英美文学简史-Chapters-3-4.ppt

English Literature Chapters 3—4 Key Points in Chapter 3 The Elizabethan Age: A Brief Introduction Queen Elizabeth I Three sub-periods Edmund Spenser Introduction The Shepheardes Calendar The Faerie Queen Spenserian Stanza Philip Sidney English Drama: A Sketchy Account Five phases of drama First English comedy and tragedy Christopher Marlowe Introduction Works The Elizabethan Age (1558-1625) Queen Elizabeth I She was shrewd and tactful to a fault. She encouraged learning and adventures and was a great patron of literature. England slowly but steadily crawled to the zenith of wealth and power during her reign. The Elizabethan age was one in which Renaissance transformed Chaucer’s medieval England into Shakespeare’s modern one. The Elizabethan Age (1558-1625) Three sub-periods 1557-1579: beginning with the printing of Tottel’s Miscellany and concluding with the publication of Edmund Spencer’s The Shepheardes Calendar 1580-1599, the year of Spencer’s death: Spencer, Sidney, “University Wits”, Shakespeare, Bacon 1599-1625: Shakespeare Edmund Spenser(1552-1599) Introduction Educated at Cambridge and served under some men of prominence Buried near Chaucer in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey Major works: The Shepheardes Calendar, The Faerie Queen, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, Epithalamium (祝婚诗), Amoretti (爱情小唱) The greatest non-dramatic poet of the period Edmund Spenser(1552-1599) The Shepheardes Calendar It consists of 12 pastoral eclogues (牧歌，田园诗) The classical eclogue is a form of pastoral poetry which generally depicts, often in the form of dialogues between shepherds or of soliloquies, the everyday life of country people, their feelings and attitudes, and their simple life of harmony with nature. It often serves as a means of making critical comments upon contemporary life. Edmund Spenser(1552-1599) The Faerie Queen It is a grand epic poem Fusing adroitly the strands of legend, fable, and praise of Elizabeth I’s England in itself, its ambtious plan