英国文学Lecture 2 (乔叟).ppt

According to Christianity, man’s first fall in the Garden of Eden caused death to man, which means that man’s body is exposed to sickness. In another way, original sin (breaking the covenant with God) caused man to deteriorate into a patient, waiting for God’s curing. This motif can be found in many western literary works. How to understand the statement of “to give his help to them when they were sick”? (p.3) The significance of The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer is the father of English poetry, and started a great tradition for English literature: he initiated the realistic tradition in English literature; he initiated the tradition of irony and satire in English literature; though he used London dialect to write The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer contributed a lot to prosody in English poetry, and was the first English poet to write with heroic couplet (two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter). Questions for Next Lecture Read Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 1) Why does the persona “I” compare his lover to a summer’s day? 2) Why the lover is more lovely and more temperate than a summer’s day? 3) What is the persona’s opinion on beauty, immortal or temporary? 4) What’s the theme of the poem? 5) Why is the poem called sonnet in terms of poetic form? 6) What is Shakespearian sonnet? 7) How many sonnets did Shakespeare write in his lifetime? Read Hamlet (excerpt) 1) How many plays did Shakespeare write in his lifetime? How to classify his plays? 2) What is the main plot of Hamlet? 3) What dose Hamlet decide to choose, to live or not to live? 4) What is Hamlet’s attitude towards death? How do you comment his attitude on death? What is Humanism? How do the sonnet 18 and Hamlet show the author’s humanistic ideas? Why did English Renaissance appear the 16th century, much later than Italian Renaissance in the 14th century? 英国文学史及选读 第二讲 乔叟 Chaucer’s life (1343-1400) Born in 1343 in London As a son of a wine merchant and deputy to the kings’ butler (男管家，司膳总管) Little known about h