000 entries with vivid, idiosyncratic definitions and an extraordinary range of examples. Later Writings Later Writings
In
17 he and English portraitist Sir Joshua Reynolds founded the Literary Club, which included actor David Garrick, statesman Edmund Burke, playwrights Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and a young Scottish lawyer, James Boswell. Later Writings
Boswell
and Johnson became close friends, and Boswell's monumental Life of Samuel
Johnson (1791) is one of the greatest biographies ever written.
Later Writings
Sometime after 1760 Johnson experienced a second mental breakdown and was helped by his friend Hester Lynch Thrale.
In 1773 he and Boswell traveled to Scotland and the Hebrides, a trip recounted in his Journey
to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775).
61
Later Writings
Johnson's last major work, The Lives of the English Poets, was begun in 1778 and
completed— in ten volumes— in 1781. Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson
Samuel
Johnson was poet, dramatist, prose romancer, biographer, essayist, critic,
lexicographer, and publicist, besides being a great talker and a sort of literary dictator.
The age he lived in has sometimes been called the Age of Johnson.
Samuel Johnson
The Dictionary of the English Language (1755) is the first of its kind in English lexicography.
Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield (Excerpt)
…I had done all I could, and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so
little.
Seven years, My Lord, have now past since I waited in your outward Rooms or was repulsed from your Door, during which it is useless to complain, and have brought it at last to the verge of publication without one Act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour.
Samuel Johnson
Johnson’s Museum
Quotations from Dr. Johnson
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous.
Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed. If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone.
II. James Boswell (1740 -- 1795)
Boswell is known for his Life of Samuel Johnson, the best biography in the English language.
James Boswell
James Boswell (1740-1795), Scottish writer and biographer of the writer Samuel Johnson. James Boswell James Boswell
His most important early work was An Account of Corsica (1768), a sympathetic study of the
struggle for independence of that island. James Boswell James Boswell
Boswell devoted much of his time to compiling detailed records of Johnson's activities and
conversation. James Boswell
After the death of Johnson, Boswell published his Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), which is
generally considered a masterpiece of biography
III. Edward Gibbon (1737 -- 1794)
Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has been considered one of the greatest of historical works in English literature.
62
As literature, it is known for its great style, ornamental yet lucid.
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), English historian, author of the famous work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788). Gibbon was born in Putney.
Edward Gibbon
He studied at the University of Oxford and then in Switzerland.
On his return to England in 1758, Gibbon had determined to devote his life to scholarship and writing. Edward Gibbon
In 17, while visiting Rome, Gibbon decided to write about the city's history. The first volume of Decline and Fall appeared in 1776.
Edward Gibbon
Gibbon was praised for the skill and beauty of his writing.
He ignored outcries against his religious skepticism, but he stoutly defended all attacks on his
facts.
Edward Gibbon
The next two volumes, which bring to an end the period of the Western Empire (to about AD 480), came out in 1781.
The final 1000 years of the empire in the East unfold in his last three volumes, published in
1788.
Edward Gibbon
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788), by 18th-century British historian Edward Gibbon, is considered by many to be essential reading. Edward Gibbon
It is admired not only for its grasp of the history of the Roman empire, but also for such
qualities as its breadth of scholarship, its eloquence, and its wit.
Edward Gibbon
The book spans 13 centuries, from the time of Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117) to the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Quotations from Gibbon
History is little more than the register of the crime, follies and misfortunes of mankind.
The style of the author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of
language is the fruit of exercise.
It is the peculiar felicity of the youth that the unpleasing objects and events seldom make a
deep or lasting impression; it forgets the past, enjoys the present and anticipates the future.
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
IV. Edmund Burke (1729 -- 1797)
Edmund Burke was an Irish-born British politician and writer.
Edmund Burke
Famous for his oratory, he pleaded the cause of the American colonists in Parliament and was instrumental in developing the notions of party responsibility and a loyal opposition within the parliamentary system. Edmund Burke
63
His major work, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), voices his opposition to the excesses of the French experience. Edmund Burke
Burke was first of all a practical politician, but he has been known as a prominent literary figure chiefly on account of two of his works:
the treatise on aesthetics, On the Sublime and the Beautiful,
and his popular book on the French Revolution, Reflections on the Revolution in France.
Review
I. Samuel Johnson II. James Boswell III. Edward Gibbon IV. Edmund Burke
Unit 15 The Late 18th-Century Poetry
I. The Middle Decades II. The 60’s and 70’s III. The Last Two Decades
I. The Middle Decades James Thomson (1700 -- 48):
1．The Seasons, on the theme of nature, the first significant poem in the tradition of pre-romanticism
James Thomson (1700-1748), Scottish poet, who was a forerunner of romanticism in the age of classicism.
He was born in Ednam, Roxburgh County, Scotland, the son of a minister, and educated at the University of Edinburgh.
His best-known poem, The Seasons (1726-1730; revised edition, 1744), prefigured the romantic idealization of nature and served as an inspiration to William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Thomson offered a unique image of nature in his topographical (地形学德) poetry but couched his descriptions in highly artificial diction.
Most authorities regard The Castle of Indolence（好逸恶劳）(1748) as Thomson's finest work; it consists of two cantos in Spenserian verse about the pleasures and pitfalls（缺陷）of idleness.
Among Thomson's other writings are the poem in blank verse Liberty (1734-1736) and a number of tragic plays.
The masque（假面舞会） Alfred (1740), written in collaboration with his friend David Mallet, contains his famous song “Rule Britannia.”
When Britain first, at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure（苍穹） main, This was the charter of her land, And guardian angels sung the strain: Rule, Britannia! Britannia rules the waves! Britons never shall be slaves.
Alfred. Act ii. Sc.5.
2．Edward Young (1683 -- 1765):
He was an English poet, known for his dramatic monologue Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality (1742-1745).
Night Thoughts, a didactic poem of about 9000 lines. Excerpts from Night Thoughts At thirty, man suspects himself a fool; Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan… Woes cluster, Rare are solitary woes;
They love a train, they tread each other’s heel… While man is growing, life is in decrease; And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb. Our birth is nothing but our death begun. 3. William Collins (1721 -- 59)
British poet, best known for his melancholy Odes (1747).
Ode to the Evening, showing the poet’s great zest for the beauty of nature. 4. Thomas Gray (1716 -- 71)
Thomas Gray (1716-1771), English poet, who was a forerunner of the romantic movement.
He was born in London and educated at Eton College and the University of Cambridge.
65
In 1750 he finished the poem for which he is best known, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” and sent it to his friend, the author Horace Walpole, at whose insistence it was published in 1751.
Since that time the work has remained a favorite. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (Excerpt)
The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. II. The 60s and the 70s
1. James MacPherson (1736 -- 96):
Ossian poems, supposed to be composed by Ossian, a Gaelic (盖尔人) warrior and bard of the 3rd century, but in fact mere inventions of MacPherson’s.
James Macpherson (1736-96), Scottish poet and scholar, who composed the “Ossian” poems.
He was born in Ruthven, Inverness County, and educated at the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
In 1760 he launched his career with Fragments of Ancient Poetry Collected in the Highlands of Scotland. He soon followed with Fingal (1762), Temora (1763), and The Works of Ossian (1765).
All these books purported to be translations of poems by the 3rd-century Gaelic poet Ossian, collected by Macpherson.
Various stylistic, descriptive, and emotional elements, however, apparently at variance with those of known early Gaelic poetry, led to a long controversy that resulted in the conclusion that Macpherson's poems are not actual translations but original compositions based to some extent on Gaelic poetry.
Their melancholy spirit, captivating rhythm, and epic imagery greatly influenced romantic literature and other art forms in Europe, particularly in Napoleonic France.
In the Ossian poems, their melancholy spirit, captivating (迷人的) rhythm, and epic
66
imagery greatly influenced romantic literature and other art forms in Europe, particularly in Napoleonic France.
2. Thomas Percy (1729 – 1811):
the publication of his Reliques(遗风) of Ancient English Poetry in 1765
Thomas Percy (1729-1811), English poet, antiquary, and bishop, born in Bridgnorth, and educated at the University of Oxford.
In 1769 Percy became chaplain (,医院,贵族等的牧师) to George III and in 1782 bishop of Dromore, in Ireland.
He became famous as the editor of Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (3 vol., 1765), a collection of English and Scottish ballads.
The Reliques spurred a revival of interest in folk poetry and inspired the romantic poets in England and Germany.
As a poet, Percy was best known for The Hermit of Warkworth and the ballad O Nanny, Wilt Thou Gang with Me?
Scholars gave his name to the Percy Society (1840-52) for the publication of old ballads. Excerpts from Percy’s Poems Every white will have its black, And every sweet its sour.
Weep no more, lady, weep no more, Thy sorrow is in vain;
For violets pluckt, the sweetest showers Will ne’er make grow again. 3. Thomas Chatterton (1752 -- 70):
the Rowley poems, poems written by an invented poet-monk, Thomas Rowley Thomas Chatterton (1752-70), English poet, born in Bristol.
As a boy he learned to read from an old, Gothic-lettered Bible, and studied medieval inscriptions and manuscripts.
Not finding the study of law congenial(适合的), Chatterton went to London in 1770 to engage in literary work.
67
He wrote at a furious rate, producing squibs, political essays, satiric poems, tales, and letters.
His work earned him little, however, and, despairing, he eventually committed suicide. The Rowley poems are characterized by rich invention, intensely romantic imagination, and sensitive feeling.
They greatly influenced the work of several of the English romantic poets. III. The Last Two Decades 1. William Cowper (1731-1800):
The Task, a poem of 5000 lines, in the tradition of sentimentalism and pre-romanticism. William Cowper (1731-1800), English poet, who wrote about simple pleasures of country life and expressed a deep concern with human cruelty and suffering.
He was born in Great Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire.
Cowper suffered periods of acute depression. Upon his release from an asylum, he lived with the evangelical (信福音的) cleric Morley Unwin and his wife, Mary.
In 1773 Cowper was again seized by a severe despondency (失望), rooted in religious doubts and fears that plagued him all his life.
The care of Mrs. Unwin, who encouraged him to compose poetry, helped him to recover. He collaborated with the curate (副牧师) John Newton in writing Olney Hymns (1779). Cowper is best known for the humorous ballad “The Diverting (有趣的,令人快乐的) History of John Gilpin” (1783) and the poem praising rural life, The Task (1785), written in a conversational style of blank verse.
After the death of Mrs. Unwin, he wrote The Castaway (被抛弃的人) (1779), an expression of his spiritual torment.
Verses
I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute; From the center all round to the sea
I am lord of the fowl (家禽) and the brute (牲畜).
solitude! where are the charms That sages (圣人) have seen in thy face?
68
Than reign in this horrible place.
I am out of humanity's reach. I must finish my journey alone, Never hear the sweet music of speech; I start at the sound of my own.
The beasts that roam over the plain My form with indifference see; They are so unacquainted with man, Their tameness is shocking to me.
2. George Crabbe (1754 -- 1832):
British poet noted for his simple, realistic poems of middle-class life, including The Village (1783).
George Crabbe Three realistic poems: The Village The Paris Register The Borough
Crabbe’s poetry, which by then was famous, was notable for unsentimental, realistic descriptions of nature and of English village life.
His poetry includes The Village (1783), which was admired for its realism and honesty. The poem's dark tone and lack of sentimentality were unconventional (非传统的 ). Other works include The Newspaper (1785), The Parish Register (1807), The Borough (1810), and Tales of the Hall (1819).
Throughout the romantic movement, Crabbe maintained his realistic style and unflinching (坚定的) observations of rural life
Review
The Middle Decades The 60’s and 70’s The Last Two Decades
69
Unit 16 Burns and Blake I. Robert Burns II. William Blake Robert Burns
Robert Burns (1759-96), Scottish poet and writer of traditional Scottish folk
songs, whose works are known and loved wherever the English language is read.
Burns was born in Alloway, Ayreshire.
Although poverty limited his formal education, Burns read widely in English
literature and the Bible and learned to read French.
His father encouraged his self-education, and his mother acquainted him
with Scottish folk songs, legends, and proverbs.
Burns's later literary output consisted almost entirely of songs, both original
compositions and adaptations of traditional Scottish ballads and folk songs.
He contributed some 200 songs to Scots Musical Museum (6 volumes,
1783-1803.)
Beginning in 1792 Burns wrote about 100 songs and some humorous verse
for Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs.
Burns transmuted traditional folk songs of Scotland into great poetry,
immortalizing Scotland's countryside and humble farm life.
He was a keen and discerning satirist who reserved his sharpest barbs for
sham, hypocrisy, and cruelty.
He was also a master of the verse-narrative technique, as exemplified in
“Tam o'Shanter.”
Finally, his love songs are unsurpassed.
Robert Burns has been considered the greatest Scottish poet. He is a many-sided genius: (1) a lyricist; (2) a patriotic poet; (3) a writer of political verse; (4) a satirist;
70
(5) a great master of language; (6) a peasant poet.
His poetry should not only be appreciated for its beautiful lyricism, but also
be appreciated for its clear hatred and affection.
Robert Burns Themes: friendship, Scottish life, patriotism, liberty, religion, nature. A Red, Red Rose A Red, Red Rose
O, my luve is like a red, red rose, That’s newly sprung in June. O, my luve is like the melodie, That’s sweetly play’d in tune. Scots, Wha Hae
Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce as aften led, Welcome to your gory bed Or to victorie! Excerpt from Braveheart William Wallace (1272 –1305) Auld Lang Syne1
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days o’ lang syne!
71
Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet For auld lang syne!
William Blake
English poet and artist William Blake infused his poetry with mysticism and
complex symbolism.
Blake explored issues of divine love in the collection Songs of Innocence
(17), while he considered the nature of evil in Songs of Experience (1794).
William Blake is an important English poet at the turn of the 19th century. He was deeply influenced by the democratic thoughts of the French
Revolution.
Blake should be remembered chiefly for his bitter social criticism, for his fight
for freedom, and for his lyricism.
His poetry has generally been divided into two groups: (1) early lyrical poems
and (2) later Prophetic Books.
The Songs of Experience is certainly the most important of all Blake’s poetry. The Songs of Experience is a much maturer work than The Poetical Sketches
and The Songs of Innocence, and it does not have the great handicap of obscurity of The Prophetic Books.
The most outstanding poem in The Songs of Experience is “London”. London London
I wander thro' each charter'd street.
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
72
In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban,
The Chimney Sweeper
A little black thing among the snow, Crying ‘weep! Weep!’ in notes of woe! “Where are thy father and mother, say?”— “They are both gone up to the Church to pray. The Holy Thursday Is this a holy thing to see In a rich and fruitful land, Babes reduc’d to misery, Fed with cold and usurous hand? Nor poverty the mind appal.
Blake also juxtaposed poems from the first collection with corresponding
poems from the second.
For example, The Lamb from the first collection provides a gentle counterpart
to The Tyger , from the second.
The Lamb (17) is one of the plates illustrating Songs of Innocence, a series
of poems by the English poet, painter, and engraver William Blake.
Blake made the illustrations for this collection of poems by combining
metal-relief etching with watercolor painting.
His unique style was imaginative and visionary and was a radical departure
from the type of art generally produced in the late 18th century.
The Lamb The Tyger1 The Tyger The Sick Rose O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm, That flies in the night,
73
In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy; And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy
Among the Prophetic Books, The French Revolution is a great poem depicting
with a true progressive inclination an important revolutionary episode in modern European history.
Auguries of Innocence Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born. Every morn and every night Some are born to sweet delight. Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.
William Blake should be remembered chiefly for his Songs of Experience in
which he poured out his bitter criticism on the reality of his day, but also for the topical references to fight for freedom and the expose of tyranny in The French Revolution, and for his great lyricism with with these poems and these great passages are written.
Review I. Robert Burns II. William Blake English Renaissance
The Renaissance was a European phenomenon. It had its origin in north Italy in
the fourteenth century, and spread northward to other European countries—to France, to Germany, to the Low Countries, and lastly to England. It revived the study of Roman and Greek classics and marked the beginning of bourgeois revolution. During the period of English Renaissance England enjoyed stability and prosperity. It became the strong power in the world and the mistress on the seas. The English Renaissance encouraged the Reformation of the Church. English King, Henry VIII, who started the Reformation, declared the break with Rome and became head of the
74
English Church. Thus Catholicism was got rid of in England. Protestantism was established.
The increasing of cloth industry stimulated the greed of the moneyed classes to seize more and more land out of the hand of the peasants. This is known as the Enclosure Movement. As a result of the movement, thousands upon thousands of peasants lost their land and became hired laborers for the merchants.
In the Renaissance Period, scholars and educations who called themselves Humanists began to emphasize the capacities of the human mind and the achievements of human culture, in contrast to the medieval emphasis on God and contempt for the things of this world. So humanism became the keynote of English Renaissance.
English Renaissance is usually divided into three periods: 1) The first period called the beginning of the Renaissance started in 1516 and came into an end in 1578. 2) The second period knows as the flowering time of the Renaissance was from 1578 to 1625. 3) The third period between 1625 and 1660 is the epilogue of the Renaissance.
In the second period, Queen Elizabeth ruled the country. For this reason it is also called Elizabethan Period. William Shakespeare, the greatest playwright of England, lived in the Elizabethan Period. So in the history of English literature, this period is often referred to as the Age of William Shakespeare.
English Literature in the Renaissance Period
English Literature in the Renaissance Period is usually regarded as the highlight in the history of English literature. In the second period of English Renaissance, that is, in Elizabethan Period, English literature developed with a great speed and made a magnificent achievement. The greatest and most distinctive achievement of Elizabethan literature is the drama. Thus appeared a group of excellent dramatists. They are John Lyly, Thomas Lyd, George Peele, Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. Next to the drama is the Lyrical Poetry. Elizabethan Poetry is remarkable for its variety, its freshness, its youthfulness and its romantic feeling. A group of great poets appeared, and a large number of noble poetry was produced. In that period, writing poetry became a fashion. Queen Elizabeth herself was a poet. She suggested subjects and rewarded poets. Her ministers and courtiers obeyed her example and tried to rival each other in shaping beautiful verses. The gentry, as a matter of fact, also followed the example; and after the gentry, all educated people. The universities made themselves particularly busy with poetry. England then became
“a nest of singing birds”. The famous poets of that period were Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, Philip Sydney and Edmond Spenser. Since English Renaissance Period was an age of poetry and drama, and was not an age of prose. There were not so many prose writers. In the beginning period, the great humanist, Thomas More, wrote his famous prose work “Utopia”, which maybe thought of as the first literary masterpiece of the English Renaissance. In Elizabethan Period, Francis Bacon wrote more than fifty excellent essays, which make him one of the best essayists in English
75
literature.
NO。1
1. Anglo-Saxon Conquest
In the ancient times, there were three tribes called Angles, Saxons and Jutes in the northern Europe. In the 5th century, they conquered Britain and settled down there. After driving the native people into the deep mountains of Wales and Scotland, they divided the whole island among themselves. Angles settled in the east midland, and built the kingdom of East Angles, Saxons took the southern part of the island and set up some small kingdoms as Wessex, Essex and Sussex. Jutes occupied the southeastern corner of the island. Gradually seven kingdoms arose in Britain. By the 7th century, these small kingdoms were combined into a united kingdom called England.
Angles, Saxons and Jutes usually known as Anglo-Saxons are the first Englishmen. Language spoken by them is called the Old English, which is the foundation of English language and literature. With the Anglo-Saxon settlement in Britain, the history of English literature began.
2. Characteristics of Anglo-Saxon Literature
Anglo-Saxon literature, that is, the Old English literature is almost exclusively a verse literature in oral form. It could be passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. Is creators for the most part are unknown. It was only given a written form long after its composition. 3. Alfred the Great (848-901)
Alfred the Great, king of Wessex kingdom, is another important figure in prose writing of Anglo-Saxon period. During his reign, he tried every means to improve the state of education, such as founding colleges, and importing teachers from Europe. He was a well-known translator. He translated some important Latin works into English. But of his works, the most important is The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. This book records the main happenings of the Anglo-Saxon period. It is the best monument of the Old English prose. 4． Norman Conquest
The Norman was originally a hardy race of sea rovers living in Scandinavia. In the 10th century, they conquered a part of northern France which has been called Normandy, and settled down there. They adopted French as their language and embraced Christianity. They became renowned for their learning, their military prowess and their organizing ability.
The Duke of Normandy William the Great was an able general and statesman. In 1066, he led the Norman army to invade England. The two armies met at Hastings. Finally the English army was defeated, and William became the King of England.
After the conquest, feudal system was established in English society. The new king ruled England with a high hand. He made a thorough job of taking over the country, and had everything inventoried. William saw himself as the owner of the country. He owned the land and everything in it. The feudal social structure in England was just like the pyramid in Egypt. At the top of it was the King William and below him were his noblemen such as barons and knights.
76
5． The Influence of the Norman Conquest upon English language and literature
After the conquest, the body of customs and ideals known as chivalry was introduced by the Normans into England. The knightly code, the romantic interest in women, tenderness and reverence paid to Virgin Mary were reflected in the literature.
With the coming of the Normans, the Anglo-Saxons sank to a position of abjectness. Their language was made a despised thing. French words of warfare and chilvary, art and luxury, science and law, began to come into the English language. Thus three languages existed in England at that time. The Normans spoke French, the lower class spoke English, and the scholars and clergymen used Latin.
The literature was varied in interest and extensive in range. The Normans began to write histories or chronicles. Most of the books were written in Latin or French.
The prevailing form of literature in the feudal England was the Romance.
NO、2
Medieval English Literature 1． Norman Conquest
The Norman was originally a hardy race of sea rovers living in Scandinavia. In the 10th century, they conquered a part of northern France which has been called Normandy, and settled down there. They adopted French as their language and embraced Christianity. They became renowned for their learning, their military prowess and their organizing ability.
The Duke of Normandy William the Great was an able general and statesman. In 1066, he led the Norman army to invade England. The two armies met at Hastings. Finally the English army was defeated, and William became the King of England.
After the conquest, feudal system was established in English society. The new king ruled England with a high hand. He made a thorough job of taking over the country, and had everything inventoried. William saw himself as the owner of the country. He owned the land and everything in it. The feudal social structure in England was just like the pyramid in Egypt. At the top of it was the King William and below him were his noblemen such as barons and knights. 2． The Influence of the Norman Conquest upon English language and literature
After the conquest, the body of customs and ideals known as chivalry was introduced by the Normans into England. The knightly code, the romantic interest in women, tenderness and reverence paid to Virgin Mary were reflected in the literature.
With the coming of the Normans, the Anglo-Saxons sank to a position of abjectness. Their language was made a despised thing. French words of warfare and chilvary, art and luxury, science and law, began to come into the English language. Thus three languages existed in England at that time. The Normans spoke French, the lower class spoke English, and the scholars and clergymen used Latin.
The literature was varied in interest and extensive in range. The Normans began to write histories or chronicles. Most of the books were written in Latin or French.
The prevailing form of literature in the feudal England was the Romance.
77
The Romances in Anglo-Norman period 1. Essential Features of the Romance
The romance was the prevailing form of literature in the Middle Ages. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse, sometimes in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. Its essential features are:
1) It lacks general resemblance to truth or reality.
2) It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues. 3) It contains perilous adventures more or less remote from ordinary life. 4) It lays emphasis on supreme devotion to a fair lady.
5) The central character of the romance is the knight, a man of noble birth
skilled in the use of weapons. He is commonly described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments, or fighting for his lord in battle. He is devoted to the church and the king.
From the romances we see an epitome of the Middle Ages. The romance prospered for about 300 years (1200-1500). It was written for the noble class, so it had nothing to do with the common people. 2. Romance Cycles
The enormous number of the romances fall into three cycles or three groups: the “matters of Britain”, the “matters of France”, and the “matters of Rome”.
1) The matters of France deal largely with the exploits of Charlemagne, often known as Charles the Great, King of Frank and Emperor of the West Empire. The famous romance of this group is Chanson de Roland.
2) The Matters of Rome deal with ales from Greek and Roman sources. Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), King of Macedonia and conqueror of Greece, Egypt, India and Persian Empire is the favorite hero of this group. Besides this, Trojan War is also dealt with in this group.
3) The matters of Britain mainly deal with the exploits of King Arthur and his knights
of the Round Table. The most interesting of all Arthurian romances are those of the Gawain cycle. The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the culmination of the Arthurian romances. 3. Social Significance of The Canterbury Tales
In his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives us a true-to life picture of the society of his time. Taking the stand of the rising bourgeoisie, he affirms men and opposes the dogma of asceticism preached by the Church. As a forerunner of humanism, he praises man’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life. His tales expose and satirize the evils of his time. They attack the degeneration of the noble, the heartlessness of the judge, the corruption of the Church and so on.
Living in a transitional period, Chaucer is not entirely devoid of medieval prejudices. He is religious himself. There is nothing revolutionary in his writing, though he lived in a period of peasant uprising. While praising man’s right to earthly happiness, he sometimes likes to crack a rough joke and paint naturalistic pictures of sexual life. These are Chaucer’s weak points. But these are, however, of secondary importance compared with his achievement as a great poet and story-teller. 4. Features of Chaucer’s Writing
78
Chaucer wrote in vivid and exact language. His poetry is full of vigor and swiftness. Chaucer’s contribution to English poetry is that he introduced from France the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter (which was later called the “heroic couplet”) to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse. Chaucer is the first great poet who wrote in the current English language. He wrote his poetry by using the East Midland dialect of England, the dialect of London. So he did much in making the dialect of London, the foundation for modern English speech and establishing English as the literary language of the country.
Chaucer’s style in The Canterbury tales is remarkably flexible. His prose, like his vocabulary, is easy and informal. Chaucer is a great satirist, but he is almost never bitter when he pokes fun at the foibles and weaknesses of people.
79
因篇幅问题不能全部显示，请点此查看更多更全内容
Copyright © 2019- huatuo9.cn 版权所有 赣ICP备2023008801号-1
违法及侵权请联系：TEL:199 18 7713 E-MAIL:2724546146@qq.com
本站由北京市万商天勤律师事务所王兴未律师提供法律服务