british literary Introduction.ppt

Introduction Brief Timeline Middle English Literature (449-1485): the Anglo-Saxon period to the middle English period Events: 1066, the Norman Conquest (the popularity of chivalry in literary arena, and the dissemination of French) Representative works: Beowulf; The Canterbury Tales Words or phrases related to Chaucer --- The Poets’ Corner; --- Middle English; --- heroic couplet; Renaissance ( late 15th C. to Early 17th C.) Events: European Renaissance, based on humanism and focusing on modern knowledge, ancient Greek and Roman culture, reflection on values of human beings Representative figures and works: Thomas More: Utopia Francis Bacon: Essays (The New Atlantis) William Shakespeare Edmund Spenser --The Faerie Queene His literary career The First Period(1590-1600) Mainly Comedies and histories The Comedy of Errors《错误的喜剧》 The Taming of the Shrew《驯悍记》 Merchant of Venice Much Ado about Nothing 《无事生非》 Richard Ⅲ Three parts of Henry VI Romeo and Juliet (tragicomedy) The Second Period(1601-1608) Mainly tragedies Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Othello King Lear Macbeth Antony and Cleopatra Timon of Athens《雅典的泰门》 The Third Period(1609-1613) Mainly melodrama(传奇剧) or tragicomedy Winter’s Tale The Tempest Narrative poems: Venus and Adonis The Rape of Lucrece Sonnets Shakespeare’s Sonnets English literature of 17th C. Events: the death of Queen Elizabeth, the foundation of the first republic; the restoration Representative figures and works: 1. Metaphysical poets: whose works are characterized by inventiveness of metaphor ? John Donne: Holy Sonnets (“Death be Not Proud” ) 2. John Milton: Paradise Lost (1667) and Paradise Regained (1671), Samson Agonistes 3. John Bunyan The Pilgrim’s Progress Enlightenment (late 17th C. to middle 18th C. ) Events: the new government and later the Industrial Revolution; the rising of Neoclassicism; the Age of Prose (reason/ration) Representative figures an