英国文学Review.docVIP

Review Important literary events, trends; famous writers’ works, characteristics. Text analysis. Unit one Early and Medieval English Literature The Celtic tribes ---the earliest inhabitants of Britain. Beowulf is the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons, it tells about Anglo-Saxons’ early life in England, its language is characterized by alliteration. Geoffrey Chaucer ( 乔叟) Father of English Poetry, the earliest modern poet whose works have the promise of the English Renaissance. Famous work: The Canterbury Tales. Unit Two The English Renaissance ( 16th---1640) Renaissance is a literary movement over Europe from the 14th to the early 17th centuries. Renaissance is characterized by disbelief in Medieval theology, and an increased interest in human activities and admiration for human beauty and achievement, and a desire for infinite power through knowledge. People try to promote the interests of man through the study of classics. Humanism is the key-note of the renaissance. Renaissance reaches England in about the 16th century, and is assumed to end around 1640. Drama is the best expression of the English renaissance. The renaissance period created a culture that freed man to discover and enjoy the world in a way not possible under the medieval church’s domination. It shattered the medieval church’s stifling control over men, thus paving the way for the development of capitalism. Drama The beginning---religious drama---a. miracle plays b. morality play During the reign of ElizabethⅠ(1558—1603) , drama flourished. Marlowe founded the Elizabethan tragedy, and made blank verse the medium of tragedy. Shakespeare wrote nearly 40 plays. His famous comedies: Much Ado About Nothing( 无事生非) Mid-Summer Night’s Dream, As You Like It ( 皆大欢喜) Romance play: The Tempest (暴风雨) 4 tragedies Shakespeare and the Earl of Surrey made blank verse the principal vehicle of expression in drama. Renaissance poetry: The Fairie Queene is Spenser’s( 斯宾赛) masterpiece. Renaissance Prose