英美文学选读1.The Renaissance Period

1. Generally speaking, the Old English poetry that has survived can be divided into two groups: the religious group and the secular one. 2. Beowulf, a typical example of Old English poetry, is regarded as the epic of the Anglo-Saxons. 3. Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the greatest poets in English. ●The Renaissance Period (14th---mid17th) ◆William Shakespeare: (38 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 long poems) 1.作品:Henry IV, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Sonnet 18, The Tempest 2. Greatest tragedies:Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. 3. The Tempest is known as the best of Shakespeare’s final romance. The playwright resorts and to the supernatural atmosphere and to the dreams to solve the conflict. And this play is also a typical example of his pessimistic view towards human life and society in his late years. 4. William Shakespeare’s history plays are mainly written under the principal that national unity under a mighty and just sovereign is a necessity. 5.Try to analyze Hamlet Hamlet is a man of speculation, umbrage and contemplation. Hamlet is neither a frail and weak minded youth nor a thought sick dreamer. He has none of the single minded blood lust of the earlier revengers. It is not because he is incapable of action, but because the cast of his mind is so speculative, so questioning and so contemplative that action, when it finally comes, seems almost like defeat. Trapped in a nightmare world of spying, testing and plotting, and apparently bearing the intolerable burden of the duty to revenge his father's death, Hamlet is obliged to inhabit a shadow world, to live suspended between fact and fiction, language and action. His life is one of constant role playing, examining the nature of action only to deny its possibility, for he is too sophisticated to degrade his nature to the conventional role of a stage revenger. By characterizing Hamlet, Shakespeare successfully makes a philosophical exploration of life and death. Hamlet is also a humanist, a man who is free from medieval prejudices and superstitions. He has an unbounded love for the world rather than heaven. He cherishes a profound reverence for man and a firm belief in man's power over destiny. 6. What did Shakespeare criticize in his play? The conscientious playwright criticized various kinds of human vices and sins, like greed, betrayal, pride, prejudice and deception, including acts of social inequality, sexual and racial discriminations in plays such as The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest. In his tragedies, he condemned the hypocrisy, treachery and general corruption at the royal court. He does not hesitate to describe the cruelty and anti-natural character of the civil wars against religious persecution and the corrupting influence of money and gold. In King Lear, he criticized the bourgeois egoism while he feared anarchy, hated rebellion and despised democracy. 7. Soliloquy is a nature medium for Hamlet to release his anguish. 8.The theme of Sonnet 18 is that a nice summer’s day is usually transient, but the beauty in poetry can last for ever. 9.Discuss the four periods of Shakespeare’s dramatic career. The first period of Shakespeare’s dramatic career was one of apprenticeship. He wrote five history plays (e.g. Henry VI), four comedies (The Comedy of Errors). In the second period, Shak espeare’s style and approach became highly individualized. He wrote five histories (e.g. Henry IV), six comedies (The Merchant of Venice) and two tragedies (e.g. Romeo and Juliet). His third period includes his greatest' tragedies (e.g. Hamlet) and his so called dark comedies (Measure for Measure). The last period includes his principal romantic tragicomedies (The Tempest). 10. Briefly discuss Shakespeare’s artistic achievement in characterization, plot construction and language A. Shakespeare’s major char acters are neither merely individual ones nor type ones; they represent certain types; they are individuals representing certain types. By employing a psycho-analytical approach, Shakespeare succeeds in exploring the characters’inner world. Shakespeare also portrays his characters in pairs. Contrasts are frequently used to bring vividness to his characters. B. Shakespeare seldom invents his own plot; instead, he borrows them form old plays or storybooks, from ancient Greek or Roman sources. In order to make the play more lively and compact, he would shorten the time and intensity the story. There are usually several clues running through the play, thus providing the story with suspense and apprehension. C. Shakespeare can write skillfully in different poetic forms, such as the sonnet, the blank verse and the rhymed couplet. He has an amazing wealth of vocabulary and idiom. His coinage of new words and distortion of the meaning of the old words also creates striking effects on the reader. 11. About the four tragedies: What are the characteristic of the four tragedies in common? Briefly summarize each hero’s weakness of nature Each portrays some noble hero, who faces the injustice of human life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation. Each hero has his weakness of nature: Hamlet, the melancholic scholar-prince, faces the dilemma between action and mind; Othello’s inner weakness is made use of by the outside evil force; the old king Lear is unwilling to totally give up his power; and Macbeth's lust for power stirs up his ambition and leads him to incessant crimes. ◆John Milton 1.作品:Paradise Lost,Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes,Lycidas 2.John Milton’s greatest poetical work Paradise Lost is the only generally acknowledged epic in English literature since Beowulf 3.His literary achievement can be divided into 3 groups: the early poetic works, the middle prose pamphlets and the last great poems. 4. Milton wrote his three major poetical works after the Restoration. 5. Paradise Lost is taken from Genesis of the Bible; the theme is “the fall of man” 6. According to the setting of the poem Paradise Lost, discuss the theme, the author’s intention to create it and the implication that the poem expresses. A. The theme of the poem Paradise Lost is the "Fall of Man”, i. e. man's disobedience and the loss of Paradise, with its prime cause-Satan. B. The author's intention to write this poem is to expose the ways of Satan and to "justify the ways of God to men". C. In this poem, the author implicitly expresses his fundamental concern with freedom and choice and his belief that the unquestionable truth of Biblical revelation means that an all knowing God was just in allowing Adam and Eve to be tempted and of their free will to choose sin and its inevitable punishment. 7. What is M ilton’s fundamental concern in Paradise Lost? At the center of the conflict between human love and spiritual duty lies M ilton’s fundamental concern with freedom and choice. The theme is the” Fall of Man,” i. e. man’s disobedience and the loss of Paradise. In the fall of man Adam discovered his full humanity. The freedom of the will is the keystone of Milton's creed. 1.Shall I compare thee to a summer day?thou art more lovely an d more temperate:rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.adn summers lease hath all too short a date: 答:sonnet 18,Shakespeare Speech Figure Personification Them of the poem:A nice summer’s day is usually transient but the beauty in poetry can last forever. 2.So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,/So long lives this,and this gives life to thee. 答:Implication of the work: the beauty in poety can last forever, Idea of the two line express:Shakespeare’s faith in the permanence of poetry. 3.For herein Fortune shows herself more kind/than is he custom.It is still her use/To let the wretched man outlive his wealth/to view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow/An age of poverty:from which ling ring penance/Of such misery doth she cut me off. 答:Shakespeare, She refer to Fortune. Mean:Antonio thinks Fortune is more kind toward him because Fortune is taking away both his wealth and life,which means Antomio will not feel the pain of losing everything. 4.To be or not to be-that is the question: 答:William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Mean:To live on in this world or to die:to suffer or to take action. Characteristic of the protagonist:He is a man of speculation,umbrage and contemplation What does the third line imply:The protagonist lived in a world that was full of trouble, and he was often determined to take up arms against troubles that sweep upon him like a sea,But he did not succeed. 5. If thou beest he -but O how fallen! How changed/From him who in the happy realms of light/Clothed with transcendent brightness didst outshine/Myriads,though bright! If he whom mutual league /United thoughts and counsels,equal hope/And hazard in the glorious enterprise,/Joined with me once,now misery hath joined/In equal ruin:into what pit thou seest... 答:Paradise lost John Milton The story is taken from Genesis of the Bible,The theme is the Fall of Man. What does the poet intend to do in writing it? Intended to expose the ways of Satan and to “justify the ways of God to men. The word he refers to God.