English Literature

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English Literature

• Compiled by Wu WeiLun

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1. What is Literature?

• Literature refers to the practice and profession
  of writing. It comes from human interest in
  telling a story, in arranging words in artistic
  forms, in describing in words some aspects of
  human experiences.
• Literature is characterized by beauty of
  expression and form and by university of
  intellectual and emotional appeal.
  
• Literature shows us not only what a society is
  like in a certain age, but also what individual
  feel about it, what they hope from it, and how
  they can change it or escape from it.

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2. Why we read Literature?

• a. read for pleasure
• Howells observed that the study of Literature
  should begin and end in pleasure.
  
• b. reading for relaxation
• Modern life is full of pressure. It is peoples
  common desire to seek temporally relaxation from
  the stress in life.
  
• c. reading to acquire knowledge.
• Literature gives readers an insight into the
  tradition, custom, beliefs, attitudes, folklore,
  values of the age in which it is written.

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3. How to study Literature?

• a. analytical approach
• The elements of fiction include plot, character,
  setting, point of view, theme, symbol, allegory,
  style, and tone.
  
• b.thematic approach
• What is the story, the poem, the play, or the
  essay about?

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c. historical approach

• It aims at illustrating the historical
  development of literature. All the Literature
  exists in time and as such bears the unmistakable
  imprint of the period and culture in which it is
  written

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d. Other approaches

• Marxist/sociological criticism
• psychoanalytical criticism
• feminist/gender criticism
• mythic and archetypal criticism
• reader-response criticism
• formalist /new criticism
• structuralism

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Other approaches(2)

• post- structuralism
• Decostructuralism
• Our textbook is arranged in chronological order,
  but we deal with each period analytically with
  emphasis on theme.

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II the Anglo-Saxon period (449-1066)

• 1. historical background
• Three conquests Roman conquest in 43 AD
  Anglo-Saxon conquest in 449 Norman conquest in
  1066
  
• 43 AD, Roman conquered Britain ,making the
  latter a province of Roman Empire the withdrawal
  of Roman troops ,the Teutonic tribes, esp., the
  Anglos conquered the island and called it
  Angle-land, then England, their language is
  Anglo-Saxon old English.

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2. literature

• 1) pagan oral sagas the Song of Beowulf
• 2) Christian copied by the monk.
• The influence of the Christianity upon language
  and culture.
  
• Two ecclesiastic poets Caedmon and Cynewulf
• 3. the Song of Beowulf----Englands national
  epic
  
• 1) creation time written in 10-th century

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2).plot and theme

• fight with Grendel
• fight with Grendels mother
• fight with firedrake
• death and funeral

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3). Characteristics of Beowulf

• 3). Characteristics of Beowulf
• a. the mixture of pagan elements with Christian
  coloring. The most outstanding example is the
  frequent reference in the epic to Wyrd (fate)
  as the decisive factor in human affaires, while
  on other occasions God or Lord is also
  mentioned as the omniscient and omnipotent being
  that rules over the whole universe.

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Characteristics of Beowulf(2)

• b. the frequent use of metaphors and
  understatements. Ring giver is used for king,
  Swan road, whale-path or seal bath for the
  sea, wave-traveler or sea-wood for ship,
  shield-bearer, battle-hero or spear-fighter
  for soldier.
• c. Beowulf is written in alliterative verse. Its
  rhythm depends upon accent and alliteration. That
  is, the beginning of two or more words in the
  same line with the same sound or letter. The
  lines are made up of two short halves, separated
  by a pause. No rhyme is used but a musical
  effect is produced by giving each half line two
  strongly accented syllables. Each full line,
  therefore, has four accents, three of which
  usually begin with the same sound or letter.

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Characteristics of Beowulf(3)

• Beowulf towers above all other Anglo-Saxon
  literature, not only because it is a powerful
  poem about peoples hero written in true epic
  style, but also because it tells in artistic form
  the tale in a leisurely way, full of elaborations
  in legendary details, and the verse rises at
  places to heights of poetic grandeur.

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The significance of Beowulf

• 4).The significance of Beowulf
• a. This glorious epic presents us a vivid picture
  of the life of Anglo-Saxon people and highly
  praises the brave and courageous spirit of the
  fighting against the elemental forces.
• b. The epic reflects the situations the epoch of
  pagan tribalism and of the era of the
  Christianized feudal society.
  
• c. The epic gives the vivid portrayal of a great
  national hero, strong and courageous people and
  his kinfolk.

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Part II the Anglo-Norman period (10661350)

• 1.      historical background
• Norman Conquest of Anglo-Saxon England, under
  William, Duke of Normandy after the battle of
  Hastings in 1066, accelerated the development of
  feudalism in England.
• The middle ages the dark age (449-16-th century)

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2.literature-----romance

• 1). three chief effects of the Conquest.
• 2). Four kinds.
• a. Geoffreys history a source book of
  literature
  
• b. the work of the French Writers Arthurian
  legends
  
• c. Riming/rhythmic chronicles history in
  doggerel verse
  
• d. metrical romances, or tales in verse.

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Three major themes

• a. the matter of France about Charlemagne and
  his peers/knights
  
• b. the matter of Greece and Rome about
  Alexander the great and the Trojan War and the
  fall of Troy
  
• c. the matter of Britain king Arthur and his
  Round Table knight

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3.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• a. the plot
• 1). Feast in the palace
• 2) journey for the green chapel
• 3) test in the castle
• 4). blow in the chapel

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b. characteristics and theme

• the bravest of knights
• a test of his virtue and truth
• one of the best told stories in all the
  medieval literature of Europe
  
• Motif the tests of faith, courage and
  purity----nobility of hero
  
• the human weakness for self-preservation---
  --humanness
  
• romance the heroic adventure for adventures
  sake
  
• Beowulf to help the heros kinsfolk out of the
  distress or to protect them from disaster
  

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Part III Geoffrey Chaucer (13401400)

• 1.his life
• born in a wine merchant family,page to Elizabeth
• he had broad and intimate acquaintance with
  persons high and low in all walks of life and
  knew well the whole social life of his time.
  

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His literary career

• a.   French period(1360-1372) in French
  Romance of the rose
  
• b.  Italian period(1372-1385) in Latin the
  legend of Good Women
  
• English period(1386-1400) in English The
  Canterbury Tales

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3. The Canterbury Tales

• It is one of the most famous works in all
  literature. It begins with a general prologue
  that explains the occasion for the narration of
  the tales and gives a description of the pilgrims
  who narrate the tales, and then follow the
  twenty-four tales that make up the bulk of the
  book, plus the separate prologues and the links
  that accompany some of the tales.

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5. Chaucers contributions to English Literature
and Language

• a. a master of realism
• b.founder of English literary language
• c.Chaucers English London dialect
• d.Father of English poetry heroic couplet(The
  heroic couplet is an iambic pentameter heaving
  the lines rhyming in pairs.
  
• e. the first occupant of the Poets Corner

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Popular Ballads

• 1. Definition anonymous narrative songs that
  have been preserved by oral transmission.
  
• 2. Classification of Popular Ballads
• a. the reflection of the historical events
• b. the reflection of myths and legends
• c. the adaptation of some literary works.
• Another classification
• a.border ballads age-long struggle between Scots
  and English
  
• b. the ballads of Robin Hood
• c.  the humorous ballads

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the characteristics of Robin Hood

• a. his hatred for the cruel oppressors and his
  love for the poor and down-trodden
  
• b.strong, brave and clever
• c.tender-hearted and affectionate for the poor
  and down-trodden
  
• d.his pure love for Marian
• e.his simple loyalty to the monarchy

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4.Varieties of themes

• a. matters of class struggle
• b.the border wars between England and Scotland
• c.conflict between love and wealth
• d.the cruel effect of jealousy and treachery
• e.the struggle of young lovers against their
  feudal families
  
• f.of humors
• g.some about supernatural ghost and spirits

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.The characteristic features of the popular
ballads

• a. the extensive use of dialogue
• b.the refrain
• c.the ballad meter
• d.the repetition of words or phrase

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Part IV. The Renaissance

• This is a greatest and most advanced revolution
  in the human history. This is the age the giants
  are needed and produced.
  
• ------F. Engles

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1.the renaissance in the world(1)

• It originated in Italy in the 14-th century when
  the art, literature and ideas of ancient Greece
  and Rome were discovered and widely studied and
  came to a flowery in the 15-th century and later
  spread to France, Germany, Spain, Holland and
  Belgium and England in the 16-th century.
• The Renaissance period is markedly by the
  rediscovery and study of the classics of ancient
  Greece and Rome, by challenge feudal obscurantism
  and religious dogmas, by opposing the tyranny of
  feudal rules.

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1.the renaissance in the world(2)

• It is characterized with the growth of a more
  scientific outlook, major development in art and
  literature, new invention and overseas
  discoveries and a general assertion of human
  value and emancipation of the human intellect and
  power.
• Humanism was the keynote of the renaissance,
  reflecting the new outlook of the rising
  bourgeois class. The humanists advocated the
  emancipation of man, and they tried to have the
  new evaluation of man and his powers and fought
  for equality and justice, opposed feudal tyranny
  and obscurantism and religious obstinacy.

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2. The renaissance in England

• 1). Some major historic events
• a.The War of Roses (1455-1488) and the
  establishment of the dynasties of Henry VII and
  VIIIthe centralized monarchy.
  
• b.     The Enclosure movement sheep devoured
  Men
  
• c.The religious reformation, establishment of the
  Anglican Church
  
• d.     Flourishing in the Elizabethan Age
  (1558-1603)
  
• e.defeating the Spanish Invincible fleet Armada
  in 1588 and the establishment of the hegemony on
  the seas.
  
• f. The geographical exploration and trade
  expansion brought about the growth of the cities
  and the development of the capitalist textile
  industry.

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2). The division of the English renaissance

• a. Beginning the last years of the 15-th
  century---first half of the 16-th century
  
• b. Flourishing the Elizabethan Age
  (1558-1603)
  
• c.Declining the period of James I (1603-1625)
  early 17-th century

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William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

•  What a piece of work is a man, how noble in
  reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and
  moving, how express and admirable in action, how
  like an angle in apprehension, how like a god!
  The beauty of the world the paragon of animals
  and yet to me what is this quintessence of
  dust?---- William Shakespeare

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• 1.his life
• 2.divisions of his literary career.
• a.  the first period(1590-1600)
• b.  the second period(1601-1608)
• c.   the third period(1609-1612)
• 3.analysis of hamlet and the Merchant of
  Venice
  

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Main features of Shakespeare

• a.  one of the founders of realism in world
  literature as well as in English literature
  
• b. the great successes in character creations in
  vividness and intensity in emotional and
  psychological depth
  
• c.  the psychological probing of the characters
  inner conflict
  
• d.  the adroit plot construction conflict
• e.  skilled in many poetic forms
• f.   a great master of English language
• g.   the summit of the English Renaissance and
  one of the great writers the world over

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Online resources

• Mr. Shakespeare and the Internet
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•  Shakespeare Classroom
•     http//www.jetlink.net/massij/shakes/
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Francis Bacon(1561-1626)

• 1.his life
• 2.classification of his works
• a. The philosophical works the Advancement of
  Learning
  
• b. Literary works Essays
• c.  Professional works Marxims of the law

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3.Of studies

• a.      five parts purpose of reading
• attitudes towards study
• principles of studies
• study method
• study develop your character/effect of study on
  human character
  
• Style a.. The arguments are well arranged in
  unity and coherence in one paragraph.
  
• b.  the conciseness of expressions and phrases
  presents a plain style as well as his simple
  language.
  
• c.  The simple metaphors have deep implications.
• d. The omission makes the essay concise, clear
  and coherent.
  
• e. The natural flow of parallels makes his logic
  and philosophical argument convincingly and
  forceful. E.g. To spend too much time in study
  
• Crafty man simple man.

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Part V the 17-th century

• 1.Historical background
• the contradictions between the feudal system and
  bourgeoisie
  
• a.   Elizabeth 1558-1603
• b.  James I 1603-1625 political and religious
  tyranny
  
• c.  Charles I 1625-1649
• d.  Cromwell 1649-1660 commonwealth protector
  1653-1658
  
• e.   Charles II 1660-1688 restoration
• f.    James II 1685-1688
• g.  William of Orange 1688-1702
• 1689???????,???????

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2. Literary characteristics

• 1). the puritan age/influence gloom age
• Poem John Milton, metaphysical poets
• Prose john Bunyan
• 2). Restoration/French influence
• drama rimed couplet
• literature witty and clever, immoral and cynical
  on the whole

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John Donne (1572-1631)

• 1.     his life
• 2.     his literary career
• conceits\conceitful writing
• Religious poems, magnificent sermons
• 3.     his writing style----Death be not proud
• prose style involuted and ornate, cumulative
  and lineronian 
  

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John Milton(1608-1674)

• 1.     his life totally blind in 1652
• the child of Renaissance
• 2.  his literary career
• 1) early writing
• 2)writing for the revolutionpamphlets
• 3) writing poetry
• paradise Lost plot, theme, characters esp. Santa

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Features of Miltons Poetry

• He dedicated himself by choice to a noble
  political cause, and turned poet only because
  that cause had failed. Though his genius is
  essentially poetic, he is epic poet only by
  circumstance. In the discharge of both duties, we
  see in him a loftiness of mind, which only his
  own name can designate. It is Miltonic.
  Shakespeare commands our wonder and admiration,
  but Milton our respect and awe.
• His Biblical and classical allusions and his epic
  similes are often obscure, and their beauty is
  not easily caught, even with the help of
  explanatory notes. The effect of resonant
  syllables that roll with the sound of rumbling
  thunder can hardly be appreciated when the reader
  is busy figuring out the grammatical structure of
  his numerous Latinism
• a great master of the blank verse

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John Bunyan91628-1688)

• 1.     his life
• the most popular preacher and imprisoned for
  that
  
• 2.     The Pilgrims progress Christian
• The most popular writer
• Allegory

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his style

• Bunyan wrote in a simple but lively and vivid
  prose style. Everyday idiomatic expressions were
  used naturally and forcefully, and his knowledge
  of the translations of the Bible also helped him
  to introduce the biblical language into his own
  direct and uninvolved way of expression. In The
  Pilgrims Progress, his narrative method is a
  straightforward one, but the detail chosen are
  usually very commonplace yet extremely colorful,
  and his skill in picking out the right words and
  phrases adds to the artistic effect of the
  descriptive and narrative passages in the story.
  His simple, unaffected language of the common
  people, and his details taken from ordinary
  circumstances of ordinary life are largely
  responsible for the moderns of his prose as we
  read it today.

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Its significance

• The most significant thing is that the satires in
  the book are centered upon the ruling class.
  Especially well-known are the descriptions of
  Vanity Fair and of the experience of Christian
  and Faithful in it, for here Bunyan not only
  gives us a symbolic picture of London at the time
  of the restoration but of feudal-bourgeois
  society in general where all things are bought
  and sold(including honors, titles, kingdoms,
  lusts, pleasures and lives) and where cheating
  and roguery, murders and adultery are normal.

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Part VI the 18-th century

• The Glorious Revolution brought into power, along
  with William of Orange, the landlord and
  capitalist appropriators of surplus value.
  
• ----- Marx

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1.     historical background

• 1) the glorious revolution in 1688
• a. the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy ruled the
  country together
  
• b. Enclosure movementcommercial
  expansioncolonial expansiona big industrial and
  colonial capitalist power
  
• 2) American war of Independence (1775-1783)
• 3) French bourgeoisie revolution in 1789
• clear the mind of man for the coming revolution

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2.The Enlightenment

• The Enlightenment was a progressive intellectual
  movement throughout Western Europe in the 18th
  century and in Russia in the 19th century. It was
  a European movement as if prevailed not only over
  England but also over Russia and Germany and esp.
  France where there were such giants as
  Montesquieu, Pidero, Voltaire and Rousseau,
  writing on the eve of the French Revolution in
  1789. The Enlightenment in England was different
  from that in other European countries. Appeared
  in an epoch not preceding but after the bourgeois
  revolution. They did not call for the launching
  of a revolution but urged the carrying on of the
  revolution to system, at the foundation of which
  was the compromise between the upper strata of
  the old ruling class the aristocrats and upper
  strata of the new ruling class the bourgeoisie
  and the English Enlightenment come after this
  compromise. The enlighteners considered the chief
  means for the betterment of the society was
  enlightenment or education for the people.
  They believed in the power of reason. Reason
  served as the yardstick for the measure of all
  human activities and social relations.
  Superstition and injustice Privilege and
  oppression were to yield place to eternal
  truth, eternal justice natural equality and
  inalienable sight of man. But this right of
  reason is nothing other than the idealized reign
  of the bourgeoisie.

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• Preceding the bourgeois revolution esp. France
  while in English, after it, in Russia,19-th
  century
  
• the 18-th century was called the age of reason,
  which served as the yardstick for the measure of
  all human activities and social relations.
  
• 3. Enlightenment in England
• 1) moderate group and radical group
• 2) three major periods 1688-1730s,
  1740s-1750s, 1760s-1790s
  
• 4. Sentimentalism Lawrence, Sterne
• 5. Preromanticism gothic novel

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Daniel Defoe

• 1.his life a legendary man
• 2.     Robinson Crusoe
• a.      plot

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b.      Character analysis

• The character Robinson is not common sailor. He
  is a businessman who takes overseas business as
  his cause.
  
• Robinson is a bourgeoisie with adventurous spirit
  
  
• Robinson is a bourgeoisie of practical spirit.
• Robinson is bourgeoisie of colonizing character.
  
  
• A. The artistic character of the novel the
  concreters of the description and vividness. The
  author does not express the character with his
  words but let the character show himself in his
  own action. The complements of comments and
  diaries,
• C.  Limitation
• 1.  simple structure b. loose and repletion c.
  minor characters lack much impression

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. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

• 1.    his life
• the most powerful satirist of the age(his
  pamphlets)
  
• have no equal at pamphlet writing

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   Gullivers Travel

• 1) plot
• a.     in Lilliput
• b.     in Brobdingnag
• c.     in flying island of laputa
• d.     Houyhnhnms (horses) Yahoos
• 2) its theme
•  

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Joseph Addison(1672-1719)

• 1.    his life coffee house life and his
  friendships with Dick Steele1.    The Tatler and
  the Spectator periodical
  
• The character of Sir Roger
• 2.    his writing style
• Dr. Johnsons comment

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Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

• 1.    his life
• 2.    the history of Tom Jones, a Foundling
• plot and characters

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Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

• 1.    his life
• unhappy childhood, shy and scholarly life, the
  early romantic poet.
  
• 2.    Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
• Literature of melancholy
• The theme of death

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Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774)

• 1.    his life
• essayist, poet,dramatist
• 2.    The Vicar of Wakefield

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Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)

• 1.    the drama of the 18-th century
• Oliver Goldsmith The Good-natured Man, She
  Strops to Conquer
  
• 2.    his life
• 3.    the Rival
• the School for Scandal
• the Critic

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William Blake (1757-1827)

• The most independent and original romantic poet
  of 18-th century
  
• 1.    his life
• 2.    his works
• London, The Tiger, The Song of Experience
• The Chimney Sweeper

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Robert Burns (1759-1796)

• The greatest of Scottish poet
• 1.    his life
• 2.    his works
• Poems Chiefly in Scottish Dialect

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