英国文学简史1.docx

PART ONE: EARLY AND MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATUREChapter 1 The Making of England1. The early inhabitants in the island now we call England were Britons(primitive people), a tribe of Celts(凯尔特人). From the Britons the island got its name of Britain, the land of Britons.2. In 55 B.C., Britain was invaded by Julius Caesar, the Roman conqueror.(78A.D--410A.D.)①The Roman occupation lasted for about 400 years, during which the Romans, for military purposes, built a network of highways, later called the Roman roads.②Along these roads grew up scores of towns, and London, one of them, became an important trading centre.③With the Roman conquest the Roman mode of life came across to Britain also. Roman theatres and baths quickly rose in the towns.④Christianity was introduced to Britain.3. Three tribes from Northern Europe: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded Britain. By the 7th century, 7 small kingdoms were combined into a united kingdom called England, or, the land of Angles.The three dialects spoken by them naturally grew into a single language called Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, which is quite different from the English that we know today.4. The Anglo-Saxon period witnessed a transition from tribal society to feudalism.Chapter 2 Beowulf1. English literature began with the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England. Of Old English literature, five relics are still preserved. All of them are poems, or, songs by the Anglo-Saxon minstrels who sang of the heroic deeds of old time to the chiefs and warriors in the feasting-hall. Four are short fragments of long poems.One long poem of over 3000 lines is Beowulf, the national epic of the English people.2. The story of BeowulfBeowulf is the nephew of Hygelac(赫依拉), King of the Geats(高特), a people in Jutland(日德兰), Denmark.Hrothgar(赫斯加), King of the DanesGrendel(格伦德尔), a terrible monster①Beowulf sails for Denmark with fourteen companions and offers to fight Grendel.②Old she-monster comes to avenge Grendels death. She is also killed.③Beowulf bids