英国文学史考试资料,必过!

英国文学史

I. Early and Medieval Literature

1. England’s inhabitants are Celts. And it is conquered by Romans, the Teutonic tribes of Angle, Saxons and Jutes. In 1066, at the battle of Hastings(黑斯延斯), the Normans headed by William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons brought the Germanic language and culture to England, while Normans brought the Mediterranean civilization(地中海文明), including Greek culture, Rome law and the Christian religion. It is the cultural influence of these two conquests that provided the source for the rise and growth of English literature.

2. Jutes lived and maintained close relations with kindred(相似) tribes.

3. The old English literature extends from about 449 to 1066, the year of the Norman conquest of England.

4. Three kinds of languages in the Anglo-Norman period: Norman---French, English---English, Religious---Latin. Two kinds of literature: Romans and Ballads. “Romans” is about upper class, and nothing to do with Romans.

5. The old English poetry that has survived can be divided into two groups: The religious group and the secular one.

6. The literature of this period falls naturally into two divisions――pagan and Christian.

7. The national epic of the English people, which belongs to the primitive(原始，早期) literature; Romance cycles, which belong to the feudalist(封建) literature; Folk literature whose subjects are from the lower class

8. Caedom is the first known religious poet of England, he is known as the father of English song.

9. The didactic poem The Christ was produced by Cynewulf.

10. The Song of Beowulf

It describes the most heroic man of the Anglo-Saxon times. It is a Denmark(丹麦) story which used alliteration , metaphors(隐喻) and understatements(轻描淡写).

It is the first literature, England’s national epic; it was written by an unknown scribe at the beginning of the 10th century and was not discovered until 1750

It consists of 3182 lines

Telling a story about an ancient hero Beowulf’s fight against a lake monster, Grendel, and his mother, a monster, too; Beowulf’s battle against a fire dragon.

The poem is an example of the mingling of the nature myths and heroic legends.

12. The literature which they brought to England is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of love and adventure, in marked contrast with the strength and somberness(严峻) of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

The great majority of Romances mainly fall into 3 cycles.

A. The matters of Britain: About King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table

B. The matters of France: About Charlemagne and his peers

C. The matters of Greece and Rome: About Alexander, and about the fall of Troy (特洛伊城的陷落)

Of these three cycles, the matters of Britain is the most important one. There were many cycles of Arthurian romances, Chief of which are those of Gawain, Launcelot(朗斯洛特), Merlin(默林), the Quest of the Holy Grail(寻找圣杯), and the Death of Arthur

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

13. Geoffrey Chaucer