英国文学课件课件.ppt

Selected readings In English And American Litercatures Tracy_0823 Part one Old and Medieval English Literature 1. Old English Poetry and “Beowulf”(贝尔武夫) “Beowulf ” → the national epic of the Anglo-Saxon and English people → Alliteration( 头韵） 2.Middle English Literature and the Canterbury Tales ①The Romance( describing the life and adventures of a noble hero) ②Geoffrey Chaucer → the “father of English poetry”, →“The Canterbury Tales” is Chaucer’s masterpiece (stories narrated by Pilgrims) → he introduced rhymed couplet to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse. (Couplet: A stanza of two lines, usually rhyming. ) King Arthur Arthur and His Round Table Knights Sir Gawain and the Green Knights The Renaissance Renaissance (1485—1660) → The Background: the society was in its transition from the feudalism to capitalism. → Revival or rebirth of classical arts, culture and philosophy after the dark ages of medieval → The key word for it is humanism, emphasized secular concerns , express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie. → Shakespeare, Spenser, and Marlowe are all famous literary figures in this period Utopia (socialism) The definition of Utopia is no place. Edmund Spenser(1552-1599) The shepheardes Calwnder The Faerie Queene Christopher Marlowe(1564-1593) Francis Bacon培根 (1561-1626) William Shakespeare the greatest English poet and dramatist ①154 sonnets, ②37 plays, including 14 comedies, 12 tragedies, and 11 historical plays, ③2 long poems. But for such a great writer, we have very little definite knowledge about his life. Shakespeare’s Tragedies ?The Merchant of Venice to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia a heroine of great beauty, wit and loyalty, to expose the insatiable greed and brutality (Shylock) Hamlet hesitate between fact and fiction, language and action To be, or not to be - to live on in this world or to die; to suffer or to take action ? Soliloquy or monologue