【精品】survey and reading of british literature（可编辑.ppt

Survey and Reading of British LiteratureObjectives of the CoursenTo help learners build up literary critical abilities by reading and appreciating some classical works in British literature;nTo help learners enhance cultural awareness by introducing the social and cultural background concerning British literature;nTo help learners improve language abilities in the aspect of literary criticism and research writing.Background InformationnThe Britons,a tribe of Celts-the earliest inhabitants:marginalized in history but its traditions increasingly felt in modern times:colourful life patterns and optimistic manners;nAngloSaxons and Jutes-new inhabitants from the north of Europe,exerting their influence on English nationality of diligence in working and melancholy manners of life;nNormans-new inhabitants and ruling class over the island,brought about a new language,comparatively civilized life patterns,e.g.constitutional concepts,governmental strategies and management,and romantic attitude and manners;nMore variables affecting the making of national identities:location island and near the north;weather-mild;resources limited;blend of races openness.General colors of British Literaturenelegant and standard in language;n melancholy and ironical in style or in tone;n conventional and conservative in thematic concern and in literary thoughts.English BalladsnThe Robin Hood Ballads:The character of Robin Hood is manysided.Strong,brave and clever,he is at the same time tender-hearted and affectionate.He is a man with a twinkle in his eye,a man fond of a very joke and a hearty laugh.But the dominant key in his character is his hatred for the cruel oppressors and his love for the poor and downtrodden.-by LIU BinshanGeoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury TalesnChaucers main contributions to English Literature:1)the blend of three languages into the early shape of modern English;2)application and spread of couplet as one of standard poetic forms;3)creation of The Canterbury TalesBackground for Renaissance LiteraturenHistorically:1.1485 Henry VII:end of the War of Roses and unification of England,2.1588 victory over the Spanish Armada;3.Puritan RevolutionnCulturally:1.the Renaissance movement:worship for humanism,for learning,for science;2.Religion Reform break with Rome and foundation of National Church;3.publication of James version BiblenEconomically:1.“sheep devoured men”movement;2.rapid expansion of cities.Great writers in this periodWilliam Shakespeare:sonnets,tragedies,comedies;Edmund Spenser:The Faerie Queene;Spenserian stanza and sonnets;Christopher Marlowe:The Jew of Malta;Dr.Faustus;one of the University Wits Ben Jonson:Every Man In His Humor;Volpone,or the Fox,Comedies of HumorsJohn Donne:A Valediction:Forbidding Mourning;The Flea;one of the leading Metaphysical poetsFrancis Bacon:Of Studies,essayistJohn Milton:Paradise Lost,Paradise RegainedReading of ShakespearenReading of Sonnet 18nMetrical analysisA.meter:iambic pentameterB.rhyme pattern:abab cdcd efef ggC.Technical analysisD.AlliterationE.ImagesnThematic analysisA.Who is“thee”in the poem?B.What is“this”in the poem?C.What do“rough winds”stand for?D.What does“summers lease”imply?E.What does“natures changing course stand for?F.What does“Death”symbolize for?G.There are three“fairs”in the poem and do they refer to the same thing?If not,what for respectively in concrete?Reading of Hamlet,an excerptnParaphrases:To live or not to live is the question Im wondering about.Is it nobler to bear the attacks of the cruelty of fortune than to stand up to fight against the endless troubles in order to end them?To die means to sleep,and there would be no more.In that case,we can end the heart-ache and endless natural disasters we are born to have and also the completion of all troubles in our life we earnestly wish for.To die is like a sleep.In the sleep,we may have a dream and then have a dilemma because what kind of dream we may have will hinder us.nParaphrases continuedbecause in the death-like sleep we have no idea about what kind of dream we may have when we have shaken off human sufferings.There must be some reason that explains the misfortune of such a long life;if he may end his life only with a knife,who would like to bear the whips and scorns of life,the oppressors wrong deeds,the proud mans insult,the pains of rejected love,the insult from officials,the kicks that a man of merit receives patiently from the unworthy men?Who would like to bear the burdens and to suffer under a weary life if not because they are afraid of the situation after death?nParaphrase continuedThat world is unknown to us and from which no traveler has ever returned.Just because of this,it puzzles our will and makes us rather bear those pains we have than fly to the other world we know nothing about.Just because of this,it puzzles our will and makes us rather bear those pains we have than fly to the other world we know nothing about.This reflection does make us hesitant and in that case our resolution would be withered,the direction(would be)changed,and the determination(would be)shaken.nCharacter analysis of Hamlet on the monologue1.Personality analysis2.hesitant in determination and action3.thoughtful in mind4.sensitive in feeling5.melancholy in mood2.Conceptual analysis3.believe in present life than that after life4.very perceptive at the cruelty and hardships of the life or the societyReading of Romeo and JulietnBackground informationRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young“star-crossd lovers whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding families.It was among Shakespeares most popular plays during his lifetime and,along with Hamlet,is one of his most frequently performed plays.Today,the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.nInserted sonnet in Scene 5,Act InRomeo:(to Juliet)n If I profane with my unworthiest hand,n This holy shrine,the gentle pain is this:n My lips,two blushing pilgrims hands to touch,n And palm to palm is holy palmers kiss.nJuliet:n Good pilgrim,you do wrong your hand too much,n Which mannerly devotion show in this,n For saints have hands that pilgrims hands do touch,n And palm to palm is holy palmers kiss.nRomeo:n Have not saints lips,and holy palmers too?nJuliet:n Ay,pilgrim,lips that they must use in prayer.nRomeo:n O then,dear saint,let lips do what hands do,n They pray:grant thou,lest faith turn to despair.nJuliet:n Saints do not move,though grant for prayers sake,nRomeo:n Then move not,while my prayers effect take.nInternal conflict analysis:Internal conflict with Romeo:TermsnShakespeare four great tragedies Shakespeares tragedies are often regarded as his greatest accomplishments,while his four tragedies stand out as the masterpieces.The four great tragedies are Hamlet,Othello,King Lear and Macbeth.Hamlet,a drama of murder and revenge,reveals the conflict between feudalism and humanism.Othello,a tragedy of credulity,depicts a conflict between an upright man and a pure woman with a treacherous villain and his tricks.King Lear,a tragedy of vanity,hypocrisy and flattery,discloses the serious struggle for property and fame.Macbeth,a tragedy of wild ambition,depicts the struggle for the crown among the noble and the royal.John Donne and Metaphysical PoetrynCriticism on John Donne and Metaphysical PoetrynJohn Donnes importance is“chiefly because he started more or less a new school of poetry,the metaphysical school,which had a number of followers and which had its influence even upon some of the Cavalier poets.”A History of English Literature Chen JianHe can perceive beauty,but at the very moment of that perception he sees the corpse,the cerement cloths,the skeleton.He knows passion,but he can mock at the physical body through which passion is transmitted.This restlessness brings his mind and his body very close to each other.His thought is ever at the service of his passions;his passions enter into his thought.Contraries exist in his mind,but they are ever moving one into the other.A Short History of English Literature-Ifor Evance Reading of The FleanParaphrase(for reference)Look!This is a flea.Look at the flea.How little is that which you denied me(my love,compared with the flea).It sucked me first,and now it sucks you.And in this flea two drops of our blood are mingled.You know that this(the mixture of our blood)cannot be regarded as a sin,or a shame,or loss of virginity.The flea,however,enjoys happiness before it succeeded in obtaining promise.And it swells with one blood over-supplied or eaten from us two.Oh,this is more than we would do.nOh,stop!Please spare three lives in one flea,from which we are almost more than married,indeed.So this flea is the mixture of you and me,and this is our marriage bed and this room is our marriage church.Even though your parents feel resentful about and you are unwilling to our meet,we met and hid in this black room with living things,and your habit makes you likely to kill me because in the flea there is my blood.Please do not do that and that would add to your suicide,and that is a disrespect for the sacred and would be three sins in killing three lives.nHow cruel you are in killing the flea in such a sudden move sine you have purpled your nail in the blood of an innocent flea?In what respect could this flea be killed except that it sucked a drop of blood from you?You say in such a triumph tone,however,that you and I now are not found any weaker of life at all because of the loss of blood.It is true that we know our fears would be false.If so,its just the same honor for you if you accept my love,and it will waste nothing at all just as the fleas death wastes nothing of your life.nAnalysis of the conceitWhat is a conceit?A conceit is an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem.Major features of metaphysical conceits:n1.seemingly dissimilar but essentially similar to each other in implications hidden in the comparison;n2.an idea,or a concept or even a striking truth implied in some unusual or fanciful images.nMetaphysical Poetry(as a term)nThis is a term applied to a group of seventeenth century poets,such as John Donne,George Herbert,Andrew Marvell and so on.They shared some features in writing,for example,they favored using conceits,hyperboles and overstatements,they also liked to develop some peculiar themes,but didnt like to be restrained by strict rhythm.English Literature in Neo-Classicism(1660-1798)nBackground informationHistorical background1.The Restoration(1660)2.The Glorious Revolution(1688)3.The rise of the industrialization4.Rapid expansion of territory and economical boomnCultural background1.The Enlightenment:The Age of Reason2.-proportion,unity,harmony and grace.2.Prosperities in printing,publications and the rise of modern fiction.3.The rise and independence of intellects.nLiterary achievements:John Dryden(1631-1700):father of prose and criticism-An Essay On Dramatic Poesy John Bunyan(1628-1688):The Pilgrims Progress William Congreve(1670-1728):The Way of the World,one of Comedy of Manners playwrightsJoseph Addison(1672-1719)and Richard Steele(1672-1729):The Tatler;The Spectator Daniel Defoe(16601731):Robinson Crusoe,the first English novel,Moll Flanders,picaresque novelAlexander Pope(1688-1744):An Essay On Criticism,famous as one of the leading enlightenment theorists together with S.JohnsonJonathan Swift(1667-1745):Gullivers TravelsSamuel Richardson(1689-1761):Pamela,or Virtue Rewarded,one of the epistolary novelsHenry Fielding(1707-1754):The History of Tom Jones,a Foundling Laurence Sterne(17131768):Tristram Shandy,Sentimental Journey which is taken as the start of sentimentalismSamuel Johnson(17091784):A Letter to Lord Chesterfield,one of the giant enlightenment theorists,editor of The Dictionary of the English LanguageRichard Brinsley Sheridan(17511816):The School for Scandal,masterpiece of Comedy of MannersThomas Gray(17161771):An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,remembered as a top of the Graveyard Poets or SchoolWilliam Blake(1757-1827):London,TigerHorace Walpole(1717-1797):The Castle of Otranto,one of the representative Gothic novels Robert Burns(17591796):A Red,Red Rose,My Hearts in the Highlands,Scottish national poetReading of J.SwiftnStorySeptember 7,1710 July 2,1715Despite his earlier intention of remaining at home,Gulliver returns to sea as a captain.On this voyage he is forced to find new additions to his crew who he believes to have turned the rest of the crew against him.His crew then mutiny or rebel and after keeping him contained for some time resolve to leave him on the first piece of land they come across and continue on as pirates.He is abandoned in a landing boat and comes first upon a race of(apparently)hideous deformed creatures to which he conceives a violent antipathy or dislike.Shortly thereafter he meets a horse and comes to understand that the horses(in their language Houyhnhnm or the perfection of nature)are the rulers and the deformed creatures(Yahoos)are human beings in their base form.Gulliver becomes a member of the horses household,and comes to both admire and emulate the Houyhnhnms and their lifestyle,rejecting humans as merely Yahoos endowed with some semblance of reason which they only use to exacerbate and add to the vices Nature gave them.However,an Assembly of the Houyhnhnms rules that Gulliver,a Yahoo with some semblance of reason,is a danger to their civilization and he is expelled.He is then rescued,against his will,by a Portuguese ship,and is surprised to see that Captain Pedro de Mendez,a Yahoo,is a wise,courteous and generous person.He returns to his home in England.However,he is unable to reconcile himself to living among Yahoos;he becomes a recluse or hermit,remaining in his house,largely avoiding his family and his wife,and spending several hours a day speaking with the horses in his stables.nArtistic analysis of sarcasm or satirical devicesA.to compare human beings to Yahoos,the most greedy,disgustful,dirty and corrupted animals in the world，but former even in many aspects are less capable,for instance,less energy,slower,and so on;B.to contrast human beings with Houyhnhnms by exposing human beings corruption of morality,and lack of virtue,while Houyhnhnms virtue and ration;C.to specifically and closely illustrate some examples of semblances between human beings and Yahoos to achieve the effects of sarcasm.nThematic analysis 1.Through the comparison with Houyhnhnms and Yahoos,human beings are the least able and rational but more disgustful,greedy,corrupted creatures,for example,(omitted);2.Through the descriptions of the semblances between human beings and Yahoos,the latter functions as a mirror reflecting human beings nature,like,avarice or greed,corruption,dirt,deception,hypocrisy and so on.Reading of William BlakenBrief introduction:life and worksnReading of The Tyger1.Paraphrase2.Questions for understanding and analysis:nWhat pict