Geoffrey Chaucer 乔叟.ppt

The English Literature of Middle Ages The great epic(英雄史诗) in Anglo-Saxon period The Song of Beowulf (3182 lines)《贝奥武夫 / 甫之歌》 The Song of Beowulf can be justly termed England’s national epic and its hero Beowulf- one of the national heroes of the English people. The only existing manuscript of The Song of Beowulf was written by an unknown scribe(抄写员) at the beginning of the 10th century and was not discovered until 1705. The Song of Beowulf was composed much earlier, and reflects events which took place on the Continent approximately at the beginning of the 6th century. The whole song is essentially pagan in spirit and matter, while the interpolation（添写，篡改） is obviously an addition made by the Christian who copied the song. There was a monster called Grendel, who always ate warriors of the king ,so the king asked Beowulf for help, Beowulf fought with it and made it wounded badly then it died after rushing out to the marshes. Grendel’s mother wanted to take the revenge for the death of her son. So she seized the king’s best friend, Beowulf followed the bloody trail. This time they fought under the water ,where was the dwelling of the monster’ s mother. They also had a big fight. At last ,our hero cut off the heads of the monster and his mother. After he finished the mission, he went back home where he ruled as the king for fifty years. The outline of The Song of Beowulf The last part of the poem tells that one of Beowulf’s subjects stole some of the treasure which had been guarding for three hundred years by a dragon who could breathe fire. So our hero sought the dragon in his cave and killed it. But Beowulf mortally wounded, and died after seeing the heaps of treasure in the cave.At last ,according to his will, the people buried his ash under a tremendous mound and piled the earth and stones so high that the mound thereafter became a beacon(灯塔) for the seafarers who sailed along the coast. Thus ,even after his death, Beowulf continued to serve the people.