Early and Medieval English Literature: ( 5 century-1485)
Beowulf: An English Epic
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Three major poets in 14 century England
Geoffrey Chaucer: the father of English poetry, being famous for his The Canterbury Tales William Langland (c.1332-c.1440) and his poem The Vision of Piers Plowman (c.1362) The Gawain-Poet: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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Renaissance (late 15 century-early 17 century; an age of poetry and drama)
What is Renaissance?
It is the period of the revival of ancient Greek and Roman cultural heritage and the rebirth of humanism (A system of thought that centers on human beings and their values, capacities, and worth.) roughly the 14th through the 16th century, marking the transition from medieval to modern times.
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Christopher Marlowe and his famous tragedy Doctor Faustus(1604)(p74) William Shakespeareand his four greatest tragedies: Hamlet(1601) Othello (1604) King Lear (1605) Macbeth (1605) And his famous sonnets:Edmund Spenser and his famous poem The Faerie Queene (1590; 1596)
Seventeenth Century English Literature
John Donne (1572—1631): a founder of Metaphysical school of poetry; Jonne’s conceits; Donne’s themes;
can analyze his poems: The Flea; Song; and A Valediction-Forbidden MourningJohn Milton (1608—1674) and his famous poem Paradise Lost《失乐园》(1667) John Bunyan (1628—1688) and his The Pilgrim Progress’ｓ《天路历程》(1678)
Eighteenth Century English Literature (Enlightenment) Enlightenment:
It is a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe including England, Germany especially France where there were Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau in 18th century and in Russia in the 19th century.
a. Neo-classicism (1688---the end of the 1730新古典主义’s) What is neo-classicism?
A type of classicism, which draws its name because they regarded classical literature of ancient Greek and Roman writers as models. It dominated English literature from 1660 to the 18th century. They believed artistic ideas should be orderly, logic, accurate and restrained emotion. Poetry should be lyrical, epical, didactic, satiric or dramatic. Prose should be precise, direct, smooth, and flexible. Drama should be written in heroic couplet, the three unities of time, space and action should be strictly observed. Actually Dryden was the first person who advocated it.Neo-classicists
Alexander Pope(1688-1744) Jonathan Addison ( 1672-1719) Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729)
Daniel Defoe (1660?-1731) and his novel:
The Life and Adventurers of Robinson Crusoe (1719) p126 Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) and his novel:
Gulliver’s Travels (1726)p133 His prose work: A Modest Proposal
His writing style: witty, humorous and satirical b: Sentimentalism (1740’ｓ-1750’s )感伤主义
The term is used in two important senses in the study of literature. The first is overindulgence in emotion, the second is optimistic overemphasis of the goodness of humanity. The most typical sentimental novelist of the 18th century should be Laurence Sterne. Sentimentalists Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) and his novel Pamela or Virtues Rewarded(1740)Henry Fielding (1707-1754) and his masterwork: The History of Tom Jones (1749)c: Pre-romanticists (the last decade of the 18th century )
William Blake (1757-1827) and his collections of poems: Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794) Can analyze his poems: The Sick Rose; The Tiger;
Robert Burns (1759-1796), a plowman poet, famous for his poems: A Red Red Rose Auld Lang Syne
19 century English Literature
A Romanticism in nineteenth century
What is Romanticism?
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a. Western Europe including Germany in late 18th century, England a little late in late 18th century and the first decade of the 19th century and in France in the early 19th century, with Victor Hugo and some writers. b. a literary movement
c. The romantic movement, taken as a whole, expressed a more or less negative attitude of the different social classes (unjust social status) that came with the industrial revolution and the growing of the bourgeoisie. d. Characteristics: (P171)
Spirit and emotion Individual
Right and dignity of individual
Poetry in Romanticism
Lake Poets
William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey lived and knew one another in the last few years of the 18th century in the district of the great lake in Northwestern England. They criticized the industrialized capitalist society by advocating the return to the patriarchal society of the past.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) He and Samuel Taylor Coleridge jointly published Lyrical Ballades 《抒情歌谣》,which marked the separation with traditional way of writing poem (neoclassicist), and beginning of Romanticism.
His poetic theories:
Poetry is spontaneous; all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. Nature inspires poetry.
Common subjects can be poetic.
His poems:
Ode to Duty 《责任颂》
The Solitary Reaper 《孤独的割麦女》
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud; 《我象一片孤独的云》My Heart Leaps Up《我的心在高高的飘扬》Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) combines the natural with the supernatural, the ordinary with the extraordinary Kubla Khan (1816)
George Gordon Byron(1788-1824) Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Don Juan《唐·璜》(his masterpiece) 1818-1923, ItalyTypical Byronic hero:
a proud revolutionary figure, rising single-handed against government or religion or moral society, having elements of genius, tragedy, and sex appeal Percy Bysshe Shelly (1792-1822)
Lyrical drama( Masterpiece): Prometheus Unbound 《解放了的普洛米休斯》is adapted from Aeschylus (a great Greek tragedian)s famous play ’Prometheus Bound His famous short poems:
Ode to the West Wind《西风颂》’s famous line: O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
冬天来了,春天还会远吗?
A Dirge《挽歌》To a Skylark《致云雀》
John Keats （1795-1821）Short poems: a beautiful world of imagination as opposed to the sordid reality of his day
Ode to Autumn 《秋颂》
Ode on a Grecian Urn《希腊古瓷颂》and its famous line: Beauty is truth, truth is beauty
美即真, 真即美
Ode to a Nightingale《夜莺颂》
Novels in Romanticism:
Walter Scott (1771-1832) The father of the historical novel, famous for his Waverley novels, Ivanhoe
in particular.
Women novelists:
Robert Southey, the Lake Poet’s anger at women writers: “Literature is not the business of a woman’s life, and it cannot be.”Jane Austen (1775-1817) 1 Sense and Sensibility (1811)
2. Pride and Prejudice (1813) (her masterwork) p204
B. Realism in nineteenth century
Historical Background in Realism(1832-1918)
1 The years between 1832 and the early 50
’s are marked by one important event, the Chartist Movement(宪章运动)a
People’s Charter.(人民宪章)
movement for democratic social and political reform and its principles is reflected in
2 The 30’s and 40’marked s the early development of Victorian literature with the beginning of reign of Queen Victoria.（1837-1901）
3 The 50’and s 60’and s early 70’s were a period of comparative social stability in England, with big expansions in industry and commerce and colonial exploitation.
4 In the late 70s and the early 80s,British agriculture produced serious economic crises.
went bankrupt and lost her industrial monopoly, which
5 These crises grew more serious in the early years of 20th century, and England was no longer the most important workshop of the world by 1900, being surpassed by U.S.A. and Germany.
6 In 1914, the First World War broke out. The War ended until 1918, and British was much weakened though she won the war.
Novels in realism: 1 Charles Dickens:
subjects: most of his literary materials are from his life experience; the misfortunes of the poor novels:
Pickwick Papers (1836-1837) David Copperfield (1850), his masterpiece, being considered as an autobiographical novel p229 Bleak House﹙1852﹚Hard Times﹙1854﹚Little Dorrit﹙1857﹚A Tale of Two Cities﹙1859﹚Great Expectation﹙1861﹚
2 William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)
topics in his works: the middle- and upper-class life works:
Vanity Fair (1847-1848)《名利场》: Thackeray’s masterwork, the title of which is derived from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. P235 3.Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) Jane Eyre《简爱》(1847) p211-212 4 Emily Bronte (1818-1848) Wuthering Heights (1847)《呼啸山庄》p213-214
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5 George Eliot (1819-1880)the most prolific woman writer in 19-century England Adam Bede (1859)《亚当·比德》The Mill on the Floss (1860)《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》6. George Meridith (1828-1909) The Egoist (1879) 《利己主义者》7.Thomas Hardy 1840-1928 Tess of the D’Urbervilles(1891) 《德伯家的苔丝》p240 Jude the Obscure (1895) 《无名的裘德》
Twentieth Century English Literature
Twentieth Century Novels (Part one) D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)
Sons and Lovers《儿子和情人》1913 The Rainbow《虹》1915 Women in Love 《恋爱中的女人》1920 Lady Chatterley’s Lover 《恰特莱夫人的情人》1928 4. Stream of Consciousness : 意识流p349
A literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they develop. 意识流一种文学技巧，表现人物思想或感情的发展
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