History of English Literature

History of English Literature ※ Renaissance drama 1. introduction: Dionysus, Zeus, grapes, mad women *2 themes: happy jokes, revelry; grave, serious *2 kinds: co..

History of English Literature

• The Middle Ages
  • The Anglo- Saxon Period (449—1066）
    • Background
      • Anglos，Saxons，Jutes united into one Kingdom：England
      • Pagan literature&Christian literature
    • Beowulf：England's national epic
  • The Anglo- Norman Period （1066—1350）
    • Background
      • The Norman Conquest in 1066— marks the establishment of Feudalism in England
    • The Romance Divisions
      • matters of Britain
      • matters of France
      • matters of Rome
      • Knight&Chivalry
    • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
    • Geoffrey Chaucer ( 1343-1400)
      • Contributions
        • Forerunner of Humanism
        • The first realistic writer
        • Father of English poetry
          • Heroic couplet
        • Master of the English Language
          • London dialect
      • The Canterbury Tales
    • Popular Ballads
      • Robin Hood
      • Get Up and Bar the Door
      • Sir Patrick Spens
• The Renaissance （14th century-16th century）
  • Background
    • The rise of capitalism
    • The Enclosure Commons
    • The War of the Roses
    • The development of handicraft industry and commodity economy
    • Britain Defeated the Spanish Invincible Armada
    • The contradiction between the wealth of the ruling classes and the poverty of the people
    • The development in science and art
  • Features
    • the classical literature.
    • humanism：the literary culture in the Renaissance
  • Representatives writers
    • Thomas More (1478-1535)
      • Utopia
    • Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
      • the founder of English materialist philosophy
        • Baconian Method
      • Works
        • Philosophical
          • Advancement of Learning
          • Novum Organum
        • Literary
          • Essays
            • Of Truth
            • Of Studies
          • The New Atlantics
        • Professional
          • Maxim of the Law
          • Reading on the Statute of Uses
    • Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
      • sonnet
    • Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
      • The Faerie Queene
    • Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
      • blank verse
    • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
      • 38 surviving plays
        • Four Comedies
          • The Merchant of Venice
          • A Midsummer Night's Dream
          • As You Like It
          • Twelfth Night
        • Four tragedies
          • Hamlet
          • Othello
          • King Lear
          • Macbeth
      • 154sonnets
• The period of Revolution and Restoration （17th century）
  • Background
    • The 17th century was one of the most tempestuous periods in English history
    • Absolute monarchy
    • The contradictions between the feudal system and the bourgeoisie
  • Different theories
    • the theory of the divine right of kings
    • the divine right of the individual conscience
  • Process
    • in 1649 Charles was beheaded
    • in 1660 the period of Restoration
    • the Revolution of 1688
  • Literary Characteristics
    • The puritan influence in general tended to suppress literary art
    • The flourish of the metaphysical school
    • The French influence is most marked in the drama. The rhymed couplets took the place of blank verse.
    • Restoration created a literature of its own that was often witty and clever, but on the whole immoral and cynical
  • Representative writers
    • John Donne （1573-1631）
      • the founder of the Metaphysical School
        • writing forms: satires，elegies，lyrics，epistles
        • writing features： extraordinary frankness；penetrating realism；cynicism
        • writing techniques: extravagant hyperboles，conceits
      • Death Be Not Proud
    • John Milton （1608-1674）
      • a great revolutionary poet of the 17th century
      • a great master of blank verse
      • Paradise Lost
      • voiced the Puritan ideals
    • John Bunyan （1628-1688）
      • The Pilgrim’s Progress（1678）
      • spoke for the common people
• The Age of Enlightenment 17th century-18th century
  • Background
    • a comparatively peaceful development
    • a constitutional monarchy
    • The Parliament and the cabinet ministers has the power
    • Industrial Revolution
  • Features
    • the power of reason
    • human intelligence
    • They criticized different aspects of contemporary England, discussed social life according to a more reasonable principle
    • The literature of the Enlightenment in England mainly appealed to the middle class readers
  • Special terms
    • Classicism
      • originated in France
      • modeled on Greek and Latin authors
      • emphasized reason and form
      • representatives：Joseph Addison ，Richard Steel
    • Sentimentalism
    • Pre-romanticism
      • Laurence Stern
  • Representative writers
    • Daniel Defoe （1660-1731）
      • One of the forerunners of English realistic novel
      • Robinson Crusoe
    • Jonathan Swift （1667—1745)
      • One of the greatest masters of English prose and satirist
      • Gulliver’s Travels
    • Joseph Addison （1672-1719）
      • The Tatler
      • The Spectator
    • Henry Fielding （1707-1754）
      • the greatest novelist of the 18th century, and one of the greatest that England ever produced
      • works
        • Shamela 1741
        • Joseph Andrews 1742
        • Jonathan Wild 1743
        • Justice of the Peace 1748
        • Amelia 1751
        • Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon 1754
        • criticised social relations closely related to the common people
    • Thomas Gray （1716-1771）
      • the best known poem in the English language
      • Elegy
    • Oliver Goldsmith （1730-1774）
      • one of the most versatile authors
      • works
        • The Vicar of Wakefield（1766）
        • She Stoops to Conquer（1773）
        • The Citizen of the World（1762）
        • The Traveller（1764）
        • The Deserted Village（1770）
    • Richard Brinsley Sheridan （1751-1816）
      • one of the most famous orators
      • Works
        • Duel
        • The Rivals
        • The School for Scandal
    • William Blake （1757-1827）
      • the most independent and original romantic poets
      • Works
        • Songs of Innocence (1789)
        • The Book of Thel (1789)
        • Tiriel (1789)
        • The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793)
    • Robert Burns (1759-1796)
      • the greatest of Scottish poets
      • Works
        • A RED，RED ROSE
        • To A Mouse
        • My Heart‘s in the Highlands