beowulf贝奥武甫.ppt

Chapter I The Anglo-Saxon Period (449-1066) Historical Background Celts (Britons) 不列颠人 Roman Conquest 罗马人征服 (55BC--78AD--410AD) English Conquest 英国人征服 (5th cn-7th cn: a band of Teutons: Angles, Saxons, Jutes Anglo-Saxon Period) Danish Conquest 丹麦人征服 (8th--11th: Vikings) Historical Background Literary Background Celtic language 凯尔特语 Latin (Christianity: Roman civilization) Anglo-Saxon/Saxon 盎格鲁-撒克逊语 Old English King Alfred the Great Literature: two divisions 1. Pagan: poetry Anglo-Saxons poetry in the form of oral sagas 2. Christian: under teaching of the monks Caedmon: 凯德蒙 latter half of the 7th cn. Cynewulf: 基涅武甫 religious subjects Representative works Widsith/The Travellers Song 《远行客》 The Seafarer 《航海者》 Beowulf《贝奥武甫》 I. General Introduction A. importance 1. England’s national epic 2. the greatest of Germanic epics in the English language 3.the oldest surviving epic in English literature 4. a fabulous starting point of English literature Epic: a long narrative poem about the deeds of one or more heroes or a nations past history, usu. in a grand ceremonious style. Most epics deal with the exploits of a single individual and also interlace the main narrative with myths, legends, folk tales and past events. e.g.: Homers Illiad Odyssey 《伊利亚特》《奥德赛》 Vigils Aeneid 《埃涅阿斯纪》 John Miltons Paradise Lost 《失乐园》 Epic 史诗 (in verse) Primitive epic/folk epic (of oral tradition, not written down) e.g. Homers Illiad, Odyssey Beowulf The Song of Roland 《罗兰之歌》 Literary epic/ art epic (is composed with pen and ink) e.g. Vigils Aeneid John Miltons Paradise Lost Epic 史诗 (in prose) Monk epic: 滑稽史诗 funny use of the elaborate conventions of epic e.g: Alexander Popes The Rape of the Lock 《卷发遇劫记》 e.g.: Tolstoys War and Peace James Joyces Ulysses Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath B. the writer originating from the collectiv