英国文学-Lecture-Two-The-Anglo-Saxon-and-The-Anglo-Norman-period.pptVIP

* * * * * * * * * * * SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT--THE BEST OF ARTHURIAN ROMANCE A. Plots of the Story: Part I : The Green Knight’s challenge Part II: Sir Gawain’s hard journey Part III: Three days of Gawain’s sojourn at the castle Part IV: Gawain went to the Green Chaple SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT B. Analysis: 1) alliterative verse 2) an account of a typical chivalric adventure (motifs) 3) concerned with the rights and wrongs of conduct 4) Theme : a series of tests on faith, courage, purity and human weakness for self-preservation. 5) Structure: contains a prologue, an epilogue and its main body. The unknown author tries to make his romance the vehicle of a wise morality in which the humorously grotesque merges with the morally serious. Ⅱ. MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE 3 Popular Ballads 1) Introduction: Popular ballads are originally dance songs in verse form, usually in 4-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed. They are mainly literature of peasants, created collectively by people and constantly revised in the process of being handed down from mouth to mouth. There were several kinds of ballads: historical, legendary, fantastical, lyrical and humorous. 2) Ballads of Robin Hood The most famous cycle of English ballads centers on the stories about a legendary outlaw called Robin Hood. Robin Hood is partly a real and partly a legendary figure who lived during the reign of Richard I. He was the leader of a band of outlaws, and they lived in the deep forest. They often attacked the rich, waged war against the bishops and archbishops, and helped the poor people. Therefore, Robin Hood and his followers were constantly hunted by the sheriffs. Robin Hood ballads shows the fighting spirit, indomitable courage and revolutionary energy of the English peasantry. Little John and Robin Hood Robin Hood and Maid Marian Ⅲ. MIDDLE ENGLISH PROSE Thomas Malory is the only important prose writer in the fifteenth century. He wrote an