【英文小说】English Literature.docx

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1、【英文小说】English LiteraturePREFACEThis book, which presents the whole splendid history of English literature from Anglo-Saxon times to the close of the Victorian Era, has three specific aims. The first is to create or to encourage in every student the desire to read the best books, and to know literatu

2、re itself rather than what has been written about literature. The second is to interpret literature both personally and historically, that is, to show how a great book generally reflects not only the authors life and thought but also the spirit of the age and the ideals of the nations history. The t

3、hird aim is to show, by a study of each successive period, how our literature has steadily developed from its first simple songs and stories to its present complexity in prose and poetry.To carry out these aims we have introduced the following features:(1) A brief, accurate summary of historical eve

4、nts and social conditions in each period, and a consideration of the ideals which stirred the whole nation, as in the days of Elizabeth, before they found expression in literature.(2) A study of the various literary epochs in turn, showing what each gained from the epoch preceding, and how each aide

5、d in the development of a national literature.(3) A readable biography of every important writer, showing how he lived and worked, how he met success or failure, how he influenced his age, and how his age influenced him.(4) A study and analysis of every authors best works, and of many of the books r

6、equired for college-entrance examinations.(5) Selections enough-especially from earlier writers, and from writers not likely to be found in the home or school library-to indicate the spirit of each authors work; and directions as to the best works to read, and where such works may be found in inexpe

7、nsive editions.(6) A frank, untechnical discussion of each great writers work as a whole, and a critical estimate of his relative place and influence in our literature.(7) A series of helps to students and teachers at the end of each chapter, including summaries, selections for reading, bibliographi

8、es, a list of suggestive questions, and a chronological table of important events in the history and literature of each period.(8) Throughout this book we have remembered Roger Aschams suggestion, made over three centuries ago and still pertinent, that tis a poor way to make a child love study by be

9、ginning with the things which he naturally dislikes. We have laid emphasis upon the delights of literature; we have treated books not as mere instruments of research-which is the danger in most of our studies-but rather as instruments of enjoyment and of inspiration; and by making our study as attra

10、ctive as possible we have sought to encourage the student to read widely for himself, to choose the best books, and to form his own judgment about what our first Anglo-Saxon writers called the things worthy to be remembered.To those who may use this book in their homes or in their class rooms, the w

11、riter ventures to offer one or two friendly suggestions out of his own experience as a teacher of young people. First, the amount of space here given to different periods and authors is not an index of the relative amount of time to be spent upon the different subjects. Thus, to tell the story of Sp

12、ensers life and ideals requires as much space as to tell the story of Tennyson; but the average class will spend its time more pleasantly and profitably with the latter poet than with the former. Second, many authors who are and ought to be included in this history need not be studied in the class r

13、oom. A text-book is not a catechism but a storehouse, in which one finds what he wants, and some good things beside. Few classes will find time to study Blake or Newman, for instance; but in nearly every class there will be found one or two students who are attracted by the mysticism of Blake or by

14、the profound spirituality of Newman. Such students should be encouraged to follow their own spirits, and to share with their classmates the joy of their discoveries. And they should find in their text-book the material for their own study and reading.A third suggestion relates to the method of teach

15、ing literature; and here it might be well to consider the word of a great poet,-that if you would know where the ripest cherries are, ask the boys and the blackbirds. It is surprising how much a young person will get out of the Merchant of Venice, and somehow arrive at Shakespeares opinion of Shyloc

16、k and Portia, if we do not bother him too much with notes and critical directions as to what he ought to seek and find. Turn a child and a donkey loose in the same field, and the child heads straight for the beautiful spots where brooks are running and birds singing, while the donkey turns as natura

17、lly to weeds and thistles. In our study of literature we have perhaps too much sympathy with the latter, and we even insist that the child come back from his own quest of the ideal to join us in our critical companionship. In reading many text-books of late, and in visiting many class rooms, the wri

18、ter has received the impression that we lay too much stress on second-hand criticism, passed down from book to book; and we set our pupils to searching for figures of speech and elements of style, as if the great books of the world were subject to chemical analysis. This seems to be a mistake, for t

19、wo reasons: first, the average young person has no natural interest in such matters; and second, he is unable to appreciate them. He feels unconsciously with Chaucer: And as for me, though that my wit be lyt?, On book?s for to rede I me delyt?.Indeed, many mature persons (including the writer of thi

20、s history) are often unable to explain at first the charm or the style of an author who pleases them; and the more profound the impression made by a book, the more difficult it is to give expression to our thought and feeling. To read and enjoy good books is with us, as with Chaucer, the main thing;

21、 to analyze the authors style or explain our own enjoyment seems of secondary and small importance. However that may be, we state frankly our own conviction that the detailed study and analysis of a few standard works-which is the only literary pabulum given to many young people in our schools-bears

22、 the same relation to true literature that theology bears to religion, or psychology to friendship. One is a more or less unwelcome mental discipline; the other is the joy of life.The writer ventures to suggest, therefore, that, since literature is our subject, we begin and end with good books; and

23、that we stand aside while the great writers speak their own message to our pupils. In studying each successive period, let the student begin by reading the best that the age produced; let him feel in his own way the power and mystery of Beowulf, the broad charity of Shakespeare, the sublimity of Mil

24、ton, the romantic enthusiasm of Scott; and then, when his own taste is pleased and satisfied, a new one will arise,-to know something about the author, the times in which he lived, and finally of criticism, which, in its simplicity, is the discovery that the men and women of other ages were very muc

25、h like ourselves, loving as we love, bearing the same burdens, and following the same ideals: Lo, with the ancient Roots of mans nature Twines the eternal Passion of song. Ever Love fans it; Ever Life feeds it; Time cannot age it; Death cannot slay.To answer the questions which arise naturally betwe

26、en teacher and pupil concerning the books that they read, is one object of this volume. It aims not simply to instruct but also to inspire; to trace the historical development of English literature, and at the same time to allure its readers to the best books and the best writers. And from beginning

27、 to end it is written upon the assumption that the first virtue of such a work is to be accurate, and the second to be interesting.The author acknowledges, with gratitude and appreciation, his indebtedness to Professor William Lyon Phelps for the use of his literary map of England, and to the keen c

28、ritics, teachers of literature and history, who have read the proofs of this book, and have improved it by their good suggestions.WILLIAM J. LONG STAMFORD, CONNECTICUTCHAPTER IINTRODUCTION-THE MEANING OF LITERATURE Hold the hye wey, and lat thy gost thee lede. Chaucers Truth On, on, you noblest Engl

29、ish, . Follow your spirit. Shakespeares Henry VThe Shell and the Book. A child and a man were one day walking on the seashore when the child found a little shell and held it to his ear. Suddenly he heard sounds,-strange, low, melodious sounds, as if the shell were remembering and repeating to itself

30、 the murmurs of its ocean home. The childs face filled with wonder as he listened. Here in the little shell, apparently, was a voice from another world, and he listened with delight to its mystery and music. Then came the man, explaining that the child heard nothing strange; that the pearly curves o

31、f the shell simply caught a multitude of sounds too faint for human ears, and filled the glimmering hollows with the murmur of innumerable echoes. It was not a new world, but only the unnoticed harmony of the old that had aroused the childs wonder.Some such experience as this awaits us when we begin

32、 the study of literature, which has always two aspects, one of simple enjoyment and appreciation, the other of analysis and exact description. Let a little song appeal to the ear, or a noble book to the heart, and for the moment, at least, we discover a new world, a world so different from our own t

33、hat it seems a place of dreams and magic. To enter and enjoy this new world, to love good books for their own sake, is the chief thing; to analyze and explain them is a less joyous but still an important matter. Behind every book is a man; behind the man is the race; and behind the race are the natu

34、ral and social environments whose influence is unconsciously reflected. These also we must know, if the book is to speak its whole message. In a word, we have now reached a point where we wish to understand as well as to enjoy literature; and the first step, since exact definition is impossible, is

35、to determine some of its essential qualities.ArtisticQualities of Literature. The first significant thing is the essentially artistic quality of all literature. All art is the expression of life in forms of truth and beauty; or rather, it is the reflection of some truth and beauty which are in the w

36、orld, but which remain unnoticed until brought to our attention by some sensitive human soul, just as the delicate curves of the shell reflect sounds and harmonies too faint to be otherwise noticed. A hundred men may pass a hayfield and see only the sweaty toil and the windrows of dried grass; but h

37、ere is one who pauses by a Roumanian meadow, where girls are making hay and singing as they work. He looks deeper, sees truth and beauty where we see only dead grass, and he reflects what he sees in a little poem in which the hay tells its own story: Yesterdays flowers am I, And I have drunk my last

38、 sweet draught of dew. Young maidens came and sang me to my death; The moon looks down and sees me in my shroud, The shroud of my last dew. Yesterdays flowers that are yet in me Must needs make way for all to-morrows flowers. The maidens, too, that sang me to my death Must even so make way for all t

39、he maids That are to come. And as my soul, so too their soul will be Laden with fragrance of the days gone by. The maidens that to-morrow come this way Will not remember that I once did bloom, For they will only see the new-born flowers. Yet will my perfume-laden soul bring back, As a sweet memory,

40、to womens hearts Their days of maidenhood. And then they will be sorry that they came To sing me to my death; And all the butterflies will mourn for me. I bear away with me The sunshines dear remembrance, and the low Soft murmurs of the spring. My breath is sweet as childrens prattle is; I drank in

41、all the whole earths fruitfulness, To make of it the fragrance of my soul That shall outlive my death. 1One who reads only that first exquisite line, Yesterdays flowers am I, can never again see hay without recalling the beauty that was hidden from his eyes until the poet found it.In the same pleasi

42、ng, surprising way, all artistic work must be a kind of revelation. Thus architecture is probably the oldest of the arts; yet we still have many builders but few architects, that is, men whose work in wood or stone suggests some hidden truth and beauty to the human senses. So in literature, which is

43、 the art that expresses life in words that appeal to our own sense of the beautiful, we have many writers but few artists. In the broadest sense, perhaps, literature means simply the written records of the race, including all its history and sciences, as well as its poems and novels; in the narrower

44、 sense literature is the artistic record of life, and most of our writing is excluded from it, just as the mass of our buildings, mere shelters from storm and from cold, are excluded from architecture. A history or a work of science may be and sometimes is literature, but only as we forget the subje

45、ct-matter and the presentation of facts in the simple beauty of its expression.SuggestiveThe second quality of literature is its suggestiveness, its appeal to our emotions and imagination rather than to our intellect. It is not so much what it says as what it awakens in us that constitutes its charm

46、. When Milton makes Satan say, Myself am Hell, he does not state any fact, but rather opens up in these three tremendous words a whole world of speculation and imagination. When Faustus in the presence of Helen asks, Was this the face that launched a thousand ships? he does not state a fact or expec

47、t an answer. He opens a door through which our imagination enters a new world, a world of music, love, beauty, heroism,-the whole splendid world of Greek literature. Such magic is in words. When Shakespeare describes the young Biron as speaking In such apt and gracious words That aged ears play trua

48、nt at his tales,he has unconsciously given not only an excellent description of himself, but the measure of all literature, which makes us play truant with the present world and run away to live awhile in the pleasant realm of fancy. The province of all art is not to instruct but to delight; and only as literature delights us, causing each reader to build in his own soul that lordly pleasure house of which Tenny