西方文学讲义.doc

What is literature? Literature is broadly defined as any written or spoken material, but the term most often refers to creative works, which are of artistic value. General introduction of English literature 1. Old English Literature (449-1066) The Song of Beowulf 2. Medieval English Literature (1066-15th century) Geoffrey Chaucer (1340_1400) 3. Renaissance English literature (late 15th century ~ early 17th century) William Shakespeare 4. English Literature of the Revolution and Restoration Period (1640-1688) John Milton, John Bunyan 5. 18th century English literature-the age of Enlightenment Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift and Henry Fielding, William Blake, Robert Burns 6. Romantic English Literature (1798-1832) William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats, Charles Lamb 7. Critical Realistic Literature in the 19th Century Charles Dickens, W.M. Thackeray, Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, Mrs. Gaskell, George Eliot etc. 8. 20th Century English Literature Hardy, Galsworthy, Bernard Shaw 1) Realistic writing 2) Modernism 3) English literature since 1945 The Anglo-Saxon Period (449—1066) Targets: 1.了解古英语时期文学的历史背景,文学特征,主要作家和作品 2.掌握古英语诗歌的特点 3.史诗《贝武奥甫》及写作特点 ROMAN CONQUEST: In 55 B.C., Britain was invaded by Julius Caesar, the Roman Conqueror. But as soon as the Romans landed on shore of the island, the Britons fought like lions. And with the comings and goings of many Roman generals within the time of the century, Britain was not completely subjugated to the Roman Empire until 78 A.D. With the Roman Conquest the Roman mode of life came across to Britain also. The Roman occupation lasted for about 400 year. It was also during the Roman rule that Christianity was introduced to Britain. After the fall of the Roman Empire (410 A.D.), the aboriginal Celtic population was conquered by the Teutonic Tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes who named the central part of Albion Anglia, or England. Their dialects gradually g