英国文学期末整理

Questions for Revision:The Anglo- Saxon Period

Q1: What is the major literary form in this period?

Poetry

Q2: What is epic? What is the national epic in this period?

An Epic is a long narrative poem in elevated style presents characters of high relation to a central figure of heroic proportions and through their development of episodes important to the history of a nation or race.

Beowulf

Q3: What are the characteristics of Beowulf ?

1、The most striking feature in its poetic form is the use of alliteration- repetition of initial

consonant sounds in a line of poem. In alliterative verse, certain accented words in a line begin with the same consonat sound.There are generally 4 accents in a line, three of which show alliteration ,as can be seen from the quotations on P.6-10 in the textbook.

2、"kenning": a kind of figurative language

3、The use of repetition and variation

Q4: What are two highlights in the developments of the Anglo-Saxon literature?

1、the Northumbrian School

2、during the reign of King Alfred

Questions for Revision-- The Middle English Period

Q1: What was the form of literature at the time? What features does it have?

Romance

1、Romance which uses narrative verse or prose to sing of knightly adventures or other

heroic deeds is a popular literary form in the Middle Ages. The importance of romance itself can be seen as a means of showing medieval aristocratic men and women in relation to their idealized view of the world.

2、Early feudal age，as it reflects the spirit of chivalry.

3、The English romance mainly deals with three major subjects: Religious, Courtly love, and

Arthurian

3、Matter of France: a collection of tales about Chalemagne and his peers headed by Roland

and their wars against the Saracens.

4、Matter of Rome: covered everything that had come down from the ancient Romans and

from the Greeks also e.g. Trojan War

5、Matter of Britain: the legendary history of Britain. e.g. King Arthur and His Round-Table

Knights, Sir Gawain and the Greenknight

Q2: What is the literary position of Geoferry Chaucer in English Literature?

Father of English poetry

Q3: What about the significance of The Canterbury Tales ?

1. It gives a comprehensive picture of Chaucer's time.

The pilgrims represent the whole range of 14th century society except the very top and the very bottom. With his own wide experience and close observation of life, his characters are so vivid and particular that there can be no substitution for the very person described.

2. The dramatic structure of the poem has been highly commended by critics. In The Canterbury Tales, stories are cleverly woven together by links between the stories.

Most of the stories are related to the personalities of the tellers.The personality of each character, his private life and habits, his mood and social status are revealed in the prologue and in the story he tells, as well as by his behaviour along the road and his remarks on the way.

3. Chaucer's humour: gentle satire and mild irony

4. Chaucer's contribution to the English language: Chaucer wrote in the London dialect of his day, which he handled dexterously.

He was at one moment serious and another lighthearted and full of fun and sometimes he could be very poetical. He proved that the English language is a beautiful language and can be easily handled to express different moods. In so doing Chaucer greatly increased the prestige of the English language.

Q4: What are Chaucer…s contributions to English literature?

1. Father of English poetry

2. Chaucer, for the first time in English literature, presented to us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life in his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales.

3. Chaucer develops characterization to a higher artistic level, i.e. characters who are morally and socially typical but exquisitely individual and realistic in detail.

4. Chaucer introduced from France the rhymed stanzas of various types to English poetry to replace the Old English alliterative verse.

5. Chaucer used for the first time in English the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter which is to be called later as the heroic couplet.

6. Chaucer greatly increased the prestige of English as a literary language and extended the range of its poetic vocabulary and meters.

He is considered as a great master of the English language.

Questions for Revision-- The English Renaissance

Q1:What is Renaissance? What do you know about English Renaissance and its ideal Humanism?

As a cultural movement, it encompassed a flowering of literature, science, art, religion, and politics, and a resurgence of learning based on classical sources, the development of linear perspective in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform.

Historical Background

(Society, Politics and Economy)

Humanism: is the idea that man has a potential for culture which distinguishes him from lower orders of beings, and which he should strive constantly to fulfill.

1.Rebellious spirit against the Medieval feudal value and blind faith in humbleness,

servitude, and after-life.

2.Belief in man’s divinity and capability of self p erfection

3.Emphasis of the importance of personal worth and enjoyment of the present life Q2:What are the major writers in this period? What about their representative works ? Edmund Spenser The Shephearde’s Calender The Faerie Queene

Christopher Marlowe Tamburlaine the Great The tragical History of Doctore Faustus

The Jew of Malta

William Shakespeare

History: Henry IV (1-2)

Comedy: Mid-summer Night’s Dream

The Merchant of Venice Much Ado about Nothing As You Like It Twelfth Night

Tragedy:

Hamlet Othello King Lear MacBeth

Famous Plays: Romeo and Juliet Julius Caesar Antony and Cleopatra The Tempest

Q3: What are the reasons for the flourishing of drama in the last thirty years of the 16th century?

Cities and towns grew rapidly in the 16th century and since there was no other means of entertainment than watching drama so it became the only form of amusement to city dweller and nobleman.

Q4: What are William Shakespeare's major achievements to English literature?

课本P76

Q5:What is sonnet? What about Shakespeare's sonnet or English sonnet?

1、The sonnets comprise four stanzas of three quatrains and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter with designated rhyme scheme . Shakespeare also uses the iambic pentameter in most of his plays, where they are called blank verse, as they do not usually rhyme.

2、The two basic types of sonnet are the Petrarchan(or Italian) and the Shakespearen(or English). The Petrarchan sonnet follows the rhyme scheme:abbaabba cdecde, or abbaabbacdccdc.

The Shakespearen sonnet's thought-division is a 4-4-4-2 plan. There are four sections-three quatrains and a final couplet.In Shakespearen sonnet each quatrain deals with a different aspect of the subject and the couplet either summarizes the theme or makes a final, sometimes contradictory comment.

Q6:How to appreciate sonnet 18 ? What is the theme of this poem?

Figures of Speech

1) Simile

thee---a summer’s day

(compare…to…)

2) Metaphor

summer’s duration---a lease

the sun---the eye of heaven

3) Personification

summer---has a short lease

sun---has gold complexion

death---brag “thee” in his shade

poem---gives life to “thee”

Rhetorical Devices in Sonnet 18

1、rhetorical question: the first line, used to create a tone of respect, and to engage the audience.

2、personification: line 5,6 and line 11, used to elevate the sun and death.

3、parallelism: the final couplet, used to emphasize the message: the beauty of the subject will be immortalized by the power of his art.

The Theme of the poem:

Surface: love, beauty

Deeper meaning: the power of poetry/literature- -Beauty can be easily destroyed by accidents or fade with the passing of time. However, it will be immortalized by the power of poetry or literature.

Q8: What is soliloquy? How do you understand the famous line "To be, or not to be" in the context of the soliloquy in scene I Act III of Hamlet?

To take action or to suffer / to continue live or to die, the speech conveys a sense of world-weariness as well as the author’s incisive commen ts on the social reality of his time. Hamlet lives between action and resolution. He is so contemplative that he examines the nature of the action only to deny its possibility. He considers it better for people to die, but then says nobody knows what happens in the afterlife.

Q9: What is the literary position of Francis Bacon?

He is regarded as the chief figure in English prose and progenitor of English materialism, and his essays began the long tradition of the long tradition of the English essay in the history of English literature.

Q10: What is the main idea of Bacon's "Of Studies"?

It is the most popular of Bacon’s 58 essays.

It analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies, and how studies exert influence over human character.

Forceful and persuasive, compact and precise, “Of Studies” reveals to us Bacon’s mature attitude toward learning. This essay impresses the reader not only by its argumentative strength but also by its elegance of style.

Of studies

1. What lessons can we learn from Bacon?s “Of Studies” in our access to information?

right decisions and judgments over important matters are based upon comprehensive knowledge which is acquired by studies. Without a wide range of knowledge, a person cannot digest information, analyze information and take timely measures accordingly.

2. In what sense does reading make a full man.

引用+ Studies can train (shape) a person’s character and make up a person’s deficiencies. Every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

3. What does the essay deal with?内容

This essay analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies, and how studies exert influence over human character.

4. What do you think of the language of the essay?

clearness, brevity, and force of expression. The sentences are short, pointed, incisive, and of balanced structures. Conciseness of expression and simplicity of diction are two chief distinguishing features of the prose style of Bacon who was among the earliest of English essayists.

Q11: What is the writing style of Bacon's essays?

Language and Style

1. Bacon’s aphoristic style is characterized by the frequent use of parallelism. Find one such example from the text and either translate or paraphrase the selected sentences.

2. Underline some of the metaphors or metaphorical descriptions in the essay. Select at least two and explain what they illustrate.

Q12: What do you know about the metaphysical poets?

Metaphysical Poetry is a derogatory term describing a school of highly intellectual poetry...

The themes are love, death, religion.

The chief representative of this school was John Donne.

人物及代表作

1. Geoffrey Chaucer Canterbury Tales

2. Francis Bacon of Studies

3. John Bunyan (1628—1688）Pilgrim’s Progress

4. John Milton (1608-1674 ）Paradise Lost

5. John Donne peculiar conceits

6. Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe

7. Henry Fielding The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

英国文学史及选读 复习要点总结

《英国文学史及选读》第一册复习要点 1. Beowulf: national epic of the English people; Denmark story; alliteration, metaphors and understatements （此处可能会有填空，选择等小题） 2. Romance （名词解释） 3. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”: a famous roman about King Arthur’s story 4. Ballad（名词解释） 5. Character of Robin Hood 6. Geoffrey Chaucer: founder of English poetry; The Canterbury Tales (main contents; 124 stories planned, only 24 finished; written in Middle English; significance; form: heroic couplet) 7. Heroic couplet (名词解释)8. Renaissance（名词解释）9.Thomas More——Utopia 10. Sonnet（名词解释）11. Blank verse（名词解释）12. Edmund Spenser “The Faerie Queene” 13. Francis Bacon “essays” esp. “Of Studies”（推荐阅读，学习写正式语体的英文文章的好参照，本文用词正式优雅，多排比句和长句，语言造诣非常高，里面很多话都可以引用做格言警句，非常值得一读） 14. William Shakespeare四大悲剧比较重要，此外就是罗密欧与朱立叶了，这些剧的主题，背景，情节，人物形象都要熟悉，当然他最重要的是Hamlet这是肯定的。他的sonnet也很重要，最重要属sonnet18。（其戏剧中著名对白和几首有名的十四行诗可能会出选读） 15. John Milton 三大史诗非常重要，特别是Paradise Lost和Samson Agonistes。对于Paradise Lost需要知道它是blank verse写成的，故事情节来自Old Testament，另外要知道此书theme和Satan的形象。 16. John Bunyan——The Pilgrim’s Progress 17. Founder of the Metaphysical school——John Donne; features of the school: philosophical poems, complex rhythms and strange images. 18. Enlightenment（名词解释） 19. Neoclassicism（名词解释） 20. Richard Steele——“The Tatler” 21. Joseph Addison——“The Spectator”这个比上面那个要重要，注意这个报纸和我们今天的报纸不一样，它虚构了一系列的人物，以这些人物的口气来写报纸上刊登的散文，这一部分要仔细读。 22. Steel’s and Addison’s styles and their contributions 23. Alexander Pope: “Essay on Criticism”, “Essay on Man”, “The Rape of Lock”, “The Dunciad”; his workmanship (features) and limitations 24. Jonathan Swift: “Gulliver’s Travels”此书非常重要，要知道具体内容，就是Gulliver游历过的四个地方的英文名称，和每个部分具体的讽刺对象; （我们主要讲了三个地方）“A Modest Proposal”比较重要，要注意作者用的irony 也就是反讽手法。 25. The rise and growth of the realistic novel is the most prominent achievement of 18th century English literature. 26. Daniel Defoe: “Robinson Crusoe”, “Moll Flanders”, 当然是Robinson Crusoe比较重要，剧情要清楚，Robinson Crusoe的形象和故事中蕴涵的早期黑奴的原形，以及殖民主义的萌芽。另外注意Defoe的style和feature，另外Defoe是forerunner of English realistic novel。 27. Samuel Richardson——“Pamela” (first epistolary novel), “Clarissa Harlowe”, “Sir Charles Grandison” 28. Henry Fielding: “Joseph Andrews”, “Jonathan Wild”, “Tom Jones”第一个和第三个比较重要，需要仔细看。他是一个比较重要的作家，另外Fielding也被称为father of the English novel. 29. Laurence Sterne——“Tristram Shandy”项狄传 30. Richard Sheridan——“The School for Scandal” 31. Oliver Goldsmith——“The Traveller”(poem), “The Deserted V illage” (poem) (both two poems were written by heroic couplet), “The Vicar of Wakefield” (novel), “The Good-Natured Man” (comedy), “She stoops to Conquer” (comedy),

英国文学史及选读__期末试题及答案

考试课程：英国文学史及选读考核类型：A 卷 考试方式：闭卷出卷教师: XXX 考试专业：英语考试班级：英语xx班 I.Multiple choice (30 points, 1 point for each) select from the four choices of each item the one that best answers the question or completes the statement. 1._____，a typical example of old English poetry ,is regarded today as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. A.The Canterbury Tales B.The Ballad of Robin Hood C.The Song of Beowulf D.Sir Gawain and the Green Kinght 2._____is the most common foot in English poetry. A.The anapest B.The trochee C.The iamb D.The dactyl 3.The Renaissance is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events, which one of the following is NOT such an event? A.The rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture. B.England’s domestic rest C.New discovery in geography and astrology D.The religious reformation and the economic expansion 4._____is the most successful religious allegory in the English language. A.The Pilgrims Progress B.Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners C.The Life and Death of Mr.Badman D.The Holy War 5.Generally, the Renaissance refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries, its essence is _____. A.science B.philosophy C.arts D.humanism 6.“So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,/So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”(Shakespeare, Sonnets18)What does“this”refer to ? A.Lover. B.Time. C.Summer. D.Poetry. 7.“O prince, O chief of my throned powers, /That led th’ embattled seraphim to war/Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds/Fearless, endangered Heaven’s perpetual king”In the third line of the above passage quoted from Milton’s Paradise Los t, the phrase“thy conduct”refers to _____conduct. A.God’s B.Satan’s C.Adam’s D.Eve’s

英国文学期末复习题目

I. Each of the following below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would bet complete the statement. 1. The long poem ______ in Anglo-Saxon period was termed England’s national epic. A. The Canterbury Tales B. Paradise Lost C. The Song of Beowulf D. The Fairy Queen 2. Romance, which uses verse or prose to describe the adventures and life of the knights, is the popular literary form in ______. A. Romanticism B. Renaissance C. medieval period D. Anglo-Saxon period 3. Among the great Middle English poets, Geoffrey Chaucer is known for his production of____. A. Piers Plowman B. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight C. Confessio Amantis D. The Canterbury Tales 4. _______ is regarded as the father of English poetry. A. Geoffrey Chaucer B. Edmund Spenser C. John Milton D. W. Wordsworth 5. It is _____ alone who, for the first time in English literature, presented to us a comprehensive realistic picture of the English society of his time and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life. A. Geoffrey Chaucer B. Martin Luther C. William Shakespeare D. John Gower 6. One of Chaucer’s main contributions to English poetry is ______. A. he introduced the rhymed stanzas from France to English poetry B. he created striking brilliant panorama of his time and his country C. he wrote in blank verse D. he was the first to write sonnet 7. During the Renaissance, _______ was the first one to introduce the sonnet into English poetry. A. Chaucer B. John Donne C. Thomas Wyatt D. Earl of Surrey 8. During the Renaissance, _______ wrote the first English blank verse. A. Chaucer B. Edmund Spencer C. Thomas Wyatt D. Earl of Surrey 9. Which of the following historical events does not directly help to stimulate the rising of the Renaissance Movement？ A. The rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture B. The new discoveries in geography and astrology C. The Glorious revolution D. The religious reformation and the economic expansion 10. The Renaissance is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events. Which one of the following is NOT such an event? A. The rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture. B. England’s domestic rest C. New discovery in geography and astrology. D. The religious reformation and the economic expansion. 11. Generally, the Renaissance refers to the period between ______ and ______ centuries. A. 14th...mid-17th B. 14th...mid-18th C. 16th...mid-18th D. 16th...mid-17th 12. Generally, the Renaissance refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries, its essence is_______. A. science B. philosophy C. arts D. humanism 13. _______ frequently applied conceits in his poems. A. Edmund Spenser B. John Donne C. William Blake D. Thomas Gray 14. _______ is known as “the poet’s poet”. A. William Shakespeare B. Christopher Marlowe C. Edmund Spenser D. John Donne 15. Romance，which uses narrative verse or prose to tell stories of____ adventures or other heroic deeds，is a popular literary form in the medieval period. A. Christian B. knightly C. pilgrims D. primitive 16. ________ and William Shakespeare are the best representatives of the English humanism. A. Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe B. Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe

英国文学史期末复习重点

英国文学史 Part one: Early and Medieval English Literature Chapter 1 The Making of England 1. The early inhabitants in the island now we call England were Britons, a tribe of Gelts. 2. In 55 B.C., Britain was invaded by Julius Caesar. The Roman occupation lasted for about 400 years. It was also during the Roman role that Christianity was introduced to Britain. And in 410 A.D., all the Roman troops went back to the continent and never returned. 3. The English Conquest At the same time Britain was invaded by swarms of pirates（海盗）. They were three tribes from Northern Europe: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. And by the 7th century these small kingdoms were combined into a United Kingdom called England, or, the land of Angles. And the three dialects spoken by them naturally grew into a single language called Anglo -Saxon, or Old English. 4. The Social Condition of the Anglo -Saxon Therefore, the Anglo -Saxon period witnessed a transition from tribal society to feudalism. 5. Anglo -Saxon Religious Belief and Its Influence The Anglo -Saxons were Christianized in the seventh century. Chapter 2 Beowulf 1. Anglo -Saxon Poetry But there is one long poem of over 3,000 lines. It is Beowulf, the national epic of the English people. Grendel is a monster described in Beowulf. 3. Analysis of Its Content Beowulf is a folk lengend brought to England by Anglo -Saxons from their continental homes. It had been passed from mouth to mouth for hundreds of years before it was written down in the tenth century. 4. Features of Beowulf The most striking feature in its poetical form is the use of alliteration, metaphors and understatements. Chapter 3 Feudal England 1）T he Norman Conquest 2. The Norman Conquest The French -speaking Normans under Duke William came in 1066. After defeating the English at Hastings, William was crowned as King of England. The Norman Conquest marks the establishment of feudalism in England.

英国文学期末考试题目(英语专业必备)

.. ;.. 一．中古英语时期 Beowulf is the oldest poem in the English language, and the most important specimen (范例、典范)of Anglo-Saxon literature, and also the oldest surviving epic in the English language. The romance is a popular literary form in the medieval period（中世纪）. It uses verse or prose to sing knightly a dventures or other heroic deeds. Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the greatest English poets, whose masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales（《坎特伯雷故事集》）,was one of the most important influences on the development of English literature. Chaucer is considered as the father of English poetry and the founder of English realism. 二．文艺复兴Renaissance Renaissance r efers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries. It marks a transition(过渡) from the medieval to the modern world. It started in Italy with the flowering of painting, sculpture（雕塑）and literature, and then spread to the rest of Europe. Humanism is the essence of Renaissance -----Man is the measure of all things. This was England’s Golden Age in literature. Queen Elizabeth r eigned over the country in this period. The real mainstream of the English Renaissance i s the Elizabethan drama. The most famous dramatists in the Renaissance E ngland are Christopher Marlowe and W illiam Shakespeare. The greatest of the pioneers of English drama was Christopher Marlowe. Francis Bacon was the best known essayist of this period. “Of Studies” is the most popular of Bacon’s 58 essays. Thomas More ——Utopia Edmund Spenser——The Faerie Queene 相关练习 1. Which is the oldest poem in the English language? A. Utopia B. Faerie Queene C. Beowulf D. Hamlet 2. _____ is the father of English poetry. A. Edmund Spenser B. William Shakespeare C. Francis Bacon D. Geoffrey Chaucer 3. ____ is not a playwright during the Renaissance period on England. A. William Shakespeare B. Geoffrey Chaucer C. Christopher Marlowe D. Ben Johnson 三．莎士比亚William Shakespeare “All t he world 's a stage, a nd all the men and women merely p layers.”——William Shakespeare William Shakespeare is considered the greatest playwright in the world and the finest poet who has written in the English language. Shakespeare understood people more than any other writers. He could create characters that have

英国文学期末考试复习要点

英国文学期末考试复习要点 1.英国最早的居民：凯尔特人Celts 2.英语语言起源于盎格鲁萨克斯ANGLO-SAXON部落融合统一之后，发展于诺曼征服Norman Conquest之后。 3.古代文学两个分支（异教徒文学Pagan和基督文学Christian）；BEOWULF文学地位（英国的民族史诗national epic of England），人物角色(Beowulf,Grendel, Grendel's mother, Fire Dragon,Wiglef)，修辞手法（头韵法alliteration，暗喻metaphor，低调陈述understatement） 4.诺曼征服人物William the Conqueror，骑士Romance文学年代（中世纪14th-16TH）, 《高文和绿衣骑士的故事》Sir Gawain and the Green Knight（亚瑟王传说最佳作品）P.21选段，反映的是英国的故事matters of Britain。骑士的优良传统美德（忠诚loyalty） 5.威廉朗莱德William Langland作品《耕者皮尔斯》Piers the Plowman（十四世纪以梦境dream vision呈现的作品）

6.乔叟Chaucer地位（诗歌之父Father of English Poetry），主要作品The Canteberry Tales，文学贡献（英雄双行体Heroic Couplet，净化purified LONDON 音dialect），葬于西敏寺大教堂Westminster Abbey，为此建立诗人角Poet's Corner；《坎特伯雷故事集》主要人物（32 朝圣者pilgrims），选作P45(时间April，地点Tabard Inn，人物，巴斯妇人的故事Wife of Bath)，抑扬五步格iambic pentameter （轻音unstressed syllable+重音stressed syllable） 7.实行政教分离者（亨利八世Henry VIII）Religious Reformation:The King broke off with the Pope. 8.托马斯摩尔Thomas More的《乌托邦》Utopia，宣扬财产property与困境poverty 分离和建立理想国度ideal state。 9.托马斯怀亚特Thomas Wyatt把十四行诗sonnet引入英国，分离为莎士比亚体Shakespearian Sonnet和斯宾塞体Spencerian Sonnet，十四行诗源于意大利

(完整word版)吴伟仁--英国文学史及选读--名词解释

①Beowulf: The national heroic epic of the English people. It has over 3,000 lines. It describes the battles between the two monsters and Beowulf, who won the battle finally and dead for the fatal wound. The poem ends with the funeral of the hero. The most striking feature in its poetical form is the use if alliteration. Other features of it are the use of metaphors(暗喻) and of understatements(含蓄). ②Alliteration: In alliterative verse, certain accented(重音) words in a line begin with the same consonant sound(辅音). There are generally 4accents in a line, 3 of which show alliteration, as can be seen from the above quotation. ③Romance: The most prevailing(流行的) kind of literature in feudal England was the Romance. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse(诗篇), sometimes in prose(散文), describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, usually a knight, as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournament(竞赛), or fighting for his lord in battle and the swearing of oaths. ④Epic: An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significantly to a culture or nation. The first epics are known as primacy, or original epics. ⑤Ballad: The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad which is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas(诗节), with the second and fourth lines rhymed. The subjects of ballads are various in kind, as the struggle of young lovers against their feudal-minded families, the conflict between love and wealth, the cruelty of jealousy, the criticism of the civil war, and the matters and class struggle. The paramount(卓越的) important ballad is Robin Hood(《绿林好汉》). ⑥Geoffrey Chaucer杰弗里.乔叟: He was an English author, poet, philosopher and diplomat. He is the founder of English poetry. He obtained a good knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. His best remembered narrative is the Canterbury Tales(《坎特伯雷故事集》), which the Prologue(序言) supplies a miniature(缩影) of the English society of Chaucer’s time. That is why Chaucer has been called “the founder of English realism”. Chaucer affirms men and women’s right to pursue their happiness on earth and opposes(反对) the dogma of asceticism(禁欲主义) preached(鼓吹) by the church. As a forerunner of humanism, he praises man’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life. Chaucer’s contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact that he introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the rhymed couplet of 5 accents in iambic(抑扬格) meter(the “heroic couplet”) to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse. ⑦【William Langland威廉.朗兰: Piers the Plowman《农夫皮尔斯》】

(完整)最全面英国文学史知识点总结,推荐文档

英国文学史 I. Old English Literature & The Late Medieval Ages 贝奥武夫:the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons Epic: long narrative poems that record the adventures or heroic deeds of a hero enacted in vast landscapes. The style of epic is grand and elevated. Artistic features: 1. Using alliteration Definition of alliteration: a rhetorical device, meaning some words in a sentence begin with the same consonant sound（头韵） Some examples on P5 2. Using metaphor and understatement Definition of understatement: expressing something in a controlled way Understatement is a typical way for Englishmen to express their ideas Geoffery Chaucer 杰弗里·乔叟1340~1400 (首创“双韵体”，英国文学史上首先用伦敦方言写作。约翰·德莱顿（John Dryden）称其为“英国诗歌之父”。代表作《坎特伯雷故事集》。) The father of English poetry. writing style: wisdom, humor, humanity. ①坎特伯雷故事集： first time to use ‘heroic couplet’(双韵体) by middle English ②特罗伊拉斯和克莱希德 ③声誉之宫 Medieval Ages’popular Literary form: Romance(传奇故事)

英国文学期末考试题目(英语专业必备)

一．中古英语时期 ?Beowulf is the oldest poem in the English language, and the most important specimen (范例、典范)of Anglo-Saxon literature, and also the oldest surviving epic in the English language. ?The romance is a popular literary form in the medieval period（中世纪）. It uses verse or prose to sing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds. ?Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the greatest English poets, whose masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales（《坎特伯雷故事集》）,was one of the most important influences on the development of English literature. ?Chaucer is considered as the father of English poetry and the founder of English realism. 二．文艺复兴Renaissance ?Renaissance refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries. It marks a transition(过渡) from the medieval to the modern world. ?It started in Italy with the flowering of painting, sculpture（雕塑）and literature, and then spread to the rest of Europe. ?Humanism is the essence of Renaissance -----Man is the measure of all things. ?This was England’s Golden Age in literature. Queen Elizabeth reigned over the country in this period. The real mainstream of the English Renaissance is the Elizabethan drama. The most famous dramatists in the Renaissance England ? ?“Of Studies” is the most popular of Bacon’s 58 essays. ?Thomas More ——Utopia ?Edmund Spenser——The Faerie Queene 相关练习 ? 1. Which is the oldest poem in the English language? ? A. Utopia B. Faerie Queene ? C. Beowulf D. Hamlet ? 2. _____ is the father of English poetry. ? A. Edmund Spenser B. William Shakespeare ? C. Francis Bacon D. Geoffrey Chaucer ? 3. ____ is not a playwright during the Renaissance period on England. ? A. William Shakespeare B. Geoffrey Chaucer ? C. Christopher Marlowe D. Ben Johnson 三．莎士比亚William Shakespeare ?“All the world 's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”——William Shakespeare ?William Shakespeare is considered the greatest playwright in the world and the finest poet who has written in the English language. Shakespeare understood people more than any other writers. He could create characters that have