陈嘉英国文学总结.doc

PAGE PAGE 1 Chapter 1. The Anglo-Saxon Period I. Anglo-Saxon Poetry “Beowulf” Theme →“Beowulf” centers on the narration of the exploits of the heroic figure Beowulf, including his adventures with Grendal and his mother in Denmark and with the dragon in the land of the Geats. Thematically the poem presents a picture of how the primitive people wage heroic struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader. Features of the Poem →“Beowulf” is a long verse narrative on the theme of “arm and man”. Part historical, part legendary origin of the story, the poem is a mixture of paganism and Christian elements. →In reading the poem, we must notice the frequent use of kenning (“swan-road”, “helmet-bearer”, “world candle”), the practice of alliteration, the repetition and variation here. →“Beowulf” towers above all other literary works written in Anglo–Saxons, chiefly because it is a poem about a people’s hero written in true epic style. Beowulf is not simply a man of great military prowess but he is forever eager to help others in distress. (In his last adventure with the dragon he shows himself a worthy leader to sacrifice his own life for the welfare of his people.) Setting aside the supernatural elements pervading the poem as an inevitable limitation of the tribal-feudal age, “Beowulf” deserves to be ranked among the great heroic poems of northern Europe. →In artistic form the epic tells the tale in a leisure way, full of elaborations in legendary details, and the verse rises at places to heights of poetic grandeur, particularly in the descriptions of the hero’s nobility of character and the narration of his courageous battling with malevolent foes. 1.2 Artistic Feature of Old English Poetry →Old English poetry is composed without rhyme. Every line consists of two clearly separated half lines between which is a pause, called caesura. →structural alliteration: Each half line has two stressed syllables that the binding alliteratio