Lecture 1 Renaissance 1.The Renaissance refers to the period between 14th----mid-17th century. It first started in Italy. 2.The Renaissance means rebirth or revival----the discovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture. 3.In essence, The Renaissance is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars tried to get rid of the old feudalist ideas in medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie/middle class, and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of Roman Catholic church.
Humanism 4.Humanism is the essence of Renaissance -----Man is the measure of all things. The humanism exalted/praised human nature and emphasized the dignity of human beings and the present life. They thought man had the right to enjoy the beauty of life and had the ability to perfect himself and made wonders, which got ready for the appearance of the great Elizabethan writers in Britain. Poetry and drama were the most outstanding literary forms. 5.Shakespeare, Marlowe and Francis Bacon etc. were the remarkable representatives of the English Renaissance. William Shakespeare 1564-1616
The Plays 38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare 14 comedies 10 histories 10 tragedies 4 romances 154 Sonnets Numerous other poems Comedies Much Ado About Nothing 无事生非 As You Like I 皆大欢喜 Twelfth Night 第十二夜 The Merchant of Venice 威尼斯商人 Tragedies Romeo and Juliet 《 罗密欧与朱丽叶》 Hamlet《哈姆雷特》 Othello《奥赛罗》 King Lear《李尔王》 Macbeth《麦克白》 Main Themes of Shakespeare?s Plays 1) His historical plays are with the theme-----national unity under a might and just sovereign/ruler is necessary.
2)In his romantic comedies, he takes an optimistic attitude toward love friendship and youth. 3)In his tragedies, Shakespeare always portrays some noble heroes, who faces the injustice of life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of his nation. Each hero has his weakness of nature. We also see the conflict between the individual and the evil force in the society. And his major characters are always individuals representing certain types. Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a Summer?s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And Summer?s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm?d; And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature?s changing course, untrimm?d;
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But thy eternal Summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow?st
Nor shall Death brag thou wander?st in his shade, When in eternal line to time thou grow?st.
So long as men can breath or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
我该把你比拟做夏天吗？ 你比夏天更可爱，更温婉； 狂风会把五月的娇蕊吹落， 夏天出租的期限又太短暂； 有时天上的眼睛照得太热， 他金色的面容常常变阴暗； 一切美的事物总不免凋败， 被机缘或自然的代谢摧残； 但你永恒的夏天不会褪色， 不会失去你所拥有的美善， 死神也不能夸说你在他阴影里徘徊， 当你在永恒的诗行里与时间同久长； 只要人们能呼吸或眼睛看得清， 此诗将永存，并且赐给你生命．
Artistic features of Shakespearean Sonnets Fourteen line lyric Iambic Pentameter Rhyming pattern: abab, cdcd, efef, gg Comments a profound meditation on the destructive power of time, the transitory nature of human life and the eternal beauty brought forth by poetry
a strong belief in the eternal value of poetry and literature 1. Shakespeare?s greatest tragedies are the following works except ____. A. Hamlet B. King Lear C. Romeo and Juliet D. Othello 2. The Essence of Renaissance, the most significant intellectual movement, was_____.
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A. Geographical exploration B. Religious reformation C. Publishing and translation D. Humanism. 3. In “Sonnet 18”, Shakespeare_________________. A. Meditate on the destructive power of time and eternal beauty by poetry. B. Satirize human?s vanity. C. Predict the eternity of love. D. Eulogize the power of the beauty. 4. Which of the following statement best illustrates the theme of Shakespeare?s Sonnet 18? A.The speaker eulogizes the power of Nature. B.The speaker satirizes human vanity. C.The speaker praises the power of artistic creation. D.The speaker meditates on man?s salvation. 5. The Renaissance refers to between 14th-mid-17th century, which was under the reign of Queen ___and absolute monarchy in England reached its summit, and in which the ?real mainstream (真正的文学主流)? was ____.
A. Victoria/poetry B. Elizabeth/ drama C. Mary/ novel D. James/ drama 6. _____, the first of the great tragedies, is generally regarded as Shakespeare?s most popular play on the stage, for it has the qualities of a “blood-and-thunder” thriller and a ?philosophical exploration? of life and death.
A. The Merchant of Venice B. Hamlet C. King Lear D. The Winter?s Tale 1.“ Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow?st; Nor shall death brag thou wander?st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow?st: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 1) Where does the poem comes from? Who wrote it? What does “eternal lines” mean? Interpret it briefly. 2.How do you know about Renaissance? Give a summery about English literature in the period? 3. Please give a brief analysis of Hamlet?s “To be or not to be” soliloquy (独白).
Lecture2
The Age of Enlightenment and Jonathan Swift The Enlightenment Movement ? The 18th-century England is known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement which flourished in France & swept through the whole Western Europe at the time. ? The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the 15th & 16th centuries. ? Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical & artistic ideas. The enlighteners celebrated reason or rationality, equality & science. They called for a reference to order, reason & rules and advocated universal education. The Neoclassical period ? 1)The Neoclassical period is about 1660-1798, also known as \\2)Its background was:
a. It was an age full of conflicts and difference of values;
b. It was an age of fast development for English to become the first powerful capitalist country in the world; c. It was an age of economic development, in which bourgeois/middle class grew rapidly. 3)In essence, the Neoclassical Period was a progressive intellectual movement.
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4)The Enlighteners believed in self-restraint, self-reliance and hard work; They celebrated reason/rationality, equality and science.
They advocated universal education, which could make people rational and prefect. Characteristics of Neoclassical Literature
1.a revival of interest in the old classical works, all forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works. 2. had some fixed laws &rules for almost every genre of literature. ? Prose should be precise, direct, smooth & flexible. ? Poetry should be lyrical, epical, didactic, satiric or dramatic, & each class should be guided by its own principles. ? Drama should be written in the Heroic Couplets；
the three unities of time, space & action should be strictly observed.
the Realistic Novel
The mid-18th century was, however, predominated by a newly rising literary form, the modern English novel, which, contrary to the traditional romance of aristocrats, gives a realistic presentation of life of the common English people. This-the most significant phenomenon in the history of the development of English literature in the eighteenth century - is a natural product of the Industrial Revolution & a symbol of the growing importance & strength of the English of middle class, Among the pioneers were Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding. Jonathan Swift (1667—1745) His works ? “A Tale of a Tub” 《一个木桶的故事》 （1698） ? “The Battle of the Books” 《书籍之战》（ 1697） ? “A Modest Proposal” 《一个温和的建议》 （ 1729 ） ? “Gulliver?s Travels” 《格列佛游记》 （1726） ? A Voyage to Lilliput ? A Voyage to Brobdingnag ? A Voyage to Laputa. ? A voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms A brief comment on Gulliver's Travels A brief comment on Gulliver's Travels ? As a whole the book is one of the most effective & devastating criticisms & satires of all aspects in the then English & European life - socially, politically, religiously, philosophically, scientifically, & morally. Its social significance is great & its exploration into human nature profound. Swift's humanist view ? Swift was a man of great moral integrity & social charm. A man with bitter life experience, he had a deep hatred for all the rich oppressors & a deep sympathy for all the poor & oppressed. ? His understanding of human nature is profound. In his opinion, human nature is seriously & permanently flawed. To better human life, enlightenment is needed, but to redress it is very hard. So, in his writings, although he intends not to condemn but to reform & improve human nature &human institutions. There is often an Under-or over tone of helplessness & indignation.
Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift's best fictional work, contains four parts, each about one particular voyage during which Gulliver has extraordinary adventures on some remote island after he has met with shipwreck or piracy or some other misfortune. ? Gulliver's Travels is also an artistic masterpiece. Here we find its author at ? his best as a master of prose. In structure, the four parts make an organic ? whole, with each contrived upon an independent structure, & yet complementing ? the others & contributing to the central concern of study of human nature & ? life. The first two parts are generally considered smallness in Part I words ? just as effectively as the exaggerated largeness in Part 2. The similarities ? between human beings & the Lilliputians & the contrast between the ? Brobdingnagians & human beings both bear reference to the possibilities of human ? state. Part 3 furthers the criticism of the western civilization & deals with
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? different malpractices & false illusions about science, philosophy, history & ? false illusions about science, philosophy, history & even immortality. The lost ? part, where comparison is made through both similarities &differences, leads the ? reader to a basic question: What on earth is a human being? Questions
1. In which of the following works can you find the proper names \”? A. The Pilgrim’s Progress B. The Farrie Queene C. Gulliver’s Travels D. The School of Scandal
2. ______is a typical feature of Swift’s writings. A. Elegant style B. Causal narration C. Bitter satire
D.Complicated sentence structure ? 3. The Houyhnhnms depicted by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels are________. ? A. horses that are endowed with reason. ? B. pigmies that are endowed with admirable qualities ? C. giants that are superior in wisdom. ? D. Hairy, wild, low and despicable creatures, who resemble human beings not only in appearance but also in some other ways.
How did Swift criticized and allude to the government and the society. 1)In the first part of the \’s Travels\
Swift described the tricks and practices in the competition held before royal members to allude to the fact that the success of the officials was not for their wisdom and excellence but for their skills in the games; 2)In the part 4 of the book, Swift made horses with reason and good qualities.
The citizens who are \in almost every way\nature of the human and life.
Lecture3 Romantic English Literature ? The Romantic Movement: negative attitude towards the existing social and political conditions. Core --- reaction against neoclassicism Time --- 1798~1832 ? 1798: Lyrical Ballads
(William Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge) ? 1832: the death of Sir Walter Scott; the passage of the Reform Bill Manifesto --- Lyrical Ballads Characteristics ? Spontaneity: Poems are the products of an unconscious creativity. ? Subjectivism: self-expression. ? Individualism: ? Man has infinite potentialities and creative power. ? Individual freedom free from formalism, tradition, and conformity. ? Worship of Nature: External nature became a persistent subject of poetry. ? Note of Melancholy: A gloomy mood of melancholy and loneliness, resulting from the frustration of their efforts in revolting against the established code and convention. ? Simplicity in language and free poetic forms. Romantic Achievements ? Poetry
--- Lakers (the first generation): Wordsworth, Coleridge.
--- Revolutionary poets (the second generation) Byron, Shelley, Keats. ? Novels: Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
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