英国文学讲义cherry..docVIP

Lecture I Introduction In the first period of the course, I would like to make some introductions, about me, about the course and its requirements, about some of the terms related to our course. Cherry is my English name, who is always ready to be your assistant and your friend. The course differs from others in that assignments should be submitted via net instead of paper. Type in your number with “true” as your password and you will login. The first assignment has been ready for youto write about the difference of Beowulf in THE SONG and in the movie. As for the terms related to the course, we would spend a few minutes discussing: ①literature: an art form in written language to reflect the reality (people’s inner feelings and social life ) ②main genres of literature: poetry, drama, fiction ③Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to its apparent meaning , typical of its poetic line, sound effect(rhyme and rhythm), image and density. Drama is a form of literature written by a playwright , consisting of scripted dialogue between characters intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading, typical of its dialogue/monologue and hints Fiction is the form of literature in which the information or events are rather imaginary than factual, which depicts the social life via a complete plot in a certain setting with a lot of characters vividly cultivated. ④English literature refers to the literature written in English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England, but important in the history of English literature. Since literature depends much on language, and language develops with the society, it is necessary for us to have a look back on these things. It is generally acknowledged that English has undergone 3 stages: old English(5001100); middle English and modern English(1500now). Old English ,also called Anglo-Saxon, was par