英国文学史重要资料详细解读
1 The Medieval Age
1. Types of Literature
Poetry，Drama，Prose（novels, short stories, and essays）
Anglo-Saxons:
2. Three tribes---- the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes
Language: Germanic dialects
3. Anglo-Saxon history
Anglo-Saxon period : 449-1066；Anglo-Norman period : 1066-1350；Literature is divided into two parts: Pagan（异教）and Christian
monarchy4. The Middle Ages
In Europe: usu. from 5th c. to 16th c., marked by division of Western Christianity in the Reformation, the rise of humanism in the Italian Renaissance, and beginnings of European overseas expansion which allowed for the Columbian Exchange.
In Britain: 446-1466
6. 3 stages of English lg Development
Old English /Anglo-Saxon (usu. the language up to 1066)；Middle English (about 1100-1500)；Modern English (about 1500-present)
II. Beowulf and ballads
Beowulf: heroic epic; 1st English national literary work
cf: First Chinese literary work
The Book of Songs (Classic of Poetry)（《诗经》）（305 poems from Xizhou to middle Chunqiu: folk songs, sacrificial songs and ceremonial songs ）
III. Geoffrey Chaucer(ca 1343-1400)
Major works: The House of Fame(1379-1384) ；Troilus and Criseyde(1372-1385) ；The Canterbury Tales(1386-1400)
Status in literature : “father of English poetry” & one of the greatest narrative poets in Britain;first great poet in the current English language;
IV. Selected writing
1. The Canterbury Tales
Original plan: a collection of stories in a frame tale, between 1387 and 1400 about 30 pilgrims from London to Canterbury. Each pilgrim, from all layers of society, tells 4 stories to each other to kill time while traveling.
Part IV The Renaissance
1. Renaissance
Definition---(Fr.)rebirth or revival: a cultural movement roughly from 14th to 17th c., from Italy in late Middle Ages and later to the rest of Europe; a revival of learning based on classical sources;
Influence: literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, religion, & other aspects of intellectual enquiry; best known for artistic developments & contributions of such polymaths(博学大师) as Leonardo da Vinci & Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance men".
Renaissance marked a transition from the Medieval Period to the modern age in European history.
2) Two features of Renaissance
(1) a thirst for classical lit.: They discovered and read ancient Greek & Roman classics which led
to flowering of painting, sculpture, architecture and so on.
(2) a keen interest in life and human activities rather than religion
3) Representatives & their famous works
Leonardo. Da Vinci(1452-1519) Mona Lisa (1479-1528), La Gioconda, wife of Francesco del Giocondo The Last Supper 1498
2) Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) sculptor, painter, architect & poet David Gigantic marble, started in 1501 & finished in 1504 The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist (the Doni Tondo)The Creation of Adam (Fragment of the Sistine Chapel ceiling)1511-12 Fresco(壁画):The Separation of Light and Darkness (1508-1512), Sistine Chapel, V atican
3) Dante (1472-1629)
Dante Alighieri：poet, prose writer, lit. theorist, moral philosopher, political thinker
Divine Comedy（《神曲》）To be widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, & as one of greatest works of world lit.
2. Old England in Transition
Historical background: 16th c----from feudalism to capitalism: “sheep devoured men” by Thomas More
Absolute monarchy: break off with the Pope, dissolving all the monasteries & abbeys(修道院), confiscating their lands and proclaiming himself head of the Church of England. Absolute monarchy reached its summit during reign of Queen Elizabeth(1558-1603).
Hundred Years’War with France(1336-1453) ?civil wars.
Henry VII(1481-1509): Tudor dynasty, a centralized monarchy of a totally new type, which met the needs of the rising bourgeoisie.
sea power after defeating Spain
development of science & art
3. English Renaissance
Definition: Largely literary, a great number of classical works were translated into Eng. during 16th c., which was carried out by progressive thinkers of humanists.
Chief interest: not in ecclesiastical（基督教的;(与)教会(有关)的）knowledge, but in man, his environment & doings; brave fight for emancipation（解放）of man from tyranny of the church and religious dogmas.

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