English Literature
Introduction :The old and Medieval English literature.
*****A. The old English literature
1.The time period :The period of Old English literature extends from about 450 to 1066.
2.The classification of the old English poetry :The old English poetry can be divided into two groups : the religious group and the secular one .
a.)The religious group is mainly on biblical themes.
b.)The secular group concludes;
The national epic poem , Beowulf ,and lyrical poems of shorter length .
3.The representative of this period : Beowulf .
a.)The nature
Beowulf is regarded today as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons.
b.)The setting
The story took place in Scandinavia.
c.)The theme:
The poem presents a vivid picture of how the primitive people wage under a wise heroic struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader .
d.)The significance :
The poem is an example of the mingling of nature myths and heroic legends. The battle between Beowulf and the Dragon Symblically represent that phrase of Winter and Summer myth in which the Summer God,here embodied by Beowulf .
******B. The medieval English literature
1.The time period : From 1066 up to the mid-14th century.
2.The classification of the medieval English Literature: Middle English literature deals with a wider range of subjects.
a.)popular folk literature also occupies an important place in this period .
b.)Romance which uses narrative verse or prose to sing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds is a popular literary form in the Medieval period .
3. The representative of this period : Chaucer and the Canterbury tales.
a.)The influence of Renaissance :
The influence of Renaissance was already felt in the field of English literature when Chaucer was learning from the great Italian writers like Petrarch and Boccaccio.
b.)The contributions to English Literature :
1)Chaucer introduced from France the rhymed stanzas to replace the old English alliterative verse.
2)In the Romaunt the Rose , he fixst introduced into English the octosyllabic couplet.
3)In The Legend of Good Women , he used for the first time in English the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter.And in The Canterbury Tales , Chaucer employed the heroic couplet with true ease.
4)Chaucer also developed the art of literature itself . In Troilus and Criseyde, he gave the world what is virtually the first modern novel .
5)In The Canterbury Tales , he developed his art of poetry still further towards drama and the art of novel. John Dryden, called Chaucer the father of English peotry . For the Renaissance , he was the English Homer.
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Chapter 1
The Renaissance Period (文艺复兴时期)
本章概述
一. 文艺复兴运动和人文主义思想产生的历史, 文化背景;
二. 文艺复兴时期文学创作的基本特征和基本主张;
三. 文艺复兴时期的哲学与文艺理论对同时代及后世英国文学与文化的影响.
四. 主要作家与作品.
文学史分析
******* A. The time period
The Renaissance marks a transition from the medieval to the modern word . It refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries .
****** B. The definition of Renaissance :
a. The birthplace : In Italy
b. The meaning : The Renaissance means rebirth or revival .
c. The nature : The Renaissance ,in essence , is a historical period.
****** c. The theoretical basis of the Renaissance :
1. The essence of the Renaissance :
a.) The source
Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance , It sprang from the endeavor to restore a medieval reverence for the antique authors .
b.) The basis of the Humanism .
it was based on such a conception that man is the measure of all things .
2.The representative :
a. The symbol :
Humanism began to take hold in England when the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus came to teach the classical learning
b. The major representatives :
Thomas More , Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are the best representatives of the English humanists .
********* D. The cultural Background of the Renaissance :
1. The national feeling :
Strong national feeling in the time of the Tudors gave a great incentive to the cultural development in England . English schools and universities were established in place of the old monasteries .
2. The introduction of printing :
William Caxton Introduced printing into England . In this lifetime ,Caxton printed about one hundred books in English .
3. The emergence of an age of translation
With the introduction of printing , an age of thranslation came into being .
4. The significance :
The introduction of printing led to a commercial market for literature , making everything ready for the appearance of the great Elizabethan writers.
********* E. The literature forms during the Renaissance :
1. The poetry
a. The feature :
The first period of the English Renaissance was one of imitation and assimilation .
1.) petrarch was regarded as the fountain head of literature by the English writers .
2.) Wyatt introduced the petrarchan sonnet into England .
3.) Surrey brought in blank verse.
4.) Sidney followed with the sestina and terza rima
5.) Marlowe gave new vigor to the blank verse with his "mighty lines. "
b. The representatives :
1.) Spenser's The Shepheardes Calender showed the pastoral convention .
2.) In " The Passionate Shepherd to His Love . " Marlowe spoke that it would be very difficult for us to connect it with the voice in his tragedies .
3.) Poetry and Poetic drama were the most outstanding literary forms and carried on by Shakespeare and Ben Johnson .
2. The drama
A.) The feature :
The Elizabethan drama is the real mainstream of the English Renaissance . English material was put into the regular form of the Latin comedies of Plautus and Terence . Tragedies were in the style of Seneca .
B.) The representative dramatists :
The most famous aramatists are christopher Marlowe , William Shakespeare , and Ben Johnson.
3.The essays :
A.) The representatives essayist :
Francis Bacon , the first important English essayist , is best known for his essays .
B.) The influence :
Bacon was also the founder of modern science in England , His writings pave the way for the use of scientific method .
主要作家作品
埃德蒙*斯宾塞
一. The masterpiece : The Faerie Queene .
1. The intention and the structure
A.) The intention
The principal intention is to present through a "historical poem " the example of perfect gentleman .
B) The structure:
There are 12 virtues of the perfect gentleman ,and plans 12 books , each one with a different hero distinguished for one of the private virtues .
2. The unifying element :
A.) The recurring appearances of Arthur serve as a unifying element for the poem as whole .
B.) Another character contributing to the unity of the work is Gloriana.
3. The allegory :
The Redcross knight in Book I stands for st. George , he also represents Holiness.
4. The theme
The theme is not "Arms and the man ," but something more romantic ----"Fierce Wares and faithful loves . "
二. The poetic features :
1. The five main qualities :
The five main qualities of Spenser's are : 1.) a perfect melody ; 2.) a rare sense of beauty; 3.) a splendid imagination ; 4.) a lofy moral purity and seriousness 5.) a dedicated idealism
2. In addition :
Spenser uses strange forms of speech and obsolete words , His exquisite melody that make him known as " the poet's poet . "
克里斯托夫*马洛
一. The works :
1. The play : ( 6 plays )
2. The non-dramatic poetry.
3. The verse translation .
二. The masterpieces :
1. Tamburlaine :
A. The outline :
Tamburlaine is a play about an ambitious and pitiless Tartar conqueror in the fourteenth century who roes from a shepherd to an overpowering king .
B. The intention :
By depicting a great hero with high ambition and sheer brutal force , Marlowe voiced the supreme desire of the man of the Renaissance for infinite power and authority .
2. Dr. Faustus :
A. The outline :
Dr. Faustus is a play based on the German legend of a magician aspiring for knowledge and finally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the Devil .
B. The intention :
It celebrates the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness ; it also reveals man's frustration .
三. The artistic achievements
1. The stylistic features :
A. Marlowe perfected the blank verse and brought vitality and grandeur into the blank verse with his "Mighty lines . "
B. Marlowe employed hyperbole as his major figure of speech .
2. The characters and the humanistic ideal :
A. Marlowe ' s second achievement is his creation of the Renaissance hero for English drama . Such a hero is always individualistic and full of ambition.
B. He embodies Marlowe's humanistic ideal of human dignity and capacity . with the endless aspiration for power, knowledge , and glory , the hero interprets the true Renaissance Spirit .
威廉*莎士比亚
一. The dramatic career : (4 periods )
1. Apprenticeship period
2. High individualized period
3. Greatest stragedies and dark comedies period .
4. Romantic tragicomedies period .
二. The themes of Shakespeare's works
1. The history plays :
A. The theme
Shakespeare's history plays are mainly written under the principle that national unity under a mighty and just sovereign is a necessity .
B. The examples :
Henry VI (I,II, III ) are the beginning of Shakespeare's epic treatment of English history . Henry IV (I,II,III) are undoubtedly the most widely read among his history plays .
2. The romantic comedies :
A . The theme :
On his romantic comedies , Shakespeare takes an optimistic attitude toward love and youth , and the romantic elements are brought into full play .
The example :
The important play among the comedies is the Merchant of Venice .
a. The traditional theme :
The traditional theme of the play is to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia as a heroine of great beauty , wit and loyalty , and to expose the insatiable greed and brutality of the Jew .
b. The modern theme :
Many people today tend to regard the play as a satire of the Christian's hypocrisy and their false standards of friendship and love , their cunning ways of pursuing worldiness and their unreasoning prejudice against Jews .
3. The tragedies :
A . The theme :
The play , though a tragedy , is permeated with opitimistic spirit .
B. The example :
The successful romantic tragedy is Romeo and Juliet, which eulogizes the faithfulness of love and the spirit of pursuing happiness .
三. The greatest tragedies :
1. The common features :
Shakespeare 's greatest tragedies are : Hamlet , Othello , King Lear , and Macbeth . They have some characteristics in common . Each portrays some noble hero , who faces the injustic of human life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation .
2. The realistic spirits
Along with the portrayal of the weakness or bias of the hero , we see the sharp conflicts between the individual and the evil force in the society , which shows that Shakespeare is a great realist in the true sense .
3. The analysis
A. Hamlet :
a. Hamlet , the first of the great tragedies , is generally regarded as shakespeare's most popular play on the stage .
b. Hamlet has none of the single-minded blood lust of the earlier revengers . It is not because he is incapable of action , but because the cast of his mind is so speculative , so questioning , and so contemplative that action .
c. His life is one of constant role-playing , examining the nature of action only to deny its possibility .
d. By revealing the power-seeking , the jostling for place , shakespeare condemns the hypocrisy and treachery and general corruption at the royal court .
B. The Tempest :
a. The Tempest , an elaborate and fantastic story , is known as the best of his final romances .
b. The Tempest is a typical example of his Pessimistic view toward human life and society in his late years .
四. The artistic achievements :
1. The characters :
A. Shakespeare's major characters are neither merely individual ones or type ones .
B. By applying a psyche-analytical approach , Shakespeare succeeds in exploring the characters' inner mind .
C. Shakespeare also portrays his characters in pairs . Contrasts are frequently used to bring vividness to his characters .
2. Construction :
A. Shakespeare's plays are well-known for their adroit plot construction . He borrows them from some old plays or storybooks , or from ancient Greek and Roman sources .
B. He would shorten the time and intensify the story . There are usually several threads running through the play .
3. Language and style :
A. Irony is a good means of dramatic presentation . Disguise is also an important device to create dramatic irony , usually with woman disguised as man .
B. He has an amazing wealth of vocabulary and idiom . His influence on later writers is immeasurable . Almost all English writers after him have been influenced by him either in artistic point of view , in literary form or in language .
弗朗西斯*培根
一. The works
His works can be divided into three groups .
1. The philosophic groups .
2. The literary groups .
3. The law groups .
二. The masterpieces :
1. The Advancement of Learning :
A. The theme :
The Advencement of Learning is a great tract on education .
B. The contents :
In Book I , Bacon highly praises knowledge . He divided knowledge into two kinds . One is from the Divine Revelation , the other i sfrom the workings of human mind . The second book is a survey of learning , According to Bacon , man's understanding consists of three parts : history to man's memory , poetry to man's imagination and creation and philosophy to man's reason .
2. Novum Organum :
A. The theme :
Novum Organum is a successful treatise written in Latin on methodology .
B. The contents :
is the most impressive display of Bacon 's intellect . The argument is for the use of the inductive method of reasoning in scientific study , In the scond book , Bacon suggest the industive reasoning .
3. Essays :
A. The sources :
Montaigne is the predecessor of Bacon . The term "essay "was borrowed from Montaigne's Essais .
B. The comparison with Montaigne's :
They are totally unlike in temperament . outlook and writing style . Montaigne's essays show a strong personal touch . Bacon , as a practical and prudential man , intends to write for the ambitious Elizabethan and Jacobean youth of his class and tell them how to be efficient and make their way in public life . Of the fifty-eight essays in its final edition , more than half are about public life or public duty .
C. Bacon's styles :
Bacon's essays are famous for their brevity , compactness and powerfulness . The essay are well-arranged and enriched by Biblical allusions , Metaphors and Cadence .
约翰*邓恩
一. The metaphysical poetry :
The tern "Metaphysical peotry " is commonly used to name the work of the 17th -century writers who wrote under teh influence of John Donne .
1. The theme
The metaphysical poets tried to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry .
2. The language :
The diction is simple , and echoes the words and cadences of common speech .
3. The imagery :
It is drawn from the actual life .
4. The form :
It is frequently the form of an argument with the poet's beloved , with God , or with himself .
二. The characteristic of Donne's works :
1. The inherently theatrical impression :
John Donne is the leading figure of the "metaphysical school . " His poems give a more inherently theatrical impression .
2. The poetic mode :
The mode is dynamic rather than static ,with ingenuity of speech , vividness of imagery and vitality of rhythms.
3. The stylistic features :
The most striking feature of Donne's poetry is precisely its tang of reality , in the sense that it seems to reflect life in a real rather than a poetical world .
三. The masterpieces
1. The songs and sonnets :
A. The theme
The songs and Sonnets , contains most of his early lyrics , Love is the basic theme .
B. The understanding of love :
Donne holds that the nature of love is the union of soul and body . This though is quite contrary to the medieval love idea . What is love , idealism and cynicism about love coexist in Donne's love poetry . he sometimes expresses the fufility and instability of love in his poems .
C. The stylistic method :
When eulogizing a woman ,Donne tells us very little about her physical beauty . Instead , Donne's interest lies in dramatizing and illustrating the state of being in love .
2. The Holy sonnets :
A. The theme:
Donne's chief power as a religious poet is shown in the Holy Sonnets .
B. Contents :
In A Hymn to God the Father do we find a an assured faith .The best of the Holy Sonnets express these strugles with unparalleled force .
四. The Artistic features
1. The conceits :
In his poetry , Donne frequently applies conceits , his conceits may be divided into two kinds ; easy ones and difficult ones . By combining the easy conceits with the difficult ones , Donne achieves surprising good effects in his poetry .
2. the argument :
Donne's poetry involves a certain kind of argument , sometimes in rigid syllogistic form . with the brief . Simple Language , the argument is continuous throughout the poem .
3. The imagination :
Donne's great prose works are sermons , which are both rich and imaginative . some of Donne's sermons are carefully contrived with a dramatic . And it is the obsession with death that characterizes Donne's nature religious works .
约翰*弥尔顿
一. Works :
Milton 's literary achievements can be divided into three groups .
1. The early works :
Milton appears as the inheritor of all that was best in Elizabethan literature . Lycidas is a typical example .
2. The middle works :
His powerful pamphlets written during this period make him the greatest prose writer of his age .
3. The last great poems :
Milton wrote his three major poetical works : Paradise Lost , Paradise regained and Samson Agonistes .
二. The masterpieces :
1. paradise Lost :
A. The theme and structure :
Paradise Lost is a long epic divided into 12 books .The theme is the "Fall of Man ".
B. The humanistic spirits
a. Working through the tradition of a Christian humanism , Milton wrote Paradise Lost intending to expose the way of Satan and to "justify the ways of God to man . "
b. At the center of the conflict between human love and spiritual duty lies Milton's fundamental concern with freedom and choice .
c. The freedom of the will is the keystone of Milton's creed .
2. Paradise Regained :
A. The content :
Paradise Regained shows how mankind , in the person of Christ , withstands the tempter and is established once more in the divine favor .
B. Theme :
Christ's temptation in the wilderness is teh theme .
3. Samson Agonistes :
A. The source :
In samson Agonistes , Milton again borrows his story from the Bible . But this time he turns to a more vital and personal theme .
B. The purpose :
The poet's aim was to present on English a pure tragedy , with all the passion and restraint .
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The neoclassical period
(新古典主义时期)
本章概述
一. 启蒙运动与新古典主义文学流派产生的历史背景.
二.新古典主义文学的主要特征与基本主张.
三. 对同时代与后世英国文学的影响.
四. 主要作家与作品
The Neoclassical Period
文学史分析
一. The time period :
The neoclassical period is between the return of the students in 1660 and the full assertion of Romanticism which came with the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 .
二. The Age of Elightenment :
1. The outline :
A. The definition :
The eighteenth -century England is also known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason . The Elightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement .
B. The source :
It flourished in France and swept through the whole Western Europe at the time .
C. The nature :
The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries .
D. The purpose :
Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of mordern philosophical and artistic ideas .
2. The rational principle :
A. principles :
The enlighteners celebrated reason or rationality , equality and science . They held that rationality or reason should be the only , the final cause of any human thought and activities .
B. The significance :
It provided theory for the French Revolution of 1789 and the American War of Independence in 1776 .
C. The humanistic ideas :
The enlighteners advocated universal education . They believed that human beings were limited , dualistic , imperfect , and yet capable of rationality and perfection through education.
3. The literature featrues :
literature at the time , heavily didactic and moralizing , became a very popular means of public education .
三. The literature forms :
The sentimental Literature :
A. The background :
In the last few decades of the 18th century . however , the neoclassical emphasis upon reason, intellect , wit and form was rebelled against or challenged by the sentimentalists , an was gradually by Revolution and a symbol of the growing importance and strength of the English Middle class .
4. The Gothic novels :
A. The background :
From the middle part to the end of the century there was also an apparent shift of interest in literature creation .
B. The fetures :
Gothic novels ---mostly stories of mystery and horror which take place in some haunted or dilapidated Middle Age Castles ---were turned out profusely by both male and female writers .
5. Others :
Eulogizing or lamenting lyrics ; The romantic poems ; the theatrical world ; the witty and satiric prose .
主要作家作品
A. 约翰*班扬
B.亚力山大*蒲伯
C. 丹尼尔*笛福
D. 乔纳森*斯威夫特
E. 亨利*费尔丁
F. 塞缪尔*约翰逊
G. 理查*比*谢立丹
H. 托马斯*格雷
约翰*班扬
一. Literature styles :
1. Bunyan's style was modeled after that of the English Bible .
2. He used concreted and living language and vivid details .
3. He made it possible for the reader of the least education to share the pleasure of reading his novel .
二. The works
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners ,The Life and Death of Mr.Badman , The Holy War and The pilgrim's progress , (Part I , II )
三. Selected Reading : The Vanity Fair .
1. The imagery :
A. The pilgrim's Progress is the most successful religious allegory in the English language . Its purpose is to urge people to abide by Christian doctrines with their own weakness and all kinds of social evils .
B. Its predominant metaphor --life as a journey --is simple and familiar .
2. The features :
A. The strange is combined with the familiar and the trivial joined to the divine.
B. A rich imagination and a natural talent for storytelling also contribute to the success of the work .
亚力山大*蒲伯
一. The thoughts :
1. The view of realism :
A. He upheld the existing social system as an ideal one , but he was not entirely blind to the rapid moral , political and cultural deterioration .
B. He assumed the role of champion of traditional civilization , but for him the supreme value was order .
2. The view of Criticism :
A. He published The Rape of the Lock and use the mock epic form to retell the cutting of the lock , to ridicule the trivial incident and to satirize the foolish , meaningless life of the lords and ladies in the aristocratic bourgeois society of the eighteenth century England .
B.The Dunciad , generally considered Pope's best satiric work , is directed at Dullness in general . Dullness as reflected in the corruptness of government ,social morals , education and even religion , is expertly exposed and satirized .
二. The Artistic feature :
1. He strongly advocated neoclassicism .
2. He worked painstakingly on his poems , developed a satiric concise , smooth , graceful and well-balanced style .
3. He finally brought to its last perfection the heroic couplet .
三. The works
1. The chief works : An Essay on Griticism , The Rape of the Lock , The Dunciad , An Essay on Man .
2. The translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey .
3. The edition of shakespeare 's plays .
丹尼尔*笛福
一. The works
1. The first novel : Robinson Crusoe
2. four other novels :Captain Singleton , Moll Flanders , Colonel Jack and Roxana .
3. The pseuda-factual account of Great plague : A Journal the Plague Year .
二. The masterpieces :
1. Robinson Crusoe:
Robinson Crusoe , an adventure story very much in the spirit of the time , is universally considered his masterpiece .
2. The rest four nevels :
His rest four novels deal withthe personal history of some hero or heroine . The group of four novels clearly manifests Defoe's deep concern for the poor and the unfortunate in his society . They are the first literary works devoted to the study of problems of the lower-class peoplel
三. The Artistic features :
1.The realistic novels :
A. Defoe spoke for and to the members of his dass and his novels enjoyed great populatity amony the less cultivated .
B. In most of his works , he gave his praise to the hard - working , study middle class and showed his sympathy for the downtrodden , unfortunate poor.
2. The language feature :
A. He had a gift for organizing minute details .
B. His sentences are sometimes short , crisp and plain , and sometimes long and rambling .
c. His language is smooth ,easy , colloquial and mostly vernacular .
四. Selected Reading : Robinson crusoe
1.The outline :
The novel consists actually of three parts though only the first part is most well-known and widely read . In this part the hero of the story , Robinson Crusoe , narrates in the first person his stories .
2. The hero:
A. In Robinson Crusoe , Defoe traces the growth of Robinson from a nave and artless youth into a shrewd and hardened man .
B. Robinson is here a real hero : a typical eighteenth-century English middle-classman .
C. He is the very prototype of the empire builder . the pioneer colonist . In describing Robison 's life on the island , Defoe glorifies human labor and the Puritan fortitude .
乔纳森*斯威夫特
一. The works :
1. The works to establish his name :
A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books established his name as a satirist .
2. The letters of Drapier :
He published ,under the pseudonym of Drapier , a series of letters . Eventoday Swift still respected as a national hero in Ireland .
3. The greatest satiric work:
He wrote and published his greatest statiric work , Gulliver's Travels .
二. The aritistic features :
1. The master satirist :
A. Swift is a master satirist . His satire is usually masked by an outward gravity and an apparent earnestness .
B. His "A Modest Proposal " is generally taken as a perfect model .
2. the master of English prose :
A. Swift is one of the great masters of English prose , His writing is simple , direct , precise prose . He defined a good style as "proper words in proper places . "
B. Clear , simple , concrete diction , uncomplicted sentence structure , economy and conciseness of language mark all his writings .
三. Selected Reading : Gulliver's Travels
1. Gulliver's Travels , Jonathan's best fictional work . The book contains four parts :
His experience in Lilliput , Alone in Brobbingnay , visit to the Flying Island and Account of his discoveries in the Houyhnhnm land . In structure , the four parts make an organic whole .
2. Gulliver give an account of some aspects of Lillipution life and obviously alludes to the similar ridiculous practices or tricks of the English government .
亨利*费尔丁
一. The works :
1. The plays
A. Forms of plays
Fielding had attempted a considerable number of forms of plays :witty comedies of manners , farces or ballad operas , and burlesques or satires .
B.The best known plays :
The best known are The Coffee-House Politiciam , The tragedy of trgedies , pasquin , and The Historical Register for the Year 1736 .
2. The novels :
A.The first novel :
The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrew and of his friend Mr. Abraham Adams , the book quickly turns into a great novel of the open road , a "comic epic in prose ".
B. The ironical novel:
The History of Joseph wild the Great , points out the Great Man is no better than a great gangster .
C. The masterpieces :
The History of Tom Jones , a Foundling and The History of Amelia . The former is a masterpiece on the subject of human nature and the latter the story of the unfortunate life of an idealized woman .
二. The Artistic features :
1. About novel :
A. The purpose of the novel was not just to amuse , but to instruct . The object of his novel was to present a faithful picture of life , to each men to know themselves .
B. Fielding has been regarded by some as "Father of the English Novel . "
a. He was the first to set out , to write specifically a "comic epic in prose ".
b. The first to give the modern novel its structure and style .
C.Fielding adopted "the third-person narration ."
d. In planning his stories , he tries to retain the grand epical form of the classical works but at the same time keeps faithful to his realistic presentation of common life as it is .
2. About language :
A. Fielding 's language is easy , unlaboured and familiar , but extremely vivid and vigorous .
B. His sentences are always distinguished by logic and rhythm , and his structure carefully planned towards an inevitable ending .
塞缪尔*约翰逊
一. The works : (6 paints )
As a lexicographer , Johnson distinguished himself as the author of the first English dictionary by an English man .
A Dictionary of the English Language .
二. The literature thoughts :
1. The literary theme :
He was very much concerned with the theme of the vanity of human wishes .
2. The principle of literary creation :
In literary creation and criticism , he was rather conservative . He insisted that a writer must please to universal truth and experience , i.e. Nature .
三. The Artistic features :
1. The style :
Johnson's style is typically neoclassical .
2. The language :
His language is characteristically general , often Latinate and frequently polysyllabic .
3. The sentence :
Sentences are long and well structured , interwoven with parallel words and phrases .
4. The thoughts :
The thought is always clearly expressed ; and though he tends to us "learned words , " they are always accurately used .
理查*比*谢立丹
一. The works :
1. The masterpiece: The school for Scandal ,
2. others : the Rival , st.patrick's Day , or the scheming lieutenant , The Duenna , The critic and Pizarro .
二. The artistic features :
1. The status :
Sheridan was the only important English dramatist of the eighteenth century . His plays link between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw .
2. The theme :
In his plays , morality is the constant theme .
3. The dramatic techniques :
Though his dramatic techniques are largely conventional , they are exploited to the best advantage . His plots are well organized , his characters are all sharply drawn . Witty dialogues and neat and decent language also make a characteristic of his plays .
托马斯*格雷
一. The works
1. The masterpieces :
His masterpiece , "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ".
2. The poems :
Established his fame as the sentimental peotry of the day , especially "the Graveyard School ." His other poems include "Ode on the Spring " "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat " and "Hymn to Adversity ".
3. The translations :
Translations from old Norse : The Descent of Odin and The Fatal Sisters .
二. The Artistic features :
1. Gray wrote slowly and carefully ,painstakingly seeking perfection of form and phrase .
2. His poems are characterized by an exquisite sense of form .
3. His style is so phisticated and allusive .
4. His poems are often marked with the trait of a highly artificial diction and distorted word order .
三. Selected Reading Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
1. The theme :
In this poem , Gray reflects on death , the sorrows of life , and the mysteries of human life with a touch of his personal melancholy .
2. The language features :
Though the use of artificial poetic diction and distorted word order , the artistic polish gives the poem a unique charm of its own .
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The Romantic Period (浪漫主义时期)
本章概述:
一. 浪漫主义产生的历史文化背景:
二. 浪漫主义时期文学创作的基本特征/基本主张;
三. 对同时代与后世英国文学及文化的影响.
四. 主要作家与作品.
文学史分析
一. The time Period
English Romanticism is generally said to have begun in 1798 with the publiction of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott's death and the passage of the first Reform Bill in the Parliament .
二. The cultural background and sources :
1.The ideas of Rousseau:
A.Rousseau published two books that electrified Europe -Du Contrat Social and Emile, in which he explored new ideas of Rousseau's provided necessary guiding principles for the French Revolution .
C.The news of the Revolution aroused great sympathy and enthusiasm in English liberals and radicals . Patriotic clubs societies multiplied in England , all claiming Liberty , Equality and Fraternity .
2. The literary Sources :
A. The Romantic Movement expressed a more or less negative attitude toward the existing social and political conditions that came with industrialization and the growing importance of the bourgeoisie .
B. Under the influence of the leading romantic thinkers like Kant and Post Kantians ,they demonstrated a strong reaction against the dominant modes of thinking of the 18th-century writers and philosophers .
3. The differences between neoclassism and Romanticism .
A. Where their predecessors saw man as a social animal , the Romantics saw him essentially as an individual in the solitary state .
B. Where the Augustans emphasized those features that men have in common the Romantics emphasized the special qualities of each individual 's mind .
三. The literary forms :
1. the poetry :
A. The poetic revolution :
a. The Romantic period is and age of poetry .
b. Blake , Wordsworth ,Coleridge ,Byron ,Shelley and Keats are the major Romantic poets .
c. They started a rebellion against the neoclassical literature ,which was later regarded as the poetic revolution .
B. The theories of poetry :
They explored new theories and innovated new techniques in poetry writing . They saw poetry as a healing energy . they believed that poetry could purify both individual souls and the society .
a. Wordsworth's theory of poetry is calling for simple themes drawn from humble life . He defines the poet as a "man speaking to men ." and poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings . "
b. Imagination , defined by Coleridge , is the vial faculty that creates new wholes out of disparate elements . The Romantics not only extol the faculty of imagination . But also elevate the concepts of spontaneity and inspiration , regarding them as something crucial for ture poetry .
c. The natural world comes to the forefront of the poetic imagination .Nature is not only the major source of poetic imagery , but also Provides the dominant subject matter .
d. To escape from a world . Wordsworth , Coleridge and Southey chose to live by the lakeside so as to escape from the "madding crowd ", which Byron and Shelley rejected the entire english society by their self-imposed exile .
e. Romantics also tend to be nationalistic .
C. The rules of poetry :
a. To the Romantics , poetry should be free from all rules .
b. They would turn to the humble people and the common everyday life for subjects .
c. They have also made bold-experiments in poetic language , versification and design ,and style .
d. Examples of such can be found in Blake's visionary prophetic poems in Coleridge's mystic ballad , The Ancient Mariner , in Wordsworth 's spiritual autobiography , The prelude , and in Shelley's symbolic drama Prometheus Unbound .
2. The prose :
The Romantic period is also a great age of Prose . Coleridge , Hazlitt, Lamb , and De Quincey were the leading figures .
A. William Hazlitt is a great critic on Shakespeare , Elizabethan drama , and English poetry .He has developed an eloquent courageous and arbitrary prose style . His last book is a four-volume life of Napoleon .
B.Charles Lamb is a lovable essayist . The essantial characteristic of this essays is a strong clear intelligence ,commanding in its centrality . its courage . and its vital irony Lamb 's Essays of Elia is a good work that leads to a delightful interpretation of the life of London .
C. De Quincey is one of the keenest intellects of the age . The great literary merit of his confessions of an English Opium Easter lies in his subtle revelation of the potentiality of human dreams .
3. The novels :
A. About Jane Austen :
Austen is of the 18th-century in her moral outlook, Her view of life is a totally realistic one . The major theme of her novels is love and marriage .
B. About waiter Scott .
After establishing himself as a writer of romantic historical narrative poetry , Scott Switched to novel writing . He is the first major historical novelist .
C. About Gothic novel :
a. Nature :
Gothic novel , a type of romantic fiction that predominated in the late eighteenth century ,was one phase of the Romantic movement .
b.Subject matters :
Its principal elements are violence , horror,and the supernatural .
c.works :
Works like the Mysteries of Vdolpho by Ann Radcliffe and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley are typical Gothic romance .
4.Poetic dramas :
A.Besides poetry and prose , there are quite a number of writers who have tried their hand at poetic dramas in this period .
B.Shelley's Prometheus Unbound and The Cenci, Byron's Manfred and Coleridge's Remorse are generally regarded as the best verse plays during this period .
主要作家与作品
威廉*布莱克
一. The thoughts :
1. Black never tried to fit into the world . He was politically of the permanent left and mixed a good deal with the radicals .
2.Like Shelley , Blake strongly criticized the capitalist 's cruel exploitation .
3. Literarily Blake was the first important Romantic poet, showing contempt for the rule of reason .
二. The works :
1. The earlier period :
A. The first printed work :
Poetical sketches is his first printed work , which is a collection of youthful verse .
B.The songs of Innocence :
It is a lovely volumn of poems ,presenting a happy and innocent world .
C.The song of Experience
It paints a different world ,a world of misery , poverty , disease , war and repression with a melancholy tone . childhood is central to Blake's concern in the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience ,and this concern gives the two books a strong social and historical reference .
D.Marriage of Heaven and Hell :
Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell marks his entry into maturity . In this poem , Blake explores the relationship of the contraries .
2. The later period :
A.In this later period ,Blake wrote quite a few prophetic books , and showed the poet himself as the spokesman of revolt .
B. The major ones are : The Books of Urizen , The Book of Los , The Four Zoas and Milton .
三. The Artistic features :
1. The strong visual mind :
From Childhood , Blake had a strongly visual mind ; Whatever he imagined , he also saw .
2. The language :
Blake writes his poems in plain and direct language . His poems often carry the lyric beauty with immense compression of meaning .
3. The symbolism in wide range is also a distinctive feature of his poetry .
威廉*华兹华斯
一. The works :
1. Wordsworth had a long poetic career . His first volumes are Descriptive sketches , an Evening Walk .
2. The Lyrical Ballads differs in marked ways from his early poetry , notably the uncompromising simplicity of much of the language ,the lyrical Ballads are among the best of his achievement .
3. The prelude is regarded as Wordsworth's great work .
4. In 1807 Poems in Two Volumes was published . The work contains much of Wordsworth's finest.
二. The subject :
According to the subjects , Wordsworth's short poems can be classified into two groups : poems about nature and poems about human life .
1. The worshipper of nature :
Wordsworth is regarded as a "Worshipper of nature ". He can penetrate to the heart of things and give the reader the very life of nature . To worthsworth , nature acts as a substitute for imaginative and intellectual engagement . It's nature that give him "strongth and knowledge full of peace ."
2. The theme of his works :
Wordsworth thinks that common life is the only subject of literary interest . The joys and sorrows of the common people are his themes .
三. The Artistic features :
1. The memory of the past :
Wordsworth is a poet in memory of the past . To him , life is a cyclical journey . His philosophy of life is presented in his masterpiece The Prelude .
2. The deliberate simplicity :
Wordsworth's deliberate simplicity and refusal to decorate the truth of experience produced a kind of pure and profound poetry which no other poet has ever equaled . He maintained that the scenes and events fo everyday life and the speech of ordinary people were the raw material of which poetry could and should be made .
四.The contributions :
1. William Wordsworth is the leading figure of the English romantic poetry , Inspires his audience to see the worldfreshly , sypathetically and naturally .
2. The most important contribution he has made is that he has not only stared the modern poetry , but also changed the course of English peotry .
塞*特*科勒律治
一.The thoughts :
1. In philosophy
Coleridge opposed the limitedly rationalist trends of the 18th-century thought . He courageously stemmed the tide of the prevailing doctrines drived from Hume and Hartley , advaocating a more spiritual and religious interpretation of life .
2. In literature :
He belived that art is the only permanent revelation of the nature of reality .
3. In politics :
Politically , coleridge was first an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution . But in his later period , he was a fiery foe of the rights of man , of Jacobinism .
二.the works
Coleridge's actual achievement as poet can be divided into two remarkably diverse groups : the demonic and the coversational .
1. The demonic group :
The demonic group includes his three masterpieces :"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ,"
"Christable "and "Kubla Khan ." Mysticism and demonism with strong imagination are the distinctive features of this group .
A. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner "told an adventurous story of a sailor .
B. "Christable "use a freer version of the ballad form to create an atmosphere of the Gothic horror at once delicate and sinister .
C. "Kubla Kham "was composed in adream after coleridge took the opium .
2. The conversational group :
A.Among the Coversational group , "Frost at Midnight " is the most important .
B."Dejection : An Ode "is also an intimate personal piece in which Coleridge utters his innermost thoughts and sentiments .
三. The Artistic feature :
1. Coleridge is one of the first critics to give close critical attention to language , maintaining that true end of poetry is to give pleasure "through the medium of beauty ."
2. Coleridge was esteemed by some of his contemporaries and is generally recognized today as a lyrical poet and literary critic of the first rank .
3. He was of the most influential English literary critics and philosophers of the 19th century .
乔治*戈登*拜伦
一. The works :
1. The first two cantos of Childe Harold 's Pilgrimage brought Byron fame .
2. Don Juan is Byron's masterpiece , a great comic epic of the early 19th century . The unifying principle in Don Juan is the basic ironic theme of appearance and reality .
3. The narrative poem The Prisoner of Chillon , the verse drama Manfred , the verse dramas cain and the narrative poem The Island in the greatest political satires , The vision of Judgement .
二. The Byronic hero :
1. Byron's chief contribution is his creation of the "Byronic hero ," a pround , mysterious rebel figure of noble origin .
2. The Byronic hero would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs in a corrupt society , and would rise single-handedly against and kind of tyrannical rules either in government , in religion , or in moral principles .
3. Such a hero appears first in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage .
4. The figure is , to some extent , modeled on the life and personality of Byron himself , and makes Byron famous both at home and abroad .
三. The Artistic features :
1. Byron's poetry was immensely popular at home , and also abroad , where it exerted great influence on the Romantic Movement .
2. Byron's diction has on the whole a freedom , copiousness and vigor . His description are simple and fresh , and often bring vivid objects before the reader .
3. Byron's poetry is like the oratory . The glowing imagination rises and sinks with tones of his enthusiasm .
珀*比*雪莱
一. the works :
1. The first long serious work :
In 1813 he published his first long serious work , Queen Mab : A philosophical Poem .
2. The lyrics :
In " The cloud ." Shelley created a platonic symbol of the spirit of man . In "To a skylark " the bird , suspended between reality and poetic image . Adonais is an elegy for John Keats .Best of all the well-known lyric pieces is Shelley 's "Ode to the West wind ".
3. The poetic drama :
Shelley 's greatest achievement is his four-act poetic drama , Prometheus Unbound . The play is an exultant work in praise of humankind's potential , and Shelley himself recognized it as "the most perfect of my products . "
二. The thoughts and literary creation :
1. The thoughts :
A.He held a lifelong aversion to cruelty , injustice , authority , institutional religion .
B. He believed that his age was one of the wars of the oppressed against the oppressors . He felt that the existing despotic government could be overthrown by revolution .
C. He realized that the evil was also in man's mind .
D. He predicated that only through gradual and suitable reforms of the existing institutions could benevolence be universally established and none of the evils would survive in this "genuine society ".
2. The creations :
A. Shelley expressed his love for freedom and his hatred toward tyranny .
B. One of Shelley 's greatest political lyrics is "Men of England . " It is not only a war cry calling upon all working people to rise up against their political oppressors , but an address to them pointing out the intolerable injustice of economic expoitation .
约翰*济慈
一. The works :
1. The first important poem :
"on First looking into chapman's Homer "
2. The first volume :
One of the good poems in this volume was "Sleep and Poetry ".
3. The poem based on the Greek :
Endymion
4. The best of his volumes of poetry :
Lamia , Isabella , The Eve of st. Agnes , and Other Poems .
5. The most mature works :
His four great odes :"Ode on Melancholy ." "Ode on a Crecian Urn ," "Ode to a Nightingale ," "Ode to psyche"
二.The literary views :
1. The issues concerned :
At the heart of these poems lies keats's concern with how the ideal can be joined with the real , the imagined with actual , and man with woman .
2. The subject matter :
Their subject matter is the poet's abiding preoccupation with the imagination as it reaches out to union with the beautiful .
3. The theme :
A. "Ode to a Nightingale " expresses the Contrast between the happy world of natural loveliness and human world of agony .
B. "Ode on an Grecian Um " shows the contrast between the permanence of art and the transience of human passion .
三. The Artistic features :
1. Keats' poetry is always sensuous , colorful and rich in imagery .
2. Keats delights to dwell on beautiful words and phrases . He draws diction , style and imagery from works of shakespeare , Milton and Dante .
3. Keats produced a variety of kinds of work , including epic , lyric and narrative poems .
4. Keats' poetry , characterized by exact and closely knit construction , sensual descriptions , and by force of imagination , gives transcendental values to the physical beauty of the world .
简*奥斯汀
一. The literary creations :
In her lifelong career , Jane Austen wrote altogether six complete novels , which can be divided into two distinct periods .
1.The first three novels:
A.Her first novel , sense and sensibility , tells a story about two sisters and their love affairs .
B.Pride and Prejudice , the most popular of her novels , deals with the five Bennet sisters and their search for suitable husbands .
C.Northganger Abbey satirizes those popular Gothic romances .
2.The last three novels :
All her last three vovels deal with the romantic entanglements of their strongly characterized heroines .Mansfield Park , Emma , Persuasion .
3. The incomplete works :
Several incomplete works were published long after Austen's death . These include The watsons , fragment of a Novel ,and plan of Novel .
二. The Artistic features :
1. the style :
In style , she is a neoclassicism advocator , upholding those traditional ideas of order,reason , proportion and gracefulness in novel writing .
2. The subject matter :
A. Austen's main literary concern is about human beings in their personal relationships .
B. Austen shows a human being not at moment of crisis , but in the most trivial incidents of everyday life .
C. As a novelist Jane Austen writes within a very narrow sphere . The subject matter and plots are all trestricted to the provincial life of the late 18th-century England .
3. The theme :
Jane Austen is particularly preoccupied with the relationship between men and women in love .
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The Victorian Period (维多利亚时期)
本章概述
一. 维多利亚时代英国的政治/经济/历史/文化背景.
二.诗歌/散文/小说在创作思想上的进步和创作技巧上的改革.
三.主要作家与作品.
文学史分析
一. The time period :
chronologically the Victorian period roughly coincides with the reign of Queen Victoria who ruled over England from 1836 to 1901 .
二. The thoughts :
1.The influence of science and technology :
A.Ideologically , the Victorians experienced fundamental changes . The rapid development of science and technology shook people's religious convictions .The religious collision continued and was intensified .
B.Danwin's The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man shook the theoretical basis of the traditional faith .
2. The utilitarianism :
A.Utilitarianism was widely accepted and practiced . Almost everything was put to the test by the criterion o futility .
B. This theory held a special appeal to the middle-class industrialists.
三. The literary forms :
1. The novels :
A. The critical realistic novelists :
a. Among the famous novelists of the time were the critical realists like Charles Dickens , Thackeray , Charlotte Bronte , Emily Bronte , Mrs. Gaskell and Anthony Trollope , etc .
b. They carried their duty forward to the criticism of the society and the defence of the mass . They shared one thing in common ,that is, they were all concerned about the fate of the common people . in the last few decades there were also George Eliot , the pioneering woman who , according to D.H. Lawrence , was the first novelist that "started putting all the actions inside "
B. The modern novelists :
a. George Eliot , according to D.H. Lawrence , was the first novelist that :started putting all the actions inside . "
b. Thomas Hardy , that Wessex man who not only continued to expose and criticize all sorts of social iniquities , but finally came to question and attack the Victorian conventions and morals .
2. The prose :
A. The features :
The Victorian age also produced a host of great prose writers , many of them joined forces with the critical realist novelists in exposing and criticizing the social reality , and some became very influential in the ideological field . At the same time , they brought English prose to a very high point in both prose art and literary criticism .
B. The works :
Among the most influential prose works of the time are Carlyle's Sartor Resartus , The French Revolution ,Macaulay 's History of England , Ruskin's five-volumed Modern Painters and Huxley's lecture essays .
3. The poetry :
A. features :
The poetry of this period was mianly characterized by experiments with new styles and new ways of expression .
B. The poets :
Robert Browning created the verse novel by adopting the novelistic presentation of characters . Other poets like Alfred Tennyson , Matthew Arnold , Edward Fitzgerald all made their respective attempts at poetic innovations and helped open up new ways for the twentieth-century mordern poetry .
主要作家作品
A. 查尔斯*狄更斯
B. 布朗蒂姐妹
C. 阿尔弗雷德*丁尼生
D. 罗伯特* 布朗宁
E. 乔治*艾略特
F. 托马斯*哈代
查尔斯*狄更斯
一. The literary thoughts :
1. It is his serious intention to expose and criticize in his works all the poverty , injustice ,hypocrisy and corruptness he sees all around him .
2. But his social attitudes are very complicated . He hates the state apparatus , but as a bourgeois writer , he can in no way supply any fundamental solution to the social plights .
3. At the same time , he hopes to call people's attention to the existing social problems , thus effecting some reform or amelioration .
二. The works :
Most of his works are deeply rooted in his knowledge of that petty-bourgeois urban world . A combination of optimism about people and realism about the society is present from the very beginning .
1. The earlier works :
In his early novels , he attacks one or more specific social evils .
A. Papers of the Pickwick lifted him into a position of fame and fortune .
B. others include : Oliver Twist ,Nicholas Nickleby , David Copperfield ,Martin Chuzzlewit and Dombey and Son .
2. The later works :
The later works show the development of Dickens towards a highly conscious artist of the modern type . The physical settings here are sometimes a mixture of the contemporary and the recollected past .
A. All of the works , with the exception of A Tale of Two Cities , Present a criticism of the more complicated and yet most fundamental social institutions and morals of the Victorian England .
B. Others include : Bleak House , Little Dorrit , Hard Times , Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend .
三. The artistic features :
1. In language :
A. With his first sentence , he engages the reader's attention and holds it to the end . The settings of his stories have an extraordinary vividness , a result of years' intimacy and rich imagination .
B. In languge , he is often compared with Shakespeare for his adeptness with the vernacular and large vocabulary . His humor and wit seem inexhaustible .
2. In Character-portrayal :
A. Character-portrayal is the most distinguishing feature of his works .
B. His best-depicted characters are those innocent , virtuous , persecuted , helpless child characters .
C. And he is also famous for the depiction of those horrible and grotesque Characters like Fagin .
D. These charcters are impressive not only because they are true to life , but also because they are often larger than life .
3. The mingling of humor and pathos :
A. Dicken's works are also characterized by a mingling of humor and pathos . He seems to believe that life is itself a mixture of joy and grief . Life is delightful because it is at once comic and tragic . He is a humorist .
B. To match his humorous genius , Dickens is also noted for his pictures of pathos .
布朗蒂姐妹
一. The works
1. Charlotte's first novel was The Professor . But her second one , Jane Eyre , won immediate success .
2. Emily 's single and unique work was Wuthering Heights .
3. Anne's Agnes Grey was published . Soon it followed by Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall .
二. Charlotte's works :
1. The theme :
Charlotte's works are all about the struggle of an individual consciousness towards self -realization , about some lonely and neglected young women with a fierce longing for love , understanding and a full , happy life .
2. The thoughts :
Charlotte would usually stick to the Puritanical code . In her mind , man's life is composed of perpetual battle between sin and virtue .
3. The artistic features :
She is a writer of realism combined with romanticism . on one hand , she presents a vivid realistic picture of the English society . On the other hand , her writings are marked throughout by an intensity of vision passion .
三. The selected Reading :
1. Jane Eyre by charlotte Bronte :
A. The work is one of the most popular and important novels of the Victorian age . it is noted for its sharp criticism of the existing society .
B. At same time , it is an intense moral fable . Jane , like Mr. Rochester , has to undergo a series of physicla and moral tests .
C. The success of the novel is also due to its introduction to the English novel the first governess heroine .
2. Wuthering Heights by English Bronte :
A. The novel is a riddle , Which means different things to different people . From the social point of view , it is a story about a poor man abused , betrayed and distorted by his social betters .
B. The story is told mainly by Nelly , and part of the story is told through Isabella's letters to Nelly .
阿尔弗雷德*丁尼生
一. The works :
1. The first signed work was Poems , Chiefly Lyrical .
2. The greatest work :
His greatest work , In Memoriam , is an elegy on death of Hallam .
3. The poetry :
Tennyson's poetic career is also marked out by Idylls of the King .It is made up of 12 books of narrative poems , based on the Celtic legends of King Arthur and his knights of Round Table .
二.The artistic Feautures :
1. He has the natural power of linking visual pictures with musical expression.
2. He has perfect control of the sound of English , and a sensitive ear , an excellent choice and taste of words .
3. His works are not only teh products of the creative imagination of a poetic genius but also products of a long and rich English heritage .
4. His wonderful works manifest all the qualities of England's great poets .
罗伯特* 布朗宁
一.The works
1. The first poetic work
auline .
2. The second works : Sordello .
3. The dramatic monologue ;
Dramatic Lyrics , Dramatic Romances and Lyrics , Bells and Pomegranates , Men and Women , Dramatic Personae , The Ring and the Book and Dramatic Idylls .
二.The masterpiece : The Ring and the book :
1. The source of the story :
The poem is inspired by an old book of legal documents that records a trial in Rome .
2. The symbolic meaning :
The "Book " is the pure gold of objective facts , the hard truth .
3. The influence :
The publication of the Ring and the Book finally estalished Browning's position as one of the greatest English poets .
三.The artistic features :
1. In creation :
A. The name of Browning is often associated with the term :"dramatic monologue ." This poetic form reaches its maturity and perfection . "My Last Duchess ," " A Grammarian's Funeral ," and The Ring adn the Book are but some of his best known monologues .
B. To Browning , the dramatic monologue is an ingenious means to exploit his literary gift the poet possesses powerful imagination and creativity as well as a good knowledge about man's psychology and nature .
2. In language and structure :
A. His rhythms are often too fast ,too rough and unmusical .
B.The syntax is usually clipped and highly compressed .
C. The similes and illustrations appear too profusely . The allusion and implications are sometimes odd and farfetched .
D.Browning 's style is very different from that of any other Victorian poets . His poetic style belongs to the twentieth century rather than to the Victorian .
乔治*艾略特
一.The works
1. the most popular novels :
Adam Bede , The Mill on the Floss and Silas Marner .
2. Great Works :
Romola , a full elaborately documented story of Florece Felix Holt , the Ridical , her only novel on English politics , Middlemarch , a panoramic book considered today by many to be George Eliot 's greatest achievemetn .
二.The literary creation :
1. In creation :
George Eliot was working at something new .
A. She initiates a new type of realism .
B. She sets into motion a variety of developments , leading in teh direction of both the naturalistic and psychological novel .
2. The theme :
A . In her works , she seeks to present the inner struggle of a soul and reveal the motives . She is interested in the development of a soul , the slow growth or decline of moral power of the character .
B. She makes effort to harmonize a sense of human dignity with a sense of human limitations she shows that the need of the individual for expansion and growth has to be brought into harmony with a sense of socil responsibility .
三.The literary views :
1. The destiny of women :
George Eliot shows a particular concern for the destiny of women , especially those with great intelligence , potential and social aspirations .
2. The tragedy of women :
In her mind , the pathetic tragedy of women lies in their very birth . Their inferior education and limited social life determine that they must depend on men for sustenance and realization of their goals .
托马斯*哈代
一.The works :
1. The novels :
A. His first novel is Desperate Remedies
B. The Real success came with under the Greenwood Tree
C. The publication of Far from the Madding Crowd enabled him to give up architecture for writing .
D.His last two novels : Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure
2. The poetry :
The most famous is The Dynasts , a long epic-drama about the Napoleonic Wars .
二. The literary creation :
1. The tragic sense :
From The Return of teh Native on , the tragic sense becomes the keynote of his novels .
2. nostalgic sense :
In the Wessex novels , there is an apparent nostalgic touch in his description of teh simple and beautiful though primitive rural life .
3. The Darwinism :
He read Darwin's The Origin of Species and accepted the idea of " survival of the fittest. " He was also influenced by Spencer's The First Principle .
4. The criticism :
Though Naturalism seems to have played an important part in Hardy 's works , there is also bitter and sharp criticism and even open challege of the irrational , hypocritical and unfair Victorian institutions , conventions and morals .
三.The artistic features :
1. The Naturism :
He is a great painter of nature . In his hand , nature assumes the form of life and becomes a most powerful , forbidding force with its own life and will .
2. The language and structures :
All the works of Hardy are noted for the rustic dialect and a poetic flavor which fits well into their perfectly designed architectural structures .
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The Modern Period (近代时期)
本章概述
一. 20世纪批判现实主义文学和现代主义文学产生的历史、文化背景；
二.该时期文学创作的基本特征、基本主张；
三、对现当代英国文学的影响；
四、主要作家作品。
文学史分析
一、The cultural Background
1、In the mid-19th century , Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels put forward the theory of scientific socialism .
2.Darwin's theory of evolution exerted a strong influence up on the people . The social Darwinism , advocated colonialism or jingoism .
3.Einstein's theory of relativity provided entirely new ideas for the concepts of time and space .
4.Freud's analytical psychology drastically altered our conception of human nature .
5.In philosophy , Arthur Schopenhauer , stared a rebellion against rationalism .Stressing the importance of will and intuition , Friedrich Nietzsche went further against rationalism ,Henry Bergson established his irrational philosophy .
二. The rising of modernism :
1. The movement of modernism :
A. The source :
Modernism rose out of Skepticism and disillusion of capitalism .
B.The forms :
The French symbolism heralded modernism . After the First World War ,all kinds of literary trends of modernism appeared :expressionism , surrealism ,futurism ,Dadaism ,imagism and stream of consciousness .
C. The process
Modernism was somewhat curbed in the 1930s. But after the Second World War , a variety of modernism ,or post-modernism ,like existentialist literature,theater of the absurd , new novels and black humor , rose with the spur of the existentialist idea that "the world was asurd ,and the human life was an agony ."
2.The theoretical Base :
A.The theory :
Modernism takes the irrtional philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base .
B.The themes :
The major themes of the modernist literature are the distorted ,alienated and ill relationships between man and nature , man and society , man and man ,and man and himself .
C.The features :
The modernist writers concentrate more on the private , the subjective ,the inner being of an individual , the psychic time .
三. The literary forms :
1.The poetries :
A. The 20th century has witnessed a great achievement in English poetry .Hardy expressed his strong sympathies for the suffering poor and his bitter disgusts at the social evils in his poetry as in his novels .
B.The early poems of Pound and Eliot and Yeats's matured poetry marked the rise of "modern poetry"
C.The 1930s witnessed great economic depressions ,mass unemployment ,and the rise of the Nazis ,most of the young intellects started to turn to the left .
D.With the coming of the 1950s ,there was a return of realistic poetry again .
2. The novels :
A. The realistic novels :
a.The realistic novels in the early 20th century were the continuation of the Victorian tradition. the outstanding realistic novelists of this period were John Galsworthy ,H.G.Wells and Arnold Bennett.
b.Realism was ,to a certain textent ,eclipsed by the rapid rise of modernism in the 1920s.The realistic novels of this period wre more or less touched by a pessimistic mood, preoccupied with the theme of man's loneliness .Another important aspect of realistic novels in this period is the fact that there rose a few working-class writers .Among this group ,Gibbon was the most outstanding .His trilogy .Sunset Song , Cloud How ,and Grey Granite present the social changes .
C.In the mid-1950s and early 1960s ,there appeared a group of young novlists and playwrights with lower-middle-class or working -class background .who were known as "The Angry Young Men." Amis was the first to star the attack on middle-class privileges and power in his novel Lucky Jim.
B.The modernist novels :
a. The first three decades of this century were golden years of the modernist novel . The theory of the Freudian and Jungian psycho-analysis played a particularly important role .
b. Writers like Dorothy Richardson,James Joyce and Virgina Woolf concentrated all their efforts on digging into the human consciousness .James Joyce is the most outstanding stream-of-consciousness novelist ,in Ulysses ,Bloom ,becomes teh symbol of everyman in the post-World-War-I Europe . Forster's masterpiece , A Passage to India, is a novel of decidedly symbolist asirations ,Lawrence is regarded as revolutionary as Joyce in novel writing .In his best novels like The Rainbow and Women in Love ,Lawrence made a bold psychological exploration of various human relationships ,especially those between men and women .
3.The drama :
A.The pioneer dramatists :
a.The most celebrated dramatists in the last decade of the 19th century were Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw ,who ,in a sense, pioneered the modern drama .
b.Wilde expressed a satirical and bitter attitude towards the upper-class people ,in his masterpiece ,The Importance of Being Earnest . Shaw is considered to be the best-known English dramatist since Shakespeare .Galsworthy made considerable achievements in his plays . The Silver Box and Strife .
B. The Irish National Theater Movement :
a . With their joint efforts, the Irish playwrights brought about the Irish National Theater Movement in the early 20th century .
b.Yeats was a verse playwright who desired to restore lyrical drama to popularity . By adopting the vivid figurative language of the Irish peasantry ,Synge brought vigor , ironic humor , and dramatic pathos to the Irish stage . His most popular play is the comedy ,The playboy of the Western World . O'Casey presented an urban drama of Dublin slum life to the Irish audience in plays like Juno and the Paycock , and The plough and the Stars .
C. The revival of poetic drama :
a. The 1930s witnessed a revival of poetic drama in England .T.S. Eliot regarded drama as the best medium of poettry . Murder in the Cathedral , remains the most popular of his verse plays .
b. Fry gained considerable successes in poetic drama . The Lady's Not For Burning attracted delighted audience .
D. The English dramatic revolution :
a. The English dramatic revolution came in the 1950s .This revolution developed in two directions the working-class drama and the Theater of Absurd .
b. John Osborne was the man who stared the first change in drama by presenting his play Look Back in Anger Osborne brought vitality to the English theater and became known as teh first "Angry Young Man ." The most original playwright of the Theater of Absurd is Samuel Beckett.His first play , Waiting for Godot ,is regraded as the most famous and influential play of the Theater of Absurd .
主要作家作品
A. 乔治.伯纳德.萧伯纳
B. 约翰.高尔斯华绥
C. 威廉.勃特勒.叶芝
D. T.S.艾略特
E. 戴维.赫伯特.劳伦斯
F. 詹姆斯.乔伊斯
A. 乔治.伯纳德.萧伯纳
一. The literary creation :
1.The early period
A. The works "
a.Shaw began his literary career by writing novels the best know is Cashel Byron's Profession .
b.Shaw directed his attacks on the Neo-Romantic tradition and the fashionable drawing-room drama .In a collection Our Theaters in the Nineties .
c. His first play is Widower's Houses . Shaw's play ,Candida ,was produced and since then ,Shaw's position as the leading playwright of his time was established .
d.Widowers' House and Mrs. Warren's Profession can be regarded as the typical representatives of Shaw's early plays .
B.The theme :
His early plays were mainly concerned with social problems and directed towards the criticism of the contemporary social ,economic ,moral and religious evils.
2.The middle period :
A. The miscellaneous subjects :
There are history plays ,the idea of "Life Force " and other subjects .
B. The works :
a.The history plays includ Caesar and Cleopatra and St.Joan
b. Shaw also produced several plays , exploring his idea of "Life Force ". The typical examples of this group are Man and Superman and Back to Methuselah .
c.Shaw wrote plays on miscellaneous subjects : The Apple Cart is about Politics ;John Bull 's other Island is about racial problems ; Pygmalion is about culture and art .
3.The later period :
A. The features :
In the 1930s, Shaw continued his dramatic career and wrote several plays ,but his satire became weaker and less effectual .
B.The works :
Too True to Be Good is better play of the later period .
二. The artistic features :
1.The problem plays :
As a realistic dramatist ,he took the modern social issues as his subjects they can be termed as problem plays .
2.The character-portrayal:
Shaw's characterization is that he makes the trick of showing up one character vividly at the expense of another . Another feature is that Shaw's Characters are the representatives of ideas ,points of view .
3.The inversion of the situation :
Much of Shavian drama is constructed around the inversion of a conventional theatrical situation. The inversion is an integral part of an interpretation of life .Inversion is also used in character portrayal to achieve comic effects .
4. The vitality of the talk
It is the vitality of the talk that takes primacy over mere story . Action is reduced to minimum ,while the dialogue and the imterplay of the minds of the characters maintain the interest of the audience .
B. 约翰.高尔斯华绥
一. The literary creation :
1.The novels :
A.Galsworthy published his first book ,From the Four wind .
B.The Man of Property ,together with his first play , The silver Box ,established him as a prominent novelist and playwright in the public mind .
C.Other novels include the Forsyte Saga --his first trilogy ;The Man of Property ,In Chancery and To Let ; His second Forsyte trilogy , A modern Comedy and the third ,End of the Chapter .
2.The plays :
His first play is the Silver Box .
二.The artistic features :
1.The conventional style :
Galsworthy was a conventional writer ,having inherited the fine traditions of the great Victorian novelists of the critical.
2.The traditional spirits :
Technically ,he was more traditional than adventurous ,focusing on plot development and character portrayal .
3.The satire and humor:
He was also successful in his attempt to present satire and humor in his writing .
C. 威廉.勃特勒.叶芝
一.The creation in poetry:
1.The early period :
A.The themes:
The major themes are usually Celtic legends ,local folktales ,or stories of the heroic age in Irish history .
B.The features :
Many of his early poems have a dreamy quality ,expressing melancholy ,passive and self-indulgent feelings.
C.The representatives:
"The Lake isle of Innisfree" is just a popular representative of such poems .
2.The middle period :
A.The themes:
Now Yeats began to write with realistic and concrete themes on a variety of subjects ,exploring the profound and complicated human problems .With the combination of his appreciation of beauty and a sense of tragedy in life , Yeats gave significance to the ordinary events of life in his poetry .
B.The features :
yeats turned from the traditional poetry to a modernist one .Artistically ,he came under the influence of French Symbolism and John Donne's metaphysical poetry ; poeticlly ,he accepted the modernist ideas .
C. The representatives :
"No second Troy," "September 1913".
3.The later period :
A.The themes :
His concern has turned to the great subjects of dichotomy ,and this dichotomy has brought constant tensions in his works and revealed the human predicament .
B.The features :
The scorn so pervasive before was gone ; He yearned to move away from the sensual world of growth and change ,and enter the timeless ,enternal world of art and intellect .
C.The repressentatives :
"Sailing to Byzantium ," " Leda and the Swan "
二. The creation in play :
1.The early period :
A.The theme:
The stories of his early plays all came from the Irish myth or legends.
B.The work :
His first play is The countless Cathleen .Cathleen ni Houlihan is a forceful play of patriotism .
In addition to the above -mentioned ,The Land of Heart's Desire The Shadowy Waters , Purgatory also regarded as fairly good plays by Yeats .
2.The later period :
A. The theme:
In his later phase of dramatic career , in order to reflect "the deeps of the mind ," Yeats began experimenting with techniques borrowed from the Japanese Noh plays .
B.The features :
Eve in his plays Yeats remained a lyrical poet .As a matter of fact , his dramas are far less "dramatic " in force and in tension than his poetic works .
D. T.S.艾略特
一. The creation in poetry :
1.The early period :
A.The theme:
Eliot had explored in his early poetry various aspects of decay of culture in the modern Western world most his early poems are about a state mind .
B.The representatives :
The more important poems of this period are : "prufrock ," "Gerontion ," The West Land ,and The Hollow Men .
a.The Waste Land has been hailed as a landmark and model of the 20th-century English poetry ,comparable to Wordsworth's Lyricla Ballads .
b.The Waste Land is a poem concerned with the spiritual breakup of a modern civilization in which human life has lost its meaning ,significance and purpose .
2.The later period :
A.The representatives:
In his later period ,Eliot produced only two major volumes of poetic works: Ash Wednesday and Four Quartets .
B.The themes :
Both clearly reflect his allegiance to the church of England . The Four Quartets,is concerned with the quest for the immortal element ,Four Quartets is characteried by a philosophical and emotional calm quite .
二. The creation in play :
1.The works :
Eliot had written in his lifetime five full-length plays :Murder in the Cathedral ,The Family Reunion , The Cocktail party ,The Confidential Clerk , The Elder Statesman . All the plays have something to do with Christian themes .
2.The representatives :
Murder in the Cathedral is concerned with the death and martyrdom of Thomas Becket .The Family Reunion has a modern setting .
三. The creation in prose :
1.The theme :
His essays are mainly concrned with cultural ,social ,religious ,as well as literary issues .
2.The representatives :
"Tradition and Individual Talent ," Eliot put great emphasis on the importance of tradition both in creative writing and criticism .Eliot argued that a poet 's mind should remain "inert " and "neutral "towards his subject matter .
E. 戴维.赫伯特.劳伦斯
一. The creation in novel :
1.The early period :
A. The works :
a.His first novel is The White peacock .
b.His second novel is The Trespasser .
c. Lawrence was recoganized as a prominent novelist only after he published his third novel ,Sons and Lovers .
B.The masterpieces :
The Rainbow and Women in Love are generally regarded as his masterpieces .
The Rainbow :
a.The content :
The rainbow is a story about the three generations a the Brangwen family on the Marsh farm .
b.The significance :
In this novel ,Lawrence illustrates a terrible social corruption that accompanies the progress of human civilization.
Women in Love :
As a matter of fact ,it is the first time for Lawrence to make a conscious attempt to combine soical criticism with psychological exploration in his novel writing .
a. The content :
Women in Love is a novel about two pairs of lovers ,around whom a series of episodes are dramatically presented . The two heroines are Ursula Brangwen and her younger sister Gudrun ;and two chief male characters are Gerald Crich ,a young coalmine owner ,and Rupert Birkin ,a school inspector .
b.The significance :
Women in love is rich in its symbolic meanings .Gerald Crich , is a symbolic figure of spiritual death , representing the whole set of bourgeois ethics .Whereas Birkin is presented as a symbolic figure of human warmth , standing for the spontaneous Life Force .
2.The later period :
A. The features :
In the novels of his later period ,Lawrence deals more extensively with themes of power ,dominance ,and leadership ;the relationships that men form with one another , rather than with women ,are also under exploration .
B. The works :
a. Aaron's Rob shows that every man is a sacred and holy individual whose integrity should never be violated or dominated .
b.Kangaroo gives a rich portrayal of the Australian life and scenery .
c.The plumed serpent shows that Lawrence tries to give symbolic fictional form to his preoccupation with the concept of "blood consciousness ," a mystical religion of instinct .
d. In Lady chatterley's Lover , Lawrence has returned to his early subjects and background of Nottinghamshire.
二. The creation in poetry :
1. The classifications :
His poems fall roughly into three categories
A. Satirical and comic poems ;
B. poems about human relationships and emotions ;
C.poems about nature .
2.The features :
Lawrence does not care much about the convention metrical rules ;what he tries to do in poetry is to catch the instant life of the immediate present .
三. The creation in play :
1.Lawrence was discovered to be an important playwright in 1968 with the efforts of Peter Gill.
2.These three plays : A Collier's Friday Night , The Daughter-in-Law and The widowing of Mrs.Holroyed .
四. The artistic feature :
1.Lawrence was one of the first novelists to introduce themes of psychology into his works .He believed that the healthy way of the individual 's psychological development lay in the primacy of the life impulse .
2.Lawrence 's artistic tendency is mainly realism , which combines dramatic scenes with an authoritative commentary . Lawrence endows the traditional realism with a fresh psychological meaning .
F. 詹姆斯.乔伊斯
一.The literary creation :
1.The works :
A. He wrote altogether three novels , a collection of short stories , two volumes of poery , and one play .
B. The novels and short stories are regarded as his great work , all of which have the same setting : Ireland , especially Dublin , and the same subject : the Irish people and their life .
2.The masterpieces :
A.Dubliners , a collection of 15 short stories , is the first important work of Joyce's lifelong preoccupation with Dublin life .
B. Joyce published his first vovel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young man , The title of the novel suggests a character study with strong autobiographical elements . The story develops around the life of a middle-class Irish boy , Stephen Dedalus .
C. Ulysses ,Joyce's masterpiece , has become a prime example of modernism in literature .
D. Joyce spent 17 years working on his last important book ,Finnegans Wake ,Finnegans Wake is regarded as the most original experiment ever made in the novel form , and also the most difficult book to read .
二. The artistic features:
1. The innovation of literature :
A. The objectivity description:
In Joyce's opinion , the artist should rise to the position of a godlike objectivity; He should appear as an omniscient author and present unspoke materisals directly from the psyche of the characters.
B. The stream of consciousness :
The literary approach to teh presentation of psychological aspects of characters is usually termed as "stream of consciousness." And Joyce is regarded as the most prominent stream-of -consciousness novelist .
2.The style
A.His own style is a strainghtforward one ,lucid and leisurely ; subtlety ,economy and exactness are his standards .
B.To create his modern odyssey -Ulysses , Joyce adopts a kind of mock-heroic style.
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美国文学
Chapter 1 The Romantic period (浪漫时期)
本章概述
一. 十九世纪初期至中叶美国文学产生的历史、文化背景；
二、该时期文学创作的基本特征、基本主张；
三、对同时代与后期美国文学的影响；
四、主要作家作品。
文学史分析
一、The time period :
1. The Romantic Period stretchs from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War.
2.It started with the the publication of Washington Irving's The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman's Leaves of Grass .
3.It is also called " the American Renaissance ."
二. The romantic thoughts :
1.The native feature :
They revealed unique characteristics of their own in their works and they grew on the native lands .
A.The American national experience of "pioneering into the west " proved to be a rich source of material .
B. The wilderness came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral law .
C.Literature began to celebrate American farmers ,the poor , the unlettered ,children ,and especially the noble savages .
2.The Puritanism :
A.The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values .
B.American romantic writers tended more to moralized than their English and European counterparts.
3.The Transcendentalism :
A. The most clearly defined Romantic literary movement in this period is New England Transcendentalism .
B.It was stared in New England in the 1830s .
C. This Transcendentalist group includes two of the most significant writers America has produced so far ,Emerson and Thoreau .
D. Transcendentalism has been defined philosophically as "the recognition in man the capacity of knowing truth intuitively ,or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the sense ."
三.The representatives :
1. The poetry :
There emerged a great host of men of letters during this period ,among the better-known is Walt Whitman , Whose Leaves of Grass established him as the most popular American poet of the 19th century .
2. The fiction :
The fiction of the American Romantic Period is an original and diverse body of work .
3.The human nature :
American Romanticists also differed in their their understanding of human nature . To Emerson and Thoreau , man is divine in nature and therefore forever perfectible ;to Hawthorne and Melville , everybody is potentially a sinner , and great moral courage is therefore indispensable for the improvement of human nature .
主要作家作品
A.华盛顿.欧文
B.拉尔夫.华尔多.爱默生
C.纳撒尼尔.霍桑
D.华尔特.惠特曼
E.赫尔曼.麦尔维尔
A.华盛顿.欧文
一.The literary creation
1.The works :
A. A History of New York ,which , written under the name of Diedrich knickerbocker , was a great success and won him wide popularity .The book is a parody of the Dutch colony .
B. With the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffery Crayon , Gent ,Irving won a measure of international fame on both side of the Atlantic .The book contains familiar essays like "Rip Van Winkle " and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow . "
C.Following The sketch Book , Irving published Bracebridge Hall ,and Tales of a Traveler .
2.The literary source and contributions :
A.Irving 's relationship with the Old World in terms of his literary imagination can hardly be ingored considering his sucess both abroad and at home . A History of New York is a patchwork of references .He parodies or imitates Homer , Fielding ,Swift and many other favorites of his .
B. Washington Irving brought to the new nation what its people desired most in a man of letters ---"Rip Van Winkle " or "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " are among the treasures of the American language and culture . It is not the sketches about the Old World but the tales about America that made Washington Irving a household word and his fame enduring .
二. The artistic features :
1.Irving 's taste was essentially conservative .
2.Washington Irving has always been regarded as a writer who " perfected the best classic style that American Literature ever produce . "
3. Yet Irving never forgets to associate a certain place with the inward movement of a person and to charge his sentences with emotion so as to create a true and vivid character .
B.拉尔夫.华尔多.爱默生
一. The literary creation :
1.The chief spokesman of this spiritual movement , New England transcendentalism is Emerson .
2.Nature ,Emerson's first little book ,established him ever since as the most eloquent sopkesman of New England Transcendentalism .
3.His lasting reputation began only with the publication of Essays . Many of his famous essays are included in Essays ,such as the American Scholar , Self-Reliance , The Over-Soul .
二. The thought
1. The transcendentalism :
A. The nature :
Emersonian Transcendentalism is actually a philosophical school with absorbed some ideological concerns of American Puritanism and European Romanticism .
B. The contents :
Emerson put forward his philosophy of the over-soul , the importance of the Individual , and Nature . Transcendentalists believed that there should be an emotional communication between an individual soul and universal "over-soul "
2.The influence :
A. By employing nature as a big symbol of the spirit ,or God , or the over-soul , Emerson has brought the puritan legacy of symbolism to its perfection .
B. Emerson is the most represntative of the philosophical an literary school , and it inspired in his lifetime a whole generation of famous authors like Thoreau , Whitman , and Dickinson .
三. The artistic features :
1.The casual style :
Emerson's essays often have a casual style . They are usually characterized by a series of short ,sentencesw .
2. To use comparison and metaphors :
Emerson's philosophical discussion is sometimes difficult to understande but he uses comparisons and metaphors to make the general idea of his work clearly expressed .
3.To employ the literary sources :
Emerson often employed these literary sources to make and enrich his own points but never let them take the full reins of his discussion .
C.纳撒尼尔.霍桑
一. The thoughts :
1. The view of sin:
A. According to Hawthorne , "There is evil in every human heart ." A piece of literary work should " show how we are all wronged and wronger , and avenge one another ." So in almost every book he wrote , Hawthorne discusses sin and evil .
B. One source of evil that Hawthorne is concerned most is overreaching intellect . The tension between intellect " would be fully revealed .
2. The Puritanism :
A. Hawthorne 's view of man and human history originates , to a great extent , in Puritanism . He believed that "the wrong doing of one generation lives into the successive ones . "
B. In many of Hawthorne 's stories and novels , the Puritan concept of life is condemned , or the Puritan past is shown in an almost totally negative light , especially in his The House of the Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter .
二. The masterpiece ---The Scarlet letter :
1.The theme:
In this particular novel , Hawthorne does not intend to tell a love stroy nor a story of sin , but focuses his attention on the moral , emotional , and psychological effects or consequences of the sin on the people in general and those main characters in particular , so as to show us the tension between society and individuals .
2.The imagery :
"The custom -House " to The Scarlet Letter proves fruitful to Hawthrone 's imagination , By relating a piece of red cloth shaped like "A" , Hawthorne succeeds in giving his tale a sense of historical reality and an air of authenticity .
三. The artistic features :
1.The structure:
The structure and the form of his writings are always carefully worked out to cater for the thematic concern .
2.The allegory :
Hawthorne is also a great allegorist and almost every story can be read allegorically , as is the case in " Young Goodman Brown."
3.The symbolism :
Hawthorne is a master of symbolism . The symbol can be found everywhere in his writing . By using pearl as thematic symbol ,Hawthorne emphasizes the consequence the sin of adultery has brought to the community and people living in that community .
4.The ambiguity :
And the ambiguity is one of the salient characteristics of Hawthorne's art .
D.华尔特.惠特曼
一. The works ---Leaves of Grass :
1.Leaves of Grass has alwasys been considered a monumental work which commands great attention .
2.The work has nine editions and the first edition was published in 1855.
二. the thoughts :
1. The nationalism :
As Whitman saw it , poetry could play a vital part in the process of creating a new nation . The abundance of themes in his poetry voices freshness. He shows concern for the whole hardworking people and the burgeoning life of cities .
2. The individual value :
The realization of the individual value also found a tough position in Whitman's poems in a particular way . pursuit of love and happiness is approved of repeatedly and affectionately in his lines .
3.The political thoughts :
Some of Whitman's poems are politically committed , Such as a collection under the title of drum Taps , " Cavalry Crossing a Ford . " And " When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom 'd ."
三.The artistic features :
1. The brand-new means :
Whitman employed brand-new means in his poetry .
A. Whitman's poetic style is marked , first of all , by the use of the poetic "I".
B.Usually , the relationship Whitman is dramatizing is a triangular one :"I" the poet, the subject in the poem , and " you " the reader .
C. What he prefers for his new subject and new poetic feeling is " free verse ,"that is , poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme . However , there is still a strong sense of the poems being rhythmical .
2. The imagery :
A. unifying images of the body , the crowd , teh sexuality are pervasive in his poems .
B. One of the most often-used methods in Whitman's poems is to make colors and images fleet past the mind's eye of the reader .
3. The Language:
A. Another characteristic in Whitman's language is his strong tendency to use oral English .
B. Whitman's vocabulary is amazing . He would use powerful , colorful , as well as rarely-used words , words of foreign origin and sometimes even wrong words .
E.赫尔曼.麦尔维尔
一. The literary creation :
Melville's writings can be well divided into two groups .
1.The early period :
His early works were writen after he was back from the sea.
A. Among them are Typee , Omoo , and Mardi, which drew from his adventures .
B. Redburn is semi-autobiographical novel .
C. In White Jacket Melville relates his life on a United states man-of-war .
D. Moby-Dick proves to be the best .
2. The later period :
With the publication of Pierre ,Melville's public fame was on the decline .
A. Among them are "Bartleby , the Scrivener , " "Benito Cereno, " The Confidence -Man .
B. Bill Budd again deals with the sea and sailors and the theme of a conflict between innocence and corruption .
3.The themes respectively :
A. In the early ones , Melville is more enthusiastic about setting out on a quest for the meaning of the universe , hence they are more metaphysical and the main characters are ardent and self-dramatizing "I", defyign God , as best reflected in Moby-Dick .
B. In the late works , Melville becomes more reconciled with the world of man .
二. The Masterpiece ---Moby -Dick :
1.The literary status :
Moby-Dick is regarded as the first American prose epic .
2. The features :
It is difficult to read because much of the talk in the talk in the novel is sailor's talk and much of the language is purposely old-fashioned and Elizabethan .
3. The outline :
The story is not complicated , dealing with Ahab , a man with an overwhelming obsession to kill the whale which has crippled him , on board his ship Pequod in the chase of the whale .
4.The symbolism :
It turns out to be a symbolic yoyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe , a spiritual exploration into man's deep reality and psychology .
三. The artistic features:
1.The style of symbol and imagery
A. Different people on board the ship are representations of defferent ideas and different social and ethnic groups .
B. Facts become symbols and incidents acquire universal meanings .
C. Pequod is the microcosm of human society , and the voyage becomes a search for truth .
D. For author ,Moby-Dick is still a mystery , an ultimate mystery of the universe .
2. The other stills :
Melville's great gifts of language , invention , psychological analysis , speculative agility , and narrative power are fused to make Moby-Dick a world classic .
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美国部分
chapter2 The Realistic period (现实主义文学时期)
本章概述
一. 十九世纪中期现实主义文学产生的历史、文化背景；
二、美国现实主义文学创作的基本特征、基本主张；
三、对同时代与后期美国文学的影响；
四、主要作家作品。
文学史分析
一、The time period :
The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been referred to as the Age of Realism in the literary history of the United States .
二. The theoretical base :
1.The thoughts of Howells :
A. The literary principle :
The fidelistic reflection of human reality is most clearly expressed by William Dean Howells .
B. The influence :
Guided by this principle of adhering to the truthful treatment of life , the realists touched upon various comtemporary social and political issues .
2. The subject matters :
A. The characters :
They introduced industrial workers and farmers , ambitious businessmen and vagrants , prostitutes and unheroic soldiers as major characters in fiction .
B. The modes :
They approached the harsh realities and pressures in the post Civil War society either by a comprehensive picture of modern life , or by a psychological exploration of man's subconsciousness .
3. The three towering figures :
The three dorminant figures of the period are William Dean Howells , Mark Twain and Henry James .
A. The common features :
a.They brought to fulfillment native trends in the realistic portrayal brought to perfection teh vernacular style .
b.They established the literary indentity of distinctively American protagonists , specifically the vernacular hero and the "American Girl ."
C. In short , they set teh example and charted the future course for teh subjects , themes ,techniques and styles of fiction .
B. The distinctions :
a. They differed in their understanding of the " truth " .While Mark Twain and Howells seemed to have paid more attention to the "life" of teh Americans ,Henry James had apparently laid a greater emphasis on the "inner world " of man .
b. Though Twain and Howells both shared the same concern in presenting the truth of the American society , they had each of them different emphasis . Howells focused his discussion the rising middle class and the way they lived , While Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories .
三. The naturalism in literature :
1. The sources :
The impact of Darwin's evolutionary theory and the influence of the 19th century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to yet another school of realism: American naturalism .
2. The subject matter :
They chose their subjets from the lower ranks of society , and portrayed misery and poverty of the "underdogs " who were demonstrably victims of society and nature .
3.The themes :
One of the most familiar themes in American naturalism is the theme of human "bestiality "especially as an explanation of sexaul desire .
4.The features:
Artistically ,naturalistic writings are usually unpolished in language , lacking in academic skills and unwieldy in structure . Philosophically , the naturalists believe that the real and true is always partially hidden from the eyes of teh individual , or beyond this control . In a word , naturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic .
主要作家作品
A. 马克.吐温
B.亨利.詹姆斯
C.艾米莉.狄金森
D.西奥多.德莱塞
A. 马克.吐温
一. The works :
1.The early period :
A.With works like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn an Life on the Mississippi Twain shaped the world's view of America .
B. The first among these books is Roughing it .
C. Two of the best books during this period are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .
2.The late period :
A. the Gilded Age is Written in collaboration with Warner , the novel explored the scrupulous individualism .
B.In A Connecticut Yankee in king Arthu's Court , Twain follows the journey of a representative of modern technology and ideas into a historically backward , feudal society .
C.The others include:
The Tragedy of Pudd's nhead Wilson The man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and The Mysterious Strager .
二. The masterpieces :
1. The literary status :
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn proved themselves to be the milestone in American literature , and thus firmly established Twain's position in the literary world .
2. The features:
The books are noted for their unpretentious ,colloquial yet poetic style ,their wide -ranging humor , and their unviversally shared dream of perfect innocence and freedom .
3. The language :
the novel is written in a language which is not grand , pompous , but simple , direct , lucid , and faithful to the colloquial speech .
4. The character portrayal :
The profound portrait of Huckleberry Finn is another great contribution of the book to the legacy of American literature .
三. The artistic features:
1.The local color :
Twain is also known as a local colorist , who preferred to present social life through portraits of the local characters of his regions , Unlike James and Howells , Mark Twain wrote about the lower -class people .
2. The language :
Another fact that made Twain unique is his magic power with language , his use of vernacular . His words are colloquial , concrete and direct in effect , and his sentence structures are simple ,
3.The sense of humor :
Mark Twain's humor is remarkable , too . Mark Twain shared the popular image of the American funny man . However , his humor is not only of witty remarks , but a kind of artistic style used to criticize the social inujustic and satirize the decayed romanticism .
B.亨利.詹姆斯
一. The literary creation :
The literary of Henry James is generally divided into three periods .
1.The early period :
A. The theme:
James took great interest in international themes he treated with great care the clashes between two different cultures and the emotional and moral problems of American in Europe , or Europeans in America .
B. The Works :
the American , Daisy Miller , The Europeans , The Portr
