英国⽂学简史重点汇总及简答题（完整）
英国⽂学简史
Conquests & Influences
A. Early period: The Roman conquest
(1) The Roman civilization 罗马⽂明
(2) Christianity 基督教
(3) Flouring (兴旺) of towns along military roads
B. The English conquest:
(1) Three tribes : the Angles, Saxons and Jutes
(2) Tribal society-feudalism 社会封建制度
C. Medieval period: The Danish and Norman conquest
(1) The French-Speaking Normans under Duke William came in 1066
(2) Establishment of feudalism 封建制度
(3) French words came to English
D. Anglo-Saxon Poetry (499-1066)
1.Anglo-Saxons: the ancestors of today’s Englishmen
2.The beginning of history of English literature
3.Features: Alliteration 头韵Rhymes metaphors押韵的⽐喻Understatements保守陈述
4.The only great work: Beowulf
【Beowulf】贝奥武夫( A folk song or poem )
1. A national epic (史诗般的作品) of the English people.
2. Pagan (异教徒的) poetry & No reprentative figure(没有代表性⼈物)
3. A folk legend brought to England by Anglo-Saxon from Northern Europe.
香港大学研究生申请4. Prais man’s energy, intellect and love of life; and expos the social vices. (社会的⿊暗⾯)
Features of Beowulf: 1.Alliteration 2.Metaphors 隐喻3.Understatements
The significance of Beowulf
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1.This glorious (辉煌的) epic prents us a vivid picture of the life of Anglo-Saxon people and highly prais the brave and courageous spirit of the fighting against the vices.
2.The epic reflects the situations the pagan tribalism (部落⽂化) and of the era of the Christianized (基督教化) feudal society.
3.The epic gives the vivid portrayal (写照) of a great national hero, strong and
网络营销的层次courageous people and his kinfolk. (亲属)
Feudal England
1.The chief features of the society was division into two class: Landlords and peasants. ( 地主和农
民)
2.The peasants’ rising shook the feudal system in England to the root.
The Romance
1.The code of manners and morals of a knight is known as chivalry (骑⼠精神).
2.The English versions of romances were translated from French or Latin.
3.The romance of King Arthur is the most important for the history of English literature.
4.The romance’s culmination (顶点) in 《Sir Gawain and the Green Knight》国王与他的圆桌骑⼠(metrical romance )
5.The romance’s summing up in （托马斯·马洛⾥）Tho mas Malory’s《Le Morte D’Arthur》亚瑟王之死(in English pro散⽂)
6.《Le Morte D’ Arthur》is a collection of stories about King Arthur, and translated from French by Sir Thomas Malory.【Langland】朗格兰
《Piers the plowman》农民⽪尔斯written by William Langland shows the existence of English popular literature.
The English Ballads 英国民谣耀华国际
Ballad：a story told in song, usually in four-line stanzas, with the cond and fourth lines rhymed. （The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad.）
The various ballads of Robin Hood(罗宾汉) are gathered into a collection called: The Geste of Robin Hood 罗宾汉事迹【Chaucer】乔叟（the founder of English poetry）
The three periods of C haucer’s career
1. Works translated from French, as《The Romaunt of the Ro》玫瑰传奇
pride and prejudice2. Works adapted from the Italian, as《Troilus and Criyde》特洛伊罗斯与克丽西达
3.《The Canterbury Tales》坎特伯雷故事集which is purely English
The Canterbury Tales’ Social Significance
1. A true-to-life picture of Chaucer’s time
2. Taking the stand of the rising bourgeoisie资产阶级, Chaucer affirms men’s rights to pursue their earthly happiness and oppos the dogma of asceticism preached by the church
3. As a forerunner先驱者of humanism, he pr ais man’s energy, intellect and love of life
4. Attack social evils of his time
Chaucer’s Language，now called Middle English, is vivid and exact. He is a master of world-pictures. His ver (诗) is among the smoothest in English. There are pages where, in spite of trifling (微不⾜道的) differences in spelling and grammar, hardly a single word will offer difficulties to a man of tolerable (可容忍的) reading
in modern English.
Chaucer’s Contribution
2021年1月20日美国总统就职1. He introduced heroic couplet to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative ver.
2. He was the first great poet who wrote in English language (Middle English) , thus establishing English as the literary language.
3. He did much in making the London dialect the foundation for modern English language.
名词解释
1．Alliteration is regular repetition of the same sounds---usu. Initial consonants of words or of stresd syllables----in Old and Middle English ver:’ Kindest to kinsmen and keenest for fame’ in Beowulf Alliteration is also known as ‘initial rhyme’or
‘head rhyme’.艾尼斯
2．Epic史诗is a long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.
3．Ballad : a story told in song, usually in four-line stanzas, with the cond and fourth lines rhymed.
4．Heroic Couplet：A traditional form for English poetry: it reflects to rhymed iambic pentameter lines in pairs. U of the heroic couplet was first pioneered by Geoffrey Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales.
Part two：Old English in Transition (P27)
1.The New Monarchy 新君主制（the Tudor dynasty, a centralized monarchy 都铎王
朝：君主集中制）
2.The Reformation(the Protestant Reformation 新教改⾰；宗教⽂化精神改⾰)
3. The English Bible：Then appeared the Authorized Version, which was made in 1611 under the auspices of James Ⅰ and so was sometimes called the King James Bible. (The result is a monument (不朽的作品) of English language and English literature.)
3. The Enclosure Movement (圈地运动)
4. The Renaissance (⽂艺复兴) and Humanism （⼈道主义）
jianzu(1). The Renaissance: an intellectual movement sprang first in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe.
(2). People had a thirsting curiosity好奇⼼for the classical literature.
(3) People showed the keen interest in the activities of humanity.
(4). People cead to look upon themlves as living only for God and a future world.
5. Humanism is the esnce（本质）of the Renaissance.
A. The Renaissance, therefore, is a history period in which the Europe humanist thinkers and scholars tried to get rid of tho old feudalistic ideas in Medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman catholic church.
B. Humanism
(1).Humanism emphasized the dignity and potential of the individual and the
worth of life in this world.
(2) .Man is the measure of all things.
(3) .Man has ability to perfect themlves, to develop the individual.
(4) .Man should enjoy the prent life.
【Thomas More】托马斯·莫尔
1.《Utopia》is More’s masterpiece, written in the form of a conversation （dialogue）between More and Hythloday, a returned voyager (航海者).
2. The name ‘Utopia’ comes from two Greek words meaning ‘no place’ and was adopted by More as the name of his ideal commonwealth.
The Flowering of English Literature （P38
Drama and Pro 散⽂)
【Sir Philip Sidney】西德尼
Sir Philip Sidney is well-known as a poet and critic of poetry.
His collection of love sonnets (⼗四⾏诗),《Astrophel and Stella》1591爱星者与星星, His《Apology f
or Poetry》为诗辩护is one of the earliest English literary essays. It
“the school of abu.”【Edmund Spenr】斯宾塞( The Poet’s Poet of the period )
The Shepheardes Calendar 《牧⽺⼈⽇历》1579
Spenr’s greatest work, The Faerie Queene 《荣光⼥王》/《仙后》
It is an allegorical work（寓⾔作品）dedicated to Queen Elizabeth Ⅰ.
Spenrian stanza 斯宾塞诗节：A nine-line stanza of 8 lines in iambic pentameter plus an iambic hexameter 6-foot line. ⼀共九⾏诗，前⼋⾏⾏扬格五步⾳，第九⾏抑格六步⾳（abab baba c）
Spenr’s position in English literature : Spenr has held his position as a model of poetical art among the Renaissance English poets, and his influence can be
traced in the works of Milton, Shelley and Keats.
【Francis Bacon】培根（famous for his Essays；Of Studies随笔集）The founder of English materialist philosophy. 唯物主义哲学
1)his inductive method of reasoning and learning(归纳推理法) proved to be minal
and critically important to the development of modern science and the progress of humankind
2)his thought system reprented the beginnings of materialism in English
philosophy（英国唯物主义哲学）
Bacon was the founder of modern science in England.
The English version of his part forms his《Advancement of Learning》学问的发展.Then followed his《New Instrument》新⼯具论.
A wide variety of subjects: love, truth, friendship, studies, youth and many others.
作品⽂风：Clearness, brevity and force
English Drama : the miracles（神迹剧）—the morality（道德剧）—the interlude （幕间剧）—the classical drama
There was a group of so-called “university wits”⼤学才⼦（Lyly，Peele，Marlowe，Greene，Lodge
and Nash）who wrote for the stage of the time.
【Marlowe】马洛：the most gifted of the “university wits”
works:
《Tamburlaine》帖⽊⽿⼤帝
《The Jew of Malta》马⽿他岛的犹太⼈
《Doctor Faustus》浮⼠德博⼠（Marlowe’s masterpiece）
Marlowe was the greatest of the pioneers（拓荒者）of English drama.
Marlowe first made blank ver（留⽩：对莎⼠⽐亚影响重⼤）the principal medium of English drama.
P55【William Shakespeare】Drama:37
四⼤悲剧Great tragedies:《》麦克⽩《King Lear》李尔王《Othello》奥赛罗
四⼤喜剧Great comedies: 《A Midsummer Night’s Dream》仲夏夜之梦《The Merchant of Venice》威尼斯商⼈(“grave comedy”) 《As You Like It》皆⼤欢喜《Twelfth Night》第⼗⼆夜In Sonnet 18, he eulogizes the power of artistic creation Blank ver is the principal form of his dramas
Shakespeare’s sonnets, 154 in total, were first published as a collection in 1609 The Shakespearean or English sonnet rhymed “abab cdcd efef gg”
Themes: love、Beauty、mortality、the effects of time
Style: grace in form, depth in thought, and vivacity in tone
Features of Shakespeare’s Drama:
(1)Shakespeare is one of the founders of realism in world literature.
(2)Shakespeare was a great master of the English language.
(3)Shakespeare was skilled in many poetic forms：the song, the sonnet, the couple, and the dramatic blank ver.
(4)Shakespeare’s dramatic creation often ud the method of adaptation.
(5)Shakespeare’s long experience with the stage and his intimate knowledge of dramatic art thus acquired make him a master hand for playwriting.
评价：1.Shakespeare has been universally acknowledged to be the summit of the English Renaissance, and one of the greatest playwright or poet in the whole world.
2.All English writers of any importance cannot escape from Shakespeare’s
influence.(影响单⼀：⽂艺复兴)
【Ben Jonson】本·琼森（他的去世标志着伊丽莎⽩时代的结束）
he was the last great Elizabethan and probably the first poet laureate（桂冠诗⼈）
and the first literary dictator（⽂学泰⽃）in English history.
Roman Tragedies:
播音与主持专业培训
上海中学生英文报Sejanus 《席阶纳斯》
Cateline 《克蒂琳》
Comedies:
Every Man in His Humor《个性互异》
V olpone, or the Fox 《福尔彭奈，或狐狸》
The Alchemist 《炼⾦术⼠》
Bartholomew Fair 《巴梭罗缪市集》
his reputation as a playwright was established by the success of his first comedy,
Every Man in His Humour《个性互异》
Jonson’s comedies are “comedies of humours”幽默的喜剧（behaviour, thoughts and manner of speech）
In 1616 he published his Works《作品》, the complete collection of his poetry
bring the classic form of the tree unities——unity of action, unity of time, and
unity of place——back to the stage（把古典的三⼀原则——情节⼀致，时间⼀致和地点⼀致带回舞台）
the heroic couplet（英雄双韵体）that he ud in the poem was to become a
tyrannical bogue in the next century, and his emphasis on “nature” the basic
principle in 18th century literary criticism
【King James’ Bible】(最终形成于3世纪初)
1)consists of 2 parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament旧约和新约
2)The Old Testament: history and religious beliefs of the Jews
3)The New Testament: the life of Jesus Christ and the birth and the growth of the
Christian faith (创世)
