英语专业英美文学史复习要点.doc

PAGE 1 I. Some Historical Facts ★★★ The earliest inhabitants: Britons (a tribe of Celts) Britain: “the land of Britons” ? Now, the Three Famous Conquests: A. The Roman Conquest (55BC-410AD) 1. Britain was invaded by the Romans under the leadership of Julius Caesar in 55 BC, and was completely subjugated to the Roman Empire in 78 A.D. 2. Roman mode of life came across to Britain: Conquerors→ theaters; baths native Britons→ slaves 3. Roman Empire began to decline at the beginning of the 5th C. In 410 A. D. all the Roman troops withdrew and never returned. B. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest (449-1066) In 449 A.D., Britain was invaded by three Germanic tribes from the Northeast of Europe:Angles（盎格鲁人）Saxons（撒克逊人）Jutes（朱特人） C. The Norman Conquest (1066-1485) French-speaking Normans, under the leadership of Duke William (William the Conqueror) came in 1066. After defeating the English at Hastings, William was crowned as the King of England. In the Anglo-Norman period, the prominent kind of literature, Romances, were at first all in French. At the end of the 14th century, English became dominant once more. II. Anglo-Saxon Literature Anglo-Saxon Poetry★★ 1. Pagan Poetry（世俗诗） Also called secular poetry, it does not contain any specific Christian doctrine. It was represented by Beowulf (贝奥武甫). 2. Religious Poetry（宗教诗） Also called Christian poetry, it is mainly on biblical stories and saints’ lives. But sometimes there is a mixture of Christian and pagan（异教徒） ideas. It is represented by Caedmon （凯德蒙） and Cynewulf (基涅武甫）. National epic（民族史诗）★★ National epic: epic written in vernacular（本国的） languages, namely, the languages of various national states that came into being in the Middle Ages. It was the starting point of a gradual transition of European literature from Latin culture to a culture that was the combination of a variety of national characteristics. Poetic Features of “Beowulf” (贝奥武甫)★★★ i. The use of alliteration (头韵) is one of its most striking features. In allit