英国文学Chapter 1%262.pptVIP

Chapter 12 Early and medieval English literature The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) period The English People are of a mixed blood: Celts (the early inhabitants or the natives: Britons), Anglo-Saxons and Jutes. The Roman Conquest(55BC-5th C.) The English Conquest in the 5th C. (three pirate tribes from Northern Europe: Anglo-Saxons, and Jutes The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) period The heathen people were Christianized in the 7th century. King Alfred the Great defeated the Danish Invasion in the 9th century. p2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, founded by King Alfred the Great. p4 Beowulf, the only organic whole poem of the Anglo-Saxon period, an epic of over 3000 lines. P4 Beowulf : characters in the national epic (3183 lines) Features of Beowulf A hybrid of fact with legend: p5 A basically pagan story with an evident Christian overlay p5 The use of kennings（e.g. swan’s bath, whales’ road, gift-giver）, alliteration (e.g. Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland), assonance (vowel sounds repeated in successive words ) p6(terms) Medieval / Feudal period (1066-1400) The Norman Conquest in 1066 The establishment of the Feudal system The 1381 Peasant Uprising led by Wat Tyler, John Ball, and Jack Straw The completion of the Domesday’s book ( a tax-book, also a historical record of Anglo-Saxon institutions, customs, and way of life) The War with France or the Hundred Years’ War p7-8 Medieval literature/romance The Growth of Arthurian Legends: Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur Sir Gawain and the Green Knight p9 The Robin hood Ballads p11 John Wycliffe(1320-84): translation of the Bible into Middle English; known as “the Morning Star of the Reformation?” William Langland (1332-end of the C): Vision of Piers the Plowman, a dream allegory of 7000 lines. p11-12 a Piers the Plowman manuscript held at Corpus Christi College, Oxford Medieval romances The four cycles of Romances: King Arthur an