（1） Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama. （2） two influences.
a. the classics: classical in form and English in content; b. native or popular drama. （3） the University Wits.
2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.
（1） Life: first interested in classical poetry—then in drama. （2） Major works a. Tamburlaine; b. The Jew of Malta;
c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. （3） The significance of his plays. V. William Shakespeare 1. Life
（1） 1564, Stratford-on-Avon; （2） Grammar School; （3） Queen visit to Castle; （4） marriage to Anne Hathaway;
（5） London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor; （6） the 1st Folio, Quarto;
（7） Retired, son—Hamnet; H. 1616.
2. Dramatic career
3. Major plays-men-centered.
（1） Romeo and Juliet——tragic love and fate （2） The Merchant of Venice. Good over evil. Anti-Semitism. （3） Henry IV. National unity. Falstaff.
（4） Julius Caesar
Republicanism vs. dictatorship. （5） Hamlet Revenge Good/evil. （6） Othello Diabolic character jealousy
gap between appearance and reality. （7） King Lear Filial ingratitude （8） Macbeth Ambition vs. fate.
（9） Antony and Cleopatra. Passion vs. reason （10） The Tempest
Reconciliation; reality and illusion. 3. Non-dramatic poetry
（1） Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece. （2） Sonnets: a. theme: fair, true, kind.
b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.
c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet. d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg. VI.Ben Jonson
1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the ―literary king‖ （Sons of Ben） 2.contribution:
（1） the idea of ―humour‖.
（2） an advocate of classical drama and a forerunner of classicism in English literature. 3. Major plays
（1） Everyone in His Humour—―humour‖; three unities. （2） Volpone the Fox
Chapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century I.A Historical Background
II.The Overview of the Literature （1640-1688） 1. The revolution period （1） The metaphysical poets; （2） The Cavalier poets.
（3） Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction 2. The restoration period.
（1） The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. （school of Ben Jonson）
（2） The ideals of impartial investigation and scientific experimentation promoted by the newly founded Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge （1662） were influential in the development of clear and simple prose as an instrument of rational communication.
（3） The great philosophical and political treatises of the time emphasize rationalism. （4） The restoration drama. （5） The Age of Dryden. III.John Milton
1. Life: educated at Cambridge—visiting the continent—involved into the
revolution—persecuted—writing epics. 2. Literary career.
（1） The 1st period was up to 1641, during which time he is to be seen chiefly as a son of the humanists and Elizabethans, although his Puritanism is not absent. L'Allegre and IL Pens eroso （1632） are his early masterpieces, in which we find Milton a true offspring of the Renaissance, a scholar of exquisite taste and rare culture. Next came Comus, a masque. The greatest of early creations was Lycidas, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King.
（2） The second period is from 1641 to 1654, when the Puritan was in such complete ascendancy that he wrote almost no poetry. In 1641, he began a long period of pamphleteering for the puritan cause. For some 15 years, the Puritan in him alone ruled his writing. He sacrificed his poetic ambition to the call of the liberty for which Puritans were fighting. （3） The third period is from 1655 to 1671, when humanist and Puritan have been fused into an exalted entity. This period is the greatest in his literary life, epics and some famous sonnets. The three long poems are the fruit of the long contest within Milton of Renaissance tradition and his Puritan faith. They form the greatest accomplishments of any English poet except Shakespeare. In Milton alone, it would seem, Puritanism could not extinguish the lover of beauty. In these works we find humanism and Puritanism merged in magnificence.
刘炳善《英国文学简史》完整版笔记（免费）
