文艺复兴文学摘要.doc

文艺复兴文学 1. Introduction of the Renaissance 1) definition: European cultural movement, transition, Middle Ages, Modern Age, renewed interest in classical art, literature, and learning, ancient Roman and Greek culture 2) Humanism is the key-note. 2. English Renaissance 1) Historical background: the wars of Roses; Henry Ⅷ’s Reformation, Enclosure Movement, commercial expansion 2) Renaissance literature Prose: More, Bacon Poetry: Skelton, Wyatt, Surrey, Sidney, Spenser Prose-fiction: Lyly, Nashe, Deloney Drama: Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson Renaissance poetry Sir Thomas Wyatt: introduction into English poetry the Italian sonnet. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: first poet to use: English sonnet form and blank verse Sir Philip Sidney: “Areopagus”, noble, “Thy necessity is greater than mine” the earliest writer to write sonnet sequence, pastoral romance and critical essay ① “Astrophel and Stella”— 108 love sonnets ② “Arcadia”: a pastoral romance: ③ “Defence of Poesie (Poesy)” or “Apology for Poetry” (critical essay) Edmund Spenser— the poets’ poet, “Areopagus”, Westminster Abbey beside Chaucer ①“The Shepherd’s Calendar”: pastoral poem of 12 eclogues ② “Amoretti”: sonnet sequence consisting of 88 love poems ★ Spenserian sonnet: A sonnet form composed of three quatrains and a couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme abab bcbc cdcd ee ③ “The Faerie Queene” —masterpiece: written in Spenserian Stanza: a 9-line stanza form with the rhyme scheme of ababbcbcc and with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter and the last line in iambic hexameter or alexandrine ④“Epithalamion”: wedding songs，to celebrate his love and marriage to his wife ⑤. Characteristics of Spenser’s poetry and contributions Renaissance Drama 1. beginning period: Miracle Play, Morality Play, the Interlude, the Classical Play 2. developing period: Christopher Marlowe (University Wits) 1) “Tamburlaine the Great”, “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus”, “The Jew of Malta” “The Passionate Sheph