英国文学史资料British Writers and Works

I. Old English Literature & The Late Medieval Ages

<Beowulf>贝奥武夫:the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons

Epic: long narrative poems that record the adventures or heroic deeds of a hero enacted in

vast landscapes. The style of epic is grand and elevated.

e.g. Homer‘s Iliad and Odyssey

Artistic features:

1. Using alliteration

Definition of alliteration: a rhetorical device, meaning some words in a sentence

begin with the same consonant sound（头韵）

Some examples on P5

2. Using metaphor and understatement

Definition of understatement: expressing something in a controlled way

Understatement is a typical way for Englishmen to express their ideas

Geoffery Chaucer 杰弗里 乔叟1340(?)~1400

(首创―双韵体‖，英国文学史上首先用伦敦方言写作。约翰·德莱顿（John Dryden）称其为―英国诗歌之父‖。代表作《坎特伯雷故事集》。)

The father of English poetry.

writing style: wisdom, humor, humanity.

① <The Canterbury Tales>坎特伯雷故事集：

first time to use heroic couplet‘(双韵体) by middle English

②<Troilus and Criseyde>特罗伊拉斯和克莱希德

③ <The House of Fame>声誉之宫

Medieval Ages‘ popular Literary form: Romance(传奇故事)

Famous three：King Arthur

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Beowulf

II The Renaissance Period

A period of drama and poetry. The Elizabethan drama is the real mainstream of the English Renaissance.

Renaissance: the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.

Three historical events of the Renaissance – rebirth or revival:

1. new discoveries in geography and astrology

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2. the religious reformation and economic expansion

3. rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture

The most famous dramatists:

Christopher Marlowe

William Shakespeare

Ben Johnson.

1. Edmund Spenser埃德蒙 斯宾塞1552~1599

（后人称之为―诗人的诗人‖。） The poets‘ poet. The first to be buried in the Poet‘s corner of Westerminster Abbey