大学英语英国文学1English Literature.ppt

* * Ballad meter: It is the common form for the ballads. It contains four-line stanzas. The odd numbered lines have four feet each and the even numbered lines have three feet each. Rhumes fall on the even numbered lines. Eg. Robin Hood Ballads: most important. When in April the sweet showers fall When/ in/ Ap/ril /the/ sweet /show/ers/ fall When/ in/ Ap/ril /the/ sweet /show/ers/ fall And pierce the drought of March to the root and all And pierce the drought of March to the root and all * * “The General Prologue”  Summery: As April comes, the narrator begins a pilgrimage to Canterbury from the Tabard Inn at Southwerk. Twenty-nine people make the pilgrimage toward Canterbury and the narrator describes them in turn. The Host, a bold and merry man, suggests that on their way to Canterbury each pilgrim tell two tales, and on the way back two more. They draw lots to decide who will tell the first tale. * * In The General Prologue, Chaucer sets up the general structure of the tales and introduces each of the characters who will tell the tales. The characters who tell each of the tales are as important as the characters in the tales that they tell; a significant portion of the action of The Canterbury Tales takes place within the prologue to each of the tales. The General Prologue in essence serves as a guide. Chaucer only lived to write 24 tales. Some of the stories that remain are only fragments which have either been lost or were never completed by the author. * * Character Analysis: Chaucer’s pilgrim narrators represent a wide spectrum of ranks and occupations. The great variety of tales is matched by the diversity of their tellers; tales are assigned to appropriate narrators and juxtaposed to bring out contrasts in genre, style, tone, and values. These pilgrims exist almost entirely in terms of their profession. Chaucer gives only a few of them character