01、古英语文学和中世纪文学.docVIP

一、世纪文学. Social Background The year 450 marked the coming of the Anglo-Saxons to England to settle in Wessex, while the year 1066 witnessed William Duke of Normandy conquering England. Ⅱ. Literary Characteristics and Major Writers and Works Beowulf 贝尔武夫 --------英雄史诗 The earliest English poem we have known is Beowulf, composed in Anglo-Saxon about 700 by an unknown minstrel who composed poems that praised Anglo-Saxon ideals. This great epic tells of the adventures of Beowulf and his victories over the monster Grendel and Grendel’s mother. It ends with Beowulf’s final battle with a dragon and the hero’s death. 记住“a saint, a cowman and a King 一个圣人，一个牧牛人，一个国王” Bede 比德 (676-735) ---the first Anglo-Saxon who wrote the history in Latin He is one early poet. His works survive in manuscripts across Europe and in Russia. Ecclesiastical History of the English People 英吉利教会史 Caedmon 凯德蒙 ---the father of English songs According to Bede, the earliest known poet in English literature was Caedmon, a cowherd at Whitby Abbey in Northumbia. （在睡梦中创作出《创世纪》的赞歌） Caedmon’s Hymn 凯德蒙赞歌 （一首9行头韵体赞美诗，一般认为这首对上帝的赞美诗就是最初他在梦里所做的） King Alfred the Great 阿尔弗雷德大帝(849-899) Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England, becoming the only English king to be accorded the epithet the Great. He was the first who commissioned the writing of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles in old English vernacular. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles 盎格鲁撒克逊编年史 翻译比德的作品 ●中世纪文学. Social Background Middle English literature refers to the literature in the period from Norman Conquest to the end of the Wars of the Roses and the accession of Henry Ⅶ. The evolution of something new is most apparent in some of the developments in religious writing in Middle English literature. The literature was various and deeply influenced by French. Ⅱ. Literary Characteristics and Major Writers and Works Two main literature forms: Medieval Romance (浪漫传奇：原本指中